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“Do a flip!”
Stelle paused for a moment at March’s request, before giving a slight shrug with a small grin in response. She crouched down before swiftly pushing off of the ground and leaping up off of the floor, spinning backwards in mid-air and doing an entire revolution before managing to land back on her feet, promptly leading to an ecstatic March 7th to give Stelle a round of applause, who gave a casual bow in response.
Dan Heng sighed from where he was sitting in the Astral Express’ main car. “I really wish you two had some sense of preservation instinct.” He murmured under his breath as he glanced between the duo of his absurd fellow Trailblazers. March shot him a sour look before gesturing towards Stelle with both hands, who was still basking in the glory of her accomplishment.
“She just did a sweet backflip and you’re condemning us for it?” March asked with an exasperated tone. Dan Heng proceeded to deadpan her to respond.
“Stelle didn’t seem entirely sure if she was capable of landing such a move, yet had no hesitation when it was requested of you, March. It could’ve led to serious injury on Stelle’s part.” Dan Heng explained with the usual stoic visage that usually crossed his face, shifting slightly in his seat as he spoke.
“Okay, but she landed it, so what’re you yapping about?” March responded while making a childish gesture with her hand, raising it up and opening her hand before closing it repeatedly, making it appear like her hand was speaking in mock of Dan Heng, who remained unamused at her antics.
“That’s not an excuse to not be risk-averse.” He retorted while crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at the pink-haired girl. But before March could respond with yet another snarky comment, Stelle spoke first.
“Heh. You two bicker like old people.” She murmured quietly with a hand resting on her hip, glancing between the two with her amber-colored eyes and a grin displayed over her expression. Both March and Dan Heng glanced towards her in response.
“You’re one to talk!”
“You’re not much better.”
The two both made their comments practically in unison. It was impressive that the two had suddenly put aside their previous not-so-serious argument in order to poke fun at her. What’re friends for, Stelle supposed to herself with a silent chuckle.
“Anywho, what else can you show me?” March said, dropping the topic in order to revert back the previous one, the one they had been talking about that prompted the pink-haired girl to ask Stelle to do a flip.
Ah, right.
Stelle had been in the process of showing off some of the moves after she began following the path of Harmony, which had been surprisingly significant in increasing her athleticism and balance both in battle and just in general. March seemed impressed at the things that the silver-haired girl was capable of doing, while Dan Heng was either bored, indifferent, or not paying attention, Stelle could never really tell which was which with him.
As Stelle pondered to herself regarding answer to March’s question, an idea sprung to her mind, followed by her cheeky grin to form back on her face. “There was something I was curious about trying that I’d need your help with.” Stelle murmured in response while casually stretching her arms above her head. A curious expression crossed March’s face as Dan Heng merely raised an eyebrow in suspicion, glancing over the silver-haired girl’s mildly mischievous expression.
“Partner dancing.” Stelle stated confidently as she slid her hands into the pockets of her jacket, leaning back and forth on her heels and she smugly gauged March and Dan Heng’s reactions, glancing between the two of them to do so. The Astral Express cart fell into complete silence as the two Trailblazers stared at Stelle as if she’d been stabbed through the chest in front of her eyes.
Dan Heng didn’t say anything, eventually glancing away with a quick roll of his eyes, while a big smile formed on March during the same timeframe, nodding cheerfully. “Alright, sure! I can help you try that! What kind of dancing are we doing?” She asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on her feet as she did so. Stelle chuckled quietly at March’s upbeat enthusiasm and the seemingly endless energy she got when she did get hyped up about something.
“Hm… I’ve got one. Let me just change the music.” Stelle muttered before turning and walking towards the main stereo that resided within the Astral Express, sitting next to the door that led to the various rooms each passenger slept in. She shuffled through a multitude of songs until eventually settled on one with a quicker pace and tempo, before adjusting the volume and playing it.
March gave Stelle a smile as the silver-haired girl approached, before chuckling a bit awkwardly. “Just a bit of a heads-up, I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be doing.” March murmured under her breath after Stelle had already come to a stop in front of her. Stelle gave the pink-haired girl a supportive smile as she nodded in response.
“Don’t worry; I’ll lead you along.” Stelle replied before gently guiding March’s left hand to her shoulder while March intertwined her right hand with Stelle’s left, clasping palm-to-palm, followed by Stelle sliding her own right hand on the pink-haired girl’s back, in between her shoulder-blades.
“Ready?”
“Yup!”
“Good; just follow my movements.” Stelle murmured with a slight nod of her head, before beginning by touching her left foot behind herself, but not shifting her weight in the process. March glanced down and mirrored her movement by touching her right foot in front of herself, although she did accidentally shift her weight, which was quickly adjusted by the silver-haired girl giving March a gentle nudge. Stelle brought her left foot back to its original position as March did the same with her right foot. The taller girl brought her right foot forward and prompted the shorter girl to bring her left foot back. Then the two brought their feet back to the original positions, where Stelle gave a satisfied nod.
“Nice and easy - you’re doing good,” Stelle said to March with a small smile on her face. “I’m gonna go faster now. Just keep following my movements.” She added on before suddenly making a drastic change in the speed of the dance as she spun around with March in tow, and then twirling the pink-haired girl with one hand held above her head. March briefly stumbled as a result but managed to regain her footing.
Dan Heng watched as the two girls spun around the Astral Express cart, twirling around one another and occasionally dipping one another, always eliciting a chuckle or a giggle from one or the other, usually whoever had been dipped. He was fairly certain that they were mixing dances from multiple different ones, but it’s not like anyone other than him was watching. They were just entertaining each other with their hands together, music playing, and twirling around the room.
