I try to tell myself I shouldn't be nervous. I'm happy with Orli, incredibly so, and our friends are happy for us. My mother's happy for me. Even Exene is happy for me. But Henry . . . that's different. How do you tell your twelve-year-old son that you're gay? Although technically I'm bi, but that might make him more confused. Come to think of it, I'm really just an Orlisexual. And I want Henry to know the truth about my life and who I'm with; he deserves that.
I know that the teenage years are rough, and that it could be very hard for him to deal with having a dad in a relationship that much of society would say is wrong. But I also know that Henry's incredibly mature for a twelve-year-old, and that all he probably wants is for me to be happy. Still, as he steps off that plane, grinning madly at me, all I can feel is a tightness in my chest.
"Dad!" He flings himself at me, not caring that the embrace knocks me back a pace or two. "Missed you," he says.
"Missed you more," I tell him. I really hate being separated from him. It's somewhat ironic that he was the one who convinced me to take the role that has put us on different sides of the globe. But if this is what it takes for Henry to see me as cool, then it's worth it. "How was the flight?"
"Long. They had a crappy in-flight movie." I raise an eyebrow at his language, and he shrugs. "What? It sucked."
Thank God it's a small airport; we get out of there in no time, and back to the house. "I know it's kind of small, but just think of it as home for the next week."
"I get to see you filming, right?"
"Yes," I laugh. He's so into this, even more so than me at times. "Tomorrow we're shooting the Council of Elrond scene. Everyone will be there."
"Man, I can't wait!" He yawns.
"Tired?"
"Just jet lag. Weird time zones and everything."
"Maybe you should get some sleep."
"Dad, I just got here!"
"You've got seven more days, and by the end of day three, I guarantee you'll be on the phone to Exene begging to fly home."
"I doubt it," he says, but yawns again.
"Come on, I'll fix you dinner, and then you can go to bed."
"Fine."
*****
"Henry, stop laughing."
"I'm sorry, it's just . . . my dad's really Aragorn!" He dissolves into giggles.
"You know," I say as I adjust my tunic, "I know how to use a sword now, so watch what you say."
"Oh yeah, Dad, I'm *real* scared." He takes a book out of his knapsack.
"What's that?"
"Just Lord of the Rings. I thought I'd get some autographs from your co-stars. Do you think they'd mind?"
I snort. "They'll be flattered, trust me."
We walk out of the trailer, Henry practically bouncing alongside me, brushing his hair out of his face. There's still about half an hour before we start filming, and everyone's milling around in costume. "This is awesome," Henry tells me. "I mean, I'm standing in Rivendell! My friends are gonna flip." He takes out his camera and starts snapping pictures.
"Strider," Elijah greets me with a grin. He looks at Henry, who's
busy trying to get a good angle of Elrond's chair. "Got a photography
apprentice?"
"He's more interested in PlayStation," I chuckle. "You
two will get along just fine."
Henry turns around. "Hey there," he says to the hobbit.
"Hey Henry. I'm Elijah Wood; I play Frodo."
"Yeah, I know. I saw Flipper."
Elijah turns beet red, and I hear a very familiar laugh. "Just pray he hasn't seen North, Lij. Otherwise he'll never respect you. Lord knows I don't."
"Shut up, elf bitch," Elijah snaps at Orli.
Henry laughs at the taunt, and I refrain from chastising Elijah on his language. It's not as if my son hasn't heard worse from me, and God knows Exene has a colorful vocabulary. Actually, I could care less about bad language right now. My son is looking at my boyfriend (such a woefully inadequate term), completely oblivious to the fact that two nights ago, his dad was screwing the pretty elf into the mattress.
"Hey, I'm Henry Mortensen."
"I'm Orli." I notice that he doesn't even bother with his full name. I also notice that if Orli is as nervous as I am, he sure isn't letting it show.
"You play Legolas, right? My dad says you're really good."
Orli blushes under the makeup. "He's much better."
"I wouldn't know," Henry says honestly. "I'm not allowed to see any of his movies. He doesn't take his clothes off in this one, does he?" His tone is joking, but I still shoot him a *look*.
Elijah laughs. "Can you imagine? Aragorn and Legolas getting it on before Helm's Deep?" His giggle is usually endearing, but I really feel like smacking him right now.
"I somehow doubt Tolkien thought along those lines, Elijah," Orli says with just enough firmness that Elijah mercifully gets the message.
"It'd sure make the movie more interesting, though," Henry says, laughing.
"Okay, enough about my character's sex life," I grumble good-naturedly. "Do you want to meet the rest of the cast?"
"Gotta get signatures first," Henry tells me, whipping out a pen. "Would you guys mind?"
"Hell, no!" Orli crows. "My first autograph!" He scrawls an inscription on the title page, and Elijah does the same.
"Thank you*so* much."
"No problem, mate. Hey, you know I'm cooking some dinner tonight for some of the cast. I was hoping you and your dad would join in." Orli looks at me hopefully.
