For Ephemera and Ullman
Apr. 1st, 2019 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestI suspect that twice doesn't actually count as a 'tradition', but I have managed to post a story for Ephemera on her birthday before (long, long ago!), and here is one that I've been meaning to write for a long while and only now got round to.
It's the sequel to this story, Give it a Spin, written for Ullman in MTYG 2011, so this sequel is also for Ullman.
"You, my friend, are going to have to be on your toes," Chris announced.
Lance looked at him warily. "Huh. You clean up better than I'd have expected," he said, looking at Chris's dark grey suit with something not unlike approval. "And I'm quite prepared to be on my toes if that means I get to avoid you stepping on them."
"I am not going to be distracted by your feeble attempts to malign me. I merely warn."
"Oh, really."
"Yes, really. I am all set," Chris said. "Ready to heel lead and reverse turn with the best."
Lance brightened. "You really went to the lessons?"
"I did." Having the best looking dancing instructor in the Home Counties didn't hurt, but once he'd got started he'd actually found he enjoyed the dancing. "And you, my friend, have a lot to live up to." He launched into a ball-change-chassé-spin-turn, and could see that Lance was more impressed than he was willing to let on. Hah! "And by the way, if you're not up to leading, I can do that, too." Kevin had been very helpful on that score.
"Don't you worry, I can lead just fine," Lance retorted. "Nick's a very good dance teacher."
"So, what, you just assumed you'd get to lead because you're taller than me?" Chris was prepared to be belligerent, although he wasn't completely invested in an argument right now.
"My teacher said it's easiest if the taller person leads when you do a progressive dance."
"Yep, so did mine. But he also said it doesn't matter who's taller when it comes to a cha cha or a samba or a jive. And what is it you said we'd be doing, again?"
Lance shuffled a bit. "Robbie and JC tried out that sappy song JC wants and apparently, it's a rumba."
"Hah!" Chris thought about doing the dance of joy, but it would strike a false note, what with all these elegant ladies in hats and pretty dresses. And probably wouldn't impress Lance, either. "Not moving round the dance floor, then."
"So, you want to lead?" Lance said.
"I think we should share. My instructor says that's the coolest bit about same sex dancing, you can switch." Chris had, in fact, snorted beer through his nose when Kevin had suggested, absolutely straight-faced, that couples should switch. Kevin was cunning like that, he'd spring a surprise on you when you totally weren't expecting it. Chris was stone cold certain Kevin was laughing on the inside, but Kevin was really good at keeping a straight face. He'd probably be a killer poker player.
"Well, I'm okay with it if you want to lead," Lance said, surprising him. "I have enough to worry about remembering all the steps without having to put them together the right way and send the right signals."
This did not surprise Chris. In fact, he'd have been amazed if Lance had said anything else. Kevin had told him that with practically every straight couple he'd ever taught, the woman was better at picking up the dancing than the man, and then she'd get frustrated because she wanted to do all the fancy steps and her man was concentrating so hard on not bumping into people that he never remembered to lead her into a weave or whatever. Not that Chris was in any way a woman, but he was pretty damn sure he was better at picking up dance moves than Lance would ever be. Kevin had said he was a quick learner.
"Still," Chris said, "what's really cool is if we switch while we dance. Like, you remember a sequence so you take the lead, and then I take over and lead you through something else. That way we both get to relax and follow along for part of the dance. And it's kinda fun. In the private lessons, after Kevin taught me how to lead, we'd switch." He had enjoyed the private lessons. A lot. He was even sure—almost sure—that Kevin had been enjoying them too, for the same reasons, but Kevin was determinedly professional and had been scrupulous about not doing or saying anything that Chris could actually take home and fantasise about. So he just wasn't quite sure enough to have had the balls to ask Kevin out.
Lance was giving him a very knowing look. "Sounds like Kevin was quite the teacher."
"He's very good. He taught your teachers, by the way, so I'm surprised they didn't tell you about sharing the lead."
