A True Gentleman
Title: A True Gentleman (17/?)
Pairing: Dom/Billy
Rating: PG-NC17
Warnings: AU, angst, art geekery
Summary: Uni fic.
"So is he coming?" Orli asked again.
"He said he was, will you relax?" Dom replied, fidgeting himself, his eyes constantly darting to the door of the pub.
True to his word, he had left Billy alone for the entire final week of school. Billy didn't attend Mort's last couple of classes, and Dom hadn't even seen him in passing anywhere on campus, so it had been doubly hard not to pick up the phone or drop into Morton's unannounced. He had driven past Billy's house on a whim on Wednesday evening, dying to know how the proposal had gone, but ultimately talked himself out of going to the door and breaking his promise to give Billy the time he'd asked for.
Elijah dropped back into his seat at their booth, looking sheepish after a clearly unsuccessful pass at a cute girl in a nearby table with her friends.
"Aww, c'mere," Orli reeled him in for a hug, "It's okay, me and Dommie will give you snuggles. Or at least I will."
Lij fought off Orlando's long limbs with unnecessary fierceness, "Fucking get off!"
"That was the idea," Dom laughed as Elijah shoved Orli nearly off the seat and downed the rest of his beer to hide his blush.
The pair of them had given him so much hell when he'd finally come back to the flat after the date last Sunday afternoon, Orlando especially begging for sordid details, to which Dom had only smiled and left the rest to his imagination. But by Tuesday morning, the perceptive fucker had asked why he was still even sleeping at home if the date had gone so well, and had annoyed the truth out of him about Billy's telling him to back off. Granted, it was under the guise of Billy's end-of-term workload, but even Orlando could guess there could be more under it than that. Man, you really are arse-over-tits, he'd said incredulously, Waiting for him? You've never waited for anyone in your life.
Dom supposed it was true. Elijah being a case in point, sulking into his empty pint and cutting glances back at the girl as she and her entourage left the bar. Lij still had years of sorting himself out to do, but Dom likely wouldn't be there for him when he did. He was just never that patient, and anyway his feelings for Elijah had long since shifted to platonic. But a week spent waiting for Billy was an exercise in willpower. Dom had finally called him early in the afternoon to suggest they meet at this pub for a celebratory drink, but he hadn't even been sure Billy would answer the phone, let alone agree to come out. The conversation had been short and awkward, so when he walked through the door, Dom almost couldn't contain the gasp from his throat, or the jolt through his heart.
"Billy!"
At his shout over the pub noise, Billy's eyes found their table and lit in recognition. He looked different somehow, and as he wove his way over through the crowd, Dom tried to figure out what it was. He still looked more or less like his old frayed self, hands tucked in the pockets of his denims (which he seemed to favor over khakis now), but still with that tweed blazer over one of his argyll sweater vests, and the glasses. His face hadn't seen a razor in a couple of days, and the enormous rucksack of books was of course missing, allowing him to stand up and square his shoulders.
Dom stood as he approached them, wanting immediately to hug, but held back. What if Billy didn't want that in front of the guys? What if he'd changed his mind about any of this entirely?
"Hi," he offered lamely.
"Hey," Billy's eyes flickered over the three of them, nodding in greeting and even shaking Orlando's offered hand, though Dom guiltily recognized that old doubt and distrust in his eyes as he scooted back into the booth and Billy sat beside him. He purposely hadn't mentioned on the phone that Lij and Orli would be along as well.
Once settled, Dom grabbed the tumbler of whiskey he'd procured early on in the evening, setting it grandly in front of him.
"Thanks," Billy smiled and took a sip, letting it roll over his tongue before he swallowed it and groaned. "Shite, that's good."
"I asked for their top shelf," Dom grinned.
"So, Dr. Boyd," Orlando started, throwing his dazzling grin out across the table, "How'd it go?"
Billy laughed lowly down at his glass, fingers tracing the designs etched into it. "Don't get ahead of yourself, 'm not a doctor yet."
"Pffft," Dom tsked, palming Billy's thigh under the table. "Like you don't have it in the bag. Really, how was it?"
Billy looked long at him, before darting looks at Lij and Orli, both looking politely curious as well, "It was... ehm. Terrifying," He smiling shyly, taking another sip from his glass. "But good."
"So you passed?" Elijah asked.
Billy eyed him carefully. "I won't get their formal approval till next week. There were some things they thought I should change... I don't know," he shrugged, shaking his head, "Professor Mort said it went well, but..."
"That means you're a shoe-in," Dom decided, draping his arm across the top of the booth behind Billy's shoulders. It got his fingers right in range of the angle of Billy's shoulder and neck, letting them rest there. He could see Billy inhale visibly, eyes flicking in his direction again, but he didn't throw it off. "Not necessarily," he muttered.
"Oh come on," Elijah retorted, "Everyone knows you know fucking everything."
Billy stiffened, and Dom recognized the fight surfacing. He squeezed Billy's shoulder even as he landed a stiff kick to Elijah's shin under the table.
