Gift for viggorlibean3...
Recipient: viggorlibean3
Title: A Simple Epiphany
Pairing and/or additional characters: Orlibean with mentions of Viggo and others from the LOTR 'verse.
Rating: NC17
Warnings: angst
Disclaimer: Not true, I made it all up. You know I did.
Request: The couple has been drifting apart over time, one finds a way to bring them together and rekindle their love. A surprise proposal would be much appreciated. Some light angst is okay as long as it gets resolved.
Summary: A moment in time in an established relationship that has it's ups and downs. Even the most deeply in love people have those dreaded bad moments but they get over them, with effort and time and love. Sometimes the epiphany comes with trumpet sounds and jingle bells. And sometimes they don't.
Orlando made it up to the flat door with his armload of Christmas shopping, with only a little more tripping over himself than usual. He had gone to a lot of trouble, leaving work a whole hour early just so he could sneak back to the flat before Sean got home and hide the purchases that he did not want his lover to see.
There were the festive decorations for a start, the ones he had bought especially to brighten up the flat, despite Sean's protests that such things were tacky. Orlando had planned a whole day of cleaning and tidying and decorating for the coming Friday when he had the day off and Sean would be at work. He wanted to surprise his lover with an intricate light show, as Sean had been working extra long hours lately for the big London-based law firm that he worked for. There was some big hotshot case that the firm had landed, and the firm had appointed Sean and his most senior colleague, Viggo Mortensen, to work together on the case.
Besides, Sean needed some cheering up.
Orlando knew his lover had planned for the two of them to pay a surprise visit to his two girls up at his ex-wife Abby's place in Sheffield for the weekend before Christmas, but "The Firm", as Orlando tended to refer to it - with air quotes of course - had refused his lover the time off. It had all been arranged with Abby and everything, and Sean had been looking forward to surprising his daughters as this year it was Abby's turn to have them for the holidays.
Orlando smiled to himself as he stashed the box of baubles, garlands and lights in the back of the wardrobe in the spare room, looking forward to executing his plan on Friday. Sean could be grumpy at the best of times, in his gruff, northern bastard way, but he was Orlando's northern bastard, and he desperately wanted to see his boyfriend smile again. In fact, Orlando mused, it would be good to have his lover all to himself for Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as "The Firm" had promised Sean those two days off as a small compensation for not being able to see his daughters over the holidays. Orlando huffed out a breath in slight annoyance. Most places closed anyway over the holidays, but not "The Firm".
"Bloody Scrooges," he mumbled to himself as he closed the spare room door and made for the bathroom to shower and change and make dinner before his lover came home…whatever time that would be tonight.
He knew he had no need to hurry. Lately, as they came closer to winding up this mysterious big case that they were working on, Sean and Viggo didn't leave the office until after nine pm, and even then Sean would eat his dinner with his face stuck in some paperwork, his glasses sitting precariously on his nose and threatening to fall into his dinner at any minute. He would then take himself off to the study with a "Thanks for dinner, luv," for Orlando and a kiss to the top of his curls if he was lucky. Sean would drag himself to bed eventually sometime after midnight, before Orlando fell asleep, and they could indulge in some lazy kissing and a hand job or two. If Orlando was lucky.
But "lucky" was a thing Orlando hadn't been a good few weeks. The last time the two men had made love, really made love, had been over two months ago. That memorable and passionate time had been after a night out for dinner and drinks to celebrate Sean winning his first big case. It was on the strength of that case that Sean had gotten this big hot-shot case thing with Viggo.
Orlando truly was grateful that Sean's success meant that they no longer had to count the pennies from day to day, that they could afford this nice, big, three bedroom, two storey flat in the centre of London, and he was grateful that he didn't really have to work, not if he didn't want to, as Sean earned more than enough to support the two of them now. But Orlando loved managing the little University Bookstore for his elegantly beautiful boss Liv Tyler, and he lived for his chats with the regular customers, mainly students from the many colleges. His two favourites were Billy and Dom, who were in their second year at the Guildhall School for Music and Drama. Orlando loved talking to those two, hearing about their exploits, the theatre projects they were studying and some of the strange classes they had to take, and laughing at their antics in Circus Class. It indulged the small part of Orlando that had once wanted to be an actor when he had been younger, before he met and fell in love with a big gruff blond hunk of a man from Sheffield. Scholarships now to the college were so expensive though. Orlando knew he would never be able to afford it, so that dream had been allowed to die.
That was a story in itself, how the two men met. Sean had been a lawyer for a company who specialised in compensation claims, Orlando one of his first clients after the younger man had broken his back, falling from some shaky scaffolding on a building site where he had been working as an untrained, underpaid gofer for the construction workers. Sean had helped him prove that he had been untrained, that the foreman had made him climb the scaffold to help the brickies complete one particularly intricate section of the shopping centre they were working on because the building was behind schedule.
