The Impossible

[inthemadhouse.livejournal.com]

TItle: The Impossible
Author: inthemadhouse
Summery:  Why was it that, after all these years, Orlando decided to call him?
World Count: 1893
Rating: R, might go up
Disclaimer: Not Mine
Pairing:  Orlando/Viggo
Authors Notes:  My first fic, so I'm still getting a feel for the characters.  Reviews very, very appreciated.  Title comes from the song of the same name by Joe Nichols.

That stupid machine was flashing again. Viggo grumbled, wondering why he’d even gotten the answering machine in the first place. Honestly, if it was that important, they would call back, right?

He pushed the button absently, grabbing a drink as he did so. The tinny voice caught his attention instantly, his body jolting at the memory.

“Umm... Hi, Viggo, it’s Orlando. Listen, I need a favor, can you call me back? The new number is 555-1872. Thanks, Vig.”

Another new number. Orlando was horrible with cell phones, most of them seemed to meet a very unfortunate end, whether it was through crushing or drowning or just plain getting lost. He wondered what the kid wanted. Probably a place to stay for a day or two, a chance to let some of the tension of life in a fishbowl bleed out of his body.

The question then became, would Viggo let him stay? It was a fair thought, after all, they had proven they couldn’t live together peaceably as lovers, and neither was particularly satisfied with just being friends. What did that leave? Fuck buddies? Friends with benefits? Or just the uncomfortable silence they had settled into over the past year. The sort of relationship where you called on birthdays and attended premieres, but didn’t actually meet up at them or say more than a quick congratulations on making it another year.

It would be easy to delete the message and feign ignorance if he called again. Except for the nagging suspicion that if he did that Orlando wouldn’t call again. He would give up quietly, the same way he seemed to be giving up a lot lately. When Viggo looked at the pictures of him these days, it was hard to see the scruffy, spunky kid with the mohawk in the calm, centered adult. Undoubtedly, part of the change was the natural progression of changing from a teenager to an adult, assuming more responsibilities for himself, but still…there was very little spark left in those pretty dark eyes.

Where had that kid gone? The one who never stopped or got bored. The one who had no problems jumping off a mountain, or convincing the entire cast that skinny dipping in one of lakes was a very good idea (Viggo prayed the pictures of that day never, never surfaced) or managed to get whatever he wanted, asking for it in such a subtle way that you were never quite sure whether he had asked at all, or if you had wanted to give it to him all along. Which was pretty much how he’d snared Viggo’s affections.

He sighed irritably and stood up to make the call. Even as he did so, he cursed his own weakness in running in to protect Orlando again. How was the kid every going to learn to take care of himself? His inner voice shrugged. ‘”Really Viggo? You’ve been taking care of him? Funny, you haven’t actually talked to him in a year and a half; you just left a message on his cell phone for his birthday, you coward. Way I see it; he’s been taking care of himself, because he’s the only one he could depend on. You don’t have any claim on him these days.”

The phone rang over and over again; leading Viggo to hope that they would play telephone tag until Orlando either gave up or found someone else to do him his favor. Then the ringing stopped and a sleepy sounding voice came on the other end. “This is Orlando, may I ask who’s calling?”

Very professional. Much more so than in New Zealand, where he had been far more likely to yell “this is Lando, want to fuck?”

“It’s Viggo.” He wanted to say more, but until he knew how much trouble Orlando was in, he better not give too much away.

“Viggo, great! Listen, is there any way you could take Sidi for a few weeks? Kate usually does, but she’s filming and can’t. I just hate the thought of kenneling him now that he’s gotten older.”

“Sidi?” It wasn’t what he had been expecting. Honestly, he would have been less surprised to hear that Orlando was strung out on something, or even that he was broken down on the side of some highway with a dead hooker in his trunk. But the dog? It wasn’t that Viggo would have minded dog sitting, but it seemed a strange request. Near as he could tell, that mutt went everywhere with Orlando.

“Yeah.” There was a pause. “If you can’t do it, that’s fine. I mean, I know you’re really busy, I just remembered you saying in an interview that you missed having a dog around, so I thought maybe you would like borrowing mine while…I’m doing stuff.”

“That would be fine” The words were out before he could stop them. Wait, what the hell had he just agreed to? Again, it wasn’t Sidi himself who was the problem, but his owner. He just didn’t know how to handle seeing Orlando face to face again.

“Great, where are you? I can bring him to you, or we could meet halfway?”

“I’ll be in LA for a press junket, so I can just pick him up.” An uncomfortable silence fell, while Viggo tried to think of something, anything, to say. “So, where are you going?”

“Nowhere.” There was a cautious tone to his voice now, like he was afraid to give too much away.

“Oh, I thought you might be going somewhere where dogs aren’t allowed, otherwise, why would you need me to watch Sidi?”

