The Long Surrender: 2/??
Nov. 5th, 2010 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lalalive23Title: The Long Surrender
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lalalive23
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Fluff and sadness, swearing
Summary: AU. Matt moved to Spain immediately after his lover left him to continue his work on the Spanish guitar. When Dom takes a holiday with his new fiancee, his world gets turned upside down and nothing is ever the same again.
Feedback: Is awesome. I like it. Keep it coming?
Disclaimer: I don't own Muse. If I did, they sure as hell would not be let out of the naughty closet. I don't make money off this. If I did, I would be a rich lady and not distracting myself from writing an undergrad thesis that is somehow much bigger than I.
Note: This story was originally friends locked and not intended to be posted to MS. I decided to do it becausemillionstar and dolce_piccante are women who know how to persuade me to do whatever their will desires. This story has a prologue and a first chapter that will be linked to. This story is being written for National Novel Writing Month so I don't intend it to be read or adored. That said, here you go!
Thanks todolce_piccante , millionstar , and sunshine_173 for being betas, bit readers, a NaNoWriMo support group, convincing me that this is actually an intelligent story, encouraging me that I will actually make it to 50,000 words and being generally amazing friends. ENJOY!
Prologue Chapter 1
In the chilling cold of the air conditioned hotel room, Dominic was on fire. His skin was burning, evaporating endlessly into the volcanic eruption in his chest. Midnight sky absorbed the room, the dim lights of Madrid casting an eerie glow on the floor and, in the staggering silence, Dom panted with heavy and unsteady breaths. The large hotel room was pitch black, his eyes staring absentmindedly into a void he knew lead to the ceiling, the blue of the guitarist's eyes still forcing a searing ache in his retinas. In his efforts to cool himself, tossing and turning on the lush bed and yearning for a chill on his heated flesh, the covers had fallen to his ankles, his side of the bed looking disheveled. Julia remained still through it all, chest rising and falling in even patterns, her breathing silent and content. Dominic had pulled himself to a small section of bed, avoiding her skin completely, that warmth of her body merely adding to the fever which was devouring him whole.
His deepest wish in that instant was to sleep, and to forget. Reason alluded him as he tried to think of why he couldn't erase the blue, why the ivory of his skin needed to be tasted, and why the rift in his gut was begging to be cured with a simple touch of the guitarist's hands. Earth had no axis, his mind simply rotating unevenly in the gravitational pull and, in the dark, Julia's hair merely looked like black mud had spilled violently onto the pillows.
Of their own accord, Dominic's legs thrust themselves from the bed, toes flexing in the carpet as he faced the large window-wall, naked and moist like a cat in heat. Sweat dripped like rain from the crevices of his elbows, his hairline, the backs of his knees as he stepped quietly over to the window, pressing his hands flush against the glass. Beneath him, life went on. Cars passed, people spilled from the clubs below him, laughing and oblivious to the dramatic change that was occurring forty-two floors above them. It bothered him that they didn't know, that they weren't aware of a man who had such piercing eyes. They engulfed Dominic, forced him to disappear into their crystal depths as they looked right deep into him.
It was unnerving, frightening, and seemed to exist in another dimension, in a space he was forbidden to touch. Which is why he wanted to possess it so completely.
He had only looked into those eyes for around a second, the man tucking them behind the lids without seeming to even notice that a grey storm was brewing before him. But in that second, Dom had seen such heartache and pain, such meaning and love. Those eyes read like pages of a large print book, and they refused to be ignored.
To simply say that it was his eyes that had hurled Dom into the hurricane of fire he was now consumed in would be false. It was, most probably, the inherent combination of passionate musical understanding, which flowed seamlessly form his hands into the air, and the emotional blue which seemed to shine so drastically against his ivory skin.
Dom's fingers slid down the glass as they tensed into a fist, the thought of the guitarist's skin making his body tingle with the urge to press it to see if the colour of his fingerprint would stay. Pale, so pale, he was. His skin was a canvas aching to be impressed upon, touched, covered, tanned, kissed.
Dom stopped himself at that last thought and gasped, completely unsure of where the word came from in the first place. He turned slowly back to Julia, sleeping on her stomach, deep in a sleep that Dom longed for. Truthfully, he feared sleep, feared being haunted by the blue in his dreams. When he was awake, he could control his thoughts, the distractions of the daylight hours would erase every fragment of the man from his brain. But now, in the darkness and for this night, he was convinced he was burning from the inside out.
In all seriousness, he had never felt this way for someone, had never lied awake naked and wanting to wipe his skin down with ice. When he met Julia, his mind had been occupied continuously with her face, but the thoughts had always soothed him into a peaceful sleep that left him rested and eager the next morning.
And perhaps that was exactly why this was not as important as he had made it out to be, because his reaction was fearful and childish, shocked merely because he had dreamed the blue and found it manifest in his life. But his reaction, the uncontrollably visceral reaction coursing through his body, was merely surprise. The soothing warmth he found from Julia being love and welcoming. Perhaps, if he just touched her, the heat on his body would shift from confused delirium to mature understanding and, once again, he could thank Julia for keeping him so balanced.
He walked the short distant to the bed, sliding in next to her and frowning at the uncomfortable warmth the sheets offered. Gently he pressed himself against Julia and a gasping sob tore from his chest.
It felt like he had pressed himself to a dead thing, no comfort to be found in the silk of her skin. Instead, there was a magnetic polar repellent crawling along the hairs of his arms, telling him that he had entered the wrong bed.
Rolling onto his opposite side, he forced himself to think of nothing, nothing at all. And in the memory of a devastating Spanish guitar, he allowed the blinking light of an aircraft tower on a distant hill time the eternity it took for him to drift from wakefulness to a restless ocean of blue.
~*~
Sunshine kissed tenderly at Dom's gold skin, his brow furrowing as the light penetrated his eyelids, dragging him reluctantly from sleep.
