Everybody learns from *somebody*

[lordmegatron]

Passing the doors into the library, Megatron was pleased he had gotten the schedule correct as he saw who was sitting at the desk. If it had been completely necessary due to his own schedule, he'd have come here when he could. But since he didn't have to...

Ignoring the faint itch interfacing hadn't properly gotten rid off, Megatron approached the librarian at a lazy, casual walk. It was a pity he hadn't seen any signs at all that the surprisingly fine-lined truck-alted mech had the inclination he was looking for. Things would have been a lot easier (and, really, pleasing) if he had.

As it was, since there was no one left in the current arena circuit that he trusted with what he had to hand over, perhaps he would have to avail himself of one of the clubs. It made an irritable twitch slither down the treads on his shoulders, the thought that he'd have to do that.

It was ages since he'd had to go to an open venue like that to simply get his needs properly taken care of.

And he really would have preferred the librarian. Orion Pax - it hadn't taken anything to find out the designation when to found the schedule - was witty, somehow diplomatically argumentative and didn't give in if he knew he was right or wanted to stand for his opinion, actually had some smarts to go with said use of words and Megatron wanted to know more.

More, and more personally (most of the earlier he'd simply learned over the few times he'd been in the library when the mech was, but hadn't actually approached him). So this time, he decided to actually use the librarian's assistance in what he was looking for... and perhaps get something more out of it.

"Excuse me?"

Comments

[lordmegatron]

"Perhaps I am, but that doesn't make it any less..." trailing off with a shake of his helm and not finishing the sentence, Megatron let himself be pulled out of the booth and towards the middle of the club.

He could well believe he was better than Orion - he could probably teach him, too, which reminded him of his decision to teach Orion at least basic self defense in some way that suited the librarian, but either way.

He couldn't even pinpoint why moving to a rhythm like dancing was, together with someone or alone, was... faintly embarrassing, but it was.

Not that he'd let that stop him if this was what Orion wanted to do, so he followed with no resistance, changing his grip on Orion's hand as they got onto the middle, and used their walking momentum to slide them both into the music.

[ichooseboth]

"Undignified? Less intimidating?" Orion attempted to guess, before happily
being led out into the dance floor.

He was remarkably smug for a person who danced more poorly than his
semireluctant partner - and quickly encouraged Megatron to take the lead.

"Perhaps you can teach me yet another new thing tonight, hmm?" He laughed,
oblivious to the true source of his partner's discomfort.

[lordmegatron]

He just rolled his optics at those guesses, because while the "undignified" one might be right, at least for some forms of dance, in others it couldn't be more wrong. He'd seen dancing that could look very dignified or even intimidating with its skill and grace... though, admittedly, the sort of dancing that went on on a dancefloor in a club was not that.

"Maybe," arching an upper optic ridge, Megatron shook his helm as he slid around Orion, using the closeness to lean in and mutter in his audial, "like that you need to listen to the rhythm, not just approximate your movements to what it seems it is. Which is useful in a combat situation as well, since if you can read your opponent's movements..." trailing off, Megatron immediately twirled Orion around before he let go, grinning faintly.

"So. Seeing anything in here you might like to replicate later?"

Yes, that was sort of mean to bring up right now, especially as Orion had been darting glances away from everything the second they stepped in here, but if he never asked and made Orion think about it, they wouldn't find out what the mech liked.

[ichooseboth]

Laughing when Megatron took him up on his hint, Orion actually gave the directions an attempt. After a few moments, there was an obvious improvement as he found his stride, and he grinned.

It wasn't anything remarkable, but still better.

"-Hmm?" Orion stumbled in the dance steps when he caught Megatron's meaning. Ever polite, he really hadn't been observing the other couples around the club when he could help it.

Which was still more often than he wanted to admit. He felt like a voyeur. But they were there to actually see these sorts of tings.

"...Right. Well..." He glanced around, audials twitching back in embarrassment as he actually sought out strange, new dynamics.

[lordmegatron]

Better was better, and the change came quicker than Megatron would've thought - Orion was clearly a fast learner, which boded well. Even if he probably would be a bit laggy about learning offensive fighting skills because he didn't like to inflict injuries on others.

No matter.

Chuckling at the stumble, Megatron steadied Orion and then kept his hands there, subtly leading Orion on to let him actually pay attention to their surroundings better.

"No one's going to mind you looking, as long as you don't stare. If there'd been some event going on, even staring would've been acceptable and wanted," Megatron said with a faint grin, optics drawn to those twitching audials.

He should touch them later, if Orion let him...

[ichooseboth]

Sighing and allowing Megatron to lead him easily enough, Orion glanced
around.

Most couples seemed 'normal' enough at first glance. Some were more subtle, given that they were on a dance floor; the mech following only moving when their partner directed, some with thin, delicate leads around necks, barely visible in the flashing lights. Possessive hands tight on hips or the curves or spines.

And some...

Thicker collars or hooks around throat cabling; with heavy, harshly tugging leashes made him look away, discomfited. A few had telltale signs of static jumping near interface panels between trembling, dancing thighs, and Orion huffed warmly when he realized the 'game' that was being played.

