"Yugi," she mused under her breath.
Atem stood before her, his face concerned.
In his mind, he called out, "Come on, Yugi, my aibou. We'll do this one together. She doesn't deserve to be left to cry."
His familiar's brain spun for a few moments, but then, he responded with an emphatic nod of agreement. "It's good to hear you again, Pharaoh," he said, smiling.
"Maybe…we should move somewhere else," Anzu offered after her initial shock had passed. "I wouldn't mind a little company now, in the dance studio."
Atem blinked. "Will there not be company there?"
She shook her head. "No. There's no formal dance practice until tomorrow night. I just wanted to get a leg up on the other contenders. The dance team members all have a key, though."
The pharaoh's eyes shone with sudden understanding. "Oh."
"So…let's go," she said, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
"You mean…you're willing to let me watch you again?"
Anzu colored a little when he said it like that, but nodded. "Mhm. Follow me," she said, walking the rest of the short distance to the dance studio.
Atem's face turned from worry to joy. He made quick work of following her.
Anzu unlocked the studio with her key and opened the door. The lights were off and they couldn't see anything, but that was an easy fix. She flipped the light switch and walked inside, throwing her bag on top of the bleachers. It was a little bit cold, but she'd warm up soon enough on the dance floor.
The pharaoh poked his head inside, analyzing the studio as if it were a lion's den. Then, he stepped foot inside.
Anzu laughed at his odd behavior. "It's not going to grow teeth, you know. Come in."
He obeyed, closing the door and walking over to where she stood. "It's lovely. I can see that there is plenty of space in here to dance."
The brunette nodded, giggling at his long-winded wording. Then, she looked down at her feet for a second before returning her eyes to his level.
"What is it?"
"You know…that question you just asked me, outside?"
Atem nodded. He knew exactly which one she was referring to.
"You can…if you want to," she said in a whisper so quiet he almost had to strain to hear her.
Atem took a breath. Without wasting another second, he stepped forth and enveloped her in his arms, immediately closing his eyes as the sensation of her swallowed him whole. Yugi breathed out with him, both of them floored by the feeling.
Anzu was taken aback by the suddenness of it. She didn't think he'd do it so…quickly, with barely any hesitation.
"If only I could take your tears away like I can this cold air…"
He was right: if the air was cold now, she could barely feel it here, locked away protectively in his arms. The composure of her face shattered. Anzu colored a deep red that only flushed darker when he squeezed her lightly against him, as if to emphasize his point.
"I think you're…very capable…" Anzu started, "of doing whatever you put your mind to," she finished honestly, though she was embarrassed at how silly it had sounded.
"Am I?" Atem asked, peeking out from behind his thick shutters ever so slightly again.
She nodded.
"Then am I capable of easing your mind so that you no longer cry?" he asked, pulling away just enough to look right into her face.
Anzu's heart was floored. She was touched at his innocuous, very sincere question. In the glee that filled her, she laughed.
"Yes," she affirmed.
"I am?"
She looked up into his face, holding his gaze calmly despite her rapidly beating heart. She nodded, then cast her gaze downward, the top of her hair brushing against his nose.
Atem inhaled just at the right moment, sending the luxurious scent of her shampoo coursing through him again. His whole body relaxed.
"I'm glad I could be of any help," he stated. Since she wasn't crying anymore, he felt it safest to let her go again.
As soon as she was released, she missed him.
"Right, I guess I should start," she said, her mind still in a daze from his lingering warmth.
"What kind of dance must you do for the competition?" the pharaoh inquired.
"The waltz. Do you know it?" she asked.
"No. I'm afraid I'm not very familiar with dancing. However…"
"However?" Anzu pressed.
"I'd be very interested in seeing it."
Anzu smiled. "Certainly."
And with that, she practically twirled toward the one computer left on a small table near the bleachers.
Atem watched her, and immediately his eyes tracked her as if she were moving in mere slow motion. He took a deep breath and – without meaning to – held it.
With a few swift clicks, she opened a music player and readied the cursor at the play button.
"On my mark, can you click play?" she asked.
"Of course."
"Great. Let me get ready." Over the next several minutes, Anzu performed a stretching routine, some of which the pharaoh had never seen before, even in Egypt where there were many highly talented dancers.
And among them…
Anzu first stretched out her arms, then moved onto her legs, the most important part. All the little bits and pieces in between were taken care of in a final wrap-up stretch routine.
Then, she was finished. She looked over at him, and was surprised to see him still standing in the same spot as he had been before, not having moved an inch.
"Okay," she said. "Now."
Click.
As "A Thousand Years", the first song of the playlist, began, she got into position.
