#jettywhispers writes

[jettywhispers]

O, weep for Adonais (Glorfindel x Ecthelion)

"...care not ever to see the streets of Gondolin again," Eärendil was saying through his tears, his small voice breaking. 

Tuor, standing beside his wife and son, placed a strong hand on the boy's shoulder. "You will not see those streets again," he said, his voice gentle but firm. "For Gondolin is no more."

The words struck Glorfindel like a physical blow. Gondolin is no more. Four simple words that encompassed so much loss, so much sorrow. The white city, the hidden realm, the last bastion of the Noldor in Middle-earth. Gone, and with it, so many lives.

Ecthelion.

He must have made some sound, for Idril looked up, her keen eyes finding him among the rocks. "Lord Glorfindel," she said, rising gracefully despite her exhaustion. "Come, join us. The water here is sweet and cold."

He approached reluctantly, not trusting himself to speak. But as he drew nearer, Eärendil looked up at him with tear-stained cheeks and asked, "Lord Glorfindel, did you know Lord Ecthelion well?"

The innocent question nearly undid him. Did you know Lord Ecthelion well? How could he possibly answer that? How could he explain what Ecthelion had been to him?

"I did," he managed, his voice rough with suppressed emotion. "He was..." Everything. He was everything. "...a dear friend."

Eärendil nodded solemnly. "Mother says he died fighting a Balrog, that he was very brave. I asked if he might have gone ahead of us, but she said no." Fresh tears welled in the child's eyes. "I wanted him to make me willow-whistles, as he used to in the gardens."

Glorfindel felt something break inside him at the child's words. Such a small thing to mourn, willow-whistles, when so much had been lost.

(Or, the fall of Gondolin through Glorfindel's eyes)

Ao3 Link: Chapter 1

Ao3 Link: Chapter 2

Pairing: Glorfindel x Ecthelion

Tags: Fall of Gondolin (Tolkien), Canonical Character Death, Gondolin (Tolkien), Book: Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien, Established Relationship, War, Character Death, Canon Compliant, Memories, Helcaraxë (Tolkien), Friends to Lovers, Pining, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Post-Fall of Gondolin (Tolkien), Balrogs (Tolkien), Minor Idril Celebrindal/Tuor, First Kiss, Duty before Love, Battle Scenes, the eagles are coming, Afterlife, Halls of Mandos (Tolkien), Judgement, Reunion in Death, When you die but you meet your love again in the afterlife, First Meetings, Fluff,

Words: 11.9k (2/3)

[jettywhispers]

O, weep for Adonais (Glorfindel x Ecthelion)

"I will see you in the Halls of Mandos, or beyond," Ecthelion had whispered to him that morning, as they had donned their armour in the dim light of dawn, the horns of alarm already sounding across the city. "Though I would prefer it not be this day."

Glorfindel had kissed him then, a brief, fierce press of lips against lips, tasting of fear and determination and a love that had endured through centuries of exile.

"Neither today nor tomorrow," Glorfindel had replied. "We have survived too much to fall now."

But he had been wrong. Ecthelion was gone, drowned in the waters of his own fountain, taking the mightiest of Morgoth's captains with him.

(Or, the fall of Gondolin through Glorfindel's eyes)

Ao3 Link: Chapter 1

Pairing: Glorfindel x Ecthelion

Tags: Fall of Gondolin (Tolkien), Canonical Character Death, Gondolin (Tolkien), Book: Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien, Established Relationship, War, Character Death, Canon Compliant, Memories, Helcaraxë (Tolkien), Friends to Lovers, Pining, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Post-Fall of Gondolin (Tolkien), Balrogs (Tolkien), Minor Idril Celebrindal/Tuor, First Kiss, Duty before Love, Battle Scenes, the eagles are coming, Afterlife, Halls of Mandos (Tolkien), Judgement, Reunion in Death, When you die but you meet your love again in the afterlife, First Meetings, Fluff, Inevitable love

Words: 4.8k (1/3)

[jettywhispers]

Threads that Meet

Summary: In a world where Middle-earth and Earth have established diplomatic and academic relations, a doctoral student at Harvard specialising in cultural trauma studies, finds himself unexpectedly hosted by Glorfindel, a legendary elven warrior and visiting professor from Imladris. What begins as a practical housing arrangement evolves into something deeper as they navigate cultural differences, academic challenges, and growing feelings for each other.

