Yes!!! Scrooge looked around. The bedpost was his own. The bed was his own. The room was his own. And the happiest news of all was that he was back to his own time, and that meant he still had a life before him, a life in which to make amends...
"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!'' Scrooge repeated solemnly, as he scrambled out of bed. "The Spirits of all Three shall always live inside me. Bless you, David Marley! I will always love you for getting me this chance, I thank you on my knees!''
He was bursting with relief and good intentions as he scanned the room, at the same time mentally hugging each of its meager features in reassurance that they were still there - that he was still there - and noting how drab and miserly they looked.
And planning on changes. On choosing new stuff. On choosing it with someone special by his side. On living among it with that someone by his side.
His hands went to rub his eyes, to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing, and he found that his face was wet with tears.
He thought them blessed, cleansing, as he got up, grabbing the first clothes he came upon in his haste to rush out and start undoing what he had wrought in his life so far.
Again he looked around.
"Look, there's the door through which the ghost of David Marley came! There's the wall the Ghost of Christmas Present and myself passed through! There's the window from which I saw the wandering Spirits! It's all right, it's all true, it all happened.''
He rushed to the window laughing giddily, sprung it open and shouted: "A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!" And, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, his was a rich, splendid laugh.
"Hey, I don't know what day of the month it is!'' Scrooge wondered aloud. "I don't know how long I've been away with the Spirits. I don't know anything. I'm quite a baby. Never mind. I don't care. I'd rather be a baby than who I was before..."
The sound of the bells pealing from a myriad of churches distracted him for a moment, until he spotted a boy in Sunday clothes strolling down along the street beneath his window.
"Hello!" Scrooge cried, calling down to the boy. "Will you tell me what's the day today?"
"Eh?'' returned the boy, amazed.
"What's the day?'' repeated Scrooge, with a lot more patience that he would have shown a few days before.
"Today? Why, it's Christmas Day!''
"It's Christmas Day!'' said Scrooge to himself. "I haven 't missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Thanks, kind boy, and a Merry Christmas to you then!''
"And to you sir!'' returned the boy.
"Boy, do you know the grocer on the corner of the street, the one that's always open?'' Scrooge inquired.
"Oh yes sir," replied the lad.
"Bright boy!'' Scrooge exclaimed. "Would you run there for me and tell him to bring here a big hamper with a full Christmas lunch? Tell him I'll pay handsomely, and if you come back with him in less than fifteen minutes I'll reward you handsomely too!''
"I'll take it to Viggo,'' whispered Scrooge to himself once the boy had run off, as he absent-mindedly licked his lip. "He needs to put on some weight, he's too skinny. Maybe we could have Christmas lunch together... But why should he be wanting to have lunch with his grumpy employer when he could be with that nice couple next-door who cares so much about him?"
The moment of dejectedness was dispelled by the arrival of the boy with the grocer...
Hell, he could at least make sure that Viggo had a nice Christmas lunch, even if he didn't seem amenable to sharing it with him and decided instead to share it with his neighbors. That he would soon see, as he would bring the hamper over to Viggo's house himself.
He was hoping to find much in Viggo's eyes, in those eyes he had never before had the courage to look into. He was hoping for a new life - for both of them - to be spent together. But if the spirits had decided differently (and God knew he didn't deserve any mercy), he would settle for a new, better life for Viggo, and just a life of making amends for himself. Each in his own. He would be alone, but with the knowledge that Viggo was alive and well.
No harm in hoping, though.
Scrooge shaved with shaking hands, changed into his best - make that least shabby - clothes and, hamper in hand, went out in the streets.
People were by this time pouring out, as he had seen them while with the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile. He looked so irresistibly cheerful and pleasant that several passers-by smiled at him and wished him a Merry Christmas.
He smiled to himself as he breathed in deeply of the cold winter air. How could he have always failed to notice before just how wonderful it felt to be alive?
