Colors certainly lived up to its name. No one was surprised that the colorfully dressed Lizard family chose a club like this to throw the after party for the city trip.

There was a karaoke machine that was covered in bright blue and purple lights, the spotlights swirling around the dance floor showcased every color of the rainbow, and every table was covered in iridescent glass that shimmered amazingly. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Flavius and Fannie were tearing up the dance floor, Bart, Willy, and Arfur were drinking together and laughing, and Eddie was flitting around the party, talking to everyone he could.

Patch didn't want to admit it to himself, but he had never been to a club before, not even when he lived in America. He stood awkwardly in the corner of the dance floor, listening to Storkos sing a rock and roll song at the karaoke machine. She had an incredible voice…

Once her turn was over, it was Eddie's turn to sing. He gleefully took the microphone and smiled at everyone in the club.

"This one's an oldie, from America, but it's a good one!" He winked and the music started. "Blue moon, you saw me standing alone…"

"Patch?" The doctor was broken out of his fog when he heard a familiar voice. He looked towards it and saw Leafos, who was fiddling with her dark hair. "Do you want to dance?"

"A-are you nuts, Leafos?" Patch shook his head. "I-I-I cuh-can't dance!"

"Good thing you'll have me as a dance partner," Leafos smirked a bit, grabbing Patch by the hand and leading him to the dance floor. Patch silently thanked the Lord that this song was slow; who knew what would happen if he had to spaz around to a fast one. Today was a day of many firsts… Patch never thought he'd be at a club, let alone slow dancing with a girl! He smiled and let Leafos lead him.

Avalon and the still disguised Dastardos were sitting at a table next to the dance floor, Dastardos quietly complaining about Pester and wishing with all his heart that he wouldn't show up. Suddenly, Dastardos got a feeling in his heart like something was wrong. He stopped talking and frowned intensely.

"Wot is it? Do yew smell Pester or something?" Avalon looked around frantically for any trace of the blubbery villain.

Dastardos didn't reply and continued to look around the club. He almost spontaneously combusted with rage when he finally saw what the disturbance was.

Doc Patchingo –one of the most irritating people Dastardos had ever had the misfortune of knowing– was cozying up to Leafos on the dance floor! Leafos was smiling up at him and Patch was sweating with nervousness, blushing like crazy. No. NO. This couldn't be happening! This wasn't happening! Of all of the people on the stupid Island Patch could be dancing with right now, it just had to be Dastardos' little sister!

Dastardos couldn't just storm on the dance floor and tear them apart… no, that would paint a horrible amount of suspicion on him. He'd have to be subtle… and he'd have to ask Avalon something he'd never thought he'd ask anyone.

"Oh, it's nothing," Dastardos turned back to Avalon and gave her a false smile. "Wanna dance?"

"R-really?" Avalon seemed taken aback by Dastardos' suggestion. "Not that I'm saying no, it's just-"

"Shut up and trust me," Dastardos smirked at Avalon, taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor.

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"Excuuuuuse me!" Langston hopped as high as he could in hopes of getting Leafos' attention. "You've danced with him for long enough! It's my turn now!"

"Langston…" Leafos sighed, looking down at the tiny piñata. "We've barely been dancing together for a minute. I'll… try to dance with you eventually. Ask someone else."

Langston slunk off to the corner of the dance floor, flopping over into a disappointed, fat pile of papier-mâché.

Dastardos was awkwardly dancing with Avalon; they looked hilarious with their height difference. Avalon had to bend almost completely in half in hopes of being in control of her dance steps. Dastardos did his best to work his way over to where Leafos and Doc Patchingo were dancing. They were almost there…

"Yew're not as bad a dancer as I expected…" Avalon admitted, smiling down at her much shorter companion.

"Yeah, well…" Dastardos' voice was low so no one would hear that he wasn't talking in his faux-British accent. "It's not that hard. You just gotta hold hands and bobble around and stuff."

