Dancing on needles

Dazai had always been a solo dancer, all the 14 years he had been dancing, had he never kept a partner more then a month or two. Either they were too slow, or too inexperienced. Dazai is what you call a prodigy, his parents put him in Mori's care the second he could dance, all to happy with throwing money his way, if it meant not having to look after him. Dazai didn't mind though, he loved dancing. The only time Dazai truly felt free, was when he was dancing. He become one of the best at a young age, not only was he cute, but he was seriously talented, having learnt challenging steps like was it texting. Mori quickly saw how good he was, putting him on his elite team, spending months looking for a partner Dazai accepted, but coming out empty handed every time. So imagine the shock Dazai felt when Mori came in with a short ginger, whose eyes looked like they were about to pop out. He was even more shocked when he was told that this was going to be his new partner.

So that was how Dazai went from being one of the best solo dancers, to dancing an English vals with a total stranger, whome he had never met, and why was it going well?! Now don't get him wrong, Dazai had danced with partners before, Mori made himself dance with his daughter many times before, but that was totally different, that was not a permanent thing, that was only temporary.

"I don't need to see more you two, that was great" Mori's voice rang through the room.

Dazai instantly let go of the other, making a point of wiping his hands off in disgust, before heading towards Mori.

"Mori! Can't you see how much of a disaster that was?! There's no way you can make us dance together! He'll ruin my reputation" Dazai pouted, crossing his arms in a childish act.

"Now now Osamu, that's not up to you, you and Chuuya-san dance together wonderfully" Mori says, patting the teenager on the head, ruffling his brown hair, annoying him even more.

"How do you expect me to dance with this brat?!" Dazai said, pointing at the other boy who had made his way up to them.

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm very easy to work with kid?!" Chuuya barked, reminding Dazai of a dog.

"You're a kid too! A very short one at that" Dazai snarled

"What did you just say?!" Chuuya looked Dazai dead in the eyes.

"Your heard me, you ought to drink some more milk" Dazai yelled back

"That's none of your business, bastard!" Chuuya was about to say some more, but Mori stopped him.

"That's enough you two, you're going to dance together, if you like it or not" Dazai and Chuuya looked at Mori, instead of glaring at each other.

"But-"

"No but's, I'll be making some series for you two, until then just practice the basic steps, get used to the feeling of each other, how you move and think" And with that, Mori waved them off, leaving no room for discussion.

Dazai walked a bit behind Chuuya, not really wanting to talk to the other. This was all so stupid, he didn't need a partner! He was doing great on his own, if anything, a partner would just drag him down. Looking towards Oda and Ango, he noticed the two had stopped to look at the two having a yelling match. Oda got eye contact with Dazai, giving him the kind of expression he had when he wanted to as if everything was ok, Dazai just sighed and sent him a thumbs up, which seemed to calm the elder man, making him focus back on his partner and dance again.

Looking back again, Dazai noticed Chuuya had stopped walking, and turned around to look at him.

Dazai took a second to get a good look at the boy. He had loose pants on, and a loose shirt, giving him a bit of a street look, with old shoes that looked well worn and like the owner had just cleaned them to try and give them a new life, the complete opposite of himself. His pants were loose, but his shirt was tight, with loose sleeves, trying to give off the illusion of him having muscle, his shoes were shiny and new like always, curtesy of having rich parents. Chuuya didn't need to give off the illusion of having muscle, he was clearly well built. Did Chuuya maybe have a job that requires a well built physique? But what kid his age had a job? Maybe he just worked out, him being short made it easier to built muscle, or maybe-

Dazai didn't get to grumble about it any longer, because Chuuya kept snapping his fingers in front of him, the other looked freaked out.

"Are you in there? Hello?" Chuuya said, whilst still snapping his fingers.

"Yes i am- would you stop that?" Dazai swapped his hand away.

"Sorry, you just had this weird dead fish eyed look on your face" Chuuya said, trying to explain himself.

"How dare you compare me to a fish?! If anyone is an animal, it's you! You keep barking like a dog at me" Dazai stuck out his tongue, acting like a child.

"A dog?! How dare you compare me to a dog?" Chuuya growled at him, reminding Dazai of a dog even more.

From a distance Mori and Kouyou were observing the two bickering, chuckling at their childish actions. Kouyou had expected something like this when Mori had informed her about finding the "perfect partner for Osamu" as he had put it. The boy was known for always dancing solo, never keeping a partner for long, he would complain to Mori for days, even threatening to stop going to practice if it meant having to dance with someone else. In the end Mori had given up on finding someone, well, until now that is.

"I have a good feeling about this" Mori said, smiling at Kouyou.

"Really? Are we looking at the same people?" Kouyou snorted, looking back at the two still bickering.

"I mean, Osamu has usually walked out of the class at this point" Mori pointed out, and he had a point there.

"Who could have known, the famous partner hater Osamu, tamed by a boy from sheep dance" Kouyou chuckled

"Someone should tell the news" Mori remarked.

The two adults, bussie joking and talking, hadn't noticed the two dancers that had stopped in the middle of their foxtrot, also looking at the two teenagers.

"Can you believe it Oda? Dazai actually getting a partner, do you think it'll stick?" Ango asked, looking at the other man.

"Hm, maybe, he hasn't walked out yet, that's a good sign" Oda grumbled.

Oda had known Dazai for a while, he knew the kid didn't like the idea of having to drag around another persons whilst he danced, his own words, so what was different with this one? What made Chuuya different, or rather, what had changed Dazai's mind?