The Cello Lessons – Part 2: The Recital
Gay Stories·EN·2 min read·Published 2026-11-07, updated 2026-11-07·Part 2 of 2
The recital was held in the music school's hall on a bright Friday in June.
Twenty chairs, a polished floor and a vase of lilac on the piano. Felix stood behind the stage door in a borrowed jacket, his cello case at his feet, his hands cold. He could hear parents murmuring. A child was practising scales.
"I'm going to be sick," he said.
"You are going to be magnificent," said Tobias.
"I'll play it too softly."
"Then I will stand at the back and make a face."
Felix laughed. His nerves loosened. He walked out onto the stage, sat down, set the cello between his knees and looked up. In the back row, Tobias leaned against the wall with his arms folded and one eyebrow raised, impossible to miss.
He drew the bow. The first low C rolled out into the hall, deep and warm and unashamed. The audience held its breath. He played a slow Bach aria, imperfectly, with a wobble in the middle and an ache in the end. When the last note faded, there was a long silence, and then warm applause.
Afterwards, when the hall had emptied and the lilac drooped in its vase, Felix laid down his cello beside Tobias's on the polished floor. They sat on the stage steps in the sunlight.
"You did not apologise," said Tobias.
"I forgot."
"It was wonderful."
"It was loud."
"It was you."
Felix's throat tightened. He turned. Tobias's eyes were clear and tender, with dust motes drifting in the light behind him.
"Can I ask you something?" said Felix.
"Yes."
"May I kiss you?"
"Yes," said Tobias, softly. "And if you say stop, you must play me the whole suite."
"That would take a year."
"I have a year."
Felix kissed him, shy and warm, a hand rising to his unruly hair. Tobias kissed him back with slow, deliberate sweetness, tasting of tea and rosin. Their cellos lay side by side on the stage, quietly resonating with the last of the sound.
When they parted, both of them were smiling.
"Green?" asked Tobias.
"Green," said Felix. "Very green."
He practises every day now, as loud as he likes. The neighbours have given up knocking. Some of them come to listen.
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