𝑐𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑗𝑢 | 𝑠𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑗𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑔

☕︎ - 1

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🧋🍂☕️🌻☕️🍂🧋

- 𝕆ℕ𝔼 -

𝕔𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕖

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• one week prior •

it was early morning, the sun still rising and birds still singing a soft song when hongjoong walked into his makeshift studio (it wasn't really theirs, it was his jobs but any one working at the shop was allowed all access to them), setting down his bag and taking out their laptop.

hongjoong often found themself spending his time in this little square room, eyes glued to his screen, headphones over their ears focused on whatever song he was currently working on. it wasn't often he found himself short of work or inspiration, they drew from the world around them. the people around him more like- every single one igniting a spark in their mind- which was nice, until they found himself starting to repeat the same concepts and feelings far too much for his liking.

he sighed, staring at his screen with disinterest, they felt stuck with this song, he didn't like the direction it was going and yet they couldn't think of anywhere else to take it. when he looked down at his lyric book, on the empty page- they stiffened up, eyes sharpening into a glare. he didn't understand why this was so difficult for him when just two days ago they had such good ideas.

with the tip of his pen secured tightly between their teeth, he scrunched his eyebrows, utterly stumped and they felt their mood sour by the second. hongjoong had hoped today would be a good day- better than yesterday at least, but he was quickly losing that hope.

his stomach rumbled, quite loudly to their embarrassment, and they pulled out their phone, dialing a contact all too familiar to him, "hey, you left yet?" he said softly, knowing his friend was probably still tired.

"yea, just picked up woo now, why?" san said through the phone, and hongjoong just hummed, sliding away from his desk in the rolly chair, leaning back and forth. they couldn't help but start to stim a bit, feet kicking and fingers picking at his jeans, tapping and then picking again- he couldn't sit still when he felt so out of touch with himself.

"just hungry, have you eaten breakfast yet?" before san could answer another voice called through the phone,

"hi hongjoong!"

and then san again, "stop yelling wooyoung, it's too early for this." hongjoong pursed his lips at wooyoungs loud nature, not being able to help the smile that formed afterwards though. san continued, "sorry hyung, but no we haven't yet, wanna meet up and get something?"

hongjoong really smiled at that, he always loved how his friends could tell what they were thinking or wanting without him asking- it helped them lots,

"that was the plan yeah, mingi should be here any minute now-"

and as if on cue, two quick knocks sounded on the studio door before it opened- hongjoongs eyes meeting the aforementioned boys. he waved at hongjoong, eyes wearily looking at the phone in his hand- unknowing if he should stay quiet or not.

"oh, nevermind he just walked in actually." he said into the phone, simultaneously putting it on speaker before waving mingi closer, a grin now on the tallers face.

"tell them i say hi." wooyoung could be heard faintly in the background.

"no." a pause after san spoke. "stop sulking." hongjoong and mingi looked at one another, unamused to say the least.

"stop." san said again- this time mingi sighed quite loudly; though it was ignored by the two on the other end of the phone. hongjoong picked at their nail polish. "i love you?" then, they winced at the silence that followed, looking at each other wearily. those words were always dangerous for wooyoung when it came from san. "mm love you too sannie," wooyoung said finally, and hongjoong felt himself loosen up again, they rolled their eyes, "can you two stop with that?" san chuckled bashfully, hongjoong was almost certain it was scratching it's neck too, "sorry hyung, we'll pick you guys up soon."

"sweet thanks, bye." the oldest mumbled, thumb hovering over the end call button.

wooyoung quickly yelled "bye joongie!-" before he was cut off by the call ending. mingi only laughed at that, fluffing out his hair and walking over to hongjoongs desk.

"you started on something already?" he asked, eyes scanning through the lap screen and the open notebooks that were spread across the small desk. hongjoong snorted, shimming themself closer to the desk and shook his head,

"i tried to- but, nothing y'know?"

mingi frowned, noticing how stiff hongjoong became when looking at the mess on their screen. the red head shrugged, carefully putting his hand on hongjoongs shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly- smiling when the white haired looked up at him with big lost eyes, "it happens, you'll find it soon, you always do."

though the words were short, they really did help- and hongjoong nodded, surely it wouldn't be too hard to find some new inspiration- he thought, and stood up from their chair, embarrassingly short when stood next to mingi.

"mm, i hope so mingi-ah."

"you will, trust me hyung. now come on, they'll be here soon." the giant said, opening the door to their little studio space again, moving to the side so hongjoong could pass.

the boy grabbed his things (really only his bag and keys), and whispered a small thank you to his friend, exiting the room and making his way out of the store entirely (thankfully he was off today) only to stop suddenly, saving himself from colliding with a passing boy, a waft of the nicest smelling coffee coming from the person, "e-excuse me," hongjoong stuttered, which was probably not heard by the other since he was already walking away, head bowed in a quick apology.

his eyes, lingered on the stranger, who had sped past him hurriedly, mumbling a string of apologies and something about being late before picking up his pace again and disappearing down the street.

he couldn't see his face, and hardly saw him at all from how quickly he came and went, though the smell of coffee that seemed to linger on hongjoongs clothing for the rest of the morning kept the mystery boy clouding all of his thoughts.

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and so it begins

~ lix ~

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