Chapter Thirteen

Summer came and went quickly, though it hadn't exactly went the way Kili had thought it would.

For one, he hadn't realized that he wouldn't get to see a lot of his friends from school over break.

To be fair, it wasn't as if they didn't talk to each other. It was just… difficult… for some reason for them to all get together.

Tauriel and Legolas were understandable. Thranduil and Thorin were still rather cool towards each other, and tended to avoid each other if possible. The blond had brought his two children to Kili's birthday party during the school year, but they had barely stayed for cake and presents before leaving. It really wasn't surprising that few invitations passed between their parents that summer.

Bilbo wasn't exactly happy that Thorin was letting his "teenage grudges" (as he called them) interfere with Kili's friendships, but Kili assured his dad that it was okay. It wasn't as if Legolas and Tauriel had much free time that summer anyway.

Thranduil had them booked for numerous lessons over the summer, from tennis to archery to Latin. Legolas took them all extremely seriously, as he did most things. Tauriel, though, only tolerated them from what Kili had gathered from their occasional phone conversation. She may have had the same innate curiosity as Kili, but she didn't have the same overall love of learning he did.

Then again, if he had to waste his summer in lessons, he'd probably be annoyed too.

Gimli also was around much. They saw each other a couple of times over the summer, with his parents and Kili's hitting it off right away apparently, but he spent most of his summer at camp.

Faramir he didn't hear from at all, which made a knot of worry twist in his gut.

"I'm sure he's fine," Fili told him the night before school began again, after Kili had told him that he was concerned.

"How do you know?" Kili whispered back, snuggling close to the blond despite the heat still lingering in the September night. They were supposed to be asleep already, but Kili had crept into Fili's room after Bilbo had ordered them both to bed, unable to sleep, a combination of worry, nerves, and excitement coursing through him.

"I don't," he admitted quietly. "But you'll see him tomorrow so there's no use worrying about it."

Kili chewed the inside of his lip for a moment before sighing. "You're right, but I can't help it."

"Just think about something else then," Fili suggested, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him closer. "We're finally going to be at the same school."

Kili shot him a small smile at that. "Yeah," he said shyly. "You're not gonna pretend like you don't know your dorky kid brother, right?"

"Don't be stupid," he scoffed. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "You've got all your friends and you'll be a seventh grader and I'm sure it's not cool to be seen hanging around a sixth grader."

"First of all, I don't care about being cool," Fili said seriously, propping himself up on his elbow to look at Kili properly. "Second of all, you've met all of my friends and they know how close we are so I doubt any of them would have a problem with you."

That was true, Kili had to admit. Fili's friends were kind of awesome. They had been around this summer much more than Kili's own friends had been.

He had liked Eomer and Eowyn immediately. There was a certain wildness about the two that Kili felt an instant connection to. They had taken to him quickly as well, easily accepting the package deal that he and Fili were, probably because, as twins, they understood it better than most.

Aragorn he had a harder time figuring out. At first, he had thought the dark-haired boy didn't like him. Not wanting to make problems for Fili with his friend, he had tried to keep out of their way when Aragorn was over. Of course, that hadn't worked because he found it nearly impossible to stay away from Fili, so when his brother would invite him along, as he inevitably did, he was incapable of saying no.

The more time he spend with Aragorn, though, the more he realized the boy was similar to Fili in some ways. Like Fili, he was reserved around people he didn't know very well. However, once you got to know him, he proved to be warm and caring, with a rather wicked sense of humor. Kili still wasn't sure if the older boy actually liked him or not, but he was friendly enough for Fili's sake, which was good enough.

"I still don't expect you to give me too much attention at school," Kili muttered ruefully. "I mean, you have your friends, and I have mine…"

"And we're all going to hang out before school and during break together, and we're all going to take over a table at lunch together, and we're all going to walk home after school together," Fili said before uncertainty colored his voice. "Unless… you'd rather not… I mean, I know you have your own friends…"

Kili rolled his eyes. "Why wouldn't I want to? But do you really think our friends will be okay with being smooshed together like that?"

Fili shrugged, lying back down on the bed. "Doesn't matter. They can stay as separate as they want. If they want to draw a line down the middle of the lunch table with us in middle, I don't really care. Though, I really don't think Aragorn and the twins would do that. They like you and will at least be nice to your friends."

"If you say so…"

"I do say so," he said with finality. "And now that that is settled, let's go to sleep. Big day tomorrow."

Kili didn't think he'd be able to sleep, but curled up in Fili's arms with Fili's fingers carding through his hair, he felt himself slowly drift off.

He was still wrapped around Fili when Thorin knocked loudly on the door and hollered at them both to get up and get dressed. Kili grumbled and burrowed deeper into the blankets, deciding that school was stupid and all he wanted to do was sleep forever. Unfortunately, Fili didn't seem to share his sentiments.

The blond rolled out of bed immediately and shot to the bathroom. Kili huffed before curling around Fili's still warm pillow. If his brother wanted the bathroom first, that was perfectly fine by him. It only meant he could stay in bed a few extra minutes.

He had almost fallen back to sleep when Fili yanked the covers off of him, grinning down at him already dressed and ready to go.

"Get up, lazybones! Don't want to be late!"

Kili glared up the blond. If there was one thing about Fili that he did not particularly like, it was his ability to be way too cheerful in the morning. After stubbornly burying his face in the pillows for a moment longer, he crawled out of bed and trudged to the bathroom in a sleepy daze.

He was slightly more awake when he exited the bathroom into his own room, quickly pulling out a pair of jeans and tshirt and changing, running a brush through his hair after he was dressed. His hair was getting long, but he wanted to keep it that way. His goal was to have it get as long as Thorin's, though he knew he had a long way to go with that. It wasn't going to be as nice as his pop's, though. His hair lacked the thickness and curl that Thorin's had.

