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He could not say what had woken him, only that he was suddenly, inexplicably, wide-awake. Pippin lay staring at the ceiling for several minutes, debating on visiting the kitchen for a midnight snack. It was then that he heard it: the oddest noise he had yet heard in all his time with the companions who shared the house with him, somewhere between a moan and a cry. Was someone having a nightmare? He quickly looked over at Merry, and just as quickly determined that the noise had not come from his cousin. Frodo, then, he thought and slipped silently from his bed, making his way into the room Frodo shared with Sam. Both his cousin and the gardener were soundly, and peacefully, asleep.
Perhaps it was Gandalf? He had never known the wizard to have nightmares, but there was a first time for everything. A quick peek into Gandalf's room showed him to be in the strange trance that passed for sleep with him. That only left Legolas or Gimli, and they were upstairs. Another noise reached his ears, even stranger than the first and it seemed to be coming from the garden. Could it be a small animal or bird, perhaps injured?
He slipped out of the house into the small, moonlit garden. The elf had done wonders out here, he thought, searching under the flowering bushes closest to the door for any sign of an injured creature. When they had moved in, the garden had been a sad sight, overgrown and brown but Legolas had cleared away the dead vegetation and coaxed new vigor out of the remainder.
His ears twitched, there it was again, but this time it was followed by a breathless string of what could only be elvish. That made sense. Pippin had seen the elf have a nightmare or two in the course of their travels, though Legolas would never discuss them even when pressed about it. He wondered how the elf had made it past Gimli to the outside.
"Hush, you'll wake the others with all that carrying on. Do I need to gag you?" came the unmistakable rumble of the dwarf's rich voice.
"You may well need to," replied the as yet unseen elf, laughing breathily. He lapsed into his own tongue again, his words taking on a desperate tone before suddenly cutting off as the elf gave a muffled cry. Pippin could hear him breathing raggedly.
They sounded like they were just ahead. The hobbit dropped to the ground and inched around the bush that blocked his vision until he reached an open spot. His mouth dropped open, and he forgot to breathe.
There, bathed in the moonlight and shirtless was Legolas, leaning back against an equally shirtless Gimli and cradled in the dwarf's embrace. The elf appeared to be in a state of boneless relaxation, his head tipped back to rest on Gimli's shoulder, the dwarf's hands splayed over his belly and chest and Legolas' arms draped loosely around Gimli's neck. As Pippin stared, Gimli's hand that had been resting on the elf's belly came up to lightly caress his face. Legolas turned into the caress, his lips moving over the palm before taking the middle finger into his mouth and sucking on it, drawing a sharp intake of breath from Gimli. Releasing the finger from his mouth, he nipped the end of it before opening his eyes and smiling over his shoulder at his companion.
"A dwarf's talent truly does lie in his hands," he said, grinning at Gimli before nuzzling into his beard. "Name your reward, dearest dwarf, for I have not forgotten my promise."
"Seeing you come undone in the moonlight is all the reward that I'd need, my Legolas," Gimli replied, the expression on his face as he gazed at the elf and his hands moving over the exposed skin of the creature in his arms saying more than his words did.
"Then perhaps you will allow me the same reward?" the elf asked, his mouth curving into a sensual smile, which the dwarf returned. Legolas straightened and turned on his knees in front of his seated partner. He had backed up, and Pippin now saw what the shadows had previously concealed: Legolas was not merely shirtless; he was completely nude.
Pippin soundlessly clapped his hand over his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut, belatedly realizing exactly what he was inadvertently spying on. He knew he would have to open his eyes again in order to make a hasty, and hopefully stealthy, retreat, but he really did not want to intrude on his friends' privacy any more than he already had.
Taking a shaky breath, and thanking the Valar that Gimli, who was facing his hiding place, and Legolas, who would normally have heard a pin drop from across the house, were sufficiently caught up in each other that they would not realize they had been discovered, he opened his eyes and immediately shut them again, blushing furiously. Legolas was bent over Gimli's lap, his head bobbing up and down. Pippin wasn't such an innocent that he did not know what the elf was doing. He raised a hand in front of his face to block the sight and opened his eyes again. Better, he couldn't see Legolas at all anymore, although the expression on Gimli's face was almost as embarrassing to see. He backed up slowly and turned, moving as quietly as he ever had on the quest and passed through the door back into the house, closing the door silently behind him. Cheeks still fiery, he went back into his and Merry's room and slid back under the covers, pulling them up over his head.
"And just what have you been up to, Pippin Took?" Merry pulled the covers off his face; making him squint in the light of the candle Merry was carrying. "Are you feverish? You're red as one of Farmer Maggot's beets!"
"I didn't mean to, Merry! Honestly, I didn't!" Pippin squeaked, yanking the covers up again. Merry yanked them back down.
