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fellowshippers2004-11-13 02:50 pm
andrealyn) wrote in fellowshippers2004-11-13 02:50 pm
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Title: The Signs of the Zodiac 2/12
Pairing: Bean/Orlando, Dom/Billy
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Not mine, never happened.
Summary: Orlando's life goes through quite a bit in the course of twelve months.
Notes: So, thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
captnobvious and beizy for hand-holding in the early days and to shaenie who completely ripped the first draft of this apart. Many thanks. Couldn't have done it without you. Previous parts can be found here.
PISCES
February 25th
“Are you sure about this?” Orlando hesitated on the stone steps leading up to Sean Astin’s family home. Orlando’s own personal Sean rested close to his side and brushed away at invisible lint on his navy blue dress suit while throwing a look in Orlando’s direction that screamed ‘stop asking me that’ before resuming his great quest to excise the lint. Orlando tapped on Sean’s shoulder to get his attention. “I’m talking 100% confident here…”
“Orlando, ring the bloody bell,” Sean interrupted, seeming tired as he shifted the gift in his hand. Orlando cast worried eyes upon Sean’s slightly bent form again before ringing the doorbell.
‘Don’t be so worried, you git,’ he swore at himself in his mind as footsteps approached the door. They were rewarded with an open door. There to greet them was Christine. She beckoned them inside with a smile, all while accepting the gift in one smooth step. Orlando admired her while they graced the foyer.
“Party started?” Sean inquired politely in light of Orlando’s distraction. Christine gave a minor grimace.
“I hate to say, but it’s in full swing. Although, Billy and Dominic escaped with my husband around twenty minutes ago. He’s been nowhere to be seen since then,” she finished with a shrug. “Come on in and join the fun.”
Orlando and Sean did as they were instructed, entering a relatively quiet party – in terms of being used to their own lavish parties, which were only to be outdone by Ian every single time. Soft jazz filled the room and as Orlando entered to greet Mackenzie, he noted many full glasses of wine. On top of the music, there was the light buzz of chatter.
Sean stumbled a little, which brought Orlando’s attention back toward Sean as quickly as his reflexes would allow.
“Are you okay?” he whispered. Sean blinked rapidly and gave a sardonic laugh.
“Usually, I’m three sheets to the wind when that happens,” he commented. “I’m simply clumsy, Orlando. No cause for worry.” He laughed wholeheartedly and then navigated his way to a seat, motioning to Orlando to join him.
“Boy!” Elijah greeted Sean with a maniacal grin. “And his toy,” he gestured to Orlando – who smirked in ironic amusement and made a mental note to get even with him at some point. Elijah placed two of the wonderful wine glasses down on the table. When Elijah offered Sean one of the intricate glasses, he immediately denied it to Orlando’s discontent.
“Rough stomach,” he winced in explanation. Orlando frowned as Sean shifted in discomfort in the chair. Silence gripped the conversation for a moment before Elijah shifted positions and found words to break it. Orlando felt ever grateful for him; words were the last thing he felt like searching for at the moment.
“All right,” Elijah pouted a tiny bit. “But you don’t need wine to hear the latest piece of gossip.”
“What happened now?” Sean asked, unable to mask the concern and frustration in his voice, which he was fully entitled to. With the hobbits, anything could be happening from public nudity, public drinking, private nudity and so on and so forth.
Elijah beamed. “Billy and Dom got put on alcoholic probation,” he reported with a laugh.
This was indeed something to be enjoyed. Both Orlando and Sean joined in on the laughter, and a piece of Orlando shouted ‘glad it isn’t me!’ in delight.
“By who?” Sean leaned in and demanded.
“Sean,” Elijah grinned as he launched into a dead-on imitation. “‘I will not have you behave like poor examples of the human race in front of my family and friends.’”
Orlando tried to breathe and find air between his laughs to speak. “So where are they? I can’t find Dom anywhere and I wanted to talk to him.”
Elijah looked around and shrugged a little as his eyes roved through the room, threading in and out of small clusters of twos and threes. “Saw him, Billy and Sean wander off a bit ago,” Elijah said. “With mineral waters,” he added with an amused chuckle.
Orlando’s felt his face fall with disappointment. Usually when he needed to talk to him, Dom was easy to find, and this was proving to start a pattern that he didn’t particularly like. He was about to ask how long ago they’d wandered off when Elijah spoke again.
“Wait. There!”
Orlando’s gaze turned to the area Elijah was pointing towards. Orlando murmured a little in surprise (and a tiny hidden note of shock filtered into his gasp) when he saw that they were filing single file out of the cedar built bedroom door. Sean’s eyes widened a little in shock while at the same time, Elijah searched the room for Christine. Billy paused to straighten Dom’s jacket and ruffle his hair a little.
