Uncalculated | Beomkai

1.

Music Room.

Kai nervously stands in front of the wooden door, nervously taking in a deep breath and tightly gripping his backpack straps.

There's no way they wouldn't accept me into the club, right? he thinks, And I'm sure the band members will be nice people. Yeah. Let's not be nervous.

It's only Kai's first week at Big Hit High School as a newly entering first-year student. While he was eager to immediately ask the teacher how he could join the school band, the realization that many of the band members would probably be intimidating upperclassmen had just hit him. Even his best-friend-for-life Kang Taehyun couldn't come along with him today; he was on his own.

With a final exhale to clam his nerves, Kai reaches for the door knob--but before he can open the door, a voice stops him in his tracks.

"Who are you?"

Kai's startled by the loud voice behind him and jumps, whipping around to see who spoke. Behind him is a boy with wavy dark brown hair, traces of dark eye circles and a slight frown on his face. On his uniform, his second-year blue name tag brands the characters "Choi Beom Gyu."

"H-hello!! My name is Huening Kai, and I want to join the school band!"

"Oh? You're a first-year, aren't you?" Beomgyu raises his brow although his expression remains indifferent.

"Now can you let me pass by you? The door's locked, if you couldn't tell." Beomgyu holds up his keys, the jangling of metal hitting metal snapping Kai back to reality.

"Y-yes, of course," Kai said and quickly shifted to the side while Beomgyu swiftly unlocked the door.

"Come on in," Beomgyu said to Kai, holding the door open nodding at him to enter the room first. He then softly shuts the door behind them as the two enter the cozy music room.

"Can you play an instrument?"

"I can play a few, actually, but I'm interested in playing keyboard and singing for the band!"

At that, Beomgyu's eyes seem to light up a little bit. "Perfect. We needed someone to play the keyboard anyways." He starts to hum softly as he places his things on the sofa. Meanwhile, Kai stands awkwardly to the side, not knowing what to do next. Beomgyu notices this and softly chuckles.

"What are you standing there for? Put your backpack down here, then I wanna see your keyboard skills," Beomgyu says to Kai, hoping to make the younger boy feel welcomed. It doesn't. He could still notice the younger's awkwardness as he walks towards the sofa to put down his things. Then he looks around.

"Where's the keyboard?"

Instead, Kai sees the grand piano in the corner of the room and wordlessly walks toward it. He sits on the bench and starts playing his favorite song with a smile on his face.

Wow, he plays better than I expected too, Beomgyu thought. He eyed the way Kai gracefully ran his fingers up and down the keys, pressing each note with emotion. Beomgyu had found the perfect bandmate. Rather, the perfect bandmate had come to him.

Without a second of hesistation, Beomgyu calls out, "We're having our first meeting of the year right after school next week." Kai's fingers abruptly come to a stop.

"Do you mean I can play in the band?" The anticipation is evident in his voice.

Instead of answering Kai's question, Beomgyu leans back on the sofa and nonchalantly says, "Get here on time next week. I'll introduce you to the others."

"Thank you thank you thank you!!" Kai squeals, carried away by his excitement before he realizes that Beomgyu was the one he was talking to. "Uh.. I mean thank you so much," Kai says in a calmer tone, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"No worries. You're good to go now," Beomgyu nods his head towards the door.

"Is.. that really all?"

"Yep. Today's not a meeting day, so I'd like it if you'd come back next week." Beomgyu's already at it, typing away furiously on his laptop, looking completely absorbed in his work.

"O-okay then. I'll be going now, thank you Beomgyu-hyung." The older just gives a slight hum in response.

Just then, the door to the music room loudly swings open, revealing a grinning third-year student with cotton candy pink hair. Kai's startled by the sudden entrance, but it doesn't even seem like Beomgyu notices.

"Yah, Choi Beomgyu!!"

Following the pink-haired senior enters a very tall boy with blue-hair and-

"TAEHYUN??" Kai lights up and rushes towards his friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey Kai," Taehyun grins, "Do you wanna hang out right now? I met those upperclassmen during soccer, and we were planning to go to the arcade together."

Although Kai was a little nervous about joining upperclassmen he barely knew, he couldn't pass up an opportunity to go to the arcade. Besides, he had Taehyun with him. "Of course!" Kai says.

"Okay, great!" Taehyun laughs while linking his arms with Kai in the way that he always does. Now their attention is shifted to the noisy commotion at the other side of the music room.

"Beomgyu-yahh.." the pink-haired boy shakes Beomgyu's shoulders and whines, "Please come with usss. You came all the way to school and you're just going to work?"

"Yeah, Beomgyu," the blue-haired boy chimes in, looming over Beomgyu sitting down on the sofa, "I bet you've never to an arcade before, right? Let's go, just this onceeee"

Taehyun whispers into Kai's ear, "the one with pink hair is Yeonjun-hyung and the one with blue hair is Soobin-hyung. They're both third year students." Kai nods while they observe the fiasco. "I guess they're close friends with that upperclassman."

Eventually, Yeonjun had successfully dragged Beomgyu away from the sofa and convinced him to hang out with them. Soobin comes up to Taehyun and Kai, who were waiting by the door.

"Sorry about that, our little Beomgyu can be a little stubborn. I'm Choi Soobin!" Soobin flashes a bright smile at Kai. Unlike with Beomgyu, Kai feels immediately comfortable with Soobin.

"Hi, I'm Huening Kai, Taehyun's best friend!" Kai says enthusiastically.

"So I've heard," Soobin chuckles.

"HEY TAEHYUN'S FRIEND, I'M CHOI YEONJUN!!" Yeonjun yells while making his way towards the other, dragging along a reluctant Beomgyu beside him. "And this is Beomgyu over here."

"Uh, hey I guess," Beomgyu says before clearing his throat. "Actually, Kai's a new member of the band," he tells Yeonjun and Soobin in a low voice.

"WOW THAT'S SO COOL!" Yeonjun reacts in a loud voice, causing Beomgyu to cringe in embarrassment. "What do you play, Kai?"

"I play the keyboard and I can sing too."

"Awesome! I can't wait to hear you play sometime with the rest of the band!" Yeonjun says enthusiastically before bringing his arms around Soobin and Beomgyu. "Hurryyyyy, let's go to the arcade now!!" Yeonjun drags his friends along with him as he bolts out of the music room, Taehyun and Kai trailing behind the three upperclassmen.