Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author Note: Part 12 in the 'Violet Nights' series. Enjoy

THERE'S WHITE HEAT ON VALENTINE'S DAY

"How much longer, Kili? We're definitely going to be late."

"You know, if you helped, this would go a lot faster..."

Fili laughed at Kili's definitely-unhelpful tone and shook his head, even though his brother couldn't see him. "Nothing would go a lot faster if I joined in."

Kili's laugh was dirty and there was the tantalising sound of running water before he spoke again. "Seriously, it would help if you lent a hand."

Fili didn't voice any of the two-dozen innuendos that popped into his head as he headed for the bathroom. If nothing else, he could throw something at Kili to persuade him to get a move on. They'd sworn to Uncle Thorin that they'd take care of Erebor so that he could have Valentine's evening off to spend with Bilbo, in fact all the Durins who were working that night had sworn it. Uncle Thorin had still looked unconvinced but eventually his sister had been too formidable to refuse. Fili liked to think that he and Kili had helped – they'd stolen Uncle Thorin's work keys so that he couldn't open up the club like he usually did. He'd thank them tomorrow.

Inside the bathroom, Kili was stood in front of the mirror, clad in a dressing gown with shaving cream smeared all over the lower-half of his face. His hair was loosely knotted back and his fingernails were painted a dark metallic grey. Fili dropped a kiss to his brother's shoulder and picked up a razor.

"Trying out a new look?"

Kili raised an eyebrow towards the mirror. "We'll see, won't we?"

Fili laughed and turned Kili towards him, his free hand rising to gently cradle Kili's jaw. Kili stared at him trustingly, causing Fili to shudder with powerful heat. Fuck, even like this, Kili really was something else. And Fili wouldn't be the only one to appreciate that tonight, Valentine's Day brought out in the worst in some people, not that Kili wasn't capable of fending off unwanted intense appreciation. That was pretty hot too.

Fili grinned and began to carefully apply the razor to Kili's face with sure steady strokes. The only sound in the whole flat was the smooth snick of the blade, Kili didn't fidget at all and his eyes were solely fixed on Fili. Some people wouldn't believe that Kili was capable of such stillness, but Fili did, he loved it as much as Kili's frequent loud spells. It was all Kili, what did the volume matter?

Soon enough, Kili's face was stubble-free. He tweaked Fili's nipple bar-piercing with a wicked smile and darted out of reach, heading for their bedroom.

"We're going to be late, remember?"

Fili groaned and rinsed the razor before dumping it in the sink. "You want help in there too?"

"Always, but let's save that for later."

That sounded more than promising. Fili searched the lounge for his keys and sent Dwalin a text to say that they were definitely on their way, don't pop a piercing. He was neatening some of his braids and checking that his beard was crumb-free when high-heeled footsteps heralded Kili's arrival.

"So we'll only be five minutes late now, if we..."

Fili's sentence trailed off when he clapped eyes on his brother. Kili was leaning against the doorframe, looking incredibly pleased with himself.

"See something you like?"

Holy fuck. For once, Kili wasn't wearing denim, instead he'd opted for very fitted black leather trousers – when had he found time to sneak away to get those fitted? - and matching black leather shoes with wickedly-sharp heels. The rest of his outfit consisted of a short strapless deep pink dress, corseted of course and belted tightly at the waist with more leather. His hair was down, his tattoos were on full display, and his lipstick matched the dress. He grinned at Fili, his eyes smouldering.

Fili took a hungry step towards him. "That's not playing fair."

By the time Kili had grabbed his leather jacket from the sofa, Fili was practically pressed up against him, his lips hovering close to Kili's throat. Kili shuddered as Fili's teeth touched skin. They stayed locked together like that until Fili's phone buzzed.

"Dwalin," they both muttered.

"It always sounds angrier when it's him."

"Yeah, I don't know how he does it."

Fili retrieved his phone – yes, we really are on our way. Get laid tonight, for fuck's sake – just as Kili dived back towards the bedroom with a cursing cry of "Earrings!"

Five minutes.

Five minutes or I'm dragging you both out myself.

"Dwalin's on his way, Kili."

There was a crash and more loud cursing. "Check the fridge."

