fandomtownies | Groovy Tunes, Friday

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Groovy Tunes, Friday

Dante was on the hunt for more not-so-hard rock songs he could teach Kathy so she wouldn't wind up being like, fucking Taylor Swift with the country shit.

And so after opening up the actual store at the front, he was heading down back with an acoustic guitar and a ton of guitar tabs open on his phone. He'd be here all day, playing that guitar, having the time of his life, not worrying too much about Homecoming or anything like that.

If he hit that one Placebo song a few times too often for it to be coincidence, it meant nothing and he was fine.

[[ open! though i'll be out for a couple of hours after this goes up ]]

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Anders had been meaning to visit Dante at work for roughly forever. And today, he actually did it -- with a box of pizza balanced in his hands because he knew his audience.

"Hello there," he called as he let himself in. "Don't stop playing on my account."

Dante blinked, not so much stopping as... getting stuck on a particular chord. "Anders?"

Hey, look. He'd kind of given up on the idea of Anders visiting.

"That's me," Anders confirmed. "And look, I made it into the store without turning into a toad or being blown away by the force of rock or anything."

There was a touch of anxious apology to his words, not that he'd admit it.

"I'm grateful," Dante said, merry but still a little surprised. He set his guitar down next to him. "Rock can be a harsh mistress, man."

Yeah?" Anders asked, edging over to set the pizza on the counter. "You'd have to teach me her ways."

"Gonna hate me if I get to you after I get Kathy all taught up?" Dante slid out of his seat and paced towards Anders, sliding his arms around Anders' waist when he got close.

Anders rested his head on Dante's shoulder, rocking softly against him.

"No. There's no reason to rush."

"Glad you finally made it here, man," Dante said.

He wasn't a sappy guy, but it was clear from his tone that he meant it. He'd kind of written off the idea of Anders meeting the music thing he was into.

He'd been wrong, and that was cool.

"Would've done it a long time ago if I had known it'd make you this happy," Anders said honestly. "We live maybe five minutes from here."

Dante rolled his eyes, pulling away and giving Anders a quick poke in the shoulder. "It's not that big a deal," he said.

(It totally was.)

"But I was gonna shove you into our music archive. 'Course, we don't really have much of one left now after all the sharks and shit."

"Sharks eat CDs and guitars?" Anders checked, eyebrows up. "Or was it just the water and everything?"

"Little bit of both," Dante said, shrugging. "Starsmore decided to throw most of it out and then moved everything over here. So I can either show you around our like, five records, or I can play something, or..."

He honestly hadn't thought this far ahead.

"Play something," Anders requested. "I know it's not always obvious, but I like the way it sounds when you play. Besides, I could listen to records anytime."

"All right," Dante said.

He walked back towards his seat, where the guitar was. "And hey, you brought pizza."

"It's usually a safe bet," Anders shrugged. "Do you want to eat before you play, or should it wait for us?"

"Eh, I can play," Dante said. He nodded towards his phone. "I'm all soft wuss rock today, though. Trying to figure out shit to help Kathy with."

"How is it going with her?" Anders asked, curious. "I haven't heard her practicing much."

"She's picking up a lot of country tracks," Dante said, putting his guitar over his leg. "Coming along okay, though. I think she's into it."

"I think she can do about anything she decides to," Anders said. "Playing country music has to be one of her better choices."

Dante pulled a face at him. "It's the worst," he said, bringing up a tab on his phone. "So I'm trying to teach her better. Less cowboys and guns shit, more good stuff. Started with this one song that's kinda slow but cool."

He slid the pick over the strings, testing out the first chord.

"Nothing wrong with cowboys and guns," Anders said, mainly as verbal filler while he waited for the song. "Though I'm sure yours is much cooler."

"Guns are fine, cowboys are lame," Dante said, sticking out his tongue at Anders. "Okay, here we go..."

He picked the strings through the intro, getting drawn into the rhythm and the understated feel of the song basically right away.

"Hello, I've waited here for you... everlong."

He'd probably never win The Voice or anything, but he'd started to get a handle on his singing voice.

Anders shifted on his feet, surprised to realize that he recognized the melody. He nodded slowly in appreciation.

Dante might not be a reality TV star, but he was genuinely good in a way even a musical idiot like Anders could appreciate.

If he recognised that, he wasn't a complete lost cause after all.

Dante grinned at him as he played, the music flowing easily from his guitar. That little shift and lift of the guitar neck as he went into the chorus probably wasn't necessary, but it wasn't a song that allowed for a lot of theatrics-- and Dante did like his theatrics.

"And I wonder..."

...The acoustic was probably better for Anders' ears, too, even if it wasn't Dante's usual instrument of choice.

If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again

Hearing Dante sing that while looking at him did funny things to Anders' heart, making it flutter around in his chest with a peculiar warmth. He knew it was just a song, just words someone else had written, but it felt ... it felt good.

There may have been a reason Dante'd picked this one to play for both Anders and Kathy.

Possibly the same reason why he was keeping eye contact with Anders as he went on.

Life was good right now.

"The only thing I'll ever ask of you... you gotta promise not to stop when I say when," Dante sang, taking the song into the outro with a few choppier strokes of the pick. Wound it down.

And then fell silent, grinning.

Anders took that in for half a beat -- the lyrics, the eye contact, the grin -- before bursting into applause. Something about the song seemed very Dante.

"I liked that," he said, though the grin on his own face made it redundant. "What was it?"

"Everlong, by the Foo Fighters," Dante said. "Thought it was a good song to start her off on. Pretty and fun to play."

Anders nodded, agreeing. "I'd ask you to show me it, but I already know music isn't one of my gifts."

"It's fine, we got you to look pretty in the background," Dante teased. "You know. It's cool you're here."

It was stupid. He shouldn't like this so much.

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Groovy Tunes, Friday

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