Boring details bit…
Title: Damaged Book Two: New Rules
Pairing: Elijah/Orli
Rating N17
Disclaimer: Total fiction
Notes: An AU set in modern day South London.
New Rules
Chapter One
"Well that went spectacularly well, don’t you think?" Elijah said, giving Orli a rueful smile as he reached over to nab the last roast potato.
They were sitting next to each other at the dark mahogany table in Orli’s parents’ house. It was a nice house; a sturdy semi-detached in the suburbs. A bit old fashioned, but well maintained with a view through the patio windows to the immaculate garden outside. A nicer place than Elijah had ever been invited to before. A nice, middle class, normal house that wasn’t used to ‘scenes’ and had only just come to terms with the gay son.
"If their reaction was any colder I think my arse would be frozen to this chair for all eternity." Elijah sat, elbows on the table, and popped the slowly congealing potato in his mouth as he tried to turn the whole thing into a joke.
"It wasn’t that bad," Orli sat slumped back in his chair. He reached over to let his hand rest on Elijah’s shoulder, unsure who was getting the comfort.
"Not that bad?" Elijah’s eyebrows shot up. "Did you see their faces when you told them? Your dad went white with horror and I thought your mum was going to cry. I give it ten minutes before she calls you out for a ‘little chat’."
"Give ‘em time, they’ll come round when they get used to the idea."
"Yeah right, just after hell freezes over," Elijah ate the left over food off Orli’s plate, picking at it with his fingers. "Told you we should have kept quiet about us."
"No," Orli said, his tone leaving no room for argument as he leaned forward to plant a kiss on the back of Elijah’s neck. "We’re not going to hide. You make me happy, that’s what matters, I don’t care what they think."
Elijah huffed out a breath before turning to face Orli. "Sorry."
"What on earth for?" Orli asked, startled. "You haven’t done anything wrong."
"It’s me that’s causing all the fuss and…" His eyes flicked up. "I don’t want you to fall out with your folks."
"We won’t fall out and you didn’t cause the fuss, they did." Orli’s hand kneaded the tense muscles at the base of Elijah’s neck. Suddenly he grinned, huge and infectious. "Anyway I have an ingenious plan, I’ll just carry on sitting here loving you till they come round to the idea. Simple really."
Elijah smiled in return. "Arrogant pig. But, seriously, go easy. Don’t stick your tongue down my throat in front of them again."
"You think it’d be better if I stuck something else down there?" Orli waggled his eyebrows lecherously.
"Orli!" Elijah sounded genuinely shocked.
"So can I stick my tongue down your throat again?"
"Often as you like. But only when they’re not around," Elijah moved closer, head tipped up, waiting for the kiss that always made him feel better. He was rudely interrupted.
"Orlando," Yvonne, Orli’s mother, called from the kitchen. "Come and help me with the washing up, would you dear?"
"Fast worker," Elijah dropped a quick kiss on Orli’s lips. "Arranged the little chat in three minutes, I’m impressed."
"Come with me," Orli said softly.
"Oh no," Elijah smiled. "You do this one on your own, I know when I’m not wanted."
"Come with me," Orli said it again. "I don’t go anywhere you’re not welcome."
Elijah recognised the seriousness in Orli’s eyes and a wave of warmth flooded him as he remembered how lucky he was. "Go," he said softly. "I’ll be right here when you get back."
Orli’s thumb drifted across the plane of Elijah’s cheek for a long moment before he pushed back his chair, smiling. "You’d better be or I’ll hunt you down like the mangy dog you are."
Elijah thought he probably meant it and the wave of warmth grew.
+
In the kitchen nearly all the dirty cooking pots and pans had already been loaded into the dishwasher. Yvonne stood with her back to her son, tea towel in hand, unmoving.
"Mum?" Orli let her know he was there and she turned round, bright smile fixed in place.
"Can you dry those plastic bowls for me please?" She threw a dry cloth at him. "And I… I wanted to…"
"Say it mum." She looked at him warily but Orli’s eyes were soft. "Just say it."
"It’s
Elijah… I know you think…" She stopped, took a
deep breath then started again. "I tried to tell you about
him, I thought you’d understand and protect yourself.
He’s… he’s nothing but…"
"Mum," Orli interrupted softly. "I know exactly
what he is. He’s an annoying, manipulative little bugger
who’s got no idea how to act around ordinary people but I
love him."
"No you don’t!"
"I do." Orli was quietly emphatic.
"But what about Shane? You said you’d love him forever."
"And I will."
"But…"
"But what? Shane’s been dead for nearly two years.
You’ve been telling me to get on with my life for long
enough."
"Not with him," The sneer in her voice on the last word made Orli’s heart sink and his hackles rise.
