第 88 页

Call me already, call me call me call me….

It hadn’t happened that first night, despite Ecthelion’s promises. Instead he’d gotten an apologetic text around 10.

I’m sorry, looks like I can’t get away tonight! I’ll be in touch tomorrow when I know more.

Fair enough, Glorfindel had thought. He was still slightly in shock from the whole incident, and had gone to bed happily, thinking of the next day.

But the next day hadn’t panned out as anticipated either.

Augh, so, it turns out my family is planning on going away for the weekend…

Looks like I’m going to be at the coast with them until Monday. I’m really sorry.

Then had followed two and a half days of nothing, as Glorfindel’s glee and anticipation turned slowly into roiling impatience and anxiety.

Why isn’t he texting me, at least? Maybe they don’t get service at the beach. Maybe his parents don’t want him on the phone when he’s spending family time. That makes sense. That’s fair. They haven’t seen him in three months, after all…

But neither have I!

Yes, but they’re his family, they get priority.

Still. One text, at night maybe?

But not even that.

I wonder if he regrets it.

He might. He’s not the one with the hopeless crush for six years; he didn’t even think about you that way until the past couple months. Right? He didn’t actually elaborate on that. But he kinda implied it hadn’t occurred to him until he got my letters. Maybe he only kissed me because he felt bad, or wanted to make me happy. It’s the sort of thing he would do.

Why hasn’t he texted?

He regrets it. He must.

And then…

“Glorfindel?”

“YES, hi, hello.” The shrill tone of his phone ringing had sent his heart into overdrive. Glorfindel coughed and cleared his throat, trying to lower his voice an octave. “Hey.”

“Do you have a cold?” Ecthelion sounded concerned.

“What? No.”

“Your voice sounds a bit hoarse.”

Glorfindel coughed again and spoke normally. “I’m fine. So how was the beach?”

“It was fine.” Ecthelion’s tone was crisp, and Glorfindel could almost see him shifting slightly from foot to foot, the only way he ever betrayed impatience. “I… Well, it was good I spent time with my family. I’m sorry I wasn’t in touch, I left my charger at home and my phone died.”

“Ah, no worries,” said Glorfindel breezily, as if he hadn’t held tiny prayer vigils over his phone every night for the past three days. “It hasn’t been long.”

Just centuries.

“Where are you now?”

“At my place.”

“Ah.” Ecthelion breathed in, breathed out on the other end of the line. “Can I come over?”

“Sure!” Glorfindel suddenly felt his face might crack as an involuntary grin spread across it. “I can also meet you somewhere if that’s easier.”

“No, stay right there. Don’t move.” Ecthelion sounded almost terse on the other end. “I mean, I want to make sure you’re actually there when I come over, I’ve been… Just stay put, I’ll be over soon.”

Glorfindel hung up, laughed at the ceiling for a while, and then jumped up with an exclamation and began flying around his room. He shoved clothes piles back into drawers, the closet, under his bed; shuffled piles of books and papers into teetering heaps on his desk; dragged old trophies to the forefront of his shelves while shoving phallus-shaped ‘#1 GOLDEN FLOWER: GROWER NOT A SHOWER’ joke awards from his teammates into dark corners.

When the smart rap came on his door, Glorfindel opened it as casually as he could, though so quickly Ecthelion only managed to get half a knock in.

“Hey, welcome ba- ”

Ecthelion didn’t say anything, didn’t even let the door close behind him. He just reached out and pulled Glorfindel close into a swift, scorching kiss.

Glorfindel immediately wrapped his arms around Ecthelion’s waist and responded eagerly; if he had been starting to doubt the strength of Ecthelion’s fervor, those doubts were utterly assuaged now. Ecthelion wasn’t wearing his uniform this time, dressed in his street clothes, and despite Glorfindel’s insistence that he’d developed a uniform kink, Ecthelion wore a plain white tee-shirt in a very stirring way. Glorfindel yielded to the urge he’d had before, to drag his fingers through Ecthelion’s closer cropped hair, his thumbs brushing Ecthelion’s ears, and Ecthelion made a faint sound against Glorfindel’s lips.

“What was that?” Glorfindel murmured, but Ecthelion just shook his head frantically and pressed closer. Glorfindel pulled him into the room and kicked the door shut, not loosing his grip on Ecthelion’s shirt. He considered whether it was time to throw Ecthelion down on the bed or if they should stay standing for a while longer – How long did making out usually last, standing up? Should they lean against the wall? That had worked before. He wasn’t sure what would happen on the bed, though it made his heart race faster in anticipation or fear at the thought, but Ecthelion seemed to have different ideas, and pulled away entirely.

