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

[Elemental Son]

(I'm sorry this keeps happening, but yes, I am back! And still more than game to RP if you are. Also - correct me if I'm wrong - but didn't his name used to be Christopher? )


As Lyall gave his impromptu restaurant critique, Dominic had filtered out the others around them. Things felt almost like they had days before - there was an ease, a normalcy creeping back into their interactions that was comforting. At the same time, the ease was shot with an undercurrent of electricity that had never been present before. As he followed Lyall to the car park, his eyes traced his best friend's back, hips to shoulders, aware of him differently now. Two days had changed so much.


A rather self-entitled, unimpressed voice broke through the private atmosphere that implication had built between them. Dominic looked the newcomer over, taking in his demands on Lyall with reserved judgement. If he was a friend, who was Dominic to throw off their modus operandi? But Lyall sounded as if he'd been put on the spot; combined with the quick glance he gave Dominic, and with his introduction to 'the newbie' - that set him on edge. This guy could be bad news.


It was his opening line that sealed the deal. It was just as well Lyall took the initiative, or Dominic would have had to. If he wanted Dominic's attention, he had certainly gotten it.


As in Lyall's boss's office, Dominic not only let the public display of affection happen, but this time, returned it in kind. He had every intention of making it unmistakably clear: so far as he had a say in things, neither of them were available, nor interested. While Lyall might be one to play - if evidence of his adventures with A.J had been any indication - Dominic was not. It would occur to Dominic later he really should explain that he'd nearly lost his head over the whole thing with the guy in the bar, but for now, he was pleasantly distracted. By the time he broke off the kiss with Lyall, he'd almost forgotten Christian's question. Almost.


In this case, Dominic decided that vagueness was the better part of indiscretion. He spoke with just a hint of dominance to his tone, even though the words laid no claim. "Sorry to disappoint; I'm taken." It answered the question, he felt, without being presumptuous - and by now he'd come to realize, regardless of how Lyall felt about it, it also happened to be true.

 

[Melix]

(I'll reply around 7ish tonight- I'm a bit late for something, you see.)

 

[Elemental Son]

(No rush!)

 

[Melix]

(Yes it was. I fixed it!)


Lyall loved the feeling. He’d seen girls and guys alike complain in school, out of school, and online about how awful their possessive (gender)friend was, but he preferred Dominic’s caring personality to any other. By the time the two of them broke away and Lyall had caught his breath, he’d solemnly decided that neither he nor Dominic were sleeping on the floor tonight. His words left a certain warmth in his lower stomach he’d only felt before after eating hot refried beans. That was the way only Dominic could make him feel. “As am I,” he clarified. “I’m his.” Leaning against Dominic, he wondered why it had taken him so long to understand what everyone had already told him: that he was gay (or, at the very least, leaning bi-spectrum).


“Guys,” someone complained from inside the Jeep. “It’s cute that you’re together and all, and I’m super happy for you, but I am physically yearning for food. So please get in the car soon, or I’ll leave without you.”


“Sorry, Jason.” said Lyall, grabbing Dominic’s hand. “Come on,” he hissed, and opened the car door. Even with three seats and a huge back trunk, the workers took up a lot of spaces. There was only one seat left. “Again?” sighed Lyall, and Jason, in the driver’s seat nodded. He stepped out. “Okay, Dominic, you’re gonna have to take the empty seat and then I’m gonna lay across you and the girls. Since I already know the girls don’t care if I slam my head into the heater and pass out-“


“That was one time, and we took you to the hospital!” Amber protested.


“After you ate,” Lyall pointed out. “Anyway, can you make sure that I’m okay?” He climbed in, sitting on Amber with his legs stretched out toward Dominic, waiting to be followed. “The better I feel when we get where we’re going, the more likely it is that I’ll reward you later tonight.” No mention of what he meant by reward, but the girls in the Jeep giggled. They all seemed to think they knew. He smiled, because he knew he was a little bit of a tease, but also because what they were thinking about was not what he had been thinking about, and now he was absolutely mortified. “Not what they’re giggling about, okay?”

