Fic: "Dating Dominic (It's A Mug's Game)" for Cesare in the 2009 Lotrips Slashababy fic exchange
Title: Dating Dominic (It's A Mug's Game)
Recipient: almostnever (Cesare)
Author: by randomdarling
Pairing: Elijah/Dominic
Rating: NC17
Summary: AU. Dom works in a museum, Elijah is a teacher.
Pre-reveal Notes: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, non-commercial work of fiction using the names and likenesses of real individuals. This fictional story is not intended to imply that the events herein actually occurred, or that the attitudes or behaviors described are engaged in or condoned by the real persons whose names are used without permission.
"So will you set me up with him?"
Billy smirked and turned his attention back to the photocopier. "Oh, all right. But you'll owe me."
Dom rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get me a date with the fantastic Mr. Mortensen."
Billy raised an eyebrow amusedly. "You really are desperate, aren't you?"
Dom nodded, just once.
"Well, you'd better let me know which day suits you and I'll check with him to see if he's free."
"Thursday, or Friday. Or...hell, whenever. I'll cancel whatever I've got on for a date with Viggo."
Billy collected a sheaf of papers, still warm from the photocopier. "Fine. I'll ask him this evening, then, and let you know tomorrow. Oh, and as for my favour in return..." He paused for effect.
"What?" Dom prompted.
"You can take over my face-painting shift on Sunday afternoon. In the kids' gallery, one-thirty p.m. until five."
Dom groaned.
Billy winked and, with an evil grin, strode past Dom back towards the Natural History wing of the museum.
***
"Well?" Dom accosted Billy as soon as he reached the staff room the next morning.
"Good morning to you too, Dominic," Billy said cheerfully, depositing his hideous, red tartan coat on a chair and heading for the kettle. "Well, what?"
"Well, did you ask Viggo? About a date with me?"
"Oh, that." Billy filled the kettle, and flicked it on. "Yeah, I did actually."
"And?"
"And he said okay."
Dom punched the air. "Yes!"
"Saturday night, seven p.m., at that weird French fusion place, he said."
"Great! Billy, thanks mate!" Dom took two mugs out of the cupboard. "Tea or coffee?"
"Tea, please," Billy said, settling back in a satisfied way in the comfiest chair in the room.
The door creaked open and Pete, the head curator, poked his head in.
"Morning, guys," he said, pushing his thick glasses up his nose a little further. "Billy, just to let you know, the times have changed for that face-painting session on Sunday morning - it's now ten a.m., not one-thirty p.m. Hope that's not a problem."
"Actually, Pete, Dom's doing it, if that's okay," Billy said. "He's better with children than I am anyway, and since he offered to do it, I took him up on it."
Pete shrugged. "Whatever you want. Did you get that, Dom? Ten a.m., Sunday morning."
"That's fine," Dom said automatically, then suddenly backtracked. "Oh, no, wait - not Sunday, I-"
"Sunday. Ten a.m.," Pete repeated firmly, and left, letting the door click shut behind him.
Dom turned to Billy, who was trying not to grin.
"Ten a.m.?" he repeated incredulously. "But my date with Viggo - what's he going to say if I tell him we can't do anything, because I've got to be in work the next fucking morning?"
Billy let a small smile escape. "He's hardly going to sleep with you on the first date. Viggo's an old romantic."
Dom sighed and filled the mugs with boiling water, spirits slightly dampened.
Billy joined him, adding two spoons of sugar to one of the mugs, and tipping the contents of the other mug down the sink.
"Hey!" Dom started, indignant.
Billy waved a finger. "You don't have time for a drink. Don't you have to do a school tour this morning?"
Dom felt his spirits sink a little lower, as he headed for the door.
***
The class of eight-year-olds he had to lead around for the day were standing in the entrance hall already, when he got down there, making an unholy racket and tapping the glass case that the polar bear sat in. Dom went up to the front desk, where Cate, the receptionist, was watching them distastefully.
"Rather you than me," she told Dom drily. She cleared her throat and leaned over the desk to speak to a young man who was tying a little boy's shoelaces. "Mr. Wood? Mr. Wood, the tour guide is here now."
Mr. Wood straightened up, revealing a face that reminded Dom of a summer sky - brilliantly blue eyes, bright skin, and wide smile. Surprising, he thought. Pleasantly surprising. Normally the teachers he had to deal with fell broadly into two categories - ones who thought they knew more about the museum and its contents than he did, and ones who thought it was all very boring and would much rather have been shopping or watching trashy TV. Both categories were normally full of extremely unattractive people. This Mr Wood, even on first sight, seemed to be an exception, and deserving of a category of his own.
"Hi," he said hastily, realising Cate was waiting for him to introduce himself and get started. "I'm Dom. Is this the lot?"
