DANCE YOUR HEART OUT

"Well, maybe one Monday we can just go for a drive and get lost. Maybe not... This upcoming Monday."

She bobs her head back and forth, thinking things over, humming to herself as she does. Really, there's not much to think over, she already knows what she's going to say, but the dramatic pause of her really having to think is amusing to her. Probably not to him, but she finds some sort of entertainment in it, especially as she feigns and grimace, looking back over at him.

"I know I'm inviting you over to my apartment, but this is a controlled environment. I'm not ready to tell a near-stranger to just throw me in his car and drive. I'd like to live at least another year of life, not get kidnapped and killed. Or worse."

With a wrinkle of her nose, she sticks her tongue out at him. Not for one second does she believe he's some creep, but the idea of messing with him is fun. After a moment, a grin breaks out on her face and she shoots him a wink, going back to her tea.

"But, really, wouldn't mind doing that at some point, it sounds fun. I've kind of always wanted to do stuff like that, just go get lost or head out for no reason but..."

But what? But her parents rarely let her leave the house during the day unless it was for school? She's had run-in's with creeps in broad daylight that have her terrified of stepping out alone in the dark? That a whole variety of things feed into this hesitation when all she really wants is to go out and do it at least once, feel what the freedom is like?

Yeah, all of it. None of it she should share, but all of it. Luna sets her mug down and traces the rim with her finger, watching as her skin wipes away the condensation building up on the ceramic cup.

"But... Yeah, maybe I'll just find a movie for us to watch this upcoming Monday. Horror could be fun. I don't scare suuuuuper easily, but they still get me. Could be funny to see how long the other person lasts."

There’s a moment of panic before she smiles and it dawns on him that she’s just messing with him. He can feel his lungs deflate with a sigh of relief before he works up to a little smile of his own.

“Well see, good thing I don’t have a car. Truck.”

He leans his head back and forth with the teasing, this strange warm feeling rising in his stomach and he’s never had peppermint tea before today, but maybe this is what peppermint tea does. It feels nice. Maybe he’ll have to start getting some to keep at home. He can just hear Lunath and his father now, all the things they’d say at opening the cabinets to find tea there. But Shand can’t say he’d really mind too much.

“Horror, huh? I️ guess I’ll bring my own pillow to squeeze to death so I️ don’t ruin any of your nice ones.”

He gives that teasing smile again, trying to camouflage the half truth there. The concepts in horror movies don’t phase him. Murderers, vampires, ugly evil things. None of that really bothers him. Its all the jumpy movements, the camera angles, the sudden noises and things you’re not allowed to see coming at you.

Maybe it goes along better with the clumsy side of his personality than it does the part of him that’s long and lanky and tattooed head to toe, but Shand has spent most of his life on high alert for some reason. Senses in over drive, either ignoring everything around him completely or focusing in on each and every detail so much that it exhausts him. So, jump scares? The literal worst.

The idea of watching a movie like that with her is, strangely, appealing though. Of course, the idea of sitting on the small couch, very close to her, where she will undoubtedly be able to feel every time he jumps and his heart rate spikes, that could be a little more embarrassing.

“What’s your take on comedy stuff? You strike me as a smart comedy kind of person. Witty stuff you have to think about.”

"Comedy?"

Luna has to take a moment to think that one over, lips pursing deep in thought. What's the last comedy she's even seen? It's... God, it has to have been years and she doesn't even know what the movie itself is.

"Not... Really?"

The answer has to leave off as a question. While she's having a hard time remembering one she's seen, even more so one she's enjoyed, the idea of comedy, the feeling behind the concept, is still rather appealing to her. So why hasn't she seen any? That's an answer that's a little elusive to her.

But. Maybe he actually answered it best himself.

"I don't want to say I hate them, but I prefer mature comedy in the sense it makes you think, just like you said. That's apparently very hard to find nowadays."

That's really the best she can give him right now so she has to end it with a shrug. Not the most graceful of responses but he seems to take it, thinking it over. It gives her a moment to thinking through at least a couple of Mondays.

"How about this... This Monday we'll watch horror and the following Monday will be comedy. I'm giving you a week to do some research and pick out a comedy movie you think I'll like. You up to the challenge?"

Her eyebrow raises with the smirk on her face, leaning on the counter, trying to gauge if he's up to the playful mission she just gave him.

“Alright. I️ can do that.”

He has to work to keep his smile from being too unreasonably wide. He diverts his eyes down again and doesn’t have enough time to think and stop himself before he’s rubbed the back of his neck again.

“Just don’t expect me to completely follow the rules.”

His smile flashes a little larger there for just a moment before it’s back under control again, tight and lopsided and closed. He can feel himself getting more and more jittery by the moment, thinking this out into the oncoming weeks. She hadn’t called it a date, and he knows it’s not a date. But still. It feels a little like one. And then again, at the same time, if it never turned into one, he’d still want to be there with her. Something about her presence is... different than anything he’s felt before. Calming, like he’s not thinking consistently about what a failure he is when she’s around.

That thought snakes it way back around to normal life, to work, to everything else he dislikes and he whips his phone out of his back pocket to check the time. It’s been on silent, his mistake, and his dad has tried to call him three times.

“Oh, shit. I️ didn’t realize it had gotten so late. I️, uh. Had probably better get going. But, but Monday?”

His tone turns hopeful, from disappointed to a little excited as he prepares to head back out into the rain.

"Monday for sure."

She smiles at him, reflecting his happy tone. When is the last time she's done anything at her apartment? All the other usual dinners are typically out somewhere else. This will be a massive change of pace in comparison.

Luna steps to the door and opens it for him, keeping it propped with her hip, head resting on the side of the door.

"Hey, knowing our luck, we'll probably see each other before then."

The thought makes them both grin before giving out their actual goodbyes for the day.



Trita sits at Jurrien's desk down in the studio still, trying to work out lesson plans for her expert class she wants to roll out next week. Tomorrow is Friday, meaning the students she asked should be giving her their answers to if they would like to join the next class up then.

