by: Fantom Fox

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In the barely lit corner of a smoke-hazed club, a beautiful brunette ran a hand casually through his hair. A cigarette dangled from his mouth carelessly as he watched people move around him. It was barely past midnight, and the club was nearly dead tonight. Usually, despite it being the middle of the week, Tuesday nights were fairly populated. What was wrong with tonight, the brunette had no idea. Smoke curled from the end of his cigarette and mingled with the growing atmosphere in the room. It was warm inside. Energy from the few dancers heating up the room. He had been dancing earlier, but his preferred partner was not here tonight, so he chose to take a little while to enjoy his addiction alone.

He looked around the club, still marveling at the scene around him. There was a reason why he kept coming back here. From where he was sitting, the DJ’s booth was less than two bodies’ lengths away. A new song came on overhead, and the brunette scowled in the DJ’s direction. The small man spinning the disks gave his friend a small shrug. It was requested. Nothing he could do. Taking a long drag from his cigarette, the brunette tried to drown out the cover of one of his favorite songs. Instead, he watched the spinning lights and the bodies pulsing and swaying to the beat. The dance floor was in front of him, all the way in the bowels of the club. The bar stretched the length of the wall opposite where he was sitting. At least three bartenders catered to the dancers each night, all night. Behind them, neon lights lit their work. Long Island Iced Tea was the special of the night, and it was selling marvelously. The brunette’s eyes followed the bar until the harsh yellow glare of “normal” light began to break up the illusion. The bathrooms were back that way. Their normalcy clashing with the feel of the rest of the club. His eyes traced the back wall until the stairs came into view. He’s come back to these. He eyed the wall next to him and followed the patterns there until he crossed in front of the DJ booth and the pattern turned the corner. What he couldn’t see by sitting here was the sound and touch sensitive electric circles on the wall. Their yellow lightning tore through their captivity as if it would escape.

A dark-haired young woman stuck her face in front of the brunette’s line of vision. He waved her away with a small smile. Thank you, but I’ll sit this dance out. The girl pouted, but then wandered off to dance with her strawberry blond friend. Both girls were very attractive, the brunette noted, and were very good dancers. He watched them with more than a passing curiosity. The blond was a little older than her friend and a little more passionate about her dance. The blond’s hand slipped under the dark-haired girl’s shirt in the back, raising the material just enough. The dark-haired girl had a tattoo of a butterfly on the small of her back. The color was vibrant, light blues and purples. The brunette stared for a few seconds then leaned back against the wall and watched. It was like watching them make sweet love on the dance floor. They moved together as if no one else was there. It was poetry. And for a moment, he wished he had taken the girls up on their offer. But had he done that, he couldn’t watch them at this distance. Together they melded together, a swirl of flesh and hair and feminine grace. They had eyes for only each other, and the brunette could feel a pang of jealousy. His partner wasn’t here, and watching them made him feel the absence. They could put the two girls to shame, show them what it really meant to dance with no abandon. A hand brushed against his arm. He jumped to realize it was his own. A harsh laugh escaped his lips. He’d really gotten himself distracted.

The song finally changed, and the brunette looked up. He glanced around the room, looking for familiar faces. A bleach blond woman with a pink boa dragged a wild-haired man from his friend at the bar. The two of them began to dance with the music. It wasn’t purely sexual, and at the same time it was. The wild-haired man’s headband was a little damp with sweat. He’d been busy. The butterfly girl and her blond danced closer to the other two. Soon, others began to take to the floor. There had been a steady stream of people enter the club just as the song began, the beat calling to those outside in need of some release. The brunette leaned back. He could use some of that release. The usuals at the club knew that the brunette wasn’t usually very picky about who he danced with, just as long as the music was good. Tonight, there was another look on his face. Impatience. Expectance. He passed a casual eye over a girl trying to get his attention from across the room. There was only one person truly good enough for tonight. One person that might not show up at all.

