PREVIOUS / NEXT



A/N: I've provided links to visuals if you're so inclined, but by no means are they a requirement for understanding the story. They're just for kicks ;-)

PART 2

Sean pulled into the circular drive of Orlando’s house, located in the gated community called the Country Club of the South in which he and many of the other players lived, and he looked over at Viggo to gauge the other man’s reaction. They had gotten there quickly, not having been hampered by much traffic or autograph seekers or having to wrangle their families in like some of the other boys who were coming tonight, and they were the first ones to arrive. Sean’s daughters were in town for the next two weeks, but none of them had any interest in the game or braving the thirty minute trip to the ballpark, and they were all three spending the night with friends.

Viggo leaned forward and looked through the windshield, his mouth parting a little as he looked up at the house.

“Bloom lives here?” Viggo asked emotionlessly. “With how many other people exactly?”

“It‘s not as big as it looks,” Sean said with a laugh as he parked the car near the door. “But technically? About a fifth of the team, most of the time. He’s about as single as they come right now though, lives alone. Had a nasty break up not long ago.”

“Huh,” Viggo commented disinterestedly. “Well…do we sit here and wait or...”

“No, I have a key,” Sean answered as he got out of the car. Viggo got out as well and looked at Sean in surprise.

“You have a key to his house?”

“We all have keys,” Sean answered with a smile.

“Like a fucking commune, huh?” Viggo asked as he looked over the house with a wrinkled nose.

“Look…I realize this is sort of throwing you in the deep end here but, this is a tight club, man,” Sean said seriously. “I mean tight. I’ve played on a lot of teams over the last two decades, but this is something different. Now…it might take them a while, but they will take you in. You just have to give them a chance.”

Viggo blinked at him in shock again. “You really don’t mince words, do you?” he finally asked with an uncomfortable little laugh.

“You’re starting tomorrow,” Sean told him with a shrug. “You’re gonna have to have at least a little faith in us.”

Viggo looked slightly scandalized, but then his jaw hardened and he nodded a little. “You’ve prepped them, huh?” he asked in a defeated voice. “Told them to be gentle?”

“Took a lot of work, you know. Orlando’s not the only one who holds a grudge over that brawl last year.”

“Oh, so the fight was all my fault?” Viggo asked as he bristled a little.

“No, but you were the one who broke Orlando’s hand with that pitch,” Sean pointed out with a little laugh.

“He rolled into my shortstop,” Viggo said angrily. “And I wasn’t aiming for his hand.”

“No, you were aiming for his head.”

Viggo sighed and looked away. “You can’t roll like that when you’re breaking up a double play. He’s a fucking shortstop, he should know how dangerous it is.”

“Have you ever even watched that game tape?” Sean asked shrewdly.

“No,” Viggo said testily.

Sean nodded and started toward the front door as another car pulled into the drive. “Doesn’t matter,” he called carelessly.

He put the key in the lock and felt Viggo walk up slowly behind him. He looked over his shoulder at the other man and smiled. The poor guy looked severely uncomfortable now, and Sean wanted to kick himself for bringing up the brawl. It had been early during last year’s season, a rivalry brimming over from the season before that one, and one thing on the field had led to another, escalating in seriousness until finally Viggo’s pitch had smacked into Orlando’s hand during one of Orlando’s at bats. The crack of the bone had been heard literally throughout the stadium, and both dugouts had instantly cleared. Before the end of the incident ten players from both teams had been ejected, though luckily no suspensions were handed down.

Orlando had endured six weeks on the Disabled List. It had hurt his stats and his chances for a start in the All-Star game, but Orlando wasn’t one of those players who played for the accolades. Six weeks of riding the pine with a cast on his hand, not even able to put a glove over it and fool around on the field during batting practice, six weeks of not being able to play the game he loved, had driven the younger man nearly insane. And the rest of them by association.

