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The party was constructed by a rich man of high status; the attendees meant to be only those that match his class, however, to keep recognition at a minimum, and to keep the “less than desirable” crowd from wanting to sneak in to bother anyone easily recognizable by the general public, perhaps for autographs or pictures, it was determined the party itself would be a masquerade dance.
There are plenty of notable families and couples, all wearing elegant masks, chatting about whatever meaningless topic they feel to hold at the moment to keep a conversation, thin glasses of champagne in their hands. There’s soft string music playing, the sound coming from one of the rooms that is deeper into the mansion, probably a live performance.
There are tables off to the side with small dishes and platters of food and drinks, plated nicely. The tables themselves are decorated ornately with beautiful gold tablecloths covering them, giving off the slightest shine in the chandelier-lit room.
A couple enters the room, a blonde-haired woman with a pointed, bright lime-colored mask, covered in black spots more reminiscent of spilled ink. It has black lace trim around the edge, giving the illusion of soft points, but the plastic underneath is rather sharp. The shape is much more like a typical masquerade mask that you’d find in stores or on posters, framing her softer face. The woman is wearing a long, beautiful black lace dress, the back barely trailing on the ground beneath her.
The man whose arm she is holding onto, however, is wearing a simpler outfit, a suit, likely a cheap one from the looks of it, with an obviously clip-on tie. His mask is a scaled variety, the bottom edge in the shape of a curved and upside-down v, with two horns curving upwards, at least, had the right one not seemed to be broken off an inch or two from the base. Some of the scales on the mask are cracked and broken, especially on the right side, giving off the impression that maybe it had been stepped on or crushed under something heavy. The color of the black mask has faded, showing sign of age, an older mask, perhaps a borrowed one. The tired brown eyes that are under it, however, show more signs of wear than the mask itself, worn due to time and pressure, internalized anger.
The man’s eyes darted around the room, taking everything in, the number of people making him anxious, but he didn’t show it, he refused to. He promised himself he wouldn’t ever show it.
His date, however, was much more enthusiastic, pulling him by his arm to the nearest table, admiring the decorations and color, the man not showing any interest in the room’s extravagant decor whatsoever.
The woman finally speaks up for the first time since the two arrived, looking up at her date with a smile.
“Isn’t this all so beautiful, Aaron?”
The man, Aaron, glances at her in disinterest, eyes scanning the room again to get another look at his surroundings, only to confirm his lack of concern and emotion towards it.
“I’ve never been one for fancy parties. Especially as uh, bright and flashy as this one.”
The woman clings to his side and rests her head against his arm, letting out a soft sigh, leading Aaron further into the room.
“Come on, you should appreciate this more, I mean, who gets an opportunity as big as this one? This is good for you! It gets you out and about, socializing with people like I said.”
Aaron looks away with an audible scoff. “Right, right, socialize and stuff… Got it.”
“Hey, I’m doing this for you! I only want what is best for you.”
“Right…” Aaron sighs as his arm is pulled by his date, leading him to the corner of the room. She brings him to one of the tables with drinks on it, handing him a thinner glass filled with a light-colored bubbly beverage, one that he can only assume is the fancy alcohol they tend to serve at these types of parties.
He holds the glass carefully, looking around to see how everyone else is holding it, mimicking how he notices the majority holds theirs. He watches the bubbles rise from the bottom, nervously placing the rim of the glass on his dry lips, taking a quick swig of the beverage, only to nearly spit it out, surprised by the sweetness, used to the general burning feeling of the acidic-tasting alcohol that he’s used to.
His date drinks from the glass delicately, looking up at Aaron when he essentially gags on the drink.
“Are you alright?” She questions, smirking up at him. “Haven’t you ever had champagne before?”
“I don’t go to dumb parties like this one often enough to try it. Or really at all.” Aaron scoffs in return, earning a glare from his date.
“You know, I’m the reason you’re even here at this party. You should be a little more grateful that I’m willing to help you.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “I mean, you’re the one that needs my help, right? You need this and you know it.”
