thekeyholder91 | Captive

thekeyholder91

Title: Captive - part 3. Matthew
Author:

thekeyholder (Brigi)
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: PG
Beta/Support: The lovely

millionstar ! Thank you and

laurad2609 for the encouragement! <3
Summary: Dominic is a student who decides to work in his summer holiday in a clothing store, after he mistakes a pretty mannequin for a real man. But what if the blue-eyed doll is not an ordinary one?
Feedback: would be lovely if you have some time! <3
Warnings: Nada.
Disclaimers: As you probably know, I don’t own Muse, but original aspects belong to me. So don't steal, please!
Author's note: I don't know when the next part will be up because I don't have anything written and a busy period is ahead of me. :( Hope you'll enjoy this part!

Previous parts: PART 1. | PART 2.

Captive – part 3. Matthew

Dom’s alarm went off at eight in the morning. The young man was a light sleeper, so it didn’t cause him much trouble to wake up early on a Saturday morning. Of course, he would have loved to sleep more, but he was a responsible adult now who had a job and duties. He wanted to give Chris a good impression and prove that he was a hardworking man. Luckily, next time it was Lucy’s turn to do the weekend shift, but honestly, he wouldn’t mind to work either. Dominic wasn’t bored like in previous summer holidays; he gained experience and was even paid.

Chris was right: the weekend was completely different from weekdays. There were more customers in the morning and the day would become busier and busier. Dominic was refilling the shelves and hangers for the second time and it was only two o’clock. He heard joyous children laughter and he saw a pregnant woman entering the shop with two boys and a girl. The woman looked around as if she was searching for someone and Dominic already had an idea who she might be.

“Kelly!” Chris cried out and ran up to his wife, the kids joining them in the hug.

Dominic smiled involuntarily.

“We went to the park and thought that we should visit you too,” Kelly said as they walked to the cash register where Dominic stood.

“Kelly, meet Dominic. Dominic, this is my wife, Kelly,” Chris presented with a big smile.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about you,” Kelly said as she shook Dominic’s hand.

“I could say the same,” Dominic replied and admired the glow surrounding Kelly.

No wonder Chris was so attached to her; she seemed to attract all the light around her.

“Dad, won’t you introduce me to Dominic?” a timid voice sounded from beside Chris.

“Oh, sorry. Dominic, this is Frankie,” Chris sighed.

Dom could hardly stifle his laughter at the sight of the serious expression on the boy’s face, but he added in the end: “It’s an honour, Frankie. How old are you?”

“Seven, sir.”

“Frankie, you’ll be eight in a few weeks; you can say that you’re eight. Anyway, Dominic, you see the boy looking at the sunglasses? He is my eldest, Alfie,” Chris pointed to a tall boy, “and my eldest daughter, Ava Jo, I can’t see her right now, but…”

“Dad, you must change Matthew’s clothes, they look horrible!” a high-pitched voice stated.

“Yes, well, she’s definitely Ava Jo,” Chris said and hugged his daughter with an arm.

“Dad, I’m serious. Tom’s are okay, but Matthew’s clothes are quite distasteful,” Ava Jo frowned.

“Tom? Matthew? Who are they?” Dom asked confusedly.

The Wolstenholmes looked at each other and giggled.

“Long story. Ava named the two male mannequins Tom and Matthew,” Chris laughed and hugged tighter his daughter.

“Dominic, please excuse us, but I need to discuss something with Chris,” Kelly said and the couple retired to the office in the back.

Since Frankie joined his big brother in trying out the funniest sunglasses and caps, Dominic saw the perfect opportunity to ask Ava further questions.

“Ava Jo…tell me, why did you name the mannequins Tom and Matt? And which is which?”

The girl’s face lit up – somebody was finally curious about her preoccupations.

“Come with me!” she said, took Dom’s hand and dragged the young man outside the shop, so they were facing the two mannequins.

“The one on the left is Tom.”

Dominic looked at the taller mannequin who had black hair and dark brown, almost black eyes.

