Long chapter and maybe a warning? Idk. The word 'whore' is implied if that counts.
“H-huh?” You asked, stunned as Dio began to lead you to the center of the floor, where people had begun to dance to the harmony of the piano and violin players. Dio smiled at you, and you felt an unfamiliar feeling rise in your stomach.
“Can you dance?” He repeated.
“Kaliah hired an instructor, b-but I didn’t listen to a thing he was saying,” You mumbled.
“Then I’ll refresh your memory,” He stated, placing one of his hands on your waist. He grabbed your hand and placed it on his shoulder, then laced his fingers in with the opposite hand. You felt your cheek glow red and you were about to yank them away when he spoke. “This is how you hold each other, Y/n. Don’t be so quick to pull away,”
“You’re pushing your luck, Brando,” You said. Dio chuckled and smiled at you once more, disregarding your last comment.
“Follow my footsteps,” He said, taking one step back and you took one step forward. You repeated this as Dio walked in a circle. “See? This isn’t that hard.”
“I remember this,” You muttered quietly, eyes softening as you looked at the ground. “James used to do this with me when I was young. We would stand outside of the tavern where they’d play music and we’d do this before going home.”
Dio looked down at you, secretly smiling in triumph. You were beginning to let your walls down as you began to trust him more and more. If he’d tried to do this a few months ago, you would have hung his decapitated head on the wall in your living room, and he knew it. To hear you revealing something about your childhood made him feel proud that he was actually getting somewhere with your trust.
“Is that so?” Dio said softly, making you raise your head to look up at him. He was smiling down at you gently, and you wondered what he was thinking behind those piercing orange eyes. It was funny, some days his eyes looked like they could slice a hole in your heart, and other days they looked like they belonged on the face of a child. It was entrancing to say in the least.
“Where did you learn to dance?” You asked, smirking slightly. “Jonathan teach you?”
“God no,” Dio said, almost in disgust. You laughed, making him look down at you in surprise.
“What?” You questioned. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“It’s the first time I heard you laugh,”
“No, it isn’t. We were both laughing like madmen at the tavern two weeks ago,” You said, tilting your head. Dio shook his.
“No, I mean truly laughed. Not piss-drunk laughing. Actual fun laughter. You should do it more often,” He said, making your cheeks tint pink as you looked away.
“Now you sound like Jonathan,” You mumbled.
“Tch. I’m nothing like that oaf,” He sneered. You looked back at him.
“No, you aren’t,” You said, making his shoulders relax a little. “But you do share a trait,”
“And that is?” Dio questioned. You looked at him for a moment.
“I’ll let you decide that,”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked.
“You’ll figure it out,” You said, smirking at him. Dio really considering tripping you but decided against it.
“Are you ready to be a distraction?” He suddenly asked.
“Huh? What are you--Dio!” You exclaimed, as he dropped your hand and grabbed your waist, spinning you around in the air. The people around you moved back, some laughing at the action. Your eyes were blown wide, and you were holding his shoulders with a death grip. He set you back on the ground, but before you could even react, he was grabbing you once more. The music gradually got more upbeat as a circle was formed around both of you, people beginning to flock towards the center of the room to see what all the commotion was about.
“Follow my steps,” Dio said, grinning at you. “If you can,”
“I’m going to kill you after this, Brando!” You exclaimed, making him laugh as he spun you in a circle. Your dress flowed in the air around you, and your hair fell to frame your face as Dio pulled you back towards him. The guests of the night cheered the both of you on, clapping in beat with the music that was being played. It brought a sense of excitement bursting through your body.
“I believe you!” Dio called back, laughing as he said the words. Your smile never seemed to fade as the two of you glided around the room. In the corner of your eyes, you saw Kaliah standing beside George, both of them watching like proud parents. Dio smiled down at you as he pulled you close against his chest. His face grew closer to yours, and you felt yourself blush a deep crimson.
“Do you trust me, Y/n?”
The words made you feel an overwhelming sense of dread. You hated the question, no matter who’d it’d been from. When Elijah had asked you, you never gave him an answer, and you still haven’t and that was almost ten years ago when both of you were still kids. To say you had trust issues was an understatement. You never trusted anybody in fear that they may leave you behind or that the trust bond would be severed and you’d be left by yourself again. You hated the word trust, and you hated what came with it. Dio wasn’t a good person, but neither were you. Both of you had done bad things and bad decisions. Why would he ask you now? To throw you off guard? To trick you into saying yes blindly? Did you even trust Dio?
You hated to say it, but you did. You trusted Dio. He was just like you, and you hadn’t realized it until this moment. If you truly didn’t trust Dio, his hands wouldn’t come close to you, and you wouldn’t be flush against his chest like this. You wouldn’t have drunk with him, you wouldn’t have relaxed around him, you wouldn’t have let yourself be so vulnerable around him--you wouldn’t have so close with him. You knew that this was a bad idea, but you couldn’t manage to lie, even if you’d done it all of your life. You couldn’t bring yourself to lie to Dio...not after he tried protecting you against Elijah, who was twice your size.
“I...trust..you..” You muttered.
Dio grinned widely. “Good,”
“What are you planning?” You asked worriedly, unable to hide the uneasiness in your voice. Dio placed his hand on your wrist and led your arm to rest around his neck and placed his hands on your lower back, and between your shoulder blades.