 

[Elemental Son]

Dominic knew Lyall well enough that the look of mortification was somewhat familiar - but it was still hilarious. The occasional obliviousness Lyall had to the implications of what he said had sometimes sufficed to get him into trouble, but more often, merely amused the hell out of his friends. Dominic climbed into the car, grinning still, but resisting the urge to ask for more details. Making sure Lyall was okay was as ambiguous as the hinted-at reward, and while his co-workers didn't seem to mind their public displays of affection, Dominic didn't plan to test their patience with it. He gave a non-committal, but affirmative "I'll see what I can do", and left it at that, closing the car door.


Looking around as he pulled the door closed, Dominic's first thought was the car itself. 3 litre turbo diesel engine with 8-speed automatic transmisson, rack and pinion power assisted steering - this is a *nice* Jeep. He expressed his appreciation to the driver. "Nice car - 2012 model, yeah?" The compliment, coming from him, was not lip service - Dominic had looked after enough beaten up lemons of cars in this town to know a good vehicle when he saw it. It was a conscious effort to pull himself away from deep mechanic talk before it started - he could quite easily spend the evening there, talking about gas pistons and fuel leads, had there not been anything better on offer.


Fortunately for all involved, there was something better on offer.


Looking down at Lyall (and privately grateful he'd been the one to lie down, given their difference in height and in familiarity with the other occupants of the car), Dominic pressed his forearms down lightly over Lyall's shins - a modicum of security against the pull of gravity and centrifugal force, should their driver be into drifting corners. It was about the best he could do from here.


That done, he shot a look at the other occupants. Amber had to be the one in the middle - Lyall had described her to him when giving him her number, and she fit the description perfectly. Jason had to be the guy driving - he'd deduced that much from the conversation. Given the hostility Dominic had shown the guy back at the club, he reasoned he'd better be careful to be nice. While it was arguably justified in the context, Dominic was going to make the effort to get along with Lyall's friends as much as possible.


The engine started (drawing a moment of appreciation from Dominic again, despite himself), and as the others joked and talked amongst themselves, his eyes found their way back to Lyall. What exactly had he been talking about?

 

[Melix]

Lyall managed himself much better with Dominic in the Jeep. Head lulling against the window, he still managed to get a headache from every bump in the road, but all in all, he felt more secure with Dominic there, which made him more secure. Besides, he was pretty sure that time he’d hit his head on the heater, he’d been pushed (presumably by Amber), and lord knows if anyone tried that in front of Dominic, male or female, they’d be meeting the Grim Reaper himself, sooner, rather than later.


“Yeah,” said Jason from the front. “My mom got the old Cherokee here for my eighteenth birthday. She didn’t have enough money for me to go to culinary arts school, so instead I got a car. And a job.”


He sounded bitter. What a loser- as if it were his parents job to save up that kind of money. Lyall didn’t even come from a family with enough money to buy the car as a consolation prize. And if his parents had been that rich, he doubted a cent of their money would have gone toward his college fund. It had always been all Lyall. He was alone on this one- and every one.


Oh, but he wasn’t very alone. Dominic’s impromptu shin massage was very nice- it helped repair some of the damage he’d done running around everywhere all day. “Hmmm…” He made a happy little humming noise in his throat, grateful from the distraction from his monetary troubles for a moment, though he knew that soon the car would roll to a stop, and, since the restaurant was in a popular area frequented by students from their school (and, worse, parents of their school), they were going to have to be just friends. Just best friends, but still…Lyall knew he wasn’t going to like having to lie- not this time. As the GPS showed only a few moments left before the ride ended, he pitched forward, leaning over to grab Dominic’s hand. He only let go to climb over Dominic and out of the car as it rolled to a complete stop.


How unfortunate was it that there were students in the parking lot that night? They could have kissed. Oh, well. Lyall wasn’t ready to come out to his school yet, and he knew Dominic felt the same way. At least the company was good- an entourage of strippers shouldn’t send the wrong (right?) message about their respective sexualities.


“Dominic?” he asked, walking forward toward the beach front food shack with crappy, peeling gray paint and hand-painted, unprofessional letters. “Wanna take a walk on the beach later?” Before any of the girls could cut in to invite themselves, he added the single most important detail. “Alone?”

