Viggo's mirror has a new picture today, though it's not easy to spot it among the hundreds of photos, clips, scraps of paper taking over the whole surface: it's just a picture, nothing glamorous, nothing exceptional to it; Viggo is probably the only one to notice it's there.
It's not a picture that Viggo took himself, either, because he hasn't left New Zealand in almost a year now, while this shot was taken in Britain only a few days ago.
If someone noticed it and asked, Viggo would probably tell.
"If you could have one wish granted," Viggo had asked, one sleepless night only a week before, "the most important thing of all--what would you ask for?"
He'd expected the answer; it would've been a surprise, he'd thought, looking up at the myriads of stars glinting hard and cold in the night sky, if Sean had answered differently. So Viggo had just listened and nodded and then he'd turned to Sean and kissed him, because he could, because Sean was there; and he'd denied to himself that he'd ever hoped to be surprised.
And it hadn't hurt much, right then--not just then, not when they could walk back in and he could tumble Sean down on their bed, drape himself all over Sean and forget he'd ever asked. It hadn't hurt much in the night, when he could be selfish and unreasonable and demanding, and have Sean granting it to him—when he could hear Sean call out his name in hungry, helpless cries and pretend that that was Sean's only wish.
It'd hurt much more in the morning, having to drive Sean to the airport and watch him walk away from the set and from him. Viggo had stood there, among so many other faceless people, thinking Sean was having his wish granted—by walking away from him.
It'd been unreasonable to ask, and Viggo knows it. If Sean'd asked him, he'd probably have answered the same. Because all that's unfair is that they have to choose, but that's hardly Sean's fault. Nor is it Viggo's, but Viggo—not Sean--is the one who asked.
Sean is a practical, realistic man, who would only ask for a wish that could come true. Viggo is the one selfish and unreasonable enough to be hurt because he can't be the one to grant Sean that wish.
The letter arrives in Viggo's mail that morning, just before he leaves. He carries it with him to the set, unopened; and only once inside the trailer, alone before his mirror, before the makeup people come in to change him into Aragorn, he takes out the envelope and opens it.
It's a plain white envelope, nothing fancy. No paper inside; no letter.
Just the photo.
It's a common enough picture: a guy with his three daughters cuddling on a couch, and they're all fair and they're all smiling. And they look happy, just being there, all together.
He stares at it for a long time. When he turns it over he reads, scribbled on the back with a fine blue ballpen, "Grant my wish."
So Viggo takes the photo and sticks it on his mirror--between a picture of himself as Aragorn and one of Henry aged four.
"To always be close to the ones I love," Viggo whispers, the words that have hurt so much for a whole week now reflected back at him from the mirror--as though they were his own, dearest wish.
As though they could come true.
For the first time in a week, the man in the mirror smiles.
No-one really sees the new picture when they come in, no-one notices it: too many others to look at, most of them of no importance for anyone except Viggo, an endless collage of lives and hopes and visions, with no discernible pattern to it.
A mirror of life.
If someone noticed and asked, Viggo would tell them that, at last, his mirror feels complete.
Summary: Sean would only ask for a wish that could come true.
Rated: G
Categories: Actor RPS Pairing: Sean/Viggo
Warnings: NoneChallenges:
Series: NoneChapters: 1 Completed: Yes
Word count: 661 Read: 825
Published: 01 Aug 2009 Updated: 01 Aug 2009