milliways_bar | (no subject)

Oblivious to the fact that people have been randomly bursting into song around the bar, Russell stakes out a table and piles books and papers all over it. Looks like someone is in for a long night of research. Or not...

He pulls out his chair, twirls it around on one leg, and sits on it backwards.

I'm watchin' dad
Write scritch, scritch, scratch.
Said,
"I can do that,
I can do that.

He shrugs his shoulders, palms raised, and jumps up.

"Knew ev'ry sketch
Right off the bat.
Said,
"I can do that,
I can do that."

He walks around the table to the beat of the song.

One morning dad got up to leave us
He grabbed his books and notes and all,
Said I was too small,

He crosses his arms and shakes his head.

So, I stayed at home and studied well,
no time to dwell
Books to look at.
’Cause,
I can do that,

Finding some free space, he does a small tap number.

I can do that.

Then we had to leave
I was just thirteen,
And so I planned
The rest of my life.
All thanks to dad
(Who was gone like that),

He does a few jump spins...

I can do this.

And another small tap number...

That I can do!

One last spin...

I can do that.

And he ends in a small pose.

Russell is silent for a brief moment, holding his pose, before his face turns pink and he looks around frightfully, hoping that no one just saw that little song and dance number he did. Wondering what the hell was going on, he backs away over to his chair, trying not to draw anymore attention to himself.

Maybe he can pretend it never happened. Riiiiight.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Guess what, Russ?

Someone did witness it. One Edward Elric, sitting nearby, who... is doing a very grand job of resisting the urge to laugh his ass off.

Only one snicker escapes so far. Should we applaud his power of resistance, or pity Russ for what might come next?

Russell is very aware of his surroundings at the moment, so the sound doesn't escape him... especially since it sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

But he ignores it, keeping his head down and pretending to write something.

Noooooope. Nothing wrong here. Not at all.

Oh, but Ed can't possibly leave it at that. It would be such a waste of a golden opportunity!

So he gets up from his chair, and heads over to Russ's, and pokes him in the back.

"Nice dance moves."

If Russell was the type of person to headdesk, he would.

Without looking up and still scribbling something, he says, "I don't dance."

"And yet," Ed says cheerfully, "I just saw you do exactly that. Was that tap dancing, Russ?"

"I wouldn't know," he says through gritted teeth,

He's stopped writing and is putting a death grip on the pencil.

"I don't tap dance either. But you seem to know a lot about it."

Hey, just because Russell is mortified, doesn't mean he can't snark back.

"Yeah, because I watched you do it."

Ed smiles.

"Doesn't explain how you would know the name of it."

He's not going to let Ed know how embarassing this whole thing is. He's still not looking up from his work, though.