Something More
[LotR cast] [Billy/Dominic, implied Viggo/Orlando, Sean A/Elijah] [NC-17 for all the swearing]
Something More
Author’s Note: For the flashfic-a-thon challenge. All quotes taken off this site without permission. My apologies. All quotes from Billy, except the very last one, obviously, which is from Dom.
-…I think from the day we got there, we knew it would be something special.-
“Oh! Oh! I know you!” Billy raised an eyebrow questioningly as a brunette jumped up and down in front of him, grinning madly. “You’re the one who acted in… in… Titanic!” There was a dramatic slapping of a hand on a glass pane - which earned them both a glare from the stagehand - and the hand was dragged downwards, till it slipped off the glass completely.
Billy looked amusedly down into sparkling blue eyes, trying to stifle his own laughter. “Uh. No.”
The boy - well, he seemed young - looked slightly crushed, before his eyes lit up again, and his smile broadened. “That was whatsisname. You! You were in. Um. In. Jurassic Park?”
Billy shook his head, inwardly laughing.
“Independence Day?”
Nope.
“Dances with Wolves?
Try harder.
“The Bodyguard? The Flintstones? Basic Instinct? Fatal Attraction?”
Billy laughed now, really laughed, still shaking his head, wondering how long they would be able to keep this up - he wasn’t sure of this youngster: he could really be that daft, or he could be kidding around, Billy couldn’t tell.
“Ah, I *know*.” The azure eyes gleamed mischievously, as their owner grinned. “Topless Women Talk About Their Lives.”
Billy shook his head, chuckling, green eyes shining, glad that he had gotten off to a good start with another of his fellow… ringmates? - whatever - aside from Orlando. He smirked as he thought of the champagne competition they’d had on their flight over. Orlando was a hard core drinker, that was for sure.
The younger man held out a hand, still smiling, jerking Billy out of his thoughts. “Dominic Monaghan.”
“Billy Boyd.” Billy grinned, taking the outstretched hand, knowing that there was something about this one. Something… different.
They were going to have a brilliant time, he could tell.
“This is bloody brilliant!”
Billy grinned at the look of awe on Orlando’s face, as he took in the sights and sounds of New Zealand. Everyone was silent for a time, and the only sound to be heard was the heavy breathing, thick and swirling in the cold, and the whirring, clicking noise of Viggo’s camera, as he took pictures of the scenery laid at their feet.
But Billy had never been good at staying still for long.
And luckily for him, neither had Dom.
He grinned cheekily, nodding discretely at his new partner-in-crime, before he crept up on the taller brunette, who was still standing in silent admiration of the mountains, and pounced on Orlando’s back, as Dom jumped up and clung to Orlando’s neck from the front.
With an ‘oof’, Orlando fell to the ground, hobbits falling lightly on top of him, and half-laughingly pushed them away. Viggo chuckled, and turned his camera to the giggling heap of hobbit-elf, knowing that these were the memories they would hold on to most at the end of the day. Elijah winked at Sean, and they all dived on top of Orlando, who soon gave up struggling, allowing himself to be pawed by four hyper hobbits.
“Sod off!” he said at last, pushing at Elijah, who was still clawing at his shirt. “Go play with the Viggo-swings!”
“But we like the Orlando-playground!”
Billy smirked, watching Dom scamper to his feet. They gave Orlando matching grins, and the younger brunette couldn’t be annoyed, even though Elijah was still refusing to leave him alone. Dom and Billy watched for a moment, before happily agreeing that their work was done, and running off, yelling “Clumsy little elf!” over their shoulder.
Orlando just shook his head, calling back, “I’ll send an arrow through Pippin’s arse, I swear it. You two are too much!”
Dom skidded to a stop, and his voice held the slightest tinge of menace as he replied, “Not on Merry’s life, you won’t!”
And then the two men were gone, leaving Orlando to sit and wonder what the hell had just happened.
“Dom?”
“Yeah?”
“What the hell was that?”
“What?”
“With Orlando! He was only kidding, mate!”
“I dunno, Billy boy. Must’ve been the sun.”
Billy frowned as Dom shrugged and turned away. “Must’ve been.”
