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fellowshippers2006-06-10 11:17 pm
arabia764.livejournal.com) wrote in fellowshippers2006-06-10 11:17 pm
Fic: Us Against The World -- Damaged story 5 Elijah/Orli N17 3/10
Title: Us Against The World – Damaged story 5
Chapter: Three
Author: Arabia
Pairing: Elijah/Orli
Rating N17
Disclaimer: Total fiction
Feedback: Is always very much appreciated.
This is NOT a WIP – it is all finished and will be posted once a week.
The first four stories can be found in my memories.
Thank you to my darling otp![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
grievous_angel for the wonderful beta and all the support, and to annwyn55 for making the beautiful icon that goes with the fic.
This story is for Pum. She knows why and it is perfect.
Us Against The World
Chapter Three
The pub on a Friday night after a hard week at work: it was almost a tradition, a ritual. A couple of drinks to unwind then grab a kebab on the way home before putting your feet up in front of the telly and inevitably falling asleep when Newsnight came on.
Orli sat at the small table in the corner of the local, tatty pub that had become ‘their’ table. It had a scratched, stained top and ripped chair backs but it was far enough away from the dartboard, pool table and the route to the toilets to make it perfect. He tapped a beer mat in time with his bouncing foot and glanced at the clock. He was bored and Elijah was late. All right so he probably wasn’t late, it was just that Orli had dashed out of work dead on the stroke of the clock. The trouble was, if he wasn’t careful, he would have had his ‘couple of drinks’ before Elijah even got there.
He looked at the clock again and contemplated getting another pint just as a cold hand was shoved unceremoniously down his open shirt collar from behind and a gruff stage whisper croaked in his ear. “Hello gorgeous, come here often.”
He grabbed the hand, pulling it so he could kiss its owners face with a big wet plop and only then registering his mistake. Rose squealed, rubbing her cheek as Orli looked up and saw a grinning Elijah over her ear. “Don’t do that to me,” he said to Rose, his eyes on Elijah. “People might think I’ve turned straight.”
“The women of the world gave up on that possibility a long time ago,” Rose said as she flumped down into a chair. “We’ll survive.”
Elijah slid into the chair next to Orli, their fingers snaking together on Orli’s thigh. Elijah pushed into Orli for a moment; everything he needed to say in that one gesture. “Where’d you find her anyway?” Orli asked, nodding at Rose. “She told me she had to get home.”
“Elijah persuaded me to change my mind,” Rose stated.
“She was half way in the pub door,” Elijah laughed. “All I did was ask if she fancied a drink.”
“I’m easily persuaded,” Rose grinned back at him.
“And your babies?” Orli asked.
Rose undid her coat, settling in. “If Stuart wants me to work part time he can collect the girls from his mum’s himself. I reckon I’m entitled to part time drinking hours as well.”
“That’s my girl,” Elijah said. “Who’s round is it?”
A few hours later and Rose was still there, still on her part time drinking hours, and still ignoring Stuart’s texts asking how to cook dinner for their daughters. It had turned into a good evening as they laughed about nothing, poked fun at people they knew and ruthlessly took the piss out of each other. Other, darker, events from earlier in the day were put to one side whilst Elijah enjoyed himself.
Orli sat back and contemplated, whilst Elijah and Rose argued heatedly about the Man United v Liverpool match the following day. Neither knew the first thing about football but that didn’t matter. The fun was in the fight, as two animated faces testified.
This was the sort of evening out that Elijah really enjoyed. Forget the fancy food and posh clothes of Orli’s parents’ anniversary party. Elijah like it simple with just a couple of trusted friends in a place he felt comfortable. Their pub was so un-trendy that hardly anyone under the age of fifty came in there and the crowd were all regulars who had gotten used to Elijah. Although there were still thrown glances and some down right open-mouthed stares, Elijah felt comfortable enough to let his guard down. He even danced back from the bar, sashaying his hips as he undulated between the tables with his hands full of drinks, packets of peanuts caught between his teeth.
Orli was gratified to see that he hadn’t let today’s post bother him. He blew out a breath, determined to do the same.
Another hour later and they poured Rose into a cab. Elijah reached for Orli’s hand, holding it tight as they started to walk home via the kebab shop. Back indoors they had missed Newsnight, settling instead for a blood and gore film whilst they ate their food off their laps, straight from the paper.
A large kebab had just been greedy. Elijah wrapped the leftovers back up in the paper, dropped it on the floor, licked his greasy fingers, lifted the rest of Orli’s food up onto the arm of the sofa and lay down on his back with his head in Orli’s lap, his feet over the other arm of the sofa. “All right?” he let the question float up.
“Yeah,” Orli gave up, putting his paper down on top of Elijah’s. His eyes really were too big for his belly. “You?”
Elijah thought about it. “Yeah. Although I wish I’d taken a leak before I got comfy, I’m not getting up now.”
Orli laughed softly, he knew just how Elijah felt. “Sure you’re not bothered about this morning?”
Elijah thought again. “You know, I’m really not. I’ve hardly thought about the photos all day. The only thing that bothers me is how you feel about them. So, after a day’s worth of brooding, how you doing?”
“I do not brood,” Orli said with absolutely no heat in his voice as his hand carded through Elijah’s hair.
“You do so,” Elijah smiled, but it really didn’t matter. “It’s one of the things I like about you.”
“Idiot,” Orli carried on stroking.
“Come on then, how you doing?” Elijah asked again.
It was Orli’s turn to stop and think. His hand faltered for a moment, the fingers rubbing a few thick strands between their tips, and then he was moving again, running deep in Elijah’s hair. “I… I don’t know. Am I upset by the pictures?” he shrugged. “ Not really, I’ve had a long time to come to terms with your past, it’s more that…” He stopped, thinking again. “It’s more I hate to see you being hurt like that.”
“I wasn’t being hurt,” Elijah said softly. “Whatever age I was I knew what I was doing.”
“I know. I guess I could tell that by your face, you looked like you were playing a role.” One of Orli’s hands went down to link with Elijah’s, the other stayed firmly in his hair.
“Even then I knew what people expected, what they wanted from me, and I’d got good at giving it to them. I wasn’t hurting, certainly not that time.”
“But you were so young,” Orli said, suddenly fervent. “It should have hurt.”
Elijah lifted Orli’s hand, twisting his watch round till it was perfectly centred then raising it further to kiss his palm. “Does that bother you even more?” he asked quietly. “The fact that I wasn’t suffering, that I knew what I was doing?”
“I don’t know, maybe,” Orli rested his head back, closing his eyes and sighing softly. “I can’t get over how young you looked. Too young.”
“I was too young. Too young to know all I did, but it was just as well that I did,” Elijah twisted round so that he could look up at Orli more easily. “It kept me safe Orlando, helped me not to get hurt. I was doing all that stuff anyway,” he shrugged, a small hitching of his shoulders. “At least it meant I was safer.”
Orli sat forward looking intently at Elijah, his hand still on the back of Elijah’s head, until the atmosphere got too heavy. Elijah took care of it as normal, pulling himself up, one hand planted squarely and almost painfully in the middle of Orli’s thigh and kissed Orli full on the lips with a soft plop. “All right?” he asked, but didn’t give Orli a chance to answer, kissing him again just as wet, just as sloppy. “Course you’re all right.”
“Course I am,” Orli agreed, his smile reaching to his eyes. “I’ve got you, what’s not to be all right about?”
“That’s my boy,” Elijah grinned. “And just to prove how lucky you are I’ll even go and get some ice cream out the freezer.” He scrambled off Orli’s lap.
