It Wasn't Meant For You (Melix and Elemental Son)

[Melix]

"Hello," said the pleasantly surprised man. "I came to enjoy the show, but I wasn't expecting the show to come to me. Very nice service; I like this place." Lyall smiled a wolfish grin. He'd seen guys act like this before- heck, he'd acted like this before- acting uninterested while saying you are to hit on a girl. He knew what signs to look for that told him the girl was interested; despite having no intention of ever seeing this guy in an unprofessional way again, he knew exactly what to do to flirt with him.


"You're new. I like new." Lyall kept his posture straight, but leaned forward and ran a hand down the mans arm. He was young-- no way he was over 19, but Lyall's establishment only needed to card if one asked for an alcoholic drink. "What's your name?" He fluttered his eyelashes. "How old are you?"


The man breathed a funny little sigh. "I'm A.J.," he said. " Almost 19. You're..." Lyall's nametag was on; he'd grabbed a magnetic A from the fridge and secretly hid an L in his pocket; the result was a nametag saying 'Layla'. "Wow."


"That's one of my many nicknames, yes." He smiled and leaned over putting his lips next to A.J.'s ear, as if telling a secret. "I'm going to come sit next to you, okay?" he whispered.


"Ya, sure," said an eager A.J., as Lyall got up and scooched over next to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek just as the waiter arrived. It only took the waiter a few seconds to recognize Lyall; he received a look before he could say anything and scurried off; the next waiter acted as if Lyall's behavior was normal. And Dominic still hadn't arrived, that Lyall could see (not that he was looking) and so he was considering leaving after another five minutes. This flirting was getting tiresome; they were holding hands under the table but not kissing, which would have been more fun. Also, acting like a flirtatious basic girl was becoming awkward. Maybe if he kissed the guy? He acted very interested in A.J.'s conversations; he was saying something either sad or cute about kittens.


"Aww," said Lyall, leaning up and giving him a kiss.

 

[Elemental Son]

Really, one good thing could be said for the place - the waiters had perfect timing.


Dominic had been watching - while acting like he wasn't - and had seen the kiss out of the corner of his eye. The fire in his chest roared, and he was halfway to his feet, every cell in his body demanding he go over and, what? Throw a punch? Pull Lyall away, as if he were jealous? Ask to see the manager so Dominic could kill the man personally?


But again - perfect timing.


The timid waiter was back, a tumbler of whiskey and ice on a tray, a stammered apology for the wait, an is-there-anything-else-I-can-get-you-Sir mollification. Dominic had downed the contents of the glass before the waiter had finished speaking. Like a first drink often does, it gave him a moment of clarity. The burn of strong alcohol simmered in his bloodstream, and oddly, calmed him down.


Dominic murmured a 'nothing for now, thank you', and resumed his vigil. After all - he'd come to watch over Lyall, not ruin tips he might earn. Besides, jealousy - if that's what the strange, almost crawling sensation under his skin was - was a curious beast. It bore merit, in Dominic's no longer quite rational state of mind, to engage in a borderline masochistic self assessment. If it...hurt? to see Lyall kiss another guy, surely it was worth paying attention to.


He had decided that all he would do was watch. He didn't know why Lyall was doing this - he had initiated the kiss after all. It could be professional. It could be for...personal reasons. Whatever the case, what claim did Dominic have against it? A few stolen kisses and a promise of friendship.


He wanted more whiskey. If this was friendship, it wasn't worth a damn thing.

 

[Melix]

After a while, Lyall broke the kiss off. He was aware of many things-- that his skirt was in disarray; that he'd broken nearly every policy in the book by kissing a customer; and that Dominic hadn't come to talk to him at any point, which meant that he didn't know what Lyall was dressed in (impossible) or he didn't care. It gave him a melancholy, sick feeling, knowing that: why, then, had Dominic bothered coming here at all? "Sorry," he apologized to A.J., "but I need to go." He was not going to cry in front of the customers. In fact, he was not going to cry at all. He was confused and lost.


Rushing through the crowd, he passed Dominic's table again, only because it was the path of least resistance. He crashed into a waiter, carrying someone's drinks, several glass shards flew across Dominic's table and Lyall nearly did the same before managing to steady himself. When he saw where he was, he glanced away from Dominic, at the broken glass, and back to him. "Are you hurt?" he asked, deciding not to feign surprise that Dom was here. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break the glasses."


