When Jongin walked to the cafe this morning, it was not just because he wanted his usual morning-coffee before school, but also because it was his favourite place to spend his time on Thursdays; he spent nearly the whole day there, just listening to whatever the people around him were talking about. He also used to wait here until Sehun had his shift later in the day. It had become like some sort of a tradition, and they both enjoyed this little meeting.

Nevermore was crowded, like it usually is on Thursdays, and Jongin couldn’t help but smile. People usually gathered here because Thursdays on Nevermore Cafe was the place to be if you wanted to discuss the mysterious Kai’s column.

For all of you that might not know - Kai was Jongin’s writer name in the newspaper, a pseudonym, if you know what that is. And, because no one could find anyone named Kai that was related to Soul of Seoul, it gave the whole column a mysterious and interesting touch - or that’s what Mr Lee thought, at least.

Jongin walked over to the counter and ordered his usual morning coffee (espresso), before he walked over to his usual table.

(Come to think about it, his table was always empty. There was no one, apart from him or Sehun, who sat at that particular table. Weird!)

He situated himself so he could get a good overlook over the cafe, and placed his cup down on the table. The volume of the cafe was a few decibels louder than usual, but it wasn’t that unusual - Jongin took a sip of his coffee and closed his eyes as he tried to listen to some of the discussions that were going on around him; discussions about his writing.

“Oh, I think it was so cute at first and my heart just melted, but the second time I read it, I got a much more sadder impression. And then I pictured my little brother holding on to his teddy. You remember I told you he couldn’t sleep without it, right?”

“I like the fact that he used snow to make something that beautiful and meaningful. I usually hate snow, but I couldn’t get myself to hate on it when I...”

“....true genius. I Admire Kai so much. I hope to be....”

“...was to thinking. I like it better when he uses his words to criticize the country, and how they....”

“...to be forgotten in the crowd I think. I also think that he uses the....”

He could only get a few phrases here and there, but what he heard was more than enough. He smiled for himself as he tried to remember every comment he got. This was very useful for his writing; it told him exactly what people thought of it and what people liked to read about, and he used the negative comments, the criticism, to become even better in his way of writing - and at the look of it, it seemed like it helped; nearly everyone in the cafe this morning discussed his column.

The cafe’s owners were always pleased on this day, seeing as they had many guests because of the column. They had a breakfast buffet, so that people could read, discuss and eat at the same time - not worrying about if they were able to do all that in a short amount of time.

Jongin looked at his phone and sighed when he realised he had to leave now if he wanted to make it to school in time. Taking the coffee with him, he walked out of the cafe and walked in a fast pace towards the school building. It was actually quite warm today compared to yesterday and the sun shone brightly, warming Jongin’s face. It felt soothing and Jongin’s mood just got better with every step he took. This day didn’t seem to turn out that bad.

★

As he opened his locker later that day, a tall figure suddenly slammed into the locker next to him, making Jongin jump ten feet up in the air.

“Hi Jongin. How are you today?” the boy asked and smirked upon noticing the horrified look on Jongin’s face, feeling quite pleased with himself.

When Jongin’s heart started to beat in a normal pace again, he stared at the boy - shooting daggers at him with his eyes.

“Good until you came,” he said through clenched teeth, getting the boy to laugh heartily.

“Ah, you are so funny, Jongin. You mean it just got better because I came,” the boy teased, grinning.

Jongin just rolled his eyes, before he turned his attention back to the locker again.

That Jongdae guy, always trying to scare the out of me!

Jongin had known the other boy for quite some time now, and ever since he found out that Jongin hated being scared, Jongdae had made it his mission to get Jongin to jump and scream (preferably like a girl) whenever he was near.

(He had not quite got him to scream yet, though. Hmm.)

“How was class?” Jongdae asked as he accompanied Jongin to their next class.

“Ughhhh, boring! I really don’t understand why we need to know what Zimbabwe did during the first world war. They are not important at all,” Jongin complained in his usual whiny voice to his class mate.  

Jongdae nodded, and in that moment he noticed Jongin’s open backpack. “I agree with you on that one,” he said, a bit absentminded.

Making sure Jongin did not see him, he pulled out something from his pocket and carefully put the object into Jongin’s bag. He simply could not let an opportunity like that slip away from him - even though he knew Jongin would give him hell afterwards.