“You’re only offering because you need a pee,” Orli called after Elijah’s retreating back.
“True, very true,” Elijah admitted. “Aren’t you glad I have such a small bladder?”
Orli flopped back and thought about how glad he was for a lot of things; all of them based around the man who had just disappeared through the door.
+
Orli wriggled his toes. Saturday morning meant staying in bed for as long as he liked doing nothing; absolutely nothing. Except wriggling his toes and molesting Elijah, the same darling Elijah who was right now in the kitchen making tea and toast. Orli smiled, smug and contented, turning onto his belly and stretched some more. The pillow smelt of Elijah and come. A wonderful combination even if he couldn’t quite remember how the come got up there.
“’Lijah,” Orli called. “I’ll have jam on my toast, there’s some in the fridge. Just scrape the mould off the top, it’s all right underneath.”
Elijah came back into the bedroom/living room, a plate piled high with toast in one hand, two mugs of tea caught precariously in the other and a jar of half eaten strawberry jam with a knife sticking in the top under his arm. He carefully put them all on the small table next to the bed and climbed back on next to Orli. “You seriously want to eat this?”
“Yeah, I’m in the mood for jam,” Orli rolled over onto his back, his hands behind his head.
Elijah pulled the duvet down and clambered over to sit astride Orli’s lap. His old, over washed, soft boxers tickling Orli’s naked flesh. “You’re gonna eat this?” He scraped out some of the jam holding it up on the knife for Orli to see. Maybe it was a bit grey and hairy but it wasn’t that bad.
“Dig down a bit deeper, I’m sure it’ll be all right.”
Elijah let the contents of the knife fall onto yesterday’s newspaper that was lying on the floor beside the bed, watching in fascinated disgust. He scooped up some more, examining it from all sides. “Does the green mould make it taste better?” he asked in all seriousness.
“Not really,” Orli said. “You just close your eyes and try and ignore it.”
“You can ignore it if you want,” Elijah tipped the knife and the jam landed on Orli’s chest with a satisfying plop. “I am certainly not eating it.” He rubbed it in around Orli’s nipple with his index finger.
“That’s really disgustingly sticky,” Orli grinned. “And it’s going to go all over the sheets.”
“So?” Elijah grinned back.
“You’ll have to change them.”
“Or you will,” a thoughtful look suddenly came over Elijah’s face. “I wonder if you can use jam as lube.”
“No,” Orli said with certainty, but it changed to dread when he looked at Elijah’s face. “And you are not testing it out on me.”
“Oh come on,” Elijah grinned. “It could be fun.” He held up another knife load of jam ominously.
“Sod off,” Orli reached under Elijah’s open shirt, grabbing at his hips, trying to push him off. “You are not testing out this morning’s breakfast menu as a sex aid on me.”
“Think yourself lucky I didn’t make sausage sandwiches,” Elijah curled over and licked at the jam on Orli’s nipple, twisting his tongue round and up the hard peak.
“Get off,” Orli yelped, wriggling to get away from the lumpy stickiness. Elijah caught hold with his teeth and Orli bucked his hips trying to unseat him. Just then the phone rang.
“Stay still,” Elijah pointed the jammy knife at Orli and glared as he leaned over to reach the phone. “Yeah?” he said into the receiver while he rubbed the jam round Orli’s nipple with his thumb, watching as it smeared, mixing in with his saliva. Round and round and round as the nub hardened and the muscles in Orli’s chest started to jump and flutter. Orli bit his lip and looked up pleadingly at Elijah, just in time to watched as Elijah’s face closed at the sound of the muffled voice on the other end. “Wait,” came a curt instruction and he started to climb off.
Elijah crossed the room, searched under a pile of clothes till he found the walk around phone that was usually kept in the bedroom. He threw it at Orli and nodded when Orli raised a questioning eyebrow, asking if he should turn it on. When Orli was listening he spoke into the phone again. “What do you want?”
“So you got the pretty pictures I sent you? Don’t you think they’re amazing? They show you in such glorious detail and I think that…”
“I said what do you want fucker?” Elijah snarled, his voice cold and hard.
“That’s no way to talk to me,” the man’s voice changed as well, angry and cruel. “You’d better be nice to me unless you want me to show them to that beautiful boyfriend of yours. You’ll never keep him if he sees what you used to get up to.”
Orli’s hand tightened on his phone but Elijah was talking again. “I showed him soon as I opened them you filthy bastard, he knows all about me so go fuck yourself.”
“Maybe you did show him,” the man blustered. “But you don’t want anyone else to see them so you’d better do just what I say. I want money. Three thousand, in cash. I’ll tell you where to send it.”
“You’re trying to bloody blackmail me, you wanker?” Elijah laughed with icy derision. “Anyone I care about knows what I was like, you’ve got nothing on me motherfucker.”
There was a sharp intake of breath at the other end of the line, a long pause, then the voice was back, a veneer of hardness hiding a little less certainty. “How about I send them to the head teacher of that school of yours? She ain’t gonna want someone like you near her precious little kiddies.”
Elijah’s face closed further, as though the warm, fun Elijah that had developed over the last few years was withdrawing. “Now you listen to me you cunt, I don’t give a shit what you do with the photos, stick them all over town for all I fucking care. You’re the dirty pervert arsehole that likes to abuse little kids, not me.”
“I want my money.”
“You aren’t getting nothing from me you sick shit. Go fuck yourself cunt,” and Elijah slammed the phone down.
He took a deep breath and then another. He blew out a long stream and turned to Orli, his face slowly morphing back to normal, and looked over. “Orlando?”
Orli still gripped the phone in his hand, his fingers so tight that the edges cut in. He could feel the skin pulled taut across the planes and ridges of his face, his muscles twisted so tight that a tell-tale tick was beginning to flick under his eye. For a moment there he’d been faced with the old Elijah, the foul-mouthed, hard faced, scheming street-wise kid that had got off the train. But now, before him, stood the decent man that kid had grown into. He took a deep breath and then another. What he said now was important, all important, and he knew it. Another deep breath. “Well done mate,” he attempted a smile. “I bet he won’t be back.”
Elijah stopped, suddenly immobile, there was a whole world of emotions in his face, all mixed together till Orli didn’t know which was dominant. “I don’t know,” Elijah said, pushing at the phone angrily, as though it were personally responsible, personally connected to the man at the other end. “The tosser.”
“There’s no point in him trying again, he knows you don’t care what he does with the photos.” Orli just hoped he was right.
“He thought I wouldn’t have told you, but why wouldn’t I?” Elijah screwed up his face in confusion and determined anger.
“Of course you told me,” Orli worked hard at keeping his voice calm and reasonable. He wanted to hit something, someone. “Just like I tell you everything.”
“It didn’t occur to me not to tell you.”
“I know,” another deep breath as he tried to quieten the pounding his heart was giving his chest. Stay sane, be what Elijah needs. “You just have to remember that not everyone is as lucky as us.”
Elijah gave a curt nod of agreement then looked over with eyes that were still blazing but, now, all of a sudden, there were tiny spots of doubt at the back. “Did I do right?”
“Of course you did,” Orli crawled down the bed to kneel on the end, this was one thing he was sure about. He reached out and caught Elijah’s hand, pulling him in.
“But what if he does stick them up all over town?”
Orli rubbed his thumb over the back of Elijah’s hand and tried another smile, this time it was surer and more sincere. “Then the whole of Balham and Tooting will know what a lucky bastard I am.”
