Elladan had been watching Legolas intently. He was certainly a beautiful creature he decided, exotic, stunning even. He could see what it was that attracted Elrohir but he was also so wild and unpredictable. He swung from one extreme to the other and it unnerved him and made him uneasy. He just never knew how to take Legolas and had no idea how Elrohir survived dealing with his changeability. Thank goodness Glorfindel was so much easier to understand. But thinking of Glorfindel depressed him at the moment so he put that to one side.

He had been surprised at Legolas's obvious distress at being stuck in the cellar. When he took the time to think about it it did make some sense. He was a wood elf after all. They were all about the outside and open spaces were'nt they. Despite himself he had actually felt sorry for him when he was in the midst of his panic and it was a relief the wine seemed to have calmed him somewhat. At least he was staying in one place now, the fidgeting had been so distracting. That was one thing about Legolas that irritated him intensely.

Elladan turned his head to get himself another bottle of wine and as he did so quite unannounced Legolas reached over and ran his fingers ever so gently through his hair. The touch sent a jolt through him like a surge of electricity and he jerked his head away in shock.

"What are you doing! Are you insane?" He cried.

Legolas looked back at him, his eyes wide and startled as if he had been miles away.

" I am sorry, your hair...it looks just like Elrohir's and I wondered if it felt the same. Forgive me." He looked mortified.

"Oh." Elladan didn't know quite what to say to that apart from the obvious.

"So does it?"

He would be interested to know.

"Yes, just like his." said Legolas sadly and he dropped his head. " I miss him."

Elladan frowned, "Legolas, he is still here, you saw him just this morning, how can you possibly be missing him?"

"He does not trust me." Legolas said bluntly, "I think he never will. He doubts my love, I do not think there is anything I can ever do that will make him believe it. It hurts."

Elladan was lost for words, he had never thought of things from this perspective before. He had always resented the fact Legolas's promiscuity seemed to have magnified Elrohir's insecurity. He knew Legolas was no good for his brother. He had never taken the time to think about the damage that insecurity may do when you were constantly on the receiving end.

"He does trust you, He is always defending you to me." He tried to say the right thing but his words sounded hollow even to his own ears and Legolas simply shook his head.

They lapsed into silence as Elladan simply could not think of anything else to say. He had no advice to give. Eventually it was Legolas who spoke.

"Ignore me," he said sadly. I have been melancholy lately, these last few days have been hard ones. This wine makes me melodramatic. It is not as bad as all that."

Elladan did not believe a word of it.

" Why do you say these days have been hard?" He said confused, "We have been celebrating. This is the reward for all our troubles."

"To me," Legolas said with a sigh, "it has just seemed to bring us so much closer to the end. Aragorn and Gimli's end. Erestor tried to help me. He said we must create memories to take with us but that is harder than I thought and does not really help make things better right now."

Elladan was dumbstruck. He knew too well the pain of Aragorn's inevitable demise. He had never taken the time to think upon how Legolas might feel about that also. And he said Erestor had spoken of creating memories? Did that have something to do with what he and Glorfindel had been up to he wondered? Glorfindel had said he was finding things difficult at the moment also. He would have to seriously think on that.

"Have you spoken to Elrohir?" He thought his brother needed to know this.

But Legolas simply laughed.

"Of course not! Elrohir finds Aragorn's death hard enough to deal with as it is, much as he denies it. Why would I add to his grief or give him more reason to resent him?"

Today was full of revelations Elladan thought. Obviously Legolas did know his brother much better than he had ever given him credit for. He wondered if he should speak to Elrohir himself? Legolas sounded so lonely, how hard it must be not to be able to share a deep hurt like that with the one you love. He opened his new bottle of wine and took a sip, perhaps he should have no more? But then Legolas had already had far more to drink than him. They were locked in a room, the worst that could happen was a headache in the morning.

