Tangled Histories Verse: Entremet
Title: Entremet
Verse: Tangled Histories
Author: Viktoria Angelique (v_angelique)
Pairings: Dom/Billy; Dom/Bean
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: If you think this is true, you must be smoking some really, really premium shit.
Verse notes: The Tangled Histories verse exists in a world where the existence of vampires is known and accepted, and a handful of vampire families make up somewhere between two and ten percent of the world population. In this verse, vampires are not affected by sunlight and there is no great universal conflict between mortals and immortal. Vampires generally only take human blood that is offered willingly, and there are plenty of humans willing to offer. They can only die from not feeding enough and perhaps a few other rare conditions. The most important things to these vampires are age, family, and respect. Various pairings will be explored in the verse, and stories may jump around the chronology, but I'm going to try to write so that they can be read as standalones. In other words, I'm trying to avoid a WIP series, and there's no telling how long it'll take me to tell these stories, but they'll appear sporadically and all be listed under the Tangled Histories heading in my fic index.
Summary: Dominic and Billy get to know each other. Takes place while Andy is in New Zealand (see Rethinking Kismet. Can be read as a standalone.
A/N: Wow, has it been almost a year since I last posted from this verse? Indeed it has. Well, rest assured I kept writing in it. What I've posted already is 96 pages in the verse's word document, and there are 195 pages total, which means that there is lots more in store. Fear not! Thanks for sticking around. If you're new, take a look at my fic index and you'll find all the stories from this verse grouped together for your reading pleasure.
Dominic has never been happier to see a curtain go down in his life. It was worth it, of course, because Billy loves classical music, and his eyes lit up brighter than fireworks when Dominic showed him the two tickets, but Christ is the music boring.
"What do you say to a late dinner?" Dominic asks as they leave the theatre, his whole reason for doing this in the first place. "I know a great little spot."
"Yes, that would be all right," Billy agrees pleasantly, and Dominic steers them to a teeny little Spanish place with five tables where he orders margaritas and tapas in highly Anglicized Spanish, hoping to impress Billy.
"Was the music good, then?" Dominic asks, really having no idea.
"Oh it was brilliant, thank you. I didn't realise you liked classical."
"I don't," Dominic replies, grinning brightly. "I like you."
"Oh," Billy says, blushing to the roots of his hair.
"I like rock and roll," Dominic admits. "I saw the Beatles in concert once."
"You… but you can't be a day over thirty…"
Dominic laughs suddenly and shakes his head. "I thought you knew."
"Knew what?"
"See, this is what you get for not letting me talk to you more," Dominic teases. "I'm a pet," he explains. "You know, to a vampire. I was born in 1946."
"Jesus Christ," Billy exclaims, whistling through his teeth. "I had no idea."
Dominic laughs. "If you're impressed by that, you should meet my family."
"Vampires?"
"Yes, mostly. A couple of other pets, as well, but they're far older than me."
"How old is your… you know, your vampire?"
Dominic smiles. "His name is Sean. He's nine hundred this year, but I try not to let it go to his head."
"Nine hundred?? But that's… even for a vampire, he's…"
"An old fart, yes, it's true," Dominic says with a faked sigh. "I do what I can."
"Are you… I mean being a pet, that's like… marriage, sort of, isn't it?"
Dominic smiles and shakes his head. "Not really. It's a lifelong commitment, but since my life's fairly likely to be eternity, or at least very, very long, it's a bit different. Vampires aren't too picky about things like monogamy, for example," he says pointedly, earning another pleasant blush.
"Oh. Dominic, why do you always flirt with me?"
Dominic smiles gently and touches his hand. "Because you're lovely and I like you."
"You don't even know that I'm homosexual."
"Are you?"
"Occasionally."
Dominic grins. "Good enough for me, mate."
"You have a big scary nine hundred year old vampire lurking around somewhere. The blokes I've been with in the past have been considerably less frightening."
"Ah, don't worry about Sean. He's a puppy dog once you get to know him."
"Somehow I doubt that."
Dominic laughs and tries a spoonful of gazpacho, sipping from his margarita to wash it down. "Tell me something about yourself."