He wasn’t entirely sure why he was following their movements with his eyes, resting his hand on his cheek as his elbow was propped up on the back of the couch he was sitting on. He could feel a strange pit in his stomach as they went on and on, back and forth through the empty cart of the Express. He couldn’t tell what emotion was spurring such a reaction. Jealousy? Nervousness? Excitement? He had a strong doubt it was any of those.
After what felt like forever, but in reality was only about fifteen minutes, Stelle and March finished their little dance together by Stelle hoisting March off of the ground and holding her there for a few seconds, before slowly setting the pink-haired girl back down on the solid floor. March giggled as Stelle gave yet another dramatic bow.
“Whoo! That was fun… and tiring!” March mumbled as she panted slightly in exhaustion, walking over to where Dan Heng was sitting and plopping down next to him, lounging back lazily in her seat. Dan Heng glanced towards her with a raised eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“Hey, Dan Heng, how about you dance with me now?” Stelle offered with a hint of teasing in her voice. He shifted his gaze towards her and shook his head adamantly. Stelle sighed in response as she stepped towards him, resting a hand on her hip.
“Oh, c’mon, don’t be a buzzkill.”
“There’s a difference between being a buzzkill and choosing to not engage with your behavior.”
“Hey - what’s that supposed to mean?” March asked as she shot Dan Heng a grumpy look, who didn’t respond. Not that he really could after Stelle stepped even closer to him and grabbed him by the hand, hoisting him out from his seat and pulling him to his feet. He tried to pull him away, but the silver-haired girl’s grip was far too strong for him to break free from without considerable effort, which was effort he wasn’t really willing to expend. Dan Heng eventually just gave up and allowed her to pull him along all the way towards the stereo, watching her with a deadpan expression as she changed the music from a fast-paced song to a much slower one.
Stelle turned to face him as she interlaced the fingers of her right hand with the fingers of his left hand, which caused Dan Heng’s heart rate to slowly go up, beginning to beat faster and faster. Her left hand moved to rest on his shoulder as Dan Heng reluctantly nestled his right hand underneath her left arm. With a smug smirk on her face, Stelle led Dan Heng in a slow waltz, circling counterclockwise around the Astral Express’ central cart.
The dance between the two was slow and rhythmic. Dan Heng could feel his heartbeat quickening further as his fingers tightened further around Stelle’s hand, which prompted Stelle to chuckle a bit awkwardly and speak up.
“You’re crushing my hand, Dan Heng.”
“...Sorry.”
He immediately tried to rectify his mistake and loosen his grip, his brows furrowing as he focused more on trying not to squeeze his current dance partner’s hand, only to nearly stumble over his own feet. Stelle laughed in response as she shifted to help him keep balance.
“Don’t overthink it, Dan Heng. Just follow my lead, alright?” Stelle murmured reassuringly as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze to emphasize her point. He took a deep breath in through his nose before exhaling it softly through his mouth, before giving a slight nod of affirmation. The two continued to circle around the room slowly in tune to the music. It came to an end as a glint of mischief entered Stelle’s amber eyes and she leaned backwards, practically forcing Dan Heng to dip her.
Stelle stood back up and finally let go of Dan Heng, causing his heartbeat to slowly return to normal but leaving a feeling of what almost felt like disappointment, but he wasn’t entirely sure. He knew a lot from the Archives, but this wasn’t something he could’ve ever anticipated for - emotions. It became more clear to him as March suddenly barrelled in from the side and tackled him with a hug, seemingly having recovered from her own dance with Stelle.
“Wow! That was the most human I’ve ever seen Dan Heng act!” March teased with a wide but teasing smirk as she hugged him tighter before finally splitting away, only to receive a deadpan glare from the young man.
Dan Heng’s eyes shifted between Stelle and March as the two smiled between him and each other. Maybe there was a smile on his face too - he was never quite sure what his expression did in moments like this.
“We’re back.” Welt called out as he walked alongside Himeko into the central car of the Astral Express, glancing around the area as he adjusted his glasses. The first thing he noted as the red-head walked past him was the fact that there was music playing from the stereo that drifted through the air like a gentle breeze.
He walked over to it and shut off the music for the moment, before suddenly being tapped on the shoulder by Himeko, who nodded towards the seats of the Express once he looked over. “Look.” Himeko murmured quietly as she made her way towards a peculiar sight with Welt standing right next to her.
“Heh. They must’ve worn themselves out while we were out.” Welt whispered quietly with an extremely soft chuckle before beginning to walk past Himeko, who didn’t take her eyes off of the scene in front of her, slowly reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone.
“They’re so adorable together, clinging together like a lifeline…” Himeko mumbled silently under her breath as she shuffled through the applications on her phone in order to pull up the camera. She adjusted it until she deemed it perfectly capturing the adorable display of three Trailblazers all snuggled together on the couch, snoozing deeply in each other’s warmth. Dan Heng was in the middle with Stelle and March on either side.
Stelle, her long silver-hair being mildly disheveled, had the crook of her neck resting on Dan Heng’s shoulder, her arms wrapped around his midsection. March was completely curled up in a little ball of cuteness and resting her head on Dan Heng’s chest. Dan Heng was resting the back of his head against the couch with one hand around Stelle’s shoulders and the other resting on the top of March’s head, intertwining with the locks of her hair.
Himeko chuckled quietly as she finally took the picture, making sure to save it. Maybe she’d show it to them later, but probably not. Hm… maybe it would make for a good wallpaper. She would have to give it some more thought, but the idea was certainly tempting. Perhaps too tempting to pass up?