Beyond the dance floor- Orion stumbled, leaning over Megatron's shoulder. One table contained a mech forced to sit at his 'master's' feet, cleaning his pedes. Unpleasant. But another, just nearby- the expression on the
kneeling mech's face was one of blissful contentment, cheek pressing
against his dominants's palm as the larger mech fed him energon treats.

The second pair looked caring instead of lording or cruel, and Orion felt a strange longing bloom in his spark. He turned away, huffing a warm vent into Megatron's throat cabling.

[lordmegatron]

Catching the stumbling and the twitching, Megatron used their closeness to stroke hands down red and blue armour, firm and slow. But all wasn't obviously to Orion's displeasure (or surprise, it was hard to tell sometimes), which was both a relief and to Megatron's pleasure.

"You don't have to say anything here and now, but I'm going to want to know later..." trailing off murmuring into Orion's audial, leaning close enough to almost brush his lips against them, Megatron spun them both around. He was somewhat surprised - and, for the situation, pleased, to find out dancing was helping to keep his mind in the proper non-subspace state of mind. Probably due to the similarity to fighting.

"Since we need to find out what you like as well."

At least something to start with, since Megatron was sure there might be things Orion was seeing he was "uncomfortable" with, both because of his own preconceptions of the flavour of what he was seeing and because he wasn't ready to admit, even to himself, that he was liking what he was seeing.

[ichooseboth]

"Hmmn. Ah, yes."

Curling against Megatron's frame, Orion nodded into the larger mech's throat cabling. His audial twitched at the feel of closeness, warm vent air making him jerk.

He was probably ruining the dancing, clinging like this, but oh well.

"I...have a few more ideas right now, I'll admit."

He reached up a hand, stroking the back of Megatron's helm with a grin.

[lordmegatron]

Ah, so close, and while they weren't technically involved in any dynamic at the moment, touching Orion in this place more... intimately still seemed like it would break some sort of rule.

So he didn't, just grinned close to that tempting piece of Orion's chassis and didn't really mind Orion clinging, either. Even if it was ruining the dancing.

"I'm looking forward to finding out what they are," Megatron said with a chuckle, tilting his helm into the caress at the back of his helm. Having all this was already a gift, but getting to see (and help) Orion grow into all this made it even better.

[ichooseboth]

"I'll, ah, let you know." Orion coughed gently, vents warm at the idea of trying to articulate what he had just seen into words and explaining his sudden desire.

He'd...manage. Somehow.

Gently easing himself back down, Orion brushed lips over Megatron's jaw.

"So. Do we want to give dancing another shot, or did you have anything else in mind for tonight?"

[lordmegatron]

"Besides simply getting you used to the scene and seeing some things in action to help you realise there aren't a bunch of sinister mechs taking advantage of another pile of mechs?" Megatron asked, amusement colouring his tone, "not really."

With that, he slid away from Orion, tugging him into the music again since that was what they had been doing so far, and Orion hadn't actually said he wanted to stop.

[ichooseboth]

Orion laughed a little self-consciously, but nodded his helm, forced to admit the previous truth of Megatron's words.

"Yes, yes, I get that now. Really."

He grasped Megatron's hand and regained his place on the dance-floor, quickly catching up with the steps and meeting his partner's moves with a passable level of skill.

It would take him some to improve further...but he was confident enough - and irritated with himself enough - to give taking the lead a try once a song he actually recognized began to play.

[lordmegatron]

Smirking at Orion at his agreement, Megatron just shook his helm and when he caught on to what Orion was trying after a few songs, there was, at first, a brief flare of resistance.

Megatron didn't even realise he was digging his feet in at first, but when he caught it he snorted quietly and... well, it still took a few moments, because he was very much in the periphery of a combat-type mood, but after a few more probably very awkward steps, he let Orion start to dictate the flow of the dance.

It wasn't like it was unfamiliar to him or anything.

[ichooseboth]

Orion reset his optics in surprise at the resistance, giving Megatron a questioning glance, even as the larger mech gave way.

"You alright...?"

It was only for one song; he was fine with giving way after the song ended.

[lordmegatron]

"Yes," shaking his helm, Megatron flashed Orion a lopsided grin, "sorry. Dancing gets a similar response as fighting... if you want me to follow, it's easier if it starts at the beginning. I don't really mind."

The subdued sparkle in Megatron's optics was something of a challenge, however. Make him. Not that he couldn't give way without a fight, but ah.

Of course, fighting over who led during dancing was a bit tricky when you were doing it on a dance floor with other people.

[ichooseboth]

"Oooh. Well. We can take turns with the dancing, if you like?"

Orion didn't really care when it came to dancing, after all. He didn't particularly like the idea of including that dynamic in every single aspect of everything they did together, after all.

"It's not a big deal for this. Not to me? It is supposed to be for fun, after all."

He grinned a little lopsidedly, curling a hand around Megatron's waist.

"Even if I do enjoy the way you lead like you fight."

