Chapter Text
The ballroom was pure decadence.
Crystal chandeliers spilled golden light onto polished marble floors, and velvet drapes in midnight blue lined the grand windows. The place echoed with music—a haunting blend of violins and a soft beat that pulsed like a secret heartbeat. Everyone was in disguise. Feathered masks, glittering eye veils, sharp tuxedos and gowns, all floating in an intoxicating sea of anonymity.
Remi was in his element.
With his champagne flute balanced between two fingers and a black and silver mask covering half his face, Remi leaned against the balcony rail inside the grand ballroom. The Heathens and the Elites had actually managed to throw a ball without someone getting punched—or worse, assassinated.
He laughed to himself.
Tonight, he was just a man in a mask..
Just mystery.
And freedom.
…..
He danced with a few strangers—twirled, laughed, flirted lightly, but nothing stuck. The crowd swirled around him like smoke, and the music played on. Then, sometime near midnight, when the air was thick with perfume and secrets, someone approached him.
Not just anyone.
Someone who felt like a question mark..
The stranger offered his hand for a dance, not voicing anything as if to hide his identity.
Remi blinked, then smirked. “You gonna lead or follow?”
A soft chuckle that sounded too familiar. And a shrug
The dance was electric. Every move was perfectly timed, their bodies never too close, never too far—just enough to feel the gravity between them. Remi didn’t know who he was dancing with, but God, it felt like the universe had aligned for this one moment.
They weren’t speaking anymore.
Their silence was louder than the music.
Remi tilted his head up, eyes searching through the stranger’s mask. His heart was thudding like war drums.
“Can I ask you something?” he said softly.
The masked stranger paused and gave a hum.
Remi bit his lip, unsure why the words slipped out like instinct.
“Kiss me.”
A breath caught.
Then, hands slid into his hair and lips met his.
Soft. Firm. Confident.
It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a moment. Like a lock clicking into place, like the universe exhaled. Fireworks behind closed eyelids. Something right, and Remi’s world tilted for a split second.
The kiss ended too soon.
He opened his eyes, dazed. “That was—”
But the stranger was already walking away, disappearing into the masquerade crowd without a word.
Remi stood there, lips tingling, heart in disarray.
“…a ten out of ten,” he finished aloud, blinking.
He didn’t even get their name.
……
Remi paced in his room with a coffee in one hand and his phone in the other. His group chat with the Heathens and Elites was blowing up with gossip about last night’s mysterious people and hidden flings, but all Remi cared about was his mystery kisser.
He sent a single text to the group:
“Who wore a black suit with a gold-trimmed mask and kissed someone around midnight? Asking for a friend. That friend is me.”
No answers.
Only teasing replies.
Creighton King, his best friend, had heart-reacted to the message and sent a gif of someone blushing.
Remi rolled his eyes.
“Ugh, Creigh, be useful for once.”
……
Creighton sat in his room with his phone on his lap, staring at Remi’s message like it would burn a hole through the screen. His fingers hovered over the keys, then backspaced.
He couldn’t say it.
He couldn’t say: It was me.
It wasn’t supposed to happen.
He had told himself he could handle just watching from the shadows. Loving Remi from the sidelines. He’d been crushing on Remi for years, and he never said a word—not when Remi got drunk and crashed on his shoulder, not when Remi danced with other people at parties, not when Remi said he’d never fall for someone in their circle.
But last night?
Last night, Remi looked so beautiful he couldn’t resist.
So when Creighton saw him standing alone, laughing under the light of the chandeliers, he’d acted on impulse.
Just a kiss. Just one kiss. And he would keep the memory like a secret pressed between the pages of a book.
But now Remi was searching for him.
And Creighton was scared—terrified—that if Remi found out, it would ruin everything.
What if Remi hated him for it?
What if it broke the only thing they had left?
Their friendship.
…..
The clock struck 2:07 AM.
The rain pelted the windows in rhythmic waves, and the city beneath was swallowed by mist and silence. Inside Eli King’s windows, the lights were dim and the couch was claimed by one emotionally ruined man—Creigh, sprawled like a ghost of regret.
Eli, CEO by day and annoyed older brother by night, sat in an armchair with a whiskey in one hand and a very clear wish to be asleep in the other.
Creighton was mid-rant. A full-blown spiral.
“And THEN I KISSED HIM.”
Eli let out a groan into his glass. “Creigh. For the love of all that is holy, I have a 9 a.m. board meeting.”
Creighton waved a hand, dramatic as ever, nearly knocking over the throw pillow. “This is more important than your morally corrupt billion-dollar merger, Eli. My life is over.”
“You kissed your best friend at a masquerade,” Eli deadpanned, not looking up. “It’s not murder.”
“It might as well be,” Creighton muttered, clutching the sides of his hoodie. “Remi will hate me. You don’t get it. He trusted me! And then I just—stole a kiss like some dark, desperate antihero. I AM THE PROBLEM. It’s me.”
Eli sighed. “Have you been listening to Taylor Swift again?”
