Hello Everybody!

Well, hello again, at any rate. So! Sister piece to Stereophonic; similar story only told kinda from Hanna's POV. It is not necessary to read the other one, but it might help this make more sense. Plus it's a set, so why not?

Also, once again, this is set sometime after Brothers in Spirit, so Hanna and {…} are pretty much family now. That is all.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hanna is Not a Boy's Name nor any of the characters/locations therein. Nor do I own ABBA or anything associated with them. I do, however, own the purple rave girl, her friends, and the story.

Technophonic

It had been a very, very long time since he had been to anything like this. Well actually, if he was honest with himself, he had never been to anything like this, but it had been a long time since he'd been invited to go out with friends. Actually, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd had friends or was invited to do anything with anybody at all. Other than random cases, of course, but those didn't count.

Point being, Toni had surprised the group with passes to a rave.

A rave! Hanna clutched at the ticket in his hand jubilantly. He could hardly wait. The five of them – himself, Galahad, Vesser, Conrad, and Toni – stood outside what, at one time in history, could have been considered a bar of sorts. The windows were all busted out and in their place were large sheets of plywood. He guessed that the exterior was supposed to have been red brick, but the copious amounts of spray-paint obscured it to the point where he couldn't be sure. The structure had obviously not been used in years; decades, even, maybe. In fact, the whole area seemed shady enough to make even Doc Worth apprehensive. But! He was not to be deterred. Their blue-haired friend surely knew what she was doing, so he trusted her not to drag them into the middle of freaking nowhere without a reason.

His confidence in Toni paid off when she began exchanging what could only be some sort of code with an apparently invisible doorman, which was like something out of a spy movie and was so cool!

"Bar's closed. Whada'ya want?" ground out the voice from the blackness beyond the thick metal door.

"After hours cocktail. Got any left?" came Toni's response.

"How many?"

"Five."

"Can I see some I.D.?"

The werewolf held out her hand for everyone's tickets and the redhead eagerly passed his over. The tickets were then pushed through the rectangular slot in the door, the slot clanged shut, and a moment later the door swung open. In they all went. They were instructed to follow the short hall past the door in the back, which they did. Then the five of them trudged down a few small steps and there at the bottom the hall opened up into a massive vault.

Hanna couldn't believe his eyes. Lights were everywhere, breaking through the darkness of the room itself. The soft blue rope lights around the edge of the bar in the corner, the dull colors of the spotlights that flashed and hovered across the crowd, the black lights of the dance floor, the twirling lights of the luminescent accessories of the dancers. A frenzy of lights and colors and sounds, all in sync with the pounding beat of the music that played.

Oh yes. This was going to be awesome! He voiced this thought aloud, too, vaguely catching his zombie brother nodding in agreement beside him. Was that a smile? He couldn't really tell in the dark.

They made their way from their current position over to the cluster of seats and small tables that sat in the corner near the bar. Luckily, there was a free booth big enough to hold them all and Conrad volunteered to guard it while everyone who could drink something other than blood went to order alcohol. The dead man opted to stay as well and slid onto the padded bench next to the vampire.

It was with delighted surprise that they learned the bar required neither proof-of-age nor any form of wristband – which just about made Veser's day, as he was still under twenty-one. The young paranormal investigator was glad as well; he really didn't feel like explaining that, yes, he was, in fact, as old as he said he was. The hassle avoided, he pulled out his wallet and ordered. The booze was even pretty decently priced! The place just kept getting better and better.

After a while, the group moved away from the corner booth and sort of semi-spread out among the other people. For the most part they all ended up on the dance floor. Hanna had hung around with Conrad for a little bit, trying to get him to be more sociable. Despite his efforts, however, even in a place like this, Conrad was Conrad. He did get him to go dance on the actual floor, but eventually gave up on anything else. He supposed that Connie just being there in the first place was a big enough step. So he wandered away, leaving the older man in peace.

He spotted Toni a ways off and briefly thought about joining her before he saw that she was busy interacting with a couple of ravers. One, a man, was dressed in a lime-green button-down and the other, a woman, wore a pair of blood-red bondage pants with several chains hanging from her waist. As much as he would have liked to have met some of Toni's friends – at least, he assumed that she must have known them, from the way they were chatting animatedly – he didn't want to be rude and interrupt their conversation just yet. Hey, who said he couldn't be polite when he wanted to? He'd catch her later.

