arrays | [ closed ] you're in my arms, and all the world is calm

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[ closed ] you're in my arms, and all the world is calm

By the time Natalie arrives, he's long finished moving things around and has gone back to working, diminishing hangover deliberately ignored. Leo has been working on some new modifications for the dragons in his spare time - upgraded mechanisms for Festus to replace the ones that are starting to wear out, new sight features for Scout, new harnesses for the live dragons... All a matter of course.

When she gets here, he takes a moment to put everything down and out of the way before turning to look at her, the outfit making him smile. It's not often he gets to see her in something like that, nice and dressy but still casual enough to be comfortable. Very Natalie. He likes it.

"You look good," Leo tells her unnecessarily. What he thinks of her has never really been in doubt, not since they started dating. He likes to make sure she knows at every opportunity he's presented, and this is no exception. "But I think the real question is, are you ready?"

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Natalie still blushes, appreciating the praise anyway, one arm tucked around her back, hand wrapped around a knobby elbow. "I don't dress up for, like, anything, so yeah, I'd say that I'm pretty fucking ready."

She's not good at multitasking, working diligently at spells, creating new ones, reading, and practicing piano on the sly. She adjusts a bobby pin in her hair, keeping some of it off one side of her face. "This is supposed to be the kind of thing you wear to dance lessons," she continues, pressing one hand down the skirt.

He grins. Now there’s an enthusiasm that Natalie doesn’t normally show, but that only makes him appreciate it more, especially since dancing has never been her thing.

“I wouldn’t know; mom used to do it in her work clothes or jeans or whatever,” he says with a shrug. “But I like it. Nice and flowy, like you’re supposed to be.”

She rocks back and forth on her feet, almost making sure her slim canvas sneakers are somewhat appropriate for such a lesson. They have enough grip so she won't slide across the rock, but they have a little slide for those spins, if he wants to spin her - she's sure he does.

Natalie flicks her wrist and music fills the air, pop, mostly, with a Latin-inspired flavor. It's generic enough for today, right? She didn't think lyrics particularly mattered in this instance. "Show me your stuff."

The music makes him grin, and he steps forward to offer her a hand. “Shall we?”

When she takes his hand, he’ll pull her into a spin, around to his other side. “The first thing you need to know about this,” he tells her, “is that you need a lot of energy.”

She just snorts, slipping her hand into his.

"Should I have snuck an energy drink in before I came here?" Nat jokes, spinning on the balls of her feet, then somewhat gracefully turning into him. It's not the worst thing in the world; being around Leo is as easy as breathing and she more or less knows how he moves.

“You don’t want the jittery kind of energy,” Leo scoffs, mildly amused that he has to say it at all. “It’s just a fast dance. Lots of footwork. And for you…” he says, hands dropping to her hips for a moment to make her sashay a little better, “lots of shaking those hips.”

Natalie's hips move from side to side when his hands drop to rest over them, but other than that, she's still pretty stiff. It will take some time. "I think that, as a demigod, I should be able to handle some fancy footwork," she muses, rolling her eyes. "What else do you want me to do?"

“But can you do it right is the question,” he counters, grinning eagerly as he shows her how - ball of the foot first, then the heel. “You’ve got to loosen up, Nat - that’s important. You have to be relaxed; this isn’t one of your sonatas that only has one way to do it perfectly. The moves are supposed to be natural, following the music.”

"The things I do for you," she groans, letting her head loll backwards.

Straightening her body - just not too much right now - she places one hand on his shoulder, the other reaching for the opposite hand. She wriggles her hips, attempting to mimic those moves he just demonstrated. "How's that?"

“You asked me to teach you,” he retorts, watching her critically. “Better, but less forced. You’re supposed to be having fun.” There’s a teasing tone to his voice, and the look Leo gives her is filled with amusement. Natalie isn’t one to struggle, and when she does, she tends to get more irritated and stressed, which means she isn’t relaxed. If she can get past that here, she’ll be much better off.

"I asked you because you want to dance with me for some reason and I can't just be a shitty partner at parties and events," she huffs, puffing some hair away from her face. The ponytail makes her feel more severe so she tugs and tugs at the elastic in order to release her hair from the confines and keeps the tie around a thin wrist. Too much fussing, she knows, but she needs to be comfortable.

