Ike liked to think that he was graceful. Well, he liked to think that he didn't totally trip all over himself no matter what he was doing. Unfortunately, as he discovered on the first day of dance lessons, (which had been an unwelcome surprise to begin with) he was nowhere near as graceful as he thought he was. 

He started the lesson by tripping over a lace that was just too long in his right dress shoe, which had been a requirement for some reason. 

"You have to have dress shoes on, or you'll be kicked out. Trust me." Caeda had said last night, when she told the boys about the ball and whatnot. 

So here he was now, wearing dress shoes and casual clothes, lying on the impeccably polished wooden floor of the studio that was hosting the dance lessons. 

"Oh my gods, you're such a fool!" Robin laughed, apparently too busy laughing at his best friend's stupidity to offer him a hand. 

"Don't laugh at him, Robin. I can't wait to see you do the same thing." Samus said, before offering Ike her hand. "Here. You can't do anything if you're laying on the floor."

"Thanks." Ike said, smiling at her. He then turned around and glared at Robin. "It's good to know one of my best friends appreciates me."

Robin just rolled his eyes and continued laughing. 

Soon, the group's teachers walked into the room. They were two blue-haired individuals: one male, and one female. They looked remarkably similar to each other, but Ike just brushed it off. 

"Good morning." the male teacher said. "My sister and I have been assigned to give you all dancing lessons prior to the ball next month." He didn't seem very enthusiastic about it. In fact, he looked like he'd rather be any where else.

"What my brother is trying to say is, we're your teachers! I'm Byleth, and he's also Byleth. To make things easier, just call him Seth." the female teacher- Byleth- said. 

"Is that-" Seth started saying, but he shook his head and cut himself off. "Never mind. We'll talk about that later."

He then turned his attention back to the class. "My apologies. Anyway, how about we start by having you all get into partners? Tradition says that a pair should be a boy and a girl, but it looks like we've got an unequal number here. In that case, who you choose as your dancing partner doesn't matter at all."

"A bit of advice, first: pick someone you'd be comfortable touching in a bit of an awkward way. Make sure that the person you choose is okay with this, as well. Consent is key." Byleth winked as she spoke, leading Ike to believe that this was about more than just teaching them how to dance. 

In any case, he knew who he'd like to dance with. 

"May I have this dance, Samus?" Ike asked, turning to her and offering his hand. 

Samus looked at him in surprise, but she accepted his hand without too much delay. "Of course, Ike."

A quick glance around the room showed that everybody else was partnering up. Zelda and Link were talking quietly, which didn't surprise Ike at all. Robin and Lucina were holding hands, but Ike had noticed that they'd been holding hands for a bit longer than that. Marth appeared to be taking no interest in the proceedings, and Caeda was trying to persuade him to get on his feet. Shulk was joking around with a blonde girl, and they seemed a bit too familiar with each other to be just friends. 

And then there was Corrin and Sheik.

They were standing side by side, not even looking at each other. It almost looked like they weren't even going to be partners, but as Ike watched, Corrin turned his head and said something to Sheik, who laughed a bit but otherwise didn't react. 

Yikes. 

They used to be so close, and if Ike was being honest, it was kind of sad to see how they'd become so... disconnected. 

"Does everybody have a partner, now?" Byleth asked. She seemed to be taking the lead on this lesson. Her brother seemed like he wouldn't be doing much instructing, since he didn't seem interested in the lesson in the first place. Byleth answered her own question after taking a quick look around the room. "Great, it looks like you do. Let's get started, shall we?" 

"First, face your partner. We'll show you where to place your hands next." Seth said, demonstrating by facing his sister. 

"Today, we're going to focus on walking with your partner and getting the feel for the position." Byleth added. 

"First, boys, take your partner's right hand in your left hand like so." Seth instructed, taking his sister's hand in his to demonstrate. "Then, boys, put your right hand on your partner's upper back. Really, it should be on their shoulder blade." Again, Seth demonstrated by placing his hand on his sister's shoulder. 

Ike faced Samus, feeling hella awkward already. He did his best to assume the proper position, and it felt so weird to be doing something like this. 

"Once you're in the proper position, you have to close most of the space between you two. It's hard to dance if you're five feet apart. This does not mean that you should be nose to nose, but you should be close enough for your clothes to touch." Seth explained, moving closer to his sister. 

"Now, start walking. Ladies-and gentleman- you should be moving backwards. The leading man should be walking forwards at all times. We'll start by walking in a simple circle. If you step on your partner, you're doing it wrong." Byleth said. Her and her brother started walking, demonstrating what the others should be aiming for. 

