fic: Heat Of The Night: Clubs

[tielan]

TITLE: Heat Of The Night: Clubs
CATEGORY: UST, UST, UST, UST, UST, UST...there's quite a lot of UST...
RATING: PG-13, nothing that the teens couldn't watch
SPOILERS: This will make no sense unless you've read "Presidential Dinner, With Cufflinks."
NOTES: fanfic100 challenge, keyword #049 - Club. Much love to madjm for the beta. allisnow? This is where they kept on having sex in my head. I still haven't got to the sex.

Heat Of The Night: Clubs

The rhythm of the music throbbed in her veins, like terror or excitement. It pulsed through her body, vibrating the fluid silk of her dress against her skin as Teyla watched the moving throng before her.

These people danced as though there was no tomorrow; as though their lives might be gone by the morning. Yet their world had lain untouched for thousands of years, without the Wraith threatening them, without the Goa'uld ruling them. They had become heirs to a way of life that she had never considered possible in her wildest imaginings - a way of life that the gyrating dancers took for granted.

Now, she could understand John's pity the day she had met him. Hell of a life.

Something in her was glad she'd finally been allowed to see it.

"Noisy, isn't it?" She turned automatically and looked at the man who stood nearby, regarding the crowd with a faint, wry smile. For a moment she wasn't sure that he'd been addressing her at all, before he turned his head towards her, meeting her gaze. "You're not game to dance?"

Teyla half-smiled, "This is all new to me."

He seemed surprised, eyes widening a moment as his gaze slid over her. "You're here alone?"

"My friend is getting drinks," she explained, glancing over towards the busy bar. "Are you here by yourself?"

The man gave her a quick shrug, the coloured lights of the dance floor gleaming off his blond hair. "My friends are somewhere in here," he said with a touch of wryness. "We were gonna meet here after--" He broke off. "Well, it doesn't matter." Another sidelong glance followed, then held out his hand. "Kevin Thornton."

After three years in Atlantis, she was familiar enough with Earth customs to shake the hand he offered. "Teyla Emmagen."

There was mischief to Kevin's smile as he glanced from her to the dancers. "So, if you're new to this...would you consider dancing?"

"With you?" Teyla rose to the question, smiling back at him. While she would have never considered such a challenge in Atlantis, or even in her own galaxy, she was neither in the city of the Ancestors, nor at home. "I am permitted time to consider?"

Kevin opened his mouth, only to be jolted as a man came up beside him, slapping him heavily on the shoulder. "Kev! Thought I saw you from across the room! Glad you could make it!" The newcomer's eyes lighted on Teyla. "Shit," the man breathed as he looked her up and down with no subtlety at all. "Who's this?"

To Teyla, it was a good sign that Kevin winced at his friend's enthusiasm. "Gary, this is Teyla. Teyla, this is--"

"Your sex slave for the night," Gary said, his eyes lingering on her breasts. It was clear that he'd been drinking, his breath reeked of alcohol and other, less savoury scents. And the way he regarded her was bringing to the fore an urge to kick his legs out from beneath him.

Teyla didn't, of course, but her smile was cool. "Thank you, but I do not believe that will be necessary."

It was unfortunate that Gary was not so intoxicated as to be unaware that Teyla did not welcome his interest. "No need to get all prissy," he sneered. "Especially not when you're wearing a dress like that--" He stepped forward belligerently, as Kevin grabbed for his shoulder.

"Gary--"

"Is there a problem?"

Amidst the noise of the music, Teyla hadn't heard him approach. And yet, she had been sufficiently aware of him to be unsurprised when his voice sounded polite and cool over her shoulder.

John's arm slipped around her arm, handing her a glass with a drink in it. "The prices they're charging for drinks here are atrocious," he said in a conversational tone, ignoring the two men.

"You have not been here for many months," Teyla reminded him. The glass was cool and damp against her fingers - a sharp comparison to the warm arm that curved about her waist, his fingertips resting cool on her stomach as his chest brushed her shoulderblades, so close was he standing. That was a surprise.

