It was a peaceful day in the beginning of summer, when the flowers just had started to unfold their leaves into full bloom and the birds chirped over the city of Minas Tirith. Legolas sat on a bench in the garden of the palace and simply enjoyed the wind that rustled through his hair and the sun that warmed his face. The days of war were over and now he finally had time to be in the nature again and breathe its calming air.
Suddenly the wind brought a tune to his ear. It was simple and yet quiet, and he didn't know where it came from, but he could detect it was a fiddle being played. The melody grew slowly, taking him with it on its musical journey and leaving him floating high in the sky, before it fell and gently settled him down on earth again. Then it changed to darker notes, but it became faster too, almost running against the trouble that it produced, and it was so heartpiercingly beautiful, that Legolas had to look around himself to see where the music came from.
And then he spotted the source of it. A long way from him, on the other end of the garden, stood a tall figure, shoulderlong hair and a wide brown tunic on. In his hands he held a fiddle, the bow caressing the strings, and the man's head was bent over the strings as if he himself was consumed by the music. Legolas could only see his silhuette in the sun, but he didn't have to think twice at who this person was.
How often had he secretly watched Aragorn from behind, how he swung his sword against assaulting orcs. How often had he listened to his soft whispers into the ear of his horse Brego? How often had he chuckled at how messy his hair was and how he never seemed to have clean clothes? How often had he watched him sleep at night, when the longing for him made Legolas uneasy and sleepless?
Smoothly he stood up and approached Aragorn from behind. The melody had turned bright again, and it was almost majestetic, celebrating, by the time he reached the man. Just a few seconds more he would be undetected, and he used the time, to observe Aragorn's fingers, as they played the right notes. The muscles in his arms tensed and untensed as he stroked the bow. Through the thin fabric of the tunic, he could see the man's shoulder blades, and it took him a great effort to direct his eyes somewhere else.
He waited until the music ended in a passionate final cadenza and a fiercefull last chord. It resonated in the whole garden, and the birds tuned their song to the right pitch.
"I did not know, that you played the fiddle", said Legolas with a smile upon his face, as Aragorn put down his violin and turned around to his unexpected listener.
"It is an inheritage from my mother", he told the elf. "I only now found it again, and I thought I should start playing again."
He put the fiddle on a nearby bench and the bow right next to it.
"It was very beautiful", the elf now said, and Aragorn smiled.
"I thank you, Legolas", he said. "Though I should practice more. Now that I have the time."
"I do not believe that you need to practice", Legolas responded. "What was it you played?"
With an unconscious movement, Aragorn stroked the hair out of his face, and Legolas was reminded of the thin, silver ring on the man's finger.
"It is a song I composed myself", the man replied. "It describes a love story, from its wonderful beginning with nothing to worry about. Then come the times of trouble, of fear of losing one another. And at last the hopeful ending, when everything falls into place and they find each other for all eternity."
Suddenly Legolas felt the pain again. The pain in his heart he always wanted to ignore, but which nevertheless always was there. Of course Aragorn would make his love story into music. But he was not involved in that story.
"Will you play it for her?", he asked instead, trying to still put on a smile. The idyllic atmosphere had disappeared, and he was confronted with his feelings again, the feelings he wanted to ignore, to go away. But they had never, and they would never go away, he knew it. He just needed to get used to the pain.
"Arwen, you mean?", Aragorn asked back. He walked over to the small wall that surrounded the garden and looked out over the city. Legolas followed him and stood beside the man.
"Yes."
"No, it isn't for her ears", was the reply. Legolas tilted his head a bit to catch the man's expression. But he could read nothing there, Aragorn's face was empty of feelings, just concentration and peace.
"Then for whom will you play it?", Legolas wanted to know. "It is too beautiful to not be heard by anyone."
Aragorn turned towards him and gave him a smile.
"You heard it", he said and looked into Legolas eyes. The elf focused on Aragorn's forehead to not drown in those deep grey eyes, that made his head spin. "And that is enough for me."
"So it is not about Arwen?", the elf questioned.