"I'm Elijah," Mr. Wood said. "Yes, this is all of them." Catching sight of a girl who had her arm elbow-deep in the wishing fountain, lifting pennies by the handful, he called out, "Ally, stop that! I don't think your parents would want to hear about what you're doing, do you? This is your last warning." He turned back to Dom, with a roll of his eyes. "Sorry about that. They're quite a handful."
Dom only just managed to stop himself groaning aloud.
"We'll get started then," he said, turning to face the large group of children. "Hello, I'm Dominic..." His voice was completely drowned out by continuing chatter and laughter.
Elijah came to his rescue. "Class. Silence, please. One. Two..." The children were, miraculously, falling quiet, even though Elijah's voice was mild. "Three. Thank you. Now, this is Dominic, and he's going to be giving us a guided tour of the museum today."
"Thanks," Dom said under his breath, then raised his voice again. "Good morning, kids. Now, as you know this is the National Museum, and there are quite a few sections I'd like to show you today. Put your hand up if you're interested in animals?" This speech, entirely rehearsed and recycled for each of Dom's tours, failed to sound fresh and engaging, even to his own ears. The children, though, only seemed to pick up on the last sentence, and numerous hands flew into the air.
"Great - we have a large wing here all about evolution of animals, and extinct ones," Dom continued. "And who here likes Ancient Egypt? We have a real mummy upstairs, which is currently part of our exhibition on death rites in ancient cultures." He paused, and turned to Elijah. "I'll lead the way, if you want to bring up the rear?"
Elijah nodded, large eyes already weeding out the children who would need keeping in line, and the ones who were prone to straggling. "Fine with me."
"We'll set off then," Dom called to the crowd of children. "The first thing we're going to do is go and see the Dinosaur section. This way, please."
***
Lunchtime couldn't come fast enough. At a little after twelve, Dom wearily led the group into the large conference room set aside for them. Elijah, who seemed to have the patience of a saint, was listening to his pupils rhyming off facts about pterodactyls and velociraptors as though he was hearing it all for the first time.
Dom tapped his shoulder. "Do you want a cup of tea or coffee?" he asked, over the chatter of twenty-odd kids having lunch.
"Coffee, please," Elijah said, with a nod and a smile. And that was when Dom felt it - a sudden rush of blood to his nether regions, prompted by a spark of pure blue. He felt a blush begin to build on his cheeks.
"I'll be right back," he said weakly, and rushed off.
He found Billy in the staff room.
"Having fun?" Billy asked cheerily
"Yeah, loads," Dom said sarcastically. He turned his attention to the kettle.
"How old are they?" Billy asked.
"Year Four...that would make them, what? Eight? Nine?"
Billy shrugged. "Close enough. They're the worst ones."
Dom rolled his eyes and took down two mugs.
"An extra one for teacher?" Billy teased.
Dom nodded, and felt his blush rising again.
"Is someone a little bit attracted?"
Dom turned, torn between glaring and laughing it off. "He's quite nice-looking, yes," he said coolly.
Billy winked lewdly. "Should I cancel that date with Viggo, then?"
Dom was horrified. "No! No, don't - for all I know Elijah's not even gay..."
Billy put on a slightly simpering voice. "Oh, Elijah..."
Dom rolled his eyes as the kettle clicked, and poured the water into the mugs. Steam rose into his face, making his eyes water slightly.
"See you later," he told Billy, and left before he could be teased further.
***
Two-thirty p.m. The group had reached the gift shop. While the pupils went slightly crazy, grabbing at pencils and rubbers with the museum's logo on them like junkies reaching for their next fix, squabbling over the last shark tooth and holographic card of a mummy coming to life, Elijah stood by the door, trying to dissuade them from spending too much money and keeping an eye on the stand of mugs. Dom could see him out of the corner of his eye. He had found himself watching Elijah quite a lot during the afternoon.
But his brain kept tossing Billy's words around... Should I cancel that date with Viggo, then?
He had pondered this between giving facts on ancient Egyptians and answering questions on the last Ice Age, and was only just coming to a decision. He glanced over at the spot Elijah had been standing in until a moment ago, bracing himself. But Elijah had gone.
"They're terrible, aren't they?" The voice beside him made Dom jump, and he spun to see that Elijah had joined him, and was surveying the room with an air of bemusement. "Spending money like it's going out of fashion."
Dom gave a quick laugh.
"You've been really great with them today," Elijah continued, glancing over at Dom. His eyelashes cast a visible shadow on his cheeks, under the bright yellow lights of the gift shop. "It was all very interesting."
Dom waved this away. "No problem. Glad you enjoyed it."
Elijah smiled. "I did. Thank you." He looked away, and to Dom's surprise a pink glow was fading its way across the bridge of his narrow nose.
And then he made his decision.
"Elijah, I hope this doesn't offend you," he began, voice surprisingly calm, despite the heavy thudding of his heart. "But...well, I like you, and I wonder if...if you'd like to go get a drink with me some time?"