“Oh shit, I love you,” Elijah collapsed onto the bed and wrapped his arms around Orli, squashing them together in a fierce, uncompromising hug. Eventually he loosened his grip and Orli was allowed up for air.
“I’m quite fond of you as well,” Orli kept hold of Elijah, the fingers of one hand caught in the waistband of his boxers. “But remind me never to cross you. I don’t think I could take that gutter language without wilting. Man, you know some bad words and you put them together in such interesting combinations.” Orli felt Elijah shake with laughter, a small vibration at first but it grew enough to ease the tension.
“Shit, I rarely even think like that nowadays, and then it’s usually reserved for when the parents at school really piss me off,” Elijah ran his hand through Orli’s hair ruffling it as he got up, stalking across the room. “But he deserved it, the bastard.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Orli asked.
“Yeah,” Elijah said then stopped, hands on hips and blew out another long breath towards the ceiling. “Yeah I guess so. I just didn’t think I’d have to deal with stuff like that again.” He looked back at Orli. “You? Are you all right with this?” Orli nodded and Elijah seemed to visibly relax. “Then it doesn’t matter, I don’t give a toss what anyone else thinks. If you’re okay, so am I.”
“I was kind of blown away there for a while,” Orli had to admit and Elijah’s eyes were on him as fast as lighting. “But I do mean it when I say nothing matters except us,” he shrugged. “I don’t like it but it can’t affect us, at least we know what he wants now.”
“Money,” Elijah did one more circuit around the room, as though he needed to use up some nervous energy, and then sat back on the bed next to Orli. “Everything comes down to money, sex and power.”
“Like fuck it does,” Orli kneaded at the back of Elijah’s neck. “Out there it might,” he nodded with his chin towards the window. “But in here it’s about more than that, it’s about... shit, I can’t think of a word that doesn’t sound pathetically girly.” He looked at Elijah intently, then wiped a last smear of jam from the corner of Elijah’s mouth and licked his finger. “In here it’s about love.”
“Idiot,” Elijah gave a soft smile before flopping out backwards on the bed.
Idiot, Orli noted. Elijah had called him an idiot rather than a whacked out, vile swear word. That was his Elijah and Orli’s smile was a little surer as he lay back next to him. For a few minutes they stared up at the ceiling in silence, shoulders and hips pressed together, hands simply touching each other’s flesh.
“I don’t understand why now, why should he turn up demanding money now?” Orli said eventually.
“I don’t know,” Elijah chewed at a finger. “I thought about it yesterday but I can’t remember much, not even his name. That’s if I ever bothered to know it.”
“You didn’t know he had photographs?”
Elijah snorted. “I never let anyone take photos, never. Just goes to show you that you don’t know what’s out there waiting to bite you on the arse. That bloke must have had a hidden camera all set up and ready before I ever got there.”
“So you reckon it was planned?”
“I wish I could remember it better but all those blokes are all a bit of a blur,” Elijah tried hard to ignore Orli’s wince, and pretty much succeeded. “I can vaguely remember he came up to me after school and said something about my mum. It was something weird like my mum had made me for him, that’s the only reason I can remember it at all. I figured mum had sent him so I went with him back to this crappy room. It wasn’t where he lived, just a place with a bed and a chair. Anyway, I did him, then he started talking all this crap about how much I meant to him. I wasn’t having any of that rubbish, I’d had people before saying they loved me and I knew it was all bollocks, so I got out of there pretty quick.”
“Did you ever see him again?” Orli asked, turning his head sideways to look at Elijah.
Elijah screwed up his face in concentration. “I don’t think so. It was about then that mum had a screaming fit and the next day she up and moved us. She was waiting for me outside the school gates with her latest bloke and a van, next thing I knew we were on our way to Leeds or Durham or somewhere.”
Elijah started to laugh at the memory, an ironic odd sort of laugh. “She was really weird, she’d got herself in a right tizz over something. One minute she was shouting at me, the next she was practically patting my head and giving me a hug, and we all know my mum doesn’t hug.”
“And that was after you’d…” Orli wasn’t sure how to say it. “Been with the man in the photos?”
“Yeah, about then I guess. In fact,” Elijah said, trying to work out dates. “It might have been right about then.”
“Do you think the two things are related?”
“Can’t think how,” Elijah dismissed it. “But I am wondering about him now, I’m not so sure we’ve seen the back of him.”
Orli fidgeted, not wanting to admit Elijah might be right. “What’s he got to come back for? You’ve told him there’s no way we’re paying up.”
“But think about it,” Elijah frowned. “It’s all a bit calculated, the way he went about taking the photos without me knowing. Then finding out my current address and phone number. This guy has put in some effort on this, he’s not going to give up easily.”
“No,” Orli tried to sound as confident as he wanted to be. “He took the photos ‘cos he’s a pervert then he saw an opportunity to exploit them. We’re rid of him.”
“Whatever,” Elijah had finished with this conversation. If Orli didn’t want to think about what might come next then he wasn’t going to make him. As long as Orli stayed okay with it and didn’t freak out as Elijah half expected him to, then he would let him think whatever he wanted. “What do you want to do today?” He rolled over, resting his head on his hand and wiped off a bit jam from Orli’s nipple. Jam and sex: that seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Well,” Orli looked down at Elijah’s finger on his chest. “I’d like to spend the rest of the morning in bed licking you then go to the pub for lunch and a few beers and maybe a few more beers, followed by the afternoon at the football. But I guess what we’re actually going to do is finish scraping the bedroom so it’s ready for painting.”
“Bugger,” Elijah pulled a face, groaning.
“You want to sleep in the living room forever?” Orli asked.
“No. What I really want is for you to finish the bedroom while I go down the pub for a few beers,” Elijah’s grimace turned into a hopeful grin.
“Not a chance mate,” Orli pulled himself up and headed for the bathroom. “Get your old clothes on, we have work to do.” Elijah couldn’t help his head tipping to the side and his eyes glazing over with lust and longing as he watched Orli’s naked arse. It would soon have water running down the crack, he was such a sucker for that. He got up and followed.
+
All of Saturday and most of Sunday were spent working on the bedroom. They finished scraping the old paper off the walls with its innumerable layers of paint and then filled in any holes and sanded down the lumps. Paint work was prepared, an undercoat applied and they even managed to complete a top coat before Elijah declared he’d had enough and it was time to hit the pub for beer and food.
But before that came one of their great treats; a soak in their new, big bath. When they had sat down to make decisions on redoing the bathroom they had thought carefully, studied budgets, looked realistically and then blown a ridiculous amount of money on a huge free-standing old fashioned bath.
And it had been worth every penny.
The bath in the old flat had been one of their favourite places to relax together but it had nothing on this new bath. The old one just wasn’t quite wide enough and Orli always ended up with cramp in his legs when Elijah sat between them. Elijah in turn always ended up with cold knees, as the bath wasn’t long enough for them both to stretch out in.
This new bath was wider and longer, even better the taps were on the side so that they could sit and face each other, feet and legs tangling together, and talk without anyone getting stabbed in the back, before they inevitably ended up with Elijah laid out on Orli’s chest. The perfect bath. The perfect, hugely expensive, highly indulgent, bloody wonderful bath.
Now they left their working clothes dumped in a heap just inside the bedroom and ran, gloriously naked, across the draughty coldness of the still-to-be-decorated hall into the bathroom. The taps were turned full on, bubble bath added – only to aid the recovery of work tired muscles, obviously – and they dived in. Elijah slid under water for a moment before jamming his feet under Orli’s arse and anchoring himself. Perfect.
