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Pio doesn't know what's happening to him. He doesn't know why he's doing the things he is. Well, he does, in a sense, but there is a distinct voice telling him from the inside that he's getting carried away with it. Carried away with Jeongyo and his soft smiles, his sad expressions, and worst of all, his friendship. If that's what you could call it.
He looks at Jeongyo as he plays the piano alone in the practice room, eyes closed and fingers moving skillfully. There is an envy inside Pio that's threatening to eat him alive, but there is also an ache. The ache to be closer to Jeongyo despite his attempts to shove the feeling down and forget it altogether.
He opens the door and steps inside quietly.
Jeongyo continues playing for another second before opening his eyes with a smile already tugging his lips as he sees Pio.
The ache inside Pio returns, harsher, more intense. He steps forward, takes off his backpack, and sits down on the bench next to Jeongyo. "You're here early." He mumbles, taking out his manuscript and setting it on the stand above the keys.
Jeongyo hums, his fingers absentmindedly playing "twinkle twinkle little start" on the keyboard. "I couldn't sleep."
"Oh." Pio nods. He's had those days more than he'd like to admit. "Do you want to start over?" He asks, and Jeongyo nods in agreement.
They start playing, the notes filling the room with its calming presence. Their fingers are smoothly in sync, moving deftly from the higher to lower keys before going back to their original place. It's a hard piece. They've had moments where one of them fails and they start over. It doesn't happen often on Jeongyo's part, but more so on Pio's. He prefers to keep his eyes closed and feel the connection with the music when he's playing, but lately, he can't stop looking at Jeongyo and the way he gets sucked into his rhythm. There is delicacy to it that Pio finds he has never been able to find. There is beauty in the way Jeongyo plays, like he gives himself up to the music. Pio has never felt either of those things. He wouldn't describe his own playing as something delicate. Sure, it captures the audience, but he has a harshness to the way his fingers press and move across the keys as if he's chasing the final result of approval. Of finally getting his pieces to sound right to his ears. Or to his grandfather's ears.
Jeongyo plays the instrument like he's in love with it, and Pio couldn't be more envious of him.
"Do you want to start over?" Jeongyo asks, interrupting their playing. He has a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"What?" Pio says back, breaking out of his trance. He looks down at his hand and then at the sheet of music. He was two keys off. That had never happened before. "Oh, yeah."
Jeongyo giggles, and the sound gets filed away in Pio's brain under the distinct section of 'melody' without his permission. Annoying. "What? Did you not sleep last night either?"
Pio sighs, trying to push the embarrassed blush off his face unsuccessfully. "Let's just start over."
Jeongyo nudges him with his shoulder but does as Pio said.
They start playing again.
—
When they're done with practicing, the first thing Jeongyo insists on is getting ramen. Pio refuses half-heartedly, saying he had to go home and do some school work or another, but Jeongyo starts dragging him by his arm.
Pio attempts to hold in a smile at Jeongyo's goofy smile but fails. "Will you pay if you end up ripping my uniform off?"
Jeongyo snorts, rolling his eyes. "I'd just give you my extra pair. I don't need it anyways."
Pio pauses at his words, taken off guard entirely as his cheeks start feeling warm and he flushes. Jeongyo halts a few steps ahead of him and turns around. "What? Why did you stop walking?"
Pio blinks, shaking his head. "Nothing. Let's go." He hurriedly brushes past Jeongyo who looks after him in confusion.
Jeongyo looks after him in confusion but follows anyway. "Ya! Wait for me!" He runs up to Pio, crushing into him with a playful nudge, which causes Pio to stumble off balance and when Jeongyo steadies him with a yelp of concern, they both start laughing.
—oo—
"Can you slow down? No one's taking it away from you." Pio huffs at Jeongyo, who's eating the bowl of noodles as if he's never eaten a grain of food before.
"We have to get there in time!" Jeongyo exclaims and then slurps the soup loudly.
Pio grimaces visibly, pausing his own eating.
Jeongyo places the bowl down and chews for a seconds before grinning widely.
"What?" Pio asks, taking a small bite from his bowl of noodles that was still halfway full. They weren't leaving until he was done eating too, right? But then again, Jeongyo looks so excited. He might as well tell Pio to eat it on the way like some lunatic.
"You're cute." Jeongyo leans forward, tilting his head in that way that Pio has found usually means extreme affection. Kind of like how a dog does it.
Pio scoffs, stuffing his mouth with another biteful to get rid of the way his ears start feeling warm. The uncomfortable churning returns to his stomach, and he doesn't know what it is, but it seems to happen every time he's in Jeongyo's vicinity. He's starting to think he needs to go see a doctor. "I'm not cute." He frowns and tries not to appear so affected.