 

[Elemental Son]

As Jason complained, Dominic stared out the window, pretending his mind was elsewhere, and that he wasn't listening. He gave a cursory "Yeah, fair enough", and left it at that. He was listening. College. It had been lurking in the back of his thoughts for a while now. The plan for him had been to try out for a boxing scholarship, and major in business or maybe mechanical engineering, at wherever would take him. He could deal with getting the stuffing beaten out of him in a ring for four years wearing university livery if it meant getting out of this place without joining the Army, as his father and older brother had done. Failing that, plan B had always been to turn his experience in the garage into a mechanic's apprenticeship on paper, and save until he could afford security for student loans. But unexpectedly, there was now a complication which he hadn't anticipated - leaving home would probably mean leaving Lyall.


Lyall made an appreciative noise, and Dominic returned to the present. Without consciously intending to, he'd begun tracing little spirals into Lyall's shins, working away at the tension he could feel there. Need to remind him to stretch properly, or he's going to end up with shin splints at this damn rate. Dominic could feel that now familiar half smile creeping back, but it was halted when he caught Lyall's expression. He looked... pensive, and that was never a good thing - even prior to all this.


Trying to figure out what he was thinking, Dominic looked up and across the other occupants of the back seat, realizing he recognized the scenery out the window. The soccer team sometimes came here to celebrate after winning a game, or just for those 'team bonding' outings that the Coach was so enthusiastic about. That said, the man was enthusiastic about literally everything, so perhaps it wasn't such a surprise. The precinct hugged the coast, most of the best restaurants and bars crowding along an old pier. The place had been a shipping port before a local highway had been built, allowing shorter transit of goods by an endless stream of trucks. Now it was the local tourist trap. Still, it was small enough to have that small-town feel, and that brought it under the heading of 'home'.


Lyall gripped his hand for a while before the car had found a park. That pensive feeling hadn't left, and Dominic felt he now had a fair idea why. Nothing stayed secret in this town for long - especially not something as controversial as the star soccer forward's love life. Given that Lyall's work-mates knew, the chances were that the information would disseminate. It might be inadvertent, a conversation amongst themselves overheard by the wrong person, or even deliberate - Dominic would be having a word with Christopher, if that were the case. Regardless, they would have to deal with scrutiny sooner or later. The thought was enough for him to square his jaw, and grasp Lyal's hand just a little tighter.


Finally the car stopped, and the various parties found an exit. There were people he recognized, if not knew by name, in the parking lot with them. Dominic looked at the (admittedly conventionally attractive) girls who had accompanied Lyall and himself, and shot Lyall a glance. It communicated, he hoped, the beginnings of a plan.


Then, as happened regularly, Lyall threw him a curve-ball. Alone at the beach later, uh? Dominic nodded, the platonic performance already having started. "You're on, man."

 

[Melix]

(I want you to know that I will reply tomorrow. I had a long day at my on the job training, although I have to admit it was fun-especially serving the celebrity!)

 

[Elemental Son]

(No rush at all - and wow, what do you do? And who was it? Sounds exciting xD )

 

[Melix]

Lyall hoped this all was working. After the unfortunate event that led the boys in the parking lot to notice them (Red shouting, “Hey, boys! You, there! Nice abs! You, there! Nice ass!”), they’d been followed into the restaurant by their schoolmates. Since (thankfully) there wasn’t even a big enough room for Jamie, Red, Amber, Kylie, the other eight girls, the kitchen workers, Jason and company, Lyall, and Dominic, they managed to squish a few tables together, and there still wasn’t enough room for their classmates. Lyall could feel jealous staring into his back, but frankly he’d rather sit by Jason and Dominic than Red and Lydia, so being in between the two gorgeous women didn’t faze him. Lydia, though. The woman smelled like clams.


When their food arrived (and it arrived quickly, because when a menu has five items, people order fast), Lyall horked it down, first pushing it into a pile in one part of the plate, then pouring and shoveling it into his mouth. It was gone in minutes, and then Lyall was nervous, so he got up and peed somewhere far away in the sand, and then he stuck his legs in ocean water to make himself more alert, and then he took a jog up and down the beach, which tired him out, so he re-dipped himself in the ocean and came back only to discover that a) he was an a-hole for leaving Dominic alone with a bunch of people he didn’t know (though, in his defense, Dominic had never had issues talking to girls- interpret that how you like) and b) since only twenty-five minutes had passed, his exercise was truly an exercise of futility (and, god, if he didn’t stretch soon, maybe an exercise in fatality).