They talked, laughing as they planned what colours to paint the bedroom. Orli argued again for getting the walls re-plastered so they could paint straight onto that, but then they both looked at the expensive bath, smiled, and knew it wasn’t going to happen. Resigned to having to paper Orli pulled at Elijah till he twisted round, tucking his head under Orli’s chin and lay back.
“Pub for dinner tonight?” Orli asked. “We could always go to mum’s, I know she’d feed us even if it will be late.”
Elijah weighed up the wonders of Yvonne’s cooking with the effort of driving over there. “Pub,” he decided. “They have steak and mushroom pie on as a special,” he tempted.
“Pub it is,” Orli yawned wrapping his arms around Elijah’s chest, one hand drifting down to just brush across Elijah’s pubic hair. Owning, possessing.
“No going to sleep,” Elijah warned. “You know if you do, I will as well.”
“Okay,” Orli rubbed his lips into Elijah’s hair. That smell, that Elijah smell, he’d never get enough. “I’ll just rest my eyes for a minute.”
Elijah made a murmur of either annoyance or agreement, even he wasn’t sure which, and snuggled down further against Orli. This was perfect, just perfect. His belly rumbled. Almost perfect. He ignored it.
Five minutes later and Elijah was floating in that grey area somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. The water was warm, Orli was warmer and… his belly rumbled again. Orli laughed, deep and throaty, as he pushed Elijah up. “Get up lazy arse, now we’re working men we need food to keep us going.”
Elijah clambered out of the bath and grabbed a towel for himself, handing a second to Orli. Maybe Orli was right, maybe nothing that happened outside could affect them anymore. He thought about it as Orli chatted away. A few years ago Orli wouldn’t have been able to cope with those photographs, his jealousy would have bubbled up inside him till he exploded and then continued to gnaw away at him till he was twisted and hurting. Now, Elijah could see, it still hurt but Orli could keep it in perspective and then put it to one side.
And if Orli could do it, so could he.
A few years ago Elijah would have been ripping people’s heads off over the photos, now he could dismiss them for the actions of the scum bag they were.
“You coming?” Orli smiled, bringing Elijah out of his reverie.
“Yeah,” Elijah smiled back. “I’ve revived now, I need a pint and pie and then it’s back here so I can fuck you into oblivion.”
Orli’s face glowed and not just from the heat of the water.
+
On his back, legs up and over Elijah’s shoulders in an obscene position that he really couldn’t do and made his thighs cramp and arse pulse. Bent in half. Curled up and round and over and… in a knot. Orli’s hands didn’t know where to go, one was hanging on for dear life to the headboard above his head, his fingers knotting and screaming as he pulled harder and harder. The other pinching at Elijah’s shoulder, dragging him in with a desperation that surprised himself.
“Harder,” Orli demanded, his elbow splaying out with the force as he jerked at the headboard.
“I’m doing my best,” Elijah panted, his face screwed up in concentration.
Orli pushed his hips up or forward or wherever the fuck he needed them to be to get a bit more of that burn, his mouth hanging open as he fought to get enough air. He pulled at the headboard again, the only thing grounding him, and his arm twisted painfully up by the side of his face. “Mine?” he asked in a voice that didn’t sound like his and was full of something he didn’t want to think about.
Elijah held still for a moment then unexpectedly ducked down, biting at the hair in Orli’s armpit. He buried his face in the flesh, rubbing hard and pulling the hair between his teeth. The action was so fierce and so unexpectedly erotic that Orli came in quick thick spurts, needing no more stimulus to his cock then the crush between their bodies, and groaned out his approval to the air above.
The tightening throb around Elijah’s cock was everything he could have wanted and his release was sudden and easy. Before he had a chance to catch his breath he was grabbed in a fierce hug, Orli’s arms tight around his head and shoulders. “Mine?” Orli asked again, but this time it was soft, almost under his breath.
Elijah slipped himself out and, releasing Orli’s legs, flopped down on top of him. The scrape of flesh on flesh, hairy thigh against hairy thigh, so good it made his groin twitch at the thought of more. He caught hold of Orli’s face, one hand on either side, and pulled it round till they were eye to eye. “You stupid, fat, ugly, idiot tosser,” he smiled. “I am so yours it’s untrue. You own me Orlando, hook line and sinker, just like I own every last bit of you.”
Orli smiled a watery smile and hung onto Elijah for dear life. Elijah revelled in the feeling for a few minutes whilst his heart calmed down from pounding his chest. He rubbed his nose against Orli’s flesh and gave it a tiny bite, just for the hell of it. “Are you all right?” he asked. He just needed to make sure. Just one more time. “With this, with everything?”
“Yeah,” Orli nodded, gentle at first but it soon grew into something more confident. “I have a wobbly moment every now and then, but then you manage to get my attention back on my groin and I can’t think about anything else,” he gave a throaty, satisfied chuckle.
“Good,” Elijah stretched up and kissed the tip of Orli’s nose. “You’re always telling me how good I‘ve done but you haven’t done so bad yourself. I never thought you’d get that jealously under control but you have.”
“I had to,” Orli admitted. “I had too much to lose. Anyway, you told me enough times I had nothing to be jealous about and I believe every word that comes out of your mouth so I had no choice but to let it go.”
Elijah smiled again. “Tosser,” he said but with such affection that Orli’s insides melted a little more.
+
Next day, at the do-it-yourself superstore, Elijah felt so easy with the world that balancing on top of the small wall as they walked in from the car park seemed like a perfectly sensible idea. He held his arms out to the sides as he negotiated round an over grown evergreen bush with prickly leaves. “Did you lock the car Orlando?” he called over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Orli mumbled.
“Got the list?”
“Hmm.”
“So what do you think, do we paint the bedroom ceiling white or light blue?” He turned round and tried the next bit walking backwards: easy. “I still think blue’s a daft idea, keep it clean and simple.”
“Hmm.”
“What’s that mean? I get my own way again?” Elijah grinned, wide and infectious, only Orli wasn’t looking. In fact he seemed so distracted that he was almost in his own world. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Hmm.” Orli headed through the automatic doors as Elijah jumped down and jogged after him.
“Orlando?” Elijah deliberately bumped into Orli’s shoulder. “You okay?” He bumped again when he didn’t get Orli’s complete attention.
“Yeah, I’m…” Orli trailed off, searching his pockets for the list.
“Hey,” Elijah caught his arm, stopping him in the paintbrush and white sprit isle. “You aren’t still worrying about stuff? I thought we decided it didn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t, I’m not,” but Orli still looked distracted.
“So, what’s up?”
“Nothing, it’s just,” a slow burn smile crept across Orli’s face. “I can still feel you inside me. You know that well-fucked feeling? When you think everyone must be able to tell just by the look on your face? There’s a fire in your belly and it adds to the pleasure every time you squeeze your arse together because the sides seem to be throbbing? Well I’ve got it in bucket loads.”
“Shit,” Elijah hissed. “Forget everything else and just grab some Polyfiller, then home. I’ve got to get me some of that.”
+
Chapter: Three
Author: Arabia
Pairing: Elijah/Orli
Rating N17
Disclaimer: Total fiction
Feedback: Is always very much appreciated.
This is NOT a WIP – it is all finished and will be posted once a week.
The first four stories can be found in my memories.
Thank you to my darling otp
grievous_angel for the wonderful beta and all the support, and to annwyn55 for making the beautiful icon that goes with the fic.This story is for Pum. She knows why and it is perfect.
