Forever His

TITLE: Forever His ~ Redemption (13/13)
RATING: PG-13

Redemption


When Dom, Billy and Sean arrived at make-up the next morning, they found Elijah and Josh already there. Billy instantly went to hug the smaller American. “How are you feeling today?”

“Tired,” Elijah confessed. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Really?” Dom sounded concerned. “How come?”

Elijah looked down, trying to hide the shameful look on his face. “I…I kept having this nightmare…”

Josh, who already had his arm around Elijah, pulled the smaller man closer. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Sean’s eyes widened at this. “Nightmare? What about?”

Elijah bit his lip as he forced himself to look up. “I…I dreamt that I was in this room…and I couldn’t find any of you guys. So I tried to find my way out on my own, but every time I got close, Orlando would appear and stop me somehow. And every time he stopped me, he’d be taunting me about how I can’t cope without you…” He broke off as tears consumed him.

Josh kissed the top of his boyfriend’s head. “Hey…it’s okay. Remember, it was just a dream. It’s not real.”

“You’d cope without us,” Dom added. “You were doing fine at the start – bettean man most of us.”

Billy nodded in agreement. “You were always the cheeriest when we got here at stupid times in the morning. Just because you don’t have to manage, doesn’t mean you can’t.”

Josh smiled thankfully at the two Brits. “I keep telling him this, but it helps to have you saying it as well.”

Sean moved closer. “We’ll say it as many times as we have to for it to sink in.”

Elijah glanced up at Josh, tears still streaming down his face. “I don’t wanna see him.”

Josh felt his heart twist at his boyfriend’s tone. “You won’t be alone. I should have done this before, but I’m not leaving your side today unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Elijah bit his lip. “Will Peter mind?”

Billy shook his head. “I suspect he’ll be glad of someone to keep you calm.”

Sean nodded in agreement. “Speaking of calming influences, where’s Clea?”

“She had to leave today,” Josh replied. “Almost broke her heart, but it had to be done.”

Elijah sniffled slightly as he looked up. “Sorry about yesterday, guys.”

“It’s not your fault.” Dom gave Elijah a reassuring look. “You couldn’t help it.”

As he spoke, there was a knock on the trailer door. Dom moved to open it, standing back to let Viggo and Liv in.

Liv instantly went to Elijah’s side. “I only got back last night, but Sean and Viggo told me about yesterday. I wanted to get you something to cheer you up but I didn’t have much time, what with the early start today. So I couldn’t get much, but…” She held out the bar of chocolate she had in her hand. “I know it always cheers me up.”

Elijah smiled timidly as he took the offered gift. “Thanks, Liv. That’s really sweet of you.”

“How are you feeling today?” asked Viggo. “Sean sounded pretty worried about you when he got back to the trailer yesterday.”

Elijah shrugged. “I’ll cope, I guess. I kinda have to.”

“You look exhausted,” Liv commented. “Can you get some sleep before you have to film?”

“I’m sure you could,” Billy mused. “I mean, you can sleep anywhere.”

Elijah looked down. “What if…?”

Josh took his boyfriend’s hands in his own. “We’re all going to be here, Lij. And we’re all on your side. You don’t have to be afraid.”

Viggo sighed as he moved to the door. “I suppose we should leave you to it.”

Liv stood up. “See you later, guys. And Elijah, try and get more sleep if you can.”

As the pair left, Dom turned to Elijah. “Our feet take long enough to apply. You’ll be able to get some rest then.”


~EW~*~JH~


Josh’s gaze was fixed on Elijah as the younger American filmed his scene. Though Elijah had slept briefly, he was still by no means as awake as he could have been.

Out of the corner of his eye, Josh spotted a slight movement. Shooting a glance sideways, he saw Orlando stood waiting for his scene, his eyes fixed on the same person that Josh had been watching. Forcing himself not to confront the Brit, he turned his attention back to the scene.

Elijah let out a sigh of relief as Peter finally called an end to his filming session. He walked over to Josh, thankful for his boyfriend catching him as he almost collapsed from exhaustion.

Josh kissed the top of his lover’s head. “I’m proud of you. You’re a true professional.”

Elijah smiled tiredly. “Can I be truly, professionally asleep?”

Josh pulled Elijah down so that the younger man was sitting more on his lap. “If that’s what you want.”

Elijah shifted to get comfortable, letting his head rest at the crook of Josh’s neck. “I don’t think I have much choice in the matter,” he replied, yawning as he spoke.

“Then give in to it.” Josh smiled. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Elijah nodded, letting his eyes flutter closed as he settled. Josh gently stroked his boyfriend’s cheek, admiring the beauty of Elijah asleep.

