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"...So, you've seriously never gone to prom before?" Keith asks out of the blue once everyone's gone to bed—just Dino, while Faith, of course, left for the club earlier. It's just Keith and Junior at the dorms watching TV together, only because Keith is too lazy to get up from the couch, and Junior found himself invested in the movie.
"Wh-What's with that question?!" Junior sits up. "I already told you! I didn't. I went straight here after middle school…" Junior grumbles the last part, frowning as he crosses his arms. "Is it really that big of a deal?"
"Not really. I wouldn't have gone either," his mentor replies. "Didja wanna go, though?"
Junior rolls his eyes at the question. He doesn't understand why Keith is asking stuff related to prom. It's too late for that and not really important. He should have gone to bed already—cursing the movie currently playing for being so interesting.
"Ugh, I don't know," he says. "Probably not? I doubt I'd have anyone to go with back then…"
"Well, if you did have people to go with, would you?" Keith continues.
"What's with the random hypotheticals all of the sudden?! I don't fucking know! Want me to go back in time or something and find out?"
"Just askin'," Keith leans back on the couch. "I'll tell ya, I ain't gonna admit it to Dino, but it's a nice memory to look back on only cuz it was friggin' ridiculous."
"Good for you," Junior mutters.
Keith looks at him. "Huh, I said sumn wrong, didn't I?"
"Shut up, it's nothing," the rookie shakes his head. "It's just—you need a date to prom, right? I'm not.. interested in any of that in the first place… so yeah. Guess I wouldn't go," Junior says. "And I don't want to. I wouldn't want to!"
"Alright."
"But it seems like a big memory for people," Junior's voice lowers, and Keith has to lean in to hear him speak. "Did I… really miss out…?"
Keith stands up and places the near-empty bottle of beer on the floor after taking a sip. "Well, it's just a party with people you went to school with. If you didn't like those guys in the first place, you weren't gonna like prom."
"Yeah, that's what I figured," Junior replies, and then he blushes. "You need a date for that, anyway, yeah? I don't… uh… A-Anyway, was Dino your date?"
Keith laughs at the question. Junior creases his eyebrows and wonders why his mentor heads his way.
"I guess so? We slow-danced together, but I wouldn't go that far, not like those couples we saw," he extends his hand to Junior, which earns him another confused look by the rookie. "But hey, c'mere."
"Huh? What are you…?" Junior doesn't get halfway through his words when he extends his hand almost on autopilot, willingly. Keith grabs his hand—his much bigger hand compared to Junior’s—and Junior feels his heart skip a beat for some reason that steals his breath away.
"K-Keith...?"
His mentor pulls him close, way too closer than they should ever be. Their bodies almost touch, but Junior keeps a short distance, still unsure of what’s going on between them. What’s going on with Keith for him to randomly do this. "If you didn't mind the teachers watchin', people would dance together."
"I-I'm not a dancer, though… I dunno how to."
"Neither am I, but I remember a bit of what I was taught all those years ago. Most of it, anyway.”
"Keith, you shitty mentor, what the hell are you going on about?" Junior looks up at him and blushes in the darkness of their living room. The only light illuminating anything is the TV. "You wanna…. dance? With me? Are you drunk or something? You're totally drunk, aren't you—"
"Nah, I ain't drunk. But 'm just showin' you how's prom like. Can I?"
Junior doesn't know what to believe because it's frigging ridiculous—Keith isn't drunk? He wants to show Junior how to dance? Yeah, right. He's definitely drunk. No sober man would do that to his rookie. Or, if he is sober… then why? There has to be some other motive here.
Well, somehow, Junior decides to give into Keith's request after fuming for a second. No one will walk in on them, hopefully. God, he doesn't even want to imagine what Faith will think if he comes back early from the club. It's just a dance. Nothing else, nothing more. It gives Junior a chance to experience prom even though he doesn’t really care about that in the first place.
"I-I guess you can… Just make it quick," Junior mutters. “It’s getting late…”
"Good," Keith hums and holds both of Junior's small hands—the boy jolts and turns bright red from the contact. "Oh, yer already nervous?"
"N-No! I mean… A-Anyone would be when you're… getting your hands…held…" Junior blushes as his fingers intertwine with Keith's. "Sh-Shit. Why are your hands so big?" he blurts. "Fuck, I didn't mean to—ugh…"
"Yer just tiny, Junior," Keith chuckles. "Dancing with someone as small as you is kinda hard, y’know.”
"Shut up! I don't even know why you wanna do this if that's the case…! I can't even …reach your…" Junior shakes his head and pulls his hands away from Keith's. "You just wanted to make fun of me, huh?! Shitty ass mentor…" he turns away to leave, but Keith grabs his thin arm before he can get far.
"Huh? That ain't true. C'mon, Junior, I'm being serious here," he spins him around. Junior almost loses his balance if it wasn’t for Keith’s grip on him. "Give me your hand. Just follow my lead, alright? Only if you wanna, though."
Junior's red. Fuming, flustered, he frowns as his fingers intertwine with Keith's again. He doesn't understand why he's allowing Keith to do this, why he doesn't put up a fight and just retreat to his room and sleep. Keith isn't forcing him, so he can leave any time he wants. But Junior doesn't want to, and a spark of excitement jolts through his body when Keith touches his waist.
