It was Wednesday now and the last private lesson he would teach to Aaron before the exam tomorrow. Tiza was glad. Aside from the extra money ,which was good, he was stretching himself thin taking the time to teach the Alpha in private. However, the lessons were going better than he thought they would at the start.

Aaron was unlike any Alpha Tiza had met, those were the only words Tiza could use to describe him. The Alpha was very kind, patient, willing to listen, and persistent in his pursuit in ballet. If Tiza wasn’t always prepared for the worst he may have enjoyed the others company more than he had, but he held little trust for anyone aside his brother; especially when it concerned Alphas. He remained distant from the other and vigilant, honestly waiting for the moment Aaron would show his true colors and act like the Alpha he is, but the facade never fell.

As the Alpha made real progress from the private lessons Tiza was surprised, not only at his teaching ability but that Aaron made a real effort to improve. It wasn’t uncommon for male Alphas to practice ballet, he had the displeasure of dancing with a few while in school, but Tiza was under the assumption Aaron had joined for the same reason that his scumbag of a friend did.

Although from the lack of Aaron doing anything even remotely out of line, Tiza was slowly convinced that maybe, just maybe that this guy actually wanted to take his class from the very beginning. Or at the very least he was trying to impress some of the other women in the class, it was plain to see they all vied for the Alpha’s attention, so it wasn’t a far fetched notion.

He should’ve felt bad for doubting the other but he didn’t; being wronged by one too many Alpha’s did a number on how much trust you put in people. As far as him figuring out why the man lied about his name, Tiza had no clue and couldn’t find a good way of asking.

When Tiza entered the dance studio, he hadn’t expected Aaron to already be there this early. The Alpha smiled at him brilliantly, all teeth, from where he leaned against the barre; his phone in his hands. Tiza returned the smile with a small one of his own.

“Aaron, you know I don’t allow phones in the dance studio,” he reprimanded.

“I know but I wanted to show you something.” His eyes reflected his smile as he came trotting up to the Omega who was putting down his things in the corner of the room. Indulging the other before he made Aaron put the phone away in a locker, Tiza looked at the screen with concealed interest.

On the phone was a video of two ballet dancers performing together. Tiza didn’t miss the fact that this video was saved to Aaron’s favorites on the social media app he was on; taking note of his commitment to learning dance once again. When the video ended Aaron turned to Tiza and looked at the Omega expectantly. A little lost he spoke up.

“Yes? That’s a pas de deux. What about it?”

“I want this to be what we go over today. Well, specifically this part,” Aaron rewinds it specifically where the man picks up the woman and spins her in the air, “I found it last night and I thought, ‘I could probably do that’.”

“You have your exam tomorrow. This time would be better spent working on the moves you’ll need to pass,” chided the Omega, shaking his head.

“I’m pretty confident I have it all down already, besides I could pick you up easily! This is my last private lesson.” Aaron gave him a pleading look.

Tiza was never opposed to teaching someone who wanted to be taught, but normally Tiza wouldn’t be the one teaching lifts. He didn’t have the upper body strength necessary to do so, also there was a lot of touching when practicing lifts which Tiza wasn’t comfortable with for a number of reasons.

Even now, he thought back to when he performed them on stage with any number of the jerks he went to ballet school with. Remembering it made his stomach do flips. Aaron looked at him expectantly for an answer; for some reason Tiza was finding it difficult to tell him no. So he settled on a compromise.

“I’ll show you how to pas de deux without lifts. If you pass your exam tomorrow I’ll teach you lifts next semester, if you come.” Tiza wasn’t even sure if the Alpha would take another class.

Aaron quickly agreed and looked jubilant to have gotten what he wanted. Tiza reminds Aaron to put away his phone as he himself goes into his dance bag and pulls out a pair of pointe shoes. The other eyed the shoes curiously.

“These are pointe shoes, they are used to dance on pointe or when a dancer wants to dance on the tips of their toes,” He demonstrated this after he put them on, “Part of a pas de deux aside from dancing together is for the male to help the ballerina while on pointe. He steadies her and allows her to stay on pointe longer than if she was by herself.” Tiza stood in front of Aaron, back facing him.

“We’ll start with a balancing exercise….place your hands at my waist.”

The Alpha did so, the rough skin of his hands touched the smooth tights Tiza wore. The moment those palms touched him Tiza’s body involuntarily twitched in response. He internally cursed at himself for being so fragile, and he urged the Alpha to hold on to him tighter.

“…Make sure you hold onto your partner firmly, you always want to make sure your partner feels secure.”

The grip tightened a fraction and Aaron’s silky voice came from behind him, asking if that was better. Nodding in approval the Omega continued.

