slashababy | Fic: "Every Day Should Be a Holiday" for rane

slashababy-mod.livejournal.com posting in

Title: Every Day Should Be a Holiday
Recipient:

rane_ab
Author:

foxtales
Pairing:: Billy/Dom
Rating:: R for language
Summary:: Billy knew he was in trouble the moment he saw the studied casualness on Professor Tennant's face.
Pre-reveal Notes: An AU set at University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Title by the Dandy Warhols.Post-reveal Notes: Many and repeated thanks to

babydazzle,

rembrandt13 and

reveritas for the last minute betas and hand holding. Y'all are the best! This story has been betaed, but I am a compulsive tinkerer and all mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, non-commercial work of fiction using the names and likenesses of real individuals. This fictional story is not intended to imply that the events herein actually occurred, or that the attitudes or behaviors described are engaged in or condoned by the real persons whose names are used without permission.

Billy knew he was in trouble the moment he saw the studied casualness on Professor Tennant's face. "Should I just turn back around, go home and pull the bedclothes over my head?" he asked, his eyebrows rising.

Tennant grimaced. "You know you're my personal favourite assistant, don't you Bill?"

"Oh shit, Dave, that bad? What, do I have to grade all three of your survey history courses' tests?"

"Worse."

Billy looked at the calendar on Dave's wall and realised the date. "No..."

"I'm afraid so, Bill. I tried, but they wouldn't let us out of it this year."

"But Dave," Billy's voice was perilously close to a whine, "I did it last year! Send Miranda or Rick!"

"Apparently, you did too good a job last year. Dr. Astin specifically asked for you."

"Fucking Safety Sean. All I did was tell some bloke not to use an extension cord that had duct tape around it. I didn't know he was right behind me when I said it!"

"Well, your good deed for the day last year got you nominated for a return trip to Staff Christmas Party Planning Hell. Excellent work, Boyd."

Billy sighed heavily. "Meeting is today, is it?"

"This afternoon at one."

Entering the lecture room, Billy decided to sit in the back row nearest the door. He slid into a chair next to a young looking bloke with short hair and big ears--probably a hapless TA like himself--and sighed as Professor Astin took the podium.

"That sounds like a sigh of surrender," the bloke said in a low voice, grinning.

"You've no idea," Billy said, smiling back. Who wouldn't? A grin that wide was contagious, and Billy felt his mood lighten a bit. Maybe, if he had someone to share the pain with, it wouldn't be so bad. "I'm Billy, and I've been exiled here today by my professor."

"Dom. I drew the short straw as well."

If there was anything Billy currently hated more than Dr. Astin's droning voice, it was the subject the man was nattering on about. He looked at his watch--two-ten--and grimaced. He had a class at two-thirty, and Astin probably wasn't even close to being finished with whatever point he was trying to make right then, let alone the meeting as a whole.

He raised his hand, and when he was called upon, said he was very sorry but that he had a class to get to. He promised to get the minutes of the meeting later and fled the room as quickly as he could. Outside on the steps, he stopped and took a deep breath.

"Bloody hell, is he always so boring?" Dom had followed him out.

"You don't understand the full horror--this is something he's excited about," Billy said, shuddering.

"Christ, that is frightening," Dom replied, chuckling.

"He's a history professor and I've had to suffer through more than one of his classes, unfortunately."

"I reckon I should be grateful I've already satisfied my history requirements, then, eh?"

"Probably," Billy laughed.

"So you're a history student?"

"Yes. I'm currently doing my graduate course here and I'm also a TA for one of the professors in the department."

Dom nodded. "I'm doing a course in Biological Oceanography."

"You must know Cate, then."

"I do! And she looks great in a wetsuit," Dom said, grinning again, his blue eyes twinkling.

"That she does," Billy agreed. "We surf together," he added when he saw Dom's raised eyebrow. "There's a group of us who go over to the peninsula when we can fit it in." Billy looked at his watch and grimaced. "I'd better get a move on or I'll be late to class."

"See you next week at the meeting, then?" Dom said as he started down the stairs of the student centre.

"Absolutely."

Billy didn't do anything stupid, like watch Dom go down the stairs and walk off toward the Language building. Not that he would admit, anyway.

