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Bilbo sat down with a sigh. Closing his eyes and straightening his back, he drew in a deep breath smelling the fragrant summer air of the magnificent garden around him. Despite his gruff exterior, Beorn had turned out to be a most gracious host, Bilbo thought to himself. For the first time since they left Rivendell, he had slept soundly, without waking up cold, and he no longer felt as dreadfully hungry as he had since emerging from the goblin tunnels.
Warm gentle arms wrapped around his middle, and he felt soft, long, curly hair caressing the side of his face and neck as a head came to rest on his shoulder. “Good morning, Bilbo,” Thorin spoke softly next to Bilbo’s ear.
Bilbo allowed himself to be pulled into the embrace, relaxing against the sturdy frame behind him and breathed in the scent of Thorin fresh from a bath. “‘Morning, Thorin.”
“You seem relaxed this morning,” Thorin said, as he sat next to Bilbo on the bench that was just a bit too high for either of them, legs hanging a few inches off the ground.
Bilbo smiled and reached out a hand to let his fingers glide through Thorin’s unbraided, damp hair. “I am,” he replied, “I have enjoyed going to sleep knowing that nothing horrible will wake me up at night.”
Thorin smiled softly, letting his gaze rest on Bilbo, whose eyes were still focused on Thorin’s dark hair gliding through his fingers. “I would that no harm would ever come your way, Bilbo,” Thorin said and reached out a hand to bring Bilbo’s gaze back to him, thumb caressing a soft hairless chin, “I would not think less of you if you chose to stay here, or even make your way home, not now, and not after all the perils you have faced for our sake.”
Bilbo’s eyes widened in surprise, but a soft smile played on his lips at the sincerity in Thorin’s voice. “If you think I’m letting you go out there on your own to get killed, you are mistaken, Thorin Oakenshield,” Bilbo said firmly hand reaching up to grab hold of Thorin’s hand still resting against his cheek, “I made a promise, and I will not let you stop me from keeping that promise, just because you have come to worry about me.” Bilbo smiled softly and gave Thorin’s hand a squeeze, thumb brushing over scarred knuckles and skin weathered by a hard life.
“Very well, Master Baggins,” Thorin said unable to hold back a smile at the tone of Bilbo’s voice.
When Bilbo looked like he was about to speak again, Thorin leaned in and placed a kiss on his lips, effectively ending that part of the conversation. Breaking the kiss, Thorin rested his forehead against Bilbo’s, both of them kept their eyes closed and allowed the intimacy of the moment to remain awhile longer.
——
When Bilbo pulled away after taking a last slow, depth breath, he held on to Thorin’s hand and reached the other up to once more run his fingers through the long hair of the dwarf in front of him.
“You seem particularly fascinated with my hair this morning,” Thorin said amusedly and a pink blush spread to Bilbo’s cheeks and the tip of his ears.
“I have never seen your hair without your braids and combed out like this, still damp and oiled after a bath. You look…” Bilbo spoke softly and hesitated.
“Yes?”
“… less like you carry the whole world on your shoulders,” Bilbo finished, “I like it.”
Thorin smiled and leaned closer to Bilbo as he spoke, “I was about to go and finish my braids when I saw you sitting here. Would you like to help me?”
“Really?” Bilbo asked looking up.
“I would not ask otherwise,” Thorin said with a smile.
Bilbo gave Thorin’s shoulder a small shove, but offered a shy smile before speaking, “You will have to show me how.”
Thorin lifted the small hand still holding his own, and placed a kiss on the back of Bilbo’s hand, “Of course.”
——
While Bilbo concentrated on the task of braiding the hair in front of him, he couldn’t help but smile at how much had changed over these last few days.
They had stayed with Beorn two nights now and were due to leave early the next morning. The night they spent with the eagles finally allowed them both to have a one-on-one and long-overdue conversation after Bilbo had defended Thorin from Azog. Apologies had been made and accepted, and in Thorin’s own words, he had come to understand his own fallacies in judging Bilbo so harshly.
