Ok, this chappie's a long one, and be prepared for a total overdose of fluff!!
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Tolkien owns it all, except 'the man', Carne and the drunken louts!! They're all mine!!
Dedication: Sunshine- basically ditto on the other dedication!!! :) And everyone who's reviewed! You guys make my lonely day!!
Thanks are at the bottom! And does anyone have any truths for Aragorn to answer? They can be as rude/funny as you like, though I'm not promising to use all of them!!
Note: words in italics are Elvish (there are some obvious exceptions) and, as you all probably know, mean 'love' or 'lover' or similar.
Recap: Aragorn's just done his dare, tricked Arwen and asked her that fatal question: Truth Or Dare?
Chapter 3: The Dancing Mayfly Dare
"Come on," Aragorn told his wife, a grin of triumph on his handsome face, "I asked you a question. Truth or dare?"
Arwen continued to blink at him in a dazed fashion. The truth of what had just happened was slowly managing to penetrate through her mind. She looked at him through narrowed eyes and said finally, "I don't believe you."
"What?" Her husband asked, innocence dripping from his voice. His smile grew wider, something that he knew irritated Arwen very much.
"You didn't really mean what you said just then," she replied, her expression unreadable. "You're just trying to get around the fact that I humiliated you."
He shrugged. "Maybe I was, but you can't deny that I got you." He kissed her on the lips, just to infuriate her further. How she hated being beaten at her own game.
She sighed, exasperated. "Fine! I give in. You won, you beat me. Does it make you happy, my darling?"
He grinned and nodded. "Exstatic, my love." He kissed her again, knowing he would soon be triumphant in bringing a smile to her face. "So?"
"What now?!" He thought he'd seen the edges of her lips curving up for just a second.
"Truth or dare?" Persistance seemed to be his only option, as he knew she hadn't given in at all.
She sighed again but did not answer. Aragorn instantly recognised her new tactic. Talk about him sulking, she was just as bad! She was pretending not to have heard him, avoiding answering, hoping that eventually he'd get bored and give up. But not this time.
"Meleth? Truth or dare? Come on, I know you heard me. Which is it to be? Dare or truth, truth or dare? Answer me! I'll count to ten. One, two, thr-"
"Fine!" She slmost shouted, scaring a poor bird, who flew from his perch on the statue twittering madly. "I'll have a dare, if it'll shut you up!"
"Deal!" He said, shaking her hand a little too over-enthusiastically.
That was it for Arwen. The act she had been trying to pull off vanished into a fit of hysterical laughter. She leant back against the statue, holding her stomach with her free hand, until finally the giggles abated. All signs of sullenness gone, she opened her teary eyes to see her husband staring at her strangely.
"What?" She asked, taking a deep breath so as not to start laughing again.
"Nothing," he said in an almost too-offhand voice. And before she could question him further, he pulled her up by the hand he was still holding, and lead her out of the garden.
"Where are you taking me?" She asked as he lead her down through the upper citadel, along the main streets, not pausing to acknowledge any well-wishers or people asking, "And how is His Majesty today? And Her Majesty too! My Lady, it is a pleasure!", as was usually the case whenever they went into the market area of the city together.
When her husband did not answer, Arwen continued to press him, but he just winked at her, with a somewhat spine-tingling grin. She couldn't help feeling a little bit nervous.
About fifteen minutes later they reached the lower citadel, where Aragorn proceeded to ignore his wife's questions. When she realised he was taking her through the dark back streets, she was silenced by curiosity, but also a kind of sadness at the state of the area.
Eventually he stopped by the door to a very shabby inn, called The Dancing Mayfly. On its sign was a picture of a blue insect above a green pond, but the paint was cracked and one of the brackets that held the wooden sign up was broken. One of the windowframes was boarded up, and the glass pannels in the other windows were black with pipe smoke and dirt. The place smelt of stale beer and men, and raucous laughter came in bursts through the badly-made wooden door.
Just as Arwen was about to ask why they had come to such a place, Aragorn pinned her against the wall and kissed her so forcefully she thought he was trying to break some sort of record.
