Author: Lostiawen

E-mail: Lostiawen

Rated: NC-17

Pairing: VM/OB

Summary: A day at the beach. 

Archive: Mirrormere, VOLA.  All others please ask.

Feedback: Yes, please.

Warnings: no smut this chapter. 

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, none of this really happened.  The author is not associated with or is implying anything about the sexual preferences or the lives of the people depicted within. 

Author´s Notes: You know, when it rains, it pours.  I've been battling RL smacking me in the face, plus writer´s block, (I had a draft a couple of weeks ago, but I was so dissatified with it that I rewrote the chapter. ) and then just when I got everything resolved, my hard drive died.  So, I can post to yahoogroups, but not LJ for now. 

I realize that I´m screwing with the filming schedule, but I didn´t really adhere to it to begin with. 

Posted June 27, 2005. 

Of all of the fucked up things that have happened so far, Henry´s reaction to my announcement was the capstone. Since I know that just pressing the issue right now would just make things worse, I decide to sequester myself in my room. My first impulse is to just paint or write until I pass out, but I really should talk to Orli about this. Just to insure that Henry doesn´t accidentally listen in, I pick up my cell phone and speed dial Orli´s number. 

After a few rings, Orli picks up. I hear a lot of background noise, which means that he´s probably in a club, as usual. "´Lo, could you hold on a tick?"  he says. 

"Okay." 

After a few moments, I hear the raucous noises fading away, and the sound of a door opening. It slams shut, and then everything goes fairly quiet. 

Orli´s voice is filled with concern when he speaks again. "Had to go somewhere where I could hear you. Something´s wrong, isn´t it? You wouldn´t be ringing me up otherwise." 

I´m always amazed by how perceptive he can be. Sighing, I reply, "Yeah. I told Henry about us. He didn´t take it well -- he locked himself in his room." 

"It´ll be all right. He just needs some time," Orli reassures me. 

And I think Orli´s being too optimistic. "I can´t see how this will be fixed. Henry just floored me with his reaction. You´d think he´d know better -- I´ve always said to him that when people are in love, it shouldn´t matter what sex they are." 

"But it´s different because you´re related to him. I mean, to him, parents don´t have sex. So, to tell him that you´re not only shagging, but that you´re sleeping with a bloke..."

"Still..."

Orli cuts in. "Listen, it was a big shock when Mum dropped the bomb about Colin. I couldn´t believe any of it, so I ran away to a friend´s to bunk down for the night. Swore that I´d never talk to her again. Anyway, you know how that worked out. Trust me, he´ll come around." 

"But..." I protest. 

I´m not given a chance to finish. "Look, you can talk in the morning. Besides, you need to have a bit of a lie down. You´ve been a walking zombie since Tuesday." 

As soon as he says it, it hits me that I really haven´t gotten much in the way of rest. Between faxing Peter about revisions to Aragorn´s lines, spending time with Henry, filming, helping the crew out, cooking meals, and extra fight training, I haven´t had a chance to do more than breathe. Shit...yeah, it hits me like a sledgehammer that I´m exhausted. 

"I guess I am a little tired," I reply. 

Orli snorts with derision. "That´s the understatement of the year. You´re completely knackered. And if I don´t keep on you, you´ll just go until you drop, you daft bugger. We have evening make-up calls tomorrow, so you may as well sleep in. C´mon, Vig...please?" 

I can almost see the puppy dog eyes he´s making on the other end. I have trouble resisting them when I´m alert, so I just cave in immediately. "All right." 

"Like I said, things will be better in the morning. Trust me." 

"I hope so," I say doubtfully. 

"I know so," Orli replies. "Now, off to bed, you. Have some nice pervy dreams." 

I bite my lip, deciding to keep quiet about my nightly encounters with Legolas for now. I still need to sort out why I´m even having these dreams. "I will. Good night." 

"Night," Orli says before he hangs up. 

I take off all of my clothes before I crawl into bed and settle down to sleep. I really hope that Orli isn´t wrong... I feel my shoulders tense as I start worrying, and I start tossing around. Fatigue wins out in the end, though, and my tired brain soon tosses everything aside, and blackness fills my vision as I doze off. 

