stand up!

by Daisy_xx176

Summary:

the next step have just won internationals but what comes next?- season ten rewrite cause i was a little disappointed with canon :)

Notes:

im now realising that my chapter one note should have gone in here but whatever. its too late now. ill add any tw at the start of chapters. enjoy xoxo

Chapter 1: oxygen

Notes:

this is my first fic in the tns fandom but ive read lots of the fics on here and theyre amazing. its gonna be really hard to keep up.
i wanted to do a rewrite(or just write since i havent finished canon season ten yet) of the last season because i think ive read every single one there is on ao3 and i need more. also canon season ten was slightly disappointing
i was inspired to finally write this because of the new chapter of "the comeback" (rarepixrs) coming out this week and also by running out of time (redlyncentral) and tns season ten fanfic (emilyocracy). as i said ive read all these and you definitly should too if you havent all ready.
im not trying to intentionally copy anything from these fics without giving credit to the original writers so i thought id mention them first incase i subconsciously do anyway.
im not sure where im going with this fic yet (im writing this before ive even started it) so im just kind of winging it but it will definetly include ( warning spoilers kinda)
-jetiana - they were literally the reason i joined ao3 but id be lying if i said knowing they dont end up togther in canon didnt ruin them for me a bit. im still going to write them here how it should have been (dramatic sigh)
- haisy- this is the best right person wrong time ship so ill def be putting them in this. inspired to include it by midnight0088 who single handedly created the tag and writes some incredible fics about them
-lots of ethan - hes one of my fav third gen charachters and im so sad alot of s10 fics write him out. it wasnt very clear if he was going to stay for s10 when he was going to paris at the end of s9 so im glad he did canonically. i def need way more fanfiction about him tho so i wil be writing him in alot. not sure if ill keep him with gui yet. tbc
-bi anthony - there is no way this is not canon but whatever. as the tags say this is definitely not for andel fans so if your here for that tag it might not be for you. i just never really liked them as a couple much. theyll definently be together for the first chapter but after that...
-and finally im gonna bringing back as many of my fav charachters as possibe from gen 1 and 2. im not gonna be tagging them so you never know when youll get a surprise visit!!!!
thanks for reading all of this. i dont really see these as spoilers becuse i havent even started writing the fic yet but i added a spoilers warning anyway. this was more just for me to organise my thoughts a bit before starting. anyway i hope you enjoy this fic xoxo

studio A was quiet on the morning of the auditions. it was like the calm before the storm. nick stood in the middle of the room lost in thought.

he still didnt know if hed made the right decision in turning down eldon and michelles offer to buy the studio. he knew they loved this place but over the last few years it had grew to feel like his home aswell.

hed done what felt right in the moment but now he wasnt sure if he was being selfish putting his feelings over the good of the studio.

he didnt have any more time to think about that now though because eldon and michelle were gone and he had regionals to prepare for. he needed to get the studio ready for the auditions so he left to grab some stuff from his car.

---------------

heath had come into the studio a little early to get some practise in before the auditions. he had won internationals and now he was going for the triple crown so he really had to bring his A game this time .

he couldnt help thinking about the last auditions hed been at - the internationals auditions. he really hoped all of A troup made it onto the regionals team this year because he didnt know if he could go through what he went through with-

Daisy.  suddenly she was there leaning up against the doorframe of studio A as if summoned by his imagination. heath blinked before  he ran to hug her equal parts ecstatic and shocked.

"daisy. oh my god what are you doing here" he asked when they parted. 

"obviously im here for the auditions heathcliff. did you loose even more of your briaincells while i was gone" she teased sarcastically. god heath had missed her. 

"haha very funny." heath said dryly "do you want to go get a juice. we still have about an hour til they start and i have so much to tell you"

she agreed and they headed down to On Pointe the new juice bar that had opened when cha chas closed. heath felt a flutter of something when daisy grabbed his hand to drag him along but he brushed it off as excitement to see her again after so long.

---------------

"i wish you were here" pete was on the phone to kenzie while he waited for the auditions to start. his girlfriend had taken a spot on the freya tour and was now half way across the world. he was happy for her but he would be lying if he said he didnt miss her sometimes.

