Inspired by this wonderful art by Kaciart. FF is being an idiot and I'm not going to search for how to put links properly, so if you want to see thep ic, please follow the link with deleting the * [kaciart.*tumblr.*com*/post*/46642401594]
When I saw it this morning, it just hit me really hard and yeah, so I spend my day writing a fic lol
Idea's kept popping up and it changed kinda. So now it's a story about Thorin having difficulties dealing with Kíli and Fíli as they seem to dislike him. There comes a time he has to take care of them again, very awkward for both sides due to their bad relationship, and something happens that makes their relationship change. Perhaps.
Really this fic turned out not even near good enough for this wonderful peace of fanart. So sorry, Kaciart.
Their father died shortly after the younger brother was born, he only met him once, would never remember it though. He' growing up with his older brother by five years and his mother Dís. Their mother's older brother Thorin would occasionally come visit them, but he kept the visits short. He and his sister had noticed, that for some reason the boys are really afraid of him. Perhaps it is the big build, the dark hair and eyes or simply the harsh look he always wore.
It didn't keep him from helping support his sister though. He often went hunting to support them with food and brought along other stuff that some of the other families could spare. Being the heir to the king under the mountain really helped, even though it would be better to live protected in Erebor. But that's not how it came to be. So they had to do with what they could get.
Since the younger's birth, he got the name Kíli, Thorin had tried to bound with them countless times. But the younger was still scared, his older brother Fíli protective of him became wary of their uncle, even if he was much afraid before the younger was born. They really shared an invisible bond and it had forced Fíli to become wary of things his baby brother was afraid of.
If not for the fact, that thanks to that he couldn't see them as often as he'd like to, Thorin would find this actually honorable and perhaps cute. Whenever he was around for a visit, his sister would give him an apologetically look and clap on the back. She loved him dearly and it hurt her a lot to see their sons not being able to trust him.
Thorin had also noticed, that he'd never seen the younger cry. His father died too early and their life was not overshadowed by death, so there might not be many reasons. Maybe because he didn't see them much he also missed chances were he might have cried. But the most obvious reason would be, that Fíli took care of the younger and could stop his crying before anyone even noticed. He wouldn't find out the truth until later though.
Five years passed, Kíli having turned 5-years-old some weeks ago, his older brother Fíli being 10-years-old, and nothing changed. In those five years it was unpreventable for Dís to leave the house for a longer time and she trusted no one enough to keep an eye on her sons, so the task fell on her older brother.
The first time they argued half an hour before Thorin finally gave in. Both knew it would be horrible, but Thorin also trusted no one enough to take care of his sister's sons. So in the past he had simply always sat in the living room chair next to the warm fireplace and watching the boys play at the other end of the room. They wouldn't listen to him, but they always played in sight until their mother returned.
Over the years they progressed at least so far, that they would listen to their uncle, when he told them to eat or go to bed, they were also allowed to move freely around the house. Fíli being old enough to take care of te younger and Thorin trusting him enough to do just that. If it was one thing Thorin knew about the boys, it was the fact, that they were inseparable and Fíli would always first look after Kíli before doing anything else.
It was late fall, the days got chilly, the nights were quite windy. And Dís had called her brother to her house once again, which could only mean one thing. They were in the kitchen, the brother sat down on a chair, his sister roaming around the kitchen to clean up.
"No."
"But you have to, I do not have someone else to do it."
"It's three days and two nights, that's a lot more than we'd ever before. This won't work out."
"But I have to go, this is important.", Dís growled, starting to feel annoyed by the childish act of her brother.
"Can't you take them along like you did with Fíli years ago?", Thorin suggested, knewing the answer already.
"I can't take care of two kids, especially not when they like to run around so much and play all day. I couldn't concentrate on anything."
The older one sighed heavily and rested his head in his hands. His sister taking pity and crouching in front of him, laying her hands on his knees looking up at him.
It took some seconds for the brother to lift his head out of his hands to look at her, but he eventually did it.
"You know I care for you … and them as well, but do you really think this will work out? They barely listen to me, when I tell them to eat. And that's when I'm taking care of them for a day."
