Spinning
~A GarenxKat story~
Chapter 7: The Auditions
It was the day of the auditions. And everyone was nervous.
Katarina and Garen were veterans of war, heroes of their city-states; they were no strangers to battle, war, and death. Fear was not something that found them often, and it usually only arose on the battlefield in a particularly dangerous sitatuation. Even then, it would not stop them or hinder their movements.
But this audition?
Katarina and Garen would never admit it out loud—especially to each other—but they were scared; they were nervous. And the nerves were getting to them.
As everyone stretched, Katarina found herself breathing more rapidly than normal, messing with her hair and biting her bottom lip. She took several deep breaths as she noticed her unusual behavior, and she noticed the butterflies in her stomach, fluttering uncomfortably.
Calm down, Kat, she chided herself. It's just an audition. It's not like you're on the battlefield. Get a grip.
Meanwhile, Garen found himself thinking similar thoughts. It's not battle, it's nothing to be nervous about. Nobody is going to die, nobody is in danger. It's just dancing. He swallowed. For whatever reason, those thoughts didn't stop the nervous fluttering in his chest.
Then, Twisted Fate teleported into the room, clipboard in hand. "Howdy, y'all," he said, offering them a smile. "Let's get right down to business. We'll be conducting auditions today. Alphabetical order by first name since, erm, some of us don't have last names. I'll give everyone five minutes to finish preparin'. Please line up in order by the mirror."
The air in the room was tense. Annie would be first, then, and she anxiously twiddled her fingers together and whispered in hushed tones to Amumu. Amumu would follow her, then Blitzcrank, and so on, until they wrapped it up with Orianna.
Katarina sat down beside Garen, both of them leaning against the mirror. Kat couldn't help her straying eyes—he was wearing those tights again, she noticed appreciatively. Then her cheeks reddened as she caught herself and shook the thoughts away.
"Are you ready?" Garen asked her in low tones.
She hesitated before answering with a wry smile. "Kind of."
"Are you nervous, too?" he asked.
She glanced at him and met his eyes. "You're nervous?" she asked, quirking a brow.
He chuckled softly. "For whatever reason, this audition makes me more nervous than a battle does."
She let out a breathless laugh, then sighed. "Me, too," she admitted.
"I'm sure you'll do wonderfully, Kat," he said, placing a hand atop hers and squeezing it gently.
She froze at the contact, the warmth tingling on her fingers. His hand was calloused and rough, from countless battles and hard work wielding his sword. Her own hand wasn't exactly soft, but there was something about his that felt… strong.
She liked strong.
She swallowed, then turned her hand over and linked her fingers with his, squeezing his hand gently. "You'll do great," she told him breathlessly. "Your spinning technique has really come a long way."
He grinned from ear to ear, his eyes twinkling. "Thank you," he said.
"All right, everyone be quiet. We're gonna start now," Twisted Fate announced. "You can leave once you're done with your routine, but if ya wanna stay and offer moral support and see your classmates' auditions, you can." After going through a few more procedures, he called Annie up, and she ran through her routine.
Annie faltered on a few steps, but overall, she did a good job. Amumu clapped once she was done, and Garen joined in, elbowing Kat. She rolled her eyes, but also offered a few claps. Annie smiled and bowed.
"Good job, Annie. Right, then," Twisted Fate said. He'd been taking notes the entire time, and he scribbled a few more lines down before flipping to another page on his clipboard. "Amumu, you're up."
The little mummy stood frozen in place, quivering with nerves until Annie hurried to his side and gave him a hug. She whispered something in his ear.
"Good luck!" Garen whispered to Amumu, and offered him a thumbs up. Kat offered what she hoped was an encouraging smile, and Amumu seemed to brighten up. He scurried to the center of the room and ran through his routine.
He tripped on his bandage again, but this time, he didn't fall, and he recovered quickly. The rest of his routine went smoothly, and he did a decent job. At the end of his routine, though, tears were in his eyes, and he shifted nervously from foot to foot.
"Now, everyone," Twisted Fate said as he scribbled furiously on his clipboard. "I want ya to take note of Amumu, here. When somethin' unexpected happens durin' the performance, ya gotta roll with it. If ya trip, get right back up and pretend it didn't happen. Ya stumble, pretend it was part of the dance. That's exactly what Amumu did, and that's exactly what you're supposed to do." He looked up at Amumu and gave him a grin. "Good job, Amumu."
Amumu beamed, and tears of joy were in his eyes as he ran to Annie and gave her a hug. Then he ran to Garen and Kat's side and gave them hugs, too, before returning to Annie.
Katarina glanced at Garen, who watched Amumu with a proud grin.
