Choco Latte: 5
Title: Choco Latte: 5
Author: mistake_arrest
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: PG for this part (will go higher later)
Warnings: None for this part
Summary: AU. A new resident shakes up a narrow-minded small town - and a certain chocolatier.
Disclaimer: I do not own Muse - no matter how much I would love to - and this is pure fiction. Original characters and the storyline are mine. No profit is being made.
Note: Massive thanks to ms_belle10 for beta reading!
Previous Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Two friends chatted in the chocolate shop the next day, Matthew standing behind the counter and Chris sitting on a stool on the other side. They’d been talking about Chris’ kids and Matthew’s parents and the topic of conversation had changed when Matthew had mentioned that his cousin was getting married the next month.
Getting married was something that a year and a half before, would have definitely been on Matthew’s agenda, but since things had changed, he had abandoned those dreams. It was only recently that he had even properly started thinking about the possibility of seriously dating someone else. It wasn’t as much because it had taken so long to get over Lily as it was that he had just simply wanted to take time to figure out certain things about himself, to sort of redefine himself.
Of course, Chris wanted to talk with Matthew about the beauties of being in a relationship, since he was in an especially happy one.
“Well, you haven’t even been with anyone since Lily, or at least you haven’t told me about them,” he said, drawing stick figures on a piece of paper on the counter.
Matthew leaned his back against the wall, his muscles tense from not sleeping well the night before. The incident from the previous evening with Dominic had been haunting him more than he would like to admit. “Yeah, well… there hasn’t been anything worth mentioning, really. I’ve had a couple of drunken one nighters here and there but you wouldn’t even want to hear about them, I reckon.”
“You might be right there. Don’t want to hear your dirty secrets any more than I have to!” Chris’ guffawing laughter filled the small shop, making Matthew chuckle too.
“But seriously,” the bigger man continued after his bout of laughter, “have you even thought about finding someone else to be with? You do know that Lily’s dating again, don’t you?”
“Well, what does it matter? Do I have to date just because she does?” Matthew raised his eyebrows challengingly - he didn’t like the fact that Chris was comparing his situation to Lily’s. It wasn’t a competition.
“No, you know that’s not what I meant.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know…” Matthew said in a slightly whining voice, rubbing his hands over his face before leaning against the counter. He started tapping his fingers on the shiny surface, his lips pursing in thought. “It’s not that I’ve given up, it’s just that… well, you know that I’m… that it’s not only women that I fancy.”
“Yes? And you know that I don’t have any problems with it. To be honest, I don’t know why anyone would have anything against it.”
Matthew shook his head, his eyes now fixated on another stick figure slowly appearing on the piece of paper. Jesus, the man draws like a five year old, he thought.
“The fact that you don’t doesn’t mean that everyone thinks the same way. I’m not stupid, Chris; I know what people around here think about… gays.”
The drawing halted and Chris put the pen aside. “But you always say that you’re not gay.”
Matthew shrugged. That was something that he had been thinking about a lot lately. “Yeah. Well, yeah, technically I guess I’m not. But at the moment… I haven’t really looked at women like that in a long time.”
“Oh… well, maybe it’s sporadic. But, like I said, I honestly don’t mind who you date or who you have sex with or whatever it is you’re doing.”
Matthew was very thankful that he had such an open-minded friend among all the old fashioned people he had to deal with on an almost daily basis. “I’m really glad about that, mate. It’s good to have someone who I can talk about these things with…”
“Any time. Hey, didn’t you say you thought that Dominic bloke was nice? You thought about that any further?”
“Thought about? Bloody hell, Chris, I can’t fucking stop thinking about him!”
Chris smiled, nodding his head encouragingly. That’s how he always was; supportive. “Now, there you go! There’s no harm in trying if he likes you.”
“I… kind of tried already,” Matthew said, his shoulders sagging. He had kept thinking about the night before and couldn’t get it out of his head no matter what he tried. There was always a cute blond with his thousand- watt-smile and soft lips, so soft that Matthew still remembered how they felt against his own even though it had only lasted a couple of seconds. He wasn’t even sure if it counted as a kiss. Either way, Dominic hadn’t really left his thoughts since the previous day.