"Dad, please?" Henry asks. Like I could resist either one of them.
"Of course."
*****
I look at the inscriptions in Henry's book. They're all very nice, none of them formulaic. My eye catches as I look at Orli's. "Henry . . . so glad I finally got to meet you after hearing your dad go on and on. I hope you have fun in Middle Earth, and if you ever get bored here, just ring me up. Orli."
"Busy?" My head snaps up as Orli enters the trailer, still in costume.
"Just looking at the inscriptions while Henry's playing hackey-sack with Elijah. Your note was sweet."
"Well, I meant it. I'm really happy he's here, Vig. I know how incredibly important he is to you, and if we're together, it means he's going to be important to me."
"And that doesn't bother you? I mean the prospect of –"
"Viggo, he's not going to expect me to be a father or step-father. Just his father's partner, or boyfriend, or whatever you want to call it."
I sigh. "I'm worrying too much about this, aren't I?"
"Yes. But you look so cute when you're nervous."
"Who else will be at dinner tonight?"
"Just Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Boromir."
"And Strider and Henry."
"And Strider's elf bitch," Orli laughs, kissing my cheek. "You
know, I like Lij's idea of Aragorn shagging Legolas before going into battle.
Maybe we should talk to Pete about that. You know, character development
and all."
"Right," I snort. "Cause I'm sure the studio would be thrilled
with that."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He frowns. "I guess we'll just have to nick some costumes and role-play at home."
Orli winks and leaves the trailer, leaving me to try and keep my mind from imagining that pleasant-sounding scenario.
*****
"How on earth can you be a vegetarian?" Henry asks, shaking his head. "I can't go a week without a Big Mac."
Orli scrunches his face in disgust, making him look downright adorable. "That stuff is pure junk. It's awful. Have you ever seen the inside of a slaughterhouse, Henry?"
"Hey, I'm eating," Lij protests. "Please don't talk about that right now."
"The lasagne is good," I say, in the desperate hope of changing the subject from Orli's anti-meat crusade.
"Thanks," Orli beams.
"Okay, so Henry, tell us some embarrassing stuff about your dad," says Sean, earning him a withering glare from me.
"Well, there's the Kit-Kat incident," Henry says, ignoring my pointed looks.
"Henry, do you want me to pay for college or not?" I ask him.
"But Dad, it's such a great story!" Henry laughs.
"What happened?" Billy asks.
"Well, when I lost my first tooth, I got a dollar from my parents. But I'm a chocolate addict, so I told them that I wanted candy instead. After I lost my second tooth, I went to sleep that night, expecting to get a candy bar the next day. In the middle of the night, I wake up to find chocolate in my hair. Dad had put an unwrapped Kit-Kat bar under my pillow, and it melted before I turned the pillow over in my sleep."
"Good job there, Ranger," Lij cackles.
"I've got one," Dom says. "Henry, do you know about the sleepwalking incident?"
"Which one?" Henry asks. "Dad sleepwalks a lot."
"The hotel one." Oh shit.
"Nope."
"Great." Dom's gray eyes gleam with mischief. "We were at a hotel on one of the South Islands, and your dad and Orli were sharing a room." My heart stops. "I mean separate beds and everything," Dom lies, and my heart unclenches. Henry doesn't look fazed.
"So what happened?"
"Orli wakes up and your dad's not there. They have to be up and ready in ten minutes, and he just can't find him. Then he realizes the door to the room is slightly open, and your dad's shoes are still in the room, so he must be sleepwalking. Orli goes down to the lobby, and they try and page your dad, but no luck, so he just goes back to the room. About five minutes later, I'm there with Billy, and we're trying to figure out where on earth he is. There's a knock at the door, and two very nice hotel maids are standing there, basically propping up your dad, who's miraculously still asleep, and wearing only his boxers."
Henry chokes on his milk laughing, and I wonder if anyone would be suspicious if Dom were found skewered by Anduril. "My God, that's priceless! I've got a sleepwalking story that Exene told me."
"You call your mom by her first name?" Sean asks.
"Yeah. She hates 'mom'. It makes her feel old, or something. But anyways, she woke up years ago to the sound of muttering from the bedroom closet. She opens the closet door, and dad's in there, very confused because he thinks it's the bathroom, and he can't find the toilet. Luckily, there wasn't an accident."
"That is terrific," Billy says gleefully. "Blackmail material for when your dad becomes a big star."
"Okay, let's change the subject before Vig dies of embarrassment," Orli suggests, and I could kiss him right now if I didn't think Henry might freak out.
*****
"You had a good time at dinner?"
"Oh yeah," Henry says as he kicks off his shoes. "Everyone's really nice. You seem to get along really well with Sean."
"Well, he's the first person I met here. We've become close friends. I hate that he has to leave soon to go back to England."
"Billy and Dom are *really* funny."
"I know. They're on their own separate planet most of the time. What about Lij and Orli?"
