Disclaimer: I don't know Nsync. I don't know Justin Timberlake in real life. Also this story is in no way meant to imply that he is homosexual in real life. This piece of literature is simply the work of a fan and is pure fiction.
I don't own The Lord of the Rings or any other works of the series. The rights of the series goes solely to the series author J.R.R. Tolkien.
Now that's out of the way. This story appeared in my head when I was trapped in the car with my relatives for a 24-hour road trip. I was really, really bored! I shudder just thinking about that trip. Anyway, if your below legal age to read this where your from, then all I can tell you is stop and don't let your parents catch you. He he that's not much of a warning, but hey what else can I do.
Chapter 31
It was days later and Legolas still had not asked Justin to marry him. He had his reasons other than mere nervousness on his part. Arwen's escort, making up most of the elves of Rivendell and Lothlorien, including Elrond, Galadriel, and Celeborn, had arrived two days before into the White City. The people of Minas Tirith were struck with awe at the beauty of the elves since most had never seen a Firstborn in all their days. Yesterday, before family and friends, the wedding ceremony of Aragorn and Arwen had commenced. It was a beautiful ceremony and all were moved by the love between the two as they were bound together officially as husband and wife.
Justin was surprised to find out that Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn of Lothlorien were Elrond's in-laws, and the grandparents of Arwen, Elrohir and Elladan. Seems the couple was old. Very old. Galadriel herself was said to be 8,440 years old. Elven immortality at its best.
Legolas out of respect for the newlyweds didn't want to steal their moment by asking Justin to marry him. No, he would wait. Not long but he would wait. Justin wasn't dense. Not by a long shot. He could see that Legolas wanted to talk to him about something. He could practically see it in his eyes but when he asked Legolas, the elf would merely smile and give him a negative answer. It was frustrating.
Justin blew out a breath as he sat next to Legolas on a bench in the citadel's garden. The mid-summer breeze was cool and comforting in the heat of the July sun. Yeah, July. Justin had been more than surprised that Middle Earth's calendar was the same as his Earth's. The date currently was July 18th of the year 3019 of the Third Age. Okay, not exactly the same, but similar.
Justin glanced at Legolas out of the corner of his eye. The elf was staring at the lilies and chrysanthemums with a small carefree smile. Justin stared at that smile and narrowed his eyes. That smile was entirely too carefree. The elf was hiding something. Alright, Justin thought. Whatever Legolas was hiding had to be good. He could wait. Patience was a virtue after all. Justin rolled his eyes. Screw that.
"Legolas just what the hell are you hiding?" said Justin suddenly into the silence, his eyebrow raised and arms crossed.
Legolas gave him a wide eyed look, surprise clearly radiating through his face. "Whatever do you mean, Melamin?" he asked with a slightly too innocent tone. [my love]
Justin smirked at the tone. So he was still playing innocent. Right. "I've given you almost a week to come out with it, Lover."
Legolas stuck his nose into the air and sniffed haughtily, his eyes though were twinkling merrily. "I have no idea what you are prattling on about?"
Laughing, Justin punched Legolas in the arm. "You big goofball! Stop playing around," he chuckled. "Come on. Tell me what's up. I'm dying of curiosity here."
"Ow!" Legolas pouted playfully, rubbing at his arm and playing up his pain. "You wound me, oh love of my life. I can not believe you would inflict such pain onto me."
Justin's smirked and his eyes gleamed darkly. He scooted closer to Legolas on the bench. The other, still pouting, watched Justin with pretend wariness. Hands reached out lightning quick and grabbed Legloas's head bringing him in for a soul wrenching kiss. As usual with their kiss, Justin felt the pull of gravity shift as his entire being shifted on its axis. Legolas moaned as Justin's tongue danced along his and he wrapped his arms tighter around him bringing them closer together. Only the need for air made them part with a gasp of breath, as their lungs took in oxygen in overtime.
Justin leaned back, regaining his breath with a dazed smile. "Wow."
Legolas smiled back with a similar dazed look. "Marry me?" he asked breathily.
Justin stilled. The dazed look Legolas wore vanished quickly. He watched Justin with a carefully hidden look of nervous fear. The stillness was broken as Justin stood and walked away a few feet. He wrapped his arms around himself as he stared stoically into space.
"Justin?"
