The soft tunes of the piano weren’t anything Daesung hadn’t heard before, and yet, when he one evening passed by the room, he stopped dead in his tracks and listened, completely enraptured.

There was no singing over the melody, just the gentle tunes of the piano. Daesung was entranced for reasons unknown to him; he didn’t know what made him lean against the wall, sink down and make himself comfortable on the hard floor. He did just that, however, and in that moment, that was all that mattered to him as the blond let his head fall back and closed his eyes, the soft tunes of the piano filling his senses and leaving him smiling gently to himself.

He’d heard his bandmates and others play the piano before and he’d liked it, of course, but those times didn’t have anything on this one. This melody was played with the knowledge that only the performer himself would hear it. Somehow, Daesung thought, it made the soft tunes seem that much more significant, more… sincere. Filled with emotions Daesung couldn’t grasp no matter how hard he tried.

He sat and listened for what felt like forever, so immersed in the melodies that when they suddenly stopped, his eyes snapped open and he blinked, getting back on his feet in a hurry to act as if he hadn’t just sat and listened in secret. He quickly hid around a corner and peeked when the door opened and Youngbae emerged, looking tranquil and thoughtful.

Daesung followed him with his eyes until he was gone from sight.

Youngbae had been the one playing the piano. It wasn’t anything new, really. Daesung had heard him play many times before, and yet he wanted nothing more than to sit for hours straight against a wall in the hallway, listening to the music Youngbae played when he thought he was alone, because that music was different from what he usually played.

Daesung stayed in the hallway for a minute, lost in thoughts, before he eventually continued on his way home as had been his original purpose.

He sincerely hoped for the opportunity to once again get the chance to listen to Youngbae playing the piano. To listen to the tunes pulled from the piano by the man when he puts his whole soul into it.

The tunes meant for only the solitude of the performer.

xXxXx

For the next many months, he made sure to always walk by the room on his way home in the hopes of hearing the captivating tunes again. Once or twice, he found himself seated on the floor like that first time, head against the wall and eyes closed, immersed in the music.

Youngbae played and Daesung listened in silence, a fact unbeknownst to the older man. Daesung recognised all of the songs Youngbae played; all but one, and that one song in particular drew him like a moth to a flame. It was also the same song that caught his attention when he first walked by. It was the song he secretly made up lyrics to, mouthing them on his seat on the floor, the song he found the most entrancing. The song that Youngbae poured his everything in to and the song that never failed to take Daesung’s breath away.

“Daesung?”

Daesung realises that he hadn’t registered when the music had stopped playing, that he hadn’t noticed Youngbae’s presence at all. The man with the faux hawk was standing in the doorway and looking curiously down at him. Daesung blinks before letting a sheepish smile find its way to his lips.

“Ah, hyung,” he greets, accepting Youngbae’s hand and getting up from the hard floor with his help.

“What are you doing out here?” Youngbae asks, slinging his bag over his shoulders. Daesung reckons he’d been practising dance before coming here.

“Listening,” Daesung answers vaguely and Youngbae simply nods. He doesn’t ask further, so Daesung doesn’t clarify. He simply smiles and beckons to Daesung and together they head home.

Daesung feels a tickling sensation in his stomach but shoves it aside, deciding that it isn’t anything he ought to worry about.

xXxXx

The next chance he gets doesn’t come until much later. Their schedules have been busy and he lacks sleep, however, once he comes by the room and hears the music, his fatigued body and mind suddenly becomes insignificant and he sits down again to listen to the heavenly tunes, laying his bag in his lap and relaxing.

He sits for an unknown amount of time before the music suddenly stops and before he can get back on his feet and leave, the door opens and Youngbae’s head pops forth. He takes a glance at Daesung and then disappears inside again.

Daesung stares after him in confusion.

“What are you doing sitting out there? Come on in instead.”

So Daesung does. Timidly, he steps inside, closing the door beside him and turning to face Youngbae who’s once again sat down by the piano, hands running over the keyboard as he ponders, a frown evident on his forehead. After a minute he raises his gaze and sees Daesung still standing awkwardly by the door and he sighs, smiling softly.

