Title: Different Tastes
Series: Not part of a series as such but follows on from "All Tomorrow's Birthdays"
Author: Lobelia; [email protected]
Pairing: Karl Urban / Dominic Monaghan; also: Karl Urban / Dominic Monaghan / Bernard Hill; implied: Bernard Hill / John Noble
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Dom fucks Karl. Karl fucks Dom. But do they love each other?
Feedback: Yes, please, I would love feedback! Anything, even if it's only one line, one word!
Content/Warnings: RPS. Threesome. Celery consumption.
Spoilers: None
Archive Rights: Beyond the Fellowship. My niche. Anyone else, please ask.
Disclaimers: This is a work of amateur fiction. I do not know these people. I am not making money. The events described in this story did not happen.
Author's Notes: An attempt to tell a story largely in dialogue and to limit non-speech (largely) to blunt, objective observations. Inspired by dialogue-only Wainthropp txt-slash and musings about pov. Thanks to Demelza, my fan-in-crime, who does the meanest dialogue around. Thanks and kisses to my sweet beta, Gabby Hope.
I needed to write a differerent kind of Karl/Dominic to provide relief from the "Arthropods"-Karl/Dominic (which is still cooking, don't worry).
This story ties in with other fics I have written: It's the same Karl and Bernard who appear in "Larks and Nightingales" (BH/JN), "Olives in Brine and Artichoke Hearts" (KU/BH/JN) and "Life After Virginity" (BH/JN).
-----
There was a knock at the door.
It was Karl.
"Oh," said Dom. He sounded surprised.
"Hi," said Karl.
"Hi," said Dom. "Uh. Come in."
Karl came in. He shifted feet. He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. He looked around.
"Yeah," he said. "Room's just like mine."
"Right," said Dom.
"Except, er, you've got the bed the other way round. And your wallpaper's different."
"Right. Yes, well, hotels are exciting."
Karl stood on tiptoes, then on the balls of his feet. Dom rubbed his eyebrow.
"I was just wondering," said Karl, "if you were free right now. If you wanted to go to the pub for a beer."
"The pub?"
"Yeah. You know, have a drink."
"Right. Okay. Hang on, I'll just get my coat."
Karl waited near the closed door. He shifted feet some more. He took his hands out of his jacket pockets and shoved them back in again. He let his eyes roam around the room. He looked at the clothes on the floor, and the shoes under the bed, and the alarm clock on the night table, and the half-emptied suitcase under the window. He looked at everything, except at Dom.
Dom pulled on his fleecy jacket and shoved his wallet down the front pocket of his jeans. He had his key in his hand. He was on the way to the door when he was stopped by Karl's mouth.
Karl kissed Dom with his hands still in his jacket pockets. Dom's hand was still on his key. Neither touched the other with any other part of their bodies besides lips and tongues.
They broke apart.
They looked at each other.
"I just wanted to see what that was like without being drunk," said Karl.
"Right. Yes."
"I was quite drunk the other night. And I just, er... The pub was an excuse. I really just came up for that."
"Uh, okay..." Dom still had his key in his hand. He stuck the other hand in the back pocket of his jeans. He rocked from side to side on his feet.
"You taste nice," said Karl.
"Yes, spearmint. The toothpaste. I was just brushing..."
"But something else, too. Banana?"
"Yeah. Well spotted. I was eating a banana before."
Karl kissed him again. Dom stood still. He stuck his elbow out. He held his hand away from his body so it didn't touch Karl. He moved nothing except for his mouth. He moved his mouth on Karl's mouth. He moved it quite a bit. He even moaned quietly into Karl's mouth.
Quietly.
"So... uh..."
"Er."
"Do you... Shall we go to the pub now, then?"
"Well," said Karl, "that was just an excuse. We don't have to. But we can, of course. If you want to."
"How about," said Dom, "the other thing?"
"Okay," said Karl at once.
Dom shrugged out of his jacket. He put the key on the bed. Karl tugged off his own jacket and got tangled up with the sleeves. He shook the sleeve off his right arm. He dropped the jacket to the floor.
They stood there.
Dom undid the buttons of his jeans and, by mistake, did them up again. He undid them a second time and stepped out of his jeans. Karl unzipped and tugged at his own jeans. Denim pooled around feet. Both stood on one leg, pulled off shoes and struggled with stubborn hems.
Dom bent and pulled off his underpants. Karl bent and pulled off his boxer shorts.
"I," said Dom.
Karl stepped close. His hands hovered in the air. He kissed Dom, without putting his hands on him. Dom said "mmm" and kept his hands behind his back. His T-shirt lifted over his erection. Their socks were dark against the beige carpet. They arched their bodies back, and their groins did not touch.
Dom turned. He looked round. He stepped back and stepped forward again. He lifted his hands and dropped them. He looked round again and walked to the bed. He knelt down on the carpet. He propped his elbows on the bed. He stuck his bare arse up in the air. His breath ruffled the counterpane.
Karl's hands hovered over Dom's buttocks. His hands drifted lower. And lower. The first touch. Dom closed his eyes. Dom licked a drop of sweat from his upper lip. Karl pulled Dom's buttocks apart.
"Oh," said Dom and twisted around, "the..."
But Karl was already next to his discarded jacket. He dug into the pockets and produced his own condoms and lube.
Dom looked at the condoms. He looked at Karl's jacket.
He turned back round. He closed his eyes. He waited.
Karl's hands gripped Dom's waist. Karl nudged his way in. Dom bit into his forearm, the forearm lying on the bed in front of his face. Karl moved in and out. Dom let his cheek fall into the mattress and his mouth open wide. Karl grabbed his hips. He thrust forward. Dom thrust backward. Dom fumbled for his own dick and was met by Karl's hand on the way there.
Karl jerked his fist up and down along Dom's dick. The mattress shook. Dom's eyes were still closed. Karl thrust and thrust. Karl's eyes were looking out of the window as he thrust. Mosquitoes collected around the street lamp. A bird flew by. It shat on the sill. On the inside window sill lay a bunch of bananas. Karl's breathing sped up.
Dom came with a moan. He sank into the mattress and mouthed the sheet. Karl's hand under Dom's hand around Dom's dick slowed. Karl's cock sped up. The mattress went wild. The key slid to the ground. Karl thrust, slowed down, then thrust again. Then he stopped. He grunted into Dom's hair.
Karl pulled out. He rolled onto the mattress beside Dom.
Both panted into the sheets for a while.
Then Dom got up, found a hotel towel and another one for Karl. They dabbed themselves without looking up. Karl twisted the top of the condom shut and looked round. He went to the bathroom and returned empty-handed.
Dom sat down on the end of the bed, cross-legged. Karl leaned against the headboard, his sock-clad feet propped on the crumpled counterpane.
"Did you like it?" said Karl.
Dom nodded. "Did you?"
"Yeah. I liked it the other night, too."
"Do you... uh, with Bernard? Do you do this?"
"No," said Karl. "Bern doesn't go in for fucking. Well, maybe he does with John. I wouldn't know what he does with John alone. But with me: no, never."
"So Bernard never...?"
"No."
"Not with me, either?"
"No, I don't think he will. He likes to watch, though. Didn't you think he liked to watch the other night?"
"Uh... yes, I guess so."
"Can I have a banana?" said Karl.
"Yeah. Of course."
Karl crawled along the bed and reached across to the sill. He leaned against the headboard again, in his button-up shirt, socks and nothing else on. He peeled the banana and slowly bit off the tip. He looked at Dom over the top of the fruit. Dom leaned back on his hands.
"And what about you?" said Karl. "You're into older guys?"
"Oh," said Dom. He went deep red. "That obvious?"
"Yeah. Well, no. Bern told me. So I watched out for it." Karl took another bite, chewed and swallowed. "And then I noticed how you looked at him all night."
"Bernard told you?" One of those flinch-shivers went through Dom. His knees wobbled. He rubbed his eyebrow. "How did he know?"
"Yeah, he told me. You did look at him a lot." Karl slowly pulled a fibrous thread off along the banana's shaft and deposited it on the night table. "And never at me."
Dom blinked. "I did," he said. "I'm sure I did."
"Well, right at the end, true," said Karl. He put his mouth around the stump of banana left in his hand and moved it up and down. He looked at Dom.
Dom laughed. "Stop it."
Karl bit off the stump. His cheeks bulged. He spoke with his mouth still half-full. "So you don't like young guys at all?"
