Piano Man - a X-mas fic
Title: Piano Man
Disclaimer: Don’t own anything. Song by Billy Joel.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings/Spoilers: none
Words: ~3300
Summary: J2AU. It’s Christmas Eve and Jared has to work the hotel bar… but he’s not the only one working.
December 24,
Jared sighed looking around the mainly empty bar. Only few patrons had found their way out of their rooms and into the hotel bar. It was a Thursday and they were usually moderately visited, but even for a weekday the custom was slow. Jared couldn’t really hold it against anyone though since it was Christmas Eve and people ought to be at home with their loved ones singing Christmas Carols and drinking eggnog.
The management had decorated the bar with little stars and dim lights to bring out the Christmas spirit and Jared was wearing a red Santa hat with white trim and pom-pom. He flicked the tip of the hat out of his face and checked to see that the warm eggnog they had ready for anyone who was in the mood wasn’t gonna burn.
He was not in the best of moods that day but he kept a ready smile for the customers on his face whenever he took an order. The people scattered around the hotel bar Jared worked at seemed to be in a more gloomy mood than usual as well. Half of them were already halfway to being really badly drunk and the other half was glowering into their drinks. Most customers came in on their own obviously lonely on a day that was supposed to be the time to gather family and friends. It made Jared sad. Of course it was only worse since he himself was part of the crowd of loners who sat in a hotel bar during the holidays.
Jared was in his last year of grad school and usually worked the weekends here as well as some shifts at Starbuck's to pay his tuition. His family had been short in money ever since his dad lost his job a year ago and Jared even if he had taken up extra shifts, he couldn’t afford to fly home for Christmas. On Jared’s bed in his tiny apartment lay a huge care package his mother had sent him including cookies and his Christmas present. A small smile pulled on his mouth as he thought about opening it tomorrow morning. He didn’t have a tree to put it under, but he would call his parents and siblings to wish them merry Christmas.
Jared usually didn’t work Thursdays but weekends - and obviously holidays. His bar was part of the biggest hotel in the city and usually things were pretty busy. Today though, he worked it all by himself because it was a cozy place with not too many tables and only beverages to be served and they didn’t expect many patrons. The restaurant next door was definitely more frequented that night and Jared had been told to go there and ask for a waitress to help out if against expectations, the bar would be overrun. It was 10pm and so far he hadn’t overworked himself, so he thought the waitresses would be save for tonight.
“Hey.”
Jared looked up from cleaning glasses to see a slightly familiar face. The guy was gorgeous with a slightly mischievous smile on full lips and bright green eyes over freckled cheeks. Jared remembered having seen him once before but not up close. He remembered that the guy played the piano quite well but he sang even better. He had helped out his friend Sandra on a busy Tuesday a few weeks earlier. When asked she had told him that the “piano man” played on Tuesdays and Thursdays… obviously that included holidays as well.
“Hi”, he answered the man’s smile with one of his own because if a hot guy smiled at him, he could hardly keep on scowling.
Jared dried his hands quickly as a hand was extended to him in greeting. “I’m Jensen, I’m the entertainment for tonight.”
Jared bit his lip to keep in an unfitting remark about how Jensen could entertain him all night long if he wanted, instead saying. “Jared… Jay. I’m the barkeep”, he added with a grin.
“Really? I’d never have guessed.”
Jared felt warmth pool into his stomach as Jensen gave him a brilliant smile. Jared couldn’t help but do the same and he wondered how easily his spirits were raised. “For the entertainment drinks are free. Can I get you anything?”
“What does one drink on Christmas Eve?”
Jared bit his bottom lip smiling. “One eggnog coming right up, then.”
The low chuckle answering him made his steps falter as he moved towards the pot of warm liquid. Jared couldn’t help but wonder that someone like Jensen was alone on the holidays as well. Maybe fate was smiling at him for once. While he filled the eggnog into a cup, Jensen made his way towards the piano placed at the head of the room, pulling off his jacket, gloves and scarf and storing them out of sight. He wore dark jeans and a black turtleneck and Jared wondered how he could find that ensemble as sexy as he did.
He grabbed a napkin and walked over, setting the cup on it on top of the piano. “Here you go.”
