Pickup (Flashfic Challenge 236: Downtown)
Title: Pickup
Author: twhitesakura
Wordcount: 525
Rating: PG
Concrit? Yes
Summary: AU. Detective Yunho tries to pick up the bartender.
The joint was a speakeasy in downtown Chicago. Yunho protested, saying he had an early morning stakeout the next day, but Changmin wouldn’t hear of it. Yunho’s fraternity brother lent the detective a fine double-breasted suit and some diamond cufflinks, pomade to shape his hair, and even some rosewater to make him smell properly genteel. He reeked like a Mother’s Day bouquet.
“You’re fine, gumshoe,” Changmin chuckled as he pushed Yunho into the crowd. “Live a little.”
A few classy dames and some foppish men glanced their way when they entered but went back to their chatter. The floor sank, plush with red oriental rugs, and the walls showed off mahogany wainscoting. It was pretty luxurious. Yunho licked his lips and darted towards the bar. He tried making eye contact with his friend, but Changmin was busy chatting up a girl in a slinky silver one-piece near the jazz band.
“What’ll it be?” Said the bartender from behind the counter.
Onstage, the jazz singer warbled. Blue Rhapsody.
“Gin on the rocks.”
The bartender nodded, began fixing up his drink.
“So, you’ve been working here long?” Yunho fidgeted with his hands. One of the men at the bar laughed loudly and elbowed Yunho, spilling vodka onto him.
Yunho cursed.
The bartender smiled indulgently, the bar lights catching on his ash-blond hair as he slid Yunho’s gin over along with a towel.
Yunho mopped his sleeve and nodded towards Changmin. “My friend brought me here.”
“Oh, him.” The bartender’s face remained flippant, but a spark of disgust lit his eye. Changmin had the slinky girl in one arm and another brunette in the other. One hand crept up the brunette’s skirt.
“I’m not like that!” Yunho rubbed the back of his neck. His face felt warm.
The bartender smirked, reached over to thumb Yunho’s sparkling cufflinks and smooth the lapels on his suit.
“I do fine on my own. Don’t need a sugar daddy.”
Yunho cast his eyes down to the bar counter and nursed his drink. He asked for a refill and spent an hour surreptitiously spying on the bartender at work as he slipped from one end of the bar to the next. Sometimes a girl ordered something fancy and he’d do a trick with the bottles, throwing them over his shoulder, twirling them into the air.
He left before midnight for the next day’s stakeout. But after the case, he waited in the alleyway by the club’s entrance as the patrons trickled out one by one. A light drizzle fell when the bartender came out of the joint in a raincoat, a derby pulled over his gleaming hair, his mouth lined with the faint grimace of exhaustion.
Yunho opened his umbrella, held it over the tired man and offered him a drag from the cigarette he had in his mouth.
The bartender raised one eyebrow and stuck the fag back between Yunho’s lips. He eyed the detective’s rumpled dress shirt and his scuffed shoes. His expression softened.
“Wanna get some coffee? I know a place.”
“Sure…?”
“Call me Jay,” the bartender said, taking his elbow commandingly.
Yunho grinned stupidly. He was a lucky fella.
Author: twhitesakura
Wordcount: 525
Rating: PG
Concrit? Yes
Summary: AU. Detective Yunho tries to pick up the bartender.
The joint was a speakeasy in downtown Chicago. Yunho protested, saying he had an early morning stakeout the next day, but Changmin wouldn’t hear of it. Yunho’s fraternity brother lent the detective a fine double-breasted suit and some diamond cufflinks, pomade to shape his hair, and even some rosewater to make him smell properly genteel. He reeked like a Mother’s Day bouquet.
“You’re fine, gumshoe,” Changmin chuckled as he pushed Yunho into the crowd. “Live a little.”
A few classy dames and some foppish men glanced their way when they entered but went back to their chatter. The floor sank, plush with red oriental rugs, and the walls showed off mahogany wainscoting. It was pretty luxurious. Yunho licked his lips and darted towards the bar. He tried making eye contact with his friend, but Changmin was busy chatting up a girl in a slinky silver one-piece near the jazz band.
“What’ll it be?” Said the bartender from behind the counter.
Onstage, the jazz singer warbled. Blue Rhapsody.
“Gin on the rocks.”
The bartender nodded, began fixing up his drink.
“So, you’ve been working here long?” Yunho fidgeted with his hands. One of the men at the bar laughed loudly and elbowed Yunho, spilling vodka onto him.
Yunho cursed.
The bartender smiled indulgently, the bar lights catching on his ash-blond hair as he slid Yunho’s gin over along with a towel.
Yunho mopped his sleeve and nodded towards Changmin. “My friend brought me here.”
“Oh, him.” The bartender’s face remained flippant, but a spark of disgust lit his eye. Changmin had the slinky girl in one arm and another brunette in the other. One hand crept up the brunette’s skirt.
“I’m not like that!” Yunho rubbed the back of his neck. His face felt warm.
The bartender smirked, reached over to thumb Yunho’s sparkling cufflinks and smooth the lapels on his suit.
“I do fine on my own. Don’t need a sugar daddy.”
Yunho cast his eyes down to the bar counter and nursed his drink. He asked for a refill and spent an hour surreptitiously spying on the bartender at work as he slipped from one end of the bar to the next. Sometimes a girl ordered something fancy and he’d do a trick with the bottles, throwing them over his shoulder, twirling them into the air.
He left before midnight for the next day’s stakeout. But after the case, he waited in the alleyway by the club’s entrance as the patrons trickled out one by one. A light drizzle fell when the bartender came out of the joint in a raincoat, a derby pulled over his gleaming hair, his mouth lined with the faint grimace of exhaustion.
Yunho opened his umbrella, held it over the tired man and offered him a drag from the cigarette he had in his mouth.
The bartender raised one eyebrow and stuck the fag back between Yunho’s lips. He eyed the detective’s rumpled dress shirt and his scuffed shoes. His expression softened.
“Wanna get some coffee? I know a place.”
“Sure…?”
“Call me Jay,” the bartender said, taking his elbow commandingly.
Yunho grinned stupidly. He was a lucky fella.