Us Against The World
Chapter Three
The pub on a Friday night after a hard week at work: it was almost a tradition, a ritual. A couple of drinks to unwind then grab a kebab on the way home before putting your feet up in front of the telly and inevitably falling asleep when Newsnight came on.
Orli sat at the small table in the corner of the local, tatty pub that had become ‘their’ table. It had a scratched, stained top and ripped chair backs but it was far enough away from the dartboard, pool table and the route to the toilets to make it perfect. He tapped a beer mat in time with his bouncing foot and glanced at the clock. He was bored and Elijah was late. All right so he probably wasn’t late, it was just that Orli had dashed out of work dead on the stroke of the clock. The trouble was, if he wasn’t careful, he would have had his ‘couple of drinks’ before Elijah even got there.
He looked at the clock again and contemplated getting another pint just as a cold hand was shoved unceremoniously down his open shirt collar from behind and a gruff stage whisper croaked in his ear. “Hello gorgeous, come here often.”
He grabbed the hand, pulling it so he could kiss its owners face with a big wet plop and only then registering his mistake. Rose squealed, rubbing her cheek as Orli looked up and saw a grinning Elijah over her ear. “Don’t do that to me,” he said to Rose, his eyes on Elijah. “People might think I’ve turned straight.”
“The women of the world gave up on that possibility a long time ago,” Rose said as she flumped down into a chair. “We’ll survive.”
Elijah slid into the chair next to Orli, their fingers snaking together on Orli’s thigh. Elijah pushed into Orli for a moment; everything he needed to say in that one gesture. “Where’d you find her anyway?” Orli asked, nodding at Rose. “She told me she had to get home.”
“Elijah persuaded me to change my mind,” Rose stated.
“She was half way in the pub door,” Elijah laughed. “All I did was ask if she fancied a drink.”
“I’m easily persuaded,” Rose grinned back at him.
“And your babies?” Orli asked.
Rose undid her coat, settling in. “If Stuart wants me to work part time he can collect the girls from his mum’s himself. I reckon I’m entitled to part time drinking hours as well.”
“That’s my girl,” Elijah said. “Who’s round is it?”
A few hours later and Rose was still there, still on her part time drinking hours, and still ignoring Stuart’s texts asking how to cook dinner for their daughters. It had turned into a good evening as they laughed about nothing, poked fun at people they knew and ruthlessly took the piss out of each other. Other, darker, events from earlier in the day were put to one side whilst Elijah enjoyed himself.
Orli sat back and contemplated, whilst Elijah and Rose argued heatedly about the Man United v Liverpool match the following day. Neither knew the first thing about football but that didn’t matter. The fun was in the fight, as two animated faces testified.
This was the sort of evening out that Elijah really enjoyed. Forget the fancy food and posh clothes of Orli’s parents’ anniversary party. Elijah like it simple with just a couple of trusted friends in a place he felt comfortable. Their pub was so un-trendy that hardly anyone under the age of fifty came in there and the crowd were all regulars who had gotten used to Elijah. Although there were still thrown glances and some down right open-mouthed stares, Elijah felt comfortable enough to let his guard down. He even danced back from the bar, sashaying his hips as he undulated between the tables with his hands full of drinks, packets of peanuts caught between his teeth.
Orli was gratified to see that he hadn’t let today’s post bother him. He blew out a breath, determined to do the same.
Another hour later and they poured Rose into a cab. Elijah reached for Orli’s hand, holding it tight as they started to walk home via the kebab shop. Back indoors they had missed Newsnight, settling instead for a blood and gore film whilst they ate their food off their laps, straight from the paper.
A large kebab had just been greedy. Elijah wrapped the leftovers back up in the paper, dropped it on the floor, licked his greasy fingers, lifted the rest of Orli’s food up onto the arm of the sofa and lay down on his back with his head in Orli’s lap, his feet over the other arm of the sofa. “All right?” he let the question float up.
“Yeah,” Orli gave up, putting his paper down on top of Elijah’s. His eyes really were too big for his belly. “You?”
Elijah thought about it. “Yeah. Although I wish I’d taken a leak before I got comfy, I’m not getting up now.”
Orli laughed softly, he knew just how Elijah felt. “Sure you’re not bothered about this morning?”
Elijah thought again. “You know, I’m really not. I’ve hardly thought about the photos all day. The only thing that bothers me is how you feel about them. So, after a day’s worth of brooding, how you doing?”
“I do not brood,” Orli said with absolutely no heat in his voice as his hand carded through Elijah’s hair.
“You do so,” Elijah smiled, but it really didn’t matter. “It’s one of the things I like about you.”
“Idiot,” Orli carried on stroking.
“Come on then, how you doing?” Elijah asked again.
It was Orli’s turn to stop and think. His hand faltered for a moment, the fingers rubbing a few thick strands between their tips, and then he was moving again, running deep in Elijah’s hair. “I… I don’t know. Am I upset by the pictures?” he shrugged. “ Not really, I’ve had a long time to come to terms with your past, it’s more that…” He stopped, thinking again. “It’s more I hate to see you being hurt like that.”
“I wasn’t being hurt,” Elijah said softly. “Whatever age I was I knew what I was doing.”
“I know. I guess I could tell that by your face, you looked like you were playing a role.” One of Orli’s hands went down to link with Elijah’s, the other stayed firmly in his hair.
“Even then I knew what people expected, what they wanted from me, and I’d got good at giving it to them. I wasn’t hurting, certainly not that time.”
“But you were so young,” Orli said, suddenly fervent. “It should have hurt.”
Elijah lifted Orli’s hand, twisting his watch round till it was perfectly centred then raising it further to kiss his palm. “Does that bother you even more?” he asked quietly. “The fact that I wasn’t suffering, that I knew what I was doing?”
“I don’t know, maybe,” Orli rested his head back, closing his eyes and sighing softly. “I can’t get over how young you looked. Too young.”
“I was too young. Too young to know all I did, but it was just as well that I did,” Elijah twisted round so that he could look up at Orli more easily. “It kept me safe Orlando, helped me not to get hurt. I was doing all that stuff anyway,” he shrugged, a small hitching of his shoulders. “At least it meant I was safer.”
Orli sat forward looking intently at Elijah, his hand still on the back of Elijah’s head, until the atmosphere got too heavy. Elijah took care of it as normal, pulling himself up, one hand planted squarely and almost painfully in the middle of Orli’s thigh and kissed Orli full on the lips with a soft plop. “All right?” he asked, but didn’t give Orli a chance to answer, kissing him again just as wet, just as sloppy. “Course you’re all right.”
“Course I am,” Orli agreed, his smile reaching to his eyes. “I’ve got you, what’s not to be all right about?”
“That’s my boy,” Elijah grinned. “And just to prove how lucky you are I’ll even go and get some ice cream out the freezer.” He scrambled off Orli’s lap.
“You’re only offering because you need a pee,” Orli called after Elijah’s retreating back.
“True, very true,” Elijah admitted. “Aren’t you glad I have such a small bladder?”
Orli flopped back and thought about how glad he was for a lot of things; all of them based around the man who had just disappeared through the door.
+
Orli wriggled his toes. Saturday morning meant staying in bed for as long as he liked doing nothing; absolutely nothing. Except wriggling his toes and molesting Elijah, the same darling Elijah who was right now in the kitchen making tea and toast. Orli smiled, smug and contented, turning onto his belly and stretched some more. The pillow smelt of Elijah and come. A wonderful combination even if he couldn’t quite remember how the come got up there.
