Disclaimer: I own nothing, it all belongs to Tolkien.
Summery: Arwen asks Aragorn's opinion on a new dress. Does he dare tell her the truth? Rated K/PG. Humor. Possibly slight OOCness.
The Dress
"Aragorn, how does this dress look on me?"
Aragorn turned from the window to look at his wife and involuntarily gasped in shock.
The dress Arwen was wearing was some form of hideous orange silk with big blue and yellow flowers across the bottom. It was painfully gaudy all by its self but on Arwen it looked worse.
Aragorn didn't think his wife was ugly, on the contrary she was quite beautiful but there were some outfits even she couldn't pull off and this was one of them.
"So what do you think?" Arwen spun around before facing Aragorn again, eagerly waiting for his response.
Aragorn disguised his gasp as a long, "Hmm," before answering, "It's very….different."
He spoke slowly, unwilling to hurt his wife's feelings, wincing as he saw her face lit up, "Thank you! It was given to me and I wanted to know what you thought before I wore it to that feast tonight."
Aragorn winced internally again, this time for all the people that would have to see the dress. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
His thoughts where interrupted as the door behind him swung open, "Aragorn, about these…" Legolas's voice trailed off into silence as he saw Arwen.
Arwen wasted no time asking for his opinion of her dress, "Legolas what do you think of my new dress?"
Legolas visibly swallowed, "I've never seen another dress like it Arwen," he answered evasively.
Arwen frowned, "Legolas after all theses years don't you know I want to hear the truth?"
"You want the truth?" Legolas arched one eyebrow.
"Yes."
Legolas took a deep breath, "With all due respect Arwen, that is the ugliest dress I have ever seen you or anyone else in Middle Earth ever wearing. And that is meant in a kind way."
Arwen's blue eyes filled with tears and she looked at Aragorn, "Is it really that ugly?" she demanded.
Unable to do anything else Aragorn nodded.
"But you didn't tell me?" Arwen looked very distressed by this point.
"Well…I didn't want to insult you." Aragorn replied, shooting a glare at Legolas.
The elf flinched slightly and tried to do some damage control, "It's not really that bad Arwen, honestly. Maybe if you wore a nice shawl or something with it…"
"Be quiet Legolas." Arwen snapped and for several seconds Aragorn was relatively sure Legolas's immortal life was over.
"Uh… Arwen maybe Legolas has a point," Aragorn began but stopped when Arwen directed her murderous glare on him.
Without saying a word Arwen turned and exited the room, slamming the door behind her.
Both friends waited until her footsteps had died away before Legolas exhaled the breath he had been holding, "I guess it was a good thing she didn't have her sword with her."
Aragorn silently thanked the Valar for that. If she had had it with her, things might have been slightly messier.
Another few minutes of silence passed, Aragorn trying to figure out how he could sooth his wife's feelings. Legolas broke the silence, "She wanted to know the truth but when I told her she got angry and stomped off to cry. And women say we're hard to understand."
Aragorn nodded, after all Legolas did have a point. Women could be very strange at times.
'Maybe next time I'll just tell her the truth the first time,' Aragorn mused but immediately rejected that idea. The next time Arwen might have her sword.
Fin.