Five Things That Could Have Happened When We Kissed
Title: Five Things That Could Have Happened When We Kissed
Author: _jamjar
Fandoms: Lord of the Rings; Harry Potter; Lost; Firefly; Lotrips
Pairings: Diamond/Estella; Remus/Sirius; Shannon/Claire; Kaylee/Mal/Inara; Billy/Dom
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3,154
Disclaimer: I do not own the fictional characters nor real persons these characters are based on. This is fanfiction, it never happened, I make no money whatsoever out of it, it’s just for fun.
Notes: Smooches to danachan for the title and the basic idea, and tortugax and ckdutchess for prodding my brain ♥
Diamond/Estella
Diamond was still young enough that the journey was almost the best thing about the party visit - that is, until she got to the party. The present at the gate was magnificent, the food and drink seemed never to end, the music was good, and she found a group of hobbits her age from Hobbiton, and some from Buckland, others from Tuckborough, and set to talking them into climbing the party tree. They were stopped by a smiling Bilbo, though they stayed around it for a while wondering if it was safe to attempt again for a good half an hour before one of them spotted new dishes being brought out. These, of course, warranted investigation and tasting, so they set off for the tables.
Diamond sat on the grass near where some hobbits were dancing, the band playing a jaunty jig, next to a lass around her age. “H’lo,” she said, mouth half full.
The lass beamed, swallowed, said her name was Estella and got Diamond’s name in return, then went back to watching the dancers. Diamond watched Estella for a while. She quickly looked away when Estella looked back, and they smiled at their own knees.
“Would you like to dance?” Diamond asked at last. Estella nodded, brushed the crumbs from her skirts, and held out her hand for Diamond’s.
Estella was a good dancer, and Diamond did her best to keep up. After half an hour or so, they went to get more food, and kept dancing in their own little corner of one of the tents, unseen and giggling breathlessly. They hardly spoke, but when they did, it was a “No, here” or a “This is delicious, try some.” That last preceeded Estella holding out two fingers, proferred cake held between them.
Diamond didn’t know quite what possessed her, but instead of taking the cake, she leaned down and closed her mouth over it and Estella’s fingers. It tasted good, and Estella didn’t move away. Diamond glanced at her, leaning back up and swallowing. “Lovely,” she breathed.
Estella stepped closer. It seemed so sudden, but they were kissing, and it wasn’t Diamond’s first kiss but it may as well have been. She felt awkward, and clumsy, and too tall, but all the same she hadn’t had so much fun kissing with any of the lads she’d fooled about with. Estella was much better to fool about with, she concluded, kissing with gusto, bumping noses and half-giggling and not caring if anyone saw them.
Estella smiled when the kiss ended, and Diamond wanted to kiss her again.
Remus/Sirius
“Dumbledore said I was to lie low here for a while.” Sirius watched Remus for signs of reluctance. Remus only nodded.
“Of course. You know you’re always welcome,” he said, glancing at the airing cupboard door. “I’ll make up the spare bed. Here,” he indicated the teapot, “there should be plenty left for another cup.”
Sirius sat, watching as Remus grabbed linen and bustled out, neither meeting the other’s eyes. He waited until Remus had returned, poured himself another mug of tea, and said, “There was a time when I wouldn’t have been in the spare room.”
Remus tensed. “I know.”
“It’s okay. I mean, it’s bound to be awkward, right? Exes, close proximities,” Sirius looked at him out of the corner of his eye, “old feelings still there…”
“You never were very good at subtlety, Padfoot.” Remus gave him a smile.
“You never were very bad at evading blatant questions, Moony,” Sirius shot back.
“A question has an inflection at the end and a word at the start that indicates it’s a question. Such as what and where and do.” Remus was trying hard not to laugh. Sirius felt like whacking him with a towel, and cursed the distance between himself and the nearest available one.
“Fine,” Sirius growled, though he shifted closer, “here’s a question. Do you,” he moved closer still, “mind if I do this?” He caught Remus’s mouth with his own quicker than Remus could answer, and held it with his for a few seconds before releasing. The sound of their lips parting seemed loud in the silence.
