Dancing Through Detention [Oli]

[Danny Bailey]

Danny grumbled all the way down to the dungeon, shivering as he stepped into the room. He'd reported himself to the Potion Master at noon exactly, as the man had told him and Oliver to do, but after ten minutes of waiting, the Ravenclaw still hadn't shown up. Not that he could really blame him, after what he'd said, but still. It wasn't as if the brunette wasn't responsible for what had happened. After all, there had been no need whatsoever to be cruel about his extra-curricular activities.

So he kissed a lot of people, so what? It wasn't as if he really went out of his way to get laid, in fact, that had only happened once. With a girl. When it came to guys, he'd never gone further than oral sex. And he was good at it, so what was Oliver Pace's damn problem?! It wasn't as if he'd suggested that the Ravenclaw get on his back right then and there.

Well, it just made him more determined to never ask anyone out again. Love was stupid. It didn't exist. Yeah, between friends, and he'd once mistaken that for something more, with almost dreadful effect. Luckily him and Harriet had been able to rekindle their friendship after their one night together. It had been shortly after his mum died, and she'd been there for him through everything. Still, it had never been more than that.

The blonde was determined to make this day a good one, despite having detention with Mr Pace. So, when he got down to the dungeon, he grabbed a mop on a stick, threw water and cleaning fluid on the floor and began to sweep the dungeon. Danny-style. Which meant that he was more or less dancing his way through the room, getting himself and the floor covered in suds.

[Oliver Pace]

Oliver was late. This wasn't that surprising – He was an incredibly disorganised person and the last person he wanted to see right now was Daniel Bailey, especially after the night he'd had. He thought he'd come down with some sort of virus, he felt like death incarnated and hadn't been able to sleep all night through the sick feeling in his stomach and the fever he apparently had. He'd considered skipping detention all together, but figured that would cause more hassle than the little blonde was worth. A couple of hours with him was far better than an angry potions teacher and twice the number of hours of detention, no matter how ill he was.

Sniffing lightly and wrapping his arms around himself, he worked his way through the castle's many corridors and to the dungeons. He paused outside of the door, took a deep breath in and pushed his way inside gently, focusing on the floor as he walked. He was half waiting for Danny to talk first, shout at him or something, but he heard footsteps again. This intrigued him, and he looked up to see the Hufflepuff dancing around with a mop. Amused grin on his face, he pulled his hoody tight around him and leant against the nearest wall, watching him. As much of an ass as Danny was, he sure was adorable.

[Danny Bailey]

He wasn't really angry with him anymore. It wasn't in his nature to stay angry for long. Danny supposed that what he was feeling now was more of a disappointment. That, as of yet, someone had yet to succeed in being different. All they saw, all they wanted to see, was Daniel fucking Bailey, the school slut. They figured it was all he would ever be, and maybe that was true. Maybe it was, because they thought that, that it'd remain true. No one would ever give him a true time of day, no one in their right mind would consider dating him. And that hurt. It hurt that he was good enough for a snog or a feel up, but not the kind of boy that you'd end up cuddling with.

Well, save for his lovely Harriet, but she was different. She was one of the few good friends he had, and he'd nearly fucked that over. The blonde knew that he ought to change, but what was the point if no one wanted him to? There were so many kids coming up to him when they had a bad day, and the thing was...he knew how it felt. He knew about wanting to forget, just for a while. If it was the only thing he was good at for, why shouldn't he do his part to make the world a better place? Even if it fucked him over.

Although the Hufflepuff was dancing, his thoughts weren't that happy, and it showed in the way he moved through the room - though only to those who really knew him. Who knew that sometimes the dancer was nothing more than a mirror, a façade of what people wanted to see. He took a breath, pushed down a sigh and turned, freezing on the spot when he saw Oliver. Danny nearly dropped the mop, but he held onto it, fingers clenching around it until his knuckles turned white. "Oh. Hello." He bit down a 'so nice of you to join me', determined not to end up in anything worse that would give him more detentions.