"Oh, they did," Lance said, and grinned. "But I wish we could have practised together. It's a fair bet there'll be a lot of people watching us to see if we screw up."
"Nah," Chris said, "not at this wedding. Civil ceremony, excuse me. They wouldn't have invited people like that."
"That's true. Incidentally, everybody I told about today instantly called it a wedding," Lance said, looking pleased. "It's nice."
Chris considered. "Yeah. It is nice. And, like I said, JC and Robbie wouldn't invite the kind of people who'd be judgmental about us dancing together. More likely they'll be impressed that we can do some actual dance steps instead of the standard manly shuffle."
"You realise we'll probably get women asking to dance with us? Nick said it happens all the time to his students."
"I guess straight men don't see the point of learning to dance. Straight men are kind of stupid, when you consider how many women would love somebody to sweep them onto the dance floor and lead them into a waltz. Ballroom dancing classes should be thronging with men wanting to get laid." Chris was not going to admit to a living soul that he'd been startled, delighted and decidedly turned on when Kevin had led him through an unexpected series of steps in one of their private classes.
"I definitely want a dance." The voice behind him turned out to be Lance's friend Lisa. Chris liked her, and was happy to negotiate for the kind of dance they'd do together, until the doors opened and an usher invited them to take their seats.
*
Chris did not cry at weddings. Or civil ceremonies. He just smiled, big, and if his eyes were maybe a bit brighter than usual, that was fair. Anyway, Robbie and JC were all set for a future together now, so all he needed to get through was a meal that wouldn't make him gag, and not too much alcohol until after the first dance.
Lance was already jittery, he could tell even from back here in the cheap seats, and Chris knew that it wasn't the prospect of giving a speech that would have Lance worried. Lance was good at that stuff, and besides, Chris had emailed him a lot of his best material. The speech would be fine. After, though, they'd have to dance, and Chris would bet cash that Lance's jitters were all about the dancing.
*
He would have won big, if he could have persuaded anyone to take the bet, but Justin was indignant that Chris thought he was stupid enough to fall for that, and Joey just laughed. However, they did get through the dancing just fine—after the first frozen moment, Lance managed perfectly well, and Chris was pleased with himself for remembering to lead through a nice little sequence of hockey stick turns that obviously surprised his partner but didn't set him off balance at all. Now that was a job done properly, he told himself. Kevin would be proud.
He'd have to tell Kevin all about it. He would tell Kevin about it, Chris decided, he would call him up tomorrow and ask him out, and Kevin was going to say yes because, damn it, why the hell wouldn't he? Chris was no JC, but he had some moves even before he learned to rumba.
Or, ahaha. Oh. Or he could just—because that was—because right over there, that fine, fine looking man with the long hair, that was his dance instructor. At JC's wedding. Right here.
Probably won't need to tell him about the dancing, Chris thought.
Kevin was leading a big blond guy onto the floor, which was a bit of a setback, until Lance said, "Hey, my dancing teacher is here!"
"Oh?" Wait, what? Lance hadn't been learning at Kevin's studio, had he? For a dizzying moment, Chris wondered if he'd completely misunderstood—
"I should ask him to dance with me," Lance said, sounding unexpectedly determined. "Come on," and Chris found himself being hauled into a rhythm foxtrot, which wasn't too bad except that Lance was obviously set on steering him quickly to the other side of the dance floor. Where Kevin was dancing with tall, blond and tasty. Okay then. Chris fought the urge to take over the steering and head in the opposite direction just to be irritating. He could, occasionally, do the smart thing instead of the funny one.
So he followed Lance's determined lead and did not even attempt to act all surprised when he ended up doing an impromptu (and not perfectly led, but he could cope) twirl right next to Kevin and his partner. Lance was oddly unsuave about inviting his dance teacher—Nick—to dance, but it seemed to work well enough, and Chris was left facing Kevin, who smirked at him, quirked an eyebrow and raised his arms into a ballroom hold.
"You didn't mention," Chris said airily as they progressed counter-clockwise round the room, "that you were invited too."
