Title: Hey, Jealousy
ORIGINAL STORY: Jealous Elijah (the wonderful world of crimsonhue)
PAIRING: Orlijah, sort of
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Orlando can't decide who his enemies are.
Disclaimer: The author makes no claims or inferences to reality or truthfulness. Moreover, this story is based upon the work of another author and recognises their creation.
It's definitely Dom, Orlando decides. Definitely. No doubt about it. He watches as Dom bounces once, twice, on his heels before leaning in to kiss Billy -- but more importantly, he watches Elijah watch.
And there it is, the expression he's expecting -- something dark and silent spreading in Elijah's eyes, like ink spilled, and the faint tinge of green on the skin at his temples. He used to think that Elijah just felt left out sometimes of the wild unstoppable force that was Billy-and-Dom. Orlando felt like that himself sometimes -- outside of the fierce camaraderie of the hobbit foursome, left out of inside jokes and fun on-set disasters. But it's not longing that Elijah's got plastered all over him -- if Orlando didn't know how close his dear hobbit friends were, he would almost call it hatred.
Just for a second, and then it's gone, making way for hobbit piles and good-natured teasing and all sorts of fun and games. When Elijah smiles at him Orlando can feel his heart catch in his throat, and from that day on he knows it -- jealousy. It's poisonous, infectious, and when Elijah watches Dom and Billy with that dark glare, Orlando feels it too. And he hates, hates, whichever of those hobbits it is that Elijah wants.
For a while he was certain it was Dom, because he and Elijah made sense together, didn't they? With their wild hair and wild music and wild jokes, playing off each other almost as well as Dom and Billy did. And anyway, who wouldn't love Dom? He had hated Dom for nearly a week. But then somebody had brought their daughter to the set and Orlando had watched Elijah watching Billy, an absent smile on his face as the little girl tugged happily on Billy's Pippin curls. And Orlando was certain it was Billy, with his bright eyes and upturned nose and Scottish lilt and the way his hands were gentler, less teasing, than Dom's. And anyway, who wouldn't love Billy?
But after four days of hating Billy, it's swinging 'round again. Orlando watches as Dom swipes an apple off craft services, bounces it off his knee and kicks it once or twice like a hacky sack. Elijah looks on in amusement, applauds slowly when the apple drops. Dom turns on Elijah and proceeds to tickle him, and his wicked fingers seek out ribs and the tender insides of elbows as Elijah squirms with mirth. The apple rolls away, bruised and forgotten, and Orlando almost follows it.
*
It's definitely Billy, without question, and Orlando isn't sure how he missed it to begin with. It's so obvious. Billy is teasing him about his wig again -- "pretty, pretty elf" -- and then he bounces up and drops a kiss on Orlando's cheek, and Orlando watches the slight twist of a grimace at the corners of Elijah's mouth before he turns away. Definitely, definitely Billy. Goddamn it. Orlando doesn't want to hate Billy, but he can't seem to help it.
They're at a bar again -- the hobbits n' Orli -- and Elijah is watching the dance floor where Dom and Billy kiss and grind in perfect rhythm. Orlando is watching Elijah as his eyelashes flutter a random staccato -- his contacts must be sticky. Orlando isn't sure why he cares. He is examining the faintest shadow of stubble on Elijah's upper lip when those blue eyes turn and catch him staring. Their eyes meet for a bare second before Orlando is off, hiding from that penetrating gaze in the darkness of the dance floor. He closes his hand around the wrist of a tiny girl with big blue eyes, and he pretends as she sways into him that she doesn't remind him of anyone else.
When he glances back at the bar Dom is there, forehead pressed to Elijah's in deep conversation, and Orlando feels suddenly guilty for hating Billy when it's been Dom all along. Elijah is laughing, eyes crinkling at something Dom says, and Orlando can taste the jealousy rise up in his throat like bile. He closes his eyes and tries to concentrate on dancing, the small breasts pressed against him and the ribcage under his palms. When he opens them again Billy has joined the party as well, three heads pressed together and a tangle of arms, and Orlando has no idea what to make of that.
It's hot in the bar, and Orlando follows the girl when she tugs on his shirt. She says something soft that is swallowed by the music, and then they are outside and the cool night air feels like a slap. When the girl moves in to kiss him he kisses her back, because he can't decide on a better alternative. Her lips are too full, fingernails too long, to pretend that she is someone else.
Then the door opens and Elijah steps into the alleyway, Billy and Dom hot on his heels. And though Dom and Billy are draped all over each other, it is Orlando that Elijah focuses on, and Orlando watches his eyes go black, his lips straighten into something hard. There is jealousy there, but there is longing as well, and Orlando can't stop the smile that breaks out on his face in response. Elijah is looking at him and suddenly the girl is gone, and their friends are gone, and Orlando feels the dawning realization that it's safe to like Dom and Billy again.