Writing
Graphite on Paper"What is this piece of crap?" Twenty-year old Yoongi crumbled up the sheet of paper and threw it in the trashcan. He narrowed his eyes and gave his group mate a cold gesture. "If you're going to make songs, at least try."
Eighteen-year old Park Jimin stood in front of Yoongi with a tight smile on his face. His eyes landed at the trash, where he saw the crumbled paper that held the lyrics he had made. He had spent weeks on creating those lyrics—day and night—just to show them to the group member who was in charge of writing music.
"But Namjoon hyung and Hoseok hyung said that it was okay," Jimin said, still forcing the smile on his face.
"I didn't, and you know that anything you want needs to be approved between the three of us," Yoongi stated. He turned around and started playing with the keyboard in front of him. "Why don't you go and practice your vocals or something? I'm really busy right now, especially if I want to get three songs done by this week for our next mini-album."
"But—"
"Jimin, don't be a pest. Leave," Yoongi said with a loud sigh.
Jimin still smiled. "Okay, okay. Maybe I can come back with another set of lyrics?"
"If it's not for a children's song, then sure," Yoongi told him.
"Alright, Suga," Jimin muttered, calling him by his stage-name. Yoongi didn't react. Instead, he started playing a piece of their upcoming song and drowned himself in his own world.
Jimin left the room, where the youngest member, Jungkook, was waiting for him. Jungkook got up from the bench and looked at Jimin's tightened expression.
"It didn't go so well, did it?" Jungkook asked.
The smile on Jimin's face quickly disappeared. He turned around and pretended to kick the door while sticking out his tongue. Jimin groaned and rotated his neck, frustrated with what just happened.
"This group would be so much easier if Suga gave me a chance," Jimin muttered. "I mean, come on. Namjoon hyung and Hoseok hyung gave me a chance."
"Let it go. Maybe he'll let you do it next time," Jungkook said.
"That's easy for you to say. You're popular because you're the maknae of this group. I'm one of the least popular members of this group. I need something to stand out."
"You stand out with your vocals and your dancing."
"Anyone can just sing or dance. Not everyone can make a song."
"Jimin, that's not exactly—"
The door opened. Jungkook and Jimin turned around and saw Yoongi poke his head out the door. He frowned at the two.
"Can you guys go somewhere else?" Yoongi asked. "You guys are too loud. I can hear you talking."
Yoongi quickly closed the door before the two had the chance to say anything. Jungkook glanced at Jimin, who made a fist and let out a furious growl.
• • •
Hours later, Yoongi found himself playing around with a guitar. As his fingers plucked the strings, he heard the door open. He looked up and smiled when he saw the leader of the group approach him with two iced coffees in his hands.
"Namjoon, you're here," Yoongi said, reaching his his drink. He sipped the coffee through a straw while watching Namjoon take off his usual pair of dark sunglasses. "Do you have any ideas what we could do for our two other songs? I got one handled already with Hoseok."
"Well… I was thinking that we could use, I don't know, maybe some of Jimin's lyrics?" Namjoon asked him with hopeful eyes. He broke into a small smile when Yoongi frowned at him. "Okay, at least I tried."
"Did you even see his lyrics?" Yoongi asked.
"They're okay—"
"They're way below average." Yoongi continued to frown. "They're children's lyrics."
"Well, some of them are cheesy, but they aren't that bad," Namjoon said. "I don't think it'd hurt to use a lyric or two from him."
"I refuse. We've found success between the three of us making music. We don't need an outsider like Jimin to be an extra hassle," Yoongi declared.
"Ouch. Harsh."
"That's just life."
"You're the complete opposite of your stage name," Namjoon said, chuckling.
It was true. Yoongi's true personality didn't match at all with his stage name: Suga. It was only created to help him put on the friendly mask, which he didn't put on so often unless he was alone with the camera. To the fans, however, the name was given based on his desirable pale complexion and his sweet "sugary" smile. He loathed the name at first, but it had slowly grown onto him.
"Well, Jimin needs to either make better lyrics or give up, and I highly suggest he gives up," Yoongi said.
"Taehyung wanted to help write something, too."
"Who?"
"V," Namjoon said. He frowned. "Yoongi, when are you going to start remembering the members by their real name?"
"I do. I know your real name," Yoongi said.
"Yeah, but the other members count, too."
