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The bottle had already survived three bad spins, one argument about whether Felix had nudged it with his foot, and Robbie nearly knocking it over laughing when one round landed on nobody because Red refused to count a spin that touched the rug edge.
By then the whole common room had settled into noisy disorder — blankets dragged off the couch, half-empty snack bowls on the floor, somebody’s cards bent under Luis’s knee because he had forgotten they were there. Luis Madrigal sat leaning into the couch arm still defending a rule nobody else agreed existed, Max Hatter watched the bottle from the floor beside him like he trusted chaos more than luck, Felix kept reaching across everyone whenever he talked, Robbie laughed before the spin even started, and the Smee Twins had somehow squeezed themselves into the same armchair, one perched on the arm, the other folded sideways, both already whispering predictions loud enough for everyone to hear.
Red crouched forward over the bottle again. “Last one before Pink comes back and starts pretending she wasn’t listening from the kitchen.”
“She is listening from the kitchen,” Felix said.
From somewhere behind the wall, Pink’s voice floated out faintly, offended. “I can hear you.”
Hazel had claimed the far end of the couch early, stretched out like she had no reason to expect the game would ever circle toward her, one ankle crossed over the other and one arm draped along the back cushion while Felix accused her for the second time that night of influencing luck through attitude alone. Across the rug, Chloe had taken the armchair nearest the fireplace, angled just enough toward the room that she could watch everybody without looking fully involved, arms folded, one leg tucked slightly under the other, carrying that careful distance she always slipped into when the room got louder than she preferred even though she had stayed through every round anyway.
“ Just Spin it before Felix starts another speech,” Chloe said.
Felix put a hand to his chest. “Cruel.”
Red grinned and sent the bottle hard across the floor.
Glass rattled over the wood, turned once, twice, clipped lightly against Robbie’s shoe, then slowed.
Luis leaned in first. One of the Smee twins grabbed the other’s sleeve before it even stopped.
The neck landed on Chloe.
The bottom pointed straight at Hazel.
The room exploded.
Robbie dropped backward laughing. Felix hit Luis’s shoulder so hard he nearly tipped over. One of the Smee twins made a noise sharp enough to count as a yell while the other immediately started insisting they had called it first. Max leaned forward with the kind of quiet satisfaction that somehow made Red laugh harder.
Chloe stared at the bottle like maybe looking long enough would change it.
“No.”
“Yes,” Red said before anyone else could.
Hazel turned toward her slowly, grin already there because Chloe had gone still the second the bottle stopped. “What’s the matter, Charming? Scared you’ll fall in love?”
For once Chloe opened her mouth and nothing arrived immediately. The glare came first, quick and sharp, but whatever answer had been ready seemed to disappear somewhere behind the color rising into her face, and that only made the room louder around them.
“Mm.” Hazel tipped her head, taking in the folded arms, the glare, all of it. “Come on. You’ve been through worse, princess.”
The glare sharpened instantly.
“Stop calling me that when you want something.”
“Worked enough that you answered.”
“I'm irritated.”
Luis laughed into his hand. “Still getting up though.”
“I have not moved.”
“Yet,” Felix added.
Hazel pushed herself to her feet first, slow, unbothered, then looked down at Chloe without offering help because that would only make her stay seated longer.
“Whole room’s watching now,” she said lightly. “Can’t disappoint them.”
“That’s exactly what I want to do.”
One of the Smee twins leaned forward from the chair. “If you refuse, Red talks about it for months.”
“Years,” Red corrected.
Chloe exhaled through her nose, long enough to show everyone she hated that they were right, then stood anyway.
The second she did, the room reacted all over again — Felix clapping once, Robbie laughing harder, Luis leaning sideways into Max, both Smee twins talking over each other at once.
Hazel stepped back toward the closet and glanced once at Chloe, grin turning quieter now. “See. Knew you’d survive.”
Chloe brushed past her first toward the door, shoulder clipping Hazel’s arm on purpose.
"Don't, try your luck,Hook."
The closet door shut with Red laughing on the other side of it and Felix still calling through the wood like he intended to count every second out loud. The noise outside blurred almost immediately, muffled into scattered voices and somebody—probably Luis—arguing that seven minutes should start after the door latched, not before. Inside, the space felt warmer than the common room, cedar tucked into old blankets stacked above their heads, spare costumes brushing one wall.
Chloe wasted no time putting distance between them.
She moved straight into the corner nearest the shelf, folded her arms tight across herself, and leaned back just enough that the pout arrived before she even meant it to. It sat there stubbornly, mouth drawn small, chin lifted like she had already decided refusing to look impressed counted as defense.