***

As usual, I wake up before Henry does. The first thing that hits me is that I realize that I was a complete dumbshit last night. God, did I have to mention Orli that abruptly? Hell, I´m sure Henry wasn´t even aware of the open relationship I had with Exene, because I only slept around when he was over at her place. It looks like my discretion has come back to bite me in the ass in a big way. And there were several better ways to break the news to Henry, but I´ve been so frazzled that I just botched it. I don´t know why people think I´m so amazing. Right now, I´m scoring a zero across the board. 

Okay, enough of beating myself up. I need to think about breakfast. I wander into the kitchen and start poking my nose in the fridge. Let´s see...what do we have, ingredient wise, for omelets? Hmmm...green onions, garlic, ham...that´s good. And we still have some sausage that I can grill up on the side. Lots of potatoes, too. That´s good, we could use some homefries... 

I start prepping everything, and I get so busy that I don´t notice that Henry is standing in the doorway until I´m in the middle of cooking the omelet. He´s grabbed a tissue from his room, and he´s fiddling with it, looking incredibly nervous as he does so. 

We just stare at each other, and the tension in the room is so thick that you could cut it with a knife. I´m the first to break the silence -- I turn off the burner and wheel around to face him, giving Henry my full attention. "Hey." 

Henry almost jumps out of his skin, but then he settles down. "Hey," he replies. He starts shredding the tissue into little bits, a sure sign that he´s jittery. 

I´m about to say something when Henry blurts out, "I´m sorry about last night, Dad. It was like, too weird for me."  He grimaces when he realizes what he just said and adds, "Not that being gay is weird...but, y´know, it´s different when it´s *you*. Oh God, that came out all wrong, didn´t it?" 

Henry´s face is turning beet red, so I give him a reassuring smile. "No, you´re doing fine. Go ahead and keep talking." 

Relaxing, he continues. "Uh, I don´t have a lot to say...just that when I woke up this morning, I decided that...ummm..." He chews his lip and looks away from me. Dead silence fills the room again. 

Okay, enough´s enough. "Henry," I admonish in my best parental voice. "Spit it out." 

Henry shuffles again and says, "I decided that, uh, I was really stupid. It shouldn´t make a difference that you´re dating a guy." 

My heart leaps in my chest and I crush Henry against me in a bear hug. "Thank you," I whisper. 

Henry´s arms flail around and he squeaks, "You´re crushing me!" 

Damn, guess I let my enthusiasm get the better of me. I think I´m picking up on Orli´s bad habits. I chuckle as I let a sputtering Henry go. 

"Jeez, Dad!"  he pouts, "Guess I won´t feel bad about wanting to poke my eyes out if you do any mushy stuff with Orli." 

This is too good of an opportunity to pass up. In a sickeningly sweet voice, I say, "You mean I can´t call Orli ´snuggle-buns´ in front of you? How about ´pookie bear´?" 

"Ew! Daaad, how could you *do* that before breakfast?"  He sticks his tongue out and makes gagging noises. 

I laugh and go back to cooking the omelet, barely able to control the joy that´s humming through my body right now. I start singing while I finish everything up, which draws some jabs from Henry. I almost flick a piece of food at him -- another bad habit that I´ve picked up from Orli. I shake my head as I serve breakfast; Orli´s definitely worked his way into my life. 

Of course, Henry asks me why I have "that weird grin on my face".

"Do you really want me to talk about Orli again?"  I reply. 

As expected, I get some frantic hand-waving and Henry changes the subject. We have a great chat over our meal, and I turn over in head what we should do for the rest of the day. I have a late make-up call, which means that we´d have enough time to walk on the beach, or just wander through Wellington....on the other hand, the countryside *is* incredible... I can´t really decide, and I´m still thinking about it when a ring from the phone grabs my attention. 

"I´ll get it," I say to Henry, wiping my mouth and putting my fork down on my now empty plate. "You go ahead and clean up." 

I stride over to the phone and pick it up. "Hello?"  I say. Hmmm, that´s odd. I hear a faint whoosh in the background. 

"Hiya," Orli says. "Can you talk?"  His voice is a little tinny, which means that he´s probably in a car. 

"I´ll always make time for you, baby," I purr. 

Orli giggles with delight. "I told you he´d come around," he says. 

"Wha..."

"Well, you wouldn´t be bloody talking to me if it all went bad, yeah? Anyway, I just wanted to call you because I´m going surfing with the Hobbits, and I wanted to be sure that you didn´t need an ear to bend. Of course, now it looks like I shouldn´t have bothered."  God, I know he´s got a cheeky grin plastered on his face right now. 

