Aragorn absently twirled a good-sized length stick in the murky puddle, chin resting on his palm. Biting his lower lip unconsciously, he managed to free a rock from the bottom of the ugly mess, sending it bouncing over to a bottom of a tree. He lifted his gaze momentarily to watch it, only to look back down again at the brown mud. Before he could anything else, his actions were rudely interrupted by an innocent little acorn.

Rubbing the top of his head, Strider glanced up, and upon seeing nothing, returned to probing the mud. A moment passed until another acorn met with Aragorn's head. Getting a little peeved, the future king of Gondor looked angrily up at the offending tree, only to see a crouching figure up in the strong branches.

Legolas smiled warmly, daintily dropping an acorn down to meet with his comrade's forehead. He already was cradling an armful of the little nuts, and was fully prepared to use them all. Aragorn snatched a stray acorn from the ground and threw it up at the assaulting Elf, narrowly missing him. As a response, Legolas gratefully released the load in his arms, acorns plummeting down on Strider.

Aragorn, once free of falling nuts, glared up at the Elven prince. "Dare I ask?"

Prince Greenleaf swung gracefully down from his perch to a branch below. "Will it satisfy a Man's curiosity?"

A grin crept to Strider's face. "Will I be allowed to chase you relentlessly afterwards?"

Legolas peered down at him. Smirking, he straddled the tree branch. "Depending."

Choosing not to touch the last statement, Aragorn returned to messing with the puddle of mud. Presently, yet another one of those pestering acorns greeted his head. Flinging flecks of mud up at the Elf, the Man growled back in his throat. "What do you want?"

"Pay attention to me." Legolas rewarded him with an Elven delicacy the Elf had managed to swipe past Elrond's defenses.

Catching the slice of brown, Aragorn looked up to see the sky blue eyes staring down at him playfully, a leg swinging freely to and fro. Biting into the Elvish treat - a chocolate with an orange taste - Strider raised an eyebrow curiously. The Elf proceeded to a lower perch, only inches higher than Aragorn. That a mistake the Legolas realized a second too late.

Strider grabbed the unsuspecting Elf's foot, tearing off his boot and beginning to tickle the bottom mercilessly. Legolas, not expecting that, dropped all façades and giggled childishly, shrieking when Aragorn managed to find his very sensitive spot on his foot. Still having a grip on the tree, Legolas leaned to the other side in hopes to rid of Aragorn's pestering fingers, but instead found himself upside down, looking up at Strider with his pleading eyes.

His eyes grew wider as did Aragorn's grin, trying to scramble away when two hands found his ticklish spots and began to tickle relentlessly. Strider caught the Elf when he lost his grip, taking him to the ground, still his fingers making Legolas laugh. Finally he wore out, grabbing the slinking Elf by the waist when he had dared to get away. Greenleaf reached for his boot, which had been abandoned at the tree's roots, but found that he couldn't move past Aragorn's arms.

Strider hugged him close to his body, breathing huskily into his pointed ear. "I don't think so."

Legolas whimpered, but settled into the comfort Aragorn offered. "But... my boot..."

"What about it?"

"It feels lonely! I need to comfort it!"

Stroking the blonde hair, Aragorn pulled the most pathetic face he could. "So your boot matters more than me?"

Legolas found he didn't have an answer.

Strider kissed the Elf's cheek, keeping his arms around the lithe body. Legolas gave up and snuggled closer, turning around to face Aragorn, then rested his head upon his shoulder, arms around his neck and arm.

Silence passed.

Legolas pulled back to regard the Man quietly, leaning forward to kiss his lips delicately, receiving the same reaction. Aragorn ran his fingers through the thin hair, pulling back to smile at his Elven prince. "I love you."

The prince straddled the king's lap. "I love you." He smiled like the adorable Elf he is, touching his forehead to Aragorn's. Giving his nose a brief kiss, the Elf stood and made a movement to his boot, but was stopped when a hand gripped his calf.

"I need to ask you something."

Before Greenleaf could question him, Frodo's voice rang out through the air.

"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"

"Liar!"

"Mr. Frodo, I think..."

"Sam, go get Pippin! Tell him I need his help!"

"Why?"

"I'm gonna rob Frodo of his marshmallows, but he keeps KICKING ME, so I need backup!"

"Oh."

"RUN, SAM! RUN!"

Both Elf and Man turned blank stares at each other, two cocky grins appearing across their faces. Never a dull moment in the Fellowship, both mused silently to themselves.

Never.

~***~

Unfortunately, Sam was too slow to retrieve Pippin, and therefore a Dwarf, Elf, and two Men had saved Frodo and were able to fight off the two insisting Hobbits. At last they sat peacefully around a crackling fire.

Frodo sat between the security of Legolas and Strider, with Gimli and Boromir close by. Legolas, blissfully caught up in his fascination for staring at fire, didn't notice when Boromir gave a seemingly casual flick his of hand, and instantly, the seven other members of the Fellowship were on the Elf like a shark on blood, causing him to tumble backwards.

The first to find it was Pippin. "I got it! I got it! Lookit `ere!"

Merry jumped up to get a closer look. "Yeah! Good job, Pip!" He gave his cousin a hearty slap on the back. Legolas shrieked, struggling to his knees and hand snatching out to take the leather bag.

"Mine!"

But before he could grab it, Frodo was on his back. Literally. "Hobbits win!"

Aragorn's swift hand took it from Merry's grasp. "MINE now!"

"MINE!" Legolas lunged at him.

"Boromir!" Strider threw the bag to the steward, who caught it deftly. Holding it high above his head, he had to keep from being run over from the mass of little people attacking his midsection. Gimli laughed heartily, walking up to Boromir and grabbed his arm, bringing it down to retrieve the sack.

"Aha! The Dwarf has it now!"

Legolas dramatically brought the backside of his hand to his forehead. "Everyone is against me!" Dropping his act, he lunged at the Dwarf. "Gimme back!"

Gimli, unfortunately, wasn't quick enough, and was brutally attacked by an Elf, and the two toppled backwards. When the little quarrel ended, Legolas scampered up a tree and sat on a high branch, peering into his bag. Making sad noises, he pulled out the beaten remains of the Elvish treat. "You people are so mean to meee..."

"We love you, Legolas!"

"Shut up!"