Ch. 7 Baby don't you want to go
Lucien shook his head as he heard Willy's knocking on the door. "You know it's open." He told him as he got in.
"Didn't want to be rude…" He hid behind his retrieved sax, "Entering like that, without permission."
Lucien scoffed. "You don't need any here." Willy looked at him very surprised and he quickly turned, realizing too late the slip. The lanky man's cheeks were slightly coloured.
Despite feeling his feet heavy, Lucien walked to the piano and sat down. "Here, have some example of what I had in mind."
Shyly, Willy grabbed the offered music sheets and sat at the table, setting down the sax. He blinked in shock seeing how many pieces Lucien had chosen, there were so freaking many! He gladly noticed they had been rearranged for duets. "You thought of a discography?" He chuckled as the other man recoiled looking away with an embarrassed smile. "Let's see…" He silently started running among the pages…. Charlie Parker, Elvis Presley, Pinetop Perkins, Floyd Dixon, Duke Ellington… many classic jazz pieces, swing, R&B, rock, blues…surely there were tuned-up pieces, he even found Blues Brothers! He giggled as he remembered the movie that recently had come out. John Coltrane and…oh! Rhapsody in Blue, a golden classic. He picked a couple of works and eagerly showed them to Lucien. "I'm really curious to hear you playing these."
Lucien's brows raised and he showed a cocky grin. "Just give me the titles."
"Rhapsody in blue and Minnie the moocher. You really don't need these?" He frowned, smirking.
"You forget I'm a teacher." He winked at him and, smoothly moving on the seat, he got ready to play. He gave Willy a last look, he was leaning back on the chair with his fingers entwined in front of him. Somehow he found his smile pretty goofy, but couldn't deny the fact he was adorable. He slightly shook his head and his fingers started dancing on the keys.
Willy got immediately taken aback. Leaning forward on the table, he carefully analysed Lucien's smooth yet energetic moving, he couldn't detach his eyes from him. The melody hit his ears hypnotising him. It started slow, but it was enough to make him forget to breathe once in a while, and when he speeded up, it was hard to even blink. Lucien's fingers moved so elegant from side to side, and the quick jumps they made one over the other were just… Willy couldn't find the word to describe it, but he couldn't stop smiling because of it.
His eyes darted to Lucien's face. He was so focused! He had a serious expression, but once in a while he let his emotions flow out, and Willy simply found him gorgeous, even with those quick silly faces. He giggled as a lock of blond hair fell in front of his eyes and Lucien simply puffed it back, not daring to detach his hands from the keys.
For 15 minutes, he just listened with his heart in his throat.
When Lucien finished his stunning performance, he looked slightly sleepy, as if he had just woken up from a cosy nap, he snapped wild awake as he felt Willy's eyes on himself. "You forgot your poor sax." He grinned.
Willy, too, seemed like he was dreaming. "Whe- What!" He straightened up and his shoulders dropped as he saw his instrument forgotten next to him. He sadly picked it up and asked it for forgiveness.
"I hope it didn't bore you."
"Not at all, mate! You are so damn good!" Awkwardly, he tried to collect the new pieces he bought from Mama Rin and got set to work. He had a lot of stuff to fix. "Have you ever worked in theatres or…I don't know, concerts….?"
Lucien sighed. "I used to, but it wasn't for me. Too many people, too much trouble travelling… Although I always loved travelling, it was exhausting at the time." He chuckled. "Not the young lad I used to be either."
Willy lifted his eyes from his working, frowning. "How old can you be? You look 35 to me."
That surely surprised Lucien, who snorted aloud. "Hitting 42, mate." He joked, dangerously imitating his accent.
"Stop pulling my leg! You can't be older than me!"
Lucien sympathetically shrugged. "How old are you?"
"40."
Not bad. Lucien thought nodding. "You don't show it either, though."
Willy snorted. "Old soul inside, but young outside? Kinda like it."
"We're both grandpas." He laughed and Willy followed.
