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“Thranduil, hey, are you even listening?”
Thorin pulled Thranduil out of his trail of thought with a little nudge to his knee. They were in a car, headed home shortly after the movie premier that Bard left so abruptly during the kissing scene.
Thranduil doesn’t know why he followed after him, doesn’t know why he wanted to stop him so badly, but he knew why he let Bard’s car drive away as he stood in the middle of the street. That’s how his manager found him and he managed to convince the actor to come back into the theatre to finish watching the movie. From then on, he was on auto-pilot, meeting and greeting all sorts of people as they mingled about talking about how great the movie was. Of course this granted Thranduil the opportunity to meet other producers who wanted him for their own gigs and by the time Thranduil went home, he had about nine offers and heard rumours about getting an award for this project.
But the whole time, deep down in his mind, Thranduil thought about Bard. He had felt a spark between them when they looked at each other during the kiss scene and he briefly wondered if it was his imagination. Thorin didn’t notice of course, he was rather too busy posting pictures from the red carpet and then he tried to convince Thranduil to blow him in the restroom, which did not happen, much to his disappointment.
Now they were headed to Thranduil’s place in Woodland Estates, Thorin raving on and on about how great they looked on Intagram and how the fans were so smitten with him. “Hmm, yes, babe, I heard you.” Thranduil replied, briefly looking at him before looking out the window.
Sensing that something was off, Thorin stroked his knee to get his attention and said, “What’s going on? Do you not like the pictures I posted?”
Thranduil huffed and shook his head. “No, Thorin. I’m just tired is all,” he answered and that was the end of it.
In the middle of the night, while getting a glass of warm milk to calm his nerves, Thranduil decided to call Bard to make sure he was okay.
He dialled his cell phone number and waited for a second before Bard confusedly answered,
“Thran? Hey.”
“Bard. I’m sorry, were you already asleep?” He bit on his lower lip, hoping the man would say no.
“Uh, no, no. I’m wide awake.”
“Oh…” Thranduil sighed. “Are you… are you okay?”
There was a long pause from Bard’s side but he answered, “Uh—yeah. Yeah, what’s up? Are you okay?” He sounded concerned and Thranduil felt guilty for evoking that reaction out of him. “I’m fine, Bard. I was just checking up on you. You left before the premier ended.”
A strange knot formed in the pit of his stomach as he said that and for a moment, Thranduil thought that Bard had hung up on him. “Bard?”
“Yeah, I’m here, sorry. I’m just surprised is all,” he confessed, sighing softly.
“What do you mean you’re surprised? Bard we’re friends, and we call each other all the time.”
“Yeah I know that,” Bard replied, “it’s just that it’s two in the morning and you sounded like you were worried over something,” he explained.
“Oh, yeah, that is kind of weird of me,” Thranduil noted as he looked at the wall clock. “But I’m okay. I was just worried about you. Why did you leave the premier?” Because he really needed to know.
“I—uh… had a flight to catch and only realised last minute that I had booked it too close to the premier time.” It was a plain lie that Thranduil bought into easily. “Oh?” he sounded a little disappointed, “Where are you?”
“Small town called Gondor.” Bard’s answer was clipped and Thranduil noticed right away, taking it as a cue to end the call soon. “Alright, well, enjoy your stay there, then. Call me up when you’re around?” He asked.
“Of course,” Bard said in a cheery tone and they said good night to each other before Bard ended the call.
“See you soon then,” Thranduil murmured in the darkness as he took his glass of milk.
Miles and miles away, Bard set his cell phone back on the night stand as he laid back on his bed. He hadn’t expected Thranduil to call him at two in the morning to check on him, and that gesture alone made his heart clench painfully.
Thranduil was playing with his mind and feelings unknowingly and that drove Bard crazy. He even had vivid dreams about them together, doing things that had Bard waking up with the bed sheets all wet. It was his own fault he did not make a move on Thranduil when he was single, and now here he was in some small town, running from his feelings. And just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, Thranduil had asked him to call him when he returned.
“Fuck!” he cursed into his pillow as the thought of meeting up with Thranduil came to mind. Beautiful Thranduil with those enchanting eyes that seemed to see right through him. Beautiful with that soft smile of his that pronounced his cheekbones more. Beautiful Thranduil whom he wanted to worship with every fibre of his being. So, so beautiful, both on the inside and outside, so goddamn beautiful in every way.
“I’m so fucked!” Bard groaned as he buried his face further into the pillow, mind fleeting with thoughts of Thranduil.
He was clearly losing it.