Choco Latte: 10
Title: Choco Latte: 10
Author: mistake_arrest
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: R(-ish)
Warnings: Language, sexual content
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: I bet you guys thought you'd never see this again...Well, surprise! I feel a little bit rusty with this one, bear with me <3
Previous Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Dominic was actually excited to see his mother again, after only keeping contact with her via texts and phone calls lately. He had been so busy with work that he felt almost guilty about it, especially considering who had been in his mind the most during the past couple of weeks - a person who was definitely not his mother.
Everything had gone smoothly so far, the biggest setback being him running out of lemon cheesecake. Kelly had made a quick run to her house though to bring in some more cookies to make up for the lack of cheesecake. Dominic couldn’t thank the woman enough for all her help, she had proven to be an absolute angel, not that he had thought anything else of her since she was after all married to one of the nicest men he had ever met.
He couldn’t help but wonder what his dad would think of him now if he could see him. He would most likely be very proud, Dominic reckoned. Oh, how he wished that his dad could be there. He’d always said his son would find something he’d feel very passionate about and be successful at it. Maybe this was finally it. While he imagined his dad saying how proud he is, Dominic felt a strong wave of sadness in his chest and hot tears filled his eyes, threatening to fall down his cheeks. He missed his father a lot, especially in moments like this.
“Dom… you okay?” Matthew asked suddenly, approaching Dominic and placing his hand on the blond’s arm, his blue eyes watching the other man’s reactions intently.
“Yeah, yeah I am. I must be tired, is all. Thinking all sorts of funny things. Thank you for caring,” Dominic said and smiled reassuringly. He didn’t want to worry Matthew with his thought. “I should probably go and see mum. Haven’t seen her for a while!”
“I didn’t know she was going to come and see you!”
“Me neither. I mean, she never said she is. But I know her and that she loves to try to surprise me so I would have been disappointed if she hadn't come!”
Matthew smiled and watched curiously how Dominic smoothed his hair, the blond probably not even realizing he was going so. Dominic looked perfect in Matthew’s eyes as always, even though the busy day behind and the lack of sleep were obviously making him edgy and more aware of his appearance than he normally was.
“You look just fine,” Matthew had to say, catching Dominic off guard. The brunet laughed when Dominic looked puzzled. “You keep trying to fix your hair. It looks great, don’t worry about it,” Matthew said again, making the blond blush.
“Oh. I didn’t even realize.”
Just then Kelly stormed in, huffing unappreciatively as she came. “Oh thank God I got rid of Mrs. Griffith finally, she was insisting I put her silly cakes on display and wouldn't leave before I did so. Hope it didn't put off the customers!" She was fussing about and grabbing some more cups from the brand new box that was sitting on the kitchen table. Then she suddenly remembered why she was there, slammed the cups back onto the table and almost breaking them, and grabbed Dominic by the arm. "Oi boss, your mother is here. Now get your backside to the other side, she’s waiting!”
Matthew laughed at Kelly’s straightforwardness. He patted Dominic at the back and ushered him to go along. “You’d better go see her before she comes looking for you.”
“Yeah.” Dominic wiped his palms against his thighs,, thinking whether he should say one more thing that was on his mind. “Listen, Matt… maybe we shouldn’t… if you don’t mind…”
“You don’t want to mention us to your mum?” the dark haired man guessed.
“Do you mind? I just thought that it’s a bit early… I’ll introduce you to her, sure, and chances are she’ll notice anyway because she knows me too well but… you understand, surely?” Dominic looked almost embarrassed to for once be the person who wanted to keep things secret.
“That’s fine, don’t worry about it. I would be honoured if you introduced me to her though,” Matthew said, grinning widely. “Just as a friend, for now!” he added quickly.
Laughing softly, the blond walked out of the kitchen. He looked around and saw people sitting at tables, sipping their coffees and hot chocolates while chatting animatedly. That particular sight was the reason he’d wanted to open the coffee shop in the first place - he’d always enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere in such places. He took a moment to let the scene in front of him sink in before he saw the familiar figure standing at the side of the room, talking animatedly to somebody Dominic didn’t know. He smiled widely when she noticed his presence and rushed across the room to give his mother a warm, tight hug.
“It’s so good to see you, Mum! I was hoping you could make it here today,” he said warmly before receiving a big wet kiss on his cheek from her mother. In the next breath he couldn’t help but ask excitedly, “How do you think the place looks?”