Lucien's fingers started dancing again and he winked again at the working saxophonist. Despite his big enthusiasm, Lucien was hiding a big fear inside, the more he stayed with him, the more he felt…bold… he wanted to tease him, he wanted to make him laugh, to see him play with him… But inside he was regretting the moment he accepted to know him better.
His fingers moved again, faster than the original rhythm of the song, and it came out a tuned-up version of Minnie the moocher. It was still lovely and could see Willy moving quickly, eager to join him in the symphony. "Don't fret, we have all day." He smiled at him and Willy relaxed on his work.
His fingers seemed to relax too and the song went on smooth and catchy. At some point, Willy stopped in the middle of replacing a key and looked at Lucien: he was singing under his breath.
"Can't hear you, mate." He grinned.
The pianist looked up surprised, then shook his head. He quickly played a transition to restart it again.
"Hey folks here's the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher
She was a low-down Hoochie Koocher
She was the roughest toughest frail
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale"
Willy was once again hypnotised, by his deep fluid voice, this time. And, man, he was not losing a single word his friend was singing. When he speeded up once again he felt his blood boiling and he must fix his sax for the next songs.
"Your voice is magnificent." He told him once he was done.
Lucien bowed his head, blushing slightly, "Thanks. I felt it rusty though, I don't know the last time I actually sang aloud."
"Nah, it was perfect, mate."
"So," he quickly cut the moment, "how is it going there?"
Willy groaned and leaned back. "It's taking longer than I thought…"
"Do your things, I'll keep entertaining you until you're done."
And he kept playing all the pieces that came to his mind.
It was past noon when William finally finished fixing his saxophone. He eagerly stood up triumphant and wet his lips, and started playing at full lungs. It was Lucien's time to be amazed by the other man's talent.
Willy improvised, got around with exercises and tried all the keys, many combinations came out but also a nice rhythm. His sax was as good as new! He loved it with all himself.
His foot started moving up and down and he tried Rhapsody in blue too, Lucien's play had quite had an effect on him and he thought it was his chance to show his friend how tough he was.
"Marvellous! Simply marvellous!" Lucien was clapping when the music had stopped. "You show such a mastery of your instrument I have rarely seen! I'm….I'm pleasantly surprised." He admitted.
Willy had his goofy smile printed on his face and his ears had gotten really hot. "Geez… thanks, mate, I-" A loud grumble shocked both of them and all eyes fell on Willy's stomach.
"You stay for lunch and I don't accept a no as an answer." He was in the kitchen in no time, not leaving Willy any time to answer, but just to awkwardly fall on his chair again and see Lucien happily setting the table and starting cooking. Frankly, he hadn't expected him to stay for lunch, but he could still prepare a nice dish.
What am I even doing…. He thought as he picked the spaghetti box. Get a grip on yourself, Lucien…remember who you were and who he was…and how you two can't be together…
Willy in the meanwhile had gotten up to set his sax in his box. Too bad Fantôme had seen it first and had chosen it as her own new bed.
Their meal was quiet animated, among compliments and decisions about the songs for the afternoon. Willy was all about the Blues Brothers, while Lucien was hoping for Elvis Presley. It ended with an agreement for simply both kinds, and the first song to be finally tried together was Sweet home Chicago.
Lucien's hands were fast over the keys once again, his voice deep and happily guiding William's marvellous sax through the verses.
PS:
I wanted to thank you all again for all your kind words! I hope you like this new chapter and I'm sorry for having skipped a week update D: Rigging a 3D character is hard and long lol and had quite a troubled week meh
Anyway! Past is past and had no consequences :D
Next week (April, 20th-23rd) I'll be in Lisboa for a school project and friday 24th I'll finally go to the Legend of Zelda concert in Milan -I've been waiting for it for months lol- so I won't be able to finish the Tentaspy+babytentas chapter...but I promise for next chapter of this fanfic :)
Thanks again for everything! A big hug to all of you :3
I'm sorry I can't link here the references of the songs, check my AO3 account if you're interested in them!