Remus cleared his throat. “No,” he said, evenly, “I don’t mind,” and he surged forwards, kissing Sirius firmly, one hand going through his hair to the back of his neck, the other steadying himself against the table. Sirius made a sound in his throat and kissed back, hard, insistent, joyous.
The spare room remained empty. Sirius slept next to Remus, and slept much better than he had in … well, he couldn’t remember how long. Prizon behind and war ahead, he curled against Remus’s back and didn’t even dream.
Shannon/Claire
“Are you okay?” Shannon looked up. The woman in front of her was heavily pregnant and really should have been the one on the receiving end of that question. Or possibly birth control.
“I’m fine. Just hungry.”
“Yeah, they’re still searching for stuff to eat.” The woman sat down next to her, even though Shannon had made no move that could possibly indicate Hi, come and talk to me. “I’m Claire, by the way.”
“Shannon.” She offered a flicker of a smile, then went back to contemplating her toes. They could do with re-painting. “I’ll eat on the rescue boat.”
“Right.” Claire nodded for a few seconds longer than was necessary. She was bothering Shannon. Maybe because she was sitting right next to her. Maybe because she had stopped talking and Shannon for some reason wanted her to start talking again or maybe go away but she’d rather she stay, which was odd and Shannon got bored with that train of thought. She wondered if she could find her make-up kit, she knew she’d brought at least two colours of nail polish.
“So, are you here with anyone? I mean,” Shannon stopped. “Were you flying, with anyone?”
“Nope, just me. Well, and the baby, but it still counts as just me.” Claire grinned weakly. There was a cut on her chin, and Shannon had a wild urge to brush her thumb against it.
Shannon went back to her toes. If she concentrated really hard, she wouldn’t think about kissing this random stranger who’d been dumped on a desert island with her and half a plane full of other people and where the hell was the rescue? It had been hours.
I’ll never see her again, a voice prodded in her head. If I kiss her now and avoid her on the boat, I need never see her again. What have I got to lose?
Claire started saying something, but Shannon already had her mouth over hers, lips on lips, Claire’s mouth open to speak and in surprise. Shannon waited a few seconds, barely moving, but when Claire started to kiss her back, she moved, pressing and opening her mouth, and Claire kept hers open, and there there that was the tip of her tongue and Shannon eased hers into Claire’s mouth.
Claire tasted sweet, the kind of sweetness Shannon just couldn’t taste on most people she’d kissed. It reminded her a bit of her best friend in high school, and the summer they’d practised kissing, how she had tasted of apple crumble, and was it possible that Claire had eaten some on the plane or before because there was a definite apple crumble kind of taste. And Shannon was hungry.
Kaylee/Mal/Inara
He’d thought she might have done it right there, was almost sure that’s what she was leading to. He would never ask it of her, he would never presume she would want it, he did not want those kind of complications on his crew, and he knew at least one who would not be happy at the outcome, though she would pretend, and that was almost worse than yelling at him or even crying.
But Inara didn’t kiss him. She said she was leaving, and Mal only blinked.
He knew she hadn’t told the others. He kept the secret for her, no question, it was hers to tell when she saw fit. He knew why she was holding off, why she didn’t want to go at all. The very reason was right in front of them, playing ball with the boys and hitting Jayne on the arm.
Mal watched Kaylee and wondered what would happen to them when Inara left. As far as the work went, certain doors that were now open would close to them. The whole crew would miss her, and he was not looking forward to that dip in morale. But it was Kaylee he watched the most (always Kaylee and Inara), and it was Kaylee he knew would miss her as much as he would.
It was an odd thing, that nobody had ever spoken of it, yet they all knew. Mal could hardly bear their knowing, even Simon had caught on, and River had of course displayed that eerie tendency of hers for looking at a thing and seeing exactly what it is, no filters or bias or any perspective. No sense of anything, just “You would protect her,” she’d said, pointing at Inara, “and her,” then at Kaylee. She’d looked at Mal, and she was more than a little creepy when she looked at you in that way that says she can look right through you and see what’s there.