Hazel let the door settle behind her and took her time looking at that before anything else.
“Love when you do that face.”
Chloe’s brows pulled together. “What face.”
Hazel tipped one shoulder against the shelf instead of answering right away, grin already there. “That one. Like being shoved into a closet with me is the worst thing that’s happened all night.”
“It’s crowded. And loud. And Red is outside.”
“Mm. Tragic setup.” Hazel glanced once toward the door, amused. “Whole thing feels a little unfair. First time I get you in a closet and half the room’s listening.”
The flush came fast enough that Chloe made a small sound under her breath and looked briefly at the floor before catching herself.
“Hazel.”
“What?” She pushed off the shelf then, slow enough that Chloe noticed every step. “They forced us in here. I’m making peace with it.”
“That isn’t peace.”
“Doing my best.”
By the time Hazel stopped in front of her, Chloe still had her arms crossed, though less firmly now, like the posture had started as certainty and become habit. "You Know.." Hazel Said, below a whisper but loud enough for chloe to hear.
Hazel stayed there, close enough that Chloe’s next breath changed.
“I've thought about this before,” Hazel said, quieter now, hand sliding lightly to Chloe’s waist. “First kiss part. Closet wasn’t in the version I had.”
Chloe let out a tiny startled squeak before she could stop it, face warming all over again, and Hazel laughed softly at that, not moving her hand.
“ 's Still cute.. I can work with it.”
“Please stop saying things like that.”
“Why.”
“Because...”
Hazel drew her a little closer, just enough that Chloe’s crossed arms finally broke because there was nowhere sensible to keep them anymore.
One hand caught at Hazel’s sleeve instead.
Hazel waited until Chloe looked up.
“Do you want this.”
Chloe’s lips parted before the answer came. Her fingers had already caught lightly at Hazel’s sleeve, and whatever she meant to say first disappeared under how close Hazel was standing. Hazel lifted one hand slowly, giving Chloe every second to pull away if she wanted, then cupped her jaw with an ease that made Chloe forget the room outside entirely. Her thumb brushed once across Chloe’s bottom lip, light enough to leave the touch almost uncertain, except nothing about Hazel’s face looked uncertain at all.
Hazel held her gaze there first, steady, the kind of look that made Chloe’s breath catch before she could hide it. Then Hazel’s eyes dropped, slow, to Chloe’s mouth, and Chloe followed the movement before she meant to, staring right back at Hazel’s lips like the answer had already arrived somewhere she could not put into words.
A small nod came first.
Then, breathless, softer than she intended, “Yes.”
Hazel did not kiss her yet.
Her hand stayed at Chloe’s jaw, thumb still resting lightly near her mouth, and the faint smile that touched her face only made Chloe lose the little steadiness she had managed to gather.
“Say it”
The words came low, almost unfair in how calmly Hazel said them.
Chloe blinked, caught there for a second, fingers still curled into Hazel’s sleeve. “Hazel—”
“Say it.”
The room outside had disappeared completely by then. Chloe could still hear something muffled through the door — laughter, somebody arguing about time — but it felt far away now, buried under how close Hazel stood and how patiently she waited.
Chloe swallowed once, lips parting.
“I want this,” she said, quieter than before, the words slipping out uneven because Hazel was still looking at her like that. “I want it.”
Hazel’s eyes dropped to her mouth again at once, and this time she closed the distance without another word, kissing her before Chloe could lose courage enough to look away.
It began careful only for a second, brief enough that Chloe had room to pull back if she changed her mind, but she didn’t. The moment Hazel shifted closer again, Chloe answered without hesitation, one hand sliding from Hazel’s sleeve up to her shoulder, the second catching at the back of her jacket as though steadiness had become less reliable than expected.
Hazel drew her nearer fully, hand firm at her waist now, and the second kiss stayed longer, enough that Chloe forgot the wall behind her until Hazel guided her back the last half step and the shelf pressed lightly against her shoulder blades.
Outside, someone knocked once and laughed, distant through the door.
Inside, neither paid attention.
Hazel’s hand moved lower, fingers catching at Chloe’s thigh just enough to pull her closer, and the little breath Chloe gave against her mouth changed the whole shape of the moment. Chloe’s hand dragged down Hazel’s back, not graceful, more instinct than thought, and Hazel kissed her again with less restraint than before, enough that Chloe’s fingers tightened hard in the fabric at her shoulders.
