Meet Us at the Barre: A Series of SAB Oneshots

i was falling in love with someone with a wonderfully balanced life

-Miss Americana

"It's unfortunate that you never listened to me. Coffee stunts your growth, y'know?"

Katherine's head snapped up at the sound of the voice she hadn't heard in months.

"Ty!" She gushed, jumping out of her chair and throwing not just her arms, but her entire body around the tall boy with the thin frame and growing out hair.

"Hey, Baby...hey..." He trailed, giggling over his words. There was just so much happiness between the two of them. He ran his hand up and down the smaller girl's back.

It had been months since the two had seen each other. Katherine was working hard as ever to maintain her marks in her final year at SAB, as well as balance her newfound apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet. Tyler was working hard as well, making the transition from senior in highschool and onto his path to begin medical studies.

"How've you been?! Tell me all about this apprenticeship!" Tyler spun his girlfriend around, sitting her back in her original seat.

"Babe, that's sweet of you, but I know you don't care about ballet." Katherine joked, grabbing his hand across the table as she playfully rolled her eyes.

Tyler scoffed. "Of course I care! It's your passion. You listen to me rant about medicine all the time, it's my turn to hear about your life. What are you dancing? Black swan?"

Katherine laughed aloud, throwing her head back. How naive he was about ballet was so adorable to her. "Absolutely not. I'm taking on a couple corps roles. One in the West Side Story Suite and one in a Western themed ballet."

"I'll have front row tickets." Tyler picked up Katherine's hand and kissed her knuckles.

Katherine looked into her latte to hide her blush. She squeezed her boy's hands and stood up from her chair. They did have a dinner date to get to.

"Hey, are you good if we run back home, and I shower and change before dinner?" Katherine asked, wrapping her jacket around her shoulders.

"Of course." Tyler kissed her temple. "I want to see your place either way! I haven't been since you moved, right?"

Katherine thought for a moment. "I don't think so."

And with that, they were off to Katherine's Manhattan apartment.

~~~~~

"Hey, Em!" Katherine called, waving to her roommate as she opened the door with her key. "Ty, you know Emmie, right?"

Emmie approached the couple, drying her wet hair with a towel. "I believe we've met, but it's been a while." Emmie laughed lightly, reaching out to shake Tyler's hand.

"It has been. How've you been?" Tyler smiled, shaking the other ballerina's hand.

"Well, and you?"

"I've been good, getting ready for med school."

Emmie gushed for a moment, commenting about how "cool" it was that Tyler was going to become a doctor. Afterwards, she quickly excused herself, noting that she had a costume fitting to get to.

"Hey, is she gonna be okay with me staying over tonight?" Tyler asked right into Kath's ear, his voice still low, incase Emmie was still in earshot.

"She'll be fine. She'll probably end up at Benjamin's tonight anyways."

Tyler nodded, sending Katheirne off to shower and freshen up before their dinner.

~~~~~

"Oh my goodness." Tyler gushed, looking up from his phone, from where he was sat on Kath's bed.

"Is it okay?" Katherine asked, smoothing her skirt down over her black tights. "Is the red lipstick too much?"

"Absolutely not." Tyler beamed, standing up and kissing her blushed cheeks. "You look stunning. Ready?"

"I just have to grab my purse." Katherine passed Tyler, grabbing a black and gold clutch from her nightstand. "Ready." She smiled brightly, Tyler taking her arm in his.

~~~~~

"So, my textbooks were mad expensive, but my dad paid half, and I paid half. But anyways, I started reading ahead, and they're so interesting! Did you know that--" Tyler rambled on through bites of his pasta, but Katherine looked up when he abruptly paused.

"Why'd you stop?" She asked, setting her fork down.

A small smile marked Tyler's lips. "It's just...how do you get more beautiful every time I see you?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Please, Ty." She giggled under her breath. "The only thing that's changed since you saw me at Nutcracker was that I gained a little weight and started liking red lipstick more, but nothing else." She giggled a little louder this time. Katherine jokingly reached over the table and took a bite of one of the meatballs off of Ty's pasta plate.

"Hey! Paws off!" Tyler playfully swatted at Katherine's wrist, though he paid her back by tearing a bite off of her breadstick.

"You're mad. Absolutely mad." Katherine smiled, looking up through her glasses as a blush that her heavy foundation couldn't hide spread across her cheeks.

~~~~~

Dinner was finished and the two were headed back to the apartment they had visited earlier in the day. Katherine's high heeled booties were kicked off in the corner of her room almost immediately, and the two found themselves curled up on Katherine's bed, only half focusing on the film playing in front of them.

"I'm so happy that I fell in love with you." Katherine mumbled, laying her head flat on a pillow as Tyler pressed a kiss to her jawline. "You just...ground me, I don't know."

Tyler smiled against the skin he had just pressed kisses to, taking in the faint scent of her perfume that still lingered on her skin. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...ballet is catty and insane most of the time. And you're...you're real, you're normal." Katherine exhaled, wanting to pause the movie, but not wanting to move from this comfortable position. "You just remind me that there is so much more to this world than ballet. And I forget that a lot of the time."

Tyler snickered a bit, raising his head to look at his girlfriend. "Well, Love, let me tell you, you get my feet off the ground."

"I do?" She asked, her voice still hushed for absolutely no reason, considering Emmie was not home yet.

"I think that's our balance." Tyler laughed a gentle laugh. "You're the creative, the dreamer. You get my feet off the ground." He took a breath. "And I guess you could call me the realist, since I make sure you don't soar too close to the sun. We wouldn't want you getting burnt by a twenty seven million degree ball of gas, would we?"

Katherine chuckled. "This is exactly what I am talking about." The room fell to a gentle silence, but just long enough for Tyler to realize that his girl was shivering and to slip his hoodie over Katherine's small shoulders. "Y'know, I had never tried sushi before I met you."

"Is that so?" Tyler asked, not believing that the girl had never tried his favorite food prior to their meeting.

"That's the honest truth."

~~~~~

Sweet and loving and just agh vibes, y'know