Not Always Second Best [Tag Allan]

[Allan A Dale]

Allan looked at himself. On the one hand, he totally would walk around wet if he didn't think it would attract unwanted attention and hinder his work, but on the other hand it was cold, being wet. He shook his head. "Reckon I can do alright being dry, thanks. But if I ever need drenching, I'll come find ya. Proper good job you did too."

He had laughed as she squealed about being made wet, and how dare he, and replied in kind. "Well you bloody well got me didn't you? What did you expect? Temptation's a mighty powerful thing!" he chuckled after he'd run away to the other side of the well, content he was safe. And now she was frowning, but he could see the smile hidden behind it and it made him laugh some more.

"But I shouldn't be wet!"[/i] Allan had to resist the urge to say several lewd and not very appropriate things in response to this, most involving stripping down and finding a way to warm her up. He was quite proud of his control over his mouth at this point; a little while ago, it would have just come out and then he'd have been in trouble. Well, he would if anyone heard. He suspected Kate found it a little flattering and funny. Instead, he replied, "Well you shouldn't have come to the well then, should you? And I'm clean!"

He was slightly worried about Kate walking round the top of the well; it was wet now, her feet were muddy and slippy and if she fell in... That would be that. He stuck his arms out to her, and a part of his mind cursed her for throwing the bucket on him because it had sobered him up and that damn headache he knew he'd have was starting to come to the fore.

She ignored his arms and stuck her hands on his face, wiping away imaginary dirt, and she placed her hands on his shoulder to jump down. Automatically, he brought his hands up to her waist and helped her, leaving them standing by the side of the well, quite close, and leaving Allan with a tough decision.

"No, you don't; Luke'd murder you," he said, grinning down at her. He realised he hadn't let go yet, so he licked her nose, declared once more that she tasted like squirrel, and leaned against the well. He nearly slipped off it, having not judged quite how slippery the stone was, and grinned sheepishly up at Kate.

"Well now that we're clean, how about another drink? I reckon I could do with warming up a bit!"

Hey, any excuse, right? Besides, Kate was fun to drink with.

[Kate Miller]

”Don’t do things by halves. If your gunna do a job, you’ve gotta do it properly!” She chucked. Temptation. Temptation was certainly a powerful thing. Temptation was why she was now slightly drunk running around the village with a dangerous outlaw. You can resist anything, except for temptation. Having a good time, having a laugh, was one of those things.

”But I like the well, it’s peaceful, when there aren’t raving drunks throwing water around!” She shrugged. She needed something else to drink. Anything, her mouth was bitterly dry. Her throat raging begging for something. Her feet on the floor, and her mind no longer concentrating on the strenuous task of balancing, it let her think of other things.

With his hands rested on her waist, she looked up at him and smiled. "No, you don't; Luke'd murder you," “Yeah he would, and my father wouldn’t be far behind. He’d get annoyed that somebody else got to hurt me over him. Or well something else.”[/b] she really wasn’t in the mood for caring. Sure it probably wasn’t the greatest comment in the world she could have made, but Allan wasn’t going to be telling anybody any time soon, and she was certain they were more than alone.

His sudden movement made her squeak. She crinkled her nose and moved away from him. ”I do not taste like squirrel!” she shouted as he rounded her to lean against the wall. She hadn’t seen his slight slip in her anger, but she turned herself to him, stood in front of him once more. ”You ever gunna let that drop?” she exclaimed as he was grinning up at her. She could do a Luke, kick him in the shins, but it would probably hurt her foot more in the shoes she was wearing. She made note to do it next time she saw him, if she remembered that was.

”Another drink would be lovely! she beamed, would it really warm you up unless it was some sort of fine malt? All they’d been given at the ‘party’ was ale and mead, and she wasn’t so convinced that they were different things. ”After you oh wet one!” she sniggered as she took a small step backwards and turned her body in the direction of the party, still looking at him – a flash of a smile on her face.