John had been attentive and friendly all night, but this tactility was very new.

Even newer was the way his touch burned her skin, his body heat seeping through the thin material of her dress. She didn't move away, but she could not keep from tensing at his touch.

"I haven't been here for years, Teyla," he corrected her, stalling any comment she might have made about his proximity. "So no big surprise." He took a sip of his drink, pausing for a moment before he asked, "Are you going to introduce me to your new acquaintances?"

Teyla didn't need to look at John to know that his eyes had narrowed as he regarded the two men staring at them - it was clear in his voice. Gary's expression was calculating; Kevin's was a little shocked - and maybe a little disappointed. "John, these are Kevin and Gary. Kevin was keeping me company while you went to get the drinks."

The pressure of the hand at her waist increased fractionally, then relaxed. "Is that so?" John asked, in conversational tones. "Do you come here often?"

Familiar with him after many years of friendship, Teyla could hear the hardness beneath the polite veneer and an edge of something more biting.

"Often enough," Kevin said, his voice even before he turned to his friend. "Where are the others?"

Gary was still watching her and John - more specifically her. "Somewhere."

"Well, we'd better go find them," the blond man said, turning Gary about. "Teyla, it was lovely to meet you." He looked at her, ignoring John. "I'll see you out on the dance floor later?"

He didn't wait for an answer, just gave her a slightly mischievous smile and moved away into the crowd, pushing his friend in front of him.

By her ear, John blew out a long breath. "How long were they bothering you?"

Teyla turned, slipping away from the warmth of his arm, which dropped away without any apparent self-consciousness. "Not very long," she said, taking a sip of her drink. It had a peculiar flavour to it - not the flavours of the usual fermented beverages to which she was accustomed, but a different, sharper taste. "It was only the second man who was rude," she continued after a moment. "Kevin was polite."

"Well, most guys won't be," said John, looking around the establishment, his eye lingering on various people with a narrow gaze.

She frowned. "The people at the dinner tonight--"

"Were polite for a living. These people are mostly drunk and out to have a good time. Remember Ronon and the knives?"

Teyla eyed him. When she and Elizabeth had emerged from their room at the hotel, the guys had been more subdued than was usual for them. She had been aware of their admiring gazes, but had dismissed it as seeing both her and Elizabeth out of their usual styles of clothing.

Then, Ronon had requested that his knives be returned to him so he could fend off interested men. She had pointed out her own capability of defending herself, and he had grinned with the smile of a man who had gained the wished-for rise.

Now, John was looking back at her with the frank, intent eyes of a man who knew his topic and had the solution, but wanted her agreement first. It surprised her sometimes, the degree to which he seemed to wish her to comply with his decisions.

"You are saying that you should have armed yourself before we came here?"

His smile was swift. "Nah. If you can kick my ass on a daily basis, then you're more than good enough to kick other guys' asses."

"Yet you felt it needful to show those men that we are together."

He shrugged. "It got rid of them."

"And if I had not wished to be rid of them?" Gary had been unwelcome, but Kevin had seemed pleasant enough.

A slight frown touched his face. "We're only in DC for the night, Teyla. And you couldn't take a guy home anyway."

Teyla sighed to herself and turned back to watch the people dancing with reckless abandon. It seemed that she was not making her point, although she did not know how to better express it.

"Teyla?"

She glanced up at him. Earlier this evening, when General O'Neill had denied Ronon's request for his knives, he had assigned John to be her 'keeper' for the evening. During dinner and through the subsequent conversations, John had been always near, not quite hovering, but very present.

It was not that she resented his presence. John Sheppard was a friend and teammate, familiar and respected. It was simply that in such proximity to him all night, Teyla had felt rather more personally viewed by the men and women she had met and mingled with - first at the dinner with the President of the United States of America, and now at the 'dance club' where John had brought them both.

"It is nothing," she dismissed, looking out through the crowd. "Are we going to dance?"

He glanced back out across the crowds. "Not just yet," he said. "First, we're going to finish our drinks. Then we're going to dance." His eyes were warm over the rim of his glass as he drank, and Teyla looked away.