Over his cheeks he felt tickles of hair fluttering across his skin, followed by soft lips that pressed in random patterns across his face.
"Morning sleepy head," Julia whispered. "It's morning. We have a busy day."
Dom let out a gruff huff of air, unwilling to move his limp body that begged for more sleep. The tension in his body was leaving him, however, as the vision of orange and yellow behind his eyes ripped the blue from his mind with extraordinary force. It was something he had been craving for hours yet.
Julia sensed his lack of desire to move, snuggling up behind him and humming gently to lull him back to sleep. He wasn't sure what time it was but he was thankful that Julia did not press him to start their day. Had he tried to extract himself from the warm hold of the sheets, he would have immediately drawn himself back in, unable to bring himself to continue with his day.
He wasn't sure how long he slept for, only that the location of the sun against his face had shifted, and the warmth was settling on his neck. Julia's soft breathing brought a smile to his lips, her arm thrown so carelessly over his stomach he highly doubted she had put it there on purpose. Without waking her he twined their fingers together, feeling himself calmed through his entire being. It felt good to know that whatever sort of event had occurred last night was over and he could continue his life without interruption.
Eyes still closed, he thought over all the things they had on their agenda for the day. Mostly, he just wanted to leave the hotel and enjoy Madrid, having never been there before in his life. He wanted to taste the food, drink wine, and watch as Julia stood radiantly in the summer sun, completely and utterly at peace with herself. She had told him of a small piaza in the center of the city, a large area with a fountain in its middle and cafes lining its sides. Tables and chairs scattered here and there, though everyone chose to sit on the ledge overlooking the city, as it was raised and built on a hill. He was all too excited to see it, knowing well that it was Julia's favourite place to sit and eat while she had visited so very long ago.
Moments later, he felt Julia's fingers tighten, her body shifting lazily between the sheets.
"Is someone awake?" he asked, turning slightly to peer over his shoulder at her face, which was buried beneath pillows and hair.
She nodded and giggled. "It's nearly eleven. We slept in so late."
"How do you know what time it is?" Dom asked, puzzled by what he assumed was an extremely accurate internal clock.
Against his warm skin he felt Julia shake as she chuckled, her arm lifting slowly to point towards the bedside table. His head turned slowly, following the line of her gaze and hand to a digital clock which boasted a large face and read 10:53a.m. in tall and narrow blue type. He wondered briefly how he hadn't seen it before.
He let his head fall back to the bed, face down, and nodded into the soft pillow, luxuriating in the sensation of the soft fabric against his cheeks. "What do you want to do today?" he asked, his voice sounding muffled from his current position?
Julia pressed herself tighter against him, her body stretching and removing the tension in her back and legs. "It doesn't matter to me" she said with a little yawn. "Is there anything specific you want to see?"
The thoughts in his brain ceased motion as he felt soft hands kneading his upper arms and rubbing him gently. It was an innocent yet wonderfully erotic action, and he would never know why such a thing made his body respond as it often did. From the blankness that lulled his mind, he found it in himself the will to speak.
"I don't care, really. I just want to see Madrid, if that's alright with you?" The hands moving on his arm tightened exponentially as the rubbing turned into a little massage. The sensation caused him to groan against his will.
"We could go to the piaza?" Julia said softly, and deep underneath the small sentence Dom could hear her eagerness to return to her favourite spot. He smiled, knowing well her face would be written with hope and childish excitement. "We could get brunch there?"
He turned his head then, peaking out from under blonde hair that had fallen in a lump over his eyes. Looking at Julia, in her morning haze, her bright eyes and full lips, he couldn't help but just smile and nod. Glee rose up from her neck and she giggled happily as she threw the covers off herself, running into the bathroom to get ready as they landed in a heap on top of Dominic. Warm joy washed over him, as the covers fell upon him, the blue gone and his life feeling back to normal, his future steady and without change. He was ready to enjoy his trip, to enjoy his lover and transfer the burn form the night before into the core of the woman who was standing naked in the adjoining room.
~*~
Spain in summer was a sight to behold, something Dominic had never thought of experiencing until he met Julia. For him, Spain was not a place he felt he needed to visit immediately, a long list of other countries topping the list before Spain came into view. But Julia's excitement as she talked about the country, her memories, and how it proved to her she was not meant to live forever in the Unites States caused the country to climb the ladder, and move to the top. It was not so much that her words made him overwhelmingly curious, though there was an air of mystery he was eager to uncover in her descriptions, it was simply that he wanted to make her happy. To say that this trip was just for her would be a lie, because it was not. It was for them and their future, and he wanted to start their future on a note of incandescent happiness.
Walking through the streets, there was a bright glow in the gold of the city and he felt that was oddly cliche or stereotypical. But then, isn't that how stereotypes being? They hold some level of truth and the depictions of Spain, with their red and yellow hues that get painted in the mind, are remarkably true. As they meandered through the streets, not entirely caring which way they went as long as they wound up in the piaza, it struck Dominic that, in the future, when asked to describe Madrid he would use the same terms Julia had: beautiful, golden, lush, slow and simple. Because no other words seemed appropriate. The side streets of the city seemed to flow of their own accord, as if the back sides of the main roads were a portal to the slowness of the countryside, the mindset having been extracted and displaced.
Flowers hung from windows in baskets, giving the buildings character and causing Julia to sigh audibly at the sight. The cobblestones were an homage to a different time in Spain, when horses and leather shoes which had thin soles walked casually through, perhaps a market scattered here and there. In this day and age, there were no small markets lining the back roads, just children with footballs and wash hung high above their heads, life continuing above and around them.
They emerged from their stroll onto a street lined with bristros and independently run shops, selling fountain pens, watches and stationary, and paused to catch their breath as the journey had been entirely up hill. Before them was a magnificent fountain, the shape of a lion and a man, the water crystal clear and gleaming. It was a large expanse, filled with tourists taking pictures and writers sipping coffee as they let their head bend back for inspiration in the sun. Shop goes with large bags strolled before them, laughing and chatting with their friends or lovers. Photographers stood poised at the long terrace, snapping the rolling hills and breathtaking scenery that the piaza overlooked.
