Time passed fast or slow. Lucius thought he could've stayed there with Corbin forever, but then someone he didn't know cozied up in front of him, smiling. It was a taller man, lean and seemingly all legs. He was handsome in the objective sense, and he looked friendly.

The man didn't touch him. It was still a shared dance, in its own weird way. If his general disposition was polite, his eyes were another story, though. They had the same kind of heat Corbin's had. It didn't inflict nearly the same feeling.

"You're not with her, are you?" he heard someone ask behind him. He turned his head, watching out of the corner of his eye as a pretty girl spoke to Corbin. Their rhythm broke with Corbin's attention effectively taken. "Can I dance with you? If that's alright?"

"Let them," the tall man said to him. Lucius blinked up at him, chewing at his inner cheeks. "I'll dance with you, babe. We can have some real fun."

"No," Lucius said. It was crazy how just the idea of some random girl moving with Corbin shot his temper through the roof in record time. Touching him and being touched in turn. Being on the receiving end of his teasing banter. Thinking, for even a second, that she was Corbin's. That she mattered in any way to him. That she had a chance.

What if she did? Corbin claimed to have little hangups. Who knew what he might get up to tonight? Who he might end up with?

"Fuck no," he reiterated, a little meaner. Unnecessarily so. He turned in Corbin's arms, and Corbin put his hands back on his hips. Lucius's own folded around the nape of his neck, pressing close. So close, he could feel Corbin's breath against his chest. He made eye contact with the girl even as he spoke to Corbin. "My feet hurt. Can we sit for a bit?"

Corbin laughed, breathy. Light sweat beaded at his hairline. "You're such an idiot."

Lucius frowned. "I haven't done anything."

"Sure, Lucy," Corbin said. He turned to the girl and murmured, "another time."

Lucius's frown deepened. He didn't even try to lower his voice when he asked, "what're you being polite for? You don't even mean that."

"Stop being such an ass," Corbin said. The nerve of him of all people to say those words. He took his hand and led him out of the crowd the same way he'd led him in.

The second they made it back to the booth, Lucius shoved him into the seat, ignoring the aggrieved sound Corbin made in response. He didn't immediately sit, himself. He left to get another drink at the bar, swallowed it all down in a few gulps, and came back on slightly more wobbily feet.

Shit. Alcohol hit his brain like poison. Fast and effective.

Corbin stared up at him as if he'd sprouted horns. "What happened to your feet hurting?"

"We haven't kissed in a long time," was the first thing Lucius said because there was no point in answering Corbin's question. It was stupid. They both knew he was lying. Why talk about it?

"Alright," Corbin said slowly. He looked baffled. "So?"

"Well?" Lucius asked, stepping between the spread of his thighs and leaning in over him. Corbin's eyes went wide as saucers.

"Well, what?" he asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm as girly as I'm ever gonna get. Why not?"

"Why not what? And you still have a dick—"

"Does that really matter?" Lucius hissed quietly at his own words, quickly redirecting the conversation. "I'm just saying. We should kiss. Why not?"

"Why do you want to kiss me so badly?"

"Come on," Lucius whispered. He bet Corbin could smell the alcohol on his breath with as close as he was. He might as well taste it, too. "I'll look like this tonight and then probably never again. Do it for the memories. Kiss Lucy before you never see her again."

"You're an idiot."

It could have been the alcohol that was making his world turn, or it could have simply been reality, but Lucius swore Corbin started to lean up. Closing the distance so slow Lucius felt as if he might suffocate under the weight of the tension. He cupped the side of Corbin's neck. It might have been a little too rough, too fast, but Corbin didn't complain. He didn't knock his hand away. 

Closer. Closer. So damn close.

"Lucius."

Corbin pulled away from him fast. So fast, Lucius could have imagined the entire thing. It might not have even happened. The drink could be playing games with his mind. 

He leaned back slower than Corbin might have. He almost certainly would've upset his balance otherwise.

"Mhm," He hummed, turning. Gior was standing a little ways away, a frown twisting his lips. A shame. An ugly expression for such an ordinarily pretty face, and Lucius couldn't begin to fathom what had earned him being on its opposite end. "Yeah? You okay?"

"Walk with me," he said. He left before Lucius could even agree to the random demand. Confident that he would listen.

For that reason alone, he considered ignoring him. But then he relented, curious beyond all reason.

He followed him to a quiet corner of the room. Almost immediately, Gior placed a hand against his forehead, checking for his temperature. There was a crease between his eyes. Concern most likely, but that was dramatic. And whatever else Gior was, he was seldom dramatic.

"Are you good?" Lucius asked again, grabbing his wrist to pull the hand away.

"Are you?" he shot back. "How much have you had to drink?"

Lucius shrugged. "Like… one and a half drinks. Not much. Why?"

"You should try to sober up a little. Drink some water."

"Gior."

"Hm?"

"Are you treating Elena like this?" he asked. "Or Ian?"

There was no point in mentioning Juliet. He had no doubt that, wherever she was, she was on her best behavior.

"Elena and Ian aren't making advances on their friends, so no," Gior said with a frown. "Remember what I said to you? I don't want to have to switch rooms, Lucius."

"I wasn't..." Lucius started to deny but then trailed off. He didn't feel like dancing around anything right now. He didn't have to coordination for it. "What does that have to do with switching rooms?"

"If it was anyone else, it'd be whatever. Not Corbin. It can't be Corbin."

"Why not?" Lucius asked. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was saying all of the wrong things. He was supposed to lie. Or... not lie. Tell the truth, but the right way. Not this. Whatever this was.

He couldn't think. Maybe he had had too many drinks.

"You're allowed to love him," Gior said, lowering his voice and leaning in closer so he could still be heard over the music. "You're allowed to want him. Not like this, though. The two of you need to have a serious conversation first. Before anything happens. If you end up making out or having sex or whatever else tonight, one or both of you are going to wake up to regret it for one reason or another."

"Why would I regret it?"

Wrong words again. 

"Corbin is..." Gior cut himself off, thinking. After a few breaths, he started again. "Corbin isn't like your average person. He has a hard time with this kind of thing. You know better than me. He could like everything about it but still resent it the next morning. Resent you, too, and you know how that goes."

"I wasn't planning on having sex with him," Lucius said and it was the truth. A kiss was just a kiss. They'd kissed before. It was nothing new. It didn't have to be the disastrous thing Gior seemed convinced it was destined to be.

"You don't have to plan on it. If it goes there and neither of you stop it..." Gior sighed, loudly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I love you. I love you both. That doesn't mean I want you coming to me crying in the morning. Or that I want to deal with another episode from Corbin."

"It was just a kiss."

"Just a kiss? That's not what you said in the car on the way here."

"That's not..." Lucius swallowed. Trying to get his thoughts in order from the jumbled mess they'd become. It wasn't really the same thing, was it? Or maybe it was in its own weird way. He loved Corbin. More than anyone. The kind of love didn't really have to matter, did it? He was his best friend. "We're just... It's just fun. We're here to have fun, Gior. You don't have to be such a buzzkill."

"Uh huh." He seemed annoyed. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Drink some water."

He left Lucius there, alone with his thoughts and a swirling pit of anxiety in his stomach. He did go to find water. If nothing else, that was an entirely fair point Gior had made.

He didn't immediately go back to Corbin. He went instead to find Juliet.