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Anyone who spent more than a night among dwarrow could see that their hair was very special to them, how special though had a much deeper meaning than could be seen by looking at them as an outsider. Each bead they wore braided into their hair had a meaning, no two dwarrow had identical bead or beads given to them for the same reason by the same person. To be gifted a bead was almost more meaningful than to enter into a contract to be married. To cut their hair to their shoulders was a sign of pain, to cut it further was a sign of mourning. Removing a braid for any longer than it took to wash and rebraid it was a sign of a promise broken. So much of their identity and culture was wrapped up in their hair and how it was worn. And all of this was discovered by Bilbo in the weeks directly following the battle while he was making Erebor his home.
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The first thing the workers had done was make the royal wing habitable for Thorin and company, including the marvelous baths and the plumbing that ran to them. Two days after the battle Bilbo made his way from his room down the hall to the baths to have a nice long soak and try and relax some of the aches that still lingered. At first he missed Thorin lounging in one of the large pools with his head leaned back on a rolled towel.
As Bilbo stepped into the room Thorin stirred and looked to see who had entered. “My burglar. Please don’t run away, there is room enough in here for both of us.” He pleaded softly as he saw Bilbo tensing and turning to leave.
“Are you sure? You have had no time alone since well before the battle, I would hate to intrude.” Bilbo said, matching Thorin's soft tone without really knowing why.
“I am sure. I’ve hoped to be able to snatch a few moments alone with you to properly thank you for what you have done for my people. What you have done for me.” And what you do to me, Thorin silently added to himself.
Bilbo hesitated for a moment before pulling his loose tunic over his head and shucking off his trousers. “Do you mind if I join you?” He asked, standing at the edge of the pool Thorin was in. “I could take one of the others if you don’t want me this close.”
“I would be delighted if you joined me in this one.”
Bilbo smiled and slid into the bath opposite Thorin. “So how does it feel having your kingdom back?”
“There are truly no words for it.” Thorin sighed, a small smile gracing his lip. “But please no talk of business or kingdoms today. I have words for you if you would agree to hear them without bolting.”
Bilbo tilted his head curiously, eyeing the man he was secretly holding feeling for. Whatever it was it sounded serious and Bilbo wanted very much to know what was on the other man's mind. After a moment’s consideration, he nodded for him to continue.
Thorin took a deep breath, steeling his nerve for what he was about to do. If it went in his favor he would be the happiest man in the whole of middle earth, if it didn’t he did not know if he would ever find the strength to smile again. “Bilbo I am sorry for how I treated you when you put everything on the line to save myself and my company. If it were not for you and your strength the elves would not have stood with us and we would have been slaughtered. If not for you and your selflessness my sister-sons would have died on Ravenrock. If not for you and your bravery I would have fallen to the pale orc. If you were not you, with all you hobbit quirks and habits we would not have made it as far as we did on this journey. You saved me and the others many times over the course of our travels without once thinking of yourself. At first, I watched you with distrust, then I watched you with curiosity. But ever since the day you first saved me from Arzog I have watched you with desire. Ever since you came back to this hall after risking yourself to defy me so you could save me, I have watched you with love in my eyes. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End, if you will have me I would like the opportunity to court you. I will not offer you gems or gold, though I have plenty to give. I know you would not want those things. What I will offer you is me. My heart and mind laid open to you, my body laid bare for you to do with as you wish. I will offer you my unending love and respect. I offer you anything you wish from me, all I ask is you consider giving me the same once you are sure you want to spend the rest of your years by my side as prince consort of Erebor. Will you give me this chance Bilbo?” He asked moving forward to kneel in front of the other man and taking one of his hands in both of his.
Bilbo felt a tremor in his hands and he wasn’t sure if it originated from him or Thorin. The amount of emotion in the other man’s voice had shaken him to his core. He was so consumed with want and emotion of his own he could barely make his voice work to whisper a single word. “Yes.”
Thorin's eyes had fallen in the silence and he was ready to pull away to start nursing a broken heart that he knew would never heal when he heard the whispered word from Bilbo. Snapping his eyes to Bilbo’s face his breath caught in his throat as he saw tears gently falling. He no longer had a voice himself so he responded to the raw emotion the only way he could think of, leaning forward he captured the hobbit’s lips in a passionate yet tender kiss. He thought his heart was going to burst out of his chest when Bilbo returned the kiss with just as much raw emotion. Pulling away from the kiss he rested their foreheads together and closed his eyes lest his own emotions overflow and spill from his eyes.
