“Oh.” Tuesday pouted. “Well, that sucks. Guess that means I’ll just have to sit in your lap.”
Ozzie blushed. “Later. Let’s do that later.”
“Fiiine.”
Ozzie snickered and gave Tuesday’s hand a firm squeeze. “No more fruitcake for you, mister.”
“Yeah, yeah. No more for me. I ate it all anyway.”
“You…?” Ozzie scoffed.
The plate was indeed empty now.
Tuesday giggled. “Sneaky sneaky.”
“Thesneakiest.”
The ballroom was quickly filling up, and both the bar and buffet were packed. Some people were up on the dance floor, dancing around to the hectic Christmas music.
Tuesday watched them, staring longingly. “Would you wanna…?”
“What?”
Ozzie wasn’t a complete fool, swallowing thickly and downing the rest of his drink. And then Tuesday’s drink. He was going to need it judging by where this next question might take him. “You like dancing, baby?”
“Yeah, but…” Tuesday’s bubbly smile dipped. “I understand if you don’t want to.”
“I really suck. Like, I am the worst. Three left feet.” Ozzie licked his lips. “But if you don’t mind that…”
Tuesday’s jaw dropped. “You really want to dance with me? Like, right now? With people watching us and everything?”
“Uh.” Ozzie could feel his cheeks heating up and butterflies reawakening in his stomach. “Do you have a pretty high threshold for public embarrassment? If so, then let’s go.”
“Uh, duh. Have we met? Of course I do!” Tuesday bolted to his feet, putting away his extra limbs but keeping a hold of Ozzie’s hand. “Come on!”
Ozzie stumbled after him, the fancy drinks actually proving to be more boozy than he’d thought and causing the room to spin a bit. Despite the sheer terror of having a bunch of his coworkers about to witness him making a fool of himself, he couldn’t stop smiling.
“Maybe let’s pick a space where nobody else is,” he said. “A spot with some room. I don’t wanna kill anyone or take out a giant tree. Which would also kill people.”
Tuesday giggled as the song switched to something slow, and he curled his arms around Ozzie’s neck. He urged him over to the edge of the dance floor, cooing, “Come here, baby. I got you. Don’t worry. Nobody’s dying. Promise.”
“I’m gonna trust you.” Ozzie chuckled, awkwardly placing his hands on Tuesday’s back.
Tuesday led them through a simple two step, and he pressed close until there wasn’t any space left between them. It was sweet, slow, and Tuesday sighed, gazing down at Ozzie adoringly. “See? Nothing to it, baby.”
“You’re a good teacher.” Ozzie slid his hands down to hug Tuesday’s waist. “Do you dance a lot?”
“I used to,” Tuesday said wistfully. “My ex… He wasn’t big into me dancing. Said I drew too much attention and he didn’t like people looking at me. Or talking to me. Or, you know, acknowledging I existed in any way, shape, or form.”
“What the hell?” Ozzie growled and hugged Tuesday tighter, startled by the rage he felt for a man he’d never met. “He sounds like a real fucking douche bagel.”
“He is.” Tuesday huffed. “Gregathorxian is thekingof douche bagels. He didn’t like how I dressed, what I cooked, what I liked to do…” He smiled sadly. “Heh, I don’t even know why he wanted me so badly when I really stop and think about it. He didn’t like anything that made me…me.”
“Well, fuckOldGreg.” Ozzie leaned up on his tippy toes to kiss Tuesday’s cheek. “You can wear whatever you want, dance when you want, whatever you want. I love it all.”
“You…” Tuesday blinked, staring at Ozzie in awe. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“I really do,” Ozzie assured him. “Old Greg is an idiot. You’re perfect just like this.”