“Huh? What did you do, then?”
“We went for drinks and got a little tipsy and we had such a great time and then I kind of ruined everything and kissed him. Sort of. I mean, it was really, really awkward in the end and I think he was a little bit surprised. I don’t know if he likes me or not. He’s really hard to read,” Matthew concluded, looking at Chris and waiting for his reaction.
Chris frowned but looked curious, tilting his head slightly. “You kissed him? What… what did he do?”
“Nothing, really. He just smiled that fucking gorgeous smile of his after catching his breath for a while.”
“Wow, Matt,” Chris said, grinning widely. “I don’t know why you’re so unsure. If the guy smiles after you kiss him, he can’t be very disgusted, can he? I swear your mind works like one of a teenage girl’s sometimes.”
“Maybe,” Matthew giggled. “But I swear that sometimes I bloody feel like one too.”
~*~
Later that day, Dominic was wandering through his apartment, flicking off lights as he went and checking that everything was okay. A while earlier he said goodbye to Chris, who had helped him carry some new pieces of furniture inside. He cast a tired smile at the chairs and tables still covered in packing material, waiting to be unpacked, deciding that he would do it the next day since his feet and back were aching from working all day.
He walked through the kitchen that was almost ready, with only the places for ovens and other equipment still empty and waiting for delivery later that week. Dominic sat on his double bed covered with a plastic spread to protect it from the dust flying around during renovation, leaning back and letting his body land on the bed with a dull thud.
He’d been so busy with work that he hadn’t really gotten a chance to think about things properly. He was really doing this, his own version of ‘growing up’. He didn’t feel very grown up just then, but rather small and lonely in the big, empty space.
Everything was going so smoothly that Dominic wondered when the moment would come where things would go wrong. It wasn’t exactly a pessimistic attitude - he just simply had accepted the fact that in real life, things didn’t always go like they did in movies. That, if anything, was something that he had learned over the years.
He reached out to the small bedside table he bought on his shopping trip with Matthew, a cheap and simple self-assembly drawer, and grabbed his phone, fiddling with it for a while before placing it on his chest. He sort of wanted to send something to Matthew, perhaps a text message where he would explain how completely okay he was that the brunet had kissed him the previous night. More than okay, really.
The kiss itself still made Dominic smile. It was the kind of kiss that didn’t exactly take your breath away but left your heart pounding in your chest faster than any marathon could make it go. The only thing Dominic felt bad about was the fact that Matthew had pulled away far too quickly, before the blond had had any chance to react. He could still remember Matthew’s embarrassed expression, his cheeks reddening violently and his whole small body sort of flinching as if he had only then realized what he’d been doing.
Dominic had wanted nothing more than to pull Matthew back in his arms and tell him that he had absolutely no reason to be sorry and that Dominic was so fucking happy that Matthew felt that way about him. But instead he had just… well, he had told Matthew that it was okay but then he had just turned away and left.
He sat up and pulled at the plastic covering his bed, lifting his bum so that the temporary blanket slid onto the floor. He set his phone on the mattress and quickly stripped to his boxers and t-shirt, deciding to skip the shower that evening - he would just have to wake up ten minutes earlier in the morning to shower.
Crawling under the covers, Dominic placed his phone in his hands again, pressing the text button. He gnawed on his lip for a second, trying to come up with something that would catch Matthew’s interest. It isn’t too late to text, is it? he thought, his thumb tapping the screen when he tried to think of something to say. It was just past ten o’clock, and knowing that the brunet would most likely have to get up early in the morning, he knew that if he wanted to say something, he would have to do it now.
Hey, Matthew. Everything okay? Sorry about yesterday. Chris gave me your number after a lot of pestering, I hope you don’t mind? :) -Dominic
His thumb only mildly shaking, Dominic sent the text and waited. He stretched his limbs and closed his eyes, dropping his phone on his chest again. Sleep was beginning to crawl into his tired body - he had always been the kind of person who could work hard all day but the minute he stopped, his body immediately tried to catch up on all the lost energy.
