Keeping Up Appearances by Ulan

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+1. That time when Erestor figured they might as well make honest people out of themselves

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A feast was announced to celebrate a good harvest that year. Being a young realm, such a thing was a milestone for Imladris, which relied heavily still in Lindon for much of its food supply.

Erestor knocked on Glorfindel's door, and was quickly let in once he called out his name when asked. Glorfindel always had a ready smile for him whenever he welcomed him into his quarters. Erestor was pleased by this, and without hesitation presented Glorfindel with his gift.

Glorfindel lifted the handsome set of new robes, its gold accents set in the lighter green of the fabric. He examined the garment with an admiring eye. "This is beautiful, Erestor. Why are you giving it to me, though?"

"It is for the upcoming feast. It is easier for us to match if the robes were purchased at the same time. I hope you do not mind, but I asked the seamstress to make it based on your measurements that she has in her records."

The robes were lowered as Glorfindel stared at Erestor, a strange look on his face. "And we should match because... you wish to keep up appearances?" he asked, which was a strange thing to ask given that hardly anyone ever bothered him anymore, and Erestor had never been one to initiate such instances that required deception in the first place.

Erestor, therefore, shook his head. "Not what I had in mind, but if you wish to go back to that, sure."

If anything, Glorfindel looked even more uncomfortable, and there was a slight tremor in his voice when he spoke. "Go back to... So the reason is something else, then? What else could the reason be?"

Erestor sighed. He took the robes from Glorfindel and placed it on a nearby chair. It was almost endearing how lost the golden-haired lord looked as his eyes followed Erestor, so that the moment Erestor turned back to him, their eyes instantly met. He then took Glorfindel's hands and led him so they could sit on the bed.

Erestor kept his hold on those hands as he spoke, "I think we crossed a line somewhere, sometime ago, when in most cases people would discuss what they should begin to call one another. But since you preempted that and called me 'darling' and 'sweetheart' from the start--"

"Wait." Glorfindel shifted so it was his hand on top of Erestor's, holding on tight. "Wait. Elbereth. Something is happening here and I fear my chest would cave at any moment. Erestor, if this is a joke, it is a cruel one."

"How is it cruel?"

A pained look twisted the golden one's features. "Because I... Because I want it too much, what I think you are implying." He looked up carefully to meet Erestor's gaze, his eyes earnest but also guarded, as if he expected from Erestor a heavy blow. "I beg you, do not say these things lightly nor in jest. I know I made my fun, but it is different when it is you doing it in return."

Erestor sighed at Glorfindel's unnecessary - in Erestor's opinion - care. "Tell me how it is different, Glorfindel."

"It is different because..." Glorfindel swallowed before saying, "because I have feelings for you, for a while now. I suppose it has become obvious, which I believe you caught, though I do not know exactly when. Long have we been friends, and long have I guiltily imposed myself upon you, inconveniencing you even as I benefited from as well as enjoyed your company. Still, to make me hope that there can be more, when in truth there is none, would be cruel."

Erestor knew he could comfort him with words, tell him that it was all right, and that though he eventually realised that the depth of Glorfindel's affection ran deeper than friendship, he was perfectly amenable to a change in their interactions. He figured, however, that such an endeavour would take longer than his patience could tolerate, not to mention that there was an infinitely better means to convince Glorfindel of his sincerity.

Glorfindel's lips against his were softer than Erestor had expected, his gasp of surprise sweeter than anything Erestor's mind could conjure. But Glorfindel sat tensely in a way Erestor thought could not be comfortable. He sought to remedy this by tilting his head slightly to one side, parting his lips and coaxing Glorfindel's to do the same, deepening their kiss. Glorfindel moaned when their tongues touched, after which he came alive beautifully, his strong arms coming up to wrap around Erestor's waist.

Kisses were returned with passion double that of what it was when they started. Hands roamed possessively up Erestor's back, pulling him close until their legs were tangled sitting as they were on the edge of Glorfindel's bed. Yet it seemed Glorfindel found them not close enough still, as he lifted up slightly and leaned towards Erestor, kissing him deeply and thoroughly.

Erestor buried his fingers in that thick mane of hair, drawing another moan even as their kisses slowed so they could breathe. "Still cruel?" he asked, smiling against those soft lips.

Glorfindel pulled back slightly and looked at him with dazed eyes, his red, well-kissed lips parted even as his gaze slid down to stare at Erestor's mouth. It took him a while, though he eventually grinned and said, "Yes. These things can get painful the more you delay them, you know."

Erestor made a disgusted groan. "Valar, you have a dirty mind. That is not even what I meant."

Glorfindel laughed. His arms tightened around Erestor's waist, and in one move he had pulled the counsellor to sit fully on his lap. Erestor could not help his gasp as he held on to Glorfindel's shoulders in surprise. It brought their faces closer again, and he stilled when he found that Glorfindel was watching him intently.

