Title: The Rising Tide
Author: Kia
Author's Email: lychelle@mindspring.com
Pairing: Dominic Monaghan/Elijah Wood
Rating: NC-17
Summary: One early Sunday morning on the beach...
Disclaimer: None of this is true.

***

Finally.

His ballpoint pen still touching the page, Dom looked up from the book
cradled in his lap and closed his eyes.

Seagulls screeched.

Waves rolled, curled and broke.

Water lapped at the shore.

And that was all.  Finally.

Opening his eyes, he looked from the bright rippling reflection down to the
half-filled page.  The pen moved easily over the paper as he wrote about his
love of the beach, especially in the morning.  The smells, the sounds.

.flip-flops trudging along the sand, slapping against someone's heels.

Dom tightened his grip on the pen, pressed the tip a little harder onto the
page, and wrote faster.  Something about the ocean, something clichéd about
the tide, but it was *something* to make him look busy.

A hand clamped onto his shoulder, using it as leverage, and Dom was no
longer alone on his towel.

The person was silent, and that narrowed the field to three or four people.
Some would have spoken up long before they reached him, some just wouldn't
have been up that early and another few would have already dropped their
surfboard onto the sand.

Dom, in mid-thought, or at least pretending to be, slowed down, re-traced
his last word, re-dotted his 'i''s as he neared the end of the page.  It was
silly to act that way, a little puerile, perhaps, but Dom wasn't in the mood
for company.

When cool skin touched his forearm, he stopped his tracing and stared at the
darkly inked sentence.  A hand covered the bottom of the page, just as a
breeze threatened to lift it, flattening the page.  Fingers, nails.

"I agree with this," Elijah said, his words stretching into a long yawn. "'
Scuse me."

From the corner of his eye, Dom saw the slow nodding of Elijah's head.
Taking a quiet but deep breath, he told himself to simply treat it as any ot
her day, to just deal with it.  "You're reading my journal."

"You're letting me."

There was nothing to see really.  Not on *that* page.  No embarrassing
moments, shocking revelations, declarations of love for a certain cast
member--the one whose arm happened to be resting on his thigh.  "Is it what
you expected?"

"Well." Elijah's knee knocked lightly against Dom's.  ".I think I expected
to see sketches of naked women, possibly with Liv's head on them.or whoever
you might be seeing now."

Dom wrestled with the urge to analyse those words.

"Or, Cate," Elijah added.

"Uhm, no.  But I do have Orli's head on one of them."

"Oh, God!"  Elijah snatched his hand from the journal.  "I did *not* need to
know that."

Dom, of course, had never drawn such a thing, but he fingered the left page
as if he were going to flip it.  As long as their conversation could remain
light and non-personal, he'd be just fine.  "What's wrong? Oh, it's too
early to be thinking about Orli with tits and a-"

"I'm ignoring you," Elijah said loudly.  He reached over again and tapped a
finger on the page, pointing to a sentence mid-way down.  "This is really
true.  Never thought about it before."

"I used to think it was barmy to write this kind of stuff.  The waves,
seabirds, colours of the sunrise, and all of that-" Dom's head tipped to the
side, Elijah's head having fallen heavily against it.  Warm breath gusted
over his ear, silencing his forthcoming complaint.

"I'm so fucking tired."

Hairs tickled Dom's ear, and he wanted to swat them away.  But it would have
meant touching Elijah's hair, touching him.   "Go back to bed, mate."

Elijah shook his head, shaking Dom's with it.  "Nah, if I sleep in, I'll be
hella miserable tomorrow morning."

"Then stop yawning on me." The weight lifted from his head, and he was aware
of Elijah's shoulder still leaning against him.  Something told him not to
look, his brain most probably, and they were words of reason that Dom
suddenly chose to ignore.

Blue eyes sleepily peeked through lashes, dark and long.  Longer than usual.
Dom *knew* those lashes, had practically counted them once while Elijah was
sleeping.

"Well," Elijah said.

"What?" In response, Dom only received a look, the kind of look that had
caused him to forget his own name, at times.  One of those times, Peter had
resorted to asking Billy to 'snap Dom out it.'  The break-up, as Elijah
preferred to call it, had taken care of that little problem.  It was
supposed to have, anyway.

"Well." Elijah leaned in further, their shoulders pressed tighter, his face
nearer, near enough for Dom to almost reflexively close his eyes.

'Don't,' was the word Dom grasped for, but then he had no need of it.

