Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the storyline. Thanks for reading.

Listen To The Consort

Thorin was rapidly coming to the conclusion that his hobbit was going to drive him insane. Whether that was Bilbo's intent or not he hadn't decided, but then again he wasn't exactly in the best of shape mind wise either. Either way Thorin didn't know how much more he could take before he said to hell with his honor and promises, and threw the intoxicating halfling onto his bed and ravish him within an inch of both their lives. Or died, he was willing to die at this point if it meant he got to sample every inch of Bilbo's body first.

It was a little over a week since the attack in Dale, and Bilbo had stopped sleeping in his bed two days ago, thank Mahal, but that torture had only been replaced with new ones that continued to leave him hard and aching for the majority of the day, which was no easy thing to hide. His sheets smelled of his hobbit, as did the vast majority of his clothes since the day before Bilbo had gone on a clothes cleaning spree that had ended with his own clothing being washed as well. So now his room smelled of the hobbit, who thankfully didn't smell of whatever delicious fragrance he'd bought in Dale anymore even though he hadn't been able to come up with a way to talk the hobbit out of wearing it. Thankfully, for the sake of everyone's sanity, Bilbo had noticed the reaction of others to his smell, and had stopped wearing the stuff. Just in the nick of time too, as Thorin's control had been all but completely shredded thanks to having had to restrain himself from killing a number of his subjects for all but licking their lips over HIS consort.

As it was he'd made his intentions clear to those who'd outright licked their lips, the bastards sporting the bruises to prove it afterwards.

On top of that, like that wasn't enough, he also had yet to find any solid evidence pointing him in the direction of the dwarf or dwarves responsible for the attempted assassination of his hobbit. Whoever they were had covered their tracks well, and he'd received word from Bard that he'd had little luck thus far too.

In short, Thorin was having a bad week and that was before the cave in.

As soon as he got word of what had happened Thorin pushed everything else to the side and rushed with his men to the scene of the accident, joining the workers in their frantic work to remove the heavy rocks that had sealed off a passageway, which not only prevented those on the other side from getting out, but seriously decreasing their air supply and chances of survival as well as the minutes ticked by. Forming lines they worked in teams to pass the rocks away from the scene, the process slow and hard going as they eventually came face to face with the huge chunks of rock that needed to be broken up and shifted around before more progress could be made.

Hours ticked by in constant toil as the volunteers traded off positions, though Thorin refused to stop and take a break as he stubbornly remained right where he was. And then, to his surprise, Bilbo was suddenly at his side with a look on his adorable face that made it clear he wasn't to be argued with.

"This dwarf here is going to take your place for fifteen minutes. You're coming with me to get something to eat and drink, Thorin. Now."

Opening his mouth to argue Thorin wisely shut it again, nodding his head before turning his attention to the dwarf lagging bashfully behind Bilbo, obviously very worried that he was about to be embroiled in a royal argument. Giving the dwarf his place in the line Thorin made it clear he'd be back shortly and then allowed himself to be directed out of the immediate area, though once they were as close to alone as they could get he gave Bilbo a dark, censoring look to go with his growly tone of voice.

"It's not safe for you to be down here."

"I've been down here for two hours making sure our people get fed and taken care of. Which you'd already know if you'd paused for a minute or two sometime in the past four hours."

Jaw dropping a little in surprise Thorin could see, as they left the rescue workers behind, that a lot had been going on while he'd been focused on clearing the rubble to get to his trapped people. What had once been a fairly large, empty hallway connected to the space they'd been working in was now filled with people either helping the workers or visiting a variety of stations that had been set up in various spaces. One appeared to be dedicated to serving food, the other drink, while off to the side it appeared that a makeshift healer's area had been set up, with bedding already set up for the workers they hoped to rescue and healers currently hard at work tending the minor injuries suffered by those who been working earlier to clear the blocked off passageway.

"You can wash up over there." Bilbo informed him, pointing to a forth area he hadn't noticed, which consisted of a large trough and a table stacked high with cloths meant for drying off. "I'll go and get a bandage for that cut on your wrist, the boys are supposed to be getting your food."

Not about to argue with the hobbit given how hungry and thirsty he suddenly realized he was, Thorin walked over to the washing station and did the best that he could there before he strided over to the seat his nephews were guarding, Fili holding a bowl and spoon for him, while Kili had a chunk of bread and a goblet that was hopefully filled with something cold in his other hand.

Taking the seat Thorin accepted the bowl of what turned out to be a warm, hearty stew, dipping the bread into it so that he could enjoy both at the same time as he thanked the boys for getting it for him.

"It's no problem, Uncle Bilbo did most of the work." Fili informed him with a shrug.

