SquidgeWorld Archive

It was safe to say that John Sheppard never wanted to own a piano store. In fact, from the age of eight, one could honestly presume that John wanted nothing to do with music or business in general, or, specifically, his parents' piano store. All he wanted to do was fly. A simple enough dream, though more complicated to achieve than any eight year old could plan for.

The first few months after John was forced to take over the family business were, in a word, rough. Learning how to run the store was the easy part; the hard part was convincing customers that they should buy a piano when John himself thought they were worthless. For some reason, the `buy this piano so I can get it out of my store... please' sales pitch didn't always work. Well...never worked.

But then, Lorne and Ronon showed up, and things changed.

John never really understood how Lorne had gotten their parents to let him go off and live his dreams. Or perhaps, Lorne didn't have to convince them since John was the oldest son, and therefore had to continue the family tradition of selling pianos while the youngest son made himself scarce.

For whatever reason, things worked out as they were supposed to. Lorne traveled from place to place, always sending postcards back to his big brother to keep the latter going. Two years into Lorne's adventures, he met a mountain of a man named Ronon, whom John didn't meet until Dad's funeral when Lorne brought his partner home. Suddenly, having to stay at home all those years seemed worth it when John saw his brother lean into Ronon while the giant pulled Lorne further into his arms.

Lorne offered to stay then, but John wouldn't hear of it. One of them had to go out and have enough fun for the both of them, and their parents had decided long ago that future belonged to the younger brother. So four days after the funeral, Lorne and Ronon packed up their truck and left a waving John on the curb.

The weeks that followed were even harder on John, being all alone. Because of this, when Lorne and Ronon came back five months later with the intent to stay, John had never been so happy to see anyone in his whole life.

The three of them slipped into a routine easily enough. John and Lorne would sell the pianos, with Lorne's brilliant new sales pitch of `pianos are a good investment for a musical future'. Okay, perhaps not brilliant, but a hell of a lot better than what John had come up with.

Ronon didn't talk much so selling wasn't an option for him. Instead, he acted more like a security guard who was always ready to strip search anyone who thought they might be able to sneak out of the store with an unpaid-for piano. As eager as Ronon was to fulfill his security guard duties, the Sheppard brothers kept him around mainly for one reason. Moving a piano with Ronon was really easy. Enough said.

Hell, John didn't even mind when Lorne and Ronon started kissing and holding each other...so long as they disappeared before things went too far. There were just some things that he didn't want to see his baby brother doing.

As the months went by, John started to like the pianos in his store. He could appreciate their beauty, and even dusted off the beginner's booklets his parents got him years ago and started playing again. Funny how he didn't remember needing a lot of practice when he was younger, but he certainly needed it now. When the store was empty, he often found himself playing on, what he called, his old-fashioned saloon piano.

And that's how he met Radek.

***

After a month of working on this piece of music, John's fingers were finally gliding across the keys with little trouble. A second later, he grimaced as a sour note rang out. Well, not with a lot of trouble, he amended.

"Ah, should be A flat," a heavily accented voice came from just behind him. "You do not play well."

Turning, he had to lean back slightly to take the whole figure in, from the thinning, Einstein-wild hair to the shoes with flour sprinkled on them. The first thing that came to mind was how the man's thick glasses seemed to magnify the most beautiful hazel eyes John had ever seen. The second thing was that the man was blunt, to say the least.

"My thoughts exactly," John's baby brother strolled over. "I keep telling him he needs to practice more, but he refuses to listen." He held a hand out to the stranger, smiling, "Lorne Sheppard. How can I help you?"

John couldn't say exactly why he did it, but he jumped up from the stool, bustling his way between the stranger and Lorne. "I got this one," he whispered to his brother, then turned to the man again, "John Sheppard. Is there anything I can help you find?"

The man's eyes darted between the two brothers. "No. Just looking." He glanced down at his watch and proceeded to murmur in another language before returning his attention to John. "No time now. I have class."

And just like that, he was gone. As `fated meetings' went, it wasn't much. In fact, John felt somewhat cheated, and as soon as he found Destiny's email address, he intended to send a complaint.

***

John drummed his fingers on his desk in the back office of the store. Sitting on the edge of his seat, he leaned forward to call out, "Lorne?"

He could still hear his little brother's sigh from the front of the store. "He's not here yet, John. I told you I'd let you know when he came in." A few minutes later, Lorne strode in to casually sit in the chair beside the office door.

"Is he here?" John asked, unable to keep the excitement from his voice.

"No. Look, John, you're driving me nuts here. You've seen this guy every workday for three weeks and you still haven't gotten his name. It's obvious that he's not going to actually buy a piano; like he says everyday, he's just looking."

"I know that..."

Lorne interrupted, "And, even if he was interested in getting to know you the way you want to know him, I think we can assume that he's not going to make the first move. Which means you have to. And I'm beginning to seriously doubt that you can."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Tilting his head to the side, Lorne asked, "Do you really want me to remind you what happened on your last date with Dean?"

"There was no way I could have known that was an actual medical condition."

"Or Sam?"

"I should be happy about that one...I mean, who really goes into an anaphylactic shock from barely touching that?"

"How about the last time you tried to get your mystery guy's name?"

John cleared his throat before speaking, "That was an accident...I didn't realize he had moved."

Lorne leaned forward, shaking his head, "Do you want me to talk to this guy?"

"No thanks. I haven't quite reached the point of desperation when I need my baby brother to talk to guys for me."

"I just thought..." The sound of the front door opening interrupted their conversation, and, like true brothers, they both scrambled up and raced to see who had entered the store.

John froze, his arm blocking Lorne from moving forward. "I'm going to do it," he said, his eyes on his accented stranger who was hovering over the piano where they'd first met.

***

John put on his best grin and strolled up behind the stranger. "You know, lately I've been seeing you more than I have my friends. It'sonly fair that I know something about you."

Hazel eyes stared back at him, the mouth belonging to them remaining closed.

"Fine. I'll go first. I've introduced myself enough, so I'm assuming that you know my name is John Sheppard, and I own this store. I like Ferris wheels, college football, and anything by Bach."

In the silence that followed, John watched the man as he clearly considered the situation. Right as John was about to say something else, the side of the stranger's lips rose. "Radek Zelenka. I teach cooking two blocks down. And I prefer Chopin."

At that moment, John realized something that had been floating around his head since first looking into Radek's eyes...his heart didn't stand a chance.

***

Standing in front of the three story building, John looked up and sighed. The things he did for love. He shook his head and marched inside before he could talk himself out of it.

It didn't take long to find Radek's class: The Chemistry of Cooking. Figured that this class would involve the two things he was horrible at. And it didn't help that Lorne had given him hell about this all morning. At least Ronon had been quiet...but then again, Ronon was always quiet.

The moment he walked into the kitchen/classroom, he saw Radek and all his grumbling quieted down as the two of them looked at each other and smiled.

Epilogue:

"No! Too much salt," Radek scolded John, dipping his spoon into the sauce to try and scoop some of the clumped seasoning out.

Smirking, John's arms snuck around his lover's waist and pulled the two of them closer together. "This isn't class. I thought you wanted to relax tonight and not worry about cooking."

Radek turned his head slightly to look at John. "But I want edible food more than rest."

"Just remember that you taught me how to cook," he murmured, leaning forward to kiss the shorter man's cheek.

"No," Radek reached for the rosemary, "I was tired of you burning my pans, so I say you pass. Not same thing."