Tour en l'air
I have been trying
To get this haiku just right
All night for you, alright
I'm through!
I'm trying not to try too hard
But you're hard to write down right
So I pen these trite attempts
At haikus for you tonight
On Monday James finished reading the rest of the document Evan sent. It was good and pretty realistic, the only issue he had was that Evan did not use any accents on letters that needed them and also repeated some words a lot of times. He noted every correction down in his notebook while drinking his morning coffee, which was actually just an overly sweetened latte. He ate some more muffins and packed a few in a nice container to give to Evan. The batch was nearly finished and they were getting pretty old so James figured he would make a new one for Regulus on wednesday.
Around 2PM he went out to have lunch with Evan again. Since James finished reading his work he has been wondering if maybe- just maybe- Evan knew Regulus. He did interview a lot of dancers of all ages, maybe he even had a chance at talking to the Royal Ballet principal? Prongs decided he would not ask directly, instead he would wait for the right time, maybe after he got to know Evan a bit better.
“Hey there!” Evan reached to shake James’ hand.
“Hiya, good to see you! Oh and I brought you these– I made a few too many muffins the other day and I'm trying to finish them before they get old. Thought you might like a few.” Prongs handed him the small box with muffins.
“Oh yum! Cinnamon? I can't really fit sweets into my diet right now but I do have lots of people to share these with! Thanks.” Evan responded, with a genuine smile on his face.
James watched Evan dig around his full tote bag, looking for something to take notes on.
“Okay so I do have a few corrections on what you wrote…” Prongs said while showing Evan his notes. “You tend to repeat yourself quite a bit- oh and please use accents. I can edit these out pretty easily but if you ever choose a different person to work with in the future they might not be as cooperative as me.” he said.
“Ah, well what can I say my keyboard is pretty stubborn. Takes too long to spell everything right, that's why I made sure to hire you! Best of the best!” Evan winked.
“I watched that documentary you recommended, too. It really was amazing, really suited your books vibe. Also I love that title! The clandestine intricacies? The average person doesn't just happen to know these terms, you totally impressed me with that one! I'm so used to editing fiction I forgot that actual good literature still exists!”
“You know James, I had this constant sort of feeling that I knew you from somewhere. Did a bit of digging and well, remember that english contest you attended in seventh grade? The international competition? I got second prize in nationals that year! You beat me by three points!” Evan said.
“Oh shut up no way! I do remember getting to read what you wrote back then, your story was brilliant! You wrote about Degas’ paintings and his obsession with ballerinas right? I still have no idea how you beat me to it!” James did feel like he knew Evan from somewhere but at the end of the day he knew a lot of people.
“You always arranged your ideas better and had better terms up your sleeve! I was super into literature before I switched to ballet theory. I still want to become a teacher but I figured I could do that when I'm older.” he smiled.
“Interesting perspective, maybe you could add this sort of thinking to your book, kind of like how most dancers retire early and start teaching.” James was pondering, he spoke without realising.
“Oh, so you do know a bit about ballet then dont you?” Evan was grinning.
“Yeah, I did some studying…” James decided to change the subject “So, anyway, think these corrections are alright for now? Is there something you don't agree with perhaps?”
“It's all good for now! I've got to go, thanks again for the cupcakes. I know someone who will really enjoy them!” Evan waved, giving James a cocky smile while standing up to leave.
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On his way home James stopped at a supermarket to buy some groceries, along with a few key ingredients for his muffins. One thing he prided himself over was how he managed to mix chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls and vanilla muffins all in one. He just made chocolate muffins with cinnamon in them and added frosting on top. Sure, in theory it sounded easy, but it took James and Euphemia quite some time to develop the perfect recipe. When Prongs made the muffins at Peter's house all he did was add cinnamon, this time he wanted to put a little more effort into them, considering he was bringing a few to Regulus. He pulled out a 16 year old sheet of paper with neat handwriting on it that had the recipe and ingredients written down.
- 40 grams chocolate chips
- 2 eggs
- 125 ml sunflower oil
- 75 ml milk + 3 tbsp for frosting
- 250 grams cream cheese
- sugar (two types, eyeball the amount)
- flower ( eyeball amount)
- baking powder ( like 10 grams?)
- cinnamon (three tbsp)
Prongs ended up spending 43 pounds on groceries that day. But he figured it was worth it, given he has been working more than usual lately.
