[JEFF]

It was already apparent to me—or really, anyone who knew him—that Max is definitely one for dapper attire. I don't care if that's what everyone in his little "family" dresses like, he wouldn't be caught dead without that dress shirt and slacks. Not real practical, considering he'd been running from the law for the last five years, but I wasn't about to bring it up.

Anyways, I had a vague image in my mind of what he might have looked like when I saw him again that night. Neither of us had actually seen each other in different clothes since we'd met, so it was going to be a little weird. But all comprehensible thought left me when I stepped out (after struggling to get my own shit together) and saw his outfit. This wasn't in the sense that it was over-the-top in any way, because it wasn't. Not at all. It was just a change, and as small as it was, I couldn't bring myself to look away for too long. He had changed his white button-up shirt for a black one, put on a white tie, and somehow found a sky blue over jacket that matched his mask perfectly. I was tempted to throw some kind of indifferent comment his way, but kept stopping myself. It just suited him too much (pun absolutely intended). So I shut my mouth, save for, "You look good," and tried to hide any color in my face as we made our way towards the ballroom.

After a long, awkward silence, he leaned towards me and said, "You look good, too." I didn't know how to answer that. Fortunately, I didn't get much of a chance to, because he dragged me to the dance floor before anything else could be said. We were almost sandwiched by two other couples, making it so that we had to stand even closer to each other to get some breathing room. My brain seemed to split in half, swaying from a weird sense of euphoria to gut-wrenching terror.

"Uh. You sure about this? I mean, what if they have someone walk around and shove balloons in between people who get too close. You know, like, leave room for Jesus." I half-laughed, remembering all those dumb school dances I'd gone to and all the girls I'd convinced myself that I "liked." Max, being Max, didn't get it.

"Who does that? No, I think we've kind of broken the rules already. It would be weird if anybody tried to stop this now."

"...I guess. But if they did, I'm pretty sure I could take down most of the people here," I said, legitimately joking this time. Though the way he reacted, you would think I'd just penned my own death sentence.

"Please, for the love of god, do not try to do that."

I looked at him funnily. "Hey, relax. That was a joke. I thought this was supposed to be fun?"

Hesitantly, he nodded and gazed off to the side. "Yeah. Yeah, it is. I—"

Suddenly, I heard a loud screech come from somewhere above us, and before I could cover my ears a soft song started playing. It was some modern-ish piece, with a slight touch of classical arrangement that only real music nerds would probably recognize. By just the first few seconds, I gathered for myself that it was alright for a more traditional dance like this. But Max seemed to know from the first note that it wasn't his favorite.

"Ugh. 'The Marionettes'? Way to give a first impression, Anni," he said under his breath. "They really should have chosen something better."

I raised an eyebrow. "It sounds...just like a regular waltz. If not a bit creepier. What, do you listen to this stuff in your free time?"

"And you don't? It's fine, actually. At least I know this one, I won't look like an idiot. Not sure if I can say the same for you, though," He added with a cocky sideways glance. I almost laughed.

"Man, being here really has done something to you. Is it the separate rooms? Your sister? Did they put something in your food while you weren't paying attention?"

Max either didn't understand what I meant by that or he didn't care, because he just shook his head and in perfect sync with the music had me in a low, dramatic dip. I noticed all the other couples around us had done the same thing. The song hadn't raised in volume the slightest bit, suggesting that every single dance this "family" endured here had calculated, premeditated moves that everybody had to learn beforehand. The thought only made me more nervous about this place. Our faces were just inches apart, and I realized for the first time that I really didn't know what I was doing. I knew he was smug about all this but he didn't show it as much as I thought he would. He just lifted me closer and muttered, "It's because you're in my world now. Doesn't feel so great, does it? Not knowing what to do?"

I held onto him for dear life until we were brought back up to stand again. I let out a deep breath, my heart pounding over 100 miles an hour. Somewhere inside I knew it wasn't exactly fair, but I wanted to reach his level on this, too. I shifted close and looked him in the eyes. "Alright, Max. Then guide me."

Surprisingly, he didn't seem fazed by that in the slightest. He stepped to the side in typical one, two, three time.

"Will do."

And signaled me with his eyes to follow suit.

[MASQ]

Seeing Hodek with that kind of fear in his features definitely set something off in my head. I wasn't sure exactly what, but since our lives weren't in danger at the moment I gave myself permission to find it a little funny. Jeff the Killer, born: ??? Fears: being dipped in the middle of a waltz. Imagine!

