Title: Cherished Authors: Jo & Brenda Series: Claimed Pairings: Karl Urban/Orlando Bloom/Harry Sinclair Rating: NC17 Summary: Vampires and pets and sex, oh my. Yeah, it's an AU. Disclaimer: As far as we know, vampires don't exist. Cha. Author's Notes: *Brenda points to Jo* It was all her fault. I just went along with it. *Jo points back at Brenda* Her Karl had designs on my Orli. She liked the idea so we let them play. This is what happened. *mwah* *Brenda & Jo look around, then whisper* But it's really *all* Harry's fault and if he says otherwise, it's a lie! For the other 1/2 of the Quartet. *mwah*
Couldn't. His brain was too busy whirling. Ceremony on Friday, party on Saturday, Tokyo on Tuesday. Tokyo. Training a replacement at Throb, moving in, binding himself to Karl. The perfect partnership, joined physically, mentally -- bonded together in every way imaginable -- and everything Karl owned would belong to Orlando and vice versa. Only, Orlando knew he wasn't bringing much into the relationship. Just a few suitcases of clothes (most of which he was sure Karl would hate on sight), CD's, videos, loads of paperback books...and a lot of attitude to hide his fear and insecurity. Christ, who was he trying to fool? There was no way in hell he could be what Karl wanted him to be. Sure, he could probably fake it for a while, but what then? He didn't know what then, but he knew that he could never tell Karl. Ever. Karl thought he was perfect, thought he could do this. So Orlando would just have to fake it as long as possible. At least he was qualified to be Karl's lover. Or was he? He wasn't even sure about that. He wanted Karl, wanted Karl to take him. Wanted to feel that body on, around, in him -- wanted it so badly he ached. But it seemed all Karl wanted was his mouth. Christ. He worried his thumb between his teeth and choked back the sob that threatened to overwhelm him. Orlando wanted to call Elijah, knew he couldn't. Lij would only worry, and he didn't want to worry his friend. But he desperately wanted someone to talk to. Someone to... A memory returned to him, and he yanked out his wallet, finding the piece of paper he was looking for. Dom. He stared at the number for several minutes. Then, slowly dialing the phone number, he prayed that Dom hadn't been lying when he said Orlando could call anytime. "Hello," a distinctly male voice said after several rings. "Is -- is Dom there?" "That's me." "Dom?" Nervous fingers tapped on the side of the phone. "I know you said we were friends and I could call you anytime, and, um, if this is a bad time I can call back later, but I don't -- " "Hold on, slow down." Dom laughed, and the warm sound wrapped around Orlando like a blanket. "Orlando? That you, mate?" "Yeah." Calm down, Orli, just -- relax. Breathe. Right "I...I need to talk to someone, and you said I should call...." "So I did. What's up?" "Just wanted to talk," Orlando lied, then bit his lip. "No, that...that's not exactly true." "True that you don't want to talk or true that you don't just want to talk?" Dom asked, sounding a bit concerned. "I, um...true that I don't just want to talk." "So, what's going on, then? How's Karl?" "He's fine," Orlando replied, deciding to answer the easiest question first. "And things are...well...I don't know if I can do this. I can't be what he wants." "What do you mean, you can't do this?" There was a long silence on the other end of the line that had Orlando squirming in his chair, wishing he hadn't called. This was a bad idea... "Have you changed your mind?" "What? No!" Orlando said, shocked. He felt small, subdued, and perilously close to the edge of hysteria, but his feelings for Karl were unchanged. "I want to be with Karl...I love Karl, but this...it's just so overwhelming. The ceremony and party this weekend...and then flying to Tokyo next Tuesday..." "Tokyo?!" Dom exclaimed, the sound almost a yelp. "What in fuck all is going on? Start from the beginning." Like a floodgate opening, the words came spilling out of Orlando in a torrent. He was tired, confused, and felt very fragile. And he was babbling. He knew it, but he couldn't stop himself. "He told me about all the stuff he owns. We went and got all my stuff and brought it back here. Then he told me about the ceremony and the party on Saturday and Tokyo. He's sending me to Tokyo, Dom -- that's on the other side of the fucking world!" A small sound -- part sob, part whimper -- escaped him, and he bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. "Paris, Milan, Venice, Toronto, Lisbon -- all these places I've never been, and he owns companies in all of them. And all the hotels and everything else...and the money. Fuck, Dom, the amount of