Our Side of the World by Ulan

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Work (PG13)

Elrond thought his advisers were acting strange.

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Elrond was suspicious the moment they let him in.

"My Lord. How may I help you?" asked Erestor, his chief counsellor, who answered the door. Elrond thought he looked about the same as always, but...

"Do you usually lock your door in the middle of the day?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh. Of course not. Did you lock the door when you came in, Glorfindel?" This question Erestor directed to the other person in the room, his office mate and captain of the Imladhrim guard, Glorfindel. The Elf-lord in question was at his desk, perusing a scroll with grave focus.

"Hm?" asked the captain, lifting his gaze momentarily at the two of them. "Not to my reckoning, no, but I must have, haven't I, if you found it locked."

Now Elrond was even more intrigued; Glorfindel - or really, just one of these two councillors, who were usually at one another's throats and would loathe to display any weaknesses to the other - calmly admitting his mistake? Thangorodrim must be rising out from the Sea as they speak.

Another surprise: Erestor did not jump at the opportunity to mock, as he was wont to do with Glorfindel. Instead, he turned back to Elrond. "What brings you here, Elrond?" he asked again.

"Review this before I sign it, please." Elrond handed Erestor a scroll - the latest draft of an agreement with Thranduil. "I shall wait for it, if you do not mind. I believe it has been delayed for quite a while and I am anxious to see the contract closed and signed."

"Certainly," said his chief counsellor. Elrond watched him return to his desk.

It was a good opportunity as any to covertly observe the two councillors, in the guise of browsing through the shelves on one side of the room. He could not shake the feeling of... not necessarily misgiving, only that something was... different.

To his surprise, the first tell was Erestor. It did not take long until the councillor's free hand moved. It kept straying, albeit subtly, to the hair that fell on the sides of his face, as though he itched to fix it, but kept deciding against it.

This alone was suspicious, for Erestor was never one to fidget, but soon it was Glorfindel who gave himself away. His eyes strayed to Erestor before he dropped them again to the document before him.

Aah, thought Elrond, amused. Well, then.

"How goes that transfer for Saelbeth, Erestor?" he asked, breaking the silence.

The said Elf-lord looked up. "My lord?"

"You gave him such a hard time, the poor thing," said Elrond, smiling now as he approached Erestor's desk. "It truly was not his fault he caught Counsellor Esgarion's eye. We all know the good counsellor has his mind set on finding a mate - 'sometime in this Age,' I remember him saying."

"Yes," Erestor said slowly, eyes narrowing. "I remember it, too."

"It is a shame, but of course I see your point, Erestor, although perhaps I would not put it quite so passionately as you did at the time. I personally see no issues with holding such affections for a colleague after all, but certainly to share an office with a lover could compromise productivity. Not to mention, it would give the maids too much to talk about, and I rather value my peace."

A pause. "Right."

"Ah, but it is spring time," continued Elrond. "I cannot fault anyone, really, for it is the season for it. It is even a welcome respite from what you two put me through this past year." The lord of the valley smiled at his two most trusted councillors, both of whom sat still and quiet at their respective desks. "Aiya, you two fought so much, so glad am I that things are quiet between you nowadays. I am pleased that you are getting along well."

Erestor was beginning to look quite uncomfortable, and his eyes flew across the scroll as if he wanted the job done as soon as possible. As for Glorfindel, whatever he was working on must be pressing indeed, so intently did he give it such attention.

Well, business is business, and they really ought to have known better, senior officers that they were. He pitied them, really, but Elrond went on to say: "The new barracks are almost complete, Glorfindel. You must be looking forward to it, being with your own staff soon. This set-up must have been inconvenient for you, after all. I thank you for your patience."

Glorfindel looked up again and appeared almost taken aback. Funny, thought Elrond, as on those first weeks of sharing space with Erestor, the captain could not pass a day without lamenting the slow progress of the barracks' construction. Now, however, he glanced briefly at Erestor before answering Elrond. "You are welcome, my lord. And I look forward to the move, of course."

"Good, good," nodded Elrond. "You should be out of here by the end of the week. You will expedite his moving out, won't you, Erestor? I think that is best for all concerned."

"Yes, my lord," said the solemn adviser, who Elrond knew understood perfectly.

"Excellent. You are done, then?" Elrond nodded at the scroll he asked Erestor to review, which the chief counsellor handed over back to him. "Thank you. A pleasant day to you, my friends."

 

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Erestor closed the door after Elrond.

