A shadowed heart

Dominic stared at the framed photo in his hands, he stared letting himself drown in incredible blue eyes that were only known to one person. One finger, on which back was written a spiky L, traced the face of the man in it. The glass shielding the photo was smooth. Dom could remember the feel of his skin, it was just as smooth but unlike the cool glass it was heated. Like silk beneath the fingertips.

He felt a pool of loss opening up inside him and put the photo back on the draw as the phone in his home rang. He glanced at the flashing number on the phones panel and paled a little. It was Marty.

"Hey Marty."

"Luke are you still on for Wednesday?"

"Look Marty I told you I'm out. It's just..." Dom shivered. He was in over his head? How had things gotten this far. How had he gotten caught up in this mess.

"Luke we don't want any trouble here, you're a nice kid and we're trying our hardest to ease you out. Johnsons not a patient man though and as long as you're on his pay roll you do what he says. Look if it makes you feel better all you have to do is be the watchman. Keep the cops off our asses for a little bit, you don't even have to get your hands dirty." Marty's voice rasped over the phone.

Dom shivered, he knew he was well and truly caught in a web of his own making. He had been such a complete and utter fool. Marty could sense his hesitation.

"I hope your not thinking of bailing are you man? This city can be a dangerous place and I like you. I'd hate to have to end so a promising friendship. I'll send your mother my condolences. Be there Luke, for your own good."

Dom hung up the phone and let himself slide to the floor. He trembled biting back a flood of tears. Crying would not help, nothing short of death was going to get him out of the mess he was in. Luke he hated that name.

The night Luke Hansen was born was a night that Dominic Monaghan would remember for the rest of his life. At twenty nine he should be able to walk into any bar or club of his choosing. However that particular night Dom had found that like an errant teenager this was not so. He was forced to form a new identity of sorts to achieve an evening by himself with out the media.

When getting the less then real I.D. card made he had chosen one of his middle names. His full name Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan attracted far too much attention. Partially because of its longevity, and almost wholly because he was a celebrity.

His character Charlie had been killed on Lost, he had suddenly found himself out of a job. He had known what was at the core of it though. There had been too much tension between he and his co star Evangeline after their break up. The producers had felt his character was expendable, where hers had not been. Dom had his pride and he had just been kicked. That night all he had wanted was a lonely pub somewhere where he could drink himself under the table.

And he absolutely had not wanted cameras flashing in his face, busy body reporters digging into his wounds asking him pointed questions about his career oh and since that ever so humiliating and messy break up, his sexuality. He groaned to himself remembering the scandal that break up had caused.

It would not have been so bad, after all stars broke up all the time, it was what Evangeline had shouted as she threw the ring at him that had caught the public eye. Now Dom did not consider himself a bad person, a pervert or a cheater. What had happened, had happened purely by accident and it had cost him not only his fiance but one of his best friends.

~~Two months before~~

Dom was a happy man today, he was generally happy most days if he thought about it. He grinned to himself thinking about his life as an actor and his friends. Dom was the kind of man you looked forward to being with, he was the kid that back in high school made everyone laugh and even though he gave her hell the teacher couldn't help but like. He was naturally sweet without being so sugary it hurt. There was an air of rascal like charm to him that drew women to his side. Dom could make a ride in an elevator an event not to be missed, he made any party fun simply because he was there. Although not strictly a party animal.

He was in no way the best looking man around he thought to himself as he glanced in the mirror at his sandy hair and blue/grey eyes. He was a little short for a man and his nose was slightly on the twisted side. He wasn't the incredible hulk either with his lean frame but he wasn't completely lacking in muscle, unlike a certain Elijah Wood he could name. Despite his imperfections there was just something about Dom that drew the women to him.

Dominic had been successful in taking his otherwise nerdish appearance and actions and making himself a star. He laughed a little to himself wondering at how odd the world could be. All he had done really was be himself. His thoughts were broken into by the sound of someone moving in the hall outside the door to his apartment. Dom's merry eyes lit up and were suddenly more blue then grey.

His life was great he had a beautiful Fiance (whom he was going on a date with this very evening), his best friend was staying with him in L.A. for a few days and since Elijah's arrival that dreadful (what he liked to call black hole) had dissapeard. He shivered slightly remembering the slow slide into hopelessness he had experienced for the last few months. Billy was in scotland and most of his other friends were similarly gone from him. For a while things had been ok, He and Elijah were still in California near enough to see each other often. Then Elijah had moved to London to work on a new film.

He didn't really know what it was but his life had gone from colorful and fun to listless and grey. He had slowly lost interest in things he usually found fun. His roll on lost, even Evangeline had become little more than duty and had begun to wear on his nerves. He had picked up the phone to call Lij, and the others so many times he was afraid they were getting annoyed with him. He was annoyed with himself! Did he need other people to complete him? Couldn't he be happy on his own?

Then Elijah had called and said he was coming in to town for a few weeks. He had gotten a raise on his salary and Evangeline had said yes to his proposal. His life had swerved back on track almost instantly. Dom was not one to give into self pity, life was too much damn fun to waist it moaning about. Whatever had been wrong with him he hoped he never went through it again. It kind of disgusted him feeling so empty and helpless, he preferred laughter and a good time.

