If We Be Friends

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Title: If We Be Friends
Author Name: heartofoshun (Oshun)
Prompt: For B2MeM 2014, a non-compilation contribution – “Write a story or create art about the midsummer holiday (Lithe, Gates of Summer, or another midsummer holiday of your choosing).”
Summary: This is the story of how a Puckish young Elrond tries to seduce the King.
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None.
Beta: The usual suspect, ignoblebard
Author's Notes: Midsummer still equals Midsummer Night’s Dream for me.


If We Be Friends

I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile.
--Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 2, Scene 1

o0o0o0o0o

“Elrond!” Gil-galad stopped short in his tracks, causing me smack right into him. He turned and backed up, raising his hand in the direction of my shoulder, as though to help correct my graceless stumble, but he dropped it without touching me.

“Sire?” I asked.

“Are you following me?”

“Trying. But it is not so easy. You walk fast and make a lot of unexpected stops and detours.”

He laughed, “Do you mean like now, or earlier, when Círdan stopped me on the path? He has a knack for finding me as well. I noticed you went to ground as soon as he appeared.”

“Not exactly. I just sat down on the bench back there to read for a while.” Gil-galad smiled at me with a feinted indolence, in complete contrast to his usual energy and purpose.

“With your book upside down? Ah, I see. You just happen to find yourself on the walkway from the council chamber to the palace at whatever random time of day I decide to take it?”

“Fine. I admit to stalking you. You are hard to get alone. Should I be watching out for Círdan? Or has he left for Harlond by now? I don’t think he thinks highly of me.”

“On the contrary, he keeps a close eye on you and he badgers you because he believes your intelligence runs well ahead of your judgment. He recently told me that you remind him of me at your age. Círdan was the blight of my youth!”

“Pompous old goat.”

“I thought so once myself. Now, I highly value his counsel. Keep an open mind and you will suffer less than I did.” He looked around us. “It seems we are alone,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at me—he should have looked ridiculous doing that, but he didn’t. Far from it. I giggled and he laughed at me. I blush to think of it even now. But at least I could always make him smile.

Downhill and behind us lay the administrative center for the city of Forlond, for all of Lindon for that matter, and uphill in the direction we had been walking, lay the palace and the king’s personal offices and his residence, mine as well, but in an adjacent wing. The early afternoon torpor which struck the population of Forlond following their midday meal was even more apparent the day after the Midsummer’s Night festivities. The area was deserted except for guards standing on each side of the entrance of the palace, looking like toy soldiers from where we stood.

Gil-galad smiled warmly at me and touched my heated cheek with a large graceful hand. More times than I cared to recall, as I fell asleep at night, I had imagined those long fingers mapping the contours my body.

He cocked his head to one side, thoughtful, as though he read and understood my agony, one-half the natural concupiscence of a healthy young man and the other half a longing for companionship and affection. I had lost Maglor and Maedhros, and most recently Elros had left me as well. And I still at times felt like a foreigner in Forlond.

A flock of white birds wheeled in the sky above us, shining silver at a certain angle. “Look at that. What do you think they are?” he asked. His hand had slipped from my cheek to rest on the back of my neck under my hair. I shivered and grinned at him.

I didn’t say, ‘Fuck the birds! All I can think about is you.’ But more conservatively ventured, “Probably gulls. They are too high to really tell.” I sighed and cocked my head, my face frozen in what must have been a stupidly vacant smile. This is what I wanted, but I had no idea what to do or say next. Valar, he was handsome in full sunlight, his rugged jawline, his generous mouth, those bright blue eyes squinting against the glare.

“Ai, Elrond, what should I do with you? Resistance to such beauty is not one of my strong points, I fear. I’m heading back to my bed now. Do you want to come? I stayed up much too late last night—had to show my face at three Midsummer’s Night gatherings. And it will be a late night again tonight.

“I had thought to take a nap before a meeting I’ve scheduled for less than four hours from now. It’ll be followed by a supper with the leaders of the merchants’ guild of Harlond. Círdan has no patience and less sympathy for their disputes. Left them to me to entertain as best I could.”

I stared at him slack-jawed in surprise. His amused eyes focused upon me glinting with challenge. “So, are you coming with me then?”

My earlier bravado had drained out of me leaving me speechless. The possible implication behind that question went well beyond my wildest dreams of anything I had allowed myself to expect I could achieve that sunny summer afternoon. Instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment, I felt more like a rabbit frozen in the gaze of a falcon.

“To take a nap, sire?” I managed to choke out.

