Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit
Bilbo looked at Thorin's sleeping face. He got up slowly, not wanting to wake his sleeping king. He slipped on a light tunic to cover his bare body. He looked out the window at the moon. He'd always loved looking at the night sky. Like maybe it would swallow him up and then he could live among the stars. He looked down at his wrists, scarred from chains he'd worn. Chains that had bit into his skin and made him cry. He looked back at Thorin. Snoring loudly and sleeping soundly. Bilbo smiled at him and looked back out the window at the moon. It was beautiful and gentle and sweet, just like Thorin. Although Thorin's rage could chill the blood of any it fell upon, he had never gotten mad at Bilbo. The hobbit went about cleaning up the room, tidying, straightening, adjusting, perfecting everything for his master. He heard the sheets ruffle and looked over at Thorin who had rolled over. His arm had landed with a soft thud on the empty bed where Bilbo would have been. Bilbo looked around at the spotless room. He still had other things to do. He could not sleep yet. There was a grumpy moan from the dwarf. Bilbo put away his cleaning supplies silently before attending to his master. Thorin sat up and rubbed his head. "Bilbo?" He mumbled.
"Yes master?" Bilbo asked.
"Why are you not sleeping?" Thorin grumbled as he shuffled the sheets around his legs.
"I have work to do sir." Bilbo responded.
"Bilbo." Thorin groaned as he flopped back onto the pillows.
"I'm sorry sir but I really must be-" Bilbo was cut off when Thorin grabbed him by the waist and dragged him into bed next to him.
"Hush." Thorin mumbled as he snuggled closer to Bilbo.
"Sir." Bilbo mumbled with a ferocious blush burning his face. "Perhaps you would like to put on some pajamas?" Bilbo offered weakly.
"I see you've dressed." Thorin growled.
"Well...yes sire...I had work to do and it would be undignified to scrub the floors with no clothes on." Bilbo said.
"Quite." Thorin agreed.
"So...may I finish my work?" Bilbo asked.
"Did you enjoy last night?" Thorin asked. Bilbo figured that technically it wasn't last night because it was, in fact, the same night they were currently in. He decided not to say anything.
"Yes sire." Bilbo said shivering at the memory. Heat. Sweat. Moaning.
"I did too." Thorin said smiling as he nuzzled Bilbo's neck.
"Master?" Bilbo asked as he heard Thorin start to drift off to sleep.
"Yes Bilbo?" Thorin mumbled.
"What is to become of me?" Bilbo asked.
"What do you mean?" Thorin asked sitting up in bed. His arm was resting casually around Bilbo's waist as the hobbit too sat up.
"Well I can't see any wife of the king accepting her husband having a hobbit slave for a concubine." Bilbo said as his voice grew sad.
"Concubine?" Thorin grimaced. Bilbo shrugged. "Well she will not be important to me. She will be nothing but a bearer of my children. No love will befall her from me. She will have no say in anything in my life."
"That does not sound like a very fun life." Bilbo frowned.
"Well what do you want me to say?" Thorin snapped as he got up from the bed, leaving Bilbo in the quickly cooling bed. Bilbo frowned deeper.
"You're the king. You figure it out." Bilbo snapped back as he got out of bed and began dressing properly. "I have work to do." He said before leaving Thorin's bedroom, letting the door slam loudly upon his exit. Thorin stuck his head out the door to yell after him.
"Don't slam the door! Come back here! We're not done!" Thorin seethed.
Bilbo got to the kitchen and slit do the floor. Cool tiles greeted his rage heated body. Thorin was the king and he needed an heir. Thorin was the king and needed to make decisions for himself. Thorin was the king... "How could a king ever love a slave?" Bilbo mumbled as he started crying. After a moment he pulled himself together and stood. It was about 11:40 at night, the entire castle would be sleeping except him, and maybe Thorin. Bilbo sighed as he set about making food and preparations and then he went to the stable. He didn't need to do anything in the stable but he really didn't want to go back to Thorin's room. He began brushing all the horses down, mucking out the stalls, giving them fresh water, and putting a blanket on each one. When he was done it was that perfectly hazy moment between night and day. As if the world is still trying to decide if it's going to wake up for the morning and has yet to make up its mind. Bilbo sighed as he went to the well and pulled up a bucket of water. He went out to his usual little spot behind the castle in a little cubby no one used or even knew of. He washed himself and then when he was done he finally returned to the king's room.
"Finally." Thorin snarled as Bilbo walked in the door. The hobbit looked around the room in dismay. It was as if a raging bull rampaged through, everything was a mess. "Clean this up." Thorin said on his most commanding voice. "Oh and do it naked." He added. Bilbo cringed. This was revenge. Thorin had taken Bilbo's words to use against him. 'Undignified' was the term he'd used. "When you're done that make me breakfast." Thorin said.