So he listened (well, slightly) to Red’s story about how her grandfather came into the club one day (apparently while Lyall was off work because he would definitely have remembered this happening) and saw her stripping and got very upset at her but couldn’t exactly say “Oh, by the way, our beautiful little med school daughter is a stripper” because Grandma would divorce him for entering such a place, and no one wanted that. And the continuing Cold War between Red and her grandfather, the stasis of her home life ever since. It would have been an interesting short story, if anyone had written it down, but no one brings paper to a fancy dinner- or a snack shack dinner- or any dinner, if they’re not sloppy.


A tender word and some sleep would have been nice right now- and he didn’t want to hold up anyone’s night of fun if he was going to be tired and crabby. Maybe he and Dominic should sleep on the beach- the area under the docks were dry- or maybe they should be dropped off at James house. Either way, Lyall was currently finding the idea of laying down for a nap with Dominic was extremely appealing. There was no explaining that, however, with Stalker and Gross-o standing behind them, watching them and the girls eat in perverted fascination.


Lyall slid downward in his seat and placed his cold, dripping wet socks into Dominic’s lap. “Take me somewhere dry before I catch pneumonia,” he demanded, “or no reward for you.” He felt pretty safe as long as their words remained ambiguous and the boys behind them remained unmoved. “Not tonight. Not ever.” And at some point, if Dominic was serious about Lyall, this was a reward he would want, a reward well worth fighting for.


(I'm a server at a really fancy restaurant. He was the head of a White House sub-committee! So cool...)

 

[Elemental Son]

(That's really cool - isn't it great when work offers you unexpected benefits? xD )


One of Lyall's friends seemed to be either oblivious, or just enjoyed torturing them. She made keeping their cover much more difficult by essentially catcalling some of the guys from school; Dominic knew them at a level of mere acquaintance, and it was unfortunate that the manner of their inclusion in this new social circle predisposed him to be wary of them. Still, luck wasn't entirely against them - the place chosen for food simply didn't have the capacity for all of them.


Before Dominic had figured out everyone's name, they were ordering. By the time he had - after mixing up Red and one of Jason's friends once or twice - the food had arrived. Everyone dug in, raucous and yelling over one another to talk. Dominic listened rather than spoke, never having been particularly verbose. Still, they were an entertaining crowd, and as he ate, he figured he could see how Lyall had a place among them. He noticed Lyall wolfing his down - and remembered distantly that the initial plan had been to take him out for food. In a roundabout way, that had come to fruition - Dominic would just have to find a way to shout this one without it alerting their fellow students to why.


Thinking finding a way to pay for Lyall's food, he turned around to offer some pretext to it to Lyall, only to find him gone. 'Damn he can be stealthy when he wants to be. Must have gone to find a bathroom or something.' At that point, one of the girls started another story, so mentally shrugging it off, he zoned back in on what was being said, picking at his food and laughing at the appropriate intervals. Why was this stuff so easy, when conversations like the one this morning with Lyall, could be so hard?


Lyall had returned (albeit after an oddly long time away for a bathroom trip - maybe he was feeling sick again? Dominic would ask him about it later.), and figuring he'd may as well actually try to learn about these people, Dominic paid a little more attention to what was being said. The natural teenage fascination with 'illicit' things like strippers probably helped, as a story centric to them (and, hey, to family troubles, which were always fun) was being thrown around the table.


Before Dominic had considered how his own father would react to finding him in a strip club - ironically, probably positively - something very wet landed in his lap, and his head turned of its own volition to look in the direction it came from. Lyall wanted out of there; that much was apparent from what he said. But how in hell had he gotten himself soaked? Either way - when in doubt, get the job done.


"Suits me." Dominic stood, gently moving Lyall's legs off his lap, and nodded to the others. "Guys, we're heading out. Great meeting you all." Taking out some cash, he laid it on the table. "This'll cover us - my shout, man." With that, Dominic extricated himself from the small space, and waited until Lyall was ready to go.


