Some reconciliations, some reunions, some doubts, some realizations...
Notes:Hellooo,
thanks to whoever is reading
Disclaimer: the title of the chapter is taken from the lyrics of 'Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3: (Redemption)' because they fit so well 3
Chapter XXVIII I: Let's start over again, why can't we start it over again?
Dom hurriedly pays the taxi driver, not forgetting a generous and well-deserved tip, before rushing out of the car.
The Bassendean Oval is now deserted, as it should be, since it is now past half past two.
Yet from the back, in the distance, the blond hears music coming.
It's not just any music. He might recognize it among a billion other pieces of music. It's his music.
His way of courting the melody, his way of pouring emotions onto those black and white keys, managing to create something unique, his knowing how to communicate more with the notes than he can with the words themselves.
And at that precise moment Matthew is communicating a great pain. Dominic has never heard a sadder melody, full of anguish, resignation and pessimism.
It is as if the notes themselves trudged towards safety, failing in the attempt and ending up inexorably agonizing.
The drummer doesn't even seem to notice the tears slowly rolling down his own face.
Now that there is no one left, the Bassendean appears mostly for what it normally is: a stadium. And while Dom runs through it at breakneck speed in all its length it seems to him that he is playing the game of his life or non-life.
He runs in the direction from which the music is coming, until he can already see from afar.
Immersed in total darkness, Matthew is bent over the piano, with his eyes closed, his mouth half open, which depending on the moment emits heartbreaking, but beautiful and perfect screams that accompany the melody in the most salient moments and increase that atmosphere already highly dramatic.
He is too engrossed in his music, as well as in his desperation, for the dark-haired vampire to notice another presence in the room. An important presence.
With the eyesight of a feline and the discretion of a thief, Dom easily bypasses every obstacle and approaches, positioning himself behind the pianist, stroking his wild hair in such a graceful way that it seems to be touched by a ghost.
"You can also play something more cheerful now." whispers the younger vampire in the ear of his Sire, slipping on his bench.
Matthew stops abruptly, wincing and screeching notes.
His eyes are red from crying and his forehead is beaded with sweat from the intensity with which he played.
"Dominic! I thought.. I thought you-you..." the older vampire stammers incoherently.
"Say nothing more." Dom hugs him, taking his face wet with tears in his hands and savoring them in a sweet and slow reconciling kiss.
"You know, I would have called this composition 'Cry of a dying soul'…" Matthew explains, reverently stroking some piano keys.
"As wonderful as it was, I will no longer give you a reason to complete it." the blond murmurs, leaning forehead to forehead.
"If the whole world turns its back on me, I can handle it. But if you leave me, I don't know what to do anymore, my existence no longer makes sense." Matt rants, unable to rein in his emotions as he clings to his strong shoulders as if his unlife depended on it.
"Hush, hush, it's all over." the blond reassures him, kissing his hair. "It was just a sharp reaction in the heat of the moment."
At those words Matt pulls back, to better scrutinize his companion.
"Your reactions in the heat of the moment are the most deadly thing that a human or non-human mind can conceive!" Matt makes him laugh, getting up from the piano.
"What do you say we get out of here? I haven't had dinner yet... and you?" Dom distracts him.
"My plan was to play until my fingers wore out and cry until I had tears to do it. Do you think I had dinner?" replies the other.
"Dammit, Matt, without me you're making pretty boring plans about how to spend the night!" Dom teases him, thus returning that playful harmony that always hovers between them.
Somehow Matthew is grateful to him.
Both now want to leave that very bad evening behind, at least for a few hours
"At least I don't run away to who knows where in the world when things don't go my way!" retorts Matthew.
"No, you're right. And let's hear .. what would you have done immediately after giving me the ultimatum, the real one, before the break?" Dom questions him accusingly.
"That was a totally different situation!" a grumpy Matt justifies himself.
"Oh, wait, wait…now that I think about it…you were playing the piano at that time too. Blood hell, Matteh, you're a bit repetitive, huh?" chuckles the blond.
"Little insolent! You'll pay for this!" Matt playfully threatens him with a growl, pretending to pounce on his neck.
"Mm, save that for later. Now I'm starving. I was too eager to get back to you to stop for dinner at the airport!"
Matt lets out a softened groan.
