disclaimer: I don't own any of this, it all belongs to Tolkien. Never fear, I'm not making any money from it.

A/N: this is for skyfires latest fic challenge, the only rule was it had to include the phrase "By the Valar, the mud puddle swallowed Glorfindel!" and involve an embarrassed elf lord.

In this fic, the twins are about 15 years old, which would make them about as mature as a 7 or 8 year old if they were human.

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It was a balmy spring day in Rivendell, the days were just beginning to hint of the heat summer would bring. It had rained that morning, leaving the air washed clean and smelling sweet.

Elrohir hopped along the path, jumping from one mud puddle to another, thoroughly soaking his companions.

Glorfindel, Elrond and Elladan glared at the younger twin.

"Perhaps you could just walk, my son." Elrond suggested helpfully.

"Nope, when there's mud puddles like this, you gotta hop in them, it's a rule!"

"No it's not, stupid head!" Elladan stuck his tongue out at his twin, and ducked behind Glorfindel.

Elrohir ignored his twins slight, and jumped in another puddle ferociously, spraying the two elf lords, and his twin with another shower of mud.

"Elladan, please don't call your brother names, and Elrohir, stop jumping in the mud! What will your Nana say?" Elrond hoped by invoking the name of their mother, it would convince his offspring to behave. He had no such luck.

"I wouldn't call him a stupid head if he weren't one," Elladan crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly.

Elrohir did not answer, he instead reacted, as was his wont.

Before Elladan could duck, a handful of mud sailed through the air and landed right between his eyes. Elladan remained frozen for an instant, before tackling his brother and wrestling with him in the mud.

What began as a serious fight, soon turned into giggles and then laughter, as they each tried to best the other.

Elrond rolled his eyes at Glorfindel, "I'll get one, if you grab the other. Perhaps we can get them in and cleaned up before Celebrian see them."

Fearing the wrath of Celebrian, should she see the twins in their current state, Glorfindel agreed more quickly than he normally would have.

He caught hold of Elrohir's collar, and Elrond grabbed Elladan by the arm. As they began to tug the two apart, the twins sensed a new game, and clung together with more strength than an elfling their age should have.

Gritting his teeth, Elrond braced himself as Glorfindel tugged harder.

Suddenly, the twins let go of each other, sending Elrond and Glorfindel staggering back a step. Elrond landed on his rear with a sploosh in the mud, holding a hysterically giggling Elladan in his arms.

Glorfindel wasn't as lucky.

The road they were walking along had been heavily damaged by orcs in the Last Alliance, many of the trees that had grown along it had been chopped down. Elrond had finally gotten around to having someone plant some new trees in the area, but apparently, his gardener had gotten rained out in the middle of digging a hole.

As the Balrog-Slayer staggered backwards, he lost his grip on Elrohir who landed on his hands and knees in a shallow puddle. Glorfindel, however, landed right in the hole, which looked like nothing more than a shallow puddle to the uninformed. He vanished into the hole, disappearing entirely for a few moments.

Elrond looked at his young sons in shock. "By the Valar, that mud puddle swallowed Glorfindel!"

Then the elf lord came up sputtering, covered in mud from head to toe. One could only see furious blue eyes glaring at Elrond from under his mud soaked hair. He clambered out of the hole, his boots slipping and sliding in the wet earth beneath him.

Unable to contain himself, Elrond burst out laughing, collapsing backwards on the muddy road, still holding his giggling son in his arms.

Elrohir rose from his position in the mud, and tried to wipe some of the mud off Glorfindel's face with his own muddy hands.

"Thank you, little one, but I don't think it's doing much good." Elrohir gave up his efforts, and plopped in the mud beside his hero.

"How do you think we can get cleaned up without Nana seeing us first, Glorfy?"

"I have no idea, Elrohir." Glorfindel glared at Elrond and Elladan, who were still laughing hysterically in the mud nearby.

"ahem"

Ten of Rivendell's finest warriors watched their Lord laughing helplessly on his back in the mud, cradling his son in his arms. Across the road, the other elfling was trying to wipe mud from the face of ..the Balrog Slayer?!

The captain of the group, Arodaug, shook off his shock, and reached out his hand to help Elrond up. Elrond found himself glad to be covered in mud, his warriors couldn't see him blushing right to the tips of his ears.

"Glorfindel?" Astaldel, another fine warrior, Elrond noted absently, looked absolutely shocked to see a great hero like Glorfindel drenched in mud, sitting on the side of the road. He held out his hand to help the Slayer of Balrogs to his feet.

The Elf Lord accept the hellp, and tried to rise. He immediately lost his footing in the slippery mud, and fell back into the hole, dragging Astaldel in with him.

They both vanished under the water for a second, before coming up sputtering.

The other nine warriors did their very best to cover their laughter, resulting in an amusing series of snorts that only made the twins giggle helplessly from the ground.

Eventually the party made it's way back to The Last Homely House, where the warriors parted ways with thier Lords. 'Most likely to tell everyone else in Rivendell of this incident,' Elrond thought darkly.

As the Elf Lords tried to sneak in the back, each carrying a now exhausted twin in his arms, Celebrian came around the corner.

"What in Valar's name have you been doing?!" She looked utterly horrified at the state her husband and sons were in. Not to mention Glorfindel, who looked as though he had his last bath about a decade ago. "Go give the twins a bath, and take one yourselves while your at it!"

And so the day ended with Elrond splashing in the tub with his sons, while Glorfindel relaxed in his private bathing room, enjoying the peace and quiet. Bracing himself for the torment he would endure the next day, when the rest of his fellow warriors got wind of this incident.