If I had a pillow in my hand, I´m smack him one. But Henry´s within earshot, so I can´t really tell Orli off; just my fucking luck. 

"Hmmm...dead silence. Guess you´re trying to think of a phrase that doesn´t involve swearing? You know, if you joined me, you could drag me off and give me what for properly." 

Is he nuts? "Orli, I can´t take Henry surfing." 

"Surfing? Sounds cool!"  Henry yells before he enters the room. Shit, that wasn´t a serious offer, but Henry is giving me that pleading look; the one that I can´t say no to. 

Sighing, I mutter, "Uh, Orli? Henry wants to take you up on that offer." 

There´s a pause before Orli says, "He really wants to go surfing with us? Um, is that wise?" 

I agree. For someone who had a negative reaction yesterday to the idea that I had a boyfriend, Henry seems too casual about it today. I´m not convinced that he´s going to be able to handle it. I lift my head and said to Henry, "Are you sure? Orli will be there." 

Henry shrugs and replies, "Duh, he´s the one who asked...I have ears, you know." 

"Henry, are you really sure? Orli will be hugging me..."

He pouts, "Dad, I´m not some *eleven* year old...I can handle it." 

I shake my head and laugh. "All right...Orli?" 

"I heard," Orli responds with enthusiasm. "I can´t wait to see you both. I´ll be there shortly. God, this will be so fantastic!"  I can tell by the sound of his voice that Orli´s bouncing in his seat at the prospect that Henry will be joining us. 

His joy is infectious, and I can´t suppress the broad grin on my face. "Can´t wait to see you," I reply. "Bye." 

"Bye!" 

After a hasty clean-up, Henry and I rush around the house, trying to grab all of the supplies that we´ll be needing for the beach. We´ve just packed up the last bit when I hear a car in the driveway. I open the front door, grinning as Orli comes bounding out of his car. 

"Vig!"  he says, flinging himself into my arms and hugging me as hard as he can. 

I laugh and crush Orli against me, enjoying the feel of his body. God, it´s been too long since we last touched each other and I can feel my cock stirring. That´s not good -- Henry sure as hell won´t appreciate us groping each other. I let Orli go with reluctance, before things get out of hand. 

"Oi! Looks like I´ve been ignoring someone," Orli says, looking over my shoulder. His grin quickly fades, and when I turn around, I see why -- Henry´s standing in the doorway, but his smile is very strained. His body is tense, and I can see that he´s staring at Orli, taking in his every move. 

Shit, I was afraid of that. It´s one thing to say that you´re fine with something; it´s another to be confronted by the reality. Orli backs away a few steps and whispers, "It´s okay, luv. He still needs time. Just give it a chance to sink in." 

"All right," I reply. "I´ll trust your lead on this." 

Orli smiles at me before he raises his voice to tell us that we need to get our arses in gear. It´s a good distraction, keeping Henry´s thoughts off of things while he helps load up the car. However, once we pile in, Henry goes silent again. 

Orli is unfazed, and he starts babbling to me about random things, keeping the atmosphere comfortable and friendly as we drive to the beach. 

***

Orli and the Hobbits whoop loudly as they emerge out of the water, having caught a pretty impressive roller. Henry and I are sitting on a blanket, enjoying the sun. Well, I´m enjoying the sun. Henry´s pouting because I put my foot down and decided that there was no way that I was going to let him out into open water. 

"I´m old enough," he mutters. 

"You still need to grow for a few more years," I reply. 

"I´ll be as tall as Billy next year." 

I ruffle his hair and he sputters. "I don´t think you can really make your body grow on demand. If you could, I´m sure all of the Hobbits would be basketball players by now." 

Speaking of Hobbits, Orli´s hugging each of them, and giving them sloppy kisses on the cheek. Ever since we arrived at the beach, he´s been very careful about keeping his affections focused purely on the Hobbits, and I´m happy that he´s being so understanding about this. 

Uh oh, Orli´s looking at us with a mischievous glint in his eye. Wonder if he conspired with the Hobbits to dunk me into the surf? Shit, he´s coming this way...

Hmm, the Hobbits are heading back into the water. Thank God...I´m safe for now. At least, I think I´m safe until Orli tries to tug me to my feet. 

"Oi, if you´re going to keep Henry land bound, the least you could do is join us," he says. 

Oh no. No fucking way. "Are you nuts? I´ll look like a moron out there." 