Orlando came away from that experience with a bad back that he was stuck with for life and it had meant the end of his acting dreams. He was able to walk again after the doctors had said he wouldn't, and he did end up with a tidy sum in compensation in his hands …and all with the help of a tall, handsome, blond hunk of a lawyer from Sheffield.
Orlando undressed and stepped under the hot spray of water, once again smiling as he remembered his nervousness at asking Sean out after the older man had excitedly phoned to tell him he had won his compensation case, and his relief when the big Northerner had said yes.
They were like chalk and cheese, the two of them together, but it worked. The 18 year age difference never bothered them, and it had long ago stopped bothering everyone who knew and cared for them. Orlando loved Sean's daughters as if they were his own, and they adored him. Even Abby had loved Orlando from the first moment they had met, and he giggled now again as he recalled the time he had asked her why she wasn't put out that her ex-husband was now quite officially gay.
Abby had drawn him aside, out of ear shot of where Sean was being tackled to the ground by his girls and put her arms around him. "I always knew that Sean loved cock, Orlando," she had whispered in his ear, causing him to blush furiously. "He loved me in his own way, but it was always cock that he craved. I'm just glad that he has ended up with someone as open and caring and sweet as you, love."
Sean certainly loved Orlando's cock, when he took the time to give his lover some attention these days. He loved to give his younger boyfriend teasing and tantalising blow jobs especially, and Orlando certainly never had any cause to complain about that or about any aspect of their sex life. Until recently, anyway. The sex was still good, but they just didn't do it as often anymore, and he was becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of a good shagging by his lover. Orlando wondered if it was just because the "honeymoon" period of their relationship had ended.
They were settled together now with bills to pay, jobs to go, friends they socialised with, favourite places to shop, where the till girls knew them by first name and didn't blink an eye when the men held hands as they filled their trolley with groceries or exchanged a sweet, chaste kiss in the frozen food section.
Yes, Sean was still affectionate with him, Orlando mused, and they still exchanged "I love yous" every morning before they left the flat to go to their respective jobs. They just didn't have sex.
"Hey, Lando! Have you started dinner yet, love?" Sean's sudden call from downstairs, accompanied by the banging shut of the front door startled Orlando from his thoughts just as he was drying off from his shower.
"I hope you haven't made dinner, I've got plans for us…"
Sean's voice rose in volume as he came trundling up the stairs into the bedroom, the dapper lawyer stopping short in the room when he spotted a smiling Orlando peering round the bathroom door in nothing more than a towel around his slim hips.
"Hi, gorgeous," Sean greeted, his smile matching that of his lover as he moved further into the room and gave Orlando a loving kiss on the lips as he took him into his arms.
"Hi yourself," Orlando replied with a grin once his mouth had been released. His spirits were soaring, wondering just what plans Sean had concocted. Maybe Sean planned to treat him to take out for a change?
It had been a while since they had done that too, just vegged out in front of the telly with copious amounts of Chinese food and several bottles of beer between them. Those times used to become major make-out sessions on the sofa, followed by mind-blowing sex.
Orlando reluctantly wriggled free from Sean so that he could finish drying off. "What's brought you home so early, Seanie? Not that I am complaining," he added, his voice muffled under the towel as he rubbed at his still dripping curls, not wanting to drip water onto Sean's expensive suit. "I was just about to start dinner. You said something about having plans when you came in. Are we going out, or is it take out night?" Orlando cast the damp towel onto the bed and turned to face Sean again, that hopeful smile still on his handsome face.
The smile soon faded, once he took in the guilty look on Sean's face. "Sean?"
"I'm sorry, babe. I meant plans for me and Viggo," Sean began, his tone full of regret as he stepped closer to his lover, arms half raised towards him in an offered hug, but immediately Orlando's face hardened and he stepped back out of reach.
"With…with Viggo?" Orlando's heart broke all over again as soon as his lover had mentioned the other man. "But, uh, you promised yesterday that you would be having a quiet night in with me tonight. You said that this big case of yours was just about wrapped up. Why are you going out with Viggo again?" Orlando's eyes filled with tears. "You're always going out with Viggo, or you're working late with him, or you're…" Orlando abruptly cut himself off, brown eyes going wide with sudden realisation. "You're sleeping with him, aren't you? You're FUCKING SLEEPING WITH HIM!" The last few words were screamed in absolute anger and devastation.
The damp towel hit Sean square in the face just as he opened his mouth to reply and he had no sooner got the towel out of the way before he was dodging a hard-backed book.
