The days passed in treacherous normality.
It seemed like the late summer days had everyone moving a little slower than usual. Even Bob who usually worked them until exhaustion was uncommonly docile. The swordmaster seemed pleased with the progress of his students, while Sean was silently thankful for his hours of practice wielding a sword from earlier on. Coming out of the training hall he nearly walked right into a darkhaired female.
“Liv?” He hesitated seeing the damp cheeks. “You ok?”
She sniffled. “I think so.” Trying to get a hold of her emotions, she shook her head, long and dark hair dancing. “It’s just...everything, you know? I haven’t seen my family or my boyfriend in ages, and then... Then my dad called. No real reason, just to say that he was proud of me. And I’m so far away that I can’t even give him a hug.” A new tear slipped down her cheek.
“Yeah, I know what that feels like. It’s hell being this far away at times.” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “But it does get easier. It’s not like you’re never going to get to see them again. And I bet your dad is missing you a lot too.”
Liv nodded, wiping her hand over her eyes. “Yeah, he told me.” Taking a deep breath, she smiled a little. “Wanna go try drown our sorrows in orange juice?” She linked her arm in his, not giving him a chance to reply. “You wouldn’t abandon a poor, defenceless girl all on her own in the middle of her breakdown, would you?”
“Would that be a mental breakdown?” Sean inquired, receiving a strong tug on his arm. “Hey, I’m coming! And you were saying about being defenseless?”
“Nothing.” The answer was followed by a giggle.
Finding them a table outside the canteen, Liv sobered up. “Thanks for cheering me up, Sean, it meant a lot to me.” Another giggle escaped her by the sight of the older man’s slight blush. “For a man capable of looking as positively evil as you can, I never thought you could look so adorable getting embarrased over a compliment.”
“I’m not embarrased.”
“Then why are you blushing?” Liv’s eyes narrowed playfully.
“It’s not a blush, it’s my rosy complexion.”
Liv was laughing too hard to answer. Taking a drink of her orange juice, she winked at him. “And a nice complexion it is. Maybe you should take up modelling. You’re certainly handsome enough.” Looking thoughtful she added: “But then again, that would mean that they’d have to find a way to make you stand still long enough to actually take a picture. You nearly drove the poor photographer that did the PR shots to tears.”
He shrugged. “I don’t like cameras.”
“Boy are you in the wrong line of work then.”
“I didn’t mean those cameras.”
“I hardly notice them anymore myself. Lately it seems I can’t go anywhere without someone sticking one of them in my face.” Liv smiled. “But hey, it comes with what I do.”
Sean raised his glass to her’s in a toast. “To our profession. To be a million miles away from home and the ones you care about, to be exhausted and overworked, and loving every minute of it.”
“Cheers!” Liv answered, clinking her glass to his. “To the joy of acting.”
This early in the day they had most of the place to themselves, only a few crew members walking to and from, working on the Rivendell scene. Most of the scenes weren’t shot in the chronological order, and some at the same times in different locations.
The nine actors in the fellowship were still doing the fight scenes in Moria, while the rest of the elves were still on the Rivendell scene.
Orlando walked by, waving at them. Already in costume, the long, blonde wig glistened in the sunlight, making him look suspiciously innocent. The curve of the bow and the straighter lines of the arrows looked like a natural compliment to the elf’s body by now.
“I should go get ready myself,” Sean said, getting up. “ You sure you’re ok, Liv? Peter would let you take the day off if you’re not up to filming.”
Leaning over the table, Liv placed a warm kiss on his cheek. “You’re too nice, Sean. I feel alot better, it helped to talk about it. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” Sean replied, returning the smile. “Now play nice with poor Hugo.”
She made a face at him, taking ten years of her appearance. “I’ll do my very best.”
Neither of them saw the tall, darkhaired figure silently watching them. Then the man turned, disappearing back into the autumn afternoon.
The house was empty as Sean returned. Viggo had left right after the shoot was done, which the younger man hadn’t thought too much of at the time. But by now he started to feel a little uneasy.
The sound of a door being opened and silently shut followed. Waiting for a voice that didn’t come, Sean turned around, finding blue eyes watching him back.
“Viggo?”
There might as well be two men staring back at him. None of the others would ever see this appearance stray from the way Viggo acted every day. But Sean knew, just by one glance.
The blue eyes was part of a glacier, evergrowing ice that chilled him even from two feet away. The body was fire, flames erupting into strong arms, large hands like sparks and just as able to cause pain. It all kept him in place, going closer would be dangerous. Responding to the fire his own body was frozen. The air itself was dancing, fleeing from him even though he was holding his breath. The dance had begun, his feet was working again and he took a step back. The darker man followed. It was slow, simple and almost elegant. Then it broke.
The first contact made by Viggo’s hand had him crashing into the wall, before crumpling to the ground. The next one had the egde of the table bite into his side, like a viscious creature trying to break his skin with a teethless mouth. Breathing was painful, like trying to inhale acid. Keeping down, Sean managed to push himself up a little, body tense and waiting. The force of the blows had made him lightheaded, to the point where he wasn’t really sure if he was feeling pain anymore.
