Halloween Dance!

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Aerina did look pretty, and cute. Zeke just wasn’t used to saying those words and all he could come up with was ‘nice’, which was also true. He didn’t notice if her hair was frizzy or hard to keep under control – she was just small and adorable in her Halloween costume. “I do?” he asked softly, looking down at himself uncertainly. His thumb ran under his collar again and tugged on it. “I’m glad you think so.” He gave a tiny smile again – as long as she thought he looked good, then that was all that mattered, right? And Danny, because Danny’s opinion mattered too.

He didn’t know what he labeled their relationship as yet. It was obvious that she was attracted to and interested in him, and Zeke was looking forward to getting to know her more, but he didn’t feel like he’d spent quite enough time with her yet to consider anything exclusive. Not to mention he never had been exclusive with anyone before, as well as the fact that he hadn’t told her about his… Well, unusual physiology. Which hopefully wouldn’t matter too much if she liked him enough, but it could lead to problems if they got serious and if she wanted kids……

But tonight wasn’t a night to think about all that! Zeke kept his arm out for Rina to hold as they neared the dance floor, even as his heart started to beat more rapidly as his nerves really kicked in. Hopefully they could just get some food and hang out on the edges of the room watching people dance. But apparently that wasn’t going to be the case, as his date immediately began tugging him right towards the dance floor. Zeke’s gold-colored eyes widened in alarm. “I-I don’t know, I’m not-“ But his voice was too quiet to be heard over the music, and the tiny girl somehow managed to pull him out towards where all the students were dancing. He felt frozen, and out of place, being taller than many of the people around him and therefore more obvious that he wasn’t dancing. He looked helplessly to Aerina, hoping he could just sort of copy whatever she was doing and survive this place. He wished Danny was here…

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Devyn had thought maybe his friend had caught onto what he had been suggesting, especially when he saw the look of realization cross the taller boy's face. He opened his mouth to provide some innocuous (and hopefully subtle) reason for them to make themselves scarce.

But Sunar spoke first, and it didn't appear subtlety- though knowing Sunar, Devyn knew that he often spoke first and thought later- was on his friend's mind.

There was a certain amount of shock and panic on Devyn's face and he placed his hand on top of the one Sunar was using to grab his arm and turned to look at him. He knew the male meant well, obviously neither had known if the two were together or not or even interested (though Devyn had a bit of eyewitness evidence to suggest otherwise on that front) and Devyn didn't really blame Sunar for his response.

His heart dropped a bit as Nao, as he'd heard Xun refer to him as, he was worried about how much he was reacting, and while he understood where Nao was coming from he had a bit of an obligation to defend his friend if something bad were to happen.

Instinctively, he took a step back, pulling Sunar along with him and started to say something to try and calm the male down. Fortunately, for the entirety of the group, Xun said something before Devyn did, as it was very likely he might have accidentally pissed him off more if he had tried to speak.

"I'm sorry it was a misunderstanding, don't hold it against us too much. I'm Devyn by the way, one of Xun's roommates." He tried to help change the subject rather quickly, he wasn't going to hold the (loud) protest against the guy, as he was in a similar boat and probably wouldn't have reacted very well to any similar assumptions.

[Sunar Chugani]

Oops. 

Sometimes Sunar regretted not having a filter. For instance, right this moment. He hadn't intended for his comment to be taken quite that seriously; he certainly hadn't meant to upset Nao so much. 

And he had already failed to follow through on his promise to Dev that this would be fun. Upsetting other students to the point of yelling was not fun. 

"I...I didn't...it wasn't serious! Unless you think Dev and I are here on a date, too." 

This was mostly true; he had really thought they were interested in one another. And he frankly would have totally asked Dev on a date, if he thought his friend liked guys. But he obviously was asexual. Or maybe straight. It was hard to tell, he didn't show a lot of interest most of the time, but sometimes he flirted with girls. Anyway, it couldn't be a date if you didn't tell the other person it was a date, that would be rude.

Almost as rude as assuming two people you only vaguely knew were dating. 

And then another thought shoved its rude way into his mind. He allowed Devyn to pull him backwards, expression stricken. 

"Oh, no," He whispered to Dev, slapping his free hand against his forehead, "Nao's in GSA with me. I can never show my face there again."

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Nao knew it was a misunderstanding. He knew that their intentions weren’t to upset him. But it was still hard to get over his sensitivities regarding his sexuality, and the talkative boy he didn’t know had stepped on that land-mine without even knowing, without suspecting, the effect it could have on the Japanese boy.

So no…he didn’t blame him for not knowing and making that sort of ignorant statement….maybe he did for assuming that it was okay to say those sorts of things to anyone, though Nao was certain that if he were straight and Xun had been a girl he mightn’t have gotten quite as upset.

And once again, Nao wondered what it was about him that made people assume he was gay…even though it was true…

Xun was one of the few people to whom he’d spoken to about those insecurities of his. Ray was another, along with his friend, Alex, albeit briefly. Still…just because he had insecurities didn’t mean he had to bite some innocent kid’s head off.

