Viggo sits in a hotel, looking out over the rooftops of Rome, the Eternal City, and contemplates mortality.
Another birthday will dawn tomorrow, another year gone, so much still to do, to learn and to be and so little time here.
Viggo has reached that age, when he knows that the time left will be less than the time he’s already had.
Since childhood, he has been aware of his mortality and it used to make him angry.
Now it just makes him sad, especially as there is something in particular he wants to make happen before time runs out.
*****
Sean sits in his house in London and contemplates Viggo.
Tomorrow will be Viggo’s 48th birthday, with his own to follow in a few months.
Although he hasn’t seen Viggo in a while, the bond between them is strong and he thinks about him constantly.
He knows that Viggo is at the Rome Film Festival now and he saw the pictures from Leon with him holding the puppy tenderly.
Sean can’t decide who is cuter, the puppy or Viggo, but the pictures made him misty-eyed.
“Yer big soft git !” he tells himself, although he admits he envies that puppy.
*****
Viggo knows why he has never told Sean, nor even shown him how he truly feels.
Sure, he values their friendship and he never wanted to do anything to jeopardize it and sure, Sean has always come over as 110% heterosexual, but those are not really the reasons.
Viggo knows that if his feelings were not reciprocated in that way, Sean would either punch him, or let him down gently, but the friendship would continue.
The truth is that he has never felt strong enough to cope with the rejection, so it has always felt safer to hide his feelings.
*****
Sean knows why he has never told Viggo how he truly feels.
It is not because he values their friendship too much to jeopardize it, nor because it would dent his image as red-blooded, heterosexual Sean Bean, sex-symbol, nor even because he fears that his feelings are not reciprocated.
Sean believes that the friendship is strong enough to withstand such a revelation and he knows how to keep his private life private, when he really wants.
The truth is that what he really fears is that his feelings are indeed reciprocated and that frightens the living shit out of him.
*****
Viggo comes to a decision.
After all, he has had plenty of experience in his life of pouring out his feelings and having them rejected. It is true that this particular rejection would tear his heart out and make a snack of it, but time is running out.
Over the years he has seen signs that maybe, just maybe, Sean feels more for him than friendship. He will not waste any more precious time. When Sean calls him tomorrow, as he surely will, to wish him a Happy Birthday, he will grasp the toro by the horns and tell him.
*****
Sean comes to a decision.
Richard Sharpe would be resolute in this and so will he.
They have surely wasted too much precious time already and although he has failed at relationships so many times, this one will be different. He’s never tried to do this with a man before and if he is right about the way Viggo feels, it is worth jumping off the cliff !
Sean wants Viggo to hold him and look at him, like he did at that puppy.
Big soft git or not, he gets on line and books an urgent flight to Rome.
*****
Viggo is pacing his hotel room on his birthday.
He has received a call from Henry, his mother and various other friends and family members, but the call he is waiting for has not happened.
He starts to fret a little. Just as he has come to his decision and psyched himself up to tell Sean the truth, could fate be so cruel as to make this the one year in seven years of friendship that Sean fails to ring ?
If he doesn’t call, will Viggo have the courage to call him ?
Someone raps loudly at the door.
*****
Sean is pacing in the corridor, as he waits for the door to open.
When it does, he takes in the sight of Viggo standing there, his hair long enough to run your fingers through, his pale blue Argentina sweat shirt bringing out the blue in his ever-changing eyes, his jeans hanging off his hips and of course, his feet bare.
Viggo smiles delightedly and says,
“Sean !” in such a husky voice that Sean’s cock rears up in happy anticipation.
“What’s that Spanish phrase he taught the crowd in Toronto ? Con dos cojones!” thinks Sean and he pounces.
*****
Viggo finds himself pushed into his room and thrown onto the bed by a very alpha Sean.
Having hung the “Do not Disturb” sign on the door and kicked it shut in a decisive way, Sean launches himself onto Viggo, kisses him comprehensively and says,
“Happy Birthday, mate ! Ah suppose a celebratory shag is out of the question, then?”
“This is so sudden, Sean ! I thought you’d never ask !” but Viggo knows that he has never had a happier birthday, as Sean gets rid of their clothes in record time and they joyously explore each others’ bodies.
*****
Sean finds himself pushed onto his back and covered by Viggo, up and ready for round two.
“Hey, ah thought ah were a natural at bein’ on top, especially as it were me first attempt, Vig !”
“Turn and turn about, Sean. It’s only fair ! And by the way, what brings you to Rome ?”
“’Ah’m yer birthday present, yer cheeky sod ! An’ anyway, don’t they say ‘all roads lead to Rome’?”
“They do, Sean and they also say ‘all roads lead home’.”
“Well ah’ve come to you in Rome, an’ ah have come home. Happy Birthday !”
Summary: Viggo is in Rome on his birthday.
Rated: PG
Categories: Actor RPS Pairing: Sean/Viggo
Warnings: NoneChallenges:
Series: NoneChapters: 1 Completed: Yes
Word count: 1015 Read: 845
Published: 07 Aug 2009 Updated: 07 Aug 2009