"What. was. that. for?" She asked, completely out of breath as if she had run a mile. She hoped he might finally answer a question.
"When you go in there-" He paused, breathing heavily - his kiss had obviously had much the same effect on him as it had on her. "When you go in, you need to remember that."
"What? The kiss? I'm going in there? Why?"
He rolled his eyes in exasperation at her torrent of questions, but he was smiling. It was hard not to smile when in such close proximity with his beautiful wife. "You'll see why, and yes, you are going in there. But you might need more, er... pleasant thoughts. Do you think you can remember?"
A mischievous glint came to her eyes and she ran a hand through his hair, looking adoringly at him. "I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. Do you think you could, um, show it to me one more time?"
He was half tempted to say no, to be cruel and make her go on with the dare: they'd been delayed long enough and he wanted to get his revenge. But this creature in his arms, she was so lovely, so beautiful, that as usual he couldn't refuse what she asked.
With a grin he leaned down once more and kissed her as best as he knew how. For what she was about to do, she needed all the good memories she could get. He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her.
Minutes later, as he was about to pull away, he heard two men come out from the tavern, singing loudly, blind drunk. What made him decide not to end the kiss and instead tilt his head the other way and deepen it even further, was when one man shouted, "Get in there my friend!" and some comments that would later make the former ranger laugh out loud. If the poor man knew he'd said such things about his king and queen, he'd have died of embarassment (although Aragorn felt he would also have suffered his fate in this way). When Arwen heard what the man was shouting, her husband felt her laugh against his lips, though she did not want to pull back and be recognised either.
And so the kiss went on for much longer than anticipated, and as with most long kisses, grew more and more passionate. Aragorn prayed to the Valar that the men would go away soon, or he would be more than tempted to do something one definitely shouldn't in the middle of the day behind an inn.
Fortunately the men took the hint and staggered off, obviously frustrated that they hadn't been able to interrupt this man with someone who was most probably a local whore - from what they saw of her face, she was certainly pretty enough to belong as high up as the palace, they thought (somewhat ironically!), so why else would she be down in the back alleys of the lower citadel with a man who was most probably someone else's husband?
"Arwen," Aragorn breathed between kisses, "please. stop. I'm losing. control." He groaned as instead she deepened the kiss again, running her hands through his hair. All he could think about was - well, something he really shouldn't be at this moment in time.
Forcing himself away, he stepped back and walked slowly to the other side of the street where he leant against the wall of a small bookshop, head on arms. He couldn't even look at his wife right now, the effects would be too powerful, too dangerous. When he had finally calmed down enough, he reminded himself of what they had come to the tavern for and went back across the street.
"Are you alright, melethron?" Arwen said softly, smiling widely. She knew what power she had over him.
Gritting his teeth, he looked into her eyes and nodded. "Now I believe it is time for your dare."
Her smile vanished immediately. "But- I- I'm not sure I remember the kiss properly!" She tried to reach up again but he was having none of it.
"Not this time you don't!" He muttered, half to himself, before taking her arm and guiding her into The Dancing Mayfly.
Inside the tavern was as bad, if not worse, than the outside. It was so dark and hazy - due to all the pipe smoke - that Arwen couldn't make out one man from another as they sat huddled around their tables, playing cards and betting with toothpicks and other things of little worth. It seemed as though night had come early in here, even though the sun was high in the sky outside. And the smell! She was sure that none of the occupants had had a bath for at least a fortnight. She also thought that, if she had not being wearing shoes, the cracked stone floor would have been soaking with spilt ale after many late night brawls.
Just as they made it to the bar, Arwen realised she was the only woman in the place. She had thought as they walked in that everything seemed to grow quieter, and now as she looked around she saw the customers' eyes literally out on stalks, their mouths hanging open. One man had clearly seen her and forgotten all about having a mouthful of ale, and it now sloshed down his shirt unnoticed.
"Estel," Arwen murmured as he stood beside her, looking round. She found his hand and squeezed it. "I don't like it here. Can we just get on with this and go?"
