Sonic the Hedgehog - Tails Learns Ballet
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Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
For CharlesDragon
Tails yawned and stretched as he got up from his bed, eager to start another day. Before long he'd had his breakfast, brushed his teeth, and all that stuff one does in the morning. As he wrapped that up, he heard a knock at his door, and cheerfully answered, smiling widely to find his girlfriend, Cosmo. "Hey! Good morning, hehe! What brings you out so early?" he giggled, hugging her. Cosmo hugged him back with a pleasant smile. "I wanted to see you, silly!" she stated, holding his hand as she joined him inside the house. "Aww, shucks..." Tails blushed. Cosmo smiled to see him blush and cleared her throat. "Remember our last date, Tails? We were out, and music started to play, and Amy was dancing with Sonic, and Rouge was dancing with Knuckles...and we just shyly stood there?" she said as they sat down. "Err... Sorry, maybe I should've taken you somewhere else?" he said awkwardly. Cosmo shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I've been on this planet some time now, but I've yet to learn one of your dances. Sooo..." she murmured, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a folded paper. She unfolded it to reveal an ad for... ballet lessons? "Here! Would you take this dancing class with me? I'm sure it'd be fun if you came!" she asked sweetly. Tails looked with surprise. "Err... You wanna try ballet?" he asked, sweating a little. Cosmo didn't seem to notice his awkwardness. "I knew you'd say yes, so I kinda signed us up already, hehe!" she giggled, making Tails sweat even more. How could he possibly refuse her when she was so enthusiastic? Still, ballet wasn't exactly something he'd considered before. This could be a huge mistake. He tried to hide this uncertainty as he made a smile at her. "Y-yeah... I mean, I'll get to spend more time with you, right? What could go wrong?" he chuckled softly. Cosmo giggled and hugged him, and he hugged back with a nervous expression. He was gonna humiliate himself, he knew it. But hopefully Cosmo would be happy...
And so, it wasn't too long before it was time to go for their first lesson. Arriving at the address on the ad and heading inside the building, they found Cream waiting for them inside. "Hi, Tails! And Cosmo, hello!" she said cheerfully. Tails looked at her curiously. "Cream...? Are you here for ballet lessons, too?" he asked. Cream giggled and did a graceful twirl for them. "I don't need lessons... I'm the teacher!" she said with a cute wink. Cosmo smiled. "Isn't that nice! This ought to be even more fun with a friend as the teacher, right Tails?" she said. Tails looked a bit more nervous. Now he gets to humiliate himself in front of Cream, too. At least there didn't seem to be anyone else there. Cream smiled at them. "I can give you private lessons...actually, you'll be my first students. I, err... I just became a teacher. Mommy thought it was a great idea, I hope she was right..." she said with a shy blush. Cheese tapped her shoulder, and Cream nodded. "Right! You need uniforms if you're gonna dance ballet! There's a few in the back closet, maybe we can find some that fit you!" she suggested. Tails gulped and pictured himself in a ballet tutu. His face got really red at that. "D-do I have to?" he stammered. "C'mon, Tails! Don't be shy!" Cosmo said, taking his hand and leading him back. They had to split up to try on uniforms of course. Tails was relieved to find male tights among the options, but they were still in pretty feminine colors and he was embarrassed to try them on. He settled for a light blue suit with matching ballet shoes. Cream giggled as he walked out into her view, and his ears drooped a little. "I look stupid, don't I..." he murmured. "Aw, no you don't!" Cream said apologetically. Cosmo walked out in a moment wearing a pink ballet dress and matching ballet shoes. Tails blushed to look at her, and she smiled to see him. "You look cute, Tails!" she said cheerfully, making him perk up a little. "S-so do you..." he replied shyly. Cream turned to Cheese, who tapped a CD player on and started music playing. "Alright, let's get started!" the rabbit cheered.