Jeongyo's grin widens and he leans forward with an arm extended and pinches Pio's cheek with his hand. "You really are the cutest."
If Pio wasn't red before, he definitely was now. He swats at Jeongyo's arm gently and makes him pull away before rubbing his cheek. "What are you doing?" He gapes.
"What? I can't appreciate your cuteness now?" Jeongyo pouts, crossing his arms as he pretends to sulk. Or is actually sulking, Pio has a hard time telling the difference these days.
Pio glances away and then back at his food. "Whatever." He mumbles and then gets up with the half eaten food still on the table. "Let's go."
"Now? You're not done eating though." Jeongyo looks between Pio and the half full bowl of noodles.
"I'm not that hungry. Do you want to go or not?" Pio gets out his wallet and makes his way to the front of the restaurant.
Jeongyo joins his side. "I can pay my share."
"It's fine." Pio hands the person at the register the full amount by cash.
"No, let me get out my—"
"I said it's fine. Really." Pio smiles and hopes that will convince Jeongyo.
Jeongyo nods stiffly, glancing away with what seemed to be a blush but Pio couldn't really tell as Jeongyo starts taking his arm and walking them out of the restaurant.
Pio makes them stop and looks towards the other direction. "Are we not taking the subway?"
"No. It's just around the corner. Come on, trust me." Jeongyo says, nodding towards right.
Pio follows him. "How did you find it?"
"I was on Instagram and saw their ad. Oh! Did I tell you one of my favorite artists is going there? I'm so excited!" Jeongyo rubs his hands together in glee.
Pio's lips tug upwards, unable to help the fond expression on his own face. "Who is it?"
"You won't know. She's a small artist." Jeongyo pulls out his phone even as he says this and squints down at it before pulling up a page. He hands Pio his phone.
Pio takes a glance at it as they round the corner on to the main street. "Oh, I know her. We played at the same auditorium this one time."
"Really? She's so good, isn't she? I love the way she plays "Suite in G minor, HWV 432" by George Frideric. It sounds just right." Jeongyo nods to himself, his hands presumably imitating her style in the air with imaginative keys.
Pio hands Jeongyo his phone back, humming in agreement. "I didn't get to hear her play last time. Maybe she'll play the piece tonight."
"I hope she does!" Jeongyo exclaims, turning to him with an anticipatory smile.
They come to a stop as the little concerto comes to view in front of the park river. It's different from the one they had been to previously. This one has people sitting around the stage in a circle, all sitting on the ground with their picnic blankets or just alone. It's quite a bit more intimate.
There seems to be an ice cream parlor in the corner that Jeongyo doesn't seem to have noticed. Pio nudges him and nods to it.
"Oh! Wow, we should get it! Wait, I think they're about to start. Let's find a seat." He says and then takes Pio's hand to guide him through the crowd of people sitting to the very front where they are close to the person playing the piano. The artist Jeongyo was talking about.
They sit down, pressed knee to knee, the contact providing warmth from the otherwise chilly night. Pio looks at him and gives a quick smile to which Jeongyo returns an even wilder beamed grin. Something warms inside Pio at the sight, and he forces his eyes to glance away as the band starts slowly warming into the concerto.
The music is classical for the most part, and they're both enthralled at the way the piano artist plays her part. They can't see her technique, but Jeongyo leaves out no part in imagining it, and making Pio do the same, their giggles wrapping around the soft music and disappearing into the night.
Pio feels like he'll never stop feeling this way. This giddy way that he has never felt. So unapologetically happy, not afraid of anything in the world. He feels like he could play piano for the rest of his life and not care about anyone's opinion, even his grandfather's.
As the band starts to wrap up their music, the lead guitarist leans into the mic and speaks. "So we'd like to take any suggestions you guys might have. Especially from the many couples we have here today! You could request a song from any of us."
Everyone looks around at each other to see if anyone's raised their hand.
And then, Jeongyo raises his arm up high. "We do!"
Pio blinks in surprise. "He said couples." He tries to warn Jeongyo in a low voice.
Jeongyo doesn't pay him any attention as the guitarist turns to him and asks him. "Sure, what did you guys have in mind?"
"O soave fanciulla by Puccini!" Jeongyo exclaims.
"Ohh, a request for our pianist. I'm going to let them take over for our lovely couple here."
