In the past couple of days I've discovered Dirty Dancing(which I had never seen…at 20)and fell in love with it as my new obsession…but then I suddenly remembered how much Glitch loves dancing. My initial inspiration was just for a ficlet using "Nobody puts baby in a corner" but then I had an idea to do a full fic (and the line will make an appearance….somewhere).
I could have taken it totally AU but that wasn't the idea I had(though don't rule it out….that may be exactly what I do in the future, so here's a heads up for anyone interested)but there will most definitely be elements of that in this. I don't think that requires any suspension of belief, unless you find it impossible that Cain would be interested in dancing(which I don't find impossible, and I think most people wouldn't either). Plus there's some manipulation of circumstances because…well, there has to be the right kind of dancing, not just ballroom in order for the story to work. ;) Ok that said….here goes. Hope some of you enjoy this crazy idea of mine.(and sorry for the author's note from hell. lol) :)
I don't own Tin Man. Though I'd take him. Naked. Right here. ;)
Ok, this isn't uploading right. There should be dividers between sections. :smoldering:
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"Honestly, I don't know what the big deal is, Cain. It's just a ball." Ambrose twirled easily around Cain, straightening his badly adjusted coat in the back as he turned. It was uneven again within seconds, due to Cain's never-ending fidgeting. "Cain…"
"I can't help it, alright? I feel ridiculous in all this. I mean, why the hell do I have to do this anyway I'm not a member of the family and I'm certainly not here to have fun and-"
"You-" Ambrose drifted across the room to check on his own reflection in another mirror. "are the head of royal security. You have to be here."
"Sure. In the background. Not-"
"Is he still complaining?" Ambrose could see DG's annoyed face behind him in the mirror, and he nodded. "Well stop it Cain and come on. You're going to have fun tonight, you work too hard."
Cain scowled. Clearly, this was far from his idea of fun. "This is insane. And I look-"
"You look…" He paused a moment, waiting for the right words. It wasn't that he didn't have them, it was that he didn't want to say them. Cain would think he was just glitching, but that hardly ever happened anymore these days. No, he knew what he wanted to say. You look beautiful. You look ravishing. You look better than you ever have. I want… No, he was sticking to how Cain looked. And while all of those statements were true, he couldn't say any of them. "You look perfectly fine, Cain, like every man does dressed up. Now come on. We'll be late and you'll upset DG. Again."
TMTMTMTM
The ball had been DG's idea. Well, it was more of a result of an idea, the end of a thought process. It had started when she was bored during her lessons with Tutor(and when didn't that happen?)and had reminisced about her favorite music. The more she thought about it the more she missed it and in true DG fashion, she began to bug Cain about it. When he had heard enough, he sent some young Tin Men to the other side to bring her back some of her damn precious cd's. It had been easy enough for work for brilliant-again Ambrose to build a contraption to play them and she had been thrilled and satisfied. For awhile. Next came the concept of a dance. The queen corrected her, said they could hold a ball. In the end, there was compromise. A ball early in the evening, followed by whatever the hell DG wanted to do afterward(though the Queen hadn't put it just like that, the
strangeness of it to her had been made clear), but it could only be private, among the family and closest friends. Apparanty, the Queen knew beyond any doubt DG would do something inappropriate. Music wasn't all that different between the two realms after all, and the Queen knew very well that anything other than ballroom dancing was inappropriate public behavior for a royal.
But, knowing better than to deny DG outright and have her do something stupid, like be seen by a reporter in a club somewhere, she had allowed this little party. Wisely, the Queen and Ahamo had left early. Cain, on the other hand, was firmly stuck. He leaned against a side wall, eyes on the dance floor, class in hand. He was tired and annoyed but it was his job to be the watchful eyes and he couldn't leave. Now that he didn't really have to look the part of a gentleman anymore he had discarded the coat on a chair somewhere and his shirt hung untucked and a little disheveled. He at least felt more like himself. He took a sip of his cocktail, shaking his head. And DG had said this would be fun. He hadn't danced with anyone all night, and short of talking to Gl- Ambrose for about five minutes and Raw for about 10 he had been alone, hovering somewhere behind the Queen until she left and now taking up residence in the shadows. Not that he had wanted to dance with anyone. He could still remember so clearly the way it felt to dance with Adora, the way they had danced at their wedding. He could remember the way she had smiled up at him, innocent and dazzled but a little wild, everything about her in that look, in the way her body fit against his. She had been everything, and though he was slowly accepting the truth that she would never be back gliding across the floor with any other woman he knew he would have felt awkward and wrong. It just wasn't the time.