"I don't know. I haven't thought about it. What's this John guy like?"
"John? Oh, John... You'll like John. Although he's not quite as old as Bern. But still over fifty." Karl swallowed. "John kisses like a wet dream. I can see why Bern likes him."
"You sound like someone in a harem," said Dom, "sharing gossip."
"Yeah," Karl said. "We're the toy boys. Except until now it was only ever me."
"Do you mind?"
"No." Karl folded the empty banana peel into a pyramid on his lap. "I don't mind. But you. You think about Bern a lot, right?"
"Well. Yes. Sort of."
"Did you think about him just now? When we were fucking?"
Dom looked into his groin. His left hand rubbed his left knee. "Yeah. I did."
Silence.
"Sorry. I thought about, uh, Bernard's cock. How last time I had his, you know, in my mouth while you were..."
Karl nodded. He pursed his lips.
"Have you ever...?" said Dom.
"Oh, yeah," said Karl. "And the other way round, too."
"And usually John's there, too?"
"Oh, yeah. Always."
"Wow."
"Yeah, wow."
"So. Do you want to go to this pub now?"
"Well," said Karl, "I don't know where there is a pub round here, actually."
"You don't?"
"I told you it was just an excuse."
"Right. So, how come you're not at Bernard's tonight? You don't go all the time?"
"Oh no. Back in Wellington, Bern's mostly with John. And they only go out or have dinners on the weekend. They take work very seriously."
"I take work very seriously."
"Yeah, well. I take work very seriously."
"So it's probably just as well that we're not going to the pub, then," said Dom. "Because it's Monday night. And we're taking work seriously. And all."
"Yeah. Right. What else shall we do?"
"I don't know."
"Do you, er, do you want to do that the other way round?"
"Oh," said Dom, "okay then. But I'm not sure I'm up to it yet." He laughed and gestured at his helpless dick.
Karl looked and laughed, too. His eyes lit up. His lips curled. Dimples appeared in his cheeks. "Well," he said, "in that case. Could we perhaps just, er, kiss again?"
"Oh. Right," said Dom.
"I liked it before," said Karl.
"Okay."
They kissed, sitting on the bed. Dom rested his hands on the mattress and knelt up to reach Karl's mouth. Karl kept his hands folded in his lap, around the banana peel.
"I liked it again," said Karl.
"My dick liked it," said Dom and grinned.
"You know, that's one advantage of not being an old guy." Karl pointed at his own groin. "Shorter reload time."
"Okay, then. Shall we...?"
"Yeah. Let's."
"Do you want to turn around?"
"Could we," said Karl, "keep on kissing? Could we try it from the front so that we can keep on kissing? Would that be okay?"
"Yeah. Fine. Why not?"
They fucked face-to-face. Dom drove his dick into Karl's arse. Karl ate Dom's mouth. Dom braced himself against Karl's hips. Karl enfolded his own cock in his fist. He looked at the ceiling above Dom's head. He brushed his hair from his own forehead and put his hand back around his cock. He came in his hand. His mouth came in Dom's mouth. Karl's groans rolled down Dom's throat. Dom's belly shivered against Karl's. His teeth bumped Karl's.
Another bird came and shat on the window sill. The bananas brooded. The key lay still. The wallpaper listened to Dom's moans.
-----
There was a knock.
"Shit," said Dom. The remote control clattered to the ground. Dom jumped into his jeans and limped to the door. "Oh, it's you," he said. "Hi, Karl."
"Hi."
They stood there.
"Can I come in?"
"Uh... you don't want to go the pub this time?"
"No, just been there," said Karl and pushed his way past Dom. "What have you been up to?" He looked round the room.
"Nothing," said Dom and crossed his hands in front of his groin.
"Nothing?" said Karl. He reached down, pushed Dom's hands aside and did up the top button of Dom's fly. "And have you finished with nothing or were you still in the middle of nothing when I knocked?"
Dom started to frown but it turned into a laugh.
Karl crouched down in front of the TV. "What's this you're watching?" He peered at the screen.
Dom grabbed the remote from the carpet. The channel flipped. Karl calmly pressed the manual keys on the TV's fascia and got back to the initial programme.
"This is a movie with a bunch of old geezers in it," he said. "Isnt' that Sean Connery? And that one, whatsisname, he must be over 100 by now." Karl grinned.
Dom flipped the channel again. A young woman with peroxided hair beamed out at them, promising them a year's supply of washing-up powder if they answered the following three questions correctly.
Karl sat down on the foot of the bed and looked at Dom. "Do they turn you on? Those wrinklies?"
"No. Hey, give me back my remote."
"They do, too, turn you on. You've gone red."
"No, I haven't. Well, okay. Yes, then. Uh."
"You can tell me. I don't care. I know, anyway."
"Well." Dom rubbed his knee and studied his knuckles. "I've just never told anyone before. I'm still a bit, uh, embarrassed about it."
"What? After all we've done?"
"Are you going to tell anyone?"
"Are you mad? Of course not. Except Bern. And John. Anyway, I can't talk: I suck their dicks on a regular basis."
Dom laughed. Karl flipped back to the oldster movie but turned the sound down.
"So what was this pub you were at?" asked Dom.
"Oh, it's quite close. Bern knew about it. I was there with him. It's a really nice pub, actually. They had these Spanish snacks there, tapas. Really delicious! Anchovies, in loads of oil. And these sausages, chorizos. And olives, green ones stuffed with blue-vein cheese and also very, very black ones, all briny. Here, I brought some back."
Karl extracted a small plastic box from his jacket pocket.
"You were there with Bernard?" said Dom.
"Yeah. He's having another dinner, by the way, on Friday. He'll probably invite you to come along tomorrow."
"Right. So... how long were you there with Bernard?"
"Not long. He had to go off and phone John. I think he's a bit lonely, actually, now that he's without John. It's going to be a long two months if this is how he is after only one week. We talked about you a bit, too."
"About me?" said Dom. He sat down on the side of the bed.
Karl pried the lid off the box and took out a black olive. He gave it a quick lick, then popped it into his mouth. His eyes closed briefly. The olive moved from cheek to cheek, making a bubble-shape in Karl's face.
"What did you say about me?" asked Dom. "Did you tell him that we...?"
"No." Karl grinned, olive still intact between his teeth. "He can figure that one out for himself. Did you want me to tell him?"
"No! Uh..."
"He asked me if it was okay by me that you come along to our dinners."
"What did you say?"
"Yes, of course. More than. Do you want an olive?"
"No. Did you happen to bring back a beer?"
"No."
"Olives! And no beer! You need to get your priorities sorted."
"Maybe I do. You're right." Karl bit into the olive. A trickle of brine oozed from the corner of his lips. "Do you have any more of those bananas left?"
"Bananas with olives? That's a bit disgusting, isn't it?"
Karl shrugged. "I like it. I like lots of different tastes."
"Well, I've eaten all the bananas. I ate them before."
Karl looked at Dom's mouth.
"Okay, then," said Dom. "I haven't even brushed my teeth since."
Karl opened his mouth.
"But swallow your olive first," said Dom.
Karl chewed quickly and gulped the olive down. He wiped the brine from his chin. He opened his mouth again. "I've got a bit of beer taste left in there," he said. "That should make you happy."
Dom opened his own mouth. They kissed, with Karl twisted awkwardly towards Dom behind him. Sean Connery burred his Rs and rubbed his hand over his bald patch in the background.
"Mm," said Karl. "Banana. But there's something else there, too. Chocolate?"
"I had a Twix."
"A Twix and a banana? And you call me disgusting?"
"At least they're both sweet. Chocolate and banana, that goes quite well together."
"Well, I think so," said Karl and kissed Dom again.
After the kiss, Dom straightened up. He picked a bit of olive out from between his teeth.
"Do you want me to go now?" said Karl. "So you can get on with your nothing?"
Dom laughed.
"I could help you with your nothing," said Karl. "I've got a bit of a nothing myself."
"Again?" said Dom. "Already?"
"What again, already? I'm not fifty-something. I get tired of waiting for the weekends."
"What do you want to do, then?"
"Whatever. What do you want to do?"
Dom picked out one of Karl's olives. He turned it round and round, then he put it in his mouth and swilled it round and round from cheek to cheek. He spat it into his palm and pressed his palm against Karl's mouth. Karl made fawn-lips and sucked the olive into his mouth. Karl chewed it without taking his eyes off Dom.
