the little bell ⇢ rensung

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"and that's a wrap!"

the concertmaster's voice reverberated along the vast practice room, bouncing off the tall wooden domes as his message felt like a distant message of relief to all the musicians in the group as they let down their instruments.

renjun beamed at himself, his hands leaving the white keys of the piano as he quickly skimmed through the pages behind the sheet music, before closing the book, which was titled "best of liszt: part 2". already beyond exhausted, he subtly stretched his posture, finally ready to go back home and take a good rest.

the tall man, well, at least tall to him, went up to him as he pat him on the shoulder, applauding him for this hardwork. "you did good today, renjun. honestly, thank you for actually being part of this orchestra."

"thank you, to be honest, i'm glad we're doing liszt's la campanella. my skills were getting a bit rusty even with practice," renjun beamed as he explained, to which the concertmaster nodded in the affirmative. he then moved to the next violinists and the basses to give feedback on their playing.

everything was going well for the troupe as well as himself, until he had a sudden yell from the same man whom he talked happily with.

"are you fucking kidding me right now?! even after so much work, you still can't perfect a fucking glissando?!" the concertmaster yelled at one of the violinists, who only drooped his head down silently as he listened to those hurtful words keenly. after his crude intervention, the only word the poor violinist could say was a mere stuttering 'yes'.

renjun frowned at the young man, who was apparently younger than himself, which was a new thing because most of the violinists were in their late 20s to their early 30s.

renjun had never talked to him as he was not part of his department— piano. most of his friends are pianists and only a handful of them played other instruments. this one, though, was very peculiar to him as he would always, always get chewed up on by the concertmaster for his horrible playing.

from what renjun had observed from the boy, he was part of the second violinists and he was chosen by youngho, another senior violinist who decided to leave the industry as he wanted to pursue on his own vlogging youtube channel. everyone had towering expectations on the poor boy as the seo youngho had chosen him himself, but he immediately broke that as he played with an extremely shaky bow.

it was quite a wonder for renjun as why would youngho choose such a boy who is afraid of playing around everyone.

and now, he was added as a violinist in the first row, but that idea was immediately trashed and demoted him to the second row, and he still manages to fuck everything up.

at one side, renjun thought lowly of the boy for being so clumsy at playing, but on the other side, he wanted to comfort the boy from all the shoutings he had to handle as it might be something else that could have been eating him up on the inside.

sighing, renjun went back to packing up things, and by things, he meant his sheet music and a towel that he uses to clean the piano off of dust. looking at the poor boy for one more time, he walked out of the room along with the others.

🌪

"how's everything going, hoe?"

renjun was immediately greeted by his saxophonist friend, yangyang, who was practically bunking most of his classes, but was incredibly talented which yangyang himself doesn't even realize. he met renjun in between bunking his classes, and was immediately enamored by him at the start.

he confessed, but renjun rejected him pretty harshly, but that only started an unwavering friendship.

"not much honestly...the rehearsal went kinda well, but that kid messed up again, and now we have to practice more," renjun explained as he let out a sigh, knowing that the performance is only a fortnight away. "wait...did you bunk your classes again?! bitch, i told you so many times not to!"

"i got bored and i wanted to spend some time with you...~" yangyang whined as a pout formed in his lips, trying to hug the older who is trying to move away from his skinship in disgust. "besides, we got a break anyways..."

"you scared me," renjun deadpanned as he frowned at him.

"at least thank me for being a good person after listening to you,"yangyang rolled his eyes as he pulled renjun to the cafeteria, for he was ravenous enough to invade the whole place and eat everything he can afford. "now let's go already! i'm so fucking hungry..."

yangyang pulled renjun on to a table nearby, almost feverishly excited as he finally got a chance to talk to renjun after so long as he was pretty much deprived of his angry little best friend. despite all this excitement, yangyang could not help but notice renjun's stoic expression laced with a bit of concern.

"bitch, just stop worrying about that shit for once," yangyang spoke out unamusingly, startling renjun off his thoughts. "i know that kid fucked up bad, but can we do anything about it?"

renjun was about to defend himself, but yangyang ended up being a bit too loud in the cafeteria, loud enough that he caught the attention of everyone in the busy cafeteria, letting the buzz die down into an awkward silence. renjun swore he wanted to strangle yangyang for such a thing as he glared at him before his eyes darted around the other customers.

renjun caught someone staring at them at the back of his vision, even though everyone was staring at him and yangyang's shenanigans. he quickly darted his eyes to get a closer look at the man, and noticed it was the same man who fucked up playing the violin.

his stare was stoic, but renjun could clearly see that he was on the verge of crying; his jaw was slightly open, his seemingly muscular arms clutching his violin harshly.

as the crowd melted into the whispers of obscurity, renjun chided yangyang for being absolutely dumb. "what the fuck did you just do, bitch?! you just hurt the kid's feelings!"

"serves him right for being a dumbass anyways," yangyang scoffed, rolling his eyes, which only led to renjun scolding him even more. knowing that he was to save the situation, renjun immediately stood up from his chair and walked towards the table where the violinist was situated in.

the violinist in question, was sitting in a chair on the farthest table, devoid of any friends from what he could see. after what he did, the poor boy could do nothing but listen to the 'criticism' he was shoved with. as renjun approached him, he merely fidgetted his fingers as his face tinged crimson from anxiety.

"hey..."

the boy did not say a single word as he could feel the tiny figure of renjun towering over the table. he looked up reluctantly as adrenaline rushed through his veins as words caught up in his throat, not able to say anything.

sighing, renjun took a seat next to the boy, grabbing his hand and interlocking their fingers together. completely astonished from renjun's reaction, his heart pounded in his chest, his social anxiety taking over him.

"look, uh, please just...don't take what the concertmaster and my dumbass friend just told. you can play really nicely! it's just that...uh, there are a few things to take care of...like that glissando," renjun beamed at the boy, hoping that his words were comforting enough for him. "d-don't worry too much, okay? i know you can do it!"

the violinist's reaction is what renjun could explain as "stars in his eyes". he nodded vigorously in the affirmative as his big hands clenched renjun's own, reminiscent of a child promising his teacher that he would improve. "y-yes...i-i will...!" he finally spoke out, stuttering badly.

"aww, you're cute!" renjun beamed as he let out a small giggle. "what's your name? i'm renjun by the way."

"ah...hyung, i-i had heard...a lot about you," he spoke out. "i-i'm...jisung."

a/n: i'm slaying, and that too on jisung's birthday ✨

i love devil by the window sm istg i will marry that song kdsjhrfkjdsbfvksdjgvsd-