“Come sit down, Daesung. Or don’t you want to?”

“No -… No, hyung, I’d love to,” Daesung mumbles, slowly approaching Youngbae and the piano. Youngbae moves to make place for Daesung and the younger sits down, dropping his back on the floor beside one of the piano’s legs.

“How many times have you been listening outside the door?” Youngbae asks and Daesung laughs sheepishly, running a hand through his dark tresses.

“Aah… A couple of times at least,” he answers, folding his hands in his lap and smiling to himself. His eyes are lowered, though, gaze on his hands fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt and he’s nervous all of a sudden and that doesn’t make sense at all.

“I see,” Youngbae says slowly, beginning to play again. Daesung listens, following Youngbae’s hands with his eyes as they float over the keyboard, pushing down gently on the keys to bring forth the sounds that Daesung so loves. He smiles and tilts his head, closing his eyes once again while he listens.

The music doesn’t change despite him being there. The gentle sounds are as sweet as when he’d sat outside on the floor, if not sweeter.

“Wanna try?” Youngbae suddenly asks and Daesung is brought back to the present. He nods and slowly brings his hands to the keyboard, experimentally pushing down one of the keys. He’s tried playing before, but he’s not at all as experienced as Youngbae.

A warm hand covers his and guides it further to the left. “Here,” Youngbae says and softly presses their hands down on the key. A sound between low and light plays and Daesung arches a brow, looking at Youngbae. The shorter of the two raises his gaze and meets Daesung’s eyes, smiling. “Next one,” he continues, leading Daesung’s hand to the next key. He does so for the following ones, too, and Daesung is having a hard time focusing on the lesson itself and not on the warmth of Youngbae’s hand.

“Repeat it,” Youngbae orders and lets go of the other’s hand so that he can try it out. Daesung finds himself missing it and at that thought, he quickly does a mental shake of his head and tries to remember what Youngbae showed him. He purses his lips and concentrates on playing the piece with Youngbae sitting as the silent observer by his side.

“Good, but you missed this one,” Youngbae says once Daesung lets his hands fall back in his lap. Youngbae reaches forward and presses down one of the keys, flashing Daesung a smile. “See?” He plays the piece from start to end, a matter of fifteen seconds.

Daesung nods slightly to show that he understands and when Youngbae beckons to the keyboard again, he tries to play the piece another time. It’s with slight hesitation that he does so and not with the same easy flow as Youngbae, but he succeeds without missing a key and that makes him smile.

Youngbae laughs and Daesung’s smile turns sheepish as he turns to look at the older man. “Ya, don’t laugh. It’s not fair. You’re a much more experienced pianist than I am.”

“I didn’t laugh because of that,” Youngbae assures him, chuckling. “I laughed because of the concentration of your face. You looked so serious.”

Daesung purses his lips in a pout. “I was concentrated. And serious.”

“Don’t be,” Youngbae says, playing some notes again. “Don’t think too much, just… Feel it. Like when you sing.”

Daesung nods slowly and listens. It only takes a few seconds for him to recognise that song and his face lights up in a delighted smile.

He watches Youngbae as he plays, seeing the way his eyes close, the way he sways slightly to the melody, the way his fingers float over the keyboard as if they were always meant to do so. He starts to notice other details, too, like Youngbae’s sharp jaw and his eyelashes, and that’s when Daesung closes his own eyes and tries to focus on the melody and only that.

When they leave for the night, his hand still tingles and he still misses the warmth.

xXxXx

Time flies and they are always busy. Daesung doesn’t get the chance to listen to Youngbae’s playing often, but when he does, he always sits outside the door for a bit before it opens and Youngbae appears in the doorway and then Daesung joins him inside, sitting beside him by the piano.

Sometimes Youngbae likes to teach Daesung a small piece; other times Youngbae merely plays and Daesung listens, no one feeling a need to speak and break the silence between them.