“Or whatever else it is that people do in bed on an unexpectedly open afternoon.” His voice had deepened into an enticing and erotic growl. So, this was how it felt to be the object of the much vaunted seductive power of Ereinion Gil-galad, I thought. I suddenly found myself exactly where I had wanted to be, but without the drawn-out effort that I had assumed would be required. Nothing but good could come of this.

“Absolutely.” I might have been naïve at times in those days, but I never lacked in courage.

Comments

[tehta.livejournal.com]

I hope it will not be offensive to say I love the bite-sized length of this? It captures a very specific, and story-worthy, situation -- the dizzy moment when one realizes one's longing might be requited -- in a very complete way. Knowing how to frame a story is an awesome skill!

I love both their directness, too. "Trying. But it is not so easy*", heh.

* Though GG is!

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. It was really easy to write. (Although, I had something along these lines in my head for years!) I am so glad it worked for you.

[scarlet1061.livejournal.com]

Poor Elrond, a gazelle in the spotlights... *smile*

I loved their encounter, the directness between them.

Thank you for a delightful start of my day.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Scarlet! I am really happy that you enjoyed it. It was so much fun to write and hardly any suffering involved at all! (You know how bad I am!)

[tanis2014.livejournal.com]

Oh my, a tiny hint of eroticism to spice up the morning! These glimpses into the early life of Elrond, before he becomes Arda's greatest lore master and most sanguine elf on the planet, gives him so much more three-dimensionality for me. A stammering, stuttering, totally flummoxed (in a delightful way!) Elrond is so different from the one I know; it makes him so very charming! You capture his yearning hope and the sudden fulfillment of his aspirations wonderfully here.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you Tanis. It's infrequent that I am able to say that writing something (however, short and light) was purely fun for me. But this one was all fun, no pain. I am taking a short Shakespeare course at the moment and we read a Midsummer's Night Dream the week that I wrote this. When I ran across those lines, I thought, that really is my young Elrond and his king. Things get harder for them after this interlude, but that is still a few years in the future.

So happy you enjoyed it.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

I was delighted to read this. These two have been among my list of favourite pairings for many years. (I tried to write them too, long ago but never finished the story.) There is something touchingly romantic about Elrond's innocence and rather open adoration of Gil-Galad in this short fic. He's quite adorable. Poor boy having lost almost everyone in his life. I feel his pain and understand his desire for his handsome and irresistible king. Your writing is richly lovely despite the story being so short. This line has the most beautiful alliteration: And I still at times felt like a foreigner in Forlond.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Jenni! Elrond/Gil-galad was one of my original guilty pleasure pairings. I've loved them well before I got hooked on Fingon/Maedhros. There is a great storyline behind in my head. The first years of young adulthood for Elrond and then being giving responsibility the troops against against Sauron in Eregion, and later serving as Gil-galad’s herald of the elven forces in the Last Alliance. It has all the elements to make a great story.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

It does! I would love to read a well-developed, expanded story about them with all the depth and drama it deserves. I am sure you could do it, given your affinity for historical novels and all their rich detail in characterization, settings, etc.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

That is such a nice thing to say.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

♥
I am just in the mood right now to read some meaty historical fiction, both fanfic and published stuff. ;)

[hhimring]

No, he doesn't lack courage, does he?
An open heart, as I think you said in your other story.
Well done, Oshun! You can do short pieces very well, also--whatever you sometimes claim--and this is a good one, one of your best, probably.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I am thrilled that you think it is good. Unlike most of my efforts, this ficlet was pure joy to write. The muses were cooperating. But then all the elements were already in my head--the setting, the characterization, aspects of how I imagined them together in those early days. Thanks again! What nice things to say.

[ignoblebard.livejournal.com]

You outdid yourself with the prompts this B2Me season. I love your Elrond his puckish ways, stalking an all too willing Gil-Galad. Looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. A tightly written, sweet little ficlet that fits perfectly with your winter tale.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

That you so much for all of the support and the indulgence of my difficult personality. And all the typo hunting! You are the best.

I've loved Gil-galad and Elrond for a lot of years. They might have been my first Tolkien slash crush.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I was sure I left a comment when I read this the first time. But I think the fact that I came back to read a second time is enough to tell you that I enjoyed it :)

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Awww! Thank you. I just found a couple of places were I was certain I had left a review and could not find it! So happy you enjoyed it!

[fadesintothewest]

Ah what a delight. Lucky elf that Elrond and Gil-Galad, sigh, what a dreamboat! I love his personality here, though it's a short, quick, story, it really comes through!

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I am so happy you enjoyed it. I really had fun writing it.