A few days after Alfred's appointment with Francis, he found that the medication was helping him get to sleep. Where usually the voices always felt like they were on that lowest volume setting, but still thrumming in the back of his mind, the drugs helped dull it even further. If he took the pills before bed, it dulled them enough that he could hardly tell they were there unless he focused on them, and that was enough to help him get to sleep.

Three days after he'd started the medication, he slept soundly all night. Because of that he woke up pleasantly surprised and feeling refreshed, with only minimum interference from the voice. It was really uplifting, and that morning he really felt like maybe things could get better.

He even ate breakfast.

The dance class was that night, and he sent a text to Ivan before his shift at the restaurant to ask him to bring his bag to class, and was happy when Ivan sent him a little reply of 'Sure. I didn't look inside it, I promise. ;)'.

Everything was coming up Alfred.

That night, he arrived at the dance studio early to find a few of his students there, as well as Ivan, who was sitting next to his bag with a smile on his face.

"Well color me shocked," Gilbert said, wrapping his arm around Matthias, "Teacher-man's here early for once. Is the full moon out tonight?"

Matthias chuckled, "Maybe. Or he's just got a special someone he wants to get some extra time with…" He nudged Gilbert and gestured to where Ivan and Alfred were smiling at each other and saying hello.

"How long before you think they get married?" Gil asked, drumming his fingers along Matthias's shoulder, to which the other man shrugged, "Probably after one of them gets knocked up."

With a snorted laugh, Gilbert shoved at Matthias and make grossed out noises.

Alfred had his hands tucked into the pockets of his sweats as he rocked side to side a little, "So, thanks for taking care of that for me," he tipped his head towards where his bag was sitting on the bench, "Completely forgot that I'd even put that in your car."

Smirking, Ivan shrugged a shoulder, "Yes, I'd noticed you were a bit too busy running away to think about it. It's no trouble."

Alfred sputtered, "I was not running away!"

"What would you call it, then?"

"Just," he tried, "making a hasty exit."

"Running away."

"Shut up," Alfred huffed, shoving at Ivan's shoulder playfully as the tips of his ears turned red. "I was nervous, okay?"

Ivan seemed to soften a little, "I know. It's fine, really, I just thought it was funny." He raised an eyebrow at him, "You don't have to be nervous, though. I won't bite."

Alfred rolled his eyes, "Unless I want you to, right?"

There was a pause, "Well, yes."

Now Alfred really flushed and he made a choked noise for a second before nodding, "Right, uh, okay. Don't have to be nervous."

With a smile, Ivan nodded his head, "Yes. And… well." He stepped a little closer to Alfred and whispered lowly, "I wouldn't have minded if you had stayed a little longer. I'd have liked to have kissed you back." Compulsively, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to Alfred's cheek, and he proceeded to light up like the fourth of July.

"Oh." He managed in a squeak of a sound before he nodded, "Right, yeah. Um," He dipped his head a little and smiled, "I'll keep that in mind."

Ivan nodded as well, "Please do."

Alfred looked up and they grinned at each other for a second before Gilbert whistled from the other side of the room at them. Without even looking, Alfred flipped him the bird, which caused everyone else in the room to laugh, effectively ruining the moment.

Sighing a little, Alfred shook himself out and headed to the front of the room, "Okay guys, let's get to it. And I swear to god, Gil, if you don't wipe that look off your face, I'm gonna punch it off."

The class was a fairly normal one, all joking and flirtation aside, and where Alfred did still isolate Ivan to teach him some specific things, none of them were particularly close quarters dances until they got to the last ones. Since the last time they'd had class, Alfred had passed out, they hadn't gotten to do the last few moves, so that's what was on the agenda.

With a smile, Alfred wrapped his arms around Ivan's shoulder, "Alrighty, Ivanski, time for the fun stuff."

Ivan raised an eyebrow at him, "What's particularly fun about it?"

Alfred pouted and tapped Ivan on the back of the head, "You're supposed to say 'I thought we were already having fun'."

"…I thought we were already having fun," he deadpanned, and Alfred grinned toothily, "That's the spirit!"

He put his hand in Ivan's and gestured to his own hip, "We're gonna practice a different style of partner dancing. Hang on."

Ivan blinked at him, but put his hand on Alfred's hip regardless, only to have him smile like he had a secret.

"Alright, now you remember the steps from the last dance we worked on?" After a moment of thought, Ivan nodded, and Alfred nodded back, "Good, let's practice that once, then I'm going to do something a little different- just go with it, okay?"

