AN: Hey guys so here is another Thilbo fic that I am writing. This prompt was given by vampygurl402 awhile back. I finally managed to write it since I have finished typing one of my major series and have a lesser workload now. I'm trying to clear all prompts/asks before I go back to school in about 10 or so days! Also, just incase you might want to know, I listened to What If by Safetysuit when I typed this story:) Anyway, please do read the story, I do hope you like it and do leave me a comment when you are done, thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit or any of the characters whatsoever. This story is 100% fanmade for the fans by a fan.

Sleepwalker

"Looks more like a grocer than a burglar," he had said when they had first met. Things had only ever gone down hill right from the beginning between the two of them. If Thorin didn't like him, he didn't have to keep articulating it, he only needed to say it once.

"I will not be responsible for his fate," Bilbo had overheard the dwarf king saying to Gandalf when they were at his house later on that night.

"You're going to go without many comforts of the home on this journey," Thorin had told him, rather harshly when he had first joined them. The least the dwarf king could do was comfort him, after all Bilbo had agreed rather reluctantly to join their company and he was regretting it only now.

Even when they had been captured by the mountain trolls and Bilbo had saved them somewhat by stalling for time as he talked to the trolls giving them a sort of 'cooking advice' Thorin had just dismissed his effort when he'd told Gandalf, "No thanks to your burglar." Why had he agreed to come with them in the first place? What had spurred him on to join the dwarves? He could find no reason except maybe out of pity for Thorin who had no home to call his own.

It wasn't just Thorin that had been rude to him and treated him not too well, the other dwarves had at one point or another indirectly insulted him and made a joke of him too. That was in the beginning though, Bilbo had to remind himself of the hurt he's felt towards their comments and now things were different. Or maybe it was just him…

He didn't feel anymore, the hurt of the insults that Thorin especially seemed to love bombarding him with. He had closed off his heart to the company, to the dwarves, to Gandalf. To everyone basically. He didn't really interact with them any longer. In fact, he had changed so much from the once friendly hobbit, he now spoke as little as possible and he spent most of his time on his own, or as alone as one can get with a company of dwarves and a wizard.

Thorin had noticed it awhile back. It hadn't really occurred to him what was wrong with the halfling, or what had made him change but he had noticed how Bilbo never smiled anymore, how he never frowned anymore. In fact he never showed any emotions any longer. He seemed detached, as though he was just carrying out the actions of moving through life daily. He was just being. He wasn't living like he had used to. He wasn't the happy, cheerful, stubborn, rebellious hobbit that Thorin had first come to meet and had fallen for, though he totally completely denied it with all his heart.

Recently though, when he saw Bilbo, his heart seemed to break. He missed what Bilbo used to be, the person he had liked so much. They quickened their pace now as they neared Rivendell, the territory of the elves. It was under Gandalf's instructions that they had come here and Thorin had been against it so badly. But as they were showed to their rooms he thought maybe it would be a good change of atmosphere, especially for Bilbo. Maybe this was what Bilbo needed, the comforts of home. A nice warm bed, some decent food and drink. Perhaps after this Bilbo would go back to normal, he was probably mentally and physically drained from their strenuous journey.

Over the very vegetarian dinner that they had that evening in the elven dining hall, Thorin continued to observe Bilbo. He was doing it again, just going though the motions of living, it was almost…puppet like, how his hands moved to grab the cutlery, moving it between his plate and his mouth, then chewing. It was systematic, cyclical and not one bit filled with the warmth that he used to know. His conversation was short, clipped. No one seemed to notice though, maybe Gandalf did but even then he didn't let on. It was beginning to get to Thorin, now more than ever.

Bilbo, though he went through the motions of life, he wasn't dumb, he was still alert he knew what was going on around him. He just didn't interact with them. He knew Thorin was looking at him, even now at the dinner table. The dwarf king was staring at him from where he sat, not taking his eyes off of him. For what reason, Bilbo didn't know but he had a guess of sorts that Thorin was only now noticing his change and he wasn't too happy about it or something along those lines.

On the second night though, Thorin couldn't stand it any longer. Staring at Bilbo's expressionless face, hearing his monosyllabic answers that were void of emotion, it just didn't fit the halfling at all. So he followed after the halfling a few moments after Bilbo had left the dining hall, he jogged up to the other, catching the halfling as he gripped him on the shoulder, turning him around.

"Thorin…" Bilbo muttered, looking to the tall dwarf, shocked that the dwarf prince had come out after him.

