Work Text:
Ilyusha had just finished his day at school and he slowly walked through the street, but he was by no means on his way home. Instead, he headed to his friend's house for weekly piano lessons he's been taking for almost half a year now. He was more than eager to learn - he wanted to make use of an old piano he had at home. Frankly, he always wanted to learn yet his father couldn't afford piano lessons for him, therefore so far all he could do was plink keys randomly and hope a nice sound would come out. Lately, his father began contemplating getting rid of the piano, and if it wasn't for Ilyusha basically begging him to leave it, he'd have sold the piano by now.
Ilyusha being able to find someone who was willing to teach him how to play the piano felt like a miracle to him, and in some way it was. The whole thing actually happened by accident, when Ilyusha went to visit another one of his friends - Alyosha.
He carefully knocked on the door of the Karamazovs’ house and waited for a response. He heard a muffled “I’m coming!” from the inside of the house and a few moments later a tall, slender man appeared in the doorframe. Both him as well as Ilyusha seemed disoriented with this strange encounter. The man eyed him up and down and finally asked:
‘May I help you, kid?’
Ilyusha finally snapped out of his astonishment and attempted to look the not-Alyosha in the eyes.
‘Yes, sir, in fact, I came to visit Alyosha Karamazov, he asked me to drop by today and-’ he began explaining chaotically, slightly nervous about the man’s presence. He somehow felt uneasy around adults, sure, every teenager must’ve felt this way but for Ilyusha it was different; he felt incredibly anxious whenever he encountered adults he wasn’t close with, though he still distanced himself from them in one way or another. Alyosha was so far the only exception - Ilyusha treated him as his friend, someone his age instead of viewing him as one of the “scary adults”. Sometimes he wished he could be more like Kolya when it came to relationships with adults; after all he wasn’t afraid to speak to them, and didn't view them as “threats” of any sort, meanwhile Ilyusha got either anxious or aggressive, for whatever reason.
‘Ah, sorry, he’s not there yet. He still has classes but I believe he should come back in about an hour or so.’ replied the man, leaning against the doorframe.
Ilyusha’s eyes widened.
‘Ah, well then, since he’s not home I guess I should…’ he took a step back, looking away.
‘Actually, you can come inside, I could make you some tea while we wait for him to come back, hm?’
‘Hm, I guess that wouldn’t be so bad, sir.’ Ilyusha smiled slightly. Oh no. He was now supposed to spend a whole hour or maybe even more accompanied by someone he barely knew. Besides, that someone was an adult as well. Dang. He preferred that to going home though, as it was quite far away from the Karamazovs’ house.
‘You must be Ilya Snegiryov, is that correct?’ the man asked as they entered the house.
‘Indeed, that’s me. I’m guessing you’re one of Alyosha’s brothers, I’m not sure which one of them though.’ he murmured. Reminding himself the man who greeted him is related to someone who was his friend made him calm down a bit.
‘Ah, I didn’t introduce myself, my name is Pavel, it’s very nice to meet you,’ The man smiled at him warmly as he grabbed the kettle. ‘Don’t hesitate to sit down, would you want to get something to eat?’
Despite the intense hunger he was experiencing, Ilyusha shook his head. He already viewed being able to wait for Alyosha inside the house an act of great kindness and he knew he shouldn’t overuse it. He always felt this way whenever people did nice things to him - he thought he was a burden to them therefore he should try his best to minimise the amount of inconvenience he could possibly make. Why did he feel this way - he had absolutely no clue, and this was what annoyed him the most.
After he prepared the tea, Pavel sat down quietly next to Ilyusha and without saying a word, they began consuming the beverage. The boy felt incredibly awkward, as if he wasn’t supposed to be there. He thought about starting a conversation once or twice, but even when he wanted to, words seemed to not be able to pass through his throat. A nightmare indeed.
Instead, he decided to focus on scanning the environment, he loved looking through people’s houses and noticing all the little things about them. For example, Kolya had plenty of dried flower bouquets hung on the walls and placed in little vessels, they always smelled so nice and looked aesthetically pleasing. All those unique things about people’s homes created a warm and welcoming environment, at least in Ilyusha’s opinion. What he noticed about the Karamazovs’ house is that there were a lot of plants, a ton of them, even. Wherever he looked, he noticed a pot or two were placed, with all different kinds of plants growing peacefully. “Someone must be really into botany,” Ilyusha thought, looking around.
Then, something finally caught his eye. It was an enormous instrument towering in the living room, right across from the door. The one Ilyusha had at home as well and longed to learn how to play it.
