Work Text:
Friday afternoons were Ori Nain's favourite shifts during the week. Bag End was never super busy like a city store would be, but Fridays were always the days when people who worked or went to school outside of the town came home for the weekend. Ori was a people watcher and he enjoyed seeing the familiar faces of those who came into the store and those who milled passed outside.
It was the third week in July, so there was no school to worry about except for those who had summer school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and needed to take the bus into the city. It wasn't too hot, but weather in the Shire was always fairly nice this time of year, which meant more people would be outside. There were a few milling about Bag End though, mostly browsing.
"I think I have everything now, Ori." A pretty blonde woman made her way up to the counter, setting three more books with the two already waiting for her. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting."
He offered her a friendly smile before motioning along the front counter. "Not to worry, all of these invisible people will gladly wait for you, Eowyn." He promised.
She laughed and turned toward the invisible people, "Thank you all. I will be done right away." She stated before turning back to Ori, her smile beaming from their playing. "You're such a silly boy." She shook her head, amused.
Ori puffed out his chest as he rang her books into the register. "I'll have you know, I'm not a boy anymore." He huffed out, but the effect was ruined by his smile. He was at that awkward age when he wasn’t quite an adult, but not a teenager anymore. Though, if you asked his brother, he was always awkward no matter what age.
Her eyes widened and she gasped. "That's right! You're going to college in the fall! Dori told me when I saw him last. Journalism, right?"
He ducked down to grab a paper bag from below the counter. "That's right. Hopefully it'll be what I expect it to be." He shrugged as he began to pack her books in the bag for her. He’d been writing for his school paper since he entered high school, and he had gotten a few articles published in The Shire Post, the local paper.
The front door opened to allow customers in as she reached out and squeezed the hand holding the last book. "I bet it'll be more than what you expect. You've been writing since the moment you learned the alphabet, and you always had the best articles in the school paper, I know you'll do fine."
"Thank you, Eowyn. That means a lot." He said sincerely before folding the top of the bag. "Is there anything else that I can help you- oh." He cut himself off in surprise as he spotted two small children who had slipped through the door.
Eowyn looked back in curiosity to see them as well.
Two boys stood standing a few feet away, looking a little anxious as they waited for Ori to finish with his customer. The brunet child hid behind the blond as he clutched to some sort of stuffed animal while his eyes darted around the room. He fidgeted as though holding still was the last thing he wanted to do, and every time he moved too far away, the blond would pull him back.
They were both wearing clothing that had definitely seen better days. The brunet had on dark blue shorts and a faded green Incredible Hulk t-shirt, and the blond was wearing black jeans faded to a grey colour and a red and white striped shirt. Both sets of clothes looked splattered with paint in various colours and in various places, including a faint dusting of grey freckles across the brunet’s face.
"Can I help you boys?" Ori asked from behind the counter, wondering if they were lost but having his doubts. They didn't have the usual panicked look of lost children.
The blond had been standing on his toes as he tried to see over a shelf nearby, searching for something until he realized he was being spoken to. Someone had weaved a few braids in his hair, and the end of one braid was being chewed on until he opened his mouth to speak. "Kili wants to show Mr. Bilbo his dragon." He explained as he set himself down on his feet again.
Ori couldn’t even remember a time he’d ever seen the man with a child before, so hearing his boss's name come from one so young was a little surprising.
The brunet frowned and tugged on the blond's arm; his hair had been tied back away from his face at one point, but most of the wild curls had escaped and were now bouncing around the boy’s face as he moved. "Fee! I wanted to tell him!" He whined softly and even stomped his foot a little.
The blond didn’t react to the display, or else he was used to the attitude. He only looked at the brunet and grinned. "Tell them then."
Ori watched in amusement as the brunet suddenly turned shy, the toe of an untied blue and white sneaker was scuffed against the wooden floor. "I wanna show Mr. Bilbo my dragon." He repeated and after a moment he held the stuffed toy up to show Ori and Eowyn.
It was clearly a dragon, with its long tail and flappy wings. It was dark green in colour and its eyes were black. The mouth was open in a permanent grin and what looked to be white felt lined the jaws for teeth. It seemed to be free of any paint splatters.
"That is a cute dragon." Eowyn began before Ori could speak. She leaned a little closer to the two to get a closer look. "I think Mr. Baggins would love to see a dragon like that." She promised before offering them both a smile. She straightened and then took her bag from Ori. "I'll be on my way so you can help these young gentlemen. See you soon, Ori." She promised, leaving with a wave. "Goodbye boys!" She called over her shoulder.
Ori watched her go for a moment. Apparently it was too long of a moment because a voice made him look away.
