The Chance of Love
Chapter 8
Bilbo was grateful that Thorin was taking them back home to visit his parents. He didn't regret coming, as Thorin still meant a lot to him, but after spending the entire morning in the hospital he just wanted to get out. He never liked hospitals and Theo was getting bored and he knew there would be a tantrum soon if they didn't leave.
His mother and father were already waiting for them so when the car stopped he was immediately pulled into his mother's embrace before she focused on Theo.
"Here's my beautiful grandson," she cooed and placed a kiss on Theo's cheek the moment Thorin passed him over. It was obvious that Theo missed them too by the way he was bursting with excitement. "You must be hungry."
"Yes!"
"Yes," Belladonna smiled. "Then let's get inside and finish lunch."
"I'll pick you up in the evening," said Thorin as he went back to his car. The entire Baggins family turned around to look at him.
"Where are you going?" Bilbo's mother demanded as she broke the uncomfortable silence. "Lunch will be ready in ten minutes."
"I'm not really-"
"You're going to say 'thank you' and then you'll come inside and we'll have lunch together," Belladonna told him before Thorin had a chance to refuse.
"But I-" The look that she sent him made Thorin shut up and sigh in defeat. "Thank you."
"Well then, come in," she smiled as she walked inside with her grandson in her arms.
Thorin had no other choice but to follow her inside. 'You have to tell me how you do this,' he heard Bilbo say to his mother. 'He never listens to me.' He made himself comfortable in the living room allowing Bilbo to spend some time with his parents after not seeing them for a couple of weeks. Theo continued to run around, visibly happy to be back.
"Tired," he complained to Thorin when he finally stopped in front of him. "Want a nap."
Thorin sighed as he lifted him in his lap. "Why is that when I tell you to take a nap you never want to and now you ask me to take one?" he wondered as the two-year-old just stared up at him. He placed a kiss on Theo's head before promising him a nap after lunch.
Theo almost dozed off in Thorin's lap before lunch, that was how tired he was from all the excitement. Thorin wasn't much better. After driving for almost all night and everything that had happened he wanted to fall into bed and stay there for a couple of days. He almost didn't hear Bilbo calling him when lunch was ready.
"You can use my bed," Bilbo told him when they were putting the plates away after lunch. Theo was already up in his room having his nap and Bilbo had a feeling Thorin would fall asleep standing that's how tired he was.
"I'm not tired," Thorin tried to protest, but a yawn escaped him and Bilbo sent him a look. "I have to go back to the hospital."
"You're tired," Bilbo pointed out. "You're barely standing. We both saw your father and we both saw that he's okay. Nothing will happen to him if you lay down for an hour. Don't forget that you have to drive us back tonight and I don't want you to fall asleep at the wheel."
"Fine," Thorin sighed in defeat. "But only for an hour, then I trust you to wake me."
Bilbo promised to do so, so Thorin agreed to lay down for an hour to get some rest. An hour went by quickly and when Bilbo went to check on Thorin and found him peacefully sleeping he just didn't have the heart to wake him up. He knew Thorin might get angry but he also knew he would be grateful of getting some rest. An hour later Theo was up, once again running all over the place and Bilbo knew that Thorin wouldn't get much more sleep, especially if Theo continued going into his room to check if daddy was still sleeping.
Thorin woke up when he felt the bed dip on the side. It wasn't Bilbo, he was sure of that when he felt someone (read Theo) press their nose against his. Thorin stayed still with his eyes closed waiting for Theo to make his next move. But the two-year-old just pressed closer and when Thorin wrapped an arm around him he started giggling and tried to get away but Thorin caught him and pulled him back.
"What where you doing, huh?" Thorin demanded, his tone light and playful as Theo continued to giggle and tried to get away. "What were you trying to do?" Theo let out a laugh as Thorin pulled him back and started tickling him. "You little monster. You were trying to tickle me, weren't you?"
"No," Theo laughed and Thorin stopped for a moment looking down at his son with a serious face.
