This is what happens when you stay up all night on New Year's Day and can't sleep. I want to thank my beta ~Vos and my best friend, DarkAlue2222, for all their input and help with editing and drafting this up. Without both of them, half my stories would never make it to the internet.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or anything to do with them. I just borrow them for my own stories.
Elrond and Elros sat silently with Thranduil, son of Oropher, as they listened to a group of humans sat around a campfire drinking and talking about what they did in the previous year and what they planned to do in the following year. To the elves watching, it was just another day, but the humans had acquired interesting traditions to bring in the New Year. One of those was drinking way too much till the point that they are drunk and incoherent. This was something that none of the elves could quite understand. Elros finally left his brother and his brother's lover to talk to the humans before things got too far along.
"Why is he joining them? I thought he traveled with them just to join us?" Thranduil asked confused.
"I have no clue. He has to have a reason," Elrond said leaning back to look up at the stars above him.
Thranduil learned back, but instead of looking at the stars, he rolled on his stomach and draped an arm across his abdomen. Looking at Elrond's peaceful, grey eyes, he smiled. He could get lost just watching his lover, but Elros pulled him from his thoughts.
"I know you two are skeptical of humans and may not trust them much, but if you are interested, they said you two can join us… And me in the celebrations. We will show you our New Year's traditions," Elros smiled holding a glass to each of them.
Thranduil and Elrond both watched him for a moment before deciding that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.
"Sure," Elrond said with a smile as he took the drink and stood up as Thranduil reached for the drink offered to him and standing next to his lover.
"One request," Thranduil spoke up before whispering the rest to the human King. "You join in our bed tonight and we give Elrond a night to remember."
Elros smiled before whispering back, "I was hoping you would say that. Why do you think I handed him our strongest drink?"
"I can always pull out some of my father's wine if need be," Thranduil smirked wanting to see his lover drunk.
"If it comes down to it, you can," Elros smiled before turning to his twin. "Come and join us in our celebrations to bring in the new year."
Elrond smiled and followed Elros with Thranduil not far behind him. They didn't know exactly what to expect but wanted to make sure that their night was pleasant. As the humans saw the two elves joining their King, they started to cheer and lift glasses to them. They were already starting to get tipsy and it showed in how they held their selves and their speech. Not only that, not a single one seemed to realize that Elros and Elrond were identical twins. One human, a woman, ran up as she wasn't tipsy at all and seemed like she hadn't been partaking in the traditional drinking.
"Welcome to our camp. My King has talked highly about both of you, Prince Thranduil and Commander Elrond," she bowed politely.
"And you are?" Elrond asked confused.
"This is Ardrin," Elros introduced her. "She is a close friend of mine."
"How close?" Thranduil whispered to him only receiving an elbow in the stomach in response. "Elros that wasn't nice."
Ardrin looked confused at the name that her king was being called as Elrond laughed at the whole situation.
"Ardrin, my real name is Elros. When I came to be King of Númenor, I switched my name to Tar-Minyatur," he explained. "These two I don't care if they use my real name."
"I like your real name," she smiled before kissing his cheek and going back to the celebrations being held.
Elrond watched her run off before looking at his twin. "How long have you known her?"
"Since I became King of the Númornor. She was with a group that came. For the longest time I didn't tell her I was King. But one day I had no choice but to tell her. She hasn't acted any differently towards me since finding out, if that makes you feel better."
"I hope she isn't a player," Elrond said with a sigh. "What little I know of humans makes me fear their true intentions. I know you understand where I am coming from, brother."
Elros nodded as memories of their childhood flooded back to him. He remembered all too well the humans and elves that wanted to use him and his brother for sexual pleasures. He remembered the advances that were directed towards them. A sad glance up made Elrond realize where his twin's mind went.
"I am sorry Elros. I didn't mean to ruin your holiday. Let's go and join in the celebrations that you want to share with us and forget the past for at least tonight," Elrond said pulling him into a hug causing Elros to smile at Thranduil. They both knew their ending plan would be easier than they first imagined.