 
(I'm going to sleep. Good night.)

 

[Elemental Son]

(Sleep well.)


"Hey. You look damn weird as a girl."


Dominic hadn't intended to put that particular thought into words, but it was true enough. He was used to Lyall as he was in school, or on the soccer field. This new and unexpected presentation of him was confusing, to say the least. While the concept of exposed flesh, in terms of the object of his attraction, was as potent to him as it would be to any seventeen year old guy, in the current circumstances it just seemed... weird. He'd only spoken at all because all of a sudden, Lyall was infront of him, instead of hanging off the guy a few booths down. This was an improvement, even if Dom still had questions - which meant he ignored Lyall's question about the glass altogether.


Lyall's face bore no sign of surprise. He'd known Dominic was here - and presumably, known he was watching. Nodding to the guy in question, Dom asked, voice low, "So...was that for...work, or?" He sounded calmer than he felt, but whether it was the alcohol or the anger, there was just barely a note of rawness, deep in his throat. He still wanted to rage - to let that kick of adrenaline consume his rationality, and let loose. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Dominic was coming to realize that when it came to Lyall, his latent volatility was not confined to the boxing ring. He felt like he'd be spending a lot more time there in the coming days, as if to compensate.


But for now, he kept himself in check. Regardless of how he felt, Lyall clearly had something, here. He had a job that, while he hated, he needed. If this was as par the course... Dominic would grit his teeth, hate it too, but not interfere until he could offer his friend a better option. It was respect, rather than lack of emotional investment, which restrained him. He was mature enough - or perhaps, simply not insecure enough - to have to assert his claim over Lyall, even if that's exactly what he wanted to do. As it was though, there was only one promise between them, and it placed no bars on their sexual conquests.


That did not mean he was disinterested, however.


"...Either way, I'm still shouting you pizza after, remember? When's your shift meant to end?"

 

[Melix]

"I'm aware. Don't worry, I'll change clothes on my break, later tonight." There was something in Dominic's eyes. Lyall could tell there was something...off about this situation-- more than the aching feeling in his chest, or the small cut on his hand, or that he was dressed as a girl; more than Dominic saying he didn't have an answer when he clearly did, and the answer was 'no.' "I'm staying late." he said bluntly. He hadn't been intending to stay late, originally, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be near Dominic right now. He looked back and A.J. was watching him in a very uncomfortable way. Lyall made a big show of turning to the nearest waiter and demanding he clean up this glass, immediately. He turned back to Dominic. "You may as well go home to your dad's." The implication was there. "I can't go out to dinner with you tonight. And I won't." He swallowed. As one of the other waiters came and cleaned up the glass-- it was the one from earlier, who he'd glared at-- Lyall slid across the booth and over to his friend. Close up, he could see, and smell, the problem. "You've been drinking." A pause. "What idiot gave you a drink? He's getting fired."

 

[Elemental Son]

Dominic watched Lyall's anger, and honestly felt shortchanged. Still, if he was playing nice, he was going to try and stick with it. When Lyall moved close, his restraint wavered. Even when Lyall was pissed off, he...


"I can handle one drink, Lyall. I'm still perfectly sober." It was a placeholder statement, if a true one. Dominic had never been good with words, or feelings, really. How was he meant to explain that he was there out of some sense of concern, rather than to mess with his best friend? How was he meant to tell Lyall that what he wanted, almost more than anything else, was to walk over to the other guy and warn him never to come back here?


He took Lyall's refusal in stride. For whatever reason, Lyall was pushing him away again. Dom could handle that. But he figured, to hell with it - he'd come all this was, had his keys lost, had all manner of trouble raised at home over this - if he was paying the price for...whatever this was, he may as well remind himself what for.


Dominic placed a hand at the back of Lyall's neck, pulled him close, and kissed him. It was neither as gentle nor as open as the previous time he'd done so. It was communication in the form Dom was most fluent - physical - and it said everything he could not. He was angry. He knew Lyall was angry. This was a continuation of their fight.


But at the same time, the tension left his shoulders. When he opened his eyes , unaware that he'd closed them in the first place, some of the fire was gone. It had been replaced by that quiet, vulnerable space that no one else could take him to. It was enough to keep him waiting for a response, for once, rather than running away.