-…there was no acting required of the Hobbits' friendship. It meant you could concentrate on the scenes and not worry about acting like friends because we were already best mates.-
“No, don’t you run off anywhere, Elijah. We need Frodo back in the scene after a couple of shots.”
Elijah sighed, and nodded at Peter, before walking offset for a few minutes of peace, grumbling under his breath. “I’m tired, dammit. I wanna sleep!”
“Watch your tongue, ‘Lij.” Dom came up from behind him, mimicking the best ‘mother hen’ voice he could pull off at so late an hour, putting all fatigue out of his mind.
Elijah glared at the older man, who was grinning mockingly. “I am not a *fucking* kid, thanks. And it should be illegal to be so fucking perky at four fucking a.m!”
Billy tut-tutted at Elijah’s emphasized cursing, and then grinned when Elijah turned a withering glare on him. He blinked innocently, and then said to Dom, snickering, “Sod off, Mr. Merry. The kid’s being cranky, and you know he can fuck around as much as he wants.”
“Oi!”
Dom laughed, breaking into a rendition of ‘I’m A Little Teapot’, coming up with his own words as he went along. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.”
Billy burst into giggles, and Elijah’s lips twitched a little, as Dom shifted so he was on his knees, arms raised, serenading the youngest member of the fellowship.
“Fuck Elijah, fuck fuck fuck.”
“Dom!” Elijah was laughing now, “Shut up!”
Dom got up, brushing his knees off, giving Elijah a kiss on the cheek, “Feel better?”
“Much.” Elijah pulled Dom into a hug, and laughed a little more as Dom made lewd sucking noises at his neck. “Thanks, man. I needed that.”
Dom grinned as they pulled apart, and Billy winked as he said, “Can’t have the baby grumpy now, can we? Or he’ll spit milk all over us, this one.”
Billy cackled, as Elijah turned on his best pout. But anything he might have said was cut off when Peter yelled, “It’s too late to do anymore. We’ll call it a wrap for today!”
Billy promptly fell into Dom’s arms, hairy feet and all, letting out an audible sigh of relief, because as much as they tried to hide it, they were all exhausted. Elijah let himself climb into Sean’s lap, muttering as the slightly bigger man coddled him, “Thank. God. I am *fucking* tired.”
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…”
“Dom!”
Billy watched Dom when they filmed, the way he supposed Pippin might. Something more than a cousin, because Merry was so much smarter, and so much more than Pippin, it seemed.
And sometimes, Billy couldn’t help believing that he was an incredibly talented actor. Because, after all was said and done, and the filming for that day was laid out for their eyes only, he could see the bond between the hobbits clear as day, the love for each other resonating darkly, defiantly, mirrored in all four pairs of eyes.
Billy watched the scenes over and over again, laughing whenever the hobbits played a fool, destroying any tension in the atmosphere, as well as the scene in the process, but no one ever minded too much. He watched the bond between all four hobbits grow, and he felt an inexplicable sense of pride.
Because, he realized, somewhere in between watching himself and Dom kick Sean Bean’s ass, and watching Ian’s wizard hat fly off his head, that bond hadn’t required any acting. That bond had been there.
That bond was real.
"...We used to have a thing on set, that whenever Elijah -you know he wears (the Ring) around his neck?- whenever it would come out of his costume, between shots and that, myself and Dom would sneak up on him and try to get it off him...That was good fun.-
“Oy! Dom! It’s my turn today!”
“What?!” Dom raised an eyebrow at Billy, shaking his head. “It’s not! You got to wrestle him yesterday! You told me I was running around like a squawking headless chicken! Admit it, Billy Boy! Today’s my turn with the kid!”
“Horny bastard,” Billy laughed. “You want to touch him, that’s all!”
Dom smirked, “How’d you guess?”
“All right, all right. You get to do it today. And if you don’t get the ring, you owe me ten dollars!”
Dom rolled his eyes, and patted Billy comfortingly on the shoulder. “When, Pickle, will you learn that I can get anything I want?”
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Elijah. Closet.”
“Well, anything but Astin’s property.” Dom glared at Billy, who was laughing, “What, are you trying to set me up for murder? The last time I tried to help Christine out of the car, I nearly wound up in the hospital!”
