Title: New Year's Eve

Genre: Humor, and okay, slight Romance

Summary: Aerie wants to go to bed early on New Year's Eve, but Marco has other plans. Modern AU.

New Year's Eve is, traditionally, a metaphorical doorway leading into the next year of one's life. An important passing of time that only comes once every three hundred and sixty-five days. The coming of a new age, the dawn of a new era. This day always brought parties and celebrations of some sort, with everyone trying to start the new year with a bang.

Everyone, except for an aspiring young artist who wanted nothing more than to get some sleep so she could wake up in the morning for work. Her name was Tanaka Aerie. However, with everyone in the Moby Dick Apartment Complex partying like crazy until midnight or later, she doubted she would get her wish.

With an exasperated sigh, she stepped out of the shower to still hear the noises of her fellow residents rowdy merry making. She put on a pair of pajamas she had received for Christmas from her friend and roommate, Eliza. They were a light blue, cottony, and very comfortable.

Since it was only around eight o'clock, Aerie decided she would curl up in and read a book for a while before actually going to sleep. Her shift at the local antique store didn't start until nine in the morning, so she could stay up a little later. Not too late, though; she wanted to have a clear head when she had to catalog merchandise and help customers in the morning.

She had been reading for about half an hour when she heard a knock on the door to her apartment. Scowling, she swung herself off the mattress and made her way to the door. No, no, no! Dang it, Thatch, I told you I'm not partying tonight! She thought. However, to her surprise, it was not her dear friend Thatch at the door, but her rather lazy, blonde, and egotistical neighbor, Marco.

Aerie gave him a look that would cow a bull. "What?" She growled.

Marco gave her his best smirk. "Aerie, there you are, yoi! Thatch was worried you wouldn't make it down to the lobby for the party. I told him I'd check on you and bring you downstairs."

"Well, you can thank Thatch for his concern, but I have to go to work in the morning, so if you wouldn't mind..." Aerie began to close the door, but was stopped by Marco's foot. "Marco, what are you doing?"

"Oh, no, you're not getting out of this one. You still owe me, remember?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Marco's smirk widened as he opened the door and leaned in more. "Yes you do, yoi. The Christmas party?"

Aerie did remember. The complex had thrown a Christmas party featuring a Secret Santa, and Marco had drawn her name. He gave her a plethora of art supplies and the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. It was a simple silver chain, a silver eagle's wing, and a glass anchor. Later, the two found themselves standing beneath their friend Vista, who hung from a balcony holding a piece of mistletoe. Marco, however, said that since Aerie had already given him a kiss on the cheek as a thank-you, she would make it up to him later.

Her eyes widened. "Seriously? You're bringing that up now?"

"Yep," he said. "You're going to repay your debt." He pushed his way into the apartment, closing the door behind him with his foot.

Once he was inside, Aerie got a view of what he was wearing. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Marco, honestly, do you not know how to pick out clothes when you wake up?"

"Eh? What are you talking about? This looks fine." He looked down at his attire.

"That," she gestured at all of him. Normally, his only fashion issue was that he picked colors that clashed or patterns that didn't match at all. However, tonight, his crimes against the fashion world had reached a new level. He wore teal capris, straw sandals, a white sash as a belt, some sort of gold decoration, and a purple shirt. The shirt was left unbuttoned to reveal his toned upper body, and the symbol for the apartment complex was painted across his chest.

Aerie snorted and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What do you want?"

He made himself comfortable on her couch. "You'll see."

"If you're not going to tell me, I'm going to go to bed." As she was leaving though, a tan hand wrapped itself around her wrist. Before she could process this, she was pulled down onto Marco's lap, her back on his chest. His arms wrapped around her stomach and he buried his grinning face into her hair. A dark red blush came to Aerie's cheeks immediately. "M-M-Marco let me go!"

"No, thanks, I'm rather comfortable." He nuzzled her clean hair again.

"I'm not!" Aerie tried to push his arms off of her, but to no avail. She added, in utter seriousness, "I'll scream."

He tensed a bit, then relaxed. "No you won't, yoi. I'm not going to do that."

"If you even thought about it-"

"Calm down, I won't," he assured. He took a deep breath. "You smell good."

"WHY ARE YOU SNIFFING ME?!"

"What else am I supposed to do with you sitting on me like this?"

"DON'T MAKE IT SOUND LIKE I CHOSE TO SIT HERE, YOU PERVERT!"

"Jeez, you're loud. Now I know why Eliza's downstairs and not up here with you."

Aerie took a deep breath. "Please let me go?"

"No." He moved his head forward until his face was pressed into the crook of her neck. Aerie let out a shriek and tried to jump, but his arms held her in place. A whole new shade of red erupted on her face. Marco sighed and loosened his grip a bit. "Here," he said. He moved so he was lying down on the couch and she was on top of him. "Better?"

"No! Let me go!" She tried pushing on his chest, but nothing happened.

Marco groaned. This was harder than he thought it would be. "Fine. But if I do, don't leave yet. You're staying up until midnight."

"Fine." He removed his arms from around her back and she sat up. He followed her example and crossed his legs.

Aerie put her head in her hands and softly moaned. So much for going to bed early, she thought. She looked at the clock over the television. It told her it was only nine o'clock. She still had three hours until midnight, then she could go to sleep.

~...~

Three hours passed surprisingly quickly. After a couple of minutes of uncomfortable silence, Aerie suggested she put on a movie. Marco agreed and they watched Clue, one of Aerie's favorites. She must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew, Marco was gently shaking her awake and telling her it was five minutes until midnight.

"What's so important about midnight, anyway?" She asked through a yawn.

Marco smirked. "I told you: you'll see."

The closer the time drew to midnight, the more curious Aerie became. She desperately wanted to know why the time that signified the coming of the new year was so important. Just what was he planning? Soon enough, they could hear the rowdy partiers downstairs loudly counting down from sixty.

Marco stood up and stretched his arms and legs. He took both of Aerie's hands and gently pulled her to her feet so she stood in front of him. When she shot him a confused look, he only smirked in reply.

As the crowd started counting down from thirty, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. At fifteen, he cupped her cheel with his other hand.

Aerie now had a pretty good idea what was going on. However, when he started to lean in closer, she let him instead of leaning away like she normally would.

10...

9...

8... He was close enough that he could feel his breath fanning her face.

7...

6...

5... Marco had freckles. She had never noticed before. Tiny clusters of brown dots decorating his cheekbones and nose.

4...

3... Aerie closed her eyes.

2...

1... Marco gently pressed his lips against hers as cheers erupted downstairs. The new year had come once again, and it was warmly welcomed with the cheering and noise making of everyone in the Moby Dick Apartment Complex.

Everyone except a young couple in an apartment on the third floor. They welcomed the new year in an old-fashioned, sentimental, and often copied way. These two were silent in their celebration, something very rare for people of their age. Neither quite aware of their surroundings, but just utterly absorbed by each other's soft touch. Somehow, both of them knew this new year would be full of glorious promise. The promise of something just out of reach, but yet so close.

Neither of them could wait to to find out what that something was.

I did it! I wrote a romantic scene without too much difficulty! Hooray! I'll let you guys think up of what happened next.

What did you think? I'm pretty proud of it! Maybe I'm not such a hopeless fool after all. Let me know how you guys think I did and REVIEW!

Happy New Year, everyone!

~Batman