Fic: Baby Grand (1/1)

[ladyjanelly]

Fic: Baby Grand (1/1)
Author: LadyJanelly
Fandom/Pairing: Real-person-Gen Jensen Ackles
Rating: G
Warnings: Uh...none.  440 words
Disclaimer: I own no beautiful actors.  Just fiction, never happened.
Author's note: Inspired by the commentary reel on the Dark Angel episode "The Berrisford Agenda" 

Summary:  He didn't know he missed it until he saw it.

There’s an illicit feeling to being on set after all of the lights are out and almost everyone’s gone home for the day.  It’s like being at school on a Saturday, or walking around the mall an hour after the shops have all closed.  Jensen slides around the camera stands and onto the darkened stage.  Wearing his own clothes here, instead of Dean’s, only adds to the strangeness, but he had to come.

 

The piano is off to the side, inconspicuous as a baby grand can possibly be.  He’s careful not to move anything as he steps up to it.  He’s just got a few minutes before Jared’s done changing and washing the crap out of his hair and then they’re riding back to the city together.  How much trouble could Jensen possibly get into?  If security catches him, he’ll say he was working on mood or something; what can they do, really.

 

He lifts the part that covers the keys up and back.  All that white and black calls to him in a way he doesn’t understand, a pattern, order, like mathematics on crack.  He presses each key, one after the other.  There has to be a name for testing the sounds like this, but he doesn’t know what it is.  The piano is obviously there for looks rather than sound.  Two of the keys sound off, and one makes such a bad “boink” sound that he won’t press it again. 

 

Not moving the bench, he settles himself in front of the instrument.  His fingers hover, and then press out a simple little deedle-deedle-dee.  He smiles at the sound, such a happy little thing.  Like a gangly colt chasing its momma.  He runs through it again, making a more intricate series of sounds for the mare.  He builds a pattern, a dance, moving around those bad keys like a sculptor working around a crack in a block of marble.

 

God, it’s been so long, what, six years since he’s touched a piano.  He remembers the thing where he presses two keys at the same time.  Oh, and the pedals too. 

 

You sure you’re not a genetically engineered super-soldier?  And yeah, Jessica had just been teasing, but he’d felt like such a freak when she’d said it, and after that he wouldn’t let his hands follow the music in his head.   He played just good enough that they didn't call in the hand model, and bad enough that nobody was too impressed.  He’d had enough of that in third grade when those stupid IQ tests came back and everybody looked at him weird until he started messing up his schoolwork on purpose.

 

But this, this is good, just him and the piano in the dark.  

Comments

[digitalwave]

So nice, sweetie! I love how intimate it feels. :)

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

I just had these ideas, like Jensen being so shy about himself because he was too smart to fit in when he was younger, and Jensen at a piano, and Jensen introspective but not angsting over Jared Pada-something.

Glad it worked for you.

[misskatieleigh.livejournal.com]

I like this, like I'm watching something that no one can see, like I can almost hear the music.

Lovely.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked. I think I enjoy smart!Jensen almost as much as smart!Dean.

[jellicle.livejournal.com]

This touched me in such a lovely and emotional way. So simple and so powerful.
Beautiful.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it. It's been a long long time since I wrote G-rated fic. :)

So tempting to play with secret-genius!Jensen some more though. All high IQ who deliberately undereducated himself.

[embroiderama]

Whoa, I love this! This brilliant, artistic side to Jensen--I can totally buy it. And the story has a lovely mood to it.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it. Was looking to do something a little different.

[cal-j-fielding.livejournal.com]

this is really really good, a lovely idea beautiful laid out, I'd kill for you to write more of this jensen...

Your description of the music was fantastic..the whole thing was just wonderful

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Your description of the music was fantastic..

Thanks. I was trying to express the music completely without musical terminology. Glad it worked for you.

I'm trying to fight off the plot-bunny where Jared comes looking for him but it's not working. :)

If I do go further, it'll probably be a G-PG fic throughout.

[cal-j-fielding.livejournal.com]

stop fighting the plot bunny, plot bunnies are your friend...i personally think you should turn this into an epic series...i loved it that much. I'd be delighted if you wnet further with it, and really it can be PG throughout, or x rated and i still think i would love it, your style is wonderful and the concept is fastinating, I can't think of much that would make me want to now read anything else you write with this.

[blackhalo72.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. I remember being ridiculously impressed that he'd learnt to play the piano for that DA ep and was so good that they didn't need to bring in the hand double. For what it's worth, I'd love to read some more secret-genius!Jensen. The man could definitely be as clever as he is pretty. :D

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Every time I hear a director or something talking about Jensen, I always come away impressed by something. The boy's not just a pretty face.

Your description of the music was fantastic..

I'm trying to fight off the plot-bunny where Jared comes looking for him but it's not working. :)

If I do go further, it'll probably be a G-PG fic throughout.