They were finally close enough to Leafos and Patch… Dastardos let a smirk cross his face. "Speaking of hands, give me a second." Dastardos took his right hand out of Avalon's grasp, flexed his fingers, and plunged it right into Patch's back.

Patch shuddered as the cold sensation from Dastardos' invasive hand took over his body. He shivered so badly that he ended up falling forward, completely bowling over Leafos.

"Oops," Dastardos said, his words dripping with sarcasm. He pulled Avalon over to the other side of the dance floor, laughing all the way.

"Ugh…" Patch was still shivering. What was that…?

Suddenly, he became hyper-aware of the warm body beneath him. He looked down and his eyes locked with Leafos', her cheeks flushed a bright red.

"Patch…" Leafos looked away from him, her blush becoming even deeper. "You're clumsy, you know that?"

"I'm suh-so suh-suh-sorry, Leafos!" Patch spluttered. He attempted to get up, but that didn't work. Instead, he fell down again, accidentally knocking his mask upwards and accidentally locking lips with Leafos.

Dastardos, of course, saw this, and he let out a banshee scream that turned the heads of everyone. Avalon's ears began to ring and she almost screamed herself from sheer shock. What on Earth made Dastardos scream like that?!

"Yew stepped on my foot, yew right idiot!" Dastardos fake-hobbled, grinding his teeth. Avalon let go of his hands and folded her arms, not impressed with her "date's" behavior in the slightest. Dastardos was glad Avalon bought his little cover-up, but he was absolutely sweltering with rage. He just made things worse! Patch's filthy lips touched Leafos'! UGH!

Patch leapt off of Leafos like spikes suddenly shot out from her body. "I-I'm so sorry!" Patch apologized profusely.

"That's… that's okay…" Leafos touched her lips for a moment before beginning to stand up herself. Patch offered her a shaky hand and she gratefully took it. "Maybe… dancing isn't for us," Leafos snickered. "Let's go get something to drink."

"Suh-sounds good… but…" Patch chewed on his thumbnail. "…there's only one person who could knock me over like that…" Patch knew that cold sensation all too well. Sometimes when Dastardos was feeling particularly heinous, he'd fly right through Patch's body, leaving the doctor to convulse with chills. That's what it felt like! But Dastardos couldn't be here… could he?

Patch looked around the dance floor and he suddenly noticed a flash of silver hair. It was slicked back and most of it was hidden beneath a hat, but that hair color… there was no way it couldn't be Dastardos. Not to mention the guy was impossibly short; Dastardos was the only person on the Island who could be that small in stature.

Dastardos felt someone staring at him and turned to see Patch, still holding hands with Leafos. Patch made a quick "I'm watching you" gesture before being pulled away by a very concerned Leafos. Patch didn't say it out loud, but Leafos could read him like a book. Dastardos was here, and he was probably the cause of Patch's woes… hopefully Dastardos wouldn't do anything awful. There was no reason to start a panic, so Leafos would keep that nugget of information to herself unless Dastardos started acting suspicious.

Dastardos suddenly stopped dancing with Avalon and grinned at her. "…what if I sang for everyone?" he asked as Eddie reached the last verse of his song.

"Are yew nuts?" Avalon folded her arms and cocked a brow at Dastardos. "That would give yew away! Besides, yew don't even know any of the popular songs!"

"Says you; Pester always has the radio blasting…" Dastardos ran over to the table near the karaoke machine and grabbed one of the song books. Without asking Avalon to join him, he headed back to their table, where Victoria and Cid were snuggling.

"Move it, birds," Dastardos shooed them away and they cawed in protest before flying off to perch on top of the bar's liquor shelf. He opened up the song book and began to squint at the contents. Small print, my old nemesis… Maybe singing something would take his mind off of his sister accidentally locking lips with his number one enemy. At least it was accidental… if they had kissed on purpose; Dastardos would have probably killed Patch right then and there. Ugh, just the thought of that made his stomach churn…

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"Bear don't like to brag, but he's pretty damn strong…" Bear leaned against a wall, right next to tiny Maxime, who was looking at him with disdain. The drinking age on the Island was eighteen, so Maxime was holding a glass of scotch. She was fighting the urge to toss it right into this dumb brute's face.

