As he descended down the stairs, the thick smell of cigarette smoke and a horrid mixture of cologne and perfume wafted up to assault his nose. His nose crinkled and his glasses were pushed a bit up his face before returning to sit as they were on the bridge of his nose. Roderich followed the rail with his hands until he was finally underground, inside the bar.

The two waiters were taking the upturned seats of the tables and sliding them down for when the bar finally opened. Behind the counter, an albino stood cleaning the glasses. His crimson eyes followed Roderich and he snickered lightly, doing a poor job of trying to hide the action. This made the brunette's lips slant as he walked onto the stage toward his piano. He sat down on the bench and started to warm up using a simple scale. The sleek black instrument cried out in pain, screaming in sharp tones. Roderich cringed before turning to look back at the bar. The bartender that had been there moments before seemed to have ducked out of his sight.

"Gilbert!" he roared, storming off stage toward the bar.

Hearing his name, he poked his head up and laughed. "Kesesesese~ Like what I did, Specs? It's a whole lot easier to hear now, right?" Gilbert asked.

Roderich nearly reached over to cuff him. He had mentioned to the manager last night that he did not feel the music was carrying correctly and he had asked for a microphone of sorts since redesigning the walls with better acoustics was an outrageous request. "The piano is a musical instrument, not a toy for your personal amusement!" he growled.

"Seemed to amuse you enough so I'd figured I would give it a shot. Guess I don't have the same relationship with her," Gilbert told him with another laugh.

Seeing the fist come down, he ducked in surprise, his eyes growing wide. He lifted his head up again to see furry in the violet orbs that stared back at him. The fist had not been aimed at him, but it had fiercely hit the counter top. Following the arm though, he could see that it was not Roderich who had slammed a fist against the counter. No, the sharply dressed piano man had both of his arms crossed over his chest. The owner of the fist was a tall blonde man with his hair slicked back in complete order. His outer appearance reflected how he planned to run his establishment. "Oh, hey, West," Gilbert greeted his brother with a large grin.

The icy blue eyes that glared at him narrowed more. "Vat did you do this time?" he asked in his thick German accent.

"I was just playing the piano," his brother answered. He tried to seem as innocent as possible, but there was a clear mischievousness in his face that, near permanent on his features, could not be hidden.

"It needs tuned again thanks to him," Roderich told Ludwig.

The manager sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was not an easy task to tune a piano and with no experience himself, he would have to call someone to do it the next morning. He had just lost his entertainment for the evening and most likely a fair amount of money. "I'm sorry," Ludwig apologized for his brother. "You can take the evening off if you vould like or your velcome to stay here..."

"You can help the awesome me run the bar tonight," Gilbert said as he reached over the bar to wrap an arm around Roderich's head as if he were either giving him an awkward hug or preparing to give him a nuggie.

Pushing the arm away from him and slipping under it, the piano man shook his head. "I would rather not..."

"Then you can always help Feli and Lovi."

"Again, no."

"Your loss," Gilbert told him with a shrug as he went back to cleaning the glasses.

Seeing as Roderich was prepared to leave, Ludwig no longer saw a reason to stay around to babysit his brother.

He walked out of the room and headed for his office in the back. A few people had already strolled into the bar. There were maybe four in total, counting the two that were headed straight for the bar. One of them was a blonde Frenchman and the other was a dark haired Spaniard. They were both friends of Gilbert's and they came nearly every night. Both of them came to stand in front of the bar as they greeted their friend.

"Roddy! It's so good to see you," the Spaniard known as Antonio said with a wave. He slipped into one of the stools in front of the bar. The bartender had already slid him a foaming mug of beer, the very kind that the bar was known for. All of the beer was German import and it was one of the many reasons people bothered to stop in.

"You're not leaving are you?" Francis, the Frenchman, asked, frowning some as he gazed at Roderich. The pianist nodded before he was pulled down to sit along with Francis. "Join us for ze evening, mon cher?" He offered an unnecessary wink at the end of his statement as he gazed at him.

With a sigh, he conceded and sat with them. Gilbert grinned widely as he slipped Francis a glass of wine and then gave a mug of beer to Roderich. "Glad you could join us."

The pianist let out a snort before he lifted the glass to his lips. He took a small sip before setting the glass back down. He listened to the three of them talk, not actually interested in the conversation himself. After a few more sips of the drink, he was near prepared to leave, but found one of the waiters had boxed him in.

"What are you bastards doing here again?" the Italian muttered with a glare as he set his tray on the counter along with a slip of paper that had a few drink orders on it.

"Ah, Lovi~ It's so good to see you," Antonio told him with a smile.

"Go the hell home. You're here every night. Don't you lazy asses have jobs?"

"Si. I finish there before I come here."

Lovino grunted, not saying anything more as he picked up his now filled tray. He walked off then toward the few filled tables to give customers their orders. Antonio watched him for a few moments before turning back around to take a sip of his beer.

Francis paused in his own drinking as he pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit the cigarette that was perched between his lips. Once it caught flame, he pocketed the lighter as he took a deep drag from it. He pulled it out before exhaling, the cloud of smoke drifting through the air before disappearing somewhere in the air of the bar. Roderich fanned what drifted in his direction away from himself before he attempted to slip over a seat. An arm snaked around his shoulder though, keeping him in place. The Frenchman smiled lightly as he jerked Roderich toward him. Taking the cigarette out of his mouth once more, he blew more smoke before releasing him and going back to his conversation with Gilbert and Antonio.

