/ / / Bonding, the Shire, and Duty \ \ \

Bilbo was warm…so lovely and warm, the bed beneath him was soft, the blankets were well worn, and the dwarf curled around him was his, Bilbo didn't even want to go to sleep when everything felt so lovely right in this moment.

"Bilbo," Thorin's voice was too loud in the silence even though he was whispering.

"That is a serious tone, Thorin," Bilbo said kissing the flesh closest to his mouth. "Don't worry about it until the morning."

Bilbo felt Thorin relax slowly and he allowed his mind to wander until he fell asleep.

Thorin looked worried at breakfast the next morning when Bilbo walked to the table wearing an apron and carrying two omelettes. Normally the apron would make Thorin smile no matter how bad his mood was – something to do with dwarves never wearing anything like them. Bilbo had seen the leather one that Thorin wore when he worked in the forges…and sometimes Bilbo wondered if he could convince Thorin to go down there for some fun, the way Thorin's cheeks flushed and the flex of muscles always made Bilbo's breath catch and he wished to slide himself between Thorin and the hot metal and peel that leather apron off and…. Bilbo shook himself.

"What are you thinking about, Bilbo?" Thorin asked taking the plates out of Bilbo's weak grip.

"You down in the forges," Bilbo admitted knowing that his cheeks were flushed and his voice was a little rougher than normal.

"Why?" Thorin asked with a little frown between his eyes.

"It's…you're…probably completely unsafe…" Bilbo drifted off with a distance smile.

Thorin frowned at him. "You find me desirable when I am working in the forges?"

Bilbo nodded and then sat down. "Very much."

Thorin blinked a few times attempting to work Bilbo out. Bilbo smirked and started to eat his omelette. Eventually Thorin shook his head and started to eat too.

Bilbo waited until they were both done before he looked at Thorin with an encouraging smile. "What did you want to talk to me about last night?"

Thorin's face changed, darkening and becoming very serious and Bilbo wished for a moment he hadn't brought it up.

"I heard you talking about the Shire with Bofur yesterday," Thorin said.

Bilbo nodded and he wished he could work out what Thorin was trying to tell him. Thorin looked like Bilbo should have understood what he was trying to say but the hobbit was coming up blank.

"You sounded very wistful," Thorin continued. "I know you would like to return."

"Yes, I would," Bilbo agreed and Thorin's face dropped further which Bilbo wouldn't have thought possible. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to."

Thorin shook his head. "I would understand if you wanted to leave."

Bilbo rolled his eyes and stood up, he motioned for Thorin to push his chair back before the hobbit straddled Thorin's legs.

"I'm not going anywhere," Bilbo said. "What I should have said is that one day I would like to take you to the Shire. I would like to show you off and show you my hobbit-hole and all of the wonderful things that are there. I don't want to go there alone; I don't really want to go anywhere if you aren't with me."

Thorin's face cleared but then he tilted his head. "I cannot leave the mountain to Fíli and Kíli until after the rest of my dwarves are arrived and settled."

"That's understandable. Though, we will be able to go, one day?"

"I promise," Thorin said kissing Bilbo.

"So long as you come with me I don't mind waiting." Bilbo said and began to pull away from Thorin who refused to let him go.

"There is something else which we need to discuss," Thorin said seriously. "I don't know what hobbits do with their intended life partners."

"We marry," Bilbo said. "There is a period of courting and after that we have a wedding, what do dwarves do?"

"Dwarves provide gifts to the dwarf they wish to court, if within three days their intended returns their gift with one of their own then they begin to court."

"Like all of the knitted clothing Dwalin was wearing?"

Thorin smirked. "Exactly."

"So," Bilbo said. "Have I misunderstood what is between us?"

"Only if you would not wish to bond with me in the future."

"Is bonding like marriage?" Bilbo asked.

Thorin nodded. "However, I feel, as the King of this mountain I could not bond with you until all of my dwarves have returned to the mountain."

