FIC - Silent Promises

[oceansecrets2.livejournal.com]

Title: Silent Promises
Author: arieltachna and namarie120
Type: RPS / FPS crossover
Pairing: Orlando Bloom / Nikolai Luzhin
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Spoilers, though we’ve tried to keep it vague and still make sense to people who haven’t seen the film yet
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, created for entertainment and enjoyment only. With all due respect, we do not own these characters or the actors portraying them. They’re just too compelling to pass up a chance to play with them.
Feedback: would be wonderful
Beta: tularia
Summary: A police officer and a Russian mobster meet again in London
A/N: Fifth in the No Promises series.
A/N2: Thanks to tularia for the banner and tati for the Russian translations.



~~~*~*~~~

The thin spiral of cigarette smoke disappeared into the steamy atmosphere of the sauna as Nikolai waited for his lover to arrive. It was rare enough for Bloom to contact him, especially since the policeman had accepted the promotion to vice squad, but the message he had left on Nikolai's cell phone made it clear this meeting wouldn't be their usual assignation. Nikolai had been circumspect since Semyon's arrest, but Kirill had been especially volatile, his moods swinging erratically as he settled into his new role as head of the Volkov family. Nikolai had been hard pressed to dissuade his boss from provoking the rest of the vory, or attracting the attention of the police, with some of his wilder schemes. That Orlando had asked to meet him now argued that he had been less than fully successful. Not for the first time, Nikolai rued the consequences of his uncontrolled actions the night they had met on the boat, actions that had driven Bloom to accept the promotion that now put him directly at odds with Nikolai's role within the vory.

The door to the steam room opened, sending a waft of cooler air into the small chamber as Orlando entered, clad only in the towel wrapped low around his waist. Refusing to allow his eyes to linger, Nikolai's gaze snapped instead to the only other occupant of the sauna, an older man who rose immediately at the unspoken command, scurrying out the door before it had closed behind Orlando. Only then did Nikolai allow himself to appreciate the smooth, unblemished lines of his lover's torso, the dusky aureoles surrounding his nipples, the thin line of dark hair that trailed down below the dip of the towel. "Orlik," he said softly, the privacy of the empty room allowing him a liberty he would not otherwise risk.

Self-control already fragile simply because of the memories associated with this room, Orlando felt himself waver even more at the sound of the diminutive on his lover's lips. "You shouldn't call me that here," he forced himself to say even as his body reacted as it did every time the other man called him that, though he desperately wanted to hear it again, hoped he would hear it again after what he had to tell Nikolai. "Especially not today."

Sitting down on the bench across from the other man, Orlando took a deep breath, willing away the sexual tension that threatened to swamp his resolve, and explained why he was there. "An assignment landed on my desk today, one that involves the Volkovs. That's your family, isn't it?" At Nikolai's nod, he went on. "I'm supposed to bring in Kirill Volkov for possession of illegal drugs and smuggled alcohol." He had fought with himself since the moment he realized who he was supposed to arrest. He was still learning about the vory v zakone and the way it worked, but from what he'd already found out, getting Kirill off the streets for whatever reason would be a second big blow to the organization, coming so soon on the heels of Semyon's arrest. His only concern was Nikolai. Unfortunately, his superiors wouldn't see it that way. If they knew what he was doing, the risk he was taking that Nikolai would betray him and warn Kirill, he'd be out of a job, even if he didn't find himself facing charges. He looked across the steamy space at the chiseled face that haunted his dreams and knew it was worth any risk. "I don't see any way out of arresting him, so you need to stay away from the restaurant tonight. I don't want you to go down with him."

Nikolai dragged at his cigarette, buying himself a moment to think before answering. He recognized that Orlando was stretching the ethics of his position by offering the warning, surprised that the younger man would take such a risk for him, but perhaps he could turn the situation into a benefit for them both. "Kirill is nothing," he said slowly, watching Orlando's face. "Small fish, hardly worth the hook. What if I could give you bigger fish instead?"

Despite himself, Orlando was intrigued. He knew most of the other officers in the vice squad considered him a rookie still. This could well be his chance to prove himself. "I'm listening," he encouraged, the cop taking over from the lover. This was not at all the reaction he'd expected from the Russian. Anger, yes, recriminations, maybe, but not essentially an offer to help in exchange for Kirill's freedom. He would wonder later why Nikolai wanted to protect Kirill, but for now, he needed to see what his lover could offer.

"What if I could get you the ones who are selling these drugs? Would that be enough to let Kirill go free?"

"Can you?" Orlando asked. "Safely?" He didn't add that he would only agree to this if it wouldn't come back to hurt Nikolai. He could see that the other man's wounds had healed. He didn't want to see any more, especially not if he was even indirectly responsible for putting them there.

Taking a final pull at his cigarette, Nikolai nodded. "Kirill leaves in an hour to pick up shipment." He gave Bloom the address of the warehouse near the docks where he would be driving them to meet the Turkish dealers.

Mind racing with all the details of setting up a sting that quickly, Orlando rose and headed for the door. Turning back at the last minute, he met Nikolai's eyes. "Keep him out of sight if you can. I'll do what I can to keep my team focused on the sellers, but if he makes a scene, I may not have a choice." He hoped Nikolai understood that while he would do his best, he wouldn't jeopardize his position on the force for Kirill, regardless of what he was willing to do for Nikolai himself.

"Leave Kirill to me," Nikolai agreed. His eyes roamed over Orlando's body one more time, though he knew they didn't have time for what either of them wanted. "Perhaps we can meet here afterward," he added softly.

Orlando froze, hand on the door handle. Never before had Nikolai asked for a meeting. All the lust he'd been suppressing by force of will alone came rushing back, leaving him trembling as he fought the desire to forget everything but this incredible, contradictory man and the unprecedented things he did to Orlando's mind and heart. "I don't know how long it will take me at the precinct, but I'll come as soon as I can," he promised, unable to stop himself from crossing back to his lover's side for a quick kiss before leaving.

Keeping an eye on the pebbled glass of the door, Nikolai caught Bloom's wrist and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss, his tongue sliding past Orlando's startled lips to drink possessively of the younger man's sweetness. Just as quickly, he drew away, before he was tempted to pull Orlando down against him and be damned to Kirill and the Turkish drug dealers and everyone but the man in his arms. "After," he confirmed, letting Bloom go. "I will wait."

Orlando groaned as Nikolai took possession of his mouth and then let him go. He cursed his sense of duty which drove him toward the door and his clothes and police headquarters when all he wanted to do was strip away the two towels and ravish Nikolai properly. It seemed this was a night for firsts in more ways than one. Not daring look back for fear that even his sense of duty wouldn't stand up to the temptation Nikolai represented, Orlando pushed through the door and back into the cooler air of the locker room. He dressed quickly, waiting only until he was in his car to start making the necessary calls to set up the sting.

