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fellowshippers2006-03-21 10:20 am
valiantfan.livejournal.com) wrote in fellowshippers2006-03-21 10:20 am
Games and Lies - Chapter Seven
Well, It's been a while, but here's Chapter Seven. Many thanks to my beta ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladysunrope, who always has such great suggestions. Any mistakes are my own, since I can't stop tinkering!
Previous chapters are here."Games and Lies"
Title: - Games and Lies
Chapter: - Seven
Author: - Valiantfan
Pairing: - Elijah/Orli, (Dom/Elijah)
Rating: - NC17
Warnings: - None.
Disclaimer: - Total fiction
Summary: - A first time/filming story with misconceptions/misunderstandings.
Elijah failed miserably in getting Dominic alone for the rest of that morning, and this inability to clear things up, coming on top of his experience with the three men, made him nervous and jittery.
‘Why did I say nothing happened?’ he kept asking himself. ‘Why did I lie? It was so stupid!’
When lunch break was called he tried to edge Dom off on his own, but Billy cornered them both.
“Are yeh alright, Lij?” he asked. “Viggo told us all about it. Yeh shouldn’t let those bastards get away with it, yeh know. Sean and me are going to find out who they are and then…”
“No, Billy, please! I don’t want any fuss. Viggo had no right to tell you.”
“But surely they should be reported or…?”
“No!”
“Well, ah think you’re wrong, but… anyway, we want their names. We want to talk to them, Sean and me. Maybe they’re the ones who’ve been spreading the gossip and…”
“Billy!” said Dom. “What on earth are you on about?”
Billy raised his eyebrows at Elijah. “Yeh didn’t tell him?”
“No, but I was just about…”
“Lijah got attacked, further up the park, by three men.”
“What the fuck! Elijah?”
“Fortunately for him, Viggo came by,” continued Billy. “ They had him pinned to a tree and one of them had him…”he gestured vaguely to his crotch area, “undone, and was about to…”
“Thank you, Billy!” snapped Elijah “I don’t want to think about it! I was… I was… I was fucking scared, if you must know, and…”
“Oh Elijah! Fuck’s sake, mate,” said Dom, pulling him close and hugging him tightly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Sorry!” whispered Elijah, relaxing into the comfort of Dom’s arms. “Sorry. I meant to. I was following you. I was! I really did mean…”
“It’s ok. It’s ok,” murmured Dom his hands rubbing up and down Elijah’s back before finally releasing him. “You should know I’m always on your side.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Right, then,” said Billy. “I’ll leave you two to finish the kiss-and-make-up! Sean and I have business to attend to.”
“Come on, Lij, let’s get you to makeup and get you tidied up.”
“Yeah, Dom. Thanks, man.”
“Looks as if those bastards might have bruised your face, too.” Dom lifted Elijah’s chin and turned him towards the sun, examining carefully.
“Oh! Right!” Elijah felt himself shivering at the gentle touch. Shit, what was happening to him? Hadn’t he just had enough trouble with Orli? He was in danger of losing it completely. He shrugged off Dom’s hand. “I’m fine by myself now, Dom. See you later.”
He turned away before he could see the hurt in Dom’s eyes, but not quick enough to miss the cold, “Suit yourself!” as they parted.
*********
The rest of the week seemed to pass by without Elijah noticing much at all. He did what was expected of him during the shoot and then went straight back to his house at the end of the day. He was friendly with Dom, but avoided touching him, and he tried to keep as far from Orli as possible.
When Sean and Billy told him they had the name of the man who had been spreading the nasty gossip about him, it hardly registered.
“But don’t you know him, Lijah?” asked Billy. “Michael Marshall. It must mean something. He’s an American, like you. From LA.”
“No, nothing, Billy. I’ve never heard the name. Anyway, how do you know those men were telling the truth?”
“Och, they were wriggling, it’s true, but they said that Marshall knew all sorts of details about you, things they probably wouldn’t have known themselves.”
