Closed The Last Straw

[Michael Newton]

Michael felt a little off by Kas' note today, but he had already put the plans into motion and needed everything to go perfectly. He thought Kas was a great boyfriend. Even better than great - excellent. And by now, the Hufflepuff knew Michael was prone to large gestures of the romantic nature. After working closely with the fashionista that was Juniper Zumwalt, she had fashioned him a top made entirely of fresh flowers. Along with his own created prop of a bullhorn with flowers attached around the rim and a large bouquet for his boyfriend, Michael felt ready for the dance. He'd told Kas to meet him near the entrance and that he'd be easy to find. Ignoring the odd stares from his fellow students, Michael found a spot near the doors, facing towards them with his bullhorn at the ready.

@Kasim Safir

Spoiler: Michael's attire

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas had been uneasy all day. Every time he thought about Michael lately, all he could think about was the sick guilt he felt after he'd kissed Eric. And with the pile of roses and dance looming, Kas hadn't been able to think of much all day. He wondered if he could convince Professor Alicastell to give him a timeturner for the sole purpose of undoing his stupid teen angst bullsh*t but he had a hunch his chances were low. He wasn't looking forward to tonight's dance, but Kas knew skipping out on Michael would just make him feel worse, so sucking it up for the night, he headed downstairs.

Upon spotting Michael, Kas nearly turned back around. It was tempting, but he'd already lingered on the lower steps too long, sure Michael would have seen him by now, so Kas simply inhaled slowly through his nose and powered forward. "I suppose I should know better than to expect a quiet night by now," he said wryly, side-eying Michael's bullhorn as he joined him near the door.

 

[Michael Newton]

Michael cleared his throat as Kas approached him, feeling slightly nervous about his plans for this evening. "Well, this is all for you, dear," he said, holding out the bouquet of flowers for his boyfriend. He knew that Kas was nowhere near as outgoing as he was, but he hoped the Hufflepuff would appreciate all his gestures nonetheless. "And this is just part one!" Michael said. He had tested the bullhorn around his wand, and it worked about half the time. But with everyone else in the room, he wondered if its batteries would short out or something, as he still wasn't very good at the Sonorus charm. Plus, props were more fun. Pulling it up to his mouth, he attempted a trumpet sound as if an important person was arriving so everyone around would be aware that Kas truly deserved the best this evening.

Michael took ahold of Kas' hand and started pulling him across the floor, swerving through a few crowds until they were in a more public spot. He then held up the bullhorn again and tried speaking into it. "KASIM SAFIR," he started to shout, but as the bullhorn cut in and out, he hit it with his hand and then tossed it on the ground, clearing his throat again. "Kasim Safir," Michael spoke, "I know my poems aren't the best, so I decided to write a song to profess my love for you here at the dance." Michael went into a boyband style pose as he waited for the intro music in his head to play.

Godmod approved

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas tried not to scrunch up his face too much when Michael referred to him as 'dear', taking the bouquet reluctantly. He half expected it to bust into confetti or song by sheer virtue of him touching it, so he was still peering at it when Michael announced this was only part one. "What-" He started, flinching when Michael made some sort of noise through the bullhorn in his hand.

Kas barely hand time to recover from the noise when Michael was dragging him through the crowd and Kas had a terrible feeling about where this was going. Both literally and figuratively. He grimaced again when Michael shouted out his name, and not just because Michael had used 'Kasim' this time. "Please don't," he protested weakly, raising a hand in a vaguely desperate attempt to get Michael to back down even as Michael struck a pose. "You don't have to do this. Please don't do this," he said in a hushed whisper, fervently glancing at the gathered students around them and back to Michael, stomach all but dropping out when Michael used the L-word. Things were happening far too fast and Kas could feel himself starting to panic.

