Impermanent New Zealand

DISCLAIMER: Not mine, no harm intended, no profit made.


Impermanent New Zealand

Orlando awoke with a jolt, his body tensing in the semi-dark hotel room. Thoroughly disoriented, he tried to look around and figure out what was going on, but he couldn’t see. It was still night out and the curtains were doing a pretty decent job of blocking out most of L.A.’s lights.

It couldn’t be time to get up yet, could it? He felt like he’d only been asleep an hour, and glancing at the alarm clock, he realized why. It was 4:56. He had only been asleep an hour.

It wasn’t that he’d meant to stay up half the night talking to Viggo, but it had been so long since they’d gotten a chance to really sit down and have a decent conversation, he wasn’t about to skip out because he needed sleep. And he’d still left the party before the Hobbits, who had been playfully fighting over what music to torture the crowd with next.

God, he’d missed them. He’d missed everyone. It was too bad that they didn’t have a chance to get together more often, but it was difficult to figure out how to make their schedules match. His schedule in particular was a disaster these days, not to mention it was also the reason he was supposed to be sleeping right now so he wouldn’t feel completely knackered when he had to board the plane tomorrow.

Make that today, he realized with a sigh.

He had to get back to sleep, but he wouldn’t be able to do that until he figured out what had woken him up in the first place.

Slowing down his breathing, which remained rapid from when he’d been startled awake, he stilled his body and listened. Having grown used to strange noises of unfamiliar places, that he had woken up at all meant something wasn’t right, but he didn’t know what.

Then he heard it--a scratching at his door followed by the hiss of a keycard as it slid in and out of the lock. The person on the other side tried the handle, and when the door didn’t give, the metal was rattled with annoyance. Vigorous swearing accompanied this sound, followed by several hard kicks, and Orlando couldn’t help but grin. He knew the voice that belonged to the swearing and, reluctantly dragging himself out from between the haven of warm sheets, he shuffled over to the door.

“Sblomie, just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“What the fuck am I doing? What about you? What the fuck are you doing in my room?” Dom countered, gray eyes focusing on him with difficulty.

Of course the Hobbit was completely pissed--who wouldn’t be after the night they’d had? But that he was so drunk he couldn’t even remember his room? Orlando chuckled--now that was just sad.

“Dom, this is my room. Your room is two doors down.”

“It is?” His forehead wrinkled with confusion, and Orlando nodded slowly.

“Yes, Dominic, it is.”

The gray eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Oh.” Dominic looked down the hall to his left, and then to his right. “Where am I again?”

Rolling his eyes, Orlando sighed. “Wait here,” he said, disappearing into his room to grab his keycard, then returned to the swaying Hobbit. “Come on, Sblomie. I think I’d better tuck you into bed.”

“I don’t need tucked into bed,” Dominic grumbled as he started off down the hall. “‘m not five.”

“Of course you’re not. And your bed’s this way,” Orlando grinned, taking Dominic by the arm and turning him in the right direction. Walking quietly past the room between theirs, he took the key from his incapacitated friend’s hand and inserted it into the lock. Withdrawing the card, the panel lit up with a green light and Orlando pushed the door open.

“Come on in,” Orlando said, gesturing for the Hobbit to go inside.

Bleary eyes watching him suspiciously, Dom walked into the room and looked around. “Hey, this is nice.”

Orlando bit back a smile, closing the door behind them. He wasn’t about to leave the Hobbit on his own, not yet. “They’re all like this, Dom. It’s a hotel.”

“Right. Fuck. For a moment, I thought I was rich and famous and finally had some decent digs. But I guess that’s just you,” he muttered as he stumbled towards the bed.

Arching an eyebrow, Orlando briefly wondered what was going through his friend’s mind, then decided it was just the usual drunken nonsense. Or at least, he hoped that’s what it was.

“Sit down, Sblomie, and let’s get your shoes off,” he said, gently pushing the Hobbit down into a sitting position, then kneeling on the floor next to him. Pulling at the black dress shoes adorning Dominic’s feet, he glanced up at his friend to see the gray eyes watching him, their gaze calculating, uncertain. Not knowing what to think about this, Orlando concentrated on the shoes instead. “So, where’s Billy and Lighe? Still partying?”

