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Autumn would be one of the more prominent seasons in Olruggio’s life. It was the season that always bore clear skies, those chilly winds always playfully biting at you, and extra delicious fruits and vegetables to cook and enjoy.
The streets of Karoon were bustling with bodies, the sound of clacking heels falling into an unharmonious rhythm with other passerby. He stuffed his hands inside of his sleeves, either to preserve body heat or to shrink his body to slip through the crowd easier.
The Silver Night Festival was a night shy of the officially recognized first night, however locals would always say that the Silver Night Festival was more like a season in itself rather than the couple of days it actually ran for. Months of preparation, followed by a week of setting up, and then the week coming down from the high.
However, that group of multicolored heads stepping ahead of him had his attention, rather than the beautiful decorations and stalls dotting along either side of the street.
He had already set up his stall, and had helped the youngsters set up their stall as well, so of course Qifrey would be the one to instantly overexert himself and tour the town with his students and Tartah. The long black ribbon rippling off his hat tip blew haphazardly in the wind, nearly close enough for Olruggio to pinch and tug off his head. He snickered at the thought, knowing exactly how that other witch would react.
A jump, a smirk, a playful flick to his chest. He would melodramatically say, “If it falls off and gets dirty, you’re making a new one,” then gently secure the headwear back to its rightful throne. He kept his eye on the ribbon, nearly catching it in his palm, before realizing he shouldn’t cause such a scene in the middle of the street. Hesitantly, he reached deeper into his sleeves, grabbing onto his elbows as a sort of anchor from the temptation. You’re safe today, Qifrey.
The road opened up into a small gathering area, the sound of string and woodwind instruments humming loudly in the air. Karoon had several of these larger clearings, typically occupied by shoppers pausing to eat their fresh meals... or to give their legs a break from the physically demanding staircases this town was infamous for. During Silver Night, however, they became squares of celebration, mingling, and dancing, of course.
He saw Tetia and Coco whispering to one another, before grabbing Agott by the sleeve and tugging her into the small group of dancing people. Richéh and Tartah soon followed, the mixture of angry and excited young voices growing slightly unruly as they all hopped around the square.
Olruggio rubbed his neck, sitting down on an unoccupied bench. The bench let him keep a close eye on Qifrey, knowing full and well the mans lack of self preservation would lead him to hurting his back once more. He was already pushing it, Olruggio thought, with all the extra walking and his demands to help set up stalls. He wished he would just let himself be babied every once in a while and relax.
His focus drifted from the group as the song continued onward, sliding his hands out of his sleeves to examine his nails, thumbing at a small splinter wound he had gotten earlier. He crossed his legs, letting out a sigh as the song transitioned into something more upbeat…
Ah, well, he knew this song. He was fairly surprised that they would start playing this one for the Silver Night, but he also imagined the band would’ve had to perform it at several graduation ceremonies. It was a pretty haunting tune-
“Oh, yes, our Professor Olly is an excellent dancer.”
Olruggio’s head perked up. God damnit, Qifrey.
“Professor, is that supposed to be some sort of joke?” Agott cast a glance at Olruggio, a glance he always thought was far too cutting for a young girl.
“Not in the slightest. While he’ll never dance for you kids, he dances all the time, especially when he’s working, or in a good mood.” It was hard to be mad at Qifrey’s friendly shit-eating smirk, however he definitely just crossed some sort of line.
An expectant gaze came from 5 pairs of eyes all at once.
“...Okay, well I haven’t properly danced for what, ten years? I don’t do fancy dances-“
“He didn’t deny it,” Richéh cut in. The witch groaned, rearing his head back and smearing his face with his hands.
Tetia ran up to him, grabbing onto his cloak sleeve and gently pulling on it. “Please? Pleasepleasepleaseplease…? I won’t call you Professor again if you do… or uh... I’ll do dishes for a week! I just wanna see if Professor Qifrey’s lying!”
