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A kaleidoscope of led lights swirl across the Mostro lounge, led lights set up to be as grating to the eyes as possible. Trey adjusted his glasses for the nth time, huffing as he sits in the tacky vinyl booth off to the edge.
The smell of sweat filled the room, along with a variety of cheap colognes and body sprays. Alcohol was being served by someone who probably shouldn’t have access to the glass bottles in his current state. A variety of students from different dorms mingled and danced, all of them awkward and clumsy as they attempted to impress whatever boy had caught their eye.
“It’ll be fun! You’re so lame, you never come to any of the parties,” Cater had said earlier while shoving his phone in Trey’s face. On the screen was a magicam story post with quite possibly the least legible font Trey had ever seen. It read something about a party in the Mostro lounge that night, some kids from Savanaclaw had even managed to smuggle alcohol in. Great, just what Trey needed.
But Cater had looked at him with those puppy dog eyes and… Cater never asked for much. Trey couldn’t help but oblige with a sigh.
The way Cater’s eyes had lit up made the whole thing worth it.
Now the Heartslaybul vice-housewarden was sitting and sipping a weak screwdriver that probably was just orange juice. Not that he minded, he never was much a fan of alcohol.
A few Heartslaybul lowerclassmen gave him looks, as though they expected him to scold them about partying when they should be back in the dorm. But Trey wasn’t here to rat anyone out to riddle, he was… preoccupied.
The object of all his focus was currently dancing with a red solo cup in his hands, his lithe body rocking clumsily to the beat of whatever was blasting through the speakers. His usual half updo was already falling apart as he tilted his head back to laugh at something someone had said to him, eyes scrunched up in joy.
Constantly schooling his expression to something less fond, Trey watches as Cater writhes with the masses of students, the lights constantly casting the man in new dazzling colours.
He looked best bathed in low red light, his features all dramatic and stark in the dim hue. The pale yellow was also a fantastic colour, it let the red flush of his cheeks shine in a way the red light didn’t allow. Blue was nice too, it made Cater look totally different, his orange hair appearing almost brown.
Still cataloging how each colour made Cater look, he was suddenly shocked out of his reverie by someone stepping in front of him.
“Trey? Don’t think I’ve ever seen you at one of these,” Jamil says, looking down at the other man.
“Oh, hi. Yeah, yeah. Not exactly my scene, but Cater wanted me to come,” Trey replies as he smiles up at the other vice housewarden, “Didn’t really think it would be yours either.”
Jamil snickers, “Yeah, I’m doing the same thing as you. I’m here for Kalim mostly. But I don’t mind the dancing.”
“Ah, fair enough,” Trey says as he takes a sip of his drink, “I’m not much of a dancer myself. Cater’s tried to pull me onto the floor, but I’m more than happy to watch.”
Jamil slips into the booth beside Trey as he responds, “Yeah, you don’t strike me as the dancing type. You’re a bit too stocky for that kind of thing.”
The two of them lull into a comfortable silence, both letting the other check in on the man in their watch. Cater was currently dancing with some beastman, while Kalim was nearby chatting with someone who appeared to be from Diasomnia, but it was hard to tell when no one was in uniform.
As the song switches, Kalim comes bounding over to their table, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Instinct had Trey admiring the teeth, they seemed clean. The Scarabia House warden likely had a diet that promoted good tooth health if it was Jamil feeding him, and access to top notch dental care as a member of a wealthy family. The thoughts scatter away as Trey focuses on what Kalim’s saying.
“Jamil,” Kalim said, his face almost as red as Cater’s from intoxication, “I love this song, come dance with me! Pretty please?”
A sigh escaped Jamil’s face and he frowned, “Yeah, yeah. I’ll come entertain you, you brat.”
Kalim just beamed, and Trey shot Jamil a sympathetic look. The two headed off to the dancefloor, leaving Trey alone with his thoughts once more.
His eyes immediately trailed back onto the dance floor, searching for that beautiful flash of orange hair he wanted to see. Soon enough he spotted Cater, who was now simply dancing without chatting with anyone, just enjoying the music.
Currently Cater was wearing an outfit he saved for special occasions (which he had deemed Trey going to a party with him one of), a black button up long sleeved shirt and a pair of shiny satin dress pants that reflected the flashing lights of the party. Makeup was the usual, just some red eyeliner in the corner of his eyes, a bit of concealer, a hint highlighter and the red diamond under his left eye.
Suddenly, Cater was standing in front of Trey and pulling on his arm with a giggle.
“Come play with us! We’re gonna play seven minutes in heaven,” Cater said as he tugged on Trey’s sleeve, “You’ve just been sitting around, you’re probably so bored…”
A snicker escaped Trey as he stood up, putting a hand on Cater’s arm, “I’m fine sitting around, Cay. I’m good, really. You can go play, I’ll just keep watch.”