You gasped and gripped the sleek fabric of his coat in your fists as Dio dipped you down in one swift motion. He watched as your eyes widened and gleamed as the lights shone down on them. You held onto him tightly, one arm around his neck and the other gripping his bicep that was around your waist. He looked at the fear in your eyes and realized that you thought he might drop you. You felt his hold on you get tighter.
“Don’t worry,” He whispered, pushing a strand of hair away from the corner of your eye.
“I’ve got you,”
During that moment, it was like everything else around you was standing still. The sounds of the laughter from the older guests, the ‘young love’ sayings, the coos, the music--you didn’t hear a word of it. It was like time had stopped.
But as Dio pulled you back up, and the trance-like state you were trapped in was broken, it was like all your senses came back to you at once. You quickly detached yourself from him and wished you had your cloak to hide under your hood. Dio smirked down at you.
“Was that enough, or do you think we should do something else?” He asked, sweeping around you and placed his hands on your hips. You spun around quickly.
“I think that was more than enough, Brando,” You muttered. “Maybe too much.”
“You seemed to enjoy it, so what are you complaining about?” He quipped, making you glare up at him.
“Dio! I see you’ve become acquaintances with Miss Y/n!” George exclaimed, walking toward both of you with Kaliah at his side.
“Oh, Father,” Dio said, plastering a smile on his face. “Yes, Y/n and I have met before.”
“I’m so glad you both are having fun,” Kaliah said, glancing at you. “You put on a wonderful show for everyone.”
You grinned, knowing that she was pleased with your, or rather Dio’s idea, of a distraction.
“Why don’t you two come to sit down with us?” George offered, smailing between both of you. You glanced to where he was motioning to and felt your eyes slightly narrow, not by much, but Dio noticed it, so he glanced over there as well. Elijah was standing by the table and you could practically see the anger radiating from him.
“Actually, I’d like to get some air first if that’s alright,” You said politely. In reality, you were trying to steer clear of the fuming redhead. God only knows how it would end this time.
“Of course!” Kaliah said.
“I’ll show you,” Dio said. “It’s quite easy to get lost in here.”
“Thanks,” You said, both of you bidding them a farewell before departing. Dio offered his arm and you slipped your’s through it, trying to ignore the glares being sent at you from the man behind you.
“You’re still scared of him, aren’t you?” Dio asked, opening a large glass door that led to a balcony. You glanced at him, then behind him before walking outside.
“I’m not afraid of Elijah,” You said.
“You act wary of him,” Dio pointed out, closing the door behind him. The cool wind nipped at your hot skin, making you softly sigh. You leaned against the white banister and crossed your arms over your chest.
“Because I don’t feel like breaking up a dog fight between you two mutts,” You grumbled. “Could you not tell the wanker was brewing with anger?”
“So he’s jealous,” Dio shrugged, leaning against the banister beside you.
“You can brush my arm and he gets jealous,” You scoffed. “Just imagine what it felt like when he saw you with your hands all over me,”
“You aren’t his though, are you?” Dio asked, glancing at you. You laughed bitterly.
“I am no one’s, Brando,” You stated. “I belong to no one. And I’m not a piece of property. No one can have possession of me,”
Dio simply hummed and looked to the doors, before scoffing. You followed his gaze and saw Elijah storming towards the doors. Your shoulders tensed up and you quickly pushed yourself from the banister. The door swung open, and Elijah slammed it behind him. You were surprised the glass didn’t shatter from the white and gold frame from how hard he slammed it. His attention was immediately on you.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He snapped.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” You turned the question around on him. “Bursting through doors like a madman. What is your problem anyway?”
Elijah pointed a finger to Dio. “That is my problem. He has no right touching you like that,” Before Dio could grab his finger and break it, you stepped between them.
“I let him,” You said harshly, making Elijah narrow his eyes. “If I didn’t want his hands on me, I would have broken them. But we had to make a distraction for you,”
“You called that a distraction!? You looked like a complete slag!” He yelled.
Dio grabbed you and pushed you behind him before shoving Elijah back. “Watch your mouth, prat.” He spat. Elijah growled.
“Enough, both of you!” You shouted, moving around Dio. “You are both a bunch of twits! Knock it off!”
“Or what? You gonna run and gather another one of your maggots?” Elijah sneered.
The next thing either of them knows, your fist is slamming against the side of his jaw, and Elijah is stumbling to the side. His eyes were wide with shock as he slowly raised a hand up to his lip, where a small, thin line of blood dribbled down his chin from the cut on his bottom lip. He glanced at you as you stepped back.
“ I said,” You snarled. “Shut. Up.”
Elijah looked at you before turning his gaze to the side. You could see his eyebrows furrowing together as guilt washed over his face. He regretted his words as soon as they fell past his lips. You turned back to Dio with a heavy sigh.
“I’ll see you later, Brando. I’m getting the hell out of here before I pass out from this damn corset,” You mumbled, brushing past him before snatching Elijah’s wrist and drug him behind you.
Dio watched from the balcony as you climbed over your horse before reaching behind you and pulling the string to your corset, untieing it. He watched as Elijah tried to approach you, but stopped as you said something to him. The tall redhead looked away and hesitantly nodded before climbing in the carriage with Kaliah. Feeling a gaze on you, you tilted your head up, meeting Dio’s red eyes through the darkness. You smirked slightly before pulling the hood of your cloak over your head. You snapped the reins, making your horse snort before jerking into motion, and your image faded out in the distance.