Karl and Eric exited the SUV that had driven up as Sean pushed the door open and looked back at Viggo, already yelling at one another.

“Do they live together or something?” Viggo asked in something close to amusement.

“No,” Sean laughed. “But they are neighbors. Live just a few streets down, actually. They’re…unique,” Sean finished with an amused whisper as Karl smacked Eric in the back of the head and danced away from a retaliatory blow.

“I see,” Viggo responded warily.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Orlando’s house in Alpharetta was roughly a thirty minute drive from the ballpark, but by the time Orlando had showered and gotten dressed, he was just in time to hit five o’clock Atlanta traffic. When he finally reached his house he was the last person there.

Cars were strewn about the drive and music and laughter could be heard as soon as Orlando cut the engine on the Hog. It was hopeless to even try to get to his garage, so he just left it sitting in the grass and prayed he wouldn’t be so plastered by the time everyone cleared out that he wouldn’t remember to put it up.

When he walked through the front door he was greeted not by the cacophony of catcalls he was accustomed to, not with handshakes, hugs, and insults, but with an eerie lack of activity that immediately had Orlando worried for his belongings on the upper and lower floors. And for his pool.

“Orli!” Dominic’s voice called over the music blaring from the open door that led to the basement. “How the fuck does that screen in there work?” he asked as he came down the hall that led to the room in which Orlando had had a 122 inch movie screen installed the previous year.

“Sblomie, you practically live here,” Orlando said in a tired voice as he placed his helmet on the nearest flat surface and looked at Dominic pointedly. “Why in the hell can’t you turn on the T.V.?”

“It’s complicated,” Dominic responded with a shrug. “God forbid I break the damn thing. Come on, we wanna watch a movie.”

“Keep your pants on,” Orlando said with a calming gesture as he moved toward the kitchen to get a drink. “In fact, please keep your pants on? Remember what happened last time with the pool furniture and the hammock.”

“You were never to speak of that again,” Dominic said seriously with a sad shake of his head as he turned to go back down the hall. “Hurry your ass up!”

“It’s in hyper drive right now!” Orlando called back.

“Orlando,” Sean said suddenly, right behind Orlando as he watched Dominic walk away and throw him the bird over his shoulder. Orlando jumped and yipped a little, and he turned to glare at the older man for sneaking up on him.

“Beanie, I swear, you’d think your bones would at least have the decency to creak like all the other senior citizens,” he grumbled good-naturedly. His smile faltered when he saw Viggo at Sean’s side, looking away as if he were embarrassed to be standing there with them.

Orlando would have felt sorry for him, coming into a new club after so long in one place, if he hadn’t hated the man so much. Aside from his obvious skill as a player, Orlando couldn’t see one redeeming quality about the man. He was an ill-tempered, holier than thou, pain in the ass with whom Orlando had always had trouble on the field, and Orlando would just as soon have lost every game that year than have to deal with him. Orlando knew that by bunking him here Sean was trying to get them to know each other as people rather than players, but Orlando didn’t know how willing he was to give Viggo a chance to be human. The fading scar on his hand from the surgery his break had required left him feeling slightly uncharitable.

“We’ll have a discussion about senior citizens later,” Sean said with a sparkle in his eyes. He put his hand on Viggo’s shoulder and looked at Orlando pointedly. “Before you get revved up, why don’t you show Viggo around. I’ll go play with the movie screen.”

“Eh…no,” Orlando said quickly. “You’re not touching that thing.” He looked at Viggo, who was looking at him with a look that could only be described as contempt, and he raised an eyebrow and said, “Beanie here is like an electronic shitstorm. If he touches it, it immediately ceases to work.”

Viggo looked at him dubiously and gave him a tight smile and a nod. Orlando cocked his head and bit back a pissy remark. The whole team was under Sean’s orders to make Viggo feel welcome, if not loved. Orlando respected Sean enough to put his personal grievances aside, for a time at least, and let Viggo settle into a routine. If the man continued to treat this like a pit stop on the road to bigger and better teams then Orlando would start speaking his mind, but just then Orlando decided he would make an effort. Hell, if nothing else he would make it a competition; who can be the nicest and take the most shit before they blow up?

