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“Shit.”
Green sighed, listening through the wall as Gold once again snapped a guitar string. He’d been at it for a while now - just trying to play this one chord over and over and over again. Green didn’t want to admit it, but… Gold really couldn’t play guitar.
That being said though… there was something adorable about his roommate’s frequent pauses, the swearing from the other room… as Green stared down at the notes for his next music assignment, he couldn’t help but feel a faint smile creeping onto his face.
Suddenly, the faint twanging from the other room fell silent and Green heard a loud thump, like something heavy had been roughly shoved against the wall. Moments later, footsteps and a timid knocking. He looked up to see Gold standing in the doorway, rubbing at a cramp in his hand.
“Senpai…”
Green bit his lip. Why did Gold keep calling him that? They had been sharing this apartment for three weeks now, the joke was getting old. Still kind of cute, though…
“I fucking suck.” Gold whined, flopping onto Green’s bed. “I can’t play for shit.”
Green was mildly surprised that he admitted it. But the way Gold sounded so defeated, his voice low, all the energy drained from him from half an hour of repetition and frustration… poor guy, he thought as he set down his pen and walked over to the bed.
“Do you need a hand?”
“...no.” Gold turned away, pouting. “I’m fine.”
Really man, a voice in his head retorted. You’re about to decline a guitar lesson from a hot guy? Gold shook the thoughts away. He wasn’t ready to admit his incompetence, just because Green was so much better at him in all their other subjects… and a talented songwriter… and kind of good looking...
In actual fact, Green was also pretty bad at playing the guitar. He knew how to play the piano, at least - and was actually pretty competent with his music theory - but he couldn’t get his head around string instruments in the slightest. Anyway, at least he could do the basics while Gold could barely play a chord. Maybe it’ll be a learning experience for me as well...
“Okay, maybe.” Gold finally admitted defeat with a heavy sigh. “I can’t get from an E minor to an E major.”
“That… you literally only need to add like one finger.”
“Well sorry for not being perfect, mister know-it-all.”
Green couldn’t help but smirk at Gold’s hurt expression. Gold was adorable when he was offended. He wanted to tease him more, but… he didn’t want to be a jerk. He reached to place a hand on Gold’s shoulder and then quickly pulled away, unsure how to comfort the other boy.
Gold noticed, though, and he couldn’t help but feel a little itch in his heart. It almost made him blush a little… Well, at least Green was trying to be nice. He hardly ever saw him showing compassion for anyone… so why is he suddenly being nice to me?
“...Go on.” Those dark green eyes seemed to stare into Gold’s soul, soft and sincere. “Grab it. I’ll show you.”
He nodded, slowly getting to his feet to retrieve the guitar from the other room. Green waited on the bed, wringing his hands together nervously. I’m going to look like an idiot if I fuck this up.
Gold returned with the instrument, looking kind of sheepish.
“So…” Gold mumbled, placing the guitar in his lap. “...teach me, I guess.”
Green leaned forward suddenly and took Gold’s hands in his. The boy froze.
“Wh-what are you--”
“First off,” he started, gently pushing gold’s fingers into position. “You’re holding the neck wrong. Your thumb is in the wrong place and you’re going to strain the tendons in your hand trying to go between chords like that.”
Gold felt himself go red in the face. Green’s touch was so soft, like hand-woven silk… he just wanted Green to hold him like this forever.... he almost forgot what he was meant to do, until he noticed the older boy gazing at him encouragingly…. tenderly...
“It’s okay.” Green’s voice was barely a whisper. “You can do it.”
A few moments of silence. Gold could hear his heart beating in his chest. He was pretty sure Green could hear it as well. Finally, mustering his courage, the novice musician brushed his thumb over the strings.
The sound resonated through the body of the guitar, vibrating between them.
Although he wasn’t going to admit it, it made Green’s heart flutter. Before he could stop himself, he was getting visuals to accompany the faint tone that hung in the air. Images of water droplets after an evening rain, warm sunlight on the horizon, the taste of ice cream on a hot day... lyrics slowly formed in the back of his mind. A love song about unspoken feelings, feelings about--
“Sensei.” Gold snapped him back to reality, impatience in his voice. “Are you going to show me the next chord or not?”
“...did you just call me sensei again?”
Gold heard himself audibly gulp.
“Dude no, I just uh...” he stammered, averting his gaze. “You’re k-kinda unprofessional if you just stare off blankly in the middle of a lesson.”
“Whatever.” Green felt a bead of sweat forming on his brow. “Let’s just carry on.”
“...Y-yeah.”
“So, the next chord.” The teacher carried on. “To change to a major, all you have to do is place your first finger on the fret before the second and third… top string I think...”
Gold raised an eyebrow.
“I mean I think it was the first?” Green suddenly sounded unsure of himself, almost insecure… “It’s been a while, so… just try it, I guess?”
“...whatever you say, man.”
The resulting sound was like a cat swallowing a pile of sludge. Gold nearly dropped the guitar in disgust before doubling over in hysterics.
“What the heck was that?!” He could barely keep himself together. “That sounded like a slug farting through a wet sock!”
Green couldn’t help but laugh at Gold’s obscure choice of wording. The two of them fell to the floor, clutching their sides as they tried to get oxygen back to their lungs.
God… they both thought to themselves. His laugh is just so damn precious….
Suddenly, realisation struck Gold.
“...you can’t play guitar can you?”
Green froze. He felt like an idiot.
“You totally pretended that you could play guitar,” said Gold, smirking. “So you could impress me.”
“I… uh…” Green was trying his best to find any decent sounding excuse there was, but he couldn’t find any. “Shit…”
Gold couldn’t believe it. Green, the top English student and best songwriter in the school, sucked at playing the guitar. And he just got caught bluffing his way through it… well. It didn’t remove the fact that Green was still technically better than him, but… god. The thought that Green wasn’t as perfect as he seemed comforted him, and man…
He was being so damn cute…
Gold couldn’t take it anymore. Without thinking anymore, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Green’s.
He tensed, before his shoulders relaxed and he finally returned the gesture. Gold’s lips were so warm...
A few moments passed until they pulled away, breathlessly.
“Sorry, but you’re adorable,” muttered Gold, feeling embarrassed now that he had actually done it. “I mean… I don’t know if it makes you uncomfortable or--”
“No. It… it felt good.” Green cut him off, voice shaking. “But... you gotta work on your technique.”
A few more seconds of silence, until Gold smirked.
“Teach me then, sensei.”