Lotrips: Newspaper Clippings Ch 7 (Orlijah eventually) PG-13
Title: Newspaper Clippings
Fandom: Lotrips
Pairing: Orlijah eventually, Viggo/Bean
Rating: PG-13
Complete: Only in my head.
Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort, romance.
Chapter Summary: Viggo and Sean come to dinner, Dom is stunned, Orlando feels like the world should open up and swallow him and Elijah's past comes into play.
Author's Note: Thank you to my beta sparkly_shiny who ignores my selfish writer babblings and understands why I need to write.
Previous chapters
Orlando didn’t really know how Elijah dealt with Dominic at times, as the small man with the large personality had more energy than most five year old children on sugar highs. It was such a high contrast from Elijah’s personality; Elijah who was quiet, more soft spoken, but seemed to have a bit of a potty mouth.
Currently Elijah was sitting on the couch, watching his best friend pace back and forth and wave his hands in the air animatedly.
Unable to help himself, Orlando laughed softly as he opened the oven to peek in at the lasagna, happy to see the cheese on top was becoming both bubbly and crispy. Dom’s hand gestures and pacing reminded him a little too much of himself from two nights before.
“What’s he going on about?” Orlando questioned, handing Elijah a beer as he sank down onto the couch, smiling when he realized he could feel his roommate’s warmth against his bare arm.
“Some musician he met last night,” Elijah murmured out the side of his mouth, watching Dom closely, an amused look on his face.
“He’s not just some musician,” Dom told them both, a fierce expression on his face as he did so. “He’s Billy fuckin’ Boyd,” he waved his hands in the air like that made this man the most amazing person in the world.
Orlando bit the inside of his lip, trying not to laugh.
Elijah looked at Orlando, an amused look on his face. “Oh I’m sorry, he’s going on about Billy fuckin’ Boyd,” he said, deadpan.
Orlando laughed softly, “I’ve heard all about him. Apparently he’s good in the sack,” he joked, standing up when there was a knock on the door. He walked over and opened the door, only vaguely registering the twin gasps of surprise behind him before Viggo enveloped him in his arms.
“It’s good to see you again, kid,” Viggo murmured, squeezing him around the shoulders lightly before stepping into the apartment.
Sean stepped in after him and gave Orlando a similar greeting, ruffling the college student’s hair with a soft smile.
“Shoes against the wall, please,” Orlando told them both in a soft voice, smiling when they seemed to understand right away why they needed to do that and did so.
“So, which one of you is Elijah?” Sean asked, turning to Dom and Elijah, the latter only looking slightly less stunned than his best friend at their presence in his apartment.
“Orlando, did you forget to tell your new friends something?” Viggo asked him, sounding a little amused, a mischievous glint in his eye as he did so. “That’s not very nice boy,” he winked.
Orlando smiled somewhat, his amusement only lasting a moment when he saw how suddenly Elijah went from looking surprised and shocked to self conscious. Guilt rushed through him, unable to believe he had been so stupid.
“I’m sorry Elijah,” he said softly, leading Viggo and Sean across the room. “This is Viggo and Sean, they are the men I told you about from when I was seventeen.”
Elijah looked slightly more at ease, hearing that and smiled at them. “Hi,” he said in an almost shy voice.
“Nice to meet you lad,” Sean gently greeted and Orlando felt more than a little touched that one of his mentors seemed to realize how important it was to be careful, and considerate when it came to the disordered young man.
“I’m Sean,” he said next, chuckling when Elijah’s smile widened. “But I guess you know that.”
“Yes, sir,” Elijah responded softly, then turned red as Viggo laughed slightly and Sean clapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Sorry,” he murmured, ducking his head lightly as though he was considering hiding.
Sean smiled, “You can call me Sean, or Bean,” he informed him before stepping aside to let Viggo say hello.
