it's happy line
title: it's happy line
pairings: IU/Taeyeon
genre: Fluff
rating: PG
summary: in which IU gives Taeyeon much needed guitar lessons.
note: IU's real name is Lee Jieun.
It started with a simple text message.
"Jieun-ah, how have you been?"
Jieun stared at the characters on her phone; in that simple font she chose instead of the cutesy default one that came with the phone. She felt like it had been so long since she had talked to Taeyeon or even thought of her. It couldn't have been that long right? The last time she saw her was on ChinChin, right before she had to quit. She remembered Taeyeon telling her something about a musical and she wondered if this sudden contact had anything to do with it.
"I've been fine unnie. You? Anything wrong?"
Jieun could barely blink twice before the reply came.
"No, not really. Hey, wanna go eat? My treat :D"
Jieun thought about it only for a second. She realized that she had missed Taeyeon and wouldn't mind seeing her again.
"Sure, where?"
~o~
"Jieun-ah!" Taeyeon waved as she saw the younger girl approaching. It had felt like forever since she had last seen Jieun, part of her wanted to run over to her and hug the tiny high school kid but that would be a bit too awkward for her and she wasn't all that close to Jieun. Instead she simply waited for Jieun to get closer and offered her a warm smile but under that smile Jieun saw something.
"It's been a while."
"Yeah."
"Let's go inside."
Jieun couldn't help but feel like there was a catch to all this, that Taeyeon hadn't brought her simply because she wanted to see her but because there was something she wanted to ask of her.
Once they sat down and ordered their meals, Taeyeon started talking. She was such a good talker; Jieun slightly envied her for that. There was rarely a dull or awkward pause when she talked.
"Really, unnie, why'd you bring me here?" Jieun interrupted her in the middle of one of her long rambling stories about something completely irrelevant. Once a DJ, always a DJ.
Taeyeon abruptly stopped. "Honestly, I wanted to ask you for something."
"I knew it."
Taeyeon laughed, she knew she was terrible at hiding things.
"Well ask me."
"You know I have a musical coming up right?"
Jieun nodded, her first assumption had been correct.
"Well...er, I have to play guitar for the role and…"
Jieun was already smiling, she knew what was coming next.
"I was wondering if-"
"Of course!"
"You'll help me out?" Taeyeon was feeling nervous all of a sudden, probably due to the fact that she was asking someone so much younger than her for help.
And it was the day after that lunch that the lessons started.
~o~
The first few lessons went by with little progress. Taeyeon wasn’t a natural at this but Jieun kept her frustration inside, figuring Taeyeon would eventually get it.
But Taeyeon still wasn’t getting it by the fourth lesson and that’s when Jieun’s frustration burst out.
"Oh my god, Taeyeon, you're a failure." Jieun whispered more to herself than to Taeyeon.
"Yah! What was that?! It's not my fault my fingers are so tiny!" Taeyeon protested, the tips of her fingertips screaming in pain.
"...My hands are smaller than yours and yet I-"
"But you've been playing since you were like five or something!"
"That's besides the point! C'mon, Taeyeon, you sing, you should be able to pick up this music stuff quickly." Jieun was trying to hide the frustration in her tone.
"Just because I sing doesn't mean I also magically have the ability to play the guitar amazingly in one try. I'm not you!"
Jieun laughed, Taeyeon was amusing when she got frantic like this.
Taeyeon sighed. She and her poor fingertips needed a break.
There was silence for the next few seconds except for the sound of Jieun absentmindedly strumming random chords together.
"Jieun, sing me something." Taeyeon murmured, lying on the floor next to her.
"What?"
"My fingers hurt. Make me feel better, it's your fault I feel this way." Taeyeon turned and stuck out her tongue at the younger girl rather uncharacteristically.
"It's your fault I'm even here to begin with. I could leave and you can learn on your own." Jieun countered, in a teasing tone.
Though she knew Jieun was joking, Taeyeon couldn't help but feel a sudden panicky feeling. The kind of panic you feel when someone is about to leave and you really don't want them to.
Before Taeyeon could respond though, Jieun began to sing, her guitar setting the rhythm to her voice.
Taeyeon had always envied Jieun's talent. Jieun had real, raw talent; the kind of talent that you're born with.
Jieun's song came to an end much too quickly for Taeyeon. She wanted to ask for another, to forget about today's guitar lesson and instead just listen to the sound of Jieun's guitar and voice for the rest of the day.
"Okay, now back to the lesson. We should at least get the first minute of the song down today."
Taeyeon stared at her fingertips and whimpered slightly.
