Infinity: Chapter 2B
Nov. 4th, 2010 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunshine_173Title: Infinity
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sunshine_173
Rating: PG
Pairing: BellDom/Original character(s)
Summary: Matt is a piano protégé. Dom is a painter who excels passed many his age. They meet at a young age and strike up an instant friendship. From friends to lovers, this is their story, spanning over a course of over two decades.
Feedback: Is completely welcome. It makes me all sorts of happy. Feel free to critique, but be nice, yeah ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own Muse, Matt or Dom. If I did, unspeakable acts would be committed.
Warning: Nothing really going on here.
Note: EPIC love and thank you's and just plain smothering tolalalive23 and flavoroftea for being awesome bit readers and betas and cheerleaders and just fucking AMAZING. I luff you both. If it wasn't for y'all, this wouldn't exist. THANK YOU to everyone who's been commenting ♥♥
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2A
I’m not too good with directions.” Matthew admitted, staring hopelessly at the two streets that forked away from the beach.
“Well…how’d you get here?” Dominic smiled at him, knowing the way but refusing to budge until Matthew figured it out for himself.
“I walked.”
“Really? I thought you flew?” He smirked, raising his eyebrow in challenge.
Matthew rolled his eyes at him, a small grin on his pouting lips, and turned back, worrying his bottom lip. “Erm. I think it’s that way.” He pointed to the right street, glancing at Dominic and smiling brightly.
“Why do you think it’s that way?”
“I dunno.”
Dominic sighed, “Matt…don’t you remember which direction you walked in?”
“I wasn’t really paying attention to directions. I was just walking. I didn’t care where.” Matthew’s voice tapered off and he looked down at his feet, a frown replacing his previous smile.
Dominic decided to take pity on him, reaching out and shoving his shoulder gently. “Okay, okay, I’ll be nice.” Matthew looked up to smile shyly at him. “Your gran’s house is this way, I think.” Dominic pointed in the opposite direction Matthew did.
“Oh. Well…whatever.”
The two shared a smile and started walking swiftly, Dominic wishing he’d brought an extra coat as he silently watched Matthew shiver in his lone jumper. Matthew passed him slightly, legs that were long for his height moving quickly. Dominic frowned when he realized just how small Matthew really was, how vulnerable and frail he looked as he coughed, his ivory face tinted with pink.
Just as Dominic was about to ask Matthew if he’d like his coat, a loud crack of thunder startled both of the boys, causing Matthew to jump a good two inches. His eyes were comically wide and alarmed as he looked towards the heavens the same moment the sky split above them and an avalanche of liquid ice came pouring down.
Matthew yelped when the first few stinging drops landed on his face and shoulders, freezing and soaking into the fabric of his jumper on contact. Dominic started to shake violently, the rain burrowing its chill under his skin, and a moment passed until he realized it’d even started to downpour.
Matthew’s head flipped around to look at him, eyes shining brightly despite the darkness now about them, his lips parted in a small “O”.
“C’mon Matt, my nana’s is closer!” Dominic shouted, reaching out and grabbing Matthew’s shoulder. Another thunderous crack and lightning streaked across the sky, spidery fingers clawing into the thunderclouds before they disintegrated.
In that split-second of blinding light, Dominic looked into Matthew’s eyes, his pupils contracting quickly, the azure hue looking ghostly in the yellow-white brightness. His long and thick, black eyelashes fluttered closed for a millisecond.
Yet what caught Dominic off guard was that, lurking behind those inconceivable eyes was not a look of panic, but of excitement.
Matthew suddenly grinned, a devious expression highlighting dark golden flecks in his irises. “It’s raining, Dom!”
Dominic quirked his head, his entire body now drenched, and shook his hair out of his face, water droplets flinging out and disappearing in thin air. A shudder passed over him and his teeth chattered. “I’ve noticed! I think we should like, you know, run?”
The rain was deafening, but Matthew nodded, hints of a giggle barely making it to Dominic’s ears.
He darted forward suddenly, jumping into a puddle that had formed at the corner of the street. Matthew misjudged the depth though, and wound up knee-deep in piercingly frigid and dirty water. He shrieked, his face stunned and mouth wide open, staring at Dominic for a beat before breaking out in heaving laughter.
“It’s very cold, Dom!” He was doubled over, his eyes squeezed shut as he continued to giggle uncontrollably, and nearly toppled over head first into the large puddle. He teetered slightly, still chuckling, and hopped out onto the sidewalk with a splash.
Dominic watched this scene with a look of pure amazement on his face. He’d never had much of an exciting childhood. Being the only child, he was used to staying home and helping his mother with chores instead of going out and exploring. Granted, he wasn’t averse to hanging out with his friends every once and awhile, but those times didn’t happen much. He’d never run around in the rain before, and jumped in puddles just for the fun of it. Watching Matthew was opening his eyes, and his mind, bit by bit, and he found himself laughing along with the shivering boy, Matthew’s ebony hair plastered on his skin, creating quite the contrast against the milky white.