While the song readied itself, Anzu began stepping, simply at first, but then venturing into more complex movements after her first twirl.
As she danced, he couldn't help but listen to the words of the song, matching them to her fluid movements across the floor. He felt beyond entranced: she now had a hold on his heart that was five fingers strong and not budging an inch, and with every few steps, she seemed to be caressing his beating core with the gentlest touch.
The next few minutes were lost to Atem, so occupied was his mind. His feet were frozen where he stood, but the rest of him was very much on fire as he watched her performance with unfaltering interest.
"You're an angel…" he whispered to himself. He smiled.
When the song was finished, she had him click again.
"Well, how was that?" she asked.
"That was...mesmerizing."
Anzu's eyes flashed. It was quite a loaded response.
"T-thank you…" she replied. Her body was flushed, and as she looked more into his heavy expression, she knew it wasn't only from the dancing.
Suddenly, she had an idea.
"Do you want to try?" she asked, craning her neck to look into his face, which was glazed over with a preoccupied stare.
Yugi's voice came through in the pharaoh's mind, having been released from his own daze mere seconds ago. "I-I'm not very good at dancing!" he stammered.
"Neither am I," Atem responded. "But…"
"I'd be willing to try," he answered her.
Her eyes grew wide. "Really?"
"I cannot guarantee any expertise in my movements, but I would love for you to teach me."
Anzu clapped her hands together, grinning wildly like it was her birthday and everyone had given her exactly what presents she wanted.
"Okay, okay, okay," she said excitedly. "Come over here," she beckoned. The pharaoh obeyed.
"All right, so, like I said, this is waltz. More specifically, Viennese Waltz, so it's going to be a little fast, unfortunately," she explained. "But we'll take it slow and make sure you get it before we go full speed," she added, hoping not to have scared him off already.
"I will follow your movements."
"Uh, actually, we'll be doing opposite movements. You'll be leading and I'll be following, since I already know both roles and I never get to follow." She moved to mirror his body.
Atem looked at her, confused at what he should do.
"Um… Nevermind, here," she said, facing the same way he was again. "Just, mm, follow me. These are the lead's steps. First thing you're going to do is watch me do it, then we'll do it together."
He nodded.
"So, the first thing we do is go forward, two, three, four, five, six. We stop here on the sixth step to prepare to do something different. Then we move into what we call a box step, which is like this: forward, two, three, and back, two, three. And this is all done to the one-two-three one-two-three beat of the music. Got that so far?"
"I…think so. So it's one, two…" He began to move forward.
"Three, four, five, six," Anzu started to chant alongside him, rushing to join him on the step he was on.
"Now stop here, and remember, box step. That's forward, two, three, back, two, three." Atem tried to imitate her box step.
"Try not to bounce with your knees too much as you move: you want to keep your head roughly at the same height when you do your box step instead of dipping lower between steps." The pharaoh nodded, trying again.
"Forward, two, three, back, two, three," he said, trying to keep in full control of his feet, and his height, as he danced. He wasn't used to moving them this way.
"That's really good! You've only just started and that's not bad at all!" Anzu cheered him on, smiling from ear to ear. She was having so much fun already.
"Okay, that's the basic step. Remember that, alright?" He nodded.
"Now let me teach you the frame for this dance."
"The frame?"
"That's how you hang onto your partner."
At this, even the pharaoh couldn't help but flush. "My…partner?"
"Yeah, your dancing partner. Though you can do it alone, the Viennese Waltz is really a partner dance."
"I…see." While he felt her eyes on him, Atem pretended to be very interested in a spot on the wall.
"The frame is nice and strong. Raise your left arm hiiigh up, and stick it out to the side, like this. But don't forget to bend your elbow slightly." He nearly did it, but she stepped forth for a second to lightly grab his arm and reposition it so it was more bent and horizontal. Atem's rubbed his lips together a bit nervously when she did so.
Now, since they both looked like whacked-out crossing guards, Anzu couldn't help but laugh before continuing. "Alright, now, hold up your right arm and pretend there's a person in front of you. Put that arm around them, with your hand right on their imaginary shoulder blade."
Atem closed his eyes for a brief moment, and imagined Anzu just in front of him. He wrapped his right arm around her back and settled his hand on her shoulder blade, breathing out gently as he remembered the still-fresh feel of her pressed against his chest.
"Perfect! You've got it!" she enthused. He opened his eyes again. "Okay, now remember the steps we just learned? Don't drop your frame just yet," she cautioned as she spotted his left arm starting to droop. He nodded, eyes wide at her astute observation. He had barely relaxed.
