A/N: Because no one has any idea when Legolas was born, I am imagining him as sufficiently old enough to be able to remember when Mirkwood was still Greenwood the Great. As such, this story takes place in Greenwood- not Mirkwood. Legolas is referred to as 40. According to The Professor, elves came of age at 50, and so I'm imagining Legolas as about 14 or 15.
Disclaimer: All character names you recognize belong to Professor Tolkien. Those you don't I got off an elvish name website.
The Green-Eyed Monster
By LizzyTygrestick
Legolas. Greenleaf. Thranduilion. Son of Thranduil.
"Bah! Muttered Legolas Thranduilion to himself. "Thranduil. Always Thranduil. Never 'Legolas' or 'Greenleaf,' always Thranduilion. I can't get out of my father's shadow!
This was, of course, understandable. Thranduil was the King of Greenwood the Great, after all. But he was also Legolas' father, and Legolas was getting sick of being compared to Thranduil all the time.
"Never! Never can I get away from it!"
Legolas was 40 years old and needed to find his own identity. He wasn't his father, much as some people thought he was. He wanted people to know him for what he had done, not who his father was. The problem was, Legolas hadn't done anything.
"I know!" smiled Legolas, "I'll do something! I will go into the forest and hunt a deer. A big deer. The finest of the bucks! And when I come home, I'll be a hero!
Legolas hopped off the branch of the tree he had been sitting in, and walked off deeper into the forest.
~*~
Legolas. Greenleaf. Thranduilion. Son of Thranduil.
"Gah!" grumped Thranduil. "It's always Legolas, Legolas, Legolas. Cute little Legolas. Adorable tiny Legolas. Not cute Thranduil! Not adorable Thranduil! Oh no, never that!"
Ever since Legolas had been born 40 years ago, he had stolen Thranduil's place in the elves of Greenwood's hearts. In Thranduil's mind, anyway.
"I can deal with no 'you're cute, Thranduil's'," the grumpy king growled, "But not even a 'you're handsome, Thranduil' in two years! The little usurper!" He punched the arm of his throne in frustration.
Well. Something had to be done about it, and soon. If no one thought that he was cute, he'd make them think he was cute! Or handsome! Either! Because he was used to getting all the attention, and Thranduil wasn't about to lose it to some little wet-behind-the-ears elfing, even if it was his only son.
Thranduil picked himself up from his throne where he had been musing, and marched off to his room to handsome-ize himself.
~*~
Thranduil got about two steps before he realized that he had forgotten his knife. He couldn't style his hair into the perfect manly and handsome hairdo without a knife! And it had to be his favorite small blue handled knife- it was the only one that fringed his hair just the way he liked it.
He wheeled around and stomped off in the direction of the armory.
~*~
When Legolas walked into the armory, the first thing he was his father, picking up the small blue handled knife.
'Oh,' he thought bitterly, 'going to go hunting, are you? Going to steal my glory?' But he forced a smile. "Ada! How nice to see you here. What are you doing?"
Thranduil looked up in shock to see his child walking towards him, smiling that cute little grin. Legolas was stealing his idea! He was going to handsome-ize himself too! Ooh, curse his wife for ever giving them a child… never mind the part he had played in it.
"Legolas! What a nice surprise. But really, I insist that you tell me what you're doing here first."
"Ah…. Um, oh! I'm getting a knife." Legolas walked over to a rack of hunting knives and picked up a pearl handled one.
"Thranduil's eyes narrowed. "How interesting. I, too, am getting a knife."
They eyed each other warily and gingerly stepped next to each other to leave the room, clutching their weapons, and sizing each other up out of the corners of their eyes. Mellenin, an elf of the palace, saw them walking together.
"Why, King Thranduil! How brave you look with that sword! And Legolas, you're looking just as adorable as always," she tittered.
Legolas and Thranduil immediately glared angrily at each other. Growling, they marched off in separate directions.
"What did I say?" wondered Mellenin.
~*~
Legolas glared sourly at everyone he passed as he stalked towards the forest. "Try to steal my glory, will he," he snarled. "Oh, we'll see who hunts the better deer. Yes, yes we will. Evil! My Ada is evil! Despicable! He has enough attention already…" Legolas marched down the hallway, sending startled bureaucrats running in shock. He glared at all of them and pronounced,
"We'll see who gets the glory! We'll see."
~*~
Thranduil glared sourly at everyone he passed as he stalked towards his room. "Try to be more adorable, will he. Oh ho, we'll se how well he does. Really! As if he doesn't get complimented enough, he now needs to steal my compliments as well." He snarled at a passing elf, who squeaked and ran away. "Spoiled! The little elfling is spoiled! Well, I can fix that. Oh yes, yes I can!
I never lose. We'll see who wins this fight, Greenleaf."
~*~
Legolas ran smack dab into Calle, his nurse, on the way to the forest. Calle had been his nurse since he had been born, and though he didn't really need her anymore, Legolas and Calle were very close.
"Thranduilion! What are you doing?"
"Thranduilion! It's always Thranduilion! Thranduilion, Thranduilion, Thranduilion. Always!"
"Legolas?"
"No matter what I do! Where I go! 'Why Legolas, you look just like your father.' "Thranduilion, perhaps some day you will match up to your Ada's greatness.' 'Greenleaf, I hope you'll be just like your father when you grow up!' Hah!"
"You are his son," Calle pointed out helpfully.
"Gah! Don't remind me!" Legolas picked himself and Calle up, and continued stomping towards the forest. Calle followed.
"Well, I'll show him. I'll show him who I am! Just like my father? Hah! I'll be greater!"
"Greenleaf, where are you going?"
