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“There’s someone I’d like the both of you to meet,” Dís said before taking a sip of her mocha.
”Are you having flashbacks to when we were all teenagers, or is it just me?” Frerin joked, turning from Dís to Thorin.
”What?” Thorin tilted his head to the side and neither Frerin nor Dís told him that it made him look like a confused puppy. A very large, bearded grumpy puppy, but a confused one nonetheless.
”You know-“ Frerin shrugged and gestured at Thorin with his espresso. “All the boyfriends Dís brought home to make us jealous.”
”Boyfriends?” Now both his siblings was staring at him and Thorin frowned. “What boyfriends?”
”I didn’t much like it the time either,” Frerin said, blinking. “But at least I’ve not gone and repressed it out of sheer pig-headed envy.”
”No, but you said that they were your friends?” Thorin looked at Dís. “Friends. That’s the word you used back then.”
”I’d like to first point out I didn’t bring anyone home just to make you jealous,” Dís said and kicked Frerin under the table. “It’s not like I knew right away I’d both love and fall in love with you two morons. If you chose to be a jealous moron at the time, that’s up to you.”
”I’m hurt. Literally.” Frerin pouted. “Ow, my ankle. What kind of shoes are you wearing? Do they have bloody spikes? Possibly literally bloody at this point. Ow.”
”Second of all-“ Dís ignored Frerin and looked at Thorin. “Did you really not understand that I was dating the guys I introduced to you two and mum and dad? Some even slept over. In my room. There was only one bed in there.”
Thorin gave her a mildly constipated look. Dís tried very hard not to find it endearing.
“You said they were your friends,” he grumbled. “You said the girls you brought home were your friends too and they sometimes stayed the night. I don’t see the difference.”
”He sort of has a point,” Frerin stage-whispered to Dís. “Not as pointy as your shoes but- ow! Stop it or I’ll tickle you until you scream and we all get thrown out of this place. I’m not done with my coffee yet.”
”Until you get thrown out you mean,” Dís sniffed. “Thorin and I are not to blame for any disturbance.”
”You’re the one kicking me.”
”Could we get back to the subject?” Thorin asked.
”Oh, yes,” Dís nodded. “I wanted-“
”Were you dating all the girls you brought home too?”
”This is not the subject,” Dís sighed tugging on a lock of her dark hair. “And no, I didn’t. Except for one of them.”
”Huh,” Thorin said. “You should have told us.”
”I knew anyway,” Frerin shrugged. “Hey, so if you didn’t know she was dating those guys, why were you-“
”Seriously, can we actually talk about what I actually want to talk to you about?”
Seeing that Dís was on the verge of being truly annoyed both Thorin and Frerin relented.
“I’m sorry.”
”We’re sorry.”
“Yeah.”
”It’s all right,” Dís promised, drumming her fingers against the table.
Thorin’s eyes narrowed. “You’re nervous. You want us to meet someone and you’re nervous.”
Unlike his brother’s, Frerin’s eyes opened wide at his own realisation.
“Have you met someone else and you’re breaking up with us?”
”You’re being a moron again,” Dís sighed. “Of course I’m not breaking up with you.”
”But you’ve met someone,” Thorin stated. “As in, someone you’d like to be more than friends with.”
“Yes.” Dís glanced at her cup as if seeking some answers in the chocolate flavoured coffee. When she didn’t find any she looked back up at her brothers. “With the risk of starting the discussion about our teenage years again, I really like him. I’d like for you to meet him. To see if- well, if you like him too.”
“And if we don’t like him?” Thorin took a sip of his own coffee, aiming for casual with both words and action. He had a feeling he did not succeed to sound as calm as he wanted, and the coffee almost went down the wrong way so there was a brief intermission when he had to cough it back up again.
”I’m not going to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Dís said once it was clear that Thorin wasn’t about to choke to death. She reached over the table to put her hand over Frerin’s while at the same time leaning against Thorin’s side. “It’s always going to be us three. Only, maybe three plus one would be possible? Maybe?”
She nodded at the empty seat at the table. “Maybe there’s srill room for someone else?”
”We’d need a bigger bed,” Frerin mused.
”He’s smaller than the both of you,” Dís shrugged. “So we would-“
”Ah, so you’ve gotten that far with this guy?” Frerin waggled his eyebrows.
This time when Dís tried to kick him Frerin was prepared and had already pulled his legs away.
“Mature,” Dís said when he stuck his tongue out.
”Says our little si- I mean the youngest of us.”
“Good save,” Thorin murmured.
It was always best not to explicitly point out in public that you were sleeping with your siblings.
Sitting in a café was much less pleasant if there were lectures giving about how they were all going to end up in some nasty fictional place or other. Even people not knowing about their particular situation still thought they had the right to interfere based on their opinions of what a proper relationship should be. And proper rarely seemed to include three people at once.
Thankfully, all three of them couldn’t care less about what other people thought of them.
“So what’s his name?” Thorin asked, draping his arm around Dís’ shoulders and pulling her closer, leaning in to press a kiss to her hair.
Dís smiled, blue eyes sparkling. “Víli. I really think you’ll like him.”
“Does he know…?” Frerin gestured between them. “About everything I mean.”
“No, I’ve not told him. Yet. I wanted to talk with you first. He knows about our relationship though. He wants to meet you.”
“He wants to meet Thorin? Have you been telling him nice things?” Frerin raised an eyebrow. “Or very nice things? Lying, in other words.”
This time it was Thorin who kicked him.
“Ow,” Frerin complained, looking very sad. “Now you both need to kiss it better. And I think the pain has travelled upwards.” He grinned when Thorin and Dís rolled their eyes at the same time, looking more like twins than any pair of siblings with three years between had the right to. “But to get back to the ‘subject’. If you want us to, of course we’ll meet him. You’ve got excellent taste after all.”
“Funny,” Dís said, but the line of her shoulders relaxed beneath Thorin’s arm. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Thorin said, echoing Frerin’s previous statement.
“He doesn’t snore I hope," Frerin said after a moment's silence.
“How should I know, I’ve not slept with him.”
Frerin shrugged. “You could have asked.”
“Because that’s such an obvious thing to ask?”
“Snoring is annoying.”
“See if you’d like to sleep with him first, then worry about snoring.”
“She’s smart that one,” Frerin said, nodding at Thorin. “Ow!”