Authors: Xanthe Walter
steady gaze. He glanced down at his belt as his
fingers fumbled while threading it through his
jeans.
"Oh, I think you're a much better actor than
you give yourself credit for," Daniel said gently.
Rick glanced up at him sharply, and Daniel
reached out, squeezed his arm briefly, and then he
left. Rick stared after him, feeling antsy after the
punishment although he had no idea why. His ass
was hot and sore, but that wasn't the problem. He
could handle that, but the weird emotions he was
experiencing weren't so easy to handle. He wasn't
sure what to do with himself, so he wandered over
to Matt's trailer and knocked on the door.
"You weren't there," Rick said, brushing past
Matt when he opened the door and going inside.
"No."
Rick turned to see Matt shrugging. "Why?
There was popcorn and soda. It was fun!"
"Not for me. Honestly, Rick, why do you get
yourself into these scrapes? It's all so avoidable.
Sometimes, I swear you go out of your way to
cause havoc. Why can't you just…?"
"Be more like you?" Rick raised an eyebrow.
"Counting every bird in the sky, every cookie on
the table, every time someone sneezes? Always
obeying the law to the letter, never getting into
trouble, and never once allowing yourself to let
your hair down and have a good time?"
"Oh for fuck's sake! I just like things to be in
their proper place and organized. It's simpler that
way. Anyway, why the hell do you care if I was
there or not?"
"I don't; I just wondered, that's all. I thought
you might still be mad at me for being late today."
Rick poked at the fruit in the bowl on Matt's
coffee table thoughtfully, like he was seriously
considering eating it.
"Leave it alone." Matt slapped his hand away.
"Everyone knows you haven't eaten anything
healthy since about 1973."
"Just how old do you think I am?" Rick asked,
pouting.
"You're thirty-two. Your birthday is on
November 5 when you'll be thirty-three," Matt told
him automatically. "It's numbers." He shrugged
apologetically. "I can't help myself; they stick in
my brain."
"You're weird, Matty." Rick stared at him, his
head on one side. "But as long as you're not still
mad at me, I don't care."
"I'm not still mad at you." Matt sighed. "I just
don't like the thought of you taking licks in public.
It's demeaning."
"Nah. It's fine. I'm a dom - I can handle it."
"Well, sometimes I've wondered," Matt said
thoughtfully.
"If I can handle it? Of course I can. I once -"
"Wondered if you're actually a dom. You do
play Alex Tanner very convincingly."
Rick looked up and then burst out laughing.
"Oh Matt. Matty Matt Mattser! I've known I was a
dom since I was about thirteen years old! But hey,
if you ever want me to top you just say the word,
and I'll prove it!" He gave Matt a lascivious wink.
"No, thank you," Matt replied primly. "I
prefer my doms a little more…"
"Boring? Talking of which, how is that
accountant
you're
dating?
Emmy,
Emma,
Ermentrude… whatever her name is."
"It's Emily, and she's fine. It's great.
Wonderful. And… uh… the sex is good!" Matt
thrust his chin out defensively as he said that.
"Oh, I'm sure the sex is very sensible, well-
organized and controlled." Rick grinned.
"Contrary to popular belief, it isn't actually
necessary for sparks to fly in order to have good
sex," Matt replied tartly. "Emily and I share
common values and attitudes and are very well
suited."
"Of course you are. Her job is counting things
and your hobby is counting things; it's a match
made in heaven."
"I've certainly kept count of how many stupid
things you've done since I met you," Matt retorted.
"Really?" Rick winked. "How many?"
"Sixty-two - if you count every single
instance of lateness as coming under the general
umbrella of 'late'. If you count each one
individually then it's 109."
"Wow. Can you list them all as well?"
"I can, starting with the day we first met,
when you showed up on your Harley making a loud
fanfare and parked it in the showrunner's parking
space."
"Hmm… you know, I can count too. For
example, I can count every single orgasm I've
given to every single sub I've ever topped. D'you
want to hear about those?"
Matt flushed. "No."
Rick laughed; teasing Matt was always so
much fun.
"Oh, you're infuriating. I can't believe I ever
felt sorry for you having to take public discipline!"
Matt said irritably. "Did it hurt by the way?"
"Nah. Well… yeah. But I deserved it. The
worst part was that Petra 'strongly suggested' I
shouldn't go out clubbing again until the hiatus."
"But that's four months away!"
"I know! That's what I said." Rick shook his
head mournfully. "She didn't care."
"Is she allowed to do that? I mean, you can do
what you like in your personal time, can't you?"
"Well, like I said, it was more a suggestion
than an order, but as she has the power to fire me I
guess I'll just have to do what she says." Rick
shrugged.
"Hah! Four months without clubbing? I bet
you don't last more than a week."
"A whole week?" Rick grinned. "Wow -
you've got a higher opinion of me than I thought. I
don't think I'll make it through the weekend!"
"If you get yourself fired, I'll never forgive
you," Matt said plaintively, sitting down on the
couch, next to the fruit bowl.
"Aw - this means you do actually like me
after all." Rick gave Matt a cat-got-the-cream
smile. "I knew you did really, even though you call
me names, and throw things at me, and stuff."
