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Next time, they’re definitely going with Elrond, no matter what he says, Thranduil thought to himself as he struggled to control the three teen boys he brought with him on their spring break resort trip. Elrond has taken his twins and daughter to see their grandmother, dropping the child staying with him in Thranduil’s lap for the week- not that it would make much of a difference, Legolas would have asked to bring him anyway. Two teen boys would have been easy enough to handle, even without Legolas’s more sensible friend- Tauriel- there to keep them in line as she so often does. Unfortunately, Thranduil realized rather quickly that three boys was pushing it. It was only because his son practically begged him to take both Aragorn and Gimli this year, citing that there would be space since Tauriel went on her little boyfriend’s family camping trip, that the dwarf was here at all. ‘It would work out perfect’ Legolas explained, trying to sell the idea a few weeks before, ‘it would be like them switching places.’
This was true, technically, as the dwarf Tauriel was ditching her son for this year was Gimli’s own cousin. It seemed odd to Thranduil how, just only a year ago his son was stomping through the door every day after school with a new topic to angrily rave about regarding the dwarf’s behavior, only for him now to annoy his father into this agreement through incessant whining. Thranduil wasn’t sure what caused this change of heart and quickly developed friendship, but he was glad the complaining stopped, even if it was someone from that family. Gimli’s father was kind enough to offer for Legolas and Aragorn to come along with Tauriel, giving Thranduil time to himself, but despite his son’s friendship with Gimli- he still wasn’t sold on the idea of Legolas spending an entire week with the Durins and their extended relatives. The well mannered dwarf was not enough to make up for some of his more unsavory kin.
So here he was, stuck with Legolas and his two friends, yelling for all three boys to wake up and get dressed so they can actually go enjoy their vacation rather than just sleep in until noon. The elf heard the door of the teens’ shared room open behind him, and as Thranduil turned, he suddenly wished he didn’t bother waking them at all.
“What are you wearing?” Thranduil grimaced, eyeing his son’s apparel. Legolas had never had particularly good fashion taste, still relying on his father to dress him for special events, but the tropical printed button up shirt and khaki cargo shorts he was wearing was down right hideous.
“It’s my vacation fit,” Legolas shrugged, stuffing his white-socked feet into the equally egregious crocs he refused to leave at home, “this is what people wear on vacation.”
The sight only got worse when the other two boys finally emerged from the bedroom wearing the exact same thing.
“Why are you all matching?” Thranduil asked in a tired and desperate tone.
He didn’t bother to listen to his son’s reasoning, instead taking deep breaths to center himself as the three boys talked over each other to explain how it was ‘for the bit’ (whatever that meant).
Finally, Thranduil interrupted, “Fine, fine, whatever. Is everyone ready to go? Did you all eat?” Gimli and Legolas nodded, but the third’s eyes had wandered away from the adult, “Aragorn, did you eat,” the boy shook his head and Thranduil sighed, “okay, go grab a granola bar.” Aragorn left to the kitchenette in the decently sized suite, and Thranduil turned back to the remaining two, “Now, who has the room card,” the way the two looked at each other caused Thranduil to let out another heavy sigh, “neither of you, great.”
“I have it!” Aragorn called out from the next room through a mouth full of granola.
“Aragorn has the room card,” Thranduil said more to himself than the children, “do you all have sunblock on?” At this point, the last boy had wandered back into the room, and just as before- Legolas and Gimli confirmed as Aragorn remained silent. “Aragorn, go put sunblock on.” Thranduil brought his fingers up to his temple, rubbing away the headache being invited by the boy’s defense about how he doesn’t burn, he tans. “Do I need to call Elrond and ask him whether or not you need to worry about your skin?”
The question effectively stopped the arguing. Lastly, he asked the boys if they all had their phones and wallets on them, only for Gimli to realize that he forgot to charge his phone, and the battery was currently sitting as a nice 12%. Thranduil felt his left eye begin to twitch. With yet another irritated look, he told the dwarf to go grab Legolas’s charging bank and keep it in the cross bag his son had slung over his chest. Once all the teens were in front of him again, he looked them over one more time.
“Everyone is good? Everyone is fine? You have everything?” Thranduil asked in an all too annoyed tone, and the boys all nodded back silently, “Gods, okay, go.” He ushered them out the door and off towards the local town while he went to enjoy the resort’s amenities. Before they went too far on their separate ways, he called out to them. “Don’t call me unless someone is dying, I don’t want to see you again until dinner!”
As they disappeared down the hall, Thranduil wondered how bad it would really be for his son to stay with Gimli’s family next year- if Elrond was yet again too busy to take them.