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“Come on, Ori,” Dori snarled. “We need to talk,” he cast a dark look over Dwalin, who was watching Ori as he absent-mindedly redressed himself. “In private,” he spat when Dwalin fastened his pants and took a step towards them.
“Oh, come off it,” Dwalin moaned, rolling his eyes. “Yah can’t be serious.”
“You’ll keep your mouth shut, you filthy pig,” Dori told Dwalin, and before the warrior could advance on Dori and wring his neck for his frustrating stubbornness, Nori was there with a small dagger to his throat. He said nothing, but his gaze clearly said do it, I’d love to cut the throat of my baby brother’s corrupter and Dwalin stilled.
Dori regarded Ori again, and when the younger shook his head and stepped away from his brother, he reached forward and took his wrist in an iron grip, pulling him towards the door. He did not budge and when Dori tried to pull again, telling him that they needed to get him away from this animal and somewhere safe, he pulled his arm away sharply.
“Ori!” Dori exclaimed, and made another grab for his youngest sibling, who darted out of his reach and went to Dwalin, taking Nori’s hand and the blade in it and pushing it away from Dwalin. Dori’s face was blotchy red under his beard. “Ori, you come back here right now!”
“No!” Ori said finally, standing as tall as he could, which did not look like much when he stood next to someone so large and imposing as Dwalin, but to him he could have been tall as a man for how brave and strong he was being.
Nori stepped away from Dwalin and Ori and scowled at them. “He’s lied to you, then? Told you there’s a future for you two?”
“He hasn’t told me anything,” Ori says, shaking his head, braids swaying. “He doesn’t need to tell me anything, I’m not his.”
“Exactly!” Dori says, holding his hands out and making a beckoning motion to draw his brother back to himself. “You don’t mean anything to him, you’re just another cute dwarfling that he can defile-“
“Say that to m’face, Dori,” Dwalin growls, and when Ori looks up at him he softens a little. “You’d best be glad he’s here, or I’d be beatin’ yer bloody face in right now.”
“That’s all that’s stopping you then, Dwalin?” Nori asks, going to stand with his other brother. “Why not show him your true nature, how you hunger only for gold, violence, and deflowering innocents?”
“Oh, I’ll show y’violence,” he grumbled and cracked his knuckles, and when both Nori and Dori went to draw their weapons they were frozen only by Ori shouting;
“Stop it, all three of you!” and small and unimposing as he was, the fire in his eyes and stance was enough to silence his brothers and lover. He took a deep breath, as if to calm his nerves, then spoke again. “Put your weapons away, and listen to me.” Dori obeyed after a second’s hesitation and Dwalin’s fists lowered to his sides, though they still twitched. Nori kept a hand on the handle of his knife, but otherwise gave Ori his full attention.
“Don’t I, as the subject of this disagreement, get some say in the matter?” He asked, and when Dori tried to interrupt him and argue he held up a hand and spoke in a firm, strong tone. “Let me say my piece, and then you two can leave. It won’t matter what you think or say because you can’t change my mind or stop me from doing what I want to do.”
“We are your brothers-“
“And I appreciate everything you’ve done for me so far, keeping me safe and providing for me when I was too young to do it myself.” Ori said, surprisingly calm for such an emotionally tense situation. “But I’m more than a snivelling babe, brothers. I am an adult and I am old enough to make my own decisions.”
Nori took a deep, measured breath, and said; “I recognize that you’ve made a decision, but given that it is a stupid-arse one, I have elected to ignor-“
“I told you. You won’t be changing my mind or talking me out anything tonight, or tomorrow, or any day in the future.” Ori’s face was set, and he looked so much older and more mature when he wasn’t shrieking or looking horrified and nervous all the time, Dwalin noted. “I survived the quest for Erebor, didn’t I? I took back the mountain with the rest of the adult dwarves, who are old enough to decide who they want to spend their time with and what they want to do, so shouldn’t I be granted the same liberty?”
“Dwalin,” Dori said, pausing as if waiting for Ori to interrupt. He didn’t. “is nothing more than a beast. He will use you and then throw you away, like he has countless other dwarf lads and lasses. What makes you think you’re any different?”
“He told me I was special,” Ori replied, casting a tiny sly look at Dwalin who smiled crookedly back at him. Ori’s hand found Dwalin’s and slipped into his much-larger palm. “He told me I was more precious to him than all the gold under the mountain. And that’s enough for me. Why can’t it be enough for you, to see me happy with someone?”
“We want you to be happy,” Dori said.
“Believe us, we do,” Nori said, nodding.
“But we really don’t think that Dwalin can give you what you deserve. He thinks only of what he will kill next, eat next, or fuck next-“
“He isn’t like that!” Ori exclaimed and Dori fell silent again. “You don’t know the side of him that I know and you can’t appreciate the person he is.” Dwalin was getting a little uncomfortable with the flowery way Ori was talking about him, but he wanted to show his support and his unwavering place at Ori’s side, so he stood firmly with him, squeezing his hand gently. “I know this doesn’t mean much to you two, but I’ve decided that Dwalin is one of the best dwarves I’ve ever met and I want to be with him as long as I can. You can try to keep us apart, you can take me away and lock me up, but I will always, always break away from you and come back to him.”
Dori and Nori were uncharacteristically silent throughout this speech, only standing and staring at Ori as he spoke. Whether they digested the words or not was unknown, but Ori was on a roll and he had nearly said everything he wanted to say.
“So, unless you want me to constantly be trying to get away from you, I’d suggest you leave us be. If he leaves me or I leave him and I’m miserable, torn apart, and heartbroken, I can tell you right now that I will never regret this decision and its consequences.” He pulled Dwalin to the door by his hand, pushing past his brothers, who stood in stunned disbelief at the sudden nerve their brother seemed to have gained as if by magic. He pushed Dwalin out the door and paused in the doorway, looking over his shoulder. “Of that you can be sure.” He added, then slammed the door behind him.