“And maybe they were scared they’d lose their jobs. Like this Marshall. Apparently he lost his job in LA because of you, though they didn’t know why.”
“Lost his job? Because of me?”
“So he said,” nodded Sean. “He works in security. Have any security men pissed you off?”
“No!” Elijah shook his head. “And anyway, I wouldn’t want anyone to lose their job because of me.”
“Weel, those three from this morning…” Billy stopped as Sean glared at him.
“What are you saying? I told Viggo that I didn’t want any action taken against those guys.”
“Well,” Sean looked a little embarrassed. “That’s what we told them, too. That’s why they talked to us, I suppose.”
“But Viggo had other ideas. As soon as we’d got our name out of them, he went and told Peter all about it.”
“Oh no! I didn’t want anyone else…”
“Peter’s sworn to silence, of course,” said Sean soothingly.
“So he won’t tell Fran?”
“Well, hmm…” Sean was not sure how to answer. He couldn’t keep secrets from his own wife, but was not prepared to answer for Peter Jackson.
“Where is Viggo?” demanded Elijah.
“Gone to send some e-mails back home, he said. But anyway, it’s too late now, Elijah. They’ve gone, and good riddance, too. Be honest, would yeh have felt happy seeing then every day, eh? And working with them?”
Elijah shook his head. “I s’pose not, but…”
“So, let’s concentrate on this Marshall. Sean and I have gone to some trouble to track .him down, you know?”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks, guys. But if I don’t know the name, and he’s off checking over the security in…?”
“In Nelson, I think.”
“Yeah, whatever. Nothing much I can do, then, is there?”
Sean and Billy had to agree this was true, and they left him alone. However, they wouldn’t let go of the matter and kept trying to jog his memory on the mysterious Michael Marshall. By Friday afternoon he was exhausted and longing for a couple of days rest, and some time on his own.
“See you later,” waved Sean as he climbed into his car. “Come round about eight, will ya? I promised Ali she could see you before she went to bed.”
“Oh, sure man.” Elijah looked as confused as he felt.
“You haven’t forgotten the party, have you?”
“Oh, no! See you at eight!” He got into the car and sunk his head on the wheel. A party! He had completely forgotten, and now, instead of a rest, he would have to mix with people, be friendly and sociable.
He drove home and got himself showered and changed, then phoned for a cab so he didn’t have to drive. ‘I could do with a drink,’ he thought, ‘and maybe if I get drunk it’ll make it easier.’
And certainly it helped. After a few drinks he could talk amiably enough to everyone, play with little Ali until she was whisked off to bed, manage to keep all the turmoil of the last week tucked up inside his mind. But it was tiring, and after an hour or so he slipped inside the house and sunk onto a comfortable, soft couch, his head resting thankfully back.
“I just need a minute,” he thought, and started to drift away into sleep.
“Well, here he is, our blue-eyed boy.” Orlando wandered in unsteadily, waving a glass in Elijah’s direction. “And all on his own, too. How weird is that?”
Elijah opened his eyes briefly. “I’m just tired, Orlando.”
“Ooh! Orlaaando!” Orli tried, unsuccessfully, to mimic Elijah’s drawl. “How formal! Have we only just met? Hey, kid, you can call me Orli. Most of my friends do.”
It was clear that Orli was very much the worse for drink and Elijah knew he should ignore him. Unfortunately, he had drunk quite a bit himself.
“Am I a friend of yours, Orli? Is that what I am?”
“Sure, man! One of many, I’m sure. Many, many, many, many…” He stumbled across the room in what was supposed to be a dance, singing the one word over and over.
“Fuck off, Orli!” muttered Elijah, and tried to close his eyes again.
Orli came to a halt opposite Elijah, a coffee table between them.
“That what you said to those three guys on the set? Mmm?” He leaned forward and placed his glass carefully on the table. “Or was it something else entirely? Maybe you were having fun? Maybe you just panicked ‘cos Viggo saw you, eh?”
