Chapter Text
Maedhros growled and shook leaves from his hair. “I just raked those, Ambarussa!”
“My bad,” said Amras, unconcernedly. A few leaves drifted to the ground from the bunch he’d just tossed over Maedhros.
“Your bad is right,” said Amrod, who was hanging upside down by his knees from a tree branch. “You were supposed to be aiming for Moryo.”
“If you want to keep your testicles attached to your body,” said Caranthir, who was attacking the undergrowth with a rake and a certain amount of violence. “You will resist that urge.”
“Incoming,” said Maglor cheerfully, coming over with a tarp. “Ready to get that pile onto the tarp, Maitimo?”
“Yes,” said Maedhros, and then gave a cry of disgust as he pulled an earwig from his collar. “Damnit, Pityo - !”
“Can’t hear you, Nelyo, raking!” said Amras hastily, as Amrod dropped from the tree.
“Will you old biddies stop gossiping and actually pull your weight?” Celegorm stomped over, a huge pile of leaves wrapped in a tarp slung over his shoulder. “Christ, I musta done the whole side yard by myself.”
“That’s what we keep you around for,” said Caranthir, picking grass from his rake. “Dumb, brute labor.”
“Eat a dick, Moryo,” said Celegorm, dumping his pile of leaves into the trees edging the yard. He grinned. “Well, eat another. In addition to Fi – Whoa, man, that could have hit me!” For Caranthir had thrown his rake at Celegorm’s head.
“Yeah, that was the idea. Assface.”
There was a rap on the window, and they all looked up guiltily. Nerdanel was watching them from inside her studio. She pointed two fingers at them and mouthed, I’m watching you.
“Love you, mom!” called Celegorm. He swung his rake convincingly. “Working hard!”
-
Fëanor had put them to work almost immediately after they’d arrived at Formenos for the week. “Excellent; the yard needs raking, the brush needs burning, and the white pines need topping – Nelyafinwë, our ladder broke, so if you don’t mind, we’ve had a branch stuck in our gutter almost a month now…”
“Hey,” said Celegorm, as they’d trooped outside, pulling on work gloves and with rakes over their shoulders. “Where’s Curvo?”
“He has work to do,” said Fëanor. “He’s upstairs, studying.”
Celegorm let out a sputter of indignation. “So he gets off labor detail? No fair! What if I had work?”
Fëanor crossed his arms. “I would be delighted to hear you had work to do, Turkafinwë. Cover letters to write, grad school applications…hmm? No?”
“Well, what about Moryo?” said Celegorm, not backing down, as Maglor and Maedhros exchanged eye rolls. “He’s in school, too, shouldn’t – ”
“Shut up,” muttered Caranthir, kicking his ankle. “You think I’d rather be writing my essay right now?”
“The six of you should be more than enough to get the job done. And if you finish early, the outside windows could use washing.” Fëanor smiled brightly. “I’ve missed having you all around.”
“For the free, cheap labor?”
“Exactly. But, you know, there are other perks, too.” Fëanor rested a hand briefly on Maglor’s shoulder. “Now go on, before you lose the light.”
-
“This is huge,” said Maglor, now, studying the pile that Caranthir and the twins had been working on. “Too big to fit on the tarp, I think.”
“That’s because it serves another purpose,” said Amrod, happily.
“A greater purpose.” Amras dumped another armful of leaves onto the pile.
“Yeah,” said Caranthir. “Hey, Mae, did you hang on to that earwig?”
-
Curufin was curled into the big chair in the corner of his old room, bundled into a bulky sweater and absorbed in a large book. A cup of hot black coffee was at his side, and he was so intent on his studying that he didn’t hear the whispers drifting up the stairs.
“Káno, you get the door.”
“Ambarussa, stop giggling.”
“I’ll get the top half, Nelyo, you get the bottom half.”
“No deal. The bottom half kicks.”
“But the top half bites.”
“Fair point. Moryo – ”
“I’ve got the camera going, don’t even worry about it.”
Curufin barely had time to look up when the door burst open and his brothers charged into the room.
“Grab ‘im, quick!”
Curufin was only able to get out a brief snarl of rage before Celegorm seized him under the arms, Maedhros grabbed him by the legs, and they hoisted him out of his chair.
“You - !”
Paying no heed to his outraged noises and flailing limbs, they thundered down the stairs, and Maglor stepped smartly aside, holding the door open. Caranthir was waiting by the leaf pile, the twins leaping happily about him, camera rolling.
“Don’t you dare – ”
“Ready?” yelled Celegorm.
“On three!”
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
With each count, Maedhros and Celegorm swung Curufin back, and on three they let him fly into the depths of the pile, to wild cheers.
“And we have lift off!”
“What an impact! Did you see the leaves go flying?”
“You still recording, Moryo?”
“I think,” said Maglor, coming over to stand next to Maedhros as Curufin clawed his way out of the pile, leaves clinging to his hair, his face livid. “That we’re even for the whole shower incident now, Curvo.”
“Run,” said Celegorm warningly, seeing a light come into Curufin’s eyes. “Scatter, troops, he’s a-comin’ – Don’t stop recording, Moryo!” he yelled over his shoulder as they fled. “This shit is golden! This is the stuff holiday memories are made of! Oh fuck, he’s got me by the ankle – ”
Nerdanel and Fëanor watched from the window as their sons dashed across the yard, sending leaf piles flying. Fëanor put his arm around Nerdanel’s shoulders, and she leaned her head against him, smiling.
“I think the yard’s going to look even more chaotic than it did before you set them to work,” she said, as Curufin sent Celegorm headfirst into a shrubbery.
“I don’t know,” said Fëanor, and dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. “I think it looks pretty perfect.”