I wrote this story with the sole purpose of getting some 'Hobbit feels' off my chest, but really only succeeded in making them worse. So alongside my other stories, I'm introducing a set of one-shots about various characters from the book. At least now I've fallen back into my 'fan-fiction writing mode' and I'll be updating all of my unfinished stories this month!
This first story is just a cute little idea I had while creating headcanons for the characters. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit or Lord of The Rings. I really wish I did, but unfortunately, I don't.
Kíli and Fíli were exceedingly good at wrapping Thorin around their little fingers.
He was a bit of a pushover, really, they told their friends. Once you got around his gruff exterior, the fact that he could probably chop your head off with one swing of his sword, and the whole 'Heir to the Lonely Mountain' sort of thing.
Their mother was home sick, as she often was at this age, and Thorin had agreed to take Kíli and Fíli over to the marketplace as long as they promised to stay out of trouble. They had sworn backwards and forwards, rushing to grab their little cloaks with eagerness. It wasn't often they visited the market, Fíli being only the age of ten and Kíli six, their mother didn't trust them to go alone. Too crowded and dangerous, she would say.
It was crowded, but the people seemed to part like waves when Thorin walked by, Kíli and Fíli rushing to keep up with him. The brothers often lingered too long in the street, fascinated by everything from a flock of sheep following a staff-wielding dwarf, to the jovial conversations drifting out of tavern windows.
"Uncle Thorin, Uncle Thorin! Please wait up!" Kíli shouted, diving at Thorin's leg and nearly knocking a woman off her feet.
"I've told you time and time again. You two can't linger, because I'm not going to stop for you. You're going to get lost," Thorin said.
Fíli nodded dolefully, straightening his vest and falling into step behind Thorin. Kíli continued to cling to Thorin's boot, grinning widely. Every time Thorin took a step forward, Kíli's long black hair flew through the air and he laughed, enjoying the ride. Fíli's eyes darted between the shop windows, tempted to push people out of the way in order to see what was inside. He wished he was a little like Thorin, then people would automatically move aside for him.
As they came near the small shop towards the end of the street, Fíli's ears perked up at the sound of laughter and ringing bells. Through the open door he could see children around his age running across the stone floor, clutching wooden toys in their hands. The window front was surrounded by a group of older dwarves, and Fíli could not see around them.
"Uncle," he asked, reaching up to pull at Thorin's sleeve. "What's that?" He pointed at the store with his other hand.
Thorin stared inside the small building for a moment before nodding. "Bofur's toy shop."
Kíli and Fíli exchanged eager grins. "Could we visit it?" Kíli asked innocently, looking up at Thorin with the adorable, wide-eyed gaze he usually reserved for getting himself out of trouble.
"Not today, I'm sorry." Kíli looked heartbroken, and wrapped his arms tighter around Thorin's leg.
"Please, please, please?" he begged. Fíli joined him, gripping onto Thorin's fur cloak and shaking it.
"Your mother was right… I should have never taken you two out of the house," Thorin muttered, starting to get annoyed. He walked away from the shop, rolling his eyes as Kíli and Fíli continued to pester him. Kíli tugged at Thorin's ankle, weakly attempting to get him to turn around.
"B-but Uncle, we just want to visit Bofur and see the toys he makes! The last time he visited our house, he brought the most amazing little wooden horse for us, all painted and everything! Who knows what else he's got?" Fíli protested, bouncing on the heels of his feet in order to keep Thorin's attention.
Thorin was relieved of having to argue against Fíli as a familiar figure walked towards them, looking frustrated.
"Dori!" Thorin greeted the man, cutting off Fíli's begging. "It's not often I see you in the East Market! What are you doing up here?"
Dori muttered a greeting, turning his head side to side as though looking for something. "Nori," he said simply, and Thorin nodded grimly in understanding.
"Where has he run off to this time?"