As she sipped her drink, she let her eyes range through the shadows that were crowded with people, laughing, moving, swaying. Their abandon was infectious - the music throbbed in her veins like a heartbeat.

She turned back to John. "We just dance?" Her wave of the hand indicated the dancers who moved without any apparent pattern, any formality or formation. Teyla had travelled to many planets, witnessed many celebrations, but this was something new to her: revelry for the sake of revelry, not in celebration or commemoration.

"As they're doing."

It was difficult to pick out individuals among the amassed numbers, but Teyla observed the way the women swayed and shook. "It is very...unrestrained."

"That's the idea," he said, setting his glass down on a tall table nearby, around which various men and women were standing. One of the women flashed him a tentative smile, and Teyla saw John smile back.

Her next swallow burned her tongue and throat, not entirely unpleasant as she downed the remainder of her drink and cradled the heavy glass in her hand. Stepping around a hand-holding couple who were making their way out to the dance floor, she placed the empty glass beside John's with an apologetic smile at the people standing at the table.

This time, the woman did not smile back, although the men did and one of them leaned forward.

John's hand touched her waist. "Ready to dance, Teyla?"

He guided her out onto the dance floor with just that hand, but Teyla felt it marking her like a brand against her skin. This was closer than she allowed him to get while they were in Atlantis, too aware of their respective responsibilities and duties, too bound by the differences between them.

Once in the middle of the crowding throng, the pressure of John's hand turned her towards him so they were facing each other. Then he began to move to the music, the lean body shifting with a familiar grace.

Teyla glanced around her for a moment, feeling more than a little self-conscious, even if her practical side said that hardly anyone would notice her.

Well, hardly anyone except the man who was leaning forward so his breath brushed past the wisps of hair at her nape. "Just dance, Teyla. You'll be a natural at it."

With a deep breath, Teyla 'just danced'.

It took a little practise to accustom herself to the way the rhythms changed in the music. But slowly, she found the beat thrumming through her senses, as she moved her hips and body in imitation of the other women in the club.

A glance up at John showed him watching with something like a smile on his lips. Teyla grinned back, feeling a surge of pleasure in the dance akin to her pleasure when she lost herself in the motion and action of her staves.

The music seemed neverending, and she let herself slip into the flow of it.

Around her, people pressed against her, moving past her, bumping into her, shifting with the constant, unending motion of a crowd - like the waves that swirled around Atlantis - a sea of people.

And John, dancing in front of her with the natural grace and charm that he brought to everything he did.

She smiled up at him, within arm's reach and saw his mouth open to say something.

Hands touched her waist from behind. Teyla glanced sharply behind, instinctively moving away from the man who'd come up to her. The stranger gave her a quick, almost apologetic smile, and she smiled briefly and turned back to John.

He was looking over her shoulder - presumably at the stranger who'd approached her. Then his expression darkened like the onset of night on Athos. The reason became obvious a moment later. Teyla felt the stranger's hands slide up her sides, felt his chest and hips press against her in the hot dark of the club, rubbing against her in a manner intended to be sensual.

Teyla whirled away from the unwelcome advance. Her eyes narrowed as the man held up his hands, trying to be conciliatory. Then he paused and an ugly expression crossed his face.

She dropped her gaze to her waist, following his gaze. John's hand splayed across her hip; odd that she had not noticed his touch. His cheek pressed lightly against her left temple, and he murmured, "Do you think he'll take the hint?"

It felt strange to turn her head and find him so close. "I think he will."

The stranger had been watching them through narrowed eyes all this time. With their exchange, he sniffed, almost scornfully, and turned away to try his charm on another woman. Teyla exhaled and began to move away from John, then stopped as the hand on her hip constrained her. "Give it to the end of this dance," John murmured into her hair.

"I thought you believed I could dispose of these men," she accused, hoping that the people nearby couldn't hear them. The noise of the music was loud enough to cover over their conversation, but Teyla could not forget that she was surrounded by people - even if it was unlikely anyone would overhear her conversation with John.