~~~*~*~~~

Orlando stood outside the door to the sauna, debating whether to go inside. He knew Nikolai was waiting for him, though it had been hours since the sting ended. Hours since he had seen Nikolai holding another man. That sight had stolen all the satisfaction he'd felt at nabbing the band of Turks and their contraband. It had taken him some time, as he'd predicted, to finish the paperwork associated with the arrests, but longer still to come to terms with what he'd seen. He had considered not coming back to the sauna, but in the end, he decided to give Nikolai the benefit of the doubt. It hurt to see his lover's arms around another man, but maybe there was an explanation. Unfortunately, none of the ones he could come up with were good ones. He hadn't been able to see Nikolai's face, but he'd seen the other Russian's. Orlando knew that expression. He saw it on his own face each time he looked in the mirror with Nikolai on his mind. It galled him to see, but it didn't mean Nikolai had worn the same expression, no matter how tenderly his arms encircled the other man, no matter how intimate it had appeared as he whispered in the mob boss's ear. He could easily imagine them as lovers, though. Nikolai wouldn't have to sneak around to meet with Kirill, not like he did to meet with Orlando, and while Nikolai had said that the vory frowned on homosexuality, it would still be safer than being caught with a cop. He and Nikolai hadn't made any promises, hadn't talked about exclusivity or anything else, although their meeting in the warehouse had led Orlando to believe Nikolai wanted it, even if he couldn't ask for or promise it. Had he been wrong? Had it been just a ploy to get Orlando to agree to have sex that night? Almost immediately, Orlando scolded himself for his doubts. Nikolai wasn't such a good actor that he could pretend to the depth of tenderness he'd shown that night and since then if he didn't feel something at least. He owed it to them both to allow Nikolai to explain what had happened on the docks without accusation. And if he wasn't satisfied with the answer, he could always leave. Stripping down, he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into the steam room.

