Entry #5
Title: Eternal Melody
Pairings: Kyuhyun/Yesung, Kibum/Ahra
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~5490
Chosen Words/Color: Blue {glass, puddles}
Synopsis: Kyuhyun loves music, ever since his fingers first touched those piano keys.
“Kyuhyun?” a woman calls softly. It was the middle of the night, and she heard something coming from the family room downstairs. “Dear, is that you?” She peers into the family room and sees her seven year old son sitting at the piano, a blank expression on his face. “Honey, what are you doing up?” she asks her son.
He looks up at her with big, innocent eyes. “I couldn’t sleep,” he says softly as his mother joins him on the piano bench. “There was noise going through my ears.” Kyuhyun’s mother looks confused. She hadn’t heard anything.
“Do you want to try to play the piano?” she asks, wrapping an arm around her son and putting him on her lap. Kyuhyun reaches out with short arms, and delicately lays his small hands on the piano. “Just press down on the keys and they make music.”
“Music?” Kyuhyun asks as he presses down on an A key. “What’s music mommy?” His other hand rises to the piano and gently rests there.
“Music is a wonderful sound that people enjoy listening to,” Kyuhyun’s mother says, hugging her son tightly. Kyuhyun’s fingers gently dance across the keys, creating the beginning of a soft lullaby by sheer chance. “Just like that, Kyuhyunnie.”
“I can make music?” Kyuhyun asks, eyes widening as he stares at his fingers moving across the keyboard on their own.
“You can make anything you want with those hands.”
* * * * *
“What on earth is that noise?” Kyuhyun’s father demands one day. Kyuhyun is sitting on his mother’s lap again, and is playing the piano. His mother is ecstatic that Kyuhyun is so enraptured by music, as she is a musician herself. Ahra is sitting on the piano bench as well, watching her brother curiously.
“Look, dear, Kyuhyunnie is playing piano,” his mother says, as Kyuhyun plays a soft ballad across the smooth white and black. The grand piano is a smooth black, glossy and has a white cloth draped over it. “Doesn’t it sound beautiful?”
Kyuhyun’s father slid onto the piano bench and softly stroked Kyuhyun’s hair. “Very,” he murmurs, wrapping his arm around his small little family. He presses a kiss to each of their heads, as they listen to the soothing melody.
* * * * *
When Kyuhyun’s mother dies, he’s asked to play at her funeral. His father watches with cold, hard eyes as Kyuhyun stumbles to the piano, and sits there, unsure. Ahra stands up and walks over, lifting the ten year old into her own lap and wrapping an arm around his waist. Kyuhyun casts another nervous glance at his father, before resting his fingers on the piano keys.
He starts off softly, letting his fingers warm up. Everybody stops the murmurs of murder, blood, broken glass, and pity, to see the little boy playing piano. Kyuhyun takes a deep breath as he mentally composes a rest in the piece. Then he begins again, with a more cheerful pace. He smiles as he remembers his mother’s smile.
Ahra hugs his waist tighter, resting her chin on Kyuhyun’s shoulder. Kyuhyun feels tears splash onto his shoulder as his fingers laid out a composition, letting the music his mother loved so much flow from him. His piece slowed down as he thought of what came next in his mother’s life, and decided to depict a marriage. He melted in a bridge to slowly take them to a wedding sound.
Kyuhyun looks up at his father’s balled fists, the agonized look on his face as he remembers his wife’s beautiful spirit. Kyuhyun tones down the sound, and brings the song to a sad melody, before finally ending it with a ritardando.
Kyuhyun turns in his sister’s lap and wraps his arms around her neck, letting the tears fall onto her neck as he quietly cried. Ahra rubbed her cheek against her brother’s comfortingly, always the stronger of the two. Their father sat there, head in his hands as he forced tears not to flow.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun is playing in the garden with Ahra when he’s twelve, when he looks up and sees the blue expanse of sky. His memories instantly flash back to seeing his mother in a sky-blue dress, holding a white sunhat and calling to Ahra and himself. Kyuhyun quickly runs back inside, and finds himself sitting at a piano again.
He hadn’t played since the funeral.
Ahra quickly dashes inside, and sits beside Kyuhyun as he starts to play. For some reason, Ahra pictures their mother as Kyuhyun plays. She pictures their mother crouching down and welcoming them home from school.
The front door opens and closes again. Ahra calls to their father, excited that Kyuhyun is playing again. Kyuhyun’s father freezes when he hears the music, sees his son, thinks of his ex-wife on their marriage day. He strides over and rips Kyuhyun off the piano bench, and shouts, “Don’t play that!”
Kyuhyun looks up with bewildered eyes. He can’t stop the next words out of his mouth. “But why?”
Kyuhyun’s father answers only with a resounding smack to the young boy’s cheek. Kyuhyun just stands there, shocked. Ahra rushes to her brother, watching as the sensitive skin on his cheek turns red, and then faintly purplish. “What did Kyuhyun do wrong?” Ahra screams to her father.
“He shouldn’t play piano anymore!” Kyuhyun’s father roars back. He has his fists against the wall, trembling as he remembers the beautiful memories with his wife. “Never touch that piano again, you hear me?” he shouts.
Kyuhyun just lets his sister hug him tightly, pulling him to her room upstairs as she calls her friends, his friends, and asks anybody if they could stay the night. He curls into a ball on her bed as she packs their things into bags, before shouting to their father they’re going to sleep over at a friend’s house.
Ahra pulls her brother out of the house, avoiding her father’s trembling form, and rushes down the street to her friend Seisee’s house. She had a younger brother around Kyuhyun’s age.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun sits at home, doing his homework while eating a sandwich. Ahra hadn’t come home yet from school, she was playing a sport there. Kyuhyun cocks his head as he does mental math in his head, before writing down an answer.
When the door opens, his heart starts to beat faster as his father comes in. He forces a trembling smile to solidify, before welcoming home the elder male. His father moves towards him, and sits down on a chair beside his. He says hello back to Kyuhyun, and Kyuhyun smells one of the oddest things.
His father looks at him with dilated pupils, eyes half-closed. Kyuhyun offers him a cup of water, which his father accepts. Kyuhyun goes back to doing his homework as his father watches him, sipping at the water in his glass. His hands are trembling, and his breath still smells odd to Kyuhyun.
Ahra comes home soon enough, jogging through the door with a bounce in her step. “I’m home!” she calls, before going over to the table. She peers over her brother’s shoulder at the math he’s doing, and smiles. Kyuhyun tilts his head and smiles happily at his sister in response.
Their father suddenly explodes. Ahra moves just in time to capture her brother in her arms and yank him away as the oldest male smashes his cup on the table. Glass shards fly everywhere as he screams in agony again. Ahra starts screaming at her father. “You just threw a glass cup right at where Kyuhyun was sitting!” she cries, as their father moves away from the table. “What’s wrong with you?”
