Written in response to a prompt for im-d23 on Tumblr.
Mary Jane's ideas weren't always the best.
Sometimes she wanted to take up a new hobby or try a new recipe. Those scenarios often ended with her giving up or failing. None of them really stuck. But she kept trying, and that's why Peter wasn't too fond of them.
"This one's different, though, Peter."
She'd give him this look that was like he was tearing her heart to pieces, and Peter always gave in.
Still didn't feel different, though. Especially when he learned that the new idea was a dancing class. The Salsa.
Peter wasn't one for dancing, but Mary Jane decided that Salsa dancing would be a good way to spice up their routine. No pun intended.
Peter was just thankful that Mary Jane picked Salsa, though; he knew a few basic steps to the routine. She could have picked something dreadful like Samba dancing or a Zumba workout. Though, for that reason, he was thankful.
But he thought it was a bad idea, anyway.
When they got to the dance hall- one which was only being used by the salsa dancers in the main room- they paused at the door, watching the dancers, since the class started earlier. They were not only entranced by the dancers, but they didn't want to come in during a song. An older man pushed them aside and stepped in just before the song was ending and muttered something about blocking the entrance while his partner smiled at them bashfully, apologizing for her partner's attitude. Peter and Mary Jane soon came in when the song was over and dance partners broke apart.
They came inside and set their things down just in time to start a dance when the next song began, and they took each other into their arms- and it was a clumsy, laughable scene they created. Both Peter's and Mary Jane's heads swiveled around (especially Mary Jane's, being that she didn't know much at all), and Peter tried to tell her how to move, leading them, though he was almost as clumsy as his girlfriend. They went through awkward dips and balance issues, but Peter thought Mary Jane did well, despite his bad teaching, and he didn't really understand how bad he was doing until someone tapped his shoulder.
Mary Jane's brow furrowed when she saw who wanted Peter's attention, and when Peter turned around, he was confused as well. "Um.. Yeah?" He asked, looking at the man with glasses shielding his eyes carefully.
The other man smiled ever so slightly when he spoke. "I dance here, a lot.. A friend of mine, the leader of the group, knows you didn't meet her yet, but she saw that you aren't.. You're not doing so hot." He breathed, and he looked up as a new song began. "She said that I should help you, and your partner would have no problem finding a new partner." He noted, and he rested his hands on- Peter's brow furrowed more when he saw it- a red and white cane that came up to the lower portion of his chest.
Peter looked back up to the man's veiled eyes, and he searched his face for anything else. "You're saying that I suck, right?" He asked, his lips pursed. "I don't know.. You want me to dance with you..?" He asked, making a face. "There's a few pointers that Maria wants me to show you." He breathed, moving one hand to brush at his sunset orange hair. "Let me help you, okay?" He offered, cocking his head to the side like he heard something.
Peter grimaced. "But.. Um..." He paused, sighing. "Fine." He answered after a moment, and he turned to Mary Jane. "I'll be back, I guess." He promised, and Mary Jane let him go to go look for other men to dance with, when the ginger succeeded in getting Peter to dance with him. "What's your name?" He asked softly, when he was alone with the man, and he moved to rest his cane against the wall.
The other dancers eyes the two and made room for them, and to Peter, at first, he thought it was because they were two men dancing together and it was a conservative crowd- but he remembered that the guy he danced with was blind. "It's Matt. Yours?" He asked, and he held a hand out toward Peter.
Peter was afraid to dance with him because they were both men - duh - but he didn't want to see a blind man wander out and fall on someone, so he took Matt's hand and Matt drew himself close to Peter. "It's Peter," he stuttered out, and hesitantly let Matt fix their positions. "But.. You're in the lead position.. I'm not letting my girlfriend lead me, you know.." He huffed, watching as Matt moved his left arm to rest on his own arm before his hand was placed on Peter's waist.