“Come on,” he said cheerfully to Viggo, knowing it struck a false chord but promising himself that he would work on it later. “I’ll show you the back first, get their movie up and running, then we’ll take you around the rest of the house.”

“Kay,” Viggo said in a soft voice as he started after Orlando.

“Did they get your bags in?” Orlando asked as he gave Sean one more glare. Sean raised an eyebrow and turned toward the refrigerator. Everyone was either in the basement or in the movie room apparently, that’s where all the noise was coming from anyway.

“No uh, they’re still in Bean’s car.”

“Ooh, how’d you like that ride by the way? Sweet isn’t it?” Orlando asked, warming up to the topic of Sean’s gorgeous 1969 Corvette Stingray. “God, I’d kill him and bury him in my back yard for that car,” Orlando mused as they made their way down the hall. Viggo actually laughed a little and Sean called out something rude and mostly unintelligible from behind them. Orlando turned and looked at Viggo seriously. “As soon as he hits a slump he’s expendable and that puppy’s mine.”

Viggo smiled a little and nodded as if he wasn’t quite sure if Orlando was serious, and Orlando pushed through the door to the room at the end of the hall. Several of the others were lounging in the leather couches that lined the wall opposite the large screen, and Orlando shook his head at them disgustedly as he went to turn the thing on. He could feel Viggo hanging back by the door, but he didn’t bother trying to coax the man in with him. He could be nice, but he wasn’t going to be chummy and hold the man’s hand for fuck’s sake.

“What are we watching tonight?” Orlando asked as he turned on the DVD player in the hidden cupboard and turned to look at Dominic and Billy, who looked to be the ringleaders tonight.

“Whatever’s in there, man, just move your ass!” Billy said impatiently. “Chop chop,” he said with two little claps.

“What the hell?” Orlando mumbled in amusement as he threw the remote at them and walked back toward the door. “Survive without me then, bitches,” he said happily as he nodded to Viggo to turn around and go back down the hall.

“Hey!” came the call Orlando had been expecting when they got halfway down the hall. “There’s nothing in the player! Orli, come back!”

Orlando snickered and kept on walking, and Viggo looked over at him with a look of mildly amused confusion.

“I’ll show you your room first,” Orlando told him, the smile falling from his face as he desperately tried to come up with a reason for Viggo not to stay with him. They walked back into the kitchen where Sean stood talking to Dave Wenham, and Orlando motioned with his hand to the two men. “Did you meet Dave?” he asked carelessly as he peered down the dark stairs to the basement. “Is there anyone down there?” he asked Sean before Viggo could respond.

“Karl and Eric, I think,” Sean said with a nod. “Some others. David, this is Viggo. Viggo -”

“We’ve met briefly,” Viggo said in a voice close to a mumble, and Orlando returned his attention to the three men.

“First win of the season, eh Dave?” he said to Dave with a big grin. Dave had started today’s game, and Orlando was fairly certain that he and Viggo would be battling for the title of the team’s ace starting pitcher. “How’s the arm feel?”

“Like a twenty-year old, I’m sure,” Dave said dryly.

“What are they doing down there? Shooting pool?” Orlando asked as his mind bounced around from subject to subject.

“I guess. Every now and then the music ebbs and you can hear them yelling.”

“Hmm. Maybe I better go check the lock on the liquor cabinet,” Orlando mused worriedly. Sean snickered and Dave laughed into the bottle of beer from which he was preparing to drink. Viggo shifted uncomfortably and stuffed his hands into his pockets “Oh! Sorry man, come with me. Room’s this way,” Orlando said when remembered what he’d been doing.

