Title: Happy Birthday Drabble

Fandom: Lord of the Rings

Pairing: Gimli/Legolas

Author Notes: One of Several Birthday Drabbles written for Lady Korana

 

 

Happy Birthday Drabble

 

Gimli’s footsteps were loud as his boots struck the rock floor of the hallway. It was enough to wake Legolas from sleep as he approached their bedroom. When he slipped inside, closing the door behind him, he was smiling. He brought the breakfast tray to the bed. “Happy birth—“

 

Legolas’ breath hitched. “ih-ih-ihh… ih-ih!” There was a moment’s pause during which there was no sound, no movement apart from Legolas’ twitching ears. Then the elf snapped forward. “ih-ihhhTshh!

 

After waiting a few moments to make sure there wasn’t a second sneeze on its way, Gimli then sat down on the bed and set the tray down as well. “Happy birthday to me,” he finished.

 

Immediately, Legolas’ face fell. “No… It cannot be. I thought… two days… today?”

 

Gimli nodded. “Unless my parents and the historians who draw up the family trees have been lying to me my whole life.”

 

Legolas closed his eyes. “I was going to get you a gift. I… but… I have… hh… ihhhHshhh! EhShh! IhhhShh!

 

“Galu.” Gimli pushed strands of the elf’s long, blond hair from his face. “Did you honestly think you would somehow sneak out of bed, get dressed, find your way to the market, and barter for something… without me noticing, without me worrying?”

 

A shrug. A sniffle. “I… ihhh…” His ears had barely stopped twitching since he woke. Gimli reached up with a finger and stroked one of them, trying to soothe it. But the sneeze wouldn’t stop. His cold was far too intense for that. So he pulled a hanky out of his pocket with his other hand and pressed it to his elf’s nose. “h’Ihshphhhhh! ihh-h’shxxfffff!” Legolas breathed into the hanky and smiled. “This is still warb-sniff! Warm.”

 

“So is breakfast.”

 

Legolas looked down at the tray but didn’t make a move to eat anything. Gimli knew it wasn’t what he was used to, but it wasn’t so easy getting fresh fruit here in the caverns.

 

“Have a bite of bread for me? Because of my birthday?”

 

A bite of the roll. Another sniffle. “I am sorry.” He set the rest of the roll down.

 

“No need to apologize. How do you feel?”

 

“All I feel like doing is sneezing. And sleeping. Not normal for an elf.”

 

Gimli reached up and traced a path around one of Legolas’ ears, his fingers brushing through smooth, silky hair and against the tight braid woven in, disappearing among the rest of the soft gold. He had braided that himself; it had taken months for his thick fingers to braid so elegantly, but Legolas had been patient, affectionate, loving about it. “You are no normal elf. But you are the only elf I want in my bed. You are the only elf I want for my birthday.”

 

eh… ihh-IHShihhh!” Gimli picked the handkerchief up again and held it in front of Legolas’ face. “ihhh-h’tShchhh! Sniff!  Even though I…  ihhh…

 

“Even though,” Gimli said, tenderly, pressing the hanky against Legolas’ twitching nose.

 

ih-Hshihh!” Legolas fell forward, into Gimli’s arms. Gimli set the breakfast aside in order to crawl under the covers. Immediately, Legolas wrapped his arms around the dwarf and nuzzled his face into Gimli’s hair. “Sniff! So warm. How sniff, sniff how are you always so warm?”

 

“Must be my love for you.”

 

Legolas shook again, and Gimli could tell right away it wasn’t from a sneeze. The elf was laughing—softly, lightly.

 

Gimli smiled and stroked Legolas’ arm as he wrapped them tight around him. There was no better way to spend a birthday.