His eyes found their way back to the stairs. Dark railing followed to the landing, turned, and headed up to the second floor. Tables and chairs decorated the balcony overlooking the dance floor. Only one table was occupied. A man and woman, rather ordinary looking, cooed at each other over cheap drinks. The man looked nervous. The woman looked excited. Several things could be going on between them, but the brunette was growing rapidly bored with them. Beyond them, he had trouble seeing anything else of the upper level. He knew that a fish tank was right next to the plastic covered entrance, casting a faint blue glow on the newcomers to the club. The bouncer sat at the table, taking IDs of those club-goers old enough to party but too young to drink. The brunette smiled, no longer having to worry about that problem, ID safe in his own pocket.

A warm body was suddenly next to him, and he half turned. The wild-haired man draped an arm around the brunette and whispered into his ear. Green eyes glittered at blue, and the two stood and danced their way toward the floor. They moved like water. They moved like sex. The wild-haired man pushed up his headband slightly and stroked his arms over the other man’s shoulders. The brunette laughed. That’s another reason why he loved this place. One could be whatever they wanted here. Male or female with a male of female, it didn’t matter as long as you were willing to get up and dance. The rhythm and the lights, it was everything and nothing when the music took you over. Their bodies pressed dangerously close as they danced, gaining them more than a few looks of approval as they moved. The brunette tossed his head back, thick chocolate waves falling back from his face as he forgot everything to the pulsing beat. The wild-haired man pulled the smaller brunette back closer, not letting him get away just yet. They continued in this way until the music slowed, and the song changed. Pulling away slowly, the brunette brushed strands of hair from his now sweaty face. The other man laughed then was dragged away by the woman with the boa again. The wild-haired man’s friend mumbled “bitch” under her breath, and the brunette couldn’t help laughing.

Something just then caught his eye, that particular shade of red. He looked up the stairs to see who was standing there on the landing. Black boots with a slight thick heel graced the feet and extended underneath the pants to the knee. The pants were soft and shiny, black as the moonless night. The words that crossed the pitch black shirt in a streak of red brought a smile to the brunette’s lips. Long unnatural red hair, usually tied back, was loosed, falling around the shoulders in stripes of red. The short red in front hung loosely over the face, barely covering piercing eyes. The redhead is paused on the landing of the stairs, looking around. Violet eyes met shiny green, and the redhead and brunette approached each other and met at the foot of the stairs.

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come.”

The redhead smirked. “What and miss my night out with only you?” The voice was deeper than one would think.

The brunette smiled. “So you *do* care. I would never have thought.”

Stepping in, the redhead whispers into his ear, “You know I do.”

“I know.”

The two slowly smile at each other. Violet eyes scan the room casually then turn to the brunette to admire the outfit for the evening. Black midriff shirt, tight black pants, hair back and slightly sweaty from dancing.

Smiling more, the brunette ran a hand through the long red streams of hair, starting at the shoulder then down to his chest. “I like it better down. You should wear it like this more often.”

The redhead shrugged and nudged his partner out of the way of the steps. His fingers trailed to the brunette’s bare waist then fell away. He nuzzled his head into the hand tangled in his hair and now back on his shoulder. He began to look uncomfortable at everyone around them, then caught sight of the green eyes behind tendrils of brown. The room around them no longer mattered as much, the smoke not so thick, the walls not so close. The brunette stepped backwards, tugging a little on his partner’s hair, giving him a “come hither” look.

“I requested this song for you... so you’d better dance with me.”

Dragged along by his hair, the redhead smiled faintly and follows. When they got to the dance floor, the music immediately surrounded them. At first the redhead watched the other move, catching the beat of the music nearly instantly. A few seconds later, both were in time to the music, and most importantly each other. They moved unlike any others at the club. They moved like one. The redhead’s apprehension fell away at the encouragement of the beautiful brunette in his arms. They danced like no one could see them. The world outside didn’t exist for them, because all that remained was this moment. This was all the time. Until the music stopped. Hands slipped to encircle bare waist, black lacquered nails glinting in the swirling club lights. The brunette tossed his head sending the short spirals framing his face into light that made it look on fire. Violet eyes were captivated by the sight, and the arms wanted to pull them closer together. But they danced away from each other, still completely together and to the beat. Fighting reality with music. Their eyes caught and both smiled. Tonight was their night. No one else could touch them here.

~~~

“Some nights, you are the music that eternity dances to.... The rhythm is the soul... and the dancers; merely specks in time....”

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