Jensen looked up smiling as he opened the lid over the keys. “Thanks.” Jared nodded and already turned to go back behind the bar as a hand grabbed his wrist. He looked back down at the other man with a startled but not unfriendly frown. “I’ll sing you a song if you give me the hat”, Jensen said with mischief sparkling in his eyes.
Jared laughed and pulled the hat off his head. “You’re gonna sing all night anyway.”
“True… But you can make a wish.” He took the hat and pulled it over his dark blond hair. Jared grinned at how goofy the guy looked and the fact that red just wasn’t his color, but that made it only more adorable.
“Just go with the mood… It’s Christmas after all.”
Jensen nodded and set his fingers on the piano keys starting to play a variation of some melody Jared should have known, but didn’t quite remember, not singing along yet as Jared walked back to his workplace thinking that maybe Christmas wasn’t so horrible this year after all.
After finishing his piano intro the first song Jensen was singing made Jared grin. He would have bet that it was his opening number of every evening and what gave him his name with the staff.
It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old man sitting next to me
Makin’ love to his tonic and gin
Jared grinned as he looked around the bar. Some of the gloomier patrons stopped glaring at the ice in their glasses and rather started to listen to the whiskey and honey voice of the green eyed man on the piano. The song was bitter sweet and despite not being a Christmas song by a long shot, everyone in the bar could feel just how much it befitted them sitting here drinking instead of being with people they loved.
He says, son, can you play me a memory?
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man’s clothes
La la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da
Jared couldn’t help smiling as Jensen hummed the part that was originally played by a harmonica because the man’s voice was so much better than any squeaky instrument. His fingers were gliding over the keys of the piano with ease and Jared noticed that Jensen hadn’t produced any sheet music but was playing by heart.
Sing us a song, you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feelin’ alright
It was only the first song but Jared was already sure that he’d enjoy this evening. He could appreciate good music and Jensen had a voice that was warm and bitter sweet and melted Jared just a little. He hoped Jensen would finish his eggnog soon just so there was an excuse for Jared to go over to him and maybe talk a little more between sets.
Now Jay at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
Jared’s eyes snapped to Jensen in the fraction of a second and he was pretty sure that the original song didn’t have his name in it. It made him grin madly as Jensen’s green eyes looked at him and the musician gave him a bright smile and an acknowledging nod. So it had been a deliberate change of text. The thought made Jared’s stomach flood with warmth.
And he’s quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But there’s someplace that he’d rather be
Jared couldn’t look away anymore, his smile flowing into a frown as he was entranced by Jensen’s singing. He was pretty sure that this was the original text again but the words still rang true in his ears because until Jensen came, he would have given anything to be home.
He says, Jen, I believe this is killing me.
As the smile ran away from his face
Jensen held Jared’s gaze as he sang on making the bartender wonder if the guy was psychic or if he was just too easily playing along. Whatever it was, those green eyes were trailed just on him and Jared revelled in the attention since he hardly got a second look from any of his depressed patrons all night. It was Christmas Eve and Jared was far from home and working… but at least he had green eyes all to himself.
Well I’m sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place
Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da
Jared clapped his hand over his face to keep from laughing out loud. Him a movie star? No way. He was too big and clumsy for such a thing. But he’d remember to call the other man Jen when he he had a chance to speak to him again. He kinda liked the sound of that.
The next verse didn’t even register with Jared as he just watched Jensen’s hands skillfully dance over the piano as the man bowed his head a little while singing. He didn’t use a microphone, didn’t need one for the small room of the bar since his voice resonated from the walls and Jared was sure that was a sign that Jensen was a really great singer. But even without it, the voice as well as the man using it had Jared in a tight grip. Damn, he was so gone.
Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it’s better than drinkin’ alone
The very last sentence of the last verse hit Jared like a freight train. This was his song. He had told Jensen to go with the mood and although he had thought of Jingle Bells rather than this classic it hit the mood more perfectly than any holiday jingle could ever have. It was the one thing that connected all those in this room, this bar. They were all alone on Christmas Eve and they didn’t come here because it was cool to be seen alone in a bar on the holidays but because drinking alone was so much worse. It was the reason Jared had taken up the holiday shift. He had decided that earning some extra cash was better than sitting alone in his apartment while all his friends were gone and his family was celebrating Christmas without him.
