Title : Mardi Gras
Author :
daleheadPairing : Orlijah
Rating: PG
Summary: Mardi gras the English way.
A/N : For
deleerium A/N 2: This is my first ever Orlijah,written for
orlijah_month, prompt 3 (Carnival, Orlijah)
Damn. Orlando realised he had absolutely no milk at all. Not only that but it was raining, pouring with rain in fact. Bucketing down even.
He looked at his bowl for a long time. Then taking a deep breath he put the door of his apartment on the latch and headed to the apartment across from his.
“Yeah?”
The short guy with the gorgeous eyes and a smile that could break hearts at 50 feet looked at Orlando quizzically.
“Um…” he seemed to have lost every drop of moisture in his mouth.
“Yeah?” A note of impatience crept into the guy’s voice.
“Could I borrow some milk?” Orlando gabbled. “Please?”
“Milk? You want to borrow milk? There’s a store down the street.”
“Yes but it’s raining.”
Finally a smile. “But you’re English right? You love the rain.”
“Yes I am English but no, I don’t. I just dyed my hair earlier today and if it gets wet it’ll run.”
“Run?”
“Yeah, I’m really blond I dyed my hair brown.”
“Your hair is blond? With eyes like yours?”
“What do you mean? Like mine”
“Chocolate brown.”
“Bollocks, they are not chocolate brown, what am I? A Labrador?”
“A dog? No …” the guy laughed. “I’m Elijah by the way.”
“And I’m Orlando.”
“Ha, Orlando was a marmalade cat not a chocolate lab.”
“How the hell do you know about Orlando and chocolate labs?”
“My mom’s fifth husband was a Brit. He bought me the books and his sister had a chocolate lab called Dairy Milk.”
“Really?”
“No, dumbass, I made it up.”
“Oh,” and Orlando sounded so mournful that Elijah relented “Truthfully? I spent a year in Durham when my dad was on an exchange programme with the University.”
“Oh.”
“Milk? You want milk, then you better come in.” To bait Orlando any further would have literally been like kicking a small puppy.
“Fuck me,” Orlando stared at an apartment that was set up exactly like his only beautifully tidy, minimalist and modern.
“Sure, but take the milk first,” Elijah handed over a carton. “A quart enough for you?”
“Hell yes, I only wanted half a pint.”
“What do you want it for?”
“Pancakes, I am making pancakes cos it’s Shrove Tuesday.”
“Pancake Day?” Elijah’s smile transformed him, it was like a light had been switched on inside of him. Orlando was mesmerised.
“Tell you what, if you make me a couple you don’t have to give me my milk back.”
“Can’t say fairer than that,” Orlando’s own smile was just as bright. “Give me fifteen minutes?” He’d need ten times that to make his place look respectable…
~~
Twenty minutes later, Orlando opened the door to his apartment; the place was lit by a myriad of little candles, after he’d decided the mess would look less scary under a less harsh light.
“Wow,” Elijah grinned. “You like to read?”
“I’m researching the Civil War for my boss…”
“Wow again, you work for an academic? Or are you the prof?”
“Um no …” Orlando blushed. “My boss is Lucinda Winchester…”
Another long pause. “What the Lucinda Winchester?”
“Yeah.”
“Omigod, my mom loves her books.”
“She’s my…”
“Your mom? She can’t be your mom, I mean I thought she was gay.”
“She is gay and she’s not my mum, she’s my second cousin and she hates flying so I’m here for a few months researching for her next book.”
“That’s awesome…”
“Do you want lemon and sugar?”
“Lemon and sugar?”
“On your pancakes.”
“Sure, that’s great.” Elijah could tell Orlando was less than comfortable and let him change the subject to something that made him less edgy.
After they had moved away from the subject of Orlando’s famous boss, the conversation flowed, and the batter too.
Well one pancake turned into another, then another, then another until the mixture was all gone, it was only when Elijah went to the fridge to get more beer that he noticed the abundance of milk in Orlando’s fridge…