The Pianist

Feeling

Author's note:

Sorry for the late update, classes have been hectic this past month :P I promise we're back to regular updates now, though! Happy reading :)

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Despite your nerves, you were actually managing to play decently well, at first. Your fingers weren't stumbling over the keys at any rate.

But just as you were starting to relax, Professor Min walked by your piano. You felt the lightest feather-touch of his sleeve brush up against your shoulder, and your fingers stumbled.

You winced at the jarring note of dissonance and quickly dropped your face to your piano to avoid Yoongi's look of disapproval.

Was your face burning?? Merde.

You were praying he'd just walk on so you could relax, but to your despair, he was staying firmly rooted in place. You tried to block him out and focus back on your playing, but it was impossible. His strong presence loomed over you, and it was so distracting.

He smelled of mahogany and leather, of black coffee and rain, and his long, slender fingers were folded on the headboard, drawing your eye with their graceful, elegant beauty......

You cringed as you stumbled over a couple more notes. This wasn't like you at all! What happened, you grew a little crush and now all of a sudden you couldn't play??

"Mmmmm." Yoongi hummed a low, velvety rumble in his throat, staring down at you.

You made the mistake of looking up at him, and you immediately wished you hadn't.

He had raised one slightly perplexed eyebrow, but his dark eyes glittered with mirth, and a light smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

It sent your stomach erupting in swooping butterflies.

"Is everything all right, Y/N?" He asked quietly.

God, he was so close....

You cleared your throat. "Yes, perfectly fine, thank you."

But you winced a moment later as you stumbled over another note.

Yoongi's lightly teasing smirk only grew. "My best student stumbling over the keys? That's not like you at all. Are you sure everything is alright?"

Your brain stuttered and stopped as you processed his words.

His best student.

His best student??

You fought down the giddy, ridiculous smile his praise threatened to bring to your lips, and instead tried to summon an annoyed huff.

"Yes, everything's fine. Maybe I'd be able to focus better without you looming over me all the time!"

You bit your tongue immediately after those words left your mouth, regretting lashing out like that.

But Min Yoongi merely raised his eyebrows in amusement and lifted his hands in defeat. "As you wish."

And with that, he walked away.

You breathed out a sigh of relief, releasing the tension you hadn't even noticed was there.

Now you were regretting sending him away. You sighed in real annoyance at yourself, and tried to channel that frustration out on the keys.

Soon, you had gotten your groove back. The notes came with greater ease, and you were thankfully back to normal.

Professor Min heeded your words and stayed away from you the remainder of the class, and you couldn't decide whether to feel grateful or disappointed. At least you weren't making any more mistakes.

"Good!" Min Yoongi clapped his hands, and everyone stopped playing. He rested back on his desk, fingers tapping out a rhythm on the wood. He regarded the classroom seriously, and you all waited to hear what he had to say.

"As you all know, the École des Beaux Arts end of the year concert is in exactly one month."

A murmur rippled through the room.

"Silence!"

The classroom dropped to a hush once again.

"In light of this, we shall be holding individual practice sessions every day for the remainder of the month, so that I may monitor your progress on your concert pieces more closely. I will not have any of you disgracing the good name of the École des Beaux Arts with a subpar performance, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Professor Min!" You all chorused back.

He nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Let's begin. Everyone out. Line up alphabetically and enter one by one. You know the drill."

The scrape of piano benches echoed in the room as you all hastened to obey, jostling each other on the way out the room.

For once, you weren't feeling nervous. You were even looking forward to your turn. The good thing about your Min Yoongi-obsessed weekend was that you had actually made some real progress on your piece. You couldn't wait to show him.

Finally, your turn came.

You entered the empty room, finding Min Yoongi reclining back on his desk, illuminated by a golden shaft of light from the open window. Minuscule dust mites floated in the air, like twinkling stars orbiting around the young pianist. His dark eyes glowed a warm, luminous brown. A deep ache tugged at your heart at the sight. He was almost painfully beautiful. He smiled at you, and gestured to the piano.

You slowly sank down in your seat. Your mind was calm, blissfully clear.

"Shall I stand on the other end of the room?" Min Yoongi asked.

You whirled towards him. Oh. He was teasing, you realized. That tiny little smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. A small, bubbling laugh rose out of you. You shook your head.

"No, that's quite all right. I think I'll manage."

And with that, you started.

The piece unfolded gloriously from your hands.

The rush of power, of accomplishment, of wild, joyous freedom that you felt as your fingers flew over the keys was unlike anything else in the world. This was why you loved piano.

You played up until the halfway mark, and when your fingers started stumbling over the much faster ending repetition of the main melody, you stopped. You breathed heavily, feeling slightly winded.

Ha. Take that, Chopin.

You raised your head to smile at Min Yoongi, and froze at the look on his face.

He was utterly shocked.

You dropped your hands to your lap, now feeling slightly self-conscious. He was still staring at you with that quiet, almost awestruck look on his face. It made you feel......something.

He had never looked at you that way. It was almost like he was seeing you for the first time.

"Where—" he huffed a breathless laugh. "—did that come from?"