Witch Weekly Annual Holiday Party (Thursday 12/19)

[daphne_x]

The Holidays were a cheerful and festive time. In fact, this season was Daphne Greengrass's favorite time of a year. Everyone seemed to be in a better mood around bright lights, wrapped presents, and the jingle bells. It was about the only time that she preferred to see snow on the ground rather than feel the sand between her toes

Comments

[reidinggg]

Reid wasn't nearly as subtle with his once (twice, thrice?) over, finding himself completely at a loss as to how anyone could possibly be subtle when it came to taking a proper a look at this man. He promptly, reflexively knocked the rest of his drink back, letting his empty glass clink and topple against the edge of the counter top

[reidinggg]

...Fair point.

He certainly couldn't deny it. He wouldn't exactly have called himself a bad liar, but, well, yes, he was a relatively bad liar, all tell tale twitches and anxious ticks and nervous laughter. There was no point in even trying.

"Fair point," Reid reitterated his thought out loud, shrugging and hoping that he at least sounded more nonchalant than he felt.

Still, he couldn't help himself from throwing him another flickering glance. If it was at all possible, it was almost as if he was getting more ridiculously entrancing with every look.

[daleysebastian]

Sebastian laughed - actually laughed, no matter how quiet it was.

"That's what I thought." The fact that Reid owned it - didn't try to turn it into some kind of nonsense game - had Sebastian looking at him a little more blatantly but definitely still with interest.

"We established that I'm both mysterious and interesting," his voice was a little too dry to be cocky. "But you've managed not to say anything about yourself."

[reidinggg]

Reid cocked an eyebrow at the question, turning to properly, straightforwardly look at Sebastian for the first time since his initial stare fest from across the room and the first moments of their introduction.

He took a half step back, motioning down at himself. "I'm wearing a red three-piece suit, for Merlin's sake. Clearly that's got to say something about me."

[daleysebastian]

Shrugging, Sebastian transitioned easily into giving Reid much slower, more deliberate, and exceptionally obvious once over - it was probably number 12, but who was counting?

"It does," Sebastian admitted when his eyes met Reid's, probably for the first time - what with all the sideways glances they were throwing about.

"Mostly that you're this side of ridiculous, crave attention, and spend entirely too much time with women who are entirely too obsessed with fashion." The last part, Sebastian knew from personal experience - afterall, he directly contributed any sense of style he had to having known Daphne and Cecilia once. The rest was an educated guess.

[reidinggg]

Reid took a moment to consider his assessment, finally offering a hybrid nod-shrug, his mouth curling into a bit of a smirk

[daleysebastian]

Sebastian grinned around the rim of his glass when Reid's eyes slid away. He was glad for it, actually. Staring at Reid when he was looking back was - ridiculously - heady, but Sebastian refused to be the one to look away first.

He rethought what he'd said, his three observations. Two out of three really wasn't bad this quick. Except now he wanted to know which one had been wrong. Why it suddenly seemed so important was beyond him.

"You weren't clear on that because you want me to guess, right?"

[reidinggg]

A sheepish grin tugged at Reid's lips as his eyes flickered back toward Sebastian for a moment again. It certainly hadn't been his intention to turn this into a guessing game, having figured that the man would hardly care to know how his assumptions had fared. Brooding and mysterious definitely wasn't his calling card.

"I didn't mean to keep you on the edge of your seat about the fascinating aspects of my personality, but if you're interested, have at it," he shrugged. He was still fiddling with his glass, fingers circling around the rim of it, mostly for the sake of keep his hands busy more than anything else-

[daleysebastian]

It would be easy enough to play it off as professional curiosity. Maybe it was, a little. After all, half of Sebastian's jobs involved observations and being right about those.

Mostly, though, this time, Sebastian was just interested. Reid had been the one to point out that he was wearing a ridiculously bright - and equally sexy - three piece suit. Sebastian might own the loner persona, but no one was that detached.

"Considering I met you through Jemma, the last one is obvious." Bringing his glass up, Sebastian finished his drink and set the empty glass against the counter. Without looking away from Reid, he motioned toward the bartender, who snatched the glass as Sebastian was adding. "My money is on ridiculous. But if you're avoiding attention?" He leaned closer, only by a few inches but definitely officially into Reid's personal space. "You're doing it so wrong."

