For Riley [Closed]

[phoenixfalling]

Kim had been glad that things didn't get weird between him and Riley after he asked her out. She said 'no' and he accepted that and that was that. Things had kind of gone back to how they had been before that, which was nice. That wasn't to say that Kim still didn't have a bit of a crush on her but he knew that it wasn't going anywhere and there was nothing to do but accept it. Besides, Riley was awesome, it wasn't like being her friend was a consolation prize or anything. Being her friend was awesome.

He was also her piano instructor. Kim had found her a decently cheap keyboard to practice on at her place since she didn't have a full on piano and had agreed to bring it over and set it up. The keyboard tucked under one arm and the stand under the other he knocked on the door to her place.

Comments

[jiyunnies]

Riley mutters a quick "Shit," when she hears a knock. She's excited, extremely excited actually, because Kim broke the news to her that he had found a keyboard and he's willing to teach her. But the Jung cottage is tiny and Riley and Val have a tendency to hold onto every little sentimental thing, so the already tiny home seems smaller with all the projects the two decided to take on in the past few weeks.

She quickly shoves a few boxes under a table, some potion experiments into a cupboard, and coaxes a couple of Val's plants out of the way so Kim won't accidentally harm them and invoke the wrath of her little sister. When she's satisfied the place is relatively cleaned up, she rushes to the door and tugs it open, already smiling.

"Hey! I hope you didn't have any trouble finding the place or getting that here." She holds the door open, gesturing for Kim to come in.

[phoenixfalling]

"Hey!" he said, grinning a bright smile as soon as he saw her. Seeing Riley always cheered him up, even if he was already in a good mood. "Nope, no problem at all. It was the only creepy cottage on the edge of the woods in the area."

It wasn't actually a creepy cottage at all but it was certainly small and cluttered. For a quick moment he glanced around for Val, just in case she was hiding out so that she could jump out and murder him, but he didn't see her around. Which was good.

"Where do you want me to put this?" he asked. "It needs to be plugged in but it can be taken down once you're done with it. It's even small enough to fit in a bedroom if your playing annoys your sister. It also has a headphone jack if your practicing really annoys your sister."

[jiyunnies]

Riley closes and locks the front door after Kim has entered. She almost gestures to the living room, but then he mentions the bedroom. "Oh, I hadn't thought about that. I was going to say the living room, but Val's kind of using that now. She's digging up some plants to bring in for the winter."

She looks around the house, tapping her chin as she thinks. "I think my room would be best. Out of the way and I can practice whenever I want," she reasons, looking up at Kim for approval. "My room's just over here, and it's much more organized than this. I promise."

[phoenixfalling]

Kim wasn't even going to ask why the living room was being dug up. Val was weird, she did weird things like threaten people for asking her sister out, so it kind of didn't surprise him that she would be digging plants up in the living room. All the more reason to set it up in the bedroom.

"The clutter is... it's quaint, it's very quaint," he said, laughing a bit before turning toward her bedroom. Unfortunately, he forgot about the extra length of the keyboard at his side and turning caused it to hit one of the bottles of potion ingredients, spilling blue something all onto his hoodie.

"Oh crap, oh crap, I'm so sorry!"

[jiyunnies]

"Oh shit!" Riley isn't quick enough to settle the bottle before it topples over onto Kim. She knows exactly what it is and they don't really have much time before his hoodie will start reacting.

"Kim, take that off, now!" she instructs, tugging at his hoodie. "It's going to eat through that!"

[phoenixfalling]

"Sorry!" Kim shouted, setting down the keyboard and stand quickly to strip his hoodie off as fast as possible. He didn't really care if his hoodie got burned, he just didn't want whatever it was that would burn his hoodie to start burning his skin. Underneath he only had on a tank top so it wouldn't provide much protection.

"I'm so sorry. Just... you can just burn it or whatever. I'm sorry, Riley, I should have been more careful."

[jiyunnies]

Riley takes the hoodie and drops it in the sink, pouring another vial of potion on top of it to stop the entire thing from disintegrating. The fabric smokes a bit and she opens a window in the kitchen to help air it out.

"Oh my god, no it's okay. I really should put the more dangerous stuff away after I use them, I"m sorry." She turns back to Kim to look him over. "Are you o--oh." Her eyes widen as they settle on the very familiar tattoos that cover his arms.

