Spindle Wood (COMPLETED)

Chapter 42

"Do you remember where we left off last time?" Logan asked once they reached the clearing. Pat scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I remember the counts?" He said.

Logan sighed. "That... is a start." He ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it down. "Right, so, if I'm leading the dance, you hold one of my hands-"

"And place the other on your shoulder, right?" Pat said. Logan nodded. Pat smiled and took his hand. He placed his other hand on Logan's shoulder, careful not to rumple the material. "Like this, yeah?"

Logan nodded, swallowing hard. "Like that." He muttered. "And then I put my hand on your waist- um, may I?"

Pat nodded sunnily. "Yeah, it's fine." He said and when Logan hesitated, "Honestly."

"Alright." Logan still seemed hesitant as he assumed the dance position.

"You okay?" Pat asked, tilting his head. "Your pink. Are you ill? D'you have a fever?"

"No, no, I'm perfectly fine." Logan said quickly.

"You sure?" Pat asked. "Cos if not, my uncle makes this wonderful vegetable soup, it always made me feel better when I was-"

"Pat, I'm fine." Logan said. He'd never snapped before but if he sounded like he was about to. Pat furrowed his brows, confused and slightly hurt.

Logan shook his head at himself. "Sorry." He said. "I'm just... I don't know."

"Hey." Pat said softly. He let go of Logan's hand and Logan instinctively dropped his hand from Pat's waist. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Logan shrugged. "I don't know. I honestly do not know." He pushed his glasses up into his hair and scrubbed at his eyes. "Sorry, I just must be tired. I'm making a big deal of literally nothing, I don't get it."

"Nothing's happened to make you nervous or anything?" Pat asked. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if something has. I know it's none of my beeswax." He smiled a little, hoping the odd saying would make Logan laugh a little. It did.

"No, no, it's fine, you were worried." He said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "It's a normal reaction. Anyway, dancing. Right?"

Pat pointed at Logan, grinning. "Right." He took Logan's hand, spinning himself around. "Let's go."

Logan placed a hand on Pat's waist and smiled a little shyly. "Right." He muttered to himself, like he was bigging himself up for something. "Right. So, first count, you step back." He stepped forward carefully. He nearly stepped on Pat's foot but Pat hurriedly stepped back.

"Sorry." He said quickly.

"It's alright. I should've given you a warning." Logan smiled slightly and then dropped his eyes back to their footwork. "Then you bring your other foot back to meet it, okay?" Pat nodded and stepped back with his other foot, his eyes also fixed on his feet. "And you stay on your toe. That's two."

"Okay." Pat said, nodding.

"And then you step out with your left foot and I step out with my right. That's three." Pat stepped out obediently, feeling just a little bit silly. "Got it?" Logan asked gently.

Pat nodded. "Think so."

"Perfect." Logan glanced up at Pat. "Shall we try it? It's okay to go wrong, of course."

Pat nodded again. "Yeah, let's try it." He smiled tentatively.

"Great. So, 1," Logan stepped forward and Pat stepped back, "2," bring feet together to meet, "3." step out on the left. "Wonderful, like that."

Pat tried again. Out, together, down. Forward, together down. It was kind of easy when you got into the swing of things.

Pat managed to glance up from his feet to look at Logan. His eyes were focused somewhere above Pat's head. He was counting the steps in his head. He looked so focused, so concentrated, his lips pressed into a thin line, that Pat stumbled over his own feet and into Logan's chest.

With a small oof, Logan managed to keep on his feet and stop Pat from sliding all the way to the ground. "Are you okay?" He asked, pulling Pat up by his shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just tripped, that's all." Pat smiled a little. It didn't reach his eyes but Logan didn't notice. Logan cupped his chin and turned his head from side to side. Pat could feel his face growing hot.

"Well, you don't look hurt." He brushed down his waistcoat. "It's a good thing I caught you, huh?"

"Yeah." Pat agreed, trying to shake the weird feeling. "Otherwise we'd both've gone flying."

It has been a hot second but I'm back, hopefully for more than a day as I am less busy than before.
Bye,
Blaize