FIC: "Fractured" 9/10 KU/OB (OB/VM & KU/HS)

[azewewish.livejournal.com]

**See Part 0 for disclaimers & such**

(part nine)

“All of my excuses turn to lies”
--NIN


"Fancy seeing you here, mate," Harry said as he
crawled out of his car. Vig walked across the few
feet separating them, grinning. "Come to collect your
elf?"

"Yeah," Viggo laughed. "I was thinking the four of us
could grab some lunch."

"Sounds good to me." Harry pulled his bag out,
started towards the front door. God, it felt good to
be back home. Even if it had been only one night
away.

"So, where'd you head off to?" Viggo asked, as they
walked through the door.

"Flew to Sydney for the day. Press conference for
'Price'." Harry dropped his bag on the foyer floor,
glanced around. "Karl?"

"In the kitchen!" Sounded a bit strained...odd that.

"Come on." Harry motioned for Viggo to follow him,
then strolled into the kitchen.

"Hey you," Karl said, not moving from where he leaned
against the counter. That was odd. More than,
actually. Karl always greeted him with a kiss when
he'd been gone.

"Hey, Harry, Vig," Orli said, voice soft, eyes on the
kitchen table as he sat there, hands clenched together
in front of him.

"You two have fun?" Viggo was glancing back and forth
between Karl and Orli, smile a bit awkward as he
placed a kiss on Orli's head. Frowned when Orli
flinched...slight, but there. Blood started chilling
in Harry's veins. Something was very wrong.

"Yeah," Karl mumbled, shrugged. "Much fun as two
blokes can have staying home on their night off."

"Karl?" Harry stepped closer, watched as Karl looked
at him, but never met his eyes. Ice crept up his
spine as he realized that Karl's eyes kept moving back
to Orli.

"So how'd the shooting go, Vig?" Karl slid down the
counter, towards Harry, eyes fastening on Viggo.

"It was good. Long." Viggo glanced helplessly at
Harry as he sank into the chair next to Orli. Harry
shook his head slightly. He had no idea.

"How're the guys?" Orli mumbled, gaze darting at Viggo
before resting on Karl for a brief moment.

"Good. Send their love." Viggo was peering closely
at Orli's neck, and Harry stepped in for a look.

"Quite a bruise you've got there," he commented. The
first faint beginnings of an awful suspicion started
weaving through Harry's brain, and he shoved it back
ruthlessly. There was no way. It wasn't possible.

"What?" Orli tensed, eyes flickering to Harry's, back
down to his lap. "Um..."

"Orli..." Viggo's soft voice was loud in the sudden
silence. "...you okay?"

"M'fine," Orli mumbled, shifted restlessly in his
chair. His fingers clenched, unclenched, danced on
the tabletop.

"Looks like something bit you," Harry stated. Not
something. Someone. His eyes slid to Karl, took in
the wide eyes and pale face. What the hell was going
on? He turned back to Orli, watched dark eyes shift
away from Karl. And suddenly wasn't sure he wanted to
know.

"Must've happened last night. In his sleep or
something," Karl said, taking a step forward. Right.
Last night. Doubtful it was in his sleep, though.
Harry squashed that thought. No.

Viggo traced a light finger along the bruise, curled
his finger along the collar of Orli's shirt. Harry
watched in quiet fascination as Orli stilled, breath
hitched as Viggo revealed another purplish bruise,
this one slightly below the first. "Jesus, Orli..."
Viggo's voice was barely a whisper.

Orli licked his lips, blinked slowly, hand poised to
cup over Viggo's before pulling back. "I'm sorry."

Sorry for what?

Karl sucked in his breath, took a step forward, froze
when Harry looked at him. His expression... "Harry,
I...."

"Karl, what the hell is going on here?" More ice up
his spine when Karl flinched and Orli made a soft,
distressed sound, felt the slow fracture of his soul.

"This isn't..." Viggo shook his head, normally calm
features looking achingly vulnerable. "Tell me this
isn't..."

"I'm so sorry, Vig," Orli repeated, not looking up
from his hands.

"Sorry?" Viggo's voice rose slightly. "Fuck your
sorry, Orli. Tell me what's going on."

"Don't..." Karl bit off his words, turned away.
Harry's eyes took in the stiff spine, moved back to
take in Orli's still bent head.

"Don't what, Karl?" Calm. That was it. Just remain
calm. There was an explanation for all this.

"Don't yell at him." Karl turned back, shoulders
slumped a little. He pulled out a chair, sat down
across from Orli. "Harry...I'm sorry."

“How long?”

“Viggo, don’t...”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Viggo growled, cutting off
Orli’s plea. “How fucking long?”

Karl ran a hand through his hair, glanced up at Harry
before looking at Viggo. "Last night was the first
time..."

Harry turned away, moved to stand by the window. He
wondered why it was so sunny outside. Sunshine that
bright was for good days. And this was most assuredly
*not* a good day.

"First time?" Harry turned slightly, saw Viggo tilt
his head back, glance at the ceiling. Watched in a
haze-filled shock as Orli tried to place his hand over
Viggo's, watched as Viggo threw it off, stood. "Don't
touch me."

"Vig, I..."

"Not another word." Viggo's hands were clenched, body
wired through with tension. Harry was surprised Viggo
wasn't shaking with it. Was surprised he wasn't
shaking himself.

"Yes, first time," Karl repeated, rising halfway from
his chair. "Nothing happened between us before last
night. Well, nothing much."

Harry turned at the last, mumbled words. Nothing
much? Instead of saying anything, he just stood
there, hands loose by his sides, eyes moving between
Karl and Orli. Nothing much. But something. Oh,
yes...definitely something. "Nothing much?" Harry
was startled by his own voice. "Define 'nothing
much', please."

"I..." Karl trailed off, slowly sank back into his
chair. Harry watched as one hand twitched on the
table. "Couple kisses here and there."

"I can't fucking believe we're having this
conversation." Viggo whirled around, eyes pinning
Karl to his chair. "We're defining cheating in
degrees now?"

"It wasn't like that..."

Viggo never took his gaze off of Karl. But the
temperature in the room dropped again.
"Orli...*don't* *talk*."

"Stop yelling at him." Karl's voice was quiet, his
body tense as he sat there watching Viggo. So
protective of Orli. Harry wondered about that,
wondered when it would hurt, was surprised that it
didn't already. Or maybe it did and he just couldn't
feel it through the ice.

"How long?"

Karl's head snapped around at Harry's soft question.
"What?"

"How long has 'nothing much' been going on?" Harry
never moved, never looked away from his lover's...ha,
his lover...eyes. So he wasn't surprised to see the
guilt flash through the hazel depths.

"About a year," Karl replied, voice so low Harry
almost had to strain to hear him.

"A year? But that would mean..."

"Yeah. That would mean." Orli didn't look up from
his hands as he answered Viggo's question.

"Jesus." Viggo sounded incredulous. "The first day
you met, I guess? What, eyes meeting across a crowded
room and all of that bullshit?" Each sharply
delivered word had Orli flinching, Harry's blood
thinning.

"Why?" Harry asked, waited patiently for an answer he
wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

Karl sighed, dropped his head a bit. He didn't ask
for an explanation, and Harry didn't offer one. He
didn't have to. Karl knew exactly what he meant.
"Because I couldn't not do it. We fought it for a
year, and..."

Viggo slammed his hands down on the table, face inches
from Karl's. "And it didn't occur to either one of
you to end things with us before you fucked each
other? You selfish, stupid son of a bitch."

And Harry didn't even have enough feeling left to be
shocked when Viggo reared back, and his fist connected
with Karl's jaw.

tbc...