Don't ask. Today after my music lesson, my mom and I decided to use up a gift card at this cool restaurant. This idea of Maglor sitting alone in a corner booth, eating a slice of chocolate cake, maybe waiting for one of his brothers to show up just came to me. And then, a story unfolded. o.o Here goes.

Maglor sat alone in the classy, yet not too formal café. He checked his watch and took another bite of turtle chocolate cake. Where are the rascals? He thought irritably. He was waiting for his brothers, Celegorm and Curifin to show up. They should have been there thirty minutes ago. He sighed and checked his watch again. He waited five more minutes, and they still hadn't shown up. They hadn't responded to any of the texts he'd sent them, and hadn't answered his calls. Maglor knew his brothers could take care of themselves, but he also knew they could get into some serious trouble if they weren't careful; which they too often were. He shook his head and took another bite of the cake. Very good cake too. He sent Celegorm another text: Where are you guys? And hoped for a swift response.

He was just about ready to leave and report their truancy to Maedhros or Ada, when two disheveled looking youngsters stepped through the doorway.

Maglor scrutinized them as they sauntered over to the table where their older brother sat. Celegorm sported a black eye and split lip, and Curufin was still holding a tissue to a bloody nose and seemed to limp slightly. Not to mention their clothing was torn and dirty.  

"What happened? Where were you guys?" Maglor demanded as his brothers seated themselves across from Maglor.

Curufin looked away nervously, avoiding his upset older brother's gaze, but Celegorm returned it defiantly.

"Well?" Maglor raised a dark eyebrow menacingly, "I want an explanation of your rough state."

"We didn't do anything wrong." Celegorm said defensively at last.

"I'll be the judge of that," Maglor shot back. "I want to know what happened and how you obtained those bruises."

Celegorm licked some blood away from his lip, but didn't answer right away.

Maglor turned a threatening gaze towards Curufin.

Curufin huffed and answered, "We were just walking down the street through a rough part of town, and these guys were picking on these girls. So we did the right and honorable thing and told the guys off. Thing is, they didn't want to be told off. So one threw a punch at Celegorm, so I retaliated with one of my own, and then other guy tried to hit me, and then Celegorm took that guy down after dealing with the first one, and then some other new guys showed up and joined the fight, and then we had fight them off too, and then there was a knife..."

"A knife?" Maglor interrupted, "Good grief! Did this turn into an all out brawl?"

"Oh, no, not quite, but it got a little messy." Celegorm put in.

Maglor sighed and leaned back in the booth. "Did anyone get seriously injured? Anyone get stabbed or anything?"

Celegorm grinned deviously, "We left before the ambulances arrived."

"Celegorm!" Maglor said forcefully, doing his best to keep his voice low in the café.

Curufin snickered, "Chill, Maglor, chill. Celegorm's joking. It wasn't that bad. There were only two guys in the first place and one of them bailed at the first blow. Another two came in later and they were easy to deal with. It was nothing too serious, the knife never got used; I grabbed it from the guy holding it and tossed it away. I don't think he had the guts to use it anyway. The real delay was getting the girls back to their places. They were a little shaken after that encounter."

"Did any police show up?" Maglor asked.

Curufin started to shake his head, then it turned into a shrug. "Well, there were some flashing lights in the distance," He offered sheepishly.

Maglor gave a deep sigh and closed his eyes, leaning his elbow on the table and resting his forehead in his hand.

"But hey, that was a rough section of town, those lights could have been for anything," Curufin argued defensively.

Maglor waved a hand in the air, "Whatever. Whatever, I don't care." He started to get up from the table.

"Wait, you don't?" Celegorm inquired. "You really don't" Hope entered his voice and his pale blue eyes.

"I don't" Maglor said, placing a hand over his chest, "but I'm not so sure Ada won't." He added ominously. "Let's go. We'd better see to those bruises. And Celegorm, were you limping?"

Celegorm shrugged, "This one guys tried to grab my leg. He ended up shoving me hard onto the pavement. I'll be fine."

"Good." Maglor replied shortly.

"Hey, can't we at least get a drink first? I'm parched." Curufin protested.

"You can get a drink at home," Maglor brushed off.

Curufin grumbled under his breath, but followed Maglor out he door of the quaint café obediently, Celegorm right behind.

They both knew they were in for a scolding, but hey, the fight was exiting anyway. Plus, Maglor wasn't mad at them. Well, upset maybe, but not mad. If it had been Maedhros, they would've gotten a tongue lashing right then and there for sure. They still hadn't done anything wrong. Those guys shouldn't have picked on those girls.

They climbed into Maglor's small car and Maglor started the engine, but he didn't drive away yet.

"Now, although what you did to defend those girls was valiant, you still shouldn't have fought. There are more peaceful ways to settle that kind of thing."

"Aw, c'mon, Maglor, I told you they didn't want to be told off. We tried." Curufin voiced from the backseat.

"Maybe you shouldn't have just 'told them off', maybe you should've merely defended from their blows instead of returning them and then when it was made apparent who had the greater expertise in combat, you could have asked them to leave then." Maglor suggested.

Curufin huffed and didn't reply.

Celegorm rolled his eyes.

Maglor smiled slightly and drove out of the parking lot and started on the way home. It was still early evening and they'd have time to get themselves cleaned up before Ada got home. Maybe by that time they'd have enough time to formulate a good explanation and apology. Until then...

1002 words.

Okay, the ending could have been better. Well, that was in fact my first try at fanfiction. Cool. Come to think of it, it didn't really have to be fanfiction. The same story with just OCs would have worked fine. But it was fun anyways. I enjoyed it :). How was it? I welcome good feedback. Good meaning: not just "Great story!" or "Nicely done!" . Tell me how it was. How did it make you feel? How did it align with the universe?? Lol, jk. Just tell me how it was. :) I accept constructive criticism.  

-GadSul