Mastery ♪ phan

♪VIII♪

Dan had never seen Phil look happier.

Admittedly, he didn't think he'd ever seen Phil looking genuinely happy, but he chose to ignore that fact.

Phil couldn't stop smiling. His smile lit up his entire face, and was so bright and genuine that Dan couldn't help but smile too.

"I'm just teaching you piano, Phil. It's not a big deal."

"It is. It means that I'll learn from a master who actually had to work hard at learning it..."

Dan laughed. "Master's going a bit far."

"...and I'll get to spend more time with you."

Dan felt his face go a delicate shade of pink, and he turned away to hide it. "Well, I'm sure it'll be great then."

Phil stood up. "I'll go and get another chair."

He left the room, leaving Dan feeling slightly confused.

What was that about?

Phil pushed his way through the door, holding a bulky wooden stool. "Here we go." He put it down next to Dan, who edged up towards the higher end of the piano.

"What am I going to learn first?" Phil asked, a bright smile on his face.

"No idea."

"What do you mean? You're the teacher, teach me something."

Dan sighed. " I don't really know how to teach piano. When I started learning, I just picked a piece I liked, and taught myself to play it, and then chose a different piece once I could play that one perfectly. I didn't start from easy things and work my way up or anything."

"Well, that method worked for you, so it should work for me too. What shall I learn first?"

Dan thought for a moment. He considered teaching Phil his favourite song - namely I Giorni, by Einaudi, but decided against it. He always cried when he heard it, and he didn't particularly want to be sobbing at Phil's rendition of it.

"Let's learn Für Elise."

"Why?"

"Because that was what you tried to play last lesson, and I feel like you should learn it so that you can perform it, and people might even think you were just pretending to do badly last time or something."

"That didn't make a lot of sense."

Dan's face heated up under Phil's steady gaze and he turned away. "Well, whatever. Für Elise, or something else?"

"Für Elise."

Dan nodded, glad that Phil had finally made a choice, and turned to the piano. "Do you know the notes, first of all?"

"I know what notes I'm supposed to be playing, and in what order, but it doesn't always go right."

Dan smiled.

"Also I've never heard the piece before." Phil added quietly.

"What?"

"I said-"

"I'm aware of what you said. Why haven't you heard it?"

"No-one ever played it to me. I googled it, and google said it was an easy piece to play, so I tried it, but it's not very easy."

Dan stared at him. "That's absurd."

"You use strange words when you're confused. I like it."

"I'll play it to you," Dan said, rolling his eyes.