Fingon yawned and stretched languidly beneath his blanket. The air puffing through the open window was sharp in the deep twilight, but Fingon was lulled warm and safe and floating on the lingering whispers of his mother's lullaby. He arched his back once more and stretched towards sleep.
A rustle under the window poked his awareness, but Fingon's somnolent brain smothered the impulse to pick up his head. The disquiet came again and Fingon sat up slowly not yet nervous enough to sacrifice the warmth of his blankets. A scraping sound began and Fingon's unease grew with the volume of the rustling. He didn't think raccoons could climb walls, but being alone in the dark made anything possible.
Grunts abruptly began to accompany the scraping and rustling. Fingon concluded whatever was climbing the house was too large to be anything but a bear. He bit his lip but dismissed the thought with a shake of his dark braided head. Fingon waited, his sleepiness keeping him patient, until a head of curls and waves and cowlicks appeared in the window escorted by a final grunt.
"Hello Maedhros," Fingon tried not to smile.
Maedhros looked in his direction breathing heavily. He had no balance to speak of and fell in the window landing with an enormous crashing thunk in a heap of sharp angles on Fingon's floorboards. "I thought you'd be asleep."
Fingon slid his legs out of bed hesitantly. "Well, you're not terribly quiet."
"I'm sorry." Maedhros straightened his angles back into proper arms and legs before standing up with all the grace of a newborn colt. "They were fighting again," he studied his dew-wet bare feet.
Fingon stood up quickly, the floorboards raw on the warm soles of his feet. He'd beheld the atrocity of Fëanor and Nerdanel "fighting" and fighting was not the word he'd use to describe it. "C'mere," Fingon held out his hand.
Maedhros crossed the room in exactly half the steps it took Fingon and grasped it tightly. "You're not mad I came?"
"No silly." Fingon snagged a blanket off the bed and wiggled into the darkness under it pulling Maedhros behind him. "Is it so bad?" He spread the blanket over them taking care to cover Maedhros's disproportionately enormous feet that stuck out a good hand and a half beyond his own.
"Yes," Maedhros whispered.
"So bad it was better to come all this way in the dark?" Fingon was angry now, but smart enough to recognize the anger of a small elfling as fruitless.
"Yes," Maedhros nestled his head into the crook of Fingon's shoulder. "You're safe."
Fingon slid a short arm protectively around Maedhros. "You're very brave."
Maedhros shook his head tickling Fingon with his wiry curls. "I wasn't brave enough to stay and now when Mag and Cel wake up they'll be scared cause I'm not there."
Fingon squeezed Meadhros's shoulders and channeled his father's "no-nonsense" voice. "You're brave."
Maedhros's hair tickled Fingon's cheek once again. "Will you tell me a story, please? About us. One where we get a happy ending?"
"Yes," Fingon whispered instantly. "Let me think."
Maedhros waited silently fiddling with one of Fingon's plentiful braids.
Fingon licked his lips, "Once upon a time, there were two great warriors. Maedhros the Brave and-"
"I'm really not brave at all Finno."
Fingon sighed, more bothered by the statement than the interruption. "Yes, you are."
"No."
Fingon sighed heavily but chose to try again. "Once upon a time there were two great warriors. Maedhros the Tall and Fingon the Small. . ."
"No," said Maedhros, and Fingon bit his lip to trap a sigh.
"Fingon the Brave." Maedhros's voice was firm.
"No silly." Fingon nestled closer to Maedhros. "I'm not brave."
"Fingon the Courageous."
"You are ridiculous."
"Fingon the Extraordinary."
"And crazy as a bat."
"Fingon the Magnificent."
"Absolutely not."
"Fingon the Valiant."
Fingon still wanted to expostulate, but Maedhros sounded so seriously earnest he gave up. "I suppose."
Maedhros sighed happily beside him, and Fingon longed to be big enough to keep Maedhros safe. "Once upon a time there were two brave warriors. Maedhros the Tall and Fingon the Valiant. . ."