[Allan A Dale]

"Words to live by," he replied, nodding vigourously and sending specks of water fly everywhere. He brushed his hair back out of his face and decided he really needed a haircut and soon. Then he shrugged in response to Kate's own. Hey, he wasn't the drunk throwing water around, was he? That was Kate's job, to be the loud lunatic.

He ignored her comment. They weren't getting into that tonight. They were having fun, right? Right?
He shook his head as he pushed himself back off the wall. Carefully this time. "'Course I ain't. But I bet I don't taste like dirt no more." To prove his comment, he licked the back of his hand and grimaced. Great, now his hand was covered in saliva and, actually, he did still taste a bit like dirt. Then again, that hand was a little muddy. He wiped his hand on his damp shirt and offered out his hand as she turned to let him lead the way.

"Fantastic." He did indeed lead the way, quite happily, and was pleased with how the day had gone after all. To think he'd been grumpy this morning about getting up...

(OOC - Firstly, sorry about the short post. We totally need to get Lukey and Jake in here soonish. XD;; I'm running out of things to say something bad. Secondly, someone might want to sort out the word filter to just do words or something. Because while the n-word isn't nice, sn-i-ggered is perfectly fine but now Kate apparently can "sblack personed". XD;; )

[Kate Miller]

She cringed again as the water droplets hit her. Letting out a small shriek. ”That’s only cause I washed you! I bet I wouldn’t taste like Squirrel if I had Lavender or Rose petals. Alas I am but a peasant, I can not afford such luxuries on my wage.” she smiled as she took a hold of his hand and walked towards the hordes.

She made her way directly to the drinks table. She grabbed a goblet passing it over to Allan before grabbing one for herself. She probably shouldn’t continue drinking so much but at the end o the day, if she as going to wake up tomorrow with a head ache already, what else did it matter?

Today had been a better day than she had thought. Parties that involved nobles often ended in a hanging, or something equally as drastic and cruel. But today it would seem that that was not the case. Mannering was determined to show himself as a nice guy, no matter how much Kate really didn’t want to believe t, she couldn’t deny him of it.

”I guess you want to go and gloat at the gang or something for winning. Get your reward.” she offered as she took a short drink of her ale. No, she really wasn’t looking forward to the morning.

[Allan A Dale]

Allan shrugged while they walked. He never did understand why the nobles did all that stuff, it just made you all the more noticeable, especially the way they practically smothered themselves in the stuff.

”You don’t need that! Squirrel ain’t that bad... It’s not like anyone can smell it, and I don’t think many people’ll go round licking you...”

He took the drink gratefully and downed it, reaching for another when he was done and burping. He gave Kate a little grin. ”Better out than in, right?” he asked, taking a slower sip from his next goblet. Idly, Djaq popped into his mind. She’d said before that she didn’t drink, that it was against her religion (which, to Allan’s mind, just proved it was barbaric – a god not letting his people drink? Why else did he make grain?), and he wondered what she’d be like drunk. Probably a giggly drunk, he decided, one who’d know when she was tipsy and take all the fun out of everything by not drinking anything except water after that point.

”I guess you want to go and gloat at the gang or something for winning. Get your reward.”[/i]

He thought about it for a moment. Did he want to gloat about it? He could walk up to Robin and poke the git, demand his meagre bet back because he hadn’t lost, thank you very much, and gloat over... what? Luke was a kid, and he was a good shot (as much as it irked Allan to admit – it had taken him years of poaching to get good at it, and according to Much, Luke had improved drastically over the course of what amounted to about two years), and where was the sport in gloating over him? On the other hand, he would have if he’d won straight off, because Luke was just one of the lads now, and as far as Allan was concerned, he’d treat him the same way he’d treat any of the others.

He looked into his cup, eyes narrowed. What the hell was in his drink? It was making him think way too much about absolutely nothing. Giggling reached his ears, and he lifted his head up to see Kate laughing at him as he glared at his drink. He shrugged. ”What?”

Taking another swig, he finally replied. ”Nah, I’m not that fussed really. I mean, what’ll I get? A couple of pennies. An’ it’s probap- prola- been spent already,” he finised, stumbling over the tricky word. Why did probably have to have so many b’s in it?

