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Night had cast her cloak over the ramshackle houses and winding, muddy streets of Ered Luin’s slums. It was the time for thieves and vagabonds to emerge from hiding, the time for less than legal transactions to pass. Nori grinned, an almost feral flash of teeth as he slipped through the darkness, avoiding the light of the few torches struggling valiantly to offer some form of light. The tavern was his destination this night, enough coin in his pocket for a tankard of ale and a bet, and enough coins in others’ pockets to keep him going through till dawn with enough left over to keep Dori happy.
The tavern was a murky light in the gloom, drawing the nightlife like moths to a deadly flame. Nori slipped through its crowds to the bar as easily a sharp blade through flesh, his pocket getting heavier as he went. With an ale in hand he turned to survey the gambling tables, the die clacking on the wooden top of one, while cards slapped down on the top of another. The players weren’t quite drunk enough yet, their eyes still a bit too sharp for Nori’s liking.
Sipping from his tankard, he looked over the other patrons, glancing for a moment at the resident bard plucking at his lute as dwarves slurred bawdy lyrics to the tune before moving on to a dwarf who made him pause. He was big, bigger than any dwarf Nori had ever met, a great crest of dark hair rising defiantly from his scalp. Nori snorted into his ale, with his smart leathers and stiff posture the dwarf couldn’t stick out like a sore thumb any more if he tried.
With a shake of his head, Nori turned back to the gamblers, if the dwarf was lucky he’d leave the tavern relatively unscathed, a few coins lighter perhaps, but unharmed. Of course if he was unlucky, well, it would certainly be a lesson he’d never forget, if he survived it that is.
-x-
Dawn was just beginning to smudge the horizon when Nori finally stumbled from the tavern, pockets decidedly heavier than when he’d entered. A jaunty whistle almost left his lips as he sauntered down the street, heading home before the early birds rose from their beds.
It was as he slipped down a side alley, a familiar shortcut home, that he found him. Bloody and bruised; his crest less proud now, more grimy and matted.
“Shame,” Nori murmured, leaning over the prone dwarf, “You were certainly handsome, I’ll give you that.”
It was with a hissed Mahal! that he leapt from the dwarf he presumed dead as he twitched and groaned. He stared, wide-eyed for a moment as a previously still face grimaced in pain and eyelids fluttered. A rare attack of conscience made his own face twist in a grimace as he bent down and laboriously hauled the dwarf to his feet. He couldn’t leave him to die in the back alley muck he’d found himself in, it just wasn’t right, he reasoned in a voice that sounded disturbingly like Dori.
From the look on his older brother’s face when he finally tumbled through the door, dragging a heavy, unconscious dwarf behind him, Nori couldn’t quite decide of Dori wanted to kill him or not. Dumping his unexpected extra by the recently awoken hearth, Nori bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He didn’t have the strength of his brother, and the knocked out dwarf was damn heavy and more awkward to carry than a splitting sack of potatoes.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Dori demanded, tightening the sash of his threadbare dressing gown he bustled over to get a closer look at Nori’s newest ‘acquaintance’.
“Don’t start on me, Dori, this,” Nori waved at the dwarf laying limp limbed on the hearth rug, bleeding sluggishly onto it from various cuts and scrapes, some of which might have been Nori’s doing from knocking the dwarf against one too many corners on his way home, “is actually all your doing.”
“And what about dumping filthy, bleeding dwarves on my nice clean floor is my doing?”
“I was trying out doing the ‘right thing’. This moron was at the wrong place, at the wrong time, practically begging for this to happen to him.”
Sighing, Dori pinched the bridge of his nose, now was not the time to argue over this. He had an injured dwarf to deal with and he’d rather not spend his day cleaning up and disposing of a corpse.
“Fetch the kettle, it should be close to boiling by now. Use the bowl over on the counter. No, not that one, Nori, the big one. Honestly, all the stealing skills in the world but not a lick of common sense to you, is there.”
Nori shot his brother a glare as the mithril haired dwarf tutted at him, gathering what basic medical supplies he kept for when Nori came home more bloody than usual.
“Right,” crouching down with his dressing gown draped modestly over his stout legs, Dori assessed the state of the dwarf before him, “A good wash is what this dwarrow needs. You get all of that muck out of his hair and I’ll get the rest.”