Thank God she hired Jurrien to help with general management because she's not sure she could handle working the budget right now. All these papers with scribbles and scratches, throwing a laptop with a spreadsheet in on the mix sounds like ten forms of hell.

Everything is quiet other than her quick writing. The studio is empty, Darcin and Sive still at the bakery, Jurrien and Cazmi out on a quick date. Well... "Quick." They said it was just to get lunch but lunch was hours ago, it's nearly dinner. They've definitely stopped at some place that struck them as fun to bang. They tend to do that a lot.

Well... Honestly, Sive likes to pull Darcin all over the place for new experiments. Okay, so she's the only one in the "household" that doesn't get up to these sorts of fun antics. Sue her. She's learned her lesson. Good for it working out for everyone else, but things like that just aren't in the stars for her, that's something she has to remind herself every day.

That, fortunately or unfortunately, has her mind wandering to different times, times that weren't like this. To Dolan. It makes her shake her head stubbornly, trying to force the thought away and move on. Speaking of, he hasn't contacted her about her bike yet... Maybe something's wrong.

Just as she has the thought to get up and walk across the street, the front door opens. Trita sighs internally, making one last quick note before looking up from her work.

"Welcome in. What can I help you with?"

“Uh, well. I️, uh.”

Shand’s hands are shoved as far into his pockets as he can get them nearly as soon as he comes through the door. What is he even doing here? He’s spent the entire afternoon pretending to make progress fixing cars, instead thinking about everything else. Remembering the smell of peppermint tea, Luna’s wet hair. Their Monday nights. After rolling everything over in his head all afternoon, it just doesn’t feel like enough.

Its more than he had this morning when he got up, and it’s certainly more than he’d had a few days ago before he’d even known who Luna was. But God if everything can’t change in just a short amount of time.

He loses all the carefully practiced words when the woman looks up at him with piercing red eyes. She’s the head dance instructor, Shand is pretty sure. He’s seen her teaching class all the times he’s looked in and seems Luna there. Its probably better to talk to her up front, but he can’t say he hadn’t been wishing it was someone else, maybe someone who couldn’t look at him and tell he’ll never be able to dance to save his life. Who couldn’t look at him and smell the ulterior motive pouring off him.

Is this wrong to do? Is this what a creepy stalker would do? He just wants to have more in common with her. Hang out and have something more to talk about. But... maybe this was a bad idea.

He stays somewhat close to the door as it closes behind him, kind already working to prepare some exit strategy, some excuse. But some other thing deeper inside him has other intentions. Very determined ones.

“You, you teach the classes here, right? How do I️... how do I️ sign up for... for dance classes?”

"I am the teacher, yes."

Trita's tone is even, calm. Internally, she's anything but. This. Him. This man. Isn't this the person she saw walking by the bakery the other day? The one that reminded her of Dolan?

Seeing him face-to-face right now, he does more than just remind her of Dolan. It's like talking to a younger Dolan all over again with some differences here and there. Not to mention... He's wearing a mechanic's uniform.

Don't tell her... He can't be. Well, she's sure as hell not about to ask him right now, not when he's just walked in as a potential student. Trita does have plans to corner Sive later to ask about children, though.

"Signing up is easy. I just need you to fill out some paperwork and then give me the first month's fee. The cost is about $250 per month."

While she keeps everything professional, she can't help but tense her shoulders. What sort of cruel fate is this that Dolan's lookalike would come strolling into her studio to sign up for classes? This has to be a sick joke. No, Dolan probably sent this boy over on purpose just to mess with her, mock her. Something like that.

How else would this happen otherwise? It's too much of a specific coincidence.

"I offer a flexible schedule for my students, the only requirement is that you come to at least three classes a week, but you can read all those terms and conditions on page two of this paperwork packet."

This... Brings back some memories, she can practically see it like it's happening right in front of her. A younger version of herself, maybe ten, dragging this dark-haired boy behind her into a local dance studio, making him sign up for classes with her. She still can't believe she managed that but it had been one of the best events in her life. And worst looking back.

"So, were you looking for jazz, tap, ballet, contemporary, or hip-hop?"

It's taking a lot of mental effort to push herself and keep the customer service mask up, but she's managing. Reaching into a drawer on the desk, she pulls out the new-student paperwork and hands it to him with a pen.

He does the best he can, scanning over the paperwork that he doesn’t really understand, mouth opening and closing like some suffocating fish. He really has no clue what he’s doing here. Something in the woman’s voice bothers him a little, like right off the bat she doesn’t like him. That can’t bode well. Maybe if he threw all the papers in the air and ran out now, he could salvage this.

Besides, what is he supposed to say to answer her question? I’ll sign up for whatever kind Luna does? Has she told him the type of classes she takes? He feels like the answer is maybe yes, but he knows he gets lost sometimes watching her speak, the few times he has spoken to her. God, he needs to get it together.

He glances at the floor, trying to wrack his brain.

“I️... what’s... what’s the one you do Wednesday nights? Like last class of the day?”

He tries to hold back a cringe, knowing that is the worst way he could have phrased his own question. Not only does he not know enough about dance to begin with to even be able to indenting the types, but he comes across as having stalked them, too. And on both counts, the accusations there would be true.

“I️ just... okay, I’ll be honest with you, I️ don’t know anything about this. I️ just want... to try.”

Well, that’s about as honest as he feels he can be currently. His mouth feels dry and he keeps clearing it, biting at the insides of his cheeks while nervously glancing down.

Trita can feel her eyes widen slightly, face going as slack as she'll allow it before she pulls herself back together. That look on this man's face... She knows that look. She's seen it before. Some sort of longing, of overwhelming sense of uncomfortably putting himself out there for something he wants.

Doing something he's checked off in his head as something he'll probably hate but he has a reason to try it anyway, and a damn important one at that.

He stares down at the paperwork with a furrowed brow, deep in thought, trying to sort out the chaos in his mind. And then. Then he looks back up at her, his eyes searching her for some sort of answer, guidance, an almost childlike quality over this grown man's features. It makes Trita have to look away frantically, pretending like the papers on the desk have caught her attention.

