*brriiiiing*School bell rings, signaling the end of the day for these tired students. A collective sound of sighing, yawning and whispered exclamations of relief was heard from every corner of the classroom as students start packing up their things to head home. Jaebum takes his time cleaning up his desk and steps out of the classroom when he realizes that he's left his lyrics book in the music room from last period. He makes his way up the 2nd floor towards the music room when he hears a faint sound of the piano playing and a sweet sounding voice following shortly after."Hm? Who's hanging around the music room at this time of day?" Jaebum wonders. Satisfying his curiosity, as soon as he reaches the door to the music room, he turns the knob and peaks his head inside. What he sees is kinda mesmerizing. Yes, kinda, because Jaebum will never, i repeat, NEVER, admit that he was rendered speechless by a boy he barely knew. A petite boy is sitting in front of the piano, fingers caressing the keys gracefully. He has his eyes closed, and he's singing to his heart's content.Jaebum feels weird interrupting such a beautiful moment but he really needs his lyrics book that he keeps inside the compartment under the piano bench. So he clears his throat, "ehem, umm, excuse me, sorry to interrupt but I just need to get something and i'll be on my way."The boy stops playing and stares at Jaebum looking terrified. He abruptly grabs his bag at the foot of the piano and runs to the door, passing by Jaebum.
"W-wait!" Jaebum starts.
"No! It's okay!" Jaebum whispers, more to himself as he stares at the back of the running boy.
'That was weird.' Jaebum thinks as he goes and gets his lyrics book, when he finds something on top of the piano. In his hurry, the boy left his school ID.
Jaebum takes it and puts a name to the angelic face. 'Choi Youngjae...' Jaebum whispers to himself. He puts it in his pocket, gets his lyrics book and heads home, excited to meet the boy again tomorrow.
-Next day-
The alarm goes off at 6:30AM and Youngjae hits the button with a contented sigh. He gets up and does his daily morning routine and heads to the dining room for breakfast. As soon as he's done, he gets his bag and rummages the contents, looking for his ID before heading to school. "Hm? It's not here. Where did I leave it?" He heads up the stairs to look for it in his room and nothing turns up when he suddenly remembers what happened yesterday.
"Oh shoot!" Youngjae hits his forehead with his palm, realizing his clumsiness. He decides to head straight to the music room first thing in the morning.
-In School-
As soon as Youngjae arrives, he heads straight to the music room to retrieve his school ID. When he enters the music room, he was surprised to see the boy from yesterday sitting on the piano bench, looking at him, his ID in his hands. Youngjae didn't know what to do. Should he run? But he needs his ID. How is he gonna get his ID? That y guy from last night has it? Okay, did he just think about that? "Damn it." Youngjae whispers, albeit a bit loudly.
"What was that?" The guy from last night said, standing up to approach Youngjae.
"O-oh, nothing, sorry." Youngjae was about to run off again when the other guy reaches out to him and grabs his arm lightly.
"Wait! I think you left this here last night," the guy says, handing him his ID.
"Y-yes, thank you so much." Youngjae says without looking up at the guy.
"My name is Jaebum by the way, Im Jaebum, a senior." The guy, I mean, Jaebum introduces himself.
"I'm Choi Youngjae, sophomore." Youngjae continues, still avoiding Jaebum's eyes.
"Last night, was that you playing?" Jaebum continues.
"Y-yes, sorry if it bothered you. I was just fooling around," Youngjae apologizes, feeling a blush paint his cheeks.
"No! No! Don't apologize! You didn't bother anyone. You sounded amazing," Jaebum confesses, feeling a blush paint his own cheeks as well. That's when Youngjae looks up at Jaebum, a sparkle in his eyes.
"R-really? Thank you..." Youngjae whispers, looking down again. He can't believe it. Someone actually likes his voice.
"Yeah. Why do you sound so surprised? I'm sure you've heard praises like that all the time."
"Actually, no. No one has ever heard me sing. I'm not a big fan of the stage."
"Oh, that's too bad. You have a lovely voice."
"T-thank you." Another blush colors Youngjae's cheeks, never looking up at Jaebum.
Just then, Jaebum comes up with a briliant idea. "Hey you know, I was thinking of joining the school's Spring Festival concert next month and I'm currently looking for a partner to do a duet with... Would you want to do it with me?" Jaebum of course hopes he will say yes. He would love to hear more of that voice.
"I-I don't know. I've never sung in front of an audience before..." Youngjae shakes his head.
