Evening, all! Hope you're ready for a new chapter 'cos like or not, here it is. Then again, if you weren't you wouldn't have checked for it sooooo yeah. I hope the last chapter wasn't too heavy. I finished it late at night and then edited quickly so I could get it done before bed. As I'm sure you all know, writing when you're tired does not usually yield your best work. Still, I'm glad you all seemed to like it anyway.

A grievance for you: You lucky Americans get the DVD thirteen days before we do in the UK! Not fair!

Also, my autocorrect keeps switching my American spelling to the British versions. So much for trying to make this more American. Oh well, if you find a 'u' in the word 'colour' then please ignore it.

Play For Me, Jack

Chapter 6

It was the last day of the week and Jack could thankfully see the light at the end of the tunnel. The previous evening had been soul destroying. Even though he'd had kind of an up and down day it had ended in catastrophe. Pitch just couldn't keep himself from coming to make him feel lousy and it had been a struggle for Jack to get home without just giving up. He was so emotionally desiccated that he hadn't even been able to find the strength to call Tooth and let it all out. He knew she would have listened but it wouldn't have been fair to dump all his strife on her anyway. She'd been putting up with his whining all week and he couldn't bring himself to offload everything onto her yet again. She was a good friend to him and she really didn't deserve to be used by Jack as his personal therapist whenever he needed it.

When he'd gotten in, he'd dropped everything by the door and just crawled into bed with just barely enough energy to take off his pants. Everything else, including his favourite blue hoodie, had stayed on and after only what turned out to be about a couple hours' worth of sleep deprivation, the darkness did eventually take him. Now he was awake again and feeling pretty gross from having slept in most of his clothes and as he pushed himself up he hoped today would blitz by. He simply didn't want to face it and wished hard that no one would decide to pick on him, nicely or nastily.

After sluggishly getting ready, Jack made his way to work and quietly skulked into the studio they'd been using since Tuesday. With a distinct lack of his usual gusto, Jack put his violin together at the side of the room and then made his way to his regular seat. He was early and not many of the other players were there yet, nor would they be for a while. Without much enthusiasm he opened his score and flicked through to find a fiddly bit he knew would need a little practice and played the trickier passages through a few times to wake up his fingers. There was no caffeine running through his veins that morning and it was hard to get moving. Still, on he ploughed and eventually he felt himself come slightly to life – albeit still without wanting to be there.

A few minutes later he heard the door open behind him and he turned his head lazily to see who had arrived. It was Bunny, and as they caught each other's eyes the taller man smiled as he walked over.

"Aw damn" Jack thought, "Here we go again". Not only was he not in the mood for Bunny's sass, he didn't have the will to bounce it back as he had grown used to doing. He just couldn't handle being picked on even though he knew it wouldn't be mean-spirited. Regardless of how much he wished, he knew what was coming and did his best not to look crestfallen as Bunny approached.

"Mornin', Jack" he said in his gorgeous accent that didn't quite stir Jack today as it usually did.

"Good morning" he said quietly and then turned as Bunny went to his stand.

"Thank Skippy it's Friday, eh?"

"Yeah" said Jack as he repositioned his violin to rest on his leg while he reached for the page and then looked up as he saw Bunny move towards him and sit down on the chair right in front. He had a sweet kind of smile Jack hadn't seen before and as he pushed the stand out of the way so he could see Jack properly he crossed his arms on the chair's back and gave him a sincerely sympathetic look.

"I heard what Pitch said to you last night" he stated calmly and suddenly making Jack tense.

"Oh" was all he could reply with.

"Yeah. I was around the corner and I stopped when I heard you both. I wasn't spying, I swear"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it"

"Are you okay?"

"Did you hear all of it?"

"Yeah"

"Then what do you think?"

Bunny just smiled sweetly again, "Don't worry about him, Jack. He's a jackass"

"I know"

"But he still got to you, didn't he?"

Jack sighed and kept his eyes down, "It's less so now than when I first got here but…yeah, he did"

"He always been on your case?"

"Yeah. But he's weird about it. Sometimes he starts by tricking you into thinking he's saying something nice and then he strikes when your guard's down. Other times he just goes in for the kill straight away"

"Yeah, I can see that. He's been creeping me out all week"

"Better get used to it"

The two were quiet for a moment before Bunny reached out and placed a hand on Jack's knee. Jack looked at it and gasped silently as he did so. His hand was big and heavy but warm and strong too. Bunny's touch through the material covering his knee was nice and Jack felt a little quiver inside as it continued to rest there. It completely distracted from his trying to decide whether or not Bunny was being condescending.

"Look, mate, you did great yesterday. That grey old bastard can stick whatever he says up his arse because you're great. I can see that"

Jack smiled a little, "You noticed his greyish tinge, huh?"