He turned around and Legolas winced at the lost look reflected in the dark blue depths. A myriad of emotions swam in Justin's eyes. Fear. Uncertainty. Vulnerability. It was all there open for Legolas to see and understand.
Legolas stood up and reached for Justin. He felt his heart lurch as Justin moved away from him. His arm dropped lithely to his side. His throat tightened and his eyes burned with unshed tears of pain. For Justin to shut him out was like a knife in his gut. It hurt. A lot.
"Galadmin, what is the matter?" [my light]
A sigh came from the quiet man. Justin turned around and winced at the hurt look he found on Legolas face. "Legolas. I'm sorry but no."
"No," whispered Legolas, inside he could feel his heart miss a beat.
Biting his lip, eyes downcast, Justin stared at the ground as he took in a deep breath to gather his will. "I'm sorry Legolas. But I can't marry you."
With that hanging in the air, Justin walked past Legolas. He stopped under the archway leading out of the garden. Legolas hadn't moved from his spot. Justin wanted to apologize again but the words caught in his throat. He wiped at the tears that suddenly pricked at his eyes. Sighing, Justin walked away and out of the garden. He didn't see Legolas stumble to a tree, one hand bracing against the trunk and the other held to his rapidly beating heart, feeling it thump with an agonizing beat.
"What in the name of Manwe is the matter with you!"
Justin looked up slowly, eyes blank, into the lived eyes of Boromir. He merely stared at him, no emotion showing on his face. "Shut door behind you," was Justin's monotone answer to the inquiry.
Boromir frowned at Justin trying very hard, but failing, to keep the thunderstorm inside him from raging forth. He grabbed the chair from the nearby sitting table and pulled it next to the bed. Justin glanced at him and then turned his stare back to the wall, his eyes unfocused and gaze distant.
"Alright..." began Boromir, glaring at Justin. "This is how it is going to go. You are going to tell me what is your conflict with Legolas or I will make you tell me. Choose."
Justin turned that blank stare at him and spoke in that same monotone. "I don't know what you are talking about."
Boromir cocked his head adopting a nonchalant expression. "Should I punch you in the face now or when I grow bored of the act?"
"Boromir, please, I'm tired...just go, alright?"
The Steward shook his head, keeping his gaze trained on the younger man. "Now tell me why you have hurt the Elf Prince so. Legolas is so close to fading that it is heartbreaking. Aragorn's healing counsel was the only thing that kept Legolas from giving into his grief."
Justin paled. "Fading? Are you sure?"
Boromir nodded, crossing his arms. "You know as well as I do that the Elves are immortal and that they can only die when slain in battle or...a grief stricken heart."
"I-I..." Justin sighed, eyes wet, as he ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Boromir, he asked me to marry him."
A hand clasped his shoulder and Boromir locked his gentle eyes with Justin's red rimmed ones. "I know, lad. Now the question everyone is wondering. Why did you tell him no? You two are meant to be. Anyone can see that."
Justin wringed his hands together, a nervous habit he thought long broken. He swallowed trying to force the words to come but they got stuck. He tried a few more times and after clearing his throat the words came to him, spilling out unbidden as soon as they left his throat. It was a like a damn had been opened as all the things he had been thinking and feeling suddenly had an outlet.
"He's an elf Boromir," said Justin bitterly. "He hasn't told me, but I know what happens to all to the Firstborn. They sail to the west to the land of Valinor, where everything is funshine and evergreen, nothing dying and perfection is everywhere. The land of the Valar, the gods of the world freaking live there!"
Boromir frowned. "Justin I don't..."
"Understand," Justin finished for him. "I know you don't. Let me spell it out for you big guy. I'm from another fucking world! I. Don't. Belong. Here..." he looked down at his hands, the next words coming out quiet. "or there."
"You are denying yourself happiness on the belief that you do not belong in Valinor?" questioned Boromir, trying to understand.
"If I marry him Boromir he would eventually, all elves do, want to sail west. I can't go there Borimir. It's not for me. This world is not for me. Who is to say that I won't ever go home again?" Tears made their way freely down his face now. Like twin rivers they traveled down his cheeks. "What if on our wedding day I suddenly get transported back to my own world? I don't think I could bear it! I couldn't go on living if I go back, leaving Legolas and everyone here! I don't want to cause him that kind of pain."
Boromir made a sound low in his throat.