"Bern's right," Karl said. "You are sweet."
"Bernard said that?"
:Oh, yeah. But, you know, you shouldn't get ideas. Er."
"Ideas?"
"Bern's completely and totally fixated on John. It's strange for me, actually, seeing him on his own like this. And having that dinner without John."
"What's it like with John, then?"
"Oh, wait till we're back in Wellington. It'll be oldster heaven for you. John and Bern, well. They're, er, they're hot. Even I think so. And I don't have your obsession."
"What do they do?"
"Does this turn you on?" Karl slid round the edge of the bed to where Dom was sitting. He looked at Dom's buttoned-up fly. "Does talking about those two hot old guys get you all hot and bothered?" Karl put his hand on Dom's fly. "It does. Yeah... You want to know what they do? For one, they like to kiss."
"Like a wet dream?"
"Like a what?"
"Yesterday you said that John kisses like a wet dream."
"He does, too." Karl leaned in and, with his hand on Dom's denimed bulge, he opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. They kissed without touching lips, just moving their tongues round each other like dancing cobras.
"I like the way you kiss," said Karl.
"Thank you," said Dom.
"I like it even better than John's kissing." Karl licked Dom's neck. "Do you want me to tell you something else they do?"
"Okay, yeah..."
"Sometimes," whispered Karl and started to unbutton Dom's fly, "John kisses me, with his tongue, and at the same time, Bern gets down and sucks me off. And sometimes..." Karl hoicked up Dom's bum and tugged Dom's jeans down to his knees. "... I suck Bern, and John and Bern do the kissing. Or..." Karl moved his hand round to Dom's back, down Dom's underpants where he rested his middle finger against Dom's anus. "... sometimes Bern sticks a finger up my arse..."
"Oh," said Dom.
"Does this get you hot?"
Dom nodded. He licked his lower lip. He pulled down Karl's zip.
"Could we fuck?" said Karl.
"Hm," said Dom. "Turn the light off."
"I like how you fuck," mumbled Karl into Dom's neck.
They had sex, kneeling on the bed and facing the television. Karl continued to chew olives. Dom watched white-haired gentlemen over Karl's shoulder. It was a war film so they ended up coming to the sound of gunfire.
-----
There was a knock.
"Oh, hi, Karl. It's you again."
"Of course it's me. Why, were you expecting someone else?"
"No."
"Are you going to ask me in?"
Dom moved away from the door. "Just come in. You don't need to be asked, do you?"
"You're in a bad mood tonight."
"No, I'm not. Anyway... why are you coming round here all the time?"
"I thought it was rather obvious," said Karl. "Look, I've brought you, ta-da!, a beer. Also some kai. I'm tired of starving when I'm in your room." He flourished a plastic bag.
"At your rate, you'll be fat by the age of forty and only able to play mafia-boss types."
"Mm. I'm going to enjoy that. Brandishing my machine gun."
Karl breathed a kiss onto Dom's nose. And another one onto his cheek. And ended with a kiss on his mouth, grabbing Dom's lips with his own. Dom kissed back in a desultory fashion.
"Drink your beer," said Karl and plopped down onto the bed. "That'll cheer you up." He started pulling packages and parcels from the plastic bag. He looked round, saw the chair, stretched across and pulled it towards him, smelled the packages and arranged them in a semi-circle on the chair.
Dom eyed the chair. "What's in all those?" he asked.
Karl pointed, one by one. "Japanese crackers. Dried apricots. Assorted cheeses, from the buy-five-for-five-dollars counter at the deli. Olives, mmm, really good ones, too. Saos for the cheese. Pineapple chunks. And look, a Twix, just for you."
Dom didn't say thanks. He stood on the carpet, between bed and door, and rolled the beer can back and forth in his hands. "Do you live here now?" he asked.
"Is that what's eating you?" said Karl and ripped open the cracker bag. "You don't like me to come and visit?"
"Well," said Dom. "Maybe not all the time."
Karl popped a cracker. There was the noisy sound of cracker breakage inside Karl's mouth. Crumbs dusted the tips of his moustache.
"I, uh..." said Dom. "I just don't particularly feel like it tonight."
"Like what?"
"It!" said Dom in an irritable voice. "I don't feel like it."
Karl opened a round plastic container and picked up a pineapple triangle between index finger and thumb. He bent his head back, opened his mouth and let the chunk fall onto his tongue. He moved his pupils to the sides of his eyes and looked at Dom, Galadriel-style.
"I don't just come for that," Karl said.
"Don't you?," said Dom. "What else is there?"
"Anyway, what do you mean, you don't feel like it?" said Karl. He unwrapped a Baby Bel. "Are you getting old and turning into one of those geezers you adore? Or did you perhaps do nothing again?"
Dom went red.
Karl looked round the room. He laughed and pointed triumphantly. "Tell-tale signs! You did!"
"Give me that!" Dom grabbed the scrunched-up wad of tissue from Karl's hand and threw it across the room. It landed on the floor next to the waste bin.
"Terrible shot," said Karl.
"You're terrible," said Dom. But he sat down next to Karl and cracked open his beer.
"You should have waited for me," said Karl.
"I didn't know you were going to come round."
"Well, you could have come round to my room. I'm only one floor up."
"I don't always need company. All the time."
"Sometimes you like to lie here and, er, think about your geezers in peace, is that it?"
"Oh, shut up," said Dom. He pursed his lips and drank carefully from the metal-rimmed opening in the top of the can.
"It doesn't always take two to tango, you know," said Karl. He put the Baby Bel into his mouth. He combed his hair down onto his forehead and peered at Dom through the fringe.
"Okay," said Dom. "No need to nag." He put his right hand on Karl's fly. Karl let out a breath and almost spat out his Baby Bel. "Eat your cheese, you idiot," said Dom, "and lie down."
Karl chewed like a threshing machine. He swallowed. He moved around and arranged himself on the bed, with his head in Dom's lap. He undid his zip. He looked at Dom with expectant eyes.
Dom held his can in his left hand and moved his right hand into Karl's jeans. Karl said "mmm" and closed his eyes. Dom massaged Karl's cock. Karl turned his head and breathed against Dom's belly.
"Faster," Karl mumbled.
Dom sped up. Karl pulled up his top to expose his softly-haired navel. His shoes scrabbled on the counterpane. Dom took a swig of beer and put the can down on the night table. He twisted, put his other hand around Karl's balls, and twirled and pinched Karl's cock, in the manner gleaned from Bernard on Saturday night. Karl's breath was moist against Dom's T-shirt. Dom watched as the cum plopped out of Karl's cock onto Karl's stomach. Some of it collected in Karl's navel, some spread in a small puddle and got caught in Karl's pubic hair. Dom slowed, squeezed, watched another drop drip out.
Karl had his arm around Dom's back and his mouth in Dom's T-shirt.
Dom picked up his can and took another swig.
"Mmm," said Karl. "I owe you one."
"You can have that for free," said Dom. "A bonus."
Karl chuckled. "I feel like having a little sleep now," he said.
Dom reached behind his pillow and pulled out a squashed box of tissues. Karl closed his eyes. Dom wiped the cum off Karl's belly and Karl's cock. He sniffed the tissues. He took aim and threw the tissues across the room. They landed on the floor next to the other wad. He drank some more beer. He looked down at Karl. Karl's lashes breathed in time with Karl's chest. Karl's hand lay on his chest and breathed in time as well. Dom watched all of this breathing, lashes, chest, hand, soft streams of air from Karl's mouth. He shifted a bit on the bed but Karl twitched his nostrils and made a 'hmph' sound so Dom stopped moving. His thigh fell asleep. The beer was drunk.
Dom crunched up the can, took aim and threw it across the room. It landed on top of the wads of tissue. The 'clunk' didn't wake Karl.
Dom looked around and located the remote control. He flipped through some channels. He ate a Baby Bel. He thought about brushing his teeth but Karl said "hmph" again and turned sideways, burying his nose in Dom's lap.
Dom got a hard-on but there wasn't anything he could do about it because Karl's head was in the way.
A show host interviewed a New Zealand non-celebrity, unknown to Dom. David Attenborough got excited about wood warblers. Somewhere, cars got washed away in a flood. Somewhere else, buildings had collapsed in an earthquake.
Dom piled up the two pillows against the headboard and rested his back against them. The blanket was trapped underneath Karl's legs.
