"Come on... It's not fair... You can tell me..."

Smaug hovered outside the small round window, but Bilbo's back was to him, and blocking what was on the table from sight. Smaug groaned and rose a bit, then turned away and sped in through the open bedroom window. He flittered down the corridor, but was stopped by the closed door to the kitchen. He budded his head against it a few times, but nothing happened.

"Bilbo..." he whined, landing on the floor. "Please... tell me what you're making. Come on... I want to know..." He began clawing at the wood, hoping that the hobbit would be more concerned with preserving the nice door than keeping his secret.

A loud sigh sounded from the other side of the door. "It's a surprise, Smaug. Just have patience for 15 minutes more."

"But that's an eternity..." Smaug complained as he began pacing in front of the door. "Besides, I'm a dragon... You shouldn't surprise me. It could be dangerous."

Bilbo chuckled. "I'm pretty sure it will be safe." He came out of the kitchen, but closed the door behind him before Smaug had a chance to fly in.

Smaug sat on the floor, glaring up at Bilbo, his tail swishing behind him. "You are cruel," he said. "You know I don't like secrets."

"14 minutes," Bilbo grinned. "I really hope you won't think this one too bad."

Smaug cocked his head. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Oooh, so you don't know what day it is?" Bilbo asked cheerfully.

"What day?" Smaug asked, jumping up on the table. "What do you mean? It's not your birthday... And I don't think it's mine either..."

Bilbo giggled. "You know my birthday better than your own? That's flattering, thank you. But you're right that that's not it."

"I don't know my birthday," Smaug said. "And you already had yours."

"Right," Bilbo said, only now fully realising that Smaug was probably too old to remember his birthday. "Well, on this day half a year ago... we came home."

Smaug's little jaw actually dropped for a second before he regained his composure. "It... It is? A whole half year?" He sat down with a thud. "And you remembered the date? Why?"

Bilbo smiled. "Because it's important. And nice to have something to celebrate. A whole six months that I didn't kick you out." He winked.

Smaug smiled and nodded. "A whole six months that I didn't kill you."

"Exactly. Congratulations!"

Smaug hesitated before asking: "Why did you do it? Why did you bring me home with you?"

"Because I felt responsible, at first," Bilbo said. "I had helped the dwarves, but that meant driving you out of your home. And you had nowhere to go. You were all alone. And you seemed nice... well, sort of... when we talked."

"I did?" Smaug studied Bilbo. "You seemed... interesting... It was nice to have someone to talk to. After so long."

"Even though I'm only a simple hobbit?" Bilbo smiled. "It got clear enough that we got along on the way home. So it was only logical that you came to live with me."

Smaug nodded. "I guess so. Though there were many times during the journey here when I wanted to leave. To go back to my mountain." He sighed and his ears drooped as he remembered the halls and treasure that he had once called his.

Bilbo picked him up and hugged him. "Do you still want to go home?"

Smaug snuggled close and shook his head. "It's no longer my home. It's full of... dwarves..." He shivered. "And... this is my home now. Right?"

"Exactly. That's why I need to take your surprise out of the oven now," Bilbo said, nuzzling the back of Smaug's head.

"Do you want me to help?" the dragon asked eagerly, immediately perking up.

"No, you just wait here until I call," Bilbo said, putting him back on the floor.

Smaug's tail twitched as he looked up at Bilbo. "You cannot mean that," he said. "Don't make me wait any longer." He did the eye-thing. "Please..."

"30 seconds," Bilbo laughed before disappearing into the kitchen again.

Smaug threw back his head and howled: "Bilbo!" Then he charged the closed door, bumping it hard with his head.

Bilbo swooped the tray of biscuits out of the oven, put down his gloves and then opened the door. On the other side, Smaug was sitting down, looking dazed and slightly cross-eyed.

"What did you do now, you silly beast?" Bilbo asked, shaking his head and picking him up again.

Smaug blinked a couple of times and shook his head. "Nothing... But I told you. Secrets aren't good for me."

"Well... It's not a secret any longer." He turned and showed Smaug the large tray of rabbit-shaped biscuits.

Smaug stared in awe. "How... How did you catch so many baby-bunnies?" he asked. "I didn't know you could hunt."

"I didn't hunt them," Bilbo laughed. "I made them!"

Smaug cocked his head, frowning. "You made bunny babies? How?"

"From dough," Bilbo said. "They're biscuits, of course!"

"Biscuits?" Smaug looked down at the tray. "Bunny biscuits?"

Bilbo nodded, grinning.

Smaug's tail twitched. "Why?" he inquired.

"Because you like biscuits... and rabbits..." Bilbo said hesitantly, hoping Smaug actually liked the idea.

"Do they taste like rabbit?" Smaug asked, sniffing the biscuits.

"I'm afraid they taste like biscuits," Bilbo said, bending his head a little at the lack of enthusiasm.