With a little hum of assent, Ivan did the steps Alfred asked of him, a few sets, and they moved together in the little corner they'd taken for themselves. Alfred seemed pleased at Ivan's movements, and Ivan was feeling rather proud of himself until Alfred winked suddenly and moved his hips in a way they hadn't practiced. He did the turn-away move that he'd been expecting, but with much more flair than before, and much much more motion to his whole form.

As he came back to meet Ivan's hands again, he smiled brightly, "Come on, do what I do."

He put a few more inches of space between them so that Ivan could see the pattern and arch of motion he'd set his hips into, and while Ivan was grateful for the demonstration, it was still very distracting, and he nearly lost step trying to focus on it. After a few more rotations, though, he seemed to get it, and instead of paying attention to Alfred's hips, they looked right at each other.

Ivan didn't look down to see what he was doing, he didn't count his steps out loud, he didn't look to his own his and compare what he was doing to Alfred, he just moved them in the way he knew how. He matched Alfred move for move, mirrored what he did, and Alfred was fairly certain his was going to hurt his face if he smiled any wider.

He batted his lashes at Ivan, "You're good. Have I told you that you're a natural at this? Because you are." He did a turn and when he came back, he set his hand on Ivan's chest, "I'm really impressed."

With a little smile, Ivan squeezed Alfred's hip a little, "Thank you. Though obviously without you I'd have two left feet."

Alfred hummed pleasantly, "Now you're just flattering me. But I can dig that." He swiveled his hips just so and pressed himself a little closer, "I'll happily take credit. By the time we get you into the routine you'll outshine all of us, I bet." He grinned, "I'll have to give Francis a thank you card for sticking you here."

Ivan chuckled, "I might have to send one, myself." Without warning, we twirled Alfred just so, then dipped him even as he gave a little squeak of surprise, "I'm finding this to be a very enjoyable form of therapy." He grinned, and Alfred laughed and turned pink from where he was still being held up by him.

"You're not even fair, what the hell," He muttered, shaking his head and patting at Ivan's shoulder, "Let me up you charming thing, I've got a class to dismiss." He grinned and pressed a little kiss to Ivan's nose before the other man let him up, then pat Ivan's chest and chuckled to himself.

"Geez, what even," Alfred shook his head and walked to the front of the class, cheeks still pleasantly pink.

"Okay guys, I'm pretty sure that we can get Vanski over there caught up on the Moves Like Jagger steps, so we'll all start working together on that routine again next class." There was some cheering from the group, and Alfred laughed, "Yep! But watch your asses, don't slip up, cause I swear that guy over there will kick your ass on the dance floor if you let him."

Ivan flushed a little, pleased with the praise, and got multiple hands patting him on the back, and Gil and Matthias wrapping their arms around his shoulders to muss up his hair.

Alfred grinned from the front, "That's about all we've got for today, so you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. Practice what you need to, but otherwise have a great week and get ready to kick some serious ass in here next class."

With a few affirmative noises, the class started to depart, and Alfred hummed as he headed to get his bag and go home, feeling really satisfied with the day. Ivan approached him before he had even zipped up his bag, though.

"So." He began, and Alfred pulled his hoodie on with a smile.

"So?"

"So I was wondering," Ivan continued, "if you might have dinner with me tonight."

Alfred looked at him and adjusted his sleeves, "Hm. For the pleasure of my company or for the sake of my health?"

Ivan actually blinked at him in surprise, then hummed, "Both I suppose. Though I hadn't thought of it that way."

"Which way, A or B?"

"B," He tucked his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants, "For the most part I just wanted to spend time with you."

Subconsciously, Alfred relaxed and gave a little shake of his head, "Yeah. Right, obviously, sorry." He offered him a slightly embarrassed look, "I guess I'm not used to people being interested in me for reasons that don't have to do with…" He made a vague hand gesture, "Stuff."

Ivan nodded, "I understand. You still haven't answered my question though."

Flushing again, Alfred smiled and nodded a little, "Yeah. I mean, sure, yes, I'll have dinner with you."

"Good," Ivan smiled, "I'm glad. Do you mind if we eat at my place?"

"You cook?"

"Well enough."

"Then I'm game," Alfred grinned, picking up his bag with one arm and wrapping the other around Ivan's waist, "Let us be off, then, my good man."

Ivan chuckled and wrapped his arm around Alfred's shoulders as they left, "As you wish."

