Chord

by Vivi and Nienor

"Are you sure this game is called Scat?" Lijah asked suspiciously.

"Of course it is. Why would we make up a card game?"

"Because you're both evil wankers, and I know you too well."

Billy and Dom gave him identical looks of dismay from behind their cards. "I'll have you know this is a perfectly legitimate game. I used to play it with my grandmum," Dom said indignantly. He plopped his cards on the table. "Thirty one."

"You bloody bastard," Billy groaned, tossing his lemon drop into the 'pot'. "You've won the last three hands."

"He's probably cheating," Sean called, not looking up from his book.

"A real man doesn't have to cheat at cards. Of course, since you aren't PLAYING...."

"Fuck you."

"He got tired of getting his ass kicked while he was playing chess," Lijah snickered, tossing his own cards in before adding his piece of candy to the pot. He flopped back on the pillow behind him with a sigh, listening to the prissy little fluttery sounds the cards made when Billy shuffling. Lij heard a sharp slap and Dom yelped. "Don't eat the kitty, you wanker!"

"Why not?" Dom demanded. "Everyone could use a little pussy from time to time."

Various groans came from around the room, and Lij aimed a swat at him, missed, and settled for sticking out his tongue. He sighed. "I'm tired of the rain."

"Sucks," Billy said agreeably, dealing out three cards to Dom and Lijah.

"Doesn't bother me. This is the first time we've gotten you to play cards with us in ages, Lij." Dom gave him a sly look. "Been a little busy lately, haven't we?"

"Filming a movie is like that."

"Oh, is THAT where you were all night yesterday? Filming?" Billy said, absently drawing a card. "And the day before that, day before that...oh, and I think it was the day before that, wasn't it, Dom?"

"Why, yes, it was. Funny thing, that. Don't recall seeing it on the schedule."

"Spending a little extra time on set, then, are we, Lijah?"

"So I'm not spending every night of my life where you can find me, so what?" He tossed a card on the pile and picked another up, yelping indignantly when Dom slapped his hand.

"You can't ruffle through them, Lijah, just the top card, it's not Rummy. And we don't mind if we can't find you at night, do we, Billy?"

"Oh, no, not at all."

"We just want to hear the gory details of where you WERE spending your nights."

Elijah didn't look at them, feeling his cheeks warm to a brilliant pink. "Fuck you."

"No, you weren't. That's why we want to know!"

Sean reached out and smacked Dom in the back of his head with his book. "Lay off. If he doesn't want to say he was out on the town getting busy with the ladies, then he doesn't have to."

"S'not the ladies we're worried about, Sean, m'love," Billy crooned, hastily moving away from Sean's paperback weapon. "See, Dom and me noticed that whenever Lijah is out for the night, OrLANdo is suspiciously absent as well."

Dom nodded, glowering at Sean while he rubbed the back of his head. "We did. Something you want to tell us, Lijah?"

"Nope." Lijah knocked on the table, his eyes on his cards. "Last round."

"Lijah, come on," Billy wheedled. "We won't tell! Are you and Orlando...?"

"Come on, guys..."

"Oh, they are!" Dom crowed, scattering Billy's cards as he flopped over onto his lap, ignoring Billy's indignant squawk. "They're in looooooove!"

Billy tittered, as much at Dom on his lap as at the comment, but Elijah went crimson. Sean slammed his book down. "Look here, that's not funny at all!" He stood up, redfaced too-- but angry. "He's your friend, and you shouldn't be teasing him about being," he hesitated very slightly in the torrent of his rant, "queer. He's no more queer than I am!"

Lij burned hot to the very ears; he stared at his cards with frantic embarrassment. He had no idea what to say.

Dom sat up easily and stared Sean down, not intimidated at all. "Sure, Sean." He took the deck and started to shuffle. "He's as straight as I am. Isn't he, Billy."

Billy sobered. "That he is," he shot Elijah a glance, reaching for the bowl of candy and stirring it with his fingers. "But Sean, what if Ian was here? You wouldn't want to be rude to him, now would you." Billy had a sweet smile, persuasive. "We're not meaning to be rude, either. We're just curious."

