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Their pantomime rehearsal had fallen apart ever since Pat left. The show needed a cohesive vision and ideally something less depressing than what Thomas was throwing at it. Robin was the first to tire of the abuse and walked off stage for a break. Captain jumped from his seat. With the stage cleared, this was the perfect time for him to test out some ideas for the ballroom scene he had been mulling over.
"Why won't we look at the choreography for the ball? I have a few suggestions."
"Later. We'll get to the frippery in good time."
Captain was a little hurt but he wasn't sure what he expected. This was the biggest power trip he'd seem from Thomas in years. A small part of him wondered if this is what he looked like to the others.
So instead of moving on to choreography, Thomas practiced his soliloquy while Captain reran the show order in his head. He could hardly stand to watch as the poet gabbled on. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Kitty strode back towards the stage. "Is that enough Thomas? Because I for one would love to move onto the dancing," she beamed and played with her skirt. "Captain, you said you had some ideas?"
Captain straightened his back and nodded eagerly, "Well yes! I had a few I've been mulling over."
"Not now Kitty I need to get down my..." Thomas started before she looked up at him with big pleading eyes that no one could be immune to. "Well alright then. I suppose it wouldn't hurt."
Kitty clapped and hopped back onto the stage. She did a big twirl around, as if to show what the ruffles in her dress were capable of.
"Now Kitty, is it alright if I show you what I had in mind?" Captain asked as he clipped his swagger stick to his belt and joined the two of them on stage.
"Of course!" she giggled.
"Ah lovely," Captain beamed. "Now no offense Thomas, but I have seen your dancing before and I am not sure if it .. quite fits the period." Captain caught an offended gasp out of the corner of his eye as he positioned himself in front of Kitty.
"I was thinking something like this could be quite nice," he said as he raised his hand up so that Kitty could grab it. He rested his other on her waist and then instructed her to place her free hand onto his shoulder like so.
Captain worked through a few steps of a simple dance, humming out the music he imagined for the scene. Kitty followed along wonderfully and he could not help but be proud of how quickly she picked it up.
"Marvelous Katherine. Now Thomas, why don't you give it a go?" he asked, letting go of her hand and motioning towards the other man.
"Seems simple enough," he mused as he resumed the position Captain was just in. "Like this?"
Captain could've sworn that he sounded nervous, but that would be quite unusual for him, "Yes, right Thorne. Just like that."
It was when Thomas started to move that Captain supposed he had a reason for sounding nervous. The two of them were simply not in time at all. Thomas was vaguely following the same steps that Captain had demonstrated, but his timing was horrendous and he kept stepping over Kitty's toes, much to his horror. "Sorry, sorry!"
They gave it an earnest try for a minute or so before Captain could no longer bear watching the trainwreck in front of him. "No, no Thorne, you've got it all wrong. Watch out Katherine," he sputtered out as he gently shoved her aside and replaced her hands on Thomas with his own.
If Thomas tensed when Captain grabbed hold of his hand, the soldier did not notice. "Try it like this," he gently instructed and began to move, slower than before and counting out the steps.
Thomas was still clumsy, but seemed to be picking it up more quickly this way. His face was tight with concentration and as his steps became more assured, it was almost as if he wanted to make the Captain proud.
Suddenly, Captain dropped his hand down to his waist, nudging Thomas's up and taking the lead, "Now let me show you something. To add to the romance of the scene, perhaps you two could even do a dip," Captain said, and at the next turn around the stage he demonstrated. He dipped Thomas low to the floor, careful to hold up his weight (not a challenge as it turned out). Before Captain knew it, their faces were inches apart. He was quite sure he had never been that close to the poet.
All at once, it occurred to him what he was doing. He was dancing with Thomas. Before then it felt obvious to him that it was a simple demonstration for the sake of the panto but now that Thomas's features were in clear view, Captain felt the weight of the moment. He felt Thomas's palm in his own, the smoothness of his waistcoat beneath his fingers, and the firmness of his ribs just below.
