“Good evening.”
“Yes, it is.” Glorfindel smiled and opened the door wide enough for Erestor to enter, not wide enough for him to get through without brushing against Glorfindel. “Do come in.”
The door was closed, and locked, and Glorfindel motioned to the dining room where they had once eaten most meals together. There was stew in large bowls and a loaf of bread and fresh butter, all brought from the main kitchen if the trolley that was rolled to the side of the room was any indication. A bottle of wine was open, waiting to be poured into the goblets on the table.
They sat down, opposite to one another, and Glorfindel poured the wine. All the while, Erestor stared at the linen napkin he had placed in his lap, speaking only to say grace with Glorfindel before they began their meal. For Erestor, that meant pushing the stew around the bowl while Glorfindel ate a few thoughtful mouthfuls. Finally, Glorfindel asked, “Is something the matter with the meal?”
“No, not with that.” Erestor set his spoon down to rest, and reached across the table to take Glorfindel’s unoccupied hand. He gave it a squeeze, as if gathering the strength and will that he needed to continue. Erestor looked up, his gaze meeting Glorfindel’s. “I was wrong, and I am sorry. Forgive me for doubting you.”
“I will forgive you on one condition.”
Erestor swallowed hard. “Name it.”
“No more storming out without as much as a goodbye. No more silence – over a hundred years, and not so much as a ‘good day’ to me. If we disagree, then we deal with it, even if that means yelling our heads off, so long as we end up in bed together at the end of the day. Agreed?” Glorfindel squeezed Erestor’s hand back, and received a nod. “Good.” He looked down at the bowl of stew. “Are you hungry?”
“Not particularly.” Erestor was already drawing his hand away so that he could stand up. “Is your bedroom still the second door on the right?”
Glorfindel nodded, standing as well. He picked up the goblets of wine and brought them with him as he followed Erestor, who had already opened the door of the bedroom. “Sorry about the bed. I would have made it this morning, but I was worried when Lindir told me—“
Erestor’s lips muffled whatever else Glorfindel might have said, and the wine was set aside on the dresser. “I think there have been enough apologies for tonight.” Erestor’s next kiss ended with him pulling on Glorfindel’s bottom lip with his teeth, and Glorfindel groaned, still loving that particular move. “I imagine you still keep a bottle of something slippery?”
“Next to the bed, right where you left it.”
“Well I do hope there is some left after all these years,” said Erestor as he went to inspect the small glass container, expecting it to have evaporated despite the firmly inserted cork. The oil slid to either side as Erestor tilted the bottle back and forth to check.
Glorfindel smiled as he came up behind Erestor and embraced him, arms around his waist. “I refilled it when I returned. Just in case.”
“Just in case I came to my senses?”
“Your words, not mine,” said Glorfindel as he kissed behind Erestor’s ear, their matched heights keeping him from needing to stretch or bend his neck down. “Now... as for what to do with that oil...” Glorfindel’s hands set to work unbuckling Erestor’s belt and loosening the rest of his clothing so that when Erestor turned around to divest Glorfindel of his garments, the advisor’s trousers were already beginning to slide down his thighs. They were tumbled into the unkempt bed momentarily, a tangle of limbs that became evermore frantic as years of oppressed lust charged to the forefront.
They were each a match of the other, and no one could do more than guess what their arrangement was behind the closed door of the bedchamber, with the exception of Lindir, who kept the secret in confidence. There had been, despite their lack of knowledge with one another, little debate that first night together. As Erestor now positioned himself on the bed, knees and hands used to keep his balance as Glorfindel pulled the cork from the oil, he remembered briefly that first encounter.
They were in the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed, kisses free flowing over the past hour. They both knew where it was going to lead, but not what path it would take. It was Glorfindel who asked the question Erestor had hoped not to need to answer. “So... have you done this before?”
It would have been easy to lie, but Erestor felt a certain need for honesty with this sudden and unexpected lover. “Not really. Not with someone else.” He shook his head suddenly as if to clear it. “Not that I am devoid of any experience, just—“
“No, do not worry, I just wondered how you wanted to, that was all. If you have a preference.”
