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After such a long long time spent traveling with the dwarves and learning their odd ways, there was one dwarf that Bilbo noticed that seemed to be the only dwarf to have some sort of odd tick. Which, of course, had to be Thorin.
Because Thorin Oakenshield, liked holding hands.
It'd taken him ages to figure it out, considering at first he'd thought his eyes were playing tricks, or he was reading into something too much. But the fact Thorin was brushing his hand against Nori's as they walked, the way he allowed Ori to play with his fingers, and Dwalin to guide his hand to point in certain areas where they could pass through was definitely not imaged.
And it seemed as though as soon as he'd noticed these little things, he noticed them everywhere.
The most obvious was with his nephews of course, Fili being subtle enough to only lace their fingers with the backs of their hands touching, whilst Kili knew not the meaning of subtly and all out clung to his uncle's hand, palm to palm and chattering away faster than any could blink as he occasionally swung their joined hands about. But Bilbo saw more than even that. He saw him gripping Bifur's hands when they conversed in that odd language, his finger's pressing against the back of Dori's hand as he corrected his musical playing, covering Balin's completely when they looked over maps, squeezed Bombur's large ones when he'd finished cooking a meal.
But it only really stuck out when he noticed how often it happened to him.
He'd never paid much attention to it, but now he did he realised that Thorin touched him a lot. When riding and Bilbo would slip, Thorin would take his hand to pull him back, when climbing a hill or ravine he'd take his hand to tug him up, when they sat beside each other on logs his pinky and ring finger would lace in between Bilbos, when they all lay in close quarters to fight off the cold his hand would find Bilbo's and cover the balled up fist to relax and warm it, when cooking a meal and offering Thorin a taste the other would slip a hand entirely over his to guide the spoon to his mouth.
He had decided to put his foot down and actually ask though when Thorin had slipped behind Bilbo, who'd been braiding his hair thanks to Kili and Fili's insistent nagging that it'd make the long locks get off his face, and had covered his hands with his own as he helped him braid. It'd felt so… intimate.
And Bilbo had found himself liking it.
"Why does he do that?" he finds himself asking Balin the next day as they walk through the forest, pointing towards Thorin at the front who's holding one of Kili's hands whilst Fili holds the other as they swing the youngest between them like a child.
"Well, they are his nephews and they're still only children really. Only reason they're here is because of their devotion to their uncle-"
"No. Not that! I mean…" he bites his lip and looks behind them, only seeing Bofur and Ori's cheerful faces looking back before he turns to Balin, "I mean… why does he hold hands?"
"Oh! That!" Balin is especially loud and Bilbo has to resist the urge to shush the dwarf as everyone glances at them curiously. Kili opens his mouth to speak, probably to make comment, but is silenced as Fili yanks him along with a sharp tug. Balin raises an eyebrow at them before he turns to give Bilbo a wry grin, "now that, Mr. Baggins, is something very simple to understand."
"Please explain." Because otherwise I'll keep thinking Thorin is some sort of brazened whore and this whole Company is actually his harem.
"Has Mr. Thorin been getting a bit close for comfort there, laddie?" the old dwarf asks, grinning and waggling his eyebrows, making Bilbo blush at the thought that maybe Balin knows what he's thinking, before the old dwarf claps the hobbit on the back, "I'm just playing with you, lad. It's not too hard to understand, you must know that Thorin was raised in royalty."
"He is technically a king."
"Aye, that he is." Balin pauses for a minute, pursing his lips before nodding and continuing. "See, Thorin is royalty, meaning being preen and proper all the time. When he was a youngster he use to be quite affectionate, was quite the sweetie," seeing the look on Bilbo's face makes him laugh, "aye! Its hard to imagine him so! But he was. He used to cuddle his mother and father all the time, curl up on his grandfathers knee, play with his friends and even kiss his wee crushes on their cheeks," Bilbo isn't the only one who awes at that, the surrounding members of the Company having turned to listen in to Balin's story, "but unfortunately that is not appropriate behaviour for a young heir to the Erebor throne, and eventually when he began to outgrow his childish looks and became more mature, he began to get punished for his actions."
Bilbo can see that Thorin can hear, the stiffening of the dwarfs shoulders enough to know and the way he abruptly lets go of Kili's hand to cross them over his chest makes it perfectly clear.
"His father used to get angry if he once showed affection, his grandfather even worse. His mother tried to get them to relent on their… punishments, but after she passed on it merely got worse and worse until Thorin never hugged, never kissed, never did much more than what was needed." The Company is quiet as they all look at their king, the whole group stumbling to a stop as Thorin's hands drop to his sides and curl into fists, showing his anger, but it doesn't stop a determined Balin from finishing.
"Holding hands though, brushing hands, any contact with hands is subtle and quiet. Not noticeable. So Thorin picked up on that, and ever since… well he shows his affection for others through his hands." He smiles at Bilbo with a hearty wink, "the more he touches, the more he likes you."
Bilbo can't help but blush as he thinks of how many times Thorin has touched his hand compared to anyone else's, and with a shy, near coy, look he glances up to look at Thorin. Although, he's almost terrified when he sees stormy dark eyes looking back.
He feels his blood rushing, his heart pumping as he thinks of what those hand touches mean, and after swallowing the lump in his throat he silently moves through the crowd of dwarves until he's standing in front of Thorin.
"You touch my hand," he says, surprised at his boldness, "a lot."
"And what of it?" Thorin's voice is quiet, but his eyes are flashing darkly as Bilbo swallows again and gives him a small smile.
Before reaching out to take the other's hand, entwining their fingers and squeezing lightly.
"And don't stop."
Thorin seems speechless, eyes wide and it isn't until the dwarves behind them start cheering and throwing around sacks of gold does he finally smile, small and merely a twitch of the corners of his mouth, but it is enough to be counted as a grin in Thorin's case.
Bilbo kisses the back of their hands, maintaining eye contact before he's tugging the king down the path again, feeling and hearing the others stumble back into whatever terrible line they'd formed originally.
"Come on, Thorin. No time to be lagging."
The laugh he gets warms him to his bones.