That got a laugh out of Luis. He swiped at his eyes again, trying to catch his breath. “I can’t believe you two.”
“We just want to make you happy, sweetheart,” Julien said. A hand touched Luis’s own where it was wrapped around the neck of the guitar. “Would you play something for us?”
Luis’s first instinct was to say no. He’d never played in front of anyone but Cassie, had never trusted anyone but Cassie with this part of him.
But looking between the two of them, he wanted to share. They’d gifted his guitar back to him, like putting some vital piece of himself back in his hands just because they wanted him to have it. They wanted him to be who he was.
It was terrifying, the thought of playing in front of them, but he didn’t want to run from that fear. He’d spent so, so long having to hide himself away. So long shrinking himself down so try and fit in the boxes his mother wanted him in.
But if that part of his life was over now, he should lean in to new experiences, new ways of operating.
He could try something scary, couldn’t he? For them.
“O-okay,” Luis said. His heart was thundering now. He rubbed the faded calluses on his fingers. It had been a while, buthe knewhow to play. Guitar strings were as familiar to him as his own hands. “Um, requests?”
“Anything at all,” Julien said encouragingly.
Luis nodded and went through tuning the strings.
“Okay,” he said when it was ready. “Okay.”
He could do this. He wanted to do this. If his life was going to be different now, he got to shape what that looked like.
And he didn’t want to be a coward anymore, didn’t want to hide from things that scared him. Lately, every time he’d taken a risk, he’d only ended up better than before. He never would have ended up here, on a couch between two vampires that he lo–cared for,if he hadn’t taken a risk.
He took a steadying breath and moved his hands to position.
What came to him first was the practice song. It was something he’d made up himself, years and years ago when he was just messing around. It was a song he went back to time and time again, playing it to warm up or when he didn’t know what else to do, but wanted to feel his fingers on the strings.
Luis knew it like the back of his hand, which helped his nerves.
He started to play.
It started slow, almost melancholy, but grew into something lively. The sound wound up, getting faster, a good workout for his out of practice hands.
As the song went on, Luis sank into it, the worry about them listening falling away. By the time he made it to the end, he almost didn’t want to stop. He played the last few notes and let them fade out.
“That was beautiful,” Julien said with awe. “I’m not familiar with the song though.”
Luis blinked, coming back to himself. His cheeks flushed. “Oh, it’s not really a song. It’s just something I made up topractice with. That’s why it gets more difficult as it goes on. It’s just what I thought of first.”
“You wrote that?” Karim asked.
Luis shrugged. “Not really, it’s just a practice tool, I’ve never written it down.”
He could feel Karim’s eyes on him. “But you composed it…” he said slowly with meaning. “I didn’t know you’re also a songwriter.”
Luis wanted to squirm. “I just mess around. It’s not–it’s not like that.”
On his other side Julien hummed knowingly. “Either way, that was very beautiful. You have a lot of skill.”
His stomach fluttered. “It helps to have a good instrument,” Luis said.
“I’ve seen plenty of good instruments in the hands of people who couldn’t play for shit,” Karim said. “It’s you who’s good.”
Luis looked down at the guitar because he couldn’t look at either of them. His heart was still pounding, adrenaline flooding his veins. He knew he should tell them that this gift was too much and they should return it, but the words stuck in his throat. Now that it was in his arms, now that he’d played it, he didn’t want to give the guitar back.
With a few weeks of paychecks Luis could have bought another one for himself, but he… he liked that this one was a gift from them. Liked that they’d thought of him, that they’d understood what it meant to him.