"Elijah’s not a ‘him’ and I’m not going to let you talk like that. He’s had a rotten time and now he’s doing his best to change and…"
"Oh please!" Yvonne cut across him. She would fight just as hard for what she believed in. "Don’t tell me, he had a bad childhood and now he has issues. Don’t fall for it Orlando, he’s a nasty little creep who’ll sleep with anyone if he thinks he can get something out of it. You have no idea how low he’s capable of sinking." She stopped suddenly, only too conscious that she had gone too far.
Orli pulled himself away from the counter and stood rigid, arms folded tightly across his chest. "I think I have a much better idea of how low he’s capable of going, I’ve seen him in action. I know what he is and what he does and… No, damn it mum, I am not going to defend or explain him to you. I love him, end of story. Accept it or don’t, that’s entirely up to you." He turned and made for the door. "Thank you for dinner. We won’t be staying for dessert and I won’t come back without him."
"Orli darling, please," She quickly crossed the space between them and laid a gentle hand on his arm. "Please don’t go like this. It’s just that I’m worried about you." She felt him tense under her palm. "Okay, you love him. I’ll have to get used to that," she shrugged and smiled. "I’ve always said you have impeccable taste."
Orli turned back, consciously pushing down the anger in his belly. "I have and he’s beautiful mum. Inside and out," He smiled his heart stopping smile. "Okay I’ll admit sometimes it’s hard to see, he can be a little bastard and he can swear like a trooper but… he makes me feel alive again and he makes me happy. That has to be a good thing, right?" He smiled again, even bigger and brighter and she saw the happy little boy he’d once been.
"Of course that’s good," she thought about ruffling his hair but decided on a peck on the cheek instead. "It’s nice to see the smile reach your eyes again."
"Be happy for me?" Orli knew that was pushing it too far but…
"I am, I just hope it works out. And… don’t be cross with me, but be careful."
Orli nodded. If that was as far as his mother could go, well, it was a start.
+
Back in the dining room Elijah had stacked the rest of the dirty plates into a neat pile, the glasses at the side. Not knowing what to do with the inch or two of wine left in most, he’d drained them and was now feeling comfortably warm. He thought about being really helpful and taking the dirty crockery out to the kitchen but that meant facing Orli’s mum; one thing he could do without.
He could imagine the conversation taking place; he’d heard mother and son talking often enough. Nice, sensible conversations with no shouting or swearing and both sides being reasonable and thinking about the other. He’d hardly ever had a conversation like that, and certainly never with a parent.
Still, no reason to get jealous, he had lots of them now, with Orli. And if no one else had ever cared enough about what he did, it had the advantage that no one had ever interfered.
He was just eyeing up the tin of Quality Street on the sideboard when a shadow appeared in the doorway. "How’d it go Orli? You still in one piece?"
The deep, resonant huff caused him to look up quickly. Orli’s father stood staring at him. Elijah hunched back in his chair, but then thought better of it. This was one he knew how to handle.
"Hi Frank," he smiled up through his eyelashes, his voice warm and intoxicating. "Thank you for a wonderful dinner." And then it hit him. He wasn’t allowed to do that anymore, especially not with Orli’s father.
"I mean," his voice wavered, back at normal pitch. "Thanks for inviting me Mr Bloom." What the fuck was he meant to do?
"You weren’t invited. All Orlando said was that he wanted to bring a friend. If I’d known it was you I’d have made sure we were out."
Wow. Pretending to be polite was definitely off the menu. Now what? "I’m sorry you weren’t warned. I…" He’d what? He had no idea what to say.
"Well come on then," the older man moved threateningly into the room. "Aren’t you going to worm you way around me? Try and confuse me enough so that a God fearing, decent man doesn’t know what’s right and normal anymore?"
He moved closer and Elijah shrank back, not exactly afraid but… Orli said he couldn’t ‘handle’ things anymore, handle them in the only way he knew how. Orli said… fuck. Now what?
"Because that’s what you do, isn’t it? Manoeuvre and bewilder people so they envisage unnatural things and... that’s what you’ve done to my son. Well, I won’t have it, I tell you. You are to stay away from him." Frank Bloom loomed over Elijah’s chair, face stained red with fury, neck bulging over his tight fitting formal collar and tie. "You keep your evilness away from my son or I’ll…"
All right, that was enough. Elijah would do his damnedest to behave for Orli but he wasn’t going to take this crap. If Orli hadn’t come to rescue his father, well it wasn’t Elijah’s fault.
"You’ll what, old man? Beat the crap out of me? I doubt it. Take Orli away from me? You couldn’t if you tried, ‘cos he’s already chosen me over you. And if you wanted a piece of me you should have got in there sooner because Orli’s a fuck sight better piece of arse than you ever were." He pulled himself out of the chair, palms flat on the table, dwarfed by the other man, but eyes equally blazing.