“Now I’m going to go on pointe. I want you to hold me steady, then I’ll lean to either side and you’ll return me to center. This way you can get a feel for your partner’s weight and center of balance.”

The Omega rose to the tips of his feet and began to do as he said. The two were quiet while they practiced the exercise. The heat from Aaron’s palms seeped through the fabric that separated their skin. Steady breathing tickled Tiza’s neck and the Omega could feel his own breathing slowly become uneven.

“Now I’ll lift my right leg up into an arabesque and you need to support me at the thigh and waist…”

Aaron’s hand pressed into the soft flesh of the extended thigh, holding it steady where it was lifted.

“This is pretty easy.”

“It’s not easy when you have to make sure your partner doesn’t lose balance and fall. Keep your hands at my waist while I do a pirouette and try to keep me centered.”

Tiza dropped to the soles of his feet for a mere moment before he was up again and beginning his spins. The Alpha just barely was able to keep up with him, but he was impressed nevertheless.

Returning to flat feet on the floor Tiza looked up and behind him to see Aaron smiling at him; that goofy, toothy smile he’s seen almost everyday for the last month. Tiza is uneasy once more and only then realizes that the other is still holding onto him firmly. Quickly he puts some distance between them.

“Did I do good?”

“For a beginner you did fine.”

“Fine isn’t good. Hmm. I guess I’ll need to practice more,” Aaron chuckled.

“The amount of skill you have right now is enough to impress any girl you want.”

Aaron was silent as he contemplated those words.

“I told you there’s no girl I want to impress.”

“Mhmm and I told you I find that hard to believe,” Tiza accused.

“The only person who I’ll be impressing is you. Tomorrow, during the exam.”

Tiza rolled his eyes.

“You being this cocky really makes me want to knock you down a couple of notches.” It was a playful threat that still held venom behind it. 

“Ha! Go ahead and try.”

Aosh sat hunched over on the hard floor breathing heavily, sweat dripped from just about everywhere on him. Tiza wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to ‘knock him down a couple notches’. Now Aosh realized the Omega had been going easy on him all along! He wasn’t even allowed to sit more than a minute before his devil of an instructor called him to attention again. Tiza himself showed little signs of exertion, if a little breathless himself.

‘This playful side of his is endearing but deadly!’ the Alpha thought.

“C’mon Aaron! We have ten more minutes before we have to start setting up for actual class. Don’t tell me you’re losing all your steam now?”

Tiza bent at the waist to face Aosh; clearly proud that he was able to make Aosh eat his words.

“No!No. Ahem…I’m good. Just-just trying to give my legs a break.”

In reality his legs wobbled like jello and he didn’t know if he was going to be able to hold up his own weight, but he couldn’t back down from Tiza’s taunting now. After rising on shaky legs he prepared himself for whatever the Omega would throw at him next.

“Well if your legs need a break I guess I could humor you with a simple lift. Just one. Stand right there and hold me at the waist like you did before, then lift me up and out using your arms.”

Tiza returned to pointe facing Aosh this time, lifting his arms above his head; his gaze set on Aosh’s glistening face. Tiza feet left the floor, his hips gripped between Aosh’s hands. Ascending into the air for the first time in a  couple years, Tiza felt like he was floating. Even if the other didn’t have the proper technique yet, he could tell his weight lifting contributed to some proper form he maintained.

Tired legs gave way suddenly. Losing his balance he fell to the floor with Tiza on top of him.

“Ow…”

“..Fuck…”

Tiza rolled off the other and laughed. A sound that Aosh had never heard but now would never forget. It was beautiful and light, the sound of it drowning out the ache in his back.

“Sorry. Sorry. I’m really not being a good teacher and showing you proper form. That was pretty mean of me. Are you ok?” Tiza turned to make sure the other was ok. A genuine smile graced his features.

“Yea, I’m fine. I really need to work on my legs more.”

Aosh laid on the floor, eyes to the ceiling as he ran his hand through his ink-colored bangs weakly. He couldn’t quite look at the Omega yet, too embarrassed to make eye contact after dropping the man on himself; but after a long stretch of silence he grew concerned and shifted his eyes over to where the Omega sat next to him.

The veridian eyes he loved were as big as saucers, his face seemed to lose some of the color it had accumulated after almost an hour’s worth of intense exercise.

“What’s wrong…”

Aosh found the question he posed to fade into the air, realizing Tiza wasn’t only just staring at him but at his arm that was connected to the hand that was still on his forehead.

Two scarred words that were usually hidden in a sea of flowers and koi fish could be easily seen.