↳ ᴅᴏᴍɪɴɪᴄ ʜᴏᴍᴇ

@dominic sherwood At first glance, the duo of silence and the expression of pondering took control of Dominic's features, the hybrid was betting with himself that the man would pass on the offer. So the look of surprise on Taemin's face was utterly guaranteed but short-lived; he presented the new friend he was all ears during this time of sharing pain and vulnerability.

Taemin didn't need to know or have a deep connection with the older man; hearing his story would make anyone want justice for his painful experience and heartache; anyone would have twisted tiers of displeasure. "God....that ....I am sorry you had to go through that....You know, have you ever had parties where you celebrate forgetting trashy people with friends, and you break or light things on fire in the name of the said trash person? "
The idol's curious chestnut spheres watched the hand retrieve another can of beer, not wanting to stop or object to the man's decision, they only just began drinking.

"It does, a wonderful retirement plan." The duck hybrid's visage lit up with the terse reply, "Very cute, those are such sunshine aura dogs."

Taemin swooshed his can, feeling the coldness of the liquid compete with the warmth of his fingers on the tin can, allowing him to guess that he was halfway through his drink. His jaw slightly unhinged, he blinked dumbfoundedly, "A data entry clerk.....Huh, I don't know why I wasn't expecting that. Do...do you like that stuff? It's okay, sometimes you need breaks from things, or maybe it just a new chapter in your life. You will know what's best for you, when it comes to you...usually~" He stole a swig from his beverage, eyes smiling over the rim.

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ The said afection being; playful nips, head kisses, heads touching and random kisses - which was only ever done with the ex, works aside. His embrace tightens as if Ian is going to slip away from him. The hair nuzzled, scent inhaled and memorized. Since Ian is going away soon, the worry in his heart grows. He dislike the place which means he's only going to get worse. Dominic himself dislike it too just from hearing the other's description. A low soft sigh heaved. The more he thinks about it, the more it's making him restless. Thus the thought is quickly set aside and the focus is now on the sleeping man in his embrace - so innocent and harmless. Light, careful touches dance admiringly on the skin - from the cheeks, to the nose and the lips. Fingers wanted to linger, to touch some more. However, it might rouse his partner, so hand returns to where it was and the cool frame is once again embraced in a tight hug.

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@dominic sherwood It’s in the way that Dominic delivers the information that really seems to reach Damien. Arms loosely hug, the one draped on top of him. With lips pressed against, he’s leaning the head slightly in the direction of kisses. Point proven. A subtle nod is given before a whisper of ‘okay’ shows not only belief, but security in words spoken and in physical presence. Eyes flutter shut while occasionally nudging into the closeness, desire for physical contact insatiable, even in exhaustion. He does this for a solid five minutes before completely settling into REM sleep.

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Once their lips parted, a content sigh exhale and Dominic lay down on his side, arms embracing the cool frame as he scoots closer. His lips pressed on the side of the head, "I've been showing it to you these past few days - the affection...how gentle I am with you.." his tone low and soft, "sleep now, Damien."

@dominic sherwood The touch to an exposed cheek gets the eye to naturally blink if it's on his seeing side, if it were on his right the white over eye would not respond. The warmth feels good, and brings a smile to a tired visage. At the remark, Damien isn't sure what Dominic means, but allows his body to be moved to lay flat. "Huh..?" It's very softly breathed, before he's kissed. This isn't what had been expected, but there's no resistance, a hand shoots up to reciprocate properly via angle. A warmth pools in his chest moments in, this felt right, /better/. It does wake the body, albeit for a moment. The chest heaves an exhale when the kiss ends, then a brief chuckle;"Okay. i think.. I'm ready for sleep now, me to you or you lay against me since you already put me down here?" A dumb grin lifts into view. He's slaphappy.

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Hand caress the exposed cheek. Ian feels quite cold that his embrace tightens as an attempt to warm him up, "well I hope this won't keep you awake-" with a smile, he turns Ian to lay down on his back while he rise to lay on his side, a kiss is place on the soft lips - passionate yet gentle

@dominic sherwood "What you said earlier." the side of the face rests on a bare chest, his own clothes having been stripped on his way in before cuddling under the covers. The room far colder than he's used too, even with clothes on. "All these things I make you feel, will you show me?" Damien knew what that meant when asking, and it was the best remedy he could think of given his trauma and fear of abandonment.

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Dominic is staring at the ceiling since his phone is charged on his desk, paying no mind that Ian is taking a long time. When he emerges and switch the rai sound to the live one, Dominic takes note with a nod of his head then turn his head slightly to the side to his partner to address the question, "show you what?"

@dominic sherwood While Damien is in the bathroom, the delayed panic finally sets in. Outwardly calm and composed, but inside he's internalizing panic on what to do, how to feel. He should feel some kind of joy, right, right?? He's not naive, he'd been inviting the attention, kiss, and close physical contact, - it meant something but why was he drawing a blank? Why now? What felt like hundreds of questions run through the conscious, there needed to be something to give Dominic, but it could be worked with, not the traumatic shutdown he was experiencing. The electric toothbrush seemed to go for longer than two minutes, but eventually.. it comes to an end. Reemerging, he's looking for company, and crawls into bed. Seeing the video mishap, attention turns to the laptop;"You need the live variation, that's why it stops or has ads. Here, let me?" Once settled, he scoots into Dominic's side and hugs them;"Dom?" Damien begins;"Can you.. show me?"

