Work Text:
Hiding one hand behind his back, Shi Guang opened the door to the living room. The edges of his mouth twitched as he tried to hide his grin. Yu Liang had his earbuds in and was typing on his laptop at the table that his mother had gifted them when they moved into this apartment as roommates. Shi Guang tapped Yu Liang with the free hand.
“What is it?” Yu Liang pulled out his earbuds.
“What are you listening to?” Shi Guang asked.
Yu Liang looked surprised, perhaps because Shi Guang had never previously expressed interest in his music. “Piano by Maksim.”
Shi Guang grinned from ear to ear. “Well, Yu Liang, I have good news for you.” He gripped the object in his hidden hand. Yu Liang waited for Shi Guang to continue.
“You have to say you want to hear it!” Shi Guang flapped his free hand.
“Fine, yes, I do.”
“Well, so I was thinking back to the time you saved me on the mountain, a few years ago.” He paused again for emphasis.
Yu Liang sighed. “And?”
“You were dressed really nice, and you said you missed Maksim’s concert. And I tried to give you a book in return for helping me, but you’d already finished reading it, so it didn’t work out.”
“...And?”
“I’d always felt a bit guilty about it, but I learned last week that Maksim is going to have a concert in three months, so I bought you a ticket!” Shi Guang dramatically revealed his hand from behind his back, flourishing an envelope that said “VIP” and waving it in front of Yu Liang. Shi Guang’s eyes sparkled. He’d finally get to actually pay back Yu Liang for saving him. But Yu Liang’s eyes shifted from Shi Guang, instead staring at a spot on the wall.
“I bought myself a ticket already,” he admitted.
Shi Guang froze. He stared at the envelope, his grin instantly pulled downwards. How could he fix the situation? He frantically turned the cogs in his head and then exclaimed, “I got it! Give this ticket to someone so you can go with them.” Shi Guang placed the envelope on the table and turned to leave, when Yu Liang grabbed his wrist.
“Huh?”
Yu Liang firmly pressed the envelope into Shi Guang’s hand. Yu Liang was rejecting the idea, Shi Guang guessed. He cracked an awkward laugh. “I never give you the right gifts. You never keep them. Like the watch, or the book, or now this. Sorry.”
Yu Liang gave Shi Guang the stare that said, “I’m so done with this fool.” Shi Guang knew the look all too well.
“You,” Yu Liang said simply.
“What?”
“I’m giving the ticket to you.”
“Huh?” Shi Guang blurted out again. “Why?”
Yu Liang raised his eyebrows. “Who else would I go with?”
“Uh. Fang Xu?” Shi Guang thought about the options in Yu Liang’s limited social relationships. Or some girl he admired.
“No.”
“But, but, I don’t know any of this fancy classical music stuff!” Shi Guang waved the envelope around. He always used to fall asleep in elementary school music class whenever they played Beet-oven.
“It’s ok. Maksim does crossover, instead of traditional classical, so even you should be able to find something to enjoy.”
“I don’t know what the heck I’m supposed to wear for a concert!” Shi Guang thought back to the suit and coat that Yu Liang had been wearing on the mountain. No matter what Shi Guang chose from his clothes, he’d never look that good.
“I’ll pick your outfit.”
Yu Liang was really insistent on this. Shi Guang caved. If for whatever reason, Yu Liang wanted his gift to be going to the concert together with Shi Guang, he’d do it. He’d be the good friend and roommate that went to classical concerts with Yu Liang, who had nobody else to go with.
“Okay.”
Yu Liang took the envelope back from him and pulled the ticket out, and he also grabbed his phone off the table. Shi Guang wasn’t sure what he was planning. Yu Liang traced his finger over the ticket, landing on the contact number of the box office. He quickly punched in the number.
“Hello? I have a regular ticket for Maksim’s concert. I’d like to upgrade to the VIP section, if you still have those seats. In particular, do you have a seat next to…” He scanned Shi Guang’s ticket again, and said the seat number. “Yes. Wonderful, thank you.” He hung up.
Somehow, in trying to give Yu Liang a gift, Shi Guang had ended up making him spend more money in upgrading his ticket. Yu Liang, however, looked really happy, smiling at the ticket in his hand and then at Shi Guang. So hopefully he’d done something right this time.
- - - -
Just before the concert, Shi Guang presented his whole closet to Yu Liang. Shi Guang had been pretending to not hear Yu Liang’s nagging about laundry for a while, but this important event of choosing an outfit for his first classical concert had finally motivated Shi Guang to pick up all his clothes off the floor and wash them. Yu Liang rifled through Shi Guang’s jackets, before grabbing the white one. He then laid out a shirt and a pair of slacks, both in black.
“This will work,” said Yu Liang, gesturing at the outfit.
“Oh, black and white, like the colors of the piano!”
“I’ll get ready myself now.” Yu Liang touched Shi Guang’s arm, then left the room. Shi Guang dug around for a suitable pair of socks and changed into the clothes set out.
While Shi Guang was attempting to comb his hair, Yu Liang called. “Ready? The taxi is here.” Standing by the door, Yu Liang already had his coat and shoes on. He hurried to tie his shoelaces, and then looked again at Yu Liang’s outfit.
“Wait, you have a tie. I don’t.” A white tie was crisply knotted around Yu Liang’s neck, almost blending in with his white shirt.
“You keep fiddling with them, and it’s more important to focus on the music. It’s fine, let’s go.”
“What about the tickets?” Shi Guang didn’t have any in his pockets.
