36 Questions: A Joanne Fanfiction

Question Thirty:

When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?

It was late the next day, and Joe and Dianne had just filmed the next reaction video, so the two had found themselves on Joe's sofa, matching glasses of red wine in their hands as they talked comfortably. Over the weeks that they had known each other, their position on the sofa had moved closer so that now they were constantly touching, although neither of them commented on it.

"Joe?" she asked, from underneath his arm as they absentmindedly watched dynasties, well Joe watched dynasties whilst Dianne paid more attention to Joe.

"Yeah?" he asked, pausing the TV and paying attention to his partner instead.

"Do you want to answer the next question? It's just, even if we do get through next week, we're going to need to do them more often if we want to finish them this year." She said, adding an explanation after seeing his puzzled expression.

"Yeah, of course!" he said, shifting a little way from his partner in order to get out his phone for the next question. They both shuffled slightly apart, so that they could face each other. Joe turned the TV off, leaving the two under the dimmed lights in his living room.

"It's your turn first." She said smiling as she sat back comfortably.

"Okay, well this question is actually a double one." He said reading quickly. "When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?"

Dianne's smile faded at this question. They were certainly becoming more and more intimate, and she found herself reluctant to want to answer this one in particular so she was relieved that it was not her turn first.

Joe began, smiling as he started to speak. "Well you already know the answer to someone else, it was in Blackpool. Obviously the entire country knows that now, which is not really the brand I was going to go for but never mind, it's a bit late for that now."

Dianne laughed a little at this, as she began to relax. "It just meant a lot more to me than I realised. I think it was a combination of things, to have danced and competed in Blackpool with you and to get you to Blackpool meant a lot to me." He said, Dianne stayed quiet as this was the first time he had tried to explain his emotions on that evening, and she was curious to what had been going through his head. He took a breath before speaking again. "Especially as you had told me how much competing at Blackpool was a dream for you in one of the other questions, that made me put a lot of pressure on myself to get there." He admitted.

"A lot of people thought that I cried just because we got those tens, but I was near to tears as soon as we started walking offstage. You looked absolutely beautiful." He said, and smiled when he noticed a dark blush appear on his partner's cheeks at the compliment. "I was so proud of us for doing it and getting us there, it felt like even more of an honour to dance with you at that ballroom. And for me to make my Nan proud, it was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I think I probably could have held it in until the cameras were off of us, but Claudia set me off." He laughed, smiling at the memory, it seemed like it had taken place such a long time ago, but in reality it was only a few weeks.

She smiled too. "Aww come here," she said, moving to hug him, a wide smile settling on his face. To hear in his words how much the experience had meant to him made her respect him even more than she did already. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, inhaling his unique scent before letting him go and moving away slightly, so that she could concentrate on his answer and not just the closeness of their proximity. "What about to yourself?"

He laughed nervously. "This morning."

"Really?" she asked slightly surprised.

"Yeah." He admitted, picking at the sofa cushion as he spoke. "I hit my little toe on the corner of that table," he said, pointing to the coffee table "and it really hurt. I don't normally cry when I hurt myself but I was really tired alright." He defended, noticing that his partner was biting her lip in a desperate attempt not to laugh. "Hey! It's not that funny!" he smiled.