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Martin was long asleep before Jon got up, carefully moving free of the blankets tangled around them. It must have been two in the morning, and he couldn’t sleep. It was so hard to sleep, with the images and static that would pour through his head.
He shrugged on Martin’s bathrobe, over Martin’s old t-shirt and Martin’s PJ pants rolled up at least five times at the ankles, and walked out into the living room. Martin had built a fire earlier, and he added a couple of logs to it and sat down on the couch before his gaze drifted to the guitar in the corner.
He had wondered why Daisy had a guitar in her safe house. As far as he knew, she didn’t play, and it was an odd thing to have in a safe house anyway.
He closed his eyes and leaned back. He used to play, in college, but his band had broken up. There was still a picture of them in his flat, taped to the inside of his closet door. He was right in the middle, grinning like a madman, his face smeared with eyeliner and wearing a crooked top hat on his messy black curls.
He sighed and sat up, looking at the guitar again.
It was probably horribly out of tune.
He knew how to tune a guitar.
Jon got up and walked up, picking it up and brushing off some of the dust. He sat down and played an A chord.
He winced at the discordant sound of it and started fiddling with the knobs on the end of it, trying to tune it. It was in pretty bad shape, probably bought at the secondhand shop in the village. Within about five minutes, he was able to get it sounding much better.
Then he just sat there.
“I have no idea what to play” he whispered it out loud, at large to the world. So many of the songs he used to know so well hurt him now. His fingers were already in the position for the song before he realized, and he looked down at his hands. “Alright.”
“Elysian Fields stretch out before me,
Sunlight dapples through the leaves”
Jon didn’t mean to sing either. It just happened, as he was quietly strumming the guitar. The fire danced, sending shadows climbing and dancing up the walls.
“Of the sole surviving oak tree...
As I await for my release.
Lying here among the flowers,
I can rest my weary bones”
He didn’t notice Martin until he was sitting next to him, watching his hands move up and down the fretboard on the guitar. Jon immediately stiffened, a pause in the music leaving a moment of silence between them.
“Keep playing. Just ignore me.” Martin whispered. Jon nodded, still stiffly. He didn’t want to keep singing now that he had an audience, but Martin clearly wanted him to.
“In the earth with my beloved
I have found my final home”
Martin rested his head against Jon’s shoulder. He could feel Martin breathing against him, slightly in the way of his elbow. The fire light reflected off Martin's glasses. They had a crack in them, right down the middle of the right lense.
“Lying here upon the soil,
As dawn fills my heart with light.
Beside my wife and free from toil
Sunrise breaking through the night.”
Martin was humming along, Jon realized with a start. His eyes were closed, and he was smiling. There was a look of peace on his face that Jon hadn’t seen in a long time.
“No one shall pull me from my slumber
My mind to plague with thoughts of life
Forever free of pain and hunger
I shall leave the city's strife”
Jon closed his eyes, just for a second, as static filled his head for the first time since he had picked up the guitar. There was a crystal clear image of the photo in his head, him grinning, the eyeliner smeared all over his face. The rest of his friends, captured in a messy moment of their joy.
“Lying here bathed in sunshine
I have found where I shall lie
I have found my heart's last calling
Elysian fields where I can die
Elysian fields where I can…”
He closed his eyes again. He had missed music so much.
“Where did you learn that song?” Martin asked sleepily from his shoulder.
“Ah… well… I got that from the artist.” he looked down at his hands, feeling Martin sit up in shock.
“You? Wait, what? There were like 200 people at that concert… wait…” Martin tipped up Jon’s chin to look at his face. “You were on stage, weren’t you.”
Jon could feel himself blushing even redder.
“I just need to get you some eyeliner, and shorter hair. Jon. Jonny d’Ville.”
Jon nodded.
“You are the artist, aren’t you.”
“Well, Georgie helped me quite a bit with that one. And The Admiral.”
“Jon.”
He looked at Martin. “Yes, it was me, I’m Jonny D’ville. That was my college band, alright?”
“I was at the last concert you had.” Martin was so excited, shaking his head and grinning. “I’m pretty sure I have your autograph. I had all of your CD’s. they might still be at my flat.”
“Thank you?”
“This is amazing. You- you seemed so normal.”
Jon leaned over and lightly kissed him lightly, impulsively, full on the lips.
There was a moment, of staring and blushing before Jon, smiling slightly, said, “please, you’re embarrassing me. Please.”
They looked at each other for a few minutes longer, before Martin broke out into a grin.
“I got kissed by Johnny D’Ville.”
“MARTIN!”