"I do," he assured her. "But we're not supposed to be causing intergalactic incidents, remember?"

She remembered. It had been one of General O'Neill's requests of her and Ronon - and, indeed, John, Rodney, and Elizabeth - as they were driven to dinner with the President of the United States and his Joint Chiefs. "I would not injure them, Colonel," she murmured.

"Good. Let's keep it that way. Dance."

Teyla sighed, trying to think past the heat of his body at her back, past the gentle, inexorable pressure of his hand at her hip. After a few seconds, she picked up the beat again and began dancing.

Across the dance floor, she could see other couples dancing together, in various embraces. They usually swayed together, hip pressed against hip in the pulsing rhythm of the music.

Briefly, Teyla hesitated. Her natural caution advised against it, but she was not in Atlantis and she had chosen this dress purely for the pleasure of it.

Besides, John was a friend. He, of all men, would understand this.

She hoped.

As the music thundered on, she rested her fingertips on the back of his hand at her waist, feeling the tactile strength of the fingers beneath her own. Her other hand lifted up and back until it brushed his cheek.

She felt him turn his head, couldn't keep from a slight gasp as his teeth grazed her wrist in a softly sensual bite.

Teyla felt the caress reverberate through her flesh, from the pulse in her head to the twisting ache in her belly, close to where his hand rested. The playfulness made her light-headed, and she reminded herself that this was a game - a new level of interaction between them, unconstricted by the rules and solemnity of their usual setting on Atlantis.

"I said you were a natural," John murmured by her ear as the song changed. Teyla could hear the lazy laugh in it, like his fingers heavy on her body; she felt the brush of his lips as he spoke, his breath rustling through the fine wisps of her hair. His hand dropped from her waist and she felt the absence of it with something like resentment, but moved away.

When she turned to face him, something feral gleamed in his eyes, unfettered and free for the first time in the years they'd been friends.

And although they had sparred against each other many times, body making contact with body, this was the first time Teyla had seen such a look in his eyes and felt desire rise in answer to it.

For the next few songs, they danced apart, shifting and swaying to the beat of the music - to the beat of the blood in their veins.

Then Teyla took a break to find the restrooms, and when she returned, there was a woman dancing against John.

She watched from the edge of the floor for a while, wondering if she should intrude. If her dance with John had been of a teasing nature, then this woman was making her interest very plain to be seen - or, in John's case, felt.

And she wasn't so sure she liked the way the woman's arms curved invitingly around John's neck - or the way John was smiling down at her.

He had always been attractive. She was simply careful not to step beyond that. And John, being John, made it difficult simply by being as he was.

From the instant she stepped out of the bedroom earlier, subtly aware of the admiring looks in the eyes of Ronon, Rodney, and General O'Neill, Teyla knew that the usual rules by which she and John Sheppard governed their interaction were gone. She had laid down the gauntlet by purchasing and wearing the dress; he had taken it up when he suggested they escape from the tedium of the formal dinner and find some fun.

"A friend, huh?"

Teyla turned, surprised. "Kevin." She hadn't expected to see him again after he directed his friend away.

He looked more flushed now than he had before, the effects of alcohol and dancing colouring his skin. "If he's a friend," he said with pointed emphasis, "it must be tough being your guy."

She stiffened at the comment, then relaxed. His tone of voice wasn't belligerent - not like that of his friend's earlier; she wasn't sensing any antagonism from him, just an innuendo that was as gentle as a caress. "He is not 'my guy,'" she said lightly. "If he were, he would not be dancing so."

"If he was, he'd be an idiot," Kevin said, just as lightly. He turned to her with a smile that was no less easy for being less charming than the Colonel's. "So, if you're not dating him, and he's dancing with someone else...would you like to dance with me?"

Teyla looked up at him. His eyes were very pale, even in the colourful darkness of the room. She smiled, one dance could not go far awry. "I would," she answered, and slipped her hand into his to lead him out onto the floor.