“Hey, no.” Glorfindel reached out for him again. “No fair.”

“I’m sorry,” said Ecthelion, and he looked so distressed that Glorfindel felt momentarily alarmed.

“What? What are you sorry for?”

Ecthelion sank down on the edge of the bed, and Glorfindel sat next to him, laying a cautious hand on his knee. “Thel?”

“I wanted this to go differently,” said Ecthelion, looking wan and unhappy. “I didn’t want such a rush. I wanted us to have time to talk and to spend time together where we could relax and do things, and go to the places I’ve missed going with you… Like visiting Elemmakil at The Underground, or the fountain in the park where you and I and Turgon used to feed the pigeons, or – ”

“We can do that,” said Glorfindel, squeezing his leg comfortingly. “We can do all that. Elemmakil told me they have a new sandwich at The Underground called Tunnel Vision – it has pastrami, but I figure we should try it anyway, I was just waiting for you to come back.”

“You’ve waited long enough. But I didn’t want to wait all this time…” Ecthelion still looked miserable. “I didn’t want to wait all this time and then just…have to rush things.”

“What are we rushing?”

“And I don’t want to treat you like a booty call, you’re my best friend and the best person I know and you don’t deserve that.”

“Hey, you’re not treating me like a booty call but, um, who said I had a problem with booty calls? I don’t mind you coming over any time and kissing me stupid, I think I’ve said this before.”

“I wanted to do this right,” said Ecthelion, who was apparently not listening to any of Glorfindel’s attempts at comfort, and put his head in his hands.

Glorfindel scooted closer, so they pressed together, side by side. He laid an arm over Ecthelion’s shoulders and hugged him lightly. “Thel. The thing about ‘this’? Is that it’s our call whether we’re doing this right, and guess what, I’m totally happy with whatever. And for Chrissakes, you’re not treating me like a booty call, we’ve got all d– ”

“I have twenty minutes,” said Ecthelion, into his hands. “And then my entire extended family is expecting me at a cookout at my grandmother’s house.”

“Oh.” Glorfindel fell silent.

There was a pause, during which the room was so quiet that Glorfindel could hear Ecthelion swallow painfully, as if he had a lump in his throat.

Well.

“Damned if I’m going to waste twenty minutes on you being miserable,” Glorfindel said, tamping down the disappointment that was threatening to close off his own throat, and lifted Ecthelion’s chin. “There are ways to spend twenty minutes that I would quite enjoy, I think.” He winked, and ran his thumb over Ecthelion’s lower lip, trying to remember exactly the tone Ecthelion had used in the alley. “May I, if you don’t object, kiss you?”

Ecthelion smiled crookedly at him, and raised his hand to Glorfindel’s cheek. “Please.”

Glorfindel smiled brilliantly in return, holding back the anguished little voice in the back of his head wailing Twenty minutes? And less than a week left before you lose him again – and kissed his friend.

They ended up on the bed together after all, though twenty minutes was by no means long enough.

Chapter End Notes

1. There is already an illustration of Glorfindel's immaculate room, thanks to Snartha. <3333

I'm laughing at the sun

Chapter Notes

0. Warnings for implied sexual content, brief make outs, demons, and Celegorm in his element (clothed!).

It was late and had grown pitch black outside, not that this made much difference in the small bedroom; from the beginning the lights had been out and the curtains drawn.

In the darkness came the sound of a short exhale, and then a creak as the bed shifted. “All right, well. I should go.”

“Mmm. Don’t and say you did.”

“I have an early shift in the morning.”

“You used that excuse last time.”

“It doesn’t mean it wasn’t true then. Or now. Let go, I can’t get up when you’re wrapped around me like that.”

“I hate how you always get to be the one to leave.”

“How the hell else can we do it, if we’re always at your place? Also, you’ve done plenty of leaving in the past, maybe it’s my turn.”

“Nice dig, there. Cute.”

“Call me cute again, motherfucker.”

“Oof. See, you gotta stay now, because we’re about to fight. And you know what that leads to.”

“You think I’m just here for the sex?”

“If you weren’t, you wouldn’t leave as soon as we finished.”

There was a shifting of sheets. Bare legs slid against each other, and there was a sharp intake of breath.

“Maybe I like the role reversal.”

“God, enough already. Your ability to hold a grudge is the least sexy thing about you.”

“Your personality is the least sexy thing about you.”

There was a very busy kind of silence. The bedframe creaked, and a faint moan broke the quiet.

“No, don’t move – Keep your hand right…there…”

“Good thing I don’t use my personality on this part of you, since you seem to enjoy it so much.”