"That's the thing! I don't know!" Dori said bitterly. "I've told him time and time again that he needs to find himself some good, honest work, and forget about these dealings he keeps getting himself into! He's sick of me nagging at him, I'm sure, so last night he ran off without a trace! I doubt he's up here though. Probably hanging around near Mirkwood with the scoundrels he calls his friends. "
Thorin shook his head. "He'll come back eventually, he always does."
"Who knows with him? And he's left me with Ori," Dori said, lifting up the back of his long cloak to reveal a tiny red-headed child who had been hiding behind him the entire time. As soon as his hiding spot was exposed, Ori squealed in fright and buried his face in the back of Dori's leg. Dori sighed and shook his head. His brown hair was tinged with grey. "I'm trying to raise the lad properly. That's not going to do any good when Nori's running around getting himself into trouble!"
Kíli and Fíli had quickly grown bored of the conversation between Thorin and Dori, and were busy staring at the different people walking around them, collapsing in a fit of silent laughter as a fat dwarf with hair and beard that stood on end trudged past, humming to himself. However, when Kíli noticed Ori he nudged his brother in the side and pointed at the cowering child. Fíli leaned forward in fascination.
"Hey," he hissed. "Wha'cha doing hiding back there?"
"Big brother told me not to talk to strangers," Ori muttered, barely audible, into Dori's leg. Small braids of his red hair hung around his round pink cheeks.
"Come on, we don't bite," Fíli replied, but Ori shook his head in protest.
"Let me talk to him," Kíli said, letting go of Thorin and crawling over to look at Ori, dirt smearing over his pants.
"Hello there," he said kindly, giving Ori a bright smile through his mess of scraggly black hair. Ori spared Kíli a quick glance and then looked up at Dori, who was still raging on about Nori to Thorin.
"I'm Kíli." He extended a hand towards Ori. "And you are?"
"O-Ori," he replied nervously, holding out a pudgy hand and then squealing in protest as Kíli grabbed it and shook it with vigor.
"Hey Ori," Fíli whispered suddenly, leaning forward with a mischievous smile. "Have you ever been to a toy shop?"
Kíli looked at his brother and then grinned when he realized what Fíli was doing. Ori shook his head, confused at the sudden change of topic.
"Us neither! But there's one right over there! Want to come check it out with us?" He pointed to the toy store, in which only the roof was visible now, but it wasn't hard at all to distinguish it from the other stores. Multi-coloured smoke was streaming out of the chimney into the sky.
Ori looked nervously up at the smoke, clearly torn between interest and wanting to stay with Dori.
"Just for a little bit," Fíli urged. "We'll make sure nothing will happen to you."
Kíli nodded. "It'll be brilliant! And we know the shop owner, he's really nice!"
"O-Okay, let me just ask my brother…" Fíli stopped him just in time, just as Ori had grabbed Dori's sleeve.
"There's no need to ask him, I'm sure it will be okay!" Fíli said quickly, breathing a small sigh of relief. Dori hadn't even noticed it, now listening to Thorin talk. Neither one of the adults were paying attention to the three kids around their feet.
Kíli and Fíli grabbed Ori's hands and gently pulled him away from Dori, doing their best to stay absolutely silent until they were all standing behind Thorin.
"So, what's the plan?" Kíli whispered over Ori's head into Fíli's ear.
"We take this lad with us to the shop, and if Thorin catches us, we can just say we wanted to show him around. You know how hard it is for him to get mad at us when we're doing something nice."
Kíli nodded and gave his brother a thumbs up. "Good plan." He looked down at Ori. "Now, just hold onto us and you won't get trampled."
"Trampled?" Ori squeaked nervously, but it was too late. Kíli and Fíli had already begun pulling him along the pathway, quickly weaving in and out of the legs of passing dwarves. Ori was jostled around, the two brothers pulling his arms in various directions. "Don't tug too hard!" he whined. "You'll tear a hole in the sweater that Brother knitted for me!"
Kíli snickered, looking at the dull grey hand-knitted sweater Ori was wearing, but said nothing as he ducked between the legs of a woman who squealed in protest and swung at him with her purse.
