netlagd (netlagd) wrote in bjfic, @ 2007-12-29 13:29:00 |
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Current location: | deep in the hear of Texas |
Current mood: | cheerful |
BJ Fic: Hidden Talents 1/1
Title: Hidden Talents (1/1)
Characters: Emmett, Brian, Justin, Ted, Michael, Ben, Drew, Debbie, Blake - inferred
Rating: PG-13 (Sexual comments, language)
Timeline: 4/5/post-5 - could be any time along these seasons
Warning: none
Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Queer As Folk are the property of Russell T. Davies, CowLip Productions, Tony Jonas Productions, Showtime Networks Inc. and others. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author’s Note: The oddest things make you think about QAF. This fic was inspired by the default ringtone on my iPhone, go figure. But once I got it stuck in my head, I could totally see Emmett. So I built a little story around it. I hope you enjoy.
Totally unbeta’d, All mistakes are my fault - feel free to point them out so I can correct them.
“The marimba?” Ted looked up from the entry form for the GLC’s Hidden Talents Charity Fundraiser, and stared at Emmett incredulously.
“Everyone loves the marimba,” Emmett declared as he sat calmly cutting up his doughnut into eight equal parts.
Ted shook his head. “No! Not everyone loves the Marimba!” Ted insisted. Ted looked across the table to where Brian was reading the business section. “Brian! Help me out here.”
“Huh?” Brian looked annoyed at having his attention diverted from the paper. “What Theodore?
“Tell him! Tell Emmett not everyone loves the marimba.”
Brian lowered the paper and looked at Emmett happily eating his doughnut, “Not everyone loves the marimba.” Brian raised the paper and continued reading.
“I like the marimba.” Justin approached the booth, and slid in beside Brian. He paused for a rather deep kiss with Brian before leafing through the sections of the paper. He grabbed the arts section.
“See!” Emmett twirled his fork and pointed at Ted. “The marimba is a happy instrument. When I hear marimba music it makes me want to dance. Everyone loves the marimba.”
Ted looked annoyed, he wasn’t getting any support here. “Okay, okay, so perhaps people like the marimba,” Ted conceded. “But where are you planning on getting one for the Talent Show Friday?”
“Well, Teddy... you remember my dear departed friend George Schickle?”
Ted nodded.
Emmett, took another bite of doughnut. “Well, George was on the board of the Pittsburgh Philharmonic. Anyway, he introduced me to Phillipe Castanata -- he’s the first chair in the percussion section. To make a long story short...”
“Oh, please do,” came a sarcastic reply from behind the paper.
Not phased by the comment, Emmett, continued, “Anyway, as I was saying, George introduced me to Phillipe and other people at the Pittsburgh Philharmonic. They always said if there wasn’t anything they could do...”
“That’s nice, but surely they aren’t going to give you a marimba,” Ted interjected.
Emmett put down his knife and fork and stared at Ted. “Well, of course not Teddy! I wouldn’t expect them to give me a marimba! They are very expensive. They loaned it to me for practice and to use in the contest.”
Ted threw up his hands, “Of course, they did!”
“I think that’s really cool, Emmett,” Justin smiled. He turned to Ted. “What about you Ted? Are you entering?”
Ted looked at Justin, his mind not totally focused. “Huh?”
Brian snapped the paper closed and folded it. “The contest Theodore! What Hidden Talent have you cooked up for the competition?”
“Uh... an aria -- Blake and I...”
“Aren’t arias generally solos?” Brian interrupted.
“Well, normally, yes. But Blake and I... we thought...” Ted fumbled for the right words. Even to this day, Brian Kinney could make him a blithering idiot.
“Right, so we’ll be entertained by a duet. Surely something operatic and tragic, guaranteed to have us slitting our wrists by the end.”
“Well, we had planned on singing "O Mimì, tu più non torni" from la boheme as Rodolfo and Marcello.”
“Hey, guys.” Michael and Ben appeared and slid into the booth behind the one the rest of the gang was in.
“Mikey... Professor...”
“What’s going on?”
“We were just discussing the GLC’s Hidden Talents contest on Friday.” Justin piped in.
“I can’t wait.” Michael smiled up at Ben,
“Oh, and just what is your and the professor’s hidden talent? I’m not sure that rope tricks are appropriate. There will be lesbians present.”
Michael looked perturbed at Brian, who merely responded with a smarmy smile and lifted his coffee cup as Deb swept by.
“Keep your pants on!”
Justin sidled up beside Brian and whispered in his ear. “No fun in that.”
