May I Have This Dance? (Collab)

If you were to ask why he’s here in the first place – even though it’s definitely not Tomoki’s place of interest – he would say that it’s for a novel he’s writing. Then again, that’s his excuse for everything and anything. Regardless of how stuffy he feels in his outfit, he’s managed to wrangle himself into this masquerade with the distinct feeling that he is wildly out of his element. 

Call it a hunch. 

Still, at least there’s free food and drinks to entertain himself with while he watches the others. If he’s lucky, no one will recognize him with this absurdly layered outfit. 

“Tomoki?” A tired voice called to his right, before a familiar face walked into view. It was Hoshi.

“That is you under all that, isn’t it?” Hoshi cracked a tired smile, his permanent eye bags visible through the holes of his mask adorned with jewels of different colors. What the sloth bun was doing here was a mystery - and in this getup, no less - this absolutely was not the type of place you’d usually find him in, and yet here he was.

“Came for the free food?” He asked with a slight chuckle, and settled himself beside Tomoki, eyes roaming over the other attendees that occasionally passed by.

He’s not good with getting greeted by anyone, not even those that he knows. It’s easier to keep his head down but this really isn’t the place for this. 

So really, Tomoki nearly chokes on the champagne in his glass when he finally realizes that oh, oh it’s Hoshi in a place like this. It’s like a literal ghost has come out of one of his own stories. Except this time, he’s not the one writing this. 

(Part of him wonders if he’s some sort of punch line, or at least some of his life experiences sure feel that way.) 

Instead, he coughs into his drink and finally turns to Hoshi, maybe a bit too sheepish about this. Is he really that obvious to everyone else? 

“It’s more for inspiration,” he explains instead. Somehow part of his mind supplies that it makes him sound more insane. He should be sleeping in instead of socializing. “I’m writing another romance and drawing a blank so I snuck in here to see what all the buzz is about.” 

And the free food. Though that’s not as important. 

Hoshi snorted at the reaction, barely suppressing a chuckle behind his hand. When he’d arrived at the masquerade he hadn’t thought he’d see Tomoki here too. It was a nice surprise, he had to admit. He didn’t know him as well as he’d like to, so he wondered if this was something he often did, going out to seek inspiration for his novels like he was now. It seemed like an awful lot of work in Hoshi’s opinion… But then again, Hoshi wasn’t much for work to begin with.

“Mmh, you must be really passionate about your work then, I respect that,” Hoshi replied, a crooked smile on his face as he eyed Tomoki again, before offering him a napkin he’d snatched from the food table, “Anything I’d be able to help with?”

Hoshi didn’t know anything about writing, or about getting inspiration for writing, but he was more than happy to help if he could… As long as it didn’t require too much effort, of course, he was too tired for that. Usually he’d be asleep by now, all curled up in a nest of pillows on his soft bed, so honestly he had no idea why he’d come here in the first place, but hopefully he could make the most of it.

Tomoki shrugs at that. Sometimes he would love to get the same ability that Hoshi seems to have to relax. To stop thinking. He’s bad at untensing himself if that’s even a thing. Regardless, this is for research and to find Hoshi means that he can either make this way more awkward than it currently is. But then again, as a writer, not having courage means that opportunities like this will slip out of his fingers. 

And Tomoki likes to think that he can trust himself to ask this even if he’s simply never done this before. Nevermind the fact that he would rather do anything else except this. But he needs the experience to ensure that this is authentic. It has to be somewhat realistic even as he fiddles with the food in front of him. 

Somehow, Tomoki’s not that hungry anymore the more he contemplates this one thought. 

“Only if you’re willing to attempt dancing with me,” he deadpans before hastily adding, “for research.” 

“For research.” Hoshi repeated, nodding his head a little like he was considering it. He’d never danced before, ever, it just wasn’t something he’d ever thought he’d like and so he hadn’t tried it, or even considered it for that matter. It’s not the sort of hobby he’d ever get into, too much movement, too much time spent doing something when he’d rather be napping in a pile of comfy pillows. Now though, he wished he had, even if only a little, because he was absolutely going to make a fool of himself in a minute if he agreed.