Hands raised in self-defence, Sean attempted to get a word in as various objects were hurtled at him. "Lan, please…fuck, love. Stop throwing things and calm down! Viggo's downstairs, he's gonna hear us…"
As soon as he said the words, Sean instantly knew he had said the wrong thing. Orlando froze in mid-motion, in the act of lobbing the bedside phone at Sean's ducking head.
"You bastard," the younger man exhaled, his body slumping in absolute dejection. "You complete bastard. You let him into my home?" Voice breaking with emotion, Orlando struggled to keep his composure but he couldn't stop the tears that flowed.
Unable to say another word, head and heart pounding fit to burst, Orlando turned on his heels and dashed for the bathroom, slamming and then locking the door behind himself.
"Hey, Sean," Viggo's voice called from downstairs, sounding concerned. "Everything okay up there?"
A stunned Sean stood alone in the bedroom, his heart torn in two. He wanted to stay and fix this thing with his lover, but he couldn't. He had to go with Viggo and sort out the case for "The Firm". He had no choice. Not when they were so close to…
"Sean?" Viggo called again.
"I'm fine, Vig. Coming down now, mate."
With one last, longing look at the bathroom door to where his lover had retreated, Sean turned and made his way down the stairs, silently praying that when he came home later he could sort this all out. He was barely out of the door before the bathroom opened and Orlando stepped out.
Face tear-stained and mouth set in a determined line, Orlando dressed hurriedly before haphazardly throwing clothes into his backpack once the bag had been hauled out from the back of the spare room wardrobe. He had paused for a moment, liquid brown eyes on the boxes of Christmas lights, before resolutely slamming the door closed and taking his bag to own bedroom and filling it with his clothes.
With that job done, all he had to do now as find somewhere to go. He couldn't stay here, not anymore. He wasn't about to wait around in the apartment for Sean to come home at whatever late hour, full of apologies and other worthless words.
Grabbing his mobile phone off the hearth, Orlando called up the home number of his boss.
"Hey, Livvie. Yeah, it's Orli….Umm, would you and Royston mind if I came to stay with you for a few days? Me and Sean have had a barney, yeah? I just need somewhere to crash until I find somewhere else…."
Packed and ready to go, Orlando stood in the living room and took one last look around the place that he had called home for four years. He really didn't know if this thing with Sean would ever be fixed. He wasn't even sure what had gone wrong, that was the frustrating thing about it. The two men didn't talk anymore, not really.
Deep down, Orlando knew that Sean wasn't sleeping with Viggo and that his big Northerner still loved him. But a chasm had opened up between them and Orlando had no idea if they would ever be able to fix it.
With a last look around, Orlando sighed heavily and then ventured out into the night to await Royston coming over to get him. He stood alone in the doorway to the apartment block, huddled up in his coat and scarf, as preoccupied holiday shoppers bustled by with their bags laden with gifts for loved ones, reminding Orlando of the wrapped gifts he had gotten Sean, stashed away under the bed. He didn't feel like nipping back upstairs to fetch them though. He didn't want them, but he didn't know if he would ever get to give them to his boyfriend, if he would ever be in this part of town again.
Not for the first time Orlando wondered if he was doing the right thing, running away instead of waiting for Sean to come home so they could talk. Before he could think on it some more, a car horn drew his attention and Royston drew up alongside him.
****
At five minutes to midnight on Christmas Eve almost a week later, Orlando found himself standing alone once more outside the glass doors to his old apartment. The street was nearly deserted in this quiet part of town, the shops closed. He pictured families making last minute preparations for the busy day ahead, and little kids tucked up in bed dreaming of Santa Claus. Most people his own age were in the pubs and clubs, out celebrating with their friends and partners and he had been too, down one of the local pubs with Liv, Billy and Dom, when the call had come from Sean.
They had talked a few times over the phone since Orlando had left, he and Sean. The lawyer had apologised over and over for neglecting his lover over the past few weeks, giving reasons for his sombre mood like the disappointment at not being able to have his daughters down for the holidays, explaining some vague details about the case he had been working on for "The Firm" and how important it was that he worked closely with Viggo, but without saying why. His lover was still holding back from him, and that was the only reason Orlando was still staying at Liv's place.
At half past eleven his mobile phone had rung and Sean had begged Orlando to come over to the apartment and spend Christmas with him. He had sounded sober enough on the phone but Orlando suspected that his lover was a little drunk. His accent had been thicker, his voice gruffer and he had sounded desperate to talk to Orlando face-to-face, so Orlando had relented and had asked Billy, their designated driver for the night, to drive him over in Royston's car.
At precisely midnight, Christmas Eve night, Orlando raised his hand and rang the buzzer right next to the number for their apartment on the intercom by the front door. Sean didn't even ask who was there, he must have just pushed the little button in the kitchen that released the lock on the door and allowed Orlando entrance.