Later, Cary Grant fired gunshoots at noon to the sound of two sleeping lungs.
They woke up twenty minutes before the alarm went off and arrived on set flushed and out of breath.
-----
On Thursday night, there wasn't a knock. Dom and Karl came back together, from the pub.
"You're not going back to your own room, then, I take it?" said Dom, looking at Karl who was standing a foot away from him in front of the door.
"No," said Karl. "I've brought my toothbrush." He pulled it out of an inside jacket pocket and grinned. "Why? Do you want me to go?"
Dom sighed. "No. Come on in. Stay the night. Take over my room. Whatever."
The door clicked to behind them. A cockroach sauntered past. At midnight, the hall lights turned themselves off automatically. The bed creaked, audible through the key hole.
-----
Friday night was Bernard night.
There was the following food: sesame-seed twists; warm Jerusalem artichoke salad with bacon and parsley; duck with sanguinello, kumquats and Medjool dates; apricot and orange flower water cream; grapes and cheeses.
There was the following drink: Le Fiat Door Chardonnay Garganega 1998; Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 Peter Lehmann; Brown Brothers Orange Muscat and Flora 1998.
After dinner, there was port.
Dom walked unsteadily from the table to the sofas in front of the artificial hearth. Karl burped along behind him. Dom sat on the left-hand sofa; Karl sat down next to him. Bernard arrived and sank into the opposite couch.
"Uh," said Dom. He hoisted himself up, using Karl's knee for support, and lurched across to the other sofa. He swivelled on his heels and lowered himself but missed the cushions and landed in Bernard's lap instead.
"Hm", Dom said.
Bernard put his arms round Dom's waist and kissed him. Dom started to moan. Karl ate grapes and watched.
Dom moaned some more and moved his hands into the folds of Bernard's satin robe. Karl scratched his balls through his jeans.
Karl said, "Er."
"What is it, lad?" said Bernard, peering round Dom's neck. "Do come and join us if you're feeling, ah, under-employed."
"We, er, we want to show you something," Karl said.
Bernard raised an eyebrow. "Indeed," he said. "What sort of something?"
"Yes," mumbled Dom. "What short... I mean, what sort of shomething?"
"You know," said Karl and stood up.
"Oh," said Dom. "That."
"Have you boys been up to something?" asked Bernard.
"Yeah," said Karl. "We've, er, been rehearsing a bit."
Bernard looked at Karl. He looked at Dom. He leaned his head back and burst into loud, delighted peals of laughter.
"Come on, Dom," said Karl.
"Yes, do," said Bernard, giving Dom a gentle shove. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this."
Dom pulled himself up by Bernard's shoulder. Karl walked around his sofa, swaying only slightly, and braced himself against its back. Bernard craned his neck. Dom tottered but righted himself and reached Karl without too much weaving.
"You seem a bit pissed," said Karl. "Are you up for it at all?" He smoothed his hand across Dom's crotch. "Okay, yeah, you are. Here, I'll help you with the jeans."
There was some clothes removal and preparatory fumbling. Then Dom grabbed Karl's hips and pushed at Karl from behind. He made a tipsy mewing sound as he dove in. He looked at Bernard over Karl's shoulder. He reached round Karl's hips and enfolded Karl's cock. He watched Bernard take hold of his own cock. Dom bit his lower lip.
Bernard got up. With his glass still in his hand and his cock half-in, half-out, he moved around to stand behind Dom and Karl. He smoothed the hair from Karl's forehead. He touched Dom's temples. Dom said, "hm," and Karl said, "mmm." Bernard stuck his finger up Karl's arse. He wormed it right in, next to Dom's dick. Karl made a shouting sound. "God," gasped Dom. He closed his eyes. He bit into Karl's shoulder. He moved very slowly, along Bernard's finger. The port glass went clink against Bernard's teeth. Bernard's finger was in knuckle-deep and moving in and out. Dom's teeth were in Karl's skin. Dom's moans travelled up his throat in uncontrolled bursts.
Afterward, Karl had an irregular ring of bite marks amid the freckles of his right shoulder, like a miniature Stonehenge.
-----
They were walking along on set somewhere. Karl was blond and rugged. Dom was curly and rumpled.
"I wish I were older than you," said Karl.
"You are older than me."
"Yes, but I wish I were a lot older. Sort of like Bern."
"Why?"
"So that you'd find me more interesting."
"I find you interesting now."
"I mean, not only interesting. If I were older, really older, you might, er, like me more."
"I like you now."
"But then you'd like me even more."
"What are you talking about, Karl? One day you will be as old as Bernard. Just hang on in there and it'll happen to you. Can I have some of that trailer mix you always carry around?"
Karl dug through the depths of his costume and produced a small plastic bag. "Scroggin," he said.
"Thanks," said Dom.
"I don't mind, you know, if you have a thing for old guys," said Karl. He peered into the distance and jiggled the bag in his hand. "I have a thing for stuffed olives but I don't have to eat stuffed olives all the time. Most of the time I'm happy eating something else."
"Yeah... So?"
"So. Can't you have your thing for Bern some of the time and most of the time, er, hang out with me?"
"I hang out with you most of the time, as it is. What more most do you want?"
"That's true..."
"But?"
"But what?"
"You were going to say something else, something with a but."
"No, I wasn't," said Karl.
"Okay," said Dom and fished for more sultanas. "You weren't."
"Yeah, okay. I was. I just wanted to say that... that I like fucking you and stuff but... er. I like sort of just being with you as well. Sort of." Karl continued to fix that spot on the horizon. He'd stopped jiggling the bag, though.
"What?" said Dom. He stopped walking. "Hang on a minute, Karl. Are you trying to tell me -- trying, that is -- that you, sort of, have a crush on me or something like that?"
"Something like that." Karl stopped walking, too.
"Really? Like... You've really got a crush on me?"
"Yes. Okay? Yes. Only a mild one. Is that so weird?"
"Well, it's a bit weird." Dom started walking again. Karl followed in tow.
"How is it weird?" asked Karl. "We've been having sex only every single night."
"Yeah, so? I don't have a mild crush on you."
"That's what I mean, you see. I wish I were a lot older than I am so that you would."
"You're mad, Karl."
"Maybe if I dyed my hair grey? I could ask make-up for some wrinkle paste."
"Shut up, Karl."
"I could dye my pubes!"
The wind swallowed the rest of that conversation. Dom hurried down a hill, and Karl hurried after him, waving his trailer mix.
----
There was no knock. Karl came in.
Dom was in the bathroom, washing some socks. He looked up and saw Karl's face in the mirror. Then he didn't see Karl's face any longer because Karl's face was buried in Dom's neck. Karl's arms were around Dom's body. Dom's elbows were pinned to his side. Dom's fingers were wrinkly with suds.
"Give us a kiss," mumbled Karl.
"Are you drunk?" said Dom.
"No," said Karl. He turned Dom, and turned him a bit more, until Dom was turned all the way round, dripping soap onto Karl's shirt.
They kissed.
"Dom," said Karl, face once more in Dom's neck. "I love you. I really love you."
"God, Karl. What's all this about love?"
"What do you mean, what's all this? I'm sure I've mentioned it before. Hm, you smell nice. And you taste nice, too -- bananas again?"
"Yes, you have mentioned it." Dom wormed out of Karl's embrace and shook his hands into the basin. "But yesterday you said you had, quotes, a mild crush."
"So? Are my feelings static entities? Do they never change and develop?"
"Are you telling me that in the space of twenty-four hours your so-called mild crush has blossomed into this full-blown love passion thing?"
"Yep. It has. I blame the power of your personality and the stunning sexiness of your arse."
Dom started to frown, then laughed, then swirled his hand around uselessly in the tepid basin pool.
"You're ridiculous, Karl," Dom said. "Anyway..." He stopped swirling. "... I've bought you some things."
"You've bought me things? Like what?"
"Okay. Sit down on the bed and shut your eyes."
The remaining water gurgled down the plug hole. The socks stayed in the basin, wet snouts drooping.
Karl sat on the bed. There was the rustling of plastic. Karl, with his eyes closed and his lips pursed, looked in expectation of sex.
"Okay," said Dom's voice. "Open your mouth."
Karl's mouth opened like a cuckoo's beak and his tongue snaked out.
"No, no, not with tongue. I'm not going to kiss you," said Dom. "I'm going to feed you something. Guess what it is."
"Oh. Right," said Karl.
"What's this?" asked Dom.