"So where are we headed?"

 

[Melix]

Lyall had a predisposition for cuddling- if you could recall, before he realized why Sarah’s eyes haunted him (they were the same as Dominic’s) he’d already buried his face in Dominic’s shoulder, cuddled a wooden bench, and written a love note (though that had little to do with the act of cuddling itself, it does showcase the cuddly personality trait). So it should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that as soon as they rounded the asphalt corner of the parking lot, out of sight of their schoolmates and with no other people around to stop them, Lyall kissed Dominic, leaning against the side of the fading yellow building they were nearest to.


When he was done with that, he asked the question. “Do you want your reward now?” he asked. “Normally I would save a reward for later, but I don’t think it’s very good, and you might not even want it.” He plowed forward, hoping to get this stupid thing done and said and over with before Dominic could protest- he wasn’t brave very often, so when he was, he liked to make use of it while it lasted. “When you want- if you want- you can be my boyfriend, officially- so this is an actual thing and not just a romp in the dark. But I’m not going to ask you, and I’m not going to force it on you. I just want you to know, that if you do want it, you can ask, and I will say yes.” A slightly embarrassed smile. “Okay. I’m done. You can talk now. Oh, and we’re going to James house.”


He wasn’t sure if he should hold hands with Dominic after that confession, so instead he crept forward through the night, trying to make it quickly twenty blocks away to his boss’s (and father figure’s, honestly, sadly, considering how he acted) without waking the crotchety poor people in the first five blocks, crotchety middle classers in the next ten, and crotchety five blocks of rich people toward the end. See, that was one thing that, through all the classes, remained a constant: Old people were always rude to Lyall. Always.


That was fine. They hadn’t worked since, what, sixty-five? Lyall was seventeen with a decent amount in his bank account.


When they arrived at James’s home, (since presumably Dominic followed him, although honestly Lyall hadn’t checked), he went into the neighboring building, a high-rise hotel, taking mail out of all the boxes in the front lobby and resorting them, because, well, the mailman sucked at his job and the geezers in this particular building sucked all the joy out of night sleeping with their loud complaining about the mail. Their sleep schedule was trapped in nocturnality, and everyone else had to conform to their sleep schedule or pitch in to keep them quiet. (Incidentally, Lyall also fed their cats. One of the two jobs was supposed to be Blake’s, but that never ended up happening, for whatever reason.)


In the end, he was burnt out and just wanting to go to sleep. Turning around, he saw Dominic again, or maybe he didn’t, but either way it startled him. He’d forgotten about his best friend on purpose. “Oh.” Oh, you’re still here. “Do you want to go up to bed?”


(Ya, my job is pretty cool. Bonus: Free food. I literally had like half a pizza all to myself the other night- fancy restaurant pizza. Ended up giving it to a homeless man outside the supermarket, along with 30$ pocket money because he was scared of nearly freezing to death outside McDonalds...again. Hopefully he convinced someone to board him...I feel bad


P.S. Sucky Reply I know. I want this RP to not die...I'm trying...)

 

[Elemental Son]

(Free food is always the best - especially Italian. I hear you about the homeless guy, though - same thing, there's a guy who washes windows of cars at this corner whenever the traffic lights are red. He was out there last week in nearly 40 degrees Celsius; I gave him everything I had on me and I think he was actually about to cry :\ Poor guy. )


Lyall didn't answer, so Dominic simply followed him out to the parking lot. They rounded a corner and suddenly his back was digging into worn yellow brick, and Lyall was close, lips and breath and fire. He was gone before Dominic could respond in kind - before he could thread fingers through his hair, take the kiss deeper and hold them there for the rest of the night. The sense of not frustration, but incompleteness, was palpable.


At the mention of his 'reward', Dominic listened rather than protested. It was more out of curiosity than expectation. Still, once Lyall had said his piece, an entirely different warmth than that of the kiss was paramount in his veins; that curious sense of safety and reprieve. Distant echos of 'it would not be you' lay defeated in his subconscious.


Before Dominic had an answer - or an opportunity to give it - Lyall was walking away. It seemed his confidence had reached the end of its tether, and, like Dominic so often did, he'd short-circuited, and decided to move on with what he was doing instead. That drew a smile from Dominic, who followed him without disturbing the silence. The declaration Lyall had made would have consequences for both of them; it was reasonable that they gave it some time to sit untouched while they turned it over in their minds.


