Tolkien and Jackson own all the thingies. I barely even own the plot, as unoriginal as it is.
Yes, Thranduil is being a bad daddy, yadda yadda. No infringement intended, no offense, well, possibly offense.
Rated M for adult content, no kiddies allowed. And please be kind. Have never posted in this fandom before. Okay, let's move on.
"Father, his fingers grip me, O
The Elfin king has hurt me so!"
- Der Erlkonig, Johann Wolfgang Goethe (trans.)
ERLKONIG
"Our moody king" the Silvan Elves called him, usually softening the insult by complimenting his taste in wine, his successful rule, the way he softened at unexpected times, just for a fleeting moment. Today, however, the king was going to be more than grumpy. Thranduil had given orders that no one was to leave Mirkwood's gate, and yet Legolas had gone out after Tauriel.
The guards were uneasy, the king's attendants eager to distract him from noticing his missing son. They knew it could not last. Thranduil never went long without demanding to see his heir, keeping a close watch over the prince who was nearing his majority. Legolas softened him, and endured his father's hovering, his worrying, his having guards follow Legolas out on patrols. He made the king easier to be around, and the prince had never disobeyed him. Until now.
Many sighs of relief were heard when the prince returned, dejected and without Tauriel, but before his absence had posed a problem.
"Your Highness, what of the captain?"
"I was not able to persuade her to return." Damn that Dwarf she's taken with. "I will inform the king of my failure."
Thorondor, one of the gate guards, spoke hastily. "Your Highness, surely that can wait."
"Why delay the inevitable?"
"Highness, we don't wish to see you scolded for disobeying His Majesty."
The normally-cool archer smiled faintly. "He will forget his anger quickly."
Legolas had every reason to believe that. He had grown up the indulged child of a widower king, whose only disappointment seemed to be that Legolas disliked being spoiled with rich gifts. Father and son had always been close, maintaining a loving relationship though Legolas was now a serious and solitary near-adult.
Waving off the guards' apprehension, Legolas made his way to his father's apartments. At this time of day, the king could usually be found poring over documents in his study.
"Enter," a melodious voice answered his knock.
As expected, Thranduil was signing scrolls at his large desk. He sensed Legolas and beckoned him closer.
"What is it, little leaf?"
"I came to report a failure on my part, my king."
The face so like his own looked at the prince lovingly. "You seem to grow more solemn by the year, little one. What has happened to trouble you so?"
"Captain Tauriel went out into the forest before your edict was announced."
A frown. "Before my order? You are certain? Capable though Tauriel is, I have reason to doubt her loyalty."
"Sire, Tauriel is loyal to you," Legolas said earnestly. "She could not know you would bar the gates."
"Very well. But I fail to see how her actions are any fault of yours, ion nin."
"I...failed to bring her back." Legolas spoke quickly as the king's blue eyes darkened. "I tracked and caught her easily enough, but she fled from me before I could explain your order. She took care to hide her trail after that, and so I returned to make my report."
"You went after her. Despite my commandment."
"Forgive me, sire. I worried for her, and - "
Thranduil stood so quickly that a human would have leapt back in alarm. Legolas could no ever recall seeing before his father observe him with suspicion.
"You care for her, don't you?"
The prince had never been able to lie to his father. "I..."
Thranduil's nails dug into the chair his fingers gripped. "A lowly Silvan Elf, of no noble ancestry. Do you think I would allow such a match?"
"My lord, is not true nobility in one's heart? Tauriel is our best captain, honest, fair in all her dealings - "
Thranduil's tall frame seemed to stretch menacingly until he filled the whole room. "Has she had you?"
Legolas stared in shock. "Adar?"
"Has she taken advantage of our ways, being your first in order to lay claim to you?"
"No, Adar! I would never..."
The sentence was unfinished, but the message clear. Legolas would let no Elf bed him before he reached adulthood. A Mirkwood Elf's first time usually came after marriage, and Legolas had taken no interest in coupling yet.
"I would like to believe I can trust my own warriors with you, ion nin, in a way I can trust no others. But I wonder."
"Adar, I don't understand."
