Chapter Text
A small gasp of awe escaped her mouth as Terezi stepped outside, and into the school grounds. It might be a cliché to say it, but the scene in front of her looked absolutely magical.
The school was already preparing itself for the final task; bushes and trees had sprung up all over the place during the winter term in lieu of the maze to come. But just for tonight, they’d sectioned off a part of it into an ornate garden, like the ones you would see surrounding the muggle stately homes (and some wizarding ones too, though they’d never admit the original influence). Tiny tea lights floated above the student’s heads, like a miniature version of the great hall, while both fairies and fairy lights adorned the bushes that surrounded them.
In the middle of the garden, there was a large, enchanted fountain. With every few bursts of water, it would light up and change colour, and with every change it would send sparkles cascading down into the grass around it. From what she could see, the fairies were absolutely loving it.
Her hand found the corsage she’d placed on her wrist, and fiddled with it nervously as her eyes scanned each person before her. Despite how beautiful everything looked, she hadn’t forgotten why she was here. The anxiety pooled in the bottom of her stomach, and she took a few more steps forward to try and blend in with everything a bit more. She couldn’t stop worrying over the fact that this might have been some elaborate hoax, or trick. Or that her date had forgotten all about it, or that-
Though, just as her mind started to race over the multiple possibilities of her humiliation, a mysterious figure in a mask that resembled an aquatic war horse, and a set of dark purple dress robes approached her. Before she could say anything at all, they had taken her hand, and dipped down to give it a chivalrous kiss.
“If I can be so incredibly forward,” The stranger said, as they raised their head to look at her once again, “might I say that you’re looking especially irresistible tonight, Miss Pyrope.”
“Are you…” She began, though as her eyes met the vibrant hue of his (after hearing his voice, she at least /assumed/ they were male) own, she found herself trailing off slightly, “Are you the one that sent me the letter?”
“And this corsage.” He added, letting his hand trail up her wrist until his fingertips could brush over the flower. “A tad tacky, but I didn’t know if I’d be able to find you with the enchantments otherwise.”
She didn’t particularly believe in romantic clichés, but she could’ve sworn that as his skin ghosted against her own, that she felt sparks between them. Though, then again, maybe it was just part of the enchantment. Terezi wouldn’t put it past Sassacre to pull some bullshit like that, just to mess with people.
“You can take it off, if you want to. I know flowers aren’t really your thing.”
“How do you know so much about me?” She asked as her eyes tried to somehow peer behind his mask. “Are we friends?”
All she got from this was a small laugh, and a shake of the head. Pursing her lips, she racked her brains for who this person could be. She already knew it wasn’t Karkat - even if he had been lying to her in the great hall, this guy was way too tall to be him anyway. To her dismay, over the years Karkat had finally gotten his growth spurt and now could successfully loom over her stature of 5’4”, but the person standing before her had to be at least six feet tall, if not more.
“Shall we head into the hall, my dear?” He suggested, retracting his hand from her; only to offer up his arm instead. Such a proper gentleman. Terezi deduced that he had to have been brought up in a wealthy wizarding family, these kind of airs and graces didn’t come without expensive etiquette lessons. She nodded, and moved to take his arm, before hesitating.
“Wait, before we go in there together, I need to know something.”
“Anything.”
“Will you tell me who you are? I feel rather inadequate being the only one in the dark here.” Terezi said, her hand moving to grasp his arm in a delicate - or at least as delicately as she could muster - manner.
“Not right now. I’ll admit that I’m still kind of scared you won’t want to stay with me if you knew.” He replied, and Terezi caught the hint of a worried smile ghost across his lips. That only made her curiosity kick into the next gear, but she refrained from saying anything. It was clear she wasn't going to get anything out of him until he was ready, so there wasn't any point in laying down one of the famous Pyrope interrogations. So instead, she just nodded and offered her suitor a grin.
“Ok, fine. But I’m absolutely not going to leave your side until you tell me.”
“Then I shall absolutely have to leave it until the last minute then, won't I?” He offered back, the grin tugging at the corners of his lips acutely matching the playfulness of her own.
With a laugh, Terezi finally allowed the two of them to enter into the great hall. By the time they'd been outside, more people had started to arrive - though the ball couldn't officially start until the three contestants showed their faces. For now, it was mainly just students milling about with their dates, or loudly admiring their friends transformations with the twang of the band tuning up in the background. There was a buzz of anticipation in the air; an amalgamation of a thousand students’ excitement that had been building up for weeks, and it was ready to be unleashed. She could feel it, almost revelled in it, as they made their way across the hall.
All of a sudden, a golden lion in a familiar green dress came running towards them. Well, it was more like Terezi heard her friend before she actually saw her.
“TEREZIIII!!” She heard Nepeta yell, before the smaller girl barrelled into her with a big hug, and an even bigger grin across her face. “I thought I’d be hard to find you here, but the dress totally gave it away.”
Holding her friend back at arms length, she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the dazzling, golden display in front of her. It was like the lion of Gryffindor itself had stepped out from one of the house banners and merged with her face. She couldn’t deny that Nepeta looked absolutely stunning, and yet she wasn’t surprised by the mask’s transformation at all.
“Same here! Though it’s hard to lose someone who’s acting like an incredibly adorable and excited dork, Miss Leijon.” Terezi countered back, grinning from ear to ear as she playfully ruffled Nepeta’s mane.
“Hey, back off Pyrope. You’ve got your own mystery date to the ball to flirt with.” A familiar voice teased, and as she looked up, she came face-to-face with the gleaming beak of a sleek black and red crow. One mask that she knew could only belong to a certain Dave Strider. The mask only extended to the top half of the beak however, leaving her to see his smug little grin lingering underneath. “Speaking of, is that them next to you? Or have you just got an infinite storage of cloaked, mysterious admirers for every occasion??”
“Oh yeah, definitely. This is just my casual, every day one - I’m saving the real fancy-looking guy for when the dancing starts.”
“Hot damn, I’m slightly jealous.”
“Ah, so you’re the strange and handsome admirer!!” Nepeta purred, breaking the banter between Terezi and Dave as she turned to scrutinise the only silent participant in this conversation so far.
“That would be me, yes.”
Terezi could see her friend squint at the mystery man, obviously trying to figure out who was underneath the mask. If he was nervous about having her friends scruitinise him, he didn’t show it, a mildly amused expression playing across the stranger’s features. Before any more shenanigans could continue, however, Professor Sassacre himself strode into the hall and announced the ball was about ready to start. With excited whispers, the two girls both grabbed their dates and scurried off to the edges of the great hall, ready for the school champions’ entrance.