“What? You have no right…!”
“Viggo said he thought you were enjoying the – what did he call it?” Orli paused and rubbed his head. “Yeah – attention- that was it. You were enjoying the attention until you saw him coming.”
“He said that? He didn’t! You’re just …”
“You know, Lija,” Orlando cut in harshly, “I keep hearing that all the… the stuff about you is just nasty gossip, but, you know, it doesn’t fit. You came on all strong to me, didn’t you? Man, you started grabbing me in the taxi, for fuck’s sake!”
“I did not!” Elijah found himself blushing at the memory of how Orli had slapped away the tentative hand on his leg.
“Then you started acting like a bleeding rent-boy, didn’t you?”
“I thought that was what you wanted!” wailed Elijah. “ I got it wrong, OK?”
Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed the party outside was breaking-up. “Shut up, now, Orli! People are coming in.”
Orlando took no notice. He was in full flow and seemed oblivious to anything around him. “And, surprise, surprise, you turn out to have a talent for blow-jobs and…”
“Shut up, Orli! Shut up!” Elijah was growing frantic. Orlando’s voice was getting louder by the second and heads were turning, attracted by the altercation.
“Leave him alone, Orli!” Elijah turned gratefully at the sound of Dom’s unmistakable accent. “You’re making a fool of yourself!”
“Oh, like you, you mean?” Orlando turned his attention briefly to Dominic. “You’ve been sniffing around little innocent since Day One and he doesn’t even notice you!”
“Fucking shit! You…” Dom’s face turned white and then flushed red.
“And then…” Orli came back to Elijah. “And then you expect me to believe that you’re the sweet, little virgin!”
Elijah jumped to his feet “You know that was true! Orli, you… you must know that!”
“I know that you’re a good…a very good actor.”
“What! You bastard!” Elijah gasped. He picked up the glass from the table and flung it over Orli. Unfortunately it was red wine and Orlando was wearing a beautiful white silk shirt.
Watching the red stain trickle down Orli’s chest, Elijah was aware that the room was suddenly full of people and was dreadfully embarrassed.
“Oh god, sorry! Sorry, Orli!”
“Don’t apologise, Lij!” growled Dom. “He deserved it.”
Orlando blinked the drops of wine from his eyes and stared down at his shirt. It took a moment for his drunken brain to register what had happened. Then he snapped out “You little bugger!”, drew back his fist, and punched Elijah full in the face.
Elijah tumbled back onto the couch with blood streaming from his nose. “Oh!” he spluttered. “You hit me! Fuck! You hit me!”
The shocked silence became a babble of horrifed voices. Elijah seemed to hear them vaguely in the distance through a haze of pain and misery.
He heard Dom aim a string of curses at Orlando before he sat down beside Elijah and pulled him into a protective embrace.
On the other side of the room Peter was saying, “…but what if his nose is broken?”
Sean and Christine were telling Orlando to leave, while Viggo had appeared at Orli’s shoulder and was murmuring, “Come on Orli. I’ll get you home.”
Orlando stared at Elijah, then at his fist, which was still clenched, then at his shirt, and then back to Elijah. “Wow!” he said. “I’m really sorry, man! I didn’t mean it, I didn’t!”
It wasn’t clear to Elijah what it was that Orli didn’t mean, and for the moment he didn’t care. He hid his face in Dom’s shoulder, oblivious of the damage to his friend’s t-shirt, and wished he could disappear completely.
Viggo wrapped an arm around Orlando and dragged him away. He could be heard muttering confused apologies all the way to the door, while Viggo murmured soothingly “It’ll be ok,” and “We’ll fix it later”.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, Elijah,” said Christine briskly, trying to calm the situation and resurrect what she could of the evening. “I’m sure there’s no real harm.”
Dom let go of Elijah reluctantly, and even then he followed behind saying, “Can I help? Is he all right?” until the bathroom door was closed firmly in his face.
