A/N: It's been forever, you guys - welcome back to any of you who are still following this thing! I've had this scene in mind for a long time, but getting the words right was a challenge, as it often is for me. I really like writing, but uh, I'm also really bad at it. Ah well.

I love you all - hopefully this was at least somewhat worth the wait!

He'd finally escaped.

Chaud breathed a sigh of relief, slipping up the stairs, skipping the second floor and heading straight for the third. His butler had informed him that Maylu had gone this way a short while earlier, and he had a feeling he knew where she was headed.

Sure enough, as he reached the end of a particular third floor hallway, the gentle sounds of a piano drifted through an open doorway.

On one of her visits to the mansion for her dance lessons, Chaud had taken a break with her by bringing her to one of his favorite places in the house: a small, almost-forgotten library/study on the third floor, a room much smaller and cozier than most of the rest in the house, a room of dark, warm woods and well-loved leather arm chairs and walls of books with a sliding ladder, and, oddly, a piano in a corner of the room. It was his mother's favorite piano, once, he'd told Maylu. His father didn't even know it was still around - Chaud had made sure of that. If his cold-hearted businessman of a father had known, he'd have denounced Chaud's emotional attachment to the item and gotten rid of it immediately. But his father was rarely at the mansion, let alone anywhere near this lost hallway on the third floor.

And so here the piano stayed, quietly maintained by Chaud and only a select handful of his staff who could be trusted with its secret presence.

Chaud paused now in the doorway of the room, his gaze immediately drawn to the piano. Sure enough, there she was on the piano bench, smiling softly with her fingers splayed over the keys. The softly glowing lighting of the room flickered against her features - Chaud was surprised when he realized one of the staff must have lit a few candles in addition to the electric lamps - and glittered off her dress, and for the umpteenth time that evening he forgot to breathe.

She was singing, albeit softly, a soft jazz tune that floated delicately on the warm air of the study, and he could think of no sweeter sound in existence. He recognized the tune, a song she'd recently showed him with a pair of headphones and her PET (a song he'd never admit had only hours later made it on to his own PET). A little romantic piece, easy on the ears.

He enjoyed the song a few moments more, then quietly made his way over to her, his heartbeat quickening further the closer he drew. If ever there was a moment to try…

He gazed at the back of her neck, still exposed by the hair that had been pinned up on top of her head so artfully. It was tempting, so terribly tempting, to reach out and trace a fingertip along the soft ridge of her spine…

He shook his head, paused, then slid himself onto the bench next to her. She startled faintly, having not noticed his approach in the slightest, her fingers faltering on the keys. She was even more surprised when his hands replaced hers at the piano, taking up the tune where she'd left off. He looked to her with a questioning smile, raising an eyebrow. She laughed softly, folding her hands in her lap and closing her eyes, the words of the song resuming a short moment later as she sang to his melody. Chaud watched her, unable to look anywhere else, his heart in his throat at the gentle look on her face. If he could just play the piano forever, like this, would she stay…?

All too soon he'd reached the end of the lyrics, and Maylu was smiling at him again. "I didn't know you could play like that. Though I shouldn't really be surprised. I'm beginning to think you can do anything," she teased.

"For certain definitions of 'anything,'" he replied, his grin crooked. He paused, willing his hands not to tremble as his heart rate kicked up again, in anticipation of what he wanted to do, what he was working up the courage to do. His grin disappeared, and he held her gaze, falling silent.

Maylu's smile slipped away after a moment, and she tightened her hands in her lap nervously. "...Chaud…? What's wrong…?" The way he was looking at her was doing funny things to her insides, and if he kept it up, she was going to have to leave this bench before she lost her composure completely-

"Maylu," he said, his voice soft and husky, uncertain. A shiver ran its way through her body and straight to her stomach, and she felt the heat rising in her cheeks. Her name… he'd said her name. "Maylu," he said again, and it was almost more than she could bear, and suddenly his hand was gently, hesitantly slipping over hers, fingers curling around the edges of her palm and fingers. Her heart flip-flopped, and now she was even more certain she needed to flee, immediately. She'd had butterflies before, but this-

His eyes searched hers, a mixture of hope and anxiety and other things she didn't have names for reflected in them. He took a slow breath, kept gazing at her, kept holding her hand. "May I have this dance…?" he said at last, voice still soft, still hypnotizing in its warmth.

She found herself nodding. He smiled a little, though an awkward, almost shy smile she had never seen before, and he pulled her gently to her feet.

"Ah, but we have no music…" she said, looking down suddenly, unable to hold his gaze any longer. What was this…? What was happening?