Nao shook his head when Xun tried to pull him from the two boys and lead him away, the looked up with a small, soft smile. “It’s okay,” he said with a lot less tension in his voice. “We don’t have to leave.” Nao turned back to the other two boys and took a deep breath. The one who had made the statement seemed to be talking himself into an even deeper hole, and Nao wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond to that. To the boy who introduced himself, Nao offered a somewhat strained smile and a slight nod. “I’m Naozumi,” he said softly, though hopefully loud enough for them to hear. He dipped his head at a polite angle. “I’m sorry. I know you did not mean to offend, and I over-reacted.” Nao hoped he hadn’t made himself look as much a terrible person as he felt at that moment.

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Xun mostly just found the entire situation… Uncomfortable. While he himself was completely lost on his sexuality, and thought that he leaned towards the ace side of things (although that had been seeming less and less likely true, especially with how he’d responded to Nao’s growth spurt a while ago after he’d returned from being away for a while), he could understand that Nao would be upset, especially since he was one of the few people that did know about the younger boy’s preferences. He felt bad that he’d gotten that upset, though, and that he’d had the outburst.

He didn’t say much more to his two roommates, since he was mostly just flustered and blushing from thinking about what it might be like if he was on a date with Nao tonight. But that shouldn’t be what he was thinking! He should be trying to help the situation, so that was why he suggested getting away.

Sunar and Devyn seemed ready to leave the area, at least, and Xun gave them a slightly apologetic smile as they left. At least they hopefully couldn’t see his reddened cheeks in the dark and partially covered by his costume. “If you’re sure,” he replied, nodding slightly at Nao as he glanced down at the food again. He waited until the whole conversation was done before he reached over and tugged on Nao’s sleeve to point out something that looked particularly delicious on the table. “Wanna just stay here and eat food with me until I decide to leave?” he asked meekly as he took another sip of punch.

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Aerina nodded fiercely. “Yup, you do, definitely!” Aerina couldn’t get over how good Zeke looked. Oh, how jealous all the other cheerleaders must be of her, coming to the dance with such a handsome date. Rina really lucked out with this one. And if things went well tonight, they’d go back to his place, one thing would lead to another, and then~

Oh, she was getting ahead of herself! Rina covered her cheeks, embarrassed by her own fantasies. At least Zeke wasn’t a mind reader, otherwise she’d really be in trouble.

Best to concentrate on the dance. The moment. There they were living their own fantasy, so why not live it up? That’s why Aerina pulled Zeke over to the dance floor, because dancing at a dance was the point of it, right? Once they were out there, Rina started moving her arms and hips, swaying them back and forth to the rhythm of the music. “Come on, you can do it!” How cute! He wasn’t much of a dancer, but that was okay. His looks and adorableness completely made up for all of that. She grabbed his hands and leaned in slightly. “Just calm down, you’re doing fine,” she said to encourage him. “Just do what I do.” Because Rina knew how to dance, so it was nothing for her to lead her partner in something simple.

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Zeke was nowhere near the same train of thought that Rina had about how this night was going to go. It hadn’t crossed his mind even once. As far as he knew, they were just going to come to the dance, hang out a little, eat some food, and then he’d take her back up to her dorm room, maybe give her a kiss on the cheek, and then head back home to tell Danny how great or awful it had gone. Why would he expect anything more? Rina was a sweet, responsible young woman!

He really hoped they were just going to head over to the food table – Zeke was already hungry anyway – but there was no way he could say no to her, especially with how she was tugging on him. Her quickly grew captivated by the sway of her hips, not realizing he was staring and had almost forgotten about his anxiety until she spoke up again. Zeke quickly snapped out of it and glanced up at her face again. “Um…” His cheeks flushed as Rina took his hands, but he slowly let her begin to help him move along to the music. The older man tried his best to keep up, but it quickly became apparent that he really had no idea what he was doing. “Maybe you should have brought a better dancer as your date…” he mumbled quietly, barely audible over the music. He didn’t want to make her look bad, and he was trying his best, but it just wasn’t very good. “Um, do you want to get a drink?” he asked after a while, when his anxiety in the crowd had just about reached his limit. He resisted the urge to cling nervously to her.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

The Halloween Dance theme had not been “The Circus” when Sean had brainstormed costumes with his partner. The theme had not been “The Circus” when he and the Student Activities Council had planned the dance, or when they had gone shopping for supplies, or even when they had been tasked with decorating the dance hall in preparation for the holiday.

No, the theme had only become “The Circus” when the students had taken advantage of being unsupervised while decorating the auditorium, had discarded with the agreed-upon decoration scheme, and had, instead, opted to turn the room into an outtake from that dreadful and disgusting Saw franchise. Then Yvette had seen the auditorium before he could make the students redo it, and she had abruptly changed the dance theme to punish everyone.

Since the students had abused the privilege, he and other faculty members had been charged with the task of taking down and cleaning up the old decorations, while putting up the new, less offensive theme. That had led to him staying late at Hammel and having to come home late for supper, complete with calling Josh and asking him to order takeout for the both of them.

And so, for the day of the dance, the theme was “The Circus,” and Sean and Josh had dressed as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, because those had been their original costume ideas. He didn’t care about being the wrong theme, because he had been given no time to put together a different costume, and he was still irritated with the entire situation. But he wouldn’t take that out on the students, the vast majority of whom had not been involved in decorating, and thus had not been at fault for what had transpired.

He was camped out by the wall near the refreshment table. That allowed him to keep an eye on the punch bowl and other treats, while not hovering around the students. So far the drama seemed limited to typical teenage angst, as it should be.