Dancing With A Star

**Dance Hall, Halcyon City, February 15th**

The music was pumping from behind the door, Sapphire had asked out Astra to go dancing with faer. Fae were in a sparkly pink dress trying faer best to stand out holding a present for Astra in her hands. Sapphire couldn't put words to how excited they were for this date. Astra was so special to her and she was so glad that he was safe. After that whole space adventure thing, Sapphire had gotten closer to a lot of people. Sapphire could always count on Astra and she wanted to make sure they could give a date worthy of someone as radiant as them.

Sapphire got there a bit early out of nerves but her headmates were encouraging faer and letting fae know that they looked hot, they were gonna slay out there and have a great date.

Astra arrived, as always, on Nebulim. They were dressed in bright blue and flashy clothes, with just a bit of starlight magic flair added in. They had never gone dancing on Earth before, and hoped they looked cool enough for Sapphire.

Astra touched down near the entrance before running over to Sapphire. “Hey! Hope I’m not too late, did you wait long?”

Sapphire looked over Astra as they entered.  He looked amazing, fae were so excited for this. Maria and Elena both got to go to dances but Sapphire never had faer own dance memories.

The girl hugged Astra and then turned around towards the dance hall "You are right on time, lets go."

Sapphire pulled Astra with faer into the room where the music was nice pop for now and a bunch of other teens and young adults were just cutting loose.

“Wow!” exclaimed Astra. It was just as he imagined it from his knowledge about Earth dance parties, which mainly came from movies.

“So uhh...” they yelled over the music to Sapphire, “what kind of dancing are we going to do?”

Oh fuck, Sapphire hadn’t thought that far. What kind of dancing did fae know how to do? Swing, Salsa, Formal, some stuff from the sockhop’s Elena went to. None of those really fit this vibe though, starting a mosh pit? No this wasn’t a Rainbow Revolution concert.

Sapphire moved towards the dance floor and said “I can show you some of the moves I know from the others, but I think the most important thing is we have fun right so we can wing it.”

Then fae asked “What kind of dancing is around where you’re from?”

“Oh, all kinds, same as here I assume.” Astra said, while getting into the rhythm. “But the ones I know the best are the really fancy theatrical kinds, you know, the ones which people have contests with and to show off their moves. But I don’t think this is a good place to show off my *flying knives dance*,” Astra giggled and grimaced at just how bad an idea it would be in this relatively crowded hall.

“But I suppose I could still use some moves from it,” they said, while making their moves a bit more floaty and smooth. “What about you, you got dances from both Elena and Maria, right? Any cool fairy-demon dance tricks?”

Sapphire summoned up her tail and pulled Astra closer “I could probably do something like that but move it into a dance move.”

The tail vanished and the girl grinned thinking for a moment “ Ya I know all sorts of cool dances, Maria learned a bunch for practical reasons and Elena loved dancing, especially with Mara or her friends the Liminals. Swing dancing is super fun, I wonder if we could get a song on for me to show that off.”

Sapphire wanted to see that flying knives dance, clearly they would have to go to a place to dance on Wolfe Island or do some dancing at the haunted house some time. She mentions “If we have fun with this we can do it again but somewhere we can be a bit more magical.”

Astra smiled brightly. “Hell yeah, that sounds super fun.” They were still dancing close to Sapphire, as they reached for faer hand to hold while dancing. “Another time, though, I’m still enjoying it here.”

Sapphire smiled, ya it was nice here, Astra was right. Fae joined in the dance trying to match the vibes Astra was putting down but really only caring what he thought of her dancing.

Taking Astra’s hand a slow dance came on and she moved closer to them. She pulled close to compliment "you look dashing when you dance."

Sapphire moved slowly to the music taking Astra’s other hand to show him how to do this slow dance thing. Fae was going through Maria's memories to a dance with Morgan, a waltz. Hopefully that would do, it was weird there were moments going through Maria or Elena's memories that felt like faerself but also moments that felt completely remote. It was hard discovering faerself like this but it was also really exciting.

