Dedication: This is dedicated to everyone who's ever attended a school dance.
It's dedicated to everyone who has ever asked another to dance,
And it's dedicated to everyone who's ever been asked.
Always say yes.
bonus dedication to Kat for betaing and posting this for me. I love you, Kat!
Disclaimer: Ok, I don't own Dragon Knights. I don't own any music that may be mentioned anywhere in this fic, including the song lyrics that start each chapter. They are from a song called "She Said Yes", I'm not sure who wrote it, but they own it, not me.
Warnings: Er... Swearing, probably. Sorry, but I don't exactly have a clean mouth, so that rubs off on my writing. Also fluff. Blatant fluff. Not now, but in a few chapters.
:He never gave a lot of thought to dancing:
That particular night was anything but silent.
Music blared festively, and the lighthearted chatter of students filtered out of the two open doors leading into the old school gymnasium. Neon lights lit up the commonly trodden pathways outside the building, and small groups of pupils gathered underneath them, standing or sitting in groups of threes and fours, talking excitedly about the night's events, and shivering in the cold air. Streamers of crepe paper dangled down from gaping doorways that led into the gym, creating a green and white curtain that fluttered invitingly in the cool night breeze. A water fountain was strategically stationed by these doors, a red and flushed crowd of young teenagers surrounding it, waiting their turn in line, or exchanging gossip and urgent advice.
Inside the gym the lighting was poor, the music deafening. Bright multicolored spotlights flashed across the center of the building's floor, currently clear of basketball nets and sports equipment so as to create a satisfactory space to dance, but failed to reach into the dense shadows along it's extremities, where metal bleachers and many seated students resided. On these far sides, the gender gap was taken literally: a wide span of barren open space separated the two opposing sexes, as both cast nervous glances at one another and tried to act indifferent.
Rath was not particularly good at this.
The black haired boy was standing on the top row of the male half of the metal benches, back turned to the section divided off for the females. He seemed to be boredly looking out the open doors, past the long strips of colored paper, to the vague shapes of the people outside, not paying an iota of attention to anyone around him. A pair of long black jeans and a blood red shirt, the imprint of a black Chinese dragon scrawling down the back covered his lean figure. His black hair was cropped short, but the bangs were already starting to grow long, casting spiked shadows across his light-skinned face. A tuft of light hair was present, nestled in among his darker bangs, and was messily pushed off to the side of his face. A single silver hoop hung from the lobe of his left ear, matching the long silver chain around his neck, it's end tucked into the collar of his shirt.
A voice from behind him spoke.
"If you want to ask her so much, so ask her already," it said, exasperated, "Just get it off your chest. I mean; you obviously want to."
His right hand twitched, but he made no other movement as he replied calmly to the boy seated on the row below him.
"What are you talking about, Thats?"
Thats sighed; rolling his eyes and tilting his head back so as to better look at his friend.
"Cesia's sitting there... All alone... Not doing anything..." he hinted.
Rath glanced down at him.
"And?"
Thats sighed.
"So much for being indirect."
He made sure to have eye contact with Rath before speaking again, taking a look deep into dark brown eyes, lit up with a strange crimson glow, as he tried to imprint his message on the other's mind.
"And you should ask her to dance with you," he stated, slightly irked that he had to spell out what should be, what was, obvious.
The first boy glared at the second, then retorted.
"And why should I do that? I don't like her. What's the point? Besides," he added in, "I don't like dancing."
Thats looked towards the sky, feeling his patience with the subject wearing thin, then ran a hand through his red-brown hair, tips neatly spiked in acknowledgement of the importance of the night, and lay down on his back, stretching out along the cool metal bench.
"Fine," he complained, "I give up. You talk to him, Rune."
A third boy, with fair skin and long blonde hair who was sitting on the row where Rath was standing, spoke for the first time.
"That you don't like to dance doesn't matter. The point is that you like HER. Why won't you just show it?"
"I don't like her," Rath muttered, glaring at the colorful streamers hanging above the doorway, their frayed tips dragging in the dust and dirt on the scuffed wooden floorboards, like war banners in defeat.
Rune chose to ignore his comrade's last comment and continued talking.
"I'm sure you two would hit it off, if you gave it a chance, that is. You have a lot in common,"
"Yeah," Thats butted in, still in an irritated mood about his friend's reluctance to say anything, as he grinned evilly at the ceiling, "Like how you're both insane."
Rune sent him a sharp look and continued talking where he had left off; trying to find something to say that would make the black haired teenager finally see the light.
"And a lot of similar interests. You would be perfect for each other. Besides, I know she likes you as well."
"She doesn't," Rath muttered again, still staring straight ahead.
"Yes, she does," Rune persisted, "And what's more,"
"She doesn't," he repeated, a tinge of color rising to his face as mixed words formed in his mind. The colored paper hanging by the entrance was brushed aside as three female figures walked in, all chatting gaily.
"You do as well-"
The color spread as Rath turned around, glaring at the two teenagers seated before him.
"For the last time, she doesn't like me! So will you just cut it out? Stop bugging me about asking Cesia to dance! She doesn't like me; I don't like her. Got that? She could never like me, and I don't like her. I don't like her!"
Thats sat up straight, glancing nervously over his shoulder at the few people now staring interestedly at them. He was about to argue otherwise, when he heard Rune speak instead, and a smile lit up his face.
The blonde grinned.
"Then why are you blushing?"
:n:
Ok, I know I've got a lot of school fics going on, but this one will be brief-compared to the others, so just bear with me, please. All of my ideas seem to take the form of school fics, I'm not sure why. I can't for the life of me think of anything that will take place in the actual DK universe... Except "Wishing", and that Thatchel that I have yet to write..., but the ideas just flow when I place them in a school setting. sighs Maybe I should resign from being the Queen of Thatchel Fangirls and become the Queen of Crazed Schoolfic Writers...