"Yeah, but could you bench press Sparcticus?" Maxime nodded in the general direction of the tall, fit Piñarctican, who was sitting alone at a table with a forlorn expression on his face. "Now there's a real man… hmm, I wonder if he'd be interested in me now that Sahari's out of the picture…" Maxime took a sip from her drink and Bear let out a roar.

"Bear'll show you what he can do! Raaaargh!" Bear thundered over to Sparcticus, lifting him out of his chair with only a little bit of difficulty. Sparcticus' lips parted with mild surprise as Bear lifted him over his head.

"Check Bear out, Maxime! Is this manly or what?" Bear grinned at the tiny girl, who snickered quietly to herself. Ahh, it was so easy to rile up boys… they were dumb as posts. She'd be lying if she didn't think Bear's strength was kind of sexy, though. If only his head wasn't full of rocks…

"Put him down, Bear," Maxime kicked back the rest of her drink in one gulp. "I think you've caused him enough trauma for one day."

"Gotcha, babe!" Bear dropped Sparcticus right back down onto his seat.

"Ow…" Sparcticus groaned, rubbing his butt. He did not land comfortably…

"So…" Bear draped an arm around Maxime's shoulder. "…was that worth a dance?"

"Dream on, big guy," Maxime removed Bear's arm from her shoulder and wandered off to go talk with Gretchen.

"Hmph…" Bear folded his thick arms and stuck out his lower lip in thought. He'd never find the girl the fortune teller mentioned at this rate…

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Finally, after quite a bit of waiting, it was Dastardos' turn to sing. Much to his chagrin, Leafos and Patch were still together, chatting at a table that was right in Dastardos' line of sight. They looked really into one another… God, Dastardos should have foreseen this and taken preventative measures. He had overheard Leafos talking about the good doctor, saying that he's "well qualified" and "a very good man." He thought she was just being nice, but noooo, she probably had a crush on him for a long time, and he might have accidentally given them the push they needed!

That doesn't matter… Dastardos thought, shaking his head around. You can vent with this song. It's just for him, after all…

"Tally ho, everyone!" Dastardos tipped his hat to the crowd. "This little ditty is dedicated to some chap I know! Yew know 'oo yew are." Dastardos looked at Patch fleetingly before starting up the music.

"It's an amazing smile, even the suit has teeth, everything flash and guile…" Dastardos sang, not even bothering to look at the scrolling lyrics. Pester had overplayed this song so much, Dastardos had memorized every last note. Pester called it his "theme song," but personally, Dastardos thought it suited himself much better. "Nothing underneath except a cold black heart no one sees but me…"

Avalon watched, completely spellbound. This wasn't quite as amazing as getting a one-on-one show like in her hotel room all those nights ago, but Dastardos singing was quite a sound to hear.

Patch began to nervously shift in his chair, his heart turning to ice. Dastardos wasn't singing with his voice disguised; there was no mistake; his arch nemesis was serenading him right now.

Leafos sensed Patch's discomfort and put a hand on his shoulder. Right when she was about to say something to help calm the doctor down, a froggy voice drifted up from the floor.

"Leafos! Leafos!"

Leafos sighed and looked to the ground. "What do you want, Langston?"

"How about you give me that dance you promised?" He hopped with joy.

"Well…" Leafos bit her lip. All of a sudden, Dastardos' song hit Langston's brain. Hard. Langston flopped right over and began to snore. "Wh-what?" Leafos edged her chair away from the passed out Lickatoad.

"Thuh-that confirms it…" Patch sighed, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. "Leafos, I duh-don't want to stay at this party any longer."

"I agree…" Leafos stood up. "Let's get out of here before you-know-who does something to you."

"Huh-him singing to me cuh-can't be a good sign…" Patch shuddered as he shakily rose to his feet.

