; out of the clouds -
no one would believe him if he told them, but hongdae is dangerous in the november afternoons, when the sun struggles to fit its final rays of sunlight into the narrow alleyways. it's a quiet kind of dangerous, the one that comes creeping up your spine when you fall into complacency and routine. taemin knows that its easy to miss it if you blink, but he's nothing if not an observer; so he never really does. he feels it itching at him as soon as he exits his apartment building, knows that it follows him throughout the day as he runs around hongdae on various errands, and is painfully aware of how it nearly consumes him completely when he's done, standing in the street with nothing in particular to do. hongdae's gentle autumn pace and its warm familiarity fills his lungs with restlessness when he tries to inhale smoke, and he feels like opening his mouth and letting it all tumble out.
he isn't sure if it's fair to say that jongin is the one that saves the day -- his voice always sounds more frail over the phone, but he answers taemin's questions anyway, so the latter never really dwells on it -- because it's taemin that invites himself over only a few seconds into the call.
"i'll be with you in ten." his voice is light with relief, but his face remains impassive as he glances out the window of the bus he'd found himself on while wandering. it rumbles beneath him and all around him as it powers through the city, and he drowns it out by putting on some music while he waits to arrive at his destination. it's easy to appreciate the cityscape when accompanied by a soundtrack, and he lets the slow beats of it further soften the image of what passes by his eyes. the same beat echoes in his ears when he hops up the final steps of the pureuda building, and he pulls his earphones out when he steps into the cold breeze again.
there's only one person on the rooftop besides himself, and jongin looks an awful lot like something out of an indie movie. silent, with hongdae buzzing softly all around him as his backdrop, distant lights and honking cars setting an atmosphere that taemin is currently too restless to appreciate. he snorts before he shuffles over, reaching into the grocery bag he'd carried with him and retrieving two cans. "hey, you like root beer?" it's as good a greeting as any, and jongin is probably used to taemin announcing his presence in odd ways by now.