The evening was nearing midnight. Ling was playing a soft and languorous slow music and some of the youngest and most prudish kids were leaving the ballroom to go back to the dorms. Others were sharing embraces on the dancefloor, stepping left to right and spinning slowly. Leaning on a wall, a cocktail glass in one hand, Bella was watching the dancers, both happy and terribly frustrated. Antonio still wasn't back. She had only had a few dances with him before he vanished and she refused to leave before she could have a slow dance with her boyfriend.

Next to her, Elizaveta was sighing, a little melancholic. Bella put a compassionate hand on her best friend's naked shoulder. "Still not, huh?" she went softly.

"No," the Hungarian girl replied with another sigh.

Bella scanned the room but found no trace of a certain brunet with glasses. "He's already gone?"

"He misses his classical music. Him coming here was already something."

Bella pressed Elizaveta's hand, and the girl shook the gloom out of her head and made a beeline for Ludwig and Feliciano who were talking in the corner. Even during a party, a yaoist remains a yaoist. Bella smiled and was about to do the same by following Berwald and Tino towards the buffet when she felt a hand landing gently on her exposed shoulder. She turned around. And smiled.

A tall lad with red hair, both classy and casual in his dark outfit, was offering her a cup, a cheeky smile on his face. Bella gladly accepted the "apple juice" Allister was presenting to her. She knew him well, he was her brother's classmate and she had already talked with him. He was a good friend, sometimes a little rude, sometimes a little teasing, but always quite fun with his unflinching sarcasm. "Well, Cinderella, did your prince run away?" he mocked before gulping down the bottom of his cup like it really was just juice.

"Not at all," she went, playing along. "He was sent on a mission by royal decree, imagine that."

"Oh? What catastrophe could have hit the kingdom now?"

"An elf seems to have touched the forbidden cauldron and sank into madness. My prince must put him out of harm's way."

"Nice performance," he complimented.

"I know," she replied with a cat's smile she was quite good at making. She sipped her beer in silence as they watched the couples joining and separating on the dancefloor. Ling started another slow music.

"How long has he been gone?"

"I don't know, an hour?"

"Wow, I don't know if he'll be back at this rate…"

"To be honest, me neither." She shook her head, as if fanning away the fumes of sadness threatening to get to her head. She loved parties, she loved to have fun, more than anything. But without Antonio, it wasn't the same. She was alone. And she hated that. She wanted her handsome Spanish prince. She wanted him to make her laugh and dance, to be the adorable joyful charmer she'd been in love with for so long. She shook her head. What a ridiculous thought! Of course he was still the same! Why wouldn't he be? He was just missing, that's all!

"Alright, I'm doing this!" Bella raised an eyebrow at Allister who carelessly sat his cup on a chair, then turned to her and took her free hand, the left one, to lay a malicious kiss on it. "Let's dance, milady?"

Bella coughed out a small laugh and pulled her hand back. "Don't you have someone else to nag?"

"Nope, no one else!"

She rolled her eyes but the idea settled in a corner of her mind, tempting, pleasant. She doubted Antonio would come back now and the party was about to end anyway. Without her getting a chance to dance. The first notes of Que Lloro floated around them, gentle and melancholic, reflecting her mood perfectly. Bella bit her lip, torn. A hand took the cup from her hands and she turned, unsure, to the face, framed in red hair, watching her with kind concern and playfulness. Then she shrugged and smiled. A dance without Tonio wouldn't kill her after all. That would teach him! "Alright, why not, after all!"

Allister seemed surprised at her decision but didn't leave her time to change her mind. He took her arm and happily led her to the dancefloor. He made a parody of a bow which she responded to with a mock-curtsey. She put her hands on his shoulders, and him on her hips, and they started spinning in time with the music. He was guiding her gently, with slightly rough gestures that she was used to. She was spinning faster than him, letting the golden waves of her dress lick the wooden floor and gracefully curve around her. She was enjoying the dance, she was enjoying herself, her smile growing larger, more sincere and resplendent. He appreciated this view and made her spin as much as she liked, as long as she was having fun.

The song ended, quickly followed by the next, and they didn't even have to discuss. Their dance continued as, in Bella's tender green eyes, Allister's playful expression was soothing the memory of Antonio's laughing innocent face.

