spectacular. ptg

🍰 | voice lessons (jinhui)

hui x jinho
in which hwitaek doesn't need voice lessons but has a crush on the cute voice coach so he takes them anyway

i started writing this more than a year ago but never finished it til now 😳

♫

Jo Jinho: voice instructor. That's what Jinho's known for now, as his impressively extensive knowledge of musical theory and vocal technique allotted him this opportunity. Coaching vocalists during the weekends gives him a decent amount of money, which helps him pay his apartment bills and stay in university. And of course...as a musician, Jinho does genuinely enjoy his job.

Or does he?

Today, Jinho is coaching a new student: Lee Hwitaek. The names vaguely familiar; maybe Jinho's read it on a novel or in the credits of a film at a theater. He arrives on schedule, wearing a lime-green jacket so horridly florescent Jinho frankly doesn't know where to place his eyes.

"Hello!" Hwitaek exclaims, approaching Jinho with his body in this weird crouched position. Jinho despises when people do that: crumple their bodies into bizarre, unnecessary shapes just so that they'd see the 5'3 (161cm) male eye-to-eye. "Hi teacher!" Jinho can't tell if he is joking or not by calling him "teacher".

"Hello... Just Jinho hyung is fine," the smaller boy replies with a tight smile.

"I am Hui! Nice to meet you," the boy says, flashing him a radiant grin as they shake hands.

Hui... Jinho realizes that he actually knows this kid; he is in the same musical theory class as him. He's maybe conversed with Hwitaek once or twice, both times not crucial enough to be remembered too clearly.

Jinho plays a chord on the piano to get Hui ready to sing a few notes. The latter nods, grinning, to let Jinho know that he was about to sing.

Then he utters the most off-key, piercing, nasal sound Jinho has ever heard in his entire music teaching career. Jinho almost wants to just look at Hui and shriek "what in hell was that?" but instead inhales shakily, trying to suppress a grimace.

"A-alright," Jinho squeaks, clearing his throat. "Nice start, Hwitaek." Hui is sitting there with this giant, stupid grin on his face, beaming like he just produced the most stupendous note in the history of music. Jinho already wants to strangle him...

I swear to god this student will be the death of me.

♫

Four more voice lessons and Jinho doesn't know how much he could take anymore. He's being dramatic, he knows it, which is strange as it is; Jinho isn't dramatic. Hui's dramatic, and that theatrical boy's complexity is rubbing off on Jinho enough to make him itch.

"You're really tiny, you know that?" Hui says.

"Hey!" Jinho shouts defensively, his face reddening at the remark. "I-I'm not that small! You're short too!"

"You're tiny though," Hui laughs and Jinho scoffs, smiling a bit though because Hui's laughter is admittedly kind of cute.

I will bite your head off.

Jinho's hands grace the piano's keys; fingers pressing the white swan feathers that lie between those thin black crows. Crows that squawk out of key, just slightly. Either too sharp or flat, the feathers stick out in every direction but perfectly straight across. Yes, they're complicated to maneuver, but they make for a masterpiece, don't they?