 

[Melix]

Lyall was about to protest to Dominic drinking at all, when suddenly he felt Dominic's hand dragging against his neck; when he felt lips pressing against his, and he felt that he couldn't protest. Somewhere in the back of his head, while alarms bells rang and the last remnants of the thought that he was straight death marched into a mental shredder, Lyall calculated that Dominic's kisses were a thousand times better than A.J.'s. When they broke away and the anger they both were feeling dissipated slightly, Lyall kissed him again, for only a few seconds, before breaking off, eyes closed, tranquil. He took a shuddering breath and looked away. He was dressed like a girl. His heart felt like it was bursting. He was touching his friends hand, unwittingly; he'd kissed his best friend. And right now, he wouldn't have changed a thing. "What are you doing to me?" he marveled, nuzzling Dominic's cheek.

 

[Elemental Son]

Dominic allowed the attention, unused to it but not displeased. Lyall had asked a fair, if rhetorical, question. In 48 hours, things had changed irreversibly. The mild absurdity of their current situation would have struck him dumb mere days before. Now, instead, that hazy half-smile that only happened around Lyall came, unbidden to his lips.


It was in that satisfied haze that he actually decided to answer. "Making sure you know your temper isn't enough to scare me off." And it was true; Lyall had told him in no uncertain terms to leave, and yet, here he was. Dominic was slowly starting to learn how his friend worked when it came to...this. Like in the hospital - he got mad, he pushed Dominic away, and so long as Dominic stayed, things came good, somehow. The repeat of it in the trees behind their school had only made him realize it was a pattern. That worked - it just meant that if Lyall pushed, all he had to do was stay resolute. He would be okay, so long as his own issues didn't get in the way. He wasn't good at emotions, but patterns made sense - they happened in boxing, and even in mechanics. He could adapt to something that familiar.


His own issues were always a risk, however. They so nearly had caused catastrophic harm, just moments before. Whether it was jealousy, protectiveness, or just the fact that Dominic's way to resolve his angst over his own sexual orientation was through fighting it, the night could have very easily gotten ugly when Lyall had kissed the other guy.


Dominic wondered absentmindedly if Lyall had any idea of the power he held now. Somehow, he doubted it.


He kept his hand on the nape of Lyall's neck, tracing gentle patterns, learning to enjoy contact with another guy that didn't result in immediate physical pain. Eventually, he added: "Work late if you have to. I'll wait."

 

[Melix]

"Meanie," Lyall muttered, burying his face in Dominic's neck. "I have to get back to work." A small smile as he took in Dominic and his own smiling face. "Hey," he said as he stood up, about to leave the booth. "At least we know one thing for sure now: who wears the pants in this relationship." He gestured at his attire and laughed. Something else occurred to him as he slid out of the booth. "Two things," he teased, grinning. He leaned across the table. "Care to guess?"

 

[Elemental Son]

Dominic blinked. Perhaps it was presumptuous on his part, but it had never occurred to him that who wore the pants, so to speak, was ever in doubt. He let that particular thought slide; Lyall would be happier not knowing. He gave an amused smile, at least confirming he appreciated the joke. That said, the word 'relationship' was enough to spark a particular part of his subconscious. It left open possibilities that, hitherto, he'd simply not considered.


He focused back on the present. "Mmm. We just ruined that other guy's night?"

 

[Melix]

"No, I think that guy's having a pretty good night." Lyall turned toward that guys table and winked at him, blowing him a kiss. 'Thanks', he mouthed. So what if it was mean? What courtesy did he owe to a guy who kissed him without ever asking for his real name? "I was talking about that other thing," he said, grinning. He grabbed Dominic's shoulder and looked right at his best friend the way a cat looks at a defenseless baby bird it was about to devour. "A few minutes ago, I thought you didn't care for me at all. I've been trying to provoke you all night." He grinned. "I win. You like me." Before he could have possibly gotten a response, he took off, not even mildly embarrassed. "See you at dinner!" And then he crashed backwards into his boss.


"Oh, I'm sorry," said Lyall's boss, who'd come in for a surprise evaluation. "I crashed into you." And then he saw Lyall's face, as he turned around in complete horror. "Lyall?" he asked, astonished. "What are you wearing? What are you doing?"


"Um..." Lyall turned bright red. "I was entertaining some customers," he admitted. "That one and... "He had to decide whether or not to turn Dominic in or implicate someone innocent. Actually, he could think of a couple of ways to get Dominic out of trouble, and his dad would probably be pleased to receive a call informing him that his son had been kicked out of a gentleman's club, since it meant Dominic had been in a very 'straight' environment, a gentleman's club in the first place. "Him." He gestured at Dominic.