money -- I can't...can't -- " "Christ, he dumped all of that on you!" Dom sounded incredulous. "Fucking hell...okay, okay, Orli, calm down. Breathe. Just...breathe, there ya go..." He fought to regain his composure, took a few deep breaths. Finally, with a soft sniffle, he said, "Yes. And I don't think I can handle all this. Christ, I worked in a clothing store and now I'm taking over an empire? I don't -- " "Shh, it's alright. Just concentrate on breathing right now." Fine, breathe. In, out, in, out, don't think, just breathe...gradually, a precarious sense of calm flowed through Orlando's body. "Better now?" Dom asked, his voice soft. "Yeah, a little." Orlando scrubbed at his eyes with his shirt-sleeve, realizing for the first time that it was one of Karl's. "Sorry, I just...I'm nervous and a little scared, I guess." "Understandable. The eternal idiot hit you with a lot of shit." Orlando smiled at the obvious love in Dom's voice. "Okay," Dom continued, "first off, Karl has assistants that handle the running of each individual company. You'll work closely with the president of each, but your main job is to be their boss. They handle all the everyday stuff, and anything they can't handle will be brought to you. Trust me, it's not as bad as you think it is right now. Think of it as managing your store, only you're managing companies, not people." "That doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way. But Tokyo...." Orlando's voice was weak. "You'll be fine. He trusts you. He wouldn't send you otherwise. And he won't send you unprepared." "I don't know the first thing about Japanese culture." Orlando sighed, raked a hand through his hair. "And that's minor compared to all the stuff he threw at me last night. The money...I didn't think it was possible for one person to have that much money." "He's had a long time to accumulate it," Dom said, laughing a bit. "And, if you like, I can come over for a bit this afternoon, go over a few things with you. I know a bit about the Tokyo situation. Sean's on the board. I'd volunteer to go with you, but I'm stuck in meetings all next week for this stupid merger for Sean." "No, that's fine. I understand. But, um, could you? Come over, I mean?" Orlando asked shyly. He scuffed his bare toes across the plush carpet. "It's a little lonely here during the day with Karl asleep, and I don't want him to think I can't handle this." "You haven't talked to him about any of this?" It took Orlando several minutes to answer. And when he did, he knew Dom was going to yell at him. "No." "He needs to know," Dom sighed. Somehow the disappointment was worse than a shout. "If you're uncomfortable with anything, you need to bring it to his attention." "I can't. He's just...so...if I tell him, he'll think I'm not good enough for him." "That's ridiculous. Of course you're good enough for him. He claimed you, didn't he?" "Yes, but...I can't. You don't know what it's like to sit there with him and have him look at you with this smile on his face, and you just know he's proud of how well you're handling all this information...but I'm not, and I can't tell him that. He'll be disappointed." "Fine then, I'll talk to him when I -- " "No!" Orlando was frantic. "Karl can't know about this! Promise me you won't tell him." "Orlando, I -- " A slight pause. "Fine, I promise. But you need to talk to him. If he's like Sean, just catch him after sex and he'll listen." "I...okay. We're not...well..." Orlando stopped, miserable. One hand scrubbed at his eyes again. "I don't think he wants to, well...." "Oh. I...uh...he didn't bother to explain that to you either, did he? No, wait, don't answer that," Dom said, when Orlando started to reply. "I know he didn't. He...uh..." Dom seemed to be searching for the right words. "He's waiting until after the ceremony. You, um. He won't hold anything back with you and, well, you're mortal and he's not and you could be, um, hurt accidentally but the full force of his, uh...well, you get the idea." "Oh." Orlando couldn't think of anything to say. Karl had certainly never mentioned that. And here all this time he'd thought...well, he'd obviously thought wrong. "Vampires are very passionate creatures, and emotional involvement more than triples that," Dom continued, sounding rather embarrassed. "But the binding tempers it some. Or rather, it makes you capable of handling it, if that makes any sense. It's because of the blood bind." "Oh." It did make sense. At least Orlando thought it made sense. "I...I didn't know." "Somehow, I am not surprised." Orlando laughed a bit at the sardonic tone. "Has he actually talked to you about anything that hasn't been business related?" "Um, no not really." Orlando