Clementi Sonatina in G Major 

"You know, if they really wanted this to be played by two people, they would've made it possible for two people to play it."

"What is it again?"

"What am I supposed to do, switch spots with you mid-song to hit the low E? Sit on your lap?"

"Kyuhyun..."

"I've got an idea, why don't we play this on two pianos. That way we won't interfere with each other."

"Kyuhyun..."

"I'm serious, I'll bring my own piano to make things easier."

"Kyuhyun..."

"We shouldn't be playing this song on the same piano, all the signs are there, telling us not to. Come on, half of my is hanging off the bench, you keep elbowing me..."

"Kyuhyun, just play the damn song."

"Ugh, fine."

There were many joys to playing the piano. Duets were not one of them. Kyuhyun often described it as "trying to get handsy in a locker, it could be pleasant but ends up being mostly about getting elbowed repetitively". Yesung had no words for that analogy, as it was completely random and absurd, and of course, impossible, but the knowing smile on Kyuhyun's face made him reconsider the logistics of it.

Nonetheless, they had made it to the recital, despite Kyuhyun's protests. The problem with duets was that they were very distracting. Playing a complex melody was normally a simple task, but with limited space and breathing room, even a simple brush of the fingers could ruin the song completely. It was definitely not a walk in the park. They had spend literally hours on this song for the simple reason that Yesung was a very expressive player and moved a lot, which distracted Kyuhyun who then lost the tempo, played the wrong notes, or simply stopped playing. By the time the recital finally got around, they were both very frustrated with this song. Kyuhyun's snark about duets wasn't helping either.

The recital was held in a church, and housed the families and friends of his students. He had gotten two of his friends, Donghae and Eunhyuk, to help out with the small reception he held after the recital. Unfortunately for him, he had picked the wrong friends to help out, as they spent most of their time eating the food for the guests, and making lousy comments about Yesung being a control freak.

"Did you see my meter stick?" Eunhyuk asked. Yesung knew where this was going and elected not to respond, but Donghae, being a child at heart, got excited and played along. "No! Where did it go?"

"Oh, I found it. It's up Yesung's , you know, since he's so stuck up."

They both turned their head towards Yesung with matching grins, awaiting his reaction. He sighed, which seemed enough for them, as they cheered and did a little victory dance.

"You know," Donghae said, once they had stopped the ruckus, "you should relax a bit. I get it, it's your first recital, you want everything to be perfect to impress the parents and your parents, but remember, you've done this dozens of time with your dad, you know the drill. So enjoy it! This is the culmination of months of teaching, let your students surprise you. We've got things back here under control, so go out there, greet the parents, and tell your students to make you proud."

Eunhyuk nodded, "listen to what he has to say, he's using his brain for once it's a historical moment," he teased, and received an elbow in the ribs. "In all seriousness though," he continued, "do you think we'll go to hell if we start making out in that storage closet right there?"

And they were back at teasing and laughing at Yesung again. "Go get them, you'll do great."

Yesung nodded, took a deep breath and exited the reception hall to the main part of the church where the recital was held. He had everything checked off on his to do list, he had even had the piano tuned to perfection. He knew he had everything under control, but it didn't matter, he was nervous anyway. He entered the main hall and saw his students lined up, dressed to the nines, with the books, sitting quietly on a bench while the parents were chatting away. Some of his students smiled and nodded at him, some being all except Kyuhyun who hadn't noticed his presence yet. He clapped his hands once before addressing them, successfully making Kyuhyun jump ten feet in the air and utter a string of curse under his breath.

"This is the culminating moment of months of practice. Concentrate, take your time, and don't forget to breathe. You know these songs like the back of your hands, and I've heard you all play them perfectly. "Alright," he said, pointing at the young boy in front of him, a beginner but nonetheless talented, "you're up in just a minute, get your books ready."