"You're so dramatic." Jieun rolled her eyes but there was a slight smile on her face.
~o~
Taeyeon didn’t really get any better until there was a reward involved.
“You brought gummy worms?” Taeyeon looked excitedly at the bag Jieun pulled out of her purse as she walked into the practice room.
“I did. But you can’t have them.”
“Then why would you show me them?”
“It depends on how well you do today.”
“…I’m not five.”
“You play like a five year old.”
“Yeah well, you look like one.”
“So do you.”
“Why are you like this?” Taeyeon frowned; feeling defeated. She wanted one of those damn gummy worms.
Jieun giggled; maybe she was being a little too mean. “Okay, you can have one. If you play well today, you can have the whole bag.”
“I could just grab the bag from you, honestly, I may be tiny but I think I could take you.” Taeyeon teased, feeling at ease.
“But you wouldn’t. It’s more worth it if you actually work for it.”
“Fine fine.” Taeyeon picked up the guitar, feeling determined.
Taeyeon couldn’t help but feel like the younger one when it started but she began to really look forward to the lessons now. The lessons had been going on for a few weeks now. The pain in her fingertips long gone, they were now calloused and hard.
What the older girl didn't know was that Jieun also looked forward to these lessons. They became the highlight of her week, but she would never tell Taeyeon that. She felt like as she taught Taeyeon to play guitar, she was learning something herself. She was learning about Kim Taeyeon.
~o~
Even though the only time they met was during those lessons, they still called each other once in a while.
Taeyeon was sprawled on the dorm’s living room floor finishing a 1000+ piece jigsaw puzzle at 2 am, she couldn’t sleep. Her phone vibrated next to her.
“Hello?”
“Unnie, are you asleep?”
“…Does it sound like I’m asleep?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Me either.”
“Tell me one of your long, rambling stories.”
“Why?”
Jieun rolled her eyes. Taeyeon could be surprisingly slow. “I wanna hear one.”
“Uh…okay fine. Eh, well you know how people sometimes order games online well one time I…” And Taeyeon began to ramble on and on, not even pausing to hear Jieun’s reactions, she felt like she was DJ’ing again, fully into it. It wasn’t until she heard what she thought was a snore that she stopped.
“Jieun?!”
“…”
“Jieun?! Did you fall asleep?! Is that why you called me, so I could put you to sleep? What the…I didn’t think you were capable of something like this; you’re worse than I thought and look now I’m rambling again. Yah, you’ll get it next time I see you, just wait.” And then she hung up but she was chuckling to herself.
“Aish…that kid.” She smiled at her phone and went back to her jigsaw puzzle.
~o~
"Wait, so I'm not really going to be playing the guitar in the scene?" Taeyeon asked the older man, the one in charge of the musical.
"No, just pretend."
"Then why'd you make me learn all these songs?"
"It was going to be live but we just decided that it was better to let the backtrack cover it."
First, Taeyeon was angry. She practiced so long for this and wanted to show off her new found skill but then she was sad, conflicted. If she didn't really need to play guitar for her role then that meant she didn't need lessons anymore.
Maybe she didn't need lessons anymore.
But she did need more of Jieun.
~o~
Taeyeon wouldn't tell Jieun that the lessons were no longer needed. Maybe it was selfish of her to keep taking Jieun's time like this but she needed, longed for those couple hours a week with Jieun. They kept the stress of all her other schedules, her other problems under control. When she’s with Jieun, she didn't have to worry about any of that, she could just sing and play guitar and relax for a bit.
~o~
"Here's your tickets." Taeyeon had handed them to Jieun one day during a lesson, their last lesson.
Jieun took them, confused for a second but then realized what they were for.
"So soon?"
Taeyeon nodded. "Doesn't feel like it, huh?"
"Are they really gonna let you go on, playing like that?" Jieun joked.
"Yah, I'm not all that bad."
"I know, I know. You're better."
When it got quiet, Taeyeon had wanted to bring up the topic of her not really playing in the musical but she couldn't say it, she kept it inside.
"So today is the last lesson then?"
Taeyeon nodded once again, sadness building inside her.
"It was fun." Jieun turned to face Taeyeon, that same sadness building inside her too. "Really, unnie. I had fun teaching you."
"I had fun learning. Thanks." She smiled at Jieun and the younger girl smiled back. They stared at each other for just a second and Taeyeon swore she saw something in the way Jieun was looking at her.
Jieun, realizing this, turned away, collecting her things. "I've gotta go, I have a schedule soon."
"Oh, okay. I guess I'll see you this Friday at the show?"
