i'm worn out from today, so here's a little bit of writing. maybe about 10 minutes? or just writing until i can't think anymore? either way, let's gooooo
alright, continuation of the last dance!au post.
aerion's probably one of those guys who sees a challenge and decides he's going to be the one to beat it, no matter how insurmountable. so when aerion's tasked with being a guest instructor or judge or dancer at some backwater dance studio as punishment for wrecking all his prior partners, he's not well pleased but he does as he's told.
he meets dunk there, naturally. and dunk is trying so hard to dance well, bless him, but some of those dances just require a partner and everyone avoids him like the plague. so up goes aerion, staring dunk up and down to figure out what it is about this mountain of a man that makes people nervous.
after all, aerion's a dragon. dragons aren't known for their delicate nerves.
and after some hard staring, aerion can't quite figure out what is wrong with dunk's dancing per se, at least not until aerion claims dunk as his dance partner and they get going.
turns out, dunk being big meant he was also incredibly strong. which meant that certain tosses or lifts had aerion swearing he could dust the ceiling rafters with his hair if dunk kept going.
and is aerion scared at all of this? even while dunk is stumbling over himself trying to apologize? absolutely not.
if this is omegaverse, this would be about the time where aerion's scent goes from being sour and bitter to going rich and sweet, very smug of him, very very much a superiority complex building now, because he's going to absolutely fly during the dances because everyone else was too much of a coward to know what they're doing with someone like dunk.
mind you, aerion's excellent body sense and proprioception are what's giving him this confidence. dunk has no such confidence, having been shunned for weeks if not months, then along comes this little dancer, someone from the famous targaryen family, and this bright flame chose dunk of all people. flea bottom dunk. dunk the lunk, thick as a wall, some called him, not just for his size, either.
one of the things they need to start working on is trust. aerion trusts himself and his ability to orient to whatever hold dunk's trying. that does not mean he trusts dunk as a person - he's treating dunk as a prop, the best one he's gotten so far, because this one won't argue with him so much. dunk, however, is gaining confidence in himself and in his dance skills, and he's realizing that he's not actually doing the holds right, it's aerion that's constantly moving to fix what dunk's messing up. or dunk's starting to get lax and he notices - because aerion's just autocorrecting.
and that can't stand, for dunk, the laziness he feels.
YN is staying overtime to practice her dance moves. Jungkook has a hard time sleeping, so he watches her dance.
- idol!au, dance!au, mentions of unholy things..etc
ONE
-> two
His hand traveled unconsciously to his growth while his eyes were fixated on your figure. Fuck. He couldn't take it anymore. You were new in the building for sure, he had never seen you around. Rumors had it that one of the dancers had an injury and you must have been the replacement.
For three days, he had been watching you, for three damn days he found himself glued by the window frame of the dance practice room watching you after hours. He decided black looked the best on you, but any clothing that the sweat made stuck to your skin was delightful. Call him hungry, his prey was right there in front of his eyes.
Oh, but it felt so good, you must have drugged him with your presence. He simply fell for how you danced, how you licked your lips whenever you swayed your hips, how you arched your head back when you were on all fours towering to the beat. It made him fucking lose it in public, pushing his hand to rub faster on his length through the loose fabric of his pants.
Jungkook thought he was being smooth until he arched his back against the door to continue what he had started, however, the sound of his head hitting the door betrayed him.
“Who’s there?”
You were a curious person, and as a matter of fact, even when the situation was creepy you walked right where the problem was. Many had spoken about how idol company buildings were haunted, and idols shared their experiences when practicing late.
“Fuck.” Jungkook whispered under his breath. He adjusted himself quickly and dragged the bottom end of his hoodie over his pants, hoping it would help cover his boner. Hearing your steps approaching the door, he revealed himself to the prey before it ran away. He knocked politely before pushing the door open. You stopped halfway to the door, almost too stunned to speak.
Is this Jeon Jungkook?
“Sorry, I-.” Slight panic was hitting. You knew the rules. No interactions with the idols. Your job was to learn and practice the dance with their teacher, perform it with the idols then wait and be hopeful for more chances like this if you performed well. Even if this was Jeon Jungkook, one of the hottest idols in the area, you weren’t going to let him take this opportunity from you.
