Open Small Steps

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper was terrified. What was he even doing? He had slipped into the ball, mostly unseen, and now he stood tucked away in an odd corner, wringing his hands. He had no idea why he was here. Well, okay, it may have been inspired by Hunter. And Lucas. And a recurring daydream of dancing at the ball with a cute boy and not feeling judged. He let out a shaky breath, looking around. This was a horrible idea, wasn't it? No one was going to ask him to dance. He fretted quietly, wringing his hands as he watched the dance around him.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

As far as Ryan was concerned, school dances like this were more social experiments than social events. He found it interesting to watch everyone's body language as they talked and danced, and Ryan had spent past evenings simply observing and trying to see if he could figure out people's relationships just by watching. He wasn't very accurate at it if some of the gossip Nicole liked to talk to him about was anything to go off of, but it was still fun.

Sticking to the edge of the room to stay out of the way, Ryan was a little surprised to almost literally run into Casper, lurking in a back corner of the hall. "You almost blend into the wall," He said, glancing up and down Casper. "You look uncomfortable," He added.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper jumped a little when he heard a voice, glancing over and relaxing just a touch when he saw who it was. "Ryan, hi," He greeted shyly, wrapping his arms around his torso. He looked back out at the floor, biting his lip. "Y-yeah, I... I'm a little nervous," He replied, glancing at his shoes. "I... I haven't been to any of the dances yet," He admitted a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan wasn't the best at body language yet, but it was obvious even to him that Casper was nervous, though Ryan wasn't completely sure about what. "Why are you nervous? Is someone bothering you?" He asked, glancing around the hall to see if maybe there was someone or something Casper was worried about. "They're kind of boring honestly, unless you like dancing," He said, pausing when he spotted his sister with Eric Holland. He'd have to ask her about that later, before turning back to Casper. "I mostly come for people watching." Ryan hadn't even really bothered to dress up, just wearing one of his school shirts sans tie for the evening, not wanting to stand out too much if he could, but it looked like Casper had at least made an effort, though admittedly Ryan didn't know what Casper wore outside of class very much.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper looked surprised and shook his head quickly. "O-oh, I, no, no one is, I-i-i just," He stuttered a little and glanced down. "I... was kinda..." He bit his lip, struggling with being more open about it, but he felt safer at school than he did at home, and he was already banished to his uncle's house for the break anyway. "I-i, I was... kinda wanting to d-dance with... with a boy," He added the last part on quietly, staring harder at his shoes, "B-but, um, but I can't, I mean, I-i'm too nervous to- to ask anyone," He explained quietly, ears burning.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan had forgotten Casper tended to stutter, trying not to get annoyed when it took him a bit to get the sentence out. He did wonder briefly if it was genetic like Alexander's, mentally noting to check into Casper's family tree for missing relatives when he had a moment. "Why are you nervous about that?" He asked, moving to lean against the wall by Casper so he had a decent view of the room. "Worst they can do is say no right?" He reasoned. Ryan wasn't sure what all the fuss about dancing was, it seemed kind of boring to him, but everyone seemed to enjoy it at school events.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper laughed nervously, following Ryan's lead and leaning against the wall. "You make it sound so easy," he replied, looking around shyly. "Being told no is what I'm worried about," He spoke softly, rubbing his thumb softly over his arm. "It's, ah, hard enough trying to get up the nerve to talk to people." He laughed a little awkwardly, scuffing his toe against the ground. "What, um, w-what are you doing here? I didn't, um, didn't think you were really the dancing type," he asked, glancing to Ryan.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan shrugged when Casper said he made it sound easy. He still wasn't sure what was so hard about it. "You're talking to me," He pointed out flatly, still not entirely getting what Casper was worried about. "If they say no you could ask someone else?" He offered after a moment. As far as Ryan was concerned, there were very few people at the school to be actually scared of, and he doubted Casper was about to ask any of those people to dance. "I'm not. I just like people watching," Ryan explained when Casper asked him what he was doing. "Everyone's usually too busy with their dates and friends to pay much attention to me. It's fun to try to figure out what everyone's thinking," He explained, gesturing back out to the hall.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper bit his lip. He was talking to Ryan... and he wasn't seeing anyone else around that looked even close to approachable... He nodded at the rest of what Ryan was saying, though Casper was only really half listening, biting his lip a little as he peeked through his hair at the other boy. "Hey, um..." He hesitated, glancing away and back again, "Do you, um... maybe want to dance with me?" He asked. "It, ah, it could be like research. See if maybe you can figure out why everyone likes it so much," He offered shyly, almost convinced Ryan would say no.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan was almost impressed as Casper's ability to hide his face behind his hair. He wondered if it ever got in the way of his vision, subconsciously brushing his own hair out of his eyes. His hand stilled when Casper asked him if he wanted to dance, mouth already opening to decline. He'd just said dancing didn't interest him, though Casper made an interesting point. He had hours left at the ball to keep up his people watching, but he probably wouldn't have very many opportunities to try out dancing properly. "...Okay," He said after a moment. "I've never danced with someone before, you'll need to tell me if I'm doing it wrong," He said after a beat, starting to move over towards the dancefloor with Casper.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper's heart nearly stopped when Ryan said yes. He swallowed nervously. This was what he wanted, wasn't it? He could feel himself blushing, and he moved towards the dancefloor, mind scrambling. He had been able to practice both, being about the same height as the twins. Allison had lead when they had all danced together, and Addison had taught him to lead, so he could do both. "O-okay, um, I've danced with my c-cousins," He stuttered a bit. "I, um, we can stand here," He turned to Ryan when they had reached the edge of the dance floor. "I, um, I put my hand here, and yours goes here, and then we hold the other hand out like this," He instructed, his heart pounding painfully in his chest.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Considering dancing with someone was what Casper wanted to do, he didn't look very happy about it as they walked over towards the dance floor. Ryan watched curiously as Casper managed to get his way through some basic instructions, nodding and placing his hands and arms as Casper instructed. "Your hands are starting to sweat," He noted, giving Casper's hand an exploratory squeeze. It was obvious Casper was nervous, but Ryan wasn't sure if it was due to other people or Ryan himself. "Now we just sort of, move around right?" He said, taking a shuffling step if only to see how Casper might respond. Ryan admittedly hadn't ever giving dancing much notice, it didn't seem overly complicated or interesting, just swaying and moving about to music, but he knew there was some sort of skill to it.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

-godmod approved-

Casper swallowed nervously. "S-sorry," he managed, biting his lip a bit and following as Ryan stepped. When asked, Casper smiled a little shyly. "Oh, h-here, follow my lead," he instructed, feeling a bit more comfortable as he taught Ryan the basic steps. "1, 2, 3," he counted out the beat, relaxing a bit more as the dance went on.