"Ow, motherfucker!" Elijah scowled at him, then got the message. "I meant, like... why would they have you teaching us if you don't know your shit? So why wouldn't they approve your thing, I guess?"
Billy relaxed, shaking his head at Elijah the way he often did whenever Dom said something naive, "I only taught your class because it was a requirement of the program. One that is thankfully over." He took another sip, the hand curled around that precious glass not letting go as one finger pointed at Elijah. "Whether or not my topic goes through has nothing to do with that, aside from Vig giving me a decent review."
"Mort likes you, I don't know why he wouldn't," Dom commented.
"Aye, well," Billy darted looks at all of them, "There were days when I had a hard time handling certain... problematic students."
"I dunno, I heard you handled one pretty well at the weekend," Orli dropped with a wicked grin.
Dom went to kick him under the table as well, but Orlando dodged and he got Elijah again.
"Ow, asshole!"
A flush had crawled across Billy's cheeks as he sat there uncomfortably staring down his glass, and Dom squeezed his shoulder again while grinning at Orli, "You didn't hear a thing from me."
"'Cause I didn't have to, man," Orlando snickered, "You came home looking all loose and fucked out, hickies on your neck-"
"Dude," Elijah shoved at him, "No one needs to hear that shit."
"I don't think Dom's been so on edge since he was pledging," Orli continued. "You must be an animal in the sack. He's been pining around our flat ever since, looking like a lovesick puppy, drawing pictures... and he's got your face down almost as well as my arse."
Billy downed the rest of his scotch in one swallow, beet red in the face, and Dom shot Orli a warning look, saying, "You know, I haven't seen Jules around lately, Orli, how's that working out for you?" It was a low blow, but it threw Orli off his game. Dom was well aware Orli and his girl had been on the rocks; this was the traditional time for college break-ups, after all. He signaled their waiter for a round of refills.
In the silence that followed, Billy kept his gaze fixed on his paper coaster, peeling the layers apart at the corner. Dom cleared his throat. "Fuck it, everything he just said is true," he proclaimed sheepishly, scooting closer so they were pressed together. Even though Billy's eyes didn't leave his beermat, the corners of his mouth had turned up in a badly fought smile, the tips of his ears going bright red. Orlando belted out a triumphant giggle, reaching across the table to slap Billy's shoulder jovially. "Don't be embarrassed, mate, there have been rumours around campus for ages."
"There have?" Dom and Billy asked in unison. Billy looked somewhat mortified.
"Yeah, man," Orlando laughed, "You two in the library all semester long, walking around together, driving around together. It's just weird. People get chatty. Especially given Dom's track record. Everyone knows when Dom sets his sights on a guy something's gonna go down. It's just you aren't the sort of guy that usually happens with."
Dom laughed, pushing his hand up into Billy's hair and leaning closer, "He's implying you're not my type."
"You're not my type either," Billy deadpanned, "You annoy the shite out of me."
"And usually he gets punched," Orlando added.
"I've thought about punching him, actually, on several occasions," Billy informed them.
Dom tightened his arm around Billy's neck in a mock headlock, tugging him that much closer, leaving it draped there as he leaned close to his ear, "But you didn't."
Billy looked back at him, his eyes darting down to Dom's mouth involuntarily as he muttered, "No."
"Oh God, no kissing! Nothing I can't unsee, okay," Elijah covered his eyes, but then peeked through his fingers, laughing, "Are you even allowed to date students?"
"Are we dating?" Dom asked, both rhetorically and not, watching Billy's eyes.
Billy finally looked back across at Elijah's query, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned back under Dom's arm. "Well, technically, I'm not a teacher. And you lot aren't technically students any longer, eh?" Dom couldn't help but notice how that answer dodged his question.
"A-fucking-men," Orlando lifted his fresh beer as their new drinks arrived. "To not being slaves to academia!"
They lifted their glasses to clink, all but Billy who still held his new scotch firmly on the table, shaking his head, "Christ, I dunno if I can drink to that, not yet."
"You're All But Diss now," Dom told him, "You can."
"'S going to jinx something, I bet," Billy smirked, but hesitantly lifted the tumbler and touched their glasses before taking a small swallow, followed by a huge sigh, "I've been in uni so long I don't know how else to be."
"Shit, how old are you anyway?" Elijah asked loudly.
"Old. Like dirt," Billy joked, giving him a stern look, "I'm thirty-two."
Elijah looked confused, "That doesn't make sense. That's like you've been in college for fifteen years."
Shaking his head, Billy looked at him sideways, "Some people don't get to go straight into uni from school, Elijah. Some don't get into the colleges they want right out of the gate. And not everyone's da knows a guy who knows a guy to bump you up the wait-list." Elijah narrowed his eyes and sulked, but didn't dispute the subtle accusation under that statement.
"How long have you been here? In Boston?" Orli asked.
Billy screwed up his face in thought. "Five years? Around that."
"But isn't the grad program only three?"