In that moment of something beautiful and terrifying flashing across his mind, he nearly dropped him. Luckily he was able to regain his composure quickly enough to safely lift him and resume the number. The last few moves of the dance followed without issue and then Captain was able to step back, pulling his hands away from Thomas almost as if he'd been burned. He caught a glimpse of something that looked like hurt on his face before he quickly averted his gaze.
"Ah yes very good Thomas. That was much better," Captain could feel heat rising up to his ears and prayed that no one else could notice. He grabbed for his stick again and made his way back to his seat in front of the stage to get on with the rest of rehearsals.
For the rest of the evening, the rehearsals went off without a hitch (although they certainly got easier once Pat came back) and Captain was mostly able to distract himself from the traitorous thoughts that kept popping into his mind.
They became harder to avoid however with the way Thomas kept stealing glances in his direction. Still though, it was not enough to knock Captain off of his game and the pantomime was a roaring success once they were able to perform it for Alison.
After the show, Alison excitedly ushered them towards the gift room. It was a lovely way to celebrate the end of the evening. Every ghost was so excited to open (or at least observe) their gift and they were chatting away like it was a real Christmas party.
As they were all enjoying their gifts, and excitedly checking out one-another's, Thomas took the opportunity to stride over to the Captain. While the Captain initially thought he would strike up some conversation about Risk, he immediately knew something was off when Thomas came to a halt closer than he normally would and kept his voice low as he spoke.
"I wanted to say thank you for your dance lessons this afternoon."
Oh, that.
"And really to apologize for brushing them off in the first place. I think it was a lovely touch to the final performance," he added.
"Well it was no trouble at all Thorne," Captain gave him a short, slightly nervous laugh. "I grew up taking ballroom classes, of course."
"Do you think I might have another dance sometime?" Thomas asked, still keeping his voice quiet.
Captain was wondering if he might've misheard him. Entirely possible in his mind with how much blood was rushing to his ears. "A-another?"
"Only if it's agreeable to you," Thomas's smile was warm and inviting. Nothing like the depressing display he was putting on earlier.
"Alright then," Captain managed to get out, beside himself that he was agreeing to such a thing. But he thought back to the warmth of Thomas's palm under his own and could not deny how much he would like to experience that once more.
Thomas seemed delighted at that. "Shall we?" he asked as he began to motion for the door.
Captain looked around the room in horror, grabbing Thomas by the sleeve and pulling him close so he could whisper to him, "Are you mad? Right now? What if someone is to notice?"
Thomas made no motion to pull his arm out of Captain's grasp but his demeanor was surprisingly calm. "Look at how busy they all are. Enthralled in their own conversations. I guarantee none of them will notice if we slip out."
Captain looked around and it was hard for him to disagree. No one was paying them any mind so he gave Thomas a small nod and let him lead him out into the next room.
Christmas music was still playing, although now pleasantly muffled from the adjacent room. The two of them were alone now, softly illuminated by fairy lights as Thomas reached for his hand "May I have this dance?"
Captain could only nod, and allowed him to take the lead. Thomas's moves had improved tenfold from when he first danced with Kitty that afternoon. They danced slowly like that for a long time, gently swaying to the music and making idle chatter about the panto.
"I wanted to try something I didn't get to earlier," Thomas eventually said, his grip slightly tightening in its spot over Captain's Sam Browne belt.
Before Captain could question it, he was swept off of his feet—delicately dipped towards the floor and once again Thomas filled his vision.
Only this time he lingered, and maybe it was his imagination but it almost looked like he was getting closer.
Just a moment later and Thomas's lips were on his and that was most certainly not a figment of his imagination.
It was short and sweet (most certainly shortened by how long Thomas was able to hold him in that position before his arms would start to shake) but magical all the same. Captain blinked a few times, already missing the warmth on his lips when Thomas pulled him back up. Their rhythm was entirely off by that point but neither of them seemed to mind very much.
They were able to find it again, with Thomas wrapping his arms around his neck this time as they continued to sway. As much as Captain knew this should be terrifying, there was something so strangely comfortable about the moment. So he pushed down any negative emotions and let himself be captivated by the lights twinkling in Thomas's eyes as they danced through the night.
"Merry Christmas Captain."