Work Text:
Seokjin had got that luxurious and elegant apartment thanks of an aunt's inheritance who, due to lack of children and grandchildren, had chosen him as heir to everything she owned once she passed away. Often Jin was grateful that her beloved aunt hadn't died right there, otherwise he'd would refuse to accept such a wonderful place, with a city's beautiful view, if her soul still wandered there. He didn’t believe his heart could bear such dread.
Located in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Seoul and coveted by many people who wanted to buy it from his aunt throughout all her life, the apartment was the place where Jin had always dreamed living on. Not so far from the music academy where he worked, in a fairly quiet place despite being a centric zone and with public transport’s arteries just meters away from there, it was on the 13th floor and the external half of its perimeter was made up of large windows giving him a beautiful view of the city and the feeling of being floating in the air, or living in a bubble.
The apartment was too big for him alone, but after setting the grand piano in front of those windows, making that corner kind of an open studio to compose and practice every afternoon, cover the shelves with his numerous collections of books and the walls with the paintings he'd been buying since he was a teenager, and many other decorative things along the corridors and rooms, he felt the place was the ideal home to spend the rest of his life quietly and comfortably. It was perfectly isolated acoustically —to make it easy both for him when practicing and for his neighbors when living with a musician—, and it had very good acoustics inside of it. That was what kept Seokjin from sleeping at night. For some strange reason that he couldn't decipher, the apartment became creepy at night to his susceptible and highly fearful personality's misfortune , and the perfect acoustics brought all kinds of terrifying sounds to his ears preventing him from sleeping peacefully.
Nevertheless, Jin was very happy there.
Wherever he looked, every corner of this splendid place gave a warm and welcoming home feeling. His home. Where he planned to spend the rest of his life, perhaps married and with children, and then when his time to retire finally came, it'd become his refuge where he'd dedicate himself to playing the piano solely for pleasure when he only felt like it and his arthritics' fingers allow it. He always asked the heavens that this would be in the very distant future, at an advanced age, after fully enjoying a blissful life. But despite having put special care in those details and being surrounded by his things, the nights were still just as terrifying, without him being able to do anything to get them better, and Jin was unable to sleep a wink for the sounds that echoed throughout the entire house and that each time they seemed to get closer to his room where its door remained fully closed.
Those isolated events had begun to happen a week after his move.
The windows would suddenly open at any time of the day, and when they didn't open the curtains would still move and float as if they're receiving breeze coming from them. The doors creaked desperately and unpleasantly as they moved of their own accord at any hour. Objects moved by themselves, or suddenly disappeared, to appear hours, days, weeks later, elsewhere. The environment suddenly changed its temperature, and he'd already lost count of the times he'd been burned, or frozen, while taking a shower, because the taps had decided to suddenly shut off of their own will. And he didn't want to even stop to pay attention to what the whispers he was hearing were saying as if someone was constantly whispering in his ear.
The only explanation that Seokjin found for the surprising fact that he hadn't a heart attack by fear yet, was the powerful denial that his mind exerted to not admit that what was happening was really what he think it was, because he knew that his heart wouldn't resist the terror that it'd cause him. The other explanation —which was more of an indulgence— was that all the chilling events seemed to stop during his afternoon practices. The hours that Jin spent sitting in front of the piano playing all the melodies in his repertoire, the apartment —which seemed haunted— gave him a truce, allowing him to do so in peace and harmony. Maybe that's why Seokjin hadn't lost his mind yet. That and the fact that he'd put an enormous effort into setting that place like his dream home, so that a few simple noises would make him leave it.
Jin religiously practiced his piano lessons every day at sunset.
There was something simply enchanting about the beautiful colors of the magic hour in the Seoul sky that made him want to play at that time of the day, with the last sunrays bouncing off the tall buildings as if wanting to hold onto them and linger above the horizon for a few minutes more without setting on yet, and the place in front of the large windows where he'd placed the piano made possible that small daily pleasure that he gave himself, and that always managed to relax and inspire him, forgetting how badly he spent his nights there.