“Nah. We crashed in Elijah’s room for a bit, but then he and Billy passed out, so I kind of wandered around till I found your room.” Dominic looked around him, and frowned. “Orli, what are my things doing in your room?”

“This is your room, remember?” he asked, grinning up at the drunken man.

“Oh. Right. Gotcha. For a minute there, I thought you wanted to follow up on that kiss.”

Orlando’s eyebrows shot up into his forehead and he let Dominic’s feet fall to the floor with a ‘thump’.

“What was that?”

“You know, the kiss, from the premiere.” Dominic let himself fall back onto the bed, his arms crossed over his chest. “I mean, I know we agreed that what happens in New Zealand, stays in New Zealand, and that since this isn’t New Zealand, I knew I was breaking the rules, but I had to kiss you.”

“Oh, you did, did you?” he asked, trying to contain his amusement.

“Of course. I had to kiss you because I hated you.”

Momentarily stunned, Orlando fell back onto the floor. This couldn’t be drunken Hobbit talk, not anymore. Even though intoxicated, Dom sounded quite lucid. “You hated me?”

“Absolutely loathed you. Felt sick at the very sight of you. If we’d been near traffic, I would have pushed you in front of a car.”

“Dom, are you serious?”

“Yes,” he answered without a hint of hesitation.

“Oh.” Feeling a headache starting behind his eyes, Orlando swallowed hard past the lump in his throat. Dominic hated him. His friend, his sometimes companion and sometimes other things, couldn’t stand him. Not that they didn’t have their bad moments--even friends could get annoyed with each other at times--but Orlando had always felt the good times made those irrelevant. Now it seemed like he was the only one. Dom actually hated him.

“I think I should go,” he said in a small voice, pushing himself on unsteady legs to his feet.

“You can stay if you want,” Dom shrugged.

“Stay in a room with someone who hates me. Right,” he said, not bothering to contain the bitterness in his voice.

Leaning up on his forearms, Dominic turned troubled eyes on his friend. “What are you talking about? I don’t hate you.”

“You just said, quite clearly, I might add, that you hated me.”

“Right. Hated. As in past tense. I don’t hate you anymore.”

“How reassuring.”

Now it was Dominic’s turn to roll his eyes. “Orlando, sit down,” he said, patting the spot on the bed next to him.

Eyeing the spot warily, Orlando shook his head.

“Look, you barmy Elf, sit your arse down before I tie you to the bed.”

Uncertain as to whether or not Dom was drunk enough to try and go through with it, Orlando sat on the mattress, but left at least two feet of space between himself and the Hobbit. He stared at his hands, suddenly missing his rings. His hands felt too light without them and he needed weight right now, something to act as an anchor because he felt as if he had just been hit by a hurricane.

After all, it wasn’t every day he discovered one of his best friends hated him.

“I don’t hate you, Orli,” Dom said, scooting over. “It wasn’t really you, anyway. It was me.”

Orlando didn’t say anything. He just played with the ghost rings on his fingers.

“Look, the thing is, I’ve been kind of down lately, and then I see your face abso-fucking-lutely everywhere, and I can’t help it. Seeing you just made things worse. I mean, look at you!” Dom jumped up from the bed and started pacing the room, his hands flying everywhere as he tried to express the emotions behind the words. “You're beautiful, you’re talented, and your career--it's fucking incredible how fast you’re moving. You’ve had more offers over the past year than I’ll probably have in my entire lifetime. And it’s wonderful--you're my friend, and you deserve it, but I can’t help feeling a little. . . I don’t know, jealous.”

“Dom—” Orlando began, but the gray eyes stopped him, and he closed his mouth to wait in silence.

“And of course there are the others--the ones like Viggo and Billy who have several talents to fall back on, or Elijah and his amazing bouncing ability, and Sean has his family and directing. I see you, I see them, and all I can think is that my life is a disaster, that I’m going to be fucking Merry for the rest of my fucking existence. And at first, I resented it, but now it’s just made me more determined not to be Merry forever, to find my place and prove there’s more to me than just a Hobbit.”

