Thranduil x reader short story *finished*

Chapter three: Pastries

I was very nervous at the beginning of the feast, but my awkwardness was slowly taken away by the humour of Feren and the gently smile of Thranduil. I caught myself staring at him sometimes and he seemed to have noticed it. Be he didn't care; he actually seemed to be flattered by it. We started talking about everything and nothing and I felt delight growing inside of me every time I made king Thranduil laugh. For it was a loud and joyful childlike laugh that filled my heart with his joy. He wasn't only beautiful and graceful: he appeared to be a very clever and charming Elf. But above all he seemed kind and gentle with a good sense of humour. I felt at ease in his presence and luckilly he seemed to enjoy mine.

In front of me was a large plate with numerous of the same good looking pastries piled on it. Each pastry was about the size of a fist and it looked delicious so I reached out to take one while Thranduil was talking. In the middle of his sentence, just before my fingers touched the food, he said: 'I wouldn't eat them if I were you.'

I stopped my movement and looked at him. 'Why not?' I asked and withdrew my hand. 'They're delicious but you have to be used to the taste to think they taste good and they will make you terribly ill the first time you eat them. Have you ever eaten one of them before?' He asked and I shook my head. 'Then I suggest you don't eat them.' He said. 'For your own safety.' He added as he took a bite of one of them.

He didn't smile or anything like that; his face was extremely serious. 'But...' I said, '...they look so innocent and amazingly good...' Thranduil's eyes pierced through me. 'I know, but you don't want to become terribly ill tonight, do you? Believe me, this is for the best.' He said while he took another one.

Feren, Lindir and Elrond took one too and it didn't take very long before the plate was almost empty. Feren and Lindir smiled at me, but Elrond and Thranduil looked extremely calm as if they had just saved my life. 'You're not fooling me?' I asked. 'No, why would I do that?' Thranduil said innocently but a smirk appeared on his lips.

'Oh, I get it. You're just saying that so you can eat all of the pastries and I won't touch them!' I said but Thranduil leaned a bit forward.

'Try me.' He said.

I was doubting what to do. They looked so tempting but I wasn't hoping on spending the night throwing up or feeling "terribly ill". I took one but Thranduil rose an eyebrow which kept me from eating it. 'Your choice.' He whispered in a sigh. 'Don't say I didn't warn you.'

I wanted to hide the pastry in my sleeve without anyone noticing it and ask another Elf in another room if they were eatable for me, but Thranduil looked at me sternly. 'You're not planning on ruining that beautiful dress with stains, are you? Hiding it in your sleeve will surely ruin that gown. Don't you realise how hard Elves have worked to make that stunning dress?' He said and smirked.

'I hope you will excuse me for a brief moment.' I said and rose. 'No, I definatelly do not excuse you. Sit down, my lady.' Thranduil said and his smile became brighter. 'Too bad.' I said slightly sassy and left the room with the pasty in my hand.

Outside I encountered another Elf all dressed in red, I supposed he probably wanted some fresh air. He looked at me and smiled kindly. 'Hello, may I ask your name?' I asked and he nodded. 'My name is Lorsan, I'm from Rivendell, just like you are. May I tell you that you have never looked so fair, my lady?' I smiled and thanked him while blushing a bit. 'Listen, Lorsan, are these eatable?' I asked and showed him the pastry. 'Yes they sure are and they taste amazing. It's a tradition to eat them during this event. We actually have a story about them, a sort of fairytale, do you want to hear it?' He asked and I nodded since stories had always fascinated me.

'Yes, I'd love to hear it.'

So Lorsan started to tell me and we walked around Rivendell as he did.

'Once upon a time, there was this little lazy girl who adored this kind of pastries. Once a year, we bake them to celebrate this event and this girl used to look forward to this event so she could eat these treats. Her mother was amazingly skilled in baking them and she baked the best in all Middle-Earth. She baked a lot of them and used to share them with every Elf in Rivendell. She baked enough for every Elf to have one pastry. But her greedy daughter loved them so much that one wasn't enough for her. So she stole many pastries every year. So the same Elves didn't get those treats every year and again, they were 'forgotten'.

The angry Elves knew there was a thief stealing the pastries that should have been for them and cursed all the treats so that everyone who ate two or more pastries would turn black. Their clothing and hair, eyes, face and tongue, everything. The little greedy girl ate eight so she was black as black can be. Not knowing the colour she had tuned into, the little girl walked around Rivendell and everyone now knew she was the thief they had searched for.

She showed no regret so she was punished to help her mother bake the pastries without eating. You should know that making these delicious things is a difficult thing to do and requires a lot of hard work. But the little girl actually enjoyed making them more than eating them and enjoyed sharing them more than stealing them. So she rarely ate the pastries again but made enough for all Rivendell Elves to have at least three of the delicious things. And that is the ending.'

'What a cute story!' I smiled.

'It's to learn everyone that greed isn't good and that we should share things with each other. Now, the colour black is mostly associated with bad things like sorrow, greed and hate. We actually have many children's stories about things or people turning totally black as a metaphor for bad things and feelings. Like these.' He lifted one of the hung flowers and let it fall to its position again. 'You'll see what happens to them when the time is right.'

I thanked Lorsan for the beautiful story and wanted to return to the dining room when he stopped me. 'Don't you forget something? I've told you the story but would like a pastry as payment.' He said and I gave him the pastry reluctantly. He took it and placed it in his sleeve where more pastries were hidden. 'Hey! You tell me a story about how bad it is to be greedy but you steal pastries yourself! You should colour totally black as a metaphor.' I said. 'Am I not?' He asked and made a gesture to his black clothing. He smirked as he walked back to the chamber he had been eating in and I returned to mine.

Thranduil had fooled me and I was about to make him pay for it in the proper way...

A/N

Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think! You can tell me how to improve my story if you don't like it, or make my day with something positive. ;-)

Just look at the gif I've placed above. Doesn't he look adorable? he looks so happy and pleased... How can anyone be angry with that beauty? ;-)

-MS