Just a head's up on this one . . . I was almost squicked writing this one. I must say that I have discovered the limits of my own adventurousness with this chapter. I managed to get through it, but . . . yeah. So . . . this chapter contains rimming and consensual sexual spanking. If that's not your thing (I've discovered it's not mine) then feel free to skip it. It holds no real impact on the main fic (especially when you figure that this should technically have been posted about 15ish chapters ago) if you don't feel bothered then enjoy!

oo*O.O*oo

It was only after they were thoroughly clean that they returned to their borrowed room in Lake Town, Thorin's freshly oiled hair hanging loose around his shoulders. Though Bilbo had attempted to assist him in caring for it, the hobbit had proved less than useful, having difficulty following the complex instructions Thorin had tried to give him—though perhaps he would have had better luck had Thorin been able to give instructions in pure Common rather than intermingling Common and Khuzdul in reaction to the arousal that Bilbo's oily fingers kneading his shoulders had caused.

"As wonderful as that bath was, I'm afraid I'll have to have another later," Thorin said, attempting to run his fingers through his hair in preparation to rebraid it only to realize that the oil had only made the knots at the base of his skull that they hadn't been able to get out beside the lake all the worse.

"Alone," he clarified at the look that crossed the hobbit's face. "I'll have to wash it all out and begin again." He smilied softly before he said the next, just to make sure his words were not misinterpreted, "You're skills at following directions are nearly as bad as my own."

"I can follow any directions you can give," Bilbo replied snippily, a smirk of his own in place. "If I choose to. Perhaps I only wanted you to have another bath. Ripe dwarf is a terrible smell, after all."

"Can you then?" Thorin demanded, ignoring the last dig in favor of following the first, the predatory smile that Bilbo had come to love on his face and lust in his eyes. "Care to make a wager on it?"

"What kind of wager?" Bilbo asked warily. He had recently learned that Thorin was cunning and had no intention of agreeing to something before he knew exactly what he was agreeing to.

"A sexual kind," Thorin replied with a shrug. "If you manage to follow every command I have for you in this room tonight, I will allow you to tie me with whatever you wish as often as you wish."

"And if I fail?" Bilbo demanded. His stomach twisted itself into a knot as a low pressure began to build in his loins at the smirk that crossed Thorin's face.

"If you fail, not only will I not allow it but the next time one of us is bound it will be you and it won't be just your hands or for only one night," Thorin threatened. Bilbo weighed the options carefully for a moment before he decided that his willpower was such that he could do whatever Thorin asked of him and that the payout was well worth the risk. It wasn't as if Thorin would hurt him while he was bound.

"Alright," Bilbo said with a shrug. "Command me, O Great King." Thorin growled before striding forward and removing Bilbo's clothing from him in a rush. He wasn't sure why they had even bothered with it coming from the bath. They had both known where this was going.

"Bend over that table, Bilbo," Thorin whispered. Bilbo's nose wrinkled at the command, unsure what his lover had planned for him that required a table but unwilling to lose their bet over so little a thing. Even though the legs had been cut shorter for their convenience, it was still a bit high to be comfortable and Bilbo had to stand on his tiptoes to get them to touch.

"Good," Thorin praised, running a hand over Bilbo's back and hip as he spoke. "Now stay just like that." Bilbo nodded his understanding and closed his eyes as Thorin's hands began to roam over his flesh, reaching down to spread his legs a bit wider before coming back up and kneading the flesh of his behind. He moaned softly at the sensation of Thorin's fingers massaging his flesh and heard the dwarf chuckle.

"Just remember to stay there," Thorin whispered before Bilbo felt the dwarf part his cheeks and the scrape of what almost felt like a beard before something warm and wet and soft pressed against his hole. Bilbo's eyes went wide with shock as he realized that Thorin was licking him. There! This was worse even than the request for watching Bilbo masturbate had been. This was beyond obscene. It was . . . unsanitary that's what it was. But by Eru did it feel good! And then the sensation was gone and Bilbo wondered if it had just been a test. He smirked to himself about having passed it, but then Thorin's tongue was back and this time it wasn't just licking . . . it was penetrating!

"Thorin!" Bilbo cried pressing up from the desk and attempting to look at his lover completely scandalized. A gentle hand was pressed into his back, pushing him back down to the desk.

"That was your free act of disobedience, Bilbo," Thorin whispered, leaning over the hobbit to nip his ear. "Next time, you lose."

"But . . . you were . . . that can't be allowed, Thorin! It's . . . It's obscene!" Bilbo whined.

