I know it's two masquerade one shots in a row, leave me alone. This time it's actually important to the plot

Pat let out a scream of excitement and jumped out of the carriage before it had even stopped moving. They wrapped a laughing Janus up in a hug so tight it squeezed all the air out of Janus' lungs.

"Jesus, Pat." Janus said, still laughing weakly. "You act as if you haven't seen me in years."

"Oh shut up, you missed me too." Pat snapped, hugging their friend even tighter. Janus laughed and hugged them back.

"Yeah, I did." He conceded. "But don't kill me before all the fun starts."

Pat pulled back, their eyes glowing, and grinned. "Oh, it's exciting, isn't it?" They said and sighed. "A proper masquerade ball right here."

"Yeah." Janus looked up at the castle with Pat. "Now that father's... put away, we're allowed to do a lot more than we ever were before."

"Oh, wait until you see my mask!" Pat said excitedly. They danced around on the spot. "It's simply divine." They sighed again and grinned up at the sky.

"It better be, to combat your personality." A voice from behind them said. Logan smiled at Janus and inclined his head. "Good to see you again, Janus."

Janus felt as if all the air had been squeezed from his lungs again. He was sure he was blushing like an idiot as he stared at Pat's older brother.

"You too, Logan." He said, his words breathless. Pat looked between the two and giggled excitedly. They hooked their arm through Janus' and started to pull him away, towards the castle.

"Come on, you have to show me your outfit for the masquerade." Pat said too loudly. "I bet it's going to be absolutely wonderful." They grinned behind them at their brother before turning to Janus and hushing their voice. "He's absolutely enamoured with you." They insisted. "He talked of nothing the whole carriage ride. Not even of his new book!"

Janus scoffed. "Oh, please. Enamoured with me?" He asked. "Logan's got far better people to be enamoured with, he can do a lot better."

"He can do better than a prince?" Pat asked sceptically. "Open your eyes, Janus. The only boy he likes more than you is Mr Darcy and he's not even real!"

"Oh, shut up." Janus said, rolling his eyes and elbowing Pat.

"I've seen his dance list." Pat continued. "And guess who's top of the list."

"You?" Janus asked. Pat laughed.

"Please, like he'd be seen dead dancing with his sibling." Pat said. "I've got two left feet, anyway. No, it's you! He wants to dance with you more than anyone! Really."

Janus scoffed again and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. I'll believe that when I see it."

"And it's going to be brilliant." Pat finished, their eyes shining. Janus grinned at his friend's excitement.

"You're going to look a vision, Pat." He said.

"I know." Pat said, practically glowing. "Anyway, what about you? I know you've got something up your sleeve."

Janus grinned bashfully. "Well, I do have a new waistcoat..." He said. Pat giggled excitedly. They knew Janus was aching to talk about it. "Okay, so it's this beautiful gold-yellow colour and it's got black vines and twirls all over it. And the buttons are silver and it shouldn't work but it does! It works so well!"

"And, and?" Pat egged.

"And my coat's the same but inverse." Janus' grin grew even wider. "It's such a deep black and the gold edging is sure to stand out in the candlelight."

Pat sighed happily. "Oh, it's brilliant, isn't it?" They said. "A masquerade ball and we're finally allowed to dance at it! Oh!" They looked at Janus suddenly. "What's your mask like?"

Janus laughed. "That's a surprise."

Pat sighed and flopped down on the bed. "No fair." They mumbled childishly. "Who's on your dance list?"

"Well, obviously my best friend." Janus said, nudging Pat. "So you'd better not tread on my toes again. And Logan's on my dance list." Janus rested his hands on his knees primly. "And I'm leaving a space free."

Pat shot up so fast it knocked their glasses askew. "Prince Janus Dagger, you saucy minx!" They protested as Janus laughed. "Leaving a space free?!"

Janus shrugged. "I want to see who catches my interest." He said.

"Damn, I wish I'd done that." Pat said.

"Anyway, who's on your list?" Janus asked, relaxing his posture and crossing his legs.

"His esteemed self, Duke Roman Winston." Pat said with a sigh.

"You're smitten with him." Janus said. Pat gave him a shove.

"Absolutely am not!" They said, their cheeks flushing.

"All you did last time was stare at him." Janus teased. "I barely got you to talk to me. You know," he checked his nails, "he's only seventeen. And very, very single."

