LOTR RPS: Smack the Dog 24
Chapter 24: Unforgiveable sinner
*
Sean had found himself a coffee machine. It was just as well it had coffee printed on the outside, as Sean was sure he would never have worked out the nature of the vaguely coffee related beverage without this handy hint. He clutched hold of the paper cup and took a sip every now and again as something to do as he waited.
Viggo was still in there with Orlando as the younger man was poked, prodded and subjected to whatever else doctors tended to do to make assessments. There were talks of x-rays, of bandages and the query of whether the gash on his left leg required stitches. The doctors were of the belief it did. The nurses thought otherwise. Sean had his money resting on the large yet efficient woman who was leading the nurses’ opinion.
Left leg.
Sean shut his eyes and tried not to think of what would happen when they looked at the right leg and the healing wound that was present for anyone to see. There had already been raised eyebrows when Viggo had said Orli had fallen down some stairs, and Sean didn’t blame them in the slightest. It was possibly one of the most stereotypical excuses ever, barring possibly the ‘walked into the door’ routine. Mind you, people did walk into doors. He had done it himself. It just looked very bad when you happened to have old bruises already on your person, some of which looking most unnatural indeed, and someone’s initial carved into your buttock.
There had been some debate over one of Orli’s arms. They didn’t think it was broken apparently. However it was certainly going to be resting in a sling for a few days whilst the muscles got over the shock, with further bruises to follow. Marvellous.
Sean took another sip of the hideous coffee and stared at the door, willing someone to come through and give him some idea of what was going on. Viggo had managed to get into the discussions partly through force of character and partly because it was so bloody clear that Orli became frantic without him. Sean had bottled out and merely muttered that he was a house-mate, and therefore had been left in the waiting room with the coffee, a few other people and some sad, out of date magazines that were mostly aimed at women. As if the women didn’t have enough to worry about.
Sean stood up so quickly at Viggo entering the room he was in danger of putting himself in the damn hospital as well. Not a muscle flickered on Viggo’s face as he walked towards where Sean stood, but Sean could feel the concern radiating off him. The older man paused in front of the blonde, glanced at the other members of the waiting room who were all in little worlds of their own, and nodded for him to follow.
Sean tagged along behind like the good little doggie he was, leaving behind LOTS! Magazine that had promised real life stories and how to shift those unwanted summer pounds before Christmas. They had walked down several corridors before Viggo finally managed to speak.
“ He’s been admitted as an in-patient for observation,” his voice was almost deadly. Sean looked at him.
” Well, that’s usual, isn’t it?”
“ They think he’s been abused, Sean.” Viggo didn’t bother to put any sort of gloss on it. Sean searched for a comment, any comment, but could only come up with the very basics.
“ Oh,”
” Yes, oh.” Sean couldn’t properly see Viggo’s expression but he had a suspicion a nicer one might have been found on Death. Viggo’s jaw was clenched. “ They want him to speak to someone whilst I’m not there,”
“ What sort of person are we talking?” Sean looked horrified. “ Therapist or police?”
Viggo reached the lifts and pressed the button. He stared forwards as he spoke.
“ They’re not calling the police at this point, mostly because Orlando’s very certain that I’m not abusing him and secondly because he has got a substantial level of alcohol in his bloodstream. He finished off that bottle of yours, incidentally.” Viggo didn’t bother to look at the man he spoke to. “ Without a witness, I doubt whether they’ll report it.” He finally glanced at him. Sean was horrified again at the look of tension in his eyes. “ Has anyone spoken to you yet?”
Sean shook his head wordlessly. Viggo snorted.
” It’ll be a matter of time, trust me.”
The lift pinged, the doors sliding open. Two men stepped out, still continuing their conversation without bothering to glance at the people getting in. Viggo stood silently as the lift travelled upwards, Sean by his side.
“ If you want to go home you can,” Viggo said finally as they walked along the next in the row of endless corridors. Sean stared at him.
” I’m not bloody well going home, Vig!”
“ They might throw us out anyway. Visiting hours and so on. Doesn’t seem right that both of us should have to suffer a poor night’s sleep,” Viggo’s mouth seemed to be on automatic pilot. Sean growled in the back of his throat.
” If they throw us out, they throw us out. Note the plural, Viggo. I’m not leaving you two.” Sean had his most stubborn expression on his face. Viggo paused and glanced at him. The faintest of smiles hovered at the corner of his mouth before his gaze returned to the corridor.
“ Fine,” he replied.
That was far too short a response. Viggo didn’t do short responses, unless there was something nasty to follow. Sean’s guilt started to play on happily. Viggo paused outside a room whose door was solidly shut, sighed, and made his way to the nearby chairs and sitting down. No magazine racks here. Just empty cold chairs, a bench and a vending machine at the far end of the corridor.
Sean parked himself beside him and looked at his hands which were resting in his lap.
A minute ticked past and it was the slowest minute in the world. Finally, Sean took a deep breath and tried to form a sentence.
” I don’t want to speak about it,” Viggo got in first. Sean stared at him, forgetting his previous problems with speech.
“ Again?!” Sean shook his head and decided to take on another tack. “ Okay, we don’t have to talk about it. Well, certainly not here anyway. I just wanted to say I was .. ,” Sean paused. Was he sorry? Well, vaguely. “ I didn’t want Orlando to get hurt,” he amended. Which was true enough.
“ Yes, neither did I. I doubt whether it was at the top of his things to do either but you never can tell with Orli,” Viggo had turned his attention onto picking his nails with resolute determination.
” I didn’t realise he’d been drinking. I didn’t think he drank, to be honest,” Sean shrugged in embarrassment. Perhaps Dave did have a point after all. What did he know of Orlando apart from what they did in the bedroom? Viggo gave him a side glance, before returning his gaze to his nails, saying nothing.
Sean sighed. “ Did they decide whether he’s going to have stitches?”
Viggo shook his head. “ They don’t think it’ll be necessary. Just a dressing,” he replied, his voice scarily calm.
” And the arm?”
“ Not broken.”
“ Thank God,” sighed Sean, resting his head back against the wall. Viggo cleared his throat slightly.
“ Although he has been banned from filming for a week. At least,” he said, and the voice was getting lower if that was possible. Sean stared at him.
” Shit,”
“ Shit indeed,” Viggo sighed, and smiled ruefully. “ They want to talk to Peter. As soon as they get him on the phone I would imagine said shit will be hitting the fan. And I would imagine that would be any time now,”
Sean shook his head. “ Well, they can’t blame you for it. I saw you try and grab him before he fell,”
” Sean, he was running from me.” Viggo said patiently. Sean frowned.
“ Well, that’s a load of bollocks for a start,” he commented. “ If he was as pissed as you say he was, he could have been running away from the Easter bunny. Look, I’ve done it a million times. I know what I’m talking about,”
Viggo surveyed him in interest. “Running away from the Easter Bunny?” he echoed. Sean paused. It had sounded better in his head.
” You know what I mean,” he said steadily. Viggo gave a snort of amusement.
“ I think I gather what you were attempting to say, although it was more inarticulate than your usual ability, I might add,”
“ Thanks,” Sean said dryly, and stared at the door. “ Viggo?”
” Hmmm?” The older man had gone back to picking at his nails. Soon he wouldn’t have any left whatsoever.
” What’s Orlando’s favourite colour?”
” What?” Another side glance, this time clearly wondering how much alcohol Sean himself had had to drink. Sean shrugged, and looked away.
“ Nothing.” Why the hell did he feel so embarrassed? Focus, damn you!
“ Yellow,” sighed Viggo, turning back to his nails. “ It’s yellow.”
“ Oh.” Sean filed this for future reference. “ Right,”
There was another long pause. Time ticked by slowly. The occasional patient wandered through, or a nurse marched briskly past, heels tapping on the shiny floor. Finally the door to Orlando’s room opened and a young doctor glanced out at them, before consulting a clipboard in his hand.
“ Mr .. Mortensen?”
Viggo nodded and stood, the doctor stepped back from the door. He glanced towards Sean.
” You’re a friend?”
“ Yeah,” Sean felt uncomfortable saying it. However, the doctor had obviously been on his feet for some time and either didn’t notice or didn’t comment on this. He waved a hand towards the door.
“ He’s okay to receive visitors, although I’d make it quick. Visiting hours finish in about an hours time,”
Sean all but slid through the door and stared around the stark room before focusing a little more on the scrap of Orlando that lay on the bed. A vivid red cut on his cheekbone shone brightly against the white of his skin. His arm was already trussed up in a sling, the rest of him covered by the blankets. However, it was clear he had already been dressed in the hospital garments. Sean resisted a shiver and moved to stand by the bed.
Viggo had already reached him and had placed a hand on his forehead tenderly, moving damp tendrils of hair with his fingers. Orli stared back at him slightly sleepily, before sliding his gaze towards Sean.
” How are you feeling?” asked Sean softly, wondering whether he was allowed to touch him. He had no idea what the current feelings were with regards to this matter. Orlando shrugged with his eyes.
” Been better,” he replied, breaking off to yawn widely. His gaze was soon back on Sean, as though faintly surprised of his presence. He smiled at him as Sean stroked his arm but it was wary, as though uncertain whether Sean was keeping up appearances rather than anything else. Viggo seemed to completely ignore their little silent discussion.
” Orli, you know there’s always going to be one of us here, don’t you?” he spoke as though it was a matter of fact thing. Orlando nodded and settled back against the pillows.
” Although you don’t need to. I’m not a child, Vig,” his eyes were stubborn, as though a twelve year old demanding to stay up late to watch a programme. Viggo sighed patiently and ruffled his hair.
“ Yes, dear,”
“ Huh!” However, the huh was definitely automatic rather than any severe ‘huh’ness. Orlando’s eyes were back on Sean thoughtfully. The blonde in question was definitely getting more twitchy about all the attention. Orli yawned again, his eyes flickering shut before their owner forced himself to open them again.
“ Is that from the drink or the drugs?” wondered Sean aloud. Orli laughed and snuggled a little bit more in bed, hissing slightly as he brushed his arm against the bed. He glanced at Viggo immediately before the man could even speak.
“ I’m fine! Stop fussing!” Orlando nodded towards the door. “ Go get a coffee flavoured beverage, okay?”
