There Are No Grey Piano Keys [Phan]

~Broke

Dan was stood backstage the concert was about to start in mere minutes and he was really scared. Why wouldn't he be, it was the biggest thing he had done in god knows how long and quite a few of the songs he would be playing was seriously hard.

Calm down it's going to be fine.

He could hear the shuffling from all the people on the other side of the drop curtain, and the soft murmur "oh sorry's" and "eh excuse me's". The room had about two hundred seats and as the lady in the reception had been kind enough to remind him that all of the seats had been sold out.

When the clock showed five fifty seven pm he had come up with multiple excuses as too why cancelling was the best idea, but of course his need for money to pay the rent over won his urge to bailout. So instead he stood up releasing a breath he hadn't been aware that he had been holding and shuffled over to the gap between the two drop curtains and peered out, but the first thing he saw something he wasn't expecting to ever see again, it was "seriously handsome raven haired stranger" that Dan had seen on his way there. Great because he wasn't nervous before!

Why? Why is he here?

He got a really big scare when the nice reception lady silently snuck up on him and politely tapped his shoulder, "you're on stage in one minute Mr Howell"
"Aargh" he yelped in fear before he realised his mistake and professionally brushed it off, "uh oh okay, thank you Miss" he nervously blurted.

Trough the gap in the curtains he could now see the lights in the salon start to fade and to his great fear the curtains too start to drift apart, a signal for him to take his seat at the fancy plush clad piano chair. He clumsily stumbled down onto the piano chair in the last second because only a few seconds later the one single torch started at first bleakly but soon brighter shine onto the stage with its mild yellow glow. It was there and then Dan started playing, he didn't even need to think as the first trembling tunes of "Midwayer" just kinda flew out of the piano mesmerising the audience and even himself.
Even though he was at his best right now he couldn't truthfully say that he were a hundred percent focused, the whole time a tiny bit of his consciousness was transfixed by the "seriously handsome raven haired stranger" from before and he couldn't help but sometimes take a sneaky glances at him.

Fuck, is that man good-looking or what?!

It was so unexpectedly easy, every tune, every little click of the keys just came out so perfect. And when he started preparing for the last tunes of "Midwayer" he just felt so great, so content and mostly as if all his problems just melted away.
As the last tune started to fade out he looked out over the audience, and he locked eyes with a person and not any person but "seriously handsome raven haired stranger".

He felt their eyes lingering on each other longer than they should and when he for the last time met his glance he started to blush furiously, the man looked so innocent and fragile as If he was constantly on the verge to tears but somehow he still succeeded to look both intimidating and seductive as well.

He cheeks were burning and his mind cramped with anxious thoughts.

What if I suddenly play wrong or he hates all these songs or if he thinks my fringe is funny or what if he thinks I'm bad or, or, or...

He couldn't believe himself he couldn't possibly have chosen a worse time to fall in love, a completely stranger in the audience at his first big concert.

Bloody amazing, Daniel!

Nervously he started playing the first tunes to "Goldberg Variations" realising that he probably had taken a bit to long break between the two song but as he anxiously glanced over the audience he understood that nobody seemed to have noticed.
The song being one of his personal favourites and the fact that he probably could have performed it in his sleep helped him loosen up a bit and once more let the music completely suffocate his thoughts.

This is what I live for.

He guessed that he was about halfway through but he had truth to be told actually no idea. When he decided on playing his absolute favourite song, sure it was a rather easy piece and he wasn't even meant to be playing it but it just felt right.
So he swept his eyes over the room as he let the last tunes of "Embers" sound out.

A bit hesitantly at first because he knew that he wasn't meant to be playing it and that quite a few people would get confused, but sometimes you got to do what your gut feeling tells you, he argued with himself.

There is no going back now.

It was settled he was in fact playing "Inguene" no matter what was written on the program.
He swept his eyes over the people one last time before he had to concentrate on his performance, nobody seemed to have noticed anything yet but he was aware that they would soon enough. And just like that he stole one last glance of "seriously handsome raven haired stranger".

When he looked up again after playing "Inguene" he was exhausted but happy a wide grin spreading on his face and his immediate action was to check "seriously handsome raven haired stranger" 's reaction but all that meet his searching eyes were a row of empty seats where "seriously handsome raven haired stranger" and presumably company had been seated.

He felt the tears start to prickle his eyes so he had thought he was THAT bad? He let out an almost inaudible sniffle and fought back the tears.

Stop being such a wuss you can't start crying on stage!

The remainder of the concert passed in a blur an just like that he was stood up accepting the audiences cheering and praises. As if they hadn't ever been opened the drop curtains closed again leaving him completely in the dark.

It's over! I made it!

"Mr Howell! You were amazing!" It was the lovely little receptionist again and he couldn't help but smile.

"Uh thank you miss" he said awkwardly rubbing his neck. "I'm going back to my dressing room to change. Okay?" He mumbled, not even able to hold a normal conversation with a old lady.

"Of course sweetheart! Just so you kn-" Dan didn't hear the rest of what she had to say because he had already put his earbuds in.

He was slowly walking the short distance back to his dressing room softly humming along to the song playing in his headphones, but what he listened to in his spare time was definitely different to what he had played in front of hundreds of people just minutes ago.

Release me from the present
I'm obsessing, all these questions
Why I'm in denial

Still humming softly he opened the door with the slightly chipped paint. But the sight that greeted him nearly gave him an heart attack. On the tiny sofa lay a man seemingly sleeping but he was twisting and turning obnoxiously and he didn't seem to be at peace at all.

But the for Dan most unsettling was that the man on the sofa in fact was "seriously handsome raven haired stranger".

Okay, someone gotta be fucking with me right now!

But as Dan stood there completely baffled still considering running away, the man on the sofa stiffened and seemed to ever so slowly be waking up and a few seconds later he sat up blinking rubbing his eyes he looked so confused but it wasn't until he noticed Dan that he actually woke up.

"Aaaaaaah!" He screamed, his eyes wide in horror as he realised that he wasn't actually alone in the room.