"I'm from Glasgow. I have a sister and one uncle living."
Dominic nods, stroking the back of Billy's hand with his thumb. "My family has a special place in its heart for Scotland."
"Why so?"
"Sean and his fathers - his sires, you know, the ones who turned him - have a little cottage up there, in the Highlands. It's been there for nearly a thousand years, and they go there to be alone, away from the politicking. Sean was turned there."
"Jesus. A thousand-year-old cottage?"
"Yes, well, they've done some things to maintain it, obviously. It's made of stone, though, very durable, and hidden away where it doesn't interest anyone. It's a special place to them."
Billy nods. "And you? What's your special place?"
Dominic grins. "Your shop."
"Charmer."
"Well I have a flat. In London."
"Aye?"
"Mm. Would you like to see it?"
Billy laughs. "If you insist."
~*~
"You don't act very Catholic."
"I was raised it, same as you!" Dominic promises, laughing as he sips his wine.
"How do you reconcile it?" Billy asks curiously.
"What?"
"The homosexuality."
Dominic smiles and shrugs. "I didn't say I necessarily continue to subscribe to the Church's teachings, William. They don't take all too kindly to vampires, either."
Billy nods, cocks his head to the side as he thinks. "I have a theory about vampires."
"Oh? Do tell."
"I think that maybe… well I believe that God created all of us. Human and vampire, ye ken. There are vampires who were born to it, right?"
"Yes. Sean's fathers are born vampires."
Billy nods. "So God created us all the same, but he made vampires because not everyone is exactly the same. Some people have a more… independent disposition, I suppose, or are just suited to this earth. They don't have any particular need for an afterlife or the active presence of God, so they eventually become vampires, or are born that way. And the rest of us live our mortal lives here, and then we go to Heaven if we're lucky."
"What about pets?" Dominic asks.
"I don't know," Billy answers honestly. "I suppose you're a little of both. You don't need to ever meet God, but at the same time you're dependent on your creator. Just not that creator."
Dominic laughs. "It's an interesting idea. I think most vampires are dependent on their sires, too, to some extent, if they're not born vampires. Ian and Alan are the only born vampires I've ever met, but they are more independent, sort of… old and powerful. They're the closest thing I know to Gods."
Billy smiles. "Do you love them?"
"Yes. They're family."
"It's a nice thought, having a vampire family. I've heard your lot are fiercely loyal."
"They are. It's amazing, I… don't know what my life would have been, had I not found Sean. It's silly to think of, because there couldn't ever be a life without Sean. It's almost like I was born to find him," Dominic admits. "But if I hadn't I'd be an old man now. They all say it will be less strange when it's been a century since my birth, because I won't think of my age and what I would have been doing now if I were mortal, but for now it's a bit odd. When I was little I thought of the twenty-first century as this science fiction era, and assumed that I'd be nearly dead by the time it came."
Billy smiles. "I'm glad you're not," he admits. "How old were you, when you became a pet?"
"Twenty-three."
Billy nods. "I didn't… it's part of why I didn't understand your flirting with me," he admits. "I figured I was far too old for someone so lovely," he says with a blush. Dominic laughs and touches his knee.
"Far from it. You're half my age."
"A little more than."
"And gorgeous."
Billy bites his lip. "What do you want from me, Dominic?"
"Right now I want to kiss you. And then I want to see you again."
"Oh," Billy says softly. "I'm not used to this… courtship. I've fucked blokes a couple of times, but it wasn't…"
"Good. I want to be different."
Billy smirks. "You're certainly that."
Dominic smiles and reaches up, stroking Billy's cheek. "May I?"
"Does Sean know? And if he doesn't, will he murder me when he finds out?"
Dominic laughs. "He knows I have a crush on the sweet shop owner. He wouldn't mind this, don't worry."
"You're sure?"
