"Whatcha got there?" Dom digs his chin into Elijah's shoulder, reading.

"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"It's from Dan."

"Love note! Love note!" Dom rips it out of Elijah's hands and runs from the kitchen, letter held high.

Elijah doesn't follow. He knows it'll be futile.

" '... Can't wait to see you again?!' " Dom shrieks from the bedroom. "What, you two aren't actually shagging?"

Dom reappears in the kitchen, his expression incredulous. Elijah tries to sound noncommittal, but he can't forget Daniel's bedroom, dark and sweet on a cloudy afternoon. The memory sneaks into his voice.

"Yes," Elijah says. Dom's eyes darken.

"You're not," says Dom.

But Elijah nods. " We are," he adds childishly, and a sheepish smile spreads across his face unbidden. When Dom's scowl deepens, Elijah tries to stop grinning.

"Lij, Dan's what, twelve?"

Elijah looks down, unable to meet Dom's glare. "Thirteen," he says to the floor.

"Oh, well, sorry, my mistake.”

Elijah looks up; Dom still looks angry. Elijah sighs. "He's coming to L.A. next week," he announces quietly, stepping closer to Dom who, surprisingly, doesn't flinch away. Elijah moves in and kisses the corner of Dom's mouth. Dom's eyes close. Elijah whispers, "He wants to meet you."

Dom is silent as Elijah kisses him. Elijah takes this to mean 'Great, I want to meet Dan, too!' but then Dom says, "Why does Harry Potter want to meet me?"

Elijah laughs. "Don't call him that -- Dan'll bite if you call him Harry."

Dom rolls his eyes. "How mature." He pauses to nibble on Elijah's earlobe. "Still, why me?"

Elijah grins. "Because," he whispers, "I told Dan you're incredible in bed."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

Dom teasingly runs his tongue along the line of Elijah's jaw. “Dan doesn't think I'm going to shag him, does he?"

Elijah doesn't answer.

Leaving the plane, Dan adopts a confident swagger to cover the butterflies in his stomach. Once he's off the jetway he scans the crowd for an incognito Elijah, hoping to recognize him despite the disguise.

But Dan sees Dom first, and his stomach somersaults. He'd thought Elijah has been kidding about that.

Dom is looking at Dan from under the brim of a ridiculous bucket hat, and Dan stifles a giggle. He chalks that up to nerves; even at thirteen he's more mature than that.

He's still looking at Dom when Elijah -- right in his ear -- says, "Pretty, isn't he?"

Dan can only nod.

Dom doesn’t like the way Dan looked at him in the airport. That’s what he tells himself.

Dan is napping now -- in Elijah’s bed -- completely worn out by the flight and the time change. Dom can sympathize. He stands in the doorway of Elijah’s bedroom and watches the thirteen year old sleep.

The boy yawns a bit and licks his lips, and, unconsciously, Dom copies this second move, thinking about crawling in next to Dan -- just to keep watching him sleep.

That’s what he tells himself.

He’s still standing in the doorway when Elijah, suddenly near, whispers, “Pretty, isn’t he?”

Elijah walks over to Dan, who is now snoring lightly. Grinning back at Dom, he leans down and kisses Dan’s forehead.

“Dom?” Dan mumbles in his sleep, startling Dom, still in the doorway.

Dom looks at Elijah, eyebrows raised, but Elijah just beckons him into the room.

He hesitates, watching Elijah climb into bed with Dan. Something tells him there’ll be no turning back if he follows.

He follows anyway.

Elijah is spooned up behind Dan, so Dom lies down in front of the boy, facing him. When Dan buries his face against Dom’s neck, Dom decides he chose correctly.

Dan dreams that he's sandwiched between Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan. In the dream, Elijah is snuggled up close behind him, one arm slung over Dan’s hips, and Dom is lying in front of him. Dan’s head is nestled against Dom’s shoulder, and he is achingly hard.

I must still be dreaming, Dan thinks, when Elijah’s fingers begin to move softly over his hip, and Dom's lips find Dan's ear.