Billy was about to respond, when Elijah walked into the room, seemingly lost in thought - over a comment someone had made on his acting, Billy reckoned, and how he could improve on it - the ring hanging out of his outfit. He gaped, forgetting the retort he was about to make. “Oh, you’re a lucky man.”
Dom whooped; Elijah almost never wore the ring outside Frodo’s cloak anymore because it made for too easy a target for Dom and Billy - he’d learnt that the hard way. Dom made a beeline across the room, heading for Elijah.
Billy laughed as Dom jumped him, wrestling the young man to the ground.
“Gotcha!”
“Doooooooooooom!”
Dom grinned, throwing the ring over to Billy, before he rolled off Elijah. “Sorry, kid. You’re going to have to run for it.”
Elijah glared at him, knowing it was pointless whether he ran or not, and stayed put.
“Oh, precious! My precious! My very own.” Billy, half-choked with laughter, brought the ring to his lips and began dancing around the room, making sure to stay a fair distance away from Elijah. Dom watched him, doubled over with laughter, and Elijah couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face.
“My own ring! My very own marriage ring! Dom, I never thought I’d see the day!”
Dom grinned, wiping the laughter tears from his eyes, striding over to Billy, snatching the ring away, and going down on one knee. “I’m demonstrating our very romantic proposal,” he declared, and half the room turned to watch the fun. Elijah was on his feet by now, watching on in amusement, knowing that once the show was over, he’d jump into the fray and reclaim his property.
“Billy, darling Billy Boy.”
Snickering was heard, and Dom shushed them with a glare. “Spoil the romantic mood, will you? Shut up!”
He turned back to Billy, sugar sweet smile in place, “Billy, you make me the happiest man in the world! As long as I have you, my Bill, I wouldn’t need to wank off to Liv’s face anymore! As long as you were by my side, Pickle, I would fight MacDonald off, so they can’t put you in their burgers and you won’t need to go through any pain ever again! I would fight pizza hut and… and Peter Jackson! For you! All for you, Billy! I’d go on a hunger strike if I had to! Will you marry me, dearest, and only, Pickle of my heart?”
Billy bit down on his lip, trying not to laugh. “Oh, Dom!” He pulled out a pink handkerchief from one of his pockets, and dabbed at his eyes. “Of course, I’ll marry you!”
“And then I slipped the ring on his finger,” Dom tried shoving the ring on Billy’s fourth finger to demonstrate, but Billy’s ‘Ow!’ and deep scowl were enough to convince him to try another finger - the smallest one.
“My ring is on my pinky,” Billy’s statement was monotone, and he gave Dom a look. “You’re so romantic.”
“I know.” Dom grinned, and he would have said some more, if Elijah hadn’t decided to jump on them both and grab the ring back just then.
-The rain came through so you were walking around in puddles of cold water. I remember doing one night shoot when my feet have never felt so uncomfortable. I was almost in tears. It was quite a relief when they called a wrap.-
“Billy boy?”
Billy shrugged Dom’s hand away, before rubbing his eyes, and then pulling his hand back before makeup called the disaster team in.
“Billy?”
“What?” He felt bad for snapping, but he wasn’t in a very good mood. In fact, he wasn’t in a good mood at all.
Dom sighed, pulling him into a hug. “Look, we’re all tired, mate. It’s okay. Hang in there for another shot or two, and this’ll all be over. Okay?” When he was met be silence, Dom frowned. Realizing that Billy was shaking like a leaf, Dom pushed him away gently, to look him in the eye.
“Billy? Are you crying?”
“No.”
“Then look at me.”
Billy sighed, shrugging Dom off. “G’way. Leave me alone.”
Dom wouldn’t let him walk away. “Come here!” There was a bit of a struggle, before Billy gave up and glared at Dom.
“I told you I’m not crying.”
Dom could see that Billy was close to tears, walking that fine line between crying, and, well, not. He hugged Billy again, letting the older man use the chance to wipe his eyes on Merry’s cloak.
When Billy looked up, he managed a weak smile. “Thanks, mate.”
Dom shrugged, and smiled back. “No problem. I know how hard this is.” He lifted a foot up gingerly, wrinkling his nose when cold water dripped onto his pants. “It’s disgusting and it’s late, and we’re tired and freezing our arses off. A little discomfort’s understandable.”