An exaggerated pout crossed Caters face and he huffed, “No way. You’re coming with me, and you’re gonna play.”
Cater yanked on Trey’s arm, leaving no room for argument. A soft sigh escaped Trey’s mouth, but he obliged and followed Cater to the circle of people sitting on the ground with an empty beer bottle in the center.
A few people oohed as Cater and Trey sat down, a few people giving them looks. Both were appealing for their own reasons, Cater’s charms and pretty boy look were cute, where Trey knew he was tall and relatively built, so he had a few eyes on him as well. Most eyes were on Cater though.
Someone grabbed the bottle and spun it, landing on another guy. An Ignihyde student, from the way his eyes went wide and he started stuttering in confusion. Cater cooed with the crowd as the two headed off, the nervous boy blushing bright red.
The bottle kept on spinning, pairing off and heading out for a moment, before heading back either flushed or awkward.
Being a little lost among these people who seemed to know each other, Cater stepped in for Trey and whispered little snippets into his ear every time something interesting happened.
“Oh, those two hate each other! That’s gonna be awkward…”
“They’ve both liked each other for ages, but they’re both too shy to do anything about it. Maybe they’ll finally find some courage.”
“We’re pretty sure they’re hooking up, they just seem… you know?”
“God, he’s hot. He’s way out of his league.”
“Oh, he’s his exes ex! That’s gotta be juicy!”
“He’s like… a total manwhore. And not in the fun way, he leads guys on about wanting a real relationship then leaves after he sleeps with them.”
Nodding along, Trey tries to absorb all the information he can. It’s a little beyond him, but he tries to pay attention for Cater. All of it is probably gossip Cater had already absently told him at one point, but Trey hadn’t absorbed it. The recap was more than welcome.
“Trey, why don’t you spin?” Someone said, handing the bottle to him, “You know how it works?”
Trey hesitantly takes the bottle and gives a little shrug, “Yeah sure, whatever. I can humour you guys.”
That gets a few giggles from the drunken crowd, Cater gently nudging Trey’s shoulder to urge him on and Trey spins the bottle.
Trey isn’t sure what to expect from the whole ordeal. Going into a closet with some stranger, probably politely turning them down or just giving them a peck. Coming back out and taking his rightful place back at Cater’s side. His eyes watch the bottle spin.
The bottle is a dim brown colour, a blur of burnt sienna against the floor of the lounge. Light catches the glass as it slows to a stop, the neck of the bottle pointing at…
Cater.
A soft hush falls over the group, and the blood immediately pumps straight to Trey’s face. A little drunken giggle escapes Cater, whose flush has grown a little darker.
The walk to the closest blurred even for Trey, he helped Cater into the cramped spot and shrunk against the wall. He didn’t want to crowd Cater at all. The fact this was actually happening was starting to dawn on Trey, and he had no idea how to go about this.
Muffled music came from behind the door of the closet, the slits in the wood allowing small strips of light to span the length of the closet. But it was so quiet in here compared to outside. Both men had their backs pressed to opposite walls, yet there was only about a foot or two of space between them.
Does he want me to kiss him? That’s the whole point of this game, right? And it’s not like I don’t want to kiss him. Hell, I’ve been thinking about doing just that for ages. And Cater’s mentioned he likes kissing, so maybe even if we do it it won’t be a big deal, Trey starts thinking, looking at Cater. Cater seems to be nervously fiddling with the end of his sleeve. He seems just as nervous as Trey.
“You don-”
“I’ll j-”
They both talk at the same time, cutting off to try and let the other speak. After a few moments of awkward silence, Cater finally speaks up.
“We uh, don’t have to do the whole kissing thing if you don’t wanna,” Cater says with a sheepish smile, “I know you aren’t a huge… you know, casual intimacy person.”
Trey isn’t sure how to say that he’d very much like to kiss Cater, in a very non-casual way, “Oh uh, I don’t mind. I mean, we’re friends, right? I know you’re cool with all this stuff. And for the game, you know? So I can if you want.”
“Oh!” Cater says, seeming to perk up slightly, “I uh, wouldn’t mind that, yeah. We can do the proper seven minutes in heaven thing.”
Both take small steps forward until they’re meeting in the middle of the closet. Trey hunches down a bit to match Cater’s height. Cater brings his hands to hold onto Trey’s biceps.
“You’re probably a better kisser than me,” Trey says as he puts his hands on Cater’s waist, checking Cater’s face for any sign of disapproval. There is none, and Cater just giggles.