He turned towards the audience of parents and friends that had mostly taken a seat with his arrival. He grabbed the microphone he had set up earlier and began to recite the speech he had made earlier. "Hello, and thank you all for coming. I don't have much to say, except that these young and talented musicians have worked very hard for months to perform for you tonight. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that you are invited to the reception after the concert, just out in the reception hall, where refreshments will be available. Enjoy the recital. First up we have Minhee playing Sonatina in G Major Third Movement, by Clementi."

The boy approached the piano and set up his book, as Yesung went to sit on the bench beside Kyuhyun. He was the oldest student and by far the most advanced, most of the older students his father had had stopped the lessons or gone off to University, leaving Kyuhyun alone with a bunch of kids. Yesung figured he could use some company. "You know," Kyuhyun whispered, "you told me it was impossible to attain perfection in music. If this is your way to motivate them, well one day you're going to crush their dream."

"Shut up and listen to his performance," Yesung retorted.

"Right, because it's obvious you sat beside me for me to be quiet," he snorted, "you want me to provide commentary, because I'm hilarious and everything remotely funny I say makes you giggle like a school girl."

Damn that boy! He was right once again, though Yesung would argue he wanted to shape him as a pianist to have a critical ear and to voice his constructive criticism...and also because his humour was a gem that he Yesung reduced to tears often enough.

"Constructive criticism," he countered.

"Same thing, I get to , I just have to say it nicely."

Yesung sighed and paid attention to the song. In terms of technicality, it was executed nicely, in terms of musicality however...

There were a few categories of playing style when it came to recitals, exams, or any other performances. Some kept their cool and managed to play things even better than they did at home or during the lessons, Kyuhyun being one of them, and then there were those who lost their . The degree of that varied, the very mild cases often forgot dynamics, tempo, screwed up the pedal work, and then there were more extreme cases where everything went to hell, where their hands were too shaky to play anything, the notes were jumbled, and sometimes they didn't even finish the song. Some people just weren't made for playing in public, and he felt bad for making them play like this, but it was his duty as a teacher to push them towards better performances and musicality.

"I definitely wanted to hear a robot play," Kyuhyun declared quietly. It would look bad if they made noise, or didn't pay attention to the kid playing. Yesung was the teacher after all.

The recital went on, Kyuhyun continued his wildly inappropriate  comments ("this sounds like my high school's locker rooms, minus the grunting", "oh, this is promising for his life, do you think he could have finished faster?", or "I remember that one time I walked in on my sister and her boyfriend, and you know what, they were less embarrassed than she will be once she finishes that song", and even "oh man, I can tell for a fact that this kid is definitely into piano, have you seen how he bangs it? Hmm, piano .") Needless to say he was elbowed several times by Yesung who attempted to keep his giggles quiet. And now, it was his turn.

Yesung escorted him to the piano bench, "we'll do our duet after your solo songs, but before your singing. Good luck."

Yesung was not biased at all, he was just and impartial, but damn, he was good. He started his Chopin with a sigh, then the slow crescendo, exactly like Yesung had told him a few weeks ago. He went on, playing the most difficult part of the song with a slight rubato, enough to cover the fact that it was difficult and to make it look like a breeze. Of course, Yesung knew better, and by the way Kyuhyun's shoulders had tensed up for the measure and a half, he knew he Kyuhyun still had a bit of an issue with it. By the last few measures, Kyuhyun had gotten to a soft and slow melody that charmed the whole audience.

He went on with his Sonata by Beethoven, playing it with ease and agility. It was almost perfect, but Yesung noticed that habit of articulating every note in the left hand rather than rolling his elbow, like they had talked about many times during that one lesson. As beautiful as it was, that song was a goner, he would not risk Kyuhyun's tendons' integrity for a song. That song was a roller coaster ride, with the runs, the low note in the left hand, and the dramatic finale worthy of a Beethoven composition.

Then, he started his beloved Rondo Alla Turca. It was well received, as it was a generally well known song. The staccatos were perfect, and the melody was played on the top notes of the chords. It was truly splendid. Again, Yesung was saying this from an objective perspective. He finished the song with dynamism and the move over for the duet. That duet, of course Kyuhyun made sure to make on last snarky comment before starting.