Obviously Orlando had also had the joys of a machine made coffee.
“ I’m not moving from this room until they make me,” replied Viggo mildly.
” So you’ll be pissing in a bucket for the foreseeable future?” guessed Sean, and earned himself a sharp look. Orli chuckled again, his previous bad humour vanished, and snuggled deeper. God, the kid really did have some quite spectacular mood swings.
“ *I’ll* go get the coffee flavoured beverages,” Sean offered. Orlando perked up.
“ Can you get me some juicy fruit?”
“ You what?” Sean had heard about the 5 fruit n veg a day initiative, but that was pushing it.
” Bubblegum,” translated Viggo. Sean raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
” I doubt the machine’ll have them, but I can get you some for tomorrow instead,” he replied. “ And some of those trashy magazines you read,” At least those were easy enough to notice. Orlando grinned.
” Thanks, Sean.”
” No problem. Glad to help your literary habits,” Sean nodded to them and left on the Search for Coffee, leaving Orli to Viggo’s fussing.
*
Viggo had ended up staying at the hospital all night. Sean hadn’t really doubted it, just as he had never doubted that Viggo’s force of personality would be able to persuade the nurses that he really needed to be there. Doubtful faces had become a lot more willing after Viggo had spoken to them in his soft voice, his eyes obviously severe and pleading with them. They were all but eating out of his hands, and that was only because it broke sanitation regulations.
Sean had been sent home to get some sleep. This was borne a little more gracefully than he would have done previously, mostly because he knew he was going to take the morning shift and allow Viggo to have a shower and try to catch up on some sleep. Apparently Viggo had managed to get Peter to give them some time off as well, and seeming Boromir needed an Aragorn to do his scene, Sean found himself with time to spare.
Despite being sent home for the purposes of rest, Sean slept very badly. The bed seemed huge. Well, the bed *was* huge, but it was suddenly huger, colder and quieter than he had ever known it. He had been tempted to have a drink to calm his nerve, but shoved that to the back of his mind. Drunk, Viggo had said. No bloody way was he allowing alcohol to control him. He had more than enough people to take control of him without that, thank you very much.
Dreams were a particular problem. Sean had woken twice, sweating badly, a cry at the back of his throat to call out to Viggo, trying to help him. However, these mini-nightmares were beginning to be overtaken by a whole new world of torment.
Karl.
The man tormented him in reality, so he might as well start tormenting him at night. However, Sean’s mind had obviously been working overtime, and, despite Sean’s usual sexual demands, seemed a little frustrated as well. One memorable dream contained a naked Karl, a family size pot of raspberry yogurt and a bed with silk black sheets that never seemed to crinkle. Thankfully Sean had woken up before he used the said yogurt, but it was a little more difficult to forget the aching erection he found himself with. Needless to say yogurt was off the menu for the foreseeable future.
And surely there was some sort of limit to how many dreams you had per night? What sort of imagination had he been lumbered with anyway?
Sean grumbled to himself and rolled over in bed, trying to get back to the dubious land of Nod. He didn’t even dare count sheep. Heaven only knew what position he’d find them in if he did, and bestiality really wasn’t up there on his Things To Screw list.
Thankfully the dreams seemed to leave him alone after that. Or, at least, he didn’t remember anything more. His dick was also exactly how he had wanted it, quiet and behaving itself. No wet patches or anything else dubious, just the need to put visual dreams to the back of his mind and stamp on them.
Anyway, today was obviously a better day, a more suitable day for getting things done. A day without erotic dreams about Karl, certainly. A day for living and getting himself back into certain people’s good books. And, of course, he was spending said day at the hospital.
An hour later, showered, changed and with a stack of random types of bubblegum, Sean made his way back to the hospital to find Viggo curled up in a chair in Orlando’s room, fast asleep. It was quite impressive how he managed it. Sean doubted whether he would have been able to do that without a sharp blow to the back of the head. Needless to say it was also cute as hell, although Sean had enough self-preservation to know not to mention this to Viggo. Good books, remember.
Sean carefully plonked the supplies on the side table, and glanced at Orlando as the younger man stirred and glanced sleepily at him.
“ Sean?” he murmured, as though he had been having difficulties with dreams himself. Mind you, Sean had no idea what sort of drugs they had given him. He himself might be wearing kitty ears to Orlando’s mind.
“ Yeah, it’s me. Go back to sleep,” Sean leant forward and kissed his cheek. Orlando made a little sleepy moan, like a cat waking up from a good nap by a fire, and blinked towards his sleeping don’t-call-me-cute protector. “ Don’t worry, Vig’s still there too. Although he might have a few new kinks in his back.” Sean added.
“ Viggo always has a few new kinks,” yawned Orlando, who struggled to sit up. Sean gently helped him until Orlando was in a better position to be able to see the world. “ He was like that when they brought in breakfast. Didn’t move in the slightest. I’m sure they thought he was dead,”
Sean eyed the sleeping figure. “ He’s okay, yes?” he asked cautiously. Dead and cute tended not to make good bed-fellows.
“ He’s fine,” Orlando’s eyes had fallen onto the bubblegum with glee and had already swiped a packet. “ Bin, please.”
A bin was located and placed close enough to be able to catch the remains of the packaging. Orlando looked back at Viggo thoughtfully.
“ He should really go back and get some sleep. I’ll be fine,” it was said in the manner of one who was going to insist upon it until the damn thing was done or he had gone dumb trying.
“ You want to tell him that?” Sean shrugged, and was about to say something further when he was startled by the noise of the door opening quickly. Sean stared behind him in surprise, expecting a very annoyed nurse or possibly a doctor who had been up all night on call. However, the medical staff were not guilty of the forceful entrance. That award went to Karl.
The blonde groaned to himself, before moving swiftly, grabbing hold of Karl’s arm and propelling him out the door, Orlando staring at them, bubblegum half to mouth, eyes huge.
The door shut smartly behind them. Karl wrenched his arm free from Sean’s grip and glared angrily at him. And, good god, that was angrily. Fire from the pits of Hades burned in the back of Karl’s eyes. The man had an air of determination about him as though the only thing he wanted to do was smash seven types of hell out of the older man in front of him. A wonderful start to the day. And to think, only a few hours ago Sean was dreaming of licking strawberry sauce off this guy’s nipples.
Sean straightened his back, his hands automatically forming into fists.
“ Yes?” he asked coldly. Two could play at the anger game.
” You bastard. You absolute little shit,” Despite his anger, Karl’s voice was clipped and controlled. “ You let him go back to him so Viggo could do this.”
“ ‘This’, as you so carefully put it, was an accident,” Sean growled, his defensive nature kicking in a few notches. Karl gave a snort of laughter that had absolutely nothing to do with humour in the slightest.
“ An accident? Oh, of course it was. Just an accident. Like that cut on his hip, that was an accident too? The bruises on his ribs?” Karl stared at him. “ You’re in a position to help him, Sean. Why the hell aren’t you? I’d almost convinced him too!”
“ Convinced him?” Sean stepped forward, his eyes dangerous. “ Convinced him to do what, exactly?”
However, he was interrupted by the loud cough of a nurse nearby. He glanced over his shoulder and tried to relax slightly in the face of such a suspicious look. Karl growled something further and stalked away to stare out a window. The nurse watched them for a few moments more, before turning to walk into Orlando’s room, the door shutting behind him with a pointed click. As soon as he had left, Karl swung around.
“ Sean, you’re not an idiot. He’s fucking well in a hospital. Viggo put him there.” Karl stared at him. “ Help me to get him out of it,”
“ What planet are you from, exactly?” Sean stared at him, and shook his head with a short laugh that actually sounded more like a bark. “ You’ve just finished blackmailing him to sleep with you!”
“ That was not the intention,” replied Karl levelly. Sean raised an eyebrow.
“ Not the intention? Then what, exactly, *was* the intention? You’ve scared the living daylights out of him!” Okay, so that was probably an exaggeration, but certainly something was wrong with the whole Orlando experience, and that was definitely a bad thing for all concerned. Viggo didn’t take kindly to those who abuse his pets. Or at least those who abused his pets who weren’t Viggo anyway.
Karl looked at him incredulously.
“ I scared *him*?” he echoed in disbelief. “ How the bloody hell d’you think I felt when I realised what Viggo had made him do?”
” Viggo didn’t make him do anything, and he was only there because you forced him to be there!”
“ Right, so Orli tries to jump on me immediately then suddenly gets the idea to grab the photographs and disappear in the early hours in the morning? For fuck sake Sean, open your eyes! He had a plan as soon as he stepped through that door, and we both know who put it there!”
They had to stop at that point as Security had made an appearance. As had Viggo.
*
” So then what happened?” Orlando might be drugged up to the nines, but he certainly wasn’t stupid. Mores the pity. Sean sighed, and scratched his head.
“ Well, at that point it all got a little loud and essentially both Vig and Karl got escorted from the hospital to cool off a bit,” Sean decided to put a little bit more of the gloss on. It certainly wouldn’t aid Orlando in knowing exactly what names Karl was throwing about, and Sean didn’t think he could even repeat what Viggo growled. Viggo had an additional bonus of being able to swear in several different languages, as well has having one of the most disgusting yet inventive minds that Sean had ever known.
However, the careful glossing managed to miss its target. Orli looked anguished.
“ Viggo’s okay isn’t he?” Big brown eyes pleaded with Sean. Thankfully this was a topic that wasn’t going to cause huge amounts of upset. Sean nodded.
” Really pissed off though,” he advised. “ and Karl was busy threatening all sorts of things. I never realised what an imagination he had.”
Orlando looked as though he was ready to jump off the bed to seek out the Wronged Viggo. This was definitely A Bad Thing. Sean straightened his back.
“ It’s okay, Orlando. He’ll be fine. You know what a survivor he is,” Sean was confident. Orlando’s eyes flickered on him briefly, before turning to the window.
“ I suppose,” he replied. “ Although it would be nice for him to do things which didn’t need surviving,”
“ Well, yeah,” Sean settled himself in the chair again and confirmed what he had thought before - hospital chairs really were designed to be as uncomfortable as possible. He was tempted to spend the night asleep on the floor. “ I hear you drank the rest of my alcohol,” he added. God knows why he said it, but the words seemed to come out, and at least it was something to say.
