Chapter Text
This was not out of the ordinary for Florian’s car to unexpectedly broke down in the middle of the street. Whenever the car decided it had enough, it would simply stop moving. He admitted it, at times, dealing with the car’s tantrums was proven to be more difficult than trying to salvage an already dying relationship. As usual, Florian’s friends will make fun of him once again for purposely choosing to keep the clunker. But despite the multiple complains of his friends, there was no way Florian could bring himself to get rid of it. The car meant a lot to him.
Funny enough, the car would always surrender at the worst possible time. He swore he could almost hear the White Honda hysterically laugh once she suddenly broke down the moment it started raining. Accepting his fate, Florian hunched over the second passenger seat to look for his phone. He sat in silence for a moment once he realized his phone was out of battery. No luck tonight.
The rain poured so heavily that Florian could barely see his surrounding as he opened his car door.
“For God’s sake” Florian swore under his breath.
The closest refuge was a little handcraft wooden shop from across the street. The sounds of bells resonated throughout the whole shop announcing his presence, the moment Florian pushed the front door. The sweet sent of cedar and sawdust filled the room. As Florian shoved away the wet strands of hair out of his eyes, he noticed a young man sitting behind the counter. Sorrow weighed heavily in his eyes. If it wasn’t for the gloomy atmosphere surrounding him, he wasn’t sure if he would have notice him.
The shop was so whimsical. Florian forgot for a second why he even ran inside it in the first place. He left a trail of water behind him as he ventured further into the store. Wooden objects filled the room, making the shop look joyful. Some even hung from the ceiling. As Florian took a moment to look around, he noticed that all objects were unique in their own way. His eyes skimmed over some wooden toys. On the left shelves, he found several wooden birdcages as well as several wooden dolls. Everything seems to be made with care over here. The end of the hallway guided Florian right in front of the register area. Despite standing right in front of him, the brown hair guy behind the counter didn’t look up. To focus on his work, the man kept working on his craft.
Without a word, Florian observed the young man. Now that he could get a better look at the worker, he realized that the man bore numerous wounds on the left side of his face. Instinctively, Florian’s fingers lingered over his own wound covered by his blond hair. Memories of the past flooded in Florian’s mind. But as the hands of the worker came to a stop, Florian came back to reality.
“Any chance that there’s a phone I could use?” Florian said, remembering why he is even here in the first place. As their eyes met, he realized that he might be disturbing this gentleman work.
“Sure, you can use the landline in the backroom” the brunet answered him. Florian paused for a moment as he realized that the left side of his mouth stayed motionless. It was as if half of his face was frozen in time. Florian studied the brown hair guy features a little bit more before he headed towards designated room.
His voice was unexpectedly soothing, he thought.
The backroom was a little studio. It was a bit cluttered, but it still had charm. The shelves were full of half made dolls. Some were almost done; some were only recently started. As Florian scanned the room, he was able to locate the wall phone. Florian first whipped the tick layer of dust covering the handle, before he dialed Wendy’s number. He wasn’t sure when was the last time someone used the old phone. Who knows if this phone was even use once before.
The phone rang for so long, he almost lost hope. But before he could hang up, a sleepy voice echoed from the other side of the line.
“Do you know how late it is? Where are you this time?”
“Sorry to wake you up. Can you pick me up?”
“Give me the address.”
After a few more minutes, the blond ended the conversation by giving her friend his exact location. How many times did this exact scenario happen? Florian eventually stopped counting. He was always grateful whenever Wendy would go out of her way to come and pick him up.
As Florian stepped back into the main room, his gaze fell onto the brunet once again. The air seemed to have change. It was clear by now that the blond wasn’t here to buy anything.
“Isn’t it pretty late to work?” Florian said in hope to lift the awkwardness lingering in the air.
“Night shifts are pretty quiet. It’s the best time to work on stuff.” The young man replied “Also, people usually don’t burst into the shop at that hour. So, I didn’t bother closing it.”
“You aren’t from here, right? I don’t remember seeing you around” As Florian was met with a silent reply, he added “This is a pretty small town, everyone kind of know each other.”
“I don’t particularly go out a lot, but I am indeed not from that town.”
“Isn’t this a strange town to move into?”
“Its quiet. I like it.”