That's... That's how Dolan looked when she brought him the papers to sign up for their first competition together. Dolan had been content with just the years of them taking classes, but Trita always wanted more. She had bigger goals for all of this. Convincing him to go up on stage in front of hundreds of people and be judged was difficult. But, after he got that taste of the competitive life, of everyone just watching the two of them dance around each other? He loved it, he could never hide that.

And she loved that.

"I, um..."

Fuck Dolan, fuck this man, they're both in on it. They're trying to push her to see how far she'll crack, aren't they? This stranger is a damn good actor, nailing all the important looks, she bets Dolan is just watching from across the street proud of himself. How long until Trita Airin cries? The age-old question of her life. How far can people push her before she just snaps one way or another?

... God, she hates even listening to herself right now. She's always been a sarcastic, sassy, snarky person with some level of cynicism, but not like this. This is extreme. What happened to her? Well, a lot, she knows that answer.

What happened to her... It's not this man's fault. The logical part of her brain tries to step in and talk some sense. Odds are extremely, highly, almost irrefutably in favor of her overreacting, that this isn't some sort of setup by anyone. This man that just walked into her studio as someone looking to learn, with important reasons all his own, doesn't deserve her yelling at him, sending him away.

But damn if it isn't hard to breathe and if her world doesn't start going dark around the edges. Now isn't the time for this. She clears her throat, looking back up at him, forcing herself to see him from a different, unbiased perspective for this moment.

"My last class on Wednesday is hip hop. That's... Kind of a fun genre of dance to just jump into for not having any experience?"

She manages a smile, something light and a little teasing, relaxing her shoulders, building her composure back up. It's not often that she slips like this in front of people, today had just decided to throw all it could think of at her suddenly.

Still, she's back now, and she tries to save this conversation, keep the tone pleasant.

"But. Trying is the most important part. I'm not going to tell you that you'll get it perfectly the first class, that's basically impossible. I'll teach you and you'll catch up with the rest of the class, then we'll see where your skill takes off from there. Who knows, you may develop your own style. You just have to get over the annoying learning curve first. It's a lot of fast steps, but I can teach you. I can teach anyone."

Her smile slips more into a proud grin as she leans forward on the desk, tilting her head while continuing to look up at him.

"I'm Trita Airin, by the way. You?"

Shand still can't make himself stop fidgeting here and there, feeling more and more uncomfortable in feeling like he shouldn't be here, but knowing that if he walked out right now, he'd just have a burning desire to come back and make himself try again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day.

"I... Shand. Shand Fox."

It takes him a second before looking around. The studio is empty, but he half expects Jurrien to pop out of somewhere and scold him for setting foot in this place where his prying eyes don't belong. Where no part of him belongs.

"Uh, my cousin works here. Jurrien? I, we're. He's my cousin."

He has to clear his throat for the thousandth time, finds precious little comfort in rubbing the back of his neck, fingers carding through his own hair like a self soothing mechanism.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I don't wanna waste your time, and I know someone like me probably doesn't... looking at me, you wouldn't think... you'd probably just...?

He sighs at his own locked up speech, a little visibly frustrated at how nervous he's become. He didn't use to be like this, did he? When was the last time he felt this flustered? Well, the last time excluding times he's spent in Luna's presence.

"I just... yeah, I wanna sign up. I'm just. I know I'm not. I probably won't do super hot or anything. Just, maybe wanna preface it by saying that."

He heaves a breath in, a deep heavy one like he hasn't breathed a full lungs-worth in minutes.

"So I... what do I need? Like... I guess shoes? Or stuff?"

"Oh, Jui! Yeah, he's dating my brother Cazmi. He actually lives in the apartment above the studio with Cazmi, Darcin, Darcin's wife, and myself."

Well, why wait to ask Sive about children? She could just get to the bottom of it now without her sister-in-law. It would be easy.

"If you're a Fox, I'm assuming you know Sive? I mean, her last name is Airin now, but she was married into your family for a bit through Dolan Fox."

Trita keeps her working guess of Shand being Dolan and Sive's son to herself, letting the thought naturally die off for him to fill in the pieces should he so wish.

Rather than wait for an awkward silence to fall as he debates speaking up on the matter, she stands from her desk, stretching out her back a bit. Just as he seems to perk up, curious about what she's doing, she steps to the side of the desk so he can see her in full, motioning to her outfit.

"Just come in something comfortable that you can move in. Most guys show up in sweats and some version of a tank top. If you ask me, athletic joggers are the way to go. Sweatpants just get too hot. On the subject of shoes, we actually keep a small stock in here that you can buy from. It's a sponsorship with that sports store down a few blocks."

She motions for him to follow her to a closet pressed on the opposite side of the studio, door built seamlessly into the wall of mirrors. When she opens it, it's actually more spacious than one would think. Wooden shelves line the walls, neatly organized with dance equipment. One section has rows and rows of shoe boxes. It looks like some very small hidden retail space.

"Well, go through these boxes and pick out your size. If you buy them through me, you get a twenty-five percent discount so they're only going to cost you fifty. Not a bad deal."

Shand crouches to look through the shoes, the slightest of chuckles coming out of him.

"Yeah, that's. That's my mom... if you live with her, I guess I don't have to tell you what a gem she is, huh?"

He sobers up a little bit, knowing to anyone not familiar with their relationship, that probably sounds rude, disrespectful, uncalled for. Now that he thinks about it, a lot of what goes on in his family probably comes across that way to people not inside it.

"Just so long as they're not in the same room, it's fine. Her and my dad. But hey, it's kind of weird, I kind of know both your brothers. Darcin's great, we love him. Me and Lunath."

Shand realizes that in his eagerness to get away from his own nervousness he's rambling. Why not spill needless facts to her? This person who he's going to be seeing regularly now. God, what has he done.

"You're... you're the one that was gone for a while, right? Darcin and my mom have mentioned you before a few times at the bakery. I just... kinda weird to know your brothers and not you. Well, I mean, not weird. I'm not weirded out or anything. Just, funny, I guess. But, now we've met and everything, so. All good."

