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 Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:08 pm
The flu or whatever it was he’d come down with wasn’t getting any better.
There were periods when Paris felt able to get out of bed and attempt to go about his day as he usually would, but once the medicine started to wear off he was back to feeling miserable again. Finally sucking it up and going to the doctor hadn’t helped at all, except that he’d gotten better medication. Unfortunately, said medication wasn’t a cure and did little more than dull the symptoms for a while.
He could barely practice even on his good days, performances were out of the question, and the couple of days he’d tried to go in to work when the sniffling and the aches abated enough for him to do so had resulted in him leaving after calling his dad in early, because too much activity clearly wasn’t helping.
Nothing was helping. Paris had grown bored with it after two days of moping around. Now his level of inactivity was making him feel lazy, which only pissed him off because it wasn’t as if he was being lazy on purpose. He had things to do, he just couldn’t do them.
“Chris, help me, I’m bored,” he said, lounging on Chris’s bed as he had for the last several days, in sweatpants and a t-shirt and Chris’s DCU hoodie that his boyfriend barely wore. Paris didn’t mind taking it from him, because it was big and warm and smelled like Chris’s cologne or aftershave. “I need something to do. All I’ve been able to do so far is study, and I was bad enough at that to begin with. My brain is dying.”
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:56 pm
He wasn't exactly a hoodie person, so he had no qualms about Paris borrowing, or even keeping the hoodie he'd gotten from the school his freshman year. His mom had bought it for him of course, as show of her pride in her son, but he would much rather wear his letter jacket (if he had to wear something) than his hoodie.
It was surprising that he wasn't sick by this point, although he had a feeling that it might have something to do with being a knight. So far, the only senshi he'd run into that weren't sick just hadn't come into contact with others who were. And whether it was coincidence or not, the knights he'd come across were fine and well...
"Hmm?" was the noise he let out in response to Paris's whining, lifting his head a bit to indicate that he was listening, but not looking away from his computer screen for a few more moments when he'd finished reading the paragraph he was on. In his free time he was trying to figure out what kind of flu was going around, but he wasn't getting many results.
Chris glanced over to Paris, snorting lightly in slight amusement at the state his boyfriend was in. While Chris was perfectly content to sit around in his typical attire of polos and khakis, seeing Paris in all bundled up was... well, amusing.
Maybe it wouldn't be so amusing if he was sick as well, but whatever.
"What did you want to do?" he wondered, shutting the laptop so he couldn't be distracted by unhelpful information, and focus more on his sick and ailing boyfriend. "I could put on a movie... or we could play a board game... or I can teach you to play the guitar," he suggested, trying to come up with a wide variety of things in hopes that something may interest him. Or maybe just wear him out enough to convince him to go back to sleep.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 2:52 pm
Once he had Chris’s attention, Paris shifted on the mattress to crawl closer to him, draping his arms around him and hanging all over him because it was comfortable and sometimes he liked being a pain in the a**. On the one hand it was sort of annoying that Chris hadn’t gotten sick after all the time Paris had spent at his apartment—why should Chris be perfectly healthy when he wasn’t?—but on the other hand… it was nice to have someone pet and coddle him. It made feeling miserable seem slightly better.
“Teach me how to play the guitar,” he said, nuzzling his boyfriend and pressing a quick succession of germ-ridden kisses against his cheek. “Please? I think I’ve watched every movie in the apartment and I suck at board games and you play it so well.”
He settled down after a few seconds and let Chris go before he could start smothering him badly enough to become annoying. Sometimes he just liked being a whiney brat.
“No, actually, I really do want to learn,” Paris told him, a little more seriously this time. “Is it hard? It looks kind of hard. I never really played an instrument, except the recorder in elementary school, but that’s not really all that impressive. I used to want to learn the piano, but it was either piano lessons or ballet lessons ‘cause we couldn’t afford both. Obviously I picked ballet. But the guitar is totally sexy.”
Paris wondered if he would have even bothered approaching Chris that first time if not for the fact that he’d been showing off with his guitar.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:16 pm
Chris simply shook his head, used to Paris's antics by this point. Despite Paris trying to be a pain in the a**, he usually knew when to back off before it got to the point where Chris would snap at him. It also helped that they knew each other fairly well by this point, and Paris probably knew just how far he could push him.
"Do you really want to learn?" he blinked in surprise, his brows furrowing slightly as he tried to figure out if Paris was just pulling his leg or not. But it didn't seem as if Paris was joking.
"Uh, no... It's not that hard to learn. At least not the basics. Or I don't think it was hard, but everyone has different experiences, I guess," he mumbled, rolling over so he could sit up on the bed once Paris climbed off of him. "Give me a minute. I'll go get it..."
