#i need to update my masterlist from gt july

[awkwardgtace]

Dancing Hug

back in the universe where borrowers meet their perfect partner in a dream. I need to update my master list, but this is a little follow up to Mira and Corus meeting each other.

Corus wants to dance with Mira.

Dancing Hug

Mira and Corus stood close together in a ballroom. The spotlight on them as Corus led them in a waltz. Music crescendoed in time with each step. The light of the chandelier hanging over them changed colors as they moved. Red, blue, purple, and more. A scene that he’d created just for her. Where the dance lessons he’d taken as a child could finally be used. A thing Mira could-

“Ow!” Corus lost his thoughts as he winced. They’d been at this for hours, maybe hours. He hadn’t gotten a good idea of how time passed in the dreams yet. Mira always seemed to know.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s ok, you’re getting better.” He smiled down at her. Continuing to try and lead her steps to the music that played from nothing. “Just follow my lead, we’ll get this.”

“You’ve said that every time we do this.” Mira’s hold on his hands tightened. A glint in her eyes followed by a huff only solidified her annoyance. “I don’t get this. Dancing is just weird. How are you leading me when I can’t even look down at your feet? All of this is just too…”

The silence hung heavy. Corus leaned his forehead against hers. “Too human?”

The pink of her eyes disappeared behind pale eyelids. She didn’t speak, merely let her tight hold on his hands ebb. Eventually her arms fell to her sides and Corus stood with his arms kept up in their poor attempt to waltz. Mira pulled away, creating the distance refused to close. Everything he tried to show her failed. Each time she wound up confused… The worst times she didn’t talk to him, barely slept, for days.

“Mira, I just wanted to show you something I had been taught,” he whispered. That didn’t change the distance. Mira’s hesitance reflected in the world. The music stuttered, constant stops and starts. The nice ballroom filled with cracks. Plaster fell to the ground, even the chandelier shattered into a glittering dust.

“It’s just a human thing. It wouldn’t matter in the real world,” she said while wrapping her arms around herself. A tight hug that closed off the progress the two were making. The life Corus wouldn’t stop trying to build. Times like this she looked as small as her true height.

“It’s not a human thing, it’s a me thing. I have another idea.”

Corus stepped forward and offered his hand. Mira stared at him, but the ballroom continued to fall apart. Eventually it even grew. Shadows came to tower over them. Turning their private dance into a spectacle. The spotlight on them burned his skin.

“Corus I don’t… I’m not going to get it. There’s just too much and I don’t-”

He closed the distance, wrapping his arms around her and placing his lips against her ear. “Wake up with me.”

Corus blinked, happy to see the real world again. The world where Mira slept on the pillow next to him. The precious seconds he could watch her sleep had no match. He’d never give them up. At these times, the stern look on her face disappeared. A soft smile, her brow relaxed, her posture calm. No hint of the nerves she held inside constantly.

Those same signs told him when she started to wake up. Slowly her posture tensed, making her look smaller. A crease he doubted made sense for him to see appeared on her brow. The smile changed into a thin line. Finally the pink eyes blinked open, adjusting to the world before landing on him. Corus used a finger to pet the hair splayed out around her. It caused a spark of fear until she realized it was just him, just the human she trusted… The one who loved her.

“So what’s the plan?” she croaked. The tiny voice always had an edge to it. A warning that she couldn’t be taken advantage of. Corus loved that edge, loved everything about her.

“Give me a second,” he whispered.

He reached over the pillow Mira laid upon to his desk. A few taps woke up the screen of his phone. He purposely left it leaning against the wall so he could do this, just in case. A swipe of his password and the music app appeared. One quick tap to hit play and the same waltz music from the dream started. The small noise from Mira made him smile.

Next he sat up. A few movements to bounce Mira, each made her glare at him. Each made him smirk at her. He climbed to his feet then placed his hand down next to her. If she couldn’t make dancing work in the dream world, he’d make it work in reality.

“May I have this dance?” he asked. Mira shook her head, he knew all the objections racing through her mind. “Trust me, give this dance a try.”

Mira huffed before climbing to her feet. Slow, stiff steps forward until she reached his fingers. A nervous glance followed by, “You may.” Then her miniscule weight landed on his palm.

Corus wasted no time in bringing her up from the bed. He placed her tiny body against his neck, hugging her tightly to himself. His other arm spread wide as though he had a partner. Then he danced, a simple one two movement. Mira stayed frozen for a short period, not long enough for the song to end.

“Corus, what are you doing?” she squirmed as she spoke.

“I’m dancing with you,” he hummed. The song stayed as the only noise for a minute. As it faded to a new one she squirmed more.

“This is ridiculous, you’re just dancing with yourself.”

“No, you’re my partner. Leaning against my neck. It’s the same as when I tried to slow dance with you and held you close.”

“It’s not the same!”

“Is it different because you can’t try to break my toes anymore?”

“No! Just…” The squirming stopped. Corus slowed his own steps. Carefully, he wrapped his fingers around Mira and pulled her into his view. The damp spots on her face were almost too painful. “If anyone saw you they’d say you’re crazy. This… Maybe we shouldn’t be pushing this. We can both walk away still, a borrower will enter my dreams and you can forget about me. Meet someone the human way.”

“Mira, I don’t care what others see, what someone might say. The second we met I knew you were the only person I could love. I don’t plan to walk away from you.”

“I don’t… I’m not-”

“Don’t say it.” He brought his hand up to his eyes. A quick tilt of his palm left her sitting in the open. Just his fingers beneath her prone form. “Whatever it is, I know you’re wrong. You’re the only one I care about. I want to dance with you, the same dances I had been taught. The ones we will share in the dreams as I take you to all the things I want us to experience together.”

“I don’t understand you.”

Corus smiled. The smile turned to a smirk as he pulled his hand close. Mira’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t stop him. She had about one second to object before he made his decision. The hand holding her pressed against his cheek. As much pressure as she could handle. The strongest hug he could give her.

“What are you doing!?” she shouted. No squirms, no fighting, she wasn’t trying to get away.

“Hugging the best woman I’ve ever met,” he laughed. They stayed quietly like that. Corus knew if anyone walked in they’d see him holding his hand against his face. A strange sight for an outsider. That would never matter to him. Mira was more than he could have ever hoped to find.

She knew him. Knew the things he could do. Saw the darkest parts of humans. Even then she gave him a chance. She trusted his words about his anger. Slept next to him without fear. Blushed when he let his own steps grow heavier than they had to be. Worried about his own view of their relationship.

“...do you still want to dance?” she mumbled. Corus moved her away and smiled at her.

“If you’ll be my partner.”

“...I will.”

This time Corus moved slower. Carefully cupping his hand against his heart. Leaving her space to move a bit more, but still hugging her to him. Mira was perfect. That was the only thought in his head as he started to waltz once more with his tiny girlfriend hugged against his heart.