Maybe it could be fun, though. It didn’t have to be serious, it was just for research after all.

“As long as you don’t mind that I got two left hooves,” He said, taking a step away from Tomoki, and flicked his tail against his thigh to try and get his attention, to get him to look at him. He took a few more steps backwards, keeping his eyes on Tomoki to see if he’d follow his lead, “Then yeah, I’d be willing to try and dance with you, Tomoki.”

Tomoki supposes that if they were going to make a fool of themselves, with what Hoshi admits, then it’s better they do it together. Call it a good bonding experience of sorts that they can laugh at years later. Others would call it solidarity. Much less the fact that Tomoki doubts anyone will actually go up to either of them for a dance. Well, for him it’s because he’s not the most talkative of sorts for this type of thing. Forget about flirting while dancing, he’d rather talk about other things in life. Such as the free food that’s here. 

At least to him, making yourself small in a social setting like this is half of the battle. However, an attempt to dance means potential attention that he won’t know what to deal with. But he can worry about that later. 

Consequences can fuck off for now and he’ll deal with it later. 

Still, Tomoki attempts to follow Hoshi’s lead. Only to step on his jacket once, then twice and then another time that makes him stumble on the dance floor as if yes, yes he does have two left hooves. Somehow, Tomoki manages to steady himself again and glances at Hoshi. 

“It looks like we’re both terrible at this,” he jokes, a bit sheepish. And to think that this ball is where they can taste finer things, Tomoki’s now a bit more skeptical about it all. 

Then, he adds: 

“We’ll figure this out.” If anything, everything can be figured out through time and practice. Their first attempt just happens to be at this ball rather than anywhere else. But as the saying goes, it could be much worse. 

Hoshi couldn’t help but laugh, a light and airy sound from high in his throat. Yeah, they were both terrible, he couldn’t agree more, but that was fine, he thought. He stepped around Tomoki, almost losing grip on the floor and falling over entirely, and yet he couldn’t help but find it fun. Maybe it was the company, maybe it was the atmosphere, or maybe it was the drinks finally settling.

Probably the latter, actually…

“Yeah, we got this.” Hoshi hummed, settling his hands on the other’s shoulders in an attempt to balance them both. It was a poor attempt, of course, but it was an attempt nonetheless.

“You’re so stiff, relax a little, yeah?” Hoshi told Tomoki, giving him a little pat on the shoulders like he was trying to get him to untense them, like he was trying to remind him that this was just for fun and didn’t have to be taken so seriously…

And for research, of course.

Hoshi really hadn’t thought he’d enjoy even a moment of this, but actually it wasn’t so bad, and maybe after this he’d consider trying other things he would’ve otherwise never tried. If it was anything like this, then it could end up being fun… Maybe there was a little more to life than just sleeping and idling in bed.

“Okay- Okay wait- Yeah, like that. Move your feet with mine,” He spoke softly, his gaze pointed down between them, and at their feet where he was trying to find a rhythm that worked for them both.

Tomoki attempts to follow the rhythm, bit by bit he starts to get it. Or at least his feet seem to and he can finally stop stumbling over his own clothing. At least he can somewhat save face after his whole initial first attempt though it does get his mind spinning. 

Namely, he’s a writer at heart and thus, a full time daydreamer. So his mind starts tossing this very experience around as he follows Toshi’s lead. Tomoki wonders if his protagonist can dance, and if so, how well? Which means he’ll have to think up a more thorough background than previously. 

Or it can be hand waved away. A detail that’s not as important though Tomoki’s already done a lot of hand waving for this particular project. It’s not the way to go, at least not in his opinion. 

“Say, if you ran into someone that you liked in a place like this and they asked you to dance,” he finds himself saying. “How do you think it would play out?” 

