monaboyd | (no subject)

Title: No Pressure
Pairing: Monaboyd
Rating: PG
Notes: This was written as a Christmas present for Mandy. Since I ~~lose at presents~~ win at suspense, she only just received it in the mail.
Summary: Random fluff.

It was November the 5th- November the 4th back at home and that was still strange enough to be disorienting the first time. Dom had collapsed at Billy's the night before and slept like the dead. That, along with the shower he had just taken, was going a long way to making him feel human again, but he was still a little fuzzy around the edges as he stepped out of the bathroom. Billy wandered out of his bedroom at the same time.

"How do pancakes sound?"

"Absolutely perfect."

"I really like you, Dom," said Billy, all sleepy smile and complete nonsequitor. "As a hell of a lot more than a best mate. Have almost since I met you." Billy's gaze faltered, fell, slip-slid down Dom's damp chest, hit the towel tied around his waist, and ricocheted back up to his eyes.

"No pressure," added Billy with a grin, and went off to make breakfast. Dom stared, left more unbalanced than the backward seasons had ever made him.

~*~

The next year it was a weekday. Dom had dozed off during a tea break in the middle of the day. He awoke groggy, the script he'd been reading damp and flimsy with his breath. Some instinct made him look up and there was Billy, seated cross-legged on the ground beside him. He might have had some warning that time, from the knowledge that Billy had been sitting there with a strange look and an unaccustomed stillness, watching him sleep. It might have registered if he'd been more awake.

Billy reached out and tangled his fingers gently in Merry's curls.

"I love you, Dom," he said. There was no mistaking his meaning. He moved as if to touch Dom's cheek but hesitated just a breath away and withdrew, mindful of the makeup. Dom blinked up at him, eyes still clouded with sleep.

"No pressure," said Billy, and this time his smile was soft and sweet and full of light.

~*~

It took an embarrassingly long time for Dom to figure out the pattern. November 5th every year, come hell or high water or excessive time difference, Billy made his confession. If they didn't talk in person there would be a message on Dom's cell phone or email. They were never intrusive or demanding, just a sort of inconsequential reminder of something that was only ever spoken of once a year. Sometimes they would come at the end of a long ramble about the day he'd spent with Ali, and then there would be unspoken words that went along with it- I would leave her, leave all of this, for you. Time passed and the messages changed again, and now he would ask after Evi as well as Dom. Now the unspoken words said, I'm not asking you anything. I don't want to destroy anything. I just wanted to be sure you remembered.

Every single message or email or conversation ended with the words,

"No pressure."

~*~

Dom liked to break patterns, so he booked his flight to Scotland in July. They spent a week reacquainting themselves. He was relieved to see that the messages hadn't changed anything- Billy didn't give him significant looks or made snide comments about Evi. They talked and drank and watched movies and slept at odd hours and talked some more. Dom didn't think he'd laughed so much all year.

Six days had passed when Dom crept into Billy's room in the middle of a sleepless night and kissed him as tenderly as he knew how. He didn't look away afterward, although his hands trembled where they were tangled in Billy's hair.

"No pressure?" He whispered.

"No pressure," affirmed Billy, the spark in his smiling eyes belying his solemn expression. He twined his arms around Dom's waist and pulled him back down.

~*~

Years passed and it was November 5th again. Billy was kneeling on the kitchen floor where he'd been trying to discover what was wrong with the sink when he realized that it felt like the right time, so he extricated himself from the cabinet, tossed a sponge at Dom to get his attention, and asked simply,

"Will you marry me?"

The seconds stretched. The water on the floor soaked into Billy's jeans. He wished for a brief moment that he had prepared with a ring and a flowery speech, but then Dom bypassed an answer entirely in favor of falling over himself to kneel and pull Billy into a clutching embrace. He pretended there weren't tears in his eyes and Billy pretended that he wasn't red and shaky with nerves and they stayed that way for a while, holding each other in a mucky puddle on the kitchen floor and pretending.

"Does this mean I have to wear the dress?" asked Dom finally, which was odd, because what he'd meant to say was yes. Billy understood anyway.

"Well, that's what I was hoping," he replied, grinning so hard that his whole face wrinkled up. "No pressure, though."

When Dom pushed Billy down and straddled him, he didn't even complain that his favorite t-shirt was getting wet.