The Best Seat [Sheep]

"Learn to sing?" Eddie shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "I don't know... I just sing along with the record and the radio and stuff. I've never really been taught." he shook his head, "Guess I'm just a natural when I comes to music. I've played all sorts of instruments in the past- trumpet, drums- i was good at most of them, but they were too loud. That's why my step mom bought me an acoustic guitar." he laughed and strummed his amplified instrument enthusiastically, :She is gonna looooove this spell!"

Eddie loved every song the boy played, and even though he hadn't played most of the songs before, he knew them, and he could hear the melodies in his head. He managed to hit quite a few right notes as he free-styled over the boy. he knew all the lyrics though, and now that he was feeling comfortable around this boy, he was ready to belt them out proudly.

The friend stopped playing eventually, but it took a while for Eddie to notice. When he did he stopped as well, worried that something was wrong. "Hmm? What's up, Benji?"

"Do you wanna try?" the boy asked, holding the guitar out towards Ed.

His eyes went wide, and air hissed into his throat, making the same sound little girls gave off when they laid their eyes on baby kittens, "For real!?" Eddie held his light guitar out to the side, eyes fixed on the beautiful bass, and made the switch, passing The Harmony guitar to Benji to play for a while. "Good God! It's heavy, ain't it!" he laughed, taking stock of the thing before swinging the strap over his shoulder. "How's a little fella like yourself hold this thing up!"

He tried playing a few guitar solos on the beast, but he couldn't quite reach half of the notes in time, and the strings were so thick, it was hard to press them down. "This is impossible!" he laughed, eventually sticking to a straight b chord rhythm and laughing at himself for it. "Wow, what you can do on this instrument thoroughly impresses me now!" he smiles.

"So... We're friends now, right?" He smiled, trying to figure out some more interesting bass lines, "Why don't you tell me about yourself- And don't get too caught up in the details like last time! Just, tell me about the things you like or something, yeah?"

"I like them magical creatures too!" Eddie laughed at the boy- and he thought he was an awkward kid! "And you know potions? Kick ass! You'll have to give me a crash course sometime! I'm shit at potions."

The two became quiet for a really long time, and Eddie took this break to figure out a few bass riffs. He was trying to figure out the theory behind it. So, if he was playing in D major, and starting on D, a logical step would be to jump to A, or what about B? Playing around with the three notes, they all sounded familiar. After a few more tries, he had found him a bass line that used to drive him insane! D, A, B, F#, G, D, G, A... Eddie had successfully mapped out the bassline to Pachelbel's Canon. He laughed at himself and forced the guitar away from his body.

"Take it away before I do some damage!" He traded for his guitar again, and pulled the thing close, leaning over it like he was spooning a lover. He played around with the strings a bit before he could remember the accursed song, and started the melody to the classic piece on the guitar. He felt his back straighten, and his finger picking become lighter naturally, like his instructor had taught him to. When Eddie was playing classically, he was a different person. He was calm, he was focused, he barely messed up, and he was completely serious! It was a side of him most people didn't get to see, usually just his parents, his instructor, and the occasional audience.

"Bah! now it's stuck in my head!" the boy said loudly all of a sudden, and hammered on the strings roughly, in a loud, awful noise to try and clear his mind. He laughed loudly and smiled up at Benji.

"Okay, enough about me, what about you?"

"Me?" Eddie pointed to himself in mock surprise, then put his guitar on the bed so that he wouldn't be tempted to play that Damn Canon again. "Well, I was born in Phoenix Arizona," he winked at the boy, singling it was a joke about their first conversation. "But yeah! My dad's in the army, so I've traveled with him everywhere! I love animals, I love music, I love comic books," He used his fingers to count as he went. As good As Riley was at listening, Eddie was as good at talking. The curly haired boy loved to talk. "I have a brother, a step sister and a step mom, all of which are just as crazy as I am! I have a lot of bullies, but they're not that hard to deal with most of the time...

