Bilbo Baggins and the Three Durins

By: Eleana_Lee

Pairing: Thorin/Bilbo

Summary: the end of their journey coincides with the start of winter, and Thorin's Company learns something new about hobbits (or the one in which hobbits hibernate and the Durins have a cuddling schedule)

Warning: OOCness, everyone lives AU

Disclaimer: The Hobbit is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and its various publishers. I hold no claim on it

A/N: written in reply to prompt #4 from here: /works/1242676 and dedicated to Antesqueluz who directed me there =) I liked the idea, it's cute, and I've been known to write pointless fluff most of the time, so yeah

Title is shamelessly taken from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There's no resemblance to that story, though, I only stole the title

Anyway, onto the story

Bilbo Baggins and the Three Durins

The battle had ended and the injured were on their road to recovery. Those who fell during the battle were given proper burial in honour of their valour and loyalty to their kingdoms, although the survivors tried not to mourn for too long. There were plans on rebuilding Dale and Erebor, but they chose to wait until spring came before they started any major work. For the duration of the winter, they decided to do some clean up and the preparations for the rebuilding.

All members of the Company had survived the battle, for which Bilbo would be eternally grateful, and the ones who were more gravely injured had finally recovered enough to walk around in the mountain. Thorin had reclaimed his throne, and Kili had taken to escaping from Balin and Dwalin and their lessons, leaving Fili to call him a traitor.

Thorin had asked for Bilbo's forgiveness on his deathbed, and Bilbo had tearfully given it. A week later, Oin said that Bilbo's forgiveness cheered Thorin's heart and it helped him recover. Once he was able to stand up, Bilbo cuffed the King Under the Mountain's head and ranted at him for giving him the scare of his life.

"It's not like I chose to die," Thorin had pointed out grumpily (sulkily, Bilbo said).

Thankfully though, and much to the relief of Gandalf and the Company, the incident had given them both a nudge in the right direction, and the same time Thorin properly reclaimed his throne, Bilbo was named the King's Consort. If Bilbo saw Nori dividing a pile of gold between himself, Gandalf, Fili and Bofur, he made no mention of it.

And so, it came to be that Bilbo became a family member of the Durins through marriage. That was good enough, Bilbo supposed, as he piled pillows upon blankets with a single-minded determination. And this was the scene in which Kili caught him in, and the young dwarf wondered if he should alert Bilbo of his presence, or alert his uncle that the hobbit was losing his mind.

"Kili!"

Too late now.

"Uncle Bilbo," Kili greeted, and Bilbo had to say he much preferred that to Mister Boggins. "What exactly are you doing?"

Bilbo giggled, and Kili wondered how a harmless act by a mostly harmless (except when you're threatening the lives of their loved ones) creature could make him want to bolt out of the mountain and far, far away. He took a step backwards, but Bilbo was on him in a second, and Kili thought he surely had learned magic from Gandalf. How else could he have teleported from the bed to the door?

"I'm making our bed!" he announced cheerily, grabbing onto Kili's arm and dragging him over. He pushed Kili onto the bed, looked at it thoughtfully, then arranged the pillows to make more space in the centre. "There, that should do it."

"Should do what?" Kili asked curiously, peering up at the hobbit from his spot on the bed. "What's wrong with our bed?"

"There's nothing wrong, of course," Bilbo said. "But only this bed is big enough for all of us."

"Wait, all of us?" Kili queried as he sat up on the bed. "Why are we sleeping in the same bed?"

Bilbo frowned at him, but then realisation dawned on him. "Oh, of course! I must have forgotten to mention it. Well, why don't you fetch your uncle and your brother? I'll tell you about it then."

Kili was too glad to have a chance to escape, and went off in search of the possible meat shields.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Come again?"

Bilbo huffed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and kicked his feet wilfully while sitting on the bed, inside the pillow fort he had made for them. Really, why did they act like he had just told them that his kind grew another set of arms and two more heads?

"Hobbits hibernate in winter," Bilbo repeated with a pout. "We eat a lot in preparation for that, and before winter comes, we'll choose the biggest bed for all the family members to sleep in until spring comes. So, here I have chosen the biggest bed for all of us, where we will sleep until spring comes."

"But we're not hobbits," Fili said as he blinked at Bilbo.

"Yes, but you're my family now," Bilbo said with a long-suffering sigh, then his voice became so soft the three dwarrows had to strain to hear him. "And I was looking forward to my first hibernation with a family again."

Fili and Kili had tackled Bilbo down to the bed, shouting promises of staying with him throughout his hibernation because of course they would be more than honoured to do it as his family. It was only after Thorin cleared his throat the third time that they stopped shouting long enough to hear what he was to say.