Justin ignored him. Instead he kept staring at his hands, the words still tumbling from his lips, his emotions spilling off him. "It is better this way. He may be in pain now but he will get over it and he will sail west with his people. In Valinor he will find peace and then he will meet someone else. Someone that is from his own world. Someone-"
Abruptly, the words stopped coming and Justin stared at Boromir in shock. Across Justin's cheek was a red handprint courtesy of the slap Boromir just delivered to his face. The Steward of Gondor and newly crowned Prince of 0sgiliath and lord of its lands looked angrier than Justin had ever seen him. His eyes were hard and like chips of ice as they glared into Justin as if his very look could kill.
"Boromir what..."
"Shut up. Do not speak." Grinding his teeth in a clear sign of anger, Boromir stood up so fast that the chair he sat on fell backward and skidded across the floor. "You have spoken and I listened. It is now your turn to listen. You are acting like a coward and I can honestly say I do not like it. You are trying to tell me that Valinor is not for you."
"Its not!" spat Justin, a spark of anger shining in his eyes.
Boromir smiled inside. Anger was a much better emotion than the lifeless act that he had witnessed previously.
"You are part elf and also wizard. You have read of the shrouded origins of the wizards, the Istari." Boromir himself knew the origins from his teachings as his fathers heir as the Steward of Gondor. "You know they are of the Maiar, the very same spirits that are kin to the Valar. You are of the very people the land was parted to. So do not give me that nonsense about not belonging."
Justin felt some of the anger leave him at the words of wisdom offered to him.
Boromir took a breath. "So you think you may go back to your world. Well that is, to take a phrase from your tongue, oh fucking well. Answer me. Who is to say that if you go back Justin, Legolas will not go back with you? Do you think Illuvatar would snatch the mate of your soul from you so?"
All Justin could do was shake his head negative. He had met the One. The Creator of Arda was kind and compassionate. To think that he would inflict such a cruel act upon him was something he could not think of. Bormor could see that he was getting through to Justin so he continued on not letting up.
"You say that it is better this way," said Bormir sharply. "The pain now does not matter. Ha! You are wrong, my friend. The pain now does matter. Legolas will never be happy on Valinor. There will never be another like you for him. The place in his heart for you can not be filled with another. How can you expect him to find happiness again, practically forcing him to without his decision, when you are indeed his happiness. The eternal shores of Valinor will be empty for him without you."
Boromir took Justin's hands into his own. The light that Boromir thought extinguished blazed back in Justin's eyes with a vengeance. He's back, Boromir thought with a smile.
"They say people come into our lives for a reason, teaching us lessons and helping us most to grow. They do this by loving us and holding us dear to their hearts. You have done that for Legolas and forever have left a handprint on his heart." A gentle smile lit Boromir's face. "Now stop this foolery, Justin. I beg of you to seek your love and show him that you do love him."
Justin wiped his face with the sleeve of his tunic. He gave Boromir a small smile. "I would say the slap did it, but I would be lying. Thanks for talking to me, Bo."
"Anytime, little Siren," he ran a finger down Justin's cheek. "My handprint is already gone. Elven healing at its best, eh?"
Justin chuckled but suddenly sobered as his thoughts turned to Legolas. "I've been a real ass. I hope he can forgive me."
"Go seek him and find out," was Boromir's reply.
Justin entered Legolas's room after knocking and receiving no answer. His steps made no sound, as was the Elven way. Legolas stood on the balcony his gaze drawn to the stars. Justin followed his gaze to the bright white pricks of light hanging in the black sea of space.
"The Elves awoke under the stars," said Legolas into the silence, making Justin pause in his steps startled, since Legolas had not even turned around. "Before the rising of the Sun and the Moon, the Elves looked upward and beheld the stars. That is why they are most beloved by all Elven kindred for they bring us comfort. Manwe, Lord of the Valar, has a wife named Varda. It was she who crafted the stars and wrung them in the sky. All elves sing her praises and call her Elbereth, Lady of the Stars." Legolas turned around and Justin beheld for the first time blue eyes full of such pain that he himself hurt. "Tonight I find no comfort in the starts," said Legolas with bitter finality.
Justin bit his lip. His gaze slid to the ground as he unable to meet those pained blue eyes. "It shouldn't had happened like that Legolas. I shouldn't have..." Tears came quick and spilled down his face. "I didn't want to cause you pain."
"But you did," said Legolas quietly.
