Footloose

Lan Fan couldn't tell if Ling's timing was horrible or if he was secretly a masochist, but asking Lan Fan about her love life in the middle of karate sparring was a dumb move on his part.

He had barely gotten out the sentence "I heard Paninya asked you to prom again" before Lan Fan had floored him with a swift kick to the gut. It took him a couple seconds before he was finally able to suck in a breath of air, and if Lan Fan was one for apologies, she might have done so once he was breathing again.

He coughed for a bit before glaring up at her from the padded floor of his basement. "I thought this was semi-contact sparring."

Lan Fan shrugged. "And I thought you said you were good at defense. I guess we were both misinformed."

"That kick couldn't have had anything to do with Paninya asking you to prom for the fifth time, would it?"

Lan Fan turned her back on Ling to grab her water bottle from near the wall. She took a long gulp of it instead of answering. She had discovered very early in her life that silence was a much better alternative to answering embarrassing questions.

"You know, instead of taking your frustration out on me, you could just talk to your girlfriend like any mature person would."

She took another drink. Sparring sure made her thirsty.

"Come on, Lan Fan. We're all going! Ed and I already bought our tickets, and I think Winry is even taking Alphonse as her date so all of us could be together one last time before we graduate. The only people missing are you and Paninya."

"The only person missing is me. Paninya has been talking about prom for weeks. She'll go with you guys."

Ling was next to her now, grabbing own his water bottle and leaning a shoulder against the wall. "She said she wouldn't buy her ticket until you bought yours."

The flimsy plastic water bottle was swiftly crushed in Lan Fan's grasp. "Why does she have to be so stubborn?"

"I rather think that's one of the main reasons you're dating her," Ling said smugly, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Right now it's more inconvenient than it is endearing," she said with a 'hmph'.

Exasperated, Ling dropped his water bottle to the padded floor and turned more fully to Lan Fan. "Okay, enough already. Why are you so adamantly refusing to go to prom? Is it because you don't want to buy a dress?" Lan Fan turned away, but Ling stepped around her, holding eye contact. "Can't afford a ticket?" Lan Fan spun; Ling followed. "Really hate making your girlfriend happy?"

Finally, she couldn't take it. "I can't dance, okay!"

Ling paused. "What?"

Lan Fan averted her gaze again, happy that Ling didn't counter her this time. "I can't dance. So if I go to prom I'm going to look all stiff and awkward and Paninya won't have any fun. So I'm not going."

Ling opened his mouth.

"—And don't say that she'll be happy just by having me be there. You know that if I stand in the corner the entire night she's going to spend the whole time wondering if I'm mad at her and then completely miss out on all of your prom fun."

"I actually wasn't going to say that at all," Ling said. "I was going to say that I could teach you to dance, if you want. Hey, don't give me that face, I mean it."

"How do I know you won't make me look stupid in front of the entire senior class?" she asked him skeptically.

Ling held up a finger. "One, don't even try to pretend you care what our class thinks. You don't want to look dumb in front of your girlfriend, sure, but you don't give a shit about the rest of the kids in our school."

He made a fair point. "And two?"

He held up a second finger. "Two, I am a man of romance, Lan Fan." She held back a snort at that. "I wouldn't make you look stupid in front of Paninya." He slung an arm around her shoulders. "Plus, I'm your best friend. It's in my job description to not make you look bad."

Lan Fan rolled her eyes. She didn't believe him for a second, but the thought of seeing Paninya's smile if she finally said "yes" to one of her crazy promposals was too tempting to pass up. She was weak for that girl's smile. "Fine. I'll think about going to prom if—"Ling smiled brightly, "—if you can make me a better dancer. But as of now I'm still not going."

"Alright, well let's get started then!" He picked up his phone and was already thumbing down to 'Today's Hip Hop and Pop Hits' on Pandora. A song came on that Lan Fan didn't recognize, but she as someone who didn't listen to much music, she wasn't surprised. It had an electronically synthesized beat that Ling was already bobbing his head to.

"Okay, what do I do first?" she asked uncertainly, reaching her hands out to grab Ling's.

"No no no no," Ling said smugly. "We're not slow-dancing right now. First I have to teach you how to dab."