30 Days of Inkopolis Drabbles!

Day 11: Piano

"You're not gonna believe this, Dan, but I've tried to teach Dia how to play twice now." Frederick began.

"Twice?" The blue Octoling boy laughed.

"Yup! And both times, she literally only played one scale, gave up, and started crying."

The two Octolings burst out laughing while Dia merely rolled her eyes. She took a seat on the practice room's carpet and stretched out on her back.

"Yeah, yeah, " She yawned. "Don't you guys have a lesson to start or something?"

"Oh, right!" Dan exclaimed as he regained his composure. Still smiling, he pulled out a folder full of sheet music and plucked out a few of his favorites. He shuffled them together and neatly placed them on the music stand, and folded his hands on the keys neatly. "I've been taking lessons for a few months now, and I think I can play these pretty well now!"

Fredrick glanced at the sheets and grinned. "Seriously? I'm impressed. " He cracked his knuckles and unfolded the first sheet in the pile. "Play the melody for this song and I'll play bottom staff. Ready, and one, two, three, four-"

With Frederick's count off, the two boys began to play an old tune from a video game on the piano together. Dia watched curiously from her spot on the rug and grinned. She had never seen the typically grumpy purple Octoling get along so well with a new friend this quickly before.

Once the song was over, the three friends all shared a look of excitement and cheered a little bit.

"See what I tell ya, Freddie?" Dia got up all of a sudden and sat cross-legged on the carpet. "Dan's got potential!" She exclaimed.

"Hell yeah he does!" The purple Octoling beamed. He turned to face the blue Octoling boy and smiled gently. " I'm calling you 'Dan the Man' from now on!"

"'Dan the Piano Man.'" Dia interjected.

"Yes!" Frederick shot fingerguns at her and continued his thought. " That's even better. Do you wanna play some more?"

"Yeah, of course!" Dan replied cheerfully.

With that, the two boys began another song together, playing in perfect harmony as if they've known each other for years. Dia giggled and left the practice room to grab some snacks for the three of them.

With her arms full of chips and candy, she came back in to find the two boys sitting on the rug together, talking and laughing. She joined the two Octolings and tossed a few bags of snacks in their general direction.

"Oh, Dia!" Dan began as he opened up a bag of chips. "We were just talking about you!"

"More embarrassing stories?" She chuckled. Dia tore into a chocolate bar and rested her chin in her hand.

"Nah, we were talking about you guys became friends!"

Dia grinned and nodded her head. "Oh, even better! I'll give you the short version." She glanced over at Fredrick, who was silent, but wore an amused smile on his face. "We met at a concert, 'cuz I shared some of my glowsticks with him. Then after that, we were always talking about one thing-"

"Music. And to be honest, that's all we still talk about." Frederick picked up Dia's thought. "When we first started hanging out, all we did was hang out here. I would play the piano, and Dia would sit next to me on the bench and sing."

"And sometimes, I would put my hands over yours to pretend like I'm playing along!"

The two cephalopods made eye contact, and both shared a laugh as soon as they realized it.

"Anyways, I feel like it's safe to say that you're part of our crew now!" Dia exclaimed.

Frederick devoured the rest of the chip crumbs from his bag and nodded. "Not only are you one of Dia's friends, but you love the piano like I do!"

Dan's face lit up with joy and he grinned from ear to ear. " Thanks for including me!" He replied. "Oh, and I have a good idea!"

"What is it?" Dia and Fredrick said at the same time.

"How about Fred and I play something while Dia sings?" The blue Octoling suggested.

The three friends all shared a look of agreement and got up from the rug. The two boys took their seat at the piano bench, and Dia stood at the ready nearby. With Frederick's count off, the three musicians began to harmonize- reading each others' cues as if they had been making music together for years.