He usually kept the guitar in his closet so it wouldn't get tripped over, or left out for Anna to be tempted to chew on it. Occasionally he'd leave it downstairs or next to the bed, but he was getting better about placing it back in the same place every time. Or at least Paris was putting it back in the same place every time.
The case was placed on the floor at the foot of the low bed and Chris pulled the instrument from the felt interior. "Uh... Here, make sure you put the strap over your shoulder," he said as he handed the guitar to his boyfriend, not wanting it to be dropped on accident.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:44 pm
Paris remained on the bed and waited for his boyfriend to return. Once Chris was back and removing the guitar from its case, Paris crawled to the end of the bed to sit along the edge of the mattress and take the instrument from him. He was quick to put the strap around his shoulder so Chris wouldn’t start freaking out on him, and then tried to figure out how the hell he was supposed to place his hands. Clearly the left went along the neck while his right strummed, but he didn’t have a clue how to place his fingers to make the right sounds.
“Alright, check this out. I totally have raw talent,” he joked.
He strummed a few times and didn’t make a very pretty sound, but that didn’t stop him from horsing around. This wasn’t math he was learning here, which was frustrating and boring and went completely over his head. This was music and music was fun.
“Flash forward and we’re taking on the world together, and there’s a drawer of my things at your place,” he sang, even if his strumming was just making random noise and not an actual song. “You learn my secrets and you figure out why I’m guarded. You say we’ll never make my parents’ mistakes.”
Paris smiled up at Chris as if he expected to be laughed at. He sort of did, and he didn’t mind it at all. He might have been able to sing better if he wasn’t sick and his throat wasn’t sore—which made his voice sound a bit hoarse—but he didn’t think anything could help his playing.
Except maybe practice, but that was the entire point of this anyway.
“See? I’m already fantastic.” He tried to deadpan it, but laughter was quick to bubble in his chest, up his aching throat and out of his mouth.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:50 am
Chris sat back to listen to what Paris said he could play, not expecting much. Hee did laugh when Paris messed around with the instrument, and leaned back on his arm as he watched him, shaking his head lightly. "Think you'll quit ballet, then?" he grinned, lifting his free hand to ruffle at Paris's hair in a teasing sort of way, but affectionate nonetheless.
"Nice try, baby," he snorted lightly, moving his hand from Paris's head to his hand on the guitar neck. "Try something simple, first. Place your finger here... a little farther up..." he instructed, trying to get Paris to shift his fingers enough so he could get the chord right. It wasn't going to be anything complex, but he wanted to see if his boyfriend could at least keep his hands were he tells him to. "Okay, now try strumming."
Even with Paris doing the little that he could (and Chris could guess that part of it was from watching him play), it wasn't really enough to sound like a song. A few more chords were needed to make it sound like anything, but that would be easy to fix.
He pushed himself up, leaning around Paris to be able to take hold of his hand against the strings, wanting to help him get the right rhythm to strum. Sometimes he'd hit all the strings, and others only half. Once Paris had that down, though, then he would move on to another chord. "Do you want to use a pick? I don't like them, but I have some."
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:12 pm
“Sure, I’ll quit ballet and go be famous instead,” Paris continued to joke. “Just grab my guitar and my cowboy boots and head out to Nashville, then make my way out to Hollywood.”
Unfortunately—or fortunately?—he was a bit more realistic in his life goals than that.
After fooling around for a little bit longer, Paris put on his serious face and actually concentrated on learning something—which he couldn’t say he did all that often, but this wasn’t like the usual stuff he bothered to pretend to learn. This was interesting and fun and actually made sense to him when he took the time to focus and follow Chris’s instructions. He placed his hands and his fingers where he was told, letting Chris guide him along when he struggled, and he was pleased to note that the usual frustration he felt when he took the time to study other things didn’t show its ugly face during this venture.
“Should I use a pick?” he wondered. “I don’t think I mind just using my fingers so much, and isn’t it easier sometimes to just go without? I mean, like, if you have to pluck at the strings or whatever. It seems kind of clumsy to have something in your hand anyway.”
Chris made playing the guitar seem easy, so Paris figured the best way to learn was just to copy him and do things the way he did.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:44 pm
"Only if you're afraid of breaking your nails..." Chris said, glancing over to see if Paris's nails were short enough, or if he should get him a pick, anyway. "I mean... the difference is mostly the sound," Chris tried to explain. Of course, he figured that Paris realized that a pick was to pick, and using one's fingers (or thumb) was to have the sound mesh together more than a pick would make it.