Christine took her time tending to Elijah, aware that the young man’s upset was out of all proportion to the size of the injury. She then left him to recover while she went to reassure the other guests that no permanent damage was done.
By the time Elijah emerged, most of the guests were gone. Sean was serving coffee to the other hobbits and as soon as he saw his friend he put a mug in his hand and sat him down.
Dom leaned forward and patted his arm. “Are you ok?” he asked
Elijah nodded and sank back, his fingers clutched around the hot drink. “Yeah, thanks, I’m fine now. Sean, I’m sorry I spoilt your party. I didn’t mean to…”
“Don’t be stupid! You didn’t spoil anything. Now, just relax, eh?”
The others then continued to talk quietly about this and that, laughed at jokes, told stories, all without making one reference to what had happened. Occasionally, Dom stroked Elijah’s hand or gently squeezed his arm, drawing him into the conversation without making it necessary for him to speak at all. Elijah felt himself embraced in the warmth of companionship and affection and was soon drifting into sleep.
A knocking at the door jerked him awake.
“Who on earth…? muttered Sean, and went to find out.
“Better, doodle?” grinned Dom. Elijah realized he was holding Dom’s hand and wandered how long he’d been doing that.
“Much better, “ he answered. “What’s happening?”
He could Sean’s saying “Not now!” to someone, and then Viggo’s voice – Viggo’s voice? – “He’s still here? It’s important, dammit!”
Then Viggo walked into the room pulling a bedraggled Orli behind him. His hair was wet and he looked sick and thoroughly miserable.
“He’s sober, now,” Viggo announced, “which took a lot of cold water and hot coffee, and he’s here to apologise.”
“I hope the hot coffee went over his head,” growled Dom, which made Billy laugh and earned then both a glare from Viggo.
“Orlando!” Viggo gave him a shake and pushing him forward in front of Elijah.
“Elijah…” It came out as a squeak and Billy laughed again. Orlando cleared his throat. “Elijah, I’m sorry, man, I really am. I’m sorry I hit you and I’m sorry I said… what I said and…”
“It’s ok!” muttered Elijah quickly.
“Look at him when you say it!” shouted Viggo.
“It’s fine!” said Elijah, and then blushed as Dom glared at him. “I mean… there’s no need…”
“There’s every need.” answered Viggo.
Orlando swallowed and looked straight at Elijah. “I’m very sorry Elijah. Did I… did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to, man.”
“When you hit me?” asked Elijah, “or when you said… what you did… about… well, you know?”
“Both, man. I was stupid.”
“Well,” Elijah pretended to consider, “ that’s ok, then.”
“You er… you forgive me?” Orli looked worried. “I’ve been such a shit, I know. I was confused with what I wanted and… what I expected… and it all got mixed up with other things that happened to me… last year… and I blamed you, sort of, and…”
“I forgive you, Orli,” sighed Elijah.
“You do? That’s great, that’s… yeah!” Orlando fell into a chair and breathed deeply. “Any of that coffee going, Sean?”
“I don’t believe any of this!” shrugged Sean. “You, too, Vig?”
“No, not now. I have something more important.” Viggo pulled a paper from his pocket. “I asked a friend in LA about this Michael Marshall guy. My friend knows just about everyone in the film world and he came up with this” He handed the paper to Elijah. “He e-mailed me a picture of Michael Marshall.”
Elijah unfolded at the picture and stared at it, his eyes growing wider with every second.
“Oh no!” he gasped “Not him! He can’t have been here! He can’t have been anywhere near me!” For a minute he could hardly breathe as the buried memories flooded into him. He remembered his arms pulled up painfully above his head. He remembered the darkness, the cold fear.
It wasn’t until he felt Dom pushing tissues into his hand that he realised there were tears streaming down his face.
ladysunrope, who always has such great suggestions. Any mistakes are my own, since I can't stop tinkering!Previous chapters are here."Games and Lies"
Title: - Games and Lies
Chapter: - Seven
Author: - Valiantfan
Pairing: - Elijah/Orli, (Dom/Elijah)
Rating: - NC17
Warnings: - None.
Disclaimer: - Total fiction
Summary: - A first time/filming story with misconceptions/misunderstandings.
Elijah failed miserably in getting Dominic alone for the rest of that morning, and this inability to clear things up, coming on top of his experience with the three men, made him nervous and jittery.
‘Why did I say nothing happened?’ he kept asking himself. ‘Why did I lie? It was so stupid!’
When lunch break was called he tried to edge Dom off on his own, but Billy cornered them both.
“Are yeh alright, Lij?” he asked. “Viggo told us all about it. Yeh shouldn’t let those bastards get away with it, yeh know. Sean and me are going to find out who they are and then…”
“No, Billy, please! I don’t want any fuss. Viggo had no right to tell you.”
“But surely they should be reported or…?”
“No!”
“Well, ah think you’re wrong, but… anyway, we want their names. We want to talk to them, Sean and me. Maybe they’re the ones who’ve been spreading the gossip and…”
“Billy!” said Dom. “What on earth are you on about?”
Billy raised his eyebrows at Elijah. “Yeh didn’t tell him?”
“No, but I was just about…”
“Lijah got attacked, further up the park, by three men.”
“What the fuck! Elijah?”
“Fortunately for him, Viggo came by,” continued Billy. “ They had him pinned to a tree and one of them had him…”he gestured vaguely to his crotch area, “undone, and was about to…”
“Thank you, Billy!” snapped Elijah “I don’t want to think about it! I was… I was… I was fucking scared, if you must know, and…”
“Oh Elijah! Fuck’s sake, mate,” said Dom, pulling him close and hugging him tightly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Sorry!” whispered Elijah, relaxing into the comfort of Dom’s arms. “Sorry. I meant to. I was following you. I was! I really did mean…”
“It’s ok. It’s ok,” murmured Dom his hands rubbing up and down Elijah’s back before finally releasing him. “You should know I’m always on your side.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Right, then,” said Billy. “I’ll leave you two to finish the kiss-and-make-up! Sean and I have business to attend to.”
“Come on, Lij, let’s get you to makeup and get you tidied up.”
“Yeah, Dom. Thanks, man.”
“Looks as if those bastards might have bruised your face, too.” Dom lifted Elijah’s chin and turned him towards the sun, examining carefully.
“Oh! Right!” Elijah felt himself shivering at the gentle touch. Shit, what was happening to him? Hadn’t he just had enough trouble with Orli? He was in danger of losing it completely. He shrugged off Dom’s hand. “I’m fine by myself now, Dom. See you later.”
He turned away before he could see the hurt in Dom’s eyes, but not quick enough to miss the cold, “Suit yourself!” as they parted.
*********
The rest of the week seemed to pass by without Elijah noticing much at all. He did what was expected of him during the shoot and then went straight back to his house at the end of the day. He was friendly with Dom, but avoided touching him, and he tried to keep as far from Orli as possible.
When Sean and Billy told him they had the name of the man who had been spreading the nasty gossip about him, it hardly registered.
“But don’t you know him, Lijah?” asked Billy. “Michael Marshall. It must mean something. He’s an American, like you. From LA.”
“No, nothing, Billy. I’ve never heard the name. Anyway, how do you know those men were telling the truth?”
“Och, they were wriggling, it’s true, but they said that Marshall knew all sorts of details about you, things they probably wouldn’t have known themselves.”
“And maybe they were scared they’d lose their jobs. Like this Marshall. Apparently he lost his job in LA because of you, though they didn’t know why.”
“Lost his job? Because of me?”
“So he said,” nodded Sean. “He works in security. Have any security men pissed you off?”
“No!” Elijah shook his head. “And anyway, I wouldn’t want anyone to lose their job because of me.”
“Weel, those three from this morning…” Billy stopped as Sean glared at him.
“What are you saying? I told Viggo that I didn’t want any action taken against those guys.”
“Well,” Sean looked a little embarrassed. “That’s what we told them, too. That’s why they talked to us, I suppose.”
“But Viggo had other ideas. As soon as we’d got our name out of them, he went and told Peter all about it.”
“Oh no! I didn’t want anyone else…”
“Peter’s sworn to silence, of course,” said Sean soothingly.
“So he won’t tell Fran?”
“Well, hmm…” Sean was not sure how to answer. He couldn’t keep secrets from his own wife, but was not prepared to answer for Peter Jackson.
“Where is Viggo?” demanded Elijah.
“Gone to send some e-mails back home, he said. But anyway, it’s too late now, Elijah. They’ve gone, and good riddance, too. Be honest, would yeh have felt happy seeing then every day, eh? And working with them?”
Elijah shook his head. “I s’pose not, but…”
“So, let’s concentrate on this Marshall. Sean and I have gone to some trouble to track .him down, you know?”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks, guys. But if I don’t know the name, and he’s off checking over the security in…?”
“In Nelson, I think.”
“Yeah, whatever. Nothing much I can do, then, is there?”
Sean and Billy had to agree this was true, and they left him alone. However, they wouldn’t let go of the matter and kept trying to jog his memory on the mysterious Michael Marshall. By Friday afternoon he was exhausted and longing for a couple of days rest, and some time on his own.
“See you later,” waved Sean as he climbed into his car. “Come round about eight, will ya? I promised Ali she could see you before she went to bed.”
“Oh, sure man.” Elijah looked as confused as he felt.
“You haven’t forgotten the party, have you?”
“Oh, no! See you at eight!” He got into the car and sunk his head on the wheel. A party! He had completely forgotten, and now, instead of a rest, he would have to mix with people, be friendly and sociable.
He drove home and got himself showered and changed, then phoned for a cab so he didn’t have to drive. ‘I could do with a drink,’ he thought, ‘and maybe if I get drunk it’ll make it easier.’
And certainly it helped. After a few drinks he could talk amiably enough to everyone, play with little Ali until she was whisked off to bed, manage to keep all the turmoil of the last week tucked up inside his mind. But it was tiring, and after an hour or so he slipped inside the house and sunk onto a comfortable, soft couch, his head resting thankfully back.
“I just need a minute,” he thought, and started to drift away into sleep.
“Well, here he is, our blue-eyed boy.” Orlando wandered in unsteadily, waving a glass in Elijah’s direction. “And all on his own, too. How weird is that?”
Elijah opened his eyes briefly. “I’m just tired, Orlando.”
“Ooh! Orlaaando!” Orli tried, unsuccessfully, to mimic Elijah’s drawl. “How formal! Have we only just met? Hey, kid, you can call me Orli. Most of my friends do.”
It was clear that Orli was very much the worse for drink and Elijah knew he should ignore him. Unfortunately, he had drunk quite a bit himself.
“Am I a friend of yours, Orli? Is that what I am?”
“Sure, man! One of many, I’m sure. Many, many, many, many…” He stumbled across the room in what was supposed to be a dance, singing the one word over and over.
“Fuck off, Orli!” muttered Elijah, and tried to close his eyes again.
Orli came to a halt opposite Elijah, a coffee table between them.
“That what you said to those three guys on the set? Mmm?” He leaned forward and placed his glass carefully on the table. “Or was it something else entirely? Maybe you were having fun? Maybe you just panicked ‘cos Viggo saw you, eh?”
“What? You have no right…!”
“Viggo said he thought you were enjoying the – what did he call it?” Orli paused and rubbed his head. “Yeah – attention- that was it. You were enjoying the attention until you saw him coming.”
“He said that? He didn’t! You’re just …”
“You know, Lija,” Orlando cut in harshly, “I keep hearing that all the… the stuff about you is just nasty gossip, but, you know, it doesn’t fit. You came on all strong to me, didn’t you? Man, you started grabbing me in the taxi, for fuck’s sake!”
“I did not!” Elijah found himself blushing at the memory of how Orli had slapped away the tentative hand on his leg.
“Then you started acting like a bleeding rent-boy, didn’t you?”
“I thought that was what you wanted!” wailed Elijah. “ I got it wrong, OK?”
Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed the party outside was breaking-up. “Shut up, now, Orli! People are coming in.”
Orlando took no notice. He was in full flow and seemed oblivious to anything around him. “And, surprise, surprise, you turn out to have a talent for blow-jobs and…”
“Shut up, Orli! Shut up!” Elijah was growing frantic. Orlando’s voice was getting louder by the second and heads were turning, attracted by the altercation.
“Leave him alone, Orli!” Elijah turned gratefully at the sound of Dom’s unmistakable accent. “You’re making a fool of yourself!”
“Oh, like you, you mean?” Orlando turned his attention briefly to Dominic. “You’ve been sniffing around little innocent since Day One and he doesn’t even notice you!”
“Fucking shit! You…” Dom’s face turned white and then flushed red.
“And then…” Orli came back to Elijah. “And then you expect me to believe that you’re the sweet, little virgin!”
Elijah jumped to his feet “You know that was true! Orli, you… you must know that!”
“I know that you’re a good…a very good actor.”
“What! You bastard!” Elijah gasped. He picked up the glass from the table and flung it over Orli. Unfortunately it was red wine and Orlando was wearing a beautiful white silk shirt.
Watching the red stain trickle down Orli’s chest, Elijah was aware that the room was suddenly full of people and was dreadfully embarrassed.
“Oh god, sorry! Sorry, Orli!”
“Don’t apologise, Lij!” growled Dom. “He deserved it.”
Orlando blinked the drops of wine from his eyes and stared down at his shirt. It took a moment for his drunken brain to register what had happened. Then he snapped out “You little bugger!”, drew back his fist, and punched Elijah full in the face.
Elijah tumbled back onto the couch with blood streaming from his nose. “Oh!” he spluttered. “You hit me! Fuck! You hit me!”
The shocked silence became a babble of horrifed voices. Elijah seemed to hear them vaguely in the distance through a haze of pain and misery.
He heard Dom aim a string of curses at Orlando before he sat down beside Elijah and pulled him into a protective embrace.
On the other side of the room Peter was saying, “…but what if his nose is broken?”
Sean and Christine were telling Orlando to leave, while Viggo had appeared at Orli’s shoulder and was murmuring, “Come on Orli. I’ll get you home.”
Orlando stared at Elijah, then at his fist, which was still clenched, then at his shirt, and then back to Elijah. “Wow!” he said. “I’m really sorry, man! I didn’t mean it, I didn’t!”
It wasn’t clear to Elijah what it was that Orli didn’t mean, and for the moment he didn’t care. He hid his face in Dom’s shoulder, oblivious of the damage to his friend’s t-shirt, and wished he could disappear completely.
Viggo wrapped an arm around Orlando and dragged him away. He could be heard muttering confused apologies all the way to the door, while Viggo murmured soothingly “It’ll be ok,” and “We’ll fix it later”.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, Elijah,” said Christine briskly, trying to calm the situation and resurrect what she could of the evening. “I’m sure there’s no real harm.”
Dom let go of Elijah reluctantly, and even then he followed behind saying, “Can I help? Is he all right?” until the bathroom door was closed firmly in his face.
Christine took her time tending to Elijah, aware that the young man’s upset was out of all proportion to the size of the injury. She then left him to recover while she went to reassure the other guests that no permanent damage was done.
By the time Elijah emerged, most of the guests were gone. Sean was serving coffee to the other hobbits and as soon as he saw his friend he put a mug in his hand and sat him down.