"You should have seen him, Uncle, it was unbelievable!" Kili added, gesturing wildly with his hands as he told Thorin all about how Bilbo had insisted on coming here as soon as he'd heard what had happened and how he and Fili had come with the hobbit since they'd known that that was what their uncle would want them to do since they'd promised to stick by their new uncle all day. They'd stuck their heads in, along with Bilbo, to make sure he was well and then Bilbo had turned around and started issuing orders when he realized no one else was, sending the dwarves who'd gathered in the hallway hoping for word or to help on various errands to arrange for food, water and to gather everything the healers might need so that it was on hand for the workers when they were freed.

With great delight Fili added that a few of the dwarves had been hesitate to follow Bilbo's orders, him being a hobbit and all, but Bilbo had put his hands on his hips and told them that if they were the sort of dwarves who would let their own kind die rather than listen to a hobbit then they should leave Erebor and go join the other dark races, since they obviously lacked heart or anything resembling honor.

"It was epic." The two brothers stated together gleefully.

Eyes flashing, Thorin demanded to know who these dwarves were at once. They might be the ones he'd been hunting since Dale.

"I wrote their names down for you." Looking smug Fili handed it over, his smile only growing when Thorin told him he'd done well. "Do you wish us to remain here with Uncle Bilbo, or can we help you clear away the rocks?" For themselves he and his brother were a little torn as to where they wanted to be, since helping with the work was more honorable, but watching the hobbit was currently much more fun.

"Stay with him, don't let him out of your sight."

"He's out of our-oh, there you are." Kili raised a hand in greeting as Bilbo rejoined them.

"Hold this." Bilbo gave his younger nephew the bandage roll and then squatting down turned his attention to Thorin's gashed wrist, which was thankfully on the outside so that Thorin could continue to hold the bowl and eat while he tended to the wound. "Keep eating." He added, to make sure Thorin did precisely that.

"It's just a scratch." Thorin pointed out, though he continued to eat since he was hungry and keeping Bilbo where he could see him suited him just fine at the moment. And since the hobbit's curly hair was right there Thorin placed his spoon back in his bowl and leaned over to lightly ruffle the other man's hair in a far too short show of affection. "The boys have told me what you've been up to. Thank you."

The smile Bilbo gave him warmed him from the inside out. "Well as I keep telling you, I am your consort and that means that the people who live here are mine too. But you're welcome."

Smiling Thorin went back to eating and being, in his eyes, babied, though as soon as he was done eating he was out of the chair and ready to get back to work, ordering Bilbo to be careful and not to do anything too strenuous.

He chose to ignore the snort and arms crossing stubbornly he got in response to that command.

)

Hours later, when the survivors and the dead had all been recovered and seen to, and he'd had a chance to speak with the families involved, Thorin slowly headed up the stairwell that would lead to his personal quarters, every step an effort. It wasn't his body that was exhausted, though aches and pains were making themselves known throughout his musculature, but the knowledge of the losses suffered and the pain being experienced by those left behind weighed heavy on his shoulders. He knew, after all, what it was to lose someone who was a vital part of your life, the agony when the bonds of both blood and family were severed by death. He'd seen the knowledge of that pain in far too many eyes today, and not just in the eyes of those who'd lost someone recently.

The people of Erebor, his people, knew far too much about losing loved ones to sudden, unexpected death.

And this was so senseless too, the passageway one that had had no great importance in the overall structure of the mountain and the rooms around it. It had simply been one of many passageways that had been more damaged than some of the others, and therefore had been scheduled ahead of them in order to halt the fractures and shore them up before they became a major hazard that might cause problems in the future. Six dwarves had lost their lives because the stability of the ceiling had been misjudged or something had happened to set off the chain of events had brought chunks of the ceiling and the supports around them down.

Just thinking about it made Thorin want to do some destroying of his own, the sheer wastefulness of it all infuriating him to his very bones. The fact that there wasn't really anything he could have done to prevent it from happening hardly registered, his other emotions far too volatile for him to think in a remotely logical manner.

When he reached his room Thorin wasn't surprised to find Bilbo waiting for him, the hobbit had made it clear that he'd be waiting and would come down and get him if Thorin didn't return to his quarters within the agreed upon time.

"Alright, it's into the bath with you. I have the water ready."

Right now all he wanted to do was try and no doubt fail to sleep, but Thorin knew he was filthy at the moment and a quick soak probably would do his body some good. He couldn't appear weak tomorrow, especially as his people would be looking to him for strength in the face of this latest tragedy.

