[Prompt] Invite Only

There’s a fine difference between getting an invite and then going in from the back door because you wanted to know what masquerade fuss is about. Tomoki happens to be in the latter camp, he’s not that well known as a writer which feels like a kick in his teeth more than anything. There’s multiple ways to go about it and Tomoki simply goes through the back door. 

No one stops him. 

And no one checks his non-existent invite. 

Tomoki breathes in a sigh of relief as he steps through the door even as his mind spins with how this can help with his own writing. Even though he told himself that there’s no writing today. No writing. 

It all sounds decently nice, actually. A day without having to think about his prose even though Tomoki’s certain that he’ll go back to thinking about it regardless. One of these days he’ll need a new hobby which is why he should accept Primrose’s offer of helping about in the Heavenly Embassy. Maybe he’ll finally learn about gardening– 

Then just as he thinks of those thoughts, he quite literally walks into Primrose. 

Instead of saying anything mildly reasonable, Tomoki instead says: “I thought you cherubuns can’t drink alcohol.” 

Primrose only raises a brow, completely unimpressed. “I was invited, how did someone like you even get in here?” 

“Well, I obviously crashed through the window,” Tomoki deadpans. “Don’t look at me like that–” 

“I take back some of my positive feelings about you.” 

“Since when was sneaking into events like this illegal?” 

“It’s hardly the right thing to do.” 

Yeah, and if he didn’t sneak in then he’d never get the information that he wanted. Like, Angora will not be handing him an invite anytime soon, thank you very much. The most he does is go to her casino and lose his carats there – somehow he’s not a complete losing streak but that’s not important. 

Instead, Tomoki takes one of the alcohol glasses lying nearby and simply doesn’t reply immediately. There’s no point in attempting to reason with Primrose when he’s like this. At the end of the day, the fact that Tomoki snuck in means nothing. He knows he’s not the only one. 

(And Tomoki thinks that Primrose knows this, not that he’d admit it.) 

“You’re not a guard here and you’re here on invitation so really, I don’t think you have much of a say in this,” Tomoki eventually replies. “But I do hope that you enjoy the whole masquerade.” 

“Call it my day off,” Primrose then says without missing much of a beat. 

All the same, Tomoki eventually leaves to find someone else and part of him hopes that Angora doesn’t find him. And even if she does find him, Tomoki wonders if she would even care in the first place. That being said, last time at her casino, she did tell him that socializing would lead to more opportunities in the future. 

And perhaps, less losses in the future though Tomoki wouldn’t claim that winning meant that he was in Angora’s good graces. He’s fully aware of the relationship between Angora and Hops to know about how debts can mean something outside of annoyance. 

All the same, he finds himself wandering about the Masquerade. It’s good that he’s able to sneak in, though he really could do without someone else catching him in the act. Life’s not that simple. 

And one scare is enough for him, thank you very much. The fact that Primrose hasn’t turned around to tell anyone that he snuck in here is honestly a small mercy. 

Except well, he’s not that lucky. Yeah he wishes he were but only ends up running into Parker who has that look on his face. Tomoki already knows that it’s going to spell trouble. 

Because Parker seemingly goes looking for it these days. For someone who’s only a repairman to the Mafia and a carpenter to most, he seems to be able to find trouble in every corner. 

“And I thought this place was too sociable for you!” Parker says, loud enough that everyone around them can hear. 

Tomoki sighs. “Did you sneak in as well?” 

“The window was open,” Parker explains, his voice completely earnest. From the corner of his eye, he sees the opened window and no words come to him. “And I had to see what all the noise was about–” 

“You snuck in.” 

“If I got an invite then it’s probably under some wood.” 

Of course it would be, Tomoki’s known Parker for a good while and at this point, this level of hijinks no longer surprises him. But part of him wonders if hanging around Parker makes him more likely to make a fool of himself. But then again, he’s been making a fool of himself even without anyone’s help. 

Then it hits him, for why Parker might have snuck in here. 

(Old habits die hard but a pining Parker means that his expectations die harder.) 

“Don’t tell me you came here in hopes of–” he realizes as the words tumble out of his mouth and Parker only shrugs all sorts of sheepish. 

“I liked my odds.” 

“You always like your odds.” Which is why one of them is more in debt with Angora than the other. “But seriously? He doesn’t even know you.” 

“All the reason to come here uninvited,” Parker justifies. “You came for the food, I came for the potential flirting.” 

Tomoki nods, he’s not wrong there.