“No, it’s alright!” he gestured with his hands. “I usually come here around this time to get some energy out of me in the practice room.” He was very captivating, you could understand why people found him attractive and exciting.
“Then I’ll leave.” You bowed to him, ready to move on and pick up your things.
“Wait! Where is that passionate person I just saw a few minutes ago?”
“Passionate?”
“Yes, passionate.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I have to go. You know the rules”
“Why? There are just the two of us here.”
“The rules. I don’t wanna lose my position.”
He walked closer to you but you were quick to ignore him and grab your things. He smelled good. Jungkooks entire presence shakes you to the core - and your core, but you thought you handled the situation quite well. He licked the bottom of his lip after you turned around one more time and bowed with respect. You should have at least introduced yourself. That was the worst first impression ever, but little do you know that you already did so well, Jungkook was all riled up and he wasn’t going to give up that easily.
"Damn." You were going to play good girl. Would you be his good girl?
Tonight he would think it through, but first, he would try to cool off these hot temperatures.
For the next day, he already had a plan. He studied you well enough to see that you starved yourself for hours and never took a break for food or water. That could be a great excuse to interfere. After all, he knew nobody but the cleaners roamed the building at these late hours. What was even better than this? Occupying the practice room you always danced in. You seemed to avoid the bigger ones. He was there half an hour early before your arrival, just warming up. Taking off his shirt was the ace in his sleeve, the boy knew how he was going to play, and the fact that you drove him to these ideas made his life just more interesting at the moment.
“Like what you see?” He noticed your reflection.
You pushed the door open and entered the practice room biting the inside of your cheeks. “I’m sorry, I was going to practice, but I can return here later.”
He turned around with his shirt in his hand and walked towards you. With every step he was getting closer, it made you realize how this man was living and breathing in front of you and how easy it was for you to zone out in a forbidden and unrespectful fantasy that should only stay between yourself.
“Did you hear what I said?” His smell brought you back to reality. He was incredibly too close that you noticed the small details on his tattooed arm. “You can have the room.”
“Yes, thank you” You bowed and moved out of the way.
“By the way, my eyes are up here” He pointed at his face and laughed.
He made it hard to be around. You understood why the dance training was never with them anyways - how could anyone even endure going through this with all seven of them?
Jungkook made sure you had time on your own, but he walked the Hybe hallways pumped with stamina. He wanted to get in there and dance with you, come closer to you, and get to know you and your body more than just seeing it through the glass. Another hour was worth the wait before interfering again.
“If Hyung saw you dance like that he’d give you the look”
“HUH?”
“Maybe have snacks and I’ll tell you.”
“Maybe stop trying to give me heart attacks!”
Without hesitation, you were pulled onto the floor by the hem of your hoodie.
“Got you water since I don’t know what you like.”
“Water’s great, thank you.”
“Got some energy bars, you look like you need them.”
You nod and pick the chocolate banana one.
“Will you tell me what I did wrong?”
“Eat that first and I’ll tell you”
The more you sat down the more you were getting nervous. If anyone walked in and saw you, it would all be over and that was all you could think of. He was sitting close and you just could not help but study his detailed tattoos.
"Stop being nervous, the company is chill"
"Easy for you to say"
"Yeah but when will they find a new dancer in a short time to learn the choreography in less than a week? They were lucky you could step in"
"Well, I have many dancers in mind."
"It's more complicated than that. It's also about the spotlight."
You stood up and shook off the crumples on your pants. "I'm ready."
From the very beginning to the very end, Jungkook performed the choreography. He ate and left no crumbs of that performance. Not only was this intimating, but it also made you realize why he was so respected. “Did you see my moves? You have to try to be more loose, you’re too stiff sometimes.”
You ran your hand through your hair and let a heavy breath out.
“Want me to do it again?” He continued.
“Let’s do it together, we’ll go slow the first time.”
Man, this made you so nervous. Did he even know that you were just a simple person doing dancing covers on TikTok? Did he even know that you had no major prior experience besides dancing with your friend who knows so much more? Not, since the slow steps for him were too fast for you, but you wanted to keep up and show you had potential.
