Hold it! To achieve the best effect you should get while reading this, kindly go youtube and look for the piano version of 'Payphone' by Maroon 5. Seriously. Or you won't get your non-existent cookie. /nod nod
Resting his arms on the window pane and looking out, Arthur sighed again.
It was snowing. He hated snow. Having lived in London for the whole of his life, he's had enough of rain and whatsoever. Now that his mood's probably worse than the weather outside, snow's the last thing he had ever hoped to see.
Really. Its as if the sky itself was mocking at him.
He sighed again before moving away from the opened window, too gloomy to even care about the chilly wind that was blowing into the room.
Let it freeze. Maybe his bad mood could get so cold that it would wither and die along with the whole bloody vacation. It was supposed to be all warm and cozy, filled with fun and laughter, not this.
Rubbing his slightly numb hands together in an attempt to keep them warm, he sat down on the bed and looked at his phone that was resting on the small bedside table. The phone stayed completely quiet and still since the moment he stormed into his room and slammed the door shut.
No calls.
No sms.
Nothing.
Taking a few silent moments to just stare at the phone, Arthur sighed for the god know how many times and reached for the phone. It felt extremely cold in his hands. Maybe that's it. The device's short circuited from the cold. It happened last time when he visited Ivan. Maybe that idiot tried calling, but couldn't reach him. Maybe...
He pressed a random button on the phone, hoping that the phone wouldn't respond, hoping that his guess was right. The phone's black screen immediately lit up, displaying the home page.
No missed calls.
No unread sms.
Nothing.
"...That bloody git." He muttered as he fell back on the soft yet cold bed, letting the cold touch numb his senses. "Why don't you just freeze in the snow and die?" So he won't have to get all gloomy and annoyed... And guilty. He closed his eyes and stayed motionless on the bed, trying to clear the clouds in his mind and actually think of something useful.
If only the stupid argument didn't happen.
Alfred sat on the sofa in the hotel's reception hall, holding a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. He stared at the hot drink, watching motionlessly as the foams slowly disappeared.
He was so stupid.
Why the heck did he have to start that argument? It's so pointless that he couldn't even remember what it was about if he try to. All he could remembered was that they started arguing in the car, harsh words were thrown at each other, hurtful comments were made, and resulted in this. However ridiculous the reason for the argument was, it had succeeded in ruining their holiday.
Great.
Now they were in a 5 star hotel with every possible luxury device, several pools and even a movie theater. Well, it looked like he wasn't going to be able to enjoy any of them. Not when the mood between him and Arthur was like this. It was even colder than the snow outside.
The phone felt so heavy in his jacket's pocket. He could easily bring it out and call him, sms him, anything to say that he was sorry. But... It wasn't all his fault. Arthur's being stubborn as always, and he knew it. If he were to call now, he would be admitting that it was all his fault. That wouldn't be fair at all!
...
Come to think of it, the quarrel had something to do with fairness...
"Excuse me sir, it's getting chilly, would you like to return to your room?" The doorman approached Alfred with a slight smile. "It wouldn't be nice if you catch a cold on your vacation, would it?"
Alfred looked up from his drink, a little surprised. "How did you know i was here for a vacation?" Sure it would suck if he were to catch a cold, but things were already pretty much not enjoyable.
"It's just a guess. After all, most guests who come here during winter were on vacation." The doorman smiled again. "Or if you are troubled, would you like to talk about it? I'm rather free at the moment." He looked up at the hall, getting Alfred to look too. It was almost completely empty.
"... Right. Umm..." Talk about it, sure, why not? Things can't get any worse. "Why don't you sit down first?" He beckoned for him to sit on the sofa opposite to his. The latter accepted the offer.
"So, how may I help?"
Arthur's had enough of the room and decided to walk around in the hotel. According to the idiot, the place was supposed to be filled with entertainments and what not. Whatever, not like he was actually going to enjoy any of these. But looking at new things might get him a little busy to temporarily forget about the suffocating feelings.
He had checked out several rooms, including the arcade, the reading room and even the theater. None of them looked in the least appealing to him. He sighed. The phone felt like a dead weight in his hand.
He had decided to go back when he chanced upon another room, labelled the 'troubled room'. That's... quite an interesting name for a room. Arthur stopped in front of the room's frosted glass door and weight the pros and cos in his mind.
Well, he was super bored and troubled and this was a part of a world famous hotel. What could possibly hurt or go wrong with just a look?
