By the subtle shifting of the stars overhead, he knew the night was hours old before he found the man he sought. It was interesting to him that he thought of the man that way, as 'the man I seek,' for he was the only other Man in these woods. But it seemed to Boromir that he had been seeking this Man for so long, a part of him longing for this Man, his King - that truly he was to be held as 'the Man I seek,' or simply as 'the Man,' and not to be denigrated merely as 'the other man in the woods.'

'The Man.' Like 'The Ring' - but no, he must cease such comparisions, even in the privacy of his own mind and in jest. For however apt they were, that way madness surely lay.

Better to call him by his given name, not by the title he had rejected years ago, nor the appellation he had taken up in exile, nor any other designation.

Aragorn, then, was alone in the clearing when Boromir came upon him. He stood, looking off and deliberating - what? The Quest? The Fellowship? Boromir? He did not think he flattered himself unduly to suspect that he lay at the fore of Aragorn's mind, not with what had happened earlier; undoubtedly the Elf had had time enough to give a full report. So yes, Boromir thought it a more than fair chance that Aragorn's mind was turned upon him. Unless, perhaps, it was that very Elf who still held sway there...

What a confounding creature, that Elf. Confusion had taken over Boromir when Legolas had left him earlier, bewilderment at the parting words as much as by the encounter that had preceded them. He did not make it a habit to lie with men, and could not understand what had possessed him. Legolas had given his word that there had been no enchantment, and Boromir had known the truth of those words even before Legolas had spoken them. Yes, a most confounding situation brought about by a most confounding creature. He had worked out the turmoil in his mind by returning to the training that Legolas had interrupted, dueling trees and shadows until he had lost track of time. Physically spent, he had retired to the room that had been provided him here in Lothlorien. He had passed Aragorn's on the way to his own, and noticed it empty. He had not intended to pursue the matter of Aragorn's involvement in what had happened between Legolas and himself, but he suddenly felt his ire flare up again and had gone to find the man - the man who stood before him now, lost in his own thoughts.

Dispensing with further consideration, Boromir strode into the clearing and, when Aragorn turned at the sound of his footfalls, spoke without preamble: "The next time you wish something of me, Aragorn," he leaned heavily on the name, investing it with nebulous shades of sarcasm, "have the decency to approach me directly. Do not send your lackey to discover how I think. And if you wish to fuck me, do not send your whore in your stead, but have the courage to come to me yourself!"

Astonished by the vehemence and speed of the outburst, Aragorn turned with a questioning air to his right. Enraged further that the man would neither respond to nor face him now, Boromir followed his gaze - and met the calm eyes of Legolas, seated deferentially in the shadows from which he had not stopped watching Boromir since the man had entered the clearing, not even now to meet Aragorn's look.

"Legolas?" Aragorn asked, voice rising in puzzlement; the unspoken remainder of the question was not so much a request as a demand for an explanation.

Too late, Boromir realized his mistake.

The Elf looked from one man to the other as he rose, and said only, "I shall leave you now, for there is much to be settled between you." He walked directly between them, as if physically to break the line of tension strung there. As he passed, Boromir began to speak his name - but Legolas stopped and silenced him with a kiss.

The touch of those lips upon his own, the tongue gliding delicately along his lips before flicking briefly inside his mouth, caused a visceral thrill to slide through Boromir down to his cock. When the tongue withdrew, it took Boromir's words with it, rendering him speechless as he watched Legolas turn to bestow the same kiss upon Aragorn.

Even as Legolas pressed his lips to Aragorn's, his mind was on Boromir, wondering if Boromir were aware of the desire he had transmitted in his kiss and was still radiating now. As his tongue caressed Aragorn's, Legolas mused that where Boromir had wanted the kiss, Aragorn merely permitted it, and he suspected it was only because of Boromir's presence that Aragorn did allow it. (And if he were being honest with himself, Legolas would admit that it was only because Boromir was there that he lingered over this kiss with Aragorn.)

Legolas broke the kiss and started to leave them to each other when he heard Boromir call his name. He turned back to hear the man request, "Please stay."

With a smile the Elf said, "This is something between Men."

"It is between us all."

"No," Legolas asserted. "This, here, tonight, must be between the Sons of Gondor - for the future of us all."