Jongin looked at his friend, not used to his silence, and Jongdae retreated his hand and smiled sweetly at the taller boy. Jongin furrowed his brows, wondering what was up with that smile, but shrugged it away since he knew Jongdae always was thinking of ways to troll people. That’s just how he was.

Entering class, the boys separated; Jongdae placing himself in the very back (because he never paid attention anyways), while Jongin placed himself somewhere in the middle of the room. He had found out that it was the perfect place to sit, because he did not appear like he didn’t do anything, like the ones sitting in the far back (cough Jongdae cough) - and he was not the nerd sitting in the front.

The math teacher entered shortly afterwards and started to call their names to make sure everybody was in place.

★

“...but do you think that he maybe wanted to, I don’t know, maybe give us a point to what...”

“... I hated it. Why would he take those hideous things and put them together in the same....”

“I think maybe that Kai is a father. I always pictured him as a young man or boy, but now I am starting to...”

Jongin sipped on his third (yes, third) coffee of today while he listened to the people talking around him. He couldn’t fathom that almost everyone that were at the cafe at Thursdays were people who wanted to talk about the column - his column. Yeah, of course there were some that didn’t but that was like five percent of all of the people in the cafe. He’d never get used to it either; he knew he could write, but not that he was appealing to so many people. The response was enormous and the chief editor was in heaven; the paper’s popularity rose in a short amount of time, going from being a small paper that just a few selected ones read, to one of the most popular ones out there - all because of a small column!

Jongin glanced at the old-fashioned clock hanging on the wall, noticing that it was precisely five minutes left until it was 4 p.m. He had arrived at the cafe two hours earlier, and almost got himself to read one of the many books he had wanted to read for such a long time - but, like always, he had ended up listening to the people talking, humming to the music that was playing in the background, and not much more than that.

Suddenly the door bell chimed, and two very loud, obnoxious voices was heard. Everybody in the cafe stopped whatever they were doing, and turned to where the source of the disturbance came from.

Two very handsome boys entered the room, and they were chatting in a not so very silent manner. Jongin shrinked down in his chair in an attempt to become invisible. He didn’t even need to look in order to know that the two boys were no one else than the funny Jongdae and the happy Chanyeol. Their laughter could be heard from several miles away, and all Jongin wished for was that they didn’t notice him, but apparently today was not his lucky day, as a hand suddenly shook his shoulders roughly.

“Yah, Jongin my maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!” Jongdae called out, and Jongin sighed in defeat before he sat up in his seat and just huffed at him. Jongdae always thought he was funny, no matter what he did, but Jongin didn’t like his humour at all.

(It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Jongdae always tried to scare him. No, not at all!)

Chanyeol chuckled and sat down in an empty chair, while Jongdae lay a hand around Jongin’s shoulder.

“Sooo, have you found anything interesting yet?” he asked playfully. Jongin just ignored him, not quite understanding what he was talking about and instead shrugged Jongdae’s hand away. He took a sip of the now cold coffee, and scrunched his nose in distaste. The coffee tasted awful.

Ugh, I hate cold coffee.

He decided to go order a new one, since he was definitely going to need it if he was going to survive in the same room with these two. He stood up, leaving the chair empty - but not for too long, as Jongdae dumped down in it and made himself comfortable.

“I‘ll take that, since it seems like you are going to abandon this warm and lovely chair,” he said. Jongin rolled his eyes at him, annoyed, and saw Chanyeol smiling, amused by the scene, in the corner of his eyes.

And these are the people I hang around with? I should probably get my head checked or something! Maybe I have brain damage.

He walked to the counter and ordered his fourth coffee for the day. He was just about to pay the boy standing behind the counter when Sehun suddenly came casually strutting in. Jongin checked the time again - 4:05 p.m. Just like the usual. It wasn’t that Sehun used to come late or anything, but it was just that every time he entered, everybody’s attention was at him and, hm, he didn’t like being in the center of the attention.Therefore, he had made it his mission to come at least five minutes later or more.

“Oh, so you are going to show up today too?! I’m glad you could grate us with your presence!” the boy who served Jongin his coffee said, while Sehun just raised his eyebrows in amusement and shrugged as he walked pass the counter and over to the backroom. Jongin could not help but smile a little as he walked back to the loud people waiting by his table.

The boy was one of those unfortunate little souls that had to be at the shift before Sehun, and this one would surely have loved if he could leave five minutes earlier - even though five minutes wasn’t actually much, at least according to Jongin. The boy used to stand by the counter and count five minutes, waiting for Sehun to come in the door at exactly 4:05 p.m., not even a minute later.