It wasn't necessary for him to have such rigorous schedules for his practices, but Jin would do it every day at sunset. He would sit at the piano hours before so that when the colors of the magic hour began to appear on the horizon through the wide window panes, giving the sky a feeling of watercolor painting, with beautiful brushstrokes in purples and lilacs, roses, yellows and oranges that the indigo of the night slowly began to devour while sprinkled with tiny and bright stars, found him in the middle of inspiration and musical ecstasy and feel that he'd just entered an absolutely different dimension, full of sensations and colors and musical notes surrounding him sweetly. Jin spent hours and hours sitting at the piano, abandoning himself to music without being aware of the passage of time, forgetting everything else, until his stomach was the only one responsible for telling him that night had fallen, and that he needed to eat and go to bed to rest.
And that fateful afternoon was no different from the previous ones.
He recognized that he lacked hours of sleep and good rest, but he couldn't miss his practice for the world, so that day he pushed his limits a little more than usual. His next concert was only days away, and he couldn't afford any failures, so he put aside stress, fatigue and hunger, to indulge once again in music. Like so many other times, Jin abandoned himself to music, but this time with the clear goal of clearing his mind from the muddle of ideas that had him on the verge of collapse, and his being from the fatigue and frustration that he came dragging in. Everything would soon be over and his efforts would have paid off. Hopefully everything would end with the concert and he could take a well-deserved vacation before starting his season again.
Jin played his piece masterfully. His fingers tore nothing but perfection from the beautiful instrument located in front of the windows from which he could fully see Seoul's beauty that, tinged with violets, lilacs and indigos, began to turn on its lights and they flashed in front of him like amethysts suspended in the horizon. The melody was harmonious and the intonation just right, the tempo was meticulously measured at all times, and his agile and gentle hands on the piano keys didn't stop for a second. With each hit note, his being was emptied of all the toxicity he felt over him, the pressures and demands of his job, the loneliness and bitterness that often left him gasping for air, and his mind cleared of the confusion and gloomy ideas that overwhelmed him so much, relaxing his body, calming his soul.
Jin played like he was doing it at the concert, giving his best as always.
He played as if it was the last time he would do it.
So it was.
As soon as his hands came to rest on the instrument's lustrous keys, with the last melodic notes still echoing around him in the air of the silent room, a fervent and enthusiastic applause echoed behind him, congratulating him on such an exquisite piece of music and the little concert offered to such a small audience. The clapping sound echoed powerfully in his ears, piercing the deep silence around him, generating a cold sensation of terror that froze his veins and pierced his chest like an ice dagger, numbing his body. The surprise and fright caused his hands to unconsciously and heavily support on the piano keys, pulling out a pitiful and out-of-tune “clank” , and for his vision to suddenly turn black and he fell unconscious to the floor sliding off the bench.
5 YEARS LATER.
Taehyung had spent decades alone in that place. So much so that he no longer remembered exactly how much had been, only that he'd limited himself to existing alone and bored, without a friend.
He'd always wanted company. He just was a soul designed to socialize, unable to be alone, and he was convinced that he'd never had a problem with it and his methods of achieving it before, until he decided to get close to Seokjin in the hope that they could be friends.
Tae had tried everything to get his attention.
He would open the doors throughout the house for him each time Seokjin moved from one room to another, or closed them when he forgot them open after leaving them. The same with windows, every time he wanted the environment to renew the air and Seokjin could appreciate the breeze that entered through them. He would open the curtains when it was daytime so that natural light would flood the organized and spacious apartment, and he would close them at night or when he noticed that the light made Jin uncomfortable whenever he wanted to take a nap on the couch. He moved the objects around so that Jin could find them more easily since he used to forget where he'd left them for the last time. Keys were one of the items that Tae always "handed" to him, as were food and the kitchen items to make it more convenient and faster for him to cook at night when he was so tired from practicing all afternoon. Tae always cared about Seokjin's well-being and comfort inside the apartment, so he always tried to make him warm when he noticed that he was cold, or cool when he felt hot. And every time he noticed him down, he tried to cheer him up by talking to him. Taehyung loved talking, but the musician just ignored him, as if he didn't exist!
