The Clash
Legolas' yell brought forth an apron-clad and flour-covered Aragorn from the
kitchen.
"What is it?!" He asked, wondering what prompted the outburst from his
brother.
Legolas shook his head and waved him away, mouthing the words "I'll tell you
later" before turning his attention back to the phone and the conversation he
was holding with Danny.
"You're one sick fuck, Elladan Rivendell! Sick!" Legolas yelled into the
phone, making Aragorn shake his head before going back into the kitchen.
The yelling continued for a few more minutes until Legolas calmed down enough
to continue the conversation with the other elf.
"Fine. So see you at seven? Okay. Cool." Lee hung up and wandered into the
kitchen, where Aragorn was busy making his "Special" brownies for later on. Bags
of chips and dip littered the lightwood dining table as well as several baggies
of what Lee preferred to call "Mara Jade" and "Weezer" After the band whose
eponymous song had introduced everyone to the wonders of it.
"Shit man!" Lee exclaimed when he saw the large amounts of Mara Jade that his
brother was putting into the brownie batter. "You're going to make them autistic
if you put that much in."
Aragorn snorted and proceeded to stir the pot into the batter in order to
distribute it evenly.
Legolas shook his head. "I mean it bro. You're gonna make them stupid."
Aragorn looked up from his work. "Who's all coming?" He asked evenly as he
grabbed a square pan he had greased earlier and poured the batter in.
"Danny, Max, Sam, Glor, Ken, Tro, Cat, Duo, Milliardo, Marie, Sally, Yohji,
Ken, Sonny, Karen, Sora and Kamui. I think that's it." Lee replied after ticking
off all the names. Aragorn frowned.
"That's the official list, I'm guessing." He said, frowning slightly as he
scraped the last of the batter off the bowl and quickly put the brownies in the
oven to bake. Lee nodded.
"So who can we expect to crash?" Aragorn asked as he rummaged around the
cupboards for another box of brownie mix for yet another batch of brownies.
"Probably your lovely ex-girlfriends. Both of them. Maybe Eomer if he's
gotten over his hissy fit, Theoden, Frodo, cause we all know that he's really
after Sam even if he doesn't want to admit it Rose Cotton, who still hasn't
gotten a clue that Sam is as gay as the day is long, Harry Pot-head, but we
won't have to worry about him cause he's got his own stash and won't cause
problems, The Weasleys and maybe some of the other Rohan boys. I don't know."
Aragorn shrugged. "Fine. You told the others to get here as soon as possible
and to BYOV if they could?" He asked his brother, who nodded.
"Good then. I just gotta make this last batch and we'll be all set. Lee, clear
all the valuables from the living room and put out the burnt C.D's. I still
haven't found my Daft Punk from the last party and I don't intend for it to
happen again."
Lee grimaced. "I know. My bloody Garbage disappeared too and I'm sure that
bastard Eomer stole it." He shook his head.
"That guy is such a fucker. I'm totally glad that Boromir managed to kick his
head in. He sure needed it." He said before turning to leave the kitchen and
clean up the living room. On his way there, he paused and looked back at
Aragorn, who was busy mixing up the batter.
"Speaking of Boromir, is he coming?" He asked, all the while hoping his voice
didn't sound to eager or too wistful when he mentioned the blonde human. He had
such a brief meeting with him that day, and it still didn't seem like enough for
them to be able to catch up on the missing time between St. Kilda's and now. He
had missed Boromir and Faramir all the time he had spent in St. Victorie and the
Youth Centre waiting for those morons to verify the agreement between his mother
and Arathorn Strider. It would be nice to see Boromir outside the confines that
school no doubt had placed on him and his brother. And even himself, despite how
much he had stepped off the path.
For several moments, there was only silence in the kitchen that stretched out
for what seemed an eternity. Even though he was a terribly patient elf, Lee had
to admit that it looked like Aragorn wasn't going to answer anytime soon.
Giving a soft sigh, he was about to leave when his brother finally spoke.
"I haven't called him yet." Aragorn finally admitted as he mixed the batter
harder than it actually needed to be mixed. Lee raised an eyebrow when he
noticed that Aragorn's face had gone a light pink. "I see." The elf thought to
himself when he finally realized that Aragorn was nervous.
"Why don't you call him right now then?" Lee coaxed. "You do have his number
right?"
A small nod confirmed his suspicions. Lee grinned.
"Call him then. I'm sure he'd come." He said before grabbing the bowl out of
Aragorn's hands and shoving him towards the extension that sat on the counter in
one fluid move.
