“I got you a gift I never had the heart to send.” Azui said, pressing his cheek into his knee. He sat on the couch next to Nero, who had passed out and slept for 12 hours shortly after his showing up on  the musician’s doorstep. “It’s also partially ridiculous. You’re going to hate it, it will be great.”

“I can’t imagine anything worse than the desk chair.”

“What? You have to admit it was a nice desk chair.” He rose and walked over to his upright piano and grabbed two little figurines off it. 

“It was massive, and not practical for the size of my office.”  Nero shifted into a sitting position. 

Azui brought him the figurines and upon further inspection he realized it was the cracked Tealing of Comte Alton, completely recut. What was once a sole ugly rock was now two ugly turtles. Specifically the giant ugly turtle from Torelen. 

“I don’t know exactly what I was hoping to accomplish by making these, but I love them,” he said laughing. 

“You’re right, this is worse than the chair.” Nero took the turtles in his hands. “I’m conflicted, I don’t hate them absolutely.”

Nero kept one of the turtles and Zui kept the other. 

A/N:

The Mandolin Player was intended to be a short story that took place in the same universe as my story Lior, but could also stand on its own as a playful love sonnet (at least that is what I’m choosing to call it). 

If you enjoyed it, feel free to check out Lior, although I must warn all that it’s:

1. Not brief in the slightest, so if you prefer slow burns, this is the story for you.

2. Darker in themes, it’s written to be a little tragic but I suppose it's not a true tragedy either.

3. A GL not a BL

4. As of June 27th completed, although I have not gone through and cleaned up the writing in the later chapters. I’m still working on reviewing the grammar and weeding out the filler I put in to give myself time to refine certain parts of it. 

And finally, thank you for reading!