The only times that Tae kept his distance from Jin was in the afternoons during the young man's piano practice, because he preferred to sit next to him and watch him play while enjoying beautiful and melodious pieces of music. Taehyung loved music, he'd always done it and had been very excited when he noticed that Seokjin placed the grand piano and made that corner in front of the large windows from where he liked to watch the city so much, his small studio. A warm feeling had poured into him when he noticed that it was Jin's favorite corner as well. Taehyung eagerly awaited every afternoon to sit near Jin and witness his practices because he loved hearing him play the piano. Those were the moments in which he remained in absolute silence, letting the sweet melodies flood his soul and elevate him to another plane, full of colors, sensations and musical notes sweetly surrounding him like little sparkling lights.
He always refrained from intervening even after that because he loved to observe the peace and happiness softening the features of Seokjin's beautiful face as if he were still in a trance, floating sweetly in another plane and slowly arriving from it until he landed again on earth, but that day he hadn't been able to help it. Seokjin had put heart and soul into the pieces he'd played, deeply moving Taehyung.
And unfortunately, Tae knew that somehow, he'd crossed more than one limit when, letting himself be carried away by the delight and wonder of that magnificent piece of music masterfully played by the young man, he couldn't contain himself and fervently clapped, wanting to convey to the young soloist how magnificent, how exquisite, how perfect the melody had seemed. He would never have expected such an unpleasant reaction from Seokjin, of course, but lately it'd been common for him to receive such reactions from people. That was why the previous owner of that department, had decided to move and put him in succession immediately.
At least the old woman had had a much stronger heart than her nephew's.
Now, Taehyung spent his days trying to get closer to Jin who, despite the new circumstances, still continued to ignore him, deeply offended with him. Tae couldn't understand why. He just wanted a friend to talk and laugh with and spend the rest of eternity...
Taehyung found Jin , like every afternoon since the applause incident happened , in his usual corner, standing in front of the apartment windows looking at the beautiful view of Seoul, and approached him. The piano behind him, had remained intact in his place for the last five years without anyone having used it and it didn't go unnoticed by Taehyung the herculean effort that Seokjin constantly made not to give in to temptation and turn to stare at the instrument, regretting all he'd lost, and longing for what might have been.
Despite this, he never left the room and spent hours standing by the large windows, watching the slow movement of the city at his feet.
"Hyung—”, Tae called, whispering with his deep voice, trying not to surprise him.
Seokjin had always seemed supernaturally beautiful to him, but for five years, when he stood every day in front of the windows to watch the sunset —since it was the only thing, he could limit his existence to now—, and the colors of the magic hour bathed his translucent being, giving him an air of purple aurora borealis and the magical glow of an opal, Taehyung knew that in all his ghostly existence he hadn't seen anything more beautiful than that vision.
And like every afternoon for five years, Jin's face hardened noticeably at his call, his features darkened when he heard his voice, his eyes closed for a moment, as if asking the heavens for mercy and the necessary strength to endure one more day and tell him with a cold and tight voice that he didn't wanted him near for anything in the world.
Taehyung knew that Seokjin would reject him and even though it hurt too much, he should keep trying. He knew that at some point Jin would stop ignoring him and eventually give in. He'd waited an eternity so he could have a friend, wait a little longer, it wouldn't hurt.
"Not now", Jin muttered through clenched teeth, a deep frown and his stern gaze still fixed on the landscape outside. Seoul's magic hour began to paint the sky and Taehyung noticed the bitterness with which the other observed the colors that he'd liked so much in the past. "I need more time, Tae".
Seokjin shakily tightened his grip against his body where he'd his arms crossed over his chest and Tae didn't overlook the second herculean effort that Jin made for his voice sound with a serenity that he didn't feel at the time and avoid hurting more his feelings. It still pained Taehyung deeply to remember how cruel the first few months after meeting each other had been.
After five years, Seokjin was finally coming to terms with mourning his lost humanity and Tae was glad to know that at least now he was calling him by his nickname unlike the first few years when the older man had surprised him with every kind of insults that even him in his long years of existence hadn't heard before.
They were small steps that had to be taken and the fact that they didn't represent a breakthrough didn't mean that they were less important to Taehyung who still hoped that everything would get better between them.
"Okay, I'll leave you alone then", Taehyung muttered, unable to mask the sadness in his quivering voice, as he walked away from Jin and leave the room with a single thought in his mind:
"Someday..." .