Title & Chapter Number: Misfits 15/30
Author(s): - Author's Index
Fandom: Middle Earth
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I do not own these settings or characters, and am making no profit from the writing and sharing of this story.
Warnings: Haldir's in it. Need I say more? /snicker
Betas: Circe
Cast: Haldir/Melpomaen
Timeline: TA AU
Spoilers: None
Summary: Haldir and Orophin talk; Haldir, Orophin, and Melpomaen play cards.
Notes: Thanks to everyone who has given commentary, feedback and support.
Haldir darted the occasional wary glance across the table at his brother. Dinner that night was pork roast and vegetables at Orophin's suggestion, and the younger elf was putting away his share with much more enthusiasm than Haldir had expected, especially after Rumil's comments on pig fat. The meal was good, but it hardly warranted the praise Orophin was showering upon it between bites of potatoes, carrots, and meat.
"You really should have invited Melpomaen to dinner tonight, Haldir. I bet he would have liked this." Orophin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and smiled winningly at his brother. Haldir frowned.
"I don't think Melpomaen likes pork."
"Have you asked him? I didn't think I'd like it, but this is really good," Orophin enthused. Haldir blinked, considered replying, and then returned his attention to his own plate. Undeterred, Orophin continued. "Will he be over later?"
"I imagine he will, Orophin," Haldir said, his tone carefully even. "He's been over every other night."
"Good! We could play cards!" Orophin swiped at the pork broth with a piece of buttered bread, and stuffed it unceremoniously into his mouth. Haldir looked away. "Rumil said you both know how to play tarok."
"Have you checked on Peony lately?" Haldir asked, gripping his knife and fork a bit more tightly.
"Yes, I fed her right before we started making dinner. She's fine, Haldir." Orophin beamed. "I'm really glad you're warming up to her enough to worry, though."
"I am not worried about your dog, Orophin," Haldir said to his plate. Orophin's brow creased, but then smoothed just as swiftly.
"It's alright, Haldir; I won't tell anyone that you like Peony. Though I'm not sure why that bothers you. Melpomaen likes her, too."
"I do not like Peony," Haldir said through gritted teeth.
"You don't refer to her as `it' anymore."
Haldir stabbed the chunk of meat on his plate more viciously than was necessary, and shot Orophin a thin smile that was utterly lacking in merriment. "I don't refer to you as `it' either, now do I?"
Orophin's gaze dropped to his plate; his broad smile instantly vanished. For a long moment the only sounds were of flatware tapping on earthenware. Haldir licked his lips, taking a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, Orophin. I didn't mean that."
"Yes, you did," Orophin mumbled as he slid a bit of potato across his plate. "I'm not stupid."
Haldir paused, stifling the first, easy response that rose to his lips. "You're my little brother, and I love you. I shouldn't have said that. Alright?"
"Why don't you want me to play cards with you and Melpomaen?" Orophin's eyes were still fixed on his plate, his long blond hair veiling his face. Haldir noted with some impatience that he'd managed to drag the ends through his pork broth. "You want me to spend the night with the dog."
"I don't want you to spend the night with the dog. It is only that I like to spend time with Melpomaen alone."
Blue eyes flashed through the blonde curtain, and Haldir felt a sudden, fierce stab of guilt as he saw the moisture collecting in them. "What did you think would happen if you'd just said that? That I'd fly over the table and try to kill you with my dinner knife?"
The tone of Orophin's voice was more accusatory than Haldir was accustomed to hearing. That, combined with his unshed tears, finished the job of disarming him. "Why haven't you been off with your friends?" Haldir asked gently. "It's not like you to be home so much, and I only thought of my plans with Melpomaen."
"Because I wanted to spend time with you," Orophin replied.
The meal Haldir had been looking forward to suddenly held all the appeal of a plate of sawdust. "I don't see any reason why we couldn't play a few hands of cards before you go to bed, or whatever," he said gruffly. "Do you still want me to show you that new fletching technique tomorrow?"
Orophin nodded, the light returning to his eyes. Again, his hair danced onto the edge of his plate, and Haldir felt another surge of guilt as he remembered his earlier, irrational impatience. "Good. Now finish your dinner. It's time for me to have a bath."
"Aren't you going to finish your own, Haldir?" Orophin asked.
Haldir rose, dropping his knife and fork onto his plate with a muted clatter. "No, I'm just not that hungry after all. You can have the rest for Peony."
~*~*~*~
Haldir answered the door almost as soon as Melpomaen finished knocking upon it. After emerging from his bath, casually dressed and with hair unbraided, he'd spent the next hour cleaning the family room with nearly mechanical efficiency. Orophin had offered to help, but had been peremptorily waved away to nervously watch from the dubious safety of the divan. Rumil's clutter was cleared away; tables were washed; shelves were dusted; the threadbare carpet was swept. An afghan was brought out to cover the faded cushions of their mother's rocking chair, and it seemed to Orophin that Haldir spent an inordinate amount of time straightening and tucking it in. Melpomaen had, after all, seen their family room many times before.