"Ready?" Ike asked Samus. Gods, she was so close to him. Maybe this was a bad idea. 

Samus nodded. 

Slowly, Ike started walking, trying to ignore how close they were and how he could literally lean in and kiss her if he wanted-

STOP IT, YOU FOOL. 

This is literally just ballroom dancing, nothing too complicated about it. You can do this. Apparently learning the tango is in two weeks. This is tame compared to that. 

"Ike, you're doing fine. Just, please, relax your grip on my hand." Samus winced. 

"S-sorry." Ike stammered. He took a deep breath and relaxed his grip, trying to make this a bit more natural.

He then proceeded to trip over his own foot. Ike fell, taking Samus with him. She landed on top of him, driving all the air out of his lungs (in more ways that one). 

Byleth came over to see what the commotion was all about. Sympathetically, she helped Ike and Samus stand up. "Try again. Ike, you're very tense. You need to relax, or you'll just end up on the floor again." 

Seth was currently helping Zelda and Link, giving them tips on how to move more fluidly together. Shulk and the blonde girl seemed to be doing just fine. Marth and Caeda also seemed like they were doing okay, even if Caeda seemed to be the one who was leading Marth rather than Marth leading Caeda. Surprisingly, it appeared as though Sheik had volunteered to take the girl's part, and he appeared to be unbothered by this. Otherwise, the two boys seemed to be doing just fine. 

That meant it was just Samus and Ike who were having trouble, really.

"I'm sorry, Samus." Ike said awkwardly. 

"You're fine." Samus coughed. "It's not every day I get squished by a hot guy."

Byleth cleared her throat. "Um, I'm still here? Try to save that for after class, ok?"

Ike and Samus both turned bright red. 

"Anyways. Try again, and I'll see what I can do to help you." Byleth said, moving past her comment smoothly. 

Ike held out his hand to Samus again, who took it and smiled a bit at him. They assumed the proper position, then started to walk. Ike focused on his own breathing, making sure it stayed steady. Of course, he had to pay attention to the rest of the room, just to make sure he didn't hit anybody. 

"Alright, good!" Byleth said, signaling for them to stop. "It looks better already. Did it feel any easier?" 

"Kind of. Dancing isn't really my strong suit, but it felt better than before." Ike replied. 

"Think of it this way: by learning how to dance, you're improving your footwork and agility. Who knows when you might need to be quick and light on your feet?" Byleth winked at him, which kind of confused Ike, but he didn't ask questions. He'd figured out that both of the dance instructors were a little odd, to say the least. 

"Makes sense." Samus appeared to understand this concept more than Ike did, so he'd just trust that she knows what she's doing. 

Byleth looked like she was going to say something, but then she stopped and held a hand to her left ear. She frowned, then looked to the front of the room. Her brother was there, and he had the same grim expression on his face.

"Alright class, could I have your attention?" Seth said, his voice carrying quite well even though he wasn't yelling. Once he was satisfied, he continued speaking. "Thank you. Now, it appears that we're going to have to cut this lesson short due to unexpected circumstances. Namely, a sudden severe thunderstorm has entered the area, and all residents of the city are being advised to seek shelter in their homes."

"Class dismissed." Byleth added, walking to the front of the room to join her brother. "Safe travels. Try not to die."

Great.

This day just kept getting better and better, didn't it?

"Oh, and you might want to stay out of the rain." Caeda said. "It's a bit toxic."

Shulk nodded grimly. "Yeah, it's best we get you guys back to HQ. Your rooms are probably going to be the safest spot for you."

With that, Caeda and Shulk shepherded the group out of the studio. The mad dash through the city was a rather unpleasant experience, as they were all wearing dress shoes and there was way too many people on the sidewalks. 

By the time he entered his room, Ike was more than ready to go to bed, despite it being around noon. Dodging people and running in dress shoes was not a good combination. Plus, he was starting to feel a bit sore from falling twice, so that was fun. 

Ike laid back on his bed and sighed. How was he going to survive another month of this torture?

Maybe torture was too strong a word. This was nothing compared to what the Headmaster had done to him and his friends. 

Well, he only had to make it through a month. Just one month, and he'd be good to go. 

He can do this. This wasn't going to be that hard. He can handle a bit of dancing. No big deal.

Ike didn't know how long he laid there, staring at his ceiling and listening to the rain lash at the window. Eventually, he did drift off to sleep, despite the time. Sleep schedule who?