Viggo nudged his lover affectionately and Orlando felt the same warmth he always felt around the two men, they were family for him and the way Sean was acting with Elijah, he knew the “papa wolf” as Viggo sometimes called him had found a new cub.
“And you can call me Viggo,” he told Elijah then turned to Dom, “which must mean you are Dominic.”
“Dom...is...who I am,” Elijah’s best friend stammered, and Orlando had to bite his bottom lip to resist the urge to laugh out loud because he’d never seen Dom so quiet in the short time that he’d known him and it was a pretty amazing sight.
“They are just normal people,” Orlando reminded him gently, rolling his eyes skyward as he did so, because he’d forgotten about how people tended to react to his mentors and it always seemed ridiculous to him.
Yes, they were both talented actors, and Viggo was a triple threat, an actor, an artist, and, on the odd occasion, a musician, but they were his home, his family.
“If you’ll all head to the table, I’ll bring out dinner soon,” Orlando informed them, feeling a little worried about how this would all work out, considering the different personalities gathered in the apartment. “Dom, wake up,” he tapped him lightly on the back of the head and smiled when he was rewarded with a soft laugh from Elijah.
“It smells good, whatever it is,” Viggo commented to Elijah and Sean as he walked toward the table. “Dom, are you alright?” Orlando heard him ask the young thespian.
“Yeah I am, sorry,” Dom responded, but even that wasn’t close to his normal tone of voice.
Orlando walked out with two plates of lasagna and noticed how Elijah practically darted ahead of the group, in an effort to garner the seat closest to the wall on the left, and made a note to remember. He glanced over, feeling eyes on him and met Viggo’s concerned gaze.
Sean followed him into the kitchen to help with the food, smiling as he washed his hands. “It’s a good place Orli,” he complimented, “Very nice. Good energy as Vig would say.”
Nodding Orlando smiled slightly, “You can stop checking up on me now you know,” he chastised lightly, grabbing two more plates. “Grab your own plate old man, and the garlic bread while you’re at it,” he winked.
“So Elijah, what is it that you do?” Viggo asked in a curious voice when they were all seated and beginning to eat.
Orlando resisted the urge to groan, as he recognized the act for what it was. Viggo was playing the part of a concerned parent, grilling a new potential partner.
He tried to glare at the older man, tried to warn him off such questioning, but knew it was useless.
Elijah swallowed heavily, glancing at Viggo. “I’m in school, part time,” he said softly, a polite smile on his face as he did so.
“No job?” Sean asked, and Orlando was grateful that his tone seemed a little warmer than Elijah’s, that at the very least besides Dom, who still resembled a gold fish and himself, his roommate would have another ally at the table.
Sean wasn’t one to let Viggo go too far, and vice versa.
“Not yet, it’s hard to find work,” Elijah said softly and Orlando winced in sympathy, shooting Viggo a book.
He knew it had to be hard for Elijah to find work, to find any place which would keep up with his need to have a routine life and the compulsions which came along with his disorder.
“He’s taking courses in creative writing, and journalism,” Orlando supplied for his roommate, shooting him a soft smile as he did so, trying to be encouraging because in the end, he knew that Elijah could win Viggo over.
How could those blue eyes not win anyone over? They were so filled with honesty, and a need to please.
Viggo looked surprise, “That’s great,” he supplied, seeming to flounder a little bit. “You want to be a writer?”
Orlando was desperately attempting not to introduce his forehead to the table, as much as he wanted to right then.
Elijah shrugged his shoulders slightly, “I have some money, so I wouldn’t need to work if I didn’t want to, and I enjoy writing, so I guess I would like to do that even if it doesn’t pan out at a monetary level.”
Dom looked surprised at the admission, seemingly more because he hadn’t expected Elijah to say it then that he didn’t know.
Viggo arched an eyebrow, “Oh.”
Orlando hid a grin, realizing Elijah had managed to do something very few people could do. Get Viggo to shut up when he was on a roll, and looking at Sean he realized Viggo’s lover was trying to hide a smile as well.
