First time posting in a new fandom and it's scary :/ Never written Torchwood before, so basically, i just hope you guys all like this i guess. Feedback is always welcomed.

Over and out xxx

The glittering lights seemed to wink in and out of existence as they flitted and sparkled around him as he span, while the rest of the room flew past as one big multicoloured blur. He had been taught how to waltz at such a young age that it was second nature to him not just to let his feet lead him without even thinking about what he was doing, but to do so without even noticing. His mind had been left to wander as he gently grasped his partner and spun her around the ballroom floor.

Ianto Jones was the perfect gentleman. Everyone said so.

He always pulled a chair out for a woman, held the door open for anyone coming in through it behind him, would greet you in the street and nod politely even when he was busy. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find anyone in Cardiff who disliked him, at least that knew him properly.

He was the darling of every party, every soiree, and all the women wanted to dance with him whenever there was a function that required it. Attentive to every conversation, always relied upon to be witty and satirical when it was needed, yet compassionate and clever as well, people marvelled at how someone could possess such wonderful qualities and not have any perceivable flaws.

So much so that if anyone in the garishly decorated and over-lavishly furnished grand ballroom had been privy to Ianto's thoughts as he span around the floor, head tilted at the perfect angle, they would have probably been shocked by what they would have observed.

Because despite his perfect demeanour, he was at that moment engaged in actively despising each and every person in the room, with only a few possible exceptions. He hated the ridiculousness of the decorations and the over-zealous staff who would do anything as long as you had enough money to demand it. He hated the elderly men in their too-tight tuxedos and suits, who were standing next to their equally as old wives but every now and then secretly sneaking glances at the younger women and craftily peeking down the tops of the waitresses.

He hated their wives just as much though, their make-up caked onto their sixty or seventy year old faces like they had applied it with a trowel, eyeshadow too bright and lips too dark. Their pretences and smug gazes and the way they held themselves, their chins raised and noses pointed upwards, so that everyone knew that they were beneath them.

And in his book the younger generation, his peers, were just as bad. The men all fit their suits properly, and the women either knew how to properly apply make-up or could pay someone who did, but it was all false, all just cold and calculated to achieve maximum excellence, maximum impact. It was a contest between them, which woman, which girl, could get to dance with which men, whom amongst them might be noticed the most by those eligible bachelors in the room, and which men could get the most females following them around, hoping for one more dance, one more touch, one more word whispered in their ear.

And the thing he hated most of all?

The attention of most of the women in the room was squarely focused on him, and him alone, and he neither wanted or encouraged it. In fact, had he been able to actively discourage it without setting alarm bells ringing, he would have been doing. But unfortunately someone would notice. So he had to act the part and treat everyone cordially, and hope to hell that it would be enough to get him through the next few years.

He could sense the woman he was dancing with was looking hard at him, as if by willing him to look back at her he would turn his head. She was stunningly gorgeous of course, a model type figure with evenly tanned skin and long, straight blonde hair that matched her clear blue eyes perfectly. He was pretty sure that she was called Arabella, and even without knowing her last name he could guess that it had a 'the third' tacked onto the end of it, like only the best people did.

But at that moment, he found himself giving even less of a fuck than usual about what she thought about him. He was eager to get out of her arms, to get her piercing stare off his face, to melt back into the crowd and perhaps slip away for a few minutes just to be alone.

It wasn't that he didn't like her, didn't find her attractive, didn't think she would make someone a lovely wife someday, but it wouldn't be him. He hadn't found anyone yet that he wanted to be his wife, and even the person who was destined to be so didn't inspire any romantic feelings in him.

That wasn't to say he didn't like Lisa, didn't love her as a sister, but he didn't really want to marry her, even though he knew that they would be happy in it just as friends. He didn't want to deprive her of the relationship he just knew was out there for her.

Their families were big shots in society, had aristocratic names and backgrounds as well as extremely successful modern business ventured between them, and it seemed like a match made in heaven, at least to their parents. They had been set up to be a couple since before they had both been able to talk, and it seemed like everyone knew that Ianto Jones and Lisa Hallet would end up together. The women still tried to work their magic on him, and the men still tried to get Lisa's attention, but to no avail.

