"Come on! Can I please come!"

"No."

"Pleassseee."

"No."

"Please you won't even know I'm there. I can be as quiet as a mouse!"

"No! You are too young to hang out with my friends!" the older dwarf snapped and looked at his younger brother. "I am 14 and you are only 12. You're too young to hang out with me and the guys."

"I'm 12! That's not that young! You were 12 once." protested Kili.

"Yeah and now I'm 14. My answer is no. Go back to the house and if you stay there than I will owe you a huge favor. I could give you my desert for the next week if you stay quiet and go home."

The dark haired dwarf looked at his brother suspiciously and runs back up the hill towards the cottage.

Fili gave a sigh of relief and walked into the dense pines. He didn't need his little brother tagging along and ruining his time with his friends. He finally came to the clearing which held his friends, Traun, Werit, and Guner.

"Finally, what took you so long?" complained Guner.

"Let me guess? Pesky little brat of a brother? Why do you let him cling to you so much?" chuckled Traun and Werit high fived him.

Fili hated how they called him a brat but said nothing. These were his best friends and he wasn't going to question them. Kili also wasn't here so he didn't have to know. They were the only child in their families so they didn't know the joys of having a younger sibling and certainly not a little brother.

"Guess what I stole from me dads desk today." Smiled Guner and took out a smoking pipe and some brandy soaked pipe weed. "Am I good or am I good?

"No way! Guner you rock. Let's smoke it." Says Werit and lights the pipe. "Here Fili you take the first smoke. You're the oldest out of all of use."

Fili hesitates before taking it and breathing in. This was amazing. He had always seen Uncle Thorin or Dwalin or other adult dwarves smoke. They sit there for hours smoking and laughing and goofing off. Finally the sun starts to set and night starts to creep into the clearing.

"Well I must be getting home. Uncle will start to worry and I don't want to anger him." He tells his friends and stands up brushing some pine needles and pipe weed off of his pants.

"Fine, whatever. Wanna try and steal some fresh bread from the bakery tomorrow?" asks Traun.

Fili felt his stomach drop. He didn't want to steal from Bombur. Bombur had always been so kind to him and he was like family to Fili. "Sure I'll meet ya there." He hears himself say. He can't just say no to his friends. He will make sure that he doesn't get caught because he couldn't hurt Bombur like that.

"See you there. Meet us at the bakery at noon."

Fili starts to walk fast through the woods so he can make it home before dark. He keeps hearing a rustling in the trees and once he could almost swear he saw dark eyes peering out at him from the trees once. He must be going crazy or imagining things. Maybe it's a just a squirrel or a possum. There are a lot of them in the forest. Sometimes he and Kili would hunt for them with Kili's bow.

He makes it to the cottage right when the suns final rays peek over the hill. When he opens the door he sees something he did not intend.

A very angry Uncle Thorin standing there with his arms folded across his chest and behind him stood Kili grinning like a sly fox.

"Have a nice time with your friends Fili?"

"Yes sir. I did." Fili says trying to get onto his good side. He could tell this wasn't gonna end well. He knew how angry his uncle could get about little things.

"So you have fun smoking some brandy soaked pipe weed and planning on stealing bread from Bombur?" Questioned Thorin raising his eyebrows.

How did he find out? Who could have told him? Just deny everything his mind tells him.

"What are you talking about? Where did you get those crazy ideas?"

"Don't play dumb boy. Kili here had some sense to follow you and he heard and saw everything. He is actually the good child right now! What have you got to say for yourself?" he demands.

Fili just hung his head in shame. He knew he was caught and in major trouble. He knew he saw something or someone in the shadows of the trees.

"You will be under house arrest for the next week. If you even dare put of hair out of that door you will wish you had never been born." Thorin growls. "Now off to bed. No dinner for you and you will wake up early to make breakfast for the family."

Fili walks to his room in shame. He knew he was doing something wrong yet he did it. He lies down on his bed and buries his face in his fur pillow. And then Fili hears the door open and Fili knows who it is.

"How did you do it?" He asks and sits up looking at his younger brother.

"You underestimated my spying skills brother. You should have let me come. I would've kept quiet if you let me come." The younger dwarf smiled and then left to go eat.

The next day Fili learned from Kili that Bombur caught his friends and handed them over to the guards of the village. They were to be put in jail for the next month and Fili knew that after that their parents would punish them and they would barely leave the house. Fili knew that if he didn't get caught by Kili he would be in jail with his friends too. Fili knew he should be grateful for Kili. And he was.