The manager grabbed Lyall by his arm, dragging him toward A.J. "You," he said to A.J., gesturing him to follow, before stomping toward Dominic. "And you. In my office. NOW."

 

[Elemental Son]

Dominic stared as Lyall explained. That's what you were playing at? You godda- Do you know how close you got to this ending up at a police station somewhere? Dominic exhaled through his nose, hard, realizing that Lyall had no idea. 'Like' was perhaps in inadequate descriptor. While Lyall had succeeded in provoking him, it had very nearly gone badly wrong.


Dominic kept his eyes on him, as he crashed into another man. The guy was clearly someone in charge, as Lyall was deferring to him. They carried on loudly enough that Dominic could hear the commotion, despite the music. When Lyall pointed at him, blinked, mildly surprised. It took a second before he cottoned on. Lyall was being sneaky again. As usual, Dominic would probably cop the fall out. Ah hell, here we go again.


The manager became brusque, then aggressive. He gripped Lyall by the arm, and Dominic narrowed his eyes. Dominic's immediate response was to size the manager up, as if the room had become a boxing ring. He was a businessman, clearly used to power, but physically soft. He moved like he expected to be obeyed, but left openings to both his head and chest as he walked. Dominic eyed him up and down, reasoning it would take two hits to drop him - a shot to the stomach to double him over, then a swift uppercut to the edge of his jaw, to knock him out. Then Dom remembered he had no intention to actually start a brawl in the club, so started using his mind, not his instincts. Even so, Dominic considered telling the man to shove it - after all, it's not like he worked here. But for now, he figured it was probably in his best interest to play along. Sighing at the nuisance of it all, and not really perturbed by the yelling, he followed the man to his office, deliberately walking aggravatingly slowly.


While not usually such a bastard, he couldn't resist throwing a smirk at the first guy Lyall had kissed on the way. He wondered when it'd click that his conquest for the evening hadn't actually been a woman.

 

[Melix]

"Hurry up," snapped the boss, dragging Lyall in the office. When all four were in the office he slammed the door shut and locked it. Lyall looked around; he hadn't been in here for a very long time, and he was looking for changes in the interior. He'd heard enough slamming doors from his parents that it wasn't fazing him.


The mahogany desk was still there. The walls were still dingy lemon yellow and made of plaster. Wooden slats made up a cabinet of trinkets; a small water fountain made of shiny purple porcelain rose in the corner. On the desk; one water bottle and a pile of papers signed by a lackey. The office was pristine. The boss was not. "You signed a contract, Lyall. It clearly stated that you would show no skin, that your only interactions with the customers would be serving them food, making them food, or bouncing them, should Eddie be fired for his many transgressions, etcetera. I am already on shaky legal ground hiring you, as you are a minor." He growled. "You are in such violation of your contract right now. Give me one good reason not to fire you."


"Oh, come on," said Lyall. "Like you care how much skin I'm showing. I walk around in your house in swim trunks, all the time. Not once have you ever said anything."


"Ugh," snapped the boss. "The situation where you babysit my children and work in this facility are very different."


"Well, it's my first transgression..." He gave the boss a pleading look. "I won't do it again, James. I promise."


The boss sighed. "What exactly where you doing to 'entertain' the customers? No, I don't want to hear it from you. I want to hear it from you," he pointed at A.J., "and you." To Dominic. "For a minor, how inappropriate was he being?"

 

[Elemental Son]

There were a number of ways he could play this, Dominic realized. The manager had made a mistake stating his own legal precarious situation in front of a person who very much wanted Lyall to keep his job. The question was how he could leverage that without making the man into an unnecessary enemy. Was it worth claiming that, at least to him, Lyall's behaviour had nothing to do with his employment status?


While Dominic was scheming, A.J looked mildly stricken. "Wha...you mean...Layla's not a girl?" He seemed confused more than anything, but it was still amusing. Poor kid was probably questioning himself right at that moment.


Dominic cut in, perhaps to spare him, perhaps because really, he wasn't exactly helping Lyall's case.


"He didn't do anything - with either of us - that would get you written up or investigated. Why don't we call it a misunderstanding all round, and let it slide?" His tone was reasonable, and he was being unusually pleasant. Gone was the brooding countenance. Instead, he capitalized on the information given to him.


