At exactly noon, Glorfindel rapped sharply on Erestor's door. "Erestor! I know you're in there; answer the door!"
"I'm busy," snapped the irritable elf. "Go away."
"You cannot possibly work today. The sun is shining and it is ghastly hot even in your gloomy little cavern. Come along and take a walk with me." The door creaked open a few inches, until it was stopped by the bolt and chain. Erestor peered through the gap with an unfriendly expression. "And how, exactly, will that cool either of us?"
"We'll walk along the river. Be sociable for once."
"It's not in my nature to be sociable." But he did unbolt the door after slamming it shut. Glorfindel, recognizing this as a subtle invitation, turned the doorknob and shoved the door open.
Erestor had already backed up several paces and stood with his arms crossed, glaring at the blond. Accustomed to his companion's moods (cross, crosser than a wet cat, and infuriated), Glorfindel beamed. "It's settled, then. Put on some more comfortable clothing and we'll go."
"Is there something wrong with my robe?" Erestor demanded. It was, after all, his favorite robe. Black and fairly shapeless, just like the rest of his wardrobe.
"Not a thing," Glorfindel replied cheerfully, and seized his hand in an iron grip. Before Erestor could protest, he was dragged out of his rooms and out into the brilliant sunshine in the courtyard. Blinded by the sudden light, he put up no resistance until he tripped over a loose stone. Although Glorfindel prevented his fall, in the process he freed his hand and immediately tucked it into a pocket.
The rest of the walk to the river was spent in stiff silence, Glorfindel's occasional attempts at conversation summarily ignored by the dark-haired elf. When they at last reached the river, the blond began stripping off his shirt. "What are you doing?" Erestor yelped, shocked out of his sulky silence.
"Well, if I went swimming in it, I would get it wet," he explained in his most reasonable tones. "So I'm taking it off." "Swimming?" Erestor squeaked. "I thought we were taking a walk."
"Wouldn't you be more comfortable in the water? I noticed you never go swimming, even in the middle of summer, so I thought you might need a little encouragement to get into the water."
"There's a reason I don't go swimming!" Erestor snapped. He was staring at the water with an expression that his companion failed to recognize as terror.
"The water isn't that cold," he said soothingly. "Once you get used to it-"
"Glorfindel, you idiot, I CAN'T SWIM!"
"You-WHAT?" Glorfindel blinked at him, dumbfounded. "You've lived on the bank of the Bruinen for over three centuries and you can't swim?"
"I'm from Mirkwood! I grew up in a cave! Why in the name of Elbereth would I be able to swim?"
"Basic survival skill?" He looked more closely at Erestor, whose skin had acquired a faintly grayish tinge. "You're afraid of water?"
He dragged his frightened gaze from the water to glare at Glorfindel. "My sister drowned when I was twenty. You'd be afraid of water too."
"Oh." Glorfindel wished vaguely that he had a little more tact, or a gift for sympathetic words, instead of a habit of unwittingly opening old wounds with a dull pickaxe. "I'm... ah... sorry?" He looked at Erestor hopefully.
"Apology accepted. Now put your shirt back on."
Instead of obeying, Glorfindel eyed him calculatingly. "You need to learn to swim. If you know how it's less likely that you'll drown."
"And even less likely if I never get in the water!"
"What if you had to fight orcs and the only way of escape was by water?" Glorfindel smiled triumphantly at having found an undefeatable argument.
"I'm a scholar," Erestor pointed out smugly. "You do the orc-killing, remember? I read."
Glorfindel scowled and thought for a moment. "In all seriousness, Erestor, you should learn, if only because we do live by the river and Lord Elrond has two very over-active and inquisitive children." He carefully wiped the smirk from both his face and his voice as he pulled his trump card. "After all, if one of the twins happened to fall in..." And, of course, the slightest mention of harm to the twins sealed Erestor's fate. Although he would never admit it, he adored Elrond's obnoxious offspring. "Fine," he snarled. "And how do you propose I go about this?"
"Take off your robe."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"So you won't get it wet," Glorfindel explained patiently. "I assume you are wearing something under it?"
"Leggings," he replied cautiously.
"Go on, then, no need to be modest."
Erestor glared at him virulently and turned his back, unfastening the buttons of the high collar before yanking the entire robe over his head.
Glorfindel's eyebrows rose as he watched Erestor fold the garment and bend over to place it on the ground. Who'd have thought that cranky old Erestor was hiding that under...
He slapped himself mentally. Back to the task at hand. Fantasize about Erestor's behind later.
Erestor turned back to face him, arms folded over his chest. "Well?" he demanded crossly.
Glorfindel blinked, and hoped Erestor would blame the color in his cheeks on the heat. "Well what?" He devoutly prayed that he wasn't drooling.
Erestor uncrossed his arms. "Well, now what do we do?"
Don't drool, Glorfindel. And stop staring.
For a scholar, Erestor was in remarkably good shape. Admittedly, his skin was almost unhealthy in its pallor, and he seemed sadly lacking in muscles, but there was no pudge on his slender frame, and his ribs were not painfully exposed, as Glorfindel had suspected would be the case.
"Glorfindel?" Erestor tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and he awoke from his daze with a start.
"What?-oh, sorry. I was just, ah, thinking." "All right. Are you done now?" Erestor looked at him suspiciously. "Absolutely." Glorfindel flashed his most charming smile. "Now, into the water with you."
