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“D! Your annoyance is here!”
“Oh Thorin, I’m hurt, and here I thought you loved me.”
Dwalin rolled his eyes at the voices filtering through to the back of the tattoo shop; continuing to clear up after the last customer, he left them to their bickering. Waiting to save Thorin from Nori's sharp, teasing tongue till he'd finished cleaning and properly storing his equipment.
“…still not made a move on bookshop guy? Seriously?”
“Nori, not everyone is as forward as you,” Dwalin rumbled, pulling his small lover back against his chest.
“Hey, baby,” Nori grinned, looking up at Dwalin as his fingers trailed over the black lines of ink on the arm wrapped around his waist.
“Hey,” Dwalin smiled, leaning down to brush a soft kiss to the smaller man’s lips smirking so temptingly at him, “To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to come home with me tonight?”
“I thought I was anyway?” Dwalin frowned slightly in confusion.
“I don’t mean my flat,” Nori clarified, an unsure look to his expression as he shifted, “I mean my home. Do you want to meet my brothers?”
Dwalin was floored. They’d been dating for just over a year, and though he knew Nori had brothers, he’d never met them. Nori had made sure to keep a certain amount of distance between his familial and romantic lives. The smaller man had been burned by a previous partner, so now he was overly cautious when it came to his family.
“You want me to…to meet your family?”
“If you want?”
“I’d love to!”
“Want to come now?”
“Sure, just let me grab my stuff. Thor, you good to close up s’afternoon?”
“Yeah, sure. Go play happy families.”
“Thanks mate.”
With a giddy smile on his face, Dwalin practically skipped to the back of the shop to grab his things, thoroughly destroying the intimidating image he usually gave off.
-x-
The house they pulled up to was a world away from Nori’s eclectic little flat. A neat semi-detached with a beautifully tended front garden and gravel path that crunched under Dwalin’s heavy steel toe capped boots.
Tugging nervously at the thick ring through his ear, Dwalin followed Nori through the front door.
“I’m home!” Nori called, tugging Dwalin further into the house so he could close the door.
“Nori!” a little voice squealed excitedly.
Dwalin blinked in surprise as a tiny blur of mauve knitwear and ginger hair crashed into Nori’s legs.
“Hey, little peanut, I’ve brought someone round for you to meet,” Nori said, swinging the tiny human up into his arms and perching him on his hip.
Dwalin found himself confronted with a curious pair of eyes, before they widened and a little face was buried in Nori’s neck.
“Hey, it’s alright, don’t be shy,” Nori coaxed, a soft smile Dwalin had never seen before curving his lips, “This is Dwalin, he’s my boyfriend. Dwalin, this is Ori.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Yep, and I know he looks kinda scary but I promise he’s not. Look, he even likes drawing pictures like you do,” Nori said as he tugged Dwalin closer, pulling up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal some of the black lines etched into his skin.
“Why aren’t they coloured in?”
“I could never decide what colours would work best,” Dwalin answered, smiling at the face peeking out at him as he shrugged off his jacket to show more of the designs covering both arms, earning himself a thankful smile from Nori and a gasp of delight from Ori.
“You’re like a colouring book!” Ori squealed, entirely forgetting his shyness in the face of a walking, talking colouring book, “Down! I wanna get down!”
Once his little feet hit the carpet, he was off, running up the stairs only to stop halfway and turn to point an imperious finger at Dwalin.
“Don’t move, mister Dwalin,” he ordered before darting up the rest of the stairs.
“I think he might like you,” Nori said, nudging a still slightly stunned Dwalin.
“Nori?” an older, silver haired man emerged into the hallway from what Dwalin assumed was the kitchen, wiping his wet hands on a teatowel, “And who’s this you’ve brought with you?”
“Dori this is my boyfriend, Dwalin. Dwalin meet my older brother Dori.”
“Ah, so you’re Dwalin, it’s nice to finally have a face for the name,” Dori smiled, offering his now dry hand for Dwalin to shake.
“Likewise,” shaking the offered hand, Dwalin was surprised at the strong grip the other possessed.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“I’d love one, thank you.”
“Mister Dwalin!” little Ori called as he bounded down the stairs again, case of felt tip pens clutched firmly in hand.
“I didn’t move!”
Ori eyed him suspiciously for a moment before deciding he was telling the truth, “Good, now come with me.”
Grabbing Dwalin’s large hand in his tiny one, Ori pulled Dwalin into the livingroom. Dwalin could do nothing but what he was told, taking a seat on the floor as Ori unpacked his felt tips, babbling away about how they were new and that Nori had got them for him from the super special art shop in town.
Nori leaned against the doorframe, smiling at the sight before him. His big, burly, intimidating Dwalin trying to keep up with his little brother’s chatter as Ori pulled one of his arms into his lap and started colouring in the teenage mutant ninja turtle on his forearm.
“Well, isn’t that a sight,” Dori said softly, “He’s one of the good ones, isn’t he.”
“The best,” Nori agreed.
“Try and keep ahold of this one then, aye?”
“Course,” Nori scoffed, “Like I’d let him go.”
“It’s good to see you finally happy again.”
“Don’t go getting soppy on me, Dori.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” Dori smiled, squeezing Nori’s shoulder affectionately before heading to the kitchen to make them tea, leaving Nori to keep watching over the pair on the floor, happily immersed in the subject of colours for Dwalin’s arms.