“’Lijah,” Orli called. “I’ll have jam on my toast, there’s some in the fridge. Just scrape the mould off the top, it’s all right underneath.”
Elijah came back into the bedroom/living room, a plate piled high with toast in one hand, two mugs of tea caught precariously in the other and a jar of half eaten strawberry jam with a knife sticking in the top under his arm. He carefully put them all on the small table next to the bed and climbed back on next to Orli. “You seriously want to eat this?”
“Yeah, I’m in the mood for jam,” Orli rolled over onto his back, his hands behind his head.
Elijah pulled the duvet down and clambered over to sit astride Orli’s lap. His old, over washed, soft boxers tickling Orli’s naked flesh. “You’re gonna eat this?” He scraped out some of the jam holding it up on the knife for Orli to see. Maybe it was a bit grey and hairy but it wasn’t that bad.
“Dig down a bit deeper, I’m sure it’ll be all right.”
Elijah let the contents of the knife fall onto yesterday’s newspaper that was lying on the floor beside the bed, watching in fascinated disgust. He scooped up some more, examining it from all sides. “Does the green mould make it taste better?” he asked in all seriousness.
“Not really,” Orli said. “You just close your eyes and try and ignore it.”
“You can ignore it if you want,” Elijah tipped the knife and the jam landed on Orli’s chest with a satisfying plop. “I am certainly not eating it.” He rubbed it in around Orli’s nipple with his index finger.
“That’s really disgustingly sticky,” Orli grinned. “And it’s going to go all over the sheets.”
“So?” Elijah grinned back.
“You’ll have to change them.”
“Or you will,” a thoughtful look suddenly came over Elijah’s face. “I wonder if you can use jam as lube.”
“No,” Orli said with certainty, but it changed to dread when he looked at Elijah’s face. “And you are not testing it out on me.”
“Oh come on,” Elijah grinned. “It could be fun.” He held up another knife load of jam ominously.
“Sod off,” Orli reached under Elijah’s open shirt, grabbing at his hips, trying to push him off. “You are not testing out this morning’s breakfast menu as a sex aid on me.”
“Think yourself lucky I didn’t make sausage sandwiches,” Elijah curled over and licked at the jam on Orli’s nipple, twisting his tongue round and up the hard peak.
“Get off,” Orli yelped, wriggling to get away from the lumpy stickiness. Elijah caught hold with his teeth and Orli bucked his hips trying to unseat him. Just then the phone rang.
“Stay still,” Elijah pointed the jammy knife at Orli and glared as he leaned over to reach the phone. “Yeah?” he said into the receiver while he rubbed the jam round Orli’s nipple with his thumb, watching as it smeared, mixing in with his saliva. Round and round and round as the nub hardened and the muscles in Orli’s chest started to jump and flutter. Orli bit his lip and looked up pleadingly at Elijah, just in time to watched as Elijah’s face closed at the sound of the muffled voice on the other end. “Wait,” came a curt instruction and he started to climb off.
Elijah crossed the room, searched under a pile of clothes till he found the walk around phone that was usually kept in the bedroom. He threw it at Orli and nodded when Orli raised a questioning eyebrow, asking if he should turn it on. When Orli was listening he spoke into the phone again. “What do you want?”
“So you got the pretty pictures I sent you? Don’t you think they’re amazing? They show you in such glorious detail and I think that…”
“I said what do you want fucker?” Elijah snarled, his voice cold and hard.
“That’s no way to talk to me,” the man’s voice changed as well, angry and cruel. “You’d better be nice to me unless you want me to show them to that beautiful boyfriend of yours. You’ll never keep him if he sees what you used to get up to.”
Orli’s hand tightened on his phone but Elijah was talking again. “I showed him soon as I opened them you filthy bastard, he knows all about me so go fuck yourself.”
“Maybe you did show him,” the man blustered. “But you don’t want anyone else to see them so you’d better do just what I say. I want money. Three thousand, in cash. I’ll tell you where to send it.”
“You’re trying to bloody blackmail me, you wanker?” Elijah laughed with icy derision. “Anyone I care about knows what I was like, you’ve got nothing on me motherfucker.”
There was a sharp intake of breath at the other end of the line, a long pause, then the voice was back, a veneer of hardness hiding a little less certainty. “How about I send them to the head teacher of that school of yours? She ain’t gonna want someone like you near her precious little kiddies.”
Elijah’s face closed further, as though the warm, fun Elijah that had developed over the last few years was withdrawing. “Now you listen to me you cunt, I don’t give a shit what you do with the photos, stick them all over town for all I fucking care. You’re the dirty pervert arsehole that likes to abuse little kids, not me.”
“I want my money.”
“You aren’t getting nothing from me you sick shit. Go fuck yourself cunt,” and Elijah slammed the phone down.
He took a deep breath and then another. He blew out a long stream and turned to Orli, his face slowly morphing back to normal, and looked over. “Orlando?”
Orli still gripped the phone in his hand, his fingers so tight that the edges cut in. He could feel the skin pulled taut across the planes and ridges of his face, his muscles twisted so tight that a tell-tale tick was beginning to flick under his eye. For a moment there he’d been faced with the old Elijah, the foul-mouthed, hard faced, scheming street-wise kid that had got off the train. But now, before him, stood the decent man that kid had grown into. He took a deep breath and then another. What he said now was important, all important, and he knew it. Another deep breath. “Well done mate,” he attempted a smile. “I bet he won’t be back.”
Elijah stopped, suddenly immobile, there was a whole world of emotions in his face, all mixed together till Orli didn’t know which was dominant. “I don’t know,” Elijah said, pushing at the phone angrily, as though it were personally responsible, personally connected to the man at the other end. “The tosser.”
“There’s no point in him trying again, he knows you don’t care what he does with the photos.” Orli just hoped he was right.
“He thought I wouldn’t have told you, but why wouldn’t I?” Elijah screwed up his face in confusion and determined anger.
“Of course you told me,” Orli worked hard at keeping his voice calm and reasonable. He wanted to hit something, someone. “Just like I tell you everything.”
“It didn’t occur to me not to tell you.”
“I know,” another deep breath as he tried to quieten the pounding his heart was giving his chest. Stay sane, be what Elijah needs. “You just have to remember that not everyone is as lucky as us.”
Elijah gave a curt nod of agreement then looked over with eyes that were still blazing but, now, all of a sudden, there were tiny spots of doubt at the back. “Did I do right?”
“Of course you did,” Orli crawled down the bed to kneel on the end, this was one thing he was sure about. He reached out and caught Elijah’s hand, pulling him in.
“But what if he does stick them up all over town?”
Orli rubbed his thumb over the back of Elijah’s hand and tried another smile, this time it was surer and more sincere. “Then the whole of Balham and Tooting will know what a lucky bastard I am.”
“Oh shit, I love you,” Elijah collapsed onto the bed and wrapped his arms around Orli, squashing them together in a fierce, uncompromising hug. Eventually he loosened his grip and Orli was allowed up for air.
“I’m quite fond of you as well,” Orli kept hold of Elijah, the fingers of one hand caught in the waistband of his boxers. “But remind me never to cross you. I don’t think I could take that gutter language without wilting. Man, you know some bad words and you put them together in such interesting combinations.” Orli felt Elijah shake with laughter, a small vibration at first but it grew enough to ease the tension.
“Shit, I rarely even think like that nowadays, and then it’s usually reserved for when the parents at school really piss me off,” Elijah ran his hand through Orli’s hair ruffling it as he got up, stalking across the room. “But he deserved it, the bastard.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Orli asked.