"Mmm," said Karl. "That's easy. Olive. Green olive, stuffed with pimiento. Dom, you beauty."
"Okay," said Dom and grinned with delight. "Now this."
"Mmm. That's dried fig."
"You're good at this. Wait. What's this?"
A finger coated in a creamy substance entered Karl's mouth.
"Oh, that's taramasalata. And that crunchy thing you're putting in now? Oh, celery, I adore celery!"
"I know." Dom grinned again. "Now... what's this?"
"Mmm.... mm... well, that's your tongue..."
"And now, hang on, let me just... Shit, ow."
"Oh, fuck... what have you coated... You've put chilli paste on your fucking tongue."
"Shit! Big mistake!"
They both sat, blowing air across their tongues. Karl's eyes were open. Dom had the open sambal jar in his lap. He stuck his tongue ut and fanned it with his left hand.
"Actually," said Karl.
"Yeah?"
"Let's do it again."
"Yes," said Dom and stopped fanning, "it's kind of... something."
Dom looked at the jar. He lifted it up, stuck his tongue into the rust red paste and, with tears coursing down his face and mad puffs blowing through his cheeks, he joined mouths with Karl. Karl swore down Dom's throat but kept up the kiss.
"God, fuck," said Karl and wiped his eyes.
"Let's do it again," said Dom.
"I think you are starting to love me," said Karl, "buying me all these things."
"No, I'm not."
"I think it's a sign. You've gone to all this trouble."
"Shut up, Karl, and kiss me with the chilli."
-----
They were in Dom's room.
"So," said Karl. "Dom. How long are you going to make me wait? Are you going to make me wait..." Karl glanced up at the ceiling briefly. "... another twenty-seven years?"
"Why twenty-seven years?"
"When I'll finally be as old as Bern."
Dom laughed. "Yeah, Karl! But by then I'll be fifty myself, and you'll hardly count as an older man!"
"What? When you're fifty, you'll be chasing after eighty-year olds or what? Ancient geezers who can't get it up more than once every six months? Or ever?"
"They might! Look at whatsisname, Picasso. He had kids when he was way over ninety."
"Kids? So is that what you want to do with those eighty-year olds? Procreate?"
"Oh, shut up, Karl."
Dom walked off, into the bathroom. Karl followed him and watched as Dom unbuttoned his fly. Dom frowned at Karl, pulled down jeans and underpants, and sat down on the loo.
"Okay, okay," said Karl and went into the main room. The flush flushed. The tap rushed. As soon as Dom came out, Karl waylaid him with a hug around the hips.
"What do you want now, Karl?"
Karl made pleadful eyes. "I just want you to like me."
"I do like you, you maniac."
"Okay, then. I want you to love me."
"Right. Well, okay, I do."
"I want you to say to me that you really love me."
"All right, Karl: I really love you."
"No, no. I want you to say it and also really mean it."
"How do you know I didn't really mean it just now?"
"Oh, come on. Of course, you didn't really mean it."
"How do you know?"
"Don't be absurd, Dom. You just said it. On command."
"So? It's not enough just to say it but I've got to really mean it, too? And it's not enough just to feel it but I've got to say it and mean it and all at the same time?"
"Yep. That's right."
"I still don't see how you can possibly tell whether I mean it or not. I could say it, for example, tomorrow morning, when it's not on command. I could whisper it into your ear like this: Karl. Karl, I love you..."
Dom's lips brushed Karl's ear. Karl breathed and tightened his grip around Dom. "Well, yeah," Karl mumbled. "That is nice. You can do that. For starters." He stopped mumbling. "You can do that and say it as much as you like until you get so used to saying it that one day, you'll actually feel it and mean it."
"You're mad!" laughed Dom.
"Just madly in love with you," said Karl.
"Oh, shut up. What's the difference if I say it or feel it, anyway? What difference would that make in concrete terms? We fuck as it is. We kiss half the evening long. We bring each other off. You practically bloody well live in my hotel room. Look at this place! There's your sproggin..."
"Scroggin."
"Whatever. Don't detract."
"Don't bowdlerise my language."
"I'm not bowdlerising your language. You are bowdlerising my language!"
"Oh, you've got the English language patented, have you?"
"Karl, do be quiet. You're veering off the topic."
"Which was?"
"Your stuff. You. All over my room. Look: your scroggin -- sss-cccrrrr-oggin --, your apples, your lemons, your celery sticks, your barley-water schnapps thingy, your special fat pillow because you get a headache from the hotel ones, your special fairy-something toothpaste because you get gum bleeds from the normal brands everyone else uses, your fucking felt slippers, for god's sake, which nobody else wears, everyone just walks around hotels with bare feet..."
"No, they don't. Bern has slippers."
"Yeah, Bern! Bernard's old!"
"See! I'm an old man at heart, really, I am. If you would only look through the outer shell to the inner me."
Dom giggled. "Okay, Karl, nice try. Keep trying."
"I will. Don't you worry, I'll wear you down."
"So you don't care if you only ever get my love by boring me into it?"
"Dom. I don't care how I get it. I just want it."
"Karl. You're so full of bullshit."
"And you're sexy as a... a something."
"Do you want to fuck now?"
Dom fucked Karl. He thrust into him with long, sure strokes. He'd got quite used to fucking Karl and knew how to do it so that they reached maximum pleasure level. Karl bent his head back into the mattress and looked at Dom above him. With each stroke, he gasped, "I love you." And again, "I love you."
"Shut up, Karl," panted Dom.
"But I do," gasped Karl. "And you fuck like a god."
"How do you know how a god fucks?" panted Dom.
"I used to be Ganymede," gasped Karl.
"Karl," groaned Dom, "are you pulling some classical-myth shit on me mid-fuck?"
Karl came and couldn't reply.
-----
They were in the lift. Karl pressed Dom's floor.
"Tomorrow's Saturday."
"I know."
"No work Sunday."
"I know this, Karl."
"You invited round to Bern's tomorrow night?"
"Yes."
"You going?"
"Yeah. Of course, I'm going."
"So what are we doing tonight?"
"Oh, Karl. Can I have a night off or something?" The doors laboured open. Karl and Dom stepped out. "I'm tired of sitting round, listening to your unrequited lamenting."
Karl hurried along next to Dom. "Excuse me, Dom, when do you have to sit around and listen to my so-called unrequited lamenting?"
"Well." Dom unlocked his door and let Karl crowd past him into the room. "Last Friday, we were at Bernard's: plain old fucking. Saturday, we went out with the others and got drunk and came back here and tried to do some plain old fucking but couldn't because we were too pissed and you got all maudlin and very lovey-dovey. Sunday, you stayed here and talked about love some more. Monday, I believe, we went to the pub and afterwards came here to, uh, discuss your love life. Tuesday, we were here yet again. Wednesday: oh, Wednesday was a radical departure; I went over to your room -- right shit hole it is, too. Ow, don't throw that at me. Thursday? Hm, I wonder what we were doing Thursday? Which was yesterday? Surprise, surprise: you stayed the night in my bed!"
"Yeah?" said Karl and fell onto said item of furniture. "So?"
"We didn't even fuck! We just lay around and you went on about love, blah blah blah."
"You said it, Dom. We didn't even fuck. That proves you're not in it for the sex. That proves it's more, Dom."
"No, it doesn't."
"Yes, it does."
"No. All it proves is..."
"Yeah?"
Karl rolled around onto his stomach, kicked off his shoes and let his feet dangle off one side of the bed, his arms dangle off the other. Dom was still standing near the door. He moved towards the bed, then moved back, then sat down in the chair.
"It proves...," Dom said. "It proves that we're friends. That's all it proves."
"Friends who fuck."
"Yeah. Friends who fuck."
"Okay," Karl said. "I can live with that. For now." He brushed his hair off his forehead. He curled his lips. He made pouty eyes.
"See? There you go again. Putting the pressure on. It is getting tedious, you know. And tonight..." Dom looked at the ceiling. It had a stucco pattern on it. "Tonight, could you perhaps, just for once... not stay here?"
Karl said nothing.
"Karl?"
"Yeah, what? You want me to go away? To my lonely room?"
"Yes, Karl. Cut the bull and just bugger on off. Just the once."
The ceiling continued to exert a pull of fascination. Karl sat up.
"Karl? Are you still here?" said Dom to the ceiling.
Karl came over and sat down on Dom's lap. "I'm not going," he said.
