Fili stared up at Nori in a nervous manner, smile in place as Nori looked down at him with a quirked eyebrow.
"Your brother is not very smart." Nori remarked, arms crossed while Fili sighed with a short nod.
"He can be rather stupid at times..." Then he looked up with a forced smile. "Well, it was nice chatting with you, Nori. We have to do this some other time, though... I-uh..."
"You're not going anywhere, Fili." Nori grabbed his arm, pulling him closer. "Now you're going to tell me just why you have been hanging around my brother. You know I am watching, why in the world do you taunt me?"
Fili looked deep into Nori's dark brown eyes, then at anything that wasn't the older dwarf. He was caught, had no form of escape, and couldn't think of any comprehensible lie to tell. Ori had told them they should lie with the truth, but he wasn't quite ready to tell the star haired dwarf the truth.
He couldn't put their operation in jeopardy. They had gotten too much information on Bofur and had been waiting for the perfect time to push Thorin and him closer. And here in Rivendell, without the threat of being killed by angry orcs, their plan was finally coming together. Fili couldn't just tell Nori everything in the hopes that the older dwarf wouldn't do anything.
So Fili smiled up nervously at him, unsure of what he was going to do now.
"Ori! Ori!" Kili yelled as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him, waving towards the dwarf he was calling.
Bofur looked at the young prince in slight confusion, not really getting why Kili needed to stir trouble in such a peaceful place, and frowned when Ori looked at him with worry on his face. Clearly the two were in on something.
"Ori, we got a problem!" Kili whispered in a worried tone, grabbing Ori by his sleeve to pull him in.
Ori glanced towards Bofur, who was standing right in front of him, and smiled somewhat nervously. "Um, mister Bofur... Would you mind if we leave your telling of the story for a little while later?"
Bofur quirked an eyebrow as he glanced at both younger dwarfs and nodded slowly. "Sure thing, lad. I'm, uh... I'm going to check up on on Bombur and make sure he hasn't tried to eat all these elves have in storage."
So Bofur hopped off from the seat he was currently on, smiled at both lads, then walked out of the room. But, he stayed hidden behind the doorway to be able to spy on them. Now Bofur wasn't usually the kind of man to spy on others. But he had started to notice Kili, Fili, and Ori paying more attention to him and hanging around him more often.
Why, he had just been telling Ori a story of Erebor before Kili had interrupted them. And while he found their companionship to be rather endearing, he didn't understand why. The lads had gone from occasionally talking to him at the beginning of the journey to finding any kind of excuse to talk him at any given moment.
He had to know why.
Ori and Kili were hunched over each other, speaking in hushed tones. "What happened, Kili. Where is Fili?"
Bofur strained his ears to hear what they were saying but he was able to understand. "Nori got to him, Ori! I'm worried that he's finally catching on to what we're doing!"
"Hush, Kili!" Ori hissed, smacking the elder on the back of the head.
He glanced around the room, making sure that no one had over heard what Kili had said, and once satisfied, turned back to him. But Bofur had his eyebrows drawn in, completely confused as to what was going on with both boys.
"You must be careful, Kili. I told you that you're not to speak about this unless we are completely alone. Far away from the Company!" Ori scolded him.
"But Bofur just left, Ori!" Kili whined, "There's no way anybody is eavesdropping on us!"
Ori's eyes narrowed at him, "You never know, Kili. But let's no discuss this now, what happened with your brother?"
Kili looked at him as if he were confused but shook his head and started to speak. "We were going to pull a prank on Lord Elrond when Nori appears out of nowhere and tells me you've finished the drawing I asked you to do."
Ori's face paled and Bofur was thoroughly confused. Just what did these lads have in mind that they had to be so secretive about it?
"Oh no! If Nori used that as an excuse then Fili really is in trouble! He must have gotten tired of our lies and decided to confront him!" Ori gasped.
"I told him it was a stupid idea to be so touchy with you..." Kili sighed, getting an annoyed look from Ori. "What? I did tell him."
Ori rolled his eyes now. "You were part of the touching, Kili. Do not lie to me to make yourself seem smarter, please."
Kili deflated slightly at his words but still nodded. "We should get going, though. Mahal knows what kind of torture Nori is putting my brother through."
"Would you please tell me the truth, Fili?" Nori asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time, already getting tired of asking the young dwarf the same thing over and over again.
"The truth is I am not attracted to your brother, Nori." Fili sighed.
"Then why do you hang onto him as if you were some love sick dwarfling?"
They had been going back and forth with this conversation for quite some time. To Fili, it seemed like Nori didn't want to accept his platonic feelings towards Ori. Maybe the older dwarf needed a reason for Fili and Kili hanging around so much with the younger. But Nori wasn't a dumb dwarf and he knew the three were plotting something. He just really wanted to find out what.