He took his eyes off DG (the center of about five laughing women, Azkadellia at her right side)to survey the rest of the room. Ambrose was talking to Raw. He was smiling, animated…in some ways he was still much the same. Maybe that was why, a full annual after the surgery, Cain still called him Glitch in his head. He was brilliant, smooth, connected, but he had the same spirit and he would always be Glitch to Cain because part of him was Glitch. Not that he didn't appreciate Ambrose as a whole person he was just…different. And complicated.
The song changed then, something heavier, even faster than the song before. Ambrose drifted away from Raw, and he beckoned to him to join him on the floor, though Raw shook his head. Cain smiled. Good for Raw, at least he knew this was foolishness. DG and her friends were dancing, moving well to the beat. Especially DG. She must have enjoyed this, back on the other side. And Ambrose he-
Cain swallowed hard, fighting the way his mouth suddenly went dry. Ambrose was dancing. It shouldn't have been surprising, how many times had he heard him say he loved it? More than he could count, and certainly enough that he had begun to tone it out but by dance he had somehow thought he'd meant ballroom dancing not….not what he was doing right now.
He seemed one with the music, body twisting and turning, hips fluid. Everyone could see his stealing the show, and though Cain saw hands clapping and waving he could hear nothing. His trancelike state continued until he saw DG step forward, Glitch beckoning her forward and into waiting arms to join him in the dance. His senses came rushing back abruptly and he could feel both how tight his pants were and how tight he held the glass in his hand.
DG's friends were still cheering, Dellia was laughing. They were dancing, oblivious. Nothing wrong with it, really. Just a dance. It wasn't as if it was really improper, it just looked that way. Of course the queen would certainly have said it was but it wasn't like they were together or anything and….
Damn. They moved like one. So. This was what Glitch had meant by dancing. Hadn't he offered to teach him? No. That had been the hand to hand. Of course.
Cain wiped thin broken glass away from the bloody lines on his hand, tearing his eyes away from the floor. He had seen enough, and besides he wasn't really needed here anyway. There were a couple of young Tin Men here, they'd come get him if things got rough. Everything was under control.
TMTMTMTM
The song ended and Ambrose disengaged from DG after a last hug, both of them breathless and grinning broadly. "Well, that was fun wasn't it?"
"Fun? Ambrose, I haven't had that much fun in ages! I take back what I said about you guys not knowing how to party. Where'd you learn that?"
It wouldn't sound quite right to tell her where, so he shrugged instead. "Here and there. But it is good for a good time, and it's great exercise. Good for your health in more than one way, too, exercise releases chemicals directly related to feelings of happiness."
DG rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Trust you to bring up science. You and Cain are a perfect, between the two of you you can successfully twist anything in two directions." She twisted her head around. "Where is he anyway, I didn't see him dancing with anyone at the ball? I just knew he'd be all over me, making sure no friend of mine was really an assassin in disguise."
Ambrose's head shot up, scanning the back wall. He knew he had seen Cain there just before the dance…. Empty. He shook his head. "I don't know. I'm sure he's around. You know how he is, DG, he isn't one for the…social functions." Though he fought against it he knew his voice belied the underlying sadness there. One look in her eyes told him DG heard it too, and before she could question him he smiled broadly, kissing her hand. "Well, milady, you make a fantastic dance partner. Now, I'll leave you to your guests." Before she could even protest that, he was gone.
It wasn't until he was back in his room that he really gave himself reign to think about it. It was Cain he had looked at before he stepped out on the floor. Cain, dressed in that black silk shirt that only made his blue eyes stand out unbearably. Cain, the man whose life he had held onto with everything he had once in the back of a beat up van. Cain, the one he thought of more often than he ever had anyone, woman or man. Except that it was all folly, and Cain was the one person in the world that he could for sure never have. Ironic. It was Cain he had thought of while he was dancing, that larger, more muscular body he had held against his own, those blue eyes he had longed to at least catch with his moves. But Cain hadn't been there, maybe hadn't even seen at all. And besides that, he was too in love with the past for a new relationship and too macho to ever consider Ambrose even if he were.
Ambrose sighed, face buried in his pillow. He knew where this line of reasoning led every time. He wanted Cain. He could never have Cain. He needed to move on. But he wanted him, maybe was even in love with him. And round and round it went.
It was going to be a long night. Pushing up out of bed, he slipped his shoes back on and headed to his laboratory.
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So…the beginning! Love the idea? Hate it? let me know. :)