His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle cough. He instantly tensed as he looked up to see Orlando standing in front of him. “What do you want?”

Orlando looked down. “I…I wanted to apologise. I just…I thought I deserved to be punished more than I was, so I set about getting it to happen.”

“Well congratulations, because you’ve succeeded there. Did you have to punish Elijah at the same time?”

Orlando sighed. “I didn’t mean for yesterday to happen…I just wasn’t thinking straight.”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “Still failing to hear anything I didn’t already know.”

Orlando glanced at Elijah, who was fast asleep. “He still trusts you so much. How does he not hate you?”

Josh felt a little riled by this question. “Perhaps because I’ve freely admitted I was in the wrong without bringing it up every five minutes. That, and perhaps he realises as much as I do that a year and a half is a long time to throw away for no reason.”

Orlando backed off at the other man’s tone. “I wasn’t trying to imply anything. I was just curious.”

Josh was about to reply when he felt Elijah shift slightly. The younger man let out a frightened whimper, a sound that Josh recognised from thevioevious night. His attention diverted from Orlando momentarily, he gently stroked Elijah’s hair. “It’s alright, baby. I’m here.”

Elijah’s eyes flew open, already dampening with tears. “Why won’t he leave me, Josh?”

Orlando bit his lip, feeling guilty at the state the young American was working himself into. Cautiously, he asked, “Why won’t who leave?”

Elijah looked up at this. “You,” he answered simply.

Josh gently brushed some hair from his lover’s face. “Would you rather go elsewhere?”

“Josh, please…” Orlando sounded almost desperate. “I need Elijah to know…”

“Know what?” Elijah’s voice was thick with unshed tears.

“How sorry I am, and how I never meant for yesterday to upset you this much.” Orlando almost made eye contact with Elijah, but shied away. “I just couldn’t handle the fact that you weren’t making me suffer.”

Elijah forced the eye contact. “Because I didn’t want things to be awkward out here. But at the same time, I wasn’t ready to go back to sharing everything with you.”

“And I t blt blame you for that.” Orlando sighed. “I’m just too stupid to realise when things are happening for the best.”

“So you decided to call me pathetic?” There was a mild hint of pain in Elijah’s voice. “As though I didn’t feel stupid enough as it was, having to rely on the others to look after me.”

“I wasn’t thinking when I said that, and I definitely didn’t mean it.” Orlando bit his lip. “I don’t expect anything like what you gave me last time…but I had to tell you.”

Without giving either American a ce tce to answer, Orlando walked off. Elijah watched him leave before turning to Josh. “You…you think he meant all that?”

Josh sighed, knowing where Elijah’s thoughts were going. “I’d complain at your forgiving nature if I wasn’t so grateful for it.”

Elijah bit his lip. “I just…I don’t like hating people. And…well, he didn’t have to come over, did he?”

“He didn’t have to ask me whu dou don’t hate me, either.”

Elijah’s eyes widened at this. “He did?”

Josh gave a resigned sigh. “It wasn’t like he was attacking me like yesterday. I just didn’t feel comfortable with him asking it because…well, because if I’m being honest, I’m not sure why you don’t hate me either.”

Elijah felt his repressed tears spill over. “I could never hate you, Josh. Not really, not after all we’ve shared…”

“Hey…” Josh gently brushed the tears away. “It’s okay, Lijah.”

Elijah shook his head. “It isn’t, not yet. But if you’re willing to stand by me, it can be by tonight.”


~EW~*~JH~


That night, Orlando was sat in his room reading when he heard a knock at the door. He folded down the corner of the page he was at before standing up and going to answer.

To his surprise, he saw Elijah and Josh standing outside. Suddenly cautious, he asked, “What can I do for you two?”

Elijah bit his lip. “I…I wanted to talk to you, if that’s okay?”

Orlando nodded. “Of course. Come in.”

Josh moved to stop Elijah as he went forward. “If you need me, I’ll be down at the bar with the others.”

Elijah nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you down there.”

After sharing a brief kiss, Josh walked off. Orlando raised an eyebrow. “I’d have thought he’d have wanted to stay.”

“He did,” Elijah replied as he walked into the room. “But I had to do this alone.”

Orlando nodded, closing the door as he asked, “You know what you said earlier, about how I wouldn’t leave you? What did you mean?”

Elijah sighed. “I had this nightmare last night…where you were taunting me about not being able to fend for myself.”

Orlando moved to sit on the bed. “That would explain why you wanted to do this alone. I swear I didn’t mean what I said, Elijah.”

“I know. Josh said you were doing it so that we’d keep on hating you. But I don’t like hating you, Orli. Not when we always used to get on so well.” Elijah looked down. “That’s why I was willing to be friendly to you before.”