His brisk steps slowed down, though, as they neared Viggo Cratchit's house. He started thinking about what he was going to say to Viggo. He started wondering, for the first time, what Viggo felt for him. With his newly gained insight, he couldn't help wonder why Viggo had allowed him to take him, week after week, why Viggo had always docilely bent down on his desk for him every Wednesday evening.
Did Viggo somehow care for him? Or could it be he felt that was a toll to be paid in order to keep his job?
This idea made Sean Scrooge feel very cold inside. Weird, he thought as he shivered, he'd never realized before just how unpleasant it could be to feel cold... And thinking of the cold made his thoughts slam back into remembering what Viggo's neighbors had said while he and the Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come had been looking at them through the window. It had been the cold that had wasted Viggo away. The cold of the body or the cold of the soul? he asked himself...
The thought made his steps quicken, until he was almost running, not aware anymore of the weight of the hamper clutched in his hand.
He was out of breath when he reached the door of Viggo's house, all thoughts of what he was going to say forgotten in the urgency of seeing Viggo, of making sure Viggo was alive, of needing to take care of Viggo so that he might never feel cold again.
He pounded urgently on the door, until it was opened by a sleepy-looking Viggo, his face showing creases from having used Sean's balled up shirt as a pillow.
"Mr. Scrooge!" Viggo was startled by his employer's unexpected appearance. He shook his head, trying to clear away the fogginess of sleep, wondering what could have caused this morning visit. There was really only one reason that he could see... "I'm sorry sir, if you're here for your laundry it's not ready yet..."
"Fuck the laundry, and don't call me sir," Sean growled frustrated, feeling his old self imprinted in each of Viggo's words, mocking him. He pushed Viggo inside and closed the door, dropping the hamper to the floor.
Sean drank in the sight of Viggo - pale, confused, beautiful ... and most of all alive. He felt something burst within himself and he grabbed Viggo, engulfing him in a rough embrace, holding him as if ever letting him go was not an option.
He felt Viggo tremble in his arms, and realized that his fear and his relief were making his hold too tight, painful almost, and that he was probably scaring Viggo. It took a lot of effort to deliberately relax his grip, to drop his arms and step back.
"Mr. Scrooge!!" Viggo sounded stupefied.
"Don't call me Mr. Scrooge, Viggo, never ever again… please. Call me Sean, I know you can do that. I want to be just Sean to you, forever. Please?"
Viggo nodded, mute and dumbfounded.
Sean looked at him fondly.
"You haven't understood yet, have you?"
Viggo just stared at him, saucer-eyed.
Sean sighed. "All right, Spirits, I've come this far, I can take the last step." His hands went to cradle Viggo's face, gently, bringing him close until they were nose to nose.
"I love you," he said, and then he kissed him.
For a moment Viggo remained absolutely still, holding his breath, then he literally melted in Sean's arms and under Sean's mouth.
Sean felt this, and he was giddy with happiness and relief when he felt Viggo's arms clutch at him frantically, as if he were the only anchor he had in a world that was spinning too fast. When they had to break for air, Viggo's face went to hide in the collar of Sean's coat and Sean found himself grinning foolishly into a mop of silky blond hair.
"I love you Viggo," he repeated, nuzzling Viggo's ear. "Everything will be all right now, just let me love you and take care of you."
Sean felt Viggo nodding against his neck and soft lips on his throat.
"Viggo, please, look at me. There is something I have to ask you, something I need to understand, for my own sake… You know when every Wednesday we… I… well, you know what I mean," Sean blushed. "Why did you let me do that to you, week after week?"
"Why do you think?" Viggo asked, his tone gentle, his eyes meeting Sean's.
"I'd rather not think about that at all… No, that's not fair to you. I'd rather not think about how guilty it makes the person I am now feel," Sean smiled ruefully.
"Don't. You're not to feel guilty Sean, it was my choice. I let you do it because I loved you and I felt that the sex with you would be better than nothing, even if you didn't care about me, even if I was just a body to be used for release. And you always reminded me about our Wednesday evening tryst, even when I played dumb, and that made me feel better, it made me think that in your own way you needed and wanted that as much as I needed and wanted you. You know what was the only thing that really bothered me? It was not being able to see you," Viggo's fingers were tracing Sean's face, as if exploring what he had been denied until now.
