Decision – The Price of Fame Title: Decision - The Price of Fame Author: klatschmohn (rotpunkt) & Ashlyn K. Toliver (thevixenne) E-Mail: KTR525@yahoo.com Rating: R to NC-17 Characters: Sean B./Viggo M./OFC’s Warnings: Kinky sex in chapter 4 Disclaimer: This is a work of FICTION, created by two slashy women who simply adore Sean and Viggo and love playing with them (We wish!). Notes: This is the first collaboration for the both of us and we had a lot of fun, though we live on opposite ends of the world. Isn’t the Internet wonderful? Thanks Anne for inviting me to play. Thanks to Ashlyn: I dreamed and she made the dream come true! Summary: The price of fame is high…is Sean willing to pay it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prologue “Sean, it’s good to see you…” Viggo’s powerful embrace was like a welcome home and it took everything Sean had not to just give in to it. And Sean couldn’t help but to hug him back, happy to see Viggo, who normally didn’t do the Hollywood party circuit. He hugged him as if his life depended on it, held him a little too close, ignoring his agent, Trevor’s expression of annoyance. It was difficult not to devour Viggo at once, smother him with deep and passionate kisses, but Sean pulled away, regret in his eyes. A faint shadow of hurt flickered across Viggo’s face, but only for a split second, then those wicked blue eyes began to wander all over Sean’s body, taking in every familiar inch of the man whose body he knew so well. “Did I ever tell you that you look really good in Valentino,” he whispered in that low teasing growl that sent a wave of sheer and merciless desire throughout his body. “You also look very good in me…and under me…” Sean almost groaned from the hurricane force images that slammed through his mind – images from seemingly another life – images of him and Viggo and their halcyon days of wild passion. “Why don’t we get all this nonsense over with, shake hands and smile properly at all the self-important industry folks, then take off as soon as no one’s looking and spend the night together…I’ve missed you.” His voice was a silken temptation, almost impossible to resist and Sean felt as if his heart was being torn to shreds. He wanted nothing more than to just throw caution to the winds and just leave with Viggo and never look back. But he just couldn’t. Not if he valued his career. Unable to meet his lover’s eyes, he murmured, “Viggo…I’m sorry, but…” and felt utterly sick and rotten as the apology stammered from his lips. Within moments the aura of colorful happiness that danced and shimmered around Viggo was gone. “I’ve got a previous engagement that I can’t miss,” he explained lamely, the excuse weak to his ears. “Studio and all that.” “Who is she?” Viggo was a lot smarter than many people gave him credit for. He may be the absentminded artist, but very little escaped his notice. Sean didn’t lie and pointed to the dark-haired woman at the table behind them, sipping elegantly on a glass of wine, chatting animatedly with friends as the paparazzi captured every elegant gesture. He looked at Sean shifting from one foot to the other in nervous embarrassment, his face unreadable. “I see…obviously the studio doesn’t want to deal with damage control if it should come to light their potential new star prefers men.” Viggo deliberately lowered his voice, attempted to control the sharpness of his tone, though he couldn’t suppress it entirely. Sean wanted to say something – anything – anything that would take that look of pain from Viggo’s eyes. “At least they chose well. I like her.” Sean stared at Viggo in helpless bewilderment. “What?” “Your date,” and the venom in his voice almost caused Sean to flinch. “Diana Harlow. She was in that film with Stuart Townsend, ‘An Alien Heat’. Sean couldn’t help but smile, even now, thinking how typically Viggo. The man had no idea who Jennifer Aniston was, since he cared very little for popular culture, but he’d always been a genius when it came to obscure talent. “She’s talented,” Viggo said as matter-of-factly. “And she seems to have a lot more going for her than just her looks.” “Vig…you’re not jealous, are you? That’s my part, remember?” Sean tried to joke, but the effort failed. At the beginning of their relationship, Sean indeed was jealous as hell. He hid it well, but behind closed doors, he made certain that Viggo knew exactly who desired him more than anyone else in the world. Initially, that had been one of the reasons he allowed Viggo to take him beyond his limits during sex – so desperate he’d been not to lose this relationship the way he’d lost so many others in the past. Back then he thought he would die from jealousy, especially because Viggo was the type of person who was freely affectionate with everyone – male or female. It hadn’t helped matters much when Sean returned to London for three weeks, leaving Viggo alone with a raven-haired temptation named Karl Urban. He remembered the feeling of black and hollow emptiness, of the jealousy poisoning his blood like acid, the lump in his throat nearly strangling him, the taste of bitterness on his tongue. At first, Viggo had found it amusing, their lovemaking burning hotter with whispered fantasies of whom to bring into their bed. After awhile, it had become rather annoying and even insulting, because it seemed