An hour later and the pianist had finally made it to his second glass. He had not intended on staying there, but every time he attempted to leave, someone stopped him be it intentional or not. There was a sea of wine glasses surrounding him to the right as Francis had already made it through most of the bottle.

"I trust things are in order..." Ludwig said as he came to stand behind Roderich. His gaze was directed mainly at his brother.

"Ja, ship shape, cap'n," Gilbert told him with a mock salute as he poured Antonio another mug.

Without another word, the manager slid into the seat next to Roderich. His brother slid him over his own towering pint of beer before going to make drinks for some of the other customers.

"Luddy!" a high voice called as the other waiter approached the bar. His tray was full of empty glasses from one table in particular. The auburn haired young man set his tray down before embracing his boss in a hug. "It'sa so good to see you."

"Feliciano," Ludwig said, cheeks taking on a light tinge of pink. Ever since he had stopped a rowdy customer from harming him, the Italian had been rather attached to him. He moved to try and pull the boy's arms off, but Feliciano pulled away after being told all the drinks were ready.

"Aw...'e's so cute," Francis mused, not making it clear who he meant as he gazed at Ludwig even after the Italian boy had left.

Gilbert laughed. "West says he's a handful," he joked with his brother, who apparently did not find the jest as amusing. Ludwig took to sipping his beer until he heard loud shouts from the table that Feliciano was currently serving. A blonde man with rather thick eyebrows was yelling at him in a rather thick slur. Sighing, the manager walked over to the table before kindly escorting the man out. Once that chore was done, he forgot all about his drink and retreated back to his own quarters.

"Catch you guys later," Gilbert called after Antonio and Francis as they headed up the stairs. He began to clean off the counter then and put away the clean glasses. Roderich still sat at the bar with him, his second beer nearly empty in his hand. His nose and cheeks were a light red and his eyes seemed a bit glossy.

"You all right, Specs?" the albino asked as he leaned forward to get a better look at his friend.

"Ja, perfekt," Roderich answered with a light smile.

"Oi! West! I think someone is gonna have to escort Roddy here out or else he might hurt himself..."

After dismissing the two waiters, Ludwig turned to look at his brother and the man who now had his head resting on the counter. He sighed again and shook his head. "Zere are some tings zat need done here. Take him home yourself."

Gilbert grumbled a few choice words under his breath in his native tongue before walking around the bar to the outside. Without much trouble, he was able to tuck his head under Roderich's arm so that he could bear his weight and carry him outside. He found some trouble once he had hit the steps. When he finally made it to the top, the albino grunted with relief. Roderich seemed to be mumbling a few random phrases, none of them intelligible.

Sounding a loud and sharp whistle, Gilbert hailed them both a cab. Through some peeking around in Ludwig's paperwork, he knew where it was that the pianist lived. He gave the driver the address before the man took off. His rubies wondered to the window as he watched the bright lights pass by.

He jolted a bit as a head slumped on his shoulder. Turning to the right, he could see that Roderich had slumped over in the seat next to him. He kept the other there even after he found himself being cuddled against as if he were some type of pillow.

"Lush," Gilbert muttered with a shake of his head. He knew how many drinks the piano man had and he found it hard to believe that he was near to passing out.

"Nein, I'm not..." Roderich muttered, eyes cracking open a bit.

"Go back to sleep," the albino told him with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

In a little under ten minutes, the two found themselves at the apartment building that housed the pianist. Gilbert offered Roderich a hand after he stepped out of the cab. Roderich pushed the hand aside. "I...I can stand up on my own," he protested.

"Yeah, just like you can hold your beer, priss," Gilbert countered as he clutched his hand in his own and pull him up before leading him through the building. Roderich gave him rather poor directions in his drunken state, but eventually got them both there to his room. He handed the albino his keys, knowing now at this point that he would not be able to open the door.

After turning the key in the lock, Gilbert motioned for Roderich to walk in. The pianist nearly stumbled to the floor so the bartender was forced to help him stand and guide him over to his own bed. "Guten nacht, Roddy," Gilbert called after Roderich had curled up under his covers.

"Danke...und guten nacht, Gilbert..." Roderich said in return. His eyes fell closed as he heard his door slam shut behind his friend.

Translation Notes:

Klavier - Piano

mon cher - my dear (male)

Si - Yes

Ja - Yes

perfekt - perfect

Nein - No

Guten nacht - Good night

Danke...und - Thank you...and

Author's Notes:

Finally, I have this written. For a two weeks awhile back, I had the song Piano Man by Billy Joel stuck in my head. It made me picture Roddy working at a bar and the different people who would play the other roles there and thus this story was born. I have obviously tweaked the idea a bit and made it my own to bring you Klavier Lounge. I hope this chapter doesn't seem to choppy to anyone, but I wanted to make sure that I was able to fit in all the characters you would be seeing constantly as well as possibly set up a few of the couples. I hope it doesn't look like I'm trying too hard with this or that any of the characters are out of character. I constantly worry about that happening in my works. I also hope that I didn't assault you with too many other language phrases. I translated them all though and will continue to do so.

Any reviews, praise or hate, would be appreciated.~ Have a suggestion for something that might happen in the bar or something you would like to see happen between the couples? Go ahead and put that into the review too.~