"In fact, you do that, and I'm willing to step in any time you need an extra bouncer." The bruises across his face, combined with his utter self-assurance that he could handle the task, acted as his resume. "I'm a skilled boxer, and we both have an interest in making sure no one here gets too... hands on." He let the implications of that fall where they may.

 

[Melix]

"Hmm," said the boss, looking between them. The boy he'd asked was muscular and tall, but he was a bit younger than Eddie, which he thought meant less experience. And here was Lyall, leaning over to touch Dominic's arm, shaking his head 'no' at the bouncing idea. "I'll consider..."


"You kissed me!" exclaimed A.J. "You kissed me and you never even told me you were a boy."


"Aren't I a little hairy to be a girl?" asked Lyall, alarmed at this. "Besides, it's not like you're gay-- just bi. Chill." A.J.s mouth dropped. "It's a simple problem to fix. As long as you don't fall for a guy, you can date girls exclusively. You're lucky." He smiled. "Meanwhile, I fell for this cutie..." He made a point out of rubbing Dominic's hair, though he had to reach up to do it. "I love him." The boss watched them with interest. The melancholy look Lyall was giving Dominic was enough proof that he was telling the truth. He swallowed nervously. Hadn't he agreed not to say that again, not until Dominic had given him his decision? "I'm in love with him."


"Um," coughed James as A.J. scowled. "Yeah, whatever. You can get a freebie; just go change your clothes. And this is all coming off your break."


Lyall nodded, looking away from the three of them. "Yes, sir." He scurried out the door.

 

[Elemental Son]

Dominic could have reacted with the shock or unease he would have felt the day before, but this time, it simply wasn't the case. He'd had what he'd needed since the start, in order to really deal with it. Time. While he still had certain psychological barriers, like hell was he going to make that evident to these two strangers. He accepted the physical contact, almost defiant against the other two, that half smile in place for a moment despite himself.


As Lyall left, Dominic shot A.J. an unmistakeable look, dark eyes astorm - hands off - before returning his attention back to the manager, James.


"Thank you. If that's all?"

 

[Melix]

"That's all. Enjoy your night."


Lyall changed into a white t-shirt and jeans (from among the extra clothes he kept in his locker) and slipped back into his bosses room. "Wait. One moment." As A.J. passed, giving him a look mixed between disgust and cheeriness, he stepped in. "James, do you have two extra beds? Neither of us can go home tonight. You can halve my paycheck."


"Interesting prospect. No, I only have one extra bed, but it's queen sized." He smiled and winked at Dominic.


"I'll sleep on the floor," said Lyall quickly, noticing the wink. His face had turned an unbecoming shade of red. "It's better for my back anyway." If standing next to him was this bad, cuddling would be a torture synonymous with Guantanamo Bay, and he had no doubt in his mind that both of them were unintentional cuddlers.


(Night.)

 

[Elemental Son]

(Sleep well!)


Dominic got the distinct feeling that the guy was messing with them. In all likelihood, he had more than one bed free - it was just something in the mannerisms that betrayed him. Considering what was on offer though, Dominic wasn't exactly about to protest. Even if things stayed platonic, it was an opportunity to talk, and that was worth the machinations it took to secure it. He acknowledged the wink with the shadow of a smirk, all the while wondering how the guy *hadn't* been investigated yet.


"Fine by me. Leave his pay alone though - I'll cover it."


At Lyall's protests that he would sleep on the floor, Dominic fought back the urge to roll his eyes. If that much was necessary - and he doubted it - he'd find a way to make Lyall take the bed. After all, his friend had slept literally out in a storm the night before; fair was fair. He did wonder why Lyall couldn't go home, however. Another conversation they needed to have.


With that, he gave James a nod, and wandered back out into the club. If he was going to wait around, might as well be comfortable. He slid into the same booth as earlier, glad it was still empty, comfortable with its familiarity. The dancers on stage were in full swing, and he watched them, wondering what in their lives had happened to mean they ended up here.


(Sorry, terrible post, brain's a bit fried.)

 

[Melix]

(Your post is fine.)


Lyall waited until he was gone to petition his boss something else. "I've been considering taking that promotion you offered me." James nodded. "I can't." Lyall continued. "I have no problems controlling the kitchen and wait staff-- it doesn't bother me to take charge of people who are doing that kind of work. The work the girls are doing here, though, I can't-- I've thought about it and I don't want to have the kind of irresponsibility it takes to have this...management... responsibility. I'm sorry."