He wordlessly touched his PET, and a gentle piano cadence floated out of speakers hidden in the corners of the room that she hadn't even realized were there. Then he raised her left hand in his, his right going to her waist, and he stepped into the gentle rhythm of the dance.

Maylu found her breath hitching in her throat as they swayed together. Her eyes traveled back up to his, and this time she could not look away no matter how hard she tried. She could no longer pretend she didn't notice - this was something. This was something, and it was wonderful and terrifying and completely unchartered territory and her head felt like it was spinning, she was so overwhelmed. At first, she felt a slight sense of frustration, thinking him as composed as ever even despite all that was happening - until she realized that there was a faint, ever so faint color to his face that she'd never seen before, and his grip on her hand was tighter than usual, and there almost seemed to be a faint sheen of sweat at his temples, and she realized that he, too, was nervous.

This thought seemed to send her heart into an endless cycle of somersaults. Her breathing was shaky and uneven, her hand trembling faintly on his shoulder - and somehow, their dance felt more graceful than it had ever been, as though they had somehow melded into the same rhythm, as though they were one person, as though they had done this a thousand times before instead of only a handful-

It felt right.

This thought echoed in her head as the dance came to a gentle end, and Chaud stopped but did not release her, his hand lowering hers and re-settling itself on the other side of her waist. "Maylu," he said, and all she could manage was a nod.

"I know that everything with Lan isn't… behind you yet," he told her softly. "I don't want to push you for anything that you aren't ready for." He looked down, and the color in his face seemed to deepen momentarily. "But if you were willing to give me a chance, I'd…"

Maylu almost couldn't believe her ears, even though she had already understood that something was different tonight. Even though she could feel the tension in the air that was leading up to something new. Here he was, Chaud - Chaud Blaze! - in the study, dancing with her, and preparing to say words she'd been waiting for from someone else for years. But now, right now, they were somehow exactly what she wanted to hear. She put a hand to her mouth, her eyes burning suddenly.

He startled, anguish seeping into his gaze, and he stepped back from her. "Maylu, I'm sorry, I-"

He was cut off as she buried her face against his chest, curling her arms around him and shaking her head. "No," she mumbled into his masquerade costume. "No, don't say that… I'm not upset, it's just… I never thought…" She trailed off then and hugged him more tightly instead.

Chaud froze, hardly daring to hope. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders hesitantly, feeling her weight and her softness as she seemed to melt into him. "You're not upset…?"

She shook her head again, finally daring to look up at him as she wiped her eyes with one hand. "No… I'm happy." She smiled at him, then, really smiled, and when he saw how it lit her eyes from within, saw the rosy color of her cheeks, felt the way she still kept one arm around him, his hug became suddenly fierce, and she squeaked at the weight of it. "Ch… Chaud?"

He buried his face in her shoulder, afraid now that if he let her go she would walk out that study door and the magic that had taken them over tonight would be over.

"Thank God," he said, the tension draining visibly from his shoulders.

She giggled, then, and he was too relieved to feel embarrassed. Then, softly, she asked, "So what does this mean? For us?"

He pulled away from her, gazing down at her seriously. "I'd like for us to start seeing each other," he replied. "Are you comfortable with that?"

She thought about this for a moment, and sighed. "It's… definitely complicated. It would make me really happy, to go out with you… The thing is, even though I decided I'd move on, you're right that it's not completely behind me… I just don't want to be unfair to you, Chaud." She looked up at him, her eyes soft.

To her surprise, he smiled. "Hey, I'll take 'it's complicated' over 'no' any day," he said with a chuckle. "Well, what would you say to testing it for a little while? A trial period. We can start going on dates, see how you're feeling about it in a month or two, and if you're still happy by then… we can make it official?"

Maylu's expression melted into astonishment. "You wouldn't mind…?" she said, feeling a fresh wave of hope. "It's not that I don't think I'd be happy with you," she said, shaking her head. "But I never want it to feel like you're a… a rebound…" her voice got very quiet on the last word, and she ducked her head, blushing. "I want to properly work through everything that I'm feeling, so that I can face forward…"

Chaud nodded. "I understand," he murmured, still smiling, still overwhelmed with relief. "So I guess the next question is, is anyone allowed to know while we're in the 'trial period'?"

Maylu paused, having not considered this. "Um… good question," she said with a laugh. Her laughter faded almost immediately, replaced with concern. "And Yai… I don't know what I'm going to tell her…" The look on Chaud's face turned into an interesting mix of emotions that was more than a little comical, and Maylu had to cover her mouth to hide her mirth. "Uh… Chaud…?"

