Forever His

TITLE: Forever His ~ The Vengeance Begins (4/13)
RATING: PG-13 at the moment.

The Vengeance Begins


The week before Orlando left to start work on Black Hawk Down had been a tense one. For the first couple of days Elijah had barely noticed, since he had Clea keeping him sane.

The day she left, though, he had soon learnt how bad things were. Much as he had liked to convince himself that Orlando was only not speaking to him because Clea was there, he knew the truth. It was the same reason that Viggo and Sean Bean had taken to blanking him completely, desperate to “prove” that they were on Orlando’s side. sam same reason that the other Hobbits barely left him, as though somehow convinced that he would do something stupid if they did leave him.

It all came down to that one single kiss.

If it hadn’t happened to him before, he never would have thought that a kiss could cause so many changes. It seemed so wrong that the same thing that had brought him happiness had now led to so much misery.

And now, Orlando was leaving. He had come down to the set to say goodbye, at least to Peter and the members of the crew that he was still speaking to. The scene being filmed was one with the Hobbits, and so the goodbyes didn’t take very long.

The others watched as Orlando left, but it wasn’t Orlando they were watching. Their eyes were all fixed on Elijah, who looked as though he longed to run after the one who had once been a close friend.

Peter sighed. “For heaven’s sake, Elijah, go after him. Otherwise we’ll never get this scene done.”

Elijah didn’t need telltwictwice. It didn’t take him long to reach Orlando’s trailer, where the Brit was currently saying goodbye to Viggo.

It was Viggo that spotted him first. He turned to Orlando and said, “Listen, I’d better go. And don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

Orlando nodded, confused by Viggo’s sudden decision to leave until he also spotted Elijah a little way off. “Okay. I’ll keep you updated with how it’s all going.”

“You just make sure that you do.” Viggo smiled at Orlando before walking away.

Orlando watched him leave before turning to Elijah. “What do you want?”

“I came to say goodbye.” Elijah’s voice was quiet, as it usually was when he was uncertain. “I was hoping you wouldn’t have to leave with us still fighting.”

Orlando shrugged. “Who said we were fighting? I’d have thought not speaking would be a better description.”

Elijah looked down. “I’m sorry, Orli. I didn’t mean for things to be awkward between us.”

To his surprise, Orlando came forward, smiling a little. “It’s okay, Elijah. It was wrong of me to try and make you take the blame for it all.”

Eliblinblinked at this. “You…you mean, you don’t hate me?”

He’s like a bloody kid’s book. “No, I don’t hate you.”

Elijah smiled, the relief clear on his face. “I’m so glad. Listen, I’d better get back, so…good luck.”

Orlando nodded. “Thank you.”

He watched as Elijah left, feeling almost guilty at the spring in the younger man’s step. The feeling didn’t last for long. If he wants to go back to acting as though nothing happened, let him. He’ll soon learn.

The desire for vengeance renewed, he picked up his bags and went to wait for the taxi that would take him to the airport.


~EW~*~JH~


A week later, Elijah was lying on the bed in his hotel room, alone but not unhappy. Dom and Billy had just left, as they had scenes to shoot, but for once, he had a day off. Though he did still miss Josh, and wished that they could be spending the day together, he was happy in the knowledge that his love was only a message away.

Not that he had heard much from Josh over the last week – or Orlando, come to think of it. Not that he had been expecting daily updates from either, but something over the last week would have been nice, some sign that they missed him as much as he missed them.

Almost as if on cue, his phone began to ring. Elijah snatched it up to answer. “Hello?”

“Hey, gorgeous. It’s me.”

Elijah sat up instantly at the sound of his boyfriend’s voice. “Josh! I was just thinking about you.”

“Is that so?” Josh sounded mildly amused. “Do I wanna know?”

Elijah blushed, thankful that he couldn’t be seen. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know. It was worth the thought, though.”

Elijah grinned. “If you say so. What do I owe this phone call to, anyway?”

“I need an excuse? What can I say; this is the first chance I’ve had to call you. It’s been pretty manic out here.”

“I know the feeling.” Elijah began to slip back into his lying position, moving so that he lay on his side rather than his front. “I think this is the first day I’ve had off since…well, the start, really.”

“Must be nice. Shame we can’t have this day off together.” There was a rare longing in Josh’s voice.

Elijah sighed. “I know. How long has it been, now?”

“Too long.” Josh paused for a moment, as though trying to think how best to put what he had to ask. “Listen, um…how well do you get on with Orlando?”

Elijah could feel dread rising at the question. “We’re friends. I mean, we kinda stopped speaking before he left, but as far as I know things are okay again.”

“I see.” Long pause. “Would you…I mean…if you weren’t with me…would you be interested?”

“In Orlando?” Elijah was more than a little confused. “Not really. I mean, he’s a friend…but that’s all.”

“It’s just that…he told me that you guys kissed.”

Elijah had to struggle not to either laugh or cry – though he didn’t know which one was threatening to hit him first. “It’s not true, Josh. I mean… he kissed me. But I pulled away.”

There was silence at the other end of the phone. Elijah felt his heart twist at the thought that he had upset his boyfriend. In a voice laden with guilt, he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Is that it?”

“Well, what do you want me to say? That it’s not true, that I made it up? You want me to lie to you?”

“Tell me it didn’t mean anything to you.”

“I…I…of course it didn’t! I-“

“Say it.” Elijah had never heard so much hurt in Josh’s voice.

“It didn’t mean anything to me. I didn’t even want him to do it!” Elijah found himself getting desperate. “Josh…what has he said to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Somehow, Josh didn’t sound too convinced. <’d b’d better go. Speak to you later.”

Elijah didn’t even get a chance to answer. Dropping the phone onto the bed, he started to think through what had just happened. Why had Orlando decided to tell Josh about the kiss? Surely he would have known that Josh would be upset…

But of course he did. Elijah could have kicked himself for being so stupid, so trusting. He should have known that things had been cleared up too easily for all that had happened.

He was about to phone Orlando and give him a piece of his mind when there was a knock at the door. Sighing, he called out, “It’s open.”

Sean poked his head around the door, instantly spotting the dejected look on Elijah’s face. Rushing into the room, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Orlando told Josh about our kiss.” Even as he said it, he felt another twist as guilt threatened to overwhelm him. “Only I think he implied that it was two-sided.”

Sean moved to hug Elijah. “So much for things being sorted, then. You did tell him the truth, didn’t you?”

Elijah nodded. “I don’t know if he believed me…” He trailed off as tears overwhelmed him. “Why, Sean? He could have done anything, but he had to bring Josh into it as well.”

Sean sighed as he tried to console his friend. “Who knows, Lij? Maybe he’s just acting through jealousy, and so lashing out at Josh is the obvious thing.”

“So he gets hurt for loving me?” Elijah sounded devastated. “I’d never want that to happen.”

Sean gently stroked Elijah’s hair. “It’ll all work out,” he soothed. “Josh’ll realise that you’re the one being honest with him.”

Elijah looked up, looking truly afraid. “I hope so.”