Elrohir leaned tiredly against the wall. He ran his hand over his eyes and sighed. What was he supposed to do? Elladan and Ada were being unreasonable and hardheaded, both of them refusing to talk to the other. He wasn't on either of their sides, neutral. A go between.

Elladan had once again forgotten about an important meeting, and so Elrond had confronted him with it saying that it was irresponsible and stupid. That he should grow up. It was that part that had set Elladan off and the lecture started to evolve. Soon they were shouting at each other and throwing things out that they both meant and didn't. They had been shouting so loudly that Elrohir could hear it from the hall.

O

"I am NOT irresponsible! How dare you say that, it was only one meeting? I'm sure Rivendell hasn't fallen because of it." Elladan said angrily.

"It was irresponsible." Elrond replied iciness to his voice. "It was an important meeting and I delayed it for you, but when you didn't come, there was no other choice than to begin. You next in line to be the lord of Rivendell you should begin to show that you're responsible enough for the job. It was a meeting I had trusted you to be at. If you cannot be trusted then what?"

"It was a slip. I forget a meeting once and you're ready to throw your trust for me completely away? If you are so dissatisfied then maybe you should choose Elrohir instead!" Elladan exclaimed.

"Maybe I should. He would know the seriousness of it, unlike you. Grow up Elladan you cannot be a child forever."

"I am not a child!" Elladan shouted, "So you admit it you do favor Elrohir over me?"

"I have never said that, though at the moment yes I do!" Elrond retorted his anger getting the best of him.

"Then maybe you should make him your firstborn and get rid of me if I really mean that little to you!" Elladan roared and ran out of the room angrily.

O

Elrohir stood away from the wall and started moving towards Elladan's room. His own room was beside Elladan's. He could feel Elladan's anger through their bond, but he still made his way towards it. He knocked and then gently opened the door. Elladan was standing beside his bed there was feathers everywhere. He had ripped his pillow open.

"Elladan?"

Elladan turned towards him. His eyes were angry and he was breathing heavily. Elrohir shut the door behind him and moved closer to Elladan.

"Elladan are you okay?"

Elladan laughed humorlessly, "Am I okay?" He snarled, "I didn't hear myself telling you that you were allowed to step into my room, but you did it anyway. Elrohir the hero, always ready to save the day. You are a child. Not me! You! Always trying to suck up to everyone around you."

"Elladan stop before you say anything you will regret later." Elrohir sighed.

This only served to double Elladan's anger; he walked up to Elrohir and grabbed his tunic. Shoving him against the wall. "Even now you're trying to show that you're better than me. Smarter. I wish you weren't my brother! I don't want to be your twin!" Elladan shouted angrily.

"You do not mean that Elladan." Elrohir said somewhat weakly. He knew that Elladan was only saying it because he was angry, but it hurt nonetheless.

"Who are you to tell me what I don't mean?" Elladan roared and then did something he would come to regret.

Elladan furious hit Elrohir over the cheek. Snapping Elrohir's head to the side and into the wall behind him. Elrohir winced and closed his eyes tiredly. Blood was already running into his mouth from the bite in his cheek. Elladan had hit him with so much force that it left Elrohir dazed and unable to say anything.

At first Elladan was shocked at what he had done, but that feeling like all the others turned into anger he pushed Elrohir up against the wall again before letting go of him.

"Stay away from me." He ground out angrily and stalked from the room.

It took Elrohir some moments before he came out of his stupor. Sure Elladan had hit him before, but never that hard and it had always been in a fight where they both landed a couple of blows. Never had he hit him like that.

Elrohir raised his hand up to touch his cheek. He gently trailed the blood that was running down towards his chin. Elladan had broken the skin. Elrohir shook his head; it hadn't been Elladan's fault.

He walked to the bathroom and gently started washing the blood off his cheek and clearing his mouth of blood.

"What happened Elrohir?"

Elrohir spun around quickly to see that his father was standing behind him. A shocked expression was on his face. He walked over to Elrohir and gently touched the bruise. Elrohir hissed in pain and took a step back.

"Nothing happened Ada." He said.

"Yeah, I can see the big bruise of nothing on your cheek." Elrond said humorlessly, "Someone hit you."

"It was actually pretty stupid." Elrohir said trying to cover for his brother. He knew that if Elrond knew that it was Elladan who had hit him. He would get angrier with him. "I was thinking deeply and then I… walked into the bookcase."

"You walked into… the bookcase?" Elrond asked raising his eyebrows. "Whom are you covering for?"