Matthew was a few paces ahead of Dominic before he turned around, eyes alight with a childish, innocent light that Dominic wasn’t used to seeing much, the people he knew too caught up in girls and getting older.
“I thought you wanted to run!” His voice barely carried to Dominic’s ear.
Dominic shook his head slightly, looking down, water droplets trailing down his cheeks. He looked back up at Matthew, all blue eyes and pale skin, smiling at him as rain trailed down over his planes of his face, soaking into the already soaked high neck of his jumper.
He jogged the short distance to Matthew, his jeans sloshing in small puddle of water. “Let’s go, yeah?” He squinted, peering through the sheet of rain between them.
Matthew grinned, his wonky tooth prominent. “Yeah.”
Dominic, on impulse, reached for Matthew’s hand and took off sprinting, dragging a shouting and laughing Matthew along with him. The raven haired boy tried to keep up, sometimes tripping over his feet but he didn’t mind; he was happy, and didn’t care if their little watery adventure resulted in an even worse cold.
Breathless from running and giggling, Dominic slowed down once he reached the driveway of his grandparent’s house, his mother standing in the doorway staring worriedly out, having not noticed her son and his friend. Matthew collided into Dominic’s back, the unexpected change of pace causing him to run right into him.
The sudden shriek of laughter alerted Mrs. Howard, and Dominic saw her alarmed face a second before him and Matthew both toppled into the muddy grass of the lawn, giggling and ignoring for a moment that they were both completely saturated and now covered in dirt.
“Dominic! Dominic, what on earth are you two doing? Is that Matthew? Honey, where is your coat? Will you two both get inside now!?” Mrs. Howard stood, too amused to be completely angry with her son and his friend, having not seen Dom laugh that much in some time.
“Sorry, sorry, mum!” Dominic chuckled, pulling Matthew up and leading him towards the door.
“’Ello, Mrs. Howard.” Matthew beamed up at her, and Mrs. Howard couldn’t suppress a smile at the small boy’s enthusiasm.
“Hello, love. Now, what were you both doing out in that thunderstorm?” She hurried them both inside, tugging off Dominic’s coat. “Goodness, Dom, you’re completely soaked through.”
“Well, I went walking, yeah? Matt was at the beach and I invited him to come for dinner, and we were going to walk to his gran’s house to invite her too but it started raining. And we just…got distracted.” Dominic giggled to himself, sharing a smirk with Matthew.
“You got distracted by swimming in the puddles, you mean?” Mrs. Howard asked, shaking her head and smiling, calling out to her husband to get the boys some towels. “Go on into the bathroom, the both of you. You’re making your own little puddles on the wood. Go on, now.” She shooed them, and the boys scurried off, Matthew snickering behind Dom.
Running down the hallway, Dominic barreled through the bathroom door of the guest bedroom, pulling his shirt over head, Matthew at his heels. He threw his shirt into the bathtub and shook his head like a dog, water spraying everywhere.
“Oi!” Matthew laughed out, wiping his face as he too stripped, both now in their boxers, shivering.
Dominic glanced at Matthew and felt his face heat.
“Dominic, do I even want to know why you’re wet?” A sudden voice caused Dominic to look towards the door quickly, his father entering with a smile on his face, holding two towels out to them both.
“Well…”
“That says it all, son.” He chuckled, shaking his head and stepping back out after nodding in greeting to Matthew.
Dominic awkwardly dried himself off, half turned away from Matthew.
“It’s cold outside.”
Matthew snorted. “Yeah, Dom. It’s December.”
Dominic smiled and rolled his eyes. “You’re the one that wanted to run around in the rain.”
“Pffft, you joined along.”
“Only ‘cause you wouldn’t follow.”
Matthew giggled. “That’s not true.”
“Do you wanna borrow some clothes till yours dry?”
“Dry?”
“Of course, in the dryer. Unless you wanted to wear your wet clothes?”
Matthew furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and looked away.
“Doesn’t you mum ever wash and dry your clothes for you?” Dominic asked before he caught himself. “Oh…Matt, I’m sorry. Ignore that.”
Matthew stared at his feet, his bare chest rising and falling quickly, an unreadable expression on his face. “It’s okay.” His voice was quiet, despondent.
“Seriously, I’m sorry, I wasn’t pa-”
“Dom,” he coughed out a nervous laugh. “It’s fine. I’m fine. It was nothing, mate. I’m used to it.”
“I just…Are you sure?”
“I feel a bit silly talking to you all serious when we’re just in our pants.”
“…Right.”
Matthew giggled, wrapping the towel around his shoulder like a cape and stared expectantly at Dominic. “So…clothes?”
“Oh! Erm, yeah, my suitcase is in the guest room.”