Smaug studied them for a bit longer. Then he looked up at Bilbo. "Will you throw some for me?"

"Of course. So... you like them?"

"They're funny," Smaug said. "Catching them will be a lot more interesting than the round ones." He did a small skip. "Outside... You can throw them much higher outside."

Bilbo chuckled and followed him out.

About an hour later, they were sitting in front of the fire. Smaug was lying on his back in Bilbo's lap, his stomach round and full of biscuits as he belched happily. "Bunny biscuits taste even better than real bunnies," he muttered. "And they're fun to chase."

Bilbo smiled. "Yeah, they weren't bad. So you're staying with me for another six months?"

Smaug looked up at him and wriggled his legs a little. "If you make more biscuits. And rub my belly. A lot."

Bilbo chuckled and moved his hand to Smaug's belly. "Oh, alright then. I think I can live with those harsh conditions."

Smaug stretched and purred happily. "Maybe next time we can make butterfly biscuits?" he suggested.

Bilbo nodded. "Good idea. I should have thought of that too for today."

"You can do it for our anniversary," Smaug said. "Some kind of hesperiidae."

"Sure," Bilbo said lazily.

"Can we make them blue?" Smaug asked. "Like the ones in the trees?"

"We could put some blueberry jam on them," Bilbo nodded.

"Could we put blueberry's in them?" Smaug suggested, licking his snout.

"Then perhaps we should make cakes," Bilbo said.

"Can they still be butterflies?" Smaug asked.

"Of course. I wouldn't want to take your butterflies from you," Bilbo smiled. "Shall I fetch the book?"

Smaug nodded eagerly.

When Bilbo returned, he immediately opened the book on the pages about the blue butterflies. "This seems a fitting chapter today, right?" he said.

"Wow..." Smaug pressed his nose to the page, to see the image better. "Those were the ones... In the trees. Right?"

"Yes," Bilbo said, pulling Smaug back a little so he wouldn't put the page on fire with his breath. "Your first butterflies."

"Well..." Smaug said. "I guess I must have seen them before, but never really noticed them."

"At least you do now," Bilbo smiled.

"Thanks to you," Smaug said. He closed his eyes and thought back. It had been so dark in those woods when they were travelling together. Not like his nice mountain with all the shiny gold and the little fires he could light. The darkness in the woods had been... heavy... Like it was crushing him. And Bilbo, who had been so terribly stern back then, had forbidden him to light any fires. He said it might draw spiders to them (as if Smaug would be afraid of a couple of spiders. He used to eat spiders for breakfast.) Or that the fire could spread. The elves would not be happy if Smaug burned down half of their land. So he had sat on the pommel of the saddle on Bilbo's pony and felt terribly small and sad and lonely.

The hobbit had tried talking to him, but Smaug had barely listened, lost in memories of his gold and the halls through which he could zoom for hours and hours without passing the same place twice. Finally, Bilbo had caught on. He had stopped the pony and moved Smaug to his shoulder, instructing him to hang on tight. And then, to Smaug's amazement, he had begun climbing up one of the giant trees. Smaug had tried to protest, saying that if Bilbo needed anything up there, Smaug could just fly up and get it. He wasn't trying to be helpful, but if the hobbit fell while Smaug was on his shoulder, the dragon wasn't entirely sure he would be able to get away before being crushed under the heavy body.

But Bilbo had forbidden him to fly. Smaug had hurt his wing during the battle and the elf who had tended to him had said he shouldn't fly before the next new moon. So he clung to Bilbo's shoulder, closing his eyes and hoping desperately that the hobbit wouldn't fall. He hadn't. Suddenly Smaug had felt something very unexpected. A breeze. And then sunlight on his eyelids. He had opened his eyes and found that they had emerged above the canopy of Mirkwood into the brilliant sunlight under a clear blue sky.

Bilbo had pointed to the east. "There, Smaug," he had said. "You can still see your mountain from here."

But Smaug had not even noticed. At first he thought it was raining jewels. But the shining blue things that filled the air were not falling. They were flittering about in the most astonishing fashion. He had looked closer and found that they were tiny dark creatures with delicate wings of the purest sapphire blue. And then one of them had landed on his nose. It wasn't afraid of him. It just sat there, batting its wings slowly.

"What is it?" Smaug had whispered in awe.

"It's a butterfly," Bilbo had said, chuckling. "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful," Smaug had answered. "Can I keep it? Bring it to my new lair?"

"No," Bilbo had said, still smiling. "Butterflies are wild creatures. Like you. They cannot be kept. But you can look at them any time you like. There are plenty in my garden. And not just blue ones. Butterflies come in all the colours of the rainbow."

He hadn't lied. There were myriads of butterflies in the Shire. And in more colours than Smaug could have ever imagined. But he still liked the blue ones the best.