Chapter 1: Selection

I heard those words echoing through the speakers:

"It is my pleasure that I request you now to turn your heads skywards, when the light of the blood moon bubbles down and selects two lucky souls, binding them for eternity in its hypnotic, ruby brodum."

And in a way, I panicked. Since the moment he showed up, I'd been suspicious of Tom's motives. Star would speak to me time and again what kind of a jerk he was for dumping her, his temperament, and all-in-all sour attitude. She couldn't say enough about how bad he was to her. So here he comes back, courts Star back for what? To… To bind their souls for eternity?! To catch her while she was off-guard and… then what? Make sure she could never leave? Was it a marriage ceremony? A curse? Like I would really know all of Star's alternate-dimension customs, let alone Tom's.

The one thing I knew I needed to do was to protect Star.

From the piano, Tom seemed to be returning back to Star. I took my time to hide between the guests and call out to her. She didn't seem to hear. I reached my hand out to try and get her attention, but a partygoer – of course, made out of slime with a suit slapped on – had to cut in front and block me out. He moved out the way slowly, just as Tom was about to reach her.

He called her name gently as I wriggled out from between two girls. The red crescent crystal above gave a daring glint; I knew I didn't have much time, and I knew I was running full-speed to catch up to her, and I knew I couldn't slow down in time to easily convince her to stay away. It didn't work when I told her not to go, so I was sure it wouldn't work now.

In a blur, I closed my eyes and pushed my hand out. On the other end, a soft silk lilted against my fingertips, and I made sure to push it as far away as possible.

And against my eyelids, a red light washed down on me. On… On us.

A hand had gripped my extended arm by the wrist, as if to grab hers, but had taken mine by mistake. I heard fabric bend and crease as it lured closer to me, felt a breath caress my ear, and a dulcet voice whisper, "Open your eyes." And slowly, strained, I did. Tinted with a ruby hue and black shadow, my eyes met… the three eyes of Tom, skimming my gaze across his shoulder to his hand that was holding mine.

Why… was he holding my hand? Why did he… whisper in my ear?! But I was speechless as my eyes met back with his. I could hardly breathe right.

I looked around for reassurance – for Star, and amid the crowd, I saw a glimpse of her – of her anger, her shock, happiness, and relief, all in one. The group of monsters quickly ate up my view of her. They spoke in hushed, feverish voices about the skull boy now with Tom – now… bound for eternity.

Bound for eternity…?! I looked back to Tom, aware he was capable of a swift and terrible anger and yet… I didn't find any on his face. He had a sly, cool grin, his eyes filled with expectation. "You ruined my night, y'know that?" He asked in a voice that wasn't upset. "All over what? A spill? Someone knocked into you or something?"

My breath hitched. He slid his hand into mine and properly brought me to his eye-level. I still shrunk down nervously immediately after, my hand rubbing my shoulder, and he chuckled.

"What's wrong? No need to be afraid." He let his hand slip away when I jerked it from him, but there was still no sign of anger or contempt. I don't think he recognized me.

"But…" I started in a small voice. Everyone's eyes were on me – the guests, the emcee, Star, him and all three of his eyes… "You said that I… I ruined –"

Tom gave a small chuckle. "Don't worry about it; shit happens. Plus… between you and me," He brought himself close to my ear again. "I don't think my date wanted to be here, anyway."

I grimaced. He really didn't know I was the jerk that karate-chopped his hand off, did he? I tried to change my voice up when I spoke to him. Not that that went well, or anything. "That… That sucks."

"Yeah…" He shrugged. "But you… you seem interesting." His hand reached down to mine again, and this time, he laced our fingers together. I felt my face heat up, flush redder than the light beaming down on us, and I couldn't help but whimper. What the hell did I get myself into?!

I felt the folds of my shirt brushed against my back, and all at once, his other hand pressed against my back, pulling my waist close to his. The air between us was so close it was suffocating, our noses not even an inch from one-another.

"Well, these folks are expecting a dance, aren't they?" That same sly smile came across his face. "I mean – I'd let you back out if you weren't cool with it, but this is the Blood Moon Ball, and they're kinda expecting a dance by the Blood Moon Lovers."

'Blood Moon Lovers'…?! hat did I get myself into?! This panic I had, but with a lot more swearing, piled up as a nervous smile on my face, and eyes that he couldn't see were truly mortified. Instead of letting my screams out, I nodded. "I… I see."

"You a good dancer?"

"S-Somewhat…" I murmured.

He gave another small laugh, content with this, and gave some distance between us, keeping our hands locked and to the side of us. I looked past his face to the crowd, seeing as much as I could without turning my head, and I realized I really wouldn't get out of this without a dance. So I rested my arm along his, my hand on his shoulder.

