Surprise?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Silmarillion or any of the characters in this piece. It all belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien.

"Elrond?...Elrond?...Elrond! Wake up!" Elros exclaimed as he bounced up and down on his brother's bed.

"Huh? Elros? Why are you awake at this time? The Sun has not even come up yet!" Elrond responded groggily.

"I know that! However, Maedhros is always awake early. So if we want to make the surprise plan of ours work, we have to begin working." Elros explained, looking at Elrond as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Very well." Elrond replied, sitting up. "You have yet to even tell me what this plan is." He pointed out.

"We are going to sneak into the kitchens and make a cake to surprise Maedhros for his Begetting Day." Elros stated.

"Why must we do it now? Surely we will be able to get into the kitchens in the morning." Elrond pointed out.

"The cooks will be there in the morning. Not only will we be kicked out of the kitchens…" Elros began.

"But they will tell Maedhros what we did and we will be in trouble." Elrond finished.

"Precisely." Elros stated.

"Well then, I suppose we'd best head to the kitchens." Elrond responded.

Faster than either had ever gotten ready for the day before, Elrond and Elros were dressed with their hair brushed and beds made. They quietly darted out of their rooms and in the direction of the kitchens, ducking into doorways or other hiding spots at nearly every noise they heard so that they would not be caught and sent back to bed. Finally, the two found themselves at the kitchens, wincing as the door creaked loudly when Elros opened it.

"Well, the first thing we will need is a stool. There is no way we will be able to reach the countertop otherwise." Elrond stated as they entered the kitchen.

"Next we need a bowl to mix everything in." Elros continued as Elrond pulled two stools to the countertop. "Do you remember the one time when the cooks let us watch them bake so long as we promised not to touch anything?" Elros asked, retrieving a large bowl from a lower shelf.

"Yes, I believe I do. Why?" Elrond asked. The sheepish look on Elros' face told him everything he needed to know. "You do not know what we are doing, do you?" Elrond continued.

"Not quite. I vaguely remember watching the cooks…However your memory has always been better than mine!" Elros replied. Elrond sighed.

Upon retrieving the bowl, Elros and Elrond each stood on one of the two stools and set the bowl on the counter. Elros then proceeded to search every drawer in the kitchen for a spoon large enough to mix the ingredients they would need for the cake. Elrond set about searching for the aforementioned ingredients.

"Did you find the spoon?" Elrond asked, returning to his stool. Elros nodded and placed the spoon on the counter. "Very well. We have that, sugar, water, eggs and nearly everything else." Elrond went on to say, gesturing to each ingredient as he listed it.

"Where is the flour?" Elros asked, pushing some of his dark hair away from his face.

"I could not find the flour." Elrond responded.

Elros furrowed his eyebrows and climbed up onto the countertop to search the cabinets above it. Elrond raised an eyebrow as he watched his brother. Elros opened every cabinet, muttering to himself as he went.

"It must be around here somewhere!" he exclaimed, opening the final cabinet on that side of the room.

As if on cue, an unopened bag of flour toppled from the cabinet. Elros quickly caught it, though the top had broken and a puff of flour covered Elros' face. Elrond laughed.

Elros' eyes narrowed as he made his way back to Elrond and began to pour flour into the bowl they had. Fine flour dust puffed up from the bowl and Elrond sneezed, causing more flour to puff up from the bowl, settling in Elrond and Elros' hair and all over their faces. Elros laughed.

"Oh hush. And hurry up! If I remember correctly, the cake will need to bake for a long while, so we need to finish…whatever this is meant to be." Elrond replied, looking into the bowl.

"Very well." Elros replied, adding the other ingredients into the bowl as Elrond took the spoon and began mixing.

*Page Break*

"Happy Begetting Day, brother." Maglor said by way of greeting when he saw Maedhros that morning.

"Thank you." Maedhros replied.

"What do you say we go to the kitchens and break our fast?" Maglor asked.

"It is quite early in the morning. I doubt anyone will be there yet." Maedhros stated.

"That has never stopped you before." Maglor pointed out. A small smile made its way onto Maedhros' face.

"On one condition; you let me do the cooking." Maedhros replied.