“Money is such an awful thing to discuss at dinner,” Orlando said, shooting Viggo a glare, and then bowing his head and eating a forkful of lasagna.
“I don’t mind,” Elijah responded, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s not like I got the money by killing someone or something, just a little acting role here or there when I was a kid.”
Orlando almost dropped his fork, surprised and intrigued by this little bit of information, which, as he looked at the older man, he realized Viggo seemed to have latched onto but not in a protective way.
“Acting?” Viggo enthused, taking a bite of his garlic bread he chewed it carefully. “What were you in? Anything I’d know?”
Sean leaned forward as well, the two of them far too eager about their profession and clearly interested in how Elijah had factored into it.
“You must have been young, lad,” Sean commented, and smiled when Elijah did.
“Yeah I was,” Elijah shrugged his shoulders after finishing a bite of his food and smiled somewhat shyly this time. “I doubt you’ve seen any of the movies.”
“Movies?” Orlando asked, turning to him he was completely surprised. He was thinking child modeling in commercials, or bit television parts but Elijah had been in movies.
The information was enough to leave him speechless and he noticed Dom was now only half paying attention as he consumed his food, which meant that this was definitely not new information.
His roommate probably had an IMDB page for heaven’s sake, and he hadn’t thought to mindlessly google him.
Although, he’d never really mindlessly googled anyone in his life, so why was he bound to start now?
“Now you have to tell us what movies,” Sean coaxed, shooting Elijah a slight wink.
Elijah blushed, “I was in Back to the Future II, Internal Affairs, both of those are blink and you miss it roles. Avalon, Paradise, The Witness, again blink if you miss on that last one as well as Radio Flyer and uhm...”
“Bloody hell,” Sean said, almost as though something was dawning on him. “You’re the kid from Day-O and Forever Young,” he remarked. “My kids loved those movies.”
Elijah shrugged again, lowering his eyes to the table. “It’s no big deal.”
Orlando swallowed, “Right, no big deal,” he agreed, ready to kick himself when he saw the hurt look flit across Elijah’s face. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he quickly amended, his cheeks colouring when he saw the other men at the table seemed truly amused at his blunder.
“What did you mean then?” Elijah asked teasingly, looking at him.
Oh good lord.
Elijah was...flirting with him?
Did Elijah realize he was flirting with him?
“I mean, it’s not something that should be made a big deal of, or...I mean...you’re a good actor.”
Orlando wanted the ground to swallow him up. That would solve this sudden verbal problem that he was having.
“You’re a good actor, just like them, but you are also a normal guy and you need to be treated as such, instead of a celebrity or something.”
He could see Elijah’s hurt practically melt away at being called normal and smiled somewhat, ignoring Viggo’s concern again at watching him scramble to make his roommate happy.
Orlando leaned back in his chair with a sigh, rubbing his forehead.
He’d just realized something, something a little dangerous.
He was willing to do almost anything to make the younger man happy, and that was dangerous for both of them
Viggo had reason for concern.
“So, other than being a retired movie star, what do you like to do for fun?” Sean asked, clearly trying to alleviate some of the awkwardness of the conversation.
“Oh, he reads,” Dom offered the information readily, seeming to have regained his ability of speech, while Orlando found himself floundering for his own. “He reads a lot.”
“I know a bookstore you will have to check out then, Elijah, it’s owned by a fellow called Sean and it’s called ‘The Undying Lands,'” Sean informed the blue eyed man with a soft smile.
“You own a bookstore?” Elijah questioned, confusion clouding his eyes momentarily.
“No no, his last name is Astin. It’s a very nice place, I think you’d find it quite comfortable,” Sean explained fully.
Elijah smiled at the prospect and Orlando’s heart ached when he saw his roommate’s eyes light up, realizing he was completely lost. He didn’t like being lost, but with Elijah it seemed to be pretty fun.