When Elijah's fingers slip lower, brushing sweetly over Dan's hard-on, Dan arches up to meet the bliss-inducing pressure.

And then Dan wakes up. He blinks. It's real. He’s not dreaming.

Dan's eyes are huge and blue when he blinks awake, and Dom has to fight off the urge to roll himself on top of Dan and shag him senseless. Maybe later, Dom thinks, as Dan’s eyes slip shut again. A low whimper escapes from Dan, and Dom looks down to where Elijah's hands are teasing Dan through the soft grey lambswool of his trousers.

Dan shouldn’t be napping in his clothes, Dom thinks, and from the look on Dan's face -- a mix of frustration and pleasure -- Dom figures Dan agrees, so he moves to unbutton Dan's pants.

"Yes," Dan whispers.

“Clothes off?” Elijah asks.

Dan whimpers in answer, and, over Dan’s wriggling body, Elijah catches Dom’s eye. Dom nods.

As the two of them undress Dan, Elijah marvels at how well the pieces have fallen into place to actualize this -- his most potent fantasy.

Dan had been easy. Elijah had simply told the horny boy what Dom was like in bed. Since then, Dan had been drooling at the mere mention of Dom’s name.

Dom had been harder to convince, but, as Elijah watches him slide his hands up Dan’s now-bare thighs, he knows Dom’s hooked.

Elijah really can’t blame him.

What Dom likes best about having Dan sprawled on top of him are the whimpers that escape when Dom nibbles the boy’s earlobes. Dan mewls as if he’s never felt anything better, so Dom keeps doing it. Each cry gives Dom a surreal thrill: he’s coaxing these sounds out of a thirteen year old.

As he lies there underneath Dan, Dom tries to figure out how all this happened. He knows Elijah’s a schemer, but Dom would’ve thought this beyond him. Not that Dom is complaining.

Elijah does something that makes Dan bite down on Dom’s shoulder.

No, not complaining at all.

Dan is on complete sensory overload. He’s gone from knowing nothing about sex to thinking about sex constantly to having sex constantly so fast that his young mind could never have kept up. Lying atop Dom, all he can do is snuggle and whimper and plead.

When Elijah starts in too, licking the backs of Dan’s knees, the boy totally loses it, biting down on Dom’s shoulder -- hard -- without even realizing it. He’s licking at the bite and whispering “Sorry” before he catches up with himself.

And then Dom is kissing him, and Dan is right back where he started.

As he watches Dom kiss Dan, Elijah knows his carefully orchestrated little scheme is now completely out of his control.

Perfect.

When Dom flips Dan over, pinning the boy’s wrists together near the bed’s headboard, Elijah tries not to whimper. Dan’s got the whimpering covered.

When Dom kisses his way across the pale stretch of Dan’s shoulder, Elijah tries not to moan. Dan’s all over that one, too.

When Dom’s tongue finds the soft flesh along the inside of one of Dan’s thighs, Elijah closes his eyes. He knows if he doesn’t, he’ll come. And he’s just watching. For now.

Dom really can't wrap his mind around the fact that he's licking Dan’s thigh. He wants wants wants to inch up and sink his mouth down on Dan’s cock and suck -- but there’s a tiny, insistent voice at the back of his mind whining, “But he’s only thirteen!”

Dom pauses and moves up a bit, his mouth inches from what he covets, his eyes locked again on Dan’s cock.

The chorus of “It’s wrong!” versus “But I want it!” continues in Dom’s head until Elijah leans in and whispers, “Do it.”

Then Dom takes action, swiftly taking Dan into his mouth.

Fireworks. Heat and blazing pleasure and fireworks.

Dan finds Elijah kissing him quiet before he can let out another whimper, but Dom --

Dom --

Dom’s mouth.

How many times has Dan played this scene out in his fantasies? How many times has Dan imagined Dom swallowing him whole while Elijah’s tongue plays against his own?

