Chapter Nine
Frodo came before they moved into the house. For some reason, Kili hadn't expected that to happen, and Frodo wasn't really what Kili expected either. Not that he had really expected anything. But he didn't think the small boy would be so… sad.
Kili didn't like seeing anyone sad, but even more so with Frodo. Something about those big blue eyes framed by those black curls that just tugged at Kili's heartstrings. So Kili took it upon himself to make the young boy smile as much as possible.
Luckily, he seemed to have a knack for drawing a smile out of Frodo. Sometimes, he was even able to get a giggle. Kili had puffed up with pride the first time that had happened.
They had been sitting in Kili's bed, which Frodo had been sharing for the few weeks they would have to wait to move into the new house. Bilbo was reading them a bedtime story. Well, he was reading Frodo a bedtime story. Kili was too old for that sort of thing. But Frodo seemed to like it.
He had really meant to just listen and let his new little brother enjoy the story. It was one that Kili knew from school, the one about Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but he had never really understood it. It was all he could do to hold back his questions until the end of the story.
"So she just runs away after she breaks into their house and eats their food and messes with all their stuff?" he asked, nose scrunched up in confusion. "Who does that?"
"I never understood it either," Bilbo admitted with a chuckle.
"It doesn't make any sense!" Kili exclaimed, gesturing wildly with his arms. "Where did this girl come from? Did she have parents? Was she hungry and cold and looking for help? If so, why was she so picky? Why was she in the woods anyway?"
He would have gone on, but any was interrupted by a soft tittering at his side. He turned his head and saw Frodo giggling quietly at him. Kili felt pride swell within him as he realized this was the first time he had heard his new little brother laugh.
"Kili's silly," the small boy said with a smile as he noticed both of them looking at him.
"Oh, I'm silly, am I?" he said with a mischievous smirk before pouncing on Frodo (gently, because he definitely didn't want to hurt him). Frodo squealed as Kili's fingers found his unprotected sides and tickled him mercilessly.
"Yes! You're silly!" Frodo cried, trying to squirm away while laughing. "Save me, Bilbo!"
"Should I save you from the Kili Monster?" the baker asked innocently. "That sounds dangerous."
"Yes!" he laughed. "Save me from the Kili Monster!"
"I'll show you monster!" Kili growled playfully, moving his fingers to Frodo's armpits, causing him to squeal once more.
"Bilbo, help!"
His dad chuckled before scooping Frodo up and away from Kili. "I've saved you, my boy!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "The Kili Monster won't get you again!"
"Yay!" he cheered before scowling at Kili and shaking his finger in his direction. "Bad Kili Monster!"
"Curses!" Kili cried dramatically, shaking his fist. "I'll get you next time!"
"No!" Frodo protested, giggling. "Bilbo will protect me!"
"That I will," Bilbo agreed, chuckling lightly. "Now, time for all good little boys to be in bed!"
"But I'm not sleepy," Frodo said, words belied by a yawn.
"Well, I think you should try to sleep anyway. Kili is going to bed, too," he said, giving the older boy a meaningful look.
Kili frowned at that. It wasn't his bedtime yet. But when Frodo climbed into the bed and looked at him expectantly, he sighed and climbed in after him. He couldn't be too put out, though, when the smaller boy immediately curled up next to him and wrapped his little arms around him.
Bilbo smiled down at them and kissed them both on the forehead. "Goodnight, boys."
"Goodnight, Dad," Kili whispered, not wanting to disturb Frodo whose eyes were already starting to close. "Love you."
"Love you too."
Of course, no matter how many smiles and laughs Kili managed to draw out of Frodo, he still seemed to get so sad sometimes. Kili might have been good at distracting him from it, but Fili was better at making it better somehow. Whenever Fili came over (which happened more often as they had stopped spending time at Thorin's apartment for some reason), he would always make the time to talk to Frodo by himself.
Kili hadn't expected to feel the stab of jealous that hit him every time this happened. For some reason, he hadn't considered that getting Frodo as a little brother also meant that Fili was getting Frodo as a little brother. He wasn't sure he wanted to share Fili with Frodo, or anyone really.
