THE GENTLEMEN'S CLUB
Orlando

Written by Lady Poetess
egiggles at moose-mail.com
http://www.asstr.org/~bbp

Please do not reproduce on any website without permission. This
story has no resemblance to anyone dead or alive.

PROLOGUE

Moonlight and sonatas, the perfect way to end a blissful holiday
of sun, sand, and sea. Orlando Bloom's bed was the lovely cushion
of soft supple skin and well-formed muslces that was his vacation
lover.

The lover was just Gale, just as Orlando was just Orli to Gale.
Last names would only give this holiday fling a deeper substance
to cling to, and Orli wasn't prepared for a long-distance shit
while Gale didn't show any inclination to pursue anything more
than sex. It was enough for them that their fucking was just
perfect and they had this fondness for each other than was
skirting towards dangerous (think: long-term) territory.

Orlando letting Gale call him Orli was bad enough. He hated the
moniker Orli, and he never even let his mother call him that.
Still, no harm done, surely, as Orlando was leaving tomorrow. He
wouldn't see Gale again. And this was what he repeated in his mind
as he closed his eyes and listened to the rhythm of Gale's
heartbeat. He would try not to remember the way Gale's arms closed
around his waist, or how now as one hand rubbed soothingly up and
down the length of Orlando's spine. It wasn't even safe to
remember this, Gale as a virile man who had pleasured him so well
that he was probably spoiled for other men. It was the man's model-
handsome face and rangy, virile body displayed in tight blue tank
top and snug jeans that compelled Orlando to strike up a chat with
Gale, who sat beside him on the plane.

He kissed Gale's wine dark nipples now, sweet nipples that crowned
the hard, bulging pectorals that were now tensed with desire. When
they met, the electricity that sparked between them easily led
them from conversation to Orlando kneeling between Gale's spread
legs in the airport gent's room. It was Gale who made the next
move by slinging his bag over his shoulder and climbing into the
same cab as Orlando. "Got space for another guy, Orli?" he asked.

They left the room only for long, long walks along the beach,
where they didn't talk much. They just enjoyed each other's
company too much for each's own good, until even the silence that
extended was not of awkwardness but because they both just wanted
to enjoy the moment. Orlando tried not to think of that as he let
his hand now move lower to cup Gale's erection. He had his share
of hung men, but Gale intimidated even he. Gale moaned in delight
as Orlando's hands worshipped his balls, cock shaft, and the hairy
pucker of his ass. It took Orlando two days to convince Gale that
the latter couldn't hurt Orlando with that big dick. Gale treated
him like a porcelein, taking Orlando slowly and not even plunging
his cock more than halfway into Orlando's educated ass. And when
he finally did, Gale trembled and was so shaken with remorse,
convinced that his raping thrusts (he lost control when he
realized that Orlando could take all of him) had hurt Orlando. It
took Orlando another hour of slow, sensual loving to calm Gale
down.

Even after so many times experiencing it, Orlando still was
unprepared at how well Gale pack his ass until he felt like
bursting. He straddled Gale, felt that thick moist tip pushing his
ass open, and ground his hips down that well-lubricated cock. He
choked a cry as the pleasure as well as pain wracked his very
being. Gale reached so deep up Orlando, so deep that Orlando could
never get enough of it. Fiery pleasure pooled and burned at the
base of Orlando's spine as he intertwined his fingers with Gale's
and they began moving in a synchronous rhythm. Orlando plunged
down as Gale's hips thrust high, impaling Orlando on that thick
cock, and when Orlando lifted his body, Gale slowly withdrew his
cock. And as was their favorite way of coming, Gale would take
Orlando's mouth with his, so that their breath and moans of
pleasure became one the moment Orlando hit his climax and Gale
soon after.

That night, by mutual, unspoken agreement, both stayed awake all
night. Instead of fucking, though, they just held each other until
they caught the sunrise. When the alarm clock finally rang, only
then did they fucked one last time.

Orlando had a wild hope that maybe this time Gale would jump into
the cab. "Got space for another guy, Orli?" Gale would ask, and
Orlando would shout, yes, yes, there was always space. But Gale
never did, and Orlando climbed into the cab and headed for the
airport alone.