"Yeah," Billy scrubbed at his stubbly chin idly before realizing they were all waiting for him to elaborate. "Last semester wasn't the only time I've had to put things on hold." He took another swallow of his whiskey, "My second year here, there was some shite wrong with my student visa, and by the time they fixed it, it was weeks into term already, would've arsed up my GPA no matter what. Ended up just writing the whole thing off, all I did was work that spring and summer. Because my work papers were fine, you know, couldn't the two visa offices take a fucking look at each other's paperwork?" Billy looked temporarily recharged by this mishap before he settled back again with a shrug, "Made some money, anyway. But then I spent it all on the plane ticket home this fall."
"You mean you should have finished last spring?" Dom asked, a little surprised.
Billy nodded, eying him thoughtfully afterward. "What."
"Nothing, just..." Dom shrugged, "I wouldn't have gotten to know you at all, if you did."
"Aye, well," Billy nodded, "Could've saved me another year of torment from you lot."
"And miss out on all the fun we had?" Orli gestured widely. "Dead guys in baths and all?"
Billy shook his head with a smirk, turning his whiskey glass and watching the sparkle. "I hope the ghosts of Marat and David both haunt you forever, Bloom. I did last semester and I still do."
"Aww," Orlando took that in stride, "Come on, mate, I didn't mean anything by it, it was only a laugh."
"For you it was," Billy lifted his chin and his eyebrows, "A lot of people died leading up to that painting. It represented the deaths of thousands, not just the murder of one Revolutionary journalist. But you're smart, yeah, so I know you knew that already, and yet you chose to play the edjit on the day when I was being reviewed by the grad committee in your class, plus I had found out just that morning that my gran had died and I had to figure out what the fuck to do about it. So, you know, it might have been a great laugh for you, but not for me."
Berated, Orlando sank down in his seat, his eyebrows pinched in contrition. "Shut down!" Elijah bellowed in his ear, becoming steadily louder as he drank and sloshing his beer across to thump Billy's glass. Dom rumbled a laugh at a thoroughly shamed Orli, squeezing Billy's shoulder in solidarity.
"Shite, mate, I'm sorry," Orlando apologized, "I feel like a right prick now."
"You are a prick," Elijah said, "Fuck, we're all pricks. Someone ought to tell us more often."
"You're all pricks," Billy obliged, then looked at Dom. "You too."
"Why am I still-"
"You didn't call me. 'S proper etiquette to call the girl a day or so after a date, you know." Billy crossed his arms primly, "Let her know you're still interested. I sat up nights, crying into my pillow."
"You told me to fuck off!" Dom exclaimed, and Lij and Orli were both having fits across the table.
Elijah giggled into his beer. "Why didn't we give him whiskey earlier?"
"Would've made your class a helluva lot more tolerable," Billy lifted his glass to that, but shook his head. "Still would've done nothing for your marks, though. I can't be bought."
"Except by Dom, apparently," Orlando pointed out. "I wonder what his grade in HAA will be."
Billy shook his head, "I only mark your homework, mate, the rest is up to Vig."
"I'll have you know I've never managed to seduce Prof Mort," Dom told them indignantly. "Not once."
"Me neither," Billy commented, "Not for lack of imagining."
"Right?" Dom smiled at him, "I dreamt of cowboy chaps for months."
"Hey," Elijah interjected, not following their conversation, "We should invite him to the party. We're having a party."
"Yeah!" Orli said. "The night after graduation."
Billy hesitated, and Dom backed him up, "Nah, guys, he wouldn't want to, not with that crowd."
"Why not?" Orlando asked.
Dom looked at Billy, gauging his interest. "Probably have a lot of the frat guys there, some of the sorority girls, other art school people." Truthfully, he'd love to have Billy at their last party. Aside from his roommates, he hadn't really been friends with most of that crowd lately, and their shindigs of late had been less enjoyable for it. "Just a lot of people drinking and acting stupid, really."
"As opposed to any other college get-together," Billy teased, looking to Dom. "Ehm, I suppose I could put in an appearance."
"Are you going to the ceremony?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah, do you graduate too?" Orlando wondered, "Or is it different for you?"
"Ehm," Billy tapped his fingers on his glass, "I can walk just because I finished my coursework, but I don't really have to." He darted his eyes Dom's way again. "But I'll be there, yeah."
"That'd be great," Dom murmured half-heartedly. The approach of graduation was eating at him, knowing his parents were coming out, and knowing his father surely had all sorts of plans for his future that he had absolutely no say in. The things Billy had said on their date about doing what he wanted pounded in his head at night as the days counted down.
Billy glanced down at his watch after he finished off his second glass, shifting in his seat, "Well, I ought to go if I'm to catch the last bus back up to campus."
"You sure?" Dom asked, if only to delay him. His hand couldn't stop stroking at the back of Billy's neck.
"No, stay." Surprisingly, this came from Elijah, "Dom can drive you back. He's only had a couple of beers."
"No, I should go. But I'll see you at graduation," he stood, patting the back of his jeans for his wallet, to which Dom shook his head. "Thanks for the drinks. It was good to, ah..." he shifted his feet awkwardly, offering his hand to Orlando and Elijah again, "...make amends, I guess."
"Likewise," Orlando grinned widely, "You're alright, Bill."
"Yeah," Elijah shook his hand as well.
