Ryeowook and his father were lounging around one evening in the waiting area of the barber shop, the man enthusiastically playing a farming game on his smartphone, the boy idly flipping through the latest issue of haircutting monthly. It was an odd weeknight during the second week of the school year, typically one of the slowest weeks of the year in terms of number of customers. The fans overhead buzzed as the duo whiled away their time in silence, munching on snacks. 

The two Kims weren’t paying attention to their environment, not expecting any customers until the day after (maybe). So when the doorbell tinkled all of a sudden, they both jumped in surprise, a small ‘eep’ escaping from the boy’s mouth. 

Mr. Kim quickly stood up, surreptitiously wiped all the crumbs off his shirt and put on a professional air. 

“Welcome, how may I help you?” he said, grabbing his apron from over the counter. “Oh, Mr. Cho and Kyuhyun-ah! We didn’t expect to see you today. Welcome!” 

“Ah, there’s no-one here?” asked the man, looking around. 

“Yes, it’s usually pretty slow at this time of the year. We stay open anyway, in case of hair-mergencies.” The barber guffawed. 

Ryeowook rolled his eyes. 

“So Kyuhyunnie, are you here for a haircut?” 

“Actually we’re both here for a haircut this time,” Mr. Cho replied.

“Oh? I was under the impression that you didn’t like your last haircut?” questioned the barber. 

“Eh?” Ryeowook questioned, “You had a haircut here, Mr. Cho?” 

The man nodded politely. 

“It’s not that I didn’t like it; I just wasn’t used to it, I guess. You always do good work here.” He tipped his head towards the barber.

Mr. Kim smiled. 

“Would you like to go first or Kyuhyun-ah?” 

Mr. Cho looked at his son. 

“Kyuhyun? What do you want to do?” 

“You go first, appa. I’m going to play games.” He strode off towards the waiting area, grabbing Ryeowook on the way and tugging the boy behind him. Mr. Cho looked at them suspiciously as they walked off then turned back to Mr. Kim when the man engaged him in conversation. 

“Let’s play games! What do you have?” asked Kyuhyun. 

Ryeowook peeked around the television, noting that Mr. Cho was fully occupied with talking to his father while having his hair done. He then the air conditioner, putting it on the loudest setting and turned down the volume on the television so that it was just barely audible from where they were sitting. After all his preparations were complete, he picked a game and loaded it onto the machine. 

“I want to play this one!” 

Kyuhyun watched the opening screen load. 

“Karaoke…Song…Master…? Ryeowook-ah, look I know you like music but I can’t- Appa said- I- Music- I…I can’t,” he finished lamely. “I talked with umma and she told appa to stop being mean and forcing you and Mister to not talk about music but then appa said that from now on I’m not allowed to talk about music or I’ll get into trouble!” 

Ryeowook shook his head then picked up two microphones, placing one firmly in Kyuhyun’s palm, looking serious. 

“We are going to play this. Together. I don’t care what your appa says.” 

“But-”

Ryeowook growled. 

Kyuhyun nodded mutely, not willing to argue with a stubborn Ryeowook. 

“It’s fun, you see…” and the older boy started happily chattering away, pointing here and there on the screen as he explained the game. 

The boys played a few levels together, with Kyuhyun becoming more and more frustrated as Ryeowook continuously beat him. As if that wasn’t enough, the older boy couldn’t help but flaunt his successes in front of his opponent with victory dances and playful trash talk. Kyuhyun tried and tried to beat the gloating boy but finally got to the point where he lost it, dropping his microphone mid-game then jumping onto Ryeowook and beginning to tickle him. 

“Oh?” Kyuhyun said as he sat on top of Ryeowook, tickling him mercilessly. “You think you can beat me?” 

Ryeowook rolled around on the ground, giggling. 

“Well, you… could... have… won…if you…knew…how to…sing...!” he gasped, flailing. 

“I know how to sing!” Kyuhyun exclaimed loudly, caught up in the atmosphere. From the corner of his eye, he saw the two fathers send a questioning look his way. He gasped, hoping that the air conditioner had been loud enough to cover his voice. 