After the brief chill of the restrooms, the dance floor seemed crowded and much warmer than she remembered. Kevin danced with unrestrained enthusiasm, facing her with a slightly challenging smile on his lips, and Teyla smiled back at him, willing to flirt and be flirted with in the midst of the crowd.

The song was one with a joyous tone, possessing an arrhythmic beat. Teyla lost herself in the flow of the music, in the unrestrained movement.

She was not so surprised when Kevin moved closer, dancing well within her personal space. Teyla regarded him tolerantly, well aware that she was being propositioned, and pleased to let it go so far.

He was no older than she, although she imagined he was rather younger in spirit. And while Kevin was definitely out 'to have a good time' as John had said, he had none of the heavy-handed interest of his friend.

So when the music finished and the next song began, Kevin regarded her with a faint query.

Teyla paused, considering the unspoken offer of another dance.

Then a hand touched the base of her spine, the thin material fluid beneath the heat of John's skin. She did not need to turn around to know it was him, the knowledge was as sure as her instincts, as true as her gift of sensing the Wraith.

"I cannot," she said. Stepping away from her teammate's touch, Teyla reached up and kissed Kevin on the cheek, touching her fingers to his chin to turn his head towards her. "Thank you for the dance."

"No problem, Teyla," Kevin responded immediately, his lips brushing her cheek with rather more sensuality than she had expected. The pale eyes gleamed down at her as he murmured, too soft for John to hear, "And if you get tired of your 'friend' anytime soon, come and find me."

It was not likely, she acknowledged as she left the dancing floor, John following behind. Irritating and high-handed as John was, he was her guide on Earth as she had been his guide in Pegasus. She would not abandon him any more than he would abandon her. Of that much, Teyla was certain.

His hand rested lightly against her back, steering her towards the bar with calm determination. "Making new friends, I see." There was a hint of censure in his voice.

"No more than you," Teyla said and was pleased to see defensiveness in his expression when she glanced back at him.

"You went away."

"I returned."

"And were dancing with that guy."

"His name is Kevin."

"He seemed very friendly. Did you get his cell number?"

Teyla frowned. The phrase did not translate to any context she understood.

"Never mind," John said as they climbed the two stairs that led up to the bar area. The warmth of his breath shivered across her skin, a calculated caress against her flesh, she was sure - as calculated as the words that he murmured into her hair. "Just remember, Teyla, this isn't Pegasus. The rules are different."

She needed no translation to understand that.

But if she needed reminding, then he needed warning.

As they paused to let some people pass before them, she reached down with one hand, pressing lightly against the top of his thigh, her fingers curving inwards and down. His inhalation of breath was swift and telling as she turned her head and answered.

"I will not forget if you do not."

He wasn't slow to respond; not at all. His hand slid along the outside of her hip, resting lightly against the bone. "Is that a challenge or a promise, Teyla?"

She kept her tone light and arch. "Which would you prefer, John?"

His laughter huffed directly in her ear this time. "Care to find out?"

And later that night, Teyla did find out.

- fin -

Comments

[ladysarahjane.livejournal.com]

I have one word for you: SQUEEE!

Fantastic job!

[snoggingpicard.livejournal.com]

OMG, there's MORE?!?! *dies from the UST* Wow. It's great to see that you decided to continue your original fic -- and the interplay between John and Teyla in this one...geez louise. Love it!!!

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

There is something truly fabulous about the word "tactility". I believe it is all the ts.

This was great. Nothing says UST like dancing. Well done.

And yay for four parters! I really like the card thing.....my imagination is offering suggestions as to what your stories might be.

[tray-lord.livejournal.com]

*g* I loved this. ^_^

[alliesings.livejournal.com]

Wow that was hot. John has no idea, does he!

[therisingmoon.livejournal.com]

mmm, UST. John has no idea what he just got himself into, did he? *g*

[cpt-ritter.livejournal.com]

Wow, talk about intense... perfect visualization. Flawless in my book.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

allisnow? This is where they kept on having sex in my head.

I'm not surprised! Yikes!

I still haven't got to the sex.

