#I just felt like he'd be to playful to stick JUST to normal dancing

[it-happened-one-fic]

Jive - Quite Literally Floating - Strictly NRC Dancing

Author Notes: Another character I have never written a fic for, but I can say he was an interesting person to write. I also now have a healthy respect for the people who dance jives and a healthy alarm for the aerials and flips that are done in swing dancing. The dance in this fic was largely inspired by Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold’s jive on week 9, season 22 of  Dancing With the Stars. It's an enjoyable performance that is well worth watching so I recommend it. Just like the rest of this AU/series the reader is female for this fic. I hope you enjoy!

If you would like to read more this AU/series, the fics can be found here: Strictly NRC Dancing Master-List

Type: Dance AU/female reader/fluff/platonic but could probably be taken as romantic

Word Count: 1009

I rolled my shoulders in preparation for what was no doubt going to be a very…. Interesting, experience. 

It wasn’t that I was scared or didn’t trust Lilia. Because as much of a trickster as the potentially ancient fae was, he would never let me get hurt and would sooner hurt himself before he caused me any injury during the dance.

I also wasn’t actually concerned about the dance I was going to be performing with the lively third year. The jive was a good fit for Lilia. It was bubbly and vivacious, just like he was. 

My only concern was how well he would obey the rules.

This was Lilia’s third dance class, and by now it was beyond obvious that the man knew how to dance. I could imagine that this was due to his having been part of the Valley of Thorns court, as I understood it. 

During choreography practice, he’d even told me that dancing was like child’s play to him. Which was perhaps the reason why he had so much fun taking the rulebook and throwing it out the window as hard as he could.

I eyed the short man with at least a small degree of wariness that had his pink eyes sparkling, “Let’s have fun with this, child.”

There was a giggle to his voice that had me wondering exactly what the mischievous little fellow was planning, even as I shook my head with a slight smile, “As if you’d have it any other way.”

Everything was fine at the start of the dance, with the two of us having few to no problems. In fact, dancing with Lilia was almost like dancing with a shorter version of one of the teachers.

 He knew exactly what he was doing, where he needed to be, and how to guide me around for the maximum effect.

A small part of me began to wonder if he would indeed pass this class without incident. Perhaps the jive was just wild enough that he didn’t feel the need to add his own sort of pizzazz to the dance. But I soon realized that I’d been ridiculous to think that when I noticed the height of Lilia’s head had shifted.

It took only a glance to confirm my fears. The fae man was no longer grounded and was now, quite literally, floating his way through the dance. Perhaps the most impressive thing about it was that he was still executing his moves perfectly.

To make matters worse, he was gradually pulling me up with him, causing my grip on his to tighten as my eyes flew back to his sparkling ones. He winked and gave a tiny snap of his fingers on his free hand as he released me.

I let out a tiny squeak in fear before realizing I had not fallen. No, I was seemingly dancing on an invisible dancefloor even though I no longer had a hold of the impish fae, who was still grinning as he danced next to me. 

I looked up, my eyes finding Crewel’s, who looked just as flabbergasted as I was and offered no guidance. Leaving me to place all my trust in whatever magic Lilia had worked as I resolved to do my best to finish the dance as planned. 

And it was a good thing too, considering it had come time for the flips. I glanced over at my partner to see him already grinning my way. Obviously ready for the part of the dance he'd dubbed his favorite section just moments before we’d started dancing.

I cartwheeled towards him, his hands catching my waist as my arms locked around his legs, and he proceeded to cartwheel while holding onto me. I made a total of three revolutions with him like that, stopping hand in hand with him and letting him twirl me back into him as he lowered us to the ground.

We touched down to the final drum beat of the pounding song, with me still holding quite tightly to his shoulders as I forced myself to relax.

I was on solid, visible ground again.

I’d known dancing Lilia would be undoubtedly fast-paced, but nothing could have prepared me for having to dance while floating at least a foot over the ground with a considerably excitable partner who’d been giggling the whole time.

I at last released the still chuckling fae and stepped back, eyeing him closely. 

Lilia had just executed an impressive jive that I doubted anyone else could pull off, but he wasn’t passing this class. Because while there was no rule explicitly saying you couldn’t float, something told me that Trein, at the very least, would frown upon that. 

 Especially since there technically weren’t supposed to be any lifts in a jive, though that rule had been flouted with astonishing success in past classes.

True to form, Trein was frowning, Crewel was shaking his head, Crowley and Vargas didn’t look like they knew what to think, and Sam was laughing. 

Lilia glanced my way and shrugged, eyes still sparkling like those of a little boy who knew he was in trouble but really didn’t care, “Tough crowd.”

“Lilia… You do realize you aren’t supposed to use magic in these classes, correct?” I didn’t know if I pitied Trein at this point or if I was impressed with his ability to continue enforcing his rules. 

Lilia shrugged, giving a little fanged grin at Treins’s question, “I just couldn’t help myself; Y/n makes a wonderful partner, and the jive is an equally enjoyable dance.”

“Be that as it may, I’m afraid you aren’t going to pass this class either, Mr. Vanrouge,” Crowley shook his head, still mystified-looking, but delivering the judges' grade nonetheless as Sam at last recovered.

“Even though that was possibly the funniest jive I have seen. Especially with the face Y/n made when you started floating.” The shopkeeper was still wiping away mirthful tears as Lilia offered me a smooth bow and wink before strolling off to watch the next performance.

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