He pulls out a pair in his size and holds them, hugs them really, flat to his chest like some kind of security blanket as he heaves in another deep breath. He kind of just wants to get this whole process over with so he can breathe normally again, his adrenalin levels fade back to normal. So he can go home and crawl into bed and berate himself for getting into all of this.

"So if I... you know, if I end up really sucking at this. You guys need... any extra help, or...?"

He maybe shouldn't have jumped to plan B immediately, but his tongue is feeling a little loose and his heart is already feeling pretty jumpy inside his chest.

"Oh, I love Sive. She's... Unique, but it's always fun. At least deep down I can tell she cares, especially when it comes to Cin."

That makes her pause for a moment, her mind reaching back, pulling out what had felt like the most obscure pointless memory for a long time. Now... Now it makes complete sense and takes high priority in her mind.

"Actually... I think I remember talking to Darcin on the phone and him telling me about his 'two new sons' or something. I wrote it off as him just unofficially adopting random people, but I guess it was partially serious. So, you're one of them."

Her brother is an idiot. Lovable, but an idiot. Who walks around telling people the adult-aged children from his wife's first marriage are his sons like they're toddlers walking around? No doubt, he probably excitedly brought it up to Sive and she encouraged it. She mostly believes Sive would do that because she saw how happy the idea made Darcin but, a small part of her, echoes what she just said to Shand: Sive is unique, probably thought of the confusion and chaos Darcin would cause saying something like that and set the plan in motion.

If it were anyone else, Trita would go talk to them, set things straight. There's no reasoning with Sive once her mind is set, especially if it's for her own entertainment.

"But, yeah, I'm the long lost Airin sibling that ran away, failed, and then came running back to Portland. You got me."

Trita isn't sure why she let that bitterness slip but she laughs it off to keep things amicable. They leave the closet and head back towards the front where the desk is. Shand sets the shoebox down on the desk as Trita starts typing away on a laptop to make him a receipt.

"I think you need to pick you head up, though. Dancing-"

Runs in your blood. That's what she was going to say, wasn't it? There's no way she can bring that up right now, not with all the weirdness and connections she has to Shand's family. Dolan probably told his sons all about his failed first girlfriend, she's sure, but it doesn't mean she wants to face the music right now. She has to alter her course again.

"Dancing takes time to learn like anything else. I'm assuming you didn't wake up one random Thursday, decide to become a mechanic, and then was the world's best within an hour. Like I said, it takes practice and there will be a learning curve, but I'll help you through it and we'll get you moving your feet in no time. Trust me."

"Well... I think running away and failing is better than never leaving and still failing anyway. Cause some of us are clearly living the dream."

He pulls the collar of his coveralls forward, making the sarcasm of his words very clear. He doesn't know exactly what she's referring to with talking about leaving and failing and running back home. But hey, the concept isn't too hard of a one to understand. Some nights Shand lays awake just staring at the light glares from his dimly flashing laptop screen against the ceiling, wondering what it would be like to leave here. To get away. To go and try to do something bigger with his life than just have his nose under car hoods all day.

But then he remembers that he tried that, to a very very small degree, when he'd gone to college. Failure after failure. So maybe he's dumb to even be venturing out with this at all. He hadn't thought that far through it before now. He's kind of guaranteed to screw it up, just like he does everything else.

No time for that now, not while he's got the shoebox clutched to his chest and she's ringing everything up. He's gonna have to hide these somehow- hide all of this somehow. It's a really good thing that his dad isn't home much. And now Lunath will have a secret to keep for Shand because, well, karma.

"But. Yeah, I remember like within two weeks of them getting married my mom stopped by and tried to convince me that she'd had adoption papers drawn up and everything and no shit, she legitimately took time out of her busy schedule to forge real government documents to try and convince me that somehow she and Darcin had gotten this done. I just know she's real happy with him."

Happier than she'd ever been at home. Which is waaaay beyond something he'd ever say out loud, especially to someone he just met. His parents have been divorced a long time, like a really long time. But Shand can still remember what it had been like before. Fighting, yelling, things breaking against walls. His mother had not been an even-tempered woman then and his dad had still been drinking. It wasn't good. Shand remembers closing his bedroom door and reading lots and lots of books to Lunath, in really loud animated voices, until the yelling died down.

Of course, he hadn't actually been reading them. Shand had never been a good reader, even at the normal age to have learned. So he often had just made up whatever the story seemed like it was, interjecting his own dialogue in funny voices, following along with the general path the pictures seemed to be taking.

But he can't say he's heard his mom yell since the divorce. He can't imagine her ever yelling at Darcin, ever saying a true cross word to him. Shand had accepted long ago that his parents' marriage had been wrong, and that Sive had found her soulmate when she met Darcin. And it makes him happy for her. But God, if his dad wouldn't just go ahead and find his so he could stop coming home at the craziest hours, giving himself no down time, rushing from one thing to the other, probably so he doesn't have to think about how lonely he is.

But it's not like Shand is even remotely in control of that. To be honest, he's not sure there's anyone out there who can put up with his dad, and even more, who could enjoy being with him while doing so. Good thing Shand's going to be spending even more time away from the house now. Three times a week. Damn.

"So is it like... how do the classes normally go? Is it gonna be really weird, me just jumping into one when I've never done this before? Like, I'm really clumsy. I'm, I have no sense of balance. If I close my eyes, I'll fall over."

"Well, I wouldn't immediately throw you in with the rest of the class. The first week or so, you'll be solo taught by Cazmi. He'll give you the basics, make sure you know terms and get used to how fast-paced the learning environment is. Once you're done, then you'll join the rest of the class with me as your teacher."

He's never even read about how all this works, has he? This is a spur of the moment decision for him. Why? Most people would read up on something they're about to sink half their week into and spend hundreds of dollars on.

What could be pushing him forward like this?

A small printer under the desk whirs to life, the mechanisms inside groaning a bit before they begin to move with one another. The sound of a piece of paper being pulled and pushed through the machine begins shortly after. As it works, Trita turns a portable card-reader towards him for him to make his payment for everything.

