disgracedvessel:
Balls to the Walls
They were supposed to go in pairs. Not as adults with the choice of their own dates, but like children who needed both accountability and protection. Perhaps the other students had hardly spent time beyond their parents’ reach and needed as much coddling as they could get, but Julius hadn’t needed his father’s guidance for as long as he could remember. That old man’s senility had allowed him ample practice in the way of independence at noble gatherings, so the mandatory partner given to him now was nothing short of insulting.
The other student didn’t seem especially thrilled about the assignment either, and Julius had already begun to concoct half a dozen ways he could abandon him for his own fun. That is, if he hadn’t beaten him to the punch. That wasn’t the way this was supposed to go. Julius was, after all, a gift; - the other student was simply too stupid to recognize the grand privilege he had been granted.
The realization that he had been discarded finally settled in full, and Julius stood at the edge of the ballroom’s dance floor as the crowd of young nobles mingled with talk and drink. The interested glances from others similarly without partners did not escape his notice, but for now, he ignored them. He crossed his arms as his eyes swept over the heads of the guests. There was a single matter of importance he had to deal with first. And then he could make his name known here.
“There you are.” The head of red wasn’t too hard to pick out on someone so tall. For now his back remained turned, his attention fully on the two women he had somehow captivated. Julius stalked closer and settled against a column to watch. At this distance, neither of Sylvain’s hapless victims looked especially enthralled, and he wondered briefly if one was stifling a yawn - or if that was simply the way her face always looked.
Though not one to hide, Julius managed to stay undetected for some time, but the pathetic excuse for a pickup line finally pulled a loud, bewildered laugh from him. The women looked toward him with surprise.
“You can’t be serious.” He pushed off from the column with his foot to join the other three. “You must be a fool to believe a shameless lie like that one.” A glance to the pair of women, a devilish, jeering smile on his lips. “No offense.” Then the smile suddenly shifted to one of curious surprise. “Oh, so that is simply your face. My, I was worried that you were in the throes of indigestion.”
The grin returned as his eyes swept once more back to Sylvain. “It’s really quite pitiful how desperate you are. Though sadder still that you can’t even manage to impress the low hanging fruit.”
Laughter at his attempts wasn’t something new to Sylvain. Hell, he was lucky if he got away with just a few laughs at him. Ingrid was prone to coming in swinging, and even with the knowledge that she wasn’t here, Sylvain couldn’t stop the little voice in the back of his head that was convinced she already knew about this and was already planning out some kind of punishment for him.
What he wasn’t used to was the laughter being so...blatant? Pointed? At least they usually waited until he had failed to start laughing.
Sylvain’s smile dropped as he turned to the voice. If you’d asked him who he had expected, his partner for this entire mess was surprisingly low on the list. Sylvain stared blankly as this kid immediately launched into some kind of...rant, throwing out as many digs as he could. The two women he’d found himself with looked appalled at what he was saying. Quite frankly, Sylvain couldn’t blame them.
...is this how Ingrid felt watching him? Oof.
With a loud laugh that covered up the tail end of whatever the other redhead was gearing up to say next, Sylvain casually threw an arm around the other’s shoulders. “Sorry about that ladies, looks like my company is all bought up after all! Better make sure my partner here is taken care of. As you can tell, he gets a little cranky when he hasn’t had a snack in a while.”
Without giving the kid another chance to snap (or the two woman a chance to ask any questions), Sylvain quickly steered themselves away from them and most of the party, heading towards the nearby balcony. Wasn’t hard either, how old was this guy to be that short?
Once he’d made it to the balcony, with the pleasure of privacy, Sylvain gave Julius a little push so he could feel the full effect of his frown. “What’s your problem? You don’t see me running into your fun and throwing a hissy fit. What, you couldn’t bare to be away from me that long? I know I’m a great partner to have, but we did just meet.”