“Brian!” Michael vied for his friend’s attention.
Brian turned to the adjacent booth where Ben was perusing the menu and Michael was hell bent on his attention.
“So? Your hidden talents? Where do they lay?”
“Ben is planning on reciting a Shakespearean Love Sonnet...”
Brian interrupted with an over-exaggerated yawn. Justin gave him a playful punch.
“And you?” Brian prompted Michael. “Or will you just sit as Ben recites to you?”
“Actually, I plan on accompanying Ben with an interpretative dance.”
Brian’s eyebrows shot up.
“Emmett’s been helping me plan it out.”
Brian looked back at Emmett, who smiled. Justin buried his face in Brian’s chest, but it did little to mask the shakes coming from his body.
“Michael...” Brian started.
“Yes?”
“Far be it from me to stop two consenting adults from doing what they want in their own home. But do you really think that the GLC’s talent show is the right place for you to debut your interpretive dance skills?”
“Well, it is called ‘Hidden Talents’?” Emmett pointed out as he polished off his last piece of doughnut.
Justin’s body shook harder and a bark of laughter escaped. Brian pulled back the head on his chest by it’s blond locks. Tears were streaming down Justin’s face. Justin waved his hands and hiccuped.
“I’m sorry... It’s just... just that I keep imagining Isadora Duncan... tights and scarves and all... I just can’t...” Justin dissolved into a fit of giggles and buried his face again into Brian’s chest.
Ben chuckled and Michael gave Justin an annoyed look.
Emmett decided it was time change the subject. “What about you Brian? What’s your hidden talent?”
Justin pulled back and opened his mouth.
“Do it and you’ll be sleeping alone for the next month.” Brian looked at his lover.
Justin’s mouth snapped shut.
“Justin and I will be doing our part to help raise money.”
“Oh great,” Ted moaned. “There’s going to be a fucking booth.”
Justin smiled at Ted. “Actually, I’ll be helping out back stage, and I’ve donated a painting to the silent auction. Brian, as a community leader...” Brian shuddered at the description. “...and local person of note, is part of the jury panel.”
“I should have known. It’s not enough he judges us each day in life, he’ll be sitting in judgment for the talent show. I’m in hell...”
“Well, Teddy,” Emmett commented. “They do seem to have gotten Brian’s talent right.”
Brian smiled down at Justin and whispered in his ear “Want to come to the Judge’s chambers and check out what’s under his robe, Sunshine?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be held in contempt...” Justin slid out of the booth, followed by Brian who dropped a twenty on the table.
Debbie arrived with a pot of coffee and a cup for Justin. “Hey, what about your coffee?”
Brian waved over his shoulder without looking back.
Debbie slipped into the booth and poured herself a cup of coffee. She shrugged as she picked up a section of the paper. “Well, it was time for my break anyway...”
Epilogue
Emmett clutched the rather phallic looking lucite award to his chest. “Thank you! Thank you so much. I’m so happy I could share with you my love of this great instrument.”
The crowd clapped harder, demanding an encore.
Emmett handed off his award to Drew and took the stage. “Well, I did practice a couple of other songs before settling on ‘It’s Raining Men’, so here goes...” and with that, Emmett began to play the instrument. At first, the plinking tones seem to be disconnected until Emmett added a second, third and finally fourth mallet. As each mallet was added, the music moved from incongruous to the recognizable melody of ‘Let’s Hear It For the Boy’.
Off stage, Brian stood with his arms looped around Justin, and Justin leaned back against Brian’s chest.
“You know, he’s really good.”
“I wouldn’t have voted for him otherwise.”
“I’m kind of sorry that Michael and Ben dropped out, but it was probably for the best.”
“If only Ted and Blake had.”
“Hey, they weren’t that bad. But Ted definitely carried the two of them.” Justin craned his neck up to look at Brian. “Ted really does have a very good voice.”
“He’s not bad.”
Justin smiled.
Emmett was wrapping up his encore on stage. The vibration of the mallets across the rosewood bars and through the resonators gave a flurry of deep tones. With a final flourish, Emmett finished the song and the crowd went wild.
“Let’s get out of here.” Brian gave Justin a tug as he headed to the back exit of the GLC.
Once outside, Brian slung an arm across Justin’s shoulders and gathered him close.
“It’s too bad your true hidden talent couldn’t be entered.”
“Some talents should remain hidden. Besides, I save that one just for you, Sunshine.”
Justin smiled and huddled closer. He could wait until they got to the loft for his own private talent show.