"Oh don't even start with The Princess Bride references, dude, I could go for days," Alfred grinned, but Ivan just tilted his head at him, "The Princess Bride?"

For a moment, Alfred just gaped at him, "No way. You've never seen The Princess Bride?" He snorted and pat Ivan's hip, "Well that settles it, we're watching it after dinner."

"Well," Ivan began, "I'm fine with that, but how?"

Alfred hummed, "Do you have a game system?"

"Such as?"

"An Xbox, man, or a PS3."

Ivan shook his head, "No, I don't play." Alfred gasped dramatically, "Oh, the humanity. Well wait-" He gave Ivan a look, "Is it because you don't like games or because you were always so focused with work that you never bothered?"

With a hum, Ivan considered it, "Both?"

Alfred sighed again as they neared the car, "Oh, dear Ivan, we have to fix that. You'll have to come to my place next time- I'll instruct you in the ways of video game war." He nodded, determined, and Ivan shook his head with amusement, "Whatever you say."

When Ivan pressed the button on his key ring to unlock the doors, they headed to the back to put their bags in, and Alfred chuckled, "Careful, if you let me have my way all the time I'll have you wrapped around my finger real quick." He tossed his bag in, and after Ivan threw his in, too, he felt Ivan's arms wrap around him. Ivan kissed the back of Alfred's neck and murmured, "…I'd be okay with that."

Alfred shivered and leaned back into the hold with a hum, "Yeah I'd be okay with that, too." Ivan turned his head to rest his chin on Alfred's shoulder, and Alfred turned to kiss him on the cheek, "Let's go, hm?"

Ivan nodded and pressed his nose to Alfred's temple for a moment before pulling away, "Mhm." He shut the door to the trunk and headed to the driver's side door while Alfred exhaled and smiled a little as he walked to the other side.

When they were both settled, they smiled at each other for a moment, and the car was comfortable for each of them during the drive.

It didn't take too long before they were outside of Ivan's apartment and Ivan was carrying his dance bag while he lead Alfred to his door.

"I don't, um," He cleared his throat, "I don't usually have people over, so I apologize if it's not…" He searched for a word, and Alfred piped up, "Welcoming?"

Ivan shrugged, "Something like that, sure."

He unlocked the door and held it open for Alfred to walk in, as well, "Welcome, anyway."

Alfred looked around curiously, finding mostly Spartan decorating and very functional furnishings. It kind of suited Ivan, in its way. He nodded a little and offered Ivan a smile, "It's a nice place. Big, too, wow," He noticed the small hallway leading away from the kitchen and living room area and headed over, "Okay that's way more doors than I expected- you have a guest room, holy crap. Also your living room is huge, man." He grinned, "It's pretty awesome."

Ivan smiled awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his neck while he set down his bag, "Thank you, I'm glad you like it."

Alfred nodded and headed to the living room to flop down on the couch, "Oof. Hey, you know what we could do?" Ivan hummed from the kitchen, and Alfred shifted to make himself more comfortable, "If you don't wanna cook, we can always order Chinese or something and watch the movie while we eat."

With a thoughtful noise, Ivan left the kitchen and appeared from behind the couch to look down at Alfred, "That's a good idea. Want to do that?"

"Sounds good to me, bro," Alfred said, giving him a thumbs up, "I can take half the check, too, so we're good." Ivan shook his head at him and went out of sight again, "No, don't worry about it, I can cover it."

Huffing, Alfred shuffled around until he had his feet propped up on the arm of the couch, "At least let me get the tip, man."

He heard a responding huff, "If you insist, fine."

"See, look at that, compromise. Good communciation, A plus for us," Alfred grinned and closed his eyes where he lay, "What a good start. Communication is the most important thing in a relationship, after all." He didn't really realize what he said until Ivan paused and came back to look over him again.

"…so we're in a relationship, then?"

Alfred flushed and shrunk back into the couch to hide part of his face with his hoodie, "Well, uh. I guess? If you wanna be, I mean, obviously, but if you don't want to that's o-"

"I want to," Ivan confirmed, looking just as red in the face as Alfred felt. "Do you want to?"

Alfred managed a little nod and murmured, "Yeah," and then Ivan was leaning down and kissing him. And it wasn't those cheek kisses they'd been doing, and it wasn't the little neck kiss, either. Despite the angle being slightly awkward, Alfred surged up to kiss back whole-heartedly.