Once he had control back he opened his eyes and sat back on his heels. “In our culture, our hair is very sacred. There is very little we can do to it that does not carry some form of meaning. One of the most intimate things one dwarf can do for another outside of the bedroom is washing the other’s hair. Bilbo, amralime, will you let me wash your hair for you? Before you agree because it seems like such a small gesture to give me please know that if you agree to this and anyone in the company finds out it is equal to us announcing that we are seriously courting. The next step after this would be to braid courting beads into each others hair, followed by a proposal, and then a wedding. This is a very serious matter for my people and if you cannot see a future by my side please do not agree to this. For my people we only get one love, one partner, one shot at forever. I would rather carry the knowledge that I never truly experienced it for the rest of my days then have had pieces of it and lose it.”
Bilbo captured Thorin's lips in another tender kiss. “Thorin I would let you braid a bead into my hair and put a ring on my finger tonight if you asked. I have loved you since the first time I opened the door of my smial to see you standing there. The reason I was late catching up with you after you started on the road is I was putting my affairs in order and signing the deed to my home over to my cousin Drodo and his new wife. I knew the moment I heard you and your nephews sing of the misty mountains I would never go back to that hobbit hole. My heart was yours from that moment on and even if you never offered me your heart in return I would never leave your side for the rest of my days. We can go as slow or as fast at this as you desire and is royally appropriate but no matter what I will marry you. I will teach you the ways of hobbits so you can have an heir that is of our blood. I will open my heart and mind to you and be your strength when you cannot find any in yourself. I will learn your culture and your language and teach you mine. I will court you in the ways of hobbits, and be courted in the ways of dwarrow in return. Then when we are ready I will swear before any god that will listen that I will be your partner in this life and the next. So yes, please wash my hair.”
Thorin couldn’t stop the tears that were pouring from his eyes if he wanted to. To know that his One felt the same way about him was too much for him to hold back. Blindly he reached out and pulled Bilbo into his lap as he sat back on his bench. In a moment he would wash his hair and start the dance of courtship but in this moment he just needed to hold him close and feel that this was real. Nuzzling into Bilbo's hair, taking the scent of him in, calmed him almost as much as feeling him pressed close did. This was right, here in his kingdom holding his One he knew that no matter what the future would bring he could face it. In this moment he felt more certainty about the future than he had since the day he lost his grandfather on the battlefield.
Bilbo leaned into Thorin finding peace in the bigger dwarves grasp. Closing his eyes he lost himself in Thorin's heartbeat and the warmth of the water around them. After a few moments of peace he stirred, “Thorin? Can I ask you something?”
“Anything my love.”
“What does amralime mean?” He queried, nearly getting the pronunciation correct after only hearing the word once in the heat of the moment.
“My love is the closest translation in common tongue. It is a term of endearment in Khuzdul, similar to gishavel which means my treasure.”
“Gi-sha-vel.” Bilbo tried the word on his tongue and liked the weight of it. “May I call you that in front of the company? Or are we intending to keep this to ourselves?”
“If you would let me I would run through the halls right now naked as the day I was born screaming that I loved you. I don’t care who knows, in time the whole world will know you are mine.” Thorin murmured into his hair, a hint of laughter in his voice at the thought of the company’s reactions to a naked king running through the halls.
Bilbo smiled and kissed his pulse tenderly. “Well you promised me you would wash my hair for me, but once you do how would you feel about rounding up the company for dinner and telling them the news?”
Again Thorin was too overcome by raw emotion at how open and accepting his burglar was and just hugged him tighter in response. “I would like that very much. One condition though.”
“What would you have of me, my king?”
Thorin pulled back far enough to look Bilbo in the eyes his heart pounding in his throat at the thought of what he was going to ask of the man he just offered himself to. “Will you wash my hair for me once I finish yours?”
Bilbo threw his arms around Thorin's neck, pulling him close and holding him there. He wasn’t sure whose heart was beating harder at all the emotion in the air but he was reveling in every moment of it. Being asked to do something that Thorin had just described as intimate made his soul sing. “I will happily wash your hair for you, now and anytime you wish it of me in the future.”
Thorin smiled down at him before he reached back over the edge of the bath and grabbed the bar of soap and the wash cup. “Sit next to me and turn your back to me, please.”
With one more quick kiss, Bilbo regretfully slid off Thorin's lap and positioned himself so Thorin could scrub his hair. Thorin slowly poured warm water over Bilbo’s hair before working up a soapy lather in his hands and combing his fingers through the hay colored curls. Every strand was attended to without so much as a tug at even the most stubborn knots. After a few moments of the attention he was receiving Bilbo was all but purring as he melted into Thorin. Much too soon Thorin was filling the cup again to pour water over his locks to rinse the suds out as carefully as he had worked them into his hair. Once Thorin was sure his hair was clean he kissed the top of Bilbo’s head gently and pulled him back into his lap. “Now you are truly mine.”
