Work Text:
Elrond was not entirely certain what he was doing. And well, Elros could not claim he was sure either. It was… a bad idea, perhaps. But they had already started, and now they weren’t about to give up.
“I don’t believe the recipe was supposed to go like this,” Elros frowned, lifting his spoon and letting the watery batter dribble back into the bowl.
“We must have missed something, then,” Elrond said, as he scanned over the page of the cookbook yet another time. They were hard at work, trying to make breakfast for their fathers. Atya Maglor and Atar Maedhros had been especially sad lately, and though the twins couldn’t figure out why, it was not unusual for them to fall into a slump a few times a year. Sometimes Atar especially would shut himself in his room for days, and neither of them would see or hear from him, only Atya would be able to talk to him or get him to eat.
Well, now Atya was struggling too, so it was up to the boys to make sure their fathers were fed and cared for. Although, neither of them had ever actually cooked before, and certainly not something with so many steps.
“Perhaps cakes were an ambitious first try,” Elrond muttered, looking into the bowl. Something sweet always cheered him up, but they wouldn’t be cheering anyone up if they couldn’t figure out how to fix their mess before their fathers woke up.
“What are you boys doing in here?” Uh-oh. Too late.
Both of the boys stammered trying to come up with an excuse, expecting to be chastised for fooling around in the kitchen when they were always told never to do so without adult supervision. Maglor looked at them, seemingly stunned for a moment, before absorbing the situation and letting out an unexpected laugh.
“Oh, boys, I’m sorry. Have I not been feeding you enough? You are growing, after all.” He sighed, and though he looked deeply tired, he was smiling.
“Um, actually, Atya,” Elrond began, “We thought you and Atar might want-- that you might be hungry--”
“We thought maybe we would make something special for you,” Elros supplied, “For a change.”
Their Atya’s eyes softened even more, and he placed a hand on the top of each of their heads, “That’s very thoughtful, my shining stars. You seem like you could use some help though.” He eyed their soupy bowl of batter.
“Um, maybe a little,” Elros wrinkled his nose, and mixed the goo around.
Maglor ended up dumping the batter, and starting over, walking them through each step, and letting them do most of the work. He lit the stove however, and did most of the actual cooking, though he let them take turns standing on a stool to flip the cakes over. Before long they had a tall stack piled onto a plate, and they steamed beside the stove while Maglor cooked a pan full of bacon, and the boys prepared a tray with silverware and glasses and sweet syrup to top them with.
Maglor led them down the hall, balancing the tray full of dishes and food and a jug of milk, and knocked on the door briskly. There was a groan on the other side, the definite sound of Maedhros with his face buried in the pillows in the dark. Maglor tsk’ed once, and then opened the door, gesturing for the boys to go on in ahead of him.
“Wake him.” He said, and the boys smiled at each other, and ran in ahead of him to jump on their Atar’s bed until he untangled himself from the blankets enough to sit up. Maglor set the tray on a table, and walked over to the window, throwing the curtains open, and earning an even more angry groan from his sleeping lump of a brother.
“Atar! Atar we have a surprise for you, look what we’ve done! We made you something!” They cried, tugging the blankets, and in their excitement his hair as well.
“Alright, ALRIGHT!” Atar groaned and huffed, finally sitting himself up. His eyes were red, with deep-set bags underneath them. Maglor realized he must have just been crying, and his heart panged. “What have you brats got for me, then?” He said, but a smile pulled at the corner of his lips, and he ruffled their hair as he spoke.
“They’ve made you breakfast.” Maglor said, and Maedhros’ eyebrows raised in surprise.
“WE made you breakfast,” Elrond quickly interjected, “We could not have done it without him.”
“We could not have made something edible , anyway,” Elros added.
“Well, they did most of the work. I just helped.” Maglor shrugged, and lifted the tray, bringing it over to the bed, and the twins both settled on either side of Maedhros. He set it across Maedhros’ lap, and set himself across from him on the bed, crossing his legs under him.
As they ate together the boys told Maedhros all about the things he had missed in the past few days, and how much fun they had cooking, and how much they loved him and wanted him to cook with them next.It was the first time since the day their father died, that Maglor had seen his brother smile on the anniversary of his death. He thought to himself, If we cannot be with our Atar, at least they can have theirs today.