"You didn't need to buzz the door, Orlando," was how Sean greeted him at the door. "You could have just used your key, ya know."
Orlando shrugged and pushed his hands further into his pockets. "Didn't have it with me."
He drank in the sight of his lover as Sean stood there, one hand leaning high on the door jamb, staring right back at him. He was dressed casual, a look that Orlando much preferred over the usual snazzy suits. The grey t-shirt had seen better days, the track bottoms were loose and barely hanging on the muscular frame. Orlando thought that his lover had never looked more handsome.
"Yeah, well…sorry…." Sean broke the awkward silence and moved aside to let Orlando in to the warmth of the apartment. "Come in, take your coat off. Make yourself at…" Sean choked off before he finished the automatic invitation and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he took Orlando's coat from him.
Orlando pretended not to notice the slip of the tongue and instead turned in the hall towards the living room as Sean followed behind him. Once inside the room he stopped so suddenly that Sean almost bumped into his back.
The huge Christmas tree beside the hearth that greeted him in a bright array of coloured lights and sparkling ornaments and tinsel was a shock to the system. His eyes took in the brightly wrapped presents underneath it, the stockings hanging above the fireplace, and the tray of festive goodies on the coffee table.
It was a beautiful display, but Orlando couldn't help feeling a little hurt. This is what he had planned to do for Sean, and he was numbed to see Sean had gone ahead and decorated without him. Orlando recognised some of the decorations. Sean had used the ones that he had bought to surprise his lover with.
"You don't like it?" Sean spoke up behind him, once more breaking the heavy silence.
"No, it's…it's fine, it looks great Sean," Orlando replied, stepping further into the room. "I'm just surprised. You hate doing this kind of stuff, the decorating and all. I had planned to do it all before…well, you know…." He trailed off awkwardly, hating this hesitancy between them, this talking to each other like strangers.
"Aye, well…I found the stuff you bought, in the spare room," Sean began to explain shyly as Orlando turned to face him. "I couldn't sleep in our room, you see, so I cleared out the spare and moved my stuff in. That's when I found the heap of stuff you'd got for us."
"Sean, it's okay." Orlando reached out and took Sean's hand in his, hating to see the hesitance in Sean's eyes. "I'm glad you did this, it's beautiful."
"I did it for you," Sean blurted out, and something broke in Orlando's heart at the tremble he heard in his lover's voice. "I know I've been a shite boyfriend the past few months and I wanted you to know that I'm sorry for taking you for granted and neglecting you, but the case, it got a bit crazy you see. Turned out that Viggo was in the pocket of this big gangster boss we were building our prosecution against. I was given the task of worming my way into his confidence by "The Firm" as you call it, so he would open up to me and try to draw me into sabotaging the evidence and all."
"It doesn't matter, Sean," Orlando interrupted. "We were both taking each other for granted, love. I knew you weren't sleeping with him as soon as I accused you of it. I know you wouldn't do that, Seanie."
"I wouldn't, I really wouldn't." Sean shook his head vehemently as his hands came up to cup Orlando's face, thumbs drawing tenderly across his lover's cheekbones as fingers slid into brown curls and the two men locked eyes. "I would never do that to you, Orli."
Neither man knew who moved first, but the first meeting of lips on lips came as a surprise to both. They spent long minutes reacquainting themselves with the taste of the other as Sean clasped Orlando's face and the younger man's hands found their way under a grotty old grey t-shirt and caressed warm, bare skin.
Sean groaned as long fingers hit those magic spots on his flanks and he relished once more having the warm body of the man he loved in his arms. This is what they were about, this is where he should be, he realised. He had come so close to losing the man he loved, all to impress a bloody great law firm that could just as easily have sent someone else to weasel out Viggo. He had done it for the money, for the huge bonus the Firm had promised him, but the risk hadn't been worth it.
The two men found themselves in the bedroom soon enough, again each one not knowing who had been instrumental in that. It just happened that way, they both wanted it. They wanted each other.
Bed springs creaked as two naked bodies lowered themselves to the mattress. Sean was efficient in preparing his lover, all the while with Orlando begging him to fuck him, for more and harder and NOW!
But they didn't fuck. They made love accompanied by a symphony of gasps and groans, creaking springs and skin slapping against skin, until they both reached their climax and collapsed in a heap of twisted sheets as breaths calmed and whispered "I love yous were spoken.
As he lay in the aftermath, an arm around the shoulders of a sleeping Orlando, Sean vowed to do things differently from now on, to treat his lover like the adult he was and talk to him when they needed it.
It would take some doing, and they would both make mistakes, but they would get there.
He fell asleep with the man he loved in his arms and promises in his heart, and the sight of the first flakes of Christmas snow drifting down past an uncurtained window in London.