We carried on with the dance, me leading (of course) and him starting to catch on now that everything was more settled. Every misstep that occurred made me feel more and more like we were being judged by some outside source. Nobody here seemed to notice, though a couple of times we'd bump into somebody and they'd hiss something along the lines of, "watch it!" Over the course of about fifteen minutes, I observed the following things:

1 - Garde (who wasn't even supposed to be here) sneaking a champagne glass off a table, filling it with water, and placing a tiny green capsule inside to watch it dissolve.

2 - Major talking either to themselves or into their tie's microphone, even though Anniversary was still in the room.

3 - Candy and her partner shooting me several looks of disapproval from across the floor, then heading for the tiny snack bar to stab a pocket knife through two bread rolls at the same time.

So not much different than before I left.

The worries I'd carried with me into this room started to disappear by the second, only to be replaced by new ones cramming their way into my head. Anni had given me a fairly good reason for why she wanted me to take a bow tie before the dance. But what if there was something more to it? What if she was planning some sort of drill in the middle of a song, and we had to be ready at all times? What would happen if I didn't have a tie on? Would Hodek be able to handle something on the spot like that?

I closed my eyes and shook my head, hoping nobody had noticed. Who am I kidding. Of course he could handle it. Why do I keep doubting him? Is it because I know he might favor saving himself over—

"Max."

I came back to earth. "What?"

Hodek looked at me suspiciously. "Are you okay? This is, like, the dozenth time you've zoned out in a minute." After a moment, his face went stony with annoyance. "Are you even enjoying yourself? Because if it's not at least one of us, I don't see why I should stay here."

I have to make a choice.

"No, no, I'm okay. I'm just...I was thinking a lot, and this probably isn't the best place to do it anyway, and..."

"Thinking about what?"

No, I'm not the one who has to make it. He's only still here because of me. Would that really be a good enough reason?

"Oh, you know. Stuff."

"As if that's what you'd normally say. Come on, what is it?" He paused, and misstepped again. I winced on his behalf, since he couldn't have cared less.

"Is it something about me?" He sounded genuinely confused now. Rather than focusing entirely on the question, my mind was asking, So you didn't mess up on purpose this time?

"...you could say that, yes," I said, narrowing my eyes and tilting my head. I hadn't thought about what kind of message that would send, but when your head is so foggy with what if's and proper dance technique, it's hard to pay attention to those types of things as well. Hodek looked sheepish, which put me in a whole other state of worry.

"Hm. Uh, okay. I guess now would be a good time to let you know, I'm actually no good with this kind of shit," he said.

What?

"So I'm not doing it unless you're 100% on board."

Are you saying you want to stay? Why wouldn't I be on board with that?

Before I could put any of my thoughts into words, he started leaning closer and closer with a kind of tired wonder in his eyes. After a moment I finally realized what he was hoping I'd do, and something in me shifted; I wasn't sure if I could follow through with that in a room full of people. In front of my family. Hell, in front of Anni if she was she still in here.

Just before god-knows-what was about to happen, I closed my eyes and said, "You could stay here."

He paused. "...what?"

"If you really wanted to, you could stay with us. With me. Isn't...isn't that what you were thinking?" I faltered when I caught sight of the look on his face. I definitely said something wrong.

"You know what I mean, right? We both know it can't be as simple as before, I just wanted to make things easi—"

"Are you serious?" Hodek half-laughed, half-sighed and loosened his grip on my hand. My heart sank as everything I'd feared started to unfold in front of my face.

"Max, I'm sorry. But I just can't see myself becoming one of these people." He looked wistfully around at the various couples in the room. "Besides, they seem kind of tight-knit. It'd be weird for me to squeeze in, don't you think?"

"I-I know, and it all takes a little getting used to. It's just that...I'd give anything to be with my family. Hell, I've given everything already. It's been years, Hodek. I'd choose them, even if it meant never seeing the sun again. Even if it meant never seeing—"

"Me?"

Everything I was about to say came to a halt and stuck in my throat. Hodek's gaze snapped back to me, and slowly, he seemed to realize something. What that something would be, I had no idea. But it looked like it upset him. He narrowed his eyes as best he could, let go of me and stepped back.

"...I think I'm going to take a break."

"What are you talking about? This is a dance, we've barely moved."

"I'm going to take a break, okay?" He gritted his teeth and walked out of the room. I was afraid he would push someone out of his way and disturb everyone else, but whoever he got near backed up and cleared a path for him. It seemed they all recognized that he was an outsider; then again, why wouldn't they?