LOTR ficlet
Finally, here come the promised fics... in a horrible format because LJ is being silly. *socks it* The LOTR fic is in this post, the Rockman.EXE one in the previous. ENJOY! *hugs all around*
Title: White Lies.
Author: Nemesi.
Fandom: LOTR
Genre: Comedy. Romance.
Word Count: 2745.
Characters/Pairing: Glorfindel/Erestor.
Rating: PG-13.
Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings, its characters, places and themes are not mine, but belong to the right owners.
Warnings: Shounen-ai.
A/N: This was an experiment. I’d just produced a nice, humorous Rockman fic, when it occurred to me that: a) It’d work nice with Glory and Ery, too; b) I hadn’t written anything for the LOTR fandom in ages and c) that those who read my LOTR production aren’t likely to read my Rockman fics. It was also agie’s birthday, so I went, tweaked the fic a bit, and made a second version of it, for the LOTR fandom. Obviously, Erestor is portrayed a little differently than my average, since he had to play the role that originally belonged to Rockman. His OOC-ness is just slight. So I hope this doesn’t ruin the story for you.
Summary: Erestor says a white lie to take himself out from a rather tight spot. As he tries to drag Glorfindel along in the mess he’s made, a rather unexpected discovery is made…
* * * * *
“You told them… what?” Glorfindel queried, with the breathless tone of someone who did hear the words spoken to him, but had the hope to have misinterpreted them.
Erestor felt himself flinch. Any hope he ever had of his task being an easy one crumpled rather pitifully under the heat of Glorfindel’s glare.
He took a moment to collect himself, then cleared his suddenly parched throat.
“That I was flattered by their attention, but were not interested in any of them?”
“After that.”
“That I was not interested, because I am emotionally attached to someone else, already?”
“After that.”
“…and I am engaged in courtship?”
“After that, Erestor.” And stop parrying the question.
“…and that my pursuer is you?”
As mentioned above, Glorfindel had had a slight hope that the meaning of Erestor’s words would morph or change, if they were spoken aloud a second time. It did not. And now he had to deal with it.
“In other words,” he began, very slowly. “You were approached by a group of elves…”
“…most of which I know personally, though I must admit a few guards from the Lorien’s entourage were…”
“…you were approached by a group of elves,” Glorfindel repeated, slightly louder this time. “Were confessed to, and decided to use me as an excuse to turn them down?!”
Erestor winced. Funny, how his brilliant excuse sounded so utterly foolish, when Glorfindel voiced it.
“It escaped my lips before I was aware of it, I assure you.”
“That I do not doubt. No amount of thinking could have lead us into a bigger fix.”
“I did not mean to…”
“Spare your excuses. I do not want to know what possessed you to say I am courting you, but I suggest you confess your lie now, and save us the trouble.”
“I would if I could!”
“And what is stopping you, exactly?”
“The Lorien elves suggested they had a fight to deem which one of them is worthy of me. And if they knew I was, indeed, unattached, the fight would break!”
Glorfindel rubbed his face. Harshly. And expelled a few choice-words under his breath. To him, the fact that those Elves were willing to fight for the possession of Erestor, as though he was a thing or a prize, spoke volumes about their so-called “love” for him.
“So you lied to them to prevent that, and now you want me to cover for you? Play the role of your lover? Is that it?”
Erestor felt an uncharacteristic heat spread through his face and neck.
“Please? We just need to pretend for a short while. Once everyone thinks are a couple, we everything can go back to normal.”
Glorfindel fought down a most unbecoming growl.
“Have you ever considered we might not convince them? At all? Besides, even if we did convince them, it might take us months.”
“Surely you can play the role for that long?” Erestor offered, wondering which part of his plan Glorfindel was objecting to.
“We cannot pretend forever.” Glorfindel reminded him in a pointed, non-amused way. “You are most certainly not in love with me. Things will have to go back to their status quo sooner or later. You will be ‘unattached’ once more… and they will corner you again, though this time, you will not have me to fall back on. What will you do then?”
Erestor winced for the umpteenth time since he had wandered inside Glorfindel’s quarters. Glorfindel spoke the truth. There was no loving attachment between them, and if they pretended, it could not hold up for long. There was no doubt they would have to part way at one point, and after that, Erestor would have no other shield against unwanted admirers.
“Most of them will have gone back to their countries a month or two after the nuptials of Elrond and the Lady Celebrían,” Erestor reasoned. “Besides, they would not try and woo me after I had my heart broken? If worse came to worse, you will have granted me some time to consider my options. Or for them to fall for someone else.”
That was also a possibility.
Glorfindel expelled a sigh.
“That is not the only fallacy of your plan.”
“…is it not?”
Funny. To Erestor, his lie, as unplanned as it was, was the perfect solution. To Erestor, his plan made perfect sense. His admirers might be willing to fight among themselves to win Erestor; but not even the most riotous was foolish enough to challenge Glorfindel. Pretending to be Glorfindel’s mate, Erestor would keep his fellow elves from hurting each other, and spare himself some unwanted attention. It was a work of genius.
