__________
So we back in the club
With our bodies rockin' from side to side
Thank God the week is done...
No control of my body
Ain't I seen you before?
I think I remember those eyes,
Keep downing drinks like there's
No tomorrow there's just right
Now, now, now, now, now, now
Hands up, when the music drops
Put your hands on my body
Swear I seen you before
I think I remember those eyes
'Cause baby tonight,
D-J got us fallin' in love again
Yeah, baby tonight,
D-J got us fallin' in love again
So dance, dance,
Like it's the last,
Last night of your life, life
Gonna get you right
Cause baby tonight,
D-J got us fallin' in love again
---
All it was meant to be was a night out with your girls at the karaoke bar. Sure that bar also gave everyone a break from horrendous (increasingly drunk) singing, because it also had a dance floor, but you weren’t here for that.
Whether you would end up on it or not... was another matter...
Being with your girls was only one of two reasons you were out here. Because you were hoping to catch the eye of someone else.
You could tell just by looking at him that he wasn’t usually the type to come to something like this. But it’d been a couple of months since the far beyond cute Captain Dutton had caught your eye across the mess hall, and whilst passing him today you’d inquired as to if he was coming out tonight;
“Oh I-”
“I just know a lot of the barracks are going, so I thought you might...”
“No it’s, just that I- it’s not really my scene...”
“Oh... not even for one night?” Your look did your pleading for you, and he gave a soft sigh and a smile “Okay, one night... now go on, before your drill sergeant catches you.”
“Yes, Sir!” You responded with a grin, back straight - before you jogged off to your next drill exercise.
You were a tough girl by all accounts and had got into the army through no small feat. Your aim to always add a little feminine charm, and beat all the boys while you were at it.
You’d already outpaced a few of them on both running, and obstacle drills - and stood at the end, arms folded behind your back with a little smirk; “What, too hard for you guys?”
Sometimes that landed you a little in trouble, but, you mostly stuck to the rules. You did know what was good for you, sort of. And the Captain... He could definitely be good for you.
Emmett Dutton was the quiet type. And if he wasn’t where he was, and at the rank he was at, you would almost say he was the shy type. Maybe he was, maybe he was just good at this. He seemed to make friends with all his peers and you figured, once you started crushing on him, that it wouldn’t be too hard to make friends with him yourself.
Of course, your own friends figured out pretty easily (because you kept staring at him whenever he was in the same room... even when you were supposed to be listening to someone else brief you) that you had a crush. And the teasing became relentless. Luckily it hadn’t spread around the entire barracks yet but, every time you saw Emmett pass by and you gave each other a smile they would sigh dreamily, pretend to swoon and say “Oh captain! My Captain!”. Which only led to them getting punched in the arm - but it wouldn’t be long until people caught on.
Especially since you’d started keeping Emmett up to date with your schedule, and he would come around if he had free time to watch you. You had figured out by now that it happened often enough for it to be more than just ‘passing by’ as you often heard him announce to the officer in charge that day.
Which only made the girls wiggle their eyebrows and nudge you. “Shut up!” you hissed, “He’s clearly here for—!”
Except, when you’d finished up, he might also decide to catch you and say something akin to ‘great work’. And you had to listen to your friends try to hold their laughter and screeching in whilst still being respectful of his title. Of course, once he was out of ear shot you couldn’t help but laugh with them laughing at you. Emmett was going to get you in all kinds of trouble, and to be honest, you didn’t mind the prospect all that much.
***
So half your night tonight had been incredibly fun - singing along to every song in the three of you’s repertoire. With the singing becoming screaming and both it, and the song choices, becoming increasingly cheesy & bad as the night progressed and you consumed a little more alcohol. In the end, half of the words were lost to giggling.
To the point where, inevitably, they shut down the entire thing for the night and the DJ began pumping out hit after hit.
Leaving you all to huddle onto a bench table and chat away. But it must have been at least an hour and he still hadn’t turned up yet... and you weren’t about to sit here and wallow in self-pity (even though you were).
