Title: A Note In The Margin
Author: Widdershin (widdershin@connexus.net.au)
Type: RPS
Pairing: Orlando / Sean Bean, Sean Bean / Viggo
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: This story is 100% fiction. The author doesn't know these people.
These events never happened. Unfortunately.
Warnings: AU
Summary: “Under new management,” Sean mumbled with a disbelieving shake of his
head, “My own fucking ‘sea change’.”
Author's Notes: One of the characters in my fiction is homeless and I want to 
make it clear that in no way do I mean to trivialise that situation. Please 
forgive me if I get some things wrong as I have an understanding of homelessness
in Australia, but I do not really know the welfare system in the USA other than
what I have read.

******

The window of the tiny cafe had fogged up making it difficult for Sean to see 
the bookshop across the street, but he kept staring anyway. His gaze was 
unfocussed, not really taking in the old fashioned wooden frames around the 
windows or the colourful display of recommended fantasy fiction. The waitress 
quietly refreshed his tea and smiled briefly when he looked up at her with the 
almost apologetic look of those caught in a daydream.

He took a sip of the tea, sighed and looked back towards the shop. This time his
eyes lighted on the small sign next to the door. He couldn’t read it from this 
distance, but he knew the neat hand written script read, “Under New Management”.

“Under new management,” Sean mumbled with a disbelieving shake of his head, “My
own fucking ‘sea change’.”

Sean rubbed a weary hand across his eyes remembering the words of his doctor ;
”The migraines are going to continue to get worse unless you make some major 
changes in your lifestyle. What you need is a ‘sea change’ … in other words, 
give up the stress of your current job and get out of the city. Perhaps buy a 
nice little business in the country, settle down, something easier to occupy 
your time…” 

“ Patronising prick!” Sean cursed quietly, but despite his opinions of the 
‘smug’ physician, Sean had known he was right. He also knew he couldn’t resign 
from his hard fought for job, but was willing to take a year’s leave of absence,
have his ‘sea change’ without leaving the city and then get straight back to 
business. So here he was looking at the ‘nice little business’ he had just 
acquired. It wasn’t in the country, but it might as well be; it was situated in
a quiet back street full of speciality shops and quaint cafes, the sort that 
could be classed as bohemian without quite making it to trendy.

Eventually Sean drained his cup, paid the bill and made his way across the small
street. A bell jingled when he pushed the door open announcing his arrival to 
the woman sorting through some bookmarks at the front counter. She smiled at him
and asked, “Mister Bean?”

Sean returned the smile, “Sean, please.”

“Ah welcome Sean, I’m Maggie, we spoke on the phone,” she said as she made her 
way around the counter and ushered him to the small kitchen where she gestured 
for him to take a seat at the table. “Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?” 
she offered while waving a tin of home made biscuits in his direction. Sean
politely declined both, pulled a folder of papers out of his briefcase and laid
them on the table. Maggie looked at them and her expression saddened. With a 
small sigh she sat at the table and looked at Sean, “You know, giving this place
up is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

Sean tried to give her his best ‘I understand’ smile. He was aware that 
‘Margins’ had been a family business and after the death of her husband Maggie
had decided to sell and return to England to live with her sister. 

“Still at least Orlando will be here to keep an eye on the place for me,” she 
laughed knowing full well her son would rather be keeping an eye on the handsome
new owner. Sean had met Orlando during an earlier meeting as Maggie preferred to
stay out of the business side of the shop and knew he had an excellent 
understanding of the shop, “I’m sure he will be a great help in showing me the
ropes and making sure I don’t mess things up too badly.” 

Maggie laughed and patted Sean’s hand before signing some final paperwork, “I
will finish moving my things out of the apartment over the next few days so it
will be ready for you in about a week.” Maggie smiled gently at the sudden 
change in Sean’s expression, “Don’t look so worried Sean, it really is all for 
the best,” She closed the folder, stood up and called, “ Orlando, I’m off now, 
I’ll be back at tea time.” 

She picked up her copies of the papers, patted Sean on the shoulder and, with 
one last look, made her way out the door. Sean heard the little bell tinkle and
started to feel sick. He slumped in his chair and stared at his signature on the
neatly stacked documents.

“Hey man, don’t look so worried.” Orlando laughed when walked into the kitchen.