“You saw that, right?” Sean murmured softly as the married Sean straightened his tie and greeted his parents. Billy and Dom made their collective way to the group and sat down, with pleased grins on their faces.
“No alcohol, hmm?” Orlando remarked with a wide delighted grin aimed mostly at Dom. Dom returned Orlando’s look with a sour countenance. He shifted so he could speak to Orlando and – quite subtly – wistfully regarded Orlando’s drink.
“Astin’s law,” he shrugged, while Billy and Sean began quietly conversing. “But I suppose a best friend could help me out.”
“This best friend obeys Astin’s law,” Orlando chided him, not even attempting pity. Sean pulled away from a worried-looking Billy and lightly tugged at Orlando’s shirt. “Yeah?”
“Not feeling so good,” Sean quickly informed him.
“Aren’t you?” Orlando’s felt his face knit into immediate worry. “Give me a second. We’ll go…”
“No,” Sean cut into the anxious speech. “Billy’s already promised to drive me back. You haven’t had nearly enough time to talk to Dom. You stay.” Sean stumbled over a few words, but finished with a kind smile. Orlando caught Elijah watching them as Sean kissed Orlando quickly – more quickly than Orlando would have preferred – before Sean rose to his feet.
“I’ll take proper care,” Billy swore, crossing his heart.
Dom stood up to bid them farewell, hugging Sean with a sympathetic smile before embracing Billy with blatant appreciation and a grin of glee.
“Behave,” Billy ordered.
They separated, as Billy searched through the pockets of his jeans for his keys. Dom stood at full height – all intimidating and proud and menacing five foot seven – and saluted Billy rigidly.
“Yes sir!” he shouted before waving them goodbye.
Once they were out the door, Elijah moved away to chat up some cousin of Sean’s. Orlando checked that Astin himself wasn’t in hearing distance as he leaned into Dom. “So, what happened in Sean’s bedroom before I got here?” Orlando inquired curiously, cocking an eyebrow. Dom grinned mischievously.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he taunted with sing-song delight.
“Yes!” Orlando demanded, hitting himself for thinking he’d get a straight answer out of Dom. Orlando fidgeted as Dom gave him a considering look.
“Secret,” Dom zipped his lips. “But Billy knows! You can ask him.”
Orlando groaned with frustration at having to deal with this on nearly a daily basis. Dom actually bounced up and down on the couch, radiating sober energy. For a moment, it whisked Orlando’s mind away from the polluted thoughts clouding his mind. Orlando made a mental note to bump up the appointment Sean had with the private doctor.
“Worried?” Dom interrupted Orlando’s thoughts.
“Wouldn’t you be?” Orlando gave Dom an inquisitive stare. “If it were Billy?”
“Without a single doubt,” Dom swore as he shifted to get closer to Orlando, allowing them to speak quietly and privately. Orlando sighed.
“His appointment got cancelled,” Orlando explained. “Or so he says. The fact that I’ve been making them really leads me to believe he thinks nothing is wrong.”
“Maybe nothing is,” Dom suggested as he cracked open a bottle of water.
“Maybe,” Orlando conceded after a moment and ran his finger around the rim of his glass. “He was better for a good two weeks though.”
“So maybe he’s stressed? Maybe prone to the cold; immune system is weak from too much work,” Dom ticked off the possibilities on his fingers. “Should I go on?”
“Please don’t,” Orlando pleaded with a thin and barely tolerant smile.
Dom smiled and wrapped one arm around Orlando, letting it dangle lazily as he clinked Orlando’s wine glass – crystal, of course, Sean would have nothing else -- with his water bottle. “Cheers,” Dom announced. “He’s in bloody wonderful hands; I personally know that.”
“Hands, yeah?” Orlando welcomed the change of conversation with open arms, amused by Dom’s vehement nod. “This is a recent development.”
“And I thought his talent with tongues was his best asset!” Dom remarked with surprise. “I was wrong,” he leaned in and conveyed with sheer delight.
“You really owe Elijah,” Orlando mused and shrugged helplessly, understanding very little about how the set-up occurred. If the result was any indication, though, Orlando figured that Elijah was a miracle worker. Maybe he could even heal Sean.
“Oh, he rewards himself. He’s just searching for himself, and then, he pairs the rejects off with each other,” Dom explained.
“When you’re sober, you’re actually quite intelligent,” Orlando shot at him, musing on what Dom had just said.
“Bite your tongue,” Dom teased playfully. “I’m always intellectually stimulating.”