Elijah glanced at him again, eyes widening, but before he could answer, a loud crash turned both their heads in the direction of the mug stand. A small girl with pigtails stood next to the pile of broken china on the floor, amid a group of shocked pupils, and after a moment of silence, started up a deafening wail.
***
"Come along. Be careful going up the steps, there, Ally. Josh, where's your coat?" Elijah was standing at the side of the bus, ushering the children on in pairs, while Pete seethed silently, waiting for him to finish.
"A whole stand of mugs," he spat. "A whole stand. Forty-nine mugs..." Dom, who was standing next to Peter, could practically feel him vibrating with indignant anger at such large-scale destruction of museum property.
With the children settled in their seats, Elijah sighed and turned to Pete.
"How much do we owe you?" he asked.
"A fucking lot," Pete snapped.
Elijah, who had a chequebook out, raised an eyebrow and waited.
"Forty-nine mugs, at £7.99 each. That's..." Pete produced a small piece of paper with a couple of figures scribbled on it, "£391.51."
Elijah sighed again and scrawled a cheque. "There."
Pete practically snatched it and, without a thank you, strode back into the building. Dom and Elijah were left looking at each other.
"Sorry about that," Dom said. "Will the school reimburse you?"
"Jenny's parents should do," Elijah said, putting the chequebook back into the weathered, brown leather, satchel-style bag he was carrying.
"Right," Dom said.
There was a moment of silence, and then both started speaking at once. Elijah gave a small smile and fell silent, letting Dom go ahead.
"Well, would you like to go out with me sometime?" he asked. Somehow, it felt worse asking a second time.
To his utter relief, Elijah's summery smile broke out again. "I'd love to," he said, and handed Dom his pen, pushing his sleeve up. "Can I have your number?"
Dom grinned, taking the pen, and gently scraped it in figures across the pale skin.
"I'll call you," Elijah said, blowing across the ink to dry it, then pushing his sleeve back down. "When would suit you? Soon?" He laughed slightly.
"Yes," Dom said eagerly. "Soon, definitely."
Elijah's eyes flickered up to the windows of the bus, where the pupils, oblivious of their teacher below, were shouting and screaming with the pitch of Howler monkeys.
"I'd better head on," he said, somewhat reluctantly. "But I'll call, tonight?"
Dom nodded, and not quite daring to kiss Elijah in case one of the children saw, gave his bony shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Yeah. I'll talk to you then."
Elijah threw him a last smile and mounted the steps of the bus. As the doors closed and the engine revved, Dom could see him restoring order with barely-there gestures. The bus pulled off, and Dom gazed after it until it was gone from sight.
Then he headed back inside, to talk to Billy.
***
"You're kidding." Billy's tone was incredulous.
"No, I'm not!" Dom protested. "Really, Billy, I just...felt a spark."
Billy rolled his eyes. "That's so clichéd. Sparks like that don't exist."
Dom shrugged. "Whatever. I felt something. So will you do it?"
Billy sighed. "I'll feel mean, though - Viggo was looking forward to going out with you."
Dom felt a small pang of regret, but just shrugged again. "I don't care."
"Are you sure? If you back out now then he'll never even consider going out with you again. And you've liked him for ages, and it seems stupid just to throw all that away for some random bloke you've just met."
Dom sat down with a grin. "Don't preach at me, Billy," he said, not unkindly. "Think about it - I hardly know Viggo better than I know Elijah. And yes, I've liked him for ages, but seriously, I didn't think it was ever going to come to anything, even if we did go out. And besides... Elijah's better looking." Here Dom winked. "I mean, thanks for trying to look out for me, Billy, but I know what I want."
***
They met for dinner on the night Dom should have gone out with Viggo. It seemed a long time ago that those plans had been made. Dom reached the pub first, and waited at the bar for Elijah to arrive. Ten long minutes passed.
"Sure I can't get you anything?" the barman asked, as Dom checked his watch for what felt like the millionth time.
"Oh, well all right then," Dom said. "Just a pint, please."
He sat there sipping, and felt the warm beer join the butterflies in the pit of his stomach.
Then someone slid onto the bar stool beside him. "Started without me? Sorry I'm late."
Dom whipped his head around, giving Elijah a smile that he hoped wasn't too relieved.
"It's okay, I'm not long here myself," he said casually. "Can I get you a drink?"
***
Three hours later, and they were both slightly tipsy, well fed and sitting side-by-side in a booth, watching the other customers.
"That woman's wearing a funny hat," Dom said, and burst into laughter. The beer made the hat seem like the world's funniest joke.
"That's nothing," Elijah said, nudging Dom with an elbow that felt like a point of steel rather than soft flesh. "That man over there, look what he's wearing! It's like a dress!"
Dom snorted and glanced up, and instantly stiffened.
It was Viggo, alone at the bar, in an artist's smock and loose trousers, ordering a drink.
Elijah sensed Dom tensing. "Something wrong?" he asked, laughter fading.