Orlando shrugged lightly again. “ Sorry,” he said quietly, not looking from the window. Sean paused again, wondering how much to push it. He prayed that this was the time that it felt like. A time when he didn’t need to be told that yellow was a favourite colour or focus on what music they liked. A time when any questions he posed wasn’t likely to get Viggo annoyed and end up with half a dozen lessons aimed at him.
“ I take it the whole Karl thing didn’t go down too well?” he asked quietly. Orlando laughed, mostly to himself.
” Yeah, the bastard didn’t do anything. Just looked wide-eyed and blabbed something about a movie on television, which is a little disappointing if you're standing there pretty much stark naked. All my suggestions just made him more uncomfortable. I'm just thankful he goes to sleep easily and has no idea how to hide things properly,” Orlando smiled grimly and settled himself more comfortably on the bed, still staring out the window. There was a pause. There was an even longer pause. Sean attempted to get his voice box to work but it was feeling as flabbergasted as himself and therefore normal functions were currently absent without leave.
Orli had worked out something was wrong after the first pause and had glanced back at him, a growing horror showing in his eyes.
” Oh, shit,” Orlando said slowly, although his voice beginning to speed up as the agitation began to seep through. “ I thought you knew.. you *said* you knew!”
There was an urgent protest in his voice, as though the younger man was trying to convince Sean. The blonde opened his mouth to comment but comments failed to present themselves for inspection. He shut it again, on the basis that nothing else was better to do and looked at Orlando numbly.
Orli looked back at him with the largest puppy dog eyes ever. Finally he sighed, admitting defeat.
“ I’m sorry. I didn’t think I had to keep the innocent little boy routine up with you anymore,” he murmured, looking back at the window.
“ Well, I never thought you were innocent…,” began Sean, when there was a snort of laughter.
“ Uh-huh,” there was a set look that crossed over Orlando’s face as he stared out the window. “ poor little Orlando. Can’t make up his own mind. Can get persuaded to do anything as long as you say it in an authorative voice. Doesn’t know what he’s doing. Is there anyone in this world who is like that after all this time? Honestly!”
“ You managed to persuade Viggo,” said Sean quietly. A fond look crossed over Orlando’s face, like a teacher remembering a promising student.
“ Yeah. I persuaded Viggo,” he murmured. “ But he was easy,”
Easy. Not a word that Sean normally associated with the little bundle of nerves that was Viggo on a bad day. The older man tried not to look incredulous and failed miserably. Orlando grinned at him, obviously amused by the reaction.
“ Although Viggo’s hardly innocent himself. No, Sean, the most innocent member of this party is definitely you.”
“ Excuse me, who actually managed to fuck Karl?” Sean was ridiculously offended by the accusation of innocence. Orlando raised an eyebrow.
“ I’m very impressed,” he drawled. “ I hear David had to hold you down at the start,”
“ Having chats with Karl again?” Sean’s voice had developed a bit of an edge. Orlando didn’t seem to notice or care and simply gazed back towards the window as though he could see more than the occasional fluffy white cloud.
“ He’s all talk, very little action. Chats with Karl is all we can do. And I confess to enjoying seeing his face when he finds out about all the unusual stuff we manage to get up to, and you can see it in his face that he would like to try it,” Orlando was smiling to himself. The younger man sighed. “ Thankfully, Viggo would never allow it. The only one he might consider is Dave, and he’s risky as it is,”
There were huge amount of questions on Sean’s lips, all of which died immediately. He had to swallow to get enough moisture to speak properly.
“ Dave?”
“ Wenham. You might have noticed him. He’s the one who put a finger up you,” Orlando looked innocent. Sean wanted to smack him. The younger man winked and looked back at the window once again. “ Don’t worry,” he said sadly. “ after this we’d be lucky if Viggo even uses the gym again. Of all the bloody awful luck!” he suddenly exploded.
“ Orli, calm down before you hurt yourself further,” warned Sean. Orli glanced at him, then back again.
“ Yeah, okay. Sorry,” he mumbled.
“ Don’t be sorry, just do it,” Sean knew he was scolding and didn’t care. There was a grin on Orlando’s face before it faded again.
“ Vig used to be like that,” he said softly. “ I was almost surprised he let me cross the street at nights sometimes,”
“ So why on earth did you speak to Karl in the first place? Was it just loneliness as you said?” Sean actually felt he was getting somewhere. However, this progress was in serious jeopardy; a hard expression suddenly came across Orlando’s face, the younger man staring out the window once again with fierce dedication. Sean wondered whether to take the hint, and decided entirely against it. Sod the tact. He wanted answers, before it killed them all. “ Orli?”
“ Karl was someone who I could speak to without being labelled a whore,” When he spoke, Orlando’s voice was very controlled, very precise. Sean stared at him.
“ You could have spoken to me or Viggo,”
“ And say what? I suppose I could have just come out with it, but asking someone whether they’re about to dump you normally speeds up the process doesn’t it?”
“ Dump you?” Sean was dumfounded.
“ Dump me!” Orlando’s voice had risen tremendously. No longer staring out the window, dark brown eyes glared at him. “ You know damn well all of the games revolved around you. You were Viggo’s new toy and had to be handled gently.”
“ Well, he was only trying to be nice-“ protested Sean, grabbing hold of the first words that presented themselves to be said.
“ Nice?!” Orlando stared at him, then finally grinned and shook his head, flopping back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling. “ Nice!” And chuckled again. “ It’s not normally a word you use for him, is it?”
“ Sorry. Me being innocent again,” Sean rolled his eyes.
“ Oh, stop being touchy,” Orlando seemed to have gone through his anger and out the other side. “ And bloody well open your eyes to the situation, eh?”
All Sean needed was for Viggo to repeat that particular phrase and he would have a full house. The older man shook his head and leaned back against his chair, watching the younger man on the bed.
” You know he’s crazy about you. He always leaps to your defence. He’s worried about you when you’re away. He’s not going to dump you,” Sean said patiently.
“ He’s changed, Sean.” Orlando said quietly.
“ Not that much,” Sean was definitely feeling uncomfortable, and even his most optimistic parts couldn’t pretend it was entirely down to the plastic chair. Orli gave him a look that spoke of long-suffering patience.
” Yes, that much,” he replied. Sean tried not to look guilty and failed miserably. Not that he knew what to be guilty for. Then again, this was nothing new; he hadn’t been sure on anything since the whole damn relationship had started. Therapists would adore them.
“ How?” he decided to press on and put up with the squirming in the stomach. His eyes hardened at Orlando’s immediate look towards the window again, which seemed to signify that he was about to keep his mouth shut again. “ I can’t help if you don’t talk to me, Orlando,”
Orli laughed softly. “ You sound like Karl,” he commented sadly. “ You know what else he was doing for that night, apart from make me watch... Die Hard 2 I think it was?”
“ Will this be a PG rating?” Sean asked suspiciously. Orlando snorted in amusement.
” Sorry, this is after your little orgy?” he said pointedly and sighed. “ Yes, it was a PG rating. He was trying to get me to leave. And that’s leave Viggo rather than the house, by the way. You he didn’t really have a problem with .. so apparently you made a good impression on him when you were..,” here Orlando gestured with a hand. “ .. but I doubt whether Karl would be crying should Viggo be accidentally hit by a car,”
“ Are you saying Karl would-?“ Sean felt weak. Fucking hell, Karl was out there like a New Zealand version of the Hollywood hack’n’slasher and Viggo was on his own..
“ I’m not saying he would be the driver, Sean. Stop fretting. However, he’s one of these people who sees the opportunity and goes for it,” Orlando’s voice was neutral. Sean was painfully reminded of Viggo’s voice as he recounted his rape in such a manner that it could have been easy to assume it had happened to someone else.
” He said he’d almost convinced you…,” Sean pressed on, trying to cover the shaking in his voice.
“ Yeah, I would imagine that's what he said. He’s worked out he needs some help on the matter. Dave won’t help him at all now, not after what Karl did to you,” Orlando took in Sean’s incredulous expression and nodded. “ It’s true. Oh, they still talk, but Dave’s made it more than clear that talking is all they do. And I think it’s now mostly on work or the weather.”
“ But Dave was there on the evening…,” Sean was struggling to come to terms with this. Orlando shrugged in a strange lopsided way to ensure his arm wasn’t pulled.
“ It’s the later parts he objected to, I believe,”
“ Oh,” This made it no clearer to Sean, who had been a lot happier with the later parts, but now wasn’t the time to start investigating the weirdness that were the Wenham Files.
“ Anyway, apparently Karl believes that you’re the help he needs in his current Quest,” Orlando seemed to be almost cheerful in his tone, and inserted the capital letter in his speech without any problems whatsoever. Sean adjusted his position on the ridiculously uncomfortable chair again and crossed his legs. His back protested. Legs were uncrossed once again.
“ He’s optimistic, I’ll give him that,” sighed Sean once he had found a position where his body wasn’t screaming at him. “ Why me?”
“ What, beaten, oppressed, raped, strangled little you?” Orli snorted. “ Can’t imagine.”
” I have not been…,” Sean reviewed the list. “ I’ve certainly not been raped! Where did he get that one from?”
“ How much did you want to escape the first time Viggo ordered you to suck me off?” Orlando’s dark brown eyes rested on him patiently. Sean tried to look nonchalant and failed miserably.
“ Okay, it might have been a little weird at the time.. could you please stop snorting like that?! .. but rape is a phrase too far,” Sean folded his arms stubbornly. Orlando nodded.
” Oh, I know that. However, it’s bloody well not a box of chocolates, a candlelit dinner and an offer to come back to see his etchings now is it?” Orlando returned his gaze towards the window. “ I’ve tried to explain to Karl so many times, but he just can’t grasp it. Normally it’s easier to just demonstrate it to someone than to describe it. Can you imagine how many people would be horrified if you were to go to them and state that being beaten and pissed on-“
“ Pissed on?” Sean sat up in his chair straighter. Orlando paused, eyed him thoughtfully and shrugged the one sided shrug again.
” Yeah, well, we’ll come back to that later shall we? ANYWAY,” he continued as Sean opened his mouth to protest at this. “ they’d be as horrified as you if they were told instead of being repelled they’d actually quite enjoy it. It’s not the done thing, confessing to that. People’s prides are often on a different wavelength to the important stuff. It’s one of the reasons why some marriages fail,”
“ Like mine?” asked Sean wearily. Orlando shrugged.
