thank you to everyone who commented on and liked the last chapter! i love you all! 3

also, i didn't find any trigger warnings for this chapter, but if there are any please let me know!

summary: in which we have (drumroll please) BALLET CONNOR!

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"What did you learn in kindergarten today, sweetie?" Cynthia asked from the driver's seat of the car.

"I learned to spell my name!" Connor exclaimed gleefully.

"Can you do that for me?"

"C-O-N-N-N-O-R!"

"Two 'N's, Connor," she corrected. "Not three."

"Oh." He looked crestfallen at having gotten it wrong.

"But that was very good!" She quickly reassured him with a smile.

"Yay, Con!" Zoe gave him a high-five.

Cynthia pulled into the parking lot of the dance school. "We're here, kids."

"How long is it?" Connor asked, opening the car door and stepping out.

"An hour," Cynthia replied, helping Zoe to carry her dance bag into the building. "I'm going to help Zoe get her shoes on, just wait a while."

"Can I go explore?"

She nodded, fishing Zoe's shoes out of the bag. He wandered down the corridor. Some of the doors were closed, but one of them was slightly ajar. He peeked in, there were girls dressed in the pink shirts and white pants like Zoe had, and they were doing jumps and spinning. Entranced, he couldn't help but stare, even if he knew that his parents had said that staring was rude. He didn't know how they could spin so many times without falling down. Once, he had had a competition with Zoe to see who could spin for the longest time, and they had gotten so dizzy they crashed into each other, knocked their heads, and cried.

Maybe those people in the room just had special shoes.

One person—he guessed it was the teacher—caught him staring and came over. Embarrassed, he tried to slip away, but then she smiled at him so he probably wasn't in trouble.

"Do you like to dance?" she asked. "You seemed very interested in the advanced classes." Her tone was friendly and Connor decided that she liked her.

"I don't dance," he explained. "But Zoe is taking classes at this time so I have to come after I finish my kindergarten. I'm big now, so I have to go to kindergarten."

"Is Zoe your sister?" He nodded. "Well… I don't think she's in this class," she remarked, glancing over her shoulder at the girls who were now stretching at the barre.

"No," he shook his head. "She's not in this class. She's three—and a half," he added hastily. He knew that the half was very important to her. "My mom's helping her to wear her shoes." His eyes wandered back to the dancers. "How do they spin so many times?"

"That move is called a pirouette, and they do that with lots of practice." She paused, then asked. "Would you like to learn to dance?"

He frowned. "I'm a boy."

"Boys can dance, too!"

"Really?" He scanned the room. "There's no boys."

"They are in another class," she assured him. "There aren't as many boys, so that makes them very special!" She winked at him, and he giggled.

"I'll ask Mummy," he said, running down the corridor to where Cynthia sat. "Mummy, the lady said I can dance, too! Can I? Can I?"

"May, Connor," Cynthia correct, laughing at his excitement.

"May I, Mummy? Please?" he begged.

"Well…"

"Please, Mummy, I really really really really want to. I promise I'll practice super hard."

Cynthia thought for a moment, then agreed. "Alright, Connor. I'll sign you up for a term, but you must finish it even if you don't like it, okay? You know I don't like it when people give up halfway."

"Yay! Thank you so much, Mummy!" Connor jumped up and down with glee.

Soon, Connor had changed into a white shirt, black pants, and white shoes, and the teacher who he had met just now—he had learnt that her name was Miss Annie—ushered him into the beginner's class. "Mrs. Shapiro, a new student for you," she said as she led him in.

The teacher—who must have been Mrs. Shapiro since she was the only other adult in the room—looked up and her face brightened. "Oh! A boy! How absolutely lovely, we have a boy in our class now, girls!" He grinned. She seemed so nice and he was so excited.

One girl raised her hand. "Mrs. Shapiro, I thought only girls can dance."

Connor tried not to scoff. Mrs. Shapiro simply smiled again and said, "No, Sally, boys can be dancers too—there were actually many famous ballet dancers who were men."