The young man slumped down in a chair, his sudden burst of energy fully exhausted. Orlando stood up and knelt down beside him, taking Dominic’s hands in his.

“Dom, there’s always been more to you than just a Hobbit. You’re the wild card, the wit, the caustic brains. You’re the one who has the best stories, who does the best impressions, and you have this amazing talent to see things, just ordinary things, and make them spectacular. God, if you only knew how much I envy you. All this crap,” he shrugged, looking around him, “it doesn’t mean anything. Don’t be jealous of it. Be happy you’re not under such intense scrutiny that sometimes you don’t even know who you are anymore. You may be Merry, but at least you’re not a shadow.”

He said these last words with his eyes facing the floor, his voice little more than a whisper, as if he wasn’t sure he’d wanted anyone to hear them, himself included.

“Orlando, the last thing you have to worry about is being a shadow,” Dom said, reaching out to touch the slightly-scruffy jaw. “That’s why I kissed you tonight. The pictures, the fans, the attention--when I saw you making your way down the carpet, laughing, grinning, chattering like a squirrel on speed, and doing all of it with the same stunned look on your face that I remember from the very first Fellowship premiere in Wellington, I realized you are still you, in spite of everything. You truly haven’t changed Orlando, just your situation, which makes it impossible for me to hate you. Seeing you being you made me feel like me again. And so I kissed you, to show you how much I love you, and to show you how thankful I am that you’re my friend.”

“Not nearly as thankful as I am,” Orlando smiled, taking Dom’s hand and kissing it, relieved that the sudden hurricane in his life had subsided, leaving little damage behind. “Now, are you ready to get some sleep? Because my ‘situation’ has me on a plane in five hours, and I want to spend at least two of those five sleeping.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah,” Dom said with a crooked grin and an ear-popping yawn, “I think I could use some sleep myself right about now. Want to stay? I’ll even risk a wake-up call so I can have a chance to say good-bye.”

Orlando looked into his friend’s gray eyes and smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Good. Now for the real reason I asked you to stay--help me get these clothes off because my fingers no longer appear to be attached to my body.”

Laughing, Orlando helped him up and, with only minor incidences in which balance was missing, he managed to get Dominic into bed. After placing a call to the front desk, he crawled under the covers next to the Hobbit.

No--not a Hobbit, he reminded himself. He’d have to get used to that. If Dommie didn’t want to be thought of as only Merry, he’d have to respect his desire and stop referring to him as a Hobbit.

But that was going to take some work, since he was a Hobbit. Elijah, Dom, Billy, Sean--they were all Hobbits, and until now, Orli never thought of it as something that held them back. He’d always thought being a Hobbit made them stronger--but maybe that only worked when they were together. When they were apart, it probably would be easier for them all to be thought of as individuals.

Did the others know how Dom felt? Had Dom shared any of this with Billy? What about Lighe and Sean? Or was he the only one who knew? The honorary Hobbit who wasn’t a true Hobbit after all. Maybe that’s why Dom had confessed to him.

“Orli, would you stop thinking? It’s making my head pound.”

Orlando smiled. “Sorry, Sblomie.”

The mattress bounced as Dom rolled over. “Want to talk about it?”

“Nah,” he shrugged, then took a deep breath. “You know, it’s not such a bad thing, being Merry. He’s smart, funny, bold, brave, generous, good-hearted, everything a person should want to be.”

“I know,” Dom said a little wistfully, “and I love the guy, I do. Hell, sometimes I wish I were more like him, but I’m not, and if I’m going to survive in this world, I need to be Dominic Monaghan, not Meriadoc Brandybuck.”

The mattress bounced as Orlando rolled over. “But it’s nice, isn’t it, having them to fall back on? I mean, whenever life gets a little too stressed, I can call on Legolas and he helps me out. He throws a sense of calm over things.”

“And I like having Merry around to lighten things up a bit, to give me some perspective, but I’m not him.”

“No, you’re not,” Orlando smiled, resting his forehead against his friend’s. “You’re definitely Dominic, and you’ll always be Sblomie.”

“Thanks, I think,” he grinned, and looking at that crooked grin, Orlando sighed.