Dominc looked over at Julia, her eyes wide with wonder and joy, and in the core of his heart he was sure he had never seen such a beautiful sight.
"God, it's just as beautiful as I remember it," she said softly. "Look at the fountain! Oh, and they have new chairs!" She brought her hand to her mouth, the other pointing at table and chairs nearby. Without even looking at Dom she walked forward, not paying attention to where she was going, aimlessly strolling wherever her hear lead her.
"Does it still have the same layout though?" he asked, following her.
She did a once over, spinning where she stood once they reached the center next to the fountain. "A couple of the shops are different, I guess that's to be expected, but really it looks the same." She pulled out her large camera and started taking pictures, her passion for photography unable to remain hidden.
Dom sat on the edge of the fountain, not minding that the water droplets were soaking through his trousers. He watched the scene around him, Julia taking pictures while others ate lunch and shopped. One woman was sunbathing in her chair, merely sitting with her eyes closed as she napped.
"Baby, I'm gonna go look at handbags over there," Julia said as she approached, pointing to a store our of his line of sight. "I'll just be a second."
"Alright," he said, getting up to kiss her before she walked away.
He sighed and spun around. truly in awe of how beautiful the piaza really was. He walked slowly toward the terrace, the view from over the thick rail expanding as he neared it. The hills were green and maintained a soft haze around them in the sunlight. As he leaned over the rail, the smell of flowers assaulted him, lilac trees resting right beneath him. He closed his eyes and simply breathed, enjoying the smell, the air, the warmth.
And then he heard it. The sounds of a lonely Spanish guitar filtering through the atmosphere. His eyes popped open, and suddenly he wasn't breathing flowers anymore. He was breathing sound. All at once, every sensation he had felt the night before hit him, beating him into nothingness, and he prayed to god that it was not from the same man. The chances alone were severely slim.
Dominic turned quickly, eyes scanning vigorously for the image of someone with a guitar. And almost instantaneously he wished he hadn't.
Leaning against the terrace, eyes closed and head thrown back in abandon, stood the man from the night before, strumming idly and without care. He was dressed all in black, his tight black skinny jeans accentuating how slim his legs were. Black tee-shirt riding up against his back, exposing the skin of his hips as it moved from his motions against the rail, the man seemed to be in another world and totally at ease.
The burning started again, coursing through his body, but this time it originated in his groin. And Dominic hated himself for it. Fire crept up his body, roaming his skin and focused itself at his neck, giving him the look of a sun-kissed flush.
Before he even realized what was happening, Dom found himself walking towards the man, feeling more and more light headed with each step, until finally he found himself standing before the small and impossibly captivating young man.
The song lasted for only a minute before the man opened his eyes, the blue penetrating every part of Dom, his most secret of places, causing him to blush. He stopped strumming, confused by Dom's close presence and merely blinked, colour coming lightly into his pale cheeks.
"Hi," Dom said, feeling silly immediately for saying it.
"Hello..." the man said, cocking an eyebrow at Dom. His voice was creamy, like rich chocolate that slithered down the throat, and the action of his eyebrow made Dom's fluttering heart quake like a tectonic plate. He was also English. He was also beautiful.
"My name is Dominic Howard. I saw you last night at El Rojo Amanecer. You played wonderfully." Dom didn't know where the words were coming from, simply needed to hold this stunning creature in conversation for as long as possible.
"Oh! My name is Matthew Bellamy. I'm glad you liked it." He let the guitar drop, holing the neck with his left hand as he brought his right to shake Dom's. Dominic barely hesitated, all too eager to feel the skin of the perfectly crafted hands that had entranced him. Their strength was deceptive, hidden within delicate fingers that looked like they could break so easily. But as they gripped tightly to Dom's large and ungraceful hand, they took on a masculine characteristic that went straight to Dom's cock. At the thought, his blush deepened.
Matthew noticed the blush, removing his hand quickly and with a shaky laugh. "So..." he said, not entirely sure why he felt compelled to say anything at all.
"How long have you been playing guitar?" Dominic asked, willing the awkwardness between them to disappear.
Matthew smiled, and Dominic was sure his heart broke at the sight, nothing in the world able to compare with the bright glow it gave his face. "Eighteen years!" he said, sounding quite giddy at the thought of discussing music. "I play piano too but not as well. My mother forced me to start on it as a kid but I always thought the guitar was cooler."
Dominic nodded. "What got you into Spanish guitar?"
Matthew gently brought the guitar to rest in its case, leaning back with his legs crossed against the rail, arms holding it at either side. "I think I was thirteen when I saw some guy on the tele wooing this woman with it. I don't know if it was a movie or some soap opera, but I thought it was awesome how quickly this girl fell for him. I mean, what reason does any bloke do music?" He finished the sentence with a wicked smile, his blue eyes sparkling madly. Dominic felt his palms get moist, his neck begin to sweat, and, while he hated to admit it, his trousers tighten.
"Women must be throwing themselves at you," Dominic said with a playful laugh.
Matthew bit his lip, looking away from Dominic's face. "Yeah...," he said slowly. Dominic felt empty, then, yearning to have the eyes back on him.
"So, I mean, how well has this been going for you? Is it how you make a living?" he asked.
Matthew's feet crossed and uncrossed, legs switching position and his demeanor dramatically shifted, as if he were closing in on himself. He was unsure what to say to this stranger, in all honesty, when he had unearthed the very reason he was alone in Spain at all. "Well, not really. I play clubs at night because I love it. During the day I tutor Spanish students in English. Neither really pay the bills, I don't have a very good apartment. It's quite empty and, well...." he seemed to drift off into nothingness, his eyes looking everywhere but Dominic. "I'm sorry," he finished. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."