to him that Sean didn’t trust him at all. “You don’t have to be jealous,” Sean said softly. "I’m yours and you know it." “I’m not jealous, Sean.” “Then what is it?” “Nothing.” “Bullshit, Vig…talk to me.” Sean so wanted to touch him, to comfort him, but Viggo withdrew to an arm’s length, shrugging. “Look Sean, it’s okay. I understand, really.” “Vig, please… don’t make this any harder than it has to be.” “Me?” Viggo snorted a short laugh of disbelief. “Hell, the only thing that was hard was my cock thinking about how good it would be to feel you beneath me… begging.” It took every ounce of willpower for Sean not to sink to his knees from the surge of white-hot lust that suffused throughout his body. “Damn you, Mortensen...” And Sean’s eyes glittered like cold emeralds, full of hunger and rage. In other circumstances, Viggo would have loved to have seen that look on Sean’s face, but the atmosphere between them was thick with tension. “I wouldn’t give me that look if I were you. I have the feeling that your handlers would shit a brick if they saw you right now.” He pointed in the direction of Trevor and a few of his associates who were doing their best spin control. “And we don’t want to risk that, now do we?” Viggo’s voice was calm, but the sarcasm dripped like venom. He patted Sean’s shoulders, friendly-like, grinning at the scowling Trevor with vicious politeness. “Never mind, Sean. I’ll see you around, ok?” Turning to leave, Sean pulled him back, gripping his wrist. “You’re mad at me.” Viggo’s expelled a sigh of exhaustion. “I’m not. I am frustrated as hell at this situation and I’m trying to be supportive because I know your career is important to you. I can’t help the way I feel, and frankly I think it’s bullshit that we have to pretend not to know each other for the sake of appearances.” Inwardly Sean agreed, but he’d already made his deal with the devil and now had to live with it. “I want to be with you, Sean, always, and those kind of feelings can’t be turned on and off like a light switch. Do you expect me not to care at all? Is that what you want?” “No,” Sean admitted quietly. “I accept your decision, I accept the situation, but that does not mean I have to like it.” And Viggo finally walked away, instantly fading into the crowd like the ranger he once portrayed and all Sean could do was stare at a lingering afterimage, feeling as if he was the king of ruins. With a leaden heart, he returned to the table where Diana, surrounded by intimates, didn’t appear to have missed him at all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diana would have sold her favorite pair of Manolo Blahniks to have overheard the conversation between Sean and Viggo Mortensen, though from the look on his face, it most certainly had nothing to do with the weather in New Zealand. As he made his way back to her, she watched amazed as the consummate actor in him rose to the occasion once again. He was jovial, shaking hands, pausing for a moment or two to share a joke or exchange information. The smile on his lips did not meet his tortured green eyes as he took her hand in his and kissed it with gentlemanly flourish. “Sorry luv…had to chat with my best mate, you know? Play catch up and all that.” She nodded with a practiced air. “Of course, sweetie,” and she placed a perfect Hollywood kiss on his cheek. “I’ve had plenty of friends to keep me amused, darling.” Sean smiled artlessly, inwardly dismayed at just how easily he slipped into the role of devoted suitor when his heart was somewhere else…with someone else. The taste of fame was like ashes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The phone rang. Sleep eluded Sean. His mouth was cotton-dry and his eyes felt like lead weights. A half-empty bottle of scotch rested beside him, the only company he sought for his bed last night. “…Hello?” “We need to talk about last night, Bean.” Trevor’s voice was the last thing he wanted to hear, especially without sleep, and he sure as hell wasn’t in the mood for any of the man’s complaints. “As far as I’m concerned, the press got what they wanted. There’s got to be at least a dozen pictures of me and Diana coming out of Eclipse.” “There are…but there’s also people talking about that little tête-à-tête between you and Mortensen that I had to do my damdest to explain.” “And you obviously couldn’t tell them the truth, right,” Sean asked sarcastically. Trevor sighed, exasperated, “Look Sean, on a personal Ievel I don’t care what you and Mortensen had to say to each other for ten minutes. But as your agent, I’m the one who’s got to sell you to the producers and directors, and I bloody well can’t do that if you aren’t willing to meet me halfway.” But Sean was hardly in the mood to be reasonable, considering a lack of sleep and even more pronounced, the lack of a certain moody Dane with a quirky smile lying next to him. “Maybe we need to establish some ground rules here Trev. I hired you to deal with all the unpleasantries that I simply don’t have the time to deal with. Now, I’ve taken your advice as far as Diana’s concerned, and frankly she’s a really nice girl who deserves someone better than me. But that’s it. Whatever conversation Viggo and I had last night has nothing to do with any of this, and you can tell everyone in this fucking world I said so.” And Sean hung up on him.