Billy laughed, half-bitterly, half in disbelief. “A little? A *little*?”
“Okay, okay. But you get what I mean.”
Billy sighed, laughing, and shook his head. “What would we do without you, Dom?”
“Drown in your own tears and sorrow.”
Billy laughed, “You’re probably right.”
-Peter doesn't know this... but I broke my finger surfing.-
“Oh, fuck.”
“Shit, Billy.”
Dom dropped to his knees as Orlando, Elijah and Viggo crowded around Billy, who was lying on the sand, cradling his finger. “Ow.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Elijah muttered, already reaching for his cell to dial for an ambulance.
Orlando took Billy’s finger very, very carefully, into his hands, surprisingly serious for once, gently moving it a little, catching Billy’s wince.
“Okay, you brilliant… arse. It’s broken.”
“Oh, I hadn’t already figured that out.”
“You know, you’re really in no position to be sarcastic.” Orlando raised an eyebrow, and made a pointed cracking sound with his tongue, and then looked at Billy’s finger, which was still in his hands.
“Dom!” Billy’s look was pleading.
“All right, Orli. He’s had enough for one day, don’t you think? C’mon, Billy, we’ll get you to a hospital.” Dom’s features gave away no apparent fear, but the thudding of his heart, and the shaky undertone in his voice let everyone know just how worried he had been when Billy had come crashing back into the sand, after he’d been flipped off his surfboard.
Orlando left Billy alone.
“How d’you feel, mate?”
“Like I was thrown off a surfboard and broke my finger.”
Dom laughed. “You arse.”
“Oh Dom, you’re an eloquent bastard.”
Dom shrugged, “I got the scare of my life, Billy boy. I thought a friend of mine was going to have a broken neck or something. I’m hardly in the mood to talk.”
“Sorry, mate. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Billy was quiet for a while, before he frowned. “No one’s telling Peter?”
“Nah. I bribed Elijah off - threatened to tell Peter about him and Sean if he dared breathe a word of this to anyone, even if it is out of goodwill. And Viggo got Orlando to keep his mouth shut.”
“Those two have been pretty close lately.”
“Orli’s close to everyone!”
“No, I mean. Close. Like, they’re close, you get it?”
“What, you mean like…” Dom trailed off, “Astin and ‘Lij?”
“Yeah. Haven’t you noticed?”
“Not much. What they do is what they do. As long as they shut their traps.”
“Hmm.” Billy lay back down on the pillow, glad that Dom was the one staying over to ‘mother’ him, as Viggo had put it. “Good. Peter would throw me off a cliff.” He could see Ian shaking his head, saying ‘Fool of a Took!’ in his head, and he managed a weak smile, inwardly laughing at how attached the fellowship had become.
Dom laughed, “He would though, wouldn’t he? You’d be banned from surfing for the next, what, ten months?”
Billy shuddered, “That’s too scary to think about.”
“If it keeps you safe, I might make you stop surfing altogether.”
As Billy studied the fiercely protective glint in Dom’s eyes, Billy knew he wasn’t kidding. And he promised himself to be much more careful the next time he went surfing.
A lifetime without surfing was just too dreadful to think about.
-…That's my Billy. He's so charming - it's like he can do no wrong.-
Watching Billy fall asleep was fast becoming Dom’s latest habit. The man could sleep anywhere, it seemed. At any time. Especially since anywhere was fast becoming only Dom’s lap.
Dom liked it. He liked having a lapful of Billy, liked being able to run his hand over Billy’s scalp, through Billy’s hair, liked being able to hear Billy laugh at his stupid jokes, liked listening to Billy talk, liked his accent a *lot*, liked being able to touch him, hold him, stay close to him, liked watching the way Billy’s eyes fluttered shut, liked watching the way he yawned. Dom liked a lot of things about Billy, he decided, even the way he occasionally drooled on Dom’s shoulder.
And when Billy climbed into his arms again after another demanding day of filming, Dom wondered if perhaps he shouldn’t like Billy this much. Wondered if perhaps he liked Billy a little *too* much. If perhaps the like wasn’t only brotherly. If perhaps the like was something more.
