The first thing Legolas discovered when he woke was that he was cold.
The second was that whatever he was lying on was very, very uncomfortable.
It was then he felt the warm body lying next to him and he remembered, he had been locked in the wine cellar and Elrohir had come to find him. But as he lay there a few things niggled at his mind. If Elrohir had come to get him out why was he still in the wine cellar for he most obviously was, and why did Elrohir have him lying down on the cold stone floor? Had Elladan left without them?
He sat bolt up upright and turned to stare at the person next to him.
It was not Elrohir.
In a panic he pushed the sleeping Elladan forcefully away from him and leapt to his feet.
"What are you doing?" He cried in anguish, "Get off me!"
A sleep befuddled Elladan stared up at him in confusion.
"What?"
"Was this your plan all along? Did you lock me in here on purpose? Get me drunk?"
Elladan staggered to his feet,
"No! That is not what happened. Why would I do that?"
"Because you hate me. I have always known that. Because you hate that I am with your brother. Do you wish to destroy us because if you do, this will succeed. He will never forgive me this!"
Legolas searched through his memories in desperation. What had happened? What had they done? It was all very hazy and confusing. Elrohir had been here. Elrohir had kissed him...but it had not been Elrohir, he had known something was odd about that kiss. It was obviously Elladan and he hadn't know that...had he? Flashes of what had happened after flitted though his mind and all of them he wished were not true. Surely they had not done that!
"You kissed me back!" Elladan spluttered, obviously he had regained his wits "I meant none of this. What do you take me for? Elrohir is my brother!"
"Yes, your brother." Legolas said bitterly, "so he will forgive YOU. You will tell him it is all my fault and he will believe you because you know he always thinks the worst of me. Very clever Elladan."
"I will not.." Elladan grabbed his arm and he shook him off. He did not want to touch him, in fact he has so angry he could hit him. Elladan stopped midsentance.
"Legolas, listen, someone is outside."
When he stopped to concentrate he could hear the murmur of voices outside the door and some thuds against it.
"Good!" He spat, "Then I do not have to remain here with you one second longer."
"Hurry!" Elladan was panicking, "Put on some clothing!" It was then Legolas realised they had been standing there shouting at each other completely naked.
The room was still quite dark and he scrambled around for his clothes and locating them proved rather difficult. All the time the thudding on the door grew louder.
"Hurry up Legolas!" Elladan's voice was edged with desperation.
"I can't find my shirt!"
"Don't worry about it then, just put your tunic on nobody will notice." Elladan himself was of course completely dressed by now although slightly tousled.
Legolas was hopping on one foot trying to shove his last remaining boot on when the door swung open and the shock of it caused him to tumble to the ground.
How embarrassing.
It was Aragorn who stood there staring down at him with surprise and just behind him Glorfindel as calm and composed as ever.
He struggled to his feet trying his best to make it look as though sitting in the ground was something he had fully intended to do.
Aragorn gazed around the room.
"What on earth are the two of you doing locked in here?"
"Nothing!" Legolas snapped angrily. "This is Elladan's fault. He shut the door when I purposely left it open"
"It wasn't..." Elladan tried to protest but Aragorn cut him off with another question.
"And why have you been helping yourselves to my entire wine collection?" He indicated the empty bottles strewn over the floor.
"That was Elladan's idea as well." Legolas was not going to be blamed for this. Elladan had tricked him, he was certain of it.
"And what has taken you so long to find us?" He went on the attack. "It has been hours I have been trapped in here, anything could have happened!"
"And did it?" Aragorn asked sardonically.
"What do you take me for?" Legolas pushed past Aragorn rather aggressively so he could not see the blush he knew must cover his face.
"I am not going to stay here with HIM any longer." And he strode away down the corridor
"Legolas," Aragorn called after him. "Go and find Elrohir, he is beside himself with worry." But Legolas did not turn around, just indicated he had heard with a dismissive wave of his hand.
He did not want to think of Elrohir at all. What had he done? Elrohir would be finished with him if he ever heard of this. How could he face him?
"So," Glorfindel turned to the silent Elladan, "I see a night in close quarters hasn't helped you two to get along then."
Elladan shook his head and avoided his gaze. He was truly mortified at what he appeared to have done. How could his curiosity have gotten so out of hand?
"And what about all this wine Elladan? What were you thinking? It is some of my best stuff too." Aragorn asked him.
"Do you know Legolas is claustrophobic?" He protested, "He was climbing the walls. We had been here ten minutes and he was convinced we would starve to death. I had to calm him somehow!"