In the beginning, Daesung only came for the music. Now there’s something else on top of that, urging Daesung to join his hyung by the piano.

“How come you’ve never played that song before?” Daesung asks one evening, Youngbae having just finished playing the very song he’s asking about. “I mean… You’ve never performed it for any of us. I’ve only ever heard you play it in here.”

Youngbae takes a moment to answer. “I’ve never thought of sharing it with anyone, actually. It’s always been one I enjoyed playing alone. It isn’t meant for the world to know.”

“Aah,” Daesung murmurs, tilting his head and playing a few notes on the keyboard. “I understand. Some things aren’t meant to be shared with everyone – or anyone.”

Youngbae hums and joins Daesung’s casual playing, neither of them following a particular melody. The result, while not as flawless as others, is beautiful and yet not. It has its flaws, just like everything else, but maybe that’s just what makes it, in truth, perfect. Or maybe that’s just Daesung’s thoughts on the matter.

The moment is perfect, he thinks. A perfect moment doesn’t need talk, or smiles. He feels comfortable, happy, and he’s with Youngbae, and all those details somehow combine and make the moment perfect.

They create music that will never be written down, music that isn’t perfect and yet is because it’s a spur of the moment, of whatever they feel and wherever their fingers move. Chaotic, yet simple. Horrid, yet beautiful.

And Daesung smiles.

xXxXx

Chaste. That’s how their first kiss is. Accidental, spontaneous, hesitant, chaste.

And it’s the best kiss Daesung has ever had, but he’s nervous.

“I don’t know what to do,” he admits softly.

“Do the same thing you do when you sing,” Youngbae advises quietly, fingers running over Daesung’s jaw gently, lovingly. “Just feel.”

Daesung smiles, “Alright,” and leans in to capture the other man’s lips in a second kiss.

There are things not everyone needs to know, like the love between two individuals who are testing boundaries; acting on newfound feelings of fondness, adoration, love.

Love truly makes the most beautiful music.

xXxXx

“What?”

His voice is a mere whisper, the single word choked out in shocked disbelief. The hand holding the phone is shaking; his whole body is trembling.

The voice in the other end – Jiyong – speaks, but Daesung barely registers what’s being said.

Youngbae. Accident. Hospital. Those are the words he latches on to as they spill from Jiyong’s mouth.

“Daesung?”

Daesung blinks away the tears and bites down his lower lip. “Ne, hyung.”

“He’ll be alright,” Jiyong assures him firmly. “He’ll be fine, okay? Everything’ll be alright.”

“Ne, hyung.” But he still fears. Still worries for the man he loves.

xXxXx

Everything isn’t alright. It’s far from and it makes Daesung hug the pillow close and bury his face in the feather-stuffed fabric. He cries.

He ought to be happy because Youngbae is alive and, everything considered, well, and he is.

But Youngbae doesn’t remember him.

xXxXx

Daesung feels powerless. He feels at a loss around Youngbae; doesn’t know what to do or what to say. He wants to hold him, to soothe the older man when he gets nervous about the things happening around him, wants to make him smile, but instead he just sits awkwardly while Big Seunghyun, Jiyong and Little Seunghyun carefully and patiently tell Youngbae about himself and his life, about his friends and his work; about everything he has forgotten.

But Daesung knows things no one else does. And he can’t tell.

It isn’t certain Youngbae will ever remember them again and that possibility pains Daesung more than anything. It pains him to know that his loved one doesn’t recognise him, that the man in front of him, the one he’s spent eight years with, the man he loves, doesn’t love him back. It pains to know that he’s the only one with the memories; with only the memories.

If Youngbae never remembers, he wishes to forget, too.

“Are you always this quiet?”

Daesung stares at the man in front of him and smiles, because, really, that’s the only thing he can do. “Not always.”

“Were we close friends?” Youngbae asks and Daesung’s smile falters and he averts his eyes, looking out the window, the smile on his lips having turned wistful.