-fin-
Something More
Author’s Note: For the flashfic-a-thon challenge. All quotes taken off this site without permission. My apologies. All quotes from Billy, except the very last one, obviously, which is from Dom.
-…I think from the day we got there, we knew it would be something special.-
“Oh! Oh! I know you!” Billy raised an eyebrow questioningly as a brunette jumped up and down in front of him, grinning madly. “You’re the one who acted in… in… Titanic!” There was a dramatic slapping of a hand on a glass pane - which earned them both a glare from the stagehand - and the hand was dragged downwards, till it slipped off the glass completely.
Billy looked amusedly down into sparkling blue eyes, trying to stifle his own laughter. “Uh. No.”
The boy - well, he seemed young - looked slightly crushed, before his eyes lit up again, and his smile broadened. “That was whatsisname. You! You were in. Um. In. Jurassic Park?”
Billy shook his head, inwardly laughing.
“Independence Day?”
Nope.
“Dances with Wolves?
Try harder.
“The Bodyguard? The Flintstones? Basic Instinct? Fatal Attraction?”
Billy laughed now, really laughed, still shaking his head, wondering how long they would be able to keep this up - he wasn’t sure of this youngster: he could really be that daft, or he could be kidding around, Billy couldn’t tell.
“Ah, I *know*.” The azure eyes gleamed mischievously, as their owner grinned. “Topless Women Talk About Their Lives.”
Billy shook his head, chuckling, green eyes shining, glad that he had gotten off to a good start with another of his fellow… ringmates? - whatever - aside from Orlando. He smirked as he thought of the champagne competition they’d had on their flight over. Orlando was a hard core drinker, that was for sure.
The younger man held out a hand, still smiling, jerking Billy out of his thoughts. “Dominic Monaghan.”
“Billy Boyd.” Billy grinned, taking the outstretched hand, knowing that there was something about this one. Something… different.
They were going to have a brilliant time, he could tell.
“This is bloody brilliant!”
Billy grinned at the look of awe on Orlando’s face, as he took in the sights and sounds of New Zealand. Everyone was silent for a time, and the only sound to be heard was the heavy breathing, thick and swirling in the cold, and the whirring, clicking noise of Viggo’s camera, as he took pictures of the scenery laid at their feet.
But Billy had never been good at staying still for long.
And luckily for him, neither had Dom.
He grinned cheekily, nodding discretely at his new partner-in-crime, before he crept up on the taller brunette, who was still standing in silent admiration of the mountains, and pounced on Orlando’s back, as Dom jumped up and clung to Orlando’s neck from the front.
With an ‘oof’, Orlando fell to the ground, hobbits falling lightly on top of him, and half-laughingly pushed them away. Viggo chuckled, and turned his camera to the giggling heap of hobbit-elf, knowing that these were the memories they would hold on to most at the end of the day. Elijah winked at Sean, and they all dived on top of Orlando, who soon gave up struggling, allowing himself to be pawed by four hyper hobbits.
“Sod off!” he said at last, pushing at Elijah, who was still clawing at his shirt. “Go play with the Viggo-swings!”
“But we like the Orlando-playground!”
Billy smirked, watching Dom scamper to his feet. They gave Orlando matching grins, and the younger brunette couldn’t be annoyed, even though Elijah was still refusing to leave him alone. Dom and Billy watched for a moment, before happily agreeing that their work was done, and running off, yelling “Clumsy little elf!” over their shoulder.
Orlando just shook his head, calling back, “I’ll send an arrow through Pippin’s arse, I swear it. You two are too much!”
Dom skidded to a stop, and his voice held the slightest tinge of menace as he replied, “Not on Merry’s life, you won’t!”
And then the two men were gone, leaving Orlando to sit and wonder what the hell had just happened.
“Dom?”
“Yeah?”
“What the hell was that?”
“What?”
“With Orlando! He was only kidding, mate!”
“I dunno, Billy boy. Must’ve been the sun.”
Billy frowned as Dom shrugged and turned away. “Must’ve been.”