"No no!" Dominic rushed to say. "No, I think it's awesome that you tutor and still play. That lifestyle is...very bohemian."
Matthew snorted. "Yeah, but it isn't exactly easy."
Looking at the way Matthew seemed to exude a sense of loneliness prompted Dominic to question it, wanting only to see Matthew smile. Questioning his reasons so that he could better understand how to make the man glow. "Don't you have people here to help you? Let you stay with them? Friends or something?"
Matthew hugged himself, the question penetrating too roughly the wall he had built around him. "No, I didn't really....that isn't. Look, I mean, the music business is tough. That's all I meant. It's hard when what you want to do is so uncertain. Like...well, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm an advertising executive," Dom said plainly.
"Do you like it?" Matthew asked?
"Of course. I love it." Dominic wondered where he was going with this.
"And was it easy to get where you are today?" Matthew said quietly. His voice had softened, his point coming to a head.
"Well, no." Dominic admitted.
"Exactly," Matthew said nodding. "It doesn't matter if I have people here or not. To do what I love takes work, nothing is ever easy. Except for me to make a career out of what I love is 99% more difficult than the rest of the world."
Something clicked in Dominic's head as they two men shared a look that was neither steamy nor intense. He understood in that moment why he was meant to meet Matthew, why the fates seemed to have placed the two of them in the same place at the same time: because he could help.
"You know," Dominic said happily. Matthew looked at him puzzled, his brows furrowing. "I think I can help you. I have this friend, I met him a couple years back at some expo for my company. He words at a recording studio in London. I might be able to talk to him and see if we can pull some strings...or get you a session...I don't know, really. I don't know how these things work or what you do. But...you sound English?" Dominic had no idea why he finished his rambling the way he did, what he even meant in those few words.
Matthew laughed and Dominic felt like he was flying. "Yeah, I'm originally from London."
"Cool, so if I called him and something happened, would you be able to go back? Or what?" Dominic began reaching for his mobile in his back pocket, searching for Ian's number.
"How do I know you aren't shitting me?" Matthew asked, extremely weary of Dominic's words.
"Because I'm calling him right now. He owes me a few favors," Dominic said simply.
"No dude, that means nothing. You could be calling your grandma for all I know," Matthew laughed.
"Fine," Dominic said as he slipped his mobile into his other hand, the other digging through his coat pocket for a stray business card he remembered feeling earlier that morning. "This is my card." He pulled out the small rectangle, thrusting it before Matthew with a smile. "If you don't hear from me in a few days about Ian getting back to me, you call me. Seriously, call me. I'm not lying and I want to help you. If I have to, I'll conference Ian in when you call me and make you play for him so he has to listen."
Matthew fondled the card between his fingers, heart fluttering eagerly but still held back with fears. "And what if he doesn't pick up when you do?" his voice sounded so scared and worried, attempting not to get his hopes up.
"Then we leave him a voicemail, with you playing. We get persistent. Success doesn't come easily, as you are well aware, but you get no where unless you keep trying and you don't stop." Dominic finished with a bright smile, one that Matthew found to be infectious. He held out his hand, silently asking the blonde to shake on it and, like a teenage boy with a crush, Dominic found himself much too excited to touch the brunet again.
In that moment, in the world of bad timing and movie scenes, Dom's phone began to buzz in his hand. He jumped at the sensation, reluctantly pulling his hand from Matthew's and looking down to see the name JULIA in bold letters, her smiling face sitting brightly on the screen. "Oh, sorry," he apologized to Matthew. "I have to take this. Uhm, call me? Are you here every day?"
"Every day, same time," Matthew said nodding.
Dominic smiled and walked away from Matthew, answering his phone. As Julia began to tell him where she was on the opposite side of the piaza, the sound of her voice made him feel overwhelmed with guilt. And while he should have felt some inkling of shame associated with it, he could not; Matthew's face too beautiful a thing to feel ashamed for thinking of.
Author:
lalalive23 Pairing: Belldom
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Fluff and sadness, swearing
Summary: AU. Matt moved to Spain immediately after his lover left him to continue his work on the Spanish guitar. When Dom takes a holiday with his new fiancee, his world gets turned upside down and nothing is ever the same again.
Feedback: Is awesome. I like it. Keep it coming?
Disclaimer: I don't own Muse. If I did, they sure as hell would not be let out of the naughty closet. I don't make money off this. If I did, I would be a rich lady and not distracting myself from writing an undergrad thesis that is somehow much bigger than I.
Note: This story was originally friends locked and not intended to be posted to MS. I decided to do it because
millionstar and dolce_piccante are women who know how to persuade me to do whatever their will desires. This story has a prologue and a first chapter that will be linked to. This story is being written for National Novel Writing Month so I don't intend it to be read or adored. That said, here you go!Thanks to
dolce_piccante , millionstar , and sunshine_173 for being betas, bit readers, a NaNoWriMo support group, convincing me that this is actually an intelligent story, encouraging me that I will actually make it to 50,000 words and being generally amazing friends. ENJOY!Prologue Chapter 1
In the chilling cold of the air conditioned hotel room, Dominic was on fire. His skin was burning, evaporating endlessly into the volcanic eruption in his chest. Midnight sky absorbed the room, the dim lights of Madrid casting an eerie glow on the floor and, in the staggering silence, Dom panted with heavy and unsteady breaths. The large hotel room was pitch black, his eyes staring absentmindedly into a void he knew lead to the ceiling, the blue of the guitarist's eyes still forcing a searing ache in his retinas. In his efforts to cool himself, tossing and turning on the lush bed and yearning for a chill on his heated flesh, the covers had fallen to his ankles, his side of the bed looking disheveled. Julia remained still through it all, chest rising and falling in even patterns, her breathing silent and content. Dominic had pulled himself to a small section of bed, avoiding her skin completely, that warmth of her body merely adding to the fever which was devouring him whole.