[Kate Miller]

Kate made a slight ‘Pfft’ sound as he said she didn’t need good smelling things to wash in, ”I’d rather smell like rose petals that taste like a small rodent! she complained as she drunk the remains of her drink and picked up another goblet – she really was going to feel it in the morning.

Kate’s nose wrinkled in feigned disgust as she laughed at his burping. She wasn’t about to complain, she’d probably done just as worse that night herself. ”Right,” she said through her laugh, rolling her eyes lazily and shaking her head. Probably not the best plan – it made the world move too fast around her.

As it would seem though, she wasn’t the only one who had had too much to drink. At least she wasn’t stumbling over her words. Yet, anyway. Once that started she would be too far gone to even think about what it was she was saying and everything would just come pouring out. And that always could be fun depending on how sober the recipient of said rambling was.

”A couple of pennies is worth a lot to the people of today! You remember that! Might get you places!” she said giving him a knowing nod and one fingered salute – from her forehead to pointing at him.

She turned slightly scanning the crowd subconsciously when she saw two figures of people she recognised – or at least thought she did. Jake Platt and young Luke Scarlett himself. ”Look there’s Luke! Maybe we should go say hello!” she rambled already wondering off in the direction of her – what was it? ‘Boy who lived with her but wasn’t betrothed too’ yeah that was it.

[Allan A Dale]

”A couple of pennies is worth a lot to the people of today!”[/i] Kate admonished, leaving Allan feeling a bit ashamed. Yeah, well, sod it, right? It was his money to not care about, wasn’t it?

”I’d’ve probably only spent it on some ale or lost it in a bet, it’ll be used better where it is now...”

At least he was honest about his gambling, right? Talking about it, anyway. Of course he actually cheated when playing... He found himself wondering if Kate could play cards. And then she waved her fingers at him. He gave her a disbelieving look, eyebrows raised and mouth twisted into what resembled a bit of a pout. Was she trying to connect to his mind or was she just being... weird? He found he couldn’t tell anymore.

”Look, there’s Luke! Maybe we should go say hello!”[/i] Kate had exclaimed, wandering off, swaying... well, drunkenly, before Allan could reply. He couldn’t see the other boy, but then his eyesight was a little blurred from the firelight, tiredness and ale by this point. He followed her anyway; he didn’t want to be left standing around on his own, and maybe talking to Luke wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all...

(OOC – Allan can like... make an idiot of himself NEXT post. >_>;; )

[jakeplatt]

OOC - You call that an uber post? This is an uber post. XD Anyways 1) yes you do have to read it all and 2) this totally makes up for all my inactivity x3 Its 2:30 AM so i might edit it when I've woken up a bit, but yeah. It's here!

For what felt like the first time since he’d arrived at the Fair, Jake wasn’t blushing. Which was strange, as this was probably the most blush-inducing situation he’d yet been in. Well, he may have done something worse, earlier, when he was drunk, but that was beside the point. The point was he wasn’t blushing now, and the point was also what he was doing now. And that was dancing. Now, even under normal circumstances Jake wouldn’t feel comfortable with dancing, but the slight matter of who it was he was dancing with made it even more uncomfortable.

Except it didn’t. Jake should be feeling entirely awkward and embarrassed, but he didn’t. Sure, he was having to concentrate a bit on putting his feet in the right place so as not to send him, his partner and everyone around them crashing to the ground, but he was more aware of how close his partner was, their head on his shoulder, and the feel of their waist under his hand. And it was strange. Strange that he’d ended up there, strange that he was strangely enjoying it.

As they moved gently around the dance floor, Jake let his mind wonder back to how he’d come to be there. He’d been sat in the same deserted corner of the square he and Luke had been in earlier, just tucked out of sight form most of the revellers. He’d been there for about an hour, ever since he’d fled from the archery tournament.