"Yes, you are," said Dom and bent his head away from Karl's.
"Why do you want me to? Why should I?"
"Because I'm sick of..."
"The love stuff?"
"Yes," said Dom and twisted his face out of the reach of Karl's mouth. "Oh, get your hands off me, will you?"
"Come to bed," said Karl.
"No," said Dom.
"Okay, we'll go to bed after."
"After what? There is no after; you're going to your room."
"That's not the plan, though."
"Plan? What plan? Stop that, Karl. Don't keep... shit, now look what you've done."
"Hm? Pre-cum on your trousers? How terrible."
Karl slid off Dom's lap and swallowed Dom's dick. Dom stopped telling Karl to go away.
"You know what?" panted Dom after a while.
Karl looked up.
"The... you know..." Dom licked his upper lip. He shot his pupils sideways.
"What? Do you want me to die?" said Karl.
Dom grinned, wobblily. "It can be your punishment. For not leaving me alone."
"Where is it?"
Dom gestured vaguely. Karl crawled over to the table, pulled open the top drawer and took out the jar of sambal. He looked at the jar, looked at Dom's dick, back at the jar. He crawled back to Dom. He coated his finger in a small bit of the paste and dabbed it onto Dom's dick.
"More," said Dom.
Karl swallowed. He looked up at Dom. He breathed. He dipped two fingers in. He scooped out a hefty dollop. He spread it all over Dom's dick, until Dom's dick looked like a pickled red herring. Karl licked his lips.
"Go on," whispered Dom. His chest heaved.
Karl gave an exploratory lick and hissed. He looked up. Dom was looking down. Karl pulled Dom's jeans down further. He grabbed Dom's bare thighs, lowered his head, swirled spit around his mouth and closed it over the red dick. He managed two or three swipes, then he came up for air, eyes streaming.
"Shit," he gasped.
"More," panted Dom.
"Hang on, hang on, fuck," said Karl. He closed his eyes; he puffed and blew. Back to work. He clamped his lips down around Dom's dick. A vein strained on his neck. Karl's fingers made marks in Dom's thighs.
"More," said Dom.
Karl broke off. He breathed violently. He dry-retched for a second. His face was wet with tears. "Fuck you," he whispered through his puffs.
"Don't then," said Dom, himself very flushed.
"No, no," said Karl. "I can do this."
"You don't have to put more..."
"Shut up." Karl spread another layer of chilli paste over Dom's dick. He took a breath and dove in for the kill. He moved up and down Dom's dick. He licked the underside of the tip of Dom's shaft. Tears spouted from his eyes and punctuated his swipes. He swore in 'mmphs' but he didn't take Dom's dick out once.
Dom's belly contracted. Dom's thighs shook under Karl's fingers. Dom moaned, a loud moan, and another one, so loud that Karl put his hand across Dom's mouth. Dom bit the hand. He clamped his thighs around Karl's head.
Karl got up and sat down in Dom's lap again. He pulled something out from his back pocket. Dom said nothing, just smiled blissfully.
"Give me your mouth," Karl said.
"Oh... shit, no!"
Karl held Dom's head by the ears so that Dom couldn't twist away out of the chilli kiss.
"You're a sadistic bastard, you know," Karl mumbled.
"That wasn't too bad," panted Dom, puffing a little.
"Yeah, that was nothing. The fire's already gone out."
Dom giggled. "Is my spunk a kind of fire extinguisher?"
"Mm. Lift your legs."
"I don't want to fuck."
"Yes, you do. Go on."
Dom tiredly lifted his legs but after only a few thrusts of Karl, he was moaning again and clutching Karl's neck.
"I love you," gasped Karl.
"Oh, don't start," panted Dom in between moans.
"Think of old guys, if you like," gasped Karl. "If that makes it better for you."
"Shut up," panted Dom.
"Oh, fuck," sighed Karl and came.
Both panted into each other's shirts for a while.
Then Karl pulled out and staggered into the bathroom. The sounds of copious pissing were heard. "And?" he called out from the other side of the door. "Did you think about Bern?"
"No," Dom yelled back.
Karl's head appeared around the jamb. "No?" he said, in a normal speaking-voice.
"As you said. Olives."
"What?"
"You know," said Dom. "If you have a thing for olives, you don't have to eat them all the time. Your words."
"I love you," said Karl.
"Karl!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying it to prove that I don't only say it when in the throes of sexual passion. What are you doing?"
"Putting on the telly. Why?"
"Turn that off. That's not the plan."
"What's this plan thing? We haven't got a plan. Have we?"
Karl came over and turned the TV off at source. "Yes, we have," he said. "We're first going down the pub, and we're going to have a beer there, and something to eat."
"Oh. Are we?"
"Yes, we are. Some of the others will be there as well."
"Fuck, Karl. This is pre-arranged."
"After the pub, we're going to go dancing."
"What? I'm not going dancing anywhere."
"Yes, you are. We're going to dance the night away and grind groins all night."
"Is this some sort of gay club?"
"Not that I know of."
"So how, pray tell, are we going to be dancing the night away, grinding groins?"
"Okay. You've got a point there, Dom. Even better! We won't grind groins. We'll just pine away for each other all night; that'll heighten our desire for the last part of the evening."
"I thought we already had the last part of the evening, just now."
"Dom-baby, you ain't seen nothin' yet."
"I'm not going to be pining away for you, Karl."
"Yes, you are. If I ply you with enough alcohol, you are."
-----
On Saturday, they went round to Bernard's room. Karl greeted Bernard with the words, "Hello, Bern, here are your toy boys," and Bernard greeted both of them with deep kisses just inside the door.
"Mm," said Karl, "this is happening faster than usual."
Dom said nothing but clung on to Bernard's arm.
"We'll have dinner a bit later on tonight, shall we?" said Bernard. "Let's work up our appetites first."
"And we're not even drunk yet," said Karl.
"Exactly," said Bernard and grinned. "However, I have poured everyone a nice Punt e Mes vermouth to, ah, whet our palates. Follow me."
Bernard led them through the double doors. The bedroom was enormous and decked out in an overall pink theme, as befitted his honeyroom suite. The bed was a huge circular affair, complete with satin sheets and canopy. The carpet was white and flocculent. In a mirrored niche stookd a naked Venus and blandly presented her rounded bosom.
"Wow, Bern," said Karl. "What a brothel."
"Yeah," said Dom. He blinked.
Bernard raised his glass. "Glad to provide some service. Make yourselves right at home, my dear boys." He twisted a knob on the wall and the chandelier dimmed. The wallpaper turned from rose to rust.
The evening proceeded with gusto. There was an aperitif of getting naked, followed by an entrée of trefoil kissing. They sat up, twisting into each other's tripled mouths. Bernard's and Karl's beards rasped along Dom's chin. Then Bernard fell back into the mass of tasselled cushions, with Karl and Dom on either side. Dom spread his fingers into the hair on Bernard's chest and let his tongue fall into Bernard's mouth from above.
This first course was followed by a main course of Dom continuing to kiss Bernard's mouth while Karl kissed Bernard's cock. Bernard put one hand on Karl's head and the other around Dom's shoulders. The satin sheets whispered sweet nothings. After a while, there was a switch to Karl kissing Bernard's mouth while Dom kissed Bernard's cock. Bernard's and Karl's hands met in Dom's hair.
After that, the order of the menu got muddled somewhat. Before Bernard had a chance to come, Karl left off kissing him and started to climb onto Dom but this distracted Dom who forgot Bernard's dick and rolled over to embrace Karl. Bernard sat up to assist but found there wasn't much needed in the way of aid. He wiped Dom's brow, he cupped Karl's balls, then he settled back against the cushions, reached for his vermouth and, with one hand on his cock, watched.
Karl and Dom moved against one another in a horizontal dance. Dom had his eyes closed and one hand on Karl's nape, one on his arse. Karl's hair brushed Dom's face. Dom's head fell back onto the bed, his eyes fell open and he looked directly at Bernard, upside down. The thrusts of fucking drove his head rhythmically against the sheets. Bernard lifted his glass out of the way, leaned forward and tongued Dom's mouth. Dom moaned. His hand moved from Karl's nape to Bernard's nape. Karl shifted sideways to make space. The mattress heaved. Drops spilled.