Thranduil slammed his quill down and paced to the window. "Every damn Elf of halfway decent birth has been asking for you since you learned to walk. I thought you'd at least be safe here."
Is this why he would not let me visit Imladris, or our kin in Lothlorien? "Adar..."
"Remember how the men of Dale stared at you, ion nin? You never notice, but our own kind are no better."
"Adar, you need not worry for me." Legolas stepped cautiously closer. "I am in no danger."
The king didn't seem to hear. "It will happen, one way or another. You will be lost to me."
Like Naneth. Oh.
"I won't leave you, Adar." Legolas tried to make his tone light. "I'll not wed without your leave."
"And must I give it? Must I?"
"Adar." How much strong wine has he had today? "What can I do to make you happy? Please tell me."
The king turned to face his son, appearing calm again. "You make me happy, ion nin. All I need is you."
Thranduil opened his arms, and like a little Elfling again, Legolas stepped into them, let himself be held against the strong chest where he'd once sought refuge. This comforting scent of strong spirits and woodland berries was there for him when his naneth had departed, when he'd done poorly at an archery lesson, when the stares of visitors had made the child uncomfortable. It would always be here.
"Little leaf. You are everything to me."
"Adar, I love you too." Legolas said the words he didn't use lightly. "Don't grieve for me when I'm still only yours."
"Only mine. You could remain so...only mine."
"Adar?"
Thranduil ran one hand of fingers through the fine golden hair, while the other arm held his child tightly to him. "Not Tauriel's. No one's but mine."
The king drew back, keeping one arm around the slim waist. The expression was intent yet miles distant as he cupped Legolas's face in his palm. The Elf prince felt uneasy. Something in that expression was strange, like the way Dwarves looked at mithril, the way the Dale men had looked. What was it doing on his father?
There was no time to ask before Thranduil pushed their bodies together and pressed his lips to Legolas's. Inexperienced though he was, the prince knew fathers did not kiss their sons this passionately. He struggled, kept his mouth shut as long as he could, and when their faces finally separated, the king kept an iron grip on the boy's arms.
"Adar! What are you - "
"There is a way. A way for none other to lay claim to you."
He was being dragged now to the office's adjoining bedchamber. Torn between needing to fight and not daring to, Legolas only managed to briefly shrug off the hands before they were undressing him.
"Adar, you are not well. Let me summon Caelmath, some madness has overtaken you!"
"I have a way to keep you forever, little leaf. Didn't you say you'll never leave me?"
"Please, Adar..." He could not fight the hands that had once meant safety.
"Don't be afraid." He spoke as if to a child cowering in the dark, not a boy stripped naked by his own father. "It's dangerous, you know, how beautiful you've become. That's all anyone sees, but I see you."
"Adar, no. Please stop this."
"You will obey your father. You will obey your king."
Legolas was on his back on the wide bed before he could say anything else. Nightmarishly, his father was above him now, a weight Legolas knew he would not be able to dislodge.
"Adar, please..."
Thranduil kissed him as he would a lover, and in his confusion Legolas did not kiss back, nor did he turn away. At any moment Legolas expected his father to come to his senses and scramble off, but this hope was shattered when Thranduil reached between the Elfling's bare thighs. At this Legolas began to fight, at which point his wrists were gripped by a strong hand and restrained.
"Ada!"
Thranduil smiled peacefully. "You have not called me that in a long time. Say it again."
"Saes!"
"I love you so much."
No one had ever touched Legolas this way, not even himself. But unfamiliar with it as he was, Legolas knew what sex was, and he knew from older friends that there was pleasure to be had from touching the place where his father's hand currently was. It felt good and the organ was hardening, while pain lit up his heart like a morning sunrise. The boy moaned, pleasure in it beneath the agony.
"A...da..."
"You are even more beautiful like this, my child."
"P-Please stop this. Please, Ada."
"I love you more than anyone. No one has better claim to you than I." Thranduil kissed his forehead. "Just relax while I make you mine."
Father or no, king or no, Legolas fought. But he was not much more than a child, and an archer, lightly muscled and slender, while Thranduil was older and broader, an Elf with a swordsman's build. Also, the sensations shooting up and down Legolas's body were distracting to him. He felt like a great, pleasurable wave was building up inside him. Thranduil smiled at the boy's confusion.