Tim sighed in satisfaction. His task was done, the bottles the trio had provided were completely empty, which implied extra money on top of the promised pay. Well, he had to admit he had encouraged the students to drink so it would go faster, but no matter. Like he always said, money rules the world.

He threw the last cups away and kicked the trashcan under the table. A small cry sounded out. Surprised, the young man lifted the tablecloth up to find an Italian and a German hiding in the secrecy of the booth, with an equally pleading and scared expression. Tim looked up and understood everything when he saw Elizaveta walking the room with a terrifying expression. He turned to the teens again. "I'll come back and tell you when she's gone."

Ludwig and Feliciano thanked him quietly and he let the fabric fall back over them, drowning them in the colorful shade of spotlights.

The teens shared a look. Then Feliciano started giggling and Ludwig barely managed not to laugh along. "Dio mi salvi, I thought we were done for!" the little brunet snickered.

"I hope he won't say anything, Tim isn't the most dependable confident out there."

"It's still better than coming out. Ve… Elizaveta looks nice, but she's scary! I thought she was working as a spy, or something like that, with all those questions!"

This time, Ludwig let out a small chuckle. "If you only knew what she put Gilbert through. She has a lot of character, you must not let her appearance fool you."

"I realized that, thank you!" Feliciano changed his position, bringing his knees up to his chin. "I understand her nickname now." They stopped talking for a few minutes. Feliciano was starting to feel tired. He wasn't used to staying up so late and had always been a heavy sleeper. In fact, this was the first time he was this silent around Ludwig and the German boy would lie if he said he didn't like the change. "Say, Ludwig?" Feliciano went after a little while. "Remember the question she asked at the beginning?"

"You mean, about our, uh…"

"Our sexual orientations." Had he been looking in the right direction and had a little more light, Feliciano would have seen Ludwig's cheek colored in a charming bright red. "What's yours?"

"Uh? I…" Words jumbled up in his mouth and he needed several seconds to form a coherent reply. "That's none of your business!" he went in a tone he meant to sound angry but expressed panic more than anything else.

"What? We're friends, aren't we?" Feliciano said, in a strange calmness that was probably due to his sleepiness. "I'm bi."

"Ah," Ludwig just said. Feliciano was great at confusing him with his foolproof simplicity. He never knew how to react with him.

"So?"

The German boy hesitated. "I don't know, I must be asexual. It never really got into it."

"Oh." Ludwig could have sworn he heard disappointment there, but again, he blamed that on tiredness. "You never fell in love?"

The blond boy hesitated once more. He didn't like that subject. "I may have, a long time ago." Feliciano turned to him but, in the shadow, he couldn't make out his face. He could only see the outline of his little curl against the tablecloth that the spotlights were coloring in warm shades. "I think I had a childhood love, but I have lost touch with that little girl for a long while now," he said slowly.

Feliciano didn't reply. His face turned to the light again. He seemed thoughtful, too serious, almost sad. "I see," he whispered before letting himself fall and dropping his head on his friend's thigh for a quick rest. Ludwig jumped slightly and was about to snap at him. But he didn't. He just let his hand run through the auburn hair and listened to purr-like satisfied breathing that came out with his gesture. He smiled again, not angry at all.

Feliciano was surprising. That was the word. Ludwig couldn't tell if that was a fault or a quality. He got on his nerves, calmed him, made him laugh or want to facepalm in despair… He could never understand him, he could never guess what he was about to say or do. But when he was with him, and heavens knew he stuck with him any chance he got, he had a sudden feeling like the world was a simpler, more colorful place. It was disturbing. He'd rather not think about it.

The tablecloth suddenly rose and Elizaveta appeared, camera in hand. There was a flash. She gave stunned Ludwig a little smile. And the tablecloth fell back down.

The young girl stood, happy, carefully patting the dust off her pretty green dress. She quickly reached into the little purse at her wrist and produced a few bucks she handed over to Tim. "Thanks for that," she said happily before slipping away as the young man pocketed his cash silently.

The moon hung above, round and milk-like, shedding a pale light over the sky where she out-shone all the stars. Only a single night flower was shining brightly enough to stand to her side, loyal like a guard dog. Gilbert, sitting on a bench in the gardens, was gazing at this scenery with thoughtful eyes, his lips thinned in a bitter expression.

