Work Text:
Blinky has always loved human culture, long before he became so intimately involved with it for trollhunting reasons.
One aspect of human culture he loved more than anything was their incredibly vast amount of music. So diverse and unique, so different from the more basic troll music, and so beautiful. He had some goblin dealers, much to his own displeasure. But they were they the only way to get your hands on human things otherwise inaccessible. He got a record player and several different records. He was told he got the greatest artists of all time though he had no way of confirming this with no concrete knowledge of human music. But his personal favorite was louis armstrong.
It had a way with him, the music reminded him of himself. So classic and sweet and slow. And the gravelly sound of Louis Armstrong's voice reminded of him of his beloved Arrrghs voice. The music made him think of Arrrgh so much, he decided he just had to show it to him. But he didn't want to just play it. He wanted it to be romantic.
He may have been a bit inspired by human romance films, being much more complicated than troll relationships, yet they had a certain charm to them. Their love was incredibly beautiful and very deep. And though not many come to know it, Blinky was a hopeless romantic at heart. He decided he would show Arrrgh the songs, but he was going to make an event out of it.
He did everything the way they did in the movies. He got dancing tapes from the goblins, as well fancy human recipes (though he knew Arrrgh would eat anything that was placed on his plate, as well as the plate itself), human tableware, and a single white sheet to act as a tablecloth. He put small orange crystals in cups to act as candles (this is a LIBRARY for heaven's sake, he would not risk such a fire hazard to his personal collection) and he strewn them about the library he had now decorated enough to be practically unrecognizable. Everything was almost ready. He decided today would be the day he did it.
He finished up his training with the current trollhunter early, much to Arrrghs suspicion. You don't have to be the most attentive to know when Blinky was hiding something, he never was very good at that.
He rushed back to his library to prepare the human meal he had planned out. He had chosen prestigious french cuisine much like the food from the romance movies he had watched that almost all took place in paris. And in the movies it had been praised as the best in all the world. He had chosen a fancy "chicken basquaise" (because it sounded fancy) but he realized he did not have all the tools and equipment necessary to make it properly. But he could not afford all that, he certainly could not afford an "oven" but it appeared to work the same as a fire so he'd just throw it in there. He prepared it following the instructions as closely as he could while not having any of the equipment required. The ingredients had already gone bad since he did not have a "fridge". He chopped everything with a blade far too large and blunt for the task, so "thinly sliced" just wasn't possible in this situation, and everything ended up in mushy pieces whether it was supposed to be diced or sliced or halved or whatever. The same occured for any vegetable he was supposed to "skin".
He finally threw everything in the fire but when he went to take them out only then did he notice they looked nothing like the picture. He was worried but he reminded himself Arrrgh would not notice or mind and set everything up on a plate. Everything was almost set. He set the record to play his favorite album. It was time to get Arrrgh.
He left and ran over to the training area. When he arrived Arrrgh and the trollhunter were sparring and it was clearly very intense. Blinky felt a little self conscious for interrupting for something like this but he was so excited he couldn't wait any longer.
"Arrrgh! I have a surprise I would like to show you!"
"surprise?"
"yes! I've been working on it for a very long time"
he mumbled out the last part quietly because of slight embarrassment. He shook it off though and became excited again. "Come!" He grabbed Arrrghs hand and begun to try to drag the much larger troll to the library. As they walked, Arrrgh looked at Blinky, amused. Blinky was cute when he was excited like this.
They arrived at the entrance where Blinky had hung a decorative drape. Arrrgh pushed it aside and stuck his head in. He saw the library in the dim moodlight of the "candles" with the big stone table covered by a pristine white cloth with items strewn about on top, and heard "la vie en rose" playing softly from the phonograph. He walked in bewildered and continued to look around curiously as Blinky suddenly took his hand and led him to the table. He pulled out the stone bench and gestured for arrgh to sit. He took a seat and Blinky took his.
Arrrgh looked down at the table nervously. He had no idea what he was supposed to do but he didnt wanna mess it up. Blinky clearly cared about this and had been very excited about it.
He picked up the small pointy piece of metal and was not sure what to do and shoved it in his mouth nervously. Blinky looked shocked but then he hust sighed.
"sorry arrgh. I know this is very strange for you. i just wanted to try this, i thought it would be... Sweet."
Arrrgh took blinkys hand on top of the table and and looked into his eyes and reassured him. He understood what this meant to Blinky and it made him happy Blinky had done this for him.
"Blinky sweet."
For a moment they just stared into eachothers familar eyes lovingly. Blinky let go and let the excitement come back to him.
"The part you're supposed to eat is this! Chicken basquaise!"
he exclaimed proudly, horribly mispronouncing it.
"Although I did burn it a little"
he added, self conciously. Arrrgh stuck a utensil into the very charred chicken and ate it whole, along with the utensil.
"Mmmmm... Crispy!"
he announced, grinning.
"And smoky"
Blinky laughed. He knew it. Arrrgh never minded, he was always happy with whatever Blinky could do, no matter how displeased Blinky always was with himself.
He took Arrrghs hand and led him away from the table to an open area that had been cleared just for this.
"I've been practicing human dancing, a beautiful traditional mating ritual!"
Blinky said, unaware of his words common meaning. Arrrgh listened, also unaware.
He took Arrrghs other hand and put it on his shoulder and put his own hand on Arrrghs hip.
"Follow my lead"
He tried to lead the troll almost twice his size who had no idea how to dance but of course it was not perfectly smooth like it was in the movies and in the times he imagined this moment. But Arrrgh watched as Blinky tried so hard at this, swung awkwardly as he looked at his feet and counted under his breath
"1,2,3...1,2,3...1,2,3"
Arrrgh smiled lovingly at his partner as Blinky stepped on his feet.
"Oh! Im sorry! Aagh..."
Blinky was becoming more and more frustrated. Suddenly Arrrgh pulled him closer and began to sway very slowly and rythmically. He looked down at Blinky in the eyes and smiled.
"Blinky relax"
Blinky took a deep breath and began to just move with Arrrgh. He realized arrrgh had become the lead and was annoyed by that for a second but Arrrgh was much better at leading anyway. So they swayed slow with his face buried in Arrrghs fur, his smell filling him. His mates Arrrghs smell. "Cheek to cheek" came on, Blinkys favorite. As more time passed the dancing became more natural. They began to do more fancy moves, swinging and spinning each other, all the whilst laughing. This moment was so intimate and dreamy, so close together as the gentle jazz rose and fell and lyrics of love and endearment were sung. Arrrgh spun Blinky and actually french dipped him.
"How did you know that?"
Blinky asked incredulously.
"Blinky watch a lot, sometime i watch too"
Arrrgh smirked.
"I didn't know you were there! I tried to hide it. I wanted this to be a surprise..."
but arrrgh just gave him a loving smile and Blinky knew it didn't matter.
And they leaned in and gave a soft kiss that never grows old.