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“X~~~ this sucks, what am I supposed to do?”
“Before you start complaining, how about you enter the house properly first!”
X scrambled to the window and opened it for Y, still dressed in her full Sky trainer apparel, to hop into his room.
“Honestly, couldn’t you come to the house properly through the front door like everyone else?”
“Too bad. I got used to your window after all those years.”
X let out a sigh and pulled up a chair for Y who promptly walked past it and collapsed onto one of the bean bags in the corner of X’s room.
“There’s going to be some school dance happening in a few weeks and I… might have shot my mouth back at Yvette and now I have to show up for it.”
“I don’t see what’s particularly bothersome about that.”
“With a partner.”
“Ah,” There was a pause in the air while X considered what was going to happen next. “So I guess you’re here today about...”
X could barely finish his thought before Y had gotten up from the bean bag and put on a pleading face at X.
“So would you be free to come along on the day?”
“Uh… em… sure I’d be happy to.”
“I’d help out with your training if you acc… eh?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y had not prepared for this eventuality. Not only did she not have to go help with X’s battle practice as a favour, but she had also not anticipated how easily X had accepted the invite. She had planned to briefly show X to Yvette and her crew before conveniently finding a reason to ditch the dance and run from school. Not that that would stop Yvette from pestering her about it for the rest of the year, but at least it’ll be more tolerable than having to show up with nobody beside her. The only problem now was her dress. Not that she had issues with it. By all means, it’s a well-made one – perfectly tailored for her – but now it looks like she was intending to actually take part in the dance after all. She sighed and cursed her mom. When did she get wind of this school dance? And why was she conveniently home on the day it was taking place? Y shook off her conspiratorial thoughts and turned her focus back on the school gates.
X was rarely late for things and aside from a brief “I’m gonna be late sry” message she received from X almost half an hour ago, Y had not seen any signs of him. Had he decided to ditch her? As more wild thoughts swirled in her idle mind, Y heard her name called out from a distance.
“Sorry about being late!”
Y turned and was ready to barrage complaints at X, but her attention was quickly drawn to the outfit that X was wearing. X had somehow managed to dress for the occasion. He was wearing a well-fitted, neatly ironed white shirt, paired with a striped waistcoat. The tie that X was wearing had been tied to symmetrical perfection as well. Y had no recollection of X ever owning formal wear, let alone one that had been this well-fitted. She was not prepared for this at all. Y had decided on her plan of inviting X precisely because she expected him to show up in his usual clothes and be able to use that as an excuse. Now, it would seem like the pair of them actually planned on attending the event.
“So… uh, how late are we?”
“We’re not late yet. I was planning to show you around the school before the dance, but I guess that’ll have to be for another day.”
“Ah, that’s good. I was about to leave the house, but your mom caught me at the front door and forced me to wear this suit. Do I look weird? A lot of people were staring at me when I was walking here.”
“No, no, not at all.”
Y was torn between feeling grateful that her mom had made sure that X would be presentable and the creeping dread of her mom’s endless teasing that would no doubt follow once she got home tonight. Wait, when did she even fit a suit for X?
“So Y, where does the dance take place?”
“Oh. Over at the school hall. Let’s head there now.”
“What sort of dance would it be? Is it like the ones Tierno does?”
Y turns around and stares at X’s face. And the realisation hit her.
“Oh Arceus. You’re not joking right now.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After jiggling the door hinge for a few seconds, the old rusted door to the school roof creaked open loudly. Y hurried X through before carefully swinging the door back, taking care to leave it ajar. The sun was setting in the distance and the roof was covered in a warm blazing orange. Y carefully walked around the roof looking for a flat surface to use while X shuffled along behind her.
“Is it really necessary to hide away here to practice? Aren’t we not supposed to be on the roof?”
“If Yvette and her posse ever saw us practising, I’m quite sure I’ll never hear the end of it for the rest of the year. I’d already suffer enough of her badgering as is, so I’d rather not have her bother me over more things.”
After being satisfied with standing on a particularly even part of the roof, Y turns towards X and puts her hand out in an invitation to dance.
“Does this pose mean anything to you?”
“Err… No? Not particularly?”
Y takes in a deep breath. They didn’t have much time, but she expected that the next thirty minutes would drag on for quite a while.
“Alright X, we have a lot to cover so I need you to listen carefully to me, alright? Let’s start with the start of the dance and we’ll work our way through the rest as we go along.”
…
“Why do we have to do all that to even start a dance?”
“Don’t ask me that. It’s some ‘tradition’ that I was taught. Go ask the people around two hundred years ago or something.”
…
“Um… Y?”
“Yeah?”
“Do we… uh… have to be this close?”
“Technically no, but I might have said something about who I was bringing so I need you to get used to this.”
“What things?”
“… Let’s move on to the dance.”
…
“Watch your feet X!”
“Ah. Sorry! I keep messing up which one to start with.”
“It’s always the right one. Just keep that in mind. Let’s start again from the top.”
…
As the last traces of sunlight was fading around them, both X and Y were still working through the paces of the dance. They were slowly circling around the roof, but their motions were stiff, a little too methodical and definitely very nervous. X by this point, had his head down, intently staring at his feet as he figured out how to move them in a way approximating what Y was telling him.
“Hey X,”
“Hmm?”
“Can you look up?”
X raised his head up and the pair of them briefly made eye contact. Not knowing why, X had a sudden urge to turn his face away from Y’s.
“No X, you have to look at me.”
X forces himself to turn back to look at Y. Their eyes meet again.
“It’s a social thing. The dance. You can’t just dance the whole time looking away from your partner. So, I need you to learn to dance facing me.”
“Al… Alright.”
Despite the brave words, Y at this point had turned away from X and was blushing hard. The only thing stopping her from hiding her face with her hands was the fact that both her hands were holding onto X as part of the dance. As they started to dance again, X tried to defuse some of the tension.
“Uh Y, I think I got most of it. Should I try and take the lead?”
“… oh! Y-Yeah we can try that. I’ll try and just follow your moves.”
“Ready Y?”
“Mm.”
X went through the mental checklist he had been building over the course of Y’s crash course. Trusting in Y’s foot work, X focused on feeling his way through the steps of the dance, stopping himself from constantly looking down at his feet. As X made his way through the different parts of the dance, Y slowly relaxed. Despite the amateurish quality to X’s steps, Y could at least move to match them, smoothing out X’s moves by gently pulling and nudging him along. Y started humming along a soft tune, the one that had played on loop when she first learned to dance as well. For the first time that evening, both X and Y were moving together and dancing. X slowly wound down the dance and let Y go at the end of the dance. Despite the cool spring breeze, X could feel the cold sweat sticking to the back of his shirt.
“Congratulations X, you did it. You’ve made it through a dance.”
“I did not think we could get through all that in thirty minutes. Thanks Y for the coaching.”
“Well… it’s more like fifty minutes, but I’ll take the compliments.”
“Wait, are we late now?”
“Fashionably late. But that’s how it's supposed to be, right? Got to let Yvette gloat a little before we make our dramatic entrance. Come on X, let’s head to the school hall!”
Y grabs onto X’s hand and starts to lead him to the school hall. Neither noticed that they held hands the entire way there.
~Fin~