If there was one thing that Bilbo noticed, after such a long long time spent travelling with the dwarves and learning their odd ways, that seemed to be only exclusive to one dwarf, it had to be Thorin.
Because Thorin Oakenshield, liked holding hands.
It'd taken him ages to figure it out, considering at first he'd thought his eyes were playing tricks, or he was reading into something too much. But nope, the fact Thorin was brushing his hand against Nori's as they walked, the way he allowed Ori to play with his fingers, and Dwalin to grab his hand and point in certain areas where they could pass through was definitely not imaged.
And it seemed as though as soon as he'd noticed these little things, he noticed them everywhere.
The most obvious was with his nephews of course, Fili being subtle enough to only interlace their fingers with the backs of their hands touching, whilst Kili knew not the meaning of subtly and all out grabbed his uncles hand, palm to palm and chattering away faster than any could blink. But he saw more than even that. He saw him holding Bifur's hands when they conversed in that odd language, his finger's pressing into the palm of Dori's hand as he corrected his musical playing, covering Balin's completely when they looked over maps, squeezed Bombur's large ones when he'd finished cooking a meal.
But it only really stuck out when he noticed how often it happened to him.
He'd never paid much attention to it, but now he did he realised that Thorin touched him a lot. When riding and Bilbo would slip, Thorin would take his hand to pull him back, when climbing a hill or ravine he'd take his hand to tug him up, when they sat beside each other on logs his pinky and ring finger would lace in between Bilbos, when they all lay in close quarters to fight off the cold his hand would find Bilbo's and cover the balled up fist to relax it, when cooking a meal and offering Thorin a taste the other would slip a hand entirely over his to guide the spoon to his mouth.
He had decided to put his foot down and actually ask though when Thorin had slipped behind Bilbo, who'd been braiding his hair thanks to Kili and Fili's insistent nagging that it'd make the long locks get off his face, and had covered his hands with his own as he helped him braid. It'd felt so… intimate.
And Bilbo had found himself liking it.
"Why does he do that?" he found himself asking Balin the next day as they walked, pointing towards Thorin at the front, the one holding one of Kili's hands whilst Fili had the other as they swung the youngest between them like a child.
"Well, they are his nephews and they're still only children really. Only reason they're here is because of their devotion to their uncle-"
"No. Not that! I mean…" he bit his lip and looked behind them, only seeing Bofur and Ori's cheerful faces looking at him before he turned back to Balin, "I mean… why does he hold hands?"
"Oh! That!" Balin was especially loud and Bilbo had to resist the urge to shush the dwarf as everyone glanced at them curiously, Kili opening his mouth to speak but was silenced as Fili yanked him along, "Now that, Mr. Baggins, is something very simple to understand."
"Please explain."
"Has Mr. Thorin been getting a bit close for comfort there, laddie?" the old dwarf asked, grinning and waggling his eyebrows, making Bilbo blush before he clapped the hobbit on the back, "I'm joking. It's not too hard to understand, you must know that Mr. Thorin was raised in royalty."
"He is technically a king."
"Aye, that he is." Balin paused for a minute, pursing his lips before nodding and continuing. "See, Mr. Thorin is royalty, meaning being preen and proper all the time. When he was a youngster he used to be quite affectionate, was rather adorable," seeing the look on Bilbo's face made him laugh, "aye! Its hard to imagine him so! But he was. He used to hug his mother and father all the time, cuddle up on his grandfathers knee, play with his friends and even kiss his little crushes on the cheeks," Bilbo wasn't the only one who awed at that, "but unfortunately that is not appropriate behaviour for a young sire, and eventually when he began to outgrow his young looks and childish ways, he began to get punished for his actions."
Bilbo could see that Thorin could hear, the stiffening of the dwarfs shoulders enough to know but the way he abruptly let go of Kili's hands to cross them over his chest made it perfectly clear.
"His father used to get angry if he once showed affection, his grandfather even worse. His mother tried to get them to relent on their… punishments, but after she passed on it merely got worse and worse until Thorin never hugged, never kissed, never did much more than what was needed." The Company was quiet as they all looked at their king, the whole group stumbling to a stop as Thorin's hands dropped to his sides and curled to fists, showing his anger, but it didn't stop Balin from finishing.
"Holding hands though, brushing hands, any contact with hands is subtle and quiet. Not noticeable. So Thorin picked up on that, and ever since… well he shows his affection for others through his hands." He smiled at Bilbo, "the more he touches, the more he likes you."
And Bilbo couldn't help but blush as the thought of how many times Thorin had touched his hand today compared to anyone else, and with a shy near coy look he glanced up to look at Thorin, almost terrified when he saw stormy dark eyes looking back.
He felt his blood rushing, his heart pumping as he thought of what those hand touches meant, those seemingly innocent yet not touches and after swallowing the lump in his throat he gently moved through the crowd of dwarves until he was standing in front of Thorin.
"You touch my hand," he suddenly said, surprised at his boldness. "A lot."
"And what of it?" Thorin's voice was quietly, but his eyes were flashing deadly as Bilbo swallowed again and gave him a small smile.
Before reaching out to take the others hand, entwining their fingers and squeezing lightly.
"And don't stop."
Thorin seemed speechless, eyes wide and it wasn't until the dwarves behind them started cheering and throwing around sacks of gold did the other finally smile, small and merely a twitch of the corners of his mouth, but it was enough to be counted as a grin in Thorin's case.
Bilbo kissed the back of their hands, maintaining eye contact before he was tugging the other down the path again, feeling and hearing the others step back into line.
"Come on, Thorin. No time to be lagging."
The laugh he got warmed him to the bones.