"I don't like V very much. He's too flirty with the girls. I get scared that he might get our group in a scandal."
"So you're not going to let any of them try making music?" Namjoon asked.
"Of course not." Yoongi looked at Namjoon. "I'll only let them make good music for the group." He scowled. "Besides, why does Jimin keep bothering you with his songs?"
"Oh, we're back on Jimin again?"
"He pisses me off."
"Does he?"
"Doesn't he?"
"Well, I can't say. You know that I'm pretty close with Jimin when it comes to the younger guys in our group."
"Which is why you keep sticking up for him, despite the fact that he at writing lyrics," Yoongi said. He brushed away his bangs from his eyes. "Next thing you know, Hoseok is going to come and ask when the other guys are going to write a song."
"We're just saying that it would be nice if the others pinched in. You understand that writing a song is difficult, right?" Namjoon pointed out.
"Are you saying that we're not good enough?"
"No, absolutely not—"
"Then this conversation is done," Yoongi said. He handed Namjoon a piece of paper.
"What's this?" Namjoon asked, frowning.
"Take a look at this song. I like the chorus, but I'm not sure about the lyric."
Namjoon stared at the paper. "Like I said, we could use some of Jimin's lyrics—"
"Jimin can go write lyrics for a children's show. I want your input and your lyrics." When Namjoon opened his mouth, Yoongi looked up to glare at him. "Don't you dare try to put some of Jimin's lyrics down as yours. I'll know. I know that you two have completely different styles."
Namjoon sighed. "You really need to lower your guard, Yoongi. I wasn't thinking of such a thing."
"You were going to," Yoongi said.
The leader chuckled. "Probably. I won't deny that."
When Namjoon slipped on his sunglasses, Yoongi looked at him.
"Are you going somewhere?" Yoongi asked.
"Yep. I got some homework to do," Namjoon said, raising the lyric sheets.
"You could just do it here," the mint-haired boy pointed out.
"Nah. The weather's nice outside. I'm going to go back to the dorms, open my window, and read this thing."
"I don't have any problems with that. Just make sure to give me feedback tomorrow because Hoseok said that he was going to come in and help. We write better songs when it's the three of us together."
"Got it," Namjoon said. Before he stepped outside, he looked back at Yoongi. "Yoongi, are you sure that you don't want to let Jimin try out song-writing? No one is perfect in the first time."
"He needs to catch up with our level. If not our level, then at least Hoseok's level."
"Dude. I don't want to bring Jimin down or anything, but let's be honest right now. You and me? We're practically the best songwriters in this group. We've been writing lyrics probably when we were kids."
"Hoseok hasn't been writing lyrics since we were young like us."
"Yeah, but Hoseok learns fast. His personality makes it easier for him to understand people and how things work."
"Jimin should learn a thing or two from Hoseok, then."
"But Jimin isn't Hoseok," Namjoon told him.
"Well, then it looks like he won't be getting to our level or to Hoseok's level," Yoongi said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Namjoon sighed. "I tried. I really did."
"I appreciate it, Namjoon, but you know how things roll in this group. Plus, if we got Jimin to write a song and if it turned out to be unsuccessful, then the company would kill us," Yoongi pointed out.
"You do have a valid point," Namjoon muttered.
"Exactly. Plus, we got several fan girls waiting for us to make amazing songs. You don't want to disappoint them with lyrics that don't sound like our group, right?"
"Well, yeah…" Namjoon sighed again. "Anyway, I can get to you on this tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah. Tomorrow," Yoongi repeated.
"Cool. See you at the dorm."
"Oh, I'm not going in the dorms tonight," Yoongi told him.
"Why not?"
"I'm pulling an all-nighter."
"But you have a few days before the deadline," Namjoon pointed out.
"Yeah, but I want to get this done early and sleep for the next few days," Yoongi said.
Namjoon shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, knock yourself out. See you next time, then," Namjoon said.
"Later," Yoongi replied. He heard the door close behind Namjoon.
Silence enveloped the music room. Yoongi rubbed his eyes and brushed his mint green hair to the side. He looked around and grabbed another sheet of paper while he walked over to the piano.
Song number three, here I come, Yoongi thought tiredly, putting the sheet of paper at a nearby table. He stared at the keyboards for a long time before he put his head down on the white keys, creating a disturbing harmony that covered his loud groan. . I got last-minute writer's block. Oh, great. This is just ing great.
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