“It looks just like you, Dominic. You know I love it!” his mother exclaimed and pinched her son on the cheek, much to the blond’s embarrassment. He could hear high pitched giggling a few steps behind him and shot Matthew a positively poisonous look, only a few seconds before bursting into laughter himself.
“And who is this?” his mother asked smiling broadly when she saw Matthew, with a wink of an eye that she didn’t even try to hide.
“Um… he’s a new wonderful friend of mine, Mum. Matthew,” Dominic introduced the dark haired man and made motions with his hand for the other man to come closer. “He’s been helping me an awful lot with the café. Don’t know how I would have managed to open the place without him and his friend, Chris.”
“And how long have you been an item for?” his mother whispered in a wicked tone just in time before the brunet would come within hearing distance, the implication leaving Dominic’s mouth hanging wide open.
How could she know?
~*~*~
Throughout the day people flowed in and out of the café, the number of visitors on the first day greater than Dominic had ever expected even in his wildest dreams. Simply put it was a success. People from all over the small town had come there to see what was going on; some of them Dominic already knew and some of them were complete strangers, but everyone praised the café, making it a day Dominic was sure he’d remember for the rest of his life.
He had been busy all day and was very thankful of the help Matthew had offered him whenever he had time. Of course the brunet couldn’t be there all the time because he had his own business to run but he did the best he could to help his new friend have a good start. Dominic also hadn’t minded the short moments they had stolen from the busy schedule to spend some time in the backroom, sharing breathy kisses that made their hearts beat extra fast from fear of somebody catching them. They were not quite ready for that just yet.
It was nearing seven in the evening and Dominic was sitting at an empty table, flexing his shoulders to relieve some of the tension that had built up there during the long day. He watched and listened as his customers chatted away at their tables while writing down a list of things he still needed to buy. He wondered if Matthew was going to go shopping again anytime soon and whether he could tag along with him.
“Hey,” he heard just then and felt a tap on his shoulder. It was a familiar voice and belonged to the person he’d just been thinking about. “Mind if I sit down for a bit?”
Dominic shifted a little on his chair and looked up at Matthew who was standing beside him, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder and looking as delicious as ever. The brunet’s bright blue eyes were twinkling at him.
“Oh, hey,” Dominic said and patted the chair beside him, smiling broadly. “Yes, of course, come and sit down. Or are you going somewhere?” he asked, pointing at Matthew’s bag.
“Nah, I just closed the shop actually. I was about to go home but then I remembered you wanted to hang out tonight. Does the offer still stand?”
“Oh yes.” The blond planted his feet on the floor and pushed his body further into the cushioned chair, closing his eyes with a smile. “I think that’s just what I need after today.”
Matthew giggled but nodded understandingly, sitting down on the chair next to the blond. “You look knackered. Out of shape?”
“A bit, yeah,” Dominic laughed and rubbed his face with his left palm. “I guess the correct term is ‘tired but happy’. That’s what I am, for sure.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Matthew said with a smile. “I used to be the same when I first opened my shop. My God it was tiring, both physically and mentally. Over time though… you learn to be more relaxed about it all. Trust me.”
“I suppose so,” Dominic yawned, covering his mouth with his hand. Then he lowered his voice and leaned a bit closer to the chocolatier. “Until then though, I’d be very much content if I got a good massage tonight.”
Matthew wiggled his eyebrows and cast a quick glance at the other tables to make sure nobody was paying any particular attention to them. “Is that so?”
“Oh yes,” the blond said in a half-whisper. “Know any good masseurs nearby?”
“I certainly do. One of them in particular will absolutely blow your mind, I promise.” Matthew did the gentlest motion towards Dominic’s hand across the table, his long forefinger swiping the side of the blond’s hand very softly.
“Excuse me, boys,” came an unexpected call for attention. It took a moment for Dominic and Matthew to recognise the voice but when they did, they shared an involuntary grimace and instinctively made a bit more distance between each other. “Is there a chance we could get some service around here?”
Charlotte was standing by the checkout, a small group of her female friends in tow, the group giggling and whispering something to each other that the couple couldn’t quite hear.
“Of course, Charlotte, I’m sorry. Just give me a second.” He gave Matthew an apologetic shrug of his shoulders and pushed his chair back to stand up.
