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Yukio glanced up at her over his shades as he finished texting. He hit send, then shoved his phone back into the safe spot in his boots and socks. Meeting her mismatched eyes, he raised an eyebrow. "They are playing good stuff tonight," he agreed, letting his foot involuntarily tap to the beat. "Good mix, good segues. Good DJing for a dance club."

He slid out of the chair and stood, abandoning his soda. "You're right, we should definitely dance." Ever the gentleman, he doffed his top hat, holding it over his heart, and held out his hand.

"Shall we?"

Yukio knew the song too, though it was a different mix than what he had done to it. It had a good beat, though, and a nice throbbing bass line that made for good dancing. Tapping his heel on the floor, he closed his eyes and got into the rhythm, then began dancing in his own way, slinky and snake-y, holding onto the brim of his hat with one hand so it didn't come off while he was moving.

He watched Abbey dance, enjoying how happy she seemed on the dance floor. A girl after his own heart. He started to shift his moves around to echo what she was doing, all the while keeping his own dance style. She almost seemed to be daring him to keep up; this was a dare he could and would easily accept.

It was kind of nice having the dance floor less crowded – it meant the two of them could really cut loose without worrying about bumping into someone else. The song transitioned into one of Yukio's favorites, and he nearly whooped along with a couple of the other pairs on the floor who also apparently liked it.

"Aaaah great song," he leaned over and said in Abbey's ear before tearing off into another slinky snake-dance. He almost smiled.

"I love this song," he said loud enough for her to hear, dancing with abandon in his slinky-cat-snake way. "You should hear what I do to it."

Yukio watched her picking up on his moves, and he nodded in approval. They were beginning to mesh their styles, which was enormous fun for him; there weren't many who could successfully imitate his style of dancing, so he was more than impressed that Abbey was not only trying it, but doing a really good job merging his moves with hers.

The music transitioned again, to a driving beat that was one of the more popular dance songs out there. More people were coming into the club and hitting the dance floor, and he could feel the eyes on him and Abbey as they danced. His wonderings as to whether anyone here had seen her posted pic of them were dispelled as someone came up to them and shouted "Hi Abbey hi DJ Buster!!!" before skipping off to dance with their friends. The encounter almost made him laugh out loud; as it was, he doubled over for a second before coming back up.

"That," he said into her ear again so he wouldn't have to shout, "was pretty great."

"Yeah, first time. At least first time when I wasn't DJing." He wasn't quite used to this level of recognition outside the DJ booth or from behind his laptop and decks. Sure, he had people coming up all the time with requests, but this was very different. "And the way they just popped up out of nowhere. I nearly died."

Yukio was glad he was wearing a tank shirt tonight, because he was starting to work up a sweat. He was having a truly grand time hanging out and dancing with Abbey. She was a really fun girl, and he seemed to be hitting it off with her famously – literally. Still, he was a little surprised when she placed her hand on his shoulder; not that he didn't like it, which he did, but that she felt comfortable enough around him (and seemed to like him enough) to do that.

He had to forcibly squelch that little voice coming up from his heart that her touching him meant anything more than I like you. It had gotten him in trouble before – it was why half of his life was a lie to his parents.

Placing his hand on her shoulder in reciprocation, he gave her a faint, tiny almost-smile. "Having fun?"

Yukio knew she was flirtatious, but he had no idea just how flirtatious she was before now. At least he knew and could be ready to beat down those stupid feelings that kept getting him in trouble. "I don't care how many times it happens," he said with that tiny almost-smirk, "it'll never not be funny to me."

He raised his eyebrow as she trailed her fingers down his chest and spun away. Flirt, flirt, remember she's a huge enormous flirt… "Yeah, it's definitely getting a little warm in here," he agreed. Not just from the dancing, either. "How about we retire back to the bar and get another drink? It's on me."

Secretly he relished the idea of a cooldown break. Things were indeed getting a little warm in here.

Yukio led Abbey back to the bar, quietly happy with the feel of her hand in his. She was a couple years younger than he was, but he'd only just turned 21 not that long ago, so it wasn't a huge (or gross) age difference between them. Nothing for anyone to get alarmed about. Though if he got the drink he wanted to get, he might get in trouble – and get the club in trouble by extension – for serving alcohol to a minor… Whatever happened to that movement to lower the drinking age to 18?

Abbey was very cute and fun and flirty and wise in the ways of self-promotion. He could do far worse…

He slid into a chair and let her situate herself where she wanted, deciding to chance it. "Two strawberry margaritas – very very light on the tequila," he ordered. Turning back to face her, he raised an eyebrow. "I don't drink much, to be honest. I don't like what it does to me, and I don't like the taste. But I think the occasion calls for something festive."

"No drugs, very little booze," Yukio advised with a small shake of his head. "I have too much going on up here," and he tapped the side of his head, "to allow any chemical interference. There's sound and music in my head almost constantly – I'm always listening to stuff and thinking of ways to twist it and enhance it to my tastes."

It wasn't often that he got the chance to talk about his love of sound for sound's sake. "Like the song they're playing now. I'd increase the bass, like thicken it up a bit, add some textures, either dial back or isolate the vocals and add a few other effects – maybe a sparkle or a zing or something, just to accentuate the top end…" He was making mental notes as he spoke, too, so he could edit the track once he got home in the morning.

Then he realized he was babbling, so much so that he hadn't even noticed the drinks arriving. "I'm so sorry, I've just been going on and on," he apologized, picking up his margarita. "How's your drink?"

Yukio shook his head as he took a drink. Mmmm, just enough tequila. Perfect. "You don't understand. I could go on about sound and music and frequencies and that sort of thing for days. It's my life's purpose, really. I've been playing with sound since I was a little kid. I sample everything for inspiration for my mixes." His expression may have been flat, but the passion in his voice was obvious.

"As for music, I want my stuff to dance around the spectrum. I want bass you can feel in your heart – not necessarily loud, but thick, you know? I want highs that are crisp and sharp. I want midtones so rich and lush they move your soul. And your feet – people love to dance to my mixes. I can take any song and turn it into something that'll make you want to move."

He took another drink. "I'm not bragging, either. It's a simple statement of fact."

With a nod, he rested his elbow on the bar. "Yeah, I know the songs you mean. Catchy as hell, hooky, repetitive. Induce a trance-like state in the listener. I love mixing those up."

Then he caught her remark about 'secondary income'. "You're not big enough to be a full-time TikTokker?" He snorted a soft laugh. "It's okay, I'm not big enough to be a full-time DJ either. But I'm working on it…"