[reidinggg]

The sudden change in proximity Reid spotted from the corner of his eye had him flicking his gaze back up to Sebastian-

That...was very close. That was definitely very close. That was a very large, very attractive man, standing very close, and bloody fucking Merlin in heaven, what even was that that his stomach was doing right now. Reid wasn't sure how that uncomfortable feeling was translating across to his face, but he assumed it had to look like something between terror and shameless desire.

He was aware that the man next to (above?) him has spoken - he'd noticed his lips moving. But between the entrancing brightness of the eyes boring down on him and the all-too-distracting proximity, it took a second for the words, let alone their actual sense or meaning, to register.

"I- erm- yeah," he muttered rather nonsensically-

Come on, Chambers. Get it together, man.He cleared his throat, tried again. "Erm, yeah. Admittedly, probably not the subtlest choice. But, y'know. It's a party. Saw a bloke in a highlighter yellow number earlier

[daleysebastian]

A slow grin touched Sebastian's lips - small as it was, it was still there. This wasn't the first time he'd gotten that reaction - not even the first time he'd attempted to elicit the flustered response.

But it was he first time he found it so damn charming.

Chuckling, Sebastian moved back a tiny inch, enough to look Reid over again - pretending it wasn't a basically predatory glance. "Florescent colors might not be your thing, but you're definitely something to stare at. Just saying."

[reidinggg]

If he hadn't already known better than to have Sebastian pegged as someone who casually handed out compliments, Reid would have thought that he had actually just been properly hit on just then.

...Then again, he hadn't had him pegged as someone who was capable of smiling in a crowded party environment, either. And yet, there it was.

He'd (thankfully) already had enough to drink to avoid blushing, resorting instead to a combined version of his usual tactics when faced with a kind word spoken outside of the typical 'at the club for a reason you know what i want i know what you want' exchange - laughter and disbelief.

He muffled a burst of incredulous laughter into the last bit of his drink, motioned to the bartender for a refill of his own (he'd desperately need it if he was going to keep looking back at this one). "Right. And I suppose you were expecting to go unnoticed? All-" he gestured in Sebastian's general direction, eyes flicking down then up in what he hoped was an at least relatively subtle manner, "-suit and face and

[daleysebastian]

Oh this. This was fun. It wasn't all that often that Sebastian could get someone so flustered so quickly - and usually those were women who were marks and Sebastian had very little interest in beyond information.

Sebastian huffed a laugh and raised an eyebrow. The muffled laughter was actually cute and Sebastian might give compliments away, but he never thought anyone was cute for any reason.

"My face and everything," he repeated, incredulous and entertained. "Pro-tip, going unnoticed is about blending. I usually do that really well. Even with the face."

[reidinggg]

Reid gladly reached for his fresh drink, waisting no time before knocking back half of it. He was having entirely too hard of a time handling this conversation in a way that wasn't either completely blatant or embarrassing. Whatever advice he had to give about blending in, he was doing anything but as far as he was concerned, and he had a hard time imagining him being able to pass unnoticed anywhere else-

"Short of wearing an oversized cape and a paper bag, I really can't see just how much blending you'd be able to do," he declared rather brazenly, turning slightly to lean an elbow against the bar.

He quirked an eyebrow, the buzz of alcohol finally reaching a point where he found himself able to meet Sebastian's gaze straight on without feeling to very urgent need to look away for fear of bursting into flames or otherwise giving in to some entirely impolite urge. "What even is it that you do? Or, have been doing since- well, since being presumed dead and all." Classic drunk!Reid. All tact and subtleness.

[daleysebastian]

Had Sebastian been the type to blush, maybe he would have. No one had ever actually said anything like that to him - questioned him or doubted him - in a way that was ... flattering.

Sebastian leaned against the bar, taking up his own drink but swirling it more than actually drinking it. He looked vaguely amused, though his shoulders went stiff when Reid mentioned Sebastian's reason for being gone for so long - as round about as it may have been. It was still less direct than Daphne and Cecilia - and Jemma - so Sebastian didn't turn to stalk off in the opposite direction, though it was a close thing for a moment.

"Would you let me get away with I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you?"

[reidinggg]

Reid blinked back at him for a moment, mulling over the idea of the stereotypically humorous faux-threat (getting momentarily sidetracked by the distracting glint of his eye, which Reid was starting to think were a shade that didn't actually exist in nature

"D'y'know," he said finally, giving him yet another quick once over, "coming from you, I might actually believe it." His eyes blatantly settled on his upper arm again. Yes, quickly easily, he was certain this man could crush him like a twig if he so chose. "Doesn't mean I'll actually drop it, though-"