The End.
Title: A Simple Epiphany
Pairing and/or additional characters: Orlibean with mentions of Viggo and others from the LOTR 'verse.
Rating: NC17
Warnings: angst
Disclaimer: Not true, I made it all up. You know I did.
Request: The couple has been drifting apart over time, one finds a way to bring them together and rekindle their love. A surprise proposal would be much appreciated. Some light angst is okay as long as it gets resolved.
Summary: A moment in time in an established relationship that has it's ups and downs. Even the most deeply in love people have those dreaded bad moments but they get over them, with effort and time and love. Sometimes the epiphany comes with trumpet sounds and jingle bells. And sometimes they don't.
Orlando made it up to the flat door with his armload of Christmas shopping, with only a little more tripping over himself than usual. He had gone to a lot of trouble, leaving work a whole hour early just so he could sneak back to the flat before Sean got home and hide the purchases that he did not want his lover to see.
There were the festive decorations for a start, the ones he had bought especially to brighten up the flat, despite Sean's protests that such things were tacky. Orlando had planned a whole day of cleaning and tidying and decorating for the coming Friday when he had the day off and Sean would be at work. He wanted to surprise his lover with an intricate light show, as Sean had been working extra long hours lately for the big London-based law firm that he worked for. There was some big hotshot case that the firm had landed, and the firm had appointed Sean and his most senior colleague, Viggo Mortensen, to work together on the case.
Besides, Sean needed some cheering up.
Orlando knew his lover had planned for the two of them to pay a surprise visit to his two girls up at his ex-wife Abby's place in Sheffield for the weekend before Christmas, but "The Firm", as Orlando tended to refer to it - with air quotes of course - had refused his lover the time off. It had all been arranged with Abby and everything, and Sean had been looking forward to surprising his daughters as this year it was Abby's turn to have them for the holidays.
Orlando smiled to himself as he stashed the box of baubles, garlands and lights in the back of the wardrobe in the spare room, looking forward to executing his plan on Friday. Sean could be grumpy at the best of times, in his gruff, northern bastard way, but he was Orlando's northern bastard, and he desperately wanted to see his boyfriend smile again. In fact, Orlando mused, it would be good to have his lover all to himself for Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as "The Firm" had promised Sean those two days off as a small compensation for not being able to see his daughters over the holidays. Orlando huffed out a breath in slight annoyance. Most places closed anyway over the holidays, but not "The Firm".
"Bloody Scrooges," he mumbled to himself as he closed the spare room door and made for the bathroom to shower and change and make dinner before his lover came home…whatever time that would be tonight.
He knew he had no need to hurry. Lately, as they came closer to winding up this mysterious big case that they were working on, Sean and Viggo didn't leave the office until after nine pm, and even then Sean would eat his dinner with his face stuck in some paperwork, his glasses sitting precariously on his nose and threatening to fall into his dinner at any minute. He would then take himself off to the study with a "Thanks for dinner, luv," for Orlando and a kiss to the top of his curls if he was lucky. Sean would drag himself to bed eventually sometime after midnight, before Orlando fell asleep, and they could indulge in some lazy kissing and a hand job or two. If Orlando was lucky.
But "lucky" was a thing Orlando hadn't been a good few weeks. The last time the two men had made love, really made love, had been over two months ago. That memorable and passionate time had been after a night out for dinner and drinks to celebrate Sean winning his first big case. It was on the strength of that case that Sean had gotten this big hot-shot case thing with Viggo.
Orlando truly was grateful that Sean's success meant that they no longer had to count the pennies from day to day, that they could afford this nice, big, three bedroom, two storey flat in the centre of London, and he was grateful that he didn't really have to work, not if he didn't want to, as Sean earned more than enough to support the two of them now. But Orlando loved managing the little University Bookstore for his elegantly beautiful boss Liv Tyler, and he lived for his chats with the regular customers, mainly students from the many colleges. His two favourites were Billy and Dom, who were in their second year at the Guildhall School for Music and Drama. Orlando loved talking to those two, hearing about their exploits, the theatre projects they were studying and some of the strange classes they had to take, and laughing at their antics in Circus Class. It indulged the small part of Orlando that had once wanted to be an actor when he had been younger, before he met and fell in love with a big gruff blond hunk of a man from Sheffield. Scholarships now to the college were so expensive though. Orlando knew he would never be able to afford it, so that dream had been allowed to die.
That was a story in itself, how the two men met. Sean had been a lawyer for a company who specialised in compensation claims, Orlando one of his first clients after the younger man had broken his back, falling from some shaky scaffolding on a building site where he had been working as an untrained, underpaid gofer for the construction workers. Sean had helped him prove that he had been untrained, that the foreman had made him climb the scaffold to help the brickies complete one particularly intricate section of the shopping centre they were working on because the building was behind schedule.