Fili narrowed his eyes but took a quick trip into their boxy little kitchen. In the fridge, on the second shelf between the lamb shank scraps and the Dairylea, was a tub of familiar silky-looking chocolate mousse, the very same chocolate mousse that Bilbo had been using only that morning as a filling for his red velvet cupcakes. He hadn't let Kili or Fili near them, due to the fact that, in his words, he knew where their fingers had been.

He definitely would not have donated a whole jar of mousse to Kili's Valentine's Day cause. Kili's fingers must have been especially light when he and Fili had briefly gone their separate ways that afternoon. Fili grinned sharply, heat firing through him again. Fuck, yes.

Kili jingled Thorin's keys from the doorway, a shit-eating grin on his face. Fili swung the fridge door shut.

"I really want to smear your lipstick."

Kili's grin sharpened and he held up his other hand to display a tube of deep pink cosmetics. Fili launched himself at his brother, one hand knotting in long dark hair, his mouth pressing fiercely to Kili's. Kili's laugh was a very pleasant ripple until interrupted by loud forceful knocking on the front door.

"I will break this door down!"

Kili tore his mouth away to yell back. "Mum would kill you."

"She'll kill you first if you're late today!"

Kili rolled his eyes, but he and Fili exchanged identical looks – Dwalin was unfortunately right. Kili wiped lipstick from Fili's mouth and ducked quickly into the bathroom to reapply his own. A couple of seconds later they were heading out of the door, Dwalin glowering at them from the nearby stairwell.

Fili's phone buzzed again, this time it was Bilbo – thieving bastards! The tip jar awaits.

Fili groaned and showed the phone to Kili who mirrored his reaction. Bilbo was going to guilt them into donating generously to the tip jar when Elladan and Elrohir were next on duty.

Kili's expression twisted with distaste, before quickly morphing into a filthy grin. "Tonight'll be worth it."

Fili ran his hand across the front of Kili's dress, across both of Kili's bar piercings. The crackling heat inside of Fili glowed nicely at Kili's sigh. "Yes, it will."

Ori had found himself a good vantage point up on the balcony at Erebor. Dori was behind the bar for once, filling in for Bombur who was spending the evening with his wife. Ori was happy to work on Valentine's Day; Dwalin was there too after all.

He sketched a few more lines on the top sheet of his pad; he had an idea for the website. He was going to talk to Thorin about it later in the week. A few hours earlier, he'd sketched a trio of flowery weeds for Dori, it was a 'thanks for putting everything on hold, including any valentines, to bring me up' gift. Dori had told him it was unnecessary but had smiled anyway. He had the card close by in his bag as he worked.

Ori had a gift all ready for Dwalin, just something small, another piece of art. This one was a painting, all moody greys, blues, and purples. If you looked closely, Dwalin emerged out of the landscape. On the back of it was an offer, Ori had ideas for those tonal colours and shapes, a tattoo idea for Dwalin.

Ori had also bought a couple of Laketown Brewery beers and planned on toasting the evening with Dwalin after lock-up. He couldn't wait to hand over his gift, his heart trembling with excitement and more than a hint of nerves. There was a bang as a trapdoor opened and Dwalin emerged from the cellar, heaving a crate up for Dori. He looked up unerringly and caught Ori's eye. They both smiled with anticipation.

Camille blew another spit bubble, Bifur tickled her feet. She'd been pretty contented after her last bottle and Bifur was fully prepared for the inevitable nappy change that was incoming. He'd gotten over any reservations he'd had about that duty soon after Isaac was born. Everybody pitched in, that was what family did. Bofur had even rustled up a song all about how to correctly change a full nappy.

Isaac was sorting through coloured blocks on the floor with great concentration. He offered a green one to Bifur who shook his head. Isaac frowned and dropped the block dismissively, holding up a navy-blue one instead. Bifur nodded and Isaac focused again on whatever routine was bubbling through his busy little brain. Bifur could appreciate that; latching onto whatever made noisy hectic thoughts quieten down. His own head was twinging heavily; even Florella's tea hadn't tamed it.

