black coffee | soonhoon

Thirty

Café bitch
Hey, d'you wanna stay at mine tonight? Mingyu & I are watching scary movies.

Me
Yeah why not. Where shall I meet u

Café Bitch
The dance studio by the uni at 2pm

Me
K

If life is a rollercoaster, surely you'd either be up in the clouds or down in the depths of hell. What about when you're just content? When everything is fine and nothings wrong but nothing is overly joyous. What happens then? Because I don't know about you, but no part of the rollercoaster they usually envision in the metaphor for life is flat. There's no plateau, just all time highs or all time lows.

As Jihoon lies in bed, that's what he realises after reading those text messages.

Even though there was no correlation, the thought suddenly occurs in Jihoon's head after he puts his phone down. Why do they never talk about the good times? Why is it always the worst or the best? Why can't it just be good?

You can have the best day of your life, but chances are the days surrounding it will be pretty crap. I'd rather have a few weeks where everything is just good and I feel content than have a single day where I'm on Cloud nine and then...

Nothing.

Life's a strange old thing.

But back to the point of the story.

Maybe these past few weeks haven't been amazing for Jihoon. But one thing he knows is that they've been good.

Sure, he spent a while in hospital and sure he lost the most important deal in his life, but things have been good.

Good enough that he hasn't faked a smile in a while, and good enough that he's walked out of the house every day with a spring in his step.

Walking down to the Uni where Soonyoung told him to meet, that spring is flying him to the moon. He must look like a lunatic, grinning heartily as the wind whips his hair and his arm swings carelessly beside him while the other hand holds yet another cup of black coffee.

He approaches the sliding glass doors of the studio that tower multiple stories above him. Shivering against the wind, he reaches up and turns up his jacket collar against the cold whip of air.

He enters the building, immediately impressed with the architecture. The building is obviously quite old, but the decorative interior still looks as enthralling as the day it was built. The ceiling is high and arching with beautiful carved designs tracing the edge.

The reception desk is stone empty so Jihoon makes his own invitation and walks straight through. He walks past a seating area with magazines and charger ports and coffee machines and also a small cafeteria before he finds his way to the lift.

Having asked Soonyoung beforehand, he made his way up to Studio 3, where he could hear the deep bass of a familiar song drumming through the walls before he even opened the door.

Aren't these rooms meant to be soundproof or something? God, how loud does this guy have his music?

Very loud.

The moment the door slid open, his ears felt like they were bleeding- and not just because of the volume.

He sprinted to the speaker. Throwing his drink on the floor - nearly spilling it in the process - he pulls the plug from the wall, cutting off all noise besides Soonyoungs laboured breathing.

"Hoon What the fuck? It was getting to the good part!"

Jihoon snorts, sitting back on his hand as he takes a long sip of coffee. "The good part?! That song is a full blown disaster! The beat is sloppy and overused and so simple I could recreate it in two minutes, max. In five minutes I could make it into something half decent."

He sighs in exasperation.

"If you want a good song, get something worth listening to and that the artist actually put effort into. I can't stand those assholes who make a song in ten minutes with twenty other people doing all the work and then call it theirs. It's bullshit."

He smiles bitterly before glancing up at the dancer. Soonyoung stares at him for a few seconds with a single raised eyebrow before he gives up. Shrugging he walks over and disconnects his phone from the speaker.

Suddenly, he grimaces, "God, you drink too much coffee. That's not black coffee, that's Satan's soul." His nose crinkles against the intoxicating odour and he quickly backs away.

"Fuck off." Jihoon replies, downing the rest of his drink in seconds. Soonyoung grimaces again, this time fighting back a wretch.

"That's disgusting."

"Shut up, dickwad. I run off of increasing anxiety and two hours of sleep, how else am I supposed to get through the day?" He deadpans, his face devoid of emotions.

Soonyoung sighs, "Whatever, come on. I'm done for today."

They head out. Soonyoung waves to the returned receptionist as they exit the building, walking down the street in an uncomfortable silence.

The younger cleats his throat, "You're a good dancer, by the way."

Soonyoung laughs lightly, "You didn't even see me dance. You were too busy hating the song."

"I saw you. It was good. Really good, in fact." Jihoon glances at his feet. Soonyoung peers at him in the corner of his eye, and suddenly feels guilty. Jihoon isn't always the sarcastic ass he makes himself out to be, it's more like a facade- or a persona -to cover up who he really is and what he really feels - and Soonyoung is slowly beginning to realise that.

"Uhh, thanks, I guess."