Matt stepped closer to Peter to fix their positioning and looked down at him. "I need to show you how your partner should feel when you lead. Then I'll show you how to lead, Peter." He crooned gently, and he promptly began to move, pressing his hand gently into the two sides of Peter's back to let him know how to move his feet and when. They danced slowly, Matt telling Peter to stand up straight and telling him certain tips and pausing to help him move sometimes. At one point, Matt stopped them and told Peter to do the first few steps, and he let his hands drift to Peter's hips, holding them and swinging them more in a way that Peter wasn't doing. But Peter felt odd, trying to move as a follower when he wouldn't be dancing that way.
Matt stopped and looked toward him. "You need to understand how your partner should move to move properly, yourself." He hummed quietly, one side of his lips quirking up into a wry smile. "So calm down. Loosen up."
Peter could have sworn that Matt looked at Peter directly from behind those dark, oval glasses, even though Peter knew that he couldn't really look at him. It was unnerving. But he tried to relax, despite that, and straightened his back as Matt still moved his hips when they stepped along slowly to the steps Matt told him to follow. He paused and looked up at Matt with a furrowed brow and rested his right hand on Matt's arm. "How do you know if I'm moving my hips or not?"
Matt lifted his head a bit before telling him to do an On Two step, and he looked toward the side as if thinking. "Because, Peter, if you don't do one part of the dance properly, it throws the rest of it off." he explained. "Like how your foot is too close to mine and how you're not relaxed enough." he noted, smirking at Peter.
Matt knocked Peter's foot aside to the appropriate angle gently, and he ran a hand down Peter's back, trying to get him to loosen up. Having a straight back wasn't good for dancing salsa, but being upright
and he continued on, telling Peter to try the step again. He held Peters hand with his dominant hand and kept holding onto Peter's waist, though with a tighter grip to make sure that he moved properly. Matt was quiet as he changed Peter's stance and nit-picked at the little things that frankly annoyed Peter a bit, but.. The way Matt handled Peter, it was so gentle and careful and Peter couldn't help loving it.
Matt looked toward Peter when he pulled him from a turn and he dipped Peter down, and Peter, awkwardly gripped the crook of Matts neck, his feet slipping from the unexpected movement. When Peter didn't fall and he felt the way Matt shook slightly, he began to worry he was too heavy for the man, and he pulled himself away when he stood, looking over at Matt to apologize.
But Matt didn't look remotely exerted or haggard in the least- the feeling of the muscles in his arms would prove that a 170 pound man would not be too much for him to lift- but, rather, he was laughing. Peter scowled and blushed at the man's reaction, and he groaned. "That was unfair. I didn't expect you to dip me."
Matt sighed softly and raised his brows over the rims of his dark red glasses, smiling only slightly when he spoke. "Sorry. Maybe I'll warn you, next time." he smiled a little and offered his hand out to Peter, as an offer of reconciliation and to try again. "I will warn you, okay? That better?"
Peter glared at him for a moment before he took a deep breath and hummed an affirmative sound, taking his hand and allowing himself to get swept up in Matt's arms again, readying himself for the steps preceding another possibly treacherous dip.
When it happened, just before Matt's soft warning, Peter's feet slipped a little, but it almost looked good, in reality. He fixed held onto Matt's arms when he was dipped, like he might be dropped and he'd have to hold on to save himself the trouble of falling- but Matt wasn't going to let that happen. Matt was holding him by the waist firmly, their waists touching and Peter's slight trembling for fear of being dropped. As exciting and as much as he enjoyed it.
Only when Matt sighed and pulled them up and away, did Peter remember that he was in the following position-and he immediately took back his mental appreciation for the way Matt held him. "Now do I get to lead?" He asked, almost impatiently, and Matt nodded with a bemused smile.