And at first it was chaste, just a warm press of lips against lips, but then Alfred let out a little breath and Ivan licked at his lip. Then all bets were off and after Alfred's valiant attempts to map out Ivan's lips with his tongue, Ivan took Alfred's lower lip and kissed and nipped at it gently, making the other man let out a little breathy noise.

Alfred tangled his hand in Ivan's hair and pressed closer, sitting up to get some better leverage and breathing Ivan's name between them before Ivan leaned back and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"Mm," Alfred murmured, licking his lips, "Well that takes care of the second most important thing about a relationship." When Ivan made an inquisitive noise, Alfred bumped his nose against Ivan's.

"Really good kissing."

Ivan chuckled under his breath, flattered, and kissed Alfred's cheek, "Glad we make the grade, I suppose." He ruffled Alfred's hair a little, "I'm going to go order the food now, if that's alright."

With a grin, Alfred ran his hand back through his hair to fix it and kissed Ivan's cheek in return, "Don't let me stop you. Say, d'you have a laptop?" He lay back down and settled comfortably into the cushions while Ivan went back to find his book of takeout menus.

"Yes, it's on the table under that folder," he called, and Alfred tilted his head to look at where it sat on the edge of the coffee table. He was feeling lazy and content now and the end of the table was just so far away…

He whined and tried to edge his foot over to it, but he couldn't reach. No rest for the weary, he mused dramatically.

With a huff, he sat up to carefully slip the very functional looking laptop out from under the folder (careful to not disturb it in case it had Ivan's work stuff in it). As he pulled up the log on screen, he settled back into the pillow he'd been on and tipped his head back to call, "Hey Vanski, does your laptop have a password?"

From the kitchen, Ivan put his hand over the receiver, "Yes."

"What is it?"

"Macro19," Ivan said, holding the phone away from himself for a moment.

Alfred snorted, "Lame." It got him in, though, and he quickly opened up the internet to connect to Netflix. He heard the little beep of the phone that meant Ivan had finished ordering the food, "Do you know if you have an HDMI cable?"

Ivan came and sat on the back of the couch, "…I have no idea what that is."

Grinning, Alfred waved a hand at him, "Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll have to watch it on your laptop, then, if you don't mind that."

Humming, Ivan looked down at him, "I don't have a problem with it, though it does mean we'll have to sit fairly close together."

Alfred batted his lashes at him, "That's peachy keen for me, sweetie. You seem like you'll be a comfortable pillow."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Ivan said, laughing as he walked around to the front of the couch. Alfred leaned forward so that Ivan could get behind him, then settled against his chest as Ivan wrapped his arms around him. His head rested on Ivan's shoulder, and he tipped his head back to kiss under Ivan's chin. Smiling, he let out a little exhale, "Yep, very comfortable. This will do very nicely."

Ivan smiled and kissed Alfred's temple while Alfred adjusted the screen for them and started the movie.

They got through about 15 minutes of Alfred mouthing the words along with the movie and Ivan smiling at him before the food they'd ordered arrived, and even though they were annoyed to have to get up, getting back into that position with food was the bigger obstacle.

"If you get that in my hair, I'm not kissing you goodnight," Alfred warned, shrinking away from Ivan's chopsticks as he took a bite of the chicken he'd ordered. Ivan only chuckled at him and held up the next bite to Alfred's mouth, "I won't, don't worry."

Alfred hummed at him and took the bite anyway, and they settled again to watch the movie while they ate.

By the end of it, there were two empty cartons on the kitchen table and the laptop alerted them that it would need to be charged soon. Alfred hummed and closed his eyes as Ivan put the thing to sleep, "So now I'm going to make a million references to this movie and you're going to have to get it, okay?"

Ivan smiled and leaned over to put the laptop on the table as well, "As you wish."

Alfred snorted and reached up to pat Ivan's face, "Hush, you." He smiled as Ivan pressed a kiss to his shoulder, then sat up to turn around and lay against Ivan's chest, looking very much like the cat that got the cream. Ivan smiled at him, then Alfred leaned forward and kissed him.

"Thank you for this, by the way," he said against Ivan's lips, and Ivan closed his eyes and shook his head, pressing their foreheads together.

"No need to thank me. I'm glad you're here," he kissed Alfred once, then again, "And that we're like this."

Alfred hummed and shifted against him a little, "Like what?" He kissed him again, lingering a little this time. He adjusted Ivan's legs a little so that he could straddle his hips, "Like this?"