By the time they had arrived at a highrise building Dominic had never really noticed before, he'd made up his mind. He watched with mild confusion as Lyall started mail sorting - he either had a reason for it beyond Dominic's knowledge, or was playing one of his pranks again. In either case, Dominic was polite enough - or perhaps, merely taking advantage of the pause to steel himself - to wait until Lyall had apparently finished the task. When he turned around to face Dominic, Lyall looked to be somewhere between tired and skittish.


Lyall asked if he wanted to go up to bed; Dominic took it at face value, considering how new this all was, but there was something he needed to do, first. "No - not yet."


Dominic stepped forwards, and caught Lyall in a kiss, firmer than the one he'd instigated earlier. He continued, slowly pushing Lyall back, until this time it was him against the wall, Dominic kissing his throat, his jawline, his mouth. Eventually Dominic reigned himself in, forehead resting against Lyall's as when they were among the trees that afternoon. He withdrew, slightly, eyes still closed, taking a deep breath before opening them. Anyone around could be damned - right now, the world consisted of them.


"That reward you mentioned? It's what I want. You are. This is me asking." Dominic had never been good with words, but there was little doubt that this time, they would get the message across.

 

[Melix]

The kiss melted the awkward out of their current interactions. More fierce than the ones they had before, but less charged with anxiety, it was a nicer kiss than Lyall had experienced in a while- or ever. As Dominic rested his head against Lyall’s, Lyall slowly twined his fingers through Dominic’s hair, massaging his scalp as a sort of reward for tonight. When Dominic spoke, Lyall leaned forward slightly, slowly, taking it all in, eventually choosing to just keep his reply short and simple. “Yes.” So they were official now. A bit of official kissing before Lyall pulled him outside the old folks home…he wasn’t looking for anything too serious before he and Dominic climbed into bed together, and after…no, he wasn’t thinking about that right now.


Swinging the door in as they exited, a young man with a pink Mohawk. Surprisingly enough, a cookie tin with a dancing elf and Santa Hat on it in lay in his hands- presumably he was going to bring those to his grandparents, but not before stopping to inform Dominic and Lyall that they were a “couple of dirty [cigarettes]” who needed to “get out”. Bonus point for the flock of children and two teenagers who ran up to him only seconds afterward, clearly, judging from the red hair and green eyes, all part of the same family. It took the exact amount of time those kids took getting to the door for Lyall to kiss Dominic, to stop him from doing something irresponsible and life-threatening to their homophobic accuser. Besides, the best way to combat the insult was just to pretend they didn’t care. Lyall was happy being a dirty cigarette- and from what Dominic had said, he was too. Pink Mohawk guy didn’t matter.


But, oh, god, his sister did. When Lyall opened his eyes, breaking the kiss, she stood there, staring at them, mouth agape. The children had been herded inside into an elevator, and Pink Mohawk did the sign of the devil at them before the doors closed. Sarah McMillan, Lyall realized. An ex-girlfriend: actually, the ex-girlfriend who’d suggested they break up because she thought he’d have a better time hanging out with a guy. The very first one, and he’d just proved her so very, very, right.


“Don’t worry, Lyall.” She said. “Dominic. I won’t tell anyone.” But Lyall remembered her saying that before, when they dated, about his mom calling him an abortion (now that hurt), but by the end of the day everyone in school knew about it, most of them taking it upon themselves to offer advice and solace (although some laughed at him, admittedly). As she stepped into the old folks home, she pulled her phone out, and Lyall could hear everything she said as she walked, to a certain point. “Hello? OMG, Becca…You’ll never guess what happened to me… Do you remember my old boyf Lyall?”


“We’re screwed,” said Lyall, looking back at Dominic with worried eyes. “The whole school will know by dawn.”