He wasn't too sure where Isaac had gone off to, but he figured he was around someplace. He had seen him earlier, kind of leaning up against a wall and surrounded by about three girls who appeared to be trying to convince him to dance with them. The redhead's face twisted into something like a half-pout. He knew his brother was good-looking, even dead, and he couldn't help but wonder if maybe some of that smooth, deadpan charm would have been his as well had the two of them been blood-related. Knowing his luck, probably not.

So he ended up hanging out with Veser, who was lurking near the edge of the mob and hitting on anything female. Taking Veser's lead, he gave a try at picking up girls. True to his track record, he failed hopelessly. Some just shied away from him, others gave him strange looks and told him that no, they weren't interested in dancing with him. At least one had even made a disgusted sound in her throat and told him, in not-so-many nice words, to kindly bugger off.

It was discouraging, to say the very least. Especially when he went up to a pretty girl with short hair who wore black leather pants and an indigo-colored corset.

"Hi there!"

"Uhhhh…sorry. You're not really my type."

Yeah, yeah he had figured as much.

"But you know," she called over the roar of the music, "I've got a friend around here somewhere that might like you. You should give her a try if you find her."

And then Veser elbowed him in the side with a toothy smirk and a quick, "watch this," before sidling up to the very same girl and looping one arm around her shoulders. She smiled playfully and the two of them moved a little farther away onto the floor.

Hanna let out a disbelieving huff of air, not quite sure what just happened. Damnit! Not cool, dude, not cool. Giving up, the investigator trudged off in the direction of the bar. He could use a drink, he decided. He reached his destination and dropped his head onto the countertop, letting out a sigh as he did so.

"Something wrong?"

He lifted his head back up with a jolt. There stood his roommate with a tall glass of something slightly green-looking in his hand, giving him a look that plainly said, 'I saw that, tell me what's up,' despite the usual apathetic tone. So the younger Cross Brother shot him a grin. "Oh hey, Simon! Didn't see you there, man. You having fun?"

'Simon' did not alter his expression – not that different from how he normally acted – but graciously allowed the subject to be changed. "Yes, actually." He handed over the glass of alcohol he had been holding. "What about you?"

"Oh yeah, this place is great! Maybe we can come back sometime if Toni's able to get us in." He shifted his weight then brought the drink up to his lips and took a sip. "Whoa, this is good, what is this?" he inquired. He greatly enjoyed the trickle of burn as it slid down his throat. It helped distract him from the fiasco he had just had out on the dance floor.

"Mojito, I think."

But Hanna barely heard him. Instead, he caught sight of Veser and the short-haired girl. Well, so much for distractions. He took another drink.

Just then there came the sound of a familiar laugh from somewhere off to his right. Toni, his mind supplied for him absently. No sooner than his brain had said it, the werewolf materialized from seemingly thin air, Conrad in tow just a few steps behind. The blue-haired woman nearly slammed right into the counter as she came to a stop beside the two men.

"Hey! You guys having a good time?" she called, mirth still prevalent in her voice. She turned back around to glance at the nervous vampire behind her. "Whooo! I'm beat." It showed too; she was out of breath and her dark skin was tinged with pink. Even Conrad looked as though he had actually been moving a little bit. At least there was that small accomplishment for the evening.

Before the flame-haired young man could open his mouth to answer, the speaker system buzzed and the DJ's voice shouted out above the thick bass of the techno. "Okay, everybody! I wanna see all you beautiful ladies out here tonight dancin' with a partner for this next one! You got that?" He did something with his equipment and the song that was currently playing began to transition into the next. "This one's for you lovelies."

The intro started out hard and strong but still instantly recognizable. Cyan eyes lit up with hope as the music processed in his brain. For the briefest of moments, Hanna contemplated asking Toni to go and dance with him, but he never got the chance.

Instead, she gave a quick yelp and grabbed Conrad's wrist. "Come on, Connie!" she called gleefully as she pulled the fanged man back out into the surging mass of people. They disappeared like smoke into the dark of the room.

Defeated, the ginger slouched down against the bartop and allowed himself a small whine. "AaaaaaBBAaaaaa? Awwwwww!" For that was exactly what it was: a bass-heavy trance-remix of one of the group's most famous hits. It was absolutely perfect for dancing with someone else; the grinding beat ideal for the flurry of movement out in the middle of the crowd. What he wouldn't give to be out there as well.

"There's not a soul out there…No one to hear my prayer…"

Boy, was that ever true. He stared woefully at the throng of bodies, watching with a deep knot of disappointment forming in his gut. He glanced over at the zombie to his left and noticed distantly that, in the dim black lighting off the dance floor, the bright orange of his shirt enhanced the glow of his eyes. He had tried to talk his friend into buying something more rave-appropriate to wear on the excursion, but the dead man had insisted that what he had was perfectly fine and that they didn't need to spend the extra money on him. Apparently, it really was.

