So I'm not completely sure that I'm wholly satisfied with this chapter, but I hope you guys like it. I re-read it so many times, and somehow couldn't make it exactly how I wanted it, but I think it's decent.

On the bright side, things are getting interesting again! Maybe our boys will find a little bit of happiness in each other for a while. They both deserve it.

Enjoy!


Chapter 17

Headlights

Fili

When Fili had left work, he'd been feeling really great. Tonight he was going to fix everything between him and Kili, and in his excitement he had all but ran out to the Jeep the moment he got off, nearly running into the vehicle as he skid to a stop to hurriedly open the door.

Having checked the weather report before going to work, he'd known that it was due to rain, so he had driven to work, and the rain definitely hadn't disappointed. It was already pouring down in great, heavy drops, and there was no sign of sunshine in sight. Fili hopped into the car, already soaking wet from standing outside, fumbling with the keys, and turned on the heat and windshield wipers the moment he started the car.

As he drove, Fili could see black clouds moving in from a short distance and knew that a massive thunderstorm was about to hit, but he wasn't complaining. He loved thunderstorms, and the pattering of rain on his windows helped calm his nerves for what he was about to do. If all went well and the night ended with a storm and Kili's warm arms, he was going to be a very happy man.

When he was about three minutes from home, Fili's headlights caught a lonesome figure walking along the side of the road, and it only took the blonde about five seconds to figure out who it was. He tried not to roll his eyes as he pulled over to the side of the road.

"You've got to start checking the weather," he called, rolling down his window. "You shouldn't be walking in this storm."

The figure gave a startled jump at his voice and turned, giving Fili round eyes. The brunette wasted almost no time before he trotted over to the Jeep and jumped in the passenger seat, pushing his wet bangs out of his face.

"Thanks," he breathed, teeth chattering a bit. "I had no idea it was going to rain."

"It's like I said," Fili replied, pulling back onto the road. "You've got to start checking."

Kili didn't reply and the two drove on for a short while in silence. It started off being a relaxed quiet, but soon became awkward, just as things had been for the last couple of weeks. There wasn't even any music playing, so the only sound was the rain slamming on the top of the car and the squeaking of the windshield wipers.

Fili took a deep breath. "Kili."

"Fili?"

"Uhhh."

"Just spit it out."

"We need to talk." Fili let out his breath.

Kili pulled his lips into a thin line, and gave Fili a serious look. "I'm aware."

The blonde cleared his throat, coughing for a moment, before responding. "Why don't we just wait until we get home." As if that didn't make things more awkward. Why had he even said anything at all?

The silence returned, but it was only for a couple of moments before they pulled onto the long drive that led up to the house. The gravel was crunching where the tires rolled over it, the sound barely breaking through the loud thundering of the storm overhead.

They eventually ended up in Fili's room, after saying a quick 'hello' to Bilbo and Thorin, who were conversing over cups of tea in the sitting room. The atmosphere was growing tense quickly, and Fili was almost finding it hard to breathe.

"Okay," Fili sighed, kicking off his shoes. He slipped a hair tie off of his wrist and pulled his hair back in a quick ponytail to get it out of his face. The last thing he needed was a distraction. "I don't know where to begin."

Kili took a moment before saying anything, and Fili directed his attention to the window for the time being. He could barely see through the semi-open blinds, and the rain, if at all possible, seemed to be coming down even stronger than before, and the thunderstorm had finally hit them with full force. Lightning was forking in great flashes, far too close for comfort.

"Why don't you begin by just telling me exactly how you're feeling?"

The blonde whipped his head back to look at the brunette and folded his arms across his chest in discomfort. Kili openly stared at him and sat on the bed, awaiting an answer. Fili felt as if they had been in this situation far too many times for how long they'd known each other, and hoped to put an end to it now.

"I feel like you don't want to be around me anymore, let alone be with me. I've been going through horrible withdrawal symptoms, which have made me a touch more than moody, and every time they hit I just want to be with you. You have this calming presence, and I need that, but I don't know if that's what you want… to be around me and help me, that is." He gushed all the words out in one, quick breath, closing his eyes when he was finished so that he wouldn't have to see the look on Kili's face. He was expecting rejection, and was in no way prepared for such a thing.

"Fili… how could you… I mean, why would you think such a thing?"

He kept his eyes closed and replied, "You've been avoiding me, so I just assumed that was how you felt."

There was a long moment where he couldn't hear anything except the rumble of thunder overhead. Even though it was still the afternoon, not even dinner time, it felt late, due to the dark sky, and to be completely honest, Fili was drained and ready for bed.

"I don't feel that way at all."

Fili opened his eyes. "You don't?"

"No, silly," Kili grinned shyly at him, and Fili wished he could pause the moment and paint that beautiful face. "I haven't been trying to avoid you at all. The thing is… I haven't really been in many relationships - just a few short ones that didn't end up amounting to anything - so I don't know how to act with you. After everyone calmed down and you stopped drinking, I wasn't completely sure how to act around you. I'm sorry it came off like I was trying to avoid you."