"Who said it was?"
"But it is a love story, I only thought you'd...", Legolas said awkwardly.
"Not every love story is about Arwen, Legolas", Aragorn told him and took the elf's face in his hand to make him look at him. "It was about you, little elf prince, and me."
The words cut like knives in Legolas' heart. He knew he shouldn't hope. But the man really made it hard for him.
"We do not share such a story. One of friendship at the most", he said quietly, pushing Aragorn's hand away. It hurt too much.
"But a story of friendship does not mean it isn't a story of love!", Aragorn replied, his hand still awkwardly hanging in the air. Eventually, he let it fall down on Legolas' shoulder. "You mean the world to me, Legolas, and I don't know, what I'd done without you by my side. We went through horrible times, but also through happy ones, and we did it together. And now that there is finally peace, we can enjoy it together! If that is not enough to compose a love story, I don't know what is!"
A tear started rolling down Legolas face, and he angrily wiped it away with his hand. He couldn't let it spill now, he couldn't give in to the sorrow he felt.
"Have I made you sad?", Aragorn asked concerned, taking Legolas hand in his, but the latter drew it away. The tears now ran freely down his cheeks. "Tell me, Legolas, what is the matter?"
"You talk about a love story, Estel, but we both know there is no such story!", the elf burst out. He simply couldn't keep his emotions at bay anymore. "You say you love me as a friend, and you don't know how it hurts when you say this! I love you, Aragorn, with all my heart. I have ever since you told me to put that fish in Gimli's shoe, and I will continue to love you forever. But you don't love me like that, you have Arwen, and I know I cannot have you, so just stop talking about love when there is none. Don't do it!!"
He cried heavily, but turned his head away, so that Aragorn wouldn't look into his eyes anymore. The man just stood there, perplex at what he had just learnt.
"I will go, you know", Legolas now said in a more controlled voice. It sounded so hurt that it nearly broke Aragorn's heart. "I will leave with Gimli to the Undying Lands in a few days, and maybe I can live there in happiness. I love this world, that is why I am outside here and enjoying it, but I cannot stay. Not when you are still alive and my heart yearns for you."
Finally Aragorn took his turn and talked to the elf. But he sighed, because he knew he couldn't take the pain in Legolas' chest away.
"Listen to me", he started. "I do not wish you to go. I really want you to stay. But I cannot give you what you need. Forgive me, Legolas, in another world I'd maybe have fallen in love with you and not Arwen. But you are right, fate chose her for me, and I do love her!"
He paused and breathed, because he knew right there and then, that this would be the last time he'd see the elf in front of him. He had hurt him deeply, without wanting to, and the wound wouldnt't heal with him around. He needed to choose his words wisely, if he wanted a moment that he could treasure forever, not one where both of them parted in rage.
"I want you to be happy", he said. "I want you to keep on living, make peace with me and forget me. Going away will mean we will never meet again, but it is probably best for you, as you would always be unhappy in this world. Even though I don't want you to go, I need to let you. I cannot only think about what I want. I have hurt you too deeply."
Legolas had stopped sobbing and was now staring out over the city and to the sea in the distance. This was it. The end of all things. He could take one final punch. Suddenly he felt a movement next to him, and a hand took his face and turned it towards Aragorn. And before he could really think about what was happening, he felt the lips of the man he loved on his own and he melted away under his touch.
It was not just a kiss. It was the first confession of love, it was also a kiss that said the opposite. It was a welcoming, and a goodbye. I was happiness, love, but mostly pain. It was a short kiss but it lasted forever, and they both knew, that this was the final goodbye.
When they broke apart, Legolas smiled.
"You should play it for her", he said, and nodded at the fiddle. "It was for her."
Then he left the garden, and the next day, he and Gimli set off over the Sea. Aragorn watched them from his window, because he dared not go to the haven and say goodbye. It hurt more than he wanted to admit. And in the very depths of his heart he wondered, if he had missed out on something.
He never knew, if, in the end, Legolas became happy.
@Teddy01Idiot this is for you :)
And I'm sorry for the ending!