"Why?" Maglor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why?" Maedhros echoed, mimicking his brother's look. "I still do not trust you in the kitchen, that is why." Maedhros answered, his smile growing a bit wider. Maglor chuckled, thoroughly enjoying this rare moment of humor from his older brother.

"I only burnt the one batch of cookies, and it was millennia ago." Maglor stated, knowing exactly the incident Maedhros was referring to.

"And yet you nearly burnt down the kitchen in the process." Maedhros added.

The brothers then walked in the direction of the kitchen, pausing for a moment when they heard voices inside. The two glanced briefly at each other, moving towards the door and listening.

"I do not know how long it is supposed to bake." Elros' voice sounded.

"Nor do I. How are we even supposed to start the fire in the oven? The coals have gone cold." Elrond's voice replied.

Maedhros arched an eyebrow and reached for the doorknob. Maglor stopped his hand and put a finger to his lips, motioning for them to be quiet. Maedhros nodded and slowly opened the door.

"Elrond, what do we do with the eggs we did not—Whoa!" Elros stated, slipping on the flour that now covered the floor.

Elros fell backwards, toppling the stool behind him. The two extra eggs he had been holding went flying through the air. Elros covered his eyes and Elrond, who had been holding the bowl filled with what was meant to be cake batter, winced as the unmistakable sound of eggs breaking rang through the kitchens.

Elros looked up to see Maglor and Maedhros standing in the doorway of the kitchens. Maglor looked absolutely dumbfounded. Elros looked sheepish and both he and Elrond paled at the sight of Maedhros. The eggs Elros had dropped had landed on him; he now had egg in his dark red hair, dripping down his head and all over his clothes. The look on his face was an almost frightening combination of anger, surprise, confusion and exasperation. Elrond and Elros looked at each other at a loss for what to do.

"What on Arda did you two do in here?" Maglor asked, looking around the kitchens. It was not good; flour was scattered everywhere, many of the cabinets still hung open, and there were splashes of whatever mixture Elrond and Elros had concocted all over the floor.

"And why exactly did you need eggs for whatever it is you did?" Maedhros asked, wiping egg off his face.

"Well…You see…" Elrond stuttered.

"Surprise?" Elros stated. Maedhros raised an eyebrow.

"Well…Elros and I thought." Elrond began, taking a few steps towards Maedhros and Maglor, slipping slightly on the flour. "Elros and I thought that we would do something nice for your Begetting Day today, Maedhros. And so Elros came up with the idea that we should make a cake." He explained.

"A cake?" Maedhros repeated.

"Yes! We cannot have a Begetting Day celebration without a cake!" Elros exclaimed, almost indignantly.

Maglor immediately connected this mess to the conversation he had with the twins three days prior and began to laugh. Elrond and Elros looked at one another nervously and Maedhros simply gave his brother a look.

"If you had told me that this was your plan, I would have been able to help you." Maglor told the confused and anxious elflings in front of him.

"What?" Maedhros asked his brother.

"Elrond and Elros approached me three days ago, asking when your Begetting Day was. I suspected they would plan something, though when I inquired as to what that plan might be, they would not tell me." Maglor explained. Maedhros was silent for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Thank you, for…attempting to do something nice for my Begetting Day; I appreciate the thought." Maedhros stated, and both elflings smiled brightly up at him. "However, you have made quite the mess in here. Someone must clean it and it will most certainly not be me." He continued. Elrond and Elros' smiles fell at the prospect of cleaning the kitchens, but they nodded in understanding.

"Happy Begetting Day, Maedhros." Elrond and Elros said together, moving forward and wrapping Maedhros' legs in a hug. Maedhros paused for a long moment, not expecting the hug, before awkwardly putting his arms around the elflings.

"Please, brother, do help them next time." Maedhros whispered once Elrond and Elros let him go and moved away.

"I thought you did not trust me in the kitchen." Maglor retorted.

"I trust you more than I trust them." Maedhros told him. Maglor scoffed and proceeded to supervise Elrond and Elros as they cleaned. Maedhros left the room soon after.

*Page Break*

"Elros?" Elrond asked, looking up from the floor as he cleaned.

"Yes?" Elros responded, looking curiously at his twin.

"How did we manage to get flour on the ceiling?" Elrond inquired.

Author's Note: So, it turned out to be only two chapters then…Alright. Well! I hope you enjoyed this random little crack!fic. I had fun with it. READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!