Orlando came away from that experience with a bad back that he was stuck with for life and it had meant the end of his acting dreams. He was able to walk again after the doctors had said he wouldn't, and he did end up with a tidy sum in compensation in his hands …and all with the help of a tall, handsome, blond hunk of a lawyer from Sheffield.
Orlando undressed and stepped under the hot spray of water, once again smiling as he remembered his nervousness at asking Sean out after the older man had excitedly phoned to tell him he had won his compensation case, and his relief when the big Northerner had said yes.
They were like chalk and cheese, the two of them together, but it worked. The 18 year age difference never bothered them, and it had long ago stopped bothering everyone who knew and cared for them. Orlando loved Sean's daughters as if they were his own, and they adored him. Even Abby had loved Orlando from the first moment they had met, and he giggled now again as he recalled the time he had asked her why she wasn't put out that her ex-husband was now quite officially gay.
Abby had drawn him aside, out of ear shot of where Sean was being tackled to the ground by his girls and put her arms around him. "I always knew that Sean loved cock, Orlando," she had whispered in his ear, causing him to blush furiously. "He loved me in his own way, but it was always cock that he craved. I'm just glad that he has ended up with someone as open and caring and sweet as you, love."
Sean certainly loved Orlando's cock, when he took the time to give his lover some attention these days. He loved to give his younger boyfriend teasing and tantalising blow jobs especially, and Orlando certainly never had any cause to complain about that or about any aspect of their sex life. Until recently, anyway. The sex was still good, but they just didn't do it as often anymore, and he was becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of a good shagging by his lover. Orlando wondered if it was just because the "honeymoon" period of their relationship had ended.
They were settled together now with bills to pay, jobs to go, friends they socialised with, favourite places to shop, where the till girls knew them by first name and didn't blink an eye when the men held hands as they filled their trolley with groceries or exchanged a sweet, chaste kiss in the frozen food section.
Yes, Sean was still affectionate with him, Orlando mused, and they still exchanged "I love yous" every morning before they left the flat to go to their respective jobs. They just didn't have sex.
"Hey, Lando! Have you started dinner yet, love?" Sean's sudden call from downstairs, accompanied by the banging shut of the front door startled Orlando from his thoughts just as he was drying off from his shower.
"I hope you haven't made dinner, I've got plans for us…"
Sean's voice rose in volume as he came trundling up the stairs into the bedroom, the dapper lawyer stopping short in the room when he spotted a smiling Orlando peering round the bathroom door in nothing more than a towel around his slim hips.
"Hi, gorgeous," Sean greeted, his smile matching that of his lover as he moved further into the room and gave Orlando a loving kiss on the lips as he took him into his arms.
"Hi yourself," Orlando replied with a grin once his mouth had been released. His spirits were soaring, wondering just what plans Sean had concocted. Maybe Sean planned to treat him to take out for a change?
It had been a while since they had done that too, just vegged out in front of the telly with copious amounts of Chinese food and several bottles of beer between them. Those times used to become major make-out sessions on the sofa, followed by mind-blowing sex.
Orlando reluctantly wriggled free from Sean so that he could finish drying off. "What's brought you home so early, Seanie? Not that I am complaining," he added, his voice muffled under the towel as he rubbed at his still dripping curls, not wanting to drip water onto Sean's expensive suit. "I was just about to start dinner. You said something about having plans when you came in. Are we going out, or is it take out night?" Orlando cast the damp towel onto the bed and turned to face Sean again, that hopeful smile still on his handsome face.
The smile soon faded, once he took in the guilty look on Sean's face. "Sean?"
"I'm sorry, babe. I meant plans for me and Viggo," Sean began, his tone full of regret as he stepped closer to his lover, arms half raised towards him in an offered hug, but immediately Orlando's face hardened and he stepped back out of reach.
"With…with Viggo?" Orlando's heart broke all over again as soon as his lover had mentioned the other man. "But, uh, you promised yesterday that you would be having a quiet night in with me tonight. You said that this big case of yours was just about wrapped up. Why are you going out with Viggo again?" Orlando's eyes filled with tears. "You're always going out with Viggo, or you're working late with him, or you're…" Orlando abruptly cut himself off, brown eyes going wide with sudden realisation. "You're sleeping with him, aren't you? You're FUCKING SLEEPING WITH HIM!" The last few words were screamed in absolute anger and devastation.
The damp towel hit Sean square in the face just as he opened his mouth to reply and he had no sooner got the towel out of the way before he was dodging a hard-backed book.