"I wasn't," Kevin said. "AJ had to back out at the last minute, I think there was an emergency with one of his dogs. But Nick had already replied with a plus one, so he asked me to fill in. The dog is fine, by the way. Nick got a text during dinner. Imagine my surprise," there was a glint in his eyes that said he wasn't surprised at all, "when I saw who was dancing with the best man. One of the best men."
"I think you'll find I'm a better man than Lance," Chris said.
"Oh, I doubt that," Kevin said. "Nick just spent most of dinner telling me what a sweetheart Lance is and about all the good causes he supports. Whereas you, you were an awkward cuss from the moment we met."
"Yeah, that's me." It didn't sound as though Kevin had a problem with awkward. But the slow, progressive dance was done, and the DJ, who must be the uncoolest one on the planet, put on Jumping Jack Flash, presumably to please the more sprightly septuagenarians at the party, and Chris decided that he didn't care how weird it looked, he was pretty certain they could cha cha to it. He was going to remind Kevin just what a good partner he could be.
"Dance?" he invited. His feet found the beat and he took Kevin's hands and urged him backwards, and actually got through the whole of the first verse before Kevin smoothly took over and guided him through a neat sequence of moves.
"You do know it's supposed to be a collaboration, not a battle," Kevin remarked after Chris had wrested back the lead again.
"You were hogging the lead." Chris realised just in time that he'd never be able to turn Kevin under his arm and changed the planned Alemana for a chassé. He knew Kevin had spotted the late substitution, and stuck his tongue out. He'd definitely got away with it.
"My own fault, I suppose, for teaching you to switch."
"Pretty sure I had that figured that out already," Chris said, and stopped trying not to grin.
Kevin laughed. "I thought perhaps you had."
"So," Chris said, as they stepped back into close hold. "Private lesson later?"
Kevin grinned, and dipped Chris backwards over his arm as the song ended. "You can show me your moves," he promised.
It's the sequel to this story, Give it a Spin, written for Ullman in MTYG 2011, so this sequel is also for Ullman.
"You, my friend, are going to have to be on your toes," Chris announced.
Lance looked at him warily. "Huh. You clean up better than I'd have expected," he said, looking at Chris's dark grey suit with something not unlike approval. "And I'm quite prepared to be on my toes if that means I get to avoid you stepping on them."
"I am not going to be distracted by your feeble attempts to malign me. I merely warn."
"Oh, really."
"Yes, really. I am all set," Chris said. "Ready to heel lead and reverse turn with the best."
Lance brightened. "You really went to the lessons?"
"I did." Having the best looking dancing instructor in the Home Counties didn't hurt, but once he'd got started he'd actually found he enjoyed the dancing. "And you, my friend, have a lot to live up to." He launched into a ball-change-chassé-spin-turn, and could see that Lance was more impressed than he was willing to let on. Hah! "And by the way, if you're not up to leading, I can do that, too." Kevin had been very helpful on that score.
"Don't you worry, I can lead just fine," Lance retorted. "Nick's a very good dance teacher."
"So, what, you just assumed you'd get to lead because you're taller than me?" Chris was prepared to be belligerent, although he wasn't completely invested in an argument right now.
"My teacher said it's easiest if the taller person leads when you do a progressive dance."
"Yep, so did mine. But he also said it doesn't matter who's taller when it comes to a cha cha or a samba or a jive. And what is it you said we'd be doing, again?"
Lance shuffled a bit. "Robbie and JC tried out that sappy song JC wants and apparently, it's a rumba."
"Hah!" Chris thought about doing the dance of joy, but it would strike a false note, what with all these elegant ladies in hats and pretty dresses. And probably wouldn't impress Lance, either. "Not moving round the dance floor, then."
"So, you want to lead?" Lance said.
