I do not own Lord of the Rings.
I do own my OCs.
-o-
Jupiter flicked the switch to turn on the lights and he nearly snorted when the elf jumped, looking around him in awe. He blindly gestured to a direction as he went to a coat hanger connected to the stone wall by the doorway, "Have a seat on the exam table." He had set it up while everyone was showering and was glad that he had a reason to use it now.
Legolas gave him a silent nod. He watched him for a moment as he pulled off his hoodie to reveal a regular shirt and took off a white lab coat from the hanger, replacing it's spot with the hoodie before putting the coat on. The elf quickly made his way to the table and sat on it reluctantly. His eyes darted around the room in fascination.
Lining the far right of the room were marble counters that were sparkling clean with strange mechanisms on it and a chair with wheels in front of it. Above it were cabinets that held unknown objects and a shelf below it lined with glass bottles shaped strangely. The other side of the room had many shelves and cabinets as well, though they were all not connected and were separated. He can see what was there, which were bottles of unknown substances with labels that had neat writing. At the very front were desks connected together with things that reminded him much of a smaller version of what Jupiter and Manny had called a 'TV'. The other machinery was extremely foreign to him and his eyes only lingered on it for a moment before it trailed over to a few papers scattered on the desk. The last thing that interested him was the large green rectangle pushed against the wall with white writing sloppily written on it and the two doors on either side of the room.
Jupiter returned with something hanging around his neck and was rolling a stool over with him. He sat down on it with a sigh in front of him, "Alright, let's start with a few quick questions. Is that alright with you?" He received a small nod. Huh, Legolas was quieter than he thought he would be. "Any past medical problems? Like any illnesses?"
"No, elves do not get ill." He answered straight away.
He quickly jotted something down on his clipboard and Legolas noticed how his eyes looked brighter when he had answered. Did he not know this already? "From one to ten, how much pain are you currently in? One is you feel no pain and ten is basically 'I feel like I'm gonna die'."
Legolas could not help himself from having the faintest of smiles due to the explanation, but as quick as it appeared, it disappeared, returning to a stone blank expression. "One."
Jupiter instantly snapped his eyes up at him from his clipboard. He took a deep breath, adjusting his black thick-rimmed glasses, "I don't appreciate lying when I am doing an examination."
The elf blinked in surprise, wondering how he could have possibly known. He felt his wounds throbbing in pain from the battle he had just went through, though they were only cuts and bruises that would heal by the next day. "...Two."
Accepting it, he wrote it down. "Are you sexually active?"
"Pardon?" Legolas choked, eyes wide.
"Are you sexually active?" He repeated, "Legolas, I know it's personal, but I have to know. I need all the information I can get, even if it's irrelevant to what we're trying to figure out, so you'll have to go through questions like these. What I know of is extremely limited, so I'm starting from scratch."
Jupiter tried his hardest not to snicker at the sight of his ears turning a startling red as he fidgeted in his seat. He gave him a reassuring look, "Personal questions like these stay in this lab."
It took a long moment before he quietly answered, "No. I have not bonded with anyone."
There was no trace of sadness on his face, but there was an underlying tone of it in his voice whether he realizes it or not. Jupiter felt empathy swirl in him as he quickly wrote on the clipboard. With that, they continued with the questions. There were only a couple more personal ones that they had trouble going through before speeding through the rest.
Jupiter nodded in satisfaction, "Great. That's all I need for the moment. Now take your shirt off." He rolled his eyes at the look he was given, "I need to do a physical exam, I'll patch you up as I do so." He wandered off to his desk to grab a first aid kit.
When he returned, Legolas had taken off the shirt that was given to him. His steps faltered for a moment at the sight of his flawless pale skin, but he quickly shook himself out of his daze. He set down his clipboard on the stool and stepped closer to the elf, also setting the kit on the exam table before taking off the stethoscope hanging around his neck to show Legolas. "This is a stethoscope. It'll let me hear your heart beat and breathing."
"How?" Was his immediate question.
Jupiter smirked, "I'm afraid that'll be an explanation for another time." He put on the earpieces and pressed the metal disk against his chest, "Now breath in deeply, then out."
He continued on with this and did what any doctor would do for a check up. Checking blood pressure, reflex, and so on and so forth. They had a bit of trouble with checking his ears, but they managed to get through it. Each time he would finish a task, he would write it down.