"No," Dom said firmly. Whatever else happened, he resolved, Viggo shouldn't see him. Almost eerily in time with his thoughts, Viggo paid for a pint and turned around.
Dom's only thought was to hide his face, and he managed this rather successfully, by tugging Elijah onto his lap and kissing him full-on.
When they broke apart, he had forgotten all about Viggo.
Elijah's eyes were glassy, lips pink and wet. His tongue darted out over them in a way that made Dom want to grab him and rush for the toilets.
"That was...sudden," Elijah said. There was a moment of silence - too sudden? - and then he smiled slowly, showing just the pointed tips of white canines. "I like sudden." His voice was practically a purr.
Dom shifted, moving Elijah off his knees. "Let's go home."
As they got up and paid at the bar, Viggo, now sitting unnoticed in a corner, grinned to himself and took a deep swing of his beer, then extracted a mobile phone and selected a number from his list.
"Hi. Billy? Are you busy? ...Well, in that case, would you fancy joining me for a drink?"
***
Dom barely held himself in check until they reached his house. Once inside, he dumped his keys unceremoniously on the floor and, with one hand curled tightly around Elijah's narrow wrist, led him to the sofa.
They started fully clothed. It was a mystery to Dom how and when Elijah managed to take his t-shirt off, since he was lying flat on his back on the settee, with the back of his head pressed against a stripy cushion; but he wasn't complaining as his fingers splayed over the protruding blade of a collar bone, and teased lightly over the darker, nerve-loaded twin peaks of nipples. Dom also didn't remember the moment he took off his belt and wiggled out of his jeans, and wasn't even fully aware of it until the friction of his cock in thin cotton underwear rubbing against Elijah's denim-covered crotch became too much.
"Get your jeans off," he mumbled against Elijah's jaw. Elijah grunted ineloquently and raised his hips. Dom gave him a helping hand, tugging the garment down to his ankles. He debated untying shoelaces, but in the end just left the jeans pooled around Elijah's shins. He fumbled his own briefs off, and when he glanced back at Elijah, his cock was bared too, boxer shorts pushed back behind his balls.
The heat of his erection against Elijah's was perfect. Dom moaned and mouthed at Elijah's neck, now glossy with sweat, while Elijah's hands smoothed over the skin of Dom's back, and came up to comb carefully through his hair. Somehow, Dom had expected speed - but Elijah took his time, rotating his hips up almost painfully slowly to brush his cock against Dom's. When Dom came - at the same time as Elijah - with a long groan and a series of sharp spasms, the orgasm ranked pretty highly on his all-time list.
"That was good," he said, voice thick with exhaustion and spent lust. Elijah, beneath him, gave a nod, eyes fluttering closed. Dom, arms shaking, lowered himself onto the floor, snatched a cushion from under Elijah's left foot, and curled up on the floor, his hand reaching out and finding Elijah's as he drifted off.
***
The next thing he was aware of was a vibrating inside his head. As the fuzzy haze of sleep faded, he realised the vibrations were actually external. He raised his head and fumbled around on the floor, before unearthing his phone from a pocket of his discarded jeans. The screen said ‘Pete Jackson, Calling'.
Pete? What did he want? Dom, feeling mystified, answered it.
"Dominic Monaghan, where the fuck are you?" snapped the voice from the other end, so loudly that Dom physically winced.
"Huh?"
"Do you know what time it is? Ten-thirty a.m. Well? What's the excuse?"
"Excuse? Excuse for what?" Dom mumbled.
"Why aren't you here?" Pete's voice was a growl. "There are about fifty children here, Dominic, waiting for their face-painting session!"
"Face painting..." Dom parroted blankly. "Face painting...oh, shit!" The memory came flooding back and he scrambled to his feet. "Fuck...right, I'll be there in ten minutes..."
"You'd better be," Pete warned, voice dark with rage. The phone line went dead.
Dom groaned and fumbled with his jeans, pulling them on while hopping on alternate feet. He leant down to shake Elijah, who was snoring softly, head buried in a cushion.
"Elijah? Elijah, wake up."
An eyelid cracked open.
"What?" Elijah asked sleepily.
"I've got to go. I forgot, I had to do something today."
Elijah opened his other eye as well. "Oh."
"Can you let yourself out? I won't be back until 5...help yourself to whatever you want to eat and stuff..." Dom said, while buttoning up his shirt from last night.
"OK."
Dom pulled on his shoes, and was halfway to the door when Elijah spoke.
"Last night...it wasn't a one-off, was it?"
"No fucking way," Dom said firmly, and came back to plant a kiss on Elijah's forehead. "You're not getting rid of me so soon." Elijah's smile broke out again, and Dom couldn't help but feel his face brighten a little in return. "You know what, don't bother leaving - just stay here until I get back, will you? I want to see you later."
"I'll be here," Elijah said firmly.
