For: Felicia (aka ThatOneFangirl)(Yes, I helped her create that nickname). Because? Reasons.
Pairing: Aragorn/Pippin
Prompt: Aragorn and Pippin pairing. Reminiscing memories. There has to be a kiss somewhere in there.
A/N: I don't usually write this pairing, but...I'm a weak kind of human being.
Disclaimer: I can HAPPILY say, I don't own the movies, books, or this pairing...that belongs to Billy Boyd and Viggo Mortensen, and yes they DID kiss in real life.
Night fell on the kingdom of Gondor, and all was peaceful.
His people began to slowly drift into a peaceful slumber, but for the King of Gondor himself, sleep seemed like a luxury he wasn't allowed.
He was currently leaning on one of the many balconies Gondor had to offer looking over his kingdom.
His mind raced with many thoughts as he looked out over the slumbering commonwealth.
As celebration slowly winded down, and the city fell into a pleasant slumber, the King had finally realized just what had transpired in his life. Through all the battles and the war, he hadn't thought of the ending to this grand tale. He hadn't realized that being a king wasn't meant just fighting for his people, but also being there to help them in the aftermath of war.
It never occurred to him through all of the fighting and bloodshed that eventually his time would come to take a greater role in the ending of this magnificent journey.
He would often find himself reminiscing on his past experiences with the fellowship.
As he reminisced, he would often find himself thinking back to the words he had promised to Frodo before the hobbit departed to Mordor.
That promise being that he would follow him into the fiery depths of Mordor, he - had often wished he had kept his promise.
So lost in thought was this magnificent King, that he didn't sense the presence of someone behind him until his name was called. "Strider" a voice groaned sleepily behind him, at this, he turned and noticed a sleepy hobbit before him. "Master Pippin" he said as he looked upon the hobbit to give him his full attention. "What troubles you?" Aragorn asks him worriedly, wondering why the hobbit was out of bed at such an hour.
Pippin stops in the middle of the doorway to the balcony while rubbing his eyes tiredly to get the sleep driven from them. He looked to Aragorn, and smiles softly to the man, no, King - for that is what he is now. He is not the Strider that he knew nor the warrior he had fought with not a month earlier.
"I'm more worried about you Aragorn, what keeps you from the embrace of sleep?" Pippin asks him as he walks up to Aragorn's side to join him in looking upon the sleeping city. Aragorn turns back to looking to the city once more in thought as he lets out a heavy sigh.
He hadn't thought going from a simple traveling warrior to a King with a glorious kingdom, no less, would be such a frustrating and daunting journey.
A Warrior King he is, but an Exhausted King is how he felt.
The world felt much too big for him right now, and he was trying everything he could to appease all those who lived within his kingdom in just under a months time - a month was a featless task though as there was much more to be done than it seemed, and he was already behind his own schedule of completion.
"I am a tired King, my friend, but there is much to do yet little time to do it" Aragorn answered as he raised his right hand in order to massage an invisible ache on the back of his neck.
"The best King's are always the one's that end up feeling the most tired at the end of the day, because those kinds of King's are the one's that get the most done" Pippin told him smiling softly at him once more.
Aragorn was astounded at his friends sound advice, he hadn't thought this little hobbit could hold such wisdom within his mind. Aragorn looks to his left to the hobbit to give him a weary, tired smile in thanks of the young man's advice.
One never know's what to expect from a hobbit, that's for sure.
Pippin looks to the King in a sense of wonder and fascination, the man had always intrigued Pippin in the way he held himself. He was always strong, regal, and resourceful, yet, in the times where the Fellowship had been able to rest, he had let his own tiredness sweep him away into a fluster of activity that didn't know when to stop.
"One of this days, my King, your body will battle against you for sleep, and you'll be forced to heed its call least you drop unceremoniously to the floor" Pippin joked to him feeling just a touch of worry, but knew the King wasn't yet so exhausted that the call of sleep was pushed to the background of his mind.
