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Disclaimer: Ever so sorry boys…the stuff in here never happened.
Paring: Sean A./Elijah
Summary: AU: Some things are just meant to happen while others are simply ripples off of one small mistake that change us forever. (Read AU Description, and also AN; behind cut)
AU Description: Same as before. (Refer to the “Prologue’s” AN for information mentioned previously.)
Rating: R (over-all) Chapter Eleven: PG-13 – R
AN: Longer visit from our guest couple; Monaboyd and more enforcing the lovely theme.
Guide: ‘Thoughts’
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Preordained

Chapter Eleven: Patrick

Elijah’s throat immediately went dry, forcing out a sudden cough he tried to hide behind a hand. Looking back up, he found Sean’s eyes searching his own with a glaze of innocent interest accompanied by an expectant smile. Beneath the table Elijah’s hands were busy with flicking his rusted lighter on and off as his mind spun. He glanced up at Dom and found him staring back with a cocked eyebrow before tilting his head towards Sean and raised both eyebrows. Elijah merely looked back at Sean, choosing to ignore Dom’s silent question and the implications that went along with it.

He had to tell Sean; just not in Dom’s presence. If he could, Elijah wanted to tell Sean in private. The reaction Elijah was sure Sean would have to the news would be a dead give away to anyone about the true nature of their relationship and neither Sean nor Elijah were ready for anyone to know. He wanted to be able to spare Sean from any unnecessary awkward situations that he could.

While the silence lengthened, Dom couldn’t help but wonder why Elijah was stalling. His eyes switched between the younger man and Sean, trying to find a connection. However, out of the corner of his eye Sean noticed Dom’s near leering gaze and the sudden flare of possessive and protective instinct hit him square in the chest. Leaning across the short distance between himself and Elijah, Sean placed his bent elbow on Elijah’s shoulder and looked up at Dom then back at Elijah with the same intent of trying to find a connection. This contact suddenly jumpstarted Elijah’s response and Dom’s sudden understanding as to why Elijah’s following answer was somewhat censored because of the man whose protective arm was leaned against his body.

“Oh,” he blinked a few times, pretending he had only been spacing out for a moment. “Dom’s an old…friend of mine,” he motioned towards Dom as he looked at Sean with a half smile. “We met on the set of an indie movie we did together a year or so ago.” Thankfully, Dom only smiled widely and nodded in agreement with Elijah’s story. “And Billy here, he’s…” Pausing suddenly unsure what to call Billy, Elijah looked up into Dom’s eyes. Seeing the slightly incline of Dom’s head and the blatant approval he went ahead, “he’s Dom’s boyfriend.” Billy’s impish smile laced his lips as he winked at Dom and elbowed him in the stomach.

“Well, any friend of Lijah’s is a friend of mine.” Sean held out his hand and shook both Dom’s and Billy’s with a smile. With the new knowledge about the couple, and after watching and noticing the subtle interaction between them, Sean felt there was no need to be so overprotective of Elijah. He was surer than anything that the glint he saw in Dom’s eyes as he looked upon Billy was the same look that glazed Elijah’s eyes when he’d caught Elijah staring at him as he wrote. However, as he moved away from the younger man he felt a foot bump against his own and stay there beneath the table, maintaining any level of contact it could receive. “Can you two give us a moment? I just need to ask Lij one question,” Sean requested quickly glancing down at the list before smiling up at the duo.

“No problem,” Dom replied with the same manic grin he’d been wearing ever since stepping up to meet them. He and Billy turned and walked a few feet away to give Sean and Elijah privacy.

Sean turned to Elijah and passed him the papers he’d glanced at before. On the crisp sheet Dom and Billy’s names were circled with red. “What do you think?” Sean asked, tapping the names with the end of the felt tipped pen.

If he could have, Elijah would have sighed in relief. For a moment he was sure Sean had seen the look Dom gave him, the look that had silently asked if there was something between himself and Sean, and was going to ask him about it. Thankfully, Sean just wanted to confirm the decisions of choosing Dom and Billy to act as Tig and Tag.