His deepest wish in that instant was to sleep, and to forget. Reason alluded him as he tried to think of why he couldn't erase the blue, why the ivory of his skin needed to be tasted, and why the rift in his gut was begging to be cured with a simple touch of the guitarist's hands. Earth had no axis, his mind simply rotating unevenly in the gravitational pull and, in the dark, Julia's hair merely looked like black mud had spilled violently onto the pillows.
Of their own accord, Dominic's legs thrust themselves from the bed, toes flexing in the carpet as he faced the large window-wall, naked and moist like a cat in heat. Sweat dripped like rain from the crevices of his elbows, his hairline, the backs of his knees as he stepped quietly over to the window, pressing his hands flush against the glass. Beneath him, life went on. Cars passed, people spilled from the clubs below him, laughing and oblivious to the dramatic change that was occurring forty-two floors above them. It bothered him that they didn't know, that they weren't aware of a man who had such piercing eyes. They engulfed Dominic, forced him to disappear into their crystal depths as they looked right deep into him.
It was unnerving, frightening, and seemed to exist in another dimension, in a space he was forbidden to touch. Which is why he wanted to possess it so completely.
He had only looked into those eyes for around a second, the man tucking them behind the lids without seeming to even notice that a grey storm was brewing before him. But in that second, Dom had seen such heartache and pain, such meaning and love. Those eyes read like pages of a large print book, and they refused to be ignored.
To simply say that it was his eyes that had hurled Dom into the hurricane of fire he was now consumed in would be false. It was, most probably, the inherent combination of passionate musical understanding, which flowed seamlessly form his hands into the air, and the emotional blue which seemed to shine so drastically against his ivory skin.
Dom's fingers slid down the glass as they tensed into a fist, the thought of the guitarist's skin making his body tingle with the urge to press it to see if the colour of his fingerprint would stay. Pale, so pale, he was. His skin was a canvas aching to be impressed upon, touched, covered, tanned, kissed.
Dom stopped himself at that last thought and gasped, completely unsure of where the word came from in the first place. He turned slowly back to Julia, sleeping on her stomach, deep in a sleep that Dom longed for. Truthfully, he feared sleep, feared being haunted by the blue in his dreams. When he was awake, he could control his thoughts, the distractions of the daylight hours would erase every fragment of the man from his brain. But now, in the darkness and for this night, he was convinced he was burning from the inside out.
In all seriousness, he had never felt this way for someone, had never lied awake naked and wanting to wipe his skin down with ice. When he met Julia, his mind had been occupied continuously with her face, but the thoughts had always soothed him into a peaceful sleep that left him rested and eager the next morning.
And perhaps that was exactly why this was not as important as he had made it out to be, because his reaction was fearful and childish, shocked merely because he had dreamed the blue and found it manifest in his life. But his reaction, the uncontrollably visceral reaction coursing through his body, was merely surprise. The soothing warmth he found from Julia being love and welcoming. Perhaps, if he just touched her, the heat on his body would shift from confused delirium to mature understanding and, once again, he could thank Julia for keeping him so balanced.
He walked the short distant to the bed, sliding in next to her and frowning at the uncomfortable warmth the sheets offered. Gently he pressed himself against Julia and a gasping sob tore from his chest.
It felt like he had pressed himself to a dead thing, no comfort to be found in the silk of her skin. Instead, there was a magnetic polar repellent crawling along the hairs of his arms, telling him that he had entered the wrong bed.
Rolling onto his opposite side, he forced himself to think of nothing, nothing at all. And in the memory of a devastating Spanish guitar, he allowed the blinking light of an aircraft tower on a distant hill time the eternity it took for him to drift from wakefulness to a restless ocean of blue.
~*~
Sunshine kissed tenderly at Dom's gold skin, his brow furrowing as the light penetrated his eyelids, dragging him reluctantly from sleep.
Over his cheeks he felt tickles of hair fluttering across his skin, followed by soft lips that pressed in random patterns across his face.
"Morning sleepy head," Julia whispered. "It's morning. We have a busy day."
Dom let out a gruff huff of air, unwilling to move his limp body that begged for more sleep. The tension in his body was leaving him, however, as the vision of orange and yellow behind his eyes ripped the blue from his mind with extraordinary force. It was something he had been craving for hours yet.
Julia sensed his lack of desire to move, snuggling up behind him and humming gently to lull him back to sleep. He wasn't sure what time it was but he was thankful that Julia did not press him to start their day. Had he tried to extract himself from the warm hold of the sheets, he would have immediately drawn himself back in, unable to bring himself to continue with his day.
He wasn't sure how long he slept for, only that the location of the sun against his face had shifted, and the warmth was settling on his neck. Julia's soft breathing brought a smile to his lips, her arm thrown so carelessly over his stomach he highly doubted she had put it there on purpose. Without waking her he twined their fingers together, feeling himself calmed through his entire being. It felt good to know that whatever sort of event had occurred last night was over and he could continue his life without interruption.
Eyes still closed, he thought over all the things they had on their agenda for the day. Mostly, he just wanted to leave the hotel and enjoy Madrid, having never been there before in his life. He wanted to taste the food, drink wine, and watch as Julia stood radiantly in the summer sun, completely and utterly at peace with herself. She had told him of a small piaza in the center of the city, a large area with a fountain in its middle and cafes lining its sides. Tables and chairs scattered here and there, though everyone chose to sit on the ledge overlooking the city, as it was raised and built on a hill. He was all too excited to see it, knowing well that it was Julia's favourite place to sit and eat while she had visited so very long ago.
Moments later, he felt Julia's fingers tighten, her body shifting lazily between the sheets.
"Is someone awake?" he asked, turning slightly to peer over his shoulder at her face, which was buried beneath pillows and hair.
She nodded and giggled. "It's nearly eleven. We slept in so late."
"How do you know what time it is?" Dom asked, puzzled by what he assumed was an extremely accurate internal clock.