Orlando checked his watch and pressed his lips together, dismayed, as he saw that Christine had only begun to prepare cups of coffee and plates for cake. A hand rested on Orlando’s arm, and when he shifted his attention he found Dom’s face had shifted into gentle worry.
“I’ll distract them,” Dom quickly told him, “you go send Billy back and stop worrying.”
“Really?”
“That’s an order,” Dom commanded even as Orlando began to slip out the door. The lights dimmed and Dom began to sing at the top of his lungs when birthday candles lit the room atop a sea of white icing.
As Orlando gently closed the door behind him, he offered silent and plentiful thanks to Dom before jumping in the car and driving away, yet again. As he made a right turn, he wondered if leaving parties early to check on Sean was going to become a habit.
He really hoped it wouldn’t.
He drove a little faster.
Dom finished the song with a brilliant conclusion, trilling his notes and spreading his arms out widely to the entire party in such a showboating manner that he had permanently disabled any other showboating with the sheer effort he put into going overboard.
“That was lovely,” Christine applauded him, and Dom took bows for all the room to see.
Soon after the cake had been dished out onto the various plates, Billy made his way in the same door that Orlando had just left out of. Dom beckoned him over with a cheery smile and felt a thrill run through him when Billy came straight into his arms. Dom gave a cheery smirk, aimed mostly at Elijah, and shifted a little.
“So, Orlando’s not coming back, one assumes,” Elijah said.
“One assumes,” Dom nodded.
“So tell us, oh, matchmaker extraordinaire,” Billy drawled, “are they a match to your standards?” They sat on edge while waiting for a response. “I’ve rendered him speechless, I didn’t know I was so good at it,” Billy commented in an amused tone.
“Just with me,” Dom spoke and winked at Billy, sticking his tongue out at Elijah and grinning all the while. Elijah rolled his eyes and lightly punched Billy in the arm while sticking out his tongue at Dom in retaliation.
“Time will tell,” Elijah said cryptically, a wide smile on his face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I found out that Sean’s cousin is a Libra. And that means we’re really compatible. Cheers!”
With that, he wandered off, leaving Billy and Dom to their own devices. Billy nodded towards the door wordlessly and Dom narrowed his eyes a little as though considering the idea.
“Go?” Billy murmured softly into Dom’s ear.
“Yeah,” Dom agreed, feeling his blood pumping a little faster.
tbc
Pairing: Bean/Orlando, Dom/Billy
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Not mine, never happened.
Summary: Orlando's life goes through quite a bit in the course of twelve months.
Notes: So, thanks to
captnobvious and beizy for hand-holding in the early days and to shaenie who completely ripped the first draft of this apart. Many thanks. Couldn't have done it without you. Previous parts can be found here.February 25th
“Are you sure about this?” Orlando hesitated on the stone steps leading up to Sean Astin’s family home. Orlando’s own personal Sean rested close to his side and brushed away at invisible lint on his navy blue dress suit while throwing a look in Orlando’s direction that screamed ‘stop asking me that’ before resuming his great quest to excise the lint. Orlando tapped on Sean’s shoulder to get his attention. “I’m talking 100% confident here…”
“Orlando, ring the bloody bell,” Sean interrupted, seeming tired as he shifted the gift in his hand. Orlando cast worried eyes upon Sean’s slightly bent form again before ringing the doorbell.
‘Don’t be so worried, you git,’ he swore at himself in his mind as footsteps approached the door. They were rewarded with an open door. There to greet them was Christine. She beckoned them inside with a smile, all while accepting the gift in one smooth step. Orlando admired her while they graced the foyer.
“Party started?” Sean inquired politely in light of Orlando’s distraction. Christine gave a minor grimace.
“I hate to say, but it’s in full swing. Although, Billy and Dominic escaped with my husband around twenty minutes ago. He’s been nowhere to be seen since then,” she finished with a shrug. “Come on in and join the fun.”
Orlando and Sean did as they were instructed, entering a relatively quiet party – in terms of being used to their own lavish parties, which were only to be outdone by Ian every single time. Soft jazz filled the room and as Orlando entered to greet Mackenzie, he noted many full glasses of wine. On top of the music, there was the light buzz of chatter.
Sean stumbled a little, which brought Orlando’s attention back toward Sean as quickly as his reflexes would allow.
“Are you okay?” he whispered. Sean blinked rapidly and gave a sardonic laugh.
“Usually, I’m three sheets to the wind when that happens,” he commented. “I’m simply clumsy, Orlando. No cause for worry.” He laughed wholeheartedly and then navigated his way to a seat, motioning to Orlando to join him.