"Shut up!" Pat yelled, hiding their flaming face in their hands. Janus laughed.

"Anyway, who else is on your list?"

"You are." Pat mumbled through their hands. "And mother insisted one of us give her a dance. Since Logan's the elder, he got out of the bargain and I've got to dance with her."

"Oh, poor you." Janus said, recalling the Queen's immense height.

"Moving on, what do you think of Logan?" Pat asked. Janus felt blush rise on his cheeks at Pat's face. "Because I know you think something of him and I know he's gotten taller and I know he bought new clothes specifically to see you. So, out with it! Am I hearing wedding bells?"

"No, you definitely aren't!" Janus protested. "And I did notice he'd gotten taller and more handsome, thank you very much." Janus crossed his arms and looked away sulkily.

"Aw, come on. I was just playing." Pat said. "You have to tell me, please? I won't tell him a word."

Janus paused.

"Promise?" He asked.

"Swear on my honour!" Pat promised.

Janus paused again. "Fine." He mumbled. "He's very sweet and very smart and very kind." He said, looking down at his hands. "And he's so caring. And when he talks about his books..." Janus trailed off, his eyes shining. "And I care about him an awful lot, I should think."

But there was something missing. Logan was sweet and kind and all those things. He was very handsome and immensely respectable and perfect for Janus. But something didn't feel right. Yes, Janus cared about Logan, he cared for him with all that he was, but there was something off about it. Almost like Janus was looking for something more and Logan just... didn't have it. It was a horrid thought but it was true.

Pat giggled. "Oh, you're smitten, smitten, smitten." They crowed happily. "Won't it be brilliant when you two are married?" They asked, flopping back against Janus. "We'll be proper siblings. Not just best friends. We'll be connected by blood too, by law."

"Yes..." Janus murmured. "It'll be wonderful."

But it didn't sound as wonderful as he'd thought it would be.

A knock at the door made Janus look up from brushing his hair.

"Come in." He called, not bothering to get up from his vanity. Pat entered in a shimmer of blue and silver silks, excitement beaming out of them.

"You look magical, Pat." Janus said before focusing back on his own reflection. Pat turned excitedly, pulling their gloves up their arms.

"I know. Thank you." They said all in a rush. "Gosh, it's even more exciting than I thought it would be."

Janus nodded. He got what they meant. "But where's your mask?" He asked. Pat held it out shyly.

"Usually, I get Logan to do up things like this." They said bashfully. "But he won't help me with anything. He keeps twisting his stupid gloves around in his hand, he's going to break them. So, I wondered..." They trailed off in embarrassment.

"Hey, no worries." Janus stood up. "Give me the mask and turn around."

Pat smiled gratefully and handed Janus the mask before turning around obeidently. Janus slipped the mask around Pat's face carefully.

"That comfortable?" He asked. Pat gave a minute nod and Janus tied the ribbons together. "What are you thinking, Pat?" He asked.

"Just wondering..." Pat said dreamily. "Wouldn't it be exciting if something else happened too? Like, if someone came here to steal something or someone turned up who wasn't on the guest list. Wouldn't it be exciting to fall in love tonight?"

Janus laughed. "You've been reading to many romance novels." He said. "While that would be interesting, it's very unlikely. We're here to dance and maybe go off with one of our dance partners to talk."

"And kiss." Pat said. Janus laughed again.

"Possibly." Janus sat back down at his vanity. "I'll be right out, I just need to put my mask on."

"What's it like, Janus?" Pat asked. "Knowing you'll be important one day?"

"Well, am I not important already?" Janus asked jokingly.

"Well, yeah, you are. But I mean, what's it like to know you're going to rule one day?" Pat asked. Janus shrugged.

"Hadn't really thought of it before." He said. "I guess it's nice, you know, knowing that you're safe but..." He trailed off and shrugged again. "Eh, whatever. That won't be for a long time now."

Janus tied his mask behind his head and got up from the vanity. He offered Pat his arm.

"Right now, we've got our first proper masquerade ball to attend to." He grinned. "Come on."

Janus looked up as Pat gasped loud enough to be heard over the music. He looked over at Pat.

"What's wrong?"

Pat was barely paying attention. "He's here." They said so quietly Janus had to strain to hear. "Roman! He's here!"