"Ian's a grown man!"

"And I'm not?" Lij made his face look mischievous and wounded at once. "Sean." He said it in Frodo's tones for Sam. "You doubt me."

Sean looked guilty, to his credit. "Well, I'm sure you'd be careful no matter who you slept with."

"And he'd put a pack of condoms in your bag with a note attached, just to make sure." Dom cut a somewhat savage glance in his direction. Sean shrugged.

"Who says I'm sleeping with anybody at all?" Elijah demanded, glad of his polished acting skills. "You're all just accusing me because you're jealous. You want me," he jabbed his finger at Dom. "And you want me," he continued, pointing at Billy, "And you're too chickenshit to say so! You want me too," he tossed over his shoulder at Sean. "I'm fucking irresistible!"

"I want you to shut up," Sean grumbled, but he picked his book up again.

"I want you to lose the rest of your candy. Now." Dom dealt a fresh hand.

"We just want to know what you and Orli are up to. Surfing? Bungee jumping? Advanced underwater bohemian basket weaving classes at the community center?" Billy picked up his cards. "Because if it's fun, we want a shot at it too."

"We got arrested and we're doing community service," Elijah lied. "Picking up bottles and trash on the highway."

"Nobody litters here," Sean sounded a little sulky. "Try again."

"And if you're picking up anything on the highway at midnight, I'm betting it's not trash," Billy snickered but he stopped laughing quickly when Dom knocked. "You rotten bastard, we've not gone a round yet!"

"Draw your card and take it like man," Dom smirked.

"I'll show you how to take it like a man," he grumbled and then ruined it by squeaked loudly when Dom managed to pinch him on the ass.

"Not in a weeks worth of Sundays, mate."

"I've got twenty-three." Billy laid down his cards and gave Dom a sulky look.

Dom looked down his nose at the two of them, haughtily. "Twenty-five!"

"Bite me," Lij said, tossing his cards in disgust. "I'm out."

"Whoo hoo, Lijah screwed the pooch!" Dom cackled, "Look at that, he had fourteen!"

"Well, at least now we know who he's having sex with," Sean mumbled.

Lij gave him the finger and kissed it before tugging on his rain poncho. "I'm going to see if I can scam us up something to drink."

"Be sure to zip up your coat, and don't talk to strangers," Dom cooed, mimicking Sean's accent. He narrowly avoided another smack with the book, crawling half under one of the chairs. "Look both ways when you cross the street, and don't fuck anyone without a typed and signed blood test while you... ack!"

Lij escaped while the battle began in earnest, Billy howling with laughter as Dom tried to escape from Sean. The sounds of the scuffle cut off abruptly when he shut the door, nearly deafened by the echo of warm summer rain on his hood.

Fuckers. Every one of them. And no telling who was worst. God, Sean was going to be a problem if he ever found out.

He tucked his hands into his pockets and started slogging through the mud towards the commissary tent; probably there wasn't any booze there, but maybe he could get a soda or some coffee. Anything to get out of there while he still had a nickel in his pocket and a shred of dignity.

The lake had risen; it was almost up to the footpath, and Elijah had his chin tucked so he nearly ran into Viggo before he knew he was there. His foot slipped in the watery mud and he nearly went down; Viggo caught his arm with one hand and kept him on his feet.

"What the fuck are you doing out here?"

"Fishing." Elijah realized Viggo still held the rod in his left hand.

"Fish don't bite when it's raining."

"Don't they?" Viggo nodded toward a bucket, half-full of unhappy-looking floppy silver shapes.

"You're as bad as Gollum."

"What are you doing out? I thought you were tucked up playing cards."

"I was. It was too crowded."

"With Astin and Dom in the same room, I guess you're right." Viggo cast again and reeled, jerking the tip of the rod lightly. Elijah settled comfortably at his side, watching the rain shatter the shining surface of the lake.