The song ended after a little piano solo and a few patrons clapped. Jared joined them. He couldn’t really say why, but he was beyond glad that Jensen was playing tonight. It might not make a big difference in the big picture but somehow Jared felt less alone. They didn’t even know each other, had only exchanged a few words, but Jared felt understood in a scary kind of way.
The first set ended after an hour of a weird mix between Jazz standards, soft rock ballads and a few Christmas songs. Jensen played one or two requests from the guests and otherwise seemed to flow though a sea of music, picking whatever seemed right at just that time and place. Jared wondered just how many hours of piano lessons and rehearsing and playing in front of an audience had made Jensen so comfortable with himself as he just let the tune flow through the room, singing with what seemed to be all his heart and not once taking out sheet music. How big the guy’s repertoire was, Jared could only guess.
Jensen anounced a small break and got up from the piano stool bringing his now empty cup along as he meandered towards the bar. He flopped down on the stool closest to Jared and grinned, handing over the cup. “Refill please?”
Jensen knew that his drinks were for free but still he gave Jared the sweetest pretty-please-smile the barkeeper had ever seen. He took the cup and filled it up again, setting it in front of Jensen on a fresh napkin. “That was a nice set.”
“Thanks. Did you like the piano version of White Christmas?” Jensen asked while playfully tossing the white bobble on the end of the borrowed Santa hat from one side of his face to the other with a grin.
Jared chuckled and nodded. “It was dreamy.” The sparkling grin that extended to green eyes made Jared feel warm, as if he had consumed a good amount of his eggnog by himself.
“So, why are you tending bar during the holidays?” Jared hadn’t expected that question but held Jensen’s scrutinizing gaze. It wasn’t really his business but Jared just shrugged and gave him a small smile.
“I couldn’t afford flying home this year and so I have nothing better to do.” He watched as Jensen nodded, obviously satisfied with the answer and Jared leaned on the bar in front of him. “So, why are you playing in a bar during the holidays?”
Their eyes were still locked and Jared saw a crooked smile spreading on Jensen’s lips. “It’s a Thurday. I aways play on Thursdays.”
Jared cocked his head in interest. “But it’s Christmas Eve.”
“… and I have nothing better to do. School’s over until after New Year and there are worse things than singing during the holidays.”
“School?” Jared quirked his eyebrow wondering since he would have guessed that Jensen was a few years older than him. If he was still in school he was definitely a late bloomer.
The smile that answered his one-syllable question showed him that Jensen knew exactly what he had thought. “I’m a music teacher at high school. I just like playing the piano man twice a week.”
Jared nodded, feeling stupid to not have thought of the possibility of Jensen actually standing in front of the class. Music teachers were required to play the piano, right? Still, Jared was sure that Mrs. Johnston, his high school music teacher, was anything but a secret Jazz talent. “That’s pretty cool… that you like to play in front of an audience regularly. It would be a shame to keep your singing to the classroom only.”
Jared was forever grateful for the extra light of the Christmas decorations as he saw Jensen blushing from the compliment. Jared was damn sure that all high school girls were swooning over this particular teacher.
Jensen shot him one last grin before grabbing his newly filled cup of eggnog and jumping off the stool. “Two sets to go. Wish me luck!” Jared rolled his eyes because he was damn sure that this performance had nothing to do with luck.
Around midnight, the bar started emptying rapidly and while it had been scarcely visited before, it was sadly empty by half past one in the morning.Jensen wrapped up his third set with a little piano improvisation that lasted five minutes after the last patron had payed their bill and left the now unoccupied bar. Jared smiled to himself about Jensen playing for his ears only while he wiped down tables and put up chairs.
When Jensen finished his song, his fingers stilled on the keys, not moving away for a few seconds as if to say goodbye to the instrument underneath his talented hands. Jared put down his wet rag and started clapping his appreciation. That seemed to break Jensen’s trance and he looked up, startled at first but then shooting Jared a tired smile as he closed the piano’s lid over the keys. He had been there for over three hours and even though Jensen had made two breaks it was still a long time to sing and play.
