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Mark played the piece on the piano as Johnny leaned on the door looking in. The music sounded very different from when Mark played it on his guitar. "You changed it. What did you do to it? Is it Bach?" Johnny questioned. "I just played it the way Liszt would have played it if he'd played around with it for a bit."

"Just play it again, please." Mark begun playing the piece again, Johnny listened then spoke. "I can't believe you changed it again."

"Not by much. That's how Busoni would've played it of he altered Liszt's version." Mark had a look of entitlement on his face, he almost looked like a bratty toddler. "Can't you just play it the way Bach wrote it?"

"Bach never wrote it for guitar. In fact nobody knows if it's even Bach at all." Johnny sighed in annoyance. "Forget I asked."

"Okay, okay. No need to get so worked up." Mark begun to play the Bach piece in it's original form. Johnny who had turned away came back to the door. "It's young Bach, he dedicated it to his brother." Mark said softly over his playing. He played it beautifully, as if he was sending it to Johnny as a gift.

[~▪-▪~]

Mark wrote in his diary, the wind softly blew strands of his chestnut hair and the curtains. He got up and went into the shared bathroom to pee, accidentally leaving his diary open on his bed. He shut the bathroom door behind him. The wind blew the pages softly. The sound of Mark's muffled peeing and crinkling pages were the only sounds in the silence of the room.

"I was too harsh when I told him I thought he hated Bach. What I wanted to say is that I thought he hated me."

[~▪-▪~]

The next day.

Johnny and Mark walked down a street and Johnny stepped into a small cafè. Some men inside were sitting at three tables playing cards. Waiters brought coffee and other drinks to the customers who talked nonstop, the place was very loud and lively. Some of the men looked up and nodded at Johnny. A game was starting at the table and Johnny was asked to join, he sat down to play as he introduced himself with lousy Italian.

"How did you know about this place?" Mark asked receiving a wink from Johnny in response.

Mark pulled up a chair and sat, ignoring his racing heart and started spectating. The cards were dealt. Johnny treated his fellow players as equals despite being a "rich American intellectual" who was also a guest at the villa of one of the area's richest people, he had the common touch. Mark was soon forgotten by Johnny, now and then he supplied a translation of something said in a Lombard dialect by one of the players to which Johnny would always reply with a "Thanks buddy!"

[~▪-▪~]

A few of Mark's friends played a volleyball game in a makeshift court set up on the lawn by the main entrance of the villa. Johnny played with Wendy, Yeri's slightly older sister and another boy. The three made up one side of the game while the opposing team was made of three others. Mark sat on the side with Yeri and another friend named Joy. All eyes were on Johnny, the glamorous American in the yellow bathing suit who had unexpectedly dropped into their midst. Yeri and Joy asked unending questions about him.

"He's certainly a big improvement from last year, do you remember?" Mark and Yeri laughed. "Much better! Look at how cool he is!" Mark gave Joy a look that said "yes", rolling his eyes. The girls giggled about something and Yeri jokingly punched Joy's shoulder. Mark looked at the two girls, bored and put off, he then got up and went to a nearby table that had some fresh fruit and a bottle of ice cold water on it under the lime trees.

He took the bottle and went to his friends, offering it but Johnny quickly snatched the bottle and drank it, he handed it back to Mark without even thanking him. Johnny then put his free arm around Mark, gently squeezing his thumb and forefingers into Mark's shoulder in a friendly hug-massage. His other arm was isolated from the rest of his body.

Mark was taken by surprise and quickly forgot about Johnny's horrible manners, the action made Mark feel confused and weirdly aroused. This was the first real physical contact between the two men's bodies, it was the first step to shrinking the physical space between them. Mark was spellbound for an instant, yielding to Johnny's hand, even leaning into it before he wrenched himself away from Johnny's grab.

"I'm sorry." Johnny apologised asking Mark if he had pressed a nerve or something. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I'm not hurt." Mark blurted out, honestly not wanting to discourage Johnny. Mark had the face of someone trying but failing to smother a grimace of pain and Johnny went along with this charade. "Here, let me make it better. Relax." Johnny said, massaging Mark's shoulder. "But I am relaxing."

"You're as stiff as a board. You're made of knots." Johnny said before turning to Yeri. "Come here. Feel this..." Yeri put her hands on Mark's back which was already yearning for Johnny's warm and soft touch. Johnny pressed her cold, flattened palm hard against his back.

"Here. Feel it, he should relax more."

"You should relax more." Yeri repeated Johnny's words, Mark's face scrunched feeling her long nails on his back. "She certainly knows how to make him relax." Joy said to Johnny, snickering.