Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings or any of the characters I used in this story. It was written for pure fun and no money is made with it.

Genre: General

Summary: Identical faces don't necessarily mean identical personalities...a fact young Elladan finds out one day in Imladris. Main Characters: Elladan and Glorfindel.

Feedback: Always appreciated, and constructive criticism is very welcome.

E-Mail: kaeera@yahoo.de

Notes: This is a cute little plotbunny which just popped into my head while reading a poem from another fanfic author, so I had to write it....it was a good excuse not to study chemistry^^ Now I feel bad about it and I will probably fail my exam, but well....you can't have everything. It's a short vignette, when Elladan, son of Elrond, is about 8 years old (or the elven aquivalent of eight human years).
I'm German and no native English speaker, so there'll probably be some mistakes, although I gave the story to my beta. Anyway, enjoy.

The sun shone brightly over Rivendell, sending its warm light throughout the place. Glorfindel smiled as he strolled through the corridors, enjoying the warmth and the peace of the late afternoon. The elf warrior had just returned from a rather stressful session with the other guards and was looking forward to relaxing in his chair, and maybe talking a bit with his friend, Elrond.

Although he probably wouldn't find that much peace - not since the two elflings had entered his friend's life. Elladan and Elrohir were really too mischievous for their own good. The blonde elf smiled slightly. A few years ago, he wouldn't have believed that he would ever grow fond of two children -but now the twins had caught him with their impish smiles and their open-hearted attitude. They were old enough to start training with swords soon, and Glorfindel was looking forward to that.

Various memories wandered through his head as the elf continued his path through Imladris. He was interrupted, however, as he saw one of the twins standing a few meters ahead, looking out of the window. It was very rare that one saw one of the twins holding still, so Glorfindel stopped and treasured the sight.

It was Elladan, he noticed. Although the twins looked like mirror images of each other, he had learned to tell them apart (though not without many misunderstandings at first, of course), most of the time because of their different personalities which were as different as night and day.

Elrohir was the calmer, more cheerful one. He didn't like it when people became angry, and he loved every living being. He was usually the one who brought injured birds and various other animals into the house, begging his father to help them.

Elladan was a little hothead, very stubborn and determined. He would someday be a fierce warrior, but he had to learn a lot of things before he reached this goal - mainly patience. He loved stories of battles, and was looking forward to his sword training.

Stepping closer to the child, Glorfindel greeted Elladan in a soft voice. "Hello, young one." He knew that the words 'young one' didn't please the elfling at all, and that was the reason he had chosen them.

However, instead of growing angry or glaring at him like he usually did, Elladan just turned around and looked at him with big, gray-blue eyes. His small face was serious, almost sad.

Glorfindel immediately grew worried. Few things could dampen Elladan's spirit - as far as he recalled, the last time when he had seen such a solemn expression on the twin's face had been when Elrohir had fallen into the river and nearly drowned. "Is something wrong?" The blonde elf asked carefully.

"Glorfindel, do we really look the same?" the question came back.

"What?" Glorfindel blinked, unsure what to make of this question.

Elladan continued to stare at him, his face showing no sign that this was meant as a joke. "Elrohir and I - do we really look the same?"

"Well....yes, you're twins after all." The warrior frowned.

"Ah," Elladan turned away and stared out of the window, a thoughtful expression on his childish face. "Does that mean that we are the same person?"

Now Glorfindel was totally perplexed. There had to be more behind this, he figured after hearing the distress in the voice of the child.

"Of course not!" He shook his head and his long blonde hair flew about. "The fact that you look the same doesn't mean that your characters are alike. Honestly, I believe that you and your brother are two total different people. Have you ever had the impression that your brother was you or the other way around?"

Elladan slowly shook his head and then said hesitantly, "But they said...they said that we look like the same person, and that that would mean that we would always do and think the same. But I don't think the same way Elrohir does, and I've often done things he wouldn't approve of!"

"Who said that?" Glorfindel wanted to know, frowning even more.

"A few of the other children." Elladan gnawed on his lower lip. "They were making fun of us because we look so alike." A single tear rolled down his cheek as he remembered the recent incident. "Glorfindel, I don't want to look like my brother! I want to look like Elladan, not like Elrohir! I want to be myself!"

"But you are yourself!" came the soft reply from the elven warrior, as he kneeled down in front of the child and placed his hand on the tiny shoulder. "Your appearance might be similar, but in your mind, you are two entirely different people! I can give you quite a few examples of that....your brother is more cautious than you, remember? When you dared him to climb on the roof, he wouldn't go at first, although you had no problems with it. And you are far more impatient than him; just recall the numerous times you wanted to quit your studies and he continued without complaining? You see, in your actions as well in your mind you are different."

Elladan sniffed. "Then why does he look like me? If we are two different people, why do we look the same??"

Glorfindel sighed, wondering if he should maybe call Elrond. This seemed like it would be a longer talk, and his old friend was usually better at those. "Because you are twins. You are born on the same day, and that makes you special."

He brushed his hand through his long hair. "You have a brother who is closer to you than any other person on the world, and that is something very few have. I would consider it as a gift."

The elfling wiped a few tears away, turning his head to his admired friend. "Would you like to be a twin?" he then asked curiously.

Glorfindel was taken rather aback by this question and scratched his head. "Well, I don't really know..."

He imagined a mirror version of himself, walking around in Rivendell. The idea was somewhat scary, and yet it was appealing. "Well, it certainly would be interesting!" he admitted.

"Will Elrohir always be my twin?"

"Of course, yes!" the blonde elf laughed.

A small smile appeared on Elladan's lips. "And we are really not the same person? Honestly?"

"Trust me, you are not." Glorfindel reassured. "But if it eases your mind, you can, for example, start dressing differently, then the people will notice a difference. Or you start wearing braids and your brother not, it all depends on you. Besides, it might be quite funny to have a partner by your side who looks exactly like you, don't you think?"

Elladan's face lit up at this idea. "That's a great suggestion! Thanks, Glorfy!" and he hugged the tall elf, nearly throwing him off balance. "Maybe I can ask Amme to cut my hair, that would surely be a big difference." He played with a strand of his dark brown hair which reached to his shoulders.

Glorfindel winced at this suggestion. Celebrian certainly wouldn't be happy to hear that out of the mouth of her oldest, and if she realised who had planted this idea in her son's head... "Uhm, well, there are other ways as well..."

"But I like *that* one!" Elladan exclaimed, his former serious expression quickly fading away. "Wait 'till I tell Elrohir about this!" And with those words, the elfling turned around and ran along the corridor, leaving a rather surprised elf lord. Sighing deeply, Glorfindel just shook his head. Ah well. At least he wasn't sad anymore...

Raising from his position on the ground, the warrior continued his path through Imladris, wondering what Celebrian and Elrond would say if their oldest approached them with this new idea of his...

A small smile played around his lips. "Well, at least it never gets boring," he muttered amused, before he turned around a corner and disappeared.

End.