But then in he walked. Looking about as shy and hesitant as you expected. And also better perhaps than you had even seen him in uniform.
His shades were tucked into the front of his shirt, even though it was late evening. You wondered if he had managed to take some of the day off since you’d invited him out, then. As today even you had found time to lay on the grass and bask in the sun’s warm rays. It had been a good one by all accounts. It was about to get even better. You hoped.
Emmett was wearing a black shirt over white, sleeves rolled up to give further effect to that contrast, dark jeans that looked almost stone washed, and black lace ups - you thought that was likely about as casual as he got. And yet you were almost surprised, with his hair still near perfect, that he looked that casual.
Your mood instantly picked up, suddenly alert, you leant forward with a smile. He’d come, you’d asked him to come and he had!
He looked around for a moment and to your annoyance, spotted his friends first.
“...Ahhh—!!” Both your friends suddenly leant on you as they also noticed him. “If it isn’t your Captain!!”
“Shut up!!” You pushed them to no avail but kept your eyes on him, still smiling.
He smiled too, and then he laughed. And your heart fluttered softly; damn this crush... damn him for making you feel this way, and want to fall so deeply into this.
Emmett ordered his drink with his friends, still laughing with them - before he turned to admire the rest of the bar. And as his eyes scanned around you realised that he was looking for someone.
And then he saw you, and the smile he gave was unlike one you had ever seen from him.
He offered a wave “Hi!”
“Hey-!” You mouthed back; knowing you were smiling in a similar fashion.
“You’re blushing.” You turned back to your girls, both of them staring at you bluntly
“What-!?”
“Blushing—!” The problem was you knew you were, and now they had mentioned it you could feel your face heating up, but you swivelled back to the bar intent on ignoring their jibes at you...
By this time he was sipping beer smoothly, and edging away from his friends. They were pushing his arm and laughing as much at him as your friends were at you. You noticed that he laughed back, and held his hands up like it was hardly his fault.
Emmett took a few steps away, then laughed and turned back as they all began cat-calling to him. “Shut up!” You saw him say before he turned back to them and got a little animated as they all started laughing again.
From over here you couldn’t hear them but you could imagine the banter. If Emmett was even half as proper in his down time as he was dressed in uniform, then this was likely to cause quite the stir with people who weren’t his friends. So he walked, all the way across the bar, to you.
“Hey...” His voice was just as soft as his demeanour
“Emmett...” it almost felt strange to call him by his first name, but, he wasn’t the captain when he wasn’t in uniform. “You came.”
“Well...” he gave a gentle shrug, “You asked me to, didn’t you? Would you... like a drink?”
“I...” you indicated to your own “Think I’ve maybe had... a few too many...”
“Oh...” he looked a little disappointed, and took another sip of his own, “...Well then...” he held his hand out “... Dance with me.”
“Wh-!?” You probably couldn’t have sounded more surprised as your friends stared at each other in disbelief.
“Well, the music is up, if you don’t want another drink and you invited me here, I believe that I should at least offer you a dance...”
You took a deep breath, hardly daring to believe this was real, and took his hand; “...And I will accept your dance, Captain...”
As he pulled you from your seat, both yours and his friends whistled - ear piercing enough to cut through the music and have you both laughing;
“You must forgive my friends...!” Emmett took your other hand in his as he smiled, “But, um, things like this are a rare occurrence for me...”
You giggled, “Maybe I should change that.”
A slight blush crossed his cheeks as he bit his lip through his smile; “I - haha - wouldn’t be adverse to that...”
You gave a sweet smile, and accompanying wink; “Me either.”
“Be careful, you haven’t seen me dance yet!” You both laughed at that; “Oh, Y/N, you must forgive me my lateness... There were a few things I needed to attend to back at barracks, and I was waylaid a little longer than I ought to have been...”
You shook your head, “I... I’m just glad you’re here... and I understand...!” It was his job after all, and you knew Emmett would have put anything he had to do for his men first. You gave a grin, “Don’t worry! You didn’t miss much!! Just karaoke!”