"You dirty little low life. You’re not good enough to lick his boots!"
Elijah’s voice dropped, full of menace. "But I’ve got him and I’ll keep him because I’ve licked a bloody sight more than his boots. I’ve fucked him and sucked him so hard he thought his brains were gonna come out his cock. He’s stuck his dick so hard up my arse that…"
"Elijah," Orli’s voice sounded from the door and Elijah was frighteningly aware that, although his words might not have been audible across that distance, the look on both their faces made it pretty obvious what was going on.
He blew out a long breath, sucked in his nerve and his pride, and turned to face Orli.
"Come down to the garage and look at my etchings," Orli smiled softly. "Give mum a chance to get the dessert ready."
"What?"
"Come and look at my etchings."
"Your etching?"
"Yeah, my etchings," Orli smiled again. "Come on." He held out a hand. "See you in a bit dad."
Elijah glanced quickly from one man to the other, then dipped his head and slunk over to Orli.
+
The garage was old but lovingly looked after and had obviously been used as a workroom for years. There was a long work bench down one side and rows and rows of little draws fixed to the wall above. Inside were all manner of screws and nails, none of which Elijah had any idea what to do with. He sat on the stool he’d been pushed towards and watched as Orli rooted around, unearthing a hidden bottle of brandy and a couple of old thick glasses.
Orli poured out a measure, handed him the least chipped glass, clicked their drinks together and knocked back a long slug of the rich liquid. His face tightened up for a second, he shivered, and then he stared straight at Elijah. "Lost your temper then?"
"I," Elijah sat
up straight, bristling. Then he thought better of it. "Yeah.
Sort of."
"Sort of?" Orli’s eyes opened wide in amazement.
"You say I’m a mean son-of-a-bitch but I’d run
away screaming rather than face you looking like that."
"That bad?"
Orli nodded.
"Sorry," Elijah ducked his head and took a swig of the brandy, choking as soon as it hit the back of his throat. His eyes watered, his face went red, even a tear squeezed from his eye, before he caught enough breath to speak with a wince. "Ouch, that’s nasty." He eyed the contents of his glass critically before sniffing and taking another swift drink.
"Serves you right, you deserved it," Orli said, leaning back against the wall, arms casually crossed over his chest.
Elijah tried a remorseful grin. "Sorry."
"So you should be." For a moment Orli held his breath, then he asked what he needed to ask. "Did my dad try anything on?"
"No!" Elijah cried. "Nothing happened."
"Something happened. I wasn’t there to hear the beginning, but something did. What?"
Elijah opened his mouth ready to defend himself but then snapped it shut again. What was he meant to say? Were you allowed to declare your boyfriend’s father a bigoted old fart, even if he was, and he had every right to be? Was he allowed to call Orli his boyfriend? Was there a right way to handle this? ‘Cos if there was he sure hadn’t read that etiquette book.
He looked at Orli, eyes big, sighed and shrugged.
"Elijah," Orli said softly. "Come on, I know how my dad feels about you. He’s been glaring at you all afternoon, well, that’s when he could bring himself to actually look in your direction. You made him question everything he thinks he is and he blames you for it."
"I didn’t meant to…" Elijah started but then stopped himself. "Well, maybe I did at the time but… things are different now and I’m sorry."
"I know that and so do you, but it’s gonna take my dad a long time to feel confident enough in himself to even tolerate you. We’re just going to have to give him that time because you did some real damage back then."
"I didn’t think it was that bad, I just turned it on a bit and got him interested."
"Sometimes I don’t think you realise the consequences of what you do. The damage can spread far and wide."
Elijah looked down at his glass, swirling the liquid around it slowly. "Most of the time I don’t think about the consequences at all, I just do what I do and move on."
"With my dad you’ve stirred up some real ingrained fears and guilts."
"What’s he got to feel guilty about?"
"Errr," Orli suddenly smiled, huge and infectious. "Try a gay son for one thing. He’s scared he’s somehow he passed the ‘illness’ onto me."
"But that’s daft, he isn’t gay."
"Try telling him that, after what he thought about you."
"Oh that doesn’t mean anything," Elijah waved a dismissive hand in the vague direction of the house and Frank.
"What, you’re so irresistible that no one could help but fancy you?"
"No!" Elijah stopped short. "Well, yes. Maybe. I mean, when I’m really trying. And I was, trying that is."
"So what did happened?"
Elijah did his naughty-school boy fidget and swallowed another couple of gulps, grimacing each time. "It was at my mum’s wedding, they couldn’t really get away with leaving me out of that one. Your uncle Robin was doing his normal martyr act, ‘look at me taking on the retarded kid,’ telling everyone what an obnoxious bastard I was. So," he shrugged, all screwed up face and sod-all-I-can-do-about-it-now eyes. "I was. Obnoxious, really obnoxious, and your dad sort of got caught in the cross fire."
