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It wasn't that Cleopatra had never danced before.
She'd absolutely danced before. She'd danced since she was little. She'd danced back in Egypt. She'd even danced here, in the far future, already. There hadn't even been an adjustment period, really—it turned out that the rules of dance in said far future had changed far less than the music had. So, she'd slotted in pretty easily... because she was just that good, of course.
It helped that—thank goodness—the Nile Galaxy still understood the concept of rhythm, and it was booming at just the right pace into her eardrums right now, courtesy of Brian's DJ routines.
But.
There was just something about this dance, at this very moment. It was a dance session that was ecstatic for Cleo unlike any other.
Completely unrelated: ever since she'd started dancing, oh, about 20 minutes, ago, her mind, on its own, had made up a song.
A song that, no matter how hard she didn't try in the slightest, just wouldn't leave her head.
o/~ Pharaoh Yosira's my giiirrrlfriend / Pharaoh Yosira's my giiirrrlfriend / everyone else can go jump off a cliff / 'cuz Pharaoh Yosira's my giiirrrlfriiiieeeeend! o/~
Cleo cackled.
As spur-of-the-moment compositions went, she was pretty proud of it. It was very true to her feelings. Feelings that had started ever since Yosira had asked her out on a 'diplomatic tea party' that had totally been a date even if Yosira had refused to call it that out loud.
Feelings that were reinforced whenever they spent time together, even if they had to keep a low profile for Yosira's sake. Fortunately, here, that wasn't so much required. Not at a PYRAMID Academy-sanctioned party thrown by Akila for Interplanetary Dance Day. And certainly not with Yosira not even trying to rock the royal garb for this one, instead dressed in a pink blouse, blue jeans… and a thin blue leather vest which had knocked Cleo out when Yosira had arrived in it, and the thought of which was still kicking Cleo into the ground long after Yosira had taken it off to start dancing.
And Yosira was dancing with the best of them. Smooth, flowing, graceful, everything Cleo's hair did when she danced with her hair down, Yosira could do with her entire body, with her hair up.
Eeesh. Of course Yosira would have been a natural dancer too. She was good at, like, everything. It was all Cleo could do just to keep up with her.
Cleo looked at Yosira, who had a smile as big as the sun on her as she spun in one direction, then the other, while she and Cleo stepped in circles around each other.
"You good?" Cleo asked, making sure to be loud enough to be audible over the din. Brian had chosen an especially fast, loud, and thumping track, and every other student in PYRAMID, along with their plus-ones, were getting lost in themselves.
"Quite," Yosira said back. "This persuasion of music is rather foreign to me, but it's a good sort of foreign!" She sidled up to Cleo, back to back, then shoulder to shoulder, hunching up and down, twirling and touching…
…and then, as they turned face to face again, Cleo reached up, wrapping her arms around Yosira in an eye-locking embrace.
It didn't take a mind reader to know that Yosira was definitely happy to see her. But seeing her bite her lip, hearing her breathing so close with their bodies pressed together, was still a nice-to-have.
Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine~ Cleo's mind squealed in utter delight, as she leaned forward, and Yosira did as well…
…until Yosira pulled back with a groan, holding her head with one hand. Instantly, Cleo went on High Alert. "Whoa, hey, are you okay?"
"I'm… I'm sorry," Yosira said, looking at Cleo in a valiant, but unsuccessful, attempt to appear normal. Can we withdraw to a quiet room for a moment?"
"Of course," Cleo said, taking Yosira's hand. "Come on."
Cleo's bedroom was the closest quiet place there was.
No, really. It was. Shut up.
Once the two got inside, Yosira soon showed signs of recovery, though she still held her head as she leaned against the wall near the entrance.
"Cleo, I'm so, so sorry," Yosira said. "I'd say I didn't know what came over me, but that would be a lie. Even now, my head is thumping exactly as much as that music was."
