Fili had to wait nearly five weeks to see him again. Thorin had taken him to the restaurant again, and as soon Balin saw them he pulled them to the private lounge. Eating dinner with so many people around and a cozy atmosphere was very refreshing for both men. Bilbo and Dwalin joined them, along with Ori and Frodo. Soon it turned out it was a dish tasting dinner. Nori was serving different types of dishes and each of them got a sheet to give points. They had a fantastic time, some of the plates were phenomenal. Later they stayed longer and helped counting the score.
As they were slowly finishing Kili came to join them. Fili blinked seeing him, his hair was longer and he was wearing professional chef clothes. Kili didn't even react to his presence there, he greeted Thorin warmly and then asked for the score. Fili felt a huge wave of pain seeing him smile at the result.
"Bombur is still the best!" Bilbo noticed with a smile. "But you got second place." Kili smiled hearing that.
"What about the two chefs we were actually testing?" Dori asked curiously looking at the sheet.
"Average." Bilbo commented. "I think we need to keep searching."
"Don't tell me Kili is going to be working the kitchen full time now?" Thorin asked surprised.
"Of course not, but we need to get a new chef or he'll be working the floor until Bombur comes back from hospital." Bilbo noticed.
"Why is he going to hospital?" Thorin asked.
"He needs a knee operation. And he'll be gone for at least four weeks before he can come back to work." Dwalin explained.
"Bilbo and Kili will be taking turns running the kitchen, until we get a proper replacement." Balin informed them.
"Do you have any plans for tomorrow evening?" Bilbo asked Thorin with a shy smile. "We're going to be testing two more chefs tomorrow."
"We do now." Thorin replied with a smile. Balin slowly glanced from Bilbo to Thorin and later to Dwalin and both men shared a half smile.
Everyone at the table failed to notice that two people weren't talking at all. No one noticed that the normally most talkative person was silent.
Kili got up an excused himself, while Dori brought one more bottle of wine and some more food. It seemed the group would stay there longer than he wanted them to stay. Kili desperately tried to think of a way out, but he knew this was going to turn into a long binge session as soon as the others would finish work, and the guests would leave the restaurant. With more people there it would be really difficult for Kili to ignore the one person he desperately wanted to be close to. But he knew his only option was keeping a distance. He had to keep him away emotionally, that was the only person in the world who loved hurting him and Kili would keep that perspective away from himself. Seeing him was painful but not as painful anymore. He wanted him badly, but last time his former boss was stubborn to talk, and Kili was not planning to confess or go back to anything. He wanted to be left alone, the pain was still fresh, but his body was still craving that man.
Fili felt his phone vibrate and he pulled it out, he read a short message "At the entrance, now." He excused himself saying he needed to go to the toilet and he rushed to the meeting Kili set up. Kili was waiting there for him and without a word went into one of the office rooms, and Fili followed.
Kili closed the door and locked it. He looked carefully at the person in front of him surprised his former boss didn't seem as confident as before.
"I hope we could finally talk…" Fili tried yet another time but Kili just kissed him. Fili could feel the boys hands go under his clothes, he felt his body press into him, but he knew if he let it happen again there was no chance for any conversation.
"No, I really want to talk with you." Fili whispered breaking the kiss.
"There is nothing we can talk about." Kili firmly told him.
"We should talk about what happened in the past." Fili insisted, but he saw Kili's face change hearing that. His eyes became stone cold and firm.
"I'm not going to talk about that." Kili's voice was strong and certain.
"Then maybe we should talk about what happened last time we met?" Fili's voice was shaking trying to get anything from his lover.
"We had sex." Kili summed up. "There's nothing more to it, and there never will be." He saw Fili's eyes go darker hearing that.
"You really believe that?" Fili asked in a breaking voice. Kili was surprised with the pain he saw on his face.
"Yes." Kili replied confidently. "There is no coming back to the past. Sex is the only think that can be between us." Fili's heart sank hearing those cold words.
"So it was just sex to you all this time?" Fili asked on the verge of crying.
"The same as it was to you." Kili replied.
"But it isn't like that for me anymore." Fili confessed in a low voice.
"I don't care, as you didn't care then." Kili told him and left the office not looking back.
When he got to the kitchen he helped Bombur clean up, as he was finishing he got a message. "I'll take anything you decide to give me." Kili looked at the message and felt his heart beat wildly. He replied "Tomorrow morning your place." And he returned back to the private lounge with more plates with food. He saw Fili back in his spot next to Thorin, but didn't look at him. He placed the food and sat next to Ori and started to chat with the boy as if nothing happened.