Beauty In The Eye Of The Beholder - Part Five
Title: Beauty In The Eye Of The Beholder
Pairing: Dom/Elijah
Rating: PG13-R, PG-13 this part
Part: Five
Disclaimer: No I don't own them, yes this is made up.
Feedback: As always, any feedback (inc. CC) is welcome.
Notes: AU. Comes from a plot bunny by cara_dee that I read and couldn't stop thinking about: "A modern day beauty and the beast. Lij is in England, and Dom is a man who has been on his own for a very long time. These two, the beauty and the beast, come together, and give one another just what each need." So I adopted the bunny, and here it is. This will be a series - updates short but regular. :)
And I'm almost finished with the writing - at the end of next week my internet time will be reduced drastically so I wanted to get this finished in plenty of time. :)
Prologue
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Dom couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned, trussing himself tightly in the light sheets on the huge bed, then finally gave up and went down to the kitchen.
He leaned against the counter while the kettle boiled. He hadn’t slept this badly in a long time. The worst thing was, he wasn’t sure why. He did have a slight pang in his stomach, but hardly enough to stop him sleeping. He made a cup of hot chocolate and sat down at the wide oak table to ponder it.
It took him nearly ten minutes to come to the conclusion that he had had a good day and was now feeling a little down. After so long of hiding away in the house and buying things, even essentials, through mail-order, it had been a shock to his system to get out and have a drink. And most of all, he had enjoyed the company. This surprised Dom. He sat a while longer, letting his hot chocolate go cold and develop a skin on top, trying to figure out exactly what he liked about Elijah. And how much he liked Elijah.
***
Dom tried not to dwell on it. He spent the days before Monday sorting out old town records from when his great-great grandfather had been the mayor, ancient family trees that his parents had compiled, and a crumbling diary that had belonged to one of the servants that had worked here in his great-grandfather’s day. He hoped there would be enough there to satisfy Elijah’s curiosity.
When Elijah called in on Monday, it was raining heavily and he was dripping on the doorstep.
“You’re soaked!” Dom said in surprise, letting him in.
“Yeah,” Elijah said. There was a chill in the air and he was shivering slightly. “The car broke down, about ten minutes from here, so I figured it was quicker to walk right here than back into town.”
“Let me get you a towel,” Dom said, going upstairs to the bathroom. Elijah followed awkwardly, saying things like “I’m fine, really,” and “Don’t go to any trouble...”
“It’s no trouble,” Dom said, rummaging in the airing cupboard and passing out two large white towels, which Elijah accepted gratefully.
“You ought to get those wet clothes off too,” he added.
Elijah laughed and winked lewdly. Dom immediately began to blush.
“I don’t mean that - er, sexually, or anything,” he stuttered embarrassedly.
“Right,” Elijah said, smile softening a bit. “I was only joking. Anyway, I can’t, I haven’t got a change.”
“I’ll find you something,” Dom said, cheeks still hot.
“Thanks,” Elijah said, as Dom let him into the bathroom.
“Help yourself to the shower if you want it,” Dom said politely. “And I’ll go find you something -”
“Don’t bother if it’s a lot of tr -”
“It’s no trouble!” Dom repeated firmly, and left Elijah to dry off.
***
He went into his bedroom down the hall, and rummaged around for something that might fit Elijah. After all, they weren’t that different in height or build, though Elijah might have been just a bit shorter and slimmer.
He opened his wardrobe and looked inside without even really seeing the racks of old clothes. Instead, his mind was still reeling from Elijah’s wink. He didn’t really think Dom was coming on to him, did he? And worst of all, Dom wasn’t entirely sure if he was pleased, flattered or downright terrified. He vowed to watch his words a lot more carefully in future.
He eventually extracted an old but never-worn bathrobe from the back of the cupboard - it didn’t even smell musty - and rummaged in his chest of drawers to find a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt. When he went back down towards the bathroom, he heard the gushing sound of the shower inside and laid the clothes carefully on the floor outside, then headed downstairs before Elijah could hear him.
When Elijah came down, wearing his own underwear and the bathrobe, Dom had a firm mask of casual friendship in place.
“Your things are dry enough then?” he asked, pouring Elijah a cup of tea out of an inherited chintz teapot.
“Yeah, they’re fine,” Elijah said. “I’ve put my jeans and shirt and things over the heater in your bathroom though. And thanks for the bathrobe.” He took a seat on the velvet sofa and accepted his teacup, holding his face close enough to inhale the steam.
“No problem,” Dom said automatically. They sat in silence for a moment, then Dom said, “Whereabouts did you leave the car?”
“Huh?” Elijah looked up from the depths of his teacup. “By a field?” He gave a small chuckle. “I don’t really know, about ten minutes walk away, just on the main road to here from town...”
“I should probably take a drive down and have a look at it,” Dom said.
Elijah sat up a little straighter. “I don’t know what’s wrong with it - it just sort of stopped...”
Dom grinned. “I’m actually pretty good at fixing cars and engines and things.”
“Well, at least wait ‘til it’s stopped raining, you’ll get soaked.”
Dom gave a reluctant nod. “In the meantime, I’ll go and get you the things I found out. There’s some interesting stuff in there.”
Elijah’s eyes brightened with interest. “Really? Thanks for finding them for me, do you want a hand getting them?”
“Nah, no need,” Dom said, standing up. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
***
When he returned, Elijah had moved a bit closer to the fire, into the wide rocking chair, and had flicked on the free-standing lamp behind him, casting awful broderie-anglais shadows onto the wall.
“Here,” Dom said, putting his armful of folders and notebooks and sheets onto the small oak reading table.
“Wow!” Elijah said excitedly, lifting the first page immediately. “Do you mind if I - ”
“Go ahead,” Dom replied, with a smile, and sat back down to finish his tea, watching Elijah remove his old notebook and biro from the pocket of the dressing-gown, open it and begin to read and make notes.
Once his teacup was empty enough to see the garish poppy on the bottom, Dom rose. Elijah looked up, blinking rapidly to adjust his eyesight to Dom and away from the spidery writing of the old records.
“I think I’ll go take a look at your car,” Dom said decisively. “It’s light blue, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, Morris Minor 1000,” Elijah answered. “You want me to come?”
“Nah, you’d just get even wetter,” Dom said, leaving his cup and saucer on the tea-tray. “Do you have the key there?”
“It’s upstairs, I think, in the pocket of my jeans.”
“You mind if I get it?”
“Not at all,” Elijah said, already looking back down to the servant’s diary, utterly absorbed, as Dom left the room.
He took the stairs two at a time, inexplicably excited about going out and looking over a 1960’s Morris. He found the keys easily and returned back to the warmth of the sitting room.
“Hopefully I won’t be long, but if you want anything then help yourself - the kitchen is just down in the basement - ”
“Thank you,” Elijah said warmly. “I really appreciate this...Are you sure you don’t want me there?”
“Nah, you’re fine - I can tow it back anyway,” Dom said, going for the door. “See you in a bit, then."