“That’s not the point!” Creighton cried. “He said it was a ten out of ten kiss, Eli. Ten. Out. Of. Ten. And I—I just vanished! Like I was Zorro. And now he’s searching for the mystery man like a fairy tale quest and I—I just sit here like a fraud.”
Eli finally looked at him. “Then tell him the truth.”
Creighton gasped like Eli had just told him to walk into oncoming traffic.
“Are you insane?! If I tell him, he’ll never speak to me again! He’ll laugh, or worse—pity me. I’ve ruined our friendship. I’ve tainted it with my feelings.”
Eli leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Creighton, I say this with all the love I can muster at two in the morning: you are so unnecessarily dramatic.”
Creighton flopped face-down into the couch cushions. His voice was muffled. “I’m going to fake my death. Move to the Alps. Change my name to something poetic, like Luca.”
“No one named Luca cries this much.”
Creighton popped his head up, eyes wild. “Do you think Remi likes men named Luca?”
“I think Remi likes you, dumbass.”
That shut Creighton up.
For exactly three seconds.
“...Wait, what? You think he likes me? Like—like likes me?”
Eli stared at him. “Creighton. He ran through a thunderstorm to your door when you didn’t your phone last year during your finals. Looking like a Nicholas Sparks plot twist..”
Creighton looked shell-shocked.
Eli said, standing. “God, I need sleep. I cannot guide your little love saga like a one-man Greek chorus anymore.”
Creighton flopped back onto the couch, groaning.
“I’ll just go live with goats in the Alps.”
“Go to bed, Creigh.”
“I’ve already emotionally exiled myself—”
“Go. To. Bed.”
Creighton curled into the couch like a kicked puppy. “Fine. But if I die in my sleep, tell Remi he was the only ten out of ten thing in my life.”
Eli was halfway to the stairs. “I will tell him to move on.”
“ELI!”
“Good night, Luca.”
…….
“I’m telling you, Ava. Cecily. That kiss… it was life-changing.”
Remi slumped back in the velvet booth seat, eyes glazed with something dangerously close to swooning. His hands were gesturing midair like he was describing a dream, and honestly, he kind of was.
Ava raised a brow, lifting her espresso cup with practiced grace. “Life-changing?”
Cecily leaned in. “Be honest. Was it really that good, or are you just obsessed with the idea of a masked mystery lover sweeping you off your feet like it’s a Bridgerton spinoff?”
“No, no, no.” Remi’s tone dropped into something reverent, almost sacred. “It wasn’t just the drama of it all. It was the kiss. It was—ugh.”
He buried his face in his hands and let out a muffled groan.
Cecily smirked. “That good?”
“I swear on my favorite hoodie. Ten out of ten. Hands down, best kiss I’ve ever had. Like…” He stared dreamily at the café ceiling. “He touched my waist and leaned in like he meant it, and when he kissed me, it wasn’t rushed. It was like he knew what I needed before I did. Gentle. Deep. Perfect.”
Ava grinned. “You’re in trouble.”
“I am!” Remi said, slapping the table lightly. “Because now I can’t stop thinking about him! And it’s so stupid, because I don’t even know who he is! He vanished before I could ask his name, and now I’m just this hopeless, aching fool trying to reverse engineer a kiss.”
Cecily stirred her tea. “And here I thought you’d never get over Creighton.”
Remi stilled.
The mention of that name was a needle to the heart, one he’d learned to breathe through. Slowly.
He sighed, looking out the café window as pedestrians passed under umbrellas.
“I mean... yeah,” he said softly. “I always thought maybe... maybe Creigh and I could’ve been something. You know? We’ve always been close. He understands me. And sometimes he looks at me like I’m more than just his chaotic friend. But then I’d second-guess it. Like maybe I was just wanting too much.”
Ava gave him a long, knowing look. “You’re not someone who wants small things, Remi.”
“I’m not,” he whispered. “But it doesn’t matter. He never made a move. And I wasn’t going to ruin our friendship.”
He exhaled, twisting the ring on his pinky.
“And now, I don’t know… maybe that kiss was fate’s way of telling me to move on. That maybe someone else is out there who sees me like that. Wants me like that.”
Cecily blinked. “So you're catching feelings for a ghost with good lips?”
Remi flushed. “It’s not just the kiss, okay?! There was something in the way he held me. He wasn’t scared of me. He just wanted me. Like I wasn’t too loud or too much.”
Ava tilted her head. “And if the masked kisser turns out to be someone you know?”
“I’ll kiss him again,” Remi said, fierce and certain. “Because anyone who kisses like that—knows me like that—deserves at least that much.”
Cecily’s smirk faded into something softer. “So you’re really letting go of Creigh?”
Remi looked down at his coffee, quiet for a long moment. Then:
“I think... I have to. Maybe I’ve been holding on to a version of him that doesn’t even exist. A version who’d see me like that. But now…”
He gave them a smile, one more bitter than sweet.
……
“I’m going to do it,” Remi declared, flinging his arm over his eyes like a Victorian ghost bride. “I’m going to find him.”
