Hot and Sweet

Writers: Devin
Date Posted: 13th May 2025

Characters: N'vanik, Z'kim, Talryne
Description: N’vanik dances with two of the most important people in his life.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 26 of Turn 12
Notes: Follows “Hopeful Beginnings”. Musical inspiration for N’vanik and Z’kim’s dance is “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. Musical inspiration for N’vanik and Talryne’s dance is “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS.
Mentioned: Cyradis, Kapera

N'vanik

Z'kim

Talryne

N’vanik had shared the first dance with Cyradis and then he’d had a
few dances with Talryne before going around to chat and mingle. After
a while he went searching for his weyrmate and his best friend and
found them off in a slightly quieter spot talking to each other.

Tonight N’vanik wore a dark blue jacket, open to show a light blue
button-up shirt beneath with a round collar to better display the torc
Cyradis had gotten him. Talryne’s dress was in similar colors, but
with dark blue in the under layer and light blue on top. It was made
of light, flowing fabric and when she walked or danced it looked like
waves on the ocean. The sight of her in that stunning dress took his
breath away again.

He pulled her into a kiss. “You’re gorgeous.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said.

“Hello, Weyrleader.” Z’kim’s gaze roamed over him. “You look good
enough to eat.” The greenrider had on a dark purple vest with silver
trim and a short-sleeved light blue shirt with the first two buttons
undone. It gave a tantalizing glimpse of his chest and N’vanik wanted
to run his fingers along that exposed skin. He wanted to drag them
both to bed. **Later,** he told himself. He wanted to enjoy his time
at the Feast first.

N’vanik said in a low voice, “You look hot enough to turn a bronzerider.”

Z’kim threw his head back and laughed. Then he stepped closer and
said, “I want that dance now.” He trailed a hand down N’vanik’s chest.
“Can I make a request?”

“Sure.” Heat flickered through him. “I can use my Weyrleader privileges.”

Z’kim gave him a wicked smile. “‘Let’s Go Slow’.”

N’vanik laughed. “Yeah.”

Talryne smiled over the rim of her glass. “Oh I’m definitely watching this.”

“Remember the rules,” N’vanik murmured as he headed toward the harpers.

“I know.” Z’kim smirked. N’vanik had told him ‘no kissing and no
confirmation’, meaning that he couldn’t outright say they were having
sex. But that left a _lot_ of room for fun.

N’vanik got the lead harper’s attention just after the group finished
the current song. When N’vanik made his request, the harper gave him a
curious look, but agreed. It was a little early in the night for that
one, with so many holder guests still around, but shocking them a
little was part of the fun. ‘Let’s Go Slow’ wasn’t quite explicit, but
it was definitely a Weyr song with the lyrics making it clear it was
about sex.

As the first notes rang out, N’vanik took Z’kim’s hand and led him
onto the dance floor. They’d danced at Dolphin Cove Hatchings before,
but those had been tame slow dances only notable because the
Weyrleader was dancing with a man. This was going to be a show.

Z’kim’s hips swayed and N’vanik matched his rhythm, the two of them
stepping closer until Z’kim put his arms around N’vanik’s neck. There
was a hungry edge in his eyes and N’vanik knew he probably looked the
same. He gripped Z’kim’s waist and turned him, pressing the
greenrider’s back to his front. Bringing a hand up, he slipped it into
the open neck of Z’kim’s shirt and ran his fingers down his chest.

The greenrider laughed. “Oh it’s like that, is it?” He reached back
and planted his hands on N’vanik’s ass.

N’vanik only laughed.

They rolled their bodies together to the throbbing beat. N’vanik
skimmed his fingers down Z’kim’s stomach and then took hold of his
hips. After a moment they switched positions. It was a little awkward
since N’vanik was taller, but he leaned down enough to put their
shoulders on the same level. Z’kim ran his hands down N’vanik’s neck,
over the dragon heads on his torc, and along the exposed skin beneath
his throat. His fingers reached the top button and he started
unfastening it. N’vanik laughed and let him.

Z’kim wanted to feel more of him and the thrill of doing this to a
Weyrleader in public sent his pulse racing. He undid two buttons and
then slid both hands inside N’vanik’s shirt, fingers roaming all over
his chest. He half expected N’vanik to tell him to stop, that he was
going too far, but the bronzerider kept moving against him and made a
low sound in his throat Z’kim could just barely make out over the
music.

“You really are just letting me do whatever I want to you.”

N’vanik tilted his head to look up at him. “You know I like that sometimes.”

Faranth’s first egg, he sure was in a mood tonight.

N’vanik turned around and they danced face to face for a while,
shifting between amusement and heated looks. He wondered what people
watching them thought, what interesting rumors might be spreading.
Z’kim put his back to N’vanik’s chest and started grinding against
him. Oh, shards. N’vanik let it go on for probably a little too long.

He wrapped his arms tight around the greenrider, trapping him, and
bent to his ear. “I’m about to have a very embarrassing situation, and
I don’t want to put on _that_ kind of show. So ease off.”