Jungkook had called you passionate the other day, he saw something you didn’t. He wouldn’t just lie about it, would he? How long had he been watching you?
Once the music starts, your steps follow him slowly behind. When he sees you, he waves you over. Using a finger, he points to his left side and says, "Dance beside me."
Now, this was something else. You felt more lightweight, and his steps matched yours. You got hypnotized by his reflection, it was an instant drive to follow him as he guided you through the song. While he chose to raise the tempo, he also seemed to enjoy teasing you. While you missed a few steps, your stubborn nature did not let you give up. Towards the end of the song, you make your final move, but Jungkook does the opposite. He decides to make the “mistake” of turning and bumping into you, so you could lose your balance. He catches you right away before you manage to fall and holds you for a few seconds while he notices you’re processing what has happened.
When he steps back and lets go of you, you immediately feel cold - like somebody had pulled off the blanket on a cold winter day. Already missing his warmth might become a problem for you.
“Rule number one, work on your balance. Small mistakes can happen while performing and you need to be prepared to improvise, or make it look natural.”
“Got it, thank you.”
“Good luck and I’ll see you at practice, miss..?” He extended his hand.
You took his hand in both of yours and bowed, thanking him again for teaching you. “ My name is “L/N , Y/N”
“L/N Y/N” Jungkook smiled and left the room.
Finally, he knew whose name he would be moaning tonight.
If there is interest in part two, let me know!
I'd also like to mention that the banner is a picture I have screen captured and edited from a dance video that inspired this story.
I Just Wanna Dance With You - Chapter 9: Week 1: Part 1
Story Summary: Ace is the latest heartthrob musician on the scene–at least, that’s what he’s supposed to be. One drunken night gone wrong and a ton of social media posts later, his sexuality is forcibly outed, and the image Spinner Records carefully crafted for him crumbles almost instantly. He needs a chance to reinvent himself, so when a popular reality dancing show offers him a place as one of the first same-sex pair competitors, he feels the pressure to take it. Everything should be fine if he just fails out, right? But what if his partner turns out to be a face from his past?
Chapter Summary: Rehearsals start as Marco and Ace get used to being around each other again.
AO3
Can't believe I have to write a lot of words to actually make a multi-chapter fic.
Question for the au: would anyone find out about ash dancing habit and if so how would they react? (I can see Brock finding out but idk) -🔶
Brock doesn’t actually find out surprisingly. The club scene in general isn’t his idea and he doesn’t go to local dance studios either as he doesn’t dance himself. Ash doesn’t like showing off in front of his traveling companions because he gets this gut feeling they’ll ask to many questions or brag about it to almost everyone they meet in some way. Like an anxiety thing instead of being pompous about it.
Dawn finds out about it because she decided to take a dance lesson a local club was hosting for her contest, it included their Pokémon partner so Dawn was getting inspiration from it. Brock and Ash went to do their own thing as they had wanted to just take a ‘me’ day as well. She ended up seeing Ash in another room like across the hallway from where her lesson was being held.
Rap and all sort of other music would change frequently in the room but she caught Ash going through a free style run to a Unovian pop song and him and his partner was really in sync. She stopped and watched in amazement with Piplup how Ash barely even sweat as he did all these crazy dance moves across the whole floor while the few other people with them were hyping him and his dance partner up. She ended up missing her lesson just to watch Ash, secretly because she’s just like that. 
Trip was the next to find out. Surprisingly going to the gym to work out himself and spotting Ash and Burgh of all people in a studio that was by the rack he was setting up at. He tried to ignore it but soon the two’s movements caught his eye. It was a mix of freestyle and ballet and honestly one of the coolest things Trip has seen in a while, though he’ll take it to the grave.
Trip had switched to a treadmill after a couple of minutes, not even finishing his set on the rack, because he couldn’t keep his eyes off the two. He could hear what Burgh was telling Ash though he could barley hear the music from the very sound proof room and the window pains shook just noticeably. He also didn’t know just how flexible Ash was at the moment.