"Yeah. He should see a doctor or something"

"Or an exorcist"

"Ha, yeah! But seriously, Jack, don't worry about him. I thought you sounded fantastic yesterday and the day before. You do know you're good, right?"

"I guess"

"You guess? Come on, ya little bleeder" Bunny said as he removed his hands and became more teasing, "You know you've got something special. Puts you ahead of most of the others here"

"How do you figure?" asked Jack feeling a little more perked up, "You've only been here a week"

Bunny shrugged, "Doesn't matter. You only need to see something once to believe in it, and I've been watching you all week"

"You only heard me on my own a couple of times though"

"Once is enough"

"So, should I take that to mean you don't think my playing the other day was just a fluke?"

"Haha. Alright then. Maybe you aren't just a one trick pony"

"Damn straight" Jack said as a smile forced its way onto his lips.

"Cheer up, mate. You're a fantastic violinist which is why…" he said as he stood up, took Jack's music off the stand and walked over to Sandy's chair, "…you, sir, are my new concertmaster"

Jack's eyes practically boggled. "What?!" he coughed.

"I want you as my concertmaster"

"What about Sandy?"

"Poor guy's gonna be out for a few months. Broke some ligaments when he went down. Bad luck I guess. I liked that guy"

"You and me both" said Jack as his attention switched to the stricken man.

"So, get your arse up here" Bunny said as he patted the stand.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked as he suddenly thought about the consequences this would have on his relationship with the rest of the section. It would probably not go down well. Well, at least not with the deputy who would be fuming when she found out.

"We had an early meeting this morning because of the news of Sandy. They all said it's my decision since I'm visiting and I've decided I want you"

"Really?"

"Bloody hell, Jack, how many times do I have to say it?"

Jack gave an amused huff as his smile forced itself to crack his lips open. As he got up and wandered over, Bunny focused on those beautiful pearly whites and began to smile wider himself. Jack truly did have an amazing smile and he couldn't deny he was attracted to the boy. "Steady, Aster" he thought to himself as his new concertmaster sat down.

"Feels good, eh?" Bunny asked.

"Yeah. It does kinda" Jack replied modestly. Inside he was jumping for joy and all of his apprehension he'd had that morning now seemed to be gone. Maybe this was the universe's way of paying him back or something. Whatever it was, Jack was happy again and he couldn't believe how quickly things had turned around.

"Fancy a cup of something?" Bunny asked as he continued to watch him. Jack accepted and after placing his violin down on his chair he walked with Bunny to the break room. Together they got drinks and sat down together to chat. Jack learned that Bunny was 28 and had been an associate conductor for the Melbourne Concert Orchestra before he'd been invited to Pittsburgh. He had trained at several places around Australia and in London but had also spent a summer interning with the Berlin Philharmonic which Jack was hugely impressed by. He had grown up about four hours north of Adelaide and was the son of a mining millionaire, hence his being sent to some of the finest music colleges in the world. He said he also had aboriginal blood in him, some tribe called the Pooka from somewhere in South Australia, and had spent a lot of his summers as a kid in the outback on outdoorsy vacations. Jack found his story fascinating and was all the more impressed considering how young Bunny was. It became even more touching when he revealed he had no immediate family left due to their loss in an accident when Bunny was a teenager. By comparison, Jack felt rather boring as he related his story of being born and bred in Burgess a few miles from Pittsburgh, trained in New York and Philadelphia and then moved full time to Pittsburgh when he'd landed his job in the West Pennsylvania Philharmonic. Still, Bunny seemed interested in what he had to say and had plenty of questions. That is, almost as many as Jack had for him.

As they chatted they lost track of time and were very nearly late for rehearsal. Still, it helped to be late with the boss and as they returned to the studio, all eyes turned to them as they entered and walked over to the front of the orchestra. Proudly, Jack took his seat at the front of his section as Bunny greeted them all before he started. He finished by making his announcement about Jack.

"Everyone, I'm sorry to have to tell you that Sandy won't be returning to us straight away. When he fell he broke some ligaments and is out for a few months"

A rumble of muted sorrow emanated from around the room with everyone agreeing Pitch had probably done it on purpose, regardless of whether he had or not. They were all refocused as Bunny announced Sandy's replacement.

"So, I've decided to replace Sandy for the time being with Jack. Everyone, meet your new concertmaster"

Jack looked up and tried to smile as they all looked. Surprisingly he got a fair bit of praise from his section surrounding him which he really hadn't expected. It all seemed pretty genuine too, all aside from the deputy who was obviously forcing out strained congratulations. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tooth was practically having a fit as she tried to express her joy over the decision. She really was a good friend and Jack promised himself he'd take her out to dinner soon to thank her properly.