“Sure, gorgeous,” Charlotte said flirtatiously, staring at Dominic with an openly hungry look in her eyes. The blond merely ignored her advance and walked past the group of girls and behind the counter so he could fix them something warm to drink.
“I know you must be closing up soon for the day, am I right?” Charlotte asked after she and her friends had made their orders, her hand brushing against Dominic’s fingers as he slid a cup of steaming cappuccino across the counter. “How about you and I go to Red Lion for a drink afterwards? Just the two of us,” she added, casting a quick look at Matthew who was still sitting at a nearby table, pretending to concentrate on the newspaper he’d spread in front of him on the table instead of eavesdropping on the conversation.
Dominic suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
“Um, uh…” he said, busying his hands with another girl’s chai latte to stop them from shaking. He was mentally cursing himself; he wasn’t sure what exactly about Charlotte made him feel so uneasy - it wasn’t like he hadn’t been hit on by pretty girls before in his time - but he sure did have a very bad feeling about this particular girl. “Actually, I had planned on staying home after work.”
“And tell me, what exactly would you do at home? Watch TV? Do crosswords? Play Sudoku?”
Nope. I was planning on having hot, steamy sex with Matthew until dawn.
“I’m pretty tired after today to be quite honest, Charlotte. I think I’ll go straight to bed.”
“On a Saturday night?” Charlotte asked, raising her eyebrows. “How about you?” she raised her voice a bit to direct her question at Matthew who was woken up from his thoughts.
“Knackered as well, Charlotte,” Mattew replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be good pub company tonight. You girls go by yourselves.”
“Funny,” Charlotte sneered half at her friends, half at Dominic and Matthew, “If I didn’t know better I’d think these two have common plans for tonight or something.” The group of girls giggled nervously at the implication.
“Um…” Dominic started to make up an explanation but Charlotte was faster.
“But surely you boys are just tired, aren’t you?” She winked, finished her coffee and started to make her way out, her gang following at her heels. “Must be all that hard work, nothing else, eh? Well, get some rest, the both of you, alright? And Matthew, I hope you’ll be alright in the shop on your own tomorrow, I think tonight’s going to be a late one!”
And with that she was out after casting a final look at the bewildered couple, both of whom were trying hard to avoid the curious gaze of the few intrigued customers still left in the café.
Author: mistake_arrest
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: R(-ish)
Warnings: Language, sexual content
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: I bet you guys thought you'd never see this again...Well, surprise! I feel a little bit rusty with this one, bear with me <3
Previous Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Dominic was actually excited to see his mother again, after only keeping contact with her via texts and phone calls lately. He had been so busy with work that he felt almost guilty about it, especially considering who had been in his mind the most during the past couple of weeks - a person who was definitely not his mother.
Everything had gone smoothly so far, the biggest setback being him running out of lemon cheesecake. Kelly had made a quick run to her house though to bring in some more cookies to make up for the lack of cheesecake. Dominic couldn’t thank the woman enough for all her help, she had proven to be an absolute angel, not that he had thought anything else of her since she was after all married to one of the nicest men he had ever met.
He couldn’t help but wonder what his dad would think of him now if he could see him. He would most likely be very proud, Dominic reckoned. Oh, how he wished that his dad could be there. He’d always said his son would find something he’d feel very passionate about and be successful at it. Maybe this was finally it. While he imagined his dad saying how proud he is, Dominic felt a strong wave of sadness in his chest and hot tears filled his eyes, threatening to fall down his cheeks. He missed his father a lot, especially in moments like this.
“Dom… you okay?” Matthew asked suddenly, approaching Dominic and placing his hand on the blond’s arm, his blue eyes watching the other man’s reactions intently.
“Yeah, yeah I am. I must be tired, is all. Thinking all sorts of funny things. Thank you for caring,” Dominic said and smiled reassuringly. He didn’t want to worry Matthew with his thought. “I should probably go and see mum. Haven’t seen her for a while!”
“I didn’t know she was going to come and see you!”
“Me neither. I mean, she never said she is. But I know her and that she loves to try to surprise me so I would have been disappointed if she hadn't come!”
Matthew smiled and watched curiously how Dominic smoothed his hair, the blond probably not even realizing he was going so. Dominic looked perfect in Matthew’s eyes as always, even though the busy day behind and the lack of sleep were obviously making him edgy and more aware of his appearance than he normally was.