“Isn’t that like, right there?” Matthew pointed at the bathroom door, the corner of an evergreen suitcase peeking out at the side of the bed.
“Uh,” he chuckled slightly. “Yeah. C’mon.” He gestured for Matthew to follow him, shuffling out of the bathroom and into the adjoining bedroom. Making it to the suitcase, he kneeled down next to it, Matthew perching on the edge of the bed. He unzipped it, staring at the mass of clothes. “Uhm. I dunno if I’ll have anything that’d fit you.”
The bed shook from Matthew’s silent laughter.
“I have this?” Dominic handed Matthew a faded grey and blue Queen t-shirt, a small rip on the bottom right side.
“Queen? You like Queen?” Matthew questioned, taking the shirt and pulling it quickly over his head, his slowly drying hair ruffled in the process.
“I don’t like them, I love them. They might be my favorite band ever.”
“Freddie Mercury is a genius.” Matthew looked down, giggling at the fact that the t-shirt tell to his mid-thighs.
“You like Queen?”
“Duh silly, I don’t only listen to classical music. I just like it more.” Matthew smirked, Dominic handing him a pair of black sweatpants and turned to find something for himself. “They’re a bit big.”
Dominic glanced at Matthew, who had raised the hem of his shirt and was glancing down at how low the sweatpants had fallen, even though they were pulled as tight as the drawstring would allow.
Dominic’s eyebrows creased when he felt himself start to blush, looking away from the slight hip dents. He shook his head.
“You are a bit small.”
“Oi, don’t make fun of my height.” Matthew giggled out.
Jumping onto the bed, Dominic grabbed a pillow and hugged it to himself, snorting when Matthew nearly flew off from the force of his bounce.
“Hey, Dom.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you paint those?” Matthew pointed to the eight paintings leaning against the walls, and the one Dominic had been previously working on still propped up on the easel.
“Oh…erm, yeah. Those are mine. I’ve been bored the last few days.”
Matthew had slid off the edge of the bed and fell to his knees in front of the nearest painting, a two by one and a half foot canvas with a light grey background, hazy and pale blue streaks running down it, splatters of various shades of blue and gold crisscrossing the canvas.
“This is really…pretty, Dom.” Matthew moved to sit Indian style, placing his head in his hands, and stared at Dom’s paintings.
“Um, thanks?”
“No seriously, these are really good.” Matthew turned his head, his expression unusually serious for the atmosphere of the room. “Like, really good.” He furrowed his eyebrows and nodded, determinedly, and glanced back at the paintings. “You should sell them. Or something. However that stuff works.”
“Ha, dunno about that.”
“Why not?” Matthew turned to kneel at the end of the bed, his elbows sinking down into the mattress, resting his head again in his palms and cocking his head to the side, his eyes staring into Dominic’s.
“Erm….it’s just, my paintings feel really…I dunno, personal. I feel like anyone who looks at them is seeing a bit of me that I don’t know if I’m comfortable with so many people seeing.”
“Deep.”
Dominic giggled nervously. “Seriously. I just… I don’t know. Maybe I’m being weird. I don’t think people would like them.”
“Nah, I think they would. I told my gran that you painted and asked her about that Pollock bloke. She said he’s right famous.”
“Well, yeah, he’s famous. That’s how I know him. But, I don’t know.”
“I still think they’re brilliant.”
“Your piano playing is better.”
“Psh–”
“Dom?” A knock came at the door, startling both boys. “Matthew? Dinner is ready. Come wash your hands.”
Dominic jumped up, smiling shyly at Matthew, and gestured for him to go ahead.
---
Dinner was a short affair, both boys ravenous from their little adventure earlier in the afternoon. Matthew was silent most of the time, completely entranced in the plate of spaghetti before him, and only really speaking if asked a direct question.
Afterwards, Mrs. Howard reminded Matthew to call his gran, and it was assumed he would be staying the night when they noticed the time.
Dominic and Matthew laid on his bed once they’d said goodnight to Dominic’s family, his mother telling them to not be silly and share the bed.
“Well, g’night Matt.” Dominic whispered, silence seeming to fit the atmosphere surrounding them. He glanced over at Matthew, the smaller boy’s face turned towards the window, his eyes reflecting the full moon.
“Yeah. G’night, Dom.” Matthew’s eyes flickered over to Dominic and a small smile met his lips.
Dominic turned over, closing his eyes and trying to think of nothing, Matthew doing the same.
Awhile passed and Dominic was asleep, sighing and burrowing his head into his pillow, when the bed started to shake slightly. Dominic grunted, turning and pressing his face against the bed, opening an eye and looking over at Matt and seeing his small frame shivering. Unthinkingly, he reached out and touched his shoulder.
“Matt?”
No response.
“Matt? You okay?” He nudged his shoulder some more.
“Wu-wuh? What?” Matthew jumped, flipping over, eyes wide and staring unseeing at an unfixed point to the side of Dominic’s head.
