John started feeling queasy about thirty seconds after they walked through the door of Muriel. Sherlock held his upper arm and guided him towards a booth. The one he chose was tucked in the corner of the club. John wondered how Sherlock could be so calm in this sea of people. John slid into the booth and glanced about nervously. Sherlock's hand snaked out and took ahold of his across the table. John gave him a nervous smile.
"Are you alright, John?" Sherlock questioned.
"Yeah, just people," John jumbled up his words, "Sorry, there's just a lot of people."
Sherlock smiled at him in what might have been sympathy (but with Sherlock, who the hell knows what, if anything, he's feeling).
"I'll go get you a drink," Sherlock said, "What do you want?"
"Rum," John said, his voice uneven, "I don't really care what it is. Just rum of some sort."
Sherlock squinted at him suspiciously, but didn't say anything. He disappeared into the crowd, which didn't really help John's nerves at all. He hadn't really allowed himself to actually think about the date. He'd allowed himself a small fantasy that it would lead to some wonderfully dream-like relationship, but every time his thoughts neared the fact that Sherlock was doing this just because he wanted to have sex, John just shut down and didn't think about it. But now that he was sitting there in a room full of sweaty, horny, intoxicated people the thoughts flooded through him.
And damn, it was depressing!
"John?" Sherlock's voice whispered in John's ear.
John jumped as he realized Sherlock was practically right on top of him. Sherlock backed off slightly.
"I apologize," Sherlock said, "I didn't think you could hear me with the music. Here's your drink."
He held out the sweaty glass to John, who greedily took it and gulped down at least a forth of it. Sherlock slid into the booth again, giving John weird looks.
"Bounty," John commented, looking at the class of caramel colored liquid.
"The bartender said it's the sweetest kind," Sherlock said.
John looked at Sherlock's drink to see it was the same. He clinked his glass to Sherlock's.
"Cheers!" he said brightly, grinning.
He was glad Sherlock had made it back quickly so he didn't have long to sit and be depressed. He lifted the drink to his mouth and gulped down some more. Sherlock sipped at his, but wrinkled his nose.
"I don't understand why you like this stuff," Sherlock said in disgust, "All it's good for is getting people to make bad decisions by making them loopy and out of their mind."
"Well, gee," John said, a sarcastic tone creeping into his voice, "Cocaine does the same thing."
Sherlock looked at him sharply, his face contorting into a hiss. John merely sneered at him and drank down more of his rum. He downed it pretty quickly and a waiter came by and filled it. John was grateful for the buzzing in his skin and the warmth in his belly as he drank the second glass. Sherlock wasn't saying anything and John assumed it was because the cocaine thing was a low blow. But he thought dating someone just because you wanted in their pants was a low blow.
They stared at each other for a long time. John gulped down his second glass and was starting to feel weightless. Sherlock hadn't taken a drink since the initial sip. Suddenly, a song that John knew and loved started playing over the loud speakers. John grabbed the detective's drink and downed half of it and then jumped out of the booth. He grabbed Sherlock's hand and pulled him into the middle of the mass of writhing bodies. He could feel heat inside his bone marrow and he suddenly needed to do this.
He threw his hands up around Sherlock's neck without hesitation. He didn't care if that made him the girl. Sherlock awkwardly placed hands on John's hips and looked away. John started moving to the beat, the pounding of the speakers seeping into his skin. The music's beat and his own heart beat began to meld together. Sherlock awkwardly tried to move with him, but didn't seem to be able to keep up. John threw his head back and laughed, the music hitting every patch of exposed skin on him.
There were no thoughts as John pressed closer to Sherlock. Sherlock seemed to welcome this new closeness as he slid his hands to John's back and pressed John slightly closer. John closed his eyes and blended into the air around him. There was only a feeling of lightness that made him float into the next world. With Sherlock's breath on his cheek and the music pounding in his blood, he was gone. He was far more gone than any alcohol or drug could ever make a person.
He paused as the music stopped around him. He sagged against Sherlock, whimpering at the loss of it all. Sherlock helped him back to their booth where they slid into the same side together. John leaned heavily against Sherlock, panting slightly. He was starting to feel that rum. He giggled and nuzzled Sherlock's shoulder, evening his breathing though he was half out of his mind. Hey, the man ran all over London was a mad genius all the time; he could take a bit of vigorous dancing.
"Alright, folks," a voice sounded through the club, "Listen up!"
John blinked heavily and looked towards the small stage, where a man about Sherlock's age was standing, microphone poised in front of his face. John had calmed down considerably and was now wondering what the man wanted to tell everyone.
"Are regulars know what night it is," the man said, grinning widely, "But for you first-timers, it's Swing Night!"
Several people started cheering and John frowned. Like swing dancing? I haven't done that since…damn. I haven't done that since Tom was learning…John's interest was piqued at the thought of swing dancing. Now that was a vigorous dance!
"For those of you who don't know the rules," man continued, "They're quite simple: Find a partner to dance with and dance until you can't or you get tapped on the shoulder. Once you're out, get off the floor to make room for the remaining couples! Easy enough, yeah?"
The crowd let out a positive sounding cheer and John lifted his head from Sherlock's shoulder.
"Now, the last couple left dancing will win a prize," the man said, "A cash prize of a hundred dollars, free drinks for a week, and you'll get your names and pictures on the Hall of Fame!"
John felt something begin to buzz inside him (besides the alcohol). He loved swing dancing! It had been so long, he probably wouldn't even remember how…he sighed heavily and looked away from the man who was saying that the competition started in 20 minutes and they had to go write their names down quickly if they wanted to do it. John couldn't help the disappointed feeling in his chest as he stared down at the table.
Suddenly, he was ripped away from the table and towards some unknown destination. He stumbled as Sherlock dragged him somewhere. He figured it was the door to leave, but they went a different direction. Some crime then? John guessed silently, trying to look around Sherlock to see where they were going.
Sherlock drew to a halt in front of a booth where the man who'd made the announcement was sitting. He pulled John forwards and clamped a hand around his waist. John frowned, his sluggish mind trying to catch up with the situation (though it was miles behind). The man grinned up at them and picked up a pen, holding it over a paper in front of him as though he was about to write something. He looked at them expectantly.
"Sherlock Holmes," Sherlock stated clearly, "And John Watson."
Little note: Yes, it's going to happen. Because Swing Dancing is like a hobby of mine. Love that shit. Anyway, hope ya'll liked it!
Oh and to the Guest who reviewed about how it was ridiculous for John to suggest that Sherlock go to a prostitute when he was in heat and that he could have just wanked:
1. The goal of heat is not to have sex, but to mate. Sherlock's hormones were driving him to find a mate and make babies, not to satisfy his own sexual need.
2. I could have wrote Sherlock wanking, but that wouldn't have solved anything or really made any sense.
3. John is clearly smart enough to know that this was Sherlock's cat hormones, not his human hormones.
Thank you for reviewing, I do hope this cleared up some things.
Love you all for all of your support! Hope to see you next chapter!