“The Undying Lands? Like Lord of the Rings?” Elijah picked up the reference suddenly. “I adore those books.”
The conversation continued easily throughout dinner, and Orlando found himself more at ease as it went on and light banter ensued over who would do the dishes.
“I can do them,” Elijah offered, a slight eagerness in his eyes.
Orlando laughed softly, not intending to hurt his feelings. “I would prefer to do them, I did, after all, make the mess.” He’d managed to keep Elijah out of the kitchen pretty well while fixing the food and had fully intended on cleaning up after himself.
“Enjoy yourself, keep discussing books with Sean here,” he squeezed the older man’s shoulder as he passed by.
It was worth it to have to do dishes as he saw how easily Elijah settled back into his chair, sipping his drink.
“I’ll help you,” Viggo told Orlando, following him into the kitchen. He began rinsing the dishes as Orlando passed them to him before they were loaded into the dishwasher.
“What is it, Vig?” Orlando asked, sighing softly. He knew he was in for some kind of lecture right then, he could tell it just from the tense line of the older man’s shoulders.
Viggo smiled at him, shaking his head slightly. “I like him,” he said softly.
Orlando nodded in acknowledgement, loading the dishes as he had seen Elijah do before knowing that his roommate was most likely bound to check later, provided Orlando didn’t get around to putting them away first.
“But?” he urged on.
Viggo sighed, turning to look at him, his hands still wet as he placed them on Orlando’s shoulders. “I worry what it will take for you to be in a relationship with someone like him,” he admitted.
“He’s not disabled Viggo, he has the power to overcome his disorder. I can see it in him, he lets me do the dishes for God’s sake,” Orlando responded, frowning.
“I know he does, and that is really sweet, but what if he does not have the will to overcome, or does not feel as though its in his best interest,” Viggo said in a soft voice, trying to make him see reason.
Orlando shook his head, “He wants to, you just don’t know him well enough,” he protested. “He will do it, and I will stand by him.”
Viggo smiled suddenly and drew him close, “That’s all I wanted to know.”
Melting into the hug, Orlando sighed in relief, realizing his mentor was only questioning him to see if he was ready to handle a relationship, to see if he was ready to move beyond the scars Stuart had left him.
Orlando wasn’t ready, not quite yet but with Elijah’s help, which he didn’t even realize he was giving, he could do it.
He believed in that as much as he believed that Elijah would one day be able to have a life where he wouldn’t have to worry about bandages and the order of his books on a shelf.
Scars after all did fade with time.
Orlando would simply have to remember that his past mistakes were not to be repeated, and he knew it was a lesson he was not likely to forget.
“You’re alright, Orlando,” Viggo’s hoarse voice murmured into his ear and warmth rushed over him.
Laughter echoed through the apartment and Orlando had the strength to pull away from the hug and return to the dishes he had been working on.
“No more bloody interrogations alright, that was really mean what you did, you know,” Orlando chastised Viggo as they returned to taking care of the dishes.
Viggo nodded, “I know, and I can’t believe I did it.”
“Why did you do it?” Orlando asked him, trying to figure out what Viggo’s possible motives could be.
“You looked so happy,” Viggo responded, his voice a little bit gruff as he did so. “I just wanted to make sure that he was a right match.”
Orlando laughed and nudged him gently, almost knocking the older man over as he wasn’t expecting it.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were beginning to pick up some of Sean’s papa wolf instincts or something. I can’t believe you asked him what he did, I kept waiting for credit checks and social security numbers to follow,” he teased.
“Papa wolf,” Viggo grumbled, rolling his eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he handed Orlando the last dish and watched as he put it in the dishwasher. “Did I do a good job of it?”
Orlando laughed again, shaking his head, “I’m glad you only have a son, Viggo, because Elijah managed to shut you up pretty quickly.”
Viggo smiled crookedly. “You were proud, huh?”