It was not by any means customary for Haldir to take such an interest in housework. Orophin's anxiety steadily mounted, and he grimly fought the urge to talk, to simply open his mouth and let whatever happened to cross his mind pour out in a silence-breaking stream. More than anything he wished he were back on patrol, deep in the Golden Wood where orders were precise and expectations high, but blessedly clear. Even the prospect of facing an armored regiment of orcs would have been preferable to this. Orophin knew what to do when faced with such a threat; he had not the foggiest idea of what to do in this too quiet room with his unsettlingly focused eldest brother.
Then Melpomaen had arrived, and the dam broke. Seeing Haldir nearly drop his dust rag in his haste to answer the door had been all that it had taken. He'd commenced babbling the moment Haldir and Melpomaen had parted from their greeting embrace, and hadn't managed to stop yet.
"The rocker was our mother's too, and the divan. Most of our furnishings were hers, actually. I don't remember her, but Haldir does, and he wants to keep all her things. I think those shelves were her mother's before her, weren't they, Haldir?" he asked brightly.
Haldir nodded absently, his gaze briefly flickering over the tops of his cards.
"So, when you move will you divide these things between yourself and your brothers?" Melpomaen asked. His tone was innocuous; the sideways glance he cast Haldir was oddly ambivalent.
"He doesn't have to give me anything," Orophin said before Haldir had a chance to answer. "Since I don't recall her and he does… and, besides, Haldir's not moving." He paused, flicking his tongue nervously across his lips. "Are you?"
"Eventually. And you should have something of our mother's."
"Yes, well, maybe the paper weight? The butterfly one?" He turned back to Melpomaen, smiling effervescently. "It's an amber globe with a butterfly caught in the middle of it."
"That must be lovely." Now it was Melpomaen's turn to barely look up from his hand.
"You can have it if you want it," Haldir said, casting a skittering glance in Melpomaen's direction.
"Thank you, Haldir!" Orophin replied. He realized in despairing distaste that his hands were sweating. "Do you have anything from home in Imladris, Melpomaen?"
"A set of bookends that my father made for me, and a lamp."
"You don't have your own home, as we do, though, do you?"
"No." Another swift glance toward Haldir from beneath lowered lashes. "I'm quartered in the Last Homely House."
"That must be lovely! Still, I'm sure you're looking forward to having a place of your own instead of a room."
Melpomaen shrugged. "Right now it's the most convenient thing. When I'm head archivist I'll have a suite, which is rather more to my liking."
"That will be quite a while, though, won't it?" Orophin asked, and again Melpomaen shrugged in return.
"A few centuries maybe."
"And what do you think of our library here?"
"It's certainly more imposing than Lord Elrond's." Melpomaen tossed a card down, grimacing. "The cards don't seem to agree with me tonight."
"No, they don't." Haldir smiled, but the expression did not reach his eyes. "I daresay I've got the better of you."
"Easy come; easy go."
Tense silence descended. Haldir pushed his unbound tresses back from his face with an impatient scowl; Melpomaen perused his cards with studied intensity. Orophin, who had been losing since they'd begun and didn't care a wit, cleared his throat.
"I've always been glad that we have our own home. Our father built this talan, and Haldir has taken care of it since he and mother left for Valinor."
"You never told me your parents had left Arda, Haldir." Melpomaen looked up from the cards, his attention abruptly engaged.
Hazel eyes met brown eyes, but the older elf said nothing, though his lips parted as if he would speak. Orophin filled the gap, blithely picking up where he'd left off.
"Yes, and Haldir took care of Rumil and me. I was just a baby then, but Haldir didn't want us split up, and he didn't want to lose our home. He'd have been a March Warden a lot sooner if it hadn't been for us. For a long time, he served as a palace guard instead of going on border patrol."
"Is that why you were bothered by the idea that my parents had sent me to Imladris?" Melpomaen asked, eyes still riveted on Haldir. "Because yours had to leave?"
"I hadn't thought about it." Haldir's eyes dropped to his cards, but the dullness had faded from them, replaced by something that almost seemed to be embarrassment. "Orophin, have you had a chance to take Peony her scraps yet?"
It was a dismissal, and this time Orophin understood it. "No. I'll go now, unless you two want to play some more."
"No," Haldir and Melpomaen said almost simultaneously. They exchanged glances, and Melpomaen blushed. "I'm tired," Melpomaen said lamely, and Orophin nodded.
"I'll be back in a bit. See you later." He rose to his feet and turned to the kitchen, his thoughts turning as he considered the sudden shift that had just taken place between Haldir and his lover.
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