"Okay, you can put your shirt back on." Jupiter sighed, finishing rubbing ointment to sooth his cuts and bruises, "One more thing and we'll be finished. Follow me." He pulled his stool back over to the computers and Legolas swiftly slid his clothing back on before falling after him. He was gestured to sit in the computer chair as the red head turned on the computer.
Jupiter pulled the digital microscope towards him in preparation along with two other small devices, and hand sanitizing wipes in small packets. As he prepared everything, he said, "This is the last and worst part out of all of this. This-" He holds up one of the small devices, "Shows your iron levels. Not the iron you're thinking, the iron that all of our bodies need. And this-" He holds up the other one, "Shows your blood sugar. It's vital for our bodies and at a normal level, helps fight off diseases."
Legolas nodded, listening intently to his explanation, but there was one thing that confused him. "That doesn't seem like the worst part out of all of this." His mind unwillingly went back to the embarrassing questions he had to answer.
He smirked, "That's because I need some of your blood."
"My... blood." The elf repeats.
"Yes." Jupiter didn't even flinch at the look he was given, "Not only is it important to see where your health stands and if anything is off about it that's similar to the others', it'll be interesting to see what Elves red and white blood looks like."
Legolas made to protest, unwilling to give his blood to a stranger. Nonetheless a mortal. But he quickly shut his mouth as he remembered what situation he was in. Looking around him and listening to this man in front of him, he can understand why Manny had immediately called him to help. He was intelligent, so far having no problem with explaining each thing he did to him in order for him to understand. This did not mean he trusts him, but he was willing to do anything to bring them all back to Middle-Earth. Even if it is to give up some of his blood.
The shorter of the two brightened when he nodded his consent, his eyes sparkling in excitement. Legolas was not sure whether he should be scared or not. "We'll start slow, okay?" He pulled on a pair of latex gloves that he had gotten from his drawer. He ripped open one of the alcohol strips and gently took his hand in his to disinfect his finger, "I'm going to use something called a lancing device. It'll prick your finger enough to give me a few drops of blood and it barely hurts."
The elf simply watched as he took a hold of the lancing device and pressed it against his finger before pushing down. Legolas blinked, having felt nothing more than a pinch and watched as he pressed around the tiny wound to draw out blood. He used both of the gadgets that measure his iron and glucose levels before setting them aside, swiftly wrapping his finger into a band-aid.
"That wasn't too bad." Legolas stated, pleased with how quick it was.
"Oh, we're not done yet." Jupiter tried hard not to snicker as he held up a prepackaged, unused butterfly needle, "I still need enough blood to test and examine it more thoroughly."
Remember when he had questioned himself if he should be scared by the expression on his face? Now he was most definitely sure he should be. At this point, he has given up protesting and resorted to muttering, "Do what you must."
"Don't worry, I've done this to Manny a couple of times when she got really sick." He told him as he picked up the tourniquet, pushing up the other's short sleeve in order to tightly tie it around his arm. After sanitizing the inside of his elbow, he prepared the butterfly needle that already had the end connected to collect the blood, "It doesn't hurt as much as you think, but it feels a bit weird. Now clench your hand into a fist."
Legolas obeyed and Jupiter faltered for a moment at the sight of his muscles flexing, but he quickly turned his attention back to finding a vein, which was not hard. Without any warning, he careful inserted the needle and he flinched. Jupiter shook his head slightly at the sight of him staring at the blood flowing through the thin tube. "Will you do this to the others?" Jupiter only nodded. They fell into a comfortable silence, the both of them watching his blood being collected.
"Your eyes and hair..." The red head looked up at his words and cocked an eyebrow at how intensely he was staring at him, "I have never, in the thousands of years I have lived, seen colors such as those from a man."
"Blame my genetics." He grumbled as he turned his gaze back to the butterfly needle, a bit disgruntled, "At least you can tell it's not fake." And it was a perfectly reasonable thing to think considering no one's natural hair color isn't as red as the blood he was drawing out of the elf nor are anyone's eyes the color of a deep gold. Well, unless he was unaware of someone having those things. His birth parents surely had these features so there should at least be one other person in the world that has gold eyes.
It only took a few more minutes before he untied the tourniquet. Gauze prepared, he pressed it over the needle before pulling it out and setting it aside. He secured the gauze with medical tape before patting his knee, "You did great. Now get the hell out of my lab and have Manny bring the next one in."
