Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, except for Nithredil. I don't get money for this.
A/N: I got this idea after coming across an absolutely lovely 'Caution!' sign on a lovely homepage called 'Elf on a shelf'.
Legolas/OFC hinted.
Summary: What happens if the four Hobbits see an Elf with a hangover?
Caution! Tree-hugging Elf!
The bark under his hands and on his forehead felt cold and smooth. He could feel the pain in his head ease. Legolas knew he should not have let Elladan and Elrohir talk him into drinking the millennia old elvish schnapps they had found in their father's store room, but what had been done could not be undone and so he was currently developing a nasty hangover. All he could do right now was holding tight to something so he would not fall over while trying to make the pain disappear.
Suddenly he heard someone giggle. Slowly he turned around and leaned his back against the tree, trying to glare at the Hobbits who watched him giggling. It didn't work, his head ached to much.
"Legolas, why did you hug a tree?", asked one of them, Legolas' tortured head identified him as Pippin.
Oh, Valar, why did it have to be them to see him? If they found out he had a hangover, they would surely run off to tell the dwarf and that was the last thing Legolas wanted. So he tried to save the situation.
"It's good for your health and very relaxing. Maybe you should try, too."
The Hobbits stared at him, most likely wondering if he was telling the truth, mad or if this was the normal behaviour of Elves. Before they could come to a conclusion, the pain in the Elf's head turned from dull and constant to sharp and throbbing and so Legolas had to excuse himself and made his way to his room.
When he woke up the next morning, he found that the pain had disappeared and that he could think clear again. He put his clothes on and left the room. Outside he found Ellandan and Elrohir laughing at something that was either him or behind him. But as they obviously had already been laughing before he left the room, it could not be him. So he turned around. What he saw made him feel like shouting, crying, killing the Hobbits and laughing at the same time. Nailed to his door was a peace of paper with a bright yellow square painted on it. In that square there was an Elf hugging a tree and under the square 'Caution! Tree-hugging Elf!' was written in scrawly letters. He smiled, shook his head, took the paper down and put it into his room. Then he went for breakfast.
When the sun was setting, Legolas left the house and walked to one of his favourite spots in the garden. He smiled when he saw the figure standing there in the last light of the sun with her back to him. So she had been waiting for him. He quietly approached her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
When he opened the door to his room later that night, he found a not lying on the floor. He picked it up, unfolded it and laughed out loud. There, in the very same scrawly hand-writing that had written the sign on his door, stood:
Legolas,
Nithredil is not a tree!