Title: Lights Out 9/?
Author: Sairalinde
Type: RPS/FPS
Pairing: Viggo/Sean B. and Aragorn/Sean B.
Rating: Explicit Sex (just to be safe though not this segment)
Beta: Glorfindel
Disclaimer: This never happened...this is total fiction spurred on by a chain-smoking chocolate eating bunny that lives in my purse. Viggo, and Sean are real people but I make no claims on them. Tolkien’s characters belong to his estate. This was written in fun that's all.
Feedback: Yes please send to sairalinde @ hornofgondor.com
Archiving: OEAM, Rugbytackling, LOM, GO-others ask.
Summary: Sean has an accident filming and awakes to find himself in Middle Earth; everyone there is confused because he looks like Boromir. Everyone in the “real world” is worried about their friend. Especially Viggo.

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Epilogue]

Chapter 9

Viggo moved through Sean’s house as if in a daze. He cleaned out the fridge; some of the food had gone bad now that it had been almost three weeks since Sean went into the hospital. He stared at the potted plant on the window ledge then looked up and into the garden beyond. He remembered one night they spent in Sean’s garden, a night he wished had gone differently.

##################FLASHBACK########################
Sean was in the garden working as Viggo walked up.

“Sean? Why are you weeding the garden at one thirty in the morning?” Viggo asked softly from behind him.

Sean chuckled, “I wasn’t tired, and didn’t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful on the couch, and I was restless. I didn’t want to turn on the TV and wake you, so I stepped out on the patio and then decided what the hell. It’s light enough with the moon and the garden lights to work by. Guess it seems silly.”

“No, it’s not silly. I just woke up alone in your living room and wondered where you had gone. I thought you might have gone to bed but when I went down the hall to the bathroom your door was open and your bed still made. If I hadn’t looked out the window I probably wouldn’t have been able to find you.”

“I’m sorry, you want to go home?” Sean asked wanting to finish what he’d started but not wanting to be a poor host.

“Not really. May as well just sleep here tonight. I’m awake now though…can I help?” Viggo asked dropping down beside him understanding that once Sean set his mind on something he was going to finish it.

Sean smiled. “Sure, I haven’t done the Bachelor Buttons or the Daisies yet.”

Viggo nodded and moved toward the blue flowers that looked almost lavender in the moonlight.

“I always thought that was an odd name for a flower, Bachelor Button,” Viggo commented.

Sean chuckled, “Never gave it much thought, they are also called cornflowers. Mum said they used to use them for blue food coloring at one time.”

“Really? I didn’t know that,” Viggo commented looking over at Sean. “What about the Daisy’s? Got a factoid on them too?”

Sean paused as he was reaching in among the white flowers and nodded as he smiled sadly, “Yes, though the tale is a bit sad. It is said that daisies were scattered by fairies to cheer up parents who have lost children.”

“God, that is sad,” Viggo answered looking over at Sean whose hair seemed to glow silver in the moonlight.

“Do all the flowers have a tale of some kind?” Viggo asked sitting back to look at the flowers surrounding them. He never completely understood Sean’s obsessions with football and gardening, but he accepted them as they were. Viggo had his art, and his writing, and Sean tolerated all of his strange ideas. It was only fair he tolerate Sean’s little obsessions. They seemed to show both sides of his friend’s personality. The gentle and caring part of his personality seemed to be fed by the gardening obsession, while football was more like the teasing uproarious humor and passion his friend could display in an instant. And Viggo loved all of it.

“Most of them do have a tale of some kind I suppose. My Mum told me when I was a teenager and would help in her garden,” Sean answered.

Viggo tried valiantly to stifle a yawn, but he really had been exhausted from the days shooting.

“You are pretty knackered, why don’t you go back in? I’ll just finish up,” Sean said standing and offering his hand.

“I’m fine,” Viggo protested as he stood.

“Well then, here you take these and I’ll toss these buggers out,” Sean said handing Viggo the little gardening tools, and walking to the trash bin to toss out the weeds.

It had been an odd exchange really. Their conversation had almost been whispered as if afraid of waking something. Viggo had wondered if more might have happened that night. There was a moment in the kitchen when they went back inside that he thought Sean might actually kiss him, but the moment passed quickly and Sean headed off to collect a pillow and blanket for Viggo to use on the couch.

Viggo had lay awake listening to the shower run and then the sounds of Sean preparing for bed. It had been pure torture, and he probably should have just gone home. Instead and against his better judgment he stayed. When he woke up in the morning Sean served him breakfast and they left for the set together.

##################END FLASHBACK########################

As Viggo focused his gaze on the plant in the window again he sighed. He should have told him that night. He should have told him how he felt, now…now what if it was too late?

Viggo slid down the side of the cabinet and rested his forehead against his knees. What would he do if Sean never woke up? How would they all go on with the movie? Peter would replace him eventually. He’d have to; the studio was already getting antsy. For now they were shooting around him as much as possible. At some point though it was going to be a lost cause and they would be forced to replace him as Boromir.

