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Title: Proximity
Author: Lily Elena
Pairing: BB/DM
Rating: PG
Summary: The funniest thing
is the sunrise.
Note: for my darling starlitefaerie, who asked me for
happy billy/dom. hope this satisfies, dear. :)
"It's
the funniest thing," Dom says, and his voice sounds heavy with sleep.
Billy stares at the phone in mild wonder and tries to remember when he
picked it up, tries to remember if it had rung at all. Tries to
remember when he's started sleeping this fucking late. He squints at
the clock and calculates the time difference and something like worry
gnaws at his stomach when he realizes it's just about four in the
morning in California.
"Dom?" he tries,
tentatively, cautiously.
His mouth feels dry and he sips at the lukewarm water on the side of
his bed automatically, giving a fleeting thought to the fact that it's
been there for three days and probably has all manner of dust particles
and god knows what else floating in it. He shakes his head, and takes
another sip.
There's no
response for a moment and Billy wonders
if maybe Dom's fallen asleep on him, just like so many nights in New
Zealand, except in New Zealand Dom was there, if not right
there physically than just a ten minute drive away; Dom was there, and
the tiny growing pain in his stomach was not, and he wonders if that
has to do all with worry.
"The funniest
thing," Dominic replies
just as Billy's almost made up his mind to hang up and ring Dom's
mobile, because Dom's always got that near and it'd wake him up, "is
the sunrise."
"The." Billy
blinks, still unsteady, unsure of
where this is going, unsure of why Dom's calling him when Elijah's
probably in the next room over, asleep, yes, but there. "The sunrise?"
"Because
I used to see the sunrise every day, right?" Dom says, and continues
without an answer. "Every day, and it was always. It was, I mean, Bill,
man. It was fuckin' amazing, fuckin' gorgeous, yeah?" There is awe
in his voice, tinged with exhaustion, awe and a trace of a smile, and
so Billy relaxes, just a little.
"Incredible,
yeah," Billy responds, and takes another sip of water, grimacing at the
stale taste.
"Even
though we were always knackered. God, we were so -" there is silence,
punctured by the sound of a sigh, and then Dom begins again, as though
there were no interruption. "So tired, man, all the time. But -" he
sobers suddenly, and his voice takes on a cracked edge to it, and the
pain in Billy's stomach expands again, "I'm tired here, too, I'm
fucking tired all the damn time, and I've watched the sunrise, Billy,
I've -"
When Dominic
exhales it's long and slow and shuddery,
and Billy can hear the sobs that want to break free. "It's not the
same," Billy murmurs, and nods even though he knows Dom can't see him.
The pain in his stomach moves to somewhere around his heart, and
suddenly missing Dominic washes over him so strongly that he feels like
he wants to cry too, makes him feel the way he usually does only at
night when he can't sleep and memories hover too close to the surface.
"It's
not the same," Dom whispers, "and it's not because of the smog or the
fact that I can see the fucking Hollywood sign out my bedroom window,
it's because I'm not. watching it. with you."
"Dom," Billy
says,
whispers it, the word catching behind his teeth for a moment, and when
he opens his eyes (when had he closed them? he doesn't remember,
supposes it doesn't matter), he stares across the white-sheeted expanse
of his bed and decides it's been too big for too long. "Come to
Scotland, Dom," he says, and takes a breath, "watch the sunrise with me
every day."
"Every day?"
asks Dominic, and all the pain in every
part of Billy's body dissipates because there's a smile in Dom's voice
again, faint but present.
"If we can
manage it," Billy says with
a grin that threatens to break his face, and waits until there's soft
contented snoring on the other line before he hangs up.
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