Dís chuckled and her look changed to fondly. "You know I wouldn't ask you if there was someone else to trust with this."
Thorin's look turned softer and a bit filled with sadness. "I know.", he said then and took one of her hands into his own. "I will try to do my best."
It earned him another smile and squeeze of the hand, before his sister stand up again and placing a kiss on his cheek. "I'll be gone tomorrow morning after giving the little devils their breakfast. Do you want to stay here tonight?"
Thorin cleared his throat. "Already brought my things along."
Dís looked at him before starting to laugh wholeheartedly. "You just know that you can't win against me. Bless you, brother."
Her brother growled at her, before taking his bag and going to the guest room. His sister finishing last preparations in the kitchen before also going to bed for the day.
"When will ya be bag?"
"Oh dear, I'm only leaving now. I'll be back in two and a half day. I'll bring you back a present, okay? Behave and don't give your uncle too much trouble, promise?"
Kíli forced back a sob and hugged his mother tightly, Fíli standing behind him and smiling at his mother. "I'll take care of him. … And…", glancing a look at his uncle that still stood in the door frame, "we'll try to behave."
Dís smiled at her older son and pulled him in for a hug. Letting both go after some moments and looking at them fondly. She then stood again and looked at her brother, who simply nodded. Giving him a last smile she lifted up her bag, turned around and went towards the street.
The boys holding hands while watching their mother move further away. When she was out of sight they turned to move back into the house. Thorin still standing in the door frame, not having moved an inch and only watched over them. Not even telling them to get back into the house but waited for them to do it on their own. Fíli regarded him with a nod as thanks, when they passed him.
The door closed behind them and the boys didn't get far before they were called. "I know you don't like this, but I'd like to have a really short talk with you two. … Is that okay?"
Kíli winced, but Fíli pulled his sleeve to follow their uncle into the living room. Thorin sitting down in a chair, the boys standing a bit away. When it didn't seem like they would sit, Thorin started talking.
"I only want to make this as comfortable for us as possible, so if you'd listen to me when it's time to eat, bath and sleep, you can do the rest of the time what you want. In the house of course.", he added when he saw a small smirk appear on the younger's face.
"If you need…", Thorin started, but reconsidered. There was no way the boys would come ask for anything they needed. He let out a small sigh. "That's all."
The boys stared at him for some seconds, before Fíli nodding in agreement. At least their uncle hoped that's what it meant.
The day went by in a flash, they came for lunch and dinner when he called, readied them a bath in the late afternoon which they took - without help of course, they are old enough, or at least that's what their looks said - and going to bed when he told them.
The next day wasn't as lucky. Guess that's inevitable with those two dwarflings. Some time in between breakfast and lunch they came into the kitchen, Thorin only watched from the corner of his eye as they went into it. He heard small voices and the sound of things being moved around, before it went silent and a loud crash of glas followed.
Thorin was up in a second and moving to the kitchen. Glass on the floor - probably that used to be a glass jar - and Fíli standing next to it, his brother on a chair below a shelf. Both looked at him in shook and only seemed to wait for him to do anything.
"Are you hurt?", he bellowed out suddenly.
The boys shaked their heads and Kíli finally climbed down the chair.
"Watch your step! And go get to your room, right now!", Thorin shouted. He himself didn't even know if he was simply angry or just relieved that the boys were not injured. But a wave of guilt hit him either way when they got out as fast as possible, trying not to step on any glass. He heard the door to their room slam shut and let out a sigh.
When he finished cleaning up the mess he started to prepare lunch and called the boys. He himself sat down in the living room on the chair near the fireplace again. The boys slowly came down the hall, glanced at him before moving to the kitchen. Thorin heard the clatter of dishes and cutlery, seems as if they at least would follow the promise to eat when being told to.
They went back to their room to play and only came out two more times to eat dinner and bath, when Thorin checked on them to say goodnight, they were already asleep. He felt really bad having shouted at them, they relationship was bad enough as it is.