In the time from when they had emerged from the goblin tunnels, their relationship had quickly developed from Bilbo keeping silent and Thorin grumbling about the hobbit, to signs of friendship, and now this, an intimacy that Bilbo did not know he had ever yearned for, not until Thorin, and 12 other dwarves and a wizard, invaded his home and he was dragged on an impossible adventure.
Bilbo held no delusions that the rest of their company had not picked up on the change between them, but no one had said anything outright. Although, Bofur had grinned at him that first night in Beorn’s house when Bilbo’s bedroll was suddenly to be found right next to Thorin’s. And Fíli and Kíli had thanked him for saving Thorin when they were resting with the eagles, and since they had woken up in Beorn’s house yesterday, the two young dwarves had been on their best behaviour, even saving Bilbo a sizable breakfast earlier this morning, when he had managed to sleep longer than he had since Rivendell. All in all, Bilbo concluded that if anyone noticed none of them seemed to take issue with this new development.
——
The two of them sat in silence for a while, hands intertwined and leaning against each other, enjoying the privacy that would soon become impossible in a company of 13 dwarves, a hobbit and an occasional wizard travelling along dangerous paths. They did not speak much, and when they spoke they talked not about what lay ahead, but of themselves and of stories from less troubled times.
The peace, however, could not last, and eventually, they were brought back to reality, when Balin, ever tactful, came to inform Thorin that Beorn had asked for him and the company to gather to discuss the path that they would need to follow when they left in the morning. Thorin sensed movement next to him, and when the hobbit brushed a kiss along his jaw and made to jump down from the bench, Thorin stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Bilbo,” he started, “Please wait a moment.”
“What is it, Thorin?” Bilbo asked looking at him, head slightly askew.
Without replying, Thorin reached a hand up and took off the ear cuff he wore on his right ear, and moving slowly but purposefully brushed Bilbo’s hair aside and fitted the cuff against Bilbo’s smaller ear, with gentle hands. Bilbo held still and let Thorin finish his task, observing the look of concentration on Thorin’s face as he worked.
Task completed, Thorin’s hand rested against Bilbo's face, thumb brushing along his jaw and just below his earlobe. Looking Bilbo in the eyes, he spoke, “I do not have much to offer, but what I have is yours, Bilbo.”
The metal was still warm from where it had cradled Thorin’s ear. It felt strange against the soft skin of Bilbo’s ear, and he had to suppress a shiver at the sense of connection between them it signified.
During the last few days, in their stolen, private moments, Bilbo had often found himself running the tips of his fingers over that same cuff. Thorin’s intention with the gesture was not lost on him and from what little he had been able to glean from the others about dwarven customs, he had a strong suspicion that Thorin felt something akin to shame that for the moment all he could offer him was a beautiful but relatively simple ear cuff, which Bilbo, of course, found to be a ridiculous notion.
Bilbo leaned in, hand entangled in Thorin's hair cradling the back of his head. “I do not need anything besides you, Thorin,” Bilbo said in a soft earnest tone of voice, resting their foreheads together.
Thorin’s voice was but a rough whisper, “Please, Bilbo, I want you to have it, as a promise. A promise I would have gladly braided into your hair if it was but a little longer.”
“A promise?” Bilbo asked pulling away to look at Thorin.
Thorin allowed a small smile to grace his lips, “A promise to you, my dear burglar. A promise that one day, I will do this right, if you’ll let me.”
Bilbo kissed him, slow and deep, and as he pulled away he whispered against Thorin’s lips, “Show me.”
“Show you what?” Thorin asked slightly perplexed, pulling away to look at Bilbo.
Bilbo smiled, “Show me,” he repeated and leaned in to place a kiss on Thorin’s bearded cheek and continued, “Show me how to make that braid in your hair. You’re not the only one who gets to make promises, Thorin.”
Thorin smiled softly, but Bilbo could see the surprise in his eyes. “Here,” Thorin said guiding Bilbo’s hand back to his hair with one hand as he reached up to separate a section of hair from the crown of his head with the other, “you start by dividing this into five strands.”