"Is this seat taken?" The man was already sitting himself down even as he asked the question.

Rafariel fidgeted a little, but slipped his hands under the table so that his nervousness wasn't quite so obvious.

"I'm waiting for someone," he said, as coolly and as calmly as he knew how.

"Oh really? Well, I'll keep you company until then," said the man, throwing him a broad smile.

Rafariel bit his lip, and glanced in the direction of the bar. He wished the club wasn't so dark; as soon as Kael had moved a few metres away from him, he'd vanished entirely in the gloom. And he couldn't hear all that well over the loud music, so he doubted Kael would hear him if he should call out.

"You look a little young to be here..." the man said casually, and Rafariel turned back to him, alarmed. Was he going to get found out already, and kicked out before the night had even started? He'd only really come to make Kael happy, but if he ended up being a burden instead... that would be even worse somehow.

Then the man smiled again, a little more roguishly.

"...but I can't say I'm complaining, with a face as pretty as yours."

Rafariel scowled. He could almost believe it when Kael said it to him... almost. But not a complete stranger.

But how was he meant to make this man leave? This place made him feel out of his league -- all these older, more self-assured people made him feel out of his league -- and he didn't know how to deal with this situation at all. He swallowed heavily, cursing Kael silently for having the temerity to waltz off and leave him here.

A glass slammed down on the table at his elbow, making him jump.

"He's taken." The words were almost a growl, deep and hard and threatening, spoken right next to his ear, and a familiar arm slipped around his shoulders, hand settling on his chest. For a moment he registered the surprise on the face of the man across from him, and then he looked up.

Kael was leaning over him, eyes narrowed as they stared across the table, his expression angry and possessive all at once. The arm around him tightened marginally, and Rafariel shivered a little; there was something both frightening and yet alluring about Kael in that moment.

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying, huh?" That was the man across from them, already easing himself out of the seat.

"Try elsewhere." Kael didn't smile, didn't so much as blink, and didn't stop glaring until the man was gone. Then all of a sudden he seemed to relax, and the arm wrapped around Rafariel vanished. Kael moved across to sink gracefully into the seat opposite Rafariel, and smirked across the table, the aggression completely gone.

"I should've known better than to leave you all alone in this place," he said with a grin. Rafariel wasn't sure how to interpret that statement, so he went with his earlier feeling: annoyance. He scowled.

"Yes, you should've."

Kael shrugged, and pointed to the glass next to Rafariel.

"I got you a drink."

Rafariel eyed the tall glass warily; in the dim light, he wasn't even sure of the colour of the contents.

"What is it?" he asked suspiciously.

Kael smiled, and it was a gentler smile, one that Rafariel had only started to see in the last couple of weeks. A smile that he was starting to wonder was maybe just a little more honest than any of Kael's other smiles.

"It's lemonade."

"Oh." Rafariel pulled the glass closer, and sipped gingerly from the straw. It tasted just like lemonade. He breathed a small sigh of relief.

"...I thought you were going to buy me something alcoholic too." Or rather, I was afraid you were, is what he wanted to say, but didn't. He wrapped his fingers around the glass in front of him to stop them fidgeting.

"You've never been drunk, have you?" Kael asked, and he tightened his grip on the glass.

"...just once." He stared at the glass, hoping Kael wouldn't press him further.

"Well, I didn't really think this was the best place for you to get further acquainted with it," Kael said, and Rafariel looked up, surprised. He honestly hadn't expected Kael to be that considerate, but he was starting to realise that at least some small part of that kind, caring act that Kael had shown while wooing him wasn't entirely an act.

Kael was watching him over the rim of a different kind of glass to the one Rafariel was holding, his eyes almost black in the dim light, but his expression calm. Rafariel breathed a sigh of relief, silently putting that topic behind them.

"What are you drinking?" he asked him.

"A white russian."

"Is it good?"

"Of course, or I wouldn't be drinking it." Kael licked the edge of the glass, then put it down in front of him. "Would you like to try it?"

Rafariel hesitated, but then he shook his head.

"I didn't think so." Kael smirked. Rafariel focused his attention on his own drink again.

"...is this what you normally do when you go out?" he asked. He felt like he didn't belong here, like he was intruding on Kael's private life or something. And yet.. Kael had wanted him to come.

"No, but I normally go out for a different reason."

Rafariel looked up; Kael was still staring at him, no apology in his gaze. Sometimes he forgot that Kael could be blunter even than he.

