Fili grunted when he felt a quick jab to his ribs, turning a quick glare at his younger brother, who was bouncing up and down on the heels of his boots, grinning at him widely. "What was that for?"
Kili simply pointed across the street, the blonde turning his gaze to where his brother pointed, a smile crossing his own face. "Ori!" he called, Kili hurrying to cross the street towards the red headed dwarfling, the Fili following at a slightly more sedate pace.
Ori only glanced up at the brothers briefly, clutching his sketch books to his chest protectively, swallowing thickly. "Hello," he murmured quietly, squawking loudly when Kili snatched his sketch book out of his hands roughly.
"Good morn, to you," the brunette laughed, dancing away from Ori's grabbing hands, his fingers quickly flicking through the pages of the younger dwarfs book.
Fili watched his brother and the red head for a moment, chuckling quietly. "Why do you spend all your time with your nose stuffed into a book, anyway?" the young prince asked, tilting his head in genuine confusion as he watched Kili stuff the sketchbook down his tunic and start to climb the side of a building to get away from Ori.
The young dwarfling said nothing, simply jumping to try and latch onto Kili's legs to yank him back down to the ground, biting on his lip to keep from letting frustrated shouts of embarrassment leave his mouth.
"Are you mute now, too?" Kili teased, perching on a the edge of the roof of the building he'd managed to scale, pulling Ori's book back out of his tunic. "Come on! Why don't you spend more time on the training field with the rest of us? Or at the tavern, even?"
Ori grit his teeth and let out a hiss of anger, balling his hands into tight fists at his sides. "I…Because I simply don't want to," he muttered, staring at the rough brickwork of the wall in front of him.
The red head jerked at the feeling of an arm sliding around his shoulders, blinking in mild surprise up at the grinning face of the elder Durin sibling. "That's not very dwarf-like of you," the blonde teased, yanking Ori backwards as Kili leapt down from his perch. "You really should come practice with us some time. Prove your worth with us!"
"I'm sorry, but I would rather not," Ori mumbled, snatching his book back from Kili, his cheeks burning bright red in embarrassment, hoping the brothers didn't see the tears welling in his eyes at their cruel words. he quickly ducked from below Fili's arm, before quickly scurrying away, slipping away down a hidden path his brother had shown him once.
Kili frowned, folding his arms over his chest, while Fili scratched at his head a little. "Why doesn't he ever want to come hang out with us?" the brunette grumbled, half burying his face in the over-sized scarf he'd gotten from Thorin for his last birthday.
"I couldn't say," Fili said with a shrug, stretching his arms over his head.
~
"OOORRRRRIIIIIIIII!"
The red head cringed at the obnoxious shout of his name, sighing grumpily as his scrolls were knocked out of his hands and scattered across the ground by a bouncy brunette prince. He watched forlornly as his quill got caught in a gust of wind and was swiftly wiped away.
"Yes?" Ori murmured, stooping to start collecting his scrolls back up, only to nearly fall on his bottom when Kili's boots stomped forward, only just barely missing his fingers.
"You should get out of the library for once, and come join us in a wrestling competition! Fili, Gimli and I are competing for the rights to purchase the new sword Thorin just finished smithing. It's for sale the next town over, and it's one of the nicest swords around. You could use something a little more practical than that sling shot I saw you practicing with a few days ago."
Ori's cheeks burned at the realization that someone had seen him with his sling shot, swallowing thickly as he moved around Kili to finish gathering up his scrolls, momentarily mourning the loss of his quill. "My sling shot is as practical as I need it to be," he grumbled under his breath, the young prince ducking towards him with a confused look on his face.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," the red head said, forcing a smile on his face. "In any regard, I wouldn't want to waste one of your time with my inability to wrestle, or take away the chance for one of you to get that fine sword, now would I?" He gave the prince a short bow, before ducking around him and heading home with a scowl on his face.
Kili watched the young scribe walk away, a frown of his own on his face, though his was more out of frustration towards not getting the red head to spend time with himself and the others. Yet again.
~
"My, my. Ori, you are such a clutz. You really should come train with us," Fili scoffed, grinning a little as the red head stared at the books and papers scattered across the ground before him. The ones that Fili had so generously knocked clean out of his hands.
"You really should," Kili pipped up, stepping out form behind his brother, nudging one of the books with the toe of his boot. "People are going to start calling you soft, if you don't get your head out of the clouds."
Ori growled quietly, hands fisted in the loose material of his tunic, before turning a tearful glare at the brothers. Their teasing and constant harassment had been going on for years, and he simply couldn't take it anymore. It had to stop, princes or not.
"What does it even matter?!" he finally snapped, fat tears slowly rolling unbidden down his cheeks as he stamped one of his heavy boots on the ground. "I LIKE having my nose stuffed into my books, and scribbling in my scrolls, and spending time in the library! I don't want to go out and get filthy on the training grounds, and go home covered in cuts and bruises! I don't care if people think me un-dwarvish, just because I want to be a scholar! If we didn't have scholars, we wouldn't have language, or writing, or a written history! We wouldn't have all the texts on medicine we do, or even the texts on fighting and war! Just-just, leave me alone! I'm tired of you two always making my life miserable! I just…leave me alone." His speak withered into a quiet plea, before he moved to collect his books and scrolls, hurrying to run away while the princes still stood utterly flabbergasted at being yelled at.
Ori thought he had gotten away, when his sleeve was caught and he was yanked back towards the prince's, fear rolling in his belly for what the two might do to him for his outburst. "I'm sorry," he quickly burst out, ducking his head and half hiding himself behind his books.
"I think it is us who owe the apology," Fili murmured, causing Ori to look up at him in disbelief. "We never meant to hurt you," he explained, letting his fingers slip from the scribe's sleeve.
"We just wanted you to come play with us," Kili admitted, looking bashful as he scuffed the toe of his boot through the dirt, looking anywhere but at the red head.
"You-you wanted me to come play with you?" Ori repeated in disbelief, staring wide-eyed at the two.
"Apparently we did a poor job of conveying that notion," Fili said, his cheeks a light pink colour, obviously embarrassed by the misunderstanding.
"We admire your intelligence," Kili quickly cut in, stepping forward, "We just thought, perhaps, you might enjoy also stepping out of your usual comfort zone. Really, a sling shot won't help you if someone tried to rob your library."
Ori couldn't help the startled snort of laughter that comment provoked, quickly covering his mouth with a hand.
"We never realized our teasing hurt you so," Fili added, gently placing a hand on the younger dwarf's shoulder, "We honestly meant nothing by it. We tease each other, and Gimli, as such all the time. I suppose, we never realized others would not take to it as well."
"We are sorry," Kili murmured, moving to bump his shoulder into the red head's lightly, a wobbly, hopeful sort of smile on his face.
Ori looked from one prince to the other, fingers curling tight around his books, before slowly relaxing. He wiped at his eyes with the side of his knitted gloves. "You two will probably be the death of me, you do realize? Whether from sheer idiocy," he paused, swallowing a spark of joy at teasing the princes for once, "or incredible frustration."
"Does that mean you'll come play with us?" Kili asked, his smile turning into a full blown grin.
"Not at the moment," Ori said, shifting the books in his hands, "Perhaps when I'm finished. You two have a lot of making up to do."
The prince's nodded in tandem, Fili jovially ruffling Ori's hair, while Kili slung an arm around the younger's shoulders as they escorted him to the library.