For Tumblr user redshiloh, who requested: "Durincest on a boat, one of them is seasick and the other is torn between being a jerk brother and teasing and being concerned and comforting."
They aren't at all trusted in this town of men, more prisoners than guests, but despite Thorin's words of caution Kili's had quite enough of being a prisoner. They've mostly kept to themselves, resting in the quarters they've been assigned and trying to stay out of the way lest the men of Laketown retract what support they've given. It's a nice change to have proper food and lodging after the dungeons of the Elvenking, but two days have passed since they were pulled out of the river in barrels and Kili's itching to do something that isn't listening to his uncle stomp around, or watching Fili clean his throwing knives again, or trying to ignore Bilbo's ceaseless fidgeting.
He waits until Thorin is gone, another meeting with the Master or else he's going just as crazy as Kili is cooped up in here. He had a harder time of it in Mirkwood than the rest of them. Nevertheless, Kili wishes he'd take someone with him when he went; as happy as he is to see the rest of the company, they're all getting irritated being in such a tight space for so long.
So Kili decides to take action, and accepts that Thorin's lecture will be long and tedious when he's caught. It's probably some sort of miracle that they've lasted most of the journey without getting into more than a small amount of trouble, all things considered. He finds Fili sitting in a corner away from the others, whittling down a bit of wood with one of his smaller knives. This is something Kili hasn't seen him do in years, and that he's doing it at all bodes well for Kili's plan.
"Brother!" Kili says cheerfully, sitting next to Fili on his own bedroll and turning towards him, watching him work away at the piece of wood in his hands.
Fili spares him a glance and a small smile before his eyes return to his work, blowing off the excess. "Whatever you're planning, I'll have none of it."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kili tries to look offended, but he fails spectacularly, grin splitting his face. He's always been a terrible liar. "You can't tell me you haven't been thinking of getting out of here?"
There's a moment of silence. "Thorin said…"
"But he's not here! And if we go now, just a short walk or something to get some air, we'll be back before he knows we've been missing."
Fili puts his work aside, fixing Kili with a look. "Just a short walk. I'm tired of it too, but we have to be cautious." He looks tired, and Kili wonders, not for the first time, if every step closer to Erebor weights that much heavier on his brother's shoulders. Fili gets to his feet and Kili scrambles to follow his lead, looking around at the others scattered around the floor of the room.
They get out without much protest. The sunlight is weak and wintery, snow still piled in places along the roads, but it's perfect compared to the place they've been confined too. The market, just the other side of the pavilion where the Master has them housed, is a colorful affair, able to be so without being assaulting to the eye. It's not a grand market, nor large, and the people of Laketown dress stranger than the Hobbits of the Shire.
They walk among the men in the marketplace for a while, content to be outside despite the looks they're getting. There are women peddling wares as well as men, but nearly all of them shy away when they walk past, as though they've heard terrible things and are unwilling to see if they're true. After the fifth time this happens Kili veers out of the marketplace, Fili making a small sound of protest as he follows.
Laketown is built around a large lake, which brings the docks right into the center of town. Kili is drawn to the lake. It's large, rippling water reflecting broken images of the cloudy winter sky. It's probably cold, which is a good enough explanation for the lack of boats out today. Standing next to the water, they can feel the cold biting at them through the strange clothes they've been given.
It's a terrible idea, but Kili has never been known for his brilliant ones.
"Fili," he says, thoughtful. "You think we could go on the lake?"
Fili looks immediately unsure. "Just a quick walk, I said. We should probably be heading back anyway," but Kili's got a hold on his arm and is dragging him toward the dock despite his protests. There's a small boat bobbing on the choppy water, tied to the dock with a thick-woven rope. It doesn't look like it belongs to anyone; here, where everyone owns some sort of boat, all are marked with some indication of ownership.
"Look, there's even a boat. We could go out and come right back, it'll be—"
From the slightly ill look Fili gives the boat, he's probably remembering careening down the river in barrels. In the end he doesn't agree, but he doesn't protest when Kili drags him onto the small boat and unties the rope from the post on the dock.
