Work Text:
The air of the Dark World always felt cold, no matter where you were in it. The sun did not shine here, the land instead enveloped in the glow of the ever-present fountain at the center of the fortress Susie now stood in. It was strange, but she liked it this way. The air here was crisp, and she could feel the magical energies of this place in the tips of her fingers. Here, in this castle at the center of the Dark World, she felt right at home.
Susie had come to the Dark World on her own today. Kris was busy today. She never bothered to ask why. Their loss, she thought. They’d miss out on the new addition to Ralsei’s room she had. Ever since they had seen it for the first time, she and Kris had been finding what they could get their hands on and adding it to his room. Anything they thought he would like or needed would be added. And slowly the room would be filled with life; like it was a room somebody actually lived in, unlike the blank room it was a week ago.
Today, Susie had managed to get an old record player along with some records from one of the Darkners in town. Perfect for a nerd like Ralsei. She hadn’t yet listened to the records to see what music was available, but she wasn’t even sure what kind of music Ralsei liked in the first place, so she just had to hope they would do.
She approached the green door at the end of the hallway and knocked. The door opened to reveal a short Darkner with white fur on the other side.
“Susie!” Ralsei pulled the door all the way open and engulfed Susie in a tight hug, sending her back a step.
“Hey, watch it!” Susie practically had to rip the Darkner off of her, “I almost dropped what I got for you!”
Ralsei let go and looked at the box held under her arm. “Oh,sorry, hahah. What do you have there?”
Susie stepped past him and into the room. “Something new for your room. I’ll show ya.”
“Oh, cool!” Ralsei clasped his hands together as he followed her in. Not even a week ago, this room was entirely empty aside from the window on the wall opposite the door. But Susie, with Kris’ help, had spent hours finding new things for Ralsei to keep in his room. He repeatedly insisted that he didn’t need any of it, that he had survived this long without; but even he couldn’t deny that sleeping in a real bed was better than sleeping on the floor.
Susie sat the box down on the floor carefully, and pulled the record player out to set it on a nearby dresser.
“Check it out Ralsei, got you something to listen to music with.”
Ralsei approached the device and stared wide eyed at it. “Wow, Susie, that's really thoughtful of you.”
Susie shrugged, “It's no big deal, just got it from someone in town and thought a nerd like you would like it.”
“Well, I really like it,” Ralsei turned to look at her, “Do you have any music for it to play?”
Susie nodded and brought the box over to Ralsei to show him the collection of records. There were around a dozen unlabeled vinyl records in the box. Not a huge collection, but it was a good start. “I don’t actually know what any of these sound like, so you’ll have to find out for yourself.” Susie pulled out a random record from the box and gave it to Ralsei. “Wanna put it in?”
“Sure.” Ralsei carefully placed the record on the turntable and moved the arm of the player into the correct position. The record spun and the room filled with the sound of ballroom music. Not exactly Susie’s taste, she thought as she looked at Ralsei. Judging from his foot tapping the ground to the rhythm of the music and his smile, he seemed to enjoy it, to Susie’s relief.
“You gonna start dancing or something?” Susie teased.
“Maybe!” Ralsei chuckled, “I do know a little bit about ballroom dancing.”
Susie raised an eyebrow. “You do?”
“Yeah, want to dance with me so I can show you?”
Susie’s face flushed. Was this a serious question? The mere thought of her ballroom dancing was an idea so absurd she was almost convinced that she imagined the words being said to her. “I, uh… don’t know how,” was the only sentence in her head she could manage to convert into speech.
“Don’t worry, Susie, I can show you.” Ralsei held out his hands. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
Susie hesitated. Was she really going to do this? She looked at Ralsei’s face. He had a look of sheer infectious enthusiasm that she could not bring herself to say no to. He had that effect on people. She hated it, but she still let the effect take hold.
“...Sure.” Susie begrudgingly placed her hand in Ralsei’s. She could not believe this was happening. She just tried to ignore the warm feeling in her cheeks, and the matching blush on Ralsei’s own face.
“Just copy my movements, Susie.” Ralsei then began to move, with Susie quickly trying to mimic his actions. She practically stumbled over herself to keep pace as they waltzed across the room. Ralsei’s movement was surely amateur work, if his occasional fumble was any indication, but next to her clumsy, stiff technique he looked graceful by comparison.
As the dance continued Susie felt her body begin to loosen up. It was easier to match Ralsei’s movements without stepping on his feet, and she maybe even started having fun. Even if she would not admit as much. She could feel that he was much closer to her than before. One of his horns kept brushing up against her face. And was that mint she could smell? Susie looked down at Ralsei and as if he could sense her gaze he looked back at her.
He was extremely close; close enough that his horns nearly poked her in the face as he looked up at her. It was only now, staring at her friend’s blushing face not even a few inches away from her own, did she realize what she was doing. He certainly could hear her heart skip a beat. And he certainly understood what this looked like.
She looked away, so as to not let Ralsei see her face turn a new shade of red. They had looked into each other’s eyes for what felt like years, yet she knew it could not have been for more than a split second. A part of her wanted to push him away and run off. But she didn’t. This was a little fun. Even if it was weird and somewhat frightening. Ralsei’s movements quickened slightly, even though the song’s rhythm hadn’t changed, and Susie had to readjust to keep up.
“You’re, uh, you’re a good dancer, Ralsei.” Susie said quietly. She needed to say something, anything, to calm her nerves.
“You think so?” Ralsei said. “I really don’t know much about dancing.”
“Well, compared to me you’re like an expert.”
Ralsei chuckled. “If you say so.”
This felt like the most nervewracking moment of her life. Of all the things she expected to do in her life, this was quite literally the last thing she could have predicted. But here she was. She was here in Ralsei’s bedroom, dancing around the room with her best friend in a sort of clumsy, amateur harmony. This felt right.
And then the room fell silent with a light scratching noise.
The two froze, their rhythm harshly interrupted by the end of the song. Both Susie and Ralsei’s eyes locked onto the record player. And then they looked at each other. Immediately they let go of each other’s hands and recoiled back from the other.
Ralsei hurriedly went to turn off the record player. Susie stood there in shock. Did she really just do all of that? Or was this some hallucination she’s just experienced? If it was, how did it feel so real? The smell of mint from Ralsei’s fur, the awkward stepping on each other’s feet as they tried to keep pace with each other. The feeling of his hands joined with her own.
What just happened was definitely real, she concluded. And she had no idea how to process this fact. She wanted to scream into a pillow forever, but a small part of her wanted to do it again.
“Hey, um, Susie…” Ralsei broke Susie out of her trance. He was standing in front of her now.
“Y-Yeah?”
“Thanks for the record player.” Ralsei smiled as he looked back at it. “Really, I love it.”
“No problem, dude.” Susie gave a thumbs-up and crossed her arms. She hoped he didn’t notice the blush that she still had.
“And thanks for indulging me by dancing with me,” Ralsei chuckled. “I know that really isn’t your kind of thing, and that its probably just nerdy stuff to you, but I had a lot of fun.”
“I, uh, did too.”
Ralsei’s smile grew even bigger. “Really??”
Susie aggressively poked a finger into his shoulder, “Well don’t make such a big deal out of it! It was just a dance!”
“Okay, okay.” Ralsei laughed. He paused for a moment, as if deliberating on something. “But would you like to, um, listen to the other records?"
Susie smiled. “Yeah, sure. But the next song better not be something lame.”