Even if neither of them felt romantically towards the other at all, they both knew that marrying the other was the best they were going to get in their circumstances. Neither could abide the perfectly horrible and poisonous atmosphere of their social circle, or the noxious personalities of some of the more dominant members of it, and marrying each other, someone that they would be happy to spend the rest of their life with even if not actually romantically, was the perfect way out.

If only he could find a suitable way out of the dance, he would be happy.

And then, as if some deity were smiling upon him, the music started to draw to a close, and couples all around him were stopping and bowing and smiling as they parted ways, or strolled off the dance floor together. Which gave him his out, and he took it quickly.

Kissing Arabella's hand, he murmured 'Thank you' and then smiled fleetingly in her direction, hardly even long enough to clock the fluttering eyelashes and pouting mouth, before quickly disappearing into the crowd that was milling around the edge of the floor. He knew that people might have noticed his much more abrupt than normal departure, but he really just needed to get to the bar and find himself a drink. Or find Toshiko, who was just as good as strong liquor usually.

He finally made it to the bar, the gilded edge of which shone even in the muted light, and was about to order a drink when a voice spoke from his right.

"One scotch, neat, and a gin and tonic please."

He turned, smiling widely as he took in the young woman next to him.

"Hi Tosh. I was wondering whether you were going to turn up."

She smiled a little back at him, her mouth hardly moving but her eyes twinkling in a way that Ianto knew meant she was grinning inside.

"Well, I could hardly leave you to fend for yourself in here, you'd be swamped by about seventy title hungry second daughters before you got past the fourth dance. I'm surprised no one has asked you for this one."

"Me too." Ianto concurred, chuckling to himself as he accepted his Scotch of the reappearing barman and sipped it slowly. Although on any normal night he would have gone for a pint without a second thought, special occasions like the one they were at required sacrifices as far down as your drink of choice for the evening.

"Although I think my slightly abrupt departure from the floor after the first dance might have put people off a bit. Normally I stay and make small talk for the sake of propriety or whatever, but I just couldn't deal with that tonight. I don't know what it is, but I just don't want to put up with all the pretences and fake interested looks and polite yet so boring conversations any more."

Toshiko sighed, wrapping her arm around Ianto's side and squeezing him close as she said "I don't know how you ever did deal with it. They're all so boring I want to stab myself in the eyes with hot pokers as a less painful alternative, and I'm the one who spends all day surrounded by computers. I would have gone mad a few years ago I think."

She laughed, stirring her drink and then taking a gulp, her eyes shining as she turned back to him. He knew that she was right, that sometimes trying to have a serious, normal conversation with his peers and their parents and everyone else gathered was completely impossible, but he had to do his best, had to make sure he pleased his parents. They lived for and loved their son, and he never wanted to disappoint them.

Hence the fact that he was marrying Lisa.

Speaking of which...

"Tosh, have you seen Lisa anywhere here tonight? She should be here, I'm sure she said she was coming, and that way I can dance with her and not the millions of other obnoxious bimbos that want a turn."

At that, Tosh couldn't help but snigger, nearly spraying drink out of her nose as she struggled to control herself when she had just taken a sip of her drink.

As the people at the bar around them looked over curiously, disapprovingly even, and shook their heads at the noise, probably muttering about 'children' and their 'antics nowadays', they both forced themselves to stop laughing and Tosh cleaned up the little bit of drink she had spilt, before setting her glass back down.

"I think-" she giggled, "I think she's going to be late, she should be here about..."

She trailed off as she looked at the bracelet she was wearing, which doubled as a watch, before saying "Well, about now actually."

Ianto looked at his own watch, which was showing nearly half past nine at night.