He hadn’t even remembered entering. The first he’d heard of it was as he was shaken awake by an impatient looking herald, telling him it was his turn. He was feeling totally out of it, groggy from sleep and still under the partial influence of the ale. It was a wonder he’d managed to fit the arrow to the bow, let alone fire it. But fire it he did. Unfortunately, at that very same moment he’d had a fit of dizziness and stumbled backwards the way drunks tend to do. It took him a moment to realise that his arrow hadn’t gone where he’d intended it to, and another moment to realise where it had gone. He looked down.

And he praised god for the sturdy leather farm boots he was wearing. He knew he’d have regretted it if he’d worn the fancy blue slippers Emma had tried to force him into. The boots hadn’t saved his foot completely, just deflected the arrow so it had hit his foot at an angle and hopefully only grazed the surface. He could tell he’d been hit from the hot pain on the top of his foot, but he was sure it was nothing compared to what he’d be feeling if it had gone right through.

That’s when he heard the first of the laughs. Someone in the crowd was sblack personing, and it didn’t take long for everyone else to join in. Jake was mortified. He’d just shot himself in the foot in front of a whole crowd of people. And they were all laughing. He turned and fled from the scene, angry tears pricking his eyes and his cheeks getting redder by the second.

Somehow his feet had taken him back to the quiet spot he and Luke had been sitting at earlier, and that’s where he sat for the next hour, nursing his wounded foot and his wounded pride. He’d been in the middle of scribbling down a poem on a scrap of paper when Luke rounded the corner. As soon as he noticed he wasn’t alone, he made as of to go - he must have seen Jake’s humiliation and thought he wanted to be alone. But that was the last thing he wanted. What he wanted was reassurance, someone to tell him he wasn’t as stupid as he felt. And he’d have liked that someone to be Luke.

“Hey, Luke, wait up a sec.” He called out, pushing himself to his feet, ignoring the pain in the top of his left foot - he’d been right, it was only a shallow wound, but it still stung a little.

“Jake…ummm, hi.” Luke replied, turning back to face him. Jake groaned inwardly. Luke sounded kind of awkward, he’d probably made a bigger fool out of himself with the whole foot shooting thing earlier than he’d realised. “So, um, I guess you saw me earlier, too.” He said, blushing. He really hoped Luke wouldn’t think any less of him for his awful marksmanship, and was thoroughly relieved when he didn’t turn around to leave again.

Despite his embarrassment, Jake was able to manage a half smile when Luke asked if his foot was alright. At least he seemed to want to continue the conversation, that was something. Jake rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, feeling kind of foolish “Just about,” He replied “It was my pride that took most of the damage.” He turned his face away at that, blushing lightly. He was never usually one to admit when he was being proud - perhaps where was some alcohol still in his system. He seemed to be getting more and more open with Luke, and he could think of no other explanation but that he was under the influence. He’d never been this open with anyone outside his family, and even when he was open with family members, it wasn’t usually through choice. Emma just saw straight through him.

Jake flicked his eye’s back to look disbelievingly at Luke when he tried to tell him he hadn’t been that bad. “well you were, but you just need practice.” Jake laughed a that in spite of himself, and his dumb pride. For some reason, it didn’t seem to matter that much any more. He knew it would nag at him later and he’d go back to feeling embarrassed, but for now it didn’t bother him that much. Yeah, definitely the alcohol. “Thanks!” He retorted, though he kept the laughter in his voice “I blame you for making me enter”

He regretted it almost as soon as he’d said it. Luke seemed to snap back to embarrassment again “I didn't! You ki- umm passed out before I could.”

Jake knew better than to ask what it was Luke was going to say, but the slight stumble was forgotten when Luke said “passed out”. “Oh. Did I?” Had he? Well, he must have, if he was shaken awake for the tournament. He just hadn’t thought about it before - in the rush to take his place, and then his subsequent humiliation, he’d quite forgotten about the small fact of how it was he’d ended up asleep on the floor. Great, something else to add to his catalogue of embarrassing events.