Ash had joined a salsa/tango class in Kalos for the bell of it, after returning to Lumiose city with the gang and going off to get a breather from them, and he was surprisingly paired with Malva. He was new to the class and everyone else wasn’t so the instructor wanted to see where his skill lie. It was also the first time he met Lysandre but Ash didn’t know it at the time as the man looked nothing like the evil asshole during the Kalos Crisis. It wasn’t until later that Ash made the connection between the two.
Alola is rich with dance and music so the entire class knew about Ash’s like of performance, though not nearly the entire extent of it, so they were more then happy to try and teach him. Kukui even made it as a little class bonding event during school hours and a project for each student to learn one specific dance and try and teach it to Ash during the week.
The Professor, and Burnet later down the road, took to teaching Ash the slower dance’s. Kind of like a wind down method after a hard week or a particularly stressful day. Sometimes they didn’t even do Alolan dances, sometimes just having their own dance battles down at the beach and making fun of each other. Hau was on a mission to teach Ash more of the strict traditional dances before he left.
Gou and Chloe don’t know about Ash’s hobby, though their catching on to their friends disappearance act that he does every couple of times every week. Since he’s stationed in a well known town Ash is able to go to a lot more spots to freestyle with people and actually make connections that way.
They do catch him in the future though on a particularly rowdy night. A festival held in the honor of Mew and everyone was wearing mask’s and clothing both traditional and not to Kanto’s culture. A sort of dance mob surrounded the middle park of the city and Ash was in the direct center of it all, dressed as Lugia in non traditional clothing with his own painted mask that flowed in the dark. Other friends from his dance endeavors had joined him that night to do what they always do, this time in the midst of the public and giving out a free show to everyone, and they all made their clothes glow in the night sky.
The park they chose was gorgeous, street lamps weren’t on and instead lanterns and fairy lights strung from the tree’s. A gazebo located behind them and was used during all the coordinated dancing they did. Much like those dancing movies when that finally scene happens or something like that.
Goh and Chloe knew it was Ash by the sound of his voice and were openly surprised, like jaw to the floor, as Ash took charge of most of the group dancing. Being the center of attention for a good chunk but not the majority of the night, more so than anyone else in the group though, and he radiated confidence and cockiness through his motions. Definitely because of the veil and security of the mask in his face.
So I've done some more work on the DanceAU that I have been brainrotting over for some time now. I at this point have a full design concept for Sun that I've drawn out and attempted to color. I am going to finish with Moon, Y/N, and possibly Eclipse before I actually release the story overview. But until then- here's my boi:
Warnings/Contains: Fluff, references to previous chapters/events (nothing graphic), dance terminology, dance competition terminology (keep in mind that I’m going based off of my experience as a competitive dancer lol), an ending you might cry from cause I almost did while writing it.
A/N: Y’all, choreographing a dance takes so long lol. Anyway, this is the end of the PBYS series. It’s been incredible and memorable to create this story for you all to enjoy, but I’m glad to have finally completed it so that many can continue to enjoy it. Love you all <3
February 10th, 2023
“Okay, darling, are you ready?”
“Yep!”
“Are you sure? You’re not nervous or anything?”
“I feel fine, dad! I promise.”
Tom smiled at his daughter, happy that she was excited to perform on stage. He grabbed the hairspray can from her bag and fixed a part of her hair that was sticking out from the two french braids that his fiance had done hours before. He grinned more as he heard someone walk towards them.
“Sorry I’m late! I had to make sure the other soloists knew where they were going.” Y/N kneeled down next to where Kayla sat while her father continued to touch up her hair. “Kayla, honey, where are your shoes?”
“They’re in her bag, sorry, love.” Tom glanced at Y/N. “After I had her put on her costume, her hair got messed up from putting on the hat.”
Y/N grabbed the tap shoes from the bag, quickly untying them. “It’s alright. I was just worried that we lost them.” She laughed softly, gently grabbing Kayla’s feet to help her put her shoes on. “Are you ready to be the king of New York, Kayla?”
“Yep!” Kayla grinned wide, bouncing a little bit as she sat on the floor.
“Keep still, darling.” Tom chuckled, grabbing a bobby pin and pinning a strand of hair in place.
“Sorry, dad.” Kayla stopped moving, shyly looking down at her feet as Y/N tied them for her. “Mom?”