“You wish you knew-” Ryeowook started to yell, but Kyuhyun placed both hands over the former’s mouth, still sitting on the boy.

“Shut up!” he chided quietly, bending over to speak close to Ryeowook’s ear, “You’ll get us in trouble!” 

Ryeowook pried Kyuhyun’s hands off his mouth. 

“I know - that’s why the air conditioner is on, obviously. Just because your appa said that he doesn’t want us to speak about singing, doesn’t mean we won’t.” He crossed his arms and harrumphed, still laying on his back on the floor. 

“Ryeowook-ah, we can’t. My appa’s scary!” 

“Since when do you listen to your appa, Kyuhyun-ah?” Ryeowook said. 

“Since he took away my games the last time I was here! He hid them until I said I would give up on singing!” 

Ryeowook gasped. 

“That’s…low.” He pushed Kyuhyun off him and sat up. “But Kyuhyunnie, do you want to give up music?” 

Kyuhyun mused for a bit. 

“I didn’t at first but then appa had a talk with me and said becoming a singer is a bad idea. He said that singers don’t make any money and end up poor and stuff. He said that it would be impossible to buy games with no money. So I decided that I would give on becoming a singer…because I want to keep playing games!” 

Ryeowook gawked at him for several long seconds then sighed dramatically. 

“You’re a game idiot!” He started viciously poking the other boy in the side, making him jolt from side-to-side until he toppled over. Ryeowook now climbed on top of him, victorious, then sat down, looking him in the eye. 

“But what if your appa was lying? What if he just doesn’t want you to become a singer?!” 

Kyuhyun shook his head, lying on his back. 

“Appa showed me lots of videos of washed up singers who were poor and had to live in tiny apartments and eat cheap ramen every day and stuff. It was kind of sad. I mean, I don’t want to eat cheap ramen every day, yuck! I can’t live without fried chicken and games.”

Ryeowook chewed on his lip for several moments, seriously taking in the other’s boy words. He then shook his head furiously, as if warding off bad thoughts and crossed his arms, pouting. 

“How can you give up your dream for something so stupid?” he whined. “You’re still going to get lessons from your music instructor right? And go to music club after school? And go to music camp? And sing at church? And practice singing in the shower?” Each question was followed with a hearty jab to Kyuhyun’s side, making the boy giggle and squirm underneath him. “Then maybe when you become bigger and responsible and change your mind to become a real singer, you can still sing!” 

“Idiot, it’s not stupid; games are my life!” Kyuhyun managed to splutter out in between ragged breaths, his cheeks flushed. “And yeah, of course I want to keep singing, dumb dumb. Just because I’m not going to become a singer doesn’t mean that I can’t keep on singing – even if appa says no. Anyway, to answer your dumb questions, appa made me quit music club this year because he wants me to do other stuff but umma wants me to keep learning music, so I still have my vocal coach. Appa's never ever ever going to let me go to music camp ever again so no to music camp. But umma wants me to keep singing in church so that's okay and I still sing in the….shower? Wait, what does that have to do with anything?” 

Ryeowook grinned, looking mischievous. 

“Kyuhyunnie sings in the shower! Kyuhyunnie sings in the shower!” he repeated in a sing-song voice. 

Kyuhyun flushed and muttered.

“Soon, I’ll sing better than you! Even if I’m not going to be a singer! But…” his voice trailed off. 

“But?” Ryeowook tilted his head to the side cutely. 

Kyuhyun raised his head off the floor, looking fiercely at Ryeowook. 

“But now that I’m not going to be a singer then you have to 100% definitely completely for certain sure become a singer Ryeowook-ah. Promise me!” 

“Of course, Kyuhyun-ah. I’ll become a singer for sure.” He put his hands on his hips, overconfident, still sitting on Kyuhyun.

“You promise?” 

“I promise.” 

Kyuhyun nodded. 

“Even if you’re not as good a singer as me, at least you can be a singer,” he said, laying his head back down on the floor and sighing. 