When Jensen got up, he grabbed his cup and carried it behind the bar to drop it where the other yet unwashed glasses stood. Jared put the last chairs on the tables before going back to clean up the bar. It would be another hour until he would be able to leave and the place was all clean and locked down. The other man sat on is usual stool on the bar, pulling on gloves and a scarf. Jared regretted that he couldn’t leave right away because maybe Jensen had to walk in the same direction as himself. But the musician looked tired to the bone and Jared knew that there was no way Jensen would stay until he was done closing up. Still he wanted to see the other man again. Something had clicked and Jared found himself contemplating working the weekday shifts even though it would clash with his school.
“Thanks for the drinks, Jared.”
The barkeeper snapped out of his thoughts and gave Jensen a small smile. “No problem, you worked for it… Thanks for playing tonight, Jen. It made the whole evening so much more bearable.”
Jensen gave him a wide smile and pulled Jared’s red Santa hat off his blondish hair. “C’mere, Jay.”
Jared frowned but stepped up to the bar so only the wooden surface of the wrap around table seperated them. Jensen leaned forward and pulled the hat over Jared’s shaggy hair. Jared couldn’t help laughing but stopped the moment he felt Jensen’s hand taking hold of the back of his head pulling forward. Jared let himself be guided as green eyes came closer and closer to his face.
When their lips met Jared couldn’t help a little sigh escaping him. Jensen’s lips were soft and warm and Jared practically melted against them. It was a chaste kiss, only lips on lips, soft, slow, hoping and Jared held his breath until Jensen pulled back, biting his lip shyly but smiling around his teeth at what they had just done.
“Merry Christmas, Jay”, he said slipping off his stool and gabbing his jacket.
“Merry Christmas, Jen.” Jared was still to startled to hold the other man back as Jensen gave him one last smile before turning around and heading for the exit. Jared’s eyes went wide at the thought that Jensen was leaving and his mouth worked mutely as he tried to think of something, anything, to say. That was when he felt the napkin beneath his fingers and looked down. It was one of the napkins he had given Jensen for his eggnog. There was a phone number on it and a someone had drawn a smiley wearing a Santa hat into the corner.
Jared grinned, fingers stroking over the writing. This was a Christmas present he hadn’t expected. Maybe not being home for Christmas was the best thing that could have happened to him.
THE END - Merry Christmas
More Oneshots in this Verse: Your Song and Maybe I'm Amazed
Disclaimer: Don’t own anything. Song by Billy Joel.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings/Spoilers: none
Words: ~3300
Summary: J2AU. It’s Christmas Eve and Jared has to work the hotel bar… but he’s not the only one working.
December 24,
Jared sighed looking around the mainly empty bar. Only few patrons had found their way out of their rooms and into the hotel bar. It was a Thursday and they were usually moderately visited, but even for a weekday the custom was slow. Jared couldn’t really hold it against anyone though since it was Christmas Eve and people ought to be at home with their loved ones singing Christmas Carols and drinking eggnog.
The management had decorated the bar with little stars and dim lights to bring out the Christmas spirit and Jared was wearing a red Santa hat with white trim and pom-pom. He flicked the tip of the hat out of his face and checked to see that the warm eggnog they had ready for anyone who was in the mood wasn’t gonna burn.
He was not in the best of moods that day but he kept a ready smile for the customers on his face whenever he took an order. The people scattered around the hotel bar Jared worked at seemed to be in a more gloomy mood than usual as well. Half of them were already halfway to being really badly drunk and the other half was glowering into their drinks. Most customers came in on their own obviously lonely on a day that was supposed to be the time to gather family and friends. It made Jared sad. Of course it was only worse since he himself was part of the crowd of loners who sat in a hotel bar during the holidays.
Jared was in his last year of grad school and usually worked the weekends here as well as some shifts at Starbuck's to pay his tuition. His family had been short in money ever since his dad lost his job a year ago and Jared even if he had taken up extra shifts, he couldn’t afford to fly home for Christmas. On Jared’s bed in his tiny apartment lay a huge care package his mother had sent him including cookies and his Christmas present. A small smile pulled on his mouth as he thought about opening it tomorrow morning. He didn’t have a tree to put it under, but he would call his parents and siblings to wish them merry Christmas.
Jared usually didn’t work Thursdays but weekends - and obviously holidays. His bar was part of the biggest hotel in the city and usually things were pretty busy. Today though, he worked it all by himself because it was a cozy place with not too many tables and only beverages to be served and they didn’t expect many patrons. The restaurant next door was definitely more frequented that night and Jared had been told to go there and ask for a waitress to help out if against expectations, the bar would be overrun. It was 10pm and so far he hadn’t overworked himself, so he thought the waitresses would be save for tonight.