" i wish i was there too. but your gonna do great i know it" this helped petes nerves a bit. just then nick called the dancers to gather around. 

"thanks kenz. i gotta go though so i love you byeeee."

"love you t-" the rest of her goodbye was cut off as pete rushed to join the other dancers. nick and anthony were stood at the front with two women , one blonde  and one with black hair, neither of whom pete recognised.

"okay so most of you know the drill by now but for any new dancers this is how its going to go." nick explained how there would be two rounds one free style and one choreography. the freestyle round would have no cuts so everyone would get a chance with the choreo.

"youll be split into morning and evening groups. for those of you who dont know this is Lola and Sloane. they were both part of the next step years ago and were kind enough to offer to help out with choreo today!"

Sloane smiled. she was happy to be back in the studio. despite not winning regionals, her time here had been full of good memories. she'd met some of her life long friends and fell in love with her now boyfriend latroy.

lola was more nervous. things at the next step hadnt ended so well for her. betraying her best friend had been one of the hardest desicions of her life and she still regretted it to this day. 

though it wasnt like richelle was going to show up now anyway so lola had no reason to be nervous. at least she hoped not. she was supposed to be in new york working on a new show with her new boyfriend. god richelle and ozzy. lola would have teased her endlessly about that had they still been friends.

---------------

the auditions began and ethan had been put in the morning group. he was excited to show off all the new tricks he learned in paris but some of the new dancers looked really good. especially the tall dark haired boy beside him. he had an air of confidence about him that made ethan worried. time to go phsyic out the competition .

"hey you must be new here. im ethan." he approached the boy wearing a fake smile that would make butter melt.

"oh yeah i am. i used to go to acronation but i mean who wouldnt want to try out for an internationals winning team. im jake by the way" he answered in an equally sickly sweet tone.

damn. he was good at this. ethan turned back to streches. he kinda hoped jake made the team. they could definitly have some fun.

--------------

the opening notes of stand up began to play as ariana took the floor. she preformed perfectly adding a few new flips she'd been working on over the summer. 

next up a new girl burst into an energetic acro jazz fusion solo that really impressed everyone. the dancer was from encore dance which worried nick a little as he knew theyre studio head but he was trying to believe that she'd changed. plus it was unfair to judge a dancer based on their studio.

ethan olive jett ebby a j trouper called shauna (who was a little wobbly) and a few dancers from different studios each took the floor before finally it was xanders turn.

he started a little unsure of himslf but quickly found his groove. he hadnt wanted to come off as too cocky this year because that was the reason he was cut from the internationals team. he finished, out of breath and cleared to the side to make way for the last dancer.

niall moved across the floor like he owned the place. it was not a good look. xander could see himself in this audition and wished hed been able to warn the younger dancer.

after the freestyle finished they took a five minute water break and headed straight to choreo. sloane was in charge of the morning group. 

"im going to show it to you first then teach it a bit slower. that sound good? okay" she preformed the five counts of 8 effortlessly. it was mostly hip hop based but with a few parts of contemporary and even acro. she had learned alot on tour.

she then began to teach the dance leaving some of the dancers heads spinning by the time she was done "and then you gonna have a count of 8 to do what you want. really show us your personality and who you are as a dancer. you have some time to work on that so come back in an hour for the audition"

---------------

olive and adele had headed down to On Pointe while they waited for the auditions to start again. there they had been joined by heath and pete and the group decided to get a table together.

"did you see that new girl. she was insane. shes definitly going to make it on the team." adele was saying

"yeah totally. and what about xander. i had no idea he was that good. id be shocked if he didnt make it aswell" pete smiled at how far the younger dancer had come.

"so whos spot is he taking" olive said quietly "theres only one free spot on A troupe since kenzie left. so if theyre really that good whos spot are the taking"

they all stared at her in stunned silence. none of them had really thought of that......