Orlando nodded as they walked back into the main room of the apartment, “Yep I was.”
Fandom: Lotrips
Pairing: Orlijah eventually, Viggo/Bean
Rating: PG-13
Complete: Only in my head.
Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort, romance.
Chapter Summary: Viggo and Sean come to dinner, Dom is stunned, Orlando feels like the world should open up and swallow him and Elijah's past comes into play.
Author's Note: Thank you to my beta sparkly_shiny who ignores my selfish writer babblings and understands why I need to write.
Previous chapters
Orlando didn’t really know how Elijah dealt with Dominic at times, as the small man with the large personality had more energy than most five year old children on sugar highs. It was such a high contrast from Elijah’s personality; Elijah who was quiet, more soft spoken, but seemed to have a bit of a potty mouth.
Currently Elijah was sitting on the couch, watching his best friend pace back and forth and wave his hands in the air animatedly.
Unable to help himself, Orlando laughed softly as he opened the oven to peek in at the lasagna, happy to see the cheese on top was becoming both bubbly and crispy. Dom’s hand gestures and pacing reminded him a little too much of himself from two nights before.
“What’s he going on about?” Orlando questioned, handing Elijah a beer as he sank down onto the couch, smiling when he realized he could feel his roommate’s warmth against his bare arm.
“Some musician he met last night,” Elijah murmured out the side of his mouth, watching Dom closely, an amused look on his face.
“He’s not just some musician,” Dom told them both, a fierce expression on his face as he did so. “He’s Billy fuckin’ Boyd,” he waved his hands in the air like that made this man the most amazing person in the world.
Orlando bit the inside of his lip, trying not to laugh.
Elijah looked at Orlando, an amused look on his face. “Oh I’m sorry, he’s going on about Billy fuckin’ Boyd,” he said, deadpan.
Orlando laughed softly, “I’ve heard all about him. Apparently he’s good in the sack,” he joked, standing up when there was a knock on the door. He walked over and opened the door, only vaguely registering the twin gasps of surprise behind him before Viggo enveloped him in his arms.
“It’s good to see you again, kid,” Viggo murmured, squeezing him around the shoulders lightly before stepping into the apartment.
Sean stepped in after him and gave Orlando a similar greeting, ruffling the college student’s hair with a soft smile.
“Shoes against the wall, please,” Orlando told them both in a soft voice, smiling when they seemed to understand right away why they needed to do that and did so.
“So, which one of you is Elijah?” Sean asked, turning to Dom and Elijah, the latter only looking slightly less stunned than his best friend at their presence in his apartment.
“Orlando, did you forget to tell your new friends something?” Viggo asked him, sounding a little amused, a mischievous glint in his eye as he did so. “That’s not very nice boy,” he winked.
Orlando smiled somewhat, his amusement only lasting a moment when he saw how suddenly Elijah went from looking surprised and shocked to self conscious. Guilt rushed through him, unable to believe he had been so stupid.
“I’m sorry Elijah,” he said softly, leading Viggo and Sean across the room. “This is Viggo and Sean, they are the men I told you about from when I was seventeen.”
Elijah looked slightly more at ease, hearing that and smiled at them. “Hi,” he said in an almost shy voice.
“Nice to meet you lad,” Sean gently greeted and Orlando felt more than a little touched that one of his mentors seemed to realize how important it was to be careful, and considerate when it came to the disordered young man.
“I’m Sean,” he said next, chuckling when Elijah’s smile widened. “But I guess you know that.”
“Yes, sir,” Elijah responded softly, then turned red as Viggo laughed slightly and Sean clapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Sorry,” he murmured, ducking his head lightly as though he was considering hiding.
Sean smiled, “You can call me Sean, or Bean,” he informed him before stepping aside to let Viggo say hello.
Viggo nudged his lover affectionately and Orlando felt the same warmth he always felt around the two men, they were family for him and the way Sean was acting with Elijah, he knew the “papa wolf” as Viggo sometimes called him had found a new cub.