It took approximately six long, dragging minutes for Matthew to reply, making Dominic’s phone beep and vibrate on his chest. Quickly he took the phone in his hands, his lips twitching into a smirk.
Evening! I’m fine, thanks. I should be the one to be sorry, not you! So; I’m sorry. And I don’t mind you having my number, not at all ;) - M -
There was a winky face! Dominic giggled and replied fast, his heart beating a tiny bit quicker than before.
Right, we’ll be here apologizing to each other till the end of time if we keep that up ;) Can I still see you some day? I think you promised me some chocolate… -Dominic
This time it only took a minute for Matthew to answer, with the phone beeping demandingly in the eagerly waiting blond’s hands.
Of course you can :) How’s Friday for you? After work sometime, maybe at seven in my shop? -M-
At seven on a Friday night sounded very much like a date to Dominic. His thumbs flying on the keypad, he typed a reply, trying not to sound enthusiastic as he was in fear of scaring Matthew.
Yeah, that would be perfect! See you then. Can’t wait :) -Dominic
His fingers hovering above the ‘erase’ button, he contemplated taking the last bit with “can’t wait” out but decided against it and hit ‘send’, smiling when only a moment later his phone beeped again.
Me neither. Good night! -M xx-
For a moment, Dominic thought he had imagined the two little kisses in Matthew’s latest text, but after blinking a few times and focusing his eyes on his phone’s screen once again he laughed a little, his fist pumping the air once as a sign of victory.
Sighing contentedly, he set the alarm for the morning and pulled the duvet up almost to his nose, burying his face in his pillow and turning onto his side to lie more comfortably. At least he had something very exciting to look forward to.
~*~
Matthew leaned down to spit toothpaste into the sink, rinsing his mouth before padding into his bedroom. He yawned and pulled the curtains in front of his big bedroom window in an effort to keep the streetlights from distracting his sleep.
He’d had an interesting twenty minutes, the first text from Dominic startling him in the middle of his evening tea. Who would have known that by the end of the day, Matthew would have a date for a Friday night? Well, at least he liked to think of it as a date.
Immediately he had started planning on what he was going to make Dominic taste, his mind set on not ruining this perfect opportunity to show him how good he really was at what he did. Of course it wasn’t as much about showing his professionalism as much as it was him just wanting to please Dominic, but he would definitely be happy if he could kill two birds with one stone that way.
He remembered Dominic mentioning berries, how his mother used to grow them in her backyard when he was little. Such useless knowledge for some people, but Matthew had stored it in one of his ‘random-info-about-your-love-interests’ departments in his brain.
Quickly scribbling down a list of items he had to get, Matthew prepared to go to sleep, picking up his phone one last time while lounging on his bed.
You won’t fucking believe this, but I think Dominic’s coming over ON FRIDAY EVENING. How does that sound to you, huh?
He searched Chris’ number and hit ‘send’, grinning when he imagined his friend reading his enthusiastic message. It didn’t take long for Chris to reply - he had probably just managed to put his oldest kid in bed and was sitting in front of the TV with Kelly. Matthew wondered briefly if Chris had told anything about him and Dominic to his wife…
Sounds like a hot date to me ;) Oh, and sorry that I gave him your number without asking, btw. Thought you probably wouldn’t mind.
Matthew chuckled and buried his cold feet under the warm blanket, quickly typing a reply to Chris.
Of course I don’t mind! I’m so bloody excited that I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep before Friday.
Haha! I doubt that. You’ve always been a good sleeper ;) but hey, I’ve got to go check on the kids. Good night, see you tomorrow?
Sure thing! Night :)
Giggling a little when he remembered Chris’ words from earlier that day, saying that Matthew acted like a schoolgirl when Dominic was concerned, the brunet stretched his legs and closed his eyes, a little smile playing on his lips when he thought about his upcoming meeting. He pulled the blanket tighter around himself and hoped that the next four days would go by quickly.