“ Can’t see that you liking to be fucked by other men is gonna help your relationship, can you? Not unless your wife likes the idea of watching, and women do tend to be more possessive,”
“ That’s it, I’m banning you from watching Frasier any more,” Sean sighed. “ Obviously therapists have a nasty effect on you thinking too hard about my relationships,”
“ I’m listening..,” murmured Orlando cheerfully.
” Stop it!”
” Sorry.” Orlando gave him a grin and eyed him thoughtfully as Sean adjusted his position yet again. “ You can sit on the bed if you want to, Sean. I won’t bite.”
Sean glanced at the bed. The warm, comfortable, delicious bed. Must resist! Must resist! God only knows how unsanitary he actually was after all.
“ Anyway,” Orlando continued, unabashed that Sean hadn’t jumped on the bed immediately. “ I tried explaining all of this to Karl but his response was just to mutter it was a pity that Viggo couldn’t go through what I did to see the effects of his handiwork.” Orlando paused, a strained look passing across his face. “ I couldn’t really tell him that Viggo already knows, although I did emphasis the fact Viggo knows when to draw the line,” The younger man looked in slight guilt at Sean. “ that’s when I told him about that whole strangulation part,”
“ Yeah, Karl did mention it in passing,” sighed Sean, shifting on the chair again. Oh, sod it. Chair was abandoned for the bed, although as soon as Sean had perched himself on the edge Orlando had already seized his arm and pulled him further onto it. In alarm, Sean had immediately got into the position demanded by Orli to avoid any further injuries to the younger man. There were far too many injuries on the boy’s body that were classified as a direct result of Sean influence already.
“ I take it Viggo’s already told you about what happened to him?” Orlando queried reluctantly. Sean nodded wordlessly. Orlando sighed softly and traced a pattern on the sheets
“ He was very vulnerable after that. That’s one of the reasons why I think he went back to him-“ Orlando stopped immediately at Sean’s incredulous look at him. The colour had drained entirely from Sean’s face as though someone had been energetic with the whitewash.
” Went back to him? Went back to who?”
“ He didn’t mention it to you,” Orlando said dully. “ I see,”
“ He went back to that boyfriend of his? The one who watched?” Sean’s voice didn’t sound like it belonged to him anymore. Orlando frowned a little, as though working out something in his mind.
“ Sean,” he said, and his voice was uncertain. “ exactly what did he tell you?”
However, confessions could hold as the door opened. Sean almost fell out of bed. The young doctor of before stood impassively at the door, his clipboard tucked under one hand. A raised eyebrow was the only thing that spoke of surprise.
“ House mate?” he murmured softly, then walked in a little further, looking at Orlando. “ Mr Bloom, we have the results back from your tests. You’ll be out of here probably by tomorrow evening, all going well, although I’ve already told your director that you’ll need to rest for at least two weeks before doing whatever it is you do. I hear little pointy ears are involved?”
“ Yeah,” there was a slight shrug at this.
“ Nice work if you can get it, I suppose,” the doctor’s eyes slid to Sean in assessment. Amusement shone behind his eyes though, which could have been worse. “ You’re involved in this film I assume,”
Sean nodded wordlessly.
“ Pointy ears involved with you too?”
“ More mud and grime than anything,” confessed Sean. The doctor shook his head.
” And you’re on our sheets as well. Disgraceful,” his voice was cheerful. Obviously one person who didn’t think that abuse was the automatically correct assumption in relation to Orlando. The doctor turned back to Orli.“ Anyway, we’ll leave you to it and one of the nurses will be round later to change the dressings and patch you up a little. Hope you didn’t have to look pretty,”
Orlando looked sheepish. The doctor grinned and headed out the door.
“ Bad luck,” he threw over his shoulder as he left. Sean stared at the closing door, and looked back at Orli.
” Is it me or did we just get confirmation that I can stay on the bed?” he queried lightly. Orlando grinned and put his good hand on Sean’s thigh, rubbing it in a manner that was most unsuitable for a medical situation. The blonde had to put his hand over Orli’s immediately before things got out of control. For one thing, the bed really didn’t feel like it was up to an Orli Special.
“ Sounds good to me,” Orli’s eyes were hungry on him briefly, before the younger man glanced towards the door longingly. “ I wonder where Viggo is though.”
Sean was aware of bright brown eyes turning to him pleadingly and hesitated. Viggo had been very clear on the fact that Sean was staying in hospital with Orlando without fail, Viggo certainly not trusting Karl not to sneak up there afterwards. Viggo had been very, very clear about the matter. In fact, Sean had almost felt the punctuation.
“ He wanted me to stay here,” Sean said wretchedly. A sad look crossed Orlando’s face but the young man shrugged.
“ Oh well. He’ll be back,” he replied cheerfully in the usual Orli optimistic fashion.
But that was the problem.
Viggo wasn't.
*
Later that afternoon Orlando had been like a junkie with withdrawal. His eyes kept moving to the door, lighting up if anyone passed it before moving back to the sad melancholy as the door failed to open. He was an hour late.
A whole hour.
Viggo was never an hour late. If he said he was going to be somewhere, he was there. No question. Even if he had been hit by a bus he would have managed to get a message across, even if he had to train wild pigeons to carry it.
The hour turned into two. Two turned into the evening.
Finally, Orlando turned back to Sean who had been dozing on his side of the bed and poked an elbow in his ribs. Sean yelped into action.
“ What?” his eyes took in the emptiness of the room and focused on Orli. “ He’s STILL not here?”
“ Could you go and try the house number again?” Orlando pleaded with him. Sean hesitated. This would be the sixth phone call home in the past hour. Wherever Viggo was, home did not seem to be it.
“ Orli…,” he said wretchedly, but he couldn’t continue. Not in the face of such earnest appeal. Sean sighed and slipped off the bed again, giving him a smile. “ Of course, my love. I’ll try,”
Orli’s expression changed to one who wasn’t entirely sure what he had just heard. Sean paused again and reviewed what he had said in his mind for offensive comments. Orlando ran a tongue over his lips and leaned forward slightly.
” My love?” he echoed, a smile on his lips. “ Feeling poetic today?”
“ What’s wrong with that?” Okay, so he didn’t tend to say such things on a regular basis, but then again neither did the other two. Including the poet for that matter. Sean tried to rid a sulky expression from forming on his face. He got complaints if he tried and complaints if he didn’t. Honestly.
“ What, apart from the over exaggeration?” Orlando raised an eyebrow and grinned to himself. “ Sorry, I’m distracting you. Go. Shoo. Door’s behind you,”
“ I wasn’t over exaggerating and I know where the door is, thanks,” replied Sean dryly, turning to go to it. “ I’ll be back in a minute,”
” Not over-exaggerating my arse,” came Orlando’s comment from the bed. Sean stopped with his hand on the door handle. He glanced back.
” So what do you think I should have said then?” replied Sean with exaggerated patience. Back came the lop-sided shrug.
“ I dunno. You normally say mate. Or ‘darling’ with sarcastic tones,” Orlando paused in consideration.
” I don’t have sarcastic tones!” Sean protested. Orlando had a distinct pull-the-other-one expression on his face at this. Sean’s frown returned. “ I don’t!” he insisted.
“ Okay. You don’t. Go phone Viggo.” There was absolutely no sincerity in the first two sentences, although this was more than made up for in the third. Orlando looked at him, then back at the window. Sean watched him a few more moments suspiciously before exiting the room and making his way to the public payphone which was a little closer than having to get out the whole damn building to use the mobile.
The phone rang. And rang. And of course the machine picked up. Bastard.
Sean dithered about leaving yet another message and simply put the phone down. He sighed heavily and glanced towards the window. Blast it all Viggo, where the hell were you? And why the hell couldn’t you possibly carry a mobile anyway?
The usual guilt settled in as he stepped through the door to Orlando’s room again and looked at the naked hopefulness on the young man’s face. He shook his head once. The hopefulness faded as suddenly as it appeared; Orlando looked like he had aged at least ten years.
“ Where the hell is he?!” he exploded finally, then, again. “ You don’t think he’s been in an accident, do you?” The fear was so very clear in Orlando’s voice. Sean hesitated, hearing the memory of Orlando’s opinion of Karl and car accidents.
“ He’d have been brought here,” he said finally. “ I’ve already checked with them. Nothing.”
However, there was another suggestion and another person to try. Sean struggled with the decision. Should he? But in doing it suggested.. well, it suggested a hell of a lot of things, all of which were bad. His eyes flickered to Orlando who was watching him steadily. Sean sighed inwardly to himself. The boy seemed to have a natural ability to read your mind like one of the comics - or graphic novels as Orli protested they were - he constantly was engrossed in.
“ Yes, I have Karl’s number,” Orlando said quietly. Sean was about to protest then gave up and picked up a pad of paper which Viggo had left on the bedside table when he had been on watch. A small cat was sketched on the corner, watching a mouse drawn in the second corner. Sean felt a lump come to his throat and had to refocus as Orli started reciting the number.
“ Right. I’ll be back in a moment,” Sean said finally, looking at the number as though it had been written in hieroglyphics rather than his own blunt pencil marks. He turned on his heel and almost cannoned into the person who had just pushed through the door behind him, a nurse clucking in the background of the hallway. Sean came to halt, his eyes wide.
“ Viggo?” Orlando was about to say something further when he cut off completely. The nurse complained behind the man in the doorway but neither Orli nor Sean were paying her any attention.
Viggo glared back at them, a black eye already formed. One sleeve of the shirt he was wearing was ripped, the skin underneath it bruised. There was a cut down one side of his face that looked like it had been formed through grazing rather than a slice, but that was of no help. One hand was curled into a tight fist which was slightly shaking through tension; the other looked like it had been shoved through a glass window or had had a close encounter with a pissed off Scottish Wildcat.
“ Viggo?” Orlando said again, but this time his voice was nervous, unsure.
Viggo paused, still ignoring the nurse behind him, and shook his head as though to clear it. A drop of blood landed on the pure white sheets of Orli’s bed, the younger man’s eyes being drawn to it like a magnet. Viggo opened his eyes and refocused on them.
