Chapter 8

Erestor woke up first. It wasn't even light outside yet. He started to roll over onto his side, but realized that he couldn't, because there was a head on his shoulder and an arm securely wrapped around his waist. At first a little confused, he began to sit up. Then all the memories of the previous night presented themselves and Erestor realized who he was in bed with. A huge, almost idiotic, smile passed across his face. Knowing now that he would never be able to get back to sleep, he settled down, staring at Glorfindel, occasionally stroking the golden hair.

Slowly, dim rays broke through the window, illuminating the room. Occasionally, they would catch on Glorfindel's hair in just the right way, and for an instant, the entire room lit up. It looked like it would be a beautiful day. As time went on, the room grew brighter and brighter, but Glorfindel still did not wake.

Erestor was not about to wake him up. He knew that, like him, Glorfindel was not sleeping well. Any night where a good and healthy sleep could be derived was worth treasuring. As far as Erestor was concerned, Glorfindel could spend all day in his bed. It mattered not a whit to him.

Eventually, though, Glorfindel stirred. He was a little confused, because he wasn't used to waking up next to someone else. The first thought that entered his mind was that this had all been a bad dream and that he was still in bed with Elrond. The thought was reinforced with a quick glance up to see a dark-haired slender elf. As he awoke, though, his mind cleared. This was not Elrond's room. And that meant that this elf could not be Elrond.

"Good morning, Glorfindel," said Erestor.

"Do I have to get up yet?" mumbled Glorfindel, burying his face into Erestor's shoulder. He had never been a morning person, and had been even less so since Elrond died. Every new morning meant one more day that he had to deal with the fact that Elrond was no longer here. "Can't I stay here longer?"

Erestor chuckled. "You can, if you wish, but I must get up. There is work that I must see to this morning."

And I am keeping you from it. Glorfindel rolled away from Erestor, turning completely away from him. "Okay, then."

Erestor wondered what he had said wrong. "Glorfindel, what is it?" He put a hand on Glorfindel's side. But really, he wasn't in the mood for more of Glorfindel's moodiness. Not first thing in the morning.

In a sudden moment of clarity, Glorfindel realized that Erestor really did care about him, but was tired of Glorfindel's moods. So he turned back towards Erestor. "Nothing. What do we have to do today?"

Erestor collapsed back down onto the bed from his half-sitting position. "There are so many things that to list them all would take the entire day." He wrapped his arm around Glorfindel's shoulder. "Come to think of it, I don't want to get up, either." He shook his head. "Too much work to do. It will be the death of me. I don't know how Elrond managed it all."

Glorfindel rested his head on Erestor's chest. He could hear Erestor's heart beating slowly. He felt so alive. "That's why I'm here, Erestor. Surely the two of us, intelligent elves, can manage to almost finish the work of one brilliant elf." The time had come, he knew, to stop being such a burden to Erestor and to actually become a productive person again. He had to pull himself together.

"Are you sure?" Erestor wanted nothing more than to hear Glorfindel say something like that, but he wasn't sure if Glorfindel was truly better enough to be able to take on a heavy workload, or indeed, any workload at all. "I can muddle on without you, you know…but I would like any help you could give."

The door burst open and a servant walked in. Erestor made no effort to push Glorfindel off of him, and Glorfindel made similarly no effort to move away from Erestor. Both saw the slight astonishment on the servant's face. Finally, the servant managed to find the words that he had been sent here to say. "Erestor…the trade delegation is awaiting you…should I…what should I tell them?"

Erestor didn't want to laugh at this elf's confusion. So he smiled and said, "Tell them that I will be there shortly." He even managed to contain the laughter until the door closed.

"I guess you should get up, then," said Glorfindel. What he wanted was to spend all day in bed with this beautiful elf that he was sure was at least mildly attracted to him. He began to move off of Erestor, but Erestor's surprisingly strong arm held him in place. "What are you doing?"

"I am now…we are the most important elves in Imladris. If we want to keep someone waiting, we can. And I, for one, am now immensely comfortable. Unless you have some burning desire to get up."

No, no burning desire to get up. A slight burning desire for other things, but that's not important right now. "Erestor, they'll be angry with you." He completely agreed with Erestor, though. This was a comfortable bed, they were both still sleepy enough to not want to get up yet.

"Do you care? Because if you really want me to go, then I will. After all, I'm sure that sitting through hours of a mind-numbing meeting will be much more enjoyable than staying here in bed." Erestor realized just how sexual that sounded and winced slightly. Though he meant it with all his heart, he didn't want to intimidate Glorfindel any more than was strictly necessary.