"Hey! You're gonna screw those up, Legolas!" He yelped in a last ditch-attempt
to gain more time to actually get some courage to call Boromir and invite him to
the party, where he hoped that he could have more time to get to know the stoic
blond a little better than he had in those short intervals between classes. As
well as getting an actual agreement of commitment from him.
"Sha. If I recall correctly, brother, I taught you how to make them. So
don't give me such a lame excuse for chickening out on calling Boromir." Legolas
retorted before he shoved Aragorn towards the phone yet again.
"All right. All right." Aragorn grumbled as he walked over to the phone. Digging
into his pocket, he then fished out the crumpled note that held Boromir's number
and quickly picked up the receiver and dialed as fast as he could before he lost
his nerve.
The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. He was about to hang up when someone
picked up.
"Hello?"
"Where are your parents?" Pippin asked Boromir as he watched the older human
put a clean, if somewhat faded sheet printed with pictures of soccer players on
the small bed in Faramir's room. It had been decided by harried Celeborn that
Pippin and Merry would share a room, while Boromir and Faramir would go back to
sharing Boromir's basement room as they had done when they had first arrived in
the Lothloriens' care.
Unfortunately, Celeborn had to leave and ordered Boromir and Faramir to give
the little monsters a bath and set up the bedrooms for them. So that was how
Boromir found himself putting soccer sheets on the beds while being watched by a
clean, if somewhat chatty Pippin. Merry and Faramir, in the meantime, were busy
in the bath, one yelling bloody murder, while the other was getting thoroughly
soaked. Although Boromir knew that Merry, who had somewhat thawed on the way
home, had told them brusquely that he was nine and Pippin was seven; he
sincerely hoped that the older hobbit wouldn't decide to run out of the bathroom
naked in order to escape being clean.
"They died when my brother and I were very young." Boromir replied quietly
as he smoothed the sheet down onto the bed before he reached over to the pile of
bedding that sat on Mir's bed for another sheet. Strangled screams came from the
bathroom, followed by a loud splash which made Pippin jump slightly and Boromir
cast a pleading look at the heavens.
"Oh." Pippin replied in a quiet voice. He watched Boromir tuck the other
sheet in place in silence before he spoke again. He couldn't, for the life of
him, remain quiet. He always had to know things, talk about things, wonder about
things. It wasn't his fault, it was just the way he was. Too bad that his
parents never could grow accustomed to his innocent queries. That and his
hyperactivity earned him too many blows that even Merry couldn't easily protect
him from.
"Do you remember anything about them?" He asked. Boromir placed the yellow
fuzzed blanket that had belonged to Faramir on the bed and sat down on the floor
beside the young hobbit.
"Not really. I know my mum had green eyes like my brother's and mine." He
answered truthfully. He really didn't recall Fiundilas Denethorson. Just
fragments of her. Her scent, which was sweet and tangy like warm peach pie, her
long brown hair which he would play with when she held him and Faramir. Her
green eyes as they shone with laughter and happiness. The way her arms made him
feel safe from the world outside.
"How about your dad?" Pippin persisted, moving ever so slightly closer to
Boromir, having decided in the past twenty minutes that he was a very safe
person to be with. Although he knew that Merry didn't feel too comfortable being
around him or the elf-lady and her husband and had somewhat warned him about
lowering his guard against them; he felt strangely comfortable with Boromir.
Namely because he was talking to him and hadn't made any move to prove that he
would be violent any time soon.
Boromir smiled faintly before he turned to look at the little nosy hobbit.
Although he was getting exasperated with the little bugger, Boromir humoured him
mainly because he knew that the poor kid was just trying to get a sense of
security. He knew what it was like to be yanked out of a miserable, yet familiar
place and thrust into another where there was no link to the past. No lifelines
that could be grasped in case things turned out worse than they had been before.
Even though he had someone beside him to share the burdens, he knew that the kid
must be scared as hell. Even though it wasn't fairly obvious, the way that
Pippin had been gravitating towards him was proof enough the kid was looking for
someone to ease his fears.
"Ah... Faramir and I don't know our dad." Boromir answered, tasting a bit of
the old bitterness in his mouth as he spoke. Even though he had long become
reconciled with the fact that his dad had been some fly-by-night artist that
didn't give a damn about him and his brother, it still hurt to remember being
called a bastard and seeing other kids with their dads at the park playing catch
and what not.
