The dawn glowed pearlish pink around the corner, smoothing the minute frown gnawing at Fili's brow. The light highlighted the journey-dirt on settled on Kili's face, as the older dwarf traced tiny, soothing sleep circles on his back. Thorin had been awake for a few hours now, and both appreciated and resented the coming of the dawn; for although it meant progress, it also meant the leaving behind of this small, peaceful idyll.

The company had been negotiating narrow mountain paths for what seemed like weeks, but time was deceiving in the peaks, for the ground was tricky to navigate, and much time was spent going up and down, avoiding sudden, sheer drops, or random crags, rather than covering any distance. Kili was thankful the ponies had bolted long ago, as the thought of trying to lead them here made him cringe. The weather had not been kind, and most of his layers were entirely soaked through with rain; the insidious, misty kind. He would've preferred a quick deluge, as this kind of damp curled right into his bones. He and his brother, Fili, really were spoilt so far, and he noted guiltily the perseverance his uncle, Thorin, exhibited. As they picked their way across a gritty pass, Thorin did not even look at his feet, like the others, whose heads were bowed. His was raised, almost defiantly, gaze locked and determinedly fixed on the distant horizon.

Kili knew Fili was thinking the same thing, and it often became apparent the two did not want to show any form of weakness in front of their uncle. They exchanged glances. A few days ago Kili might have winked, or cracked a joke, but his usual comic energy had been sapped from him. Despite heavy furs, his armour felt cold and abrasive against his skin, and he felt a shuddering in his shoulders. His muscles were physically tensed against the cold. Fili looked at him again, this time his eyebrows raising under his rain slicked hair.

"I.. saw a cave a few hundred yards back. It's getting late, and it'll be dark soon. It's dangerous at night, and we don't know where the next shelter will be," Fili said, raising his voice at the end of the sentence, like a question. The other dwarves murmured in quiet agreement, and looked at Thorin for his approval of the proposition.

"Eagle eyed Fili, what an… excellent proposal. I suggest we head back, then," Thorin said, nodding, acknowledging FIli.

Bofur suggested they light a fire on arrival, as they stood on the threshold of the cave, anxiously searching its interior for any potential inhabitants.

"No fires! Not tonight. We don't know what could happen in these parts," said Thorin, eyes dark, flicking around, gauging reactions.

The others trudged in, silently, making as little noise as possible unfurling their bedding.

Fili was assigned on the first shift of watch, and all but two of the others had fallen asleep.

Kili was awake, propped against the wall of the cave and desperately wringing his blanket for warmth. The shaking had only gotten worse, and as he bunched his limbs together, making the smallest shape possible, he could feel beads of moisture running down his skin. His teeth made minute clicking noises, and it took all he had not to whimper as he tried to rub his aching feet together.

Thorin was on the other side of the cave, and a clicking noise snapped him out of his reverie. He was sitting, lost in thought of the path ahead. He looked up, and saw the shadow of Kili shaking in the dark. His brow furrowed, and he picked his way lightly over the sleeping bodies of the others.

"Kili," he growled, gently tipping his chin up to look at him. He cleared his throat quietly.

"Kili," he said, a little more clearly, concerned.

Kili tried to look up, but his eyes were half lidded and he was struggling to focus on Thorin's face.

"Come," said Thorin, who hoisted him up by both arms. He draped his arms over his shoulders and felt Kili begin to stir. Careful not to wake the others, he picked a painstaking route through short legs to the far side of the cave. Thorin saw there was a small alcove; almost an ante room, further out of the draft, and this is where he withdrew his tinder box from his pocket.

He knew it was the damp in his clothes that was bringing the cold to the surface of his skin, and it was with a gentle grace Thorin lifted the furs off Kili's shoulders, and loosened his woollen tunic, before slipping it over his head. He felt with his fingertips, that, on further inspection, Kili's underclothes were also soaked through, and he deftly removed these too, leaving them by the fire to wick out the moisture. Thorin was concerned about Kili's disturbing lack of body heat, and so drew him close to share his own. His shuddering had been reduced to tremors, the heat radiating from the arms holding him prickly and good.

He held him for a long time, very close, their bodies pressed against one another, taut. Thorin's navy gaze grazed Kili's back, subtly defined yet pale and vulnerable in the firelight. It took all he had not to touch for himself the dips and falls, the crescent nestled in the small of his back, the tight rise indicating the tops of his buttocks.

Kili was much more lucid than he was letting on. He opened his eyes, and saw the familiar, thick back of Thorin, solid and unyielding, holding him upright.

Thorin sensed a tension in Kili, and angled his face toward his.

"Better?"

Kili's lips parted a tiny measure, forming a natural and perfect "O", and he felt his breath whistle in and out as he fumbled for the right word. Thorin's eyebrows were raised, crinkling his forehead, and his hairline crept up an inch or two. Kili's pupils became so wide Thorin could not tell the difference between his pupils and his iris.

