Disclaimer: Tekken and all bands and musicians mentioned here are not mine. Capiche? Yay.
Hwoarang believed in the soothing power of Rage Against the Machine. No, really. There was something quite cathartic about the low growl of the bass line and the angry thump-thumps of the all-too-loud drums. There were times when he was younger when he played Nirvana and Pearl Jam so loud in his bedroom that the neighbors started complaining and Baek finally banned rock from the household. Good times. To Lili, however, the never-ending drum solo sounded like a mob massacre gone perfectly well, the guitar riffs like desperate cries for help, and that… thing… ugh. She couldn't even think of a word to describe it. Screaming. What person in his right mind could possibly consider screaming into the microphone as singing? Even baboons would run away in fright from something as horrible as the noise he was listening to. And that was Lili being mild with her insults.
"Truly, lady, you are being harsh. That was a classic." Hwoarang chuckled, turning the CD player off. He ran a hand through his hair and gave Lili an amused grin.
"Ha. Classic, my foot." Lili scoffed, thankful that the racket emanating from the stereo was gone otherwise she would have had suffered another ten minutes listening to migraine-inducing rock. "My cat can make better music with his front paw than any of the offensive drivel produced by your beloved bands."
"I highly doubt that. Unless, of course, your cat can pull a James Hetfield and sing twenty-two Metallica songs nonstop."
"What?"
"I was being witty. Now that you're done criticizing my musical tastes, I was wondering when you'd let me criticize yours."
Lili rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, leading him to the nearest music store in their location.
Now for as long as she could remember, Lili loved classical music. Maybe it was because of her upbringing as an heiress to an oil tycoon, but she had always been one for the concertos. During her younger years she would often visit concert halls, in her native Monaco and elsewhere, to watch the local orchestras' performances of her favorite Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff pieces. The ballet dancer in her would execute pirouettes and grand jètes to Debussy and Tchaikovsky whenever she wanted to loosen up, and, as a pre-fight prepping up routine, she would dance to Chopin, building up with each step that confidence that got her to win a match against the Korean redhead and, ultimately, his undivided attention.
Hwoarang, sighing in mock exasperation, replaced the earphones back on the rack where the store's CD player sat and shook his head.
"I can see what you like about this… Debussy." Tongue slipping on the French name. "It was pretty, just like you." A faint blush spread on Lili's face and Hwoarang smirked. "But it was cold and it seemed too rigid for me. Calculated. Perhaps, just like you, too."
"Hey now!" Taking offense to what he said. "I am not cold and rigid!"
"But you are gorgeous, nonetheless." He said, taking her hand in his as they walked out of the music store and into the busy streets of Seoul.
"What do you like so much about rock anyway? I can't even understand half of the lyrics from all the screaming and gurgling!"
Hwoarang paused for a moment, finding some choice English words from his limited vocabulary to explain to her why rock was, beyond anything else, awesome.
"Because it's raw." He started, leaving his own brown eyes on her gray pair. "And powerful. Like the lead singers can't and won't take any shit from the world and I'm like that. I want to be like that."
Lili just stared at him and he felt his cheeks heat up. Oh crap. "That was ungentlemanly behavior. I'm sorry I swore."
"No. When you think about it, that explains a lot." She shook her head, mumbling something that sounded like "testosterone" under her breath, and smiled. "Rock. You are messy and loud and uncultured, but that makes you 'you', I guess."
"Wow." He snorted. "That actually made me feel better, you know?"
She laughed. "You're welcome." She pulled him towards a nearby café but he wouldn't budge. She turned to look at him and saw the pleased smile on his face.
"What?" she asked, wondering what was up with the infuriating young man again.
"You have to do that again."
"Do what?"
He pulled her closer to him - so close that she could feel his lips grazing her right ear – and wrapped his arms around her. She could feel his heart beating fast against her own rapidly palpitating heart and she knew, with a certainty so familiar to her, that he won't ever let go of her.
"Laugh." He said, his breath tickling her ear. "Now that was music to my ears."
She gladly obliged.
A/N: Ack. I'm not good with romance. Not good at all. But reviews are always welcome -- good or bad. Danke. XD