“Oi. I’m already a better singer than you’ll ever, ever be. I have a trained, professional ear.” He gasped. “I just remembered something… You stay here Kyuhyunnie, I’ll be right back!”

Kyuhyun watched his friend run off upstairs at top speed, then turned around and immediately switched the game to something more of his style. He was just getting into it when Ryeowook returned and thumped him in the back. 

“What is this? I was only gone for a minute Kyuhyun-ah! You’re definitely a game dummy!” 

Kyuhyun shrugged him off, busy with his game. 

Ryeowook tsked. He took out the cd that he had hidden inside his shirt and waved it in front of Kyuhyun’s eyes as the boy played. Kyuhyun tried to swat it away but Ryeowook became more and more obtrusive, not allowing him to see the screen. Finally, annoyed, he paused the game. 

“What do you want Shrimpy?” he asked, frustrated. 

Ryeowook whined. 

“I made this for you and you’re ignoring me!” He the cd case at Kyuhyun. 

Kyuhyun took the cd case, noticing neat lettering on the cover:

Lessons for Kyuhyunnie so he can finally learn how to sing properly!

“Listen Kyuhyunnie, even though you’re maybe not going to be a singer, you have to listen to this cd! It has special lessons and songs so you can work on your singing. I, Teacher Ryeowook, listened very carefully to your voice at camp and then I picked all the things that Kyuhyunnie’s bad at and made a special edition teaching cd.” He nodded. 

Kyuhyun looked at the cd, both touched and troubled. 

“I’ll try my best, Ryeowookie. The lessons look okay, I guess. But why songs too?” 

“Because they’re songs that will fit Kyuhyunnie’s voice really well, I think. Also they’ll help you work on your pitch. You have a really nice voice, Kyuhyunnie but you have to work on your pitch in your higher and lower registers and you need practice your harmonies.” Ryeowook nodded sagely. 

Kyuhyun opened the cd cover and browsed through the lessons and songs, his nose wrinkling. 

“Why is there a girl group song on here?” 

“It’s... It’s to help you develop your falsetto,” Ryeowook lied, looking away to hide the ecstatic smirk on his face. 

“If you say so Ryeowook-ah,” replied Kyuhyun, still distracted as he vaguely hummed some of the songs he recognized. 

“But- But you have to hide it Kyuhyunnie! So your appa won’t take it away from you! And so that he doesn’t take away your games!” The boy snatched the cd away from Kyuhyun, closed the case and tried to push it down Kyuhyun’s shirt. 

“What are you-”

“Kyuhyun-ah! It’s time for your haircut!” Mr. Cho called from the barber chair. 

Ryeowook gasped, flailing. 

“Quick!” 

Kyuhyun seized the cd from Ryeowook’s hand and stuffed it into the waistband of his pants, covering the exposed part with his t-shirt.

“Coming appa!” He got up then looked back, whispering, “Thanks for the cd, Ryeowookie, I’ll listen to it when I get home!” 

Ryeowook smiled. 

“You’re welcome Kyuhyunnie!” He said before getting up himself and following the other boy through the shop to the barber chair. 

Mr. Cho turned and looked at the two boys with suspicion as Kyuhyun sat down, then returned to running his fingers through his hair and preening in the mirror, examining his new hairstyle. 

“So, Ryeowookie, did you work on Kyuhyunnie’s hairstyle design this time?” asked the barber. 

“Ah, yes appa!” He pulled a paper out from his pocket. “Here you go!” 

The barber unfolded the picture, this time seeing a sketch of a hairstyle that was marginally better than the boy’s last attempt. 

“Um, Ryeowookie, sorry but you’re going to have to explain this to me. Again.” 

“Well, this part here is from that tall actor guy that umma likes on that love love drama, and then on top you have to use the comb and the clipper to make it look like that magazine model guy’s and then on the back you have to make it like Minjoonie hyung’s.” 

Mr. Kim facepalmed. 

“Magazine model guy? Ryeowook, that’s not very descriptive.” 

