Hello, all! Here's a violin AU I've been playing around with for a while. Just go with all the orchestra language, it doesn't really affect the story anyways. Only thing to know is that first chair means you're the best of that section.
It was almost ten o'clock, and I wanted nothing more than some of Mikasa's cooking and twelve hours of sleep. It didn't look like either wish would be fulfilled, though. Most likely, I'd be home by midnight and have some microwave ramen for dinner.
"No, I want you to extend your fourth finger," the conductor, Mr. Smith, was yelling at the first violins. "Disregard what the music says!"
There was a general mumble of reluctant agreement, and they all began scratching out the markings.
"And you, second violins!" Mr. Smith turned his attention to us, and I immediately straightened. "You're completely out of sync! You've got to follow Arlert here, he's in first chair for a reason."
I gulped, feeling the stares of the whole section settle on me. Hitch Dreyse, my stand partner, huffed quietly. It was a well-known fact (at least to me) that Hitch was convinced that she deserved the first chair spot, even if it was just for second violins. It wasn't like I was first chair, first violin. No, that spot was reserved for Annie Leonhart.
She sat straight as a board directly to the conductor's left, having long finished marking the corrections in her music. She didn't move at all, save for her fingers darting across her violin as she fingered out the music silently.
"Come on, one more time!" Smith rapped the baton on his music stand. "If you do it right, I'll let you leave."
That got everyone's attention. Mr. Smith raised his baton and we all readied our instruments. At his direction, we played once through the passage he'd been grueling us on for the past half-hour. Apart from the fact that the violas missed half the notes and the second violins refused to play together (this was why I hated being in first chair; I couldn't lead these people for his life) it went quite well. Really.
"Good enough, I suppose," Smith said with a sigh. "You're lucky I'm too fed up to keep teaching. Run along now."
"Wait," a low, soft voice said. Heads turned to the source of the noise - it was Annie, who had stood up and seemed to be addressing the whole orchestra.
"Ah, that's right," Smith said, "Annie wanted to mention something."
I might have groaned if I wasn't scared stiff of her wrath.
"As many of you know, this college has a student-run string quartet. One of our violinists graduated last year, so we've been looking for a new one. I'll be playing first, so if you don't mind playing second come talk to me, Bertholdt, or Reiner."
Of course nobody would mind playing second violin. Just the honor of playing in the college's only string quartet - with Annie Leonhart - would be enough to satisfy almost anybody. (Except maybe Hitch.)
Annie sat down, and the rest of the orchestra took this as a cue to leave. I gathered up my music and watched Annie's bun disappear into the sea of musicians. I swore I could see her gaze sweep backwards and brush over me before turning to Reiner and Bertholdt.
What was that? As far as I knew, Annie didn't have the faintest idea of who I was or even how I played. Maybe she had mistaken me for one of her friends - people did think I was a girl half the time anyways. Maybe it was just an accident. But despite the improbability, I couldn't help but hope that Annie knew full well who I was and had actually deigned to look at me. Me, the lowly Armin Arlert!
"So? Are you gonna do it?" It was Hitch, trying to sound like she didn't care. "Join the quartet, I mean."
"I don't know," I said thoughtfully. "I don't want to embarrass myself."
"You?" Hitch snorted. "If you think you're not good enough, the rest of the orchestra need not even try."
"Not true," I mumbled. "I mean, there are so many first violins -"
"You know Smith didn't put the better players in first violin," she interrupted. "You're the best second violin, therefore the second-best violinist in this orchestra."
She walked away without another word, her ears bright red. I stared after her, dumbfounded, then sighed and went to pack up my violin. If I hurried to the dorm, maybe I could avoid ramen.
"So what do you think? Should I do it?" I asked my roommate, Eren Jaeger, over a dinner of ramen (of course). We'd ended up together last year only because both of us forgot to request a roomie, but it had worked out so well that we decided to room again sophomore year.
