"And hello to you, too, Karl," Dom laughed. Karl didn't return the smile. "How soon can you break away?" "What, from this?" Dom gestured with his drink toward the party and shrugged. "For you, I've got time. What's up?" "Privately." "That bad, huh?" Dom joked, following Karl out the double doors of the hotel lobby into the crisp night air. "Alright, what is it?" he asked, sipping his drink, looking over the rim at Karl. Who looked really agitated. "Look, I'm just..." Karl stopped, raked fingers through his hair. "You've read it, haven't you?" "Read what?" "Those." Karl made a vague stabbing motion with a hand. "The stories." "Karl, mate, take a deep breath," Dom replied, amused, setting his empty glass on the concrete. "Someone slip you some Xenadrine in your cuppa? You're twitchier than a crackwhore." "I am not twitchy," Karl retorted, his breath puffing white spirals in the space between them. "But I'm fucking furious on your behalf." "Once again, I'm lost. And to think, we used to speak the same language." A lament delivered with another blinding smile. "The stories on the internet?" Ah, yes. Those. Of course. Whatever that meant. "What are you talking about?" "Orlando mentioned you'd shown him a few sites..." Oh. Those. "Find any inspiration, did you?" Dom teased, teeth whiter than usual in the fluorescent glow of the street lamp. "Dom, these people are fucking with our lives." "You're being melodramatic. It's fiction. Says so right there before every story. Everyone knows it's not true." "How do you know some people don't believe it?" "Karl." Dom's hand on Karl's arm was gentle, his smile patient. "They're just stories, mate. Although most people have this distressing tendency to pair me with Billy or Elijah. Like I'd do either of them," he snorted, rolling his eyes. "Anyway...some are good, some aren't so good. Some entertain me, some I wouldn't let my dog read." "You don't have a dog," Karl laughed, relaxing at Dom's soothing tone. "Yeah, I know. So it's a bloody good insult, innit?" Dom pulled his jacket closer to his shivering body, but his eyes were warm, friendly. Karl wondered if Dom even realized he was cold. "We should get back inside." "In a minute." Dom took a step closer, and Karl reached out, pulled Dom to him in a loose, friendly hug, offering body heat and friendship. "You read the one, didn't you?" Dom asked, peering at Karl with curious eyes. Karl nodded. "I hope you know I would never..." "Shh." Dom shook his head, smile dimming. "I know. Just like I'd never..." Oh, right. Karl had forgotten about that bit. He'd been too busy freaking out over everything else. "How'd -- have you and Orlando --?" "Talked about it?" "Yeah." "A bit," Dom replied, snuggling back into Karl's warmth. "See, that's what I'm talking about," Karl said, warm hands rubbing against Dom's back in slow circles. "This shit fucks with your perceptions. Even with us. And we know each other." "Well, it's a compelling story." Dom tilted his head to look into concerned eyes. "Kinda hard not to be affected by it. But I promise not to check your ceiling for hooks next time I'm at your house." Karl's amused chuckle puffed cold air across Dom's neck. "You couldn't hold a houseplant on the hooks of my ceiling, let alone body weight." "And I promise not to lose myself in your all-knowing, intense, hazel eyes," Dom continued, tracing a hand across Karl's eyebrows. "They're almost brown." "Still hazel," Dom corrected. "But not all-knowing." "No," Karl agreed, voice husky as he gazed into Dom's eyes. Dom licked his lips. "And you're certainly not this brooding, intense, dark god." "Nor am I a whiny brat with a horrible crush on Harry." Karl's head was moving closer to Dom's, bit by imperceptible bit. Just a little closer, come on...Dom lifted on tip-toe to meet Karl's lips in a lazy exploration of mouths and tongues. And no, the kiss didn't cause Dom to lose his mind or shred his soul -- but it did shift something inside him. Nudged a bit of control out of the way, and replaced it with liquid longing. Soft and voluptuous. Lips slid across his, and parted his mouth to taste more. The hands on his back still moved in slow circles, but they were no longer completely soothing. Now there was a bit of an edge -- sharp with something just out of reach. Dom wanted to get there, wanted that spot on the horizon. Pressed into Karl's firm chest, changed the tenor of the kiss to try and get it. The soft scratch of Karl's beard sliding on Dom's chin made him ache with want -- he wanted that soft scratch on other parts of his body. Wanted the contrast of rough