"Lij rules at PlayStation, and he's really cool. I couldn't believe how different Orli looks when he's not Legolas. It's weird."
"Yeah."
"You guys seem close."
"He's a great guy," I say carefully. "Energetic, and caring, and funny."
"Mm-hmm." Henry grabs a soda out of the fridge and takes a long swig of it.
"Henry, sit down. There's something I want to talk to you about."
He looks at me with concern, but says nothing as we sit on the couch. He waits patiently as I try to find the right words. "Henry, I know that you're twelve; you're not a little kid anymore, and I owe it to you to be honest."
"Dad, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Henry, it's just that, well, I'm in a relationship with someone right now, and I thought you should know."
"Well, that's great!" he says with a genuine smile. "Someone you met here?"
"Yeah."
"When do I get to meet her?"
Okay, moment of truth. "Actually, it's not a woman."
"A man? You're gay? What about Exene? I mean how'd I get here?" He looks truly lost with confusion right now.
"One at a time, kid. Yes, it's a man. No, I'm not gay, I'm bisexual, so when I was married to Exene, it was because I really loved her. And you got here the normal way."
He nods slowly. "Okay. Does she know?"
"About what?"
"That you're bisexual? That you have a boyfriend?"
"Yes about both. You know we're still good friends." I pause. "Look, Henry, I really hope this doesn't upset you in any way."
"Why would it upset me?"
"Well, a lot of people still think it's wrong for men to have relationships with other men."
"Jeez, Dad, give me some credit. I mean, you and mom always taught me that things like that shouldn't matter."
"Yeah, but it's different when it's your own father."
"No it's not," he laughs. "Look, if you're happy, I couldn't care less if it was with a man."
I let out a huge sigh and pull him into a crushing embrace. "Thanks." I know my voice is unsteady, but thankfully, I don't cry. Pulling back, I brush a strand of his messy blonde hair back and kiss his forehead. "I love you, Henry."
"You, too. So who is he? Can I meet him?"
"You already did."
His eyes widen. "Who? C'mon, spill."
"Orli."
"Really?" Henry laughs. "Go, Dad! He's cute."
I blush. "So you don't have a problem with any of this?"
"Not really."
"Not even the fact that Orli's twenty years younger than me?"
"I think he's really cool. God knows what he's doing with *you*," he teases, and I chuckle.
"Okay. Well, you have no idea how relieved I am."
"So . . . when you were sharing that hotel room, it wasn't with separate beds, was it?"
"Henry . . ."
"Just kidding."
"Good."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes," I say with a smile.
"Does he love you?"
"Yes."
"Well, then great. But if he hurts you, I'll kick his bony elf ass."
I start cracking up. "I'll pass the message along, but I don't think you should worry."
Henry hugs me, and I hold him close. "Enough talking for one night?" he asks.
"Yeah. Let's have some ice cream."
*****
"I seriously don't want to go back," Henry groans as we approach the gate.
"You'll be back here in two months," I remind him. "And then you're staying for three weeks instead of one."
"Promise we'll go camping?"
"Of course."
"Will you come?" he asks Orli hopefully.
"If you want me to," Orli says with a smile. "And then I'll take you bungee-jumping."
"Oh, no you won't," I say forcefully. "No way in Hell. And no tattoos, piercings, or parachuting. Exene will put a price on my head if anything happens."
I hear the P.A. announcing Henry's flight. "Guess that's me," he says sadly.
"I'll see you in two months, Henry," Orli says.
Henry gives him a quick hug, and tells him goodbye before Orli drops back to let Henry and myself have a moment alone. "You had a good time?"
"Best vacation ever," he tells me.
I hug him tightly. "I love you so much, Henry Blake."
"I love you, Dad."
"Call me when you get to L.A. I don't care what time it is."
"Okay." The embrace ends and he walks to the gate, handing his boarding pass for inspection. Before he walks out of my sight, he turns around. "Human scum!" he yells gleefully before sprinting down the tunnel to his plane.
I turn around and stare at Orli. "I have no idea where he learned that phrase," he says with far too much innocence in his voice.
"You are a horrible influence," I tell him as we walk away from the gate.
He laughs. "I try."
"I miss him already."
"He's really great, Vig. A lot like you in many ways."
"Well, he adores you, Orli."
"Who doesn't?" he asks, winking.
I just laugh and look at his smiling face. "Well, as much as I love having Henry around, I must say there is one advantage to him not being here."
"Which would be?"
I pull him into a deserted corner. "Time alone. I think that Helm's Deep idea is worth a shot, costumes and all."
"Remind me to send Lij a fruit basket for suggesting it," he gasps as I kiss him.
"Fruit from the fruits?"
"Something like that." I kiss him soundly again before we continue walking to the car. "Oh, and Orli?"
"Hmm?"
"Henry says that if you hurt me, he'll kick your bony elf ass."
Orli laughs long and loud. "Tell him," he says in a low voice, "that he has nothing to worry about."
I smile. "I already did."