Aragorn snorted softly at the light joke Pippin made, "Too right you are, Master hobbit" he responded before glancing back to the city seeing many of the celebration fires were starting to flicker out. "They are like the stars aren't they, my friend? Going out of sight with the rising sun" Pippin commented as he took Aragorn's lead in looking out to the city once more.
Aragorn couldn't help that the hobbit drew his attention once more by his comment, "The stars never go out, for they are as many and vast as the fish in the sea" Aragorn said looking upon the hobbit with a budding affection that he couldn't quite understand where it was forming.
Pippin raised his left eyebrow in curiosity of why Aragorn was looking at him, "What?" he asked the King feeling his cheeks start to heat up as he started wondering what was drawing the King's attention away from his kingdom.
"Do you ever suppose that somewhere out amongst the star's a pure light ever shines for those that love another so deeply that...it physically pains them?" Aragorn asked him wondering if the love he felt was for a friend or a companion in life. Pippin shrugged his shoulder's as he turned his attention towards the stars, "I don't know, I'd hope so - otherwise Sam would be out of luck with Rosie" Pippin answered him while jokingly jabbing at his hobbit friend.
"What about you? Do you think such a light shines?" Pippin asked him as he started feeling something strange within his heart that seemed to be only for the man beside him. What it is? He has no clue, but it doesn't feel wrong.
"I'd like to think so, and Master Samwise doesn't need a bright light to help him - his heart is already that light" Aragorn answered him wisely, knowing that he was more than likely playing with fire when he saw a strange emotion flicker through Pippin's eyes that left a second afterward.
Aragorn leaned his form down upon the wall that protected him from falling to his death as all of his attention was given to the hobbit standing beside him. He couldn't grasp as to the reason of exactly why he started studying the young hobbit's feature's, but, the more he did so, the more he realized that he was looking at not just the hobbit's face itself, but his grey-green eyes that were oddly beautiful in the moonlight.
Pippin was starting to worry if there was drool or some other vile thing on his face so he started to frantically wipe at is face with his hands to see if there was something on it, but Aragorn's amused snicker told him that there wasn't.
Aragorn, bravery in check, just took the plunge that, he knew, would either end very well or very poorly. He leaned in quickly before he could chicken out of the act, and brushed his lips lightly against Pippin's to test to see if the young hobbit would reciprocate the act that he was placing upon the young man.
Pippin was frozen stiff as he felt Aragorn's lips upon his own, and he didn't know what he should do. There are many way's that this could end, and none of them ended with Pippin throwing the King off the balcony, so, he did the one that his heart was screaming at him to do.
Pippin kissed him back.
It may have been nothing more than a brushing of their lips together, but it affected both of them in a good way as it was like a flooding of emotions that were allowed to break free and escape the confines that they were being held behind.
Aragorn and Pippin guessed that the emotions had, probably, manifested during their time in the castle after Aragorn became King. That one solid month of being so close to each other that it was like they were one body, and, finally, it was spilling out the emotions that the two had built up between the either.
When the kiss ended, it was gradual - like the tide finally receding from the sandy beaches of the White Lands. Aragorn looked to Pippin a bit worriedly, but never-the-less finally felt at ease with himself. Enough that even his exhaustion was starting to catch up to him.
"I do not regret the act that we just performed, and I will never ask of it again from you. You are one of my dearest friends that I do not wish to lose" Aragorn said putting his hands lightly upon Pippin's shoulders as he had turned toward the hobbit during their kiss.
"It's fine Aragorn, I don't know where the emotion's came from, but, I too, do not regret the act that we just had between us and wish to not lose you as someone I call a friend" Pippin said to him fully understanding where the King was coming from.
"Let us seek rest, tomorrow is another trying day" Aragorn said putting his right arm around the hobbit's shoulders in a friendship rather than a need to touch him for just a few more moments (or that's what he told himself at least.)
They parted way's at the end of the hallway, Aragorn going left while Pippin went right. They each knew the other had grown a little more in the heart of the either, and neither would expect anything less should they experience the same need to embrace each other in the same way in the future.