Tutu was pleasantly surprised to find that her idea for team building exercise actually seemed to work. In a way, that is. Femio and Ahiru still fought during every practice, but something in the air was different. They weren't fighting out of malice, anymore. There was no ill intent in their words, it was like they were fighting because they felt they had to, and in Tutu's book that was a huge step forward.

So, the free program. First thing's first, the music Femio and Ahiru are skating to is a swing song by the name of 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schon' the version which is performed by Ingrid Lucia & The Flying Neutrinos. Yes that detail is important.

With all of their practicing, Ahiru and Femio had managed to finally get through the whole free program with minimal mistakes. Still, it was never good enough for their grumpy coach, Fakir. "Do it again. Ahiru, stop popping your fucking jumps. Femio, please dance with a little bit more soul next time. I know that the steps are difficult but if you want to win gold in this century, I'd suggest stepping up and fucking learning them."

Ahiru huffed, and kicked up some ice with her skate, swearing under her breath.

They skated back to the middle of the empty rink. "This is such bull," Femio grumbled. "My dancing is not soulless, he just hasn't seen good dancing in decades."

"Femio, shut up before he yells at us again," Ahiru said, nudging him as they got in position.

The song itself started slow but jumped into an upbeat song that was good for lively dancing. Their dance was a story, similar to their short program- Tutu had explained this while teaching them the steps in her ballet studio. While their short program was about Femio chasing Ahiru until she succumbed, their long program followed Ahiru chasing Femio until he felt the same.

Since the song itself was a female-voice singing about how much she loved another (presumably) male person, it was an easy story to follow. So, they started with the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder in the center of the ice, but facing opposite directions. Femio's head was turned away from Ahiru, his arms crossed, and Ahiru had her head turned towards Femio, her hands clasped in front of her. When the music started, Ahiru bumped her hip into Femio's causing him to fake-stumble. He skated away, and she followed him, both of them bouncing a little to the music. Ahiru caught up, grabbing Femio by the hands and pulling him with her. She was skating backwards, the two of them kicking their legs out along to the beat.

Femio went along with the dance before spinning her close, his hands on her hips as he pulled her closer. He lifted her, turning and tossing her into a spin. Right now, they were practicing with lower difficulty jumps just to get the feel of the choreography. When Ahiru landed, she stopped with her hands on her hips, a foot stomp, and skated towards him again. They met back up in the center, dancing a seperate-but-in-sync step sequence, before turning with both of them smiling at each other, hands connecting as they finished the step sequence together.

By this point, it will be considered the second half of the program, where their jumps get an added modifier. Such as with their first skate, most of their point-earning jumps and spins were left to the second half for this sole purpose.

To flow well out of their step sequence, they have planned a quad of some type, with them practicing with a double for now. They continued on, with their required amounts of moves, ending in a "classic" swing post, hands clasped and pulling away with their arms out. Ahiru and Femio were both out of breath, waiting for the music to stop to let go and nearly collapse on the ice.

Tutu turned off the music, clapping for them. "Good job guys, that was much better!"

"It was alright," Fakir interrupted, his eternal scowl still pressed to his face. "Do you want to tell them, or should I?"

Ahiru and Femio shared a look, both fearing they were going to announce another team building getaway. Tutu motioned for them to come closer, so they both skated towards the short wall separating them.

"Soooo," Tutu started, drumming her hands on the partition. "We've signed you guys up for a practice competition!"

"What?!" Femio and Ahiru exclaimed simultaneously. They each scrunched their noses up at the other, taking a small step away.

"Don't you think it's too soon-"

"-We've barely started practicing-"

"-Ahiru can't even land that one-"

"-Femio is still dancing like a-"

"-That brute-ish girl hasn't even-"

"-Mr Conceited Prick couldn't-"

Fakir interrupted their overlapping arguments with a puncturing and concise, "Shut up!"

Ahiru and Femio both immediately shut their mouths, Ahiru pouting a little.

Tutu let out a nervous laugh. "...Anyway! It's time you guys shook off your competition jitters, and we don't want to do that at a bigger one! It's about a week away, and it will mean absolutely nothing! We're doing this so that you two get experience as a pair."