Elijah yawned, a smile already forming before he closed his mouth and moved
his head away.

Dying eagerness mixed with rising bitterness, and Dom looked down at the pen
in his hand, turning it between his fingers.  It was typical Elijah, he
should have known better.  Young, playful, experimenting Elijah.  Dom
repeated it to himself, steering clear of crueller words.  "Thanks," he
muttered, unsure if it was audible, but not caring.  "Especially for
brushing your teeth."

"My pleasure," Elijah laughed lightly. "I haven't even had my morning cig,
yet."

And so it would have been the *best* time to kiss him; Dom hated how those
thoughts would sneak up on him.  "Yeah."  Lifting the book from his lap, he
closed it and set it on top of the small duffel bag next to him.

"You're leaving?"

Dom couldn't see a reason to stay.  He couldn't look at Elijah, had nothing
left to say to him--nothing nice, nothing that would keep them on good
terms.  And that tension would surely overflow onto the set, causing rifts,
affecting the friendship between the hobbits.  He couldn't stay, he couldn't
just sit there, and small talk seemed impossible.  What was he supposed to
do, ask about her?

"Dom, I-"

"So how's it going with her?" Dom clenched his fist around the thin plastic
in his hand.  "Uh, never mind."  Running out of additional ways to call
himself a stupid idiot for opening his mouth, Dom flipped the pen into the
air and caught it with one hand as it fell back to his lap, before tossing
it up again.

"I was already going to answer that question."

Caught.  "Oh?" And it was in the air again.

"Yeah.  It's not working out."

The pen hit the back of Dom's hand, leaving a squiggly blue line, before it
landed onto the towel.  "Oh?"

"Yeah."

He remembered all of the fuss about 'cool waitress chick', the fuss that
Elijah had apparently shared with everyone *before* Dom.  "So, uhm.no
fireworks there? Earth didn't move for you and all that?  No pistons
overheating and-"

"You're still."

Dom looked up and saw a smile on Elijah's face--of all things.

".angry with me.  You are, aren't you?" The 'I told you so' in Elijah's
voice was unmistakeable.

"What, because you slept with me and told me that you wanted to be with me
and then started dating someone else behind my back? No, not angry at all."
Dom was surprised by how calmly the words came out, so surprised that he
considered saying more.

"Dom-"

"Life *does* go on for those of us who were dumped for the next flavour of
the month, you know? I was sitting here alone, writing about the fucking
beach, and the birds, and its many wondrous seashells!  So, of course, I'm
not fucking angry, Elijah!"

Elijah put his hand on Dom's shoulder.  "I didn't come here to fight."

"Oh! Now I get it. You just fucking-" Seeing Elijah wince at his words, at
the volume of his voice, Dom quieted himself and got up from the towel.  He
wasn't running away from the anger flowing through him, he was running away
before it could pass.  Before a word, or even a blink, from Elijah could
change his mind.  Before the thought of being with Elijah again actually
sounded like a good idea.

"Can I just talk with you for a-"

"You've come out here looking for me so that I can replace your little
girlfriend now.  Because you're suddenly into men again, right?" Dom grabbed
his bag and slung it over his shoulder.  "I can't believe you expected me to
fall for that."

"No." Elijah got up onto one knee, putting a foot on the towel.

"Don't bother, Elijah.  Thanks for ruining what *could* have been a good
morning.  I appreciate it." Dom started to walk up the beach.

"You forgot something."

 "I don't care about the sodding towel!" Dom yelled, over his shoulder.  He
couldn't deny the pleasure he got out of turning his back on Elijah.  It
wasn't revenge, necessarily, but it felt damn good.

"What about your journal?"

Dom stopped and turned around, his mood changing so quickly that he felt
dizzy.  Seeing the book in Elijah's hand, he sighed and began to walk back
towards the shoreline.

"It fell out of your bag," Elijah said, taking a few steps backwards.
"Look, I don't want to read it. I wouldn't do that. I just want you to hear
me out."

When he got close to the towel, Dom stopped and reached for the book.  "If
you don't give that to me right now.."

Elijah backed away.  "I didn't mean to hurt you, but I needed to see if.I
needed to make sure.like a second opinion."

Dom frowned.  "Second opinion?"  He didn't know how Elijah expected that to
make him feel any better.  It was worse.  Ten times worse.  "Give it to me."

"I just want to talk to you first," Elijah said, clutching the book to his
chest.

"I don't want to hear it, Elijah.  Just give me my fucking book!" Dom lunged
towards him, and Elijah turned and ran.  Sprinting after him, Dom grew more
furious.  "This isn't funny!" he snapped, keeping up the chase as Elijah
zigzagged along the sand.  "Stop running, damn it!"

And Elijah did.  "Dom, wait.  Just-"

Unable to slow down in time, Dom unintentionally tackled Elijah, his duffel
falling off his shoulder, spilling its contents next to where they lay
tangled on the sand.  As he took a minute to catch his breath, Dom tried not
to stare at Elijah's open mouth, tried not to feel Elijah's chest rising and
falling against his own.

"I'm sorry."

Dom shook his head and put a hand on the sand so he could move away from
Elijah.  As soon as their chests were separated, he saw the book stuffed
under Elijah's arm and put his hand on it.  He didn't have to tug on it too
hard to realise it was held tightly there.

 "I'm sorry that I hurt you," Elijah continued, still laying on his side.

He didn't know why Elijah bothered.  'Sorry' wasn't what he wanted to hear.
The word meant nothing, it didn't register with him at all.  It was so easy
to ignore.  Taking his hand off of the book, Dom moved away more and sat up.
"Apology accepted," he said, holding out his hand. "Now give it to me."

Elijah looked at Dom's hand as he pulled the book from under his arm.  "You
won't leave?"

"No."  And once the book had touched Dom's hand, he was already getting up.

"You fucking lied to me!"

"*I* lied?"

Elijah reached up for Dom's hand, and lowering back to his knees, Dom let
him take it, squeeze it.  It was strange to watch; it was like begging.
Elijah was begging him to stay.  Dom hadn't put up such a fight when Elijah
told him it was over.  He waited until no one was around to show his anger
and sadness.  He didn't beg for Elijah to stay.

"I made a mistake, Dom. A stupid mistake."

Dom felt his hand squeezed again, then warmth spreading from Elijah's skin
to his own.  He wanted to believe him, but the damage had been done.  There
was already too much mistrust between them.  And what if Elijah decided to
go for a third opinion? "It won't happen again, that's for sure.  Not with
me." Dom tried to pull his hand from Elijah's, but there was a strong tug
downward and he fell forward, dropping the book, his other hand clutching at
the sand.  He was face-to-face with Elijah.

"Please, Dom."

The combination of Elijah's fingers running through his hair and his name on
Elijah's breath made Dom weak.  He could feel it all over his body, all of
it wanting and needing Elijah.

"I did this all wrong. I didn't want you to respond like.*this*."

"How else would I respond?  You throw me away, then want me back, just like
that?  How can you.?"  Dom leaned into the feel of Elijah's lips on his
forehead, into the gentle kiss.  He no longer controlled his body, it
seemed.  The only thing still working for him, and not against him, was his
mouth.  "Stop," he whispered, as the soft kisses moved down the bridge of
his nose and over to his cheek.

"You don't want me to."

Elijah was pushing his luck.  Dom wasn't going to fall for it.  Not again.
No matter how willing Dom's body was to forgive.  "You're fucking
unbelievable," he said, forcing himself to move, raising one of his legs to
get his foot planted on the ground.

"You're incredible," Elijah whispered back. And with a swivel and a push, he
took them both down to the sand.

There were soft kisses all over Dom's face, more lingering kisses, then
Elijah grinding against him.  "Fuck."

"I love you, Dom."

And that was enough.  Dom pushed against Elijah's chest with his hands and
rolled them both over.  "You can't just have me when you think it's
convenient," he said, believing that the innocence and sincerity on Elijah's
face had to be an act.  "I don't want to be another one of your bloody
experiments."

Elijah shook his head, encircling Dom's waist with his arms.  "You feel me,
don't you?"

Dom could feel Elijah's nipples under his hands and Elijah's hardness
against his own.  "What I'm feeling means nothing."

"No, I mean.feel me."

Dom frowned as he lay completely still, staring into Elijah's eyes, hoping
for an explanation.  And then he felt it.  Shaking, vibrations coursing into
his body. Every throb within Elijah's chest, every breath he took, Dom felt
it.  The strength of own desire was suddenly overwhelming.  "I don't know."

"This isn't an experiment," Elijah said, with a honeyed voice, wandering
fingers fanning over Dom's back. "I want to be with you.  Tell me you want
the same." Taking his mouth up to Dom's, Elijah breathed, "Please."