"See you later," he said, eyes lingering on Dom.
"Bye," he replied softly, arm still resting in Billy's residual warmth on the back of the booth.
Billy hesitated, then turned and wove his way out, leaving Dom sitting and picking at the pieces of shredded beermat on the table, trying not to turn and watch him go, until Orli kicked him hard under the table.
"Ow!"
"Christ, you're fucking hopeless," Orli lifted his eyebrows, and Elijah grinned drunkenly over his beer. "Go after him, you fuckwit. He wants you to."
"But..." Dom protested haplessly.
"Go!" they yelled together.
Outside his breath puffed in the night, trying to figure out which direction the nearest bus stop was in, and saw Billy's back heading to the right, down the shimmering sidewalk near where Dom's car was parked on the curb.
"Bills, hang on," Dom called after him, trotting to catch him up.
Billy stopped and turned, but with a lingering smile. "Hey."
"Hey," Dom breathed, casting about for something more to say, something to keep this going. "Are you sure you don't want that ride?" He pointed to his car, just one spot away.
"No, but ehm... thanks anyway," Billy murmured around his smile.
"Sure?" Dom took a step closer, smiling as he lifted his brows in patented hope.
Billy breathed a laughing exhale, looking down at his hush puppies scraping the wet concrete. "I've got work tomorrow, Dom. And I'm not calling in sick again," he added.
Dom bit his lip guiltily, but then jogged over to his car on a whim. "C'mere. I have something for you."
He opened the door and pulled out his old navy peacoat from the back seat, holding it out to him, "You haven't got a proper coat, and I don't wear this one anymore."
"Dom, you don't have to-"
"I want you to have it," Dom insisted, moving closer to push the woolen material into his hands. "All you have is that old blazer, and I'm tired of seeing you shivering all the time. It's been sat in my back seat since I got the one I'm wearing."
Billy arched a brow out him, tentatively taking the thick wool in his hands. glancing around at the streets around them, wet from the spring rain. "It's nearly May, I won't even need it much longer." He caught sight of the LL Bean label inside, "Dom this is a two hundred dollar coat, I can't-"
"One that I don't need," Dom insisted, "Put it on. It's fine, Bills, you got it secondhand, yeah?"
Dom took it back, holding it spread open for him and waiting until he relented and let Dom slip it over his arms, tugging the sleeves of the blazer down under the thicker sleeves. "Looks good on you," he grinned, doing the buttons.
"It's a bit tight in the shoulders," Billy offered, another inept attempt at protest, despite the fact that the coat was worlds warmer than just his blazer.
"Yeah, well. I haven't got these amazing guns," Dom squeezed his biceps and shoulders. "You only get that carting forty pounds of books on your back getting an Art History doctorate."
Billy gave that half a grin, fixing his eyes on the zipper of Dom's own coat closed over the graphic tee he wore. Dom's hands fussed at the labels, biting his lip at their closeness, at that bubble around them shrinking to the absurd tunnel vision he got with Billy.
"You never answered my question," he murmured low in his throat, his hands slipping beneath the peacoat's sleeves to Billy's sides.
"What question?"
"Are we dating?" Dom whispered, tilting his head close to Billy's ear.
Billy exhaled in amusement, even as Dom crowded him up against the side of the car. "Dom..."
"Are we?" he repeated, feeling Billy's fingers tighten on his collar and the tips of their noses touch, and tipped the crucial inch onto his mouth. Billy fairly sighed against his lips as they opened, puffs of mist surrounding their faces in the heat between them. When Dom moved to mouth at his prickly gorgeous jaw, he heard the squeak and hiss of bus air-brakes, and Billy's inhale as he realized that was his ride.
"I've got to go," Billy pushed him back, but grabbed his neck and kissed him hard before he jogged away to the bus' waiting doors.
"Are we?" Dom called after him. Billy paused, his face illuminated by the bus interior as he dug in his pocket for his pass, looking back at Dom and darting his tongue over his lips, his eyebrows pinching in the center before he boarded and disappeared.
Dom huffed in frustration, turning to lean his back against his car as the bus pulled off into the damp night. At the clearing of a throat, he looked back in the direction of the pub to find his mates lingering several yards down, and other people he'd not even cared to see milling around this busy night spot. Orlando grinned, tonguing a toothpick between his teeth while Elijah sucked down a Parliament, looking scandalized and turned on and generally as conflicted as he ever was, pretending like he hadn't seen anything.
"What are you looking at?" Dom scowled, pulling out his keys again.
"Nothing," Orlando said brightly, "Just a couple of lovebirds macking in the middle of the street."
"Whatever," Dom muttered.
"Dommie and Dr. Boyd sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
"In the car, children," Dom yanked the door open, shoving the passenger's seat forward to shove Orlando and his stupid singing into the back seat. He took Elijah's cigarette from between his teeth and dropped it hissing in wet puddle at his feet, then picked it up to pitch toward a nearby bin, ushering Elijah into the car. "Time for bed."
"And wanking," Orlando sing-songed.
