Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way it's gotta be.
The Ring
The old man had them sit down and then he began to tell them the story behind the design etched out on the old paper that lay ominously between them on the desk. The story took place during the rule of Queen Victoria, and revolved around a man known as Sauron Mordor. A man of great wealth and social clot, the highborn man gathered together some of the best and brightest London had to offer in a club of sorts. Inventors and artists, forward thinkers and powerful members of the aristocracy, all flocked at the chance to be part of his special circles. Those closest to him were gifted with rings inscribed with a language created by the group, and all wore them proudly as a symbol of their status in the changing society. Or they did before it was revealed that Sauron was also The Necromancer, a notorious criminal and murderer who'd been taking over London's underworld and schemed to take over the country itself for years at that point.
Those with the moral strength and will to break away from the man did so, casting aside their rings and rising against the man they'd once called friend. Many were too afraid to turn against him, or craved some of his power, but in the end Sauron had been killed by his enemies, though his legend carried on in some circles. For it was said that Sauron had dabbled in the darkest of arts, corrupting the rings he'd given his 'friends' with his evil, using them to control all who wore them with the ring he himself had worn always.
"It's even said that the only reason he was killed in the first place was that the finger wearing the ring was cut off first, cutting him off from the dark powers it granted him. What became of the ring…well that's the stuff of legends as well to those who seek it, believing the stories of its power to be true. Most have long forgotten, but I keep my eyes out for mention of them, particular the One Ring."
"Why?" Bilbo couldn't begin to imagine why someone would want to own such a horrible piece of history. It was worse than the Arkenstone in his opinion, and that was saying something in his books.
"Because I held one of the rings once, and there was evil in it." The old man told him bluntly. "They all need to be destroyed, melted down and discarded forever."
Thorin just shook his head at the idea. "So what you're saying is that if we can research the families whose ancestors owned one of the rings we might be able to find who we're looking for."
"No. Unfortunately no." And now the old man gave Bilbo a look of true pity. "If he's right and the design on the ring he saw is not identical to what's drawn on that paper…then what he saw was The One Ring. All others were identical in inscription save for Sauron's."
While Bilbo noticeably paled Thorin thanked the old man for his time and then excused them, Thorin taking the file full of information when it was offered before steering Bilbo out of the man's office before he could be further traumatized.
Once they were in the elevator on the way up to the top floor Thorin looked down at the still pale man beside him and just barely managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "You're letting your overactive imagination get the best of you again. The fact that your stalker is possibly in the possession of a ring once owned by another murderer does not make him any more dangerous."
"Says the man with no imagination."
Taking that as personal challenge Thorin dropped his hand from where it had been resting at the small of Bilbo's back and gave the man's right bum cheek a quick rub. "We'll see about that later. Especially given the plans I already have for you."
Color returned to Bilbo's cheeks with extra pink to spare, the look he gave Thorin one the man recognized immediately as the 'Not while we're at work, Mister' look he'd once seen nearly every day in this building. But just like back then Bilbo wasn't moving away either, allowing him to stand close and place his hand possessively back on the small of Bilbo's back.
And instead of commenting on that liberty Bilbo changed the subject back to the ring. "I'll email Strider when we get up there, about the ring and what we've learned. Maybe it will help with the investigation."
Figuring it couldn't hurt Thorin agreed that that was a good idea. He'd use all Erebor's connections as well to try and find out more. He would find out something before the guarda did, he was sure, and pass whatever he learned along to them.
"Do you want me to contact that companies you don't like talking to unless you absolutely have to?"
Knowing exactly what companies Bilbo meant, the ones the man had gone behind his back to when he'd been struggling to hold onto Erebor, Thorin had to force himself not to grimace, saying instead that he'd talk to them. The presidents of those two companies had pissed him off good and proper on a number of occasions because of his ousting of Bilbo during the negotiations, and he didn't fancy reminding them of those events by letting Bilbo represent him in any capacity.
"Fine. But try to be nice seeing as you'll be asking them for a favor technically."
Okay, now he had to scowl, though thankfully Bilbo had the sense not to push him any further.
)
Hours later Bilbo sat at what he'd become to think of as his conference table, bopping his head along with the music playing on his laptop through his earbuds as he used it to drone out his non-work related thoughts and worries. He was doing pretty well really, right up until Rihanna's solo version of 'Love The Way You Lie' came on, jarring him from his numbers and spreadsheets. He'd listened to this song a LOT during the last two months of his relationship with Thorin, relating to it to the point where he'd felt it was their theme song in a twisted sort of way. Yes he knew some versions of this particular song were about outright physical abuse, which wasn't the case between him and Thorin, but the idea of a twisted relationship that was poisonous, but staying out of love and an almost obsessive need for the other person…that was something he knew very well.