"Ah, yes, I had forgotten about that." Aragorn gave him a grin. "Must have made for an enjoyable night!"
Elladan felt his cheeks turning red.
"It was not enjoyable. Not in the slightest!" Did Aragorn suspect something? How could he possibly know?
"Elladan," Glorfindel placed a hand on his shoulder. "You must be cold and tired. Come with me and I will get some food. I think we need to talk." He said gently.
Elladan did not want to talk, he did not want to think about any of it. He wanted to wipe this from his memory and pretend it had never happened. What was he going to say to Elrohir? How he wished he could remember exactly what he had done. Still he went placidly with Glorfindel. What else could he do?
...:
Although he didn't want to, Legolas did go looking for Elrohir. He couldn't leave him roaming around searching for him pointlessly no matter how much he wished he could avoid him. In the end it was Gimli who found him with Elrohir trailing unhappily behind, rather than the other way round.
"Legolas!" Gimli came trotting up to him. "Where have you been Lad?"
Legolas deliberately didn't look at Elrohir, he just couldn't.
" I have been in the wine cellar," he said airily as if it was a perfectly normal occurrence.
"In the wine cellar? All night?"
"Yes. All night, what of it?"
"It is just..." Gimli looked rather confused, " it is a rather odd thing to do Legolas."
"Well it was not my idea." he snapped, he knew he was unfair being angry with Gimli, it wasn't his fault but could he just not ask questions?
"Then whose idea was it?"
"Elladan's."
Gimli frowned and Legolas had no idea what Elrohir was doing, as he steadfastly avoided his eyes.
"Elladan suggested you spend a night in a wine cellar? For what purpose?"
"For the purpose of making me miserable! I don't want to talk about this Gimli. I am here now, does the rest of it matter?"
Elrohir reached out and touched his arm gently,
"Are you alright? You seem stressed?"
"I am fine!" He said far too abruptly and then cringed as he saw the hurt flit across Elrohir's face. What was he doing? He should be falling at Elrohir's feet asking forgiveness not attacking him. The guilt churned in his stomach.
"Forgive me," he mumbled, "It was not the easiest night." He stared at the floor, it was better than looking at Elrohir's beautiful eyes.
"It is I who should ask for forgiveness Legolas," Elrohir put his arm around him. It should have made him feel better but in fact he felt quite ill.
"I was wrong, I can see you are unhappy with me. What can I do?"
"I am not unhappy," he said, "All is well. I am just tired. Will you excuse me, I think I will go and clean myself up." Surely they wouldn't follow him to the bathroom. He needed to get away.
He had no such luck though as Elrohir steered him down the corridor.
"Of course, how selfish of me. Come with me, I will help you relax." And he smiled uncertainly in Legolas's direction so all Legolas achieved was more and more guilt as Elrohir ran him a bath, dug out something to eat and prattled endlessly as he did so. He wished he could somehow just vanish.
The bath when he got to it was luxurious, hot scented water and just what he needed to try and loosen the tenseness within him. He sighed as he edged himself in and laid his head back against the edge. But Elrohir was determined to make it up to him and would not leave him alone with his thoughts, instead sitting behind him to massage his shoulders as he lay there. Ordinarily it would have been soothing. Today it was soul destroying.
Elrohir talked on and on as he caressed him gently, about how sorry he was, how he wished he could take his words back, how much he loved him and with every word Legolas fell further and further into despair for he was everything Elrohir had accused him of being and worse. In the end he could not bare to listen and let his thoughts drift so Elrohir became a soft sound in the distance.
"Legolas?" He jolted to his senses. Elrohir had obviously asked something he wanted an answer to.
"What? Sorry, I fell asleep." He lied.
"Why did Elladan lock you in a wine cellar? Why?"
"Perhaps you should ask him that?" He replied angrily. Let Elladan explain his behaviour. But then he remembered, Elladan would tell Elrohir exactly what had happened. He would say Legolas had seduced him, and Elrohir would believe it because he had no faith in Legolas's love. Elrohir would leave him. What would he do then? How would he survive for he could not imagine now living without Elrohir in his heart. He could not even sail, not while Aragorn was still here. The thought of it all was too awful to contemplate and he let out a shuddering breath.
"Legolas, what is wrong?" Elrohir's face appeared before him, concern in his eyes. He turned Legolas's head towards him and cupped his face in his hands wiping a tear from his cheek as he did so. When had he started crying? Legolas thought to himself, but he could not stop, the misery was overwhelming.
"Legolas, what is it? Tell me." Elrohir was insistent.
But he could never tell Elrohir this.
Never.