The inside of the Peredhil house was barely contained chaos; bookshelves were packed to bursting with books and records with stacks spilling onto almost every available table. Paperback fantasy novels were stuffed next to literature textbooks and boxes full of records were balanced precariously on stacks of comic books.

When Arwen had texted her mom earlier to let her know she was coming for a visit, Celebrían had told her that she and Elrond would be having dinner with their neighbors and that Arwen was welcome to come or wait at the house. Normally she would've said yes because dinner at the Oropherion-Bowman house was always entertaining, but tonight she was too anxious over what she was going to do. Also, she didn't think she could handle seeing Tauriel.

They had been friends most of their lives but lately she'd been feeling far more than just friendship. Tauriel had been openly bisexual as long as Arwen could remember, and even had a few significant relationships, but she'd never treated Arwen with any more interest than as a friend. She feared that once she came out to her friends and told Tauriel her feelings that Tauriel wouldn't feel the same and it would ruin their friendship.

Arwen knew she was going to get lost in this world of anxiety if she didn't find something else to do, so she ventured over to the bookshelves in the hopes of distracting herself by getting lost in a story instead. Running her fingers along the spines, she could already feel her anxiety becoming a background thought as she was comforted by the familiarity of the old books. She happened upon an old favorite, Redwall by Brian Jacques, and smiled; fond memories of spending her childhood eagerly devouring every new novel in the series and spending hours playing with her brothers as they pretended to be the warrior animals in the books came back to her.

Sliding the book from the shelf, she kicked her flip flops off and laid down on the couch to read.

Interlude: At the Oropherion-Bowman House

"Elrond... Elrond, listen to me- Geology isn't a real science. It never has been and it never will be." Thranduil gestured widely with his wine glass and continued, "Honestly, why we even offer the major is beyond me." He punctuated his sentence by swallowing the rest of his wine and setting the glass down harder than he'd intended.

Elrond sighed into his own wine glass. Thranduil was on his fifth glass of wine and was well on his way to being very, very tipsy, and a tipsy Thranduil meant another rant about what should and what shouldn't be considered a science. He looked around for his wife hoping for a way out of this conversation- in his many years of friendship with Thranduil he had heard it innumerable times- but she was nowhere to be found. Most likely she had gone to see the latest pet that Tilda had acquired, having a soft spot for both animals and the always cheerful child.

Resigned to the fact that he was a captive audience until his wife returned, he finished off his glass of wine and refilled it to the top, trying to remind himself just why they were friends in the first place. He was saved from this train of thought when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Now that Thranduil had gotten himself thoroughly worked up about the subject he wouldn't notice anything else. Checking his phone, Elrond saw that the text was from Arwen.

Will you be back soon?

Yes, it shouldn't be more than 15 minutes hopefully. Thranduil is doing his geology rant again.

Lol, good luck. Hope you survive. See you soon.

"I hope I survive too." he thought before downing his wine.

Back at the Peredhil Home

The front door creaked open as Elrond and Celebrían entered.

Elrond rubbed his temples and said, "I don't know what I expected. Every time Thranduil gets drunk he complains about science. It's always been like this. Why do I even hope for something different?"

Celebrían smiled, knowing that no matter how much Elrond complained he always enjoyed spending time with one of his oldest and dearest friends. Flicking on the lights in the foyer and slipping out of her flannel jacket, she called out to her daughter.

"Arwen we're home."

"I'm in the living room!"

Hanging her coat up, she walked into the living room and sat down next to her daughter on the couch. Arwen set her book down on the arm of the couch and looked at her mom.

"Hi mom, how was dinner?"

Celebrian stopped halfway through unlacing one of her Doc Martens and looked thoughtfully at her daughter. "Well you know how interesting the Oropherion-Bowman house can be. Tilda got two rats she's calling Finrod and Fingolfin, who are surprisingly cute, oh, and Tauriel was there, she asked how you were doing."

Arwen felt her cheeks flush. While she wasn't intentionally trying to hurt her friend's feelings she was trying to avoid her.; she wanted to see her friend but she was afraid of what would happen if she saw her.

"Oh," was all she managed to say.

She was fortunately saved from having to say more because at that moment her father entered the living room. Elrond sat down in his armchair opposite of the sofa smiling tiredly at his daughter. "Hi sweetheart, how are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Arwen began, fussing with the chain of her necklace. Taking a deep breath she continued, "I just wanted to talk to you guys about something important."

Celebrian took her daughters' free hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"I'm gay" Arwen said her voice barely more than a whisper.

This time she didn't cry, didn't show any emotion. She squeezed her mom's hand tighter and shut her eyes tight, afraid to look at her parents. Afraid of what she wasn't sure. Her grandparents had pointed out that Aragorn, her adopted brother, had been openly gay since he was 14 and her parents were fine with it. So why would they treat her any differently?

"But what if they changed their minds?" her anxiety pointed out. "What if they won't talk to you ever again?"

Shaking her head gently as if she could shake the anxiety right out, she opened her eyes again when she felt her mom pull her into a hug. Before she could process that, her father enveloped them both in a hug. With that hug, Arwen knew everything would be okay; her parents still loved her.