Title: Magic Number
Author:
fizzyblogicPairing: Billy/Dom
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This transformative work features characters based on real people but is not about the real people themselves. No harm is intended, nor profit made.
Summary: It takes seven, baby.
The first time, they’re in the makeup trailer. No one else is around, they’ve snuck in to stick a beard and moustache onto Viggo’s mirror, and once it’s done, Billy hangs onto Dom, wheezing, fisting his shirt to stay upright. Dom leans against him and laughs, stifling the sounds in Billy’s hair, and they fold like that for a while. One second they’re laughing, the next they’re laughing really close, the next they’re laughing and kissing, and then Dom pushes him against the door of the trailer and Billy gasps in air. No more laughter. Just teeth and tongues and Dom’s hands under Billy’s shirt and Billy’s on his back and in his hair, and Dom sinks to his knees and watches the colours shift in Billy’s eyes as he nods.
Dom’s careful not to let a single drop get onto Billy’s costume, and then Billy shoves him against the door and his mouth feels amazing and they manage not to mess up Dom’s costume either. Then someone bangs on the trailer door and they rearrange themselves and don’t talk about it again.
The second time, they’re drunk. Elijah’s rambling something about the mountains, involving a metaphor for Sean’s eyes and somehow simultaneously his arms, and Orli’s leaning against him, smiling vacantly. Billy just turns his head and kisses Dom, slightly off-centre, wet and sloppy and beer-tasting, and Dom just opens his mouth into it, sobering up half way. Billy eventually pulls back, Elijah laughs, Orli begins to list slowly to starboard, and Billy rests his head on Dom’s shoulder, looking at him with unfocused eyes and a soft smile.
Dom’s heart squeezes and he takes another swig from his bottle, hoping to lose the sobriety the kiss has left him with, unable to stop his lips tingling.
The third time, a bunch of saltwater gets into his mouth. They’re surfing, Billy and Dom tackle a wave together, and it gets the best of them. They tumble and land tangled up in calf-deep water, the others occupied with their own waves, and Dom leans over in the tangle and kisses him. The next wave rushes at them, getting into their mouths where the seal isn’t perfect, and it’s cut short as they spit the salt out. Dom thinks, A three-way kiss with the sea, now that’s something, and a half-formed line of a poem flits through his head on its way past. He can never quite pin those.
Billy jumps up and shouts, “Race you to the next one!” and Dom stumbles up after him.
The fourth time is part of a game. A tipsy Elijah suggests Spin the Bottle, Orli as ever is his wing-man in the argument, and Viggo and the Seans are eventually persuaded. Andy spends the whole conversation lounging against the cushions and looking smug. Elijah doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s rigging the first spin when it lands on Astin, who rolls his eyes but can’t quite suppress a smile. Dom is overtaken, as he often is, with the urge to pet Elijah’s hair. His eyes connect with Billy’s and, in unison, they think at each other, He’s such a sweet. A vague part of Dom’s brain wonders if it’s normal to think things at each other, or if anybody else would know what they mean, or if that’s why they do it, like their own secret language. He doesn’t get very far with this train of thought, because Astin spins Billy, and then Billy spins and it lands on Dom.
It’s not hard, or sloppy, or salty; Billy kisses him gently, softly, and Dom kisses him back just so. It lasts a (lifetime) minute, and when he returns to the room and opens his eyes he hears catcalls.
He spins Andy, who grins, and kisses slightly like a fish, but in a surprisingly enjoyable way. Dom hears Billy’s laughter with his eyes closed.
The fifth time is a protest. They’re in a park in Wellington, one of their all-too-rare days off, just strolling with the boys, taking pictures. Someone’s gone to get a ball. A voice up ahead of them is being very loud, and as they get nearer Dom hears something about Unnatural, stop it, the way you’re carrying on - that’s disgusting!
They exchange glances, turn a corner, and see … two young men, doing nothing more than holding hands. A small pocket of men about the same age are a few feet away, one of whom is doing the shouting.
“Oi,” Orli calls over, because he never seems to know what’s good for him, “leave them alone.”
The main homophobe turns and sneers. “What is this, Queer Day?” He takes a breath to say more, but Billy cuts him off.
“Maybe it’s Out Walking With Your Boyfriend Day,” he says, and on his cue, the boys all pair up. Orli grabs for Elijah’s hand (Astin’s having a picnic with Christine and the kids), Viggo and Sala put their arms around each other’s waists, and Billy takes Dom’s hand. The skin on his palm wakes up. “What of it?”
The gay couple have scuttled away, now the attention is off them. The bigots make to close the distance between the groups, and Dom watches, riveted, as Viggo takes Sala’s face in his hands and kisses him with very, very obvious tongue.
Billy steps into Dom’s line of vision, gives a wolfish toothy grin, and makes for his mouth. The corners of Dom’s lips curl up and he sees, out of the corner of his eye, Orli make it look like he’s kissing Elijah’s neck. Billy runs the tip of his tongue against Dom’s bottom lip, and Dom forgets to pay attention to anything else.
It gets them left alone, and Dom distantly hears triumphant laughter long before he and Billy pull away. He opens his eyes reluctantly, but just in time to see Viggo dip Sala and kiss him again. Dom and Billy whistle the loudest.
The sixth time, Dom barely feels it. His allergies are making him miserable, he can’t seem to get comfortable, and for days he’s been fighting off a cold. Pete finally orders him to go home for the night and get some sleep, which Dom’s body was going about getting without his permission anyway, and so he’s half asleep and a little loopy from all the cold medication he took once he got his hands on an array of it. He hears what might be Billy let himself in, which makes sense because he has a key, and then he hears what could be Billy making himself a cup of tea, which makes sense because Billy likes tea, and then he hears what might be Billy coming into his room and sitting on the bed and then … it feels like he’s lying down, and Dom tries to open his eyes but they point blank refuse. So he listens, as well as he can beyond the rushing in his ears, and he hears Billy say something very quietly and then feels what might be a light kiss on the corner of his mouth.
“If I get your cold,” he distinctly hears, “I’ll kill you.”
The injustice of it all is nearly enough to wake Dom all the way; as it is, he grunts, all other attempts at movement or speech unsuccessful.
The seventh time, they’re wet, they’re cold, they’re half way up a mountain and nobody’s had enough sleep. The ground is still soggy from the rain, mud sticking to their feet, Dom wondering if it’ll make the glue come off, and Billy tosses the cup to him and says, “If we don’t die of boredom and if we ever get off this mountain, d’you want to go for a drink?”
“Yeah,” Dom says, tossing the cup back.
“Dom,” Billy says, tossing it to Elijah, who catches it awkwardly and does an underhand toss to Astin. “I mean a drink-drink.”
Dom blinks. The cup sails in from Astin’s direction, and Dom catches it automatically. “Oh,” he says. He tosses the cup to Elijah. “All right then.”
“So are you guys finally getting together?” Astin asks, catching the cup and sending it on its way.
“What, you - you mean you’re not already?” Elijah laughs, executing a wrist-flick only a teenage boy could pull off.
Dom catches it. “Sod off.” He tosses it high in the air and Billy darts in to press a firm, decisive kiss on his mouth. Dom smiles into it, feels Billy make a sharp movement, and pulls away to find he’s caught the cup.
“You hobbits ready?” the second AD calls, and the cup is abandoned. Dom stifles a smile every time he catches Billy’s eye, and starts to plan his drink order.