“Oh, yeah…they’d be totally perfect,” Elijah agreed with a smile as he angled his body closer, causing his foot beneath the table to nudged Sean’s. With a subtle movement, Elijah leaned his elbow against the edge of the table as he motioned with his index finger for Sean to come closer so he could whisper something in his ear. Intrigued, Sean inclined his head so Elijah’s lips brushed against the shell of his ear but angled so that what they would do later would be hidden. The softness of fingertips against the skin on the side of his neck demanded his attention as they pulled at fabric and pressed against the discolored mark there. A sudden nibbling on his earlobe sent Sean’s vision blurring just before he heard Elijah’s voice purr in his ear, “But who is going to play Patrick, hmmm, Sean?” The question rolled and hummed in the back of Elijah’s throat, coating his voice thick in unmistakable desire, creating a husky tenor Sean had never heard from him before.

Quickly, Sean pulled away in order to answer, and to save himself from the unbreakable grip of passion Elijah could evoke in him in one caress. “We’ll find out tomorrow, I guess.” To that day, Sean had never seen such a blatant pouting face from Elijah as he saw at that moment. But, no matter how much Sean was tempted to kiss away the quivering lower lip; he found his resolve and merely told Elijah that they’d talk more about it later. Elijah decided there was no point pursuing the topic because he knew what risks Sean would be taking if he played the role of Patrick, especially with Christine helping on set.

“You guys can come back now.” Sean said motioning for Billy and Dom to return and stand before the makeshift fold out table. “We both think you two are perfect for the roles of Tig and Tag and we’re glad to have you on board.” As soon as the words had passed through Sean’s lips, Dom leaned to his left and, placing a hand against the side of Billy’s head, planted a purposely sloppy kiss on the older man’s cheek.

“Just don’t steal the show too much,” Elijah commented with grin, watching Billy wipe off his face with the cuff of his jean jacket. Next to him, Sean nodded in agreement with a smile of his own as he knowingly tapped Elijah’s foot with his shoe. Dom’s goofy smile faded as he opened his mouth once then closed it before turning to whisper something in Billy’s ear. While the two conspirators spoke to one another in hushed voices, Elijah repeated the newly conceived habit he’d used the previous day to test nearly every last ounce of Sean’s resolve. Slipping his foot out of his loosely tied shoes, he slid his barefoot under the hem of Sean’s pant leg and up his shin.

“Billy and I are wondering if you two fine gentleman…,” Dom’s suave voice broke through the attempted air of seduction Elijah was trying to lure Sean into. Raising an eyebrow, Elijah listened carefully as he stopped moving. “…would want to accompany us to a nearby bar to shoot some pool and have a few drinks after you’re done here today?” The proposition hung in the air unacknowledged for several minutes before Sean’s mind began to work.

The most he knew about Elijah (outside of his oral fixation, a little bit of past family history and his practically tangible love of music) was honestly, pretty much nothing. ‘A chance to get to learn more about Elijah’s world and his friends…there’s no way I’ll turn that down.’ Sean finally reasoned as he opened his mouth to answer, casting a quick glance to Elijah. The younger man was staring at him with the strangest mixture of near fear and pleading to go. However, Elijah simply shrugged, pretending to be indifferent.

“Sure,” he finally answered but paused as his smile turned bitter, verging on self deprecation. “Despite the fact I’ve never been very good at pool.” Elijah was the only one who caught the slight inflection of Sean’s voice as he spoke that gave way to something more behind his words. After speaking the last sentence, Sean was surprised by the look of shock on Dom’s face as the man’s eyes flicked back and forth between Sean and Elijah.

“You’re kidding right?” Dom asked with a perplexed laughter. From the self-conscious shake of Sean’s head Dom was sure he wasn’t joking around. ‘Maybe I was wrong ‘bout these two. The pool hall is one of Elijah’s favorite places for a nice casual date.’ Casting his gaze over Sean for the umpteenth time he found something he hadn’t seen before. Dom tried to sort it all out in his mind as his eyes stuck on the mark peaking out just above the collar of Sean’s shirt. He remembered that along with Elijah’s oral fixation he favored the throat area when fooling around. Instead of helping Dom come to a conclusion this physical evidence only further confused him. ‘I’ll just ask Lij later.’ With a slow, over emphasized moment of his hand, Dom motioned towards Elijah.