"Think of it… think of it this way," Dominic suggests, scooting closer and moving his hand down to Billy's leg. "Sean always knows how I am. If I'm happy, scared, excited… turned on," Dominic says with a smirk, "then he knows it. If he senses that I'm afraid, or in pain, or hurt, then he'll be by my side in an instant. He's a protector. But vampires aren't jealous. If I'm happy, he doesn't ask who or what is making me happy. He's just glad that I am. He trusts me, and he knows that nothing can shake my love for him. Just like I don't mind if he needs to go to Scotland with his sires for a few months. I know that he has emotional needs beyond me, and he knows that I have needs related to mortal life that don't involve him."
"Oh. That's very… logical."
"Mm. They've had a long time to become old and wise. May I kiss you now?"
Billy smiles. "Yes."
Dominic grins and tilts his head, leaning in and kissing him sweetly, softly, their lips parting reluctantly after a moment. "Beautiful," Dominic whispers, touching his cheek. "May I walk you to the tube station?"
"Oh. You were serious?"
"About…?"
"That you only wanted a kiss."
"Oh, no, I want much more than a kiss," Dominic smirks. "But this is fun."
"You're really not normal, are you?"
"Hmm, no. I don't think so. Is that all right?"
Billy laughs and nods. "Fine."
~*~
"It's an interesting theory, if you think about it. Kind of makes you vamps all look like Gods yourself, but it's not a bad one."
"I've heard it before," Sean says, running his hands idly up and down Dominic's chest as they lounge on the sofa together. "Not to say that your mortal is unoriginal, but people come up with the idea from time to time."
"He's not my mortal," Dominic argues with a laugh. "But he does have a brain in his skull. Do you think you'd like another pet, maybe, by chance?"
Sean snorts. "You're enough, really."
Dominic pouts. "Are you sure?"
"Love, I really don't get the impression that he wants to join our little clan."
"Why not? He likes me. He let me kiss him."
"Which is all well and good, but you know you can have human friends. Or lovers, if you like. That doesn't mean you don't let them grow old and die."
"Do I have to? I don't want him to die."
Sean smiles and shakes his head. "You're so young, Dominic. You should be grateful that he'll give you the time of day, anyway, and enjoy him while you can. And when the time comes that he grows old, or drifts away, I'll be here to comfort you."
Dominic sighs. "I know. It's just so depressing."
Sean smiles, kisses his temple. "Life sometimes is."
~*~
"Oh, bugger. I left my wallet at the shop," Billy realises, digging in his coat pocket outside the tube station. He and Dominic ate dinner together at Dominic's flat, which isn't far from the shop, but Billy's is farther.
"We'll get it, then," Dominic reasons. "C'mon then."
Billy smiles sheepishly and they turn back the way they came, ducking down a side street that leads to the shop. "Thank you for walking with me."
"Any time. How early do you have to be up?" Dominic wonders. "To start the sweets?"
"Well, it's not like a bakery," Billy explains. "A lot of the fresh things can actually sit two or three days, some even a week. I usually come in at six, which gives me four hours before I open, and a lot of things only take twenty minutes a batch. And then I can actually be working on something during the day at slow times. I have a thermometer that has an alarm on it, for example, so I can just walk away from the caramel and then pour it into the pan to set when it's ready."
"Your caramels are the best in London," Dominic proclaims. "Though it sort of ruins the magic to hear you didn't sit over them all afternoon, waiting for it to bubble."
Billy laughs as they reach the shop, putting his keys into the lock on the thick glass door and letting them both inside. The moonlight comes in through the slates in the metal grating that protect the big windows, painting the shop a lovely ghostly hue interrupted only by shadowy bins of jelly beans and towers of wrapped chocolates. "Caramel isn't ready when it bubbles," he explains as he walks to the little office next to the back kitchen. "The most simple caramel is only sugar and water, and it bubbles right away. You just let it go on its merry way until it reaches the right temperature, depending on whether you're looking for caramel sauce or caramel frosting or soft caramels or hard ones."
Dominic smiles as Billy emerges and leans with his hip against a display of Lindt bars. "You're absolutely lovely."
Billy blushes. "What?"
"I like listening to you talk about sweets. You're very knowledgeable."
"Silly thing to be knowledgeable about."
"I don't think so. Sweets make people happy."
Billy smiles and steps over to him. "Do they make you happy?"