"Don't you ever get tired of fishing?"

"No."

"Scoot over and let me have more of the seat."

"It wasn't made for two."

"So?"

Viggo scooted, one hip hanging in space. Lijah sat down similarly.

"I can't reel like this."

"Let me do it." Elijah reached for the reel.

"Easy there. Not too fast. Make it a good smooth motion." Viggo twitched the rod. "If we get a bite, hang on; I'll jerk the rod to set the hook."

"Okay."

"You never went fishing much, did you."

"No. Mom didn't like to do it."

Viggo glanced at him quickly, eyes dark with something very like sympathy. "I'll get you kitted out and we'll go sometime, just us two. You want to?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Elijah lifted his head to get a better look at Viggo's face, and water dripped on his nose.

"Can you bait a hook?"

"I can try."

"You gonna be squeamish like a girl?"

"I'm not even gonna be squeamish like Orli."

"Reach in my bait can then and get us a worm. While you were running your mouth, I think the fish have cleaned the hook." Viggo reclaimed the reel and pulled in line swiftly. "Get a lively one."

Elijah uncovered the bait can and shook it doubtfully, looking for worms. "They dig down towards the bottom."

Determined not to be squeamish, Elijah rooted through the damp loam and came up with a wriggling tendril. "This do?"

"Perfect." Viggo held the hook and took the worm, demonstrating. Elijah couldn't help wrinkling his nose as he pierced it, bent it double, and pierced it again, leaving its tail to dangle.

Lij leaned away to let him cast, a quick flick of his arm, and then he handed Lij the pole. "Now reel. Lift the tip every two turns or so. That's good. If you feel a little jitter, pull against it. That's fish hitting the hook." Viggo watched the tip of the reel. "Feel that?"

"Yeah!" Lij gasped.

"They'll steal the worm. Don't let them-- THERE!"

Lij yelped, almost losing his grip on the reel as he yanked. "What do I do? What do I do?"

"Reel it in! Not too straight. It'll fight you; it might break the line. Let it run, and reel when it slacks..."

Viggo jumped up, tense, and hovered. "That's it... no, keep the tip high. Whoa!" The fish jumped, thrashing in midair, and dove again. "It's a monster!"

Lij tugged, reeling hard, feeling the fish thrash and run with the line; it tired slowly and he pulled it in towards the bank. Viggo snatched his net and went slogging right out into the lake, dipping up the fish. "Look at that!" He held up the net. "You caught it!"

Elijah beamed, clutching the pole. "What now?"

"I'll take the hook out of its mouth." Viggo unhooked the fish with a little difficulty and held it up, one finger through its gills. "Three, four pound fish."

Elijah finished reeling in the loose line carefully, till the hook touched the last ring. Viggo grinned at him, face and hair wet with rain; his hood had fallen back. Viggo dumped the bass into the bucket with the others; it flipped its tail, splashing water onto the ground.

"Come over later, and we'll have it for dinner."

"OK." Lij grinned. "Man, Orli's gonna have a fit."

"I'll spank him if he does." Viggo wiped water off his face and pulled up his hood; his fingers were bloody.

Elijah proffered the fishing rod and Viggo took it, laying it aside. He stood in front of Lij and looked thoughtfully up and down the path. "Where were you going?"

"To maybe get a drink."

"I've got something you'd like to drink." Viggo's voice rumbled softly.

Elijah flushed, heat spreading in his belly. "Viggo..." he started weakly, taking half a step back and Viggo frowned at him, the easy fatherly air fading from his face.

"Is there a problem?" Polite words, edged with a hint of menace, and Elijah shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the cold rain.

"No, it's just..."

"Then come here."

"Jesus, Viggo, anybody could walk down here!" Elijah hissed, glancing furtively back at his trailer as if Dom and Billy might pop out, like a pair of giggling jack-in-the-boxes.

Viggo raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me no, cunt?" His voice was low, barely audible over the roaring torrent of water, but there was no mistaking his tone.