He prayed yet again that Sean would wake up today.
------------------------

Sean walked silently behind Arwen as she led him to Aragorn’s study. She wanted to break the news to Aragorn as gently as possible. When they arrived and Arwen opened the door Aragorn was seated at his desk and Gandalf was standing by the window.

Aragorn looked up at them and Sean could tell he was still a little upset over his little trip outside the city.

“Did you find what you were looking for Sean?” Aragorn asked mildly and one of Gandalf’s eyebrows shot up.

“You might say that,” Sean said crossing into the room feeling as if his every move were being scrutinized.

Aragorn knew something was going on, Arwen and Gandalf being here gave him some hint. Sean was leaving, that he was certain of. He’d found the way home somewhere in the wilderness between here and Lorien.

Sean sat down in a chair across from Aragorn, a seat usually used by Faramir when they were discussing some matter of state. He felt uncomfortable and looked to Gandalf for help. The wizard nodded and walked closer to the desk.

Aragorn’s gaze left Sean and he looked at the wizard, “Well? Is anyone going to fill me in? Why all the secrets? Why leave without saying goodbye, Sean?”

Sean frowned. “I’m sorry, I just felt it was best. I knew I wouldn’t be going for good, I just had to find some answers.”

Aragorn frowned in return but said nothing more. He was hurt that Sean hadn’t come to him in the first place, he was hurt that a man he considered a friend, a man he cared for, had slept with, had left without so much as a simple goodbye.

“Did you find them? The answers you sought?”

“Yes.”

Again Sean looked to Gandalf for help.

“We found someone we did not expect in the woods at Amon Hen,” Gandalf said softly.

It took a few moments for the words to register with Aragorn and his eyes flashed with pain.

“What are you talking about? Another, like him?” Aragorn asked indicating Sean.

“Not exactly,” Sean began but Aragorn shot him a look that froze his words.

“I am a busy man you know this, there are many demands on my time now, could you all stop hedging around the subject and just tell me who or what you found. Is Sean going home or not?” Aragorn asked irritated at the way everyone was being so cautious with his choice of words.

Arwen moved around the desk to stand beside her husband in a silent offer of support. She knew he would need her strength at any moment.

He glanced up at her curiously then back at the wizard and the man before him.

Gandalf sighed deeply. “Boromir did not die at Amon Hen.”

Aragorn sat for a few moments as if in shock blinking rapidly and then his eyes focused on Gandalf.

“What sort of sick jest is this?” Aragorn spat angrily making to stand but Arwen put her hand to his shoulder.

“Please, listen. I know this will not be easy for you, love, but you must listen.”

Aragorn slumped into the chair and gripped the arms of it until his knuckles were white with strain.

“If he did not die at Amon Hen then who was the man I held? Who was the man who pledged his allegiance to me and who was the man we sent over the falls? I did not IMAGINE it happened, Legolas and Gimli were there. Boromir died. I have accepted that fact, particularly after Sean came into our lives. I had hope, but when he came looking so much like Boromir and then we discovered he was not I knew all hope was lost. It is inconceivable to me that any of you who profess to care about me would torture me like this!”

Aragorn was shaking with anger by the time he finished speaking and Arwen was attempting to soothe him by rubbing his shoulders.

“We are not torturing you, it’s true! Boromir did go over the falls, and did APPEAR to be dead, and for all intents and purposes he was dead! YOU are right about that. What you didn’t know, what none of us could know was that he was found by two sisters near the Entwash. They said he was not dead, but nearly so, apparently they are quite the healers because they brought back a man who should not have been able to live. Not from those wounds, not from that poison! They saved him for whatever reason they did it, and he is as alive as you and I are,” Sean barked unable to contain how angry he was feeling and wasn’t even sure why he felt so angry.

Aragorn stared at him unable, unwilling to accept what he’d said.

Gandalf sighed heavily, “Aragorn, he is alive. We brought him back with us, he did not even know who he was until a short time ago. He remembers now, remembers it all, remembers the guilt, the pain he caused, and that guilt has tied Sean to this world. Until Boromir forgives himself a shadow will remain at Amon Hen, a shadow of the past, which will consume him and Sean both if he does not overcome it. We do not want to see you hurting, but you are going to have to accept this, and you are going to have to release your own guilt.”

Aragorn slumped forward with his head in his hands. “My own guilt,” he murmured softly as Arwen continued to rub his shoulders.

“He wasn’t dead?” he asked looking up with tears in his eyes.

“They say he was not, though I am not entirely sure. I believe some magic is at work with those sisters.”

Aragorn nodded and glanced at Sean who seemed to be ready to bolt from the room at any moment.

“So your fate is tied to Boromir’s?”

“It appears that way.”

“I…I need to see him, but I need a moment first,” Aragorn said after taking a deep breath.

“Of course,” Gandalf answered heading for the door. Sean stood up to follow him and Arwen stepped away but Aragorn grabbed her hand.

“Stay, please,” she nodded and looked at Sean and Gandalf for a moment before turning her attention back to her husband.

Once outside the room Sean looked at the wizard and shook his head, “I think that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. He actually took the news far better than I’d expected.”