“Don’t worry about it Sean,” his voice fending off any snide comments he thought Dom might make after learning that Sean wasn’t very good at the game Elijah loved. “I can show you a few pointers.” Elijah offered as Dom knew he would.

‘Elijah certainly wants to fuck him…a few “pointers”, Elijah?’ If Dom’s inner voice had a pair of eyes they would have been rolling cynically. ‘Well I guess physical contact is physical contact...’

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Contrary to the heat outside, the interior of Sean’s car was near freezing as Elijah played with the gauges controlling the air conditioning. Finally giving up on trying to freeze them both to death before he had to confess, Elijah sat back in the seat and fidgeted with his seatbelt that Sean forced him to wear despite how uncomfortable and unattractive it was. Elijah decided to start off the conversation as soon as Sean got in the car. It would be a short ride to the bar and Elijah had quite a lot to fill him in on. He would start out casual and work his way up. Taking a deep breath, Elijah opened his mouth as soon as Sean got into the driver’s seat. The first word was about to pass from between his lips but was muffled by Sean’s.

Just as Elijah had done the day before, Sean leaned over the arm rest between them and pressed a searing kiss to Elijah’s lips. He had wanted so desperately to do it before when those pale, flushed lips were pouting just to evoke that very response from him. In fact, all day he’d wanted more intimate physical contact with Elijah then those silly foot games. With one hand behind him, still gripping the car door, Sean pulled it shut and angled his body in Elijah’s direction. His warm palm pressed against Elijah’s face as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. On his chest he could feel Elijah’s hands ball into fists as he pulled at Sean’s shirt. The tip of his tongue was just about to venture beyond tracing the outline of Elijah’s tongue and stroke the soft skin on the inside of his cheek when Sean’s elbow slipped and hit the steering wheel, sounding the horn.

Jumping apart suddenly, Elijah’s back collided against the glass window; his wet lips glinted in the dim light as puffs of air passed through the parted opening between them. A nervous laughter started from Sean as he shifted and leaned back against his seat, tilting his head up to look at the tinted glass of the sun roof.

“We’re acting like a couple of skittish teenagers,” he sighed just as the weight of Elijah’s head nestled on his shoulder. Those wet lips Sean had been so entranced with before placed lazy kisses against his throat as he wrapped an arm around Elijah’s slim shoulders. His fingers found their own way and tangled in the short soft hairs at the nape of Elijah’s neck and began to idly trace patterns. Elijah’s own hand was busy stroking and interlocking with Sean’s hand that rested against his thigh.

“What did you tell Christine?”

‘Déjà vu,’ Sean’s mind sang as Elijah finally asked the question that had been hanging in the air just waiting to be asked. The younger man pulled away in order to allow Sean room to start the car. Waiting for the answer, Elijah wiped the saliva from his lips on the back of his hand and smiled, seeing the glimmer of wetness against Sean’s throat.

“The truth,” Sean simply stated as Elijah’s heart nearly stopped, jumping to a conclusion that didn’t end happily. “Just that I’m going out with you and some new cast member for a ‘get to know you better’ drink.” A deep sigh spilled from Elijah’s lips as he leaned back against his seat in relief. Looking over with concern, Sean asked if Elijah was okay.

“I’m fine…” Elijah squirmed in his seat, tugging anxiously at the seatbelt cutting into the side of his throat. ‘Now or never...’ Elijah froze; he didn’t want to tell Sean when he was driving. They were almost at the bar, one more stop light and Sean was now pulling into the parking lot in back. “Sean wait…I need to tell you something.” That certainly got Sean’s attention as he stopped midway opening the door. Closing it back up again, Elijah finally unbuckled the seatbelt and turned his entire body to face Sean completely. He took one of Sean’s hands in his own; he loved Sean’s incredible hands that could create any world they wanted to with simple keystrokes. With Sean’s hand in his own, Elijah placed Sean’s palm to his lips.