“What?” Nori balked, taking a step away from his brother, “Dori, I can’t do that. I’ll have to marry him if I wash his hair.”
“Nori it is far too early in the morning to argue over this, especially as I’ve yet to have my morning tea, and keep your voice down, I’d rather Ori stay asleep till I’ve got breakfast on the table instead of waking to this ridiculousness.”
“But amad said…”
“Amad said a lot of nonsense and that was some of it. Now hush up and get washing.”
Reluctantly Nori did as he was told, dropping to his knees he buried his fingers in the dark, wiry hair, removing glass and grit and Mahal only knew what else from the strands before scrubbing it in earnest. The water in the bowl soon took on a rather unpleasant colour, reminiscent of the slurry that ran down the cobbled streets. Dori was quick to replace it with more warm water as Nori lathered up the dark strands before him with the soap the older brother had grabbed from the sink.
A groan escaped the dwarf’s lips as Nori was working the suds into a particularly crispy section that he really didn’t want to think about.
“Wha?”
“Don’t talk, and shut your eyes before you get soap in ‘em,” Nori huffed rather gruffly.
“Who are you? Where…? What are you doing?” the rather rapid fire questions, though slurred and somewhat quiet were enough to reopen the split in the dwarf’s lip, causing more blood to seep into the beard that Nori had only just rinsed clean.
“It’s none of your business who I am,” he grumbled, “You’re on the floor of a kitchen and I’m washing your hair, but I warn you now I will not marry you.”
“Wha?” if anything his short tirade only confused the dwarf more.
“Nori,” Dori scolded, “Be polite.”
“Why should I be polite to an idiot that thinks it’s a good idea to wander round this area of town at night?”
“Because I said so. Now then, sir, I’m Dori and this is my younger nuisance of a brother, Nori. You’re currently in our home as you seem to have been set upon by a group of miscreants, and, well, yes, Nori is washing your hair. It was terribly filthy, you know. But ignore his marriage comments, just a silly family superstition is all. Might we have your name perhaps?”
“Dwalin, son of Fundin, guard of the City Watch, at your service, Master Dori,” was the slurred response causing Nori to curse and back quickly away.
“A city guard? I saved a sodding city guard?” he hissed.
“It would seem so,” Dori hummed, a smile twitching his lips when Nori puffed up like a cat, “Would you finish washing his hair, Nori.”
“In a moment, Dori,” Nori answered absently before disappearing up the stairs to his room. Prying up the loosened floorboard, he dumped his evening’s gatherings into the leather satchel hidden within the space. He had enough to pay for Ori’s lessons for the next week and possibly even enough, if he pooled the rest with Dori’s earnings, to send him with lunch every day. But, of course, that all depended on whether or not that Mahal forsaken guard discovered his little trove of shiny coins and odd gems.
A guard, he berated himself, Why did it have to be a guard?
If anyone found out about this, he’d be the laughing stock of the underworld. But it was too late to truly save his reputation now, with a sigh he replaced the worn floorboard and trudged back downstairs. Boots dragging till he sunk to his knees and began quietly washing again.
-x-
The mouth-watering smell of a hot, cooked breakfast drew Ori from his bed and down the stairs, stumbling at the bottom he blinked blearily at the unexpected extra at the table.
“Good morning, Ori!” Dori greeted cheerfully, smiling at their youngest brother as he plated up the last few sausages, eggs and bacon for him, “Come eat your breakfast while it’s still hot.”
Flopping down in the chair next to an unusually quiet Nori, the legs of it scrapping the floor unpleasantly when he shifted it forward; Ori began shovelling his breakfast into his mouth, keeping the new comer in his confused sights.
“Why is Mister Dwalin here?” he asked, earning himself a smack upside the back of his head for speaking with his mouth full and a shocked look from Nori.
“You know him?” Nori asked, thoroughly perplexed that his younger brother knew someone he didn’t.
“Of course,” Ori answered, making sure to swallow his food before speaking, it was too early for Dori’s reprimands, his mind not quite awake enough to realise when to duck from his elder brother’s swatting hands, “He’s Mister Balin’s brother.”
“Perfect,” Nori grumbled through gritted teeth, the situation just kept getting better and better, not only had he saved a city guard, but a Nob too, “Just fucking perfect.”