"Hey, if you put your arms around me it'll take less space, because we really are crowded on this bench."

"Ready?" Yesung decided it was best to ignore him. He tapped his feet to the beat, and they both started the Christmas medley. At measure five, the chord Kyuhyun played was promptly followed by a quick blow to the ribs by Kyuhyun's elbow. He let out a small hiss under his breath, but continued play. He was a professional after all. The song changed, and they quickly adjusted to the new time and key signature. Then came the part where Yesung and Kyuhyun had to cross the arms in order to play the song accordingly. He heard the quiet sigh that always escaped Kyuhyun's lips at that part. The finale was splendid of course, they both played the chords at the same time with no hesitation.

It was now the big moment for Kyuhyun, as it was his last chance to give him advice he leaned in and listed a few things. "Don't forget to breathe, articulate, and don't forget the piano is accompanying the voice and not the other way around."

Kyuhyun chuckled, "don't worry, I won't make you regret this."

Yesung took one look at Kyuhyun's parents and it was probably the best decision he ever made. Their jaws were agape and eyes looked like they were going to roll out of their eyeballs. Kyuhyun surely had an analogy for that look but he was truly speechless himself and couldn't think of what his brattish student had said. Whatever he had shown him during the practice was nothing compared to what he was showing right now. The song ended but Yesung cleared didn't have his share of Kyuhyun's rich voice and beautiful piano playing. The audience clapped and cheered loudly, his parents standing and clapping wildly. Yesung guided him back to the center of the stage and gestured for his other students to stand up and get in a line beside them.

They all met in the reception hall, where surprisingly, Eunhyuk and Donghae were fully dressed, and the tables were lined with food. Everything was perfect, so he let out a sigh of relief as his two friends gave him a subtle thumbs up. He then mouthed don't go in the closet though, and he shuddered. He put a smile on his face and went on to mingle with the parents. To his amusement, Kyuhyun was swarmed by enthusiastic parents, hoping that one day, their child too would perform like that. There was no secret to it, practice and talent were what made Kyuhyun perform like Kyuhyun. He was intercepted by Kyuhyun's parents, who wore matching grins.

"Mr and Mrs Cho, thank you so much for coming," he said politely.

"This work you're doing," Mr Cho said, "this work is fantastic. I can't believe the progress you made with him, and he sings too? Since when?"

Yesung put on a polite smile, obviously that was a conversation Kyuhyun needed to have with his parents, that was none of his business. "Oh, well, I'm the teacher, Kyuhyun does all the work."

"He really likes it, I can tell. Thank you so much."

"Really he's..."

A wonderful student?

No, he really wasn't. He was sarcastic, snarky, and had weirdly ual analogies for everything. He argued and didn't take Yesung seriously half of the time. He also really liked to whine and hated Chopin and Gerschwin with an unmatched fury. He was by far, the worst student Yesung had.

But he was also incredibly dedicated and talented, and was stubborn as a mule. He worked harder than anyone else to counter his lack of sight, and it never stopped him from achieving anything he wanted to do. He had a wonderful voice and performed like a real musician.

Yeah, he was a wonderful student. 

A/N 

Alright well you guys are lucky I'm dedicated because it's 1:45 AM and I have a train to take early tomorrow and I'm not done packing, while you enjoy this chapter I will weep at my bad decisions. A promise is a promise, I just kinda got screwed over when I realised my exam was on Monday instead of Tuesday...I'm just glad I realised it beforehand. 

This is the LAST UPDATE of this year, I will enjoy the time off and not write anything, but I will come back in force next year and have some more fun stuff lined up. 

(as a side note, in case you guys are interested, I do not write Kyuhyun's recital performance from experience, as soon as I have to play in front of people, my hands get super shaky and I forget everything. Fun times...not)

Anyway, I wil go and finish my stuff and hopefully go to bed before 4 AM, thanks to everyone who commented and subscribed, enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think^^ Happy holidays^^