Pio's cheekbones turn pink in response and so do Jeongyo's even though he was the one to propose. "C-couple?" Pio hears Jeongyo mumble to himself and then realizes Jeongyo hadn't heard the last part at all.
He doesn't have time to scold Jeongyo as the pianist speaks up next into her own little mic next to the piano.
"This is "O soave fanciulla" by Puccini for…" She pauses and turns to them for their Pio and Jeongyo to say their name.
They feel eyes turn to them. Jeongyo struggles for a second, looking at Pio's blushing face before turning to her. "Jeongyo." He mutters.
Pio feels like his face was on fire and he is about to die. "Pio." He avoids Jeongyo's eyes.
"For Jeongyo and Pio! Hope you guys enjoy!" The pianist finishes. There is a moment of silence before the notes erupt into the air. They are heavy off the start but somehow soft at the same time, a constant ache of yearning beneath the notes. They quiet down as the song processes.
Pio and Jeongyo get sucked into listening, forgetting the earlier momentary falter. It's a complicated piece. Pio hasn't played it before, but he can tell it's conveying both joy and sadness.
Jeongyo's eyes are closed next to him, as his head sways to the rhythm. As if he's feeling all the emotions the music is communicating to him.
And then just like that, the piece is over and everyone stands up to applaud. Jeongyo claps louder from beside him with a happy grin. "Should I go ask her for a picture?" He seems to have forgotten all about what had transpired five minutes ago, and Pio lets himself not be disappointed.
"Yeah. I'll take a picture of you with her." Pio answers, and the happiness increases on Jeongyo's face.
Pio thinks that's all he ever wants.
Once they're done with the picture taking and Jeongyo's excited conversation with the pianist, they make their way over to the ice cream parlor.
"I'm gonna get all the flavors." Jeongyo says as they get in the line.
Pio scoffs. "All? How are you gonna eat them all? They have so many."
"You don't think I can handle it? Woah…" Jeongyo smirks. "Watch me."
Pio resists an eye roll but chuckles anyway. "You're crazy."
When it's their turn, Jeongyo places his order of all the flavors to be placed in one cup, scoop on top of another. Pio orders himself a single cone of vanilla ice cream and ignores the teasing comments from Jeongyo.
Jeongyo chatters on as they walk and indulge in the ice cream all the way. He finishes and throws away the empty cup in the dust bin nearby with a proud smile on his face. "I told you I'd do it, didn't I?"
Pio wants to tell him it's not that big of a deal but he doesn't have the heart to. "Yeah, whatever." He relents, but his eyes crinkle back in response as he shakes his head.
Jeongyo brushes their shoulders fondly as they come to a stop in front of Pio's house.
"I had such a good time today." Jeongyo smiles and then plays the melody from earlier into the air between them, fingers flying left and right.
Pio hums. "See you tomorrow at practice."
Jeongyo stops him suddenly just as he's about to turn away. "Oh, there's something on your…" His eyes travel to Pio's lips.
Pio brushes a mindless hand over his mouth and when Jeongyo shakes his head again, he wipes it over his chin.
Jeongyo reaches out a hand, and Pio feels his heart leap in his throat at the action. His hand is warm as it skims over his bottom lip. Pio exhales a quiet breath into the night, and Jeongyo stares.
He stares for a long time with his thumb still on Pio's lip.
Pio's thoughts race. They chase each other. The urge becomes stronger. Their conversations and smiles and stoles looks rush into his head at once, and then he's leaning forward and brushing a kiss against Jeongyo's lips.
Jeongyo sighs involuntarily at the action and before he gets a moment to lean into it, to kiss back, Pio pulls away with a flustered expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean t—"
Jeongyo kisses him. Properly, this time. Takes his Pio's beautiful face in his hands and attaches their lips in the first note of a kiss. Pio hesitates for a breadth of a second before he kisses him back with more force, humming into Jeongyo's mouth as his hands cling on to his jacket.
A moment later, their lips move apart with a smooching sound. Pio is breathless, panting into the space between his mouth and Jeongyo's which was less than an inch. Jeongyo leans their foreheads together. "Fuck. I wanted to do that for so long, Kang Pio."
Pio doesn't have the words. Or he does have them, but he can't say them out loud. He nods in response to indicate his same own feelings.
Jeongyo pulls away after a minute, his cheeks twinged red as he offers a slightly awkward smile. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Pio doesn't know what tomorrow is going to entail. What this kiss is going to lead to. But he wants to find out. He nods again, his own lips setting into a small smile. "Yeah."
And when Jeongyo's smile brightens up his entire face, Pio feels in his heart this is what he wants. For the rest of his life.