S P I T F I R E

“Ugh I’m dying for an Iced Americano. Do you want to go get one with me?”

“Depends? You paying?”

He shook his head, “I think you look good no matter what.” he said assuring her with a smile. “Plus a lot of guys like that sweet innocent yet bad girl vibe.” Shi Woo let out a chuckle and nodded his head, “Thanks I’ll need it since I’m up for the main role.”

Dokyoung grinned, eyeing him. “You know, I can’t tell if you actually meant that or if that was just a line. Thank you, though.” She snorted, raising an eyebrow. “Do they? Shit, should have told them to go vote for me when I was on Unpretty Rapstar. Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten second...” She rolled her eyes. “You’re fine. You’ll be fine. I’m sure you;ll get the role.”

“I didn’t think your debut hair was bad at all.” He told her but that was just his personal opinion. He smiled at her question shrugging his shoulders, “Not sure. They’re still confirming casting roles I think.”

“I think the correct response would have been ‘your debut hair wasn’t much worse than it is now’, and to that i’d say ‘the stylists hate me and I look like I’m eight.’” she snorted, shrugging a little. “Ah...well good luck? Break a leg? Thats something you say to actors too, right?”`

“Your opinion is worth it. My stylist said it was in preparation for a role I have coming up.”

“Yea, but my opinion is shit. I thought my debut hairstyle was cute when I had it, and we all know how ridiculous that looked,” the soloist pointed out, shrugging a little. “New role? Anything I would have heard of yet?”

“Writing for tabloids shouldn’t be a legitimate job in the first place. Seriously?” A groan escaped her lips, it was stupid. Normal people could make mistakes and screw up as much as they wanted without having people bring it up five years later even if they hadn’t learned from their mistakes. But if an idol screwed up once and acted like an angel ever since, people would still bring it up and continue to bring it up even after they were 80 and dead. “I’m glad you didn’t the ceo might have killed you if you had. And lord knows the backlash would have been a lot worse. But would it have been worth it to write a diss rap? To let them know they really got under your skin?” A soft sigh escaped her lips, trying to calm herself before she got riled up again as she thought about the stupid comment someone made. “We’re idols, we’re supposed to sit and take all the criticism, hate and whatever else and keep our pretty mouths shut. Honestly, to the fans, we’re not even humans anymore we’re damn robots who aren’t allowed to do anything or feeling anything. All we’re allowed to do is perform for them.” Yuhye rolled her eyes after she mimicked a high pitch voice in her first sentence, as much as she loved her fans and supporters some ‘fans’ out there were too much and put a sour taste in her mouth.

She nodded, shrugging a little. As someone who’d worked pretty closely with the coach, she knew that he was probably the most innocent ex-idol she’d ever met. There was no way Dong Dojin--especially at age fifteen--would have risked getting in a dating scandal, let alone getting caught up in drugs and drinking. She had no doubt that illegal substances were the reason his old group had been torn apart, but she seriously doubted he had anything to do with it. Not that that mattered--people loved gossip. He’d never live it down. It was like an ominous shadow, following him around forever. Dokyoung shrugged. “I’m a rapper. Diss raps are the best part of the job. It’s not like when idols get mad and post stuff on social media or say stuff in interviews--diss raps are part of the culture. Plus I can be as savage as I want to be in a rap and not get in too much trouble, so that’s a bonus.” She crossed her arms across her chest--he diss raps aginst some of the other contestants of the rap survival show were some of her proudest accomplishments. “I'm just glad I’m marketed differently than you. I mean, I still have to watch my mouth, but I don’t have to be as nice as Haven does. I swear, one of these days....one of these days I’m really gonna let loose, regardless of repercussions.....I kinda miss my underground days. It was a lot more fun back then.”

“You’re just a joy and a delight, now aren’t you?” Insoo muttered, eyerolling right back at her. “So what if I don’t stop talking? Neither do you. And, honestly, my voice is a lot more pleasing to the ear than yours is. Sorry. Just the truth. Yours is super nasal-y and high-pitched,” he told her matter-of-factly, shrugging a little bit. “Alright, from the top. We doing it with music yet, or do you still need to get the transitions down?”

“Oh, yeah. An absolute princess--happy attitude and all. You should be forever grateful to whatever supernatural force graced you with my presence.” She snorted, rolling her eyes. “At least mine is unique. You sound exactly like every other pretty little boy band member. There’s nothing special about you. We can do it with music. I’m fine. I don’t need any more help. Especially not from you.”

He lets out a resigned sigh, holding the medium-sized box closer to himself. This is something he’s very excited about so he wants to share with someone who’ll be just as excited “Forget it. Go back to being useless.”

“Don’t get snippy with me, pretty boy. It’s your own damn fault for trying to talk to me when I wasn’t listening,” she replied sharply, crossing her arms across her chest. “I probably have more of a use than you do, so I’d hold your tongue, tough guy.”

“I don’t care if you had won that stupid survival show. I’m still better than you. I can go toe to toe with Eliza Kim, so I’m sure I could kick your ass.” That was stretching it. He was nowhere near Liza’s level. But he was still pretty sure he was better than Dokyoung.

“She must have been going easy on you then, because she’s way better than you are. You’re like.....I dunno. Maybe on Ahki’s level. Whatever level you’re on is nowhere near mine though, champ. I’m much better than you.”

“I still don’t know how I feel about this new hair color.” Shi Woo said turning to look at the other inhabitant in the room. “What do you think of it?”

“It’s not bad, I guess,” Dokyoung said with a little shrug. “I like the brown better. But it’s your hair and I know nothing about this, so I dunno if my opinion is really worth anything..”

A sigh escaped her lips and Yuhye had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the mention of it. “Seriously? Do people not know how to let go? Of course not, these people will find out everything you ever did wrong and hold it against you. It’s ridiculous.” The brunette leaned back in her seat, followed by her crossing her arms as she frowned deeply. “The curse words might have been a tad excessive but seriously, why aren’t the people we were talking to being brought up and called out for their behaviour?

“Nope. If they did, then the tabloids wouldn’t have a job, right? They’ll probably be speculating about Dong Dojin’s mystery drug problems that ruined his group until the end of time,” Dokyoung complained, straightening her bangs and scowling. “I could have used a lot more. And some bigger ones. I think they should count themselves lucky. I didn’t put them in a diss rap by name. I was considering it.” She crossed her arms, mirroring the older woman. “I called them out--I just want to know what was so wrong about that.”

“This doesn’t surprise me. Kids are cute. And Dae is a good kid–he’s pretty well behaved,” Insoo replied proudly, smiling and pulling his knees up to his chest as he rested on the floor. He was pretty sure the first time he’d ever talked to Dokyoung was when he’d been picked to collaborate with her on her most recent single, and it’d been rocky ever since then. She wasn’t the easiest to get along with. “We have the room for another hour. I doubt we’ll need it all, though.”

“Yeah, whatever. I hate kids. But he’s still better than you. You never stop talking, clearly,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes at him. She hadn’t had anyone in mind when she’d requested a male vocalist. She’d just finished the song, and wasn’t acquainted well enough with anyone who was available. So the CEO chose, and while the song was a hit, Dokyoung was kinda done with Insoo. “Right. Let’s run this shit again. The quicker we finish the quicker we can leave.”