Fili walked to the window and peered outside, through the blinds, trying to hide the sudden relief on his face and watched the thrashing trees in the backyard. He momentarily worried about Bilbo's garden. "It's fine."

"No," he heard Kili stand up from the bed and walk towards him, "It's not fine. I really should apologize. I know you're insecure and unsure about your feelings, and me acting like such a prick wasn't helping."

"You didn't act like a prick."

"Sure I did. I was completely aware of your feelings, and you made it obvious that you needed my reassurance after the whole alcohol incident, and yet I still acted so foolishly."

Fili felt the younger boy come to a stop right behind him, the warmth of his body radiating far enough to reach his own. He suddenly realized that they were both in wet clothes, Kili's perhaps a little bit worse. "We should probably change," he spoke.

"Can we try again?" Kili asked, apparently ignoring Fili's observation about their clothing.

The blonde swallowed around the lump in his throat, wanting to cry out of pure joy. Kili still wanted to be with him. He really, truly did, and for that he was more grateful than he'd ever been in his entire life.

He nodded and breathed a shaky, "Yes."

Suddenly he was encompassed in Kili's long arms, something he thought he'd never feel again, and he let out a long breath, followed by a short laugh, which was a result of ten thousand pounds of weight being lifted from his chest. Everything had gone so much better than he ever could have hoped for.

"I promised I'd court you," Kili spoke, amusement in his voice as he rested his chin on Fili's shoulder. The warm breath on his ear made him shiver. "So now we have to go on a proper date. How about tomorrow?"

"What do you want to do?" Fili whispered, still unable to believe his luck.

"Mmm, let's go to the beach if the weather clears up."

Fili just nodded in response, so Kili continued. "And about what you said before, I totally agree. We do need to get you out of these clothes."

"Hey!" he exclaimed, turning in the brunette's arms to look him in the face, a flush creeping up his neck. "I never said we should take our clothes off. I said we should change them."

"Same thing," Kili shrugged, peeling his arms from around the blondes body, so that he could use his hands to inch Fili's shirt up slightly, revealing a strip of lightly-tanned flesh, accompanied by a thin strip of golden hair. The brunette licked his lips, and Fili tried to fend off the sudden tug of arousal that he began to feel.

"Kili…"

"Shhhh," Kili grinned down at the blonde, being a few inches taller than him, and suddenly Fili felt a rush of warmth towards the other boy. He felt safe with Kili and somehow knew, this time, that what he had said was the truth. Kili really did want him.

Without any sort of warning, Kili suddenly stepped back from him and tugged off his own shirt, tossing it to the ground somewhere, before proceeding to tug Fili's all the way off and throw it just as unceremoniously as he had his own. Fili felt quite naked, even though he'd been shirtless in front of other's a countless number of times, but couldn't bring himself to care whilst he was faced with Kili's long, lithe torso. The skin was paler than that of his arms and face - having not seen much sunlight - but it was still a shade darker than his own, and he sported a lot more fur than the blonde. There was a dark spattering of hair on his chest, which narrowed down into a thin line that led to his belly, where it pooled out again and disappeared beneath the top of his pants.

Fili felt his own pants grow quite a bit tighter.

"Those wet clothes were driving me mad," Kili grinned cheekily, and moved back towards Fili, wrapping his arms around him once more. This time Fili could feel the warmth of his skin and tickle of his hair, instead of the chilled damp of his shirt. All of the air was sucked from his lungs.

"Fee," Kili cooed, leaning down close to the blonde's face, so that their heavy breaths mingled. "Tell me what you want."

"You," he choked out. "I want you."

The brunette wasted no time in claiming his lips with his own, but unlike their last kiss, this one was rushed and heated, full of a lust that hadn't been there before. Fili couldn't remember ever being kissed with so much passion and gripped onto Kili's waist, trying to stabilize himself and remind himself that this actually wasn't a dream.

Kili snatched Fili's bottom lip between his teeth, tugging lightly, and a small moan escaped the shorter man, only adding to the heat between them. The thunder continued to roll overhead, and Fili couldn't think of a better situation. His favorite weather, his favorite boy, and a hot make out session. It was really turning out to be a perfect night, just as he had hoped.

"Kili, I want.."

"What do you want?" he murmured, slipping his hands downward to toy with the button of Fili's pants.

Fili could only groan, shutting his eyes tightly. He didn't know what he wanted.

"Fee, tell me what you want."

He opened his mouth to respond, figuring he'd let his mind go blank and let his raw feelings do the talking for him, but he didn't get the chance before door was flung open and a surprised shout caused the two boys to spring apart from each other, breathing heavily.


Thorin

Thorin scratched idly at his beard and stared at the crackling fire, trying to decide whether or not he wanted to bring the boys with them to dinner. He was enjoying his quiet afternoon in with Bilbo, and they had decided it would be nice to go get dinner, instead of cooking anything, and Thorin didn't really want the boys to ruin the peace.