“Hey.”
Jared looked up from cleaning glasses to see a slightly familiar face. The guy was gorgeous with a slightly mischievous smile on full lips and bright green eyes over freckled cheeks. Jared remembered having seen him once before but not up close. He remembered that the guy played the piano quite well but he sang even better. He had helped out his friend Sandra on a busy Tuesday a few weeks earlier. When asked she had told him that the “piano man” played on Tuesdays and Thursdays… obviously that included holidays as well.
“Hi”, he answered the man’s smile with one of his own because if a hot guy smiled at him, he could hardly keep on scowling.
Jared dried his hands quickly as a hand was extended to him in greeting. “I’m Jensen, I’m the entertainment for tonight.”
Jared bit his lip to keep in an unfitting remark about how Jensen could entertain him all night long if he wanted, instead saying. “Jared… Jay. I’m the barkeep”, he added with a grin.
“Really? I’d never have guessed.”
Jared felt warmth pool into his stomach as Jensen gave him a brilliant smile. Jared couldn’t help but do the same and he wondered how easily his spirits were raised. “For the entertainment drinks are free. Can I get you anything?”
“What does one drink on Christmas Eve?”
Jared bit his bottom lip smiling. “One eggnog coming right up, then.”
The low chuckle answering him made his steps falter as he moved towards the pot of warm liquid. Jared couldn’t help but wonder that someone like Jensen was alone on the holidays as well. Maybe fate was smiling at him for once. While he filled the eggnog into a cup, Jensen made his way towards the piano placed at the head of the room, pulling off his jacket, gloves and scarf and storing them out of sight. He wore dark jeans and a black turtleneck and Jared wondered how he could find that ensemble as sexy as he did.
He grabbed a napkin and walked over, setting the cup on it on top of the piano. “Here you go.”
Jensen looked up smiling as he opened the lid over the keys. “Thanks.” Jared nodded and already turned to go back behind the bar as a hand grabbed his wrist. He looked back down at the other man with a startled but not unfriendly frown. “I’ll sing you a song if you give me the hat”, Jensen said with mischief sparkling in his eyes.
Jared laughed and pulled the hat off his head. “You’re gonna sing all night anyway.”
“True… But you can make a wish.” He took the hat and pulled it over his dark blond hair. Jared grinned at how goofy the guy looked and the fact that red just wasn’t his color, but that made it only more adorable.
“Just go with the mood… It’s Christmas after all.”
Jensen nodded and set his fingers on the piano keys starting to play a variation of some melody Jared should have known, but didn’t quite remember, not singing along yet as Jared walked back to his workplace thinking that maybe Christmas wasn’t so horrible this year after all.
After finishing his piano intro the first song Jensen was singing made Jared grin. He would have bet that it was his opening number of every evening and what gave him his name with the staff.
It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old man sitting next to me
Makin’ love to his tonic and gin
Jared grinned as he looked around the bar. Some of the gloomier patrons stopped glaring at the ice in their glasses and rather started to listen to the whiskey and honey voice of the green eyed man on the piano. The song was bitter sweet and despite not being a Christmas song by a long shot, everyone in the bar could feel just how much it befitted them sitting here drinking instead of being with people they loved.
He says, son, can you play me a memory?
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man’s clothes
La la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da
Jared couldn’t help smiling as Jensen hummed the part that was originally played by a harmonica because the man’s voice was so much better than any squeaky instrument. His fingers were gliding over the keys of the piano with ease and Jared noticed that Jensen hadn’t produced any sheet music but was playing by heart.
Sing us a song, you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feelin’ alright
It was only the first song but Jared was already sure that he’d enjoy this evening. He could appreciate good music and Jensen had a voice that was warm and bitter sweet and melted Jared just a little. He hoped Jensen would finish his eggnog soon just so there was an excuse for Jared to go over to him and maybe talk a little more between sets.
Now Jay at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
Jared’s eyes snapped to Jensen in the fraction of a second and he was pretty sure that the original song didn’t have his name in it. It made him grin madly as Jensen’s green eyes looked at him and the musician gave him a bright smile and an acknowledging nod. So it had been a deliberate change of text. The thought made Jared’s stomach flood with warmth.