“ There’s been a few developments,”
*
Sean had found himself a coffee machine. It was just as well it had coffee printed on the outside, as Sean was sure he would never have worked out the nature of the vaguely coffee related beverage without this handy hint. He clutched hold of the paper cup and took a sip every now and again as something to do as he waited.
Viggo was still in there with Orlando as the younger man was poked, prodded and subjected to whatever else doctors tended to do to make assessments. There were talks of x-rays, of bandages and the query of whether the gash on his left leg required stitches. The doctors were of the belief it did. The nurses thought otherwise. Sean had his money resting on the large yet efficient woman who was leading the nurses’ opinion.
Left leg.
Sean shut his eyes and tried not to think of what would happen when they looked at the right leg and the healing wound that was present for anyone to see. There had already been raised eyebrows when Viggo had said Orli had fallen down some stairs, and Sean didn’t blame them in the slightest. It was possibly one of the most stereotypical excuses ever, barring possibly the ‘walked into the door’ routine. Mind you, people did walk into doors. He had done it himself. It just looked very bad when you happened to have old bruises already on your person, some of which looking most unnatural indeed, and someone’s initial carved into your buttock.
There had been some debate over one of Orli’s arms. They didn’t think it was broken apparently. However it was certainly going to be resting in a sling for a few days whilst the muscles got over the shock, with further bruises to follow. Marvellous.
Sean took another sip of the hideous coffee and stared at the door, willing someone to come through and give him some idea of what was going on. Viggo had managed to get into the discussions partly through force of character and partly because it was so bloody clear that Orli became frantic without him. Sean had bottled out and merely muttered that he was a house-mate, and therefore had been left in the waiting room with the coffee, a few other people and some sad, out of date magazines that were mostly aimed at women. As if the women didn’t have enough to worry about.
Sean stood up so quickly at Viggo entering the room he was in danger of putting himself in the damn hospital as well. Not a muscle flickered on Viggo’s face as he walked towards where Sean stood, but Sean could feel the concern radiating off him. The older man paused in front of the blonde, glanced at the other members of the waiting room who were all in little worlds of their own, and nodded for him to follow.
Sean tagged along behind like the good little doggie he was, leaving behind LOTS! Magazine that had promised real life stories and how to shift those unwanted summer pounds before Christmas. They had walked down several corridors before Viggo finally managed to speak.
“ He’s been admitted as an in-patient for observation,” his voice was almost deadly. Sean looked at him.
” Well, that’s usual, isn’t it?”
“ They think he’s been abused, Sean.” Viggo didn’t bother to put any sort of gloss on it. Sean searched for a comment, any comment, but could only come up with the very basics.
“ Oh,”
” Yes, oh.” Sean couldn’t properly see Viggo’s expression but he had a suspicion a nicer one might have been found on Death. Viggo’s jaw was clenched. “ They want him to speak to someone whilst I’m not there,”
“ What sort of person are we talking?” Sean looked horrified. “ Therapist or police?”
Viggo reached the lifts and pressed the button. He stared forwards as he spoke.
“ They’re not calling the police at this point, mostly because Orlando’s very certain that I’m not abusing him and secondly because he has got a substantial level of alcohol in his bloodstream. He finished off that bottle of yours, incidentally.” Viggo didn’t bother to look at the man he spoke to. “ Without a witness, I doubt whether they’ll report it.” He finally glanced at him. Sean was horrified again at the look of tension in his eyes. “ Has anyone spoken to you yet?”
Sean shook his head wordlessly. Viggo snorted.
” It’ll be a matter of time, trust me.”
The lift pinged, the doors sliding open. Two men stepped out, still continuing their conversation without bothering to glance at the people getting in. Viggo stood silently as the lift travelled upwards, Sean by his side.
“ If you want to go home you can,” Viggo said finally as they walked along the next in the row of endless corridors. Sean stared at him.
” I’m not bloody well going home, Vig!”
“ They might throw us out anyway. Visiting hours and so on. Doesn’t seem right that both of us should have to suffer a poor night’s sleep,” Viggo’s mouth seemed to be on automatic pilot. Sean growled in the back of his throat.
” If they throw us out, they throw us out. Note the plural, Viggo. I’m not leaving you two.” Sean had his most stubborn expression on his face. Viggo paused and glanced at him. The faintest of smiles hovered at the corner of his mouth before his gaze returned to the corridor.
“ Fine,” he replied.
That was far too short a response. Viggo didn’t do short responses, unless there was something nasty to follow. Sean’s guilt started to play on happily. Viggo paused outside a room whose door was solidly shut, sighed, and made his way to the nearby chairs and sitting down. No magazine racks here. Just empty cold chairs, a bench and a vending machine at the far end of the corridor.
Sean parked himself beside him and looked at his hands which were resting in his lap.
A minute ticked past and it was the slowest minute in the world. Finally, Sean took a deep breath and tried to form a sentence.
” I don’t want to speak about it,” Viggo got in first. Sean stared at him, forgetting his previous problems with speech.
“ Again?!” Sean shook his head and decided to take on another tack. “ Okay, we don’t have to talk about it. Well, certainly not here anyway. I just wanted to say I was .. ,” Sean paused. Was he sorry? Well, vaguely. “ I didn’t want Orlando to get hurt,” he amended. Which was true enough.
“ Yes, neither did I. I doubt whether it was at the top of his things to do either but you never can tell with Orli,” Viggo had turned his attention onto picking his nails with resolute determination.
” I didn’t realise he’d been drinking. I didn’t think he drank, to be honest,” Sean shrugged in embarrassment. Perhaps Dave did have a point after all. What did he know of Orlando apart from what they did in the bedroom? Viggo gave him a side glance, before returning his gaze to his nails, saying nothing.
Sean sighed. “ Did they decide whether he’s going to have stitches?”
Viggo shook his head. “ They don’t think it’ll be necessary. Just a dressing,” he replied, his voice scarily calm.
” And the arm?”
“ Not broken.”
“ Thank God,” sighed Sean, resting his head back against the wall. Viggo cleared his throat slightly.
“ Although he has been banned from filming for a week. At least,” he said, and the voice was getting lower if that was possible. Sean stared at him.
” Shit,”
“ Shit indeed,” Viggo sighed, and smiled ruefully. “ They want to talk to Peter. As soon as they get him on the phone I would imagine said shit will be hitting the fan. And I would imagine that would be any time now,”
Sean shook his head. “ Well, they can’t blame you for it. I saw you try and grab him before he fell,”
” Sean, he was running from me.” Viggo said patiently. Sean frowned.
“ Well, that’s a load of bollocks for a start,” he commented. “ If he was as pissed as you say he was, he could have been running away from the Easter bunny. Look, I’ve done it a million times. I know what I’m talking about,”
Viggo surveyed him in interest. “Running away from the Easter Bunny?” he echoed. Sean paused. It had sounded better in his head.
” You know what I mean,” he said steadily. Viggo gave a snort of amusement.
“ I think I gather what you were attempting to say, although it was more inarticulate than your usual ability, I might add,”
“ Thanks,” Sean said dryly, and stared at the door. “ Viggo?”
” Hmmm?” The older man had gone back to picking at his nails. Soon he wouldn’t have any left whatsoever.
” What’s Orlando’s favourite colour?”
” What?” Another side glance, this time clearly wondering how much alcohol Sean himself had had to drink. Sean shrugged, and looked away.
“ Nothing.” Why the hell did he feel so embarrassed? Focus, damn you!
“ Yellow,” sighed Viggo, turning back to his nails. “ It’s yellow.”
“ Oh.” Sean filed this for future reference. “ Right,”
There was another long pause. Time ticked by slowly. The occasional patient wandered through, or a nurse marched briskly past, heels tapping on the shiny floor. Finally the door to Orlando’s room opened and a young doctor glanced out at them, before consulting a clipboard in his hand.
“ Mr .. Mortensen?”
Viggo nodded and stood, the doctor stepped back from the door. He glanced towards Sean.
” You’re a friend?”
“ Yeah,” Sean felt uncomfortable saying it. However, the doctor had obviously been on his feet for some time and either didn’t notice or didn’t comment on this. He waved a hand towards the door.
“ He’s okay to receive visitors, although I’d make it quick. Visiting hours finish in about an hours time,”
Sean all but slid through the door and stared around the stark room before focusing a little more on the scrap of Orlando that lay on the bed. A vivid red cut on his cheekbone shone brightly against the white of his skin. His arm was already trussed up in a sling, the rest of him covered by the blankets. However, it was clear he had already been dressed in the hospital garments. Sean resisted a shiver and moved to stand by the bed.
Viggo had already reached him and had placed a hand on his forehead tenderly, moving damp tendrils of hair with his fingers. Orli stared back at him slightly sleepily, before sliding his gaze towards Sean.
” How are you feeling?” asked Sean softly, wondering whether he was allowed to touch him. He had no idea what the current feelings were with regards to this matter. Orlando shrugged with his eyes.
” Been better,” he replied, breaking off to yawn widely. His gaze was soon back on Sean, as though faintly surprised of his presence. He smiled at him as Sean stroked his arm but it was wary, as though uncertain whether Sean was keeping up appearances rather than anything else. Viggo seemed to completely ignore their little silent discussion.
” Orli, you know there’s always going to be one of us here, don’t you?” he spoke as though it was a matter of fact thing. Orlando nodded and settled back against the pillows.
” Although you don’t need to. I’m not a child, Vig,” his eyes were stubborn, as though a twelve year old demanding to stay up late to watch a programme. Viggo sighed patiently and ruffled his hair.
“ Yes, dear,”
“ Huh!” However, the huh was definitely automatic rather than any severe ‘huh’ness. Orlando’s eyes were back on Sean thoughtfully. The blonde in question was definitely getting more twitchy about all the attention. Orli yawned again, his eyes flickering shut before their owner forced himself to open them again.
“ Is that from the drink or the drugs?” wondered Sean aloud. Orli laughed and snuggled a little bit more in bed, hissing slightly as he brushed his arm against the bed. He glanced at Viggo immediately before the man could even speak.
“ I’m fine! Stop fussing!” Orlando nodded towards the door. “ Go get a coffee flavoured beverage, okay?”
Obviously Orlando had also had the joys of a machine made coffee.