"I've prepared a salad for you this morning." Bilbo said without his usual added 'sir' or 'master.' Bilbo had subconsciously made Thorin's favorite breakfast.
"I don't want that. I want toast and baked apples and some jam and cheese on crackers." Thorin said. "Well hurry up then. I'm hungry." Thorin snapped. Bilbo was being fueled by pure rage when he turned to the much larger creature, the king no less, and bowed, something he'd never done before. He had once told Thorin that he despised bowing and he said anyone who made someone else bow must think lowly of themselves if they need others to lower themselves before them.
"As you wish master." Bilbo said. He bit out the last word like it was a seething insult before he began stripping, right there in front of the king. He saw Thorin's cheeks flush as he finished undressing and began cleaning. He started by putting right the major furniture like overturned tables. He made the bed and put away the strewn clothes. Then he began collecting the broken bits of various objects either knocked off a table or thrown at a wall. He ignored all the cuts and blood from the broken bits as he put them in the bin for him to take out later. Then he got on his hands and knees, under the eyes of the king of the dwarves and scrubbed the floor with his bloody hands. When he was done cleaning, a task made even more difficult by his hands getting blood all over the floor as he scrubbed, he turned to Thorin whose face had softened. It was no longer the pinched rage filled grimace. "May I dress now master?" Bilbo asked biting out the word master again as if it were a disease.
"Yes." Thorin said. Bilbo dressed slowly before turning to leave the room. "Bilbo?" Thorin said as the hobbit in question reached the door. Bilbo paused. Normally he'd say 'Yes master?' but he did not. He just paused. "Are you upset with me?" Thorin asked. Bilbo tensed. This was a problem question. Answering yes would be approving his appalling behavior. Saying no would mean he was prolonging this torture.
"I'm not mad at you Thorin." Bilbo said at last. "Just disappointed." He said before going off to the kitchen to make Thorin's breakfast. When he returned Thorin was sitting in his chair at his table, waiting for breakfast. Bilbo had made everything the king had asked for but also brought the salad just in case.
"Bilbo?" Thorin said looking pointedly at the salad as he began eating. Bilbo once again said nothing. "Do you still love me?" Thorin asked. Bilbo finally looked into his eyes. Thorin's big sad eyes locked with Bilbo's hard stare. It was usually the other way around but not today. Thorin had finished eating and seemed to have no intention of looking away. Bilbo sighed and looked away.
"Yes." Bilbo said. "But right now I just...don't know why." Bilbo said as he left the room. But it wasn't true. He did know why. "Stupid." Bilbo muttered as his hands balled into fists. "I love you." He sighed dejectedly. "Your smile is like sunshine. Your laughter, like the moon. I don't know how I could wine. Am I acting like a loon? Your eyes are like the night sky. Your face is its own star. I cannot tell a lie. For surly you'd go to war." Bilbo felt himself slide to the floor, his back against the cool rock wall. "You are my king and I love you. But I wish you would take wing. I think it's time you knew. But it is time that you flew. Fly away my beautiful bird. I set you free. I do not want to be heard. You do not belong to me." Bilbo felt the tears well up in his eyes. He pulled his knees to his chest and put his head down on top of them and let himself cry. "You do not belong to me." Bilbo sobbed. He heard the king's door open. He felt the king's eyes on him. Bilbo looked up at his king, his master through the tears. "You do not belong to me. Fly away. I set you free." Bilbo said weakly before he put his head back down. He felt Thorin's arms around him, felt himself being lifted off the ground. He felt himself being carried into Thorin's bedroom. He did not dare move from his balled up position in Thorin's arms. He felt Thorin gently put him on the bed. He felt Thorin's hand trying to lift his head from his knees. He felt another trying to pry his hands from their tight wrap around his legs.
"Bilbo." Thorin murmured as he managed to unclasp Bilbo's hands. His hands snapped back to clasping around his legs. "Bilbo please." Thorin growled as he grabbed one of Bilbo's hands in each of his own and pried them apart. That snapped Bilbo out of his 'moment.' He stopped crying, twisted out of Thorin's grasp and clamored off the bed.
"I apologize master." Bilbo bowed as he wiped his face on his sleeve.
"...Bilbo?" Thorin asked.
"Yes sir? What can I do for you?" Bilbo asked as he began clearing up Thorin's breakfast.
"Tell me. What you want. What you desire. I'll give you anything." Thorin said as he grabbed Bilbo's hands, stilling them from their incessant cleaning.
"I don't want things sir. I live to make you happy." Bilbo responded. It was what Thorin's parents had told him when they first bought him. Bilbo never asked for toys or extra food or to have his chains taken away. He never asked for anything. Ever.
"I know what you want." Thorin said after a long silence in which Thorin thought very deeply about what Bilbo wanted. "And I'll give it to you." He began grinning from ear to ear as he dropped Bilbo's hands and hurried from the room to start the preparations. Bilbo looked after his master and shook his head before he continued his cleaning.