The Toymaker and the Doll – Bofur/Bilbo (Boffins)

Chapter 01: Thoughts

The party had been merry and joyful. They all had celebrated Thorin's awakening and their arrival at the Carrock from which they could see their home. Some time ago the last flames of the campfire had extinguished and all dwarves had gone to sleep and were now with their thoughts far away, in the land of dreams. All but Bofur. He could not catch the sleep and instead sat on the edge of the Carrock, from which he could see the shape of The Lonely Mountain, still far, far away. Bofurs thoughts had been with the past, when he had been a toymaker in Erebor, pleasing the dwarf-children of both the Mountain and Dale. With the Mountain so clear on the horizon, his longing for home had grown very strong. Yet this was not the only thing he longed for. His face turned toward a small person sleeping against a rock.

Bilbo Baggins. How he loved this Halfling. At first he had only thought of him as cute and very delicate and soft, like one of the dolls he had made in the past. Now, having seen more of this Hobbits personality and courage, his kindness and his smiles, his feelings for the Hobbit had grown to something he called love and he wanted nothing more than to take this person with him to Erebor and live together with him until death.

Bofur inhaled deeply the smoke of his pipe and exhaled it as a cloud high in the sky, floating away on the wind. He sighed. He knew he wasn't the most subtle person. He always blurted out things without thinking. Him and his big mouth. He really had to learn how to keep it shut. Thinking back on that first day he met the Hobbit always brought him a heavy feeling in his chest.

Cheese knife? He eats it by the block!

Think furnace with wings!

Bofur had loved all the confused and different expressions on the Halfling's face. He had loved to tease the poor fellow who didn't know what had come over him. Then he had grossed out the Hobbit by throwing an egg in Bombur's mouth. Bombur, catch! This was how they rolled. Then they had disgusted him with their beer drinking habits. Thinking about their eating and drinking habits again, Bofur found a lot of differences in their courtesies and manners, cultures as well. Bilbo had talked about his dishcloth being a Croquet… but Bofur had not understood what he meant and thought of it as a wonderful game. Apparently the Hobbit cared a lot about his dishcloth, something Bofur just couldn't understand. Sure, he cared about his hat, but that was a useful item. But not only dishcloths… Also his knives. Bilbo had not been too pleased at him 'blunting' them. And the worst had yet to come. Teasing Bilbo to the extreme, he had gone so far as to make the Hobbit faint. Flash of light, searing pain, then Poof! you're nothing more than a pile of ash. Great job, Bofur, great job.

Bofur was really ashamed of himself. He had not done many good things to make the Hobbit like him, in fact, when he tried to imagine himself being in the Hobbit's place, he could imagine the Hobbit being really irritated by him. To sum it up, he had teased the Hobbit quite a lot, mocked him by his singing, irritated him and made him faint. That was not so awesome when you actually had wanted to make a good impression. Bofur breathed out another cloud of smoke before putting his pipe aside. Curse him. Why was it always so hard for him to show affection and love for a person? He loved his brothers and teased them a lot, yet they knew how much he loved them. He had never succeeded in dwarves getting to love him in a romantic way. He had friends, and a lot of them, but never the line of friendship was crossed. He was a good talker and many liked to hear his stories, especially the children were very fond of them. Yet when it came to romance, he always said things he shouldn't and chased the dwarves away. He had tried to change this habit of talking and it had only made him nervous and uncertain of himself, so he had stopped trying. If I am to find someone I want to share my life with, he had told himself, this person should accept me for what and who I am.

Now he was nervous and uncertain again. Bofur watched the sleeping Hobbit, so small and soft and delicate, like a real treasure to him. A doll so fine he would never be able to craft it, even if he had his whole lifetime to work on it. He wondered if he had hurt the Hobbit with his words and deeds and if his actions could be forgiven. After all, this was a Hobbit and not a Dwarf, and he clearly thought different on things as the dwarves would. And this made the case very difficult. Bofur wanted to show him what he felt, yet was afraid of his actions and words, and what the Hobbit would think of his way of living and thinking.

Can I change myself just for him? were thoughts going through Bofurs head. What does he think of me? Do I even make a chance?

Bofur saw that Bilbo shivered under his thin blanket. Many of their possessions had been lost during the hunt through Goblin town and now that the fire was out, it was pretty cold outside under the stars. Slowly Bofur got up and walked towards the Hobbit, trying not to step on a dwarf and trying to make no sound. He took off his coat and gently spread it out over the Hobbit, curled up on the ground. Bofur sat down next to him with his back against the stone to keep the wind off him if necessary. He smiled as he saw the shivering getting less and nearly melted when Bilbo at last sighed softly and went into a deep sleep. So cute. I don't deserve having him, do I?

There was one thing Bofur wanted to do as soon as he would get the chance. He was ashamed of his action when the Hobbit had joined them that first morning. Bilbo had sneezed and had asked for a handkerchief. Bofur had given him a ragged and dirty piece of cloth. Bofur now understood that had been really stupid for the Hobbit seemed to be very fond of handkerchiefs. As soon as he would get the chance, he would make him a new, clean and white handkerchief. Maybe that would clear things up a little bit.

At last, Bofur closed his eyes and fell asleep after a long while, pondering and questioning over himself and the Hobbit.

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Hello, Vixenkiba speaking here! I thought of finally uploading something to this account, since it was a little empty. I'm way too obsessed with The Hobbit and all the characters at the moment and writing a lot of stories about them, and I just felt like uploading this first chapter of my Bofur/Bilbo story now! I'm a huge fan of the couple. I'm also working on a Thilbo story, but that one isn't finished yet.

I'm actually just a beginning-writer... So I'm not all too confident about my writing. I hope people will enjoy it, and if there's any critique or feedback you want to give, be welcome to do so! I love receiving feedback, for it only helps me becoming a better writer in the future. :)