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Ori had to admit that sometimes, sometimes, he may have been slightly jealous of Fili. Not because of who he was, but of the special bonds he had with his brother, of the fact that he was stealing his best friend in a way – well, stealing was a big word, Dwalin and him were falling in love, of course they would spend more time together – and he also get to spend all of his free time with Kili. It made it hard for Ori to try to get closer to the prince he secretly loved. Hence the envy. Which was really reasonable given the circumstances.
The young scholar sighed and tried to pull his blanket up under his nose. He was so cold. He’d have given anything to sleep against someone at that moment, but Dori and Nori were always in a bad mood when woken up in the middle of the night, and he really did not want to experience that again. And they were not cuddly at all.
He almost yelped when he felt somebody’s back bounce against his. He turned around ready to scold the one that frightened him, but the words died in his throat as he saw that it was Kili. Kili looking anxious. Kili looking up to him before looking a bit relieved, and turning around to grab the edge of his blanket.
“Please let me stay here tonight,” the young prince whispered.
Ori finally completely turned around and was glad it was night, because he felt himself blush.
“What’s wrong Kili?,” he whispered back. The dark-haired dwarf bit his lip and looked around them.
“Fili’s on watch and he said to me that after that he plans on sleeping with Dwalin.”
That detail might have irritated the scholar a bit, when he remembered how this blossoming romance had taken his friend away from him. “Oh yes, lovey-dovey Fili and Dwalin, sure, but as annoying at this is, I don’t see your point.”
Kili looked rather embarrassed as he looked to his feet. “I’m afraid of dark and Fili’s the only one who usually agrees to sleep with me.”
“Oh,” was all Ori could answer for a while. He eventually patted the young prince on the shoulder. Eyes full of hope laid back on him.
“So do you mind sleeping with me tonight? I won’t annoy you much, I’ll just need you to hold me a bit and talk to me until I fall asleep.”
Yep, he was probably blushing really hard at this point. Maybe that’s why he chuckled nervously. “Well, uh, I’m actually really cold tonight, so I wouldn’t mind sharing blankets…”
And just when he said that, Kili threw his blanket on him. He then jumped under Ori’s blankets, curled an arm around him and pulled some of the blankets over his body too.
“D’you feel warmer now?” He could feel the prince’s breath against his lips, and nervously nodded. He even tightened a bit when he felt Kili sight and let his forehead rest against his.
“Thank you, Ori,” Kili whispered again.
“You… you’re welcome.”
There was silence on a while. Ori finally calmed down as he listened to the quiet breathing of the prince against him. It felt nice, having Kili close. He had not been prepared for this as he would have liked to. But it felt nice.
“Ori? You sleeping?”
“Not yet, no. But I’m warm enough and that should not take me long to fall asleep,” the scholar smiled. Before noticing Kili’s touch was rather tight against his clothes. “Is there something wrong?”
He heard the other whine. “’m still afraid. Can you please talk to me?”
Ori hesitated a bit, but he left his hand and slowly caressed the other’s hair. “What exactly are you scared of?”
“The darkness,” Kili whispered. “Not seeing around me. Not knowing what are the shapes around us. Look there, these must be trees, but to me they look like a group of trolls, with their clubs up in the air.
“To me they just look like giant rabbits,” Ori answered genuinely. To his great surprise, he heard Kili chuckle.
“And now I see them too! You should be ashamed of yourself, turning scary trolls into giant rabbits!”
A proud smile grew on his lips.
“And my powers know no borders. Tell me what else scares you, and I’ll turn it into something harmless!”
And on they went for a while, trying their best not to laugh out loud and wake the others. Kili finally fell asleep against the scholar, a smile on his lips. And he never wanted to sleep with his brother after that, claiming he had to keep Ori warm. And Ori did not complain.