-…there was no acting required of the Hobbits' friendship. It meant you could concentrate on the scenes and not worry about acting like friends because we were already best mates.-
“No, don’t you run off anywhere, Elijah. We need Frodo back in the scene after a couple of shots.”
Elijah sighed, and nodded at Peter, before walking offset for a few minutes of peace, grumbling under his breath. “I’m tired, dammit. I wanna sleep!”
“Watch your tongue, ‘Lij.” Dom came up from behind him, mimicking the best ‘mother hen’ voice he could pull off at so late an hour, putting all fatigue out of his mind.
Elijah glared at the older man, who was grinning mockingly. “I am not a *fucking* kid, thanks. And it should be illegal to be so fucking perky at four fucking a.m!”
Billy tut-tutted at Elijah’s emphasized cursing, and then grinned when Elijah turned a withering glare on him. He blinked innocently, and then said to Dom, snickering, “Sod off, Mr. Merry. The kid’s being cranky, and you know he can fuck around as much as he wants.”
“Oi!”
Dom laughed, breaking into a rendition of ‘I’m A Little Teapot’, coming up with his own words as he went along. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.”
Billy burst into giggles, and Elijah’s lips twitched a little, as Dom shifted so he was on his knees, arms raised, serenading the youngest member of the fellowship.
“Fuck Elijah, fuck fuck fuck.”
“Dom!” Elijah was laughing now, “Shut up!”
Dom got up, brushing his knees off, giving Elijah a kiss on the cheek, “Feel better?”
“Much.” Elijah pulled Dom into a hug, and laughed a little more as Dom made lewd sucking noises at his neck. “Thanks, man. I needed that.”
Dom grinned as they pulled apart, and Billy winked as he said, “Can’t have the baby grumpy now, can we? Or he’ll spit milk all over us, this one.”
Billy cackled, as Elijah turned on his best pout. But anything he might have said was cut off when Peter yelled, “It’s too late to do anymore. We’ll call it a wrap for today!”
Billy promptly fell into Dom’s arms, hairy feet and all, letting out an audible sigh of relief, because as much as they tried to hide it, they were all exhausted. Elijah let himself climb into Sean’s lap, muttering as the slightly bigger man coddled him, “Thank. God. I am *fucking* tired.”
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…”
“Dom!”
Billy watched Dom when they filmed, the way he supposed Pippin might. Something more than a cousin, because Merry was so much smarter, and so much more than Pippin, it seemed.
And sometimes, Billy couldn’t help believing that he was an incredibly talented actor. Because, after all was said and done, and the filming for that day was laid out for their eyes only, he could see the bond between the hobbits clear as day, the love for each other resonating darkly, defiantly, mirrored in all four pairs of eyes.
Billy watched the scenes over and over again, laughing whenever the hobbits played a fool, destroying any tension in the atmosphere, as well as the scene in the process, but no one ever minded too much. He watched the bond between all four hobbits grow, and he felt an inexplicable sense of pride.
Because, he realized, somewhere in between watching himself and Dom kick Sean Bean’s ass, and watching Ian’s wizard hat fly off his head, that bond hadn’t required any acting. That bond had been there.
That bond was real.
"...We used to have a thing on set, that whenever Elijah -you know he wears (the Ring) around his neck?- whenever it would come out of his costume, between shots and that, myself and Dom would sneak up on him and try to get it off him...That was good fun.-
“Oy! Dom! It’s my turn today!”
“What?!” Dom raised an eyebrow at Billy, shaking his head. “It’s not! You got to wrestle him yesterday! You told me I was running around like a squawking headless chicken! Admit it, Billy Boy! Today’s my turn with the kid!”
“Horny bastard,” Billy laughed. “You want to touch him, that’s all!”
Dom smirked, “How’d you guess?”
“All right, all right. You get to do it today. And if you don’t get the ring, you owe me ten dollars!”
Dom rolled his eyes, and patted Billy comfortingly on the shoulder. “When, Pickle, will you learn that I can get anything I want?”
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Elijah. Closet.”
“Well, anything but Astin’s property.” Dom glared at Billy, who was laughing, “What, are you trying to set me up for murder? The last time I tried to help Christine out of the car, I nearly wound up in the hospital!”