Elijah swallowed hard, hesitating, torn between stepping forward and running his ass back to the trailer. Easier maybe to deal with the punishment later than to do this here and now, and fuck Dom and Billy, what if Sean got worried and came looking for him?

A hard hand caught his arm before he could decide; Viggo was amazingly quick for a man of his size, and he neatly took the choice out of Lijah's hands. Lij groaned silently. Fucked that one up pretty well. Now he was apparently staying out here and Viggo was looking seriously pissed.

Shit.

"Did you just disobey me?" Viggo whispered, incredulously, his eyes coldly furious in a way Lij hadn't seen since Orli had screwed around on them. "Did you just tell me no? Over this?"

Lijah kept quiet and dropped his eyes, hoping that would appease him somewhat.

He gasped as Viggo pulled him closer, his face pressed against the damp material of Viggo's coat, and it smelled musty and rather nastily of raw fish. "Did you tell me no over this?" A little softer, closer to his ear, and he flinched when Viggo pulled his hood down, the rain soaking him instantly. "Why?"

Startled, Elijah looked up at him, squinting and blinking water out of his eyes. Viggo was still looking down at him, not angrily anymore, but kind of strangely. "I...I don't...what do you mean?" he finally asked, not wanting to piss him off again.

Viggo blew out his breath irritably, letting him go. He stepped back and sat back down, looking out at the rippling water. "Come here," he ordered and Elijah did, instantly, and he yelped when Viggo pulled him into his lap, between his spread legs.

"You don't want to give me a blowjob?" Viggo breathed, and slid his hands under Elijah's poncho, fumbling at his belt. "Why is that, little cunt? Are you feeling a little shy today?" He dragged Lij's pants down roughly, taking his shorts with them, and that woke Lijah up. He started to struggle, kicking out with feet manacled in denim.

"Stop it, you fucker! There are like a hundred people around here!"

"They are all going to watch me beat your ass if you don't hold still."

"You crazy motherfucking bastard, you wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't I?" A wet cold hand cupped the curve of his ass threateningly and fuck, maybe he would. Flash memory of Ian and Sean watching them at the club with hot eyes, and neither of them had breathed a word out of place while they were on set, but Lijah could see them looking at him sometimes--Sean especially. Eyes dark and speculative, and sometimes Lijah wondered what they were thinking, if they were remembering how he looked with clothes pins pinching his balls cruelly, or maybe Viggo's fist in his ass, clenching and unclenching, moving as slow as the tide, in and out.

The memory was enough to get him hard even through the chill and Viggo found his cock unerringly, stroked him with a wet, bloody hand, and Elijah jerked, squirming helplessly as Viggo smiled against the back of his neck.

"I think I can't spank you to punish you anymore," he mused, "You like the idea too much. You like it when Orli watches, don't you? What if everyone else watched, too? Billy and Dom would watch; they're almost as slutty as Orli."

Elijah squeaked, nearly writhing on Viggo's lap, and Viggo tightened his grip, his fingers biting in brutally. "You like that idea, don't you?" Viggo crooned. "And Sean would watch too. He'd be disgusted, wouldn't he? He'd probably never speak to you again. Imagine if he knew what you let me do to you? If he only knew."

Dark amusement laced into Viggo's voice, and Elijah trembled, his hands gripping the edge of his poncho, clenched into white knuckled fists, his cheeks burning with humiliation and his dick aching with it. "He'd hate you for letting me fuck you, but do you know what I think?" Viggo lowered his voice, soft and secretive. "I think it's because he'll never be allowed to fuck you himself. Do you think that? Do you think Sean wants to fuck you?"

"Shut up," Elijah panted, his eyes burning, and his voice achingly thick.

"Do you?" Viggo persisted, voice and hands relentless, stroking his nerves inside and out. "Do you think Sean wants to fuck your sweet little ass?"

"Shut up!"

"I think he wants to fuck you," Viggo sang, tightening his arms around Lijah as he began to struggle in earnest, even as he still gasped and shivered, Viggo's hand moving on his cock insistently. "I think he wants to bend you over and plow you till you scream. He would hate you for letting me do it because HE wants it, and he'd hate us both because he can't have it."

