Certain Demolitions: Play a Fantasia
Summary: 2. Munich, 1940. Kristoph could, in theory, let Klavier make up his own mind about the matter. But why take that risk?
Chapter 2: Leave Nothing to Chance
[Status: Cannon in the context of C.D.]
Munich, Germany
Summer, 1940
The letter was addressed to Klavier, so, really, he should have let Klavier open it. But the return address is from the Nazi party headquarters in Munich, so Kristoph opens it when it arrives in the mail.
The older Gavin sits at his desk in his office and reads the letter. It's a notice from a Captain Berger that he will be stopping by this evening to talk to Klavier about joining the military. It's a matter-of-fact letter, making it sound like this will just be a pleasant conversation. The older Gavin is not convinced.
Kristoph reads the letter, crumples it up, and drops it on his desk. Then he rises and goes to see what his little brother is doing.
He pushes the library door open ever so slightly until he spots Klavier, who is sitting at the table in the room, his guitar on his lap. Klavier plays a note, and then makes a note on the paper in front of him. Then he plays another note, and another. He skips the first note but marks the second down.
Kristoph has seen all he needs to see, and pulls the door closer to closed again. Klavier is composing, which means there's a good chance he'll be in the library for half the night.
He thinks it through. Kristoph could, in theory, show the letter to Klavier and let him make up his own mind about whether or not he wants to meet with the officer. Then he discards the thought. Why take a chance?
He goes downstairs to start dinner, wondering as he does, if Klavier intends to go out that evening. If he does, then there won't be anything else that he needs to do. But if Klavier intends to stay home tonight, then Kristoph will have to make some other plans.
(-)
Klavier wanders downstairs and into the kitchen an hour after Kristoph has begun working on the evening meal.
"Are you going out tonight?" Kristoph asks him, stirring noodles on the stove.
"I wasn't going too. I'm busy." Klavier replied, and Kristoph knew that Klavier was still in the middle of composing and was planning on being in the library for the rest of the night. "Why?"
"Just curious. I didn't know if you had any plans." Kristoph said, searching his memory for another solution to the problem. One comes to mind. "The food will be ready in a few minutes. Why don't you set the table?"
Klavier does so, without complaint. It takes him only a few moments.
"Go find something to have with dinner." Kristoph instructs as he leaves the kitchen and heads upstairs. Klavier sighs and vanishes through the door that leads to a now largely depleted wine cellar. Though it isn't as full as it used to be, Kristoph still keeps a selection of wines on hand.
Kristoph manages to retrieve what he wants and get back to the kitchen before Klavier reappears. When Klavier still does not reappear after Kristoph has been in the kitchen for a moment or two, Kristoph takes the beef out of the oven, makes a small amount of gravy that he doctors with just enough sleep aid to make Klavier will spend the rest of the night unconscious. The rest of the broth he dumps out in a hurry.
He manages to get the main dishes of food on the table when Klavier reappears, holding the wine. "You didn't tell me what we were having so I hope this one works."
"That will be just fine. See, you are learning about wines." Kristoph smiles and takes the bottle from him. He sets the bottle of wine down by his plate. "Are you drinking?"
"No." Klavier said, taking his seat at the table. Kristoph isn't surprised. Klavier doesn't drink wine very often. He puts the last dishes on the table, including the small amount of doctored gravy that he sets by Klavier's plate. Then he sits down and they begin the meal.
Klavier examines the small dish of gravy next to his plate. "Is all there is?"
"Yes," Kristoph replies, sounding unconcerned as he opened the bottle of wine.
"Do you want any?"
"No, I'm fine." Kristoph told him as he managed to get the cork out of the bottle. "You don't need to save any for me."
Klavier shrugged and dumped the entire contents of the dish onto his beef and noodles. Kristoph dished up his food, sipped his wine, and watched his brother eat.
(-)
After the meal, he declines his brother's offer to help clean up and sends Klavier back to the library. I don't need you falling asleep down here because I don't want to have to try and carry you upstairs. Kristoph thinks as he watches his brother vanish out the door and down the hall. Ideally, Klavier will end up either in his room or back in the library, and it's probably going to be the library. Whichever place he lands, Kristoph will work it into his plan.
He takes his time doing the dishes, putting the food away, cleaning up the kitchen. When he's done, he pauses and looks at the clock. The letter said that Captain Berger would be by at quarter past seven. He still had some time, so he wandered upstairs to his office and wrote two more letters.
When the clock on his desk showed seven, Kristoph stood up and went to the library. He found Klavier, stretched out on the couch in the room, sound asleep with a couple of music papers clutched in his hand.
Kristoph strode by and went to the windows. He pulled the curtains shut on all of the windows, and then went back to his brother. He carefully tugged the papers out of Klavier's hand and set them on the table. Then he went to his room and came back to the library with a blue blanket. He took Klavier's boots off and then he spread the blanket over his younger brother.
He pressed a kiss to Klavier's forehead. "Sleep well, little brother." He said with a smirk. Then he left, locking the library door behind him.