His iPad pinged. Florella was online in Canada and ready to speak to him. They had a Skype call scheduled. Bombur and Angelique were out on a Valentine's Day date and as Florella was abroad, Bifur was more than content to babysit. Bofur had plans of course, plans that had made Bombur blush when Bofur had started explaining them.

"Something funny?"

Florella smiled at him from the iPad screen. There was a smudge of something blue on her jaw and a bright-green biro held her piled-up hair in place. Bifur touched the screen and told her how glad he was to see her. Florella touched the screen too, laughing when Camille babbled and Bifur brought her into shot, pressing her baby-tiny fingers to the pixels of Florella's.

They talked for hours, Bifur carrying the iPad around the flat as he put Camille and Isaac to bed. His headache didn't ease, but he had another mug of Florella's special herbal tea and he had Florella smiling at him from miles away. There were worse things in life to deal with than constant pain.

Bilbo frowned at the empty space in his fridge. "Your nephews have been stealing from me again."

Just last month they'd taken a box of cranberry muffins and they'd followed that up by audaciously trying to walk off with a whole jug of fresh custard. Fal had been there at the time and had hooted with laughter, applauding their efforts as he tried to persuade Bilbo to give them their pie for free for demonstrating such balls. Bilbo had made Fal pay for the pie instead.

Thorin's voice rumbled from outside. "Charge them double next time."

Bilbo hmmmed as he quickly texted Fili with a smirk. "No, they're going to be tipping the twins heavily."

There was no reply to that from Thorin, which said everything. Bilbo shook his head; he was going to find out why the Durins disliked Elrond and his sons so much. Ori had assured him that it wasn't personal; more that Elrond and his sons were difficult reminders of somebody very badly thought of. It was an explanation that had only made things more tangled in Bilbo's head.

Still, he pocketed his phone and grabbed the double-chocolate cake that he'd prepared especially. Dis had assured him several days ago that Thorin would have Valentine's night off.

"He never takes time away when the club's open," she'd said with a roll of her eyes. "Now he has the perfect reason to."

She'd been as good as her word and Thorin had showed up at Violet Nights an hour or so ago, a little tense because he was trusting Fili to essentially run the club on one of its busiest nights, but Dis, Balin, and Dwalin would be there too so really, there wasn't much that he could justify obsessively worrying about.

He'd already given Bilbo a card, a small one with a sunrise on the front and what could have been a couple of naked figures in the distance. The message inside was short, but it'd made Bilbo smile.

I want to spend this night with you, and many more nights after.

Thank you.

It was very Thorin and also showed how much of an effort he was making to be more open and relaxed. Bilbo had given him a slightly larger card, decorated with swirling patterns and a trail of brightly-coloured cupcakes. Thorin had looked amused at that and had then wrapped an arm around Bilbo after reading the words inside.

I'm not going anywhere.

Now Thorin was waiting for him outside the back door for some reason and...oh. Outside, on the flat paving slabs of the backyard, Thorin was waiting with a table and a couple of chairs, a small cluster of lit candles providing just enough light to see by. Bilbo set the cake down on the table and smiled when he saw that Thorin had laid out two forks, but no plates.

It was a very loud purposeful declaration from Thorin. Bilbo licked his lips.

It was only after they'd ploughed through half of the cake, feeding each other as much as they fed themselves, that Thorin pushed back from the table without warning and after a pause, began unbuttoning his black shirt. Bilbo's eyebrows shot up, a clear question on his face though the faint smile capturing his lips told Thorin that his sudden striptease was more than welcome.

Thorin cleared his throat as he shrugged the shirt off his shoulders but after a couple of seconds of furrowed brows, he stayed silent and abruptly turned around. Bilbo's eyes widened – Thorin's back was covered in sprawling ink. It was some kind of enormous tree tattoo, the roots stopping just after Thorin's waist and the branches stretching all the way out to his sides and neck. It was beautifully detailed and if Bilbo squinted, he could see that there were words, names even, intertwined with the bark and leaves.

He wondered how many people had gotten to see this, and who the last person was who'd looked at it. With a sick sort of certainty, he quickly decided not to ask.

Thorin wasn't shivering in the cold air as he looked at Bilbo over his shoulder. "It took over twenty hours in total."

"I bet."