Forgiveness couldn't be that easy.  It couldn't.  Dom didn't think of it as
giving in as he slid his tongue into the pliant mouth beneath him; it was
only a moment of weakness.  Then a moment of coiling tongues and wet,
slippery kisses so urgent they burned.  And another moment where they relied
solely on each other for air as Elijah's fingers delved into the waistband
of Dom's shorts and into his crease.  "Lijah!" His last holdout, his last
bit of strength was gone.

"I missed you, so much," Elijah gasped, his hand moving between their
bodies, then resting on the heat of Dom's cock, and squeezing.

Dom thrust down against him, burying his face against Elijah's neck, his
legs spreading, clasping about Elijah's body.

"Tell me, Dom.  You still haven't."

"No," Dom said, raising his head, "you tell me again.  Tell me that you
truly want this. Us? Because.I do want you.  God, I fucking want you!"

"Yes," Elijah said, his voice more serious and determined than Dom had ever
heard it.  "Yes, this is what I want. You."

Dom put his hands down on the sand, lifting himself from Elijah's body.  He
sat back on his heels, next to Elijah's legs.

"Don't leave."

Dom shook his head and began to unfasten Elijah's shorts.  "I'm not going
anywhere."  He couldn't rationalize what he was doing, what his urges and
lust were making him do.  Curling his fingers around the waistband, he
yanked them down and off Elijah's legs, along with the boxers underneath.
Dom had a word to describe what he saw, but couldn't bring himself to say
it, it was too much.  Leaning forward, he smoothed his fingers over the
creamy whiteness of Elijah's inner thigh.

"Dom," Elijah whimpered.

He inched back a little, before stretching forward to lie between Elijah's
legs.  Grasping the thick curve of Elijah's cock, he licked his lips as he
lowered his mouth to the tip.  Stretching his tongue out, he dabbed it at
the peeking moisture.  Just a taste. "Remember that day.after the first week
of shooting, when we all got drunk?" Dom trailed his tongue up the hard
length.

"Oh!"

"Do you?"

"Shit, Dom!  Um.yeah.  Why?"

"We were playing around, shoving each other, then fell on the couch.and you
looked at me."  It was like reading right from his journal, almost word for
word.  Dom could remember how he sat down to write that particular entry.
"It was like a dream, Lijah.  You looked at me and I was sober.  It was
unreal."

"I wanted you."

Dom looked up and saw Elijah chewing his bottom lip.  "Well, I didn't know
that, at the time. I." He didn't know why he was talking, why he suddenly
felt the need to just say it all.  Without another thought, he closed his
lips around Elijah's cock, sliding them up and down.  And just when Elijah
began to thrust into his mouth, Dom stopped sucking and raised his head
again.  "I thought you were like some beautiful, perfect creature in my
thoughts and it felt wrong to even think about you like I did.  I swear to
God, it felt like I was in hell." As the last word came out of his mouth,
Dom couldn't believe he had said it, that he had told Elijah something so
deeply personal.

"I didn't know," Elijah whispered, his breathing uneven and harsh.

Dom lifted himself from between Elijah's legs and crawled forward.  He
pulled Elijah up and into his arms, pressing his mouth against trembling
lips, finding Elijah's face moist with tears.  It was the last thing he had
ever expected.  "I just wanted you to know how real it was.how real it is
for me," he whispered over Elijah's lips.

"No." Elijah said, pushing a hand against one of Dom's shoulders.

Dom frowned, letting Elijah out of his arms and back down to the sand. "No?"

"I'm not some beautiful, perfect creature.  I'm real, Dom, and I make
fucking mistakes."

All he could do was nod. "You're right."

"Pushing you away was my biggest mistake, my worst mistake, and I'm so-"

"I believe you," Dom said, not wanting to hear another apology.  "I love
you."

"Thank you." Elijah sniffled quietly.

"You're not supposed to thank me for loving you."

"I'm not."

"Then why.oh, Lijah."  How Elijah had opened his shorts without him knowing
was a mystery, but it was one that Dom wasn't particularly interested in
solving.  With his shorts quickly pushed down, he felt Elijah's hips begin
to rock slowly, rubbing their erections together, increasing the pressure.

"Mmm, Dom."

Dom saw movement on either side of him, saw Elijah's knees rising and then
his cock was rubbing against something much lower, much hotter and more
receiving.  "Uhm."

"Do you want to?"

"Not here.  I don't think we should do it here." Even as Dom spoke the
words, he didn't want to move from that spot.

