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Embarrassment. Humiliation. Despair. Many other fleeting emotions passed through him when he read the latest comment, but those three were the ones that stuck with him. It was so obviously Thorin. A new account, nothing on it except a name and profile picture, and it left that comment on that picture.
Bilbo let his phone drop on to the desk, scrubbed his face with the palms of his hands and groaned. Of course he had wondered how on Earth he had managed to find it, but Bilbo soon decided it didn't matter. If Thorin had seen that picture he had seen all of them, no doubt, and, not that it was detrimental to his character, but Bilbo just knew he wouldn't have taken it well.
The question now, of course, was: do I confront him? Bilbo wanted to, desperately wanted to, but what would he say? Would he apologise or try to talk his way out of it? Either way, it was probably the end of any chance he could have had. At that thought he looked up and out of the window at the flower shop, there was a couple outside admiring the display. No, it could wait for now. What ever he decided to do could wait, give Thorin a chance to calm down.
Instead Bilbo scooped his phone back up to call the one person he would normally turn to in situations like this, not that anything like this had happened before, but a quick calculation of the time difference quenched that idea. No matter how happy Prim always sounded to hear from him, she definitely wouldn't appreciate being woken in the middle of the night to hear about Bilbo's man problems.
Ori came into the room then, an easy grin on his face as he guided his client away from his station and to the waiting area by the desk. Bilbo was aware of the questioning looks his friend kept shooting him as he settled payment and talked through aftercare, he ignored them. It wasn't until the customer had thanked Ori for the billionth time and left the parlour that he sat up and let out a frustrated, self pitying whine.
Ori perched on the edge of desk, smiled down at him and asked, "What happened?"
"Thorin found my Instagram." Bilbo mumbled, as if saying it quietly would make it any less true.
"...That's it?" A flash of confusion crossed Ori's features before he continued. "Why is that bad?"
"My 'not work' one, Ori."
"Oh." His face fell slightly, but then his eyes widened as realisation dawned on him. "Oh!" Then he started laughing.
"It's not funny." Bilbo tried to make himself heard over the laughter. "Ori, it's not! What if he hates me now?"
"It's hilarious." Ori said once he settled down. "And he'd never hate you." He pushed away from the desk and flopped onto the sofa just across from it. "Might even see the funny side of it." He chuckled again when Bilbo tutted and let his head fall back into the cradle of his arms.
Bilbo heard him sigh, a fed up kind of sound, and turned his head so he could look at him while he talked. "The way I see it, Bilbo, is that you two are adults, not a pair of giggling school girls. Talk to him, tell him how you feel." Ori gave him a warm, encouraging smile. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"As if you have to ask that question."
"Apparently I do, Bilbo." Ori's face suddenly became stern, almost cool. He was somewhat taken aback by this side of his friend. Especially when it was directed at him. Bilbo had only ever bore witness to it twice before, both times when dealing customers refusing to pay for their tattoos. "So tell me, what's the worst that could happen?"
Bilbo sat up straight and sighed. "He could reject me."
"Exactly." Satisfied with the answer, Ori was back to his usual, smiling self. "But he won't, and if he does, it's not the end of the world."
Bilbo watched his friend get up and head back to his station to prep for his next client, once Ori was out of earshot Bilbo muttered to himself, all things along the lines of 'it would be for me' as he stared at his phone again. There were responses to the comment now. Bilbo let curiosity get the better of him and read them, immediately wishing he hadn't.
They, like him, had figured out who it was and left the most inappropriate messages, giving up all hope of saving face with anyone, he dropped his phone to the desk once more.
Bilbo ignored the little notification sounds that signalled more comments all afternoon, he refused to even acknowledge his phone's existence. He used the shop camera to take pictures of any of the tattoos he finished that day, and just as he started work on his last client of the day, he entertained the idea of shutting down the Instagram account and moving away. Bilbo voiced this idea to Ori when they shut up shop for the day, he was reward with a slap around the back of his head and was told to grow up.
"In fact," Ori said with a grin, his gaze fixed on something behind Bilbo, "Here's your chance."
He didn't have to turn around to know it was Thorin, but he did anyway. As soon as their eyes met across the street, Bilbo let out a very undignified squeaking noise and turned back to Ori.
"I'm running away." He declared.
"Don't you dare!" Ori shouted after him.
But it was too late, Bilbo was already walking away at a brisk pace. "I'm sorry, but I'm really busy!" He called back. If he had bothered to turn around again he would have seen Thorin staring at him with a faintly amused look on his face.