"After you, love" the brunet leads the way, as they leave the Bassendean Oval. "Let's see what Perth cuisine has to offer!" He smiles at him, running his tongue over his fleetingly elongated canines.
The next morning, Dominic and Matthew are already in the Hall, with their luggage, waiting for the taxi that will take them to the airport.
"Guys, what about Tom and Chris?" Morgan joins them, dragging his trolley behind him.
"They already left yesterday, at the end of the concert. They were in a bit of a hurry." explains the handsome drummer.
"Yeah, Chris couldn't go one more day without his family and Tom…missed his fiancée." look for a plausible excuse for both the charming pianist.
"I can understand why Chris left, but Tom! Please, Matt, you could have come up with a more believable lie!" giggles Morgan, then becomes more serious.
"Guys, I know what happened. Those two still haven't quite accepted what they found out about you." says their trusted friend.
"Bravo, I would say that you have fully hit the point." Dom sighs resignedly.
"I can understand everything, but… why so? Out of the blue, without even warning, this is not a good way to behave. I'd never expected that from them." Morgan mutters, somewhat disappointed.
"It's not that bad!" tries to deny the evidence Matt
"But it is. But don't blame yourself, guys. I'm sure it's just a phase. Then they will accept everything, I don't see anything so unacceptable in it." the benevolent keyboard player heartens them.
"I'm going to check if our taxi has arrived." he informs them, walking out.
"Matt, when this whole awful situation is just a bad memory and everything is back to normal, we'll have to tell him the whole truth too, poor dear." Dominic mutters.
"You are right. Maybe only the first part of the truth, the one that Tom and Chris knew until a few days ago." replies Matthew.
"Yeah right, one piece of the truth at a time." approves the blond. "I'm not ready to lose another good friend." he adds sadly.
Matt puts a hand on his shoulder and looks at him seriously as he has seen him on very rare occasions.
"Stop saying that. Not gonna happen. We will be victorious from this situation!" assures him.
"C'mon!" Dom sings shrilly, teasing him and making him smile.
"Here, that's already better!" winks Matt, ruffling his hair, a gesture that even to the most indiscreet eyes can only be interpreted as an affectionate friendship, those that only consolidate over the years.
"Home Sweet Home!" Matt exclaims, casually throwing his trolley on the floor as soon as he enters the hall.
Instead, Dominic immediately opens his, empties it and puts the still clean clothes in the drawers and closets.
"Dommeh, explain it to me: we've been traveling for a frightening number of hours, we're suffering from absolute stoned jet lag ... where the hell do you find the energy to do that?" Matthew mutters, watching him go back and forth, lying on the comfortable sofa, without even bothering to take off his shoes.
"My beautiful clothes, badly folded, jumbled, locked up in a suitcase for more than a day? I could never stand it!" Dom justifies himself, collecting his clothes to wash, separating them according to the type of washing.
"Sissy!" Matt teases him.
A moment later he finds Dom on top of him.
"I'll show you who the hell is sissy, you filthy bumpkin that you are!" he strikes back, squeezing his manhood without warning through the jeans he's wearing.
"Dom…" the frontman emits a low longing growl, but before he can even kiss him, the drummer has already moved away and looks at him reproachfully from across the room, with his arms crossed over his chest and back leaning against the wall.
"You won't get anything from me until you unpack your suitcase!" Dom is authoritative.
"Sometimes I regret that you have super speed." Matt mutters, annoyed.
"You should have thought of that before you stuck your fangs in my neck for the first time!" Dominic retorts impassively.
"They should have warned me that as a result I would have ended up with an eternal subspecies of Mary Poppins pain in the ass!" protests the brunet, but finally gets up from the sofa.
"Watch out! I could start cleaning up the house singing 'A spoonful of Sugar'!" the blond threatens him.
"No, you would never go that far! If you love me, don't sing. Never!" retorts Matthew, between desperate and terrified.
However, Dominic seems to be achieving his goal, because, snorting, growling and cursing like and worse than a drunken sailor, Matt complies.
Meanwhile Dom intends to give the house a quick fix, but limiting himself only to whistling, to the great relief of his Mate.
When they finish it is already late evening. Just enough time for a shower and the two are ready to go out.
"Finally dinner!" Dominic rejoices. "I missed London blood so much!"