Next time, he decided, he'd keep away from holiday flings. When it
was good, the hangover could be headsplitting.



ONE

Three months later

Orlando Bloom bit back a yawn as he watched through his binoculars
at his suspect. His spy van, as he would like to call the battered
van of his, was unbelievably hot today, thanks to the sweltering
sun, and he wondered what his boss Denis Leary was doing now.
Probably having a nice cup of iced tea, that bastard, while his
assistant Orlando was frying here.

"Aha!" he said aloud as the suspect approached the motel. He
grabbed his camera and prepared to take a few incriminating
snapshots for his client. He wished he could say that he was
spying on a drug ring or something in that vein, but this one,
like all the others, was another suspected adultery or infidelity
case. So many cheating bastards around the place, it's quite
disheartening. His mother told him to be a chef like his father
and brothers and sisters, and Orlando had more than once wondered
whether she was right. Catching people cheating on the ones they
professed to love was making him jaded with the idea of happy ever
after.

He frowned when he missed a good face shot. Oh well, now he would
have to get a closer shot. As quietly as he could, he sauntered
along the motel corridor, wondering whether room 76 or 77 was the
one housing the adulterous man and his lover.

"What are you doing?"

As hands grabbed Orlando and pulled him aside, Orlando prepared to
deliver a hard blow at the attacker's crotch. But the familiar
timbre of that voice stalled him. He could still remember - no, it
couldn't be. But it was.

He was looking at the equally stunned face of Gale.

"Why are you following my brother?" Gale demanded to know.

"You're a Harold?"

Gale Harold's my name, and no, I won't tell what Gale is short
for."

"Galandriel?" Orlando hazarded a guess. The man he was trailing
was named Aragorn.

"Galandriel is a female elf, I told my mother again and again,"
Gale burst out loud. He sighed. "Could be worse. I could be named
Merry, Gimli, or Frodo."

"So, nice seeing you," Orlando said quickly. He tried to gather
enough strength back to his shaky knees to flee.

"Not so fast!" Gale's hand caught Orlando's. And there was now a
dangerous light in the man's eyes as he took in Orlando's
appearance up and down. He seemed to find Orlando's sweat-stained
shirt and dirty jeans arousing, judging from the way his eyes
darkened in desire. "You're here," he said in a huskier voice now.
"I can't believe it. I tried to search all over the place for
you."

"What? Gale, please - "

Too late. Gale had Orlando pinned against th wall, and his
muscular body was pressing Orlando in a way that only rekindled
the desirous heat in Orlando's treacherous body. He had tried so
hard to suppress the heat and the memories, but now, when Gale was
kissing him so hungrily like that as if he wanted to rediscover
every taste and texture, oh... Soon their fingers were raking
through their clothes, desperate to relearn each other's bodies.
Orlando pulled Gale's jacket down the man's arms even as Gale was
pushing Orlando's jeans as low as he could. Orlando wasn't wearing
underwear, and when Gale had Orlando's jeans undone and pushed
down his ankles, Orlando willingly spread his legs, not caring
that they were in an open place. Then Gale plunged home, and they
both cried out in pleasure.

"You're as good as I remembered," Gale growled. "You bastard, you
spoiled me for every other man, and I don't even have the desire
to fuck anyone after you. Only you, you fucking hot-assed bitch."

A scream, and then a thud interrupted them. Gale turned slightly
and saw his brother gaping at them. And the woman Aragorn was
meeting - Gale's Tolkein-crazy mother - had fainted dead on the
floor. At that very moment, Gale felt his cock explode and he
couldn't help it. He groaned and cursed, leaving the shocked
observers no doubt as to what he was going through at that moment.

Orlando pushed him off, his face blushing scarlet. Gale fastened
his trousers and stood between the man and his family to give
Orlando the privacy to clean up. He was still recovering from the
powerful orgasm he just had, however, so his defiant scowl might
not be very effective.

"Jesus H Christ," Aragorn murmured, pale.

Gale simply grinned. "Hello, Aaron. Orlando, my brother Aragorn,
who prefers to be called Aaron. Aaron, my future... what's the
word? Wife? You get the idea. Meet Orli."