"I think we should share. My instructor says that's the coolest bit about same sex dancing, you can switch." Chris had, in fact, snorted beer through his nose when Kevin had suggested, absolutely straight-faced, that couples should switch. Kevin was cunning like that, he'd spring a surprise on you when you totally weren't expecting it. Chris was stone cold certain Kevin was laughing on the inside, but Kevin was really good at keeping a straight face. He'd probably be a killer poker player.
"Well, I'm okay with it if you want to lead," Lance said, surprising him. "I have enough to worry about remembering all the steps without having to put them together the right way and send the right signals."
This did not surprise Chris. In fact, he'd have been amazed if Lance had said anything else. Kevin had told him that with practically every straight couple he'd ever taught, the woman was better at picking up the dancing than the man, and then she'd get frustrated because she wanted to do all the fancy steps and her man was concentrating so hard on not bumping into people that he never remembered to lead her into a weave or whatever. Not that Chris was in any way a woman, but he was pretty damn sure he was better at picking up dance moves than Lance would ever be. Kevin had said he was a quick learner.
"Still," Chris said, "what's really cool is if we switch while we dance. Like, you remember a sequence so you take the lead, and then I take over and lead you through something else. That way we both get to relax and follow along for part of the dance. And it's kinda fun. In the private lessons, after Kevin taught me how to lead, we'd switch." He had enjoyed the private lessons. A lot. He was even sure—almost sure—that Kevin had been enjoying them too, for the same reasons, but Kevin was determinedly professional and had been scrupulous about not doing or saying anything that Chris could actually take home and fantasise about. So he just wasn't quite sure enough to have had the balls to ask Kevin out.
Lance was giving him a very knowing look. "Sounds like Kevin was quite the teacher."
"He's very good. He taught your teachers, by the way, so I'm surprised they didn't tell you about sharing the lead."
"Oh, they did," Lance said, and grinned. "But I wish we could have practised together. It's a fair bet there'll be a lot of people watching us to see if we screw up."
"Nah," Chris said, "not at this wedding. Civil ceremony, excuse me. They wouldn't have invited people like that."
"That's true. Incidentally, everybody I told about today instantly called it a wedding," Lance said, looking pleased. "It's nice."
Chris considered. "Yeah. It is nice. And, like I said, JC and Robbie wouldn't invite the kind of people who'd be judgmental about us dancing together. More likely they'll be impressed that we can do some actual dance steps instead of the standard manly shuffle."
"You realise we'll probably get women asking to dance with us? Nick said it happens all the time to his students."
"I guess straight men don't see the point of learning to dance. Straight men are kind of stupid, when you consider how many women would love somebody to sweep them onto the dance floor and lead them into a waltz. Ballroom dancing classes should be thronging with men wanting to get laid." Chris was not going to admit to a living soul that he'd been startled, delighted and decidedly turned on when Kevin had led him through an unexpected series of steps in one of their private classes.
"I definitely want a dance." The voice behind him turned out to be Lance's friend Lisa. Chris liked her, and was happy to negotiate for the kind of dance they'd do together, until the doors opened and an usher invited them to take their seats.
*
Chris did not cry at weddings. Or civil ceremonies. He just smiled, big, and if his eyes were maybe a bit brighter than usual, that was fair. Anyway, Robbie and JC were all set for a future together now, so all he needed to get through was a meal that wouldn't make him gag, and not too much alcohol until after the first dance.
Lance was already jittery, he could tell even from back here in the cheap seats, and Chris knew that it wasn't the prospect of giving a speech that would have Lance worried. Lance was good at that stuff, and besides, Chris had emailed him a lot of his best material. The speech would be fine. After, though, they'd have to dance, and Chris would bet cash that Lance's jitters were all about the dancing.
*
He would have won big, if he could have persuaded anyone to take the bet, but Justin was indignant that Chris thought he was stupid enough to fall for that, and Joey just laughed. However, they did get through the dancing just fine—after the first frozen moment, Lance managed perfectly well, and Chris was pleased with himself for remembering to lead through a nice little sequence of hockey stick turns that obviously surprised his partner but didn't set him off balance at all. Now that was a job done properly, he told himself. Kevin would be proud.