Today, Bunny had decided to rehearse the whole of Act four; his reasoning being the age old truth that an audience only really remembers the beginning and the end of a performance and if they were lacklustre then there would be no point in playing. Besides, that is probably what the ballet company would be expecting above everything else – apart from the solos – and Bunny wasn't about to let his debut be marred by bad reviews. As such, he decided to practice the finale first as it required a lot of energy and he knew the orchestra would be flagging if he tried to drag them through the rest of Act four beforehand.

Leading them in, he was surprised by the sound they produced first thing in the morning and was genuinely impressed when they got to the finale's rapturous crescendo. Glancing to the strings he smiled as he saw them going hell for leather with their bowing and had to chuckle to himself as he watched them give it all they had. The brass were pretty hot as well and the percussion were really going for it. It was the strings, however, that he was most interested in and, as usual, he made sure to regularly glance at Jack. The guy seemed really engrossed in making sure to play well and he wondered whether it was his desire to live up to the standard expected of a concertmaster or the chat they'd had earlier on. He'd seemed so down when he'd first arrived but now he seemed on top of the world as he sawed away at his violin and in the end Bunny decided not to speculate. There was no denying Jack was graceful despite the violence required by the music and even now as he tried to squeeze every last decibel from his instrument, he did it with an elegance that Bunny had rarely seen outside of the world's greatest orchestras. He was one to watch, that was for darn sure.

Later that day…

On Friday they were always let out early and when they were dismissed, Jack walked out with Tooth who would not shut up about how pleased she was for him. He couldn't help smiling as she praised him and he had to tell her to stop when he found himself getting bashful. He was pleased for himself too and as the pair walked down the street he looked up to the sky where the clouds were just about letting through some blue and sighed contentedly. Perhaps this week wasn't all that bad after all, although it seemed he owed its turn around to Bunny. Strangely that didn't annoy him as much as he thought it might and as he considered the conductor's overall affect on turning his week around he couldn't get mad at him despite sensibility trying to force him to. In all honesty he liked Bunny and he hoped, maybe, that they could talk like they did that morning again. He was a nice guy, if just a little bit of an ass, and Jack was really starting to like him.

When they parted ways, Jack decided to dump his stuff at his apartment and then took a cab to Ross Park mall. He'd decided at some point in the day that wearing the same hoodie to work that you slept in was pretty disgusting and even though it was his favourite, perhaps it was time to mix it up a little.

When he arrived he headed straight to Abercrombie & Fitch. It may have been a little pricey but he figured he could use a little retail therapy after his week, despite it now being considered to have been fairly okay. Besides, Abercrombie always looked pretty good on him and he figured he may as well do it before the looming payment on his violin put him off. Like many musicians, Jack couldn't afford to buy a violin when he'd graduated and had to return the violin he'd used in college. He certainly wasn't able to ask his parents for money since he only had his mom who didn't have much anyway. It wouldn't have been fair to ask her to remortgage the house even though she probably would have done so for him. That left him with only one option: borrowing from the bank. At $35,000 and nearly one hundred and fifty years old, his violin left him with hefty repayments and the insurance on the side was a bitch. Still, it was a necessary expense and one that, in the end, Jack was extremely glad he'd made. His violin had become like a best friend to him and he treasured it more than anything he had ever owned. Having it meant he didn't have a car or managed to spend a lot on anything else or even was able to live in a great apartment. None of that mattered though when he was doing what he loved, playing. One day it would be his and that thought was what kept driving him onwards day after day.

Back in the present, Jack walked around the dimly lit Abercrombie store and looked through a few stacks of clothes as he searched for something he liked. He wondered if, at 24, he was getting too old to be shopping in this store and, even more importantly, nothing seemed like it could match up to his favourite hoodie. Still, it was gross to wear the same thing all the time and he didn't want to get a reputation.

As he continued to look around he began to notice an extremely attractive and well-toned man shopping on the other side of the store. He must have been roughly his age and as they kept moving around it wasn't long before they were looking through piles of clothes on the same table. As they searched, Jack became aware that the man was checking him out much in the same way as he had done and it wasn't long before their eyes met and they exchanged smiles.

"That'd look great on you" Jack offered as he saw the man pick up a sweater. He felt adrenaline begin to surge around his body as he took his chance to speak to him.

"You think so?" the man asked as he held it up higher.

"Try it on"

"Okay" the guy said wryly as he placed the sweater down and took off the jacket he was already wearing. Jack's eyes widened a little as he saw the incredibly tight shirt he had on and saw that the jacket really wasn't showing off the whole, perfect package. Second guessing himself, Jack suddenly searched for any sign that the guy actually worked here and was relieved when he realized he hadn't made an idiot of himself in front of the guy who had clearly seen him boggle a little when he's taken off his outerware.

