Title: Crescendo
Author: Ninjapirate101
Characters: Anthony DiNozzo
Pairing: N/A
Prompt/Challenge: #484 "Beauty"
Rating: G
Word Count: 500
Warning/Spoilers/Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.
AN: This was written for Livejournal's NCIS Drabble community: If you would like the link, just message me, cant put it here.
Crescendo
Calming, sweet and beautiful.
The soft notes that gradually grew louder and louder building up in a giant crescendo, playing with his senses, as it abruptly died back down. It let him relax, soothing the raging thoughts in his mind.
It started ever since he could remember. He remembered his mother taking him to their study as she sat him gently on her lap, the smell of lilac emanating around him, as he became transfixed. His moms' pale fingers slowly gliding over the piano keys, releasing such sounds, that at that age, he couldn't describe.
When Tony was 6, his mom noticed how much he loved to listen to the grand piano, and gently coaxed her child to play with the ivory keys, eyes going wide and innocent and bright as the small hands tentatively followed his mother's instructions.
By 8, he learned the basics and was becoming a master at the piano, under his moms and piano teachers' guidance. But then that had all ended. His mother had gone, and with her, so did his love of playing the beloved piano. His father who had occasionally sat with them as the two played, banned the young child from playing, not wanting to remember his wife and the pain it caused. He had taken up drinking a lot more, and Tony had become withdrawn and quiet. The music and happiness in the household had passed with Tony's mom.
At 12, Tony had all but forgotten the piano that lay silently in the study. Some nights he could still hear the twinkling in the air. He would get the urge to sneak into the room and see if someone was playing, drawing him out of bed, coaxing him to play with them. When he would arrive in the room, all that was there was a stillness that chilled him to his core, and a faint smell of lilac. One night, he couldn't resist the temptation and opened the piano, cautiously pushing down on a few keys. Tony gave into the urge and lost himself in the beautiful music, not noticing he had awoken his dad. His dad had flown into a rage and the next morning, Tony was sent off to boarding school.
During college, he didn't have much time for the piano, as much as he would have liked. There were sports, girls, and worrying about his studies. He couldn't afford one anyway, but he would always smell a hint of lilac in the air when he heard another student play.
After he moved to Baltimore and then subsequently DC, he gave in to the longing to buy a piano of his own. When the cases were bad, and Gibbs was barking something fierce, he would go home and play. The music washing away the fears, anger and confusion, till everything became clear and the world made sense once again. Allowing the lilac smell to wash over him, coaxing him to breathe.
Calming, sweet and beautiful. Just like he remembered.