"You make me happy," Dominic counters, resting his hands on Billy's hips and tilting his head to the side, taking a slow tasting kiss not unlike their past three, but then leaning back in and letting his lips linger a little longer. They part with a soft smack, and then it is Billy who hastens to rejoin, his hands resting on Dominic's chest. A fourth and a fifth kiss and then Billy's lips part, and he captures Dominic's lower lip only just, pulling at it with a tentative suck. One hand slides up, ascending the back of Dominic's neck to land at the base of his skull, resting there as Billy deliberately traces Dominic's lips with the tip of a very deft pink tongue, then wets his own before slowly pressing his open mouth to Dominic's, his eyes closed. Their tongues brush as their mouths close and separate, rejoin, a little more this time. On the third pass Billy's tongue surrounds his in a slow circle, and he tugs Dominic's body closer as he too steps forward, their jumpers smushed together. This time when they pull apart their mouths stay slightly open, and Dominic feels Billy's warm breath mingling with his own. He inhales sharply and opens his eyes, and then he falls back into Billy, desperately, his hand clenching Billy's waist as he seeks out Billy's mouth in several fast, hot kisses, all in a row. He tilts his head to the opposite angle and pushes forward with mouth and upper body so that Billy's torso leans ever so slightly, supported by Dominic's hand on his back, suspended for a moment in mid-kiss before they part again and take a breath and Dominic allows himself a small, utterly content sigh. Billy opens his eyes and smiles and he clenches his hand in Dominic's hair, kisses him just once more, without tongue, before he puts some space in between them.
"I have my wallet," Billy says, teasingly, and Dominic grins, taking Billy's hand.
"So you do."
And so they leave the shop, heading for the tube again, and though Dominic is aware that he is ten minutes late for a scheduled rendezvous, and aware after the fact that they had not been the only witnesses to their all-too-brief coupling, an indistinct doubled silhouette in the eerie emptiness of the moonlit shop, he doesn't turn and look. Sean will wait. He walks Billy to the station, and touches his cheek, and gives him a smile and a kiss goodnight.
They go their separate ways.
Verse: Tangled Histories
Author: Viktoria Angelique (v_angelique)
Pairings: Dom/Billy; Dom/Bean
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: If you think this is true, you must be smoking some really, really premium shit.
Verse notes: The Tangled Histories verse exists in a world where the existence of vampires is known and accepted, and a handful of vampire families make up somewhere between two and ten percent of the world population. In this verse, vampires are not affected by sunlight and there is no great universal conflict between mortals and immortal. Vampires generally only take human blood that is offered willingly, and there are plenty of humans willing to offer. They can only die from not feeding enough and perhaps a few other rare conditions. The most important things to these vampires are age, family, and respect. Various pairings will be explored in the verse, and stories may jump around the chronology, but I'm going to try to write so that they can be read as standalones. In other words, I'm trying to avoid a WIP series, and there's no telling how long it'll take me to tell these stories, but they'll appear sporadically and all be listed under the Tangled Histories heading in my fic index.
Summary: Dominic and Billy get to know each other. Takes place while Andy is in New Zealand (see Rethinking Kismet. Can be read as a standalone.
A/N: Wow, has it been almost a year since I last posted from this verse? Indeed it has. Well, rest assured I kept writing in it. What I've posted already is 96 pages in the verse's word document, and there are 195 pages total, which means that there is lots more in store. Fear not! Thanks for sticking around. If you're new, take a look at my fic index and you'll find all the stories from this verse grouped together for your reading pleasure.
Dominic has never been happier to see a curtain go down in his life. It was worth it, of course, because Billy loves classical music, and his eyes lit up brighter than fireworks when Dominic showed him the two tickets, but Christ is the music boring.
"What do you say to a late dinner?" Dominic asks as they leave the theatre, his whole reason for doing this in the first place. "I know a great little spot."
"Yes, that would be all right," Billy agrees pleasantly, and Dominic steers them to a teeny little Spanish place with five tables where he orders margaritas and tapas in highly Anglicized Spanish, hoping to impress Billy.
"Was the music good, then?" Dominic asks, really having no idea.
