Play my heart

Chapter XXI

The second movement of Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony plays in his head as he pushes Lee's wheelchair through the hospital hallways. Nothing's wrong with his legs, but his ribs hurt enough that standing is a bit unlikely right about now, to not even speak of walking. Over the dotted robe, the boy wears the jean jacket Lisa brought for him yesterday. Darren, on the other hand...

He brought it upon himself when he asked Connor of all people to drop by his place and bring him a change of clothes, he's aware. Half an hour ago, Connor arrived to the hospital with one of Darren's most expensive outfits in hand, under the excuse that, given the situation, he had to dress accordingly. Darren has yet to decipher what that even means, but oh well.

"Really, Prince Charming, where the hell are we going?"

"Shut up, we're almost there."

They're in the west wing of the second floor, and they encounter less and less people as they keep moving forward. Lee does not shut up, but Darren tunes him out, already buzzing with anticipation.

Shostakovitch's second movement turns into the third as they finally stop in front of an unassuming white door, no different from the rest. Lee crosses his arms over his chest and waits, annoyance and intrigue written on bold letters all over his face. Darren grins at him as he goes to open the door.

He hears Lee's sharp intake of breath and suddenly loses all his nerve, not even daring to meet his eye. Worrying his lower lip between his teeth, he pushes the wheelchair into the room.

All of Darren's friends are there. Caesar rests an arm on Connor's shoulder, and they both send them mirrored smirks. Dawn waits near the window, eyes bright and smile full of excitement. Behind her, Adryan seems rather satisfied with himself.

After Darren sees all of that, he realizes Lee hasn't even noticed there are other people around. From the moment the door opened, the boy's eyes haven't strayed from the center of the room.

"What the..."

Under the pale morning light, the slick black piano stands in great contrast against the white walls. It's a baby grand, smaller than the one Darren owns, but it's still breathtaking if Lee's stunned expression is anything to go by. Darren's stomach turns into a tight knot when the pianist whips his head to look at him.

"Did you do this?"

"He had some help," Caesar pipes in, quick to notice Darren is not in the place for words right now. "He was more like the mastermind behind it."

"I did all the job," Adryan remarks. "Getting the hospital to give us a room and make it soundproof and all that."

"Yeah, well, Caesar and I had to buy the piano, right?" says Connor, and points a finger at Darren. "It's your birthday present for next year, so don't go asking for anything else."

It shakes Darren out of his frozen state a bit. "What the hell, I paid for it."

Lee's attention settles back on him.

"Explain."

"Um, it's," his friends' stares weigh on him, he barely manages to get out the next words. "You- the concert, you know. We can't miss out on any practice time when the day is so close, and we still have so much left to fix, so I thought. If you couldn't get to a piano... I could get the piano to you?"

He catches a glimpse of Dawn's fond smile as he finishes the sentence, though it's not certain why she's making that gesture. Lee blinks a few times, furrowing his brows.

"You're insane."

But then he's smiling—this astounded kind of smile that foregoes his better judgment and lights up his face without permission, the kind of smile that twinkles in his eyes and reddens his cheeks and shows his chipped front tooth. The kind of smile that draws one out of Darren as well, just as much against his will, and makes him giddy with something he can't name.

"Go on then," Caesar interrupts the moment, "try it. Connor and I know nothing about pianos so there's no telling how we did."

Huffing out a laugh, Lee rolls his wheelchair towards the instrument, and manages, with some struggle and refusing any help, to sit on the piano stool. Darren stands next to him and they both admire the white and black keys for a quiet moment. There's always something reverent about an instrument like that, dark and proud and standing for itself, making the player feel like they're under its mercy, like the music's only going to happen at the piano's will.

Lee straightens his back, hovers his fingers above the keys, and a venerable silence falls on the room.

The first chords of Rachmaninoff's 'Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini' send a thrill down Darren's spine. They're short, determined, and leave no room for mistake. A moment of quiet follows, then the building of a few single notes, small and tempting. After that, the reflection of one of Paganini's violin pieces pulls a smile out of Darren, like they're sharing a secret of sorts.

Lee plays Rachmaninoff with the focus that a thousand notes played by memory require, but keeps an impressive ease about it, like his hands are not bolting around the keys so fast they become blurry.

The first five minutes of it go by in a blink, and the whole room stays hanging for more after it stops. Lee retrieves his hands to his lap, sighing.

"So that's why you kept beating Darren," Adryan breaks the silence.

"Oi! That's so mean," Darren complains, shaken out of his daze at the thinly veiled insult. In spite of his words, he kind of agrees with his best friend. There's something about Lee and the piano that he'll never quite achieve with that instrument, that's just how it is.

After some more mandatory teasing and fooling around, his friends leave to let the boys practice. Darren gets his violin from where Connor left it upon arriving and does some tuning with his back to the pianist.

"Hey," Lee says, getting a hum in response. "...thanks. It makes being in the hospital a lot more bearable."

Swallowing down his sudden nerves, Darren turns around.

"What does?"

Lee's ears go red as he faces away from him, fixing his gaze on the keys.

"You."

Darren's breath stutters, all words vanish from his brain. Lee presses his lips together for a second.

"And the piano."

He can't help but roll his eyes at that.