“Boy!” Elijah greeted Sean with a maniacal grin. “And his toy,” he gestured to Orlando – who smirked in ironic amusement and made a mental note to get even with him at some point. Elijah placed two of the wonderful wine glasses down on the table. When Elijah offered Sean one of the intricate glasses, he immediately denied it to Orlando’s discontent.
“Rough stomach,” he winced in explanation. Orlando frowned as Sean shifted in discomfort in the chair. Silence gripped the conversation for a moment before Elijah shifted positions and found words to break it. Orlando felt ever grateful for him; words were the last thing he felt like searching for at the moment.
“All right,” Elijah pouted a tiny bit. “But you don’t need wine to hear the latest piece of gossip.”
“What happened now?” Sean asked, unable to mask the concern and frustration in his voice, which he was fully entitled to. With the hobbits, anything could be happening from public nudity, public drinking, private nudity and so on and so forth.
Elijah beamed. “Billy and Dom got put on alcoholic probation,” he reported with a laugh.
This was indeed something to be enjoyed. Both Orlando and Sean joined in on the laughter, and a piece of Orlando shouted ‘glad it isn’t me!’ in delight.
“By who?” Sean leaned in and demanded.
“Sean,” Elijah grinned as he launched into a dead-on imitation. “‘I will not have you behave like poor examples of the human race in front of my family and friends.’”
Orlando tried to breathe and find air between his laughs to speak. “So where are they? I can’t find Dom anywhere and I wanted to talk to him.”
Elijah looked around and shrugged a little as his eyes roved through the room, threading in and out of small clusters of twos and threes. “Saw him, Billy and Sean wander off a bit ago,” Elijah said. “With mineral waters,” he added with an amused chuckle.
Orlando’s felt his face fall with disappointment. Usually when he needed to talk to him, Dom was easy to find, and this was proving to start a pattern that he didn’t particularly like. He was about to ask how long ago they’d wandered off when Elijah spoke again.
“Wait. There!”
Orlando’s gaze turned to the area Elijah was pointing towards. Orlando murmured a little in surprise (and a tiny hidden note of shock filtered into his gasp) when he saw that they were filing single file out of the cedar built bedroom door. Sean’s eyes widened a little in shock while at the same time, Elijah searched the room for Christine. Billy paused to straighten Dom’s jacket and ruffle his hair a little.
“You saw that, right?” Sean murmured softly as the married Sean straightened his tie and greeted his parents. Billy and Dom made their collective way to the group and sat down, with pleased grins on their faces.
“No alcohol, hmm?” Orlando remarked with a wide delighted grin aimed mostly at Dom. Dom returned Orlando’s look with a sour countenance. He shifted so he could speak to Orlando and – quite subtly – wistfully regarded Orlando’s drink.
“Astin’s law,” he shrugged, while Billy and Sean began quietly conversing. “But I suppose a best friend could help me out.”
“This best friend obeys Astin’s law,” Orlando chided him, not even attempting pity. Sean pulled away from a worried-looking Billy and lightly tugged at Orlando’s shirt. “Yeah?”
“Not feeling so good,” Sean quickly informed him.
“Aren’t you?” Orlando’s felt his face knit into immediate worry. “Give me a second. We’ll go…”
“No,” Sean cut into the anxious speech. “Billy’s already promised to drive me back. You haven’t had nearly enough time to talk to Dom. You stay.” Sean stumbled over a few words, but finished with a kind smile. Orlando caught Elijah watching them as Sean kissed Orlando quickly – more quickly than Orlando would have preferred – before Sean rose to his feet.
“I’ll take proper care,” Billy swore, crossing his heart.
Dom stood up to bid them farewell, hugging Sean with a sympathetic smile before embracing Billy with blatant appreciation and a grin of glee.
“Behave,” Billy ordered.
They separated, as Billy searched through the pockets of his jeans for his keys. Dom stood at full height – all intimidating and proud and menacing five foot seven – and saluted Billy rigidly.
“Yes sir!” he shouted before waving them goodbye.
Once they were out the door, Elijah moved away to chat up some cousin of Sean’s. Orlando checked that Astin himself wasn’t in hearing distance as he leaned into Dom. “So, what happened in Sean’s bedroom before I got here?” Orlando inquired curiously, cocking an eyebrow. Dom grinned mischievously.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he taunted with sing-song delight.
“Yes!” Orlando demanded, hitting himself for thinking he’d get a straight answer out of Dom. Orlando fidgeted as Dom gave him a considering look.
“Secret,” Dom zipped his lips. “But Billy knows! You can ask him.”
