A/N

Before you continue, I’d just like to let you know that a few traditional Korean musical references will be used in the story. I’ve put in some links just to help you guys to understand if you find it difficult.

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Two periods later, Yongguk left the classroom and made his way to his most favoured place – the music room, organizing his thoughts meanwhile. He liked the timetable this year; 4 periods of Chemistry (the Science subject he detested the least), 7 periods of English, 6 periods of Music, 6 periods of Maths and 7 periods of Korean language. What made it all better was that his classes would end at lunch each and every day, leaving him the rest of the afternoon to loiter even longer than usual in the music room.

He pushed through the familiar doors and found himself in his home away from home – only this time, without the clean silence he was used to. He could hear a muted drumming from the other side, and upon further inspection, he found the same boy he saw over an hour earlier. He was sitting on the carpeted floor, eyes closed, body swaying to the rhythm and completely in a trance at the sound of his own drumming.

Yongguk instantly received a weird feeling in his stomach at the sight of a hypnotized Himchan playing the janggu. His throat suddenly closed up, and he coughed to clear it. Breaking his bubble, Himchan looked up.

“Oh, it’s you,” Himchan sneered.

Yongguk snorted while knitting his eyebrows together. “Excuse me? Why are you being so rude to me when you don’t even know my name?”

Himchan ignored the question and examined the crinkles on the other boy’s forehead. This boy sure frowns a lot, he thought. Those lines look somewhat permanent.

“Well? Don’t you have the decency to apologize or something?”

Himchan guffawed, flashing a morsel of his rabbit teeth. “Believe me when I say this – I don’t.”

Yongguk widened his eyes in disbelief, unable to contemplate the other boy’s audacity to be so blunt to his face. Yet, that bluntness drew him in more, and his avoidance of questions made Yongguk all the more curious. That, as well as Himchan's adorable eye smile. But he wasn't going to admit that so easily.

“Well, if you’re not going to apologize, you could at least tell me how you got here.”

“I walked,” Himchan replied, examining his nails. This boy is really getting on my nerves, Yongguk thought.

“I know that,” Yongguk said, narrowing his eyes. “What I mean is, how did you get here? Like, how did you find your way? Nobody ever comes to this side of the school.”

“I have a school map," he said, waving a piece of flimsy A4-sized paper in the air. "The administration office gave it to me since it’s my first day of school.”

“Why’d you choose here?”

“Jesus Christ, what’s with the 20 Questions?” Himchan exclaimed while getting up. “I don’t have to answer everything, especially not to some stranger like you.”

“Hey, I’m not a stranger,” Yongguk said, raising his hands in defence. “You told me your name earlier. Himchan, right?”

Himchan glared. “Yes, my name is Himchan. Whoop-de-ing-doo, you know my name. But you don’t know me, so technically you still are a stranger.”

“Well, we’re going to have to be acquaintances at one point, seeing as you seem to be fond of this place,” Yongguk said, gesturing around the room. “I’m here quite often, so I guess we’ll have to be on first-name basis sometime, right?”

Himchan crossed his arms, unsure at Yongguk’s persistence. Why is he still trying to be nice to me? Himchan thought. I’m already making it clear that I don’t want to be friends with anyone.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Himchan muttered, waving a hand of dismissal. Yongguk continued to stare at him.

“Should I introduce myself, then?” Yongguk asked. Himchan nodded, looking at the floor in an attempt to seem like he didn’t care.

“Okay.” Yongguk cleared his throat. “My name is Bang Yongguk, and I am 19 years old. I hate everything and everyone, except my friend Daehyun, occasionally the two guys I babysit – their names are Jongup and Junhong – and music. I love music. Actually, the word ‘love’ doesn’t signify my true feelings at all. I need music. Music is my passion. It’s every step I make; it’s every breath I take. Music is the reason why I’m still on this planet.” Yongguk paused, and looked at his hands, which were fumbling with the zipper at the bottom of his jacket. He smiled sadly. “Without it, I probably wouldn’t be standing in front of you right now. In fact, I wouldn’t be standing at all. Music is the reason I live.”