"Oh it was brilliant, thank you. I didn't realise you liked classical."
"I don't," Dominic replies, grinning brightly. "I like you."
"Oh," Billy says, blushing to the roots of his hair.
"I like rock and roll," Dominic admits. "I saw the Beatles in concert once."
"You… but you can't be a day over thirty…"
Dominic laughs suddenly and shakes his head. "I thought you knew."
"Knew what?"
"See, this is what you get for not letting me talk to you more," Dominic teases. "I'm a pet," he explains. "You know, to a vampire. I was born in 1946."
"Jesus Christ," Billy exclaims, whistling through his teeth. "I had no idea."
Dominic laughs. "If you're impressed by that, you should meet my family."
"Vampires?"
"Yes, mostly. A couple of other pets, as well, but they're far older than me."
"How old is your… you know, your vampire?"
Dominic smiles. "His name is Sean. He's nine hundred this year, but I try not to let it go to his head."
"Nine hundred?? But that's… even for a vampire, he's…"
"An old fart, yes, it's true," Dominic says with a faked sigh. "I do what I can."
"Are you… I mean being a pet, that's like… marriage, sort of, isn't it?"
Dominic smiles and shakes his head. "Not really. It's a lifelong commitment, but since my life's fairly likely to be eternity, or at least very, very long, it's a bit different. Vampires aren't too picky about things like monogamy, for example," he says pointedly, earning another pleasant blush.
"Oh. Dominic, why do you always flirt with me?"
Dominic smiles gently and touches his hand. "Because you're lovely and I like you."
"You don't even know that I'm homosexual."
"Are you?"
"Occasionally."
Dominic grins. "Good enough for me, mate."
"You have a big scary nine hundred year old vampire lurking around somewhere. The blokes I've been with in the past have been considerably less frightening."
"Ah, don't worry about Sean. He's a puppy dog once you get to know him."
"Somehow I doubt that."
Dominic laughs and tries a spoonful of gazpacho, sipping from his margarita to wash it down. "Tell me something about yourself."
"I'm from Glasgow. I have a sister and one uncle living."
Dominic nods, stroking the back of Billy's hand with his thumb. "My family has a special place in its heart for Scotland."
"Why so?"
"Sean and his fathers - his sires, you know, the ones who turned him - have a little cottage up there, in the Highlands. It's been there for nearly a thousand years, and they go there to be alone, away from the politicking. Sean was turned there."
"Jesus. A thousand-year-old cottage?"
"Yes, well, they've done some things to maintain it, obviously. It's made of stone, though, very durable, and hidden away where it doesn't interest anyone. It's a special place to them."
Billy nods. "And you? What's your special place?"
Dominic grins. "Your shop."
"Charmer."
"Well I have a flat. In London."
"Aye?"
"Mm. Would you like to see it?"
Billy laughs. "If you insist."
~*~
"You don't act very Catholic."
"I was raised it, same as you!" Dominic promises, laughing as he sips his wine.
"How do you reconcile it?" Billy asks curiously.
"What?"
"The homosexuality."
Dominic smiles and shrugs. "I didn't say I necessarily continue to subscribe to the Church's teachings, William. They don't take all too kindly to vampires, either."
Billy nods, cocks his head to the side as he thinks. "I have a theory about vampires."
"Oh? Do tell."
"I think that maybe… well I believe that God created all of us. Human and vampire, ye ken. There are vampires who were born to it, right?"
"Yes. Sean's fathers are born vampires."
Billy nods. "So God created us all the same, but he made vampires because not everyone is exactly the same. Some people have a more… independent disposition, I suppose, or are just suited to this earth. They don't have any particular need for an afterlife or the active presence of God, so they eventually become vampires, or are born that way. And the rest of us live our mortal lives here, and then we go to Heaven if we're lucky."
"What about pets?" Dominic asks.
"I don't know," Billy answers honestly. "I suppose you're a little of both. You don't need to ever meet God, but at the same time you're dependent on your creator. Just not that creator."