Dom threw Elijah a parting wink before leaving, the prospect of spending a day daubing bright colours onto sticky faces of hyperactive children made bearable when he considered what he would be lucky enough to come home to.
Recipient: almostnever (Cesare)
Author: by randomdarling
Pairing: Elijah/Dominic
Rating: NC17
Summary: AU. Dom works in a museum, Elijah is a teacher.
Pre-reveal Notes: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, non-commercial work of fiction using the names and likenesses of real individuals. This fictional story is not intended to imply that the events herein actually occurred, or that the attitudes or behaviors described are engaged in or condoned by the real persons whose names are used without permission.
"So will you set me up with him?"
Billy smirked and turned his attention back to the photocopier. "Oh, all right. But you'll owe me."
Dom rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get me a date with the fantastic Mr. Mortensen."
Billy raised an eyebrow amusedly. "You really are desperate, aren't you?"
Dom nodded, just once.
"Well, you'd better let me know which day suits you and I'll check with him to see if he's free."
"Thursday, or Friday. Or...hell, whenever. I'll cancel whatever I've got on for a date with Viggo."
Billy collected a sheaf of papers, still warm from the photocopier. "Fine. I'll ask him this evening, then, and let you know tomorrow. Oh, and as for my favour in return..." He paused for effect.
"What?" Dom prompted.
"You can take over my face-painting shift on Sunday afternoon. In the kids' gallery, one-thirty p.m. until five."
Dom groaned.
Billy winked and, with an evil grin, strode past Dom back towards the Natural History wing of the museum.
***
"Well?" Dom accosted Billy as soon as he reached the staff room the next morning.
"Good morning to you too, Dominic," Billy said cheerfully, depositing his hideous, red tartan coat on a chair and heading for the kettle. "Well, what?"
"Well, did you ask Viggo? About a date with me?"
"Oh, that." Billy filled the kettle, and flicked it on. "Yeah, I did actually."
"And?"
"And he said okay."
Dom punched the air. "Yes!"
"Saturday night, seven p.m., at that weird French fusion place, he said."
"Great! Billy, thanks mate!" Dom took two mugs out of the cupboard. "Tea or coffee?"
"Tea, please," Billy said, settling back in a satisfied way in the comfiest chair in the room.
The door creaked open and Pete, the head curator, poked his head in.
"Morning, guys," he said, pushing his thick glasses up his nose a little further. "Billy, just to let you know, the times have changed for that face-painting session on Sunday morning - it's now ten a.m., not one-thirty p.m. Hope that's not a problem."
"Actually, Pete, Dom's doing it, if that's okay," Billy said. "He's better with children than I am anyway, and since he offered to do it, I took him up on it."
Pete shrugged. "Whatever you want. Did you get that, Dom? Ten a.m., Sunday morning."
"That's fine," Dom said automatically, then suddenly backtracked. "Oh, no, wait - not Sunday, I-"
"Sunday. Ten a.m.," Pete repeated firmly, and left, letting the door click shut behind him.
Dom turned to Billy, who was trying not to grin.
"Ten a.m.?" he repeated incredulously. "But my date with Viggo - what's he going to say if I tell him we can't do anything, because I've got to be in work the next fucking morning?"
Billy let a small smile escape. "He's hardly going to sleep with you on the first date. Viggo's an old romantic."
Dom sighed and filled the mugs with boiling water, spirits slightly dampened.
Billy joined him, adding two spoons of sugar to one of the mugs, and tipping the contents of the other mug down the sink.
"Hey!" Dom started, indignant.
Billy waved a finger. "You don't have time for a drink. Don't you have to do a school tour this morning?"
Dom felt his spirits sink a little lower, as he headed for the door.
***
The class of eight-year-olds he had to lead around for the day were standing in the entrance hall already, when he got down there, making an unholy racket and tapping the glass case that the polar bear sat in. Dom went up to the front desk, where Cate, the receptionist, was watching them distastefully.
"Rather you than me," she told Dom drily. She cleared her throat and leaned over the desk to speak to a young man who was tying a little boy's shoelaces. "Mr. Wood? Mr. Wood, the tour guide is here now."
Mr. Wood straightened up, revealing a face that reminded Dom of a summer sky - brilliantly blue eyes, bright skin, and wide smile. Surprising, he thought. Pleasantly surprising. Normally the teachers he had to deal with fell broadly into two categories - ones who thought they knew more about the museum and its contents than he did, and ones who thought it was all very boring and would much rather have been shopping or watching trashy TV. Both categories were normally full of extremely unattractive people. This Mr Wood, even on first sight, seemed to be an exception, and deserving of a category of his own.
"Hi," he said hastily, realising Cate was waiting for him to introduce himself and get started. "I'm Dom. Is this the lot?"
"I'm Elijah," Mr. Wood said. "Yes, this is all of them." Catching sight of a girl who had her arm elbow-deep in the wishing fountain, lifting pennies by the handful, he called out, "Ally, stop that! I don't think your parents would want to hear about what you're doing, do you? This is your last warning." He turned back to Dom, with a roll of his eyes. "Sorry about that. They're quite a handful."
