Outer Space

[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell had gone to much effort for this Yuleball, he had for once dragged himself out of his own shell to be with Archie on this day. The teen didn't own any formal clothes, his uniform was the closest thing that he owned to anything formal, but with the aid of Archie, he had managed to put together a somewhat respectable suit, so that he looked a little bit more normal. His usually brightly dyed hair was a black colour, with only a small streak of colour, far more respectable and while Orwell had to admit he looked pretty good, the clothes felt out of place on his body, he couldn't help but feel like this was more like Halloween than Halloween had ever been. The teen had never been used to the strangeness of school, but the teen had never expected himself to dressed like this, he had been adamantly against it, but he owed his best friend this. A little sacrifice considering all that Archie had done for him, and really, for Archie there was little he wouldn't do.

So, this was why the teen now stood, somewhat nervously outside the Great Hall, hands shoved in his pocket to stop himself from fidgeting endlessly, but he was just trying to appear calm for this event, the teen wasn't usually so nervous but this costume, these clothes made him feel a lot out of place, he couldn't understand why they couldn't do the same as the last year. He had made an effort in the previous year, his clothes had been clean and that was about all. The teen was however excited to spend this time with Archie, even though they were pretty much spending all of the time in the holidays together, and it was going to be the first time Archie would be seeing where Orwell had been raised, and admittedly he was pretty nervous about that, since he had never shown it to anyone before. However, now, in this moment, he was to focus on his night with Archie and he was excited about it, he just needed Archie to get there and hopefully that would be soon.
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[Archie Renner]

Archie wanted to go the whole nine yards and suit up for the yule ball this year, waistcoat, bow tie and all. If not for the experience of donning an outfit that was nearly the polar opposite to what he would wear on any given day, for the sake of acting all fancy shmancy with his best friend who with some convincing had quite literally followed suit. He had dragged Orwell into his plans over a week ago, not realizing at the time that discarding his usual ripped jeans/worn tees covered by a hoodie and topped off with a beanie to throw on an outfit he wouldn't otherwise be caught dead in for a night would end up being half the fun of the night itself. The preparation and the amount of times Archie had doubled over in laughter seeing his best friend try on different suits was enough of a memory in itself for Archie to forget about the ball entirely and not even show his face in favor of spending the night cuddling with Orwell in a more quiet and less crowded setting, but he knew that now he had purchased a suit, gotten dressed in it and styled his hair to the best of his ability there was no way he couldn't go to the ball. Especially not when Orwell was probably already nervously waiting for him outside the great hall.

Archie was experiencing an entirely new and completely unexpected feeling of confidence in his suit. Gushing to himself over how grown up and dapper he looked his fancy clothes. It only quickened his steps from the Gryffindor common room towards the great hall with the excitement and anticipation of seeing whether or not Orwell looked equally as mature and dapper. Archie couldn't fight the smile that appeared on his face when he arrived outside the great hall and let his eyes scan his surroundings for a moment before they were graced by the sight of his best friend. He'd recognize that silhouette and that newly dyed black hair still displaying a streak of colour from miles away. Although Orwell had his back to him, Archie could see he was wearing the suit they picked out together in all it's fancy, black and white glory. He didn't hesitate to walk up to his best friend and pull him into a hug from behind. "Look at you, Brock, all fancy in a suit." Knowing he didn't need to greet Orwell, Archie jumped into the midst of conversation like they were only talking a few minutes ago rather than a few hours. "We're both so fancy, huh?" He said, resting his head on his best friend's shoulder and nearly forgetting for the second time tonight that they had a ball to attend. He giggled and pulled away from the hug so he could spin Orwell around to face him. "Do you wanna go inside now or wait here a little longer?" Archie did not mind what happened either way however he quietly hoped Orwell would want to get the night rolling.
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[Orwell Brocken]