“Elijah?” Sean asked as unadulterated worry and anxiety coursed through his every word and subtle movement. When Elijah’s eyes slid shut, he pulled Sean’s hand around to the side of his face to cup his jaw gently before finally speaking.

“It’s about Dominic.” Beneath his fingers covering Sean’s hand he felt the older man flinch.

‘Fuck, I knew it…but that look…and Billy?’ Sean’s mind was spinning as his grip tightened the slightest on Elijah’s face.

“Before I met you, he and I…we…we were…,” Elijah’s eyes flew open as he heaved a sigh through gritted teeth. “Fuck, Sean I’m sorry but I though you would want to know…” He finally admitted, releasing Sean’s hand as both of Elijah’s hands flew up to Sean’s face as he pressed his forehead against Sean’s. Elijah noted happily that Sean’s hand stayed where he had placed it. With wide eyes Sean stared into the pleading depths of blue flames.

“What happened?” Sean deadpanned.

“Billy,” Elijah said in a whisper as Sean’s lips parted as silent understanding dawned upon him. “On the day I came back from filming Eternal Sunshine I found him in bed with Billy…the next day when I went to get my bags we decided to just be friends again…then that same day I met you.” He paused, knowing how bad that statement had sounded and quietly added with a bittersweet smile to lace his words, “And don’t worry Patrick, you’re not a rebound fuck.” Pressing a quick kiss to Sean’s lips, Elijah decided to tell him something extra that would no doubt make the older man smile. “The ironic thing is that because of my relationship with Dom, I became a fan of your written work, he gave me Somewhere Out There for my birthday.” Never breaking eye contact Elijah spoke directly to Sean’s innermost soul. “So as you’ve said countless times…love is preordained.”

In a single fluid movement, Sean had tilted his head up and pressed his lips against Elijah’s. His hand, already in place, cupped Elijah’s jaw gently as his fingers brushed over slight stubble fringing his jaw line. Pulling away, Elijah let his hands fall to absentmindedly caress the fabric of Sean’s collar.

“You saw the looks between those two, didn’t you?” Sean had never heard Elijah’s voice so small and quiet before. His gaze was cast once more at the mark on Sean’s throat as he messed with the buttons of the older man’s shirt. Catching a glimpse of Sean’s chin as he nodded Elijah continued. “Well…whenever you look at me, especially like this morning after you kissed me, I see that look mirrored in your eyes ten-fold when your gaze meets mine.” Raising his eyes a few inches, he saw Sean’s eyes and knew Sean understood what he was saying by telling him this.

“Don’t worry Lijah; I can see nothing will come between those two which means the same for us.” Sean said before he placed a chaste kiss against Elijah’s lips and got out of his car. Sitting in the passenger seat with the widest grin of his life, Elijah began to giggle in an unbelievably high tenor that could be easily be mistake for a young school girl’s laughter.

‘He so loves me...’ was the only coherent thought Elijah’s brain could process as Sean opened the car door for him.

“Why don’t we go in and you introduce me to another thing in life?”

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“Okay...two antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married.” Dom paused making sure he’s got Billy’s full attention as he took another swig of his sixth beer. “The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.” A howling laughter sounded throughout the bar as Billy nearly fell off the end of the booth they were sitting at. The pair were very inebriated and had started telling corny jokes an hour or so ago. Elijah was hoping they would lose steam soon and would switch to talking dirty like Dom always did after a while.

“Oh, oh I got one.” Billy said, leaning forward across the table to tell Dom. “Yesterday I went to buy a pair of camouflage trousers but...but I couldn’t find any!” A pregnant pause sounded after Billy delivered the punch line. Mind far too clouded to understand Dom simply sat and stared. “You know ‘cause they blended in…because they’re camouflage.” Billy explained with a grin as Dom understood and began to laugh as hard as Billy had before. After a while, as Elijah had hoped, he began to lose steam but instead fell silent and watched Elijah instructing Sean on how to play pool.