“You were shaking. Are you okay?” Dominic’s voice rasped out, unused for a few hours.
“I’m…Yeah, I’m fine. No worry.”
Dominic wasn’t convinced, Matthew’s still blindly staring eyes starting to unnerve him, the moonlight giving them a glassy look.
“What’s up?”
“You’ll…you’ll laugh at me.”
Matthew’s voice was so quiet Dominic was barely sure he spoke.
“No I won’t.”
“Liar.”
“If you tell me, I’ll tell you something.”
This intrigued Matthew.
“What would you have to say?” Matthew blinked a few times, squinting his eyes at Dominic and scooting closer.
“You have to promise first.”
Matthew snorted, “Okay, I promise.”
“You pinky promise?”
“I’m not a bird, Dom.”
Dominic giggled. “When I was four, I went as a fairy princess for Halloween.”
A sudden outburst of laughter slightly shocked Dominic, and he too giggled along.
“You…Y-you what? Ahaha why d-did you g–” Matthew laughed harder, pressing his face sideways into his pillow.
“I honestly don’t know.” Dominic willed his cheeks to cool down. “So, what’s wrong?”
“Well geez, Dom.” Matthew’s giggles died down. “Well…I dunno. I just…I have, like, ni…” Matthew trailed off, his voice becoming soft, a small frown appearing. His eyes regained that distant look.
“You have what?” Dominic reached back out to Matthew and laid his hand on his bony shoulder.
“Nightmares.”
Dominic did not laugh. Instead, he squeezed Matthew’s shoulder twice. “I used to have those a lot. What’re yours about?”
“…I never remember.”
“Oh.”
Dominic heard a quiet sniffle, and, after a small moment of decision, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to him, Matthew making a small noise of surprise.
“Why…are you hugging me?”
“I dunno. I think you need it.” Dominic tried to shrug.
“Oh. Okay.” Matthew burrowed his head into the warm comfort of Dominic’s neck. “Why are you so nice to me?”
Dominic snorted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Matthew shrugged as well. “I’m not used to it, I guess.”
Dominic squeezed him, turning onto his back and pulling Matthew half on top of him. He grabbed the sheets and placed them on top of them both.
“Would you like me to tell you a story?”
There was a beat of silence. “Yes,” Matthew muttered softly, his breath tickling Dominic’s skin.
“Okay…” A moment passed. “Once, a long time ago, there was a little cat.”
Matthew giggled.
“Shut up, I don’t know what I’m saying.” Matthew quieted some, but Dominic could still feel him smiling. “Uhm. So there’s this cat. This cat was always happy with himself, never afraid of expressing how he felt or hiding his passion for simply meowing in song with the birds.” Dominic shifted slightly, his chin resting in Matthew’s hair. “One day, a big dog came ‘round to the neighborhood, and all the other cats ran away in fear.” Matthew’s breath had started to even out some, his left hand bunching the soft material of Dominic’s shirt in his fist. “But this one, little cat was not afraid. In fact, he walked right up to the big, scary dog and introduced himself.” Matthew started to curl slightly into Dominic’s side. “And this cat found that the dog wasn’t really that scary after all. He was just…really big. And scary looking.” Matthew snorted out a small, quiet, sleepy laugh. “And the big dog respected the little cat for overcoming fear and being nice. So…the big dog and little cat became good friends, and spent the rest of their time meowing and howling with the birds.”
Dominic sighed, shaking his head infinitesimally at his story.
“That wasn’t a very good story.” He commented to himself. “Matt?” Whispering, he tried to look down.
There was no response, only a soft hum as Matthew fidgeted on top of Dom, the side of his face resting on his chest.
“Oh.” Dominic smiled, relaxing.
He tightened his arms around Matthew and stared up at the sky, the moon now hidden behind a wall of clouds, and closed his eyes.
Author:
sunshine_173 Rating: PG
Pairing: BellDom/Original character(s)
Summary: Matt is a piano protégé. Dom is a painter who excels passed many his age. They meet at a young age and strike up an instant friendship. From friends to lovers, this is their story, spanning over a course of over two decades.
Feedback: Is completely welcome. It makes me all sorts of happy. Feel free to critique, but be nice, yeah ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own Muse, Matt or Dom. If I did, unspeakable acts would be committed.
Warning: Nothing really going on here.
Note: EPIC love and thank you's and just plain smothering to
lalalive23 and flavoroftea for being awesome bit readers and betas and cheerleaders and just fucking AMAZING. I luff you both. If it wasn't for y'all, this wouldn't exist. THANK YOU to everyone who's been commenting ♥♥Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2A
I’m not too good with directions.” Matthew admitted, staring hopelessly at the two streets that forked away from the beach.
“Well…how’d you get here?” Dominic smiled at him, knowing the way but refusing to budge until Matthew figured it out for himself.