Dom shut the door and walked around to the driver's side, muttering to himself, "Lots of that all around."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Pairing: Dom/Billy
Rating: PG-NC17
Warnings: AU, angst, art geekery
Summary: Uni fic.
"So is he coming?" Orli asked again.
"He said he was, will you relax?" Dom replied, fidgeting himself, his eyes constantly darting to the door of the pub.
True to his word, he had left Billy alone for the entire final week of school. Billy didn't attend Mort's last couple of classes, and Dom hadn't even seen him in passing anywhere on campus, so it had been doubly hard not to pick up the phone or drop into Morton's unannounced. He had driven past Billy's house on a whim on Wednesday evening, dying to know how the proposal had gone, but ultimately talked himself out of going to the door and breaking his promise to give Billy the time he'd asked for.
Elijah dropped back into his seat at their booth, looking sheepish after a clearly unsuccessful pass at a cute girl in a nearby table with her friends.
"Aww, c'mere," Orli reeled him in for a hug, "It's okay, me and Dommie will give you snuggles. Or at least I will."
Lij fought off Orlando's long limbs with unnecessary fierceness, "Fucking get off!"
"That was the idea," Dom laughed as Elijah shoved Orli nearly off the seat and downed the rest of his beer to hide his blush.
The pair of them had given him so much hell when he'd finally come back to the flat after the date last Sunday afternoon, Orlando especially begging for sordid details, to which Dom had only smiled and left the rest to his imagination. But by Tuesday morning, the perceptive fucker had asked why he was still even sleeping at home if the date had gone so well, and had annoyed the truth out of him about Billy's telling him to back off. Granted, it was under the guise of Billy's end-of-term workload, but even Orlando could guess there could be more under it than that. Man, you really are arse-over-tits, he'd said incredulously, Waiting for him? You've never waited for anyone in your life.
Dom supposed it was true. Elijah being a case in point, sulking into his empty pint and cutting glances back at the girl as she and her entourage left the bar. Lij still had years of sorting himself out to do, but Dom likely wouldn't be there for him when he did. He was just never that patient, and anyway his feelings for Elijah had long since shifted to platonic. But a week spent waiting for Billy was an exercise in willpower. Dom had finally called him early in the afternoon to suggest they meet at this pub for a celebratory drink, but he hadn't even been sure Billy would answer the phone, let alone agree to come out. The conversation had been short and awkward, so when he walked through the door, Dom almost couldn't contain the gasp from his throat, or the jolt through his heart.
"Billy!"
At his shout over the pub noise, Billy's eyes found their table and lit in recognition. He looked different somehow, and as he wove his way over through the crowd, Dom tried to figure out what it was. He still looked more or less like his old frayed self, hands tucked in the pockets of his denims (which he seemed to favor over khakis now), but still with that tweed blazer over one of his argyll sweater vests, and the glasses. His face hadn't seen a razor in a couple of days, and the enormous rucksack of books was of course missing, allowing him to stand up and square his shoulders.
Dom stood as he approached them, wanting immediately to hug, but held back. What if Billy didn't want that in front of the guys? What if he'd changed his mind about any of this entirely?
"Hi," he offered lamely.
"Hey," Billy's eyes flickered over the three of them, nodding in greeting and even shaking Orlando's offered hand, though Dom guiltily recognized that old doubt and distrust in his eyes as he scooted back into the booth and Billy sat beside him. He purposely hadn't mentioned on the phone that Lij and Orli would be along as well.
Once settled, Dom grabbed the tumbler of whiskey he'd procured early on in the evening, setting it grandly in front of him.
"Thanks," Billy smiled and took a sip, letting it roll over his tongue before he swallowed it and groaned. "Shite, that's good."
"I asked for their top shelf," Dom grinned.
"So, Dr. Boyd," Orlando started, throwing his dazzling grin out across the table, "How'd it go?"
Billy laughed lowly down at his glass, fingers tracing the designs etched into it. "Don't get ahead of yourself, 'm not a doctor yet."
"Pffft," Dom tsked, palming Billy's thigh under the table. "Like you don't have it in the bag. Really, how was it?"
Billy looked long at him, before darting looks at Lij and Orli, both looking politely curious as well, "It was... ehm. Terrifying," He smiling shyly, taking another sip from his glass. "But good."
"So you passed?" Elijah asked.
Billy eyed him carefully. "I won't get their formal approval till next week. There were some things they thought I should change... I don't know," he shrugged, shaking his head, "Professor Mort said it went well, but..."
"That means you're a shoe-in," Dom decided, draping his arm across the top of the booth behind Billy's shoulders. It got his fingers right in range of the angle of Billy's shoulder and neck, letting them rest there. He could see Billy inhale visibly, eyes flicking in his direction again, but he didn't throw it off. "Not necessarily," he muttered.
"Oh come on," Elijah retorted, "Everyone knows you know fucking everything."
Billy stiffened, and Dom recognized the fight surfacing. He squeezed Billy's shoulder even as he landed a stiff kick to Elijah's shin under the table.
"Ow, motherfucker!" Elijah scowled at him, then got the message. "I meant, like... why would they have you teaching us if you don't know your shit? So why wouldn't they approve your thing, I guess?"