He'd had been so happy when his little sister got pregnant with Fíli and then also Kíli followed. But they just wouldn't warm up to him, he had tried all possible ways. Staying harsh, being soft and nice, offering to play with them, but they were not responsive in any way.
Maybe he should be happy to even be around them like that. In worst case they'd never wanted to even see him. He sighed and went to the guest room to read a book before going to bed. Perhaps it would help him relax.
In the middle of the night Thorin startle and sat up straight in bed, trying to catch his thoughts. The book he had read was in his lap, the lamp still on, obviously he fell asleep. But had woken him up? He put his legs over the bed corner and sat at it, rubbing his face in his hands to chase off the sleep.
It didn't take long to figure out what woke him. The wind outside the house was extremely loud, louder was the thunder though, mixed with lightning. The windows and doors were creaking from the wind coming in through every small opening they could find. What gave Thorin goose bumps in this moment was something else though.
He stood up instantly and moved to his door, goal-oriented he went down the corridor and met halfway the source of his goose bumps.
His older sister's son was coming towards him, having problems carrying his little baby brother who was crying loudly. Fíli was obviously still half asleep and couldn't manage calming down his brother and carrying him at the same time. When Thorin stopped in front of him and kneeled down, Fíli looked up to him.
"He won't stop crying, I can't sleep like this. And I'm really tired. I don't…"
Thorin patted his head before taking the crying dwarfling up into his arms and standing up again. "Is this his first storm?"
Fíli rubbed his eyes and nodded. "They never were that loud before. I didn't notice until I woke up from his crying though."
Thorin nodded and held Kíli closer to himself, the young one in return cuddling closer to his uncle's neck and covering his ears with his hands.
"Hush, it's okay. You're safe here, nothing will happen to you, Kíli.", Thorin tried and rocked the little dwarf slowly on his arm. "Your brother is here and I'll also be around. It's only loud noises outside."
Thorin tried several attempts at calming down the crying dwarfling and after some minutes Kíli's tears became less and it was more of a sobbing. Their uncle also hadn't notice that Fíli, sometime along the progress of his brother being hushed, had moved up to his uncle and grabbed onto his shirt on the front and back, leaning his head against him. Thorin smiled and put his other hand around Fíli's neck, holding him close.
Sometimes when an especially loud thunder would come down, Kíli still flinched, but he didn't start crying again.
"When… over?", he sobbed out.
"Soon, don't worry. Try to go back to sleep, I will be here.", Thorin nuzzled Kíli's forehead, hoping that it wouldn't scare the little one and continued rocking him.
After some minutes he noticed that Kíli had fallen asleep, some tears still visible on his face. He sighed and relaxed his shoulder a bit. He wanted to put him back to bed, but noticed that Fíli was still clinging to him.
"Fíli?", he looked down at him and waited for a reaction that would never come.
"Fíli?", he tried again, before bending his head forwards to have a look at the younger's face. To his surprise the eyes were closed. Must have fallen asleep while standing.
Thorin shrugged his shoulders. "He did say he was tired."
Pondering over what to do, he just decided to carry both to bed. Perhaps they might not be comfortable with it, but sleeping together with them might calm them down enough not to start another fuss.
He crouched down a bit to pick up the while-standing-sleeping dwarling on his left arm and carried both back into their room. Laying them down in the older's bed, carefully as not to wake them up again, covering them with a blanket and finally laying down himself next to them. It would be a bit narrow, but hopefully none would move.
When Thorin opened his eyes the next morning, he looked into two pairs of blue and brown eyes. Two young dwarlings sitting in front of him on the bed and looking at him.
Thorin grumbled and sat up, bracing himself for the surely to come complaints of the boys.
"'m sori about tha' glass.", Kíli spoke first.
"We wanted to make some cold tea, but Kíli stumbled and the jar glass fell down."
Their uncle looked confused at them. "It's … it's okay. I only shouted because you might have gotten hurt. I shouldn't have shouted though."
"tha's right.", the younger dwarling said and put on a pout.
Thorin smiled and that might have been the reason, that Kíli continued. "Thanks… was really… sca'ed las' night."
