Escape The Night (Joey Graceffa x Male!OC)

An Invitation: Part 2

Leo's POV

I enter the house and take a moment to process everything.

It's a beautiful place, really nicely designed and decorated, with lots of ornate lamps and some chandeliers. I see all of the other people crowding the lobby and realise I'm one of the last. Fantastic. I take a couple deep breaths and ready myself to interact, trying not to pick at my nails like I so desperately want to. Maybe this was a mistake-

"Leonardo!"

My head jerks over at the sound of my name, only to see one of my best friends, Shane standing there all excited. My nerves dissipate at the sight.

"Shane, oh my god!" I run over and hug him right, which he reciprocated happily.
"Don't you look handsome today, Leo - I don't deserve to be attacked like this." He proclaims, dramatically gasping and throwing his head back, making me laugh loudly.
"Shane stop! You look great too, that jacket is so nice."
We chat for a little bit about each other's outfits until he asks the dreaded question:
"Sooo, how have you been?"

I sigh.

"I've been okay-ish, I guess..." I start, thinking back to my recent weeks, "There's been a lot of really low days which have made me not want to go out a lot, and I shut down a couple times, but I'm managing. I thought this would be a good chance to get out and have a bit of fun y'know."

Shane just smiles at me and pulls me into a tight hug. "I'm proud of you Leo, I'm so happy that you got yourself up to come here, I'll make sure you enjoy it! But, I'm always here to talk if you need anything you know that right?"
I blink back a couple of tears at his words. I'm genuinely so glad to have such a supportive and caring friend in my life who's always rooting for me, especially when I tend to feel so alone.
"Thanks Shane, I mean it."
"No problem."
_______________________________

Shane's POV

I hold Leo close as I greet the other guests. While I'm happy that he got himself out of his apartment to come, I can't help but be apprehensive. There's something up with this house that I have to find out, but I don't want him to be caught up in it... hopefully my suspicions are wrong about this place and the society made a mistake.
If not, I'll protect him myself.

Leo's POV

I hold Shane's hand for security as we go over to the other guests. Everyone is chatting with each other excitedly.
"This is such a nice place!"
"I know."
A white guy with dark brown hair leans over near us, "Do you have any mints? Any gum? Any mints?" He asks.
I respond "No, sorry, I'm not even sure they had those in the 20s." He chuckles bit and smiles. "Yeah, guess that makes sense, looks like you're smarter than I am huh."
I smile back "Guess so."

Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

The group kept chatting for a short while, complimenting each other and the house, when finally:

"What do you guys think?"

We all turned to see Joey at the top of the stairs, looking pretty dapper if I might say so myself. I knock my hands together happily as everyone cheers, Shane putting his hands over my ears to block out the noise.
I give him a quick smile in thanks.

"Welcome to my new house." Joey proclaims proudly.

"Wow."
"This isn't your house."
"This is rented."
I laugh a bit at some of their comments.
"I actually have inherited this house from a distant cousin twice removed." Wow, that's pretty cool.
"My cousins gave me nothin." Glozelle chimed in.
"You all look amazing tonight on your 1920s attire." A chorus of thank-yous come from the crowd, and I start to relax a little into the jovial atmosphere.
"I wanna introduce you all to my wonderful staff that actually came with the house: Arthur, who is head of staff; Sarah, the maid, and then there's Marvin, who's the groundskeeper."
I look over seeing Arthur and Sarah standing to the side - they look pretty nice (and I'm kind of living for Sarah's gothic maid look).
"Dinner is almost ready, but until then, let's get to know each other a little bit more, and have some drinks."
Everyone cheers again.