Talking about Taemin was not something Jongin generally loved to do. He was painfully aware of the fact that Taemin was the sort of person that was just slightly a level above him - he was captivating and stunning and frankly, Jongin wasn't all that impressive. He didn't turn gazes, didn't capture attention, unless maybe he was dancing, but how much time did he have for that now that he was learning to be a goddamn magical dog half the time anyway. To put it all simply, Taemin was a main character, and Jongin was a side role at best. As much as he would have liked to relegate Chanyeol to supporting cast alongside him, Jongin wasn't sure it would be all that accurate.
"I'm familiar with his resilience." he deadpanned back at the other with a drawl, instead of pointing out that, frankly, Taemin wasn't all that resilient. That he'd seen him hurt and scared and it had killed him, twisted him up in anguish just to watch that resolve and cruelty fracture. He didn't point out, similarly, that Taemin was a witch and therefore just factually less physically equipped than either he and Chanyeol, because banter probably wasn't the place to bring in real supportable facts. So he rolled his eyes and flashed him a smile, clapped a hand to his shoulder before he moved past the other, hands sliding into his pockets as he slouched along.
Jongin groaned when the other spoke, covered a laugh with his hand before he tousled it back through his hair, tugging at the strands lightly. "You betcha, can't help it. Overcome with want." he drawled back at the other with a laugh, nose scrunching up briefly before he remembered he wasn't supposed to joke around with Chanyeol, cleared his through and shuffled into the study rooms. People rarely used them, frankly, but Jongin was the kind of person to have a favorite- it was the one on the corner, because it had only one small window out into the greater library area, which left him feeling peaceful in his solitude, losing himself in old books. He yanked at his zipper and tugged out some books, glanced up at the other with wide eyes. He blinked quick as the joke registered, groaning low in reaction, one eye squinting closed slightly. "Wow, fuck you, actually, " he laughed back at the other, rubbed his hand over his face and settled into a seat, glancing over at the other. "I've never been good at quiet." he admitted easily enough in a lazy drawl, at it was, frankly, really true. Similarly to how he wore his emotions on his sleeve, he expressed his reactions to things just as openly. There wasn't a whole lot of holding back in his life.
He hummed with interest as the other replied, nodding along as he opened a book, kept his eyes trained on the index, squinting at the list as he listened. He'd expected the conversation to die out there, but Chanyeol continued and he glance dup at him, blinking thoughtfully as his lips pulled together slightly. "Ah, well, " he hummed, edged his thumb against his lip and pushed at it quick. "Pretty normal I guess. My dad did the bulk of the deep sea stuff, so he'd be gone a lot. When I got older he'd take me out with him. He was real stoic, kinda gruff, even tanner than I am. He sang really well though, old sea songs." he mused, a little bit of nostalgia creeping into the words, a grin curling his lip when he continued. "My mom's great. They were older when they had me, but she never slows down. Everytime I send them any money it goes straight into her garden, which is probably bigger than the square footage of the house now. All she does is nag though, one hundred percent of the time, going and going and going."
He laughed, chuckling deep in the back of his throat as he tousled his hand through his hair and scrunched his nose. "What about you. Tell me more about the poor saps who had to deal with you as a kid. I bet you were fucking terror."
