Jean drummed his fingers against the surface of the wooden bar in annoyance, idly scanning the faces of each person in the room. He wasn't sure why he had taken this job in the first place, which was performing music for a local bar in town. The pay was shit, he rarely got to play, and the hours were unfair. Franz, the man who ran the bar, made up for his lack of performance by using him as a busboy. Jean had argued with him about this more than once, reminding him that his job was, in fact, to play music for the audience, not to wipe down filthy tables and act as a stand in waiter when someone was a no show. But, despite how many times he stressed this, the answer was always the same: "You're my employee, and I will use you how I see fit. Don't like it? Find another job."

Jean scowled at the thought, glaring at a person that had caught his wandering gaze. They quickly broke eye contact, resuming their meal. Yeah, he thought bitterly, that's what I thought.

As much as Jean hated to admit it, he was in no position to be storming out of this job in a rage, finally quitting after threatening it so many times before. He had dropped out of high school earlier on, claiming that it wasn't his thing. Though he absolutely resented the fact that he had done so, wishing that he had held on just awhile longer and made something out of his life. He probably still could, but he was way too proud and stubborn to even consider doing so, telling himself that he could still make something out of this and that he had made the right decision. But, without a high school diploma, or a college degree, it was very rare to find a well paying job.

He had been lucky to even get this job, as it was. They hadn't been hiring at the time, and had it not been for his friend, Connie, he would probably still be out of a job and living with his parents.

This job paid just enough to allow him to pay for his apartment, clothes, and food on his own. Which honestly, what more did a person need? It was a comfortable life, albeit stressful at times, but comfortable none the less.

But still, that didn't stop him from complaining. Nothing stopped Jean Kirschtein from complaining.

"Kirschtein, booths three and five need to be wiped down. Rush hour is about to set in and we're understaffed tonight. We need to be prepared."

Jean rolled his eyes, pushing himself up and away from the bar and stretching his back. "Let me guess, I've got serving duty. Again."

"Uhh huh." Franz sounded, counting out some change for a customer and paying him no mind.

"Great." Grabbing the rag that he had earlier discarded onto the counter, he turned, setting off in the direction of the booths, a deep scowl etched into his features.

He was just finishing up with the last booth when the bells above the front door jingled, sounding someone's entrance. Jean straightened up, slinging the cloth over his shoulder, and glanced towards the source of the noise.

Making his way from the front of the bar was a tall, dark haired, freckled man. Jean watched him as he strode purposefully through the room, finally coming to a stop in front of Franz. There was a bright smile adorning his lips as he greeted him, his dark eyes wide and hopeful. Though he was well out of earshot, by the look on the man's face Jean could more or less guess that he was asking about a job.

Good fucking luck, buddy, Jean thought sourly, emitting a snort. It had taken Connie weeks on end of pestering Franz to get him his job, and even then he hadn't gotten a call back about it for about another week or so. If he had five bucks to spare on something so stupid, he would have bet that this guy would be leaving without that friendly smile plastered across his face.

Glancing back down at the table he had been working on and away from the exchange, he noticed that he had missed a spot. Huffing in irritation at the speck of dried food, he set back to work, scrubbing furiously at the wooden surface and muttering curses to himself.

So caught up in destroying the fleck of food that was seemingly glued to the table, taunting him, he failed to notice the figure now looming over him. "Hello! Are you Jean?" Jean started, dropping the rag and knocking over an assortment of condiments in his surprise. Jerking his head up in the direction of the voice, amber eyes blazing in irritation, he recognized him as the freckled man from earlier. Before he could get a word out, the man laughed cheerfully, leaning over the table and setting the fallen objects in their more or less proper place. "Sorry about that! I didn't mean to scare you, I just-"

"You didn't scare me." Jean snapped, straightening up to become level with freckled nuisance. Though the man was taller than himself, the glare that was pointed in his direction made up for it. He said nothing, opening and closing his mouth a few times, trying and failing for a response to Jean's vehement rudeness. "What do you want?" Jean asked, finally, turning away from the man and bending back over the booth, resuming his mission to rid the table of the damned speck. "And you better speak fast. I'm busy and I have better things to do, other than stand around all day waiting for you to spit it out."

Yes, Jean was being harsh. He knew that. He knew that he should probably lighten up on the guy, seeing as he wasn't the cause of Jean's inner turmoil. But he couldn't help it. He was fed up with this shitty job, and the shitty chores, and the shitty piece of food that would not detach its self from the surface of the table no matter how hard he scrubbed at it. And what's more? He had been called in early this morning to sweep the parking lot free of leaves and clean the glasses from the night prior, seeing as Jaeger decided to skip out on his job yet again to do whatever pains in the asses do. And having not been prepared to be called in early, he hadn't had time to stop for coffee on the way as he usually did, let alone make his own. So, yeah. Though this guy probably didn't deserve the shit attitude that was being thrown in his direction right now, he should have known from just one look to stay out of his path today. Or at least, that was Jean's reasoning on the situation.