“Well then, I’ll have to make sure it's a good kiss then,” Cater replies, before leaning up and gently connecting their lips.
Trey’s lips were a little dry, contrasting with Cater’s soft lips. The stickiness of whatever lip gloss Cater was wearing rubbed against Trey’s lips. Taking the lead was Cater as he applied a gentle pressure to Trey’s lips, trying his best to make Trey feel good. The last thing he wanted was for Trey to regret this.
Trey was feeling good, too good even. Cater hadn’t been lying, Trey wasn’t one for casual affection. Sure, he’d had a couple kisses before. He’d kissed Riddle on the forehead plenty of times when they’d been younger. But this was different, this was sending sparks down his whole body as he practically melted for Cater.
A sigh escaped the taller man’s lips as they parted, opening up for Cater like it was all he was meant to do. Dry hands gently rubbed Cater’s side, and Cater was turning very, very red.
This wasn’t what Cater expected, to have Trey kissing him like this. Cater had expected Trey to be a closed mouth, very boring sort of makeout person. Not… this.
But Trey’s mouth was open, and so was Cater’s. Trey’s tongue gently started to caress Cater’s teeth as Trey was lost in his thoughts about those teeth. He’d stared at them plenty, loving how they looked in the other man's mouth. Just the chance to feel them against his tongue was like heaven.
After another moment, Trey suddenly felt resistance against his chest. Cater was nowhere near strong enough to properly push Trey off, but the message was clear.
Backing up, Trey quickly took his hands off of Cater, looking down at him curiously.
“This- this is a bad idea,” Cater blurts out before opening the closet door and practically bolting.
Trey stands in shock for a moment before attempting to follow Cater, to figure out what the hell he did wrong. He doesn’t like seeing Cater upset, he has to fix this.
But Cater’s lost to the crowd, and Trey can’t find him anywhere. In his search, he bumps into Kalim and Jamil again who seemed to be looking for him.
“Cater!” Kalim exclaims when he sees Trey, “We saw him crying, what happened?”
Shit, Trey thinks as he looks down at a very worried and still drunk Kalim, and at the very curious Jamil.
“I uh, so we were playing seven minutes in heaven,” Trey starts, scratching the back of his head.
“Oh! Did you kiss someone else?” Kalim interjects, a knowing look on his face.
Confusion crosses Trey’s face as he glances at Jamil for clarification. A shrug is all he gets from the fellow vice housewarden.
“Uh, no? We uh, ended up spinning each other and we went into the closet. I figured since it was Cater he’d want to kiss as friends. I mean, I’ve seen him kiss you and stuff no problem,” Trey sheepishly explains.
“You kissed him?” Jamil says with a sneer as Kalim’s eyes go wide as saucers, “Trey, come on, I know you aren’t that stupid.”
Trey looks between them and frowns, feeling like he’s missed some vital piece of information, “I- What?”
Kalim looks like he’s about to speak up, but Jamil puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him, “He needs to figure this out himself. Trey, you need to talk to Cater about this. Good luck.”
The two of them turn and walk away, Kalim glancing back once before following his boyfriend's lead. Trey stands there, even more confused than he was before.
Heading back to the dorm, Trey just washes up and goes to bed. He has to brush his teeth a few extra times before bed to help make himself feel better, before spiraling for about an hour before finally falling asleep.
---
For the next few days, Cater makes it impossible for Trey to get him alone. He’s always with someone or he’s nowhere to be seen. No matter what Trey tries, Cater refuses to be alone with him. The guilt builds in Trey as the days pass and it becomes more and more apparent that Cater is avoiding him.
One day during lunch, Trey notices Cater isn’t around. Asking around, he hears that apparently Cater went back to the dorms.
Taking the chance, Trey heads back up to Caters dorm room. He walks through the silent halls of the dorm, his anxiety just spiralling as he goes to confront Cater.
It was probably the whole kissing thing, right? I was being weird. He could tell I was trying to feel up his teeth, couldn’t he? He could tell I’m some kind of freak, and he doesn’t want to deal with that. Or I was too much, he could tell how much I like him and it was-
His spiral was cut off as he was face to face with Cater’s door. Taking a deep breath, he gently rapped his knuckles against the wood.
“One moment!” He heard Cater say in a sing-song voice as he shuffled around inside for a couple moments. The door swung open and Cater smiled up at him.
“Oh, Trey! Fancy seeing you here, I was actually just about to go back to the cafeteria. Gotta get some photos of lunch for my loyal follow-” Cater started saying in that upbeat, overly chipper voice of his.
“Cater,” Trey interrupted, his voice a little desperate as he took a step forward and grabbed Cater’s arm. He felt Cater tense beneath his grip, the smile flickering for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” Trey says softly, “I didn’t mean to upset you, just… please stop avoiding me.”