"Bilbo, I think we need to talk," Thorin said.

Bilbo raised a brow, "About what? There's nothing for us to talk about," he said deadpan.

"That's exactly what we need to talk about," Thorin said indicating the halfling's lack of emotion.

"What?" Bilbo asked slightly irritated now.

"The way you're…just being and not actually living out the moment? How you're just moving through life and being all detached," Thorin said.

"I am not detached," Bilbo said shaking off Thorin's hand from his shoulder now as he turned to walk off, headed back for his room.

"The Bilbo I used to know would argue that point more than just that," Thorin said, going after the halfling, following him up the stairs, noticing how Bilbo didn't retort back to his statement at all, a silent confirmation of what he had feared.

"So you admit?" Thorin asked when they reached the top of the stairs.

"Admit to what?" Bilbo asked stopping in his tracks. Oh he knew. He knew exactly what Thorin was getting at. Him. His change, his emotionlessness existence.

"Admit that you've changed. That you've totally and completely changed. That you're just a sleepwalker going through life, not getting attached?" Thorin growled as he came around to face Bilbo now.

"Yeah. So what?" Bilbo asked with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders before he pushed pass the dwarf prince, he didn't want to talk about it. At least not with Thorin of all people.

"So what?" Thorin asked as he grabbed the halfling's wrist, stopping Bilbo from taking another step, "So it is of my concern! You are in my company! I have a right to know what's happened to you considering your drastic change in the matter of such a short time."

"Your concern? Hah!" Bilbo scoffed, shaking his head as he yanked his hand away from Thorin's, "You have no concern when it comes to halflings! To me! You have no concern whatsoever. You don't care about my welfare or me. You don't give two hoots if I die because you're not responsible for my fate! Remember?" Bilbo snarled throwing Thorin's words back in his own face. "It's your fault that I am the way I am right now Thorin Oakenshield, it's because of you and your actions."

"Y-you…heard…" Thorin murmured seeing Bilbo's face contorted with rage. He was shocked, he didn't think Bilbo would have heard them…even though he hadn't meant it.

"Yeah I heard. Not only that, I saved the lives of you and your dwarven kin and you said it was no thanks to me that you all got out alive! If you didn't like me at all to begin with then you shouldn't have let me come along with you. You should have said no right from the start and sent me back to the Shire when I came running after you and your party!"

"I couldn't do that. Gandalf chose you. You came out after our party in the first place, I liked that determination so I thought you might have done good," Thorin said taking a step closer to Bilbo, but the halfling stepped back again, out off his reach. "Bilbo it's not that I don't care. Trust me I do, if I didn't I wouldn't even have come out here in the first place. I wouldn't have asked to talk to you. I care that you're upset Bilbo."

"Well I stopped caring okay?" Bilbo said, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath to calm himself, "I stopped caring a long time back. It just hurt too much with you and your insults and the rest of them…it's like…they don't accept me. Like I'm the outcast. It hurt too much so I stopped caring. I closed my heart off to the world, made myself the way I am right now, living was easier that way," Bilbo murmured looking away now. He felt foolish for telling Thorin this, after all what did the dwarf prince care? He was just in need of a burglar and Bilbo had been up for hire.

"Bilbo don't say that," Thorin said approaching the other now, he couldn't help it as he pulled the halfling into his arms, a still struggling halfling beating against his chest as he spoke, "I'm sorry I made you this way. Turning you into an unfeeling, uncaring thing. I…" he trailed off as he tucked the halfling's head in the crook of his shoulder, "I do actually care. It's just…I'm not used to it. To expressing it, to express how I care for someone."

"That's no excuse," Bilbo whispered his struggle fading into nothing now as his hands rested against the dwarf's chest as he let Thorin hold him. He felt comfort in the embrace of the dwarf prince's arms. Thorin was warm and his gruff voice telling him he cared… "You don't even know half of the pain that you caused Thorin, your words hurt me so badly."

Thorin kept silent at that, continuously apologizing wasn't going to turn back the hands of time. "How can I make it better? How can I fix it? Hoe can I fix you?" he asked instead. He felt Bilbo's shoulders move in a shrug.

"I don't know. I don't think it'll get better…but…you can keep holding me like this…" Bilbo whispered into the dwarf's fur coat as he buried his face in it, breathing in Thorin's scent as he began to sob, softly at first, trying not to make it too obvious to Thorin as his tears fell, soaking into the dwarf prince's fur coat.