"You're too attached to the kid," Kat muttered under her breath, "you only talked to him for the first time yesterday."
"True friendship does not have to be old friendship. I'm happy for him," Garen said. "Don't pretend like you aren't. I saw you smile earlier."
Kat started. "I did not," she said.
"Yes, you did," he told her. "You were happy for him."
Katarina opened her mouth to argue, then decided against it. He was right, after all. She was happy for the little mummy, stupid as it was.
"Whatever," she grumbled, and he laughed.
Garen thought it was endearing, the way she pretended she didn't care when she most certainly did. His thoughts were interrupted by Twisted Fate calling Blitzcrank forward.
Blitzcrank ran through his routine quickly, if somewhat… stiffly. To be fair, he was a robot with certain limitations to his form. Afterwards, he clicked a bit and his eyes blinked as he waited for Twisted Fate to dismiss him.
"Good job, Blitzcrank," Twisted Fate said after writing some lines down. Blitzcrank seemed to dance a bit before returning to the mirror and speaking to Orianna. "All right, up next… Cho'gath."
Cho'gath turned to Kog'maw, who had been sitting happily in a corner and drizzling ooze on only one small section of the floor. "Now Kog'maw," Cho'gath said sternly, and the little void creature perked up as he listened intently, "Behave yourself. If I have to stop my audition to ensure you don't wreck the floor or some other upholstery, you will be in a large deal of trouble, young man."
Kog'maw nodded. "Go dance! Go dance! I stay here! I good boy."
Cho'gath patted Kog'maw on the head before walking onto the dance floor. Unlike the others in the studio, Cho'gath was exempt from the dance attire regulations. He had nonetheless found himself a white shirt, and black leggings for each of his legs. He wore dance slippers on two of his feet, which he placed firmly on the ground.
"All right, whenever you're ready," Twisted Fate announced, and Cho'gath began the routine.
Cho'gath obviously took the audition very seriously, and he performed his routine with an air of grace and delicacy. He had some difficulty with the leaps, but he performed them with determination nonetheless. Once he was done, he procured a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"My, what a workout," he said.
"Good job, Cho'gath," Twisted Fate said as he scribbled on his clipboard. Cho'gath returned to Kog'maw's side. The creature had, miraculously, been true to his word, and had only drooled onto a a bit of the floor in Cho'gath's absence.
"All right, Garen. Your turn."
Garen took a deep breath and rose to his feet.
"Hey, Garen," Kat said, and he glanced at her where she sat. She offered him a smirk. "Spin to win."
He smiled and trotted to the center of the room, and Kat found her eyes drifting to his butt. He had a nice butt, she decided. Then she was distracted as he began his routine.
He had been practicing, even since yesterday—and it showed. He danced with great enthusiasm, as he usually did, but when he got to the pirouettes, he glowed. She couldn't help but smile with him as he spun, and her heart skipped a beat.
Once he was through, he wiped the sweat from his brow.
Twisted Fate's eyes gleamed as he scribbled furiously onto his clipboard. For several minutes following Garen's routine, the room was filled with silence save for the sound of Twisted Fate's pen. Then Twisted Fate looked up. "Good job, Garen," he said, and Garen nodded before returning to Kat's side.
"You did a good job," she whispered to him as he sat down.
He let out a shaky breath. "Thank you," he said. "You helped my nerves, earlier. I truly appreciate that."
She shrugged, avoiding his eyes as her cheeks heated and she found herself giddy at the thought that her words had helped him out. Damn, she thought to herself. I'm in deep.
"Katarina, you're up."
Katarina swallowed and rose. Garen poked her leg, and she turned to him, surprised at the gesture.
He gave her two thumbs up, and a wide grin. "Spin to win, Kat," he told her, and she smirked.
"Oh, I intend to," she said to him, and when she turned away, she didn't notice the way his cheeks had reddened.
She's hot , Garen thought, unable to lie to himself. My god, she's hot.
When she performed her routine, she performed it flawlessly; Garen couldn't help but admire her. She really could spin to win; if they were in a contest, her pirouettes would beat his, for sure. She spun with grace and precision, something she'd surely learned through the years when she perfected her death lotus, the dance of blades, beautifully deadly. Just like her.
When she'd finished, Garen waited with bated breath as Twisted Fate wrote something furiously on his clipboard. Just like with Garen's audition, Twisted Fate was silent for several minutes.
Kat swiped some loose hairs out of her face, where they'd fallen from her bun. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg as she waited.
Finally, after several minutes, Twisted Fate finished writing. "Good job, Katarina," he said.