"No? My apologies then," said Thorin before continuing his attack. Theo continued to laugh even when Thorin hoisted him up like a bag on his shoulders and took him downstairs. The fun ended when he saw Bilbo looking at him from the bottom of the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Papa doesn't like it when we're having fun," Thorin told his son as he rested him on his hip.
"No," agreed the two-year-old.
"I don't mind you two having fun when it's safe," Bilbo corrected.
"It was perfectly safe," Thorin smiled.
"I don't think carrying him around like a bag of flour counts as safe," Bilbo smiled back. He wasn't really angry at Thorin. In fact he loved watching him being relaxed and happy with Theo.
Thorin stopped a few centimeters from Bilbo and put Theo down. "See, perfectly safe." He had a chance to ruffle his hair before Theo ran off.
Thorin straightened his back and looked down at Bilbo who had to hold himself back otherwise he would have wrapped his arms around the taller man's neck and kissed him, that's how dangerously close they were.
"Just kiss," Frodo said to them as he hurried upstairs to his room, a teasing smile playing on his lips.
Bilbo cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped back. "I made you a cup of coffee."
"Thanks."
Thorin followed Bilbo into the kitchen without saying anything else.
"What's wrong with this kid?" Frodo asked when he joined them, Theo hanging off his arm. "How did you turn him into a monster so quickly? He was normal when you two weren't living together."
Bilbo and Thorin looked at each other but neither said a word. It was Bilbo who took Theo away from his brother and then sent him playing in the living room where his parents could watch him. He had to admit that Frodo was right. Theo had become an absolute monster since he and Thorin started living together. Luckily he only behaved like that around the people he was familiar with. Bilbo thanked whoever was watching them that Theo was still shy when it came to meeting new people.
Thorin left soon after drinking his cup of coffee but not before placing a kiss on Bilbo's cheek. Bilbo's parents acted like they didn't see while Frodo just couldn't keep quiet and had to say something, and with that earning himself a smack on the back of his head from Thorin when he left.
"Aren't you going to say something?" Frodo demanded, angry that he was still treated like a child.
"You deserved it," Bilbo told him plainly before making his way back to the kitchen.
:::
Back on the campus few days later Bilbo was losing his patience.
"Watch him," he ordered Thorin who was watching the news and put Theo on the bed next to him.
"Papa!" Theo immediately whined and reached for him.
"No, stay," Bilbo ordered.
"Where are you going?" Thorin asked when he finally looked away from the screen.
"I'm going to take a very long bath. Alone," he added before going into the bathroom. Theo reached for Bilbo once again but Thorin held him back. "Don't disturb me," Bilbo called before he closed the doors.
"Papa!" Theo screamed again and Thorin rolled his eyes.
"Here," Thorin changed the channel hoping to distract Theo for a couple of minutes, "you can watch the cartoons."
"Want papa," the two-year-old protested as he tried to get off the bed but once again Thorin pulled him back.
"Papa is having a bath," Thorin tried to explain, not really knowing why Theodore was so determined to be with Bilbo. "Like you were having few minutes ago." Fat tears started falling down Theo's cheeks. "Bilbo, he's started crying!"
"Don't care," was heard from the bathroom.
Thorin knew that wasn't true. Theo had been really clingy since they'd come back and Bilbo needed a few minutes alone. Thorin went to the kitchen to get the cookies Belladonna made for them and then went back to his crying son. He pulled Theo in his lap and offered them to him; Bilbo would say that he bribed him with cookies. Luckily it worked and after a few minutes Theo was completely focused on the cartoon while eating cookies.
Thorin made sure the Theo was completely focused on TV before carefully getting up from the bed and making his way to the bathroom. He first pressed his ear to the door hoping to hear something, but it was completely silent so Thorin decided to enter.
"Do you mind!" yelled Bilbo and immediately pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around it. "I wanted some privacy!"
"Come on," Thorin reasoned, "it's not like I've never seen you naked before." He left the doors slightly open before sitting on the toilet lid. "So, tell me."
"Please leave," Bilbo asked desperately.
"We had sex. I saw you give birth to our son. I think I saw what was there to see."
"Can I please have a few more minutes of privacy? Now please?" Bilbo asked.