He found Inara in her shuttle, two days after she’d announced her departure. He wanted to shout at her, wanted to make a barbed comment about whether she’d found a new ship yet, wanted to remind her of the time she’d said “Why would I want to leave Serenity?”, wanted to keep her, wanted to kiss her, wanted Kaylee to be there.
He said nothing. Inara looked at him, looked down, and sat on the bed. He perched awkwardly on the settee, and stared at his hands.
Minutes passed, but neither spoke or looked at each other. Inara sighed, and Mal spoke at last. His voice was more raw than he meant it to be.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“I know.” Inara sounded small, somehow. “I don’t want to leave, either. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Have you told Kaylee yet?” Mal looked up at her, watching. Inara flinched.
“I don’t want to leave Kaylee,” she whispered. “Or you. But I … Mal, if we were to - and if she - you know how complicated things would become, and I simply do not wish to bring those complications here.”
“Where do you want to bring them?” Mal and Inara looked up at the voice. Kaylee was standing in the doorway, half in half out, looking as if she’d been punched in the stomach.
“Kaylee…” Inara pulled her inside the shuttle and closed the door. “I - I’m really -”
“What? Sorry? So you’re, you’re leaving? When were you planning on telling me?” She shot a hurt look at Mal, and no, that was worse than pretending. He winced.
“Kaylee, it wasn’t exactly - I was trying to - Inara,” Mal protested. Inara glanced at him, shaking her head.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to go, but if I stay any longer, something is going to happen between us, and everything will be too complicated, and I am not interested in complications.”
“Which one of us are you talking to?” Kaylee asked, quietly.
“Both of you,” Inara said, holding her gaze and then Mal’s.
“Oh.” Kaylee nodded, slowly. “And, you don’t think maybe it’s worth a little complication?” She met Inara’s eyes, still hurt, and it was as if she had pricked a balloon in her. Inara deflated, sinking to the bed again.
Kaylee nodded once, sharply, then wrapped one arm around Mal’s shoulders and stood on tiptoe. She kissed him, softly, and he sounded a protest in his throat before he relaxed, kissing her back, arms around her waist and relief flooding his every pore.
Inara watched, her mouth hanging open a little. The kiss ended, and they turned to face her. Kaylee held her hand out.
Inara struggled for three long moments before she stood up, took Kaylee’s hand, and kissed her. She kissed Mal, and Mal kissed Kaylee again, and it was urgent and languid and slow and hard and warm and soft all at once and maybe, maybe it was worth it.
Inara decided she could stay. At least for a while.
Billy/Dom
Dom was having a fantastic day. The sets he’d seen looked incredible, the other actors he’d be working with seemed great, and Pete had a quality to his enthusiasm that seemed to permeate the air around him. Led to wardrobe, he met his fellow hobbit actors, and hugged Elijah and Sean, and then came Billy.
Billy was slighty shorter than Dom. Billy had beautiful eyes, Billy hugged him tighter and more comfortably than any of the others, and what’s more, Billy was absolutely gorgeous.
Dom nuzzled him a little as Billy squeezed, and he was such a good hugger, and Dom was having a fantastic day and he could just pass it off as over-eager friendliness if it found an unwelcome reception, so Dom kissed Billy.
It was a quick kiss, and it was a nice kiss, and though it took Billy by surprise, Dom held on long enough for Billy to decide what to do. What Billy decided to do, in fact, was kiss Dom back, briefly and softly, and Dom’s heart sped up.
They went for lunch, and talked and talked and laughed, and Dom just knew that this feeling of everyone else disappearing into the background when he was around Billy would only get stronger as time went on. He was suddenly very much glad that he was playing Merry and Billy was playing Pippin and he got to play Billy’s best friend and it would really be quite nice if he really was Billy’s best friend by the end of it.