"Look, we're here already, you don't need to fuss," said Fíli a few seconds later as they rounded a basket filled with colourful buttons. He froze, staring up at the toy shop with awe. The three stood on tiptoe to peer inside the window, gasping in delight at what they saw.
A platform was covered with an assortment of wooden animals. Tiny rabbits, fierce wolves, majestic horses; a huge red wooden dragon was curled up in the back of the display, painted in such detail that they could see every scale on its back.
"It's so pretty," Ori murmured, his tiny, round nose pressed eagerly against the glass.
"Come on, let's go inside! There's bound to be more!" Kíli said, jumping up the stone staircase and pulling Ori and Fíli into the shop behind him
It was impossible for their eyes trying to take in everything at once. The bells that hung on the ceiling chimed joyfully amidst all the talking and laughter. The multi-coloured smoke rising from the chimney was a result of powdered pinecones that children were throwing into the fire, turning it blue, green, and violet.
The three made their way towards the back of the shop, pausing every few seconds to stare eagerly at a different toy. Not only were there wooden animals, but hundreds of different characters, all dressed in separate outfits. The dwarves wielded axes and swords, or were wearing elegant robes and gems. Elves knelt on the ground, bows pulled back like they were ready to fire. Hobbits sat smoking pipes or holding baskets of flowers. The goblins and orcs came in sets, and Ori hid behind Kíli as they passed them, frightened by their menacing wooden gaze.
The back of the shop was less crowded, other than a few children looking at the display of elegant kites. A lone man sat at a table that was covered in tools, oil stains, and wooden pieces, carving at a block of wood with a small knife. He was wearing a goofy-looking hat that had long ears that hung out to the side like bird wings. A pipe hung out of the corner of his mouth, smoke drifting lazily from it up to the ceiling.
"Hello Bofur!" Fíli said eagerly, running ahead of Kíli and Ori and resting his arms on the worktable.
The man looked up and grinned when he recognized Fíli's face, placing the knife and wood on the table. He took the pipe out of his mouth as blew a quick smoke ring before snuffing out the flame and resting the pipe alongside his tools.
"Well if it isn't young Fíli! And Kíli too!" he added, looking past Fíli's head. Ori had successfully hidden himself behind a shelf. "What brings you lads to my shop today? Does this mean your mother is well again?"
"No," Fíli muttered, a little solemnly. "But Thorin wanted to take us to the market."
"Well, then where is Thorin?" Bofur said, eyes darting between Kíli and Fíli. "Don't tell me he's letting you wander out here alone!"
"Not exactly," said Kíli, glancing at his brother with a bit of a mischievous smile. "He's not really letting us wander. We kind of just did it on our own." He shrugged, not looking very worried.
Bofur laughed and shook his head, the ears of his hat bouncing around his shoulders. "He'll have your heads you know."
"But we were dying to visit you!" Fíli said, smiling again. "We wanted to see all of your toys, and we brought a friend!" He stepped backwards and reached behind the shelf, pulling Ori into view. Ori's hands were clutching at his face, his large brown eyes visible above his sweater sleeves.
"Who is this?" Bofur asked, leaning forward with a kind smile.
"Ori," Kíli said after a pause, Ori being too nervous to speak for himself. "His older brother is talking to Thorin just a little bit away."
"Ori?" Bofur asked, a little surprised. "Why, I haven't seen you since you were just a wee baby! Look at what a cute young lad you've grown up to be!" Ori blushed, his face turning as red as his hair. "Now, I don't suppose I can just send you off back to your Uncle. I doubt you'd listen to me." Kíli and Fíli nodded, looking stubborn. Bofur sighed. "Come on then, I'll show you three around."
Thorin had suddenly frozen in mid-sentence, his eyes widening. He had been talking to Dori for the past fifteen minutes, and he had only just now noticed that something was wrong. It took him another few seconds to recognize the unusual silence and the lack of two boys clinging onto his ankles.
"Where in Durin's name are Kíli and Fíli?" He asked waspishly, looking around him. "KÍLI! FÍLI! WHERE ARE YOU?" There was no reply, but practically everyone around Thorin shot him a dirty look.
