Tired Lines; Soonhoon

05

☽

11:02 am.

Jihoon's decided to skip class for today, at Mingyu's insistence. The latter had shut off Jihoon's alarm the night before, unbeknownst to him, and there was only so much he could do when he'd woken up to find that he'd already slept through most of his first period. It feels like giving up, taking the whole day off, and Jihoon hates it - but he'd be lying if he said the extra two hours of sleep weren't delightful.

"Go back to bed, Jihoon. You don't have anything to worry about for the rest of the day, so why don't you just sleep?"

"You do realize that insomnia isn't something that just affects me during the nighttime, right?"

"Stay in, at the very least. Do nothing - don't even work on your song, just lay in bed and watch movies. Can I make you something to drink? Not alcohol, I don't think that would - "

"Why do you worry so much, Mingyu?" Jihoon sighs, looking up at his roommate with something like dejection. It's not that he doesn't appreciate the efforts - he does, God, he really does - but as of late Jihoon had been nothing if not tetchy, and Mingyu had been taking the brunt of that attitude. He'd started to wonder why the boy hadn't filed for a dorm change.

"You're so funny," Mingyu says, teeth glinting under the light overhead. "I worry because you're my friend, and I care about you, as crazy as that sounds. I'd never dream of changing dorms."

"You wouldn't?"

"What, and leave behind my favorite gremlin? Never."

12:33 pm.

Jihoon had tried to follow through with Mingyu's instructions, really, but it was upon the realization that their pantry was worryingly empty and his stomach wouldn't stop complaining that he figured he ought to go get himself something for lunch. Mingyu had left some time ago to attend a study session, so he was alone.

12:46 pm.

Jihoon's no good at cooking, so he's scanning the aisle for anything that can be heated up in the microwave that won't also give him food poisoning of some sort. His standards when it comes to meals, these days, aren't exactly the highest.

But then he's thinking that it might be a good idea to stock up on some cereal, because even if he chooses to skip out on breakfast most mornings he recalls Mingyu complaining that they were out of Oreo O's, at one point or another, and figures it's the least he can do to buy a box or two. 

That's when the first issue is encountered - Oreo O's are kept on the highest shelf.

Which, in all honesty, the highest shelf isn't that high, but Jihoon isn't that tall, either.

He resigns to craning his neck in the cereal's direction, staring at it silently as if the mere force of his glare will somehow knock it over and into his basket. But it isn't his glare that does the trick, no - help comes in the form of a familiar, heart-achingly pretty barista.

"Do you need help?"

Jihoon scowls, despite himself. Soonyoung isn't so much taller than him, but he is capable of reaching, so as much as he hates needing the help, Jihoon nods and points to the cereal. Soonyoung has two boxes down within seconds, not even needing to fully extend his arms to do so, and Jihoon doesn't want to ask why he's giggling when he hands them over.

"What are you doing here?" Soonyoung asks, schooling his smile into something more neutral. "Don't you have class?"

"I'm, uh, taking the day off."

"You slept in, I hope?"

" ... You hope?"

"Yeah, I do."

Jihoon feels wonderfully and disgustingly embarrassed - it's essentially the same as what Mingyu had told him earlier that morning, something about caring, except it's not the same at all. This isn't Mingyu. It's not the same.

Instead of answering his question, though, Jihoon continues down the aisle, asking, "What about you? Shouldn't you  be at home, sleeping?" Soonyoung follows closely behind.

"Me?"

"Yeah. You work at a night café, you have to get some rest at some point."

Soonyoung breathes out a laugh. "I do - but, I mean, I have other stuff to take care of during the day - " he holds up his own basket, half full, for Jihoon to see " - such as grocery shopping."

"Ah, right."

A thin wall of silence slips between them momentarily; a pause in which neither one of them knows what to say next, or whether or not they should separate, now. He has all he needs, and he doesn't want to be weird, following Soonyoung around the store. He doesn't want Soonyoung to think he's weird. He also doesn't want to leave the boy, though, so that may or may not be an issue.

"How's your song coming along?"

The question catches him off-guard, but once he's processed it, Jihoon scoffs.

"It's not."

"What's the problem?"

"No inspiration, no sleep," he shrugs, "It's like I'm trying to build a house with nothing more than my own two hands."

Soonyoung doesn't respond right away, considering this while he scans a wall of produce. After bagging a few fruits and tossing them into the basket, he says, "I'd tell you to get more sleep, but that might be a bit useless."

"Really, you don't say?"

"I'm assuming you've written other songs before, right?" Soonyoung asks, ignoring Jihoon's sarcasm. "What do you usually draw inspiration from?"

"Uh ... " Jihoon's lower lip catches between his teeth, worrying between answers he can't come up with. Where did he draw his inspiration? The people in his life, the things that happen to him - if he had more than one friend and actually went out and did stuff.

"I'm not sure," he says truthfully. "I like imagining scenarios, like there's a movie in my head and I need to write part of the soundtrack for it. Or - Or then I might have a dream, and I'll write about that."

"A dream?"

Jihoon nods. He had, in fact, only written a song based off a dream of his once before - it was oddly personal, something he'd hesitated to show even Mingyu, but it was one of his favorites. Dreams, unfortunately, don't seem like a viable source of inspiration as of late. He says as much.

"Maybe not," Soonyoung agrees. "You should do something - something you've never done before. Maybe a new experience will spark something, y'know?"

Jihoon makes some noise of understanding. Soonyoung's probably right, but the idea of getting out of his comfort zone is a deplorable one. Jihoon treasures the safety of sticking to what he knows - microwave dinners, his bed, shitty chamomile tea that doesn't work and iced vanilla lattes. Going beyond those things, leaving the shelter he's built for himself, is enough to make him queasy with anxiety.

"Maybe I'll just give up songwriting altogether," he jokes, but it comes out a little sadder than intended. Even so, Soonyoung's smile sticks to his face, light and easygoing. Jihoon wishes he could be like that, light and easygoing. He's more shrouded than anything else.

"Don't be like that," he says. "You'll get there. I'm sure you will."

Jihoon hopes he's right.