The memory of Archie laughing at Orwell's different costumes lingered on his mind as he stood waiting for his best friend, he felt out of place, like a kid who had given a task beyond his ability and pretending to know what he was doing, that was honestly what it felt like to him but he was definitely looking forward to spending the evening with him, even in this ridiculous outfit that he didn't particularly understand why people enjoyed so much, but for Archer there was little he wouldn't do and that much was apparent. Orwell was very focused in front of him that he didn't hear Archie appear behind him and just hug him from behind, even in his initial surprise when he smelt that ever familiar Archie smell, he knew who it was, even before they began speaking. He leaned into his friend slightly, and just smiled at his statement, "I feel ridiculous," he admitted but he was smiling at his friend even if he wasn't stood in front of him, he knew Archie would just be able to tell. Orwell leaned his head against Archie's "We are exactly what the capitalist want us to be" he told him quietly with a small chuckle.

When Archie broke up the hug and then stood in front of him he couldn't help but miss the feeling of the hug, but he knew they had a ball to attend and Orwell didn't want to have worn this suit for nothing, instead he just followed what Archie was saying and then smiled happily at him, he didn't want to stand around, Orwell was all about action, he was all about doing things and this was something he definitely just tried to reflect in every day life. He took Archie's hand and smiled happily before half dragging the other teen out to the dance floor and then finding a spot where they could dance, Orwell was not a dancer, he didn't really know how to, and this was only the second time he'd really had to dance and the teen as soon as they stood in a position to Dance Orwell still holding Archie's hand kept his own eyes on his feet as he attempted to dance but was failing, he all but tripped over his own two feet and into Archie, he blushed lightly, "I'm sorry Archie, they don't have dance lessons when teaching about Anarcho-communes," he chuckle light just glancing up at his friend and shrugging apologetically.
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[Archie Renner]

Archie smiled wide as his best friend led him into the great hall, happy that he didn't have to stay in one place for too long and happy their brief re-introduction had ran it's course and the night in fancy suits he had long anticipated could finally begin. When they reached the dance floor Archie focused his attention towards his surroundings, taking the atmosphere in. Christmas was definitely on it's way and although New Zealand had never had a white Christmas the decorations in the hall would have done well to convince him otherwise if he didn't already know better. While Archie enjoyed summer more than any other season in the year he had secretly harbored a desire to have a white Christmas mainly so he could see what the fuss was all about. Not because of the freezing cold, slushy snow that caused everyone to rave on and on. The thought of winter sent a shiver up Archie's spine at the same time Orwell falling towards him roused him from his thoughts. He instinctively placed a hand on Orwell's hip and stepped one foot back to steady the two of them.

"Don't worry Brock. Dancing isn't hard, you just need to try to not over think it." Truth be told, Archie wasn't much of a dancer either. His sisters had attempted to teach him to dance in the past, convincing him he could do anything he put his mind to though his inability to stay in time in addition to his mile long legs and two left feet begged to differ. He had long given up trying to dance, but tonight he felt dancing was his duty bearing in mind this was indeed a ball and he and Orwell had spent the entire week preparing their fancy suits to throw in the towel now. He intertwined their fingers further and slid his free hand from Orwell's hip towards the small of his back. "Put your hand on my shoulder." He instructed, waiting until Orwell had moved his hand to his shoulder before he continued speaking. "Now, stand on my toes." The sentence sounded silly as it rolled off his tongue but he tried to ignore that fact while he pressed his hand further into Orwell's back, urging the other boy closer so he'd have no choice but to stand on Archie's shoes.
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[Orwell Brocken]

With the holidays looming over him, he couldn't help but feel a little more nervous than normal, although it was Archie's company that instantly calmed him, and he listened to Archie's words about dancing and nodded his head in understanding, the issue was that Orwell had a tendency to think about things a lot, and therefore he was sometimes prone to over thinking things, of taking situations that everyone else would be perfectly happy with and taking issue with them, and dancing was something he didn't know how to do, and he was just trying his best because of the amount of time that he and Archie had spent in getting ready for this, and Orwell was trying his best to fit in with the normal society at this yuleball and so his mind was thinking about far too much to be able to concentrate on anything. It was why he had stumbled into Archie, who of course had caught him, like he had expected him too.