He'd have to tell Kevin all about it. He would tell Kevin about it, Chris decided, he would call him up tomorrow and ask him out, and Kevin was going to say yes because, damn it, why the hell wouldn't he? Chris was no JC, but he had some moves even before he learned to rumba.
Or, ahaha. Oh. Or he could just—because that was—because right over there, that fine, fine looking man with the long hair, that was his dance instructor. At JC's wedding. Right here.
Probably won't need to tell him about the dancing, Chris thought.
Kevin was leading a big blond guy onto the floor, which was a bit of a setback, until Lance said, "Hey, my dancing teacher is here!"
"Oh?" Wait, what? Lance hadn't been learning at Kevin's studio, had he? For a dizzying moment, Chris wondered if he'd completely misunderstood—
"I should ask him to dance with me," Lance said, sounding unexpectedly determined. "Come on," and Chris found himself being hauled into a rhythm foxtrot, which wasn't too bad except that Lance was obviously set on steering him quickly to the other side of the dance floor. Where Kevin was dancing with tall, blond and tasty. Okay then. Chris fought the urge to take over the steering and head in the opposite direction just to be irritating. He could, occasionally, do the smart thing instead of the funny one.
So he followed Lance's determined lead and did not even attempt to act all surprised when he ended up doing an impromptu (and not perfectly led, but he could cope) twirl right next to Kevin and his partner. Lance was oddly unsuave about inviting his dance teacher—Nick—to dance, but it seemed to work well enough, and Chris was left facing Kevin, who smirked at him, quirked an eyebrow and raised his arms into a ballroom hold.
"You didn't mention," Chris said airily as they progressed counter-clockwise round the room, "that you were invited too."
"I wasn't," Kevin said. "AJ had to back out at the last minute, I think there was an emergency with one of his dogs. But Nick had already replied with a plus one, so he asked me to fill in. The dog is fine, by the way. Nick got a text during dinner. Imagine my surprise," there was a glint in his eyes that said he wasn't surprised at all, "when I saw who was dancing with the best man. One of the best men."
"I think you'll find I'm a better man than Lance," Chris said.
"Oh, I doubt that," Kevin said. "Nick just spent most of dinner telling me what a sweetheart Lance is and about all the good causes he supports. Whereas you, you were an awkward cuss from the moment we met."
"Yeah, that's me." It didn't sound as though Kevin had a problem with awkward. But the slow, progressive dance was done, and the DJ, who must be the uncoolest one on the planet, put on Jumping Jack Flash, presumably to please the more sprightly septuagenarians at the party, and Chris decided that he didn't care how weird it looked, he was pretty certain they could cha cha to it. He was going to remind Kevin just what a good partner he could be.
"Dance?" he invited. His feet found the beat and he took Kevin's hands and urged him backwards, and actually got through the whole of the first verse before Kevin smoothly took over and guided him through a neat sequence of moves.
"You do know it's supposed to be a collaboration, not a battle," Kevin remarked after Chris had wrested back the lead again.
"You were hogging the lead." Chris realised just in time that he'd never be able to turn Kevin under his arm and changed the planned Alemana for a chassé. He knew Kevin had spotted the late substitution, and stuck his tongue out. He'd definitely got away with it.
"My own fault, I suppose, for teaching you to switch."
"Pretty sure I had that figured that out already," Chris said, and stopped trying not to grin.
Kevin laughed. "I thought perhaps you had."
"So," Chris said, as they stepped back into close hold. "Private lesson later?"
Kevin grinned, and dipped Chris backwards over his arm as the song ended. "You can show me your moves," he promised.
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Date: 2019-04-01 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-02 03:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 11:20 am (UTC)<3
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Date: 2019-04-05 11:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-06 04:38 pm (UTC)I love that because I can totally believe it.
I loved this so much, all the dancing and fantastic dialogue and of course, Kevin/Chris which will always be one of my favourite crossover pairings. Just lovely.
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Date: 2019-04-06 07:22 pm (UTC)