Ever since walking into the bar and, after talking to Dom and Billy for a while, the two had been playing non-stop. After learning the basics from Elijah, all Sean had to do was learn to aim. To anyone, it was apparent that Sean had some unknown driving force behind him that needed for him to somehow master almost everything he tried; pool now not being an exception. So of course the teacher he found in Elijah was perfect because the younger man wanted to see his Sean succeed no matter how much time he had to spend with him.

As always, whenever in a bar and playing pool, clamped between the curves of Elijah’s pale pink lips was a clove cigarette. Grasping a pool cue in one hand and leaning against the side of the table, Elijah watched as Sean lined up his sight with the white cue ball. From how Sean was standing Elijah knew where he wanted the solid ball to go but knew it would miss by a few inches.

“Sean, wait. Don’t move.” Taking one last drag on his cigarette, Elijah dropped the nearly spent cigarette to the floor and put it out with a twist of his ankle. After leaning his cue stick against the table, Elijah stepped close to Sean. Both Billy and Dom watched with near bated breath as Elijah placed his hand over Sean’s left hand that rested on the green felt of the table. His fingers matched up Sean’s, spreading the index apart from the middle finger as it stretched to straddle the cue stick. Lining his sight up with Sean’s he nudged Sean’s fingers a fraction of an inch to the left. A plume of clove smoke filtered out from his lips as he concentrated. With his right hand, hoping no one would notice, he slid it over the stretched fabric covering the expanse of Sean’s back and slithered down to grasp his tilted hip. “Now shoot.” Elijah instructed with a voice so husky it nearly made Sean lose control. However, even as Elijah’s nose somehow managed to slip into the hair behind Sean’s ear the older man shot the cue ball and sent it whirling.

All four of the men, two who were almost too drunk to discern what ball was the cue and what balls were solid and striped, watched silently. The white ball shot off in the direction Sean had intended it to go and proceeded to collide beautifully with the green solid ball he’d been aiming for. He sunk it in the left corner pocket as he had wanted to.

“Perfect,” Elijah whispered in Sean’s stunned ear before placing a hidden kiss to the sensitive skin on the shell. As soon as the action finally processed in Sean’s head, he spun around and grasped Elijah’s waist but stopped abruptly from spinning him around when he remembered there were other people in the bar. “You have a slightly off-center aim that you can easily compensate for by aiming a little more left than what you think you should.” It sound almost too simple but Sean thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. Letting his grip slip, he let Elijah go and watched as the young man sunk the rest of his striped balls in three shots before putting the cues back on the rack nailed to the wall. He walked back over to Sean and they sat back down with Billy and Dom for the first time in almost three hours.

“Oh, shit.” Sean cursed, looking down at his watch. “It’s almost ten o’ clock. I’ve got to go Lij.” The elated happiness that had filled Sean’s eyes only moments ago was suddenly replaced by a responsibility induced sorrow. “Do you need a ride?”

‘Ever the worrying, concerned parent,’ Elijah thought with a smile as he shook his head, silently pointing to their two companions that surely wouldn’t be able to drive themselves home. “No, but I need to grab my bag from your car.” The two stood up, leaving Billy and Dom to talk alone as they slipped out the exit to the back parking lot. In the dim light supplied by the sidewalk lamps, Sean found his car and unlocked it. Quickly grabbing his messenger bag and slinging over his shoulder, Elijah walked to where Sean was leaning against the window of the driver’s seat.

“See you tomorrow, Elijah.” Sean whispered, hooking his hand around the back of Elijah’s neck and pulling him in for a lingering kiss that tasted strongly of cloves. Lucky for them the parking lot was empty. Sure that his hand was leaving a print on Sean’s window, Elijah moved back with a smile. Leaning in one last time he placed a light kiss on the very tip of Sean’s nose.

“Tell Ally that I said hi. Night Sean,” he whispered, walking away as Sean go into his car. Pausing at the door to the bar, Elijah turned back and watched Sean pull out and drive off. “We’ll be seeing Patrick also tomorrow.” The sentence was muttered under his breath with a smile as he walked back into the bar.