Dominic laughs. "It's an interesting idea. I think most vampires are dependent on their sires, too, to some extent, if they're not born vampires. Ian and Alan are the only born vampires I've ever met, but they are more independent, sort of… old and powerful. They're the closest thing I know to Gods."
Billy smiles. "Do you love them?"
"Yes. They're family."
"It's a nice thought, having a vampire family. I've heard your lot are fiercely loyal."
"They are. It's amazing, I… don't know what my life would have been, had I not found Sean. It's silly to think of, because there couldn't ever be a life without Sean. It's almost like I was born to find him," Dominic admits. "But if I hadn't I'd be an old man now. They all say it will be less strange when it's been a century since my birth, because I won't think of my age and what I would have been doing now if I were mortal, but for now it's a bit odd. When I was little I thought of the twenty-first century as this science fiction era, and assumed that I'd be nearly dead by the time it came."
Billy smiles. "I'm glad you're not," he admits. "How old were you, when you became a pet?"
"Twenty-three."
Billy nods. "I didn't… it's part of why I didn't understand your flirting with me," he admits. "I figured I was far too old for someone so lovely," he says with a blush. Dominic laughs and touches his knee.
"Far from it. You're half my age."
"A little more than."
"And gorgeous."
Billy bites his lip. "What do you want from me, Dominic?"
"Right now I want to kiss you. And then I want to see you again."
"Oh," Billy says softly. "I'm not used to this… courtship. I've fucked blokes a couple of times, but it wasn't…"
"Good. I want to be different."
Billy smirks. "You're certainly that."
Dominic smiles and reaches up, stroking Billy's cheek. "May I?"
"Does Sean know? And if he doesn't, will he murder me when he finds out?"
Dominic laughs. "He knows I have a crush on the sweet shop owner. He wouldn't mind this, don't worry."
"You're sure?"
"Think of it… think of it this way," Dominic suggests, scooting closer and moving his hand down to Billy's leg. "Sean always knows how I am. If I'm happy, scared, excited… turned on," Dominic says with a smirk, "then he knows it. If he senses that I'm afraid, or in pain, or hurt, then he'll be by my side in an instant. He's a protector. But vampires aren't jealous. If I'm happy, he doesn't ask who or what is making me happy. He's just glad that I am. He trusts me, and he knows that nothing can shake my love for him. Just like I don't mind if he needs to go to Scotland with his sires for a few months. I know that he has emotional needs beyond me, and he knows that I have needs related to mortal life that don't involve him."
"Oh. That's very… logical."
"Mm. They've had a long time to become old and wise. May I kiss you now?"
Billy smiles. "Yes."
Dominic grins and tilts his head, leaning in and kissing him sweetly, softly, their lips parting reluctantly after a moment. "Beautiful," Dominic whispers, touching his cheek. "May I walk you to the tube station?"
"Oh. You were serious?"
"About…?"
"That you only wanted a kiss."
"Oh, no, I want much more than a kiss," Dominic smirks. "But this is fun."
"You're really not normal, are you?"
"Hmm, no. I don't think so. Is that all right?"
Billy laughs and nods. "Fine."
~*~
"It's an interesting theory, if you think about it. Kind of makes you vamps all look like Gods yourself, but it's not a bad one."
"I've heard it before," Sean says, running his hands idly up and down Dominic's chest as they lounge on the sofa together. "Not to say that your mortal is unoriginal, but people come up with the idea from time to time."
"He's not my mortal," Dominic argues with a laugh. "But he does have a brain in his skull. Do you think you'd like another pet, maybe, by chance?"
Sean snorts. "You're enough, really."
Dominic pouts. "Are you sure?"
"Love, I really don't get the impression that he wants to join our little clan."
"Why not? He likes me. He let me kiss him."
"Which is all well and good, but you know you can have human friends. Or lovers, if you like. That doesn't mean you don't let them grow old and die."
"Do I have to? I don't want him to die."
Sean smiles and shakes his head. "You're so young, Dominic. You should be grateful that he'll give you the time of day, anyway, and enjoy him while you can. And when the time comes that he grows old, or drifts away, I'll be here to comfort you."
Dominic sighs. "I know. It's just so depressing."