"It is," Thorin replied. "But you enjoyed it. I could tell. Can you tell me that you didn't?"

"I . . ."

"In that case, stay still," Thorin replied before dropping back to his knees behind the hobbit and attempting to spread Bilbo's cheeks once more. Rather than allow it, Bilbo clenched his muscles to prevent it. With a wry smirk Thorin swatted the hobbit on the hip, hard enough to sting but not hard enough to cause him real pain. In response, Bilbo moaned. Thorin blinked at the sound.

"Did . . . did I hurt you?" Thorin asked hesitantly. He hated the idea that he had. He thought that it was a light smack but perhaps he had overestimated the pain tolerance of hobbits. Bilbo made a small noise in his throat that sounded all the world like embarrassment and shook his head ardently.

"Did . . . did you like that?" Thorin asked with a laugh as a smirk crossed his face once more. Bilbo said nothing, the only thing that showed that he had heard the question was a little whimper and a squirm. "You did, didn't you?"

"Thorin, please," Bilbo whispered, not wanting the dwarf to make him say that the feeling of Thorin's hand on his hip had aroused him. It was wrong. He had heard about such deviances, read about them extensively, but he had never thought that he would . . . he wasn't. He couldn't. That was the simple answer and unless he was confronted with it that would remain the answer. And then there was another light smack and Bilbo was ashamed of the needy moan that rose up his throat.

"I never would have believed . . . you, really?" Thorin said, his laughter clear in his tone. "I have a bit of an alteration to my order. Not only will you now show your obedience, I will correct your past transgressions, if you agree. For the little stunt you pulled in Mirkwood . . . five ought to do it. If you disagree say so now. If not, start counting."

"Thorin Oakenshield, don't you dare!" Bilbo retorted craning his neck to glare at the dwarf without raising up from the table. "I —" he was cut off with a moan as Thorin swatted him again, raising an eyebrow as if to ask just what Bilbo intended to do about it.

"There is no shame in liking this, Bilbo," Thorin leaned forward to whisper. "This is not particularly uncommon. And even if it were, what happens between us here . . . if we are fine with it what does it matter what the rest of the world thinks? Many will not understand our relationship at all. There is no need to deny what you want, my hobbit."

"One," Bilbo whispered miserably. It wasn't the punishment so much as the fact that he was aroused by it. He was ashamed by his reaction but could not deny it.

"What?" Thorin asked. He knew that he hadn't heard what he thought he had.

"I said 'one,'" Bilbo replied snippily. "I do like it, alright?! I do!" Thorin nodded stroked Bilbo's hair gently before pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

"If you change your mind, say the word and I will stop," Thorin promised, kissing him once more before bringing his hand down on Bilbo's rump once more.

"Two," the hobbit squeaked, still embarrassed by what he was feeling and swallowing down his sounds of pleasure at the abuse his rump was undergoing. Thorin smiled at his willpower and bent to press a kiss to the place between his shoulder blades before bending and licking the pinked flesh before parting it once more and running his tongue along Bilbo's hole and earning a startled squeak from the hobbit followed by a moan as he began to probe the ring of muscle.

"What are you doing?" Bilbo demanded in a breathless voice.

"Trying to make you lose count," Thorin replied simply. "I would suggest that you don't. If we don't get to five . . . well I'm afraid we can't continue." Bilbo whimpered again at the dwarf's words and tried to keep the word 'two' in his mind as Thorin's tongue continued laving him and his hand snuck around the hobbit's hip and began to stroke him in time to the licking. Just as Bilbo's breath began coming in desperate pants and his moans began to get more insistent as his own completion neared, Thorin stopped and removed all the sources of stimulation.

The frustrated sound that came from the hobbit's throat was perhaps the most alluring sound the dwarf had ever heard in his long life and he felt himself twitch with need. Rather than answer it, he brought his hand down on Bilbo's rump again, earning himself another breathless moan that went right to his aching manhood.

"Three?" Bilbo panted.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Thorin replied, a smirk crossing his lips at just how unraveled he had driven Bilbo to become already.

"Telling," Bilbo replied. "That was three." Thorin nodded and swatted the hobbit once more.

"Four," Bilbo said, the triumph he felt clear in his words. Throin paused, before lightly running his fingers over Bilbo's back, watching the skin raise in gooseflesh in his wake before dipping down to the cleft of the hobbit's bum once more and brushing a finger across the spit-slicked hole. He heard Bilbo's breathing hitch at the contact and knew that Bilbo knew what should come next. But it wasn't going to happen yet.

