Sleeping Elves

Disclaimer: If I owned it I'd be dead, or buried in letters.

Chapter One: Maedhros

Prompt: Maitimo prefers sleeping in a soft bed especially after Fingon rescues him from Thangorodrim. Maitimo was usually the one his brothers ran to after bad dreams or when their parent's arguing got too loud so he is a light sleeper. He also sleeps very still so much so that after the rescue everyone is constantly trying to make sure he is still alive and usually end up waking him up. When he has someone sleeping in the same bed or just close to him on the ground he has a habit of cuddling up to them in his sleep. He does have nightmares so Maglor spends several nights sleepless helping his brother sleep.

Music resonated through the room. The notes were a lullaby and carried the power to make whoever was listening go to sleep. The elf playing looked at the figure sleeping on the bed. He smiled in relief at the sight of his older brother sleeping. His actions had caused him so much pain, so he was glad he could help him somehow. Tears ran down his cheeks as he thought about what his beloved brother had suffered. He bit his lip fighting back sobs as he drank in all the harm his beloved brother had come to.

There was a knock on the door before it was opened. He looked up hands never stilling on the strings of his harp. Standing in the doorway was his eldest younger brother. He made to stand but the other shook his head.

"How is he?"

"Sleeping."

Celegorm nodded not surprised it seemed like every night his brother would spend hours waiting to make sure their recently returned brother was sleeping peacefully. He frowned taking in how Maglor looked sitting there. His eyes showed his exhaustion and he looked like he was about to start crying. He walked over and made to take the harp from his hands, but the elder of the two quickly smacked his hand away. Maglor immediately started playing again hoping that the disruption in the song didn't allow any nightmares, more like memories resurfacing though they didn't want to think about that, to creep in.

"No Tyelko. I'm playing right now."

"Kana you're dead on your feet. Get some rest I'll watch him."

"No. Not yet." Maglor asserted shaking his head. "Please let me stay a little while longer."

Celegorm frowned and nodded. "All right, but not much longer."

Maglor nodded and refocused his attention on making sure the figure on the bed slept peacefully. Celegorm watched indifferently, at least that's how he wanted to seem his eyes showed a wealth of worry. After several minutes he decided to leave the harp in his brother's hands and just scooped him up out of the chair. It was a sign of how exhausted he was that he never even struggled to free himself, but nestled closer to his warmth instead. After carefully depositing Maglor in his own bed Celegorm returned to Maedhros' room.

"You put him in bed?" Maedhros' voice was thick with sleep.

"I did. I'm sorry we woke you."

"You didn't. My dreams did." The soft reply came. "Thank you."

"No, you don't need to thank me. We are all worried about how much stress he's putting on himself. We'll take care of him, you just focus on recovering."

Maedhros nodded and closed his eyes, but with every noise he jerked awake and couldn't settle until Celegorm left and cleared both the hall outside his door and the rooms below. Once that was done he drifted back into sleep wishing he could sleep without burdening his brothers.