Bilbo stirred from underneath his blankets. His foot hit something hard, and he wasn't all that surprised to find it was Thorin's ankle. He stared at his muscled back, his long ebony hair splayed across his pillow. It was almost disheartening to Bilbo that he had his back toward him, but he couldn't quite place why.

As the events from last night flooded back to his mind, he immediately sat up straight. He almost had the urge to strangle the large man beside him, but the doorbell rang, causing him to panic.

'Who could possibly be here today?' he asked himself. He hurried to his feet, unlocking the door, stepping down the hall over countless shattered glasses and unconscious bodies, until he reached his front door.

'Wait, I must look a mess!' He began to fuss over his hair until he took a good look around his house. Fili and Kili were passed out, half naked, with a potted plant between them. Whatever condition he appeared to be in was no where near comparable to any of the inhabitants of his home. The bell rang three more times, and Bilbo yanked the door open.

In came two mops of dirty blond hair. 'Oh no,' Bilbo thought. 'Of all times...'

"Hello, Mr. Baggins! Looks like you had a party last night!" Peregrin trotted through the house, silently laughing at the large men littering the floor.

"And he didn't even invite us!?" Meriadoc strolled inside in much the same fashion. Bilbo was angry enough as it was without these two around, but then a thought hit him.

"Where is Frodo?" He peeked his head around the door, and his nephew and "friend" made their way up the driveway. "Should be right behind us!" one of them answered.

'Oh no, my dear Frodo!' Bilbo frantically thought to himself, 'What will he think when he sees this? What will happen if I tell him what really happened? This was his idea to let strangers into my home, after all. Will he feel responsible for the damage? Oh, my sweet nephew! I can't let him feel ashamed of himself, even if he has put me through this!'

"Hey Bil- What happened in here!?" Frodo's eyes bulged out of their sockets as he scanned the living room. Bilbo didn't dare turn to see how everyone else ended their binge.

"He had a party last night! And of course he's the first one conscious, as always! Leave it to Bilbo to keep from getting piss drunk at his own party!" Meriadoc and Peregrin scoured the house for any remaining booze.

'A party...I guess there's no better explanation than that,' Bilbo thought.

Of course Frodo found the thought of his uncle throwing a party with the likes of these men ridiculous, but he reasoned that he would rather not question it. He grabbed the star struck man next to him, dragging him inside.

A door down the hallway creaked open. Nori's head peered out at the utter destruction of their host's house. He ducked back in to harshly whisper something to Ori before leaving the safety of the room.

"Would you look at that? What a worthless lot." Bilbo inwardly agreed, keeping his head down and out of view from those who were conscious, yet trying to keep his gaze off of the drunkards stranded in the sea of his ruined carpet.

Soon, Ori stalked out as well. The more Bilbo looked at his poor house, the more sick he became. He couldn't deal with this, not now. He trudged to his room, slamming the door shut behind him, most likely stirring some of the men outside.

"What's his problem?" "Pippin! Not now!"

It was slowly becoming harder for Frodo to ignore the bodies on the ground. He stared intently at the biggest one. Bald, tattoos, menacingly large muscles. His body shivered. 'Maybe I should have brought more than just Merry and Pippin...' he thought to himself.

Bilbo shook with rage. He sat at his desk, head in his hands. He felt like grabbing the nearest object and tossing it across the room, which only heightened when someone started knocking.

With his chosen object on hand, he reluctantly called, "Come in!"

The rustling of the doorknob only irritated him further, along with the long squeak of the door's hinges. Before he could comprehend what he was holding, the object collided with the face of whoever came to greet him.

Finally seeing through his rage, he watched a box of tissues bounce off of Ori's head. "Oh gosh, Ori, I'm so sorry!" Ori ignored it, reaching down to pick up the tissues. He calmly walked across the room to stand next to Bilbo, setting them down. "It's alright, don't worry about it."

