Prompt: Professional Orchestra AU! Chell and Wheatley are in the same symphony band together, with her on cello and him on harp. As the rehearsals and practices continue, the two get ever closer, and everybody at Johnson Hall can tell what's going on...
Wheatley really hadn't meant to trip over the massive instrument. At least it wasn't a double bass. But when the first cellist gripped him by his hair and spoke to him, it shocked everybody in the concert hall.
The cellist didn't speak very much to begin with. Wordlessly nodded when spoken to, showed the fingering, and didn't use words unless she really needed to.
So to hear her speak in such a frightening voice…
"I swear to God, if there is anything wrong with my cello, I will personally beat you to death with it."
Everyone in the immediate area backed up two paces, and Caroline, the conductor, came over right away, along with the principal french horn player, Rick. He shoved his instrument into a flutist's hands before running over to help his friend, lest he got his hair pulled out for bowstrings.
"Miss-" Caroline began, but Rick pulled Wheatley away, giving Chell a side glance as she went over her cello.
Caroline could merely sigh and direct her glare to Wheatley, who gulped. He was their only harp player who was available at the moment, they couldn't get rid of him! … Could they?
"Is there anything wrong with your instrument, Chell?" Caroline asked, looking back to her while Wheatley scurried away, just trying to get to the water cooler before the break was over.
Chell shook her head in response, having found nothing awful on her instrument; probably just needed to be tuned again…
"Good. We'll be resuming rehearsal in a few minutes, so I suggest you retune now." Caroline went back to the stand, arranging her scores in perfect order to be ready to resume rehearsal.
Chell gave Wheatley another glare as he walked back across the stage. Oh no. He had to sit exactly where he could be seen by her for the rest of rehearsal.
As he walked back to his harp, his three friends (or at least, closest acquaintances) were waiting by it, talking about him, as they so often did.
"Well, what have you three got to say about me this time?" he hissed, sitting on his chair to glare at them all. "Something about what a wonderful impression you've just made on your crush, Wheatley? Try tripping and breaking something next time to make her hold you longer, Wheatley!"
"For once, we weren't!" his friend Craig said, picking his flute up from his lap. "We were discussing if your hair was long enough for bowstrings. I said it was."
"It totally isn't," Rick countered, while their last friend, Kevin, merely said something about the music he was staring at.
"It is," Craig countered, but the argument settled as Caroline came back up the stage, with a tight-lipped look. Rehearsal was continuing for the last section of the day… and Wheatley tried to not glance at the first cellist, as he so often did. The couple times he looked, she wasn't staring, but he could sometimes feel her harsh eyes glaring at him whenever she had a rest. They began to be less frequent as the rehearsal went on, which made him feel a little better.
After rehearsal was over, Wheatley started looking for Chell. Eventually finding her by the water cooler with the oboe player, he waited patiently before coming up and apologizing about tripping over her instrument.
Chell shrugged. "No, I'll admit I overreacted. You just get so defensive of your instrument, you know? It's like an extension of you, because it means so much in terms of expression. I'm sure you would freak out if someone knocked over your harp."
Wheatley shuddered at the very thought of his instrument falling over dramatically, chipping parts of the structure and possibly throwing the entire instrument out of whack. With a laugh, he said, "I just get scared when someone touches my strings, let alone causes it to fall over!"
Chell laughed, a small, quiet chuckle, which caused Wheatley to grin. Look at that, he'd made her laugh! Take that, guys!
"Well, I'd better be going." Chell waved to Wheatley as she walked out. "See you next rehearsal."
"Same to you!"
The next rehearsal, Wheatley decided to get to the hall early. He really needed to nail his cues down, since Miss Caroline had come very close to throwing her stand at him last week.
Quoting the conductor, Wheatley muttered to himself, "You're a fantastic player… just that you never seem to focus on your cues!" He kicked the door shut behind him, and when it did, he heard another sound – a bow being violently pulled across strings.
