i'm dancing in the room as if i was in the woods with you [OPEN]

[myheartglows]

WHO EVERRRRYBODY!
WHAT The benefit for the Bete Noire Fire Department!
WHEN Saturday the 8th, 7pm and onward.
WHERE A fancy building on the Hill, decorated for this purpose

Comments

[alphaophiuchi]

Draco could tell when people were awkward at events like this; even he had some nerves about the entire matter, though that was probably just Zero's awkwardness rubbing off on him. He'd made a point of stopping by as he passed, offering Ianto a reassuring half-smile. "Bit nice to have this sort of thing. Pleasant departure from the recent politics".

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto smiled at Draco softly. "Nice to see you here too," he said. "It's good to have familiar faces around. I can't say that I recognize most of the people here, and I'm not sure whether I really should or not. It's kind of unnerving."

[alphaophiuchi]

"Rather. I'm starting to think that I'm lucky for knowing as many people as I do." Not that that was saying much; he knew only the members of Hellsing whom he'd been lucky enough to have met in the past, and the odd person besides.

"Enjoying yourself, at least?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shrugged slightly, smiling. "Oh, you know. As well as I can, considering there was a red carpet and photography coming in." He looked around, trying to place where things fell into place. "What about you, are you enjoying yourself?" He turned back to the younger man, quirking a smile. "You're not here alone, are you?" he asked.

[alphaophiuchi]

He couldn't help but smirk at that slightly: was everyone really so bothered by the paparazzi? At least it wasn't for a bad reason. "Well enough, yes. Making the rounds, generally being polite - nothing to jeopardise Hellsing, of course," Draco paused, giving Ianto a look before his smirk grew a tad wider, more sincere. "Of course not. Zero's...somewhere out there. Probably eating everything in sight and abandoning his shoes." They were slightly chastising words, like the blond disapproved of it, but his tone was slightly more affectionate.

"What about yourself?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ah, Zero. Ianto's face didn't know whether to smile or frown at the mention of the other, so his lips just quirked slightly. He didn't know whether the other was mad at him. Didn't know whether he could ever redeem himself in Zero's eyes, and it was a sobering thought. He still stood by his decision, but he only wished that Zero would understand why he did it.

He realized belatedly that Draco was asking him something, although he didn't quite catch it. "...about myself?" he asked, pulling himself up out of his thoughts once more.

[alphaophiuchi]

Draco only had the barest of ideas as to what was going on between Ianto and Zero, but could tell from merely the fact that his question was all but ignored for a moment of internalisation on his boss' part that mentioning his boyfriend again was probably not the best of ideas.

"Did you come with anyone?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto flushed at that, unable to stop the involuntary response. He could deny it, and say that he had just come by himself, but he wasn't ashamed of his date. He was just...British, really. He glanced around, searching for the man in the crowd, where he'd gone off to and what he was doing, before he lowered his eyes to the ground in front of him, shrugging a little. "...yeah, actually," he said, with that flush showing no signs of going away. "I did."

[alphaophiuchi]

No matter what Ianto had said, Draco would have known anyway: the flush said more than enough anyway. He followed the other man's eyes, curious as to whom he brought. "Good on you," he replied simply, giving no sign that he was so curious. After all, the fact that his boss had been so reluctant to say at all suggested he probably wasn't willing to say exactly whom.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto wasn't so much reluctant to say who it was that he was there with as reluctant to discuss his personal life with anyone at all. It was habit. After a moment, though, he shrugged, blushing and smiling a little bit as he did. "Yes, well. I needed someone here for moral support. Even if he is acting a bit more like my bodyguard than my date."

[alphaophiuchi]

Either way, it amounted to roughly the same thing - Draco wasn't going to push the matter; if he was offered a name, then he was offered a name, and if he wasn't, that was no problem either. It was rather interesting to see how it affected Ianto, though. Draco had never actually seen the other man blush so many times in one little conversation. Or at all, really.

"Bodyguards are useful too. You can rarely go wrong with them, to be quite fair."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Draco had obviously not been hanging around Ianto discussing anything personal before. Ianto's blush trigger was fast and undiscriminating. Anything personal and it was pretty much a sure thing that it would be triggered.

"Yes, well. I'd really rather see Scott loosen up a little bit, but I should have known, asking him along with me here, that he wasn't going to be exactly comfortable in this sort of a situation..."

[alphaophiuchi]

Tragically, Draco hadn't yet had that opportunity. But he most certainly didn't catch the drop of Scott's name; one brow goes up - he certainly hadn't seen that coming, but perhaps he'd been too wrapped up in his own love life to notice.

"You're right, I can't possibly imagine Scott enjoying this sort of thing much. Doesn't he generally prefer to be off on his own?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shrugged. He hadn't thought about it really. "I just don't think that he likes crowds very much. And honestly, neither do I. Part of the reason why I felt the need to ask someone else along and have them suffer this event with me," he said, with a bit of a smile. "I didn't think about how it might effect him, and he didn't say no, so. I'll just have to make it up to him, somehow." After he found him first. He didn't see him around anywhere. Maybe Scott had popped out to the gardens for a breather? Or maybe he'd ditched him there, but no. Ianto knew the other man enough to know he'd stay true to his word and wait until Ianto was ready to leave.

[alphaophiuchi]

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that, either way," Draco replied lightly, not entirely sure of what more to say on the matter. Truth be told, he didn't really know either of them terribly well, as things went; what more could he offer that didn't simply rehash things that'd already been said.

"How long do you plan on sticking around?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shrugged. "Only as long as I have to, really. I think once people start to leave, we'll follow suit. Work to do tomorrow and all that." He smiled, slightly. The pair of them, Scott and himself, were absolute workaholics, so it worked out well.