"Shut up!" Lijah screamed, and he was so fucking hard he ached with it, his cock molten with heat, flayed by Viggo's hand and his words.

No," Viggo breathed, and his caught Lij's hips in his hands, lifting him and positioning him. "I won't." Lij howled at the first vicious thrust, friction scraping him raw as Viggo bucked beneath him, forcing his cock deep.

"Shut up!" Viggo hissed. "I thought you didn't want people coming out to see this!" His hard wet hand covered Elijah's mouth and his fingertips bit into the soft flesh of his cheeks. Elijah whimpered, unable to remain silent; he was still tender from the club-- Viggo had been letting him rest and recuperate, but it was still less than two weeks.

"God. It turns me on to hear that," Viggo confessed, voice harsh in Elijah's ear. "How the hell am I supposed to stop hurting you when you like it so much?" He thrust up again, a sharp jab of his cock that made Elijah forget that his jeans were drowning in mud.

"Don't...." Elijah mumbled against his palm. Viggo's free hand slid wetly under his thigh, half-lifting him, then dropping him roughly onto his cock.

"If you weren't an actor," Viggo's voice was dark with lust, hissed sharp and menacing in his ear, "if you didn't make a living with that little boy's body, I'd brand you. I'd tie you down and put sandbags on you to hold you still and I'd scald my name down your thigh with hot metal."

"Oh my god, oh god," Elijah whimpered. "Want it, Viggo, do it!"

"I'd burn it on your balls with lit cigarettes," Viggo choked, biting at Elijah's shoulder. "And you'd beg for more, you fucked-up little cunt, I know you."

"I'll pierce your fucking nipple instead." His filthy hand slid up under Elijah's soaking-wet shirt, catching the nipple, pinching it fiercely and twisting. "Or both of them, and put a leash in them."

Elijah made a low, desperate bleat, his cock surging; Viggo caught his balls and squeezed them harshly, backing him off. "Not till I say, you filthy little cunt."

"Please," Elijah whimpered, clawing at Viggo's thighs with desperate hands. "Please. Before anybody comes out!"

"Maybe if anyone does, I'll give you to them," Viggo whispered, licking his neck. "How would you like to bend over and take it from half the crew? Anyone who wanted you?" Elijah mewled, shaking his head, desperate.

Viggo thrust up sharply, breath loud in Elijah's ears. "I don't think I'll share you, though. I just might let everyone watch. I just might wipe my come out of your ass with my fingers and let them watch you suck my hand clean." He laughed, dark and guttural. "Astin would die of blueballs and call it indignation."

"Yes...." Elijah whimpered, giving up. "Please, Viggo!"

"And I'll give Orli what he's been asking for, too. I know he wants it," Viggo nipped Elijah's neck savagely. Elijah keened and clenched himself on Viggo's cock, feeling himself sweating even under the onslaught of the rain, his shoes full of muddy water, his thighs bare and spread over Viggo's strong legs.

"Ahhhh!" Viggo gushed into him abruptly. "What you do to me...." his voice was thick, almost unaware, and Lij felt heat surge in response; Viggo's hand wrung on his balls but this time it jerked the orgasm out of him, and a ragged cry accompanied its spatter. He slumped, panting.

"If Astin gives you any trouble, you tell him to come to me. And if Dom or Billy teases you, take it like a man." Viggo reached for Elijah's ruined jeans and dragged them wetly up his legs. "Tell anybody you see that you fell in the mud. Now get on down to the commissary and let me finish catching fish."

Dazed, Lijah couldn't obey, shivering with cold and aftershocks, and he wobbled as Viggo shoved him up on his feet. He stared mutely as Viggo calmly adjusted his pants and reached for his fishing rod, ignoring him.

"Viggo," he started, uncertainly, not even sure what he wanted to say, but before he could come up with anything he heard someone calling his name. Frantically, he fastened his jeans and straightened his poncho, recognizing the voice, and shit, shit, shit, please let Viggo not have left any marks.

