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Tyr was reading in his quarters when a soft, anxious knock sounded at his door. He opened the door to find Seamus Harper looking up at him.
The boy's hair was worn down, out of its usual gel, falling into a shaggy fringe into his eyes. He wore a grey hoodie and plain dark jeans with his tool belt, and rested his hands casually in the kangaroo pocket. "Hey there, big guy!" He said jovially.
"What do you want, boy?" Tyr growled, in a solitary mood.
"I was?nothing much. I was just wondering if?if?" Harper shrugged a little, uncomfortably. "It's sort of embarrassing."
Tyr rolled his eyes. "Then by all means, don't share it." He started to close the door again, but Harper managed to stick his arm in.
"No, wait! I mean?" Harper bit his lip a little, looking up at the bigger man. "I was wondering if you could do a favour for me."
Knowing the kinds of favours Harper usually asked involved putting himself in a lot of danger, Tyr scowled. "No."
"Please? You haven't even heard what it is yet."
"Well, what is it?"
Harper shrugged a little again, glancing up and down the corridor. "Can I come in, first?"
With a long suffering sigh, Tyr stepped out of the doorway and let Harper enter.
"Thanks, big guy," Harper tried to put some camaraderie into the dialogue. Then he looked at Tyr uncomfortably for about twenty seconds.
"If you're not going to speak, boy, you'd better leave as quickly as possible."
"Okay, okay," Harper huffed. "Geez, give a guy a break, much." He tugged at the shoulders at his hoodie nervously. "I was wondering if you could, um?if you could, like, teach me to?" His voice trailed off. If not for Tyr's superior hearing, he would have missed: "? dance."
They stared at each other for another five seconds.
Then Tyr actually laughed.
"What?" He said, rather un Tyr-ly.
"Shut up. You heard me." Harper pointedly looked away.
"Why?" Tyr was still laughing.
"Because! I?like, I?well, you know how we're going on shore leave to Chaucer System, right?" Harper was completely serious. He stared Tyr down until the Nietzschean stopped laughing.
Tyr tried to sober up. "Yes."
"Well?I dunno, I just thought?.I might wanna pick up some chicks," He let the sentence fall out through sealed lips.
Tyr chortled. "You never asked me to teach you to dance before, and that never stopped you."
"Well, no?you don't know that," Harper stared at his feet. "I mean, yeah, I've met girls, but?most of the time they just?they think I'm kind of a nerd or somethin'."
"I wonder how they got that impression." Tyr said cynically, collapsing back down in his chair and picking up his flexi again.
"Okay, fine, I'll take that as a no." Harper said indignantly and went for the door.
"Stay. I didn't say no." Tyr didn't look up. "You just haven't fully answered my question, that's all."
Harper remained silent for a while, lingering at the doorway. "Well? you know?you're, like, all superior genes and?you know?you know how to?woo the ladies." He said uncomfortably.
Tyr laughed again.
"Shut up!" Harper's face flushed. "Look, it's not that big a deal. Forget about it."
"Hold on," Tyr said through chuckles. "You want to attract females, and you figured that I would be the one to give advice?" He didn't say it, but Tyr was sort of flattered.
"Well, I would've asked Trance, but?you know." Harper shrugged.
Tyr nodded. The girl was?.disturbing now, in a way. He wouldn't want to dance with her, not like he would have before her transformation.
"And you don't know how to dance at all?" Tyr prompted.
Harper rolled his eyes. "I know how to dance." He said. "Like, club dancing. And I know how to jive, but that's just throwing girls around. I wanna know howta?I wanna know howta dance?.you know? romantically. And if you laugh at me, I swear to the Divine I'll kick you in the crotch!"
Tyr really did try to smother his laughter. A little creaked out, but Harper only flushed angrily and looked away.
"All right," Tyr finally said.
Harper looked up, surprised. "What?"
"I'll do it." Tyr got up, shrugging indifferently. "You'd just better not tell anyone about it."
"Oh, don't worry." Harper's eyes shone. He watched as Tyr moved a few things out of the way in his sparsely furnished quarters. "Are? are we just going to do it here?"
"Good a place as any."
"Okay." There was about another ten seconds in which Harper just watched Tyr.
Tyr engaged privacy mode and put some light music on, a sweet, slow waltz. Harper swallowed hardly, noticing for the first time how big Tyr's arms were.
"Well," Tyr said after a moment. "Come here."
"Huh?" Harper realized he hadn't been paying attention. He looked up quickly. "Now? Shouldn't I-"
"Dammit, boy, come here!"
"Okay," Harper said flippantly, scowling. He went to the other man until he was standing him front of him. Tyr lifted Harper's left hand and placed it on his own shoulder, wrapping his right arm around Harper's waist. He took Harper's right hand in his left.
"Ew, you're teaching me to do it like a girl!" Harper protested. He didn't realize how absurd his words sounded.
"That's the only way you're going to learn it from me," Tyr said in an authoritative tone. "Besides, I'm sure there are women who wouldn't object to leading in a dance. Our own Captain Valentine, for example." He smiled down as Harper looked away pointedly, blushing slightly. The pinkness in the boy's cheeks pleased Tyr.
Tyr showed Harper where to step and when, and before long the two where twirling around the room slowly.
"This is?.okay," Harper said hesitantly.
"Yes. You're a quick learner." Tyr said, truthfully.
"Thanks, I guess," Harper smiled up at the bigger man, wondering fleetingly what it would be like to rest his head against that impressive chest. "This is sorta nice, actually."
"It is," Tyr agreed, looking down at the boy, wondering fleetingly what it would be like if Harper rested his head against his chest. Then, without any fleeting thoughts, he leaned down and kissed the boy firmly on the mouth.
When Tyr drew back, Harper remained still, his eyes closed, his face turned up. Slowly he opened those clear blue eyes widely. "That was? nice." He said.
"Yes," Tyr lead on like nothing had happened. "I'm going to dip you know." He warned.
"Okay. Wuh-" Harper was suddenly suspended over Tyr's muscular arm on his back, staring at Tyr's wide bed. Okay.
Tyr kept him there a little longer than was necessary, staring at the rising and falling of the Earther's wiry chest. He regretted not having told Harper to take the hoodie off before they started.
He let Harper back up and they continued to dance.
"Do you?.want to spend the night?" Tyr asked eventually, his hand wandering comfortably around the small of Harper's back.
Harper smiled, bashfully, and blushed fiercely. "Okay!"
The End.