The Virtuoso and The Muse- A CrankGameplays X Reader

Principium

     I have always hated traveling by plane. Not because I was scared or anything, but just because of the weird looks I would get when I had to buy my cello its own plane ticket or how security always thought every single one of my cases was some weapon of mass destruction. So the onlookers gave me the usual weird stares as some security mutt got its drool all over my flute case. 

"Absolutely ridiculous, don't you think so Charlotte," I whispered to my cello.

Yeah, I name my instruments, what of it? Most musicians do. I'm not going to spend 4+ hours a day with my instrument and not give it a name. 

"I spend my whole life becoming a virtuoso yet I still get treated like a terrorist at the airport."

After many hours I was finally on my plane headed to my new home in LA. I could only hope it would launch my musician career in a better direction. I guess any place in venue would be better than Lockwood, Montana. Don't get me wrong, home was home and I was grateful we lived so close to Billings so I could play at the Alberta Bair Theater, but that was the only concert hall in the state. If I wanted to be taken seriously as a musician I needed more chances to play. 

        After what felt like an eternity, I finally arrived in LA. My parents had it arranged that my car had been transported to LA beforehand and was waiting for me at the airport. I couldn't help but smile at my beat up old minivan. The front bumper was literally falling off and being held on by zipties and the gas milage sucked, but it fit all of my instruments and took my to performances and auditions and that's all I cared about. 

I was playing the most expensive game of tetris trying to get my luggage and instruments to fit. I took a step back to asses my situation. 

Okay, Charlotte (cello) is taking up the middle seat so I need to move Antone (baritone saxophone) next to the luggage.

"Ugh, Antone why are you so heavy?"

Okay, then Winchester (tenor saxophone) can go in the back seat.

"In retrospect I should have put you in first Winchester, because this is very difficult now that I can't reach the backseat."

Shoot, I totally forgot about where Dominic (trombone) was going. He can go on top of Winchester. 

"Dom just work with me here. I really should've planned this out before just rushing into it."

Perfect! Now Scarlett (violin), Descole (trumpet), and Alistair (flute)  can chill in the front seat while Raven (keyboard/synth) sits on the floor next to Charlotte. 

      I should've done more research about living conditions about living conditions in LA because driving through LA traffic was the worst thing I've ever had to experience. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I pulled into my apartment complex. I walked into the building where the owner of the place was waiting for me. He was your average, 6'0 ft. blond hair, blue-eyed guy. He had a little bit of a patchy beard going on but you couldn't see it unless you got close enough to him. 

"Hi," he warmly greeted me extending his hand, "You are (Y/N) I presume?"

I shook his hand, "Yes that's me. Sorry I'm late."

"It's LA. EVeryone is always late. Anyways here is your key to "The Musician's Loft" on floor nine. The elevator is broken however and I would offer to help you move in but I have other important business to take care of. Sorry about that, I hope you get settled in quickly though. Have a nice name. 

The Musician's Loft was the only apartment that allowed me to practice in my home without living in some dingy studio. It was a lovely place, it's rent was just the highest in the building because of that perk, but that wasn't an issue. 

The issue was the fact that I was sweating by the time I got done carrying Charlotte to the fourth floor. I was breathing pretty funkily by the seventh floor, and green spots had appeared in my vision when I got to the ninth floor. 

" Man this *gasp* this freaking sucks," I said mostly to myself. 

"I thought just walking up the nine floors was awful, but you just picked the worst time to move in," a male voice to the side of me said. 

The life of a virtuoso and professional musician is a lonely one. I am quite literally practicing every single chance of the day I get to. I don't really have time for human interaction. For a second I thought that was Charlotte talking and I was going to have to change her name to Charles. I peered over Charlotte to see a guy with blue hair leaning against the wall. He looked like he was amused at my current situation. 

"Charlotte here is a lot heavier than you would think she is."

"I can imagine. Charlotte is a lovely name by the way. I'm Ethan. And you?"

"My name is (Y/N)."

The most adorable smile appeared on his face, "An equally lovely name. I just live down the hall by the way. I heard weird thumping noises on the stairs and decided to investigate. Do you need help with the rest of your stuff?"

"I would love help. Let me put Charlotte inside really quick and then I can introduce you to everyone else."

Ethan suddenly looked very shocked, "Everyone else?"

"Just seven more instruments, plus all of my regular luggage. I bought the Musician's Loft for a reason."

       

          I was very grateful for Ethan's help. I probably would've passed out somewhere on the sixth floor trying to carry up everything by myself. We talked and got to know each other a bit on the trips back up and down. After we brought the last of my stuff into the apartment we both plopped down on the couch exhausted. 

"Thank you so much for your help Ethan. I don't know if I could've done that without you."

"You're welcome. Sorry I'm still trying to wrap my head around why a person needs or has time for eight instruments."

"I spend all of my time either practicing or performing. I love it. It's my life. And I have to work hard. I'm considered to be a virtuoso so I have to keep up that intense schedule. Especially if I want to be taken seriously in the music world. That's why I moved here to LA. Montana just wasn't cutting it."

"No I get it. I moved out here to further my YouTube career. I loved Maine, but I think this will be better in the long run of things."

"Look at us, young little nineteen and twenty year olds moving to the big city to make our dreams come true."

"You know what one of my dreams is right now? To get some food. Let me take you out to dinner?"

I hesitated for a second. Sure this guy was sweet, but I just met him. Plus I still needed to actually unpack and I needed to practice today. I hadn't yet because of traveling. 

"I'm not sure, I've been traveling all day and haven't practiced yet."

"It's just one meal, and you've been traveling all day and you do need to eat something."

Except for the fact that I didn't. I had gone days before without eating simply because my practice session was too good and I didn't want to stop, or my practice session wasn't good enough and I needed the extra time to actually become better. However, I couldn't unload this information onto this new acquaintance and he didn't look like he was going to take no for an answer.

"Alright, but let me pay. That way I can thank you for helping me move in."

"Nope! This is just my way of saying 'Welcome to LA'. You can owe me one favor for helping you move in. Deal?"

I studied him for a second. There was definitely something weird about this guy. Just the way he talked or his body language, something he did just made me roll with whatever he said. I hadn't missed a day of practice since I was 6, but here I was going to miss one because of Ethan, this YouTuber from LA that I had just met.

"Deal."

What are you doing to me Ethan?