Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Written for - The OTP AU Competition, Round 4. Bartender AU.

Haunting Eyes

He was a successful business man. He wasn't horrible to look at. His friends told him he was funny. He liked to think he was a nice guy. Why then, was he sitting alone in a bar in a town fifty miles away from his home in an attempt to escape his life and his friends and anyone else who would be looking for him? Of course, if his friends knew what he'd walked in on when he returned home from work, they'd probably understand his wish to disappear. He'd thought they were happy. He really thought they had a solid relationship.

Terry clearly had other ideas, and he'd shown Harry just how wrong he'd been about their relationship by having sex with someone else in the bed they shared. Bastard.

"Another?"

The voice startled Harry from his thoughts, and he was slightly surprised to see his glass was empty. He looked up at the bartender and nodded, pushing his glass forward. The only thing he could think of doing at that moment was getting drunk enough to numb the heartache. Said heartache wasn't enough to make Harry disregard the utter beauty of the man behind the bar however.

Long blond hair and grey eyes, a lean figure and a gorgeous arse were proving to be a fairly decent distraction as he watched the man pour him another whisky.

"Bad day?"

Harry nodded again. "Something like that."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"I'd prefer to forget it, in all honesty."

The barman nodded, and Harry could see sympathy in his eyes. Apparently, what Harry was going through was written all over his face. Harry watched him walk away, and enjoyed the view immensely. Shaking his head at himself, he sighed. He was sure the man was straight. All the best men were.

Lucius watched the younger man sitting at the end of the bar. He looked sad about something, and if he had to take a guess, it was love trouble. Probably an argument with a partner. Possibly cheating. Lucius rolled his eyes at himself. He was turning into a gossiping old woman, even if it was only in his own mind. Nonetheless, he kept a check on the dark haired man, watching for any trace of tears, or perhaps anger.

More than once, Lucius had been forced to jump in the middle of fights brought on by the rather bad mixture of negative emotions and alcohol.

"I do hope you're not intending to drive," he murmured quietly, as he handed the man his bill. He'd only had three drinks, but that would still put him well over the legal limit.

"I was planning to find a hotel. Any suggestions?"

"There are three in town. The Old Trafford, which is the cheapest of the three, a b'n'b run by an old couple. The Strapmore, a run of the mill hotel chain, and the Crystal Swan, a more upmarket hotel just down the block."

The man nodded, and Lucius was suddenly struck with the brightness of his green eyes. "Thanks. Which was for the Crystal Swan?"

"Take an immediate left when you go out of the doors, and it's at the bottom of the road. You can't miss it."

"May I leave my car in the parking lot behind the bar until the morning?"

Lucius nodded. "Of course."

"Thank you."

Lucius took the money he was offered for the drinks along with a sizeable tip, and smiled as the man turned to leave the bar. An odd sadness filled him that the out-of-towner was leaving, and Lucius would likely never see him again.

Those eyes... he'd have liked to get to know him better.

It had been a week since Harry found Terry and the flat they shared felt empty to Harry. Following leaving the bar, he'd called Hermione, his best friend and lawyer, and asked her to make sure Terry knew he was to be out by the time Harry returned home the following day, but now Harry was unsure if he even wanted the flat.

Sure it was his, but he had so many memories there with Terry, it just didn't feel like his home any more.

His dreams, when he got any sleep at all, were also confusing him. Grey eyes haunted him, and while he knew who they belonged too, he wasn't sure why he was obsessing so much.

He hadn't spent much time with the barman, and they'd barely spoken. The man was beautiful, that was clear and Harry was sure many appreciated that.

As days passed by, the draw to return to the bar and see the barman again got harder to deny, and so Harry found himself once more climbing into the driver's seat of his car.

Lucius was bored out of his mind. His thoughts, as they often had over the last week, settled on the green eyed man. He really wished he'd asked for a name, perhaps even gone as far as to ask for a date. If he'd at least tried, then perhaps he wouldn't be feeling such regret at just watching the man leave.

A taping broke into his thoughts and he looked down the man he was thinking about watching him curiously.

"I..."

Lucius walked down the bar to where the man stood and raised his eyebrow in greeting. "What can I get for you?"

"I, ah, I know this might seem ridiculous," Harry began nervously, his hand reaching automatically to flatten his hair. "I can't stop thinking about you. And I don't even know if you're... But I'd really like to take you out. On a date. If you'd like?"

Lucius chuckled, thoroughly amused by the anxiousness of the other man. "I finish at seven. You're welcome to wait," he replied smoothly. The other man exhaled visibly with relief. "I'm Lucius."

"Harry."