“Of course I have both of them.”
They climbed into the taxi. As the car drove on the highway, Shi Guang sneaked another glance at his roommate next to him. How good-looking. This was objectively unfair. Another thought popped into his mind: Yu Liang’s black jacket and white shirt combination seemed to match his own white jacket and black shirt. Eh, probably a coincidence. Both of them owned a lot of monochrome clothing.
They arrived at the venue and settled into their seats. Shi Guang swiveled his head around. Purple lighting! A drum set behind the piano! Was that an electric guitar?!
“This is actually really cool!”
“I told you so. Maksim likes to reinterpret classical music in a modern way.” Yu Liang smiled, reading the concert program to Shi Guang. “Of these pieces, ‘Clair de Lune’ by Debussy, ‘Widmung’ by Schumann-Liszt, and the ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’ are the very classical-inspired ones, while the other ones seem to be by modern composers. It seems like…”
Shi Guang tried to focus on the explanations, but they just sailed over his head, and he started to slump in his seat. He got excited again once some musicians came on stage and started playing, except it was some really strange sound that consisted of one note starting and stopping, with the musicians twisting knobs on their instruments.
“They’re just tuning, not playing yet,” Yu Liang whispered. “Making sure their instruments fit well together.”
Still, the moment finally came. The lights dimmed, the supporting musicians and dancers were all in position, and Maksim strode into the spotlight amidst the applause. He bowed and sat in front of the piano. The applause faded out. A small cough from somewhere in the audience.
Silence.
Maksim poised his fingers, and sound enveloped them like a supernova.
From the VIP seats, they could see Maksim’s fingers well. For some pieces, he pressed each key purposefully and delicately, and the dancers flowed through their movements. For the fast, fiery pieces with crashing drums and cymbals, Maksim’s fingers blurred together over the keys and Shi Guang was amazed that a fellow human could do anything like that. He glanced at Yu Liang from the corner of his eye. Yu Liang was leaning forward in his seat, hands gripping his armrest tightly, eyes wide open. He was so obviously captivated by the performance that Shi Guang couldn’t help smiling. He turned his own attention back to the stage.
The concert went on, and all too soon, Maksim bowed to leave the stage. Yu Liang and the rest of the audience stood up to clap, so Shi Guang followed their example. The applause continued, initially evenly spread out, but gradually the whole audience converged on a unified beat.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
“What’s this about?” Shi Guang asked, trying not to be drowned out by the thunderous clapping. Maybe this was a classical music thing, but it was pretty scary how everyone got to the same clapping, like mob mentality.
“For an encore.” Yu Liang responded, just as loudly. Then, the applause started to recede. Maksim had returned. He waved his hand to acknowledge the audience, then seated himself before the piano again.
Maksim played one note tenderly after the other. He started out alone, then was gently joined by the percussion, followed by the other musicians and a single ballerina. It was a soft, slow piece with clean chords, the kind where one could hear every note sing. The piece, with its effortless beauty and grace, evoked a sense of sweet longing. Shi Guang was reminded of Chu Ying, and smiled to himself. With the last notes fading from the air, the audience burst into applause, even more fervently than before.
Throughout the taxi ride home, Shi Guang and Yu Liang excitedly exchanged their thoughts about the concert. At their doorstep, Yu Liang said sincerely, “Thank you for coming with me today.”
Shi Guang unlocked the door. “No problem at all! Again, this was to thank you for saving me and missing the concert years ago. I felt bad.” Just as Shi Guang was about to enter, Yu Liang caught his hand. Shi Guang turned.
“If you ever need help and you call for me, I will go. Every single time,” Yu Liang said. Shi Guang laughed nervously. Yu Liang was gazing at him so intently.
“That sounds… so romantic!” Shi Guang joked. “You should be saying that to the person you love.”
Shi Guang thought that would diffuse the strange tension in the air, but it didn’t. Yu Liang licked his lips slowly, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened his eyes again.
“I am.”
Shi Guang waited for the rest of the sentence. When Yu Liang remained quiet, still gazing at him, he decided to think. I am… what? He thought back to the immediately preceding conversation.
You should be saying that to the person you love.
I am.
I am… saying that to the person I love?
But Yu Liang had said it to Shi Guang.
Shi Guang was the person Yu Liang loved?!
“Wa-wait, I don’t want to misinterpret you.” Shi Guang felt the heat of their still-joined palms. “Did you mean that… you love me?”
“Yes.”
Shi Guang saw the light of the apartment hallway reflected in Yu Liang’s eyes. He felt the tiny trembling of Yu Liang’s fingers, betraying the proud determination in his expression. Yes. Yes.
“Yes!” Shi Guang jumped at Yu Liang and hugged him around the neck. “Yes. I love you too!” He felt some warm feeling bubbling up from the pit of his stomach, up his throat, expressing itself as peals of laughter echoing through the hallway. Yu Liang circled his arms around Shi Guang’s waist. They stood there for a few seconds, Shi Guang still laughing, until Yu Liang peeled Shi Guang’s fingers away and cautiously said, “We’re still in public. We should go in.”
Even the small reminder that society would not be kind to them did not scare Shi Guang. Together, they were invincible, both on the board as pair weiqi partners and now off the board as life partners. Shi Guang interlaced their fingers and they smiled at each other (and oh, now that Shi Guang knew, Yu Liang’s eyes were so full of affection that he didn’t know how he never noticed before).
They crossed the threshold.