"But, we don't even have costumes yet!" Ahiru exclaimed, to which her sister had a brighter smile in response.

"That's the second thing on our agenda! You both had your measurements taken last week, and we've just received your costumes from the tailor!" Tutu held up a couple of bags which were assumed to be holding their new costumes. Ahiru felt a jump of excitement. She never really felt immersed in a role unless she was wearing the costume to go with it.

Femio and Ahiru exited the ice, taking their assigned costumes and walking to the back to try them on. "Start with the Romeo and Juliet ones, please! They should be labelled." Tutu called to their receding forms.

Ahiru stepped out first, and their coaches figured Femio was fussing with the costume inside his own locker room. Her outfit was primarily reds and golds, with a small bit of white. It was done in the style of most iterations of dresses Juliet would have worn, with the "waist" seam falling below her bust with a small corset-look, with the outer portion being red and with gold accents, the the center panel being white, and the strings of the corset were a light pink. The sleeves were adequately called a 'Juliet sleeve', characterized with a puff and an otherwise tight, long sleeve. The centre front of the dress was white and fell just at the top of Ahiru's thigh, and the side panels of the dress, which fell from the 'waist' seam, stopped a couple inches below the center part of the dress. She wore pale pink tights, and the costume came with a flower crown of small purple roses.

Tutu nearly squealed at the sight of her adorable little sister, who was blushing already. Tutu turned to see Fakir's reaction, and saw that he had his hand covering his mouth and his head was turned away as a dark blush colored his cheeks. Her lips turned up, and when she turned back to her sister, Femio had joined them. His outfit was characterized by a regal-looking, royal purple and lavender tunic made of a material that was reminiscent of crushed velvet. The sleeves were sheer with gemstones inlaid in the material, falling to flair at the wrist. The chest of the tunic was cut into a deep V, with that sheer material covering the space where his skin would otherwise show. It was half laced with silver strings, and on either side of the V were silver embellishments. His pants were simple silver-colored tights. His outfit came with a flower crown similar to Ahiru's, with small red roses.

Femio twisted this way and that, inspecting the outfit. "It's alright." he commented. "A little more flair would have been nice-" before the lad could get into insulting whatever he was about to, Tutu cut him off.

"Let's get a picture!" She said, a little loudly as she pulled out her phone. Ahiru and Femio glanced at each other and turned their heads back to Tutu expectantly, as if she was going to take the picture with them standing so many feet apart. "Get in closer, you guys are a partnership! I'm going to put this on my Insta, so the others can see what they're up against!"

"The others…?" Ahiru looked up at Femio.

"...Up against?" Femio returned her gaze. They both had the same thought: if they looked like a bad pair, people would talk, and there was nothing worse for the turbulent pair than whispers about their chemistry. "How about something dazzling, hm?"

Femio caught Ahiru's hand, pulling her into a spin and dipping her low, smiling all the while. Ahiru felt her heart attempt to jump out of her chest, her wide eyes flicking from his eyes to his lips and back and in a dizzying moment she wondered why she felt so lightheaded. His hand on her back was warm, sending tingles through her skin- and she was snapped back into reality by the sound of a camera clicking, snapping pictures of them.

"That was perfect!" Tutu cheered, her eyes casting towards Fakir in the hopes of getting an agreement. Fakir looked more irritated than usual, only grunting in response. "Um… You should go try on the other costumes, they should be labeled 'swing'!"

When Femio and Ahiru walked off, Tutu turned to Fakir, placing a hand on his arm. "Everything alright? Did you not like the costumes?"

"They're fine." Fakir's arms were crossed over his chest.

Tutu let out a small, frustrated sigh. Fakir was a tough nut to crack. "What's bothering you?"

The man was silent for a long moment. And a longer moment. All while Tutu waited patiently for him to answer.

"Don't you think they're getting too close?" He finally asked.

Tutu blinked a few times in confusion, before she realized what he meant. "I think that it's natural, considering how much time we've all spent together."