I´m hoping that Orli will take the hint, but he´s got that determined look. Shit, I´m doomed. 

"None of us wank...er, blokes knew how to surf when we started. We just kept going and didn´t give a toss what anyone else thought. Come on, Vig...it´ll be fun. Let your son live vicariously. Show him what a big stud you are." 

Henry grins at me, "It would be really cool, Dad." 

Yeah, I´m doomed. Of course, Orli standing close to me in that wetsuit isn´t helping my resistance at all. The latex clings to every curve on his firm ass, and I know that the Speedo he´s wearing underneath doesn´t leave anything to the imagination. 

"Come on, Vig. I´ll take it easy on you. Just this once?"  Orli wheedles. And Henry is looking at me with his version of the dreaded puppy dog eyes. 

I sigh heavily. Might as well not delay the inevitable. "I guess you packed a spare wetsuit for me?" 

Orli nods. "I asked Elijah to rent you one. Should fit you just fine. He brought an extra board, too." 

Why am I not surprised? Orli probably called Elijah as soon as he knew that we were coming. He´s been trying to get me to surf for ages. I grumble while the three of us head out to the car; I may have resigned myself to this, but there´s no way I´m going to do it in silence. 

Orli makes a snide comment about "whingy rangers" as he pulls the wetsuit out of Elijah´s trunk. Hmmm, looks a little on the small side. It´s a challenge to struggle into the latex sheath, and I´m glad that Orli´s resisting the urge to make any comments about how I´ll probably need lube to ease the way. 

Once I´m zipped up, Henry says, "You look great, Dad. I can´t wait to see you out there." 

Well, how can I resist encouragement like that? I give Henry a hug before I pick up the surfboard. 

"Let´s go!"  Orli crows before he bounces down to the water. 

I catch up to him, and he beams at me as we start paddling out. He´s flushed with joy, and his eyes are crinkling at the corners as he smiles. I love it when he´s like this, his face is just dazzling, and I could gaze at him for hours. 

Lowering my voice, I whisper, "Have I ever told you how beautiful you look when you´re this happy?" 

Orli flushes a bright pink. "Flattery won´t get you out of this." 

"Ah hell, you busted me. I guess I should take it back," I reply, shrugging. 

"Maybe I should make you sleep on the couch for being a smartarse," Orli teases before he splashes water on my face. "Come on, old man! Let´s catch a wave!" 

I follow Orli´s lead and we paddle out until we reach a good spot. 

"Now, you wait until a roller comes around and then you climb onto your board," Orli says to me. Almost on cue, a wave crests underneath us. Orli climbs onto his board gracefully, whooping as he does so. Trying to imitate him, I get unsteadily onto my feet, trying to balance. 

To my surprise, I don´t fall in, and I wobble back and forth as the water sweeps me along. Just when I think I´ve gotten the hang of it, something shifts and I feel my board whipping out from underneath me. Pain explodes on the right side of my face and I´m suddenly sucking in water instead of air. I panic, thrashing about, but a firm arm wraps around my torso and pulls me out of the water. 

"Easy, luv," Orli murmurs, holding me up while he treads water. I cough until I see stars, clearing out the fluid from my lungs. 

"I´m okay," I croak. "You can let me go now." 

"Bollocks," Orli says. "I´m taking you back to shore so that I can check you over." 

"Stop fussing, I can swim back."  My head´s spinning like hell, but it´s not anything I can´t handle. Shit, it hurt a hell of a lot more when I sliced my lip open on that barbed wire fence. 

"Oh no, you don´t," Orli says, keeping a good grip on me. "As your boyfriend, I´m exercising my right to be your nursemaid. Besides, what if you´re wrong and you drown?" 

"Orli..." my protest is cut short by those damn puppy dog eyes. I give up, who can resist them? "Fine. I leave myself in your hands."  I say, sighing. 

Orli hugs me before he swims back, towing me along. When he hauls me out of the water, Henry rushes up, worried as hell. 

"Holy shit, Dad, are you okay? Oh my God, look at that bruise!" 

My head´s still very achy, so I don´t yell at him for swearing. The rest of the Hobbits have come to shore and they help Orli drag me over to our abandoned beach blanket. 

Orli tenderly examines my face, concentrating so hard that the tip of his tongue is protruding from between his lips. Uh oh...that frown on his face tells me that something´s wrong. 

