Spinning

~A GarenxKat story~

Chapter 14: Surprises

"Let me introduce our stage manager," Twisted Fate said a few minutes after teleporting into the room to begin their lesson. "Taric."

Taric, clad in his usual regalia, bowed dramatically. "At your service," he sang cheerfully as he rose from the bow and gave the class a once-over. "I'm so thrilled to be here. It's been a dream of mine to work on The Nutcracker, and Tobias here has been a real pal while we've been putting things together behind the scenes. But enough about that—oh, look at you! You're all so eager for us to begin!"

Kat rolled her eyes. "How long do you think before he starts going on about gems?" she whispered to Garen, who snorted in response.

"So, as you know, the stage manager has a variety of duties—one of which, in this case, since we're severely understaffed—is to make sure you all have costumes!" And with that, Taric snapped his fingers, and a pair of summoners wheeled in a rack of outfits.

"Wonderful!" Taric sang, and then he proceeded to assign them all their costumes. Somehow, he'd gotten their measurements beforehand (nobody wanted to know how), and so each costume was tailored already. And so it was that Garen found himself holding a pink dress.

"It's a dress," he muttered to himself.

"It's a night gown," Kat snickered.

"It's a dress," he repeated.

"Observant," she replied.

"A dress," he said, his voice slightly higher in distress.

"We've established this," Kat said, smirking at him. "At least I get a cool outfit."

Garen glanced at her and had to admit, she would certainly look stunning in that blue soldier outfit. With white pants and a small cape, it would certainly accentuate her hair. At least, that's what he thought, though if he were honest with himself, he would probably find her beautiful in any clothes she wore.

"No dress for you," he said.

"Nope. Cuz I'm a badass," she said haughtily.

Garen opened his mouth to inquire whether she was implying that he wasn't a badass (which he absolutely was), but he was interrupted.

"Ah! Garen, why the long face?" Taric asked as he walked towards them. He'd noticed Garen staring forlornly at his outfit and he'd made his way over. Garen hesitated.

"I… ah, well… I'm just… well, it's… a dress."

"It's a night gown," Taric said, not noticing the way Katarina had to bite her lip in order to keep from laughing.

"Well, sir, it's just… I… well… I've never worn a dress," Garen said, grimacing. And I don't want to, he thought.

"Oh! Well, first time for everything, right?" Taric laughed. "And it's not a dress. You see, Clara is sleeping, and so she's wearing her night gown. It simply wouldn't make sense for her to sleep in a dress, do you see?"

"That's not quite what I meant," Garen muttered, but Taric continued, not having heard him.

"And by the way, Garen, I'm so glad you landed the role. You know, Tobias had been considering Orianna for Clara's role, but I told him that Clara simply had to be you."

"M-me?" Garen asked, surprised. "You recommended me for this role?"

"Why, of course!" Taric said. "I insisted that Clara's role simply had to be filled by someone with a pure heart—it matches her character, you see? A Clara without a pure heart is lacking the very essence of Clara that makes her able to bring the Nutcracker to life. And among this class, I believe that you have the purest heart."

"I… ah, I'm honored?" Garen said as Kat snickered.

"Yes. Well, I just thought you should know—hopefully it'll boost your confidence! Don't be shy about the night gown—it'll look great on you, I promise," Taric said, giving Garen a wink before moving on to help Cho'gath figure out how to wear his own dress.

The rest of the lesson was spent learning more moves, and practicing them while in costume. It was certainly more difficult to move while wearing the dress—er, night gown—but he was determined to learn. And so by the end of the lesson, he had grown accustomed to the feel of it and the way it moved, and it no longer hindered his movements.

All in all, it had been a good lesson.

"Now, don't forget, next week we have dress rehearsal every night. It's gonna be rough, and I want you to all be prepared. Remember to eat healthy, stay hydrated, get lots of sleep, and practice! Don't strain yourself. We have one last lesson this week, and it will be our first time working with everyone together—we're gonna do a run through just to see where we are before the dress rehearsals get started. Don't be late, and don't get sick. You two have the most important roles, so ya gotta stay well. Y'hear me?"

Garen and Kat nodded in understanding, and after a bit more lecturing from Twisted Fate, he was satisfied they would indeed stay well, and he teleported away, satisfied.

The pair gathered their things, and when they were done, Garen went to Kat's side.

"Kat," he said, "you should come visit me later tonight. I have something I want to show you."

Kat blinked, then laughed. "That sounds like a bad pick up line." Garen blushed. "What time?"

"Any time you'd like," he said.