Glorfindel begged to differ.
“Erestor, it is rather obvious we are not a couple,” he said, and crossed his arms.
“That is not true.”
“Couples spend time together.”
“We do!”
“Of course. We meet… once a week?”
“Twice.” Promptly.
“My point exactly. We meet twice a week, and we are not even close friends, but mere collegues who happen to share a passion for chess. If we were a couple, we would meet daily, if not several times a day.”
Erestor bit his bottom lip.
“We would try. You are busy with patrols and training the guards, and I have to assist Elrond. It would be our wish to always be together; but our schedule would not let us.”
“If we were a couple, we would make that time. I assure you we would.”
“How?” genuine wonder here, a touch sad, and a touch pained. “Our days are too busy. We could not drop everything and rush into each other’s arms. We would not.”
“We would make detours and bend our schedules just to catch a glimpse of one another. And if our days were too full, then we would meet somewhere after the evening meal.”
“You would not relinquish your duties, and go on shorter patrols, just to be with me.”
“If we were lovers? I would.” With a finality that made Erestor’s breath catch in his throat, and caused a flutter in his chest. He pressed a hand to his throat, idly fiddling with the chain he wore low around his neck.
“Oh. Uhm. W-well, if that was the case, then… we could try and meet daily for… for as long as we need to keep the pretence up.”
Glorfindel heaved another suffering sigh. When would Erestor stop being unreasonable?
“Which brings us to fallacy number three.”
“Four,” Erestor supplied crossly.
“Four,” Glorfindel conceded with a nod. Fallacy number one had been choosing him in the first place.
“If we pretended to be a couple.” Pause. “We would be forced to interact.”
“…interact?” Making quoting marks with his fingers.
“Yes.”
“Interact.”
“Exactly.”
“Interact how?”
Glorfindel allowed himself a snort. Erestor snowy complexion flushed easily, and he was currently as red as an apple.
“I aren’t suggesting we share our bodies.” Lo and behold! Erestor had just turned more red. “But to keep up appearances, we would have to act as lovers do in public. We would have to take walks hand in hand, talk of sweet nothings. We would have to hug and hold each other. We would have to touch. Intimately. We would have to kiss.”
Erestor was so embarrassed by now, it took him several long moments to regain his speaking capability. Bravely, he moved closer to Glorfindel, chin held high in his air.
“I fail to see how that could be a problem.”
“You do that.” Non-amused, still.
“Absolutely. It seems to me I have no problem touching any of my friends.”
“’Tis not friendly touches we would share.”
Erestor’s eyebrows furrowed together in anger, eyes narrowing in a nearly dangerous look - but the blush staining his cheeks and nose greatly mollified his glare.
“You know perfectly well I am not the kind to shy away from physical contact. You, however, are hardly capable of contact at all.”
“That is a lie.”
“Hardly.”
“The fact that I do not engage in casual frolicking, does not make me incapable of intimate contact. I merely aren’t as flirty as most of our fellow elves - not to say you are any less of an introvert that I am.”
“I told you, I would have no problem sharing intimate touches with you!” with an emphasis on the last word that caught both by surprise. There was a brief silence, which both ignored, then Glorfindel remarked:
“Truly now? I wonder… chances how you would flush all way down to your collar, if I just breathed against your cheek, let alone touched it. I cannot imagine how you would react if I placed a kiss on it,” in a sort of amused wonder, half thoughtful, half taunting.
“Well, even if I flushed when you kissed me, and I might not-” daring Glorfindel to snort with a glare “-that would not give our pretence away! A shyness of characters does not equal to being unattached and available for the pursuing, does it?”
Glorfindel conceded the point with a tilt of his head.
“I suppose.”
“Then?”
“Then what?”
“Are you willing to help me?”
“Erestor…”
“Glorfindel, I beg you! ‘Tis for their own good!”
“No, and that is final. There are just too many ways that this could go wrong, or turn against us. I am…”
“…scared, that is what you are!” Erestor accused, which caught Glorfindel entirely off guard.
“…excuse me?”
However, Erestor was past listening at that point in time. He was too busy working himself into a frenzy, face beetroot red still, eyes glinting, teeth clenched, nose and eyebrows scrunched in either hurt or anger, shoulders tense.
“It seems you were right and my plan is doomed to fail. But the only fallacy in my plan was to chose you of all people as my potential lover! What possessed me? What possessed me indeed?! Of all the kind, loyal friends I have, why did it have to be the one who is scared of touching other Elves, scared to lay a single finger on me even if it is just a preten-MPH!”
And “MPH” is the only possible way to translate into words the strangled, surprised, happy little noise that Erestor emitted when Glorfindel dived, caught him by the waist and, swooping down like an eagle on his prey, sealed Erestor’s mouth with his own.