"Ya good…?" Keith notices his reaction.
"Y-Yeah, I just, uh…didn't expect that…"
"I can put that arm somewhere else."
"No!" Junior replies all too quickly, surprised by his reaction. "Um, you don't have to. It's alright…"
"Okay. Don't be afraid to speak up, Junior.”
Junior nods, and with his hand holding Keith's, blushes again when he feels a squeeze to it. There's a conflict in his brain telling him to run away before they go any further, and the other half is begging him to stay with Keith. Junior listens to the latter for now, hoping his beating heart can calm down.
There's no ulterior motive for Keith doing this, right? No, they’ve come too far for there to be a catch to this. Not with how gentle Keith is.
"You take a step back, 'n I'll step forward," Keith directs. "I think this is how it goes, anyway… ‘s been a while.”
Junior ends up laughing at Keith’s spotty memory as they begin dancing or awkwardly stumble around the living room area. Keith joins in on his laughter, trying to stay quiet with his arm still around Junior's thin waist.
They have no rhythm, no groove to their steps, but it somehow works. It's strangely intimate, too—the low light of the living room, the stillness of their dorm late at night. The only sound comes from the TV quietly rolling the credits of the movie they were both just watching a moment ago. Their shared laughs also add to the noise, trying their best to subdue themselves thanks to a sleeping Dino a room away. Keith whispers instructions, and Junior follows with ease, listening to his low voice with a smile that reaches from ear to ear.
Junior is happy. Before he even realizes it, he's resting his head against Keith's body, his soft shirt, finding a comfortable, suitable rhythm as Keith leads the way. He's surprised he hasn't tripped over Keith's feet yet. His mentor smells like the cigarettes he smoked a moment ago, but it doesn't bother Junior at all like it usually would. It’s just how Keith is. And like how Keith’s shirt still has the smell of cigarette smoke lingering around, maybe he tastes like alcohol he sipped a moment ago, too—when the thought crosses his mind, Junior looks at his feet and feels his face grow hotter than it already is. He can’t think like that, definitely not towards his alcoholic of a mentor that teases him from time to time… but it’s all Junior can think about as he lifts his head and meets Keith’s eye. His pretty, green eye, the other hidden by an eyepatch that Junior selfishly wants to see.
No, wait, this is fucking weird.
Dancing is something couples do, not a mentor-rookie pair. Junior wonders and tries to think of a reason why Keith would want to dance with him. Just to show him what prom was like, what he and Dino did years ago? Still, it's too intimate, too romantic for his tastes—even though he enjoys everything Keith does to him. From Keith holding his hand, carefully grabbing his waist, to guiding him in the middle of the living room through a dance as the smell of smoke makes Junior dizzy.
He ends up stumbling and ruining the entire rhythm as thoughts scrambling in his brain make him freak out, pulling away from Keith. The loss of Keith’s hand on his waist almost makes Junior pout. A tight squeeze inside his chest shows how disappointed he is, and Junior doesn’t want to believe how frustrated he is for ruining everything.
"Oh? Somethin's up, Junior?" Keith asks. He doesn’t seem angry or bothered. That’s a relief for Junior.
"N-Nothing! I'm just…tired," he lies, forcing out a yawn. "Dancing made me sleepy, s-so…” Junior doesn’t want to leave; he wants to keep awkwardly dancing and learning how to navigate his steps with Keith—but his thoughts and heart are racing way too fast for him to handle, and he can’t think straight and decide what to do next. Run away, or stay in Keith's arms. The latter is much more tempting, but his stupid brain focuses on the former—the much safer opinion. When Keith tilts his head and narrows his eye at Junior's strange behavior, Junior decides he needs to hide before he makes everything much more worse.
“I-I'm going to bed now! Night, Keith…!" Junior holds back a frown, ugh, he’s such an asshole for doing this, but he doesn’t know what else to do before he accidentally blows up on Keith for no reason. He bites the inside of his lips and clenches his fists behind his back.
What Junior wants to do is grab Keith by his shirt, stand on his tip-toes because he can’t reach his mentor’s height, pull him closer than they are now, and get a taste of the beer he drank earlier despite not being of age yet.
But he doesn’t—Junior stands there waiting for Keith’s reply, unable to read his expression. He doesn’t want to know what Keith is feeling for his own sanity.
"...Night, Junior," is all his mentor says, and Junior ends up nodding before he flees and says or does something stupidly impulsive that can ruin the dynamic they already have.
Junior doesn’t look back at Keith or say anything else as he hurries to his room and closes the door, letting out a deep sigh of relief. He doesn’t understand why his heart is ready to burst out of his chest, why his cheeks are burning red as he climbs into bed, hugging his pillow to stifle a scream. He lets out a groan of annoyance into it, cursing himself for being so stupid, awkward, hopeless.
All he can think about is his shitty mentor Keith—the strangely addicting smell of beer and cigarettes that now cling to his clothes while he lies in bed. How he wants more of the shared intimacy with Keith he’s never experienced with anyone else before, wanting to feel the size difference of their hands and bodies as his mentor leads him through a clumsy dance.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Junior says into his pillow, running through hundreds of scenarios of what could've gone differently tonight instead of sleeping.
He swears the next time will be different.