"How about now?" she asked.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

"Were you?" she laughed, and he nodded. They both went to change out of their ballet clothes and take a quick shower in the changing rooms before meeting up and walking the short distance to Garen's quarters. They didn't run into any Demacians on the way to Garen's room, for which they were grateful. While they weren't ashamed of their relationship, they didn't yet want to deal with the pressure or the problems that would arise if it were made public. Theirs would not be a simple relationship to the press, and it would not be easy explaining it to the higher-ups.

Once they had stepped inside, Garen led her to the living room, and he gestured for her to sit on the sofa. Once she'd taken a seat—and she made herself comfortable quickly, draping herself over the back of the armrest and giving him her usual smirk—he asked her to close her eyes.

After quirking an eyebrow in amusement, she obliged his request, and he trotted to his room. Kat heard him sifting through what sounded like boxes, and then she heard his tromping footsteps return, and he stopped in front of her.

"You can open your eyes now," Garen said, and she did.

In his hands, he held a carving of some sort. It looked ragged at the edges, and Kat thought she could see the vague impression of what was supposed to be hair, maybe a hat. The only really identifiable part on the wood were its cheerful eyes and what looked like a mouth that would open. It had various colors on it, blue in certain areas, red in others, even a little green for the eyes. With a jolt, she realized it might be her—and looking closer, it did look like it had a scar over its left eye.

"I made it for you," Garen said softly, handing the vaguely human-shaped wood to her. She took it, surprised at how light it was. "That's why I was late. I was too distracted working on it. Do you like it?"

"I… It's…" She appreciated the gesture. He must have spent hours on it—it looked as though he'd really done his best to try to make it look… nice. "I love it." And she wasn't lying. "I… it's just… what is it?"

"It's a nutcracker!" Garen said, grinning, and taking hold of a lever in the back that made the mouth open and close, demonstrating it a few times.

"Oh!" Kat exclaimed, her eyes widening as she started to recognize some of the features Garen had tried to inscribe upon the wood's surface. There was… a sword, maybe? And definitely boots, it was wearing boots. It had a coat on, she could see—he'd painted it blue.

Garen beamed and held out his hand, offering her a walnut. "Go ahead."

With a grin of her own, Kat lodged the walnut inside the nutcracker and pulled the lever.

CRACK.

Kat's grin faded and she gaped. The nutcracker… it had a lot more force in it than she'd expected. The walnut was completely destroyed, crushed into little bits. Had she put that much force into it? She didn't think she had.

"Isn't it great?" Garen exclaimed, taking the nutcracker and shaking the pieces of walnut into his hands. He began sorting through them, separating the shell from the nut. "Took me a while to figure out the right balance for it to crack the whole thing."

"Uh…" Kat began, laughing. "You know nutcrackers aren't supposed to crack the entire thing? Just the shell?"

Garen froze, his eyes widening and his ears turning pink. "Oh," he said. "That… does make more sense."

Kat burst into laughter and then helped him sort through the pieces of walnut in his hand. They ate them together after getting rid of the shell, and Kat's eyes didn't leave him the entire time.

Once they'd finished eating the walnut, Kat took the nutcracker and turned it over in her hands. Sure, it was rough around the edges, but… but it was beautiful.

She glanced up and met Garen's eyes, and they were burning with the same feeling she felt. She wasn't sure when her crush had progressed this far, when she had fallen this hard. God, she was in way too deep, now, but she couldn't help it.

She delicately placed the nutcracker on the table beside the sofa, and then she leaned forward, meeting Garen in a kiss. It was gentle, sweet, and with it, she knew that he felt the same way. When they broke apart, he held her hands and gazed into her eyes.

And then they kissed again, this one filled with a more desperate need, a desire they couldn't quench—a need to be closer, to truly know one another. Kat's hand trailed under his shirt, and he let her hands travel up his abdomen, to his chest. His own hands were wandering, and he wasn't sure if he should stop—and as they continued, he came to the startling realization that he didn't want to stop. Kat sure didn't seem like she wanted to stop, either, if her movements were any indication.

So engrossed were they in their activities, that they didn't hear the sound of the lock turning and the door opening, nor the soft footsteps that padded into the apartment. But they did hear the high-pitched gasp, and they leapt apart immediately, both blushing furiously, their hearts pounding, staring uncertainly at the intruder.

And from the hallway, Lux glanced between them, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

A/N: Huehuehue. -w- Hope y'all like the chapter! :3

Guest: Thanks! And yes, I agree. I'm glad you like the story, and hope you liked this chapter, too ;)