And a happier one!
Jul. 20th, 2012 06:41 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
glass-moment.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
monaboyd_monthTitle: The One Where Everyone Is in Love with Billy
Pairing: Dom/Billy (everyone/Billy)
Rating: PG-13
Notes: For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eff_reality's prompt, does what it says on the tin. Thanks to fiercynn for the beta!
The fact of the matter is, everyone's in love with Billy.
Dom was a little surprised when he first noticed it- Billy's a good guy and all, with a lot of admirable qualities, but he's kind of an unexpected contender for universal pick of the year- but after a while he got used to it. You have to take these things in stride when you're somebody's best mate. It wasn't really Billy's fault, after all, and if he wanted to ignore the string of friends and acquaintances steadily falling for him Dom wasn't about to bring it up.
It never occurred to him that Billy hadn't noticed.
They're walking back from dinner on a Thursday, just a local burger place that isn't even that good but it's closest and they're tired, everyone's tired, grinding their way through that grueling, middle-of-filming stretch where it feels like all they'll ever do. Dom's the calm and quiet sort of sleepy for a change, enjoying the night air and half-listening to Billy complain about his inability to strike up a conversation with their waitress.
"Not that it would have worked out even if she did like me," he's grumbling, though good-naturedly. "I'd probably take her home and fall asleep on her."
"Aww, Bills. Filming cutting into your social life?"
"Well, when's the last time any of us even went on a date? I'd just end up talking about foot glue or something for the whole time anyway, I doubt she'd enjoy that."
Dom snorts. He'd mentally sorted the waitress into the head-over-heels-for-Billy's-accent category (which was, to be fair, a pretty popular one). She'd probably listen to Billy talk about whatever he wanted.
"Doesn't matter anyway," Billy says. "Not like she'd give me the time of day if we weren't seated at her table."
Dom takes a step sideways to shove him in the shoulder. "Oh, come on now."
"What?"
"No need for false modesty. You could have had her at your feet, glue or no, if you wanted."
"She wouldn't even look at me!"
"Yeah, because every time she met your eyes she started blushing and looking at her shoes. That's a definite sign of indifference right there."
Billy gives him the skeptical eyebrows. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do. It's okay, I'm not jealous. I always thought it must be kind of awkward, having everybody fawning over you all the time. No offense."
"None taken?" ventures Billy, ratcheting the eyebrows up another notch. "I still don't know what you're on about."
"You know, how everyone's in love with you."
"...What?"
Billy is so clearly lost that Dom actually stops walking to stare at him.
"How everyone's in love with you. You know that everyone's in love with you, right?"
All he gets is a slow shake of the head. The eyebrows have gone from skeptical to seriously-what-is-wrong-with-you levels of raised.
"You don't know," says Dom slowly, disbelieving. "You don't know that everyone- honestly, everyone- in love with you."
"You are insane," says Billy, and starts walking again. Dom follows him, throwing his hands up in the air for emphasis.
"How can you not know something like that?"
"Dom, everyone is not in love with me! I think I would have noticed."
"Well, I thought so, too, but apparently not."
"Fine. Give me one example."
Examples are good. Dom can definitely do examples.
Orlando gets first mention because he saw Billy first. He was, in fact, so enthusiastic about the story, about how he and Billy found each other as fellow Rings soulmates, how they were instantly friends, that Dom probably heard it at least ten times during the first week. It wasn't annoying only because Orlando was so obviously, adorably excited about it, bouncing all over with stars in his eyes like a love-struck puppy, telling anyone who would listen about how he and Billy had a special connection.
Viggo is less blatant, but a look through his photo collection proves him to be just as in love as Orlando. He takes pictures of them all, of course, that in and of itself is no kind of evidence. You have to look a little more closely to figure it out. After a while you start noticing a pattern: among the endless photographs of cast and crew, pulling faces or horsing around, the occasional stunning portrait shot or subtle candid, there are pieces of Billy. One or two normal photos, but mostly pieces. Tight frames, sharp focus; Billy's eyes, his small, neat, hands, the angle of his neck and shoulder, the curve of his lips. Endless pieces, like Viggo is trying to capture or catalogue something too important, too impossible, too perfect to fit within the frame.
There are a lot of people into Billy's body, but Dom decides to give the costume girls the award for that one, because they really should be immune to such things by now.
(Ian gets an honorable mention in the body category because of the way he likes to leer at Billy bending over. Dom thinks sometimes that Ian likes to play up being a horny old man to disguise the fact that he is, in fact, a horny old man. Ian's is also the only attention that Dom is a little jealous over, because getting leered at by Sir Ian McKellan would kind of be an honor, and what's wrong with his arse, anyway?)
Elijah holds out for a good couple of weeks before going all melty over Billy's singing voice, which to be honest you can't really blame him for. The poor kid winds up with a bit of a sexuality crisis as well as a crush, and whoops, Dom probably shouldn't have repeated that. Moving on.