"Of course." Jieun grinned again, waved, and then turned around to leave. Taeyeon watched the young girl walk to the door, watched her open it and then...turn around and walk back up to her. She looked at her for a moment and then without saying anything, hugged her.
Taeyeon, clearly taken back (and feeling awkward for a second, this only emphasized how much shorter Taeyeon was than the younger girl), didn’t hug back immediately. She took a moment to take it in and hugged the younger girl back, maybe a bit too tightly. She didn’t want her to leave.
Jieun laughed, her frame shaking. “Bye unnie.”
She let go and left.
~o~
It was the night of the musical; everything was going according to plan. Taeyeon was saying all her lines correctly and hitting all her notes, until the time came for the scene where she had to "pretend" to play the guitar. She looked at the audience nervously, the first time she had felt that way since the musical started. There in the back, she saw Jieun looking excited and somewhat proud. The older girl took in a deep breath and began to pretend to play the guitar.
~o~
Jieun had sneaked in backstage after the whole show was done. She knew what Taeyeon had done. She walked over to the leading lady and feigned disappointment.
"What the heck was that?!"
"I'm sorry. I..." but Taeyeon didn't know what else to say.
"You were so bad they made you fake it?”
“What?! No, they didn’t let-”
“I should’ve expected it…” Jieun shook her head and this is when Taeyeon realized Jieun was teasing her.
“Yeah, I sucked so bad they would not let me go up on that stage and play for real.” Taeyeon was playing along now, trying not to smile.
“I guess you need more lessons.”
“Probably.”
“Hmm…I know a good teacher, she’ll teach you for free.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, well, not exactly for free. You gotta buy her dinner tonight.”
“I thought I was the one who just successfully finished my first musical. I deserve a free dinner.”
“No, ‘cause you faked it.”
Taeyeon stifled a giggle; her mind had just interpreted that in another way.
Jieun looked at her strangely. “So, dinner?”
“Sure.”
“It’s a date then.” Jieun replied, outstretching her hand for Taeyeon to take it.
“You know, students really shouldn’t date their teachers.” Taeyeon grabbed her hand, holding it in hers. It felt nice…it felt right.
“I don’t think it matters when the student is older than the teacher.”
Taeyeon groaned. “Thanks for reminding me.”
Jieun grinned, squeezing Taeyeon’s hand. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
---
thanks to you know who you are for beta-ing :D
pairings: IU/Taeyeon
genre: Fluff
rating: PG
summary: in which IU gives Taeyeon much needed guitar lessons.
note: IU's real name is Lee Jieun.
It started with a simple text message.
"Jieun-ah, how have you been?"
Jieun stared at the characters on her phone; in that simple font she chose instead of the cutesy default one that came with the phone. She felt like it had been so long since she had talked to Taeyeon or even thought of her. It couldn't have been that long right? The last time she saw her was on ChinChin, right before she had to quit. She remembered Taeyeon telling her something about a musical and she wondered if this sudden contact had anything to do with it.
"I've been fine unnie. You? Anything wrong?"
Jieun could barely blink twice before the reply came.
"No, not really. Hey, wanna go eat? My treat :D"
Jieun thought about it only for a second. She realized that she had missed Taeyeon and wouldn't mind seeing her again.
"Sure, where?"
~o~
"Jieun-ah!" Taeyeon waved as she saw the younger girl approaching. It had felt like forever since she had last seen Jieun, part of her wanted to run over to her and hug the tiny high school kid but that would be a bit too awkward for her and she wasn't all that close to Jieun. Instead she simply waited for Jieun to get closer and offered her a warm smile but under that smile Jieun saw something.
"It's been a while."
"Yeah."
"Let's go inside."
Jieun couldn't help but feel like there was a catch to all this, that Taeyeon hadn't brought her simply because she wanted to see her but because there was something she wanted to ask of her.
Once they sat down and ordered their meals, Taeyeon started talking. She was such a good talker; Jieun slightly envied her for that. There was rarely a dull or awkward pause when she talked.
"Really, unnie, why'd you bring me here?" Jieun interrupted her in the middle of one of her long rambling stories about something completely irrelevant. Once a DJ, always a DJ.
Taeyeon abruptly stopped. "Honestly, I wanted to ask you for something."
"I knew it."
Taeyeon laughed, she knew she was terrible at hiding things.
"Well ask me."
"You know I have a musical coming up right?"
Jieun nodded, her first assumption had been correct.
"Well...er, I have to play guitar for the role and…"
Jieun was already smiling, she knew what was coming next.
"I was wondering if-"
"Of course!"
"You'll help me out?" Taeyeon was feeling nervous all of a sudden, probably due to the fact that she was asking someone so much younger than her for help.