"I believe you," Cleo said. "It was a lot for me too when I first showed up in this time period." She shrugged. "Though, back in Ancient Egypt, drums are a thing wherever you go, so it wasn't all that much to get used to." She leaned on the wall, next to Yosira. "Though, if you weren't having a good time, why didn't you tell me earlier? I would have understood."
Yosira stood up with a start and a gasp, darting in front of Cleo, her pain seemingly forgotten—or overridden. "Cleo. Allow me to squash any misunderstandings, here and now: I adored every single moment with you on that dance floor, just as I have adored every moment we've spent together. Including the ones where we've been on the run from robots." She hesitated, then with an eye-twinkling smile, added, "Sometimes, especially those moments."
Cleo grinned toothily.
"No, the root of my problems lies elsewhere. Lies deeper." With a beleaguered sigh, Yosira's hand went to her forehead again. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Honestly. Curse this life sometimes."
"Yosira?" Cleo raised a shaky hand up and onto her girlfriend's shoulder. She wanted to help, but Yosira hadn't told her who she needed to punch yet. Without that knowledge, this was going to be tricky.
Yosira took Cleo's hand in both of her own—filling Cleo with that warm, trademark softness that only Yosira herself knew how to communicate—and, with a deep breath, looked straight into Cleo's eyes. Which usually meant that Yosira was about to share something big. Cleo shifted into Listening Mode, nodding to say it was okay, and that she was ready.
Her intuition was correct.
"When the Blight happened," Yosira said, "it wasn't just academia, science, and historical accounts which were stolen and erased. Indeed, the arts suffered mightily. Writings, drawings, paintings, architecture, theatre…" She hesitated. "…music. And dance."
Cleo gaped. "Oh," she breathed. She knew Octavian was a supervillain, but this was too much. "He… wow, he literally stole fun. I'm going to kill him, just so you know. He's going to die, screaming."
Yosira chuckled. "Call me when it's time. One may say I desire a level of vengeance as well. Still, that's not the only thing that affects me. Because, while creativity can never be truly snuffed, and our generation has done their admirable best to rebuild it…" Another deep breath. "…I was raised apart from it, in ways you already know. The 'special' royal life."
There it was. Cleo rolled her eyes. "Yep. Biggest, and worst, mood."
Yosira nodded. "I've attended so many galas, ballroom dances, masquerades. Everything that was good for political image, royal image. Everything to keep the good Pharoah sheltered and safe. Nothing like… this." She gestured in the general direction of the door, and the party beyond, whose music they could just faintly still hear. "Certainly not with music like this. I even liked it, which is why I stayed out there so long! It was such a rush to listen to! But it was… also just so intense. Too intense, for me and only me." She looked low, her eyebrows drooping. "Here stands Yosira, forever Pharoah… and thus, forever out of touch."
A pang hit Cleo's heart. Was this what was in store for her own future? Yosira was so young, and already, she felt this way. It wasn't right! If only Yosira could attend PYRAMID Academy, make some more friends, learn what people not much younger than her were up to!
But right now, all of those would-be friends were celebrating their, uh, with-it-ness. Right now, there was no one around but Cleo to help.
Well, she'd been here before, and enough times to know what did and didn't work. (Lesson One, the first she ever learned: 'Platitudes Are Bad'.) She might as well start by telling the truth about how she felt. Fortunately, she had a killer line ready to go.
"I understand what you're saying," Cleo said, putting a hand on Yosira's arm, "but I also think you're putting yourself down way too much. No one who's 'out of touch' dances as well as you did out there. Well, before you half-collapsed, anyway."
Yosira outright laughed at that one. "Cleo, I love you. So much."
"I mean, I am pretty lovable?" Cleo replied. "Same to you, though."
"Yes, well," Yosira said, "I also thoroughly appreciate your vote of confidence. It was all I could hope for to not look like an utter fool out there, but I suppose what you saw was an amalgam of my formal instruction and experience." Folding her hands, she looked to one side. "Interplanetary Dance Day is a recent holiday on Mayet—but it's also somewhat selfish. Officially, I created it so people could never forget what we lost, and be reminded of our struggle to get it back. But unofficially, I abused my power as Pharaoh to give myself a day…" Yosira blushed. "…where it's okay to do something fun. Whether I'm good at it or not."
