TWH: Word Prompt Challenges

"You should be intimidated"

For this imagining of RomCom!Tom: He's wealthy [think Bruce Wayne without the nighttime occupation], having more time and money than he knows what to do with. He travels for business and for pleasure, but also occupies himself with undertaking all sorts of random hobbies. Last month The New Thing was pottery, several months before: the tuba. Gaining proficiency is always the goal, and then sporadic upkeep of the skill. Yet, unless abroad and therefore unable, he finds himself on the first and last Saturday of the month, milling about with the rest of the students, waiting for the blonde dance instructor that taught him to waltz.

She's glaring up at him but he finds himself unable to keep his eyes off the way her hair is thrown up into a messy bun, keeping the long blonde mass out of her face while she was teaching the class. She's visibly vibrating with frustration over his presence.

Common sense says to stay well away. Since when has he not done a thing, simply because prevailing wisdom said it was far from wise? He should at the very least pretend to be a little more concerned that she might haul off and send him spiraling backwards - or tumbling ass over teakettle - not that he isn't already head over heels for her.

This certainly wasn't the greeting he was expecting upon his return to her class. He's missed more than a few sessions while out of the country. Clearly he isn't a favorite student, even if she's his favorite instructor.

They don't have much of an audience, most of the others already venturing on with their evenings, but this moment is still caught by a lingering few. "You're back. Why are you back?!"

"It's been awhile."

She just barely keeps from reaching out to poke him in the chest, something she clearly wants to do. "It's been awhile. Right. So you're not here to steal my students."

"What? No!"

"Don't bullshit me. You could be the one teaching this class. So, again. Why are you here?"

She's noticed his absence, and his skill. If only she didn't take such offense to his presence he might feel free to let those details take seed in his heart. She approves of his dancing. She's watched him closely enough to classify him in her own league. It's hard not to smile for the pride that her endorsement instills. "Because it's Saturday, and I enjoy dancing."

"You enjoy dancing." He enjoys watching her absorb this information, her agitation no less visible but creating a fun hodgepodge of emotion as uncertainty creeps in while she processes his answer.

"Yes, I do."

"Here. When you could afford a private instructor... which sounds like a slight and I promise it's not. I just know how much you're worth and it is intimidating, knowing you could decide to buy out the building and turn it into something else within a week. Why don't you just go out dancing, skip the lessons part. Anyone here would say yes, if you asked."

"Are you offering?"

"What?"

He repeats himself, "Are you offering?"

"Private lessons?" She seems to falter, "I mean, that's not something that..."

"Or a date." He shrugs his shoulders in a lopsided maneuver. "Maybe if you got to know me you wouldn't think you should be intimidated."