hackthis_archive ([personal profile] hackthis_archive) wrote2004-03-01 12:14 pm

LOTRips - What’s Read and White and Nearly Over

This idea was a lot better formed at four in the morning. Typical.


LOTRips Oscar-Fic
DM & BB & EW in…
What’s Read and White and Nearly Over
For [livejournal.com profile] lalejandra





Dom’s jealousy is a thin, green plasticine veneer sticking to every surface he comes in contact with. It’s in his touch.

His jealousy is splattered all over his duvet cover and in thick splotches on the doorknob. His mobile phone is coated in a jealous film, and his favorite rings are tarnished in that fake-gold way. The colour is acidically lime, almost neon, and it eats away at everything Dom has. Billy. Elijah. His career.

As he lies awake, waiting for Mackenzie to come knock on his door because the car has arrived, he wonders why no one has said anything before. He wonders what he’s done to taint his entire life this way. No one can possibly look good in this shade of green, not when it’s toxic to everything in Dom’s life. This is why Elijah is gone. This is why Billy is with her. He would’ve done less damage to his career by jumping off of a cliff, and this is why Dom is going to keep his hands to himself tonight. This is why his suit hangs in his closet, safely wrapped away and separated from all the other questionable items, like Dom’s touch.


*



Dom rings Elijah on his way to the hotel to pick Billy up, and ‘Lij’s voice is groggy like he just woke up. He never gets up before one anyway, and the fact that it’s almost eleven and he’s semi-coherent says a lot. Dom lets it go because the mobile is already sticking to his ear.

He cracks the window for better reception and lights a fag as Elijah rambles on and on about something Dom’s got no interest in at all. Sometimes, Dom rings just to hear Elijah’s voice, but they don’t talk about things like that anymore. Instead, Dom inhales thick smoke and nicotine and the jealousy that coats his lungs like tar. His words are stilted. They hang in the air around him in little, green bubbles like the comics he collects from Meltdown on Sunset. He’ll just pretend that he can’t hear whomever that is in the background at all.


*



Dom licks a great stripe up the center of his palm thoughtfully. The gel in his hair tastes sugary like sweets; it’s not sticky at all, and when the hair stylist makes a choking noise behind him, Dom suspects he wasn’t actually supposed to taste it, but then why give it to him?

He grins at the man’s reflection on the mirror before focusing on the other reflection over the corner of his left shoulder. Billy’s nose is firmly tucked into the Mojo Dom’s brought with him. He’s pensive and thoughtful and firmly not focused on anything having to do with Dom at all.

Dom shifts around in his chair while the stylist considers his hair again and again as though it’s some animal at the zoo. Dom wonders if his hairdresser can see the green envy coating the roots of Dom’s hair and all over his scalp. It’s probably what’s keeping Billy away, and the more Dom tries not to fidget, the harder it gets. He twists his rings on his fingers until he can feel them digging into his skin. He’s tired of sitting still. He’s tired of being cooped up in this salon and being poked at like an animal on display – but after tonight it will really be over. No reprieve. No penalty shots or overtime.

“How long now?” he asks, again.

“Three minutes since the last time you asked.” Billy responds without looking up, and Dom wonders how he alienated Billy enough that he won’t even meet Dom’s eyes anymore.

Billy’s always had the most amazing green eyes Dom’s ever seen, but maybe that’s enough green for him. Maybe he’s tired of the dirty looks that Dom can’t control and the way that Dom’s constantly warring with Ali for his attention. Maybe Dom’s poisoned Billy against himself.


*



The ride to the Oscars is strange and full of conversational pauses. Sean says one thing and Elijah says another. Billy talks mostly to Sean’s right shoulder, and all Dom can see is the green cast over everyone around him. He presses back against the seats and twists his rings, muttering "Scheisse" over and over again. When Sean begins to fret, Dom assures him that it’s nothing. He gets a weak laugh at the suggestion that he left the stove on and won’t Mac be ready to flay him when he gets home later tonight.


*



Dominic’s hell is the people he loves pulling away from him on national television, and when Billy jerks away from him in front of Joan sodding Rivers, all Dom can do is wonder if Billy can actually feel the toxicicity of Dom’s touch. He wonders if everyone else can see the little green splotches he’s leaving on everyone’s clothing.

As they work the press lines down to the front door, Dom can feel himself lagging behind like always, and every smiling photograph is a lie.


*



He sits next to Elijah and perhaps that’s better than anything else in the end. Elijah’s become almost immune to anything having to do with Dom since he moved away, and whatever tears Dom might shed will roll off of him like a duck and water. Except when they’re all on stage together, finally, Dom has never felt more alone, and he wonders if anyone can tell he’s standing apart from everyone else. It’s not terribly noticeable if you’re looking down the line, but in a wide-angle lens, Dom’s in a tiny world all his own. Hands tucked safely under his armpits, eyes firmly focused on the blue and green dots in the first tier of the balcony above them all.

This is the end of everything he’s known for the last four years of his life, and no matter how hard he’s tried to hold on to it, it will all fall away after tonight.


*



Dom’s love is a touch on the shoulder and a wet glint in his eye, and apologies are all he can offer for the last few months of his life. Elijah is sorry for this, and he’s sorry for that. In the back of the limousine they talk about what went wrong and why it was never going to be enough to begin with.

Long after Elijah’s gone back to the party, Dom is outside, lounging against the boot of the car, and when Billy finds him there, he doesn’t toss away his fag end like he used to. A lecture has to be better than the dead look in Billy’s eyes, and Dom has no idea what to say when Billy pulls him into the circle of his arms without explanation or preamble. For the first time in ages, Dom relaxes and lets himself think about life now that everything else is over.

