Gimli hated working late at the office. He trudged up the stairs of his home with heavy feet, shrugging off his suit coat as he climbed.
He knew he missed dinner by at least an hour or two. He glanced down at his watch to see exactly by how much and winced. Gimli was going to slaughter the idiot who botched the Moria deal he had to spend the last half of his day untangling. He was just lucky that Legolas was understanding.
Days like this made Gimli want to find a way to work from home the way Legolas had.
He just figured that he’d just change into some comfy clothes and grab some leftovers from the fridge when he heard a voice wafting down the hallway.
“My shiny teeth and me!” his husband’s voice sang. There was a slightly poppy tone to it, so unlike the soft lullabies Gimli was used to hearing him sing.
“My shiny teeth that twinkle, just like the stars in space,” Legolas’s voice floated out of the open door of the bathroom. Gimli followed it there, leaning against the door jam to watch the scene inside.
Legolas was bopping as he sang, their little girl bopping along with him as she scrubbed her Princess Merida toothbrush over her teeth.
“My shiny teeth that sparkle, adding beauty to my face!” Legolas sang. He caught Gimli’s eye in the bathroom mirror and winked, grinning as he apparently ran out of lyrics he knew.
“Sing the shiny teef song ‘gain, Daddy!” their daughter chirped, foamy toothpaste still smeared around her mouth.
“Those must be some really shiny teeth,” Gimli said, grinning as the little girl squealed ‘Papa!’ as high as she could!
Legolas put a hand on her shoulder.
“Rinse and spit so Papa can see how shiny they are,” Legolas instructed with a smile as he set a cup of water in her reach.
She quickly grabbed the cup, swished, and spat before rubbing her little face dry with the hand towel. Then she sprang into Gimli’s arms as he scooped her up.
“Look how shiny my teeth are!” she cried, before showing off her freshly brushed pearly whites.
Gimli inspected them critically, humming in a very serious manner before declaring, “Why, Gracie, those must be the shiniest teeth I’ve ever seen!”
Legolas was giggling behind a hand, positively beaming.
“Have you decided what PJs you’re wearing tonight?” Gimli asked his little treasure.
She shook her head.“Then you go pick out a pair and I’ll help you finish getting ready for bed,” he said, setting her back on her feet.
Legolas walked over to him, giving him a quick peck on the lips as Gracie raced off to her bedroom to pick out some PJs.“Thank goodness for that show,” he murmured, a little laugh still lingering in his voice. “It made toothbrush time fun for her. Hard day?”
Gimli let his head fall on to Legolas’s shoulder.
“You have no idea,” he groaned.
Legolas gave another peck to the crown of his head, lifting a hand to rub at the tense muscles of Gimli’s shoulder.
“I’ll heat up some spaghetti and garlic bread for you while you tuck Grace in,” he said.
“Thanks,” Gimli said gratefully. He stood a moment more enjoying the closeness before he felt a smile steal over his face at the sounds of Gracie discussing pajama choices with her stuffed elephant.
“Think she’ll choose a matching pair this time?” he asked with grin.
“Well there’s a first time for everything,” Legolas said wryly before heading downstairs to make up a plate of dinner.
Later that night, after he had gotten Grace dressed in her PJs of choice (ballerinas on the bottoms and spaceships on the top), tucked into bed, and told her a bedtime story, Gimli stood in the doorway and couldn’t bring himself to move away. He still hadn’t changed out of his work clothes and he could smell garlic and tomato sauce from downstairs, but he just couldn’t help but pause and count his blessings that this was his life.
It had been a long, frustrating, drawn out process to adopt Grace, but from the first time he ever held her as a tiny, lonely baby to now as he watched her sleeping peacefully he had never regretted a moment of it. And he knew he never would.
“So what story was it tonight?” Legolas asked quietly as he came up to stand by Gimli’s side.
“Tonight she wanted a story about how the littlest elephant in the herd fought a scary dragon and freed the jungle,” Gimli replied.
Legolas just shook his head with a fond smile. Gracie’s imagination was something of a marvel.
“We’ll have to take her to the zoo again soon,” he said, looking at their daughter with such a tender expression on his face that Gimli felt humbled. He reached for Legolas’s hand, running his thumb over the ring there.
