Blackpool UK, July 1973
“Excuse me, do you have a light?”
“I am sorry, I don’t smoke. But why don’t you come sit over here, our sons seem to get along fine, we can have a little chat.”
“I can tell you’re American, you’re a long way from home.”
“I am visiting an old friend who lives here. I am going home tomorrow, and I thought I should take my son to the famous seaside here before we left. He’s been a bit lonely and bored up till now.”
“Well it’s a shame we haven’t met before then, I am here for three more days and my Sean has been a bit bored too: not many boys his age here. It’s a difficult age isn’t it? He’s fourteen, too old to play and too young to do other things.”
“My Viggo is fifteen and I know what you mean. He’s just beginning to look at girls I think, but girls his age see him as a kid.”
The two women roughly the same age stretched their legs out in the sun and smiled at each other.
“I am Grace, by the way.”
“I am Rita”
The two boys were in the water, just swimming and talking. They were showing off a bit, diving into waves, and submerging suddenly to startle each other. When they got bored they walked to the sand and fell down on it to let the sun dry them up.
“You know you talk funny?”
“I talk funny? You do!”
”I am American, but you talk different than the people I’ve met here so far.”
“Must be boring people then.”
“Disgustingly so, my mother’s friend and her family. I am glad we’re going home tomorrow.”
“I wish we were going too: we have to spend another three days here. Me Mum says we’re here for my sake, so we’ll have to stay I guess.”
“Not much to do around here, is there?
Their hair and bodies dried, they got up wiping the sand from their bare legs.
"I’ll ask me Mum to give us an ice-cream, come on.”
They walked slowly back over the warm sand to where the women sat.
“Mum, can we get an ice-cream?”
“Yes you can, get me my purse.”
“Don’t stay away too long young man, we should be leaving in an hour or so. I still got a lot to pack!”
“Yeah, sure.”
The boys walked in the direction of the promenade, Sean slightly ahead. There was a large barrel lying in the sand probably left by children playing and Sean climbed on it. Stretching his arms horizontally to keep himself balanced he managed to stay upright.
Viggo looked at him and held his breath. The sun was right behind Sean, surrounding the blond hair with a golden halo. His body stretched and taut he looked beautiful even to a fifteen-year-old schoolboy. Viggo felt frozen in time, strangely captured in the moment, then longing for his mother’s camera. Felt the urge to pin that moment down on paper, canvas, clay whatever...
And then Sean fell off laughing, the moment gone, but the image very much lingering.
Los Angeles USA, August 2005
After the long meeting he had he didn’t feel much for going back to his lonely hotel room. A very expensive, posh and clean hotel room, and he were bored to death with it. He had hoped for an invitation for tonight with some of the people he met today, but no one really seemed to like him. Probably not smooth enough, he thought with a wry smile. Well fuck them!
So here he was just walking in the neighborhood of his hotel, not really with a purpose. There were a lot of art shops and galleries here, most of it not much to his taste. Then his eye caught a large picture in one of those galleries windows and he stopped. That was.. special. It was a picture of a beach somewhere, deserted for just one figure in the background. A man, surround by the sunlight. He stared at it, not sure if he liked it, but fascinated anyway.
The sign next to the picture read: 'Halo' by Viggo Mortensen. Not for sale.”
On the door was a small poster inviting people in for Viggo Mortensen’s exhibition and he thought: “hell, why not?” and stepped inside. There was a black haired girl with a nose-piercing sitting behind a desk. She barely looked up when he entered and just said “hi”.
He walked around looking at the pictures: some of them he liked and some of them he didn’t, but none of them made the impression that the one in the window had.
He walked out again to have another look, to be certain. Yes there was something special about it and he felt he should try to get it. Not for sale? The prices on the pictures inside told him the artist wasn’t making a very good living with his art, so perhaps the right amount of money would make him change his point of view.
He went in again and beamed his biggest smile at the girl. She shifted nervously on her chair and smiled back uncertainly.
“That picture in the window. I know it says not for sale, but I still want to buy it. Could you contact the artist and ask him to reconsider? I would like to make him a real good offer.”
Just after he finished speaking he felt a presence behind him and he turned around. The man standing there looked straight in his face without smiling. He was a mixture of sharp features and ragged looks and Sean felt almost the same as when looking at that damned picture.
The man now gave a thin smile and pulled out his hand.
“Hi. I am Viggo Mortensen. You wanted to speak to me?”
Summary: Sean is a business man, Viggo a photographer.
Rated: NC-17
Categories: Actor RPS Pairing: Sean/Viggo
Warnings: AUChallenges:
Series: HaloChapters: 5 Completed: Yes
Word count: 3992 Read: 9870
Published: 03 Aug 2009 Updated: 03 Aug 2009