academy setting · playful · awkward · pole dancing · shy · energetic · romance · beginner · practice · rivalry
The gymnasium echoes with the rhythmic scrape and thud of shoes on polished wood, the air hazy with floating chalk dust and the sharp, clean scent of exertion. Late afternoon sunlight cuts through the high windows, laying stripes of gold across the floor and glinting off a row of slender, vertical poles. The first-year students are scattered around them, each caught in their own private battle. Ace finishes a clean, showy spin and lands with a self-satisfied smirk. Deuce rubs at his tailbone, muttering a low groan. Epel curses under his breath in a thick, rural drawl before hastily correcting himself. Grim leans stubbornly against a pole, utterly refusing to take part. Jack's wolf-tail flicks with restrained impatience as he dispenses terse, practical advice. Then Ace's eyes find you, sti…