Cleo made a mental note to give herself all of the holidays when she returned to Egypt. But for now, she settled for staring at her girlfriend in awe. Her girlfriend, who had an answer for everything, but was doomed to always be the last one to realize that fact.
Cleo tried, valiantly, desperately, to put all of the above into words.
"Yosira, you're… you're amazing," she breathed.
Oh, well. One of these days.
"Oh, Cleo," Yosira said, her blush deepening a hint of a shy smile. "Stop it. No, I'm not. I'm awful. Awful, and selfish."
"You are not!" Cleo put her hands on both of Yosira's shoulders this time, turning Yosira back to face her. "You're good at so many things, and you've gone through so much and come out the other side…"
And then, finally, Cleo could feel the words coming.
"…but neither of those things is what makes you amazing," Cleo said, her smile serene. "What makes you amazing is how much you care about everyone around you so much. Me, the students, your subjects, this whole galaxy! But, Yosira… you deserve a life that cares about you, too. And you shouldn't deny yourself when you see a chance to make that happen, even if it's just in a tiny way. You totally did the right thing."
Cleo saw Yosira's eyes widen at the words. Were they welling up, too? She didn't have the opportunity to look closer, however—because before she knew it, she felt Yosira's hand caressing her cheek.
And just like that, Cleo was frozen completely, her legs barely able to support herself. She saw Yosira's cheeks now utterly burning red—just as she could feel her own doing the same.
"Do you know why I invited you to tea on that fateful day which led to us being together, Cleopatra? It was because, over the times I met you, you planted the notion that I deserved to do something to indulge myself. To take a personal chance, just one, without feeling guilty," she said, her voice as soft and sweet as honey in hot chocolate. "So, here you are."
Aaaaaaand Cleo was practically underwater now. This always happened. Yosira, ever the sneaky minx, was capable of switching from a gentle ocean to a smoldering volcano in the time it took to flip a light switch—and even Cleo, with all of her trademark bravado, still had no defenses against it.
"Y-you've got good taste," Cleo finally stammered, doing her best attempt at a smug grin.
It wasn't very effective. Yosira stepped forward, and as Cleo hit the wall behind her, she was made quite aware of the extra height Yosira had on her, even without her royal headdress. Not as tall as Callie, who was like a tree in the shade, but still, enough to be noticed.
"How would you feel about a more… private party, for now?" Yosira asked, her fingers walking across Cleo's shoulder, digging just the slightest bit into the neck of Cleo's shirt—and the entire world tingled, from Cleo's toes upwards.
Cleo just barely managed a silent, swallowing, nod.
"Wonderful." Her smile turning mischievous, Yosira took out her tab, pressed a few icons, and slow, orchestral music—with much softer, but still rhythmic percussion—filled the room with harmonic melodies. With a gentle tug, Yosira led Cleo and herself to the middle of the area.
"Tonight's lesson, then, is ballroom dancing. Slow, measured, practiced…"
Yosira wrapped one arm around Cleo's hips, while locking her other hand in one of Cleo's, and gazing at Cleo with radiant affection.
"…but with intimate benefits."
She leaned forward, until her lips pressed against Cleo's in a full and whole kiss, and Cleo pressed back against her, taking in her warmth, her taste, and her scent—of fruits, of spices, of comfort and luxury.
Of things that, only when she was alone at night, in the dark with no one to hear her, were things Cleo would admit to herself that she missed.
"Thank you, Cleopatra, for coming into my life," Yosira whispered upon parting, "and illuminating it so, so brightly."
Cleo wrapped her free arm around Yosira's collar. "Same," she said, as the dance began—and she allowed, once more, for her girlfriend to lead, to teach… and to love.
Maybe she was good for more than just punching things, after all.
Cleo's face and heart beamed, in prideful unison, at the thought.