[phoenixfalling]

"No, no, it's my fault," he said. Picking up the keyboard and stand he saw the look of recognition in her eyes at his tattoos, face flushing red. He remembered her saying that she was a fan but he hoped that she didn't quite recognize them, that they just looked familiar.

"I'll- um, I'll go set this up your room," he said, ducking away to her room before she could say anything or get another look. Only when he got to her room he froze. Above her bed was a poster. That- that stupid poster. He was shirtless, his tattoos in full view. His hair was tinted red and all spiked up and he had big sunglasses on, but it was was his poster. Or rather, Ken Young's poster.

[jiyunnies]

Riley barely squeaks out a "WAIT!" before Kim's in her room and she feels her stomach fall. How she didn't make the connection before, she'll never know. Kim Yoo is Ken Young, a musician she's had a crush on and respected for years. And she turned him down. And now he's going to see his poster over her bed.

Never one to take embarrassment well, Riley puts on what she thinks is an innocently oblivious face and lets herself into the room. "You can, uh, put it right over there. By my bookcase in the corner." She gestures to the opposite side of the room as she inches closer to the wall with the damn poster. "Oh my god, a mouse!" Riley then points at the floor, reaching up to rip the poster down as soon as Kim looks away.

"Oh. Never mind. Just more clutter."

[phoenixfalling]

Kim nodded and shuffled over to set up the stand and keyboard so that she could practice. When she shouted about the mouse he glanced over but she heard him rip the poster down, which he was both grateful for and kind of disappointed. She had his poster above her bed and she had still turned him down.

"You sure you don't want me to sign that?" he asked, unable to resist. He was already mortified so why not address the elephant in the room?

[jiyunnies]

Damn it. Well, Riley feels like she gets an A for effort. She sits on the foot of her bed, her cheeks a little red in embarrassment. "I'm such an idiot, god."

[phoenixfalling]

"Hah, it's okay, um, I try to not be recognized," he said, flushing a bit at the fact that she was such a big fan. Kim just hoped he didn't ruin the band for her knowing now what a huge dork he is in real life.

"I, um, at least I don't have to keep hiding the tattoos around you anymore?"

[jiyunnies]

"My brain is having a hard time realizing that you and Ken Young are the same person." She looks up at Kim again and it's weird. She still gives him a small smile. "That's true. I can see why you didn't want to be recognized."

[phoenixfalling]

"Well I guess you just didn't spend a whole lot of time looking at my face on that poster," he teased, even as he felt his face flush red. "Would it help if I took my shirt off?"

He knew what she meant though. More than the image it was the whole persona. It was kind of like why no one her thought Clark Kent was Superman.

[jiyunnies]

Riley points at Kim and shakes her head. The idea of Kim ever taking his shirt off and matching what she had seen of Kim Young is too much for her brain right now. "You are not helping, bud. Don't do that. My brain will catch up soon, but if you do that, you'll break it."

[phoenixfalling]

"Alright, how about if you don't tell anyone that I'm Ken Young I won't tell anyone that you had a shirtless poster of me in your room?" Kim offered, unable to keep from smiling. He figured that maybe the more he teased her about it the more it would seem ridiculous and not embarrassing.

[jiyunnies]

"Deal! But you should also forget that bit about the poster as well," she adds, wincing. This would be exactly her luck.

[phoenixfalling]

"It's not a big deal," he said, shaking his head. The last thing he wanted was for Riley to feel weird around him. "It's not- that's not me, that person on the poster. Not really. Don't worry about it."

[jiyunnies]

"Oh, I kind of figured that." Riley shakes her head, immediately realizing how wrong that sounded. "Not that it's a bad thing. Your image was never bad and you're not bad. I do know it was just an image though. The important thing is that I know the real Kim Yoo," she smiles.

[phoenixfalling]

"Maybe I'll get you a poster of the real Kim Yoo then," he said with a grin. It would have to be the most ridiculous poster ever but he was okay with that.

"But come on, we're going to teach you to play the piano."

[jiyunnies]

Riley giggles at that. "Oh yeah, I won't look like a stalker with that at aaaalll." She gets up from the edge of her bed and smiles, feeling way less embarrassed now.

"Right, piano lessons. I'm a great student, I promise."