#devilgate-drive

The hall was large, floors polished and the silver lining of porcelain tiles glistening under the radiant glow of the chandelier. Arin had even gone as far as to arrange a buffet for them, platters of fine food placed upon stretches of clothed tables. Dan felt incredibly out of place. How had Arin managed to afford all of this?

But that night, it was not Arin who had caught his attention. Though the younger man looked absolutely dashing in his tuxedo and pale pink tie, his eyes drifted towards Holly, who was enjoying a glass of white wine and chatting merrily to Suzy. Seeing some sort of opportunity, he strode towards the two of them.

“This place is so fuckin’ fancy.” Dan grinned goofily, sticking his hands into his pockets. Suzy and Holly were charmed by his presence, turning to face him with smiles across their faces. Suzy wore a long black dress with a shiny bow-styled belt, and Holly was dressed in dress pants and a shirt, coupled with a waistcoat.

“It’s so beautiful, I absolutely adore the architecture…” Suzy tilted her head to look up at the ceiling in awe. Holly followed suit, as did Dan, the three of them gawking at the murals on the ceiling. Their gaze was quickly disturbed by Arin, who had come bustling over with a tipsy Ross linked in his arm. 

“Don’t forget there’s food on the tables and more drinks in the back, if you need ‘em.” Ross grinned. Arin rolled his eyes and kissed Ross’ cheek.

“I think you’ve had enough to drink.” Arin chuckled, dragging Ross closer to his side - this earned a laugh from both Dan and Suzy, which granted Holly the opportunity to look over Dan discretely.

“Mm? And I think you’ve had enough to eat.” Ross chortled, his humour rewarded with an elbow in the side from Arin. 

“Where have you two even been all night? I’ve missed your faces.” Suzy pouted, reaching forward to squeeze Arin and Ross’ cheeks.

Soon, Holly noticed that they had become engaged in full conversation, Dan standing idly to the side as he enjoyed watching comments be passed back and forth between them. She shuffled closer to Dan, reaching down to put an arm around his wrist. Dan snapped his head to look at her, a rush of curls falling across his face and back again, with a confused expression.

“Do you want to go get some fresh air?” She asked, finishing off her wine glass and leaving it on one of the food tables. Dan didn’t seem to understand fully, but he nodded, following Holly as she lead him to one of the balconies of the hall.

It was quite late in the evening, and the sky was had darkened considerably since they’d all arrived. Holly placed her hands on the banister of the balcony, looking out across the gardens below them. It truly was a wonderful sight, to see the trees illuminated by moonlight, as they swayed gently in the evening breeze. The moon was also casting a soft light across her face, which Dan was endeared with, joining her at the banister.

“Uhm…” He began, feeling awkward. “You know… You look really beautiful tonight and all.” He smiled, his eyes resting on her gentle features. Holly cracked a smile, feeling embarrassment overcome her.

“But I’m not wearing a dress.” She said. “It’s typically not the kinda thing you’d wear to a ball, or whatever…” She shrugged and hummed softly, turning to face Dan. Dan raised an eyebrow.

“And I’m not wearing a tie. What does it matter?” He remarked, reaching up to undo the top button of his shirt, which had been suffocating him for the majority of the evening. Holly laughed at this, shaking her head and looking down at her boots.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right, mm.” She wiggled her toes, her gaze attracted to Dan’s face again. “You look really good tonight, too.” She smiled. Dan waved a hand at her with a cheeky grin, stumbling backward in embarrassment.

“Why thank you, Miss Conrad.” He giggled, bowing. Holly clapped for him, laughing along. “Would you care to join me for a dance this evening?” He asked, using a regal-sounding voice. Holly pondered for just a moment, looking out to the gardens.

“I would very much like that, Mr Avidan.” She decided, turning to Dan to take his hand. Their hands melded together perfectly. With a swift kiss to the back of Holly’s hand, Dan led her back into the ballroom, as the music over the speakers began to play. It was no orchestra, but Arin could only accomplish so much with what he had.

Dan and Holly took their position on the floor, swiftly being joined by Ross and Arin, then Barry and Suzy. Several others took their places, too. 

Dan was no expert at dancing, and neither was Holly, but they twirled around the floor with ease - it was truly the beginning of a beautiful bond.

((i… had so much fun writing this? thank you for prompting me. also the song linked is my favourite piece of classical music from the studio ghibli movie ‘the cat returns’! #trivia))

Suzy looked him up and down one more time.  “Okay, hon,” she said.  Dan let out a pitiful whine, almost stomping his feet in frustration.  “Come inside, we’re going to start bobbing for apples soon.”

“You always know what kind of costume to wear,” he complained fondly, and did what she requested.  Suzy was an amazingly, perfectly made up Sally from The Nightmare before Christmas, complete with careful stitching right by her mouth in black mascara; her wig was expensive, and bright, light orange.  He had no idea how she managed to do it every single time, but she managed to do it every single time.  

