Work Text:
Annatar heard him stop at the forge’s door only a second before coming in. He internally smiled at the elf’s vacillation, given that he was already used to it happening with increasing frequency. And he also smiled, because he was determined to turn transform the doubts of his “lord” into unfounded mistrust.
-Tyelpë! –He feigned a shock, slightly turning around– How can I help you?
Celebrimbor approached in silence and standed at prudent distance from Annatar, trying to catch sight over his shoulder the creation the Maia was finishing, without any success.
- Nothing in particular. I just came to take a peek. - He hesitated before adding: - You should have a rest, from whatever you’ve been working on for days.
- My lord worries about me? – Annatar bashed his eyelashes innocently, still turning his back on the Elf Lord of Eregion. His hair, cut to shoulder height tied in a pair of braids, glistened almost silver on the moonlight that entered through the vitrals. – Tyelpë… you forget that I don’t need such nourishment and long resting like you, the Eldar, do.
Celebrimbor bit his lip. Annatar, always had an answer with his soft voice. And it always came point-blank, direct; not at all accustomed this by the Eldar, rhetoric-lovers they were.
- Anyway, what important oeuvre is the one that takes you so long that you didn’t even assist to the welcoming feast for the soldiers?
- You won’t have to worry for my absencies, Tyelpë… since finally I can show you what I have been working on.
Celebrimbor felt a shiver of excitement run down his spine. The way Annatar had turned around at last and looked at him in the eyes, promised something much more than a conventional piece of props.
- Close your eyes – he ordered in a playful tone.
- What…? – Celebrimbor frowned at the strange request.
- Come on, it’s a gift – the Maia charmingly smiled.
Still not understanding completely the whole situation, Celebrimbor obeyed, not without feeling some kind of curiosity about the turn things were taking. He heard the movement of Annatar’s robe slowly shifting and positioning behind him. Something triggered an alarm in his mind and wanted to turn, but Annatar was faster and covered his eyes with one hand.
- Ah, ah – he scolded, barely a whisper in his ear- No tricks.
The hand was removed from the elf's face and went to meet the other, both making their way now between dark and braided hair. Celebrimbor didn’t manage to do anything in what this ritual lasted (seconds, minutes maybe?) and for a moment he forgot to breathe.
Something slightly heavier now was hanging on his neck, but Celebrimbor was just delayed feeling the warmth and tingling sensations the hands of the Maia had brought, before understanding that he was waiting expectantly for his judgment. Absentmindedly he stroked his new silver pendant, surprised by its beauty and exquisite cut green jasper embedded in it.
- Well? I think it combines with your eyes.
Celebrimbor looked up, blushed at the compliment and somewhat embarrassed, but could no longer stand there only watching the necklace and making it more uncomfortable.
- Thank you, Annatar… It’s beautiful.
- …But?
As always, Annatar guessed his inner thoughts and exposed them with utter naturality.
-But you shouldn’t have bothered because of me.
- It was not a bother at all, my lord Tyelpërinquar. You never are. – The Maia approached using a conciliatory tone, scanning the dubious expression of the elf. The timing could not be discarded. Years, decades, centuries of strategy, all that sacrificed effort deployed… and just when being so close to the target a simpleton elf with airs of grandeur starts doubting his good intentions. He would use that doubt, and divert it the maximum so it at least would serve his plans.
- I would say it was a pleasure.
Celebrimbor had maintained eye contact by willpower, so when hearing such a phrase and seeing the playful glint in the eyes of the Maia, he quite confirmed several rumors about him quietly circulating through the palace and not so discreetly through the city.
That that new Valinorean blacksmith had a predatory air; that he looked at his Elf Lord as if a piece of hunting he were; that he kept more secrets that the ones he claimed to reveal ... well, talk to which he gave little importance, except perhaps the last, which could have sworn he heard thousands of times by the mouth of the Lady Galadriel, who he held dear.
So, being the two all alone down there in the forges, those rumors made echo in him, and his doubts about Annatar’s enigmatic attitudes acquired a new channel. Placing a pendant specially manufactured to another person was a tradition known to all Noldor as a sign of loving commitment, and the Maia had no way of not knowing so, having lived so long among them.
- Annatar… - successfully he managed to calm the tremor in his voice and made it sound firm enough – Tell me exactly what you intend with this. You know I'm not a maid to court, right?
- I know you aren’t.
A fleeting hand grazed Celebrimbor’s crotch for a millisecond, causing him to shock a little. Unaware, he had been retreating to the advancement of the Maia and now he had the desk attached to the lumbar. He was trapped between Annatar and work, the only two things that elicited him fascination and frustration at the same time.
- "Intend" ... is a cold word for what I’m longing, Tyelpë -he whispered in his ear, emphasizing the last words with a small bite to his earlobe. Celebrimbor winced, and yet didn’t push him away, to his own surprise, too curious about the sudden turn of circumstances and their possible development.
Annatar, satisfied, took this as a sign of welcoming to his advances and began to leave traces of his tongue, slowly descending the elf's neck.
Celebrimbor thanked all Gwath i Mírdain were above enjoying the feast, as the moan that left his lips would have given much to talk about for years. Greatly stimulated, he did not let his hands idle, and without wasting any time he placed them in the waist of the Maia, touch running those so ridiculously perfectly sculpted curves, so often had called his attention while working.
To those sudden caresses Annatar sighed pleased, and in response he replaced a hand in the already visibly bulging crotch of the elf.
-Oh..! Annat- Ahh…
The Maia moved his hands masterfully, without leaving the neck victim of his assaults. Quickly the temperature of the room began to be suffocating, and his clothes in the way.
With extraordinary parsimony Annatar unbuttoned Celebrimbor’s formal dress, revealing a muscular torso shaped by the arts of the smithy. He allowed himself a moment to stop and admire it, cross it lasciviously with his eyes, remembering perhaps other times. This moment of reverie was used by Celebrimbor, who grabbed Annatar by the chin and attracted him for a fierce kiss. The Maia was slow to react as if he had not prevented such a thing could happen. Celebrimbor then took the initiative, desperately plugging their mouths as if it were an emergency, tangling his fingers in Annatar’s platinum hair. Before this the last stimulus the Maia finally reacted and retook control. While stroking the elf’s toned abdomen, he introduced his tongue in search of the other.
All new sensations in Celebrimbor, he did not contain in his moans; studied ad nauseam by Annatar, who hadn’t put them into practice since long passed millennia. Rubbing their genitals through clothing, wild wet kisses and caresses increasingly ardent that at any time would take them beyond all limits made Celebrimbor remember why he was there and where he should be.
- Aah.. Annatar, wait, wait a moment.
With a burning desire look, Annatar stopped, not without a certain weariness.
-What's the matter? - His whole person exuded sensuality, which did not help Celebrimbor at all.
- We can’t do this… not here. I have to go back.
- They surely can manage without you for a couple of hours, Tyelpë. – the Maia licked his lips. Yes, definitely a very provocative image. The elf ignored it with all the strength of his soul.
- It would be wise if you could go, too. At least for them to see your face a few seconds.
Annatar growled low, but reluctantly agreed. To Celebrimbor this seemed something extremely lovable. He wondered for a moment if a spell had fallen on him, some of the types the Atani used to talk about... "misleading fleeting infatuation", they called it. He did not remember having felt this way towards Annatar before, although it was true that then he had not glimpsed his true intentions.
After accommodating each other's clothes and hair until they judged themselves presentable, they went together back to the banquet. Celebrimbor hid the jasper pendant inside his robe to avoid embarrassing questions.
A comfortable complicit silence settled between them on the way back, so close were they that there was no need to explain what had happened. Furtive glances thrown from their opposite sides of the table, plus some occasional smiles explicitly directed towards the other, hidden in a conversation with someone else ... Although no one said anything, during the remainder of what seemed to them the most tedious banquet of history, both knew that once it had ended the matter would continue where they left off. Annatar for his part carried a triumphant smile as a banner all night long.