He smiled gently to reassure her that no one would harm her, though in truth he didn't like it any more than she did. He wouldn't trust any of these men as far as he could throw them. "It will all be over soon, meleth," he whispered.
Thankfully no-one had seemed to notice that the king and queen had just joined them. When the barman came to take their orders (they politely declined - if those glasses had been cleaned in the last year Aragorn swore he'd eat his tunic), he squinted at them for a second, before shaking his head and muttering, "must be the 'eat today, it's gone to me 'ed. King an' queen in me inn? I'd be so lucky!".
"I'll be right back," Aragorn told his wife. For a minute he was reluctant to leave; the look on her face was of pure terror at being left alone in such an awful place. But he had to find just the right man, so he kissed her forehead and reassured her once again with a smile. Looking to his left he saw a man slumped against the bar, staring into his half-finished pint. "Mela, this good man here- what's your name? Carne? - Carne will look after you." Arwen looked from her husband to Carne and back again, revulsion on her face. The poor man had obviously seen better days, but it was Aragorn that the look was reserved for.
Dragging him away from Carne she whispered furiously, "You're going to leave me with a total stranger in a bar full of drunken louts who want nothing better than to see me take my clothes off?"
He put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Arwen, calm down. I'll only be a minute." As he turned he looked back over his shoulder and grinned. "You'll hate me even more by the end of this." Then he disappeared into the misty darkness.
Thoroughly outraged with her husband, she went back to the bar and sat on the edge of a hard wooden stool. She had tried her best not to think about what was coming, but now found it impossible not to. What could possibly be worse than being dragged into such a revolting place, then left alone with only the protection of a man who seemed unable even to string two words together?
As she was thinking this through, a hand grabbed her hair, and an arm wrapped around her waist. Her immediate thought was Estel, but he would never man-handle her in such a way. A gravelly voice whispered something truly unrepeatable in her ear (he was thankfully too drunk to notice its pointed tip), and she screamed, trying to hit and kick the disgusting man. Suddenly she saw a fist come out of nowhere, and she was released as her captor fell to the floor, only to be grabbed again by someone else and dragged into a dark corner. She tried to scream, but he had his hand over her mouth. Then she realised who she was being held by, and her heart began to slow.
"Estel!" She breathed when he let her go. She threw her arms around his neck, and he held her tightly. "I- thank you for- for saving me, I was so scared!" She stepped back and brushed herself down. "Won't you get into trouble for starting that fight?"
They both looked over to the bar, where the man who had held her had stood up and hit the first man he saw, obviously not bothering to find out if the recipient was the man who had hit him or not. Now about eleven or twelve men were involved.
"No-one'll ever know it was me!" Aragorn took his wife by the hand again and looked into her eyes. "I'm truly sorry for leaving you alone there. I should never have put you in such danger."
She shrugged. "It's alright, no harm done." She glanced back to the fight, where even more men had got involved. "At least, not to us!"
He laughed, deciding it was finally time to get around to things. "Right, in that case, you can get on with your dare. There's no point looking at me like that, you know you've got to do it. You see that man over there?"
She looked in the direction her was pointing and was just about able to make out a rather large man sat by the window. She nodded. "Yes. What about him?"
"He's agreed to let you kiss him."
"What?!"
"He's agreed to let you-"
"Yes, I heard what you said!" She rounded on her husband, shock and fury showing clearly on her face, even in the dim light. "But I never agreed to kiss him!"
"Yes you did, when you requested a dare. Now go over there and give the lonely old man something to smile about!"
"But- I- " She spluttered, completely lost for words at the hilarity - and vileness - of the situation.
"Go on." He urged, turning her around and leading her towards the man. "And think happy things. Birds and butterflies. Imagine you were kissing me."
When Arwen saw the man she was supposed to kiss, she couldn't imagine anyone being as unlike Estel. He was old and fat, and his grey hair almost disappeared from his bald head before her eyes. He had tiny, watery eyes, a rather large nose, and small, pink lips that he licked greedily when he saw her approach.