“Oh, well, Master Dwalin here had a bit of an unfortunate run in with some unsavoury characters last night,” Dori answered Ori’s question, settling down at the table himself with a rather large cup of camomile tea. After everything that had happened, he felt he deserved it, “We’ve managed to patch him up and Nori managed to wash most of the gunk from his hair.”
Ori reared back at that revelation, staring at Nori wide eyed.
“You washed his hair?”
“Oh don’t you start with that nonsense too, Ori,” Dori groaned as Nori looked at their youngest, nodding with a rather pained expression usually reserved for those heading for the noose.
“But amad said…”
“I know what amad said and it’s nothing but nonsense,” pinching the bridge of his nose and praying for patience, Dori wondered if this day would ever end, lamenting the fact that it hadn’t even reached midmorning yet.
-x-
“So how do you know my brother, Mister Dwalin?” Ori asked as they weaved between the morning traffic. Ori clutching his books to his chest as Dwalin stumbled on unsteady feet beside him, his size luckily making people give him a wide berth so he didn’t barrel into them and send them flying.
“I don’t,” he grunted, annoyed over the fact that his head had been so foggy that he’d not even thanked his saviour, let alone ask if he could see the stunning dwarf again.
“Oh,” Ori frowned, utterly confused, “But he brought you home, he washed your hair and Dori made you breakfast.”
“He was just doing what any good dwarf would do, lad, after finding me beaten to a bloody pulp.”
“But…” Ori quickly swallowed the words that wanted to automatically escape at someone calling Nori a ‘good dwarf’. He loved his brother, truly he did, but even he wouldn’t call Nori a ‘good’ dwarf. He was good at his profession, to be sure, but it was a profession that automatically placed him in the ‘bad’ dwarf category and tended to make Dori grumble, even as he used the money Nori gave him to buy their food.
“But what, lad?”
“Nothing,” Ori muttered, not willing to expose Dwalin’s golden view of his brother for the fool’s gold it actually was.
“Your brother,” Dwalin cough, trying to clear his suddenly dry throat, his bruises thankfully obscuring the pink seeping into his cheeks, “He’s not seeing anyone, is he?”
“Who? Nori? I don’t think he is, at least he’s not mentioned anyone,” Ori shrugged, trying for nonchalant even if inside he was bubbling with giddy delight. Dwalin was certainly his brother’s type, big and broad, with enough hair to make his fingers twitch with the desire to braid it, even if he was generally more law abiding than Nori’s usual fare of suitor. But such a thing was barely worth mentioning; his brother had washed Dwalin’s hair, even having happened after Dori’s insistence, surely it meant they were destined to be together. Even Dori must realise this, Ori reasoned, otherwise he would’ve washed the guard’s hair himself. He might bluster about it being nonsense, but he kept a suspicious distance from Dwalin’s hair, at least in Ori’s opinion.
“Do…do you think he’d object to seeing me again?”
“Maybe at first,” Ori grinned, “But that’s just how he is, stubborn to a fault.”
-x-
“Shit,” Nori hissed, quickly ducking into a dark alley to avoid being seen by the city guard, and not just any guard, but Dwalin. It had been two months since his regrettable Dori moment had him washing the dwarf’s hair, two months in which he’d been conspicuously absent from his home anytime the large dwarf came to call, and he came to call often. It had even gotten to the point that Dori had taken pity on him, inviting him in for tea before sending him on his way.
Nori just didn’t understand it, no one stuck around this long. Not even his infrequent lovers stayed this long and they actually had a reason to stick around for a couple of weeks. Yet Dwalin, a respectable, law-abiding dwarf, who knew nothing about him and had been offered nothing, kept coming back, again, and again, and again. It truly boggled the mind.
Head thumping against the wall he was hiding against, his hair barely cushioning the impact, Nori groaned. Maybe the explanation was simpler than he was fretting over. He cursed, quietly and vehemently, he shouldn’t have washed the guard’s damn hair.
With a check to the street to make sure the coast was clear, Nori slipped into the bustling crowds, losing himself in their masses and allowing the flow of the traffic to guide him to the tavern. He needed a drink. A strong one.