The teen followed the instruction, placing his hand on the other boy's shoulder and then allowing the hand to move to his lower back and push him forward slightly and Orwell responded by doing so, letting Archie take the lead on this situation, and would've just tried to follow this lead simply until he had been told to stand on his toes, Orwell just frowned at him. He wanted him to stand on his toes, wouldn't that hurt his best friend? The teen however had no other choice than to do it, and he went ahead and stood on Archie's toes, feeling a little nervous about it, but when Archie's face showed no pain that he felt like it might just be okay for him to be doing what he was doing, he didn't know what else to do, but just allow his steps to be guided by Archie, allow him to just take ultimate control of this dancing because he just so wholeheartedly trusted his best friend.

It was only for him that he would ever put on this suit, go to such effort and try so hard for this this, it was only for him that he would feel so comfortable in this strange world, Orwell wouldn't even have come to this world had it not been for Archie, his life had been so monumentally changed the moment he'd bumped into Archie all that time ago in Obsidian Harbour and all for the better. The teen looked up at Archie and just smiled, "I love you,"
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[Archie Renner]

The addition of Orwell's weight on Archie's feet was more like a feeling of pressure that restricted some of his movement than any feelings associated with pain or being uncomfortable. It kept him from stepping around freely but still allowed him the ability to sway from side to side and occasionally take one step in a different direction which was all he needed if he wanted to take the lead in their dance and feign like he knew what he was doing. He was glad that his confident posture and the wide smile still on his face made it seem like he did indeed know a thing or two about dancing when in all honesty he was equally as clueless, if not more than Orwell was with the exception of the two afternoons his sisters had wasted in their attempts to teach him to dance that ended up being in vain. He chuckled quietly at how clueless they both were and continued to take the lead, gently swaying along to the music and not giving second thought to the fact their bodies were gradually inching closer as the song progressed.

As they danced, it was like they were captured in a protective bubble that no one could disturb. Like they were trapped in their own little, perfect word where the only thing that mattered was their friendship. It only confirmed to Archie how happy Brock made him, and how invincible they felt when they were by each others side. Invincible like nothing could tear them apart, not the fact neither of them knew how to dance, not anyone of their fellow students, and not even the cause Brock was so passionate about. Archie loved everything about Orwell. He loved his ever changing, brightly coloured hair. He loved his passion for the cause, and his passion for everything Archie told him no matter how stupid or inappropriate. He loved being able to snuggle with Orwell at any time of day no matter where they were and he especially loved the way the nickname he had given him felt like popping candy on his tongue. There wasn't anything he couldn't love, and as Archie became suddenly overcome with the feeling of fuzzy warm butterflies in his stomach for his best friend he realized he needed to tell him all of this. But Brock had bet him to the punch before he could even open his mouth to spurt out the words. He smiled back at Brock and lent forward, resting his head on his friend's shoulder and nuzzling his face into his neck which was only a little awkward considering Archie basically towered over him. "I love you too." He responded like the words were a secret, his voice barely above a whisper. "So much. I love you so much."
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[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell hadn't even minded Archie leaning on his shoulder, he had leaned his head into the touch and just felt the warmth of this dance and this comfort fill him up, he loved him, his amazing bravery, his confidence, his ability to do things he would never have asked him to do, Orwell knew he couldn't asked for a better friend in Archie, and telling him he loved him was the easiest thing about this entire evening. The awful suit he wore was forgotten, the usual thoughts of the struggle forgotten, his worries about his home forgotten, and all because of this simple dance and his time with his best friend. The teen who had never had friends before felt so happy and honoured that Archie was his friend, who felt like the closest thing Orwell had ever experienced to real family was just so amazing, and filled his entire body with a warmth he scarcely wanted to let go, and even if Archie never said the words back he would be happy.