Yongguk continued to look down, his smile faltering, not knowing what to think of how he just poured out his true feelings like that, not to mention to someone who was barely an acquaintance.

After a while, Yongguk looked up, and saw Himchan sitting on a chair, staring intently into space. He was in awe of the raging passion for music that Yongguk had, and he wanted to see how that passion was put into practice. Despite Himchan not being the type to warm up to people easily, he wanted to make an exception for Yongguk. They were alike.

A stale moment passed.

“I see,” Himchan said, after what seemed like an eternity.

Yongguk winced at the words and the length of time it took for him to say them. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have said all of that. He’s probably going to think I’m some Beethoven rebirth or something.

“Well, Yongguk,” Himchan said, putting careful thought into his words, “I’m glad to know we share a common interest. I love music too.”

Yongguk released a huge sigh of relief. "So you don't think I'm weird?"

Himchan scoffed. "Of course I do. But you have guts to be able to flaunt your passion for something, so I guess you're admirable too."

“That’s cool. And... I saw you composing something this morning. That seems cool. Composing songs… Cool.”

Himchan raised an eyebrow, breaking what seemed like genuine niceness for Yongguk. “Don’t you have a wider vocabulary than just ‘cool’?”

Yongguk’s cheeks tinged pink from embarrassment. “Yeah, sorry, I just get really… I don’t…” Yongguk hung his head in shame. “I’m usually at a loss for words when I talk about music. Especially to someone I don’t know particularly well.”

Himchan suddenly experienced a foreign feeling -- sympathy, mixed with a little bit of interest. He attempted to push it down -- after all, he had to maintain his mysterious persona, didn't he?

Yongguk coughed, sensing the awkwardness in their situation. He looked around the room in an attempt to find something to make conversation, when his eyes came across the instrument on the floor.

"So, you play the janggu?"

Himchan nodded, smirking slightly at the arrogance that was about to come. "Not just that though, I play the daegeum, the kkwaenggwari and the jembe. And when I don't feel like being some obscure, traditional music prodigy, I play the piano, the guitar, the drums and the violin."

Yongguk's right eye twitched at the long list of instruments.

"Wow, that's..."

"Cool?" Himchan said sarcastically.

Yongguk laughed. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

Yongguk's eyes met Himchan's, and strangely, he felt happy. Happy because he (kind of) made a new friend; happy because he found someone else who shared his passion for musi; happy that somebody actually understood him.

The bell rang; its sound harsh and scathing in comparison to the soft quietness of the music room. Himchan straightened up and began to pack his things. Yongguk was about to do the same, when he realised he had been standing with his bag on his back the whole time.

"Well, Yongguk," Himchan began, turning to him and putting his hand out, "it was cool meeting you today."

"Uh, yeah," Yongguk replied, glancing at Himchan's hand, examining the fine lines running across his palm.

"You're supposed to shake it."

"Right."

They shook hands solemnly. Yongguk liked the feeling of Himchan's hands. Soft, but not to an extent where it becomes girly. Himchan turned to exit.

"So I'll see you around?" Yongguk called out after him.

Himchan turned and nodded. "Yeah. That would be..."

"Cool."

Himchan laughed. "Yeah, cool." He gave a mini-salute and walked out of the door.

Yongguk stood on his own for a while.

"What just happened?"

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A/N

So they finally meet. OooooooOOOoooo. And before I forget (because I know this is expected), Jongup won't be with Daehyun. LOL oops maybe I should have omitted the babysitting part -_-" anyway yeah. I calculated the ages and I realised that Jongup would be 14/15? REALLY?? DO YOU WANT ME TO CORRUPT THAT PURE, INNOCENT BOY AT SUCH AN INNOCENT AGE? Okay, just kidding, but still. Sorry for ruining the side pairing for you hahhaa. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this (awful) chapter. Comment and subscribe ^_^