“You know? That guy! The one umma said was y.” 

The man coughed, looking away from his smirking son. 

“Well, but Ryeowookie, won’t that look weird?” 

“No, it won’t! Because you have to use a little bit of mousse so it’s smooth and a little messy. It’ll be cool appa!” 

The barber looked hesitant. 

“Are you sure you want to do this Ryeowookie? It’s a bit…unconventional.” 

“Unconventional?” 

Mr. Kim nodded. 

“That means that most people don’t do it.” 

“Eh, really? Well, I’m going to do it.” 

“Uhh, Ryeowookie, you’re not cutting his hair. I am.” 

Ryeowook waved his father off. 

‘“Close enough.” He walked over to the barber’s chair beside Kyuhyun, swung it around and settled himself in the seat, watching his father. 

“Kyuhyun-ah, are you okay with this? This… I don’t know how this one will turn out.” 

Kyuhyun ruminated for several seconds then said: 

“I- I think so. It was okay last time so it’ll be okay this time. I trust Ryeowookie. Maybe. I think.” 

“Are you very very sure Kyuhyunnie? It doesn’t seem like Mr. Kim is very confident with how it’s going to turn out this time,” Mr. Cho piped up from behind, forehead creased with worry.

Kyuhyun gulped then nodded. 

“Well, if you say so. It’s your hair anyway.” The man huffed and sat back, picking up a magazine, one hand still inquisitively buried in his hair, absentmindedly messing it up as he got used to the new style. 

The barber shop was silent as Mr. Kim cut Kyuhyun’s hair. Ryeowook, the resident chatterbox, was eerily quiet as he focused on each snip of his father’s scissors. Any attempt at casual conversation was hushed by the same boy. 

The barber did everything as per directions, stopping just short of the styling stage. 

“Ryeowook-ah, is this right? It looks a bit…” 

“Wait, appa. Can you fix that?” 

“Fix what, exactly?” 

Ryeowook pointed at Kyuhyun’s head. 

The barber facepalmed. 

“Ryeowook, that’s not helping.” 

“Can I try?” 

“Try what?” 

“Can I try fixing Kyuhyunnie’s hair? I won’t mess up, I promise!” 

Kyuhyun looked up in horror. 

“Don’t do it Mr. Kim!” 

Ryeowook casually stood up, looking inconvenienced, and walked nonchalantly to Kyuhyun. The second he got in range, he lunged and started viciously poking Kyuhyun in the side. 

“What did you say? What did you saaay?” 

“Don’t do ittt,” the boy squealed, gasping. 

Ryeowook redoubled his efforts, causing Kyuhyun to jerk violently from side to side, once again choking with laughter. 

“Ok fine. Fine! Ryeowookie you can cut my hair,” he wheezed.

Ryeowook stopped, satisfied. 

“…Just don’t kill me.” Kyuhyun muttered under his breath. 

Ryeowook glared at him. 

“What did you say?!” 

“Nothing, nothing.” He stuck out his tongue. 

The barber looked uncertain. 

“Are you completely sure Kyuhyunnie?” 

“Yes! If he messes up my hair then I’ll just shave his head bald.” He smirked. 

Ryeowook hit him, then brought over his step stool and stepped on top, looking self-important. 

“Appa, scissors,” he ordered. 

The barber scoffed at his son’s attitude, but gently handed over the scissors. 

The boy surveyed his friend’s hair for a moment then started making tiny snips here and there. His father watched each snip with caution, hands raised, ready to intervene if needed. After a few minor adjustments, Ryeowook put down the scissors. Mr. Kim sneakily moved them far away from his enthusiastic son. 

“Appa, mousse.” 

With a roll of his eyes, the barber handed over the mousse canister. 

Ryeowook dispensed a miniscule amount of mousse on his palm and spread it along his fingertips. Using light movements, he fluffed up certain parts of Kyuhyun’s hair until it looked perfect. 

“Done! What do you think Kyuhyunnie?’

Kyuhyun looked at himself here and there in the mirror. 