Billy kissed him, again, after the lunch. Just a peck, but a peck on the lips, and Dom returned it. Billy’s smile started at his eyes and spread down to his mouth, and Dom just about lit up.
Within three days, it was just common knowledge that Dom and Billy kiss whenever they meet and when they leave. It was a part of their friendship, like Sean and Elijah’s featured Elijah jumping on Sean’s back every afternoon after lunch and hugging him. Everything felt kind of crazy, nobody had settled in quite yet, and the shine had not worn off the new place.
Dom caught himself wondering if, when everyone had settled down and filming started and it was just a job and not so new any more, Billy would stop wanting to kiss him. But filming began, work started in earnest, and still Billy greeted him every morning with a kiss. In fact, it grew, and became a kiss and a hug.
Four months into the job, just as Dom came to the realisation that it felt like this whole thing would never end and that made him happier than most things, he stumbled into Feet to find Sean and Elijah but no Billy yet.
It was a coffee-morning for Sean, so he and Elijah were deep in a discussion about history. Dom half-listened, yawning, glancing over at the door more often than he was fully aware of. When Billy walked through it and stepped up to Dom, his heart skipped a beat and he waited for the kiss.
It didn’t come. Billy smiled at him, mumbled “Morning”, and settled into getting his Feet applied.
Dom stared at him for a minute, then blushed and looked away. He swallowed. He stared at his hands. He decided, after a string of only partly comprehended thoughts, that Billy must simply be very tired and would kiss Dom when he had woken up properly.
Breakfast arrived during make-up, and Billy had his usual porridge. He seemed to have woken up by now, and Dom hung back as they were leaving the trailer, waiting for his good-morning kiss.
Billy smiled at him again, and left the trailer. It took Dom two minutes of blinking to get his legs to work. He caught up with Billy, and opened his mouth to ask, “So, where’s my kiss then?” but thought better of it and just leaned in to kiss Billy himself.
Billy swerved away. Dom’s mouth connected with his cheek, and he moved back, blushing pink and not meeting Billy’s eyes. “Right,” he said, breathy, and cleared his throat. He gave a quarter-nod, then walked off.
He didn’t really speak to Billy much that morning. He spent most of it playing games with Elijah, waiting for the lighting to be exactly how Pete wanted it, and then he was Merry and at work. Lunch was called, Billy kept trying to catch his eye, but Dom walked to the catering tent with Elijah, still laughing and talking about forms of shrubbery.
Billy sat next to Dom during lunch, but Dom still didn’t talk directly to him all that much. He didn’t meet Billy’s eyes, nor did he indicate that he’d felt Billy’s knee nudging his own. Sean and Elijah got up to get pudding, but Dom hadn’t finished his sandwich yet, so he sat in silence for a minute, chewing.
“Dom,” Billy cornered him as he was getting up from the table, “can I talk to you?”
Dom finally looked at him. Billy had all the hallmarks of a man who was having a very, very bad day. Dom nodded, and Billy led him outside, turning to face him when they were out of earshot of anyone.
“Listen, Dom,” Billy took a deep breath, “I’m sorry about this morning. I’m sorry I - well, I’m just sorry.”
Dom shrugged. “What, were you tired?” He scratched his nose.
“No, I just - look, Dom,” Billy tried to meet his eyes, but Dom looked decidedly at the ground, “I really like you, and you’re my best mate, and I like that we kiss, it’s nice, but I - sometimes it’s - oh, fuck it.” Billy reached one hand to cup the back of Dom’s head, and Dom had no choice but to look at Billy, and when he did look he saw, he saw, and his mouth fell open, and Billy kissed him, and it wasn’t like any of the kisses they’d ever had. Billy’s tongue was in his mouth, for one, and it was urgent and fast and Billy pulled him closer, and oh their hips connected, and Dom pressed all of him against Billy and the world stopped.
“I’ve wanted to do that for months,” Billy breathed as the kiss ended, and Dom laughed a little breathlessly. He felt a little as if he’d only just caught up with himself.
“And you didn’t think to try it before now?” He kissed Billy again before he could reply. Billy put his arms around Dom’s shoulders and melted against him.
