That smile really ought to come with a warning label, Bilbo thought ruefully, as he introduced his husband to Hobbiton, though with the number of guests to this wedding feast, it was probably the entirety of the Shire. It was, technically speaking, a belated wedding feast, as the actual wedding had already taken place in Erebor. But “better late than never” so said Bilbo’s cousins and assorted relatives, who insisted on throwing this feast for them. No self-respecting Hobbit would pass up the chance for a party after all.
In fact, the only people sporting sour faces were the Sackville-Bagginses, utterly put out by the fact that Bilbo was not dead after all and that Bag End would not be theirs. But then no one paid any mind to the Sackville-Bagginses and they were sensibly keeping their heads low, as they’d already incurred Thorin’s wrath when Bilbo and the Dwarves arrived to find the Sackville-Bagginses squatting like the odious toads that they were in Bilbo’s own home.
Bilbo felt a familiar arm draw him close and he sank into Thorin’s warmth gratefully, smiling at his husband and turning his face up for a kiss, which was gladly given.
It was a funny business, really. For at least a month after Bilbo had first awakened from the injuries he had sustained after the Battle of Five Armies, not to mention the miscarriage and even now, his heart ached at the babe that never was, Thorin had treated Bilbo like he was made of the most precious, fragile crystal. There was never a hand on him that Bilbo had not wanted there and there was always a question in Thorin’s eyes, as if seeking permission.
And when Bilbo had finally confronted Thorin about it, the sorrow and regret in his beloved king’s eyes was unmistakable. And when Bilbo thought about it, remembered that terrible moment at the Gates, when Thorin was in the worst of the gold-madness, he understood.
“I heard everything you said, you know,” Bilbo had told him then, threading gentle fingers through his king’s messy dark hair. “Even when I slept, I could hear your voice. Those things you were wishing for… that song you sang, I wanted them too. For us. And I too am sorry - “
“Never!” Thorin had told him fiercely. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It was my fault, all of it and - “
Bilbo shushed him in the best way he knew how, which was to pull his Dwarf down and kiss the silly out of him. And when he was done, Bilbo had simply whispered, “I want all the things you told me you want for us. I want our family, your ridiculous nephews - our boys now, if that’s all right with you - “
“It is!”
“And perhaps, if we are very, very lucky, I want the chance to have our own children. I want you. I want us. All of this. More than that stupid Arkenstone or all the gold in Erebor.”
“It will be as you wish it,” Thorin had promised. And he had, finally, stolen kisses of his own, swept Bilbo up in his arms again so much so that Bilbo’s feet left the ground. And Bilbo laughed for there was no place else he wanted to be at that moment.
And so Bilbo watched his husband smile at the rest of Hobbiton and laughed quietly to himself as Thorin managed to lose his normal reserve and charm his fellow Hobbits. Evidently, Fili and Kili came by their own propensity to be ridiculously adorable quite honestly.
He giggled as Thorin briefly buried his nose in Bilbo’s curls and then Bilbo was treated to serious blue eyes giving him a searching look and Thorin asked, “Are you all right?”
“Oh, love, you’re not starting that up again, are you?” Bilbo pouted up at him, pretending to be cross. “I told you, I’m perfectly fine. More than fine, I should think.”
“That’s not how it looked like when I found you being ill again this morning. And don’t do that,” Thorin chided, kissing the pout away. “Mahal, beloved, you distract me so.”
“Then I’ve managed what I set out to do,” Bilbo said mischievously.
And then Fili and Kili called out to them, having taken up their fiddles and joining the musicians in striking up a tune for dancing. So Thorin and Bilbo ended up leading the dancers. With Dwarves and Hobbits together for a night of feasting and song, it was quite a merry gathering indeed.
And perhaps later, Bilbo might pull his husband aside, because there was something Very Important he had to tell him and Oin had confirmed it too.
But it would keep for the moment, Bilbo had decided. It would be another reason to put a smile on his normally serious husband’s face and Bilbo had already made it his life’s goal to see more smiles than frowns from Thorin. It was, of course, quite a useful occupation. And the best part would be that particular smile, when Thorin finally heard Bilbo’s Very Important News, would be Bilbo’s and Bilbo’s alone.
- end -
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
- "How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning