A Brand New Day, A Brand New Year

In three different beds, three different Elves awoke with smiles on their faces.  The sun shone high in the sky, promising a beautiful – if frosty – day.  It was the first day of the new year and for all three Elves, it felt like a new chapter of their lives had begun.

Haldir’s Morning:

Haldir breathed in deeply, savouring that just-awake feeling before his inevitable hangover kicked in.  He presumed it was late in the morning given the height of the sun.  He looked down at his chest in amazement.  He was there, Dave was lying there, still sleeping on Haldir’s chest.  When everyone had left the party, Dave stayed.  They sat drinking liqueur and chatting, stopping every so often to share kisses or caresses.  Orophin and Legolas had long since retired to bed, Thranduil had been given the spare key to Dave’s cottage and had gone off to bed and Rumil hadn’t returned after walking Cassie home, but none of this registered with Haldir and Dave.  They only had eyes, and thoughts for each other. 

Eventually tiredness had won out and Haldir suggested that Dave just stay over to avoid the walk home in the cold.

“We don’t have to do anything, just sleep.  Besides, it’s getting icy out.”  Dave had made a feeble attempt at arguing; it was a short distance home, he had a thick coat and gloves, he was too drunk and silly, but in truth he didn’t want to leave Haldir, so the pair had stumbled off to bed.  As Haldir had promised, nothing happened.  They were both too tired and drunk for that so they had undressed to their underwear and snuggled together under the covers.

“Hmmm, this is nice.”  Dave was also awake, and rubbed his cheek against Haldir’s chest.  Haldir felt Dave’s hot breath brush over his bare chest and struggled to control the shudder that threatened to wrack his body.  The previous night (or rather earlier that morning) thoughts of any physical activity between the two of them had only entered Haldir’s mind in passing – he needed sleep more than sex.  Now, however he was awake, rested and parts of his body began to stir.  Haldir fought to hold down the urge to...hold on...was that Dave’s hand creeping down his stomach?

Orophin’s Morning:

Orophin’s nipples had always been one of his most sensitive spots.  There was nothing more likely to have him squirming with desire than having them caressed, licked or sucked.  Legolas knew this very well, so it was no great surprise that Orophin’s eyes fluttered open and he let out a shuddering moan when Legolas decided to have some fun.  Orophin lifted his head to see his lover bestowing kisses and light nibbles to his chest, flicking his thumbs over sensitised nipples.

“Didn’t you get enough last night?”  Orophin asked, amused at Legolas’ seemingly insatiable appetite.  Legolas merely gave a slight shake of his head and continued planting kisses onto Orophin’s flesh.  His tongue snaked out and lapped at one nipple, then the other before traveling downwards to his navel.  Orophin whimpered when Legolas pulled back.

“I didn’t want to give you this last night when I arrived; there were too many people around.  And when we came to bed, we were too busy.”  Legolas jumped off the bed and rummaged around in his overnight bag.  “As soon as I saw these, I immediately thought of you.  I’ve been dying to try them out.  Ugh, where are they?”  Legolas up-ended the bag to find what he was looking for.  “Ah-hah!”  He thrust the brightly wrapped package into Orophin’s hand.  “Merry Christmas.”

With some trepidation, Orophin unwrapped his present.  As the paper fell away, he could see glints of metal and pink fur.  Finally the paper was off and he held up his gift.

“Furry handcuffs?  Oof!”  Legolas took Orophin by surprise, pushing him over to one side, then sprawled on Orophin’s vacated spot, stretching his arms up above his head.

“Nice bed this.”  Legolas mused.  “Lovely old-fashioned wrought iron frame.  Just perfect for a bit of bondage, eh?”  Legolas linked his fingers together and waggled his hips.  “Fancy a game?”

Rumil’s Morning:

Rumil tried to stretch his cramped legs.  His neck and shoulders ached and his left hand was numb.  Despite the discomfort caused by sleeping on the sofa, Rumil felt fantastic.  His heart sang in his chest and he couldn’t help but smile to himself.  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a small face peering at him.  It was purple, fluffy and had two plastic eyes and a plastic nose.  Its smile had been stitched on in red thread.

