Songwriting and Singing

            When Ryeowook returned home early Saturday morning, almost all the lights were out in the house except for the one that Kyuhyun left on for him in the living room.  His husband’s last performance of The Moon that Embraces the Sun was later in the day, so he needed to rest up for it and had probably gone to bed early.  Ryeowook hung up his coat and walked into the dining room to admire his flowers again, smelling them and looking at the petals.  Then he picked up the vase and carried it with him to his music room and set it down the table next to his keyboard, where he would set his computer and papers whenever he was writing new music.  He left the room once more to get something to drink and then pulled the door shut as he returned and flipped on his instrument. 

            For a good hour or more, he played a mix of his own composed pieces and pieces he had learned from other artists over the years.  Some of them he knew by heart and some he had to dig out the sheet music for.  He’d been so busy lately, it had been a while since he just sat down and played for the enjoyment of it, and he forgot how much he missed it.  Playing the keyboard—or better yet, a real piano—had a hold on him that nothing else had managed.  Whenever his fingers touched the keys, he seemed spellbound to remain there and play, oblivious to the rest of the world around him.  It centered him, it brought all the chaos inside of him back into order, and it helped him to focus on himself.  Music had become his form of expression.  He poured his heart out through his music, by playing, singing, and composing.  It was as vital to him as air at this point. 

            Few things could break the hold that music had over him once he began to play or compose, but when the door opened and his sleepy husband shuffled into the room, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Ryeowook abruptly stopped playing and looked up at him, his brow creasing with worry.

            “Did I wake you?” Ryeowook asked.

            Kyuhyun shook his head and walked over to Ryeowook.  He wrapped one arm loosely around his neck for a moment and leaned down to kiss his cheek.  “I’ve been waking up for some reason…even before you got home.”

            Ryeowook turned his head and kissed Kyuhyun on the lips breifly.  “Do you want me to make you something to eat or something?”

            “No,” Kyuhyun said, heading over to the daybed in the room and lying down.  “I just thought I’d listen to you play for a while, since I couldn’t sleep anyway.”

            Ryeowook looked over his shoulder at his husband and playfully narrowed his eyes.  “Are you trying to tell me something?  Does my playing put you to sleep?”

            Kyuhyun grabbed one of the spotted giraffe pillows and pulled it under his head and chuckled, “No, I just like to listen to you.”

            Ryeowook turned back to the keyboard and continued playing the song he’d been in the middle until it was finished.  “Do you have any requests?”

            “Play the song you wrote about me?”

            Ryeowook grinned.  “How long did you plan on staying?  That could take hours?  Could you be more specific?”

            “I mean the one you wrote after the wedding, I don’t know what you call it,” Kyuhyun told him.

            Ryeowook turned in his chair to face his husband and cleared his throat before answering.  “I titled it…Wedding.”

            Kyuhyun’s brow’s rose as he lay on his side and stared at him.  “You know, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but if I don’t do it, no one will.”

            “What?” he asked.

            “You at naming songs,” Kyuhyun informed him.

            Ryeowook clutched his heart with both hands and flinched.  “Ah!  I’m wounded!  From the mouth of my own husband, no less!”

            “Someone had to tell you.  You and Jongwoon could join some kind of bad naming club or something.  At least you don’t have pets running around with names you’ve given them…I’d hate to see what they’d be called.  I’m going to tell you this right now, babe, I’m not letting you name the kids.”

            Ryeowook glared at his husband.  “I would not give a child a bad name.  I have a whole list of names in my head that are perfectly acceptable, adorable names for children.”

            Kyuhyun stared at him in disbelief.  “I don’t know why I’m even surprised.  You’re just like a girl with the names of your future kids all planned out already and all that .”

            “Shut up!” Ryeowook said, grabbing one of his stuffed giraffes and chucking it at his husband, who was too tired to do much more than block it from hitting him in the face at the moment.  “It doesn’t matter anyway.  Naming kids is a two-parent decision.  We have to agree on the names together!”

            “Damn right we do,” Kyuhyun said.  “I’m not letting you ruin their lives by naming them ridiculous names like you do the titles of your songs.  Now play me my song,” he demanded.

            Ryeowook sighed heavily, but dug out the sheet music for the song anyway and looked it over briefly, knowing it almost entirely by heart except for a little complicated part near the end.  This piece, unlike so many of his others, was purely instrumen