He'd never been fond of the Pumpkin Festival before. It was a ridiculous holiday, especially considering how excited the villagers got, and to top it all off the pumpkin masks smelled funny. But there was one upside, an advantage he'd never considered until just this year: with the mask covering his face, no one could tell if he was staring.

He leaned against the railing by the Ganesha's shop, watching the town from afar. The place was alive with red and orange and yellow, carved gourds of all shapes and sizes swaying from side to side. Voices got lost inside the masks, and the whole shopping district was echoing with eerie, otherworldly words, laughter seeming to reverberate from nowhere. And in the midst of it all was the object of his desires, bare-headed and bright-eyed, going from person to person wishing them a happy holiday.

Raguna approached him, grinning. "Good morning, Danny!"

The blond smiled inside his mask, shaking his head as he put both hands on his hips. "I'm not Danny! You must be mistaken."

"Oh?" He laughed. "Sorry, then, whoever you are. Have you seen my friend?"

His heart fluttered a little at the word – friend – and the way Raguna tilted his head in mock confusion, blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight. "Naw. Nobody notices him."

He shrugged at his own statement, pretending the words didn't hurt, and the other man frowned.

"I notice him." Danny chuckled nervously, that same familiar feeling tugging at his chest. Raguna smiled.

"Well, if you see him, tell him I hope he has a wonderful Pumpkin Festival. Oh, and I'll stop by the shop tomorrow; I have some cloth for you." He paused and grinned again. "I mean, for him."

"Alright," he sighed, trying to sound exasperated, "I'll tell him for you."

"Thanks!" Raguna laughed again and waved as he turned away, and the blond was left once again to stare at the one thing that would never be his.

Silently he wished he could have been telling the truth. He wished he really wasn't Danny.