Instantly going to the stage, he saw someone there, already looking back at him – the first cellist!
"Chell!" He came in slowly, instantly putting a smile despite his mild annoyance earlier.
She gave him a small wave before returning to the music; a cello soli in one of their pieces.
Wheatley stepped across the stage, to where the other door led to the harp storage area, and when he brought it out again, he tuned and warmed up, deciding to play something, because he really didn't want to go right to the music and get worked up again about cues and notes.
Since he'd seen the new Star Wars movie recently, he picked the main theme to play. It sounded really nice, he thought, especially considering he had learned it for fun one day. When he silenced the strings, he noticed that Chell had been listening with a smile on her face.
"Did you like that?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.
In response, she put her bow to her cello, and began to play the main theme. Wheatley let out a laugh, and she grinned back at him, giving a rather stirring performance.
"Do you think you know more than that? I bet you can't do this!" He raised his hands again and played an arrangement of the "Cantina Band" piece, one of his personal favorites to play. Wasn't as upbeat as he would have liked it, but it was still a rather decent arrangement.
Chell played it back to him, grinning the entire time.
Wheatley merely pouted, trying to think of another. An idea coming to him, he played the love theme from the prequels, and Chell found that it was one she couldn't replicate. Instead, she played the Imperial March, making a wonderful show of it.
Finally, the two broke into fits of laughter, and didn't even hear the door open.
"Well, that was some mighty fine music I heard just then, wouldn't you agree Caroline?"
Their laughter instantly ceased, and both looked to the doors of the hall, where Caroline and Mr. Johnson were both standing.
"It was well-played, but that doesn't mean they are the representation of the entire orchestra." Her monotone voice still echoed throughout the hall, causing Wheatley to cough out of embarrassment, and Chell to go back to practicing the orchestral pieces right away.
"Well, that's no trouble. I'll just ask them tonight myself! Pitch the idea, with the new movie coming out and all. Just let me know when rehearsal's over, Caroline." Mr. Johnson patted Caroline's shoulder and left, letting the doors swing shut behind him.
Instantly, Caroline turned on Wheatley.
"I hope you're ready to practice those cues!"
Wheatley gulped, while Chell held back an amused smile. It was going to be a long rehearsal day…
"Can you play me some Star Wars?!"
Rumors had spread around the orchestra faster than a high school lunchroom after Mr. Johnson announced the Star Wars idea, and about how he was inspired by the first cellist and harpist, who had been playing before rehearsal.
"I could, Kevin, but… Honestly, I'm tired. Miss Caroline worked me to the bone about my cues…"
"I could tell! They sounded far better, today." Craig came up and sat right next to Wheatley, plucking at a couple strings.
"Hey! Watch yourself," he said, nudging it slightly away from Craig's fingers.
"Star Wars?" Kevin looked at him with a hopeful look, and Wheatley found he couldn't turn his request down.
He began a passionate rendition of the main theme once again, completely throwing himself into the music. It was like he entered another world when he played without having to worry about listening for other cues and people. Craig always said he admired that about him, how when he "could be bothered to pay attention and play", he really did quite well. Rick just commented it meant that he didn't focus on anything else and wasn't all that special.
However, throwing himself into the music the way he did came with consequences.
"Ow!" He heard a yell, which completely threw him off his groove, since his elbow was stopped by someone's own arm.
"I'msosorryohmyogoodnessluvareyouokay?!" Wheatley instantly turned around to see whom he'd hurt, and, lo and behold, it was the lady to whom he had a very singular crush on. The first cellist, Chell.
"I'mreallysorryohmyGodcanyouforgiveme" came tumbling out just as fast as his previous sentence, and Chell merely looked to him while holding her arm.
"It doesn't hurt that bad," she said, shrugging. "You just surprised me. I never noticed how passionately you played."
With that, she kept walking, and when she was out of earshot, Craig let out a snicker.