“ I’m not moving from this room until they make me,” replied Viggo mildly.
” So you’ll be pissing in a bucket for the foreseeable future?” guessed Sean, and earned himself a sharp look. Orli chuckled again, his previous bad humour vanished, and snuggled deeper. God, the kid really did have some quite spectacular mood swings.
“ *I’ll* go get the coffee flavoured beverages,” Sean offered. Orlando perked up.
“ Can you get me some juicy fruit?”
“ You what?” Sean had heard about the 5 fruit n veg a day initiative, but that was pushing it.
” Bubblegum,” translated Viggo. Sean raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
” I doubt the machine’ll have them, but I can get you some for tomorrow instead,” he replied. “ And some of those trashy magazines you read,” At least those were easy enough to notice. Orlando grinned.
” Thanks, Sean.”
” No problem. Glad to help your literary habits,” Sean nodded to them and left on the Search for Coffee, leaving Orli to Viggo’s fussing.
*
Viggo had ended up staying at the hospital all night. Sean hadn’t really doubted it, just as he had never doubted that Viggo’s force of personality would be able to persuade the nurses that he really needed to be there. Doubtful faces had become a lot more willing after Viggo had spoken to them in his soft voice, his eyes obviously severe and pleading with them. They were all but eating out of his hands, and that was only because it broke sanitation regulations.
Sean had been sent home to get some sleep. This was borne a little more gracefully than he would have done previously, mostly because he knew he was going to take the morning shift and allow Viggo to have a shower and try to catch up on some sleep. Apparently Viggo had managed to get Peter to give them some time off as well, and seeming Boromir needed an Aragorn to do his scene, Sean found himself with time to spare.
Despite being sent home for the purposes of rest, Sean slept very badly. The bed seemed huge. Well, the bed *was* huge, but it was suddenly huger, colder and quieter than he had ever known it. He had been tempted to have a drink to calm his nerve, but shoved that to the back of his mind. Drunk, Viggo had said. No bloody way was he allowing alcohol to control him. He had more than enough people to take control of him without that, thank you very much.
Dreams were a particular problem. Sean had woken twice, sweating badly, a cry at the back of his throat to call out to Viggo, trying to help him. However, these mini-nightmares were beginning to be overtaken by a whole new world of torment.
Karl.
The man tormented him in reality, so he might as well start tormenting him at night. However, Sean’s mind had obviously been working overtime, and, despite Sean’s usual sexual demands, seemed a little frustrated as well. One memorable dream contained a naked Karl, a family size pot of raspberry yogurt and a bed with silk black sheets that never seemed to crinkle. Thankfully Sean had woken up before he used the said yogurt, but it was a little more difficult to forget the aching erection he found himself with. Needless to say yogurt was off the menu for the foreseeable future.
And surely there was some sort of limit to how many dreams you had per night? What sort of imagination had he been lumbered with anyway?
Sean grumbled to himself and rolled over in bed, trying to get back to the dubious land of Nod. He didn’t even dare count sheep. Heaven only knew what position he’d find them in if he did, and bestiality really wasn’t up there on his Things To Screw list.
Thankfully the dreams seemed to leave him alone after that. Or, at least, he didn’t remember anything more. His dick was also exactly how he had wanted it, quiet and behaving itself. No wet patches or anything else dubious, just the need to put visual dreams to the back of his mind and stamp on them.
Anyway, today was obviously a better day, a more suitable day for getting things done. A day without erotic dreams about Karl, certainly. A day for living and getting himself back into certain people’s good books. And, of course, he was spending said day at the hospital.
An hour later, showered, changed and with a stack of random types of bubblegum, Sean made his way back to the hospital to find Viggo curled up in a chair in Orlando’s room, fast asleep. It was quite impressive how he managed it. Sean doubted whether he would have been able to do that without a sharp blow to the back of the head. Needless to say it was also cute as hell, although Sean had enough self-preservation to know not to mention this to Viggo. Good books, remember.
Sean carefully plonked the supplies on the side table, and glanced at Orlando as the younger man stirred and glanced sleepily at him.
“ Sean?” he murmured, as though he had been having difficulties with dreams himself. Mind you, Sean had no idea what sort of drugs they had given him. He himself might be wearing kitty ears to Orlando’s mind.
“ Yeah, it’s me. Go back to sleep,” Sean leant forward and kissed his cheek. Orlando made a little sleepy moan, like a cat waking up from a good nap by a fire, and blinked towards his sleeping don’t-call-me-cute protector. “ Don’t worry, Vig’s still there too. Although he might have a few new kinks in his back.” Sean added.
“ Viggo always has a few new kinks,” yawned Orlando, who struggled to sit up. Sean gently helped him until Orlando was in a better position to be able to see the world. “ He was like that when they brought in breakfast. Didn’t move in the slightest. I’m sure they thought he was dead,”
Sean eyed the sleeping figure. “ He’s okay, yes?” he asked cautiously. Dead and cute tended not to make good bed-fellows.
“ He’s fine,” Orlando’s eyes had fallen onto the bubblegum with glee and had already swiped a packet. “ Bin, please.”
A bin was located and placed close enough to be able to catch the remains of the packaging. Orlando looked back at Viggo thoughtfully.
“ He should really go back and get some sleep. I’ll be fine,” it was said in the manner of one who was going to insist upon it until the damn thing was done or he had gone dumb trying.
“ You want to tell him that?” Sean shrugged, and was about to say something further when he was startled by the noise of the door opening quickly. Sean stared behind him in surprise, expecting a very annoyed nurse or possibly a doctor who had been up all night on call. However, the medical staff were not guilty of the forceful entrance. That award went to Karl.
The blonde groaned to himself, before moving swiftly, grabbing hold of Karl’s arm and propelling him out the door, Orlando staring at them, bubblegum half to mouth, eyes huge.
The door shut smartly behind them. Karl wrenched his arm free from Sean’s grip and glared angrily at him. And, good god, that was angrily. Fire from the pits of Hades burned in the back of Karl’s eyes. The man had an air of determination about him as though the only thing he wanted to do was smash seven types of hell out of the older man in front of him. A wonderful start to the day. And to think, only a few hours ago Sean was dreaming of licking strawberry sauce off this guy’s nipples.
Sean straightened his back, his hands automatically forming into fists.
“ Yes?” he asked coldly. Two could play at the anger game.
” You bastard. You absolute little shit,” Despite his anger, Karl’s voice was clipped and controlled. “ You let him go back to him so Viggo could do this.”
“ ‘This’, as you so carefully put it, was an accident,” Sean growled, his defensive nature kicking in a few notches. Karl gave a snort of laughter that had absolutely nothing to do with humour in the slightest.
“ An accident? Oh, of course it was. Just an accident. Like that cut on his hip, that was an accident too? The bruises on his ribs?” Karl stared at him. “ You’re in a position to help him, Sean. Why the hell aren’t you? I’d almost convinced him too!”
“ Convinced him?” Sean stepped forward, his eyes dangerous. “ Convinced him to do what, exactly?”
However, he was interrupted by the loud cough of a nurse nearby. He glanced over his shoulder and tried to relax slightly in the face of such a suspicious look. Karl growled something further and stalked away to stare out a window. The nurse watched them for a few moments more, before turning to walk into Orlando’s room, the door shutting behind him with a pointed click. As soon as he had left, Karl swung around.
“ Sean, you’re not an idiot. He’s fucking well in a hospital. Viggo put him there.” Karl stared at him. “ Help me to get him out of it,”
“ What planet are you from, exactly?” Sean stared at him, and shook his head with a short laugh that actually sounded more like a bark. “ You’ve just finished blackmailing him to sleep with you!”
“ That was not the intention,” replied Karl levelly. Sean raised an eyebrow.
“ Not the intention? Then what, exactly, *was* the intention? You’ve scared the living daylights out of him!” Okay, so that was probably an exaggeration, but certainly something was wrong with the whole Orlando experience, and that was definitely a bad thing for all concerned. Viggo didn’t take kindly to those who abuse his pets. Or at least those who abused his pets who weren’t Viggo anyway.
Karl looked at him incredulously.
“ I scared *him*?” he echoed in disbelief. “ How the bloody hell d’you think I felt when I realised what Viggo had made him do?”
” Viggo didn’t make him do anything, and he was only there because you forced him to be there!”
“ Right, so Orli tries to jump on me immediately then suddenly gets the idea to grab the photographs and disappear in the early hours in the morning? For fuck sake Sean, open your eyes! He had a plan as soon as he stepped through that door, and we both know who put it there!”
They had to stop at that point as Security had made an appearance. As had Viggo.
*
” So then what happened?” Orlando might be drugged up to the nines, but he certainly wasn’t stupid. Mores the pity. Sean sighed, and scratched his head.
“ Well, at that point it all got a little loud and essentially both Vig and Karl got escorted from the hospital to cool off a bit,” Sean decided to put a little bit more of the gloss on. It certainly wouldn’t aid Orlando in knowing exactly what names Karl was throwing about, and Sean didn’t think he could even repeat what Viggo growled. Viggo had an additional bonus of being able to swear in several different languages, as well has having one of the most disgusting yet inventive minds that Sean had ever known.
However, the careful glossing managed to miss its target. Orli looked anguished.
“ Viggo’s okay isn’t he?” Big brown eyes pleaded with Sean. Thankfully this was a topic that wasn’t going to cause huge amounts of upset. Sean nodded.
” Really pissed off though,” he advised. “ and Karl was busy threatening all sorts of things. I never realised what an imagination he had.”
Orlando looked as though he was ready to jump off the bed to seek out the Wronged Viggo. This was definitely A Bad Thing. Sean straightened his back.
“ It’s okay, Orlando. He’ll be fine. You know what a survivor he is,” Sean was confident. Orlando’s eyes flickered on him briefly, before turning to the window.
“ I suppose,” he replied. “ Although it would be nice for him to do things which didn’t need surviving,”
“ Well, yeah,” Sean settled himself in the chair again and confirmed what he had thought before - hospital chairs really were designed to be as uncomfortable as possible. He was tempted to spend the night asleep on the floor. “ I hear you drank the rest of my alcohol,” he added. God knows why he said it, but the words seemed to come out, and at least it was something to say.