This time he looked Orli full in the face, hiding nothing. "You know what I’m like when I’m in that mood, when I turn it on full blast and I’m out for trouble." He shrugged again. "Your dad didn’t really stand a chance, sorry."
"I know what you’re like," Orli thought about it. "You damned nearly caught me a few times and I knew what was going on." He straightened himself up. "You’re right about one thing, it wasn’t my dad’s fault. But it doesn’t mean he can’t let it drop, eventually. He’s going to have to if we’re gonna stay a family."
"Oh come on Orlando, don’t make me responsible for splitting your family up," Elijah said desperately.
"You aren’t going to split us up, I’ll make them come round," Orli said, completely confident. "And you, whether you like it or not, are going to become part of this family. Even if it kills you."
"Jesus, take pity on me," Elijah offered up pleading, pathetic eyes along with his smile. "Haven’t I got enough problems?"
Orli moved in for a kiss. His hands cupped the sides of Elijah’s face, tilting it back so he could lean down and lightly, oh so lightly, lick brandy flavoured lips before sinking in deeper. When he pulled back Elijah’s eyes were twinkling.
"We’re necking in your parents garage, like thirteen year olds," he said delightedly. "Never done that before, I’ve fucked in a garage but never necked."
Orli sighed, resigned. "Trust you to do everything in the wrong order."
Elijah’s eyes twinkled a bit more. "I do love you, you know. Never said that to anyone before, well not and meant it. But I do mean it, this time, yeah?"
"Yeah, I know," Orli kissed him again, soft and quick. "But tell me, honest now, why’d you lose your temper so badly, so quickly? You usually enjoy tormenting people a bit more before you let rip."
Elijah sunk back away from the comfort of Orli’s hands. "Because…" But then he stopped. Only Orli wasn’t going to make it easy, he needed to know. The steady, unyielding pressure from his gaze started to become almost painful. "Because I … Because I didn’t know how to handle it. I couldn’t think of anything else to do except play him and I’m not allowed to do that so…" He looked up, ready to answer for what he’d done. "Fuck Orli, I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me, not so soon. But instead I’ve made it worse and you’re angry with me and…"
"I’m not angry with you," Orli said softly.
"You’re not?"
"Christ Elijah, do I look angry? You should know."
"No," Elijah considered. "You look fuckable, but I think if we did that here everyone would be angry with me." The twinkle was back.
"And you’d probably be right. But listen to me," Orli made Elijah look as well as listen. "I’m not angry or disappointed with you, I’m proud of you for trying. I know it must be really hard, not to do what comes so easily. But you stopped and you thought about it. Okay, so maybe you shouldn’t tell my parents all the secrets of our sex life," he gave a devilish grin. "They might get jealous for one thing. But I’m proud of you." He stroked up and over Elijah’s cheeks, watching him intently. "Now come and make me even prouder by eating apple crumble and custard without swearing or mentioning cocks. Yes?"
Elijah looked at Orli, and then looked some more, before nodding.
Orli pulled him up, twisted him round and gave him a gentle push in the direction of the door. Then he straightened his shoulders, heaved a breath and got ready to go back into the fire. He had known it was never going to be easy but… shit!
+
To say the rest of the meal was a little tense would be a massive understatement. Yvonne tried her best to make polite conversation, Frank sat large and silent, Elijah kept his mouth full as much as he could so that he wouldn’t have to talk and Orli chatted, smile on his face, through the whole thing as though it were the most relaxed, carefree event he had ever been to.
They left straight after coffee. When Orli promised his mother they’d be back next week, Elijah’s heart sank. "Do you fancy cooking roast beef mum?" Orli asked. "Elijah loves it." Yvonne looked Elijah up and down resignedly and nodded.
Elijah’s ears pricked up. Roast beef. Whatever else Yvonne was, she was also a damned good cook. Still, after today they’d more than likely get Spam salad.
Everyone was silently glad when the door closed on the guests.
Inside Frank went straight for the decanter. "Did you really have to invite them back?" he asked. "I don’t think I can bear to sit through another meal watching that disgusting boy paw my son."
"Well, you’re going to have to, at least for a short while," Yvonne said, collapsing down onto the sofa, the nervous exhaustion of the day eating into her bones. "The more we try and reason with Orlando, the more he’ll dig his heels in. You know how stubborn he can be."
"But I can’t stand it!"
"I don’t think you’ll have to for long, it won’t last. Orli’s a sensible boy he’ll come to his senses and anyway, Elijah won’t be able to hide his behaviour for long."
"Lets pray it’s as soon as possible."
"Amen to that," Yvonne let her head fall back against the sofa and closed her eyes.