+ slow dance +

+ chapter three +

+ tai + sora + mimi +

Summary: Tai starts to notice Sora's absence, Sora starts something new this time around, and Mimi starts to have concerns.

+ tai +

It had been raining all of that Tuesday. Tai noticed from his desk next to the window near the back of the classroom. He got a whiff of the flowers blooming just outside the window a few floors down—they smelled just like her.

The world seemed brighter since Tai started going out with Mimi, and he watched the dark clouds part to reveal rays of sunshine, as though the weather was in synch with him—

"Ow!" he said all of a sudden, feeling a strike on his forehead and holding his palm against it. A piece of chalk rolled down the page of his notebook and onto the top of his desk.

"Yagami!" the teacher yelled in annoyance. "Is the weather so interesting that you ignore my lesson?"

"Sorry, teach," he replied, rubbing his forehead as his surrounding classmates whispered and giggled.

"Don't worry; you won't want to ignore my next topic—yesterday's quiz."

He felt the atmosphere change; there were some looks of panic and nervousness, some, especially the few who aced these things each time, looking confidently smug. Tai only looked out the window again, unphased. Teacher had been announcing quizzes nearly every other day as of late, and he had already gotten used to studying for them.

When he looked down through the window, he happened to see Mimi walk along the walkway below. Their eyes met, and she smiled and winked at him.

Teacher cleared her throat next to him and he turned to look up at her stern gaze. Quietly, she placed his graded quiz on top of his desk, faced down, and he picked it up as she walked to the next desk.

86%. Not bad, he thought.

"Great job, Takenouchi," he heard Teacher say a few moments later. Sora sat three desks ahead of him in the next row. He lowered the piece of paper in his hands to see her holding hers the same way he did, revealing the 98% in red ink.

How in the world did she do that? He always admired her sheer concentration with school work, even with juggling tennis club and costume-making for the drama club. It was a struggle for him with soccer club alone.

The bell rang, and as he watched her stand up from her desk, he did the same. He planned to catch up to her and say, "Proud of you, Smartypants," and was expecting her to quip with, "I'm surprised you did alright, given you're so focused on rehearsing as a weatherman." They would walk out of the classroom with Matt following behind wearing his normal impassive expression.

But Teacher held him back by a tap on his shoulder, and he watched Matt meet Sora at her desk, before they both walked into the hallway together. Matt glanced his way once, though Sora kept on walking.

Why is she avoiding me?

"Don't worry, Teach," said Tai, turning to Teacher. "I don't want to be a weatherman."

Teacher look at him in utter confusion. Tai perked up, realizing what he just did.

"Don't worry about that," he continued on. "I'm sorry for being distracted today, Teacher."

"Taichi, you're always distracted in class," she said, "But that's not what I'm worried about. I'm concerned about your future."

"My future?"

Teacher explained that he was the only one in the class who hasn't turned in his career planning form, and that it would be a waste of his character to put off his decisions during the most important year of high school.

Did it all really matter? He had decent grades and the soccer team going for him, and he got along with the other students—all which Teacher pointed out. Why didn't he want to choose his future endeavors?

It wasn't that he didn't want to choose what he wanted to be. It's just that he had absolutely no clue. If only he actually paid attention to Joe that day to get his mind going.

Tai felt his phone buzz in his pocket but ignored it—he was on his way to meet up with Mimi, anyway. He walked out of the classroom alone and into a now empty hallway, his backpack hanging on his shoulder. Had this happened a few weeks ago, one other person would be leaning against the wall next to the doorway, waiting to hear him vent.

If only he could talk to Sora about this now.

+ sora +

Sora went straight home after school, determined that her plan would work. She tried to but couldn't engage in conversing with Matt, who mentioned something about songwriting, and then, about broken bass guitar strings before he branched off to his way home. It was hard to focus when she declared this afternoon, when she got home from school, as the time she would complete the task she had been stewing over.

She walked in, taking her shoes off, announced to her mom she was back home, and went into her room, closing the door behind her.

