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English
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Published:
2019-09-01
Updated:
2019-09-19
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3,818
Chapters:
3/?
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You're Insufferable

Chapter 3: THIRD

Summary:

A rivalry begins.

Notes:

I wanted to finish chapter four before I posted this. I have written 76 words and I give up.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Taeyong’s on his usual late shift at the café when The Devil Himself strides in wearing an orange hoodie with multiple multi-coloured drawstrings and similarly orange polarised wraparound sunglasses not sitting properly on his nose. He was colour coordinated, but his outfit was ugly.

It had been hardly a week since he bumped into Jyani from EXO at the gallery. Definitely not long enough.

“I’ll have an iced americano with exactly six and a half shots,” he says before Taeyong can even greet him. He didn’t even bother being polite. (He does look exhausted, but Taeyong thinks he doesn’t deserve the sympathy.)

“And that’s for Seo Youngho?”

“Oh, so you remember me now?”

Taeyong scowled at him. “Or are you going by a different name, today?”

Jyani from EXO glared back. “Yes, actually. Put it under Park Chanyeol.”

“If you say so.” Taeyong punches the new name into the customer search. He’s tired. It’s half past one in the morning. He doesn’t want to play whatever game Jyani from EXO thinks he’s playing. 

“Do you know who that is?”

Taeyong looks up. “Who?” 

“Park Chanyeol.”

Taeyong barely gives it a thought. “No.”

“How do you… do you not know EXO?”

“I know EXO exists.”

“Okay.” Jyani from EXO presses his hands together. “You know our songs, right? Monster? Growl?” 

“No english,” Taeyong replies in terrible english. 

“Oh my god.” 

“Why’s it such a big deal to you that I don’t know who you or Park Chanyeol are? Like, how important are you?”

Jyani from EXO splutters? “Very important! Everyone knows who we are!”

“I don’t.”

“You’re the only person I’ve met who doesn’t!” 

Taeyong rolls his eyes. “Maybe if EXO actually contributed something worthwhile to society, I’d know who you are. Until then…”

“We contribute to society! People love our music! And we got #goatchallenge trending twice!”

Taeyong doesn’t know what #goatchallenge is, and he’s not sure he wants to have the conversation where he learns what it is. “I don’t care about trends. Mass attention cheapens the significance of an event. It’s not special when it’s trendy.”

Jyani from EXO stares back at Taeyong dumbly. He really does look dumb, with his hideous orange sunglasses sliding down the tip of his suspiciously perfect nose. “That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard.”

The gall. 

The audacity.

Taeyong would kick him out of the café if he could.

“Will your coffee be the only thing for today, Youngho-ssi?” Taeyong asks, customer service voice on. 

“Yes,” Jyani from EXO replies without missing a beat. “But you know how stupid that sounds, right?” 

“It’s not stupid. I’ll have your coffee ready for you soon.”

Jyani from EXO follows Taeyong over to the bar counter. “When something’s popular, it’s popular for a reason. Popularity just justifies its quality.”

“The general public don’t like wasting their energy enjoying things with real meaning. All popularity does is prove it’s meaningless.”

“Are you saying all of the music I make is meaningless, then?” 

“Yes.” 

Jyani from EXO seems to have no response to that other than glaring at Taeyong over the counter. He’s tall, and Taeyong feels towered over and slightly unsafe, but the café has a security cam and he figures he can just leak it to the press if he gets attacked.

“Your iced americano with six and a half shots.”

Jyani from EXO narrows his eyes, glances down at the cup and then back at Taeyong. “Thank you,” he says, snatching the cup away and taking a long sip of the straw. “Taeyong-ssi.”

Taeyong raises an eyebrow. He didn’t expect Jyani from EXO to remember his name. “Youngho-ssi.”

“The other guy who makes coffee is way better, by the way. Yours just tastes like Starbucks.”

Taeyong feels a his chest heat up with anger, but Jyani from EXO is gone before he can reclaim his intellectual high ground.

Jyani from EXO will be back. And Taeyong will get the last word next time.