A/N: This was just a little story that I felt inclined to write. It's a bit of a songfic. Okay, it's a full-fledged songfic. The song, as you may have guess from the title, is Piano Man by Billy Joel. The setting is a bit AU, but not really... I guess it's all in how you take it. It's not my best, but I had fun writing it. :) The main character is Shiro Takaoji. Remember him? He's the elementary school kid who wanted Tamaki's help on how to make woment happy. Just thought you should know that. The italicized parts are either exact or approximate quotes from Piano Man. Figured you should know that too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club, nor do I own the song Piano man. It is a very sad day.
Well, it was nine o'clock on a Saturday as the regular crowd shuffled in. He sat on his barstool and watched the people make love to their drinks. There was one man in particular that stood out to Shiro Takaoji. The man guzzled down his tonic and gin. His blonde hair was beginning to whiten in places though his violet eyes seemed to still have a youthful sparkle in them. He quietly held his wife's hand as she sipped at her drink. His wife was a content-looking woman with big brown eyes and long hair. For some reason, the couple looked familiar to Shiro. He just couldn't put his finger on why.
The man turned to him and said, "Son, can you play me a memory? I'm not really sure how it goes… It's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man's clothes." The man's wife smiled at him sweetly as he began to make his way to the piano.
He was stopped by a two acquaintances of his, Kaoru and Hikaru. They always got him his drinks for free. They were quick with a joke, or to light up your smoke, but there's someplace that they'd rather be. One said, "Shiro, we believe this is killing us." The smiles ran away from their faces. The other added, "We're sure that we could be movie stars, if we could get out of this place." Not knowing what to say, he smiled apologetically and made his way up to the piano.
Before he started to play, he looked around the bar for familiar faces. There Hunny was, the martial arts novelist, who never had time for a wife. He was talking to Mori, who was still in the navy, and probably would be for life. And he watched the waitress, Renge, practicing politics as the businessman, Kyoya, slowly got stoned. Yes, they were sharing a drink they call loneliness. But it's better than drinking alone.
He looked down at the piano keys and looked up when the blonde-haired man called out, "Sing us a song, you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight! We're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feeling alright.".
It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday, he thought to himself. The transvestite manager, Ranka, gave him a wide smile. Ranka knew that it was Shiro that everyone had been coming to see on these Saturday nights. Ranka was not only happy for the business, but he too enjoyed hearing the young man play. I suppose, Shiro thought to himself, that they come just to forget about life for a while.
He took a breath and began to play. The piano, it sounded like a carnival. And the microphone smelled like a beer. They all sat at the bar and put bread in his jar. They said, "Man, what are you doing here?"
Shiro looked at all those faces. They seemed too familiar to be coincidence. When the bar was closing down for the night, the man and his wife, his twin acquaintances, the novelist, the navy man, and the businessman all came up to him. "Well, Shiro," the blonde man began with a twinkle in his eye, "I'm glad that you kept up with your piano playing." The business pushed up his glasses with a smirk.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Shiro demanded. The seven of them all smiled as if they were all in on some kind of inside joke.
The blonde man chuckled and ruffled Shiro's hair with his hand. "It doesn't matter. Shall we go, Haruhi?" he asked his wife.
The woman smiled, "We shall, Tamaki." With that, everyone turned to go.
"Haruhi…Tamaki…Why do I know those names? Why do those seven seem so familiar?" he mused to himself. He shrugged, dismissing the matter indefinitely. "I guess it doesn't matter." And with that, the Piano Man grabbed his coat and went out the door.
"Sing us a song, you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. We're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feeling alright." -Piano Man-Billy Joel