Notes:

Setting: Moltrasio (CO), 2006
Pairing: Matt/Gaia but with an implied BellDom, otherwise what realism would it be? LOL

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Internet is a strange and unpredictable world, therefore, if ever this little story reaches you, extraordinary Gaia, I hope you don't mind, it is just a tribute to how much you and Matthew, in those years, were a wonderful couple, how much you made me dream.
You were a beautiful fairy tale, which however lacked a happy ending. *sighs*.
I wish both of you everything beautiful and joyful!

Discordant Notes

Gaia reread the last paragraph of her behavioral psychology report that she was to present in the following days.
She could be considered satisfied, from every point of view.
Her college major was going full steam ahead, paving the way for a promising career in the field she had always loved.
This made her the pride of her parents, thus a model daughter.
At the same time she was also the perfect girlfriend, because she always did her best to reconcile her many commitments and reach her boyfriend on some dates, not to mention her boyfriend was the frontman of an alternative rock band with almost worldwide success.
Which meant that the dates hadn't been few, as well as the places around the world that she had seen with him.

The aforementioned boyfriend had left about a couple of hours earlier, to the airport, due to a participation in English broadcasts aimed at promoting the recently released new album 'Black Hole and Revelations'.

They weren't actual concerts, so she'd let him go on his own.

No student or work commitments.
No family commitments.
No Matt, because as much as she loved him, he was a rather bulky presence.
A paradox, given his very small constitution.

However, for Gaia, having a free house and some time to herself meant only one thing.
She went up to her room, opened the wardrobe where, placed at the bottom there was something very dear to her.
She opened the case that protected his bass from dust, put it in her arms and sat down on the bed.
Just long enough to make sure it was tuned properly, then she plugged it into the amp and stroked the strings with her long, slender fingers.

Seconds later, the notes of 'Piccola stella senza Cielo', one of her favorite songs, filled the room.

She kept her eyes closed, so she didn't notice someone who had been watching her for a while and, strangely armed with who knows what patience, waited until the end of the song before revealing himself.

"But you are playing! And pretty good too!" that certain someone exclaimed, obviously in English, because despite his many years of stay in Italy the words he knew in that language could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

It was Gaia who had had to make her initially limping English learn how to run, in order to be able to communicate with her beloved.

However, opening her eyes suddenly, what she let out was only a scream, understandable in every language, with the bass that almost collapsed, on the floor, if she hadn't managed to keep her grip firm.

"Matthew James Bellamy! Ring the bell before entering!" she scolded, trying to recover from the fright.

"But this is my house!" he got defensive.

From bad to worse.

"Ours, if you allow, after almost three years I also consider it a bit mine."

Her slender figure that stood up, her arms crossed at chest level, her glacial look, her foot compulsively tapping the floor.

Matthew didn't need to be a psychologist to figure out that Gaia was angry.

"Of course, my love, our home." he corrected, advancing a few steps. "As a matter of fact, it's more yours than mine, considering how many times I'm somewhere else." he chuckled to ease the tension, his hand nervously passing through that hair that was a bit brown, a bit blond, remnants of some color that even he no longer remembered.

"And anyway I did rang the bell, but you didn't hear me because of the bass." he added, with such an innocent expression that she lost every desire to wage war on him.

"Touché," she smiled at him.

"Come on, baby, aren't you even a little happy to see me again?" he pouted.

It was Gaia who advanced towards him, just enough to close their gap.

"Of course yes, I'm always happy to see you." she whispered, a breath from his lips, before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply.

"Mm... it's definitely better now." he smiled against her lips, pulling her closer to him.

"Please, it's not an accusation, nor a complaint, I just want to understand... you said you had those interviews..."

"We had them, but this morning Chris woke up with a not so irrelevant fever, a gift from his little ones... the fact is that the doctor gave him a week off; so everything is postponed."

"And since when does Chris make a major contribution in interviews?"

"If Kelly could hear you!"

"Kelly is the first to tease him for this!" Gaia burst out laughing.

"You're right and she's right too," Matt chuckled as well. "The point is that there weren't just the interviews, we were supposed to play two songs from the new album, in two different broadcasts... and here Chris is back to being fundamental."

"I understand. Sorry about the promotion, but at least I have you all to myself." she commented with a mischievous smile that filled her boyfriend with expectations. "Just not so fast."

Matt's hopes and expectations were in danger of being dashed.

"Huh?"

"Find yourself something to do. I don't know, a walk along the lake, or through the woods or mountains, or go on a boat, but do it without me..." she urged him.

The frontman's huge ego didn't like those suggetions very much, even though the girl's tone was kind.

"Look, if you don't want me around bothering the hell out of you, just say it, I can always go to Dom!"

"Don't even try, because if you go to your real boyfriend who knows when I'll see you again!" she shot her dig.

- Wait a minute Does she know anything? Maybe Jessica told her? No, impossible, not even Jessica knows anything, Dom and I are always very careful!- he jumped, and then masked everything with an amused chuckle.