Kyuhyun’s expression is one of pure terror, and confusion as well as he watches a tiny bead of blood appear on his sister’s cheek. He wipes it off hastily as their father collapses to the ground, his back leaning against the wall. He cups his face in his hands as he screams again, and Kyuhyun presses himself closer to his sister.
“He’s so much like her,” their father whispers. “So much like your mother, Ahra. It’s not fair how she died.” Ahra’s expression softens, but is still guarded. “I… I should have been home that day. I should have protected her; she shouldn’t have died that day.”
Kyuhyun listens to his father break down, and follows as Ahra slowly leads them over. They all sit on the ground, backs to the walls, and just let the tears flow. They stare at the stain left on the floor by blood, the shrine they had created in memory of the precious woman, and just let the tears flow. Soon, they can’t see anything anymore as the tears blur their vision and they just let themselves fall to pieces to get it all out.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun watches as the movers heave all of the heavy boxes containing his possessions into a truck. He turns around and stares at all the memories filled in a house he’s lived in for so long. He was raised in this house, and now it was his time to raise himself in his own apartment.
He was taking a physics major at a university in Seoul. He’d wanted to take a music major, but he hadn’t played the piano in so long. He wasn’t sure if he even remembered what the keys sounded like, or the feel of their smoothness beneath his finger pads.
“Kyuhyun.” Kyuhyun turns around to face his father. “I want you to take the piano.” Kyuhyun’s eyes widen considerably. His father loves that piano, but hates when someone would play it. “I… I think you would like having it more than I would.”
Kyuhyun bows his head, before his father pulls him into a hug. “F-father?” Kyuhyun stutters.
“I’m sorry,” is all his father says, before looking at the movers. “Please also take the piano.” And they did.
Kyuhyun looks up to the sky, and lets a tear fall from his eye. He’s heard music going through his ears for years now, and yearned to just let his hands dance across those keys once more, to let the music flow from his mind to reality. When the time came, he pulls himself away from his father and goes with the movers to his new apartment.
Along the way, he yells for them to stop the truck. There was a perfectly good grand piano for sale, and he could afford it. It’s cheap, the wood worn in some places and it didn’t have a glossy sheen. However, Kyuhyun takes it and the movers kindly move it into the truck.
When they arrive at Kyuhyun’s new apartment on the first floor, he places the two pianos in the main room. Kyuhyun thanks them, and falls onto his new couch in his new living room in his new apartment in his new town.
He lets out a sigh, before his head turns to the new piano, strange and foreign. He thinks it’s a nice touch, but needs some work. Ignoring his urge to just adapt to his new environment, Kyuhyun walks out the door and goes to buy some paint.
When he comes home, he sets to work immediately. First, he applies a strong coat of glassy white to the main part of the piano, before covering it with a sealant. He stands back and lets himself be proud for a few minutes, before an odd feeling comes over him.
Kyuhyun glances to the windows, and curses as he realizes he didn’t open them. He tries to grasp onto something, but the paint fumes have gotten to his head. He protests vaguely as his body falls backwards and hits the floor with a soft thump he never heard.
When Kyuhyun wakes up, it’s because of someone shaking him. His eyes struggle to open as a pounding headache sets in. “Hey, wake up.” A voice says. Kyuhyun finally convinces his eyelids to lift, and sees another male face, with shaggy brown hair plopped on his head. “Are you okay?” The man says.
“I’m, err, fine,” Kyuhyun says. He sits up, patting his head as he looks to the other. “I’m Kyuhyun,” he introduces himself. “Who are you?”
“They call me Yesung.”
* * * * *
Kyuhyun learns many things about Yesung as they sit on the couch, windows fully opened and eating some dinner Kyuhyun bought beforehand to stock his fridge with. He learns that Yesung is a singer like him, though Kyuhyun wasn’t going to reveal that. He learns that Yesung is his neighbor, he has three turtles, and his real name is Jongwoon. He learns that Yesung is in the same music class as he is, one of the classes he sneaked into his agenda when his father wasn’t looking.
Kyuhyun knows that Yesung has learned nothing about him.
“Thanks again for shaking me awake,” Kyuhyun says as Yesung is at the door, ready to leave. The elder smiles at him-Kyuhyun learns that Yesung is older than him when they wonder what to call each other, dongsaeng or hyung-and bids him farewell, walking right across the hall to his own apartment.
Kyuhyun turns around, and picks up his paintbrush again. He carefully paints each of the dusty white keys with a jet black, and then each of the faded black keys a snow-white. He completes the piano key paint coat with a sealant, and something extra to really make them shine.
He wipes the sweat off his forehead as he glances to the clock. It’s some time in the early morning. Kyuhyun decides that he’ll try the piano in the morning, before he leaves for classes. He cleans up his work area, takes a relaxing shower, and slips into bed, music flowing through his mind.
When he wakes up, he smiles wide as his eyes slowly open. He throws on some jeans and a t-shirt, before making his way to the piano. First, he sits down at his mother’s piano and plays the song he composed at her funeral note for note, completely memorized despite not playing a piano for eight years. He simply remembers, the music is like her smile. He could never forget it.
After the song is completed, ended with a familiar, soft ritardando, Kyuhyun slowly makes his way to sit on his own piano. It’s the exact opposite of his mother’s sleek, black grand piano. His is a pristine white, the white keys and black keys opposite in color.
Kyuhyun’s hands are almost trembling as he lays them on top of the keys. He hesitantly presses down on one key at a time, before the familiar noise fills him and he lets his fingers waltz as one with the music. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back slightly, feeling light as a feather as all of his troubles are erased in music.
When he brings the song to a stop, it’s because he hears the door. Kyuhyun quickly shuts the piano cover, and grabs his book bag before rushing to the door. Upon opening it, he sees Yesung with a smile on his face. “Ready to go to class?” The other asks.
Kyuhyun smiles and shuts the door, running to class with Yesung.
* * * * *
When class is finished, Kyuhyun stands up and stretches just as his phone rings. Yesung comes over just as Kyuhyun flips open his phone. “Hey, Kyuhyun, would you want to hang out today?” Yesung asks with a smile.
Kyuhyun smiles at him. “Hello?” he says into the phone, nodding at the same time to answer his new friend’s request. They begin walking towards the apartment.
“Kyuhyun?” Kyuhyun hears Ahra’s ragged voice over the phone, her voice breaking. Kyuhyun is immediately alert, asking his precious older sister what’s wrong. “It’s… It’s Dad.” She pauses in the call to let out a wail, before there is another male’s voice.
“Ahra? Ahra!” Kyuhyun cries into the phone.
Another male answers instead of his sister. “I’m sorry; this is Ahra’s boyfriend, Kibum.” Kyuhyun could hear Ahra’s sniffles, and Kibum’s murmured apologies. “I’m so sorry, but we had to call to inform you that your father died last night.” Kyuhyun froze up as he heard the words.