"That'll be three-hundred even."

He nods, setting the box down so he can fish for his wallet in his various overall pockets. Shand's hands are shaky and he's just now stopped stammering over his words while speaking with her. Her eyes narrow just slightly as some pieces start trying to click into place, something familiar nagging at the back of her mind.

Could... Does he have someone he's trying to impress? She's been there, done that, twice now. The first time was a little more genuine than the second but she still remembers the jitters.

That's not really any of her business. She's just here to be his teacher, nothing more. If he wants to talk, she'll listen, but she doesn't force her students to open up to her or anything absurd.

"So, you'll actually get here an hour before my last hip-hop class starts to work with Caz. The next week, you'll be right on time with everyone else. Got it? 5 P.M. sharp, Cazmi doesn't like to wait."

The printer goes quiet, spitting out the paper at her leg like it has some sort of vendetta, but she catches it just like she's done a hundred times before, sliding the paper across to him.

"Oh, and bring plenty of water. This is actually one hell of a workout."

Her lips twitch back up into a smile. You don't get in her shape by sitting around and that's something Shand is going to realize when working with Caz, she's sure.

Dakara hums as she turns about in the small kitchen, grabbing serving bowls from under the cabinet and closing it with her foot while rifling through a drawer for silverware to set the table. The place is small, that much has always been obvious. When Kael had picked out the studio under them, he'd worried for a few days for making his decision about the size of the apartment with it. Dakara had nudged him, told him it was perfectly fine, just like any place would be as long as the two of them were living in it together.

It feels like an eternity ago, but it hadn't been all that long, had it? A couple years? He'd saved up for this place, and that's part of the reason why Dakara loves it so much. She makes it more and more homey every day with little tidbits here and there. Fairy lights strung up across the tops of the cabinets and doorways, wall hangings in bright and colorful patterns draped across walls, photos of the two of them in the middle of some of their favorite memories every place you turn to look.

And nowadays, it always smells like something good. Either the soap they've been dabbling on in their free time or the dinners from their weekly group date. Kael has never come out and said it, but Dakara thinks sometimes that he was a little frightened when he first started dating her, that she'd find the two-for-one deal with him and his twin brother a little overwhelming. She could read that much on his face. But as someone who'd never had a close family growing up, Dakara loves the togetherness and adds more on top of it whenever possible.

She's got the lights in the rest of the house turned down a little low so she can enjoy the lights strung around as she fills the serving bowls with salad and grilled meat and diced cucumbers and sliced onions and any kind of topping she could think of. She loves make your own style dishes, especially when it's all of them together. That way everyone can have exactly what they want and not feel like they have to be polite and eat something they really don't like. Tonight, it's make your own gyros.

She spins around in the corner, lost in her little hummed song, while she loads the bowls onto a carrying tray to take across the room to the table. With the way the weather has been lately, she's pulled out all her sundresses from the back of the closet and has been wearing them proudly- she's got on the one with the daisies and the spaghetti strap sleeves that tie into little bows. The sun is just starting to go down, but with what little light is left, and in this dress, when she closes her eyes and spins, she can imagine herself in a wildflower field.

She hears the shower stop running in the other room, the bathroom door open- it still sticks a little, they'll need to look at that again at the end of the night.

"Better hurry up, hubs. Unless you wanna have dinner in your birthday suit. Not that I would mind. But you know, guests."

She giggles a little despite trying to keep a straight and serious tone.

"One second!"

Kael frantically tries to dry off his body. The way she said it makes it sound like everyone will be over any second and, despite the teasing little laugh she gives about eating dinner naked, that's not really on his list of things to do with company coming over. He slips on some black cotton pants paired with some sort of natural woven shirt Dakara had found at an international market in Seattle.

The fit across the torso is spot on but the arms... The arms of a shirt are always a problem. It was supposed to be a long-sleeved shirt, but Dakara had to cut off the sleeves to make it a tight tank-top for him. Back when he lived on the East Coast, it was always some form of business and casual day-to-day because that's just what people do over there. He doesn't mind the style and sometimes reverts back to it, but, when he moved and met Dakara, she introduced him to a world of more comfortable options.

He steps out of the bathroom as he scrubs his hair down with a towel. They learned the hard way that he has to do this outside of the small bathroom unless they want to patch the wall from his elbow striking into it again.

Dakara is floating around the apartment in constant happy motion, humming away. A grin breaks out across his face as he watches her. There's very little in the world that she doesn't love, but getting people over for dinner seems to be one of her favorites. At first, if Kael were being honest, he was worried this would be a one-and-done thing. She'd meet Rowan and Luna and decide she couldn't handle the East Coast trio's dynamic and not want to see the other two anymore.

To be fair, he wouldn't have blamed her if that had happened. Kael has always been close to Rowan and the two of them have always been close to Luna, it's just how it was since they were little. The three of them taking on the world. College had been difficult because they split for their interests, but they all still lived relatively close and would spend nearly every weekend together.

But then Luna moved, all the way to the other side of the country. That had been... Extremely difficult. The twins managed and eased into a swing of just the two of them hanging out every week, face timing Luna whenever she wasn't busy. About a year of that and then everything switched again, but this time for the better. Luna would tell them both about Portland and it got to the point that Rowan and Kael both decided separately they would move. Imagine their surprise when they realized the other was thinking the exact same thing.

And now here they are, all settled in and life is fuller than it's ever been. The trio is still in tack and now they have two wonderful additions to the group. No one has ever made Kael as happy as Dakara does every single day. This small, quiet life is more than he ever thought he was going to get, and she makes it possible.

More than that, everything is tied to her and she weaves everything she touches together beautifully. Dakara loves Rowan like she finally has a brother all her own, and Luna? The two became fast friends. Kael's not actually sure he's ever seen Luna with as close a female friend as Dakara. Hell, Dakara had even been the one to introduce Alliy to Rowan. He's never seen his brother smile so much in his entire life. How this small wonderful redhead manages all of this, he'll probably never know, but he appreciates the miracle for all it's worth.