Cream figured on starting them simple. "Probably the trickiest thing for beginners is learning to stand and walk on tippy toes in those shoes!" she stated, "So I want you to practice. From your standing position, slowly lift the back of your feet until you're standing on your toes. Then try to balance on those toes for a bit, okay? I wanna see how slow we have to take this..." she said calmly. Cosmo had little trouble getting on her toes and maintaining balance, but Tails seemed pretty wobbly. Cream walked over and took his hand. "Easy... Think of it like riding an Extreme Gear board!" she suggested. "I-I can use my whole feet on a board!" Tails stammered. He twirled his tails as he started to fall forward, hovering just above the ground before he could land flat on his face! "A-are you alright, Tails?" Cosmo asked. Cream sighed. "We'll have to take it slow for him..." she stated. The entire first lesson ended up being just about moving and balancing on those pointy shoes. While Tails did manage to stand, he found himself utterly hopeless at walking on tip toes or balancing on one foot. Cosmo wasn't so great at balancing yet either, but she had no trouble walking on her tip toes. Cream did her best to guide Tails, standing beside him and trying to help balance him, but he continued to stumble and wobble throughout the lesson. By the end, he was exhausted. "Hmm... Well, I guess I knew teaching wouldn't be easy..." Cream said awkwardly, "Don't worry, I won't give up!" the rabbit told him. Tails headed back to change out of his tights with a heavy sigh. It was as he thought. A truly embarrassing experience. He worried what Cosmo was thinking of him after all this...
When he came out, Cosmo could see the discouragement on his face. "Aw, don't worry, Tails. I'm sure you'll get better." she said, patting his shoulder. "I don't know..." Tails murmured. Cosmo turned his head to look in her eyes. "Will you keep trying...for me?" she asked sweetly, hugging him. Tails blushed and hugged back. "O-okay... For you, I'll do it!" he chuckled softly. He felt a determination suddenly swell inside him. Cosmo believed in him, and wanted to do this with him. Though he initially wasn't too interested, he suddenly felt a desire to do her proud...maybe even impress her! So, he continued to come with Cosmo for lessons a couple times each week. Cream was learning to teach as they were learning to dance, and Tails' initial progress was definitely slow. Though he got the hang of walking on those tip-toe shoes, the graceful motions needed to perform were much trickier for him, and he even found himself tripping over his tails. He wouldn't give up, though. He checked out books from the library on ballet and began to practice at night on his own, though he continued to stumble and trip. But with the extra practice, his progress started to show more. "...I'll catch up to Cosmo... I'll make you proud of me..." he huffed as he glanced at a picture of her on his desk, trying to hold a pose to practice his balance. He fell over when he heard a knock at the door. Answering it, he found Sonic. Tails wasn't wearing the full tights, just the ballet shoes, but Sonic noticed. "...Uhh...bro...what are you...doin'?" Sonic asked awkwardly. Tails blushed and twiddled his thumbs nervously. "I, err... I take ballet with Cosmo..." he admitted, bracing for jokes. Sonic tapped his foot a moment. Then he nodded. "I see... Are you two gonna put on a show for everyone?" he asked with a grin. Tails looked up nervously. "Well, I..." Sonic patted his head before he could answer. "Okay, buddy, you get back to practicing! Can't wait to see ya perform!" he said before dashing off. Tails stared out the door a minute. Now he had to dance in front of everybody? He took a deep breath. "Right... back to practice!" he said. Now he had to make sure not to let Sonic down!
One bright day, Cream decided to try taking their lesson outside. They found some nice smooth ground that wouldn't be too hard to dance on. Tails was initially nervous about going out in public with his tights, but he was getting used to them by this point and didn't worry too much. "Okay, let's practice some twirls! First, balance on one toe, keep that other leg up..." Cream was busily instructing them in a cheerful voice as Cheese fluttered beside her. Cosmo smiled as she stood near Tails. "You've gotten much better, lately!" she said as she twirled gracefully. Tails chuckled. "I still have a long ways to catch up with you, Cosmo." he blushed. A distance away, of all people, Dr. Eggman was hovering by in his Egg Mobile. He caught sight of Tails and decided to head over for a closer look, but when he saw clearly what they were doing, he couldn't help letting out a hearty laugh. "Now I've seen everything! A fox boy ballerina and his plant girl dance partner! It's hilarious, but also a little disturbing..." he taunted as his robots came up behind him. Cream yelped and grabbed Cheese in her arms, looking for cover while Tails tried to run toward Eggman to fight but tripped on his ballet shoes! "Ha ha ha! I think I'll capture you lot and use you to bait a trap for Sonic! Don't worry, you can keep practicing in your cages!" he said with a taunting laugh. Cosmo helped Tails up and gasped as Crabmeats and Buzzbombers started heading towards them. "This would be no problem for you in normal shoes... I'm sorry, Tails... I never should have come up with this dancing idea..." Cosmo whimpered, blaming herself for their predicament. Tails hugged her tightly. "No, there was nothing wrong with your idea, Cosmo... And don't you worry... I'll protect you no matter what!" he promised. "Good luck with that!" Eggman snickered, "Go get 'em, bots!"