Orlando shrugged lightly again. “ Sorry,” he said quietly, not looking from the window. Sean paused again, wondering how much to push it. He prayed that this was the time that it felt like. A time when he didn’t need to be told that yellow was a favourite colour or focus on what music they liked. A time when any questions he posed wasn’t likely to get Viggo annoyed and end up with half a dozen lessons aimed at him.
“ I take it the whole Karl thing didn’t go down too well?” he asked quietly. Orlando laughed, mostly to himself.
” Yeah, the bastard didn’t do anything. Just looked wide-eyed and blabbed something about a movie on television, which is a little disappointing if you're standing there pretty much stark naked. All my suggestions just made him more uncomfortable. I'm just thankful he goes to sleep easily and has no idea how to hide things properly,” Orlando smiled grimly and settled himself more comfortably on the bed, still staring out the window. There was a pause. There was an even longer pause. Sean attempted to get his voice box to work but it was feeling as flabbergasted as himself and therefore normal functions were currently absent without leave.
Orli had worked out something was wrong after the first pause and had glanced back at him, a growing horror showing in his eyes.
” Oh, shit,” Orlando said slowly, although his voice beginning to speed up as the agitation began to seep through. “ I thought you knew.. you *said* you knew!”
There was an urgent protest in his voice, as though the younger man was trying to convince Sean. The blonde opened his mouth to comment but comments failed to present themselves for inspection. He shut it again, on the basis that nothing else was better to do and looked at Orlando numbly.
Orli looked back at him with the largest puppy dog eyes ever. Finally he sighed, admitting defeat.
“ I’m sorry. I didn’t think I had to keep the innocent little boy routine up with you anymore,” he murmured, looking back at the window.
“ Well, I never thought you were innocent…,” began Sean, when there was a snort of laughter.
“ Uh-huh,” there was a set look that crossed over Orlando’s face as he stared out the window. “ poor little Orlando. Can’t make up his own mind. Can get persuaded to do anything as long as you say it in an authorative voice. Doesn’t know what he’s doing. Is there anyone in this world who is like that after all this time? Honestly!”
“ You managed to persuade Viggo,” said Sean quietly. A fond look crossed over Orlando’s face, like a teacher remembering a promising student.
“ Yeah. I persuaded Viggo,” he murmured. “ But he was easy,”
Easy. Not a word that Sean normally associated with the little bundle of nerves that was Viggo on a bad day. The older man tried not to look incredulous and failed miserably. Orlando grinned at him, obviously amused by the reaction.
“ Although Viggo’s hardly innocent himself. No, Sean, the most innocent member of this party is definitely you.”
“ Excuse me, who actually managed to fuck Karl?” Sean was ridiculously offended by the accusation of innocence. Orlando raised an eyebrow.
“ I’m very impressed,” he drawled. “ I hear David had to hold you down at the start,”
“ Having chats with Karl again?” Sean’s voice had developed a bit of an edge. Orlando didn’t seem to notice or care and simply gazed back towards the window as though he could see more than the occasional fluffy white cloud.
“ He’s all talk, very little action. Chats with Karl is all we can do. And I confess to enjoying seeing his face when he finds out about all the unusual stuff we manage to get up to, and you can see it in his face that he would like to try it,” Orlando was smiling to himself. The younger man sighed. “ Thankfully, Viggo would never allow it. The only one he might consider is Dave, and he’s risky as it is,”
There were huge amount of questions on Sean’s lips, all of which died immediately. He had to swallow to get enough moisture to speak properly.
“ Dave?”
“ Wenham. You might have noticed him. He’s the one who put a finger up you,” Orlando looked innocent. Sean wanted to smack him. The younger man winked and looked back at the window once again. “ Don’t worry,” he said sadly. “ after this we’d be lucky if Viggo even uses the gym again. Of all the bloody awful luck!” he suddenly exploded.
“ Orli, calm down before you hurt yourself further,” warned Sean. Orli glanced at him, then back again.
“ Yeah, okay. Sorry,” he mumbled.
“ Don’t be sorry, just do it,” Sean knew he was scolding and didn’t care. There was a grin on Orlando’s face before it faded again.
“ Vig used to be like that,” he said softly. “ I was almost surprised he let me cross the street at nights sometimes,”
“ So why on earth did you speak to Karl in the first place? Was it just loneliness as you said?” Sean actually felt he was getting somewhere. However, this progress was in serious jeopardy; a hard expression suddenly came across Orlando’s face, the younger man staring out the window once again with fierce dedication. Sean wondered whether to take the hint, and decided entirely against it. Sod the tact. He wanted answers, before it killed them all. “ Orli?”
“ Karl was someone who I could speak to without being labelled a whore,” When he spoke, Orlando’s voice was very controlled, very precise. Sean stared at him.
“ You could have spoken to me or Viggo,”
“ And say what? I suppose I could have just come out with it, but asking someone whether they’re about to dump you normally speeds up the process doesn’t it?”
“ Dump you?” Sean was dumfounded.
“ Dump me!” Orlando’s voice had risen tremendously. No longer staring out the window, dark brown eyes glared at him. “ You know damn well all of the games revolved around you. You were Viggo’s new toy and had to be handled gently.”
“ Well, he was only trying to be nice-“ protested Sean, grabbing hold of the first words that presented themselves to be said.
“ Nice?!” Orlando stared at him, then finally grinned and shook his head, flopping back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling. “ Nice!” And chuckled again. “ It’s not normally a word you use for him, is it?”
“ Sorry. Me being innocent again,” Sean rolled his eyes.
“ Oh, stop being touchy,” Orlando seemed to have gone through his anger and out the other side. “ And bloody well open your eyes to the situation, eh?”
All Sean needed was for Viggo to repeat that particular phrase and he would have a full house. The older man shook his head and leaned back against his chair, watching the younger man on the bed.
” You know he’s crazy about you. He always leaps to your defence. He’s worried about you when you’re away. He’s not going to dump you,” Sean said patiently.
“ He’s changed, Sean.” Orlando said quietly.
“ Not that much,” Sean was definitely feeling uncomfortable, and even his most optimistic parts couldn’t pretend it was entirely down to the plastic chair. Orli gave him a look that spoke of long-suffering patience.
” Yes, that much,” he replied. Sean tried not to look guilty and failed miserably. Not that he knew what to be guilty for. Then again, this was nothing new; he hadn’t been sure on anything since the whole damn relationship had started. Therapists would adore them.
“ How?” he decided to press on and put up with the squirming in the stomach. His eyes hardened at Orlando’s immediate look towards the window again, which seemed to signify that he was about to keep his mouth shut again. “ I can’t help if you don’t talk to me, Orlando,”
Orli laughed softly. “ You sound like Karl,” he commented sadly. “ You know what else he was doing for that night, apart from make me watch... Die Hard 2 I think it was?”
“ Will this be a PG rating?” Sean asked suspiciously. Orlando snorted in amusement.
” Sorry, this is after your little orgy?” he said pointedly and sighed. “ Yes, it was a PG rating. He was trying to get me to leave. And that’s leave Viggo rather than the house, by the way. You he didn’t really have a problem with .. so apparently you made a good impression on him when you were..,” here Orlando gestured with a hand. “ .. but I doubt whether Karl would be crying should Viggo be accidentally hit by a car,”
“ Are you saying Karl would-?“ Sean felt weak. Fucking hell, Karl was out there like a New Zealand version of the Hollywood hack’n’slasher and Viggo was on his own..
“ I’m not saying he would be the driver, Sean. Stop fretting. However, he’s one of these people who sees the opportunity and goes for it,” Orlando’s voice was neutral. Sean was painfully reminded of Viggo’s voice as he recounted his rape in such a manner that it could have been easy to assume it had happened to someone else.
” He said he’d almost convinced you…,” Sean pressed on, trying to cover the shaking in his voice.
“ Yeah, I would imagine that's what he said. He’s worked out he needs some help on the matter. Dave won’t help him at all now, not after what Karl did to you,” Orlando took in Sean’s incredulous expression and nodded. “ It’s true. Oh, they still talk, but Dave’s made it more than clear that talking is all they do. And I think it’s now mostly on work or the weather.”
“ But Dave was there on the evening…,” Sean was struggling to come to terms with this. Orlando shrugged in a strange lopsided way to ensure his arm wasn’t pulled.
“ It’s the later parts he objected to, I believe,”
“ Oh,” This made it no clearer to Sean, who had been a lot happier with the later parts, but now wasn’t the time to start investigating the weirdness that were the Wenham Files.
“ Anyway, apparently Karl believes that you’re the help he needs in his current Quest,” Orlando seemed to be almost cheerful in his tone, and inserted the capital letter in his speech without any problems whatsoever. Sean adjusted his position on the ridiculously uncomfortable chair again and crossed his legs. His back protested. Legs were uncrossed once again.
“ He’s optimistic, I’ll give him that,” sighed Sean once he had found a position where his body wasn’t screaming at him. “ Why me?”
“ What, beaten, oppressed, raped, strangled little you?” Orli snorted. “ Can’t imagine.”
” I have not been…,” Sean reviewed the list. “ I’ve certainly not been raped! Where did he get that one from?”
“ How much did you want to escape the first time Viggo ordered you to suck me off?” Orlando’s dark brown eyes rested on him patiently. Sean tried to look nonchalant and failed miserably.
“ Okay, it might have been a little weird at the time.. could you please stop snorting like that?! .. but rape is a phrase too far,” Sean folded his arms stubbornly. Orlando nodded.
” Oh, I know that. However, it’s bloody well not a box of chocolates, a candlelit dinner and an offer to come back to see his etchings now is it?” Orlando returned his gaze towards the window. “ I’ve tried to explain to Karl so many times, but he just can’t grasp it. Normally it’s easier to just demonstrate it to someone than to describe it. Can you imagine how many people would be horrified if you were to go to them and state that being beaten and pissed on-“
“ Pissed on?” Sean sat up in his chair straighter. Orlando paused, eyed him thoughtfully and shrugged the one sided shrug again.
” Yeah, well, we’ll come back to that later shall we? ANYWAY,” he continued as Sean opened his mouth to protest at this. “ they’d be as horrified as you if they were told instead of being repelled they’d actually quite enjoy it. It’s not the done thing, confessing to that. People’s prides are often on a different wavelength to the important stuff. It’s one of the reasons why some marriages fail,”
“ Like mine?” asked Sean wearily. Orlando shrugged.