Smiling to try and hide the way his cheeks flush, Cater tries to pull his arm from Trey’s grip, “It’s fine, don’t worry about it! You didn’t upset me, silly!”
Trey shakes his head and lets Cater go, but stares at him with a frown, “Cater, I know you aren’t the most open with your feelings, but please just tell me what I did. I want to be able to apologise to you properly.”
“Trey, really, it isn’t a big deal-” Cater tries to say, but he’s cut off again.
“Please,” Trey says, his voice taking on a slightly pleading tone, “Was it the kiss? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it weird. You can call me whatever you want but just stop ignoring me.”
“Make it weird?” Cater says with a small laugh, “You didn’t make it weird, I did! I thought I could do it like I do with everyone else but I couldn’t!”
A frown crosses Trey’s face, “You didn’t make it weird to me, I have no idea what you're saying.”
Another laugh, bitter and humourless, escapes Cater’s throat, “I did make it weird! I made it weird because I couldn’t just kiss you as a friend, you’re just… ugh! I thought I could be content just kissing you like I do all my other friends, but I wasn’t. I’m in love with you Trey, and I couldn’t just kiss you like that and go back to pretending to be friends!”
Trey goes stock still, like he’s been frozen in place. Cater is in love with him? Cater? The man who flirts with everyone and is so vibrantly full of life and is probably the most beautiful person Trey has ever seen? Suddenly the comments from Jamil and Kalim make sense with startling clarity. Of course Trey wouldn’t even notice, he was too busy being in his own head.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Cater says with a cringing motion, rubbing his hands down his face, “I- I know you don’t feel the same because I mean how could you? I never wanted to have to confess because then I’d lose you and now I’m going to.”
“Woah, woah,” Trey says with a frown, taking a few steps forward to put a hand on Cater’s shoulder, “I don’t know where you got the impression you’d be losing me.”
“Ugh, of course you’d be like that and just be all sweet to poor old Cay-Cay and stuff even if you don’t feel the same,” Cater says, suddenly sniffling as he tries to hold back tears. Trey immediately panics, he’s never seen Cater this upset. The man was a master at putting on a brave face and making sure no one could tell he was upset. To see Cater sniffling and his eyes all red from holding back tears was something Trey had mixed feelings about. On one hand, having Cater trust him this much felt like a blessing, but on the other hand he would do anything to wipe the sadness from Cater’s face.
“No, no, I’m saying that because I like you too,” Trey says, voice coming out in one big rush, “You’re the most… vibrant person I’ve ever met. I want to know everything about you, I want you to trust me enough to open up and I just…”
Cater’s eyes went wide as saucers and the tears started rolling down his face. His lip trembled and his face was all red, his hands shooting up to hide his face as it scrunched up.
With a soft smile, Trey just stepped forward and gently brought Cater into a hug. Cater melted into it like it was a lifeline, his whole body trembling in Trey’s gentle hold. He couldn’t help it, Trey was so safe and his body was sturdy enough to hold him up without worry. Dry lips pressed a gentle kiss to Cater’s temple in an attempt to soothe him. The action just made Cater shake more.
The two stood like that until the trembling from Cater finally came to a stop, his brilliant emerald eyes looking up at Trey through lashes clumped and wet from the tears.
“I uh, kinda always assumed you had a thing for Riddle,” Cater said with a soft snicker as wiped at his face. He wants to lighten the mood, get the focus off of him.
“Oh god no. Riddle’s like my little brother,” Trey says as he brings his hands up to gently wipe the tears from Cater’s face, “If you should be worried about anyone, it’s be Che’nya. I had the biggest crush on him when we were little.”
A soft snicker escaped Cater and he smiled up at Trey, “I- Sorry for crying. And avoiding you.”
“No biggie,” Trey said with a soft smile, “I’m just glad you’re feeling better.”
“I uh, I can’t promise I’ll be good at this,” Cater says softly, voice so much more vulnerable than usual, “I’m not good at the whole opening up thing. I’m good at… casual.”
“That’s fine by me,” Trey says, “It’s not like I’m gonna be some kind of perfect partner either. We’ll figure it out.”
Cater just nodded into Trey’s chest and said, “And… we’ll try the kissing thing again. I want to. When I’m not all snotty from crying.”
A soft laugh rumbled from Trey’s chest, and he just cupped Cater’s cheek in the palm of his hand, “Ok. I’d want that too.”
With a soft kiss to Cater’s nose, he guided him onto the bed to spend the rest of the day relaxing. It would be well worth the lecture from Riddle for skip afternoon classes just to get to hang out with Cater. The way Cater relaxed with him made the whole thing worth it.