He did smile a lot. Everyone noticed it. Gandalf said he was the dwarf equivalent of the human saying; if you don't laugh you'll cry.
They didn't know that sometimes he did cry. Only Fili knew that. And Fili was good at keeping secrets. He kept the one about the reason Kili had no beard, and the one about the time he broke his foot. He never told. Just like he never told the others that sometimes Kili did cry. Late at night, when he woke up sweating from another nightmare. And he never told them what the nightmares were about either.
And they never noticed, because his smile was so happy.
So innocent.
It made Bilbo feel at home and Gandalf forget the darkness that forever lurked at the corners of Middle-Earth.
It made Thorin grin, and remember his sister – the boy's mother.
It reminded Gloin of his wide, and the smells of home, and made Oin forget about money and medicine, and remember more delightful things.
It reminded Dori to smile himself occasionally, helped Nori sit still for a minute, and gave Ori courage when he felt he had none.
It made Balin laugh and feel a soft glow in his beard ends, which he supposed was where his heart was.
Even Dwalin felt forgiving when Kili smiled.
It made Bifur forget that he couldn't talk, and made him smile too.
It cheered Bofur up no end, and helped Bombur forget his dinner, or lack of it.
And most of all, it made Fili proud. Proud and happy.
So happy to see his brother smile, a smile that lit up the room, or cave, or whatever they were in.
It started at the corner of his mouth, little crinkles that slowly grew until he couldn't help but grin. And then his eye's brightened and he laughed.
And the laughter was the best.
The tiny giggles when Fili whispered something about Uncle Thorin's serious face, the guilty laughter that he quickly tried to stifle, the whoops of excitement, the breathless gasps for air when the hilarity became too much.
He laughed a lot too.
And Fili would do anything to make sure that his brother kept laughing.
*A/N
Yah! Cuteness!
I am meant to be writing my WBAZ story Alone but I was naughty and I wrote this instead.
I apologise.