Work Text:
As Bilbo rushed about the closed quarters of his hobbit hole in preparation for his birthday party, every thought in his mind was about said party. He scrambled to cross his t’s and dot his i’s, desiring for the party to be perfect. It was not until late past sunset the night before the party he was able to rest.
As he lay in his comfortable bed, in his nice hobbit hole, unable to sleep with excitement. In a moment of boredom, unable to think of other things to do, he began to reminisce about that fateful adventure that had changed his entire life so many years ago. He recalled the way Thorin had looked the day they first met.
“I wonder how it would have turned out if we could have saved him.” Bilbo wondered. The memory of Thorin laid out on a bed, not far off from dying, flashed before Bilbo’s eyes. Out of all the traumatizing and horrific things he had been through, that image still haunted him. Bilbo turned on his side, hoping to rid himself of the thoughts related to his long lost companion.
Unfortunately, all he was met with was the mithril coat gifted to him by the dwarf. He sighed and shut his eyes.
He did not fall asleep yet, but he had wonderous dreams. He envisioned himself reading next to Thorin in bed, Thorin donning glasses in his old age. An age he never got to. Bilbo felt his brows furrow as more brutally domestic images flooded his mind. He pictured Thorin coming home after a long adventure, battered, bruised, and exhausted. He imagined how they would sit and talk, and laugh about the different things Thorin had gone through as Bilbo tended to his many cuts and bruises.
As he fantasized he felt his chest tighten with grief. It had been many, many years since he had seen Thorin. He had even begun to forget the sound of the Dwarf’s voice. Many times he had asked Gandalf to recreate it with his magic, but it was never quite the same as actually hearing it. He held his own hand, attempting to pretend it was Thorin's thumb tracing small, calming shapes into his skin.
Before long, the distressed hobbit drifted off to sleep dreaming of what could have been between him and Thorin.