She dropped her backpack on the floor, holding up her phone, her breath suddenly caught in her throat. Did she really want to do this?

Sora, you need to do this, was the response in her head. With a deep breath and the push of a few buttons, she selected the name of the person she had in mind for this plan, and dialed his number.

"Hey, Sora?"

"Hey, Joe," she said, too anxious to sit down. "How's it going?"

"Long time no talk, Sora! I'm glad to hear from you!"

"Same here! Listen…"

"Yes?"

Sora opened and closed her mouth in hesitation. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while now. I think it would be nice if we hung out sometime."

"I think that would be great. It would be nice to catch up with an old friend. I haven't seen you in a while, what with university, and all."

Sora took another deep breath. "That's not what I meant."

"Oh? Then, what do you mean?"

"I mean, we could go see a movie, have dinner…that kind of hangout."

Joe's pause lasted a few seconds, though to Sora the anxiety from it lasted longer.

"Sora, are you asking me out?" he asked.

"I'm fairly certain I am, Joe."

"Oh. Oh."

Sora was panicking now. "Seriously, Joe, if you wanted to turn a girl down…"

"No, Sora, it's not that. I'm just… surprised. I'd love to hang out. Really."

"…Really?"

"Yeah. I can work around my schedule. Just let me know and I'll pick you up."

After working out the details for Saturday night, Sora sat on the edge of her bed, mouth open in surprise. She didn't expect that to go as well as it did. Joe was a nice guy—smart, reliable, responsible. He seemed like a good guy to enjoy herself with.

It was just as Mimi said: What's wrong with dating your guy friends?

Joe's studio apartment door flew open that Saturday night, and Sora stumbled in together with him, hands on each other and too busy moving their lips together to see where they were stepping. She tried following his lead as they went further into his living room, knocking things over and bumping into corners in the process.

"You're so clumsy," she said with a giggle between a kiss. She ran her hands through his hair, perhaps too short on her fingers. His kisses were soft, sweet, and sloppy on her as he held her in his surprisingly strong embrace.

"Is that so horrible?" he mumbled against her as she felt his hands exploring her back to her waist.

"It's cute."

Sora didn't think this would happen so quickly. Joe was in semi-formal attire—long sleeved shirt and tie that matched his neat navy blue hair, along with nice slacks. She found it attractive, and it drew her to take hold of his hand after the movie as they walked to a restaurant for dinner. He wanted to pay for the two of them, and she insisted they split the bill, but she had been sitting close to him, on his arm the whole time.

Eventually they were near the table in the living room, which was scattered with open textbooks, pens, and highlighters. Sora detached herself from him for a moment to slide it all off with her arm and climbed backwards onto the table. She watched him crawl on all fours over her, and she held his tie to pull his face closer to hers. She stared into his dark, questioning eyes, still holding the tie at his neck.

Nothing.

She felt nothing.

"What's wrong?" he asked, catching his breath as she sighed, loosening her grip on his tie and sitting up on the table.

"This is," she said, holding her palm on her forehead. "This is wrong."

"What do you mean?" Joe still hovered over her, palms leaning against the table. "Was it me?"

"No, it wasn't."

"Was it the tie?"

"No, the tie… the tie was good."

"Were my lips chapped?"

"No."

"My breath… Was it the garlic?"

"That was me."

"Am I a bad kisser, then?"

"You're not, Joe…"

A few names of better kissers appeared in her head, but she figured to spare his pride for this moment. She didn't want to feel worse knowing she just tainted their friendship. That feeling of being close to someone, being in love was what she craved, but she couldn't see any of that with Joe.

"This shouldn't have happened," she said, putting the other hand to cover her face. "I'm so sorry, Joe."

It was Joe's turn to sigh, and Sora removed both of her hands to meet his gaze, in which he appeared sad, although smiling as though he knew her intentions.

"I suppose you're going to say, 'We can still be friends,'" he said. "I'll be okay with that… Just don't contact me for a while."

