Nirnaeth am mbar (Homesickness)

Disclaimer: Most characters belong to Tolkien. Figwit (Melpomaen) is the pretty elf from Peter Jackson's movies.



Warnings: Graphic M/M



Thanks to everyone for their kind reviews!



Fears



The early morning sky was still dark over the Misty Mountains, though a pink glow formed a thin line in the east. The men, taciturn by nature, paused to warm hands and mugs of tea over low-burning fires as they packed up camp.



Elrohir sniffed the air. "It will snow tonight."



Elladan looked up and agreed. "Winter is coming, that is certain."



"The Dúnedain are anxious to return home."



"It never fails - the weather turns cold and they suddenly remember that they have wives." The brothers shared a laugh.



"In any event, we do not want to be caught on the wrong side of the pass," Elrohir said, sobering.



"You think we should start back today." Elladan threw his back over his horse's back.



"You will have to face him sooner or later." Elrohir put a hand on his brother's shoulder.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



They reached Imladris late after a grueling journey of four days, pushing their horses as much as they dared. Elladan discarded his clothes and sank into his bath, blessing the chambermaid who had filled it at this late hour.



Physically exhausted, his mind assaulted him with images and thoughts tumbling one over another. He would not find relief in his dreams tonight, and when he got out of the bath, he set aside his nightshirt and put on fresh leggings and vest. In his bedchamber, he opened the curtains and stared into the starless night. Heavy clouds hung over the valley, their deceptive light promising snow. As he let the curtains fall back, he saw the window's reflection of the candlelit room.



He was not alone.



He whirled to face Melpomaen, who sat absolutely still in the corner of the room. The elf wore velvet robes of winter, yet the heavy fabric could not disguise thin shoulders and bony elbows. Elladan's heart melted at the hollow, beautiful face raised to look at him. He had gone abroad to forget this little elf, to honor Melpomaen's wish to be let alone. As if the Valar had designed to torture him, that elf now sat so temptingly near in his bedchamber.



"My lord, I..." The words died on Melpomaen's lips. Solemn grey eyes pleaded for Elladan to understood what he was afraid to say, to make things right between them.



The peredhel knelt before the elf and held the thin face in his hands. "My fair little bird. What have you done to yourself?" He marked the shadows under eyes filled with sorrow and kissed the pale lips reverently.



"I am sorry...you frightened me. You still frighten me."



"Shhh," Elladan said, holding a finger to the elf's lips. He claimed them again, this time with passion. As they parted, breathless, Elladan felt a surge of emotion at the flush that crept into the elf's cheeks.



"Will you stay with me tonight?"



Melpomaen stiffened. "I - my lord, I - this is too much." His eyes darted to the door in panic.



"No, you misunderstand me. I meant…nothing like that. I only want to have you near me." Elladan squeezed the elf's arm reassuringly. "And I would really prefer that you use my name."



Melpomaen smiled. "Elladan." He lifted a tentative hand, running it over the peredhel's hair, loose and still damp from the bath. "I will stay, then."



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



After that first night, they had decided that it would be easier for Elladan to explain his presence on the student floor than for Melpomaen to explain how he came to be in the family's quarters, and so they shared the elf's bed.



They kissed more than they talked. Melpomaen guarded his thoughts like a miser, dispensing them only at great need. It frustrated Elladan that in their most intimate moments, he sensed a barrier in the elf; something Melpomaen held back. Yet, he understood the need for patience, and such need came of more than Melpomaen's inexperience.



The elf did not entirely trust Elladan. Melpomaen wondered if this newfound love would dissolve like dream-sleep, leaving him in an empty bed, cold and alone. Despite his fears, he found sustenance in Elladan's protective embrace. He knew that Elladan wished he would give more of himself, yet already it frightened him to depend so much on the peredhel's gentle strength.