[kentucka]

fascinating. Jensen does have that weird air around him, and being too intelligent for the people surrounding him actually would be a cool explanation for that. kinda reminds me of Criminal Minds' Reed character. yay for illegal non-porn. LOL.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

being too intelligent for the people surrounding him actually would be a cool explanation

Too smart and terrified of looking like a freak. And maybe he came into acting because it's not as easy as everything else would have been, and it's not a struggle to be average-enough to not feel like an outsider.

Damn you, plot-bunny.

illegal non-porn

Illegal? Did I miss a memo or something?

Never saw Criminal Minds. Is it any good?

[kentucka]

I was just referring to this...

oh yeah, I love Criminal Minds. for its plot and characters. it's like Profiler, only without the 'visions' or whatever, and instead shows how the FBI Profilers really work. and it seems that they're not afraid to touch a lot of taboos (like Without A Trace sometimes did).

[seaoflosttime.livejournal.com]

This is so strange. I started writing a 'Jensen playing the piano' fic like a month ago.. You did it so brilliantly I'm actually a bit apprehensive about continuing it now.

This was absolutely lovely. I love Jensen toning his brilliance down to make himself more crowd friendly.

(Shine on,Jen baby, you're star!)

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Aww. You should totally write yours too. I'd love to read it. He's just too beautiful at a piano for there to only be one piano-fic.

Crowd-friendly, director-friendly, Jared-friendly, everybody-in-his-life friendly.

[(Anonymous)]

If his looks are a reflection of his intelligence then his IQ must be 200!

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Oh hell yeah. At least.

[anakin415.livejournal.com]

so private & personal this is great

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I should watch DVD commentaries more often,apparently.

[l-sand.livejournal.com]

I really love the atmosphere here. It's quiet and introspective and somehow very self-contained. It's like you opened up a window to a whole universe in just a few hundred words. Great job!

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm amazed something so simple has gotten such praise.

[felisblanco.livejournal.com]

I was just reading this and someone started playing the piano downstairs. It made it all the more intimate. I love this idea, it was beautifully written. I love thinking of Jensen as highly intelligent and probably mistaken for dumb all the time because of his looks and his social awkwardness. So please, feed that plot bunny some nice carrots.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

someone started playing the piano downstairs

That's pretty cool. :)

Yeah, as much of a fan of smart!Dean as I am, I like the idea of smart!Jensen just as much. Socially-awkward Jensen's up there too.

Mmmmm. Happy thoughts.

[azewewish.livejournal.com]

It was a cool little piece until I got to this part:

And yeah, Jessica had just been teasing, but he’d felt like such a freak when she’d said it, and after that he wouldn’t let his hands follow the music in his head

And then it became genius, because it changes the entire mood & tone of the previous part perfectly.

Thanks for writing!!! I was just saying that there should be more gen-fic in this fandom. :)

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Awww. Thanks. I wanted to have a twist in there somewhere but worried that I'd gone over the top.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Wow how fab

[(Anonymous)]

I love piano my fave instrument ever! I do like the guitar since starting on it recently but piano is still top. I do not play it much noe as no access. But like your Jensen i feel so drawn to one when it is just there in front of me and no one ia about. You capture how i feel!
Weirdly just b4 starting reading this, i was going through my play list about to put on the usual. Some sort of rock either classic or maybe something modern...
But ended up clicking on:
01 - Piano Concerto Nr.1 In B-Moll Allergro Non Troppo E Molto Maestoso - Allegro Co By Tchaikovsky.
As i read the fic the music in my ears haunted my soul and some how this fitted to perfection and made me feel very surreal as if it was me... I felt like he...
Its still playing as write this comment making me feel like i am in a beautiful piano dream.
Well and Jensen too not bad eh?

Re: Wow how fab

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. I've had the coolest feedback for this fic, with people's little piano experiances while reading it.

Hmm. Is there anything that's not improved with the addition of Jensen?

[orofen.livejournal.com]

Such a short fic but with a great feeling. A great Jensen voice, I would love to read more. Do you have any plans to continue?

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

I just stumbled across a rec for this at spnstoryfinders. It's lovely, very intimate and quite believable. I wonder if you ever wrote more for this?

Don't have time to look now, maybe later.


Pesti

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Nope, that's all there is. One tiny little one-shot.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

I suppose we have to let you get away with writing one or two *non* epic fics, now and then... *she says grudgingly*


Pesti

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

I tried to write more of this, but there weren't any emotions in this one that I wasn't using in something else at the time, so I kind of let this one be small and simple.

I'm glad you enjoyed it though. Thanks for leaving a review, even though it was written a while ago.

[spae.livejournal.com]

Oh I love piano-playing Jensen, and how superhot is it that he is that smart? *melts*

So unusual for me to read gen, too ... but this is special - all intimate and voyeuristic.

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

Smart!Jensen is one of my serious kinks. I love the idea of him as a hidden genius, too shy about it to let anybody know.

So glad you gave it a chance and enjoyed it.