-x-
He didn’t know what time of the day or night it was, nor what number drink he was currently nursing. What Nori did know was that he was far too drunk to deal with the brawl currently sweeping through the tavern, he needed to get out and back home before the guards came to break it up. Taking a final swallow from his tankard, Nori rose to unsteady feet and made his way to the door, leaning heavily on each table he passed, their solidness calm islands in the raging sea of bodies. He was almost to the door and freedom when a burly dwarf barrelled into his side, sending him flying into the cocked back elbow of another and then nothing.
Blinking through the haze of pain and drunkenness, Nori came back to the present, finding himself slumped against the tavern wall. The warmth against his cheek brought him up short though. Squinting he tried to make the dark form before him turn into more than just a disturbed reflection in a murky pond, only to wish he hadn’t but a moment later.
Dwalin was squatting before him, concern clear writ across his face, broad warm palm cupping Nori’s cheek.
“Don’t touch my hair,” Nori grumbled, letting his eyes fall shut again, he was too drunk for this.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” the deep rumble of Dwalin’s voice made him sneak another blurry peak, “I’m just going to get you home.”
Before Nori could utter a single protest, the warm hand slipped from his cheek and he was scooped into Dwalin’s arms. He felt positively dainty cradled against such a broad chest.
“P-put me down!”
“No, you were knocked unconscious and you’re drunk, I’ll not risk you causing yourself further harm.”
Nori tried to remain aloof as Dwalin carried him home, the dimming light of the setting sun helping to hide his current situation, but he soon found that resting his head on a broad shoulder helped to stop it spinning, and the warmth Dwalin seemed to radiate like a banked forge soothed his stiff muscles. He was as limp as heated glass in Dwalin’s arms by the time they reached his home.
With his eyes closed and drifting in that strange soft place between true sleep and wakefulness, he didn’t see the soft look Dori sent the pair, ushering Dwalin through the doorway and to an armchair by the fire, Nori still securely tucked against him.
“What happened?” he asked, preparing a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth to begin wiping away the blood he could see drying on his brother’s face.
“Tavern brawl,” Dwalin answered, trying to keep his rough voice soft as Nori slumbered against him, “He was trying to leave when we got there to break it up, but before I could reach him he was sent flying. He was out cold before he even hit the floor.”
“Oh Nori,” Dori tutted, dapping at the cut to the corner of his brother’s braided eyebrow, the bruise he’d be sporting come morning would be rather impressive. Already it spread like a blue stain across his temple, seeping into his hairline.
-x-
Nori awoke with a groan, scrunching his eyes tightly shut against the sunlight seeping through his threadbare and practically useless curtains. Shifting, he proceeded to bury his face in his pillow, only to discover that what he had his face pressed against was more solid than his pillow, and it most certainly didn’t smell like his pillow, also the fact that it seemed to be moving was cause for some concern.
Squinting at what was now clearly not his pillow, Nori frowned in confusion, the action making him wince as it pulled on the scabbed over cut on his eyebrow. He appeared to be laying on a dwarf, but of course it wasn’t just any dwarf, that would’ve been far too simple for the ridiculousness his life had become. No, he was lying on Dwalin, and a stirring Dwalin at that.
“Mornin’,” he rumbled, muffling a yawn before blinking sleepily up at Nori, “How’re you feeling?”
“What are you doing in my bed?”
“Dori invited me.”
“To sleep in my bed?”
“Well we couldn’t think of anything else to do, since you wouldn’t let go of me.”
“What?”
“Clung to me like a damn ram to a steep cliff whenever I tried to put you down,” Dwalin shrugged, jostling Nori in the process who still hadn’t seen fit to remove himself from the comforting warmth Dwalin radiated.
“I…” Nori stuttered, forgetting his small injury his brows drew down, frowning at Dwalin before he winced at the sharp tugging pain.
“Are you alright?” Dwalin asked, warm broad palm cupping Nori’s cheek, thumb brushing almost delicately along the edge of the dark bruise on Nori’s temple.
“I’m fine,” he snapped.
“You sure? You were hit pretty hard last night.”
“I’m fine.”
Any response Dwalin might have had was promptly interrupted by a sharp series of knocks on the door before it was opened enough for Dori to pop his head into the room and survey the entangled pair on the bed.
“Everybody up? Good, now then, Nori, if you could find it in yourself to finally get off of Master Dwalin then breakfast is waiting on the table for you both, best to be quick before it gets cold…or Ori decides to steal it.”