“Yeah,” Elijah said then stopped, hands on hips and blew out another long breath towards the ceiling. “Yeah I guess so. I just didn’t think I’d have to deal with stuff like that again.” He looked back at Orli. “You? Are you all right with this?” Orli nodded and Elijah seemed to visibly relax. “Then it doesn’t matter, I don’t give a toss what anyone else thinks. If you’re okay, so am I.”
“I was kind of blown away there for a while,” Orli had to admit and Elijah’s eyes were on him as fast as lighting. “But I do mean it when I say nothing matters except us,” he shrugged. “I don’t like it but it can’t affect us, at least we know what he wants now.”
“Money,” Elijah did one more circuit around the room, as though he needed to use up some nervous energy, and then sat back on the bed next to Orli. “Everything comes down to money, sex and power.”
“Like fuck it does,” Orli kneaded at the back of Elijah’s neck. “Out there it might,” he nodded with his chin towards the window. “But in here it’s about more than that, it’s about... shit, I can’t think of a word that doesn’t sound pathetically girly.” He looked at Elijah intently, then wiped a last smear of jam from the corner of Elijah’s mouth and licked his finger. “In here it’s about love.”
“Idiot,” Elijah gave a soft smile before flopping out backwards on the bed.
Idiot, Orli noted. Elijah had called him an idiot rather than a whacked out, vile swear word. That was his Elijah and Orli’s smile was a little surer as he lay back next to him. For a few minutes they stared up at the ceiling in silence, shoulders and hips pressed together, hands simply touching each other’s flesh.
“I don’t understand why now, why should he turn up demanding money now?” Orli said eventually.
“I don’t know,” Elijah chewed at a finger. “I thought about it yesterday but I can’t remember much, not even his name. That’s if I ever bothered to know it.”
“You didn’t know he had photographs?”
Elijah snorted. “I never let anyone take photos, never. Just goes to show you that you don’t know what’s out there waiting to bite you on the arse. That bloke must have had a hidden camera all set up and ready before I ever got there.”
“So you reckon it was planned?”
“I wish I could remember it better but all those blokes are all a bit of a blur,” Elijah tried hard to ignore Orli’s wince, and pretty much succeeded. “I can vaguely remember he came up to me after school and said something about my mum. It was something weird like my mum had made me for him, that’s the only reason I can remember it at all. I figured mum had sent him so I went with him back to this crappy room. It wasn’t where he lived, just a place with a bed and a chair. Anyway, I did him, then he started talking all this crap about how much I meant to him. I wasn’t having any of that rubbish, I’d had people before saying they loved me and I knew it was all bollocks, so I got out of there pretty quick.”
“Did you ever see him again?” Orli asked, turning his head sideways to look at Elijah.
Elijah screwed up his face in concentration. “I don’t think so. It was about then that mum had a screaming fit and the next day she up and moved us. She was waiting for me outside the school gates with her latest bloke and a van, next thing I knew we were on our way to Leeds or Durham or somewhere.”
Elijah started to laugh at the memory, an ironic odd sort of laugh. “She was really weird, she’d got herself in a right tizz over something. One minute she was shouting at me, the next she was practically patting my head and giving me a hug, and we all know my mum doesn’t hug.”
“And that was after you’d…” Orli wasn’t sure how to say it. “Been with the man in the photos?”
“Yeah, about then I guess. In fact,” Elijah said, trying to work out dates. “It might have been right about then.”
“Do you think the two things are related?”
“Can’t think how,” Elijah dismissed it. “But I am wondering about him now, I’m not so sure we’ve seen the back of him.”
Orli fidgeted, not wanting to admit Elijah might be right. “What’s he got to come back for? You’ve told him there’s no way we’re paying up.”
“But think about it,” Elijah frowned. “It’s all a bit calculated, the way he went about taking the photos without me knowing. Then finding out my current address and phone number. This guy has put in some effort on this, he’s not going to give up easily.”
“No,” Orli tried to sound as confident as he wanted to be. “He took the photos ‘cos he’s a pervert then he saw an opportunity to exploit them. We’re rid of him.”
“Whatever,” Elijah had finished with this conversation. If Orli didn’t want to think about what might come next then he wasn’t going to make him. As long as Orli stayed okay with it and didn’t freak out as Elijah half expected him to, then he would let him think whatever he wanted. “What do you want to do today?” He rolled over, resting his head on his hand and wiped off a bit jam from Orli’s nipple. Jam and sex: that seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Well,” Orli looked down at Elijah’s finger on his chest. “I’d like to spend the rest of the morning in bed licking you then go to the pub for lunch and a few beers and maybe a few more beers, followed by the afternoon at the football. But I guess what we’re actually going to do is finish scraping the bedroom so it’s ready for painting.”
“Bugger,” Elijah pulled a face, groaning.
“You want to sleep in the living room forever?” Orli asked.
“No. What I really want is for you to finish the bedroom while I go down the pub for a few beers,” Elijah’s grimace turned into a hopeful grin.
“Not a chance mate,” Orli pulled himself up and headed for the bathroom. “Get your old clothes on, we have work to do.” Elijah couldn’t help his head tipping to the side and his eyes glazing over with lust and longing as he watched Orli’s naked arse. It would soon have water running down the crack, he was such a sucker for that. He got up and followed.
+
All of Saturday and most of Sunday were spent working on the bedroom. They finished scraping the old paper off the walls with its innumerable layers of paint and then filled in any holes and sanded down the lumps. Paint work was prepared, an undercoat applied and they even managed to complete a top coat before Elijah declared he’d had enough and it was time to hit the pub for beer and food.
But before that came one of their great treats; a soak in their new, big bath. When they had sat down to make decisions on redoing the bathroom they had thought carefully, studied budgets, looked realistically and then blown a ridiculous amount of money on a huge free-standing old fashioned bath.
And it had been worth every penny.
The bath in the old flat had been one of their favourite places to relax together but it had nothing on this new bath. The old one just wasn’t quite wide enough and Orli always ended up with cramp in his legs when Elijah sat between them. Elijah in turn always ended up with cold knees, as the bath wasn’t long enough for them both to stretch out in.
This new bath was wider and longer, even better the taps were on the side so that they could sit and face each other, feet and legs tangling together, and talk without anyone getting stabbed in the back, before they inevitably ended up with Elijah laid out on Orli’s chest. The perfect bath. The perfect, hugely expensive, highly indulgent, bloody wonderful bath.
Now they left their working clothes dumped in a heap just inside the bedroom and ran, gloriously naked, across the draughty coldness of the still-to-be-decorated hall into the bathroom. The taps were turned full on, bubble bath added – only to aid the recovery of work tired muscles, obviously – and they dived in. Elijah slid under water for a moment before jamming his feet under Orli’s arse and anchoring himself. Perfect.
They talked, laughing as they planned what colours to paint the bedroom. Orli argued again for getting the walls re-plastered so they could paint straight onto that, but then they both looked at the expensive bath, smiled, and knew it wasn’t going to happen. Resigned to having to paper Orli pulled at Elijah till he twisted round, tucking his head under Orli’s chin and lay back.
“Pub for dinner tonight?” Orli asked. “We could always go to mum’s, I know she’d feed us even if it will be late.”
Elijah weighed up the wonders of Yvonne’s cooking with the effort of driving over there. “Pub,” he decided. “They have steak and mushroom pie on as a special,” he tempted.
