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“He’s arrogant, conceited, prideful, stubborn,” Gimli brought his axe down through a orc’s skull and ducked beneath a stray javelin, “he is utterly obsessed with being right, he can’t see past his own mistakes, he puts himself in danger without need, doesn’t take any advice… Need I go on?”
Aragorn swung Narsil over his head, deflecting a barbed arrow that landed with a thud at Gimli’s feet. They began to run towards a group of orc’s harassing a Rohan soldier.
“You think about him quite a bit,” Aragorn said as they put themselves between the soldier. The meanest looking orc snarled at them, beating his chest and bearing his tusks.
“I don’t think about him!” Gimli shouted, before roaring back at the orc, “I’ve spent months following you both through mud and forest and mountains. Remember at Helm’s Deep, when he broke formation to attack the Uruk-Hai captain?”
“Didn’t you do the same thing?” Aragorn asked.
“Yes. Well. I did it because he did it,” Gimli grunted, parrying a heavy blow and burying his axe in the orc’s knee, “he still hasn’t thanked me for saving his life. Which, I will add, I have done countless times!”
Aragorn sidestepped around Gimli and decapitated the orc with a single blow. They stepped around each other again, each parrying, dodging, and attacking with the precision of friends who knew each other’s movements.
“Are you still upset about Lothlorien?” Aragorn asked.
“It was an unfair comparison!” Gimli leaped out of the way of a thrown hand-axe. He picked up the axe, and threw it back at the orc, where it landed with a crunch between the orc’s ribs. “Moria was in ruins. Of course Lothlorien looked better. Of course he was going to look better in Lothlorien. It’s not hard for him! He didn’t have to be so obnoxious about it.”
Aragorn frowned and looked back at Gimli. “You think Legolas looked good?” he repeated, a wicked smile crossing his face
“Yes… well… I thought that was implied,” Gimli harrumphed, “I think I said as much. I’ve tried to be nice, Aragorn. I apologised for embarrassing him at Rivendell, I learned his stupid card game, I made him dinner that night before Helm’s Deep, I agreed to ride with him when we didn’t have enough horses, I... I… I…”
Gimli paused. His axe dropped to the ground with a thud. A sudden moment of complete clarity pierced his mind. The battle became slow around him, and the rushing sound of his heart rang in his ears.
“I’m in love with Legolas,” Gimli muttered.
Everything was so clear to him now. The feeling he had when Legolas looked at him, the way he wanted to sit and listen to Legolas talk, the way he woke up early to make Legolas breakfast, the teasing, the bickering, the laughter, the smile that made Gimli’s knees feel weak. All these things and more passed through Gimli’s mind as he forgot the battle around him, failing to notice the stampeding horse bearing down on him.
“Thank god,” Aragorn pulled Gimli by the scruff of his neck, “I thought you would never say it.”
“Don’t tell the elf,” Gimli whispered, looking up at Aragorn.
“Tell me what?”
Gimli turned and saw Legolas approach them. The elf had vaulted over an orc and was halfway through withdrawing a dagger from the base of its skull. In a flash Legolas drew his bow and loosed three arrows at Gimli, felling the feral warg behind the dwarf. Gimli stared at Legolas as a cloud parted behind him, illuminating the elf in sunlight.
“No, I’m not doing this again,” Aragon plunged Narsil into the soil and pointed at his companions, “Legolas, Gimli is in love with you. Gimli, Legolas is in love with you. I’ve been listening to you talk about how much you love each other for months. I’ve told you to talk to each other, but I can’t do it anymore. In case either of you missed it, I have a kingdom to run, an ancient evil to vanquish, and a fiancé to marry. So you don’t need to admit you’re in love, but if the armies of Mordor don’t kills us today, I’m going to kill both of you.”
Gimli and Legolas stared at Aragorn, and then at each other.
“You are in love with me,” Legolas teased.
“I am not,” Gimli muttered.
“You are in love with me,” Legolas repeated, crooning.
Gimli picked up his axe and stormed past the elf, swinging and beheading a charing orc. Legolas and Aragorn flanked their friend, facing down the leering hordes opposite them. Legolas leaned down and kissed Gimli on the cheek.
“I love you too,” Legolas whispered in Gimli’s ear. Gimli pursed his lips tight to stop a smile erupting across his face.
Gimli looked at Legolas and Aragorn, and at the chaos that surrounded them. Gimli adjusted his grip on his axe and began to run. The companions, once enemies, once friends, now lovers, charged towards the armies of Mordor, and a future worth fighting for.