The Other Man 1/1

[konishi-zen.livejournal.com]

Sloan is totally underrated. We need more Sloan fans!

Uh..Yeah. Anyways, this next fic was inspired by the song "The Other Man" which is a real eye-opener in a lot of ways.

Right. Here we go:

Warnings: Introspective angst, people being bastards, sort of.

Pairings: Dom/Billeh, Past Billeh/Girlfriend

Disclaimers: Not true. I'm wishing it were tho. Sloan owns the song.

Archiving/Feedback: Sure on both counts. Let me know about the archiving, mmk, children?

Summary: Dom is trying to explain himself to the world that has labelled him "The Other Man." The world doesn't seem to want to listen.

Posted: monaboyd and x-posted to fellow_shippers

 

The Other Man

“Now I'm the other man. No one's rooting for me.
If I'm the other man, nature will abhor me.
Yeah, no one sympathises,
When you're the other man, that everyone despises.” Sloan

I light up the fag and take a deep drag, watching as the tip glows red.

Anything to avoid looking at Elijah, who’s staring at me with an expression of adoration mingled with contempt.

“I can’t believe you!’ He hisses at me and practically stands on my feet, forcing me to look at him.

I do, and the next thing I think is:

“I hope he doesn’t get a burn from the fag.”

I’m not trying to be funny. In fact, the last thing I feel like doing is laughing.

Especially now that Elijah and Orlando know why Billy’s girl kicked him to the curb.

The rest of the world’s going to speculate why that happened.

Maybe Billy caught the eye of an exotic actress and things went from there.

Or maybe it was the demands of a career that’s picking up steam.

I’m hoping it will just stick to those theories.

I don’t think I could face my own family if they found out what part I played in it.

“What do you want me to say?” I ask him. My voice is flat and dead. I’m really interested in what he has to tell me.

“You knew he had a girlfriend!”

I smile half-heartedly at that comment.

“So did he.”

I reply calmly, backing away slightly to throw the fag away.

“Why didn’t you back away?”

I shrug.

“I don’t know. Part of me is agreeing with you. Part of me doesn’t care.”

Elijah hit me. Hard.

“That was low man. Really low. You know he really loved her.”

I laugh at this inane statement.

Of course I knew they were in love! I could see it the way they moved together. The way that they held hands and talked to each other.

I wasn’t oblivious. I wasn’t stupid.

That was why I hadn’t made any actual overtures towards Billy.

The problem was that he could see how much in love I am with him.

He didn’t want to see me hurting that badly.

That was pretty much our downfall.

His kindness.

He was just being kind to me. He just wanted to ease my loneliness and my pain.

Neither of us thought it was going to go anywhere.

After all, we were friends. Everyone knew that.

There was nothing else to explain.

Then a drunken night led to a bout of hysterical crying. Drunk comfort, which went from innocent embraces and hair stroking to all-out kisses and clothes being ripped off and the inevitable end of clumsy, passionate, almost brutal sex in a stranger’s bed.

We thought it would be the only time.

But only once became once more. Twice more. Then once a month. Once a week. Every other day.

I got talks. I got dirty looks. Lectures on how little morals I had from a bonafide hedonist.

And yet everyone missed the point.

I love Billy. I’m not carrying on with him because I’m spiteful.

I knew what would happen if we kept it up.

Part of the reason why I put an ocean between us.

But despite making such a difficult sacrifice, I’m still treated with thinly veiled contempt.

Still seen as the predator, even though there’s no one to blame.

I thought it honestly would all go away.

That my body would stop being lonely for him. That I would find someone else to ease the ache.

I thought I was close to reaching that when Billy showed up on my door-step.

Unshaven, wearing the same clothes for four days.

Seeking solace in my arms.

And Elijah was right there and saw it all.

“Shit man. Some friend you turned out to be.”

He tells me, breaking my ruminations.

I look at him and shrug.

He shakes his head at me and I’m tempted to yell “You’re not my dad!” before stomping off into my house and letting Billy stroke my head and talk me out of my mood.

I knew it was going to happen. I had seen it happen to many others.

There’s contempt. Veiled scorn. Ended friendships.

All because the circumstances were wrong and two people fell in love when they weren’t supposed to.

Even though two people fell in love, one will always get labelled as the seducer.

I know that. And it hurts knowing that is my place in the scheme of things.

I can’t fight it. Nor is it a fight I can win.

That’s why I look at Elijah and say nothing that will make me vulnerable or implicate me in anyway.

There’s enough of a mess already.

That’s why I don’t do it.

I just turn and walk away, silently congratulating myself on my seeming nonchalance and pose.

A pose that will crumble once I shut the door behind me.

A pose I will have to rebuild every time I exit my house.

A pose they expect of me.

Especially now that I’m the other man.

Something that no one will forgive me for.

End.