“Yes, sweetie?” Y/N finished tying Kayla’s shoes and looked up at her.
“Will you be with me on stage?”
Y/N shook her head, smiling a little. “No, I’m sorry, honey.” Kayla frowned, making Y/N quickly add on. “But, if you’d like, I can stand on the side in the wings.”
Y/N nodded, sharing a look with Tom. They knew that Kayla was excited to perform her first competitive solo, but they could also tell that she was a little nervous at the idea of being alone on the stage in front of a lot of people. 50-60 people doesn’t seem like a lot in the long run, but in the eyes of a 6 year old nearing 7 in the next few months, that was a ton of people.
“Up next in the intermediate category, ages 5 through 8, please welcome number 57: Don’t Stop Believin’!”
Y/N gasped as she heard the announcer and opened the competition schedule book, looking through the list of soloists that were performing today. “Okay, we have 8 more till you go on Kayla. We should get you backstage soon.”
Tom looked at Y/N, clearly a little confused. “Even with 8 more numbers?”
“We have to check her in so that they know she’s here. Plus there isn’t a guarantee that all 8 numbers will be backstage and ready to go before her in that order either.” Y/N closed the schedule book, placing it under her arm. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who are scheduled at 7am perform at 10am because they didn’t pay attention to when they actually had to perform.” She rolled her eyes, thinking back on the memories and stood up; she brushed off her leggings even though she knew that wouldn’t completely get rid of the glitter and stray makeup marks from other dancers and their costumes.
“Alright,” Tom stood up as well, “do you need me back there?”
Y/N glanced over at Kayla as she looked at herself in the makeup mirror, smiling as she admired her hair and makeup as well as her Newsies cap; she shook her head. “No, I think she’ll be fine. You can go wait out in the audience while I check her in. She’ll probably want to see at least one familiar face out there.”
Tom nodded, kneeling down by his daughter. “I’ll see you out there soon, okay?”
Kayla nodded, pulling her father in for a hug. “Okay, dad.”
Tom smiled and kissed her forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you more!”
Tom chuckled and stood back up, taking a step towards Y/N, pulling her in for a kiss as well. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
With that, Tom left to go and find a good seat in the room where the competition stage was set up. Meanwhile, Y/N double checked everything that both her and Kayla needed before taking her hand and leading her backstage.
After checking her in, and sighing in relief due to only 2 other soloists before her being checked in and making Kayla up soon, Y/N looked down at her daughter and noticed the look on her face. She swayed slightly back and forth on her feet as though she needed to keep from moving too much, but her eyes were trained on the girl that was currency dancing on stage. She kneeled down next to her and placed her hand on her shoulder. “Kayla? Sweetie?”
Kayla looked over at her mom, eyes wide with curiosity and slight worry. “Hm?”
“You feeling okay?”
Kayla nodded, looking back out at the stage at the girl that just finished her routine. She stayed quiet for another moment before replying, her voice quiet so that no one could hear other than Y/N. “What do I do if I forget the dance?”
Y/N smiled, shaking her head. “I know you won’t, but if you do, it’s okay.” She took hold of Kayla’s hands in her own. “Use this time to show people how much you love to dance. And don’t be afraid to dance your heart out either. When you do so, your body will follow without you even realizing it.”
Kayla smiled at her words and pulled her mom in for one last hug.
“Up next in the intermediate category, ages 5 through 8, we’re moving onto tap. Please welcome to the stage number 65, King of New York!”
Y/N quickly let go of Kayla, gesturing for her to go on stage just like she practiced at the studio.
Tom grinned as he saw his daughter falap on stage, applauding along with some people in the audience. Kayla grinned as she saw him, going to the center of the stage and posing with her arms out to her sides while waiting for the music to start.
Ya don’t need money when you’re famous! They gives ya whatever you want, gratis!
Y/N grinned as Kayla started off the routine right on the mark, clasping her hands together as she watched from the sidelines.
A pair of new shoes with matchin’ laces. A permanent box at the Sheepsheads races.
