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Language:
English
Series:
Part 2 of Once Upon A Rock Ballad
Stats:
Published:
2024-11-03
Words:
896
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
10
Kudos:
17
Bookmarks:
1
Hits:
157

Dance Till Dawn

Summary:

The bridge between Clive realizing his feelings for Jason and The Succubus Encounter. A small scene where Clive attempts to understand Gordon along the road to Yaresh.

Notes:

This song isn't a rock ballad, but I felt like we needed a swing song for Gordon, so well... here it is. 😆 Dance Till Dawn

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

In the moon's sweet glow
Feet tapping just so

Music drifted down the halls of the cloud vehicle as they trundled along northwards towards the city of Yaresh. Clive found himself curious about the cadence, following the notes.

Music starts to flow
Hearts begin to show

When he rounded the corner, he found a training room in use. Why would someone be listening to music during a battle exercise? He wondered, before admitting, Probably Jason.

Twirl and spin around
Laughter's joyful sound

To his surprise, upon entering the training room, Jason was nowhere in sight or even in the shadows. Instead, he discovered Gordon, laser beaming obstructions and blowing up moving training targets in rapid succession to the rhythm of a strangely upbeat tune.

New friends we have found
Feet don't touch the ground

The cloaked figure alternated between incorporeal dashes across the short field and launching attacks via his orbs. Shrapnel exploded overhead, showering down harmlessly against his silver ranked fortitude.

Dance till dawn so bright
Discover in the night

As Clive listened to the lyrics, he started to notice a pattern that vaguely resembled, well, dancing. 

Hold on to the light
Everything feels right

The shadowy figure bobbed up and down, swaying side to side, as he obliterated every obstacle in the room. The ease with which he decimated the objectives brought into question just what Gordon was getting out of the session.

A moment later, the music came to a halt after one final dash as the familiar hovered over a flat device he’d seen Jason brought back from Earth. Gordon turned towards Clive, regarding him before flashing his orbs in a pattern only Asano seemed to understand.

“Uhh,” Clive found himself at a loss for words, eventually settling on explaining his presence. “I was curious about the music. I’ve never seen someone training that way.”

Gordon’s orbs flashed again in a complicated sequence he had no chance of deciphering. Clive sighed, he was about to apologize for not understanding when a panel on the wall began playing a video recording. The flat image depicted a man talking passionately.

“It’s about expression!” The man in the video waved his irregularly shaped hat around in his hand as his arms flailed outwards. Clive looked back at the familiar and squinted before speaking.

“Are you telling me that this is just for,” Clive contemplated out loud, “for recreational purposes?”

Gordon’s orbs flashed rapidly, his body bobbing up and down. Clive smiled.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” The smile faded the longer he thought on the concept, “but I still don’t see the point.”

Silence descended on the training room before Gordon cued up another video clip.

“Sometimes, music can express what you can’t with words or actions.” Another passionate speech played with a female speaker forming fists with her hands. “Sometimes you just need to feel it!”

The screen went blank again and Gordon’s wispy form seemed to shrug, which was quite the feat given he didn’t have shoulders. It was more of a full body movement, or nebula movement. See, this is why I let Jason do the translating, he thought to himself as the familiar floated back to the music device.

The music resumed along with Gordon’s enthusiastic dance. 

Stars above they shine
In this magic time

Clive leaned against the wall, watching, and allowed the lyrics to infiltrate his mind. He let his focus shift away from the techniques and abilities and just observed the way Gordon moved.

Hands in yours and mine
Memories we'll find

Gordon was spinning and twirling along with the beat, blasts sounded off in sync with the rhythm as if he were adding his own symphonic devastation to the musical cadence.

Swing with all your might
Keep me in your sight

The familiar seemed to be adding new moves to keep up with the suggestions of the song, a measured maneuver sent him into the center of the room, presumably giving him a good vantage point.

New wonders take flight
On this dreamy night

Spinning, Gordon launched himself skywards and sent all of his orbs sailing out at once in a spectacle across the room in all directions.

Dance till dawn so bright
Discover in the night

Dipping back down into the center of the room, pairs of orbs smashed into each other over Gordon’s ethereal form, not even bothering to aim at the targets which were still taken out as collateral damage.

Hold on to the light
Everything feels right

The final pair of orbs exploded in a shower of shrapnel and glittering light as the song came to an end. Clive couldn’t help the smile that crept across his face as the song started up again along with a new dance full of what looked like delighted improvisation.

While he didn’t see how this was practical for training, he understood that it obviously made Gordon happy. Life was dramatically different with Jason in their lives, and this was just one more example. A feeling of warmth spread across his chest. It reminded him of the time Jason roped him into teaching him how to cook eel.

When the song ended once more, Clive ducked out with a quiet nod, heading in the direction of his study. Jason had shared the listening devices with each of them. Perhaps he’d play some music while he worked.

Notes:

I wanted a reason for why Clive would understand what Gordon was on about during The Succubus Encounter. Because he never expected to have his feelings reciprocated until those events plus a little prompting from Gordon being a good bro. 😅 And I couldn't get the image of Gordon living his best reality assassin life to happy swing music. 🤣

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