“ Can’t see that you liking to be fucked by other men is gonna help your relationship, can you? Not unless your wife likes the idea of watching, and women do tend to be more possessive,”
“ That’s it, I’m banning you from watching Frasier any more,” Sean sighed. “ Obviously therapists have a nasty effect on you thinking too hard about my relationships,”
“ I’m listening..,” murmured Orlando cheerfully.
” Stop it!”
” Sorry.” Orlando gave him a grin and eyed him thoughtfully as Sean adjusted his position yet again. “ You can sit on the bed if you want to, Sean. I won’t bite.”
Sean glanced at the bed. The warm, comfortable, delicious bed. Must resist! Must resist! God only knows how unsanitary he actually was after all.
“ Anyway,” Orlando continued, unabashed that Sean hadn’t jumped on the bed immediately. “ I tried explaining all of this to Karl but his response was just to mutter it was a pity that Viggo couldn’t go through what I did to see the effects of his handiwork.” Orlando paused, a strained look passing across his face. “ I couldn’t really tell him that Viggo already knows, although I did emphasis the fact Viggo knows when to draw the line,” The younger man looked in slight guilt at Sean. “ that’s when I told him about that whole strangulation part,”
“ Yeah, Karl did mention it in passing,” sighed Sean, shifting on the chair again. Oh, sod it. Chair was abandoned for the bed, although as soon as Sean had perched himself on the edge Orlando had already seized his arm and pulled him further onto it. In alarm, Sean had immediately got into the position demanded by Orli to avoid any further injuries to the younger man. There were far too many injuries on the boy’s body that were classified as a direct result of Sean influence already.
“ I take it Viggo’s already told you about what happened to him?” Orlando queried reluctantly. Sean nodded wordlessly. Orlando sighed softly and traced a pattern on the sheets
“ He was very vulnerable after that. That’s one of the reasons why I think he went back to him-“ Orlando stopped immediately at Sean’s incredulous look at him. The colour had drained entirely from Sean’s face as though someone had been energetic with the whitewash.
” Went back to him? Went back to who?”
“ He didn’t mention it to you,” Orlando said dully. “ I see,”
“ He went back to that boyfriend of his? The one who watched?” Sean’s voice didn’t sound like it belonged to him anymore. Orlando frowned a little, as though working out something in his mind.
“ Sean,” he said, and his voice was uncertain. “ exactly what did he tell you?”
However, confessions could hold as the door opened. Sean almost fell out of bed. The young doctor of before stood impassively at the door, his clipboard tucked under one hand. A raised eyebrow was the only thing that spoke of surprise.
“ House mate?” he murmured softly, then walked in a little further, looking at Orlando. “ Mr Bloom, we have the results back from your tests. You’ll be out of here probably by tomorrow evening, all going well, although I’ve already told your director that you’ll need to rest for at least two weeks before doing whatever it is you do. I hear little pointy ears are involved?”
“ Yeah,” there was a slight shrug at this.
“ Nice work if you can get it, I suppose,” the doctor’s eyes slid to Sean in assessment. Amusement shone behind his eyes though, which could have been worse. “ You’re involved in this film I assume,”
Sean nodded wordlessly.
“ Pointy ears involved with you too?”
“ More mud and grime than anything,” confessed Sean. The doctor shook his head.
” And you’re on our sheets as well. Disgraceful,” his voice was cheerful. Obviously one person who didn’t think that abuse was the automatically correct assumption in relation to Orlando. The doctor turned back to Orli.“ Anyway, we’ll leave you to it and one of the nurses will be round later to change the dressings and patch you up a little. Hope you didn’t have to look pretty,”
Orlando looked sheepish. The doctor grinned and headed out the door.
“ Bad luck,” he threw over his shoulder as he left. Sean stared at the closing door, and looked back at Orli.
” Is it me or did we just get confirmation that I can stay on the bed?” he queried lightly. Orlando grinned and put his good hand on Sean’s thigh, rubbing it in a manner that was most unsuitable for a medical situation. The blonde had to put his hand over Orli’s immediately before things got out of control. For one thing, the bed really didn’t feel like it was up to an Orli Special.
“ Sounds good to me,” Orli’s eyes were hungry on him briefly, before the younger man glanced towards the door longingly. “ I wonder where Viggo is though.”
Sean was aware of bright brown eyes turning to him pleadingly and hesitated. Viggo had been very clear on the fact that Sean was staying in hospital with Orlando without fail, Viggo certainly not trusting Karl not to sneak up there afterwards. Viggo had been very, very clear about the matter. In fact, Sean had almost felt the punctuation.
“ He wanted me to stay here,” Sean said wretchedly. A sad look crossed Orlando’s face but the young man shrugged.
“ Oh well. He’ll be back,” he replied cheerfully in the usual Orli optimistic fashion.
But that was the problem.
Viggo wasn't.
*
Later that afternoon Orlando had been like a junkie with withdrawal. His eyes kept moving to the door, lighting up if anyone passed it before moving back to the sad melancholy as the door failed to open. He was an hour late.
A whole hour.
Viggo was never an hour late. If he said he was going to be somewhere, he was there. No question. Even if he had been hit by a bus he would have managed to get a message across, even if he had to train wild pigeons to carry it.
The hour turned into two. Two turned into the evening.
Finally, Orlando turned back to Sean who had been dozing on his side of the bed and poked an elbow in his ribs. Sean yelped into action.
“ What?” his eyes took in the emptiness of the room and focused on Orli. “ He’s STILL not here?”
“ Could you go and try the house number again?” Orlando pleaded with him. Sean hesitated. This would be the sixth phone call home in the past hour. Wherever Viggo was, home did not seem to be it.
“ Orli…,” he said wretchedly, but he couldn’t continue. Not in the face of such earnest appeal. Sean sighed and slipped off the bed again, giving him a smile. “ Of course, my love. I’ll try,”
Orli’s expression changed to one who wasn’t entirely sure what he had just heard. Sean paused again and reviewed what he had said in his mind for offensive comments. Orlando ran a tongue over his lips and leaned forward slightly.
” My love?” he echoed, a smile on his lips. “ Feeling poetic today?”
“ What’s wrong with that?” Okay, so he didn’t tend to say such things on a regular basis, but then again neither did the other two. Including the poet for that matter. Sean tried to rid a sulky expression from forming on his face. He got complaints if he tried and complaints if he didn’t. Honestly.
“ What, apart from the over exaggeration?” Orlando raised an eyebrow and grinned to himself. “ Sorry, I’m distracting you. Go. Shoo. Door’s behind you,”
“ I wasn’t over exaggerating and I know where the door is, thanks,” replied Sean dryly, turning to go to it. “ I’ll be back in a minute,”
” Not over-exaggerating my arse,” came Orlando’s comment from the bed. Sean stopped with his hand on the door handle. He glanced back.
” So what do you think I should have said then?” replied Sean with exaggerated patience. Back came the lop-sided shrug.
“ I dunno. You normally say mate. Or ‘darling’ with sarcastic tones,” Orlando paused in consideration.
” I don’t have sarcastic tones!” Sean protested. Orlando had a distinct pull-the-other-one expression on his face at this. Sean’s frown returned. “ I don’t!” he insisted.
“ Okay. You don’t. Go phone Viggo.” There was absolutely no sincerity in the first two sentences, although this was more than made up for in the third. Orlando looked at him, then back at the window. Sean watched him a few more moments suspiciously before exiting the room and making his way to the public payphone which was a little closer than having to get out the whole damn building to use the mobile.
The phone rang. And rang. And of course the machine picked up. Bastard.
Sean dithered about leaving yet another message and simply put the phone down. He sighed heavily and glanced towards the window. Blast it all Viggo, where the hell were you? And why the hell couldn’t you possibly carry a mobile anyway?
The usual guilt settled in as he stepped through the door to Orlando’s room again and looked at the naked hopefulness on the young man’s face. He shook his head once. The hopefulness faded as suddenly as it appeared; Orlando looked like he had aged at least ten years.
“ Where the hell is he?!” he exploded finally, then, again. “ You don’t think he’s been in an accident, do you?” The fear was so very clear in Orlando’s voice. Sean hesitated, hearing the memory of Orlando’s opinion of Karl and car accidents.
“ He’d have been brought here,” he said finally. “ I’ve already checked with them. Nothing.”
However, there was another suggestion and another person to try. Sean struggled with the decision. Should he? But in doing it suggested.. well, it suggested a hell of a lot of things, all of which were bad. His eyes flickered to Orlando who was watching him steadily. Sean sighed inwardly to himself. The boy seemed to have a natural ability to read your mind like one of the comics - or graphic novels as Orli protested they were - he constantly was engrossed in.
“ Yes, I have Karl’s number,” Orlando said quietly. Sean was about to protest then gave up and picked up a pad of paper which Viggo had left on the bedside table when he had been on watch. A small cat was sketched on the corner, watching a mouse drawn in the second corner. Sean felt a lump come to his throat and had to refocus as Orli started reciting the number.
“ Right. I’ll be back in a moment,” Sean said finally, looking at the number as though it had been written in hieroglyphics rather than his own blunt pencil marks. He turned on his heel and almost cannoned into the person who had just pushed through the door behind him, a nurse clucking in the background of the hallway. Sean came to halt, his eyes wide.
“ Viggo?” Orlando was about to say something further when he cut off completely. The nurse complained behind the man in the doorway but neither Orli nor Sean were paying her any attention.
Viggo glared back at them, a black eye already formed. One sleeve of the shirt he was wearing was ripped, the skin underneath it bruised. There was a cut down one side of his face that looked like it had been formed through grazing rather than a slice, but that was of no help. One hand was curled into a tight fist which was slightly shaking through tension; the other looked like it had been shoved through a glass window or had had a close encounter with a pissed off Scottish Wildcat.
“ Viggo?” Orlando said again, but this time his voice was nervous, unsure.
Viggo paused, still ignoring the nurse behind him, and shook his head as though to clear it. A drop of blood landed on the pure white sheets of Orli’s bed, the younger man’s eyes being drawn to it like a magnet. Viggo opened his eyes and refocused on them.
“ There’s been a few developments,”