Aralas Oneshots

Betting

The were camping near a small river somewhere in the forests south of Lórien, and the fire was slowly burning down. The hobbits had made an effort to find some edible roots and berries in the woods and Boromir had shot a small rabbit, so they had had quite a feast for dinner. Now they were sitting around the fireside and talking, trying to blur out the dangers and anxiety each and every one of them had to deal with on this trip, and simply enjoyed themselves. Aragorn and Legolas sat closely together, and the elf rested his head on the man's shoulder. 

"I bet I know more weeds than you!", Pippin said to Boromir, who instantly grinned.

"You think you do, little hobbit", he answered. "But don't underestimate us gondorian men, we know a lot more than you think!"

"So you accept?", Merry asked. 

"What do you think? Of course I do. Two silver coins each. Have to preserve my honour against you two", Boromir chuckled, and then they started counting all the weeds they knew, and indeed, Boromir was not bad.

"I bet with you, Gimli, that I know the best coney recipe in the world!", Sam told the dwarf, who was humming a little tune to himself. At the words of the hobbit, he stopped and looked up.

"Ha, as if you would know how to cook better than me!", he exclaimed. "I'm famous for my mutton stew back home, so be careful with what you say!"

But Sam didn't care about that, and started describing his best coney recipe immediately. As he went on, Gimli seemed to become smaller and smaller. In the end, he frowned annoyed and reluctantly handed Sam a piece of lembas bread they had been betting on. 

"Hobbits", he mumbled, "always trick you."

He was not in the mood to tell his own recipe anymore, and Sam cheered while receiving the bread. 

"Pip!", Merry asked his friend. "How about swearwords? I bet I know more than you, and even more than that!"

"We'll see about that, my friend", Pippin answered and burst out with all the swearwords he knew. Which weren't few. It was a hard match between the two of them, as they were both really good, but in the end, Pippin gave up.

"But the next time I'll get you!", he said, gently shoving Merry by the shoulder. "Watch out Merry-boy!" They both laughed. 

The evening became longer and longer and the betting had gone over to a game of truth or dare, in which Aragorn had admit, that he once had cut Glorfindels hair when the latter one was asleep, Merry had told that he had put a dead mouse in his aunt's bed and Legolas had described a story, where he and Tauriel, when they both were very young, had run away together, but had to come home in the evening, because they had forgotten to take something to eat with them. He didn't need to explain, how happy Thranduil was, when he saw the two small elflings confess their deed at his doorstep. Gimli, on the other hand, had long pondered over what revenge he should take upon Sam for defeating him with the cooking bet. But now he had come up with something.

"Mr. Frodo?", he asked innocently. "Truth or dare?"

"Better with dare, I think", he said. Right now he was relaxed, and the weight of the quest had been taken away for the evening. But not for much longer, Gimli thought.

"Great choice!", Gimli rejoiced. "I dare you to kiss Master Samwise!"

Everyone's reaction to this was different. Boromir and the hobbit cousins were very amused and chuckled silently. Aragorn looked at the dwarf and wondered what he was up to. Legolas was suddenly wide awake and very interested, and also he realised he still had his head on Aragorn's shoulder. Frodo gave Gimli a look that said: seriously? and Sam in his turn had gone red like a tomato.

"Go on then, Frodo", Gimli encouraged the hobbit, and a huge grin spread on his face.

Against everybody's expectation, Frodo leant forwards and gave Sam a small peck on the cheek. Then he sat up again and smiled. Sam seemed to have gone even redder than he was before, which was nearly not possible, but a smile spread on his face too. Suddenly he grabbed Frodo's hand and pulled him closer, to place a gentle kiss on his mouth. Merry and Pippin cheered, and Aragorn smiled. What a merry couple!

But Gimli was grumpy again. THis was not the revenge he had hoped for. 

"Aragorn!", Pippin spoke up now, his face lightened up by a huge grin. "I dare you to kiss Legolas!"

Merry and he giggled, where they sat next to Boromir, and waited for the ranger to answer. At first, Aragorn was too surprised to answer, but when he did, his face was as relaxed as before. 

"Well, I guess I have to take that dare", he simply said and turned towards the elf, who now had to let go of Aragorn's shoulder. The elf felt a bit uncomfortable, with the whole fellowship staring at him, but he had no time to think about that, because suddenly he felt Aragorn's lips on his. In his surprise, he opened his mouth slightly and the next second, the ranger had slipped his tongue into his mouth and was kissing him fiercefully. 

There was no time to think about anything. There only was this sensational feeling of kissing Aragorn, that consumed Legolas. Carefully, he grabbed the ranger's shirt to hold on to him, and Aragorn had moved one hand to his neck, holding him close and caressing the soft skin there. Never had he thought, that this would feel so good, and Legolas was overwhelmed with feelings. 

Aragorn, too, was quite surprised at his actions. His original plan was to just kiss Legolas like Frodo had kissed Sam and let it be at that. But when Legolas had opened his mouth like that, he had not been able to stop, but needed to kiss him even more. The silent wish of his heart came true when his lips connected with Legolas', and he hadn't even known it was his wish to kiss the elf. But now, he felt like he never wanted to stop anymore. 

Suddenly they were interrupted by someone coughing slightly, which they identified to be Boromir, and they broke apart. The hobbits were all staring at them with their eyes wide open in astonishment, and Gimli was no better. Only Boromir smiled at them, and he looked like he was not surprised.

"What?", Aragorn asked. "I couldn't resist!"

That broke the tension and everyone laughed. Aragorn secretly put an arm around Legolas waist and held him close. The elf's cheeks were flushed bright red.

"Now, Pippin, give me that money you told me about", Boromir said to the hobbit, who quickly krept around Merry and hid behind his back. "I won the bet, so..."

"Wait, you had a bet going on about this??", Legolas asked shocked. 

"Yep", Merry replied. "And Pip lost."

"Well Pippin", Aragorn said to him. "Seems like you have to come out with that money."

While the hobbits managed their affairs with Boromir, Aragorn shot a look at Legolas. The latte one was already watching him.

"I bet", the ranger said, turning the elf's face towards his with his thumb and gently caressing his jawline, "that you'll dream of this tonight."

And then he kissed him again, so sweet and loving thatLegolas melted under his touch. The voices of the others faded away and there were only the two of them and nothing else mattered. As this beautiful man once more explored his mouth with his tongue, Legolas thought that yes, he would absolutely dream of this tonight. And every other night. Aragorn had already won him.