"You don't need to worry about that," he said finally, clearing his throat. "We already talked."

She gawked at him, jaw falling open. "You and Yai talked about… about u-us?"

He looked determinedly away to the side, refusing to let himself turn red again. "When I started to figure out… you know, this… I figured it was the right thing to do, to tell her. I'd just kinda been ignoring it, thinking she'd grow out of it… but I realized that wasn't fair to her."

Maylu felt a warmth blossoming in her heart at the thought of him considering all this ahead of time and acting with consideration to Yai. She was just about to say as much, but suddenly, a few certain puzzle pieces clicked into place, and Maylu's cheek puffed out in irritation. "So that's why she made us late…!" she exclaimed, only to clap her hand back over her mouth and peek up at Chaud sheepishly.

The comical emotional jumble was back on his face.

"So it was on purpose," he said icily.

Maylu realized he must have already suspected, and yet another puzzle piece clicked. "You did give her a dirty look when we got here, I didn't imagine it!" she laughed.

"No, you definitely didn't," he replied drily. "But setting that aside…" he continued, watching her giggle in response, "I do have a somewhat selfish request."

She glanced at him, tipping her head curiously.

"It's just… well, this might be too soon," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's all right if you say no. The thing is…" He closed his eyes, mustering the remainder of his courage (apparently, his courage was limitless in everything except the realm of romance, he noted).

"The thing is, I really want… to kiss you."

Maylu froze. She felt as if a switch had been flipped, sending every ounce of blood in her body straight to her cheeks, which were now on fire.

"I've actually wanted to kiss you for weeks," he admitted, squeezing her waist. His eyes slid momentarily to her lips, then hurriedly away again. "But especially tonight." Because you're even more beautiful than usual, he thought, but he wasn't quite ready to say that sort of thing aloud yet. It was already a miracle that he'd been as loose-tongued as he had - he wished he could blame it on some kind of liquor, but as he wasn't particularly interested in underage drinking, the only thing he was drunk on tonight was Maylu. He chanced another look down at the mind-altering substance in question, who at least seem to have melted a little out of her frozen stance, though she was still the color of a tomato. She was now biting her lip, too, looking as though she'd been caught red-handed at something. The sight of her teeth on her lip certainly wasn't helping matters any for him.

When she finally spoke, her words were almost too quiet for the human ear. "I've… thought about it, too," she admitted, her hands coming up to cover her reddened face. "More than once." Chaud felt his pulse quicken. Maylu continued mumbling into her fingers. "S… so… well…"

Gingerly, Chaud reached up and took her hands in his, pulling them down from her so she could no longer hide her face. He leaned down to her, gazing into her warm brown eyes, pausing to gauge her reaction. When she didn't pull away, he raised his hands again, this time gently cupping his palms around her face, melding them to her hot skin. She closed her eyes, slowly, her hands hovering next to each other against her own chest. He tipped his head, leaned closer, close enough to feel the warmth of her breath on his skin, heard her inhale sharply as she realized how near to her he was. His own heart was hammering in his chest, something he'd only ever felt when in battle against the most vicious of criminals - it amazed him that anything else, anyone else, could have this affect on him.

Gently, hesitantly, he closed his own eyes; the touch of his lips on hers was as light as a feather. He felt her pause, felt her tense; then she was leaning forward of her own accord, the feather-light kiss becoming something more, though still soft and sweet. One of his hands slid past her cheek and grazed her ear, settling itself naturally at the back of her head. His fingertips gently caressed the nape of her neck, and when she made a small sound against his lips, he smiled.

Maylu's hands, clutched against the bodice of her dress, finally began to relax, and she reached out towards him, pressing her palms to his chest as she leaned into him. She was surprised at how something that was so new and exciting and sweet that it was making her head spin could simultaneously feel so warm and safe… that it could feel like home.

When they finally parted for air, neither yet accustomed the breathing rhythm of a kiss, they shared shy gazes for a moment before laughing softly, Chaud resting his forehead against hers, as a kind of happiness he'd never known settled comfortably over him like a warm embrace. "Wow," he said quietly, and Maylu giggled again, her nerves mingling with her new-found giddiness. Unable to help himself, he bent in, kissing her again, feeling the way their lips melded into each other like puzzle pieces, the way he could kiss her from another angle and still find that her mouth fit his just right, knowing that neither of them had ever kissed another soul, that they were discovering this together for the first time…

Chaud knew that fiction tended to over-romanticize first kisses, but he was sure as hell enjoying this one.