"Yes. You can lead." He affirmed softly, and carefully moved his hands up his body (and oh, how dreadfully slow they moved along Peter's sensitive spine). His dominant hand was resting on Peter's shoulder and his left was held out and Peter carefully took his hand. "Lead me." Matt instructed, and Peter glanced over at Mary Jane, who seemed happy with the guy she danced with- and if Peter wasn't being held so gently and carefully like she was, then he might have gotten a little upset at the way this guy's hands were on her. But Matt's hands rested on his shoulder and in his hand in and, God, his hands were so soft and he loved it, though he'd never say anything like that aloud. He had Mary Jane's soft, dainty hands to hold and wonder about how soft they were. Though.. for a blind man, you'd think that his hands would be rough from use, but it was like he hadn't touched anything at all, his palms were just... so soft. His knuckles, however, and the top skin of his fingers was worn and tough.
Matt's smirk just tugged at his lips and when Peter began leading the taller man, he felt ridiculous doing so. Pete had some trouble leading, and Matt had to stop them and grab at Peter's hips and move them in just the right way. Peter stumbled once and Matt had pulled Peter closer to him to prevent a fall. It was clear that Matt was a leader, just by the way he was teaching and how he pulled Peter to him like that, and it made Peter blush so hard that his face looked like a cherry. Peter pulled away after the initial shock of almost falling- over Matt's own feet, mind you- and he almost glared at Matt, who only smiled in return.
Peter quietly continued to lead, Matt only stopping him thrice more for foot placement, the way he held his arm for his raised hand, and how he didn't stand up straight, but Peter did fine in the leading position, otherwise. "Can I dip you, too?" He asked tentatively, chewing his lip as he looked up at the ginger- and man, he'd tell you how awkward that felt, leading someone so much taller than you, even if it really wasn't by that much.
Matt smiled at Peter slyly and cocked a brow at him. "Only if you promise not to drop me." He laughed softly, and, with Peter's face turning red again, he tried it, after a flurry of a few other steps and twists. Matt's hands gripped Peter's arms like Peter did earlier, but he let go and moved a hand to brush at Peter's neck, his arm slipping to wrap around it and his other hand loosened on his arm. He didn't know why Matt did that, frankly, being that he was afraid of dropping Matt, too, and he was holding Matt possibly even closer than Matt did because he didn't want him to fall.
Peter looked down at Matt and hesitated there for a minute, careful to watch the man that hid behind a pair of dark glasses. "Good, good job, Peter.. Matt commended him softly, and he shifted to his feet. Peter noted the way he pulled himself up, stepping closer how he felt the slight chill of air against his neck when Matt was leaning into him and regaining his balance, and the way he tilted his head a bit, as if listening to their feet when they moved to right themselves.
At least, he hoped that that was what was happening, and not him reading into things.
When Matt pulled away, it was like a link was broken. Like he lost something. "Alright," he breathed softly, chewing on his lip as MAtt stepped backward carefully, watching him he reached behind him and grabbed his cane. "Thank you." he mumbled to the older man.
"You're welcome. Just don't break your leg," he breathed in a husky, throaty voice and smirked. He gave Peter a nod, the smirk on his lips a sly one, like he was in on some joke that Peter should have known about. Peter had a tingling sense of familiarity to something, like he did know that inside joke, but he couldn't place a name on it.
Peter watched as Matt stepped farther away and waved a hand at him as he wandered along the walls to avoid the dancing crowd to find a new partner, leaving him to wait for Mary Jane's dance (with a new man) to end.
Peter thought for a little bit as he waited, and he smiled to himself. Wow, that guy was really pretty.
When that dance ended, Mary Jane looked over to where Peter was, he waved a hand at her to get her attention, only to have her trot over to him, laughing. "You were with that guy for a long time. He teach you properly?" she asked softly, brushing her red hair aside.
"Yeah." Peter hummed softly, wrapping an arm around her. "I kinda like this dance," he mumbled, moving his other hand to take hers in his, raising it to start a dance. "Maybe we can come here more often." he offered.
"That'd be great." she agreed, and when they began dancing, Peter couldn't help not looking at her, hoping he'd see that man again. What Peter didn't know, however, was that he'd see that familiar jaw later that night, framed by a red leather cowl.