Ivan put his hands on Alfred's hips and hummed, "Well I meant that we're together," he clarified, pressing his thumbs to the jut of Alfred's hipbones, "But this is great, too."

With a little noise of agreement, Alfred leaned to take Ivan's lips again, rocking slightly against him as he did so and causing some really wonderful friction between them. He did it once more experimentally and shivered at the low groan from Ivan and how his hands tightened on his hips. He curled one hand in Ivan's hair and kept the other on his shoulder to balance with, starting a little rhythm to his hips as they kissed.

And it was like fire. At first just the warm spark of arousal sitting low in both of them, but soon there was a hot need that flowed between them, and Alfred was panting against Ivan's cheek as the other man rocked his hips up to meet him. He felt kind of like a teenager rutting up against Ivan like that, but it was way way too hot for him to stop. With a shudder, he leaned to press wet kisses against Ivan's neck, and the moan that earned him made him buck a little harder against Ivan's hips.

Ivan tipped his head back to allow him room, and the flush that had settled in his cheeks had now spread to the tips of his ears and the back of his neck as they continued. Alfred could feel the heat against his lips, and he nipped gently at the expanse of skin where Ivan's shoulder met his neck and was rewarded with the coupling of a sharp gasp and a hard rock of Ivan's hips against him.

"Mm, Alfred," Ivan breathed, bringing a hand up to tighten in his blonde hair. At this point, Alfred could feel the press of Ivan's hard cock next to his own through their sweats, and he wanted so badly just to pull down the soft material that separated them and feel the hot touch of skin on skin, but part of him, the evil awful part, told him this wouldn't last, and that it would be better to not get in too deep.

He shoved that part away, but it had effectively planted a seed of worry in him, one that threatened to disrupt everything even as he felt the breath of Ivan's pants and moans in his ear.

But then, before he could try to get himself back in the game, he felt Ivan's hand against his crotch and gasped even as he pushed against it. He lifted his head to look at Ivan, whose eyes were dark with lust, and shuddered as he gripped him through the cloth.

"Can I…?" Ivan asked, running his finger along the length of the covered arousal.

Alfred groaned and decidedly told that part of himself to fuck off as he reached down to press his hand to Ivan as well, "Only if I can."

Ivan's eyes widened and he nodded shortly as they both slipped their hands into the other's sweatpants and picked up a rhythm that suited them. It was fast, but absolutely glorious, and Alfred pressed his forehead to Ivan's shoulder to moan against him, "Ivan, oh fuck, just like that…"

Ivan leaned his head against Alfred's and bucked up with his movements as well, groaning loudly under him and pressing kisses to Alfred's shoulder and neck.

It wasn't long before Alfred was shakily clutching at Ivan's shoulder and crying Ivan's name out again and again as he came hard into his hand. He bit his lip and groaned loudly as he bucked through it, still trying to keep up the rhythm of his other hand. It worked, apparently, because while Alfred was coming down from his orgasm high, Ivan was arching into him and sucking a bruising kiss against his neck as he hit his peak as well, mostly quiet except for a breathy moan against Alfred's shoulder.

When Ivan was done, he lay back, sated, and Alfred was content to rest against him, come between them be damned. Ivan seemed to agree, as he wrapped his arms around Alfred and held him close. Alfred hummed and closed his eyes as his thumb made little circles along Ivan's collarbone, "…okay?"

Ivan breathed a chuckle, "Very much so, yes. You?"

"Mhm," He nodded against Ivan's shoulder and smiled, "Hope you don't think I'm easy for putting out on the second date."

"Um, no," Ivan said, holding Alfred a bit tighter, "I don't think bad of you for anything, let alone this. Besides, I 'put out' too."

After a little pause, Alfred laughed and pressed his face to Ivan's neck, "Yeah. Thanks, Ivan."

"For what?"

"For being a good guy, I guess," Alfred shrugged a little and nuzzled Ivan's neck with his nose, "Just. This is really nice. You're really nice."

With a soft smile, Ivan ran his hand along Alfred's back, "Thank you, Alfred. I think you're wonderful, too."

Alfred huffed, "You don't have to say that."

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

Flushing a little, Alfred buried his face in the crook of Ivan's neck, "Mn." He brought his hand up and pat Ivan's cheek once before just kind of running his thumb along Ivan's cheekbone.

He was happy. Really really happy for the first time in a while. It felt good, and wrapped up in Ivan's arms and feeling the little kiss pressed against his hair, he felt safe and loved.