The Pianist and the Artist ~Phan~

Chapter 1

Dan loves to play piano.  He just hates the romanticized aspects of it.  He hates the stories about people who have an undeniable talent for the complicated instrument and the videos of little kids playing songs that would take him weeks to master.  Dan has never experienced this natural talent that so many seem to have.  Instead he has worked for so many years that counting them becomes difficult.  All his work to only become half as good as the talented.

 Piano has always been a way for Dan to escape.  He can leave his problems behind for a moment and concentrate solely on the fast paced intricacy of Schubert or Clementi’s beautiful sonatas.   Even though the songs take hours of work they are still undeniably satisfying to master (though Dan’s mastery is admittedly a level below the prodigies).

One of Dan’s favorite things to do is sit and play.  Not practicing, no, because that is quite different.  Just sitting and playing.  He loves to sight read pop songs and musicals relishing in their predictability.  At moments when he’s sight reading a piece practically perfectly the years of practice seem to be paying off.

Of course the best time to have marathon sight reading sessions is at about two in the morning.  This is when Dan’s brain is just fuzzy enough to not care about the mistakes and just enjoy the music.  The only problem is apartment buildings are not always the best place for impromptu concerts when people with a normal sleep schedule are trying to get their eight hours.

For a while after moving into his current apartment Dan tried to play only during reasonable hours.  The melodies (and horrid wrong notes while practicing) could only be heard during the hours when sunlight was still drifting through his windows.  However, once University became more difficult and the mounting pressures of a law degree caught up to the student the early morning concerts began again.  It was Dan’s only escape from the troubles and doubts that began to fill his brain during the moonlit hours.

 Now, after a few weeks of waiting warily for complaints, it became clear that nobody was going to get him kicked out of the building.  The piano playing is now a regular occurrence.  He began to notice how the music coming from his fellow nocturnal neighbor’s flat seemed to always stop as soon as he started playing.  Sometime even before, as if the neighbor didn’t want to miss a note.  

Dan remembered meeting this neighbor a few time when their Tescos delivery came at the same times.  From these meeting Dan knew that the neighbor was an artist, evident by his paint stained hands and was about the same age as himself.  Of course Dan didn’t notice the neighbors jet black hair, piercing blue eyes, or his impossibly broad shoulders.  No, Dan told himself that there was no reason to care about his mysterious, piano listening neighbor’s appearance.  

Tonight, however, the easy routine Dan had built of searching the internet until it could no longer hold his interest was interrupted be a knock at his door.  Not being someone to have many visitors Dan was surprised.  This surprise only increased when he open the door to find a shirtless neighbor speckled with paint.

“Hello,” Dan said hesitantly.

“Do you have any cornstarch I could borrow?” the neighbor quickly asked.

“Um, possibly,” Dan replied, still confused (and trying desperately to not stare at his neighbors chest).

“I’m making some paint because I ran out and I just have to finish this project before I lose motivation and I found a paint recipe online that says I need cornstarch.  Who has cornstarch?  What do you even use cornstarch for?  Oh yeah, my name’s Phil.  Probably should have opened with that.”

“Well then let’s hope I have some cornstarch, we don’t want your project to remain incomplete,” Dan said smiling, “Come on in we might have to search my kitchen for a bit.  I think I may have bought some for a recipe once.  My name’s Dan.”

“Nice to meet you Dan.” Phil smiled to himself as he followed Dan down the hallway to Dan’s kitchen.  “It’s a bit odd seeing the same layout but with different furnishings,” he stated.  “I love what you’ve gone with the place.  The pokemon decorations really demonstrate your adulthood.”

“I’d be careful what I said if I was relaying on the owner of said decorations for essential art supplies,” Dan replied smiling as he bent down to open a cabinet.  “I think the cornstarch is in here somewhere.  Oh, and Phil I can feel you staring at my ass.”

“You can’t blame me, your ass is fantastic.”

“Phil we only properly met five minutes ago, stop eye raping me and grab my phone from the table in the lounge for me.  I want a flashlight to check if this is really the cornstarch before moving everything out of this damn cabinet to get it out.”

“Yeah sure, I’ll go grab it.”  Phil wandered through the familiar layout down the hall.  Once he go to the lounge he paused a moment to admire Dan’s decorations.  The first things Phil noticed were Dan’s muse poster, bubbling lava lamp, and of course a piano with sheet music and various piano books scattered around it.   Okay, Phil thought to himself, don’t act too weirdly and scare this guy off he seems like a pretty cool dude.  Don’t screw it up.

Without further ado Phil grabbed Dan’s phone off the coffee table and walked back to the kitchen where Dan was sat on the ground waiting.

 “Here you go Sir, “Phil handed the phone to Dan.

“Why thank you humble servant” Dan said trying to keep a straight face.  He turned on the flashlight and pointed it at the mysterious box in his cabinet.  “Well today is your lucky day Phil, I do have cornstarch.’

After Dan finally dug the cornstarch out of the cabinet and gave it to Phil they stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

“Well I should probably go finish my painting.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Dan stated.  They walked slowly to the apartment door.  “Feel free to visit any time.”

“I will, maybe next time you can play piano for me in person.  It always helps renew my creativity early in the morning.  You play beautifully.”

Dan blushed.  “Thank you, you’ll have to show me your undoubtedly amazing art sometime too.”

“Sounds like a plan.”  Phil turned to leave.

“One more thing Phil, next time please wear a shirt, you’re just too distracting without one.”

 AN: Hey guys!  This is my first fanfiction so we'll see how it goes :)  Feedback is always appreciated.