There was very little chance that Klavier would wake during the meeting. But he wants to make sure that his guest tonight won't wander into the library by mistake.
(-)
At quarter past seven, he's waiting downstairs, with the front sitting room open in case it's needed. He has tea brewed and is ready and waiting when the knock comes at the door.
He goes to answer the door and finds a man in a Nazi uniform standing there. It must be Captain Berger. "Hiel Hitler!" The man said.
Kristoph returned the salute in silence and gestured for the man to come in.
"You must be Herr Kristoph Gavin." Captain Berger said. "Is Klavier Gavin here?"
"I'm sorry, he received your letter late today, and had plans he wasn't able to change in time. He begs your apologies for not being able to meet with you tonight." Kristoph lies through his teeth and doesn't so much as blink or fidget.
"Oh dear, that's really too bad. I had been hoping to speak to him about joining the military. We have lots of wonderful opportunities for young men these days." Captain Berger said. "And Lieutenant Mander thought your brother might be interested in them." Kristoph files that bit of information for later. He's been wondering who's been behind all the contacts from the military lately.
Of course, it would be Mander. I had to decline that one invitation in college to go pretend to be friendly with the one man who turns into a dedicated Nazi before he graduates, and this is what I get.
Berger is still talking. Kristoph re-focuses on what the other man is saying. "You will tell him I called, won't you? And let him know that he may call on me at any time if he would like to learn more about opportunities in the military.
Kristoph smiles. "Of course." Over my dead body!
Captain Berger takes his leave a few minutes later, and Kristoph returns to the sitting room to finish his now-cool cup of tea.
He ponders the visit as he drinks. I hate war. And the Nazis.
And Mander is getting on my nerves too. Even though he hadn't seen the man in forever, Mander managed to find some way to stick around.
He took the tea service back to the kitchen, closed up the front sitting room, and make sure that the front door was locked. On his way back to his office, he unlocked the door to the library. Berger was gone, and so was the threat.
For now.
(-)
When Klavier wakes up the next morning, he can't remember falling asleep. He also can't remember what he had intended the next few notes of the song on the table in front of him to be, which irritates him more.
He looked at the sheets of music, and then set them back on the table.
What were those next notes going to be? And why had he fallen asleep before he'd written them down?
The blanket he's covered with is blue, which means its Kristoph's. Klavier sits up and pulls his boots one, then departs the library, taking the blanket with him. He still can't remember the last notes he was going to put down, and he isn't happy about it.
Kristoph is sitting at his desk examining a document that he's received in the mail when the door opens, and Klavier drags into the room, looking extremely cranky.
Kristoph notices this last fact but does not let it bother him. "Good morning, Klavier." He says with a smile.
Klavier growls a response and goes to the couch behind the desk. He drops down onto it and curls up under the blanket. "I fell asleep before I finished the song I was working on."
Oh so that's the problem, Kristoph thinks, unconcerned. Klavier could be so touchy about his work when he was composing. Klavier tended to be touchy about his music in general.
Kristoph does not feel bad in the slightest. Klavier will get over it.
"I don't even remember falling asleep." Klavier complained. "And I'm still tired."
"Don't let it bother you." Kristoph advised, holding up a sheet of paper to take a better lock at the information on it. "You were probably more tired then you thought last night."
He got another non-committal growl in response. Then another thought occurred to him and he set the paper back down. "I hope you are not wearing boots on my couch and under my blanket."
Klavier pulled the blanket over his head and shot back, "Lick me!"
Kristoph grimaced. "Don't be so common. Are you going to go back to work on your music or are you going to spend the rest of the morning sulking about last night?"
There's no response. "I'll interpret that to mean the latter." Kristoph said, sliding his papers into a neat stack on his desk. "I'm going to make breakfast. Do you want anything in particular?"
"No." Klavier said. He sounded like he was still sulking.
Kristoph walked over to the couch and patted Klavier on the head through the blanket. "You'll get your muse back, and your music will be fine." He turned to leave.
And in the meantime, you certainly won't be joining the military.
[A/N:] I wasn't sure about posting this one, but then I realized (SPOILERS): It's not like Kristoph behaves any better in chapters 34 and 37 of C.D, so I might as well write this down and then it can go live on FFN and not in my brain anymore.
This is not the chapter with the spoilers for Chapters 31 and 32 of C.D., either. The spoiler chapter of Fantasia is an AU one (AU in the context of Certain Demolitions. Yea, it's an AU for an AU.)
Merry Christmas! I wasn't planning to update today, but as usual, there's "My Plans" and then there's "Certain Demolitions et al." So have an update.
"Lick me" is a German idiom. Probably the closest comparison in English is "bite me." And I still do find German idioms hilarious.
I don't know what the drinking laws were in Germany in this period, and I couldn't be bothered to research it because I still don't give a hoot about any country's drinking laws at any point in time.
I think that's everything. Merry Christmas, have a fantastic day, and please review!
12-25-17