Author: _jamjar
Fandoms: Lord of the Rings; Harry Potter; Lost; Firefly; Lotrips
Pairings: Diamond/Estella; Remus/Sirius; Shannon/Claire; Kaylee/Mal/Inara; Billy/Dom
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3,154
Disclaimer: I do not own the fictional characters nor real persons these characters are based on. This is fanfiction, it never happened, I make no money whatsoever out of it, it’s just for fun.
Notes: Smooches to danachan for the title and the basic idea, and tortugax and ckdutchess for prodding my brain ♥
Diamond/Estella
Diamond was still young enough that the journey was almost the best thing about the party visit - that is, until she got to the party. The present at the gate was magnificent, the food and drink seemed never to end, the music was good, and she found a group of hobbits her age from Hobbiton, and some from Buckland, others from Tuckborough, and set to talking them into climbing the party tree. They were stopped by a smiling Bilbo, though they stayed around it for a while wondering if it was safe to attempt again for a good half an hour before one of them spotted new dishes being brought out. These, of course, warranted investigation and tasting, so they set off for the tables.
Diamond sat on the grass near where some hobbits were dancing, the band playing a jaunty jig, next to a lass around her age. “H’lo,” she said, mouth half full.
The lass beamed, swallowed, said her name was Estella and got Diamond’s name in return, then went back to watching the dancers. Diamond watched Estella for a while. She quickly looked away when Estella looked back, and they smiled at their own knees.
“Would you like to dance?” Diamond asked at last. Estella nodded, brushed the crumbs from her skirts, and held out her hand for Diamond’s.
Estella was a good dancer, and Diamond did her best to keep up. After half an hour or so, they went to get more food, and kept dancing in their own little corner of one of the tents, unseen and giggling breathlessly. They hardly spoke, but when they did, it was a “No, here” or a “This is delicious, try some.” That last preceeded Estella holding out two fingers, proferred cake held between them.
Diamond didn’t know quite what possessed her, but instead of taking the cake, she leaned down and closed her mouth over it and Estella’s fingers. It tasted good, and Estella didn’t move away. Diamond glanced at her, leaning back up and swallowing. “Lovely,” she breathed.
Estella stepped closer. It seemed so sudden, but they were kissing, and it wasn’t Diamond’s first kiss but it may as well have been. She felt awkward, and clumsy, and too tall, but all the same she hadn’t had so much fun kissing with any of the lads she’d fooled about with. Estella was much better to fool about with, she concluded, kissing with gusto, bumping noses and half-giggling and not caring if anyone saw them.
Estella smiled when the kiss ended, and Diamond wanted to kiss her again.
Remus/Sirius
“Dumbledore said I was to lie low here for a while.” Sirius watched Remus for signs of reluctance. Remus only nodded.
“Of course. You know you’re always welcome,” he said, glancing at the airing cupboard door. “I’ll make up the spare bed. Here,” he indicated the teapot, “there should be plenty left for another cup.”
Sirius sat, watching as Remus grabbed linen and bustled out, neither meeting the other’s eyes. He waited until Remus had returned, poured himself another mug of tea, and said, “There was a time when I wouldn’t have been in the spare room.”
Remus tensed. “I know.”
“It’s okay. I mean, it’s bound to be awkward, right? Exes, close proximities,” Sirius looked at him out of the corner of his eye, “old feelings still there…”
“You never were very good at subtlety, Padfoot.” Remus gave him a smile.
“You never were very bad at evading blatant questions, Moony,” Sirius shot back.
“A question has an inflection at the end and a word at the start that indicates it’s a question. Such as what and where and do.” Remus was trying hard not to laugh. Sirius felt like whacking him with a towel, and cursed the distance between himself and the nearest available one.
“Fine,” Sirius growled, though he shifted closer, “here’s a question. Do you,” he moved closer still, “mind if I do this?” He caught Remus’s mouth with his own quicker than Remus could answer, and held it with his for a few seconds before releasing. The sound of their lips parting seemed loud in the silence.
