D – DISCO DINERS

When you’ve been in a relationship for a long time, everything turns into a routine. The activities that were exciting and fun to do in the old days now seem like a well-rehearsed waltz, and although the excitement is no longer there, performing said waltz without your partner would be impossible as it’s something that the both of you are too used to doing. That, for Chanyeol and Taeyeon, is their description of .

“It’s not like we don’t enjoy doing it,” Taeyeon said to Kyungsoo when the couple was complaining about their lack of intimacy in their relationship. “We do. But the feeling isn’t there, you know? We tried spicing it up but it’s just not working.”

“Babe, stop making us sound like an old married couple.” Chanyeol grumbled, earning a fit of laughter from their friend. Kyungsoo only continued to laugh, not like he’s been much of a help, and gave the couple a very simple advice.

“Just watch some ,” He shrugged, popping the bubblegum that he’s been chewing for the past hour. “Easy.”

So here they are. Both the boy and girl sitting on the bed, staring at the equally man and woman in the small computer screen. Chanyeol and Taeyeon watch with terror when the stars start to get it on hard, whispering weird dirty words to each other and humping on the kitchen table. Chanyeol and his girlfriend turn to look at each other slowly with their mouths open, horrified.

“Are you at least a bit ?” Taeyeon asks, looking a little anxious.

Chanyeol takes a long look at his flaccid length under Taeyeon’s bedsheets. “Nope.”

His girlfriend stares at the hopeless bump under the bedsheet with a pitiful look in her eyes. “Me neither.”

They start to watch the poorly directed once again before Taeyeon visibly cringes. “They look like raw chicken…humping around like that.”

Her words pull out a genuine laugh from Chanyeol as he doubled-over, then falling flat on her bed, cackling. Taeyeon follows after, and forgotten as they both continue to laugh side by side, skin on skin and sweat on sweat. Chanyeol pauses after a while, glancing at his laughing girlfriend and he smiles fondly. There’s a warm feeling settling in the pit of his gut, though the fluttering in his heart has long gone. He doesn’t know how to explain it.

But she seems to understand once she sees his relentless gaze and smiles back. She leans up to smack his forehead lightly with her palm. “It’s just , Chanyeollie. I don’t think we should be too worried about it.”

“Yeah,” He agrees, sitting up with his elbows. “I do love you, Tae. Don’t misunderstand my little soft friend over here. He’s a little tired with practice and classes.”

Taeyeon barks out a loud laugh again, slapping his bare shoulder so hard he falls off her bed, pulling the bedsheets with him. “Shut up and get dressed, . Let’s go and get some pizza or something.”

Chanyeol throws a pillow towards his girlfriend’s way, hitting her right in the face before he runs to the bathroom.

—

Instead of having pizza, they end up going to a local diner. The diner that most of the students in their school tend to go to seems a little festive tonight, with glittery disco lights surrounding the place and several cars parked across the street. Chanyeol’s eyes are wide with curiosity when the couple enters the diner, the oddly dressed waitress welcomes them with a large grin.

“What’s all this?” Taeyeon asks as she stares at the customers dancing around by the jukebox and the waiters pouring coffee while swinging their hips to some 70’s music playing in the diner.

“It’s the night of the 70’s,” The waitress says, “It happens once in two years and old people in the neighborhood would usually come dressed up as icons from the 70’s. It’s a little different from what I remembered though… since I’m seeing a lot of teens here too.”

It’s true; Chanyeol spots his classmate from his morning class, dancing with a fancy leather jacket on. He also sees Taeyeon’s parents clapping their hands to the beat, giggling away with the infamous owner of the odd diner.

“Seems like we didn’t get the memo,” Chanyeol notes, staring down at his hoodie and sweatpants.

“My skirt looks a little retro, though.” Taeyeon replies, tugging on said skirt before she grins at the waitress. “Hey, can we get some honey waffles and ice cream? We’re starving.”

Chanyeol leads his girlfriend to the empty seats by the sink, stumbling onto a few familiar faces that he’s seen around the neighborhood. He’s a little bit surprised to see his own mother shimmying to the music with a stranger. He yells out for her before she gasps, an obvious blush appearing on her wrinkly cheeks.

“Mom, this is the blind date that you told me about?” Chanyeol snorts, amused. “I thought you were going to some fancy restaurant but you’re out here having the time of your life. Without me!”

His mother giggles, her body still grooving to the beat. “Sorry, Chanyeol. Your mom needs to go out and have some fun too. I hope you don’t mind, sweetie.”

“I don’t! I don’t, but I’m surprised you’ve never told me about this diner’s tradition. It seems really fun,” Chanyeol looks around the festive diner, his mood instantly lifted.

“It’s not fair if you teenagers get all the fun, we old people need some fun too,” A man wraps his arm around Chanyeol’s shoulders. Both Chanyeol and his girlfriend’s eyes turn to saucers when they see Chanyeol’s father standing tall and proud with a glass of beer in his hand.

“Dad! You’re here too?” Chanyeol gives him a quick hug, patting him on the back. “Where’s your girlfriend?”

“Probably by the jukebox. You know how much she loves listening to Abba,” The man chuckles. He notices Chanyeol’s fidgeting girlfriend by his side before he waves. “Taeyeon, right?”

She politely nods and waves back before Chanyeol finally excuses themselves to sit by the empty booth. Taeyeon continues to stare at Chanyeol’s parents with their respective partners before she shakes her head with a soft smile. “You have the weirdest divorced parents ever.”

“Tell me about it,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes with a snort. “They’ve only been divorced for a couple of years and they’re already going on double dates.”

“They’re cute,” She grins. “They look like they’re going all out tonight… Aren’t they usually strict?”

“Yeah, but that’s only when it comes to my curfew and my studies…” He bitterly says. “I should probably set up a curfew for them.”

“Chanyeollie, they’re fifty,” She deadpans. “My parents are dancing over there, too. But I’m not really surprised, they basically go to different parties every week. My dad would always wear this stupid tight leather pants and my papa would go out shamelessly with his leopard printed jacket. They’re so embarrassing!”

Chanyeol cackles loudly as they both watch as the people of all ages dancing under the spinning disco lights. “It’s like we’re the old couple with problems and they’re the rebellious teenagers sneaking out of the house at night.”

His eyes continue to search for familiar faces until he notices the shy girl on the dancefloor with glitter on her cheeks and small flowers in her curled hair. She has her eyes closed as she dances with an older woman, both singing the lyrics when Abba’s Dancing Queen comes on.

“Hey, isn’t that your friend Tiffany?” Chanyeol casually asks. Taeyeon looks startled before her eyes roam across the diner frantically, asking, “Where? Where?”

“Over there,” He nods over to the dancefloor where the girl is still dancing. “She looks nice. She kind of has that Karen Carpenter look with that outfit and hair.”

Taeyeon visibly relaxes when she finally spots her friend that she was searching for. Her lips stretched into a fond smile as she stares. Chanyeol notices her intense staring, and there’s that little tug in his gut again. Trying to read what’s going on her mind, Chanyeol asks, “You wanna go over there and talk to her?”

“Do you mind if I do?” She asks, excitement bright on her face. Taeyeon’s already standing by the time Chanyeol tells her that no, as a matter of fact, he doesn’t mind – not at all. She gives him a gentle simper before pecking his