Bilbo rolled his shoulder to adjust the strap of his satchel while juggling the heavy box in his arms. It's not like he has a lot of stuff, just the necessary things one needs in a classroom. And now that he's teaching Year 7 and 8 students, (Yavanna help him) he'll have to be all the more prepared.
But that's not what's got Bilbo on edge and trying his very best not to topple over and look like a complete idiot. It's the fact that Mr. Oakenshield himself decided to escort Bilbo to his new classroom and walk side by side with him. Why he's doing that, Bilbo isn't sure. Normally when people hate each other don't both parties try to stay as far away as possible? He figures it must be a formality thing since he is the headmaster after all, but doesn't he have some underlings to help with that? Isn't this considered grunt work?
It's the deep voice that startles him and almost makes him drop everything. "Are you sure you can handle that?"
"Pardon?" Bilbo blinks between the box and the headmaster. There's no mocking undertone in his voice that would suggest he's making fun of Bilbo's inadequate lack of strength. It's more thoughtful than anything, and maybe even some concern if Bilbo listens hard enough.
"Erm, yes? I think I'm… quite fine?"
Mr. Oakenshield nods at him and stares straight ahead. He's got his hands clasped behind his back in a way that makes him appear very regal, as if he's walking with a purpose. His whole posture demands respect but at the same time repels it. It's a very weird description and the only really fitting one Bilbo's able to come up with.
"Thorin!"
Bilbo's never been good at surprises, so the not-so-manly squeak that comes out of his mouth is completely and totally involuntary. The look he gets from Mr. Oakenshield is a mixture of bewilderment and trying not to laugh though the amusement is clear as day on his face. Bilbo ducks his head and uses his curls to strategically cover the red blossoming across his cheeks. Oh could this get any more mortifying?
"S-sorry," he stutters. "M' not very good with surprises."
Mr. Oakenshield opens his mouth but is rudely interrupted as indicated by the glare he shoots off to Bilbo's side.
"Thorin, are you not going to help the laddie?" The reprimanding voice belongs to a rather short man with tufts of white hair sticking out at odd ends. Bilbo is instantly reminded of Santa Clause and tries not to snort at the image of the man in an obnoxious red suit.
"I think Professor Baggins here is quite capable of handling one box," Mr. Oakenshield grinds out. The force of that scowl could probably make any normal man or woman shrivel up into dust, but it seems to have no effect on the shorter man.
"Nevertheless, it's not good to leave the poor laddie here with all that weight in his arms!" He gestures to the box.
"Um, this laddie here is already 35," Bilbo pipes in. They both turn to him like they forgot he was still there.
"Well then, my apologies Professor." The Santa Clause look alike makes a very gracious bow and smiles when he pops right back up. "Balin, at your service."
"Bilbo Baggins. Um, I would shake your hand but—"
"Oh, not at all! Maybe once your hands are free—" He throws an accusing glance at Mr. Oakenshield "—you can introduce yourself properly."
Beside him Mr. Oakenshield grumbles something about 'lowering the pay of certain advisors.'
"Thorin," Balin chides.
He all but growls and lifts the box right out of Bilbo's arms. He handles it like it's nothing more than a pillow, and that's when Bilbo notices how toned his arms are. Bilbo's not exaggerating when he says those muscles are literally visible through Mr. Oakenshield's shirt and it makes the material stretch so thin. He tries not to gawk and stare because that's just really impolite. Not to mention creepy, especially when it's his boss. Whom he hates.
"Er, you really don't have to do that? I mean It's just one box I think I can manage—"
But Balin waves off the protest. "Nonsense! Thorin here is quite strong, not to worry." He leans in close to Bilbo and whispers loud enough to hear, "He's older than he looks."
Mr. Oakenshield growls again and stalks away. When Bilbo doesn't follow he gets a very curt, "Come now, Professor! I don't have all day!"
Balin winks and nudges him along. "Best get going, it's not advisable to leave a king waiting," he chuckles at his own joke which only he seems to get.
"Uh, right." Bilbo hurries down the hall to catch up with the headmaster. It's from this angle that he also notices Mr. Oakenshield's taut back muscles. It seems the man has muscles all over the place, although from his stocky build it's not that much of a surprise. He's also sporting a long ponytail which Bilbo didn't notice before, interwoven with braids and some intricately designed beads. How interesting..
He almost runs straight into the man when he stops abruptly in the middle of the hallway. He pops out from behind to see what all the fuss is about and sees they're in front of a classroom. Turns out it's Bilbo's new classroom.