Against his warm skin he felt Julia shake as she chuckled, her arm lifting slowly to point towards the bedside table. His head turned slowly, following the line of her gaze and hand to a digital clock which boasted a large face and read 10:53a.m. in tall and narrow blue type. He wondered briefly how he hadn't seen it before.
He let his head fall back to the bed, face down, and nodded into the soft pillow, luxuriating in the sensation of the soft fabric against his cheeks. "What do you want to do today?" he asked, his voice sounding muffled from his current position?
Julia pressed herself tighter against him, her body stretching and removing the tension in her back and legs. "It doesn't matter to me" she said with a little yawn. "Is there anything specific you want to see?"
The thoughts in his brain ceased motion as he felt soft hands kneading his upper arms and rubbing him gently. It was an innocent yet wonderfully erotic action, and he would never know why such a thing made his body respond as it often did. From the blankness that lulled his mind, he found it in himself the will to speak.
"I don't care, really. I just want to see Madrid, if that's alright with you?" The hands moving on his arm tightened exponentially as the rubbing turned into a little massage. The sensation caused him to groan against his will.
"We could go to the piaza?" Julia said softly, and deep underneath the small sentence Dom could hear her eagerness to return to her favourite spot. He smiled, knowing well her face would be written with hope and childish excitement. "We could get brunch there?"
He turned his head then, peaking out from under blonde hair that had fallen in a lump over his eyes. Looking at Julia, in her morning haze, her bright eyes and full lips, he couldn't help but just smile and nod. Glee rose up from her neck and she giggled happily as she threw the covers off herself, running into the bathroom to get ready as they landed in a heap on top of Dominic. Warm joy washed over him, as the covers fell upon him, the blue gone and his life feeling back to normal, his future steady and without change. He was ready to enjoy his trip, to enjoy his lover and transfer the burn form the night before into the core of the woman who was standing naked in the adjoining room.
~*~
Spain in summer was a sight to behold, something Dominic had never thought of experiencing until he met Julia. For him, Spain was not a place he felt he needed to visit immediately, a long list of other countries topping the list before Spain came into view. But Julia's excitement as she talked about the country, her memories, and how it proved to her she was not meant to live forever in the Unites States caused the country to climb the ladder, and move to the top. It was not so much that her words made him overwhelmingly curious, though there was an air of mystery he was eager to uncover in her descriptions, it was simply that he wanted to make her happy. To say that this trip was just for her would be a lie, because it was not. It was for them and their future, and he wanted to start their future on a note of incandescent happiness.
Walking through the streets, there was a bright glow in the gold of the city and he felt that was oddly cliche or stereotypical. But then, isn't that how stereotypes being? They hold some level of truth and the depictions of Spain, with their red and yellow hues that get painted in the mind, are remarkably true. As they meandered through the streets, not entirely caring which way they went as long as they wound up in the piaza, it struck Dominic that, in the future, when asked to describe Madrid he would use the same terms Julia had: beautiful, golden, lush, slow and simple. Because no other words seemed appropriate. The side streets of the city seemed to flow of their own accord, as if the back sides of the main roads were a portal to the slowness of the countryside, the mindset having been extracted and displaced.
Flowers hung from windows in baskets, giving the buildings character and causing Julia to sigh audibly at the sight. The cobblestones were an homage to a different time in Spain, when horses and leather shoes which had thin soles walked casually through, perhaps a market scattered here and there. In this day and age, there were no small markets lining the back roads, just children with footballs and wash hung high above their heads, life continuing above and around them.
They emerged from their stroll onto a street lined with bristros and independently run shops, selling fountain pens, watches and stationary, and paused to catch their breath as the journey had been entirely up hill. Before them was a magnificent fountain, the shape of a lion and a man, the water crystal clear and gleaming. It was a large expanse, filled with tourists taking pictures and writers sipping coffee as they let their head bend back for inspiration in the sun. Shop goes with large bags strolled before them, laughing and chatting with their friends or lovers. Photographers stood poised at the long terrace, snapping the rolling hills and breathtaking scenery that the piaza overlooked.
Dominc looked over at Julia, her eyes wide with wonder and joy, and in the core of his heart he was sure he had never seen such a beautiful sight.
"God, it's just as beautiful as I remember it," she said softly. "Look at the fountain! Oh, and they have new chairs!" She brought her hand to her mouth, the other pointing at table and chairs nearby. Without even looking at Dom she walked forward, not paying attention to where she was going, aimlessly strolling wherever her hear lead her.
"Does it still have the same layout though?" he asked, following her.
She did a once over, spinning where she stood once they reached the center next to the fountain. "A couple of the shops are different, I guess that's to be expected, but really it looks the same." She pulled out her large camera and started taking pictures, her passion for photography unable to remain hidden.
Dom sat on the edge of the fountain, not minding that the water droplets were soaking through his trousers. He watched the scene around him, Julia taking pictures while others ate lunch and shopped. One woman was sunbathing in her chair, merely sitting with her eyes closed as she napped.
"Baby, I'm gonna go look at handbags over there," Julia said as she approached, pointing to a store our of his line of sight. "I'll just be a second."
"Alright," he said, getting up to kiss her before she walked away.
He sighed and spun around. truly in awe of how beautiful the piaza really was. He walked slowly toward the terrace, the view from over the thick rail expanding as he neared it. The hills were green and maintained a soft haze around them in the sunlight. As he leaned over the rail, the smell of flowers assaulted him, lilac trees resting right beneath him. He closed his eyes and simply breathed, enjoying the smell, the air, the warmth.
And then he heard it. The sounds of a lonely Spanish guitar filtering through the atmosphere. His eyes popped open, and suddenly he wasn't breathing flowers anymore. He was breathing sound. All at once, every sensation he had felt the night before hit him, beating him into nothingness, and he prayed to god that it was not from the same man. The chances alone were severely slim.
Dominic turned quickly, eyes scanning vigorously for the image of someone with a guitar. And almost instantaneously he wished he hadn't.