“Get up.” The words were calm, as if the man standing over him had casually remarked the weather. Carefully looking up, Sean felt the ice in those blue eyes slowly spread inside of him as well. It was nothing he could do to stop it now, short of running away. And with the unpleasant knowlegde that he couldn’t, wouldn’t run away, he remained still. Their eyes met in the moment of silence, the black light marrying the clearness of the blue nearly had the greeneyed man whimpering. He had moved and he hadn’t even noticed it. His own voice, soft and foreign to even his own ears, uttered the two small words of ‘oh no’, before he remembered that talking without permission might tip the scale of what the other would allow to the wrong side.
“I said get up.” Viggo’s voice was still calm, it was actually more frightening than any angry words, Sean found himself moving back even more. He didn’t get far before Viggo had moved with him, grabbed hold of him and hauled him to his feet. Almost effortlessly he slammed the smaller man into the wall, keeping him locked against the unyielding mass.
This close he could see that the ice was gone momentarily, replaced by fire, which he knew, giving Sean the courage to speak again.
“Viggo... You’re hurting me.”
The hands that kept his wrists pinned down tightened. “I know. I intended to.”
Viggo coolly looked him over. “I saw you, you know... You and...her. You cheap, little whore...didn’t you think I would find out?”
Absolute dread made its way through Sean’s confused mind. “No... No, it wasn’t like that... We were just talking, Liv didn’t do...” The back of Viggo’s hand met with the side of his face, leaving behind a stinging heat.
“It doesn’t matter, pet. Clearly you have forgotten who you belong to.” Viggo left him a little more room to breathe. “I will have to remind you. Get into the bed.”
He would have been willing to take a lot of different things as whatever punishment Viggo saw fit, but not this.
“No.” The word was out before Sean could stop himself. A sudden wave of defiance made him meet Viggo’s gaze again, shaking his head. “No. Because it wasn’t what you think it was. I didn’t do anything.”
From there the world moved like a crazed spinning top before coming crashing to an end. His head was slammed back into the wall, bright stabs of pain making catherine wheels of light dance before his eyes. Then he was face down in a bed, the softness of it feeling like a spider’s web, clutching and clinging, keeping him as much down as the one pressing him into the matress.
In a smooth movement Viggo rid himself of the T-shirt he was wearing. Balling it up, he draped it around Sean’s wrists, having it tied up before the younger man had the chance to withdraw his hands. His own T-shirt was dragged over his head and added to the first one, binding his wrists closely together.
“You don’t want to do this, Viggo,” he tried, attempting to crawl away. “This isn’t you, you’re just angry...”
A hot kiss dropped onto his left shoulder. “Damn right I’m angry. You’ve been a very bad boy, Shawn.”
Hands went to work on the buttons of his jeans, sparking another futile attempt of escape. The rough fabric was moved down Sean’s hips and legs, deliberatedly slow. The shock of naked skin on his own was enough to render him incapable of moving, but just for a second.
“Don’t do this to me, Viggo,” he whispered, the warmth and strength of the other’s body bringing a nauseating reminder of gentler touches. “Please don’t do this to me.”
The answer came in form of movement more than words. His legs were pushed apart, hands touching him. Then the pain was everywhere, liquid, searing fire spreading with wild intensity out through him. It stole his breath, dragging him under in a thick, suffocating darkness. The pain then changed, becoming as rhytmic as his own heartbeat that was thundering in his ears, blocking out the faint, keening sound he got past his lips. He didn’t even have the breath to scream, not when everything in him was curling up on the inside, trying to find a place to hide. This wasn’t happening. Hiding on the inside was the only option left by now and Sean accepted it wholeheartedly. It was easier to just become...seperated. To watch rather than experience.
It didn’t last for long though. With one last kiss to his neck and tasting a drop of sweat trailing over the warm skin, Viggo rolled off of him, remaining on his back and breathing heavily.
The only sound in the room was the sets of matching breaths. Then Sean could stand it no more. Pulling his clothes back on, desperatedly working on freeing his hands, he aimed for the edge of the bed. He never made it that far.
Strong arms were pulling him back, drawing him into a close embrace. The constricting garments were removed from his wrists, the bruising on the skin left by fingers and not the shirts. Gathering him close to his own body, Viggo was holding him still, ignoring the struggling. Instead he was rocking him like one would soothe a small child.
“It’s ok, dearest, it’s allright now. I know you don’t mean to, but sometimes you make me so mad...” Brushing his hand over damp, blonde hair, he sighed. “Don’t do this to me again, Sean. I don’t like having to punish you. But I will, if you force me to.” Sean didn’t reply at first, the smaller man having gone completely immobile in his arms.
“Nothing happened.” The small reply was nearly inaudible.
“You are too naive, my dear... Of course she wants you, they all do. And you are too innocent to see what their intentions are. You’d be lost without me.”
Gently Viggo placed his finger under Sean’s chin, lifting his face up. “It makes me afraid of losing you, pet.” He tenderly touched his fingers to the blonde’s cheek. “They all want you for themselves, why should you stay with me?”
Green eyes were briliantly glittering, unshed tears adding to the glow. Trembling hands found their ways around Viggo’s neck. Then Sean hid his face against Viggo’s shoulder, arms locking them tightly together. “But I don’t want them! I want you...”
Hugging Sean to him again, Viggo smiled. “I know you do, sweetheart.”