He doesn’t know what to do as Kibum keeps talking. He can’t hear the words, can’t hear Yesung asking him what’s wrong. He snaps the phone shut and runs. He runs as fast as he can, feeling rain begin to pour down on him. He can hear Yesung’s voice behind him, never fading. Kyuhyun runs and bursts into his apartment building, before rushing into his own apartment and throwing his book bag down.
He crosses the room in a few strides, before shoving his head out the window, rain drenching the back of his head as he screams, his knees buckling and falling to the floor. Yesung’s voice is still there, there are hands on his shoulders. His head doesn’t feel quite as wet anymore, water dripping down from his hair to the ground.
Kyuhyun stares blankly at the little puddles, reflecting the soft blue of his walls. There’s Yesung, gently pulling him up to his feet, and seating them on his couch. Yesung closes the windows, and Kyuhyun watches. Eventually, Yesung just stands before him. “Are you okay?” he asks.
Kyuhyun just continues to stare at him, his mind gone. Yesung sighs and turns around to sit at Kyuhyun’s piano, the one that had reverse keys. The other seems a little surprised at the piano key colors, but shrugs and sits down anyway. Kyuhyun watches as Yesung’s fingers glide across the keys, creating music so pure, so melodious, Kyuhyun feels his heart beat a little faster.
Kyuhyun sits on the couch a little longer, before standing and moving to sit beside Yesung on the piano bench. He shakes uncertainly as he leans his head on Yesung’s shoulder, and lets the tears flow from his eyes. Yesung continues playing, a ballad that Kyuhyun would have loved to sing. He plays for a few more minutes, before bringing the song to an end. Yesung lets his head fall against Kyuhyun’s as he turns slightly, hands awkwardly placed in his lap. “Are you okay?” He asks again.
Kyuhyun wraps his arms around Yesung’s neck, feeling like a lost little boy again as Yesung asks his question. He can feel himself trembling, but he ignores it as Yesung gently places an arm around Kyuhyun’s waist. “I will be,” Kyuhyun says as he closes his eyes. “I made a mistake, though. I have to change it.”
“Will you?” Yesung asks softly, eyes focusing on the reverse piano keys.
Kyuhyun doesn’t answer.
* * * * *
When Kyuhyun goes to his next class, it’s stopped raining. Yesung leads him back to the university campus, walking beside him assuredly. Kyuhyun stops when he reaches a large puddle on the ground, and looks down. Yesung stops and backtracks a little, staring into the pond with Kyuhyun. “What do you see?” Yesung asks.
“I…” Kyuhyun looks into the puddle for a long time, before glancing at Yesung’s reflection in the puddle. “I see us,” he says flatly. Yesung smiles, and then Kyuhyun does too. “I see us smiling,” he says next. “I see the sky, the color my mother’s dress, the white of the piano…” Kyuhyun glances to Yesung’s smiling face again. “I see music, I suppose,” he tries.
Yesung stares down before turning to Kyuhyun. “Did you learn piano?” he asks. Kyuhyun contemplates the answer for half a second before shaking his head no. He never learned piano, he merely plays.
“So what do you see?” Kyuhyun asks. Yesung looks down into the puddle and cocks his head to the side.
“I see us, just like you do,” he says with a smile. “And I see you smiling.”
They walk to the university campus in silence, but Kyuhyun can’t help but smile the whole way. Yesung slips his hand into Kyuhyun’s and Kyuhyun smiles a wider. He’s lost so much today, but he feels like he’s gained even more.
* * * * *
When class ends for the day and Kyuhyun goes home, He sees Yesung right outside the doors. Kyuhyun smiles as he jogs over to Yesung, and invites him over for dinner. Yesung grins, and they walk home together. Along the way, Kyuhyun suddenly stops and runs into a store, leaving Yesung for a second before the other follows suit. “Kyuhyun?” Yesung says as they enter the shop.
Kyuhyun walks around, staring at the various objects. They’re all fragile figurines, intricately made and painted. Kyuhyun smiles at them, bending down to get a better look. Kyuhyun picks one up gently in his hands as Yesung comes over. It’s a clear, glass piano. There’s a glass woman on the piano bench, not painted. Kyuhyun smiles and stands up to pay for it.
Yesung gives him an odd look. “You really like pianos, don’t you?” he asks. Kyuhyun gives him a soft smile.
“They remind me of my late mother,” Kyuhyun says, and Yesung’s expression instantly softens. Kyuhyun pays for the small glass piano and takes it home in a bag.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun sits with Yesung on the couch, watching TV on the weekend. Kyuhyun slumps over and leans his head on Yesung’s shoulder. The elder had stayed the night, and almost every night as they mourned Kyuhyun’s father, visited Ahra at the funeral, and listened as Yesung played beautiful ballads on the piano.
Yesung wraps an arm around Kyuhyun’s shoulder, pulling them close as they watch a pointless movie. “Say, how about I teach you how to play piano?” Yesung asks. Kyuhyun looks up.
“I know how to play piano,” Kyuhyun says. Yesung looks surprised, and a little confused.
“I thought you said you didn’t learn how?” Kyuhyun nods. “Then how do you know how to play piano?” Yesung asks.
“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun says, sitting up and moving to the piano. He seats himself at his mother’s piano, and feels the nostalgic feeling of her arms around his waist as he sat on her lap. “I just play, like this.”
Kyuhyun’s fingers flow effortlessly over the keys, pressing down a chord with his left as the other danced a trill. His foot presses down on the damper pedal, letting the notes mold against each other, melting into a single melodious sound as Kyuhyun closes his eyes, his body rocking back and forth as he listens to the music he created.
Yesung sits down and watches with wide eyes as Kyuhyun plays a completely new song with his eyes closed, body rocking as the feeling of composing overtook him. The song was short, and Kyuhyun ends it with a chord matching the key he was playing randomly in, before opening his eyes slowly and glancing to Yesung’s shocked expression. “That was amazing,” Yesung murmurs.
“Thank you,” Kyuhyun says with a smile. Yesung pulls Kyuhyun’s head against his shoulder, and Kyuhyun lets his body relax as the two sit there. Yesung still has music sliding through his head, as he begins to sing a song he’s played several times on the piano.
Kyuhyun’s head slowly lifts up, as his hands instinctively move to the piano keys. Yesung doesn’t falter in his singing as Kyuhyun picks up the song on the piano keys, Yesung’s voice molding perfectly as Kyuhyun sways back and forth. They perform their personal duet, filing the entire apartment with serenity that didn’t belong in the busy city.
When Yesung fades away, Kyuhyun continues with the piano, too enraptured in the sound. When he feels a hand on his shoulder, his fingers slowly fade the song away, eyes opening to see Yesung’s beautiful eyes staring at him. “Kyuhyun,” the other says softly, cupping his face.
Kyuhyun looks so unsure as Yesung moves closer, before pressing their lips together. Kyuhyun protests a little at first, it’s his first kiss to be honest. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, but Yesung seems to. Kyuhyun lets the other control the kiss as Kyuhyun wraps his arms around Yesung’s neck. “Jongwoon,” he murmurs softly into the other’s mouth.