---------------

the morning auditions went by rather quickly. shauna was still wobbly but nick had no doubt she'd be a great addition to A troup in a few years.

niall was still over confident but what surprised him the most was ebby. she'd preformed so well in the free style but completely fell apart in the choreo. she must have gotten in her own head. 

her friends tried to comfort her but she ran out of the room once the auditions were over. she'd completely tanked them.

the  evening group was given some time to stretch before their freestyle round. some of the morning group stayed around to watch. ethan especially wanted to see how well jake did.

Anthony noticed one of the new dancers looking around a little weirdly so he decided to talk to him and see if he could find out what was wrong. he wasnt really sure why but something drew him towards this blonde boy.

"hey. are you all right? what are you looking for?"

"what? oh yeah. im fine. and nothing its just so surreal actually being here. my brother talks about this place all the time." the boy said sounding wistful

"whos your brother" anthony was curious. it sounded like this boy was related to tns alumni.

"daniel. i dont know if youve heard of him. he used to dance here ages ago."

of course anthony had heard of daniel. he was practically a legand at tns. just not really for the best reasons.....

"er.. yeah ive heard of him" he said hesitantly. he didnt want to offend this new dancer.

"dont worry i know he was basically a traitor" the boy laughed "i assure you that does not run in the family."

anthony let out a relieved sigh "im glad to hear it. i think youd be a great addition to A troup based on what ive seen so far. what your name?" something about him made anthony desperatly want to be his friend.

"shane. how about you"

"anthony. well good luck on your audition"

"thanks. i hope ill see you around" shane smiled then continued to warm up. 

and anthony? anthony began to feel his legs turn to jelly. good thing he wasnt the one dancing today..

Notes:

bringing back sloane and lola was a really easy choice. they are two of my fav characters who definitly didnt get enough screentime. ik sloane gets some hate but i really loved her. im not even sure why.
anyone who watched tiny pretty things i hope you got my (very obvious ) easter egg. i really just couldnt help myself it was too perfect. just going to say its not the same character other then name appearance and dance style. basically they dont share a backstory
i hope you enjoyed this chapter! let me know if you have any ideas

Chapter 2: showstoppa

Notes:

im a little slow cause i just realised i forgot to add a work summary. its up now tho so its okay! i also put daisy and xander as not making the nationals team so thats been fixed too. in my defence i wrote that chapter after midnight (cause everything good happens after midniiiiight)

the music started again for the evening freestyle and this time grace was the first to dance. that got a lot of strange looks from the current A troupers and practically a glare from ariana who didnt believe for a second that grace had changed. and maybe this made her a hypocrite but grace had just barely apologised for all shed done unlike ariana who'd bared her heart and soul to the team. for all they knew her stunt at internationals was just that. a stunt to get back on A troupe.

to arianas disappointment grace was dancing beautifully with perfect extensions and crisp lines and glancing at nick  she could see he was eating it up. great. looks like she'd better get practising her fake smile.

a small pressure at her hip made her turn to face the girl beside her. jett was leaning against her and the expression on her face looked similar to how ari felt. that made her feel a little better. at least she wasnt the only one.

on the floor grace finished with a flourish and adele took her place.she couldnt focus though. shed seen Anthony talking to that blonde boy earlier and the way he'd looked after... adele wasnt sure what it was but it was all she could think about. she hoped it wouldnt affect her dance.

next up was heath who preformed exceptionally as usual followed by izzy and shane who danced hiphop and ballet solos respectively.

then there was a mix of b and j troupers before it was petes turn. he danced how he usually did but nick felt the solo lacked growth...

daisy was perfection. at least in heaths eyes she was. she had grown so much as a dancer over the last year since not making the internationals team and he had high hopes of them going to regionals together.

the last to dance were jake and pascale. both were strong dancers but was strong enough to get them on the regionals team?

only time would tell

---------------

lola taught her choreo then let the dancers off to practice. she forgot how much she had missed being in charge of dances. everyone had to admit she was a great dance captain at encore and leaving that to make friends clearly hadnt worked out for her. hmm. maybe there was and idea there...

in studio one izzy and daisy were catching up while they practised the choreo. if it had been a while since daisy had seen heath itd been forever since shed seen izzy.

"did you listen to the new cliffside sunset album" she asked them excitedly.