Sean smiles, kisses his temple. "Life sometimes is."
~*~
"Oh, bugger. I left my wallet at the shop," Billy realises, digging in his coat pocket outside the tube station. He and Dominic ate dinner together at Dominic's flat, which isn't far from the shop, but Billy's is farther.
"We'll get it, then," Dominic reasons. "C'mon then."
Billy smiles sheepishly and they turn back the way they came, ducking down a side street that leads to the shop. "Thank you for walking with me."
"Any time. How early do you have to be up?" Dominic wonders. "To start the sweets?"
"Well, it's not like a bakery," Billy explains. "A lot of the fresh things can actually sit two or three days, some even a week. I usually come in at six, which gives me four hours before I open, and a lot of things only take twenty minutes a batch. And then I can actually be working on something during the day at slow times. I have a thermometer that has an alarm on it, for example, so I can just walk away from the caramel and then pour it into the pan to set when it's ready."
"Your caramels are the best in London," Dominic proclaims. "Though it sort of ruins the magic to hear you didn't sit over them all afternoon, waiting for it to bubble."
Billy laughs as they reach the shop, putting his keys into the lock on the thick glass door and letting them both inside. The moonlight comes in through the slates in the metal grating that protect the big windows, painting the shop a lovely ghostly hue interrupted only by shadowy bins of jelly beans and towers of wrapped chocolates. "Caramel isn't ready when it bubbles," he explains as he walks to the little office next to the back kitchen. "The most simple caramel is only sugar and water, and it bubbles right away. You just let it go on its merry way until it reaches the right temperature, depending on whether you're looking for caramel sauce or caramel frosting or soft caramels or hard ones."
Dominic smiles as Billy emerges and leans with his hip against a display of Lindt bars. "You're absolutely lovely."
Billy blushes. "What?"
"I like listening to you talk about sweets. You're very knowledgeable."
"Silly thing to be knowledgeable about."
"I don't think so. Sweets make people happy."
Billy smiles and steps over to him. "Do they make you happy?"
"You make me happy," Dominic counters, resting his hands on Billy's hips and tilting his head to the side, taking a slow tasting kiss not unlike their past three, but then leaning back in and letting his lips linger a little longer. They part with a soft smack, and then it is Billy who hastens to rejoin, his hands resting on Dominic's chest. A fourth and a fifth kiss and then Billy's lips part, and he captures Dominic's lower lip only just, pulling at it with a tentative suck. One hand slides up, ascending the back of Dominic's neck to land at the base of his skull, resting there as Billy deliberately traces Dominic's lips with the tip of a very deft pink tongue, then wets his own before slowly pressing his open mouth to Dominic's, his eyes closed. Their tongues brush as their mouths close and separate, rejoin, a little more this time. On the third pass Billy's tongue surrounds his in a slow circle, and he tugs Dominic's body closer as he too steps forward, their jumpers smushed together. This time when they pull apart their mouths stay slightly open, and Dominic feels Billy's warm breath mingling with his own. He inhales sharply and opens his eyes, and then he falls back into Billy, desperately, his hand clenching Billy's waist as he seeks out Billy's mouth in several fast, hot kisses, all in a row. He tilts his head to the opposite angle and pushes forward with mouth and upper body so that Billy's torso leans ever so slightly, supported by Dominic's hand on his back, suspended for a moment in mid-kiss before they part again and take a breath and Dominic allows himself a small, utterly content sigh. Billy opens his eyes and smiles and he clenches his hand in Dominic's hair, kisses him just once more, without tongue, before he puts some space in between them.
"I have my wallet," Billy says, teasingly, and Dominic grins, taking Billy's hand.
"So you do."
And so they leave the shop, heading for the tube again, and though Dominic is aware that he is ten minutes late for a scheduled rendezvous, and aware after the fact that they had not been the only witnesses to their all-too-brief coupling, an indistinct doubled silhouette in the eerie emptiness of the moonlit shop, he doesn't turn and look. Sean will wait. He walks Billy to the station, and touches his cheek, and gives him a smile and a kiss goodnight.
They go their separate ways.