"That's good, though... Uh, move your middle finger up a little. Yeah, right there." He leaned close again once Paris seemed to have the first chord down, before trying to instruct him on how to do another. "I'm not really good at teaching things like this, you know," he informed him, glancing over at his boyfriend a bit sheepishly. "I'm really just showing you one and then another... Uh... I could get you some beginner books, though... that might be able to teach you better than I could..."
But for now, he didn't think running out to the store would help Paris's boredom, so he would continue trying to teach him the best he could. "Move your fingers right... yeah, right there... And then after you strum a couple times, switch back to the first one... Do you think you can remember it...?"
It wasn't a fast process... It was a lot of memorizing and being able to feel your way along the neck and know what notes were where. Hopefully Paris wouldn't get frustrated that he wasn't perfect right away.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:57 pm
Paris snorted and rolled his eyes at the nail comment. He might make a big deal about them for laughs sometimes, but mostly he just didn’t care so long as they looked nice and didn’t get in his way.
He listened carefully and made sure to pay attention to what he was doing as he moved one of his fingers up a little more. “You’re fine,” he reassured his boyfriend. Sure, he probably wasn’t the best instructor and Paris would probably learn more at a faster pace if he paid a professional to teach him, but he’d rather sit around with Chris and take his time than listen to someone he didn’t know who might not be as fun and supportive as his boyfriend was.
“Books might be nice, though,” he admitted. “I mean, then I’ll have something to do when you’re in class and I get sick of math.”
Which happened quite frequently nowadays. If anything Paris wanted to get over this flu not because he wanted to feel better, but because he missed having stuff to do.
“Or I can just snag your computer and watch tutorial videos on Youtube, I guess.”
He tried switching between chords to prove to Chris that, yes, he did remember what he was teaching him, but it was more difficult than Chris made it seem and the going was slow. This didn’t necessarily irritate Paris, but he did begin to wonder if learning an actual song would help him more than playing a few random things at a time.
“Teach me Fast Car,” he suddenly said. “That’s not too hard, right? I mean, it’s pretty much the same thing over and over again until you get to the chorus.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:18 pm
Chris blinked in slight surprise when Paris requested a song to learn, not having really expected it for whatever reason. He was still thinking about how looking up tutors on YouTube would probably be better than his attempt at teaching, but he didn't think that Paris would request anything in particular.
"Uh, yeah... that's fine," he said after a few moments as he tried to remember how it went without trying it out for himself. After a few moments, though, he sat up a bit straighter and held out his hands. "Here, let me see that for a bit..." he requested, helping to remove the strap from Paris's shoulders and holding the guitar in his lap.
He messed around with the strings for a little, making sure everything was actually in tune (as he should have before, but he didn't know how serious Paris was about it), before playing the first couple chords, moving his fingers along the strings as he strummed.
Once it seemed like he remembered, he handed the instrument back to his boyfriend, helping him with the strap once more. "Okay, put your fingers here... and then after a few beats you're going to move them to here... And then back... and then move them to here..." he said, showing him where to place his fingers and hoping he was waiting long enough for him to remember.
"Think of it as A, B, A, C, A.... If that makes sense...?" Hopefully he didn't suck too badly at explaining. Instead of trying to explain how to strum the rhythm, he just showed him. That was probably better, anyway.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:47 pm
Paris passed the guitar back to Chris and watched his hands move along the strings, listening closely to each sound. He might not have an eye for math equations, but he liked to think he had a good ear for music.
He took the guitar back once Chris had showed him, careful about putting the strap back over his shoulder so his boyfriend wouldn’t have the chance freak out. Once again he put his hands where he was instructed. He thought it might have helped to see Chris do it first, because then he could just memorize where he’d put his hands and copy him. In the end, it only helped a tiny bit. It was still somewhat different doing it from behind the guitar than sitting in front of Chris and watching.
“Okay, so… like this…” he said and tried to demonstrate.
He gave it his best shot. It didn’t sound perfect. In fact, if he hadn’t known what he was playing he might not have been able to recognize it at first, because it was halting and he stumbled a few times and had to pause to remind himself where his fingers should be placed, but after repeating it a good ten times he started to get the hang of it and it actually began to sound more like a song instead of jumble of hesitant notes.
“Hey, that’s not so bad, right?” Paris wondered, looking up at his boyfriend with a smile as he went through the chords again, with the result that he messed up and misplaced his fingers while he wasn’t paying attention but, hey, no one was perfect.
“How long do you think it’d take me to actually be good at it? Not as good as you, obviously, ‘cause you’ve probably been doing it for years, but do you think I’d at least be able to be passable by, like, the end of the summer of something?”
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:07 pm
"Not bad at all," Chris smiled when Paris finished going through the chords several times, glad to see that Paris seemed to be enjoying it. Sure, it was probably the first time Paris had tried to play a guitar, but it really wasn't that bad for a first time attempt.
