Oneshot: Father
At the young age of five Kili learned what being an orphan meant. It meant that he had no mother or father and that other young dwarves would not let him forget that. They would laugh and say he was unwanted, that his brother was more wanted than he. Thus came the taunts that Fili didn't want him either. "What's wrong?" A young ten year old Fili asked a crying Kili one day.
He'd been in training with their uncle Thorin and the bullies had taken it upon them to use these times of Fili's absences to harass the five year old. "Do want me as your brother?"
"Of course!" Fili cried out, where had these ideas in his silly little brothers head come from?
"Then why did mommy and daddy not?" Fili opened his mouth to reply then stopped. How did a ten year old explain to his five year old brother that that wasn't the case? The truth was all Fili could think of.
"Father went off to battle to protect mother, me, and you. He never returned and mother was sad. After you were born she just went to sleep. Uncle Thorin says she died of a broken heart for her only love died. You know that dwarves only love truly once." Fili said. He didn't go into detail about how the birth had been hard on their mother because of her sorrow. Then because of her already weakened state she didn't survive Kili's birth.
It was later that night as they sat on Thorin's lap in his large chair after a bed gimme story that Kili spoke up, "Uncle,"
"Shh," Thorin hushed Kili, "you'll wake your brother up."
"I'm not asleep," Fili mumbled even though he had been about to be. He had a feeling this had to do with earlier with Kili's odd question.
Thorin graced the boys with a soft smile, he'd loved his sister dearly and just the same he loved these two boys, "okay, what then?"
Kili's face became alight with an ashamed blush but he had to ask, "if anyone asks," he hesitated for a second before blurting out, "can we say you're our dad?"
Thorin felt both boys tense and he relaxed even more, the boys would never know just how overjoyed the simple question made him.
"Yes," he said, "of course."