“Slide, ballchange. Slide ballchange. Toe, heel, toe, heel. Shuffle leap, shuffle leap. Toe, heel, toe, heel. Shuffle leap, shuffle leap. Toe, heel, toe, heel. Shuffle leap, shuffle leap!” Y/N whispered the steps to herself, mostly out of habit, but part of her was afraid that Kayla would forget due to nerves and wanted to be ready to do the steps off stage just in case. But, as Y/N had learned over the last year that she had gotten closer to her, it was hard for her to forget something so important to her.
Look at me! I’m the king of New York!
Y/N grinned as she heard the famed lyric from the song. Part of her in the back of her mind was worried; but now, after seeing her on stage, Kayla looked more excited than ever to be dancing to her favorite song.
“Woohoo! Go Kayla!” Y/N cheered from the right wing of the stage, and as a result, not only did Kayla smile wider, but the other girls from her studio that were able to watch cheered for her as well. From the crowd, Y/N heard Tom’s distinct cheers, and she knew that Kayla could hear them too.
Am-scray punk! She’s the king of New York!
“Yes!” Y/N whispered to herself once again as Kayla rolled to the floor and did her two kicks before spreading her legs out to the side in a straddle; she stood up quickly, but not with too much haste, like her mom told her to.
I gotta be either dead or dreamin’. Cause look at that pape with my face beamin’.
Y/N’s smile dropped a little as she heard the lyrics, unable to stop herself from thinking back to when she still worked with her mother; before she had the life she always thought of having. It was as though she thought she may have been dreaming, and didn’t want it to end.
Tomorrow they may wrap fishes in it, but I was a star for one whole minute!
And if it was a dream, she was enjoying it all while it lasted.
Flashpots are shootin' bright as a sun. I'm one highfalutin' son of a gun!
Y/N resumed her attention back on Kayla as she heard the song cut to the final chorus just like she edited. She smiled as she watched her daughter turn, step, shuffle, and everything in between. “Alright, now the military.”
Y/N bit her lip, watching as Kayla did the step that she always struggled with doing due to her typically having lost a lot of her stamina by this point in the routine. Instead, Kayla continued on as though she had more energy than ever before, and did the step perfectly.
History! Front page story, guts and glory, I’m the king of New York!
Kayla then dropped into her left split, left arm out on the ground to keep her up while her right raised up by her ear, thus signaling the end of her routine.
Y/N cheered loudly along with the other people out in the audience. A few moments later, Kayla stood up and stepped off stage like her mom told her before practically jumping into her arms. “I did it!”
Y/N laughed, nodding as she hugged her, picking her up and replying in a quiet tone to remind Kayla to keep quiet while the next dancer got ready to go on. “Yes you did, sweetie! You did amazing!” She pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Let’s go find dad, then we can go get dinner, okay?”
“Okay!”
After setting her back down, Y/N took hold of Kayla’s hand and headed back to the dressing room area that their stuff was in. She texted Tom to meet them back there before helping Kayla out of her tap shoes.
“Dad!” Once she saw him out of the corner of her eye, she stood up and ran to her father. Tom smiled, picking her up and holding her close.
“Hi, darling! You did amazing, sweetie. I’m so proud of you.” Tom chuckled to himself, before setting her back down. Kayla began telling Tom about what it was like being on stage, making him think back to when he used to dance himself as well on stage.
Y/N smiled sincerely at the two, proud at how far the two of them have come over the last year. Tom glanced up at her near the end of Kayla’s monologue. “How about we go and get some dinner, girls?”
Kayla nodded eagerly, clearly hungry from only having eaten light meals earlier in the day. Y/N nodded as well. “Okay, but let’s get you out of your costume first, missy. The last thing we want you to do is ruin it before your other competitions.” She poked Kayla’s nose gently, making her giggle.
“Okay, mom.” Kayla went to take her costume, but struggled as she wasn’t entirely sure where the buttons were.
“Honey, wait,” Y/N laughed softly, kneeling down to help her take it off and put on her leggings along with her shirt and competition jacket, each item of clothing reading the studio’s name in one way or another. “Okay, do you want to keep your hat on or take it off?”