They break away from the kiss, seeking oxygen, but wanting each other more. Kyuhyun sees Yesung’s eyes filled with a faraway look, as they both fight to catch their breath. “You said you made a mistake,” Yesung says after a few seconds. “Are you still going to fix it?”
Kyuhyun bits his lip. “I still don’t know,” he says. “Changing this mistake could change my whole life.”
* * * * *
Kyuhyun yearns to sing as he hears Yesung play piano on his reverse piano. He yearns to open his mouth and free the music that is completely his own, not created from a piano key, or from tapping his hands randomly on the table. He wants to use an instrument that plays words with each pitch that can match with Yesung’s as they perform a duet with each other.
One day, Yesung tells him to. “Sing, Kyuhyun,” he murmurs softly, fingers gliding along the keys like they always do, a smooth waltz that professional dancers could not mimic. “Sing for me.”
Kyuhyun opens his mouth, but his vocals close up. He feels his heart threaten to burst as he contains his own music, the instrument completely unique to him, the instrument that is his. Tears prick at his eyes as he realizes this, and his mind desperately tries to remember why this happened. He thinks back to the day his father heard him singing, how he looked just like his mother when she sang, the ache of his entire stomach afterwards. The broken glass on the floor and the puddles of blood as his father smashed a mirror with his bare fist.
Kyuhyun throws his arms around Yesung, letting tears flow down his face as they melt into Yesung’s shirt. “Jongwoon, I want to sing,” he cries into the shoulder. “I want to so much, my heart feels like it’s burning. Why won’t my voice sing?” He asks this, but knows the answer.
As Yesung ends the music, Kyuhyun remembers his father’s stinging words. “Stop making music!” his father had cried. Yesung captures Kyuhyun’s chin delicately between his index finger and thumb, tilting the tearstained face to look at his own.
Kyuhyun closes his eyes as Yesung gently kisses them, salty tears moving from his cheek to Yesung’s lips. When Yesung pulls away, Kyuhyun almost desperately follows. “Jongwoon,” he whimpers, before pressing his lips against Yesung’s.
Yesung closes his eyes and cups the back of Kyuhyun’s neck as they kiss. They could both taste Kyuhyun’s salty tears, as their sorrowful kiss was filled with wishes.
* * * * *
“Hello?” Kyuhyun was tuning his piano as the phone rang. He looks up as Yesung uses the spare key Kyuhyun gave him to enter the apartment. Yesung had moved in, since his apartment had been just a one room area, and Kyuhyun had some space to spare.
“Hello, Mr. Cho?” the voice on the other line says. “We found a belonging of your late father’s, and your sister said that it would be for you.” Kyuhyun looks interested. “You can pick up the letter from an office at the following address.” Kyuhyun writes down the address the caller gives him, and hangs up.
“Hey, what’s up?” Yesung asks, laying down on the couch and going through some notes he took in one of his classes. “Who called?”
“Someone that found something of my father’s,” Kyuhyun replies. “Will you come with me to get it now?” Yesung nods, and immediately removes his attention from his papers. He stuffs a key into his pocket, and walks out the door hand in hand with Kyuhyun. They walk in a comfortable silence, both of them content merely with being with each other.
As they walk into a building a few blocks down, Kyuhyun looks around before a man spots him. “Ah, Mr. Cho?” The man asks. Kyuhyun nods, and walks up to the desk as the man hands him a note. “This is for you.”
Kyuhyun thanks the man, before opening the small envelope and reading what was written on the paper.
Kyuhyun, I write this as you are driving to your new apartment. Those words I said so long ago, they sting even me. I know you remember those words, because your voice is restricted from music because of me. I hated listening to your music before, when the wound was so raw from our loss. However, I’ve come to realize that you are a musician.
Kyuhyun jerks his head back away from the letter as he reads. He’s stunned, and moves to sit down in the waiting room with Yesung to continue reading. Yesung lets Kyuhyun sit in his lap as the younger reads the letter his father addressed to him.
I was wrong when I said you should stop making music. Ahra showed me a music clip of your music before, and I have to say, you never learned formally how to play the piano, yet your musical soul can compensate for that. You have all your raw talent built up within you, and all I’ve done is restrain it. Son, you have no idea how sorry I feel.
Kyuhyun bows his head for a few moments, trying not to let warning tears escape from his eyes. His father’s handwriting was growing more and more messy, and there were teardrops dappling the page.
Make music, my son. You may have a brilliant mind for math and science, but your spirit says otherwise. You were not meant to pursue business, you were meant to become a musician and touch the hearts of many. Your voice is beautiful even as you speak, it should be able to alternate pitches and create music. Cho Kyuhyun, you are music.
Kyuhyun lets a laugh escape his mouth as he finished reading. “He accepts me,” he whispered. Yesung leaned his head forward to hear the younger. “Jongwoon… My father finally accepts me for what I am.”
Yesung seems to understand the words immediately. He pulls Kyuhyun to his feet and rushes back to the apartment. Kyuhyun understands immediately as they both toss off their jackets, and move to the piano. Yesung’s fingers are already at the keys, dancing the most familiar waltz there was now, in both of their souls.
Kyuhyun opens his mouth, and terror seizes him for a moment. What if his voice couldn’t sing anymore? He might have talent for piano after all this time, but what if his voice is hoarse and scratchy, incapable of music?
Kyuhyun felt Yesung lean against him comfortingly, and he smiles. Kyuhyun opens his mouth again, and just lets the words flow from his vocal chords. He hears the pitch sway up and down as the piano melts with his voice for the first time ever. Kyuhyun sits down on the piano bench and stares at the reverse keys as his voice is joined by another.
Together, Yesung and Kyuhyun mold their voices together. The two sounds entwine together perfectly, their pitches and tones fluctuating in sync, completely understanding of the other’s voice.
Kyuhyun lets tears fall down his cheeks again after the song is finished, and Yesung pulls him to their room. Kyuhyun let’s Yesung’s name escape from him so many times as they become one, sealing themselves together forever. Kyuhyun’s name dances on Yesung’s own tongue as they fumble together for the first time under navy covers and a perfectly clear sky blue in the window.
Afterwards, Kyuhyun lies on the bed and lets Yesung sing softly to him, before exchanging his own words. He looks out the window and smiles as he sees the sky blue of the world, the sky blue of his mother’s dress he remembers so well, the sky blue that was reflected in that puddle of water when he saw Yesung smile for the first time.
“You said you made a mistake,” Yesung whispers again for the third time since they met. “Are you going to change it?”
Kyuhyun thinks about how long it takes to go to the university campus and change his business major to a music major, forever sealing his future on the firm path of the beautiful music his soul dances to with only one other. Kyuhyun thinks about how he and Yesung mold together perfectly in every sense there is. He thinks about the elation that washes over him every time he creates his own composition, how it would feel to share every one of those with Yesung. How it would feel to spend forever with Yesung, letting their music flow through their world.
“Yes,” Kyuhyun whispers, and Yesung smiles.
