Title: "Iced Tea"
Author: Uluviel (uluviel@fourhobbits.net)
Pairing: Elijah/Dominic
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Warnings: RPS
Spoilers: None
Archive: Four Hobbits, Beyond the Fellowship.

Summary: It's a hot summer day, and Elijah's mother makes iced tea.

Disclaimer: It never happened. I don't own Elijah, Dominic, Debrah and Hannah.

Story Notes: None.

* * *

It wasn't even eleven o'clock when Debrah Wood got home. To her surprise, the house was empty; she had expected her son to be there. He usually came over during the day. His tiny apartment seemed even smaller when he had guests, which was currently the case: Dom was spending an entire month with him.

She wondered where the two boys were. Elijah's car was in the driveway, so she knew he was somewhere around. He wasn't a walker -- he drove just to get to the convenience store on the next street over. She put away her purse and keys. She heard shouting and laughing coming from the backyard and knew that Elijah and Dom were in the pool.

There was a great splash, then: "Get off, you fuckin' wanker!"

She frowned at the swearing. Dom was a wonderful young man, and Elijah's closest friend, but he was as potty-mouthed as they come. She was convinced that that particular habit was rubbing off on her son, although Elijah was careful never to swear in front of her.

Through the window above the sink, she saw Dom fend off what appeared to be a tickling attack. They were in the deep end of the swimming pool and Elijah had Dom caught in a corner.

The air was smotheringly hot inside the house. She wondered if the air conditioning was still on. Her workday had been cut short after the power went out in the building where she worked and most of the surrounding neighbourhood. A call to the power company had let her boss know that the blackout would last for at least a couple of hours, so they closed the office for the day.

She flipped on the kitchen light switch with no result. She sighed and opened the window to air the house. She took a small battery-powered fan from the closet and put it on the kitchen counter -- this was going to be a very hot day. And it was still morning, the day wasn't even at its hottest yet.

She filled a glass pitcher with water. Iced tea would be refreshing with such an unforgiving heat. She threw another quick glance outside. Dom had just freed himself from Elijah's grasp, and was swimming around him. He dived suddenly, and a second later Elijah squealed and his head went underwater.

She knew they were old enough to take care of themselves, and mature enough to know what was dangerous and what wasn't, but sometimes, they played a little too rough for her taste. She was relieved when Elijah re-emerged, followed by Dom, who was laughing. Elijah said something to him, but Debrah didn't catch what it was. She assumed it must've been another playful insult.

She put iced tea-flavoured powder in the pitcher and took a wooden spoon out of the drawer to mix it. She'd offer some to the boys -- surely they'd appreciate it, after their roughhousing in the pool. And on such a hot day, anybody would welcome a cold beverage. She knew Dom enough by now to guess that he'd probably joke, saying a beer would be better, before adding either that American beer wasn't good enough, or teasing Elijah about the fact that at 20, he wasn't legally old enough to drink.

Debrah didn't like Dom's sense of humour much. He was always polite towards her, but she'd overheard him make some very crude jokes. But he was overall a sweet young man. Elijah was obviously very fond of him, and Debrah knew Hannah adored Dom as well.

She didn't want to be an overprotective mother, but there were times when the way Dom and Hannah acted together made her uneasy. Dom was seven -- almost eight -- years older than Hannah was. They were often flirting, and that bothered Debrah. She had mentioned it to Hannah once. Hannah had blushed and told her mother not to worry; she and Dom were nothing more than friends. When Debrah had reminded her that young men rarely flirt with women with no further intentions in mind, Hannah had simply replied, "it's different with Dom. Besides, Elijah would never let him try anything."

"Hey!" she heard Elijah yell from the pool. "What are you-- come back here!" She looked outside. Dom was swimming in the opposite direction from Elijah. He climbed the ladder and took off running, Elijah close on his heels. Debrah was about to shout through the opened window that there was no running allowed in the pool area when Elijah caught up with Dom and body slammed him to the ground.

She winced -- that had to have hurt. But Dom was apparently all right, because he immediately got up. He wiped the grass stains from his knees and smirked at Elijah. He said something Debrah didn't catch. Whatever it was Dom had said, it caused Elijah to bolt away from him. Thankfully this time they were outside the pool area.

Elijah was heading towards the house, and she hoped they weren't going to continue their chase inside, because they were both dripping wet, and she didn't want her house to smell like chlorine all day. But Dom caught Elijah before they reached the house. He grabbed Elijah's arm and spun him around. He locked his arms around Elijah's waist, preventing him from escape.

"Gotcha." Dom said, rather softly, but Debrah caught it nonetheless -- they were only a few feet away from the kitchen window.

Elijah grinned at him. "Oops." He put his palms on Dom's chest. Debrah expected him to shove Dom away and take off again, but instead his hands ran up Dom's chest, to his shoulders and around his neck. Dom leaned closer, whispered something, and pressed his lips on Elijah's. Elijah let his fingers sneak up and lock themselves in Dom's wet hair as he opened his mouth and returned the kiss.

In the kitchen, the iced tea pitcher broke into a thousand pieces as it hit the floor.

. . .. . .

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