Florian reflected on the words of the worker.
“What about you?” The brunet said after a while, drawing Florian’s attention back. “Why are you out at this hour? You don’t seem like the type of person who planned to rob a shop late at night.”
A smirk appeared across Florian’s face once this one heard the remark.
“don’t be too quick to judge, maybe I just came back from robbing the bank and was meet with unfortunate bad luck that my car broke down.”
The brunet lifted his eyes towards Florian. He held his stare for a few seconds as he thought carefully of a reply.
“wouldn’t this be considered like a confession to committing a crime?”
“I was more visualizing it as gaining a partner in crime”
The room fell silent as the young man didn’t reply and went back to work on his craft. The awkwardness was now filling the room once again.
“I was simply joking” Florian said after a while.
“I know”
“Did you make these?” Florian asked as an effort to change the conversation. He was pointing at a bunch of wooden dolls.
“Some of them. Not all of them”
“Not to bad”
“They aren’t as complicated to make as you think.”
“When did you learn to make these?”
As the worker was about to offer a reply he was interrupted by the sound of a honking car.
“Ah, I gotta go. My friend is waiting”
“Have a good night” The brunet said while Florian walked towards the entrance of the shop.
As he opened the door, he realized it was still pouring heavily. Florian hesitated for a moment, looking back at the man behind the counter.
“What about you?” The brunet raised an eyebrow. “Will you be okay going home? It’s still raining. Need a ride home?”
“I’ll be okay. It’s a 5-minute walk. If needed, I’ll wait for the rain to stop.”
Florian nodded before turning around and sprinting towards Wendy’s car. As he ran through the rain, the car door swung open, inviting him inside.
“Florian, I swear if that car breakdown one more time imma loose it…” Wendy said as he hunched into the car.
The blond’s action came to a stop as he was about to close the car door. Florian spotted a blue umbrella laying at the back of the car.
“Sorry Wendy, I’ll buy you a new one.” He said with no explanation as he grabbed the umbrella and sprint back towards the shop.
─────── ♪ ───────
Matthias knew the exact moment the stranger caught sight of the scars across his face. He didn’t even try to pretend to not notice it. He unconsciously touched his face the moment his eyes landed on the brunet’s wound. There used to be a time where people would barely look at him. Now people can’t help but stare endlessly at his face. Matthias knew it wasn’t out of bad faith, but it was something he was still getting adjusted to. People were simply curious.
Matthias wasn’t expecting to see the blond emerge in the shop a second time. In a hurry, the stranger ran towards him and placed what seems to be an umbrella.
“A Thank you gift, for letting me stay.” Matthias could barely comprehend the stranger’s sentence as this one was out of breath.
He was in and out before he could even think of something to say. He only came back to gave him an umbrella. Matthias couldn’t remember the last time someone offered him something. Tonight was certainly a strange encounter, but he didn’t mind it at all. Now that the stranger was gone, Matthias had no reason to remain at the shop. As he put his tools away and tidied the place, the clock hands pointed towards 12 O’clock. The clock sang loudly in the little shop announcing the start of a new day.
─────── ♪ ───────
The next morning, Florian stood at the entrance of the University waiting for Wendy’s morning class to end. Just now, he texted her to let her know he was around. Last night, Florian spent the night at Wendy’s appartement. He didn’t say anything when he realized they were driving the opposite way to his and Richard’s appartement. He assumed she probably did not want to drive all the way back. When Florian woke up, Wendy was already gone for her morning classes. As a way to kill time, he made a short stop at a bagel shop. Grabbing her some lunch was one way Florian knew could light up Wendy’s mood.
“You better fix that car of yours; I’m not driving you around for the rest of my life” Wendy said as she appeared behind him.
“It is being repair at this very exact moment” The blond reply as he handed her the bag with the freshly made bagel. She accepted it
“When will you be able to get it back?”
“They said I could come pick it up sometime this afternoon”
As they talk, they walk through the campus
“You better not be late for band practice tonight”
“that’s not something to worry about”
“By the way, Richard told me, that everything is settle. We will be able to perform at that one coffee shop on the 19th. Whenever you’ll have the time, you should hang up some flyers throughout the town. Considered It like a way to apologize to me for disturbing my sleep last night”
“I was expecting to give you these as an apology instead, but hanging up flyers works too” Florian said as he revealed a second paper bag from his bag. A smile appeared on Wendy’s face as she realized the bag was full of maltose candies.