But he really couldn't be selfish enough to deny Frodo something that made him less sad, even if it made him sad. So he decided to keep his dejection to himself. Apparently, he didn't do a very good job, though, because Fili took him aside after about the third of his and Frodo's little chats.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, looking at him in concern.
Kili swallowed back the things he was feeling and nodded.
Fili just looked at him knowingly. "He's not replacing you, you know."
"I know," he replied in a small voice, even though he didn't really believe it.
"He's not," Fili insisted with a roll of his eyes. "Just because I love him doesn't mean I love you any less."
Which made sense to Kili. After all, he loved his pop but that didn't mean he loved his dad any less. And he loved Frodo, too, which didn't make him love Fili any less. But he loved Fili best of everyone. He just wanted Fili to love him best too.
And that was very selfish, he knew. He probably shouldn't even love one person in his family more than the others. Something was probably wrong with that.
"We're both your little brothers now," he said instead of trying to explain his thinking.
"Yeah, but you're more than that," Fili replied with a shrug.
"I am?" Kili asked. He always thought that being brothers was more than anything else they could be. What was more than brothers?
"You're also my best friend," Fili said simply.
Kili grinned at that. "So what do you talk to Frodo about anyway?" he asked, changing the subject. "You're better at making him feel better than me."
"He misses his parents," he answered with a shrug. "I just talk about how I do too sometimes but that it gets better and that it's okay to be happy without them."
"Oh," he said ruefully. He didn't know how to relate to that. He had never really missed his real parents. "Do you get sad like Frodo then?"
"I used to," Fili admitted, wrapping an arm around Kili's shoulders. "But then I met you and then Pop found me and then we all became a family. I don't get sad anymore. I miss them at times, but that's different than sad."
"Good," he said, wrapping his arms around Fili's waist and burying his face in his chest. "I don't want you to ever be sad. Sorry I never noticed before."
"You made the sadness go away," Fili shrugged, returning Kili's hug. "There wasn't much to notice."
They moved into the new house the week after school let out. Bilbo and Thorin had been working the previous week to get most of their things moved in so the transition was relatively painless for Kili, Fili, and Frodo.
Kili loved the new house. He loved having a backyard, he loved having his entire family live with him, and he especially loved having a room next to Fili's.
Frodo seemed to like it as well, not that that didn't stop him from sneaking into bed with either Fili or Kili at times. As the summer wore on, though, those occasions became fewer and more far between. Kili was also glad to see that he became less sad as June and July quickly went by.
Not that Kili was happy with the summer going by so quickly. It would be tough going from spending all of his time with Fili to going to a different school from him and being around kids that thought he was weird. He wished he could go to the middle school with Fili, but comforted himself with the knowledge that he'd be going there next year. And maybe the kids in his class would be nicer to him at this new school.
His first run in with one of his future classmates, though, didn't leave him much hope.
It was well into August. Bilbo was taking Frodo to the dentist to get a cavity fixed so Thorin had to take Fili and Kili with him to the grocery store. Grocery shopping was boring, Kili quickly decided as he and Fili trailed after their pop in the produce section. He was almost jealous of Frodo who was getting his teeth drilled instead.
That was when a cool voice caught Thorin's attention as he was squeezing tomatoes.
"Thorin Durin, it has been a while."
All three of them looked up to see a tall, pale blond walking towards them, with two kids in tow as well. Thorin's face did a weird spasm as if it weren't entirely sure which emotion it wanted to express before smoothing into an emotionless mask.
"Thranduil," he greeted calmly. "It's actually Thorin Oakenshield now."
Kili frowned at that. Fili's last name was Durin. For some reason, he had just assumed Thorin's was as well.
"Oh yes," the pale blond drawled. "I had heard that you had a falling out with your family. Shame." Kili didn't really think whoever this Thranduil was thought it was a shame. It sounded like he couldn't care less.
"Yes, well, it happened," he said stiffly. Kili decided then and there that he did not like Thranduil one bit. "Are these your children?"
"Ah, yes," Thranduil replied, waving gracefully towards the blond and redhead following him. "This is my son Legolas," he nodded towards the blond boy. "And Tauriel."
Kili frowned at the dismissive introduction of the girl, but Tauriel didn't seemed bothered by it.