He sighed despondently as he realised just how much of the night was left to go before he could retire and leave, sink in to the calming abyss of his bed and just drift to sleep while his sore muscles relaxed and his blisters healed. It wouldn't be proper to leave before one am at least, and most people would expect him to stay until about two, when most people would be ready to start leaving. He would happily confess that if he could, he would have left right there and then and not looked back.

However, social decorum stopped him from doing so. That, and the fact that he actually enjoyed Lisa's company when she wasn't being pushed at him by their parents, and he would have been sad to miss her.

He turned back to Tosh after scanning the room for Lisa and asked "Do you think I'll be lucky enough to get out of here by midnight?"

She just chuckled and said "No chance Ianto. Your father and mother are here, and even if they weren't, no one would let you get away that early. I should think they probably lock the doors anyway, to keep everyone in."

He smiled along with her, and then turned to scan the crowd again, peering amongst the faces in the hope that one of them would be Lisa. At least then he could dance with someone who would make his parents happy. He could, of course, dance with Tosh, but she didn't much like dancing, claiming two left feet, and his parents somewhat disapproved of their friendship because she was 'new money' apparently.

Her parents, both famous mathematicians, had together created some sort of computer code that had sold millions of copies for whatever it did, and were now ridiculously wealthy. Tosh was even more brilliant than both of her parents combined, and could probably invent more codes in her spare time than they could together, but she chose to hide her light under a proverbial bushel and design computer interfaces instead.

Of course, he was pretty sure she was a professional hacker on her days off, but she didn't exactly scream it from the tops of tall buildings.

Therefore, Lisa was the preferred dance partner.

And he finally spotted her, gliding gracefully across the floor towards them. The only signs of the fact she was flustered, her flyaway hair and the clenched fists at her sides, were inevitably missed by most. However, he could tell by the set of her jaw that she wasn't really in the mood for pandering to the wishes of the ridiculous masses, so he stood up to greet her as she arrived at the bar, hugging her gently, and then ordered her the strongest drink he knew, a shot of something or other.

"Thanks Ianto."

She had downed it in one and slammed the glass back down onto the table, making the people gathered in little groups on either side of them look over curiously until she stared them down.

Sighing, Ianto said "Come on Lisa, let's get our on obligatory dance out of the way and then you can tell me all about what happened."

Rolling her eyes she grasped his hand and let him bump into her childishly, both of them giggling a little as they made their way to the floor.

However, they were interrupted just as they made it to the edge of the swirling mass of dancers by a large hand which clamped itself to Ianto's shoulder.

"Son! Glad to see you're keeping my daughter-in-law-to-be happy!"

Turning, Ianto came face to face with his father, the man who he loved but hated all at the same time. He was pretty sure his dad knew that he didn't really want to marry Lisa, but he wouldn't leave it alone. Lisa's face had gone cold now as well, hard and closed down in the fact of the reminder of the situation that they found themselves in.

"Excuse me." Ianto said stiffly, wrenching his shoulder out of his father's surprisingly painful grip.

Seeing Lisa nod grimly to him as she too walked away after finding some excuse, he walked swiftly towards the emergency exit, slipping through the doors and into the cool, dark alleyway beyond them. The only source of light bar the moon, obscured by clouds, was a dim streetlight at the complete other end of the alley, but Ianto didn't mind.

He just wanted to sink to the slightly dirty ground and rest his head in his hands as he tried to ignore the sounds of the ball still drifting through the small sliver of door he had left open so he could get back into the room.

He knew, really knew in the back of his mind, that he would have to marry Lisa and that they would both just have to spend the rest of their lives pretending to the world that they were a happily marries perfectly in love couple. But he couldn't help hoping that some day his family and hers would come around, stop trying to force them together just for the sake of propriety. Only, every time his father or hers said something like that it made him more and more sure that he would never know true love, true happiness, because they had forced him away from it.

He was about to steel himself to get up and go back inside when he noticed a change in the shadows around him through his fingers.

Ianto didn't even have time to move or scream before a bag had been forced over his head and his world went black.

A/N: Well, what did you think? I'd love to hear your feedback, because i may die from nerves if i don't! x