At home he changed into his favourite pair of fluffy pajamas and edited a few chapters for one of his older clients, then got ready for his now daily stretching routine. He did a few different types of lunges, stretched out his hamstrings, held some very bad splits for 10 minutes on each leg and did some Grand Battements (name he learned from youtube), for active flexibility. He worked on his arches for a bit (since he now learned those also matter a lot). James learnt that his feet weren't that bad, he really had some great genes for ballet. His knees have slight hyperextensions which most dancers would kill for and his arches were actually above average. It's like he was meant to do this from the start. Afterwards he did the barre Regulus showed them, trying to remember every correction he got. Whenever he wasn't sure about something he would go all the way to the bathroom and do the exercise in front of the mirror to see if it looked good or not, then he would come back and try again. Sometimes he would stare at himself in the mirror for a bit too long, noticing that he doesn't look even a bit like any of the male dancers out there. They were all so skinny yet strong and muscular, James wanted to look like that. He felt ashamed of the way he looked for the first time since eleventh grade, when Lily rejected him. Prongs figured he would ask Regulus about how to lose a bit of weight on Wednesday.
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On Tuesday James visited Euphemia to give her his laundry. She and Fleamont were apparently very busy with learning how to play golf, so Prongs was just ignored half of the time. He left his laundry where his mum instructed him then he drove back home only to have the sudden realisation that Sirius hasn't even sent him a text in the last two days. Okay well being sad about two days does sound ridiculous, maybe a bit controlling, but James wouldnt text Sirius for that long only if he was mad at him. He decided to stop at Remus’ flat (which was basically Padfoots too now) to check on his friends.
He knocked lightly. At the current time Remus should probably be at school, but James saw no reason for Sirius to be out. Yet no one answered. James could hear their dog barking but no signs of Remus or Padfoot. He left, sending Sirius a text:
Passed by your flat today and no one was there. Everything okay? Haven't talked in a while.
Prongs didn't expect an immediate answer, of course not, yet he kept checking his phone every so often. On his way home he passed by Endell street. He remembered seeing some dancers use a sort of elastic band to improve their feet. Since it was included in many exercises James decided to stop and buy one. He went into Bloch, since he liked it better than Capezio and tried to remember the name for what he needed before any worker approached him. (he was unsuccessful)
“Hello there! Welcome to Bloch, how may I help you today?” a nice lady, mid 30s approached him.
“Yes, hello. I saw these like elastic bands dancers use? Do you guys have any?” he asked, sort of embarrassed, hoping that the lady understood what he meant.
“Ah, you mean resistance bands. Yes we do have them. What weight would you like? This one is light”, she said, showing him a mint green band, “this one medium” she pointed to a teal one “and this is the strongest one, I believe it's best suited for stronger dancers." The last band was a very dark blue and since the worker recommended it James decided to buy that one.
12 pounds later, James was leaving Bloch with a small bag for his blue resistance band. On his way home he looked for some more exercises he could do with it, just to ensure he didn't buy it for no reason. Apparently they were good for ankle strength, Prongs wasn't sure if he had any of that or not so he assumed his purchase was, for a fact, a good one.
The rest of Tuesday passed by quickly with no answer from Sirius whatsoever. James decided to also text Remus to find out if Padfoot is mad at him, but Moony wasnt responding either.
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James woke up early on Wednesday morning, excited to make his famous muffins for someone. At 8 in the morning he was all ready to get to baking. He put on a really nice blue apron and prepared each ingredient. He measured everything accordingly ( besides flour and some other things he has been eyeballing since the day he learnt how to make muffins) and mixed everything nicely together, making sure there were no air bubbles messing up the batter. He added his three spoons of cinnamon and his chocolate chips and popped the muffins in the oven precisely one hour after starting.
He looked around his kitchen, trying to find anything else that he could add on top and just as he was about to give up on searching he found the perfect thing: sprinkles. Prongs combined a ton of pastries into one, and with the addition of some rainbow sprinkles he would now be combining four whole desserts in one: cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, donuts and chocolate chip cookies all combined together to make the perfect cinnamon muffins with chocolate chips and frosting and sprinkles. In theory it does sound bad, like some sort of disaster happened in the kitchen, but in practice it tastes amazing.
James added in the cream cheese for the frosting and mixed it with a few tablespoons of milk and added some sugar, then heavily poured it on top of the muffins, which were now covered in a lot of white sugary frosting. James let the tray out on the kitchen table for the frosting to harden a bit before he added the sprinkles. At 11 his cinnamon cup-donut-cookies were done. He dared try only one for himself, just to make sure Regulus would like them. He cut it in half to make sure it looked all nicely then ate one half. Heaven. The chocolate mixed perfectly with the cinnamon smell and the chemicals in the sprinkles. The frosting added some variety to the texture. All together his recipe was really successful. He took a picture and made sure to send it to his mum, who taught him how to bake in the first place.