“How did we get so lucky?” he murmered.
“I don’t know,” Legolas replied, leaning into Gimli’s side. “Ten years ago I wouldn’t have thought any of this was possible, and now it’s just…”
“Perfect,” Gimli completed. “It’s absolutely perfect.”
“It’s more than perfect,” Legolas said. “It’s ours.”
And as Gimli stood there, married to the man he loved, watching over the best daughter he could dream of, he found he really couldn’t argue with that.
End.(Thank you for the prompt! This was the silliest one I’ve gotten and so it got the most tooth rottingly fluffy ficlet I could write!)
Tag: gigolas
The Adventures of Shipper Tauriel
Part 9: Tauriel Will Ship Anyone and Anything / One Day I Will Sharpen My Pencil
The Adventures of Shipper Tauriel
Part 7: That’s a Question That’s Always Nagged Me
Fanart for determamfidd’s amazing Hobbit/LOTR fic Sansûkh
It’s the river scene from Lorien 😀
Go read this fic if you like dead dwarf humor and quality writing!
oh my GODDD wow wow wow!!! This is incredible! The sheer level of detail here is astonishing!
BOAT BOAT BOATY BOAT criveeeeens oh the mallorns and the river and the translucent Thorin and how GORGEOUS is that title? and jhsgdfkjshfdksajdf LEGOLAS AND GIMLI YES YES I am in love, thank you so so so much!
Follow-up to last weekend’s Skype call. Thranduil calls Legolas to talk about Gimli.
Thank you anonymous for the prompt!
theres this au prompt i saw that was like “i’m a firefighter and you started a fire in your kitchen but you’re still flirting with me even though you’re not wearing pants and im carrying you down a ladder as you compliment me on my muscles ” and i immediately thought modern gigolas firefighter gimli???? like hOT DAMN
MAKE A DRAGON WANNA RETIRE MAN
That. Is. Brilliant. *fans self* Oh Nonnie. WRITE THE THINGGGG.
You made me hop on the gigolas train, hope you’re happy
NO BUT OKAY YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY. GIGOLAS IS THE HAPPIEST SHIP??? LIKE????
“We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin’s son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it.”
THEY LITERALLY GO TO THE UNDYING LANDS TOGETHER. THEY NEVER DIE. AND SPEND THE REST OF FOREVER TOGETHER AND IN LOVE ?? THERE IS NOTHNg SAD. SO TBH BEST SHIP. EVERYONE SHOULD GET ON BOARd TH E GIGOLAS TRAIN.
THIS SHIP SAILS ITSELF (TO VALINOR)
About that headcanon a while ago about the Durin Line being cuddlers – Gimli has totally inherited it. Specifically, he always ends up hugging whomever is asleep closest to him and doesn’t let go. Gandalf is the only one of the Fellowship who didn’t wake up at least once with a Dwarf snoring in his ear at least once before they even reached Moria, with various reactions about it
That… is so cute. Seriously.
Pippin: loves it. So much. Snuggling is nice, what? Also, the Dwarf seems to be twice as warm as any hobbit, so he’s never chilly when Gimli decides to use him for a cuddle-toy.
Merry: a wriggler. Gimli ends up wrapping thick arms around him just to get him to stay still.
Boromir: bemused. At first, he thought it was just the normal sleep-back-to-back thing he has done on countless operations… and then Gimli goes the cuddle. It’s not… bad. He hasn’t really been hugged like that since Faramir was young.
Frodo: …huh. So that’s what Bilbo was on about.
Sam: What a racket! Could give the Gaffer a run for his money in the snoring department – and that’s after a bellyful of his home brew, too!
Legolas: ewwwwwwwwww he smells nice though EWWWWWW he smells like woodsmoke and earth and leather and honest sweat and EWWWWWWWW he has such thick arms EW EW EW EW EW and no I am not shifting uncomfortably shut up Aragorn
Aragorn: *headdesking all the way to Gondor*
If your still doing prompts maybe “we’ll be your new family” ps:i love you dearly and your superb!!! *smooches then runs away to hide*
Legolas had known that he would face some opposition when he travelled with Gimli to the mountain. He had known that there would be dwarves who hated his very presence there, much less his upcoming wedding. That not even his status as one of the Nine Walkers would shield him from some. He thought he was prepared.
