Stylist {j.h} A BTS Fanfiction - ON HIATUS

스물 넷

Him

A whirlwind of a day passed in a blink of an eye. I was in a blissfully cheerful mood through a particularly difficult and grueling practice much to the annoyance of pretty much everyone. Our coaches hammered out every mistake with scarcely any breaks between sessions. Jungkook and Taehyung were highly peeved at how I kept a smile up through a particularly nasty stint during our solo stage work. When RM asked me how I managed it on our lunch break, I smiled and shook my head. I wasn't going to give up my secret that easily. 

"Thank you for your hard work today." The head choreographer, Mr. Yang, said. "Get some rest and eat well tonight. Practice will resume regular times tomorrow. Have a good evening." He nodded his farewells and left the studio. The remaining staff members quickly said their goodbyes and hurried after him. 

I groaned as I sank deep into a cushioned office chair. It was definitely time to go home and get some sleep. And maybe some food. I closed my eyes against the harsh white lights of the studio. 

"J-Hope. J-Hope, wake up." 

I jolted upright. Had I fallen asleep just sitting here? Namjoon was standing in front of me, shaking my shoulder. "The others are leaving now, but I wanted to work on some lyrics with you before we head back to the house. Are you up for it?"

I rubbed the bleariness from my eyes. Sleeping would have to wait a little longer "Yeah, I'm good. I just needed a quick power nap first. It's been a long day."

He laughed. "Well, it's about to get longer. We have a lot of music to cover tonight." I stood up, stretching my arms out above my head. I yawned broadly to emphasize how much that appealed to me. 

Namjoon threw back his head and laughed his deep, light-hearted laugh. I smiled sheepishly. "C'mon, sleepy-head. Dinner's on me tonight."

Namjoon and I sat cross-legged on his couch an hour later with his laptop opened up on the coffee table. Boxes of various take-out items covered the remaining tabletop space. Papers and notebooks stuffed with random scribbled-on pages were scattered over any open spot on the ground, couch, and other chairs in the room. Demo track after demo track blasted through the computer's tiny speakers. Speaking was limited to quick snippets of "Pass the kimchi" and small questions about the music. 

The night was young but we ignored the outside world. Deep inside RM's studio, we existed in our own little world of music and creative energy. 

I stuffed another chopstick loaded with black bean noodles into my mouth. "Mmph," I gestured at the screen with the utensils. "Sffp hmm." 

 Namjoon pressed down on the pause button and backed up the track a few seconds. "Here?"

I nodded furiously. I set aside my container of noodles and swallowed hard. "The track is missing something here."

Namjoon nodded. "Let's try adding in what V recorded yesterday in the recording session. I'll just add some reverb and settle it into the background." He typed for a moment on his keyboard before pressing play. 

I bobbed my head to the beat and smiled as the melody played out around the room's speakers. The bold contrasts in chords and touching lyrics made my heart sore. "I love the sound, don't you hyung? It's going to be a smash hit once it breaks on the charts." I sat back and scoop up my bowl again, letting the music carry away my worries. I opened my mouth to down another scoop of noodles. 

Namjoon followed suit. He stuffed an extremely large amount of kimchi in his mouth with a look of pure satisfaction. I choked on my own food laughing at the look on his face.