“You look just fine,” Matthew had to say, catching Dominic off guard. The brunet laughed when Dominic looked puzzled. “You keep trying to fix your hair. It looks great, don’t worry about it,” Matthew said again, making the blond blush.
“Oh. I didn’t even realize.”
Just then Kelly stormed in, huffing unappreciatively as she came. “Oh thank God I got rid of Mrs. Griffith finally, she was insisting I put her silly cakes on display and wouldn't leave before I did so. Hope it didn't put off the customers!" She was fussing about and grabbing some more cups from the brand new box that was sitting on the kitchen table. Then she suddenly remembered why she was there, slammed the cups back onto the table and almost breaking them, and grabbed Dominic by the arm. "Oi boss, your mother is here. Now get your backside to the other side, she’s waiting!”
Matthew laughed at Kelly’s straightforwardness. He patted Dominic at the back and ushered him to go along. “You’d better go see her before she comes looking for you.”
“Yeah.” Dominic wiped his palms against his thighs,, thinking whether he should say one more thing that was on his mind. “Listen, Matt… maybe we shouldn’t… if you don’t mind…”
“You don’t want to mention us to your mum?” the dark haired man guessed.
“Do you mind? I just thought that it’s a bit early… I’ll introduce you to her, sure, and chances are she’ll notice anyway because she knows me too well but… you understand, surely?” Dominic looked almost embarrassed to for once be the person who wanted to keep things secret.
“That’s fine, don’t worry about it. I would be honoured if you introduced me to her though,” Matthew said, grinning widely. “Just as a friend, for now!” he added quickly.
Laughing softly, the blond walked out of the kitchen. He looked around and saw people sitting at tables, sipping their coffees and hot chocolates while chatting animatedly. That particular sight was the reason he’d wanted to open the coffee shop in the first place - he’d always enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere in such places. He took a moment to let the scene in front of him sink in before he saw the familiar figure standing at the side of the room, talking animatedly to somebody Dominic didn’t know. He smiled widely when she noticed his presence and rushed across the room to give his mother a warm, tight hug.
“It’s so good to see you, Mum! I was hoping you could make it here today,” he said warmly before receiving a big wet kiss on his cheek from her mother. In the next breath he couldn’t help but ask excitedly, “How do you think the place looks?”
“It looks just like you, Dominic. You know I love it!” his mother exclaimed and pinched her son on the cheek, much to the blond’s embarrassment. He could hear high pitched giggling a few steps behind him and shot Matthew a positively poisonous look, only a few seconds before bursting into laughter himself.
“And who is this?” his mother asked smiling broadly when she saw Matthew, with a wink of an eye that she didn’t even try to hide.
“Um… he’s a new wonderful friend of mine, Mum. Matthew,” Dominic introduced the dark haired man and made motions with his hand for the other man to come closer. “He’s been helping me an awful lot with the café. Don’t know how I would have managed to open the place without him and his friend, Chris.”
“And how long have you been an item for?” his mother whispered in a wicked tone just in time before the brunet would come within hearing distance, the implication leaving Dominic’s mouth hanging wide open.
How could she know?
~*~*~
Throughout the day people flowed in and out of the café, the number of visitors on the first day greater than Dominic had ever expected even in his wildest dreams. Simply put it was a success. People from all over the small town had come there to see what was going on; some of them Dominic already knew and some of them were complete strangers, but everyone praised the café, making it a day Dominic was sure he’d remember for the rest of his life.
He had been busy all day and was very thankful of the help Matthew had offered him whenever he had time. Of course the brunet couldn’t be there all the time because he had his own business to run but he did the best he could to help his new friend have a good start. Dominic also hadn’t minded the short moments they had stolen from the busy schedule to spend some time in the backroom, sharing breathy kisses that made their hearts beat extra fast from fear of somebody catching them. They were not quite ready for that just yet.
It was nearing seven in the evening and Dominic was sitting at an empty table, flexing his shoulders to relieve some of the tension that had built up there during the long day. He watched and listened as his customers chatted away at their tables while writing down a list of things he still needed to buy. He wondered if Matthew was going to go shopping again anytime soon and whether he could tag along with him.
“Hey,” he heard just then and felt a tap on his shoulder. It was a familiar voice and belonged to the person he’d just been thinking about. “Mind if I sit down for a bit?”
Dominic shifted a little on his chair and looked up at Matthew who was standing beside him, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder and looking as delicious as ever. The brunet’s bright blue eyes were twinkling at him.