“Yes, Youngbae hyung. We were close.”

xXxXx

They are on a temporary hiatus until they know more about what the future holds in store for them; for Youngbae.

Daesung sees many similarities with this new Youngbae and the old one. This Youngbae is just as caring, just as hard-working and just as calm, and when he’s in the right mood, he’s just as talkative and just as loud.

But this new Youngbae doesn’t love Daesung as the old one did and that hurts. It hurts to know that Youngbae without his memories is more or less the same, yet not at all.

Daesung does his best, though. He tries to be a good friend and a good teammate, tries to be a good dongsaeng and a good hyung, tries to be a good idol for his fans and for everyone else who cares. Only when it becomes too much, too stressful, does he flee to his room and fall asleep there with tears still fresh on his cheeks.

xXxXx

Daesung comes by the room with the piano one day and when he enters, the memories hit him like a rock. He stands in the doorway, eyes looking longingly at the piano and the memories he has with Youngbae there, before he actually closes the door and approaches the instrument.

He sits down and runs his hand gently over the keyboard. Then he plays, remembering the songs Youngbae taught him and even parts of the pieces they made up together.

Lastly, he plays the song Youngbae used to play, the song that wasn’t meant for the world. The song Youngbae kept close to his heart and always played as if it meant everything to him.

Now Daesung plays it and he puts everything he has into it, remembering all the lyrics he made up for it but not singing it because, for some reason, it wouldn’t fit.

“I’m sorry.”

Daesung freezes, sitting still for a moment before looking back and finding Youngbae. Once Youngbae knows the other has noticed him, he slowly walks to sit beside the younger.

“You’re sad. Something’s bothering you and I feel it every time I look at you, but I don’t know what it is.”

Daesung keeps his gaze on the piano, unable to look at the other man. “I’m sad, yes,” he admits, starting to play again. “But don’t worry. It’ll pass.”

Youngbae remains quiet and so Daesung continues to play without interruption, closing his eyes like Youngbae used to do. When he opens his eyes again minutes later, Youngbae is still by his side and he’s smiling. Fondly.

The pianist reaches forward and plays the same song and when he’s done, he turns to look at Daesung, taking one of his hands in his own and holding it loosely.

“I remember this song,” he says softly, trailing his fingers over the keys.

“I named it Delight.”

First off, I wrote this from the following prompt:

“Imagine your OTP where person A plays piano in their free time. When person A gets into a horrible accident, they’re left with amnesia. Person B visits them every day and talks to them even though person A no longer remembers them. When person B finds a piece written by person A for them, they teach themselves to play it, and one day they perform it for person A in the hospital.

Person A recognizes the tune, and it brings back memories of person B.”

It ended up... not quite like that, but still somewhat. I guess. I took my liberties and, besides, most of you, if not all, know how it is when you write and it turns out not at all like what you first had in mind.

Prompt taken from this site, by the way: http://imagineyourotp.tumblr.com/

Mmmh… Yes. Feel free to point out mistakes, typos and the likes! I’m not native English, sooo.

I’ve written, what… 570 pages in Word by now in a total of seven months, and guess what? Those pages are purely Bigbang fanfiction. 40 fanfics, this one being number 40. And this one is the only fluffy romantic one. Seven pages of fluff-ish. I write too much angst or crack…

Speaking of, do any of you draw? I’m in the middle of a Daebae fanfic inspired by Sleeping Beauty with Daesung in Aurora’s role and Youngbae as Prince Philip. Again, I take my liberties in the plot (hehehe). While writing, I thought of Daesung and Youngbae as children on a field of daisies. Daesung had made a crown of daisies and put it on Youngbae’s head and Daesung was all smiles while Youngbae tried to act manly (as manly as a thirteen year old can and with a blush adorning his cheeks). Anyways… Might anyone want to draw that? Just some chibi-thing-ish… Anyone seen the picture of Jiyong as Rapunzel and Seunghyun as her his saviour? Something like that.

I will end my pointless babbling now. Thanks a bunch for reading!