The litter of crushed cigarettes at his feet gave evidence to how long Nikolai had been waiting for Orlando's arrival, but his expression was calm as he acknowledged his lover's entrance. "Your supervisors are pleased?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow when Orlando seated himself on the bench opposite the one Nikolai lounged on rather than joining him. "You brought them a very rich catch."

"Curious how I managed," Orlando admitted, "but very pleased. They didn't even ask about Kirill." Despite his resolutions in the locker room, he couldn't keep a sharp note out of his voice as he said the other vor's name, his eyes fixed on Nikolai's face as he searched for a reaction.

So he had not misjudged the look of surprised betrayal on Orlando's face when he had held Kirill back during the raid of the aborted drug deal. It was a delicate business to guide the younger man without letting him realize he was being led, though so far Nikolai had managed it. That he made use of whatever means were at his disposal was not something he would prefer to share with his lover. "Kirill was – concerned when your men arrived," Nikolai offered. "He is impulsive – acts without thinking. That is dangerous. I needed to keep him from drawing attention to himself."

Orlando felt foolish when he heard the reasonable explanation, but a part of him still hurt, questioning the other man's role in Nikolai's life. "I didn't like seeing your arms around another man," he admitted bluntly, "regardless of the reason."

Nikolai rose to his feet with the grace of a stalking panther, his towel falling to the floor as he crossed to Orlando's seat. Bracing his palms against the tiled wall on either side of his lover's head, he bent forward, his breath warm against the younger man's ear. "Forget Kirill," he murmured, his lips moving over the light trace of stubble on Orlando's cheek. "He means nothing." When Orlando's lips opened to protest, Nikolai silenced them with his own, his tongue sweeping into his lover's mouth, stealing his voice and his breath with the passion of his kiss.

All thought of Kirill, indeed of anything beyond the press of Nikolai's lips against his, gone, Orlando reached up, grabbing Nikolai's hips and pulling his lover to straddle him, bringing their bodies into greater contact. The adrenaline that lingered from the sting was making him horny as hell, and Nikolai wasn't discouraging him. He stripped away his own towel, leaving nothing between them but a distance he very quickly closed, moaning when he felt the naked brush of his lover's cock against his. Nikolai, it seemed, was as horny as he was.

Orlando's unrestrained response set a match to the hunger that always smouldered beneath the surface of Nikolai's facade – a hunger only this man would ever sate. Lowering himself to his knees on the wooden bench, Nikolai sucked at his lover's tongue, drawing it into his mouth as his body covered the man beneath him. Hitching his hips, the head of his cock traced a trail over his lover's sweat-covered belly. Orlando moaned and Nikolai spread his knees farther, molding them closer, his lover's rigid shaft sliding between the damp cleft of Nikolai's cheeks. Orlando threw his head back with a groan, hard enough to strike the sauna's tiled wall. Nikolai's palm slid to cup the back of his skull, his mouth following down the straining tendons of Orlando's neck, shifting just enough to drag himself over Orlando's shaft with a friction that made them both gasp.