"Oh." He replied again, picking at the frayed hem of his loose, hand-me down
sweat-shirt. He sat silent for a few minutes, making Boromir wonder if his
thoughts had strayed off somewhere when a light touch on his arm made him look
down at the impish face.
"Don't worry. Dads aren't that great anyways." Boromir raised an eyebrow at
this comment.
Pippin nodded, mistaking his silence for disbelief. "Uh-hu. All they do is yell
at you and hit you."
He said as he rolled up his sleeve and showed Boromir a column of circular
welts that started from the boy's thin wrist and moved up to disappear under his
sweater.
Boromir's eyes widened as his hand moved gently over the welts, which looked
pretty nasty despite being half-healed. Although it may have hurt Pippin to have
those raw spots touched, he didn't show any discomfort as Boromir's hand moved
over them.
"He did this to you?" Boromir asked as he pulled his hand away and gently
lowered Pippin's sleeve.
Pippin only nodded, his head lowered so that Boromir wouldn't be able to see
his face.
"You wanna talk about it?" Pippin shook his head violently.
"You want to be alone then?" Boromir asked, hoping that he hadn't broken
anything inside the little kid. Even though he knew that Pippin was the one that
had wanted to talk and was the one that showed him the scars and the like, he
should have been much more careful in dealing with him.
He grimaced in frustration and looked out the window as he silently berated
himself on being so insensitive to Pippin's needs. He should have been more
careful, he chided himself. Even though the kids were utterly mellow after they
had left the school and come home, he shouldn't have been fooled by the
easy-going nature of the kid.
After getting no answer and agonizing over the possible damage that he may
have inflicted on the kid, Boromir decided to take off before anything else
could go wrong between them.
The decision was further reinforced when he heard the phone ringing in the
living room.
He got up quickly and was about to sprint out to get the phone when Pippin
screamed.
"NO! Don't leave!" He cried, his eyes shimmering with tears as he clumsily got
to his feet and ran towards Boromir and proceeded to attach himself like a leech
to his leg.
For several seconds, Boromir was seriously stunned as to what course of
action to take next. For one thing, he had what was going to become a hysterical
hobbit clinging onto his leg. For another, he had a phone to answer, since it
probably was Celeborn or Galadriel calling to see if anyone had succeeded in
killing themselves yet. What the hell was he going to do? Comfort the critter
and ignore the phone and get in shit, or abandon the poor brat and have him cry
his head off and feel abandoned yet again.
Another ring from the phone snapped him out of his indecision. Quickly
grabbing the bawling hobbit and perching him on his hip, he ran towards the
living room, narrowly missing the cat, Lemba and scrambled for the phone, which
rang again before he picked it up.
"Hello?" He asked, holding the little hobbit tightly against his shoulder.
Pippin took the opportunity and buried his head into Boromir's shirt, making the
human hope that he wouldn't get too much snot onto his Rancid T-shirt.
"Boromir?" His mouth suddenly went dry when he heard the voice at the other
end.
"Aragorn... Uh, how's it going?" Boromir asked, mentally cursing himself the
moment the words were out of his mouth. "Smooth move" He thought to himself.
"He'll definitely be impressed."
Aragorn chuckled softly. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Are you
okay?"
It was Boromir's turn to laugh and Aragorn's turn to feel like a moron.
"We're great conversationalists, aren't we?" He asked softly. Aragorn
laughed.
"No kidding." There was silence for awhile as both men pondered as to what else
to say to fill the space that was quickly becoming oppressive.
"Listen. I called you because Lee and I are having a party. Just something
to start the school year and we were wondering if you and Faramir would want to
come." Aragorn got out in a rush.
"So what do you say? Aragorn asked, silently begging Boromir to say yes as
well as being acutely aware that Legolas was listening in, clearly hoping that
the answer would be yes, by the way that he was sloppily pouring the batter into
the pan.
Boromir bit his lip. It was utterly tempting to go and hang out with Aragorn
and Lee again, but there was also the fact that he had a crying hobbit and his
sulky, yet scared brother to deal with.
"Hello?" Galadriel's called out as she moved into the living room. Boromir
gulped.
"Well?" Aragorn asked.
by Jim Morrison
Chapter VI
Tender
"I was on the outside when you said
You said you needed me
I was looking at myself
I was blind, I could not see"—U2
o you're on for tonight? You and Max?" Lee asked as he scribbled something down
on the pad by the phone. "Uh-hu. What? Glor's coming? Yeah. No sex though. We
got in shit last time Dad came home and found someone screwing on the couch!
AAAH! That's fucken sick man!"