"This is…" He points to the room. "Mine?"
"Who else's could it be?" Comes the gruff reply.
Bilbo stares at him, his brow furrowed and mouth hanging open, ready to make some kind of protest or snappy remark. Instead he presses his lips into a thin line and turns to stare at a spot on the wall with a little too much irritation. "I was just asking," he mutters under his breath.
He hears Mr. Oakenshield sigh, probably having had enough of Bilbo for one morning. Although the appearance of Mr. Balin seems to be the real source of aggravation. Before they even met him Mr. Oakenshield was surprisingly… not aggravated. Granted he still looked like that grumpy cat meme Bilbo's been seeing across the internet, but it was probably like a level 5 sort of grumpy that's now been ramped up to a level 20.
"Where would you like me to place your belongings?"
"What?" Bilbo suddenly remembers the box still in his arms. That might also be the cause. Surely having someone lug around a box wasn't very comfortable, even if that person was supposedly strong.
"Here, you can just give that to me I'm sure you have much better things to do—" Bilbo starts to say and holds out his arms to grab the box.
"It is fine." Mr. Oakenshield's voice easily overpowers Bilbo's words and it's enough to startle him. Mr. Oakenshield takes notice of that and clears his throat. "My apologies," he mumbles, "I forgot about your aversion to surprises."
"…Right." Did he just apologize?
They stand there in awkward silence until Mr. Oakenshield reminds him gently, "Your things."
"R-Right. Um." He looks around and spots an empty long table by the windows. "There should be fine," he points.
Mr. Oakenshield strides over and places the box down, his back muscles flexing and then smoothing out now that he no longer had to deal with the box's weight. Bilbo's staring too closely, he realizes, but he can't help it! The man is like a lumberjack! Was he raised by wolves or something?
Mr. Oakenshield spins around suddenly and has his hands clasped behind his back again. "Will that be all?" His face holds all the signs of impatience and 'I really wanna get the fuck out of here.'
Bilbo feels his forehead twitch with annoyance again and, puffing up his chest, "No, that will be all thank you very much Mr. Oakenshield. You can go back to your headmaster duties because I'm sure you have a number of things to do which cannot even compare to helping a teacher carry one measly box. You may go now." He lifts his chin to indicate to the doorway, like Bilbo is so terribly sorry he had to take up so much of Mr. Oakenshield's precious time.
Rather than responding or piercing Bilbo with his already signature glare, Mr. Oakenshield's staring at him curiously and once again Bilbo's privy to the sight of those blue eyes. But then he turns and the blue disappears along with it.
"Well then, I'll leave you to it. Organize the classroom as you see fit, it is yours after all." He walks past him and their shoulders brush just slightly. Whether it was intentional or not Bilbo doesn't know, but for some reason he gets the shivers which he's sure has nothing to do with the room's temperature.
Thorin Oakenshield seems to be a whole other story.
It's about a week until Bilbo finally settles into his new classroom. There's still a week of summer left, meaning busy teachers running around trying to straighten out their classrooms and clean up before the return of their students.
It's probably the most stressful yet wonderful week of Bilbo's life. He's met some very interesting teachers, and while they're definitely not as sophisticated as the university professors they're a very happy and social bunch with very interesting beards. Not to mention their names all seem to rhyme with each other's but Bilbo thinks he'll get the hang of it soon. And during that whole week he doesn't catch a single glimpse of Mr. Oakenshield and his face of doom and gloom, so that might also account for Bilbo's good mood.
Balin, who is in fact the advisor and over-seer of all school related events, is the one who really helps Bilbo get settled in and find his way around. He outlines all the classrooms, the tricks to getting around when the hallways are too cramped with students, which lunch days are mystery meat days, etc. He even takes the liberty of introducing Bilbo to all the teachers.
The first person he meets is Balin's younger brother Dwalin, the P.E. teacher for Year's 7-8. He's quite a force to be reckoned with, all those tattoos covering his bald head and wrists. He has a bit of a gruff exterior which instantly reminds Bilbo of Mr. Oakenshield, but he opens up more quickly. According to Balin he has a real soft spot for the kids and is a menace to the older teenagers.
Next is Bifur, Bombur and Bofur. Bombur is head of the cafeteria and oversees all the cooking, while his cousin Bifur is one of the language teachers who teaches Khuzdul. His accent is quite heavy so Bilbo can't understand him very well, but the others are more than happy to translate for him. To Bilbo's surprise, Bombur's brother Bofur teaches English to the Year 9 and 10 students.