[] https://www.youtube.com/live/rtdhu8eX0ms?si=sROuCZtDKL80Zg4G

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ The grip loosen and the untouched drinks are placed back inside the fridge. When the rain sound ended, Dominic plays it again before getting under the cover on his back. He notices the response - unsure what it means. However he thought he shouldn't prob and let Ian sleep.

@dominic sherwood "Ohhhh right.. right sorry.. brain shutting down." The back and forth of the pc chair stops abruptly when his hand is held. What comes next gets a stunned silence. Guilt settles into the chest. He can't express it, Damien didn't have the gall too. A stuttered nasal inhale, then outward after a moment. Lips part to say something, but they close seconds later. Instead, the hand held, gently tightens in grip. Showing some kind of response for lack of a verbal one. He's.. lost by the confession, and eyes wander to the window then back to Dominic;"I better brush my teeth, we've been talking a long time." Gently releasing their grip, Damien moves toward the duffel bag to grab his products and step into the bathroom.

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Dominic can't help but to snort. The way Ian sometimes misunderstood his questions or remarks is surprisingly cute rather than frustrating, "I meant, if it wasn't for all this pain, you and me," he gesture with his hand to provide a better visual comprehension, "we wouldn't be how we are now," the way the question causes struggle in answering Dominic takes a deep breath and holds the hands in his, "you wanna know the honest truth? You make me feel things, Damien. Good things that I think impossible for me to feel after what happened. So Whatever that baggage is, good or bad: I'll handle it."

@dominic sherwood Damien is quiet, munching idly on pretzels and even snagging a sour gummy worm, but considering the hour and so much chatting, the snacks are rolled up or clicked closed with a bag clip found within the duffel bag. Returning to his seat, the chair rotates from side to side while listening to the eventual questions. "Uhm.. I don't think so..? I think me being here, right now is the result of my friends- but if you mean in terms of them not working out with me romantically- yeah." It took him a little bit, but the negative thought process turns to a slight positive. This uplifts the mood a little bit. At the second question, there's subtle surprise. Having the question flipped was very different, seeing himself in such a poor light, it was difficult to see beyond. Having Dominic be the person with illness, it only seemed natural to refute. "Wha- er.. no? No. I'd want to understand you. How they impact you. You'd have to have a pretty grand personality if your illnesses were.." Damien's words trail off, what exactly was he trying to get at? "Uh.. nevermind."

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Fixed gaze is now on the floor. Regardless he still listens, slightly in disbelief that anyone would inflict pain on such a ray of sunshine. But Dominic isn't going to blame the exes, "if it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here, right?" Hopeful glint twinkle in the eyes as they're now on the other's again, a smile follows suit, "let's say that you don't and I do.. would you leave me for real?" He just had to use himself as an example given how Ian likes him.

@dominic sherwood Brows furrow with an outward hum;"Uh.. good question. I would say no. I spend most of my time worrying about me, my health, my dog, and my job. I've taken therapy, and I have come to understand my faults too. So I'm doing okay. The scar is still there, but I don't think about it. I will say though, that even if I'm not thinking about my exes anymore, the damage of my second to last one I'm still healing from. My therapist has helped me understand I have trouble with abandonment. That's why I go out of my way all the time, it stems from abandonment. That's also why I been kinda maybe giving you mixed signals. I hope I'm not but I do feel like I been hot and cold with you. I'm sorry by the way if I have. Relationships have a really bad reputation with me, I'm really hard to just.. connect with. I know I'm a lot. If I didn't have any mental disorders, and I was into someone who was, I'd probably look at that as it is which is a lot of baggage and get the outta there. Crap ton of commitment." shoulders lift in a shrug.

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Hand remains on the lap, his own drink left untouched on the desk. The pretzel is also untouched which shows just how attentive he is, "Does the pain still lingers? Do you still think about it whenever you're alone?"

@dominic sherwood Damien didn't need to voice it, but there was a strong sense of gratefulness to see Dominic be so attentive toward him. Odd eyes are soft, and gaze affectionate as a knee is squeezed;"In terms of..?"

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@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Soft gaze focuses on the other as he speaks. Since Dominic's condition has gotten better he's able to be more attentive unlike before where his headspace would go off somewhere else the minute he's got into a conversation, "three people," he started once Ian finishes, "I can imagine the pain. But pain makes us stronger so can't really blame them. How are you feeling now?" Eyes never left the visage, a hand reaches for the lap to offer a comforting squeeze.

