Chapter Text
“5, 6, 7, 8!”
The piano music fills the room as all the students begin the warm up exercises. Bending and stretching with poise and precision with each plié.
“Watch your port de bras!” Professor Canady calls out, circling his students like a hawk. “You are all woefully out of practice, did none of you practice over the summer? I know first years better than you.”
The students all purposefully ignore his taunts, finishing one side and spinning around to repeat the routine on the other. Faint joint popping occasionally echoes through the Ballet studio followed by the light sound of feet moving to the correct position after each repetition while small grunts and controlled breathing ripple through the students as they realize and gauge how rusty they’ve become over the summer.
“Mr. Finn!” Canady shouts, stopping the music.
Everyone stops and turns towards the door to see Finn, in his cover ups, frozen in his attempt to sneak into class late.
“I got lost,” Finn defends sheepishly.
“I would believe that if this wasn’t your third year at this school,” The professor starts, “You have no excuse that would be worth the time of this class to explain.”
“Sorry, Professor.”
“Now, you know the rules, no cover ups or sweats at the barre,” Canady prompts.
Finn sighs, dropping his bag on the floor and pulling off his sweatshirt and sweatpants. Canady face palms at the sight of Finn’s dancewear, sighing heavily while he turns to face the rest of the class.
“Pop quiz. Does anyone here know how Mr. Finn is breaking the dress code?” Canady asks.
An eager hand shoots up.
“Yes, Miss Phasma, you know the answer?”
Phasma steps forward, her blonde hair slicked back and her head held high as she stares Finn down.
“In Ballet class, men’s shoes are to black canvas, not leather. Men’s tights are to be white, not pink or beige if worn at all, and any leotard or crew neck shirt and approved pant or short combo must be black and/or white. The only exceptions are after school practice, clubs, rehearsals, or for other pre-approved reasons through the administration.”
“Well done, Miss Phasma,” Canady muses.
Phasma simply nods to the professor and steps back to her place at the barre. As Canady hums to himself, facing Finn again, Phasma chances a smirk towards her classmates who all smirk back and stifle their laughter.
“If you were a first year student,” Canady begins, “this would have been mostly forgivable. However, if I were to assign proper demerits for your behavior today alone at your level in this college you would very likely be suspended.”
Finn glances at Phasma and the two other students beside her, Armitage Hux and Dopheld Mitaka. They shrug in response, there isn’t much they can do to help him now.
“We want you to succeed here, Mr. Finn,” Canady continues, “You’ve struggled in your time here, and I’m going to give you a chance. Your last chance. Consider this a courtesy.”
Canady’s cell phone rings, he pulls it out of his pocket and sees the Dean of the school calling.
“Mr. Armitage,” Canady barks.
The redheaded student straightens up like a soldier at attention at the sound of his name.
“Lead the class in the rest of the exercise and continue onto tendus.”
“Yes, sir,” Hux nods, walking over to the speakers that are plugged into a school tablet. Canady leaves the class, the door slamming shut behind him.
“Tendus,” Hux announces, making sure everyone was on the same page.
“Yes, Professor Hux,” Mitaka states coyly.
Hux shoots a non threatening glare in his direction as the other students openly laugh, much more relaxed now that the professor is out of the room. Hux chuckles to himself too.
He presses play and runs back to his place at the barre.
“5, 6, 7, 8!”
The class begins, everyone remembering the combinations, laughing a bit when they don’t and awkwardly fixing themselves throughout.
“You guys could have said something,” Finn states, clearly upset.
“We did,” Phasma clarifies, “When we yelled five minutes before and while we were leaving.”
“Shut up, you were no help,” Finn snaps back.
“Not her fault you’re out of regulation,” Mitaka points out.
“We’ve dormed together for how long? We’ve been on the same team for two years!”
“Other side!” Hux announces.
The whole class turns around to repeat the combination.
“Look,” Hux begins, “Being a team means supporting one another and being able to hold each other accountable, it does not mean we take the fall for each other. It makes the whole team weak and liable to fail.”
A couple neighboring students who can hear the conversation hum or nod in agreement, completely shutting Finn down.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Phasma states, “Just pick up and move on.”
“And finish!” Hux pauses for a second, letting everyone catch their breath. “Maybe we should move on to the next exercise?”
Everyone leans a bit to try to get a glimpse of Canady through the glass door.
“He’s talking to Professor Pryde,” Mitaka observes, “Looks important.”
Hux is finally able to get a glimpse of the two teachers having a very intense conversation in the hallway, not angry but definitely not a pleasant conversation either.
“Let’s just continue,” Hux resolves, “Doesn’t look like they’ll be done anytime soon.”
The rest of the class mutters in agreement, peeling their eyes away from the somewhat concerning display and reorienting their focus.
“Rond de Jambes!” Hux announces.
He walks back over to the tablet to select the correct music. He stops for a moment, unable to shake the eerie feeling that whatever his teachers are talking about will dramatically alter the year going forward. He musters the ability to put it aside regardless and focuses on leading the class.
—
“I need to go to the administration building tomorrow morning,” Finn says.
“Do what you need to do, I don’t know why you’re telling me,” Hux shrugs, not looking up from his laptop. He is lying comfortably on his bed in a t-shirt and custom First Order Conservatory of Dance sweatpants with his name on them.
Finn sighs almost dejectedly as he looks back at his half of the room he had unceremoniously torn apart looking for his uniform compliant dancewear earlier that morning.
“Hey,” Phasma begins, leaning her head into their room, “Could one of you read over my lesson plan? I have to present it to Professor Cardinal tomorrow and I want to make sure it’s perfect.”
“I can look it over,” Hux volunteers, getting up from his lounging position.
“Lesson plan?” Finn asks.
“I’m trying to get into the children’s teaching programme this year,” Phasma states.
“Is it still called the Youngling Initiative?” Hux asks.
“Oh, hell no,” Phasma laughs, leading Hux out of the room and into her and Mitaka’s, “They did away with that name last year.”
Finn can faintly hear Hux’s “good riddance” as they leave him completely alone.
“Good riddance,” Finn mutters to himself.