Coco approached him from the same side, her head slightly cocked and her finger toying with her green locks. “Plus... I think it’s pretty cool if you can dance, considering you’re already able to do... so much cool magic...”
Olruggio cast a glare at Qifrey that said Oh, you asshole, you know exactly what you’re doing to me, and Qifrey smiled wider back, telling him that he wasn’t all that sorry. The pair started to beg and whine, pushing him just enough to let them drag his creaky old man body to the square.
“Fine, fine, whatever. But just for the rest of this song, that’s it.” He spoke sternly without much heart, humoring the wishes of the girls. Not before realizing he was actually being taken to Qifrey.
To be fair, the song was meant for a two person dance, but an all-too-familiar feeling burbled in his chest, pressurizing as he became increasingly aware of the babble of voices surrounding him.
Qifrey was still grinning.
“...I don’t get paid enough for this.” Olruggio set his hand on Qifrey’s shoulder, the other reaching around his back and settling on his spine. He let his hand sink lower, both to get in a more comfortable position and to feel his body through the clothes… A nervous buzz shot down his back. Hopefully nobody was looking at that, especially the girls.
“...Well, you don’t really get paid, to be fair,” Qifrey’s thin hands grasped onto Olruggio, letting his hands slide all the way from his collar to his neck. His index finger extended to stroke at the soft thin hairs covering his nape. So much for staying subtle.
“Humor me Ol. Maybe I’ll buy you some wine for being a good sport.”
“Damn, you’d better,” Olruggio held back on anything more vulgar as the song picked up. He stepped back, wishing that he was more unhappy about this than he was.
The song was meant to be a coordinated ballroom type dance, one that was smooth yet energetic. During the graduation afterparty, it was usually a chance for young witches to giddily ask each other onto the floor with blushing faces and thumbs fumbling.
Their robes swished around their legs, the thick fabric collapsing against itself and its counterpart. Olruggio kept his focus on Qifrey’s face, who was looking down at the ground, focusing on his footsteps. Maybe he really was no better than those blushing teenage witches.
Qifrey stepped on the black fabric of Olruggio’s robes, then soon after stepped on his toes. He quietly laughed at himself, pulling himself closer to Olruggio’s chest.
“This is-
“-stupid.”
Qifrey awkwardly had his hand grasped around Olruggio’s hand and shoulder, his face scrunched up into a scowl.
“I know it’s stupid, but… Qifrey, you gotta learn this dance, otherwise Beldarut is gonna kick our asses. The ceremony is tomorrow night, and you still can’t even do the first step.”
Qifrey let go of his friend to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I know, Gio, that’s what makes it even stupider. It’s not like anybody is gonna dance with me, anyways...”
Olruggio sighed and crouched next to the small music box contraption Professor Godley gave him. He cranked the lever back to rewind the song, all while squeezing it with all his might. It was the only way to work the damn thing, after he had pulled it apart to study the mechanisms inside, still not quite able to reassemble it perfectly himself. “You don’t need to be an ass about it, the song is only a couple minutes long, and it’s pretty easy… It’ll make Beldarut happy, too.”
He heard Qifrey sit down in the grass. “It’s easy for you to say it’s easy since you’ve been forced to learn this for like, years.”
This was true. Godley’s atelier required all of the students to take dance lessons until they were Knights, and Olruggio was one of the 3 students that actually kept up with it after his 2nd exam... and then after his 3rd. Even now, one week past the conclusion of his 4th exam, he could barely help himself if he was alone.
“Beldarut spoiled you for that. Maybe if he didn’t baby you, and made you start practicing when you were meant to, then you would actually have a sense of rhythm.” He grabbed Qifrey’s hand and forced him to stand up, not letting him go when he tried to wring his arm away.
“...Hey, you don’t have to do the moves this time, okay? Just… listen to the music. And walk with me.”
Qifrey looked at him with his wide and icy eyes, peering past the wire rim of his spectacles. “...Fine.”