Dastardos' gaze followed Patch as he left. Dastardos made sure to sing just a bit louder so his voice wouldn't go out of Patch's earshot. "Promise me you'll let me be the one, the worst of all your enemies, pretending you're a friend to me, say that we'll be nemeses…"

Dastardos smiled to himself during a small musical break. Mission success: Patch was gone! Dastardos almost missed the beginning of the next verse in his joyous victory.

All around the club, the few piñatas that joined their owners in coming to the afterparty were falling asleep. Crispy conked out on Leena's lap, Taru fell asleep on Seedos' shoulder, Victoria and Cid were snoozing on the bar shelf, and Langston was still right where he had fallen. Everyone thought it was a bit strange, but none of them managed to make the connection between the piñatas falling asleep and the man who was singing. Piñata Islanders are quite a dense lot.

Seedos was doing his best to try and stay neutral to his brother's singing, but once Dastardos finished, he couldn't resist clapping. His brother always had an amazing singing voice, and Dastardos' transformation gave his voice a mysterious, otherworldly quality that was impressive.

"Crispy… are you okay?" Leena jiggled her sleeping Squazzil, frowning intensely. Crispy opened up her sleepy eyes and smiled at Leena before shutting them again.

"Sh-she must be worn out from the long day," Seedos lied with a nod, knowing very well that Dastardos' voice had that effect on piñatas. It was a side effect of the sour candy; it came in handy when Dastardos was "fixing" the piñatas of local gardeners. "Taru's tired too." Seedos leaned against his snoozing Shellybean.

"Yeah, that must be it…" Leena sighed with relief. "I still can't believe we won, Crispy…" Leena whispered to her snoring piñata. "I'm so proud of you…"

Seedos let a huge, dorky smile overtake his face. Seeing Leena so happy and victorious for once was amazing.

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As Dastardos headed over to Avalon, he was surprised to see that she looked quite miffed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"What?" Dastardos asked with a cocky smirk. "I thought you loved my singing, Miss Pendragonache."

"That's not the issue 'ere," Avalon squinted at him. "Yew sang that just to scare Patch away, didn't yew?"

"Well, yeah! I hate the guy!" Dastardos stuck out his tongue with disgust. "Not to mention he was getting all close to that chick… what's her name? Leafeos? Doc Patchingo shouldn't breed. I was just taking precautions!"

"Das-er, I mean Niles…" Avalon said, just in case someone overheard. "What Patch does is none of your business! Yew shouldn't get in the way of 'is 'appiness, especially when 'e's not bothering yew! 'E's a nice man, and 'e could keep Leafos in check. I know I approve," Avalon nodded sagely.

Dastardos looked at Avalon incredulously. "Avalon, I thought you had better judgment than that." Dastardos sounded really disappointed in her.

Avalon shook her head and threw up her hands. "Dastardos, yew are acting even more like a child than usual. I think I need some space from yew." With that, Avalon headed over to the bar to buy herself a tall, strong drink.

"Fine," Dastardos rolled his good eye, not even bothering to go after her. "See if I care…" Dastardos' eyes moved around the club and settled on Seedos. Damn, he was chatting with Leena… well, he could talk to them in disguise… Leena would be none the wiser!

Dastardos pulled up a chair and grinned at his brother, who couldn't help smiling upon seeing him. "What brings you here, D-er, Niles?" Seedos managed to catch himself before he said anything he'd regret. He cast a fleeting glance at Leena, but she was too caught up in gently rocking Crispy to notice his slip up. Seedos gave a quiet sigh of relief.

"Wot, I couldn't visit my new chum?" Dastardos peered over his glasses and winked at Seedos.

"Yeah, well, you've been glued to Avalon this whole trip!" Seedos shrugged, a cheeky grin crossing his mask after a few moments. "Not that it's a bad thing or anything. Why aren't you hanging out with her now?"

"She's a right tart," Dastardos snorted. "Snobby and condescending. Got on my last nerve, it did."