Remus cleared his throat. “No,” he said, evenly, “I don’t mind,” and he surged forwards, kissing Sirius firmly, one hand going through his hair to the back of his neck, the other steadying himself against the table. Sirius made a sound in his throat and kissed back, hard, insistent, joyous.
The spare room remained empty. Sirius slept next to Remus, and slept much better than he had in … well, he couldn’t remember how long. Prizon behind and war ahead, he curled against Remus’s back and didn’t even dream.
Shannon/Claire
“Are you okay?” Shannon looked up. The woman in front of her was heavily pregnant and really should have been the one on the receiving end of that question. Or possibly birth control.
“I’m fine. Just hungry.”
“Yeah, they’re still searching for stuff to eat.” The woman sat down next to her, even though Shannon had made no move that could possibly indicate Hi, come and talk to me. “I’m Claire, by the way.”
“Shannon.” She offered a flicker of a smile, then went back to contemplating her toes. They could do with re-painting. “I’ll eat on the rescue boat.”
“Right.” Claire nodded for a few seconds longer than was necessary. She was bothering Shannon. Maybe because she was sitting right next to her. Maybe because she had stopped talking and Shannon for some reason wanted her to start talking again or maybe go away but she’d rather she stay, which was odd and Shannon got bored with that train of thought. She wondered if she could find her make-up kit, she knew she’d brought at least two colours of nail polish.
“So, are you here with anyone? I mean,” Shannon stopped. “Were you flying, with anyone?”
“Nope, just me. Well, and the baby, but it still counts as just me.” Claire grinned weakly. There was a cut on her chin, and Shannon had a wild urge to brush her thumb against it.
Shannon went back to her toes. If she concentrated really hard, she wouldn’t think about kissing this random stranger who’d been dumped on a desert island with her and half a plane full of other people and where the hell was the rescue? It had been hours.
I’ll never see her again, a voice prodded in her head. If I kiss her now and avoid her on the boat, I need never see her again. What have I got to lose?
Claire started saying something, but Shannon already had her mouth over hers, lips on lips, Claire’s mouth open to speak and in surprise. Shannon waited a few seconds, barely moving, but when Claire started to kiss her back, she moved, pressing and opening her mouth, and Claire kept hers open, and there there that was the tip of her tongue and Shannon eased hers into Claire’s mouth.
Claire tasted sweet, the kind of sweetness Shannon just couldn’t taste on most people she’d kissed. It reminded her a bit of her best friend in high school, and the summer they’d practised kissing, how she had tasted of apple crumble, and was it possible that Claire had eaten some on the plane or before because there was a definite apple crumble kind of taste. And Shannon was hungry.
Kaylee/Mal/Inara
He’d thought she might have done it right there, was almost sure that’s what she was leading to. He would never ask it of her, he would never presume she would want it, he did not want those kind of complications on his crew, and he knew at least one who would not be happy at the outcome, though she would pretend, and that was almost worse than yelling at him or even crying.
But Inara didn’t kiss him. She said she was leaving, and Mal only blinked.
He knew she hadn’t told the others. He kept the secret for her, no question, it was hers to tell when she saw fit. He knew why she was holding off, why she didn’t want to go at all. The very reason was right in front of them, playing ball with the boys and hitting Jayne on the arm.
Mal watched Kaylee and wondered what would happen to them when Inara left. As far as the work went, certain doors that were now open would close to them. The whole crew would miss her, and he was not looking forward to that dip in morale. But it was Kaylee he watched the most (always Kaylee and Inara), and it was Kaylee he knew would miss her as much as he would.
It was an odd thing, that nobody had ever spoken of it, yet they all knew. Mal could hardly bear their knowing, even Simon had caught on, and River had of course displayed that eerie tendency of hers for looking at a thing and seeing exactly what it is, no filters or bias or any perspective. No sense of anything, just “You would protect her,” she’d said, pointing at Inara, “and her,” then at Kaylee. She’d looked at Mal, and she was more than a little creepy when she looked at you in that way that says she can look right through you and see what’s there.