Though what he said was rude, Legolas clearly saw the teasing smirk on his face and simply gave a roll of his eyes before going back the way he had came. Ignoring the light throb in his arm as he quickly returned to the living room, he furrowed his brows as he heard chatter coming from it.
"Do you have an Ace of Hearts?"
"Wha- You cheated! It's impossible that you are getting this many, Pippin!"
"Well, have you considered that it is because I am just good at this game, Merry?"
"Boys, boys, c'mon, it's just a game..."
Legolas entered the room and simply stared at what was in front of him. Everyone was gathered around the coffee table that had cards placed on it, couches and chairs pulled closer to it. They all held various amounts of cards in their hands and were all trying hard not to laugh at the small argument between the two hobbits. The sight gave him the smallest of smiles, glad that all of their minds were taken off of what had happened merely hours ago.
"Legolas, my friend!" Aragorn noticed him and all attention turn towards him, "You have returned."
"Oh for the love of-" Manny groaned when she noticed the gauze and band-aid, "He took a sample of your blood didn't he?"
"Blood?" Frodo's brows rose to his hairline, his form tensing beside the girl, "Why would he do that?"
"He wanted to see if there were any... changes to it. It was also to make sure I was healthy. He will explain it to you once it is your turn. Speaking of which, he informed me to tell Manny to bring the next person."
"Changes my butt. I bet he wanted to see if there's anything freaky going on with your blood. Don't be surprised if he asks to take more so he can experiment on it, that freak..." She sighed and stands up, "Alright, who wants to go into Jupiter's dungeon next?"
The dwarf immediately stood before anyone else could and Manny nodded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. He definitely stood up due to his little rivalry with the elf, keeping up a front that he too wasn't reluctant or nervous to go.
-o-
It took a couple of hours to go through the rest of the Fellowship. It took some struggling with Boromir and the Hobbits, but with a little influencing, Jupiter had managed to get everything he needed. He had all of his observations of each person organized and it took him extra time to do a quick look on each person's blood. The results he had discovered were enough for him to finally emerge from the lab and into the living room, clipboard in hand. Surprisingly enough, they were all still going strong on card games and were currently playing poker.
Manny looks up from her cards in time for him to enter, "So the demon finally emerges from his dungeon."
"Whatever." He grumbled as all eyes turn to him and he went around the table so he was facing all of his guests, "I have the results, so you better be listening. I'm not repeating myself after this."
They all put down the cards that were in their hands, giving him their full attention. He scanned their faces. Some worried, some hopeful, they were mostly mixed. Clearing his throat, he scans the first paper, "Overall, from the questions I've asked you, it didn't affect your presence here. I also asked each of you the last thing you remembered and it was overall the same, a bright light as you all ran out of Moria. Not sure what it means, but I'm keeping that in mind. Now onto your physicals and blood tests..."
The Fellowship and Manny watched him flip the page, "Legolas. Your blood sugar and iron level is normal. Your physical was perfect as well. Gimli. Your levels are normal as well with your physical, but for someone your height I would recommend to drop a couple of pounds, but the added weight is from muscle so you're fine." The corners of his lips twitched when he heard the mischievous hobbits snicker to themselves. "Aragorn. Your blood sugar is a bit low, but your iron is normal. Physical was fine. Boromir. You're perfectly fine, but you're bordering from having low blood sugar as well. Pippin and Merry, the both of you are surprisingly fine. Sam, you too. Actually, taking a closer look now, it looks like the hobbits and dwarf have grown quite a bit to pass as extremely short men. I'll look into that later. And Frodo..."
Jupiter took a deep breath, shaking his head slightly, "Blood sugar and iron are low. Due to this, you feel a bit weaker than usual and more tired. When the troll had hit you, it formed a nasty bruise on your abdomen. Your abdominal organs are bruised from it, so you'll be sore for a while. And like everyone, other than Legolas, you're sleep deprived."
"I didn't... Do I really?..." Frodo tried to say something, confusion written on his face and Manny placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Don't panic. It's nothing serious. Your blood sugar and iron levels can be because of what you eat, but I doubt it. It can be because of many things, but I know for sure it's because of stress. Luckily, it can be fixed if you eat certain foods to increase them." The hobbit nodded slowly to his words, a frown etched on his face as he realized what was causing his stress.
"What did you do to our blood? Surely, you have found something in it." Sam spoke up from beside him, he too seeming worried for his friend.