“Thank you, you’re super cute as well.” Astra blushed. They tried as best as they could to follow along the slow dance, but the inexperience still showed through. Luckily, being able to float meant no stepping on toes. Eventually they got into a comfortable rhythm.

“This is nice. I’m really glad that you invited me, by the way.”

Sapphire enjoyed all the little mess ups, it was nice, so much of Maria and Elena’s vibes were public facing perfection despite knowing the struggles they went through to get to a point where they were experts, it was nice to be able to mess up and just feel natural and like fae weren’t behind but learning beside someone.

Sapphire nodded faer head “I’m glad you said you wanted to go on a date, but even if we decide to not date anymore, I would like to do this with you more.”

The girl was in thought after saying that, thinking about what Astra’s friendship meant to faer and what might change in the future for so many reasons.

“Oh yeah, it’s always loads of fun to hang out with you. No doubt about that.” Astra grinned.

“Even when I have to go back to my world, I will make sure to come visit often.” He hadn’t even been here for a year, but Astra knew that any day now his moms would miss them too much and ask them to come home. They were meant to stay until they’d proven that they could take on greater challenges back home, but after stopping Fimbulvinter and assisting in tearing apart a black hole what else was there to prove?

“But until then, I am looking forward to spending as much time with you and Johnny as I can.”

Sapphire was really happy to be considered for all of this, Sapphire had thought it was possible for Astra to just leave one day and move on but apparently he was thinking of faer and Johnny. Fae had a slight bit of blush on faer face but a confident grin as she teased “Well you should take me to visit sometime, I want to see your world, I bet i’d love it.”

Swaying with the music Sapphire added “I’m immortal now, so we can have lots of adventures together, plus we already make portals and junk to have Maria visit Morgan and go to Wolfe Island from the home.”

“Oh yeah true, so cool. And yeah, one day I’ll definitely show you around back home.” Swaying with Sapphire, Astra gave faer a content smile, before realization dawned on them. “Oh geez, that means you’ll meet my moms too. Oh gosh I forgot, they’re gonna be *so* embarrassing!” Astra laughed, being only mildly concerned. They hadn’t brought any romantic interest home before, and have only the slightest idea of how Cilianna and Yuisa are going to react.

Sapphire cheerfully assured Astra “Your moms sound awesome, I’m sure it will be fine.”

Then the sense of dread hit faer, wait they were going to like Maria better than faer, after all Maria was a master thief and Sapphire could do what Maria could but like it wasn’t faer feats or anything. Sapphire took a breath and focused positively, she was hot and that is what mattered. The girl adds “Also I got to have you meet Izel, she’s my mom and Elena’s too. She’s super rad.”

Blush was covering Sapphire’s face, she took Astra’s hand and the music changed giving some upbeat fun for everyone, Sapphire moved to the music trying to hide their blush.

“If everything I’ve heard about Izel is true, and I don’t doubt a single thing of it, then she must be one of the raddest people there is.” Astra started to move with the quicker and peppier beat.

Sapphire twirled and just started going ham with the dancing, she tried to follow the pace with Astra but was going a bit extra even though it didn’t look the best but fae wanted to be a bit silly and have fun.

Fae giggled a bit “You having fun cutie? Want me to get you a drink, food, anything?.”

Astra thought for a bit while continuing their sweet moves. “Hmm, yeah a drink would be nice. Want to take a break maybe?”

Sapphire took Astra’s hand and said “Yes, a break sounds nice, let’s go rest.”

She walked with him over towards where the drinks were sold and pulled out her wallet from her purse which was full of, questionably obtained large bills and no credit cards or anything else. Sapphire assured Astra “Get as much stuff as you want, I am good for it.”

Astra smiled. “Gosh you’re the best. But I think just a cola for now, it seems my post-regen super-hunger is *finally* over.”

Sapphire motioned to the person who sold the food and drinks “Two Colas, thanks.”

Then the girl leaned over and said “Okay cool, I guess I will let Elena know not to make as much food as she has been then.”

The drinks were served and Sapphire found the two some seats leading them over to relax for a bit and let their legs rest.