Staring at his feet awkwardly, it occurred to Jake that something didn’t add up “Who signed me up then?” He asked, half out of genuine curiosity, half out of a desire to keep the conversation going. That seemed to have been the wrong thing to do. Luke shrugged impassively and asserted that it hadn’t been him. Jake mentally flinched. He hadn’t meant to sound accusing - god, he just kept getting everything wrong today

But if Luke had been offended, it didn’t stop him from continuing the conversation “Your sister maybe?” Jake laughed at that. He could just see Emma entering him without his knowledge. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He felt surprisingly light hearted about the whole thing. Five minutes ago, if he’d thought that she’d singed him up for something that had caused his complete and utter humiliation in front of the whole village, if not the whole county, he would have been furious, but Luke’s presence seemed to be having a calming effect. At least it showed that not everyone thought he was an idiot.

“Although if I find out who actually won, they’ll have to form a queue.” Jake laughed again. He was surprising himself with how easily he was talking to Jake. Usually he’d have been tripping over his words by now, correcting himself almost before his thoughts had time to form, but they seemed to by sliding from his brain and out of his mouth with hardly any hesitation at all. He didn’t think this had ever happened before - even when he was talking to Emma he still had to draft and redraft every sentence. It was a strange sensation, but Jake was enjoying the conversation too much to dwell on it. He’d probably dissect his every action later, but he tired to push those thoughts to the back of his mind.

Even so, he couldn’t help but apologise for what he‘d just said, but he kept the tone light hearted. He didn’t want Luke to think he really was a cold blooded killer. “Sorry, I’ve always been a sore looser.” He laughed then as well. Perhaps he was getting hysterical.

If that was the case, then his hysteria was worsened by Luke’s next statement. His eyes lit up at the mention of his hero. “You think Robin Hood was here?” He realised it was a fairly redundant question - Luke was the brother of one of the outlaws, he was probably privy to their every action, but Jake was so excited by the prospect of having been in the same place as Robin Hood “I wish I could have met him.” If there had been any ulterior motive behind that comment, it was in Jake’s subconscious - he was too busy romanticising to realise how presumptuous what he’d just said could have sound.

His eyes widened when Luke offered to introduce him to some of the outlaws. “What, really?” By then his excitement was barely contained, so much so that he hardly even cringed at how pathetic he must sound “Wow, thanks!” And he flung his arms around Luke in gratitude. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was that made him do it - perhaps it was the pent up excitement, perhaps it was the residual alcohol in his body - but when he realised how improper his actions were, he pulled back quickly “Sorry.” He said, his cheeks flushing dark red. He swore mentally. If there was one rout to go down that to insure Luke never wanted to talk to him again, he seemed to be heading down it as fast as a love-struck rabbit.

Luke didn’t seem too affected by it though, but his cheeks looked almost as red as Jake’s felt, and Jake wasn’t likely to forgive himself any time soon. Even so, he didn’t want Luke to stop talking to him. He scoured his mind for something to say “So, um, did you enter in the end?” It was a fairly mundane topic of conversation, but he needed something to calm him down after being so excited at the prospect of meeting outlaws, so that he wouldn’t do anything else stupid. And part of him wouldn’t have minded what he was talking about, as long as he was talking to Luke.

“Yeah I couldn’t back out of my bet with Allan after all.” Luke replied casually, apparently having recovered from Jake’s sudden outburst of affection. Jake almost breathed a sigh of relief - he wasn’t sure what would have happened if things had become awkward between them. “Allan?” He asked, not knowing who it was Luke had been talking about. He was beginning to feel really stupid, what with getting so excited over Robin Hood, and now having to ask questions to which there was probably a very simple answer. And there was something at the back of his mind, some nagging feeling that there was something else he should be feeling bad about, but he couldn’t place it. He tried to ignore it, passing it off as the kind of paranoia he always got in social situations.

He felt his blush return at full force when Luke told him it had been Allan A Dale he’d been competing against earlier “He bet me I couldn’t beat him in the archery competition.” Luke explained, as Jake mentally cursed himself for asking the question when he’d known it was going to be an obvious answer. He was getting so worked up about not wanting to come across as an idiot that his mouth started running away without him “God, really? The Allan A Dale? Wow.” He managed to stop himself before he said anything too stupid, but he was already wincing inside for reverting to his “crazed fan” persona “Did you win?” He asked, after clearing his throat, trying to bring some semblance of normality back to the conversation.