 

[Michael Newton]

Michael held his pose until he heard Kas' protesting and made a face. "But... I did all this," he said, gesturing to his giant flower ridden shirt, "for you." The Gryffindor was a little confused. He knew that he could be a bit much, but he couldn't recall Kas ever asking him to stop doing one of his genuine gestures in the moment. Shaking off the feeling, he ran his hand through his curls and started to go back into his pose. "Nah, come on. You'll love this," he continued before humming a tune from about 50 years ago. He had heard his grandparents play it when he visited, and they'd told him it was a popular muggle tune.

"Oh, your eyes, your eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shinin'
Your hair, your hair
Falls perfectly without you tryin'
Your so beautiful and I tell you everyday

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
My whole world stops and I stare for a while
'Cause Kas, you're amazing
Just the way you are"

Michael added a lot of dance moves to hide the fact that he was truly not a singer. However, he figured his passion would overshadow that downfall and did a final spin beautiful facing Kas again, out of breath. He wanted to say the L word now, as he just felt it would be a good ending. But seeing as he planned it for later in the evening, he held back. He didn't want to present too many things to Kas too fast, as he couldn't quite tell if the song had maybe been too much.


OOC: Thank you to Bruno Mars for this beautiful song.

 

[Kasim Safir]

It didn't take long for the sheen of embarrassment at Michael's antics to fall away, replaced easily by familiar twisting guilt at the look of confusion on Michael's face as he answered Kas' question. It was a close thing for the embarrassment to win again when Michael starting singing though.

Standing there, watching Michael sing and flail around, Kas could feel a terrible sense of inevitability click into place. He was going to break Michael's heart one day, probably some day soon, assuming he hadn't already. The sooner Michael was free of Kas, the sooner he could be back doing ridiculous stunts for someone who would actually want them. And deserve them.

"Michael," Kas said, grabbing Michael's arm and attempting to tow him back off the dancefloor and away from their gathered audience, trying not to think too heard about the crunch of flowers under his palms. "Listen, I- We should-" Kas scrubbed a hand over his face. He needed to do this quickly. Like a band-aid. Or a bludger to the face. "We should break up," he said, not feeling bold enough to look Michael in the eye, gaze trained on a flower sticking out somewhere near Michael's hip.

 

[Michael Newton]

Michael was surprised when Kas suddenly grabbed ahold of him, wondering maybe if he had the sudden urge to go makeout out in a corner because his singing was just that good. But it quickly became apparent that Kas did not like his stunt. He'd heard the words before, usually due to something like this, but he really hadn't expected to hear it from Kas so soon. "I-what do you mean? You- you didn't like flowers? Or the song? It doesn't have to be a song. I just wanted to show you how much I care about you." Michael couldn't tell if he was protesting the break-up or just processing his acceptance out loud. It had felt almost out of the blue, and he could feel his heart racing.

 

[Kasim Safir]

"Yeah, that's the problem," Kas said, rocking back on his heels in some vague attempt to put just a small distance between him and Michael. As if he could trick his brain into thinking he was about to step away and make this easier. "I don't... Care about you. In that way. So like, it's better if we break up." Kas finished his explanation with a shrug, dimly aware of just how much better Michael probably deserved. A boyfriend who could actually share his feelings and excitement with Michael. Not someone who couldn't even smile without being ironic and kissed other boys. "Sorry," he added, still resolutely not looking at Michael's face, though his voice was flat, empty like the hollow feeling in Kas' stomach.

 

[Michael Newton]

Michael felt his heart beat faster until his whole chest was in pain. How had he not seen this coming? How were they at such different points of the relationship? He felt some of the flower petals rub against his face and quickly worked to take the jacket off. "You don't have to apologize if you really don't... care about me." Michael set the flower jacket on the table next to them. "That was for you. You can, like, burn it or give it to someone else if you don't want it." Michael wasn't really a crier, but he could feel his face starting to get warm and looked down at the ground. "Sorry," he finally said, before walking past his now ex-boyfriend as he tried to get out of the Great Hall. He needed some fresh air.