Orlando sighed. “And I messed it up. Sounds about right.”

Elijah shook his head. “I’m not trying to make you feel worse, Orli. I mean…” He trailed off, gently chewing at his thumb-nail before continuing, “I think if we hadn’t fallen out, I would have been quite happy that you and Josh were going to meet each other – to have two of the people who mean so much to me getting on.”

Orlando looked up at this. “This is where mypidipidity starts showing again. I preferred to think that you were only talking to me because you didn’t have Josh, because that made you worse to me. But Dom was right…you came to me first, and that should have meant something.”

Elijah took a cautious step closer. “You know I never meant to lead you on, don’t you?”

Orlando nodded. “The signs all pointed to you being taken. I just chose to ignore them.”

Elijah bit his lip. “And you know that I wasn’tt ust using you? That you were my best on-set friend?”

Orlando stood up. “I know that I should never have done any of the things I did. And I can barely stand the fact that you’re not yelling at me. How can you be so good to me?”

Elijah raised an eyebrow. “Orlando, I’ve been in acting a long time. I’ve already gone through my bratty adjustment stage. And I know you will too, in time – you’ve started to by admitting you were wrong. So it would be wrong of me to hate you for a phase we all go through.”

Orlando almost collapsed from the tears that suddenly spilled over. “Then…it’s not just me?”

Elijah moved to support Orlando as the Brit stumbled back towards the bed. “No, it’s not just you. Orlando, I understand this must be hard for you – your first major shoot and you have to spend so long away from home. No one expected you to handle it perfectly. We all make mistakes; the key is recognising when we’ve screwed up and then moving on. Dwelling on things doesn’t help anyone.”

Orlando locked eyes with the American. “I guess drama school can’t teach you everything, right?”

Elijah shook his head. “That’s where the rest of us in the acting game play a part. We can guide the newcomers through all the difficulties we’ve already faced.”

“I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

The two men in the room looked up with a start at Viggo’s voice. The older man smiled a little. “Someone had to keep an eye on things.”

Elijah glanced down. “There wouldn’t have been any fighting involved.”

“That’s why Josh sent me. He knows you pretty well, I’ll give him that.”

“So he should, by now,” Orlando returned. “I’m not surprised he wanted to look out for you.”

Elijah blushed a little. “I know it sounds stupid, but I like him protecting me.”

“And he likes doing it,” Viggo commented. “Dom Bil Billy keep telling us about the way he fusses over you, even if we couldn’t see it for ourselves.”

Orlando smiled as Elijah’s blush deepened. He was about to speak when another voice entered the conversation.

“See what for yourselves?”

Elijah instantly moved to Josh’s side. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.”

Josh smiled a little. “Though I had nothing to worry about. You seem to have handled things fine by yourself.”

Elijah opened his mouth to speak, but any words were cut off by a yawn. His boyfriend smiled as he pulled the smaller man into an embrace. “Think it’s time for you to catch up on your sleep?”

Elijah nodded, resting his head on Josh’s shoulder. “You lot carry on. I’m fine just here.”

Orlando shook his head. “You should at least get back to your room first, Lij. Though I’m sure Josh would be happy to stand there until you woke up, it wouldn’t do him much good.”

Josh chuckled at this. “He might have a point there, Lijah. You might be able to sleep standing up, but some of us have to be in a nice comfy bed if we want to get any rest.”

Elijah sighed. “Fine…I’ll move if I have to.”

As Josh moved to lead Elijah out, Orlando called out, “Wait.”

The two Americans turned as one. Elijah gave a sleepy reply of, “What?”

Orlando looked down. “I know it’s a hell of a lot to ask for, but…can we start over?”

Elijah glanced up at Josh, who nodded. “Provided he really has learnt his lesson, I don’t see why not,” the older man commented.

Elijah nodded. “Okay. As of tomorrow, none of this ever happened.”

Relief flooded through Orlando at this. “Thank you, Elijah. I promise I’ll learn from my mistakes.”

As Elijah and Josh moved to leave for a second time, Orlando turned to Viggo. “He’s too good to me.”

Viggo shook his head. “He just understands your position. Well, maybe not the drama school bit…but certainly the idea of being new to this sort of thing.”

Orlando shrugged. “I guess. Suppose it doesn’t really matter now, only to stop me from doing the same thing again.”

Viggo nodded. “And something tells me you won’t do this again.” He smiled. “The others will be waiting for me. Can I tempt you into joining us?”

Orlando returned the smile as he stood, suddenly feeling optimistic for the first time in months. “Why not?”

~*fin*~