"He gets much done, that one," he sighed. He tensed immediately as strong arms snaked around his waist and a hot breath brushed against the sensitive skin of his neck. He attempted to turn, but this only brought his face closer to that of the Elf behind him. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Just continuing where we left off earlier." Open-mouthed kisses were pressed and peppered along Erestor's skin, and he was pulled closer so his back was pressed against a hard chest.

He struggled against those arms. "We cannot, Glorfindel! Not after that when-- Elrond knows!"

"That was rather embarrassing, I admit, but he also just as good as gave his approval - on the condition, of course, that we do not compromise our work. Nor share offices, apparently."

"That is not-- I do not think I am comfortable with Elrond thinking that way about-- about us."

"Even if it is true?"

Hands began to stray, caressing up Erestor's torso, fingers spreading across and around his neck, pulling his head back for more kisses to his neck and shoulder, even up to the back of his ears. Erestor's eyes fell closed at a gasp as those lips found a tender spot, and he could not help the moan that escaped him when he felt a tongue run firmly across his skin.

Still.

"Especially," he insisted, though it, like his struggling, was half-hearted at best, "because it is not true."

"Valar, you are such a liar."

Without warning, Glorfindel turned him sharply and pressed him back against the door. The movement was not quiet, as in the next move he also had Erestor's wrists up and pinned to the wood, his knuckles and rings of office hitting the hard surface.

"Glorfindel!"

"Erestor, come on." Glorfindel's mouth hovered so close to Erestor's, it was maddening, and it did not help at all that the captain had their fingers now entwined. "This has gone on for far too long. You cannot just end it now - not when it has barely begun, and not when I have been wanting this for months!"

That heated mouth finally closed down upon his own, lips soft still from those first frenzied kisses they shared before Elrond knocked on their door. Erestor could not even remember how it happened, only that they fought again after weeks of tense silence. Before he knew it, Glorfindel was upon him, as forceful and demanding as he was being now.

Erestor found a break somewhere in the third - or was it fifth? - kiss. Though slightly dazed, he narrowed his eyes at the taller Elf. "Wait. Months?"

Glorfindel shrugged, still pinning him to the door. "Maybe fourteen now, give or take."

"Is that not only shortly after you... but then why only now, and why in Arda did you give me such a hard time!"

Glorfindel huffed out an exasperated sigh. He pressed his forehead against Erestor's brows, bringing their hands down and wrapping the counsellor's arms around his own waist.

"Because you were arrogant," he said. He kissed away whatever insult was conveyed by his words, lips softly closing around Erestor's. "You judged me for my fame before we were even introduced and treated me harshly though I did not understand why. It was unfair..." a kiss, soft and seductive, "immature..." another kiss, "and terribly heartless of you. Mandos, you were so annoying, I had no choice but to retaliate and defend myself.

"Oh, but Erestor, this - sharing a room with you, seeing you even when I try not to think about you, your scent straying even there where I attempt to work..." Those lips swept down again to engage Erestor's in a heated kiss. "Valar, I cannot take it. Please, could you just, for a moment, stop being so damned difficult, and just look at me." A long, lingering kiss. "Acknowledge this. Please."

"I--" Erestor swallowed through his own shock, for certainly Glorfindel cannot be saying what Erestor thought he was saying. Those arms tightened around him though, that the words were out even before he could think twice about them. "I thought it was just me," he confessed, turning away, "I did not want you to think that I... I sought to hide, for when I saw you that first time, I-I..."

"I know," said Glorfindel, sighing as though in relief, for finally it was said between them. He claimed yet another kiss. "You blind, insufferable Elf, I know. I felt you, too."

 

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Outside, Elrond was already a good distance from the door when he heard that first 'thud'. It sounded as if something hit the wood; he heard muffled hissing and then... silence.

The Half-Elven lord heaved an exasperated sigh, having a good idea of what is going on behind that door. He regretted there were things he had to fix - public opinion and proper decorum among senior officers were, after all, of grave import - but such things were easily taken care of.

As for everything else? Valar, it was about damn time. He had about enough of old Elves acting like children, especially when it was clear to anyone who cared to notice that it was nothing more than pride getting in the way of souls meeting. The lack of offices for military officers might have been true enough, but the current set-up was not without his tweaking. After all, with more than a dozen councillors in his staff, what were the odds that those two, with their endless bickering, would room together?

Elrond fondly shook his head as he continued on his way. Idiots, the both of them.