“And you can call me Viggo,” he told Elijah then turned to Dom, “which must mean you are Dominic.”
“Dom...is...who I am,” Elijah’s best friend stammered, and Orlando had to bite his bottom lip to resist the urge to laugh out loud because he’d never seen Dom so quiet in the short time that he’d known him and it was a pretty amazing sight.
“They are just normal people,” Orlando reminded him gently, rolling his eyes skyward as he did so, because he’d forgotten about how people tended to react to his mentors and it always seemed ridiculous to him.
Yes, they were both talented actors, and Viggo was a triple threat, an actor, an artist, and, on the odd occasion, a musician, but they were his home, his family.
“If you’ll all head to the table, I’ll bring out dinner soon,” Orlando informed them, feeling a little worried about how this would all work out, considering the different personalities gathered in the apartment. “Dom, wake up,” he tapped him lightly on the back of the head and smiled when he was rewarded with a soft laugh from Elijah.
“It smells good, whatever it is,” Viggo commented to Elijah and Sean as he walked toward the table. “Dom, are you alright?” Orlando heard him ask the young thespian.
“Yeah I am, sorry,” Dom responded, but even that wasn’t close to his normal tone of voice.
Orlando walked out with two plates of lasagna and noticed how Elijah practically darted ahead of the group, in an effort to garner the seat closest to the wall on the left, and made a note to remember. He glanced over, feeling eyes on him and met Viggo’s concerned gaze.
Sean followed him into the kitchen to help with the food, smiling as he washed his hands. “It’s a good place Orli,” he complimented, “Very nice. Good energy as Vig would say.”
Nodding Orlando smiled slightly, “You can stop checking up on me now you know,” he chastised lightly, grabbing two more plates. “Grab your own plate old man, and the garlic bread while you’re at it,” he winked.
“So Elijah, what is it that you do?” Viggo asked in a curious voice when they were all seated and beginning to eat.
Orlando resisted the urge to groan, as he recognized the act for what it was. Viggo was playing the part of a concerned parent, grilling a new potential partner.
He tried to glare at the older man, tried to warn him off such questioning, but knew it was useless.
Elijah swallowed heavily, glancing at Viggo. “I’m in school, part time,” he said softly, a polite smile on his face as he did so.
“No job?” Sean asked, and Orlando was grateful that his tone seemed a little warmer than Elijah’s, that at the very least besides Dom, who still resembled a gold fish and himself, his roommate would have another ally at the table.
Sean wasn’t one to let Viggo go too far, and vice versa.
“Not yet, it’s hard to find work,” Elijah said softly and Orlando winced in sympathy, shooting Viggo a book.
He knew it had to be hard for Elijah to find work, to find any place which would keep up with his need to have a routine life and the compulsions which came along with his disorder.
“He’s taking courses in creative writing, and journalism,” Orlando supplied for his roommate, shooting him a soft smile as he did so, trying to be encouraging because in the end, he knew that Elijah could win Viggo over.
How could those blue eyes not win anyone over? They were so filled with honesty, and a need to please.
Viggo looked surprise, “That’s great,” he supplied, seeming to flounder a little bit. “You want to be a writer?”
Orlando was desperately attempting not to introduce his forehead to the table, as much as he wanted to right then.
Elijah shrugged his shoulders slightly, “I have some money, so I wouldn’t need to work if I didn’t want to, and I enjoy writing, so I guess I would like to do that even if it doesn’t pan out at a monetary level.”
Dom looked surprised at the admission, seemingly more because he hadn’t expected Elijah to say it then that he didn’t know.
Viggo arched an eyebrow, “Oh.”
Orlando hid a grin, realizing Elijah had managed to do something very few people could do. Get Viggo to shut up when he was on a roll, and looking at Sean he realized Viggo’s lover was trying to hide a smile as well.