Suddenly, Dastardos felt someone staring at him. He turned to see Leena looking at him like a Galagoogoo that just got its tail stepped on.

"Uh oh…" Seedos busied himself by sipping his drink through its straw.

"You have some serious nerve saying things like that!" Leena was angry. Dastardos was taken aback; he didn't even know Leena's voice could get that loud. "Avalon happens to be the coolest, smartest, most talented woman I know, so you being annoyed with her just shows that you're completely classless!" Leena slammed her fist on the table and visibly flinched a bit. "Ow…" Leena rubbed her knuckle, but kept on glaring at Dastardos. "Who do you think you are, anyway? Judging her when you barely know her! She deserves a better friend than you." With that, Leena looked away, turning up her nose in a remarkable impression of Avalon. Both Seedos and Dastardos gaped at her, juice dribbling out of the former's mouth and onto his sleeping Shellybean's head.

"Maybe I am being a jerk…" Dastardos mumbled without his fake accent.

He felt a small bump on his leg and realized that Seedos kicked him under the table.

"Leena's right; you should be nicer to Avalon," Seedos nodded sagely. "Someone like you could use more friends." Seedos gazed so intensely at Dastardos that he kind of felt like Seedos' eyes were burning a hole right through him.

"Yeah… maybe…" Dastardos grumbled. Leena smiled victoriously at that comment.

"I knew you'd see things my way, Niles," She said, positively glowing. Dastardos was almost blinded; God, how could she go from being horrifying to cute in the span of a minute?

Dastardos was too caught up in his conversation with Leena and Seedos to notice that the party was about to have a newcomer.

The doors to Colors burst open to reveal a man dressed in a ridiculously colorful tailcoated suit, a smirk on his face. He flipped his hair and grinned at the crowd of people. "Fret not, partygoers! Lukah's here!"

"Who the fuck is that guy…?" Maxime wrinkled her nose at the newcomer. Eddie, who moments ago had been flirting with Maxime, squealed so loudly he almost shattered every light in the room.

"That's Lukah!" Eddie gaped at the ornately dressed man. "He's a big star in every sense of the word! There's nothing he can't do! Wh-what made him decide to come to a party my family was throwing? We're not worthy!"

"Hey, uh, I'm gonna go get a drink…" Maxime edged away from Eddie. She wanted nothing to do with the guy who came through the door and she certainly didn't want to hear anything about him. Maxime could tell just by looking that this Lukah guy was a total douchebag.

Much to Eddie's surprise, Lukah headed straight to him. Eddie felt his heart pounding in his chest and sweat beginning to pour down his back. He swallowed, his hands shaking. What was he getting nervous for? He was Eddie Lizard, the most charismatic person in his home Village! But, Eddie quietly admitted to himself. My charisma is nothing next to Lukah's…

"There you are, Eddie!" Lukah spread his arms wide, a warm smile on his handsome face. "I saw the P-Factor round, and I have to say, it was the most splendid thing I've seen in a while! You have some real stage presence!"

"I-I do?" Eddie smiled nervously at Lukah. "That's a splendid compliment coming from you, Mr. Lukah!"

"Please, cutie pie…" Lukah gently brushed his fingers against Eddie's cheek. "Just call me Lukah."

Eddie's face erupted into flames and he nodded vigorously.

"I came here to make you an offer you won't be able to refuse," Lukah flipped his hair again, giving Eddie a wonderfully charming half-smile. "How would you like to be a star? Leave that silly P-Factor behind? I was waiting for the right moment to enter, and I heard you singing from outside the club. You could be a singer! Or an actor! Or both!" Lukah took Eddie's hands and looked him straight in the eyes. "Don't you want to leave that silly village of yours behind? It's just a small town with a has-been gardener! You can be so much more! You deserve to be so much more!" Lukah looked hopefully at Eddie and the purple haired youth swallowed a lump in his throat.

"I… I'll have to think about that, Lukah…" Eddie couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. A man that he idolized came up to him and offered to make him a star and he said he'd "think about it?"