It was easier to let his body speak for him. Elladan's kisses and careful touch moved him to a breathless crest, only to fall back, so that he looked up longingly, wanting to know how it might feel to ride the wave to its end. Aching need assailed him when hands failed to finish what they had started. The feel of his lover's hard physique, the lust and love mingled in those gentle grey eyes, overcame the elf's modesty and he responded eagerly when Elladan at last moved to bring him over that agonizing peak.



It seemed unbearably hot in the room that night, despite the late winter chill. Elladan coaxed the young elf to whimpering need, taking sensitive ear tips between his lips while his hand roamed between the elf's slender thighs, maddeningly near but never touching his stiff member. The elf shivered and bit back cries of frustration as Elladan slowly worked his way down, leaving evidence of their passion in purple bruise.



Melpomaen groaned as Elladan's lips teased his erection and abandoned it for areas south. Raven braids whispered about the weeping organ as the peredhel's tongue traced tense inner thighs. Elladan looked back at the elf's fevered face and grinned wickedly. Innocent or not, the elf had come to such a state that if Elladan did not soon relieve him, he would take matters into his own hands. He saved the elf the trouble, at last closing his mouth around the very center of desire.



The elf gasped at this new sensation, but soon began to move his hips in response to Elladan's ministrations. The length of the peredhel's teasing foreplay, his own inexperience and the intense pleasure of a warm, wet mouth did not allow the elf to last very long. He came with a cry that must have woken half the students on the floor.



In the afterglow he lay stunned, his eyes closed, breathing in ragged gasps. Elladan kissed him and stroked the sweat-dampened hair from his brow.



Melpomaen opened his eyes and saw the worry in the beautiful face inches from his own. "I do not think I could have taken any more of your tortures," he remonstrated, tapping the peredhel lightly on the cheek. He felt his lover's hardness against his leg and sat up. "Can I?" he asked uncertainly. The young elf was not sure what he was doing and relied on Elladan's quiet moans to guide him as he returned the favor.



Their trysts brought an unexpected sort of pleasure to the peredhel - he had never before taken an inexperienced lover. He knew that men regarded such opportunities as conquests, but he found only delight in the young elf's discovery of his body. Such arts of intimacy were altogether new to Melpomaen, and Elladan felt almost as if he, too, came to know the ways of giving and receiving pleasure for the first time.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



The valley awoke with the heady scent and beauty of lilies and cherry blossoms, and Imladris turned out in finery and high spirits for the twins' shared begetting day. After an elf's first century, the passage of years was no longer remarkable, and many an elf was hard-pressed to state his age unless he calculated it from the year of his birth. Nonetheless, elves needed little excuse for merrymaking, and under the Shadow, happy occasions came all too seldom.



As in years past, elves having business at Imladris had taken advantage of the warming weather to travel from other lands. Several of the Dúnedain mingled with the guests, and Melpomaen marveled at the change in these grizzled men; seeing them in their formal attire, he could imagine the noble kings of old. He watched the fête from a distance, sitting on the stone steps that led to the gardens above the lawn. The number of unfamiliar people made him nervous.



As evening fell, he found Elladan and made his excuses. "Will I see you later?"



"My begetting day would not be complete if I were to pass the night in a cold, lonely bed," Elladan promised. He watched the small elf until he disappeared in the shadows of the house. Something in Melpomaen's mood made him uneasy. Weary of the party, he sought his brother, no small task, for it seemed that every time he had a moment to speak to Elrohir, they were swept into the dancing or assailed by maidens wanting their attention. At last, his twin managed to whisper in his ear as they passed in a reel. "Go and see your little bird," he laughed. "I will cover for your absence."



He found Melpomaen in the tiny receiving room of his student lodgings. The determined set of the elf's jaw contrasted sharply with the twin pools of fear that met his eyes. Elladan approached his lover warily, but to his surprise, Melpomaen rose and kissed him without reservation. "It seemed like you would never get away!"



"It seemed that way to me, too," he said, returning the kiss hungrily.



