Petty Not Pretty (HueningKaiXReader They/Them Pronouns)

5

  Turns out, a video on Facebook reaches a lot more teens than I thought it would. When I came into school on Monday, a few people spoke about it, expressing their worry that I was somehow HueningKai's hidden significant other.

  The most notable people who spoke about it in front of me without knowing of my presence were HueningKai's friends. They were walking in front of me as I walked to my locker and I just so happened to hear their not so quiet conversation topic.

  "I saw a second video where they play the piano together. Like, the same piano. It was pretty cute. It wasn't even like they sat on their respective sides and played the song on one piano. Nah dude, they crossed over their arms. Sickeningly adorable I tell you," Taehyun told the rest of the group.

  "If you find it again, send it to the group chat. I wanna see it," Beomgyu requested.

  "It's hard to imagine him in that scenario. Sure he's charismatic with us but when he's by himself, he's usually quiet. To do something that sickeningly adorable with another member of the human species..." Soobin paused, trying to think of how to correctly phrase it.

  Even his first phrasing was questionable. So questionable in fact, that it made me laugh, thus revealing my appearance and now it was time to make my not-so-grand escape, which was just speeding up my pace and walking in front of them until I reached my locker.

  During lunch, I sat outside the music room again. I just couldn't make myself go in. It felt so impolite to just open the door and go in when someone else was in there, even if I had his permission to do so. I leaned against the wall, closing my eyes, unaware of the few pairs of eyes that had now become hyperaware of my existence.

  I twiddled my fingers while I listened to HueningKai play. Today, he played the guitar. I wasn't sure why, but today he had decided to switch it up, not that I was complaining. His playing style was so distinct that even though he wasn't playing the piano, I could still tell it was him. It was a soothing style of playing, one that indeed did act like my pain killer. It eased any shadow of a headache that I felt and whatever stress was resting on my shoulders from classes was lifted off gently, leaving me feeling weightless.

  As usual, the playing ceased, the door opened, and he leaned against the door, looking down at me.

  "I've told you already, you can just come in. I don't mind as long as it's you," he told me, offering his hand to help me up, which I took.

  "I'd feel weird just barging in," I mumbled, stepping inside the familiar music room.

  "I'm not playing the piano today, I hope you don't mind," he told me.

  "No, I don't mind. I didn't know you played the guitar."

  "I play lots of instruments. I've been into music since I was a kid. I used to have little music shows and stuff, even though I used to suck," he chuckled.

  "I've always been academic. I never wanted to learn an instrument until recently," I confessed.

  "What made you want to learn the piano?" He asked, stating to strum on his guitar lightly.

  My brain froze for a fraction of a second and in that fraction of a second, I didn't even take the time to panic. I just threw out the best response my mind could immediately come up with, which was the truth. Or, at least the partial truth.

  "I used to like to listen to pianist play and it was like a painkiller for anything I was feeling, so I wanted to see if I could do it too. What about you? Why did you learn piano?" I asked him, leaning back in the chair that I currently sat in.