FIC: "Different Tastes" 2/4

[lobelia321]

Title: Different Tastes
Part: 2/4
Author: Lobelia; lobelia321@aol.com
Other details: See Part 1.
----

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."

-----

TBC