"You didn't mean to what, Pip? What's wrong?"
"The garden...Legolas and Gimli... I didn't mean to spy!"
"What? What has the garden and spying got to do with...?" Comprehension flooded into Merry's face and he grinned. "Ha! You owe me three flagons of ale at the Green Dragon, cousin! I told you they'd be lovers before we left Minas Tirith."
"Merry, it isn't funny! I wish I hadn't seen them. I feel like I broke a promise to them or something like that."
"Pip, you didn't mean to spy, did you?" His cousin shook his head vigorously. "Well, if they didn't see you, then there's no need to embarrass them by telling them."
"They're going to figure it out anyway. I won't be able to look at either of them without blushing." Pippin cringed at the thought. "Do you remember what Elias Bramble said Poppy Underhill did to him?" Merry turned as red as Pippin.
"That's what they were doing?" he asked, shocked.
"That's what Legolas was doing. I don't know what Gimli did and I don't want to! It's too private."
"Pip, I think you should volunteer for early duty tomorrow and I'll go with you. I don't think I can look at them without blushing either!" Merry sighed. "Now hush so Legolas doesn't hear us talking about it when they come back inside."
No sooner had Merry climbed back into his bed then they heard Gimli bump into a chair, cursing, and Legolas' soft voice hush him. Gimli's heavy tread continued up the stairs with the light-footed elf presumably following him.
"I wonder if Frodo and Sam know," Merry mused, sotto voice. Pippin made no reply, but turned over and began trying to go back to sleep.
Legolas sang softly to himself and he patted the soil around the seedling he had just planted. Whomever received the house they were residing in after they departed for their homes would be getting almost as fine a garden as the one he was working on for Aragorn in anticipation of Arwen's arrival, albeit on a much smaller scale. His friend was generous, and any extra plants that he was unable to use in the Queen's Garden, he was welcome to bring here. He sat back on his heels and sighed, a deep feeling of contentment and well-being suffusing him, both body and soul. He turned his face up to the sky and sat, basking in the sun's light, dirt-caked fingers resting lightly on his knees.
A slight noise made him open his eyes and look to his right. Pippin stood looking at him, an odd expression on his face. Legolas suppressed a grin; he had been expecting the youngest of the hobbits to come speak with him for several days.
"Is something wrong, Pippin?" he asked, careful to keep a neutral tone in his voice. The hobbit shook his head, blushing. "Is there, perhaps, something you wished to discuss with me?" A nod was his answer. Legolas simply waited.
"I owe you and Gimli both an apology, Legolas," Pippin intoned, his cheeks flushing harder. It had been nearly unbearable for the young hobbit to be in the same room with his friends since spying them in the garden almost a week before. The apology had been Frodo's suggestion, after Pippin had unburdened himself to his eldest cousin.
"For what, dear friend? Accidentally stumbling upon us when we were out here several nights ago? That was far more our fault than yours," the elf replied, a slightly sheepish look gracing his fine features.
"You knew!?"
"I found your tracks in the flower bed the next morning. Pippin, I have been a warrior and a scout for most of my life. The signs were easy to read. I did, however, remove them before Gimli rose that morning." Legolas grinned, looking for all of Arda like a naughty child. "He is rather funny about other males seeing me without my clothing these days, so I thought it best not to borrow trouble. If it had been only that we were unclothed that would have been the end of it, I deem, as we have all seen one another less than dressed over the last several months." Pippin could see the gleam of humor in the slate-colored eyes and began to relax a bit.
"You aren't angry with me?"
"Of course not! It was an accident, and could have been avoided if Gimli and I had taken the necessary precautions." His ears flushed a bit. "It was our fault that we did not, and I can only plead lack of blood going to both our brains." He laughed lightly, and Pippin joined him, relieved.
"I suppose Gandalf would have to say 'fool of an elf and dwarf', huh Legolas?" he asked, snickering. Legolas laughed, but to Pippin's surprise his flush spread from his ears all the way down his face and neck.
"Indeed, dear friend, he already has but not for our tryst in the garden." He held up a slender, and dirty, hand. "Do not ask me, I will not say why he said it, EVER," the elf stated firmly, coloring even more. In the sudden change of mood that was the manner of his people, the elf grinned impishly at him. "Who won the bet?"
"How did you..? Never mind, I keep forgetting how well you hear. Merry won, and I owe him three flagons of ale at the Green Dragon." Pippin gave Legolas a scapegrace grin.
"Only three? I think I should perhaps be insulted. You bet him six that Gimli and I would do injury to each other before we got to Rohan as we were leaving Rivendell."
"Yes, I know, but that one ended in a draw so we each have to buy the other six flagons. Nine is about the most we can drink and still be able to walk!"
The elf's musical laughter followed him back into the house.
The End
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