Bean was a surprise! Dom had high hopes for him being the exception that proved the everyone's-in-love-with-Billy rule, but he falls on the same night as Elijah, a mildly impromptu sing-along circle that Viggo hosts because what better to do with an international cast and crew than conduct some ethnography on the folk songs of different cultures? Bean doesn't go for the singing, but as soon as someone digs out a guitar he can't pull his gaze away from Billy's fingers for a second. After shifting uncomfortably through two songs he actually excuses himself to the bathroom, which is kind of embarrassing for a man his age, really.
Liv heads up the accent faction, cornering Billy during downtime and making him say whatever comes into her head. She repeats after him, claiming that she's practicing her own accent skills, but if that isn't some blatantly transparent flirting Dom doesn't know what is. She doesn't give any of the other variously-accented people on set the same treatment.
Billy, who has been staring at him with amused incredulity through the whole recitation, backs Dom into the wall as soon as they get inside. He's got a kind of crazy grin on his face. Dom stops in the middle of recounting how Astin always hangs around the set where Billy's filming, no matter what else is going on, fascinated with watching him slip in and out of character.
"Um," he says instead.
"You could have just said you were interested," says Billy, and kisses him.
Um! Flails Dom's brain again, unhelpfully. Billy, as it turns out, is a really excellent kisser. And it's not like Dom doesn’t think he's attractive, this is just not at all what he was going for. On the other hand, he is twenty-three and Billy was seriously not kidding about none of them having time to date recently.
"We could have been doing this for months," Billy murmurs, apparently in collusion with Dom's brain. Dom makes one last valiant attempt to put him straight (hah!), but is effectively derailed by Billy's mouth on his ear and- okay, hands in the back pockets of his jeans.
"Moving a little fast, Boyd?" he manages.
"You want me to slow down?"
And really, there's a point at which every man just has to abandon his argument.
"No, not really," he says, and goes for Billy's shirt.
Billy's alarm goes off at godawful o'clock in the morning, the sound familiar from the many nights Dom has spent there. Granted, he doesn't usually wake up stark naked in Billy's bed.
Billy reaches over him to shut it off and pulls himself halfway to sitting. He's got pillow creases on his cheek and his hair sticking up and this expression of uncontainable fondness on his face, like there's nothing in the world he wants more than to cajole a cranky Dom out of his bed every morning before Feet.
"There's something wrong with you, you know," he says, tapping Dom on the chest. "No sane person would have expressed their interest with some elaborate story about everyone else being in love with me."
Dom doesn't bother to correct him; he's a little too busy falling in love himself.
Pairing: Dom/Billy (everyone/Billy)
Rating: PG-13
Notes: For
eff_reality's prompt, does what it says on the tin. Thanks to fiercynn for the beta!The fact of the matter is, everyone's in love with Billy.
Dom was a little surprised when he first noticed it- Billy's a good guy and all, with a lot of admirable qualities, but he's kind of an unexpected contender for universal pick of the year- but after a while he got used to it. You have to take these things in stride when you're somebody's best mate. It wasn't really Billy's fault, after all, and if he wanted to ignore the string of friends and acquaintances steadily falling for him Dom wasn't about to bring it up.
It never occurred to him that Billy hadn't noticed.
They're walking back from dinner on a Thursday, just a local burger place that isn't even that good but it's closest and they're tired, everyone's tired, grinding their way through that grueling, middle-of-filming stretch where it feels like all they'll ever do. Dom's the calm and quiet sort of sleepy for a change, enjoying the night air and half-listening to Billy complain about his inability to strike up a conversation with their waitress.
"Not that it would have worked out even if she did like me," he's grumbling, though good-naturedly. "I'd probably take her home and fall asleep on her."
"Aww, Bills. Filming cutting into your social life?"
"Well, when's the last time any of us even went on a date? I'd just end up talking about foot glue or something for the whole time anyway, I doubt she'd enjoy that."
Dom snorts. He'd mentally sorted the waitress into the head-over-heels-for-Billy's-accent category (which was, to be fair, a pretty popular one). She'd probably listen to Billy talk about whatever he wanted.
"Doesn't matter anyway," Billy says. "Not like she'd give me the time of day if we weren't seated at her table."
Dom takes a step sideways to shove him in the shoulder. "Oh, come on now."
"What?"
"No need for false modesty. You could have had her at your feet, glue or no, if you wanted."
"She wouldn't even look at me!"
"Yeah, because every time she met your eyes she started blushing and looking at her shoes. That's a definite sign of indifference right there."
Billy gives him the skeptical eyebrows. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do. It's okay, I'm not jealous. I always thought it must be kind of awkward, having everybody fawning over you all the time. No offense."
"None taken?" ventures Billy, ratcheting the eyebrows up another notch. "I still don't know what you're on about."
"You know, how everyone's in love with you."
"...What?"
Billy is so clearly lost that Dom actually stops walking to stare at him.
"How everyone's in love with you. You know that everyone's in love with you, right?"
All he gets is a slow shake of the head. The eyebrows have gone from skeptical to seriously-what-is-wrong-with-you levels of raised.