Aaron sighs and looks away, gaze switching to the door as more people enter. “Yeah, whatever, it’s not like-”
He interrupts himself when he notices three people enter the room. The group seems to be a small family, an older couple with their son, who can’t be much older than Aaron himself. The son has a pale complexion, freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks, ginger hair neat and smooth. The man is wearing a nicely fitted suit, but one that seems uncomfortable to him despite it, likely not used to wearing clothing meant for such an occasion. The man doesn’t seem to be too interested in the party, probably dragged along for reasons unknown.
Overall, the man’s mask seems very eccentric and expensive, the colors clashing together in the most eye-catching way. The mask is a royal purple color, the plastic on the right side extending down to cover his cheek, the purple getting deeper the farther down it extends, stopping at his chin, only obscuring his face further. The lace around the edge is made from golden thread, delicately made. Around the eye-holes of the mask are holographic gems, forming a kind of cat-eye shape, shining ever so slightly in the light of the chandelier, highlighting the brilliant blue eyes underneath. The mask was tied back with long, smooth gold ribbons, tied in a small bow in the back.
Brown eyes lock with shining blue ones, if but for a moment. The mysterious man in the purple mask gives Aaron a sly smile before disappearing into the crowd, leaving Aaron greedy for more.
“Aaron? Are you alright? Did you zone out or something?” His date questions, pulling his arm.
“Huh? What? Yeah, Abbi, I’m fine.” He shrugs off the questions, setting down the glass he had almost dropped in his daze. “Did you see that guy that just came in? The uh- the one with the purple mask?”
“I’m not sure, I wasn’t paying attention to who is coming and going.” Abbi hums, holding onto Aaron’s hand, making him pull away from the feeling quickly.
“I think I uh, I’m going to socialize now…”
“Not without me, of course.” Abbi locks her arm with Aaron’s, staying pressed against his side, despite Aaron’s silent wishes.
“Uh, right… Let’s go then, I guess.” He sighs and leads her away from the table, hoping to just wander around to find the purple-masked man again.
Aaron drags Abbi along with him as he scans the crowd, searching for the mysterious masked man. After a few moments, he finally catches a glimpse of a purple mask from across the room, beginning to lead his date over, before she pulls him back.
“Aaron, you haven’t been doing anything but leading me around here! I thought you said you were going to socialize, not just- lead me around aimlessly!” Abbi holds onto Aaron’s arm to keep him from walking off again. “Let’s go actually talk to everyone, you need to meet people. I mean, considering you don’t even have any friends, you could make one here. After all, making friends with anyone who’s going to be here is going to get better results than if you were to try to talk with those criminals you live around.”
Aaron’s face heats up as he looks over at her, trying to pull his arm away from her grip, but to no avail. “You don’t have to be such a fuckin’ asshole about it-”
“Oh hush, I’m just doing what is best for you.”
Aaron sneers down at her, ready to make a quick remark, being pulled away before he could say anything.
Abbi spends over an hour forcing Aaron to socialize with people, but he never said much, mostly communicating in short replies that consist of ‘yeah’ or ‘no,’ never seeming to care, despite how much his date tries to get him to talk.
At some point, she tries to get him to talk to a rather large group of people, only making Aaron’s insides turn. His heart rate picks up as he begins to panic, fists clenching and body tensing, expression turning into a sneer. Abbi notices how visibly upset Aaron is getting, face flushing in embarrassment as she excuses the two of them, pulling her date barely out of earshot to scold him.
“Aaron are you serious? What the hell are you doing? I’m here trying to fix you, doing my best to make you a good person, make you lovable , and you’re actively trying to embarrass me! If you keep this up, we’ll have to leave, and neither of us wants that, right? Not when you have such a good opportunity to become actually lovable.”
“If this shit is going to make me a good person, then I don’t fucking want it.” Aaron snaps and yanks his arm away from Abbi’s grip on it.