"You're wearing that on your date? Dom I know you have no taste but this is low even for you" Elijah's voice spoke from the door way of the bathroom. Dom grinned glancing down at his white boxers with "Fuck You?" written on the ass. They had been a rather funny gift from his brother Matt, not one approved of by their mother but tolerated all the same because she was well used to both her boys antics. Dom picked up a tooth brush and tossed it at him.

"I haven't finished dressing gay boy. You've had your peek now go do something useful" Dom laughed watching Elijah dodge the toothbrush and grin at him. Elijah at twenty six and only five six was not perhaps the most masculine guy around. Dom had taken to calling him gay boy purely out of fun for his blatant femininity. It was an odd but rather intriguing mixture. Elijah was after all a man and he certainly had his masculine points, but he was slim and lean where men were otherwise bulky. His skin was soft and white where Doms was often tanned and hard. His chestnut brown hair was soft and rather silky to the touch.

Dom wondered what shampoo he used, it often had a woodsy scent to it very freshening. He was as their mutual friend Sean Austin had been quoted to say a very beautiful man. Not handsome, Beautiful. Dom had never described another man as beautiful before wouldn't even describe himself that way. With Elijah it was easy, he was beautiful. In a soft way. Women were soft men were supposed to be rough and hard. He was hard, he was a man. Elijah was... A MAN! DOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING!

He shook himself out of his thoughts hard! What was he high? Elijah was a guy and his best friend, there was no reason for him to feel so suddenly heated at the sight of him. Elijah was laughing and saying something but he wasn't really hearing. Those plush lips of his were moving as he spoke and Doms eyes were drawn to them they were wide lips and a little thin like a mans should be. But that had a softness to them that drew the eye as he spoke, those blue eyes of his dancing with delight. He had seen them flare with desire once...eyes like that did not belong on a man. They didn't belong anywhere they were sinful.

"...So while your gone do you mind if I crash here?" Elijah asked. Dom blinked at him only having caught the last part.

He cleared his throat a little, "Sure mate you don't even need to ask you're always welcome here you know that." He replied hoping this was a correct response.

It appeared acceptable because Elijah nodded, "Good, are you sure you an Evangeline wont decide to come back for..uh...tea?" Elijah asked pinking a little.

A wild grin spread on Doms face, "what is it with people? Sex you mean, Elijah are you wondering if Evangeline and I are having sex. I refuse to answer I wouldn't want to make you jealous." Dom said with mock severity. He strutted past Elijah from the bathroom still in nothing but his boxers, aware of even the slightest movement of air across his heated skin. He could hear Elijah following him.

"Oh I'm begging you, its my life's ambition to know who your screwing." Elijah laughed although he could hear the sarcasm in his friends voice Dominics heartbeat still lept in response.

"You know you wish it was you." Dom teased, he felt a lightness in his chest an odd sort of hope as he watched his friend laugh. That lethal innocent charm of his doing things to his blood he had never experienced before. He didn't question them, if he did his world would come crashing to a halt.

"Oh how did you know." Elijah laughed rolling his eyes. "could you take me here on the table please? It would make my little life worth something...oh great and powerful Dom."

Elijah was still laughing, his laughter was cut short and turned into a yelp of surprise as Dom grabbed his wrist. What are you doing! His good sense screamed at him. ARE YOU MAD? The voice was ignored.

"Elijah tell me strait and none of that, "I can neither confirm nor deny" shit we give reporters. Are you gay?" Dom demanded his voice a little harsher then he had intended.

The laughter left Elijah's eyes and they turned a darker blue Dom almost lost himself in that swift change but resiliently kept himself grounded. Elijah stared at him for a long time so that when he finally spoke his voice was a bit of a surprise. "Would my answer change our friendship?"

Dominic could feel his pulse beating where his own fingers clenched Elijah's wrist. His skin was so soft as if Elijah had never done a hard days work, which Dom new for a fact not to be true.

It was like touching satin...nothing was every going to change what he felt for his friends. Especially Elijah. "No. I'm always going to be here for you Elijah no matter what? Don;t you know that?"

"Is this answer enough for you?"

Heat slammed into him like a wave, he had only seen Elijah's eyes do that once but when they flared with heat this time they had an effect on him like flame to dried wood. Elijah had twisted his hands free of Dom's grasp before he could think about it and pulled him into a kiss.