"I didn't even mind eating internationally. Yesterday's hostess and steward were delightful." Matthew smugly recalls.
"Well, the couple sitting next to us was pretty cool too!" approves Dom.
The pianist is enticed by an idea as sudden as it is bizarre.
"Shall we go to the airport to have dinner? It's not that far from here." he proposes.
"Anything, as long as we move. I'm starving!" protests his hungry boyfriend.
"No, okay, baby, you'll never be able to resist. Let's stay nearby, let's go!" he decides for both his Sire.
Returning from their hunt, full and satisfied, Matthew and Dominic have just enough time to make love, rolling in the sheets in the throes of wild passion, before they fall asleep with Matthew still inside Dominic and the blond's fangs lazily sunk. in the brunet's neck.
The most intimate of unions.
Between the tiredness of the journey, the joy of their union more reaffirmed than ever and all the advantages of privacy finally regained, for that day the two vampires set aside the bad thoughts in a remote corner of their minds.
However, those thoughts return to visit them the following day, with the devastating impact of a hurricane.
After all, it's been more than two days since Matt and Dom revealed the truth to their friends and it's been since that fateful night that they haven't heard from them.
Although it's only a couple of days, to the two vampires it seems like an interminable time.
Every time one of the two's phones rang, hope filled their hearts that no longer beat; but noting that it was never a call from whom they were waiting for, the disappointment was greater every day.
So much so that by now they have both decided not to pay attention to the phone when it rings.
It could never be who they want.
"We might as well turn them off for what it takes…" Dom sighs unhappily, placing both his and Matt's iPhones on the lid of the glittery silver coffin that Matthew eventually turned into a quirky but still practical storage table.
"We already knew, Dommie, it wasn't going to be quick. They need a few days to think better about everything and cushion the shock of receiving that news. We can't do anything, just wait for them to decide to re-establish contact, if they will..." Matt replies, but he almost seems to repeat it to himself.
"I know, but… I miss them so much!" moans the blond.
"I know, me too, but things will be better, you'll see." The brunet comforts him, momentarily taking the phones to be able to lift the lid and take two of the bottles that are kept cold inside, by a large number of ice cubes.
Oh yeah, Matthew made that coffin into an efficient drink holder too.
"Beer?" he suggests to the blond, without even waiting for his answer and handing him a bottle.
"Why not? Let's try to drown our sorrows in alcohol!" shrugs Dom, uncorking the bottle.
"Right. And then we go out for a quick, quick hunt." adds the singer.
"Not that I really want to go out..." the blond confesses, a little demoralized.
"Me neither, baby, but we have to do it mostly out of necessity." the brunet nods.
And that's what they do. Once they finish their beer, with some difficulty, the two get up from the sofa and get ready to go out.
Meanwhile the two cell phones they left at home keep ringing in vain.
***************************** (At the same time)
Having found a meeting point between the numerous commitments of both, Tom and Jaclyn managed to arrange an appointment in Bristol, with her asking her boyfriend to join her in the hotel where she is staying.
As soon as the photographer knocks on her door, the girl jumps on his neck, welcoming him with a very passionate kiss.
Distance always pays off.
"Honey, I missed you so much!" she smiles at him. "You'll be exhausted after all those concerts, you, Chris, Matt and Dom…"
"Why do you always have to talk about them?" Tom stiffens, using a more abrupt tone than he would have expected.
"Excuse me, I just asked..." she justifies herself, a little resentful.
"You're right, forgive me, I don't think I've managed all those hours of travel well yet..." he readily justifies himself. "The point is, now it's just the two of us. Me and you. I don't want to think about anything but us." he murmurs persuasively, stroking her hair.
"Oh, Tom!" she squeaks tenderly, and then kisses him so hard that she ends up with him on the armchair.
The more he kisses her, the more Tom regrets what he has done and swears to himself that he will never give in to another woman but her.
However, he doesn't feel like revealing his little weakness to her, it's a useless truth that would only hurt her.
- I am a coward. There are those who have been able to tell me the truth, knowing painfully well what they were putting at risk... - reflects the man.
"Oh yes, Thomas, we'll be thinking about ourselves for these two days!" winks Jaclyn seductively, getting up just to go into the other room, where she returns shortly after, holding what appear to be cocktails in her hands.
