Work Text:
“Can I please help Uncle?”
The young hobbit practically jumped on the floor as he begged, to which his uncle sighed. Bilbo put down the heavy chest he held with a huff and looked down at the tiny boy, “No Frodo, you know how I am with help. Why don’t you go ask your Papa if he needs any help?”
The boy smiled and jumped excitedly, “Of course! Thank you, Uncle!” Frodo scurried off outside to find the dwarf king.
As Frodo ran out of the door and towards the wagon full of various chests from Erebor, the hobbit began to cheer, “Papa! Papa! Could I please help you with the luggage?” Frodo was lifted into the now empty hands of his Uncle Thorin followed by a beardy kiss on the young hobbit’s forehead.
“Oh Gulmalûm, I’m afraid you can’t help me too much, these chests are much too heavy for you!” Frodo pouted in Thorin’s arms and started to kick his legs.
“But I want to help!” Frodo whined.
sighed and put his adopted nephew down, “How about you ask Uncle Bilbo for help?”
“I already asked him if he needed help and he said,” Frodo began to make a cranky, nasally voice, “‘I hate help from you Frodo, get out of my sight.’”
“Now I am almost positive he didn’t say that…”
“Well, that’s how it felt.”
Thorin began to chuckle deeply, “Well, my son, why don’t you go to the market and introduce yourself. Go make friends.” Frodo's eyes widened as light anxiety struck him, his hands immediately folded in.
“Go make friends? Are you mad, Papa? I could never make friends here! These folk are nothing like dwarves!” Frodo began to shuffle his feet against the grass as Thorin began to make his way up to Bag End from the pony carrying the wagon. “Papa, please, I can’t do that. Let me do something!”
Thorin sighed as he ducked his head under the hobbit hole, “Why don’t you go explore?” Frodo gave a thoughtful nod, “I could do that…” Frodo made his decision and began to wander around, “thank you, Papa!”
The first thing the hobbit began to inspect was the garden. The garden was full of flowers of all colors, from red to yellow to blue. All Frodo could do was look in amazement at the sweet-scented plants. The hobbit began to touch one of the delicate petals, a yellow one with a long green stem. Frodo slid his finger against the petal and felt the soft, velvety, texture. He contemplated the feeling, for he was used to the cold, hard textures of stones and crystals. His attention then turned to a red-pink flower, much like rose quartz, in a bush full of the same flower. The young hobbit made sure to make a mental note that this one looked completely different from the yellow one.
“Uncle will love this one,” he reached to grab the flower and rip it off of the bush but was welcomed by many tiny thorns. Frodo gasped in surprise and immediately drew his hand back, holding his hand close to his chest, “Perhaps Uncle could wait…”
After the hands-on experience with the garden, Frodo began to investigate the back of Bag End, over the hill. As the hobbit climbed up, he was greeted by a small river and a plain full of green, in fact, the whole shire seemed to be green. Frodo began to walk around and look at all the wildflowers on the ground and crouched by the river, looking at his reflection. The child sighed, he missed his home and wished he could go back to see all his family back in Erebor. He missed the cold halls that he wandered in, always finding something new. He missed playing dragon with his cousins, even though he knew they had royal duties to attend to. He missed his Uncle’s throne area that he found himself drifting off to sleep on many afternoons. As Frodo began to think of home, tears began to fall down his face, “...I want to go home...” Frodo whispered and sniffled as he rubbed his eyes as each new tear fell.
“Are you okay?” a small voice asked behind Frodo. The little hobbit stopped and began to wipe his tears off his cheeks and swallowed a small whine. Frodo stood up and turned around to find another child, facing the sun as it began to set. He was taller and tanner than Frodo, but he could tell the boy was around his age. The boy had brown eyes that reminded him of tiger's eye, with blond poofy hair and freckles over rosy cheeks. ‘He looks like gold…’ Frodo thought. The boy had his hands behind his back and looked down at Frodo with sad eyes.