And it was the day after that lunch that the lessons started.
~o~
The first few lessons went by with little progress. Taeyeon wasn’t a natural at this but Jieun kept her frustration inside, figuring Taeyeon would eventually get it.
But Taeyeon still wasn’t getting it by the fourth lesson and that’s when Jieun’s frustration burst out.
"Oh my god, Taeyeon, you're a failure." Jieun whispered more to herself than to Taeyeon.
"Yah! What was that?! It's not my fault my fingers are so tiny!" Taeyeon protested, the tips of her fingertips screaming in pain.
"...My hands are smaller than yours and yet I-"
"But you've been playing since you were like five or something!"
"That's besides the point! C'mon, Taeyeon, you sing, you should be able to pick up this music stuff quickly." Jieun was trying to hide the frustration in her tone.
"Just because I sing doesn't mean I also magically have the ability to play the guitar amazingly in one try. I'm not you!"
Jieun laughed, Taeyeon was amusing when she got frantic like this.
Taeyeon sighed. She and her poor fingertips needed a break.
There was silence for the next few seconds except for the sound of Jieun absentmindedly strumming random chords together.
"Jieun, sing me something." Taeyeon murmured, lying on the floor next to her.
"What?"
"My fingers hurt. Make me feel better, it's your fault I feel this way." Taeyeon turned and stuck out her tongue at the younger girl rather uncharacteristically.
"It's your fault I'm even here to begin with. I could leave and you can learn on your own." Jieun countered, in a teasing tone.
Though she knew Jieun was joking, Taeyeon couldn't help but feel a sudden panicky feeling. The kind of panic you feel when someone is about to leave and you really don't want them to.
Before Taeyeon could respond though, Jieun began to sing, her guitar setting the rhythm to her voice.
Taeyeon had always envied Jieun's talent. Jieun had real, raw talent; the kind of talent that you're born with.
Jieun's song came to an end much too quickly for Taeyeon. She wanted to ask for another, to forget about today's guitar lesson and instead just listen to the sound of Jieun's guitar and voice for the rest of the day.
"Okay, now back to the lesson. We should at least get the first minute of the song down today."
Taeyeon stared at her fingertips and whimpered slightly.
"You're so dramatic." Jieun rolled her eyes but there was a slight smile on her face.
~o~
Taeyeon didn’t really get any better until there was a reward involved.
“You brought gummy worms?” Taeyeon looked excitedly at the bag Jieun pulled out of her purse as she walked into the practice room.
“I did. But you can’t have them.”
“Then why would you show me them?”
“It depends on how well you do today.”
“…I’m not five.”
“You play like a five year old.”
“Yeah well, you look like one.”
“So do you.”
“Why are you like this?” Taeyeon frowned; feeling defeated. She wanted one of those damn gummy worms.
Jieun giggled; maybe she was being a little too mean. “Okay, you can have one. If you play well today, you can have the whole bag.”
“I could just grab the bag from you, honestly, I may be tiny but I think I could take you.” Taeyeon teased, feeling at ease.
“But you wouldn’t. It’s more worth it if you actually work for it.”
“Fine fine.” Taeyeon picked up the guitar, feeling determined.
Taeyeon couldn’t help but feel like the younger one when it started but she began to really look forward to the lessons now. The lessons had been going on for a few weeks now. The pain in her fingertips long gone, they were now calloused and hard.
What the older girl didn't know was that Jieun also looked forward to these lessons. They became the highlight of her week, but she would never tell Taeyeon that. She felt like as she taught Taeyeon to play guitar, she was learning something herself. She was learning about Kim Taeyeon.
~o~
Even though the only time they met was during those lessons, they still called each other once in a while.
Taeyeon was sprawled on the dorm’s living room floor finishing a 1000+ piece jigsaw puzzle at 2 am, she couldn’t sleep. Her phone vibrated next to her.
“Hello?”
“Unnie, are you asleep?”
“…Does it sound like I’m asleep?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Me either.”
“Tell me one of your long, rambling stories.”
“Why?”
Jieun rolled her eyes. Taeyeon could be surprisingly slow. “I wanna hear one.”
“Uh…okay fine. Eh, well you know how people sometimes order games online well one time I…” And Taeyeon began to ramble on and on, not even pausing to hear Jieun’s reactions, she felt like she was DJ’ing again, fully into it. It wasn’t until she heard what she thought was a snore that she stopped.
“Jieun?!”
