A/N: EPILOGUE #2 to Faire and Square, this one is for Frerin.

It's just Frerin's luck that he has to share the cab with the birthday boy and his hen. He'll drop them off at Bri's place, Wren left with Thorin, and knowing Thorin's habits, it's always hotels with him, the flat that she rents with Bri is empty. It is confirmed by Bri's sniggering and showing Fili the screen of her Motorola. Wren apparently texted her. Frerin leans back on his seat and closes his eyes. He just needs to survive these two making googly eyes at each other for another ten minutes, and then he'll get back to the apartments. The younglings haven't yet gotten to the best part, they are both in anticipation, and he feels like static is jumping from them unto his clothes. His head is buzzing, he had had more brew that he normally would indulge in, but Wren left with Thorin.

The cab stops, Fili is preparing to loudly argue about who pays the toll, Frerin is too drained to, he is planning to just push the birthday boy out of the cab, when he understands that Bri is surprisingly quiet. He hasn't known her for long but he knows she is never quiet. She is staring at the porch of their building, and he looks too.

Wren is sitting on the steps reading a book. He feels his jaw slack. Before he even understands it himself, he pushes the door and rushes out of the car. Either something went wrong, and he is worried, or she changed her mind. It takes him five large steps to reach her, she lifts her eyes from the page, and he sees the eyebrows jump up and the red lips part slightly. He is pished, properly arsed up, he drank twice his usual dose, basically he can stand but everything is blurry, but he thinks he can see every freckle. He sends all sense to where sun don't shine, bends down and grabs her under her arms. He expects the usual squeak, but it doesn't come. And then she licks her lips and looks at him. That is hard to misinterpret.

She tastes different, there is strange stiffness in her movements, as if she is not sure what she is doing. Something feels off. But better. He is a man, he has no time to analyse, he is busy. There is only one thought in his noggin. And it is that it feels ace. Better than before. Better than ever. She finally wakes up, arms go around his neck, and then she jumps up and hangs on him. It is indeed more convenient, with their height difference.

Fili's cough, or maybe it was a snort, makes Frerin slow down a bit, and giving her bottom lip last nibble he slightly moves away from the bird in his arms. And a second before he understands what exactly is happening, and whom he is kissing, he hears Bri's nonchalant voice.

"Hey, Lin, I thought your plane was tomorrow." Frerin is looking into the slanted amber coloured eyes that he has never seen before in his life, and he slightly lets her go, she starts sliding down him like a cat on an icy roof. "Frerin, meet Lin, Wren's sister. Lin, that would be Frerin Durinson." Apparently he still got it, since her legs do not hold her and instead of standing in front of him as he expected she slumps on the ground. How didn't he notice the lack of the feline grace in her? This one is skinny and somewhat clumsy, and somehow her thick rimmed glasses are still on her turn up nose, even after the copping off they have just performed. He thinks he likes the glasses. And the messy bun of copper curls, lack of makeup and paler skin. And the plaid shirt and baggy denim.

She is sitting on the grass and fixes her glasses in an obviously habitual gesture.

"So Wren chose your brother." The voice is slightly different, there is very little Irish accent in it, she just sounds Midwest. Neutral vowels, slight irregularity, typical for her ethnic background, his trained ear catches the tremble in r's.

He stretches his hand and helps her get up. "Frerin Durinson, pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," the tone is confident, and she is brushing twigs and leaves off her bum. She is more slender than her sister, less freckles, less time outside probably. The bum is better. He can't stop staring and closes his eyes. He did not just step into the same shite the second time around. One Leary bird flipping him off is surely enough.

"Were you going to have sex inside?" Lin's voice is flat, and Frerin's eyes fly open. He is staring at her, she is giving an appraising look to Fili and Bri. Bri is giggling, she looks comfortable with the redhead's antics, Fili isn't sure how to react. "I can find a B'n'B." Frerin's mind works fast. He doesn't want to let her go.