Thorin just rolled his eyes before he stood up and took off his shirt.
"W-what are you doing?" stammered Bilbo. "Put your shirt back on."
Thorin ignored him and removed his pants and his underwear. Bilbo suddenly found the ceiling very interesting. "Please put something on."
"Why would I when was making you uncomfortable? Now we're even."
"You can't just stand there," Bilbo said without looking at Thorin.
"I'm not. I'm joining you and then we're going to talk about Adrian."
"Can we not?" Thorin was getting into the bath with him and Bilbo was too embarrassed to do anything about it. "I'll tell you everything you want to know later. Just…please don't." Bilbo felt the water rise even higher when Thorin sat down in the bath opposite to him and now that there was water covering his private parts Bilbo could finally look at him. "You left Theo alone and unsupervised! Are you crazy."
"Relax, he's watching cartoons. He didn't even notice me leaving."
"Argh! You can be so irresponsible sometimes!"
Thorin relaxed in the bath and then looked at Bilbo. "So tell me, how was your date?"
Bilbo rolled his eyes. "It wasn't a date. And I'm not telling you anything. I asked you to leave, not to share a bath with me!"
Thorin tried to pull Bilbo's foot in his lap and giving him a massage hoping it would help him relax but it only made Bilbo angrier.
"Leave me alone," he hissed.
"You've been on edge for the past few days. What's gotten into you? You yell at Theo even when you don't have to and everything upsets you."
"I would have taken the pressure off if you hadn't interrupted me!"
Thorin studied Bilbo for a moment until it finally hit him what the younger man was saying. "Oh…"
Bilbo blushed as quickly as a grin spread on Thorin's face. "Don't look at me like that," he said as he pulled his knees closer to his chest. "It's been months since I… And with Theo always around it hard to get a few minutes of privacy, okay!"
"I didn't say anything," smiled Thorin.
"Then wipe that annoying smile from your face!"
"If you needed help you could have asked."
Bilbo scoffed at that. "I don't do people who are in a relationship and the few times we slipped… Well, I hope we both know that was wrong and a big mistake."
"I meant I could have watched Theo if you needed some time to relax." Bilbo blushed even more if that was possible. "But I'm flattered that I'm the first person you would ask for help."
"Just shut up!"
"So you haven't… I mean… With anyone? You didn't?" Thorin tried to ask.
"Don't think I did this for you," Bilbo yelled as he stood up and pointed a finger at Thorin. "I would do it with the first person who would be interested but I wasn't too busy taking care of Theo."
Thorin didn't hear a word he said. He was too busy memorizing Bilbo's curves. They were still perfect. And his skin looked as soft as the last time he was allowed to run his fingers over it and worship every inch of it. With the exception of a few stretch marks no one would have guessed Bilbo gave birth.
"Papa?"
Bilbo immediately sat down in the warm water at the sound of Theo's voice. Theo pushed the doors open and joined them in the bathroom.
"I want a bath too!" he exclaimed when he saw his parents sharing a bath.
"No Theo, you cannot. You already had a bath," Bilbo reminded him and the two-year-old stopped pulling at his clothes for a moment. Bilbo knew exactly what would happen next. And he was right because a moment later Theo started crying.
It was Thorin who got out of the bath, quickly dried himself and then took Theo in his arms trying to calm him down.
"Thank you."
"I still want to talk about Adrian with you," Thorin informed him.
"We will. Later," Bilbo assured him before Thorin took Theo back to their bed.
:::
"We still haven't talked," Thorin reminded him.
Bilbo growled lowly before he turned around to look him in the eyes. "I know, but I was trying to sleep," he whispered back.
"It feels like you're avoiding talking about it."
"I'm not avoiding anything. I just don't understand why are you so interested in how it went."
"Well you're going to allow him near Theodore so I have to be sure he's not a lunatic." Thorin could imagine Bilbo rolling his eyes.
"He's not a lunatic. Happy?"
"Oh come on, give me some details."
"You know that you sound like a jealous boyfriend," Bilbo reminded him.
"Which I'm not."