Z’kim spun away, laughing. For a moment he left space between them,
not touching N’vanik, but the Weyrleader reached for him, tugging
Z’kim by his hips. “Not that far,” N’vanik said just loud enough to be
heard over the music.

Z’kim put his arms around N’vanik’s neck again. “How close do you want
me, bronzeboy?” His gaze was teasing and full of lust, his lips
slightly parted.

N’vanik was so, so sharding tempted to break his own rules. The only
thing that stopped him was knowing how many eyes were on them and the
fact that he really _wasn’t_ ready to explain what was going on
between them. They were making quite a spectacle of themselves and
N’vanik didn’t mind speculation and gossip, he _wanted_ it, but they
were just skimming right up to the edge of plausible deniability. Well
. . . maybe a little bit over it.

But the thing was, everyone assumed bronzeriders had no interest in
men, and many people knew N’vanik liked to stir things up a bit, and
that would go a long way toward most dismissing a dance even as
blatantly sexy as this.

N’vanik cupped Z’kim’s chin and tilted it up. He brought their faces
closer until they were mere inches apart, and said, “This close.” He
held there, balancing on the delicious knife-edge of desire. Then he
broke. N’vanik took a step back, laughing. “Maybe not.”

“You sharding _tease_.”

Before long they were dancing close again. Z’kim didn’t grind against
N’vanik, but they did practically everything else, rolling and sliding
their bodies together, putting their hands all over each other. When
the song ended, N’vanik dipped Z’kim. They were both panting and
sweaty and N’vanik spent a long, _long_ moment staring at Z’kim’s
mouth. Then he laughed, shaking himself out of it.

Z’kim laughed, too, as N’vanik brought him back up. “Well, that should
get a few tongues wagging. C’mon, I need a drink. And maybe a dip in
the Weyrlake.”

* * *

Later in the evening, N’vanik sought out Talryne. He found her
chatting with a few fellow weavers and his heart warmed all over
again. He’d thought she’d make it maybe a candlemark before things
overwhelmed her, but she looked calm, even happy. Her eyes were a
little glazed with alcohol but his were probably, too. They weren’t
trying to drown their sorrows, they were both having fun.

“Hey.” N’vanik slid an arm around her waist and kissed her.

She smiled up at him, and then laughed. “What happened to your shirt?”
He still wore his open jacket but there was nothing underneath,
leaving a bare strip of skin all the way to his waistband.

“I left it, uh . . . somewhere . . .”

“Mmm . . . it’s a good look.” She trailed her fingers down his chest.

“Wanna dance?”

“Yeah.” Talryne said good bye to her friends and N’vanik led her out
onto the dance floor as a slow song began. She set her hands on his
firm shoulders as the lyrics about love and devotion washed over her.

N’vanik gave her a spin to show off her gorgeous, flowing dress and
then dipped her. Talryne laughed, feeling light and free. The shadows
had gone deep down, letting her fully enjoy the evening. Helping
Kapera was hard, so incredibly, sharding _hard_ but it seemed to be
healing Talryne, too. Nothing could ever fill the hole that Ysanth had
left, and sometimes it yawned just as wide as those first terrible
days, but other times it had begun to feel a little smaller, a little
more manageable. She was living proof that there was a way to exist
alongside those shadows and not just survive, but thrive.

She didn’t know if she would have made it without N’vanik. She’d gone
to him wanting to feel used, seeking the pain she thought she’d
deserved for killing her dragon. But instead he’d become her anchor,
the bad boy showing himself to be kind and gentle, willing to give so
much, to believe she could make it until she believed it herself.

“I love you,” she said as she looked up into those adoring hazel eyes.

“Love you, too.” A soft smile curved his lips and he pulled her a little closer.

She had crashed into N’vanik’s life when he was still wallowing in
grief and self-destruction, when he was nothing but a troublemaking
bronzerider who’d been kicked out of his home for punching his new
Wingleader. She hadn’t meant to change him, but she had, in so many
ways. Talryne had gotten around all his defenses, laid him bare, and
set his heart free.

Traelyn had been the reason he took the risk to join an open Flight at
Dolphin Cove, but Talryne had been the reason he’d won. She’d turned
him into the kind of person who could lead, who could _show_ that he
cared and not always turn hostile at the first sign of feeling
vulnerable. She had made him see the good in himself, enough to make
some part of him believe he was worthy of being Weyrleader.

Her love had made his other relationships better, had made it easier
for him to make friends, had allowed him to be _himself_ in a way he
never had before. “I’m so, so sharding lucky to have you.”

Talryne smiled. “I know.”

N’vanik laughed. It was so good to see her like this. The shadows she
carried with her just made her shine all the brighter.

They moved closer until they were standing with their foreheads
pressed together, eyes closed as they swayed to the music. Nothing
existed except the two of them, and Loseth’s love surrounding them
both.

Last updated on the May 26th 2025

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Hot and Sweet