Frodo began to twitch his fingers, “I-I’m alright, thank you, just home-sick is all…”
The blond boy began to look confused, “Homesick? What does that mean?”
Frodo glanced at the hill to figure out his words and then looked back at the boy, “It means I miss my home… a lot…”
“Oh.”
He looked at Frodo’s face once more and brought his hands up. Frodo followed his hands, realizing he was holding the red-pink flower. “This is for you.”
Frodo gazed at the offering and his eyes began to water once more, “T-Thank you…” he reached for the flower and noticed all of the thorns had been removed, making it safe to hold. “Would you like to sit with me?” Frodo asked, gesturing to the side of the river. The golden boy nodded as the two of them began to sit by the water.
After a quiet moment, the golden boy asked quietly, “Where are you from?”
Frodo kept gazing at the flowing water, “Erebor. My Papa is...was the king, but we traveled here to live.”
The boy was now looking directly at Frodo, very confused, “Erebor? You don’t look like a dwarf…” Frodo giggled at that, making the other boy smile.
“That’s because I’m not a dwarf!” Frodo finally turned his gaze back to the boy and smiled, making the boy look back down at the reflection from the water, watching his cheeks turn red.
Frodo looked into the other boy’s eyes once more, making sure to look at every line of gold, “My name is Frodo. What’s yours?”
“M-my name is-”
“Samwise Gamgee!” A raspy, old voice growled from the other side of the hill.
The blonde foal stood up on his feet quickly, “Oh no, my Gaffer! I-I’m sorry Frodo!” The boy began to run in the direction of the voice, but stopped, “Will I see you tomorrow?”
Frodo only smiled at the other, “Of course, ‘Samwise Gamgee.’” With that, Sam smiled and scurried off as Frodo watched still sitting at the river behind Bag End
Little Frodo sat at the Bag-End dining hall for the first time, while Thorin sat at the table for the first time in decades. The little one constantly observed the walls and pictures and furniture. The wood contrasting to the usual cold silver, gold, and stone halls he had been eating in since he was three. Bilbo came with a pot, spooning out stew into Thorin’s, Frodo’s, and his bowl.
“My my, it sure has been a long while since I have cooked and not a servant,” Bilbo said happily, and relaxed. Frodo looked into the bowl that was now full of creamy broth with roast, carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms floating in it. The stew smelled heavenly and he could tell Thorin agreed.
Thorin began to take his spoon to drink some of the broth before Bilbo swatted his hand, “Now where are your kingly manners, hm? You step down from being the king for only a few months and you have already forgotten all you were taught your whole life.”
Thorin then held Bilbo’s hand tenderly, “You give me no credit, Azyungel, It has been much longer than a few months.” Thorin then took his spoon, digging in as Bilbo sighed as Frodo giggled and followed Thorin’s directions. Bilbo sat down and sighed while shaking off a smile.
“Frodo has become too much like a dwarf,” Bilbo began through spoonfuls of beef and vegetables, “That is why I hope moving back to the Shire will be a good change.” Thorin only grunted in response, not looking up from his bowl. Frodo shifted in his chair uncomfortably, although he had to sit on his legs to reach the table. He knew that this was an uncomfortable topic for his Papa. Bilbo had been pestering his Papa about this since he was adopted.
“I made a new friend today!” Frodo announced to the silence, trying to change the mood of the table. The uncle’s faces lit up, releasing the tension that had built up.
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Frodo!” Bilbo replied happily, “What’s their name? How old are they? Are they a Took? or a Proudfoot? Or- oh it doesn’t matter, what matters is you made a friend!” Bilbo’s eyes glowed with pride and happiness.
Thorin gave a hearty chuckle, “Yes my son, we are very proud of you!” Thorin held Bilbo’s hand in his and Frodo sighed with relief, everything was how it should be.