However, the words were repeated to him, and he seemed to lean into the touch more and he felt truly sorry that this evening and this bubble between them would have to end, "I love you so much," he repeated to him quietly, not letting anyone else hear the words he spoke to him, and wishing for this small simple moment to never end, but then lingering in the background was someone he knew Archie would want to see, so he leaned out and forced Archie into looking at him, "I think there's someone here who wants to spend time with you," he motioning over to the boy to which he then motioned for him to come forward. Orwell knew that Archie would want to spend a little time with him, and the feelings of those words being said to him would carry him through the rest of the evening and likely even for the next few weeks. The teen was in the process of pulling away when he just decided that he needed one last moment and so wrapped his arms around his friend in a tight and close hug, breathing in that ever familiar scent and feeling the warmth of his best friend body against his. He pulled away and just smiled at the other boy, "Have fun!" he said to them.
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[Isaiah Jeffreys]

Isaiah had been nervous as anything about this Yuleball, he'd never really attended with anyone and following the fact the yuleball auction had sort of fallen through the teen had been keen to just try and figure out something to preoccupy his mind but it just wasn't possible, he just wasn't able to do that. And in the end the teen had put on his best formal clothes, made all the effort that he could on the off chance this would pay off, because he felt like he was learning more and more about himself and he needed to start acting upon it. The only issue was that he knew it would be a little complicated to actually act upon it, since things within his life were just a little weird and making him take a lot of time to understand it. Which was why he hd debated about whether or not to actually go to this thing.

In the end however, Isaiah had gone and now he was stood at the entrance of the hall, trying to find the certain blonde that seemed to occupy his thoughts and relish in Isaiah's dilemma, but it was a little difficult to find, since he was trying to spot the coloured haired teen but couldn't spot either, until he finally spotted Orwell across the hall and at that he just smiled a little, awkwardly standing watching them not desiring to interrupt but desperately wanting to spend a little bit of this evening with Archie and hopefully that would help get rid of this crush. One thing was certain about this experience, Isaiah was now pretty sure he wasn't straight, but he didn't think he was gay either, somewhere in between, but Isaiah was discovering this slowly and wanting to act upon this crush. Finally he seemed to be summoned over by Orwell and stood waiting for the other teen to leave, "Hi," he said somewhat nervously taking in Archie's suit and definitely enjoying how it looked on him, Isaiah definitely wasn't as sure of himself as Archie was, "Dance?" he asked nervously, since that's all that Archie seemed to do, make him nervous and flustered.
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[Archie Renner]

Archie's eyebrows furrowed in a state of momentary confusion when Orwell began to pull away from their hug. He studied his friend's face to figure out what on earth he was talking about though the slightly nervous 'Hi' he heard from a different direction connected the dots for him and caused him to realize exactly who this someone was. He squeezed Orwell tight when he moved back in for a quick hug goodbye and kissed his cheek when they properly pulled away. "You sure you'll be alright?" He asked Orwell, wanting to make sure that spending the remainder of the evening, or at least the majority of the remainder of the evening with someone else after sharing such an intimate moment was something his best friend was truly comfortable with. Archie was torn between not wanting to let go of Orwell for the rest of the night and spending the tail end of the ball playfully taunting Isaiah. He did not want Orwell to feel torn in a similar way and feel like he needed to leave for Archie to have fun. But the nod he gave him in response before walking away and leaving Archie and Isaiah alone on the dance floor basically confirmed to Archie that he was unbothered by their change in plans and that everything was okay.

With that confirmation, Archie turned his full attention to Isaiah. A playful yet devious smirk appeared on his features as he looked the other boy up and down before accepting his invite to dance. "I'd love to dance, Isaiah." He stepped forward and placed his hand on the Ravenclaw's back before intertwining their fingers, taking the lead and dancing in the almost exact same way he had with Orwell, excluding the invite to stand on his feet. Isiah probably knew how to dance and step in time much more than Orwell did so the invitation would have been unnecessary. Archie let their bodies sway in time to the music, allowing a prolonged silence to take over that he chose to break after a few minutes. "You seem really nervous. I can't imagine why." His tone was unrelenting in it's arrogance because he could tell the other boy was nervous. He relished it. Not once, in his entire life and until now had Archie ever liked a boy who actually liked him back. Their mutual attraction was completely new and exciting to him and he had been making the most of it which was unfortunately to Isaiah's dismay and is what Archie assumed was continually making him nervous as they danced. "If I looked as hot as you did in that suit, I'd be anything but nervous."​