Bilbo scooted closer, able to pick out Fili and Kili's names, Dis and Dwalin and Balin, Frerin and was that Kili and Fili's father? Family, with roots and growth. It was what Thorin lived by. He'd chosen to show Bilbo, outside on a cold February night, over chocolate cake by the light of flickering candles.

All Bilbo could do was stare, he wanted to touch the inked lines, to follow the whorls and trace the letters. Thorin's gaze was heated when Bilbo glanced up to meet it.

It was all too much to resist, Bilbo pressed eager fascinated fingers to Thorin's skin, aware of how Thorin's breath skipped at his touch, the pads of his fingers stroking familiar shapes. Carefully Bilbo wrapped his free arm around Thorin's waist, pulling them flush together, sharing his warmth. He pressed a lingering daring kiss to Thorin's shoulder blade and when Thorin turned with wild hot eyes, Bilbo pressed a similar kiss to his mouth.

By the time the candles gutted out, the cake had been abandoned and Bilbo had drawn Thorin back inside, where, away from the exposure of the front window, he traced roots, leaves, and detailed bark with the bold lap of his tongue. Thorin braced himself against a bookshelf, muttering moans and half-choked words and frequently, Bilbo's name.

Bilbo was extremely glad that he'd remembered to lock the door and flip the sign to 'closed'. But he would be switching it back to 'open' by eleven; there were many people who'd need somewhere to hunker down after the disappointment of Valentine's Day. Thorin had sworn that he'd understood, but that had been before Bilbo's explorations.

Thorin turned suddenly and pivoted so that Bilbo was the one pressed up against the bookshelf. Thorin's hands began a slow but hungry journey, untucking Bilbo's dark purple button-down shirt, his fingers touching unknown skin, his mouth travelling along Bilbo's neck, always returning thirstily to Bilbo's mouth.

Loud singing eventually broke through their shared haze, just as Bilbo was unzipping Thorin's trousers. He recognised Brinar and Fal's voices, definitely on their way to drunk and absolutely prepared to sing until he let them in. He nipped at Thorin's chest and then slowly, regretfully, pulled back.

Thorin's dazed and desperate expression wasn't helping.

"They won't leave," Bilbo informed him, his head tipped towards the almost tuneful noise at the cafe's front door.

Thorin swallowed and closed his eyes, swaying into Bilbo like he needed the orbit. Bilbo had done that, he'd undone Thorin Durin.

He kissed Thorin softly and reached a hand down to cover the hard length pressed against his thigh, gaining a deep growl from Thorin.

"They won't be here all night."

Thorin nodded, his eyes still closed. When he opened them, his pupils were blown wide and his fingers suddenly caressed Bilbo through his trousers. Fuck, Bilbo didn't quite bite back a cursing groan.

"They'd better not be."

Bilbo made sure to sink his teeth in when he kissed Thorin, before leaving him to reassemble himself and hopefully find his shirt. Bilbo fought to neaten his own appearance as he made his way to the front door, knowing that his hair was a hopeless case but at least his shirt could be buttoned properly and tucked in again. Brinar was making rude gestures through the glass and Fal was dueting with someone on 'A Night To Remember.'

And yet cutting through all of that, Bilbo could definitely hear something like Thorin's chuckle behind him. It was full of promise and made Bilbo smile too, stunned happy warmth soaring through him. For tonight at least, Thorin wasn't tightly chaining himself to his past or to his many complicated worries. It felt similar to Christmas Day; something vital was loosening.

Bilbo was going to bake Dis several of the chicken pies that she liked so much, and he was going to make Kili and Fili pay for them.

-the end

Author Note: Holy surprise fic! I honestly didn't expect to write this one, but it grabbed me by the throat on my way home from work yesterday and here's the rather breathless result. Usually after I complete a first draft, I leave fics for at least a few weeks before heavily editing and then posting them. But this really can't be posted at any other time of year and I really can't wait until Valentine's Day 2015 to post it. So here we are. I really hope it makes sense :S

Dedicated to my husband, who cares not a jot for fanfiction but who always listens when I babble on about it, questions everything, supports unconditionally, and pushes me to stop procrastinating and damn well post something. I honestly couldn't do it without him 3

Happy Valentine's Day, one and all.