"Why not? You love the beach.  I think it's perfect.  The sound of the
waves, the feel of the sand, you inside me."

"God." It was so tempting.  So very tempting.  And Elijah started rocking
again, every movement bringing Dom closer to wanting to push back, to slide
in.  "Stop." Dom grasped Elijah's hips to still him.  "We don't have
anything to use."

"Nothing?  Nothing at all?"

Dom looked over at the pile of items near his duffel bag.  Lube wasn't one
of them. But. "I have an idea," he said, reaching for a small tube.  He
popped the top off and twisted the base around until it wouldn't twist
anymore.

"Is that Chapstick?" Elijah asked, laughing slightly.

Dom nodded as he crushed the gluey substance with his fingers, softening it,
then dropping the empty tube onto the sand.   He lowered his hand down
between Elijah's thighs, and pushed in with two coated fingers.  Shaking
underneath him, Elijah began a rhythmic moan that Dom could just barely tell
apart from the tide until his fingers pressed further inward and Elijah
shrieked like one of the seagulls.

With Elijah suddenly reaching between them, seemingly desperate to move on,
Dom removed his fingers, held Elijah's thighs and slid himself in.

"Oh, Dom!"

The thickness of the balm made it difficult as first, but once he had begun
to move in and out, picking up speed, the friction and heat took care of
that problem.    Dominic pressed his lips to Elijah's, wrapping his arms
around his trembling body, as he thrust harder.  "You *are* perfect," Dom
groaned, as he felt Elijah's nails trying to claw at his back.

Elijah twisted his head from side to side, moaning and whimpering.

Whether it was a 'no' or not, Dom didn't care.  "You are," he said, lowering
his head to kiss Elijah's lips again.  "God, you are." Closing his eyes with
his mouth pressed against Elijah's, he thrust faster and harder.

"What.what is.oh!"

Dom opened his eyes, confused by what Elijah was saying, then noticed that
the sand was darker and his shorts felt heavy and wet against this skin. But
he couldn't think, could only feel himself inside of Elijah, so warm, so
tight and slick.and wet.  And even as he realised what was happening, he
didn't stop moving, didn't stop moaning Elijah's name.

"Don't stop," Elijah whimpered, his hands pushing at Dom's lower back.

Elijah's hands were on his lower back, pushing, urging him deeper.  And his
hands were cold and wet.  "I'm not. Oh, I'm not.  Close."

For what seemed to be the first time, Dom heard it, the water surging in,
then splashing against them.  And as the water flowed passed them, Dom felt
Elijah arching up against him, no sound coming from his mouth, nothing that
he could hear.  The hands on his back grabbed at his hips tightly, then
loosened, and caressed.

Dom shuddered, still moving inside of him, looking down at Elijah's face,
peaceful and beautiful, his hair floating in short wisps around his head,
his lips moving.  And as the tide ebbed, Dom could finally hear him.

"I want to feel you, Dom.  I want to feel you come."

The words were enough to send a wave through Dom's body, for it to flow
through him, making him feel like part of that ocean.  Then he was coming,
moaning words of love, all that he could do to describe what it felt like to
be so deep in Elijah.

After laying there for minutes, just breathing against Elijah's neck, Dom
raised his head and kissed Elijah slowly and deeply.

"Love you," Elijah said afterwards.

Dom wondered if he was making a mistake.  And as he looked down at the face
he loved, the man he loved, he decided that he would take that risk.  "Love
you, too." Dom smiled and licked his lips, tasting salt.  "Just how far down
the beach did you run?"

"You're the one who chased me, you should know."

Lifting himself up further, Dom looked over at the beach, trying to judge
just how far down they were.  He spotted the towel, several yards away.

"Oh, no!  Your journal," Elijah said, his brow furrowing.  "I'm so sorry."

Dom searched the wet sand around him.  Not seeing his book, he shrugged as
he thought about what was written on those pages--most of it about a month
he'd rather soon forget.  "Doesn't matter. I'll start over.  But I think we
should move now," he said, hearing the gush of water begin to cover the sand
again.

Elijah smiled and didn't move.

"Did you get water in your ears or something?" Dom laughed.  "We should get
up before the tide carries us away."

Shaking his head, Elijah sent ripples through the shallow water.  "Let it,
Dom," he said, pulling Dom back down to him.  "Let it."

***

morning comes in the dream before we rise
when we linger side by side
it's my heart that speaks this time
we will ride the rising tide
- Sunny Day Real Estate

***

The End.