“Keep it on!” Kayla smiled, clearly wanting to keep her Newsie look for as long as possible. Y/N nodded, enjoying her enthusiasm; she looked back at Tom as Kayla sat down to tie her shoes. “Awards are scheduled in two hours, but they seem to be a little ahead of schedule. We should try to be back by,” she checked her phone for the time. “8:30 at the latest.”
Tom nodded, deciding to go along with how the ‘typical’ dance competition routine that Y/N grew up around. “Alright, sounds good.”
~ ~ ~
“Alright, everyone, let’s get these awards started!”
Tom and Y/N watched from the audience along with other parents and studio owners whose kids had solos. Kayla sat up on the stage along with the other soloists from her studio that competed in the same section that she had. All three Hollands were anxious, excited, nervous, and everything in between about the turn out of Kayla’s scores in her first ever competition
Tom turned to Y/N as the man announcing the scores continued to introduce himself and announce how the awards would be given out to each of the dancers. “So what do each of the scores mean?”
Y/N smiled and took his hand, trying to calm each of their nerves. “So they’ll most likely do judges' choice awards first followed by dance scholarships, but neither of those really matter when it comes to scores.” She smiled to herself as she saw Kayla admire the pins on the jacket of one of the other dancers from her studio. “First they’ll do everyone’s numbered score, but they name them differently. There’s silver, high silver, gold, high gold, platinum, double platinum, and lastly diamond; but diamond is near perfect and I’ve maybe seen 3 or 4 given out.”
“Was one of them for you?”
Y/N hesitated, not wanting to seem modest. “Maybe.”
Tom chuckled again, getting back on topic. “How do you remember all of these?”
“Family business, babe. Family business.” Y/N didn’t hesitate her response, resulting in a chuckle and shake of the head from Tom. “But after that it is a bit more complicated. Before the overall scores, you have the places of the ones who did the same dance style in the same age group and skill category. For Kayla she’s up against a fair amount due to her being so young and in tap no less.” She began to clap out of habit as she heard others do so for the first judges choice. “Then we have the overall scores. It doesn’t matter what age they are or what type of dance they’re doing; Kayla will be up against all of the soloists ages 5 through 8 in the intermediate category.”
Tom nodded, part of him starting to get a little more nervous after hearing how his daughter was up against multiple dancers for her first competition; meanwhile the other part of him found it cute how the (second) love of his life talked so passionately about the subject. It almost reminded him how she spoke when she taught him how to shoot a gun for the first time.
Since Y/N had left the mob, she had been able to make a life for herself along with Tom and Kayla, but that didn’t stop her from being cautious and still looking behind her back whenever she went anywhere. Even while at dance competitions, she felt as though she was being watched the entire time. Old habits die hard, but maybe that person now staring at her was the one that has been calling her ‘mom.’
“Alright, let's get these awards handed out!”
Y/N applauded once again out of habit, biting her lip as she anxiously awaited to hear her daughter’s score while the announcer went through the list.
“Number 65, King of New York, it’s a platinum.”
Y/N grinned, cheering loudly along with Tom who did the same.
“Number 66, Step in Time, it’s a high gold; Number 67, No Bad News, it's a platinum; Number 68, Let the Games Begin, it’s a high gold . First place goes to number 65, King of New York!”
They saw Kayla look to her friends as though asking what she needed to do. One of the older girls quickly spoke to her, pointing at the table at which the trophies and pins were. Kayla quickly stood up, heading towards it, grinning when she was handed her trophy along with her pin that she could now add to her dance jacket like the dancers she had seen throughout the day. She headed back towards the front of the stage, sitting down with her friends. She looked out into the audience to try and find her parents, but the stage lights and larger crowd of people prevented her from being able to do so.
Eventually, it was time for the overall scores, the one that Y/N was always worried about no matter the dancer since each one can vary depending on the competition.
“Alright, moving on, we have our overall scores for our intermediate category ages 5 through 8. Starting in 10th place, we have a tie between number 57, Don’t Stop Believing, and number 67, No Bad News.”
“That doesn’t shock me.” Y/N mumbled under her breath, but Tom heard her loud and clear.
“What do you mean?”
“There are so many dancers in the category, it’s not that surprising to have a handful of people who tie from their scores being the exact same despite their dance style or age.”