“Ugh, you’re so ungrateful, I’m doing my best here and you’re not helping at all, you’re just doing the opposite and you- you’re just pretending you actually want to be better and you-”
Aaron interrupts her, now panicking due to the tears brimming in her eyes. He’s never been good at handling emotions, especially like this.
“Wait, Abbi, please, I’m sorry, please don’t cry, I- shit, I’m doing my best, I’ll try harder, just please don’t cry…”
Abbi sniffles and wipes her eyes from under the mask. “Yeah, fine, just… let me clean up my face first… I’ll be back, just- don’t move, okay?” She sniffles again, covering the lower part of her face.
“Yeah, alright.” Aaron sighs, watching her disappear into the crowd before he backs up a few steps and turns, weaving his way through the people standing around and chatting, trying to find the man from before, trying to escape his date.
Aaron goes to the place he had last seen that flash of a purple mask, not finding the man anywhere. He looks over the people in the room, searching for even a tuft of ginger hair, anything. After a few minutes, Aaron looks over his shoulder, noticing his date in that bright green mask looking for him. He glances around nervously before going into a different room, sure he’s managed to avoid her this time.
Aaron lets out a sigh of relief, turning around and bumping into someone, letting out a soft grumble, what was probably meant to be an apology, his eyes making contact with blue ones. Oh shit . His face heats up as his eyes flick to the purple mask, gold trim, holographic gems. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit-
“Oh shit.” The words tumble out of his mouth without him even realizing until a split second later, startling the both of them. Aaron began to mentally beat himself up, about to correct himself, before the ginger man in front of him lets out a laugh.
Aaron takes a step back, giving the man another look, realizing he had taken off the suit jacket in favor of comfort, and his hair seemed a bit ruffled, as if he made a point to undo the smooth style it was in before.
“Such foul language for a party as fancy as this, hmm?” The ginger man snickers, holding up the mostly empty glass of champagne that is in his hand, drinking it quickly.
“Oh, uh, yeah, I uh- I guess?” Aaron tries to keep his eyes averted, able to feel the heat in his cheeks and the tips of his ear, avoiding eye contact. “So uh, what’s your name?” He lets his gaze shift to the ginger man’s eyes before looking away again, feeling incredibly embarrassed.
“I mean, I’d tell you, but isn’t this like, an anonymous party?”
“Well, sure, but first names aren’t enough to know exactly who you are, right?”
The man smiles, letting out a soft laugh. “Sure, you’re right. I’ll tell you mine only if you tell me yours first.” He spoke with a grin.
“My name’s Aaron.”
“Hm, I don’t know anyone named Aaron, so that’s good.”
“Why’s that good?”
“Cause everyone I know is fuckin’ boring.” He sighs exasperatedly, tilting his head off to the side. “Saw you earlier and figured you were pretty interesting.” The man taps his own mask twice as he spoke to signal the other to what he meant.
“Oh, my mask? Yeah, I was kinda dragged here on short notice, so I dug out this old thing. Didn’t realize it was broken until I got it from the bottom of my closet, but-” Aaron pauses for a moment, eyes flicking up to look at the man’s face before looking down at his hands. “Ah, you didn’t ask…” Aaron interrupts his explanation, biting his bottom lip in nervousness. He didn’t need to tell this man every detail of his personal life, I mean, look at him, he’s clearly rich and more important and he probably doesn’t care-
“Hey, it’s better than listening to whatever shit everyone else wants to talk about.” He shrugged, looking around. “Nice to meet you, Aaron, glad you’re as interesting as I had hoped.” The man smiles brightly at him, giving a slight wave before turning and walking away.
“Nice to meet you too- wait, hey! You didn’t tell me your name!” Aaron calls out, trying to follow him, but the strange man has disappeared again, leaving Aaron standing awkwardly by himself.
Aaron let out a sigh, starting to move towards where the man had gone, until his stomach made a soft grumbling sound, making him pause. He glances over at the nearest table with what he hopes has food, making his way towards it. He grabs one of the thin glasses of champagne, and, now expecting the taste, took a swig from it.
He jumps when he feels another arm lock into his, looking at the woman that held onto him.