“We’re coming, Dori,” Nori grumbled, an embarrassed flush stinging his cheeks as he finally rolled off of Dwalin.
What followed was the most puzzling breakfast in Nori’s life, and he’d been in his fair share of odd situations. Dwalin was a complete gentledwarf, with suitable enough manners to sooth Dori’s more delicate sensibilities and enough praise sent Ori’s way to make his mother hen of an older brother puff up in pride; all the while keeping an eye on Nori, himself, making sure he had enough tea, asking if he required more food, and reaching out to brush feather light against the edge of his bruise, worried expression on his face when Nori zoned out. It was with a certain amount of reluctance and a great deal of glaring from both Dori and Ori that Nori consented to Dwalin visiting again the next day to check on him.
And so he did, appearing on the Ri family’s doorstep, day after day after day, warm fingers always brushing against the edge of Nori’s bruise, strong dangerous hands brushing soft as the finest silks against his tender skin. Even as it faded from blacks and blues to yellows and greens to finally nothing at all, Dwalin still caressed his skin. Even Nori’s innate stubbornness couldn’t hold up against Dwalin’s persistence and he soon found himself leaning into the touch, savouring the warmth and gentleness. Against his better judgement, he began to look forward to Dwalin’s visits, after all there were worst things to do than spend a few hours a day with a handsome and surprisingly gentle dwarf.
Everything was easy with Dwalin, too easy almost, he was strength and comfort, the eye of the storm that was Nori’s usual day to day life. It couldn’t last, something that Nori should’ve been expecting considering how they’d initially met, but he’d been lulled into a false sense of security by the guard who should, by all rights, be his enemy. He’d been so blinded by what his life could be, that he’d managed to forget what it was.
-x-
Dwalin was late and Nori was twitchy, forefinger stuck in his mouth, the metallic taste of blood on his tongue from where he’d nicked the nailbed with the deadly point of a dagger; something he’d not done in decades and was currently blaming on Dwalin, even as he worried about him being late.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Dori attempted to sooth his brother, sipping delicately on his tea, “Perhaps he just got held up at the guard house, you yourself know how unpredictable thieves can be.”
Nori knew that could be a reason, perhaps a chase had gone on longer than expected, or a bar fight had been particularly difficult to break up. But Dwalin was never late. It had been a year since he’d brought Nori home after the brawl, and not once in all that time had he been late. Of course there had been days when he’d not been able to see Nori, but he’d always sent a messenger in the morning to tell him. But there had been no such messenger that morning and with the sun now touching the horizon, bathing the sky in its blood red light, Nori was starting to worry.
“I’m going to check at the guard house,” Nori decided, slinging his jacket on as he rose from the chair.
“But what if someone recognises you,” Dori hisses, teacup lowering into its saucer with a rather loud clink.
“I don’t care,” Nori said with a shake of his head, surprising himself with the fact that he actually meant it. As long as Dwalin was safe, he didn’t care if one of the other guards recognised him. He hadn’t committed any particularly serious crimes in the past few months anyway, only the odd bit of pickpocketing to keep the family’s funds stocked, so they really had nothing to charge him with anyway, even if he was recognised.
Making a quick check of his knives he left to search the darkening streets for his guard.
It wasn’t long before he heard the distinct sounds of a scuffle coming from a nearby alley. Hands resting on the hilts of his favourite knives, Nori slipped into the shadows to get a better look. His grip tightened at the scene playing out before him.
Dwalin was held between two thieves, one held a wicked looking blade to his throat, while the other threw his axes to the side and searched him for any hidden valuables. It was clear that his guard had tried to fight back, but he still hadn’t gotten use to the fact that thieves dropped on you like a rain drop falling from the sky, silent and unknown till it splashed against your skin; so very different from the bungling, screech filled charge of an orc.
A shift of the searching dwarf allowed Nori to see his face in the fading light, he knew this dwarf, had even worked with him a time or two. But Nori felt no kinship with him now, not while he was running his grubby mitts over his guard’s broad chest, and most certainly not while his little accomplice held Dwalin’s life at knife point.
“If you want to keep your fingers, I suggest you let the guard go,” Nori said casually, stepping into the fading light by the trio.