Hands raised in self-defence, Sean attempted to get a word in as various objects were hurtled at him. "Lan, please…fuck, love. Stop throwing things and calm down! Viggo's downstairs, he's gonna hear us…"
As soon as he said the words, Sean instantly knew he had said the wrong thing. Orlando froze in mid-motion, in the act of lobbing the bedside phone at Sean's ducking head.
"You bastard," the younger man exhaled, his body slumping in absolute dejection. "You complete bastard. You let him into my home?" Voice breaking with emotion, Orlando struggled to keep his composure but he couldn't stop the tears that flowed.
Unable to say another word, head and heart pounding fit to burst, Orlando turned on his heels and dashed for the bathroom, slamming and then locking the door behind himself.
"Hey, Sean," Viggo's voice called from downstairs, sounding concerned. "Everything okay up there?"
A stunned Sean stood alone in the bedroom, his heart torn in two. He wanted to stay and fix this thing with his lover, but he couldn't. He had to go with Viggo and sort out the case for "The Firm". He had no choice. Not when they were so close to…
"Sean?" Viggo called again.
"I'm fine, Vig. Coming down now, mate."
With one last, longing look at the bathroom door to where his lover had retreated, Sean turned and made his way down the stairs, silently praying that when he came home later he could sort this all out. He was barely out of the door before the bathroom opened and Orlando stepped out.
Face tear-stained and mouth set in a determined line, Orlando dressed hurriedly before haphazardly throwing clothes into his backpack once the bag had been hauled out from the back of the spare room wardrobe. He had paused for a moment, liquid brown eyes on the boxes of Christmas lights, before resolutely slamming the door closed and taking his bag to own bedroom and filling it with his clothes.
With that job done, all he had to do now as find somewhere to go. He couldn't stay here, not anymore. He wasn't about to wait around in the apartment for Sean to come home at whatever late hour, full of apologies and other worthless words.
Grabbing his mobile phone off the hearth, Orlando called up the home number of his boss.
"Hey, Livvie. Yeah, it's Orli….Umm, would you and Royston mind if I came to stay with you for a few days? Me and Sean have had a barney, yeah? I just need somewhere to crash until I find somewhere else…."
Packed and ready to go, Orlando stood in the living room and took one last look around the place that he had called home for four years. He really didn't know if this thing with Sean would ever be fixed. He wasn't even sure what had gone wrong, that was the frustrating thing about it. The two men didn't talk anymore, not really.
Deep down, Orlando knew that Sean wasn't sleeping with Viggo and that his big Northerner still loved him. But a chasm had opened up between them and Orlando had no idea if they would ever be able to fix it.
With a last look around, Orlando sighed heavily and then ventured out into the night to await Royston coming over to get him. He stood alone in the doorway to the apartment block, huddled up in his coat and scarf, as preoccupied holiday shoppers bustled by with their bags laden with gifts for loved ones, reminding Orlando of the wrapped gifts he had gotten Sean, stashed away under the bed. He didn't feel like nipping back upstairs to fetch them though. He didn't want them, but he didn't know if he would ever get to give them to his boyfriend, if he would ever be in this part of town again.
Not for the first time Orlando wondered if he was doing the right thing, running away instead of waiting for Sean to come home so they could talk. Before he could think on it some more, a car horn drew his attention and Royston drew up alongside him.
****
At five minutes to midnight on Christmas Eve almost a week later, Orlando found himself standing alone once more outside the glass doors to his old apartment. The street was nearly deserted in this quiet part of town, the shops closed. He pictured families making last minute preparations for the busy day ahead, and little kids tucked up in bed dreaming of Santa Claus. Most people his own age were in the pubs and clubs, out celebrating with their friends and partners and he had been too, down one of the local pubs with Liv, Billy and Dom, when the call had come from Sean.
They had talked a few times over the phone since Orlando had left, he and Sean. The lawyer had apologised over and over for neglecting his lover over the past few weeks, giving reasons for his sombre mood like the disappointment at not being able to have his daughters down for the holidays, explaining some vague details about the case he had been working on for "The Firm" and how important it was that he worked closely with Viggo, but without saying why. His lover was still holding back from him, and that was the only reason Orlando was still staying at Liv's place.
At half past eleven his mobile phone had rung and Sean had begged Orlando to come over to the apartment and spend Christmas with him. He had sounded sober enough on the phone but Orlando suspected that his lover was a little drunk. His accent had been thicker, his voice gruffer and he had sounded desperate to talk to Orlando face-to-face, so Orlando had relented and had asked Billy, their designated driver for the night, to drive him over in Royston's car.
At precisely midnight, Christmas Eve night, Orlando raised his hand and rang the buzzer right next to the number for their apartment on the intercom by the front door. Sean didn't even ask who was there, he must have just pushed the little button in the kitchen that released the lock on the door and allowed Orlando entrance.