His suspicions were raised, however, when Luke started looking shifty “Umm, sort of.” the younger man replied, keeping his eyes averted. Jake’s stomach lurched - had this got something to do with his idiotic display earlier? He hoped to god it didn’t, he really wouldn’t cope with anything else going wrong that day. “You sort of won?” Jake asked the next question in what he hoped was an offhand manner, doing his best to keep his tone enquiring rather than panicked. Fear and mortification were already bubbling in his chest, forming some volatile substance that corroded his self confidence like acid.

“Well I got help from Robin. So I guess it doesn't really count, but don't tell him that.”

“Robin?” Jake started, his mouth working before his brain had caught up “But didn’t he- ” Then the realisation hit him. “Oh. You won?” It felt like someone had poured freezing water over the vile mixture boiling away in his chest, killing it in an instant and freezing his insides along with it. He didn’t mean to sound resentful or petulant or churlish or jealous, but they all seeped into his voice like puss from a wound “Um, well done.” He stared at the ground, trying to stop angry tears from welling up in his eyes. It least it wasn’t about his shooting himself in the foot, he supposed, but that was little consolation. And oh- he’d said all that about killing the winner earlier. He cringed, and bit his lip at the sheer horror of the situation. He wasn’t even listening properly when Luke said something about not doing it alone. “Yeah, I guess.” He mumbled in response, his voice both bitter and resigned at the same time.

It was only when he heard the giggling of female voices that he looked up from the point he’d decided to focus all his anger at. Great, he thought, someone else come to laugh at me and he turned round to tell the girls where they could get off. Only they weren’t looking him. One of them had detached itself from the main swarm and was making a beeline for Luke “Excuse me,” She asked when she’d arrived, giggling and looking back over he shoulder at her friends “Do you want to dance?” It wasn’t really a question, more sort of an order in disguise. Luke looked terrified “Umm,” he dithered, shooting frightened looks at Jake. “Jake will you come too?” By then, Jake’s reserves of sympathy were running low, but the girl looked so put out that Luke had asked him to join them that he agreed after only a moments hesitation “Sure.” He replied curtly, still worked up about Luke’s victory over him.

He was shaken out of his foul mood momentarily, when Luke grabbed his arm to lead them both to the dance floor. The gaggle of girls dispersed as they drew near, obviously envious of the one who’d bagged Luke. Jake felt jealously flair up in him again although he didn’t realise then that it was misplaced - Luke got all the glory of winning, he even got girls chasing after him! Not that Jake really wanted girls chasing after him, but it was the principle of the matter.

He detached his arm from Luke’s grasp with a jerk after another bout of evils from his friends new partner, and dragged his feet over to the side of the dance floor. Oh, this was just what he needed, he thought as he plonked himself down on one of the hard wooden benches set out there, watching all the happy couples gazing into each others eyes, another reminder of his own failures. He crossed his arms moodily and hunched up his shoulders, only managing to look ahead of him until he caught a glimpse of Luke and the girl, at which poin the turned to look at the floor.

Part of him wished it hadn’t been Luke who won the contest. He felt spiteful and vindictive, but the more he thought about it, the more he realised that the reason he didn’t want Luke to have won was because he didn’t want to be angry with him. But Luke had and he was. He kicked at a stone on the floor and wished it was his own stubborn pride that was skittering away across the dry ground. If only it was that easy. He’d always been a proud person, and you couldn’t kick the habit of a life time just because you suddenly wanted to. Could you? It wasn’t that he disliked being proud, not really, it had never been a real problem before. Sur it had left him at the mercy of Emma’s teasing, but it hadn’t torn a friendship apart. And he didn’t want that. He really didn’t want that.

“Jake?”

