A.N.: This is the first in a series of drabbles about the five senses.

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: Mine only in my dreams.

Hearing

Piano Man

Steve sat down on the couch, gun cleaning kit supplies spread on the coffee table. He disassembled his gun with practiced ease. "Play something for me babe?" He asked the man that had just entered the room.

"Any requests?"

"Whatever you want baby." He didn't have to look up to know that Max's brow was furrowed, wrinkling his forehead. They had been down this road several times. Steve would request he play for him, Max would ask his choice of song, and he would relinquish it to Max.

Max crossed the sitting room to the impeccably polished piano sitting before the window.

He listened as Max pulled out the bench and sat down. The slide of the cover when it was lifted from the keys and the sound of Max cracking his knuckles reached his ears. He waited patiently for the first note, starting to clean his gun only when the second note followed.

Steve cleaned the gun mindlessly, hands working on autopilot. His concentration however was on the music. He allowed the soulful melody to sweep through him and flood his ears. He loved to listen to Max play the piano.

Max was a normally guarded soul that opened up only as far as he wanted. He kept his emotions and vulnerabilities bottled upon a shelf within his soul. And that shelf was closely guarded even from him at times. But it was only when Max played that his reservations melted. When Max played, every note was a fracture of his heart, his innermost emotions flowing from the instrument as if it were his spokesman.

He rested his head against the couch and closed his eyes focusing on the haunting melody flooding his ears. He allowed the melody to transport him to the utopia in which Max wove about them, baring his soul only within this paradisaic world. He searched for that beautiful soul, embracing its light as it chased away the shadows blemishing his own tainted spirit.

He held onto the flowing notes until they ended feeling the warm soul embracing his slowly withdraw. Aquamarine orbs opened as if waking from a daze.

"I believe it is your day to prepare dinner."

Steve glanced down at the thoroughly cleaned gun before reassembling it. "How do burgers sound?" He looked up at them man leaning on the sofa's top.

"With bleu cheese?" He asked hopefully.

Steve chuckled softly. "Sure."

End