Work Text:
A loft filled with plants in every corner and the walls almost fully covered with jazz paintings is located in the peace of Scotland. It has a dining table with green and red chairs upper a big white carpet. A large upright piano supported on the wall and a coat rack with jackets and hats. A comfortable reading nook hidden from the huge and bright windows, lit by a golden and small lamp, two seats also green and red and a large carpet that covers the space, smudged by the dirt of the plants that envelop the whole apartment. On a floor elevation is found the kitchen, with pans hanging from the wall in a disorderly manner, more plants on the countertops and a jar with cookies.
This kitchen is never lonely because an elderly couple has lived with it for decades, James, a dark-skinned old man with an ego as big as Britain itself but a big heart to make up for it, prone to crazy things and experimenting in the kitchen, and her lonely, kitchen disaster and quiet husband, Regulus.
Every morning they wake up and take a cookie from the jar, then go to their nook and read, while with one hand holding the book and with the other the other’s hand.
Some days Regulus will take his coat and his hat and go out to buy the newspaper of the day while his husband makes breakfast, other days they will reunite in the kitchen and play they favorite music, Reginald will try to be useful and James will make fun of him, he will stand up behind him and put his hand on his and move it in gentle movements and Regulus will feel chills like it was the first time. At any point they will only feel the music and ignore everything else, including the fire lit on with their breakfast, they will hold their waists and move on the rhythm of the music resting their heads on the other’s shoulder and closing their eyes.
They were like this for decades, listening to Bowie, The Beatles, The Smiths and then they finally discovered the love of their life, jazz, and they always ended up in the same situation, their meal would always get burned and they would try to ignore the smell to keep the moment forever.
The sun came through the windows, the swing of jazz and their improvisations sounded through all their home, the slow walks around the little kitchen and the hum of the already known melody. That day they would usually not have breakfast at all.
After breakfast, if it didn’t burn, Regulus will sit on his piano and play calm songs to his husband, some days he will invite James to sit with him and try to teach him something, rubbing their hands and feeling chills like it was the first time, other days his husband will just sit and admire him like it was the most precious thing of the world with a sparkle on his eyes, and at the end of every piece he will get up and hug his husband from the back, kiss his cheek and say that it was perfect, he will leave ignoring his husband’s complaints and will go back to his seat to wait for another beautiful song from the hands of his beloved.
After a time of pure joy they will get up to change and go out for a walk, they will hold their hands while they stroll and occasionally, they will find the other one looking at them and they will blush as if it was the first time. Maybe some days they will go to the movies to watch a new movie that has just come out, in their youth they would have gone to their favorite artists concerts or to a café with their friends to take smoothies and to be loud, now, their life is based on peace, calm and love.
They will come back and eat the leftovers of the last day sitting next to each other, James in the red chair and Regulus in the green. When they finish they will go to their leather sofa and will watch La La Land for the 81st time and will enjoy the jazz soundtrack and then they will watch Whiplash.
When it’s finished they will go back to the kitchen for the fourth time of the day and this time only James will cook, Regulus will take the ingredients out of the refrigerator and the shelves and place them on the freshly cleaned countertop. He will cook soup, fish and orange muffins, the favorites of his husband. They will eat together just like they did at dinner and then they will go to bed, snuggled up next to each other, hugging each other.