Posted: May 2004
Title: Ear Fetish
Author: Estella Greenleaf
Type: RPS
Characters: Viggo/Orlando
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: None of this is true. It's all lies. I don't know anything or anyone.
Author's Notes: This drabble/ficlet was originally intended for LOTR_Adult_Fiction's birthday challenge. But it didn't get finished in time. Anyway, just want to wish the list a Happy Birthday =)

*****

Viggo never quite understood why people celebrated birthdays. It's not like people age more on their birthdays than on a normal day. It certainly wasn't special enough to merit all the fuss associated with it. If it were up to him, he would simply let the day pass unobserved, carrying on with his life as usual. But this year, thanks to his decision to become part of the LOTR Fellowship, the choice wasn't his to make. His co-stars loved a good party; and there was no way they were going to let this ‘valid' reason to celebrate go to waste.

Normally, Viggo would have no trouble going along with whatever his friends had in mind; but ‘normal' was hardly the word he could ascribe to his present state of mind. As eccentric as he was, it wasn't everyday that he fell head-over-heels for a beautiful young man 19 years his junior… at first sight no less. He had been doing everything he could to hold this attraction in check, deliberately teasing Orli and targeting him for his practical jokes.

It was for this reason that Viggo was apprehensive about any large-scale celebration his co-stars might plan. He knew after the ‘head-butting' incident, Orli would be plotting his revenge. The Elf might be prissy, but he *always* got even. Given how quiet things have been on set, Viggo was certain the young Brit intended to unleash ‘mayhem' on his birthday. It was much better to keep the party small; even if anything embarrassing happened, only his closest friends would be there to observe it. He could only hope whatever Orli had planned wasn't *evil* enough to make him wish for absolutely no witnesses at all.

*****

Orli wasn't too happy that he had to delay his revenge to ‘be part of' this mass gift from the Fellowship, but he knew the Hobbits would kill him if he backed out now. It was a very daft idea for a present, really; but he simply could not convince his friends of this fact.

What happened was, after hearing how Viggo had a ‘thing' for Liv's Elf ears, the Hobbits thought a set of pointy ears on an Elf would be the perfect gift for the American. And since Liv absolutely refused to be put in a box and gift-wrapped, Orli was the only other person ‘qualified' to model the present. The Brit would have refused, but for some strange reason, everyone on the Fellowship seemed to think it's a great idea. Not wanting to be a party-pooper, he had no choice but to agree.

As the Brit waited in the darkness of the giant cardboard box, he realized this was the most stupid thing he had ever done in his life. Sure, he could imagine Viggo would have the most hilarious expression when he popped out of the box, but it wasn't worth risking everyone discovering his secret crush on the older man. If the American were to play along and fondle his prosthetic ears, Orli was afraid he would react ‘inappropriately' to the touch. He knew Viggo only thought of him as a friend; any display of affections might jeopardize their current friendship. And that was something Orli was desperate to avoid.

So lost was Orli in his musing that he almost didn't feel his ‘hiding place' being shifted around. It was only when he heard Dom's loud cough that he realized the time had come. He listened intensely for the ripping sounds that signified the removal of the wrapping. When he saw a sliver of light through the seams, Orli sprung up, thinking to burst out of the box to surprise Viggo.

What Orli didn't know was that the American was standing directly over the box when opening his present. The Brit's head hit Viggo's shoulder, his forward momentum sending them flying. When they collapsed onto the floor in a heap, they simultaneously rubbed their injured body parts and said, "Ouch!"

Their misfortune sent everyone else in the room into a laughing fit. It was quite a while before Dom calmed enough to say breathlessly, "That didn't quite go as planned."

With a grin, Billy chirped in, "You'd think an Elf'd be more graceful than that."

Both Orli and Viggo were preoccupied with keeping their bodies in check now that they were practically in each other's arms. The Brit was the first to recover, realizing his legs were still trapped in the box. "Don't just stand there. Help me out of this thing already!"

Taking pity on the Elf, Sean A. moved to pull the cardboard box off of Orli and gave him a hand up. Now that the object of his affections was no longer lying on top of him, Viggo got to his feet, all the while rubbing the spot where the Brit had ‘head-butted' him. "So, what's going on exactly?"

Seeing that things were once again going accordingly to plan, ‘Lij pulled out a note-pad and asked, "You ready, Orli?"

"Yeah," replied the Brit rolling his eyes before assuming his modeling pose.

"Here is a perfect specimen of an Elf. Notice the superior quality of the pointy-ears. We saved this set just for you," read ‘Lij while Orli turned around and struck several different poses to ‘show off' Viggo's present.

Viggo's jaw dropped. He didn't know what to make of this strange birthday gift. "You're giving me used prosthetic Elf ears?"

Staring at the American as if he had gone stupid, Sean B. clarified, "No. We heard from Liv how much you like touching her Elf ears when you're filming the Aragorn/Arwen scenes; so we are giving you Orli with pointy ears as your gift."

Orli and Viggo stared at Sean as if he had just grown horns. Did the man just imply they had a mutual secret crush that everybody, except themselves, knew about it? But that wasn't possible…

"I'm still not quite getting it," insisted the American for both of them, since the Brit seemed still too stunned to speak.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, the oldest and wisest member of the Fellowship said to their Elf and their King, "Listen, perhaps you two are new at this, but take it from an old man that this ‘just friends' act is not fooling anyone besides yourselves. We are tired of watching you two dance around each other. That's why we are giving both of you a hand."

Viggo turned to the wide-eyed shocked Brit and whispered, "Orli?" Despite what the others had said, he still needed confirmation from the young man before he risked taking the next step.

Though Orli had trouble believing what Ian had said, he recognized the emotion shining in Viggo's eyes. The older man returned his affections! Not trusting his voice to speak, the young Brit nodded slightly. He held his breath as Viggo moved closer until they were almost touching. As the older man lifted a hand to stroke his cheeks, he gulped, waiting for the kiss that he didn't even dared dream of before today.

Soft and wondering, their lips touched for the first time. With a content sigh, Viggo deepened the kiss, hand caressing the side of Orli's face as he savored the beautiful youth's sweet mouth. For a long moment, they stayed entwined, lost in each other's touch until the need for breath drove them apart. Grinning, they pressed their foreheads together as they marveled at what had just occurred.

"I knew it!" said John in his booming voice. "Did you see where Viggo's hand was?"

Cackling, Dom replied, "Yeah, the man definitely has a ear fetish alright."

Hands still around Orli's waist, Viggo turned to face the Fellowship and answered, "I don't know, maybe I do have a ear fetish. But one thing's for sure; this is the best birthday present I've ever had."

*****

THE END

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Estella Greenleaf