Pairings: Kyuhyun/Yesung, Kibum/Ahra
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~5490
Chosen Words/Color: Blue {glass, puddles}
Synopsis: Kyuhyun loves music, ever since his fingers first touched those piano keys.
“Kyuhyun?” a woman calls softly. It was the middle of the night, and she heard something coming from the family room downstairs. “Dear, is that you?” She peers into the family room and sees her seven year old son sitting at the piano, a blank expression on his face. “Honey, what are you doing up?” she asks her son.
He looks up at her with big, innocent eyes. “I couldn’t sleep,” he says softly as his mother joins him on the piano bench. “There was noise going through my ears.” Kyuhyun’s mother looks confused. She hadn’t heard anything.
“Do you want to try to play the piano?” she asks, wrapping an arm around her son and putting him on her lap. Kyuhyun reaches out with short arms, and delicately lays his small hands on the piano. “Just press down on the keys and they make music.”
“Music?” Kyuhyun asks as he presses down on an A key. “What’s music mommy?” His other hand rises to the piano and gently rests there.
“Music is a wonderful sound that people enjoy listening to,” Kyuhyun’s mother says, hugging her son tightly. Kyuhyun’s fingers gently dance across the keys, creating the beginning of a soft lullaby by sheer chance. “Just like that, Kyuhyunnie.”
“I can make music?” Kyuhyun asks, eyes widening as he stares at his fingers moving across the keyboard on their own.
“You can make anything you want with those hands.”
* * * * *
“What on earth is that noise?” Kyuhyun’s father demands one day. Kyuhyun is sitting on his mother’s lap again, and is playing the piano. His mother is ecstatic that Kyuhyun is so enraptured by music, as she is a musician herself. Ahra is sitting on the piano bench as well, watching her brother curiously.
“Look, dear, Kyuhyunnie is playing piano,” his mother says, as Kyuhyun plays a soft ballad across the smooth white and black. The grand piano is a smooth black, glossy and has a white cloth draped over it. “Doesn’t it sound beautiful?”
Kyuhyun’s father slid onto the piano bench and softly stroked Kyuhyun’s hair. “Very,” he murmurs, wrapping his arm around his small little family. He presses a kiss to each of their heads, as they listen to the soothing melody.
* * * * *
When Kyuhyun’s mother dies, he’s asked to play at her funeral. His father watches with cold, hard eyes as Kyuhyun stumbles to the piano, and sits there, unsure. Ahra stands up and walks over, lifting the ten year old into her own lap and wrapping an arm around his waist. Kyuhyun casts another nervous glance at his father, before resting his fingers on the piano keys.
He starts off softly, letting his fingers warm up. Everybody stops the murmurs of murder, blood, broken glass, and pity, to see the little boy playing piano. Kyuhyun takes a deep breath as he mentally composes a rest in the piece. Then he begins again, with a more cheerful pace. He smiles as he remembers his mother’s smile.
Ahra hugs his waist tighter, resting her chin on Kyuhyun’s shoulder. Kyuhyun feels tears splash onto his shoulder as his fingers laid out a composition, letting the music his mother loved so much flow from him. His piece slowed down as he thought of what came next in his mother’s life, and decided to depict a marriage. He melted in a bridge to slowly take them to a wedding sound.
Kyuhyun looks up at his father’s balled fists, the agonized look on his face as he remembers his wife’s beautiful spirit. Kyuhyun tones down the sound, and brings the song to a sad melody, before finally ending it with a ritardando.
Kyuhyun turns in his sister’s lap and wraps his arms around her neck, letting the tears fall onto her neck as he quietly cried. Ahra rubbed her cheek against her brother’s comfortingly, always the stronger of the two. Their father sat there, head in his hands as he forced tears not to flow.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun is playing in the garden with Ahra when he’s twelve, when he looks up and sees the blue expanse of sky. His memories instantly flash back to seeing his mother in a sky-blue dress, holding a white sunhat and calling to Ahra and himself. Kyuhyun quickly runs back inside, and finds himself sitting at a piano again.
He hadn’t played since the funeral.
Ahra quickly dashes inside, and sits beside Kyuhyun as he starts to play. For some reason, Ahra pictures their mother as Kyuhyun plays. She pictures their mother crouching down and welcoming them home from school.
The front door opens and closes again. Ahra calls to their father, excited that Kyuhyun is playing again. Kyuhyun’s father freezes when he hears the music, sees his son, thinks of his ex-wife on their marriage day. He strides over and rips Kyuhyun off the piano bench, and shouts, “Don’t play that!”
Kyuhyun looks up with bewildered eyes. He can’t stop the next words out of his mouth. “But why?”
Kyuhyun’s father answers only with a resounding smack to the young boy’s cheek. Kyuhyun just stands there, shocked. Ahra rushes to her brother, watching as the sensitive skin on his cheek turns red, and then faintly purplish. “What did Kyuhyun do wrong?” Ahra screams to her father.
“He shouldn’t play piano anymore!” Kyuhyun’s father roars back. He has his fists against the wall, trembling as he remembers the beautiful memories with his wife. “Never touch that piano again, you hear me?” he shouts.
Kyuhyun just lets his sister hug him tightly, pulling him to her room upstairs as she calls her friends, his friends, and asks anybody if they could stay the night. He curls into a ball on her bed as she packs their things into bags, before shouting to their father they’re going to sleep over at a friend’s house.
Ahra pulls her brother out of the house, avoiding her father’s trembling form, and rushes down the street to her friend Seisee’s house. She had a younger brother around Kyuhyun’s age.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun sits at home, doing his homework while eating a sandwich. Ahra hadn’t come home yet from school, she was playing a sport there. Kyuhyun cocks his head as he does mental math in his head, before writing down an answer.
When the door opens, his heart starts to beat faster as his father comes in. He forces a trembling smile to solidify, before welcoming home the elder male. His father moves towards him, and sits down on a chair beside his. He says hello back to Kyuhyun, and Kyuhyun smells one of the oddest things.
His father looks at him with dilated pupils, eyes half-closed. Kyuhyun offers him a cup of water, which his father accepts. Kyuhyun goes back to doing his homework as his father watches him, sipping at the water in his glass. His hands are trembling, and his breath still smells odd to Kyuhyun.
Ahra comes home soon enough, jogging through the door with a bounce in her step. “I’m home!” she calls, before going over to the table. She peers over her brother’s shoulder at the math he’s doing, and smiles. Kyuhyun tilts his head and smiles happily at his sister in response.
Their father suddenly explodes. Ahra moves just in time to capture her brother in her arms and yank him away as the oldest male smashes his cup on the table. Glass shards fly everywhere as he screams in agony again. Ahra starts screaming at her father. “You just threw a glass cup right at where Kyuhyun was sitting!” she cries, as their father moves away from the table. “What’s wrong with you?”