"Oh, yeah! I've found something really interesting. Manny, take a look." He plucked out a thin pile of papers and passed them to her.
She looked through each one, her brows furrowing. They then shot up. "They all look... The same. Well, except these two."
Jupiter plucked out the two she had pointed at from her hands, "Exactly. Legolas's blood cells have this thin, strong layer surrounding it. Protecting it. I'll look into it more later and mess around with it, but that's not the point. And Frodo, because of his iron level, his red blood cell count has decreased slightly and there are a bit more white blood cells because of his injuries."
"I... do not understand." Aragorn said, "You have spoken of these 'blood cells' before."
"Yes, it's in your blood. I'll explain some other time, I'm just rambling at this point."
"Good, now can we eat? I'm starving!" Manny whined a bit, slumping back in the couch.
"Go starve."
"Wha- Hey! Get back here! Ugh, he's such a jerk."
"He's very unkind to you, Manny..." Frodo said worriedly as he watched him disappear back into the hallway, keeping his voice low so he wouldn't hear him.
Manny sighed and shook her head, "It's nothing like that. That's Jupiter being Jupiter. Trust me, I've been with him for years and we've always been mean to each other like that. And don't get the impression that he hates all of you because he doesn't."
She opened her mouth again to continue after seeing all of their disbelieving faces, but the subject of their conversation appeared again but this time he no longer wore his lab coat and his hoodie was back in place. He silently went into a different room and a few moments later they heard the sound of something being chopped up. Manny gave them all a triumphant look that pretty much said, 'I told you so.'
-o-
As Jupiter was bustling around in the kitchen, Manny took it up to herself to explain other things that they questioned to keep them occupied a little longer. First being the TV, that was easy to do after showing them how it worked. Then to cars which, by the way, took them nearly half an hour to get into at the apartment. It went around to things involving electricity, and then they managed to find their way to... iPhones.
"This is witchcraft!" Gimli cried as they all watched the girl move items around on the phone.
"How is this possible?" Legolas questioned, as thoroughly confused as everyone else.
She moved onto her photo album, showing pictures of mostly her and Jupiter. "There is this type of sensory device in it that senses your finger. I don't know how to explain it, but it's not magic. Just advanced technology that has developed over the years. It can take pictures, videos, you can have games on it, call and message people, and social media."
"Games?" Merry repeated.
"Yeah. All kinds."
Aragorn too was amazed, weariness easing away after listing what it was used for, "This eye-phone is extraordinary. It makes communication much easier and swifter."
Manny sat stiff as they gaped in awe, becoming well aware of how close a certain Hobbit was at her side. Their arms just barely grazed, but it was enough for her to be much more aware of their proximity. It didn't help that instead of looking at the phone, he mostly just stared at her, soaking in each word that came out of her mouth.
She cleared her throat and stood up abruptly, "I'm going to check on Jupiter. You can watch a show or something."
"Manny, may I continue looking at your pictures?" The elf asked before she took a step.
The brunette looked at him to find that he was sorta... Fidgety per say. As if just asking to look at the photos was suspicious to him. She nodded and went back to her album before handing the phone to him. He gave her a smile of thanks before she went off.
"That was weird." She muttered lowly to herself, then shrugged. Manny didn't have anything that he can potentially ruin by accident. She didn't have Twitter or Instagram, so she doesn't really care as long as he doesn't drop it and break it beyond repair.
She walked into the kitchen to find her guy friend tasting the soup with a separate spoon before sprinkling in some type of seasoning. "Hey." She stood beside him, peering into the pot.
"Hi..." He muttered absentmindedly, tasting the soup again before nodding to himself and returning to stir it.
"Smells good." She complimented with a grin, "Say, I was thinking, we're gonna have to teach them a lot of things. Like how this society works, how the toilet works..."
Jupiter scowled at the thought, "Guess so. I'll handle the whole toilet thing. Tomorrow we should get them some clothes, they can't keep wearing my old ones."
"Ditto." She then lowered her voice, "What about the Ring?"
He paused mid-stir, but then resumed the motions. "We'll talk to him alone about it when we get the chance. We can hide it somewhere safe until they have to leave."
"Speaking of leaving, do you have any idea how the hell to get them back so far? They can't stay here forever. I mean, doesn't that put the universe in an imbalance or some shiz like that?"
