Salt on His Lips by chrissystriped

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Salt on His Lips

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The fire of driftwood crackled merrily, the fish they’d caught earlier was slowly roasting on sticks. Ereinion leaned back on his elbows with a happy sigh and returned Elrond’s smile. They’d stolen away from the palace this warm summer evening. Of course, because Elrond was always the responsible one, they’d left a note telling where they had gone to. It wouldn’t do for the palace to break out in a panic, if they noticed their king had vanished, Ereinion supposed.

Ereinion scooted over to his friend and laid an arm around his shoulder as they watched the spectacle of the sun sinking into the sea, turning the water to fire. Earendil was shining brightly in the south-west. It was still hard to believe that it was Elrond’s father, bearing the Silmaril of Lúthien.

Ereinion held Elrond tighter, feeling his warmth under his hand. His friend had lost so much family. His birth parents and his adopted fathers — Ereinion knew that Elrond was still hoping to find Maglor somewhere on the shore and he wanted him to succeed, diplomatic implications be damned — and now his brother had left for the new island of the Edain, choosing mortality.

“Any news from your brother?”, he asked softly.

Elrond shook his head. “Not yet, but they must have reached the new island by now. I guess there’s a lot to do.”

Ereinion knew his friend missed Elros terribly and was counting the days when a message could be reasonably expected. “He’ll be fine.”

“I know.” Elrond sighed. “I would feel it, if he weren’t.” He stood up and dragged Ereinion with him. “Let’s go swimming.”

Ereinion had the distinct feeling that Elrond didn’t want to talk about his brother now. He threw a look at the fish, but they didn’t look in danger of getting burned. He undressed quickly and followed Elrond into the water. It was cold on his skin. Elrond turned on his back, floating in the waves and looked up into the sky.

“Do you ever regret it? Not leaving for the West, I mean?”, he asked.

Ereinion paddled to stay in place beside him, his fingers sliding through Elrond’s hair floating in the water like kelp, and contemplated his answer.

Some people were assuming that he’d stayed to be king for the Noldor, so it wouldn’t fall to Celebrimbor. Which was nonsense, really, his cousin had no interest in being king, he’d told him that clearly and he had no reason to doubt him. Ereinion had stayed, because he loved Middle-earth, simple as that. But it had been hard to decide against, following his new found family from across the sea; to decide against  seeing his father again when he returned from Mandos.

“No”, he finally said. “It was not a decision for always, after all. I’m not ready to leave, yet. I want to live in this land that was made for us, not in Aman. Do you?”

Elrond changed his position so they suddenly were nose to nose. His hand found Ereinion’s in the water. Ereinion sucked in a sharp breath.

“I regret, that I can never meet my father and mother as long as I am in Middle-earth. I do not regret to have stayed with one of the few living relatives I have who I actually know. I do not regret to have stayed with you, because I know you would have cared, if I’d left.”

“I would have missed you”, Ereinion whispered and bowed forward to kiss him.

The movement of the waves made it a clumsy, salty kiss and all too short, before they were swept apart. Ereinion blushed.

“I’m sorry”, he stuttered. He’d never intended to show his attraction to Elrond — he was still his king, after all, and did not want him to feel obligated to satisfy his wishes. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Don’t apologise”, Elrond answered and squeezed his hand — and Ereinion realised he had not let go of him. “You did nothing wrong. It was not unwelcome.”

“No?”

Ereinion shuddered when Elrond’s fingers slid up his arm.

“No, my dear. Let’s swim back to the shore and kiss some more?”

Ereinion nodded, his mouth suddenly dry, despite all the water around them.

“And maybe the fish is still fit to eat”, he joked.

The fish wasn’t burned to a crisp yet, but they had little thought for it, only putting it a little away from the fire, before resuming their kisses. Elrond’s lips were soft and warm and Ereinion could feel a slight stubble on his cheeks as he caressed them with his fingers.

They explored each other’s skin gently, never straying to far down, by some unspoken agreement. This was not the right place, they were covered in sand.

Elrond moved back. His cheeks flushed in the fire light and his eyes bright. Ereinion looked firmly in his eyes so his own wouldn’t stray further down.

“Let’s eat”, Elrond croaked. “Or I won’t be able to…”

Ereinion nodded and quickly reached for the fish. His skin was too wet, to dress again, yet, but he still had the urge to cover his very obvious arousal. For a while they ate in embarrassed silence, stealing glances at each other. Ereinion took a deep breath, his heart hammering in his chest. What if he said no?

“Would you… honour me with your company tonight? In… in my rooms?” He held his breath.

“Yes”, Elrond answered, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’d like that very much, Ereinion.”

They smiled at each other and Ereinion felt a warm happiness rise up in his chest. Yes. He’d said Yes.

“Good”, he answered and felt that word terribly inadequate for showing the depth of his feelings. “I mean… I’m very happy.”

Elrond grinned at him and kissed him again. “I know. And I’m, too. Let’s go home?”

All that was left of the fish were a few bones.

“Gladly.”

They walked toward the city hand in hand. Ereinion felt his heart beat quickly in his chest. Whatever this night would bring, he was sure it would be good.