"I understand. Please give it a second thought, though."


"I will," said Lyall. He wouldn't.


"Alright," said James. "I'm not going to charge you to stay the night at my place, either."


"Really? James, that's so nice." He leaned over and kissed his boss on the cheek. "Thank you so much. I'm gonna go tell Dominic."


"Okay," agreed James. "And Lyall?"


"Yes?"


"Be careful. I don't want to see your work suffer because you got hurt."


"Okay!" said Lyall. He skipped out into the kitchen and resumed commanding the other waiters do such-and-such in the area of so-and-so. "Oh, you," he said to the one he'd glared at earlier. "Tell Dominic-- that's the pretty guy I was talking to earlier-- James is letting us stay the night for free. And I get to introduce him to the kids I babysit." He happily taste-tested his food and got back into the working habit.

 

[Elemental Son]

The waiter nodded dumbly, probably considering Lyall's apparent good mood to be something worth maintaining. He wandered back out into the main area of the club, looking for the young men Lyall had been speaking to. While unsure of how he was meant to know what, exactly, Lyall considered 'pretty' in a guy, at least he had a name.


He walked first to the booth with the unbruised, unaggressive guy. Maybe he'd be lucky? "Uh, excuse me sir? Are you Dominic?" A.J. shook his head, and with just a hint of sullenness, pointed at the other booth Lyall had sat at. "I think the guy you're looking for is over there."


The waiter thanked him, and left with a sigh. It seemed it just wasn't his night.


He walked over and repeated his inquiry to the second guy. Dominic nodded in acknowledgement, confirming his identity. The waiter couldn't help but to wonder at Lyall's choice of words for a second. Pretty? Interesting descriptor. "Lyall asked me to pass on a message -he says James is letting you guys stay for free, and uh, Lyall gets to introduce you to the kids he babysits."


Dominic nodded again, murmuring his thanks. The waiter stood by a little awkwardly, as if he still had something to say. Dominic narrowed his eyes, waiting. The waiter began, a little hesitantly: "I was just wondering, if you and Lyall are...uh."


"The hell does it matter to you?" Dominic was immediately on the defensive. While he'd made some progress on the whole affair, his way of dealing with his sexuality was still similar to the way he dealt with a fistfight. He was improving, but scrutiny from strangers set his teeth on edge.


The waiter was brave, however, and continued. "Because he looks after us - the wait staff, the kitchen staff. So, just. I don't know much about what sort of guy you are, but you seem... Well. If anything happens, you'll have us to deal with."


Part of Dominic wanted to laugh at him. Aside from perhaps the bouncer, who he hadn't seen, he didn't think there was a guy in the place he couldn't match. Part of that was the arrogance that came with being seventeen and stronger than most of his peers talking - in reality, despite his training, any strong male in his mid twenties would have a decisive advantage in pure muscle-mass, a case of a boy fighting men, but Dominic didn't care. On the other hand, however, the nature of the interrogation showed that people cared about what happened to Lyall. That mattered. So instead of aggression, instead of responding sardonically, Dominic just nodded and said "It goes both ways."


The waiter smiled slightly, feeling as if his risk had paid off, and said "Okay." Then, he fell back into his role as paid host. When Dominic assured him he didn't want anything more in terms of food or alcohol, the waiter headed to check other tables, leaving Dominic to his thoughts, waiting for the night to wind down.

 

[Melix]

Slowly, the night came to an end. Ten-thirty, James came out and informed the kitchen staff they could leave. Several waiters scurried out to their cars, followed by the girls. The place was closing down. "Lyall!" called one that he'd glared at earlier. "We're going out to eat; the new guy's paying. Do you wanna come?" He smirked. "I have a feeling you've got some kind of funny story to tell us about your...earlier attire."


"It's really not that funny, and I have a kind-of date. But thanks for the offer; I appreciate it." He smiled. "Next time?"


"Why don't you just bring your date along?" Lyall considered this. If he and Dominic were going to date or anything, Dominic may as well get to know his coworkers- they were closer to him than his family members, and Dominic already knew them.


"Is Eddie gonna be there?" It was Dominic, after all. If he started a fight, Lyall wanted the bouncer to be there to help.


"Of course. Everyone's going; except James." James was never invited. Ever.


"Alright; I'll ask. Wait here, a moment." He scurried off until he found Dominic. "Hey. Do you wanna go somewhere private or do you wanna meet my friends? I don't mind either way."

 

[Elemental Son]

Dominic considered the offer; it probably wasn't a bad idea, if he was going to get to know them. He wasn't the most social person, in all honesty - but Lyall was. That being the case, it was probably worth making the effort. That, and considering that if things...progressed, school might become difficult. It might be useful to have a group of people outside of that setting who appeared not to care. Dominic was unsure how much the school cohort were aware of at this point, but in the back of his mind, he had the feeling they'd find out sooner or later. That didn't mean he wouldn't do his damn best to hide it.


"Meeting your friends sounds good. Pretty sure if we're going to be sleeping in the same room later, there'll be plenty of time for us to drive eachother crazy then." That last was said with just a hint of playful teasing, the inflection on crazy able to mean any number of things. Like removing his shirt in the parking lot the day before, somewhere very deep down, Dominic had a mischievous side, and knew how to use it. He kept it light for now, though, subtle enough that anyone who overheard could have taken it at face value.


Wearing an easy smile that had been absent the past few days - not the one he wore for Lyall, just the regular kind - Dominic shrugged on his jacket and stood up, easing his way out of the booth. The club had cleared considerably, and he was grateful for the fact. It wasn't really his scene. He was happy to be up and moving again.


As his glance returned to Lyall, however, one corner of his mouth evened out, his eyes slightly hazy in the dim club lights. The half-smile was back, and for a moment, Dominic forgot what he was going to ask, and everything else. A sense of calm, soul deep, settled him. All the concern, doubt, fear - simply faded. There was no need to fight anything now.


Then Lyall's friends were around, their noise and laughter breaking through. Coming back to the present, Dominic offered them one of his lesser, regular smiles, and and asked, tone easy, "So, where are we going?"

 

[Melix]

(I am sleep deprived, but I will reply tomorrow. Promise. Also, if you reply by then I just want you to know that I seriously can't reply on Wednesday's at all for the next 3 weeks. Like, at all, at all. Sorry.)

 

[Elemental Son]

(No worries; just reply whenever you're up to it - I figure we both come back to it eventually anyway, so all good. I hope everything's going okay.)

 

[Melix]

Lyall grinned at Dominic's crazy comment. One-upping him, Lyall had realized, was half the fun of being in love with your best friend. "Come on," he mumbled, grabbing Dominic's arm with a tug and then letting go to lead him to the parking lot, where Jason the server's Jeep was waiting to take them...somewhere. "I don't know where we're going to eat," said Dominic. "We usually draw straws to decide who's paying, and where we're going, but we've got a new kid, so the first part isn't is a problem." He smiled. "I totally vote for that Mexican place down the street. Their sodas are the bomb. Their food's a little iffy, but I've never gotten food poisoning from them, so they're cleaner than the caf for sure." He chattered on happily, perfectly content even if he and Dominic ended up alone. Just being with Dominic had a calming effect. His smile alone was enough to tug on Lyall's heartstrings.


"Hey, you!" he heard from behind him, and was momentarily confused as they arrived at the Jeep and found Christopher staring him down. He was clearly not amused, though Lyall had gotten the impression he was an amused kind of guy. "The fact that you didn't inform me you had a boyfriend when I flirted with you earlier, plus the fact that you landed on me when you fell, combined with the fact that I did your managing job while you flirted with other guys definitely means you owe me dinner."


"Um?" asked Lyall. The managing thing-- ya, he owed the guy, definitely. "Alright. I'll pay for your dinner-- his, too." It took him several seconds to realize, hey, the guy had just assumed that he was Dominic's boyfriend. Or, that Dominic was his. He looked up quickly, trying to see if Dominic had noticed. He wasn't honestly sure-- now that they were clearly out of the friend zone-- if Dominic ever intended to ask him out. Actually say the words. It sucked, because Dominic was the aggressive one, but Lyall was the social one for sure. He decided that if Dominic hadn't popped the question, he would. By the end of tonight. "Oh. Dominic, this is the newbie. Christopher, meet Dominic."


"Hi, Dominic. You're even hotter than your friend here. Are you two sure you're dating?"


Lyall twitched uncomfortably. No, they weren't, but he still didn't appreciate that at all. Christopher was cute and Lyall wanted Dominic's undivided attention. No shilly-shallying about with the question. He leaned up and kissed Dominic, hard. Does that answer your question?


(I hope you come on again soon.)