Voice of My Heart - Chapter Five
Chapter Five
The next morning Ryeowook and Kyuhyun went to the tour bus holding hands. Ryeowook was more than slightly embarrassed, covering his flushing cheeks with his free hand, but Kyuhyun just smiled and yanked him closer.
"Even friends hold hands, Ryeowookie~ don't worry~"
Ryeowook mumbled something incoherent and Kyuhyun just laughed, pulling him behind the tour bus and kissing him, intertwining both of their hands.
"Stop it~~ someone will quit their job because of this." Ryeowook looked around him nervously.
"Three of our roadies quit when they found out about Jungsu hyung and the drummer, Siwon hyung.. That's why we needed you and Hyukjae hyung.."
Kyuhyun just shrugged. "Well, I'm not going to quit am I?" and he kissed Ryeowook again and this time there was no complaints, only unsaid promises never to leave.
It was Park Jungsu who arrived first to interrupt them.
"Kyuhyun-shi! Is everything packed?" he called, not being able to see them, but Kyuhyun suspected he might have heard them.
"No, Jungsu, I'll get to it now!" Ryeowook hit him on the arm and he reluctantly added "Hyung."
He kissed his cute boyfriend before he went on the other side of the bus to help out.
Not before long everything and everyone was ready to go, except for Sungmin, who was late.
Ryeowook offered to go look for him, but Kyuhyun still didn't like the idea and argued that it was a roadie’s job, so he went instead.
"Sungmin hyung!" he called. "Hyung!" Sungmin should be honored really, to be the only one Kyuhyun respected enough to call hyung.
"Sungmin hyung, are you in there?"
Finally the door opened and there Sungmin was, fashionable as always, but red eyed and even in comparison with Ryeowook and Kyuhyun he looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep this night.
"Is everything okay Hyung? We're leaving now.."
Frustrated Sungmin ran a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm okay. Please don't worry. I was kept awake last night, so I didn't get much sleep."
Kyuhyuns eyes felt with a sudden guilty knowledge to the floor. Sungmin’s bed was just on the other side of the wall from Ryeowooks bed..
"It's okay, really." he said once more, noticing Kyuhyuns embarrassed stare at the floor.
"I just want you to be happy. Both of you." and he smiled again and Kyuhyun didn't know what to think about it. He had smiled earlier this morning as well, when he had seen Kyuhyun by Ryeowook’s door, and this was the same kind of incomprehendable smile.
"Could you help by taking one of my bags, please." Sungmin asked, breaking the silence and moving past Kyuhyun, toward the bus, leaving a bag behind that Kyuhyun picked up and carried, following him from a distance, wondering if Sungmin always cried when he was lacking sleep.
In the bus Kyuhyun and Ryeowook sat down next to each other like they had done every day from the very first time Kyuhyun had joined.
Ryeowook gave him one end of his earphones and he put on a song called Our Love by an artist Kyuhyun didn't know, intertwined their fingers and rested his head on Kyuhyuns shoulder.
Kyuhyun smiled, kissed Ryeowooks hair and let himself fall asleep to the lyrics of an amazing love song.
Backstage at the new venue while Kyuhyun was setting up the instruments Ryeowook suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a corner to give him a quick kiss. Then he smiled and left, leaving Kyuhyun to replay the moment in his head a million times the rest of the day.
Kyuhyun wished for every day from now on to be like this.
Ryeowook was warming up his voice with Sungmin when Kyuhyun walked up the stage with two bottles of water. He gave one to Sungmin and opened the other, refusing to give it to Ryeowook but instead lifted it to his boyfriend's lips and poured the cold liquid carefully.
Ryeowook struggled to keep from laughing and when done drinking smiled widely.
"Finally it's the dongsaeng bringing the hyung water. About time." Kyuhyun didn't answer but blushed and turned around to check the microphones.
From there he overheard Sungmin talking with Ryeowook.
"I can't do it today, Ryeowookie. I'm sorry, but I'm too hoarse to go on stage today. You just heard my voice and it won't be better until I get some sleep. You have to go on stage by yourself today. You can do it, I know you can. You haven't made any mistakes at all in the time I've been with you!"
Kyuhyun turned around to stare at the two boys. "Don't worry. It's not me, but confidence you need. And I'll be there for you again tomorrow."
Sungmin looked guilty and shamed when he said the words, most likely due to the tears in Ryeowook’s eyes. As he turned around he faced Kyuhyun and for a moment he looked like he was in even more pain that Ryeowook, though he had no tears. Kyuhyun just looked confused at the two of them before Sungmin hurried of the stage.
Ryeowook turned to Kyuhyun. "Kyu... I can't do it, you saw what happened the last time I went on stage alone, they'll be disappointed and they'll hate me and I won't be able to ever go on a stage again and-" Ryeowook would have kept rambling on if it wasn't for Kyuhyun kissing him gently and whispering through slightly parted lips "I'll go on stage with you."
Ryeowook looked at him with surprise.
"Can you.."
Kyuhyun wasn't sure what he meant to ask, but decided to answer the most likely questions; could he sing? and did he know the lyrics? by taking a deep breath and from his lips came this voice, sounding so powerful yet so gentle that Kyuhyun himself was surprised. After almost two years of not singing at all due to fear, he was still capable of this level of singing. He wasn't as good as he had been, but he was still better than most.
He sang the song Sungmin and Ryeowook had composed together, Love U More, of which he despite his intentions hadn't been slow to learn the lyrics of. In truth he knew all Ryeowook’s lyrics by heart.
The other boy just stood there, stunned.
"You're a better singer than I am." he finally managed to say, but Kyuhyun just shook his head.
"I'm not." not anymore at least. "but it's okay, isn't it? If I go on stage with you, it'll be okay won't it?"
"It'll be amazing!" Ryeowook answered, stars glittering in his eyes and Kyuhyun adopted that somehow sad smile he had seen on Sungmin a lot recently, because his throat was already hurting.
Kyuhyun had to refuse Ryeowook when he asked him to warm up with him.
"I have to help out with the instruments and lightening and.. There's still a lot to be done, Ryeowookie~" he said at first and when all that was done and Ryeowookie wanted to sing with him, he said that he didn't need to.
And when Ryeowook said they should just do it for fun, he pretended to admit that it would only make him nervous if they sang together so shortly before entering the stage.
In the end Ryeowook let him be and danced crazily around backstage, happily awaiting the concert.
Kyuhyun smiled at the sight, not regretting anything.
And he didn't have any reason to yet, for when he went on stage with Ryeowook their voices melted together like they were the duet that had always meant to be and they looked each other in the eyes and smiled.
Between songs they would joke on stage and the audience would laugh with them and Kyuhyun quickly decided that it was the best night of his life and kept believing so even when his voice faltered and he had to whisper an "you can do it!" in Ryeowooks ear and excuse himself to the audience, because he was an amateur singer and he was going to leave the stage to Ryeowook.
He gave his boyfriend’s hand a tight squeeze before he left the stage and stood backstage listening to the dreamy voice of Star Kim Ryeowook.
When Ryeowook joined him backstage after the concert he was showered with kisses from the smaller boy. "We should do this every night Kyu~~ you and I and Sungmin hyung too, we could form a trio, I know we could, it would be magical and the most fun ever!"
Kyuhyun wasn't sure if his voice could even come out from his throat, but it did, and he answered hoarsely; "yeah sure, I'd love to."
Chapter Six