Fantasia

C

The roaring applause was almost deafening, the stage lights blinding them, making it impossible for them to see the bright smiles thrown at them, celebrating their performance, their playing. It was astonishing, how all these people had spent money buying tickets just to hear them play. A fact, which always filled Eddy's heart with gratefulness and humbled him.

Eddy tilted his head slightly to glance at his most favourite expression of his best friend: glittering eyes and a smile so bright it could light a whole forest on fire, one hand carrying his violin and bow while the other waved at their audience. They bowed again, before Brett's eyes caught Eddy's, warming his heart from deep within. 
"You did great!", he mouthed. Eddy shook his head incredulously, the corners of his mouth lifted so much it almost hurt as they bowed again.

One of the hardest things Eddy had to do in his life had been leaving Brett after his two weeks stay in Sydney. Brett still hadn't been able to walk on his own and although the doctors had kept reassuring him that he was making great progress, he'd been frustrated. Eddy's attempt on encouraging him hadn't been as effective as he'd liked and even when Brett had accompanied him to the front door of the hospital on his own feet with the help of a walker, his face had been as sour as those super sour candies Eddy liked so much. 
"I'm like a ninety year old grandpa!"
"Nah! Not wise enough", Eddy had jibbed, earning himself a slap on the shoulder.
"Careful, young man! I'm still your senpai!", Brett had warned, his stretched out index finger waving left and right centimeters in front of Eddy's face. 
"Gonna miss you, man!", Eddy had said a bit softer, his hand closing around Brett's digit. 
Brett hadn't replied, but his kind smile and the hug Eddy'd received had said enough. 

On the plane, Eddy had cried like a two year old and it hadn't been due to him missing his mother already, even though their relationship had taken a huge step forward during the last week together by Brett's bed side. 

Back in Singapore, Eddy had worked his ass off during the three months he had left at his firm while texting and calling Brett on a daily basis. He'd updated Brett on his pracitice progress and had received tips on how to improve his playing, make it more musical or how to relax his bow arm. Brett on the other hand had told him every step he made towards rehabilitation. And like this, they'd deepened their friendship, had made up for all the lost years by telling each other stories from their studies and their work and life away from home. 

Theo had been less thrilled when he'd heard about Eddy leaving, but he'd also been the most delighted knowing that Eddy had found his dream and was ready to pursue it. Eddy had made sure to spend as much time as possible with his great co-worker, next to practicing and working overtime, of course.

It had taken Brett two months to start walking on his own, which they'd celebrated with a cup of bubble tea over zoom, Brett almost bubbling out of his skin with how excited he'd been. His violin playing however had reached a level so fast it had astonished doctors, friends, co-workers and his family likewise. Even the SSO was fast with offering him a permanent spot in the orchestra again.
But Brett had said no.

"Don't you wanna join, like only for a few months? It could take ages until we'll make something."
"Nah! I wanna practice my stuff. Our stuff."
"We don't have much to practice yet."
"That's why we should add more. I already booked a venue in Sydney for our first concert in six months."
"... In six months...?", Eddy stuttered, cold sweat running down his back.
"Yeah! I invited my ex-orchestra. Half of the seats are filled." 
"Orchestral musicians... half the seats..." Eddy gulped. "Brett! That's too soon! You should have asked me... I... I'm still working!"
"Only for another month! We'll have five months to rehearse. That's plenty!", Brett stated enthusiastically. 
"But..."
"Eddy. I do have some savings, but we need to make money eventually."
"But we're not even sure what we want to do."
"Then we'll figure it out. I really wanna do this. With you."
Brett's tone hadn't been pressured or frustrated and it could have sounded cheesy too. Instead, it had been a simple statement, hopeful and full of fire. A fire, which had fueled Eddy's small existing flame.
He'd nodded. More to himself than to Brett.
"You're right! We can do this!"
"That's the spirit!", Brett had cheered, "Then what kinda name, you reckon, we should give ourselves?"

Another week had passed until they had come up with a fitting name. And a concept of what they wanted to do, as vague as it may be. 

Twoset Violin, because it was the two of them. On a mission to make classical music more relevant for future generations. They had no idea if it would work. They just had to try. Something Eddy hated. But he had Brett. And that was enough.

Like this, those three months had passed relatively quickly. The company had organized a little farewell-party with lots of beer Eddy didn't like and when he'd left the building, long past the sun had set, he breathed in deeply, his shoulders relaxing like he'd gotten rid of an invincible backpack. He'd sold all the furniture he couldn't ship to Australia and sent the rest to Down Under, before he'd cancelled his apartment and had booked a ticket for the next flight to Brisbane.
Back home, he'd moved into his childhood home and had gotten surprised how agreeable it was to live with his mum. Brett had moved back to his parents house few weeks ago to safe money, much to his parents delight.

With Brett and Eddy being on the same continent and even living in the same city, Twoset had really started to take off. They'd tried their luck with filming videos depicting the lives of conservatory students and professional musicians, for which Eddy had handed Brett the lead because it had been all based on his experiences. However, Eddy could perfectly imagine himself in those situations, groaning alongside Brett because of ridiculous assignments or the amount of pieces they had to learn, rolling their eyes whenever a co-student played solo-violin parts during orchestra rehearsal breaks or laughing about each other when the other fucked up. Other videos simply showed them playing the violin, like duets from different periods or composers or pieces people might have heard but didn't know the name of. They'd only had a few views in the beginning, but the numbers had quickly increased into hundreds and thousands when they'd posted content almost every day for couple of weeks. Of course, this had also helped them selling the rest of the tickets for their first ever concert, leaving them speechless when they checked the ticketing site two hours into launching the sale. 

And now, here they were, stepping on stage for the fourth or fifth time, Eddy'd lost count, bowing in front of all those people who cheered and whistled and honoured Brett and Eddy for their first performance as Twoset Violin. When Eddy casted his gaze on Brett again and drank in his best friend's contagious smile, he could safely say that he'd never been more grateful in his life. They were both finally living their dream. A dream slightly similar to those they'd had, featuring vast corridors flooded with colourful lights and sheet music scattered around the floor. And yet, so, so much happier!

A/N: Finally, finally I managed to post the last and one hundredth chapter! So sorry for the super long break in-between XD. I was leading in a camp for teenagers, educating them to become youth leaders themselves, which was a very, very blessed time, but also internet-less 🙈 (touched a lot of grass, believe me). I also practically had zero time to write anything in the last two weeks and then on Friday, when I wanted to post the chapter, I accidentally deleted the whole thing 😱😱😱. So I had to write everything again XD, which took me another two days. So thank you all for your patience. I hope you liked this story, which was partly very challenging for me to write XD. Thank you for every star, every comment and every read you gave my chapters! You are all so awesome and I can't emphasize enough how grateful I am to have readers like you and be part of a community who's respectful and loves classical music and Twoset!

And of course, I'm turning some ideas in my head and I might start writing another Twoset fanfic (can't let it go, can I...). And maybe, the first chapter will be ready on Tuesday... we'll see ;-). Of course, I'd be thrilled if you'd join in this new journey and I'm looking forward to hopefully reading your comments and seeing your reactions again. Until then, I wish you all the best and God's blessing! Take care!

Love, author-san ❤️