[lordmegatron]

Briefly, Megatron was surprised. He shouldn't have been, he knew. This was so very Orion he should've expected it. It was, also, nice to see that there would probably be less arguing on how much of the dynamic would be implemented when and where than he'd experienced sometimes.

"Sounds like an idea, yes," Megatron said and then chuckled, shaking his helm slightly, "indeed. More for you, perhaps." Then, to take the edge of his statement, he winked, briefly tilting his hip up into the hand on his waist before he went back to follow the rhythm.

To be fair, it'd been in both directions - in some cases he'd been looking for more from his dominant than they'd felt they could give (usually because of him being a successful gladiator), and sometimes the dom had wanted far more influence than Megatron had wanted to secede.

"You do, hm? At least that should give us a good basis for when I start teaching you... self defense." In the last moment he caught himself and used 'self defense' instead of 'fighting'. It'd probably go down far better.

[ichooseboth]

Giving Megatron's hip a squeeze, Orion grinned in relief, and shakily managed to both lead and follow the rhythm for the rest of the song. When a new, unfamiliar song came on next, he switched hand and feel positions, allowing Megatron to lead the way once again if he wished.

"Hah, I would almost enjoy that, I think," Orion laughed.

"Though I hope my feet cooperate more if we're fighting. The risk is a little higher."

[lordmegatron]

Switching between them was both somewhat confusing and fit very well - if they continued to do this Megatron was pretty sure they'd end up being capable of doing it very smoothly.

There was just something that let him read Orion far easier than most other mechs he'd been involved with.

"Hopefully you will, since that'd make things a shade easier," Megatron said with a grin, squeezing the hand in his, "but you're hardly going to be in that much danger from injury while I'm teaching you. At the most you might get a few dents and pulled cables."

The grin widened into slight pointiness, as Megatron was apparently incapable of being reassuring without being teasing as well.

[ichooseboth]

Learning 'self defense' fighting was much more acceptable than learning actual fighting, at least in Orion's mind.

"Well, of course," Orion laughed, handling the transition between leading and following ironically even more smoothly then the dancing itself. He gave Megatron's hip a teasing pinch at the mention dents.

"But still, the risk of getting feet stepped on versus getting punched or bent can't really be compared."

[lordmegatron]

In the end, it'd amount to the same thing - at least given the way Megatron would be teaching it, and what he would be teaching, but if it made it easier for Orion to swallow, that was all that was needed to justify phrasing it as "self-defense" instead of "combat training".

Engine revving briefly and a slight twitch running through him at the pinch, Megatron chuckled and then gave Orion an arch stare.

"Oh, I promise I'll be gentle, Orion." And really, if need be, he'd be as careful and slow (and gentle) as was necessary to let Orion learn and then slowly step things up, but he didn't think he'd need to go to extreme lengths. Despite that, he grinned sharply again as he spoke.

[ichooseboth]

Orion laugh, finishing off the current dance with a bold flourish he wouldn't have been capable of before tonight.

"Can't be too gentle, or else what is the point?"

Orion stared back up at Megatron, his own grin as toothy as he could manage with his civilian-class frame. He was largely unaware of Megatron's scheme, of course; but he wasn't entirely naive.

"The streets can get a little rough - but I thank you for not deciding to treat me like a new gladiator with double my weight in armor plating."

[lordmegatron]

And here was the part of Orion that came out sometime - or parts of it, anyway, that was definitely another angle to why they fit so well together even with their different make.

"I'll make sure to check in each time to see if I should use more strength and force, then," Megatron said with another laugh, shaking his helm, "on the other hand, maybe I should treat you like that... you might be surprised at yourself."

Of course, he wouldn't. Orion was a civilian, and while not all gladiators were of military make, a lot of them were - those who weren't, needed to learn like Orion would have to.

[ichooseboth]

"Surprised at how many dents my frame can handle before I fall over, you mean?"

Orion chuckled, shaking his head with obvious reluctance. He was confident about any number of things, but handling himself in a fight? Not even.

"I would definitely prefer the force-checks, thank you," he said primly, even as he gave way to let Megatron take the lead again.

[lordmegatron]

"Actually, yes. I'm pretty sure you would be, considering everything." It was an honest appraisal - Megatron was pretty sure Orion would start out with (and might always carry) a dislike and reluctance towards hurting others physically, but that was entirely removed from the ability to take more (physical) punishment than Orion thought he could take.

There was just something that pinged Megatron that convinced him Orion was the type that wouldn't let injuries stop him and would stubbornly keep going.

He almost, briefly, as he took over for the next dance, wished to see Orion in such a situation.

But considering that would require real life-and-death most probably, it would doubtfully happen. Even if he ever pushed along the vague plans he was considering, Orion would be kept out of that for as much as possible... at least the fighting, anyway.

"Hmmm, perhaps you're right about that, however. We'd need to put you in Apex armour or get some serious combat-grade upgrades if you're to handle my full strength without lethal injuries," Megatron said with a chuckle and a none-to-sweet smile.