Apparently he's been staring for a while because she notices his gaze and returns it, wiggle her eyebrows at him as she does. It always makes him blush to be caught, his hands picking up speed to dry his hair as much as possible.

"N-Nothing. I. I just... I remember buying that dress for you. Daisies, right? The yellow looks really good with your hair, like a really warm fire. I wish you could wear sundresses more, I always like how you look in them."

Kael awkwardly slips past the living room setup into the kitchen, very mindful of the size of his body as he moves, trying to not bump into all the things she's arranged for dinner tonight. Everything smells homey and inviting, just like it always does when she cooks. He stands behind her and leans over her head to see what she's currently working on, some sort of blend of spices for people to sprinkle on their food if they so wish.

"Hmm... Luna isn't going to like that, it smells spicy. I'll just have to take her portion, huh?"

Smiling, he wraps his arms down around her waist but, with his sheer strength and their height difference, it just ends up picking her off the ground as she is, just working on her task at a slightly different elevation.

"Well if we keep having little bits of nice weather here and there, you better believe you're gonna see more of them."

She swings her hips a little, the start of a flirtation, but he picks her up and she swings her legs, hovering right above the floor. At first she fakes annoyance but she can't help but laugh.

"Calm down, that's why it's on the side. Optional. Customizable. Choose your own adventure."

She finishes making her spice mixture and blends it quickly with a fork, light flips of her wrist that tell just how long she's been cooking. In some capacity, she's been doing this all her life. Her father had been in the military when she was younger, so it had been mainly just her and her mom most days. And she'd learned everything, soaking it up like a sponge, all of the creative knowledge her mom had to offer. Making things, cooking, sewing, all the things that traditionally a woman would need to know. But her mom had told her she didn't need those skills to impress a man. She needed them to take care of herself and make her own life colorful.

And that's what tattooing had started as. First drawing, then painting, then playing around with designs for other people before learning to tattoo herself. She wishes her mom was around to see how Dakara's taken all the skills and used them to add color to her life in huge quantities, but after her father had died oversees, her mother had remarried and moved away.

She misses them both terribly, but she's always been thankful for the Foxes. Even though her romantic relationship with Shand had ended forever ago, they'd managed to stay friends. And beyond that, Dolan had still continued to look out for her like a daughter. That was how she'd eventually come into Luna's orbit. Dolan had introduced them, thinking Dakara didn't have enough friends her age and was spending way too much time working in her new shop.

And through Luna had come Kael. And God, she cannot image her life without this man now. How had she ever lived before him? When she had been with Shand, they'd been young, and she didn't really know what she needed or wanted. He'd never been able to sit still, from one thing to the next, this restlessness ruling everything. Some unknown ambition that kept him from settling or resting any, ever.

Kael is the opposite. He's calm, steady, supportive. Anything she takes up, he champions and not only from a distance, but through involvement. Somehow, being with him has made more room in her life, and now it feels like all their separate things are communal, their lives and their spaces and their feelings and everything. And he's fine with her quiet dreams, her slow moving ideas of hopes for the future. How she takes long shortcuts into different creative endeavors, all for the experience instead of for some measured outcome. And he doesn't just tolerate that- he seems to love it as much as she does.

She pulls the saran wrap across the counter and covers the bowl of spices with it before grabbing it and straightening herself so she can lay her head back against his chest. She's not one to be swayed by someone's physical nature, but the second she'd seen Kael, even before she'd met him, she'd somehow known. Something in his bear-like physical nature seemed to tell her that he would be gentle, be tender and soft and be her whole world. It seems crazy to tell people, but her intuition in those matters is seldom wrong.

She stays for a second pressed against him and closes her eyes, smiles a little, burrow down into his arms. Even though it hadn't seemed to be a super well thought through move on his part, she's quite enjoying it.

"Well go on, take me over to the table. My legs could use a break."

Then, she glances up at the clock above the kitchen cabinets, frowning.

"Where is everybody? It's unlike all of them to be late."

"They'll be here, don't worry. I'm sure this sudden downpour just caught people off-guard."

Kael sways side to side as he carries Dakara to the table. With the way he's holding her up, it's almost reminiscent of people with the baby-backpacks they wear on their chests. Her likes kick out here and there with his exaggerated movements until they get to the table, then she quickly starts arranging things, asking him to move to different spots so she can get everything just right.

"Hey, that looked fine right there."

Dakara is fussing over where to put the main bowl of meat, switching it around constantly, her brow knitting. He can't see it, but he knows her well enough by now to know it's there. Taking the bowl from her, he moves it back to the center of the table, giving a little satisfied nod to himself just as there's a knock at the door.

Kael gently sets Dakara down on her feet, planting a kiss on the top of her head, before he runs like an excited puppy to the door, having to purposefully stop himself from swinging it open too hard in his excitement. He's done that before and now there's a little scar on the wall expertly hidden by a well-placed table and vase.

Rowan, Alliy, and Luna all stand together, their conversation abruptly cutting when they see Kael. With one quick motion, he scoops down, picking all three of them up in his arms in a giant bear hug.

"I just saw you yesterday. We texted this morning, calm down-"

Rowan winces but, despite the tone of annoyance, he's smiling a bit, mostly to himself.

"I know, but I like seeing you guys every day! And I didn't text Ailiy or Luna this morning so this is to catch up with them."

Luna laughs quietly as Kael finally sets them all down and the three walk inside the apartment, Kael closing the door behind them with intense speed, trying to cut things that don't involve enjoying each other's company down to a bare minimum.

"I think he's got you there, Row."

With a sigh, Rowan playfully rolls his eyes, straightening out his shirt. As he does, his eyes sweep to Alliy, noticing some strands of her hair that have fallen out of the style he had helped her put it in before leaving their apartment. His fingers gracefully twirl the pieces together then move them back into the mostly hidden bobby pin by her ear.

"Fine, I'll let it slide. Anyways, Dakara, Alliy and I brought the drinks. Some beers, hard cider, Mike's... Nothing too strong."

He sets a few groceries down on the kitchen counter, knowing Dakara is just going to come organize them how she likes anyways and he'd rather now get in her way.

