All Because of Ballroom Dancing

"What do you mean you can't dance?"

"I don't, I don't know how to dance," Tsuna stuttered a meek reply, refusing to face his private tutor.

Reborn clicked his tongue and dragged the younger boy through the mansion that they lived in, courtesy of Tsuna's guardian. Several hallways and a few staircases later, they reached the lounge of the mansion and were facing an impressive set of polished doors carved from some sort of wood. Reborn casually pushed the doors open, still dragging his student behind him. The doors smoothly swung inwards to reveal the ballroom with its marble floor and elegant pillars. The wall opposite the doors had a raised stage for speeches and the like while the side walls were lined with unused tables.

"Okay, this is called a box step," Reborn said as he demonstrated in the center of the room for Tsuna to watch. "It makes a box. Now back straight, follow my lead, and pay attention to the movements."

Tsuna straightened his posture and put linked his fingers with Reborn's left hand, putting his left hand on the man's shoulder.

"On my deltoid," Reborn scolded, moving his hand to a spot a little below his shoulder. "And none of the octopus fingers."

Tsuna quickly untangled his fingers and Reborn moved his wrist to keep their palms touching. When Reborn said "one," Tsuna kicked him in the shin and they started over. On he reached "three," he scrambled to keep up, having missed the count of two, and tripped on Reborn's polished shoes. Reborn grew audibly more irritated as Tsuna tried to follow but stepped too early, too late, or onto his feet.

A few minutes in, they were interrupted by the sound of gunshots. The brunette out a small yelp of surprise and dropped to the floor, crouching into as small of a target as he possibly could. Reborn calmly pulled his phone out of his jacket.

"Chaos," he greeted the other person. "Otters? I'm tutoring Tsuna right now. Even the bear in the tutu you showed me the other day has more musicality than the damn kid. They attacked—Alright, I'll come over."

A new person's footsteps entered the ballroom. They noticed him immediately. Reborn kept a straight face and said, "I'll pass the baton to you then," before leaving the room. On the other hand, Tsuna's face brightened up immediately and tackled Alaude as soon as Reborn left the room, the doors silently swinging to close behind him. Alaude chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Giotto sent me to take Reborn's place. I heard that you can't dance," Alaude teased.

Tsuna grumbled something about "It's the twenty-first century. Who needs to ballroom dance nowadays?"

"Regardless of the time period, balls are held as traditional social events. Twenty-first century or not, potential clients or allies tend to hold such formal dance parties that provide an opportunity for reconnaissance. Even our current partners, like the Cavallone, still have them for celebrations. We must attend to deepen our relations for business no matter how personally close you are to Dino, which means not making a fool out of ourselves and being able to dance. Would you reject every young lady that asks for your hand?"

Even though Alaude's strict demeanor was different from Reborn's lessons (threats), Tsuna couldn't do anything more than shrink into himself the same way.

"At the very least, you should know some basics. Reborn was doing the box step. It depends on the dance, but it's usually left foot forward, right to the side of that, bring your feet together, right foot back, left to the side of that, bring your feet together and repeat."

"What?"

"It makes a box, and the foot on the outside of the box is the one that moves. Just follow my lead."

And with that, Tsuna found himself with a hand in his own and another on his shoulder blade. Alaude quietly kept count as he led, more slowly than Reborn did. Tsuna kept his eyes on his feet, trying to follow while not stepping on Alaude.

"Larger steps when you move forward, aim for somewhere between my feet. And it's rude not to look at your partner at all," Alaude told him.

Tsuna immediately raised his head. Dancing didn't seem nearly as bad as before, not if it was those steel grey eyes that would be watching him. Alaude's counting became little more than murmurs, and even though he wasn't looking at their feet anymore, Tsuna could follow along well enough. When he took a step back, Tsuna followed it and took a step forward with his left foot, shifting his weight along, then moved to the side with his right foot, again bringing his whole body with it as he brought his left foot to meet his right. One, two, three, and one, two, three. Backwards, side, together, forward, side, together.

"Good?" Alaude asked suddenly. With a nod from Tsuna, he continued, "Now we add a bit of a turn."

Alaude shifted directions slightly with the side step, rotating Tsuna with him. Soon, they were slowly spinning in a circle about the room. They went back to the original steps for a while and then spun the other way. It was kind of fun, Tsuna thought, letting Alaude gently pull him forward and then to the side. The pair gradually worked up to the speed that Reborn was trying before, occasionally changing directions here and there, until Tsuna was straining to keep up.

He suddenly stumbled in Alaude's arms, breathing heavily as if he had been running. Alaude didn't look as tired, but his hair was a little messier than usual and there was a slight flush to his face.

"Tired," Tsuna gasped, still holding onto the taller man. Alaude hummed in agreement.

"We made good progress in a day," Alaude replied, moving to support Tsuna with his left arm so they could start going towards the door. "Maybe we can do twirls next."

"I can do that right now!"

Despite his aching legs, he stood tall and grabbed Alaude's right hand to raise it. Alaude chuckled, bending slightly to spin in place under their joined hands.

"Is it supposed to be so exhausting?" Tsuna asked, falling over Alaude's arm again.

"Sometimes. Ask Giotto about the time in Vienna. He couldn't walk to his own room afterwards."

As if summoned, Giotto slammed the door open.

"Tuna fish, there you are. You look tired. I bought some strawberry cake. Let's go eat some cake," the blond announced, stepping up to them and grabbing Tsuna's shoulders to steer him away from Alaude and towards the door. He glared at Alaude over his shoulder. "Stuff it," he grumbled to the chuckling Daemon outside as he passed.

Note that I don't dance and I'm pretty much pulling stuff out of my behind (and some google) for this. Also it probably isn't nearly so easy that someone could get the hang of it in a single day, but shhhh. Please excuse me as I disappear for another handful of years?