Jongin shook his head when he saw Sehun come out, and the other boy basically stormed out of the cafe, eager to get away.  

“...and I was like totally not expecting that. The guy came running towards me just because I told him his hair looked nice. I think that’s being dramatic,” Jongdae explained to Chanyeol as Jongin walked over, seemingly bothered. Jongin looked longingly at his chair, before he dragged another chair from the neighbouring table towards the table and sat down at that one instead.

“It has nothing to do with you using a sarcastic tone when you said it then?” Jongin asked and Jongdae whipped his head around, shocked expression on his face.

“How can you say that Jongin! I do not use a sarcastic tone when I speak,” he said - but his tone implied that of course he does just that!

Chanyeol laughed, while Jongin just smiled and shook his head. Good old Jongdae.

After chatting a while with both males, mostly about school and the volleyball practice that was later that day, they separated. Jongdae said he had some errand he had to go before practice, while Chanyeol had promised to meet up with Baekhyun.

Jongin leaned back in his chair and tried to rest his head. He felt his brain was slowly short-circuiting after all that chatting and chatting and ugh. Yes, they were good friends of him, but he just simply couldn’t understand how they could have so much energy! They seemed to never run out of it. Maybe they were on never-ending batteries? He had to check once, just in case.

“And today’s dinner is sponsored by the best man you can stumble upon in the lovely city of Seoul,” a voice solemnly said and placed a plate with freshly made bulgogi on the table.

Jongin looked up to see his best friend standing there, before he looked back at the plate, then back at Sehun again.

“Yes, and Miss Yun, of course,” he then added. Jongin saw the lady that owned the cafe flash him a smile from behind the counter before she continued to serve the costumer standing before her.

“Uhm.. Why?” Jongin asked looking at his friend, not understanding what this was all about. Sehun just shrugged before he told Jongin to eat up and left the surprised boy with a hot plate with bulgogi.

Jongin though nothing more of it and just smiled before he took a bite of the delicious food placed in front of him. It tasted absolutely wonderful, and now he didn’t need to go home and eat with his family. Perfect.

After he finished, he leaned back in his chair and went back to listening to the other customers ranting about his column. They were mostly saying the same things over, although it was mostly only negative comments left. It used to be like that; as the day progressed and it got later, those who wanted to discuss the column was long gone, and only the ones that wanted to hate on it was left.

Jongin sighed and decided to pick up the book he was currently reading, seeing as there was nothing else to do before volleyball practice.He was tired of all the hateful comments, and decided he had enough critic to make an even better column next week. He reached his hand down into the bag and searched after the little book he knew was down there somewhere. As he did so, he struck upon something. Something hard and jelly like on the same time. And it wiggled inside of his hand.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Jongin stumbled backwards, making the chair he was currently sitting in fall over in the progress, and landed on his back. He crawled backwards, his lips trembling in fear and his heart beating fast.

It was not, it could not be, no definitely not!

Jongin felt adrenaline fill his body, and the first thought that came in his mind was to run, run the hell out of here and never come back.

(Well of course he would come back, but his mind did not function properly right now!)

Sehun was suddenly by his side and lay a hand on Jongin’s shoulder, scaring Jongin even more. He whipped around, fear shining from his eyes. When he noticed it was Sehun, standing on one knee with a worried and shocked look on his face, he pointed at the bag and stuttered out, “It’s, it’s, it’s”, his hands shaking like leaves in the wind.

“What? What’s wrong?” Sehun asked, not understanding what had frightened his friend this much. Jongin was usually manlier than this. Usually.

“I think I, I think there, I think there is a......, a..., a bug in my bag!” he whispered and swallowed, his voice trembling.

Sehun looked at his friend in shock for a couple of seconds, before he burst out laughing. He laughed so much his stomach started to hurt.

Jongin looked at his friend in disbelief, his eyes so big they looked like saucers, or like they were about to pop out. Then he scowled at him, his fright from a moment ago temporarily forgotten.

“What!” Jongin cried out, not thinking it was funny at all. Sehun just clenched his hands around his stomach and kept laughing at him, loud and boisterous.

“WHAT!!!” Jongin repeated, but with no luck - his best friend was too busy laughing to answer.

What a jerk! Jongin thought as he lifted himself from the ground. He was not going to sit there and know that his best friend was laughing his off because of him.

