InsaneJournal

Who: Renly Baratheon and Zevran Arainai
What: Random meeting during their morning runs
When: Thursday, February 22nd. Early Morning
Where: The beach in Laguna Beach
Rating: Low
Status: Complete

For the last few weeks, Renly had been going for morning runs on the beach in an attempt to build his lung capacity back up after having been sick and now he was able to make it down the length of the beach and back to his house without stopping more than once where he’d gotten winded quite quickly the first week or so after being released from the hospital. Of course, now that things were officially official between himself and Loras, there were other activities they could do which would help Renly’s lung capacity, but running also kept him in shape, which was important to him.

Wearing a pair of track pants and a t-shirt, Renly jogged down the length of the beach, earbuds in his ears, the newly risen sun reflecting off the ocean as he ran along the damp sand, closer to the water’s edge.

Zevran ran every day. Being an adult actor was more than just being pretty, but the biggest part of it was being handsome. He’d admit that openly. But even having retired from acting, old habits died hard, and part of that was running on the beach every day. He wore shorts and his tennis shoes, shirt off, hair tied back in a ponytail, listening to an audiobook.

On most days, Renly paid little to no attention to anyone one else on the beach, choosing to concentrate on what he was doing as opposed to anyone else. However, today as he made the turn to head back towards his house, he noticed another man, running in the direction he had just come from and for one reason or another, he couldn’t help but feel like the guy looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Zev’s tattoos were clearly visible, and most people who had seen his movies were familiar with them. He couldn’t help but grin at the guy that was approaching him. Even if Zev was engaged, he was still friendly, and still smiled and strangers. It was something he’d do until he died.

Renly had stopped running and was watching the guy, trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar. It donned on him, as he watched the other guy, that the last time he’d done this, Gendry had thought he was hitting on him, but Renly apparently had a staring problem, which he was going to have to work on, because eventually he was going to wind up staring at the wrong person.

As the guy got closer, Renly’s brain had almost worked it out, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure that he was right and if he didn’t find out for sure then he was going to wind up thinking about it all day. So when the guy was within earshot, Renly spoke, “I don’t mean to stare, but you seem really familiar.”

The shorter man grinned, jogging in place. “I do not mind, and perhaps you have seen my work!” He didn’t say what specifically he’d done, but he let his hair down. That usually helped. “I am on films.”

Yeah, that’s what Renly had thought, but he hadn’t been entirely sure. After all, how many people just ran into porn stars during their morning run on the beach? Considering this was California, it was probably more common than Renly actually thought, “Yeah. Now that you mention it, I think I might have.” Not might. He had seen the other man’s work and he was glad that he wasn’t ashamed of the fact that he’d watched gay porn, because otherwise he might have blushed a little. While he wasn’t about to text Loras and tell him about his encounter, he wasn’t going to pretend that he didn’t know what the other man was from.

“Ah-ha, so you do know me! Let me guess, you like my bondage work, the ones where I am on the tied up end.” He’d been popular for those for a long time, and the way the guy looked at him, he assumed he was gay.

“I’ve seen one or two of those.” This had to be the most bizarre experience of Renly’s life, possibly even more bizarre than the dreams Loras had told him about the first time he’d been in the OC. More bizarre than the dreams he, himself, had, had so far. As he stood there, staring at Zevran, he couldn’t help but wonder if Loras had ever seen any of his stuff. Porn was something that they hadn’t ever really talked about.

“Only one or two? I did eighteen!” Zev clucked his tongue. “I can send you more if you need them.” He couldn’t help that his tone came out as flirtatious even though he was trying very hard not to be.

Renly laughed and ran a hand through his messy, black hair. While he might have only seen one or two of those particular films, Renly had seen some of Zevran’s others. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass. Not that you aren’t good at what you do, but I’m not so sure what my boyfriend would have to say about that.” Renly just didn’t think that Loras would appreciate him getting off to someone that wasn’t him.

“Ah, he is that sort.” Zev chuckled, feeling all the more grateful for Roy. “Some are not as appreciative of my talents as others. How long have you been with him? It may change as you date.”

Well now that was a rather difficult question. If Renly hadn’t already dreamt about when they’d met in their dream world and the years that followed, he would have simply said, a few weeks, but despite the fact that Renly and Loras had only known each other a few months, in the waking world, they had been together for years in the other world. Finally, Renly settled on what was probably the easiest answer, “It feels like forever.” The smile that crossed his lips as well as the look that came to his eyes, conveyed just about everything that Renly felt for Loras.

“That is what matters,” Zev beamed. “I understand the feeling! It is also so for my fiancé and myself.” He smiled happily to think of Roy, sighing dramatically. “it is a good thing to find someone you connect with. Do not let pervy movies get into the way of love.”