“It’s fine,” Viggo murmured as they set off again for the stairs. Orlando’s house wasn’t large by the Country Club’s standards, but for a bachelor it suited him just fine. There were five bedrooms, one master bedroom on the main floor and one on the upper floor, along with three smaller rooms, all of which were connected by a balcony that ringed the living room. The living room itself was formal and a little stilted, but Orlando rarely used it.

“You don’t have like, problems with your knees or anything, do you?” Orlando asked as he mounted the stairs. He turned to look at Viggo, who was glaring up at him and looking sort of pissed off by the question. “Okay,” Orlando said slowly when Viggo didn’t answer. “I know I hate these damn stairs. Don’t come up here much,” he continued as they climbed the stairs. He took a moment to look over the railing of the balcony when they got to the top, and he could see Sean and Dave craning their necks and watching them curiously. “Take your pick, man,” he offered to Viggo.

Viggo looked at him in surprise. “Well, doesn’t really matter, you know. Just need a bed.”

“Uh huh…well the biggest one is that one,” Orlando said, pointing to the bedroom which sat directly over his. “But it’s right above mine so you might get some noise from the television or stereo…or…you know. The other three are the same size. That one’s pink, cause my sister stays there when she visits and insisted on decorating it. That one’s normal, overlooks the front yard. If you’re up early enough you can see Heather from down the street on her morning jog,” Orlando told Viggo with a little smile. “And this one has a view of the back yard. Pool, grass. Oooh, it has the balcony as well. The front one doesn’t.”

“That’s fine,” Viggo murmured as he looked at the last door dazedly. Orlando leaned against the railing and looked at him carefully. He looked quite lost, and very sad. Not anything like the cussing, flailing, angry man Orlando was used to seeing on the mound. Orlando took pity on him and straightened, taking Viggo by the elbow and leading him away from the railing. Viggo looked down at his arm as if Orlando’s fingers there had just sprouted horns, but he didn’t wrench away.

“Look man, I know you must be kinda homesick and all, and let’s not beat around the bush, we’ve never gotten along and I doubt we’ll end up best buddies. If you don’t feel comfortable here, just say the word and we’ll work something out for you.”

Viggo looked at him in shock, and then his eyes drifted downwards and he nodded a little. “Be honest with you, I’m tired. I appreciate the offer to stay here, and if you don’t mind tonight I’ll take it. But I think you’re right, we’ll both be a lot happier if I get a hotel room or…”

“Sean’s place is nice,” Orlando suggested. “And you get along, right? It’ll save you money. Plus you know…it can get lonely, after a while. He has a guest house, if you want privacy. The only reason he didn’t offer is cause his girls are with him the next two weeks. They leave at the end of the homestand so…”

“Thanks,” Viggo said, sounding a little surprised.

Orlando nodded thoughtfully and they looked at one another blankly for several moments, and then Orlando shook out of it and stepped away. “I’ll round up your bags,” he said as he gestured to the door. “Take a look, see what you think. You’re welcome to anything and everything. The boys’ll stick around ‘til the movie’s over probably, then they’ll start smelling dinner and go on home. After that, we’ll see if Sean’s willing to cook us dinner.” Viggo nodded and turned to look at the door as Orlando watched him briefly and then walked back down the stairs.

“What’s with the pow wow up there?” Sean asked in a hushed voice.

“He’s not comfortable here, man. And neither am I,” Orlando told him apologetically. “I just think he’d be better somewhere else.”

“Ah,” Sean said disapprovingly. “Well, it’ll work out,” he said after a moment. A shout emanated from downstairs and they all turned to look at the door to the basement. Sure enough, Karl came running up the stairs, taking them three at a time, and he skidded out of the doorway and barreled into Orlando, grabbing him to keep him from falling over and then taking off again toward the back door.

“Oh, god, not the pool!” Orlando called as they heard Eric start up the stairs. “Karl! Not the pool!”