"i did! i really wanted to get tickets for their concert but i was too late" izzy said dejectedly.

daisy knew how they felt "me too. ugh i really wish we were going together. we could have..." they continued to dance and rave about the band until it was time to perform.

the evening choreo section got off to a great start. the first group was made up of daisy heath izzy and grace. they all nailed every step and nick was very impressed.

the second group was more messy. pete and adele were both distracted pascale was good but lacked it. and the b troupers just didnt have what it takes to move up yet.

the third group was a mix of b troupers and new dancers from different studios. ethan noticed jake in this group but wasnt sure on his chances. like pascale he just lacked a certain- starpower.

the final group was also mostly new dancers though it included a few old b troupers like jonah and marcus. shane was one of the new dancers and he definitely had the starpower. he moved as gracefully as his brother had in his time but with more emotion and depth. nick had been hoping his old A troupe would all make it to regionals but after those auditions- he wasnt sure anymore.

---------------

the auditions were over and anthony sloane lola and nick had retreated to the office to make their decision 

"… has really improved since…"

"…lacked emotion"

"impressive. its gonna be hard for…to keep up"

"i was disappointed by her performance"

" not ready yet but in a few years…"

this was going to be a difficult choice to make.

---------------

the tension in studio A could have been cut with a knife while they waited for the results of the audition.

daisy squeezed heaths hand supportively and he smiled at her in response. pascale noticed this interaction standing a few feet away and felt something like jealousy stir inside her. heath had never told her he liked daisy. and he would tell her. right...

she didnt have much time to dwell on it before nick emerged from the office letter in hand. behind him sloane and lola had passive expressions but anthony looked worried.

"i just wanted to say that we were really impressed by all the auditions today. auditions for b trouoe are tomorrow and theres always next year if you dont make it so keep that in mind" with that nick turned to the wall and stuck the paper up on it.

dancers rushed foward eager to read the list. it took a while for adele to get close enough to do the same.

                     A Troupe

• heathcliff
• ariana
• ethan
• olive
• shane
• izzy
• jett
• daisy
• grace
• anthony
• xander
• millie

adele read the list. then read it again. then felt her heart drop to her stomach as tears began to stream down her face

 

Notes:

yes the line about ariana bearing her "heart and soul" was a reference to lilys solo song when she rejoined tns if any of you noticed that.
sorry the chapters a little short today i just really wanted to get past the auditions. hope you enjoyed xoxo

Chapter 3: when the war is over..

Notes:

i was looking for a song to name this chapter after so now i have when the war is over stuck in my head:)

her tears turned to anger almost instantly. her boyfriend had been in that room. he knew she was an amazing dancer. he should have stood up for her. it was his faut she was so distracted in the audition anyway. if he hadnt been talking to that new boy.... it felt like ari making her an alternate for nationals all over again only ten times worse cause it was anthony. she had trusted him. she could nearly say she loved him. and the way he was looking at that guy this morning- he had never looked at her like that.

she was fuming now as she looked around at all the old A troupers who hadnt made the team. people like ebby and pete who were internationals champions now had to try out for b troupe!

what the hell was anthony on. adele crossed the room grabbing him by the shoulder before pulling him out into the hall.

anthony was shocked when he felt adeles hands grip his shoulder. he practically fell into the hall and barley had a second to breath before she started screaming at him. it was mostley a blur but he did catch "how could you" "…all your fault" and "we're done" 

that last line made anthonys stomach drop. "wha-what do you mean we're done?" he asked dumbfounded.

"i mean we're over. finished. im breaking up with you" she turned on her heel and walked out of the studio before he could get out the word-

"why..?" there was no one to answer but an empty hallway. anthony sunk to the floor as the tears threatened to spill.

---------------

back in the hall heath had come to comfort his best friend.

"im so sorry man" he said sombrly enveloping pete in a bone crushing hug. when he looked up however pete was grinning at him.

"why arent you.. is this some wierd physiological response to rejection" he asked half joking.

"no bro. i wasnt regected!" pete said enthusiastically.

"okay so.. your in denial! that makes more sense."

