Derek stands to the side of the ballroom their coronation celebration is being held in. He watches as his classmates dance to the waltz with pretty men and women. Erika and Boyd – two SeeD candidates from his team – are dancing together. Derek thinks they actually look rather graceful. Or they would, if Erika wasn't the one leading Boyd around the dance floor. He see's Kate and her cousin Allison standing on the other side of the room. He also spots Isaac, the recent transferee who'd also passed the SeeD exam, dancing with an older man and looking absolutely terrified.
And then there's the man standing in the center of the dance floor alone. He's tall, probably as tall as Derek, and thin but not lanky. He's not wearing a SeeD uniform or even a cadet uniform, so Derek thinks he has to be a visitor of high standing. Then the man looks over at Derek and their eyes meet. Derek watches him look him over before lifting his hand in what looks like a shushing gesture. Or a one. Derek tilts his head in confusion.
The man smiles and makes his way over to Derek. The dark haired man doesn't know how to react when he stops right in front him.
"You're the best looking guy here. Dance with me?" Derek just keeps silent and stares at Stiles.
"Let me guess...You'll only dance with someone you like." The man smirks at Derek, "Ok then... Look into my eyes..."
The brunet leans forward and enunciates every word with a jerk of his hands, "You're-going-to-like me...You're-going-to-like-me..." he pauses before asking, "Did it work?"
Derek doesn't know how to respond to that.
"...I can't dance." He tells the other, honestly.
"You'll be fine. Come on. I'm looking for someone so I can't be on the dance floor alone." Derek thinks that makes no sense at all, but he doesn't stop the thinner man from dragging him past couples and into the center of the dance floor.
The brunet, seemingly randomly, turns around to face him and grabs his hands. He places Derek's right hand on his waist and takes Derek's left into his own. He smiles, charmingly, and nods for Derek to start. Derek doesn't know what's going on so the other man seems to take charge, leading much like he'd watched Erika do earlier. Derek stumbles after the lean man and on the sixth step, when he pulls Derek towards himself, Derek nearly trips and falls on top of the other man.
He just smiles and places Derek's hands where they were last time and tries again. They take four steps before the brunet tries to spin – either himself or Derek, he doesn't know – and when they're brought back together, Derek almost takes both of them down and he knows he has to have stepped on the guys' toes when he lets out a yelp.
Derek sighs in frustration and turns around, heading towards the exit.
"No, no, wait!" He grabs Derek's hand and turns the SeeD around.
Derek looks confused as the mystery man holds their right hands up at about chest height. Then he takes a step to Derek's left, spin them 180 degrees before doing it again.
Before he knows what's happening, the brunet has them set again, with one hand on his waist and the other one holding the brunet's hand. Derek is more conscious of his feet as they take a few steps, but he isn't watching his surroundings and, four steps in, he crashes into another dancing couple. The other couple turns out to be the new kid, who looks rather thankful, but the older man looks more than angry.
He opens his mouth, but the brunet beats him to it, "What where you're going. You're in our space." The man seems taken aback and the new kid leads him away to avoid confrontation. The brunet sticks his tongue out at the older man as they leave. Derek stares at him in awe and when he turns to look at Derek, he smiles.
The brunet sets them with their arms at chest height again and soon the people around him are setting the same way. He'd watched this one before, he thinks, and they take a step to the left of their partner before returning and doing it again except to the right. Then he twirls the brunet to repeat it once again.
Then comes the weird part he'd seen a few times. Derek takes a step to the left, turning slightly, before taking a step to the right, and then another long step to his left, which puts the brunet at his back. Immediately after that, all the dancers line up in a row with their partners' hand in theirs. The brunet's other hand is held out, much like the women in the room who are playing the same role. He thinks there's no way Boyd would do that.
He gently pulls the mystery man in, which ends with the brunet's back to the SeeD's chest. He spins his mystery dancer out again, this time meeting him halfway with the brunet's shoulder to Derek's chest. One more twirl out, which places them on opposite sides from when they started, and Derek pulls the brunet in, which the mystery man does easily, but Derek thinks he has to have done it wrong because he ends up facing him with their hands placed together at chest height.
Derek finds that his mystery dancer has the most golden eyes he's ever seen. Suddenly, the lights dim and there's a loud crack. Looking up, Derek sees the gorgeous Fireworks display going on through the glass dome overhead.
When he looks back to his mystery dancer, the brunet is looking over his shoulder in curiosity. After a couple of seconds, he looks back at Derek and smiles, pulling away. He winks before taking a step to the side and placing his hands together as if praying or saying thank you.
"This was a blast, but I have to go talk to someone."
And just like that, Derek is alone on the dance floor with people swirling all around him.