“Aaron! You left me!” Abbi tugs on his arm, noticeably upset. “You said you were going to stay right there!”
“I uh, wanted to get a drink, sorry…” Aaron holds up the glass in his hand. “Forgot uh, where I was supposed to go back to.” He shrugs, looking off to the side.
“Oh, you should have told me that before I left, we could have gone to get some.”
“Ah, yeah, but, I uh- figured you would rather clean yourself up than get some stupid drink with me.” Aaron comes up with all of the lies on the spot, worried she’s not believing him at all.
“That’s a sweet thing for you to do, Aaron. See, I’m already helping you.” Abbi hummed with a smile.
Her statement only made Aaron feel sick, clenching his fists. “Yeah, helping me…” He takes another swig from the glass, looking away. “Well, I’m rather hungry, so like, I’m going to get some food.” He glances around to find a table with one of the platters on it, Abbi suddenly pulling on his arm to lead him towards one before he could even notice it. He lets out a soft yelp as he’s yanked over to one of the tables, simultaneously trying to avoid knocking into people as he’s dragged over and trying to keep an eye out for the mysterious man.
Once they get to the table, Abbi surveys everything, Aaron watching her quietly, mimicking what she does to get her food, only taking what she gets from the table. Aaron takes a bite of the food he had gotten, immediately cringing in disgust, wanting to just throw it away, but god, he doesn’t know where the trash cans are and he doesn’t want to just leave the half-eaten food at the table and Abbi is watching him and everyone is watching him so he does his best to just finish all of this disgusting food just so everyone can stop fucking staring at him and-
“Aaron, are you alright?” Abbi rests a hand on his arm, making Aaron flinch.
“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m perfectly fine.” He snapped at her, taking the last swig from his glass before setting it down, wanting to get rid of the awful taste in his mouth.
She crosses her arms, letting out a huff of air. “You don’t need to be so rude, you know.”
“I’m not being rude, you’re just asking me stupid fucking questions, obviously I’m okay, if I wasn’t okay I would’ve told you that.” He sneers down at his date.
“Obviously you’re not or else you wouldn’t have an attitude with me, Aaron! You don’t need to talk back to me like that!”
Aaron flinches back, the phrasing of her words startling him, making him remember someone he hates, the reason he’s even here in the first place, the reason he needs to be fixed.
“I’m leaving.” He mumbles, taking a step back.
“Wh- What No! You can’t leave, I- I’m supposed to help you, Aaron, I’m supposed to teach you how to love, I-”
“Stop. Just leave me alone, for like, fuck, like half an hour at least. I at least want some kind of freedom, please.” Aaron watches her, searching her face, her expression, Abbi staring back.
She hesitated for a moment before crossing her arms, looking off to the side. “I shouldn’t trust you by yourself, you haven’t changed at all, and I want you to be perfect by the end of the night, and if I’m not there then you can’t be helped… But fine. I’ll let you go off and do whatever it is that you want to do. Not that there’s much you can do here by yourself anyway…” Abbi’s voice trails off before her eyes snap back to Aaron’s. “But fine. Thirty minutes, then meet me back here, alright? I’m sure you’ll be back before then, but… you get thirty minutes.”
Aaron frowned, not particularly enjoying the way she phrased her words, but took his opportunity and turned away, quickly walking through the crowd and away from the woman wearing the lime-green mask.
Aaron held himself as he carefully made his way to another room, where he heard the soft music coming from, deciding that perhaps there is something interesting in there. He goes through a doorway, finding himself in a new and rather large room. Inside, he can see couples dancing along to the classical music being played by instruments he couldn’t even name.
He’s about to turn to leave, considering he knows he can’t dance- and that seems to be the only thing to do- until he notices a ginger man wearing a purple mask on the other side of the room, sitting on a bench against the wall, watching couples dance in the middle of the room. Aaron walks along the side so as to not get in the way of the people dancing, going towards the mysterious man in the purple mask.