Dori looked at Thorin, confused, until he realized that he too was missing a dwarf. "Why, Ori's gone too!" he said, panicking. He turned in a circle as if he still expected Ori to be hiding behind him. His empty cloak swept the cobblestone street. "That boy hasn't left my side since we left the house! Where could he have run off too?"
Thorin clutched at his hair. "No doubt Kíli and Fíli had something to do with it." He groaned. "Their mother is going to kill me if I've lost them!"
"Surely she can't do much to you," Dori said bitterly.
"You've never met my sister," Thorin muttered. He looked up and down the road; his gaze finally fell upon the toy shop, and his eyes widened. "Oh, they better not have," he snarled and started treading towards the shop with no explanation to Dori, who had no choice but to follow along behind him. People wisely stepped out of Thorin's way as he walked past, his fists clenched in rage and attracting many confused glances.
Thorin threw open the door of the toy store none too gently. It slammed against the wall and the bells hanging along the ceiling all rang at once from the disturbance. The children in the store cowered as he walked by, Dori stumbling in his wake.
The two men froze as they reached the back of the shop, momentarily forgetting that they were supposed to be angry. Bofur was kneeling on the ground surrounded by Kíli, Fíli, and Ori, all of whom were holding wooden figurines and smiling brightly. Ori was wearing Bofur's hat, but it was so big that it slipped over his head, and he was using one hand to hold it above his eyes.
"Kíli, Fíli," Thorin growled, now more annoyed then angry. The two brothers jumped in surprise, looking at each other and then at Thorin wearing similar expressions of embarrassment.
"Hello Uncle…" Fíli muttered, twisting a braid of his blonde hair around one finger. "Nice seeing you here."
"You really thought I wouldn't notice that you ran off on me?" Thorin asked, crossing his arms and staring down at them.
"Well, er, we hoped," Kíli said, flashing his trademark smile at him. "We were just showing Ori around."
"Ori," Dori said, his voice a pitch higher than usual. "I expected you to know better than to run off on me like that! You scared me half to death!"
"I'm sorry Brother," Ori mumbled politely, fumbling with the figure of a pony and still holding up Bofur's hat with the other hand. "But Mr. Bofur's toys are so pretty, and Fíli and Kíli said you wouldn't mind."
"Oh, did they now?" said Thorin, eyes flashing. Fíli and Kíli pulled themselves closer together in self-defense.
"Come on now Thorin," said Bofur cheerily, resting his hands against the brothers' heads and ruffling their hair. "You can't blame them for wanting to explore. They work so hard taking care of their mother that they rarely get out of the house. At least they ran here instead of down the nearest dark alleyway."
Dori gave a small squawk of fright. The thought of his baby brother wandering down an alley filled with bandits and dirty vagabonds was almost unbearable.
"Brother," said Ori gently, grabbing Dori's arm and peering up at him, Bofur's hat balanced upon his forehead, "could I maybe visit Kíli and Fíli more often? They are a lot of fun."
Dori smiled softly. It wasn't often that his younger brother wanted to play with other children. He did have a tenancy to be very overprotective of Ori, but it was hard not to, being the 'mother figure' in their family. "We'll see," he said, patting Ori on the head.
Kíli and Fíli grinned at Ori and then up at Thorin, who was still looking unamused.
"Don't think you're off the hook just yet," he told them sternly. "Your mother will hear about this."
"We understand Uncle," they said in unison.
"But do you think," Fíli added quickly, "that while we're here, you could maybe…" The brothers held out the figurines in their hands, dwarf warriors holding swords.
"Please, Uncle Thorin?" Kíli said, staring up at Thorin with bright blue eyes.
Thorin sighed. He really was too soft on them. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of coins and trying to ignore the victorious grins the two boys gave each other behind his back.
So that was the first of the multiple Hobbit-related one shots that I will be writing. I really hope you liked it, and if you did, please review! I'm always looking for more prompts, so if you have any ideas I would appreciate it if you messaged them to me.
Thanks for reading!