“Nori,” the searching dwarf grinned at him, he seemed to be missing a few more teeth since the last time Nori had seen him, “Pleasure to see you, as always.”
“Khîm,” Nori nodded in greeting, ignoring the confused look Dwalin was sending his way, “I’m afraid this meeting will be considerably less pleasurable if you don’t release the guard.”
“Why?” Khîm frowned, “Fool should know better than to be wandering these streets.”
“You should release him because he is mine,” Nori answered slowly as though Khîm had difficulty understanding the simplest of things, a sharp smile curving his lips, “and you know I don’t like others touching what is mine.”
“Yours?”
“Mine.”
“But he’s a guard,” Khîm looked between Dwalin and Nori, disgust clear in his tone.
“Indeed he is, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s mine.”
“You’re a turncoat,” Khîm accused with dawning realisation, dropping his hands from Dwalin to turn on Nori, “That’s why no one’s seen you for months! You traitorous sack of orc shit! I should kill you where you stand!”
“You can try,” Nori taunted, sneer firmly in place as his knives flashed into his hands.
With a growl Khîm launched himself at Nori. Dwalin tried to follow, only freezing as the sharp tip of the blade at his throat pierced his skin, a thin trail of blood dribbling down to soak into the collar of his tunic as he helplessly watched on.
Thieves did not fight like warriors, there was no code of honour, no rules and regulations. It was survival of the fittest, nothing more. Every cheap shot and dirty trick a thief knew was thrown into the mix, vicious as rabid wolves and just as unpredictable.
After what felt like an eternity but was in reality no more than a few minutes, it was over. Khîm staggered back, sliding down the closet wall, glistening crimson staining his lips.
Nori’s dagger embedded in his throat.
“You,” Nori turned to the dwarf at Dwalin’s back, “Unless you wish to share his fate I suggest you run along and let them all know this guard is not to be touched. If there’s even a hint that someone plans to, then they’ll answer to me, and I do not take threats to what is mine lightly. Understand?”
With a shaky nod, the dwarf quickly removed the blade from Dwalin’s throat and disappeared into the growing darkness.
Once the accomplice was gone, and Khîm was gurgling his last, Nori rushed to Dwalin, who stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at Nori.
“Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you too badly did they? Oh you’re bleeding, we need to get you to Dori, get you patched up,” Nori gushed, slight panic lacing his words as his fingers fluttered over Dwalin, thumb swiping over the trickle of blood on his throat as his gaze lingered on the bruise blossoming on Dwalin’s cheek.
“You’re a thief?” Dwalin croaked, his tone making Nori freeze.
Taking a few steps back from Dwalin, Nori’s expression shut down, entire being now on the defensive, “I was.”
“When you saved me the first time, you were a thief then?”
“One of the worst,” Nori admitted, expression passive even as his heart hammered like a panicked sparrow.
“Why did you save me then? Knowing I was a guard?” Dwalin just couldn’t wrap his head around it.
“I didn’t know you were a guard then,” Nori said, deflating from his defensive posture, “I just…I don’t know, I just couldn’t leave you there, it wasn’t right.”
“But you were a thief, a criminal, right and wrong shouldn’t have mattered to you.”
“I still have a moral code,” he snapped, “even if it doesn’t match up to your lofty ideals of right and wrong, I still have one.”
“You’re a good dwarf,” Dwalin breathed, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“What?” Nori floundered at this seemingly sudden turn, no one called him a good dwarf considering the fact that he most certainly wasn’t, even his own family wouldn’t say that of him.
“You, Nori, are a good dwarf. You helped a stranger, a guard, putting yourself at risk in the process. You wouldn’t do that if you weren’t a good dwarf,” stepping forward Dwalin slipped a hand onto Nori’s waist, drawing him closer as his other cupped Nori’s cheek, caressing the skin as he’d done since the night of the tavern brawl. “Is this why you’ve always held back?”
“I…” Nori couldn’t help but lean into Dwalin’s heat, “I just couldn’t understand why a guard of all people would want anything to do with me, I was always waiting for the other boot to drop.”
“Well now it has, I suppose, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“You might not be, but once word truly spreads about me being in league with the guards, I might have to.”
“Don’t go,” Dwalin’s grip tightened involuntarily on Nori’s waist, making the small dwarf gasp and wince, “What?”
