Nova \ Apollo. - Tumblr Posts

she hadn't noticed she was frowning, but when the familiar face comes into view it turns into a smile. a little of her stress elevating it's weight from her shoulders. " long time no see, " she teases in return, pretending to glance down at the watch on her wrist, " it's been about, what, four hours ? so much to catch up on. " for someone who wasn't sure if dance was truly what her heart desired, she most certainly couldn't stop herself from being here. in some strange way, dancing was now her comfort. something she's able to lose herself in for hours on end. and she's good at it too — exceptionally so. just like him. " well, i did hear that they're doing swan lake this year. and i know, i know it's a little overdone, but it's still one of my all-time favourites. " and perhaps one of the most challenging, especially considering the lead role of odette would also require her to take on the role of odile too. " but it all depends on who may or may not put themselves forward for siegfried. " nova gives him a look, her lower lip subtly pouting, hopeful and just a little pleading. it’s a look he’s probably seen a thousand times by now, but she can’t help it. there’s no one she trusts more— professionally or personally.

LOCATION: seaglass dance academy STATUS: closed / nova campbell @dreamerfms

the first dance class back after the summer always seemed to be a silly one for the kids. some may find it surprising, but apollo had a great deal of patience for young kids. after pretty much raising his three younger sisters, he realized kids are just about the only people he did have patience for. so innocent, just doing what they were told. plus, he'd be lying if he didn't think it was a little sweet hearing a bunch of tiny voices shout MR. APOLLO !! every time he entered the studio. he bids his students farewell as he gathers his things. once he's walked out the studio he almost collides with nova. "oh hey," he begins, looking her over. "didn't expect you to be here," apollo jokes. they both practically lived at whatever studio was nearby when it wasn't the summer time. "don't tell me you've already got your eyes on roles for this season?"

☎️

for all the important ones 🩷

put ☎ in my ask for your muses info in my muses phone:

ACE :

ace & teddy.

NAME: my teddy🧸

RINGTONE: a compilation of all the funny things she’s said to him in voicenotes ( though he always forgets to turn his phone off silent )

PICTURE: x

LAST TEXT RECEIVED:  it worked !!!! rhodes and his friend are on the rhode to bestieship again 💙 thx for being my sous chef 👨‍🍳

LAST TEXT SENT: now that we’ve baked together, how do you feel about matching halloween costumes ? i have ideas and none of them are fun solo

NOA :

noa & ronen.

NAME: wombmate ( twinnie ) ♓

RINGTONE: default / constellation.

PICTURE: x

LAST TEXT RECEIVED:  did you go through our closets again ?

LAST TEXT SENT: guilty as charged ! but can you blame me? talk about a double fashion disaster. you’re totally welcome, by the way. i know you'd both be lost without me xox

noa & apollo.

NAME: apollo, good posture pv

RINGTONE: default / constellation.

PICTURE: x

LAST TEXT RECEIVED: stop asking.

LAST TEXT SENT: oh my gosh !! why are you being so tragically stubborn about this ? it's like your a love hater or something, it's actually a little sad. so sad it might actually ruin my night. thank you very much 🙄

NOVA :

nova & apollo.

NAME: apollo

RINGTONE: default / slow rise.

PICTURE: x

LAST TEXT RECEIVED: i won't be home for dinner. i'll see you later tonight

LAST TEXT SENT: i couldn't sleep so i went for an early morning run. just about to grab a coffee. do you want your usual ?

nova shrugs, elegance found in even a simple gesture. sometimes she isn't sure she even knows how to relax. " well, if i stay on top of it, i guess i don't have to worry about that. " dance was perhaps the biggest blessing in her life, and also a curse. never something she had much choice in, yet over the years it's become the one thing she can get completely and utterly lost in. when she's here, focused, driven, with apollo or dancing on her own, she's able to block all of the other thoughts out— at least for a little while. so though often she questions if it's truly what she wants to do with her life, there's no version of her that seems able to give it up. it's burned into her soul in a way. part of her integral makeup. " okay mr. humble, " she teases in return to his joke. maybe he doesn't see it, but she does. many people looking at him in awe, likely hoping for a chance to be in his orbit. " i think there's a few people in this town who wouldn't mind you being their leading man, but when it comes to the stage, you're all mine. " his next set of words fill her with a sense of relief. isn't sure she'd be able to work the same with anyone else. the idea is enough to fill her with dread. while they'd fallen into sync pretty quickly after a rocky start, the trust she had in him had strengthened by the year. it's not something she feels could be replicated. " well, if they do doubt us, we'll just have to prove them wrong. " and she's confident they will. because when they're out there, they're untouchable.

"how behind could you possible be?" if apollo and nova were honest with themselves, they were paying a hell of a lot for a storage locker-- which was pretty much what their apartment was. most of their time spent was here at the studio, either together or apart. it's what made their relationship so easy. they were so in tune and so alike where it mattered.