[Oliver Pace]

His grin faded as the other spoke, and all the anger he'd felt before flooded back to him all at once. It shocked him a bit, he'd had plenty of insults thrown at him, people had said much more unpleasant things to him before now, but Danny's words had affected him more than anything. They repeated round and round in his head, each syllable making his blood boil more and more. He'd only just managed to get them out of his head, and now they were coming back. The worst part was, he couldn't direct this towards the blonde. As angry as he was, he couldn't quite bring himself to be mean to the Hufflepuff, or even think mean things about him. He could be calling him a million names in his head right now, but he couldn't. And he hated that.

Trust me, sugar, if I wanted to get my rocks off I sure as hell wouldn't go for some prude in-the-closet freak like you

His mind hated him. It really, really wanted him to die. That was the only possible reason it would be doing this to him. Chewing the inside of his cheek, a frown crossed his face, more at his own thoughts than at Danny, and he gave the man a small nod, and went to grab his own bucket and mop. Hopefully, this would be over quicker if they got on with it and didn't cause any more problems. If only they were in the Muggle world right now. He'd give anything to burst his eardrums with loud music, as long as it drowned out his mind relentlessly repeating freak like you.

[Danny Bailey]

Danny bit down on his lip, looking at the brunette. As much as he loathed the way the other boy thought about him, he felt even worse knowing what he'd said. It wasn't true, none of it was, and that was the big difference between Olivers words and his. And it was also why he had to say something. "I"m sorry." It sounded short and a little hesitant, the blonde not turning around to look at his classmate. "What I said. It was wrong." It was true, because he wouldn't go and sleep with someone who just thought he was a....

But that's what everyone thought, and he was a hypocrite. Because he so would. If Oliver would have said yes, they would've ended up making out, as long as the brunette was into it. It made him wince a little, brushing the mop idly over the floor. It was true, what they all said. He was a slut. And everyone, even Oliver, had the right to think AND say so if they wanted to.

He brushed a hand through his hair, getting a few suds in it without really noticing. Danny was usually the chatty kind, the one who would make any detention fun, but it was hard enough apologizing when part of him wanted to scream at the Ravenclaw.

[Oliver Pace]

Oliver paused, chewing on his tongue, mop dripping water on to the floor below it. Danny had sounded honest and not at the same time, he sounded half like he really meant what he was saying, and half like he was saying it just for the sake of an easy life. He didn't know which one was more likely. The thing was, he was a freak, and everyone knew it. That was the main thing that made him inclined to believe that the boy didn't mean his apology. As far as anyone else could tell, he was just a prude freak.

This made him heave a nearly-silent sigh, and, after glancing at the blonde over his shoulder for a few seconds, he wiped the mop across the floor trying to get the strange substance to shift. He couldn't believe they'd left the room this dirty for so long, and all for the sake of a detention. Why not clean up the room, and find them something more tedious to do? Writing lines or something like that? It was silly, to have the whole classroom out-of-use just so you could make some kids clean up their accident.

He was just trying to keep his mind off of Danny with all these unrelated thoughts, and he was failing miserably. Looking at the blonde again, he bit his tongue and decided to try again. Dragging his mop behind him, he shuffled over to the other man and reached out to brush the suds out of his hair. He didn't know what else he could do - it wasn't like he could apologise to him, too. He would if he could, because what he'd said wasn't fair, but the boy wouldn't even look at him.

[Danny Bailey]

There was nothing but silence for a while, and Danny chewed on the inside of his cheek, wondering if there was something else that he could say, or should say. He figured there wasn't anything else, that he'd said what he needed. Whether Oliver believed him or not was his own choice, he supposed, and nothing he could add to what he'd said would make the other more inclined to believe him.

Forcing himself to relax the grip on his mop, he breathed through his teeth a couple of times, until he suddenly felt a hand in his hair. It was soft, but such a surprise that he hissed through his teeth, turning a little to glance at the brunette. There were suds on his fingers, which he supposed was the reason the Ravenclaw touched him in the first place, but why?

It wasn't as if they wouldn't get even more dirty from cleaning this hellhole. These were just suds. It wasn't whatever icky substance they'd spread over the floor, and he couldn't help wondering if this was his way of apologizing, or maybe Oliver was just trying to be friendly. Damn him. Why did he have to be so adorable? He wasn't different from anyone else. He also thought that Danny wasn't worth shit.

