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.
Phil looked excited. "Really? Cool."
"It's not that great," Dan muttered, playing a quick warm-up scale.
Phil edged his stool backwards and turned so that he was watching Dan. "Off you go then."
Dan shot him a look before holding his hands over the piano, and starting to play.
As he played, Phil found himself being mesmerised by everything. The way Dan's long, slim fingers stroked the keys in the quiet notes, and hit them, never missing their mark, when the piece was louder. The look of intense concentration on his face - tongue slightly sticking out, eyes darting from one hand to the other, then up at the wood of the piano.
The piece finished, and Phil found himself applauding quietly. "Very impressive."
"You seemed to be more interested in me than in the piece," Dan remarked. His successful playing had given him confidence, and this time, it was Phil's turn to blush.
"You just looked so..." Phil trailed off. 'Beautiful' wasn't a word he often used with males, especially not ones he'd just met, so although it fit the sentence, he chose not to say it.
Dan ignored the missing word. "Ready to start learning?"
Phil nodded happily. "Sure!"
He pulled his seat up to the piano, so close to Dan's that their knees were touching.
"Can you play me the first phrase?" Dan asked.
"Sure."
Phil played a few notes clumsily, with bad timing. He looked so stressed the whole time that Dan started to feel sorry for him.
"That wasn't great, I'm not gonna lie."
Phil's shoulders sagged.
"But," Dan continued, trying to sound more cheerful, "practice makes perfect!"
Phil didn't look much happier. "What do I need to get better at?"
"Everything, really." Dan felt bad saying it, but it was true, and he wasn't one to sugar-coat the truth.
"What shall I focus on first, then?"
"Just play it a few times, with the right notes, and in the right timing."
Phil tried, and failed dismally. It sounded marginally better than before, but not by a huge amount.
"How about I play the tune, and you put your hands over mine?"
Phil nodded, and shuffled forwards on his stool. Dan put his hands into the starting position for the piece, and Phil followed.
"We'll play slowly, ok?"
Dan, trying to ignore the tingly feeling he got when Phil's hands were on his, played the first few bars slowly, and Phil copied.
"That wasn't too horrendous, was it?"
Phil smiled. "It went ok, actually. Again?"
"Sure."
They practised like that for a total of five times. Neither of them seemed to realise that the only reason the other person kept suggesting it was because they liked the feeling they got when they were, effectively, holding hands. Phil thought Dan was suggesting it because he wanted Phil to improve, and Dan thought Phil was suggesting it because he wanted to improve.
After the final practice, Phil's cheeks had a noticeable pink flush, and Dan's hands were rather hot and sweaty. They tried to ignore it.
"Hey... Dan?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you-"
Miss Averell stuck her head round the door, and Phil stopped talking abruptly. "Ready to perform, guys?"
Dan looked at Phil suspiciously, but said nothing. "Yeah, alright. Just give me a minute to collect my music."
The second she had gone, Dan turned to Phil. "Am I what?"
"Nothing," Phil mumbled.
"Well, it wasn't nothing at the time."
Phil ignored him, his cheeks pink. "Let's go."
They left the room and slid into their usual seats at the back, ready to listen to the usual performances.
Before Dan stood to go up to the front, Phil turned to him. "Gay," he whispered.
"What?"
"Gay. Are you gay?"
Dan stared at him for a second.
"Dan? Are you coming?" the teacher called.
"Yeah, just a second," he answered, standing up and walking to the front. He announced the name of the piece, and sat down at the stool. Before he started playing, he gave Phil a tiny nod, and then mouthed the same question back at him.
Phil smiled, and nodded back.
A/N
Eww idk what any of this was
Sorry this is late but i didnt have a phone and yesterday i didn't have a computer so I couldn't publish it sorryyy
Okay hi or you enjoyed bye :D