Errrgh, I only just finished this xD

Enjoy!

:D


Mercury was more confident this time, especially seeing as she was excused from her regular duties in order to practise with the other femmes. They all told her she was a natural, but to Mercury, dancing still felt alien. Just relax, they told her, just let the music lead you. But no matter how much she did or how much more confident she felt, she still felt out of place.

"Loosen up, Merc," Sol instructed. "Swing your hips a little more suddenly."

Mercury did so, jerking her hips to the right with the same servo resting on it, her other servo by her lip modules. She looked fabulous, she was told, but she didn't feel it.

Gearshift was at the club, but he wasn't allowed backstage. He had no idea that Mercury would be on stage that night and, if she could get her way, he'd be gone by the time she performed. Granted, he was meant to stay on until closing, but Mercury felt she might be able to persuade Sol to send him home early.

This wasn't the case.

"Oh no, Merc," Sol said. "He's gonna do the megacycles agreed. I know you don't like him, but what's wrong with him seeing you on stage?"

"I don't feel... comfortable... with him seeing me dance," Mercury admitted. "I don't know why. But if you can't send him home, can you at least get him doing something that won't have him near the stage?"

Sol smirked. She'd seen this before. "I'll do what I can," she said with a wink. "No promises, though."

"Fine."


"Gearshift!" Sol yelled. Gearshift was half in recharge in the storeroom, propped up on a mop that was slowly sliding out from under him. When her yells didn't wake him up, Sol decided to knock the mop out from under him, sending him clattering to the floor and waking him up completely and utterly.

"Ow! Uh- wha-?" he stammered, scrambling around on the moist floor for grip. It took him a few cycles to get back to his support servos, but he managed it eventually. As always, Sol was not impressed.

"Recharging on the job? I may have to add on some extra megacycles..."

"I'm sorry, Sol," Gearshift replied, clearly not sorry in the least. "I've not been recharging well lately..."

"Excuses, excuses," Sol snapped, rolling her optics. "I need more than the floor cleaning in here. And I'll be sending someone to check on you from time to time to see you're not dozing off. And I don't just mean mopping the floors. I want to see everything in here organised properly – the Energon barrels are all over the place and there is a thick layer of dust over everything. Get it clean."

Gearshift frowned, but had learnt better than to complain. He arranged his equipment – mop, bucket, spray, cloth – into a one servo-grip, giving Sol a salute with the other. "Sure thing, boss." Sol rolled her optics and stormed back out without another word, leaving Gearshift to himself. He took the opportunity to continue his stasis nap.


Left, right, twist, jump, cartwheel.

This was a more intricate routine than the last, but Mercury could handle it. It was nearly time for Club Venus to open, and when the doors opened for the night, things would get a lot more tense. But Mercury felt a mild thrill in her as she moved about, spreading her arms and swaying her hips and skipping sideways and spinning on one support servo. The other femmes found themselves distracted by her from time to time, seeing how graceful she'd become. Mercury's faceplate heated up at the attention, but she tried not to let it show.

All too soon, the doors to Club Venus opened, and mechs and femmes from across Iacon flooded in. Mercury peeked out at the crowd from behind the stage curtains, terrified and exhilarated at the same time. She didn't know how she felt – she wanted to perform, and yet she felt a sickening dread at the prospect. Her digits curled around the silvery-purple curtain, which went so taught in her gri[p that the femmes watching her were worried she would pull it from the rail above. Sol put a servo to her shoulder.

"You should be less nervous this time," she pointed out. "You've had time to prepare."

"That's the problem," Mercury replied. "I've had time to get worried. Last time you just threw me onto the stage!"

Sol pretended to be offended. "Not so!" she replied with a cheeky grin. "Anyway, just chill out and enjoy it!"

Suddenly the curtains were up and Mercury was in position. It was an early show, unlike Mercury's first dance, which had been the last before closing time. The night had just begun for the mechs and femmes surrounding the stage, and they were clearly overjoyed to catch the show. Mercury preferred the drunken audience, they didn't care about a bad performance.

The music began and Mercury found herself moving to its beat. She didn't seem to be in control of herself, the movements just... happened, or so it seemed to her. It seemed natural. Left, right, twist, jump, cartwheel. It was as if the whole idea of dancing was hardwired into her circuitry – a part of her. A grin spread across her faceplate as she began to flow freely, moving and swaying and spinning to the beat. She felt so exhilarated!

The crowd cheered at the display, raising their arms and jumping to the beat of the music. Mercury was having the time of her life, so thrilled to be on the stage and happy to see that her performance was so well received. But then a green mech came out of one of the back rooms.

Oh, slag! Mercury thought as she saw Gearshift. Don't look on stage, don't look on stage!

But he did. His optics came straight to her, his mouth falling open at the sight of her dancing. She tried to ignore him, but couldn't help feeling those ever-staring optics on her. Why wasn't he doing what Sol had given him to do? He couldn't have finished already! But she forced herself to continue on as she had been doing, regardless. Was that a false step? She didn't know anymore, or care, she just wanted to finish now that Gearshift was watching.

But this was a long routine. The music carried on, the femmes continued to dance. Mercury forced herself not to care about the ever watching optics of Gearshift, who stood where he was, drinking in every movement she made. The other dancers didn't exist to him, it was just Mercury he watched.

Mercury's faceplate heated up as he continued to stare, but finally the music stopped and she could hide her faceplate behind a bow. The curtains closed and she dashed into the backstage area. The other femmes giggled at her, fully aware of why she had suddenly gone funny. They giggled and tittered and chuckled as Mercury flustered with her decorations, pulling them off and throwing them in a heap on the floor. She had to go, now, before Gearshift found his way to her. She ran from the backstage area to the club's backdoor, throwing it open and charging outside. But there he was, tall, green and a terrible attempt at a suave smile was spread across his face.

"Oh, frag," Mercury muttered.

"Great show," Gearshift said, approaching her. She began to step back towards the door, but when she tried the handle, giggles sounded from the other side. The other femmes were working against her!

"Gearshift, I really can't do this now-"

"I want to take you to The Circle."

He didn't say a word more, and the brief moment it took Mercury to process what he said was filled with possibilities of what could possibly transpire if she accepted. But then, she thought, it wasn't an offer, it was a statement. If he'd said "can I take you to The Circle?" then she would have had reason to get excited. But he simply said that he wanted to take her.

"That's nice, but I have to go," she insisted. But he was persistent.

"Come on, I can get you inside," he told her. "We don't have to stay long if you need to get going, but you'll at least get to see it!"

"I really can't-"

"Please?"

He sounded so genuine in his plea that she stalled once more. She looked up at him, seeing something on his faceplate that she hadn't seen on it before. She could see a genuine desire to take her out – it was plain as solar cycle. But just because he wanted to take her out, it didn't mean that he didn't have other intentions. But it could be her only chance to see The Circle...

"Fine," she said after a while. "But I can't stay for more than a megacycle."

Gearshift nodded. "Understood," he said with a wink. "Come on, you don't have long before your next dance, do you?"

He cared?


The outside of The Circle alone was a sight to see. Of course, Mercury had walked passed it before, but she'd never let herself stop to take a look at it properly. It was huge and glowing with lights of all colours, arranged into such varying and dazzling patterns that it was an astounding treat for the optics. But finding herself stood at the end of the walkway leading to it made her feel sick. She began to shake ever so slightly with anticipation. Was Gearshift having her on, or was she really about to step inside The Circle?


I didn't mean to leave this as a cliffhanger, but...

...

I HAVE NO EXCUSE! D':

Please review!

:D