"I just don't understand why I must attend. There is no point, I'm already betrothed to marry that Stilinski boy."

"The entire family was invited, you are attending. Besides it is being held by your future husband's father, it would be rude not to go, what kind of impression would that send?"

You tweaked your hair before muttering under your breath, "The right one actually."

"Stop that!" Your mother lightly smacked your bare shoulder, "Stiles is a lovely boy, I don't understand why you won't give him a chance and get to know him."

"There's nothing that I don't know, he's like all those other upper class boys, they think the sun rises and sets for them."

You mother sighed, reaching for the mask you were to wear tonight and tying it at the back of you head for you, "Just try, for me. You know I wouldn't agree to the marriage if I thought he would be cruel to you."

With that she dropped a kiss to the top of your head and left you alone to ponder your options on your own.

Sagging with relief against the wooden door you let out a sigh, a pleased smile making its way across your masked face.

"I see we had the same idea than."

You jumped; startled at the sound of another's voice in the room you thought to be unoccupied. You focused on the masked man in front of you, "I didn't mean to intrude, I'll leave."

He waved his hand in the air, "No need, I wouldn't mind some company from a lovely lady such as yourself." He saw your back stiffen from over the rim of his wine glass, he swallowed quickly, "Just to talk I swear by Jupiter I just meant to talk, I am betrothed, you don't have to worry."

You nodded, cautiously walking closer to the stranger, "Why did you need to escape?"

Before he spoke he offered you the other glass of wine he filled, "It was too loud and full of stuffy old men who care more about the money in their pockets than the people they step on…literally."

You arched one perfect eyebrow and your lips twitched to stop the smirk that wanted to pull at them, "You mean you don't share the same interests?"

The man shrugged, walking by your side to the balcony that overlooked the Stilinski's large amount of land, "Money is of little interest to me, so long as I have enough of it to take care of my future wife then to the underworld with the rest of it."

Humming in response you thought over his words, his wife should thank Venus for pairing her off with a man who would care more about her than the size of his estate.

"What about you?"

Turning your head you noticed that the man had turned his body towards you and was leaning one elbow on the railing, giving you his undivided attention, "What about me?"

"A beautiful girl like you should be married, do I have to worry about a jealous husband coming to slice my head clean off for conversing with his wife?"

A light blush spread across you cheeks and you finally let the smile come out, "No, no husband. But I am betrothed."

"And who is the lucky bastard?"

You couldn't really keep the acid from your next words even if you tried, but to be honest you didn't, "Why you're standing on his balcony. Stiles Stilinski is to be my husband."

The poor man began choking on his wine, sputtering and coughing to get it out, your hand coming to pat against his back to help. Once he regained his composure he looked at you with wide eyes from behind his ornate mask, "You're his future bride?"

You nodded, confusion and fear settling in at the thought that everything you said about him being so much like the other higher class people was actually true, "Yes I am, why do you sound so…shocked?"

"That's because I am, I didn't think I would meet you here tonight."

"And what gave you that idea?" You got defensive, this stranger knew nothing about you and here he was judging as if he had a right too.

"Because you've been actively avoiding m – him."

You took a small step back, "How do you know that?"

"I'm a very good friend of his, he's been telling me how you haven't tried to meet him, much to his displeasure." The last bit was mumbled under his breath but you still caught it.

"He wants to meet me?"

The man nodded his head enthusiastically, "Yes of course! He wants to get to know you, although you've made it painstakingly obvious you don't want to get to know him."

"Like I've told my mother, there's nothing I don't already know about him."

Although you couldn't see his eyebrows you saw his forehead crease as he raised them, "Oh? And what do you know about a man you've never met?"

"I know he'll be much like the rest of the men in his class; entitled, snobby, rude, and unkind – something I never wanted to be married into."

"It's not fair to judge a man of whom you deign to refuse to meet." You opened your mouth to retort but he continued, his voice taking an airy tone, "Some would say it could be considered rude or even snobby…I mean you are throwing a tantrum because you didn't get your way."

You snapped your jaw shut, angry because he was right in a way – in every way – and you didn't like your own words being thrown back at you. Crossing your arms over your chest, a pout pulled your lips down, "I'm not throwing a tantrum."

The man smiled, enjoying the sight of you looking like a child who just got disciplined, "A silent tantrum, but a tantrum none-the-less."

You didn't grace him with a response, only downing the rest of your wine in one gulp and thinking over your choices you made concerning Stiles and how you were acting like you expected he would.

"Why do you think so little of him?"

Although his voice was quiet you still jumped at the sound, "I know his class – your class."

"Not all m-"

"I swear if you say 'not all men are like that' I will toss you off this balcony without a second thought." You cut him with a hard glare and he held his hands up in surrender but his lips twitched at your reaction, "Enough men are like that, more than enough men are like that. I have lost many friends to men like that and I don't want to end up like that."

The man nodded, returning his gaze to the crowd below and letting what you said sink in, "You won't end up like that."

