Title: Shadow Dancing

Author: wildwordwomyn

Word Count: 209

Fandom/Pairing: Person of Interest gen/slash drabble starring Reese/Finch

Rating: PG

Author's Notes: This little drabble just popped into my head while I was driving to the post a bit ago so here ya go. Also, this concept was in my head while I was thinking about it:

After researching 10 different languages, we were disappointed to find no term exists for this critical concept. So we coined the term "shadow dance" based on the Indonesian tradition of shadow puppets. An art that you don't see the actual puppets, but only their shadows dancing across a plain surface(2).

In other words, what you see isn't what is really going on. And that is what makes the shadow dance dangerous.

At its core, a shadow dance is a complex and subtle set of maneuvers that have very real and dangerous implications. These maneuvers are, in fact, a set up. They serve as a means to put a potential attacker in a position where he can quickly and overwhelmingly achieve his goals. But they are done in such a way that not only disguise their real intent, but allow for deniability if countered. It is not a situation working up toward dangerous, it is dangerous already. The only question is: "Will it go down?"

The answer is: "It depends on how good a dancer you are."

Disclaimers/Warnings: No spoilers. I don't own or rent any of the people/places/things involved. I just write slash for fun. Read at your own risk.

Summary: Attack. Counter-attack. One step forward, two steps back.

No enterprise is more likely to succeed

than one concealed from the enemy

until it is ripe for execution.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Attack. Counter-attack. One step forward, two steps back. It really is a dance. One John excels at. He has the skill as well as the instinct. It's why his trainers at the academy coveted him. John can slit a man's throat with a smile on his face, his pulse as steady as if he were doing yoga. He can also talk a woman into turning herself in for a crime just by reading the regret her body-language. And John has always been the best at self-defense. He knows where to place a punch or a kick because his adversaries know how to fight back.

Harold Finch, on the other hand, is in a league all his own. John always seems to be playing catch-up and he doesn't understand why. Why he dances with the man at all. Why he needs to. In the dark where he survives, where he thrives, it doesn't matter that this feels like what he's used to. Attack, counter-attack. One step forward, two steps back.

...In the dark it's Finch who leads, and John, even though he shouldn't, thinks maybe he'll follow him anywhere...

The End