“And on the right, that’s Matthew,” Ava said. “It’s obvious that Dad changed his clothes; I hate this style on him!”

Dominic stepped closer and looked deeply into the well-known cerulean eyes. The mannequin was smiling broadly and his black hair pointed into every direction. He cast his eyes lower and burst out laughing.

“Oh god, Ava, you’re right! Your father dressed Matt with neon green trousers and a yellow t-shirt?!”

Ava and Dominic went back inside, laughing and making jokes about Chris’ fashion sense as if they would have been friends for an eternity.

“I heard that, young lady! You should look around and see what boys wear these days; I just dressed Matt in trendy stuff,” Chris huffed. “But if you insist, then I’m going to ask Dominic to change it tomorrow.”

“Brilliant idea, Dad!” Ava Jo agreed as she gave Dominic a highfive.

“I have a condition, though, my lady,” Dominic said and bit his lips in anticipation. “You must tell me why you chose those names for the mannequins.”

“Oh, but I didn’t choose the names,” Ava replied with surprise. “When Dad opened the store and bought the mannequins, I was there too. I just heard Matthew whispering; he told me his name and Tom’s too.”

“So, Tom actually never talked to you?” Dominic asked, fascinated.

“No. And that was the first and last time that Matt spoke to me,” Ava Jo said with a shrug.

“Okay, sweetie, that was enough. I’m sure Dominic has better things to do than listen to your fairytales,” Kelly admonished her daughter with a slight blush.

“No, no, I don’t mind. It’s entertaining,” Dom hurried to say, hoping that he didn’t reveal how much he was interested in the subject. “So Matthew didn’t tell you anything else?”

“I didn’t understand the rest. I guess it took him great effort to say even that…” Ava Jo concluded and she was glad to find comfort in Dom’s eyes.

“Come, Ava, your father and Dominic are busy,” Kelly said and called her boys too. “We must go.”

While leaving the store, Ava and Dominic kept eye contact for long moments; only once the girl glanced in Matthew’s direction and Dominic nodded slowly, almost imperceptibly. It was as if Ava would have asked Dominic to find out the rest of the strange mannequin’s story and he decided to take up the challenge. Dominic kept his eyes on Tom and Matthew, but they “behaved” well for the rest of the day. He and Chris closed the store, but the blonde man was determined to find out more the next day.

* * * * *

The next day Dominic arrived earlier to have enough time for his normal duties plus dressing up the mannequins. He had to do everything by himself because Chris had told him that he’d arrive only around noon. First, he chose the clothes for the female mannequins which actually didn’t present any interest – they had the same cramped expression as every other mannequin in the mall. It was a much more difficult task to choose clothes for Tom and Matthew – Dominic felt that these two had personalities and he had to respect them, especially Matthew’s.

The young man believed that Tom was more the sporty type, therefore he chose a vivid blue t-shirt and white, chequered shorts. Finally, he added a pair of Aviators which made the mannequin look even more fashionable. As for Matthew, Dominic changed his mind several times until he settled for something elegant: a grey suit and a white t-shirt with turquoise pattern which would emphasize the blueness of the mannequin’s eyes. He proceeded to get off Matthew’s clothes.

At first, it was a difficult task, but he learned a technique while changing the two female mannequins and Tom. Dominic lifted Matthew’s arms and grabbed the hem of the horrendous, yellow t-shirt, a funny thought crossing his mind: he hadn’t undressed a man since he broke up with his first boyfriend, Gabriel. Matthew’s torso was perfect: the pale skin had a pearly shine. ‘Of course, it’s perfect – it was designed to be like that,’ Dominic thought to himself as he carefully put on the white t-shirt.

It was then that he noticed something curious.

“No way…”

Matthew was blushing. Dominic knew that was impossible, but it was as if the mannequin was embarrassed to be naked in front of a stranger. The blond gently touched Matthew’s right cheek, but it was cold and felt like plastic. Dominic blinked confusedly and on impulse, he said: “I know this is awkward, but those clothes you had looked ridiculous. I swear I’m not going to look at the…um, your lower parts.”