And he’s quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But there’s someplace that he’d rather be
Jared couldn’t look away anymore, his smile flowing into a frown as he was entranced by Jensen’s singing. He was pretty sure that this was the original text again but the words still rang true in his ears because until Jensen came, he would have given anything to be home.
He says, Jen, I believe this is killing me.
As the smile ran away from his face
Jensen held Jared’s gaze as he sang on making the bartender wonder if the guy was psychic or if he was just too easily playing along. Whatever it was, those green eyes were trailed just on him and Jared revelled in the attention since he hardly got a second look from any of his depressed patrons all night. It was Christmas Eve and Jared was far from home and working… but at least he had green eyes all to himself.
Well I’m sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place
Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da
Jared clapped his hand over his face to keep from laughing out loud. Him a movie star? No way. He was too big and clumsy for such a thing. But he’d remember to call the other man Jen when he he had a chance to speak to him again. He kinda liked the sound of that.
The next verse didn’t even register with Jared as he just watched Jensen’s hands skillfully dance over the piano as the man bowed his head a little while singing. He didn’t use a microphone, didn’t need one for the small room of the bar since his voice resonated from the walls and Jared was sure that was a sign that Jensen was a really great singer. But even without it, the voice as well as the man using it had Jared in a tight grip. Damn, he was so gone.
Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it’s better than drinkin’ alone
The very last sentence of the last verse hit Jared like a freight train. This was his song. He had told Jensen to go with the mood and although he had thought of Jingle Bells rather than this classic it hit the mood more perfectly than any holiday jingle could ever have. It was the one thing that connected all those in this room, this bar. They were all alone on Christmas Eve and they didn’t come here because it was cool to be seen alone in a bar on the holidays but because drinking alone was so much worse. It was the reason Jared had taken up the holiday shift. He had decided that earning some extra cash was better than sitting alone in his apartment while all his friends were gone and his family was celebrating Christmas without him.
The song ended after a little piano solo and a few patrons clapped. Jared joined them. He couldn’t really say why, but he was beyond glad that Jensen was playing tonight. It might not make a big difference in the big picture but somehow Jared felt less alone. They didn’t even know each other, had only exchanged a few words, but Jared felt understood in a scary kind of way.
The first set ended after an hour of a weird mix between Jazz standards, soft rock ballads and a few Christmas songs. Jensen played one or two requests from the guests and otherwise seemed to flow though a sea of music, picking whatever seemed right at just that time and place. Jared wondered just how many hours of piano lessons and rehearsing and playing in front of an audience had made Jensen so comfortable with himself as he just let the tune flow through the room, singing with what seemed to be all his heart and not once taking out sheet music. How big the guy’s repertoire was, Jared could only guess.
Jensen anounced a small break and got up from the piano stool bringing his now empty cup along as he meandered towards the bar. He flopped down on the stool closest to Jared and grinned, handing over the cup. “Refill please?”
Jensen knew that his drinks were for free but still he gave Jared the sweetest pretty-please-smile the barkeeper had ever seen. He took the cup and filled it up again, setting it in front of Jensen on a fresh napkin. “That was a nice set.”
“Thanks. Did you like the piano version of White Christmas?” Jensen asked while playfully tossing the white bobble on the end of the borrowed Santa hat from one side of his face to the other with a grin.
Jared chuckled and nodded. “It was dreamy.” The sparkling grin that extended to green eyes made Jared feel warm, as if he had consumed a good amount of his eggnog by himself.
“So, why are you tending bar during the holidays?” Jared hadn’t expected that question but held Jensen’s scrutinizing gaze. It wasn’t really his business but Jared just shrugged and gave him a small smile.
“I couldn’t afford flying home this year and so I have nothing better to do.” He watched as Jensen nodded, obviously satisfied with the answer and Jared leaned on the bar in front of him. “So, why are you playing in a bar during the holidays?”
Their eyes were still locked and Jared saw a crooked smile spreading on Jensen’s lips. “It’s a Thurday. I aways play on Thursdays.”
Jared cocked his head in interest. “But it’s Christmas Eve.”
