Disclaimer: Not mine. Though I WISH.
Note: Written when I was in a...dazzled mood. I don't really know how to describe it.
ALSO: Contains SLASH. As in, people of the same gender in a romantic/sexual relationship. If you're uncomfortable with that, I would suggest turning back now.
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It was soothing. Coming home to house that was actually lived in, not just the building that housed all of his expensive things. Jack Hodgins had gotten used to that feeling.
It was weird now. Zach, his best friend, was gone. It wasn't that Zach actually lived in the house proper so much, but having him close by helped to sooth the loneliness that often pervaded his life after his and Angela's not-marriage. Zach was always willing to watch some weird movie that his "performing" friend gave him (more often the not it turned out to be some strange musical movie). The films were good for a laugh, if nothing else. Often, the songs would get stuck in Zach's head for days afterward, causing him to sing with that phenomenal voice of his that Hodgins never got tired of hearing.
He missed those days. Watching musical where everything turned out perfect, opera where nothing made sense. There was something fantastic about those days, something that separated them from the nights he spent with Angela.
Sure, they may not have been as…physically stimulating, but the after-glow that he felt after having sex was the same sort of cathartic release that he felt during their bi-weekly movie nights.
That terrified Hodgins.
Could he really allow anything to happen to his heart after what Angela had done to it?
Could he really allow himself to fall in love with the oblivious forensic scientist?
Getting up from the couch, Hodgins smiled to himself. It wasn't like he had any control about falling in love with Zach. That had happened the day the taller man had joined their team at the Jeffersonian. Hodgin's hand lingered over the DVDs. Nothing caught his eye, so he continued onto the old VHS tapes that rested on the bottom shelf of his movie collection.
One of those cases wasn't more then a cardstock shell, the kind you get with low-budget sequel films and homemade movies. Cocking his head, Hodgins pulled out the worn electromagnetised tape and read the cover
Die Dreigroschenoper.
He frowned at the name. 4 semesters of German in college failed him all these years later. He was sure he had never purchased the film, as it looked like it was a recording of some kind of stage performance.
Which meant it was Zach's.
Hodgins smiled thinly and went to put the film away when the cast listing on the back of the box caught his attention. He turned over the case, the dusty, cheap paper crumbling a little in his hands. One named caught his attention immediately.
The Street Singer: Zack Addy
Hodgins felt his heart sting a bit while his mind warred on what to do. Watch the movie and have to see the very person he wants to forget. Or watch the movie and see the talents of the very person he may have fallen in love with.
His heart won.
With shaking hands, Hodgins removed the film from its box and placed it to the side. He slowly pushed the tape into the player and sat back to watch.
Within minutes he was destroyed. His original guess has been right. This had to be a recording of a show Zach had performed in the beginning of his undergraduate studies. He was so young but still the same Zach Hodgins knew. He wasn't graceful on stage, he seemed unnatural going through the blocking. But the moment he opened his mouth, Hodgins couldn't help but smile.
That same talent that issued from his throat that fateful day at the Jeffersonian was shown here, maybe a little more nervous and unpolished, but there all the same.
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth dear
And he shows em, pearly white
Just a jack knife has Macheath dear
And he keeps it way out of sight
Two hours later, Hodgins smiled and turned off the film, allowing the show to seep into his brain. If-when he got Zach back into his life, he would make sure that the man would sing again. It was obvious that the younger man had a true love for music that never seemed to mesh with his forensic studies.
Talent like that couldn't be wasted. Love like that couldn't be wasted.
Zach couldn't be wasted.