"Whoa! Your eyes are amazing!"

So he wasn't the only one who noticed his brother's eyes in the darkness. Hanna peered around the green elbow that was semi-blocking his view to find a raver girl, dressed in a tattery black skirt, heeled boots, purple mesh tights, a matching halter, and a black leather crop top that slipped off her shoulders. Her eyes were enshrouded in thick black makeup and there was a streak of deep purple and rich blue that ran through her long dark hair. Her wrists were adorned with multiple purple glow sticks, even more dangling from a chord around her neck. She was pretty, he thought, especially with that glow-in-the-dark lipstick on.

The only problem was, she was too interested in his partner to even know he existed. Why should he even bother when Galahad was right there? The rejection just wasn't worth the effort. He turned away and faced the dance floor once again, completely ignoring the rest of the conversation. That is, until a stitch-laden hand swept towards him in some kind of palm-up gesture. He blinked down in surprise. "Huh?"

And then the raver that had been talking to his roommate stepped into view. With a sort of smirking half-smile, she leaned forward to wrap delicate fingers around his wrist, causing the redhead to blink again.

He was confused. What was going on? Shouldn't this girl be all over the other Cross? It just wouldn't program. Slender, dead fingers reached over and plucked the drink from his hand and he was shifted from his bewildered thought process by a nudge to his shoulder. He followed with his eyes, glancing up at the taller man.

Galahad simply nodded once to him, then once towards the dance floor. Hanna blinked one more time, still not quite comprehending. Then it clicked. She wants to dance with me!His face broke out into what could arguably be the biggest grin he had ever worn in his life. The girl gave another tug at his arm and this time he allowed himself to be led away into the crowd.

He had never really cared too terribly much what other people might have thought about his dancing skills – if one could call them that or anything at all – and he supposed that at a rave it wouldn't really matter whether he dance or flailed or just had a spasm, but in this situation, with a cute girl attached to his wrist, he was suddenly just the slightest bit self-conscious. He might as well warn her. "Hey, uhm," he called loudly above the sound of synthesized drums, "I should let you know, I'm not that great of a dancer."

The girl swiveled her body to face him, gliding backwards as she did so. "That's okay. I'm not either." With another smile she brought them to a halt, right smack-dab in what seemed to be in the middle of the floor.

Oh, what a liar, he thought to himself as he watched her sway. The pair of them moved together, almost in tandem, melding with the beat of the music. It was like all the problems in the world had melted away and all that there was, was this. This moment, this song, like a heartbeat that entwined every living soul in the room. Hanna closed his eyes at some point, feeling both connected and as though he was the only person there. For one brief instance that could have lasted a lifetime, he was whole. He was part of everyone that surrounded him, and they were part of him.

Then his eyes opened and he was back at the rave. Back in the underground vault full of flashing colored lights and pulsing techno; but thankfully, not quite back to reality. The feeling stayed in the back of his mind.

A streak of purple caught his attention and he instantly grinned at the girl dancing just in front of him. She smiled back and twirled once. Upon facing him again she looped her arms around his neck, pulling closer. He froze mentally. No one had ever told him how to react to this. But then she gave a chuckle that was swallowed into the surrounding noise and trailed her hands along his arms until they rested on his own. She guided hands to her waist, gave them a quick squeeze, and slid back up to her original spot.

Holy shit, he was touching a girl. Holy shit, a girl was touching him! Willingly! There was a girl touching him willingly. A girl. Touching him. Willingly! His brain was having a difficult time wrapping itself around such a foreign concept but he grinned just the same. The way that he was holding her (Holding her! Oh my god!) he could feel every movement that her body made. The tilt of her hips as she swayed, the dip of her chest and shoulders. She was so close to him that he could feel the fabric of her skirt as it swished against his legs. He could feel his face heating up. He silently prayed that he wouldn't embarrass himselfor screw up and scare her away. It would be just his luck he'd get a boner or something.

Whatever gods had been listening must have favored him for once, because she just continued to smile and hold him close as she danced. She leaned her head back slightly to close her eyes for second or two. When she opened them again they locked onto his and he could see – past the purple of the glow sticks around her neck, which bathed her in color – that they were dark brown. She kept his gaze, syncing his movements to her own and, oh dear lord she was mouthing the words.

"Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie a man after midnight. Won't somebody help me help these shadows away? Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie a man after midnight. Take me through the darkness to the break of the day…"

The chorus led into a long dance break, beginning its crescendo toward the inevitable conclusion. Damnit, the song was almost over! Maybe she'll dance another one with me, he hoped. But she pulled away from him, disentangling her arms from around his neck – much to his dismay. He unconsciously released his hold on her waist. At first he was afraid that he'd messed up after all, but her ever-present half-smirk reassured him. Deftly, she reached up and tugged loose one of her glow sticks. Closing the distance between them again, she looped the cord over his head and rested her fingertips on the sides of his collarbone.

He opened his mouth to say something but there was a shout from somewhere to the side of them and she turned her gaze towards it. She gave a nod to whoever it was and then refocused on the ginger. Her smile widened and shifted from flirtatious to a kind of soft happiness. Gratitude. A sort of silent, 'thank you for the dance.' She drifted backwards, preparing to leave. Still in time to the music.

Seeing that smile gave him a spark of renewed courage. He couldn't just let her go now! He had to say something. "Wait…"

The girl glanced over at what he assumed must have been her friends, then back at him, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. She glided back over and hooked two delicate fingers into his pants pocket, pulling him close. Her free hand snaked up to splay across his cheek.

Then he felt her lips on his skin. She was kissing him! Immediately all the blood in his body rushed to his ears and face, staining them a bright cherry. It was like he was on fire and the only part of him that was cool was the small spot on his cheek where she was pressing the kiss. He wished it could last forever.

But then she was a foot away from him and quickly getting further. He blinked. Reaching out a hand before his brain even had time to process the action, he called after her retreating form. "What's your name?" All he got in response was the flash of a purple-lit grin and dark eyes before she vanished like a mist into the crowd just as the final note of the song sounded, echoing into the air.

The redhead knew that he should have felt disappointment at her disappearing; sad, disheartened, even. But instead he felt his heart pump with pure, unadulterated joy. Sure, she had left before he caught her name or even got a phone number, but hey, he had actually danced with a girl. There was hope. It flooded through his veins and he once again felt as though the world was whole, that time meant nothing, and that maybe, just maybe, he was part of something else for once. All was as one.

With a grin of his own crawling its way up his features, the twenty-four-year-old turned on his heel and began to make his way back over to the bar where he knew his brother was probably still standing.

Hanna didn't remember much of the rest of the night after that point. He knew that it hadn't been long afterwards that the five of them had stepped out into the open night, and he vaguely recalled standing on the sidewalk outside while they waited to go get the car, but mostly he just put himself on autopilot, grin still in place on his lips. He had stood quietly, humming the chorus to himself as he played the scene over and over again in his mind. He had exchanged a sentence or two with Galahad at some point, but it hadn't stuck. Later, once he and his roommate were back in their apartment, he finally allowed himself to focus on everything around him.

It was incredibly early; 4:30 or so in the morning, and he was glad as hell that he had off work the next day. Otherwise he would have been screwed sleep-wise. As he was getting ready for bed he pulled a beat-up shoebox out of the corner of the room. He sat down on his mattress, flipping off the cardboard lid as he did so. He slowly tugged the glow stick over his glasses and just sat there for a moment as he looked at it. It still emitted a soft violet light. Gently, he laid the treasure in the box along with his few other keepsakes, and placed the lid back on top.

It wasn't until he was undressing – with Trevor politely giving him whatever little privacy could be offered by such a tiny space – that he noticed the soft crinkling of paper in his right pocket. What on Earth? Had he left a gum wrapper in there or something? Curious, he dipped his hand into his pants to retrieve whatever it was.

When he saw it, he stared in disbelief. There, on a thin square of paper, written in black ballpoint pen, was something he had never, ever, expected to see. That very same grin from earlier came crashing back full force onto his face. He very nearly 'whoop'-ed in delight, settling instead for a quiet "gnee!"

She slipped me her phone number!

Yes, this was most defiantly the best night of his life.

Once again, not a huge fan of the ending. Oh well. Would this technically be considered a songfic? I don't even know anymore… After writing Stereophonic, I tried to find an acceptable heavy-remix of Gimmie Gimmie Gimme but was relatively unsuccessful. The only thing I could find that really worked was the ATeen's version. So…yeah. Don't judge! They actually do a great job.

Musical Muses:

ATeens – Gimmie Gimmie Gimme (A Man After Midnight)

Donna M. – Gimmie Gimmie Gimme {Dance Remix}