Orlando groaned with frustration at having to deal with this on nearly a daily basis. Dom actually bounced up and down on the couch, radiating sober energy. For a moment, it whisked Orlando’s mind away from the polluted thoughts clouding his mind. Orlando made a mental note to bump up the appointment Sean had with the private doctor.
“Worried?” Dom interrupted Orlando’s thoughts.
“Wouldn’t you be?” Orlando gave Dom an inquisitive stare. “If it were Billy?”
“Without a single doubt,” Dom swore as he shifted to get closer to Orlando, allowing them to speak quietly and privately. Orlando sighed.
“His appointment got cancelled,” Orlando explained. “Or so he says. The fact that I’ve been making them really leads me to believe he thinks nothing is wrong.”
“Maybe nothing is,” Dom suggested as he cracked open a bottle of water.
“Maybe,” Orlando conceded after a moment and ran his finger around the rim of his glass. “He was better for a good two weeks though.”
“So maybe he’s stressed? Maybe prone to the cold; immune system is weak from too much work,” Dom ticked off the possibilities on his fingers. “Should I go on?”
“Please don’t,” Orlando pleaded with a thin and barely tolerant smile.
Dom smiled and wrapped one arm around Orlando, letting it dangle lazily as he clinked Orlando’s wine glass – crystal, of course, Sean would have nothing else -- with his water bottle. “Cheers,” Dom announced. “He’s in bloody wonderful hands; I personally know that.”
“Hands, yeah?” Orlando welcomed the change of conversation with open arms, amused by Dom’s vehement nod. “This is a recent development.”
“And I thought his talent with tongues was his best asset!” Dom remarked with surprise. “I was wrong,” he leaned in and conveyed with sheer delight.
“You really owe Elijah,” Orlando mused and shrugged helplessly, understanding very little about how the set-up occurred. If the result was any indication, though, Orlando figured that Elijah was a miracle worker. Maybe he could even heal Sean.
“Oh, he rewards himself. He’s just searching for himself, and then, he pairs the rejects off with each other,” Dom explained.
“When you’re sober, you’re actually quite intelligent,” Orlando shot at him, musing on what Dom had just said.
“Bite your tongue,” Dom teased playfully. “I’m always intellectually stimulating.”
Orlando checked his watch and pressed his lips together, dismayed, as he saw that Christine had only begun to prepare cups of coffee and plates for cake. A hand rested on Orlando’s arm, and when he shifted his attention he found Dom’s face had shifted into gentle worry.
“I’ll distract them,” Dom quickly told him, “you go send Billy back and stop worrying.”
“Really?”
“That’s an order,” Dom commanded even as Orlando began to slip out the door. The lights dimmed and Dom began to sing at the top of his lungs when birthday candles lit the room atop a sea of white icing.
As Orlando gently closed the door behind him, he offered silent and plentiful thanks to Dom before jumping in the car and driving away, yet again. As he made a right turn, he wondered if leaving parties early to check on Sean was going to become a habit.
He really hoped it wouldn’t.
He drove a little faster.
Dom finished the song with a brilliant conclusion, trilling his notes and spreading his arms out widely to the entire party in such a showboating manner that he had permanently disabled any other showboating with the sheer effort he put into going overboard.
“That was lovely,” Christine applauded him, and Dom took bows for all the room to see.
Soon after the cake had been dished out onto the various plates, Billy made his way in the same door that Orlando had just left out of. Dom beckoned him over with a cheery smile and felt a thrill run through him when Billy came straight into his arms. Dom gave a cheery smirk, aimed mostly at Elijah, and shifted a little.
“So, Orlando’s not coming back, one assumes,” Elijah said.
“One assumes,” Dom nodded.
“So tell us, oh, matchmaker extraordinaire,” Billy drawled, “are they a match to your standards?” They sat on edge while waiting for a response. “I’ve rendered him speechless, I didn’t know I was so good at it,” Billy commented in an amused tone.
“Just with me,” Dom spoke and winked at Billy, sticking his tongue out at Elijah and grinning all the while. Elijah rolled his eyes and lightly punched Billy in the arm while sticking out his tongue at Dom in retaliation.
“Time will tell,” Elijah said cryptically, a wide smile on his face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I found out that Sean’s cousin is a Libra. And that means we’re really compatible. Cheers!”
With that, he wandered off, leaving Billy and Dom to their own devices. Billy nodded towards the door wordlessly and Dom narrowed his eyes a little as though considering the idea.
“Go?” Billy murmured softly into Dom’s ear.
“Yeah,” Dom agreed, feeling his blood pumping a little faster.
tbc