"Is she your girlfriend?" The blond asked.
Brown eyes widened and he turned to regard the two children again. They were both looking at him curiously and he couldn't help but flush. "No, she's just a friend." He insisted, unsure why he was insisting. Who were these kids anyway?
“She called my dragon cute.” The brunet made a face, because clearly his dragon was not cute.
“She’s a girl, Kee. They think everythin’s cute.” The blond reassured him.
"Can we see Mr. Bilbo now?" The brunet wondered once more, clearly the more impatient one of the two.
"I'll see if he's in." Ori promised, already knowing that Bilbo was in the back room. He moved from behind the counter and headed toward a door between two bookshelves. "Mr. Baggins, you have a couple of visitors who are demanding to see you." He began, spotting the older man sitting at the small table in the room where they ate their lunch.
He had a sandwich in front of him and he'd just taken a bite. The frown on his face told Ori that he had no idea what the young man was talking about. Ori cleared his throat. "Apparently they've come to see you about...a dragon." He couldn't help but smile at that because it was rather absurdly adorable.
The confusion didn't clear up at first, Bilbo's frown deepening as he mulled the words over. Then, as if a light had been turned on, his eyes widened and his frown disappeared. He placed his sandwich back on the plate and got up to follow Ori back into the main part of the building.
Bilbo spotted the two children but then looked around the room. "And just what do you two think you're doing here? Does your father know where you are this time?" His hands went to his hips as he asked sternly, aware that Ori was watching.
The brunet pulled the blond closer to Bilbo though he really didn't need to as they were both moving forward eagerly to greet him. "I wanted to show you my dragon!" He replied as he held the stuffed toy out so Bilbo could take it. “Daddy said we could show you.” He promised.
After a moment Bilbo took the plush dragon and actually knelt down before the two youngsters. He made a few humming sounds as he looked over the toy as if really inspecting it, moving its wings and making its mouth open and close. "This...is a mighty fine dragon." He finally nodded and offered both children a smile which made the two of them relax as though Bilbo’s opinion about the dragon really mattered. "Does he have a name?"
"She." The brunet said right away, beaming proudly now that his dragon had been accepted. "Her name is Fang." He rocked back on his heels and forward onto his toes.
"’Cause of her big teefs," The blond offered helpfully, but was quick to add, "She doesn’t breathe fire." Ori had to wonder about the soft and serious tone in that statement, but perhaps that was simply the way of this child.
"Fire’s bad, no fire.” The brunet agreed.
"She sounds like a well behaved dragon then. You've trained her well, Kili." And Ori watched a little stunned as his normally (slightly) grumpy boss reached out and ruffled the child's dark hair.
The blond made a slightly disgruntled noise as he pushed forward a little, causing Bilbo to chuckle. The man moved and ruffled his hair too. "And now you have two dragons to protect, Fili."
Bilbo glanced up and noticed Ori still watching. The teen flushed a little and looked away, busying himself with a few books on the back counter that he still needed to re-shelve. He couldn't help it, observing people was a habit he couldn’t break out of now.
"Ori, come here, please." He heard Bilbo call to him.
With a soft sigh, the ginger haired teen turned around to regard his boss. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, and he knew Dori would have scolded him a little for being so rude.
Bilbo didn't look unhappy though, and in fact looked happier than Ori had ever really seen him before. "Ori, this is Fili and Kili." He touched the top of the blond's head first, then the brunet’s. "Boys, this is Ori. He works here with me." He explained.
"Hi Ori." They both spoke at the same time, the way twins do sometimes - or so Ori had read about once.
"Hello." He leaned forward on the counter, waving to the two of them. "And who do you belong to?" He wondered curiously. There were a few new families that had moved into the Shire recently, though he hadn't seen children.
"They're Thorin Oakenshield's sons." Bilbo explained when Fili and Kili looked up at him for a response. "We met earlier this week."
News traveled fast around the Shire, so Ori had heard the name a couple of times this week. "The man who bought the building down the street?" He wondered, looking at his boss and wondering why Bilbo even knew the name when he barely paid attention to any chatter.
"The very same." Bilbo nodded.
The children, of course, had to be the reason, Ori thought after. Bilbo wasn’t exactly a recluse as he had a wide circle of acquaintances, but he was known to be rather unsociable most days. How he could ignore all the gossip going on around him was beyond the teen.
Ori mostly heard it from some of the women in town that had been talking. Bag End had its usual crowd in the mornings after Bombur's bakery opened next door and the ladies liked to have their coffee and cakes while sitting down in the quiet atmosphere of Bilbo's store, taking up the little circle of couches and chairs in the middle of the room. It was hard not to overhear their conversations, and Ori knew that this Thorin Oakenshield had certainly caught the attention of a few of them. If they weren't gossiping about why he'd bought the old building, then they were going on about his 'enchanting eyes' and his 'deep, soulful voice'.