"We hang around him because he is around our age and does not make us act like something we are not!" Fili huffed, crossing his arms.
He really was getting tired of Nori right now.
"Now listen here, you annoying and petulant dwarfling-" Nori finally growled, grabbing Fili by the arm once more and pulling him in close with a snarl. "I am Ori's older brother and I worry for him! Now when I see you hanging around him and hugging him at all times I start to get the wrong idea! And when you don't give some kind of logical explanation for your actions I can only assume one thing!"
The look of pure anger in Nori's eyes was enough to get Fili's cool facade to wash away. Nori looked positively murderous and Fili had no idea what to do. Maybe he shouldn't have pushed him so much...
"Now you will tell me what your true intentions with my brother are or I will make you regret it. Prince or not, I do not care. You will pay for what you've done to-"
"I was looking to get your attention!"
The shout surprised not only Nori, stopping his threat completely, but also Fili, who clasped his hands over his mouth as soon as he realized what he had shouted out.
Both dwarfs were silent as they processed what Fili had just said, but just when Fili was about to turn away an run from the elder, Nori grasped onto his wrist and held it tightly.
"What kind of joke are you trying to play, Fili?" He asked, eyes dangerously icy. "Because you are playing with the wrong dwarf if you assume I will let you cause my family such-"
"I wasn't lying!" Fili pouted, stomping his foot as if that would help prove his point.
Well, Ori had said to lie with some truth. And, to be completely honest, Fili had never seen Ori in any way other than a friend. But Nori was a completely different story. Ever since he had first seen the star haired dwarf Fili knew he needed to grab his attention. And now he had it.
Fili sighed, looking up at Nori's cold expression. "I was using Ori to get you to look at me."
The red haired dwarf's eyes softened- if only a little- but he didn't say anything. Fili sighed once more, feeling like he needed to explain himself more.
"I like you, Nori. But you wouldn't care about me if I wasn't your brother's friend."
The grip on his wrist seemed to slack a little after he said this but Fili still couldn't get away. And as he looked up at Nori he really hoped using this truth would distract the elder from the real plans he and his friends had.
Nori cleared his throat, "You mean to tell me you thought making me think you were interested in my brother would make me be interested in you?" There was a trace of a smile on Nori's face but Fili knew he still had a ways to go.
"I know you think it's stupid but I was just thinking it would work for me. I mean, what other plan would a dumb dwarf like myself come up with?"
Nori let out a small chuckle at that and Fili knew Nori was believing him. "You could have always just told me your true intentions."
Fili smirked at him now, "And where would the fun in that be?"
His words seemed to make Nori want to do something- what it was Fili wasn't sure- but, luckily for him, right then he could hear his brother screaming from the end of the hallway.
"Run, Fili! Elladan and Elrohir are angry because I decided to hunt a bit here! Every dwarf for himself!" Kili screamed as he ran straight towards them, tumbling into Nori and making him let go of Fili.
Both Fili and Nori blinked for a second, completely taken aback by what Kili was saying, but soon enough they could see two angered elves heading their way.
"Come back here! You have to pay for your crimes to Rivendell!"
Kili yelped and grabbed his brother, running away from the angered elves while leaving Nori behind.
"That was a close one!" Kili breathed out once he and Fili were back in the square they had arrived in, both brothers panting heavily.
"Did you really hunt on elven grounds, brother?" Fili asked him, feeling angered yet happy.
At least Kili had gotten him away from Nori.
Kili smiled devilishly at him, "Of course not, Fili! What do you take me for, some kind of idiot?"
He received a shrug as his answer. As Kili was about to start protesting to his brother, Ori and Elrond walked towards them.
"I must thank you once more. Without you we wouldn't have had a really plausible reason to get Fili away from my brother." Ori told the elf in his most respectful voice, but Elladan and Elrohir just waved him away.
"Wait, you mean they was in on the plan?"
Kili and Ori smiled at him while the twins nodded slowly. "Ori and Kili came to me with your dilemma. And while we are not big fans of dwarfs, we are fan of pranks. And- between us- Rivendell can become somewhat boring without something to spice it up."
Fili smiled at them both and nodded. "Kindred spirits, I see."
"What did you tell my brother, Fili?" Ori asked, "He didn't seem as bothered when he came back to our quarters as he seemed before interrogating you."
Fili blushed, suddenly remembering what he had said. Kili and Ori were immediately worried by this while the elves in their company were just curious.
"Um... Well... You, uh... Told me to lie with the truth..." Fili mumbled, looking down at the floor as he started to scrape at it with his boot. "So I did just that..."
Ori and Kili shared a look then, "What did you tell him, brother?" Kili asked, taking a step forward.
"Um... You know..." Fili mumbled softly. "I just told him I liked him..."
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