Dan sighed and mingled with the rest of their party guests – all people who worked at the music store where they shared shifts.  Vernon came as a disco dancer, Brian was a very upmarket Ray Stanz, complete with expensive model Proton Pack.   He recognized Barry by his nervous walk, even under all of that gray-green Frankenstein makeup he was somehow entirely himself.  Holly was a witch, and her cackle was incredible.  Ross was wearing a dog’s ears and tail – he was Holly’s familiar, he explained.

There was one guy there, however, whom Dan had never met before that night.   Brown-haired with a blond streak layered in, stocky, maybe even a little bit rat-faced (an observation Dan would never share with the dude), He was wearing a wizard’s robe, his colors marking him out as a Hufflepuff, and he was struggling to carry a wand and a plastic plate filled with sandwiches and chips.

“Hey, man, do you need some help?”  Dan’s voice was calm and even, and he reached out a friendly hand to the dude.

“Oh, thanks man!” the guy grinned.  “Cool costume!  Jamiroquai fucking rocks!”

“They do fucking rock!” Dan said.  “No one else recognized where I was going!”

“That’s because people suck,” Arin said cheerfully, without even meaning it.  

Dan carefully took the wand in his hand as the man sat down on the couch.  He awkwardly held it as he took a couple of bites.  “Uh, I don’t think I introduced myself.  I’m Dan, I work the Tuesday shift with Suzy.”

“Oh!  You’re Dan!” he said brightly.  “Ross told me all about you.”

“Hah haha,” Dan laughed nervously.  “What did he tell you?”  For as fond as Dan was of Ross, he also knew that the guy had a tendency to be bald-faced honest about Dan’s shortcomings.

“That you were in a pretty good band, you never take the ones out of the til before you go off-shift, and you have weird hair.  It’s totally not weird, though, he was wrong as hell about that.”

“Thank you,” Dan blurted.  “You’re…”

The guy had taken a huge bite of his sandwich, so the words came out muffled.  “Ahrth HAmphg!” he said, and then swallowed.  “Sorry about that.”  He burped loudly.  “Arin Hanson.”

“Oh! “ Dan said.  “You’re the guy who drew a dick on that poster of Gene Simmons!”

“Yep, that’s me.   I mostly work the night shift ‘cause I work days at Disney most of the time.  I’m trying to break in through the back door, y’know – I really wanna be an animator.”  He blinked.  “And normally I suck at talking to people at parties.  Like, I run out of things to say right away and freeze up.  But not with you.”

“Huh.”  Dan had noticed the comfortable vibe between the two of them himself, though he hadn’t thought to comment upon it yet.  “I guess I just have that kind of face.”

“What, a cute one?”  Arin turned bright red.  “And sorry again.  Suzy said you had a girlfriend, right?”

“Emphasis on the word ‘had’,” Dan said.  “We’ve been broken up for a couple of months now.”

“Oh,” Arin said to Dan’s forehead.  Embarrassment slid between them like a wall of ice, but Dan wasn’t about to let it win out.  

“So why did you get into animating?”  Arin ended up telling him about how he’d always wanted to at least try it.  His roots were in comedy; he wanted to grow up to be.  

Then Arin asked, “How did you get into music?”  Dan was almost overwhelmed by the passion in his mind; he spoke eloquently of his dreams and of his childhood fantasies of being famous.  

“That sounds fucking rad,” Arin said.  “You need to show me some of your demons sometime.”

“Gladly.  Will you show me your shorts?”

“Either set, any time.”  Dan let out a loud, honking laugh.  Oh, he liked this dude.

“Everybody!  Everyone!  It’s time for the apple bobbing contest!” Suzy said, clapping to get their attention.  She directed them all toward a big bucket painted to look like a barrel filled with water and apples.  “Dan and Arin totally need to go first,” she said, with the decisiveness of a princess ruling over her kingdom.

“Well,” Arin said, squaring up to the barrel, “whoever comes up first, wins.”

“YEP!”

“A kiss!”

“Wait a minute!”  But he’d tucked his hands behind his back, and Suzy was counting down.  When she hit 10, Dan plunged his head into the bucket, flailing his head about until his teeth bumped into something soft and fleshy.  

He sunk his teeth in and jerked his body back from the barrel.

And at the other end of the thick, sweet apple he was biting was Arin’s mouth.

“Kiss, kiss!” demanded Ross sarcastically.

Arin took a huge bite out of his side of the apple, making Dan laugh so hard he nearly choked.  “So, which one of us won, Suz?” he asked, putting the apple down.  

“Hmm, I think you both did,” she said.  “And your prize is two tickets to the next  Deadpool movie, on me.”

“I love Deadpool!” the guys chorused,  as the rest of the room broke out in laughter.

“So uh…maybe I’ll put in for the morning shift and show you what I’ve been working on.”

“That’d be fucking great.  Maybe I’ll put in for the night shift and play you my demos,” Dan said.  

His eyes were bright, his heart was fluttering.  This was the beginning of something important, something that could change his whole life.