"No clue. You'll be sleeping in my room, so you can tell me the story from the very beginning before we go to bed."
"Ew, I have to share the bed with you? Gross."
"Despite the rumors, I'm not a fuckboy, Manny. Other than porn and your's, I have never come face to face with a vagina."
At the reminder her eyes blew wide in horror as she flushed, "Oh God, don't ever remind me of that. That was way too embarrassing."
"Oh c'mon, it wasn't that bad. I'll show you my dick if it'll make you feel better."
"Shut up. Shut up right now or else I'll shove your head into that ding-dang soup."
"Sheesh, it wasn't like I got a boner or anything. It's creepy thinking of you in that way, no offense." He rolled his eyes, turning down the flame of the stove. "Tell everyone food's ready. I already set up the table."
"Okay. Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't get wet for your pee-pee either."
"Thanks."
"Match made in heaven." She laughed, shaking her head as she went to the living room to relay the announcement.
It wasn't until everyone had seconds and the pot had not even a drop left did Jupiter decide that they go to bed early. After putting all of the dishes in the sink, he asked who were sleeping in which rooms to keep a mental note of it. The hobbits were downstairs; Merry and Pippin in one, and Sam and Frodo in the other. Gimli and Legolas took the room upstairs that had a large bed, and Boromir and Aragorn took the other room with two beds.
By the end when everyone decided where they were going to sleep, Jupiter told them one last thing. "If you need anything, knock on my door. It's at the end of the hall upstairs on the left. Manny and I will be sleeping in there."
At this statement, they all became much more alert and practically whipped their heads toward them. "The both of ya?" The dwarf repeated, "Alone?"
"Uh... Yeah? Is that a problem?" Manny said.
Aragorn raises his brows, "Is it not indecent?"
The two friends looked at each other for an uncomfortably long time before simultaneously snorting. Quickly concealing their laughter, Jupiter decided to explain, "Manny and I are close friends. In this world it's pretty normal for two friends like us to do it, no matter what gender. It's not like I'm gonna jump her..." He then looked over at the older girl slyly, "...Unless she wants me to."
In response, she landed a rather hard punch to his arm, "Pervert."
"You wound me." He said in a monotone before giving them all a two finger salute, "G'night."
They all returned his farewell, still apprehensive by their hosts' sleeping arrangements, and went to their new rooms.
"I'm gonna take a piss." Jupiter instantly said as soon as they entered, making a b-line to the bathroom door.
Manny scrunched up her nose in disgust, "Ew, TMI."
He rolled his eyes, knowing for a fact that she didn't care and was much too use to his bluntness. Shutting and locking the door behind him, he went over to the sink to look at himself in the mirror. Today was... interesting to say the last.
He woke up, ate, and picked up Manny. Went to school. Slept through his classes. Went home. Finished his essay. Played video games. Got a call from Manny. Went to her place to find out that she wasn't freaking out over a robber, but fictional characters appearing in her living room. Turns out that it wasn't a scarily good prank she pulled. Took them all to his house. Did tests on them. And then fed them.
Wait...
Oh my God.
Holy shit.
The holiest of all shits.
The Fellowship were in his house. They were here, in the flesh, in his house. The hobbit that Manny loves with all her heart is in his house. The elf that had made panties drop all around the world is in his house.
He hurriedly unlocked and swung the door open again just in time for Manny to drop her pajamas with a choked squeak coming out of her. It seems like he wasn't the only one that finally let it sink into his mind.
-o-
Frodo frowned, glaring up at the ceiling from where he laid on the bed beside his close friend. "I do not like Jupiter." He grumbled.
The dirty blonde hobbit sighed, flipping onto his back to look at the ringbearer, "You have said that three times already, Mister Frodo." He then copied him and looked up at the ceiling. "Why do you not like him? I find him a decent fellow despite how strange he is."
"It's the way he treats Manny. She does not deserve to be treated that way." Sam was surprised by the firmness in his voice, anger lacing through it.
"Mister Frodo... I think Jupiter is only jesting, there's no need to worry. Manny even said so herself that it's how he always acts. You will see tomorrow. If you watch, you can see that she truly does not mind." He shifts his eyes back over to Frodo to meet his gaze. "They are much closer than we all thought, and I can tell that their friendship is deep."
"But..."
"Just watch, Mister Frodo."
"Fine."
-o-
If there are any spelling errors or anything like that, please tell me so I can fix it right away. :D