The two rubies that served as his eyes looked like there were covered in the night's soft veil, their color darkened into a wet blood-like crimson. His white hair defied the moon's brightness, floating in the nightly breeze like delicate strands of spider silk. His undone tie hung around his neck like a scarf, over his flawless white shirt. He hadn't changed after getting kicked out of the party room.

His almost translucent skin shivered as he felt a hand touching his over the cold wood of the bench. He turned in surprise, looking for the one who approached so quietly. "Ah, Birdy!" he eventually said. "How long have you been there?"

"A while," Matthew replied softly, sitting next to him, making the wood creak in the nightly stillness. "I wanted to know where you'd gone. It was unfair from Luna to kick you out."

"Well, can't help it if she doesn't understand the awesomeness of a welcome prank! It was worth it though, did you see the new kids' faces?" he said, laughing. His voice was loud in the air. Matthew laughed a little as well. "Did you, Birdy?"

"I did, it was funny," he giggled. "But it's too bad, I would have wanted to stay until the end of the night."

"Puh! The end only has slow dancing, we didn't miss much."

Matthew didn't answer. At the highest level of the dorm's building, he could see Mrs. Chrones sitting at her window. "You didn't get to do your prank. The one you were talking about earlier," he remarked.

"Ah, yes, but if I'm not there to see it there's no point. Actually, I would like to get back at Tim right now…" he said in a more bitter tone.

"Tim? Why?"

"Oh, let's just say we had a fight during the night and he could stand to learn a few lessons."

"This bad?"

"You can't imagine, Birdy. Anyway! That thing will be of use some day…" the albino declared, pulling a little plastic bag from his pocket with a cheeky expression. It quickly disappeared from his hands and reappeared in the air, a little further away.

"Not really original," Matthew commented as he read the tag. He had pulled the sleeves of his jacket over his hands to hold the little object without directly touching it.

"Oh, that's because it's September," Gilbert replied. "Just you wait until Christmas Ball, then we'll have fun!" He held out his hand, expecting to get the little packet back but Matthew didn't give it to him. "Birdy?"

"I'm… Going to sleep. I'm starting to feel exhausted. See you tomorrow, okay, Gil?"

"Ok, but can I have the bag back?"

There was no response. Gilbert stood, waving his arms around in vain: Matthew was already gone.

There were very little people left. Tim was putting away the remains of the buffet and Ling was playing one last mixtape as he cleared off his mixing table, helped by his sulking brother. A few students were still chatting in the middle of the room. Eduar and Toris were moping, sitting against the wall, desperately watching Natalya as she ran around in circles, looking for her brother for over an hour now. She was hesitating between going back to the dorms to look for him or staying in hope that he would come back. Despite the two boys' efforts, she had been colder than Siberia, unable to stay in one place more than two minutes without knowing where her brother was.

"It's hopeless, isn't it…"

"Yeah…" Toris said, his head in his hands.

Raivis, sitting on the floor two feet away from them, had his face flushed, singing and giggling. He would not need help to go back, but he would definitely be a little loud.

"We should go home."

"I can't, party committee, remember?"

"Oh, right…"

"You can go."

"Yeah…"

The conversation was going, as lively and interesting as a dead snail on the side of the road. Toris got up to join Alfred and Tim in putting away the chairs. Eduar kept his eyes on Natalya. She had stopped searching and just stood in the middle of the room, her gaze empty. She was wearing a fine black dress that hugged her hips, hid her ankles and freed her shoulders in a lustful backless. Her ash-blond hair was up in a complicated bun. Golden earrings, Ivan's favorite color, were sparkling against the skin of her neck. She looked lost, sad, a little mad. Eduar thought she was beautiful.

"Eduar!" Raivis drawled weakly. "I'm thirsty!"

"There's no more alcohol, shota," Eduar replied a little dryly, unhappy about being interrupted in his beholding.

"But I'm thirsty!"