shifted in the chair, pulling his feet up and tucking them underneath his legs. "Well, kinda, yes. A little." "Kinda, yeah, a little?" Dom laughed. "That's not an answer, mate, that's an evasion. Talk to me. I bet I can answer some of those questions for you." "Well, we talked about me moving in here obviously," Orlando said, chewing on the tip of his thumb. "And, um, he told me that he's a born vampire, and he talked a little about Harry and Sean. And...and...well..." "And...well..." Dom prompted gently. "I can't help you unless you ask me. I'm not a vampire, I'm only a pet. I can't read minds." "That's pretty much it," Orlando admitted, voice quiet. "And, um, I know he needs the blood in order to survive and all, but...I don't...he hasn't tried to..." "You're a pet, not prey. He's not going to use you to feed," Dom explained. "That's why he has a territory. And banks." "Territory?" Orlando blinked, suppressed the odd urge to laugh. A thought occurred to him that quickly made the urge go away. "He, um...he doesn't...have to kill...does he?" "Of course not!" Dom sounded horrified. "They're vampires, not parasites. A pint a week -- Sean's always joking that the Council needs to start ads like the "Drink milk, it keeps a body strong" ones, only substitute blood. I really don't know where he gets his sense of humor from sometimes." "That's, um...yeah." Orlando grimaced a bit. "So he only needs to eat once a week? I didn't know that. Always thought it was more." "Orli, I'm going to ask you this, and I don't want you to get pissy or anything, okay?" Uh oh...that didn't sound good. Orlando bit his lip. "Um...okay." "Did you know anything at all about vampires before you got in Karl's limo?" "I knew the basics." Orlando knew he sounded defensive, but he couldn't help it. "I never expected to be claimed as a pet." "You knew the basics, but you didn't know about how they hunt?" Dom didn't sound convinced. Okay, fine, so Orlando hadn't been too hip on a lot of things. He'd known enough. Or so he'd thought. "I'm not trying to fuck you off, but this is a different world from what you're used to. And Karl's never been mortal. They don't feel like us. They don't even think like us a lot of the time. You need to remember that." "I'm trying to," Orlando said with a soft sigh. "But it's not like I actually knew anyone I could ask all this stuff before I met Karl." "Well, now you've got a wealth of people to ask. So don't forget to actually do it, okay?" "I won't." "Good. Now, look, I've got to do a few things, but I'll be by later," Dom said, all business-like once again. "I want you to crawl back in bed, and curl up next to Karl, try to get some sleep. Alright?" "Alright." Orlando smiled. Crawling back in bed and curling up next to Karl sounded like a wonderful idea. "I'll see you after lunch, then." "Yeah, okay. See you then." Orlando hung up the phone, rubbed his eyes, and then stood. Right. He could handle this. He could. Now to keep telling himself that. But right now, the bed was calling his name. + + + Dom was fairly vibrating with fury when he hung up the phone. "Promise not to tell Karl. Huh. I didn't promise not to tell Sean. And he sure as fuck didn't promise not to tell Karl." His muttering continued as he pushed open the door to the chambers he shared with Sean, and stalked into the bedroom. "Wake up," Dom ordered, poking the sleeping vampire sharply. "Mmm?" One green eye opened, peered at Dom, and closed again. "Get up. You have to go kick that idiot's ass." The eye twitched but didn't open again. "Is daytime, pet." "I don't give a fuck." Dom's chin thrust out belligerently, and he poked Sean again, harder this time. "I just got off the phone with Orlando and the poor kid is scared out of his mind that he's going to screw up and practically hysterical, and it's all your friend's fault." "S'your friend, too," Sean mumbled, clearly not awake. "Not right now he isn't," Dom snapped, prodding Sean until two green eyes opened and glared at him. "Karl -- the eternal idiot -- has upset my friend, and I want you to do something about it, damn it!" "Later," Sean grumbled. "He dumped it all in Orli's lap last night." Damned if Dom was going to give up yet. "The money, the party, the companies, all of it. Every single thing. And Orli was in tears when I talked to him because he doesn't think he can handle it and Karl is absolutely clueless. As usual." "I'll talk t'him later," Sean muttered, rolling to his side, away from Dom. "Sean -- " "Dominic." That one word was delivered in something close to a growl. Dom paused for maybe two seconds. "Promise you'll talk to Karl?" "Fine. Now go 'way." "I love you." Dom smiled and kissed Sean's cheek. "Mmm." |