It's then when Kili remembers that he actually knows nothing about boats. And Fili doesn't look like he'll be much help even if he did have some sort of knowledge, because he's gripping the sides of the boats so tightly his knuckles are turning white. The farther they get from shore the worse Fili looks. Kili pointedly ignores the fact that he has no idea how to get back to the dock in favor of deciding how he should handle this situation.
He's rarely had any real opportunity to tease his brother, not like this. There are few things that Fili's actually bad at, and only really one of those things that Kili's actually good at. But teasing Fili about his inability to aim a bow properly usually ends up with Kili pinned to the nearest surface with Fili growling at him, and that's not really being a jerk so much as helping them both out, really.
So he could be a jerk here. It'd be a sort of payback for all the times Fili's teased him (and it didn't lead to the pinning and the growling, which Kili couldn't hold against him anyway because he very much enjoyed it). Fili looks greener by the minute, trying to watch Kili's face or the sky rather than the water underneath them, eyes closed like he's trying not to think about the fact that they're held precariously aloft by nothing but wood and water.
He could be a jerk.
The little boat gives a violent jolt forward and the words die in Kili's throat. Fili nearly capsizes them by lurching sideways, leaning over the edge of the boat to empty the contents of his stomach into the lake. When Kili regains his balance, he decides to take pity on his brother, leaning across the small space between them and rubbing Fili's back, small circles that are meant to be soothing. Shifting closer allows him to pull the hair that's fallen out of Fili's hair clasp away from his face. He can't do anything about his moustache without tipping them over completely, and perhaps Kili should have considered the fact that they've never been swimming in a lake this large or deep before, and streams are entirely different animals.
For lack of anything else to do that would be helpful, Kili whispers soft words of comfort, raises his voice over the muted sounds of Fili's dry heaving, and breaks into Khuzdul when he's run out of things to say in Westron. Long moments stretch out like this, until Fili can breathe without his entire body seizing. He slumps there for half a second before he realizes that it's tipping the boat for all of his weight to be so centered.
They've attracted the attention of a few people making their way along the bank of the lake, most of them either laughing or looking sympathetic. Kili gives Fili a few moments to rest, to regain himself, before he shifts them around. Fili goes without complaint, thought this is most likely due to the fact that if he did open his mouth, unpleasantness would follow and he'd need to lean over the side of the boat again. It takes a few moments of awkward shuffling that rocks them more than probably necessary, but when he finally gets them situated they're both laying in the center of the boat. Here, the shaking is less noticeable, and it's cool, cold water radiating through the wood of the boat. Fili rests his head gratefully against the bottom of the boat, leaning into Kili's touch when he strokes his hair back from his forehead.
"I take it we don't like boats, then?"
Fili cracks one eye open. He still looks pale and sickly, but at least he's relaxed some; he's quaking, small shakes that makes Kili draw him closer, situate them so he can hold his brother properly. He breathes in, slow and deep, and turns his face into Kili's shoulder. "I think I hate you," he says, voice muffled.
Kili grins. "You love me." He kisses Fili's temple, soothes a hand through his hair. Fili tries to pull away to prove his point, but he pushes closer when Kili resumes stroking his back, sighing softly.
"We'll never get to Erebor," Fili says a few minutes later. "Thorin's going to murder us."
"He might, but he's going to have to find us first." Kili looks up at the sky, already starting to darken. He doesn't want to spend all night on the water, but he also doesn't want to face his uncle's wrath when he does find them. Hopefully they'll float back to shore soon, right? Hopefully they won't just keep floating, back down the river and back through Mirkwood, to be captured by the Elvenking and separated again.
His arms tighten around Fili. As long as they can stay like this, he doesn't actually care how long it takes Thorin to find them. He's spent too long away from his brother, and it feels nice to have his weight firmly against him again.
So yeah, apparently I write Hobbitfic now, who knew?