"Look any good?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Oh yeah" Jack said as he struggled maintain his confidence, "But I bet anything looks good on you"

"Thanks" the guy said as he shucked off the sweater and dressed himself up again. "You come here often?"

"From time to time"

"Well, I'll see you around sometime" the guy said with a wink before turning to go to the cash register. Jack didn't reply, he was simply glad that he'd been able to flirt with someone and they'd responded. Not that he had a problem with flirting, it was just nice to know that guys would respond and that he'd been able to tell the guy was gay. Then again, how could he not be? That ripped and that well groomed? No way could he have been straight this far from Los Angeles.

As Jack watched him go he managed to score one more glance from the guy before he left the store and then he turned back to search for a hoodie. Eventually he decided on one and much like his favourite it was blue. He didn't berate himself for not trying another colour. Blue brought out his eyes and looked good with his extremely fair skin and hair. Not many colours worked that well with his complexion although he'd found he could never really go wrong with blue and black. Dark greens worked pretty well and although he didn't like to admit it, so did a wide variety of pinks. When Tooth had discovered that one day during college he'd had to endure weeks worth of dress up. Secretly he'd enjoyed it but would never let on. Not wanting to leave with just the blue he picked up something in black as well before going to Macy's to try and balance out his expenditure. If he didn't watch himself he'd probably end up taking half the mall home and then have to panic when the time to pay rent came.

When he got home he texted Tooth to see what she was up to. When he found she was busy he decided to spend the night in alone with Chinese food. He was pretty tired anyway and not that he didn't have other friends but he didn't really want to hang out with anyone else. That is, no one that he had access to and as he settled in for the evening he looked out the window and began to think about Bunny. The guy can't have had many friends in Pittsburgh. In fact, he probably had no one to hang out with and that made Jack feel pretty sorry for him. He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would want to spend his whole weekend alone and he wished he'd thought of that earlier. He would have been glad to show Bunny around and keep him company for a few hours and who knows, maybe they'd get along really well and want to hang out some more.

Jack sighed as he brushed it off. It wasn't his problem but he couldn't help thinking he had some kind of responsibility to make Bunny feel more welcome. Then again, Bunny was technically his boss and wouldn't it be brownnosing if he cosied up to him? Or just plain weird? This was all overshadowed by the fact that Bunny still kind of annoyed him with his smirking. It did seem he always thought he knew better or would otherwise just look as if he were laughing at him. Jack wondered if he were crazy for thinking that, especially after Bunny being so nice to him earlier, but why did he still annoy him so much? Perhaps it was because he knew he found Bunny dead sexy and by now really did have a serious crush on him. He just wouldn't admit it to himself and as he considered that he began to wonder if the reason Bunny annoyed him so much was because he had been subconsciously and unwittingly presenting himself as the perfect object of Jack's desire which was going head to head with his conscious effort to deny he had any desire for Bunny other than friendship. Despite his best efforts he knew he was losing the battle. Bunny was just too hot and he really had no chance of preventing himself from falling head over heels in lust for him. He'd wanted Bunny from the moment he first laid eyes on him; he just hadn't admitted it.

Jack didn't have a tantrum this time, he wasn't going to try and defend himself from his own accusations although it wouldn't be the first time. He simply flopped back on the couch and continued to stare out of the window. He wondered if somewhere in the city Bunny was doing the same and watching the snow begin to fall again as evening fell. He hoped he wasn't lonely and soon enough Jack found himself traipsing to bed in order to be up early. He had to go to Burgess tomorrow to give his weekend lessons and the train left at 8AM. As he tried to go off to sleep he found he couldn't do so without stopping his conscious effort to keep Bunny out of his mind. With a sigh, he let down his guard and allowed the gorgeous Australian man to dance around his head until he happily stepped into his dreams thereafter. Jack slept peacefully that night, the first night he'd been able to do so all week.

Ta da! Another chapter done. FYI, if you want to hear the finale of Swan Lake (which by the way is gorgeously amazeballs) you can find it here (skip to about 3:00) (YOU HAVE TO PUT THE DOTS IN YOURSELF): youtube com/watch?v=mZcSZ_-2fQg&list=PL10D6ABA89BF70168

It's funny how much it sounds like the score to E.T. when you listen to it. I guess John Williams is a Tchaikovsky fan.

You know, it was actually quite hard finding a colour Jack looked good in other than blue. I downloaded a picture of him from Google and then fiddled around with the colours of his hoodie in GIMP (the free photoshop). Maybe it's because he's soooooo white but it's hard to dress him in lots of different colours. Very dark green seems to work nicely but he does look a little like an elf. He looks pretty hot in black and grey. Meh. You all should try it for yourselves if you want a laugh. Also, is it hoody or hoodie? I don't know.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for your awesome reviews and follows! You guys are fabulous!