This chapter isn't that exciting, but it's meant to lay a foundation for things to come. Hope you enjoy anyway!

Chapter Twenty Five

"Okay," Tauriel proclaimed after they had gorged themselves on Chinese food Friday night. "We have Scream 4, Insidious, and Paranormal Activity 1 and 2. Which do we want to watch first?"

Kili blanched, not thrilled at the prospect of a horror movie. He glanced at the others. Legolas looked pretty indifferent, while Eowyn and Ori looked downright gleeful. He swallowed down his apprehension. He had never watched a horror movie before, after all. He never really understood why anyone would want to be scared. But they couldn't really be that bad, though, right?

"I've been wanting to watch the Paranormal Activity movies forever!" Eowyn exclaimed with a grin. "How'd you get your dad to let you rent them?"

Legolas snorted. "Dad pretty much lets Tauriel get away with anything these days in hopes to get back in her good graces."

She shot him a devious smirk. "It's not working, but I can milk it for all it's worth."

Kili frowned. "Can't you just… talk it out with him?" he asked in confusion.

"Not everyone has the perfect parents you do," Tauriel commented with a roll of her eyes. "Thranduil is… difficult. But who cares? Let's watch the movie!"

Tauriel put the DVD in before falling onto the longest end of the sectional sofa, pillowing her head in Eowyn's lap. Ori was curled into the corner of the sectional, watching the screen with avid attention, while Legolas was lounging on the very end where the leather bottom popped out to form a recliner.

Kili was sitting in the freestanding recliner, which was positioned slightly back from the sectional, meaning the others didn't have a view of him while they were watching the movie.

A fact that he was more and more grateful for the further into the movie they got. It was bad enough when the door on screen moved by itself, but when the Ouija board caught on fire, Kili was officially freaked out. He curled his legs up on instinct, hugging his knees close to his chest.

When the footprints appeared in the powder, he squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in his arms. It didn't stop him from hearing when they found the picture of the girl from her destroyed house.

In an attempt to distract himself, he pulled out his cell phone and texted Fili. Are you crushing it at mini golf?

He kept his eyes trained on his phone and tried to tune out the talking on screen as the little dots appear that show that Fili is typing his reply.

I've only lost 3 balls so far…

Kili smiled at the response but jerked violently as a scream sounded on screen. He looked up involuntarily and regretted it a few moments later when a body was thrown at the camera and the blood-stained girl walked into the room. He looked down at the phone again, glad that he did when Ori let out a small gasp.

With slightly shaking hands, he typed back at Fili, Haven't beat my record yet ;)

The last time he and Fili had gone mini-golfing, Kili had managed to lose a grand total of five balls. He blamed whoever decided to put a lazy river ride around the course. Fili had blamed Kili's wild swings of the putter. Needless to say, though he had had fun that day, Kili had lost rather spectacularly.

He held onto the memory of that day as Tauriel switched DVDs, needing to think of anything but demons and hauntings.

Be hard to do that, haha, came Fili's reply, followed by a second text of enjoying the movies?

As the housekeeper on the screen was fired for trying to get rid of evil spirits, Kili cringes at the question. Tauriel's on a horror kick, he typed, not wanting to admit how freaked out he was.

Why did people like these movies anyway? Was he just being too sensitive? The others seemed to have no problem. Sure, Ori jumped a little bit when something startled him, but even he seemed to be enjoying himself and he was two years younger than Kili!

Not your thing? Fili's next text asked.

He was glad Fili didn't ask him if he were scared. He wasn't. Not really. He just… wasn't a huge fan of this genre.

Not really… he typed and sent.

You staying the night there?

Kili bit his lip, nearly biting through it when a loud bang came from the television and startled him. He had planned to stay the night, but now he wasn't so sure. He often had problems falling asleep when he wasn't at home. And he knew they had all been planning on sleeping in the living room, which made him even more uncomfortable.

The room was too big, too open, for his tastes.

Still, he didn't want anyone to think he was a baby for wanting to run home after watching a couple of scary movies.