"A-ah. Right." The man stuttered out, tugging at the bottom of his shirt to straighten it out. "Well, Franz told me to come find you. It's my first day, so he told me that he would like you to train me." Jean stood up again, arching an eyebrow in his direction. "O-or, at least point me in the right direction of what to do with myself?" He said, his words coming out as a question due to the incredulous look that was being pointed in his direction.

"You got the job? That fast?" He asked, disbelieving.

"What? No, I called in a few weeks ago and asked about it. He told me that he was understaffed and could use all of the help he could get, so I got it." He shrugged, the friendly smile back in place. Jean stared at him, his eyebrows scrunched together. What the shit. He basically had to fight tooth and nail to get this job, just barely grabbing it by the skin of his teeth, and this guy calls in one time and lands it? What kind of absolute bullshit was that?

Yeah, now this guy was pissing him off. Snatching the rag from the table, Jean shoved it against the guy's chest, brushing past him in search of Franz. "Training, lesson one; get that fucking piece of food off of the table." He snapped over his shoulder, scowling.

He caught Franz by the arm just as he was making his way out the door and opened his mouth, intent on letting him have a piece of his mind: Where did he think he was going? Where was Jaeger? And just where did he get off hiring someone after just one phone call while everyone else had to work their asses off to get where they were.

Franz's eyebrows shot up as he was jerked to a halt, but when he laid eyes on Jean, he smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. He spoke before Jean could get a word out, cutting off the shit storm Jean was about to incur. "Good news for you, with the new kid here to take over your normal position, you can perform tonight. All you have to do is show him the ropes, and then you can go on." Jean's mouth hung open, suspended mid air as he let that sink in. Ok, so the new guy landing this job wasn't as bad as he had originally thought. The thought of getting to perform after almost a year of not being able to do so due to being understaffed, was enough to raise his mood considerably. Closing his mouth, his expression relaxed, the anger almost visibly melting off of him.

Maneuvering himself out of Jean's grip, Franz shuffled the rest of the way out of the door, turning back to look at him once more. "I'm taking off for awhile, I have somewhere to be. You know the drill; Look after things while I'm gone, keep everything in order, and if I'm not back before closing time, lock up." Not giving him a chance to respond, he slipped all the way out, bells jingling as the door slid to a gentle close. Jean nodded, turning back around, a small smile playing on his lips as he strode back towards the new guy. Maybe this day wasn't as bad as he had made it out to be, after all.

As he neared where the man was standing, he noted that the rag was slung over his shoulder as he leaned against the seat of the booth, gazing out around the room. His expression was glazed over, as if he were deep in thought.

"I thought I told you to clean the table?" He called out as he neared him, his tone considerably lighter than it had been a few moments prior.

The freckled man looked relieved at this as he shifted his dark eyes over to Jean, smiling cheerfully. "Oh, I did. I got the speck you were having trouble with." Jean furrowed his eyebrows together, pushing past him to see for himself. And, just as he had said, the stain was no more. The table gleamed spotlessly in the light above, almost as if to tell him that this guy, who had been here for merely ten minutes, was already doing his job better than him.

Jean emitted a loud sigh, propping a hand on the table. This guy has been sent here straight from freckled hell just to spite me. Seeming to notice his irritation at having been one-upped, the man quickly added "But I'd say you got it most of the way off before I got here, what with how hard you were scrubbing at it. There wasn't much left for me to do." Jean glanced sideways at him, saying nothing. And he's nice. Of course he's nice. "Anyways, I don't think I introduced myself. I'm Marco." He said, stretching out one tan, lightly freckled hand, his expression warm and friendly.

Jean vaguely considered telling him to fuck off and shove his friendly greetings up his ass, but he knew that he didn't deserve that. As innocently annoying as he was, he meant no harm. He really was just trying to be nice, despite Jean's suspicions towards cheekiness.

Jean shook his outstretched hand after a moment with his own, smiling slightly. "Jean," He said, "Though you already knew that."

Marco's smile grew wider, if that was even possible, causing his eyes to crinkle at the corners. "It's nice to meet you, Jean. I look forward to working with you."

Jean nodded, withdrawing his hand and tucking it in his pocket. "Likewise."

The sound of the bells halted their conversation for the time being, causing Jean to turn, and Marco to look up. His large, dark eyes widened at the sight of the sudden influx of people that were now pouring in through the door, chattering loudly. The sound quickly filled the once quiet bar, causing Jean to grimace. Here we go.

"Well, Marco," He said, bringing a hand down on the taller mans shoulder as he moved to stand beside him. "Looks like we have a long night ahead of us."

xxxx

Notes:

ahh yeah i'm not really sure about this at all. i've never written fic before other than short drabble that went absolutely no where. so i apologize wholeheartedly if this sucks, and if they are not in character. im still trying to figure it all out.

i think since it's not very far in yet, im going to continue into the first chapter. be sure to leave reviews and let me know what you think. constructive criticism is welcomed

EDIT:

i should probably mention that the franz in this fic is not the same franz as in the anime, so if he seemed out of character to you, that is why.