Work Text:
Erebor had been regained for some months now. The Durins seemed to get over their wounds; Thorin was getting used to his cane – though he was still stubborn and tried to prove himself he could walk without it –, and Fili and Kili were both showing off their scars to all the Dwarves living in the mountain. Literally all the Dwarves; male and female, it did not matter to them. Even he had been showed Kili’s eighteen times. Yes, he had been counting them. He was not against a surprise visit from the prince, but they had gotten a bit awkward lately. First he would come in, ask him about what he had been doing, ask about the battle, about news from the city, before counting all his scars in front of him. Now it had just become a silence-filler, which he would use when Ori explicitly told him with a certain stare that he had work to do.
This time it was just too much for the young blond to take.
“Prince Kili, don’t get me wrong, but why do you keep coming to visit me if you don’t even know what you want to tell me, and when I am obviously drowning under work?”
He indeed had to sort absolutely all the books they would find in the mountain, and get them to their library. Kili looked at him for a moment only, before looking at his feet.
“I just… like your company, that’s all. Can’t I stay with you for once?”
“Maybe later.”
He had not intended for his tone to be so cold, but it was. He began to worry as he noticed a hurt look on Kili’s face, but the prince shook his head and smiled to him widely.
“Good luck with your work then! I’ll… see you at the banquet tonight, maybe?”
“We’ll see, yes. Have a nice day.”
Ori was already busy with books and work as he said so. He thus did not notice that Kili stayed there for five minutes, only looking at him, before he left, silent as a shadow. Tidying things up took him a while that day, given that his brothers visited him later with dozens of books they had found. It did not really help that they absolutely wanted to question him about Kili; had he seen the prince, had they talked, how long had he been there. They left half unsatisfied, apparently.
The young Dwarf let out a sight. He knew his brothers were aware of the feelings he had had for the prince during their journey, but he had now acknowledged that what Kili was looking for was a lot of attention, and not only from one Dwarf. He was not even sure if all of Erebor could be enough. He sighed and sat behind his desk. His eyes wandered a bit around the room, until they laid on his journey records. He knew he should not open it. But he did it anyway.
As he slowly turned the pages, memories flew back to him. There was a lot of text, of course, about the adventures that had happened to them; a map, too, which they had used to avoid getting lost; and… He sighed, while red slowly coloured his cheeks.
He counted them. Sixteen pages covered in at least eighty sketches of Kili. Kili eating, Kili listening, Kili talking, Kili laughing, Kili singing, Kili sleeping,…
He had forgotten about the naked-chest one. This one made him blush particularly. Maybe he should take it out of the book, in case someone would like to read it.
…
Maybe he should take all these drawings out of the book because that was really too embarrassing. Especially given the fact that there was no chance for him anymore. He sure had hoped that there had been signs: Kili insisted on sitting with him during lunch or dinner when they were to be together, he had given him a lovely quill-holder he had found in the great treasure which had made him “instantly think” of him, he visited him rather often… and there was this time too when he was talking really close to him, and had let his fingers caress his braids and beard, but nothing had happened. Ori shook his head. No, surely, the prince was only used to being close to others. He was really close to his brother after all. And could have been considered intimate to anybody in Erebor, since he did not miss an opportunity for showing his scars.
~#~
Having dinner with everybody was nice, for a change. They did not always manage to gather all of their former company at the same time. Ori allowed himself to smile and laugh with the others, making a mess of everything, forgetting manners, just as they did back in Bilbo’s house. The Hobbit was in fact half-hiding under the table, convinced one of the plates would end up crashing on his face.
What lightened Ori’s mood the most was Kili, sitting at his left side. Just like old times. The young prince was challenging all the others in drinking and eating contests – Bombur always won at the eating part but trying to beat him was always fun. Ori looked at Kili, smiling wide. Maybe he had already drunk too much ale. But he was feeling wonderfully good. And he did not know if Kili’s smile to him was really tender or if he was just making it up. He did not care, for once. He wanted to believe his old dreams still had the slightest chance of becoming true.
Kili dug in his arm with his elbow, trying to catch his attention. Just as he left his eyes towards him and smiled, the prince put a finger on his lips, before taking him by the hand. Together they then walked away from the feast. Ori’s legs were weak under him. Maybe he had had way too much ale after all.