With a smile on all their faces, Elros led the two elves across the moonlit field to where his people were celebrating and throwing a party. Thranduil took a moment to take in the view as he knew this would be his last time in Lindon for a while, but he refused to tell his love. The field that they had so often crossed looked like something out of a tale from the Year of the Trees. The normally green field was almost a grey-blue hue most likely due to reflecting the ocean nearby. The full moon seemed to reflect back everything that it watched that night due to how bright it shown. It was so different than the full moons in the forest his father was building their new home in. There the moon was covered by thousands of trees that seemed to glow red during this time of the year. Come spring, he hoped that it would seem alive with the thousands of animals that occupied the forest. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't miss the ocean and fields that surrounded Lindon. He knew he would miss the smell of the ocean in the air and the warmth of winter. He would miss the walks on the ocean with his love as they sneaked away from Oropher and Gil-Galad. Most of all, he would miss seeing Elrond everyday.
"By the way, I don't mind you two calling me Elros, but you may confuse everyone here."
"I can call you Tar-Minyatur if you prefer," Elrond replied.
"If you don't mind," he responded looking back at them. "And also, the humans don't take kindly to same sex relationships."
"So just like Gil-Galad and Oropher," Elrond shook his head.
"Yeah, I hope with time, they will come to accept it, but it may not be during my time."
"Please don't remind me I am going to loose you," Elrond looked at him wearily. "I am not looking forward to that day, my gwanûr."
Elros nodded, "I won't mention it again till the time is close."
Thranduil sighed knowing that when that day comes, Elrond would be a mess and would need comfort. He couldn't imagine loosing someone as close as his love and his twin were. That would also be as bad as him loosing Elrond and that thought upset him greatly. Turning to look Elrond, he took a sip of the drink Tar-Minyatur gave him. It wasn't nearly as sweet as the wine his father made, but it had a decent flavor. It certainly wasn't as strong as the wine he was use to. He knew for a fact that there was probably no way that he this would have any affect on him at all. Maybe he could convince Tar-Minyatur to let him pull out his father's wine next.
"The drink isn't too bad. What is it?" he asked politely.
"It's a mead that the humans made. Truthfully, I think your father's wine is much better."
"But this isn't the worse thing out there. Remember the mead the dwarves brought as a trade to Gil-Galad and we got into?"
Tar-Minyatur and Elrond laughed remembering how that night ended. It would be a night that they all remembered till their ending days. They poured one glass for each of them, but they ended up drinking only a few sips each before they were sick and Thranduil slipped into his father's room to steal a entire barrel of wine. They ended up sharing a little of it with the dwarves whom ended up so drunk they didn't wake up for the next day. Oropher had a feeling that that's where the wine went and laughed. It was Gil-Galad that wasn't impressed with what the boys did. That was the first time Oropher didn't have an issue with Thranduil hanging out with the 'halfers' that Gil-Galad was raising. He figured that he rather his son hang out with those halfers those creatures that he hated so much.
"I think that was the first time my father approved of me hanging out with you two," Thranduil laughed.
Laughing, Tar-Minyatur brought them to a place to sit. "So to bring in the New Year, humans drink lots of alcohol and party till the moon is high. Once it changes to the New Year, they usually bed someone they love or just find a woman to bed. For them, there is lots of drinking and sex. This wasn't something I knew about till I started to rule over them. You learn a lot when you start ruling over people."
"Wait, do you want us to partake in these celebrations?" Elrond asked shocked as Thranduil laughed.
"Only if you want to dear brother. I thought that you may enjoy them," he replied smiling at Thranduil. "You two can't keep the past year hidden from me. I know what I did set up what you two have today. And I want you both to be happy."
"The only thing that would make my life more complete is if you didn't decide to become a human. But I know there is nothing I can do to change it. If nothing else, let's make tonight one to remember and bring in the New Year the way your people do," Elrond smiled while hugging his twin and whispering in his ear. "Thank you for making me meet Thranduil. I know I fought you about it, but it was so worth it."
"You are welcome. Now let's start celebrating the New Year, my dear brother."