It surprised her how cool and collected he'd become over the years, and that he showed no signs of panic at all tonight. Either that, or the panic was still there, and she was just internally freaking out even more than he was. She gave him a sad smile, this one of guilt, and got up to help him pick up the books and pens she threw onto the floor.

"If I'm honest," he said, "I think it's you who's the bad kisser."

Ouch, went Sora's own pride, but she decided to let him have it. She just rejected him, after all.

She hoped nothing more would be said other than "goodnight" before she left, but Joe paused at the front door with her and asked a question.

"Sora, how's Tai doing?" he asked.

She let out a small laugh.

"Hell if I know," she replied, realizing then that Joe read her better than she did herself, and that he knew exactly what was going on.

+ mimi +

Mimi stayed home Saturday night baking in the kitchen, Tai in her company. He was a regular visitor now, and even Mimi's parents joked about it every time they met him. Mimi flippantly scolded them in his defense, but it warmed her heart knowing they liked him, too.

She had yet to meet Tai's parents.

"Ooh, it's done!" she exclaimed. The oven timer beeped at zero, and Mimi ran to the oven wearing her flowery pink apron, turning the knob and opening the door. The heat brushed against her face as she pulled the tray of pastries out and placed on a rack on the counter for them to cool.

"You're going to love these, Tai," she said with giddiness.

"I'm sure I will," Tai said, from the counter table in the middle of the kitchen. "You're amazing at that kind of thing."

He looked down at the table with his notes and homework papers laid out in front of him, and Mimi felt a pang of worry in the back of her mind. It had been turning on and off the last few days. He already said it was about the pressure his teacher was giving him, but the thought that it had something to do with her remained ever-growing.

When the pastries were ready, Mimi grabbed a plate to serve. She put the fresh plate next to his notebook, then, pushing his arm to hold her, she sat on top of his lap with a pastry in hand.

"Try it," she said, moving it towards his mouth. She waited with anticipation for his reaction as he took a bite.

"Mmm," he went, looking thoughtful as he nodded with the first few bites, then his expression changed. "Mmm!"

"Do you like it?" she asked, even though the look of satisfaction on his face already answered for her.

"Oh yeah, that's delicious! Is that strawberry jam?"

"That's right! I'm so happy!"

She rested her head on his shoulder happily as he took a few more bites. It was something she knew he would enjoy, ever since she dragged him to a bakery after school a few days ago, and he chose the strawberry-filled pastry.

"You can take as much as you want home, if you'd like," she said, watching with glee as he took another from the plate. "And…"

She stopped herself as she was about to mention Sora. There was no doubt she was going to save some pastries for Sora for the next time she saw her, but it saddened her that she hadn't seen Sora lately. She remembered moments where Sora would be so busy that it would take a whole day for her to call or text back, but there had been an odd aura around her lately. What's more, Mimi grew more reluctant to mention anything about her to Tai.

"And…?" Tai repeated with a muffle.

"Silly. I really am glad you liked them. You seemed down lately, so I thought I'd bake something you liked."

"Aww, Meems, that's really thoughtful of you."

"Sure."

She looked up at him and he looked back, his eyes less sad now and he smiled this time. She moved her head up to kiss him, again, and again, each one slower, softer, and sweeter. This was her hint—Saturday night, her parents were out of town again, they were alone in the kitchen, but perhaps they could go to her room.

He kept one hand around her waist, and held his other hand at the back of her neck, stroking his thumb as he gently kissed back. He must have gotten the hint, and the back of her neck was tingling from that and the feel of his lips.

His lips, which pulled away from her, and let out a soft exhale.

"Thank you, Mimi," he said. Mimi was left confused as Tai smiled at her, kissing her forehead as his hand moved away from her neck, reaching for his pencil, and then holding its tip to the lined paper to write.

In an instant, Mimi was furious. Groaning in frustration, she swatted his arms away from her to get off of him, that pencil now flying across the kitchen.

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Author's Note: I've decided, I'll be posting chapters daily for this fic. Hope you're ready to "dance" over the next two weeks...