“I walked.”
“Really? I thought you flew?” He smirked, raising his eyebrow in challenge.
Matthew rolled his eyes at him, a small grin on his pouting lips, and turned back, worrying his bottom lip. “Erm. I think it’s that way.” He pointed to the right street, glancing at Dominic and smiling brightly.
“Why do you think it’s that way?”
“I dunno.”
Dominic sighed, “Matt…don’t you remember which direction you walked in?”
“I wasn’t really paying attention to directions. I was just walking. I didn’t care where.” Matthew’s voice tapered off and he looked down at his feet, a frown replacing his previous smile.
Dominic decided to take pity on him, reaching out and shoving his shoulder gently. “Okay, okay, I’ll be nice.” Matthew looked up to smile shyly at him. “Your gran’s house is this way, I think.” Dominic pointed in the opposite direction Matthew did.
“Oh. Well…whatever.”
The two shared a smile and started walking swiftly, Dominic wishing he’d brought an extra coat as he silently watched Matthew shiver in his lone jumper. Matthew passed him slightly, legs that were long for his height moving quickly. Dominic frowned when he realized just how small Matthew really was, how vulnerable and frail he looked as he coughed, his ivory face tinted with pink.
Just as Dominic was about to ask Matthew if he’d like his coat, a loud crack of thunder startled both of the boys, causing Matthew to jump a good two inches. His eyes were comically wide and alarmed as he looked towards the heavens the same moment the sky split above them and an avalanche of liquid ice came pouring down.
Matthew yelped when the first few stinging drops landed on his face and shoulders, freezing and soaking into the fabric of his jumper on contact. Dominic started to shake violently, the rain burrowing its chill under his skin, and a moment passed until he realized it’d even started to downpour.
Matthew’s head flipped around to look at him, eyes shining brightly despite the darkness now about them, his lips parted in a small “O”.
“C’mon Matt, my nana’s is closer!” Dominic shouted, reaching out and grabbing Matthew’s shoulder. Another thunderous crack and lightning streaked across the sky, spidery fingers clawing into the thunderclouds before they disintegrated.
In that split-second of blinding light, Dominic looked into Matthew’s eyes, his pupils contracting quickly, the azure hue looking ghostly in the yellow-white brightness. His long and thick, black eyelashes fluttered closed for a millisecond.
Yet what caught Dominic off guard was that, lurking behind those inconceivable eyes was not a look of panic, but of excitement.
Matthew suddenly grinned, a devious expression highlighting dark golden flecks in his irises. “It’s raining, Dom!”
Dominic quirked his head, his entire body now drenched, and shook his hair out of his face, water droplets flinging out and disappearing in thin air. A shudder passed over him and his teeth chattered. “I’ve noticed! I think we should like, you know, run?”
The rain was deafening, but Matthew nodded, hints of a giggle barely making it to Dominic’s ears.
He darted forward suddenly, jumping into a puddle that had formed at the corner of the street. Matthew misjudged the depth though, and wound up knee-deep in piercingly frigid and dirty water. He shrieked, his face stunned and mouth wide open, staring at Dominic for a beat before breaking out in heaving laughter.
“It’s very cold, Dom!” He was doubled over, his eyes squeezed shut as he continued to giggle uncontrollably, and nearly toppled over head first into the large puddle. He teetered slightly, still chuckling, and hopped out onto the sidewalk with a splash.
Dominic watched this scene with a look of pure amazement on his face. He’d never had much of an exciting childhood. Being the only child, he was used to staying home and helping his mother with chores instead of going out and exploring. Granted, he wasn’t averse to hanging out with his friends every once and awhile, but those times didn’t happen much. He’d never run around in the rain before, and jumped in puddles just for the fun of it. Watching Matthew was opening his eyes, and his mind, bit by bit, and he found himself laughing along with the shivering boy, Matthew’s ebony hair plastered on his skin, creating quite the contrast against the milky white.
Matthew was a few paces ahead of Dominic before he turned around, eyes alight with a childish, innocent light that Dominic wasn’t used to seeing much, the people he knew too caught up in girls and getting older.
“I thought you wanted to run!” His voice barely carried to Dominic’s ear.
Dominic shook his head slightly, looking down, water droplets trailing down his cheeks. He looked back up at Matthew, all blue eyes and pale skin, smiling at him as rain trailed down over his planes of his face, soaking into the already soaked high neck of his jumper.
He jogged the short distance to Matthew, his jeans sloshing in small puddle of water. “Let’s go, yeah?” He squinted, peering through the sheet of rain between them.
Matthew grinned, his wonky tooth prominent. “Yeah.”
Dominic, on impulse, reached for Matthew’s hand and took off sprinting, dragging a shouting and laughing Matthew along with him. The raven haired boy tried to keep up, sometimes tripping over his feet but he didn’t mind; he was happy, and didn’t care if their little watery adventure resulted in an even worse cold.