His lips were just as soft as they looked and tasted ten times richer then any wine Dom had ever had the pleasure of tasting. He could not contain a gasp of pure fascination at how erotic one kiss could be. As soon as he had done so Elijah's tongue was darting into his mouth and he was lost in a firestorm of need unlike anything he had ever experienced.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Then his world had come crashing down around him. Evangeline had arrived early.

~~~~Present Day~~~

He couldn't really blame her for throwing a lamp at him. Then stomping out and shouting at him so that an entire apartment building full of people could hear. If he were a woman and found his fiance making out with another man he'd shoot the bastard. Nothing had been right since that day, someone on the floor below had leaked to the press the reason for the break up. Elijah and he had been swarmed with reporters and paparazzi. Phone calls from family and friends had poured in, his job had flown out the window.

Elijah had left, he had thought it best if he and Dom didn't see each other for a while. Elijah thought he had ruined his best friends chance at happiness. He wouldn't answer any of Dom's calls, people looked at him differently. Dominic had been climbing to heaven, somewhere along the line he had tripped and he was taking one long painful fall back to earth.

Two months of hell. Didn't he have the right to drink it away in peace? Obviously not as soon as he entered any place people recognised him. So Dominic had come up with an Idea, he had gone to a drugstore and picked up some cheap dye. It would wash out when he showered which was perfect for his idea, he picked off the rack a pair of black shades to cover his rather striking eyes. He then went to see a friend of his about a fake I.D.

Luke Hansen was born. Luke had that emo black hair that looked dyed and completely unnatural. He wore black eyeliner and black shades. His rather tormented nails were painted black and a little red. Dom had never gotten out of his habit of writing on his hands and was forced to scrub any of the evidence away. He had one stud in his ear, something he had picked up randomly for this purpose. He was twenty nine, completely free to go into a bar without anyone giving a damn. Completely free to drown away the black hole that had opened up in his heart.

Luke Hansen had danced with two many easy woman that night, had drank far too much and said far more then he should. Each time he tossed down a drink he thought of Elijah and how their friendship had been ruined by one stupid moment. He thought of that blazing kiss, and how it had turned out to be a gateway to hell. When approached by two men his vision was swaying and his head hurt like he had been hit over the head with a club.

"Hey fella? Can we buy you a drink?" One of the two men had asked. Thus Luke had met Marty and Andy.

Marty and Andy were the kind of men mothers warned their daughters about. They lived the fast life, they cared very little for anyone other then themselves. Drinking and debauchery were two of their greatest joys but above all money seemed to be their god. Like all men of cleverness and wit, they however did not show their hand until it is far too late. It did not start with crime, it never does.

It started with a drink.

~~~Change of view~~~
(3 months later)

Elijah Jordon Wood took a deep breath as his car pulled into the driveway of the small white house in San Francisco. He didn't get out immediately, his slender hands instead clenched nervously at his steering wheel as he eyed the small house. He knew Dom had bought the house to get away from the press and have a place to himself. Elijah felt a pang of guilt go through him, if it weren't for him Dom would even now be married and still acting. He would be husband to the woman he loved and unridiculed in the public eye. He wouldn't of sold his apartment and bought this house, he wouldn't be hiding in San Francisco.

They would still be friends.


You resisted for seven years! You just had to screw up. You knew he was strait, even worse he was engaged and you screwed up anyway!

He hadn't been able to help it, no matter how hard he tried to distance himself from Dom he kept coming back. All he knew about passion he knew from Dom. He had been seventeen when he first started filming Lord of the rings. Dom had been twenty one. He still remembered the day they had been introduced. It was forever written on his soul and he couldn't wash it away. He didn't want to.

He had fallen in love with him, he hadn't meant too had in fact not even realised it until they were both much older. He had not realised it until the day the finished shooting Return of the King. Until he had to face the fact that the part of his life where he woke up left his trailer and Dom was there smiling at him and making him laugh, was over.

That he could not fall asleep in his friends arms or sprawled on his bed in easy companionship any longer. The fellowship itself had sparked an easy fun loving atmosphere amongst its men. Male bonding seemed to be an an extreme to the point that they were comfortable doing everything short of having sex with each other. Viggo could kiss Billy for god sake with nobody even batting an eyelash. That did not belong in the outside world, the outside world would judge it and find it dirty.

He had felt such mind rending loss when Dom had reached over to hug him and had promised they would all keep in touch. It wouldn't be the same. None of it would.

He had realised then that somewhere along the years he had fallen in love with Dominic Monaghan and that he was now amongst the list of the "gay". He didn't feel that way though. He didn't look at other men as anything as men. He had lived with Franka for years and was hardly a virgin or inexperienced. It was just Dom. Dom took away all his good sense, Dom made him want to laugh for hours and brought out the fun loving side of what had been a very serious young man. Dom brought out the best in him. And the worst.

He would never have made such a stupid move had he been thinking clearly. He had been so ashamed and sorry for the havoc he had wrought that he had run. He balled his fists and steeled his nerve. No more running. Dom had every right to yell at him to curse at him. Elijah knew he deserved it and even though it would tear him apart he was going to let him. He owed Dom that much at the very least.

A/N: TA DA. Let me know what you think. If you don't like Dom/Lij Pairings please don't read and don't flame me! This fan fiction was inspired by and created for the videos done by ShireRock. I strongly suggest watching them they are amazing. It's directly influenced by her video: The reason: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=famrHiZHfgo&mode=related&search=

And, My Immortal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtxoxd7vY5Q

Please watch both if you can, They are amazing. And she has given me permission to make a fanfic out of them so link back or whatever. Remember Reviewers are angels and make my day lol. Oh and if you watch her videos and like tell her so. Yeah this is the only Celeb Fic I have the others are Harry Potter if you want to check them out love to hear from you.