Second attempt! Thank you Mariel of Fantasy for the feedback and the tips!
(;;)
The grand piano sat before him lavishly
Tantalising him
Begging to be played
He ran his fingers across the spruce keys in a manner of someone stroking a cat
Lovingly
'Someday I will tame you,' he murmured, 'and then mother will be happy'
(;;)
Learning to play the beautiful instrument before him was not as simple as he had expected
He was having trouble positioning his fingers in a way that made it easy to reach all the keys needed, so he kept messing up lines as his fingers stuttered along ungracefully
His mother found him, hours later, struggling over a poor rendition of 'row row row your boat'
'My, Tamaki, what are you doing?' she asked him softly
'N...n...nothing mother I swear,' he said, like a deer caught in headlights
'You wish to play the piano? Why would a boy your age wish for such a thing?'
'Yes,' he thought 'yes I wish to learn because I love to see the look on your face when you hear the gentle sigh of the chords. I love the way your eyes light up and a small smile appears on your lips'
He looked to his feet
He suspected his father may have played the piano and that's why she loved it so much
'That's wonderful! Well maybe we should get you some lessons?' she said with a smile, the very smile he strived so hard for.
'It's working already!' he thought as he smiled along with her.
(;;)
His piano teacher was a grumpy old man with too much hair in his ears and not enough on his head; the old fashioned music room seemed small as the walls closed in around Tamaki at the old man's every criticism
'No no no! Tamaki! Are you even listening to me? Start again.'
'I'm sorry sir I just, I'm having trouble reading the music' Tamaki admitted
The sheet music was something new he had never seen before but liked immediately despite its difficulty.
Who knew that music had its own written language? A secret tongue only few could read and even less could hope to duplicate.
'What? The right hand is not that difficult! Just remember the rhyme, every good boy deserves fruit!'
'Fruit?' Tamaki thought 'Why would especially good boys deserve fruit don't all boys and girls get fruit?'
'Okay' he said aloud as he repeated the rhyme to himself, 'every good boy deserves, every good boy, every good... every good boy deserves fru... ne, wouldn't it be much more appetising if it were 'every good boy deserves fudge'?'
'Fudge! Now there is something to be deserving of!' he thought with glee
His music teacher simply sighed
'Okay. How about class over for today?'
(;;)
Sitting alone in the music room may have seemed lonely to some but Tamaki was very busy
He practised hard at moving his fingers and reading the music at the same time
'The sooner I learn to play this the sooner Mother will smile and forget about Papa!'
'every good boy deserves fudge' he said aloud
'every good boy deserves'
'every good'
'every good boy'
He happened to glance out the window
He saw children his age
Out with their friends
Out playing all together
It looked like fun
He dragged his eyes from them and back to his sheet music
'I cannot be distracted! This is for Mother! This is for my family!'
'Every good boy deserves' he started repeating again
'every good'
'every good boy deserves...'
He glanced back out the window again, with an unwilling look of longing gracing his features
'every good boy deserves friends' he said to himself sadly
(;;)
Years later he was inches taller and very little wiser
He'd left his mother in Paris and was living with his father in Japan
Well not with his father precisely
But in Japan in a nearby estate about three cities away.
He had very little desire to play the piano anymore and the countless hours he'd spent learning and practising seemed wasted to him now
He had no one to play it to anymore
'Young master, wake up,' came the horrible scratchy cigarette voice of his Nanny from behind the door
...
'Wake up'
...
'YOUNG MASTER!'
He dragged himself up and looked out the window
The sky is grey
Just like the piano that was sitting in the corner gathering dust.
Why would anyone want to do anything on such a horrible day?
He sighed and fell back onto the bed
'YOUNG MASTER WILL YOU...oh fine. Do what you want. I don't care' he waited a minute and then heard her sigh and walk away. Leaving him to do whatever he wanted
He glanced over at his discarded sheet music sitting beside his grime-covered piano
No one wanted to hear him play it anymore
No more loving gaze from his mother as he lightly tapped perfect notes in the right sequence
He no longer needed to make anyone smile
'Well I guess every good boy deserves freedom...' he muttered while thinking that he didn't mind having to make her smile all the time.
(;;)
He found his skills came in handy a while after he created The Host Club.
Thinking of the Host Club always made him smile, he was so proud of his self-created family.
'You need to be able to read the sheet music and play the piano at the same time okay? Remember the rhyme: every good boy deserves fruit' he told the boy he was sitting beside on the piano stool
The kid wanted to learn the piano to impress a girl he liked
'And why would you want to impress this girl?' he remembered asking he kid
'I just... I want to see her smile. I want to hear her laugh again, before she leaves me forever' his reply filled Tamaki with happiness
'Okay but, please promise me that after she leaves you will continue playing' he had said before he started the lessons 'if you're going to make one girl smile you should make them all smile'
'Hey, wouldn't it be much more appetising if it were 'every good boy deserves fudge'?' came Hikaru's voice from somewhere behind him
Tamaki smiled again
Because every good boy deserves family
His mother taught him that.