Bilbo whined again as Thorin pulled his hand away. "I'm sorry, my hobbit," Thorin said. "But your punishment is not complete yet. I'm afraid that we can't do that just yet."

"Then finish it!" Bilbo snarled. "Just get it over with and take me!"

"Ask me nicely," Thorin replied slightly shocked at Bilbo's fire. Despite everything he'd seen, he hadn't known the hobbit had it in him.

"Please finish it," Bilbo snapped. Thorin hummed, thinking about it before he made a small noise of disagreement.

"That wasn't nice," Thorin smirked. "In fact it was quite rude. I think I might just leave you there for a bit to think about how to appropriately ask for things."

"Please finish it, my king?" Bilbo tried, a needy whine creeping back into his voice as he wiggled his hips invitingly. Thorin smiled at him and swatted him the final time.

"Five," Bilbo said triumphantly. "Now, finish this."

"Not here, Bilbo," Thorin purred. "Move to the bed. On your back. I . . . I want to watch you finish."

"What is it with you and watching?" Bilbo muttered as he did as he was told yet again. Thorin said nothing by merely grabbed the bottle of oil and followed the hobbit to the bed. He could feel Bilbo's eyes on him the whole time.

"I could ask you the same," Thorin replied liberally coating his fingers and recapping the oil before kneeling between Bilbo's spread legs. Bilbo's reply was cut off in a moan as Thorin pressed the first finger into him. It was much easier to accomplish with oil than it had been with spit and Bilbo found that he liked the sensation even more this way. And suddenly one became two and Bilbo arched his back with a hiss of pleasure as Thorin hooked his fingers inside the hobbit and hit that place.

"Please, Thorin, please," Bilbo was begging incoherently. "No more of this. I . . . I need. . .please!" Rather than give Bilbo what he asked for, Thorin bent forward and began kissing along the hobbit's body and up his neck until he reached his mouth where he silenced Bilbo's pleas with a kiss as he added a third finger. Bilbo was mildly disgusted as he felt Thorin's mouth on his, knowing where it had been only moments before but the disgust was quickly buried under the tide of pleasure that Thorin's skilled fingers were causing him.

Even though he knew that they had to be removed before he could get what he actually craved, Bilbo still whined in protest as Thorin pulled his fingers free and coated himself with oil before he lined himself up with the hobbit's prepared hole. And then the dwarf was there. In him. Filling him and it was too much. It was more than his oversensitive nerves could handle and he came with a cry, coating them both. Thorin paused before dipping his fingers in the seed on his own stomach and looking at it, almost as if confused by it.

He was looking at Bilbo with an eyebrow raised when the hobbit finally opened his eyes once more, even though his breaths still came too quickly and too shallowly in the wake of his orgasm. His cheeks blushed scarlet as he realized what he'd just done.

"I . . . I'm sorry it just . . . and I . . . oh, bother!" he stuttered attempting to find the right words to cover his premature finish.

"It's fine," Thorin replied pulling out of the hobbit gently and moving to grab a soft cloth from the bowl of water he'd brought for just this purpose and cleaning them both before lying once more and pulling the hobbit against him. "These things happen, Bilbo. I should not have teased you for so long. Not so soon." Bilbo said nothing, burying his nose in the dwarf's neck to hide his still burning cheeks. It wasn't long before he felt his eyes beginning to drift, the exhaustion of the past weeks coupling with his bath and completion to conspire against him remaining conscious.

"Sleep," Thorin muttered, sensing the hobbit's need from his breathing and the heaviness of his limbs.

"What about you?" Bilbo mumbled, raising his head to look blearily up at his lover.

"I'm fine," the dwarf promised. "There's always tomorrow." Bilbo said nothing but he didn't need to. Both of them knew that it was a very real possibility that their tomorrows were limited. Soon, today could very well be the end. Any argument Bilbo would have made soon died on his lips as he drifted to sleep, the clean scent of his dwarf filling his nostrils. Thorin watched as sleep claimed his hobbit, the lines on his face disappearing as the worries he carried fell away. Pressing a gentle kiss to the downy curls, he prayed that his words would be true. He asked Mahal to ensure that there were many more tomorrows for them.

oo*O.O*oo

So . . . there it is. I'm not sure what I think of this one and there's a reason it stayed in limbo for so long. If you made it all the way through I would LOVE some concrit on this one. While I do feel it is entirely IC for this verse, I welcome opinions. Tell me what you thought while I go hide in a corner and wonder why I write some things :/

Stickdonkeys