"And how do you know?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Would you know who Stiles is if you saw him?"

You nodded, "Of course, my mother made a habit of pointing him out if we were in town at the same time."

"Well now it's your turn, point him out to me."

You looked at him skeptically but he only outstretched his arm in the direction of the party going on below, a gesture translating to "go on".

And you did.

Your eyes searched for his familiar stock of dark brown hair, pale skin and extravagant gestures because he often spoke with his hands, but you couldn't find him. Your heart sank a little, you may have been stubborn on your efforts to not meet him, but deep down you still did, you still had hope he would be one of the different ones.

A sigh passed through your lips, "I don't see him down th-" You took a startled step back, eyes wide and mouth hanging open you stared flabbergasted at the man before you. He grew uncomfortable under your eyes, cheeks turning a light shade of pink and ears to match; he cleared his throat snapping you back into reality. Your mouth closed and your stare turned angry and embarrassed, you slapped his arm, "You gigantic ass! It was you this whole time and you knew it!"

He rubbed at the sore spot on his arm, "I didn't know it was you until you said who you were betrothed too. I was going to tell you it was me earlier but I wanted to find out why you were eluding me and I figured you wouldn't have told me if it was actually me who asked you."

"I would've told you." His eyebrow rose, not believing the lie and you conceded, "Alright, I wouldn't have told you."

"Yes I know." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the railing and his weight on his elbows, his head turned to focus on you, "You really think that of me?"

Shifting your weight you propped your hip against the railing, your body closer to his than before but neither of you noticed, too lost in each other's eyes, "Thought, I thought that of you."

"What changed your mind?"

"Our conversation did. To be honest if you had revealed yourself earlier I would've walked out that door without a word, and while I'm not exactly thrilled you tricked me I can't say I'm displeased with the end result –"

"I didn't trick you I just…withheld information."

Your dead stare fell on his smiling face but you continued as if you weren't interrupted, "I'm happy I got to talk to you and I'm glad you didn't get offended by what I said. I'm thankful you didn't do what I did, judge me based on my social standing."

"It's not really a fair way to base a personality off of, now is it?"

You blushed with shame, "No it's not, and I'm sorry I did it."

Stiles grinned, "Don't worry about it."

You hadn't realized how close you two had gotten until you felt his warm breath fan across your face. Your own breath wavered at the feel and your heart stammered in your chest when you saw his eyes flicker down to your lips before returning to your gaze. Like a magnetic pull, you two got even closer, your eyes fluttered shut as you went up on the tips of your toes to lessen the distance between you two but then you heard his whispered "no" and your heart stopped.

Eyes opening you felt your entire body flush with humiliation before you could sink back down and spew out your apologies one of his arms wrapped around your waist, anchoring you to his body, his other came to cup your cheek and forced you to look into his golden eyes, "Don't let your mind go there, I want to kiss you, very badly right now, but I want to see your face in its entirety when I do."

Breath caught in your throat you kept your eyes on his face while both his hands went to untie your mask and let it fall to the floor. Tentatively, his fingers came to touch the new skin now available to him; they grazed across your forehead, caressed the flesh under your eyes, ran down the bridge of your nose and finally traced his thumb over your trembling bottom lip. Slipping his hands down to hold your jaw he brought his head closer to yours, rubbing his nose against your own mumbling a "finally" against your lips before kissing them.

His lips tasted of the red wine he was drinking, and if you weren't drunk before you are now. When his tongue poked out to run along the seam of your lips you gasped and he glided in, groaning when your tongue met his. It was a slow kiss as if he wanted to get to know your mouth just as badly as he wanted to get to know you, and it was passionate.

Stiles turned you to push you up against the railing, bending over you slightly forcing your upper half to curve backwards over the edge and your grip on his hair tightened and you pulled, his growl vibrating through you. His hand fell from your face to wrap around your hips, one locking you against his body and the other running up along the length of your spine, his hand splaying over the bared skin of your upper back.

You needed to breathe, your lungs burned from lack of oxygen but you didn't want to stop kissing him. You were also scared of falling, heights never one of your favorite things so when he parted from your lips to start kissing a path across your cheek you took a deep gulp of air. Lips swollen, red and shiny you spoke between heaving breaths, "Stiles."

He hummed against the column of your neck, the vibrations causing a moan to tumble from your lips and you to momentarily forget what you were going to say. It only got harder when he introduced his teeth to the mix, scraping and nibbling at the skin available to him.

"Stiles, I don't like heights."

Your voice trembled from lust or fear you didn't know and you didn't care but it got his attention. He lifted his head from where it was buried against your neck, "I wouldn't let you fall." He kissed one temple, "I wouldn't let you get hurt." Then the other, "You're safe with me." Now the tip of your nose, "Trust me."

He moved you though, tightening his hold around you as he twirled you around on the balcony until he came to press you against the wall of his villa. Head dizzy and laughing you looked up at him, "I do."