"Okay, lead me."

“I could always find another dance partner if you really don’t want to,” he suggests, smiling at the apparent frustration. Taking her hands, he steps in closer and gives her cheek a quick kiss before gently pulling her with him through the easiest steps he can think of. Amused, he continues, “I think Rachel might be good at it.”

"She doesn't have my hips," Natalie mumbles flippantly.

She sways with him, having to close her eyes to really forget about all her hangups and self-consciousness. It's easier like this, steadying her breathing, shaking the tension away from her shoulders.

“No, she does not,” Leo agrees, eyes flicking down to her hips appreciately. Natalie may act self-conscious, but he loves every part of her, especially her hips and waist. He watches the change in her with interest as Nat closes her eyes, the smile growing when she starts to relax and just move. Though she can’t see it, he gives her an approving nod. “That’s better. You’re starting to get it.”

Focusing on the music, Natalie rests her hands over his for a moment before sliding them up his arms until she rests them on his shoulders once more. Her tongue flicks out to rewet her lips in concentration and she finally opens her eyes to grin at him.

"How's that now? Maybe we can try something more difficult?" she suggests hopefully.

Leo is definitely pleased with how quickly she’s getting it, even for someone who’s so uptight most of the time. She’s not perfect, of course, but he wouldn’t expect her to be out of one try.

“Okay,” he says thoughtfully, “how about a spin? But you still have to keep up with everything else.”

"I can do a spin."

Natalie nods, shifting focus once she has the steps committed to memory. Her eyebrows hop once to prompt him, anticipating his move. This time, she thinks, she'll be perfect on the first attempt.

"Then let's go for a spin!" he says, excitement clear in his voice. Stepping back, Leo extends his arm and loosens his grip enough to twirl her. He'll let her take lead, since she's so sure of herself, only pulling her back to him as the move reaches its natural end. Pleased, he smiles.

"Perfect."

Natalie easily spins back into his arms, her dress fanning out about her legs. She lands a little closer to him this time, touching her forehead to his with a grin as her hand settles onto his shoulder again.

"Thanks."

"You're not so bad when you actually try," he teases as they settle back into a casual swaying motion. And he means it - she's doing well. "Why do you always say you don't dance? It's not like it's social suicide or anything; it's just fun."

She puffs her cheeks out before exhaling. "But, I don't. That's not how I behave at parties." She will insist on that fact until the end of time.

"It could be, if you weren't dead-set on being a buzzkill," he says with a smile. Taking her hands, he wiggles her fingers a little bit, intent on loosening her up a bit. "No one's going to care if you mess up, Nat, as long as you're not falling flat on your face. And if anyone falls on their face, it'll probably be me, not you."

And then it'll just be a big joke, because that's how Leo Valdez rolls. But if you can't laugh at yourself once in a while, what can you laugh at?

"Okay, I don't walk into a room and go, 'I really want to kill the buzz of this room,'" Natalie scoffs, affronted.

She certainly doesn't want anyone falling on his or her faces either and keeps frowning, even as he plays with her fingers. "What other dances are we going to do?"

"You sure? Because there have been times that I've seriously wondered," he jokes, playfully dropping a kiss on her cheek. "What other dances do you want to do?"

"Oh, please."

But she leaves it at that, not protesting the teasing further.

"Nothing difficult, that's all. We're not doing a Strictly Ballroom-type competition, so whatever. I ..." She wrinkles her nose at herself. "I just thought I could be better at it for you."

His face lights up with a smile.

"You're already good, when you actually pay attention to what you're doing," Leo insists, not even bothering to hide the little rush of happiness that comes with her saying she's doing it for him. "My mom mostly taught me Latin, except when she turned on the Rolling Stones."

"Okay, I want to dance to the Rolling Stones," Natalie laughs. Not that she doesn't like the Latin dancing with Leo - other than looking like a fool at their first dance together, it's still a lot of fun. She can admit to that much.

She snaps her fingers and immediately "Paint it Black" starts playing because it's only natural that she chooses that song first.

