On the king's command

Very formal dinner

Thranduil was nervous. 

This in itself was a very uncommon occurence, but today the reason for his nervousness was a simple dinner. A dinner with Bard king of Dale. 

He was surprised that he even invited the man. Hadn't he locked his companions up in prison just a few days ago and hadn't he deprived Bard of all his weapons just to be sure his own safety was ensured? 

"Nonsense", Thranduil muttered to himself and shook his head. "I am the king, I can do as I please."

He still tried to convince himself. The problem was that he didn't know why he suddenly wanted to spend time with the man. He had disobeyed him and run away from the palace and therefore he should be punished, but instead the king had now invited him to dinner and nobody, himself the least, could tell him why this sudden change of mind had taken place. 

The clock on his mantlepiece rang six o'clock and he could smell the scent of newly cooked food coming up from the kitchen. Thranduil really looked forward to eating, as he hadn't done so the whole day. But then he remembered he wouldn't be alone and suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore.

It knocked on the door.

"Yes?", the elf-king answered in an annoyed tone. A guard entered and bowed to him. "What is it?", Thranduil muttered.

"You wished to see the king of Dale, my lord", the guard said, still bowing, "he has come to eat dinner with you."

Thranduil adjusted the band of small gems he had tonight instead of his crown and then looked into the fire, as if he were indifferent of whatever happened around him. 

"Stand up, will you?" he barked instead. "I don't want to talk to your back. I am sure it has other qualities, but talk it surely can't."

Quickly the guard straightened up again and made a few steps towards the door. There he stood and waited for permission to leave, or whatever the king would make him do. 

"Don't stand there motionless, let him in now! What will he think of our customs, when we let guests wait in front of closed doors the whole day?", the elf burst out and he gave the frightened guard a cold stare. It really was hard to work for Thranduil at times, and the guard pondered upon leaving his service and finding another job. Somewhere deep in the woods maybe, where he'd never have to see the king anymore. Anyways, he opened the door and a nervouslooking Bard entered.

"Good evening, Bard!", Thranduil said with his brightest smile and nicest voice, but Bard didn't look any less scared. With a wave of his hand the king of the woods shooed his guard away. "Come and sit."

He had placed a comfortable armchair next to his own beside the fireplace, and covered it in cushions. This made it very hard for Bard to squeeze himself into the chair, as he was nearly squashed breathless by the many cushions, but in the end he managed. It looked rather funny, as just his arms and head were free of soft pillows, while the rest disappeared somewhere beneath them. Thranduil wondered if it was healthy for the man to be so squeezed, but then he figured pillows couldn't be wrong, and his guest should have just the best.

In front of them stood a small wooden table, and before Thranduil had to blink twice, an elf-maiden came and put plates full of food and cups full of dark red wine down on it. Then she disappeared as quickly as possible. It seemed no one endured the king for longer than necessary.

"Make yourself comfortable", the king now said and lifted his cup of wine. 

"Thank you, my lord, I am very honored to be here", Bard replied and with a great effort made himself free of some cushions to grab his own cup.

"Please call me Thranduil, will you?", the king offered and raised his wine.

"As you wish, ... Thranduil", Bard stuttered and by the elf's name his face turned a deep shade of red. He didn't really seem comfortable with being in such private terms with the king.

However, Thranduil took no notice and drank a huge gulp of wine. The king of Dale did the same, but always having his eyes on the king. He was afraid of doing anything wrong in the elvenking's presence.

After a few more awkward moments of silence, Thranduil asked a few questions about how life was going in Dale and how Bard had managed to build up the city again, and soon they were in full conversation while eating the delicious dinner put in front of them. Bard found it easy to talk about such themes, because he felt like Thranduil was thouroughly interested in them, and he would never be at loss of words, because about his city he could talk for days. 

During the dinner the elvenking emptied not just a few mugs of his strong elvish wine, while Bard hadn't fully drunk up his first cup. He knew that if he drank too much, he'd do stupid things, and he couldn't do stupid things right now. Not when the king was sitting inches away from him, cheeks flushed slightly red from the drink, putting a sugared strawberry in his mouth and then licking the sugar of his fingers. Bard had to close his eyes for a few seconds to try and relax, but it was really hard, when Thranduil was basically begging to be kissed.

"Have a strawberry, Bard, they're delicious", Thranduil now said and stared into Bard's eyes, both loving and intimidation. Then he took one of the sweet berries and stretched his arm out to put it in Bard's mouth, but the latter one stopped him midway and took the strawberry out of his hand. He'd rather eat it himself, than having the king feed him, thank you very much. Even though the idea was tempting. No, Bard reprimanded himself, this is merely a formal meeting to talk about trading stuff. But how formal could it be when Thranduil bent his head to the side and let his hair fall like a wave over Bard's arm. The man could smell the sweet scent of the berries mixed with the musty odour of the wine, that escaped from the elf's mouth while he said:

"Tell me, Bard. What do you think of my hair?"

"Your ... hair?", Bard replied, traing to slow his beating heart and think straight again. 

"Yes. Isn't it beautiful?", the king slurred. "It's the smoothest in the kingdom. Here, feel."

Thranduil took Bard's hand and let it wander through the long strands of elven-hair that flowed over his arm. 

"But yours is nice too, even though a little tousled", he then added.

"What do you mean?", Bard asked, who was in real trouble now to get a hold over his body. 

"Your hair, of course", the king said as if it was obvious, and then, without further warning, put a hand to the side of Bard's face and traced the hair above his ear with slender fingers. "With a little of my shampoo..."

Suddenly the king stared right into Bard's eyes again and the man had only time to gasp slightly before Thranduil leant in and touched his smooth lips to Bard's. 

Haha, I'm letting you wait a while for the next one!