Dagger Series #7: Unbalanced

Chapter 17: Serpent

I've known male ballerinas who probably have more muscles than other men I've seen. They might not be as huge as Adrien, but they certainly have great bodies. They are one of the strongest people I know because it's not every day that you can witness a man fly repeatedly with just the strength of their legs. It's also not every day that you can see someone carry another human while maintaining the grace of their posture.

Even the simplest movements in ballet that look easy weren't accomplished without difficulty. May it be men or women, ballerinas are not just dancers. We're athletes.

We're the kind that need to do our job without losing the beauty of ballet. We can't grimace. We can't frown. We need to do every difficult routine where we feel like we are being stretched while breaking our bones at the same time without showing our pain on our faces.

"We're going to do Romeo and Juliet's pas de deux," Olena informed us.

"Balcony or bedroom?" Adrien asked.

"Bedroom first."

Adrien stepped close to me, and I tried to hide my disappointment about the choice of variation. Romeo and Juliet is a beautiful piece, but it's not what I've been wishing to perform for years.

"Time will come," he whispered.

"I'll be sixty before my mother and Naomi will allow me to play Giselle."

They have already planned the stories that I should perform. Most of them are love stories, though there are some that don't have happy endings. Katulad ngayon. Romeo and Juliet both died. Even Swan Lake ended with Odette's death, though the story still has a bit of a happy note in the last part. But if there's one thing in common with the parts I played, the characters always have an air of youth and innocence.

Giselle was different. I fell in love with one of the scenes where she grew mad because of her love's betrayal. Unlike in Romeo and Juliet, where they died because of sheer bad luck, and if I'm being honest, stupidity,

Inabot ni Adrien and kamay ko at binigyan niya ako ng maliit na ngiti. "Breathe, T."

I returned his smile before nodding. For a moment, we just stood there, looking at each other. Even Olena hasn't started the music yet. Adrien and I just held each other's gazes, and even without speaking, I know that we're both running the story of the scene in our heads.

The bedroom pas de deux has a lot of complicated footwork and lifts. But what makes it challenging is the fact that it's emotionally charged. There's tenderness, affection, and longing, with a hint of fear and sadness from the realization of the characters about their fates.

Adrien pulled me close, and as if on cue, the music started just in time.

We had played this three times before in an official performance, and while the most recent might have been months ago, it's not something you can forget easily, especially if you've trained hours and hours for it. Olena guided us, letting out explosions of command from time to time as we moved around the space of the glass house.

The variation has a lot of contact. It requires a lot of skinship, and if there's a moment that Adrien and I aren't touching, our gazes will remain bound together as if distance is something that we cannot bear to have. Because, as the story demands, we were two people who're desperate to make every second count with each other.

As the music neared its conclusion, our movements became quicker and sharper. We both ended it locked in an embrace, our faces close as if we were about to kiss.

I could feel the heat of his body, and I could smell his aftershave. If one of us stumbles, there's no doubt that our lips will touch. Something that none of us would have minded.