"There will be at least two empty bedrooms in our apartments tonight. Bri can vouch, you'll be safe there. We'll give you clean sheets." That is his idea of how to talk to a person who just nonchalantly asked a couple if they were going for a shag.

She looks at Bri, Fili's hen nods, and the redhead walks back to the porch, picks up the book she dropped when he grabbed her, and points at a small suitcase that he somehow managed to miss. Not a feminist then unlike her twin.

In a cab she is looking through the window, he is studying her jawline. The semblance is amazing, and somehow there is no way to mix them up. He was definitely blootered, but he has sobered up now. Everything is different. The line of lips is firmer, there is some sort of distant look in her eyes, as if she is solving quadratic equations in her head.

"So what do you do, Lin?"

"I am a postgrad in CIT, Astrophysics." He wasn't that much off with his equations theory. She turns and looks at him. If not for the slight blush on her cheekbones, he'd almost assume she forgot about the snog. Or didn't notice it. She does have that sort of air around her. "Wren and I talk on Skype almost every day, I know all about you." And how is one supposed to talk to a bird like that? He dated a theoretical historical grammatist in uni, she still felt more present in the moment. Lin is now studying his face.

"Is Lin short for Linnet?" He doesn't have anything better. And he fancies himself an expert in fanny faring population. Pillock. Suddenly heady blush spills on her cheeks, and she frantically blinks.

"No, it isn't." He is now scanning her face. Apparently she is embarrassed of her name, which is rather common, especially in the immigrant families, more so if there are some zealous purists among the kin, his family can be the best example. But why not lie and say that yes, Lin is short for Linnet? Her nose twitches, it is a different gesture than her sister's, he just can't stop cataloguing the differences. This one is disdainful and snooty, while Wren was just doing it when uncomfortable. Apparently, there is temper in this one.

"For what then?"

She frowns. She expected him to back off. She also looks slightly confused. It is probably her habitual state, not understanding social cues. He relaxes into his seat. She is mesmerizing. Unlike her sister she isn't judging and isn't approaching with preconceived notions. Like that he is a stud and a teuchter. She is just uncomfortable with his question.

"I don't like discussing it. People tend to google it. I prefer sharing it only after establishing comfortable relationships."

"Let's establish comfortable relationships then," he gives her a wide smile, she is still frowning. Anybody else would return the expression. People are like trained dogs. You smile, they smile back. This one is giving him an evaluating look.

She suddenly moves closer to him and places one hand on his chest. It feels like a bolt of electricity just ran through her fingers and into his chest. He gives her a soft chuckle, cups the back of her head and pulls her to his lips.

By the time they arrive to the apartments, her hair is scattered on her shoulders, she got both her hands under his shirt, and he is absolutely crazy about her skin.

"Do you need those clean sheets?" He whispers into her lips, tangling his fingers into her mane.

"Yes, I do." He respects that. "But on your bed." That he respects even more. A woman who knows what she wants. "And it's Dunlin." So she is also named after a bird. Calidris alpina. It is a rather ugly bird, grey, unassuming, no charm and cuteness of a wren. No wonder she doesn't want people to google it. "I don't like Lin either, but better than Dunlin."

"How about Dunny?" He offers, and her eyes widen. He has never seen such eyes. Everything about her feels fresh and unfamiliar. He loves it.

"I love it," that is the first smile he has seen on her lips. He will endeavour to keep it on them as much as possible.

"Good," there isn't much more to say, although he has never before said so little to woman before she enters his room and starts unbuttoning her shirt. It doesn't even come to her mind to play coy and wait for him to do it. He cups her face and kisses her firmly. The slender arms go around his middle, and for a moment she moves away, and he sees insecurity splashing in her eyes for the first time. "You are something unique, Dunny." He receives the second smile of the evening, this one is wider, and she pulls him down and to her lips by his collar.

Frerin has never kissed a woman like that. He thinks he might really, really love it.

A/N: Remember, Math!Wren from Chapter 55 "All Tricks in the Book"? Yeah, I just needed to go back to her, she was ace. Thus, Dunny… :D