Chapter Text
Thorin took a deep breath as he pushed himself down into the chaos of the rapids. Cursing himself for agreeing to do this, he let the current take him down. Kili and Fili were already whizzing off down river. As he was slowly dragged along by the currents he wondered how they managed to go so fast. Round the corners was the worst, it was just a constant bump, bump, bump with the occasional smash. A small child, who was probably looked younger than Kili, zoomed past on the inside of a corner. At this point he gave up trying to go fast and decided to focus on not hitting the walls so much. He was doing quite well until he felt something push forcefully into his back. He turned around to see a short man with a very apologetic look on his face. “Sorry” was all he managed to say before they were both greeted by a slope and a mouthful of water. Thorin started coughing and decided that he had had enough. To his huge relief there was soon a small pool-like area where he could go to the side and catch his breath. As soon as he could Thorin swam to the side, only just avoiding an avalanche of children. He noticed that the man who had bumped into his had also stopped. At the short distance he realised how short this man was and also noticed that he looked about as unhappy about being here as he was. Probably with kids thought Thorin. “I’m terribly sorry,” began the man “it’s just so hard to control yourself going down there!” his face was full of worry, clearly he has never been down rapids before.
Thorin smiled - he wasn't sure why, his face felt unnatural in that position - and shook his head “It happens all the time. Are you coming down with kids?” he said, trying to assure the man that there was no reason to worry. As he talked he studied the man more closely. He had wonderful blue eyes and messy brown hair, clinging to his head from wetness. It looked similar to the child who had zoomed past him earlier; Thorin assumed they were related. The man smiled, relief spread across his face. He’s cute, thought Thorin but quickly dismissed it, thinking that he was probably living a happy life with spouse and children.
“Yes” despite knowing that this was probably the case, Thorin’s heart sunk a little. He kept his face straight “… well not mine” Thorin was sure his eyes light up hearing this. He inwardly frown, wondering why this matted so much to him. “He’s my nephew but unfortunately his parents died. I took him in. How about you?” he said, smile fading at the mention of his nephew’s parents. “Oh and I’m Bilbo” he quickly added, extending his arm out to shake hand. Thorin reached out and grabbed his hand. He felt Bilbo’s hands softly falling into his and a shiver went up his arm. What was wrong with him?
“Thorin” he said “Sorry to hear about that. I’m also here with my nephew, my sister thought a family holiday would be a good idea.” He smirked at the last part. Bilbo smiled like he knew exactly what he meant. For a moment Thorin considered asking him if he had a partner but then decided against it, not wanting to embarrass himself. There was an awkward silence.
Bilbo finally broke it. “I think we better get going or we’ll be stuck here forever, not that being stuck with you is bad it’s just… nevermind.” His cheeks turned bright red. Thorin nodded. “I’ll try not to bump into you this time.” Thorin laughed, then cursed himself for looking like an idiot in front of Bilbo and then cursed himself for caring so much about what this man thought and then wondered why he was laughing and smiling so much, there was really something strange about this man. To his surprise Bilbo also laughed before pushing himself back into the river of doom.
When Thorin finally managed to get down he saw Fili and Kili waiting for him at the bottom. Ahead he saw Bilbo and his son. They both looked so tiny compared to everyone else. He thought about what it would be like reaching down to kiss him. He internally smiled but then scowled. He was allowing this man to poison his mind with happiness. Suddenly his thoughts were cut short by Kili poking him and then asking with cute puppy dog eyes if they could go on the slide. Fili also joined in by repeatedly yelling “Slide!” They always seemed to be able to get their way. Thorin sighed, it looked like this was going to be a long holiday.