Or so he'd thought at the time, Bilbo thought as he let the lyrics play out in his head, revisiting past memories with lingering sadness. He'd mellowed a little there after all this time, though their relationship had definitely not been healthy either. How could it have been when Thorin had been all but married to his stupid, fecking company before they'd even met!
Wallowing in that until the song finished Bilbo automatically hit pause, letting the silence hang for several moment before he made the deliberate choice to exit his play all music setting and instead went to the individual playlists to select his 'Empowering' playlist. From there he scrolled down until he came to 'I Will Survive', which much more suited the mindset he wanted to be in. Clicking onto that, the intro already bringing a smile back to his face, Bilbo began singing along with it softly, almost back in his work groove when he finally realized that he was being watched.
Of course it would be Thorin.
Cheeks flushing, there was no way Thorin hadn't heard him singing along given the size of the jerk's smirk, Bilbo gave him a censoring look as he removed his earbuds to oh so politely inquire as to why he was being interrupted, his tone of voice making it clear he wouldn't mind bashing the man's head in with his laptop for eavesdropping.
Rather than answer right away Thorin walked over and pulled out the chair beside him, taking a seat as he ignored the question and posed one of his own. "What were you listening to before you were surviving?"
"You came here to talk about my taste in music?"
"Just answer the question."
"You didn't answer mine." Bilbo pointed out, scowling right back at Thorin when the man did the same. He wasn't about to be cowed though, and he had asked his question first.
"It's lunch time. I came to eat with you." To prove it Thorin set the lunch bag Bilbo hadn't noticed on the table in front of them.
Since he had definitely remembered to give Thorin his lunch before they'd parted ways for the day, as its current presence confirmed, Bilbo knew very well there was no reason for Thorin to be eating with him aside for the obvious reason, which was that he wanted to. This of course made him equal parts happy and suspicious, though after the night and morning they'd had Bilbo decided to play nice so that there would be a repeat that night. So he answered the question of what song he'd been listening to before belatedly realizing that the question suggested that Thorin had been watching him a lot longer than he'd realized. Dammit!
"Why does that song make you sad?" Thorin didn't know it, he preferred the oldies, but he vaguely recalled that Rhianna was some pop star who, like most of her ilk, spent a great deal of time mostly naked onstage.
Not about to go into why that particular song affected him so Bilbo simply replied that it was a sad song, hoping that Thorin would drop the topic.
"I see." His tone making it clear he knew there was more to it than that, Thorin could be annoyingly observant when he didn't want the older man to be, Bilbo instead got up from the table to get his own lunch from the mini fridge before he said something he'd regret.
To say he was not at all happy to find Thorin playing around with his laptop when he turned around with his retrieved lunch bag and juice in hand was an understatement. "Thorin!"
Thorin just smirked and pointed his thumb in the direction of the screen. "You have your music sorted by mood. That's bloody anal, even for you. And what's this 'After T' and 'Before T'? And why do you have a section marked 'Frodo'?"
As he'd sooner bash his own head in with his laptop then admit that those were songs related to his relationship with Thorin Bilbo simply scowled and marched back over to very smartly close the top of his laptop before Thorin could access any of those files. "How many times do I have to tell you not to play around on my laptop? I know your skull is thicker than most, Thorin, but even you were taught some manners!"
"I was simply curious as to why the title for that playlist was 'Empowering'." Not looking at all repentant Thorin actually smirked at him over the rim of his own juice bottle before taking a healthy sip, again asking what the titles meant when he'd swallowed.
Glaring still, Bilbo belatedly realized that the fates had cut him a little slack with that third file that had caught his ex's eye. Thank God. Because as much as Thorin loved to ruffle his feathers, the man adored their son more. So instead of continuing to argue he opened his laptop up again and accessing Frodo's file went to the first file labeled 'Frodo Singing', and clicked on that while tugging the earbuds' cord out so that they could both hear the sound of their son singing as the first of his many recordings of Frodo singing began to play.
Just that easily, Thorin was caught, hook, line and sinker.
Turning his attention to his own lunch Bilbo began eating, glancing at Thorin out of the corner of his eyes every few moments to find the man doing the same absently, most of the man's attention focused on the music even though Frodo had definitely not taken after Thorin's side when it came to his singing abilities. Thorin actually had a beautiful voice, very deep and haunting, while both he and Frodo could carry a tune, but that was about the kindest thing you could say about their singing talents.