Eddie couldn't help it. There were too many things for him in his home village. The P-Factor, his family… not to mention quite a few girls he liked very much! Sure, there were plenty of other girls out there… but Eddie was really bad at letting go of his crushes.

"That's disappointing," Lukah sighed, letting go of Eddie's hands. He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a card, and held it out towards Eddie. "Here's my business card, cutie. Call me when you reach a decision." As soon as Eddie took the card, Lukah looked towards the bar and lit up, swaggering over to it as soon as he laid eyes on Avalon.

Eddie examined the ornate business card and furrowed his brow. He wondered what his dad would think about this…

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"Ahh, Avalon…" Lukah sighed as he approached the bar. Avalon almost choked on her drink and turned to face him, wide-eyed. "As bewitchingly beautiful as ever! And I see you ditched that petulant little British man. Excellent." Without waiting for an invitation, Lukah planted himself on the stool next to Avalon's.

"Wot do yew want?" Avalon glared at Lukah, gripping her glass tightly. "I'm not in the mood to deal with yew."

"I just want to buy a lady some drinks…" Lukah moved to put his arm around Avalon, a smirk on his face. "Is that such a crime?"

Avalon looked over her shoulder at Dastardos, who was laughing loudly at something Seedos had said. Avalon wondered if he had seen Lukah yet… Avalon hated to admit it to herself, but she was really hoping Dastardos would storm over and tear Lukah a new asshole. But he was way too caught up in conversing with Seedos to notice… what was so great about that kid, anyway? Ugh, maybe Avalon needed some more drinks… they'd certainly help her deal with Lukah, too.

"Yew know wot?" Avalon turned to Lukah. "Why not? Bring on the alcohol!"

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Suddenly, a loud crashing sound rang out through the club. Dastardos looked to where it came from and was surprised to see Avalon lying on the floor, giggling like crazy.

"Hey, uh…" Clearing his throat, he rose from his chair. "There's something I've gotta do. Uh, bye." With that, he ran over to Avalon to see what was wrong. Seedos looked at Leena and shrugged.

"He's a weird guy," Seedos said, completely meaning it.

"I'm glad he's gone…" Leena shuddered. "Something about him just rubs me the wrong way…"

Dastardos stood over Avalon, his brow furrowed with concern. She hiccupped and looked up at him, his eyes glazed.

"Lookin' gooooood, Niles!" she giggled, her face reddening beneath her mask. "Specially from thish angle!"

"Oh, it's you," Lukah wrinkled his nose at Dastardos. "I was enjoying your date's company since you completely abandoned her. Looks like you finally came back. Some man you are." Lukah childishly stuck out his tongue at Dastardos, who flipped him off. Lukah gasped and covered his mouth. "So obscene! How could Avalon even be interested in someone like you?!"

"'E's…'e's far manlier than yew are," Avalon tried to stagger to her feet, but she fell down again. Dastardos crouched next to her and offered her his shoulder for support. "So gallant…" Avalon hiccupped, her tone adoring. She carefully positioned herself and rose to her feet, holding on to Dastardos' skinny frame.

"Fuck off, Lukah," Dastardos didn't even bother to disguise his voice. "Avalon doesn't need someone like you bothering her."

"Well, I never!" Lukah placed a hand over his heart. "Fine, then! You get to deal with her drunkenness! Hope you have a positively terrible night!" Scoffing, Lukah threw some money down on the bar and stormed out the door.

"Yew're so cool…" Avalon touched Dastardos' chest. "So dashing… my knight in sour armor…" Avalon hiccupped again, closing her eyes and leaning against Dastardos' shoulder.

"Let's get you back to the hotel room…" Dastardos ignored her advances since he was sure it was the alcohol talking, but he couldn't help blushing beneath his mask. Picking Avalon up, he headed towards the door himself.

Seedos watched him go and smirked a bit. Looks like Dastardos didn't mean what he said earlier about Avalon… Dastardos' tough front betrayed his actions. Seedos couldn't imagine Dastardos taking a drunk woman home, ever, so Avalon must be extra special.