He can’t deny that Elijah gives wicked blow jobs, but Elijah can’t suck cock and kiss all at once, can he? And Dan wants it all.

Still, Dan’s own cool hands could never have replicated the hot wet bliss of Dom’s mouth.

And Elijah’s kiss --

Dan comes.

Dan is sleeping again, snuggled close between Dom and Elijah who are watching him, petting him, appreciating him.

"So was this you at thirteen?" Dom asks Elijah, running his fingers lightly over the back of Dan's neck.  "Were you constantly shagging?"

Elijah laughs.  "At thirteen I was still learning how to tie my shoes.  I knew nothing about sex."

Dom leans over Dan and kisses Elijah, a smile in his eyes.  "I would've taught you."

Elijah shakes his head.  "No doubt you would've."  He looks down at Dan and, as he pets the boy, asks Dom, "Do you think we're spoiling him?"

Dom is confused.  "Spoiling him?  By teaching him?"

"By loving him."

At first Dom thinks Elijah is kidding, but as he waits for the punctuating giggle, he sees in Elijah's eyes, watching Dan sleep, that Elijah isn't kidding.  Dom's heart somersaults.

"You mean that," Dom says.  Not a question.  "You love him.  You're in love with him?"  This last bit is a question, and Dom holds his breath as he waits for Elijah's response.

But Elijah doesn't answer.  He simply leans down and kisses Dan's forehead before climbing over the boy to snuggle into Dom's arms.

"I love you," is all he says.

"You're not spoiling me," Dan wants to say, but he is suppsed to be asleep, so he doesn't.  Plus, the next thing out of his mouth would've been "I need you," which wouldn't have gone over well.

When Elijah and he started this ... thing, Dan knew Elijah could make no promises.  At the time, Dan hadn't cared -- he'd only wanted to learn what Elijah could teach him.  Now, though, cradled in Dom's arms -- not Elijah's -- with Elijah murmuring endearments to Dom -- not Dan -- Dan feels differently.  Dom was fun, but Elijah is his, Dan's.  And he doesn't want to share.

With Dan in his arms and Dom snuggled close behind him, Elijah sleeps like a baby.  Sometime in the middle of the night, though, he realizes Dan is no longer in bed, so Elijah crawls out of Dom's arms to look for the boy.

Elijah finds Dan in the kitchen, sitting on the counter.  Elijah expects him to say something like "Couldn't sleep," but what Dan does say is "Kiss me."  Elijah grins, but Dan just says again, plaintively, "Kiss me, Elijah."

Elijah crosses the kitchen, coming to stand between Dan's knees.  From his countertop perch Dan is taller than Elijah, but Elijah goes up on tiptoe to capture the boy's lips with his own.

When they pull away from each other, Elijah hears Dan whisper, "Mine."

"He's not," Dom says from the doorway.  He stands there, arms folded across his chest, and when Elijah looks over, Dom's eyes lock with Elijah's in an intense I-told-you-so glare.  Dom looks at Dan again and repeats himself.  "He's not yours."

Elijah sighs, turns away from Dom's frown, and kisses Dan again, lightly, trying to coax a smile out of the boy.  When Elijah pulls back, Dan is not grinning, and his eyes are full of questions, mostly to the tune of "You aren't going to let him say that, are you?" and "You're going to tell Dom the truth, aren't you?  That you're mine!"  Dan doesn't say any of this out loud, but Elijah reads it all anyway.  He sighs again, looking from Dom to Dan and back again.

"Dan, there's something I have to explain."

Dan tries hard to keep his face impassive.  Dom is still glaring into the kitchen from the doorway, his posture closed.  Dan can't shake the memory of the warmth of Dom's touch, how Dom had cooed to him, made him come.  The way Dom is looking at him now, though, tells Dan that he fucked up somewhere.  Fucked up completely.

Eyes still on Dom, Dan says to Elijah, "I'm listening."  Elijah asks Dom to wait for them in the bedroom, and only after Dom has left do Dan's eyes return to Elijah's face.  Dan breaks the silence.  "I fucked up, didn't I?"

