Fíli and Kíli knew that something was up between their uncle and the hobbit. The sheer amount of tension between them – often from arguments, but Kíli staunchly believed (between the shudders of horror) that no small part of it was, in fact, sexual – made that clear, no matter how ardently that Thorin insisted that Bilbo was useless weight on the Quest and Bilbo made unhappy noises about how much of an arrogant, pompous ass Thorin was.

The two young dwarves strongly suspected that Thorin and Bilbo had met somewhere before, though for the life of them they could not imagine why. But the way Bilbo and Thorin bantered and argued back and forth, the way they knew each others' habits a little better than they should after only two weeks of travel together, was extraordinarily suspicious. And Thorin seemed to be keeping a cautious eye on the hobbit, making sure that he didn't come to any significant harm. He had had sharp words with those among the Company who teased Bilbo overmuch or humiliated him, and Kíli had felt the sharp edge of his uncle's tongue the day before for his apparent continued mispronunciation of Master Boggins' clan-name.

Óin was also suspicious. And though the dwarf was nearly deaf, his eyes and his mind were still sharp. He remembered Thorin's misadventure in the Shire, and wondered if there was any connection between that and Bilbo. And he knew that Thorin had been ill, being told of it when he gave Thorin a going-over after his return to the Blue Mountains and seeing how thin and tired he was. Bilbo's mutterings about the line of Durin and despoiled carpets made some sense if Thorin had managed to worm his way into his smial with pneumonia – Thorin could well have vomited on a carpet. And Óin had seen Fíli and Kíli drop items on a small carpet at the party. Bilbo's reaction had been out of proportion even for such a fussy little creature, as if it were a problem he had faced before.

As the weeks passed, the dwarves compared notes and brought more and more of them into their wonderings. Dwalin and Balin, who knew Thorin best and longest, joined quickly, seeing Thorin's unusual behavior towards Bilbo and wondering. The brothers Ri came in all at once after Ori was traumatized the night after being chased up the trees by the wargs, as he had gone to relieve his bladder and stumbled on Thorin and Bilbo in a passionate embrace. Óin roped his brother in soon afterwards, and a decent-sized betting pool was set up, pandering on the ingrained money-mindedness of dwarves, combined with an honest desire to see their king-in-exile and their burglar happy. The Urs were last in, and Bofur laughed himself nearly off his pony when he discovered why exactly their glorious leader had hugged their burglar. The betting pool was now of considerable size.

oOoOoOOoOo

It was Dwalin who ended up winning the pot. He had claimed that there would be a sexual encounter between Thorin and Bilbo within forty-eight hours of them finding themselves a proper bed and some privacy, and he was right. His maniacal grin and gleaming eyes meant that the pile of coins and IOUs on the breakfast table in front of him had grown quickly. When Thorin and Bilbo had finally highed themselves out of the room they had barricaded themselves in, Dwalin was still gloating, which earned him a punch from Thorin, who had immediately realized what had happened. Bilbo was slower on the uptake, though when he clued in he had turned cherry-red and sputtered before running out of the room. Thorin had sighed, and gathering some foodstuffs, had gone to explain about the lack of privacy among dwarves to the snickers of his companions.

A/N:

This chapter came into my mind on a whim. Since Smoke and Shadow is pretty much from the viewpoint of Thorin and Bilbo, I wanted to see how others in the Company saw them. So this came to mind.

Hobbits are fairly unique in Middle-earth in that they have passed-down family names. Individuals might earn personal epithets (e.g. Oakenshield, Wormtongue) or names tied to job/station (Faramir Steward of Gondor, of the House of Húrin), but most individuals were known simply as "s child of y." But dwarves have the seven great clans of dwarves, and the Company are all or nearly all Longbeards – the clan ruled by the line of Durin, of which Thorin is the heir. So I think that the dwarves would just sub that into hobbit family groups, thinking that Bilbo Baggins is short for 'Bilbo of the Baggins clan.' It's even mostly right, even if there are inordinately more family groupings among hobbits than dwarves. This is the head-canon I'm using for this.

Review Responses:

iggle731: This chapter isn't nearly as angsty, but it'll be back. :)

epona789, savetimmy: thanks!