Bilbo spoke before he could voice his thoughts. "Go get the boys, and we'll head out."

"Do you really want to bring them?" Thorin sighed, dropping his hand back down to his lap. "It's been so quiet without them."

"Thorin," Bilbo rolled his eyes, and gave him a look that said 'really?' "We can't let them starve. Both of them have been hard at work all day, and Fili is doing really well with kicking his alcohol addiction again. We have every reason to celebrate together - as a family."

"Lord, don't get your panties in a wad. I'll go get them."

Thorin stood from his chair and sat his empty tea cup on the coffee table before meandering over to their staircase. He was still hesitant to go pull the beasts from whatever activity was keeping them engaged.

When he approached Fili's room he found the door slightly opened, and took it as a sign that it was safe to enter. Oh, how wrong he was.

He flung the door open and was met with a scene he never thought he'd walk in on. Both boys were shirtless, and so tied up in each other that he was shocked they'd even noticed his entrance. But they in fact had, probably because of the surprised yell he'd given, and sprang apart with the guiltiest looks on their faces that he'd ever seen.

"It's not what it looks like!" Fili exclaimed, a wild look in his eyes crystal blue eyes. Their hair looked damp and tangled, which he hadn't really noticed when they'd first gotten home, so it was clear they'd been out in the rain. He didn't even want to know what they'd been doing out there.

"Oh, then what is it?" He couldn't believe that Bilbo had been right the whole time.

"We were just… oh, you know… getting to know each other better?" Fili murmured, growing more and more red in the face with each word.

"Getting to know each other better? Don't lie to me, boy. That's the worst excuse I've ever heard in my many years."

"Oh, both of you get over yourselves," Kili laughed, seemingly the only moderately-comfortable person in the room. Thorin was sort of impressed. "Uncle, stop talking like you've been alive for two hundred years. Fili, stop lying to yourself. We were having a hot and steamy make out session and you know it."

Fili and Thorin both looked like they wanted to die, but Kili's expression barely even wavered. Where he was normally a pretty shy boy, he clearly had no shame in this situation. Fili, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to jump off of a cliff into a pool of angry sharks.

"And, uhm, how long has this been going on?" Thorin questioned, motioning between the two of them.

Kili shrugged. "If I'm being honest, it's been going on ever since we first met. Sure, we danced around each other for a while, but the attraction was always there."

"It's been going on for a couple of weeks… kind of," Fili said, shaking his head at Kili, obviously embarrassed.

"Well then," Thorin spoke. He had no idea how to even respond, let alone say anything worthy of the situation. He wasn't disturbed by the fact they they were family, because he was fully aware that the two didn't share any blood, and he also wasn't upset by the fact they were both men, considering he too was gay, but something about it gave him the chills. Maybe it was just because they were both like sons to him, and walking in on such a steamy situation was in no way comfortable for him.

"I just came up to tell you we're going to dinner," he eventually continued, unable to make direct eye contact with either boy. "So… I suggest you both put shirts on and come downstairs as soon as possible, or else Bilbo might have all three of our heads.

Both of the boys nodded quickly and made to get dressed, and Fili was grabbing shirts of his own for both of them when the lights flicked and died, plunging them into absolute darkness. Even though it was only early evening, the storm had cast a heavy darkness on everything to the point where it appeared to be the middle of the night.

"Are you two okay?" Thorin whispered, unsure of why he felt the need to be so quiet.

"We're fine," came Fili's voice. "I'm not sure if my shirt is on correctly, but it feels right."

"Be careful going downstairs. We have a fire going, so it should be a little easier to see down there, but that won't be of any help if you break your heads open on your way."

The three of them began exiting the room in a jumbled mess, feeling along the walls to find their way out and down the stairs. It wasn't so dark that they wouldn't be able to somewhat see where they were going, but since they hadn't had any time to adjust, it was proving quite difficult.

"I see we have a power outage," Bilbo greeted them as they stumbled off of the stairs and into the sitting room, flustered and more than a little confused. "How convenient that I had this fire going."

"Convenient, indeed," Thorin coughed out, still feeling uncomfortable. He also felt as if Bilbo would be able to see in his expression that he had witnessed the boys together, and he wasn't quite ready to admit that he was wrong. "Do you think it's just us?"

"Oh, I doubt it. That storm looks quite nasty. Perhaps we should just stay inside and find something quick to eat. Driving in this weather is probably not such a great idea," the little man replied, standing up and heading towards the kitchen. "You three get settled in. I'm going to go put on some water for more tea."

"If the power's out, how is he supposed to boil water? We have an electric stove." Kili questioned, obviously confused.

"It's Bilbo. He'll find a way," Fili mumbled, as if it was obvious.

"I suppose we should get comfortable," Thorin grumbled, sitting back down in his usual armchair. "I feel as though it's going to be a very long night."


Let me know what you guys think. As always, I'm open for suggestions, and reviews are very appreciated!

I love you all so much and thanks for reading and all of your support!