Working Relationship

[vamp_ress]

Title: Working Relationship
Author: Michelle
Email: michelle [at] waking-vision.com
Fandom: LotRPS
Summary: Viggo and Orlando hate each other, at least that’s what everyone thinks. But Katie isn’t everyone.
Pairing: Viggo/Orlando (?)
Genre: slash
Warnings: AU
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: I’m sure many people are called Viggo or Orlando. But I can promise that I don’t know any of them. (And that’s a shame.)
Author’s Note: Written for flashfictionfridayofficial #347 Rumour Mill. So happy to be writing for FFF again after such a long time! This little story actually is a teaser for the side project I have been working on for the past year. You can expect the actual, multi-chaptered story to drop in May.

 

 

Katie didn’t stare. She was a woman, she had mastered the art of subtly eyeing people before she’d turned ten. “Don’t you think there’s something unusual about them?”

Jae looked up at hearing her words and followed her gaze to where Viggo was sitting at one of the workstations. He pointed at an x-ray, his finger circling the spot where a right thighbone was visibly broken. Orlando was next to Viggo’s chair. He nodded studiously, like he couldn’t imagine anything more riveting than Viggo lecturing him about thighbones.

“No, why do you ask?” Jae replied.

“They are standing very close,” Katie explained. Orlando was standing next to Viggo’s chair. He leaned down in an attempt to better see the x-ray. That caused their heads to be basically on the same level. And their shoulders almost brushed.

In Katie’s estimation you only stood this close when you were comfortable with the other person. Comfortable enough that you didn’t mind any accidental touching. Or that you even hoped for it.

Katie wasn’t blind. She could see that those two were well past the point of hoping.

Jae didn’t seem to see the same thing Katie was seeing. “It is a very crammed space.”

Men, Katie thought. No sense for the subtleties of human interaction. Katie shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I tell you, they’re sleeping with each other.”

Jae’s eyes got big, he hadn’t expected that statement. “What? No way! Viggo? Not with Orlando. You’re imagining things.”

She didn’t need to imagine anything, she just had to observe. “Look at the way Orlando is leaning in.” He only had to turn his head and his lips would quite naturally brush Viggo’s cheek. It was blatantly obvious.

Jae tried to look at the situation with her eyes and Katie could see the wheels turning in his head. “Viggo hates him. I mean, really hates him. Orlando complains about the man’s attitude all the damn time. They’re like fire and water. They don’t mix and you don’t want to be in their vicinity when they’re in close quarters. They’re at each others’ throats constantly. ”

Katie was well aware of this. She could attest to the fact that Viggo and Orlando in one room could be quite the spectacle. However, she also knew that Viggo didn’t have a bad word to say about Orlando’s attitude towards work. He agreed that Orlando was motivated and willing to learn. He could attest to the fact that Orlando was also polite and helpful with the patients.

It was just that Viggo seemed to hate Orlando’s guts.

Or maybe he didn’t. Katie narrowed her eyes and zoned in on Viggo and Orlando animatedly discussing the x-ray.

Jae shook his head. He collected his paperwork. “No way are these two spending any more time with each other than they have to.”

Jae left, probably to get back to his patient.

At the other end of the room, Orlando’s hand brushed Viggo’s fingers on the keyboard. It was a minuscule movement and lasted only for a moment. It appeared to be incidental.

But it wasn’t and Katie had seen it.

Katie knew.

- The End

(March 2026)