Breathless from running and giggling, Dominic slowed down once he reached the driveway of his grandparent’s house, his mother standing in the doorway staring worriedly out, having not noticed her son and his friend. Matthew collided into Dominic’s back, the unexpected change of pace causing him to run right into him.
The sudden shriek of laughter alerted Mrs. Howard, and Dominic saw her alarmed face a second before him and Matthew both toppled into the muddy grass of the lawn, giggling and ignoring for a moment that they were both completely saturated and now covered in dirt.
“Dominic! Dominic, what on earth are you two doing? Is that Matthew? Honey, where is your coat? Will you two both get inside now!?” Mrs. Howard stood, too amused to be completely angry with her son and his friend, having not seen Dom laugh that much in some time.
“Sorry, sorry, mum!” Dominic chuckled, pulling Matthew up and leading him towards the door.
“’Ello, Mrs. Howard.” Matthew beamed up at her, and Mrs. Howard couldn’t suppress a smile at the small boy’s enthusiasm.
“Hello, love. Now, what were you both doing out in that thunderstorm?” She hurried them both inside, tugging off Dominic’s coat. “Goodness, Dom, you’re completely soaked through.”
“Well, I went walking, yeah? Matt was at the beach and I invited him to come for dinner, and we were going to walk to his gran’s house to invite her too but it started raining. And we just…got distracted.” Dominic giggled to himself, sharing a smirk with Matthew.
“You got distracted by swimming in the puddles, you mean?” Mrs. Howard asked, shaking her head and smiling, calling out to her husband to get the boys some towels. “Go on into the bathroom, the both of you. You’re making your own little puddles on the wood. Go on, now.” She shooed them, and the boys scurried off, Matthew snickering behind Dom.
Running down the hallway, Dominic barreled through the bathroom door of the guest bedroom, pulling his shirt over head, Matthew at his heels. He threw his shirt into the bathtub and shook his head like a dog, water spraying everywhere.
“Oi!” Matthew laughed out, wiping his face as he too stripped, both now in their boxers, shivering.
Dominic glanced at Matthew and felt his face heat.
“Dominic, do I even want to know why you’re wet?” A sudden voice caused Dominic to look towards the door quickly, his father entering with a smile on his face, holding two towels out to them both.
“Well…”
“That says it all, son.” He chuckled, shaking his head and stepping back out after nodding in greeting to Matthew.
Dominic awkwardly dried himself off, half turned away from Matthew.
“It’s cold outside.”
Matthew snorted. “Yeah, Dom. It’s December.”
Dominic smiled and rolled his eyes. “You’re the one that wanted to run around in the rain.”
“Pffft, you joined along.”
“Only ‘cause you wouldn’t follow.”
Matthew giggled. “That’s not true.”
“Do you wanna borrow some clothes till yours dry?”
“Dry?”
“Of course, in the dryer. Unless you wanted to wear your wet clothes?”
Matthew furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and looked away.
“Doesn’t you mum ever wash and dry your clothes for you?” Dominic asked before he caught himself. “Oh…Matt, I’m sorry. Ignore that.”
Matthew stared at his feet, his bare chest rising and falling quickly, an unreadable expression on his face. “It’s okay.” His voice was quiet, despondent.
“Seriously, I’m sorry, I wasn’t pa-”
“Dom,” he coughed out a nervous laugh. “It’s fine. I’m fine. It was nothing, mate. I’m used to it.”
“I just…Are you sure?”
“I feel a bit silly talking to you all serious when we’re just in our pants.”
“…Right.”
Matthew giggled, wrapping the towel around his shoulder like a cape and stared expectantly at Dominic. “So…clothes?”
“Oh! Erm, yeah, my suitcase is in the guest room.”
“Isn’t that like, right there?” Matthew pointed at the bathroom door, the corner of an evergreen suitcase peeking out at the side of the bed.
“Uh,” he chuckled slightly. “Yeah. C’mon.” He gestured for Matthew to follow him, shuffling out of the bathroom and into the adjoining bedroom. Making it to the suitcase, he kneeled down next to it, Matthew perching on the edge of the bed. He unzipped it, staring at the mass of clothes. “Uhm. I dunno if I’ll have anything that’d fit you.”
The bed shook from Matthew’s silent laughter.
“I have this?” Dominic handed Matthew a faded grey and blue Queen t-shirt, a small rip on the bottom right side.
“Queen? You like Queen?” Matthew questioned, taking the shirt and pulling it quickly over his head, his slowly drying hair ruffled in the process.
“I don’t like them, I love them. They might be my favorite band ever.”
“Freddie Mercury is a genius.” Matthew looked down, giggling at the fact that the t-shirt tell to his mid-thighs.
“You like Queen?”
“Duh silly, I don’t only listen to classical music. I just like it more.” Matthew smirked, Dominic handing him a pair of black sweatpants and turned to find something for himself. “They’re a bit big.”