Dom only just managed to stop himself groaning aloud.
"We'll get started then," he said, turning to face the large group of children. "Hello, I'm Dominic..." His voice was completely drowned out by continuing chatter and laughter.
Elijah came to his rescue. "Class. Silence, please. One. Two..." The children were, miraculously, falling quiet, even though Elijah's voice was mild. "Three. Thank you. Now, this is Dominic, and he's going to be giving us a guided tour of the museum today."
"Thanks," Dom said under his breath, then raised his voice again. "Good morning, kids. Now, as you know this is the National Museum, and there are quite a few sections I'd like to show you today. Put your hand up if you're interested in animals?" This speech, entirely rehearsed and recycled for each of Dom's tours, failed to sound fresh and engaging, even to his own ears. The children, though, only seemed to pick up on the last sentence, and numerous hands flew into the air.
"Great - we have a large wing here all about evolution of animals, and extinct ones," Dom continued. "And who here likes Ancient Egypt? We have a real mummy upstairs, which is currently part of our exhibition on death rites in ancient cultures." He paused, and turned to Elijah. "I'll lead the way, if you want to bring up the rear?"
Elijah nodded, large eyes already weeding out the children who would need keeping in line, and the ones who were prone to straggling. "Fine with me."
"We'll set off then," Dom called to the crowd of children. "The first thing we're going to do is go and see the Dinosaur section. This way, please."
***
Lunchtime couldn't come fast enough. At a little after twelve, Dom wearily led the group into the large conference room set aside for them. Elijah, who seemed to have the patience of a saint, was listening to his pupils rhyming off facts about pterodactyls and velociraptors as though he was hearing it all for the first time.
Dom tapped his shoulder. "Do you want a cup of tea or coffee?" he asked, over the chatter of twenty-odd kids having lunch.
"Coffee, please," Elijah said, with a nod and a smile. And that was when Dom felt it - a sudden rush of blood to his nether regions, prompted by a spark of pure blue. He felt a blush begin to build on his cheeks.
"I'll be right back," he said weakly, and rushed off.
He found Billy in the staff room.
"Having fun?" Billy asked cheerily
"Yeah, loads," Dom said sarcastically. He turned his attention to the kettle.
"How old are they?" Billy asked.
"Year Four...that would make them, what? Eight? Nine?"
Billy shrugged. "Close enough. They're the worst ones."
Dom rolled his eyes and took down two mugs.
"An extra one for teacher?" Billy teased.
Dom nodded, and felt his blush rising again.
"Is someone a little bit attracted?"
Dom turned, torn between glaring and laughing it off. "He's quite nice-looking, yes," he said coolly.
Billy winked lewdly. "Should I cancel that date with Viggo, then?"
Dom was horrified. "No! No, don't - for all I know Elijah's not even gay..."
Billy put on a slightly simpering voice. "Oh, Elijah..."
Dom rolled his eyes as the kettle clicked, and poured the water into the mugs. Steam rose into his face, making his eyes water slightly.
"See you later," he told Billy, and left before he could be teased further.
***
Two-thirty p.m. The group had reached the gift shop. While the pupils went slightly crazy, grabbing at pencils and rubbers with the museum's logo on them like junkies reaching for their next fix, squabbling over the last shark tooth and holographic card of a mummy coming to life, Elijah stood by the door, trying to dissuade them from spending too much money and keeping an eye on the stand of mugs. Dom could see him out of the corner of his eye. He had found himself watching Elijah quite a lot during the afternoon.
But his brain kept tossing Billy's words around... Should I cancel that date with Viggo, then?
He had pondered this between giving facts on ancient Egyptians and answering questions on the last Ice Age, and was only just coming to a decision. He glanced over at the spot Elijah had been standing in until a moment ago, bracing himself. But Elijah had gone.
"They're terrible, aren't they?" The voice beside him made Dom jump, and he spun to see that Elijah had joined him, and was surveying the room with an air of bemusement. "Spending money like it's going out of fashion."
Dom gave a quick laugh.
"You've been really great with them today," Elijah continued, glancing over at Dom. His eyelashes cast a visible shadow on his cheeks, under the bright yellow lights of the gift shop. "It was all very interesting."
Dom waved this away. "No problem. Glad you enjoyed it."
Elijah smiled. "I did. Thank you." He looked away, and to Dom's surprise a pink glow was fading its way across the bridge of his narrow nose.
And then he made his decision.
"Elijah, I hope this doesn't offend you," he began, voice surprisingly calm, despite the heavy thudding of his heart. "But...well, I like you, and I wonder if...if you'd like to go get a drink with me some time?"
Elijah glanced at him again, eyes widening, but before he could answer, a loud crash turned both their heads in the direction of the mug stand. A small girl with pigtails stood next to the pile of broken china on the floor, amid a group of shocked pupils, and after a moment of silence, started up a deafening wail.