TWO

Wife? Orlando was still stunned an hour layer as he sat in the
bedroom of Gale's apartment. Gale was Gale Harold, the rich,
snobby Harolds? He couldn't reconcile the playful, teasing Gale he
knew with the snobby Harolds, or at least those Harolds he
happened to deal with. The Gale he knew surfed badly, acted like a
dumb goon, and sang off-key ABBA songs. And he was a stiff-lipped
Harold?

He couldn't imagine Gale either, but Gale existed.

The subject of his thoughts came in from the adjoining bathroom
with only a towel around the waist The towel was soon discarded,
tossed onto a chair as he climbed onto the bed, nude and clean, to
lie beside Orlando. That thick, quiescent penis rested on his
corrugated stomach, content for now.

"Okay, tell me why you are trailing after my mother and my
brother."

"I work in the motel as staff?" Orlando suggested.

"Nice try. Any better excuses?" Gale retorted. His voice was
always pleasant, but there was an undercurrent of steel in it that
made Orlando nervous.

"Hey, I'm a private investigator. That's all I can tell you."

"Oh, so Aaron's wife is getting all jealous and paranoid again?"
Gale chuckled at Orlando's face. "Your firm is not the first PI
she sicced on Aaron. No one knows, of course, but me when I
overheard her on the phone one day." He wagged a finger at
Orlando. "Trust, Orli. If we're getting hitched, we have to trust
each other."

"You're just joking, right?" Orlando gaped at the man. "I thought
that was just a fuck-you to your family."

"I'm serious. Have you any idea how I felt when I realized I let
you walk away like that? You're a good fuck, yes, but a great guy
to be with. I'd love to know you better, and if we are on
schedule, I can have us married at this wonderful place in Vegas."

"Vegas?!" sputtered Orlando. Here was a man from a line of old
money and the best he could do was Vegas? The outrage. Of course,
Orlando wasn't seriously considering this proposal. Gale was
joking... he had to be.

"Fine, name your place. I'll get us there. Don't think I'm Donald
Trump, though. The money is controlled by my mother. I have my own
money from my modeling days and my current catering business, but
I'm no endless moneypot. Not that I'm assuming that you just want
my money," Gale quickly added as he saw Orlando's face. "I just
like you to know that I'm not that rich."

"Yeah, yeah, what-fucking-ever, Gale. But I won't marry you."

Gale's look would be comical if he didn't look so genuinely
stunned and hurt. "Why not?" he demanded. "You're looking at me,
great old me, Orli. We had a great time, remember? Monogamy is my
middle name, and I'm a nice, romantic guy. And modest too."

"Oh, you. You're Gale Harold. I'm just Orlando Bloom, struggling
high school dropout kid who is trying to persuade his boss that he
can be a real PI. Even if this can work, what happens if I find
that your brother is guilty of adultery? What happens when you
don't like my job and demand that I quit? What happen if I hate
your relatives? This is crazy, Gale!" But even as his jadedness
kicked into action, he couldn't help hoping that maybe Gale could
make everything right. There would be no problems ever... right?

Then again, Denis, his boss, would encourage Orlando to say yes to
Gale. Get close to the suspect, Denis always said. Maybe he
could... no, he couldn't. As he looked into Gale's face, he knew
he couldn't use the man.

"And I don't want you wondering if I say yes just to use you," he
finally said.

"Oh." Gale ran one hand through his hair wearily. "Here's where
you get some things wrong. You know what my family calls me? Goner
Gale. I am known to do a lot of stupid, crazy things, so my family
will not blink an eye if I marry you. If they do, I don't care
what they say. They are my family, I love them, yeah, even when
they are a pain in the ass, but I love you too. Fuck anyone who
make me choose between them and you. But since I know my family
can be a pain in the ass, I am more understanding if you do not
want to live in the same town as my family. Just don't make me
choose between either of you, because I won't.

"Okay, on to the possibility of your job interfering with our
life. Hell, my job will interfere with our life too. I cater big
parties for big functions and they take up a lot of time. As long
as you don't start sleeping around or playing someone's bitch for
information, I'm fine with whatever you do. But I'll add a
postscript later. Let's go to the possibility of me worrying that
you are using me first.