*

The following Monday, Billy and Miranda were having Vietnamese for lunch and bitching about some of Tennant's more ridiculous undergraduate students.

"...And then he said, 'well, what about my paper? It was even longer than the ten page requirement. Why'd you give me a 'C-'?" Billy said, laughing, "and I said, 'you strung quotes together with the occasional paraphrase from some book. You should've got an 'F', but I was feeling generous.' So he takes his paper and says, 'I'm taking this to Rick. He's my assigned TA anyway.' I managed to let him get a decent way down the hall before I laughed out loud."

"Oh, right, like Rick didn't fail him immediately upon seeing the paper," Miranda laughed. "You're a soft touch, Boyd."

"Is he now?" Dom said, approaching their table in the crowded restaurant.

"Hiya Dom," Miranda said, grinning. "Have you met Billy?"

"We're stuck on Astin's planning committee this year," Billy replied, smiling up at Dom.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry," she said.

"You're not," Billy accused. "You're quite thrilled I'm on it because that means you're not."

"Guilty as charged. Join us, Dom?" She turned back to Billy. "I met Dom at a party I went to with Orlando yonks ago."

"We international students have to stick together," Dom said, chuckling.

"You should hear when Billy and Dave--that's our boss--get trolleyed together. They're both from the Glasgow area and no one can understand them worth shit."

Dom's eyebrows rose. "Does this happen often?"

"They're from Glasgow, Dom," Miranda repeated.

Everyone laughed, and the chat flowed between them effortlessly. They were all late to their next classes.

*

"A jungle theme? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No!" Billy nearly wailed. "They want a jungle themed Christmas party, Lij. I voted five times against it, but the tastelessness prevailed."

"So, what? They want you to, like, mold wild animals and shit? I mean, seriously? I'm supposed to wear a fucking suit to a fucking jungle party? If this was at one of the Frat houses, I'd be down with it, but what the fuck, man?"

"As a possible upside to this--perhaps Miranda or Cate will wear jungle print dresses. That might almost be worth it, eh?"

Elijah nodded, considering. "What if someone decides to dress up as an animal? I can't decide if that would be the most epic shit ever or if I'd cringe with embarrassment at seeing Dr. Astin in a panda suit."

Billy laughed. "Lij, you are mental. I hope you realise that."

"Speaking of mental, Bill, I've noticed a little extra twinkle in your eye lately. Who's responsible for that?"

"What are you on about?"

"You've been practically floating around campus with a stupidly goofy grin on your face for the past couple of weeks. What's up? Who's grabbed your attention?"

"His name is Dom. He's doing an Oceanography course and he's also stuck on the planning committee with me."

"Dom Monaghan, you mean?"

Billy's eyebrows rose. "You know him?"

"Yeah, I met him at this party I went to with Orlando. He's fucking funny as hell, man. Shit, I guess I know who's coming dressed up as an animal now. That's just the sort of thing he'd do." Lij shook his head and laughed.

"We have all of these people in common yet we've never met? How does that work? I thought you all were looking out for me."

"We were saving the craziest for last, Bill," Lij said, throwing an arm around Billy's shoulders. "I'm fucking starving. Let's get some Thai."

*

"So you've met someone you fancy?" Dave asked, his glasses balanced low on his nose. The better to look over the rims at him, Billy thought.

"Yes."

"Through the party committee?" One eyebrow rose.

"You're not getting me to admit that it's a good thing to be on this shit committee, Dave. You're going to be handing spiked punch to John underneath a tree branch with a fucking fake monkey on it. Can you even comprehend how awful paper mache jaguars are going to look? Christ, this is going to be a disaster."

"Just show up with your new bloke on your arm, drink the spiked punch, stay out from under fake trees, and look for mistletoe," Dave laughed.

"Fuck you, Tennant," Billy said, laughing in spite himself.

*

Billy tugged his coat tighter around him as he came down the stairs of the student union building--or the Hub as it was known--and went to the bus stop there to look over the time schedule for the buses. He had a night class and a couple of hours to kill beforehand, so he reckoned he'd go over to the Ave and get something to eat and then hit the library until his class started.

"Imagine running into you here."

Dom's voice came from behind him. He turned, grinning. "Hi, Dom. And how are you this fine afternoon?"