[Oliver Pace]

...Did Danny just hiss at him? That was the oddest reaction he'd ever encountered. He pulled his hand away nervously and dropped it to his side, a slight frown on his face. The blonde seemed like he really, truly hated him now, which would be pretty over the top, seeing as they'd only had one conversation, even if it was a total mess. He didn't want to be hated by this boy. He didn't want to be hated by anyone, but for some reason, this one in particular. Biting his lip, he tried to tell him that he was sorry too, by prodding himself in the chest and holding up two fingers. It wasn't the clearest message, but at least he could rest knowing that he'd tried.

Readjusting his grip on the mop, he scrubbed at the floor a little more. This was impossible – what had they managed to make? Whatever it was, it sure was a stubborn substance because it was pretty much refusing to go. What would the professor do if they didn't get it clean today? It wasn't looking very likely at this rate, especially because neither of them seemed to be putting too much effort in to it. Oliver wasn't feeling any healthier either, he was feeling far too ill and tired to deal with any of this. With cleaning, with Danny... Even with generally standing up. Right now, he just wanted to crawl back in to bed, but it didn't seem likely that he'd be able to any time soon.

[Danny Bailey]

The message was muddled, but it was clear enough for Danny to nod and give him the tiniest of smiles. He'd been surprised when Oliver touched him, way more than pissed. Mostly because he hadn't expected it, and also because he figured...well if the other loathed him, why would he touch him? But apparently he'd been somewhat forgiven, which he supposed was the most he could ask for right now.

Turning fully to look at him, his eyes narrowed for a moment. The brunette looked awful, and it wasn't just the fact that he didn't seem interested in cleaning up this mess [because honestly, who would? It looked like the damn basilisk had puked here]. He looked as if he was about to topple over, headfirst into this goo on the floor, which could hardly be the desired outcome of todays detention.

"You look terrible" He said it softly and then blushed suddenly, chewing on his lip. "Sick, I mean. You should go back to bed." Would he really be straight? Or had that just been a lie to get him off his back? Danny honestly wasn't sure, but for now he was going with what he knew. A: He was a slut, and B: Oliver had told him he wasn't gay. Those were two solid reasons not to ever hit on him again.

[Oliver Pace]

He would have loved to go back to bed, because if he looked half as bad as he felt right now, then he looked like he'd keel over at any given moment. Turning to look at the blonde, he tried to judge whether this offer was serious or not. He looked like he was being honest, but... Oliver smiled and shook his head softly. He couldn't leave Danny here to deal with this mess all by himself. His pride, along with a tiny part of him which, for some reason, liked the Hufflepuff's presence no matter how awkward it made him, wouldn't allow it. Besides, he'd feel bad if he did.

Chewing his lip, he found himself pretty much staring at the smaller boy again. He really, really needed to stop doing that, if not for the sake of maintaining his sanity then because it was probably very creepy and unnerving for Danny. Shaking his head, he tried to make these thoughts go away, but only succeeded in making himself dizzier than he already felt. In an attempt to stablise himself, he stepped forward slightly, stumbled and somehow ended up on the floor. Damn it. Damn it all. This happened to him far too much, probably because he was clumsy as hell and constantly light-headed from a lack of food. One minute he was standing, the next sitting, and never any memory of how he'd gotten there. He looked up at Danny with a slightly confused, partly sad pout on his face.

[Danny Bailey]

Damn him. That pout was way too adorable for Danny to resist feeling happy over, and he pulled the Ravenclaw to his feet with a smile that might seem as if he was making fun of him, when he honestly wasn't. "Okay, I was going to suggest that you sit down, but this doesn't seem like the proper place for that, honey" The endearment was out before he knew it, and he blushed again. He really should keep his promise NOT to flirt with Oliver! It shouldn't be that hard. Yes, the boy was cute, but he was also NOT INTERESTED in him. End of story.

Looking around the dungeon, he quickly spotted an old table that seemed stable enough for Oliver to sit down on for a while. He hauled it over to the edge of what they were supposed to clean and gently steered the Ravenclaw in that direction. "Sit. I'll clean up. It's unlikely that we'll manage to make any difference in this place at all today, so it's not like they'll notice you haven't done all that much." He gave him a small smile, hoping that, for once, the other would listen to what he said and do so accordingly.

