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The Snoring Bison inn is not the best inn. It is also not the worst inn. It is an average inn, a medium inn. Medium sized, medium quality in food. It isn’t so crowded that you can’t hear yourself think, but it has enough patrons for a party of five to blend in well.
It is their last night staying in the Snoring Bison before they carry on. They have stayed for a week, while Zack recovered from his magical exhaustion. They picked the Snoring Bison because it isn’t good enough to have any attention on it, but isn’t bad enough to be the sort of place where you get stabbed in the middle of the night.
For the first few nights, Zack stayed in their room, lying in a muddy daze of sleepiness. Milo had to coax him to eat. And so Milo and Melissa also generally ate in their room, not wanting to leave him alone. He tried to insist that they should go downstairs anyway, but they stayed firm.
He has to admit that he is glad. He had been utterly miserable during those first few days of the exhaustion, so Milo and Melissa’s constant presence had been a help. Their cheerful banter cut through the fog somewhat.
Once he recovered enough to hold up his own head for more than ten minutes, they decided to eat downstairs instead. Zack still mostly just picked, sickness making the mediocre food taste like mud and sawdust.
Milo and Melissa dance together every night. They dance together like they fight together- perfectly in sync, with a connection between them borne from years of friendship. Years of partnership. Zack is sure that the fireplace dances in sync with them, that their feet kick up sparks. They dance like a raging wildfire- quick, blazing, bold.
Tonight, there is no break in the routine. Melissa stands and offers Milo her hand. They dance together, cloaks spinning around each other as they smile. Zack enjoys watching them dance. It looks like fun. He has danced before, but never like that- he has never really had the chance to learn. He would often deprive himself of things like that. Of joy.
Milo is spun around by Melissa. They break apart, stomp a few times, before coming back together. But when Melissa grasps his hands again, she leans closer, whispers into his ear. “Ask Zack to dance with you.”
“Oh yeah, the three of us could dance together!” Milo exclaims, pleased by the idea. Melissa shakes her head, giving him an exasperated look. Milo isn’t sure what he could’ve done to earn that.
“Just you two.”
Milo blinks, but nods. “Ok!” He lets go of her hands and hurries back to the table. Zack has completely finished his stew. It makes Milo happy to see that his friend has recovered. “Zack, wanna dance?”
Zack looks up at him, surprised. “I don’t know how to.”
“I’ll teach you! It’s really easy.” Milo offers his hand, smiling down at him with the sun in his eyes. How does anyone ever say no to Milo? Zack nods, taking his hand. It is warm and calloused. Milo doesn’t give him much time to think about that, instead immediately pulling him over to the dance floor.
Melissa passes them. She holds her hand up for a high five. Zack blinks at her, then realises what she means. His face heats, embarrassment flooding through him. He does, however, return the high five.
Milo pulls him onto the dance floor and takes his other hand. “Ok, I’ll lead. Just follow what I do.” And then Zack is pulled into a dance that he definitely doesn’t know. His feet fumble for the ground as Milo spins him around and leads him across the dance floor.
He is pressed close to Milo, extremely close. Heat is rising in his cheeks that has nothing to do with the blazing fire. His hands are sweaty, surely Milo must notice? But if he does, he doesn’t say anything. He just keeps dancing, face flushed with happiness. He doesn’t seem to care that Zack keeps stumbling.
Zack’s nerves fade as they dance, soon replaced by a warm, safe sort of happiness. The kind that he always feels around Milo. Because Milo is holding him close, and helping him learn with his usual bright patience, and soon Zack can meet Milo’s flushed smile with one of his own.
When Zack gets the hang of the steps, they speed up more to match the speed of the music. Zack finds that he can keep up easily now that he has learned, so they dance around the room like conjoined spinning tops. Their feet stomp in time with the rhythm, kicking up sparks. They spin and spin until the world around them has faded and there is only each other.
And then they stop. Zack exhales, leaning on his knees. “Whoa.” He gasps for the breath that was stolen from his lungs by the dancing. But he is smiling, sweat coating his warm face. And Milo is smiling back, smiling with eyes filled with fire.
“Yeah, it’s a tiring dance!” Milo laughs. His face is flushed to a bright red, his breaths are fast. “But you’re so good at it!”
“Thanks.” Zack wipes the sweat from his brow. “I’m sure that I nearly tripped you a few times, sorry about that.”
“You didn’t!” Milo exclaims. “Well, maybe a couple of times. But that’s the fun of the dance. It’s never perfect.”
“Nothing ever is.” Zack laughs.
“Exactly!” Milo grabs his arm and leads him back to the table. As he sits down, Melissa makes eye contact with him and wiggles her eyebrows, leaning closer. He scowls and pushes her face away.
It’s not like he hadn’t noticed his feelings for Milo. Not noticing that would be like not noticing a raging wildfire. But things like this just make those feelings even more noticeable. Like adding fuel to the wildfire.
———
Melissa considers herself the most patient, most understanding friend in the world. She has spent weeks third wheeling with Milo and Zack, listening to them talk about each other.
But Milo has been talking about dancing with Zack for ten minutes now. Ten minutes straight. And she is officially at her limit. “Ok, ok, I get it. Zack’s perfect and brilliant and you love him.”
“What?” Milo’s face reddens. “No, I… yeah. Yeah.” He sighs, leaning back against the wall.
Melissa laughs sympathetically, patting his shoulder.
She watched them dance, and they are good dancing partners if nothing else. Zack learned quickly, and they have an easy connection. They just work well together, fit well together. Of course, she also has a connection like that with them. The two of them just have something different.
“Hey, I better not be losing my dance partner over this.” Melissa elbows him.
“Of course not.” Milo elbows her back.