"Sod off," Wheatley mumbled, "or I'll throw my harp on top of you."
"Can you finish the song, please?" Kevin asked politely, and Wheatley huffed, resuming the from the place where he had left off, trying to get all of his emotion back into the piece, but found he was more distracted by the fact that he'd accidentally made a fool of himself again to the cellist.
Maybe it was just better if he got over his crush…
A few weeks later, Wheatley was very, very stressed out. He couldn't find his music, no matter how often he kept looking around for it. And he wasn't about to go to the librarian again; he'd already lost his music once, and used his one ticket for lost music from the librarian. It wasn't like he needed it and depended on it, but it was always good to have it in front of you, because, dammit, he needed to know how long some rests were and when to play.
As he kept wandering the rooms behind the concert hall, Wheatley checked everywhere, and asked Rick, Craig, and Kevin, but none of them had seen it.
When he came back to the stage, he saw Chell by his stand. Oh! He hadn't asked her! Especially since they'd begun to talk a lot more, (something which made him very happy) perhaps there was a chance she'd seen it somewhere.
Walking across the stage in a few swift steps, he opened his mouth to ask her, but was surprised to see, instead, his music on his stand.
"I found it for you," she said, giving a small smile.
Wheatley's stressed look became calmer, and he held her shoulders. She was calming, in a way. The way she'd said those words, and the way she smiled at him while saying them. She'd found his music!
The words came tumbling out before he could catch them on his tongue.
"I love you."
Take it back take it back tell her that's not-!
"I love you too," came back as an almost instant reply. But then, they both backed away from each other like they'd received a shock, Chell covering her mouth and Wheatley's jaw dropping about two feet.
Rick snickered in the background, while Kevin tapped his fingers rapidly on a snare drum. All the rest of the performers merely looked to Rick, and then to the duo standing next to the harp, before going back to tuning and going over their pieces.
"If you two are done gawking at each other, we're going to rehearse soon," Caroline said, coming up to them. Neither of them had noticed they were staring at each other for so long.
As Chell went to her seat, she kept mentally facepalming to herself. That was so embarrassing! Why had it slipped out? She didn't really like the harp player like that, did she? She found herself sweating at the thought of what to do about this screw-up that she couldn't recover from, and therefore, found it a little harder to play. But she didn't let it distract her as she forged ahead through the rehearsal.
Wheatley, on the other hand, was actually resting his head in mild frustration against his harp every time he got a rest. He could have moved past it! But no, she had to go and say it back! Why had she said it back? It made it only more awkward!
He couldn't ever face her again. Not when Rick's laughter still echoed in his mind. He'd gone and actually screwed it up this time!
Making it through rehearsal was more difficult than he had accounted for. Even with the flowing Star Wars music, it was still hard for him to focus after that. Chell was also having the same issues.
With the mindset to bolt as soon as rehearsal ended, Wheatley heaved his harp up and carried it out of the hall. However, as he left the storage room, he was met by Chell, and despite her being a full head shorter than him, he could tell she wasn't going to let him past.
"I'm sorry I said it, Chell," Wheatley said, just simply getting it off his chest. "I do like you, but I had to go and ruin it like that, and I just… I am a good musician, but there's a lot else I clearly can't do well…"
Chell let out a slight laugh, and shook her head. "No, I wanted to ask if you had eaten before rehearsal. Because I was going to get dinner, and wanted to know if you wanted to join me."
Wheatley looked to her with surprise, and nodded excitedly, taking her by the elbow before she changed her mind.
"Of course! I'd love to, Chell!"
As they walked out, Rick couldn't help but sigh to himself as he watched them leave together.
"There's a very small chance it might work," Craig commented, while Kevin nodded, tapping out a beat on the table with his snare sticks.
"Perhaps," Rick said. Despite the fact he was still childish sometimes, Wheatley had matured since music school; they all had. And maybe she was the best fit for him.
Only time would tell.
