A/N: Inspired by a prompt from Hope Coppice! I hope it is to your liking!
Bertrand wasn't entirely sure exactly why he'd become friends with Jim Grant. Well, if you could call them friends. Work colleagues who got on well enough to spend time in each other's company outside of the working day did tend to fit better. Both taught at the independent day school, Garside Grange, and Bertrand was technically the most junior member of staff, having only been hired by Miss McCauley at the beginning of that particular school year. (He'd yet to meet the school's governor, Mr. Count, but from Jim had told him the man was a bit of an eccentric old money type, and Bertrand thought he was better off not meeting him.)
Jim had convinced him to come out for a drink that weekend. Well, sort of. They had been sent away – at the school's expense – to a conference to learn better ways in which to teach the topic of History to the unwilling students. Bertrand was a bit offended - his students all listened to him - but as Jim pointed out, it tended to be more a case of being seen to want to modernise for these things. If the old methods worked, Jim's experience had taught him, then stick to the old methods. But the conference finished early in the evening, and Jim had seen a club on their way and now Bertrand found himself sipping an only halfway decent beer, trying to understand the words being played over the thumping beat, and also trying to deal with that fact that he kept eyeing up the younger looking boy surrounded by a group of friends at the other end of the bar.
"Never thought you played for that team, Berty old boy," Jim's jovial voice was far louder than Bertrand would have liked, and when Jim clapped his hand on Bertrand's shoulder, the latter wondered how long it had been since his fabled 'rugby days' to have a grip that strong.
"I have no idea what you mean," Bertrand replied carefully, tearing his – with some effort – away from the boy who had captured his attention, and forcing himself to concern himself only with the bottle of beer in front of him. "Just... looking around. Taking in the atmosphere."
Bertrand really should have been paying more attention to what Jim was up to. He had ignored Bertrand, and made his way over to the boy. He tapped his shoulders, and Bertrand could now see them in a hushed conversation, in which Jim kept waving his arm over in his direction, and the boy kept looking up with a shy smile. Could he...? Bertrand hurriedly took a large gulp of the beer, trying to keep himself calm. Nothing was happening. He convinced himself of that until he saw Jim walking back over, the boy happily following in his trail.
"Right then," Jim grinned. "Bertrand this is Vlad, in his last year at the university," he introduced. "Vlad, this is Bertrand, just graduated and in his first teaching job at Garside." He clapped Bertrand on the shoulder once more, shooting him a grin that was far more proud of himself than Bertrand would have ever expected the man to wear. "I'll just leave you two to get to know each other a little better. Go to see a man about a monkey," he announced, pushing his way through the crowd. Bertrand grimaced at Jim's wording, before turning to the boy – Vlad.
"I spotted you when I was with my friends over there," Vlad explained. "Was quite pleased when your friend came over," he gave a shy smile.
"Fancy a drink?" Bertrand asked?
Maybe conferences weren't too bad, after all.