He thoughts meandered back to Glorfindel. How lucky he was the two of them could speak about anything. He did not feel lonely with Glorfindel ever. Well they could speak about anything except Erestor it seemed. Was that his fault? Glorfindel had told him it was fun to try new people, did he think Elladan should do that? He had not wanted to since Glorfindel had captured his heart. Well there had been that one time when Legolas had kissed him quite out of the blue. That had been ...very disturbing.

He glanced over at Legolas who gazed off into the distance, who knew what he was thinking of, Elrohir probably. Before he knew it he had opened his mouth and blurted it out. It must have been the wine.

"You kissed me once."

Legolas jumped surprised out of his mediation and his cheeks flushed red.

"That was a misunderstanding!"

"Oh." Elladan felt strangely bereft although he was not sure why, "Of course, you mistook me for Elrohir. I always thought that was it when I discovered you were together."

"No it was not that at all. I knew it was you, It was...I was such a fool back then, even now it is embarrassing to think of. I'm sorry, I thought it was expected of me. So silly." Legolas buried his head in his knees in shame.

Elladan didn't know what to make off that confession. Legolas had thought he expected him to kiss him? That made absolutely no sense. He was about to press for more details when an idea flitted through his mind...Oh!...

"Was it the same?"

Legolas lifted his head,

"What?"

"The kiss, my kiss, was it the same as Elrohir? You just said my hair was."

Legolas looked at him intently

"No..." He said slowly, "Not the same, gentler, softer... But still...", he trailed off then shrugged his shoulders, " It was most enjoyable, but you didn't like me then as you don't like me now so ..."

He came to a halt and leaned back against the wall closing his eyes. It was obvious that was the end of that discussion.

Elladan leaned back against the wall himself. Perhaps he HAD had enough to drink. His thoughts were beginning to get very muddled.

He thought of Glorfindel who obviously wanted him to be more adventurous, sleep with other people, that was what he wanted wasn't it? To be honest he really wasn't sure anymore, and he didn't think he wanted to do that. But if Glorfindel wanted it, should he consider it?

He couldn't get that long ago kiss from Legolas out of his mind for in truth it had been delicious. He had always assumed it was mistaken identity, that Legolas had thought he was his brother but no, Legolas said he had known it was Elladan all along. Why was knowing that so exciting? He looked across again at Legolas sitting, eyes closed across from him. He really was breathtakingly beautiful. Not as glorious as Glorfindel of course but still delectable to look at. And Legolas was so miserable and lonely. Elladan very much wanted to make him feel better.

Then the thought crossed his mind and he couldn't shake it. What would it be like to experience that kiss, just once more. To see if it really was as delightful as he remembered.

The idea took him over and in the end he could think of nothing else so impetuously he leaned over slowly, gently, and pressed his lips to the soft and sweet mouth before him.

And he didn't think of Elrohir, not even for a minute. He didn't think of Elrohir at all.

Legolas had decided he had had more than enough to drink. He would not have anymore and he closed his eyes to keep out the vision of the small stone room around him. At least the wine had made things more bearable. Closing his eyes shut out Elladan as well. He was done with that conversation. Why did Elladan have to bring up so many painful subjects to talk about? Elrohir, Aragorn and Gimli, even the nightmare of the Imladris greeting protocol.

He wondered what Elrohir was doing, was he looking for him? Had he even noticed he was gone or was he glad to see the back of him? Sitting there with his eyes closed he started to drift towards sleep into that strange half dreaming state when he was awake and yet not. It was then that he felt the softness of some lips against his own and opened his eyes. Black hair, those eyes, that face greeted him as he struggled to emerge from his thoughts into reality. It must be Elrohir although the kiss was not quite right. Of course Elrohir had come looking for him, had found him here and woken him with a kiss. Of course Elrohir wouldn't abandon him.

"Elrohir" he murmured softly

And reached up towards him.

"Elrohir?"

And he pulled him slowly, slowly down into a welcoming embrace.