Gandalf smiled, “Arwen is dealing with his true pain. He hid it well, but I saw him when we found you. He was shattered, could not eat, or sleep, or even think. He paced your room like a caged animal.”

-----------------------

Sean had left Gandalf and turned toward his room. He found Boromir milling around his doorway.

“Boromir?”

“Sean, I…I wished to speak with you. If I may?”

“By all means, come in please, after all this is your room,” Sean smiled trying not to show how uneasy he still felt after leaving Aragorn.

“How did it go with Faramir?” Sean asked crossing to the bed and resting on the edge of it.

“Very well. We were close, though I suppose you already knew that,” Boromir began settling into a nearby chair.

“I did. So what did you want to speak with me about?” Sean asked.

Boromir frowned and looked down at his hands. “Aragorn, he does he…

“He still loves you,” Sean answered before the other man could finish his question.

Boromir’s eyes snapped up and met Sean’s. “You know?”

“Of course I know. Arwen knows too by the way and she accepts it,” Sean said cautiously unsure what Boromir’s reaction would be.

His eyes looked pained then soft. “She…she accepts it?”

“Amazingly enough she does,” Sean said shaking his head in wonder at exactly how tolerant the elf was.

“How do you know this?”

Sean began to feel uncomfortable, he wasn’t big on making confessions, and he wasn’t looking forward to telling Boromir he’d slept with Aragorn.

“Boromir…I. In my world the man who plays Aragorn, his name is Viggo. I feel about Viggo the way you do about Aragorn,” Sean began and noticed recognition dawn on the warriors face.
“You and Aragorn then?” he asked softly.

“It was a mistake. I took comfort when comfort was offered and I shouldn’t have. I was so frightened. I still am. I am still afraid I’ll never get back to my world and the people I love.”

Boromir sighed. “I know that feeling, when I first remembered I thought it would be best to just stay with the sisters and never come back home. Everyone here thought I was dead, I thought it would be best to leave it at that, but Cora and Clara convinced me otherwise.”

Sean was beginning to like the eccentric twins more and more. “They are wise women then. Your life is here, just as mine is there.”

“I don’t hold ill will toward you for taking comfort with Aragorn in that way. He is no longer mine.”

“In that you are wrong, he is yours. He saw you not me when we were together. Both of us were pale substitutes for the ones we truly wished for,” Sean said sadly. That night had been beautiful, and he had enjoyed it immensely but in his dreams and in his mind it would always have been Viggo’s hands, and face, and mouth on him, not Aragorn’s.

Boromir looked out the window sadly, “No, he is not mine, he is Arwen’s and always was. I had no right to love him beyond that as my captain, my brother, and my king.”

Sean smiled hearing Boromir utter the line he so looked forward to saying in the script. He hoped he managed to say it half as reverently as Boromir actually had.

“Arwen is a very unusual woman. Perhaps it is because she is an elf, she’s lived many years and looks at love differently than we do,” Sean explained, “She does not bear you or I any ill will. She knows of my night with Aragorn, she spoke to me about it.”

Boromir stood suddenly and began pacing the room as if trying to make a decision.

“You have nothing to feel guilty about,” Sean said softly and Boromir stopped pacing.

“There you are wrong. What of Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship? I doubt they are as forgiving as Arwen.” Boromir snapped.

Sean grinned, “You’d be surprised. I worried about Frodo’s reaction too since I look just like you.”

Boromir frowned. “He spoke to you?”

“Yes after I ran away from him like a child frightened of his own shadow. He came to me, all of the hobbits did and he and talked for hours. Even slept right here in the same bed all of us together. Even Sam.” Sean relayed the memory with a smile.

“He will probably seek you out, he will want to ease your mind just as he did mine. He told me he bore you no ill will. That he understood why it happened, he struggled under the weight of that ring too, and he very nearly faltered had it not been for Sam none of us might be here now.” Sean explained.

Tension seemed to roll away from the other man, his guilt hadn’t passed but it had eased a small amount and Sean could feel the change around him. It was as if he existed in two places at once. He could vaguely hear soft beeping sounds that he recognized as hospital equipment and soft voices he couldn’t quite make out.

If Boromir could forgive himself the way the others forgave him, then Sean would be home soon.

“Are you all right?” Boromir asked staring at the other man.

“Fine, why do you ask?”

“You look…pale,” Boromir said softly.

“I feel fine,” Sean answered as a knock sounded at his door.

He went to it and found Aragorn standing there. “Aragorn I didn’t expect…” Sean trailed off as he noticed the tension in the room rise.

Boromir turned around quickly as Sean moved out of the doorway.

Aragorn’s eyes rested on the blond warrior and the two men stared for what seemed an eternity. After a few moments the King of Gondor launched himself into the room wrapping the other man in a tight embrace and locking their lips together. Sean thought of that old saying ‘seeing sparks fly’ he’d never actually seen it happen before.

Sean stepped out the door to give them some privacy just as he noticed them collapse onto the bed. He might just stay in Faramir’s old room tonight, he thought grinning.

Go to Chapter 10