Dominic glanced at Matthew, who had raised the hem of his shirt and was glancing down at how low the sweatpants had fallen, even though they were pulled as tight as the drawstring would allow.
Dominic’s eyebrows creased when he felt himself start to blush, looking away from the slight hip dents. He shook his head.
“You are a bit small.”
“Oi, don’t make fun of my height.” Matthew giggled out.
Jumping onto the bed, Dominic grabbed a pillow and hugged it to himself, snorting when Matthew nearly flew off from the force of his bounce.
“Hey, Dom.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you paint those?” Matthew pointed to the eight paintings leaning against the walls, and the one Dominic had been previously working on still propped up on the easel.
“Oh…erm, yeah. Those are mine. I’ve been bored the last few days.”
Matthew had slid off the edge of the bed and fell to his knees in front of the nearest painting, a two by one and a half foot canvas with a light grey background, hazy and pale blue streaks running down it, splatters of various shades of blue and gold crisscrossing the canvas.
“This is really…pretty, Dom.” Matthew moved to sit Indian style, placing his head in his hands, and stared at Dom’s paintings.
“Um, thanks?”
“No seriously, these are really good.” Matthew turned his head, his expression unusually serious for the atmosphere of the room. “Like, really good.” He furrowed his eyebrows and nodded, determinedly, and glanced back at the paintings. “You should sell them. Or something. However that stuff works.”
“Ha, dunno about that.”
“Why not?” Matthew turned to kneel at the end of the bed, his elbows sinking down into the mattress, resting his head again in his palms and cocking his head to the side, his eyes staring into Dominic’s.
“Erm….it’s just, my paintings feel really…I dunno, personal. I feel like anyone who looks at them is seeing a bit of me that I don’t know if I’m comfortable with so many people seeing.”
“Deep.”
Dominic giggled nervously. “Seriously. I just… I don’t know. Maybe I’m being weird. I don’t think people would like them.”
“Nah, I think they would. I told my gran that you painted and asked her about that Pollock bloke. She said he’s right famous.”
“Well, yeah, he’s famous. That’s how I know him. But, I don’t know.”
“I still think they’re brilliant.”
“Your piano playing is better.”
“Psh–”
“Dom?” A knock came at the door, startling both boys. “Matthew? Dinner is ready. Come wash your hands.”
Dominic jumped up, smiling shyly at Matthew, and gestured for him to go ahead.
---
Dinner was a short affair, both boys ravenous from their little adventure earlier in the afternoon. Matthew was silent most of the time, completely entranced in the plate of spaghetti before him, and only really speaking if asked a direct question.
Afterwards, Mrs. Howard reminded Matthew to call his gran, and it was assumed he would be staying the night when they noticed the time.
Dominic and Matthew laid on his bed once they’d said goodnight to Dominic’s family, his mother telling them to not be silly and share the bed.
“Well, g’night Matt.” Dominic whispered, silence seeming to fit the atmosphere surrounding them. He glanced over at Matthew, the smaller boy’s face turned towards the window, his eyes reflecting the full moon.
“Yeah. G’night, Dom.” Matthew’s eyes flickered over to Dominic and a small smile met his lips.
Dominic turned over, closing his eyes and trying to think of nothing, Matthew doing the same.
Awhile passed and Dominic was asleep, sighing and burrowing his head into his pillow, when the bed started to shake slightly. Dominic grunted, turning and pressing his face against the bed, opening an eye and looking over at Matt and seeing his small frame shivering. Unthinkingly, he reached out and touched his shoulder.
“Matt?”
No response.
“Matt? You okay?” He nudged his shoulder some more.
“Wu-wuh? What?” Matthew jumped, flipping over, eyes wide and staring unseeing at an unfixed point to the side of Dominic’s head.
“You were shaking. Are you okay?” Dominic’s voice rasped out, unused for a few hours.
“I’m…Yeah, I’m fine. No worry.”
Dominic wasn’t convinced, Matthew’s still blindly staring eyes starting to unnerve him, the moonlight giving them a glassy look.
“What’s up?”
“You’ll…you’ll laugh at me.”
Matthew’s voice was so quiet Dominic was barely sure he spoke.
“No I won’t.”
“Liar.”
“If you tell me, I’ll tell you something.”
This intrigued Matthew.
“What would you have to say?” Matthew blinked a few times, squinting his eyes at Dominic and scooting closer.
“You have to promise first.”
Matthew snorted, “Okay, I promise.”
“You pinky promise?”
“I’m not a bird, Dom.”
Dominic giggled. “When I was four, I went as a fairy princess for Halloween.”
A sudden outburst of laughter slightly shocked Dominic, and he too giggled along.
“You…Y-you what? Ahaha why d-did you g–” Matthew laughed harder, pressing his face sideways into his pillow.
