Chapter Text
Lee Pace was not the sort of man to sit around and mope. In fact, he was more the sort of man to put on a smile and do something about the melancholy because he really hated feeling so depressed. Unfortunately, having just ended a long-term relationship with Carter, his (now ex) live-in boyfriend, barely weeks before flying to New Zealand for The Hobbit had left him in a marginally worse mood than he really wanted. The most frustrating part about his whole situation is that Lee truly wanted to be enjoying himself with these movies. They were full of brilliant and wonderful people; energetic and excitable people; just generally the sort of people that Lee usually made fast friends with.
It was still relatively early in the morning two weeks in to Lee living in New Zealand, about 7:30am, but there was plenty of energy bounding around the cafeteria. Un-made up elves were meandering in to caffeinate for the day, prosthetic-ed and wigged dwarves were talking each other up having reached their mid-morning crash, and various members of the crew could be seen in all corners of the building blustering about. Lee himself had a nice big mug of strong black coffee and was idly stirring in the nonexistent remains of a single sugar cube.
“You’re staring again,” Evie’s voice in his ear startled Lee out of his contemplative reverie.
“No I’m not,” he automatically responded, at the same time zoning in on the person who he’d happened to be staring off into space at. He mentally berated himself as he did so though, since his vision honed in on long dark curls with streaks of silver, a short thick dark brown beard, and bright blue eyes peeking out of a strong-boned face. A long, leanly muscled body settling gracefully back onto a bench with a large mug of something steaming in it. Richard freaking Armitage. Again. Lee quickly averted his gaze to scowl down at his coffee. “I can’t help it if he keeps standing right in my line of vision.”
Evangeline chuckled softy and nudged him with her elbow. “Alright, well, if you weren’t looking at him on purpose again, what were you thinking about?”
“Carter,” Lee answered, semi-truthfully. Really he’d been contemplating whether he was even worth a relationship anymore. Clearly 3 years wasn’t commitment enough and the other man was already entering a relationship with someone new. Barely a month broken up. Twat.
Evie’s attitude changed quickly from playful to concerned. “You really shouldn’t keep wasting your energy worrying about Carter,” she offered. “He’s clearly not thinking about you.”
“Mm, thanks for reminding me,” Lee replied sarcastically, even though he knew she meant well.
“We’ll just have to find some way to keep your mind off him!” Evie suggested, then narrowed her eyes in thought as she took a deep gulp of her own coffee. Her gaze shifted to the table of dwarves that Lee had been glancing at earlier.
“What are we talking about?” Luke Evans sidled in to one of the seats at the circular table with Evie and Lee.
“Richard Armitage,” Evie answered without missing a beat. Lee flashed a quick, grateful smile to Evie; sure Armitage wasn’t really the topic he wanted to be languishing over, but it was several notches up from having to explain the Carter saga to Luke.
“Ah,” Luke nodded sagely and took a bite of the bearclaw he’d brought to the table with him. “Great arse.”
Both Lee and Evie choked slightly at the open admission, Lee even brought a napkin to his face as he spluttered, hoping to hide the blush that flew to his cheeks.
“Who has a great arse?” Orlando slid himself gracefully into the seat next to Lee, raising a single eyebrow along with the question to his friends.
“Richard Armitage apparently,” Evie answered, visibly forcing herself not to look at the dwarf table again.
“Hmm,” Orlando took a sip of his tea. “Can’t say that I’ve noticed this.”
Orlando glanced around Lee to see the table of dwarves, then turned back to his current table and gave them a cheeky grin. “Looks like we’ll get to see it now, Evie, they’re getting up.”
Lee resisted the urge to hunch down lower in his seat. Maybe he would have preferred bitching about Carter than being forced to think about Richard Armitage’s ass. Luke and Evie, on the other hand, both immediately straightened up and twisted in their seats to get a good view of the men leaving the cafeteria.
Evie let out a very low, appreciative hum.
“Not really my type,” Orlando summed up, turning back to his mug. “But you can’t deny he’s put some good work into it.”
“Excellent fantasy material,” Luke added, “pity he’s straight though.”
Lee felt an uninvited sting in his chest at that comment and couldn’t resist then looking up at the dwarves. He immediately wished he’d stuck with his previous impulse though, since Richard was staring right back at them.
As soon as their eyes locked, Richard raised an eyebrow at Lee in question. Shit, yup, he definitely noticed their staring. Lee gave him an exaggerated eye roll in response and light shake of his head. Richard’s face softened into a gentle (heartmelting) smile, before turning back to talk with Graham McTavish beside him.
Lee whipped his head back around to his own table, already feeling the heat creep up his cheeks, and staring determinedly at his remaining coffee. Unfortunately, he’d already noticed several times that the man had a delectable behind. Well, at least Evie had succeeded in taking his mind off Carter. Now he just had to focus on not coming across as a complete imbecile in front of Armitage….