From all the movies that Renly had seen, he hadn’t expected Zevran to be such a romantic. “Yeah, the connection we share...I’ve never felt it with anyone else.” And that was the truth. Out of all the guys Renly had been with before Loras, he’d never felt so strongly about then and Renly still wasn’t sure if that was because of the dreams they shared or what, but either way, Renly wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize their relationship again. However, he just might bring up the porn topic at some point, because now he was curious as to what Loras’ opinion on it was, “I’m Renly Baratheon, by the way.”

“Zevran Arainai. It is a pleasure, Renly.” He bowed a bit, a grandiose gesture that somehow matched his accent. “I feel the same about Roy. As if I were meant to guard him, keep him safe from harm. And to love him, obviously.” He tied his hair back up, starting to stretch since he wasn’t running anymore. “How did you and your beau meet?”

“I know exactly what you mean. Although, he winds up protecting me more often than not,” After all, he was alive today because Loras had gone with Obi-Wan to find the cure to the Blue Flu, because Renly had gotten sick. Well, Renly and Margaery had gotten sick and Loras would do anything for the two of them. That was an even more difficult question to answer, but Renly decided to go with the answer from his dreams, “We met when we were teenagers.” Well Renly had been a teenager and Loras had been around twelve or thirteen when they had first met in the dream world and that was how Renly thought of Loras when he thought about how they’d met. It was a little strange, that they’d, technically, met twice, but ever since he’d come back, everything had been a little strange, “And about you and your fiance?”

That struck Zev as truly romantic, and he smiled contentedly, glad that this man had someone to be stupid over. Zev was pretty good with his first impressions, and he thought this man needed someone gentle. He laughed a little bit at the question of how he and Roy had met.

“I was his twenty-first birthday present.” He would have blushed if he were the sort, but he was Zevran Arainai. He didn’t blush. “I jumped out of a cake. We had been friends before that, but … I do not know, I think it was the first time he saw me romantically.”

“Now that’s what I call a birthday present.” Renly laughed, briefly imagining Loras jumping out of a cake. It was definitely an interesting mental image. “I guess jumping out of a cake makes people see you differently.”

“Enough where he allowed me to sleep with him afterward.” He’d taken Roy’s virginity, and it had been the moment he’d fallen in love with the boy. “Parties are good for people to … how do you say, hook up?”

Renly laughed and nodded, “Sounds like a definitely had a good birthday.” Renly didn’t know how porn stars managed to have regular relationships, because he knew that if Loras was in a profession like that, he’d be incredibly jealous. Renly didn’t like the idea of sharing Loras with anyone else. “They can be good for that.”

“He was all right with my job at first, but when I proposed, I chose to retire. I am spending my life with him, forsaking all others, no? So I am quitting my job sleeping with people. For him. But I direct now, and write, which he simply finds amusing.” Zev bounced a little, beaming when someone else ran by with a dog.

Well that answered that question, but he still didn’t think that he would be able to do it, “So, you guys actually have scripts? Must not be too difficult to write scripts for porn.” After all, the dialogue was never exactly award winning and then there was just sex.

“It is more difficult than you think, I have to think of creative settings and such. Usually the studio tells me they want a movie, and then leave it up to me to figure out the casting and other particulars. Plus, the movies with more acting and dialogue are more popular now that more women watch.” Zev wrinkled his nose. “It is a challenge, but I like it.”

“I guess it helps that you know what you’re doing. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do.” Instead of going to University, Renly had gone backpacking through Europe in an attempt to get away from his father and brothers and now he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do. His trust fund was enough that he didn’t actually have to do anything if he didn’t want to, but he didn’t want to live off his father’s money forever.

“I never did either. Now I know enough about business where it is something I can do.” He was stretching, cooling down a bit. “What do you enjoy in your life?”

Renly could easily have said Loras, but he knew what Zevran was asking, “Well, I enjoy doing this. Running and working out. I’ve thought about maybe becoming a personal trainer or something like that.” Of course that was only one of the things that Renly had thought about as far as jobs went.

“You could go to school for that, if you like.” Zevran liked to talk to people, it had been part of why he’d gone into his profession at all. He liked personal interaction, and he was fairly good at it, all things considered.

Renly nodded, “I don’t need to make any decisions right away; I just know that I want to do something to earn my own money eventually.” He didn’t exactly mind being able to do whatever he liked, whenever he liked, but he knew that he wasn’t any better than anyone else and knew that he needed to do something eventually.

“I am sure you will find something in time.” Zev looked down at his watch. “I apologize, but I must be away, I have a ten o’clock shoot time.” He bowed deeply again, reaching out to shake Renly’s hand. “It is my sincere hope that we shall meet again, Renly.”

“Maybe we’ll run into each other again soon,” Renly smirked at the pun and shook Zevran’s hand, “Have a good shoot.” Still smirking, Renly started running back towards his beach house, glancing over his shoulder once more to get a quick glimpse of the other man. As good looking as he was, Renly was completely satisfied with Loras and couldn’t imagine having anyone else.