Not even the bite of pain when his head connected with the wall could blunt the sharp spike of passion that drove through Orlando when his erection slid damply against Nikolai's arse. He'd resigned himself to bottoming when he accepted Nikolai as his lover, but the sudden reversal in positions made him yearn to sink inside the other man's body. Nikolai would be hot around him, and so tight... His hands tightened on his lover's shoulders as Nikolai ground their bodies together. His control wavered precariously as he fought the climax already building within him. "Kolya!" he gasped.

He was already so close he could come from just this, Nikolai realized, but as good as the rough, slick frottage felt, his balls ached to empty themselves in Orlando's heat. "Put your legs around me," he rasped hoarsely, the change in angle dragging the head of Orlando's cock over his hole. His muscles clenched involuntarily and Orlando wailed and stiffened against him, the wetness of his release slickening Nikolai's crease, letting them slide against each other even more readily.

The muscles in Orlando's thighs trembled as he struggled to keep them around Nikolai's waist after he came, but the sudden, unexpected orgasm robbed him of the adrenaline rush, leaving him limp with satiation. He slumped to one side, his arms around his lover's neck drawing Nikolai down on top of him and pressing the other man's still-hard cock against his belly. "You didn't come," he observed dazedly, trying to make his hand work so he could bring his lover some respite.

His palm following the graceful curve of his sated lover's flank, Nikolai settled into the gap between his legs. Scarred fingers traced the juncture of thigh and buttocks before delving into the path between them, Orlando's shudder at the touch heightening his need to feel that contraction around his own throbbing cock. Even as he moved to position himself to sink into the beckoning heat, Nikolai cursed and straightened, hating to pull away from Orlando's embrace even for the brief moment it would take to retrieve the condom and lube from his trousers in the locker room.

"Don't," Orlando murmured, hands tightening on Nikolai's shoulders when he felt his lover starting to pull away. "We don't need them. You told me you're clean. Just make love to me." His cock jumped at the thought of feeling Nikolai inside him with nothing between them.

"Are you sure?" Nikolai insisted, his pulse quickening at the image of sliding into Orlando without even the thin veil of latex separating them, taking him not in anger this time, but in – Nikolai bit off the thought before he could complete it, his pale eyes searching Orlando's darker ones for any sign of hesitancy.

Orlando gazed back up at him with absolute certainty. "I'm sure." As if to prove his point, he bucked his hips against Nikolai's, reinforcing the offer physically.

As desperately as he longed to give in to his lover's temptation, Nikolai would do nothing else to recall the brutality of the first time he had taken Orlando without protection. Reaching behind himself to where Orlando's come still clung between his cheeks, he slicked his fingers in the creamy fluid, using the coated digits to gently breach the entrance to his lover's body. Twisting and stretching the tight ring of muscle until it loosened around him, Nikolai swiped a rough fingertip over the nub of Orlando's prostate, a smug grin twitching his lips as the slender shaft stiffened and bobbed to renewed life.

Nikolai needn't have worried. Orlando's thoughts couldn't have been further from the episode on the boat, not when his lover was touching him so tenderly, so thoroughly. He writhed eagerly on the invading fingers, trying to keep them within him, dancing across his gland. "Fuck!" he gasped when Nikolai pressed especially firmly on his sensitive spot. He could feel his cock swelling again, beginning to leak sticky fluid onto his stomach again. Running his palm through the puddle, he encircled his lover's erection, coating it. "In me... now."

More than ready to comply, Nikolai sank deep into Orlando's welcoming channel in one long, smooth glide. Even when his balls pressed against his lover’s arse, it wasn't far enough, wasn't deep enough. Nikolai suspected it would never be enough. Wedging his hands beneath Orlando's buttocks, he lifted him closer, sinking another fraction of an inch deeper. "Your legs – on my shoulders," he husked, rolling his hips to stir in the clinging passage, the wet clasp around his bare skin sending waves of pleasure coursing through his veins.

Orlando hastened to do as Nikolai asked, the vulnerability of the position another intimacy, a new gift he could offer his lover along with the gift he offered each time they were together. The new angle pressed the tip of Nikolai's erection directly against his prostate, sending fresh paroxysms of desire through him. "Kolya," he groaned, unable to give voice to the emotions coursing through him.