The captain grinned up at him. "When you are around, I'm afraid I cannot help myself," he said. His voice was lower and had taken on a quality Erestor had never heard before, and it inexplicably brought a blush to his cheeks and made him avert his eyes. He attempted to squirm out of Glorfindel's grip, but the other was having none of it, for he tightened his hold even more and whispered the words against Erestor's neck, "You do realise that I have seen us like this many times in my mind?"

Erestor gave up struggling, and instead clutched at Glorfindel's tunic. He hissed at the first kisses peppered along his neck, though his head tilted back instead of pulling away. "Have you," he asked in a near whisper, his eyes closing even as he sought to speak. "Sadly, the contents of one's mind are difficult for another to comprehend. Perhaps if you show me..."

Glorfindel grinned and obviously needed not be told twice. He promptly pulled them to the middle of his bed, laying Erestor down beneath him, and went straight back down to kiss along the counsellor's neck, making him gasp again. He took an earlobe and pulled at it with his teeth before saying, "I can demonstrate a few, but not all of them, for there are far too many, undoubtedly beyond your endurance."

Erestor dug his nails on Glorfindel's back in disapproval. "Is that meant to insult or to challenge?"

He felt Glorfindel's laughter against his skin. "Nay, my irresistible prince, it is a truth and a warning. Do not tempt me, for you can do it easily, and do not underestimate one who has watched and loved you for years. A full demonstration will take months." Glorfindel then whispered low and slowly to his ear, his voice like liquid fire, "Of course, if you insist, I am not against having you come undone in my arms again and again... and again. I will have you screaming my name so loudly, my neighbours will complain."

Erestor shut his eyes and blushed again at the words. But the same words sent a thrill up his spine, a seductive heat that had him arching from beneath the kisses that were rained still down his neck. He felt the ties of his robes being pulled and those kisses trailing down the bare skin of his chest, down to the plains of his abdomen, to the jut of bone on his hip. He pulled at Glorfindel in turn, catching those lips again in a heated kiss as he also began pulling at Glorfindel's clothes, making the captain moan at what was surely shaping up to be a truly memorable morning.

Glorfindel's tunic was pulled swiftly over his head, his hair a thick curtain falling down like the priced golden fabric that graced only the back of kings. He truly was a marvel to behold, and a fresh bout of lust flaired within Erestor as his hungry gaze all but devoured Glorfindel, who, for the first time, seemed to mind not such attentions. Those sinful lips Erestor captured again in a kiss that made them both moan in its intensity, and together they fell back against the bed, this time with Glorfindel beneath Erestor and arching up beautifully. It did not escape Erestor that Glorfindel's movements brought the other's strained hardness against his own thigh, and he bore down upon Glorfindel, allowing it, until the captain was groaning loudly beneath him.

Erestor pulled back only slightly to speak against those lips. "Where do you keep the oil, Glorfindel?"

Glorfindel hissed out a muffled curse, but he did throw an arm back to pull out the top drawer of his bedside table. He pulled Erestor to him, unwilling to let go even as he pulled up slightly to blindly rummage through the contents. A moment later, a clear vial was placed beside them on the bed.

They made quick work of their remaining clothes, all the while stealing as many kisses as they could manage even as they fumbled and struggled with confining fabric. Another curse escaped Glorfindel's lips at the first intimate touching of their bare skin, and Erestor's head fell back at the clawing, desperate and possessive way Glorfindel's hands roamed across his skin.

"How beautiful you are," sighed Glorfindel, his voice filled with wonder as he looked up at Erestor. "I do not think you fully know just how much, for you have never moved with much vanity, nor have such things seemed to ever be your concern. But, oh..." A strong hand slid underneath Erestor's hair, pulling him by the back of his neck and down again to waiting lips. Erestor moaned at the sweet, slick tongue that breached his now pliant lips, claiming him only but briefly, for Glorfindel pulled back to speak again. "Erestor, how you undo me. You are all that is beautiful to me, and I wanted you the very moment I saw you. How ironic that with all whom I seemed to have impressed, the one I wanted was not included among them. But thank the Valar for this moment. I hope you are not expecting much this day, for I am afraid I will not last as long as I wish."

And with the image of Glorfindel in the throes of passion thus planted in Erestor's mind, it was all he could do to keep from spilling himself. Whether or not Glorfindel's words were true mattered not, for they summoned such desire in him that he had never known, and he kissed Glorfindel harder than he ever had before. "By Mandos, your mouth," he hissed against those captive lips. "Truly you have learned how to please me with your words. Valar." He moaned as Glorfindel claimed a kiss, and Erestor felt him smiling against his lips. "Valar, hand me that damned vial."