Janus followed Pat's line of sight to where the duke was stood, talking to a girl in pink. He gave Pat a shove.

"What are you doing?!" Pat hissed.

"Talk to him, ask him to dance." Janus urged.

"No way!" Pat clutched their dance list to their chest protectively. Janus rolled his eyes.

"Gosh, you are such a white feather." He said. "I'll go talk to him for you."

"Would you?" Pat asked, their eyes wide behind their mask.

"What're friends for?" Janus asked before setting off across the ballroom.

"They owe me back so much for this." Janus thought, remembering his last meeting with the duke. Insufferable little varlet, that's what he was. But, still, Pat saw something in Roman that simply wasn't there. So, Janus would look past Roman's many, many forthcomings. For Pat, for keeping his friendship intact.

Janus hit someone on his way past. He whirled around to apologise.

"I'm so sorry!" He said quickly. "I didn't see you."

They looked him up and down, black and green mask glimmering in the candlelight, the barest beginnings of a moustache on their upper lip. Janus felt something in his chest trip as they met his gaze and returned his shocked expression with a small smirk.

"It's not problem, your Highness." They said and something about their voice raised blush in Janus' face. They took Janus' hand and pressed a small kiss to it. "Enjoy your party."

With that, they disappeared into the crowds, leaving Janus stammering and frozen still.

Janus looked down at his hand with wide eyes, brushing a gloved finger over the place where the mystery stranger had kissed him. He supposed, at the back of his mind, that he could ask one of the servants for the guest list so he could track them down. Though, would that be the very thing...

They hadn't been wearing gloves.

Janus' brow furrowed as he realised this. Everyone wore gloves to a ball, it was common etiquette. A sign of respect, of dignity. Every person of the nobility knew that. So why weren't they wearing gloves?

"Oh no." Janus' head snapped up, keen eyes seeking out the commoner. What was someone like them even doing at a fancy ball? Well, it was obvious, wasn't it? They were a thief.

They were a thief and Janus had fallen right into their trap.

A flash of dark green caught Janus' eye. The edge of a bottle green coat disappearing into one of the upper rooms. Definitely a thief.

Forget Roman and Pat's infatuation with him, this was more important.

Janus reached the gallery, gasping for air. Running through a castle at top speed was difficult enough on its own but in full ballroom attire, it was practically impossible.

His efforts were rewarded, however, as he caught a glimpse of the thief through the glass doors. They were leaning against the balcony edge, gazing up at the stars, their face turned away from the castle.

Janus pushed the door open and the thief turned around to face him. They grinned.

"Fancy meeting you again, your Highness." They said. "Must be fate."

"Oh, drop the act." Janus demanded. "Who are you?"

"I'm a duke." The thief lied smoothly. They leaned back on their elbows, moonlight splayed across their hair. "Obviously."

"Liar." Janus snarled. "Who are you really?"

The thief laughed, throwing his head back as his laughter disappeared over the gardens. "Wouldn't you like to know, sweetheart?" He shrugged, crossing his arms. "Fine, I'll drop the act."

The thief grinned wickedly. "I'm not of your noble breed but I'd very much like to be." He pushed himself off the balcony railing and walked towards Janus, pushing him back into a corner. "I think I'd like to start with you."

Janus' nose wrinkled in anger and he grabbed the thief's arm, spinning him around and pinning his arm behind his back.

"Listen to me, you absolute bag of scum." Janus hissed in the thief's ear. "I don't much care who you are or what you're here for, all I care about is that you're a thief and you're trespassing on my party. In my castle. And you're going to pay for it."

The thief laughed and leaned his head back on Janus' shoulder. "My, you do like talking dirty, don't you?" He grinned up at Janus wickedly. "I like it too."

Janus pushed them away in disgust. "You're a heathen!" He snapped. The thief laughed.

"Nothing like a little arousal to get the blood pumping, huh?" The thief asked. "Or are you such a royal pain in the neck you can't be a pain in the ass?"

Janus felt himself flush pink. "What are you doing here and what are you going to steal?" He growled.

"Who said I want to steal anything?" The thief asked with another laugh.

"You're literally a thief and this is a party full of the royal and noble class." Janus said. "You'd be insane if you didn't steal anything from here."

The thief grinned and raised an eyebrow, barely visible under his mask. "Well, I am here to steal something. You've got that right, sweetheart."