"I've got a rib that sticks out funny cause a guy broke it in second year, wanna see?!" And before the boy could even answer, Eddie had his shirt up and was showing off the crooked rib.

"I've also got this fixation with super heroes! I wanna be a super hero! Sometimes, I like to pretend I'm the silent protector of the meek and innocent." he admitted with a sad smile, "I'll step into fights and take beating for other people, or divert a bully's attention..."

"There's also this girl I know..." He sighed, "Eileen Harow, our year, from this house. Me and her were going to be friends, yah? And then her stupid cousin wiped Eileen's mind clean of me, and worse yet she then blamed me for hurting Eileen, and now she hates me!" He threw up his hands in exasperation, "So now I watch out for her when she's not looking, and I make sure no one messes with her..."

"Is that weird?" He questioned allowed for the first time, " Does that make me, like, a creepy stalker-pervert or something?"

Eddie tilted his head to the side in a considering nod, "Okay, true, and it's not like I watch her in the shower or steal her dirty panties or anything, so I guess I'm not a pervert..." He smirked at Benji. Eddie was a kind, sensitive fella, and around women, he always tried to be refined. But with men, especially innocent ones like Benji seemed to be, he would try to be as crude in his humour as he thought he could get away with. It was always more fun that way.

"You really do think it's creepy though?" he sighed, reconsidering his current plans to try and get Eileen to like him again. He really couldn't see any other way of approaching her about things. If Stasja was still filling Eileen's head with lies about him, he was sure his past friend would just curse him on the spot. What else was he supposed to do?

"Maybe we can figure out another way to look out for her," Benji suggested, making Eddie frown, "Something a little less creeping with no chance of being viewed as psychopathic?"

"Psychopathic!?" Eddie laughed, "What! Them's harsh words! I'm crazy, at best!" He smiled at the boy and gave him the thumbs up, "Hey, if you think you can help me out, by all means, I could use the hand!"

"Do you get out much, Benji?" Eddie asked, putting his guitar back on it's stand, "You strike me as the type of person who doesn't get a lot of social interaction. Do you go out to Quiddatch games at all? Any parties or dances? or do you prefer to stay in and read?" Eddie wasn't trying to pry, but it seemed to him like maybe the kid shy, and even him being in Eddie's room might have been a big step for the little fella. 'Little fella'! Hell, how old was this kid anyways?

"When's your birthdate, mate?"

Eddie shrugged with a laugh, "Nope! No parties yet. I wish, but I'm too new to get into a-list shindigs like the ones they got around here. Met some people who might be the type to throw something though." He reached backwards off the bed to grab a plastic straw out of a box on his desk. He had been trying to quit smoking for a while now, though it was more difficult than he thought it would be, and kept jumping back into during difficult and stressful times. He found though that just having something in his mouth, like a lollipop stick or a straw, gave him something to fiddle with and helped control his cravings. He put the straw in his mouth and chewed the end a bit before using it to point at the boy, "If I ever DO get invited to something though, you'll be the first one to know!"

"The twenty-eighth?" Eddie asked, looking excited all of a sudden, " Doesn't that mean you're going to be turning sixteen soon!?" He rocked back on the bed and laughed loudly, "Screw waiting for a party, we should just throw you one!" He reached out and patted the boy on the shoulder, "I'm sure you've got lots of friends we could invite! Right?"

"My birthday's in May." He smirked, "May 25, 1960. That makes me half a year your senior!" He didn't normally care about age, but Benji felt like a nice guy that with a little bit of a push, could be come a really fun guy! All he needed was the right incentives, and sometimes, as his brother and his friends had taught Ed, the easiest incentives were met through harmless teasing. "And because of that, you are now my honorary little brother, if you think you can handle it. I can be a little stupid sometimes, so you may not want to be associated with me." He grinned, "I'm gonna give you this one chance only to back out of this friendship, after that I am not held accountable for your reputation and you wont be able to get rid of me."