“Never,” Glorfindel growled, short-winded, when he pulled away. “Say. I. Am. Scared. Of. Something.” Implying: see what happens when you do? As thought being kissed thoroughly by the most handsome Elf he knew was a bad thing for Erestor.
Erestor blinked, trying hard to catch hold of his scattered senses. His face felt on fire, his chest heaved and thumped as though housing a frenzied bird that demanded to be freed, and he…
“…I really would not mind it if you proved me wrong in this fashion again.”
“You would not?”
“…”
“…”
“…that… was not meant to be voiced out loud.”
“But it was.”
“Evidently.”
Erestor gazed at Glorfindel a while more, mouth agape. He was motionless, all of his senses focused on the task of giving the latest happenings a resemblance of order and-
Blink.
“…I am not in love with you?”
Glorfindel cringed, then scowled.
“Nice of you to notice. That was one of my first objections.” He straightened, taking Erestor with him, and then let go of him altogether.
Erestor worked his mouth for a little while, producing no sound. His eyes remained wide in wonder for a while, then he blinked quickly, removing himself from his current train of thoughts.
“You said we will not stay together for long because I am not in love with you.”
“Well, you are not.”
“That was not the point.”
“There was a point? I was not aware.”
“Glorfindel, do not dance around the issue.”
“I am not doing anything of the sort.”
“Either you take this seriously right now, or the Valar help me…” he trailed off, pointing a long finger into Glorfindel’s face. “Now. You said that I am not in love with you. As though implying-” he added in a rush, before Glorfindel could interrupt him “-that you do love me”
Glorfindel was silent for a long moment, then arched an eyebrow.
“And?”
“…and what would ‘and’ mean?”
“What it sounds like. That I love you changes our current predicament how?”
“It changes it a whole lot! You-wait. You are not going to deny it? You do love me?”
“I thought we had established that?”
“…and when were you planning to tell me?!”
“Some time around never.”
My, but today was full of surprises.
“I… you… you…!”
“Close that mouth, before you swallow a fly,” Glorfindel advised, tapping Erestor under the chin. Erestor obeyed, glared and flushed pink, though the latter was most certainly not intentional.
Glorfindel offered him a smile, or something close - it was rather sad-looking, for a smile.
“And so we uncovered fallacy number six of your plan. I cannot pretend to feel something for you, because I do. But the feeling is not returned. And starting a courtship on such a basis, even if it is just a pretence, can only lead us to pain. Both of us.” He made a move, as though to touch Erestor’s cheek, but stopped himself in time. He collected himself, straightening again, and turned his back on Erestor, his hair swirling about him like golden ribbons. “So you know now why I cannot agree to help you.”
There followed a moment of silence and stillness. So long, that when Glorfindel turned, he fully expected to see Erestor gone. But the Councillor was behind him still, biting his bottom lip and looking thoughtful.
They both opened their mouth, saw that the other was about to speak, and closed it. They looked away, glanced at the other from the corner of their eye, enveloped in the most awkward silence in all their long acquaintance.
Then Erestor took a deep breath, as though bracing himself, and spoke.
“If I might… your feelings for me are no reason not to start a courtship.”
Glorfindel frowned.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I… mean.” Erestor cleared his throat, feigning a kind of nonchalant poise he did not feel. “You just confessed to me, in your own way. And if I had to pick one from all the people who confessed to me today… my choice would fall on you, because, despite your problems with physical contact, you have taken my fancy.”
Glorfindel made a sound of mixed shock and surprise.
“…and since it would be really impolite not to answer a confession right away, I am choosing you.” Erestor continued, feeling the now familiar warmth of a blush spread down his neck, and trying desperately to will it away. “And since you confessed, and I voiced my choice, we are mates now, no pretence. And our status as mates allows us to do… all of those things we mentioned previously. Such as… tweak our schedule so that we can see each other daily and… meet after supper and… talk about sweet nothings and walk hand in hand and hold each other and touch intimately and kiss and… what comes beyond.”
With an emphasis on the last word that caught one of them - namely Glorfindel - by utter surprise. Especially since there was only one lovers-only activity he could think of that went beyond touching and kissing.
Glorfindel opened his mouth, reconsidered, closed it, then opted to say it anyway.
“…What did you say?” With the breathless tone of someone who did hear the words spoken to him, but had the fear to have misinterpreted them.
Erestor tilted his head. There was a smirk on his face, worthy of a cat that had got both canary and cream.
“That I would be willing to go beyond touching stage with you?”
Glorfindel wondered dimly if he was flushing red under the scrutiny… it surely felt like so.
“Before that.”
Erestor grinned.
“That we can tweak our schedule so that we can see each other daily?”
“Before that.”
“That it would be impolite not to answer a confession right away?”
“Before that, Erestor.” And stop parrying the question.
“Perhaps… that I do fancy you?”
As mentioned above, Glorfindel had had a slight fear that the meaning of Erestor’s words would morph or change, if they were spoken aloud a second time. It did not, thank Elbereth. And now he had to deal with it.
~*~Fin~*~