“Come to my appartement after band practice and for dear sake, use the public transportation instead of that old car.”
“What happened to This is a casual thing?” Florian joked.
“See you later!” She smiled as she ran towards the building.
─────── ♪ ───────
Matthias was almost bored. It rarely got busy in the shop, but usually a client or two would have entered the shop by now. Today, the sun was shining brighter than ever. It was as if the rain from last night never happened.
As Matthias recalled the event from last night, he remembered his exchange with the stranger. This was probably the first-person Matthias had a conversation with since he moved to this town if he excluded Garry, the shop owner and his friend Lily. Thinking back at their conversation, despite not mentioning it, Matthias figure out that the stranger, just like him, didn’t belong to this town. It wasn’t hard to tell. The guy radiated a different energy than the locals. However, he wasn’t sure why he didn’t bring it up. At first glace, Matthias figured out that he was the chatty type. But maybe he simply misread him.
“Why don’t you take the day off?” Garry said as he returned from the backroom.
“To go where?”
“Wherever you’d like to go? Take a walk, enjoy the weather, what if you meet people along the way?”
“I appreciate the offer, but I really don’t mind helping you run the shop”
“Don’t you get bored hanging out with an old man all day?”
Matthias smirk at the remark.
“Not at all. Besides, I also spend time with Lily”
“Speaking of the devil, she is late for work once again”
They both share a laugh.
“Hey, this town might be a bit boring but don’t forget to live a little Matthias.”
─────── ♪ ───────
As promised, Florian was there on time for band practice. Once he was able to retrieve the white Honda, he went straight to the studio. His car would probably last a few more weeks before breaking down again. At least, this is what he was hoping for. All those trips to the garage were slowly starting to get quite expensive.
Meeting up for band practices wasn’t always the easiest task, but the group always found a way to make it work. It was Florian idea to start a music band. It first started as a project between him and Richard. The two guys crossed path during their stay at the white Sand Street Asylum. Florian remembered the day Richard arrived at the orphanage like it was yesterday. He stepped into the main building carrying nothing but a guitar. Back then, it was hard to even believe they would eventually become best friend. They didn’t get along at first, as Richard was quite a trouble kid. It was only after some time, once he got acclimated to the place that the two guys started to bond. It through Richard’s passion for music that Florian would discover his own. As they grew up together, they would often play around in the music room. After a while, Florian would convince Richard to grant him a wish: to teach him how to play the guitar.
Growing up in an orphanage was lonely at times, but Florian would find refuge in music. A few years later, Florian longed to take things further and decided to expand his band. He would recruit Luca after stumbling over a video of him playing the drum. It was his incredible stage presence that convinced Florian he was the one. But as easy as it was to recruit a drummer, finding a good bassist was a difficult task. Thankfully, Luca knew a girl by the name of Wendy. They both met during their first year of university. With the addition of Wendy, the group was now complete.
“This song sucks” Richard grumbled.
“don’t look at me look at Florian, he’s the one that chose that song” Luca mentioned.
“We don’t have time to change the setlist” Wendy complained. “Again, from the start. Luca you are going too fast once again.”
“Lets take a break first,” Florian said as he collapsed onto the couch, His fingers carelessly playing random notes along the frets.
“I’m going out for a smoke.” Richard announced as he headed toward the door.
“Go grabbed us some drinks while you’re at it.” Luca said as he threw his wallet in Richard’s direction.
“The concert is in 2 weeks. We don’t have time to mess around!”
“We aren’t. We are taking a break.” Florian answered.
Without a word, Wendy place back her instrument on the bass stand and open her school manual instead.
“I said we are taking a break.”
“Some of us can’t afford to relax all day. Some of us still have classes to pass”
“Band practice are also meant for us to spend time together” Florian said as he threw a pillow at Luca who have been paying more attention to his cellphone band his bandmates.
“What was that for?” Luca replied throwing the pillow back at Florian.
“You’d you guys like to come at the appartement after the show on the 19th? Let’s celebrate our first real performance as a group.”