“Eh? It looks kind of weird.” 

Ryeowook pouted.

“Pretend that you have a straw hat on.” 

The younger boy looked confused. 

“Arrrr…” 

The barber raised an eyebrow. 

And then comprehension dawned on Kyuhyun’s face. 

“Luffyyyy!” 

Ryeowook smiled, looking proud. 

“Mmm-hmm! It’s really hard to make Luffy’s hairstyle in real life you know. I had to work hard.” 

But Kyuhyun wasn’t listening. He had tossed the gown, jumped out of the chair, and was now wildly running around the store yelling ‘I am the king of the pirates!’. 

Mr. Cho emerged from the waiting area, his hair now very mussed up from his fidgeting. 

“Seems like Kyuhyun likes this hairstyle a lot,” he said, as he watched his son jump about pretending to be a pirate. “As usual your son has showed his skill as a barber. I can’t believe-” He stopped, evidently remembering his wife’s words, then shuffled over to the payment counter. 

There was a sudden clatter from the general vicinity of Kyuhyun. 

“Kyuhyun, be careful! Don’t break anything!” Mr. Cho exclaimed. He turned around to see his son picking up a wall ornament and return it to its original location. 

“It’s okay, appa!” 

Kyuhyun sighed in relief as his father turned back. He secretly picked up the cd and stuffed it back into his pants. He noticed Ryeowook was glaring at him from the other side of the room so he ran over and gave his friend a tight hug. 

“Thank you, Ryeowookie. I’m so happy.” Then he ran off outside the store after his father, bouncing along as he babbled on about treasure and Chopper and Devil Fruit. 

“Ryeowook-ah, you did well today. I shouldn’t have doubted you,” said Mr. Kim, patting his son on the back. 

The boy grinned cheekily in response. 

“Did you have fun with Kyuhyunnie?” 

“Yes! I even gave him the singing lessons cd I made him at school!” 

“You did what?! Ryeowook we agreed that we wouldn’t do anything music-related when Mr. Cho was here! The singer hairstyle was fine because no-one would know but giving Kyuhyunnie a cd was risky!” 

“But appa, Kyuhyunnie said that Mrs. Cho talked to Mr. Cho and he said that Mr. Cho won’t be like that anymore.” 

“It doesn’t matter! Ryeowook, if you keep doing this then when Mr. Cho finds out, he may take Kyuhyun away and never come back! He already said he was going to do it once!” 

Ryeowook paled then slid down onto the floor, dejected. 

“I don’t want Kyuhyunnie to go away. Kyuhyunnie is special. And his voice is like a treasure in a treasure chest but Mr. Cho wants to lock the chest, bury it on an island, throw the key into the ocean and burn the treasure map! It’s not fair appa!” 

“Well, we can’t interfere too much Ryeowookie. Remember what I said about families being different, hm?” 

The boy nodded, gloomy and reflective. He was silent for several seconds then:

“Appa…” he started slowly, “Today, Kyuhyunnie said that his appa said that singers don’t make any money. I remember Soo-hyung said that his hyung was trying to become a singer but spent all his money on all the things you need for singing like makeup and stuff and now he has no money left. His hyung told him not to become a singer because it’s too expensive. So does that mean that if... if I become a singer I won’t make any money? If I become a singer, will I not be able to take care of you and umma when I grow up? Will we be poor?” He asked in a sad voice. 

The barber pulled his son into a hug. 

“Ryeowook-ah, don’t worry about your umma and me, we’ll be fine. We have the barber shop, remember? You should just run towards your dreams. You have a beautiful voice that touches a lot of people. Remember what Mrs. Cho said? With a voice like that, I’m sure if you work hard and move forward, you’ll become a great singer! Okay?” 

The boy nodded, still unconvinced. 

“But appa, what if-“

“Shhh, Ryeowook-ah, let’s go upstairs.” He kissed his son on the forehead. “It’s almost time for dinner.” 

“But what about cleaning?” 

The man winked. 

“We can do that later. Right now, it’s time for umma’s kimchi fried rice!”