Since around 1PM Prongs got hungry, he had to pack the muffins, placing them in a clean glass tupperware dish to give to Regulus, then he had to figure out what to eat. He found an old bag of rice in a hidden cabinet and a few shrimps. He added the rice in his rice cooker (an item that he was really proud to have in his kitchen) and defrosted the shrimps to pan fry them. He added a bit of lemon and pepper and laid them out nicely over the rice, to create what he liked to call a pretty ok lunch.
Around 2 he was bored out of his mind. He tried to rehearse everything he needed to know for class and to get ready extra extra early, to hopefully put together a nicer outfit but nothing helped. It was still too early to leave for class. In the end he managed to make a mess in his bedroom again, scattering clothes around everywhere in search for the perfect T Shirt and hoodie to wear (given the freezing temperatures outside). He settled for a beige hoodie he absolutely loved with all his heart and a plain red T Shirt that he considered not too baggy but not too tight either. He put on his leggings and added some fluffy sweatpants on top.
At 4:30 he was ready to leave. He entered the kitchen (that still smelled like cinnamon) to grab the muffins, which he placed in his tote, making sure they were separated from his flats and water bottle.
At 5PM he found himself in front of the Royal Ballet one hour too early. He went inside anyway, hoping at least their practice room would be empty so he could waste some time in there. He passed by the same room he found Regulus practicing in last time and there he was. Jumping around and kneeling down every once in a while. James needed to make a decision, does he interrupt Regulus’ practice to give him the muffins now or wait until after class? He figured interrupting wouldn't be civilized but after all, James Potter was not exactly the most civilized person ever, so he knocked lightly on the glass door to grab Regulus’ attention.
He turned around, a bit confused at first, but when he saw James his face lit up. Regulus ran to the door and gave Prongs a grin while inviting him in.
“Someones early…spying on me again are you?” Regulus asked
“Oh come on!” James rolled his eyes. “I came to give you these, you asked for them last time we met, the old batch got old but I made a new one” James handed him the box.
“Oh! The muffins! God what did you put in these? Only you could have possibly figured out a caloric bomb such as this one!” Regulus said, turning the box in his hands to look at the muffins better.
“Food is fuel! These are just very very good fuel. They taste amazing too.” James smiled. “What’cha rehearsing?”
“I'm working on my Tour en l'air, its when you jump and-”
“And turn, yeah I found out. Did lots of research.” James interrupted, giving Regulus a cocky look.
Regulus looked at him for a moment, then his eyes widened a bit:
“Try one! They're not too hard, you just have to really focus on closing fifth! Look I'll show you” Regulus said, with a lot of excitement in his voice. He arranged his legs in a perfectly closed fifth then turned his head a bit to show James. “You sort of just jump and hold your hands up in first position then you close fifth, look” Regulus said, then focusing suddenly to do the tour. James counted, he turned five times.
“Impressive, but I'll definitely break something if I try that” he said.
“Uh no you wont I'm right here?? Just focus on closing fifth instead of jumping super high, oh and you have to do this thing with your head where you sort of look at one spot on the wall for as long as possible, it's called spotting!” Regulus said, his passion from ballet seeping from every one of his pores.
“Yeah I've heard of spotting, I'll try I guess.” James said.
“Take your hoodie off first” he asked no more questions, he just did what Regulus said.
James took a deep breath in and turned, jumping as high as he could while also trying to keep his legs close. He landed in a decent fifth. James thought he only did one turn, but Regulus was looking at him with such astonishment he just had to ask:
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“James Potter you're a natural! No one ever just casually does two turns like that for their first time! You closed fifth well too and your shoulders were down! Go again please!!” Regulus’ face lit up, which filled James up with confidence. He tried again.
“What the hell you're so good at these! Try doing regular pirouettes, you start in fourth and just go up like this” Regulus said demonstrating, lading a nice quad. “You might be naturally good at turning.”
James attempted it. He sighed, placing his legs in fourth position, letting Regulus adjust it a bit, then he placed his arms like he was shown and gave the turn a go. He knew he did more than one, he didn't count but he felt it.
“Three! Genius James, you're a genius! If you work on your turnout and flexibility you would actually have incredible potential!”
“I guess I really am perfect, who would've thought!” Prongs said sarcastically.
“I'm giving you extra corrections in class today you bet! Talented bastard!” Reglus said, letting out a slight giggle.
“Wait, speaking of class…what's the time?” he said, looking around for his phone or something
“Oh shit dude it's almost six, let's go.” Regulus shot him a serious glance and they both began running down the hall towards the usual practice room. They entered in a hurry only to find out everyone was already there, staring at them as they stumbled through the door.
“Alright good day everyone, same exercises from last time! Take your spots!” Regulus said, trying not to laugh at the situation...