Beauty In The Eye Of The Beholder - Part Eleven
Title: Beauty In The Eye Of The Beholder
Pairing: Dom/Elijah
Rating: PG13-R, PG-13 this part
Part: Eleven
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. :)
Prologue
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Dom pulled back, cheeks flaming with sudden embarrassment.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
As an answer, Elijah pulled him closer and kissed him again. This time, Dom could savour it. It was completely unlike any kiss he’d ever had - Elijah’s teeth were a different shape, and his mouth was gentler than Billy’s ever had been.
They broke apart, breathing rapidly.
“I didn’t know you were gay,” Elijah said, after a moment of simply staring at each other in silent surprise.
Dom shrugged. “Well...yeah.”
“And I didn’t know you even liked me,” Elijah added. His voice was quite calm, but his eyes were sparkling and he couldn’t stop a smile turning up his lips.
Dom didn’t know what to say, apart from the obvious. Instead, he took Elijah’s hand and they headed for the car, in unspoken agreement.
***
The drive back to Dom’s was spent in silence. Dom could feel his lips tingling all the way. He kept risking little glances at Elijah, and was gratified, though slightly alarmed, to notice that Elijah was sneaking looks back, instead of fully concentrating on the road. They pulled up outside Dom’s house.
“You want to come in?” Dom asked, though it wasn’t really necessary. Elijah was already getting out of the car.
“Well, yeah,” he said, with a quick roll of his eyes and a smile.
Dom blushed a shade redder, and led Elijah in. The minute the door was closed, Elijah pulled him in for another kiss. They stood in the hallway, Elijah’s hands working their way across Dom’s shoulders in gentle grips, which emboldened Dom to wind his own into Elijah’s soft, tousled hair. They broke apart after what felt like an ecstatic eternity.
“I really didn’t think you were gay,” Elijah said, in quiet wonderment. “If I did I would have made a move sooner.”
Dom’s eyebrows flew up comically at that. “Really?”
Elijah gave a quick nod, eyes shining.
Dom let out a small chuckle of pure pleasure. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy about anything.
Elijah laughed at Dom’s obvious delight, and shook his head, bemused. “Shall we make some tea?” he asked. “I think we need to talk this through.” As he headed for the kitchen, Dom’s eyes automatically lowered from Elijah’s narrow shoulders to slightly rounded buttocks.
***
For once, Elijah didn’t sit on the sofa opposite Dom. Instead, they sat together on one, knees just touching.
“I know you probably think I’m on the rebound or something,” Elijah started, voice quite soft, as he stirred his tea. “After Karl. But, really, we grew apart a long time ago...I’m ready for a relationship, with you.” He frowned slightly. “That is, if - if you want to.”
Dom nodded fervently. In truth, he hadn’t given Karl a millisecond of thought. He was partly glad that Elijah had raised the issue of having a relationship - he certainly seemed surer of himself than Dom was, which, upon reflection, wasn’t surprising. He glanced at Elijah, and was surprised to see him watching Dom as though waiting for an answer to a question, with his head tilted quizzically on one side.
“Hm?” he asked.
“I was just wondering about you,” Elijah said. “I take it you’re single?”
“Yeah,” Dom said. He tapped his teaspoon pointlessly on the side of his cup, and laid it noisily onto his saucer, in an effort to distract Elijah from asking any more questions. He wasn’t completely sure why he didn’t want Elijah to pry...he just knew that, while he had Billy sorted out in his own head, he wasn’t ready to have a heart-to-heart about that relationship just yet.
But Elijah crashed headlong into the topic like the proverbial bull in a china shop. “If you don’t mind me asking, when did you last date?”
Dom cleared his throat, which had suddenly gone dry.
“O-over six years ago,” he said, and felt embarrassment heat his face again. He risked looking at Elijah - Elijah had quickly masked a look of surprise.
“Six years?” he repeated incredulously. But it wasn’t any kind of repulsion that Dom heard in his voice - rather pity, and curiosity. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Dom said dully, but to his horror, he felt tears building up behind his eyes and in the front of his throat in a hot prickle of pressure.
“Tell me? Please?”
Dom looked up - Elijah’s face was sympathetic. On seeing Dom’s eyes wet, he put his teacup down and moved a little closer, to put one arm around Dom’s shoulders.
“Tell me,” he repeated, gently.
“His name was Billy,” Dom mumbled, but then found he didn’t know how to go on. Elijah seemed to sense this.
“How did you meet him?” he prompted.
“He was moving down here. He - he rented a house in the next village over. I was out shopping one day and he was there, and...it was...it was love at first sight.” Dom paused to scrub his sleeve over his face; although now the story was coming, it was pouring out torrentially, unstoppably. “We didn’t date long before he moved in with me. And it started going downhill from then...We found we didn’t get on so well after all, but I still was in love with him, you know?” He gave a wry laugh. “God, I was stupid...we both were...we thought a physical attraction and good sex was enough to build a relationship on. Of course we were wrong...Billy was a doctor, you see, and he...well, he never actually said it, but he looked down on me a bit, because I didn’t have a degree or a proper job or anything. He was always proud of the fact that his family was quite poor but, through pure hard work, he’d got to a good job, and was well-paid...” Dom trailed off again, and this time took a mouthful of tea to steady his voice. Elijah’s small hand was rubbing calming circles on the top of his back.
“And then what?” Elijah asked, after a moment’s silence.
“Things got worse,” Dom said dully. “I think he was annoyed that he went out and worked all day and I just sat round here...and after about a year of living here we stopped even having sex. We both knew it was pointless carrying on but I always secretly hoped things would get better, that we’d fall back in love.” He looked up sheepishly. “This is going to sound stupid, but I thought he was my soul mate.” He paused, waiting for Elijah to laugh at him. It didn’t come. Dom continued, the tears beginning to ease off. “And one day he came home from work and went upstairs - he usually went up to get changed when he got in, see - but he didn’t come down for ages, so I went up to him. And there he was, packing up his stuff, and he said he was leaving. And that was it. And since then, I just...just haven’t wanted to talk to anyone or see anyone...I’ve sort of hidden myself away, and...well, now...” He stopped.
Elijah’s hand was still soothing small circles on his spine. “And now?”
Dom gave him a watery smile. “And now I’ve met you."