“Oh, hey,” Dominic said and patted the chair beside him, smiling broadly. “Yes, of course, come and sit down. Or are you going somewhere?” he asked, pointing at Matthew’s bag.
“Nah, I just closed the shop actually. I was about to go home but then I remembered you wanted to hang out tonight. Does the offer still stand?”
“Oh yes.” The blond planted his feet on the floor and pushed his body further into the cushioned chair, closing his eyes with a smile. “I think that’s just what I need after today.”
Matthew giggled but nodded understandingly, sitting down on the chair next to the blond. “You look knackered. Out of shape?”
“A bit, yeah,” Dominic laughed and rubbed his face with his left palm. “I guess the correct term is ‘tired but happy’. That’s what I am, for sure.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Matthew said with a smile. “I used to be the same when I first opened my shop. My God it was tiring, both physically and mentally. Over time though… you learn to be more relaxed about it all. Trust me.”
“I suppose so,” Dominic yawned, covering his mouth with his hand. Then he lowered his voice and leaned a bit closer to the chocolatier. “Until then though, I’d be very much content if I got a good massage tonight.”
Matthew wiggled his eyebrows and cast a quick glance at the other tables to make sure nobody was paying any particular attention to them. “Is that so?”
“Oh yes,” the blond said in a half-whisper. “Know any good masseurs nearby?”
“I certainly do. One of them in particular will absolutely blow your mind, I promise.” Matthew did the gentlest motion towards Dominic’s hand across the table, his long forefinger swiping the side of the blond’s hand very softly.
“Excuse me, boys,” came an unexpected call for attention. It took a moment for Dominic and Matthew to recognise the voice but when they did, they shared an involuntary grimace and instinctively made a bit more distance between each other. “Is there a chance we could get some service around here?”
Charlotte was standing by the checkout, a small group of her female friends in tow, the group giggling and whispering something to each other that the couple couldn’t quite hear.
“Of course, Charlotte, I’m sorry. Just give me a second.” He gave Matthew an apologetic shrug of his shoulders and pushed his chair back to stand up.
“Sure, gorgeous,” Charlotte said flirtatiously, staring at Dominic with an openly hungry look in her eyes. The blond merely ignored her advance and walked past the group of girls and behind the counter so he could fix them something warm to drink.
“I know you must be closing up soon for the day, am I right?” Charlotte asked after she and her friends had made their orders, her hand brushing against Dominic’s fingers as he slid a cup of steaming cappuccino across the counter. “How about you and I go to Red Lion for a drink afterwards? Just the two of us,” she added, casting a quick look at Matthew who was still sitting at a nearby table, pretending to concentrate on the newspaper he’d spread in front of him on the table instead of eavesdropping on the conversation.
Dominic suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
“Um, uh…” he said, busying his hands with another girl’s chai latte to stop them from shaking. He was mentally cursing himself; he wasn’t sure what exactly about Charlotte made him feel so uneasy - it wasn’t like he hadn’t been hit on by pretty girls before in his time - but he sure did have a very bad feeling about this particular girl. “Actually, I had planned on staying home after work.”
“And tell me, what exactly would you do at home? Watch TV? Do crosswords? Play Sudoku?”
Nope. I was planning on having hot, steamy sex with Matthew until dawn.
“I’m pretty tired after today to be quite honest, Charlotte. I think I’ll go straight to bed.”
“On a Saturday night?” Charlotte asked, raising her eyebrows. “How about you?” she raised her voice a bit to direct her question at Matthew who was woken up from his thoughts.
“Knackered as well, Charlotte,” Mattew replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be good pub company tonight. You girls go by yourselves.”
“Funny,” Charlotte sneered half at her friends, half at Dominic and Matthew, “If I didn’t know better I’d think these two have common plans for tonight or something.” The group of girls giggled nervously at the implication.
“Um…” Dominic started to make up an explanation but Charlotte was faster.
“But surely you boys are just tired, aren’t you?” She winked, finished her coffee and started to make her way out, her gang following at her heels. “Must be all that hard work, nothing else, eh? Well, get some rest, the both of you, alright? And Matthew, I hope you’ll be alright in the shop on your own tomorrow, I think tonight’s going to be a late one!”
And with that she was out after casting a final look at the bewildered couple, both of whom were trying hard to avoid the curious gaze of the few intrigued customers still left in the café.