Aragorn was absolutely exhausted. Since he really had no home to return to for the Christmas break, he stayed over the holidays to help work in the Park Café that Legolas has been baking furiously for. They had gotten papers that proved they had paid the city to be able to run a stand in the park, and then pooled all the money that they could in order to buy cheap plastic tables and chairs for the customers to sit on. They had to work near enough to the city building so they could plug their various caffeine machines (all borrowed from Mr. Gandalf with permission) into the multitude of extension cords that Legolas had borrowed (re: stolen) from his parents.
Aragorn didn't mind having something to do over the break; since he had no exams to have to worry about anymore, nothing to study nor to read (he had used all available book money for the make-shift café they had started). He worked there, not getting any pay, almost every day with Legolas, and Gimli, who had not bothered to buy a plane ticket to visit his family. Aragorn understood why; plane tickets were expensive, though he did question whether Gimli loved his family more than a thousand dollars in his pocket.
Frodo was working there too; the lit student living in a rather nice apartment due to his rich Uncle/guardian, and not wanting to go back to visit Bilbo over the holidays. Frodo said something about Bilbo having a party with Thorin Oakenshield, the top actor of Bilbo's movie franchise, and basically made it sound like it would be the worst thing that a person could experience. Aragorn didn't see it that way, but he decided to remain silent.
There was only today and tomorrow left of the holidays; his New Year had been celebrated with Legolas and Gimli, and Aragorn basically spent the entire evening playing mediator between the two and drinking the rather expensive wine that Legolas's father had sent him as a Christmas gift. Aragorn was having a hard time accepting that it was already 2014, but he supposed that years, much like human lives, were doomed to end. He just wasn't sure if he had accepted that yet.
Aragorn and Legolas were the only people currently working at their makeshift café. Aragorn found that there wasn't much he could really do, and that he certainly had more to do when he was working in the actual café. He washed the mugs they had borrowed Gandalf in the rapidly cooling soapy water, and waited for another customer to show up. Legolas organized the baked-goods that he had made the night prior, looking as happy as ever to be standing out in negative ten degrees (Celsius).
Aragorn was going to have to agree with Pippin; Legolas did not need any sleep at all. Perhaps Aragorn should spend his free time investigating that fact.
There was one problem with the fact that the café was in the park. It wasn't the cold; Aragorn never minded the cold. He could be working in negative fifteen and be wearing his tee-shirt. The only part of him that got cold were his hands after he washed the mugs. It wasn't the fact that there was nothing to do. No, it was the fact that whenever Arwen came to visit, Aragorn couldn't hide in the kitchen from her, since there was no kitchen to hide in.
She came often, always ordering the same drink (hot chocolate with broken candy-cane in it), and a different baked good. Aragorn often apologized for the fact that the baked goods were no longer fresh out of the oven, seeing as they were all made the night prior, but Arwen didn't seem to mind. She would laugh and give him one of her smiles, and then tell him what she wanted. Aragorn still had the necklace that Arwen had given him as a good luck charm, though whenever she came over he tried to hide it in his shirt.
Gimli teased Aragorn about it non-stop, especially when Aragorn had gone and bought Arwen a Christmas gift. It wasn't too much; just a nice pair of amber earrings, but Gimli acted like Aragorn had bought her a pair of diamond earrings set in mithril. Arwen had thanked him furiously, though Aragorn could only hear his heart pounding in his ears. He thanked her back when she gave him another gift. She told him that she knew that he liked camping, so she had gotten him a pocket knife. Aragorn thought that it was wonderful, but could only stammer out a thanks, before he brushed by her to wash some dishes. That kept him up for almost the entire night after.
Aragorn noticed, though he tried to not make a big deal about it, that Arwen wore the earrings that he had given her almost every day.
"Oh, Aragorn, The Regular is coming," Gimli chimed from the plastic table he was currently washing with minimal effort. Aragorn stiffed as he saw Arwen walk towards him. How did she move so effortlessly? It was like the world moved around her instead of her moving around the world. Her hair swished perfectly with every step, though it never got messy. Aragorn wondered how anybody could be so impossibly perfect when he realized that he was staring and he turned his gaze back down to cappuccino machine. He'd let Legolas handle Arwen today.
