Lassie
Legolas remained quiet for the majority of the treck, occasionally forcing a laugh at one of Gimli's awful jokes. He was still upset that he had spent so much time worrying over Aragorn, desperately searching for him, and all Aragorn cared about was his overly dramatic elf girlfriend. Legolas sighed. What did he expect? It wasn't likely that it was he who Aragorn dreamt about, nor was it he who made Aragorn feel guilty about spending time with Eowyn.
"Lassie," Gimli called' "So, listen to this. An elf, a dwarf, and a man walk into a bar-"
"Could you stop calling me Lassie?" the elf demanded for the millionth time.
"Come on, I think it's adorable, Lassie," Aragorn joined in, causing Legolas to blush, then to quickly glare at the snickering dwarf.
"Fine, Gimli, call me Lassie. See how you like it when you wake up tomorrow morning with an arrow pointed at your-"
"Hey," Aragorn put an arm out to stop him from throttling Gimli."And you," he glared at the dwarf, "Stop harassing Legolas." The dwarf grunted, then resumed to tell Eowyn the terrible joke.
"You didn't need to do that, "Legolas said.
" The Fellowship is already split enough. What if that cretin over there bothers you until you snap and actually send an arrow through his skull?"
"I suppose you're right." The embarrassed elf agreed.
"Of course I am, Lassie," the dark haired man teased, nudging Legolas with his elbow. Legolas smirked, then pantomimed releasing an arrow at Aragorn.
.o0o.
That night, it was Legolas's turn to keep watch for orcs roaming the valley, and he noticed that tonight was unusually quiet. Most nights, you could hear the occasional wolf or fox howling off in the distance, but not tonight. It was so quit that the sound of a twig snapping behind him cracked louder than one of Gandalf's fireworks. Legolas's hand slowly crept behind him to grasp an arrow. Faster than anyone could blink, he notched the arrow and had it pointed directly at... Aragorn. Relaxing his arm, Legolas sighed.
"Why are you up here?" asked the puzzled blond.
"To bother you." came the reply. Jokingly, he added "You know, earlier you were pantomiming shooting me, and now you almost did. Violence is never the answer."Aragorn shot him a gleaming smile, "Bored yet?"
"I do enjoy the quiet, but, yes. I was getting a bit bored."
"Ah ha!" Aragorn exclaimed, "So I do have a reason to be here!" The man and the elf both took a seat on the grassy hill. After several minutes, Aragorn spoke. "You seem quieter than usual. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"You guess? Good to know you're positive about that. Aragorn's sarcasm caused the tall elf to smile, but only for a second. "But really, What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, Lassie," he pushed, using the unfortunate nickname. "You think I can't tell when something is up? I've spent months traveling with you, so, yeah, I can tell. You can trust me."
"You're right, but-"
"I believe that that's twice in one day you've said that now. I must be smarter than I look. And if you really don't want to tell me, you don't have to."
"Thank you." And with that, Aragorn left.
.o0o.
"It's probably nothing serious, Aragorn. Just let him be." Eowyn said, easily blocking a side stroke from his sword.
"I know, but I'm just..." he trailed off.
"Worried? Eowyn finished for him. Aragorn nodded. He faked a lunge left, and when Eowyn moved to block it, he used his free hand to grab her wrist. Then he lightly twisted her arm until she dropped her blade.
"Nice work." she congratulated him. "So? Legolas is always quiet. I don't see any difference. Of course, I've only known him for a month."
"But, women are supposed to be good with all that touchy-feely stuff. Could you please go talk to him?"Aragorn begged.
"I guess I could give it a try." As she left the tent, Aragorn thanked her.
.o0o.
Finding Legolas was easy. He was one of the tallest people there, and he was the only person with unusually clean and perfect blond hair. Now the only problem was getting him to talk. She stepped up to tap his shoulder.
"Legolas?" He jumped as she spoke his name.
"Eowyn? Could you try to make more noise as you walk? I don't want to accidentally shoot you. I told Aragorn the same thing last night." He smiled."So, what brings you here?"
"I thought you seemed a bit... out of it, recently, and..."
"Did Aragorn send you?" the elf sighed, "I'm not a child, and I can take care of myself. Tell him thanks, but it's my problem."
"Yes, he did send me, but now I'm genuinely concerned."
"Why?"
"I may have only known you for a very short time, but that was the only time you've ever said more than two words at once, because you're so straightforward,and I know that if you really wanted me to leave, you would have just said so. Just... Tell me."
"It's Aragorn" he confided, "I..." He blushed.
"Oh my God! You like Aragorn?!" He covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shh..."
"Okay, I won't tell anyone." She smirked and walked off.
Under his breath, Legolas muttered, "Shit."
.o0o.
Later that evening, Aragorn approached Eowyn.
"Did you talk to him?"
"Yes."
"Well? Why is he acting so strange?"
"I don't know," she stated with a shrug.
Aragorn exclaimed, "What? Then wh-" Eowyn interrupted him.
"Relax. He's fine. He just doesn't want to worry you. Why does it matter to you so much anyway?"
"I...Uh, care about him, and want to make sure he's okay." Aragorn turned away, trying to hide the fact that he was blushing.
"Yeah, I can tell. Wait... am I sensing an elf fetish here?" she joked. Aragorn playfully shoved her. Eowyn stuck out her tongue and shoved back, harder. Aragorn was caught off guard by her strength and tumbled into another citizen of Rohan. He quickly muttered an apology.
"I've got to find someone," Eowyn said, running off to look for Legolas once more.
.o0o.
"Lassie!" she called, hoping to get his attention.
"Don't you start that, too," he pleaded. Eowyn rolled her eyes. "So, what's wrong this time?"
"Guess who I just spoke with?" the young woman teased.
"Let me see... Aragorn?"
"Correct," Eowyn replied in mock surprise. "Do you know hat he said? He said, well, indirectly, that he liked you. He's definitely into you."
"Yeah right." the elf challenged.
"Yeah. Right. Go ask him yourself." Eowyn swept her arm out as if to show him the way.
.o0o.
'This probably isn't the best idea' Legolas thought as he made his way through the labyrinth of tents . 'What if he was joking? Or what if she was joking? I need to work on my ability to read people.' Legolas was so caught up in his worrying, that he didn't notice that he ran into someone.
"Oh, sorry." He looked up. Aragorn was standing before him, grinning.
"Hey, there Lassie. Where's the fire?"
"Um, actually, I was trying to find you."
"What for?" The darker-haired man led the other into his near by tent to sit down.
"I know you were worried about me, and why, so I've decided to tell you why I've been acting strange." Legolas took a deep breath and tried to tell him. "I...I..."
"It's fine. I don't need to know." Hearing Aragorn say that only made him want to tell him more.
"I love you." There. He said it. Predictably, Aragorn was speechless. "I knew she was joking," Legolas started backing out of the tent. "Sorry. Forget I said anything. I'm sorry."
"No," Aragorn pulled him back. "I just never thought I would here you say that. But, I... I love you too, Lassie."
At that moment, as their lips locked, they didn't care about the final battle for Rohan, they only cared about each other. Legolas didn't even mind being called Lassie.