The family finished dinner with full bellies and Bilbo and Thorin decided to rest after such a busy day in the living room. Thorin strummed his harp as Bilbo read to Frodo, who was resting his head on the rug by the fireplace. Frodo loved when his Papa would play. It was not often the young hobbit would hear it in the fourteen years he had lived in Erebor. Suddenly Frodo was unable to hear the stories Bilbo was sharing, he was only able to hear the sweet sounds of the harp. Oh, how Frodo missed the sound’s echo in the great halls, with all his family joining in a lively ensemble. The boy’s mind began to wonder as Thorin continued to play the sweet song. Uncle didn’t like it when Frodo spoke of his dwarf family. He never understood why, for Uncle never told him, but he was sure Bilbo had a good reason. Frodo felt like his uncles were about to have an argument about said issues, but then he remembered how he spoiled that plan. The boy knew how excited his Papa and Uncle were when he told them he met Sam. ‘Maybe making friends wasn’t so scary after all,’ he contemplated. The sun child was so nice to him and made him feel safe. As Frodo’s mind began to rest and he listened to the lullaby, he began to drift off to sleep, dreaming of his family in Erebor.
Frodo slowly awoke, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, in a fairly big room full of chests that have yet to be unpacked. He stretched in the bed that was too big for him and slowly crawled out. With one more full-body stretch, from toes to arms reaching high, Frodo began to stumble through the hallway. He couldn’t remember the way through Bag End completely, it was only his second day in the hobbit hole after all. Frodo breathed in the fresh air, noticing how much warmer and sunny everything was compared to his cold, snowy mountain he was used to. The windows were open and Frodo could hear the bees buzzing next to the flower bushes he explored yesterday. He suddenly remembered all that happened yesterday and immediately ran towards the door to see if his new friend was there to greet him. As Frodo opened the door, the sun child he had met yesterday was about to knock. The hobbit immediately smiled as the golden shine from the sun hitting Sam’s hair almost blinded him.
Sam blushed and stammered, “Hello Frodo-“ but as soon as Sam said Frodo’s name, a tiny swat to his temple came from a larger, older man next to him, “I mean- Mister Frodo…” Sam gave a small grin in return to Frodo’s big smile.
Frodo reached for Sam’s hand, “Oh Sam, I’m so excited! Let’s go play, and you could show me around, and we can go to the market, and maybe we can see other kids, and I can tell you of Erebor, and-“
A raspy voice stopped Frodo in his rambling, causing both of the tiny foals to look up at the older and wiser hobbit, “Now there won’t be no time for that, Samwise. I must talk to the Master Bilbo and tend to the garden now.” Frodo looked confused at the older man until a familiar voice began to greet the man from behind him.
“Gaffer! My, hasn’t it been a long while since I’ve seen your face! I suppose you could say the same for me!” Bilbo stood behind Frodo and tousled his hand in Frodo’s wavy, dark hair, “And who is this little one?” Bilbo looked at Sam which made the blond blush and hide from Bilbo.
“This is my boy Samwise, I’ve been teaching him how’da garden and farm, now that he’s thirteen ‘n all.”
Bilbo chuckled heartily, “Well it’s always nice to get extra hands, even if they are small!” Bilbo noticed the way his nephew looked at Sam, realizing who exactly Frodo was talking about at dinner last night.
Bilbo patted Frodo’s head, “Well, there’s no need to waste a perfectly good morning! Frodo, how about you and little Samwise here go play while I catch up with the Gaffer.”
Frodo jumped excitedly, “Oh Uncle, do you mean it? Thank you! Thank you!” Frodo immediately grabbed Sam’s hand and began to run off while Sam followed, “Come, Sam, let’s go explore!” Bilbo watched smiling as the boys ran in the green meadows while the sun beamed on each crevice of the shire, finally feeling home once again.
“Now, Gaffer, we must discuss what I’ve missed, and you must meet someone very special to me, a new master of Bag End.”