Dom kissed Bernard but Dom's body was in tune with Karl's. Karl had his cock up Dom's arse and was moving it in and out in a rhythmic waltz. Dom shoved his left middle-finger up his own arse, alongside Karl's cock. Karl gasped, "Fuck, Dom, god." Dom bared his throat and panted against Bernard's lips. His belly muscles tautened.
At the moment of orgasm, Dom broke off kissing Bernard and sought out Karl's open mouth. Moans and groans met and mingled across their two tongues. Karl's fingers shook around Dom's dick.
Bernard retreated to his cushions. He sipped his wine and waited for Dom to crawl over, with matted forehead and limp dick, and coax the cum out of Bernard. Karl put his head on one arm and watched through slanted pupils. Karl's left hand rested around Dom's ankle.
Afterwards, they all sprawled on the mussed sheets. Bernard had his eyes closed and absentmindedly stroked Dom's temple. Dom had his head between Bernard's spread legs. Karl moved his thumb back and forth along Dom's lower shin.
"Right," said Bernard and cleared his throat. "I'll just clean up and see to our meal. Will you boys excuse me for ten minutes?"
He got up and disappeared into the bathroom. There were the sounds of ablution. Bernard came out, wrapped in a robe, gave Dom and Karl a wave, tossed them a towel (fluffy, pink), and walked past the bed into the other room. Soft sounds of classical music began to drift into the bedroom, accompanying the clatter of plates.
Karl pulled himself up into Dom's arms. He tousled Dom's hair. He breathed into Dom's ear. He mumbled, "Some fuck."
"Yeah," said Dom.
"Did you like it, too?"
"Oh yeah."
"Does it make a difference when Bern's there? Does it make it more, er, exciting for you?"
Dom thought. "I don't know," he said. "I... For a moment there, I forgot that Bernard was there."
"Dom," whispered Karl. "I love you."
"Don't," said Dom.
"But I do." Karl burrowed into Dom's neck. "I love you a lot."
"Don't say that here," said Dom.
"Why not? Does it defile the sacred space of Bern's bed?"
"No. But it might make Bernard, I don't know, feel left out."
"I've been thinking about that," said Karl into Dom's neck. "I think we're the ones who're left out."
"How do you mean? Because of John?"
"Yeah. I think this..." Karl waved his arm about in a vague arc, encompassing the bed, the canopy, the wallpaper. "...is just playing for Bern. The serious stuff is sitting back in Wellington. The real thing, that's John for Bern."
"Hm," said Dom.
"We're the fun. But he's not desperate about us. Not like I am about you."
"Oh Karl."
"I am, you know." Karl proceeded to press his lips against Dom's neck, then Dom's shoulders, then Dom's upper arm, then Dom's cheeks, Dom's eyelashes, Dom's upper lip, Dom's lower lip. Dom let him.
"Do you think he misses him, then? John, I mean" said Dom.
"Oh yeah. He's not himself, really. He's different back in Wellington."
"How?" mumbled Dom, under the impact of Karl's lip-presses against his face.
"God, Dom. Do you always and always want to talk about Bern?" said Karl.
"No," said Dom. "You started it."
"What are you looking at me like that for?"
"Like what?"
"Like... that."
"I didn't know I was looking at you in any special way."
"Maybe it's just... I was just..."
"Karl?"
But Karl didn't reply. Instead, he closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against Dom's lips. He put his hand on Dom's small dick. He draped his thigh over Dom's leg. Dom curled his hand around Karl's hand on Dom's dick. Dom shifted his head, and then they kissed, long and slow, with not much tongue and much lip, with little licks and little pouts and little chuckles in between.
Bernard stood in the doorway, thoughtfully cradling his Punt e Mes. From the sheets rose the sounds of intimate murmurings. He looked at the flotsam and jetsam he had collected on his honeymoon bed. He thought of John. He smiled into his wine.
-----
The next weekend, Karl was not there. He'd gone to Auckland.
On Friday evening, Dom sat around his room, surfing channels. He hung around with some of the others. He got drunk. He came home very late, too late, and fell onto the empty bed. He crawled into Karl's part of the mattress. He put his head on the absurdly fat pillow of Karl's. He ate some of Karl's absurd snacks, carefully stashed in the bottom drawer of the night table. He turned on the TV and listlessly zapped through the offering of the small hours.
On Saturday, he went round to Bernard's for lunch.
This in itself was unusual. He'd never been to Bernard's room during the daytime.
Dom was a bit shy around Bernard without Karl there. He'd got dressed somewhat formally, in a suit jacket and white open-collar shirt. He squinted into the swathes of sun wafting across the room. He said, "Hello, Bernard", and rubbed his eyebrow. Bernard leaned down and kissed him. Dom put one hand on Bernard's elbow.
They ate soup and salad. They talked about this and that. Dom drank mineral water against his hangover headache.
After lunch, Dom followed Bernard to the sofas. Bernard bore a tray of coffees and slivers of digestive lemon biscuits. He sat down and put his hand on Dom's thigh.
Dom sighed.
"You're missing Karl, aren't you?" said Bernard.
Dom's thigh flinched under Bernard's hand. "Uh," Dom said. "No. Well, a bit, I guess. Just because I'm used to having him here with you."
"Not only here with me, I don't think," said Bernard. "Sugar?"
"Yes, one, please. But..."
"I've been enjoying watching you two over these past few weeks, you know," said Bernard. "To observe the, ah, unfolding of young love."
"Oh no. We're not young love." Dom laughed unsteadily.
"No?" Bernard looked at Dom with shrewd eyes. "What then?"
"We're just... you know, just friends."
"I get the impression," said Bernard, "that you're terribly in love. Milk?"
"No, we're not. I mean, maybe Karl. Karl is. I'm not. Sorry, what did you say?"
"Would you care for milk, Dominic?"
"No. No, just black."
"Dominic," said Bernard. "I may be completely wrong about this. I just watch and I've got my own ideas about what I see. And my ideas may well be coloured by my own, ah, fondness for John."
"Right. Yes," said Dom.
"But what I see when I observe you two together is not a pair of just friends."
"Uh..."
"And it doesn't exactly look very one-sided, either. Although, of course, I may be completely and utterly mistaken here." Bernard stirred the coffees. The saucer shook when Dom received it into his own hands.
"Well, not completely mistaken," Dom said. He blinked. "Karl's..."
"Karl!" said Bernard. "Karl's a changed man. You don't know what he used to be like. A charming boy, delightful... but rather scatterbrained. Rather absentminded. Oh, not in his acting, very focused when it comes to his acting, no question about that. But otherwise... his mind always on something else, some sort of food or thought or thing outside the window. Now, well, now he's completely focused on you, isn't he?"
"Uh," said Dom. "I wouldn't know..."
"My dear Dominic. I'm quite sure you do know."
Dominic stared into his coffee cup. A plume of steam crept up his nostrils. The liquid rotated counter-clockwise. His face burned.
Bernard looked at him. He put his own coffee on the table. He took Dom's cup out of his hands. He put his hands on Dom's shoulders.
"I'm not..." said Dom.
"Oh, I think you are," said Bernard and pushed his tongue into Dom's mouth.
-----
Karl came back at five on Sunday afternoon. It was still light outside. Dom stood at his hotel room window and saw him get out of the cab and cross the street. He rubbed his hands along his forehead.
Minutes later, there was no knock. The door opened. Karl came in. He dropped his bag. He smiled at Dom. Dom put his hands behind him on the window sill.
Karl walked across the floor. He rested his palms on Dom's waist and said, "How's my favourite Dominic?"
"Fine," said Dom and swallowed the frog in his throat. "I mean, fine." He laughed.
"I'm fine, too," said Karl. "Now that I'm back."
"How was Auckland?"
"A bore. I'll tell you. Do I get a kiss?"
Dom kissed him quickly on the mouth. He moved his hands from the sill to Karl's hands on his waist, and back to the sill. He laughed again.
"That was very grandfatherish," said Karl and licked his lips. "Don't you love me anymore?"
"I," said Dom.
"Anyway." Karl slapped his hands against his own thighs. "What shall we do? Shall we go for coffee? I could really do with an espresso."
"Okay. Sounds good."
"Shall we go to that place we always go to? The one with the high tables?"
"Yeah, great." Dom laughed.
"You're in a jolly mood today. It must be because you're so ecstatic to have me back."
"Actually," said Dom.
But Karl was already at the door. "You don't need a coat," he said. "It's really warm out. Come on. I don't want to bump into thousands of others."