 

[Elemental Son]

It was good that Lyall knew how to restrain him, because for the second...or maybe third? time that day, someone was on the precipice of an ass-kicking. But Lyall grounded Dominic with touch, drawing away his focus and his anger. Over time, Dominic would likely become less aggressively defensive of his new circumstances. For now, Pink Mohawk guy was just lucky he was too lazy to hold a grudge, long term. At the same time, it astounded Dominic how little he cared about having an audience; abuse was one thing, but the others - who said nothing - didn't bother him in the least. As it were, the kiss eased the tension out of his arms and shoulders, the will to fight ebbing away. There was nothing to be worried about now.


At least, not until Lyall (and eventually, he as well) recognized one of them. Dominic couldn't remember her name, exactly, but knew Lyall had dated her for a while. How awkward that must have been. Dominic could hear her phone conversation begin as she left, and gritted his teeth. Lyall enunciated their situation perfectly - their discretion was now no longer within their control, and that could lead to...complications.


But it was the look on Lyall's face which dictated Dominic's response. He was worried - genuinely concerned by the potential fall out. As it was beyond their control now, the only thing Dominic could do, was offer Lyall the solidarity to get through it.


"To hell with them." It was said as a near whisper, as Dominic cupped the side of Lyall's face with a hand, searching his eyes with his own. "Whatever happens now - school, my dad - I don't care any more. Not as much as I care about this." Lyall was doing it again - managing to draw words from Dominic that otherwise, he would never say. It was a curious power, and Dominic wondered if he realized he had it.


"Let's go and get some sleep? We'll deal with tomorrow when it happens."

 

[Melix]

“Yes, you do.” The gesture Dominic made was sweet- but it was a sweet lie. “It’s impossible not to care about maybe losing all your friends and getting beat up and being homeless. I know you.” Or maybe Lyall was just projecting all of his anxiety about their current situation onto Dominic. Either way, he took hold of Dominic’s hand and led him to the fancy hotel James lived in, waving at the desk employee (who had evidently seen him before, as he didn’t do the mandatory stop-and-search before trying to buzz Lyall in) just before he climbed into the service elevator. “But it’s okay. We'll make it through.”


“The residency elevator is older and less durable. The thing is, if a resident dies, another rich resident will move in. But if a worker dies, the paperwork is endless and awful and you’ll definitely have to pay a lot more money.” That was how James had explained it to him when he first started sleeping over (which was actually before he got the job as a chef- he used to do late night tutoring sessions for James’s two children. He still did sometimes.), and he’d taken the service elevator ever since. Besides, the service elevator was multi-car and didn’t automatically stop at the press of a button- it was all about luck, getting to your floor. But what that also meant was extra privacy, something he was really valuing at the current moment because of something he’d just thought of asking Dominic. “By the way, I don’t really know how this works, but…” No. Stop. Start over. You’re embarrassing yourself.


“Well, the kids at school are going to accuse us of things we haven’t done and use it to paint us in all these negative lights, and you know how much I hate being accused of things I didn’t do. It’s even worse than being accused of things I did do. Well, uh…if you want…we could just do all the things they’d accuse us of so it’s not as terrible and everything.” He looked up at Dominic expectantly. “What do you think?”


(0.0 If Dominic even understood that, thumbs up because I purposely made that as vague as I could. Also, if he agrees, we may need to timeskip…)

 

[Elemental Son]

"I care about it - just less." Dominic followed him inside, wondering how much of those nerves were Lyall's, not his. But Lyall's assurance that they'd be okay, well, that was worth a smile and then some. Lyall was describing the elevator system as they walked to one at the end of the hall. He spoke as if repeating something verbatim, the inflections a little stiff to have been improvised. Regardless, it made sense - not dying and not having to pay money were both good things. The elevator they ended up in was not quite like any he'd ever been in - there were only two buttons, and no register of the floor it was on, nor traveling to. 'Weird device for a place this nice.'


Lyall caught his attention again by starting to say something - he was rushing his words in the way he did when he was nervous, and cut himself off mid-sentence. Dominic tilted his head to the side slightly, trying to figure out what Lyall was trying to say (without having to actually say it, of course). He seemed to gather his thoughts, and started over.


By the time Lyall was looking up at him, Dominic was still trying to pick apart the logic. 'We're going to be accused of doing something bad. Lyall hates being accused of things he didn't do. He hates it more than being accused of things he's actually done. That being the case...we should do what we're going to be accused of, because we're going to be accused of it anyway, and that would be less bad than if we hadn't actually done what we're going to be accused of?' It took him a minute to get it, to work past the syllogism. By the time he'd worked out the reasoning, he'd realized he had absolutely no idea what Lyall was talking about.