Boromir appealed to Aragorn with a wordless look, but Aragorn made no move as Legolas departed. "What does he mean?" Boromir asked, watching him go. He turned to Aragorn, but not even an attempt at an answer was forthcoming. "Why did you not ask him to stay? This matter concerns the Fellowship; it concerns us all. He should be here." Aragorn made a small, noncommittal sound. "He would have stayed had you asked him." Aragorn shook his head in denial now, but Boromir persisted, "For you, he came to me."

"I asked him to feel out your mind," Aragorn acknowledged. "I need to be sure of each member of the Company."

"And you are unsure of me."

"I was," Aragorn said honestly. "Do you blame me, given your words at the Council of Elrond? Your confession of despair to me when we entered Lothlorien?"

Boromir colored but held his tongue as he sorted through the words. "You said you were unsure of me. Are you sure of me now?"

Aragorn chose his words carefully. "I am less unsure now."

"What did the Elf say to you?"

"That you are a Man," Aragorn replied, and Boromir snorted as if that were both typically Elven and no answer at all. Amused by the reaction, Aragorn clarified, "That is his way of saying that you are mutable, that you have within you the capacity for treachery and corruption, and for loyalty and virtue."

"Then he told you nothing you did not already suspect."

Aragorn hesitated, aware now of another layer to the confidence Legolas had shared with him, uncertain if it were his place to reveal it. "He said that you are true when you trust your heart, and that we must have faith in you to overcome the lapses of your mind when it gets entangled in thinking."

Boromir did not react or respond, glancing again in the direction of Legolas's departure, and Aragorn wondered if the man had even heard him. He went on, testing the other man now: "Thoughts can be dangerous, Boromir. Let us take this notion that has seized you, that I sent him to seduce you on my behalf. Do you really believe that I would not simply come to you myself, if that were what I wished?" Only the slightest ripple of muscles in Boromir's face told Aragorn he had caught the other's attention; he lowered his voice and asked in a softened tone, "Do you desire him, Boromir?" The man turned to him now, refocusing his eyes on Aragorn's face.

Where Aragorn expected denial or begrudging embarrassment, he saw only a candor he should have anticipated, so characteristic of the man who wore his every thought and emotion on his face; it was the calm surface that truly surprised Aragorn, considering the agitation that he suspected lay in the other's mind at this moment.

"Are you giving him to me, then?"

Aragorn smiled. "Legolas is not mine to give." He paused to give weight to his next words: "Even when he was mine, he was always free." He looked closely to see if Boromir was following, then said baldly, "Go to him, if you wish to; he will not turn you away. Not all desires must be resisted, Boromir."

"What have we resolved here tonight, Aragorn?" It was a genuine question, not an accusation.

"Perhaps nothing," Aragorn acknowledged Boromir's concern. Perhaps everything. "Go now. We have time enough to speak again."

---

When he had left the clearing, Boromir had not intended to follow Aragorn's advice to seek Legolas. But neither had he been ready to retire to his quarters, for Aragorn's words and Legolas's before them - in fact, not just the Elf's words but everything about him - had Boromir's mind racing anew. He was caught up in something he did not understand, something less urgent than the immediacy of the Quest, and yet somehow bound up in it and thereby no less significant.

He walked aimlessly for awhile, until his feet unconsciously led him back to the clearing where he and Legolas had had their encounter. He was more confused than he had been earlier, and being confused made him angry.

Yet when he saw Legolas in the clearing, he did not feel the rage he'd had when seeking Aragorn. In fact, his anger ebbed as he stood watching from the shadows. The Elf sat in the center of the clearing with a preternatural stillness; he could have been sculpted from stone, but for the strands of hair moving in the gentle breeze. He was a fey creature who, as all Elves seemed to Boromir, was not quite man, though not woman; and again neither man nor beast of this world; but ethereal, celestial, beyond the grasp of his understanding.

Yes, beyond him... and yet within his reach, so close he could feel those strands of hair slipping through his fingers even now.

---

One of the keys when hunting was to make your prey come to you rather than to follow it, and moreover to make it seem that the prey pursued you rather than the other way around. So Legolas sat very still in the middle of the clearing to which he had been confident Boromir would return. Even when he sensed Boromir's approach, heard and felt him stop at the edge of the clearing, Legolas remained still.

Then, very slowly, he raised his head and turned to face the man. He remained seated, his body language open, a slight smile on his face. "Boromir," he said quietly, nodding an additional acknowledgment. Accepting the wordless invitation, Boromir entered the clearing. He stopped several steps away and remained standing, so Legolas rose. "How are things now between the Lords of Gondor?" he inquired.

Boromir did not answer immediately, unsure of the true nature of the question. Finally, he said, "I meant it when I asked you to stay."

"I know."

After another moment, Boromir asked, "What if he had been the one who asked you to stay...?" His voice trailed off.

Legolas studied the man's face before replying, "Though he may not accept it now, he will be the King who unites us all, and I would deny him nothing." He paused, the gentle hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth and softening his eyes as he took the few steps to bridge the space between them. "As for you - I cannot say 'will' of you with any certainty, Boromir; but 'may be' and 'perhaps'-"

He did not go on for a moment, contemplating whether he dared voice his next thought. Boromir simply looked at him, waiting, so Legolas continued. "You will not be my king," he said softly, "but you may be my perhaps. And so I will not bow to you nor kiss your ring - though I will discuss and consider with you. I will speak freely with you, and if you ask nicely, I might kneel for you."

Legolas smiled more widely, allowing for levity if Boromir chose to take his last comment that way. But the man's breath only hitched slightly, and then he reached out tentative fingers to caress Legolas's cheek. "I would only have you on your knees if that is where you desired to be," Boromir whispered, leaning in to kiss him.

Legolas's mouth opened beneath his at once, tongue darting out to invite Boromir's inside, lips moving against his, their tongues entangled in searching caresses.

When the kiss broke, Legolas said with casual curiosity, "You have called me a whore twice now. Is that how you think of me? Is that what you want of me?" When the man did not respond, Legolas asked in a low, soft voice without a trace of accusation or threat, but rather as an offer, "Would you have me as your whore, Boromir, or as your lover?"

Boromir opened his mouth but no words came out. He moistened his lips, cleared his throat, and said with effort, "Mellon."

Men were a generally predictable race, in Legolas's experience. Once in a great while, however, one managed to surprise him. Boromir, with his request for friendship, was such a man. Unexpectedly moved, Legolas paused to look into Boromir's eyes deeply so that his gaze passed into the man, who stared back with equal intensity. Legolas kissed him again then, winding himself around Boromir, offering his body in a wordless pledge.

Boromir's heart eased as he pulled the lithe, pliant body closer, luxuriating in the sensations as he shifted against Legolas, rocked with him; he felt himself both melt and grow hard as their hands stroked the contours of their bodies and their tongues caressed the recesses of their mouths in mutual quivering exploration, wrapped up with and into each other, lost together in a dizzying, breathless, infinite moment.

When Legolas would have reached for his cock, Boromir stopped him. Grasping Legolas's hand just above the wrist, Boromir's thumb grazed the palm, lightly rubbing the cut his sword had made earlier. He pressed his body flush against Legolas, bowed his head to rest his cheek against the other's, and murmured in his ear, "I want to make love to you, Legolas Greenleaf. Not with my hand nor standing up; I want to lie with you, to feel you trembling beneath me, to be inside you, to taste you and touch you and gaze upon your naked body in the first light of dawn." Legolas sighed deeply and wordlessly, responding with his body, arching into Boromir, rolling his hips against Boromir's until he elicited a moan from the man.

Boromir fought down the rising tide of his arousal. "Not here," he said, pulling back slightly. "Come to my rooms, lie with me there until first light."

Legolas smiled as he cupped a hand around Boromir's face. "But it is dawn already, Boromir," he said, gently directing the man's gaze to the red-golden glow seeping into the clearing. He was leaning forward in hopes of erasing the disappointment in Boromir's eyes with another kiss, when he sensed someone approaching. He stepped back from Boromir just as the Elf came into view.

Haldir looked briefly at Boromir before addressing Legolas laconically: "Come, the Lady of the Wood calls for you." His gaze flickered back to Boromir for an inclusive moment as he went on, "Both of you. She desires to see each member of your Company as you depart this morn."

As they followed Haldir, side-by-side behind him, Legolas glanced at Boromir and saw reflected there his own chagrin at the interruption. Leaning close as they walked, he smiled and said quietly for Boromir's ears alone, "The road ahead is long; there will be time enough for us, my friend."