“… and I have nothing better to do. School’s over until after New Year and there are worse things than singing during the holidays.”
“School?” Jared quirked his eyebrow wondering since he would have guessed that Jensen was a few years older than him. If he was still in school he was definitely a late bloomer.
The smile that answered his one-syllable question showed him that Jensen knew exactly what he had thought. “I’m a music teacher at high school. I just like playing the piano man twice a week.”
Jared nodded, feeling stupid to not have thought of the possibility of Jensen actually standing in front of the class. Music teachers were required to play the piano, right? Still, Jared was sure that Mrs. Johnston, his high school music teacher, was anything but a secret Jazz talent. “That’s pretty cool… that you like to play in front of an audience regularly. It would be a shame to keep your singing to the classroom only.”
Jared was forever grateful for the extra light of the Christmas decorations as he saw Jensen blushing from the compliment. Jared was damn sure that all high school girls were swooning over this particular teacher.
Jensen shot him one last grin before grabbing his newly filled cup of eggnog and jumping off the stool. “Two sets to go. Wish me luck!” Jared rolled his eyes because he was damn sure that this performance had nothing to do with luck.
Around midnight, the bar started emptying rapidly and while it had been scarcely visited before, it was sadly empty by half past one in the morning.Jensen wrapped up his third set with a little piano improvisation that lasted five minutes after the last patron had payed their bill and left the now unoccupied bar. Jared smiled to himself about Jensen playing for his ears only while he wiped down tables and put up chairs.
When Jensen finished his song, his fingers stilled on the keys, not moving away for a few seconds as if to say goodbye to the instrument underneath his talented hands. Jared put down his wet rag and started clapping his appreciation. That seemed to break Jensen’s trance and he looked up, startled at first but then shooting Jared a tired smile as he closed the piano’s lid over the keys. He had been there for over three hours and even though Jensen had made two breaks it was still a long time to sing and play.
When Jensen got up, he grabbed his cup and carried it behind the bar to drop it where the other yet unwashed glasses stood. Jared put the last chairs on the tables before going back to clean up the bar. It would be another hour until he would be able to leave and the place was all clean and locked down. The other man sat on is usual stool on the bar, pulling on gloves and a scarf. Jared regretted that he couldn’t leave right away because maybe Jensen had to walk in the same direction as himself. But the musician looked tired to the bone and Jared knew that there was no way Jensen would stay until he was done closing up. Still he wanted to see the other man again. Something had clicked and Jared found himself contemplating working the weekday shifts even though it would clash with his school.
“Thanks for the drinks, Jared.”
The barkeeper snapped out of his thoughts and gave Jensen a small smile. “No problem, you worked for it… Thanks for playing tonight, Jen. It made the whole evening so much more bearable.”
Jensen gave him a wide smile and pulled Jared’s red Santa hat off his blondish hair. “C’mere, Jay.”
Jared frowned but stepped up to the bar so only the wooden surface of the wrap around table seperated them. Jensen leaned forward and pulled the hat over Jared’s shaggy hair. Jared couldn’t help laughing but stopped the moment he felt Jensen’s hand taking hold of the back of his head pulling forward. Jared let himself be guided as green eyes came closer and closer to his face.
When their lips met Jared couldn’t help a little sigh escaping him. Jensen’s lips were soft and warm and Jared practically melted against them. It was a chaste kiss, only lips on lips, soft, slow, hoping and Jared held his breath until Jensen pulled back, biting his lip shyly but smiling around his teeth at what they had just done.
“Merry Christmas, Jay”, he said slipping off his stool and gabbing his jacket.
“Merry Christmas, Jen.” Jared was still to startled to hold the other man back as Jensen gave him one last smile before turning around and heading for the exit. Jared’s eyes went wide at the thought that Jensen was leaving and his mouth worked mutely as he tried to think of something, anything, to say. That was when he felt the napkin beneath his fingers and looked down. It was one of the napkins he had given Jensen for his eggnog. There was a phone number on it and a someone had drawn a smiley wearing a Santa hat into the corner.
Jared grinned, fingers stroking over the writing. This was a Christmas present he hadn’t expected. Maybe not being home for Christmas was the best thing that could have happened to him.
THE END - Merry Christmas
More Oneshots in this Verse: Your Song and Maybe I'm Amazed