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Yen slowly entered the club, the sound of his brother's loud singing assaulting his ears. Yen didn't care, though; he had something important he had to do.

He had a beautifully wrapped package in his hands with Avalon's name on it. Inside was the gorgeous mixed stone necklace his brother had given to him to give to Avalon. Yen didn't expect Yoto to remember his request, but he did, so Yen was extremely grateful.

Yen scanned the club, but Avalon was nowhere in sight… Sighing, Yen leaned against the wall and waited for Yoto to finish belting his song.

Yen bolted a bit too quickly towards Yoto once he finished. He wanted to get to Yoto before he started talking to Storkos; once Yoto started talking to his girlfriend, there was no stopping him.

"Whoa, bro, where's the fire?!" Yoto held up his hands, his eyes bulging.

"Avalon…" Yen heaved, trying to catch his breath. He wasn't used to running. "Where's… Avalon? I have to give her the present…"

"Oh, she left with that Niles guy!" Yoto shrugged. "She was drunk as a Smelba. He took her back to her room."

"He what?!" Yen almost dropped his present, feeling his heart shatter into a million pieces. Niles was Dastardos! He would probably try to take advantage of her! The idea of Dastardos' cold, clammy hands touching Avalon's perfect body made Yen want to vomit. Someone like him didn't deserve a girl like her!
"Yeah, sorry bro…" Yoto placed a supportive hand on Yen's shoulder. "You're a little too late. You can give it to her when we get home, though, can't you?"

"Yeah…" Yen felt cold. He couldn't get those stupid mental images out of his head… "I guess I can."

"You don't look so good… do you want me to buy you a drink?" Yoto offered, grinning at his brother. Yen was usually gloomy, but he seemed absolutely disturbed. Yoto understood why; if Storkos got drunk and was carried off by some other guy, Yoto'd be feeling pretty horrible too.

"Please do…" Yen rubbed his temples. "Actually, buy me five."

Yoto nodded understandingly and led his brother to the bar. Yen sighed and put the carefully wrapped box into his bag. Hopefully these drinks would get rid of these stupid, sickening mental images and delude him into feeling happy…

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"Come on, come sit… come sit on the bed with me…" Avalon giggled, her voice still heavy with drunkenness.

"No, no, I'm good," Dastardos shook his head from where he sat on the windowsill. Dastardos had never been in the presence of a drunk woman before, so he had no idea how to handle himself. His intuition was telling him to stay as far away from Avalon as possible.

"I just… I just wanna…" Avalon yawned hugely. "Ahhh, I forgot. Silly… me…" With that, Avalon trailed off, finally closing her eyes and passing out.

Dastardos just sat there for a few moments, watching Avalon sleep. Her chest was rising and falling and she seemed peaceful. She let out a small cry and hugged herself, but was soon back to quietly breathing.

She must be cold… Dastardos realized. He lifted his feet off the ground and floated over to her, carefully tucking her in to make sure not to disturb her. Dastardos got a good look at her sleeping, masked face… Avalon really was beautiful. It still baffled him that a woman like her would want to spend time with a guy like him…

Before Dastardos could think about what he was doing, he carefully removed his mask, leaned forward, and brushed his cold lips against Avalon's warm ones.

Once he realized what had happened, he flew backwards and nearly hit a wall. Dastardos blushed deeply as he floated back to the windowsill.

Well, that happened… He thought, taking a deep breath and letting it out as he put his mask back on. I guess I just wanted to kiss a woman, just once… hopefully she'll never find out. Still… it felt nice. I see what all the fuss is about.

Dastardos snickered just a bit before shutting his eyes and letting sleep take him. He'd finally be back home in the morning, back to Magnar, back to his job. But he didn't really mind that he had to go back to killing piñatas.

Things were getting much better for him. He had a good feeling in his heart; maybe, just maybe, the future wouldn't be so bad after all…

The End