Bad Blood (MxM)

Memories - Petr and Damien

The man was drunk and easy to convince. The trip back to Bohemia was miserable - dirty, nauseating, long. When he got home, he barely recognized the place as so much had changed. They had a new king, houses got bigger, and there were more farmers in the city, people that Milo hadn't met.

The family vineyard was thriving as his family began selling wine for many other villages in the region. His childhood house looked even more beautiful thanks to the extra money they were making, as well as Viktor's work as a barrister. He finally met his two new siblings. His mother hugged him like she would never let go, and Milo felt at home in her arms. His siblings piled up on top of him and competed to be the first to get a hug and hear the stories from France.

He was happy, and as the days went by, he got even closer to Viktor and Alexej than he used to be. They both told him tales of their own - the women, the troubles, the works: ins and outs of the courts, as well as the daily tasks of keeping the wine production.

And while Vik was more serious, Alex liked to enjoy the night and the fun things that were now available to them after the village's growth. His older siblings would take him to the tavern almost every night, along with Vincenc. His brothers would wrap their arms around him and introduce Milo to everyone, as proud as if they were introducing the King himself. "My brother is a musician in Paris".

Everyone in the city either knew him or knew about him, coming to shake his hand or to congratulate him.

- "Hey, hey, hey! You're the Nerudov musician, right? If your brothers told me about you one more time, I'd go to France and meet you myself." - A very tall, blond man with extroverted manners approached Milo with a large smile. He sat at the table with them, nodding at his brothers. - "Want to join me for the show tonight?"

- "Mi, this is Petr. I mentioned him in a few of the letters, remember? He and his family moved here almost a year ago, and he plays the piano here every night. You should accept it, show his arrogant ass how real musicians do it." - Alexej laughed at Petr, already drunk from all the beer. Milo's own mind was hazy - all the conversation around him, all the new people, the bards singing in the background as the waiter spilled a drink on the table nearby. The taller man was cute - Milo could swear their eyes were wine-colored, but that could only be the beer's influence.

- "Yeah, sure. Nice to meet you, Petr. What do you like to play?"

- "Can you improvise?"

Milo downed his beer and followed Petr to the improvised stage as the owner of the tavern announced them. The place exploded when the "kid from Paris" got his violin. He could drown in that feeling of admiration from every one of his old friends and neighbors.

Alongside that, improvising with Petr was what he imagined going to church felt like to his parents. It was like the man could read Milo's mind - they were always in sync, one was able to compliment the other's chords as if they wrote their music in advance. At points, he could swear Petr was playing each key with Milo's heartstrings as if he knew the sorrow that he carried inside, and each note was a carefully crafted medicine. That tavern became one piece of his personal Heaven.

He felt the air escape him once more. Sometimes the memories got unbearably heavy and lay on his chest, stopping his heart from beating and his lungs from filling. The memories of Petr playing in the living room mixed with the ones from the tavern, the feelings he brought up with his songs, it was that kind of heavy.

That was why he was so happy to see the sorcerer playing the piano on the first day. He could see it now.

At the same time, Milo laughed as much as his state permitted, finally understanding how Petr was the perfect music partner. That mind-reader fucker tricked him. Yet, he was not angry - no, the feelings their music caused were just too good, too precious for the sorcerer to regret how they achieved it.