The sight of the bags makes Luna tense up. In all the events of today, she completely forgot to stop by a store or to make a dessert for tonight. That's always her job. Compared to the way Dakara moves about fixing large meals left and right, bringing one dessert is probably the easiest thing they could ask of her. And she forgot.

To be fair... Would she really have had time to get anything? Shand had stayed over a little longer than planned. Not that she minded, he was good company and now she's got a Monday-night plan which is always fun. It's just... Now here she stands empty-handed.

Kael notices her standing awkwardly to the side, eyeing all the food, and decides to see what's wrong. He knows that look, that inward spiral of guilt. He's seen it a lot from growing up with her. His large hand finds her shoulder, shaking her out of her thoughts a bit.

"What's up?"

Luna pauses, cringing a little, but nothing to show too much devastation.

"I... Uh... I forgot dessert. I got caught out in the rain after work and had to call someone to drive me home and it just really set my day back, I'm sorry."

Dakara pauses at the table and springs over to Luna with a frown on her face, taking one elbow in her hand so she can hold Luna out at arm's length to examine her.

"You got caught in that rain today? Didn't you say that area was so bad about the buses coming regularly? I bet you got drenched, poor thing. Come here, sit down."

And though it's clearly been a few hours and Luna's perfectly dry now, Dakara pulls one of the chairs out especially for her and flits over to the kitchen, pulling a mug from the cabinet with the same kind of urgency as if Luna had just proclaimed she was feeling sick.

"Everyone can go ahead and sit down, it's all just about ready."

Dakara says to everyone else over her shoulder as she fishes through her tea basket, emerging with Luna's favorite after putting the water on to boil.

"And don't you worry about dessert. I have some of those gluten free flax seed oat bars left over from Kael's class today. Sweetened with agave!"

Alliy, shrugging out of her coat and helping Rowan get one arm unstuck from his sleeve, notices the awkwardness among the the other two new arrivals. As always, Kael and Dakara are wrapped up in each other in the cutest way, not seeing what could possibly be wrong.

Alliy makes pointed eye contact with Dakara, giving her a tight lipped smile and a quick, subtle shake of her head, sitting down beside Luna as Dakara seems to catch her drift.

"I... I think I also have some of the brownies I brought home from that lunch meeting.... lemme see...."

She leans and sticks her head inside the refrigerator almost completely, looking even smaller than she normally does.

"Yup, here we go. Double chocolate brownies, and some lemon cookies. We are set on the dessert front. So don't even worry about that, Luna."

After Dakara busies herself in the kitchen a few more moments, she comes back out with a mug of tea for Luna.

"Kael, baby, can you help me with those bags? I wanna put the bottles in that little cooler we have somewhere... and then put it along the wall beside the table. I haven't seen that cooler in ages.. do you know where I put it?"

Luna isn't entirely sure why it catches her so off-guard to be pulled and led around in a worried panic. Dakara has been like this since the day Luna met her, yet still, every time that intense sincere affection is focused at her, it makes Luna sink down in her chair a bit like a shy child. Or maybe like a puppy trying to figure out what love is for the first time.

Her eyes follow Dakara as she rushes around the apartment with impressive grace considering everything she's trying to balance at once. In a lot of ways, Dakara is how Luna always imagined a mom should be. Not that she'd know from personal experience, but from watching movies and seeing other families while growing up. It's not hard to imagine Dakara having several children later in life.

"Thanks, sorry for the trouble. That dumb rain really messed up my day. I didn't even get to take Name out for his evening walk."

"Ah, I can't imagine he'll be too happy about that."

Rowan sits across from Alliy since she's decided to occupy the other side of the table with Luna, his eyebrow arched teasingly as the curious little dog is brought up.

"Not that I'd blame him, being locked inside all day has to get boring. I wonder which of your belongings he'll chew up as revenge today."

He can't help but lean back in his chair, stretching his long lets out under the table, accidentally bumping Alliy in the process. Rowan takes a moment to mumble a clearly embarrassed apology before sitting up straight and proper again.

"Don't even joke about that."

Luna groans, slumping her shoulders because she knows Rowan is right, just as he always is. Something in her apartment is going to be destroyed by the time she gets home.

"Should've gotten a cat."

Rowan shrugs but a gasp from the other side of the room cuts off any further thing he could say.

"No way! Dogs are so much better. Don't listen to him, he's being dumb."

Kael wrinkles his nose at his brother's suggestion. It takes him a solid five seconds to remember he was doing something else before all of this. His eyes look around the apartment blankly then, as they rest on Dakara, he remembers.

"Oh- I think you took it downstairs for one of my classes last time we had it out. I'll go get it."

With all the energy in the world, he flies out of the apartment and, loudly, bounds down the stairs. His movements in the studio below can even be heard with how heavy his steps are. Everyone can perfectly time how long until he's back in the apartment with them again just by listening. Sure enough, the little blue cooler is in his hands and he's immediately off to work on cooling the drinks just like Dakara had asked.

Dakara takes one long, last look at the arrangement on the table, rearranging a few more bowls but leaving the one Kael had placed right where he left it. While he arranges the cooler, Dakara sets a pitcher of lemon water on the table and goes over to help him finish up that last task before they all sit down to eat.

“Did Lance come and get you again? Things seem like they’ve been getting really busy down at the cafe, I️ don’t know how he keeps all of that together and running. But good for him for going to pick you up, too.”

Dakara nods her head once, tightly, a mark of approval as Kael sets the cooler by the table and they all take their seats.

Alliy watches the conversations as they start to develop, but saves her longest looks for Rowan. She’d sat beside Luna on purpose, to make Rowan sit across from her, for a very specific reason.

He seems embarrassed to have accidentally scraped against her foot under the table, but she’s wearing a controlled little grin as she stretches her leg out as inconspicuously as possible until her foot finds Rowan’s and taps it. Once he’s paying attention, she starts to run her foot up his leg as high as she can without slouching too much in her chair.

"Oh. No, Lance didn't pick me up. I called him but he was too busy to leave the cafe."