"We are not hobbits, you have to remember that," Thorin said, and the two opened their mouths to protest, but he quickly raised a hand to silence them, "what I meant is, we do not hibernate. We'll still wake up, have to eat and wash, and do other things. I cannot leave the mountain to run by itself during this winter especially, because we're in hard times, so we'll have to work out a schedule of some sorts."

"Sounds reasonable," Bilbo said as he nodded. "Well, I'll leave it to you to sort out the schedule then. I think I will go to the long sleep in about two days. I'll make the bed and eat more meanwhile."

"More?" Thorin asked as he frowned. "Don't you already eat a lot?"

The next day, Bombur looked on in question as Thorin came to the kitchen to fetch more and more food (peace offering, he claimed) to bring back to his quarters while limping, and Gandalf only laughed in amusement when Thorin grumbled about how deceptively strong hobbit feet were.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The rest of the Company slowly clued in on the fact that there was something going on only after a week or so. Bofur and Bombur were the first to notice the hobbit's absence, because they were the ones to see him most. Dwalin and Balin had noticed the Durins' absence during the day, although they disappeared at certain times of the day.

Fili would be gone in the afternoon, after he was done with most of his lessons, and wouldn't be sighted until the next morning. Kili, on the other hand, wasn't around in the morning, only there to terrorise the other dwarrows from brunch onwards, while Thorin had taken to long breaks around lunch time in between meetings with nobles and dignitaries.

"So, what is this about long lunch breaks?" Dwalin asked Thorin one day, while the rest of the Company was eavesdropping, too curious to let it go.

"Oh, that," Thorin said easily. "The hobbit is hibernating."

"Hibernating?"

"Yes. They eat a lot in preparation for their hibernation. Usually, they will create a nest of some sorts in the biggest bed for the whole family to spend their winter in," Thorin explained. "He chose our bed to host the family. We take turns sleeping with him during the day because if we all go, he gets distressed, even in his sleep."

Dwalin snorted at that. "Don't let the hobbit fool you," he said, and Thorin lifted an eyebrow in question. "They eat a lot regardless."

"When he wakes, I'll tell him you said that, and then you'll see how you like limping around for a week."

Dwalin's eyes widened slightly in horror and Thorin couldn't help bursting out laughing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Fili walked into the royal chamber and towards the bed. He tapped Thorin's shoulder, and said, "Wake up, Uncle. Balin is waiting for you, as well as the representatives from Dale."

Thorin groaned as he woke, grumbling as he sat up. Bilbo let out a soft sound of distress as he reached blindly for something to hold onto, and Fili was quick to take his spot on the other side of Bilbo, allowing the hobbit to cuddle up to him instead.

"Hm, I actually like this a lot," Fili commented as he rested his head on one of the pillows. "Do you mind terribly if Kili and I invade your bed time and time again? Oh wait, on second thought, no, I don't need to be mentally scarred."

Thorin rolled his eyes but said nothing as he left the room to endure some more torture (Bilbo would no doubt tut at him if he found out he had been referring to the meetings as torture, thus he shall never know) while Fili settled down on the comfortable bed and went to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

They didn't have to sleep with Bilbo during the day, only to be in bed so he could cuddle up to them, so sometimes they read in bed, if they were bored or if they couldn't go to sleep.

Fili said he understood now why Thorin had become a cuddler ever since he married Bilbo, because going to sleep while cuddling the hobbit did wonders as a stress relief. He was caught scheming with Kili to kidnap Bilbo and keep him in their rooms by a very unimpressed Thorin, and they both gave him a matching pair of unrepentant grins.

Bilbo woke up as the first of the spring flower bloomed, feeling refreshed and cheerful, and thanked the three for staying with him during his long sleep. He told them that he hadn't woken up as refreshed or light-hearted for a really long time, and that if at any time during his sleep, he was left alone, he would know.

"Well, now that you know what we do in winters, we can all be better prepared for the next one," Bilbo announced happily. "So I'll be able to get more food easily," here he added a glare at Thorin, almost daring him to speak against his eating habit, "and you can help me make the bed."

The three agreed almost immediately and Dwalin laughed at how the hobbit had his little fingers wrapped around them. Thorin set Bilbo off on Dwalin as he threatened to do so, and couldn't help the self-satisfied smirk at his shriek of pain. Dwalin could be seen limping around for the next week, and since then no one else dared to cross the hobbit.

If Gandalf or one of the Durins overheard the Ri brothers or the Ur brothers discussing on how best to go to the Shire to procure a hobbit for themselves, well, they made no mention of it.

End Story

Hope you enjoyed that :D if you do, do leave a comment coz I'm a comment whore :P