hairs and soft lips mapping him. Wanted the tiny brands that the stubble would leave behind. Karl allowed the full-on invasion for a moment, then broke off the kiss, breath coming in jagged pants. A lock of hair fell into his eyes as he stared at Dom, and Dom pushed it back, ran fingers through the softness. "Don't suppose you're into kinky sex, either?" he asked, smiling. "I don't even own a pair of toy handcuffs," Karl grinned, brought Dom's head back to his shoulder. "Doesn't mean I'm lousy in bed, though." Dom let out a short bark of disbelieving laughter. "Believe me, lousy lays don't kiss like you." "I'm not too sure how to feel about that." "Look." Dom lifted his head, placed a quick, warm kiss on Karl's lips. "Obviously, I never made a bet to shag the cast, but I'm not inexperienced. If that bothers you..." "I never said it bothered me." Karl bent, and licked the outside of Dom's lips, and Dom shivered, but not from the chill night air. "Just so we --" "We understand each other." Karl slipped his tongue back inside Dom's mouth, explored every recess and crevasse. A kiss between equals, not reaching toward an indefinable goal, just there -- everything on the surface, allowed time to play. And Dom returned it; curved his body against Karl's and warmed himself with the heat of Karl's mouth, the heat of Karl's body curving back into his. "Why didn't I know what a fantastic kisser you were?" Dom complained, taking a step back from the heat, fingers trailing down Karl's arm until they rested in the palm of Karl's hand. He closed over it, capturing its warmth. Real, solid, substantial -- just like the man before him. "You were always busy with the twins?" "I wasn't that busy." "You never bothered to kiss me, then," Karl shrugged. Yeah, guess not. "Can I ask you a question?" "You already have." "Smart ass," Dom stated, with a smile. "Go on." "Why, exactly, did you drag me out here? And don't say it was to defend my honor against a woman I've most likely never met, never will meet." "I did it to make sure you were okay." "And?" Karl couldn't quite meet Dom's eyes. "And because I wanted to talk to you." "Put the idea of us in your head, didn't it?" Dom shrewdly guessed. Karl nodded, glancing up to meet Dom's gaze. "I suppose." "Remind me to send that author a lovely email," Dom stated, wrapping his arms around Karl again, sighing in contentment when Karl returned the warm embrace. "You're in contact with her?" Karl sounded scandalized. "No, but her email address is up at the site." "Oh." The word sounded small. "Forgot about that." "Guess I'll be thanking Orlando for saying something to you, as well," Dom added, licking the underside of Karl's chin, tasting the bristly hairs. "That was quite the conversation," Karl said, tilting his head. "Although he didn't really look me in the eyes." Dom snorted, the sound amused. "You blame him?" "No, not really. Surprised Vig and Sean didn't say anything, to be honest." "Well, they know it's just a story," Dom replied, breathing in the skin of Karl's neck. "Not like you wrote it." Karl chuckled, the sound low. "Um...no." "And they have their separate section of folks who've written about the three of them...and everybody's gotten them wrong." Karl blinked, his hands tightening across Dom's back. "People know about the three of them?" "Of course not," Dom replied, laughing. "They're just guessing. And, like they do with you, most of them have no idea of reality." "Still don't get the Harry fascination." Karl sounded dumbfounded. "I mean, yeah, he's good-looking and all, but I'd kill him if I had to be around him all the time. The man doesn't even know what linear thinking is." That was certainly true. Amazing that he and Elijah got on so well. But then, Elijah had a very strange mind. "At least those are plausible. I'd just as soon shag my brother as Billy or Elijah, yet we're constantly being written together. Just shows that the public sees what they want to see. They can take the tiniest gesture and twist it into all sorts of odd shapes." "True enough. It's why I don't deal with the public." Karl smiled and Dom's breath caught at the sight. "You ready to go back in?" "Not really," Dom answered, leaning up for another kiss. "Wanna cut out, go someplace for a proper pint?" "I know a good pub down aways, yeah." Karl fished in his pockets for his car keys, grabbed Dom's hand with his free one. "Anyone you want to say goodnight to?" "Nah, I'll see 'em all tomorrow." Karl's hand fit nicely over his, enfolded him in soft warmth. "Let's go."
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