Jongin brushed off himself any dust that had stuck on his clothes when he realised that everyone in the cafe, literally everyone, were staring at them. He smiled nervously, and felt really ashamed and embarrassed. Everybody in the cafe had probably seen the scene, and most of them would maybe think he was retarded or something. Some of the people was whispering to each other, making Jongin feeling even worse.

“Yah, Sehun, stop and just stand up please,” Jongin said in a low voice, nearly a whisper, trying to save both his and his friend’s pride. Sehun, however, didn’t seem to neither hear him nor care, and just continued to laugh instead, now barley able to breathe. Jongin huffed, giving up, and decided that his friend could just lay there. He had no responsibility for his friends pride - he had tried once, and that was more than enough.

He was just about to sit down at his chair when he remembered the thing in his bag. His left eye twitched. He decided he needed a coffee before he could even think about going near his bag again, and walked over to the front desk and ordered one cappuccino. (His fifth one of the day.)

When he returned Sehun had calmed down a little, but he was still smirking. Jongin narrowed his eyes, and Sehun was trying really hard not to start laughing again.

“So are you done now?” Jongin asked harshly, and Sehun flashed him a grin and a thumbs up.

Best friend? Mhm, yeah right!

“Augh, can’t you just go check it??” Jongin asked, annoyed with his so-called friend. Sehun smiled back, but did as he was asked.

He picked up the bag and started to search trough it. After a minute or so, he looked at Jongin, saying, “I know you have a lot of stuff in your bag, but not that you would carry around this much crap.” Jongin just took a sip of his coffee as he ignored the comment.

Sehun laughed a little before he continued to rummage through Jongin’s bag again.

Then suddenly another smile made its way on his face and Jongin raised his eyebrows, wondering what the hell his friend had found.

“You’re saying you scared everyone in this cafe because of this?” Sehun said and lifted his hand, showing the item to Jongin; a cockroach. Jongin jumped backwards and almost fell over the chair standing behind him.

He managed to save his coffee, but when Sehun started to walk towards him with the... thing in his hand, Jongin sat the cup down at the nearest table and walk backwards, his hands in front of him in an attempt to protect himself from the creature.

“NO, don’t you dare Oh Sehun!” he said when Sehun came closer with the insect in front of him, trying to show Jongin it.

“Oh, but it’s just a small little thing. Look how innocent it is,” Sehun said as he lifted his hand toward Jongin, making Jongin stop in his tracks before he turned around and started to run away from Sehun. Maybe the worst thing to do, since Sehun started to run after Jongin with the creature in his hand, laughing heartily like the little devil he was.

“Get away from me, get away from me!” Jongin shouted nervously. Sehun only laughed and attempted to throw the cockroach at Jongin, making Jongin to squeal like a girl and run with his hands above his head, trying to protect himself from the flying insect.

“I am literally going to kill you, you er, you are no longer my friend!” Jongin threatened when the cockroach flew by his head, touching his hair lightly.

“Yeah right, as if you can live without me!” Sehun shouted back. They looked at each other trying to determine who was the better one, when miss Yun suddenly stepped in between them.

“This is a cafe, and though I understand that boys like you need to let out your inner child every now and then, you’re disturbing the other customers. And Sehun, you’re still at work!” she said,  scolding them both for making the cafe become some sort of a kindergarten.

Both of the boys looked at her and then at the customers still at the cafe; they were looking at them, anger evident in their faces. Some of them looked fairly amused, though. The boys looked at each other and a smile crept to both their faces, both of them knowing they were thinking the same ting.

Both males turned around and bowed to the guests, before they apologised to miss Yun for the mess they have made.

Sehun and Jongin helped each other bring the cafe to its original state and when Sehun was about to leave, Jongin held him back and stepped so near that only Sehun could hear what he said.

“I have not forgiven you just yet,” he said through gritted teeth.

Sehun just smiled and leaned in as well and whispered back, “But it was totally worth it!”

★

“YOU, Kim Jongdae, you are so ing dead right now!!!” Jongin shouted when he entered the volleyball field, spotting Jongdae joking around with Chanyeol and Luhan.

After sitting in the cafe and trying to figure out where the hell the cockroach came from, he remembered the grin on Jongdae’s face as they entered their last class together, and knowing Jongdae, there was no doubt on who was the mastermind behind everything.

“Oops, gotta go,” Jongdae said to his team mates, a grin on his face, and started sprinting around the field; Jongin close behind.

“Just you wait until I get you, you are so going to regret playing that trick on me!” Jongin shouted, only getting Jongdae to laugh at him.

