Nori avoided Bofur for several days. He wasn't sure what to make of the miner's declaration. He didn't want entanglements. And what was wrong with Bofur anyway? Why would he want a THIEF of all things? According to popular opinion, thieves were wicked, evil people with no sense of honor.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
There was a code among them, at least the ones Nori knew. You never took from anyone who couldn't afford it. You never betrayed your fellows. If you snooped, or spied, it was for good cause, not just information's sake. And above all, if you gave your word, you KEPT it.
He had answered Thorin's call not in anticipation of riches, but because he had promised to do so. Thorin had made use of his talents more than once, and he paid handsomely for it, but he had also at one point turned a blind eye to Nori's clandestine activities and that was worth a debt to be paid. If he'd been caught, he would have been at the very least imprisoned for a very long time. So when Thorin called for him, he'd answered full willing.
But why in Mahal's name would Bofur flout convention and get attached to Nori? That was the problem. He had no doubt the miner loved him, not after that exchange. But why? He wasn't very lovable.
And unfortunately, he'd never understand it if he didn't just TALK to Bofur. There lay the problem.
He was almost afraid to talk to his miner. After the way he'd left Bofur after their last tryst, he rather thought his lover might be a bit more than merely angry. Or hurt. And he didn't know how to fix either state.
His lover. Nori wanted to hit his head against something hard. He didn't want a lover. He didn't want a friend, even, not really. He wanted sex with no strings, a little fun. He didn't want love. Love meant permanence and he wasn't ready to embrace that yet. He wanted to be able to fade away without notice if he needed to.
But he couldn't do that anyway. He'd given his word to Thorin to see this through, and he would see it through. So no matter what, he couldn't run. He wanted to. He wanted to run very fast and very far away from this FEELING the other provoked in him. But he couldn't. So, he needed to face it.
And for that, he had to talk to Bofur.
(Bofur)
Bofur sat quietly, thinking.
His pipe was in hand, but he hadn't really smoked from it for some time. It had gone out and he hadn't relit it. He was too distracted by thoughts of Nori.
He'd thought for a moment that Nori might actually care for him. He kept saying he didn't love Bofur, and that was all right. Maybe he didn't. But he had claimed the miner pretty clearly, love or not.
Bofur would be more than satisfied with that, if Nori hadn't been avoiding him since. It was almost as if he were ashamed of what he had said and that hurt Bofur more than he cared to admit. He wanted nothing more from his thief than what Nori wanted to give – but apparently Nori felt he was being asked to give more than he was comfortable with.
When he had realized Nori was his One, he didn't know. But he was truly, completely, and permanently in love with the thief. And Nori didn't feel the same way.
Bofur knew it happened that way, sometimes. But knowing didn't help the desolation in his heart. Nori had seemingly just walked away from him, and it hurt.
The absolute worst part of it, though, had been finding his earring placed just so on his pillow. He couldn't have missed it.
Nori had returned everything he'd stolen, which had turned out to be a lot more than Bofur had realized, but it was the earring that had hurt the worst. It seemed to say that there was no more hope.
He glanced up at the stars, confused and in pain. He had to make sense of this, he had to. And he had to decide what he was going to do.
No, there was no decision to be made, really. He would wait. He might not be patient, it might take forever, it might never happen, but he would wait for Nori to come back to him. He had accepted his thief's terms, and those terms didn't include Bofur pursuing him. So he would wait.
He sighed heavily and relit his pipe. The others were gathered inside again, but in his current mood, he would stay away. No, that wouldn't do. Any behavior out of the ordinary would be noticed, and he didn't want to have to explain his apparent inattention to the quest. So, time to play the fool, as he always did, and hide away the pain he felt, as he always had. He rose and went back inside, his smile as always firmly on his face.