"In return though, you'll be my right hand man! Benji and Ed! We'll be the new Hardy boys! Always together! I'll invite you to everything I'm invited to, we'll jam together, get into lodes of trouble, and I'll fight by you till the end!" he clarified the agreement with the boy so that it didn't seem like it was coming from too far a left field, "Look, I got that feeling that, like myself, you could use a real pal, and maybe even some excitement in your life. I think we'd be good for each other!"

"So what do you say?" He smiled, sticking the mangled straw between his teeth and holding his hand straight out in a satirical fashion, "You willing to make that deal, boy?"

"What's next..." Eddie puzzled out loud, a million different scenarios dancing about through his head. What's Next!? The world was their oyster! What wasn't next! He knew what he used to do when he had boy friends; hiking, adventuring, swimming, flying, running, poking stuff with sticks, running away from specific dangerous animals that may or may not have been poked with sticks...

"Can you teach me how to play some chords" Benji offered as a suggestion.

Eddie nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, that seems like a good start to things." He picked his guitar up off the stand and handed it to the boy. "It's pretty easy." Said the boy who had trouble playing pure chords. "Once you get the idea on where your fingers should go, you can pretty much slide that formation anywhere to get a good chord."

"We'll start with the basics to most rock songs." Eddie said happily, as he shifted around the boy so that he was leaned over behind him. Chin on the boy's shoulder and chest pressed against Benji's back, he reached his arms around the boy, taking up the bassist's hands and placing them in the right positions. "A, D, F#." Eddie spoke right against Benji's ear, not realizing that he could possibly be invading the boy's personal space. "That's how you make a D major chord."

"Now, G, B, G," He moved the boy's fingers slowly so that he would possibly remember the movements, "Is your G Chord, and C, E, C," He forced the boys hands into this position, noting, "No... you leave the G string open... there you go! That's C! Now, with those three chords, you can build most rock tunes like this, but you can add E minor or or F to make them heavier and kinda sad. Like this!"

He dropped the boy's hands and played the first verse to Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, and then the opening to Ziggy Stardust. "See?" he smiled, letting the boy get his hands on the guitar again, "Easy stuff!"

"That's a D!" He chuckled, thick curls brushing against the side of Benji's face as he moved to help the kid again, "Okay, look. Play a C," he watched the boy patiently as he moved his fingers, "Now a D... and now this..." He moved the boy's fingers to a new position, "Is A minor. Then you go to G, and you've got all the chords you need for Wish You Were Here!" He smiled, letting the boy experiment with the notes. "You can come back anytime and practice it! It'll get you the girls, I swear!"

he could feel the boy's stomach rumble through his back, and it was kinda weird and forced him to pull back with an awkward laugh. "What time is it, anyways?" He glanced at his roommates clock on the wall and shook his head, "I can't. I've got class in a few. But... before you go..."

Eddie had an idea. He wasn't sure if this kid was going to be extroverted enough to come talk to him in the future if he wanted anything. He knew it was hard to talk face to face to people who were pretty much strangers, especially if you had a busy class schedule. What was weird though, is he knew that those same sensitive and shy people were often able to communicate openly through writing! Having traveled all over the world, he had made acquaintances wherever he went, and often kept in touch though letters. It always amazed him how these pen pals seemed like different people on paper than they were in real life! He hoped, as he pulled out parchment, his wand, and a quill, that it would be the same with Benji.

"I've got an idea." He smirked at the kid, placing the paper down between them and thinking this spell through before casting it. Eddie used a strange combination of Aparecium, Evanesco, and his own version of the Protean Charm on the paper, than ripped it in half. It didn't come apart evenly, and Eddie ended up giving the boy a piece of paper that looked like a lazy triangle. "let's hope this works!"

The boy dipped his quill in the ink pot, and tried writing out a quick note in his gentle, and precise hand writing. You're my brother now... He watched as his hand writing disappeared from his page slowly. So far so good... He looked over at Benji's page anxiously, hoping his ideas had worked.