But that didn't matter to Thorin, Bilbo thought to himself, unaware of how his gaze had softened lovingly as he watched his son's father. Because it was Frodo singing it was the sweetest music in Thorin's books. It didn't surprise him that Thorin wanted a copy once they were finished eating, and Bilbo promised to have one for him before the end of the day. The kiss Thorin gave him before he left the room to get back to work did surprise him…and pleased him as much as Thorin's love for their son did.
)
Once he was back in his office Thorin went online to use what was left of his lunch break to look up the song on Youtube, scowling when the title he typed in led him to a version with Eminem, the mere thought of listening to rap music making him want to stab himself with his own letter opener. Then he remembered Bilbo's exact phrasing and found the Rhianna version, sitting back in his seat to listen to it and see why it would touch Bilbo so much. And though he knew himself not to be the most intuitive or emotional of men Thorin was pretty sure that he got it by the time the song ended.
It was like their former relationship had a theme song.
Shaking his head at the thought, especially since he imagined that they both viewed themselves as the one who'd gotten burned, Thorin listened to the song one more time and then exited out of the site entirely, staring at his computer's background with a peevish look on his face. He didn't like that Bilbo saw them that way, even though he understood why he would and even agreed with the idea to a certain extent. They had both behaved badly towards the end, and they had hurt each other deliberately since even if they could and did justify what they'd done to the other. Or so it seemed, so their intentions really didn't matter when you got right down to it. They'd really fucked things up between them, and the fact that they were able to live in the same house together without killing each other really was a minor miracle given their past history together.
The thought that he wanted them to at least be friends crossed Thorin's mind, but the sad fact was that he wouldn't know where to start at this point even if he were to make the effort. He was well aware that he sucked at apologies, and his previous ones had never seemed to penetrate Bilbo's equally hard head, much less the man's heart. That they were remotely comfortable with each other at this point was largely due to their determination to not be the sort of parents who made their child miserable because they couldn't be adults around each other.
Hmmm. There was a thought.
Getting out of his chair before he could talk himself out of what he was about to do, Thorin headed out and asked his secretary to hold down the fort just a bit longer, he'd be back in about ten minutes or so. Thankfully the woman was always trying to get him to take proper breaks so she didn't yell at him, and so Thorin made his successful escape to the elevator and rode it down to the section set aside for the daycare.
His men were guarding the entrance as they should be, and after giving them both a nod Thorin headed in to find his son working away with a group of slightly younger kids who seemed very impressed with Frodo's Lego building expertise.
"Hi, Papa!" Beaming a smile Frodo got to his feet and rushed over to greet him, asking him if it was time to go home already. If it was could he have ten more minutes, please?
"You're here for a few more hours, I'm afraid. I just have a question for you."
"Oh." Puffing up over the idea that he might know something his papa didn't, Frodo beamed that much more. "What do you want to know?"
"I was thinking we'd give your daddy a break from cooking tonight and go out somewhere. Do you know where he might like to go?
Even as he asked it belatedly occurred to Thorin that Frodo was far more likely to pick a place the boy wanted to go then Bilbo, but he'd asked and there was always a chance Frodo would know something about his other father's preferences.
"Rivendell." Frodo told him after a pause. "He likes it a lot but he doesn't go cause it's expensive."
Opening and closing his mouth Thorin thought, not for the first time, that his son was a genius. Ironically enough he'd been to Rivendell twice with Bilbo in the past, once for a business meeting and the other time just the two of them as an apology for the indigestion he'd given the other man the first time. They'd spent the whole meeting fighting, which had meant Bilbo hadn't been able to appreciate the food properly that first outing. It was a fancy and pretentious place, he'd hated it, but there was no denying that Bilbo had really appreciated the second visit and the fact that he'd done it for him.
"Good idea." Thorin gave Frodo's curls a ruffle. "I'll see if I can get us reservations there for your daddy."
"Yay." Thrilled beyond words that his fathers were getting along so well currently, Frodo was happy to have a part in keeping things the way they were at the moment. He wanted them to be a real family more than anything else in the whole wide world.
"Okay, you go back and play with the toys and I'll see to everything else."
"Kay."
Trusting that his papa would get the reservations Frodo was about to go back and rejoin the other kids when something occurred to him that had him calling his papa back. "You gots to tell him early if we're going." Frodo advised his papa. "Cause it's fancy."
Seeing the wisdom of the suggestion Thorin assured him that he would do precisely that.
