Imasu wouldn't let me go to the office that morning. He knew there was a story to be heard and I wasn't going anywhere until I told him what was going on with the Doctor.

"It's like he's fixated on you." Today Imasu was wise enough to hush his voice. "And usually I wouldn't judge, or anything, but I thought you were dating Magnus Bane?"

"I am." I told him. "Well, I wasn't, but now I am."

Imasu's face showed nothing but his blatant disapproval. "You probably shouldn't keep leading Zach on, then."

I groaned and put my head in my hands. I guess Imasu had known Zach longer, so he was bound to try to see it from my Boss' point of view. But it just wasn't the case and he had to know that.

"Do you think that's what's going on here?" I asked. "I'm not trying to encourage him!"

"Didn't you accept his date offer?" Imasu frowned.

So Zach had told Imasu about it after all. He just hadn't invited the desk clerk to join us that evening. Who knows what Imasu had been thinking all this time? I must have seemed majorly withholding.

I thought about Magnus and how we were approaching the half-year abstinence mark. Okay, so I was withholding. But that was beside the point.

"Not only was I technically single when I did that," I informed Imasu, "I had no idea that was a date offer. I thought you were coming!"

"Me?" Imasu pointed to himself and looked confused.

Suddenly I had a great idea.

"You should come." I said. "If I invite you to come-with, Zach will know I didn't realise it's meant to be a date!"

"That would be a great plan if I didn't already know it is a date." Imasu reminded me.

I rolled my eyes.

"Say I asked you what time we were all meeting and you didn't know what to do." To be fair, this excuse didn't need a whole lot of thinking. It quite possibly would have happened for real if I had never realised Zach's intentions.

Imasu seemed to catch on to what I was suggesting.

"'Sorry, Zach, I guess he misread you'?" He said.

"Exactly!" I grinned.

I couldn't help it, I'd been so worried about how I was going to explain myself to Zach and now the perfect method had fallen right into my lap. Even better, this way didn't make me come off like an asshole.

Imasu and I chatted a little longer and soon enough, Zach arrived to clock in.

"Morning you two." He smiled. He moved in to hug me again, but Imasu spoke, so I turned to face him.

"Alec was just asking me what I planned to wear to that Halloween party we're all going to." He said. Imasu was pretty good at this; putting on emphasis to give a strong hint to Zach which couldn't have been missed.

I, on the other hand, have never been much of an actor. And my excuse-making game is pretty weak. I plastered a smile on my face which I hoped would read as obliviousness, although in reality I probably just looked brain-dead.

Zach squinted at Imasu like he thought our clerk had gone insane. It took him as second or two to regain his composure when he saw what was going on.

The look he gave me was almost betrayed. It wasn't anywhere close to a real betrayal - when your boyfriend turns out to have a wife, for example - more like that horrible feeling you get when you think you know somebody and they throw you through a loop. You know; when they seem like great people until you find out they have some kind of majorly creepy hobby. You don't want to hold it against them but at the same time...

Well. The guy didn't spend a whole lot of time focused on me.

"It's a masquerade." He said, although he seemed to be specifically addressing Imasu. "Think less zombies and more mystery."

"Masquerade?" Magnus gasped. "You're going to a masquerade? And you didn't tell me?"

When I arrived at his place I had been ready to tell Magnus all about my day, as usual. I'd have a real story this time about what had happened with Imasu and how Zach had suddenly grown cold on me when he realised I didn't see the two of us the same way that he did.

"Um, no, I didn't tell you." I said. "But that's not the poi-"

"Always tell me! Immediately!" Magnus interrupted. Then he ran off into the spare room, leaving me to stand talking to the cat.

"Oh Chairman." I gushed, loudly enough for Magnus to hear in the other room where he was crashing about. "You're such a good listener!"

When Magnus did emerge, with a pout on his face which didn't suit him at all, he was holding an outfit in one of those black bags you put over hangers to keep clothes preserved. He walked back into the living space and began to lay the contents out on the couch.

"I'll have to adjust it..." Magnus mused, looking over the ensemble, which had been made to match a deep blue mask that would cover the eyes and one side of the face. It was quite lovely. "Undress."

I started to splutter. That had been pretty damn abrupt. "Excuse me?"

"Undress so I can make adjustments." Magnus repeated. "Otherwise it won't look right."

Okay. That made a lot more sense. He could have explained that a bit better the first time he ordered me to take my clothes off. If there's one thing you can correctly assume it's that I'm not likely to make a correct assumption.

"I thought you were asking-" Well, telling. "For an entirely different reason."

"And what a wonderful reason that would have been." Magnus smirked suggestively. "But unfortunately for both of us somebody just sprung an emergency on me!"

Magnus threw his hands in the air and went to make sure his sewing equipment was ready for whatever it was he needed to do.

There was a 'workshop' table in the apartment now. On it was Magnus' sewing machine and a bunch of other supplies. Having it there didn't change the fact his every project ended up taking up most of the room, but when the things were packed away the place looked a lot neater.

"I hardly call this an emergency." I said. Sometimes I thought Magnus was overly invested in clothing and appearances. Then I remembered that was what he did for a living. How much was too much when your income depends on a keen interest, really?

I reluctantly removed my shirt and looked around the room awkwardly. As if anybody else was going to see me when only Magnus and Chairman Meow were the only ones there.

"What do I do? Just put it on?" I called over to where Magnus was. He called back an affirmative and I found myself carefully removing a shirt and vest from their hangars.

Realistically, I knew the clothes would hold up under normal treatment. It didn't feel right to treat Magnus' work so carelessly, though.

In all honesty wasn't so sure if the fitting was that important. I slipped on the subtly decorated suit jacket and it felt like any normal off-the-rack item would. Magnus, however, took one look and grabbed his pincushion.

When he got close enough to see around his couch he raised an eyebrow at my lower half. "You aren't done changing."

"Pants too?" I asked, looking down at myself. Well damn it. I should have just done that while Magnus had been too busy to look. "Could you turn around?"

"You're embarrassed? Darling, I've seen you completely naked." Magnus sighed and undid my button.

I took a step away to do it for myself. If Magnus was going to get into my personal space like that then there was going to be a certain problem preventing him from fitting anything below the waist properly.

"That was different." I muttered.

Three awkward undressing's later - by which point I was sure Magnus had nothing left to adjust and just wanted to get me in my underwear again - Magnus was satisfied with the fit. I looked myself over in the mirror and it crossed my mind that the clothes I wore must have been made for a reason. Another person who'd probably paid handsomely, too.

"What about the commissioner?" I asked with a sudden awful feeling.

"Woolsey, last year." Magnus assured me. "I know more than a few people who never wear the same thing twice. Those things tend to end up back here."

I looked at myself again, with the knowledge that the last person to wear these things was universally recognised for his attractiveness.

I was known for screwing random married men.

I don't have a huge ego, but that was certainly a blow to it. At least until Magnus wrapped his arms around my waist. I could see him smile in the mirror right before he buried his face and kissed my neck.

"It looks infinitely better on you, Darling."

He was a liar, but at that point I just didn't mind.

Thanks for reading the chapter, the next one - "How Late Is Too Late?" - will be coming soon!