"You didn't need to buzz the door, Orlando," was how Sean greeted him at the door. "You could have just used your key, ya know."
Orlando shrugged and pushed his hands further into his pockets. "Didn't have it with me."
He drank in the sight of his lover as Sean stood there, one hand leaning high on the door jamb, staring right back at him. He was dressed casual, a look that Orlando much preferred over the usual snazzy suits. The grey t-shirt had seen better days, the track bottoms were loose and barely hanging on the muscular frame. Orlando thought that his lover had never looked more handsome.
"Yeah, well…sorry…." Sean broke the awkward silence and moved aside to let Orlando in to the warmth of the apartment. "Come in, take your coat off. Make yourself at…" Sean choked off before he finished the automatic invitation and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he took Orlando's coat from him.
Orlando pretended not to notice the slip of the tongue and instead turned in the hall towards the living room as Sean followed behind him. Once inside the room he stopped so suddenly that Sean almost bumped into his back.
The huge Christmas tree beside the hearth that greeted him in a bright array of coloured lights and sparkling ornaments and tinsel was a shock to the system. His eyes took in the brightly wrapped presents underneath it, the stockings hanging above the fireplace, and the tray of festive goodies on the coffee table.
It was a beautiful display, but Orlando couldn't help feeling a little hurt. This is what he had planned to do for Sean, and he was numbed to see Sean had gone ahead and decorated without him. Orlando recognised some of the decorations. Sean had used the ones that he had bought to surprise his lover with.
"You don't like it?" Sean spoke up behind him, once more breaking the heavy silence.
"No, it's…it's fine, it looks great Sean," Orlando replied, stepping further into the room. "I'm just surprised. You hate doing this kind of stuff, the decorating and all. I had planned to do it all before…well, you know…." He trailed off awkwardly, hating this hesitancy between them, this talking to each other like strangers.
"Aye, well…I found the stuff you bought, in the spare room," Sean began to explain shyly as Orlando turned to face him. "I couldn't sleep in our room, you see, so I cleared out the spare and moved my stuff in. That's when I found the heap of stuff you'd got for us."
"Sean, it's okay." Orlando reached out and took Sean's hand in his, hating to see the hesitance in Sean's eyes. "I'm glad you did this, it's beautiful."
"I did it for you," Sean blurted out, and something broke in Orlando's heart at the tremble he heard in his lover's voice. "I know I've been a shite boyfriend the past few months and I wanted you to know that I'm sorry for taking you for granted and neglecting you, but the case, it got a bit crazy you see. Turned out that Viggo was in the pocket of this big gangster boss we were building our prosecution against. I was given the task of worming my way into his confidence by "The Firm" as you call it, so he would open up to me and try to draw me into sabotaging the evidence and all."
"It doesn't matter, Sean," Orlando interrupted. "We were both taking each other for granted, love. I knew you weren't sleeping with him as soon as I accused you of it. I know you wouldn't do that, Seanie."
"I wouldn't, I really wouldn't." Sean shook his head vehemently as his hands came up to cup Orlando's face, thumbs drawing tenderly across his lover's cheekbones as fingers slid into brown curls and the two men locked eyes. "I would never do that to you, Orli."
Neither man knew who moved first, but the first meeting of lips on lips came as a surprise to both. They spent long minutes reacquainting themselves with the taste of the other as Sean clasped Orlando's face and the younger man's hands found their way under a grotty old grey t-shirt and caressed warm, bare skin.
Sean groaned as long fingers hit those magic spots on his flanks and he relished once more having the warm body of the man he loved in his arms. This is what they were about, this is where he should be, he realised. He had come so close to losing the man he loved, all to impress a bloody great law firm that could just as easily have sent someone else to weasel out Viggo. He had done it for the money, for the huge bonus the Firm had promised him, but the risk hadn't been worth it.
The two men found themselves in the bedroom soon enough, again each one not knowing who had been instrumental in that. It just happened that way, they both wanted it. They wanted each other.
Bed springs creaked as two naked bodies lowered themselves to the mattress. Sean was efficient in preparing his lover, all the while with Orlando begging him to fuck him, for more and harder and NOW!
But they didn't fuck. They made love accompanied by a symphony of gasps and groans, creaking springs and skin slapping against skin, until they both reached their climax and collapsed in a heap of twisted sheets as breaths calmed and whispered "I love yous were spoken.
As he lay in the aftermath, an arm around the shoulders of a sleeping Orlando, Sean vowed to do things differently from now on, to treat his lover like the adult he was and talk to him when they needed it.
It would take some doing, and they would both make mistakes, but they would get there.
He fell asleep with the man he loved in his arms and promises in his heart, and the sight of the first flakes of Christmas snow drifting down past an uncurtained window in London.
The End.