Challenge Fic: Five Minutes Longer.

[tarnished-raven.livejournal.com]

Title: Five Minutes Longer.
Author: Raven
Email: tarnishedraven at gmail dot com
Rated: Adult
Characters: Sean Bean/Orlando Bloom
Chapter: Two
Disclaimer: The characters in this story have the same names as certain well-known actors. The descriptions sound like them. The icons have their faces on them. But they are characters in a story and this story is of the genre known as fan-fiction. It comes from my imagination, nowhere else.

Notes: Written for challenges issued at [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]

Challenge:
1] Challenge by angiepen
"Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)" Robert Heinlein.
2] Challenge by [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]
Orlando/Sean. Orlando's back injury takes an unexpected turn for the worse and he ends up in a wheel chair. He pushes his friends away.







Five Minutes Longer.
[A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)]





"No mum, you know what the best thing is about being here?" Orlando switched the phone from one ear to the other. "He doesn't fuss. No, really. If something needs doing, he just does it, or shoves it, or picks it up, and he doesn't expect fireworks and flowers or letters of congratulation to be sent. It's no big deal. And I like that." Which was only the truth. People seemed to look for thanks when they gave aid to a wheelchair-bound person, something he'd never noticed until it was him, and something they didn't seem to require when helping out an able-bodied friend.

"No, mum. I didn't mean you."

Maybe it was because Sean was a father? Whatever the reason, he'd just do whatever needed doing and then carry on as normal, no gratitude looked for or expected.

"Yes mum, I know. No, I'm not just 'adoring'. No, I can see the forest for the trees. I'm so over that. Yes, I'm sure. No, I won't forget. Yeah, you too. Love to all. Bye."

He set the phone back in the cradle and grinned to himself. Mothers! He loved her to bits but damn it'd been good not being home. No casual 'dropping in' when you had to travel two hours further to get to Sean's place!

Sean had his moments, who didn't, and they'd snapped at one another a time or two, but most of the time they 'rubbed along together' just as Sean had said they would. In fact, he'd been surprisingly… friendly. Surprisingly, because Orlando had expected his host to be his usual reticent, often absent, self. But unless Sean was out at a meeting or on some other business, he was around most of the time, genial, friendly, charming, all the things he was famous for being to those who didn't know him personally.

His mum needed dissuading from her notion that Orlando was being forgiving of Sean because he thought Sean was the 'bee's knees'. She'd experienced Sean's disappearing act for herself years ago and had taken personal umbrage, not liking that he didn't fall over himself to make her wonderful boy's first really important acting experience anything less than marvelous. Especially as she knew how devoted a fan Orlando was. Trying to make her understand that it didn't mean Sean owed Orlando anything, had been impossible and still was. 'Set in her ways' didn't come close to describing how stubborn his mum could be.

He wheeled over to the window and parked looking out at the garden. Sean was digging in one of the beds against the side fence, his t-shirt stained with a stripe of sweat down the back and under the arms and his hair plastered to his forehead and temples. Ahh, Mellors, you sexy beast. Okay, so he wasn't over 'that'. Orlando grinned to himself. But he was no Connie. Lord Clifford maybe? Sean could probably use a cold drink either way.

Five minutes later, he was out on the back verandah with a couple of glasses stuffed upright between his knees and two light ales clinking together in the side pocket of the chair.

"Yo! Mellors!" he called out, grinning.

Sean looked up and around at the shout. Orlando showed him one of the bottles and Sean smiled, nodded and shoved the spade into the dirt, leaving it there. He trotted across, wiping his face on a kerchief from his back pocket.

Sean took a deep draught from the bottle, ignoring the glasses on the table. "Ah, that hits the spot. Thanks." He tipped his head to one side. "He was a gamekeeper, not a gardener."

"I know." Orlando grinned, lifting the bottle to his lips. "But I thought old Mellors could turn his hand to just about anything."

Sean chuckled. "Wasn't his hand that got him in trouble." He dropped into the chair next to Orlando and put his feet up on the table, bits of dirt and grass dropping onto the vinyl tablecloth.

They sipped their beers in silence for a few minutes and Sean never said a word about Orlando's mixing alcohol with medication. 'Big enough and ugly enough to make up yer own mind.', Sean had said the first night Orlando had stayed and had asked for a glass of wine with their dinner. 'I'm not yer mother.'

Speaking of which…

"Mum says 'hi'." Orlando told him.

Sean smiled, a wry twist to his lips. "She does not." he scoffed lightly.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Sean dropped his feet back to the ground and wiped the dirt off the table with the back of his hand.

"Don't take this the wrong way but, you're not just hanging around to keep me company, are you?" Orlando asked with studied indifference.

Sean eyed him, a little confused. "No. What makes you ask? Yer mum say something?"

Orlando shook his head. "No more than usual. It just got me thinking, is all. You know, you used to take off all the time. Filming Rings, I mean. That's what got mum's knickers in a twist in the first place. She likes you, honest. It's just she doesn't think you're around much. I've told her you are, but it made me wonder, that's all." Crap, that made him sound pathetic and needy! But really, he was just curious and maybe a little too ready to be defensive, protective of his independence, even now.

Luckily, Sean didn't seem to take it amiss, although the question did seem to make him uncomfortable.

"There was… things going on." Sean said finally, visibly fidgeting. "Stuff, you know? I wanted to be by myself for a bit."

Orlando nodded. "The divorce?" he probed gently, conscious he was treading on delicate turf. It didn't explain the same thing happening during Troy, but it was the only thing he could think of.