Tails looked panicked as the bots came towards him first. He was hilariously hopping on the tips of his ballet shoes to and fro, trying to figure out how to move and fight in this situation. A crabmeat charged him, and he suddenly acted on instinct...and performed a great, graceful leap over the robot in true ballet style! Cosmo gasped to see him pull off the jump so gracefully. "Wow... Wait, that's it!" she said, and started to move her feet in a dance-like motion. Eggman scratched his head. "What are you doing...?" he murmured. As buzzbombers flew at Cosmo, she started to twirl, and timed her movements in such a way as to dodge the robots with style! Tails was hopping and twirling between the attacks of the crabmeats as well, heading in Cosmo's direction as the confused robots tried to get a bead on how he was moving. He took Cosmo's hand, and the two started to dance together as the robots charged at them! Tails lifted Cosmo by the waist, letting a crabmeat pass under her, and twirled while holding her, tricking some buzzbombers into hitting each other as they missed the fox and plant duo. Tails then set Cosmo down hard on a crabmeat's head, smashing it! "Ohh! Sorry, you okay?" he asked. "Glad to be of help!" Cosmo winked. The pair turned towards Eggman, lifting one leg each gracefully. "Uhhh... Urgh... Retreat!! I...guess?!" Eggman babbled, a bit late as the duo did a hop, skip, and a leap in his direction, twirling and kicking his Egg Mobile in midair to close out their dance! Eggman and his remaining robots scrambled to get out of there, the Egg Mobile moving a bit wobbly from being forcefully struck. "This is utterly humiliating... I'm gonna have those robots' memories wiped so they don't spread this around..." he mumbled, glancing back a moment in curiosity. "...I wonder if I should take up dancing? They seem in such good shape, don't they?" he murmured before taking his leave.
Having stood up to Eggman with the power of dance, Tails and Cosmo felt ready to put on that performance for Sonic and their friends. Cream got an outdoor stage prepared for them, and Sonic invited a bunch of their companions. Cream's mother was in attendance, as well as Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Team Chaotix... They could easily have been nervous doing this, but standing together behind the curtain before their dance, they looked into one another's eyes and felt calm, smiling at their partner. "Good luck out there, Tails." Cosmo said. "I'll be fine... I got you with me!" Tails chuckled. As the curtain rose, the duo gave the performance their all. Every step, every twirl, and every leap was gracefully done, and even skeptical audience members like Knuckles were soon mesmerized by the show they put on. Cream got a tear in her eye as she saw how far her students had come. "I did it, mommy... I'm a teacher!" she said with pride. Tails held Cosmo's hand as they did some moves together, and smiled cutely as he saw how they were watching. No one was laughing at him, after all. A little bit longer and the music playing in the background ended, along with their dance, and the audience got up and applauded Tails and Cosmo, and Tails could see a proud smile on Sonic's face as he clapped for his friend. "Ah haha... Th-thanks you guys! W-we really practiced hard!" Tails said bashfully, blushing. Cosmo took a bow with him and turned to hug him. "You really did practice hard! And I'm very proud of you, Tailsy..." she cooed, kissing him on the cheek. His face got redder. "Aw, shucks... You were awesome, too, Cosmo!" he giggled. As the curtain dropped, Cosmo held his hand, and they walked towards the stage exit. "Too bad that's not really the type of dancing I had in mind when we started. We can't do that when we're out on a date..." Cosmo murmured. Tails scratched his head and grinned a little. "Maybe I could teach you to fox-trot?" he winked. Cosmo chuckled. "Sounds fun!" she said. Tails was glad he learned ballet now...because he felt closer to Cosmo than ever!
The End!