“So, you’re not going to go out there and dance?” Aaron hummed to the man once he got close enough, sitting next to him on the bench with a smile.
“Oh, Aaron, it’s nice to see you again. No, I’m not dancing, I just like to watch.” The man looked over at Aaron, who was looking down at his hands as he played with his tie absentmindedly.
“What, don’t you have a date?”
“Nah, I was kinda dragged here by my parents. They thought it’d be my style, cause I like parties, but I don’t like the kinds that are as fancy as this, this kinda shit’s way too boring for me. But, enough about me, why aren’t you dancing?”
“Well, uh… I don’t want to.”
“Really? And you don’t have a date either.”
“Well, I do, I guess. She’s just… I dunno, I don’t really like her much.”
“Really? Is she the one with the bright green mask?”
“Yeah actually, uh, wait, how did you know that?”
“Saw you with her a few times.” The man shrugs as he looks out at the rest of the room. “You haven’t really been with anyone else, so I kinda assumed.”
Aaron’s face flushes slightly as he tugs on his tie a bit. “Ah, yeah…”
The man looks over at Aaron and hums softly, getting up from his seat and reaching a hand towards the other.
“Come dance with me.”
Aaron’s brown eyes flick up to meet bright blue ones.
“I-I don’t even know your name.”
“Let’s dance and I’ll tell you then, yeah?” The man keeps his arm outstretched for Aaron, the other finally accepting the hand and standing up, letting himself be pulled towards the middle of the room.
Aaron looks around, suddenly aware of the number of people in the room, the feeling of everyone in the room staring at him making his heart quicken, he knows he can’t dance and he didn’t say anything, he should have said something before he became the center of attention, everyone is going to see him fail, and oh god, everyone can see how anxious he is but he promised himself he would never let anyone see it-
Just as he’s about to turn and run, the man takes Aaron’s chin in his hand, using it to turn his head and make the other look at him.
“Aaron, keep your eyes on mine… let’s just dance, okay?”
He nods dumbly, keeping his eyes on the other’s, gazing into his beautiful deep blue eyes. The man takes Aaron’s hands in his, making him panic for a moment, stepping back and pulling his hands away, making the purple-masked man frown slightly.
“Do you not want to dance?”
“No, no, it’s not that, I just- I…” Aaron looks away and covers the lower part of his face in embarrassment as his face flushes a deeper pink. “I just… I have no idea how to dance.”
“Ohh, that makes sense… well, here, I can teach you a little something, or we can just stand here and kinda just move side-to-side. I mean, it’s what some people are doing.” He gestures towards the crowd, humming as he does.
“I don’t- I don’t think I’ll be any good at dancing, never really been one for uh, music or dancing and such.”
“That’s alright.” The man smiled at him, hands moving to grab onto Aaron’s hips, pulling him closer.
“My name’s Milo.”
Milo.
Aaron looks at the man, Milo, cheeks only turning a deeper color, the tips of his ears burning.
Milo grins and pulls Aaron’s arms up to rest on his shoulders before going back to holding onto his waist.
“And then you kinda just sway like this.” Milo starts to rock on his heels in a side-to-side motion, Aaron trying his best to mimic what the other is doing, “Haha see! You’ve got it!” He smiles brightly, eyes crinkling closed as he lets out a soft laugh.
Aaron’s eyes soften, giving Milo a smile in return, finally relaxing for the first time that night after having been so tense. He looks the other in the eyes once more, his gaze being met, and his heart melts . He finally understands what he was supposed to feel before, and he’s suddenly both so much more anxious and so much more calm than before, caught in a shifting tide between the biggest emotion he’s known for so long and the most unusual emotion he’s felt in his life.
And he knows he can love. He knows he never needed to be saved like Abbi had told him, that he could only achieve happiness by learning to love her. He knows that he can’t be forced into feeling something that comes purely from his heart. And he knows what that feeling is. And he knows that Milo helped him feel it.
And the two men stand and sway there for the rest of the song that plays.
And Aaron is content.
