"I look absolutely ridiculous."

Scott, who is standing behind me as I look at myself in the full-length mirror, laughs. "Isn't that kind of the point, chap?"

I turn. "Where did you--"

My oversized beak slaps Scott in the face. He flinches with an "oof!". 

"Oh shit, I am so sorry!" I exclaim, taking off the ridiculous mask. 

Scott, however, is laughing and waving his arm. "It's alright, it's alright."

"Are you sure?" I ask, my hand extended, not sure whether I have the authority to touch him or not.

Scott rubs his eye a bit, still laughing. "Yes, I'm fine, promise."

I give him a minute before I go back to my question. "You don't think this is stupid?"

Still rubbing his eye that I accidently clobbered with my beak, smiles. "You explained it holds significant meaning for you and Orion, correct?"

I can fell myself blush. "Well, yeah--"

"Then who gives a fuck what anyone else thinks?"

That makes me feel better, and I smile. 

"Before your bird face attacked me--"

"I am so, so sorry--"

"Smith! Relax!"

I can feel myself redden once again.

"You were saying?"

I thought a moment. "Oh! I was just wondering where you got this ridiculous mask."

"I had it made for you."

I'm stunned. "You did?"

Just then, Scott slips on his devil's mask. It's quite realistic, disturbing even. I can't help but shudder when I look at him. He puts his hand to my back, leading me to the door. "Come--Orion will be there soon. We need you to be there before he is so he doesn't see you immediately."

He leads me with assured footsteps through the large hallways as I put on my own mask. It's surprisingly comfortable, not too stuffy. It made sense since Scott made it custom made for me. 

I don't think I would ever get used to a place like this. As I follow him at a near jog, I look around. Everything is lavish, almost sickeningly so. Scott seems like a wonderful human being, but this sort of wealth will always made me feel resentful at the despairing gap between economical classes.

"I'm going to have you in the back," Scott is telling me, his voice muffled beneath the mask that I think is wooden. "I've had it so you'll be situated behind a woman with a large peacock headdress." 

I love how he's talking about this like it's an every day occurrence.

"We'll play a set of songs. Everyone is in on this. You can slowly make your way to him until you're together. People will switch with you accordingly as well to make you closer to him."

I nod. 

"Honestly, if there ever comes a point where you think he might leave or something, just break the dance all together and go to him."

"Okay."

We've reached our destination, and when Scott throws open the doors I can't help but gasp. The ballroom is regal, with a polished wood floor, several hanging chandeliers, and a vaulted ceiling. Off to the back left side is a small orchestra, surrounding a black grand piano. They're all tuning their instruments and getting ready.

The room is completely filled, and for a moment I feel downright overwhelmed. A few people nod at me, knowing who I was, but I hadn't the faintest clue who any of these people were. The entire situation was surreal, jarring, and honestly was making me uncomfortable. I tried to tune all that out, focusing on the fact this was my opportunity to try and fix things with Orion.

"He's going to enter through that entrance," Scott tells me, pointing to a door that was adjacent to the one we came in through. "So, as you can see, you'll be situated in back, over here."

As we make our way through the throng of costumed people, the door behind us bursts open. A man, who I, of course, don't know, screams.

"Incoming!"

Scott all but drags me across the second half of the dance floor. As he does, he's twisting and shouting to everyone, "Places, everyone, places!"

When I'm tucked away in back, and the woman in front of me with her huge peacock headdress and sequences blue and green mask winks at me, Scott takes me by the shoulders. 

"Isn't this exciting?!"

I don't reply to Scott, swallowing down the taste of bile in my mouth.

"Have fun!" Scott says, starting to walk away.

"Scott, wait," I say urgently, grabbing him by the arm.

He looks at me, surprised. 

"Thank you."

"Go get your man, Smith."

Then the devil disappeared into the crowd.

And then a door off to the side opens, and everyone bursts into applause. And I'm suddenly swept up in the moment, absolutely frozen in my spot. My vision blurs around the sides, I get tunnel vision, and all I can see for moments is Orion. I have a strange, almost out of body experience. The people around me are cheering and clapping, but I can barely hear them. All I see is Orion halting for a second, surprised at the greeting, and then gives an over the top bow. People laugh and cheer.

He's dressed like The Phantom of the Opera, and I love it. Suddenly there's a champagne flute in my hand, and I honestly couldn't tell you how that happened or who had given it to me. But I look around myself, and everyone is holding them. 

"Thank you all for coming here tonight," Scott, who is standing by Orion now, says loud enough so everyone hears him. I'm doing my best to peak around the feathers in front of me without being seen. "When I went into rehab, I was never expecting the transformative experience I went through--I mean, come on, I've already been there three times. If it wasn't going to work three times, why did I think this time would be any different?"

There's some light hearted laughter, and while it doesn't sound forced, it sounds proper, and it slams into me once again I'm in Scott Davis' estate with the rich and wealthy. I swallow.

"However, it was very different, and I think fourth time's a charm." Scott turns to Orion, holding up a glass of what looks like sparkling water. "I attribute it to the gentleman standing right here, Orion Bauwens."

I watch as Orion explodes into a blush.

"Not only have I found my sobriety, and a reason to keep it, but I found someone I consider to be one of my best friends. So, here's to celebrating the sold-out tour he just completed, and here's to the man himself. Thank you, Orion."

Orion is the color of dark red velvet as the room says "cheers" all together. As a few more people give cheers to Orion, he finally raises his glass (that also looks like sparkling water).

"If I may speak?"

Scott bows to him and rushes away.

Orion blows out some air, and then scratches at his cheek nervously. 

"Uh. I know I know some of you in this room, and I know some of you are Scott's friends. Regardless if I know you or not, I just want to say thank you for doing this in my honor. It's very sweet and kind, truly thoughtful. And I--"

His voice cracks, and I worry he's going to cry. But he doesn't. Instead he simply clears his throat and raises his glass high, tucking his other arm behind his back.

"I just wanted to say thank you. Here's to open roads, new experiences, new friends, and living."

Everyone cheers. After that a waiter comes around, collecting the empty or mostly empty champagne flutes, and then the orchestra swells, and we all begin dancing.

As it continues, and we go through rehearsed movements that everyone knows, my once anxiety slowly turns to anticipation. With every clasped hand I get closer to him. With every twirl, I count how many turns until I will be paired with him. With every person tugging at me, leading me towards Orion, my excitement grows until I can barely contain myself.

And then--I'm there. I take him into my arms. He looks startled (and rightly so--dancing with another male was not part of the dance). And even though he's clearly annoyed at me fighting for the lead, I want to. I have to. I have to let him know it's me, even if he doesn't know.

I need him to know that I'm here. I need him to know I'll always be here. And as we continue to dance, and his annoyance melts away, it feels like magic. And slowly is face softens, and I don't think he knows it's me, but something has clearly registered. And I'm leading him so softly, and I hope he knows this gentleness will be the only thing I show him, forever.

And as the song starts to draw to a close, I catch him looking a little sad. And--I think--he might be sad because this is the last dance and I'm his last partner. And it all still feels so magical, and I don't think Orion even notices, but everyone has formed a sort of circle around us, and I could laugh I'm so happy.

The song ends. Properly, everyone either curtsies or bows. I bend as far down as I am able, and as I come back up I'm taking off my mask. The look of absolute shock on Orion's face makes me grin.

"T-Tristan?"

"Hey, Orio."

And in that moment, I knew I would never leave his side ever again.

The end.