He was pulled sharply out of his musings by an all too familiar if terrified sounding voice. “Hmm?” He responded, looking up, still half caught up in his own thoughts. Luke was looking down at him, blushing terribly, and seemed to have a surprising yet pleasing absence of girl. His face got even darker as he started his next sentence “I;m not very good at it” He began, then mumbled something Jake could bearly make out, although the word “Dance” had struck him like an arrow to the foot “What? Did you just- what?” He stammered in response, part incredulous, part horrified, part delighted, part certain he’d misheard.

“Would you dance with me”

Luke seemed to be having as much difficulty with asking Jake to dance as he was having taking it in. His face flushed as dark as Luke’s was, if not darker “I, uh-” He felt totally incapable of forming proper words, let alone complete sentences. He flicked his ees hurredly to the ground, hoping to steady heimself. He thought his mind would grind to a complete standstil if he didn’t stop looking at Luke, and he needed to think, look at the situation rationally give a sensible repl-

Unable to speak, he held out his hand.

“Is that a yes?” Luke sounded startled, but Jake couldn’t really tell as he was still staring fixatedly at the floor. He nodded quickly, not trusting his mouth to do what he told it to. For a moment he thought that nothing was going to happen. Perhaps it was just a joke, perhaps Luke hadn’t meant it, perhaps he was walking away already, never to speak to him again. Then he felt Luke’s hand in his, and was pulled from his seat and lead to the dance floor. He glanced around nervously - no one seemed to have noticed them, either being too absorbed in their own dancing, or just not caring. He noticed a couple of girls a little older than Emma dancing together near the edge of the dance floor and relaxed slightly. Maybe it wasn’t so odd that he was dancing with Luke, then.

He gulped as Luke stopped and turned to face him, suddenly preoccupied with the logistics of it all. He’d never really danced that much before - he’d always been a shy, retiring person, even when he was a lot younger. When the village children were dancing and playing at fêtes, he’d been the one stood at the sidelines, hidden behind his mother’s skirts. It’d gotten better as he’d gotten older, but he still didn’t join in any of the festivities. When his father had been away at war he’d had to look after the farm and didn’t have time for such frivolities. Then when his father died, he’d lost taste for them altogether - celebrating the kings birthday, or news of another victory had sickened him, so he’d stayed away. All in all, it lead to a very poor education in dancing. He knew someone had to lead, and he knew roughly where he was supposed to put his hands, but it hadn’t escaped his notice that it was another man he was going to dance with and he wasn’t sure how that was going to work. He didn’t even want to think about the colour his cheeks would turn if they had to discuss it.

It was half out of a desire to avoid any conversation along those lines, and half out of a sense of debt that he stepped closer to Luke and put his hand on the younger man’s waist. He supposed Luke had been brave in coming to ask him to dance, so he should show at least the same valour. He just hoped Luke wouldn’t mind having to take the female role, he didn’t quite have the courage to ask him.

As they began to move round the dance floor he relaxed a little. A lot of the time the dances were perfectly orchestrated, and you had to know the moved before hand to stand a chance of getting it right, but fortunately this was just a gentle waltz, so he was able to get the steps right without too much difficulty. Not that that was really the reason he’d been feeling awkward to start with. He was acutely aware of how close he was to Luke and it was taking almost all of his concentration to stop that awareness affecting his dancing. He felt a shudder go through his whole body when Luke rested his head on his shoulder. He really hoped Luke hadn’t felt it, he wasn’t really up to explaining himself, not least because he didn’t think he knew the explanation himself. After a moment he leaned into the touch, resting his own head against Luke’s.

“Hey,” He murmured after a while, a smile creeping onto his lips “You still want to play in the mud?” But Luke never got the chance to reply, as the next moment they heard something that made Jake’s blood run cold

“Look, there’s Luke!!”

Jake’s head snapped round. He’d recognised the voice instantly, and now he could see his childhood friend heading towards them, followed from some way back by a man he couldn’t see properly, but who looked a little reluctant. He sprang away from Luke and stood there feeling mortified, and knowing his cheeks were the reddest they’d been all day.