Billy relaxed, shaking his head at Elijah the way he often did whenever Dom said something naive, "I only taught your class because it was a requirement of the program. One that is thankfully over." He took another sip, the hand curled around that precious glass not letting go as one finger pointed at Elijah. "Whether or not my topic goes through has nothing to do with that, aside from Vig giving me a decent review."
"Mort likes you, I don't know why he wouldn't," Dom commented.
"Aye, well," Billy darted looks at all of them, "There were days when I had a hard time handling certain... problematic students."
"I dunno, I heard you handled one pretty well at the weekend," Orli dropped with a wicked grin.
Dom went to kick him under the table as well, but Orlando dodged and he got Elijah again.
"Ow, asshole!"
A flush had crawled across Billy's cheeks as he sat there uncomfortably staring down his glass, and Dom squeezed his shoulder again while grinning at Orli, "You didn't hear a thing from me."
"'Cause I didn't have to, man," Orlando snickered, "You came home looking all loose and fucked out, hickies on your neck-"
"Dude," Elijah shoved at him, "No one needs to hear that shit."
"I don't think Dom's been so on edge since he was pledging," Orli continued. "You must be an animal in the sack. He's been pining around our flat ever since, looking like a lovesick puppy, drawing pictures... and he's got your face down almost as well as my arse."
Billy downed the rest of his scotch in one swallow, beet red in the face, and Dom shot Orli a warning look, saying, "You know, I haven't seen Jules around lately, Orli, how's that working out for you?" It was a low blow, but it threw Orli off his game. Dom was well aware Orli and his girl had been on the rocks; this was the traditional time for college break-ups, after all. He signaled their waiter for a round of refills.
In the silence that followed, Billy kept his gaze fixed on his paper coaster, peeling the layers apart at the corner. Dom cleared his throat. "Fuck it, everything he just said is true," he proclaimed sheepishly, scooting closer so they were pressed together. Even though Billy's eyes didn't leave his beermat, the corners of his mouth had turned up in a badly fought smile, the tips of his ears going bright red. Orlando belted out a triumphant giggle, reaching across the table to slap Billy's shoulder jovially. "Don't be embarrassed, mate, there have been rumours around campus for ages."
"There have?" Dom and Billy asked in unison. Billy looked somewhat mortified.
"Yeah, man," Orlando laughed, "You two in the library all semester long, walking around together, driving around together. It's just weird. People get chatty. Especially given Dom's track record. Everyone knows when Dom sets his sights on a guy something's gonna go down. It's just you aren't the sort of guy that usually happens with."
Dom laughed, pushing his hand up into Billy's hair and leaning closer, "He's implying you're not my type."
"You're not my type either," Billy deadpanned, "You annoy the shite out of me."
"And usually he gets punched," Orlando added.
"I've thought about punching him, actually, on several occasions," Billy informed them.
Dom tightened his arm around Billy's neck in a mock headlock, tugging him that much closer, leaving it draped there as he leaned close to his ear, "But you didn't."
Billy looked back at him, his eyes darting down to Dom's mouth involuntarily as he muttered, "No."
"Oh God, no kissing! Nothing I can't unsee, okay," Elijah covered his eyes, but then peeked through his fingers, laughing, "Are you even allowed to date students?"
"Are we dating?" Dom asked, both rhetorically and not, watching Billy's eyes.
Billy finally looked back across at Elijah's query, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned back under Dom's arm. "Well, technically, I'm not a teacher. And you lot aren't technically students any longer, eh?" Dom couldn't help but notice how that answer dodged his question.
"A-fucking-men," Orlando lifted his fresh beer as their new drinks arrived. "To not being slaves to academia!"
They lifted their glasses to clink, all but Billy who still held his new scotch firmly on the table, shaking his head, "Christ, I dunno if I can drink to that, not yet."
"You're All But Diss now," Dom told him, "You can."
"'S going to jinx something, I bet," Billy smirked, but hesitantly lifted the tumbler and touched their glasses before taking a small swallow, followed by a huge sigh, "I've been in uni so long I don't know how else to be."
"Shit, how old are you anyway?" Elijah asked loudly.
"Old. Like dirt," Billy joked, giving him a stern look, "I'm thirty-two."
Elijah looked confused, "That doesn't make sense. That's like you've been in college for fifteen years."
Shaking his head, Billy looked at him sideways, "Some people don't get to go straight into uni from school, Elijah. Some don't get into the colleges they want right out of the gate. And not everyone's da knows a guy who knows a guy to bump you up the wait-list." Elijah narrowed his eyes and sulked, but didn't dispute the subtle accusation under that statement.
"How long have you been here? In Boston?" Orli asked.
Billy screwed up his face in thought. "Five years? Around that."
"But isn't the grad program only three?"