When Hazel broke away only slightly, Chloe followed without meaning to , still too close, cheeks bright, breathing uneven. Hazel paused there just long enough to catch the way Chloe leaned after her, then tipped back in for one last brief kiss, softer this time, before her teeth caught lightly at Chloe’s bottom lip on the way out. The tug was gentle, brief, gone almost as soon as it landed, but it pulled a small startled sound from Chloe before she could stop it, the kind that made her immediately look like she wished the room outside had vanished entirely. Hazel stayed close enough to hear it, smiling in that quiet, pleased way that only made Chloe’s face warm further.
A breath broke from Chloe when Hazel kissed the corner of her mouth and pulled back, and the little sound nearly pulled Hazel further before the knock hit harder this time.
“Time!” Red shouted through the door, delighted with herself.
They broke apart slowly, still too close, Chloe breathing unevenly with her forehead nearly against Hazel’s shoulder before she remembered where they were.
Hazel smiled without trying to hide it.
Outside, the room erupted before the door even opened.
The knock had barely stopped echoing before Hazel reached for the handle, though neither of them moved right away.
Chloe was still against the wall catching her breath, one hand half lifted like she had meant to fix something and forgotten what first. Her hair had come loose near one side of her face, lipstick softened past where it had started, and the front of her blouse sat just uneven enough to show she had stopped caring somewhere in the last minute. Hazel looked at her once, took in all of it, then reached up and straightened the edge of Chloe’s collar with a touch that almost made Chloe lose the small amount of composure she had just recovered.
“There” Hazel said, though the grin said otherwise.
Chloe pushed her hand away, not hard. “I'm so gonna get you later for this, Hook.”
“Lookin' forward to that, Charming.”
Outside, Red hit the door again. “If you two died in there, say something.”
Hazel opened it before Chloe could answer, and the room on the other side went silent for exactly half a second.
Then Felix leaned forward first.
“Oh, that is badly pretending to be normal.”
Luis covered his mouth and failed immediately because the laugh came through anyway. Robbie dropped sideways against the rug, already losing it, and one of the Smee twins pointed straight at Chloe while the other grabbed Max’s sleeve hard enough to shake him.
Max looked between them once, took in Chloe’s face, Hazel’s expression, the lipstick that had not survived intact, and gave a slow nod like something had just confirmed itself.
Red stood with both hands on her hips, staring openly. “No way.”
Hazel stepped out first like nothing had happened, easy again, though Chloe staying half a second behind her only made everything worse because the room had time to notice the flushed face, the smudged lipstick, the sleeve she fixed too late. She reached up almost on instinct the second she crossed the doorway, fingertips brushing her mouth as if checking what was left there, then caught herself licking lightly at her lips before realizing half the room was already staring straight at her. That only made her hand drop faster, which helped nothing at all because Felix noticed immediately and Luis nearly folded over trying not to laugh.
Felix leaned toward Luis and said, loudly enough for everyone, “Ah, yes. closets changes lives.”
Right then Pink came in from the kitchen carrying a tray of cupcakes iced in pink and white, stopping mid-step when she saw the room focused entirely in one direction.
She blinked. “What did I miss?”
Luis looked at Chloe, then Hazel, grin already breaking again.
“The start of something new.”
Pink’s eyes widened instantly. She looked from Hazel to Chloe, caught Chloe trying very hard not to look at anyone, then saw enough to understand everything all at once.
Her gasp came bright and delighted. “Is my favorite ship finally sailing?”
Hazel laughed before she could stop herself.
Chloe made a helpless sound and covered her face with both hands while the room erupted again — Red shouting over Felix, Robbie nearly falling backward, one of the Smee twins clapping while the other demanded details immediately.
Pink crossed the room still holding the tray, nearly bouncing now. “I knew the cupcakes were right. I knew it felt right tonight.”
“You baked for this?” Red asked, already laughing again.
Pink looked offended that anyone would question it. “I bake for important possibilities.”
Hazel reached over, stole one cupcake straight off the tray without asking, and that only made Pink happier.
Meanwhile Chloe still had her face hidden, though the smile she was trying to bury had already given her away completely. Hazel caught it anyway, took another bite from the cupcake she had taken moments ago, then held it out toward Chloe without a word, frosting side first.
Chloe lowered one hand just enough to look at her. “You already bit that.”
“Still offering.”
“In front of all of them?”
Hazel’s grin returned, easy and shameless. “Could go back in for another round if this feels too public.”
That made Chloe look up fully, scandalized all over again, which only encouraged the room because Felix immediately made a noise loud enough to count as heckling while Red nearly choked laughing.
Pink clasped both hands under her chin like the entire scene had become her personal reward, and Chloe, with nowhere left to put the expression she was trying not to show, took the cupcake anyway just to stop Hazel talking.