"Enjoy it, ion nin. Let me show you."
"N-No, Ada - "
The wave broke. Legolas felt like he was flying into a million pieces, and it felt good, but all too soon he was back in his betrayed body. Thranduil was stroking his hair and whispering things Legolas couldn't process. The words were half a lover's, half a father's, all devastating. The boy couldn't find the strength to move as his leg was lifted to one side and a semen-slicked finger began to probe his virgin entrance.
"Ada...saes...don't do this to me."
"Little leaf, try to understand. If I don't, someone else will, maybe even against your will. I can't let anyone else have you. You're mine. I have always guarded you, and I will guard this part of you too."
"But Ada...it's not right, the Valar..."
A wet finger slipped inside Legolas and probed as though trying to massage. It moved in a circle for a few moments, then brushed something that almost made Legolas scream.
"Don't worry about the gods, little one. They know how much I love you." Thranduil added another finger and began to scissor the tight passage open. "By our own custom, if I claim you first, no one else may have you. I will not have to give you away, ever. The sea-longing that awakened in your mother will have no sway over you. I will ensure that."
That gave Legolas an idea. "Ada, think of Naneth. She would not like this."
"She gave you to me when she passed. You're mine. Say it, little leaf."
"Ada, I'm yours, but please, not like this."
The fingers withdrew, and Legolas breathed a sigh of relief. But Thranduil undid his own breeches, freeing an erect and reddened cock, and pushed his son's legs up. Legolas gasped, and his pale eyes widened.
"Ada...no. Please, I beg you. Do not do this."
"Don't be afraid. No one else will dare to touch you now."
Aside from a few minor injuries, Legolas had never known much physical pain. The thrust of his father's length into him made the Elfling begin to scream, and Thranduil clapped a hand over his mouth to keep the noise from summoning guards. The king moaned with pleasure at the tight warmth surrounding him, but forced himself to keep still long enough to let Legolas adjust. His way had been eased by the prince's semen as lubrication, but he was determined not to make his beloved son suffer any more than absolutely necessary.
Thranduil looked down tenderly into his son's dazed eyes for several minutes before beginning to move. Legolas arched off the bed with a cry of dismay. Thranduil embraced the smaller body, held it to him, cradled the blond head against his shoulder. As Legolas wept, the king comforted him as though he were not the one hurting his son.
As was normal for Elves, the coupling lasted over an hour. The initial pain and burning eventually faded into a pleasure tanted by Legolas's disgust for this. He hugged his father tightly as it went on, as he always had when he needed comfort. "I love you," the king whispered into his son's ear, and Legolas could think of nothing to say but "I know."
When it finally ended, Legolas shuddered to find himself full of his father's seed. Thranduil gently removed himself, half-concerned to see blood mixed with the semen, half-pleased at this proof of his son's virginity. He lay on his side and drew Legolas into his arms, stroking his back and hair while the Elfling cried.
"Legolas, one day you'll understand. Trust your father."
"Ada, may I have leave to go, please?"
"Not yet, little one. You must make a few promises first. One, that you will never again leave the palace without my permission."
"...yes, Ada."
"You will let no one but me touch you."
"Yes, Ada." Legolas wanted no one's touch now anyway.
"And finally, you may be sad right now, but you will not let yourself fade, not ever."
Legolas closed his eyes. He had not realized there was a way out until now, when it was being taken from him.
"I will obey you, sire."
"Ada. I wish you to call me nothing but Ada from now on."
"Yes, Ada."
"You are mine."
"I was before, Ada, you need not have - "
Legolas dissolved into soft sobs. Thranduil caressed him all over with soothing hands, at one point tried to coax Legolas back to hardness and eventually gave up. When he finally felt able to move, Legolas spoke in a small voice.
"Ada, may I go now?"
"Yes, ion nin, I imagine you'll want a bath. But return at nightfall. From now on, you'll sleep here with me."
Legolas bit his lips to keep from sobbing again. "Yes, Ada."
As the boy left, Thranduil did not forbid him to tell anyone what had changed between them. He knew Legolas never would. And he never did.
FINIS