She returned to Garen's side to sit down, and he gave her a hearty clap on the shoulder. "Your spins were superb!" he told her, and she couldn't help but smirk.
"Of course they were. It's me we're talking about, after all," she said, and he shook his head as he chuckled.
Then it was Kog'maw's turn, and the little void creature danced happily. He messed up several steps, but he was having too much fun to notice. Everyone else was too focused on the ooze he was spitting onto the ground in his joy. Once he'd finished his routine, he wiggled from side to side and hummed to himself.
Twisted Fate held back a grimace and offered a strained smile. "Good job, Kog'maw," he said. Kog'maw happily waddled to Cho'gath's side, who petted the little void creature on his head.
"All right. Orianna, you're the last one up."
Orianna walked forward and went through her routine. It was like she was born—or, er, made—to dance. She danced beautifully, and everyone was impressed by her.
Twisted Fate took the longest time to write down comments for her. Once he was done, he nodded. "Good job, Orianna." Then he gestured to everyone.
"Well, everyone did a fine job today, folks," he said, smiling. "You've all been workin' hard, and I want to congratulate each and every one of you. Now, the results'll be posted next class outside the door. We'll also have our first rehearsal for the show next time, and each of you will have to work a little bit more outside class to make sure ya get your parts down.
"Good job, everyone. I'll see y'all on Tuesday!" And then he teleported away, and their classmates began to file out of the room.
"I hate when he does that," Garen muttered. Kat rolled her eyes.
"It's just—" she said.
"—what he does, I know," Garen said, sighing. Then he gave her a grin. "Kat, you did an amazing job. Your pirouettes were—they were gorgeous."
She blushed, and offered him a grin in return. "You did great, too, Garen," she told him. "You—you have a strength about you that's impressive."
He seemed taken aback. To receive a compliment like that from Kat was… unexpected. In Noxus, strength was the central pillar around which their convictions revolved. Strength was a sign of leadership, of power, and of courage. Strength was respected.
A compliment like that didn't come lightly from a Noxian. Especially one of her caliber.
"I'm honored," Garen said. "For the record, your own strength has impressed me since the day we first clashed blades in battle."
"You mean the time I kicked your ass?" she said teasingly, smirking.
"You didn't kick my ass," he said, "if I remember correctly, I was kicking your ass."
"Oh, really? Because the way I remember it, someone was having a tough time keeping up with me."
"Only because of your shunpo," he said, "and when you came in close, you always had to shunpo away."
"Well, I did end up beating you," she said. "So I'd say I won that one."
"True," he admitted, and then he laughed. "I suppose that means you're the stronger of us, is that it?"
She poked him in the chest. "You'd better believe it, Crownguard," she said. "And don't you forget it."
"I don't think I can," he said seriously. The empty room was silent as they stared into each other's eyes.
"Yeah?" she asked. "Why's that?"
When had they gotten so close? Kat wondered in the back of her mind as she leaned closer to him.
"Because I can't stop thinking about you," Garen admitted, his voice breathless. He didn't know why he was being so reckless, only that her gaze was piercing into him, and he needed to press on, to charge forward. Her face was inches from his, and the distance between them closed, and her arms found his.
"Really?" she breathed, and her hands pressed against his chest as his arms wrapped around her waist. "Because I can't stop thinking about you, either."
And then their lips met, and their eyes closed, and nothing else mattered.
A/N: And finally, there we have it! FINALLY, amirite? Hope y'all enjoyed this one! I think it's the longest chapter yet at almost 6 pages (there's a longer one coming up, but it's not for a while). I'm pretty excited to get this chapter out there-it was one of my favorite ones to write! I can't tell you how many times I've edited this chapter.
Anyway, I got Annie since she's super cheap. Also bought warring kingdoms kat and pool party leona. Still trying to save up ip for cass, though lol. And then it's on to velkoz, cus he's hilarious. That zed glitch is weird-have you guys seen it? I only saw it on youtube. Tahm Kench is also weird-dunno if I want to get him, yet. I might just get him for his quotes-HE HAS QUOTES FOR GAREN AND KAT THAT COULD MAYBE BE CONSIDERED GAREN/KAT. Go look it up-it's great. I don't care, i REFUSE to believe it's anything but garen/kat.
Anyway, my job's only part-time, but it's all day, so it still takes a lot out of me. Sorry for the updates not being conssistent. I'm updating this at 2am (why do i do this to myself). But yeah, hope you guys enjoyed! :D
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also, to KittyKata (since you didn't have an account so I couldn't reply)- I SURE HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER, considering your reaction to the previous one xD And you can't ship garen/kat too hard-i mean, look at my username, cmon, i'm in the same boat as you lol. nice name, too :p
