Perfect Match (Aesvic)

Chapter 12

"Mn." Aesop looked down at the dusty keyboard and corrected his mask. "Nice..." He added quietly, as he placed his hand back on his thigh.

There was a short pause between them. Victors eyes were wide open and stayed locked on the gray haired man for a few seconds. He blinked in surprise and his lips parted, as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out, except for a small sigh. After a moment his look of confusion faded away and the awkward silence got replaced by a quiet chuckle. This rather unexpected reaction made Aesop look at him with a slight furrow of his brows, now he was the one confused and he didn't try to hide it.

As his chuckles stopped, he rested his elbow on the piano and leaned closer to Aesop. "Okay..." he started calmly. "I'm Victor Grantz. It's nice to meet you, mister...?" he asked with a warm smile and extended his hand.

Aesops expression softened as he now looked at him more calmly, he didn't know what to lay his eyes on, so he looked down at the scarred hand. There was a moment of hesitation, but after he looked back up at the warm face, that was now smiling at him with such friendliness... he gave in and took Victors hand, shaking it lightly as if he was still uncertain. 

"Aesop..." he muttered out and cleared his throat. "My name is Aesop Carl. I'm an embalmer." he said more confidently, trying to hide his awkwardness behind professionalism. "It's... nice to meet you..." he added more quietly, with a faint smile hiding behind his mask. A barely visible red tint showed up on Aesops face as Victors firm, yet gentle hold sent a warm sensation through his body.

Victors face lightened up and he gave Aesop a gentle squeeze on his hand. After a moment of simply looking into embalmers eyes, he took his hand back and looked away with a soft smile.

"Aesop...That's really interesting and unusual one... People say that a name can reflect their owner." he commented with a bit of playfulness in his tone.

Aesop took a moment to absorb Victors words. He tittered and looked away, while his face seemed to get warmer.

"Are you calling me interesting and unusual?" he asked with a more soft voice. 

In return Victor gave Aesop a short glance and a smile, which then faded away as he looked down.

"You know..." he started quietly as he rubbed his fingers on the wooden piano. "I work as a postman, so I meet different faces every day... Because of that I lost the ability of telling people apart. I see them more as... their expressions." he said calmly with his eyes locked on the movements of his own fingers. "You're different." a warm smile appeared on his face again and he looked at Aesop from the corner of his eye. "I may not be able to see your face fully uncovered, but I already know that I won't forget the sight of you."

Aesop inhaled nervously and dropped his head, while touching the white mask on his face with the tips of his fingers. "Forgive me. I feel more comfortable this way." he said quietly, while trying to avoid any eye contact. 

It would be no big surprise if the postman got weirded out by his strange way of being. Before his arrival to the manor, it was quite the norm for people to judge him for always feeling the need to hide his face from others.

"It's perfectly fine, Aesop. I understand." Victor answered comfortingly and put his hand on Aesops shoulder. His gentle touch sent an electrifying sensation through his body, which caused the man to shudder lightly. They stayed still for a good moment. Aesop kept his eyes on the keys of the piano, while Victor looked at him with a warm, but somehow strange gaze. After a moment of building up his courage, Aesop slowly looked at the hand on his shoulder- it was close enough for him to clearly see the texture of Victors skin, his faded burn scars, light blonde hairs, and veins, which were flowing with blood, that kept his body so warm and so soft to the touch. Oh, how much he wanted their hands to entwine again... His eyes moved up to the mans sunny face, that was covered by countless freckles. Suddenly, he felt their eyes lock together as they looked deep into each others souls. It was a strange feeling, that Aesop felt- a feeling of being same, being so different, but so similar. At that moment, he couldn't tell what he saw in those deep eyes of his, but he was sure, that whatever it was, was attracting him efficiently. His fright and nervousness from before faded away as Victor filled his body with a pleasant feeling of peace and comfort. His gaze softened to which the postmans smile widened. Both of them felt as if they could feed off of each others stares, but their evenness was soon cut down by the sound of the clock going off, letting everyone know that 7 o'clock just struck. They looked at the open doors that led to the hallways of the manor, but soon Victor turned his eyes back to Aesop and leaned away, while taking his hand off of his shoulder. 

"I should get back." he said quietly with a small smile still present at the corner of his mouth. "I will see you soon... right?" asked the man as he slowly stood up and towered over the embalmer, patiently waiting for his answer with a faint sparkle of hope in his eyes.

Aesop looked up at him, taking in the sight for a short moment before slowly nodding his head. The postmans smile widened again. He nodded back in response and bowed his head as his goodbye. Aesop looked back on the keys of the piano as the man walked away from him. He stayed silent, listening to his friends steps, that were now slowly becoming one with the silence as he disappeared further into the manor. He parted his lips, letting out a soft sigh. As soon as his ears filled with peaceful quietness, he placed his hands on the keys, ready to perform once more.

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𝔸𝕌𝕋ℍ𝕆ℝ𝕊 ℕ𝕆𝕋𝔼:𝕊𝕠 𝕤𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕥'𝕤 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕠 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕘𝕘𝕘𝕘 𝔻𝔻: 𝔸𝕝𝕤𝕠 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕠 @𝔸𝕊𝕍𝕂𝔸𝕄𝕀𝕊𝕊𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕪 𝕤𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕤𝕤 𝕃𝕄𝔸𝕆