"Now, Orli, do you really think that someone like me, who sees
fortune hunters every day and every where, will be so gullible as
to never consider that possibility that you are using me? Of
course I did. And I don't believe that, because we have something
real back then in Miami, and we both know it. So hell, you're a
fool if you don't marry me.

"Postscript about your job: yeah, I don't like one thing about it.
Your job makes you think the worst of me. If Aaron is cheating,
well, he's Aaron. I'm Gale. We're two different persons. I won't
hate you if he's found cheating, and you won't find me cheating on
you just because Aaron cheated. I'm Goner Gale and I know I've an
unfortunate reputation as a playboy, but I'm always a one-person
man. Now, what were you saying again, Orli?"

"You've been rehearsing this, haven't you?"

"No. But I'm a caterer. We caterers are very good at giving
impressive and sincere speeches from our hearts at the drop of a
coin."

"Hah!" Orlando threw a pillow at Gale, who caught it before
proceeding to pounce on Orlando and tickle the man mercilessly.
"Say yes, say yes!" he demanded playfully, but soon their hormones
flared out of control again. He was soon kissing Orlando, and it
was just so convenient that they were already on his bed. Perfect.




THREE

Gale Harold wished the damned Roxy Music shit would stop making
his head throb. But when Jason Behr was holding a party... well,
what Jason Behr wanted, he usually got because people didn't have
energy to turn the persistent weird guy down. Besides, Jason was
sleeping with Jeffrey Nordling, and intelligent people who wanted
Jeffrey's favors (and Jeffrey, who could give one access to power
businessman Ben Affleck's good favors, was a person who could do a
lot for a fledgling businessman) were smart enough to realize that
Jeffrey tolerated no shit about Jason.

But Gale had no troubles with Jason, even when he knew the man
could grate on his nerves. He was the kind of guy who rarely found
problems with anybody he came in contact with. The only times
someone made him remotely crazy was his mother and Orlando.

Orlando. He scanned the crowd for the close-cropped haircut that
could only be Orlando. That was his habit nowadays: he would scan
the room for Orli every time he walked into a room where Orli was,
the first thing ever. It frustrated him no end that Orli was
stalling. He wanted Orli in his life. They liked each other, and
they did well together, and Orli certainly came loud and hard the
nights he lay under Gale. So why was Orli making it so fucking
complicated?

Where was Orli?

"Where's Orli?" he demanded, not caring whose hand he caught.

"Let go of my hand," Jeffrey Nordling only said.

Gale let go. Jeffrey might want catering one day.

"Orli isn't here yet. He called Jason and said that he was on a
case and might be a little late." Jeffrey snorted. "'On a case' -
most likely he was trailing another adulterer to his rendezvous
spot."

"Hey, don't talk about Orli like that," Gale snapped.

Jeffrey only grinned knowingly. "The mighty Goofy Gale, fallen at
last?"

"Yeah. But I don't think Orli will ever say yes," Gale said. He
bit his lower lip. "I always get what I want, but I ask him every
time, and still he says to take it slow."

"So take it slow. You're only thirty. What's the rush?"

"But I can't stand it," blurted Gale. "How can I? There's always
this -"

Jason Behr stuck his face between them. "Where's Orli?" he asked.

"Good question," Gale said, his irritation rising at the man's
intrusion.

"Oh, probably at work. I wanted to show him my new comic strip.
Did I tell you? I have a new commission by Chicago Sun-Times to do
some political satire. I told Jeff that I was kinda scared - I
have been thinking of getting a bigger offer from people for my
comics, you know, and while I have all respects for my queer fans,
stuck in a gay niche is quite limiting. But now that CST is asking
me, wow, it's scary, isn't it? I mean, CST, and people all over
the place will be looking at my work and judging me. I wanted this
all along, but now I'm just so worried."

"Jason, love, I think James' here."

"James? Oh good! Excuse me! I have to tell him about CST!" Jason
nodded absently and dashed away.

Jeffrey chuckled as he watched Jason leave. "Boy, what a tiring
guy."

"And yet you sleep in the same bed as him every night. I'm in
awe."

"He brings energy and quirks into my life. And like you said,
there was always that... whatever it was you were saying before my
charming boyfriend interrupted us."

Gale stared after Jason. "But he's right, I guess. About people
getting scared of having what they always wanted finally being
given to them."