"it's a crowd pleaser-- a classic for a reason," he says as he meets her eyes. he knows this look all too well. he'd seen it just about twice a year for many years now. "you might be the only person in this town who wants me to be the leading man in anything," he jokes. not that he had many people who cared about what he had going on. besides, he also had rhodes who was sure to show up every night if apollo had the lead role. "you're a shoo-in for odette, though. so, i guess i don't really have a choice, do i?" it almost felt unnatural to be dancing with anyone else these days. not that many people wanted to be paired with apollo. he remembers his and nova's introduction all too well. YOU TWO ARE NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH, SO WE'VE PAIRED YOU TOGETHER. their month of fighting turned into years of cohesion. "let's hope everyone is as confident in us as we are."

“ maybe, ” nova responds with a soft shrug of her shoulders, “ but you know how it is. take your eye of the ball for a second and there’s someone else there, ready to try and take your place. ” as of right now her competitiveness and strive are still too strong to allow that. besides, aside from some online classes it’s not like she has much else going on. often too consumed by dance it doesn’t give much time for anything else. friends are hard to make, difficult to keep. and while she’s gained a few in their time here, sometimes it still feels like no one understands her. no one except him. apollo. the person who saved her in more ways than he could possibly realize. the easier option, he says. knows it's a joke and yet her smile threatens to falter. focuses hard to keep it in place, an art she's perfected. deep down she knows it shouldn't bother her, tries not to pay too much attention to the potential reason why it does. he's her roommate, her dance partner, one of the only true people she has in her life. feelings are out of the question, a bad idea . . . right ? " oh so you're saying this deal we've got going on is purely convivence for you, because you have no other options ? " she gently teases, slight raise of perfectly sculpted brow. her gaze softens suddenly, often confused by the way he'll sometimes say something that creates a warmth in her chest. " yeah, but you have to admit, " she begins, small step closer, " proving people wrong is one hell of a satisfying feeling. kind of like when i proved you wrong, because i know you didn't think i'd last a week dancing with you. now here we are, and you can't live without me. " there's a proud smile as she reaches out without much though ( something so unlike her, except with him ) and lightly presses finger to his chest.

"i think you're far more ahead than just on top of it," he comments. he doesn't see nova as a glass ceiling breaker, he sees her as the glass ceiling. one that, frankly, is unreachable for anyone else. he'd been dancing for almost three decades, and no dance partner he'd ever had compared to nova. they were all agreeable, willing to let apollo take over, and in awe of his talent. which, was great for his ego, but didn't make him better. and, as a professional dancer, that's what one strived for. his first rehearsal was full of arguments with nova, and they covered all of ten seconds of a dance in the span of an hour. she was challenging and annoying, but deep down, it was what he needed in a partner.

"that's what they call me," he chuckles. being humble was for insecure people, which he very much was not. at least, not when it came to his ability on the dancefloor. "honestly, i think you're the only one who wants me on or off the stage these days. which, is totally fine with me. way easier that way," he says, oblivious to how it could be taken. "you know, you're very much a kill them with kindness type. before you, if a company doubted me, i would simply move on..." there were many dance companies, but only one apollo fairbanks. "i guess everyone can thank you for making me nicer."

it's nice to hear, that someone thinks she's irreplicable in a sense, even if it is ( in her mind, at least ) only when it comes to dance. growing up it had never mattered how many awards she won, how man lead spots she landed, how many people she outdanced. nothing was ever good enough for her mother, and her father never said much of anything at all. simply nodded his head in agreement to everything his wife said, paying no real attention. she doesn't quite know what to say, feels a swell of emotion in her throat, always so quick to swallow it back down. " well, you have to say that— " he doesn't, and she knows fine well he doesn't— " but thank you. i know no one could ever take yours. " because it would never be the same, and she would never trust another dancer to handle her body the way he does. to move with her so in the way he seems to do so effortlessly. nova doesn't believe in fate, because to believe in it would prove the world to be rather cruel considering the fate of their pasts, but one thing that almost convinces her it could exist, is the way it feels like they were born to dance together. light laughter echoes, head shaking as she listens. " only you could try and make something better and somehow make it worse, " nova responds, but there's a softens to her tone, teasing weaved between. " no girl wants to hear that, trust me. even if it is friendship based. convenient implies it would also be easy to drop me if i no longer was easy to be around. " he grabs her hand, and she finds it rather silly how her breath seems to hitch in her throat, how overly aware she is of the fact he still hasn't let it go. they'd held hands at least a hundred times on stage, during practise, so why does it feel so different now ? nova blinks, does her best to keep her gaze on him, takes her a beat longer than it usually would to response. " no, " is her honest answer, and she shakes her head again, tender smile as her gaze softens. " and i don't want to tame the dancing beast, " tone playfully mimics, " i like it exactly as it is. " and she wouldn't be here, this version of her, without him.