"Hello, Aragorn," Arwen greeted him. Aragorn knew that there was no way to avoid it now. He gave her a small smile.
"Hello Arwen, the usual?" he asked, trying to keep the topic on hot chocolate and baked goods.
"Yes, the usual. What's new today?" Arwen asked, browsing their rather small baked good sections. "What are those?" she pointed to the small, pie-like items.
"Lemon meringues. Vegan, I think. Another creation of Legolas's," Aragorn told her, pleased that the conversation was staying strictly on business.
"How'd he make them without the eggs?" Arwen said, looking at the small, gorgeously crafted desserts.
"I don't know," Aragorn admitted. Arwen laughed at him, and Aragorn felt his internal organs being turned into mush. "Legolas is good at keeping secrets. He says if he tells people, nobody would buy them."
"Well, he's right about that," Arwen said, "I wish I could make things like that. I'm too busy with work. I'll have one, please."
Aragorn took one out, and finished making her hot chocolate. Business… keep it strictly business. Business… business… strictly… "So, how's your co-op going?" Aragorn heard himself say. If he could have slapped himself, he would have, but Arwen was standing right there. He didn't need to give her another reason to find him weird.
"It's good. I ride with the ambulances now. They say I have a lot of potential… I hope they're not just saying that because of my dad," Arwen frowned as she took a sip of her hot chocolate, "It's good as ever, Aragorn." She was smiling now, and Aragorn wanted to punch himself. Why was she so cute?
"I'm sure it's not just your dad. If I was hurt, I would prefer you over anybody," Aragorn said with a smile, "You could cure an illness with just your smile, you know."
Arwen blushed. Aragorn didn't know where that had come from; at all. When did he get so smooth? He must have spent too much time listening to the cheesy movies that Boromir shamelessly watched when he wasn't studying.
"Thank you, Aragorn… unfortunately smiles don't always cure things," Arwen said with a small sigh, "Have a nice day… I have to go to work now."
"Have a nice day, too," Aragorn said, and he tried to not watch her receding back. Aragorn looked down at the counter, shoving the cash that Arwen had given him into the register, and then frowning to himself.
When he looked up, Gimli was lying in the typical 'draw-me-like-one-of-your-French-girls' style up top a table, and said in a rather loftily voice, "You could cure an illness with just your smile, you know."
Legolas was chuckling from where he was opening containers of baked goods. Aragorn walked over, and didn't care that there was a couple of old ladies watching as he shoved Gimli into the snow. "Shut up…" He grumbled, and Gimli just laughed.
The rest of the day involved Gimli muttering things about smiles under his breath, and Aragorn punching the shorter man in the shoulder as often as he could. Frodo came to work and questioned why Gimli was saying that constantly, and Aragorn had to endure a rather embarrassing retelling of what had happened.
"And then the lad's eyes sparkled like the stars, his voice turned into mush, and he said, 'You could cure an illness with just your smile, you know,' and fireworks that were supposed to be going during New Years shot off into the sky in large hearts that said 'Arwen and Aragorn together for life,'" Gimli rambled. Frodo raised his eyebrows at Aragorn, who had been using his time to glare at the auburn haired foreign student.
"Was it really that dramatic?" Frodo asked them all as he finished making a coffee for a customer.
"No," Legolas said, while at the same time Gimli said, "Yes."
"Maybe," Aragorn growled under his breath, and Frodo laughed at his friend before he left to go serve the customer. Aragorn sighed to himself; the next couple of hours was not going to be very pleasant at all.
When they finally decided to close the café, meaning that Mr. Gandalf would drive over to them, and load anything of worth into his car, thank the boys profusely, and then speed off with their earnings to go help pay for the repairs of the café, Aragorn was even more tired than he had been before.