"Elijah," Sean panted, skidding through the mud towards them. "Why the hell are you standing out here in the...oh." He came up short when he saw Viggo, and there was...something...in his face that Lijah hadn't noticed before. Maybe he hadn't wanted to.

"Hi, Viggo," Sean said, with a note of forced cheeriness.

Viggo glanced at him briefly. "Sean."

"Yeah..." Sean stood there uncertainly, shifting from foot to foot before he latched on to Elijah, quickly. "I got worried when you didn't come back, I thought maybe you... you shouldn't be standing out here in the rain, anyway!" he burst out, "You're going to get sick."

"Sean," Elijah interrupted him, gently. "I'm not going to get sick from a little water."

"Well, you still shouldn't..."

"It's my fault," Viggo broke in, smoothly. "I was showing him how to fish. You two should go up to the commissary and get something hot to drink. I'm sure it'll help you survive the day."

Sean glared at him. "I was just..."

"That's a great idea," Lijah said, hurriedly. "I bet they have some hot chocolate. You want us to bring you a cup on our way back?"

"Make it coffee."

"Sure!" Lijah said brightly, and he slapped Sean on the back, water spraying from under his hand. He started trudging up the hill towards the tent and after a moment, Sean followed him.

"He's weird," Sean muttered when they were out of earshot.

"A little. I like him," Elijah said, a little defensively. He glanced over at Sean and met his eyes.

"Then he must be all right," Sean said simply, and he looked... tired. Like maybe being Sam was wearing on him a little too heavily, maybe more than he had expected. Lij felt an odd pang for him.

"Come on, I'm about to freeze my ass off," Lij grumbled, walking faster. "I don't know about weird, but he sure is crazy. It's COLD out here." Sean laughed in agreement, teeth chattering and they scurried up to the tent, skidding though thick inches of mud and into the tent.

There were more people than Elijah had expected, crowded into one corner. Pete and Fran were both there, talking quietly, and they looked up when he and Sean entered. "What happened to you?" Pete called, anxiously. "You look like you were mud wrestling out there. You all right?"

"Yeah... uh... I slipped," Elijah finished, lamely, flushing as everyone snickered around him. Fucking bastard Viggo.

"Well, let's be happy for small favors," Pete grumbled, massaging his forehead with one hand. Everyone looked upset, Elijah realized, and it couldn't just be the rain, could it?

"What's wrong?" Sean asked, looking as perplexed as Elijah felt.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably, not speaking, until Fran sighed, threading her fingers through Pete's and holding on tightly as she told them, "Sean Bean and Orlando are missing. They were driving down to the South Island, and apparently the rain caused some landslides in the area where they were. Orlando's cell phone is offline, so we haven't been able to contact them."

Elijah couldn't breathe. His clammy jeans were cold and uncomfortable against his legs, and he could feel more wetness creeping down the backs of his thighs, Viggo's come, slimier and thicker than the rain, but it didn't fucking matter because he couldn't BREATHE, the yellow canvas walls around him suffocating him.

He was only aware of swaying after someone shoved a chair under him, Sean, he thought, and he sat hard.

"Orli and Sean?" he asked, stupidly, unable to believe he'd heard that right, because yeah, Orli'd had the day off but Viggo would fucking kill him if he'd run off for some quality time with Sean. Orli was probably in the hotel room, watching some cheesy game show, or going over his script changes, or hell, maybe wanking off all by himself over Viggo's collection of pictures, because there was no fucking way he was with Sean.

"Yeah," Pete said, heavily. "Sean wanted to drive down to the South Island, and I didn't want him to go alone, so I told Orlando to go with him." He shrugged, looking weary and awkward, "I figured they were good enough mates, and they'd keep each other out of trouble."

"Orli and Sean." Lij stood up, not caring suddenly what kinds of looks he was getting, and evaded Sean Astin's outstretched hand. "I better go tell Viggo."

-finis-

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