That nickname shouldn't make Janus blush the way it did.

"But it's nothing special like that." The thief jumped onto the balcony rail. "I'm here to steal the immaterial." He checked his pocket watch. "Look at that, I'm already behind. See you, your Highness."

The thief jumped off the balcony, looking absurdly like Peter Pan before he fell. Janus rushed to the balcony edge and peered over. But there was nothing below but the gardens.

A laugh from behind him sounded.

"I knew you cared about me deep down, sweetheart." The thief said, hanging from the ivy on the castle wall. They jumped onto another balcony and ran inside the gallery.

Janus growled and slammed his hands on the balcony railing.

"Damn trickster." He muttered to himself. Why did those words come with a half-smile?

Janus slumped against a wall, panting for air. He'd been chasing the thief up flights of stairs but the other seemed to have some magic powers of some sort. He was like a nymph, leaping from banister to stair, sometimes even jumping out the window and reappearing several flights up.

"He's got to be damn strong." Janus thought as he forced himself away from the wall. He was going to take this thief down if it was the last thing he did.

All the doors to the bedrooms had been closed before the party. They should've all been closed now. Only, the door to Janus' room was wide open.

"I swear, if he dared..." Janus growled. He stormed up to his bedroom but, instead of going inside like a thunder cloud and announcing his presence, slipped in as silent as a sigh and pressed himself against the wall.

The thief had everything in his vanity strewn across the top of it and was carefully - almost methodically - going through Janus' drawers. He tilted his head to the side, grinning.

"Who needs these many hair ribbons?" He asked himself. He held up two ribbons and checked them against his hair, chuckling. "Yeah, not my colour."

Janus expected the thief to either pocket the ribbon or throw it back in the drawer haphazardly. Instead, and to Janus' great surprise, the thief started winding the hair ribbon around his finger. When one hair ribbon was in a neat, tight coil, he set it back in the box and set about doing it again with another. It was oddly touching.

Once he was finished, the thief slid the drawer back in the vanity and closed it with a snap. Then, he stood up and walked over to Janus' bookshelf, running a finger over the spines.

"Have you read all of these?" He asked Janus, making the prince jump. Without waiting for an answer, he pulled a book out of the shelf. "The Scarlet Pimpernel." He read off. He took another book and slid the book back into place. "Dracula." And another. "Pride and Prejudice." And another. "Jane Eyre."

"Is there a point here?" Janus snapped. The thief looked up at him and slid the book back onto the shelf. He took another.

"Wuthering Heights." He read out. "Frankenstein, Norse Myths, Ancient Greek Myths, The Order Of Law," he slid Wuther Heights back into place as he spoke, "War of the Worlds, War and Peace, An Inspector Calls, The Count of Monte Carlo. Impressive. You're very well-read, your Highness."

When Janus didn't answer, the thief looked up at him again.

"Though, I suppose you'd have to be, what with being a prince and all." The thief said with a small laugh. He pouted when Janus didn't reply again. "Aw, what's wrong, sweetheart? What's with the cold shoulder?" He grinned. "You really thought you could sneak up on me? That's so cute, sweetheart."

"Stop it." Janus snapped. The thief paused, the smirk falling from his face.

"Commanding, huh?" The thief asked and the infuriatingly handsome - just infuriating! Just infuriating - smirk was back. "Ooh, I do like this. Perhaps I will start with you. And who knows." The smirk turned into a roguish grin, dark eyes sparkling behind the green mask. "Perhaps I'll finish for you too, if you insist nice enough."

Before Janus could think of something to reply with, the thief laughed and left the room, brushing Janus' arm with his hand as he left. Janus hid his face in his hands and sunk to his knees.

What was wrong with him? He could run faster than anyone he knew and he'd gotten the thief alone more than once. Why couldn't he just apprehend him?!

"Pull yourself together, Janus." He told himself firmly. He picked himself up off the floor and unbuttoned his coat, discarding it on his bed.

It's a lot easier to chase someone when you aren't restricted by a coat, Janus told himself as he shook his sleeves out.

"I'm going to find that little witch and I'm going to give him a taste of his own medicine." Janus promised himself. But what was a taste of the thief's own medicine? Get him against a wall and flirt with him until he couldn't think anymore? Then what?