And it must have slipped Kili's attention that their faces were only a few centimetres apart, for he was distracted by details; the strong bridge of Thorin's nose, the way he eyelashes reminded him of a row of sunflower seeds, the smattering of dirt ingrained into the pores on his cheekbones.

It did not slip Thorin's attention, for his flesh tingled and fizzed with the thought of parting those chapped lips with a hot and roving tongue-

"Yes," said Kili.

"…yes, I feel better," he looked down, bashful and suddenly very self aware under Thorin's penetrating glare.

He looked up again.

Thorin cupped the left side of Kili's face with one blade- calloused palm, and traced the line of his bottom lip with his thumb. He leaned toward him, swaying very slightly with the effort of not falling forward. He tilted his face, and Kili instinctively tilted his own in a perfect mirror image. Thorin's lips ghosted over Kili's, before coming to rest at the "O" shaped parting between them. Kili responded by applying the tiniest of pressures to the underside of Thorin's bottom lip; and that was all the consent Thorin needed.

He plunged his other hand into the hair at the nape of Kili's neck, pulling him toward him as he deepened the kiss. He mashed their lips together, thrusting his tongue into his mouth and it coiled together with Kili's, roaming under the edge of his top lip and tracing the inner of his bottom. He sucked hard on the fullest part of his bottom lip and Kili exhaled as Thorin scattered smaller, firmer kisses along his jawline. Thorin pressed an unyielding finger to Kili's lips, and Kili kissed it, before opening his mouth to suck on it lightly. Withdrawing his finger, Thorin looked Kili right in the eye as he kissed him harder. His beard thorned Kili's chin and rasped with his own stubble. He both nipped and gently tongued, and Kili was powerless as Thorin's hands writhed in his hair, before tracking down his naked back.

Thorin strung together a line of light pecks down his neck, over the hollow of his collar bone, and onto his nipple, where he flicked his tongue briefly. Kili's cheeks flushed crimson as he realised he was struggling to contain a rampant erection, and this did not escape Thorin's scrutiny. Thorin was sporting one of his own, and it strained against his tweed trousers, chafing uncomfortably.

Kili deftly unbuttoned them and grasped Thorin's thick length. He bristled with anticipation, and Kili pumped him slowly, from base to tip, hand slick with sweat and pre-cum. With the other hand, he cupped Thorin's swollen testicles and squeezed gently. Thorin's cock throbbed in Kili's hand and he stroked faster, his palm flush with the ridge under the shaft, his head glistening with pre ejaculate.

Kili lowered his mouth onto him and fastened tight around him as he took his length right into the back of his throat. He pressed his tongue sloppily against the underside and sucked hungrily, the suction powerful. He swirled around the sensitive tip, planting maddeningly delicate kisses along his length, before going hell for leather, taking Thorin's meat into him as quickly as he could. Thorin could feel his balls creep up with anticipation of his climax, and a hot prickly sensation infected every nerve ending he possessed.

"What in the name of Erebor is going on?" Fili's voice was a stage whisper, and his face was a comic mask of confusion, ire, and something Kili could not quite identify.

"I… we…" Kili looked up at his brother. His mouth was still shining with spit.

Unable to control himself, Thorin came, in long, hot spurts. Ribbons of creamy white landed in Kili's dark hair and dripped down in viscous strands off his face.

The three looked at each other, and Kili absently wiped semen off his eyelid.

He had never seen his brother's eyes darken as they did, and with what neither could tell, nor predict.

"I…want to pleasure you," said Fili. His eyes met Thorin's, Thorin's challenging, Fili's awkward.

"Then…come," said Thorin, softly, a hint of gravel in his baritone.

Fili knelt down by the guttering little fire and stripped his clothes off methodically. When he was down to his undershirt, both Thorin and Kili were welling up with expectation, and Kili noted his stocky, powerful arms and broad shoulders with both lust and envy. Fili smirked and this infuriated Kili, the blush from his face flowing south.

To Thorin's surprise, it was Kili who pounced on Fili, knocking him to the ground in a cat like fit of possession. He nuzzled his neck aggressively, sucking and biting seemingly at random. Fili was still smirking as he pushed Kili back; he gave as good as he got, and Kili was pinned to Thorin's chest as Fili clutched at his thighs. He was feathering tonguey kisses on the inside of his upper thighs, savouring the tender softness of the flesh there. From underneath, Thorin flipped Kili over in a slick manoeuvre and parted his pale cheeks, before he inserted himself.

Fili's moustache braids became rather mussed and rumpled looking.

"You appear a little unkempt," Thorin murmured into his ear. He smirked. He unbraided the younger dwarves moustache, before trying to braid it back again. Fili nipped at Thorin's fingers, kissing and sucking them as he tried to fix his beard. Thorin chuckled darkly, and Kili stirred in his sleep.

The dawn glowed pearlish pink around the corner.