(no subject)

[heroically.livejournal.com]

Title: The List
Author: healingwinds
Pairing: dom/billy
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Don’t own. Not making any money off of this. You know the drill.
AN: Unbeta’d. Mistakes are my own. cross-posted to a few places.
Feedback: is appreciated.



There is a list Billy wrote on the back of a receipt when he was seventeen. It’s not very long and the paper is ripped and worn from years of use, but still he keeps it. He hides it in his sock drawer, under that pair of bright green socks that his sister knit him years ago and never wears.

Every once in a while, though, Billy treads over to his dresser and pulls the slip of paper out, checking off another item…



1. Film a movie

There was a time when Billy wondered how someone could capture beauty on film the way directors did. He wondered where the vision came from, how the inspiration to find the perfect shot developed. As an actor, he could only speculate the answers, trusting the man behind the cameras to turn something as basic as acting into something so wonderful.

The first time Billy picked up a camera was also the last. Dominic was sleeping, curled around himself, when Billy pressed record. When Orlando asked him why he was returning the camera so soon, Billy smiled, “I’ve already made the perfect film, so there’s really no reason to keep it.”

Sometimes, on especially cold nights, Billy plays the tape and falls asleep.



2. Paint a picture

Billy was never good at art. Mediums, techniques, color schemes, and compositions – none of it made any sense to him. If you mentioned his lack of artistic ability, he laugh and shrug like it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of.

There was a time when Billy wanted nothing more than to be able to paint a picture. There was a time when Viggo’s photographs and artwork gathered so much attention, it was almost sickening. There was a time when all Dom could talk about was how much he admired Viggo and his work with the brightest gleam in his eye Billy had ever seen.

There was a time when Billy attempted to paint Dom a picture, because no, he wasn’t jealous of Viggo, he just wanted to do something nice for his mate.

Every time Billy walks past his art hanging in Dom’s home, his heart swells a little.



3. Make a sand castle

On warm summer days, Billy likes to go to the beach. It wasn’t always this way, in fact, he hated the way beaches were always so crowded or desolate and life-less before something inside him changed.

Before Dominic made him a sand castle.

“It’s yours,” he said, brushing the sand off his hands, standing up. “Your dream house. There’s a room for you to drink tea and watch the tide come in every morning, a room to play your guitar without interruption, a room to relax with your favorite book.” He smiled, and Billy couldn’t help but think that Dom’s smile was possibly what he loved most in the world.

“It’s not my dream house,” he said calmly, avoiding the hurt look Dom was surely giving him. “It’s not my dream house because there’s not a room for you.”

The two spent the rest of the day building another.



4. Dance in the rain

It wasn’t supposed to rain that day. The sky was clear and blue one moment until grey overthrew the peace. On days when the rain fell harder than ever before, Billy liked to curl up in a blanket and sip hot tea. But when Dom rushed out the door laughing, arms spread wide, Billy knew that maybe his idea of a good rainy day would change.

When Dom said “Run with me,” Billy didn’t need another invitation.

When Dom said “Dance with me,” Billy didn’t hesitate.

And when Billy said, “Kiss me,” not a second passed before Dom’s lips were on his own.



5. Fall in love

Billy looked at the list and paused. A voice snapped him out of his reverie.

“What are you doing?”

He turned and smiled. “Just finishing up something quick.”

Billy crossed off the last item and jumped back into bed, wrapping his arms around Dom, a smile on his face as he drifted to sleep.