Who: Bunny & Doug What: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED Where: Atom When: Super backdated to night after this. Warnings: the usual Bunny warnings.
The night before was great. Not only had she just hooked up with Luke, but she had met so many friends that she was practically drunk on happiness. At present, she was just really drunk. She was practically hanging off Doug at the bar in Atom. They’d decided to cut her off, but she could totally still walk, which was cool. At least, they hadn’t forced her to get in a cab.
How did she get Doug there? Well, after not being able to get anyone else to go to her due to a mixture of busy schedules, and just plain seriously good excuses, she managed to corner the man while he was studying. He was saying something about a paper due next week or some test questions he needed to review a couple of hundred more times, but she managed to block all that out and practically just drag him out around to like every popular club ever. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been in Seattle, but she was more than certain he hadn’t had a good party night, considering he’d gone to the Verse to study and magically stumbled into their party.
Okay he hadn’t stumbled in so much as been dragged in by her. She was really pleased that she’d managed to get him out. “See! Too much studying isn’t healthy for a person. This is so much better,” she said leaning on him.
Doug, for his part, usually avoided places like this. Noisy and crowded, completely unlike the libraries and study halls he normally found himself in with the odd coffee house thrown in for spice. But he had needed the break, and if he hadn’t been asked he never would have left his apartment. Honestly, if it’d been someone other than Bunny asking, he still might not have gone along with it, but he’d always had a hard time denying her.
Speaking of Bunny, he glanced over at the slightly tipsy blonde with a grin, a bit more obvious about his affection for her thanks to the two shots she’d talked him into downing, it was really great to see her again. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her bubbly personality in the last few years until they’d ran into each other at the party. The party he hadn’t known about, though he found the invite on the floor just inside his apartment soon after returning home. The party he’d not had any intention of attending until Bunny had shown up and dragged him in to meet her friends. And her boyfriend.
He pondered that one, playing with the half-full bottle of beer he’d been nursing since they’d arrived at the Atom, rolling it idly between his palms as he thought. Luke seemed like a nice enough kid. Young, but then they all were, even him. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he was starting to get the feeling that he just wasn’t happy about the title of “boyfriend”. Bunny was one of his dearest friends, if not his best friend. He wanted what was best for her and he didn’t yet know Luke well enough to decide if he was worth the sweet girl on his arm.
The sweet girl who was leaning into him and talking, snapping him out of his reverie. He grinned a her, “I suppose this once it’s okay.” He gave her a quick one armed hug. “Since you asked and all.”
Bunny's arms snaked around Doug's neck where she gave him a hug and looked out at the dance floor. The music was loud and she was feeling willowy, which probably meant she would totally fall over if she got up and actually attempted to dance, but she bounced to the beat anyway. "Let's dance. Let's daaaance." Usually it would have been spoken with more umph, but her speech was slowed by the consumption of the delicious liquor laden drinks. "It's good for the soul," she insisted before slipping off her stool.
Completely disregarding his drink, she tugged on his arm, bottom hitting a passing patron who looked at her with an annoyed expression for a minute before continuing on her way. Bunny stumbled forward a step or two. "Dansu Dansu Dansuuuu," she chanted.
The song was a techno beat, nothing that would really involve grinding up on someone. It was nice and there weren't really that many people since it was a Sunday night and people had to work the next morning. She forgot if he had class, but she had like nothing. She really had to work on finding a job.
At the first tug on his neck, he looked over, startled. He had a bad feeling about where this was going to go when they first walked in and he’d heard the heavy beat coming from the dance floor. “Bunny, this isn’t a good idea.”
It wasn’t that he was a bad dancer, just that he didn’t know how to dance well and lacked the confidence and coordination to fake it. And possibly the alcohol. He was starting to think that he hadn’t nearly enough to drink to handle keeping up with Bunny on a dance floor. “Bunny, I can’t dance.” The argument didn’t seem to dissuade her from her mission to drag him bodily onto the floor.
“Bunny, come on, you know I can’t...”
Too late. They were surrounded by dancers on all sides. Bunny’d managed to hop them right into the thick of things. Doug caught his lip between his teeth as he swayed awkwardly, nearly bouncing off a couple more rambunctious dancers. He didn’t particularly want to be out there, but he couldn’t leave Bunny on the floor alone. Especially not as tipsy as she was. So he stayed, and kinda swayed, looking about as awkward as he felt.
Bunny had given herself to the rhythm, moving with the crowd as they jumped, twirled, swayed to the music. She was all into it, until she caught a glimpse of Doug who was all scrunched up like a scared chihuahua in a room full of loud noises. Taking a moment, she stopped and stared at him with a 'you have got to be kidding me' expression. The key to dancing properly was to do so as if no one was watching. There was a guy a few feet behind Doug who was not wearing a shirt and looked like a complete idiot. That was besides the point though. The point was that guy was totally having fun. She squinted for a sec. Oh yeah, that guy was totally wearing body glitter. It was so shiny....