He laughed, “Oh goodness! How could I?!”
You returned a cheeky wink; “Exactly! It was the best bit!”
“Well, hopefully you dance as well as you sing.”
“Oh no!” You laughed harder “Then you’d be in trouble Emmett!”
“Why!?” His smile was still sweet, “Because you would show me up?”
“The complete opposite Captain I assure you!”
He raised an eyebrow, “Nonsense!” The beat to the next song started and he grinned, “Time to put your money where your dance moves are!!”
You had to raise an eyebrow yourself at that, because this man did not appear to you to be a dancer. But, here you were – in civvies – on a dancefloor in a tiny bar having the time of your life. He took your hands and led you, through jam after jam, after jam. Sometimes he was your dance partner, and sometimes it was nothing short of a dance off.
But then the DJ decided to turn it up a notch, and you noticed even his friends and yours, who had been watching you all night, clamour to get out on the floor with you.
Emmett and yourself paused, looking around, you recognised the hit another club classic from 2010; “Is this DJ got us falling in love?!”
“…That’s subtly ironic…” He mused, with a gentle chuckle. And his eyes fell back to you – your face read curious, even though you picked up on his meaning right away.
But the smile on your face transformed into a grin; “…Only… subtly…”
And so both of you sang along to every word – and became the literal embodiment of the phrase dance like no one is watching, even though you were both aware,that everyone in this little bar – even those also dancing – were watching you.
He moved with you like you’d been doing this for more than just a few hours – but maybe you’d both somehow been able to commit each other’s movements to memory.
You weren’t sure you’d enjoyed yourself this much in ages. Hands up, no cares or worries. Only him. Only each other. And this music.
***
Top that! You would have said, as everyone stayed on the floor for the next few songs. But you knew it wouldn’t happen. You were having fun out here and although you realised the night was going to end, and likely soon, it was the last thing you wanted to happen. You were both seeing things in each other you’d never seen before. And tomorrow it would be back to formalities and calling him Captain – standing that little bit straighter when he walked by, and keeping everything as respectful as was commanded.
No – apparently the evening could be topped. Because the DJ decided to end the night not on another incredible classic that would keep everyone out here. But a ridiculous slow dance. To which the majority of people groaned and evacuated the dancefloor – there were couples here though, that stayed – and friends that decided they hardly cared the type of song, they were determined to be the last ones out on the floor. You thought Emmett would be as likely to pull away too; but he didn’t. Instead he kept a firm grasp on your hand, and as you turned to leave, drew you to him.
“No, no… Y/N? You’d leave me at the last song?”
“This song?”
“…Yes, this song!”
“But… Captain I…”
“…Emmett.” He held you closer as he corrected you, hand in yours to begin an faultless sway, you guessed this did seem like more of his kind of music, “…You need not be so formal with me.”
“In a few minutes that’s exactly what I will have to be.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s who you are…”
“But to you I don’t have to be. Not outside…”
Your lips parted as your eyes flicked between his, “Subtly ironic…”
“Mmm Hmm…”
Emmett was serious. He was talking about dating. He was talking about real relationships. You & him.
Not just a crush…
“MM hmmm…” You looked away from his gently blue eyes, biting your lip, and could feel the blush raising on your cheeks instead.
The song finished and he stepped away from you with a gentle bow.
“Thank you.”
“For dancing with you?” Your returned his bow with a beautiful beaming smile “…No, Emmett, thank you for coming...!”
“It was nothing…”
“To me, it was everything…” you let your hand slip from his, but the smile remained. “We should do this again.”
“Yes…” He ran a hand through his hair; “And more than once.”
“You asking me on a date?”
He laughed, bashfully, “I think so…”
“Multiple dates!?” you clarified.
That laugh turned to a grin, aimed more at the floor than you; “…Yes. I guess…”
You nodded in acceptance; “I suppose I should say I can’t wait to see you on the dance floor again?”
You got to hear that gorgeous laugh from him again; “...My sentiments exactly!”