Kyuhyun’s expression is one of pure terror, and confusion as well as he watches a tiny bead of blood appear on his sister’s cheek. He wipes it off hastily as their father collapses to the ground, his back leaning against the wall. He cups his face in his hands as he screams again, and Kyuhyun presses himself closer to his sister.
“He’s so much like her,” their father whispers. “So much like your mother, Ahra. It’s not fair how she died.” Ahra’s expression softens, but is still guarded. “I… I should have been home that day. I should have protected her; she shouldn’t have died that day.”
Kyuhyun listens to his father break down, and follows as Ahra slowly leads them over. They all sit on the ground, backs to the walls, and just let the tears flow. They stare at the stain left on the floor by blood, the shrine they had created in memory of the precious woman, and just let the tears flow. Soon, they can’t see anything anymore as the tears blur their vision and they just let themselves fall to pieces to get it all out.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun watches as the movers heave all of the heavy boxes containing his possessions into a truck. He turns around and stares at all the memories filled in a house he’s lived in for so long. He was raised in this house, and now it was his time to raise himself in his own apartment.
He was taking a physics major at a university in Seoul. He’d wanted to take a music major, but he hadn’t played the piano in so long. He wasn’t sure if he even remembered what the keys sounded like, or the feel of their smoothness beneath his finger pads.
“Kyuhyun.” Kyuhyun turns around to face his father. “I want you to take the piano.” Kyuhyun’s eyes widen considerably. His father loves that piano, but hates when someone would play it. “I… I think you would like having it more than I would.”
Kyuhyun bows his head, before his father pulls him into a hug. “F-father?” Kyuhyun stutters.
“I’m sorry,” is all his father says, before looking at the movers. “Please also take the piano.” And they did.
Kyuhyun looks up to the sky, and lets a tear fall from his eye. He’s heard music going through his ears for years now, and yearned to just let his hands dance across those keys once more, to let the music flow from his mind to reality. When the time came, he pulls himself away from his father and goes with the movers to his new apartment.
Along the way, he yells for them to stop the truck. There was a perfectly good grand piano for sale, and he could afford it. It’s cheap, the wood worn in some places and it didn’t have a glossy sheen. However, Kyuhyun takes it and the movers kindly move it into the truck.
When they arrive at Kyuhyun’s new apartment on the first floor, he places the two pianos in the main room. Kyuhyun thanks them, and falls onto his new couch in his new living room in his new apartment in his new town.
He lets out a sigh, before his head turns to the new piano, strange and foreign. He thinks it’s a nice touch, but needs some work. Ignoring his urge to just adapt to his new environment, Kyuhyun walks out the door and goes to buy some paint.
When he comes home, he sets to work immediately. First, he applies a strong coat of glassy white to the main part of the piano, before covering it with a sealant. He stands back and lets himself be proud for a few minutes, before an odd feeling comes over him.
Kyuhyun glances to the windows, and curses as he realizes he didn’t open them. He tries to grasp onto something, but the paint fumes have gotten to his head. He protests vaguely as his body falls backwards and hits the floor with a soft thump he never heard.
When Kyuhyun wakes up, it’s because of someone shaking him. His eyes struggle to open as a pounding headache sets in. “Hey, wake up.” A voice says. Kyuhyun finally convinces his eyelids to lift, and sees another male face, with shaggy brown hair plopped on his head. “Are you okay?” The man says.
“I’m, err, fine,” Kyuhyun says. He sits up, patting his head as he looks to the other. “I’m Kyuhyun,” he introduces himself. “Who are you?”
“They call me Yesung.”
* * * * *
Kyuhyun learns many things about Yesung as they sit on the couch, windows fully opened and eating some dinner Kyuhyun bought beforehand to stock his fridge with. He learns that Yesung is a singer like him, though Kyuhyun wasn’t going to reveal that. He learns that Yesung is his neighbor, he has three turtles, and his real name is Jongwoon. He learns that Yesung is in the same music class as he is, one of the classes he sneaked into his agenda when his father wasn’t looking.
Kyuhyun knows that Yesung has learned nothing about him.
“Thanks again for shaking me awake,” Kyuhyun says as Yesung is at the door, ready to leave. The elder smiles at him-Kyuhyun learns that Yesung is older than him when they wonder what to call each other, dongsaeng or hyung-and bids him farewell, walking right across the hall to his own apartment.
Kyuhyun turns around, and picks up his paintbrush again. He carefully paints each of the dusty white keys with a jet black, and then each of the faded black keys a snow-white. He completes the piano key paint coat with a sealant, and something extra to really make them shine.
He wipes the sweat off his forehead as he glances to the clock. It’s some time in the early morning. Kyuhyun decides that he’ll try the piano in the morning, before he leaves for classes. He cleans up his work area, takes a relaxing shower, and slips into bed, music flowing through his mind.
When he wakes up, he smiles wide as his eyes slowly open. He throws on some jeans and a t-shirt, before making his way to the piano. First, he sits down at his mother’s piano and plays the song he composed at her funeral note for note, completely memorized despite not playing a piano for eight years. He simply remembers, the music is like her smile. He could never forget it.
After the song is completed, ended with a familiar, soft ritardando, Kyuhyun slowly makes his way to sit on his own piano. It’s the exact opposite of his mother’s sleek, black grand piano. His is a pristine white, the white keys and black keys opposite in color.
Kyuhyun’s hands are almost trembling as he lays them on top of the keys. He hesitantly presses down on one key at a time, before the familiar noise fills him and he lets his fingers waltz as one with the music. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back slightly, feeling light as a feather as all of his troubles are erased in music.
When he brings the song to a stop, it’s because he hears the door. Kyuhyun quickly shuts the piano cover, and grabs his book bag before rushing to the door. Upon opening it, he sees Yesung with a smile on his face. “Ready to go to class?” The other asks.
Kyuhyun smiles and shuts the door, running to class with Yesung.
* * * * *
When class is finished, Kyuhyun stands up and stretches just as his phone rings. Yesung comes over just as Kyuhyun flips open his phone. “Hey, Kyuhyun, would you want to hang out today?” Yesung asks with a smile.
Kyuhyun smiles at him. “Hello?” he says into the phone, nodding at the same time to answer his new friend’s request. They begin walking towards the apartment.
“Kyuhyun?” Kyuhyun hears Ahra’s ragged voice over the phone, her voice breaking. Kyuhyun is immediately alert, asking his precious older sister what’s wrong. “It’s… It’s Dad.” She pauses in the call to let out a wail, before there is another male’s voice.
“Ahra? Ahra!” Kyuhyun cries into the phone.
Another male answers instead of his sister. “I’m sorry; this is Ahra’s boyfriend, Kibum.” Kyuhyun could hear Ahra’s sniffles, and Kibum’s murmured apologies. “I’m so sorry, but we had to call to inform you that your father died last night.” Kyuhyun froze up as he heard the words.
He doesn’t know what to do as Kibum keeps talking. He can’t hear the words, can’t hear Yesung asking him what’s wrong. He snaps the phone shut and runs. He runs as fast as he can, feeling rain begin to pour down on him. He can hear Yesung’s voice behind him, never fading. Kyuhyun runs and bursts into his apartment building, before rushing into his own apartment and throwing his book bag down.