"So we could be engaged until then?" Bilbo asked.

"Engaged…that is what the Men call it. Yes, we could be engaged until then."

Bilbo kissed Thorin again. "I would very much like to be engaged to you Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain."

Thorin smiled very softly.

"This is not how dwarves do things is it?" Bilbo asked sensing that Thorin wasn't entirely happy about waiting.

"Not quite," Thorin said. "Though you are not a dwarf so we shall have to work out our own way of doing things."

"Will it be an issue for the King to be married to a male hobbit?"

"Why would it ever be an issue for Bilbo Baggins of Bag-End, who faced the Smaug and many other trials to return Erebor to Durin's Line?"

"Because I am not a dwarf nor would I ever be able to provide you with an heir."

"Fíli and Kíli are my heirs; I need no child from you."

"They might like me less if I was to ever have a baby with you."

"No," Thorin said. "They have lived with the possibility their whole lives however I have no desire to choose a female dwarf when I can have you."

Bilbo beamed and pulled Thorin into a heated kiss. "Then I hope your mountain is ready soon so that you can have me."

"And as for being a hobbit, my dwarves shall welcome you as one of our own when they know of all you have done for us."

Bilbo smiled, it was a very nice thought but he was not sure that it was entirely realistic. He thought for a moment and decided that, regardless, being married to Thorin would be worth some dwarves not liking a hobbit being his…

"I'm obviously not a queen," Bilbo said. "What would I be called?"

"My consort," Thorin said. "Though if you would prefer to be called Queen Bilbo that could, of course, be arranged."

Bilbo rolled his eyes. "I am male."

"You would not be the first male Queen that dwarves have had," Thorin said quite seriously. "There a much fewer female dwarves than male."

Bilbo closed his eyes. "I think I shall go with Consort."

"Very well," Thorin said and leaned forward – there was a knock on the door. Thorin gave Bilbo a quick kiss and the hobbit climbed off of him so that the King could answer the door. Balin was standing on the other side looking both determined and apologetic.

"King Thorin," Balin said with a smile for Bilbo. "The meeting is beginning soon."

"Thank you, Balin," Thorin said and began to add the few pieces of clothing that he always wore when he was out in the mountain.

Bilbo felt as though he was watching Thorin become the King and he felt the distance between them grow. Before Thorin left he came to kiss Bilbo one last time and Bilbo grabbed his collar before the dwarf turned away. "I shall expect a Hobbit wedding when we are in the Shire, so that I can well and truly show you off."

Thorin beamed at him, nodded sharply and kissed him before he left their rooms.

/ / / \ \ \

A week later Thorin returned to their rooms, before Bilbo did, to find a new waistcoat in vibrant purple sitting on their bed. There was a note pinned to it.

You have three days, King Thorin. Or I shall think you do not wish to court me – Bilbo Baggins, of Bag-End

Thorin lifted the note and waistcoat; he smoothed his hand over the stunning multi-coloured embroidery marvelling at his intended skills…and then saw the item that was hiding beneath. It was a hair bead; it bore no jewels or engravings and reminded Thorin forcibly of the work done by dwarflings when they were learning metalcraft. The outside was smooth but unfinished, not unpolished, simply not perfect and reflective like dwarfish work. On the inside were two letters touching. T and B. Thorin suddenly realised that this was Bilbo's work, that the hobbit had gone down to the forges and learned how to melt and shape metal for him. Thorin slipped the bead into the very front braid of his hair and then sat to work out what he could give Bilbo that would come close to being as amazing as the rough metalwork in his hair.

Two and a half days later Bilbo was lead to the very top of the gates that lead outside, to the royal balconies, to mounds of dirt and wood slates. "I thought," Thorin said nervously. "That perhaps you should like a garden."

Bilbo threw himself at Thorin and their clothes in the opposite direction. Thorin assumed that meant that his courting gift had been accepted.

/ / /