Quiet | BTS ✓

5

When Yoongi enters the music room that night, he finds himself alone. And he's not sure if he feels completely happy about it. He half expected and half hoped that Aria would be here.

He eyes the empty piano bench, wondering if she's already been here or maybe he's scared her off from coming here to practice because of him walking in on her practicing last night. It seems like she truly let herself become emotionally vulnerable on that bench and he suspects that she doesn't let herself be that open in front of other people.

When he seats himself down on the bench, he already knows which piece he wants to play. He composed it a few months ago on his keyboard, but he's never been able to hear it on a grand piano and he figures with his mind so open in this moment to the emotions he usually keeps buried down, he decides that now is the best time to play it on the very instrument that started him on this path of true self acceptance and self love.

He doesn't need his sheet music. Not for this piece. He wrote this piece with his heart, and he only needs to use his heart to play it.

The notes flow effortlessly from his mind to the keys on the piano, sending the melody echoing throughout the large room, the song coming to life underneath his fingertips as he plays expertly and emotionally, letting this instrument he holds so dear speak his story.

The story of how he fell in love with the piano; how in the end, he chose his love for music over everything else. It's a decision he has never regretted in the past and he can feel it in his soul that it's a decision he will never regret in the future.

Every time his fingertips come into contact with the ebony and ivory keys of a piano, his soul feels complete. His heart, shattered from the years of his parents ignoring his pleas for a better, more fulfilling life, becomes whole when he plays. He's never known true bliss unless he is seated in front of his instrument, playing away his woes and insecurities. Here, in this place, he is okay and he is whole.

Yoongi's eyes close as the music takes over him, his muscles already knowing where to go without him needing to see what's in front of him. This song is the first song he's ever written. He always feared letting his emotions bubble to the surface because that would mean he'd lose control over them. But when he wrote this song, he let all of it out into the open, not fearing the vulnerability in it. He wanted the piano to know his story, to know his pain. He trusted the piano with the responsibility of telling his story, and with this song, he feels his emotions captured perfectly. He couldn't ask for a better partner in this journey of self discovery and self acceptance.

As the song comes to an end, Yoongi feels the weight of the world lift off of his chest. That song holds every unspoken word he's ever held in his heart, and he's finally able to speak his truth on the piano that opened this door for him in the first place.

And he's not the only person who's heard it.

Yoongi hears a shuffling sound and slowly turns around to see Aria leaned against the doorway, her backpack slung over her shoulder as she lets her head rest against the door frame.

"Hi," Yoongi says softly. There's no doubt in Yoongi's mind; she heard him playing. The look in her eyes says everything.

She understands him. She hears him.

Just like when he heard her play last night and he heard her so clearly in each note she played.

"I'm sorry if you feel like I'm invading your space. I understand that you prefer to play when nobody is around," he says, giving her a genuine and apologetic smile.

Aria shakes her head as she walks up to the piano bench and seats herself next to Yoongi, letting her backpack fall to the floor next to her feet.

She stares down at the piano keys, letting her right hand ghost over them, caressing them lovingly for a moment.

Aria slowly turns to Yoongi and reaches out to grab his hands in hers, slowly placing his hands onto the keys before moving her own hands away to rest in her lap.

"You want me to play?" He asks quietly, letting his hands rest comfortably on the keys as he watches her facial expression.

She nods once, letting her eyes fall onto his relaxed hands, almost as if she wants to watch how his hands move across the keys when he plays. Almost as if she wants to watch his hands tell his unspoken truth.

"The same song?" Yoongi asks.

A small smile graces Aria's lips and Yoongi understands.

He begins the song again, letting the emotions in his heart guide him as he lets himself get lost in his piece.

Every once in a while, Yoongi glances over to Aria to see her watching his hands move across the instrument, lost in her own emotions as she listens to what Yoongi is portraying through the keys.

Yoongi feels deep down in his soul that Aria hears him. Nobody has ever heard him before, apart from his uncle. Not his parents, not his little brother, not his friends... everyone dismissed Yoongi's words. Everyone dismissed Yoongi's feelings. Only his uncle heard him and truly let him be himself. When Yoongi's parents disowned him for choosing music, he distanced himself from his uncle because the last thing he wanted was for his uncle to suffer at the hands of his selfish and greedy parents.

And so Yoongi was alone. Truly alone. For three years, he went to a different college and learned all he could possibly know about the piano, practicing day and night, pushing through the hand cramps and the countless sleepless nights. The day he chose music was the day he turned away from everyone he knew. All he had was the music.

But when his uncle reached out to him after those three long years, Yoongi couldn't stay away anymore. Not from his uncle, not from his dream school, not from this piano.

So he came back. He decided to stop punishing himself for choosing to be happy. He decided to stop punishing himself for choosing to be free.

Yoongi never expected to meet someone who would listen to him, truly listen to him. Only his uncle has ever listened.

But now here is this girl he knows nothing about, yet he feels like he knows her.

She hears him.

And he hears her.