He crosses the room in a few strides, before shoving his head out the window, rain drenching the back of his head as he screams, his knees buckling and falling to the floor. Yesung’s voice is still there, there are hands on his shoulders. His head doesn’t feel quite as wet anymore, water dripping down from his hair to the ground.
Kyuhyun stares blankly at the little puddles, reflecting the soft blue of his walls. There’s Yesung, gently pulling him up to his feet, and seating them on his couch. Yesung closes the windows, and Kyuhyun watches. Eventually, Yesung just stands before him. “Are you okay?” he asks.
Kyuhyun just continues to stare at him, his mind gone. Yesung sighs and turns around to sit at Kyuhyun’s piano, the one that had reverse keys. The other seems a little surprised at the piano key colors, but shrugs and sits down anyway. Kyuhyun watches as Yesung’s fingers glide across the keys, creating music so pure, so melodious, Kyuhyun feels his heart beat a little faster.
Kyuhyun sits on the couch a little longer, before standing and moving to sit beside Yesung on the piano bench. He shakes uncertainly as he leans his head on Yesung’s shoulder, and lets the tears flow from his eyes. Yesung continues playing, a ballad that Kyuhyun would have loved to sing. He plays for a few more minutes, before bringing the song to an end. Yesung lets his head fall against Kyuhyun’s as he turns slightly, hands awkwardly placed in his lap. “Are you okay?” He asks again.
Kyuhyun wraps his arms around Yesung’s neck, feeling like a lost little boy again as Yesung asks his question. He can feel himself trembling, but he ignores it as Yesung gently places an arm around Kyuhyun’s waist. “I will be,” Kyuhyun says as he closes his eyes. “I made a mistake, though. I have to change it.”
“Will you?” Yesung asks softly, eyes focusing on the reverse piano keys.
Kyuhyun doesn’t answer.
* * * * *
When Kyuhyun goes to his next class, it’s stopped raining. Yesung leads him back to the university campus, walking beside him assuredly. Kyuhyun stops when he reaches a large puddle on the ground, and looks down. Yesung stops and backtracks a little, staring into the pond with Kyuhyun. “What do you see?” Yesung asks.
“I…” Kyuhyun looks into the puddle for a long time, before glancing at Yesung’s reflection in the puddle. “I see us,” he says flatly. Yesung smiles, and then Kyuhyun does too. “I see us smiling,” he says next. “I see the sky, the color my mother’s dress, the white of the piano…” Kyuhyun glances to Yesung’s smiling face again. “I see music, I suppose,” he tries.
Yesung stares down before turning to Kyuhyun. “Did you learn piano?” he asks. Kyuhyun contemplates the answer for half a second before shaking his head no. He never learned piano, he merely plays.
“So what do you see?” Kyuhyun asks. Yesung looks down into the puddle and cocks his head to the side.
“I see us, just like you do,” he says with a smile. “And I see you smiling.”
They walk to the university campus in silence, but Kyuhyun can’t help but smile the whole way. Yesung slips his hand into Kyuhyun’s and Kyuhyun smiles a wider. He’s lost so much today, but he feels like he’s gained even more.
* * * * *
When class ends for the day and Kyuhyun goes home, He sees Yesung right outside the doors. Kyuhyun smiles as he jogs over to Yesung, and invites him over for dinner. Yesung grins, and they walk home together. Along the way, Kyuhyun suddenly stops and runs into a store, leaving Yesung for a second before the other follows suit. “Kyuhyun?” Yesung says as they enter the shop.
Kyuhyun walks around, staring at the various objects. They’re all fragile figurines, intricately made and painted. Kyuhyun smiles at them, bending down to get a better look. Kyuhyun picks one up gently in his hands as Yesung comes over. It’s a clear, glass piano. There’s a glass woman on the piano bench, not painted. Kyuhyun smiles and stands up to pay for it.
Yesung gives him an odd look. “You really like pianos, don’t you?” he asks. Kyuhyun gives him a soft smile.
“They remind me of my late mother,” Kyuhyun says, and Yesung’s expression instantly softens. Kyuhyun pays for the small glass piano and takes it home in a bag.
* * * * *
Kyuhyun sits with Yesung on the couch, watching TV on the weekend. Kyuhyun slumps over and leans his head on Yesung’s shoulder. The elder had stayed the night, and almost every night as they mourned Kyuhyun’s father, visited Ahra at the funeral, and listened as Yesung played beautiful ballads on the piano.
Yesung wraps an arm around Kyuhyun’s shoulder, pulling them close as they watch a pointless movie. “Say, how about I teach you how to play piano?” Yesung asks. Kyuhyun looks up.
“I know how to play piano,” Kyuhyun says. Yesung looks surprised, and a little confused.
“I thought you said you didn’t learn how?” Kyuhyun nods. “Then how do you know how to play piano?” Yesung asks.
“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun says, sitting up and moving to the piano. He seats himself at his mother’s piano, and feels the nostalgic feeling of her arms around his waist as he sat on her lap. “I just play, like this.”
Kyuhyun’s fingers flow effortlessly over the keys, pressing down a chord with his left as the other danced a trill. His foot presses down on the damper pedal, letting the notes mold against each other, melting into a single melodious sound as Kyuhyun closes his eyes, his body rocking back and forth as he listens to the music he created.
Yesung sits down and watches with wide eyes as Kyuhyun plays a completely new song with his eyes closed, body rocking as the feeling of composing overtook him. The song was short, and Kyuhyun ends it with a chord matching the key he was playing randomly in, before opening his eyes slowly and glancing to Yesung’s shocked expression. “That was amazing,” Yesung murmurs.
“Thank you,” Kyuhyun says with a smile. Yesung pulls Kyuhyun’s head against his shoulder, and Kyuhyun lets his body relax as the two sit there. Yesung still has music sliding through his head, as he begins to sing a song he’s played several times on the piano.
Kyuhyun’s head slowly lifts up, as his hands instinctively move to the piano keys. Yesung doesn’t falter in his singing as Kyuhyun picks up the song on the piano keys, Yesung’s voice molding perfectly as Kyuhyun sways back and forth. They perform their personal duet, filing the entire apartment with serenity that didn’t belong in the busy city.
When Yesung fades away, Kyuhyun continues with the piano, too enraptured in the sound. When he feels a hand on his shoulder, his fingers slowly fade the song away, eyes opening to see Yesung’s beautiful eyes staring at him. “Kyuhyun,” the other says softly, cupping his face.
Kyuhyun looks so unsure as Yesung moves closer, before pressing their lips together. Kyuhyun protests a little at first, it’s his first kiss to be honest. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, but Yesung seems to. Kyuhyun lets the other control the kiss as Kyuhyun wraps his arms around Yesung’s neck. “Jongwoon,” he murmurs softly into the other’s mouth.