"Which you're not," Bilbo agreed. "Then why do you want to know?"
Thorin shrugged before he propped himself on his elbow. "Indulge me. Tell me what he has that I don't."
"A fiancé, for starters. He's not engaged."
"Point taken. Was he pissed that you left him waiting?"
"Once I explained why I didn't come he understood. He's not a child you know."
"So when are you going to ask him for help?"
Bilbo sighed. "What are you talking about?"
He suddenly felt Thorin's hand on his thigh, slowly moving up to his hip until finally making its way to his bum.
"He's not that kind of guy," Bilbo answered as he pushed Thorin's hand away. "Besides, I don't even know him. I'm not going to jump into bed with him at the first chance I get. I want to be in a relationship first." Thorin snorted at that. "What?"
"Nothing," Thorin answered. "Good luck getting him to commit."
"What, do you think I can't do it? I'm nice, I'm smart and caring, anyone would be happy to be in a relationship with me."
"You talk too much," Thorin corrected. "You're annoying when you're trying to be smart, and the way you care for people is suffocating. Besides, you have absolutely no idea how to make a guy fall for you. You couldn't get him in your bed even if you wanted to. Guys like Adrian are bachelors, they won't enter a relationship so that they could sleep with you."
"If I remember correctly, you did," Bilbo reminded him as he climbed on top of him and straddled his hips. It was too dark to see much, but Bilbo knew Thorin had his eyes on him. "I convinced the toughest guy in our school to date me, and you think I can't get Adrian to commit."
"I'll bet you can't."
Bilbo leaned forward until their lip were only a few centimeters apart. "You'll lose."
"Oh, I don't think I will," Thorin whispered back and before Bilbo even knew it Thorin was kissing him.
He surrendered to the kiss and allowed Thorin to roll them over and press him into the bed as he found a comfortable space between his thighs. He missed having Thorin like this. He missed Thorin worshiping his body with every kiss and every touch. He missed the intimacy between them. Not just because he hadn't had sex in a few months, but because with Thorin it was always something more. Thorin made him feel desired and in his arms he felt happy. But most of all he trusted Thorin, something he couldn't say about the others.
Bilbo buried his fingers in Thorin's hair as they kissed and allowed Thorin to do whatever he wanted in that moment. His hands travelled down his side to his hips and then clever fingers got under the elastic band of his pajama bottoms.
"Thorin, we can't." Bilbo stopped Thorin's hand as they were about to pull his pants down.
"Why not?" Thorin almost whined.
"Because we can't. For starters, Theo is sleeping right next to us." Thorin lifted his head to have a look at their sleeping son.
"He's asleep, he won't even hear us," Thorin argued, but when he tried to pull at Bilbo's pants the younger man once again stopped him. "We can be quiet."
"We're never quiet," reasoned Bilbo. "We always get carried away because you enjoy making me scream." Thorin rolled his eyes and Bilbo used the opportunity to push him off himself and Thorin rolled on his back with a groan. "Besides, you have a fiancé-"
"Don't start," warned Thorin.
"Why not? You wanted to have sex with me-"
"We both wanted it. Stop lying to yourself."
"I admit that I wasn't opposed to the idea of having a tumble in bed with you, but I realized soon enough it would be a mistake."
"It's just sex."
"It's cheating."
"It happened before," reminded him Thorin, "and you never had any problems with it."
"I did not sleep with a clear conscious, if that's what you're implying."
"Whatever," muttered Thorin and pulled the covers up. Bilbo would swear he sounded offended by his rejection.
"Come on Thorin, you know that sex rarely comes without strings attached, especially with us. We have a son together, we dated, we broke up, you moved on, I'm trying to do the same."
"With Adrian?" Thorin scoffed. "Yeah, good luck with that. You left the guy waiting so you could spend the day with me. What kind of message do you think it sends?"
"I explained everything to him," argued Bilbo. "He said he understood."
"The point is that you left him for me-"
"Yes! Fine! I left him for you. But that doesn't mean anything! You're still engaged and I'm still allowed to date whoever I want. I'm giving him a chance. I'm giving myself a chance to be happy."