Many of the girls looked surprised, their mouths in an 'O' shape as they nodded. Connor couldn't help but wonder if he could be a famous ballet dancer guy too!

Mrs. Shapiro told them to line up beside the barre and Connor went to stand behind Zoe.

"Why are you here?" she asked out of curiosity.

"I want to dance, too," he replied.

"Mummy said yes?" she looked surprised. He nodded.

"Zoe, focus please!" Mrs. Shapiro called. She came around to help Connor, since he was slightly behind the other girls. She also used a lot of fancy words, which she said it was a language called French, but she explained everything very clearly.

Connor couldn't wipe the smile off his face as the music began, and they all did the same moves and exercises together. Even if he was the only boy, he didn't care. He wanted to do this forever. He almost cried when Mrs. Shapiro said that the class was over and they could go home. He lingered in the room for a short while longer as the others gathered their bags to leave.

"Did you enjoy the class?" Mrs. Shapiro asked.

"Yes! I liked it a lot," he responded eagerly.

She beamed at him. "That's great, Connor. You danced so well for a beginner."

He blushed a little. "Thanks, Mrs. Shapiro!"

"Connor, hurry up, let's go," Zoe called, her bag already packed and slung over her shoulder. He gathered up his things, gave Mrs. Shapiro a quick wave, and scampered out the door to meet Cynthia.

"Did you enjoy the class?" she asked, fishing the car keys out of her purse.

"Yes! It was so awesome!" Connor exclaimed, bouncing up and down, his energy apparently not drained yet.

"That's great! I'm glad you liked it," she led them out of the building. "Let's go home, I need to prepare dinner."

"What are we eating?" Zoe asked.

"Let's get McDonald's," Connor suggested.

Cynthia laughed. "Nope."

"Aww…" the two of them groaned dramatically. "Why not?"

"Watch your tone," Cynthia teased. "If you complain, I'm going to cook Brussel sprouts!"

"Eww!" they screamed. "Yucky!"

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About half an hour later, they had reached home, and the children were helping to set the table when Larry came back from work.

"Daddy's home!" Zoe called as she heard the door to their attached garage open then close, and she and Connor ran over to give Larry a hug.

"How was kindergarten today, Connor?" Larry asked as he set his briefcase down.

"I learned to spell my name!"

"Wow! That's good," Larry said, ruffling Connor's hair before going upstairs to change out of his suit.

"Why didn't you tell Daddy about dance class?" Zoe asked in a low voice.

"I…I don't think he'll be happy. He'll probably say it's for girls, or something." A sad look came over Connor's face.

"What if he finds out?"

"I dunno," he mumbled. "Maybe Mummy will explain it to him. Or Mrs. Shapiro. She said that there are boys that dance, too."

She nodded slowly. "So I shouldn't tell Daddy?"

"Yeah. Please?"

"Okay."

"Thanks, Zo," he smiled gratefully.

"Kids, can you help me set the dishes?" Cynthia called from the kitchen. Zoe helped to set out the plates and bowls, while Connor grabbed the large bowl of salad.

"I don't like salad," he declared, carrying it out of the kitchen and placing it in the middle of the table. "It's gross."

"It's good for you," Cynthia chided as she set down a steaming pot of French onion soup next to the vegetables.

"I only like apple salad," Zoe said, picking out a crouton from the salad.

"Yeah, the Waldo salad," Connor agreed, also digging through the dish.

"Waldorf salad," Cynthia corrected with a chuckle. The children nearly tipped the salad bowl over in their frantic search for the croutons. She slapped their hands away. "Stop that, or you won't get any for dinner."

"Salad?" Connor's face lit up in a mischievous smirk.

"No, silly, croutons."

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pls comment cuz it's almost thanksgiving break and my plan is to aggressively Write More Fic over said break

each comment gives me more Motivation :DD

also hmu on tumblr thewickedverkaiking if you ever want to chat