"Bilbo…" the dwarf called, noticing how the halfling's body shuddered, he was crying, sobbing into his shoulder. It wasn't everyday he saw crying halfling's and he didn't know how to comfort Bilbo at all. So he did what he thought was right and tightened his grip around the hobbit's slender waist, his hand awkwardly going to stroked the blonde head that lay on his shoulder, "Don't cry…" he murmured, standing there in the middle of the hallway, holding on to the halfling.

"Don't cry…" he whispered, pressing Bilbo closer to him as the hobbit cried more, his thin arms going around his waist. The motion of stroking Bilbo's hair was almost natural now and he stood there trying to comfort a heartbroken Bilbo. "I care for you Bilbo. I care for you. Can I ask you to please forget whatever happened in the past?" he asked getting only more sobs from the halfling at his shoulder, "I didn't mean it, I was just trying to keep up my appearance. Look at me Bilbo," Thorin said, gently pulling back from the other now, the halfling's hazel eyes glistening wet with recently shed tears as he looked to him.

"I'm sorry. I really am. But I can't change the past. I can only promise you that I'll change now for the better and that everything from here on out will be fine. Alright?" Thorin asked, watching as Bilbo swallowed, his eyes squeezing shut again in an attempt to keep any more tears from falling.

"A-Alright," Bilbo stammered as he looked up into the dwarf prince's eyes, he could see Thorin was really sorry and that he really wanted to change. He was being sincere about trying to fix things between them and that touched Bilbo's heart to the core.

Involuntarily, as Bilbo nodded and replied, Thorin found himself leaning in close to the halfling, seeing Bilbo's eyes flutter close in response as he neared. He too closed his eyes as their foreheads met, noses touching, lips parted as their breaths mingled, millimetres apart from a kiss. They stood for awhile like that on the verge of a kiss before he nudged closer a little, his head turned slightly to the side and he felt as his lips met with Bilbo's quivering lips. Softly, subtly, gently they stood in each other's embrace as they kissed for the first time.

Bilbo's lips moved uncertain, an amateur's kiss, against Thorin's as the dwarf kissed him, tongue exploring his mouth, hands tangling in his hair shifting his head to a different angle to deepen the kiss, their tongues dancing together, shyly at first then bolder and bolder as their breathing became more rapid, hearts beating in unison. Bilbo tightened his grasp in Thorin's hair, pressing Thorin closer to him, his mind not comprehending at first what they were doing until Thorin slammed him back into the wall, jarring him back to his sense and Bilbo pushed hard at the dwarf prince's chest.

Swollen lipped and wide eyed, Bilbo stared at him, chewing on his bottom lip in contemplation as he averted his hazel eyes. Thorin's breathing was ragged, as he stood there, Bilbo pressed against the wall, his body pinning the halfling there.

"Thorin…did you…" he heard Bilbo say as the hazel eyes looked to him again, questioning.

"Yeah…we…" he trailed off, still rather in shock at what had just passed between them, "kissed…"

"Why?" he heard Bilbo ask as he felt the halfling's fingers gently combing through his hair, "Why did you kiss me?" he heard Bilbo ask again.

"I…" now it was his turn to be speechless. Why had he kissed Bilbo? It had felt so right, the way their lips met together, the way they had kissed. He had been yearning for that.

"The truth Thorin," he heard Bilbo say.

"As an apology?" Thorin offered then he leaned in closer so that his lips were by Bilbo's ears, "and…because I…like you," he whispered only for the halfling to hear.

"I see…" Bilbo murmured looking away shyly in the aftermath of Thorin's confession.

"I guess…the reason why I treated you the way I did before was because…" Thorin swallowed, before continuing, "was because I wanted to deny my feelings for you. I thought…maybe I could just be rude enough and convince myself that I wouldn't like you. But when you changed like that because of my words and actions…I guess I couldn't take it because I missed hearing your complaints and seeing you smile."

At that Bilbo found himself smiling, just a little, " In other words you fell for me."

"Yes," the dwarf prince replied.

"I see."

"And how do you feel about that?"

"Strangely happy," Bilbo said, truthfully as he pulled Thorin closer to him again, letting their foreheads touch.

"So you'll go back to being what you were last time, yes?"

"I guess so, now that I know," Bilbo said smiling, "kiss me again Thorin Oakenshield."

"Gladly," Thorin whispered and he leaned in to kiss the halfling again, knowing with all his heart that the hobbit would without a doubt go back to the way he had been like when they had first met, if it was any indication in the way Bilbo kissed him back with the fervor eagerness and passion of a person in love.

-FIN-