"Orlik," Nikolai answered, drawing back until only the swollen head of his cock stretched the pliant opening and then thrusting back again firmly, groaning at the friction against his naked shaft. My Orlik, his heart insisted, though he would never speak the words aloud. His hips finding an instinctive rhythm, he leaned forward, closing his lips around a tawny nipple as the claim echoed with each pulse of his blood. My Orlik. My Orlik. Mine.

Despite his earlier climax, Orlando was not proof against the passion rising through him again. Nikolai's shaft nudged his prostate with every pass, inciting his nerves to riot. Gasping with each direct hit, Orlando buried his fingers in Nikolai's hair, keeping his lover's mouth on his nipple. He was exquisitely sensitive there, a fact too many of his past lovers had never bothered to discover. That Nikolai had only endeared him to Orlando more, if that was possible. Orlando sincerely doubted it. He was already irrevocably in love, though he couldn't admit it, even to his lover. He couldn't say what was in his heart, but he could say other things. "Love... what you... do... to me," he moaned between harsh breaths, his head tossing from side to side as his second orgasm neared.

Love. Just the word, gasped in Orlando's impassioned voice, was enough to set Nikolai trembling on the verge of release. He knew Orlando meant only their physical loving, but now, in this moment, buried inside his lover, every barrier gone, Nikolai could not deny what he himself felt. “Ya tebya lyublyu,” he groaned, claiming Orlando's mouth as his orgasm claimed him, spilling himself into Orlando's body, driving deep through the spiraling surge of pleasure until he carried his lover with him, the fierce constriction around his bare cock intensifying his own climax.

The haze of passion sated for a time, the chill from the tile sifted into Orlando's consciousness again, making him squirm uncomfortably.

Feeling Orlando move restlessly beneath him, Nikolai shook off his post-orgasmic lassitude and gently lowered his lover's legs from his shoulders, moving slowly enough to allow them to remain joined as he settled atop Orlando. Reality would intrude between them again soon enough – he would prolong these rare moments when they were one for as long as he could. Stretching an arm to the floor, he captured an abandoned towel and slid it below Orlando to cushion his head. "Better?" he asked, the quiet query bearing little resemblance to his usual curt tone.

"Yeah," Orlando murmured. "Thanks." The unexpected tenderness had an unintended result, though, bringing back painful thoughts of Nikolai's arms around Kirill on the wharf that evening. Nikolai had held Kirill in much the same way he was now holding his lover. Orlando told himself again that there could be plenty of reasonable explanations. Now he just hoped Nikolai would give him one. "What is Kirill to you?" he asked softly, trying to keep any accusation out of his voice. He couldn't keep the hurt out of it, however. "And don't tell me he's nothing. You protect him too much for him to mean nothing to you."

"Kirill is head of family now. It is my job to protect him," Nikolai answered, offering what truth he could, all too aware of what he left unsaid. He hated the continued deception, but the risk was too great, not least the risk to Orlando himself should he come to the attention of the vory.

"I should have arrested him tonight, too," Orlando said softly, hating how Nikolai's expression closed, shutting him out again. "He's as bad or worse than the men we took in."

"Kirill was born vor," Nikolai tried to explain, wondering if Orlando could truly comprehend what that meant. "To him, the stars are birthmarks. It is all he knows, all he has been taught." He exhaled deeply, pushing the hair back off his forehead. "In a way, he still follows orders." That they were his orders now rather than Semyon's, that he had done all he could to temper the worst atrocities of Semyon's legacy without rousing the suspicions of his volatile master, or the other leaders of the vory – that was not something Nikolai could confess to his lover. Not if he ever hoped to see him again, and he did not know if he could continue on if he lost Orlando now.

