Title: Dancing in My Sleep
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Logan Echolls/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: Veronica Mars /CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Logan Echolls or Ryan Wolfe, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Logan looked around his apartment nervously, wondering what Ryan would think of the few changes he'd made in the last couple of days. To him, it looked more streamlined, neater; he hoped that the older man would think the same.

Tonight, the place looked .... well, romantic, in a way. He had candles burning in tall candlesticks on the dining room table, even though they were just having Chinese takeout; there was soft music playing, and the place seemed conducive to a romantic evening.

All he was waiting for now was for his date to show up. Ryan had said that he might be a little late, but when he glanced at the clock for what seemed like the hundredth time, Logan realized that it was still ten minutes before the original time they'd settled on.

Why was he so nervous? Ryan had said that they would take things slowly; there was nothing for him to be scared of. This man wasn't going to be anything like this father. Ryan didn't have it in him to hurt anyone who he cared about; Logan was absolutely positive of that.

He took a deep breath, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans to keep them from trembling. There was no reason to get all excited and nervous about a dinner date, he told himself. Ryan wasn't going to spend the night. He was just coming over for the evening.

Or was he? There was always the chance that something could happen tonight to take their relationship to the next level, and he'd find himself waking up next to Ryan in the morning. It wasn't an unpleasant idea; if anything, the thought was exciting.

A knock on the door almost made him gasp; his eyes widened as they flew to the clock. Ryan was five minutes early, not late as he'd thought that he might be. That meant that they had an extra five minutes to be with each other tonight -- and maybe more than that.

Logan took a deep breath as he headed towards the door to open it; he wasn't going to let himself think ahead. Not tonight. He was going to enjoy each moment for what it was, and not try to think about what could possibly happen between them later.

Just seeing Ryan standing there when he opened the door took his breath away and made his heart beat faster. It was impossible not to be attracted to this man; those gorgeous dark eyes, that smile. Logan knew that there was no way he could have stayed away from Ryan.

If only they had met before everything had happened with his father ..... Logan pushed that thought away as soon as it burst into life in his mind. If they'd met before his father had begun abusing him, then he would have been a little kid. They'd have been friends, that was all.

But really, the age difference wasn't all that much. Eight years. Only eight years. He was well over the age of consent, Ryan didn't have to feel that he was too young to be involved with. And they had a lot in common, from what he knew about this man already.

"Can I come in?" Ryan's soft voice broken into Logan's thoughts; he blushed as he stood back and let the other man enter his apartment. "Did you already order dinner, or should we do that now? It was a crazy day at work. I'm starved."

"I'm glad I already ordered, then," Logan murmured, closing the door and feeling a shiver of anticipation go through his body. It was a long time until Ryan would have to leave -- if he left. Why couldn't he get the idea of Ryan spending the night here out of his mind?

He wasn't going to think along those lines any more, Logan told himself firmly. If it happened, then it did -- but he wouldn't count on it, or plan for it. If Ryan stayed, then it would be a completely spontaneous decision that the two of them reached together.

"I like the candles. Nice touch," Ryan told him as he turned to face Logan. "And I like the music, too. I wouldn't have pegged you as being into jazz music." He tilted his head, listening to the strains of the song for a few moments. "Billie Holiday, isn't it?"

Logan nodded, smiling at Ryan's words. "Yeah, there are a lot of things about me that some people might find .... surprising," he said, wondering if his words sounded flirtatious when he didn't mean for them to be. "But I've always had a way of turning people's perceptions upside down."

He was surprised when Ryan backed up a few steps, then held out his arms. "Let's dance," he said softly, his gaze meeting Logan's. "We've got time before dinner gets here. I've always found that slow dancing to a really good song can be .... therapeutic."

Logan hesitated for a moment, but he really didn't see any reason to turn down Ryan's request. What could one dance hurt, after all? He knew that this man wasn't going to try to maneuver him into bed from just dancing together; Ryan had too much class for that.

It had been a long time since he'd danced with anyone, and he had never been in a man's arms before. Logan felt uncomfortable at first, wondering if he was doing the right thing, if he was going to step all over Ryan's feet and make the other man think he was hopelessly clumsy.

But it only took a few moments for his innate grace to assert himself -- and Ryan made it easy. His arm was around Logan's waist, his other hand holding Logan's; the two of them were moving slowly around the room to the smoky voice of Billie Holiday, Ryan humming along with her.

"There's something about this song that's always appealed to me," Ryan said softly, his breath warm against Logan's cheek. "I think it might be the lyrics. 'I'm all for you, body and soul,'" he sang along with the music. "I could get into hearing those words."

"You just might hear them sooner than you think," Logan told him, not realizing what he'd said until it was too late to think the words over and not speak them. "'I'd gladly surrender myself to you, body and soul,'" he whispered, the lyrics sinking into his consciousness.

"Would you, Logan?" Ryan asked, his voice a bare whisper of sound under the music. "Because I would. Any time you want me or need me, I'm here. I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm not going to use you or run away. I'm here for the long haul."

"Do you mean that?" Logan asked, stopping their movement and standing still within the circle of Ryan's arms. He needed to know now just what the other man's intentions were; he needed to get that out in the open before he could let them go any further.

"I definitely do," Ryan said, his arm tightening around Logan's waist. "I'm not going to push you into anything," he added, his eyes not leaving Logan's face. "I just want you to know that whenever you're ready for us to get more intimate, I'm here."

Logan nodded, almost feeling as though he wanted to burst into tears and bury his face in Ryan's shoulder. He had wanted someone like this in his life for so long, someone who would be there for him, be gentle with him, be his partner and lover and not his owner.

Maybe he had found that. Maybe Ryan was all he had ever looked for, and it had taken breaking away from all that he'd known and held dear in his past and moving here to Miami to find it. If that was the case, then he was more glad than ever to be here.

"I dreamed about this last night," Ryan was saying, his voice pulling Logan back to the present. "We were together, just like this -- well, I don't know if we were waiting for Chinese takeout and there were candles burning. But we were slow dancing, and it was romantic."

"I could dance with you in my sleep," Logan murmured, resting his forehead against Ryan's shoulder and feeling surprisingly comfortable doing so. "It feels so natural for us to be holding each other like this. More than it ever has with anybody else I've ever held."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Ryan whispered, his tone slightly amused. Logan was sure that if they kept on slow dancing like this, holding each other close, he could melt into this man's arms, and actually be dancing in his sleep. It wouldn't be hard to do.

He'd never had such a sense of safety and security with anyone. He didn't know what it was about Ryan Wolfe that made him feel like this, but it was a sensation that he wanted to hold on to. He never wanted to let this man go -- either tonight, or for the rest of his life.

The sound of the doorbell made them break apart, Logan stifling a gasp. He'd actually forgotten that they had ordered takeout; he wished now that he had decided to cook something, or that he'd ordered sooner and the food had been here when Ryan arrived.

But then they probably wouldn't have been able to dance, he told himself as he reached for his wallet. He wouldn't have given that up for anything; being in Ryan's arms for that brief time had shown him the path that he wanted to head down, the one that he couldn't turn away from.

They both headed for the door, Ryan shaking his head and raising a hand when Logan opened his mouth. The younger man hung back, letting Ryan go to the door, wondering just where this evening might be heading and feeling a shiver of anticipation sizzle through him.

***