La Douleur Exquise // Muke {Completed}

Voix

Michael hadn't ever actually seen his piano playing neighbour. He wasn't sure what possessed him to play at exactly 3am for exactly half an hour every night either. He didn't know anything about the person below him, but he wanted to know more.

But then what could he say, he couldn't go downstairs and say how much he liked the piano melodies that he heard every night, and then have to explain his stress induced insomnia that he tried to avoid bringing up with people on first meetings.

So Michael hadn't met this person, boy, girl or whatever in between, that hadn't stopped him writing poem upon poem about them. They were never very good, he tried to describe what kind of person they thought it was, by the songs they covered, but at the end of the day they were always sad songs and that's all Michael could figure out about them, that they must be sad.

Michael felt a little like a stalker, trying to fit the pieces of puzzle of his neighbours life together, make the story of their life in his head, it probably wasn't so normal honestly, but it was relaxing on late nights to try and figure out any sort of reason he might be sad.

There weren't any clues Michael was aware of, no yelling or loud noises, in fact, apart from the piano playing, Michael would assume no one actually lived there. And then maybe that was his problem, he was completely alone.

Of course Michael didn't know these things, and really shouldn't be going around making assumptions, but the writer part of himself couldn't help but let his mind wander and make up perhaps crazy suggestions, like most songs sound kinda sad on the piano anyway, it probably didn't mean anything.

Michael sighed. Maybe he was coming up with these crazy ideas just because he was more stressed than usual and needed something to keep his mind busy and off the crippling thoughts of failing life and ending up homeless or dead. That sort of thing happened a lot, after all.

Michael was waiting for his friend Ashton to come around. Ashton and him had been friends since first words were spoke, inseparable since then, though Ashton had his own apartment because they were grown men who had to be slightly independent now. Michael hadn't agreed when Ashton said this.

Ashton himself was a small time director and also the reason why Michael got any jobs in the first place. As well as working alongside Ashton on his sets, Ash always managed to get Michael job at any other sets where he knew people. It was pretty goddamn useful really, and Michael was insanely grateful for Ashton doing that. Only he'd been coming up dry the past couple of months, and Michael was starting to worry.

Speaking of Ashton, he collapsed through the door just as Michael had started pacing, Ash panting and slightly disheveled looking. Then again, Michael could hear the wind outside and apparently the lift was broken, so both those things made sense. Also, Ashton had a key to Michael's apartment, he didn't just knock the door off its hinges to get in.

"I bought you food, coffee, the strange amount of yoghurt you'd asked me to get and snacking foods for you, I assume you haven't been out?" Ashton said hurriedly, brushing down golden curls, trying to tame them, grinning at Michael.

In a way, the two of them were opposites, Ashton being the massive extrovert, whereas Michael was an extreme introvert, not exactly going outside unless it was for work reasons. Ashton was hectic, Michael calm. Ashton loud, Michael quiet, but the two evened the other out, it all worked out.

Michael nodded, walking over and helping Ashton put away the ingredients. Ash was too nice honestly, always buying Michael's food for him and doing his laundry and washing up, basically anything Michael hadn't bothered to do, Ashton would instead.

"So figured out anything more about piano boy?" Ashton asked when on Michael's sofa. Instead of a TV, it looked out onto the view out the window, because that was 'more beautiful than any drama in tv' and also Michael wasn't able to afford both a TV and a computer, he'd decided to buy the better of the two in the end.

Michael shrugged,"What makes you assume they're a boy?" he asked curiously, sitting beside Ashton, looking out the same window as him. In a way, it was more interesting than TV, because the people outside were real, with actual worries and sorrows and joy, and that just made the actions they do so much more interesting, you can find out a lot about a person just from the way they walked.

"I don't know, I just have a hunch," Ashton said absently,"I have a job for you next week, the drummer for the soundtrack for some new small film has dropped out, I immediately signed you up, I would do it, but I'm busy those days, is that alright?"

Michael had never played drums before, despite Ashton always having a kit in his life, he was more of a guitar man himself, but how hard could it be, right? "Sure, why not, I'll practice at yours before then," he added.

Ashton hadn't stayed long, having to rush somewhere new in their hectic lives, so Michael bid him farewell, not moving from the couch, but waving out the window at Ashton, even if he didn't see. It's the thought that counts.

And not long later, Michael heard something completely new, something he hadn't heard before. From downstairs, two voices could be heard talker, and piano boy-no, person, was no longer alone for once.

The beginning is gonna be kind of slow but it gets better I promise

I don't know anything about the film world so expect everything said to do with that to be wrong lmao

I have so many things to rant about but cause this is only the second chapter of this fic I think I'll wait and yell on another fic of mine alrighty l8r sk8rs