He gave me a reassuring smile, and… it really felt sincere. "Just relax. Don't be so nervous, okay?"

"I…" I tried to collect my voice. "I'm… just not supposed to be here… in this. I hit you two on accident, and –"

"Then just pretend I'm the date you came with. I'll take you back to them after this; I promise." I couldn't just tell him I didn't have a date. Instead, I just nodded again. "So just relax. Breathe. There's nothing to worry about."

I decided to focus on his words. I hardly realized we'd begun to move together in a slow rhythm. "But… there are so many people, and… and they're all watching me…" I admitted, turning my head away. If he didn't know that I was Marco now, he wouldn't know that Marco's socially anxious, now would he? So I figured that information was safe to drop. "What if I mess up my footing…? Or… Or tumble again like I did just now –"

"Hey," He interrupted me in a gentle tone, and I looked back up at him. "Don't focus on them. Look up here at me, okay? Look, just me and you in a dance all our own. Nobody else is here, okay? Just you and me." He gave me a small twirl, and I looked down again as he took me. I could see the others' shoes, and that dread filled back up in me. Tom's arm on my side shook me, and I looked back up at him. "Hey. Just you and me. Breathe. Like, right now. Breathe…"

I took a deep breath, keeping my eyes on him like he asked of me, and I had to admit, I felt a little better. He gave me another small smile, and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. And as I focused on him, the dim lighting around the other guests really did make them fade to black, in a way.

The music swelled as we moved along the dance floor, and for the little while we had, I felt comfortable around him. Even if he was lying, even if this was just a cheap tactic he used with everyone he flirted with, even if this 'nice guy' routine was a ruse, I enjoyed it. It took out some of the anxiety of having snuck into the ball without anyone's permission – his or Star's. Just so long as he hadn't found me out, that is. And as the music faded into the end – my two eyes on him, his three eyes on me – I felt… really peaceful. Even if it could've all went to hell afterwards, that very moment felt so nice. He gave me a gentle dip as the music ended, and the audience applauded.

His face was so close to mine, and his eyes were lidded. Although I saw it coming, I couldn't react as his lips pressed against mine, even it wasn't a hard kiss. It wasn't full-force, it wasn't harsh, or painful… like I thought it would be. But what it was… was my first kiss, and I admit I indulged in it a little bit. It was my first ever kiss; might as well make the best of it. My eyes fluttered shut and my hand gripped into his shoulder. I was doing a terrible job, I knew it, so I let him handle the technique.

The audience swelled in further applause, some cheered. I could feel Star's shocked eyes watching me – watching us. But he finally pulled back and I finally breathed. I didn't even judge how little I was breathing until I gasped out for air again.

But Tom chuckled, pulling me back up. "You know, you have to breathe through your nose when you kiss someone, right?"

"I… I, uh…" I fumbled, face red.

"That's alright. But I, uh…" He let go of the hand locked with mine to scratch the back of his head. "I got a little carried away there… Tell your date that I apologize."

"I didn't… have a date…"

His eyebrows furrowed, but not in suspicion. Rather, it was in a sort of surprise, and pity. "No? Well…" He took his hand off my back just to slip it into my hand as he knelt down, and he kissed it. "I'm honored to have had this dance with you." He gave a small bow, resting his other hand across his chest, like a sort of salute.

As he got up, he must have noticed how red I really was, as the light from the blood moon crystal above us faded. He gave that small laugh and pet my shoulder.

"You're so nervous…"

"Well… yeah… You… You kissed me in front of everyone…" I mumbled.

"Well, you didn't come with anyone important. So… it's not like it matters who saw."

I smiled a little and looked down, arm rubbing my shoulder again. "I… I guess so –"

"Marco~!" I felt another arm loop around my other shoulder. Star stood between Tom and I as a sort of fleshy wall. "That was some dancing you did there! But it's really getting late." She spoke in her usual bubbly voice, but as her back was to Tom, her eyes facing me spoke desperately to get out. "We really should be getting home so your parents don't worry about you!"

"Oh… I…" I looked past her to Tom, who was trying to get a word in with her, a confused look on his face. He looked up at me with pleading eyes. But I had to listen to her, get my moment getting chewed out for ruining her date, and all-around get out of this situation before it all boiled up. I looked back at her. "Yeah, it really is getting late. We really should –"

"Okay good! Thanks Tom for the nice ball come on let's get out of here bye~!" She said in rapid succession, faster than anyone could process, simultaneously grabbing my arm, hauling me off to the probably-Satanic chariot and taking us home.

I looked back at Tom to see his eyes full of longing.