...but she was supposed to be doing something important. OH, RIGHT! She was teaching Doug how to dance properly. "You need to stop thinking," she said poking his forehead, while attempting to yell over the music. "Stop thinking!" She took his hand and pressed his palm against his chest. "Start feeling!" In order to demonstrate, she closed her eyes and stepped to the rhythm, before swaying and giving way to it. She opened her eyes to see how Doug was doing.
Doug swallowed hard when Bunny grabbed his hand. The forehead tap hadn’t been very fun, but he hadn’t been expecting her to grab him like that. He could barely hear her words over the pound of the music and the increasing throb of his heart, thanks to the heat and the press of people around them, but it was Bunny. It was Bunny holding his hand, even if she was only doing to make a point. And they were both closer to drunk than sober. But it’s Bunny, a tiny part of him cried anyway. Grabbing his arm earlier hadn’t been anything different than usual, just another insistent tug.
But she had a boyfriend, someone she was happy with. He calmed his breathing more through force of will than anything else and tried taking her advice with the rhythm, which even he had to admit was hard to miss. His dancing still wasn’t much better, but at least it was getting in time to the beat now. Unfortunately, he still looked like he was completely overthinking things mixed with the lingering tinge of fear of public humiliation.
Bunny didn't let Doug's stiffness discourage her. Instead, she took used his hands to guide him. Eventually, she spun behind him and took his shoulders, moving him to the beat with her, because he needed to loosen up. She continued to move around him and shake him here and there and move him along with her attempting to get him to stop thinking about it too much and let go. She knew it would be a hard thing for him, because he thought like...twenty four-seven, but it didn't mean she couldn't try! She had faith that Doug could dance! She had faith in Doug because he had faith in her when everyone thought he'd never get anywhere in making her study.
Sure she'd been just as bad at the studying as he was at dancing, but she did pass her classes and her tests with his help. Bunny could return the favor by teaching him how to dance like it was fun instead of like attempting to solve a math problem. Her arms encircled his waist as she pressed herself against his back, just moving with the music during the bridge, eyes closed. She was feeling much calmer than she had when they'd first started. Then again the woman's haunting voice giving everyone a reprieve from the relentless rhythm had that effect.
It was official. He was going to die. Right here and now. Die and go straight to hell. She has a boyfriend, Doug! This is entirely inappropriate! But his body ignored his racing thoughts and he didn’t pull away from the warm arms encircling his waist.
If it had been anyone else, he’d have left already. There were just some things you didn’t do, and dancing, like this, with someone’s girlfriend was pretty high on that list. But it was Bunny, and she was his dearest friend... and everything she was doing was saying that she wanted him there. So he stayed. And tried to dance, even if he did feel incredibly awkward.
Slowly, he began to grow more comfortable, or at least more familiar, with the situation, allowing himself to relax a bit. His movements began to lose their jerky, rigid edges, but still didn’t become incredibly smooth. He swallowed some of his nervousness and allowed the surprisingly soothing warmth of Bunny dancing behind him to calm his racing thoughts.
He still didn’t look very confident in his movements, but at least he didn’t look like a scared kid anymore. If it had been anyone else - but it wasn’t. It was Bunny. A hand drifted up to rest on hers as his eyes slid shut and he finally began to get lost in the music and stop being so focused on everything around him.
Bunny could feel the tension ease out his body and she gave him a squeeze. This was exactly what Doug needed, she was sure of it. She relaxed even more, despite the loud music blaring in the room. His hands holding hers, her hold began to slacken and she started to lean on him a little more. In fact, all her weight rested on him as her eyes fluttered shut. Her breath became even and she started to slump...or was that slip? Bunny had fallen asleep.
Doug had started turning when he felt her grip loosen, so by the time she started to slide to the floor he’d already gotten his arms around her and was holding her up. A soft smile lit his face as he realized she’d fallen asleep on him. Trust her to be able to pass out on a dance floor.
He wasn’t as strong as the other men in Bunny’s life, but he was strong enough to get both of them off the dance floor and over to a table. Motioning a waitress over, he asked if she might call a cab for them since he didn’t feel comfortable leaving his friend alone to do it himself. The woman nodded and slipped away, only to return a few moments later to let him know one was on its way. He thanked her and tugged Bunny to her feet again, making their way to the coat check and then outside.
“Come on, let’s get you home.”
He’d make sure she got home safe, same as he had in high school. Some things just never changed.
OOC Explanation: Elle and Rio demanded a return challenge of Bunny and Doug "participating" at the Atom. We accepted and this is our response. Yes, it's... it's... you know, I can't explain it. Just go with it.