(A/N: I didn't expect this to go over so well, I'm glad that you enjoyed the first chapter. There are likely to be many more to come. So here we go, on with the show!)
Adventures in Babysitting
Part 2
Thorin motioned for Bilbo to follow him back out of the room, indicating that he would be able to get settled a bit later. Excited to see the rest of the house that he would be spending the summer in, Bilbo followed readily, closing the door to his new room behind himself. They made their way back down the stairs, past several ornate vases on narrow tables which Bilbo noted were bolted in place, likely to prevent them being knocked over by rambunctious children.
"The kitchen in through here, you have unfettered access to the fridge and pantry. I will be doing most of the cooking, but there will be days when I'm out that you'll be expected to prepare meals for the boys. I'll warn you now that you'll have to trick them into eating their vegetables," Thorin chuckled brightly, pulling open the doors of the double-wide fridge. It was well stocked with everything that Bilbo could possibly want to eat and more. He was amazed by the sheer abundance of fruit and vegetables, some in season, and others wildly not so. "Are you hungry?" Thorin asked, watching Bilbo's eyes widen slightly at the sight of the fridge.
"Famished," Bilbo admitted and the older man clapped him on the shoulder, smiling more brightly than before. He grabbed a massive pack of ground beef and closed the doors with his elbows.
"Good, I'm pretty hungry myself," Thorin slapped the package down on the counter and grabbed a grill pan down from the hanging rack of pots and pans. "I hope you like burgers," the taller man said and turned on the flame beneath the pan. He ripped into the plastic covering of the ground beef and scooped out a generous handful, quickly shaping it into a round patty. One by one he formed the burgers, two larger ones and two decidedly smaller ones, placing them on the grill pan as soon as they were made.
"Love them. Should I cut up any vegetables?" Bilbo asked and drizzled soap over Thorin's hands for him once he was at the sink. The older man scrubbed his hands together, forming a lather as the sound of the burgers cooking began to overcome the noise of the faucet.
"Tomatoes, onions, and lettuce, if you would, please. There's a stack of cutting boards under that counter, the green ones are for vegetables," Thorin said, pointing with one dripping hand, the black and white checkerboard tiles beneath him shining with water. Bilbo nodded and stooped to grab a cutting board before stepping over to the fridge and pulling it open again to retrieve the requested vegetables.
"Are burgers one of the ways that you get the boys to eat their vegetables?" the smaller man asked, quickly cutting the ends off of an onion and peeling it with the back of the knife. He made short work of cutting it into rounds, scooting it to one side of the cutting board before starting in on the tomato.
"Yes, as long as it's accompanied by a healthy dose of meat, they'll eat just about anything. How do you take your burgers?" Thorin said and seasoned the tops of the burgers with copious amounts of salt and pepper.
"Medium rare, if you don't mind," Bilbo replied, nudging the tomato over and quickly slicing up some lettuce to finish up the vegetables. Thorin grabbed down three separate Tupperware containers and situated them near enough to the cutting board that Bilbo took the hint. He scooped the veggies into their respective containers using the chef's knife that he'd sliced them with before carrying the cutting board over to the sink.
"Good, ours will be done first then. The boys take theirs charred to a crisp, I can't stand it," Thorin stood in front of the stove top, a spatula poised to flip the two larger burgers as soon as it was time to do so.
"I will do my best to remember that. Is that them I hear now?" Bilbo asked, looking toward the doorway and straining his ears to hear the faint sound of giggling. He was certain that it had to have come from children.
"Yes, but they won't come down until they smell the food. They take all of their meat practically burnt, burgers, steaks, chicken, chops, all of it has to have a healthy blackness to it or they won't eat it," Thorin informed and expertly flipped his and Bilbo's burgers with the flick of a wrist.
"Where did they learn that?" Bilbo asked and Thorin laughed softly, seasoning the other side of their burgers as he did so.
"Their mother can't cook anything that isn't burnt, I've only taken over cooking in the year that I've been living back at home, so they're pretty set in their ways, as much as a ten year old and eight year old can be, that is," the other man said and it was Bilbo's turn to laugh. According to their mother, Fili and Kili were very stubborn children, so he figured that he wouldn't be changing their eating habits anytime soon.
"Well I'm sure that I will be a good change of pace for you then," Bilbo stated, grabbing plates out of the glass fronted cabinets and setting them up on the counter top. Next he made his way to the bread box, opening it and pulling out a bag of burger buns. They were the good kind, fresh from a local bakery; the date stamped on them was from that morning. He couldn't help but smile, it was certainly going to be a vast improvement from the food he was used to getting on campus.
Once he was done setting the buns up on the plates he re-covered the package of ground beef with some saran wrap and placed it back in the fridge. He was surprised by how quickly he was learning his way around the kitchen. Hopefully he would learn his way around the rest of the house just as quickly.
(A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it was pretty short. Leave a review to let me know what you thought. Next chapter Bilbo meets the boys!)