Luna shrugs, sipping at her mug, breathing in the rich scent of the tea Dakara had given her. Earl Grey? English Breakfast? Some sort of dark blend. It's a major contrast to what she had early as far as flavor and color, but she loves it just the same. There's not really a tea she doesn't like.

Rowan shifts uncomfortably for a moment, tensing up as he isn't exactly sure how to respond immediately. The way her foot bunches the fabric of his pants leg and slides the fabric slowly is really, highly distracting in so many ways. He flicks his eyes to her, eyebrow arched, but she just returns a little smirk back at him.

"Oh? So who picked you up then? You could've called any of us."

Releasing a deep sigh, Rowan sinks down casually in his chair again, letting his shoulders relax to not cause a scene. As he does, he lets his foot rub at the inside of her ankle, small little circles with the toe of his shoe, keeping the wood heel of it kicked out so it doesn't press into her skin too hard. His other leg, the one she's currently feeling at, stretches out under the table, this time intentionally, so the arch of the shoe catches on the seat of her chair. There, he rubs little circles into the inside of her knee to match the motion at her ankle. Nothing crazy, everything just calm slow movements they can mostly keep hidden.

"Um. Actually, Dakara, I'm pretty sure you know him, and maybe the rest of you, I don't know. His name is Shand Fox. Lance asked him to pick me up."

It had felt like a casual statement, something anyone would say as easily as talking about the weather, but the room just falls silent after that, nearly all eyes on her. She can feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

Kael is the first to react, turning around quickly, his still damp hair flying out, grazing the top curls of Dakara's hair as he moves.

"Shand? Like- Shand?"

His brow knits tightly, even as his gaze shifts to Dakara.

"That's not allowed, is it? That can't happen, right?"

"Wait, what? What?"

Dakara repeats herself as if the new topic has prevented her from remembering she'd already said it once. Her head cocks a little toward Luna, and her elbow comes up to rest against the table as her finger goes to tapping of its own accord against her lip.

"Shand Fox. I didn't know you two were close. I thought for sure I would've known about that."

She's close to Luna and still somewhat close to Shand. They don't talk every single day, but she's still mostly caught up with what's going on in his life. And she would have seen anything like this coming from miles away.

"I can't say I... Hmm. Well, interesting."

She shrugs her shoulders a little, cutting her eyes over at Kael, who seems a little extra ruffled. The wide-eyed look on his face is almost childlike in his concern, and it makes Dakara want to giggle, so she reaches for his hand under the table instead.

"I doubt anything is happening other than, he just picked her up as a favor to Lance. Right, Luna?"

There's still a little grin on Dakara's face. She watches Luna closely, not for a second believing what she'd said. She'd only said it to gage Luna's reaction to it.

Now that she thinks about it... she can't say that it doesn't seem worth exploring. Not that she would shove Luna into Shand's arms, but the idea of the pair is, as she's said, interesting. Shand has seemed lonely lately, more than normal, in the way that doesn't seem to be entirely just because of a lack of all people. And after getting rid of that jerk of a boyfriend, Luna could maybe use a distraction.

Maybe it would be a good rebound at least. Shand had always been good for distracting, for keeping things rolling and changing and keeping energy high. Everything has its pros and cons, and in a situation like this, that could be to Luna's benefit. She works and does to dance and runs back and forth so much lately. She could use a little change-up, a little excitement.

Dakara hasn't noticed that she's been swaying in her seat a little, letting all the thoughts whirl around in her mind, until Kael squeezes her hand gently.

Alliy folds her arms across the table, staying out of the conversation for now in favor of working Rowan's pants leg as far up as she can get it so she can tap against his skin with the toe of her shoe. Just watching his face, watching him try to keep an even expression, is priceless.

"No- Hey, come on now."

Luna holds her hands up defensively, pouting her bottom lip out for good measure, sending a playful scowl in Dakara's direction. She wasn't born yesterday, she picked up on that tone, on the leading question, how Dakara stared to try to read her afterward.

And then there's Kael beside Dakara, tapping his foot, loudly, under the table. His glare goes from his plate to his hand in Dakara's to Dakara herself then up to Luna. It's intense, brooding, thinking.

Between the two of them, she's not sure what to do, she actually starts to sweat a little. It feels like coming home after curfew and your parents have waited up to confront you at the door.

"I literally just met him yesterday. He came into the cafe while I was there, we talked for maybe two minutes."

She decides leaving out that Nameless had led her to his garage and they had talked again is probably in her best interest. Along with the fact he hung out in her apartment for a bit after the ride. All of that seems very bad to say right now.

Kael huffs, leaning down in his chair like a spoiled child throwing a fit. Maybe that's because that's exactly what he is and what he's doing. His upbringing hadn't been great but he was born wealthy. He is very spoiled compared to most people in that regard. And Luna is his friend, basically sister, a childhood crush for a long while years ago. Who does Shand think he is just waltzing in suddenly to take away one of his most important relationships in the history of ever?

"Well. Isn't that peachy. Sure he's loads of fun. Nice of him to pick you up out of the blue. Weird thing to do for a stranger you just met yesterday. Must be a good guy."

The frustration is hard to miss, even hearing it himself makes him blush, avert his eyes from the table as his hand starts to clam up a bit in Dakara's. Instead of continue further, he just falls silent, biting his lip so he can't make any more of a fool of himself.

Rowan lets his eyes flick between Luna and Dakara and Kael, to appear to be part of the conversation, to be listening. He has to act like he isn't distracted. Down to his core, he feels Kael's tone on a spiritual level. Just hearing all of this about this Shand guy frustrates and annoys him, too. The two of them are going to have a great rant session about that, he's sure.

But damn if Alliy isn't trying her best to make him only focus on her. He can feel the tips of his ears grow warm as her shoe starts pressing against his skin instead of his clothes.

Is she looking for something? Right here and now in his brother's apartment? He lets his shoe slip up to rub keep against the inside of one of her thighs, unashamedly slipping under her skirt. Not too high up to do anything overly inappropriate here in front of people, but enough to tease and toy since that seems to be what she wants.