“I honestly don’t know.” Dominic willed his cheeks to cool down. “So, what’s wrong?”
“Well geez, Dom.” Matthew’s giggles died down. “Well…I dunno. I just…I have, like, ni…” Matthew trailed off, his voice becoming soft, a small frown appearing. His eyes regained that distant look.
“You have what?” Dominic reached back out to Matthew and laid his hand on his bony shoulder.
“Nightmares.”
Dominic did not laugh. Instead, he squeezed Matthew’s shoulder twice. “I used to have those a lot. What’re yours about?”
“…I never remember.”
“Oh.”
Dominic heard a quiet sniffle, and, after a small moment of decision, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to him, Matthew making a small noise of surprise.
“Why…are you hugging me?”
“I dunno. I think you need it.” Dominic tried to shrug.
“Oh. Okay.” Matthew burrowed his head into the warm comfort of Dominic’s neck. “Why are you so nice to me?”
Dominic snorted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Matthew shrugged as well. “I’m not used to it, I guess.”
Dominic squeezed him, turning onto his back and pulling Matthew half on top of him. He grabbed the sheets and placed them on top of them both.
“Would you like me to tell you a story?”
There was a beat of silence. “Yes,” Matthew muttered softly, his breath tickling Dominic’s skin.
“Okay…” A moment passed. “Once, a long time ago, there was a little cat.”
Matthew giggled.
“Shut up, I don’t know what I’m saying.” Matthew quieted some, but Dominic could still feel him smiling. “Uhm. So there’s this cat. This cat was always happy with himself, never afraid of expressing how he felt or hiding his passion for simply meowing in song with the birds.” Dominic shifted slightly, his chin resting in Matthew’s hair. “One day, a big dog came ‘round to the neighborhood, and all the other cats ran away in fear.” Matthew’s breath had started to even out some, his left hand bunching the soft material of Dominic’s shirt in his fist. “But this one, little cat was not afraid. In fact, he walked right up to the big, scary dog and introduced himself.” Matthew started to curl slightly into Dominic’s side. “And this cat found that the dog wasn’t really that scary after all. He was just…really big. And scary looking.” Matthew snorted out a small, quiet, sleepy laugh. “And the big dog respected the little cat for overcoming fear and being nice. So…the big dog and little cat became good friends, and spent the rest of their time meowing and howling with the birds.”
Dominic sighed, shaking his head infinitesimally at his story.
“That wasn’t a very good story.” He commented to himself. “Matt?” Whispering, he tried to look down.
There was no response, only a soft hum as Matthew fidgeted on top of Dom, the side of his face resting on his chest.
“Oh.” Dominic smiled, relaxing.
He tightened his arms around Matthew and stared up at the sky, the moon now hidden behind a wall of clouds, and closed his eyes.
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Date: 2010-11-05 03:19 am (UTC)Matthew suddenly grinned, a devious expression highlighting dark golden flecks in his irises. “It’s raining, Dom!”
I'm so happy you noticed the gold flecks in Matt's eyes. They're not COMPLETELY blue. 8D
Aw, they're so cute! I felt the balance between being kids and being mature was well balanced this time with the sillier moments without it being childish. :)
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Date: 2010-11-08 10:24 pm (UTC)Oh yay! I feel like I accomplished something weee ♥ Thank you!
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Date: 2010-11-05 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 08:56 am (UTC)That certainly painted a big smile on my face!
Thank you for sharing, can't wait to read the next <3
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Date: 2010-11-08 10:22 pm (UTC)Thank you for reading, bb <3
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Date: 2010-11-05 12:42 pm (UTC)I can't wait for more. Mind if I add you as a friend, btw? :)
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Date: 2010-11-08 10:20 pm (UTC)Thank you! And of course, already added you ^^
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Date: 2010-11-05 01:10 pm (UTC)In that split-second of blinding light, Dominic looked into Matthew’s eyes, his pupils contracting quickly, the azure hue looking ghostly in the yellow-white brightness. His long and thick, black eyelashes fluttered closed for a millisecond.
^Wow, that's an intense moment right there. I loved that Matthew brought a little childish joy in Dom's life! :) He really needed some carefree hours, didn't he?
Also, I liked what Dom said about the paintings, I feel the same about showing my stories to other people.
Keep it coming, I love this story!!! :D
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Date: 2010-11-08 10:19 pm (UTC)Yeah, same here. You've no idea how much persuasion it took from my friends to post this fic. But I'm so glad you like it!!
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Date: 2010-11-05 03:19 pm (UTC)And I loved the last line. So beautiful. :)
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Date: 2010-11-08 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 04:01 am (UTC)It's just beautiful. And real. And....
I love you.
My bffl <3
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Date: 2010-11-08 10:13 pm (UTC)I love you, big sister. ♥♥♥
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Date: 2010-11-06 10:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 10:12 pm (UTC)Thank you, doll!