Yeah, he answered finally, flinching as something banged on screen.

Fili didn't text back for a couple of minutes, making Kili feel slightly bad about interrupting his night. He was heartened, though, when the blond texted him back. We're going to Rosie's for pie if you guys want to join :)

Rosie's was a diner that was only a few blocks away from the Greenleaf house. It was an easy meeting place for them most of the time because it also in easy walking distance from Aragorn and Faramir's house. It didn't hurt that the owner made great pie.

"The others are going for pie," he announced. "They want to know if we want to meet them there."

Tauriel raised an eyebrow at Legolas. Kili cringed internally at that. He had forgotten about the whole Legolas and Gimli thing.

Thankfully, though, Legolas shrugged. "I could go for pie."

His sister grinned and paused the movie. "Great! We'll finish this when we get back. The good parts haven't started yet anyway."

Kili wasn't really sure about classifying any part of the movie as "good," but he wasn't going to argue. He was too grateful to have a break from the horror fest.

On our way! he sent Fili.

Legolas darted upstairs to let his dad know where they were heading before they were all out the door. It took them no time at all to walk to the diner. The others had beaten them there and managed to push a table against a booth to get enough seating for all of them.

Kili immediately slid into the empty seat in the booth next to Fili, feeling settled for the first time since Tauriel put on the movie as the blond slipped his hand in his own.

"So who won at mini-golf?" Eowyn asked after the waitress had taken their orders.

"Not your twin," Fili answered with a smirk. "He managed to score an impressive 47."

Eomer scowled. "At least I never lost any balls."

"No, you just could find the holes," Fili shot back.

"To answer your question," Faramir cut in calmly. "Aragorn managed to put us all to shame, but Gimli and I tied at a respectable second."

"Only because Eomer kept distracting me!" Gimli protested.

Kili smirked at Fili as Eomer and Gimli began arguing over Faramir's head, with the other redhead shaking his head in fond exasperation.

"Not your best game?" he teased quietly, nudging him slightly with his elbow.

Fili shot him a grin. "Near the end I was just trying to see how bad I could be and still beat Eomer," he whispered conspiratorially.

"How many balls did you lose?" he asked mischievously, leaning in closer to Fili unconsciously.

"Let's just say I did beat your record and leave it at that?" he answered with a smile. "Serious question, though, does Legolas seem to be sitting a little close to Aragorn to you?" he whispered, nodding his head towards where the two sat at the end of the table.

Kili glanced over and frowned. They weren't sitting any closer than Fili and he were, but they did seem to be absorbed in conversation with each other, though that might have been because Ori, Tauriel, and Eowyn were in a heated discussion about the movie they had been watching.

He shrugged. "Maybe?" He'd be the first one to admit he wasn't all that great at judging things like this. Though, if Legolas were showing interest in Aragorn, Kili thought it was a little quick of him. He and Gimli had only broken up two weeks ago.

Some in his facial expression made Fili laugh. "You look like someone just asked you to solve a complicated math problem. Or what a normal person would look like trying to solve a math problem, at least."

Kili pouted. "I like math," he mumbled as the waitress came back with their pie.

The blond frowned and wrapped an arm around him, pulling him closer as the waitress put their plates in front of them. "I didn't mean that in a bad way," he said earnestly. "You're special, Kee. So much better than the rest of us."

He huffed but relaxed against Fili. "No one's better than you," he replied earnestly before grabbing his fork and taking a bite of his coconut cream pie.

"Now that's not true," Fili argued good-naturedly, keeping his arm around him as he dug into his peach pie.

Kili shook his head and glanced down the table once more, frowning as he noticed the stony look Aragorn was now sending towards the door. He looked over his shoulder and cringed, scooting closer to Fili and attempting to hide himself in the booth.

Drake Smaug had just walked in and was sitting on the other side of the diner with a few of his friends.

Fili, thankfully, couldn't see the senior. Kili had a sneaking suspicion that the blond didn't really like Drake all that much. He didn't want Fili's night ruined because of the upperclassman.