"trust me, i don't think anyone is capable of taking your place." he doesn't find anyone to be comparable. maybe he's biased ( he's definitely biased ) but there's no one in nova's league. and, should any company or choreographer disagree, it's them with the issue. he thinks the world of nova, likely because he thinks the world of himself and she's the only one with the ability to keep up. plus, thinking of nova and her abilities distracts from the fact that he's only a few years from retirement. there's always teaching and choreographing to fall back on, but the thought of being done with all of this... it's dizzying.

apollo has become a creature of habit. wake up, train, dance, come home, go to sleep, do it all over again. he despised dance growing up, and still has complicated feelings about it to this day. still, how do you just walk away from something you've spent thirty years perfecting? he was a few years older than nova, so she still had that going for her. perhaps that's why he continued to push her. so, he'd still have a dog in the fight even after he was out of the game.

"you've seem to have taken offense to my use of the word EASY," he replies with a shake of his head. despite growing up surrounded by girls and women both at home, at school, and at dance, apollo was very bad at understanding them. "what's wrong with something easy and convenient?" nothing in apollo's life had ever been easy or convenient, so finding something that was both was a breath of fresh air. "trust me, i had plenty of other options. if anything, you're the only one brave enough to stick around." he grabs her hand off his chest, slowly bringing their hands down in between them, but hasn't let go. "and, yeah, maybe i didn't think you'd make it-- but that wasn't you, that was my history. but i'm glad you feel accomplished. do you feel like you've tamed the dancing beast?"

she knows it's true, almost feels bad questioning it at all. he has no reason to lie to her, isn't the type to make empty reassurances. but sometimes she needs it. not often, not always with words, but sometimes. over the years there'd been a lot of growth within her, a lot of hiding behind a perfectly curated confident disguise. but beneath the surface was still a girl who'd spent so many years of her life being told that if she didn't almost destroy herself trying to be the best, she could easily be replaced. it's why she doesn't know half efforts, doesn't know how to partake in something without leaving a tiny little piece of her soul in it. and maybe that's the reason she feels so vastly incomplete. but he looks at her and it's like he sees her, really truly sees her. nova thinks he might just be the only person who ever has. how do you not cling to that ? " they won't get the chance to, " she insists, as if it's known fact. if he's forced to retire first she isn't sure what it'll mean for her, but it certainly won't be paired dancing. " i don't trust anyone else, " and she doesn't just mean in the world of ballet, but that she keeps to herself, " i only trust you. " he full names her and her smile grows, soft laughter sounded. but it threatens to catch in her throat when he leans in close, and she couldn't tare her gaze away even if she wanted to. " oh, you're full naming me now ? it must be serious, " she teases, and she dares for a moment to leans in further, let her forehead press against his for a few fleeting moments. it's supposed to be a playful move, but she feels betrayed by the way her heart rattles in her chest like a bird trapped in a cage, desperate to be set free. but again, it's pushed down. forces herself to keep her eyes on his despite the split second temptation to glance down to his lips. " i believe you, and i promise i'll never doubt you again. " with the words out, she pulls back. not too much but enough to ease some of the tension that she's convinced is only felt by her. " and what version of you do i get then if not the beast ? " there's a brief pause. " because you're stuck with me long past then. "

apollo rolls his eyes as nova seems to dismiss his comment. he knows her well enough to know she struggles with her confidence and the relationships she builds, but he'd hope that by now, she'd know him well enough to know he doesn't say things he doesn't mean. one thing apollo was really good at was KEEPING HIS MOUTH SHUT, so the idea that he'd lie, even to make her feel better, was almost insulting. he waves it off with his hand. "don't start that-- when have i ever told you something i didn't fully believe? in fact, some have called me too honest." perhaps he had enough arrogance for the two of them, because the next words to leave his lips are: "oh, i know. god bless the man who tries to take my spot next to you on stage." it's not even his fault. this many years in, he's seen nova attempt to dance with different partners, and it's never worked out. whether she'd like to admit it or not, she clearly found it EASIER to be with him as well.

"novella campbell," he starts, leaning in so their foreheads are mere inches apart. he makes sure he's looking into her eyes before speaking. "my life is EASIER because you are in it, and you'd really be pulling the rug out from under me if you left it." at the end of the day, nova was the only person outside of his family who really knew what was going on within his family. apollo didn't even want it that way, but when his mother came to surprise him at a performance, there was no avoiding the subject. nova had recognized her immediately for who she was-- song na-ri, esteemed dancer of her time and not the mother of apollo fairbanks. just the look on nova's face when she'd connected the dots was etched into apollo's memory. he felt he had no choice but to come clean. now, he can't imagine nova leaving his life. he had been open with her, and she had made it easy. she listened, she seemed to understand, and she didn't judge. why test the universe by admitting it again when he'd already hit the jackpot of responses? "you hear me? this beast is yours until his retirement."