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Blue loved to dance. It brought him a practically exuberant joie de vivre, more than most everything, as was quite evident in the manner he carried himself.
Though he was undoubtedly a virtuous poet at heart, there was a particular beauty in the art of dancing that simply just shone brighter than any wellspoken words. It was versatile– an incredibly broad method of storytelling when accompanied with even a single instrument.
Like a gentle curtsy and a tender oboe giving the feeling of somber yearning, or a third arabesque and an eager violin granting a merry anticipation for the next step.
In the simplest of terms, a ballet was merely another language in which to tell a story– a method of speaking the unspoken, so to say. Still, for all of its simplicity, it remained nigh-unfathomably vast in the countless manners it could be utilized, however grand or modest.
That’s what Yellow loved about dancing. Well, probably, he didn’t actually really understand a whole lot of that stuff, he often got lost trying to figure out the subtext, let alone comprehend it. And by tarnation, he couldn’t keep a pretty rhythm to save his life, ‘less you want to count kicker dancing as someth’n sophistercated.
But he knew one thing with undying certainty, and that was that he loved looking at Blue. So even if all of those big words and feelings weren’t his strongest suits, he still knew exactly how he was supposed to feel from the sound of a cheerful piano and the sight of his lover in a pirouette.
The feeling being delighted admiration if that wasn’t obvious. For being so sure, he sure wasn’t.
“Oh, dearest lover, what ails you so…?” Blue suddenly asked, forcing Yellow to shake his head and realise that he must’ve had his head in the clouds again. He hadn’t even noticed his partner standing next to him in the first place, he must’ve been real preoccupied.
“Huh? Oh, nothin’ at all, dewdrop, a’was just thinkin’ bout you ‘n’stuff…” the cowboy mumbled, tugging slightly at the brim of his hat with averted eyes as he bounced back and forth on his feet. “... I keeps tryin’ to understand that ‘bal-lay’ thingy youse keeps tellin’ me about, but y’know how I am with that’n stuff.”
Blue gently shook his head with quiet, urbane laughter, raising a dramatic hand to his forehead as he spoke with a theatrical cadence. “Such vigorous curiosity already, Yellow, it truly warms my heart… though if you wish for a certain guidance to help you understand my passion, then please, feel invigorated to let me teach you the ways of the waltz…”
Yellow swallowed a sudden, nervous lump in his throat and shook his hands with dismissive uncertainty, chuckling awkwardly with a certain fluster. “Why, that’s mighty kind of ya, Bluey… but ’m’s about as grace-full as a cow in rolling skaters…”
“Oh, nonsense, my dear…” the ballerina said, reaching for his lover’s hesitant limbs with encouraging embrace as he sweetly ushered him centre stage and hummed, his voice a soft coo. “...even if you held only the poise of a sproutling, you need only my hand and thine for this dance.”
The sound of his own boots clacking on the smooth wooden floor had Yellow swallowing another lump in his throat– and at this point he was starting to assume he just had someth’n in his mouth for real, what, with all that swallowing.
“Yer sure…? I-I mean, I’d sure love to try, but ain’t it hard to learn…? With all ‘em steps t’ remember…” he mumbled, holding onto Blue’s steady fingers with a mild trembling and trying his damnedest to seem like he wasn’t stricken with a frankly ridiculous panic.
“Not at all, my love… once you know the humble genesis of a waltz, it will be but a breeze to learn the rest.”
Yellow clenched his partner’s hands a little tighter, eyes practically glued to the floor as he stared at his leather boots as though their soles had lost all friction and one careless move would send him tumbling.
“You needn’t be so tense, Yellow. Watch our feet for a moment and follow along as you can, just like this,” Blue said, moving his left foot to the side and patiently waiting for Yellow to mirror his movement. “...mistakes are par for every course, do not let it cause you fret.”
Yellow managed to follow along with Blue’s gentle guidance, apologising profusely under his breath with every stumble. Quite the ordeal, it seemed, as the cowboy somehow managed to almost trip on his own spurs nearly a dozen times.
Fortunately, his struggle was only temporary, as in surprisingly little time– per his own standard at least– Yellow found himself actually able to follow along the simple steps. Sure, it didn’t exactly take a genius to understand the basics of a waltz, but a feller like him? Blue was nothing short of a miracle worker, really.
“I-is this right? Am I doin’ it right, Bluey?” Yellow asked, his posture straightening with steady confidence as he found comfortable footing.
“Yes, my love… just like that, like you’re dancing on the very Donau,” Blue said blissfully, already guiding Yellow’s right hand to his waist as he ever so slightly increased the pace, tapping his fingers on his partner's shoulder in a “1-2-3” pattern to subconsciously maintain the time signature. The cowboy didn’t even have time to stress about the change before he’d already adapted to it.
“I’ll be darned!” he chuckled with disbelief. “This ain’t so terror-fying as I thought it’d be!”
“Of course not, you are beyond excellent in my arms, my dear…” Blue nodded eagerly, his patient, educative steps turning far more elegant as he turned to spin. “Let the melody of your soul carry your flow as you go, and may your heart be a symphony of its own!”
Yellow easily followed the movement, loosening his hold on Blue’s waist and letting him do a quick inside turn. Then, just as swiftly, he reconnected his hand with the ballerina’s shoulder blade and used the momentum to guide him into a spin turn. “Well, I dunno bout no symphony, Blue, but I’ve been listenin’ to the rhythm of your heart beatin’ cause i’s a whole lot purdier than mine…” he admitted a little breathlessly.
Blue simply hummed with laughter, eternally amused as the muddled roles of ‘lead’ and ‘follow’ were tangled beyond distinction, long discarded into pleasant chaos, and he merely moved as he felt.
There was no order, no patient steps, no need for teaching and guidance, not anymore. Now they were just… dancing.
Yes, that’s what they were doing. Dancing. Like they’d known how to for their entire lives, like the act had been scribed in their entwined roots before they were ever even budded in bloom.
What a poetic thought. Such an intricately beautiful idea, Blue wanted to bask in it forever, if only they had the time. Alas, all good things, et cetera, you know what they say. He wasn’t the man to turn down the opportunity for a grand finale.
With a final spin turn, he shifted his grip to hold Yellow steady by the back of his waist and tossed him into a gentle, low dip– the cowboy’s spine almost comically bent as he stretched out his lanky arms and quietly yelped “Oh, sweet cheese and crackers-!”
Although a little dramatic, it was actually a pretty controlled dip. Blue had the defined muscles of a seasoned dancer after all.
As quickly as he’d been dipped, Yellow was back on his feet, glaring down at his boots and blinking for a second before he looked back up at Blue with a bewildered grin.
“Well, I’ll be! You’ve done tipped me like a real cow-boy, huh?” he said excitedly, reaching up to adjust the brim of his hat… Hm? Oh, nevermind, it was on the floor now. He knew that.
Blue covered his mouth with his knuckles theatrically, chuckling tenderly as he’d already picked up the hat and stood on pointe to give it back to his partner. “Do forgive me if I startled you, Yellow… it seems I may have gotten a little carried away in my passion…”
“Hey now, don’t you dare go ‘n apologise for someth’n like that, dewdrop!” Yellow exclaimed a bit too loudly, carefully grabbing the sides of Blue’s face to look him in the eye with a determined gleam. “Youse was havin’ fun and so was I! Next time round, I’ll be the one that cow-tips you, you hear me?”
The ballerina simply softened his ever pleasant gaze, feeling it unnecessary to correct his lover as he gently nodded and grazed the back of Yellow’s hands with his fingers. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”