He nodded to himself and pushed the door open with his empty hand, entering the room. The dark room immediately lit up upon his entrance, the soft white light filling the room. It was a rather empty room. All that really was there was a grand piano, dust free, well kept and gleaming under the light, and a piano bench that was long enough for two.
"So much for the name. No bloody way the piano can be troubled." Arthur joked to himself as he approached the piano, running his fingertips down the cover. It felt cold, but inviting.
Deciding that it wouldn't hurt, he sat down on the bench and lifted the piano up, revealing the pearl white and shining black keys. He pressed a random key and held it down, letting the sound fill the room. The sound was perfect, as expected from such a posh looking piano.
Arthur was quite the expert in piano, also in violin and guitar, but it's been forever since he had last played anything on a piano. To be honest, with his mood right now, he couldn't even force himself to play anything complicated or grand.
Maybe something that could tell his feelings...?
That was how it started.
One not by another, he started playing the melody of a song he heard Alfred humming to a few days before on his right hand. What was the name..? Something... Phone. Closing his eyes, he dragged the note one by one, making the song sound more moody than it should be.
He was almost done with the into when he heard a different set of notes being played on the same piano. Immediately opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was another hand playing on the left half of the piano, playing an accompaniment to his melody.
"Once again, your memory amaze me." Alfred smiled, his left hand still working on the keys.
"...You were humming it everyday. I didn't have the choice of not remembering it." Arthur replied sternly without looking at him, the notes becoming shorter in his hands as the melody slowly came back to life.
Alfred simply smiled and shook his head, adjusting his speed to fit Arthur's.
They played in silence after that, though perfect sync, as if the left and right hand belonged to the same person. As if the two lost halves had finally found each other.
There was another moment of silence after the song had ended. The two both had so much to say to each other, but just didn't know where to start. The awkward silence continued, until Alfred had finally had enough of it.
"It's called 'Payphone', the song we just played." Alfred explained, trying to strike a conversation.
"Hmm. Good to know." Arthur's answer was as cold as his tone, making Alfred sigh.
Okay, maybe this was going to be harder than he thought it would be.
"Do you know what the lyrics are?"
"Why would I bother to?"
"I'm at a payphone trying to call home. All of my change I spent on you. Where have the times gone. Baby it's all wrong, where are the plans we made for two?" Alfred had started singing the song, getting Arthur to look at him as he went on. It might just be a coincidence, but the lyrics were probably the best description for what was happening between them now.
"I know it's hard to remember. The people we used to be. It's even harder to picture, that you're not here next to me." He went on to holding Arthur's hand, who flinched a little, but didn't try to struggle free. Alfred felt himself smiling.
"I can go on. But all you need to know is, it's weird to not have you beside me. It's plain to just play the piano with one hand, and it's definitely not going to be fun to spend the vacation alone." He said, holding Arthur's hand up.
"So... I'm really sorry. It's all my fault, so please... Forgive me?" He asked, and brought Arthur's hand to his lips, giving it a slight kiss.
"...Stupid... What took you so long?!" By this time, Arthur was already close to crying. He was so worried, so scared that this would go on. So afraid of being alone. "You're right, this is all your fault!" he cried, a few tears fell from his eyes, onto the leather bench. The second reason why he didn't feel like playing anything complicated, was that it needed two hands. More than enough for him to feel even more alone.
"Yes, yes. I'm apologizing, aren't I?" Alfred smiled helplessly and pulled Arthur into a gentle embrace, patting his back in a comforting manner. "You should really stop crying, having me by your side means no crying, ever."
"S-shut up, bloody git... A-and don't think that just a sorry will be enough!" Arthur burrowed his face in Alfred's chest, hiding his flushed cheeks. Alfred felt so warm.
"I know." Alfred lifted Arthur's chin up slightly, so they were face to face. "I've got the whole vacation to make it up to you." he gently kissed the last drops of tears away.
"Starting with this."
I'm done! YAY! Inspiration from a piano tutorial on Payphone by Maroon 5, you can find that on youtube. I was like, shocked from how complicated playing the song would be, and had this thought that it would be easier if I can just do the right hand parts and grab a friend to do the left hand part.
So... yeah... Guess I got a little carried away. hahaha... /awkward laugh
Anyway I hope that you've enjoyed it and now we know why it's called the 'troubled room'. Go in troubled, come out happy and loved~.
Review = motivation and inspiration.
On a completely random note... I got scolded by my mum for writing this at 1 am OTL