Billy was about to respond, when Elijah walked into the room, seemingly lost in thought - over a comment someone had made on his acting, Billy reckoned, and how he could improve on it - the ring hanging out of his outfit. He gaped, forgetting the retort he was about to make. “Oh, you’re a lucky man.”
Dom whooped; Elijah almost never wore the ring outside Frodo’s cloak anymore because it made for too easy a target for Dom and Billy - he’d learnt that the hard way. Dom made a beeline across the room, heading for Elijah.
Billy laughed as Dom jumped him, wrestling the young man to the ground.
“Gotcha!”
“Doooooooooooom!”
Dom grinned, throwing the ring over to Billy, before he rolled off Elijah. “Sorry, kid. You’re going to have to run for it.”
Elijah glared at him, knowing it was pointless whether he ran or not, and stayed put.
“Oh, precious! My precious! My very own.” Billy, half-choked with laughter, brought the ring to his lips and began dancing around the room, making sure to stay a fair distance away from Elijah. Dom watched him, doubled over with laughter, and Elijah couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face.
“My own ring! My very own marriage ring! Dom, I never thought I’d see the day!”
Dom grinned, wiping the laughter tears from his eyes, striding over to Billy, snatching the ring away, and going down on one knee. “I’m demonstrating our very romantic proposal,” he declared, and half the room turned to watch the fun. Elijah was on his feet by now, watching on in amusement, knowing that once the show was over, he’d jump into the fray and reclaim his property.
“Billy, darling Billy Boy.”
Snickering was heard, and Dom shushed them with a glare. “Spoil the romantic mood, will you? Shut up!”
He turned back to Billy, sugar sweet smile in place, “Billy, you make me the happiest man in the world! As long as I have you, my Bill, I wouldn’t need to wank off to Liv’s face anymore! As long as you were by my side, Pickle, I would fight MacDonald off, so they can’t put you in their burgers and you won’t need to go through any pain ever again! I would fight pizza hut and… and Peter Jackson! For you! All for you, Billy! I’d go on a hunger strike if I had to! Will you marry me, dearest, and only, Pickle of my heart?”
Billy bit down on his lip, trying not to laugh. “Oh, Dom!” He pulled out a pink handkerchief from one of his pockets, and dabbed at his eyes. “Of course, I’ll marry you!”
“And then I slipped the ring on his finger,” Dom tried shoving the ring on Billy’s fourth finger to demonstrate, but Billy’s ‘Ow!’ and deep scowl were enough to convince him to try another finger - the smallest one.
“My ring is on my pinky,” Billy’s statement was monotone, and he gave Dom a look. “You’re so romantic.”
“I know.” Dom grinned, and he would have said some more, if Elijah hadn’t decided to jump on them both and grab the ring back just then.
-The rain came through so you were walking around in puddles of cold water. I remember doing one night shoot when my feet have never felt so uncomfortable. I was almost in tears. It was quite a relief when they called a wrap.-
“Billy boy?”
Billy shrugged Dom’s hand away, before rubbing his eyes, and then pulling his hand back before makeup called the disaster team in.
“Billy?”
“What?” He felt bad for snapping, but he wasn’t in a very good mood. In fact, he wasn’t in a good mood at all.
Dom sighed, pulling him into a hug. “Look, we’re all tired, mate. It’s okay. Hang in there for another shot or two, and this’ll all be over. Okay?” When he was met be silence, Dom frowned. Realizing that Billy was shaking like a leaf, Dom pushed him away gently, to look him in the eye.
“Billy? Are you crying?”
“No.”
“Then look at me.”
Billy sighed, shrugging Dom off. “G’way. Leave me alone.”
Dom wouldn’t let him walk away. “Come here!” There was a bit of a struggle, before Billy gave up and glared at Dom.
“I told you I’m not crying.”
Dom could see that Billy was close to tears, walking that fine line between crying, and, well, not. He hugged Billy again, letting the older man use the chance to wipe his eyes on Merry’s cloak.
When Billy looked up, he managed a weak smile. “Thanks, mate.”
Dom shrugged, and smiled back. “No problem. I know how hard this is.” He lifted a foot up gingerly, wrinkling his nose when cold water dripped onto his pants. “It’s disgusting and it’s late, and we’re tired and freezing our arses off. A little discomfort’s understandable.”