***
"Come along. Be careful going up the steps, there, Ally. Josh, where's your coat?" Elijah was standing at the side of the bus, ushering the children on in pairs, while Pete seethed silently, waiting for him to finish.
"A whole stand of mugs," he spat. "A whole stand. Forty-nine mugs..." Dom, who was standing next to Peter, could practically feel him vibrating with indignant anger at such large-scale destruction of museum property.
With the children settled in their seats, Elijah sighed and turned to Pete.
"How much do we owe you?" he asked.
"A fucking lot," Pete snapped.
Elijah, who had a chequebook out, raised an eyebrow and waited.
"Forty-nine mugs, at £7.99 each. That's..." Pete produced a small piece of paper with a couple of figures scribbled on it, "£391.51."
Elijah sighed again and scrawled a cheque. "There."
Pete practically snatched it and, without a thank you, strode back into the building. Dom and Elijah were left looking at each other.
"Sorry about that," Dom said. "Will the school reimburse you?"
"Jenny's parents should do," Elijah said, putting the chequebook back into the weathered, brown leather, satchel-style bag he was carrying.
"Right," Dom said.
There was a moment of silence, and then both started speaking at once. Elijah gave a small smile and fell silent, letting Dom go ahead.
"Well, would you like to go out with me sometime?" he asked. Somehow, it felt worse asking a second time.
To his utter relief, Elijah's summery smile broke out again. "I'd love to," he said, and handed Dom his pen, pushing his sleeve up. "Can I have your number?"
Dom grinned, taking the pen, and gently scraped it in figures across the pale skin.
"I'll call you," Elijah said, blowing across the ink to dry it, then pushing his sleeve back down. "When would suit you? Soon?" He laughed slightly.
"Yes," Dom said eagerly. "Soon, definitely."
Elijah's eyes flickered up to the windows of the bus, where the pupils, oblivious of their teacher below, were shouting and screaming with the pitch of Howler monkeys.
"I'd better head on," he said, somewhat reluctantly. "But I'll call, tonight?"
Dom nodded, and not quite daring to kiss Elijah in case one of the children saw, gave his bony shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Yeah. I'll talk to you then."
Elijah threw him a last smile and mounted the steps of the bus. As the doors closed and the engine revved, Dom could see him restoring order with barely-there gestures. The bus pulled off, and Dom gazed after it until it was gone from sight.
Then he headed back inside, to talk to Billy.
***
"You're kidding." Billy's tone was incredulous.
"No, I'm not!" Dom protested. "Really, Billy, I just...felt a spark."
Billy rolled his eyes. "That's so clichéd. Sparks like that don't exist."
Dom shrugged. "Whatever. I felt something. So will you do it?"
Billy sighed. "I'll feel mean, though - Viggo was looking forward to going out with you."
Dom felt a small pang of regret, but just shrugged again. "I don't care."
"Are you sure? If you back out now then he'll never even consider going out with you again. And you've liked him for ages, and it seems stupid just to throw all that away for some random bloke you've just met."
Dom sat down with a grin. "Don't preach at me, Billy," he said, not unkindly. "Think about it - I hardly know Viggo better than I know Elijah. And yes, I've liked him for ages, but seriously, I didn't think it was ever going to come to anything, even if we did go out. And besides... Elijah's better looking." Here Dom winked. "I mean, thanks for trying to look out for me, Billy, but I know what I want."
***
They met for dinner on the night Dom should have gone out with Viggo. It seemed a long time ago that those plans had been made. Dom reached the pub first, and waited at the bar for Elijah to arrive. Ten long minutes passed.
"Sure I can't get you anything?" the barman asked, as Dom checked his watch for what felt like the millionth time.
"Oh, well all right then," Dom said. "Just a pint, please."
He sat there sipping, and felt the warm beer join the butterflies in the pit of his stomach.
Then someone slid onto the bar stool beside him. "Started without me? Sorry I'm late."
Dom whipped his head around, giving Elijah a smile that he hoped wasn't too relieved.
"It's okay, I'm not long here myself," he said casually. "Can I get you a drink?"
***
Three hours later, and they were both slightly tipsy, well fed and sitting side-by-side in a booth, watching the other customers.
"That woman's wearing a funny hat," Dom said, and burst into laughter. The beer made the hat seem like the world's funniest joke.
"That's nothing," Elijah said, nudging Dom with an elbow that felt like a point of steel rather than soft flesh. "That man over there, look what he's wearing! It's like a dress!"
Dom snorted and glanced up, and instantly stiffened.
It was Viggo, alone at the bar, in an artist's smock and loose trousers, ordering a drink.
Elijah sensed Dom tensing. "Something wrong?" he asked, laughter fading.
"No," Dom said firmly. Whatever else happened, he resolved, Viggo shouldn't see him. Almost eerily in time with his thoughts, Viggo paid for a pint and turned around.