"What do you want to do this time, then?" he countered. Kael watched him for a moment, as if considering. Then he downed the rest of his drink in one smooth gulp.

"Let's dance." He stood up and held out his hand to Rafariel; not grabbing him, not forcing him, but rather asking him to join in. And even though he was nervous, even though he was confused and unsure, Rafariel was glad that Kael wanted him to be a part of even this. So he pushed aside all those feelings and stood up, putting his hand in Kael's.

"Lead the way."

The music was loud, and not the sort of thing that Rafariel normally listened to. The dancefloor was crowded and dark, and not the sort of environment that Rafariel was used to being in. And yet, somehow, he found that once he stopped worrying too much about what people thought, he was having fun. The music, though repetitive, was kind of nice, and he found that he could move his body in time with it, in a way that he liked. Whether or not he was really "dancing", by other people's standards, he didn't know.. but he did know that he was enjoying it.

Part of that enjoyment was Kael -- even if Rafariel didn't know what he was doing with his own body, it was very apparent that Kael knew exactly what to do with his. Every movement was perfect, every motion carefully controlled, and he was graceful, fluid, and disturbingly sensual. Rafariel had never seen him like this, but watching it made his innards squirm in strange ways; good ways, but strange nonetheless.

And for all he seemed to be dancing for his own enjoyment, Kael included Rafariel in his dancing, making it all the more enjoyable... and heightening those strange feelings. Kael was watching him, and Kael's hands touched him now and again, and Kael's dance was including him in every way, almost as if Kael was dancing for him, too. And Rafariel liked that a lot.

So he danced for and with Kael, and even though he was hot, sweaty, and wishing he'd worn less clothes, he was enjoying himself immensely. A lot more than he'd ever expected he would.

Except that as the night progressed, he started to notice that Kael was smiling at him less and less, and staring around him more and more. No, not staring -- glaring. His expression became more and more aggressive, and so did his dancing, somehow. It was subtle, but it was there... and it just made Rafariel feel tense and uncomfortable. Out of his league all over again.

Finally, he stopped dancing altogether, and folded his arms, staring up at Kael.

It took Kael a moment or two to notice, but at last he did, and he stopped dancing as well, putting his hands on his hips.

"What?" The question was rebellious.

"What are you so angry about?" Rafariel asked, and Kael screwed up his face, his eyes darting from side to side. Rafariel almost thought he wasn't going to answer, he held silent for so long, but at last, his lips parted, for just a moment.

"The other men.. staring at you."

Rafariel's mouth fell open, and he gawked up at him in disbelief.

"Why would anyone be staring at me?"

"You're beautiful and they want you." Kael's mouth was set in a grim line. Rafariel was starting to wonder if Kael was more paranoid than he'd thought. He couldn't imagine that anyone else would be staring at him right now, much less multiple anyones. But if this kept up, it was going to ruin the evening for both of them.

"Look, assuming they really are... even if they are... why do you care?" he reasoned, and Kael looked down at him at last, eyes still narrow, jaw still clenched.

"I'm dancing with you." Rafariel reached out, a little hesitant to be too forward in public, and put his hand gently against Kael's chest. "And I don't want to dance with anyone else." He looked up, hoping that his expression could clearly say what he didn't feel comfortable saying with gestures, or with words.

Kael stared down at him for a long time, and he stared back, unwavering. Then Kael's expression seemed to relax.

"Sometimes.. you make things so simple I feel like an idiot." He grinned, that cocky, sure grin of his, and Rafariel felt himself relaxing as well.

Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him close, and he gasped as their bodies suddenly pressed up against each other.

"Now..." Kael moved his body in time to the music, and Rafariel finally realised what it felt like to have that graceful, sensual body dancing right against his own.

"Shall we dance together?"

Rafariel took a deep breath. He was very suddenly coming to understand why so many characters in books he'd read felt overwhelmed enough by desire to do naughty things in inappropriate places. He'd always silently mocked them, and yet... the way Kael's body moved against his own drove all his reason out the window. If Kael whispered in his ear right then 'let's do it on the dancefloor', he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to say no.

He wrapped his arms around Kael and pressed himself against his chest, closing his eyes and hoping he could control himself until they got home. All his earlier worries about being forward in public were long forgotten, as if they'd never been.

"You're the only one I want to dance with, ever," he whispered, and though the music pounded loud and drowned out his words, by the way Kael's arms tightened around him, he felt that they'd been heard.