A Matter of Perspective

14 - Trent

"Hiya, my fellow Aussie," Trent grinned, reaching out to wrap his arms around the small redhead that had just skipped toward him on the cold London street. "How are ya?"

"I'm amazing, Trentos," Dianne giggled, embracing him quickly before letting go and turning toward Gordana and Jess to give them equally enthusiastic hugs. "How are you three?"

"Good," Trent chuckled at the energy practically vibrating off of Dianne as she bounced on the balls of her feet, smiling widely. "We're pretty excited to see Mr. Sugg tonight."
Dianne beamed, clasping her hands over her heart, "You're going to love it. I swear, I'm not just saying it because...well, you know...but he's so good."

"Because you're in love?" Gordana teased, causing Jess and Trent to laugh out loud as Dianne turned bright red.

"I'm sure he's great," Trent laughed, wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulders as Dianne began to lead them down the street. "He's always been good playing characters. I mean, he was practically a different person when we put that Technicolor Dreamcoat on him...do you remember that?"

Dianne giggled again, "Oh my God, that coat! He was so ridiculous. I could only call him Technicolor Joseph when he had it on, I wanted to punch him."

Gordana laughed, "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," Trent chuckled, as his memories drifted back to Salsa week during the 2018 Strictly season.  

---
"Call me Joseph, Technicolor Joseph," Joe winked at Dianne as he shrugged on the brightly colored coat in the studio for the first time. "Whoa, this is a lot heavier than the Harry Potter cape."

"You good?" Trent asked as he watched Joe raise his arms up and down, testing the weight of the coat.

"Yeah," Joe answered distractedly, "It just feels different."

"You'll be fine," Dianne responded breezily, reaching out to brush her hands lightly over his shoulders, letting them linger a bit longer than necessary, Trent thought to himself as he watched out of the corner of his eye as he messed with the music player in the corner of the room. 

He had been curious about his friend and her dance partner for a few weeks now - but he hadn't had a chance to help choreograph until now - the week before the semi-finals. Eleven weeks of partnership with Joe had clearly been good for Dianne - he had never seen her happier. And the weeks spent in the training room together had clearly led to a very close friendship. VERY close, Trent smiled to himself, as he pulled up the song.

"Let's run it - I'll take the coat at the beginning and then put it back on at the end to mimic the show on Saturday," Trent shouted, turning around and pausing as he watched Dianne freeze in place, her right hand resting on Joe's neck and her left hand hovering over his forehead, clearly reaching to push his floppy hair off his face. She cleared her throat, dropping her hand and rushing to get into position, leaving Joe standing in place with a bright red blush on his cheeks. 

"You good?" Trent asked Joe again, though this time he couldn't keep the humor out of his voice as Joe nervously chuckled and averted eye contact, turning to join Dianne in position.

~~~

"Alright, that's good, time for a break," Trent announced after the tenth run in a row, holding in a laugh as he watched the sweat run down Joe's face, the heavy coat clearly warmer than he anticipated. "I'll let you two get on with it, I know you've got all the choreo, Di."

"This dance is full on," Joe panted as he flopped down on the sofa. 

"Salsa is no joke," Dianne chimed in, sitting down closely next to him. "Why don't you take the coat off so you don't overheat? Trent's going to take it back to wardrobe anyway."