Fantasia

XIX

Brett made sure to not step on any of those music sheets laying around as he came over to Eddy and quickly studied the first bars of the Beethoven Romance numer two. There was a little frown on his forehead and he was biting his bottom lip, just like Eddy remembered him doing when they were younger. A fond and comfortable warmth washed over him while he observed the smaller.

Brett nodded once. "Okay. Here goes nothing." He placed the bow on his violin, took a deep breath and off he went.
Now, Eddy knew he wasn't an expert on violin playing anymore, but his perfect pitch was sure to pick up on Brett's brilliant intonation, his ears noticed the silkiness of the tones Brett was able to draw out of his instrument, and then, there was Brett's phrasing. Oh, the tension he built throughout the slow passages, the sweetness and youthfullness the lines were emitting...
Eddy couldn't remember the last time he was this moved by a piece of music. He couldn't decide if he should close his eyes and solely concentrate on the tune or keep them open to look at Brett's graceful fingers, slowly pacing a choreographed dance on the fingerboard, look at Brett's body, lightly swaying to the melody he was playing.

It was wonderful to lose himself like this. In the moment, in their bubble, whatever this place was, in Brett's magical interpretation of Beethoven's Romance despite Brett not having practiced it for enough hours, according to Brett's own judgement.
For Eddy, it was plenty. It was perfect.

"And? What do you think?", Brett asked after he'd finished the whole piece.
Eddy was breathless for a moment.
Brett frowned. "This bad?"
"No! No, no, no!", Eddy hurried, "No, wow. I'm just a bit... stunned. Sorry. I haven't listened to a performance like this for a long time."
"You call this a performance? Geez, you must have taken your distance from any concert hall, huh."
"It was beautiful though!", Eddy exclaimed, his voice sincere, "Very, very tasteful and just... I enjoyed this so much!" He smiled fondly at Brett. "Thank you!"
Brett smiled back, seemingly pleased with Eddy's verdict. "You're very welcome."

A comfortable silence enveloped them as they locked eyes, reminding Eddy of the countless times they'd just enjoyed each other's presence back in the days, sitting side by side on some old bench near Eddy's school for exmple, slurping away on their bobas and taking in the rays of sunshine on their faces like they'd depended on photosythesis. Or studying music scores before a competition in the library. Or just taking long walks without saying much. Or hanging out in their rooms doing homework...
It had always felt safe, always felt like home.

"I kinda feel like I know you", Brett said after a while.
Eddy nodded, his lips still carrying a smile. Did Brett feel the same familiarity in their interactions? "Maybe because you do."
"Maybe..."

There was more Brett wanted to say, but suddenly everything around Eddy blurred into a weird mix of colours and sounds. Eddy's eyes widened as he tried to reach out and grab Brett with all his might...

"Brett!", Eddy heard his own cry ring through the dark of his bedroom, followed by heavy panting. It took him a solid half a minute to notice the cause of his departure from the dream in form of his alarm.
The alarm he'd forgotten to turn off the night before even though it was finally a Saturday.
He felt awful. It was like someone had ripped a part from him away, had deprived him from a living force he depended on. The longing he'd felt whenever he'd stumbled around on "his" side of the mirror was instantaneously back at full force, causing his heart to ache.

It was hard to breath, hard to get his head together, hard to not want to jump right back into his dream.

At least he'd slept through the night this time, Eddy thought to himself when he walked to the bathroom with heavy steps. The piece Brett had played, Beethoven's Romance no. 2 was replaying itself on loop in Eddy's head.
It was odd. If Brett was really only a projection of Eddy's brain or subconscious or whatever those dream psychologist people would call that, would Brett be able to play pieces Eddy didn't know? Had never heard of in fact? The Paganini caprices were one thing, but Beethoven Romance? Something Eddy hadn't even known it existed?
And the melody had been so beautiful, the playing so sweet...

Eddy splashed some water onto his face and roughly rubbed it dry. Yeah, there wasn't gonna be a peaceful jog this morning, a drawn out one because he didn't have to go to the office today. There were simply too many things he had to find out.