Billy laughed, half-bitterly, half in disbelief. “A little? A *little*?”
“Okay, okay. But you get what I mean.”
Billy sighed, laughing, and shook his head. “What would we do without you, Dom?”
“Drown in your own tears and sorrow.”
Billy laughed, “You’re probably right.”
-Peter doesn't know this... but I broke my finger surfing.-
“Oh, fuck.”
“Shit, Billy.”
Dom dropped to his knees as Orlando, Elijah and Viggo crowded around Billy, who was lying on the sand, cradling his finger. “Ow.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Elijah muttered, already reaching for his cell to dial for an ambulance.
Orlando took Billy’s finger very, very carefully, into his hands, surprisingly serious for once, gently moving it a little, catching Billy’s wince.
“Okay, you brilliant… arse. It’s broken.”
“Oh, I hadn’t already figured that out.”
“You know, you’re really in no position to be sarcastic.” Orlando raised an eyebrow, and made a pointed cracking sound with his tongue, and then looked at Billy’s finger, which was still in his hands.
“Dom!” Billy’s look was pleading.
“All right, Orli. He’s had enough for one day, don’t you think? C’mon, Billy, we’ll get you to a hospital.” Dom’s features gave away no apparent fear, but the thudding of his heart, and the shaky undertone in his voice let everyone know just how worried he had been when Billy had come crashing back into the sand, after he’d been flipped off his surfboard.
Orlando left Billy alone.
“How d’you feel, mate?”
“Like I was thrown off a surfboard and broke my finger.”
Dom laughed. “You arse.”
“Oh Dom, you’re an eloquent bastard.”
Dom shrugged, “I got the scare of my life, Billy boy. I thought a friend of mine was going to have a broken neck or something. I’m hardly in the mood to talk.”
“Sorry, mate. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Billy was quiet for a while, before he frowned. “No one’s telling Peter?”
“Nah. I bribed Elijah off - threatened to tell Peter about him and Sean if he dared breathe a word of this to anyone, even if it is out of goodwill. And Viggo got Orlando to keep his mouth shut.”
“Those two have been pretty close lately.”
“Orli’s close to everyone!”
“No, I mean. Close. Like, they’re close, you get it?”
“What, you mean like…” Dom trailed off, “Astin and ‘Lij?”
“Yeah. Haven’t you noticed?”
“Not much. What they do is what they do. As long as they shut their traps.”
“Hmm.” Billy lay back down on the pillow, glad that Dom was the one staying over to ‘mother’ him, as Viggo had put it. “Good. Peter would throw me off a cliff.” He could see Ian shaking his head, saying ‘Fool of a Took!’ in his head, and he managed a weak smile, inwardly laughing at how attached the fellowship had become.
Dom laughed, “He would though, wouldn’t he? You’d be banned from surfing for the next, what, ten months?”
Billy shuddered, “That’s too scary to think about.”
“If it keeps you safe, I might make you stop surfing altogether.”
As Billy studied the fiercely protective glint in Dom’s eyes, Billy knew he wasn’t kidding. And he promised himself to be much more careful the next time he went surfing.
A lifetime without surfing was just too dreadful to think about.
-…That's my Billy. He's so charming - it's like he can do no wrong.-
Watching Billy fall asleep was fast becoming Dom’s latest habit. The man could sleep anywhere, it seemed. At any time. Especially since anywhere was fast becoming only Dom’s lap.
Dom liked it. He liked having a lapful of Billy, liked being able to run his hand over Billy’s scalp, through Billy’s hair, liked being able to hear Billy laugh at his stupid jokes, liked listening to Billy talk, liked his accent a *lot*, liked being able to touch him, hold him, stay close to him, liked watching the way Billy’s eyes fluttered shut, liked watching the way he yawned. Dom liked a lot of things about Billy, he decided, even the way he occasionally drooled on Dom’s shoulder.
And when Billy climbed into his arms again after another demanding day of filming, Dom wondered if perhaps he shouldn’t like Billy this much. Wondered if perhaps he liked Billy a little *too* much. If perhaps the like wasn’t only brotherly. If perhaps the like was something more.
-fin-