He found Inara in her shuttle, two days after she’d announced her departure. He wanted to shout at her, wanted to make a barbed comment about whether she’d found a new ship yet, wanted to remind her of the time she’d said “Why would I want to leave Serenity?”, wanted to keep her, wanted to kiss her, wanted Kaylee to be there.
He said nothing. Inara looked at him, looked down, and sat on the bed. He perched awkwardly on the settee, and stared at his hands.
Minutes passed, but neither spoke or looked at each other. Inara sighed, and Mal spoke at last. His voice was more raw than he meant it to be.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“I know.” Inara sounded small, somehow. “I don’t want to leave, either. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Have you told Kaylee yet?” Mal looked up at her, watching. Inara flinched.
“I don’t want to leave Kaylee,” she whispered. “Or you. But I … Mal, if we were to - and if she - you know how complicated things would become, and I simply do not wish to bring those complications here.”
“Where do you want to bring them?” Mal and Inara looked up at the voice. Kaylee was standing in the doorway, half in half out, looking as if she’d been punched in the stomach.
“Kaylee…” Inara pulled her inside the shuttle and closed the door. “I - I’m really -”
“What? Sorry? So you’re, you’re leaving? When were you planning on telling me?” She shot a hurt look at Mal, and no, that was worse than pretending. He winced.
“Kaylee, it wasn’t exactly - I was trying to - Inara,” Mal protested. Inara glanced at him, shaking her head.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to go, but if I stay any longer, something is going to happen between us, and everything will be too complicated, and I am not interested in complications.”
“Which one of us are you talking to?” Kaylee asked, quietly.
“Both of you,” Inara said, holding her gaze and then Mal’s.
“Oh.” Kaylee nodded, slowly. “And, you don’t think maybe it’s worth a little complication?” She met Inara’s eyes, still hurt, and it was as if she had pricked a balloon in her. Inara deflated, sinking to the bed again.
Kaylee nodded once, sharply, then wrapped one arm around Mal’s shoulders and stood on tiptoe. She kissed him, softly, and he sounded a protest in his throat before he relaxed, kissing her back, arms around her waist and relief flooding his every pore.
Inara watched, her mouth hanging open a little. The kiss ended, and they turned to face her. Kaylee held her hand out.
Inara struggled for three long moments before she stood up, took Kaylee’s hand, and kissed her. She kissed Mal, and Mal kissed Kaylee again, and it was urgent and languid and slow and hard and warm and soft all at once and maybe, maybe it was worth it.
Inara decided she could stay. At least for a while.
Billy/Dom
Dom was having a fantastic day. The sets he’d seen looked incredible, the other actors he’d be working with seemed great, and Pete had a quality to his enthusiasm that seemed to permeate the air around him. Led to wardrobe, he met his fellow hobbit actors, and hugged Elijah and Sean, and then came Billy.
Billy was slighty shorter than Dom. Billy had beautiful eyes, Billy hugged him tighter and more comfortably than any of the others, and what’s more, Billy was absolutely gorgeous.
Dom nuzzled him a little as Billy squeezed, and he was such a good hugger, and Dom was having a fantastic day and he could just pass it off as over-eager friendliness if it found an unwelcome reception, so Dom kissed Billy.
It was a quick kiss, and it was a nice kiss, and though it took Billy by surprise, Dom held on long enough for Billy to decide what to do. What Billy decided to do, in fact, was kiss Dom back, briefly and softly, and Dom’s heart sped up.
They went for lunch, and talked and talked and laughed, and Dom just knew that this feeling of everyone else disappearing into the background when he was around Billy would only get stronger as time went on. He was suddenly very much glad that he was playing Merry and Billy was playing Pippin and he got to play Billy’s best friend and it would really be quite nice if he really was Billy’s best friend by the end of it.
Billy kissed him, again, after the lunch. Just a peck, but a peck on the lips, and Dom returned it. Billy’s smile started at his eyes and spread down to his mouth, and Dom just about lit up.