“Your mother said that too.” Sean groaned, then looked up at the figure in the 
doorway, “Come on, show me how things work.”

“Time to impress the new boss is it?” Orlando grinned.

“Or at least put my mind at rest that this isn’t the daftest thing I have ever 
done in my life.” Sean shook his head as he followed Orlando back into the shop.

Although the initial impression was of a small cluttered shop, it was actually 
quite large though still very cluttered. ‘Margins’ tended to be something of a
rabbit warren with little alcoves devoted to different formats or genres giving
the impression of being divided into separate rooms. Sean knew his attraction to
the shop was its similarity to one he used to visit as a kid … but couldn’t 
afford to buy anything.

“A fucking shoplifter’s paradise.” Sean grumbled to himself shaking off the 
moment of nostalgia. Orlando pretended not to hear the comment and guided him to
the next section.

Sean ran his hand down the dark polished wood at end of one of the tall shelves;
they felt old and sturdy under his fingers. They made him feel calm and safe … 
but they weren’t practical. “These old shelves are a problem, we won’t be able 
to move them easily.”

Orlando frowned at Sean and said, “Come on man, give it a chance. We’ve managed
this long without moving anything.” 

Sean understood he had touched a nerve and softened his voice, “I can see you 
offer a good range of books…”

“People appreciate that we specialise in the hard to find books and small
publishers.” Orlando interrupted.

“Yes, but is that profitable?” Sean said in an annoyingly steady voice.

“You saw the accounts, we do better than break even most weeks… people come back
to us.”

Sean knew to let the subject drop for a while and lay his hand on Orlando’s 
shoulder, “Come on lad, what’s next?”

Orlando lead him to a section right at the back of the shop which was full of 
second hand books, mainly fiction, but with a couple of non-fiction shelves. 
Sean frowned at the two old leather armchairs, and made a mental note to get rid
of them. He wanted customers to buy books and leave, not linger like it was a 
library.

“This area takes up a lot of space with little turnover,” Sean said half to 
himself, “could be a good spot for discount remainder stock.”

Sean noticed Orlando’s look of disgust, but let it go, he actually felt a wave 
of relief pass through him that his business acumen was kicking in providing 
him with a more familiar focus. 

“A thought for another day,” Sean turned and headed back to the front of the 
shop, “but for now I have a lunch meeting with a business associate. I’ll be
back in about an hour and you can fill me in on the ordering system.”

Orlando slumped against the wall as he watched Sean walk out the door. He turned
his face to the battered armchairs and sighed, “This is not going to be easy.”

~~ * ~~

Lunch was spent in an expensive restaurant discussing the ‘temporary’ handover 
of Sean’s portfolio… it was familiar territory and reaffirmed Sean’s desire to 
drag ‘Margins’ into a higher profit bracket. He refused to let the lure of a 
childhood memory get in his way. He had gotten this far and he wasn’t going 
back. 

It was late afternoon when Sean pushed open the door and made his way to the 
bookshop’s counter where Orlando was checking through the latest invoices. 
Orlando looked up at the clock and flashed a cheeky smile, “Must have had a lot
of business to discuss.”

Sean scowled, but for some reason found Orlando difficult to reprimand. Instead
he took off his jacket and leaned over Orlando’s shoulder eyeing the invoice in
hand, “Guess I need to start learning the ropes, huh?”

Orlando turned his face to the man at his shoulder and said with a sly grin, 
“I’m sure you’ll find I’m a good teacher!”

“Oh I just bet you are!” Sean laughed not sure if Orlando was flirting or just 
playing up to the boss, “But how about we go through the ordering system first?”

Orlando attempted to look shocked, but ended up giggling and saying, “The order
book is out the back, I’ll go get it.”

“No, I’ll go … I have to start finding my way around.”

Orlando’s expression quickly changed and he tried to say no, but Sean was 
already around the counter. As he neared the back of the shop, Sean’s eyes fell
on a very dishevelled looking man who was sitting in one of the big leather
armchairs engrossed in a second hand novel. Sean’s instant reaction was that he
should look away, but couldn’t help staring at this man. His clothes were filthy
and there seemed to be far too many layers, his dirty feet were partially tucked
under him and a pair of ratty elastic sided boots were sitting on top of an 
overstuffed pack beside the chair. His hair was shoulder length and could be 
dark blond if it was clean. The man looked up, but quickly dropped his eyes as 
soon as they made contact with Sean’s.