‘Woah,’ he exclaimed absent-mindedly. ‘You have a piano at home…’
Congratulations, Mr. Obvious, I couldn't have said it better myself.
‘Yes, I’m glad you noticed!’ Pavel laughed gently, putting his cup of tea down. ‘I’m quite good at playing, would you like to hear?’
The young boy’s eyes widened.
‘I’d love to!’
The next moment he found himself sitting next to the piano a bit awkwardly, as Pavel moved his fingers carefully around the keyboard. The music he was playing was truly beautiful and touching, the man really must’ve worked hard to achieve this level of skill. Ilyusha felt like he could listen to him play forever.
After the finished performance, the boy couldn’t help but flap his hands happily, overjoyed with what he just heard. He breathed heavily.
‘That was GREAT! I’ve never seen anyone play the piano so well before, I think you’re very talented.’
In response, Pavel only rolled his eyes with a grin, blushing slightly.
‘I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano,’ Ilyusha continued, ‘ Would it be okay if I asked you to teach me?’
‘It’d truly be great!’ he responded, after a short while of thinking. ‘We can start now if you want to, here, let me show you the basics.’
And so, he scooted over to make some room for Ilyusha to sit down. The boy realised he didn’t feel like Pavel is a stranger to him anymore, quite the contrary, that he might’ve just formed a new friendship.
‘Hello there!’ Ilyusha entered the house and took his coat off. He was familiar enough with the family that he no longer felt anxious around them, which was truly a relief.
Pavel already knew he was going to come over; after all, they decided to meet up regularly once a week for practice unless something urgent happened. Therefore, he already prepared something for them to drink in between playing the piano. Truthfully, those lessons were far more than just practice, they often used those meetings as an excuse to discuss things that have been going on in their lives, hence why Ilyusha has developed an attachment to Pavel by now.
As the younger boy came up to his friend, they exchanged a hug. Pavel ruffled the youngling’s hair and said:
‘C’mon, show me what you practised.’
Ilyusha sat down at the piano and wiggled his fingers a bit, he always did that to warm up before playing. He put his hands on the keyboard, took a deep breath and began playing the melody of “The Mind Electric”. Playing this song in particular made Ilyusha extraordinarily happy. He always got at least a bit emotional when performing - sometimes he couldn't even continue some of the songs as they made him cry. This one though made every emotion he felt much stronger, it worked like some magical spell. Pavel could tell he must’ve practised almost all the time as he made very few mistakes, if any. Ilyusha really was getting better at playing. And indeed, the boy sacrificed nearly the entirety of his free time to this activity. Playing the piano became more than Ilyusha’s hobby, it was his passion, he seemed to love it more than anything else.
Pavel didn’t even notice he started clapping when the boy was done, he was simply astonished.
‘I see you’re making progress!’ he exclaimed. Ilyusha responded with a humble smile. ‘It looks like you’re having a lot of fun, aren’t you?’
The youngling nodded joyfully - he was clearly proud of himself.
‘And now tell me, kid,’ Pavel got slightly closer, resting his head on one of his hands. ‘How are things between you and Kolya going? Are you happy with each other?’
‘Well, uhm…’ Ilyusha muttered, blush appearing all over his face. He was still kind of embarrassed when talking about such topics with anyone, even his best friend. ‘I think it’s going alright, he’s still shy about the whole thing, but we’re getting there. He’s very adorable in his own, weird way. He tends to avoid pretty much any gestures in public, I can’t blame him though.’
Pavel put his hand on Ilyusha’s shoulder and caressed him gently. He received every single update about this situation and perhaps he’s given Ilyusha some advice about what he should do. To him, that boy was like one of his younger brothers or a nephew; he treated him almost the same way he treated Alyosha. And while yes, there was about ten years of difference between them, they got along amazingly and loved to be in each other’s presence.
Speaking of Alyosha…
‘Ooh you’re having one of your regular piano sessions, aren’t you?’ He peeked into the room with curiosity. ‘Mind if I join you?’
With those words, Alyosha took one of the chairs and sat right next to Pavel.
‘I remember when I was a little boy, Pasha and Mitya used to play the piano for us all the time, I’m very excited to see you play as well! Kolya mentioned you’re getting advanced at playing, I can’t wait to see you perform.’
‘Stop, you’re embarrassing him,’ Pavel elbowed Alyosha playfully, both of them giggling.
‘Well then, I dedicate this piece to Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov, I hope you’ll enjoy!’ Ilyusha laughed gently, then began playing another song he’s been practising so carefully at home.