He bade Legolas and Frodo goodbye, whilst Gimli made the last joke about Aragorn had his cheesiness. Gimli's goodbye was Aragorn's middle-finger sticking up to the heavens. He heard Gimli laugh as he and Legolas walked back to their dorm. Frodo was walking Aragorn's way, but they didn't speak much. Frodo was a quiet person, and frankly (or Aragorn thought) intimidated by Aragorn. Frodo nodded to Aragorn as a goodbye when he turned down the street.
Aragorn was fumbling for his headphones, muttering profanities at how they managed to get tangled whenever he shoved them in his pocket, when he heard something out of the ordinary. He stopped in his tracks, his headphones forgotten in his hands, and listened for it again. It came, shrill and desperate; a scream of "HELP."
The voice was familiar too, but Aragorn couldn't exactly place it. He didn't care, however, as he turned in his boots and ran as fast as he could towards the noise. It was coming from where Frodo had parted with him. Frodo… it couldn't be him… The voice sounded off again, and Aragorn knew that his fears were correct. He could also hear somebody else; meaning that he was close.
"Shut up, you fucker, or you'll lose your fucking tongue!" the voice said. Aragorn heard a thud, and figured that Frodo had been kicked.
"HELP!" Frodo screamed yet again, defiant as ever. Aragorn reared around the corner to see a tall, dark-hooded character.
"HEY!" Aragorn yelled, reaching into his pocket for the knife that Arwen had given him. He was shaking, yes; he had never stabbed somebody, but if that person tried to hurt him, or Frodo, again, he was going to have to. The hooded figure shrieked at him, which made Aragorn bristle, and then ran off a side street.
Aragorn caught only a little of the person's face; a defined nose, and something dark around his eyes. He did, however, catch the flaming eyeball of Mordor College on the back of the man's sweater. Aragorn was going to run after the figure, when he looked down at Frodo.
The second-year student was trying to staunch the flow of blood coming from his left shoulder. Aragorn bent down beside Frodo, and took off his coat, using it as a pillow for the bleeding student. Aragorn whipped out his cellphone, and then said, "I'm calling 911… you need an ambulance."
Frodo nodded weakly, and then said, "Thank you."
"No problem," Aragorn responded, before his call was picked up. He asked for medical help, told them the street, and said that it had been a mugging. He gave as many details as he could, asking Frodo for medical history, to which the curly-haired lit student responded to. Aragorn wanted to keep Frodo talking; he didn't want Frodo to pass out. He wouldn't know what to do if he did.
The ambulance came, and the first aid workers walked towards them. Aragorn heard a small, "Oh god," and then looked up to see Arwen, her hair tied back. Aragorn was going to say something to her, but she shook her head.
The workers evaluated Frodo, and then loaded him onto the ambulance, asking Aragorn if he wanted a ride with him. Aragorn looked to Frodo, who nodded. A police officer also road with them, interrogating Aragorn on what had happened. Arwen tried to act professional, but he could see her looking up from her lashed at him. Once he thought that she mouthed, "Good job" but he wasn't certain.
"Can you describe the attacker?" the police officer asked, looking up from her notepad.
"He was tall, about six feet probably. He was wearing a Mordor College black sweater… I could tell from the mascot on the back. His hood was over his eyes, so I couldn't really see his face. From what I saw, he was white, and had a defined nose… he also had something around his eyes…" Aragorn paused to think for a second before he came to a conclusion, "Eyeliner, that's what it was… eyeliner…"
Hooray for the longest chapter ever! I'm sorry, but I do think shorter chapters suit the fic better, so chapters aren't probably going to get longer than 1500-2000 words often. Also, I'm trying to do a 'Don't Break The Chain' calendar for this story, and my goal is every Sunday I shall update. There will be exceptions, but I will try.
Thanks to laurawesome, BrightWatcher, Nyla Evergale, Quiet Hiker, Wanderingidealism, Tiarna na fainne, LotR-HP-PJ, tommyginger, XxJigoku-no-HanaxX, Shadowhunter-penguin97, Daeril Ullothwen, NTSFroes, mngirl, Goldie Gamgee, arcticfoxlover, and SilverMoonrise for reviewing! (Gah so many you guys are awesome).
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Happy New Year!