The Hobbit Imagines

23~ Legolas

PROMPT: You are a she elf and you and Legolas fall in love even though you both know that it is complicated due to him being a prince.

There was something oddly satisfying about the quietness that fell over the woodland realm of Mirkwood. The stars that could be seen through the thick canopy of the treetops were some of the prettiest that you had ever seen. A steady breeze ran through the leaves every now and then, bringing about the repetitive rusling that had turned maddening somewhere along the line. Your leg swayed back and forth along with the gusts as you sat on one of the high branches of the trees. Legolas was just across from you on the other tree, his eyes focused on you intently even though you were looking at anything but him.

"You know that we have to talk about this eventually," he spoke up at some point, eyes watching the way that your jaw clenched for a second before you forced yourself to sigh. You knew he was right, but that didn't mean that what was coming was something that you had to look forward to. Truthfully the conversation should have happened months ago, back when things were still new and you both could have stopped yourselves from getting too involved. However, you weren't really thinking about consequences a few month ago.

No, a few months back was when you had been nothing but another lowly wood elf to the Prince in front of you. You were still helping your father craft weapons for the warriors that made it past the great doors of Mirkwood palace while you dreamed of being like them. You were still making runs to hand out those weapons while quietly minding your own business. You were still no one important among the many wood elves. But of course things didn't stay like that, because that would have been too easy.

You had just started to get it into your head that life was never really going to be interesting for you when Legolas had bumped into all those months ago. Things had been anything but boring since then. For some reason unknown to you, something had drawn Legolas in enough that he ended up making up ridiculous reasons to see you. First his bow broke in half 'on accident', then the tips of his arrows needed to be sharpened for some reason (they were perfectly fine), and at some point he had run out of things that could be wrong with his weapons and admitted that he had just been trying to find reasons to see you. While he had made that kind of obvious, it was flattering nevertheless.

Things had fallen into a sort of routine at that point; Legolas started to make a lot more appearances around your father's workshop, and he would always justify it with one of his crazy excuses. You weren't quite sure of when exactly it was that you had started to develop feelings for him; it all just sort of hit you one day when you were talking to him about some of his adventures. Thankfully, you didn't have to spend an incredibly long time pining after him since he confessed that he felt the same way about you not too long after. That wasn't the end of it, of course.

Thandruil found out about Legolas' odd behavior soon enough (because Thranduil always finds out somehow). He kept a closer eye on Legolas, not wanting him to associate with someone that was as low as you were on the social totem pole. That didn't stop you and Legolas from seeing each other, though; you both just had to be a bit more careful. So, Legolas had suggested that you begin to meet outside of the palace. While you were excited to finally get to see a lot more of the outside, there was a bitter taste in your mouth whenever you thought about what you both were doing. You just couldn't help it; you and Legolas were in love, consequences be damned.

"My father is growing suspicious," he said, voice calm and steady despite the fact that the words made your eyes widen ever so slightly. Finally, you turned your eyes away from the garish stars in the sky in order to set your gaze on him. Legolas took the gesture as a sign to keep going, "I know that I'll have to tell him soon, and I know that you think that I won't-."

"I never said that," you protested, lips drawn into a tight line as you narrowed your eyes at him. You may have mentioned once that Legolas always seemed to wither a little under his father's judgemental air, but you had certainly never questioned whether or not he would ever be able to stand up to his father. You knew that he could, but you also knew that it might take a while for him to feel confident enough to do that. After all, you didn't blame him; Thranduil scared almost everyone, and you always expressed how you were sure that you wouldn't be able to handle having him as a father.

Legolas shrugged his shoulders but showed no other sign of acknowledging your words before he went on, "I'm going to have to do it, and I-." He stopped, almost as if he had to make sure that the words were right before he said them. For a second, his gaze grew a bit more intense and it was almost as if he had just been staring through you before that point and was really looking at you right then. "I don't care about what he might think of it."

"That's a lie," was your simple statement, and you had to try very hard to not add a scoff along with the words because that would certainly only make things worse.

He huffed, shoulders sagging in a way that was so un-prince like of him, and then squared them away again with a new sort of resolve. "Yes, I suppose it is," he agreed, "but I don't care nearly as much about what he thinks as I care about you." And-oh- that was something else. You hadn't been aware that your cheeks could turn so red so quickly, but then he went and said things like that. Things that he really meant. The crimson blush on your cheeks seemed to please him greatly, and he smiled widely until you eventually had to look away. "You know that I love you."

You were sure that you would've kissed him if you hadn't been on another branch in another tree. Instead, you just blushed a little more while mumbling a quiet little, "I love you too."   

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I'm so so so sorry that this is so ridiculously late and short; it's exam times along with this big noreaster or whatever it is coming in. I had hoped to post this sooner but things happen. Dedicated to the lovely Estefi143 because she requested this one! Thanks for all of you amazing reads, votes, and comments: it means a lot!

-cow_queen