Fili would probably look really good with long hair, he thought absently.

"Kili!" Thorin called, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Get down here or you won't get any breakfast!"

Not wanting to miss out on food, he quickly darted downstairs, grinning as spotted Frodo walking into the kitchen right in front of him.

Sneaking up behind his little brother, he scooped the smaller boy up in his arms with a shout. "Got you!"

"Kili!" Frodo squealed, trying to squirm out of his arms. "Let me go!"

"What's the magic word?" he teased, hoisting him even higher.

"Now!" he cried petulantly but with a smile on his face.

"Boys," Thorin said, a hint of warning in his voice. Kili smiled at him sheepishly as he put Frodo down and plopped down at the table next to Fili, who just shook his head at his brothers' antics.

Fili and Kili both scarfed down their breakfast quickly, eager to get to their first day of school. Thorin's warning glare was the only thing that kept them from running out the door after they had finished.

Fili turned his head and grinned at him as they hit the sidewalk and turned in the direction of the middle school. A burst of happiness spread through Kili.

His good mood continued all the way to the school until it stuttered slightly as he saw a familiar redhead walking in front of them.

"Faramir!" he called, grabbing Fili's hand and dragging him forward in a run in order to catch his friend.

The other sixth grader turned carefully and gave the brothers a small smile. "Hello, Kili, Fili," he greeted softly.

Kili frowned at him, taking in his pale face and his sunken eyes. That knot of worry that had been in his stomach all summer was back. "Are you okay?"

He felt Fili's hand tighten around his own, but before any of them could say anything else, they heard voices calling them from behind.

"Fili! Kili!" Eomer and Eowyn both cried, reaching them and immediately throwing their arms around the brothers, both somehow managing to get an arm around each of them simultaneously and Kili didn't know how that was even possible.

"Faramir!" Eowyn exclaimed happily, having pulled away and spotted the redhead with them. "I didn't realize you were starting middle school too!" She wrapped her arms around the smaller boy's shoulders enthusiastically.

She missed the pained wince Faramir gave at the embrace, but none of the others did.

Eomer scowled at the younger boy. "You told me it had stopped," he accused.

Faramir shrugged and looked down. "It did for a little while."

Kili looked between the two of them, knowing he was missing something important. Eowyn had moved to stand at Faramir's side and took his hand comfortingly, looking more nervous than he had ever seen her. Fili had stiffened completely at his side, hand almost painfully tight around Kili's own. Eomer, though, looked furious.

"Do you three know each other?" Kili asked finally, figuring that was a safe enough question in the tense atmosphere.

"Our families have always been friends," Eowyn explained with a grateful look at him, obviously glad to talk about something and lessen the tension. "Faramir's brother has been dating our brother Theodred for years and Faramir usually tags along when he comes over."

"Because that makes me sound pathetic," Faramir quipped with a roll of his eyes. Kili was glad that whatever was going on didn't drive his friend back into his shell. They had all spent all of last year dragging him out as much as they could to see it be reversed over the summer. "And I'm fine."

Eomer glared at the younger boy a moment before stalking away. Kili felt more than saw Fili send Eowyn a questioning look, but she just shook her head.

"Kili!" Tauriel's excited voice broke through his thoughts as she came to a stop in front of them. "Faramir!"

Legolas followed her at a more sedate pace, giving both Kili and Faramir nods of hello.

"Tauriel, Legolas!" Kili greeted with a grin. "This is Eowyn, and you both know Fili."

Tauriel's eyes lit up as she greeted Eowyn, who was giving her a bright smile. Kili figured that they were probably both happy to have another girl in their friend group.

"Have you seen Gimli yet?" Legolas asked after giving Eowyn a polite smile.

"No, I—"

"Legolas!" the booming voice of Gimli interrupted him as he wrapped both arms around the thin blond from behind and lifted him in a boisterous greeting. Eowyn laughed aloud at the sight while Tauriel shook her head in amusement.

Kili shot a look at Faramir, who was resolutely keeping a smile on his face even though his eyes held more than a little hurt. Kili wondered how much of that had to do with Eomer's anger and how much was because of whatever had happened over the summer.

He was so lost in his thoughts about Faramir that he almost missed Aragorn joining them briefly before leaving to go hunt Eomer down. He hoped the older boy would tell Eomer off for being so mean to Faramir. Whatever Faramir was going through, he didn't need Eomer's anger on top of it.

Fili gave his hand a final squeeze as the bell rung before he let go. Kili, in all honesty, had forgotten that he had been holding his brother's hand the entire time. He looked at Fili in askance as they both headed to their homerooms. The blond shot him the fiercely protective look that he usually only got when Kili told him about bullies at school or when Kili's first parents were brought up.

"It'll be okay," he murmured to Kili before turning down the hallway towards his own classroom at the other end of the school than Kili's.

Kili wasn't sure if that was true, but he wasn't really sure what was happening either. His stomach was twisted in something worse than worry for Faramir, but he didn't know why. He felt helpless and useless and so utterly small.

For the first time in years, he felt like he wanted to curl up in a ball in a closet again and hide from the world.

And he didn't like that feeling one bit.

Tbc…

I have a question for later on down the road when we get to the high school romance drama. Do we want any of Fili's POV? I think it would be a nice addition, but I don't want it to be disruptive of the flow I've been having with Kili's POV. There are some aspects of the story that won't be as obvious without Fili's POV, but they'll still be there regardless. I don't want the stylistic shift to turn anyone off though. Let me know what you all think!