"That you loved me then and love me now is a gift way beyond what I deserve. I don't know what instinct made me take you the first time and keep taking you but I couldn't do without you. And I'm yours to look at as long for as you wish. You know, I can understand that, I feel the same way now. So, will you let me? Will you let me take you? Will you let me see your face as I'm inside you? Will you let me see your face as you come with my name on your lips?
I know that's a lot of questions and permissions to ask of you. I hope they may make up for all I took without bothering to ask."
"Sean, you have no idea just how I have longed for that. Please… take me? It would be the best Christmas gift I could have from you, now that I know I have your love."
Sean shrugged off his coat and guided Viggo to the bed.
To both of them every inch of skin uncovered felt like a gift, a surprise never seen before. Sean couldn't get over the beauty of Viggo's chest and he kept petting the hair and the small tight nipples until Viggo thought he would go insane.
And Viggo would not be stopped until he had mapped all of Sean's body with his hands, his lips, his tongue.
Sean's hand stilled Viggo as he was hovering above Sean's cock, lips already parted.
"No my darling, stop. I'd love that, and I'd also love to feel you in my mouth, to find out what you taste like, but it will have to wait until another time. This time I want to be looking into your eyes as we come off together."
Viggo smiled and nodded as Sean pushed him on his back and rose to straddle him until they were groin to groin, their erections butting against each other.
"Together, like this, always," Sean said through clenched teeth, holding their cocks together, rubbing both heads with his thumb so that the leaking fluid intermingled, thinking dazedly how irresistibly silky and hot Viggo felt and wondering how he could have always overlooked touching Viggo while taking him, how he could survived until now without hearing the needy little sounds Viggo was making.
He allowed his thumb a last flick before reluctantly releasing their cocks. He shifted, settling between Viggo's thighs and pushed his knees up and back, his thumbs teasing the sensitive skin along the crease that went from groin to hipbone.
"Viggo, do you have lube?" he asked. Viggo stared uncomprehendingly for a moment, dazed by sensation, then shook his head.
"No Sean, but I have this," he replied, bringing Sean's fingers to his mouth, sucking and slicking them, making him growl with pleasure.
The way Viggo's mouth felt would have been enough to make him come, Sean thought, overwhelmed. He stopped Viggo before it was too late and prepared him as quickly as he dared, trying to turn a deaf ear to Viggo's pleadings to take him directly.
And finally he was inside and Viggo's thighs were gripping his sides hard as green and blue eyes locked onto each other. Viggo's hold on him was so fierce that small rocking movements were all Sean could manage. He shifted a bit until he could get a hand between their bodies to seize Viggo's cock, fingertips and palm alternating until he felt Viggo tighten as his climax hit and he could let go too, stopping all movement to feel the way they pulsed and trembled together, to drink in the expression on Viggo's face and let him see it mirrored in his own.
Sean rolled off Viggo, keeping him in his arms until they were lying side to side, still plastered to each other and panting.
"A merry Christmas, Viggo, and may all our Christmases be spent like this, together and loving each other,'' Sean whispered solemnly against Viggo's lips.
***
And so they were. Scrooge was better than his word.
He was to Viggo all that he could have wished for in a friend and in a lover, and he was to all a changed man.
Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh and didn't heed them. His own heart was filled with love and laughter and that was quite enough for him.
He had no further visits from the Spirits, but he always revered them and it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well.
May that be truly said of all of us!
Summary: Humbug! But there's hope for Sean Scrooge.
Rated: NC-17
Categories: Actor RPS Pairing: Sean/Viggo
Warnings: AUChallenges:
Series: A Christmas CarolChapters: 5 Completed: Yes
Word count: 10508 Read: 6681
Published: 07 Aug 2009 Updated: 07 Aug 2009