Until Milo’s eyes break the gaze as they flick over to where he sees a flash of toxic green, letting go of Aaron and backing up a couple of steps.
“I think your date has arrived.”
Aaron turns to see his rather disgruntled date, her arms crossed over her chest, giving him a dark glare.
“Oh shit.”
Aaron glances behind him to look at Milo, only to find him gone again.
“Fucking hell.”
Abbi marches up to Aaron and grabs onto his arm, making him tense up all over again, trying to pull his arm back, but she doesn’t release her grip.
“You just left and didn’t come back!” Abbi shouts at him, tugging his arm to punctuate her sentence.
Her yelling makes Aaron glance around nervously, noticing some people turning their heads to look at the two of them, his face burning red from embarrassment.
“Abbi, please, not here.” Aaron pleads, showing genuine anxiousness and fear in his dark brown eyes, his emotions showing in his voice.
“Fine.” She huffs, pulling him by his arm through different rooms, leading him to the front doors, Aaron narrowly avoiding knocking into people as he’s dragged outside.
When the two get outside, Aaron manages to yank his arm back, having to tug a few times before Abbi actually let go. He holds onto the arm she had her grip on, glaring down at her.
“You didn’t have to embarrass me in there, you know. I was barely even gone for ten fucking minutes and you fucking lost it!” Aaron snaps, taking a step back from her.
“You didn’t come back! You’ve been avoiding me all night and you won’t even try to let me help you! You can’t get any better when you’re not even with me! You can’t learn to love me if you won’t even be near me!”
Aaron lets out a growl, sneering at the woman in front of him. “I don’t love you! I don’t love you and I never will! You can’t make me fucking love you, I hate you, I fucking hate you!”
Abbi gasped, tears welling up in her eyes, holding her shaking hands close to her chest. “You don’t mean that! You’re just misguided and need my help, you’re broken and I need to fix you-”
“No! No I fucking don’t need your help, I’m not broken! I- I won’t fall for your bullshit anymore, Abbi! I don’t fucking love you! I never fucking will, can you get that through your fucking head?! Whatever we are, whatever this is, it’s fucking over. I don’t ever want to talk to you again, fuck you.”
With those words, Aaron turns on his heels and storms back into the mansion, leaving the blonde-haired woman in the black lace dress and toxic-green mask alone in the cold night.
Aaron searches for Milo, rushing into different rooms, eyes scanning over every face, searching for that purple mask and blue eyes, hoping and wishing that he hasn’t left yet. He disregards any looks he’s getting from people around him, only focused on finding Milo, desperately looking for him.
“Please tell me you haven’t left yet, please please, please let me find you..” He mumbles to himself as he glances over everyone’s face, wandering from room to room in search of Milo.
Right before Aaron walks into a new room, a hand taps him on the shoulder, making him spin around to see who it is, brown eyes locking with bright blue ones.
“Milo.” Aaron breathes out, his voice expressing how genuinely relieved he is.
“Looking for me?" Milo grins up at the other, making Aaron relax once more, giving him a soft smile in return.
“Yeah, I was.”
“You don’t seem to be very good at that, if I’m being honest.” Milo hummed out, snickering softly.
Aaron’s face heats up, cheeks reddening. “I-I uh-”
Milo nudges his side, giving a soft laugh. “I’m just poking fun, you know. So, why have you been looking for me all night, hm?”
Aaron looks away, tilting his head off to the side as he rubs his arm. “Do you want the real answer?”
“Don’t see why I wouldn’t.”
Aaron takes a deep breath, making eye contact with Milo, trying to hold the gaze.
“You… make me feel differently. My date, Abbi, she was- I… I broke things off with her, she was shit, but you…” Aaron pauses, taking another deep breath. “You make me feel just- something I haven’t felt before, something better. You make me feel something that she tried her best to make me feel but never could.”
Milo’s eyes widen in surprise, his own cheeks flushing a pink color from Aaron’s statement. “I uh…” He hesitates, unsure of what to say.
And Aaron panics.