"No one."

Anger blast into Elrond's expression, "Elladan hit you… I don't believe it!" He quickly exited the room in a haste to find Elladan.

"No…" Elrohir gasped. He hurriedly washed the rest of the blood off his cheek and put a pad over the wound.

Then he ran after his father, through the halls. Following his link with Elladan he was quickly brought outside. He could see them in the garden shouting angrily at each other.

"How could you hit him? He is your brother!" Elrond said angrily.

Elladan wheeled around to meet him, "I don't care!"

Elrohir paled and set into a run.

"You don't care?" Elrond hissed, "Do you have any idea of how much you hurt him. It was immature Elladan."

"I don't care!" Elladan roared, "He can die for all I care! Him and you I don't care anymore!"

Elrond walked quickly up to Elladan his hand raise to strike him.

Just at that moment Elrohir came up to them. He threw himself in front of Elladan and took the blow in his stead.

By the time Elrond had realized what Elrohir was about to do, it was too late to stop. He hit Elrohir across the same cheek Elladan had. The pad was torn off and the wound on his cheek began bleeding anew.

Just as Elrond was about to apologize Elrohir bellowed. "Enough!"

Both Elladan and Elrond stopped their movements and looked at Elrohir.

"You are both acting as children!" Elrohir said angrily. "You have no business apologizing to me Ada for I was not the intended target and it was my choice to jump between the two of you. You should apologize to Elladan, because he is your son and no matter what, you cannot hit him. You're not supposed to let your anger control you. If you had hit Elladan, you would have lost him!"

Elrohir walked a little away from them and then he turned around again and looked at them, "And Elladan don't you dare say that you don't love us and want us die. Think about it for an hour and if you still want to me to die then come, because I would not be able to bear the thought. Was it really necessary to get into such a big argument over one missed meeting?" He asked both of them and then walked away.

"Elrohir!" Elrond said and began moving after him.

"No!" Elrohir shouted. "Don't you dare come after me until you've solved this!" With that Elrohir ran into the trees.

Elrond and Elladan looked at each other before moving in separate directions. Both of them were still angry, but now it was mixed with the feeling of embarrassment.

O

Elrohir walked through the trees. There were silent tears running down his cheeks mixing with the blood. He furiously slammed his fist into a tree and leaned against it. Wiping the tears away while sliding down to sit on the ground.

"Elrohir?"

Elrohir looked up from the ground and saw Glorfindel moving towards him. He inclined his head, "Glorfindel."

"May I join you?"

"Of course." Elrohir smiled.

"I saw what happened." Glorfindel said as he sat down in front of Elrohir, "But I don't know the rest of the story." He touched Elrohir's cheek thoughtfully. "Who hit you first?"

Elrohir sighed, "Elladan and Ada have been fighting all morning. Elladan forgot a meeting and then it progressed to a full-blown argument. Neither of them is backing down. I tried to talk to Elladan, but he was still too angry and he hit me. When Ada found out… well you know the rest. This is the worst fight they have had in a long time, and over such a small thing…"

"So you're planning to go through with it?" Glorfindel asked, "Staying out here?"

"I didn't really think about it when I said it, but yes, I am. Maybe it will give them some motivation to sort it out, maybe not. I don't know if I could face them at the moment."

Glorfindel looked worriedly at him, "You know there's a storm coming, right?" He asked.

Elrohir nodded, "I was hoping that they would figure it out before the storm, but if they don't then I guess I'm camping out here."

Glorfindel shook his head hopelessly. "Just promise me that if the storm becomes too rough then you'll come back. No matter what."

"I promise."

Glorfindel stood up. "Good luck Elrohir." He said and then walked away.

Elrohir got up as well. He wanted to get farther into the forest.

O

Elrond sat down behind his desk and started to do paperwork. It didn't take though, for him to figure out that he couldn't concentrate on it. What kind of father was he? He had hit Elrohir… The hurt in Elrohir's eyes kept flashing before him. He wanted nothing more than to go and apologize to Elrohir, but he had said that they shouldn't come after him before he had solved the problem with Elladan. That wasn't something he was ready to do, Elladan needed to know that there were consequences for his actions. He couldn't stay a child forever.

He didn't know how long he sat there in his thoughts oblivious to everything around him. But suddenly the dinner bell rang through the house. He got up from his chair and looked outside. It was already dark. Tiny droplets of water were making it down the window. Sighing Elrond left the office. Elrohir would probably come home soon.

O