Chapter Text
No one was entirely sure why Nori decided to become a guardsman. And everyone was pretty sure that at one point before it he'd been a thief.
Of course no one ever said it to his face, not unless they were extremely inebriated. And yet he'd heard it more times than he could count. Sometimes, if a person was being truly insulting, he'd scare them by appearing out of nowhere. If it was someone just sort of speculating or speaking in awe he'd be a lot kinder, giving them an almost friendly smile. He always had something to say, whether he snuck up on them or not. Sometimes he'd say he hadn't been but more often than not he completely agreed that he had been, making people wonder if the sincerity was real or not. It was always a different story too, when he agreed that he had been. "Oh, Dori forced me into it. Struck a deal I couldn't refuse. And a table. It's kindling now." "Got bored, thought it'd be fun to try my hand at it." "Getting away was getting too easy. Catching people, now that's actually interesting." And on one very memorable occasion for the only person who heard it, "Because Ori was born. I…I did it cause Ori was born."
Anyways, the point is is that Nori was not what you'd expect a guardsman to be.
But, then again, his favorite thief was not what you'd expect a thief to be either.
Dwalin was big. One of the largest dwarves in Ered Luin and, possibly, the entire of Middle Earth. Or so people said. Thieves and guards alike marveled at how fast he could move for a dwarf his size and with his strength, wondering constantly how he managed to slip away from dwarves half his size in places just as small. They all agreed that his strength also gave him an advantage. Where most thieves had to rely on speed when they got too close to a guardsman and got into a fight, Dwalin only had to deliver one punch to knock out his adversary and get away. People wondered how Dwalin, a dwarf others knew for a fact had once been the Thorin Oakenshield's best friend, became a thief. No one ever asked but somehow Dwalin always heard. His answer changed every time. "None of your fucking business." "Do I look like I want to talk?" "Wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the bars, what the fuck kind of question is that?" And on one very memorable occasion for the only person who heard it, "I couldn't be a guard anymore. After…After Azanulbizar. I just couldn't."
Dwalin was a thief in a guardsman's body. Nori was a guardsman in a thief's. They were perfect for each other.
They constantly tried to kill each other.
They hated each other with a passion born from both their work and from seeing your reflection in another and not liking what you saw.
They loved each other so deeply that it made others ache for a connection like that.
They were a guardsman and his thief. And they always would be.