Billy’s jacket is pitch black when Dom rubs his nose against the shoulder, and he thinks its pretty amazing how jealousy’s green cast can fall away if it’s given enough time.


-end-

+ Improv: stripe, alien, sugar, grog, cliff, hand

+ Note: The title was a taken and bastardized for my own nefarious purposes from Ryan Adam’s ‘Political Scientists’

+ Again, for [livejournal.com profile] lalejandra

What's Read and White...

[identity profile] demeter712.livejournal.com 2004-03-02 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
Aww...lovely story. This made me really sad. Nice evocation of mood.

On the positive side, and not to take *anything* away from your lovely story, but after the chin incident, I was very happy to notice that when Joan f***king Rivers was talking to Jude Law, Billy was being interviewed by the BBC (I think)just off to Jude's right, and Dommie's arm was around Billy's shoulders (I could see his hand with the distinctive nail polish) and their heads were right close together, with Dom's puppydog hair looking like it was sticking up from Billy's head. That gave me a happy moment...

Re: What's Read and White...

[identity profile] hackthis.livejournal.com 2004-03-02 11:45 am (UTC)(link)
when Joan f***king Rivers was talking to Jude Law,

I did vaguely notice Billy off to the side while she was talking to Jude, but you know, Jude Law.

[identity profile] pippinspeach.livejournal.com 2004-03-02 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
OUCH - amazing story, one of the best I've read in a while. Stunning. :) Though I didn't really get that feeling from the video clip & from all the accounts I've read they were fine with each other at the awards & TORN party *relief*

[identity profile] hackthis.livejournal.com 2004-03-02 11:46 am (UTC)(link)
OUCH - amazing story, one of the best I've read in a while. Stunning. :) Though I didn't really get that feeling from the video clip & from all the accounts I've read they were fine with each other at the awards & TORN party *relief*

I didn't watch any of the clips so I can't comment on them; I simply went with what I'd seen.

[identity profile] fivil.livejournal.com 2004-03-03 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Like someone said, wish it didn't feel so real. Well, no matter what happens in the future, we always have our fiction.

This was just ...painful in the good way. Gosh, I'm kind of out of words. I love the green in this piece. It's like it is in here;
The colour is acidically lime, almost neon, and it eats away at everything Dom has. Billy. Elijah. His career.
Yeah, so thank you once again.

[identity profile] hackthis.livejournal.com 2004-03-04 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I am a firm believer that a little pain is good for the goose and the gander. Ergo, I'm pleased that you enjoyed this, thanks for commenting.
shirasade: my reading fairy tattoo + my username (mad world (base: neuilly))

[personal profile] shirasade 2004-03-04 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, this? Hurt and made me squirm uncomfortably in my seat. Because oh, poor Dom! Why is he so pretty when he's hurting? But the ending, the ending made me relax right into Billy's arms, too...

[identity profile] hackthis.livejournal.com 2004-03-04 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm glad you felt better at the ending.

[identity profile] begiled.livejournal.com 2004-03-06 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
a beautiful character study. i have rec'd this on my lj. hope you don't mind.

[identity profile] hackthis.livejournal.com 2004-03-08 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm so pleased you enjoyed this; thank you.

[identity profile] hackthis.livejournal.com 2004-03-08 02:40 pm (UTC)(link)
And it swirls in my head that the claustrophobic feel ends only with a hug. < /blah irony >

*chuckles* Indeed.

[identity profile] mauvemalady.livejournal.com 2004-03-07 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay. Love you. For the following reasons:

1.) Have avoided reading Oscar!fic ever since the event because have been in refusal of acknowledging end of LOTR. This, then, would be my first. And as petrified as I was of crashing to a teary ending--or worse, one that encapsulates that point beyond tears--you have managed to, of all things, impart a warm and hopeful ending without any of the gooey-sweetness that makes it too cloying to stomach.

2.) Dom's just like I imagine him in the ficverse.

3.) No words. This is an importatnt one. Reconciliations often die when people try to write the dialogue and just the last section...guh. Wordless because there are no words; could never be...*glomp*

4.) Am ever in awe of those who rise to improv.

Go you!

[identity profile] hackthis.livejournal.com 2004-03-08 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
1.) Have avoided reading Oscar!fic ever since the event because have been in refusal of acknowledging end of LOTR. This, then, would be my first. And as petrified as I was of crashing to a teary ending--or worse, one that encapsulates that point beyond tears--you have managed to, of all things, impart a warm and hopeful ending without any of the gooey-sweetness that makes it too cloying to stomach.

I'm not particularly good with fluff, and I just don't see myself writing it for this fandom. It's just not a side of me that this brings out. I actually have to force myself to have non-angsty endings every now and then, and even then it's not an even split.


4.) Am ever in awe of those who rise to improv.

I live off of improv. I'm not sure what I would do without it.

[identity profile] fiere.livejournal.com 2004-03-13 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. My.

Fic has never made my chest tense up like this. Ever. And I read mounds and mounds of fic every day. So, congratulations.

My only regret is that he isn't sitting beside me right now so I can give him a hug.

*sigh*

[identity profile] xbrokenglass.livejournal.com 2004-03-13 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. Just.. wow. Your brilliant.
andrealyn: (the hope of one is lost)

[personal profile] andrealyn 2004-05-11 10:12 am (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous, and it holds this amazing and powerful pain that's nearly visceral in that I want to pull back in shock at how much it reaches out and grabs me. Lovely piece, and I love the green tint the entire story just sort of hums with.

Page 2 of 2