Eomer had apparently settled his bickering with Gimli and was now tuning into his sister's conversation. "You guys watched Paranormal Activity?" he asked with a frown. "Isn't that supposed to be really scary?"

Eowyn rolled her eyes at him. "It wasn't that scary," she retorted.

"It's creepy though," Ori argued from the end of the table. "The idea that some evil force you can't escape is following you around. Can you imagine living in constant fear in your own home?"

Kili could imagine it all too well, he realized with a shiver. Maybe that's why the movie had freaked him out so much. Fili's arm tightened around him as the blond shot him a concerned look. He gave him a reassuring smile before taking another bite of pie, trying to savor the creamy concoction despite the knots in his stomach.

He really didn't want to go watch the rest of the second movie.

It didn't take them long to finish their pie, sticking around a bit longer to chat before paying and leaving.

Kili noticed Fili catching sight of Drake as they walked out, but kept his own eyes away from the senior's table. He liked Drake alright, but he didn't want to give Fili any reason to think that he was interested in the senior in any way. It might be a rude thing to do, but he'd rather be rude to Drake than inadvertently hurt Fili.

"You coming back with us, Kili, or going home with Fili?" Tauriel asked once they were outside, giving him a knowing look.

He glared at her but decided he'd rather have her think that he was going home to be with Fili than have her know that he was scared of a stupid movie.

"I think I'll just go home," he said, trying to be casual about it. "I'm kinda tired. Don't think I can manage another movie or two. Besides, you know how scared Fili gets walking home alone," he joked.

Fili rolled his eyes. "Yes, I need Kili to protect me against the monsters lurking in the shadows. Monsters are terrified of bony teenagers," he said knowledgably.

"I'm not bony!" he cried in affront. "I have muscles! I couldn't draw a bow without them," he grumbled.

"Well," Eowyn said, ignoring Kili's protests. "I guess we'll leave the skinny kid to protect you."

Kili sighed in exasperation as they parted ways. He glanced at Fili worriedly after a block or so. "I'm not too skinny, am I?" he asked. He never really gave much thought to how he looked. He didn't think he was ugly or anything, but what if he was?

"You're perfect," Fili assured him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. "I was just joking."

Of course, Fili had to say that. He was his brother, after all, as much as the thought pained Kili. It didn't matter, though. It wasn't Kili's looks that kept Fili from returning his feelings.

They made it back home shortly after that, their parents looking surprised to see them both.

"I thought you were staying with Tauriel and Legolas, Kili," Bilbo said with a frown after they had walked in.

He shot him a chagrined look. "They were watching horror movies," he admitted. "I didn't really want to watch them."

His dad gave him an understanding look while Thorin frowned. "What scary movies?" he asked, obviously questioning Thranduil's parenting skills.

"I was really trying to not pay attention to it, to be honest," he said, dodging the question. He was pretty sure the movie was rated R, and he knew Thorin would give Thranduil hell for letting Tauriel show it to the rest of them. Kili didn't really want to cause any trouble. "I'm gonna head to bed. Night!"

Fili followed him upstairs, slipping into his own room as Kili retreated to his. He quickly got ready for bed, turning his light off before quickly darting under the covers, pulling them high above his head. He drew his knees up to his chest and closed his eyes tightly.

If he tried really hard, he could maybe forget that all the bad things in the movie had happened after the couple had gone to bed.

A tap on the door made him jump, but he instantly relaxed when his door was cracked over and Fili whispered his name. The blond shut his door and slid under the covers with him, wrapping his arms around him.

"Dad and Pop told us to stop sleeping together," Kili protested weakly even as he turned in his arms and tucked his head under Fili's chin. It was easier to forget that he had been scared earlier with Fili there.

"I think they'll understand just for tonight," he whispered back.

Kili wasn't going to argue the point anymore, not when he felt so much safer with Fili there. He might feel guilty for reveling his Fili's hold later, but right now, he was just going to enjoy it.

He didn't have to worry about demons, either imaginary ones from the movie or all-too-real ones from his past, coming to haunt him with Fili's arms around him.

Tbc…