“Pub it is,” Orli yawned wrapping his arms around Elijah’s chest, one hand drifting down to just brush across Elijah’s pubic hair. Owning, possessing.
“No going to sleep,” Elijah warned. “You know if you do, I will as well.”
“Okay,” Orli rubbed his lips into Elijah’s hair. That smell, that Elijah smell, he’d never get enough. “I’ll just rest my eyes for a minute.”
Elijah made a murmur of either annoyance or agreement, even he wasn’t sure which, and snuggled down further against Orli. This was perfect, just perfect. His belly rumbled. Almost perfect. He ignored it.
Five minutes later and Elijah was floating in that grey area somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. The water was warm, Orli was warmer and… his belly rumbled again. Orli laughed, deep and throaty, as he pushed Elijah up. “Get up lazy arse, now we’re working men we need food to keep us going.”
Elijah clambered out of the bath and grabbed a towel for himself, handing a second to Orli. Maybe Orli was right, maybe nothing that happened outside could affect them anymore. He thought about it as Orli chatted away. A few years ago Orli wouldn’t have been able to cope with those photographs, his jealousy would have bubbled up inside him till he exploded and then continued to gnaw away at him till he was twisted and hurting. Now, Elijah could see, it still hurt but Orli could keep it in perspective and then put it to one side.
And if Orli could do it, so could he.
A few years ago Elijah would have been ripping people’s heads off over the photos, now he could dismiss them for the actions of the scum bag they were.
“You coming?” Orli smiled, bringing Elijah out of his reverie.
“Yeah,” Elijah smiled back. “I’ve revived now, I need a pint and pie and then it’s back here so I can fuck you into oblivion.”
Orli’s face glowed and not just from the heat of the water.
+
On his back, legs up and over Elijah’s shoulders in an obscene position that he really couldn’t do and made his thighs cramp and arse pulse. Bent in half. Curled up and round and over and… in a knot. Orli’s hands didn’t know where to go, one was hanging on for dear life to the headboard above his head, his fingers knotting and screaming as he pulled harder and harder. The other pinching at Elijah’s shoulder, dragging him in with a desperation that surprised himself.
“Harder,” Orli demanded, his elbow splaying out with the force as he jerked at the headboard.
“I’m doing my best,” Elijah panted, his face screwed up in concentration.
Orli pushed his hips up or forward or wherever the fuck he needed them to be to get a bit more of that burn, his mouth hanging open as he fought to get enough air. He pulled at the headboard again, the only thing grounding him, and his arm twisted painfully up by the side of his face. “Mine?” he asked in a voice that didn’t sound like his and was full of something he didn’t want to think about.
Elijah held still for a moment then unexpectedly ducked down, biting at the hair in Orli’s armpit. He buried his face in the flesh, rubbing hard and pulling the hair between his teeth. The action was so fierce and so unexpectedly erotic that Orli came in quick thick spurts, needing no more stimulus to his cock then the crush between their bodies, and groaned out his approval to the air above.
The tightening throb around Elijah’s cock was everything he could have wanted and his release was sudden and easy. Before he had a chance to catch his breath he was grabbed in a fierce hug, Orli’s arms tight around his head and shoulders. “Mine?” Orli asked again, but this time it was soft, almost under his breath.
Elijah slipped himself out and, releasing Orli’s legs, flopped down on top of him. The scrape of flesh on flesh, hairy thigh against hairy thigh, so good it made his groin twitch at the thought of more. He caught hold of Orli’s face, one hand on either side, and pulled it round till they were eye to eye. “You stupid, fat, ugly, idiot tosser,” he smiled. “I am so yours it’s untrue. You own me Orlando, hook line and sinker, just like I own every last bit of you.”
Orli smiled a watery smile and hung onto Elijah for dear life. Elijah revelled in the feeling for a few minutes whilst his heart calmed down from pounding his chest. He rubbed his nose against Orli’s flesh and gave it a tiny bite, just for the hell of it. “Are you all right?” he asked. He just needed to make sure. Just one more time. “With this, with everything?”
“Yeah,” Orli nodded, gentle at first but it soon grew into something more confident. “I have a wobbly moment every now and then, but then you manage to get my attention back on my groin and I can’t think about anything else,” he gave a throaty, satisfied chuckle.
“Good,” Elijah stretched up and kissed the tip of Orli’s nose. “You’re always telling me how good I‘ve done but you haven’t done so bad yourself. I never thought you’d get that jealously under control but you have.”
“I had to,” Orli admitted. “I had too much to lose. Anyway, you told me enough times I had nothing to be jealous about and I believe every word that comes out of your mouth so I had no choice but to let it go.”
Elijah smiled again. “Tosser,” he said but with such affection that Orli’s insides melted a little more.
+
Next day, at the do-it-yourself superstore, Elijah felt so easy with the world that balancing on top of the small wall as they walked in from the car park seemed like a perfectly sensible idea. He held his arms out to the sides as he negotiated round an over grown evergreen bush with prickly leaves. “Did you lock the car Orlando?” he called over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” Orli mumbled.
“Got the list?”
“Hmm.”
“So what do you think, do we paint the bedroom ceiling white or light blue?” He turned round and tried the next bit walking backwards: easy. “I still think blue’s a daft idea, keep it clean and simple.”
“Hmm.”
“What’s that mean? I get my own way again?” Elijah grinned, wide and infectious, only Orli wasn’t looking. In fact he seemed so distracted that he was almost in his own world. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Hmm.” Orli headed through the automatic doors as Elijah jumped down and jogged after him.
“Orlando?” Elijah deliberately bumped into Orli’s shoulder. “You okay?” He bumped again when he didn’t get Orli’s complete attention.
“Yeah, I’m…” Orli trailed off, searching his pockets for the list.
“Hey,” Elijah caught his arm, stopping him in the paintbrush and white sprit isle. “You aren’t still worrying about stuff? I thought we decided it didn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t, I’m not,” but Orli still looked distracted.
“So, what’s up?”
“Nothing, it’s just,” a slow burn smile crept across Orli’s face. “I can still feel you inside me. You know that well-fucked feeling? When you think everyone must be able to tell just by the look on your face? There’s a fire in your belly and it adds to the pleasure every time you squeeze your arse together because the sides seem to be throbbing? Well I’ve got it in bucket loads.”
“Shit,” Elijah hissed. “Forget everything else and just grab some Polyfiller, then home. I’ve got to get me some of that.”
+
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Awwww. That whole last bit is just delightful, they are so happy.
(BTW, I want to rec this series again, but I can't find a good place to send people, the memories aren't in order. Do you have a list somewhere?)
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How about using the web site for the first 3 books and then the memories?? It hasn't been updated for a while but that's Cass's baby and completely out of my league. This is the web site...
http://www.geocities.com/grievousangel21/indexarabia.htm
Thank you for the rec and the lovely words. They are both much appreciated.
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Actually, better to use LJ tags: just set two tags for each of the stories one with the whole series name and the other with the section name. Then you could link to it like this:
http://arabia764.livejournal.com/tag/damaged/
and
http://arabia764.livejournal.com/tag/us-against-the-world
to see how this works, here's an example in my journal:
http://msilverstar.livejournal.com/tag/fic-viggo
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Thank you so much for taking the trouble to explain it. It's much appreciated.
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But he's strong enough now to look at his own feelings and not let them interfere in his relationship with Elijah. That's the only really important thing to him now, and thank God it is because Elijah is sure going to need him.
Thank you so much, feedback like yours is a real pleasure.
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Thank you so much.