Erestor licked his lips, attempting to keep his nerves in check. “Do you? Have a preference, that is.”
“I do.” Glorfindel slid his hand back and forth along Erestor’s thigh. “I tried a number of things in my former life, but I favored the top position. Of course, if you do not—“
“I would. Try that, that is.” What Erestor wanted to say was that he wished it to be no other way. Since the awakenings of his majority, when he realized that fair maidens did little to arouse him and that those his own gender and age stirred yearnings in him in ways he did not expect, his desire was to be the one receiving the other, to be the one in the more vulnerable position.
Even recalling that first time that they made love was causing Erestor now to moan and roll his hips in anticipation. Glorfindel used the oil sparsely at first, then more liberally as he moved from initial preparation to more stimulating activities. Decades of celibacy made Erestor feel virginal once more. His muscles were tight, relaxed but not completely loosened by Glorfindel’s preparations. There was now only enough oil left for Glorfindel to use on his erection, which he did now.
Neither was much for conversation at this point, leaving the animalistic grunts and groans to be the only sounds beyond the shifting of the blankets and the creak of the wooden bed frame. Glorfindel began slowly, fear in his mind that anything too strenuous might cause harm after so long an absence. This was short-lived, for Erestor began to push back into the shallow thrusts that Glorfindel had first offered, and soon the Erestor found himself at Glorfindel’s mercy, fingers gripping the edge of the mattress, elbows down for extra support, back arched sharply for added pleasure.
Glorfindel kept one hand wrapped around Erestor’s thigh in order to delve into him deeply each time he drove himself forward, and used the other now to seek out the hard length that was already dripping from the tip. This fluid he rubbed onto his palm before mirroring his strokes with each thrust of his hips. They moved in tandem, forward and back, until Glorfindel’s imminent release made him tighten his hold and move his hand faster and more franticly, losing the rhythm, but gaining momentum as they crashed into their orgasms together.
They carefully moved apart before dropping down onto the bed beside each other. When their panting lessened, Glorfindel turned his head and said, “I really do think I fell for you at first sight. Maybe you did not, but—“
“I said some stupid things,” admitted Erestor. “I was trying to make my point, and I may have exaggerated a—“
“Wait... you only said that to get me to agree with you about that political marriage silliness?” asked Glorfindel.
Erestor shrugged.
“So then, you felt the same way I did when we met.”
“I... I felt something. More like a feeling of just always knowing you all my life, despite it being the first time we met. But I... well, maybe it was love. I do not know. I know I love you now and I hate myself for staying angry for no reason for so long,” said Erestor.
“It was not exclusively your fault. I could have easily demanded we sit down and discuss it, but I just let it go. For a day, for a week, a year... and look at us. I meant it, what I said before,” added Glorfindel. “No more going to bed angry with each other.”
“Never again. I promise.”
Glorfindel stretched his arms over his head. “Do you want something to eat?”
“Not really,” said Erestor. He paused. “Something to drink might be nice.”
“Wine?”
Erestor wrinkled his nose. “I suppose, if that is all you have.”
“Give me a moment, and I can bring some ale. I left it to chill in the snow on the porch. Just in case,” added Glorfindel.
“You must have been pretty confident of the eventual conclusion of the evening with everything you did just in case,” commented Erestor as Glorfindel left the bed in search of pants or a robe in order to fetch the ale.
“It is like you said – we feel like we have known each other all our lives. Both, in my case.” Glorfindel grinned. “Stay here; I will be right back.”
“Where am I going to go?” wondered Erestor as he sat up in bed.
Glorfindel shrugged. “Now that I have you back here, I do not want to take any chances!” Several minutes later, he returned with two cold mugs of ale. “Cheers,” he said, clinking his glass into Erestor’s once he was back in bed again.
“What are we toasting?” asked Erestor as he watched Glorfindel drink half the mug in two gulps.
Glorfindel paused to consider. “To the Bruinen finally freezing over,” he replied as he clinked his glass to Erestor’s again.