Yep, definitely too much ale. He did not get a word of what Kili was saying him. Then he noticed the older one was expecting an answer from him. Ori went for what he intended to be a neuter “I think so too”, but this damned smile would not leave his face. Kili’s relieved smile made him felt warm deep inside.
He barely remembered something slowly touching his lips when he closed his eyes. But what had happened between this – and by “this” he did not even know what he was exactly referring to – and him going to bed?
Ori grumbled and tried to straighten up, but a pair of arms around his waist was preventing him from leaving the mattress. As well as an almost-beardless head resting on his shoulder. The young Dwarf froze. What was Kili doing in his bed? Hold down a second, he thought to himself, looking around. He blushed heavily. This is not my room.
No, it was not. There were not enough books for this, and there were maybe too many weapons – swords, arrows, bows… He concluded he was probably in Kili’s room. Which seemed rather logical, given that the Dwarf was sleeping half-spread over him. He shivered when he felt the prince nuzzle against his neck.
“So even a hangover won’t prevent you from waking up early, eh?” Kili smiled, before he kindly kissed Ori’s ear.
The young scribe shivered again.
“How did I… how come you… did we…?”
Kili laughed soflty.
“You’re still as pure and innocent as yesterday, Ori. Don’t worry, I’m not the kind of taking too much advantage of a drunk Dwarf. And by not too much I mean that kissing and sleeping chastely together was already making me reaaaally happy.”
Ori blushed again.
“We… we kissed? But – but I thought you did not really care about me?”
“I’ve told him hundreds times how much he sucks at courting, believe me.”
The young Dwarf yelped as he threw his arms around Kili.
“WHAT IS FILI DOING THERE.”
“Hey chill down Ori! Jus’ paying a visit to my brother, I didn’t expect you to be there actually.”
Fili had an amused smile on his lips as he winked at his younger brother and uttered a silent but very clear “I'm so proud of you, brother”. He was holding some sheets in his hands… which was rather odd, given that he was not particularly fond of reading.
“What is it you’ve got in your hands?” Kili asked, noticing the pages. Ori looked too, and blushed again, jumping out of the bed.
“GIVE ME THOSE.”
“Oooh really I don’t want to. Kili, swift!”
And with that Fili threw the pages towards his brother, laughing as he kept Ori away from the bed. Seeing how hurt the young Dwarf was, Kili straightened up, ready to defend him… then he looked at all the pages floating towards him. He caught one of them to see five drawings of him on each face. He left his eyes towards Ori, who looked more ashamed than ever and fled out of the room. Fili just stood there, looking a bit lost.
“…I’m sorry, I really thought he wouldn’t be there in the first place.”
Not really paying attention to his brother, Kili put the page on his bed and ran after Ori. It did not take him long before catching him back, since he had not dared to go too far with nothing but his underwear on him. He softly curled his arms around Ori, who let out a sigh, shivering a bit from the cold around them.
“Why did you even bother to give me attention yesterday? You never did before.”
“I did not know you had feelings for me.” Kili kissed the younger Dwarf’s forehead. “Now I do. And there is nothing that would make me more happy.”
A silence. “Do you care for me?”
The prince smiled. “I love you more than anyone or anything else, if that’s your question.”
“I thought I’d never hear that from you”, Ori admitted with a shy smile. “So… you’ve been trying to court me for a while?”
“Yes, but Fili found it better to make fun of me rather than actually helping me”, the prince answered, rolling his eyes. But then he smiled again. “By the way, want to go back to kick him out of the room?”
“Only if you would not mind to kiss me first. I’m not sure I appreciated it fully yesterday evening, I’d like to make up for that”, the scribe answered with a shy smile.
Kili smiled back and leaned in, until their lips met. The kiss was soft, tender, and a bit inexperienced. It was perfect.
“Augh, get a room you two!”
Yes, Fili was rather proud of his habit to ruin romantic moments.
Weeks later, some would still talk about that morning when the two princes and young Ori ran through the entire mountain in their underwear. And they would talk about Kili and Ori holding hands while screaming to Fili that he had to meet his fate which was to pay for messing with them.
The story says they never caught him.