Christmas Presence

by Lady Moonray*

Dom is asleep. OK, his head is pounding and his teeth itch, and something definitely died inside his mouth last night. But he's asleep. Yes. And as for the person who's just slipped into his room and sat down on the bed: well, that person can just fuck off again.

A theatrical whisper; "Dom, wake up. It's Christmas day, and I want my present. "

It's Elijah, so Dom opens his eyes. Oops. Big mistake. Turning over isn't a good idea either. Ouch.

"Lij, please. Turn the light off, I feel like shit. And it's your fault."

"My fault? How do you work that out? I wasn't the one who drank that weird stuff in the bar last night. What was it again, that icky fruit liqueur?"

At least he's turned out the light. Perhaps Dom can open his eyes now. He tries it, and it's not too bad. Until he turns his head to follow Lij as he walks back to the bed. Fuck, this is not good at all. Not with Christmas day to deal with.

"I have no idea what it was, but I do know that if I ever see any again I'll throw up on the spot. And you can't have your present yet, because Billy has it. It's a joint present from both of us.

By the way, what the fuck are you wearing? Those pyjamas cannot be real."

The pyjamas are tartan, and so loud they're hurting Dom's head even though he can barely see them. What is Elijah playing at, coming in here with such instruments of torture? Especially when it's all his fault anyway? And now he's pouting. That really shouldn't be legal, for Lij to do that. Better distract him quick.

"Get into bed will you, it's cold and I really can't look at those pyjamas any longer."

"No, I want you to open your present first. Even if you haven't got mine here, you bastard."

Dom sits up with a groan, and takes the heavy parcel from Lij. It's really neatly wrapped, not like Lij's handiwork at all. Maybe Liv helped out. She's like that, a young version of mother hen. The wrapping is clever - one pull on the ribbon bow and it all comes apart. Dom briefly considers keeping the wrapping paper, then remembers he never needs to behave like that again. God bless Peter Jackson.

Inside is a thick book - a very familiar one. It's a beautiful leather bound copy of the Rings trilogy, with gold lettering on the black cover. Opening it slowly, Dom reads the inscription; "For Dom. With love from Elijah." The paper is wafer-thin, very fragile, and the print is tiny and very ornate.

He looks up with a grin.

"It's perfect. Thanks, Lij, I love it."

"There's another part to your present, too." Whispered in Dom's ear from behind. Elijah has slipped into the bed, and he's pressed up against Dom. This is weird.

Dom puts the book carefully on the floor, not wanting it to get creased.

Now there's a hand sliding round Dom's waist. Dom sleeps in a t-shirt and nothing else, and he's really confused about this. Why is Elijah touching him there? Wait, though. It's actually quite nice.

Dom decides he must be dreaming - Lij must have gone away and left him to sleep. He snuggles down comfortably, determined that he's going to enjoy this dream. It's the first pleasant one he's had in ages. Usually he dreams about blue screens and Dick Taylor's incomprehensible accent. This film is going to take some getting over.

Dom knows for sure that he's not awake, because if he was, this wouldn't be happening. Elijah is fascinated by girls (though he's finding it difficult to do anything much about it at the moment), and Dom still isn't over his new-found pulling power. But this is a dream, and Dom can enjoy it if he wants to.

He's very hard now. He's not sure what dream-Elijah's doing with his thumb, but it feels amazing and he hopes it won't stop any time soon. Though actually Dom thinks he's going to come pretty quickly. It's all so nice - it's Christmas day, it's warm and cosy here, he's had a nice present from Lij and now he's dreaming that Lij is touching him, featherlight and fantastic.

Sometimes it's difficult to find the energy for an orgasm, but this one is going to be so easy and relaxed that energy is not important. Gentle, clever fingers have stopped teasing now, and Dom feels the shudder building in him. He comes with a gasp, rolling onto his front and burying his head in the pillow. God, that was nice.

He'll deal with the mess later. He's slipping back into sleep now.

****************************************************

Beep.Beep.Beep.Beep. There's an insistent noise right in his ear. Dom wakes reluctantly. Head still pounding, teeth resolutely itching, and yes, mouth still tasting foul.

He slides reluctantly out of bed, and stumbles into the shower. He has to sit down under it - his head won't take the proximity to the blasting water. He sits there for ages, until the water's going cold and he has to wash quickly to avoid a shock from freezing water.

He gets out and dresses quickly - apparently he's alone in the house. He isn't surprised; Lij must have gone home to get ready. Dom knows he's not pleasant when hung over, so he doesn't blame his friend in the least.

There's more beeping - it's Billy in the car, waiting to take him to Christmas lunch. Grabbing the bag of presents he'd prepared last week, Dom shoots out of the door and starts running to the car. It's all a bit painful though, and he has to slow down. Sliding into the car, he gives Billy a big grin, but does it carefully and without turning his head.

"Rough night then?"

Billy stayed in last night, wrapping presents and listening to bad Christmas songs. Or so he says.

"Umm, yeah. Close encounter with some weird sticky stuff." Dom knows better than to expect sympathy from Billy. He's a firm believer in suffering hangovers in silence - and gets plenty of practice at it himself.

They've arrived. Dom walks gingerly up the path, and into the warm house. Everyone's here, and Kieran's rounding them all up for drinks. He lets himself be bullied into place - there's no point resisting when Kieran takes charge.

Lij is here, grinning broadly at Dom's ginger steps.

"Thanks for the book Lij, it's wonderful."

Elijah looks taken aback. "How did you know that's what I bought you? I tried to keep it secret!"

Dom is confused. He blinks at Lij, but his brain can't deal. "Very funny" he mutters, and flops down next to his friend on the sofa.

"Well, as you know what it is I might as well give you this." Elijah produces a package from a bag at his side - it's all fastened up again now.

Dom decides to humour him. He takes the package, pulls the bow, and again the paper comes right off with the ribbon. He looks up at Lij and says "Thanks again, mate. I really do love it."

He opens the cover to look at the inscription again. Same curly writing, same place on the page. "For Merry. With love from Frodo."

His poor brain can't cope. Dom drops the book, takes a deep breath, and hurries to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Elijah takes pity. He follows his friend to the window, and touches his arm. "I'm sorry, that was supposed to freak you out, but I didn't mean it to work quite that well. What can I do to make it up to you?"

Dom decides that one fairly quick.

"What about the other part of my present?"

He nearly keels over when Elijah grins at him brightly.

"Sure, but not here. Let's go upstairs.."