Thranduil woke with that sense of security you always get within the first mili-seconds of consciousness. His worries are momentarily carried away, he stirred a little and gathered the blankets up to his bare chest. Then everything pooled into his mind again. He remembered his narrowly avoided encounter with Kíli early that morning and groaned audibly, burying his face in the pillow.

Kili, however, was lost. Again. Seriously, he had been here three days now and he couldn't even find his way back to his room. There must be something in the whole 'Durins have the directional sense of a spoon' after all. He found himself face to face with a frankly extravagant door next to a lesser but still-unnecessarily-extravagant door. He knocked on the former and waited for an answer.

Broken from his morning-fatigue-induced trance by a sharp knock, Thranduil rolled over and grunted wearily. With this he exposed most of his body, blankets intertwined between his thighs. "Come in." He managed, oblivious to his vulnerability.

"Here you are," Kili said closing the door and then turned to look at the king. "I was…" Kili trailed off, turning around, opening the door and promptly walking out of it.

Thranduil's eyes widened rapidly and infinitely as he came to his senses. He tried to yell but no words would escape him as he clasped at the bedding to cover him. "I'm sorry! I was half asleep! I'm sorry…I didn't mean for that to happen!" He managed finally, after much trial and error in his head. "I'm sorry!" He added.

Kili turned around and shut the door. "Good morning" he smirked, dragging a chair towards the bed and climbing onto it. "Sorry about all that, I got lost on the way back to my room and thought I may as well see if you were awake been as it's nearly 10 in the morning."

The rough expression on Thranduil's face softened as Kíli smirked. "It is morning…which means I have to get up. Marvelous." He sighed, collapsing onto his back. "We seem to spend a lot of time in chairs and on beds." He smiled as he rested his arms behind his head.

"Yes, but there's not been much to do. Today… we're still going hunting, right?" He asked, bringing puppy dog eyes into play, just in case he said no.

"I'm not sure…you don't seem too keen on the idea." Thranduil taunted, noting the hopeful look in Kíli's deep eyes.

"Thranduil stop it. I am not going to beg." He said, flipping the Elf off. "Oh, I saw Legolas this morning. He told me to ask you because he didn't know when I asked him, if anyone uses the kitchens to bake pies in the early hours of the morning of the apple variety. Any ideas?"

Thranduil tried to conceal the redness that spread upon his face with the soft pillow, the fabric muffling his reply slightly. "I don't know anyone who bakes pies in the whole of Mirkwood." He lied. "And we will go hunting."

Maybe I'm going mad… "Perhaps it was a dream then." He muttered. He perked up slightly at the promise of hunting and turned to look at the King. "What in Aulë are you doing?" He asked as Thranduil continued to seem to be smothering himself with a pillow.

Valar…he thought, burying himself deeper into the pillow. "I doubt you dreamed it. That would be a silly dream." He muttered, waiting for the persistent blush to fade away. To no avail, so far.

"A good one all the same." Kili smiled. He jumped off of the chair and dragged it over to the window to look out. It was a nice view of the square which still had some splotches of paint that had point blank refused to come off.

After a minute or so of playing it safe, Thranduil turned onto his back and faced the ceiling. He twiddled his thumbs and sighed a few times before finally attempting speech. "Kíli?"

Kili turned and sat on the chair. Congratulating himself on not loosing his balance and consequently falling off the chair, he looked over at Thranduil. "What's up?"

Sighing once again for good measure, the Elvenking averted Kíli's gaze and quirked his brow faintly. "Do you think me genuine? Or have you reservations still?"

"Genuine? Reservations about what? What do you mean? Expand?" He asked, genuinely confused about the question he was being asked.

"Do you think I'm genuine, or are you still weary of me as you were a few days ago?" Thranduil turned on his side to gaze at Kíli finally, his quirked brow was now a little more intense, and he seemed curious with an element of seriousness.

"To be perfectly honest with you, I stopped being weary after you stopped pointing an arrow at my chest. And you offered me food, that was a good move right there. The way to a dwarf's heart is through food… Well that's what I've always believed." Kili said thoughtfully, reclining in the chair. "Why, what's made you think to ask?"

Thranduil stopped to think, pondering the reason for his inquiry. "Well," He pulled himself up, trying to keep the blankets as far up as possible. "I suppose I was just wondering. I'm not even quite sure why…"

Kili quirked an eyebrow but said nothing as he watched Thranduil bunch up the covers. "What do you think of me then? I mean most people think me immature and too young to understand."

"I think in all seriousness," Thranduil paused to question his thoughts. "That you are an admirable young man with the potential to change your kingdom for the better. I believe that you will make a great King when your time comes."

Kili smiled at the king and sighed. "I doubt I will get the crown. Fili is the next in line, and he will take a consort if he hasn't got a wife already. Then his sons will inherit the crown, and I will likely be shipped off somewhere to be a representative of Erebor." Kili stop this before you get emotional. Stop now, leave it there. "It's probable that I'll end up in the Blue Mountains or the Iron Hills. Mahal could really decide to bugger me and I could end up in Rohan, Erid Luin or, Aulë forbid, Rivendell." Kili shuddered. We have reached self pity central, all ashore who's going ashore, and that means you Kili Durin. he thought, putting his face in his hands.

"Hey," Thranduil sat up completely on the edge of the bed, reaching over to pat Kíli on the shoulder. "Your brother loves you. He will keep you by his side no matter what. If you don't get the crown you will still remain of the utmost importance in Erebor. And if all else fails, you have a home here." He soothed, squeezing the Dwarf's arm gently.

Kili leaned into Thranduil's touch and ran his hand through his hair. "Thank you, but one day, he'll end up either a worse version of Gloin or he'll succumb to the gold sickness that runs true to my kind. I think I'd much rather stay here…" Kili said slowly.

Thranduil squeezed a little tighter. This surprised him, somewhat. This bombardment of emotions that he hadn't prepared himself for. Especially from Kíli. He cleared his throat and smiled. "So, I bet you I'll hunt more than you."

Kili lifted his head up as his brain slowly processed the last five minutes. "You can try." He smirked. "When do we leave?" He asked, jumping off of the chair again.

Relieved that the trademark smirk had returned, Thranduil remained in his place and almost wistfully shook his head. "Not for a while, yet. It's early."

Kili scowled at the elf. "Thranduil, it must be at least 11 o'clock by now." He said, poking his arm. "Tell me how the hell this is early."

"I'm tired. I was up late last night." Thranduil smiled to himself softly and tugged Kíli's arm playfully. "This is early because I was late. But if you're really eager to go, I could ready Sam."

Kili smiled at the King and walked to the door. "If you do that, I'll head to the kitchens to see if there's any more pie left.. I'll meet you in the square in half an hour?"

Damn. I wanted that…Thranduil thought to himself before smiling back. "Of course. I'll get dressed." He reached for the fresh shirt laid out on the side. "You definitely want a pony?"

"Yes, a pony will do fine thanks." He said, walking towards the door. Don't like heights, don't like heights.

Thranduil nodded and pulled the shirt over his head, watching Kíli as he left. "Damn Dwarf. Eating my pie and I can't even say anything. I'm the king." He muttered moodily and got up, beginning a search for his trousers.

-oOo-

Author's note:

Well. That was an interesting chapter to write. We don't even know where Kili's self pity scheme came in, it's almost like we want something to happen, yet the characters go the completely wrong direction. Hey ho.

Hope you enjoyed,

Tanith and Tam