"In business we call it inertia. Same with physics."

"And Orli's inertia is immovable," Gale whispered.

"Don't worry, Gale. A man like you will soon make Orlando see
through his errors." Jeffrey perked up as a new song started to
play. "Ah, Patti LaBellle's If You Asked Me To, my favorite song.
Excuse me, I think I'll dance with Jason to this one."

"Okay."

"Say hi to your parents for me."

"My mother is still shocked that you are sleeping with a man young
enough to be your nephew."

Jeffrey just grinned and walked away.

Gale watched Jeffrey charmed Jason, who blushed, before
intertwining his fingers with Jason's as they walked to the middle
of the room. It hurt to see people having a good time, because
while he was smiling, he was slowly bleeding away inside.



Orlando knocked on the door. The room was dark, unlit. "Gale?"

"Here."

Gale was sitting at Jeffrey's study chair and watching the world
outside the window.

"What are you doing hiding in this room?" Orlando asked softly.

"Thinking."

"Want to tell me about it?"

Gale made a sound, bitter or humorous, Orlando couldn't tell.
"Orli, what's wrong with me?"

Orlando raised himself to seat on the study table. "Nothing
significant." He thought about the question. "I wish you will give
me more space to think and breathe. When you are with me, you
always make decisions and plans for me. You just walk in and
decide that we will do this, eat that, go there. It's
suffocating." Orlando sighed. "Sorry, I'm too tired after work and
I got carried away with my words."

"No, that's okay. May I say what I find wrong with you now?"

Orlando steeled himself. "Okay."

"I love you, man, but you're an ass." Gale's teeth flashed in the
dark. "But so am I. I thought I was giving you the world. Now I
know that you are just scared. You think I'm not scared?"

"I think you're not scared of a lot of things."

"But that's because those things do not affect the way I think,
sleep, and breathe. You think I am overpowering? Steel yourself -
I can't sleep easy when you're not lying beside me. I can't
breathe unless it's the same air you breathe in that I breathe.
Whenever I hear the door of my office open, I perk up, only to
sigh when I realize that it's not you. But fine, I'm too
overpowering. But that's because you don't do one fucking thing!"

Orlando started to protest, but shut his mouth when he realized
with a shock that Gale was right.

"I once deliberately didn't call you for two days. And you never
call back for dinner or even to say hi. Guess who persuades you to
stay the night? Me. Guess who initiates our fucking? Me. Guess who
buys you lunch when you are staking out? Fucking me, the biggest
idiot in the world. Now tell me this, Orli, do you love me, even a
little?"

"But I do," Orlando said. Yes, he did, he realized even as he said
it. "But..." What could he say? "Oh Gale, I didn't know. Gale, I'm
so sorry."

"Marry me, or not, fine. Just don't leave me alone in this, Orli.
I'm not that strong." Gale rubbed his thumb slowly over Orli's
knuckles. "But you love me," he said as if aloud to himself.
"Wow."

"But I thought you knew."

"Do I?"

Gale wasn't that cocky now. And he was hurt. Orlando hurt too,
because he had wronged this man in a way. He sighed, trying to
swallow a sob, every instinct of his trying to fight this. He was
afraid of getting hurt, even if Gale was here, now. But maybe it
was time to start trying and fighting for himself. For them both.

Maybe it was unfair to ask Gale to carry all the burden of the
worlds, even if he seemed capable of doing so. Maybe Orlando
needed to give back as much as he took.

Looking in Gale's eyes, cocky and confident eyes now dark with
insecurities and uncertainties, as his defences were down for
Orlando to see, maybe, Orlando realized, maybe Gale didn't deserve
to be taken for granted. Because Orlando didn't want to lose Gale,
who was a part of him as much as the air he breathed. How that
happened, he didn't know, but he was glad it did.

"Maybe you will like to have dinner with me tomorrow?" he asked.

"Okay," Gale said, and grinned. The old Gale was back. "Take it
easy, huh?"

"Please?"

"Okay." He could be patient. Orlando was worth the wait.



Orlando proposed two weeks later. Gale got a pillow thrown at him
when he rang up the guys and told them they had lost the bet to
him. But everybody was invited - Gale would be doing the catering.