Orlando had been watching Sean and when he saw him take a step towards the chair
he called over, “Um Sean, I need you over here … um, there might be a problem 
with one of the orders.” Sean hesitated briefly before turning and walking over
to Orlando.

“What sort of problem?” he sighed.

“Oh…um…no problem really,” Orlando wasn’t sure how to continue so he took a deep
breath and said, “That’s Viggo.”

Sean just folded his arms and waited.

“Okay… Mum saw him looking at the books in the window a few times, she said he 
looked cold and sad,” Orlando paused to gauge Sean’s reaction, when there was 
none he continued, “ so she asked him if he wanted to come in. He smiled a bit,
but walked away. The next day mum saw him again, she’s not one to give up my 
mum, so she went outside and convinced him to come in. Actually she almost
dragged him in. She told him it was okay to read the second hand books and 
bought the battered old chairs the next day. So Viggo comes in every day to 
read…”

Sean frowned at Orlando’s babbling and mumbled, “Sounds to me like your mum is a
‘soft touch’ Orlando.”

Orlando knew that was true, but couldn’t stand the thought of telling Viggo he 
wasn’t welcome anymore. 

“Look Sean, I know this is your place now, but Viggo is harmless, smells a bit,
but is quite nice when you can get him to talk.”

Sean didn’t look convinced and was worried that ‘ Viggo’ might discourage paying
customers. Orlando shifted anxiously from one foot to the other trying to figure
out how to make Sean understand, finally he came to a decision, took another 
deep breath and suggested he introduce him to Viggo. Sean rolled his eyes, shook
his head, but followed him because it was obviously important to Orlando.

Sean felt strangely nervous as they approached the chairs. Despite the hair
falling around his face and ratty beard, Sean could see that the man was around
his age, but that was where the similarities seemed to end. Sean was at a loss
to see what he could possibly talk to this man about.

Orlando sat in the chair next to Viggo who looked up from his book and smiled, 
“ Hiya Vig, whatcha reading?” Instead of answering Viggo showed him the cover of
the book while casting a wary glance at Sean. Orlando followed his look and 
said, “This is Sean … you remember I told you how mum was selling this place, 
well Sean is the new owner.” Viggo didn’t look reassured by this information, 
but quietly mumbled “Hi” without meeting his eyes.

For some reason Sean felt disconcerted by this man and simply grunted a hello 
before reminding Orlando that he still had to finish showing him last month’s 
orders and walked back to the counter. As he turned his back to them he heard 
Orlando say in a very conspiratorial voice, “He’ll be okay Vig, just seems a bit
grumpy cos he’s not used to us yet”.

Sean raised his eyebrows and his voice at the comment, “ Orlando! Come on!”

He turned his head slightly to see if Orlando was following and caught him 
leaning in to whisper something to Viggo before giggling and jogging over to 
Sean.

“He is a good person Sean, please don’t chase him out.” Orlando pleaded when he
caught up.

“Your mum is not the only one who is a soft touch!” Sean responded, but at least
he was smiling. He has already decided to deal with the Viggo issue another day.

~~ * ~~


The rest of the day was spent with Sean sitting at the small table beside the 
counter going through the ordering system – ringing distributors and introducing
himself. He was comfortable with this and gradually began to believe that the 
next twelve months were ‘do-able’. There had been a steady trickle of customers
throughout the day, but he left them to Orlando … Sean smiled at Orlando’s mix 
of ease and enthusiasm when dealing with people; it was obvious that they adored
him, especially the older women. He was a definite asset to the business.

Just before closing a quiet figure made his way past the counter. Sean looked up
to see Viggo, boots back on his feet and battered pack slung over his shoulder,
head down carefully avoiding Sean’s eyes as he left the shop. Sean frowned and 
again thought, “I must do something about him”.

As he looked away from the door he caught Orlando’s worried eyes on him. Sean 
refused to acknowledge the look and simply said, “Well Orlando, we survived our
first day together. Time to lock up and head home I think.”

Orlando allowed the knot in his stomach to dissipate, let his breath out and 
walked to the door to flip the open sign over to closed. He made a show of 
turning the lock on the door, looked at Sean, wiggled his eyebrows and said, 
“Tomorrow we let you loose on the customers.”

Sean shook his head and groaned, “Oh fuck.”

---