His heart rate picks up and he’s suddenly sick to his stomach, eyes nervously looking over his face, hoping he didn’t make Milo hate him, eyes moving down to stare at the floor, vision blurring slightly from what he’s sure are tears getting ready to form, thinking he let out far too much far too soon, all of his heart laid bare for Milo to see, only to ruin it all, for Milo to not feel the same way-
“This is… new. Not bad, but new.”
Aaron’s gaze shifts back to Milo, once he hears his voice, blinking his tears away.
Milo looks off to the side, thinking for a moment before he speaks, looking back up at Aaron. “I knew you were different, but I wasn’t sure how. You seemed interesting, and you still do. You’re fun, something exciting… and I want to see more.” He lifts a hand to hold Aaron’s jaw gently. “I mean, I love trying new things.”
They both smile at each other, Milo using his free hand to grab onto one of Aaron’s. “Come on, let’s go have fun, just dance for a while. The night is almost over and I’ve barely been able to talk to you.”
“Yeah, let’s go do that…” Aaron smiled, Milo dropping his hand from the other’s face to turn and start walking to the room with the music, Aaron walking beside him, hand in hand.
Milo pulls him closer to the corner of the room, holding onto Aaron’s waist and smiling up at him. “I don’t want everyone looking at us, I’m sure you’ve had enough of that already. I just want to relax without people staring ‘cause we’re the only interesting ones at this stupid party.”
Aaron nods in response, laughing softly. “You’re right… I’ve had enough people stare at me for tonight.”
Milo grabs Aaron’s arms and puts them on his shoulders, returning his hands to his hips, humming softly. “Forgot how this goes?”
“Ah, uh- maybe…” Aaron’s face slowly turns a deeper pink as he avoids the other’s gaze.
“It’s alright, I know it’s been a long night for you.” Milo’s hand cups the other’s jaw again, this time Aaron leaning into the touch, making him feel so comfortable and happy.
And Milo is pulling Aaron’s face down, and Milo’s eyes are closing and Milo’s face is so much closer and Aaron’s starting to panic, what is he supposed to do is Milo about to kiss him, he’s never done this before, and they’re almost touching and he wants to pull away and-
Aaron feels Milo’s warm lips on his, and they’re so soft compared to his own dry and cracked ones, and it’s surprising, but he doesn’t pull away. Milo’s lips taste like the sweet champagne served at the party, and Aaron loves it. He loses himself in the kiss for what feels like hours, only to be reminded when Milo pulls from it that it only lasted for but a moment.
Milo looks up at Aaron, cheeks dusted pink, giving him a smile.
Aaron stares down at the other for a few seconds before blurting out “Can we do that again?”
Milo laughs and nods, pulling Aaron in for another kiss.
The two of them stand there and sway, enjoying each other’s presence until people begin to leave, Aaron glancing around nervously.
Milo takes one of his hands in his own, making Aaron look at him.
“Do you want to go?”
“I- I do, but-”
“You want to come with me?”
Aaron bites his lip, eyes flicking away as he gives a nod in response.
“Then let’s go, alright?” Milo gives Aaron a quick kiss before using his hold on his hand to lead him out of the front doors, the two walking beside each other.
Once they’re outside, Aaron smiles and takes a deep breath of the cool night air, looking over at Milo, who pulls on one of the ribbons behind his head, the tie that held the mask to his face coming undone. He pulls the mask off and looks over at Aaron, humming softly.
Aaron only stares, fully taking in the sight, his heart only softening further, a lovestruck smile forming.
“Well, aren’t you going to take yours off?” Milo interrupts Aaron’s thoughts, making him blink a few times in surprise.
“Oh, yeah, right.” He chuckles nervously, pulling his mask up and off, biting his lip again as he looks down, nervous that Milo won’t reciprocate the feelings he has for the other’s appearance.
Milo pulls Aaron down by his tie for another kiss, surprising Aaron, but he doesn’t object, enjoying every second of it. Milo pulls away from the kiss and takes Aaron’s hand again, leading him away from the party, their masks discarded in the grass.