Dom's only thought was to hide his face, and he managed this rather successfully, by tugging Elijah onto his lap and kissing him full-on.
When they broke apart, he had forgotten all about Viggo.
Elijah's eyes were glassy, lips pink and wet. His tongue darted out over them in a way that made Dom want to grab him and rush for the toilets.
"That was...sudden," Elijah said. There was a moment of silence - too sudden? - and then he smiled slowly, showing just the pointed tips of white canines. "I like sudden." His voice was practically a purr.
Dom shifted, moving Elijah off his knees. "Let's go home."
As they got up and paid at the bar, Viggo, now sitting unnoticed in a corner, grinned to himself and took a deep swing of his beer, then extracted a mobile phone and selected a number from his list.
"Hi. Billy? Are you busy? ...Well, in that case, would you fancy joining me for a drink?"
***
Dom barely held himself in check until they reached his house. Once inside, he dumped his keys unceremoniously on the floor and, with one hand curled tightly around Elijah's narrow wrist, led him to the sofa.
They started fully clothed. It was a mystery to Dom how and when Elijah managed to take his t-shirt off, since he was lying flat on his back on the settee, with the back of his head pressed against a stripy cushion; but he wasn't complaining as his fingers splayed over the protruding blade of a collar bone, and teased lightly over the darker, nerve-loaded twin peaks of nipples. Dom also didn't remember the moment he took off his belt and wiggled out of his jeans, and wasn't even fully aware of it until the friction of his cock in thin cotton underwear rubbing against Elijah's denim-covered crotch became too much.
"Get your jeans off," he mumbled against Elijah's jaw. Elijah grunted ineloquently and raised his hips. Dom gave him a helping hand, tugging the garment down to his ankles. He debated untying shoelaces, but in the end just left the jeans pooled around Elijah's shins. He fumbled his own briefs off, and when he glanced back at Elijah, his cock was bared too, boxer shorts pushed back behind his balls.
The heat of his erection against Elijah's was perfect. Dom moaned and mouthed at Elijah's neck, now glossy with sweat, while Elijah's hands smoothed over the skin of Dom's back, and came up to comb carefully through his hair. Somehow, Dom had expected speed - but Elijah took his time, rotating his hips up almost painfully slowly to brush his cock against Dom's. When Dom came - at the same time as Elijah - with a long groan and a series of sharp spasms, the orgasm ranked pretty highly on his all-time list.
"That was good," he said, voice thick with exhaustion and spent lust. Elijah, beneath him, gave a nod, eyes fluttering closed. Dom, arms shaking, lowered himself onto the floor, snatched a cushion from under Elijah's left foot, and curled up on the floor, his hand reaching out and finding Elijah's as he drifted off.
***
The next thing he was aware of was a vibrating inside his head. As the fuzzy haze of sleep faded, he realised the vibrations were actually external. He raised his head and fumbled around on the floor, before unearthing his phone from a pocket of his discarded jeans. The screen said ‘Pete Jackson, Calling'.
Pete? What did he want? Dom, feeling mystified, answered it.
"Dominic Monaghan, where the fuck are you?" snapped the voice from the other end, so loudly that Dom physically winced.
"Huh?"
"Do you know what time it is? Ten-thirty a.m. Well? What's the excuse?"
"Excuse? Excuse for what?" Dom mumbled.
"Why aren't you here?" Pete's voice was a growl. "There are about fifty children here, Dominic, waiting for their face-painting session!"
"Face painting..." Dom parroted blankly. "Face painting...oh, shit!" The memory came flooding back and he scrambled to his feet. "Fuck...right, I'll be there in ten minutes..."
"You'd better be," Pete warned, voice dark with rage. The phone line went dead.
Dom groaned and fumbled with his jeans, pulling them on while hopping on alternate feet. He leant down to shake Elijah, who was snoring softly, head buried in a cushion.
"Elijah? Elijah, wake up."
An eyelid cracked open.
"What?" Elijah asked sleepily.
"I've got to go. I forgot, I had to do something today."
Elijah opened his other eye as well. "Oh."
"Can you let yourself out? I won't be back until 5...help yourself to whatever you want to eat and stuff..." Dom said, while buttoning up his shirt from last night.
"OK."
Dom pulled on his shoes, and was halfway to the door when Elijah spoke.
"Last night...it wasn't a one-off, was it?"
"No fucking way," Dom said firmly, and came back to plant a kiss on Elijah's forehead. "You're not getting rid of me so soon." Elijah's smile broke out again, and Dom couldn't help but feel his face brighten a little in return. "You know what, don't bother leaving - just stay here until I get back, will you? I want to see you later."
"I'll be here," Elijah said firmly.
Dom threw Elijah a parting wink before leaving, the prospect of spending a day daubing bright colours onto sticky faces of hyperactive children made bearable when he considered what he would be lucky enough to come home to.