- Wait a minute. What was that awkward silence before laughing? And did he wince? Mine was just a joke.. did I really hit the mark?- she became suspicious, but only reacted by laughing with him.

It was more convenient for both of them to pretend nothing happened, after all they worked really well as a couple, there was no need to upset the balance.

"Alright, you'll have me at your disposal all day long, we can do whatever you want," she gave up, about to put the bass back in its case, but he stopped her hand.

"But no, love, don't put it away, on the contrary, you can play with me, I just wanted to fix some arrangements for the live shows..."

"Matt, honey, it's not like I don't want to play with you.. No, wait, it's exactly, that. I do not want! I love you and everything but... you are a bit of a perfectionist!" She made him confront the truth.

Another low blow for the aforementioned huge Ego.

"This is absolutely not true and I will prove it to you!"

------------------------------

"We're not there yet!" Matt interrupted her, sitting at the piano, wearing headphones too, because he's always a pro. "I like the riff you improvised, but I would slide it a few frets further and do it in 11/8 instead of 5/8!"

"No, Matthew, no more attempts, I already know it wouldn't suit you anyway!" she snapped, taking off the shoulder strap of the bass and throwing it on the sofa nearby.

"Gaia, but..."

"Just no, it's already the sixth time we've tried 'Starlight' and you know how much I love it, don't you? Well guess what? You're making me hate it!" she anticipated him, exasperated.

"But I, I just..." he muttered, taking off his headphones.

Gaia calmly approached him, leaning her arms on the tail of the piano to be able to lean towards him.

"Matthew, dear, listen to me: you and I are two notes: beautiful, harmonious, but they cannot fit on all scores, because on some those notes become discordant, dissonant, call them what you like, the point is that they don't work. " she took a long sigh. "Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

This time it was Matthew who stood up angrily.

"You know what I'm telling you, Gaia? That you can play your damn bass all you want, because I'll get out of your way, probably all day!" He left the room and after a few seconds Gaia heard the house door slam.

She hurried into the lobby immediately, relieved when she saw his trolley still abandoned where he had left it.

-At least he didn't run to Dominic... maybe.-

---------------------------------

In the end, Gaia had really taken advantage of the situation to be able to devote herself to her bass.

After all, it wasn't the first time she had argued with Matthew and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

Over the years she had gotten to know him, she knew that despite his somewhat smoky character he tended to let off steam rather quickly.

That's why she wasn't too surprised when a text message from him arrived in the evening.

'HI.'

Maybe a little aseptic, but at least it was a glimmer.

She replied in exactly the same way, but he surprised her with the next message.

'Put on your best dress and then go downstairs.'

When Gaia, once ready, opened the door and found a refurbished Matthew: his improbable hair was replaced by his beautiful natural color, instead of the anonymous white T-shirt he had before, he was now wearing a shirt and a cardigan in shades of blue, which made his eyes stand out even more.

But what struck the girl the most was the disarming smile he was giving her.

"So this is what you've been doing all day?"

"Yes, a part of it. First I had to make myself beautiful for you. The difference between us is that you are always beautiful."

"Flatterer!" she blushed, kissing him.

"Look, that's the truth. You are a real charm." he murmured, admiring her in the low-cut midi dress she had chosen, midnight blue, with shoulder pads, with an ecological white fur coat to protect herself from the crisp night air.

"Come, the taxi is waiting for us." he led the way.

A little over an hour later, the couple was at a table in a luxurious Milanese restaurant that Matthew had booked and that Gaia knew very well.

"Matthew, but this is..."

"The first restaurant I took you to on our first date...well, first serious date. We met in a bar, it seemed sleazy to take you there tonight..." he explained, scratching the back of his neck with one hand, the other was busy squeezing his girlfriend's.

"Ohh, Matt, sometimes you're so sweet it doesn't even seem real." she loosened up, leaning forward to kiss him, but with the correct demeanor that a place of that kind required.

"I thought a lot about your words today and you are right: our notes don't have to end up on all the scores, but only on the he right ones, because when we are on the right ones we are a very beautiful melody, don't you agree?"

"The most beautiful that can be played." she nodded, stroking the back of his hand.

"Matthew?"

"Mm?"

"Sometimes we can play a song by Ligabue together, can't we?"

"Of course, we can," he smiled at her affably, before changing his gaze, tone and stop holding her hand. "Just give me time first to cut the strings off all my guitars and remove the keys from the piano, one by one, to spare them such havoc!"

--

THE END

Notes:

I hope it can show how much I really loved this couple <3

I remember devouring articles about them at the time, so I was quite informed and I still clearly remember two details: Gaia played the bass (and I think, I hope she still does) and her favorite Italian singer was Ligabue (if she changed over time tastes I wouldn't make a tragedy here, mwahah, I guess I'm meaner than Matt about it, lol)

This then is a detail that, if you want , you can fnd in a longer and older, fic I wrote about these two, you can find in my 'Eternally Missed' that I'm going to start posting here too, later ;) , of which I would not like you to consider this story a sequel, they are two different things, two ways to play again with these characters that I love so much
Many thanks to anyone who read it.