Andante

LXXXVIII

Nothing could have prepared him for just who Mr. Davids was friends with, because he had to try very hard to keep his mouth from falling open when he opened the door and saw who their teacher was, walking towards them with his hand out. 
"Hi! I'm Richard Petti."
Eddy wanted to giggle and say 'I know, duh!' because this was only his favourite Australian violin soloist. If he would have been the kind of kid that had posters above his bed, this might have been the person on them. But he kept it together. 
"It is so nice to meet you Mr Petti, this really is a great surprise. I'm Eddy Chen."
He hadn't missed Brett's sharp intake of breath beside him, but when he looked left Brett also had himself together as he extended his hand and introduced himself. 
"Brett Yang. It's a great honour to be here." 
Mr. Petti chuckled. "No need to be so formal, we're all musicians here. So, who wants to start?"

Eddy blinked in surprise.
We're all musicians here. 
Whoa. 
"Do you want to start, Eddy?" Brett said, in his soft and pleasant voice, and Eddy looked at him gratefully. He really hoped Brett wasn't too nervous, because he realised full well that Brett knew how much easier it would be for Eddy to go first. 
"Okay." he said, and let his violin case slide off his shoulders. 

Opening the clasps of the violin case was such an automatic thing, a thing he had done thousands and thousands of times, but today the sound of them sent an electric current all through his body. 
He was about to play Mendelssohn. In front of Richard Petti. 
Mr. Davids was very seriously his hero, from now on. 
He took the cloth off the top of the violin, put the shoulder rest on and put the violin to his shoulder to tune. Mr. Petti looked at him encouragingly and gave him an A on the piano. 
Not that Eddy needed an A, he had perfect pitch. But he wasn't about to tell Mr. Petti that, was he? This was no place for smart-assery. He tuned quickly and took a deep breath. 
"Okay, just play through it first of all, so I get an idea of where we are." Mr. Petti said. 
Eddy nodded, took another of the deepest of breaths, and then he lifted his bow to his violin and played the opening B. 

He didn't know for sure, of course, but he was pretty convinced that it was the feeling of Brett being right there, just a metre to his left side, undoubtedly egging him on with all his might, that he played well. 
Real well, in fact. 
Mr. Petti wasn't easy on him though, he called him out on every little thing and gave him so much input that soon his head was reeling. But he kept it together and stayed in hyper focus the whole way through. 
He couldn't believe it was already time when Mr. Petti told them they could take a ten minute break. 
"Thank you so much for this, Mr. Petti." he said, as he closed the clasps on his case again and followed Brett out of the room. 
He managed to wait until they were around the corner, heading towards the men's room, before he lost it, clapped his hands together and squealed in delight. 
Brett turned towards him, his face just as delighted.
"You rocked, Eddy! I told you you would rock and you rocked!"
Eddy thought the corners of his mouth would reach his ears. 
"Thank you Brett... you know, having you right next to me helped a lot."

Quickly he looked around him. The halls around them were completely deserted. So on a whim he stepped forward, closed his arms firmly around Brett and kissed him. Brett instantly responded, kissing him back, opening his mouth to give him access, allowing him to lose himself completely as he poured all of the emotions of the day into the kiss, their tongues acting out a second and third movement of their own.
They were both breathless when they let go, and Brett's eyes were hazy as he gazed into Eddy's. 
"Wow..." he breathed. "You should play in front of well-known soloists more often."
Eddy grinned. "I wouldn't say no to that, or to more of this."
Brett leaned forward ever so slightly and kissed him one more time, very sweetly on the lips. 
"Neither would I, my love. Now let's see if I can still play huh, with my wits thoroughly scattered?"
Eddy smiled at him. "Sorry about that. But you'll be fine. You're awesome."
"Thanks." Brett smiled. Then he shook his head slightly. "Erm. I wanted to ask you. Will you play piano for me?"
Eddy inhaled sharply. Brett wanted him to accompany the Brahms? Shit, that was scary. The score wasn't easy, he knew, and he didn't want Mr. Petti to see him struggle. But then again... if it helped Brett? 
"Of course I will."