What would happen after that, with someone as... suggestive as the thief in question?

Several ideas sprung to mind - not all of them unwelcome - but Janus pushed them away. No, he'd find the thief and he'd apprehend him. That was it, that was all. He'd do that and nothing else.

Janus ran back through the ballroom, keeping to the sides. No one bothered to look at the prince of the castle running through the ballroom, it had been enough of an instance in his youth it was probably a normal sight by now.

He'd seen the thief dart back in here and, this time, he wasn't going to let the vagabond get away. The thief had led him on a wild goose chase through the whole castle and Janus was really getting angry now.

A hand descended on his shoulder just as he got to the other side of the ballroom. Janus jumped and whipped around. It was only Logan.

"Janus, are you okay?" Logan asked, worry clear behind his mask. Janus' heart would've - should've - skipped a beat at Logan's worry but... it didn't. It was strange but Logan seemed... diminished somehow, like he'd lost some sort of glow.

No matter. "I'm fine." Janus said. "Are you?"

Logan scratched the back of his head. "Perfectly fine." He said. "I just wondered if you wanted to dance?"

Janus hesitated. This had been his dream at the beginning of the night, to dance with Logan. But now...

"I'd love to. Really, I would." Janus said. "But I'm a bit tied up at the moment." He took Logan's outstretched hand in both of his and pushed it down by Logan's side. "I promise you that as soon as I've fixed this, the first thing I'll do is dance with you."

This seemed to satisfy Logan and he smiled his normal, beautiful smile. "As long as you're sure." He murmured. "Where's your coat, while I've got you for a moment."

"I, um, put it down somewhere." Janus said, distracted. "I was getting hot, anyway. I really need to go, I'm sorry."

Before Logan could say anything else, Janus backed away and bolted through the door.

"Aw, so cute."

The thief.

"He's obsessed with you." He continued. Somehow, he'd managed to perch on a ledge near the ceiling. "Isn't that sweet? I'll never understand, however, how obsession of the heart can be seen as fine, normal even, but obsession of gold and jewels and the things that keep our society alive is seen as wrong and criminal."

"Because when you love someone, you don't try to steal them." Janus snarled. The thief laughed.

"Finally up for a chat, huh?" He asked. "Now that you can't catch me, you wanna talk to me. You're awful sweet, sweetheart."

Janus crossed his arms. Here goes giving the thief a taste of his own medicine...

"What's with the pet name?" Janus asked. "I mean, usually people call those they're walking out with by names such as 'sweetheart' and 'darling' and all that." He saw a slight change in the thief's demeanour at this. He cocked his head to the side and snickered. "Do you like that name?" He asked. "Darling?"

The thief coughed and looked away but Janus could see the blush on his cheeks.

"Oh, you do." Janus said, letting a laugh slip. "Isn't that sweet? So vulnerable..."

The thief jumped down from the ledge and landed with a bounce in front of Janus. Janus noted he was slightly smaller than Janus himself.

"Alright, I'm down here now, what do you want?" The thief asked and all suggestion in his voice a minute ago had disappeared. Janus couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow, you really are vulnerable!" He exclaimed. He smirked. "I wonder... What would happen if I did this?" He put a finger under the thief's chin and tilted his head up slightly. The thief was practically glowing pink by now.

"Well, if you did that..." The thief said quietly. "I'd ask you to kiss me."

This caught Janus off-guard and he stared at the thief for a good few seconds before realising he wanted to. He wanted to kiss him.

So he did. He felt the thief's arm wrap around his waist while his other hand tangled in Janus' hair. He cupped the thief's face and kissed him firmly, surprised by how much he didn't want to stop. The thief nipped his lip slightly, as if testing boundaries, and at Janus' gasp, nipped his lip harder.

Janus tried quickly to think up some sort of revenge - his brain seemed to have stopped working - when he felt the ribbon holding his mask up give a tug and fall away. He pulled away. The thief grinned at him.

"Thanks for that, your Highness." The thief said quietly. "I'll definitely come calling sometime."

"Without the mask next time." Janus said. The thief broke away and waved Janus' mask at him.

"We'll see." The thief winked. "See you, your Highness."

Then, the thief disappeared out of a window. And, strangely, Janus wasn't angry he'd gotten away.

Oooh, I love this!
Bye,
Blaize