Leaning against the terrace, eyes closed and head thrown back in abandon, stood the man from the night before, strumming idly and without care. He was dressed all in black, his tight black skinny jeans accentuating how slim his legs were. Black tee-shirt riding up against his back, exposing the skin of his hips as it moved from his motions against the rail, the man seemed to be in another world and totally at ease.
The burning started again, coursing through his body, but this time it originated in his groin. And Dominic hated himself for it. Fire crept up his body, roaming his skin and focused itself at his neck, giving him the look of a sun-kissed flush.
Before he even realized what was happening, Dom found himself walking towards the man, feeling more and more light headed with each step, until finally he found himself standing before the small and impossibly captivating young man.
The song lasted for only a minute before the man opened his eyes, the blue penetrating every part of Dom, his most secret of places, causing him to blush. He stopped strumming, confused by Dom's close presence and merely blinked, colour coming lightly into his pale cheeks.
"Hi," Dom said, feeling silly immediately for saying it.
"Hello..." the man said, cocking an eyebrow at Dom. His voice was creamy, like rich chocolate that slithered down the throat, and the action of his eyebrow made Dom's fluttering heart quake like a tectonic plate. He was also English. He was also beautiful.
"My name is Dominic Howard. I saw you last night at El Rojo Amanecer. You played wonderfully." Dom didn't know where the words were coming from, simply needed to hold this stunning creature in conversation for as long as possible.
"Oh! My name is Matthew Bellamy. I'm glad you liked it." He let the guitar drop, holing the neck with his left hand as he brought his right to shake Dom's. Dominic barely hesitated, all too eager to feel the skin of the perfectly crafted hands that had entranced him. Their strength was deceptive, hidden within delicate fingers that looked like they could break so easily. But as they gripped tightly to Dom's large and ungraceful hand, they took on a masculine characteristic that went straight to Dom's cock. At the thought, his blush deepened.
Matthew noticed the blush, removing his hand quickly and with a shaky laugh. "So..." he said, not entirely sure why he felt compelled to say anything at all.
"How long have you been playing guitar?" Dominic asked, willing the awkwardness between them to disappear.
Matthew smiled, and Dominic was sure his heart broke at the sight, nothing in the world able to compare with the bright glow it gave his face. "Eighteen years!" he said, sounding quite giddy at the thought of discussing music. "I play piano too but not as well. My mother forced me to start on it as a kid but I always thought the guitar was cooler."
Dominic nodded. "What got you into Spanish guitar?"
Matthew gently brought the guitar to rest in its case, leaning back with his legs crossed against the rail, arms holding it at either side. "I think I was thirteen when I saw some guy on the tele wooing this woman with it. I don't know if it was a movie or some soap opera, but I thought it was awesome how quickly this girl fell for him. I mean, what reason does any bloke do music?" He finished the sentence with a wicked smile, his blue eyes sparkling madly. Dominic felt his palms get moist, his neck begin to sweat, and, while he hated to admit it, his trousers tighten.
"Women must be throwing themselves at you," Dominic said with a playful laugh.
Matthew bit his lip, looking away from Dominic's face. "Yeah...," he said slowly. Dominic felt empty, then, yearning to have the eyes back on him.
"So, I mean, how well has this been going for you? Is it how you make a living?" he asked.
Matthew's feet crossed and uncrossed, legs switching position and his demeanor dramatically shifted, as if he were closing in on himself. He was unsure what to say to this stranger, in all honesty, when he had unearthed the very reason he was alone in Spain at all. "Well, not really. I play clubs at night because I love it. During the day I tutor Spanish students in English. Neither really pay the bills, I don't have a very good apartment. It's quite empty and, well...." he seemed to drift off into nothingness, his eyes looking everywhere but Dominic. "I'm sorry," he finished. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."
"No no!" Dominic rushed to say. "No, I think it's awesome that you tutor and still play. That lifestyle is...very bohemian."
Matthew snorted. "Yeah, but it isn't exactly easy."
Looking at the way Matthew seemed to exude a sense of loneliness prompted Dominic to question it, wanting only to see Matthew smile. Questioning his reasons so that he could better understand how to make the man glow. "Don't you have people here to help you? Let you stay with them? Friends or something?"
Matthew hugged himself, the question penetrating too roughly the wall he had built around him. "No, I didn't really....that isn't. Look, I mean, the music business is tough. That's all I meant. It's hard when what you want to do is so uncertain. Like...well, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm an advertising executive," Dom said plainly.
"Do you like it?" Matthew asked?
"Of course. I love it." Dominic wondered where he was going with this.
"And was it easy to get where you are today?" Matthew said quietly. His voice had softened, his point coming to a head.
"Well, no." Dominic admitted.
"Exactly," Matthew said nodding. "It doesn't matter if I have people here or not. To do what I love takes work, nothing is ever easy. Except for me to make a career out of what I love is 99% more difficult than the rest of the world."
Something clicked in Dominic's head as they two men shared a look that was neither steamy nor intense. He understood in that moment why he was meant to meet Matthew, why the fates seemed to have placed the two of them in the same place at the same time: because he could help.
"You know," Dominic said happily. Matthew looked at him puzzled, his brows furrowing. "I think I can help you. I have this friend, I met him a couple years back at some expo for my company. He words at a recording studio in London. I might be able to talk to him and see if we can pull some strings...or get you a session...I don't know, really. I don't know how these things work or what you do. But...you sound English?" Dominic had no idea why he finished his rambling the way he did, what he even meant in those few words.
Matthew laughed and Dominic felt like he was flying. "Yeah, I'm originally from London."
"Cool, so if I called him and something happened, would you be able to go back? Or what?" Dominic began reaching for his mobile in his back pocket, searching for Ian's number.
"How do I know you aren't shitting me?" Matthew asked, extremely weary of Dominic's words.
"Because I'm calling him right now. He owes me a few favors," Dominic said simply.
"No dude, that means nothing. You could be calling your grandma for all I know," Matthew laughed.