"I don't see why not. A few months would definitely give you enough time to learn at least some simple songs," he said, shifting where he as sitting so he could lay on his back and listen as Paris practiced. "I mean, I kinda dumbed down the tune for you, but you can still figure out what song it is, right...?"
It was nice, spending time like this. Not having to worry about senshi and knight stuff, risking their lives fighting monsters or whatever else the universe threw at them. They could just lay back and relax and enjoy life for a little while.
"How are you feeling?" he wondered, pushing himself up on his elbows as he lounged back. "You've got your test coming up soon, don't you?" Yeah, he knew Paris didn't like thinking about it, but he had to make sure he wouldn't miss it. Because then that would just mean even more time spent trying to study the same things over and over... Really, as long as he passed the test, he was free to do so much more with his life, whether or not he wanted to just perform or go back to school or get a teaching degree.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:08 pm
Even though Chris had only said “simple songs,” Paris smiled and imagined himself being able to do more than that in five months’ time, though he acknowledged the unlikelihood of it. He simply didn’t let it get him down, because who was to say he wouldn’t prove Chris wrong?
He repeated what he’d learned a few more times in the hopes of getting it all down a bit better, and he eventually succeeded in playing the opening of the tune with only a mix-up to two along the way. Regardless, he was satisfied with his progress and decided a break wasn’t going to hurt, so he slipped the guitar strap over his head and set the instrument back in its case. Then he inched along the mattress and crawled over top of his boyfriend.
“I’m okay. A little tired. I might take a nap,” he said.
One thing was for sure: since being sick, he’d been sleeping a whole lot more than usual.
Not that he was physically capable of doing much else most of the time.
“Ugh, don’t remind me about the test,” he took the opportunity to whine. He didn’t feel bad for doing so because Chris should have known bringing up the exam required to get his GED would inspire such a reaction from him. He’d been whining about it for months now, after all. “It’s going to suck. Did you know it’s even longer than the SAT? I mean, yeah, there’s more parts to it, but still. What a waste of a perfectly good day.”
He rolled his eyes and collapsed on top of Chris, making himself comfortable as he placed his head on one of Chris’s shoulders. “You’d probably get bored if I napped right here, wouldn’t you?”
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:37 pm
He listened as Paris played through the tune once more before setting the guitar in its case, only for his boyfriend to make his way over to him. Chris lowered himself back down from his elbows so he wouldn't put any more pressure onto the joints. He knew he should probably be careful about laying strangely, but this weird knight healing had his joints feeling just fine after a good night's rest, even after a long day of pitching.
Chris lifted a hand to place over Paris's head, giving him a few comforting pats as he complained about the length of the test. "Well, they have to make it somewhat miserable, otherwise what would keep kids from dropping out and just taking a test?" he joked, although he doubted it was very funny. He patted Paris's hair again to show he was sorry and just teasing.
"You'll be fine, Paris... And I didn't think the SAT was too horrible... I made a perfect score in the math section. It was the damn reading... matching words or whatever that took the longest for me." That had been a pain in the butt.
"Probably," he admitted when asked if he would get bored. It wasn't that Paris was too heavy, and the bed was comfortable enough, but to lay there while Paris napped... well, Chris had other things he needed to be doing. Like working on school projects.
"Besides, you'll probably drip snot all over me," he said, faking a grimace and then flinching away to make sure Paris wouldn't hit him too hard, if that was his intention. "You'll be more comfortable under the covers, anyway."
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:52 pm
Paris was actually more inclined to hit him for his perfect math score than for any of the teasing he chose to do, because even though he was pretty sure Chris hadn’t mentioned it to be a jerk about it, it still stung his pride a bit to know that he would probably never score that high. Fortunately for Chris, Paris wasn’t the violent sort and settled for giving him a sour look instead.
“You deserve to have snot all over you for bragging,” he announced. Then he made point of wiping his nose on Chris’s sleeve. He didn’t feel bad for it either. If Chris hadn’t gotten sick yet after sleeping in the same bed as him and occasionally kissing, then Paris doubted a little snot on his sleeve was going to do anything.
Mumbling to himself about goody-two-shoes and teachers’ pets, Paris flopped off of his boyfriend after pecking him on the nose and made himself comfortable on the bed, shimmying under the blankets and fluffing the pillow behind his bed.
“Fine, you’ve entertained me enough. You’re free to go, Pooh Bear,” he said with a teasing smile of his own, if only because he knew the name bothered Chris.
Hey, if Chris was going to tease a sick person, then Paris had every right to tease him right back.
“Just make sure you wake me up for more medicine in two hours if I don’t wake up on my own before then.”
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