He doesn't hold back his own laugh at that. As much as he enjoys the Latin dancing, he was always a classic rock kid, growing up. It feels more relaxed, and no one expects you to get the steps right if you're dancing to it, because there are none.

And her song choice...

"Of course you'd pick this one," he comments with a grin.

"I'm often predictable."

Natalie, when left to her own devices, can dance like a Peanuts character, especially when she doesn't need to memorize steps and make sure she's fully committed to following the rhythm. She shakes her shoulders, releasing Leo's hands to actually let loose.

Sometimes, predictable isn't so bad. Leo certainly doesn't mind standing back for a moment to watch Nat dance like she really wants to, skirt flaring and all. It's fun to see her go all out and not hold back, and in seconds, he's joining her, ridiculous dance moves and all. This is why no one expects him to be good at dancing, but he really doesn't mind.

It's always a push and pull struggle with Natalie, getting her to really come out of her shell. It's not that she's totally shy, but she does have a reputation of being so serious and intimidating. Shaking it out with Leo comes easily because she loves being around him and letting him pull her into something fun.

It's why she's laughing and jumping about like she's actually at a rock concert, taking advantage of all the room they have here.

Time to jam! Leo jumps along with her, not caring in the least if someone were to walk in and see the two of them acting ridiculous. Ridiculosity is where the fun's at, and with the tables pushed aside, they've got all the room they could ever need to have their own personal rock concert.

Now that he thinks about it, if this place weren't stocked with important artifacts and works in progress, it'd be great for a party.

Natalie grabs the ends of her skirt while she shakes her hips like some kind of flamenco dancer. Of course, if someone walked in on them, she would probably try to make them forget it, but otherwise, she's pretty good with Leo seeing her like this.

When the song's almost through, that's when she takes his hand and spins herself under it.

"There you go! That's dancing!" Leo exclaims with a laugh, hopping to music right along with her. When she spins herself under his hand, he makes a point to pull her back to him just so he can drop a light kiss on her cheek.

"Do I get to choose the song next?" Natalie asks breathlessly, loosely draping her arms over his shoulders, pressing a longer kiss to his lips since he's got her in this position.

He automatically leans into the kiss, smiling happily. "Anything you want, babe."

"Swing me, then, would you?"

She grins and switches the song to something more sophisticated but still fun and kind of naughty. Yep, she went there, but that really shouldn't be too surprising.

He really shouldn't be surprised by her song choice, but it makes him laugh nonetheless. Unfortunately Leo can't match the style exactly, since he knows so little about swing, but he'll certainly try, and he can definitely give her a swing.

"You sure you can handle this much dancing?" he teases, hopping up on the balls of his feet to adjust to the new beat. He'll give her a twirl, too, while they're at it.

Natalie wouldn't criticize him, anyway, and she's glad that he's indulging her.

"I can handle more than that," she murmurs coyly once she's spun into his arms again. Playfully, she brushes her nose against his cheek, pressing a kiss there before spinning out.

"Oh, yeah?" he asks with a laugh, feeling a little daring this afternoon. And maybe she is, too, judging from this music, so he continues, "So show me."

initially, Natalie fumbles and she tries not to hate it so much, because they're having fun and that's what matters. Step-touch, step-touch, back-step seems to be an okay fallback option and that's what she does with an extra twist of her hips. "This sounds more like a jive song," she tells him, shifting their position accordingly.

"Never been much of a jive kind of guy," Leo muses, even as he flows into the new position with relative ease. He likes how she's doing though, and not just in terms of a dance - not that he intends to say as much. "Now's your chance to mess up while I can't criticize."

"I know. I'm the most excited about that part, actually. You might just think I'm perfect at this," Natalie jokes.

Actually, she has always been light on her feet. It certainly isn't a Hecate thing - see: siblings she could mention. What's most important is that Natalie is having fun and allowing herself to actually enjoy the time she has with Leo.

"Now that's where you're wrong! I know you're not perfect at it, just from how you do all the other dances," Leo says with a teasing grin. "I just wasn't going to point it out as much."

Not that she's bad, just not perfect. But he's never minded that; as he said, it's supposed to be about having fun, and it seems to him that they've got that part covered.

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[ closed ] you're in my arms, and all the world is calm

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