Under the Sea | Minsung

ψSixψ

"Do you know how big this is?"

The doors of the apartment flew open as Minho marched in, followed shortly by Felix and Jeongin who immediately found a timid seat on the couch. Since they had left the aquarium, Minho had been stuck on the topic of the merman. More importantly, the conversation he shared with the manager, a given opportunity to him and only to him. It was almost perfect how the day played out.

Minho continued, pacing around the couch with the widest smile either of them had ever seen from him. His hands were flying from area to area as if he didn't know what to do with them while he ranted, "No one has done any research or experimentation on mermans. Hell, no one even knew they existed. But the aquarium has one! A real merman! This is huge! I need to start as soon as I can— This is amazing—"

The pair just watched the older pace circles, sharing an amused glance between them before turning back to him. Felix mused, "You... Are very excited about this."

"How can I not be?! Felix, this is the discovery. And they're just letting me. Me! A university student! I get to study something no one has ever seen before. You can't tell me there's specialists on merman and mermaid behavior but if I can learn about him..."

Jeongin was the one to halt his thought, cutting him off a sigh, "You know they're planning to release him as an exhibit in a few months, right?"

"Right, but if I can compile a few decent notes on his behavior before that..." Minho's sentence trailed off as he thought, a flow of words muttered under his breath as he continued his raving. He halted his marching in front of the couch and stared down at the dead laptop sitting perched on the glass coffee table, making mental notes of where it was for the immediate future.

"Innie, this is the most I've ever heard him talk," Felix retorted, a slight smile teasing his features.

"I know, it's strange," The mentioned hunched over his legs, laying his crossed arms over his knees to prop him up. He cocked an eyebrow and questioned, "What are you planning to do with the observations anyway?"

"I'll release them to the aquarium so they can handle and contain him properly. Though, I'm not sure after that..." Minho mumbled and placed closed fist under his chin, gently bumping it as he retreated back to inner workings of his head. If all went well and his notes were successful, there's no telling what he could do with that information. Selling it off would net a hefty profit, especially if it were to go to a research institution, but Minho almost felt bitter at that idea. There had to be better uses of thst knowledge. For now, he finalized, "I'll write my doctoral thesis on him. I can't help but think he's not alone, maybe I can prove that."

"I don't know. Thesis get published, right? If you go public with that..." Jeongin frowned, "If there are really more out there, and they haven't been found yet, don't you think it's because they don't want to be found?"

"If he is not the only one out there, if Jisung is not the only one of his kind, then the world needs to know," He quickly said as he left the two at the couch, working his way past the two and towards his room far down the hallway. There wasn't much of a reason for him to go in that direction besides the nerves in his legs forcing him to keep moving. It might've also been a good excuse to leave the living room for a second, till he reached the ever looming end of the hall.

"I don't know Minho, this seems like a good idea but I don't think Jisung belongs in a place like that!" Jeongin shouted after him as he turned uncomfortably over the back of the couch, the call immediately summoning the older back to the living room where Felix and Jeongin still presided. With a heavy sigh, he resettled in his seat, eyes following the older practically sprinting around the apartment, "Doing this to help the aquarium keep Jisung just feels wrong."

"That's not the only reason. There's so much more to this then him being an exhibit," Minho sighed as he came back to the front of the couch, standing between the cushy seat and the hard table before he gingerly took a seat at the edge of the coffee table. He shook his head, "I'm not so shallow to give that away for a cheap buck."

"Hey, it should be fine," Felix shifted to the younger as he countered, "Someone as, usually, responsible as Minho wouldn't do anything stupid to put Jisung's life in danger. And if he's right then, who knows?"

Jeongin sunk down on the couch and folded his arms over his chest, "Yeah, who knows?"

"This is a great opportunity for me to do something I love."

"I don't know..."

"If I do something stupid, as Felix said, then," Minho paused as he searched the surrounding area, snatching up the poor laptop next to him as soon as his eyes had laid on it. He held up the collateral, mentally whispering a temporary bittersweet goodbye as he the younger carefully took it from his hands and inspected it. Minho didn't try to take it back, instead explaining, "You can wipe my laptop of the research and have it."

Felix cooed, "Ooohhh bribery."

"I don't quite agree but, alright" The youngest sighed miserably, setting the laptop beside him as he sunk impossibly further back into the pillow of the couch to be absorbed by the squishy bolster. Suddenly, he pointed an accusatory finger in Minho's direction, lecturing, "However, if you start going crazy money greedy scientist, I'll find you and destroy you."

"Thanks," The accused laughed gently. He forced Jeongin to drop his hand as he stood back up from the coffee table, "There's no telling what else is waiting to be discovered out there."

"Jisung is just the start of it."

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