"Yeah," Billy scrubbed at his stubbly chin idly before realizing they were all waiting for him to elaborate. "Last semester wasn't the only time I've had to put things on hold." He took another swallow of his whiskey, "My second year here, there was some shite wrong with my student visa, and by the time they fixed it, it was weeks into term already, would've arsed up my GPA no matter what. Ended up just writing the whole thing off, all I did was work that spring and summer. Because my work papers were fine, you know, couldn't the two visa offices take a fucking look at each other's paperwork?" Billy looked temporarily recharged by this mishap before he settled back again with a shrug, "Made some money, anyway. But then I spent it all on the plane ticket home this fall."
"You mean you should have finished last spring?" Dom asked, a little surprised.
Billy nodded, eying him thoughtfully afterward. "What."
"Nothing, just..." Dom shrugged, "I wouldn't have gotten to know you at all, if you did."
"Aye, well," Billy nodded, "Could've saved me another year of torment from you lot."
"And miss out on all the fun we had?" Orli gestured widely. "Dead guys in baths and all?"
Billy shook his head with a smirk, turning his whiskey glass and watching the sparkle. "I hope the ghosts of Marat and David both haunt you forever, Bloom. I did last semester and I still do."
"Aww," Orlando took that in stride, "Come on, mate, I didn't mean anything by it, it was only a laugh."
"For you it was," Billy lifted his chin and his eyebrows, "A lot of people died leading up to that painting. It represented the deaths of thousands, not just the murder of one Revolutionary journalist. But you're smart, yeah, so I know you knew that already, and yet you chose to play the edjit on the day when I was being reviewed by the grad committee in your class, plus I had found out just that morning that my gran had died and I had to figure out what the fuck to do about it. So, you know, it might have been a great laugh for you, but not for me."
Berated, Orlando sank down in his seat, his eyebrows pinched in contrition. "Shut down!" Elijah bellowed in his ear, becoming steadily louder as he drank and sloshing his beer across to thump Billy's glass. Dom rumbled a laugh at a thoroughly shamed Orli, squeezing Billy's shoulder in solidarity.
"Shite, mate, I'm sorry," Orlando apologized, "I feel like a right prick now."
"You are a prick," Elijah said, "Fuck, we're all pricks. Someone ought to tell us more often."
"You're all pricks," Billy obliged, then looked at Dom. "You too."
"Why am I still-"
"You didn't call me. 'S proper etiquette to call the girl a day or so after a date, you know." Billy crossed his arms primly, "Let her know you're still interested. I sat up nights, crying into my pillow."
"You told me to fuck off!" Dom exclaimed, and Lij and Orli were both having fits across the table.
Elijah giggled into his beer. "Why didn't we give him whiskey earlier?"
"Would've made your class a helluva lot more tolerable," Billy lifted his glass to that, but shook his head. "Still would've done nothing for your marks, though. I can't be bought."
"Except by Dom, apparently," Orlando pointed out. "I wonder what his grade in HAA will be."
Billy shook his head, "I only mark your homework, mate, the rest is up to Vig."
"I'll have you know I've never managed to seduce Prof Mort," Dom told them indignantly. "Not once."
"Me neither," Billy commented, "Not for lack of imagining."
"Right?" Dom smiled at him, "I dreamt of cowboy chaps for months."
"Hey," Elijah interjected, not following their conversation, "We should invite him to the party. We're having a party."
"Yeah!" Orli said. "The night after graduation."
Billy hesitated, and Dom backed him up, "Nah, guys, he wouldn't want to, not with that crowd."
"Why not?" Orlando asked.
Dom looked at Billy, gauging his interest. "Probably have a lot of the frat guys there, some of the sorority girls, other art school people." Truthfully, he'd love to have Billy at their last party. Aside from his roommates, he hadn't really been friends with most of that crowd lately, and their shindigs of late had been less enjoyable for it. "Just a lot of people drinking and acting stupid, really."
"As opposed to any other college get-together," Billy teased, looking to Dom. "Ehm, I suppose I could put in an appearance."
"Are you going to the ceremony?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah, do you graduate too?" Orlando wondered, "Or is it different for you?"
"Ehm," Billy tapped his fingers on his glass, "I can walk just because I finished my coursework, but I don't really have to." He darted his eyes Dom's way again. "But I'll be there, yeah."
"That'd be great," Dom murmured half-heartedly. The approach of graduation was eating at him, knowing his parents were coming out, and knowing his father surely had all sorts of plans for his future that he had absolutely no say in. The things Billy had said on their date about doing what he wanted pounded in his head at night as the days counted down.
Billy glanced down at his watch after he finished off his second glass, shifting in his seat, "Well, I ought to go if I'm to catch the last bus back up to campus."
"You sure?" Dom asked, if only to delay him. His hand couldn't stop stroking at the back of Billy's neck.
"No, stay." Surprisingly, this came from Elijah, "Dom can drive you back. He's only had a couple of beers."
"No, I should go. But I'll see you at graduation," he stood, patting the back of his jeans for his wallet, to which Dom shook his head. "Thanks for the drinks. It was good to, ah..." he shifted his feet awkwardly, offering his hand to Orlando and Elijah again, "...make amends, I guess."
"Likewise," Orlando grinned widely, "You're alright, Bill."
"Yeah," Elijah shook his hand as well.