"...Sounds good to me."


Logic had never been his strongest suit. That didn't mean he wasn't game to try just about anything Lyall propositioned him for.


(Heh - he's not that clever; just agreeable )

 

[Melix]

“Ah- okay.” Lyall smiled at Dominic, a weird fluttery feeling enveloping his chest and stomach. He had no words for this, so he casually pulled out Jason’s smartphone from his pocket (because screw not pickpocketing the guy who had, at one point during the night, announced, “I am SO gay right now.” No, you’re not. Stop.) and looked up ‘how to do the gay thing’. It appeared that most were Cosmopolitan articles, which he already knew were wholly inaccurate from the dramatic readings of them he used to do for his friends back when they were twelve and it was still normal for guys to sleep over. He clicked an article anyway, hoping for some information that made sense.


“Mmmhmm,” Lyall mumbled, eyes shooting up as he read the article. Well, that…that didn’t sound fun. But it must be, if so many people had done it already. Entering the living room, where James was spread out across the couch, still in his suit with a bottle of liquor in hand and watching trashy nighttime T.V., he gave the boys the thumbs up and mumbled something about Blake staying out again, so “feel free to sleep in Blake’s bed, either of you, if ya want to sleep in different rooms.” Lyall rolled his eyes. The use of ‘ya’ as opposed to you had alerted him (even more than the bottle had alerted him) that his employer was very, very drunk. Good. Maybe he’d be less bothersome in the morning, then. Wordlessly, Lyall passed Jason’s smart phone to Dominic, with a look that simply said, Read it. He needed to get an ice pack, painkiller, a clean bucket, and a lot of water bottles ready for tomorrow before he could go to bed. Otherwise, what kind of friend would he be? Not a very decent one.


“I’ll meet you in the bedroom in a few minutes,” Lyall said. “I just have to take care of him.”


“No, don’t touch me,” James yelled, and then began crying.


“He needs help. He needs my help now and Alcoholics Anonymous’s help tomorrow.”


(Lyall's life= side missions. See you tomorrow unless you disappear again xD . Good Night!)

 

[Elemental Son]

(Pffft - leaving Dom to do all the work. Poor guys =P G'night!)


Dominic noticed Lyall holding a phone distinctly not his own (what had happened to his, anyway?) and simply decided not to ask. The best way to invite Lyall's casual trickery was to question it. Still, it seemed an odd way to end what had clearly been an awkward question for him, and Dominic still had no idea what he'd been asked.


His musing was interrupted as they entered what appeared to be a living area - the requisite couches and TV, if one could call that 'living' - where a man he remembered to be Lyall's employer (and their impromptu host) had made heroic levels of exploration into a bottle of something stronger than even Dominic would touch. One look at the guy was enough to establish that he would be having a very, very unpleasant day tomorrow - that much alcohol could exact a great debt of pain.


James slurred something of an offer at them, giving them an awkward thumbs up. Looking at Lyall for what he wanted to do about the scenario, it seemed his boyfriend - strange, that he could think that now - had the situation well under control. It seemed this was not nearly the first time he had dealt with it. Quite unexpectedly, he handed Dominic the phone he had been consulting for the past several minutes, and ushered him into the other room, clearly intending to play care taker, short term, until James had passed out.


With little else to do, Dominic returned his attention to the phone screen, distantly hearing Lyall opening cupboards somewhere outside. For whatever reason, Lyall had handed him an article - '10 Musts For Your New Gay Lifestyle' - and Dominic was somewhere between confused and amused. 'Take regular shopping trips? The hell?' Wondering how this pertained at all to them - the last thing Dominic had bought, aside from food, was a replacement plate for one of the workshop's car jacks - he tapped the search bar, trying to figure out what exactly Lyall had been looking for. It helped considerably in him finally connecting the dots regarding what Lyall had tried to ask earlier. Navigating to a somewhat more useful page, Dominic read it, curios despite himself, waiting for Lyall to come back.


'Wait - did I just agree to this?'