"The forest. I shall kill a deer and prove my greatness! I shall fell it with one brave stroke of my shining sword!"
Calle's eyes widened in horror. Once Legolas got an idea in his head, he didn't easily let go of it. "Erm, Legolas? Have your tutors taught you, um, the proper deer killing strategies?"
Legolas snarled at her. "Of course they have! I have diligently learned everything there is to know about killing deer."
"Oh. Well, of course you have, Greenleaf. But let's just go to your room and review. Don't you think that's a good idea?"
Legolas turned to stare at her.
~*~
Thranduil ran smack dab into Erunyauve, his wife, on the way to his room.
"Thranduil? Where are you going so fast?"
"My hair!" he barked.
"… is very nice?"
He glared at her. "Not nice enough. The spoiled child!"
"Whose child is spoiled?"
"Ours!"
"Legolas isn't spoiled."
"Spoiled for attention." He glared. "He's stolen all of mine!"
Erunyauve looked at her husband in absolute shock. "He stole your attention?" she managed.
"Never is it, 'you're handsome, Thranduil,' anymore. Just, 'you're adorable, Legolas!'"
Erunyauve was beginning to understand what was going on. All her child-rearing books had said that the father could sometimes become jealous of the attention the child received- she was only surprised that it had taken so long. Men!
"Well, Thranduil, why don't I go help you with your hair, and we'll chat," Erunyauve suggested. "I know all sorts of wonderful hair styles."
~*~
"So," intoned Calle, "then, making sure that the deer can't hear you, you sneak up on it from behind and…"
Legolas was bored. He knew all of this! Why did she keep prattling on?
"… and if the dear runs away then don't bother to follow it, just find another. Legolas, why are you upset with your father?"
Still, Calle was such a wonderful nurse. She only wanted to help him prove himself… wait, what did she just say?
"Legolas, you are upset. Why?"
"Because! He's horrible! He steals my glory!"
Calle blinked. "You have glory?"
"I would if not for my father."
"Aah."
"Really! How am I supposed to be my own elf if everyone is always telling me how much like him I am? Well! I'm going to go out and kill a deer and everyone will know how great I am by myself, without me being just like my father!"
"Oh, Legolas. Your Ada doesn't mean to, um, steal your 'glory.' He's just done some very great things in his life, and because you are his son you remind people of what he's done. But give yourself time! When you are as old as he is, you will have done wonderful things all by yourself and you shall be known for who you are. Killing a deer won't do much good, dear."
Legolas was quiet. "I suppose it isn't really all his fault, is it?"
Called smirked. "Well, it is his fault for doing all those great things. You shall have to punish him for that."
Legolas grinned in a positively devious way. "Yes, I shall have to teach him a lesson, won't I!"
~*~
"So," intoned Erunyauve, "then, making sure that the front section of your fair is held securely, you take the back section and twist it and then…"
Thranduil was enthralled. He had never known that there were so many different ways to do hair that still left him looking manly! This had to be the most exciting day of his century. Thank Illuvitar for Erunyauve!
"… after that, you braid the middle section. Next, you twirl the braids around, like so." Erunyauve demonstrated. "You're jealous of Legolas, aren't you?"
Yes, he certainly was looking stylish today and… what?
"Jealous? Me? Of Legolas? Never!"
"You seem rather jealous to me."
"Nonsense. Just because everyone thinks that Legolas is adorable, and just because that makes me furious… Elbereth! I am!"
"You are." Erunyauve confirmed.
"Of Legolas!"
"So it would seem."
"But he's my son!"
"Well, he's not the messenger's."
Thranduil blinked at her. "Messenger…?"
"Never mind. Bad joke."
"Hmmm. Well, what do I do now?"
"To get rid of your jealousy?"
"No, for my hair."
Erunyauve sighted in frustration. "Thranduil, your hair is finished. Now we must take care of your jealousy. Legolas is your son and I'll not have anything so silly coming between you two."
Thranduil glared. "Fine. How do I rid myself of my jealousy?"
Erunyauve opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again. "I… don't really know." Elbereth! Her child-rearing books hadn't said anything about curing a father's jealousy!
Thranduil glared even harder. He stood up and faced her. "Do you mean to tell me that you've been giving me a lecture without having any way to fix the problem?"
"Well," Erunyauve hedged, "it doesn't really matter. I think you're adorable, anyway."
Thranduil's eyes widened. "More adorable then Legolas?"
"Oh, Thranduil. It's a different type of adorable, don't you realize? Everyone thinks that Legolas is cute, but half the women in the palace are madly in love with you. Of course, I'll have to murder them all if they attempt anything, but I still don't think that Legolas can say that." She reached over and pecked his nose. "Yet."
~*~
Thranduil smiled to himself as he walked down the hallway to the throne room. His wife was right, as usual. Legolas was adorable, but half the women in the palace weren't in love with Legolas like they were with him. There was nothing to be jealous about at all. And if Legolas did grow more handsome and have all the women fall in love with him- well, he'd deal with that problem if it came.
Anyway, he had a new, manly hairdo. Nothing could be wrong when his hair looked nice!
It was then that Thranduil felt a cold bucket of water pouring all over him.
~*~
Legolas smiled to himself as he saw his Ada sputter in anger, while his hair clung to his face, making him look like a drowned rat.
Revenge status: Accomplished!
Clutching his wooden bucket in his hands, he scuttled back down the hallway in the opposite direction. He didn't want to be around for the fallout…
~*~
Thranduil blinked the water out of his eyes.
His… his hair! His hair was ruined! Ruined! He opened his mouth and yelled as loud as possible…
"LEGOLAS!"
Finis
A/N: If you read, please review! Constructive criticism is extremely appreciated. Thanks!