Pulling his hand away from Nori’s side, Dwalin looked down at his palm, the blood there was almost black in the dim light. Concerned eyes shot back to Nori’s face, seeking out other injuries he hadn’t noticed in his surprise at Nori’s profession.
“Nori?”
“I’m fine, it’s just a scratch. I got off lucky really,” Nori smiled weakly, now he knew about it, the shallow cut on his side stung, making him shift uncomfortably.
“We need to get you back home,” tucking Nori against his side, burly arm wrapped around his waist, hand resting lightly on his hip, Dwalin started marching them from the alley.
“Wait!”
“What?”
“If you think I’m leaving my knife, you’ve got another thing coming,” Nori lightly chasitised, untangling himself from Dwalin he retrieved his blade from Khîm’s throat, wiping the blood off on the downed dwarf’s tunic before sliding it back into it’s sheath. “You also might want these back.”
Dwalin chuckled as he took his axes from Nori, strapping them to his back where they belonged, in his worry for Nori, he’d completely forgotten about the weapons that had been discarded. Once satisfied that they had all they needed, Nori wriggled his way back under Dwalin’s arm, soaking in the larger dwarf’s heat.
“Now can I get you back to Dori?”
“I think we can get each other back to my brother.”
-x-
“This is become a bad habit,” Dori tutted as he ushered the pair into the house, “What happened this time?”
“Slight altercation with Khîm,” Nori shrugged, pushing Dwalin into the chair by the hearth to get a better look at the nick in his throat, “I hope you realise I’m not washing the blood out of your beard for you, once has already caused more trouble than it was worth.”
“Khîm?” Dori frowned, hand hovering over the handle of the warming kettle, “What did that troll of a dwarf want?”
“He was trying to rob me, and probably kill me in the process,” Dwalin answered, hands resting on Nori’s hips as the smaller dwarf looked over his few injuries, “Would’ve succeeded if Nori hadn’t shown up.”
“Nori?”
“Got into a bit of a scuffle, he’s dead.”
“Bit of a scuffle? How hurt are you?”
“Really, Dori? Do you have so little faith in my fighting skills?”
Dori just glared at Nori, arms crossed in the patented pose of a mother waiting and expecting her errant dwarfling to fall into line and do as they were told.
“Just a scratch and a couple of bruises,” Nori grumbled, tugging his tunic up to show Dori the barely bleeding scratch on his waist after his older brother lifted an imperious eyebrow at him, “See? Nothing to worry about. Dwalin had a knife to his throat, though, they drew blood too.”
“This won’t get you off the hook,” Dori warned, bustling over he swatted away Nori’s hands to inspect the shallow nick in Dwalin’s throat, “You’ll be fine, Men get worse shaving.”
With further swatting of hands, both Nori and Dwalin’s this time, Dori moved on to examining the shallow cut on his brother’s side. Tutting he pushed Nori onto Dwalin’s lap, shifting him about as he pleased till he could get a good look at the blood still oozing sluggishly.
“A bit of a clean and swipe with that new salve Ori brought home the other day and you’ll live to annoy another day,” Dori declared, commandeering Dwalin’s hand to hold up Nori’s tunic while he gathered hot water, clean cloths, and the small tub of salve.
Nori shivered while they waited for Dori, Dwalin’s scarred knuckles were grazing against the sensitive skin of his waist, the movement felt soft enough to be accidental, but he couldn’t be sure and was loath to call attention to it lest Dwalin stop the motion.
-x-
The moon was steadily rising in the star studded sky, the warm glow of embers the only light in the room, Dori had gone to bed leaving the pair curled up in the chair by the hearth. Nori knew that it was probably inappropriate to be cuddled up on Dwalin’s lap like he was, but his earlier worry had shifted into clinginess and a desire for comfort. So he would move when Dwalin asked him to and not a moment before.
“Nori?”
“Mmm?”
“I…” Nori looked up at Dwalin’s hesitancy, lifting his head from a broad shoulder to watch in delight as pink crept across Dwalin’s cheeks, the forming bruises barely ruining the effect, “I was, um, well, that is…”
“What is it Dwalin?”
“I was planning to, um, ask you something when I came round tonight?”
“What?”
“I was wondering if you’d let me court you?” shifting the smaller dwarf slightly, Dwalin reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, drawing out a bead, simple in design, but no less beautiful for it.