“Money is such an awful thing to discuss at dinner,” Orlando said, shooting Viggo a glare, and then bowing his head and eating a forkful of lasagna.
“I don’t mind,” Elijah responded, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s not like I got the money by killing someone or something, just a little acting role here or there when I was a kid.”
Orlando almost dropped his fork, surprised and intrigued by this little bit of information, which, as he looked at the older man, he realized Viggo seemed to have latched onto but not in a protective way.
“Acting?” Viggo enthused, taking a bite of his garlic bread he chewed it carefully. “What were you in? Anything I’d know?”
Sean leaned forward as well, the two of them far too eager about their profession and clearly interested in how Elijah had factored into it.
“You must have been young, lad,” Sean commented, and smiled when Elijah did.
“Yeah I was,” Elijah shrugged his shoulders after finishing a bite of his food and smiled somewhat shyly this time. “I doubt you’ve seen any of the movies.”
“Movies?” Orlando asked, turning to him he was completely surprised. He was thinking child modeling in commercials, or bit television parts but Elijah had been in movies.
The information was enough to leave him speechless and he noticed Dom was now only half paying attention as he consumed his food, which meant that this was definitely not new information.
His roommate probably had an IMDB page for heaven’s sake, and he hadn’t thought to mindlessly google him.
Although, he’d never really mindlessly googled anyone in his life, so why was he bound to start now?
“Now you have to tell us what movies,” Sean coaxed, shooting Elijah a slight wink.
Elijah blushed, “I was in Back to the Future II, Internal Affairs, both of those are blink and you miss it roles. Avalon, Paradise, The Witness, again blink if you miss on that last one as well as Radio Flyer and uhm...”
“Bloody hell,” Sean said, almost as though something was dawning on him. “You’re the kid from Day-O and Forever Young,” he remarked. “My kids loved those movies.”
Elijah shrugged again, lowering his eyes to the table. “It’s no big deal.”
Orlando swallowed, “Right, no big deal,” he agreed, ready to kick himself when he saw the hurt look flit across Elijah’s face. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he quickly amended, his cheeks colouring when he saw the other men at the table seemed truly amused at his blunder.
“What did you mean then?” Elijah asked teasingly, looking at him.
Oh good lord.
Elijah was...flirting with him?
Did Elijah realize he was flirting with him?
“I mean, it’s not something that should be made a big deal of, or...I mean...you’re a good actor.”
Orlando wanted the ground to swallow him up. That would solve this sudden verbal problem that he was having.
“You’re a good actor, just like them, but you are also a normal guy and you need to be treated as such, instead of a celebrity or something.”
He could see Elijah’s hurt practically melt away at being called normal and smiled somewhat, ignoring Viggo’s concern again at watching him scramble to make his roommate happy.
Orlando leaned back in his chair with a sigh, rubbing his forehead.
He’d just realized something, something a little dangerous.
He was willing to do almost anything to make the younger man happy, and that was dangerous for both of them
Viggo had reason for concern.
“So, other than being a retired movie star, what do you like to do for fun?” Sean asked, clearly trying to alleviate some of the awkwardness of the conversation.
“Oh, he reads,” Dom offered the information readily, seeming to have regained his ability of speech, while Orlando found himself floundering for his own. “He reads a lot.”
“I know a bookstore you will have to check out then, Elijah, it’s owned by a fellow called Sean and it’s called ‘The Undying Lands,'” Sean informed the blue eyed man with a soft smile.
“You own a bookstore?” Elijah questioned, confusion clouding his eyes momentarily.
“No no, his last name is Astin. It’s a very nice place, I think you’d find it quite comfortable,” Sean explained fully.
Elijah smiled at the prospect and Orlando’s heart ached when he saw his roommate’s eyes light up, realizing he was completely lost. He didn’t like being lost, but with Elijah it seemed to be pretty fun.