They break away from the kiss, seeking oxygen, but wanting each other more. Kyuhyun sees Yesung’s eyes filled with a faraway look, as they both fight to catch their breath. “You said you made a mistake,” Yesung says after a few seconds. “Are you still going to fix it?”
Kyuhyun bits his lip. “I still don’t know,” he says. “Changing this mistake could change my whole life.”
* * * * *
Kyuhyun yearns to sing as he hears Yesung play piano on his reverse piano. He yearns to open his mouth and free the music that is completely his own, not created from a piano key, or from tapping his hands randomly on the table. He wants to use an instrument that plays words with each pitch that can match with Yesung’s as they perform a duet with each other.
One day, Yesung tells him to. “Sing, Kyuhyun,” he murmurs softly, fingers gliding along the keys like they always do, a smooth waltz that professional dancers could not mimic. “Sing for me.”
Kyuhyun opens his mouth, but his vocals close up. He feels his heart threaten to burst as he contains his own music, the instrument completely unique to him, the instrument that is his. Tears prick at his eyes as he realizes this, and his mind desperately tries to remember why this happened. He thinks back to the day his father heard him singing, how he looked just like his mother when she sang, the ache of his entire stomach afterwards. The broken glass on the floor and the puddles of blood as his father smashed a mirror with his bare fist.
Kyuhyun throws his arms around Yesung, letting tears flow down his face as they melt into Yesung’s shirt. “Jongwoon, I want to sing,” he cries into the shoulder. “I want to so much, my heart feels like it’s burning. Why won’t my voice sing?” He asks this, but knows the answer.
As Yesung ends the music, Kyuhyun remembers his father’s stinging words. “Stop making music!” his father had cried. Yesung captures Kyuhyun’s chin delicately between his index finger and thumb, tilting the tearstained face to look at his own.
Kyuhyun closes his eyes as Yesung gently kisses them, salty tears moving from his cheek to Yesung’s lips. When Yesung pulls away, Kyuhyun almost desperately follows. “Jongwoon,” he whimpers, before pressing his lips against Yesung’s.
Yesung closes his eyes and cups the back of Kyuhyun’s neck as they kiss. They could both taste Kyuhyun’s salty tears, as their sorrowful kiss was filled with wishes.
* * * * *
“Hello?” Kyuhyun was tuning his piano as the phone rang. He looks up as Yesung uses the spare key Kyuhyun gave him to enter the apartment. Yesung had moved in, since his apartment had been just a one room area, and Kyuhyun had some space to spare.
“Hello, Mr. Cho?” the voice on the other line says. “We found a belonging of your late father’s, and your sister said that it would be for you.” Kyuhyun looks interested. “You can pick up the letter from an office at the following address.” Kyuhyun writes down the address the caller gives him, and hangs up.
“Hey, what’s up?” Yesung asks, laying down on the couch and going through some notes he took in one of his classes. “Who called?”
“Someone that found something of my father’s,” Kyuhyun replies. “Will you come with me to get it now?” Yesung nods, and immediately removes his attention from his papers. He stuffs a key into his pocket, and walks out the door hand in hand with Kyuhyun. They walk in a comfortable silence, both of them content merely with being with each other.
As they walk into a building a few blocks down, Kyuhyun looks around before a man spots him. “Ah, Mr. Cho?” The man asks. Kyuhyun nods, and walks up to the desk as the man hands him a note. “This is for you.”
Kyuhyun thanks the man, before opening the small envelope and reading what was written on the paper.
Kyuhyun, I write this as you are driving to your new apartment. Those words I said so long ago, they sting even me. I know you remember those words, because your voice is restricted from music because of me. I hated listening to your music before, when the wound was so raw from our loss. However, I’ve come to realize that you are a musician.
Kyuhyun jerks his head back away from the letter as he reads. He’s stunned, and moves to sit down in the waiting room with Yesung to continue reading. Yesung lets Kyuhyun sit in his lap as the younger reads the letter his father addressed to him.
I was wrong when I said you should stop making music. Ahra showed me a music clip of your music before, and I have to say, you never learned formally how to play the piano, yet your musical soul can compensate for that. You have all your raw talent built up within you, and all I’ve done is restrain it. Son, you have no idea how sorry I feel.
Kyuhyun bows his head for a few moments, trying not to let warning tears escape from his eyes. His father’s handwriting was growing more and more messy, and there were teardrops dappling the page.
Make music, my son. You may have a brilliant mind for math and science, but your spirit says otherwise. You were not meant to pursue business, you were meant to become a musician and touch the hearts of many. Your voice is beautiful even as you speak, it should be able to alternate pitches and create music. Cho Kyuhyun, you are music.
Kyuhyun lets a laugh escape his mouth as he finished reading. “He accepts me,” he whispered. Yesung leaned his head forward to hear the younger. “Jongwoon… My father finally accepts me for what I am.”
Yesung seems to understand the words immediately. He pulls Kyuhyun to his feet and rushes back to the apartment. Kyuhyun understands immediately as they both toss off their jackets, and move to the piano. Yesung’s fingers are already at the keys, dancing the most familiar waltz there was now, in both of their souls.
Kyuhyun opens his mouth, and terror seizes him for a moment. What if his voice couldn’t sing anymore? He might have talent for piano after all this time, but what if his voice is hoarse and scratchy, incapable of music?
Kyuhyun felt Yesung lean against him comfortingly, and he smiles. Kyuhyun opens his mouth again, and just lets the words flow from his vocal chords. He hears the pitch sway up and down as the piano melts with his voice for the first time ever. Kyuhyun sits down on the piano bench and stares at the reverse keys as his voice is joined by another.
Together, Yesung and Kyuhyun mold their voices together. The two sounds entwine together perfectly, their pitches and tones fluctuating in sync, completely understanding of the other’s voice.
Kyuhyun lets tears fall down his cheeks again after the song is finished, and Yesung pulls him to their room. Kyuhyun let’s Yesung’s name escape from him so many times as they become one, sealing themselves together forever. Kyuhyun’s name dances on Yesung’s own tongue as they fumble together for the first time under navy covers and a perfectly clear sky blue in the window.
Afterwards, Kyuhyun lies on the bed and lets Yesung sing softly to him, before exchanging his own words. He looks out the window and smiles as he sees the sky blue of the world, the sky blue of his mother’s dress he remembers so well, the sky blue that was reflected in that puddle of water when he saw Yesung smile for the first time.
“You said you made a mistake,” Yesung whispers again for the third time since they met. “Are you going to change it?”
Kyuhyun thinks about how long it takes to go to the university campus and change his business major to a music major, forever sealing his future on the firm path of the beautiful music his soul dances to with only one other. Kyuhyun thinks about how he and Yesung mold together perfectly in every sense there is. He thinks about the elation that washes over him every time he creates his own composition, how it would feel to share every one of those with Yesung. How it would feel to spend forever with Yesung, letting their music flow through their world.
“Yes,” Kyuhyun whispers, and Yesung smiles.