"I really do think you should go. I'm sure that we can set aside some time later for spending here in your comfortable bed. But to earn that, you have to sit through your mind-numbing meetings. Meanwhile, I will be in Elrond's office, seeing to all the correspondence that I'm sure has piled up into mountains by now. We will see each other at the noon meal and then we shall decide what to do with the rest of our day." All of this, of course, was absolutely the opposite of what Glorfindel actually wanted to do.

Erestor groaned. "Tell me you're kidding."

"Nope." Glorfindel turned to get out of bed.

Erestor acted faster. He pinned Glorfindel down on the bed, his hands pinioning Glorfindel's wrists to his sides, and grinned at him. "I can think of much better things to do."

"As I said a few moments earlier, there is ample time to be spent in bed. However, the trade delegation will only wait so long before they leave. And you really don't want that to happen." Glorfindel's heart was racing; did this mean that Erestor wanted him as much as he wanted Erestor? He sincerely hoped so. "So I think that you should get off me and get dressed."

Erestor sighed but did not move. "I am afraid that I will need some assurance that I will actually have you in my bed later in order for me to move now." His stomach tightened; this was the moment of truth.

Glorfindel grinned; he knew exactly what Erestor was saying. Freeing one of his hands from Erestor's grip, he pulled Erestor's head down and kissed him lightly, searchingly. Erestor tasted so much different from Elrond. Seeing that in all other ways they seemed so alike, this surprised Glorfindel a little. Where Elrond tasted of cloves and cinnamon, Erestor tasted like a multitude of things; among them were mint and honey. It was an addictive kind of taste, something Glorfindel knew he would be coming back for later.

The kiss lengthened and deepened. Glorfindel pulled Erestor fully down on top of him and tangled his hands in the dark hair. Erestor, for his part, managed to show a little self-restraint. He restrained himself from doing anything more than just kissing Glorfindel and running his hands along Glorfindel's perfect chest. Anything more, he knew, would have to wait for later.

Eventually, as all good things must, the kiss ended. Erestor smiled and pressed a gentle, almost chaste kiss to Glorfindel's forehead. "I think that that is assurance enough," he whispered into Glorfindel's ear. Then his tongue darted out and ran down the pointy ear. Glorfindel shuddered in pleasure.

Lightning-fast, Glorfindel reversed their positions. "It had better be," said Glorfindel confidently, sitting up and looking at Erestor lying under him. It was a sight that he knew he could get used to. Erestor looked absolutely perfect to him, in his own way even better than Elrond. Erestor smiled confidently up at him and raised a hand to caress Glorfindel's cheek. "Because that's all you're getting until I'm confident that you've got off your lazy ass and done some work." He grinned cheekily.

"Oh, you'll pay for that later," said Erestor. "Don't worry about that. Unfortunately, though, it does not appear that I can get any work done now. You seem to be sitting on me. So unless you move, it appears that I will be sitting here on my lazy ass all day." He half-sat up and kissed Glorfindel again, pulling Glorfindel down on top of him as he lay back down. This kiss lasted as long as or longer than the first, and neither really seemed like they wanted to get up at its conclusion.

Finally, though, Erestor pushed Glorfindel off of him and actually made it out of bed. Scowling at the thought of actually having to go and work, he pulled at Glorfindel's arm. "Uh-uh, you have to get up, too. I seem to recall you saying something about Elrond's correspondence."

Glorfindel groaned theatrically, but pulled himself out of bed. "The tortures you put me through, Erestor." Slowly, he began to pull on the clothes he had deposited on the floor the previous night. Erestor, however, disappeared into the bathroom so that he could at least give the appearance of cleanliness and dignity. He emerged about twenty minutes later and found Glorfindel lounging on the bed again, only this time he was fully dressed.

"I thought you were going to work," said Erestor, pulling his hair back and restraining it with a small black clip. "In fact, I believe that that was part of our agreement."

"I was waiting for you."

"How thoughtful of you. I suspect, however, it was your innate laziness that you just didn't want to go and work." He walked over to the bed and pulled Glorfindel up. "That is something that I am going to have to remedy."

They walked to the door hand in hand. Erestor opened it and they walked out. They continued to walk through the hallways together, though they were no longer holding hands. When it finally came to the turning where they had to separate, Glorfindel turned to Erestor and kissed him briefly. "I love you," he murmured to Erestor.

Erestor smiled up at Glorfindel. His smile was so intense that it could have lit an entire room. "I love you, too."

Author's Note: Wow! I actually finished a fic! Anyhow, would anyone be interested in seeing a sequel? Prequel? Both? Neither? Should I just stop writing altogether? All opinions are welcome.

And thank you to everyone who reviewed this, especially Haldir's Heart and Soul, Nevvy, and lostdreamer. Also thank you to everyone who reads slash out there! You make this possible!