Before Fakir could reply to that, Ahiru had returned. Her outfit consisted of a midnight blue piece, that was somewhat low cut, with mesh-like fabric covering what would otherwise be exposed, the top of which ended in a short-sleeved little puff, a band of the midnight-blue fabric cuffing the end of the sleeve with a twinkling cufflink. Rhinestones were inlaid in the mesh-fabric, flashy but not so showy as to make Ahiru feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, Ahiru it looks lovely!" Tutu cried, her hands clapping together. Fakir grunted beside her, eyes scanning Ahiru's form.

"It's a little flashy." The man muttered, as Femio exited the dressing room as well. He had what looked like a similarly colored midnight blue button-up, but it was made of a stretchy material and covered in glitter. Along with that was a high waisted pair of spandex pants, dark, with a mesh band over his waist that looked, all in all, like he was wearing a suit from the 20s, minus the blazer. An untied bowtie hung loosely around his neck, and he was admiring his reflection.

"Don't listen to him, Duck, you look lovely. We can pop off a couple of the rhinestones if you think it's too flashy, though." Tutu said, waving her hand.

Ahiru looked at her reflection in the glass partition on the rink border. It was much flashier than she'd ever have worn before. But… she liked it. Something about watching Femio ogle himself and his flashiness made her want to feel that way too. "No, no I like it. I think it looks good."

Her and Femio didn't have to be told to post as soon as Tutu pulled out her phone, as Femio spun her and dipped her low, striking a bunch of swing-reminiscent poses for their Instagram.

"That was perfect, guys!" Tutu said excitedly. "Go back and change, and then I think we should be done for the evening!"

Ahiru glanced at Femio, who glanced at her, and without another word, they left to change. Things were still chilly but… they weren't fighting. And that had to mean something.

The rink was empty and silent, save for the scraping sound of ice skates on the otherwise unmarked ice. A single overhead light illuminated one, orange hair girl as she languidly skated around the rink, her headphones playing a soft and romantic tune. Her arms moved to the rhythm of the love song, while she skated a slow circle around the rink. She was relaxed, in her element, and trying to work through the jumbled, complicated thoughts that were bouncing around in her overactive brain.

Femio had walked in because he forgot his bag- he hadn't meant to intrude on such a vulnerable moment for the girl, but he couldn't help but become mesmerized at the sight. This wasn't the girl who stomped around the ice with unsure feet, who hesitated before jumps, who was an insecure, graceless little duck.

Ahiru looked so peaceful. Until her eyes connected with Femio's.

And her face very, very slowly turned red as she realized that he'd seen her.

"H-How long have- have you been in here?" Ahiru asked, meekly. She hadn't the energy to even be mad properly.

"Um… just a couple minutes." Femio replied- unsure of how to react. He was prepared for her to yell at him, tell him to go away, something. Not… that.

They stared at each other for an awkward moment. It seemed as if neither of them really knew what to do when they weren't fighting and weren't practicing. "Um, do- do you want to join me? We don't have t-to do the program or anything."

Femio nodded slowly. "Sure..?" he said, dropping his bag and tugging on his skates. He joined her on the ice, accepting the wireless headphone that she'd offered. "Oh- you listen to them too? I'd never have thought we had the same taste in music."

"Ah, um, I usually just listen to this kinda stuff to clear my head. After a long day, I can change it if it's not something you think you can skate to-" She said quickly, grabbing for her phone to switch the song, and blushing when Femio's hands grasped her's to stop her.

"No- uh, no. I think it's fine." Femio said hurriedly, his own cheeks heating up. He felt so raw in front of her, sharing music, toning down his theatrics.

With that, she tucked her phone back in the pocket of her leggings and the two of them started to skate, still chatting occasionally. Sharing favorite songs, similar bands, bouncing off of that topic to other ones and for one night, forgetting how different they were from each other.


AN: Sorry that this took so long, and that the chapter is shorter than you guys are used to! Hopefully I'll be able to get back on track sometime soon! Love yall, and as always comments and criticisms are welcome!