"You don't know," says Dom slowly, disbelieving. "You don't know that everyone- honestly, everyone- in love with you."
"You are insane," says Billy, and starts walking again. Dom follows him, throwing his hands up in the air for emphasis.
"How can you not know something like that?"
"Dom, everyone is not in love with me! I think I would have noticed."
"Well, I thought so, too, but apparently not."
"Fine. Give me one example."
Examples are good. Dom can definitely do examples.
Orlando gets first mention because he saw Billy first. He was, in fact, so enthusiastic about the story, about how he and Billy found each other as fellow Rings soulmates, how they were instantly friends, that Dom probably heard it at least ten times during the first week. It wasn't annoying only because Orlando was so obviously, adorably excited about it, bouncing all over with stars in his eyes like a love-struck puppy, telling anyone who would listen about how he and Billy had a special connection.
Viggo is less blatant, but a look through his photo collection proves him to be just as in love as Orlando. He takes pictures of them all, of course, that in and of itself is no kind of evidence. You have to look a little more closely to figure it out. After a while you start noticing a pattern: among the endless photographs of cast and crew, pulling faces or horsing around, the occasional stunning portrait shot or subtle candid, there are pieces of Billy. One or two normal photos, but mostly pieces. Tight frames, sharp focus; Billy's eyes, his small, neat, hands, the angle of his neck and shoulder, the curve of his lips. Endless pieces, like Viggo is trying to capture or catalogue something too important, too impossible, too perfect to fit within the frame.
There are a lot of people into Billy's body, but Dom decides to give the costume girls the award for that one, because they really should be immune to such things by now.
(Ian gets an honorable mention in the body category because of the way he likes to leer at Billy bending over. Dom thinks sometimes that Ian likes to play up being a horny old man to disguise the fact that he is, in fact, a horny old man. Ian's is also the only attention that Dom is a little jealous over, because getting leered at by Sir Ian McKellan would kind of be an honor, and what's wrong with his arse, anyway?)
Elijah holds out for a good couple of weeks before going all melty over Billy's singing voice, which to be honest you can't really blame him for. The poor kid winds up with a bit of a sexuality crisis as well as a crush, and whoops, Dom probably shouldn't have repeated that. Moving on.
Bean was a surprise! Dom had high hopes for him being the exception that proved the everyone's-in-love-with-Billy rule, but he falls on the same night as Elijah, a mildly impromptu sing-along circle that Viggo hosts because what better to do with an international cast and crew than conduct some ethnography on the folk songs of different cultures? Bean doesn't go for the singing, but as soon as someone digs out a guitar he can't pull his gaze away from Billy's fingers for a second. After shifting uncomfortably through two songs he actually excuses himself to the bathroom, which is kind of embarrassing for a man his age, really.
Liv heads up the accent faction, cornering Billy during downtime and making him say whatever comes into her head. She repeats after him, claiming that she's practicing her own accent skills, but if that isn't some blatantly transparent flirting Dom doesn't know what is. She doesn't give any of the other variously-accented people on set the same treatment.
Billy, who has been staring at him with amused incredulity through the whole recitation, backs Dom into the wall as soon as they get inside. He's got a kind of crazy grin on his face. Dom stops in the middle of recounting how Astin always hangs around the set where Billy's filming, no matter what else is going on, fascinated with watching him slip in and out of character.
"Um," he says instead.
"You could have just said you were interested," says Billy, and kisses him.
Um! Flails Dom's brain again, unhelpfully. Billy, as it turns out, is a really excellent kisser. And it's not like Dom doesn’t think he's attractive, this is just not at all what he was going for. On the other hand, he is twenty-three and Billy was seriously not kidding about none of them having time to date recently.
"We could have been doing this for months," Billy murmurs, apparently in collusion with Dom's brain. Dom makes one last valiant attempt to put him straight (hah!), but is effectively derailed by Billy's mouth on his ear and- okay, hands in the back pockets of his jeans.
"Moving a little fast, Boyd?" he manages.
"You want me to slow down?"
And really, there's a point at which every man just has to abandon his argument.
"No, not really," he says, and goes for Billy's shirt.
Billy's alarm goes off at godawful o'clock in the morning, the sound familiar from the many nights Dom has spent there. Granted, he doesn't usually wake up stark naked in Billy's bed.
Billy reaches over him to shut it off and pulls himself halfway to sitting. He's got pillow creases on his cheek and his hair sticking up and this expression of uncontainable fondness on his face, like there's nothing in the world he wants more than to cajole a cranky Dom out of his bed every morning before Feet.
"There's something wrong with you, you know," he says, tapping Dom on the chest. "No sane person would have expressed their interest with some elaborate story about everyone else being in love with me."
Dom doesn't bother to correct him; he's a little too busy falling in love himself.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-21 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-21 12:49 am (UTC)This is perfect. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-07-21 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-21 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-21 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-21 04:44 am (UTC)Billy is quite clever, and I am jealous of Dom (who gets to learn a lot about Billy.)
Thank you. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-07-22 01:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-22 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-22 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-22 11:25 pm (UTC)