"See you later," he said, eyes lingering on Dom.
"Bye," he replied softly, arm still resting in Billy's residual warmth on the back of the booth.
Billy hesitated, then turned and wove his way out, leaving Dom sitting and picking at the pieces of shredded beermat on the table, trying not to turn and watch him go, until Orli kicked him hard under the table.
"Ow!"
"Christ, you're fucking hopeless," Orli lifted his eyebrows, and Elijah grinned drunkenly over his beer. "Go after him, you fuckwit. He wants you to."
"But..." Dom protested haplessly.
"Go!" they yelled together.
Outside his breath puffed in the night, trying to figure out which direction the nearest bus stop was in, and saw Billy's back heading to the right, down the shimmering sidewalk near where Dom's car was parked on the curb.
"Bills, hang on," Dom called after him, trotting to catch him up.
Billy stopped and turned, but with a lingering smile. "Hey."
"Hey," Dom breathed, casting about for something more to say, something to keep this going. "Are you sure you don't want that ride?" He pointed to his car, just one spot away.
"No, but ehm... thanks anyway," Billy murmured around his smile.
"Sure?" Dom took a step closer, smiling as he lifted his brows in patented hope.
Billy breathed a laughing exhale, looking down at his hush puppies scraping the wet concrete. "I've got work tomorrow, Dom. And I'm not calling in sick again," he added.
Dom bit his lip guiltily, but then jogged over to his car on a whim. "C'mere. I have something for you."
He opened the door and pulled out his old navy peacoat from the back seat, holding it out to him, "You haven't got a proper coat, and I don't wear this one anymore."
"Dom, you don't have to-"
"I want you to have it," Dom insisted, moving closer to push the woolen material into his hands. "All you have is that old blazer, and I'm tired of seeing you shivering all the time. It's been sat in my back seat since I got the one I'm wearing."
Billy arched a brow out him, tentatively taking the thick wool in his hands. glancing around at the streets around them, wet from the spring rain. "It's nearly May, I won't even need it much longer." He caught sight of the LL Bean label inside, "Dom this is a two hundred dollar coat, I can't-"
"One that I don't need," Dom insisted, "Put it on. It's fine, Bills, you got it secondhand, yeah?"
Dom took it back, holding it spread open for him and waiting until he relented and let Dom slip it over his arms, tugging the sleeves of the blazer down under the thicker sleeves. "Looks good on you," he grinned, doing the buttons.
"It's a bit tight in the shoulders," Billy offered, another inept attempt at protest, despite the fact that the coat was worlds warmer than just his blazer.
"Yeah, well. I haven't got these amazing guns," Dom squeezed his biceps and shoulders. "You only get that carting forty pounds of books on your back getting an Art History doctorate."
Billy gave that half a grin, fixing his eyes on the zipper of Dom's own coat closed over the graphic tee he wore. Dom's hands fussed at the labels, biting his lip at their closeness, at that bubble around them shrinking to the absurd tunnel vision he got with Billy.
"You never answered my question," he murmured low in his throat, his hands slipping beneath the peacoat's sleeves to Billy's sides.
"What question?"
"Are we dating?" Dom whispered, tilting his head close to Billy's ear.
Billy exhaled in amusement, even as Dom crowded him up against the side of the car. "Dom..."
"Are we?" he repeated, feeling Billy's fingers tighten on his collar and the tips of their noses touch, and tipped the crucial inch onto his mouth. Billy fairly sighed against his lips as they opened, puffs of mist surrounding their faces in the heat between them. When Dom moved to mouth at his prickly gorgeous jaw, he heard the squeak and hiss of bus air-brakes, and Billy's inhale as he realized that was his ride.
"I've got to go," Billy pushed him back, but grabbed his neck and kissed him hard before he jogged away to the bus' waiting doors.
"Are we?" Dom called after him. Billy paused, his face illuminated by the bus interior as he dug in his pocket for his pass, looking back at Dom and darting his tongue over his lips, his eyebrows pinching in the center before he boarded and disappeared.
Dom huffed in frustration, turning to lean his back against his car as the bus pulled off into the damp night. At the clearing of a throat, he looked back in the direction of the pub to find his mates lingering several yards down, and other people he'd not even cared to see milling around this busy night spot. Orlando grinned, tonguing a toothpick between his teeth while Elijah sucked down a Parliament, looking scandalized and turned on and generally as conflicted as he ever was, pretending like he hadn't seen anything.
"What are you looking at?" Dom scowled, pulling out his keys again.
"Nothing," Orlando said brightly, "Just a couple of lovebirds macking in the middle of the street."
"Whatever," Dom muttered.
"Dommie and Dr. Boyd sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
"In the car, children," Dom yanked the door open, shoving the passenger's seat forward to shove Orlando and his stupid singing into the back seat. He took Elijah's cigarette from between his teeth and dropped it hissing in wet puddle at his feet, then picked it up to pitch toward a nearby bin, ushering Elijah into the car. "Time for bed."
"And wanking," Orlando sing-songed.
Dom shut the door and walked around to the driver's side, muttering to himself, "Lots of that all around."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN