Fili was just training with his brother, trying to distract himself from the human back at camp. The journey had been going on for several months, and you were distracting him. Annoying him, even, in his eyes. Your flirting wasn’t as subtle as you perhaps thought. The rest of the company had caught on as well, going as far as betting on the two! 

Fili let out a frustrated groan as the knife he threw missed the small tree, causing Kili to give him a questioning look. Kili put down his bow and quiver of arrows, and walked towards his older brother.

“Fili, what is it?” He asked him. The golden haired prince sighed. He really didn’t want to talk in a bad way about you, but he had to let it out someday, right? 

“It’s Y/N,” As soon as those two words left his mouth, Kili wiggled his eyebrows at him, a smug smirk planted on his face. Fili rolled his eyes at him. “It’s not like that brother. Y/N’s distracting me, and not in the way you think. It’s getting annoying, and I don’t understand how it’s not obvious that I’m not interested in her. She’s coming on as if she’s really desperate and honestly, she’s starting to annoy me with her advances towards me.” Fili felt better as soon as the words had left his mouth. He expected Kili to say something back to him, whether he disagreed or agreed with him, Kili always said something back. So, Fili was surprised when he saw the eyes of his younger had widened. He was about to ask him why the hell he was looking at him like that, when he noticed Kili wasn’t even looking at him, but past him. Fili’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he turned around. 

And there were you. His own eyes widened in pure panic. You were holding two bowls with food, for each prince one, and your eyes filled with tears. He opened his mouth to say something, but words wouldn’t come to him. You put the bowls down on a tree stump and quickly marched away, trying to hide the falling tears from the two. Fili sighed and decided to go after her. He may not be interested in you, but he still had to travel several more months with you and he had to make it right. It wasn’t hard to find you, as he heard soft sobs after a few minutes of trying to find you. He gently put his hand on your shoulder, and you whipped your head to the side. As soon as your eyes caught who it was, your gaze hardened. You stood up and angrily wiped your tears away.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean-” Before Fili could continue his apology, you raised your hand. He silenced, mostly because he knew that if he didn’t listen to you now, you would never forgive him.

“You didn’t mean it? That’s bullshit and you know it Fili! Instead of saying those things behind my back, you could’ve just told me you weren’t feeling the same way!” You yelled at him, fresh tears rolling down your cheeks again. 

“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, Y/n.” He answered you. Wrong answer apparently, ‘cause it only seemed to anger you more. You stepped closer to him and gave him a shove. You could’ve pushed over a human with that strength, but it barely had any effect on him. 

“But you did hurt me! Maybe you should get your head out of your ass? It’s not a hat! Maybe that’ll help you with being less of an idiot as well.” And before he could reply, you stormed back to camp. You didn’t care if any of The Company saw you had been crying. You would have to get back to them eventually, and everything sounded better than being around Fili. As soon as you sat by the fire, Kili approached you. 

“Are you alright?” He asked you. You shrugged in response and leaned your head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and rubbed your arm. You had to bite your tongue to keep the tears at bay. 

“He doesn’t love me Kili, it’s as simple as that.” You sighed, your voice breaking halfway through. Soon enough, Fili was back. You avoided his gaze the best you could. The other dwarves were soon onto the strange behavior and started interrogating the both of you. They grew even more worried when they noticed your red-rimmed eyes and the look of guilt and regret on Fili’s face. So when Bofur asked you what happened you took a deep breath and simply answered:

He stumbled through the halls towards the ward with another elf keeping him up. No matter how much he didn’t want to admit he needed help, he couldn’t deny that he’d fall over if it wasn’t for the loyal ellon by his side. The battle that caused the king’s injury wasn’t extraordinary fierce, and if he had been but a second faster he wouldn’t have the arrow buried in his lower stomach. He had sustained injuries much worse and much more painful than that arrow.

As soon as the heavy doors of the ward were thrown open, a young looking elleth came their way. Your eyes went wide with the sight of your mighty king in front of you. You quickly bowed to him and told the guard to lay him down on the nearest empty bed while you would get the stuff to get the arrow out and stop the bleeding. The guard that helped him on his way was quick to find a place to lay him down. The young healer was back before they knew it.

“Could you please leave us alone? I work best with as little people as possible surrounding me.” You asked the guard. Thranduil was taken aback by how soft your voice sounded, like honey. The guard shot a quick look at his king, who gave him a curt nod. The guard left them alone and you were quick to rip the bloodied tunic from the bottom up apart. He raised an eyebrow at you, the smallest grin possible on his thin lips. 

“My injury is not terrible, a mere flesh wound. You needn’t worry about me, nessa fallaner.” He said while trying to sit up. He failed to hold back a groan and you shot a small smirk his way. You gently put her hand on his shoulder and pushed him down.

“My Lord, it may be nothing but a flesh wound, but it is of an Orc arrow. Chances are big that it is laced with poison. I need to take care of it right this instant, and you may not like it,” You ripped the arrow from his strong stomach halfway your sentence. He let out a loud groan and the muscles in his stomach tensed. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, making sure there were no tears escaping. He could feel blood coming out of the wound again. You continued talking; “but it has to be done. I will put some herbs in the wound to stop the poison from killing you, and it will sting a lot, so I would suggest on squeezing something tight.” 

The king let out a sigh and opted on tightly grabbing the sides of the bed. He looked at you while you were grabbing the herbs and mushed them together. He sucked in a breath when you moved your hands towards the wound, anticipating the sting. You pushed the herbs into the wound, not caring about the blood on your hands or that you were literally pressing in his stomach. The pressure mixed with the sting that was getting worse by the second made him cry out, a single tear escaping his eye. He hated how weak he must’ve appeared. After a little while you removed your hands from the wound and started bandaging it. You helped him sit up and gave him a gentle smile.

“I am very sorry about your tunic, nin hir.” You shyly spoke up, suddenly feeling too shy too look at him. You avoided his gaze and he couldn’t help the small lifting of the corners of his mouth. 

“You are forgiven, you do not have to worry about it. Just tell me your name.” He asked of you. you looked up at him, confusion clear on your beautiful face. 

“I am Y/N.”

Many weeks passed since Thranduil appeared in the ward and was healed by Y/N. He still felt a little sore, but he simply didn’t care. You plagued his mind and kept him distracted from his royal duties. He tried to visit you as often as he possibly could, but he didn’t want to keep you from doing your work. You were a magnificent healer, and he had been paying close attention to you, without your knowing, of course. You didn’t just cure people of their physical wounds, but also emotional and mental. You had a kind and welcoming nature around you, which he admired. 

After weeks of observing you, he finally decided to approach you. You just finished a conversation with an older elf when he came walking your way. You smiled when he came near and bowed for him. He had been coming to the ward a lot, but never approached you. You were fast to notice he had been looking at you, maybe even admiring, though you knew it would be ridiculous for a king to admire a simple healer, and you always pretended not to see him. Was he observing you to see if you were good enough to be a healer? Dread suddenly filled you. What if the only reason he came was to tell you you were not allowed to be a healer anymore? This was your passion!

“Y/N, could I perhaps have a word with you? In private?” He asked while looking around the ward, which was quite full with patients and other healers. You nodded and walked outside with him. A lump formed in your throat and you had to bite your tongue to not let the tears flow. You really did not want to be anything else than a healer. Once in silence he turned to you again, but before he could say anything you started rambling. “Please, My Lord, I cannot leave this ward. It is my passion to help those in need. I will be a better healer, just please don’t remove me from my position as a healer. I could not bear doing anything else.”

Thranduil noticed the small crack in your voice halfway through and the tears threatening to spill. He gently cupped your soft cheeks and made you look him in the eye. Before you could ask him what he was doing he started talking. 

“I did not come here to remove you from your position, Y/N. I came here to tell you that you occupy my every thought and that I simply cannot think about anything or anyone else.” As soon as the words left his mouth you let out a small giggle, making him smile as well.

“I noticed you coming to the ward and looking at me from a distance. You should really focus on your duties, aran Thranduil.” You teased him. He smiled and rested his forehead against yours, your noses touching.