“The Undying Lands? Like Lord of the Rings?” Elijah picked up the reference suddenly. “I adore those books.”
The conversation continued easily throughout dinner, and Orlando found himself more at ease as it went on and light banter ensued over who would do the dishes.
“I can do them,” Elijah offered, a slight eagerness in his eyes.
Orlando laughed softly, not intending to hurt his feelings. “I would prefer to do them, I did, after all, make the mess.” He’d managed to keep Elijah out of the kitchen pretty well while fixing the food and had fully intended on cleaning up after himself.
“Enjoy yourself, keep discussing books with Sean here,” he squeezed the older man’s shoulder as he passed by.
It was worth it to have to do dishes as he saw how easily Elijah settled back into his chair, sipping his drink.
“I’ll help you,” Viggo told Orlando, following him into the kitchen. He began rinsing the dishes as Orlando passed them to him before they were loaded into the dishwasher.
“What is it, Vig?” Orlando asked, sighing softly. He knew he was in for some kind of lecture right then, he could tell it just from the tense line of the older man’s shoulders.
Viggo smiled at him, shaking his head slightly. “I like him,” he said softly.
Orlando nodded in acknowledgement, loading the dishes as he had seen Elijah do before knowing that his roommate was most likely bound to check later, provided Orlando didn’t get around to putting them away first.
“But?” he urged on.
Viggo sighed, turning to look at him, his hands still wet as he placed them on Orlando’s shoulders. “I worry what it will take for you to be in a relationship with someone like him,” he admitted.
“He’s not disabled Viggo, he has the power to overcome his disorder. I can see it in him, he lets me do the dishes for God’s sake,” Orlando responded, frowning.
“I know he does, and that is really sweet, but what if he does not have the will to overcome, or does not feel as though its in his best interest,” Viggo said in a soft voice, trying to make him see reason.
Orlando shook his head, “He wants to, you just don’t know him well enough,” he protested. “He will do it, and I will stand by him.”
Viggo smiled suddenly and drew him close, “That’s all I wanted to know.”
Melting into the hug, Orlando sighed in relief, realizing his mentor was only questioning him to see if he was ready to handle a relationship, to see if he was ready to move beyond the scars Stuart had left him.
Orlando wasn’t ready, not quite yet but with Elijah’s help, which he didn’t even realize he was giving, he could do it.
He believed in that as much as he believed that Elijah would one day be able to have a life where he wouldn’t have to worry about bandages and the order of his books on a shelf.
Scars after all did fade with time.
Orlando would simply have to remember that his past mistakes were not to be repeated, and he knew it was a lesson he was not likely to forget.
“You’re alright, Orlando,” Viggo’s hoarse voice murmured into his ear and warmth rushed over him.
Laughter echoed through the apartment and Orlando had the strength to pull away from the hug and return to the dishes he had been working on.
“No more bloody interrogations alright, that was really mean what you did, you know,” Orlando chastised Viggo as they returned to taking care of the dishes.
Viggo nodded, “I know, and I can’t believe I did it.”
“Why did you do it?” Orlando asked him, trying to figure out what Viggo’s possible motives could be.
“You looked so happy,” Viggo responded, his voice a little bit gruff as he did so. “I just wanted to make sure that he was a right match.”
Orlando laughed and nudged him gently, almost knocking the older man over as he wasn’t expecting it.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were beginning to pick up some of Sean’s papa wolf instincts or something. I can’t believe you asked him what he did, I kept waiting for credit checks and social security numbers to follow,” he teased.
“Papa wolf,” Viggo grumbled, rolling his eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he handed Orlando the last dish and watched as he put it in the dishwasher. “Did I do a good job of it?”
Orlando laughed again, shaking his head, “I’m glad you only have a son, Viggo, because Elijah managed to shut you up pretty quickly.”
Viggo smiled crookedly. “You were proud, huh?”
Orlando nodded as they walked back into the main room of the apartment, “Yep I was.”