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A mess of out-of-tune keys reverberated in the dance studio. Wonwoo looks up from his lyric notes and sees Junhui tugging his hair aggravatedly. “Why can’t I do it right?!”, Junhui starts the song again only to miss a note. And another. And another. “Fuck!”, he smashes the keyboard again with his fingers. Wonwoo bolts from his seat on the floor and pulls Junhui away from the music instrument. His boyfriend was fuming. No, he was enraged. Junhui’s protests turned into frustrated whines while holding tightly onto Wonwoo’s fingers. Jun feels tears slowly building up, his heart was pumping wildly, he was mad. “I can never be good enough.”. Wonwoo takes Junhui’s arms and lets him wrap both around his waist.
Junhui has been practicing Don’t Wanna Cry’s piano intro for the past two hours. Yes it was just a minute of performance but for Jun, it was everything. Playing the piano is one of his unique assets as a member of the group and he’s ecstatic to show off one of his skills that can help people recognize him. As a proud boyfriend too, Wonwoo can’t help but feel elated when the performance was planned to center on Junhui. He specially stayed tonight with Jun for his piano rehearsal even if he does not like writing with other noise in the background. Wonwoo promised his boyfriend too that he won’t make a noise and that he should just focus on practicing.
It has been more than 3 years since Junhui learned a new piano piece. Every now and then though, he still plays with the keyboard in Jihoon’s private room. As a matter of fact, Jun was the only one allowed to freely enter Jihoon’s room aside from Bumzu and some managers. However, for the past few years too, he only played the same set of songs. There was one from that Chinese drama OST, another piece from Liszt, a required River Flows in You by Yiruma (who does not even know that song?), and other shorter fragments of pieces his piano instructor taught him as a child. Dance rehearsals took a lot of his time now, so he cannot come back to his dear piano.
Junhui sobbed against Wonwoo’s sweatshirt, the younger doesn’t even care anymore about the mess. All he wants to do was to make Junhui feel better. It is always heartbreaking to see the older like this. He never cries in front of the group. Wonwoo knows that what they have is special because Junhui only shows this side to him. He had his own moments too that only Junhui witnesses, but tonight, all his attention is on his dear boyfriend. “You’re more than enough sweetheart.”, he plants a kiss on the older’s crown and rests his cheek against Jun’s brown hair.
“But I’ve been practicing-“
“For two hours straight.”, Wonwoo looks at the wall clock on the wall opposite them, “Bordering three hours.”
“But we only have a week left, I can’t afford to make mistakes.”, Jun shakes his head against his boyfriend’s chest. Wonwoo strokes Jun’s wide back consolingly.
“You’re not going to do anything wrong.”, tear-filled eyes looked up at Wonwoo.
“How did you know that? I’ll be alone for a minute onstage and we’re the final perf-“
“And you’re going to do great because you are Wen Junhui, piano extraordinaire.”, the words were full of care and sincerity that Junhui couldn’t stop the tears from slipping.
Jun and Jihoon worked for the piano arrangement of the song. The younger may already have an original copy of the song but Junhui suggested some alterations here and there. Even the producer was surprised but he did not mind the older’s suggestions. It was his stage after all, together, they made a new piece that was fitting for the event and the message they want to tell. Show never ends.
Wonwoo and Junhui stayed tangled against each other exchanging warmth and comforting touches. When Jun felt calmer, he wiped his face. “Sorry for the mess on your shirt.”
“You’ve stained far too many of my clothes and now you’re telling me that?”, Wonwoo jokes, earning him a soft slap on his arm.
Junhui went back to sit in front of the piano. Inhaling and exhaling, steadying his feelings. Too much finger pressure might affect the tempo and volume. Adagio. Adagio. Allegro.
“울고 싶지 않아”, the keys slam again. “Sorry.”, Wonwoo his lips pressing together tightly shut.
“No, it’s okay I-“, Jun turns to his boyfriend, “was just surprised.”, the younger blushes at the remark. He likes singing randomly anytime everywhere so why get flustered now? “You can continue singing if you want.”, Junhui reassures his boyfriend and braces himself again.
When it was Wonwoo’s cue, Junhui kept playing. Pressing down each key as if he was dancing. It’s just this time, his notes and Wonwoo’s voice were playing. He played each note with a grace only sharp gentleness could deliver. Tempo andante. Con amore.
Junhui sings his own lines passionately but he lets Wonwoo take the rest of the song.
“난 괜찮아!”
“안 괜찮아”, Junhui answers the second-voice in a whisper, Wonwoo almost missed his next line.
“너 보고 싶지 않아”, the younger coughs out belatedly.
“너무 보고 싶어!”, the older answers wholeheartedly and then he sings the rest of the lines knowing that Wonwoo will have to take a few seconds to gather his gears back.
“절반이 없는데 어떻게 하나로 살아?”, together they sang like lost lovers.
The keys gritted Wonwoo’s ears again.
“God, you’re really no fun.”, he throws a used towel on Junhui’s chest while the other was heavily inhaling and exhaling, chasing a breath he did not even know he was holding. “You didn’t even end the song.”, Wonwoo complains some more, kicking Jun’s foot.
The older moves back down on the floor to join his boyfriend and slowly wraps his arms around the other, laying them on the floor. Jun hides his face on the crook of Wonwoo’s neck as he whispers, “You know I’m not going anywhere right?”.
Wonwoo snorts. “It’s just a song.”, but when he feels wetness on his neck, his hands crawled up to pacify his boyfriend again. “My baby is such a baby.”, Wonwoo coos softly in an effort to lighten up the situation.
“My other half is here so I am staying.”, he takes Jun’s hand and presses a kiss on the back of his palm.
“For a long, long time.”