Allegro non troppo en molto maestoso.

I haven't even started playing yet, and already I was daunted by the notes that danced off the page. I sighed, and my breath resonated all around the practice room. It was late, almost six in the evening, and I really shouldn't be here anymore, but I wanted to be able to try this piece at least once. Even just the first movement, even just the main opening theme. It wasn't the technicality of the notes I worried about, I was well capable of sight reading the passage to tempo, it was just...after hearing Nichkhun play the piece, I know in my heart I can never match up to that. I know I can never do it as well as he did. Not even close.

Yet here I am. I laid my hands carefully, delicately on the ivory keys and took a deep breath inhaling the scent of the wood and the keys. It was calming, the earthiness of the wood and the sharp contrast of the lacquer- smells I have become more than well acquainted with over the years.

The sweeping notations stared intensely at me quite possibly more than before and eventually I gave in and started sight-reading the piece, playing it the only way I knew how: according to score. The majesty the score demanded was lost under my touch and I frowned knowing I could never acquire that same quality as Nichkhun's playing. Yet music was music and I continued on, emptying my mind as my fingers automatically found the appropriate keys in time.

I gave up with a sigh after the third page. It was hopeless.

“Why did you stop?”

I froze in my seat as soon as I heard his voice. Was I dreaming? Could it even be real? My heart was pounding in my ears and my hand started to tremble, slowly, I turned to the side, and leaning on the doorframe, was none other than Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul.

His question hung dramatically in the air as he slowly stepped forward until he was behind me. I felt the air stiffen as he peered over my shoulder and I just knew he was reading the score set in front of me. He reached out to turn the sheets back to the first measure, and he pointed somewhere between the second and third, “Right here, your fortessimo is lacking.”

My...fortessimo was...lacking? But it didn't even-

“A fortississimo would have been good too.”

-indicate a need for a fortississimo.

His arm hovered by my eyes as he turned the page, he was so pale I could see the blues of his blood vessels. “Start over?”

I was confused, what was he doing here? “W-why are you here?” I asked, unable to even look up at his eyes.

He hummed a reply as he sat next to me on the bench. “I was looking to practice some more when I heard someone playing, then I saw you, I thought I'd say hi.”

This was it, right? A movie moment, one that I've been wanting for so long? Wait! There should be a perfect line for this, right? I should say something in return, start the witty banter, make sure everything remains interesting, it's all formula, and for best results I needed-

“Are you okay?”

I dropped my gaze and that was when I noticed my fingers fidgeting on the fabric of my clothes. I was going to screw this opportunity so badly, why can't there be a warming sign before 'accidentally' bumping into destiny? Nichkhun sat very much relaxed next to me, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was the same towards everybody else. Had he always been this friendly? “I, uh, I'm fine.”

“Maestro Arrau was talking to me about you just now.”

Did- did the maestro hear my failed Piano Concerto?

“He said maybe I should help you out with your finals piece. He said you were working on Chopin, he's my favorite. So what piece were you planning to perform?”

“Nocturne in Eb, then after that Debussy's Clair de Lune...I was thinking of working with on a theme. I told the maestro I preferred a classical period piece, something not Mozart or Beethoven.”

Nichkhun smiled at me, amused, “That only leaves Haydn, and you don't seem the type either. What's wrong with romantic pieces?”

I shrugged, “I just have difficulty with the expression.” I was pretty sure Maestro Arrau had already told Nichkhun about it, no point in leaving that one detail a secret. Actually, I don't think it ever was a secret.

“Maybe you just need to relax.”

Relax. Somehow, when he said that, I think I tensed up even more. Nichkhun was looking at me with such gentle eyes that I knew it was silly feeling as awkward as I was. I wish I knew what he was thinking. It was already too much in itself that he was right here with me. It felt like a dream I did not want to wake up from at all. There was something wrong about the scenario that I couldn't quite place, it kept nagging at the back of my mind, but Nichkhun was assaulting my senses up front.

He smelled like the sun, if that made sense. Behind him, the large panel windows reflected the fluorescent lights illuminating Nichkhun from behind. Any lighting made him look perfect just as he was. His smile was brilliant as he sat next to me, and my brain was slowly blocking off all conscious efforts of sensible thought.

"When I was a kid my piano teacher used to have this fun exercise for me during those times I'd be so frustrated with my progress.”

My gaze shifted back to Nichkhun as he pulled out some sheet music from his bag and laid them out on the music stand. Mozart's Piano Sonata for two pianos, first movement. Nichkhun stood up, bringing along the music sheets for second piano with him, and sat on the other piano next to mine.

“You take first piano, I'll take second. Don't worry too much, just go ahead and play.”

I nodded at him, unsure of what this was supposed to accomplish. The notes ran up and down before my eyes, I've heard this piece before, and I was pretty confident I could play this piece accurately. I laid my fingers delicately on the fingerboard soaking up the feeling of the keys under my fingers. My eyes flitted towards Nichkhun, and our eyes met momentarily. With a nod and a breath, we started playing together.

The opening movement begins with a strong introduction with the two pianos interlocking, playing the main theme simultaneously. Every so often Nichkhun would skip a note or a beat, and the two pianos would sound painfully unsynchronized. The main purpose of a duet was to make two pianos sound as one, to create from one type of instrument, music that was full and rich. The first movement was an allegro con spirito, suffice to say it was not one of my strongest suits either, but Nichkhun was getting rather annoying with with his seemingly random bursts of misreading the notes and tempo. Well, I was good enough a pianist to follow and even predict his jumps and odd beats.

When the two pianos bifurcated in the exposition of the main melody, Nichkhun's accompaniment was unruly and missed the harmonizing as I played the main theme, but during the second exposition, when the two pianos switched roles, there was suddenly this strange gut feeling that overwhelmed me. Suddenly my fingers were moving on their own accord, instinctively matching Nichkhun's playing. A wave of euphoria washed over me and the wind was knocked out of me as both our playing became more and more spirited, more and more passioned. Just when I thought the music was about to take over me completely, it had to end, and the piece recapitulated into a close.

I was out of breath, and so was he when we ended. Our eyes met again, and Nickhun's soft smile sent warm tingles all over my body. “Amazing, isn't it?”

I nodded at him, still very unsure of what to say to him.

“My teacher always said, that when you get frustrated, you need to remember why you're doing what you do in the first place.” he gathered the music sheets together and tapped them until each sheet was aligned with each other, “Mozart composed this piece for a student, the point was to have fun and not be too concerned with the technicality of playing.”

I could only stare dumbly at him, eventually I lowered my gaze, and I sensed him shuffle to stand and leave.

“It's getting late, I'll walk you home.”