"I do not like you; I'm just thinking about all
the fuss the press will make if you go and get
yourself fired. They'll hang around my house for
weeks, looking for a quote."
"Nah - I think it's because you like me." Rick
flashed Matt his most infuriating grin and strode
towards the trailer door.
He managed to duck, just in time, as a well-
aimed apple almost hit the back of his head.
Really - subs throwing things at him twice in
one day? Rick chuckled to himself as he left the
trailer: he must be doing something right.
They filmed the rest of the day's scenes, and
then they had to do a publicity interview for the
entertainment show,
TeeVee
. Matt got changed
quickly from his Ben Harris clothes into his
Matthew Lake clothes - there wasn't much
difference in their styles, but Matt tended to be
more casual than Ben, who often wore suit pants
and a sports jacket to work; Matt preferred tee
shirts and jeans.
On his way back to the set, he was joined by
Karl Morgan, who was playing the new bad guy on
the show this season. He was a tall, lean man, with
olive skin, blond-brown hair, and dark eyes. He
was very good looking in an elegant, classy kind of
way, which suited his character - the smooth-
talking, sinister Jason Jarvis - down to the ground.
He was also British, with a cut glass accent that
half the subs in the crew kept swooning over.
"Hey, Matty! How are you?" Karl asked,
falling into step beside him.
"I'm fine… um… but…" Matt hesitated and
then ploughed on. "I don't want to be rude, Karl,
but I prefer Matt, or Matthew. Not Matty."
"Oh. Okay. Sorry - I thought everyone called
you Matty."
"No, only Rick; and I think he only does it to
annoy me."
"Oh, I see!" Karl grinned, and Matt tensed,
wondering if he should have admitted that.
Sometimes, when he told people not to do
something they did it all the more. At least, that
had been his experience in high school. Karl didn't
seem like any of the mean doms he'd known in high
school though because he just gave an easygoing
smile. "I've noticed Rick likes to tease. He's quite
the center of attention around here, isn't he? He's
such a larger than life kind of guy."
"Yeah, that's Rick. You get used to it. Or you
ignore him. Or throw things at him. Or all the
above." Matt grinned sideways at Karl. "That's
what I do!"
"Uh, Matt - can I ask you some questions
about Daniel?" Karl asked tentatively. "I've got a
few big scenes with him this episode, and I'm kind
of scared of him to be honest! I've seen all the
movies in the
Insubordination
franchise, and I'm a
huge fan of his. I don't want to screw up around
him."
Matt found himself relaxing. He didn't know
Karl that well yet, but he got the feeling that he
was a nice guy.
"Oh, don't worry about Daniel! He's nothing
like Tom Duke from
Insubordination
- or Chief
Christie come to that."
"That's a relief. I used to fantasize about Tom
Duke when I was a spotty adolescent - he's the
kind of tough sub that most doms would like to
tame in their fantasies, but I think I'd be threatened
by all those surly one liners if I met a sub like that
in real life!"
Matt laughed. "I love the
Insubordination
movies! They're such action classics. I wanted to
be Tom Duke when I was a kid, but I think even
then I knew I was never gonna be a tough sub.
Daniel is nothing like Tom Duke though, so don't
worry. He's really shy, and sometimes people
mistake that for aloofness but it's not - he's just
very reserved. You'll find him reading between
takes - or at the gym."
"Yeah, those biceps look even more
impressive in real life than onscreen." Karl
grimaced. "He's a scary-looking guy."
"He might look intimidating, but he's not
really. You'll do fine."
"Great. He's such a legend that I really don't
want to fuck up in our first big scene together
tomorrow."
"If you do, he'll help you fix it, so don't
worry."
Karl nodded thoughtfully. "I heard he lost his
wife a couple of years ago? Wasn't he married to
Suzanna Dawson?"
"Yeah, he was. She was his manager as well
as his wife and a huge Hollywood player. It almost
destroyed him when she died; I'm not sure he'll
ever get over that."
Matt wondered if Karl was interested in
Daniel in more than a purely professional sense,
and he hoped not, for Karl's sake. Daniel hadn't so
much as looked at another dom since his wife's
death. He even still wore her collar off set,
signaling very clearly that he still felt he belonged
to her and no other dom was going to get close.
Karl was also about ten years younger than Daniel
- was it possible that he had a crush on the older
sub?
They reached the set and found Sharlene
Milton, the petite, pretty presenter from
TeeVee
,
standing there, microphone and camera guy at the
ready.
Rick loped up a few seconds later - for once
he didn't keep them waiting, so Matt wondered if
the punishment he'd taken earlier had actually done
its job. Like Matt, Rick had got changed out of his
character's costume and was in his own clothes;
black leather pants, a tailored white shirt that clung
to his body and a dramatic, floor-length black
leather coat that showed off his broad shoulders to
perfection. His jaw length black hair was artfully
tousled, there was a pair of trendy new sunglasses
perched on his head, and he was wearing his
favorite item of jewelry - a thumb ring shaped like
a panther's head, made of white gold with rubies
for eyes.
Matt felt positively underdressed standing
beside him in a pair of faded jeans and a blue and
white plaid shirt with a scarf slung loosely around
his neck.
Petra got them all organized around Sharlene
- with Rick and Daniel, as the two big stars of the
show, on either side of her. Matt was placed