Olruggio returned his hands to where they were supposed to be, feeling Qifrey limply wrap his arms around him. The song’s first beats began, and Olruggio started to walk backwards around the small clearing with him.
Well, not like he could just walk around for long. He started to bounce on his feet a bit more, picking up the pace before swinging his friend around a bit. Qifrey sighed, smiling softly.
“You dance dumb. But good.”
“Thanks, but I could actually dance less dumb if my dumb dance partner actually tried to follow my moves.”
Qifrey pulled back a bit, wrapping his hands around Olruggio’s neck and tugging on the baby hairs around his nape. Olruggio’s heart thumped deep in his chest.
“You’re the leader. I’m not gonna do anything fancy or cool... just do your dumb dance.”
The music picked up again, and Olruggio held Qifreys arm as he suddenly moved around on his toes, spinning his dance partner around. He spun Qifrey once, leading to a shout and a laugh from his friend. At this point, he wasn’t following the moves he was supposed to, but he could care less if it meant making Qifrey smile.
He pulled him a little closer as the music swelled with anticipation, their feet trampling the grass. Qifrey clumsily struggled to keep up, his breaths short and uneven.
Olruggio pulled his arm away from Qifreys’ waist, and they spun around one another. At the height of the song, Olruggio pulled Qifrey in, overestimating how light Qifrey was, and as he pulled him into a dip-
Olruggio panted on the cool stone, laughter pealing from his chest inbetween raspy breaths. Qifrey propped himself up on his elbows, uncharacteristically giggling and burying his face into the ball of his palms. Well, maybe they were actually a bit more out of shape than he anticipated.
He moved off from his spot on top of Qifrey, still catching his breath. The white hat that fell off of his partners head was in reach, and he grabbed it and helped his partner up. He placed it back onto his head gently, using the moment as an opportunity to appreciate his crinkled, scrunched up laughing face.
“Oh, my, some things really never do change…” Qifrey’s snickering dissolved into a smile, one that felt like it was just for him, just for Olruggio.
“...Professor Qifrey, you’re an awful dancer. You have no ear for rhythm.”
Olruggio turned his head to see the audience of young witches, hot embarassment wriggling into his stomach. Agott had an unamused face, yet her eyes showed that she clearly was amused by their little show. Coco and Tetia were excitedly talking, glancing back at their professors often, with Tartah hopelessly trying to follow the conversation.
As much as he wished he could dance with Qifrey again, and again, and again, out where everyone could see them, he didn’t want to risk hurting his shoulder again... and he didn’t want to give those kids fuel to tease him.
“Well, I never said I was a good dancer!” The continued panting coming inbetween his words told Olruggio that Qifrey was just as out of shape as he was. “Olly’s the real talent, see? I didn’t lie.”
Olruggio sat himself back down on the bench, soon followed by Professor Qifrey. He examined the apprentices dancing in their small group, noticing how Coco would trot around in a similar manner to how he demonstrated. Out of the corner of his eye, he peeked at Qifrey, who was doing largely the same.
The popping of fireworks wailed in the distance, the grass around them illuminating with pink with each consecutive crackle. About once a year did they hold the graduation ceremony for all the witches who had graduated from their Fourth Test, one full of treats, decorations, celebrations… Well, all of that seemed quite trivial, no?
From their secluded spot in the Associations forest, nearby where the ceremony was held, he buried his face into that warm spot, right in between his neck and collar. They drifted and rocked with one another, their bare feet shuffling slowly. The distant melody of jovial song muddled itself with all the other noise, leading to the gap of silence between the two young witches to stay occupied.
Words were unnecessary. The contact of skin against flesh and clothes and fabrics was a language all of its own. He felt the black haired boy bring him a little closer, tugging his new hat off by that twirling ribbon and combing through pale hair with his fingertips.
You didn’t need to know moves to dance, as long as you could move yourself with another person, it was something anyone could do.