Argh! You ARE aware that it's impossible for characters (and readers) to spontaneously combust from an overload of UST, right?

wow tielan

[vaberella.livejournal.com]

this was one great story wanted to read more on Kevin and I like how you worked that in. The entire moment was so real it's not funny, meannig that I can see that actually happening and being the case. I also like the dynamics between Teyla and John....although I do feel John is a bit OT at the same time I do wonder how he is in his own element. I know when I was in England my mojo was off the hook and pretty much wherever I'm comfortable. but my persona changes when I'm some where else and pretty much adapts to consequence, so his personality seems realistic when I think of it that way.

I've always wondered if Teyla wears and knows what underwear is.....maybe John could find out as he touches her hip maybe slide a hand under her dress...:D

Anyway it was a great read and the personalities behindi the dialogue were fantastic besides the scene that they were placed in..

VB

HOT, HOT, HOT...

[(Anonymous)]

now that's UST! Knowing that this is just the first of four is almost too much. I can't wait for part two.

maxbo

[kjog.livejournal.com]

More please!!!

[natacup82.livejournal.com]

Damn, my keyboard just melted a little bit. So hot, so much awesome UST. I can't wait for the next part.

[amalthia]

omg this was just so hot. :) I loved this story!

[palebluebell.livejournal.com]

Oh! Nicely done.

To me it captured how messy things are between Teyla and John. Not messy-bad just, to me at least, messy-complicated for some reason. The descriptions of a night out on the town were so familiar and very real, and there was a definite tension and heat between them both that I could feel. Thank you, I thought this was wonderful.

[tielan]

Thank you!

and now I have to write the sequels!

[tielan]

Yes, there's more. If I can only work out the finer details of how it all goes!

[tielan]

my imagination is offering suggestions as to what your stories might be.

And I'm curious what your imagination has come up with. ;)

It's all plotted out in my head, it's just getting it all out.

[tielan]

Wait until you read the Elizabeth/Ronon one I have planned! *g*

[tielan]

Heh. I think he has some. He's a pretty smart guy when he needs to be. ;)

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Well, hearts and diamonds were easy (if fluffy) and then I started thinking a bit more, and diamonds became a metephor for something indestructable, but every time I get to spades I am all "But...where will they garden on Atlantis?" and then I giggle.

[tielan]

Or maybe Teyla doesn't! :D

[tielan]

I wonder if there aren't some plots of dirt somewhere in the city for gardeners. The Ancients can't have all been into the tech.

*scribes down yet another fic note*

[tielan]

Thanks! I was aiming for a mood-driven piece - good to know I succeeded!

[tielan]

You ARE aware that it's impossible for characters (and readers) to spontaneously combust from an overload of UST, right?

Uh. No. Can they? ;)

Re: wow tielan

[tielan]

I've always wondered if Teyla wears and knows what underwear is

One assumes so. Or else clothing gets messy pretty fast...

Re: HOT, HOT, HOT...

[tielan]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

[tielan]

Coming! Slower than I like, but coming... :)

[tielan]

Well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait! It's not written yet.

[tielan]

Glad you did!

[tielan]

The 'complicated' bit is what makes it rather fun, actually. They have to tread carefully with each other.

Thanks for the feedback!

[ladysarahjane.livejournal.com]

*claps*

I can't wait!

P.S. I've added you to my friends list since we seem to like a lot of the same fandoms and pairings with in those fandoms and I'm really looking forward to more of your fics, I hope you don't mind. *smile*

[tielan]

I don't mind! At this point, I'm just friending everyone back - things will probably change once I hit 100 peeps.

I'll get around to updating the f-list in the next couple of days.

[ladysarahjane.livejournal.com]

Aww... You didn't have to do that, but thanks! *grin*

100 peeps, that's a lot! But you're almost there!

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Yes dammit!

[tray-lord.livejournal.com]

Can't wait ^_^

[live-brave.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I love this! I can't wait to read more! Thanks for sharing this. :D

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Wow, great story. Love the back and forth between the two.