Creighton looked up from where he was peeling the wrapper off a candy bar. “Find who?”
Remi peeked out from under his arm, eyes wide with intensity. “The mystery kisser, Creigh. The one from the masquerade ball. The one who kissed me like he knew me, like he was meant to kiss me.”
Creighton froze. The candy bar dropped onto the carpet.
“…Oh,” he said faintly.
Remi sat up, completely serious now. “He disappeared right after. And I haven’t stopped thinking about that kiss for days. Like, if that’s what heaven feels like, I’m done. I’ve peaked. I need closure.”
Creighton tried to breathe. “Closure. Right.”
“So here’s the plan.” Remi leaned forward, clasping his hands with way too much energy. “I’m going to recreate the scene. I made a list. I’m going to kiss everyone who was at the ball until I find him.”
Creighton blinked. “Wait, what.”
“I know it sounds insane. But it’s science, Creigh. Empirical data.” He pulled out his notes. “First up—Eli. He was wearing a similar suit. Then maybe Landon—he’s smug enough to pull off a dramatic kiss and ditch maneuver. Maybe even Vaughn. He has that brooding thing going on—”
“You’re going to kiss Eli?” Creighton croaked.
Remi looked up, shrugging. “Why not? If it was him, I need to know. I can’t live with this mystery. That kiss—it changed me, Creigh.”
Creighton opened his mouth, then closed it.
Then opened it again.
And then finally snapped, “Don’t kiss Eli.”
Remi frowned. “Why not?”
“Because—” Creighton scrambled to his feet like someone whose nerves had just burst into flame. “Because you don’t need to! Because it’s stupid and you’re going to kiss a bunch of people and what if it wasn’t them and you’re just giving away kisses like Halloween candy—”
“Creighton,” Remi said slowly, standing up too, “why are you yelling?”
Creigh took a breath. Then another. He stared at Remi, fists clenched, jaw tight.
And then—he cracked.
“Because it was me, alright?! I kissed you.”
Remi blinked. “What?”
Creigh's voice dropped. “At the masquerade. It was me. I recognized you immediately. And I knew it was a stupid idea, but I couldn’t help it. You looked so happy. So bright. And then you smiled at me and I just—wanted.”
He turned away, pacing like a trapped animal now, wild with nerves. “And then you kissed back, and for a second, I thought maybe—just maybe—you felt the same. But then you said you didn’t know who it was and I panicked. I ran.”
Remi didn’t move. Not a sound.
Creighton kept rambling, trying to outrun his own humiliation. “I didn’t want to ruin what we have. I thought if you knew it was me, you’d be—disappointed or, worse, angry. I’ve had a crush on you for years, Remi. But I kept my mouth shut. Until the one night I didn’t. And now you’re out here ready to kiss half of the Island and I—I can’t take it.”
He finally turned to face Remi again. “So yeah. It was me. If you hate me, just say it.”
Silence.
And then, slowly, Remi’s eyes widened.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“That was you?”
Creighton nodded, bracing for impact.
But instead of anger, Remi’s face broke into something radiant. Hopeful. Amazed.
“Oh my god,” Remi said, taking a step closer. “That was you.”
“I said that already,” Creighton mumbled.
Remi laughed. “Creighton, you idiot! I wanted it to be you. I hoped it was you. But you’ve always been so... ‘we’re just friends’ and ‘you’re annoying, Remi’ and ‘stop spilling boba in my car’—I thought you didn’t like me like that!”
Creighton flushed. “I never said any of that.”
“You didn’t have to!” Remi swatted his chest lightly. “I thought I was just projecting.”
And then, with a cheeky grin, he leaned in and whispered, “But if that kiss was you... I don’t need to find anyone else.”
Creighton blinked.
“You mean—”
Remi kissed him.
Soft, sure, and smiling.
And this time, Creighton didn’t run.
……
Later that evening, Creighton would text Eli:
"Crisis averted. I am safe, no need for my funeral."
Eli: "??? I wasn't planning to. But congrats, I guess?"
Remi texted Ava and Cecily:
"UPDATE: MYSTERY SOLVED. It was Creigh. I KNEW his hands felt familiar."
Ava: "About damn time."
Cecily: "I expect wedding invitations, thanks."
.....
Author’s Note
Fuck it.
I know, I know I said I was done writing for the Legacy of Gods fandom… but here we are again. Can you really blame me though? This world—these characters—they never really leave me alone. And writing? Yeah, it’s my one damn comfort when everything else feels loud.
So, here’s the deal: I don’t have the time for long, full-blown stories right now... but that doesn’t mean I’m staying quiet.
You’re getting one-shots.
Canon. Non-canon.
Soft. Dark. Wild. Messy. Obsessive.
Whatever my brain decides to vomit onto the page at 3 a.m.
Bear with me, alright?
And hey—if you don’t vibe with a pairing? Skip it. No worries. Seriously. This is meant to be fun, messy, and full of feelings.
—Ria