Tomoki’s not really sure why he’s asking Hoshi about this. Maybe he just wants an outsider’s perspective before he drives himself insane from all of this. At least dancing with Hoshi makes this all more bearable than anything else. It’s not as lonely as before. 

And that’s the thing, isn’t it? Tomoki’s always been lonely, and he’s always turned to his own stories as a way to have companions without doing the actual work. This, instead, feels like an actual step forward for him. 

“Hmm…” Hoshi hummed at the question, thinking. Honestly, that was a good question, and Hoshi found he wasn’t completely sure how to answer. How would someone respond to the person they liked asking them for a dance? Depending on their personality, they would either play it off, get all flustered, reciprocate, or something entirely different… There were too many variables, Hoshi could only answer for himself.

“Kind of depends on the person, I guess. So I don’t know how it would play out if I’m completely honest with you,” He chuckled, giving a lazy smile. Hoshi thought about it for a little longer, the music tuning out and his body just moved on autopilot as he danced with Tomoki.

“I guess, if it were me, I’d probably assume they just asked because they wanted to, like I’d been a random pick, you know? And not because they liked me too, if that makes sense?” Hoshi mumbled out, tilting his head slightly to the side, like a confused puppy, “So… We’d dance, and that would be it.”

He winced internally, that sounded sadder than he’d meant for it to.

Tomoki doesn’t really have a response to that. Rather, it’s interesting how similar the two of them can be in situations even though they act completely differently. Funny how that is and what’s funnier is the fact that the two of them even ran into each other. Burrowgatory is a small place, he supposes.  

“At least I hope it’ll be a nice time if that happens,” he finds himself replying. Everyone should have a good time even if they’re not sure it should be happening. “Regardless of what happens afterwards.” 

It’s how it should play out more than anything with hope for whatever happens next. Life isn’t like the stories and Tomoki would be over his head to think that he can control the greater scale of things. He’s too small of a figure to make much of a big difference compared to others. 

Hoshi’s words do make him think though, mostly about how this all is. There’s assumptions laced in the words about others, mostly about how anyone can be no one. Or at least not someone memorable. All it does is make Tomoki think back to the time with the others, that time he helped Hops, the other time where Primrose practically dragged him over to the Paradise Cafe. If he’s not anyone despite his awful habits, then neither is Hoshi. 

He would say that, if he could put it into words without making it seem ridiculous, or too cheesy. Tomoki’s not really one for verbal words though he wishes he was. It’d certainly make life easier and it’ll certainly make others feel better when push comes to shove. 

In this case, he supposes, he could try. It’s at least worth the attempt more than anything because everyone needs some hope – it’s why Tomoki refuses to write sad endings for his stories. Everyone should have an opportunity to be happy. 

“Really, I do hope that it’ll be a nice time for you if that happens,” he finds himself repeating. “Everyone should have at least a nice time, who knows, maybe whoever you end up dancing with comes to find you later. It’s not that hard to find someone in Burrowgatory.” 

Burrowgatory is a small place. Everyone probably knows each other. He has hopes that Hoshi can do that even if it may take a while, if anything, Tomoki can offer his own grapevine to help out.

Hoshi couldn’t help but smile, a faint one, but a smile nonetheless. He could tell that Tomoki had a habit of being in his head too much, of maybe struggling to put his thoughts into words, and make sure their meaning was understood. Maybe that’s why he was a writer? Hoshi pondered. Writing would give him time to think about how to explain his thoughts, ideas, emotions, and then give an outlet for them when he hadn’t been able to put them into words in the moment.

“Thank you,” He said. It was kind of Tomoki to try and cheer him up, and it worked too. He tiptoed onto the edges of his hooves, and gave a chaste peck to Tomoki’s cheek. A friendly gesture, an extra word of thanks, and then stepped away from him, looking a little brighter. “I hope this gave you some inspiration for your book, and thank you for dancing with me.”