“Sorry, man,” Eric said happily as he whisked past them. “That fucker is drowning tonight!” he called as he ran out the back door Karl had left open in his haste to get away.

“My poor pool,” Orlando lamented. “It’ll never know what a normal life is like.”

“At least it’s Karl and Eric and not the furniture this time,” Dave said with a repressed laugh as a shout and a splash were heard from outside.

“What the hell was that?” Viggo called from upstairs.

“Oh! Shit, I was getting his bags,” Orlando exclaimed with a little jolt. “Hey, Beanie, gimme the keys, will you?” he asked slyly as he held out his hand.

“Over my dead, rotting body,” Sean growled. “It’s unlocked.”

“Dammit,” Orlando said with a mock pout as he stomped toward the front door. “If I marry one of your daughters will you leave it to me in your will?” he called as he reached the door.

“You stay away from my girls!” Sean shouted as Orlando laughed delightedly and slipped out the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Orlando had been right, and after a couple hours most of the guys had drifted off to return home. Viggo had soldiered through most of the get-together, but now he looked to be ready to flee, and Orlando didn’t really blame him.

“You must be pretty beat, Mortensen,” he observed as they all sat at the kitchen counter and picked over the remains of the meal Orlando had cajoled Sean into fixing. Dominic and Billy, Karl and Eric, Dave and Sean, and Orlando and Viggo were all that remained of the roughly fifteen men who had eventually joined the group. A lot of them lived in and around the area because of the security, and it was a nice thing to have, that sense of togetherness and family. “We won’t be offended if you turn in early,” Orlando said in his kindest voice, which he had to admit needed a lot of work.

Viggo looked at him warily, probably trying to decide if it was a trick or something, and finally he nodded and placed his hands flat on the table and stood. “So do you do this every night?” he asked after a moment of thought. “Get together like this?”

“Nah,” Billy answered. “Every now and then someone has a cookout or something, but usually it’s just us bachelors.”

“And those of us who can no longer stand our wives,” Karl mumbled into his glass. Eric kicked him in the shin and he snorted beer up his nose as a result. Eric snickered and Karl sputtered, holding his nose and glaring at the other man. It was true though, Karl and Eric both had shrieking banshees for wives, though their kids were quite cute in small doses. It was no wonder they spent all their time together, in Orlando’s opinion.

Viggo smiled uncertainly and looked at Sean. “Thank you all for…not killing me and roasting me over a spit,” he said sincerely, surprising Orlando a little. No one seemed to know what to say, so they all smiled at him and nodded a little, and Sean stood up as well.

“I’m off as well. Viggo? Good to finally properly meet you,” he said as he held out his hand. Viggo shook it and smiled warmly.

“And you. Thank you for the tour.”

“No problem. Who needs a ride?” he asked as he looked them all over.

“We got it,” Eric said as he and Karl both stood up as well.

“I could use one,” Billy said as he took his plate to the sink.

“Dom? How ‘bout you?” Sean asked with an affirmative nod.

“Nah, I’m fine. I’ll hoof it,” Dominic answered with another swig of his beer. Dominic only lived a few houses down. Orlando was fairly certain that if he ever found himself too far away from Dominic at any point in his life he would start going into instant convulsions. They had known each other since they were kids, and had been virtually inseparable ever since the day they had beaten the shit out of each other on the playground.

After everyone else had cleared out, Viggo stood uncertainly on the stairs as Dominic and Orlando walked to the door.

“Hey, Viggo, you wanna walk with us?” Dominic asked as he put on his jacket.

“Uhh…thanks but, I’m beat. I’ll just head to bed, if it’s alright with you? Good night,” he said softly, and Orlando breathed a sigh of relief. That was it for Viggositting for tonight. One day down, eight more in the homestand to go.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

To see this season's box scores and schedule, visit three_and_two.



Topps Full Count Special Collector's Series

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

PREVIOUS / NEXT