"Come on, it'll be fun. There's no need to be afraid, if it's worth anything, I will be up there with you. You will not be alone. And besides, I think it's time to let the whole school know that they have such a brilliant talent by the name of Choi Youngjae." Jaebum smiles and for some reason, that appeases Youngjae's fast beatings heart.
"Umm... O-okay..." Youngjae smiles shyly, looking up at Jaebum's eyes, seeing them shine with so much trust and admiration that it makes Youngjae look down again. Those eyes are making Youngjae feel things in the pit of his stomach that he hasn't felt before.
"This is great! Okay, I actually have the song done. All we need to do is just learn the song, learn a bit of choreography and that's that! So, every day after class sound good?" To this Youngjae nods, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"Don't worry, you'll be great. Just do what you did when I heard you last night." Jaebum smiles at him, reassuring him.
"Okay..."
"Alright, now give me your phone, I'll save my number." Youngjae gets out his phone and hands it to Jaebum. Jaebum gets it, types in his number, and takes a selca.
"So you won't forget my face~" Jaebum jokes when Youngjae gives him an odd look. Then, Jaebum presses a few more buttons and his own phone rings in his pocket.
"There, now I have your number too." Jaebum returns the phone to Youngjae, brings out his own phone and holds it up to Youngjae's face.
"Smile~" Jaebum says.
Youngjae gives a shy smile, hoping that the blush on his cheeks won't be too visible. Jaebum takes the photo and looks at it, "cute~" Jaebum whispers but Youngjae hears it, making him blush even more.
"Alright, that's that. So, let's start tonight?"
"Sure..."
"Cool. See you later Youngjae-yah!" Jaebum walks out the room and looks back at Youngjae and waves before heading to class. Youngjae just continues to stand there, shocked at the turn of events. He looks at his phone in his hands. He opens up his contacts and searches for his name. He sees a 'Jaebumie hyung <3' and a shy smile automatically appears on his face.
After that fruitful morning, the rest of the day passed by like any other normal day. Both boys sat in their classes, but both are feeling 2 very different emotions. One couldn't stay still in his seat, hoping for time to move quicker, excited for what's to come later that day. The other, however, hopes for time to stand still, nervous for what's about to happen, about meeting the other again.
When the bell rings, Jaebum hurries and packs up his things and dashes towards the music room. Youngjae however, tries to buy time and collects his things slowly, mind preoccupied. 'What if I mess up? What if I embarrass myself? What if he hears my voice again and suddenly changes his mind?' So many what ifs run through Youngjae's mind.
'I need to back out of this. I can't do this.' Youngjae takes his bag and heads to the music room, ready to face Jaebum and apologize. When he reaches the music room, he slowly turns the knob and steps inside, making as little noice as possible. But he doesn't go unnoticed because Jaebum looks up and smiles that angelic smile.
"Hi Youngjae, so glad you're here! I was afraid that you're going to ditch me!" Jaebum jokes as he stands up from the floor and walks towards Youngjae.
"Umm.. About that... I-I don't think I can do this." Youngjae confesses, looking down, you cannot bear to see the disappointment in Jaebum's eyes.
"What? Why?"
"It's just that, I've never done this before. I'm just scared that I might mess up and look bad, make you look bad.. I don't want that to happen."
Without thinking, Jaebum places his fingers under Youngjae's chin and lifts his face up to look at him and takes a hold of both of Youngjae's hands, "listen to me, you will do great. You will not mess up, you will not look bad, you will never look bad, you will never make me look bad, understand?" And while saying this, Youngjae can see the sincerity in Jaebum's eyes but this does not appease him at all.
"How do you know that I will not make a mistake?"
"I know because we will practice hard, okay? We will work and practice until we both get it right, okay?" Jaebum smiles and rests his right hand on Youngjae's head, making Youngjae smile.
"O-okay..."
"Hey, you know, you should smile more often, you look cute when you smile." Jaebum says, and turns around, heading towards the piano and sits down on the bench, not seeing the bright red blush appearing on Youngjae's cheeks.
At the same time, Youngjae does not see Jaebum hitting himself on the head thinking, 'what the hell did I just say?! How cheesy can I get?!'
And that's how they spent their after school hours every day, learning the song, and rehearsing their performance. Jaebum guides Youngjae on how he's supposed to move about the stage. And every night after practice, Jaebum walks Youngjae home to make sure that he gets back safe before taking the bus to go home himself. That's their daily routine and slowly but surely, Youngjae opens up to Jaebum and feels more and more comfortable with him. He smiles a
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