"Anytime, little one."
Fíli was fidgeting around and finally spoke. "I didn't know what to do and you said that we only should hear when you tell us to eat or bath or sleep, so I didn't want to ask for help, but he wouldn't stop crying and..:"
"I'm sorry. I should have said that you can come anytime if you need something. You two can always come to me. … It's just… you two seem to be afraid of me, so I thought you'd never come and ask either way.", now that Thorin thought about it, it was really dumb, they are still dwarflings and should know that there are people they could come to for help, no matter what they thought of them.
Fíli shaked his head. "We do know now. I think we weren't nice to you, uncle. But it was nice… having someone around, that was not mother. … It kinda felt fatherlike."
Thorin swallowed and looked down at little Fíli who was watching his hands playing with nothing.
"Fee can't do anithin' when sleepi, so couldn do anithin' las' night.", the younger dwarling smiled and seemed to make fun of his brother at the same time. Who in return just glared at him.
"Okay, well then let's get you two dressed and we find something to eat for breakfast, how does that sound?", Thorin said, getting up and stretching a bit. Sleeping in that small bed in the same position really was uncomfortable.
Kíli and Fíli exchanged a look before smiling brightly at their uncle. Jumping from the bed and going to the bathroom to wash up and dress quickly.
Thorin shook his head and went to dress himself. Before he arrived at his room he stopped. The older nephew really had called him uncle just now.
"Guess we are progressing somewhat.", he mumbled to himself and entered his room with a smile on his lips.
When Dís came home later that day, she closed the door and was putting away her coat. Surprised that no dwarflings were in sight greeting her, like the two usually did. Happy to get away from their uncle. She chuckled and went down the corridor to the living room.
She would be lying if she denied her surprise. Thorin sat in the usual chair at the fireplace, Kíli in his lap and Fíli sitting on the ground to his feet. Her brother was holding a book and reading it to the dwarflings. For a moment she wondered if this could be real.
Standing in the door frame it took several minutes before one of the male dwarves looked up to discover her. It was her brother of course. He nudged Kíli to get his attention away from the book. "Look, your mother is back."
The dwarflings looked up at the same time, smiling brightly and getting up to run towards her. She kneeled down to hug them and smiled over Fíli's should at his brother, who returned it earnestly.
"Go and fetch my bag, I got something for you two.", she said after letting go and the boys were gone in a second. Dís moved to her brother and gave him a kiss on his forehead.
"I guess you guys made up?"
"Something like that. Hope it will stay like that though."
"You are just too scary, if you'd smile more often you could even have a lass yourself and get the boys some cousins."
Thorin looked at her in real shock and his sister only laughed. "I was just kidding. Taking care of my boys is enough for you."
Before the older brother could react in any way, the boys were back, dragging along the heavy bag of their mother. Dís rummaged in he bag and got out some little toys and sweets for the boys. Kíli got a little figure with a bow - he really loved archery, neither of the adults knew how it came to be - and Fíli got a figure with two swords - really, did the two know they were dwarves and not humen or elves?
When the boys stopped gazing at their new toys, they exchanged a look and got up to walk towards their uncle, who looked down at them.
"Look, look, uncle Thorin.", Kíli beamed at him with joy and Fíli wore a smile very similar to his younger brother.
"Maybe we should make some orc or warg, so that my little warrior nephews have an enemy to fight?", Thorin suggested, raising an eyebrow and looking to his sister for approval. She only nodded.
The boys exchanged another look and nodded quickly, which made Thorin laugh.
"Then I suppose I bring some material around next time."
"Promise?", both boys asked in unison.
"Yes."
If possible, the smile on their faces got even wider and they sat down gazing even more and also playing with their new toys.
Dís moving closer to her brother and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you."
Thorin's eyes softened even more.
"That's what family is for."
Well that's it. Somewhat. I got disappointed with the end, but am way too lazy to change it now.
Any mistakes are my own, didn't even bother to re-read it. Anyone spotting mistakes, you can keep them if they are not major ahaha. Thanks for reading I guess x)