Bilbo kissed him tenderly. “My turn to show you how amazing that feels. If you’re ready that is.”
Thorin smiled before shifting Bilbo off of him and taking his place with his back to Bilbo. As Bilbo started wetting the other man’s hair down he noticed something he had missed before. As he combed through the long dark locks with soap he questioned him about it. “Thorin your hair used to be below your shoulders, now it barely touches them. Why is that?”
“As I hinted at earlier hair is very important to us. Cutting it to above shoulder length symbolizes a great pain has occurred. If it is cut to the chin a loss has occurred, most likely in battle at that length. If it is cut above the ears a person that you love dearly has been taken to Mahal to wait for you in the next life.” Thorin explained, his heavy tone clearly revealing how content he was to be touched like this.
“I understand,” Bilbo said as he began to rinse out the soap. “And you aren’t wearing your beads or braids, is there a meaning behind that?”
“No, amralime. Braids and beads are frequently taken out to bathe and then put back in when we are done. We don’t wish to damage the bead or leave something festering in our hair.”
“Okay, that makes sense. One last question for you, how long does my hair have to be before you can braid it and put a bead in it?” He probed nervously as he finished washing Thorin's hair and wrapped himself around him from behind.
“It is nearly long enough behind your ears now, by the time I make your first bead it should be plenty long enough” Thorin stated leaning back into the smaller man's embrace.
“I can’t make yours,” Bilbo said sadly, wishing he could have that same connection with Thorin. “Well I mean I could make one out of wood but not out of metal, and don’t they have to be metal?”
“Beads can be any material you wish. If you were to make me a wooden bead I would be honored to wear it every day for the rest of my life.” Thorin stated, standing up out of the water and pulling Bilbo with him. Once they were both on the firm dry ground he wrapped an arm around the smaller man's waist and pulled him flush against him to kiss him soundly. “We have the rest of our days to plan out the small details. Right now let us go gather our company and celebrate what we have begun my love.”
Bilbo smiled as Thorin released him to pull his tunic and trousers on and turned to find his own clothes. He liked the sound of having time with him alone to plan. As he laid his hand on the door to open it to start tracking down the company Thorin cleared his throat. “Before we go out there I have one more request to make of you dear heart. Will you move into my room with me?”
Bilbo squeaked and threw himself into Thorin's arms. “Gladly. The nights we used to sleep against each other for warmth were some of the best nights of sleep I have ever gotten. Knowing you were with me made me feel so safe and secure that I welcomed sleeps embrace instead of fighting it like I used to in Bag End.”
Thorin hugged him tightly, hiding his smile in Bilbo's hair. He truly was a lucky man to be loved this openly and easily. Keeping one arm around Bilbo's waist he released him from the hug and moved to the door. “Come, my burglar. Let us go share our news and then move your things into my room.”
Bilbo nodded and reached out to open the door, only to have it flung open instead. “About time you two saps came up for air!” Kili exclaimed grabbing Thorin by the arm and pulling him out into the hall where every member of the company was standing with a grin on their face.
“How are you all…” Thorin began, not sure how to phrase what he wanted to ask.
“I went in to take a bath but you were all cozied up with Bilbo explaining the significance of you washing his hair so I slipped out without either of you noticing and rounded everyone up,” Fili said with a cheeky grin. “I do believe congratulations are in order!”
“Aye!” Dwalin shouted in agreement, stepping up to hug the new couple with mirth in his eyes. “Now maybe they can stop eyeing each other like lovesick teenagers and actually get some work done around here!”
One by one each member of the company came up to give the new couple their congratulations and a hug. Some followed Dwalin's lead and teased them about how long they had been pining for each other, others offered words of advice and encouragement. One thing was clear though, every single member of the company was thrilled at what had transpired over the two hours they were alone in the baths together.
Fili was the last one to pull them into a hug and he had a very mischievous glint in his eyes. “Now Bilbo I hope Thorin had the stones to ask you to share a room with him already because Kili and I took it upon ourselves to make things easier on you and move all your belongings into his room while we were waiting for you to surface.”
Bilbo blushed brightly but nodded. “Aye he asked me to share quarters with him. So thank you for making that easier for us.”
“Now if you all don’t mind me and Bilbo have plenty to discuss so we are going to our room and we will see you at supper.” Thorin declared as he wrapped his arm around Bilbo’s waist once more and steered him down the hall to their room.