The announcer had gotten to the top 5 now, announcing another tie at both fifth and fourth place.
“In 3rd place, we have number 65, King of New York!”
Y/N grinned, applauding loudly along with Tom, their cheers for their daughter heard a bit more among the rest of the room. Kayla smiled and stood up, walking over to the line at the front of the stage to stand next to the people who tied for fourth place. She was handed her plaque along with a sash and small tiara (which was gently placed on top of her newsies hat) to show her third place win. After receiving everything, Kayla quickly moved her feet so that she was standing in fifth position like her mother had told her to do if she were to stand during this part of the awards.
Y/N smiled and continued to cheer as two other dancers from her studio had gotten second and first place, the one who had helped Kayla get her trophy earlier placing first; this made Kayla smile wide at her, starting to look up to the 8 year old girl even more.
The announcer then went down the line, asking each of the dancers to state their name along with their studio. When he got to Kayla, she was ecstatic.
“Now we have our 3rd place winner. What is your name sweetie?”
“Kayla!”
“And what studio are you from?”
“Queen’s Dance Academy!”
The announcer chuckled at her enthusiasm, asking one more question. “And who choreographed your dance?”
“My mom!” Kayla realized her mistake, almost hearing her father’s voice correcting her in her head, and quickly added, “Miss Y/N!” Much like her mother, some habits don’t always go away.
Y/N smiled, clearly touched, yet still laughed softly nonetheless. Her smile never faded as the other two dancers, one of which she choreographed as well, gave their answers to the announcer.
“Alright, let’s hear it again for the top 10! Take a bow, dancers!”
All of them did so, Kayla dropping her tiara as a result and quickly picking it back up, before all going back to where they were sitting on the stage.
After the awards were over, Y/N took Tom’s hand and quickly made her way towards the stage with him. The dancers from her studio stayed put, the ones who had done this process multiple times knowing that they were going to get pictures taken on the stage with their awards. Kayla grinned as soon as she saw her parents and made her way to them as quickly as she could while holding onto her trophy, plaque, and tiara (her ‘platinum’ pin now on the right side of her jacket).
“Mom! Dad! I got 3rd place!”
The couple bent down in front of her, pulling her close to hug her. Y/N took the items the girl was holding and set them down so that Tom could pull his daughter in for a tight hug.
“I’m so proud of you, darling!”
“I feel just like you, dad!” Kayla giggled; it was as though nothing could ruin her mood.
“Watch out, babe. She’ll surpass you before you know it.” Y/N smirked slightly at Tom, her gaze teasing him as much as she could.
“I know she most definitely will. If anything it’s you who should watch out for her. You’ve taught her after all.” Tom copied her tone and gaze, trying to one up his fiance.
“Oh really, now?” Y/N leaned in slightly, the smirk still on her face while she glanced down at his lips.
“Yeah, really.” Tom chuckled, leaning in as well before giving her a kiss. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“Hey! I want kisses, too!” Kayla pretended to act upset, stepping forward to plant a kiss on each of her parents’s cheeks, who also reciprocated afterwards as well.
After taking a couple pictures, and congratulating Y/N’s other students, the family of three packed up everything they brought to the venue before heading home.
Tom drove while Y/N looked over the competition schedule for the next day and Kayla began to fall asleep in the backseat. Tom briefly glanced back at his daughter, smiling before doing the same towards Y/N. The radio played softly, helping lull Kayla to sleep. Y/N looked up from her phone as she heard a familiar tune, smiling to herself.
I don’t want to die, or fade away. I just wanna be someone. I just wanna be someone.
Tom smiled as well, looking back on how the past year had gone for them both, all the way to where they were now.
I just wanna be somebody to someone, oh. I wanna be somebody to someone, oh. I’ve never had nobody and no road home. I wanna be somebody to someone.
Tom glanced over at Y/N again as he stopped the car at a red light, smiling when he noticed that she was doing the same. He reached out to her without breaking eye contact and took her hand in his.
And if the sun's upset and the sky goes cold. Then if the clouds get heavy and start to fall.
Some say that actions speak louder than words, but in this case, the silence between them said everything.
I really need somebody to call my own. I wanna be somebody to someone. Someone to you.
