Disclaimer: I do not own LWD or any of its characters.

Hey guys this oneshot is inspired by The Airborne Toxic Event's 'Sometime Around Midnight'.

Midnight, Hearts and Music

And it starts, sometime around midnight.
Or at least that's when you lose yourself
for a minute or two.
As you stand, under the bar lights.
And the band plays some song
about forgetting yourself for a while.
And the piano's this melancholy soundtrack to her smile.
And that white dress she's wearing
you haven't seen her for a while.

This, this was not Derek Venturi's scene. Not that he was out of place, because somehow he always managed to blend, but that didn't mean he felt comfortable. The friends that had dragged him to this hip trendy wine bar on the other hand, seemed to be nothing but enjoying the overdressed schmoozing going on all around him.

On the stage a surprisingly decent band played along with a grand piano. Derek leaned up against the bar, finding himself under the glow of the bar lights, listening and drinking his expensive wine.

His friends were chatting up a small group of girls to his left, and Derek looked down to his watch ignoring the odd girl out who was eyeing him.

It was almost midnight; they had been there for almost two hours, and he was beyond bored, and bordering on drunk. This was not his thing, and these girls were certainly not his type.

He ordered himself another wine, knowing he probably should stop, but not caring. And when he turned around to face the crowd again it happened. Across the room a girl in a beautiful white dress stepped into the light, smiling as if in time to the music from the piano. Time itself had stopped for a minute as the words being sung hung in his head, telling him to forget himself. And Derek thought he was going to be sick.

But you know, that she's watching.
She's laughing, she's turning.
She's holding her tonic like a cross.
The room's suddenly spinning.
She walks up and asks how you are.
So you can smell her perfume.
You can see her lying naked in your arms.

She spotted him, and he swears her smile grows a bit wider as she turns and laughs at something someone says. He can't turn away from the show he knows she's putting on for him across that room, swaying to the music while holding up a clear glass.

Then in a dramatic gesture so like her she motions to someone and breaks from her group, and this time she makes no mistake in locking her eyes on his as she crosses the room. Now Derek is sure the ground is going to fall out below him, or throw up. Before he can decide while should happen first she's speaking to him.

It takes a minute for his mind to catch up to the automatic answer he's giving her that he's fine, because he's on sensory overload. Being this close to her is so dangerous, so cruel. Memory didn't hold her right, and he was busy catching up on everything, making it right. The way she smells like a foreign flower, the hint of her body below the sleek white dress.

And so there's a change, in your emotions.
And all these memories come rushing
like feral waves to your mind.
Of the curl of your bodies,
like two perfect circles entwined.
And you feel hopeless and homeless
and lost in the haze of the wine.

He hopes his face isn't betraying him the way his mind is, as he stares at her, not sure what to say. He's fighting off the memories that are bursting through his mind like a movie on fast forward. Things he shouldn't be remembering, forbidden things that should never have happened in the first place, that he would give anything to do again.

She's looking at him in the most horrible way, and Derek misses her more then than he's ever missed anything, even though she's standing right in front of him. His lips part to tell her, and he suddenly wonders how drunk he really is, and where all those finely tuned words of his have gone.

He finds a slight satisfaction in her silent stare, knowing he isn't the only one. Then the satisfaction is gone as quick as it appeared as she motions to the other side of the room and she makes some scattered comment about it being good to see him and going.

Then she leaves, with someone you don't know.
But she makes sure you saw her.
She looks right at you and bolts.
As she walks out the door,
your blood boiling
your stomach in ropes.
Oh and when your friends say,
"What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He's frozen as he watches her walk to the other side of the room, not caring that he's staring. And then he sees the other guy, sees her smile as she wraps her arm through his and leads him to the door. It seems showy, and he can tell she knows he's watching. He doesn't know the plain blonde man beside her, but he knows he hates him and that his heart is tearing into shreds.

She takes a final look over her shoulder, and meets his gaze. There is something there, something unguarded she's trying to convey to him. Before he can figure it out, she smiles wickedly and leaves.

Derek isn't sick any longer, he's furious instead, with whatever game she's getting at, because it has to be a game. He knows that smile, knows she's provoking him to do something.

His friends are there again, ridiculous girls in tow, saying their leaving. Derek ignores them, and one leans in asking if he's okay, saying he looks like he's seen a ghost. He can't answer; he's barely heard the question as he's heading for the door.

Then you walk, under the streetlights.
And you're too drunk to notice,
that everyone is staring at you.
You just don't care what you look like,
the world is falling around you.

In the open air of the night, he's stumbling down the street at the fastest pace his unsteady feet will carry him. Each time he passes below another streetlight someone else is staring at his wavering, but he doesn't care.

Derek has other things that he cares too much about, like seeing her. He has to see her, suddenly he knows now he can't live without seeing her. Doesn't understand how he has for almost a year now. How he told her he could, how he thought anything else mattered, how he ruined it, how he was so freaking stupid.

You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You know that she'll break you in two.

When she flings open the door to her apartment it's clear from the empty studio behind her that she's alone, and he's never been more thankful for anything than he is of that. She doesn't look surprised, and suddenly he's wondering if any of this is real as he leans against the doorframe for support.

"Derek." Her smile is wicked, but he can tell her voice is wavering. He looses any grip he has at that and he drops to his knees in a way he once swore to her he never would, bowing his head and he says her name. It comes out in a pleading whisper, heavy with a year's worth of regret. "Casey."

As her she kneels before him and lifts his head, her smile is completely gone now. He can see clearly now her show is over, and in her eyes that she's as miserable as he is. He can't help the smirk that lights his face, and before either of them knows who leaned in first they're crawling, pushing into her apartment and slamming the door shut.