LOST BOY - vance hopper x reader

5: the dance

The next three yearbooks have nothing, but by the time you finish them you're so focused on the dance that you don't have time to be disappointed, although you were hoping to have something to call him.

You spend some time picking out a nice outfit and making sure your hair and makeup look alright. As much as you try to convince yourself that you're hoping to make some friends here, or that maybe someone will notice you and ask you to dance, you're really just wondering what he'll think about it. His style's completely different than yours, so maybe you're way off and he'll just think it's weird.

Oh well. You'll just have to wait and see. The whole day seems to crawl by until it's time for the dance, and then you're almost too nervous to go but after a few minutes of fussing over it, you force yourself out the door.

You get there about half an hour after it starts. That was always the plan, you need to be able to get lost in the crowd so you can slip away unnoticed. You push your way through the crowd, making brief eye contact with Bri while she dances with Todd. Ugh. Hopefully she's too distracted by her dumb boyfriend to watch you too closely as you search for the ghost.

He's there, leaning up against a wall in a neglected corner of the gym. When he sees you his eyes widen and he stands up, straightening his vest. Ghosts don't exactly have too many clothing options, but you can tell he's tried to fix himself up a bit.

"Wow, Y/N, you...you look great," he says.

You can't be seen talking to yourself here, but you do mouth a quick thank you to him. He ducks in close to you so that you can take his hand without being noticed, and then you follow him as he leads you out of the gym, "Come on, over here."

He takes you to one of the storage rooms used for all the equipment. It smells a little funny, but it's spacious enough to dance around in and it's close to the side of the gym where the speakers are so you can still clearly hear the music.

"What'd I tell you?" he says, "Our own private suite."

"Hear anything you've liked so far?" you ask.

"Nah, it's all too...I dunno. Peppy, so far," he says, wrinkling his nose, "And you all dance weird."

"Yeah? Well, come on, I'll teach you how to dance weird, too. Maybe then you can start having some fun," you say, taking both his hands in yours.

He's not much of a dance partner, truth be told. His movements are awkward and every time he does seem to be getting into it he backs off like it's cramping his style. But he is at least making some effort, and he's not making fun of you, so you're determined to try and have a nice time. Then, you hear the DJ's muffled voice through the wall.

"Alright, North Denver High, it's the bottom of the hour and that means it's throwback time. Let's go back to the 70s with Fox On the Run."

As soon as the opening chords starts playing, the ghost perks up, and then starts to hum along, amazed that he recalls the melody.

"Holy shit, I know this one!" he says, bouncing up and down on his heels, "Yeah, I had this album! I used to crank it up real loud in my room until my parents would yell at me to turn that racket down."

"And did you? Turn it down, I mean," you say.

"Fuck no! I made it even louder!" he says, laughing as he bobs his head along to the music.

You laugh, too. His joy is contagious and it's the first time you've seen him really happy like this. Sure, he's not exactly a nice guy, but he's different when he's not so angry. He's passionate and wild and free-spirited, you can't imagine someone like him getting pushed around by assholes like Bri and Todd.