Now he just hoped that no one would notice the quickness of his breathing or the heat he could feel at the tips of his ears and recognize them for the tells they were.
He had thought that he would face any dissenters with Gimli at his side, but Gimli was in meetings with his king discussing the colony he wanted to set up in Aglarond. So Legolas was alone amongst a host of unfamiliar faces, trying to weather the scathing vitriol being thrown his way by the dwarrow he had approached about purchasing fabric for a new tunic from.
He tried to maintain a stoic expression as he had no hope of presenting the placid one he had worked so hard to learn from his father. He must not make a scene. He would not give any dwarf reason to say that Gimli had chosen some volatile wild elf to wed.
Legolas kept his fingers from twitching as the dwarrow cursed his family, his race, and his beardless face. He tried to imagine the words rolling off him like rain off a leaf as the dwarf called him a craftless, soulless, stretchedout, bateared bastard.
The mounting insults were almost too much to take, and Legolas was about ready to just throw the bolt of fabric in his hands at the dwarf and make a quick retreat when a gruff voice rose above the uneasy murmuring of the crowd.
“Firin son of Firus, what nonsense are you shouting about now!”
A familiar old dwarrow with a massive white beard and a sturdy walking stick planted himself between the two.
“It’s nothing to concern yourself about, Gloin,” the dwarf replied, straightening out his shoulders. “I’m just dealing with this thingtrying to purchase my wares.”
“Well I find myself concerned about it,” the old dwarrow said with a huff. He turned to Legolas.
“What possessed you to come to a stall like this?” Gloin asked, shaking his head. The younger dwarf spluttered from behind him.
Legolas clutched the fabric reflexively, feeling younger than he had in centuries. “The color caught my eye,” he tried not to mumble.
Gloin took the fabric, holding it up and looking back and forth between the bolt and Legolas with critical scrutiny.
“Well I cannot fault your eye for color, and you are going to need more blue in your wardrobe,” he conceded with a nod, “but you will find better quality fabrics sold by dwarves with much more business sense in that direction.”
“What are you saying, Gloin!” the dwarf bristled.
“I’m saying I have seen your finances, Son of Firus, and you could not hold onto a coin if someone nailed it to the palm of your hand!” Gloin said, shoving the bolt of fabric into the furious dwarf’s chest. “And no member of my family will do business with you as long as I still draw breath!”
Legolas saw where Gimli inherited his sharp tongue from. He let Gloin usher him away from the fuming merchant and towards the stalls he indicated earlier.
“Thank you,” Legolas said once they were away from the crowd.
Gloin snorted.
“I’m not going to let anyone talk about a member of my family that way.”
Legolas stopped.
“Master Gloin?” Legolas asked, confused.
Gloin paused, running a contemplative eye over the elf.
“Your the odd ore in the family vein, and no mistake about that,” he said, “but you should understand that we’ll be your new family.”
He started walking and Legolas followed, slightly dumbstruck.
“Now we really should find some fabric, you will be expected to wear our family’s blue on formal occasions, and we should look into some new beads and a few more adornments until Gimli has a chance to make you some himself,” Gloin said mostly to himself as he started perusing the goods on the nearest stall. “I don’t suppose you lot pierce those ears?”
Legolas couldn’t help but laugh.
“No we don’t, Master Gloin,” he confirmed.
Gloin gave him a flat look.
“Now what did I just say? We’re family, so drop the ‘Master’ business.”
“Alright, Gloin Adar,” Legolas replied with a smile, “can we look for carving tools as well. I left mine in Greenwood before the quest.”
Gloin nodded absentmindedly and began instructing Legolas on the fine art of haggling in a Dwarvish market.
On the next gift giving occasion, Legolas presented Gloin with an elaborately carved walking stick, that he carried with pride.
End. (Thanks for the prompt! And lots of hugs for you anon!)
You are a Wood-elf, anyway, though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, I will go.
(via greenleafelvellon)
Aw Yiss 