Pairing: Glorfindel x OMC

Tags: Modern Setting AU, Friends to Lovers, Developing Friendships, Character Development, Re-embodied Glorfindel, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Slow Burn, Feelings Realisation, Cultural Differences, Elf/Human Relationship, Elf Culture & Customs, Mutual Pining, Love Confessions, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Mortality, Classical References, Character Study?, Lots of academic talk and lore, Skippable Sexual Content, Earth and Arda exist simultaneously, Post-Fourth Age of Arda, Late Sixth Age, Multiple Religion & Lore Sources, Healthy Relationships, Angst and Feels, The Inherent Angst Of Immortal/Mortal

Words: 282k + alternate epilogue (29k)

Authors Note: This is 100% a passion project that got out of hand. I've recently gotten into posting on Tumblr, and what better thing to do than promote my finished fic!

This fic has a lot of lore involved, but it's nearly all from canon (just expanded upon).

Chapter 1: Mercy, Pity, Peace: The Golden Professor

Thou fair-haired angel of the evening, Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

Ao3 link

[jettywhispers]

Beyond Good and Evil

Chapter 10: All Evil is Done Unwittingly

"No one desires to injure himself, hence all evil is done unwittingly. The evil man inflicts injury on himself; he would not do so, however, if he knew that evil is evil. The evil man, therefore, is only evil through error; if one frees him from error one will necessarily make him good."

Snippet: In his dreams, Ajax stood in Zhongli's kitchen, his collection gleaming on the wall. In his hand was his grandfather's razor, the blade catching the light as he turned it. And watching from the doorway was Zhongli, his amber eyes filled with understanding.

"Show me," dream-Zhongli said, extending his hand. "Show me all of you."

Ajax woke with a gasp, the dream lingering like a promise—or a warning. The digital clock on his nightstand read 3:17 AM. The witching hour, when the barrier between reality and nightmare was at its thinnest.

He lay in the darkness, heart racing, the dream-image of Zhongli's accepting gaze burned into his mind. It was a fantasy, he knew. A delusion born of his desperate need for acceptance.

The real Zhongli would never understand. Never accept. Never forgive.

And yet, as Ajax drifted back to sleep, the dream returned—Zhongli's hand extended, those amber eyes knowing and accepting all of him, even the darkness. Even Tartaglia.

"Show me all of you," dream-Zhongli repeated.

And in the dream, Ajax did....

CW for graphic depictions of violence (not between the main couple) Ao3 link

Summary: Every profound spirit needs a mask; even more, around every profound spirit a mask is continually growing.

On Wall Street, everyone wears a mask. Ajax's is gilded—wealthy, brilliant and a little ruthless—the youngest Vice President of Snezhnaya Group and the envy of men twice his age. But beneath the polish lies Tartaglia: the murderous creature born in frozen Leningrad and buried beneath years of performance and starvation.

Then he meets Zhongli, the untouchable chairman of a rival firm. He is irrevocably handsome, utterly composed, absolutely revered without even trying to be. Ajax’s fascination festers. He wants him. He wants to be him. He wants to crawl beneath his skin, wear his calm like a second face, and feel what it’s like to be adored without effort.

To love Zhongli is to envy him. To envy him is to become him.

And as the bodies around Zhongli begin to appear in the forms of his secretaries, partners, and friends, Ajax must confront the most terrifying possibility of all.

Perhaps the mask has slipped.

Pairing: Childe x Zhongli

Tags: Modern Setting AU, Corporate AU, 1990s, Murder Blood and Violence, Unreliable Narrator, Past Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Dubious Morality, Dubious Ethics, Psychological Horror, Body Horror, Descent into Madness, Secret Identity, Childe is Called Ajax and Childe and Tartaglia, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Healthy Relationships (kinda), Love at First Sight, Soft Zhongli (Genshin Impact), Murder Mystery, Touch-Starved, Symbolism, Literary References & Allusions, References to Canon, Character Development, Historical Accuracy, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Yandere Tartaglia, Power Dynamics, Invisible Foreshadowing, Chekhov's Gun but with Red Herrings?

Words: 43k/?

Authors Note: This fic is very inspired by American Psycho, and I wanted to capture the aesthetic of 1990s Wall Street. Childe is a Vice President of Snezhnaya Group, and Zhongli is the Chairman of Liyue Group.

[jettywhispers]

the most important sentences in any life are the ones that feel most insufficient

i love you

i am sorry

please don't go

three words each, worn smooth by overuse, inadequate to their objects, and yet the only vehicles available for the cargo what i want to say is something like: i find you interesting in a way i do not find most things interesting

or: the fact that you exist in a place i cannot easily reach feels, to me, like an very personal flaw in reality that i resent on specific grounds

or maybe: you said i seem fully in the world and i want to tell you that the world i am fully in is significantly populated, in its most inhabited rooms, by thoughts of you, and this is pleasing and yet extremely inconvenient what i actually say is something measured and appropriate and which conveys, i fear, approximately thirty percent of the above

the rest remains in the room with me, which is where most of my interior life resides. but he deserves the other seventy percent

he deserves, frankly, more than a hundred percent of what i have, and this disproportion is one of several great obstacles in my life