The elf looked up at him shyly. "I have not yet given you your present." Before the peredhel could respond, Melpomaen rushed to finish his sentence. "Be with me tonight."



"Of course, I will stay."



"No, I mean, be with me. I want you…to have me.



Elladan shifted uncomfortably. He sat down, pulling the elf down to straddle his lap so that they faced one another. He took the youngster's hands. "Do not think that I do not want this. I have wanted you so long I can hardly stand it." Something about the young elf's offer felt vaguely whorish, and it made him uneasy. All the trust he had struggled to build between them would come to nothing if he took him before he was ready.



"But…" The young elf looked at him with hurt in his eyes.



Elladan felt a pang of guilt. "Ai, Fileg, you know I can refuse you nothing," he soothed, kissing the elf's forehead. "But I need to know that this is what you want, that you are not…that you desire this as much as I do."



Without a word, Melpomaen kissed him again, drawing his tongue into his mouth with a fierceness almost painful. Elladan moaned, his last noble thoughts scattering. After that kiss, he could not have resisted the elf with all the help of the Valar. Divesting him of his robes and cassock, he maneuvered Melpomaen to the bedchamber. His mouth found that hollow just in front of the pulse in his lover's neck, that spot that he knew from experience would reduce the elf to almost bestial, mindless desire. Writhing helplessly, Melpomaen had his own revenge, as this movement brought his hips to rub against Elladan's increasingly tight breeches. The peredhel dispensed with his own robes and lifted the elf's vest from his shoulders. Pushing Melpomaen down to lie on the bed, he fastened his mouth to a nipple. The elf gasped, his breath coming in little whines, and wound his hands in Elladan's hair, holding his mouth against that sensitive flesh.



With a groan, Elladan shook off the elf's hands and removed his breeches, breathing a sigh of relief as he released his swollen organ. He made short work of their remaining clothing and knelt over the elf, straddling his head. "Take me in your mouth," he said urgently. The young elf had become quite adept at pleasing Elladan in this manner, but on this night, the peredhel wanted no long, teasing artfulness of tongue. He thrust deeply into the elf's mouth, spending his passion almost methodically. He knew that if he did not relieve the built-up tension, he would never last long enouo gio give Melpomaen the pleasure he deserved.



His own need temporarily abated, he poured himself over his lover, nipping and kissing from the points of his ears to thighs shamelessly spread and tense with anticipation. All the while, he stroked the elf's erection with feather-light fingertips.



Melpomaen tossed his head, nearly maddened by the peredhel's long, slow seduction. His half-articulate pleadings met only a teasing smile. Elladan was enjoying this.



At length, Elladan stopped and slipped off the bed without a word of explanation. Frustrated, the young elf flung a curse in his direction.



Elladan laughed. "My, if the rest of Imladris could see the shy little bird now." He returned to the bed and knelt beside the elf, the mirth gone from his face. "You are sure?"



Melpomaen nodded. Bonelessly, he let the peredhel spread his legs wider. An oily scent mingled with the musky odors of the room and he drew in a shaky breath as Elladan's finger probed at his nether regions.



With patient determination, Elladan coaxed the elf into relaxing enough to allow entry. Still, he winced inwardly at the tightness, even as his cock hardened in anticipation. The elf made a small sound as Elladan probed his hole, but seemed at last to grow used to the invasion. Elladan tried another finger. Melpomaen hissed in pain. "I am sorry, Fileg."



"It is okay. I want this," the young elf answered firmly.



Elladan curved his fingers slightly, seeking that little gland that gave such pleasure, and was rewarded with a long moan of pure pleasure.



Elladan's hardness now asserted itself. He needed to be inside the elf, inside that hot tunnel. He withdrew his fingers and positioned his sex at the elf's opening. A look of apprehension wrinkled the young elf's brow; if the peredhel's mannish heritage had given him broader shoulders and a more muscular frame, it had also left him particularly well-endowed, a gift that seemed almost inconvenient as he pushed at the elf's virgin hole.