In a last ditch attempt to get out of it, Arwen muttered to her husband, "What if I like him better than you and we elope together? How would you feel then?"
He kissed her lightly and said with a smile, "I don't think that's going to happen!"
She sighed. Well if it had to be done, it had to be done. There was no way she was going to refuse the challenge Estel had obviously thought she might. She'd show him.
"So I just kiss him on the lips and that's that? We go home and it's your turn?"
He nodded. "Simple as that."
"Fine," she muttered, stepping forward and purposefully not returning the man's smile. She was glad nearly everyone else in the room had joined in the fight - she knew she was right in thinking that they'd all want a turn once they saw what this man got.
As she leant down, she felt his arms go about her waist and his big hands squeeze her backside. Forcing herself to move closer to him, she smelt sweat and stale beer, and as she felt his disgusting hot breath on her face, she closed her eyes and pictured the street with Estel. Suddenly the arms were her husband's, the hands, his smell all to familiar, his warm breath only inviting her lips, not pushing them away.
But as she felt the warm, wet sensation of a stranger's lips on her own, she knew it was not Estel. She jerked her head back and wrenched herself from the man's grasp, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "Estel, get me out of here," she called over her shoulder, her voice shaking with revulsion and relief. Immediately familiar arms took her and escorted her cleanly out of the inn without a backwards glance.
Once they were outside, she leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. It was so nice to have clean air in her lungs after what seemed like such a long time (in reality only ten minutes) inside that blasted tavern.
"Never make me do that again!" She looked up to see her husband trying - and failing - to hide his laughter. "What is so funny?!"
"Just you, meleth," he grinned, taking her by the waist and kissing her. He pulled back after a few seconds and made a face. "You taste of old man!"
Before she could retaliate he let her go and ran off down the alley. He screams chased him all the way to the end and around the corner, where he waited for her.
Sure enough she came running straight past, and he reached out and grabbed her by the waist, kissing her immediately as he did so, so that she would know who her captor was this time.
"I thought I tasted of old man," she said when he finally let her breathe, though she was smiling.
"You do," he reasoned, also grinning, "but it's quite nice actually!"
She hit him on the arm and laughed, realising now that it was her turn to bestow something awful onto him. "Estel?" She asked sweetly.
"Hmm?" He murmured, as he began to kiss her neck. She moved back, so depriving him of his pleasures.
"Estel darling, truth or dare?"
Revenge was going to be sweet.
To be continued...
Cerridwen: Hehe, well, I do try!!! I think Raa Raa bear must have somehow (from his tea box! - it was a teabox, right?!) got into my head whilst writing this chapter, and had a hand in all the fluff goings on!! Thankies, as you would say!!!
ArwenElfstone: More is here! A lot more than I expected to write, but that's just better, right?!
Dark Borg Drone: Well, the way I see it they don't really care where they kiss anyway (see above for further evidence!), but you're one of the only people who've given me any ideas so thank you!
Blue Autumn Sky: I bet it was! But i don't think they had llamas (or turbans) in Middle Earth, so I may adapt your idea, if you don't mind?! Thank you!
Popcorn Leader: I've updated! yay! I'm glad you liked that part!
Crow: I hope its interesting in a good way!
Evenstar Dreams: well, we're all weirdos so hey!
kasbels: thank you for your review, you know how I feel about it, I hope this chapter is a little more realistic for your liking, but its just fun, and isn't that what fanfics all about?
ME132: well I haven't got that far yet, but I'm working on it! thank you, I hope this is cute enough for your, er... demanding... taste for fluff!!! :) I hope this doesn't leave such frightenning images in your mind for hours afterwards!!!
espergirl04: thank you! and now you know!!
bubetubesngrass: Hehe that was my evil plan all along!!! Aragorn! Chickens! Now I watch as you laugh and laugh!! :)
luv24Alias: more is here, thanx!!
Strider's Girl: Next chapter's here, calm down! Breathe in, breathe out... that's it!!
Malethwen: wow thank you, I love gushing reviews where people literally beg for more... I'm just evil like that!!! No seriously, thanks a lot, it was such a lovely review! :)