“Sungmin ah! What are you doing playing with my baton? Didn’t I tell you that you are needed to help out back in the percussion area? Come on now, quickly!” a hassled looking diva shouted as the slight young man he was yelling at looked up at him with wide blinking eyes, dropping the bright pink stick he was messing with in surprise.

“But hyung!” the pale blonde whined cutely, “You know I barely know anything about music. Why are you making me help with your orchestra?”

Heechul sighed. “Minnie, you know I’m just missing one triangle player needed for the Haydn Cello Concerto. Come on, help your poor older cousin out. I need to keep this job as a high school conductor.”

Pouting his lips, Sungmin reluctantly shuffled his feet as he moved to the back of the orchestra, eyeing the big bass drums and crash cymbals with hesitation.

It was Wednesday afternoon, full orchestra rehearsal day for the SM High School Orchestra, and the room was packed to the brim with rowdy students lazing around to waste time until the start of rehearsal at 3 PM.

Starting at the far right of the room, the bass section was already working hard on their nonexistent difficult passages, led by their bossy and demanding principal Siwon. He prided himself on being the only “serious” musician there, and Sungmin could almost hear him yelling at his fellow bassists about playing some D flat minor passage out of tune from the other end of the room.

Further back was the brass section, their shiny horns golden against the harsh lighting in the room. His friend Shindong was there, sitting front and center as the principal tuba player. Sungmin waved happily at him and Shindong jovially waved back, almost knocking a passing flautist over with his gigantic instrument.

Next to them were the lower woodwinds: oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, and then the flute and piccolo at the very left of the band section.

Sitting first chair flute was his Chinese friend Zhoumi. He himself looked like a flute, tall pale and stick straight (which coincidentally is what Sungmin aspires to be, but alas he never really got past 5 foot 7).

Next to him was Sungmin’s best friend, Ryeowook, who was just as short as Sungmin and also the principal piccolo player. Ryeowook’s choice of instrument fit him to a T, the high pitched instrument matching Ryeowook’s unique voice and his small hands perfect for the delicate instrument.

Moving forwards to the strings, Sungmin smiled as he watched his friends Henry and Leeteuk bicker in the 1^st violin section. Leeteuk was the most hard-working out of all his friends, carefully practicing his violin every day and methodically working through difficult passages like the diligent worker that he strove to be.

Henry though, was the exact opposite. Being naturally bubbly and outgoing, the boy practiced as sporadically as humanly possible, working 12 hours straight on a chromatic run one day and then skipping practice for the next week. However, inborn talent allowed Henry to play with a natural charm that just couldn't be imitated and so he sat concert master, much to Leeteuk’s everlasting annoyance.

In the middle of the orchestra sat the 2^nd violins and the violas. There, Sungmin’s Lee brothers were in their seats laughing and poking each other as usual, Donghae in the last row of 2^nd violins and Hyukjae in the last row of the violas.

The two of them were like Siamese twins, always by each other’s side and as affectionate as real brothers would be. Sungmin chuckled fondly as he watched them tickle each other, Hyukjae’s flailing arms almost knocking Donghae’s violin off the chair as he screeched for mercy.

Shaking his head with mock disapproval, Sungmin let his glace wander to the last section.

The cello, the very instrument that had interested him the most when he was a child. Too bad he never had the money to go buy a cello, let alone take lessons, but now that he was being forced to volunteer here under the tyrannical rule of his cousin, he eyed the section with renewed interest.

All the chairs were filled except for one, the principal’s seat, the others busily rosining their bows and checking their tuning. Sungmin wrinkled his nose in confusion. There was only 2 minutes until the start of rehearsal, and everyone was already seated and ready to go.

Where was this mysterious principal cellist and how dare he be late!

Realizing that he himself was not at his section, Sungmin quickly abandoned his thoughts about the cellist and ran over to the percussion section, hurriedly grabbing his triangle and turning to the podium as his cousin cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Everyone! Listen up! Thanks for being on time for our first full orchestra rehearsal of the year. Now we’ll be playing in a competition against many other schools so make sure you make it to rehearsal on time every week alright? Got it?” the conductor said sweetly, making all who knew him shiver in fear.

Kim Heechul was never this sweet.

Sungmin eyed his cousin with suspicion. Never in his 16 years of living with Heechul has Sungmin ever heard him use that tone of voice with anyone or thing except his cat Heebum. Following Heechul’s gaze towards the very back of the room, Sungmin sighed as he understood his cousin’s sudden change in personality.

“So it’s the new Music Department Head that he’s interested in now huh…” Sungmin mused thoughtfully as he giggled internally at Heechul’s adoring gaze.

Admittedly, Mr. Hankyung was very different from their old department heads. He was young, around Heechul’s age, and very fit.

“Clearly Heechul hyung’s type,” Sungmin concluded as he observed the teacher.

Zoning out as his cousin’s speech about working hard and becoming one with the music dragged on and on, Sungmin almost fell asleep on top of a timpani as the minutes ticked by.

The rest of the orchestra was not in much better shape, drooling on their music with arms and heads slumped on stands or stand partners.

The bored revelry was suddenly interrupted as the door was flung open, and a tall figure strode in, a cello case trailing behind him. Wearing a tall dark blue trench coat, the stranger oozed cultured musician, the exact image of what Sungmin imagined a professional cellist to be, despite the man's obvious young age as a high school student. Chocolate colored eyes swept disdainfully across the room while many admiring looks were shot his way, the whole room smitten by his appearance.

“So Cho Kyuhyun, you decide to be late to rehearsal again eh?” Heechul said exasperatedly as if this tardiness was a common occurrence.  

“Come on Chul, give him what he deserves.” Sungmin mentally cheered as he shot the man a dirty look.

If he was a full time orchestra student, he would never arrive late to a rehearsal. It was so disrespectful; after all the whole orchestra was now being held up and distracted by the principal cellist. To Sungmin’s surprise, the man, Kyuhyun, simply tilted his head at Heechul before smirking devilishly at his teacher.

“Well Mr.Kim, just be glad I’m here at all.”

With that statement, he coolly strode to his seat and unpacked, snapping his endpin out with a practiced flick of his hand and tightening his bow with deft turns of his fingers.

“Well come on now, what are we waiting for” he said as the rest of the orchestra quickly turned their gaze elsewhere. The whole room seemed to be focused on him, as if he was a celebrity that had just wandered into a crowd of rabid fangirls.

"Clearly he's famous here" Sungmin concluded as he eyed the man with curiosity, his fingers wrapped around his triangle tightly. 

Trying to regain everyone's attention(which was no easy task), Heechul cleared his throat once again and picked up his baton, ready to start rehearsal and also to stab anyone else that dared to interrupt him again. 

“Everyone, let us start at measure one.”