“…”
“Jieun?! Did you fall asleep?! Is that why you called me, so I could put you to sleep? What the…I didn’t think you were capable of something like this; you’re worse than I thought and look now I’m rambling again. Yah, you’ll get it next time I see you, just wait.” And then she hung up but she was chuckling to herself.
“Aish…that kid.” She smiled at her phone and went back to her jigsaw puzzle.
~o~
"Wait, so I'm not really going to be playing the guitar in the scene?" Taeyeon asked the older man, the one in charge of the musical.
"No, just pretend."
"Then why'd you make me learn all these songs?"
"It was going to be live but we just decided that it was better to let the backtrack cover it."
First, Taeyeon was angry. She practiced so long for this and wanted to show off her new found skill but then she was sad, conflicted. If she didn't really need to play guitar for her role then that meant she didn't need lessons anymore.
Maybe she didn't need lessons anymore.
But she did need more of Jieun.
~o~
Taeyeon wouldn't tell Jieun that the lessons were no longer needed. Maybe it was selfish of her to keep taking Jieun's time like this but she needed, longed for those couple hours a week with Jieun. They kept the stress of all her other schedules, her other problems under control. When she’s with Jieun, she didn't have to worry about any of that, she could just sing and play guitar and relax for a bit.
~o~
"Here's your tickets." Taeyeon had handed them to Jieun one day during a lesson, their last lesson.
Jieun took them, confused for a second but then realized what they were for.
"So soon?"
Taeyeon nodded. "Doesn't feel like it, huh?"
"Are they really gonna let you go on, playing like that?" Jieun joked.
"Yah, I'm not all that bad."
"I know, I know. You're better."
When it got quiet, Taeyeon had wanted to bring up the topic of her not really playing in the musical but she couldn't say it, she kept it inside.
"So today is the last lesson then?"
Taeyeon nodded once again, sadness building inside her.
"It was fun." Jieun turned to face Taeyeon, that same sadness building inside her too. "Really, unnie. I had fun teaching you."
"I had fun learning. Thanks." She smiled at Jieun and the younger girl smiled back. They stared at each other for just a second and Taeyeon swore she saw something in the way Jieun was looking at her.
Jieun, realizing this, turned away, collecting her things. "I've gotta go, I have a schedule soon."
"Oh, okay. I guess I'll see you this Friday at the show?"
"Of course." Jieun grinned again, waved, and then turned around to leave. Taeyeon watched the young girl walk to the door, watched her open it and then...turn around and walk back up to her. She looked at her for a moment and then without saying anything, hugged her.
Taeyeon, clearly taken back (and feeling awkward for a second, this only emphasized how much shorter Taeyeon was than the younger girl), didn’t hug back immediately. She took a moment to take it in and hugged the younger girl back, maybe a bit too tightly. She didn’t want her to leave.
Jieun laughed, her frame shaking. “Bye unnie.”
She let go and left.
~o~
It was the night of the musical; everything was going according to plan. Taeyeon was saying all her lines correctly and hitting all her notes, until the time came for the scene where she had to "pretend" to play the guitar. She looked at the audience nervously, the first time she had felt that way since the musical started. There in the back, she saw Jieun looking excited and somewhat proud. The older girl took in a deep breath and began to pretend to play the guitar.
~o~
Jieun had sneaked in backstage after the whole show was done. She knew what Taeyeon had done. She walked over to the leading lady and feigned disappointment.
"What the heck was that?!"
"I'm sorry. I..." but Taeyeon didn't know what else to say.
"You were so bad they made you fake it?”
“What?! No, they didn’t let-”
“I should’ve expected it…” Jieun shook her head and this is when Taeyeon realized Jieun was teasing her.
“Yeah, I sucked so bad they would not let me go up on that stage and play for real.” Taeyeon was playing along now, trying not to smile.
“I guess you need more lessons.”
“Probably.”
“Hmm…I know a good teacher, she’ll teach you for free.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, well, not exactly for free. You gotta buy her dinner tonight.”
“I thought I was the one who just successfully finished my first musical. I deserve a free dinner.”
“No, ‘cause you faked it.”
Taeyeon stifled a giggle; her mind had just interpreted that in another way.
Jieun looked at her strangely. “So, dinner?”
“Sure.”
“It’s a date then.” Jieun replied, outstretching her hand for Taeyeon to take it.
“You know, students really shouldn’t date their teachers.” Taeyeon grabbed her hand, holding it in hers. It felt nice…it felt right.
“I don’t think it matters when the student is older than the teacher.”
Taeyeon groaned. “Thanks for reminding me.”
Jieun grinned, squeezing Taeyeon’s hand. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
---
thanks to you know who you are for beta-ing :D