"Freezing my bollocks off. You?"

"It's a wee mite nippy."

"Fuck you, Boyd," Dom said, chuckling. "I need some coffee. Do you have anything you're doing at the mo?"

"Coffee sounds fantastic, and no, I'm free until about six-thirty; I've a class at seven. I was going to Pegasus on the Ave. Want to join me?"

"Sounds great. I'd kill for a curry."

Inside the restaurant, they shed their coats and settled into their booth, their legs bumping under the table. Billy fiddled with his silverware.

"So I didn't see you at the animal molding get together, Billy."

"Hell no, you didn't. I washed my hands of that shit when it went in the jungle direction. I cannot be a part of--of Christmas lemurs, for fuck's sake."

Dom fairly shrieked with laughter. "Oh, Billy. The lemurs are only a small part of our vast array of molded jungle life. We have jaguars and big snakes, tree frogs and parrots, and a toucan, even. It's going to be amazing!"

"Amazingly awful," Billy snorted in reply.

The waiter came to their table, and they both ordered curry and lager.

"My class will be so much better with a couple of those in me," Billy said, chuckling. "It's History of Economics, and it's far from interesting. Not to mention it's taught by Professor Astin's mentor."

"Oh, mate," Dom said, sympathetic.

Their drinks arrived, and as they both picked up their glasses, Dom held his up. "A toast. To Christmas Lemurs. May they long enjoy popularity at holiday events."

Billy laughed and then took a drink. "My turn. To new friends."

"Is that what we are, Bill?" Dom asked after taking his drink, his eyes more serious than Billy had ever seen them before.

Cocking his head, Billy gave that question the consideration it was due. He took another swallow of lager. "Would you like to go with me to the Christmas party?"

"You are aware that I am going to the party as some sort of animal? I've not yet decided which, though."

"I'm aware that you're mental, yes. Would you like to go with me?"

Dom grinned. "I'd go anywhere you asked me to, Bill. Haven't you realised that yet?"

*

"...So then he says, 'I'm aware that you're mental. Please be my date to the ball.' and how could anyone say no to that? So romantic." Dom accompanied the last sentence with fluttering eyelashes.

Elijah laughed loudly. "That's our Billy!"

Billy shook his head while chuckling. "But he is mental. You see him standing next to you holding his rabbit head."

"Are you trying to send a message with the animal you chose, Dom? Because I don't think rabbits live in the jungle," Elijah said, snickering.

Billy choked on his sip of punch. "This isn't spiked enough yet for me to deal with you two," he muttered, looking around for a way to escape.

"Billy!" Dave called out as he strolled over to where they were standing. "Hi there, Lij," he greeted Elijah. "And you must be Billy's new man," he said to Dom, offering his hand. "Professor David Tennant."

"Dom Monaghan. Pleased to meet you." Dom shook Dave's hand and noticed Miranda coming up behind Billy with something in her hand. When he realised what it was, he grinned.

"What?" Billy said, instantly alert. "I already know that look, and it means nothing but mischief."

"Billy," Miranda called from behind him.

When he turned, she kissed him on the cheek. He looked up to see a sprig of mistletoe. "Like that, is it?" he asked, smiling.

She laughed and held the sprig over his head. He turned back to Dom. "Guess you know what that means."

Dom moved over to Billy, cupped his free hand behind Billy's neck and pulled him forward into a kiss. Their lips moved against each other for a moment and then Billy opened his mouth. Dom's tongue swept in Billy's mouth, exploring, teasingly flicking at Billy's tongue. Billy made a small sound in the back of his throat, and Dom's hand tightened on the back of his neck.

They pulled apart eventually, their breathing uneven. Dom grinned widely as Elijah, Dave and Miranda applauded their efforts.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the show," Billy said, huffing a laugh as he shook his head. He desperately wanted to kiss Dom again, but not in front of an audience. He reached over and pulled on Dom's costume tail. "You ready to head out, Bugs Bunny?"

"I'll show you 'what's up, Doc.'" Dom smirked as everyone laughed. He put the rabbit head back on, and then reached for Billy's arm, tugging lightly.

Billy grinned at his friends and allowed himself to be led towards the exit. "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."