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Don’t tell Bilbo, but one of Thorin’s favorite things about when Bilbo’s periods got nasty was the belly squishes: Thorin’s arms wrapped protectively around Bilbo’s pocket-sized frame, his hands securely on his hobbit’s round belly, and Bilbo actually encouraging him with little groans when he gently massaged the skin below his stomach.
Not that he needed an excuse to cuddle his hobbit, but Bilbo wasn’t always fond of belly squishes otherwise, gently swatting his hands away while he was baking in the kitchen at Bag End.
“Would you cut that out?” he would say. “I’m not pregnant, for goodness' sake.”
“Yes, but you’re soft,” Thorin would reply, reaching for his butt instead and making Bilbo laugh.
One of his least favorite things about when Bilbo’s periods got nasty, though, was when no amount of tea or number of hot stones could ease his pain. It was typically only one day out of his usual five, but that didn’t make it easier.
Seeing your hobbit burrow beneath the blankets in a ball and decline food of all things because they might be sick was never not unnerving.
All Thorin could do on those days was rub Bilbo’s back and hold him close, telling him tales of his journeys and offering amusing stories about Dwalin and Balin back when they were in their younger days.
And then there were nights like tonight.
“You don’t have to do all that,” Bilbo said.
They were in the bathroom, Thorin gently rubbing the bedsheets together under cool water in the tub. Bilbo stood not far away, wiping blood from his inner thighs with a warm, wet rag.
It was the middle of the night, and they were both a little frazzled—Bilbo with his hair in disarray and his blood-soaked underwear abandoned on the tile, Thorin with his hair braided atop his head like a ridiculous frizzy unicorn, on his knees in his bedclothes at the tub.
“It’s hardly a chore,” said Thorin, glancing up at him. He knew how he must look, and his heart lifted a little when Bilbo cracked a smile.
Still, for the third time that night, Bilbo said, “I’m sorry.”
Thorin shook his head. “Nothing to be sorry for. I’ve gotten blood on my own fair share of sheets in my day.” He held up the sheets in question to show how the stains were nearly gone already. “I’ll leave them to soak until morning. Do you want a bath? I can move them to the sink.”
Bilbo shook his head. “I’m too tired.”
Thorin washed his hands in the sink and then placed a kiss on Bilbo’s forehead. “Is there anything I can get you, amral?”
Bilbo pressed his head to Thorin’s chest and sighed. He was quiet for a long, long moment, and Thorin wondered if he might have fallen asleep. But then he peered up at him through his long lashes and said, “Would you have a midnight snack with me?”
Thorin smiled. “Always.”
This you could tell Bilbo: that one of Thorin’s other favorite things about when Bilbo’s periods got nasty was when they’d sneak out into the garden in their bathrobes long after midnight, the stars shining bright above them like fireflies on the cavernous ceiling of Erebor, quietly laughing and shushing each other like they were children sneaking out of the palace.
They would sit on Bilbo’s little garden bench, their hands full of sweets they knew they wouldn’t even be able to finish, and would lean against one another as they listened to the crickets chirp on the warm, summer night.
Bilbo would mumble something about feeling like he was bleeding through his cloth again, and Thorin would discretely check for him despite the fact that there was no one else around, and despite Thorin assuring him that he was fine, Bilbo would later confirm he was right and need to change his underwear again before crawling back into their freshly changed bed.
“Could you hold me?” Bilbo would ask, voice soft under the blankets. Birds would already be chirping just outside their window despite the sky still being dark.
“Of course,” Thorin would say, and he would try to hide his joy when Bilbo would turn over and he had the chance to run his hands over his husband’s pastry-filled belly. But despite trying to hide it, Bilbo always knew belly squishes were one of his favorite things about nights like tonight.