Bleak
Title: Bleak
Pairing: Elijah/Orlando
Rating: PG13 (wow, I actually wrote something without sex?!)
Warning: Character Death
Feedback: Any is welcome.
Disclaimer: No I don't own them, yes it is made up.
Notes: Written for Prompt 23 - Picture of road.
Long, narrow, twisting country road. Tall trees arching into leaden skies. Orlando reaching for his lover, laughing. Elijah dancing just out of reach, loose autumn leaves in his hair.
He eventually stops and lets Orlando catch him, pulling him into a hug. He is pink-cheeked - a welcome change, Orlando thinks, pressing his lips against Elijah's. They kiss for a moment, then Orlando pulls back - the kiss is not as long as he would like it to be, nor as deep. Even the slight twist of tongues they have managed leaves Elijah panting for breath.
"Take it easy," Orlando says quietly - meaningless words. Elijah has had no control over the state of his lungs for a long time now.
"I'm OK," Elijah says. He coughs - a dry, blocked-up choke.
"Let's head back. You're freezing," Orlando says, brushing a red maple leaf out of the windswept tufts of Elijah's hair.
"If you want," Elijah says, linking hands with Orlando as they turn to come back the way they've come. Down the country lane back to the house in the Yorkshire dales that Orlando has rented. Elijah had asked to go to Yorkshire, claiming he wanted to see lots of fields and countryside. Elijah's doctor had advised the South of France, somewhere warm and mild. Needless to say, Orlando was - and is - powerless to refuse Elijah anything.
They walk slowly, appreciating the emptiness of the moors and the wildness of the landscape.
***
When Elijah's body finally give in to the disease, when he can hardly speak or open his stunning eyes, and finally when he gives his last breath, Orlando remembers the love they had, the good times they shared, and, mostly, the bleakness of the moors.