At penetration, Melpomaen arched underneath him, tightening around Elladan as his body fought to repel the source of the searing pain. Elladan groaned. He could not have pulled out if he had to; he could not move without risking real injury to the young elf. In any case, that throb between his legs had to be satisfied. He stroked the elf's cheek. "Relax. It will hurt less."



Melpomaen had his eyes closed, panting as the pain failed to abate. Consciously, he willed the tension to seep out of his lower body. The peredhel moved inside him again, and he could not suppress a little whine as friction met torn flesh. Elladan altered his position slightly and the bulk of his member pressed so firmly upon his prostate that Melpomaen thought his heart would stop. He arched again, this time with pleasure.



Elladan choked back his groans of pleasure - he did not dare make too much noise and alert the whole house to their activities. He need not have bothered, however, for his lover had clearly passed beyond such rational thought. Melpomaen moaned and thrust his hips in a manner as thoroughly wanton as that of an experienced whore. Elladan's thrusts grew more insistent, rougher and deeper, encouraged by the slender elf's cries. Valar, he was tight!



Overwhelmed by pain and pleasure, Melpomaen could not maintain his defenses. The elf convulsed rhythmically around Elladan's member, and for a moment, the peredhel felt the barrier slip. He pursued that small opening in his lover's soul and, for just that moment, had a glimpse into the lonely, anxious young elf's heart. Elladan came with a long cry, his hips moving of their own accord in short, powerful thrusts as his organ swelled and released its seed.



He collapsed exhausted on top of the elf, shaking from the intensity of what they had just shared. Dimly, he realized that Melpomaen was sobbing. He lifted his head and stroked damp hair. "Are you all right, Fileg?"



Elladan felt an answering throb around his softening member. The elf could not speak, could not make words out of the jumble of physical and emotional sensations. Elladan at last disengaged himself from their embrace and saw to his surprise that the candle had nearly burned itself out. He got up, returning with a wet towel to clean up the messy results of their coupling.



Melpomaen was nearly asleep. "Come, let us get you under the covers." The thin frame had cooled quickly under the sheen of sweat, and the young elf had begun to shiver slightly. Elladan could barely rouse the elf enough to get him into bed. Melpomaen's eyes glazed almost immediately in elven sleep. Elladan felt a heavy weariness, but his mind needed to sort through the events of the night before he could relax and find his own dreams. He understood the elf's tears, recognized them for the rare gift that they were: a single instance of feeling absolutely loved, of complete trust in the peredhel.



They woke late the following morning, but there was nothing to call them early from bed; Imladris lay in various stages of recovery from the previous day's revelry. Melpomaen moved stiffly, undoubtedly sore, but Elladan sensed something else in the elf's rigid posture. The elf had pulled inside himself, as distant as ever, and Elladan guessed that Melpomaen would not be so free with his emotions the next time they made love.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



The brothers rode along in silence, enjoying the crisp spring morning and the delight of newborn creatures discovering the world under the watchful eye of dam and sire. Elladan's involvement with Melpomaen had left him little time for his twin. He knew Elrohir understood, but he had missed his brother and he knew Elrohir felt the same.



They stopped to watch a herd of deer, grazing without worry in the woods of Imladris - they knew the elves would protect them through the fawning season. "Are you all right, brother?"



Elladan looked sideways at his twin. "Why do you ask?"



Elrohir laughed. "There is no point in evading me, Elladan. If you cut your finger, mine would throb."



Elladan shook his head. "I am just…tired."



"Just what are you doing with that little elf, Elladan? From the looks of you, you've been too much in lust to sleep."



"I know, and I cannot explain it."



"Perhaps you should consult Adar about it."



"Brilliant, Elrohir. At what point should I mention that I am bedding one of the students?"



"A student hardly out of swaddling, at that."



Elladan threw his twin a dark look. "Do not help me, Elrohir."



"Why bring Melpomaen into it at all? Unless you think he has something to do with it."



"That is just it - I think he does."