Chapter Text
Astrid was furious with Eret. Rehearsals were supposed to begin 10 minutes ago and he still wasn’t here. He may be a big name in the ballet world, but that is no excuse for wasting other people’s time.
She continued to stretch, waiting to see what Viggo, their artistic director, would do. He was a strict taskmaster, but also the reason their performances were sold out months in advance.
Astrid watched as he glanced at the clock once more, shaking his head. “Henry,” he called out. “You know the variation we are running today?”
Henry rolled his eyes. “You already know that I do.”
“Then come and partner our Juliet so that our day is not a complete waste of time.”
Henry sighed and made his way over to Astrid, who was fuming at the thought of having to dance with a first soloist. This wasn’t even his role, so it was sure to be a mediocre run-through. And how could she refine her movements for the lifts when she wasn’t practicing with her proper partner?
“You better not drop me,” she muttered before she took her starting position. Signaling she was ready, the music for the balcony pas de deux began.
“Never fear, milady,” he whispered just as he separated from her to begin a series of turns and jumps.
Astrid refused to let herself be distracted by him, as she needed to focus on her own movements, but she was admittedly impressed. His power and control was excellent. If she was being honest with herself, he was probably better than Eret. But then why was he still a first soloist?
Pushing her thoughts to the side and focusing on the choreography, they went into the first lift…and she felt like she was flying. When she practiced with Eret, the lifts had felt awkward and unbalanced, but Henry managed to get her exactly where she needed to be each time without fail.
They were reaching the end of the pas de deux, almost to the kiss, when Eret stormed in, shouting about how dare they start without him. His outburst ruined the moment and they missed their next cue, resulting in someone turning off the music.
Viggo’s focus was still on Henry and Astrid, one eyebrow quirked. “Hmm, that was more than I could have hoped for.” Turning to face Eret, he rebuked the principal dancer. “As for you, Eret, I don’t know how your previous ballet company ran, but here, we show respect for others by arriving on time. We also do not cause a scene in the middle of rehearsal. Despite what you may think, you are not irreplaceable.”
Astrid turned to see Henry’s reaction, only to realize that he was no longer by her side, but at the other end of the room getting a drink. He was quickly surrounded by his friends exclaiming over his performance in the pas de deux, which he casually dismissed like it was nothing. It seemed that there was more to Henry than she had believed.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Eret proclaiming that he was ready to start. She kept her professional mask on even though she was tempted to roll her eyes at his presumption and returned to her opening mark. After the effortless ease of dancing with Henry, she suffered through the next hour of Eret acting like everything was okay, even though she felt incredibly unsteady in his arms. They were supposed to be doing a complete run-through of the balcony scene and the second act, but Viggo kept pausing the music to correct their pas de deux and making them start from the top. She was relieved when he called for a break, announcing that they would be moving on to the next scene in 10 minutes.
Astrid went to retrieve her water bottle and looked around the room. This was only her second season with the Berk National Ballet and she had found that the other principals were rather standoffish. While she generally kept to herself when not rehearsing, she wouldn’t mind having at least one friend. Unfortunately, the soloists and first soloists viewed all principals as pretentious snobs, so she was often left on her own.
She was not in the next scene and normally she would zone out as she stretched, but this time she decided to watch the rehearsal, curious to see how Henry performed in the trio. While Throk was a good dancer and Eret was supposedly the best of the best, Henry outshone them both.
She didn’t really know Henry as last season they had been assigned to different projects. But now, she had many questions and was determined to find out more.