Tom watches her smiling, a little less when she hands him a tall cylindrical glass with a thick red liquid inside.
He has to rely on all his self-control not to flinch and spill the glass or worse, tip over with the chair.
"What… what is it? A joke?" he questions her, restless.
"But... no, love, what's wrong with you? It's a Bloody Mary, it's your favorite!" she protests, looking at him worried.
Tom mentally calls himself an idiot for not being able to come to that obvious conclusion on his own.
"Well, not anymore. I've grown sick of this drink," he mumbles, putting it back on the floor. "But I still appreciate your thought." he hastens to add with all his charm.
"Ok, I understand, let's skip the aperitif and think directly about dinner." she suggests, without being upset.
After they are properly prepared to go out, dinner turns out to be a really good idea and for a handful of hours Tom really manages to enjoy the evening, without worries.
That is why when they return to their room he is more than willing to receive a proper welcome back from his fiancée.
"Oh, love, did you see?" she murmurs, leaning against his bare chest, as she flips through the satellite TV channels. "There's Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', would you like to see it?" she proposes to him.
"What's wrong with you, Jac, are you doing this on purpose?" Tom snaps, jumping up on the bed. "Why out of the two hundred billion films available, do you want to see just that one? It's not even this grand masterpiece!" he mutters agitatedly.
"Tommie, are you sure you're feeling okay? You're so weird today..." his girlfriend worries, stroking his shoulders, trying to give him a massage.
"Uh, yes, sorry... it's just a little stress, work, all that being under pressure, always giving my best, you know..." he finds a valid justification, while she strokes his shaggy face .
"And then I seem to have shown you, not more than ten minutes ago, how good I feel!" He winks mischievously at her and with a languid look.
"Mm.. it's true." she giggles with feigned innocence. "Is there any chance of getting an encore?" she rubs herself against him, eager.
"All you have to do is ask, love!" he smiles, kissing her with involvement.
Before they start a new battle under the sheets, Tom can't help but dig up the episodes of that day, those fortuitous coincidences that perhaps do not want to be more than a clear signal that he is leaving some important questions unresolved.
And Tom has never been the type to leave loose ends.
*********************** (At the same time)
"Frankie fell asleep too, he was the hardest tonight!" smiles Chris, returning to his bedroom, where Kelly awaits him.
"You know, dear, I didn't want to say anything to you for these two days so as not to upset you further after the travel fatigue, the post-concert stress and so on, but now.." Kelly begins, signaling him to join her under the covers.
It is an invitation that the husband certainly does not make her repeat.
"Would you like to tell me about what you and Tom went through the night of the last concert? It must have been such a shock." she worries, hugging him. "But you know that I'm your wife and you can share everything with me, even the greatest fears that torment your soul." she prompts him.
"Don't worry Kelly, I'm fine now. I just want to stay as far away from those two as possible, at least for a while." the bassist mutters.
"I believe it, it must have been such a fright to be attacked by them, I still wonder how you managed to escape them." Kelly mutters.
Chris partially moves away from her, staring at her in amazement.
"But… no, love, they didn't attack me at all."
"Oh, then only Tom. Poor dear…" she deduces.
"No, not even Tom, they didn't even remotely assault us, nor did they try to inflict any kind of blow or wound on us," he explains to her.
Now it's Kelly frowning at him.
(End I)
Notes:what about this? As for the fluff part, it's all down to my Sims, really Matt's is a messy lout and Dom is a freak about cleanliness and hygiene XD (+next they might even inspire me a shot requested from a friend's prompt * shuts down*)
Little spoiler: you're going to love Kelly oooh so much in the next part ;)
By the way: I really think Caris is lovely and everything, but this is meant to be a Chris/Kelly story (like many other of my wips) , I can't change things abruptly ^^'
Personal satisfaction: I also wrote about Jacqueline, I've never done it before, but she's too cute ^^
All the issue about Tom beatrying her is totally invented, of course, I wasn't hinting anything, I just need it for the bit about being a coward without telling the truth to someone, ok? ^^'
I hope you liked it, although I'm more and more sure you're not, lacking of feedback just leads me to this sad conclusion.
I'm even about to add a brand new story (a minilong about how Muse became Muse, but with a (huge) touch of BellDom)
Let this be a lesson to me: never quit posting a story for years, this is just what I deserve…