“Scruffy says ‘Good morning, Rumil’.”  A small high-pitched voice spoke from behind Scruffy.  Scruffy was a purple dog.  Scruffy waggled backwards and forwards as it ‘spoke’.

“Good morning to you too, Scruffy.  Have you seen Daisy today?”  Rumil made a big show of looking for Daisy whilst pretending not to see her.  He looked under his blanket, under the pillow then sat up and looked behind the sofa.  Finally, he gave up and addressed Scruffy once more.  “I thought I heard her, but I must have imagined it.  Oh well, if you see her, tell her I said hello.”  Rumil flopped back down on the sofa, pulled the blanket up over his head and pretended to snore. 

“Oof!”  Daisy pounced on Rumil’s prone form.

“Silly Rumil – I was here all along.”  She wriggled until she was lying beside him.  She peered up at him with sparkling blue eyes.

“Daisy – leave poor Rumil alone.  I doubt he got much sleep.”  Cassie walked into the room, toweling her hair dry.  “I’m sorry, the sofa’s not the most comfortable.  Would you like coffee?”  Cassie wandered through to the kitchen to fill up the percolator.  “Daisy, come and get your breakfast.”

Daisy planted a soggy kiss on Rumil’s cheek then jumped down and scampered off to the kitchen.  Rumil threw back his blanket and followed her through.  He watched, laughing as Daisy poured some cereal into a bowl, added milk and started to eat.  

“Would you like something, Rumil?  I can make scrambled eggs on toast if you’d like?”  Cassie waved a box of eggs at Rumil, who nodded in response.  “You can have a shower if you want.  By the time you’re done, breakfast will be ready.”

“Um, thanks but don’t you have better things to do than have me hanging around longer than necessary?”  Rumil wanted to stay, desperately.  He felt he should make some sort of show of reluctance in case that desperation was apparent to Cassie.

“Not at all.  We didn’t have anything planned today.  Well, except for a Tweenies marathon, eh Daisy?”  Cassie stuck her tongue out at her daughter then leaned towards Rumil and whispered, “Besides, it’d be nice to spend a bit of time with another adult.”

“Great – the Tweenies marathon it is then.  I’ll just go and have that shower.”

Evening

Orophin lay in front of the fire, stroking Flora.  Legolas had left earlier in the afternoon to give his father a lift home and had not yet returned.  Similarly, Dave had left a short time ago after having first helped Haldir clean the cottage.  Now, Haldir was dozing on the couch.  Rumil had appeared home around lunchtime only to disappear off out again shortly afterwards.  All was quiet in the cottage.

“Legolas told me he loved me, last night.  I told him I feel the same.”  Haldir opened one eye when his brother spoke.

“That’s good.  I hope it works out for you this time.”

“And Rumil seems to have hit it off with Cassie.  She seems sweet and her little girl is adorable.  It would be nice to see him settling down a bit, he’s always been so flighty.”  Orophin ticked Flora’s tummy.

“Hmmmm.”

“You and Dave seemed to be getting along well, too.”  Orophin smirked; he knew this would provoke a response.

“Do you have a point to make, Orophin?”  Haldir glared through tired eyes.

“Nope, none at all.  Just saying...”

“Just saying what?”

“You know, just saying that it’s nice that all three of us appear to have someone we care about right now.”  Orophin glanced up at his brother, expecting him to grimace or even snarl.  Instead all he saw was a wistful look flit across Haldir’s face.  The pair sat for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet, each lost in their own thoughts.  The sound of wheels crunching on gravel brought them back to reality.  Orophin jumped up to open the door and welcome his lover back, but a sigh stopped him in his tracks.  He turned to look at Haldir.

“You’re right.  It is nice.  There’s something I need to do.”  Haldir stood, grabbed his keys from the hook on the wall.  He opened the door gave Legolas a welcoming grin and left.

“Where’s he off to?”  Legolas asked.

Orophin shrugged.  “I’m not sure.  Who cares?  I believe we were in the middle of a game...?”

The end