"nooo. i threw my audition" "you- you what!" now heath was concerned his best friend had actually gone mad

"i threw my audition" pete repeated patiently "just before the choreo round kenzie called me. she said they were looking for an assistant on the freya tour and she got me the job. id have to travel with them so there was no way i could stay at tns"

"oh my god man thats amazing. im so happy for you!" heath exclaimed" im really going to miss you though"

"ill miss you too. but ill be back in a couple of months to visit" this time pete was the one to draw heath into a hug.

"im so glad your not a psychopath" he wispered into petes shoulder

"huh"

"nothing"

---------------

nick had given them the rest of the day off before they got started preparing for regionals.

because of this some of them had taken the opportunity  to go to On Point , hang out and try and get to know the new dancers. most of the new team was there, other then anthony(who no one could seem to find) plus pascale pete a slightly tearful ebby and jake whod been invited by ethan.

"so are you thinking of joining B troupe" izzy asked him -theyd been sat next to the boy for ten minutes and the whole time theyd noticed ethan staring at him out of the corned of his eye- they hoped for their own sake that he was or theyd never hear the end of it from their best friend.

"i mean yeah. i really love the energy here so why not stay" izzy smiled at jakes answer letting out an internal sigh of relief before asking him another question. if ethan liked him they might as well get to know him!

across the table a hushed conversation was happening beetween three quarters of the power quartet.

"i havent seen her since the auditions" ariana wispered looking worried"the last thing i saw was her dragging anthony out of the hall"

"come to think of it i havent seen him since then either" jett added"i wonder what happened"

olive didnt seem as concerned as the rest of them. she figured anthony had just taken adele home after she hadnt made the team "im sure shes fine. theres nothing to worry about. now.. whos going to collect our drinks?"

since anthony wasnt there heath had taken it upon him self to welcome some of the newer dancers to A troupe . millie who played the role of sweet bubbly blonde so well she rivaled ariana had actually turned out to have a very sarcatic sense of humor. she reminded heath a bit of daisy so he could tell they were going to be friends. 

the other dancer completly new to the studio was shane. he seemed a bit quieter but his solo was insane so heath didnt really mind. what heath didnt know was that all the questions were getting to be a bit much for the younger dancer so he left saying that he needed to grab his water bottle from the studio.

he decided to use a different entrance that brought him past studio one because at some point hed need to start learning his way around. as he stepped into a hallway that was supposed to bring him to studio A he saw a figure slumped against the wall. shane paused. he could hear sobbing coming from that direction and didnt want to disturb whoever it was.

on the other hand he didnt want to leave someone who was upset on their own. his legs made a decision before his brain did as he was already moving forwards. when he got close enough he could see that it was the boy he had talked to earlier "hey are you okay" shane asked cautiously 

Anthony looked up dazed. he had already been sitting there for a good twenty minutes so his eyes were red and puffy and his voice was too raw to speak. instead he just shook his head.

"of course you're  not. im sorry that was a silly question. mind if i sit?" anthony nodded so shane lowered himself down onto the ground next to him. "do you think you can tell me what happened. only if you want to"

he took a few deep breathes and cleared his throat before answering "my girlfriend broke up with me"

"oh. i know how that feels man but i promise you it gets better"

Anthony had nothing to say to that so he just let out a small sad sigh. he was startled when he felt a weight on his shoulder. shane had put his arm around him pulling him against his side. anthony held himself rigidly for a moment before allowing his body to relax

and for the first time since nick had made the decision to cut adele he felt… safe.

