Chapter Text
Regardless of the passing seasons, whenever winter came, Aether always reminisced about this person.
At the corner of an alley, there was a young boy, a dot lost amidst a crowd of passers-by. No one had time to spare to even look at him. Nonetheless the eyes of a teenager with golden locks spotted him by chance and have never left him since. Aether was fascinated without knowing why by the snowflakes dropping softly on his ebony hair and by his fingers brushing against the old guitar strings adorned with picturesque scratches. Yet the patching up showed that the boy still took great care of the instrument. This stranger seemed to be around his age, a lost middle schooler only waiting to graduate. The sound escaping the guitar was comforting, but with a hidden touch of melancholy. The amber eyes of the boy had no interest in people who might occasionally bump into him. It was just him and his guitar, lost in their own world. When the performance was over, he took the few rusty coins and crumpled bills from his guitar case and left without a word, carrying his precious instrument on his back.
The next day, Aether walked through the alley once more, and the person was still there. The boy with hair similar to threads of gold listened quietly to his playing. The day after, despite being late for his evening classes, he ran into him again. He stopped on his tracks and let himself be lulled by the music. No matter how harsh the winter cold was, the young boy with ebony hair was always there. His fingers could be fiery red from the time spent outside without gloves, and yet he didn’t care. With an impassive face, he kept playing. Aether’s heart fluttered slightly at the sight of this burning passion. What a strange boy he thought. He always watched him discreetly from afar, scared to cross the boundaries of his personal space, his own special world.
Though one day, the young blond did not know whether he was under the influence of any magic spell, a surplus of courage suddenly took over him and he surprised himself humming a few words over one of the compositions of this mysterious guitarist. The hums did not go unnoticed by the raven-haired boy. He looked up and starry eyes met amber eyes. With little warning, Aether’s heart decided to run wild inside his chest and threatened to come out at any time. He was short of breath and unable to speak. On the other hand, the young guitarist only smiled slightly and kept playing. The boy with golden locks stayed speechless for a few seconds, surprised that the mysterious stranger really wasn’t an ice sculpture and could smile like this. It was as if dandelions were dancing inside his stomach, what a nice feeling he thought. Slowly gaining confidence, he allowed himself to approach the stranger and stand by his side. The humming continued, then gradually his voice rose. The blond ended up singing without realizing it. As for the boy with ebony hair, he arranged his guitar chords according to the lyrics. Everything flowed so naturally that it was as if the duo had known each other forever. Around them, a crowd began to gather, attracted by the performance of this atypical duo. When the last chord was played on the guitar, thunderous applause filled the alley. The two teenagers looked at each other, a little breathless, wide-eyed, surprised by the magical moment that had just unfolded and then ended up exchanging an uncontrollable fit of laughter before they could say anything. That day, the young boy’s guitar case had never been so full. As the audience dispersed, the two were lost in each other’s eyes. They still couldn’t realize what had just happened. After a moment of silence, the young blond plucked up his courage and tried to utter the first word. However much to his dismay, they had no time to exchange names that the ebony-haired boy left in a hurry after seeing his watch. This prompted the young golden-haired boy to do the same and he realized that the evening class he was supposed to attend had already ended a long time ago.
Could an evening pass that quickly?
This had never happened to him before, after all he was a person who often complained that time passed too slowly. He let out a small sigh and looked up at the starry sky. Of course he was disappointed, but he just had to be patient. He had no doubt that the stranger would be there tomorrow, as always. He was looking forward to seeing him again. He wanted to know his name and maybe a blossoming friendship awaited them, who knows?
....
At that time, Aether didn’t know yet that their paths would never cross again.
The next day no one was at the corner of the alley.
Like snowflakes, the young stranger had vanished as the last day of winter came to an end.