Author's Note: I'm not dead yet! That is all.
In the darkness of sleep there was a soft touch. A gentle weight. The soft caress of fine hair and the gentle brush of exhaled breath are what stirred Himelon to wakefulness the next morning. Not wanting to open his eyes, and assuming the weight and touch to be the elk, the raven haired elf groaned and rolled onto his stomach. The touch was momentarily interrupted before the weight settled itself in the small of Himelon's back and seemed to nuzzle into the small divot of his lower spine. Letting out a sigh and blinding groping for the source of the contact Himelon let his pale blue eyes crack open.
"No you stupid beast," the raven haired elf half-growled as his hand took hold of the weight and rather roughly shoved it off of him, "I wish to rest a while longer." Somewhere in the back of his mind Himelon thought he heard soft footsteps but that was soon forgotten as he felt himself drift away from the conscious world. However, no sooner had Himelon fallen into the embrace of unconsciousness that he was pulled awake again by the tight grip of a hand pulling him upward by his hair.
"A stupid beast am I?" the words had be spoken with something a kin at a laugh and growl combined, "And here I thought you would enjoy being awoken so sweetly." The voice was familiar to Himelon although his sleep-dazed mind could not yet place it. Grabbing for the hand in his hair and jerking left in attempt to dislodge the hand's grip, Himelon wrenched his eyes open to look directly upon the individual to whom the voice belonged. Standing there beside the bed with a hand defiantly knotted in raven locks was Thranduil. He was completely nude save for a piece of sliver fabric that hung delicately around his lithe, pale frame. His icy eyes were fixed upon the raven haired male in an oddly soft glare while his starlight hair draped over his broad shoulders due to the fact that the Elven King's stance leaned slightly forward. Blinking dumbly, much like when he had run into Thranduil's elk, Himelon felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he swatted at the other's hand and forced his eyes not to wander from the starlight haired elf's face.
"How did you get in here?" the question left from Himelon's lips with a life of its own as the raven haired elf felt his features fix into an embarrassed glare. Himelon was not appreciating the grip in his hair nor the surprise appearance of the king.
"You let me in last night," Thranduil spoke as softly as a spring breeze as his eyebrows raised and his stare softened slightly, "I thought you'd realized that." In truth Thranduil had thought Himelon had known it to be him when the raven haired elf had covered himself under the other's gaze. Part of him even felt hurt that Himelon had not seen that it was him in his elk eyes.
"No," the raven haired elf retorted finally freeing his hair from Thranduil's grip and inclining his head to the side in confusion, "I let in an oddly smart white elk last night. I would have remembered letting you in." Now Himelon was just plain confused. He wasn't stupid. He knew and elk from and elf and was fairly certain he wouldn't have been so tired as to imagine Thranduil as an elk. He could also put two and two together. Thranduil was asserting that he had been the elk, but to the best of the raven haired male's knowledge, there were very few elves left in Middle Earth who possessed the power to change their form. Part of him simply could not believe that the young, starlight haired elf King was one of those few.
"That elk was me," Thranduil now spoke softly while trying to hide the hurt he now so deeply felt, "How could you not have known it to be me when you looked in my eyes?" Although Thranduil had kept the hurt, for the most part, out of his voice, he knew he hadn't been able to keep it out of his eyes. His gazed turned dark and sorrowful even as he thought about it. Most elves could identify even the mangled remains of their beloved aft a battle and yet Himelon could not identify him by looking into his eyes? That thought was painful beyond belief from Thranduil. How could they profess to be together if one could not identify the other even when they stood only a few inches from their face?
"Because you were an elk!" the reply had come as an exasperated cry from Himelon as he waved his left hand in the other's general direction, "I mean, being looked up and down by a white elk made me oddly uncomfortable, but still, I did not know you could change your form! Why did you not tell me?" In truth a part of Himelon had known. I had gnawed at him and had prompted him to cover himself as the white elk had stared at him. Even so the raven haired elf was not fully aware of this. He simply knew that he had felt uncomfortable under the elk's gaze the previous night.
"It never came up…" Thranduil seemed to be absent from himself as he took in the other male's words. Himelon had felt uncomfortable under his gaze and had covered himself. A small smile played over Thranduil's face as he made an assumption based on that. He assumed that something in Himelon's mind had seen him there and triggered that embarrassment. It was, to the Elven King, a comforting thought.
"I think," the starlight haired elf continued as he inched closer to the other, "that you did know it was me but were too sleep dazed to consciously recognize it. Am I wrong?" Thranduil had gone from anger, to hurt, to mischievous all in a short span of time. To Himelon, the other's emotional swing seemed odd, but them again Thranduil was technically a wood elf, because of where he lived, and wood elves were not generally known for being less than emotional.
