Orlando answered the door quickly, having seen Lij, Billy and Dom come up the driveway. They were his ride to the party. They all caught him in a group hug and patted him on the back.
"Glad you could make it mate, we were starting to think you wouldn't�what with that movie and all."
"Yeah�Irish out-laws hell�you're our Elf and you always will be!" Billy grinned. Lij was still wrapped tightly around Orlando and he could make out the muffled voice at his chest as "I missed you."
Orlando couldn't help but laugh at their show of affection. "Missed you too Doodle. Hobbits may be little, but I missed you all big time."

In the car they were loud, and it really was like old times. He laughed and talked in his 'Irish' accent for their amusement, and Billy proclaimed it nowhere near as sexy as his Scottish accent, which was very close to a real Irish one. Dom seemed to agree, laughing and kissing the side of Billy's jaw, who turned to kiss Dom on the lips. Lij seemed to be comfortable about this development and ignored it. So Orlando stopped staring and looked down at his hands. Lij had noticed Orlando's sudden silence though, and smiled at him questioningly.
"They're cute, aren't they?" Orlando nodded slowly. They were, he supposed. He just hadn't known. He didn't hear what Lij said next because somehow this, like everything else, had made his thought turn to Viggo, but he caught the end of Lij's sentence.
"You and Karl�?" Lij nodded and blushed. Oh. Um, this was a more unexpected development than Billy and Dom. They'd always been close. They were Merry and Pippin. Ah well. Maybe things weren't so much the same as he'd thought. His thought inevitably wandered to whether this would affect his chances with Viggo.
Probably not. He'd never had any chances. And that wasn't about to change now.
Except�Viggo wanted to talk to him. About something. He'd sounded as nervous as Orlando had felt. Or maybe Orlando was just imagining things. The tendrils of hope withered a little.

He looked up sharply when they arrived at Viggo's house. Lij grinned at him.
"We're supposed to pick up Henry and Vig, thought you might like that." Knowing eyes danced at Orlando. And he wondered how he'd become so transparent, and if everyone knew, and how they knew if Orlando himself hadn't known how strong it was until their shooting was over�.

They all got out of the car to greet Viggo and Henry in much the same way the hobbits had greeted Orlando. Orlando gave into the urge and hugged Viggo, and if it was a little bit longer than it should've been, no one said anything. They finally let go of each other, and Orlando greeted Henry, who was grinning happily to be seeing them all again. He seemed to be begging Lijah for something, Orlando hadn't heard what because he was too busy basking in the luxury of touching Viggo.

"Pleeeaaaase Lijah?" Lij laughed, ruffling Henry's hair, though he wasn't much taller than the boy himself.
"Alright, just this once, since Sean's house is so close." Henry squealed and proceeded to glomp him, and then held back, trying to look calm and mature. But the smile playing on his lips gave him away.

Orlando realized as they got back into the car that this was because Henry was driving, having just learned, and Lij was going to sit where he had before. So he was in the farthest back seats with Viggo. This should be interesting, a voice in his head said dryly. His thoughts were a whirling mix of 'Viggo!' 'Yesss...preciousss,' and 'uh-oh�'. Apparently, he wasn't as mature and grown up as he'd thought he was�not when it came to Viggo anyway.

He ducked his head and let a slight smile curl the corner of his lips, trying to compose himself.

He felt Viggo looking at him and turned his head; Viggo's hand was on his knee.
"Orli�"
"yeah�?"
"I�you know how I needed to tell you something?"
"�yeah�me too�"
"�Do you wanna go first?" Viggo was smiling softly, and he wanted to lean in and kiss that smile. He was sure it'd taste like sunset�
He shook his head silently. So Viggo continued, "Um..."

"Orli...?" Orlando looked up quickly, shaking his head. He'd just been imagining that. Right. So he still had to tell Viggo...except that...
"We're here Orli, get out of the car!" Lijah yelled at him from outside. He noticed that Viggo had gotten out as well, and he was the only one in there. So he clambered out, trying to gather his thoughts. Suddenly he didn't feel that telling Viggo was such a good idea anymore. Viggo would've asked if he really cared, right? And to think he'd come so close to admitting it! He berated himself, starting to flush a light pink. Viggo was busy greeting Beanie, old friends reunited after so long a time. Orlando went in with the others and tried to forget the whole day up until that minute.
He was such an idiot.