“I wish we were in New Zealand.”

“Yeah, me too. It was great being back there with everyone again, don’t you think?”

“It was brilliant. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but that’s not the reason why I wish we were there.”

“So what is?”

His brown eyes gleaming in the pale light, Orlando wetted his lips. “What happens in New Zealand stays in New Zealand.”

Instantly catching the meaning behind the reference, Dominic grinned. “You pervy Elf. I’d forgotten what a prick tease you are.”

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged, chuckling, “it’s like you said--I'm still me.”

“So am I.”

Orlando’s eyes widened as he found his mouth covered by Dominic’s. It was a gentle kiss, questioning, and Orlando quickly answered, regressing back to the time they had supposedly left behind in New Zealand in which they were more than just friends. Their kisses were quiet, a loving exploration of each other, a remembered feeling of how things used to be. He felt the soft warmth of Dominic’s tongue flicking over his lips and he opened his mouth, allowing Dom to enter.

He brushed his tongue against Dom’s, over Dom’s, around Dom’s, allowing Dom to control the kiss, but wanting to taste as much of him as he could. The Hobbit tasted the same as he did three years ago, the same as he did that evening, and it warmed him to know that underneath it all, Dom also hadn’t changed.

When Dom pulled away and Orlando whimpered, the Hobbit chuckled, brushing the curls away from Orlando’s face.

“Are you sure you want to continue this? After all, you do have to--”

Unable to believe what Dominic was proposing, Orlando cut him off with a brutal kiss. “Shut up, Merry.”

“Ooo. . . you’re asking for it, Legs,” Dom growled, pushing Orlando onto his back and throwing a leg over the other man. He pinned the Elf to the bed, and grinned. “You always did look good from this angle.”

“You’d know. So, are you going to look at me all night, or are you going to fuck me?”

He cocked his head, studying Orlando. “I don’t know. You’re awfully nice to look at.”

“Sblomie, you’ve got five seconds—”

“Five? Isn’t that a long time?”

“Four. . . three. . .”

Dominic rapidly put an end to the countdown, kissing him and lowering himself onto the lean torso, their bodies rubbing against each other.

The needful moan that filled the room could have been from either of them as hardened cock met hardened cock.

“Oh, god, Dommie,” Orlando gasped, wrapping his legs around the shorter man and holding him close. “It’s been too long.”

“I know,” Dom said, pulling Orlando’s shirt over his head and latching into a nipple. “Missed you, prissy Elf.”

Orlando’s answer was garbled, his body shuddering at the hot tongue that massaged the stiffening nub, at the teeth that grazed over the sensitive skin.

“Dominic. . .” he pleaded and the younger man laughed.

“Such a needy little Elf,” he said, sliding a hand into Orlando’s boxers. “Oh, wait, I forgot--such a needy ‘big’ Elf.”

With a chuckled moan, Orlando ran his hands through Dominic’s blond hair, twining his fingers in the longish dyed strands. “And if this needy Elf is going to fit a rather nicely-sized Hobbit inside of him, you’re going to have to get busy.”

“Right away, Master Elf,” Dom grinned, reaching over to open the drawer of the bedside table, and Orlando arched an eyebrow.

“Expecting company, were you?”

“A man’s got to be prepared, what with all the rabid and willing fans just dying to be taken advantage of.”

“So why aren’t you here with one of them?” Orlando asked, and Dominic gave him a pointed look.

“I didn’t want to be with them.”

His already flushed cheeks growing even more pink, Orlando returned Dominic’s pointed look. “But you didn’t know you wanted to be with me until you stumbled into my room by accident.”

“Indeed,” Dominic said, using Gandalf’s best ambiguously innocent voice, and Orlando laughed.

“Enough with the mind games, Hobbit. You’re the only one who knows what’s going on in that twisted head of yours. And while I’ll always respect you for your mind,” he continued with a mischievous twinkle in his brown eyes, “right now, it’s your body I want.”