Both Billy and Dom were waiting patiently at the table with questioning looks contorting their faces. Billy had moved to sit next to Dom, leaving the whole other side of the booth open. Uneasily, Elijah sat down across from them and waited for the inevitable. He’d been right about Dom’s glances before.

“So, Elijah my lad…” Billy started, his accent thicker now that he’d had a few beers. Dom however, seemed to have some how sobered up almost entirely. “Is this requited love?” Billy finished with a flick of his wrist, implying the wonderful nature of his own requited love.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Elijah said sternly, chewing nervously on the inside of his lower lip. Beneath the table he was fiddling with his pants pocket, searching for a pack of cigarettes. Dom knew exactly what he was doing and nudged an already open pack across the table. Reaching for the cigarette that had rolled out, Elijah quietly thanked him.

“You mean to say that you don’t have the faintest idea where that ‘tiny’ hickey on the side of Sean’s neck came from?” Billy asked cocking an eyebrow as the tips of Elijah’s ears went pink with color.

“Do you honestly think you can hide your attraction for Sean from us?” Dom asked as Elijah lit up. As the younger man took the first drag from the new cigarette the torrent of smoke that flew from between his lips traveled up and down as he nodded his head.

“Yup, because there’s nothing to hide,” Elijah maintained with a grin as Dom rolled his eyes. More certain than he’d ever been, Dom knew that Elijah would never concede to something when he put his mind to maintaining his position. However, there was one thing Dom knew to do in order to find his answer. It would mean exploiting a secret that Elijah had told Dom once a few years ago when they first met.

“Do you love him, Elijah?” Dom deadpanned. The cigarette fell from Elijah’s lips as he heard Dom speak. He was afraid Dom would remember and apparently he had. Some time back Elijah had foolishly told Dom that no matter what Elijah would never lie about something as precious as love in its purest form. He was so fucked.

“…yes.”

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There was one light on in the entire house. The soft glow of electricity cast Christine’s shadow against the opposite wall in the dining room. All her focus was directed at a series of thickly stacked papers that lay before her. In her hand she held a ball point pen and was hastily writing notes in the margin. She didn’t hear Sean come in until he was right behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Chris, what are you doing still up?” He asked, looking over her head at the papers as she quickly stuffed them back into a manila accordion folder.

“Just looking over a few papers. Nothing important,” she leaned back and placed a kiss under his chin, eyes flicking over the discolored skin on his throat. As she pulled away her eyes slid shut tightly before clutching the folder tightly and standing to follow him upstairs to bed. ‘Oh, Sean...’

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There had been literally hundreds of people circulating through the building where the auditions for The Inevitable were being held and not one of them was fit to play the role of Patrick. Sean reasoned in his head that maybe he was just subconsciously striking off every name because he didn’t think that any of the actors he had seen were good enough to play opposite Elijah, alone mind you, in several scenes. But that theory was cast aside when Christine leaned over and whispered in his ear confirming his every choice on the basis that Patrick’s character was so complex because out of all the characters he goes through the most growth and change. They both agreed that none of the actors they had seen yet really understand that or could possible depict it correctly.

“This is impossible,” Sean muttered as he reached the eleventh page of names, all the preceding covered in red slash marks. The next actor was no different. He was just hoping for another no name actor like Orlando to show up and save him with an astonishing performance but no such luck.

Next to Sean, Elijah was beginning to fidget with pent up anxiety. It was paining him every time a new actor got up on stage. Every last one of them seemed all wrong for Patrick’s character. The only man that seemed right for the job was sitting next to him refusing to admit it to himself.

Finally, when it was getting to be late, Christine had an idea. She pulled Sean and Elijah outside, to the back lot where Elijah had gone the day before for a smoking break. Using all the composure she had left, Christine ran a hand through her hair and told them her plan. “Since I doubt there is an actor out there that will understand Patrick’s character, I think we need someone who knows the character in depth, someone who knows his every motive and emotion.” She turned to Elijah, “and someone who gets along with you.”

“Who is that?” Sean asked, cocking an eyebrow as Elijah’s heart froze as he seemed to forget how to breathe.

“I think you, Sean, should play Patrick.”

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AN: Thanks again to the wonderful beta-reading machine