Author's note: As I have decided to develop the oneshot, I have made some necessary alterations.
The following chapters will have a kind of staccato style with short scenes rather than a flowing narrative, as I believe this best compliments the feel of my original oneshot. I do not know how long it will take me to finish it all, but hopefully it won't be too long.
I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think!
xxx
Feralandfree
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The Man at the Bar
Captain...
Captain Jack Harkness.
Captain Jack Harkness, time agent.
"Good evening, I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He savoured the new word "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service. I'm the Captain. The Captain is speaking."
He assumed a deeper voice and raised an eyebrow, smiling.
"Hello there... I'm Captain Jack."
Ahh, yes, that sounded good.
Captain Jack Harkness, the time agent, was in a good mood.
He didn't quite know where he was but a bar was open and that was all he wanted.
Promotions had to be celebrated by dutifully getting revoltingly drunk and into trouble. It was tradition! And never let anyone say Captain -captain!- Jack didn't follow his traditions seriously. In that spirit he walked into the bar.
The smell of alien drinks, perfume and smoke welcomed him, as did the wink of a particularly interesting barman.
This was very promising.
Then someone attracted Jack's attention for the wrong reason; a man was sitting alone at the bar, in the shadows, morosely cradling a glass.
Often when in a good mood we tend to share and spread the joy, and seeing how sad the man looked and how happy Jack felt, the captain decided to take it upon himself to cheer the poor chap up. The fact that the stranger was also very cute was completely beside the point, totally irrelevant. Empowered and proud of his noble and completely selfless resolve, the captain walked over to him.
"Hi there!" Jack said, sitting next to the man and flashing him his best grin. "What's a handsome fella like you doing, sitting all on your lonesome?"
The man looked up in surprise, then he turned around to make sure that Jack was really talking to him. "Mind if I join you?" Jack continued jovially.
After a moment of hesitation and a meek half-smile, the man nodded at the barman who then turned to Jack. "What's your poison? It's on him."
"I'll have a tumbler of your worst whiskey then, and thanks" Jack smiled at the quiet fellow who had resumed drinking.
"It's such a shame. A tall, good-looking guy, with such nice dark hair, all alone in a corner... There's a lot more fun you can have in company!" he winked.
The man spluttered and started coughing. Jack laughed and gave him a few strong pats on the back, soon he was breathing normally again and apologetically shaking his head.
"Oh well, it was worth a try." Jack mused, taking a good swig of his whiskey. He looked thoughtfully at his drinking partner. "Not much for words, are you?" the man smiled sheepishly as he shook his head. Jack pondered, almost talking to himself "What's bugging you anyway? Trouble with a girl? Don't worry about it, there's plenty to go around..."
The man looked down but his grip tightened around his glass and he shook his head. It was then that Jack noticed the wedding band.
"Ah, I get it now, trouble with the old ball and chain." said the captain, knowingly nodding as he handed the tumbler back to that seriously cute barman. "They always forget to mention marital strife when they're trying to promote marital bliss, don't they? For better or for worse, 'till death do you part...Easier said than done, isn't it? It sounds so boring, too..." "N..No"
Jack raised his brow at the vehemence with which the man said his first word to him.
"N..No...it isn..isn...isn't" The man was panting as he struggled to get the words out. "She was p..p..perfect"
"I'm sorry" Jack muttered softly "I didn't mean..."
"She was fun and b..brave and loud and.."
The man looked up at the captain and in his eyes Jack saw unbridled anger, unbearable frustration and the raw pain of a loving man who hated himself.
"She was p..p...perfect and I c..couldn't even c..call her name."
Jack quietly walked away as a single, lonely tear fell into the glass of a very lonely man.