"'ow shou' I know?" Eren replied with his mouth full. "Don' know nothin' bout classical shit."
I didn't even try to understand him. "Swallow first."
Eren finished his mouthful and slurped noisily (probably on purpose.) "Well, Annie's a grouch. Never seen her smile. Or express any emotion, for that matter."
"It's about the music, not about Annie. Besides, Bertholdt and Reiner seem like nice guys."
"Ha, have you seen Bertholdt? He's always sweating like the thought of saying one word scares him to no end."
I had to laugh; it was true, after all. The first-chair viola player rarely spoke and usually huddled behind Reiner. In fact, I'd only ever seen him talking to the burly blond cellist and Annie, on occasion.
"Your playing is amazing," Eren said, sounding serious all of a sudden. "But you're always being drowned out. If you're in a quartet, maybe someone will actually hear your music, and well… maybe it'll reach them like it reached me."
I stared at my friend, who had just blurted out this deep speech while twirling ramen around a plastic fork. I almost began a half-hearted explanation of why you weren't drowned out in orchestra, you were a part of something bigger, but I found myself wondering when the last time I played solo was - a high-school recital, probably - and how much I wanted that applause to be just for me.
Of course, those were stupid reasons. I shouldn't want to be in a quartet for fame, no, it should be for the music. Musical experiences.
(I'm pretty bad at lying, even to myself.)
"Did that convince you?" Eren asked with a grin.
"I-"
He shrugged and threw his paper plate at the trash, missing widely. "I'm not great at talking fancy bullshit, but I suppose it's worth it sometimes."
I opened my mouth then closed it, like a fish out of water, wondering for the millionth time if Eren was either a really good liar or really honest. Pondering that baffling paradox that would probably haunt me until my dying day, I went to pick up his plate.
"You know, I sometimes honestly wonder if you really want the best for me or you're been bullshitting this whole time for the fun of it," I said, sitting down at my desk.
"Oh, shut up," Eren laughed, plopping himself down at his desk. "If your violin sounded like ugly screeching I'd tell you so."
Why don't we settle on really honest.
I shook my head. "Sometimes I wonder what was going on in my head when I requested you for a roommate again."
His only response was the tapping of his fingers on his laptop and a sideways smirk in my direction. I rolled my eyes and pulled out my theory homework, prepared for another late night caused by Smith's tendency to extend rehearsals way late.
I set to work, but my focus was kind of off. Way off. I kept seeing hooked noses and blue eyes and pale, elegant fingers, no matter how I tried to focus on my work.
The diminished seventh -
"If you don't mind playing second-"
Of E-flat major is composed of -
"Come talk to me, Bertholdt, or Reiner-"
"E-flat, G-flat , A, and C, therefore… " I said out loud, trying to silence Annie's soft voice inside my head. "Wait, that's basic theory. I need something more concrete."
"Stop talking to yourself, I'm trying to write an English essay," Eren grumbled.
I imagined gluing my lips together and set to work, but to no avail. Maybe it was the late hour, maybe it was the ramen, or maybe it was just Annie's eyes meeting mine over and over again like a video clip on replay, but I crawled through the packet at an agonizing pace. Eren kept typing away, unaware of my anguish, and so my writing got slower and slower as the hours wore on and so did my patience.
Finally, at around midnight, I just couldn't take it anymore and I forgot all about the invisible glue that was supposed to be keeping me silent.
"That's it. I'm auditioning, and I won't go back on that," I resolved. "That's what you wanted me to do, right, Eren?"
His only response was a gentle snore.
And maybe it was the late hour, maybe it was the ramen, or maybe it was the prospect of seeing Annie again, but I broke into laughter that filled our tiny dorm room.
Then Eren woke up, and you can guess how that went.
Sorry for the short chapter but it just decided to end. I have three chapters written, I'll post the next in a week, or sooner if enough people ask. Faves, follows, and reviews are much appreciated :)