The coffee shop was half-full of New Zealanders. No one they knew was there. They sat where they always sat, by the window, and they ordered what they always ordered, espresso and double espresso. Dom watched Karl's fingers tear open the sugar and pour it into Dom's cup. He watched Karl's lips grip the cup. He put his hand below the table and touched Karl's knee.
"You okay?" said Karl. "You're not saying very much."
"I", said Dom. "Fine." And he laughed again. He shifted so his thigh rested against Karl's thigh.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Karl.
"Am I? Like what?"
"I don't know. Like, in a special way like."
"Am I?" Dom repeated inanely.
"I missed you."
"Karl."
"Yeah?"
"I wanted to tell you something."
"Yeah, what?"
"I..." Dom blinked. "I saw Bernard yesterday."
"Oh yeah? What was that like, without me there? Did you get up to much?"
"No, not much."
"Not much? Can't believe that, what with Bern being involved. I would have thought you'd be glad to be rid of me and finally have him all to yourself."
"No. No, no. It's nice to have you there. It's better."
"Well, I think so. Drink your coffee. It's getting cold. Have you ever had any of those almond thingies they've got at the counter?"
"No."
"I wonder if they're any good. Hang on, I'm going to get some."
Dom watched Karl's arse all the way up to the counter. When Karl turned round to come back, Dom laughed again. He spilled a drop of coffee on his jeans.
"Here," said Karl. "Two for you, two for me. Apparently, you're supposed to dip them into the coffee. Don't know, sounds a bit off to me. I don't like crumbs swimming round in my coffee. But maybe just a corner. Mmm, it's quite good. Try it. So, Dom. What? What were you going to say? Has it got to do with Bern?"
"No. Not directly. It's more to do with something Bernard said. And it made me think."
"What? What did he say?"
"Oh, bugger," said Dom. His almond biscuit had plopped into his coffee. Karl reached over and fished it out with his coffee spoon.
"Yuck," said Karl. "Soggerama."
"Bernard said that he thought we were in love," said Dom quickly. "Or something."
"He said that?" Karl curled his lips. "Well. He got half of it right, anyway. Do you want my coffee? Yours looks disgusting now."
"I don't know. Maybe he got all of it..."
"Shit. Now my biscuit's fallen in." Karl frowned at his cup. "Shall I get us some more coffees? I should have known this dipping thing wasn't a great idea."
"Karl..." said Dom but Karl was already half-way across the room.
Dom watched him get smaller, stand with his hands on the counter, point at something, pull out his wallet from the front pocket of his jeans, count money out, coin by coin, look back at Dom, rock on his feet, pick up two small cups, put them on a tray and make his way back.
"There," Karl said. "Did you know, by the way, that you can get stamps here? On a card? Collect ten stamps and you get a free coffee. This is good: we've just clocked up four stamps in one go." He ripped open another sugar and stirred Dom's coffee. "So."
"What are you doing?" said Dom. "Are you eating that soggy biscuit?"
"Yep. Waste not, want not. It's not bad, actually. It's stopped being a biscuit and become a sort of coffee porridge. Do you want some?"
"Karl. What I was going to say... I feel stupid now."
"What? Why?"
"It's to do with something you always say."
"Me? Something I always... Oh."
"And I feel stupid because I've been saying the opposite for so long that..."
"No no, listen," said Karl and put down the soggy biscuit, the coffee spoon, the sugar sachet, licked his biscuit-coated fingers, put a hand on Dom's wrist, took it away again. "I know what you're going to say. I've been thinking about that while I was away. I'm not going to do it anymore."
"Do what?"
"Say 'I love you, I love you' all the time," said Karl in a lowered voice. "I've realised that you're right. There's nothing as annoying and pathetic as unwanted love being shoved up your nose non-stop."
"Did you have some unwanted love shoved up your nose in Auckland?"
Karl leaned back and grinned.
"You did!" shouted Dom. He looked around and stopped shouting. He pulled up his shoulders and grinned.
"Well, I might have done," said Karl. "Anyway, it's not relevant now. What..."
"It might be relevant. Did you sleep with someone?"
Karl pursed his lips. "And what if?"
"Nothing. Nothing what if."
"Pity," said Karl. "Had hoped you might be madly jealous. But I didn't. I could have. But I couldn't be bothered. Don't laugh!"
"Okay," laughed Dom. "It's just that I've never known you not to be bothered."
"With you, Dom," Karl said. He looked at Dom with dewy eyes. Then he sat back, squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again and shook his head. "Stop, stop. I will stop. I swore I would and I will. I won't pester you any longer with all that syrupy love stuff. You're always complaining about it and you're absolutely right. I'll stop. See, I've stopped."
"Uh, you don't have to stop."
"I've stopped already."
"I don't mind. I'd like you to say it."
"Don't be silly."
"I've sort of got used to it."
"Well, you can now get used to life without it," said Karl. He leaned close and said in a low voice, "But don't worry, I'll still fuck you."
Dom turned an unexpected shade of red and burst out laughing. He nearly slipped off his chair. "You're too kind," he managed to get out.
Karl grinned. "I know. You're looking nice. You look all flushed and nice."
"Look, Karl." Dom composed his face. "I... Come here."
Karl leaned across the table, shirt sleeve trailing in coffee slush. Dom leaned across from his side. He whispered something into Karl's ear.
"What? What?" said Karl. "I didn't catch that. Can you say it in a normal loud voice?"
"I'm not sure I can," said Dom. "It's too public here."
Karl looked round. "Here, write it down on the napkin." Half of the napkin was brown and on its way to dissolving into paper pulp.
"I haven't got a pen," said Dom.
Karl patted his person. "Here," he said.
It was half of a pencil, broken off in splinters. Dom took it and tried to write. The pencil was 2H and tore the napkin more than it left any legible marks.
"I can't read that," said Karl. "Come on, Dom. Just tell me. What's the big thing? You know me. I'm fairly unshockable. You don't have to be embarrassed in front of me."
"I know," said Dom. "But I am, anyway."
"Have you discovered that not only do you have a thing for old geezers but a thing for twelve-year-old schoolgirls as well?"
"No," Dom laughed.
"Or that you get off on licking dogs' balls?"
"No, you maniac!"
Karl spread his hands, palms up. "I don't care. You know I don't. If you want to fantasise about sheeps' arses while..." He lowered his voice. "...fucking me, that's fine. I don't give a stuff. Fantasise about whatever."
"You then," said Dom.
"Me?"
"Can I fantasise about you?"
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Karl," urged Dom. "You know what I'm trying to say."
Karl dropped his spoon on the floor. He didn't bend to pick it up.
"You know your strategy?" said Dom. "Your strategy or whatever of wearing me down?"
"Yeah," Karl said slowly, "the one I've abandoned now."
"You can abandon it now. Because, well, I think it's done its job. It's worked."
"What do you mean, worked?"
"You know what I mean. I mean... How will you know I mean it this time?"
"Mean it?" said Karl. He gave a short laugh. He ruffled his own hair. He looked at the table. He looked at Dom. "I don't know. I don't know how I'll know. Do you?"
"Mean it?"
"Yeah. Do you really mean it?"
"Yes," said Dom.
"Shit," said Karl and laughed.
"Yeah," said Dom and laughed, too.
Dimples popped into Karl's cheeks. Light sparked into Karl's eyes. "What?" he said. "Why? How? Dom."
"No doubt all due to your vibrant personality and great arse. And the fact that my feelings aren't static entitites."
"Are you throwing my own bullshit back in my face?"
"Yes," said Dom and laughed.
Karl laughed. Dom laughed. They sat there and laughed at each other, and their coffees sat on the table, forgotten.
Then they walked back to the hotel and made love until the sun went down.
Dom didn't think of Bernard -- well, not above once or twice, and only very briefly. Karl didn't think of anything to do with food -- except when he discovered that Dom had eaten his cache of pine nuts and trailer mix. They bickered over whether to have the TV on during sex or not, what channel to tune to, and over who was going to be fucking whom. They spilled condoms all over the place, they tore a button off Karl's shirt, they nearly rolled off the bed. They moaned. They groaned. Karl bit Dom's tongue by mistake. Dom didn't flinch, just gripped Karl's neck and sweated against Karl's stomach.
Karl said "I love you" about three dozen times in the course of the evening. Dom only said it twice because that wasn't the kind of thing Dom said, really.
But he felt it all right. Oh yes.
-----
The End.
14 November 2002
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