"And what grades will you two be going into?" Thorin asked the two of them.
"They'll both be going into the 5th grade," Thranduil answered for them before either child could respond.
Their pop looked a little annoyed at that, but smiled anyway. "So will my Kili," he told Kili's future classmates. Kili grinned at Thorin calling him his. It wasn't a new concept anymore, but it still felt nice. "Fili here will be starting at the middle school."
Kili examined Legolas and Tauriel with a little more interest. The boy didn't seem too interested in Kili, but his sister was giving him an appraising look. Despite her father, she looked like someone Kili might want to get to know. She didn't seem like the other girls that Kili had come across. She wasn't wearing anything with a skirt or ruffles or anything, which was a definite plus in her favor.
She seemed to find him wanting, though, as she looked away haughtily and inspected the display of peppers near her.
Kili pouted. How could she not like him already? He hadn't even said anything!
Fili nudged his shoulder and sent him an encouraging smile. He grinned back at him. Who cared if some stuck-up little girl didn't like him? He had Fili.
Thorin quickly wrapped up the conversation with Thranduil, seemingly extremely happy to get away from the blond he obviously knew from his past.
Grocery shopping was uneventful after that and soon they were back at the house and unpacking the bags from the car. Bilbo and Frodo still weren't back yet, which Thorin seemed particularly unhappy about for some reason. He took his time putting away the groceries, telling Fili and Kili that he didn't need any help. Thorin then went about the house, straightening things that really didn't need straightening.
Kili looked at Fili in confusion. It looked like their pop was putting something off, but he wasn't sure what it could be.
Finally, Thorin sighed and called for them both to come sit in the living room with him.
He sat them both on the couch and moved an armchair so that he was sitting directly across from them.
"Alright, boys," he said finally, looking resigned. "Your dad thinks… Well, your dad and I think that you're both at the age where, um, we need to have a discussion with you. About things that will be… that your bodies will be going through…"
Kili didn't think he had ever seen their pop fumble awkwardly through talking like this.
"So anyway," Thorin continued uncomfortably. "Your bodies will be changing…"
"What do you mean changing?" Kili asked in fascination, envisioning sprouting wings for some reason.
The detective cleared his throat. "Well, your voice will be changing for one. And you'll be growing hair in certain areas."
"What areas?" he asked eagerly. He could feel Fili beside him biting back laughter, but he really wanted to know.
"Your… private areas," Thorin answered. "And you'll be getting certain urges, which are completely natural."
"Urges to do what?" Kili was getting very frustrated by Thorin's vague terms.
Thorin looked at the ceiling and didn't say anything for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Um, sexual urges. Urges to have sex. You'll want to, well, touch your private area, and have others touch you there, and touch others' private areas."
Kili couldn't fathom why he would want that. "Why?"
"Because you're getting older and once you hit puberty, your hormones will make you want to do these things," Thorin explained in a rush, obviously wanting to get as much information out as quickly as possible. "And when you do, your dad and I want you to remember that sex is a very important step in a relationship and should only be done with someone you trust and both of you should want it. And use a condom. Any more questions?"
Fili shook his head but Kili thought for a moment before opening his mouth. "What's the difference between liking girls and liking boys?"
Thorin stared at him with his mouth open for a minute before breathing in deeply through his mouth and letting it out slowly through his nose. "It's just a matter of who you find attractive."
"But how do you know?" Kili pressed.
"Kili, just find the person you want to spend every moment of your time with and who you want to share every piece of yourself with," Thorin replied with a soft smile.
He frowned at the answer. That wasn't very helpful. The only person who had ever and could ever meet that criteria was Fili. No one would ever take his place.
"Any other questions?" their pop asked.
There was a beat of silence before Kili asked, "What's a condom?"
Fili finally lost his battle for composure and burst out laughing.
"And I'm done," Thorin said, throwing up his arms in defeat. "Neither of you are allowed to have sex ever."
Kili wasn't sure that was fair, but since he really didn't understand why anyone would want to anyway, he wasn't too upset by it.
Fili just laughed more at Thorin's proclamation.
Tbc…
So there's probably only going to be one or two more chapters before I get into the real meat of the story, and I promise my writing will be less choppy when that happens.