"It doesn't make him less reprehensible," Orlando countered, though he was not so lost to sensitivity that he couldn't pity the man. "God, Nikolai, the things he's ordered you to do! Can you really forgive him for that, really overlook it? I know you aren't the heartless bastard you pretend to be. I could understand it when his father was still around to take revenge if you failed, but now... all you'd have to do is let me take him and you'd be free of him. Free of them."

Nikolai rolled to his side, sliding from Orlando's body and pushing to sit at the edge of the bench, unable to meet the plea in his lover's eyes. He would never be free of them, not completely, but there was no way he could expect Orlando to understand that. "It is not so simple," he said harshly. "I am no better than Kirill – worse, in fact. He at least had no choice in what he has become."

"Did you?" Orlando challenged, sitting up as well. He refused to accept that Nikolai was the greater criminal here. "From the little you've told me, it seems like the only true choice you made was to become vor rather than simply stay a driver. And while I hate that you had to make that choice, I do understand it. Or do you not want free of this tangle we've landed ourselves in? I thought..." Orlando shut his mouth quickly, not daring to say that he'd thought Nikolai might share his dreams, however slim, of some kind of future together. He had never said as much, but their last few meetings had given Orlando hope. False hope, it seemed

"I'm sorry. I should know better than to make assumptions." He started to rise, shoulders slumped. "I'll do what I can to keep Kirill out of jail, but I can only do so much, particularly if his file lands on someone else's desk." Picking up the towel Nikolai had tucked beneath his head, he wrapped it around his waist. "You'd better get back to him. He might start wondering where you disappeared to."

Orlando's withdrawal wrenched something in Nikolai's chest that, before meeting the young policeman, he would have sworn long dead. "Kirill means nothing," he repeated, rising to stand before his lover, tattooed fingers caressing a smooth cheek. "He means nothing to me," he insisted, though even that was not wholly true, but he could not explain the muddle of emotions he felt for the younger vor without giving away secrets that were not his to reveal.

"If that's true," Orlando asked, leaning into the touch seeking reassurance he desperately needed, "then why won't you leave him? Nobody would ever have to know you helped me." He knew he was begging, was fully aware of how pathetic that surely made him in Nikolai's eyes, but he could feel any future they might have had slipping through his fingers. Why he felt sure this was his only chance, he couldn't have said, but instinct told him that if Nikolai went back now, all hope of tearing him away from the vory was gone.

Nikolai would give anything in that moment to be able to tell Orlando the truth – anything but the revenge that had become the only purpose left in his life decades before. The only meaning – until now. He closed his eyes and let his hand fall to his side. Opening them to meet Orlando's troubled gaze, he offered all he could, knowing it would not be enough. "I cannot. There is something I must do, something I need him to achieve." Inhaling deeply, he held his breath, gambling everything on his next words. "Can you trust me?"

Comments

[readgreekeasy.livejournal.com]

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ladies you kill me!! I look forward to the next update! SOunds like Nikolai is getting close to confessions

[oceansecrets2.livejournal.com]

It's taken a bit longer than we hoped to get back to this, but we should be writing more this weekend. As to what Nikolai is close to... who can say?

[not-a-lamb.livejournal.com]

SO GOOD. I absolutely adore this. It's always heart-renching. Fucking fantastic ladies. Can't wait for the next update!

[oceansecrets2.livejournal.com]

Wow, I guess you really liked it! *grins* Thank you so much , such enthusiasm is much appreciated.

[sarkka]

I literally yelled when I saw this.


These two are so heart wrenching. I love jealous Orlik ;)
And the barebacking..... *THUD*

[oceansecrets2.livejournal.com]

We thought they deserved it after the horrible experience the first time they did it. I personally find barebacking one of my hottest kinks.

[ireth06.livejournal.com]

No matter what.....there are still promises being made....and I think that if they can keep them (keeps fingers crossed) they CAN have a future.....*one can only hope...*

Very good chapter....intense and the lovin' was hot, hot HOT!!!

Thanks for sharing, hugs and kisses!!

[oceansecrets2.livejournal.com]

They;re both longing for promises they can't make - which makes it all the more meaningful if they can trust each other without promises.