“Smugness is part of your problem, too, you know. Oh god. Right – Harder – ”

Heavy breathing, followed by a gasp.

“We never even finished our fight. You’re running out of excuses for why you’re staying.”

“Who said I was staying?”

The bed started to shift rhythmically against the wall.

“Oh, yeah, just like that..."

"Shh, keep your voice down. Damn. Why is your bed so loud? This is the opposite subtle. No one will ever guess what’s going on in here.”

“They might, but they won’t guess it’s you.”

“Why, do you often have someone else in here? Who?”

“Jesus.”

“You can’t just kiss me every time you don’t like what I’m – ”

“Watch me.”

Another breathless moment. The creaking of the bed continued, quickened, and someone cried out, followed by a heavy breath and an incoherent murmur.

It was almost totally dark. It was almost totally quiet.

“I should – ”

“Stay.” A soft, muffled sound. “Please. Please stay.”

“I – Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

After a while, they opened the curtains, and let the moonlight in.

* * *

hi dude

hi? Wow it’s been kind of a while. How’s it going?

Not bad.

Good. Ish?

Ok I’m not going to lie I’m texting you because I’m going kind of nuts

And need help?

What's wrong?

What happened?

Are you okay?

Yeah yeah no I’m fine

I just need

Um

Advice?

Idk

Ok…

I wouldn’t have texted you but I was going kind of crazy

Like I was about to text your cousin for romantic advice

That’s where I was at

That’s how dire the straits

Which cousin?

Celegorm

Holy shit, Glorfindel

What happened?

:-)

that’s not an answer, glorfindel

I know, I’m feeling awkward

What was the romantic advice you were almost desperate enough to go to my cousin for?

‘how to deal with hooking up with your best friend when he’s only around for 10 days and has a lot of things he needs to do in that time but you’ve been in love with him since you were 17 and would kinda like to figure out what now’

!!!!　!?!?!!?!　!

YOU HOOKED UP WITH ECTHELION

　　!

a lil

GLORFINDEL

hey turgon what’s up

TELL ME THE THIGNS

THISNG*

Details

Haha

Whaddaya wanna know

Um well

Nothing grisly

But

Did you finally make a move

NO

he did

WHAT

I know

What happened?

He got home from usmc and just like kissed me

Womp womp

…

then vanished for three days

WHAT THAT DICK

No I mean he had family stuff

Ok…

You know how responsible he is

But still. He just kissed you and then left?

Sort of. But he didn’t want to.

Okay.

Then he came over

And

We hooked up?

He tried to go down on me

Sorry

I know that’s grisly details

It’s okay

‘tried’?

there wasn’t time, he had to go

and I was a little bit

something

something?

Ahhh I don’t know

even though I’ve wanted this for years

I was a little

freaked

Yeah

I want more time with him

And I don’t know if it’s overstepping to, like, demand that

Because we’re not dating or officially anything

We’re friends who have hooked up

And he’s in a tough spot needing to prioritize family and usmc demands etc

But I kind of need to actually sit down and talk with him

Before we just have sex or something

And then he has to race off again.

I don’t want to be needy though, it’s not like we’re official

Isn’t that why you should talk, though?

Yeah that’s sort of what I’m flipping out about

Do you think I should do something?

Well

Typing busily, Turgon rounded the corner and smacked squarely into a burly orderly, who growled, “Watch it, kid.”

“Sorry!” Turgon picked up his phone, which he’d dropped, and rubbed his head, which had collided with the orderly’s shoulder. “Ouch. Oh, damn.” His screen was cracked, a series of lines spidering out from the bottom. But it wasn’t cracked enough to obscure the time display in the upper right corner. “Oh, DAMN.” Hoisting in his backpack back over his shoulder, Turgon took off running. His phone vibrated again.

‘well’?

what does that mean?

Turgon?

“Ahhh.” Turgon tried to type a response while jogging down the hospital steps.

Ikm sry! Im actyualtl at the hospital n trynig to get to a datething I have

Nd I just droppd my phone

I jst rlized im like 15 mins late alreadt

A date thing?

Turgon!

For god’s sake ignore my hysteria and go to your date thing!

One should never keep a lady as lovely as Amarie waiting ;)

ill call u ltr tho bc I have thougts on u+cthelion

don’t sweat it dude, seriously, I’ll be fine

enjoy your date!

-

Amarië was standing at the spot on the edge of campus where they’d agreed to meet, and to his shame Turgon saw her check her watch with a look of distinct nervousness as he rounded the corner. He raced up, panting and sweaty-faced, but suddenly in mind of the last time he’d encountered her under very similar circumstances – late, disheveled, and entirely unprepossessing.