At the height of such passion, Erestor cared not for how much of the oil he spilled on his hand. He pushed Glorfindel on to the bed again and settled on top of him, and soon he was reaching back to prepare himself, groaning and with his head falling back at the first breach of a finger. He bit his lip as he prepared himself as thoroughly as he remembered to do. He hissed at the nails that buried themselves on his thighs, and he opened his eyes to find Glorfindel looking up at him, mouth opened slightly as he panted beneath Erestor, his eyes bright with obvious desire and watching Erestor's face and reactions with single-minded focus.

Erestor smirked down at him. Though breathless himself, he asked, "Would you care to take over?"

It was all the invitation Glorfindel needed. Erestor cried out as another's finger breached him before he could fully prepare himself, the oil that he had used all that was easing Glorfindel's way. But what pain this might have caused was drowned out by the blinding pleasure of having Glorfindel's mouth coming down straight for him, wrapping around and down his length. He could not help but thrust up into that hot mouth even as another finger joined the first and a sinful tongue licked down and dragged itself along the length of him, up to the tip, keeping at it until those fingers pushed up and curved. A spike of pleasure shot through Erestor, forcing out a cry, and for a moment he thought he was lost.

"Not yet, sweet one." He heard Glorfindel chuckle as he slowed down and began to pull away. Erestor groaned in protest, but this only made Glorfindel laugh again. "Ssh, Erestor. Come here."

He barely registered being pulled and manoeuvred into position. All that he knew next was the delicious burn of sinking down upon a ready cock, slick with oil to ease the way but stretching and filling him all the same. He moaned at the sensation, and it seemed even Glorfindel was not immune, for a matching groan escaped his lips along with a litany of Erestor's name.

Glorfindel gave him a moment to adjust, during which Erestor opened his eyes to look at the Elf beneath him. He gasped at the look of concentrated desire there that never seemed to stray, even if it was evident that Glorfindel struggled to stay still. But something softened in that gaze when their eyes met, and then Glorfindel was taking Erestor's hands that laid on his chest, grasping them so their fingers were twined. He then stretched them out, pulling Erestor down to him until he was close enough to kiss, and he kissed him torturously slowly, fanning the flames around them until they were engulfed completely. Glorfindel kissed him until Erestor moaned and ground down upon him, until it was he who could not get enough, and just when Erestor was about to beg, Glorfindel rolled them over so it was Erestor beneath him, and began to thrust.

For all their urgency just moments earlier, the teasing jibes, even despite that this was the culmination of their long years of poorly veiled flirting, when they finally reached this moment, they were relatively and oddly quiet. Their eyes met and Erestor knew that Glorfindel felt that same intensity, a moment of overwhelming pleasure and a sense of rightness. To Erestor, that Glorfindel was moving inside him brought such relief, the pleasure of it beyond anything he ever imagined, and he could do naught but cling to those strong arms and the broad shoulders, feeling the muscles stretch and strain under his fingers as Glorfindel moved above him. He bit his lip to keep from crying out from such pleasure, but this he could not hold for long; he arched up, crying out as Glorfindel adjusted them so that each thrust hit Erestor just right, made him gasp and moan helplessly every time. He buried his face on Glorfindel's neck, biting the skin to keep from crying out again, but what cries he was able to spare for himself, Glorfindel took over, and their moans grew louder as the pleasure built.

They tittered together at the brink of pleasure for only a moment before Glorfindel was pushing them over with a series of deep, hard thrusts. Erestor threw his head back, falling against the pillows as he came, and he arched up against Glorfindel and dug his fingers on his back. Glorfindel, in turn, followed him shortly after, propelled by the delicious sting of nails on his skin and Erestor wrapping him in tight heat.

Later, when they were lying together, sated and smiling even as they tried to catch their breath, Glorfindel said, "I think it is time we built that house, don't you?"

Erestor raised an eyebrow at that, and said, a tad breathless still, "You and your ideas."

"I happen to have good ones," said Glorfindel, grinning. He pulled Erestor so he was lying atop Glorfindel's chest, black hair tangling with gold. "As you should now already know, all you really need to do is to agree."

Erestor smiled and shook his head, before laying it down to let the subject pass for now, for he was tired and sleepy. He heard Glorfindel sigh above him, and he felt careful fingers carding gently through his hair.

"Long have I called you mine, but never knew what it could be really like. Let us stop pretending. Please, live with me."

This time, it was Erestor who sighed, for he supposed he will get no sleep until this was done. He lifted up on his elbows to look at Glorfindel and brushed the stray hair that fell on that fair face.

"If there is anything you should have learned all these years, it is that you have always been able to do as you wish with me," he said. "When have I ever refused you, Glorfindel? Be comforted, and be at ease. I am yours, as I believe I have been for quite a while."

Erestor leaned forward for a kiss, which Glorfindel warmly received, though his face was one of surprise, open and endearing. But soon strong arms were wrapping around Erestor, and they held him tight.

 

- fin -