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Damon met Graham when they were both little kids attending the local church.
Both were enlisted into the chorus by their mothers, but somehow Coxon evaded his role as a singer by playing the guitar.
Damon noticed that the brunette was a shy boy, hardly speaking with anyone besides the teacher.
While Albarn was playing "who can hit the highest note?" with the other kids, Graham was learning silently how to play the instrument by the priest, twisting his fingers over the strings and following the directions the adult was giving him.
Maybe out of pure passion, maybe just to stay out of lane. Damon wasn't sure, but when he started visiting Graham's home, when he was dragged to spend hours with the kid that he just recently discovered lived on his street while their mothers socialized on the living room, he realized it was a mix of both reasons.
Graham was awkward. And he really liked playing the guitar.
When Damon got bored of the small talk, he sat there hearing him jam because it was just so much easier than holding a conversation. Sometimes the blonde would complimented his abilities, and Graham would blush and thanks him quietly with the cutest smile.
Albarn just wanted to make him smile more.
The first sessions Damon couldn't help but hum along the tune, and as they grow closer, and the days rolled around, he grew comfortable enough to full blow sing.
Graham had heard him sing before on the chorus, his voice was the one that stood up the most out of all that amateur symphony. It was unique, and something that Coxon was pleased to hear every evening they met.
He sometimes wished he could sing like that, but that was a private desire.
Damon also wished he could play guitar like his friend, but that wasn't something he needed to know.
So that's why he decided he wanted to be cool as Coxon and learn by his own, no need to ask for help.
He looked for an old guitar at his home and he started practicing. He presses his fingers over the strings and strummed with all his hope, but his chords didn't make the same sound as Graham's did.
So then he remembered the sheets of music that were always laying on Coxon's ground. Maybe that was the secret.
Damon decided that he was going to stay at Graham's and read them while his friend was asleep, and so he did. They shared the same bed, and once the brunette had his eyelids shut completely and started to snore cutely, Albarn leaved his side.
The blonde took the score between his hands, ready to learn all the magic behind playing the guitar, but somehow only found a lot of little notes placed over long lines. No words, only weird symbols he couldn't read.
Damon was frustrated, but still determined to decipher the papers on the ground. He saw the glasses Graham always wore sitting neatly over the nightstand , and somehow came to the conclusion that maybe the specs helped Coxon see something on the score that he couldn't see without them.
So he pushed the frame over his nose, the glasses fitting perfectly on his face.
He lifted the score to read it once again, expecting something to magically appear in front of him, but his efforts where to no avail. Now the sheet of paper was blurry in front of his eyes, all because of the graduation on the specs.
It didn't work. Unsurprisingly.
Damon froze in place when he heard his friend's voice behind him.
— What are you doing?
Graham asked while he analyzed the scenery in front of him. The blonde was wearing his glasses for some reason and looked very flustered, as if he was caught doing something he shouldn't be doing.
— I wanted to learn how to play the guitar like you. I thought that if I put on your glasses, maybe I could read the notes better.
— That's so silly. It's as if I asked you to kiss me so I could sing better.
Graham pointed at his lips, and Damon blushed at the prospect of kissing him on the mouth.
— Well, we never tried it so we don't know if it's gonna work.
Albarn said shyly.
— But you don't wanna kiss me, do you?
Graham asked a little weirded out. That's something that adults did, not them.
— ... no, of course not.
— Guess we'll never know then, but I can teach you how to read the scores. I promise you don't need my glasses for the lesson, but I really do, so maybe I can have them back?
Damon was quick to trust and hand the glasses back to his friend. He was pretty much excited to learn, and so they say all night practicing guitar, the blonde taking cautious notes of every aspect the other one teached him.
While he listened carefully, he realized that the magic was not on the specs, it was on Graham.