Funny How Love Is (Maylor AU)

Chapter 26

The next morning rolled in and Brian was admittedly anxious about crossing paths with Roger, however, there was a part of him that knew they needed to talk about what happened the night prior. He lost sleep because of it, tossing and turning in his bed and eventually finding himself in the corner of his room in his armchair, staring out the window and thinking about why on earth that man called Roger Liz, and what the blonde meant when he said he "wasn't doing this anymore."

What's "this"?

After hanging a preemptive Back in 10 minutes note on his door and stopping in the teachers' lounge to grab himself and the music instructor a drink, he made his way to the infamous elevator, cautiously peering at the students and professors passing him by—mostly looking out for Chrissie, who he hadn't spoken to since their weekend together—before he pulled out his key and used it to gain access to the lift. He stepped inside the small space and pressed the button for the basement, taking the time during his descent to think about how he would approach the awkward subject.

He walked down the empty hall with two steaming cups of coffee and stopped at the music instructor's doorway, gazing into the room through the window and seeing the blonde sitting on a stool with a bass in his lap, his one hand messing with the tuning pegs and the other plucking the thick strings. The professor smiled and rattled his knuckles against the door, attracting Roger's attention and making him smile too. The blonde waved him in, and—with difficulty—Brian entered the room.

"Hey!" the music instructor greeted, setting the bass aside and rising up from the stool, "What are you doing down here?"

"I thought I'd save you the trouble of having to deal with the other professors this morning and get your coffee for you," Brian replied, extending one of the Styrofoam cups out to him. The blonde accepted the beverage and grinned, taking a quick sip as the professor added a little less confidently, "I also wanted to talk about last night."

Roger choked on his coffee, hitting his chest a couple times before gulping and turning around in search of a place to set the hot drink down. He distanced himself from the professor by a few steps and set it down on the ground next to his stool, saying, "You know, I-I kind of wanted to talk about that too."

The two men both began to ramble and shared a laugh when they realized they were talking over each other. Blushes appeared in both men's cheeks as a brief moment of silence fell over the small room, broken by Brian extending his free hand out and inviting Roger to go first. The blonde cleared his throat and muttered ashamedly, "I shouldn't have been so pushy about asking you to come celebrate with me. It was a mistake, and I'm sorry—"

"No, don't be," the professor cut him short, shaking his head, "I-I'm the one who should be apologizing. I wanted to stay, I really did, I just...I felt so terrible about...well, everything."

The blonde chuckled nervously, slipping his hands in his pockets and swaying back and forth on the balls of his feet. "You're the one who feels bad? You have nothing to feel bad about. I'm the one who brought you to a gay bar."

Brian's cheeks grew an even deeper shade of pink, and his voice was barely audible as he quietly stammered, "It...It was a gay bar?"

An amused grin broke out on Roger's face. "You're kidding, right?" He placed his hands on his hips. "How did you not know it was a gay bar? I mean, you even assumed that Freddie was my boyfriend, so you must've had some kind of feeling that it wasn't a normal bar."

"I-I really didn't know."

The music instructor shook his head in disbelief, his smile growing even wider. "God, man. You...You're..." His voice trailed off into a laugh as he once again turned away from the professor and picked the bass up out of its stand, perching himself on the stool and going back to tuning it.

Brian licked his lips and took an awkward sip of his coffee that was getting colder by the minute. He glanced around the room and took in all the instruments scattered about. In consideration of how small the room was, it surprised Brian how many there were. "Are these all yours?" he blurted out as he wandered over to the desk shoved in the corner of the classroom and switched out his cup of coffee for the triangle that was lying there all by itself.

The professor picked up the short stick of metal sitting beside it and clanked it against the handheld instrument, creating a high-pitched note that reverberated off the walls and bringing a smirk to his face. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that the music instructor was too invested in tuning the bass to have noticed, plucking at the D-string that was higher than it should've been. Brian's lips flattened into a straight line and he set the instrument back down, saying, "I could never afford all these instruments myself. I'm lucky I have my guitar."

"Oh, I didn't buy any of these," the blonde answered distractedly, moving onto the next string after getting the other one to sound right and glancing up at Brian, "They were all gifts."

"Did they have to do with that man calling you Liz?" Brian asked, the question manifesting itself without a second thought. His eyes widened in realization of what he had just said, but it was too late to take it back. The room had fallen silent once more, and the professor didn't dare look back at the music instructor, unwilling to see the most likely offended expression on his face.

Roger, however, wasn't offended at all. He was just at a loss for words. He didn't know how to respond, not wanting to divulge that part of his life to Brian yet. Hell, he didn't want to talk about it at all, but he felt cornered; like he had no choice but to reveal that side to him, knowing that if he weren't to comment on it at all, there would—without a doubt—be an unspoken riff between the two of them. On the other hand, he feared that, by telling Brian about his "alter ego," there was a chance the professor would never want to speak to him again, let alone see him.

"I-I'm sorry," the curly-haired man stammered, breaking the tension in the room and spinning around to face the blonde whose gaze had become fixated on the floor. "I shouldn't have asked that, I—"

"No. No, it's..." The blonde looked up, sighing. "It's a long story, Brian, and I don't really want to go into it, but yeah. That's how I got all this stuff; it's how I get a lot of my things."

Brian swallowed the lump that formed in his throat, croaking out an awkward and clearly uncomfortable, "Oh?"

Just then, a knock rattled on the door, bringing both men's attention over to it and seeing none other than John standing outside in the hall, an eager smile—displaying the prominent gap between his two front teeth—slathered across his face as he raised his hand and waved. Roger rolled his eyes and motioned the boy in, Brian stiffening at the sight of his student.

"Oh hey, Professor May," John greeted as he stepped into the small room, making it feel even smaller for the professor, "What's a guy like you doing down here? I've only ever seen you in this hall with Headmistress Mullen."

Brian's breath got caught in his throat, the temperature rapidly rising in the makeshift classroom that was really nothing more than a hole in the wall. "Erm, I...I was just telling Mr. Taylor how...pleasant of a student you are."

The college boy's face lit up. "Really?" he gasped.

"Yup!" Roger agreed forcefully, covering his and Brian's asses while standing up and draping an arm around John's shoulders, pulling him close, "Best damn student he's ever had, apparently."

The student's cheeks grew red in bashful embarrassment. "Really?"

Both the music instructor and his protégé looked to the professor for his response, putting him in a position he wasn't prepared to take on. Brian tugged at his collar and looked over at the clock, saying, "Oh wow, look at the time. I best be on my way. I'll let you two get on with your lesson. Sorry for distracting you."

"You'll come back later, yeah?" Roger called out to him as he went to leave the room, stopping the professor dead in his tracks. "We still have to finish our talk."

"Y-Yes," Brian stuttered, glancing over his shoulder and nodding his head, "Later. I'll come back later."

The blonde winked. "See you then, Professor."