"We were happy."
"I think the word were is important thing here. We were happy together, but we don't know how to do that anymore. You speak in riddles. Half of the things you say I don't understand and even though you promised to explain everything you still haven't. We talked, remember? I told you I loved you and you told me you're getting married. You're moving on and so am I. Unless you tell me that all this that you've been doing is some kind of joke, I'm not changing my mind. The next person I'm going to sleep with is going to love me as much as I love them."
After Bilbo finished his speech no answer came from Thorin even though he was still awake. Bilbo felt a little guilty about pushing him away so harshly, but that was the truth and that was the decision he has made and he wasn't going to change his mind. Not for Thorin, not for anyone.
:::
Bilbo wasn't sure what to think when Theo brought back his plate with the bread crust on it, but he knew exactly who to blame. "Aren't you going to eat it?" He asked and Theo shook his head before offering him his plate once again. "Why not?"
"Daddy cuts it off."
Of course he does. "Fine, you can go." There was no point of arguing with Theo because no matter what he now did, Theo won't eat it. He washed the plate before picking up his book and joining Thorin on the bed.
"Still haven't heard back from him," Thorin asked when Bilbo checked his phone for the third time.
Bilbo knew that Thorin was teasing but he was becoming quite impatient and Thorin might be the only one who could help. "No. And I texted him hours ago. I thought our lunch date went fine."
"Let me see." Thorin took the phone from Bilbo and quickly went through the text he and Adrian exchanged. Most of them were from Bilbo with only a few replies. "What do you expect him to write you back when you say 'I miss you'?"
"Oh, I don't know? The same! We connected-" Thorin snorted at that. "During lunch," continued Bilbo. "We talked-"
"About what?"
"Why does it matter?"
"It matters if you want my help."
"I never asked for your help."
"I'm offering it."
"Who says I need it?"
Thorin sent him a look before quickly typing a message and hitting send before Bilbo could take the phone away from him. A few seconds later came a reply and Thorin showed Bilbo the phone.
"Fine, you know how to talk to a guy, but that doesn't mean anything," said Bilbo as he read the message Thorin sent.
'Guess what I'm wearing right now.'
'I hope nothing. ;-)'
"What am I supposed to answer to that?" Bilbo asked as Theo climbed on the bed next to them.
"I started the conversation for you. You said you don't need my help, but whatever you do, do not tell him the truth."
What was so wrong with telling him that he was wearing his comfortable pajamas and had Theo in his lap? He knew he had a son, and right now he wasn't comfortable with lying. "But then I would be lying."
"Fine then, tell him the truth and we'll see how far you two will go," said Thorin before he focused back on the notes he had from his classes.
Bilbo it his lower lip. He really wanted to get things moving with Adrian because lunch dates have become a little boring. He enjoyed talking with him and getting to know him better , but maybe it was time for something more. Like a kiss perhaps. "So I should tell him I'm naked?" Bilbo asked carefully.
Thorin raised an eyebrow before looking at him. "Yes, because that won't sound weird."
"Really?"
"No!"
Bilbo frowned. Thorin was playing with him, and the stubborn ass that he was will surely refuse to help him until being asked to do so. "Then what should I tell him?" Thorin decided to ignore him and continue his studying. "Argh! Fine! Thorin, would you please be so kind and help me?"
Thorin sensed the annoyance in Bilbo's tone, but he was way too full of himself to refuse. "Tell him you're having a bath. And don't say anything about me or the kid," he quickly added.
Bilbo did as he was told and a minute later he got another text.
"No, sweetheart you can't," Bilbo told Theo as the two-year-old tried to get a look at the text he just received.
"Why not?"
"Because you're way too young," Bilbo dismissed him with a kiss on his head before reading the text. "Okay, what next?" he asked as he gave the phone to Thorin and waited for the instructions.
For some reason it felt like he just sold his soul to the Devil. So what. The Devil will soon become the sweetest sin.
Author's notes
A big 'thank you' to Chamelaucium, who helped with this chapter.
Thank you for all your lovely comments!
Next chapter: Rules of the game change when truth comes out.
