As he cooked breakfast, the day ahead of him planned out in his mind, he stopped briefly with the feeling of both arms and tail wrapping around him, a face pressed into his back.

“Smells fantastic,” Thera spoke, sounding only a little groggy after just waking up. “This is one nice bit of motivation to get out of bed.”

“And I’m sure keeping your clinic head sane is another,” He laughed. “What would he do if you didn’t show up?”

“Drari would still have aunty, it would be fine. Let’s not talk about that right now anyway, I don’t want to have to think about all of the idiots I need to treat today.”

With the invasion drawing ever closer, people were growing more and more desperate to get whatever levels they could, and with the knowledge that the town had an awakened life mage, it was leaving far too many of them comfortable taking risks they otherwise wouldn’t with the knowledge that she could patch them up again after.

All of that led to even more stress for the clinic, with its only saving grace being that both Thera and Sonya could handle it without much trouble, giving the other workers enough leeway to relax a little without needing to worry about working themselves to death to accommodate the town, something that many other clinics in the surrounding towns and villages didn’t have the advantage of.

“Sure, instead let's talk about tonight. Sonya’s staying out with Ceselee, right? Any idea when you’ll be getting home?”

“Probably late afternoon assuming nothing goes wrong at the clinic or with Aso after. Why, going to surprise me with something nice?” She asked as she spun him around, batting her eyes at him playfully.

“Ha, probably no more than any other romantic evening, but we’ll see,” He told her, having an idea in mind, even if the chances of accomplishing it felt slim.

“Well consider my hopes raised,” she said as she leaned up to kiss him, running many of the spells that had become the standard through him as she did before they heard her aunt get up and she moved to the table, happy to wait for breakfast.

Any advice for me? Ben asked as he moved some tables in the back of the shop around, trying to give himself a bit more space.

Gee, thanks. He thought sarcastically, before standing in the middle of all of the free space he now had, holding up his arms as he began to dance.

Saying it was dancing wasn’t really right. Beyond the fact that it looked awful, what he was really doing was just practicing one half of one of the few succubus dances that didn’t require a tail, trying to move correctly to finally gain the dancing skill in an effort to be slightly less terrible when he was doing it with his girlfriend.

He knew that Thera loved to dance, it was one thing she always asked to do whenever they were able to plan a night together, and aside from wanting to make her happy, he wanted to live up to her standard. It felt like she would move so gracefully as all he could do was flail about, barely able to manage any steps without walking on her feet or ending with his timing wrong, so today he was going to set out to fix that, fully intending on using every moment he didn’t need to work to squeeze out a little more practice, almost immediately falling over his own feet.

“Your timing is terrible,” Falk said from behind him, letting Ben know he was there. “You can move slower at first to get the rhythm right if you need to and then speed up from there once you have the steps.”

“Wait, you dance Falk?”

“Not if I can help it, but I needed to get the zeroth level for Pelenia’s coronation. It does have its uses leaving me just a little more graceful on my feet though so it’s not a bad skill to have. Thera asking you to get it?”

“She hasn’t asked but we dance enough that I want to.”

“Well, from how it looks, maybe after a week or so of hard practice you’ll manage.”

“Ugh, and if I want to get the skill by tonight?”

His teacher just looked at him blankly before letting out a drawn-out sigh. “In that case, I guess you’re lucky there isn’t much to do here today. Practice away and you can hope for the best, I’ll at least give you whatever pointers I can.”

So that didn’t work. On to plan B.

What can I say, I feel impatient and it’s the best option I have. If I need a week to do it then I’ll get a week. He thought to his god as he sat down on the edge of his bed, holding the archive in his hand before running his mana through it and finding himself taken somewhere else, into its empty void.

He wasn’t actually sure if what he was thinking would work. The archive either affected his own mind or else it pulled his mind into the book, but either way, he wouldn’t actually be moving with his body. The benefit it did have however was the time dilation effect. He had around two hours till he could expect Thera to come home, which meant about eight days within it to practice with all he had.

No time to be negative, I’ve got this. He told himself confidently as he once more held out his arms and began to move, fully intending on using each of those perceived days to their fullest.

“Haha, you really have no talent for this,” Thera teased as she moved in his arms, acting more as the lead than he had any hope to be. “Gotta say, with how you level everything else, it’s a little refreshing seeing you struggle with your feet.”

“Ha, yeah,” He said back with only half a heart, not letting his failure show on his face. Even eight straight days of practice hadn’t gotten him the skill, with the notification going off in Thera’s head just adding salt to the wound.

“And it looks like I just leveled up my own dancing,” She told him happily, her eyes lighting up as she did. “Looks like trying to handle you is doing something for me.”

It was as he congratulated her on the level that she looked in his eyes, seeing a touch of frustration and apologizing as she did.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn't tease you so much like that. I really do appreciate you dancing with me Ben, it means the world to me.”

She leaned up to kiss him and only after she pulled away did he try to give a brighter smile. “I don’t mind the teasing Thera, don’t worry. It’s just, well, I’ve been practicing it a bit on my own and I still haven’t gotten the skill. It’s a bit disappointing,” He admitted, feeling the weight of eight days of straight practice that only existed in his head as she couldn’t help but feel amused hearing that.

“I never thought you’d actually want the skill,” She laughed. “I thought you were just doing this for me.”

“I want it for you,” He told her, voice firm in his seriousness. “I see how happy dancing makes you, of course I want to be a better partner for when we do it. I’m going to keep practicing, so-”

His words were cut off by her lips as she held him tight, feelings overflowing as she heard it until she eventually pulled away. “I really love you.”

“Of course you do, I do too.”

“It shows,” She said happily as she moved his hands to his hips before wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head against his chest, not looking at him as she continued to speak. “You know Ben, for a while I really hated dancing.”

“What? I honestly would never have guessed.”

“Mmh, well when I was a kid I first started because I saw a show with my parents and thought it would let me be closer to people, but as time went on I realized that just wasn't true and then mom talked me into taking dancing jobs and I performed a bit but I was still always alone. It wasn’t till I got you that I’ve been able to enjoy it again. I was serious when I said it before, it means the world to me, so even if you never get this skill, just this is good enough.”

Not only having someone who even could dance with her, but having someone who would try so hard to was already more than she ever would have hoped only a few short years ago, and regardless of when his practice would pay off and the difference in their skill levels, what he was doing was already more than enough as they moved to the music, enjoying the rest of the night.