"I cannot refute that such a thing is greatly possible," Himelon nodded softly as he moved backward as Thranduil neared him. He didn't know what the starlight haired elf king was planning, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.
"Why do you shirk away from me like a frightened deer?" the starlight haired elf had tilted his head to the side as he laid down on the bed and reached out for the other with a gentle smile, "I am not a wolf come to devour you." Himelon's blush had increased at Thranduil's last statement and the starlight haired elf's smile had grown upon seeing it. He hadn't intended his words to be taken that way, but seeing Himelon blush and pull the bed sheets to cover himself more was rather enjoyable.
"I don't know what you plan to do," Himelon's words had been accented by a deep blush and him huddling on the opposite end of the bed with the covers. Thranduil had let out a gentle but heartfelt laugh as he rolled onto his stomach and tried to present himself in the least threatening way he could. Of course the raven haired male was skeptical. They both wore non-substantial clothing, were in a bed out in the middle of Greenwood, and Thranduil had just seemed to appear out of thin air to Himelon. Only a mad person would not be at least a little nervous given the circumstances. Himelon's seemingly jumpy nature made Thranduil's been behavior seem, not doubt, even more strange to the raven haired elf.
"I plan," Thranduil purred as he saw Himelon lean a bit closer as he retracted his hand, "to kiss you good morning. If you would permit me." Thranduil's silky voice sent shivers up the other's spine and almost seduced him into crawling over and snuggling up to the Elven King. Almost.
"No." Himelon had announced the word with all the power and authority of royalty as he rose and quickly retrieved his clothing, "We have not seen each other since the festival and you just appear here and expect me to kiss you and do Valar knows what else? What kind of elf do you take me for? I am not a squealing chamber maid who you can ignore one second and have your way with another." Himelon's words had accused Thranduil of much and were more than a little shocking to the starlight haired elf. The first shock was the authority with which Himelon spoke to him. No one else had dared speak to him as if they were his equal and perhaps even above him. The second came from the fact that Thranduil, having seen his little gifts in Himelon's hair, had assumed the raven haired elf knew that the flowers that appeared by his door daily were from him. And the third came from Himelon's obvious misunderstanding of how he thought of him. Not even for a second had Thranduil thought of Himelon as anything less than the enchanter of his soul. He had always tried to be ever so careful as to not do anything that might upset or mislead the other.
"I have visited you daily," Thranduil spoke gently as he approached the now fully clothed male, "I have left you gifts from the forest and you have woven them in your hair. I have even followed you in all of your mischievous travels to watch over you. Did you truly not know this?" The starlight haired elf was genuinely confused. Most anyone else would have known all this and yet Himelon seemed clueless.
"I did not," now it was Himelon's turn to be shocked. He had truly not known. He had been clueless as to who brought the flowers and had certainly not known that Thranduil had been following him. Then again he had not cared to take note of exactly which elks wandered by him in the forest and, now at least, there was no doubt Thranduil had other ways of disguising himself. "I apologize," the two words had practically been whispered as Himelon felt his face heat up and his eyes fall to the sturdy marble floor of the room. He really was socially inept wasn't he?
"It is my fault," the starlight haired elf King had sighed softly as he approached the other and tilted Himelon's head up to look at him, "I should not have assumed you to be aware of these things. You have long dwelt in Arda without the company of your kin to teach you such things." Thranduil's eyes were soft and inviting. Himelon really couldn't help himself as he leaned in and snuggled gently into Thranduil's nearly bare chest. The raven haired elf knew apologies would likely get him no where and, in truth, he was quite content to just stand there and listen to the sound of Thranduil's strong and steady heartbeat.
"Let us return to the palace," after a few moments Thranduil broke the embrace and led Himelon outside, "The guards are likely in a panic due to my long absence." Himelon let out a mischievous laugh at the thought of the guards rushing around in a panic. Part of him really liked the idea of seeing the guards of Greenwood scatter and scurry like ants under the hot sun. He was abruptly brought out of his musings by a blinding white light the seemed to emanate from Thranduil as they crossed the threshold of the building in which they had spent the night. As the light faded Himelon found his hand resting of plush white fur instead of soft, creamy skin. Thranduil had changed form into the white elk again and now was kneeling slightly to let Himelon climb onto his back.
"Shall we go?" The elk tilted its head slightly in anticipation of Himelon climbing aboard, "I will be faster if you let me carry you." Himelon blinked a few times but ultimately nodded and climbed onto Thranduil's back. Not only was Himelon amazed that Thranduil would allow him to ride astride his back, but he also found it incredibly sweet that the Great Elven King would have even bothered to follow him around. Gripping Thranduil's neck tightly as they sped through the forest Himelon resolved that he would find some way to reciprocate and learn more about the things that were expected of elves while they were courting.