Bilbo turned back to his papers, still feeling Ori's presence. "Right, did you want something?" Ori's fidgeting told him yes, but he decided not to press further until he was ready. It surprised Bilbo how he could be so open to the others, yet be so scared of him.

Eventually, he blurted out, "I'm really sorry for what everyone did to your home!" Bilbo's head sunk low on his shoulders. Of all the people to apologize to him, Ori definitely wasn't one. "Don't worry about it, you couldn't have stopped them anyway." His mind went back to a certain man who should have at least tried to intervene. "I really don't think any one of us could have on our own." Bilbo snorted, closing an open notebook on his desk. "You're quite sure of that? I thought Thorin was supposed to be in charge?"

Ori backed up a step or two. "When you know all of these guys for a long time, you realize that sometimes it's better not to get involved." Bilbo thought back to Ori's brothers for a moment. "Did you learn that from Nori?" Ori shook his head, though Bilbo was still turned away from him. "I learned that from Dori...just last night."

Bilbo sighed. He was already this far into the brothers' endeavors. Maybe something can be done in this instance. "I thought you looked up to him more? He definitely mothers you, and you seem to go along with it."

Ori turned his head down, "Nori's right, he's just as bad as the rest of them."

Bilbo realized that trying to fix these brothers while in his current mood would get him nowhere. There were still things that needed to be sorted... The groans rising from the living room only made his foul mood worse.

"I'll say. I can't believe what they've done..." He rose from his seat, looking straight ahead at Ori, who for once, appeared very grim. "I'm sorry, but I really need a moment alone. Maybe you can scrape those whelps off of my floor. I'd appreciate it."

Ori wordlessly ducked out of the room. The door clicked softly behind him. His absence allowed the ache in Bilbo's head flourish.

His ears were flooded with the sound of heavy footsteps, hushed voices, broken glass on hard wood floors, and cupboards opening and closing. He sunk back into his chair, shoving away the papers on his desk and resting his cheek on the cool wood. His hands cupped his ears and his eye lids fluttered until they closed. His mind was static and the nausea surrounded him.

He couldn't recall how long he had enclosed himself from the world, but when he snapped out of it, he could hear the soft knock of a fist against his door. 'A moment's all I asked...'

He let the knocking continue as his mind settled back into coping with the world. He let his face roll across his desk as the waves of comfort coursed through his body. 'I could fall asleep like this...'

The distant call of his name wasn't enough to ward off the sleep that overcame his stressed mind. He knew he needed this.

Bilbo woke up feeling lighter than he had in days. The world around him was still fuzzy and incomprehensible. When it finally came to him where he was and how quiet it had been, he panicked. He dizzily stood up, face stinging from being plastered to his desk, his feet uncoordinated, and his mind still mainly composed of static.

He gave up trying to escape reality by sleeping it off and stumbled toward his door. He stopped for a moment, resting his head against the door and considering his options. Laying his hand on the doorknob, he took a deep breath and opened it.

Bilbo was surprised to see that his carpet was not set on fire, nor covered in bodily fluids, or even bodies. Peering from behind the wall, he saw nothing unusual. His heart sped up, mind traveling to the worst possible scenarios. Anything could have happened.

But as he came out to the living room, he found it was spotless and again, no bodies. 'Did I just dream them all?' Bilbo thought to himself. He flopped down into his armchair-no longer covered in leftovers- and relaxed into it.

Shouts from outside brought Bilbo out of his comfort once more, also assuring that the men who had pillaged his home were not imaginary. Thinking some sort of fight had broken out encouraged him to pull himself out of his nice, comfortable chair and bring his eye to the peephole in his front door. He came to realize how long he had been asleep as he saw the dark sky.

Just on his porch sat every man that had been occupying his home for the last few weeks. Most looked terribly worn out, but cleaned up, and the one doing the shouting was Thorin. His teeth were bared much like a wolf's which made Bilbo's skin crawl at the thought of him yelling at the man the night before.