Eduar let him complain a few more seconds before getting up. Yes, Raivis could probably do it himself but in his state, he would keep complaining until he had what he wanted, and Eduar was not in the mood to deal with this. He turned to what was left of the buffet. In fact, there was only the half-empty fruit cocktail bowl that was left on the table. Well, that would do. Nobody was having it anymore but there were still a few plastic cups. Eduar took one and filled it, then he had an idea. After all, it worked in movies.

He filled two more glasses and carried all of it away, the best he could. He gave one to Raivis on the way then headed hesitatingly for the beautiful Slavic girl, still standing in the middle of the room. The music had stopped. Eduar touched her shoulder carefully to get her attention.

She raised two empty eyes at him and made a disdainful face as she saw him. "What do you want?" she said coldly.

Eduar offered her a cup with a sorry little smile. She stared him down, like a goddess would look upon the offering of a mortal. However, looking carefully, there was a bittersweet glint dancing in the depths of her pupils. "To comfort you," Eduar replied in a soft and slightly shaking voice, not quite confident.

She stared at him, frowning. "Comfort me?"

He didn't dare respond. Natalya had that wild cat look, like a single wrong word could spark her wrath. He liked that dormant fierceness. He was used to the logic of computer programs. So much unpredictability was fascinating to him.

She ended up taking the cup, much to the Estonian boy's joy. They drank together, chewing on the pieces of fruit. To Eduar, they were alone in the room. Natalya was looking at him. Had he not felt the taste of cocktail on his tongue, he would have thought to be dreaming.

Tim let out a relieved sigh, echoing the rest of the party committee. It was one in the morning, they were finally done with putting away the furniture and decoration of the room. The others were leaving, Luna's curfew pass in their pockets. He stayed a moment to breathe.

"That was good team-work!" said a small voice.

Surprised, he opened his eyes and looked around for who has spoken. "Who's there?"

"It's Matthew, Alfred's brother," said the tired voice. "I'm in the committee too."

"Oh," Tim just said. He didn't remember anyone called Matthew but he seemed to be invisible after all. Nothing could surprise him in this school anymore.

"Are you thirsty?"

"Yeah."

"Here." A cup of cocktail appeared in the fifth year student's hand. "I had some earlier but I don't want it anymore. You can have it."

"Oh, thanks."

Tim lifted the cup to his lips and finished it in one gulp, without a care in the world. Matthew had an amused smile. "Well, I'm leaving. You'll take care of the door, right?

"Yeah, don't worry."

Tim woke up at three AM, with a furious need for the bathroom, barely waking up Gupta, his Egyptian roommate. He got up quickly and without even putting his slippers on, ran through the corridor, in his pajamas, to get to the boys' bathroom.

Two stalls were taken already. He jumped into a third one and sat down, trying to quiet the obscene noises his guts were making by crossing his arms over his belly.

After a few minutes, he realized something was wrong. "Hey, who's there?" said a miserable voice. Tim recognized Eduar.

"Tim. What's going on?"

"Did you put something in the buffet?"

"What? No, I…" The young man thought for a second. "Everyone would be sick if that were the case."

"All three of us didn't end up here for no reason, did we?"

"All three?"

"Yeah, there has to be something," said Raivis's not-much-better voice.

Tim held the bridge of his nose. "I am telling you there wasn't anything in the buffet. In fact, I barely ate anything. I was busy with the drinks."

Eduar thought for a moment and remembered what Toris had said, the day prior. "It's the Bad Touch Trio's fault. It has to be. They probably put laxative in the food again."

"I'm telling you I…" Tim suddenly realized. "The cocktail. That's the only thing I had yesterday."

"They did that by the end of the evening? Sounds correct."

"Ugh, with Gilbert's prank, I thought we were safe…" Raivis whined.

The three boys grew silent as Eduar realized that, in the girls' bathroom, Natalya was probably in the same state. He facepalmed. "I'm a moron…"

Hey everyone! Tori here! Thanks for reading so far, I hope you enjoyed! This is all I've written for this fanfiction so far and it may take a while for me to pick it up again. I'm sorry, I know some of you have been waiting new chapters for a while, but there are a lot of other projects that I would like to focus on, namely the books I've translated that are coming out next spring! In any case, I'm super grateful to all the wonderful people who read and supported me with reviews and likes and everything! Hopefully, I'll get a flash of inspiration soon!

Bye!