So he nodded and headed for the door that lead to their shared bathroom, not even blinking at the fact that the water was a lilac purple for some reason. Without a thought to his audience Thorin removed the now filthy bandage from around his wrist, stripped down to his bare skin, and climbed into the tub, groaning in relief as his aching muscles registered the relaxing heat of the water as it lapped over his flesh and up to his neck before settling into place.

And then Bilbo was straddling the lip of the tub with his already short breeches rolled up even more to reveal even more smooth, freckled skin, which made him hard for Thorin to ignore as the hobbit leaned in close. "I'm going to take your beads out; your hair is as bad as the rest of you. I'll help you put them back in afterwards."

He didn't like that idea, especially when it came to his marriage beads, but Thorin nodded and allowed Bilbo's nimble fingers to carefully remove the beads, Bilbo cradling them carefully in his hand and getting up from his seated position once he was finished to place them in a bowl they kept near the sinks for just such a purpose before coming back to undo the braiding.

Hoping that Bilbo would attribute his closed eyes to exhaustion and not a desperate attempt to hide his pleasure as the hobbit's fingers combed through his hair to make sure the braids were completely out, Thorin was downright grateful when Bilbo told him to dunk his head under the water so that it would be nice and wet. Hiding underwater sounded like a damn fine idea to him.

So he stayed under as long as he could, sending up multiple prayers to his maker the whole time before regretfully surfacing, pushing his hair out of his eyes and wiping away the water before opening them to find Bilbo gaping at him like a landed fish.

Lips twitching, he couldn't help it, Thorin had to ask the halfling if he was alright three times before Bilbo finally nodded his curly head.

"I'm- ah-you can stay underwater a really long time."

Having the oddest feeling that that wasn't why Bilbo had given him such odd looks, Thorin wanted to question him but didn't, simply stating that he wasn't a fan of water but did all right in it as he flicked the water he was currently sitting it for emphasis, which drew his attention to the fact that it was now a dark violet color.

"What happened to the water while I was under?"

"Ah, that. I've never seen it go quite so dark before, but the mix of herbs and such I put in are supposed to draw out dirt and such…."

Taking pity on the poor, blushing hobbit, he could only take so much before he'd pull the halfling into the tub with him, Thorin changed the subject, informing Bilbo for both their sakes that he could take over from here. Thanks to the odd color of the water, which he was now extremely grateful for, Thorin could hide the fact that he was currently hard and leaking for the hobbit, but he could only hide his desire for so long, especially if Bilbo insisted on remaining so close to him while he was naked.

Thorin could see Bilbo considering his words, which gave him hope that he really was going to be spared further torment, but then that curly head was shaking, dashing his hopes to pieces.

"Oh no, you're sore and tired and if you fell asleep in this thing you'd drown for sure. Now just close your eyes again and relax while I take care of your hair for you."

"I already washed it."

"You-nevermind. No, Thorin Oakenshield, your hair is far from washed, believe me." And that apparently being that Thorin watched his hobbit pick up a container that he recognized as being one of bottles Bilbo routinely left in the bathroom. Whatever the concoction was, it was a cream colored mixture of some sort, it was soon on both of Bilbo's hands and then the hobbit was leaning over again to rub the stuff into his hair.

Eyes widening as he stared blindly at the hobbit's shirt covered chest while Bilbo's fingers massaged the gunk into his hair, nails scrapping against his scalp gently, Thorin allowed his eyes to close again as he instinctively moved to get more of the touches, not even noticing the small sounds of pleasure he was making deep in his throat. It had been so very long since someone had knowingly touched him so intimately without it being about sex or because he'd grossly injured himself and was beyond patching himself up. Bilbo was doing this solely for his benefit, taking care of him and-Thorin completely lost the ability to think when Bilbo shifted his attention to working the lather into his beard.

Oh Mahal.

)

Doing his best to ignore the growly slash purring noises Thorin was making, which was about as easy as ignoring a dragon were he to suddenly fly down to sit beside you, Bilbo was thankful that Thorin's eyes were closed so that the dwarf couldn't see the way he was biting down hard on his bottom lip to keep himself from making some noises of his own. He'd been able to ignore the sight of Thorin stripping down earlier because frankly the dwarf had been so filthy the idea of being intimate with him hadn't even registered in his mind, but when Thorin had resurfaced after staying underwater for so long, said water streaming down Thorin's beautiful body for that moment when the water had separated as he'd breeched the surface, arm muscles flexing as he'd pushed back all his beautiful hair and then had looked at him with those stunning blue eyes-

Squirming hard, knowing getting comfortable was impossible as he forced himself to keep going, Bilbo sent up what felt like his hundredth prayer since he'd started the whole hair washing thing.

The irony that he'd brought this torture on himself didn't escape him either.