“Like you are going to be able to catch me; I am the best runner among us after all!” he shouted back, laughing even more.

That didn’t calm Jongin at all, if not, it only fed his anger and made him run even faster. Jongdae was starting to get a bit nervous as the younger started to catch up to him. When Jongin was so close that he was just within reach, Jongdae started thinking that maybe it wasn’t that great idea still.


“What on earth is going on here?” a deep voice called out, making both males to stop in their track and turn to the tall guy standing in the door opening. He didn’t look amused, like not at all.

The leader of the volleyball team, Kris, looked at every member, trying to find someone who could answer his question; they, however, all looked down, not wanting to meet his gaze.

That guy is scary.

“Coach told me to take care of the training for today, and when I left you, I told you children to warm up. What do I find you doing when I come back? Running around like you’re monkeys?” he asked, gaze stern.

It was a funny thing with Kris; he was good and kind, even playful when he was out of the field, but as soon as he was on the field, things changed. He was very set on winning, and demanded that everyone on the team did their best. He could be really scary if he wanted to, and no one dared to go against him.

“Well?” Kris tried again, but the members stayed quiet.

“Okay then. I want you to start running around the field and take a hundred, and I repeat, a hundred sit ups. Then I want you to pair up, two and two, and practice on the drop and roll,” he said, raising his voice. All he got in return were groans and displeased sounds from everyone that was in the room.

“When you don’t do as I tell you to, it’s only fair,” he said with finality. Slowly, the boys got on their feet and started running around the field, seeing as no one wanted to see what happened if they didn’t do as he said. Jongin had not gotten his revenge just yet, but decided he could get back at Jongdae when he didn’t expect it. He had plenty of time.

You are so going to pay for that later!


★


“Ohh,” Jongin groaned in pain. Kris had put them trough one hell of a practice, and all the boys would be suffering from sour and stiff muscles the next two following days because of it.

You should never make Kris mad! Never ever ever ever, ever.

He walked into Nevermore and spotted Sehun at their table right away, waiting for him to come in. Sehun had finished his shift an hour ago, and was now waiting for their evening meet up. Jongin sat down in the chair and took the cookie which Sehun pushed at him. The cookie tasted delicious, as always, and Jongin made a pleased sound, sinking down into the chair.  

“So how was practice?” Sehun asked, as he always did whenever he knew Jongin was coming from there.

“Kris was not in a good mood today,” Jongin mumbled sadly, and took another bite of the cookie.

“Ahh, I see,” Sehun smiled, knowing exactly what that meant.

Jongin ate the last bite and made another satisfied sound in the back of his throat. Then he noticed the newspaper in front of Sehun, and nodded, “Have you read it already?”.

Sehun just shook his head. Jongin narrowed his eyes at him, before he shook his head as well.

That , always waiting!

“Then read it already, I am tired and want to leave!” he complained in his childish voice.

Sehun raised his eyebrows and smiled before he started to leaf trough the paper until he found what he was looking for.

He went silent for a minute as he read the few lines standing there, before he looked up and smiled approvingly at his friend.

“It’s nice. You have really done a god job with this one!” he said, referring to the thing he just read.

“Yeah, I know,” Jongin said smugly. Sehun only rolled his eyes at him, and kicked him in the shin; a revenge from last time.

“But it isn’t just a tiny bit....”

“No,” Jongin cut him off. Sehun looked at Jongin for a few seconds, before he laughed and  shrugged it off. He just had to when he got the chance. (He...he...)

Jongin sniffed as he stood up again. “But yeah, gotta go heal my sorry muscles,” Sehun snorted, “so talk to you tomorrow, yeah?” he said with a smile. His best friend nodded and smiled at him, and with that they said their final good byes, and Jongin walked out of the cafe again.

A snowflake landed on his nose, and he smiled widely as he thought back at his column. Yes, he had definitely done a good job this week!

★★★

“A snowflake, just a simple snowflake falling from the sky. It looks so unique where is rocks back and forth in the wind, but as soon as it lands on the ground, you can’t find the snowflake anymore. Because the ground is covered with millions of snowflakes.
Sure you can look after it, but after a while you will forget how the snowflake even looked like, and then you will just give up, thinking a snowflake it’s just a snowflake.

Then why is a snowflake giving a child so much joy? There are millions of them to pick among, and still that one snowflake, that's the one the child wants to hold and protect.

Why can’t we find such joy in a simple little snowflake?”

★