Chapter Text
“..Right, right.”
“And then I told her ‘no’, and she kept calling me all night! Gosh!! Like, I’m sorry I can’t go out and get shit-faced when I got a test in the morning!”
Bruno flashed a sympathetic smile as Missy continued on, his eyes wandering to the lounge a few feet away to see, yup, he hadn’t moved an inch; Leone was still sipping holiday wine from his glass, his dark cardigan wrapped tightly around his shoulders, and shrinking a bit when anyone got a little too close. The ravenette felt his heart sink a little; he was hoping this party would be a nice distraction for them both now that their semester was coming to a close, but it seemed like it wasn’t helping at all.
“..ey. Hey!! Earth to Brunoo~!!!”
“Huh? What?”
He turned to see Missy’s slightly annoyed face turn to that of pure smugness.
“You know, you can just go be with your boyfriend instead of half-listening to me.”
Bruno’s cheeks flushed.
“I’m listening, I promise. Plus, he’s not my..boyfriend.”
“ ‘Yet’ . Or is it you guys going stealth or something?”
“We’re not ‘going stealth’ either, Missy.”
The ravenette took another look over to see Abbacchio still there, now checking something on his phone. Missy’s voice picked up again.
“You know it’s not the 80’s or whatever anymore. It’s okay to show you like other guys.”
“Only in a few places. It’s still not..completely risk free here.”
“Hey.”
Bruno felt a nudge at his side, turning to see Missy bumping him with her hip. She motioned again with her head towards the lounge.
“Go. Get. Your. Man. Before someone else with a thing for goths does.”
Before Bruno could make another move, Missy began gently pushing him towards the couch until he was behind the goth, leaving him there to his own devices. Sensing the close presence, Leone whipped around, a scowl on his face, only for it to fall into a neutral look, surprising Bruno.
“Heyyy~..”
“Hi.”
Nervous, Bruno looked around to see all the others minding their own business and no sign of Missy.
“So, um, bit of a bummer party, ugh, isn’t it?”
The ravenette continued to talk as he struggled to get over the long couch, trying to appear a bit more smooth, but he ended up teetering and landing on the couch with a loud sound and making the nearby table scrape across the floor. Recovering from his fall, he looked to see the upside down face of Leone looking down at him, trying to will away a crooked smile.
“It was your idea to drag us here in the first place.”
“Youwannaleave?” In a flurry of movement, Bruno sat up, kneeling on the couch cushion, and locking his gaze on Leone.
The goth’s amber eyes seemed to be lit like a fire’s glow, his silver dyed hair made the lights overhead bounce off in a sort of halo, and his skin was as pale as that of a porcelain doll. All in all, a dark, delicate beauty.
“..hello? Hey, you there?”
“Huh? What’s up?”
“Uh, I told you I..wouldn’t mind getting out of here, if that’s okay with you.”
“Oh yeah! We can head back to my place!..If that’s alright. I mean, I can make us some tea, then we could..watch a movie, or something. If that’s alright with you.”
Leone seemed to ponder it before the corners of his painted lips went up in a small smile.
“Careful. Someone may think you’re trying to make me your girlfriend..”
“Yeah, heh..” I wouldn’t mind though...
In a fluster, Bruno’s eyes wandered until his gaze fixed on a couple by the doorway, smiling as they shared a kiss under a sprig of mistletoe stapled on the doorway before teetering off somewhere. That was the way out too...Then Leone spoke up.
“You know, that mistletoe was declared a symbol of love by the Norse goddess, Frigg, after her son was killed by a spear made out of it.”
Bruno shivered upon hearing this with a nervous smile.
“That’s..quite a killer plant.”
“Mmhm. Now it’s just known for a way for couples to show off..” Leone scoffed, watching as another couple kissed under the doorway.
“I mean, it’s also a nice way to maybe confess to someone at a party..?”
Leone rolled his eyes.
“Feels more like an invitation for open humiliation and possible end of a friendship.”
“Right..”
Bruno sighed silently to himself before downing the rest of his drink, setting it on the nearby table.
“Well, ‘you ready to go? I got some Peppermint flavored tea earlier in the week that we can try.”
Leone brought his head up, downed the rest of his wine and stood up, his body creaking.
“With actual peppermint? Because if it’s that artificial stuff..ugh.”
“Almost everything we have has something artificial in it. Plus, you don’t know until you try it!”
“Geez, you sound like a mom..”
“Heh..”
As the two headed for the door, they slowed at the doorway where the mistletoe hung over them in a taunt. Both looked around to see only a few people looking their way, one or two giving a harsher look, but most not really caring. They looked at each other, opening their mouths to say something, but stopping to let the other speak, starting an odd cycle that went around a few times. Then, in silent agreement, the young men moved to opposite sides of the doorway and shimmied past the threshold so that neither of them went directly under the mistletoe. Once they were past the doorway, the two slipped out the door and into the hallway, both breathing out a tense sigh.
Later...
“C’mon. Say it.”
“No.”
“Just admit it.”
“Screw you.”
“Maybe later.”
That made Bruno snort a bit, covering his face and leaning against the doorway.
“Fine. The peppermint tea..wasn’t..as good as I thought it would be.”
“It was trash.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Absolute trash water.”
“The most failed synthetic tea I’ve ever had the displeasure of tasting.”
“Thank you!”
“But..at least it wasn’t just me suffering.”
“Yeah..”
The two fell into a quick but awkward silence before Bruno broke it with a sigh.
“So, you sure you’re going to be alright getting back to your place?”
“Yup. All sobered up unfortunately, thanks to you, and no one’s going to want to mess with this.”
“Right. You’d fuck ‘em real quick though.”
“Yeah...I guess I’ll..see you in class next..year then?”
“Yeah. If not, I’ll see you soon.”
“Right..”
Just as Leone had his back turned to Bruno, he stopped and sighed.
“You, uh, left something at the party..”
Bruno perked up in a panic.
“What? How did you-?”
The ravenette’s words were stopped short by black painted lips crushing against his in a quick kiss before its owner pulled away, leaving a wet, waxy feeling behind.
“Don’t hate me..” Leone muttered as he turned and ran down the hall, out of sight.
All that was left was silence, broken only by Bruno shutting his door with a squeak. The ravenette numbly brought a hand up to his lips, staining his fingertips black before his tongue stuck out to lick them and his lips, tasting the lip cream.
“Hmm. Blackberry...” He mused with a smile.