La Maison 5: Darkness (Complete: mxm BDSM)

Chapter 3.1

A/N: no trigger warnings, but detail on content is at the bottom

The audition was on Tuesday. Gabriel was prepared. He'd been preparing most of his life. But he would have really liked it if Henry could have been there with him. He was meant to be. When Mr. Brubaker had emailed the details to Henry, he'd said he would be; promised even. But last night, Monday night, over dinner, he'd suddenly announced he couldn't make it. That some student called Tommy had an audition coming up, and he needed a last-minute tutorial with Henry.

Gabriel hadn't whined, no matter how much he'd wanted to. Henry hated whining. But he'd asked, in his best, calmest, non-whiny voice, why Henry would do that instead of coming to Gabriel's audition. The thing that they'd been working towards forever. Henry had just said that he'd done everything Gabriel needed for so long, and he could do this one, little thing on his own, while he helped someone who needed it.

It had felt like a physical blow then, and Gabriel still hadn't recovered as he paced the waiting area, his cello gently placed across two chairs as if waiting for him, because he couldn't trust himself to touch her. He'd kept his true response hidden last night, but it was leaking now, as if his body was incapable of containing it.

It was a strange collection of emotions. He thought he might be angry. That Henry's bland, unbothered rejection of his needs had struck him in a place he'd kept hidden for so long he'd been thinking it didn't exist anymore. That it had been left behind, in his childhood. But seemingly it hadn't, and it did exist.

Clearly it did, if the roiling in his mind was anything to go by. He couldn't afford that kind of inconsistency now though – any kind of emotion at all. He had to be prepared to be perfect, just like he'd been taught for so long.

He sat, away from his instrument; still not ready to place hands on her. Putting his head in his hands instead. He could hear people around him, tuning up – though he thought that was a foolish thing to be doing right now – talking quietly with the people who'd come to support them, or on the phone. He couldn't even ring Henry for last minute morale because he'd said he'd be unreachable. Busy.

"Gabriel?"

His head jerked up at his name. It couldn't be his turn yet. He was early – really early, unable to stay in the empty apartment any longer.

The man in front of him was tall. Blond and handsome, with a broad but edgy smile. There was something...not entirely secure about him, about the way he seemed to carry himself, even standing completely still, looking down at Gabriel with his head to one side. Gabriel shivered involuntarily, and tried to smile back, though it was a weak attempt.

"Hi?"

"Hello. I'm Sawyer Montgomery. I work for the law firm representing the Philharmonic here in the states."

"You're a lawyer?"

"I am."

The man seemed reluctant to say anything more, and Gabriel wondered why this whole interaction was giving him the strangest feeling of surrealness. Because it wasn't usual for people connected with the auditions to come out this way – to talk to the musicians. This was the first big audition he'd done, but the Conservatory trained them for this – there were actual lessons; a brief but mandatory unit for all of their courses. And that was because they were the best – it was expected that the students were aiming to graduate and then be part of the swathe of desperate musicians hoping to be caught by an orchestra.

But even if he didn't seem to want to talk, he was looking down at Gabriel like he wanted him to talk instead.

"Um?"