"I was scared, Legolas. Marriage means thinking about the future. And I've been trying so hard not to think far ahead this whole time," said Justin, his voice going hoarse but still he spoke. "There are so many uncertainties. So many. I don't know if this is it. Will I ever go home? If I do then what does that mean for us."
A loud sob left his throat and his legs gave out and he fell to the floor onto his knees. He buried his face into his hands sobbing heavily. His shoulders shook with each sob and overall he looked a sad and despairing sight to behold. Legolas almost took a step closer but he stopped himself.
"I just feel all fucked up inside, Baby," whispered Justin brokenly. "I know that we should be together. But how can I promise you forever when I don't know if this is just a brief vacation. I talked to Eru."
"Illuvatar, the One!" Legolas gasped, eyes widening in surprise.
Justin continued talking, wallowing in his grief, not hearing Legolas. "After the battle at the Black Gates I was unconscious and then I was floating. Stars were everywhere," he said softly, gaze focused inward, as he was lost in memories. "Then he was there and he was beautiful. Like a light that could never be extinguished. He told me that my part in the Great Music is not over." Justin looked up at Legoals for the first time. His red rimmed eyes were swollen and his face was pale and wet with tears. "What does that mean? Is my destiny to go back to my world, stay here, go to another world. What!"
Legolas released a pent up sigh. "I am not sure Justin. What do you think it means?"
The elf jumped as Justin pounded a fist upon the stone floor startling him. "I don't know what it means. But I realize that it doesn't matter anymore." He shook his head. "I was scared at first. Frozen by fear of what may come. Not looking at the good but bad. For that I'm sorry. I've realized that I was acting stupid. And I am not afraid anymore. I want to be with you. Only you. For better or worse. I love you."
Justin gasped as arms circled around him and he took in the gentle smile Legolas wore as the elf kneeled with him on the ground. "Your fear was not petty, Galadmin," half smiled Legolas. [my light] "You forget however that we are connected. Do you not remember that when you were being interrogated by Sauron it was I who appeared to you in the dreaming world? That is a bond that few in this world can claim to."
"What if I disappear though Legolas?" asked Justin, his voice holding a desperate edge. "Vowing to be with you forever and then being pulled from you... I couldn't bear to cause you that pain!"
Legolas grasped Justin's chin and wiped at the tears. "You forget Justin that wherever you will go I will follow. My spirit calls to yours and will find you even across the different realms. Melanmin, you complete me." [my love]
Justin couldn't help it. The last sentence just did it for him. He snorted and then couldn't hold in before he exploded in full blown laughter. Legolas stared at him with a confused smile that Justin just had to kiss away, turning the frown into a bright smile.
"Did I say something funny?" questioned Legolas, smiling with a raised eyebrow.
Justin nodded. "Just something that reminded me of my world. Know this though, Baby." He smiled impishly. "You had me at hello."
"And my heart was yours when we locked eyes," replied Legolas, blue eyes twinkling.
Smiling softly, Justin leaned closer and resting his chin on Legolas' shoulder, he whispered softly into his ear, "Ask me again."
Legolas nodded and holding a palm against Justin's cheek, he said, "Justin you are the other half of me. My lover, my friend, my everything. Will you honor me by binding yourself to me as your eternal wedded mate in life?"
"Does that mean you'll be my husband?" asked Justin smirking playfully.
"Yes. And I will be yours," answered Legolas, matching the smirk.
He let out a breath and then smiled. Justin nodded, beaming. "I already said you had me at hello, Baby. Yes, Legolas, I will marry you."
Legolas's smile practically lit up the entire room. Justin could feel himself giggle like a freaking schoolgirl at seeing the wide smile split Legolas face. Arms lifted him up and carried him to the bed. Smoldering blue eyes stared down at Justin and he swallowed heavily, feeling his pants tightened and his heart beat in overtime. Legolas licked his tongue along Justin's lips causing him to whimper in anticipation.
Legolas leaned down and whispered softly into Justin's ear, "Prepare to scream my name..." He kissed down Justin's neck, "all..." untying his tunic and trailing down kisses. "night..." Legolas brought his hand down upon the erection he found against Justin's trouser covered thigh. "...long."
Justin's eyes rolled back and he groaned loudly. "Oh GOD!"
To Be Continued...
***************************** NEXT Chapter 32: Eomer and the Rohirrim return for their Fallen. The Elves and the Fellowship make preparations to leave and return to their homes.