He appeared absolutely furious. 'Why couldn't he have taken care of them sooner?' Bilbo wondered.

Putting some thought into it, Bilbo realized his home smelt of cleaning products rather than vomit and...excrement. 'He must have forced them to clean the entire place.'

Bilbo stepped away from the door, heading toward his spotless kitchen. 'They won't be here much longer anyway...' He began to pull out pots and pans, searching for things to make a meal out of in his pantry.

'I believe Thorin has everything together now...and they aren't all so bad...and the company is very welcome...'

Bilbo's ears twitched at the sound of his heavy front door slamming shut. It was followed by the sound of a throat clearing, and large feet thudding against the carpeted floor.

The steps stopped at the entryway, causing Bilbo to turn to face a ruffled looking, red faced Thorin. He offered a smile, relaxing the larger man enough to step inside. "Could you please set the table?"

Thorin remained silent. Bilbo's smile fell, and he turned back to making dinner.

"I feel we have overstayed out welcome."

Bilbo pursed his lips. "You're almost all moved in...and you did clean up after yourselves...you can stay for a few more days."

Thorin nodded, still feeling he was indebted to the short man. The way he had blown up the other night...

Bilbo turned his head to look at him and he could see the bruise he knew would form from that night. He felt sick causing the man so much trouble. And he was still so kind.

"Thorin...?"

Thorin looked deep into those lonely blue eyes, remembering the soft knock at his door and the man coming into his room to spend the night with him. He had been so absorbed in the disappointment he felt for his friends and family that that moment had been pushed to the back of his mind.

'What could he have wanted that for?'

"Yes?"

Bilbo smiled, and his eyes lit up. Thorin realized how hard it was to think straight in his presence. Not that any other day had made him believe otherwise.

"Would you mind setting the table then...?"

"Of course."

When dinner was prepared, Thorin stepped outside to bring the others inside. They all kept their heads down in shame as they walk in a single file line. The front door shut behind them, and Bilbo stepped out into the living room to see them. It only took one glare from Thorin before they all spat out their apologies at once.

"Alright! That's enough! It's time for dinner!"

Dinner was quiet, but peaceful, and when everyone finished, they went straight to their rooms, excluding Thorin and Bilbo.

They sat in the living room. Bilbo asked about what happened while he was asleep.

"Where did my nephew and his friends go?"

Thorin shook his head. "I don't know. They ran off as soon as I came out and started yelling at everyone."

Bilbo laughed.

Thorin sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't do anything about them the other night.

Bilbo snorted, "It's quite alright. I didn't know what I expected you to do about them anyway."

"I'm so disgusted with them," Thorin stated, rising from the couch. "Only a few more nights that I have to sleep in the same room as them."

"You could sleep in my room tonight!" Bilbo blurted out. "If you wish to that is!"

Thorin turned his face to smile away from Bilbo's gaze. He strolled down the hall, replying, "I think that would be nice."

Bilbo hopped up to follow him, turning all the lights out behind him.

They entered his room, and Thorin stopped to take it all in. He mostly stared at the papers littering Bilbo's desk.

Bilbo pulled a few blankets out of a drawer, and tossed them on the floor. 'Why does one man have so many blankets?' Thorin wondered.

"I'll sleep on the floor and you can take my bed."

"You will keep your bed, and I will sleep on the floor. Alright?"

Bilbo was reluctant, but he eventually nodded and lied down on his bed. Thorin rounded the blankets into a makeshift bed and lied down as well.

Bilbo was quickly becoming used to sleeping with someone else in the room, finding it to be very pleasant. It made him feel like he wasn't so alone. He fell asleep quicker than he had in years. Thorin could hear the long, easy breaths, which also made it easier for him to relax.

Thorin was glad to be forgiven, but the thought of leaving in the next few days made him feel ill. He knew he would miss Bilbo, and who could say that they could continue to be friends after all the trouble?

It would be a matter for another day...so he went to sleep thinking of the man asleep in the bed beside him.