Under the Sea | Minsung

ψTwenty-Fiveψ

"Hey."

The merman whipped his head to the side to see Minho stepping through the threshold of the door, wearing a smile brighter then he had ever seen the older have. He removed his jacket and placed it on the empty counter at the front of the room followed by the bookbag he had been lugging around on his back all day long. Before joining Jisung atop the catwalks, he did a once-over of the room, spinning in a circle to survey his surroundings. The wall decorations were still ocean designed, equipment and various machined hummed in the background, no railing on the catwalk but railings on the outside of the tank, and finally the wet concrete floors. There was one exit, one entrance.

"Are you going to join me at some point? Or just admire me at a distance? It's okay to come closer you know," Jisung winked at him, "Or a little closer then normal if you want, I don't mind bab-"

"Jisung," He called over, giving him a sort of unimpressed look when the younger grinned at him and promptly shut his mouth. Minho cursed under his breath when his face felt warmer then usual. He blamed it on overheating in the warm sun outside, like he didn't have to wear two sweaters and a spare parka just to water some orchids on the porch at Hyunjin and Seungmin's apartment.

"Right, sorry about that. How was your day?"

"It was fine, you?"

"Boring, as it usually is everyday before you come to visit me and make everything better, but what else is new in this economy," The merman shrugged, watching the older's movements more carefully then on a regular day. Minho could feel him gawking at his back as he continued to scan the room a few times and when he turned around to finally join him, the younger didn't hide the fact he was looking at him at all. Instead he make eye contact with the older, pressing his lips into a thin line to force down his smile, "I've been thinking a lot since the last time you were here."

Minho huffed as he threw himself into a sit on the catwalk,"That isn't good for you."

"Thinking? Agreed, but it's been behaving today. It's kept me entertained and the day has gone by quickly so I can't really complain there," The merman hummed. He continued to stare, "I think I've figured some things out too. Just, about myself, and sorting out all the emotions I've got bundled up."

"What did you discover?" Minho turned back to him with hunched shoulders, making an awkward moment of eye contact when he realized the intense look he was receiving from the younger. Unwavering, demanding, but warm, his eyes soft as he did nothing but take in the view of the older. This made him alter the angle he was sitting at, changing the proximity of them so they weren't incredibly near to the other.

Jisung placed a finger to his lips like he were shushing the older, beaming at him with a loud whisper, "I'll tell you later, okay? I want to listen to your beautiful voice for a bit."

"I didn't know we were keeping secrets," The older smiled back at him in a pressing way, doing his best to annoy the merman.

Ironic.

"Don't think of it as a secret, think of it as a temporary selective truth."

"Oh, I see," Minho moved his mouth into an 'o' shape like he had actually considered what the younger said, nodding to go along with the fake understanding. He received a timid slap on his arm and a sharp glare that told him to cut it out, causing him to get out a snort at him as he straightened up to pull his legs into a lazy crisscross.

When he glanced over, the first thing he noticed was the way the younger fiddled with his hands. The way he would laced his fingers together, weaving them back and forth as they fumbled and fumbled, looking more as if he were trying to knit a complicated pattern into the very fabric of time and space than a simple nervous habit. His eyes were awfully concentrated on his fingers as well, not even daring to glance over to Minho sitting patiently, waiting for his next gesture, beside him. He leaned forward, trying to see the merman's face but to no avail as he simply titled his head away. When he tried to scoot closer, offer a friendly hand, Jisung leaned away. The older would be lying if he said he didn't notice the way the other's bare skin of his chest flushed.