"Alright, we're going to do the same steps as before, but this time, we're going to keep our frame as solid as we can. This may seem silly to do when we're not dancing with a partner, but it has a really good purpose that I'll tell you later, once we get this down a bit more."
"Okay, ready? Here we go."
Atem began counting again. "Forward, two, three…"
"Four, five, six, box, two, three, four, five, six. Good job; let's try it again while not lowering our frame at all. First, though: do you prefer 'forward, two, three, back, two, three' for the box, or 'box, two, three, four, five, six'? I'd like to teach others how to do this, and I'm not sure which one is less confusing."
"The second," he replied.
"Okay, that's helpful to know. Any particular reason why? I'm just curious."
Atem's gaze drifted as he thought. "It helps me remember the step to switch to is called a box step. After doing it the first time, it was easy to remember that you go forward first and then back, so it seems unnecessary to say it again." He mused for a second longer, then added, "Also, that way, it is more consistent with the label for the moves before it."
"Right, because the basic step has the same count in that case. Okay, thank you for your input!" she said, beaming at him.
Atem returned her bright expression. He was happy to help her clear up any uncertainties she had about dancing, or about teaching others how to.
Over the next ten minutes, the two of them did the same steps, over and over again, and Anzu just gave Atem corrections on how to better his form. She felt that was more important than teaching him more advanced steps.
"Hand down."
"More horizontal, please."
"Don't forget to keep your height level."
"Imagine it wrapped around their back."
"Bend the elbow a little more."
"Now try to rotate as you do your box step instead of making right angles."
"Yeah, that's it."
"Great!"
Within a few more minutes, he was ready for the real test: doing it to music.
"Yes! I think we're ready!" came the awaited, excited proclamation.
Atem was relieved. He didn't know how much more self-conscious he could possibly be than he already was about his dancing position before Anzu the Fastidious was satisfied.
"May I…put my arms down, for a moment?" he asked, having begun to sweat.
Anzu almost snorted. "Yeah, of course, sure," she giggled. "But don't forget how you had them!" she followed up quickly, pointing an accusing finger at him.
His arms froze in place at her threatening addendum, then finally fell to his sides when she turned to go ready the music. He stretched them out of their sockets a little bit, then did the same with his legs.
Anzu could tell what he was doing behind her back; she had done the same when she first started learning. "Don't worry; it gets more natural once you've done it a little while. You won't have to think about it so much; it'll be easy-peasy," she assured as she pushed the left mouse button.
The song played its languid opening. "Okay, we're going to take a break from stepping and holding our frame for a bit and focus on hearing the beats in the music. The beats to a Viennese Waltz song are very evenly-spaced, and each one, we'll be moving pretty far. The dance requires a lot of room because of the big steps, so it's good that we have a big studio to work with." Atem nodded.
The meat of the song came on over the speakers, and Anzu began to say, "One, two, three, one, two, three" in tandem with the beats. She encouraged him to do the same. He did, and soon, he was enveloped in a sense of enlightenment. He could see how this appealed to Anzu: the regular beat and energetic, fast-paced steps fit her personality quite well.
After half a minute of speaking to the beat, she instead began to move her hand to it and hummed the beat instead. At first, the gesture was broad and almost randomly shaped, but then, as it grew more and more regular, it took on a more recognizable form, and what was once her hand transformed into the image of them dancing.
One, two, three, one, two, three… was all he could hear in his head as he watched the luxurious daydream of the two of them move.
"I want that," he said under his breath.
But, keen to listen to anything she could garner from his input, Anzu had heard. Still, with an incomplete statement like that…she had to affirm the contents.
"What?"
"I want to dance with you."
Her expression filled with wonder. "You…you do?"
"Absolutely," he said. There was no uncertainty in his voice.
"Then…we will!" she said shyly.
Atem lit up. He would be able to dance with her?
"Let's just make sure we can have you do the steps to the music, then we can pair up!" she announced, her cheeks warm.
"Let me try," he said. He resumed his dancing frame, ironing out the pieces she had had him focus on for a few seconds before continuing, then started to count in his head in time with the music.
One, two, three, four, five, six…
He began his basic step, moving forward with big steps as he had been instructed. On "six", he prepared to switch gears, and with the next beat, he started his box step.
Box, two, three, four, five, six…
When he had finished his box step, Anzu jumped up and down once, clapping fanatically.
"I'm so happy!" she positively squeed.
Atem put down his arms and faced her. "I'm very glad to see you so happy, Anzu." He was elated himself at having made her react that way because of his dancing. He felt a new type of bond with her begin to form – they could talk about dancing together, now that he had at least the fundamentals of what to focus on and how to hear the beat in the music down.
"So," the pharaoh began, holding his hand out to her. "May I have this dance?"