“And my body definitely wants you,” Dom grinned as Orlando stripped him of his clothes while he diverged the Elf of his boxers. He paused for a moment, staring at the tanned body spread out before him, and his voice lowered a little, filling with awe. “God, Orli, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you like this. I’d forgotten how beautiful you are.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Orlando said, running his fingers over the well-defined muscles of Dominic’s stomach and chest, sliding his fingertips through the smattering of fine hair around his nipples. “I could spend the rest of the night just kissing every inch of you, making you come over and over again by licking that beautiful skin without ever touching your cock. I don’t think you realize just how handsome you are, how sexy, how utterly perfect—”

Dominic, not wanting Orlando to see the emotions in his eyes, swiftly silenced him with a kiss.

Their bodies rubbed against each other while their hands dipped in and out, over and under, around and against until their cocks dripping with eagerness.

“Dommie!” Orlando gasped, guiding him towards his entrance. “You’ve gotta do it now--I'm not going to last much longer.”

“But you’re not—”

“Dom,” he said through gritted teeth, “do you think I’m a monk when all of you aren’t around? Throw some lube on that thing and let’s go.”

Laughing at the Elf’s complete lack of decorum, Dom slid on the condom and coated the latex with lubricant. He tried to be gentle as he eased inside, but Orlando was having none of that. Lifting his hips, Orlando pressed Dominic to him, practically forcing himself on the Hobbit.

“Fuck, Orli!” he panted, nearly going blind as Orlando’s tight body clamped around him. “Are you sure you’re not a monk?”

“Positive,” Orlando answered, his back arching as Dominic moved inside of him, whimpers of pleasure passing from his lips. “Harder, Dommie. More. Need more. Almost there.”

Dominic obliged, thrusting deeper into the body below him until Orlando’s breaths turned into cries as he hit the Elf’s sweet spot. Practically bursting with pride that he was able to cause such pleasure in his friend, Dominic kissed him as he fucked him even harder.

Orlando was nearly screaming as the Hobbit came into contact with every sensitive part of him, Dominic’s chest brushing against his nipples, his tongue tickling against the roof of his mouth, the smooth abdomen trapping his cock against his stomach, and Dominic’s hard shaft slamming against his prostate with every stroke. Finally, he couldn’t hold back any longer and came in violent spurts between them, screaming Dominic’s name into the other man’s mouth.

Even as he felt Orlando’s body going slack around him, Dominic continued to thrust, wanting to prolong the feeling of having Orlando surrounding him. He claimed the Elf’s lips once more, relishing the hungry slide of Orlando’s tongue against his. Finally, his adoration of the being in his arms demanded expression and he came, his orgasm pulsing through them both.

Orlando’s hands stroked his back, easing the waves of pleasure that possessed his body. Slowly, Dominic found the strength to withdraw and collapsed at the Elf’s side, feeling completely and happily drained.

“Geez, Merry, was that the best you could do?”

The gray eyes focused on the grinning face as Dominic gave him a dirty look. “Next time, prissy Elf, you can go fuck yourself.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” Orlando chuckled while wrapping his arms around Dom, “but I think we both prefer this.”

“I know I do,” he said, reaching for a kiss. “Thank you, Orli, for being my friend.”

“No thanks needed,” he smiled as the Hobbit snuggled against him. “But next time you decide to hate me, let me know, okay? Because if you’re going to hate me, I want a chance to hate you back.”

“And when I decide I no longer hate you?” he asked, peering through the darkness to meet the shining brown eyes.

“Give me a call, and I’ll stop hating you.”

“You’ve got a deal,” Dom grinned, closing his eyes and resting his head on Orlando’s shoulder. “But I’ll never truly hate you, you know.”

“I do now,” he said softly, kissing Dominic’s blond head. “Gonna miss you, Sblomie.”

“Miss you, too,” Dom murmured sleepily right before he drifted off to sleep.

Though he knew he should use the remaining two hours to try and get some rest, Orlando found that sleep eluded him. His mind was too busy imprinting on his memory the feeling of Dom in his arms and trying to work out when he could see his friends again. As always, it would be too long, so he stayed awake and enjoyed what little time he had left. When the phone rang for their wake-up call, Dominic was barely able to nudge himself into consciousness, but Orli didn’t mind. Sharing one final kiss, they said good-bye and Orlando left their impermanent New Zealand behind.


[Completed December 16, 2003]