The young man was blushing too as he laid the mannequin on the counter and quickly took off the neon green trousers. He was relieved to find that Matthew was “created” with boxers and he put on the grey trousers with a bit of difficulty since the plastic legs were quite rigid. Dominic put up Matthew and he stepped back to admire the mannequin’s new look. As anticipated, Matthew looked much better – he was classy and handsome. Dominic neatened a rebellious hair lock and smiled. He looked into the blue eyes and for a moment, he got lost – he had the impression of sinking into deep water and he could have sworn he heard a voice, but it was over far too soon to be considered more than a deceiving impression.

Dominic put Matthew back in the window and exited the store to see if everything was all right. He was happy to find the new attires much more attractive than the previous ones. He turned on the radio and since he was alone in the morning he changed the frequency to an alternative station, so he could listen to quality music while working.

* * * * *

“Nice job with the mannequins!” Chris said instead of greeting Dominic and his employee smiled proudly.

The manager looked satisfied with the crowd in the store – he noticed a particular group of gothic girls and threw Dominic an appreciative look. “I bet the ladies were attracted by the music you put on.”

“Oh, I can change it back to the normal station, I just like alternative music more and listened to it a bit in the morning.”

“No, no, leave it like this, we need to diversify our clientele,” Chris approved. “I’d rather have gothic girls buy from this store than those fake barbies who have just entered.”

Dominic looked in the entrance’s direction and grimaced. Three spoiled girls entered, not older than twenty, but their credit cards full of daddy’s money and their various body parts pumped up with silicone. They burbled with laughter, almost screamed, as if the whole mall was theirs. ‘Annoying bitches,’ Dominic thought and hoped that the princesses wouldn’t find anything good enough for them and leave soon.

Five minutes later the leader of the group stepped to the cash register with a red bra in her shopping basket and fluttered her fake eyelashes, waiting for the young man’s reaction. However, Dominic wasn’t enchanted by this or by the enormous size of the bra’s cup. He was cold, but polite which made the girl boil with anger.

“Hello, uh…” she struggled to read his name tag, “Dominic.”

“Hello,” the blond replied, aware of her plan to wind him around her finger.

“I’m Jessica. So, when do you finish your shift? You could join me and my friends for a drink,” the girl added with a wink.

“No, thanks, I work late,” Dominic said curtly.

“Oh, just tell your boss you don’t feel well. Come on, Dominic! Have a drink with us,” Jessica looked at her friends who waved, then leaned in and whispered: “and maybe later I could show you this bra in private. You can’t refuse such an offer.”

Dominic felt sorry for her. “Jessica, I can’t and I don’t want to. Here’s your bra. Thank you for your purchase!”

She looked at him incredulously, until the impatient customers behind her back cleared their throats.

“Please, don’t hold up the line,” Dominic asked her politely.

“Arsehole!” she exclaimed loudly, turned tail and Dominic sighed with relief until he heard a scream.

He looked up and the sight made him giggle. In a very curious way, Jessica’s blonde hair was somehow tangled between the plastic fingers of Matthew’s left hand. Dominic was sure that he didn’t position the mannequin that way, yet Matthew somehow reached out and taught the insistent and annoying girl a lesson. The blond boy noticed with joy that the customers who witnessed the scene were smiling with satisfaction.

“That young lady got what she deserved,” Dominic heard a woman state and he agreed wholeheartedly.

* * * * *

Before leaving the store, Dominic made sure that his boss was busy in his office and he walked to Matthew. The blond was biting his lower lip before speaking: “I might be going crazy here, but I know what I saw this afternoon. You basically saved me from a disgustingly impertinent girl, Matthew, and I want to thank you that.”

Dominic hesitated; he timidly patted the mannequin’s hand before slipping his fingers between the plastic fingers. He squeezed them gratefully and he could have sworn that he felt Matthew’s hand warm, but he convinced himself that it was the warmth of his own hand.

The blonde looked into the blue eyes and smiled at the silliness of his actions, leaving the store in a euphoric state. He certainly had a very interesting day.