Nori stared, wide eyed, at the bead glowing in the hearth’s light, his voice was soft, disbelieving when he spoke, “You’d still want to court me? Even knowing I was a thief?”
“I don’t care,” he shrugged, “Twice now you’ve saved my life, I can think of no other dwarf I’d rather have by my side for the rest of it than you.”
“Well, then,” Nori’s smile was a little shaky, “considering the entire underworld of Ered Luin will know you’re mine by morning, I suppose it makes sense to make it official for those who don’t creep about in the dark.”
With a few quick moves and quiets snaps of opening clips, Nori’s hair tumbled messily around his shoulders. Dwalin’s breath caught at the sight, in the time he’d known Nori he’d never truly seen him with his hair out of it customary three peaks. Granted he had seen them sleep mused and wilting, but never fully down. It was a sight that made his fingers twitch with the urge to bury themselves in its glorious lushness.
Finger combing a section of hair by his temple, the same temple that had once held the bruise Dwalin lovingly caressed each time they met, Nori offered the stands to Dwalin, a shy smile flirting with his lips. Dwalin carefully took the hair, handing Nori the bead in return, before beginning the painstaking process of braiding. Tongue poking out in concentration, Dwalin forced his thick fingers to cooperate, tenderly weaving the smoothest most even braid he could. He’d been practicing for this moment for months, much to his older brother’s amusement; but he just couldn’t give Nori an inferior braid, not after spending so much time with the Ri family and seeing how much pride they took in their braids, even young Ori’s braids, few as they were, were immaculate.
Nori smiled as he watched Dwalin braid his hair, expression so serious. Perhaps, he mused, it wouldn’t be so bad being wanted by a guard for once, to be chained by more pleasant bonds than cuffs of metal and distrust.
-x-
Their courtship went smoother than anyone expected, yet still had more rough patches than they would’ve liked. Neither the City Watch nor Ered Luin’s underworld approved of the match, the two worlds colliding in the pair making them twitchy. The guard took their unease out on the criminal classes, coming down on them like a hammer to an anvil, the underworld responded by becoming more unstable similar to fault lines in a mine shaft.
But with the support of their close friends and family, they managed to see it through; even though the first time Dwalin proposed Nori froze like a startled deer before bolting. Dori found him a week later in the darkened corner of a tavern, muttering drunkenly into his tankard about blasted hair washing, stupid prophecies, and this is all bloody Dori’s fault. It was with a huff and a glare that Dori dragged his wayward younger brother home to sleep off the drink and apologise to a fretting Dwalin, lecturing him the entire way.
The second proposal worked a bit better, at least insofar as Nori didn’t bolt.
It was the third that was the charm. Sitting in front of the glowing hearth, Nori was curled up in Dwalin’s lap, his favourite place to be, with his guard’s strong arms wrapped around him. He was warm, safe, and after an offer from Thorin’s spymaster to take him on as an apprentice he was finally content with the promise of a secure future. Dwalin nuzzled against his temple, kissing the courting braid he wove every morning.
“Marry me?” he asked, deep voice rumbling though Nori in the most delicious way.
Turning slightly to look at Dwalin’s face, nervous expression softened by the golden light of the embers before them, Nori finally gave in.
-x-
The ceremony was simple and short, held in a crystal cave before the eyes of Mahal and those closest to them. Dori dabbed delicately at his eyes as the King pronounced them joined, Balin stood beside him, smiling proudly at his younger brother.
Nori glared at his husband, poking an accusing finger at his chest, “This is all because I washed your Mahal damned hair.”
Dwalin could only grin as he pulled the smaller dwarf into his arms, nuzzling into, and thoroughly ruining, the three peaks of soft russet hair, “Aye, maybe. Perhaps I should go and find those dwarves that tried to kill me, thank them properly.”
“Don’t you dare,” Nori grumbled, voice slightly muffled against Dwalin’s chest, “I’ll not be washing your hair again if you get yourself beat up and bloody.”
Nori could only smile as Dwalin’s chest shook, his husband’s deep laugh rumbling with in. He wouldn’t admit that he’d bought Dori his favourite tea in thanks for making him wash Dwalin’s hair all those years ago, at least not yet he wouldn’t, he still had something of a reputation to upkeep after all.