Ori had thought they'd been reading too many romance novels, and he couldn't imagine his boss willingly listening to their nosy talks.
"Welcome to the Shire, lads." Ori smiled kindly at the two boys looking up at him. "I'm sure you'll fit right in here with us."
The bell atop the door rang then, and everyone looked over to see who had entered the quiet place.
Ori didn't know the man by sight, but his keen eyes took in the way the figure was looking down at the two children in front of Bilbo. His face held worry, hiding a slight bit of panic, edging on relief now as he looked each child up and down.
He was tall, though not too tall; broad in the shoulders, but not overly muscled from what Ori could see. The simple white t-shirt, that was dusty and covered in what Ori assumed to be the same paint the boys were covered in, showed off the black ink running along both of his arms. Ori couldn’t see what the tattoos were from his vantage point, but the dark colour was rather eye catching when those arms crossed over that broad chest. The worn jeans this specimen had on seemed to be in the same condition as his shirt, and he had a smear of grey under his left eye.
Well, speak of the Devil.
This had to be Thorin Oakenshield.
"Fili. Kili." The voice was deep, and Ori had to admit, maybe the women hadn't been too far off on that 'deep, soulful' idea. He also knew the tone this man used quite well, and he immediately felt bad for the two youngsters. He had been on the receiving end of one of Dori's scoldings more often then he cared to remember.
Upon hearing their names, each boy looked down at the floor knowing that they had done something wrong.
"You ran off again." Thorin stepped further into the building and moved swiftly over to the two children, surprising Ori when he knelt down in front of the two instead of towering over them.
He wished Dori would have been so thoughtful sometimes.
Fili and Kili looked at each other before looking at their father.
"You said we could show Mr. Bilbo Kili's dragon." Fili began.
"I did," Thorin admitted, "but I also told you we'd come here together when we were done painting for the day, didn't I?"
“We was tired of paintin’,” Kili complained, “an’ we wanted to see Mr. Bilbo!”
“Didn’t I?” Thorin repeated a little sharper than before, though he didn’t raise his voice.
The brothers looked at each other once more before both glanced down at the floor in chastisement. "Yes..." They both murmured their apologies. "We're sorry." They were perfectly in time together, and Ori was fascinated by it.
"I should apologize." Bilbo spoke up then, "I should have known it was something like that."
Thorin simply shook his head, looking more tired than angry as he forced himself back to his feet to address the other man. "They know better than to run off. Usually they're better behaved." He sighed to himself before looking down at the children. "But this is a conversation for at home. Say goodbye to Mr. Baggins now, so we can go."
Both of the children whined, but one look from their father quieted them down. The brunet turned, hugging his dragon to his chest. "Bye Mr. Bilbo. Thanks for lookin’ at my dragon."
"She's a great dragon, Kili." Bilbo promised as he offered the little boy a smile.
"Sorry for bugging you, bye Mr. Bilbo." Fili said next.
As Fili was closer to Bilbo, the man gently patted his head, "Not a bother at all, Fili, but next time you better listen to your father.”
"I promise." The blond said after a moment, nodding to himself as if he was going to do just that from now on.
"Sorry for interrupting your day once more, Mr. Baggins. I hope next time it’s under different circumstances. Good day." Thorin managed a slight smile as he picked Kili up and set him on his hip. The boy curled against his chest and tucked himself against his father's shoulder. The man held out his hand for Fili to take as he nodded in Ori’s direction and once the child had, the three of them made their way back out of the shop and disappeared down the street.
The room was quiet for a few moments before Ori finally spoke up upon realizing that his boss was staring. His voice woke Bilbo from his thoughts. "So, it seems you've had an interesting week, Mr. Baggins." He couldn't help his smile. “He hopes to see you next time…?”
Bilbo looked at him as he also realized he'd been staring at the departing family. The slight blush that appeared across his face was quite curious. "Yes, apparently so." He cleared his throat. "Now, those books aren't going to put themselves back on the shelves. And when you're done that, I'll need you to print off the inventory order form, please." He gave orders in an attempt to distract, and Ori knew it.
His grin widened but he allowed Bilbo to change the subject. "Of course, consider it done."
"Good. Good." Bilbo repeated before disappearing back into the employee area to hide or finish his lunch, Ori wasn't sure. A little of both, maybe.
What he was sure about, however, was that things were going to be a little more interesting around Bag End if this new family returned again, and Ori had a feeling they would.
He was looking forward to it.