The silence on the other end grew until he thought he might have lost the connection. “Orlando?”

“Sorry. Ok, don’t tell anyone, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be in the hospital for a few weeks.”

It was drugs, he knew it. He had seen the glazed out look in Orlando’s eyes more and more often lately, but had dismissed it as tiredness or a reflection of the camera flash. Nope, the kid was just like every other young Hollywood star, too strung out to realize how good he had it. “For what?” He made a mental list, cocaine, heroin, prescription pills, pain pills…

“I’m having surgery on my back again. Things have gotten really bad, so the doctors are going to try and fix it up better.”

“Oh.” Alright, he felt slimy now. The glassy eyes were probably from either pain or painkillers, but not the kind you took recreationally. He jumped back to reality when he realized that Orlando was still talking.

“-so, I’ll probably get released after a week, but if you could keep Sidi for a little longer, until I’m back on my feet and care take care of both of us.”

Something didn’t quite add up here. “Are you sure you don’t want him back sooner? Couldn’t whoever’s staying with you take care of him?” Either something was wrong, or Sidi had a lot more issues than Viggo had thought.

More silence. “There isn’t going to be anyone else here. Mum’s health is too bad to fly, and Sammy’s staying with her. That’s the reason you can’t say anything. If it gets out then they’re both going to feel terrible they aren’t with me and I don’t want that. It’ll be fine, I can take care of myself, but I’m not going to be able to do a lot of moving around for a week or so after I get home, and that isn’t fair to him.”

He couldn’t possibly be serious. Granted, Viggo’s experience with surgery was limited to having his appendix out twenty years ago, but still! He remembered how much pain he had been in after that, and a little cut on his stomach couldn’t possibly compare to having your spinal column fucked around with. Orlando seemed determined to either kill or paralyze himself. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Yes, daddy, it will be fine.” Now there was a hint of irritation in Orlando’s voice, laced with a little bit of fear. “It has to be.” Now he sounded cheerful, almost as if he had managed to convince himself.

Too bad he was nowhere near convincing Viggo. “Uh-huh. Listen, do you need me to come down there for a few days? It really isn’t any bother and I hate the thought of you being all by yourself. Plus, you can have your dog with you that way.”

Orlando sighed heavily. “What do you really want, Viggo? I have enough to worry about without you trying to start something again. Can we just not do this? After things are back to normal, we can talk, but now I just can’t deal with it.”

Ouch, when the hell had his kid become so cynical? “No, nothing like that. I just thought…well maybe you could use a friend.” That was a stupid thing to say, he certainly hadn’t been a very good friend these past couple years.

“You promise?” Still guarded, but slowly warming to the idea. Or maybe it was just that he didn’t have many other options. He really shouldn’t worry. Viggo had no intentions of getting back into the mess they had created after New Zealand.

“Of course.” He debated whether or not to say what else was on his mind, finally deciding to go for it. “I’m worried about you, Munchkin.” It was a dirty trick, he knew, but the nickname never failed to make Orlando melt.

“If you’re sure it’s no trouble…” That was it, he was right where Viggo wanted him.

“Of course not. How soon do you need me?”

He could hear whirring noise on the other end, like Orlando was flipping the pages of a book. “I’m having the operation on the 15 of May, but you probably want to be here a day or two before, so you can get settled. Um…I need to clean out the other bedroom, its Sidi’s room right now, but really any time, it’s no big deal.”

“Alright, well, let me call you back when I get a flight or maybe I’ll drive, make a few stops, you know see a little bit of the country, get to experience…” Shit he was doing that weird artist babbling thing. He reminded himself not to scare Orlando off, the kid was hesitant enough.

“Ok, I’ll be around” There was a pause, in which Viggo could clearly envision Orlando standing there, chewing on his nails and trying to work up the courage to say something else. “Thank you, Viggo.”

It was a polite comment, but without any real feelings behind it. It wasn’t that he thought Orlando wasn’t grateful, because Viggo knew he was, it was just that the kid was nervous, and unsure of what to say to his former lover and friend.

“Any time, you know the questers stick together. I’ll let you know by tomorrow. Bye kid.” He hung up before Orlando could think of any further objections to the plan. It was only as he was standing there, alone in his kitchen that the enormity of what he had just promised hit him. He had just agreed to spend at least a week, probably more, taking care of his ex-lover, whom he hadn’t actually had a normal conversation with in over three years. Shit.

Comments

[ex-warmfuzzi813.livejournal.com]

Very nice. I love me a good read. You have me curious as to what Viggo did to make Orli leave.

[ashlaegl.livejournal.com]

Waaaaa...Please please say that this is only the 1st chapter and there's more coming...
Those two really have issues they need to work out...*g*

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