"Fine," Dominic said as he slipped his mobile into his other hand, the other digging through his coat pocket for a stray business card he remembered feeling earlier that morning. "This is my card." He pulled out the small rectangle, thrusting it before Matthew with a smile. "If you don't hear from me in a few days about Ian getting back to me, you call me. Seriously, call me. I'm not lying and I want to help you. If I have to, I'll conference Ian in when you call me and make you play for him so he has to listen."
Matthew fondled the card between his fingers, heart fluttering eagerly but still held back with fears. "And what if he doesn't pick up when you do?" his voice sounded so scared and worried, attempting not to get his hopes up.
"Then we leave him a voicemail, with you playing. We get persistent. Success doesn't come easily, as you are well aware, but you get no where unless you keep trying and you don't stop." Dominic finished with a bright smile, one that Matthew found to be infectious. He held out his hand, silently asking the blonde to shake on it and, like a teenage boy with a crush, Dominic found himself much too excited to touch the brunet again.
In that moment, in the world of bad timing and movie scenes, Dom's phone began to buzz in his hand. He jumped at the sensation, reluctantly pulling his hand from Matthew's and looking down to see the name JULIA in bold letters, her smiling face sitting brightly on the screen. "Oh, sorry," he apologized to Matthew. "I have to take this. Uhm, call me? Are you here every day?"
"Every day, same time," Matthew said nodding.
Dominic smiled and walked away from Matthew, answering his phone. As Julia began to tell him where she was on the opposite side of the piaza, the sound of her voice made him feel overwhelmed with guilt. And while he should have felt some inkling of shame associated with it, he could not; Matthew's face too beautiful a thing to feel ashamed for thinking of.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 12:12 pm (UTC)I friggin' adore AU so this just ticks so many boxes. For my BigBang, I'm writing something where Dom already has a long term girlfriend, and then Matt comes along and... yeah, it's interesting :3
But this... just, wow. I've never been to Spain nor do I have an intentions of going (I adore France with all my heart, however), so this is not only a reading but a learning experience.
So, yeah, I'll stop rambling and say this is brilliant :D
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Date: 2010-11-08 03:14 am (UTC)I have never been to Spain either. I would love to go but there's a lot of other places I'd like to go first. Everything described here is taken from stories a friend of mine told me when she visited Spain. She's been about 3 times I think now, so I've been looking at her pictures and asking her all sorts of questions. It's a challenge though cause I'm all about France. I would love to make Maffoo an accordion player in Paris but....another day LOL
Thank you for reading and commenting sweety!
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Date: 2010-11-06 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 03:15 am (UTC)I've recently just started in on Hey Pretty, so I will be commenting when I finish it. ^_^
Thank you for reading! *takes out pompoms* WE CAN BOTH REACH 50,000!
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Date: 2010-11-06 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 03:13 pm (UTC)so i'm gonna chill, imagine a sunsoaked spanish square with a little guitar man playing with an equal love for life, and smile.
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Date: 2010-11-08 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 05:01 pm (UTC)I'm glad millionstar and dolce convinced you to post this story here because it's really amazing. Can't wait for the next chapter ;)
Thanks for sharing this lovely story
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Date: 2010-11-08 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 06:26 pm (UTC)I like how you've painted a whole new world around our two favourite boys, and this story intrigues me loads! Poor Dom, infatuated with our Matt from the start, you're not gonna make it easy for him I can tell. And we're here to enjoy his torture ^.^
Very well done, and I can't wait to read more!
Thank you for sharing <3
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Date: 2010-11-08 03:18 am (UTC)THANK YOU!! I am so glad you like this <3
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Date: 2010-11-06 09:25 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you've decided to share it because guh, I'm already hooked!!
Love Spain as well :3
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Date: 2010-11-08 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 06:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 09:25 am (UTC)Wonderful writing <3
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Date: 2010-11-07 09:45 pm (UTC)Exactly. *nods* That's just one of the things I love about this fic. It's lush and transports me to a lovely place. :D
I love it, Kat... believe it!
<333
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Date: 2010-11-08 03:20 am (UTC)You are so good to me I can't even TELL YOU how much you mean to me.
*hugs tight*
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Date: 2010-11-08 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 07:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 11:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 09:50 pm (UTC)Just wanna say, you´re brilliant with words. Everything´s described beautifully, and fluently, it´s a pleasure to read, really.
I´m seriously hooked. Rushing to the next part.
ps: I don´t know if I´m a complete ignorant, but the word 'piaza' sounds pretty strange in Spanish. I´ve never been to Madrid, that´s why I doubt, so I have no idea of 'piaza' is a word they use there =S Anyway, it should be 'PLAZA' not 'PIAZA'. You say 'piazza' in Italian, but yeah, it´s with double z. Maybe they use 'piaza' in Spain and I was completely clueless, I don´t know...sounds pretty weird though, I insist, in -general- Spanish you say 'plaza'.
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Date: 2010-11-13 06:44 pm (UTC)It bothered him that they didn't know, that they weren't aware of a man who had such piercing eyes. They engulfed Dominic, forced him to disappear into their crystal depths as they looked right deep into him.
Love how smitten Dom has become with Matthew's eyes. And how he manages to see his pain and loneliness in that brief second. How much he seems so care about him already.
And they met! *flails* Dom is such a sweetheart, wanting to help, but I felt so sorry for Matt when he was asked if he was there on his own, that the question obviously hit too close to the bone. I have a feeling I will feel very, very sorry for Julia in the future, but I guess I'll have to take that...
And, oh, Spain! Makes me want to leave this igloo and get on the first flight there. But seriously. Love this. LOVE THIS. *rushes to the next part*
&hearts
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Date: 2011-01-24 09:18 am (UTC)Sorry if I'm flooding your inbox, but I want to comment on this because it's so wonderful! I love your descriptions, they're very lush and just...I feel like I'm there!
I can't wait to see what happens next!