"I bet you'd be a cleric," Thorin told Bilbo as they set aside their 3DS to charge. "I'd be a Lord, of course."

"Why would I be a cleric?" Bilbo asked, not following the other boy's logic. "I have no first aid or healing skills whatsoever."

"You also have no fighting skills whatsoever," Thorin pointed out, flopping onto the couch. "It makes sense that you'd be a cleric."

"Why not a mage?" Bilbo countered. "I may not have the muscle power you do, but I'm smart enough to be a mage."

"You don't have the demeanour to be a mage," Thorin replied. "Mages study nonstop and all that. You like to pause for eating. You pause for eating a lot."

"Mages eat!" Bilbo protested.

"Not enough to get a bit chubby," Thorin said. "Not that there's anything wrong with being chubby. I like you this way."

Bilbo just glared at the other boy. They grew up as next door neighbours, playmates since before they could walk. When they were younger, whatever games one would have, the other would immediately want as well, despite Bilbo preferring turn-based role-playing games and Thorin preferring the strategy ones.

Their interests collided in Fire Emblem, which was a turn-based strategy game. Thorin liked the permadeath aspect of the games, he thought that it gave the game some semblance of reality. Bilbo liked the storylines the games had, especially since they were more or less of the historical fantasy genre.

They both liked the class system that the games had, limiting the growth of each character and the skills that could be learned. Which lead to their current argument.

"And why are you a Lord?" Bilbo asked, eyes squinting at Thorin. "It's not like you're anything special."

"Please," Thorin said smugly. "I practically rule the high school."

He did. Star quarterback that he was, Thorin was a closet geek. Or not so closet geek since his love for RPGs were well-known and accepted. He excelled at most everything he attempted, which was why majority of the school populace forgave him for his geekiness.

He was still in the closet about another thing though, and that didn't bother him because Bilbo was in the closet with him. They were together that way.

"Fine," Bilbo agreed. "You're a Lord, but I'm no cleric! As you pointed out, tome-wielding requires being a total bookworm, clerics can upgrade to use tomes, hence I'm not cleric-material!"

Which was true. Bilbo loved books, but not of the academic variety. While he liked sci-fi, fantasy was his first love. He dreamt of becoming an author like Rowling or Tolkien or Martin. George R.R. Martin, not Ann M. Martin.

"Fine, you're no cleric," Thorin allowed. "You're more of a Dancer!"

"I'M A WHAT?!"

"It makes sense," Thorin continued, ignoring Bilbo's outburst. "You can deal damage, but not a lot of it. When I see you cheering in the stands, I get more invigorated than when I see the cheerleaders. Yup, you're my personal Dancer."

"You do realize how that sounds, right?" Bilbo asked, his face as red as a tomato.

Thorin blushed as he realized the implication. Still he persevered.

"You're a Dancer," he continued, despite not being able to look Bilbo in the eye. "You have to be protected at all times. I'll protect you at all times."

Bilbo didn't think it was possible but he swore he blushed even more. Honestly, he never expected this conversation to come about from talking about a game. Thorin always seemed to make butterflies do crazy aerial stunts in his stomach.


I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan. I can't wait for the next one to come out!