"Christ," Orli says. "That´s a hell of shiner you´ve got there...but you´re not bleeding, at least." 

"Pete´s going to kill you," Elijah says. "There´s no way make-up can cover that thing." 

"Bollocks," Orli groans. "We´re fucked."  He slaps his hand over his mouth and says, "I mean, we´re in deep...um..."

"Kimchee?"  Elijah volunteers. 

"Yeah, deep kimchee. Get dressed, old man...we have to haul your arse off to the emergency room. Peter will skin me alive if we don´t get you checked over." 

Orli dismisses the Hobbits, reassuring all of them that things are fine, and he can handle it. They leave, but I´m going to put my foot down about going to the hospital. I think Orli´s being ridiculous. "I´m fine," I growl at him. "I just need some ice." 

"No way, man! Your face is all swollen up!" 

Henry choses this point to pipe up. "Dad´s like the worst patient in the world. When he was sick, he´d keep getting up to go into the studio to paint or write. Exene almost sat on him once to make him stay in bed." 

"Really?"  Orli replies, looking pleased that Henry´s finally talking to him. 

"Uh huh. And he won´t take anything for pain. He likes to tough it out." 

Orli mutters, "Tell me about it. He loves to headbutt the stunties until he can´t see." 

Henry starts bouncing up and down, "Man! I should tell you about the time Dad cut his finger open while he was making dinner...he just kept going. I thought for sure that he´d bleed all over the food." 

Orli starts telling another story about me, and I realize that I´d better put my foot down before he leaks out something embarrassing. "All right, that´s enough." 

"Are you going to come to the emergency room?"  Orli says, arching an eyebrow. "Or should I tell Henry about what happened at Astin´s last party?" 

Oh God. The last thing Henry needs to hear is what I did with the squashes that were sitting on Sean´s table while I was drunk off of my ass. "You wouldn´t..."

"Wanna bet?"  Orli says. Crap, he´s getting that determined look in his eye. 

Henry tilts his head to the side and looks at me quizzically. "Huh? Did Dad get wasted or something?" 

Orli says, "Well, you see, Chris likes to keep these squashes in a basket on the dining room table..."

"All right! I´m going!"  I yell out. 

"Thought you´d come around," Orli says as he hauls me to my feet. 

****

After waiting around forever in the emergency room, the doctor finally examines me. And he pretty much says what I expected -- except for the bruising, there´s no other trauma. I could have told Orli that, but I don´t think he would have listened. 

At least one good thing came out of going to the emergency room, though. I think that while I was being examined, Henry resolved whatever tension he had towards Orli. I had no idea at first -- as soon as I came out and told them that I could go, Orli insisted on driving us back. He had called Peter about the accident, and we had been given the night off. 

On the way home, Orli and Henry kept chatting with ease. They were still talking when Orli pulled into the driveway. He then scampered out and insisted on walking me inside, overriding my protests. 

The fussing didn´t stop there -- Orli made me lie down on the couch, insisting that there was no need to cook and that he´d order take-out; he fetched a pillow and a blanket for me, and he poured me a shot of scotch for "medicinal uses".

"I´m fine," I growl at him. "You probably have better things to do tonight." 

"Now, now...you should rest up, and I know that if I don´t stay here, you´ll get up and start puttering around." 

Damnit, he´s worse than a mother hen. "Orli, I don´t need to be babied. I can take care of myself." 

Henry gives me one of his most pitiful looks. "Dad, why can´t Orli stay over tonight? You need someone to take care of you." 

What? Did I hear what I thought I heard? 

"Fantastic!"  Orli giggles. "You´ve stunned him speechless, mate."  He tucks my blanket closer around my neck and turns to speak to Henry again. "You realize, of course, that it means that I´m going to spend the evening kicking your arse in Soul Caliber?" 

"No way," Henry shoots back. "You suck at it." 

"Really?"  Orli replies. "Then fire up the Dreamcast, and I´ll show you who sucks." 

The room is soon filled with laughter and loud exclamations, and I smile as I watch the two most important people in my life play with each other as if it´s the most natural thing in the world. Orli´s enjoying himself immensely, giggling and shouting expletives whenever Henry scores a hit. His eyes are dancing with glee, and I can see the same expression reflected in Henry´s face. Content, I drift off to sleep, happy that my son has now accepted the love of my life. 

---
end part 17

Chapter 18
Chapter 16
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