Unlike the other fics I wrote, Rei and Haru are about 21 in this, which puts Hajime in middle school. Also Hackmon is so soothing, I love writing him so much.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Universe: Applimon and make no profit from this work.

"One, two, three. One, two, three. Stay on beat brother."

"I'm trying to."

"This is trying?"

"Shut up."

Hajime and Rei circle around the livingroom of their apartment, hands clasped and movements jerky. Every few minutes or so Rei would stumble or miss a step and it would set back their rhythm, forcing Hajime to stop and reset their positions again.

"You're moving too slow, stay on rhythm-"

"Hold on, where do I put my foot-"

"Just relax your shoulders-"

And so on as the two, Hajime as Leader and Rei as Partner, continue their practice. Until they stumble again and Rei clicks his tongue. "Maybe this was a mistake. Can't seem to get these moves." And to punctuate that Rei trips again and steps on his brother's foot. With a long suffering groan, he separates and stomps back to the couch.

Hajime snickers behind his hand at the sight, and sits on the chair behind the couch. "You have to be more patient. We've only been at it for a couple hours."

"Rome wasn't built in a day Rei." Hackmon's quiet words are accompanied by the soft music ballroom floating from the laptop before he pauses the video it's playing from.

Rei's arms are still crossed, only uncrossing when Hackmon wordlessly passes him a konbu onigiri from the plate on the table in front of them. His brows are knitted and mouth set in a scowl as he chews and Hajime struggles to tame his laughter.

"I don't get why this is so difficult," and Rei combs his fingers through his hair. He scoots closer to his Buddy and whispers something, then the two search something on the laptop.

From his viewpoint behind them Hajime can see the articles on ballroom dancing technique and he smiles at the sight. Even something as simple as dancing, Rei takes seriously. It's a quality that he always admired in his older brother, being able to hone in on any task he puts his mind to. "We'll resume in fifteen and I'll go through the moves and positions again. Sound okay?"

Rei startles from his research and glances at Hajime, before ducking down again. "Sorry about that. You're doing me a favor and I'm just…" He huffs and rests his arms on his lap.

"Hey it's fine. But you sure you even need to go through all this trouble? I mean, I don't think Haru will be even remotely upset if you can't join him this weekend."

Rei doesn't answer right away, face blank. Hajime knows it's just him thinking carefully about something, most likely weighting what Hajime told him against his own pride. "I know. It's just, it makes him happy and I want to learn."

Even after all this time, Rei still hesitates when it comes to his own feelings, although the fact that he's even acknowledging the why of his actions is something he wouldn't have done even a year ago. It's an issue he's been slowly working through in therapy and Hajime is proud of the progress his brother has made.

"I think you're forgetting one thing Rei." Rei raises his head in Hackmon's direction. "You knowing these basics isn't meant to be a surprise for Haru, correct? Then simply focus on learning the positions and footwork, then let Haru teach you the rest. I'm sure he'll be happy to do it."

"But I-I want…" Rei interrupts himself and is silent for a moment. Then huffs and shakes his head. "No. No you're right. That makes sense. What was I thinking?"

"That you wanted to impress him. And there's nothing wrong with that but Haru's the type, I think, who would be happy spending time with you."

Hajime feels foolish as well. He should have comforted Rei more, should have brought up that point sooner, but instead Hackmon is left to do the dirty work. He really needs to do better.

His thoughts are interrupted by the feeling of knuckles tapping his head and he looks up to see Rei smirking at him. "I know what you're thinking and you can knock it off. I'm the one who's supposed to look out for you, yeah?"

He chuckles in response. "Yeah, yeah I get it. No encroaching on your protective big brother act."

"Just as long as you know." And he musses up Hajime's hair for good measure. They both stand together and assume their positions once again, waiting until Hackmon cues them with the music.

They spend the next hour offbeat with a side helping of shoddy footwork. Rei steps on his brother's foot at least two more times. But despite his frustration at his slow progress, the atmosphere is different now. Lighter.

And later that evening the two finally complete a single dance and then another without incident. Their laughter, both quiet and loud, fills the apartment.

"You sure you're okay with being the partner Rei-kun?"

Rei responds with a nod first before realizing how flippant that might come across as and speaks up instead. "It's fine. I practiced with Hajime in this position." It's still amazing to him, after all these years, how much Haru's feelings matters to him.

Haru's eyes widen at that statement. "Really? You went through all that trouble for me?" And then he smiles and Rei suddenly has trouble breathing. Meanwhile Haru slots his hands with Rei's, both pairs of feet positioning on the wooden sprung floor in the middle of the dance studio.

The music starts and they begin spinning around, avoid the other couples thanks to Haru's surprisingly deft leading.

"What made you learn to dance anyway?" The last word is stretched out and squeaks (no wait, he definitely did not squeak, that was his dress shoe) as Haru turns their pivot into an impromptu dip for some reason.

"Sorry about that, I thought you were prepared." He sounds sheepish enough so Rei lets it go with just a glare. And they continue in more familiar movement. "Long story short, I've always been interested and recently got a free lesson coupon from a coworker. So I decided to try it out. That was about...six months ago, I think?"

Rei, a bit out of breath, waits to respond until after the dance is over and the instructor gives them some light pointers. They sit on the sidelines and watch the other dancers move with far more grace than they surely did. He spends an entire minute unsticking his tongue before he's able to respond to Haru. "That's...really impressive Haru. That you picked up on it so quickly I mean."

"No way, it's nothing impressive at all," and he waves off the words. "But I wanted to thank you Rei. You were kind enough to come here with me today and I then I find out you even practiced beforehand. It makes me really happy to know that you care so much."

Rei's face gets hotter and hotter as Haru talks on but that final thanks is too much. Just way too much. He looks down at his lap, not trusting himself to look at him. He's been expressing himself a lot today, which should already be enough. And maybe it's too much to say but he wants to say it anyway. So he takes a deep breath and forces out the last of his strong feelings. "You-I mean hanging out with you. Today. Made me happy too."

And the bright smile Haru gives him in return is more than worth the effort.

I don't see Rei and Haru as having a budding romance here, fyi. I headcanon Rei as aro/ace so his affection for Haru is pretty much a squish lol I remember having a bunch of these growing up and not knowing what the heck was going on with me.