Notes:

-that first scene was so hard to write bc even though i dont support andel i can admit theyre cute sometimes. i also just want to say i dont believe either of them is completey in the wrong. in adeles head anthony had been flirting with another guy which distracted her so really it was his fault she messed up her audition. and then on top of that he was part of the decision and cut her which felt like nationals.all over again. whereas in anthonys head there was no flirting (cause hes oblivious) and he couldnt over rule the descisions nick made. so when adele came to scream at him he was completely taken off guard. im putting this here so that you can see both perspectives cause i really dont want you guys to hate either charachter(more so anthony cause hes gonna be a main)
-on another note im thinking of doing a daniel 3.0 type thing in this fic so if you have any suggestions for - 1- any gen one or two characters for studio head or smthn like that and 2- any gen three characters currently at the studio -that you dont mind me villanising(possibly with redemtion arc) but would still be interested to read about. if you can please leave multiple suggestions for each as i still want it to be a surprise! thanks for reading :)

Chapter 4: classicality

Notes:

somehow ive accidently managed to post chapter 4 before i was finished. i dont wanna loose progress so im just going to edit it while its up. ill change this once its finished in case you want to wait til then to read
im not bothered to write pascales accent so just imagine when she says heath its 'eath and such

shane never returned to the table and soon enough some of the others started leaving in dribs and drabs. pascale watched heath leave with daisy saying he was just giving her a ride. that was funny because in all the time she'd known him he'd never once offered to drive her anywhere.

she spent so much time thinking about what this might mean that by the time she came back to reality the only person still sitting there was ebby who looked worse then she felt.

pascale had never been particularly close to her but something about how vunerable she looked made pascale want to talk to her and offer a kind word.

she scooted down in the booth until she was sitting directly across from the girl."wanna talk?"

ebby looked up at her startled. she had been sitting in silence so long she'd thought she was alone.izzy had long since given up on getting her to talk.

"well.."she started. for some reason pascales kind eyes made her want to open up"i just.. my audition was awful. i was so nervous and i got it my own head. it was like i completely forgot how to dance. i feel so stupid!"

"we all have bad days" pascale murmered sympatheticly "and i think i know a thing or two about feeling stupid. i moved countries for a boy who doesn't even want me" she let out a sad strangled laugh looking off in the direction heath and daisy left.

"you mean heath? what makes you think he doesnt want you?"

"daisy.."

"are you sure? cause they were always like that, even before you came" ebby said wanting to make the french girl feel better.

"no. the way he looks at her now. it was the way he looked at me before...." she trailed off sadly.

"so i guess were both a mess then. at least we can be a mess together! unless.... are you going back to paris now that..."

"no. that would be silly. i may be stupid sometimes but im always practicle. im already here so why not try out for B troupe. what about you? will i see you there?"

ebby nodded before she could even think about it. she hadnt really intended on going but by the time her brain caught up she figured she might as well give it a chance. really what harm could it do?

---------------

nick had called a few of the dancers into studio A to start on some dances for regionals. anthony had shown him some ideas he had for the ten person dance but he had called in sick a while ago (and hed sounded so hoarse over the phone that nick had given him the day off no questions asked) so he decided to start with duets.

hed also decided to continue studio tradition by using the duets as a bonding exercise. his pairs were "ariana and grace, izzy and shane, millie and ethan and xander and olive" this was met with a mix of excitement and disgust (mostly from ariana) "whoever prepares the best duet will get to represent the next step in the second round at regionals. i want to see them before and of day so ill leave you to get started. good luck

---------------

izzy was excited to start working with shane. theyd never talked to him before but if there was one thing they were good at it was making new friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

---------------

during a break ethan and izzy had gone to On Pointe to rehydrate. ethan decided to use this as another opportunity to rant more about his new crush

as expected he had kept them on video call for two hours the night before talking about how cute jake was to the point where izzy couldnt look at the boy without noticing exact shade of blue his eyes were....

as the (self proclaimed) expert on love theyd given him the sound advice of just fucking talking to him but obviously hed decided to go for the more practicle approach - staring from a distance and hoping to be noticed.

and although they hated to admit it it might actually work out for him this time. they had noticed jake doing the same thing, eyes wandering towards a certain pink haired dancer from the table across the room when he thought nobody was looking.

izzy smiled at that . eventually ethan would work it out on his own but for now they were keeping quiet. that would teach him for ignoring the words of professional.. 

---------------

 

 

Notes:

watch me forget that duets is the second round when its time to write regionals lol. also yes giving ethan his pink hair back was completely necessary for the plot and not at all just for me....

Notes:

kudos and comments are never expected but always greatly appreciated