Elijah almost cringes at the words.  How had it come to this?  He wants to pull Dan down off the counter and hold him close, whisper into his hair that he loves him, tell him everything the boy wants to hear.  He wants to go back to the airport, bring Dan home again, rewind this whole out-of-control fantasy.  Elijah wants to start over.  He didn't mean for anyone to get hurt.  He didn't mean to make the unforgivable mistake, but he did.

He forgot Dan was only a child.

"No, baby," Elijah says, coming close to Dan again, his tone confessional.  "You didn't fuck up.  I did."

The adoration in Dan's face is mingled with confusion.  "You?" Dan asks, "but how?"

"I got you in over your head."

Dan instinctually goes into denial mode.  "No, you didn't.  I'm a big boy, Elijah, I can handle myself.  I can make my own decisions.  I know what I want."  Dan tries to sound defiant, confident, tries to make himself sound like the person he wants to be.  Elijah can't know that really he's scared, scared Elijah will send him home, scared he'll never see Elijah again, never kiss him again, never fall asleep with him again, sticky and satisfied --

"Dan," Elijah says again, and Dan's eyes snap back to meet Elijah's.  "This stuff, sex, love, all of it, it's too old for you.  I never should have taught you any of this.  And Dom ...  Well, I love him, Dan.  I won't say you're too young to understand, but ..."

As Elijah lets the thought trail off, Dan finishes it in his own head, bitterly: "But you are too young.  Too young for love.  Too young for sex.  Too young for me."  Dan says none of this aloud, instead choosing his words as carefully as he can.  "All right, then, Elijah."

"You're all right then?"  Elijah asks, relief written all over his face.

"No," Dan says softly, climbing down off of the counter as gracefully as he can manage.  "But I will be.  Come back to bed?"

Dan is in the car with Elijah on the way to the airport.  Dom has gracefully declined the invitation to ride along, giving Dan one last chance to be along with Elijah.  Dan knows Dom meant well, but it still stung when they said good-bye back at Elijah's.  Dan looks out the window while Elijah weaves in and out of traffic.

He hates good-byes.

Elijah parks the car outside the terminal.  "Wish I could come in, see you off, but ..."

"I know.  I understand," Dan intones.  He is really tired of saying those phrases.  He thinks it'll be good to be home again where it won't be expected of him all the time, where he can be sassy and childish like any other thirteen year old.

Elijah leans in close, kisses Dan's cheek.  Dan doesn't move.  When Elijah pulls back, there is hurt and confusion in his eyes.  Dan sighs, and moves in to kiss Elijah, a deep, real kiss, one last time.

When they pull apart, Dan makes as if to leave, but then stops short.  "Do you regret it?" he asks Elijah, his voice just above a whisper.

"No," Elijah says softly but with confidence.

Dan can't resist pushing it just a little further.  "None of it?  Even though that night in the kitchen you said you wished you'd never been with me?"

"Dan," Elijah says, "I didn't say that.  Things got ... complicated, and I regret that.  I regret that it hurt you, hurt Dom, hurt me -- but regret being with you?  Never."

"I'm going to go before this turns maudlin," Dan announces, getting out of the car.

Elijah smiles and follows, coming around to help Dan with his luggage.  "Big word for a kid like you, Dan."

"I learned it from you."

Elijah watches him go.  Dan looks back only once, gives a little wave, and Elijah feels his heart shatter into a million pieces.

Dom is waiting at the door when Elijah gets home, and as Elijah is welcomed back into Dom's warm embrace, the pieces of Elijah's heart slide back together.  Dom always puts him back together.  Elijah, though, is realistic.  Even in that moment, standing there in Dom's arms, warm again and whole, Elijah knows he'll fall apart again, and soon.  He kisses Dom in advance thanks.

Only a dull ache remains where Dan was, and, as Dom kisses his neck, Elijah finds himself wondering if anyone will be there at the airport to welcome Dan home again.