Shurara Steampunk Chapter 11

       Hanana winced as the stack of books tumbled off the arm of the chair she'd just bumped into. "I'm sorry," she said, scrambling to retrieve them. "I'm very bad at this. It's my fault."
Yukiki sighed. He'd consented to teach her what she needed to know, even though he admitted he only knew how to waltz. He obviously wasn't thrilled about this.
"It's not your fault," he said. "I should have put those on a shelf." He knelt down to help her pick the books up. With a sideways glance he added, "And I was leading."
Hanana smiled apologetically.  She knew she wasn't good at dancing at all, but at least Yukiki wasn't criticizing her for it. He actually seemed to look upon dancing with contempt. When Samama had asked him to teach Hanana, he'd grimaced.
"I'm not a dance instructor," he'd said.
"Yes, but we need you to teach her," Samama had said. "I'd get Mekeke and Putata to teach her but they're not exactly the best tutors."
And that led to her learning the waltz in the sitting room, the furniture pushed back so that there was enough room.
Yukiki straightened and held out his hand to her. "It's just walking with another person to music," he said. "You're overthinking something this sickeningly easy."
Hanana took a few breaths. "I'm just excited," she said. "I've never gone to a ball before or danced. So I can't help but overthink it because I'm nervous."
"If it helps," Yukiki said. "We could talk."
"Is that allowed?"
Hanana didn't know if she was just imagining it or not, but she saw the corner of Yukiki's mouth turn up.  He took Hanana's hand and said, "Now, I'm not a conversational person, so you'll have to start."
Hanana wondered what she was supposed to talk about. "Uh, I saw that you have a pair of goggles on your hat. Are they for show or…?"
"Show. They're an old pair of Samama's," he answered. "She thought she was being charitable by giving them to me. I guess she was concerned with me keeping up appearances."
Hanana searched her brain for something else to talk about. She wanted to be friendly, especially since they had a not so smooth start. She didn't want to have any unpleasant feelings to the man who'd saved her from the cold.
"What do you like?" she asked as they turned.
"Cold, nice things, solitude," Yukiki said. He thought for another minute. "That's it."
"No friends?"
"I wouldn't consider anyone a friend."
"What about the rest of the corps?"
"Workmates are different from friends."
Hanana moved out of the way of the armchair, secretly congratulating herself for her victory. "I could be a friend," she suggested quietly.
Yukiki looked away. "And why do you want that? I'm not a friendly person."
"You showed me a lot of kindness. And I that's a good enough reason for me." She smiled brightly.
"You're very trusting," Yukiki observed. He glanced at her and the next thing Hanana knew, her head was only a foot above the floor. "I could have just dropped you."
Hanana couldn't help laughing. She was genuinely surprised. Yukiki hadn't seemed like the joking type.
He helped her back up and observed, "You did perfectly fine that time. I think you've gotten past your nervousness."
Hanana nodded in agreement. "But what happens if they don't play a waltz?"
"No one says you have to dance," Yukiki said. "You can say you're tired. Or faint. I've seen it work."
Hanana wondered if she could feign a fainting spell. While she was doing this, she realized that Yukiki's hand was still at the small of her back and that their hands were still clasped.
Yukiki noticed it too and jumped backwards. "Just enjoy yourself," he said. "You don't have to do anything important."
"Thank you for teaching me," Hanana said. "I wish you could come too."
"I wouldn't want to even if I could," he said, not looking at her.