Stay Tape
Introduction / Extract / Reviews / Extras
Stay Tape is about Kit and Dirk, eyeliner and photography, kilts and corsets. It's about love, and trust, and doing the things that scare you because if you never get scared you're not growing.
Dirk loves his life. He has his partner, Kit, and he has a wonderful job at the local fetish shop, working behind the scenes. Panic sets in when Dirk's boss, Sukie, asks him to model some of the wares in the next catalog. He's not sure he wants to be on the front lines, where everyone can see him.
Kit is more than happy to help Dirk get over his case of nervous jitters. In fact, Kit might just be uniquely suited to the task. He sets out to make sure Dirk can do the job, helping Dirk ease his fears. Can they prove to Dirk that it's not so bad to be in the spotlight after all?
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Extract
"I hate my job.""Let me guess. You've suddenly realized that you hate making beautiful costumes?"
"No."
"You hate being paid to play with fabulous fabrics?"
"No."
"Oh! I know! You cinched some first-timer into a Fawcett's corset you made, had them glowing with happiness, and then realized that you never want to do it again?"
"Shut up!"
"So, when you say you hate your job, you are, in fact, lying?" Kit crossed his arms, and delivered his pronouncement with an arch of his elegant, penciled eyebrow.
Dirk glared at him across the bar. They were in Kit's work, the Blackbird & Bait. It didn't need anything as corny as a board outside, proclaiming it Tawnholme's alternative pub; the décor and the staff pretty much took care of that. Of course, not-quite-eight o'clock on a Wednesday wasn't exactly a busy time, and although Kit was the only staff member behind the bar, Dirk thought that his boyfriend filled the alt. eye-candy requirement pretty well. Much as Kit bitched about his job, he didn't hate it either. Oh, no. Kit got a kick out of being the barman who poured the drinks while the customers poured out their hearts, Dirk included.
"Shh, you." Dirk tried to hide his smile in his whisky. "I never said I hated the job, just that sometimes the girls drive me bug-nuts crazy, including my boss."
"I thought she was the crazy one?"
"She is," Dirk replied, before registering the way the corner of Kit's mouth was quirking and the gleam in his eye. "Fuck you too."
Reviews
Joyfully Reviewed - Stay Tape is a cute and funny story... Stay Tape is great when you need a chuckle and a little uplift in your day.
Extras
One of the free Tawnholme stories - Fair - features a younger Kit, set about ten years before Staytape.
Staytape - Christmas
Kit (from Stay Tape) has a favourite part of Christmas, and it's not going home to visit family, or even presents. It's the annual Boxing Day Bash at the pub where he's the assistant manager.
The Blackbird and Bait is the local alternative pub, and on Boxing Day - the day after Christmas, which is a public holiday here in the UK - they move the snooker table to set up a small stage and rearrange the tables to clear some space for dancing, and have a mini-festival, with a handful of local bands, and guest dj's and a late licence.
Over the evening, if feels like everyone who's still in town drops in, and it's always a busy, happy, time. The pub doesn't have a food license, but they do have an agreement with a local pizza place, and about every hour or so a delivery guy shows up with a stack of boxes.
The taste of Rocket Pizza's All Star pizza may not be traditional, but it's the taste of
Christmas for Kit.
** end **