Within three days, it was just common knowledge that Dom and Billy kiss whenever they meet and when they leave. It was a part of their friendship, like Sean and Elijah’s featured Elijah jumping on Sean’s back every afternoon after lunch and hugging him. Everything felt kind of crazy, nobody had settled in quite yet, and the shine had not worn off the new place.
Dom caught himself wondering if, when everyone had settled down and filming started and it was just a job and not so new any more, Billy would stop wanting to kiss him. But filming began, work started in earnest, and still Billy greeted him every morning with a kiss. In fact, it grew, and became a kiss and a hug.
Four months into the job, just as Dom came to the realisation that it felt like this whole thing would never end and that made him happier than most things, he stumbled into Feet to find Sean and Elijah but no Billy yet.
It was a coffee-morning for Sean, so he and Elijah were deep in a discussion about history. Dom half-listened, yawning, glancing over at the door more often than he was fully aware of. When Billy walked through it and stepped up to Dom, his heart skipped a beat and he waited for the kiss.
It didn’t come. Billy smiled at him, mumbled “Morning”, and settled into getting his Feet applied.
Dom stared at him for a minute, then blushed and looked away. He swallowed. He stared at his hands. He decided, after a string of only partly comprehended thoughts, that Billy must simply be very tired and would kiss Dom when he had woken up properly.
Breakfast arrived during make-up, and Billy had his usual porridge. He seemed to have woken up by now, and Dom hung back as they were leaving the trailer, waiting for his good-morning kiss.
Billy smiled at him again, and left the trailer. It took Dom two minutes of blinking to get his legs to work. He caught up with Billy, and opened his mouth to ask, “So, where’s my kiss then?” but thought better of it and just leaned in to kiss Billy himself.
Billy swerved away. Dom’s mouth connected with his cheek, and he moved back, blushing pink and not meeting Billy’s eyes. “Right,” he said, breathy, and cleared his throat. He gave a quarter-nod, then walked off.
He didn’t really speak to Billy much that morning. He spent most of it playing games with Elijah, waiting for the lighting to be exactly how Pete wanted it, and then he was Merry and at work. Lunch was called, Billy kept trying to catch his eye, but Dom walked to the catering tent with Elijah, still laughing and talking about forms of shrubbery.
Billy sat next to Dom during lunch, but Dom still didn’t talk directly to him all that much. He didn’t meet Billy’s eyes, nor did he indicate that he’d felt Billy’s knee nudging his own. Sean and Elijah got up to get pudding, but Dom hadn’t finished his sandwich yet, so he sat in silence for a minute, chewing.
“Dom,” Billy cornered him as he was getting up from the table, “can I talk to you?”
Dom finally looked at him. Billy had all the hallmarks of a man who was having a very, very bad day. Dom nodded, and Billy led him outside, turning to face him when they were out of earshot of anyone.
“Listen, Dom,” Billy took a deep breath, “I’m sorry about this morning. I’m sorry I - well, I’m just sorry.”
Dom shrugged. “What, were you tired?” He scratched his nose.
“No, I just - look, Dom,” Billy tried to meet his eyes, but Dom looked decidedly at the ground, “I really like you, and you’re my best mate, and I like that we kiss, it’s nice, but I - sometimes it’s - oh, fuck it.” Billy reached one hand to cup the back of Dom’s head, and Dom had no choice but to look at Billy, and when he did look he saw, he saw, and his mouth fell open, and Billy kissed him, and it wasn’t like any of the kisses they’d ever had. Billy’s tongue was in his mouth, for one, and it was urgent and fast and Billy pulled him closer, and oh their hips connected, and Dom pressed all of him against Billy and the world stopped.
“I’ve wanted to do that for months,” Billy breathed as the kiss ended, and Dom laughed a little breathlessly. He felt a little as if he’d only just caught up with himself.
“And you didn’t think to try it before now?” He kissed Billy again before he could reply. Billy put his arms around Dom’s shoulders and melted against him.