“Yeah, I definitely appreciated it, but my appetite is pretty much back to normal again.” Astra said, despite their appetite as a small star is still able to rival most other hormonal teens his age.

Sipping on their cola, they sat down. “Anything new with EliZe or the haunted house or stuff? There’s been so much to catch up to after we came back from space.”

Sapphire leaned back and sipped her soda “EliZe is adorable and it’s nice seeing her happier, things are great and she gets on well with Izel. Dating her is really nice too, we spent a week going through time to romantic places and moments in time.”

Fae added in a more mixed note: “The Luminaries moved but we have a portal to their place on Wolfe Island, it’s where Maria used to live. We already came over often to visit friends or for...stress relief with Signe so now we just have more reasons to visit.”

“That’s awesome! EliZe does deserve everything good.” Astra nodded sagely. “And Wolfe Island seemed like a nice place when we visited, you know, except for the holes in the sky and other stuff, so I totally get moving there.”

Sapphire rubbed faer hair nervously and said “Ya...sorry about that, other me was clearly not in a great place.”

Then leaning in to avoid faer own feelings about becoming a weird eldritch being trying to steal faer own headmates, Fae asked “So you and A-vis, how is that going? Also life at the big base?”

“Oh yeah, I mean, I understand that they were dealing with a lot. But hey, everything ended well, right?” Astra smiled reassuringly.

“Me and Johnny are doing good. They’ve been very nice, and we had a fun date yesterday. And I think there’s going to be new folks moving into the base soon, so that’s exciting.”

“That’s true, looks like we might be getting enough to fill in the gaps where people left, anyone catch your eye?”

Sapphire’s eyes were glued to the star, he was so radiant and cute and oh their heart could hardly take it. It was so nice just being here catching up, fae felt so lucky to be faerself, to have faer own taste and faer own desires to be here on a date with someone no one else in her head was into but she was just head over heels for, it felt affirming.

Astra giggled before he then gave a dramatic sigh. “Sadly haven’t seen or met any of them yet. Me and Kieran did get permission to take the trip, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a good chunk of homework waiting for us when we got back, so that’s been keeping me busy.”

Sapphire cringed a bit, none of the homework memories felt like faer but just trying to recall them she could feel the boredom radiating. The girl mused “I am glad I never went to school, it really doesn’t sound like my thing.”

The superhero offered “I can help with homework if you need though, Elena is smart so I should be too.”

Internally there was some groaning from Maria at the accidental dig at them but Sapphire just giggled and ignored them.

“Oh wow, first you’re already planning our next dance date, and now also a study date?” Astra wiggled their eye-brows and laughed. “No but seriously, that might be fun. The maths and science are easy enough once I got a hang of it, but history is like super tough, so I could use some help with that.”

Astra finished the rest of their cola. "But hey, I don't want to bore you with my homework right now. Wanna go back to dancing?"

“Yes, I am very serious about dating you, gotta keep throwing dates at you so you know you got the hottest girl on The Big Team all over you” Sapphire teased with a wink.

Then the girl stood up and fluffed her pigtails “Yes, back to dancing, this song sounds perfect for us.”

The Fearless Trio member was practically skipping back to the dance floor this time she might be able to show off some swing moves or at least fae could lift Astra as a little display of faer muscles.

Astra laughed in joy as they skipped along with Sapphire.

As they reached the dance floor, they let faer take the lead, and let themself get swung around gracefully.

Sapphire couldn’t get enough of the dancing, fae just adored moving around with Astra and showing off her own twist on things that fae got from Maria and Elena. The girl wrapped her arms around Astra when the song was done and said “Astra, you are too much fun.”

Faer eyes locked onto Astra’s own, being with Astra felt special, maybe it was because Astra met Sapphire first where most the people in faer life meet Maria or Elena first. Sapphire wanted to feel the same deep connections.

Sapphire kept dancing just letting time go by with Astra, fae started to feel more confident in the date. They were dating, she was Astra’s girlfriend, they were dancing,  fae couldn’t wait for the next date and the next one and the one after that.