[Oliver Pace]

Honey... Well, at least that was better than freak. Oliver spared the boy the freaking out and weird looks that he might have given anyone else and settled for a sleepy smile. At least Danny was trying to help him out, rather than just letting him try and work through it, though the brunette would have understood if he had, after the 'argument' they'd had the last time they met... that was, if you could call it an argument. It was sort of one-sided, but he supposed he had been a bit out of order. Even if it hadn't been what he meant, Danny had thought that he'd called him a slut, and he felt bad about that. He didn't really think he was at all. He made a mental note to tell the blonde this at some point, whenever he had the means, because it seemed pretty important that he should know.

But for now, he was quite happy to do as the Hufflepuff told him. He gingerly pushed himself up on to the table, giving his helper a nod of thanks as he did so, and attempted to stare at the floor, or the wall, or generally anywhere other than at the blonde, but he was failing miserably. Every now and again, his eyes kept wondering back to the man, and he'd have to snap them away again. It was getting pretty damn irritating, and Oliver was slowly getting more annoyed at himself. Pulling his legs up on to the table, he hugged his knees to him, wishing he could stop thinking about his classmate. He couldn't be doing a good job convincing the boy he was straight if he couldn't keep his eyes off of him.

[Danny Bailey]

He could feel the boys eyes on his, which was quite unnerving because he still couldn't figure out why the brunette was looking at him if he wasn't interested. Danny felt somewhat like an animal in a zoo, but he tried to shrug it off as he grabbed the broom again, absently going back to his old routine. It was something he did whenever he was stuck doing something he hated, he tried making it more fun by doing it with dance.

Humming a tune below his breath, he twirled through the room, bringing the mop with him even though it had no effect whatsoever. At least the Professor could see that they'd been working on it, judging by the suds and watery mess on the floor and the fact that Oliver was covered in a mixture of it and the goo they were working on.

"We should get you cleaned up" He'd passed the boy again and wrinkled his nose, smelling something positively foul on the others robes. Danny felt sorry for the brunette, who looked about as miserable as he probably felt. "Are you sure you're alright? Maybe you can transfigure the table into a bed?" Now that would be a handy thing to learn for him, since he made out on tables a lot, and it wasn't quite as comfortable.

[Oliver Pace]

Danny was dancing again. This entertained Oliver for a while, he watched the boy dance through the room with a look of amusement and interest plastered on his face. Even with a mop, he was a pretty good dancer. A very good one, actually. He had the Ravenclaw pretty much mesmerised. By the time the boy spoke to him, he was more or less gaping at him, mouth slightly ajar, probably looking a little dim right now. When he realised that Danny's attention was on him again, he snapped his jaw closed and looked down at himself, blushing slightly for the first time in a long time.

He was a total mess right now, covered in the horrible slime that was all over the room, and now he thought about it, he did smell disgusting. Scrunching up his nose, he gave the Hufflepuff a small nod in answer to everything he'd just said. Yes, he'd love to get cleaned up and stop looking and feeling like crap. He wasn't alright, but he wasn't about to leave any time soon so he might as well say he did and yeah, he probably could make the table turn into a bed. His tired mind couldn't figure out that the boy probably meant he should do it, so he simply sat and stared blankly at Danny's feet blankly, wishing his pride would give in and just let the boy convince him to go back to bed.

[Danny Bailey]

Danny looked at him expectantly, then came to realise that Oliver wasn't going to make a move. "Oh honey.." He sighed a little, putting a hand on his hip in a perfect impression of some of the female teachers, without being aware of it. His bottom lip stuck out as he tried to think of what to do. He sure as hell wouldn't be able to make a bed out of a damn table, so he couldn't quite make him as comfortable as Oliver himself should normally be able to. But he could do something that might help.

"Here sweetheart, have my robes, you can use them as a pillow" He took them off, dressed in a muggle attire underneath, and put it on the table. "But before you lie down, let me see if I can get some of that...goo off your clothes." Not that he would mind his robes getting dirty, since they weren't particularly clean after their detention, but the smell was terrible and could hardly help making the Ravenclaw feel better.

Standing in front of him, Danny waved his wand and whispered the same spell a few times, feeling smug and satisfied when the robes seemed to clean up enough to get rid of the nastiest bits. It wouldn't impress anyone's mother, but he was only trying to make things easier, forgetting about the fact that calling him honey and sweetheart probably didn't help.