"That." Sean conceded reluctantly. "And other stuff." He got to his feet, discarding the empty beer bottle on the table. "Enough digging for one day. I'm gonna hit the shower."

He went inside, leaving Orlando to wonder which 'digging' Sean was referring to.


~


"Oh, fucking hell! Sean!?"

Sean was halfway to his bedroom when Orlando called out and turned around to trot back down to the guest room. He stuck his head in the door and immediately saw the problem. "Bit stuck, are we?" he smirked.

Orlando was pretty good at getting himself in and out of the chair and didn't usually require any help. But this time, he'd either done something half-arsed or the chair had moved and Orlando was stuck half on the bed, half off it and with one foot caught under the footplate of the chair. Sean walked over to the bed and studied the problem.

"No, not stuck." Orlando responded with sarcasm. "I'm just practicing my impersonation of a landed fish. If you could just lift the plate I'll be right."

Sean shook his head. "No, if I do that, you'll slide. Hang on a sec." he came around the chair to get a better angle. "You look after your top half, I'll do your bottom."

He started to disentangle Orlando's pajama pants from the metal and heard Orlando laugh. "That sounds almost pornographic!" he chuckled.

Sean glanced up, thought about it and laughed as well. "Bad porn."

"Isn't it all bad by definition?"

Sean finished unhooking the material and straightened. "Still degrees of bad, I imagine." his response was distracted. "I'll have to lift you."

"I can manage!" Orlando protested as Sean knew he would.

"Uh-uh. No. You're dangling too far." he pointed out. "You try and pull yourself up from that angle, you're gonna strain something." He didn't wait for any more objections, just moved in, slid one arm under Orlando's knees, the other around his bare waist, fingers sliding over silky skin as he tried not to grip too hard. The angle for him was wrong too, making it difficult to bend his knees and lift properly, so he braced himself.

"Whoa!" Orlando's arms wrapped around his neck. Sean slid him safely onto the bed. "You're stronger than you look!"

"An' you're heavier than you look!" Sean shot back as he pulled away, making a production of rubbing his lower back, the vague scent of Orlando's strawberry shampoo ticking his nostrils.

Orlando snorted. "You look so much bigger on the silver screen, Mr. Bean, sir." he simpered. "So strong and manly. No one would ever know you're a ninety pound weakling."

"Nor you a tub of lard." he backed away to the door, escaping the forced intimacy. "You right now?" he asked.

"Yes, thanks."

"'kay. Goodnight."


~

The dream was the same one he had each night lately. The only difference being in how intense it was becoming, the increasing fear. He knew he was dreaming but he couldn't escape it. He never could wake until morning but the dream always died before then, fading away to nothing under the onslaught of a different dream. He'd dream of soothing hands and calming words that no nightmare could stand up against. The second half of Orlando's night was always better than the first.

~

Sean was dreaming about skin. Milky white skin that darkened to tan, soft chocolate flesh with a silken coat of golden hairs and tiny dark freckles. He woke to the sound of cries and was already halfway out of the bed before he was fully aware.

He padded down the hall to Orlando's room and crossed to the side of the bed, setting himself down gently so as not to disturb the sleeper and putting the bedside light on at it's lowest setting.

"It's alright." he crooned, carding his fingers through Orlando's damp hair as he soothed the nightmare away. "S'okay. Shush now. Shush."

Orlando quieted, though it took longer to accomplish each night, but he stayed a while to make sure, pulling the sheets up to cover Orlando's damp, exposed skin before switching off the light and wandering downstairs to make himself a cuppa. There was no point trying to go back to sleep right away. The second half of Sean's night was always harder than the first.

~


Orlando paused the DVD when he came in. "Wow!" he said, running his eyes up and down. "You look nice. Boss?"

Sean slid his jacket off and checked the label. "Yep." he confirmed, loosening his tie. "Had an early meeting with some Paramount execs. Didn't wake you, did I?"

"No. Slept like a baby." Orlando looked over his shoulder as Sean went to change. "You wanna watch a DVD?" he called out after him.

In the bedroom, Sean shucked off his shoes, socks, pants and shirt and slipped into comfy sweats and an old t-shirt. "Yeah, I will." he answered loudly, projecting his voice down the hall. "Lousy outside. No point starting anything 'cause it looks like rain."

"Yeah. That's why I'm snuggled down in here. I went out the back before and I could smell it. Ozone."

Sean made a fresh pot of tea and grabbed a bag of crisps for each of them. He settled down on the couch next to Orlando, pushing the wheelchair aside with a socked foot. "What are we watching?"

"Van Helsing. But it's almost over."

Sean grunted, but settled down to watch. The film finished with a tragic scene of immolation and ascendancy that was asinine and he said so in no uncertain terms.

Orlando defended himself. "I wanted to see David." he said.

"Well, he did alright." Sean conceded grudgingly. "But they should have burned the scriptwriter, not the girl!"

Orlando pulled the DVD trolley Sean had set up toward him and began going through the collection on his lap in search of what he wanted to watch next. Sean excused himself and went to the loo.

When he got back, there was a movie already in and playing. He dropped back onto the couch. "Now what?"

"Asylum." Orlando said, handing him the cover. "Marton's in it. You remember him? Celeborn?"

Sean's head snapped around and he stared at Orlando for a second. Then the tension left him. "'Course I do. I'm not senile, am I!" He handed the DVD cover back and stood up again without even glancing at the screen. "I've got some work to do. If you need me, I'll be in my office. You have fun reacquainting yerself with old workmates."

He walked off up the hall, distracted and ignored Orlando's confused, "Sean?" in favor of the safety of his study.

~~

[tbc]