Chapter Text
It is an important party for even more important investors. Dimitri knows this. Told himself ten times in the uber on the way over. Took a deep calming breath when the oppressively glimmering glass structure of Garreg Mach’s highest class casino–sorry, game parlor, came into view.
It’s just that he’s never done well in crowded places. Not since his mother and father–
Dimitri takes two steps out of the elevator, smooths out the same wrinkle on his shirt for the hundredth time, and makes a break for the stairs before his boss catches him. If he’s lucky, Jeralt will be too busy contending with their would be investors to pay any attention to the fact that the (formerly) shining son of the defunct Loog company is not present.
“Oh.” Dimitri stops short of the door. Byleth is perched on a plush bench at the end of the hall. They saw everything, from Dimitri exiting the elevator to immediately making a run for it. Dimitri opens his mouth like a caught fish, but Byleth only waves him off. He’ll have to remember to buy them coffee on Monday.
Crystal chandeliers sway high above the crowd. The light they shine is soft and warm, but it is not at all comforting. Dimitri feels his head pound and vision swim as he stares upwards at the precarious eyesores. He loathes places like this. He should have stayed home. No matter how upscale a casino–sorry, game parlor, claims to be, they are all the same. Too loud and too many people crammed together.
Claude always says he is too uptight. He could be right, but Dimitri isn’t ready to deal with it.
The incessant noise of the crowd rattles around in his skull.
This is too much.
Dimitri hooks a finger into his tie and loosens the knot as he pushes his way through the throngs of people. He slowly fights his way to a set of glass doors. The cool glass soothes his warm palms and he breathes a small sigh of relief. Through the door, he can see an outdoor lounge that is beautifully decorated with trees and flowers dotted about. A little lit up pagoda sitting comfortably in a pond is more charming than anything else in this place. He starts to open the door before remembering his coworkers.
The party his office is throwing upstairs can make do without him for a while longer, he is sure. Most of his coworkers probably won’t even realize he left. Or that, that he never came in the first place. That’s what he tells himself, at least. A tinge of guilt still churns in his stomach, but the outdoor lounge is enticing enough for him to ignore it. Mostly.
He pushes through the door and takes in a greedy lungful of fresh air. The pond has that peculiar smell to it that all water features do, but it isn’t unpleasant. The roar of the inside crowd dies down behind him and Dimitri lets his shoulders sag with relief. There are hardly any people outside and that fact alone spurs Dimitri onward.
He wanders idly, takes in the twinkling lights and piped in—he hopes—nature noises. He gives the few people scattered here and there wide berths. Dimitri glances at a couple huddled close together and wonders if they too are avoiding the more rowdy casino–sorry, game parlor, goers. The soft bubbling of the pond catches his attention and he moves toward the edge.
The railing creeks as he leans against it. Surely it’s up to code? Dimitri ignores the sound and peers into the water. There are surprisingly fewer fish than expected. There are none, in fact. Dimitri grips the railing tighter and stretches farther, cranes his neck to look—
“Thinking of jumping in, sweetheart?”
A voice like honey drips in his ear and the sound of it sends a shiver down his spine. Dimitri whirls around and comes face to face with a handsome man with an amused smirk.
And—he didn’t mean to see it but—a nearly exposed chest.
Dimitri feels like someone put cotton in his mouth. “No, only looking,” he says.
He notices the man’s expression turn shocked for a moment. Dimitri is used to it. Most people he meets gawk at his eye before anything else. The man leans in and Dimitri begins to mentally prepare the usual spiel. It was an accident. No, it doesn’t hurt anymore. No, you can’t look—
“Don’t look so close, yeah?” The man glances from side to side. “Between you and me this thing hasn’t been cleaned since before I got here.”
That is not at all what he was expecting. He must be taking too long to process because there is suddenly a hand in his face literally snapping him back to attention. “When was that?” he finally manages to ask, dreading the answer.
The man straightens up again, lifts one shoulder in a shrug and Dimitri cannot help that his eye travels down to it. He takes in the sight of pale skin dusted with freckles. The line of his shoulder leads to a pretty collar bone that sits above a wide chest. Dimitri never thought himself to have any strong preferences, but he cannot help but to—gawk at?—admire the man standing in front of him.
He is fit, but not bulging with muscle. The man is handsome, Dimitri decides.
“My eyes are up here, buddy,” he says.
Dimitri’s cheeks feel warm and he bites his lip. He looks back up. Goddess above, he was staring . No, worse than that. He was definitely lusting.
This isn’t like him. Really. He is about to say so before the man speaks again.
“Why don’t you come upstairs with me?” he asks, “I work the more… private? Rooms?”
“Private?” questions Dimitri. He glances upwards and eyes the building that towers high above. “You mean high roller tables…?”
The man grins wide, lips stretching over pearly white teeth. He adjusts the red, sparkly bow tie adorning his throat. “Private," he says again, “You know. You and me?”
Dimitri’s mouth falls open in an ‘o’ before it’s pushed closed with a single finger pushed gently to his chin.
“Follow if you want.” Then he slips away. Leaving Dimitri behind in a daze.
He watches him walk away. Only just now noticing how he is balanced on heels. There is also—and Dimitri shakes his head to make sure—a puffy bunny tail that sits comfortably on the back of his intricate red paneled suit.
“Name’s Sylvain, by the way!” He calls back to Dimitri before disappearing into a hidden doorway.
Sylvain, realizes Dimitri, had a pair of bunny ears resting in his glittery red hair.
He glances at his watch. It’s been this long already. His party won’t miss him.
Dimitri follows.