Dom leaned forward and patted his arm. “Are you ok?” he asked
Elijah nodded and sank back, his fingers clutched around the hot drink. “Yeah, thanks, I’m fine now. Sean, I’m sorry I spoilt your party. I didn’t mean to…”
“Don’t be stupid! You didn’t spoil anything. Now, just relax, eh?”
The others then continued to talk quietly about this and that, laughed at jokes, told stories, all without making one reference to what had happened. Occasionally, Dom stroked Elijah’s hand or gently squeezed his arm, drawing him into the conversation without making it necessary for him to speak at all. Elijah felt himself embraced in the warmth of companionship and affection and was soon drifting into sleep.
A knocking at the door jerked him awake.
“Who on earth…? muttered Sean, and went to find out.
“Better, doodle?” grinned Dom. Elijah realized he was holding Dom’s hand and wandered how long he’d been doing that.
“Much better, “ he answered. “What’s happening?”
He could Sean’s saying “Not now!” to someone, and then Viggo’s voice – Viggo’s voice? – “He’s still here? It’s important, dammit!”
Then Viggo walked into the room pulling a bedraggled Orli behind him. His hair was wet and he looked sick and thoroughly miserable.
“He’s sober, now,” Viggo announced, “which took a lot of cold water and hot coffee, and he’s here to apologise.”
“I hope the hot coffee went over his head,” growled Dom, which made Billy laugh and earned then both a glare from Viggo.
“Orlando!” Viggo gave him a shake and pushing him forward in front of Elijah.
“Elijah…” It came out as a squeak and Billy laughed again. Orlando cleared his throat. “Elijah, I’m sorry, man, I really am. I’m sorry I hit you and I’m sorry I said… what I said and…”
“It’s ok!” muttered Elijah quickly.
“Look at him when you say it!” shouted Viggo.
“It’s fine!” said Elijah, and then blushed as Dom glared at him. “I mean… there’s no need…”
“There’s every need.” answered Viggo.
Orlando swallowed and looked straight at Elijah. “I’m very sorry Elijah. Did I… did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to, man.”
“When you hit me?” asked Elijah, “or when you said… what you did… about… well, you know?”
“Both, man. I was stupid.”
“Well,” Elijah pretended to consider, “ that’s ok, then.”
“You er… you forgive me?” Orli looked worried. “I’ve been such a shit, I know. I was confused with what I wanted and… what I expected… and it all got mixed up with other things that happened to me… last year… and I blamed you, sort of, and…”
“I forgive you, Orli,” sighed Elijah.
“You do? That’s great, that’s… yeah!” Orlando fell into a chair and breathed deeply. “Any of that coffee going, Sean?”
“I don’t believe any of this!” shrugged Sean. “You, too, Vig?”
“No, not now. I have something more important.” Viggo pulled a paper from his pocket. “I asked a friend in LA about this Michael Marshall guy. My friend knows just about everyone in the film world and he came up with this” He handed the paper to Elijah. “He e-mailed me a picture of Michael Marshall.”
Elijah unfolded at the picture and stared at it, his eyes growing wider with every second.
“Oh no!” he gasped “Not him! He can’t have been here! He can’t have been anywhere near me!” For a minute he could hardly breathe as the buried memories flooded into him. He remembered his arms pulled up painfully above his head. He remembered the darkness, the cold fear.
It wasn’t until he felt Dom pushing tissues into his hand that he realised there were tears streaming down his face.
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Thank you for reading, and yes, I like Dom too!
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I have to admit that I am quite over Orli for being a shithead. And i so love tender, caring Dom and i really want Elijah to get with him cuz I am such a DomLijah whore and you've written him so very well.
And ELijah... oh the angst! What the hell has happened to him. I need to know and there are no more chapters. Yikes!
Excellent tension building and wonderful dialogue. Lookign forward to mroe of this. :D
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Thank you for reading, I'm glad you liked it!