@hexcharmed location: the party, after curse broken :3
the charmont estate still pulsed with music and laughter, but it all felt muted now, like echoes bouncing down a long hallway. masks dangled forgotten in hands, eyes darting nervously to the flicker of magic in the corners—someone’s hair sparking with frost, another’s voice carrying too far, as though the walls themselves were listening. the portal yawned open like a wound, light spilling out in strange rhythms, but leopold could barely look at it.
his own heart was pounding too loud. memories pressed against his ribs, crowding every breath: the huntsman’s arrow that should’ve killed him, the glass coffin glinting with sunlight, florian’s lips on his, pulling him back from the quiet dark. every kindness, every stolen smile, every terror—they all crashed into him at once, shaking loose the false life he’d been living.
and in the chaos of it all, one thought rose above the rest: find him.
he slipped through the throng, dogs nosing at his heels as though they, too, remembered. the estate’s wide halls gleamed under low light, polished floors carrying the sound of his hurried steps. he checked every corner, every gathering, his chest tight with the knowledge that somewhere in this house was the man who had always been his—curse or not.
then he saw him.
florian, half-shadowed near the tall windows overlooking the water, mask still in hand, his expression caught between awe and devastation. their eyes met, and the noise of the party fell away entirely.
the world was loud with memory. the world was silent but for him.
leopold’s throat closed around a hundred words at once—apologies, confessions, the simplest i missed you—but all that made it out was a hoarse, trembling whisper,
“florian.”
