OFA: In the library

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Nikola is getting rusty.

But he has a good enough memory that despite the fact that it's been a good twenty years since he sat down at a piano, he's doing a fairly decent job of making his way through Au Claire de la Lune.

He doesn't play well, but he plays with great expression.

Comments

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And flash they do. "Careful there, William. That's a road I'm not sure you're ready for just yet."

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

"Probably not," he crosses his arms over his chest. "Though, I can hope it won't take me fifty years."

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"If it does, you'd better hope there's something better than Viagra by then, or you'll have missed out entirely."

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

"Maybe I'll go bionic," he shrugs. "Seems to work for Watson."

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Nikola smirks. "If you expect me to make you a suit like Watson's, I'll definitely want payment in trade."

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

"What could someone like me possibly offer someone of your taste, expertise and discernment?" Will deadpans and wonders if it'll descend further into innuendo. He is really starting to enjoy it.

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"Well, when you put it like that..." Nikola gives him a blatant once over. "Nothing."

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

"Right." Will scratches his chin. "I should leave you to your piano then."

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Nikola shrugs. "If you like. You're not bothering me, really." It's as close as Will's likely to get to an invitation to stay.

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

Being a nonentity for Tesla beats sitting in his room working.

"When did you start piano?" he wonders. "Mother's idea?"

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Nikola shakes his head. "My father. He wanted me to play the church organ."

As if in illustration, he begins playing something that has a distinctly hymn-like quality.

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

Will listens for a moment, then slips from the bench and crawls beneath the piano so he can get the full effect. He can imagine the church. Something small and stone with a young Nikola sitting at the organ.

He wonders if Nikola enjoyed it.

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He did. When he was young enough to appreciate the simplicity offered in faith, before he began to question everything.

Nikola chuckles as Will gets on the floor but plays on, fingers moving easily through what is clearly a very familiar tune.

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

His mother wanted him to take lessons, but Will was too young to appreciate it and they fought. He can almost picture her, but that kind of safety and security keeps getting replaced by Magnus in his head.

He folds his hands over his chest and lets his mind wander.

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Nikola was very, very young when he began lessons. So young he can't quite remember when it was. He was around thirteen, though, when he started branching out from sacred music.

The hymn continues to the end, and he transitions into Brahm's Paganini Variations.

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

Eyes open in shock, Will grins up at the piano as the music becomes complex and lively. Instead of touching his soul, it seems to be much more interested in other parts of his body.

He watches the strings dance and wonders how long it took to learn. There are certainly moments when Nikola's genius is more evident than others.

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Like the Debussy, the Brahms is not perfect. But Nikola does an excellent job of covering his few slips. This is clearly a piece he's more familiar with, and his previous warm up has brought back to mind what he may have forgotten. His fingers move quickly and gracefully over the keys, and he smiles as he plays.

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

If he switches around he can watch Nikola's knees. He can't see his face, but Will can sense his concentration in his body. It's enjoyable, instead of demanding. A type of release Will rarely allows himself that he's entraced by. Nikola probably sees right through him.

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Nikola's knees occasionally move with his playing, almost as if he's dancing along with the music, though they don't quite follow the beat. When he finishes, he lets the last note hang in the air for a moment before sitting back.

"Enjoying yourself down there?"

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

Will emerges with a shy smile. "It's like being inside of the music," he shrugs. "The vibrations are fascinating to watch." Amongst other things.

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"How poetic," Nikola says dryly, though he agrees about the vibrations.

"It's just math, you know. Music."

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

"If I could get inside math, I would." He thinks about it for a moment, sitting down on the bench next to Nikola.

"I suppose a planetarium is close."

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"That's not math, that's physics," Nikola counters. "Related, but not interchangeable."

[coffeenottea.livejournal.com]

"True," Will wracks his brain. "Maybe pure mathematics is too much of a language to embed yourself in."

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"It's everywhere, though," Nikola says. "Music, art, even fashion and societal standards for beauty."