"Year 7 and 8 aren't ya? Looks like we'll be collaborating quite a lot! If you ever need anything just ask, always happy to oblige!" Bofur exclaims happily and gives a hearty pat to Bilbo on the shoulder.
Oin is the school nurse while Gloin is the other P.E. teacher for Year's 9-10. Supposedly there's another P.E. teacher but Balin doesn't come back to that and so Bilbo doesn't ask.
Dori teaches art to Year's 9 and above while Ori teaches Year's 7-8 (Ori is also somewhat of a newbie so he and Bilbo have plenty to bond over). Their brother Nori teaches science to the older kids, which surprises Bilbo because he figured all three brothers would stay in the same department.
"Nori's always been the black sheep in our family. He prefers to deal with explosions and that sort," Dori explains. Ori tends to nod along to whatever Dori says.
"Is that everyone?" Bilbo asks.
"Oh, not quite!" Balin replies as they enter the science classroom right next to Nori's. Two men immediately pop out of nowhere and Bilbo nearly gets a heart attack.
"Fili," the blonde haired man says.
"And Kili!" The darker haired one declares with a bit more authority.
"At your service," they say together and bow.
He's a little overwhelmed by their… enthusiasm. "B-Bilbo Baggins. As of today I teach Year's 7-8 English. And history." He almost forgets that, one of the last minute changes to his contract. He's mainly just been an English teacher this whole time. Why he decided to pursue a history degree he'll never know, but picking up two subjects should be interesting to say the least.
"Wait," Bilbo says after a moment, "Have we met before?"
Fili and Kili exchange a glance and both shake their heads.
"Don't think so."
"Can't say we have."
Huh, that's strange. Bilbo could have sworn he saw them somewhere, they look too familiar.
Next to him Balin chuckles. "These two are Thorin's nephews."
Wait, what? Bilbo stares at them. No, these two couldn't possibly—
As if on cue he starts noticing some very similar features, like the shapes of their eyes and the outlines of their noses and how Kili could pass off as a younger Thorin if he tried really really hard.
"Our mum teaches Year's 9-11 math," Fili says, even though Bilbo never asked.
"She's definitely a lot scarier than Uncle," Kili whispers and looks around to make sure neither one are in plain sight. Bilbo can't help chuckling, he feels like these two get in trouble quite a lot.
"Fili and Kili are the other science teachers. Nori's got Year's 9-11, Fili has Year 8 and Kili has Year 7," Balin explains.
"Bugger, I wanted Year 8," Kili pouts.
"First come first serve little brother." Fili pats him on the head and winks at Bilbo. "I also teach Year 9 history and Kili teaches Year's 7-8 math, so maybe our paths will cross."
"That would be nice," Bilbo smiles politely.
"Well then!" Balin claps his hands. "That's about everyone for today. I can introduce you to the others tomorrow if you would like. Wouldn't want to overwhelm you on your first day."
Bilbo nods his goodbyes to the two brothers and follows Balin. For someone of Balin's age he's surprised at how quickly he moves.
"I didn't know Mr. Oakenshield had nephews," Bilbo says once he's caught up.
"Aye. He has a mother and a father too," Balin replies wryly.
"Oh you know what I mean!"
"Well it is a family business after all." Balin rounds a corner a little too quickly which has Bilbo almost skidding face-first into a wall. "It's only natural the whole line of Durin works here."
"I guess that makes sense," Bilbo acknowledges, rubbing at where he banged his shoulder. He wonders what Thorin's sister is like.
As if reading his mind Balin remarks, "I can introduce you to Miss Dis if you'd like. We're not too far from the math classrooms."
"Um, s-sure?" To be honest Bilbo's a little nervous to meet the rest of the Durin family. Fili and Kili seemed alright, but if Miss Dis is anything like Thorin then count Bilbo out.
"Here we are!" Balin's already opening the door and Bilbo doesn't have enough time to prepare himself for this.
"Wait, Balin—" He starts weakly.
"Afternoon Miss Dis! Oh, Thorin."
Bilbo chokes on his next words and prepares to turn himself all the way around and walk away. He can deal with two nephews, but not two siblings no definitely not.
"I have Professor Baggins with me." Balin must have eyes at the back of his head because right as Bilbo's sneaking past he grabs ahold of Bilbo's collar reels him towards the front so they're both standing in the doorway. Drat.
"E-Erm, h-hello there," he nearly squeaks out.