@dominic sherwood "Uh...." Damien looks genuinely unsure, either out of discomfort or uncertainty. "Well.. my.. dating history is uh.. pretty short. First relationship was ages ago probably closer to covid times probably. I dated Seonghwa, seemed nice at the time but very much a kid at heart. He was kinda.. too pretty for me appearance wise. I was never into femboys but he cared about me when i was feeling low so i took a shot. Seemed pretty normal until their effort started to wane and they were just.. there. Very empty relationship. I ended it because I was unhappy. They of course weren't super pleased with me but it was the right call. Second relationship wasnt until around a year or a little less. That one ing hurt.."

Speaking about uncomfortable topics, he's picking at the pretzels rather than eating. He does still, but it's more absent minded than intentional. "Uhm.. another snake hybrid like me, he was kind of stand-offish, introverted. He laughed at my jokes and I thought he was funny too. Was wayyy younger than me, early twenties I think. Really too young for me, I should have left it alone, but.. well I didnt. Not only did the relationship last mayyybee.. a month? or two? But he just up and left. I mean that in every sense of the word, no warning, no hints he was unhappy he was just gone. I spiraled. .. hard." He's nodding and eye contact breaks in shame;"What came after was months of misery. Not because of attachment, but we marked each other. Snakes inject venom when they bite and we bit into each others gland. That's the neck, that's why you see me turn into a puddle if you mess with it, it's just a trigger. All hybrids have them, but not all are aware of them. So we are both poisonous, so it didn't cause us any harm, but we left eachother's DNA behind. So when that happens, when rut would come I would want my mate, whom I bonded with literally and through marking. But obviously he wasn't ever going to come, and so it just caused a further mental spiral. I cried.. Gods.. so ing much. For around a year, until I met my last partner. I couldn't want for him truly because the DNA left behind from my last hybrid partner. Long story short, I saw a witch who extracted the venom and that's why there's a scar. It's tiny little pinholes, prob can't see them now with all the new work I've got done, but that's where she had to poke into. Now, I'm free. My last relationship was okay, he wasn't bad to me, but we had.. different needs. I broke it off after a couple of months."

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Dominic goes to pull the duffle bag closer so they could easily reach for it, grabbing a packet of sour gummy worms and place it on the desk, "everything if that's okay. From the beginning," he replied with genuine interest.

@dominic sherwood "Oh-" Damien wasn't expecting Dominic to show interest in past relationships, but figured it would be alright to share; get a better understanding of how it's changed him. "Sure, what in particular do you wanna know? As far as the snacks i got the rold gold." He holds the bag up, the cola sits unopened on the desk behind him. "It's in the duffel bag, grab me a couple sour gummy worms."

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ While Ian sit by the computer desk just by the bed, Dominic goes over to sit on the edge, close to the other, "that's a lot of snacks- bring it in," a brief chortle rumbles, "hmm you did mention about last relationships - wanna talk about it? If it's too personal or uncomfortable, we can talk about something else."

@dominic sherwood "I mean- I did pack some stuff but it's mostly snacks. No way I packed that much for one night." An awkward chuckle airs;"Hmm? Sure I'll take one, and we can chat." Naturally, there's no desire to eat in the bed so he moves to sit at the table where Dominic's laptop sat. "I also have sour gummy worms, lays potato chips, Honey mustard and sweet onion flavors pretzel rods, beef ramen packets, organic popcorn with some yeast powder we can dump on it that's got a cheesy like flavor and.. I think that's all i had. I'm happy to talk to you, that's smart actually. I get.. so excited to see you, i forget how to think." A coy smile appears;"Anything in particular you wanna talk about?"

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ "Ohh snacks," there's a tinge of excitement in the tone, follows by a nod, "I eat mostly everything," he steps off the bed to retrieve two bottles of coke from the fridge and hands one to Ian, "mhm how about next time? I'd like to talk, get to know you more."

() my lunch break is only an hour and after that I'm gonna be slightly busy. Next time? ♡

@dominic sherwood "Ahh.." Remarking in a way that showcases understanding. "Makes sense, probably not worth it, cost more to fly it out than to buy brand new. Smart man. Hmm Oh heh." Squatting down in front of it, side pockets are ped;"Actually, it's full of snacks. Do you like Rold-gold pretzels? You wanna watch a movie?"

[] we can actually watch a movie on hyperbeam if you truly do have nothing to do. but no pressure!

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Dominic is quite surprised to see the large looking duffle bag from his bed, "ahh I don't take my stuff with me. I wanna get new ones but I'm still," he makes random gestures with his hands, "lazy.. that's a large bag- you moving in?" His tone teasing, not that he mind a roommate.

@dominic sherwood A gentle knock eventually sounds and the door hinges turn as the door is opened. Damien's silhouette appearing in the dimly lit room. A large, likely assumed duffle bag is set down just out of the main walk way and at the foot of the bed on the floor. "It's still empty?" Trying to state so in a gentle, non-judgemental manner. "I figured your stuff was just taking awhile because your trip was so far."

@❀ α┊christian yu ᴰᴾᴿᴵᴬᴺ Since his room is quite barren with no tv yet, Dominic boots up his laptop and plays the rain sounds on Youtube. Since he's in his room and he might takes a nap, Dominic strips into his boxers and left the door unlocked. The main light is switched off and a dim orange one is switched on by the side table.