Biting his lip, Erestor waded in to ankle depth. "It's cold!" he yelped.
"Oh, don't be such a baby." Glorfindel splashed his way into the river, stopping when it came up to his waist. "Come on, it's not that bad." "Speak for yourself," Erestor grumbled under his breath, and continued wading slowly into the water.
The ground suddenly gave out beneath his feet a few feet away from Glorfindel. Erestor let out a garbled shriek as the water closed in over his head and thrashed his way upwards.
A warm arm encircled his waist and dragged him toward the ledge he had just fallen off. "Sorry," Glorfindel apologized sheepishly. "I forgot about that drop. It only comes up to my mouth; I didn't realize it was over your head."
"I'm-going-to kill you," Erestor gasped between heaving breaths.
"All right." Glorfindel very carefully set him back on his feet. "See? Solid ground. Nothing to worry about."
"You're dead," Erestor reiterated. "I'll risk the curse of the Kinslayers. This murder will be perfectly justified."
"Maybe I should teach you to float first," Glorfindel mused to himself, ignoring Erestor's death threats.
"Maybe I should stick a knife in your back!" Erestor yelled at him.
"If it makes you feel better," Glorfindel replied absently. "Have you got your breath back?"
Erestor gritted his teeth and resolved to get his revenge later. "Yes."
"All right, do you want to learn on your back or face-down?"
He choked. "I beg your pardon?" "You can float face down, but you need to hold your breath. Or you can float on your back. It's a little more awkward that way, though, because breathing upsets your balance."
"On my back," he replied immediately.
"All right, take a deep breath and lean back. Let your legs float up."
Erestor promptly sank like a stone.
Glorfindel caught him and hauled him, sputtering, to the surface again. "Right, let's try this a slightly different way. Relax your body, and I'll pick you up, all right? I promise I won't let you sink."
He slipped one arm under Erestor's back and the other beneath his knees, lifting him just to the surface of the water. "Slow, deep, even breaths," he instructed firmly. "I'm going to take my arms away. They're still beneath you, just a few inches deeper. I won't let you sink. There, see? You're floating." He kept his voice low and soothing as Erestor drifted away from him on the current.
Moving to stay with Erestor, Glorfindel kept up his quiet commentary. "Feel how you flow with the water? Remember that feeling and you'll be able to float without me next time." Erestor inhaled too suddenly, and began to sink. Before he could thrash about trying to regain his equilibrium, Glorfindel caught him. "Even breaths," he murmured. "Slow, even breaths." He had to smile at the peaceful expression on Erestor's face. "Try moving your arms without sinking." Erestor obediently waved his arms a little. "All right, now kick your feet, just a bit. Not too hard." Erestor floated away, propelled by the splashing of his feet. "Feel yourself moving? Now you're swimming."
Erestor's eyes drifted open, and he stared up at the vivid blue sky, listening to the rush of water in his ears and Glorfindel's calm, soothing voice. "The water's lovely today, cool but not cold. It must be the sun warming it. Normally this river's freezing even at midsummer."
Erestor lazily kicked back to Glorfindel, moving towards the sound of his voice. As he couldn't see anything except the sky above him, his head bumped into Glorfindel's chest. "Hello," he remarked. Glorfindel smiled down at him, leaning forward so that Erestor could see. "Your eyes are the same color as the sky," he observed sleepily.
"Really?" The blond's smile seemed to acquire a hint of shyness. "Yours are the color of the river-dark and murky. I can't tell if they're gray or brown."
"They're black," Erestor yawned. "Usually, anyway. Sometimes they get lighter, or so I'm told."
"In the sunlight, they look blue-gray," Glorfindel informed him, trailing a wet finger over his cheek. "In firelight, they're brown," he continued, his finger tracing a line down Erestor's face. "And in the dark, they're black." He lightly outlined Erestor's lips, curved upwards in a hesitant smile. He bent over to brush a butterfly kiss across Erestor's forehead, his long blond hair falling forward to shroud both elves from view.
"Uncle Fin! Uncle Tor!"
Glorfindel's head jerked up and Erestor sank again, although this time he managed to regain his feet without too much flailing around.
"Ada said you could teach us to swim, will you?" "Shall I murder them, or would you prefer to?" Glorfindel murmured in Erestor's ear.
"They can't help being obnoxious little brats," he replied, grinning. "No, I suppose not," Glorfindel sighed. He ran a hand through Erestor's dripping black hair, rubbing a fingertip along the point of his ear. Erestor stared up at him, his eyes wide and darkening slowly from gray to black. "We'll finish this later," Glorfindel promised softly, and began to swim away.
"That we will," Erestor agreed quietly, and then seized him by the shoulder and hauled him back. "Now's later," he added, dragging Glorfindel's face down to his and kissing him fiercely.
A few moments later he broke away and patted Glorfindel's shoulder while the blond Elda blinked dazedly at him. "So, gwenyn," he said cheerfully, turning to the twins, "you wanted to learn to swim?"
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Swimming Lessons by Belladonna Poisoning
Story notes: Can be read as a prequel to Interruptions and Consequences.
And the sad part is, I'm actually this bad at swimming. If it weren't for my natural blubber I would sink like a rock every time I put a toe within water. Also: Erestor's whiny nature is based entirely on my attitude toward water. Don't blame him for being a priss. He can't help it. Italics are thoughts. 'Gwenyn' means twins.
