Bilbo was hiding in the kitchen. Everytime he emerged he was met by the smirking visage of the wizard. No-one else had yet to notice his new braid, or Thorin's', they were all too hung over to see straight; but the wizard had noticed right away and seemed to find it highly amusing.
He had brewed up a specially spiced anti-hangover tea, his husband was passing it out now, to help those who had begun complaining that they were dying.
As he set to work on a hearty lunch, since no-one had been mobile enough for breakfast- and he had been otherwise engaged with Thorin all that morning- he tried to work out how to let everyone know that their King had married their host after less than a day's acquaintance.
Thorin had said to just let them figure it out on their own, but he felt that that would be rude. He was a Hobbit, if they were anything it wasn't rude. While he was still attempting to think of something, Fili and Kili joined him in the kitchen.
Leaning over Bilbo's left shoulder, Kili didn't notice that Fili had frozen on the hobbit's right side and was staring at their host's hair.
"What are you making, Bilbo?"
"Beef stew, yeast rolls and I'm going to set out platters of meats and cheeses. It will help soak up the rest of the alcohol from your systems. It will also pair nicely with my anti-hangover tea, I'm just glad it works on dwarves as well as hobbits." Bilbo stopped his nervous rambling, he just wished Fili would say something rather than just stare.
"It smells wonderful. Fili, doesn't it smell wonderful? Fili?"
Getting no response from his brother, Kili moved around to Fili's side to see what had distracted him so. Noticing the braid in Bilbo's' hair, Kili joined his brother in his frozen, wide-eyed state.
That was how Thorin found them several minutes later, his two nephews standing and staring at his husband as the small man bustled around making lunch with a blush on his face. Striding over he clapped the boys on their shoulders.
"Now no telling anyone else, boys, they get to experience the same surprise as you. Now why don't you help your Uncle Bilbo set the table." The boys shook off their shock and rushed to embrace their new Uncle.
Just as Bilbo was relaxing into the double hug the boys took off into the dinning room with the clean plates. As they left, Thorin gave a chuckle and pulled the small man to him.
"Two down, ten to go. It's not that bad after all, is it." Shaking his head the hobbit stood on tip toes to kiss his husband, only to stop when a couple of giggles sounded out behind them.
Glaring at the snickering boys in the doorway, Bilbo turned to finish up his lunch preparations. Still laughing they grinned widely at their uncles, grabbed the rest of the dishes and silverware and headed back to the dinning room.
"They are going to be impossible now." Thorin stated with a fond smile.
"They're your nephews, you should have known that." Bilbo replied with a small smile of his own.
Wrapping strong arms around his hobbit, Thorin breathed into the side of his neck causing the small man to shudder appreciatively. A gasp at the door caused the two to turn and see Dwalin and Balin.
Dwalin's jaw was on the floor and Balin was grinning from ear to ear. As Dwalin gaped like a fish, Balin spoke up; addressing the smaller man.
"I knew you two would be perfect for each other, I just didn't think you would be so quick about it. Congratulations, laddie. Now we just need to work on finding you some beads of your own to present to your husband here."
At this Thorin held up his own marriage braid and beads- one of wood and one of pewter- that Bilbo had presented him with that morning after their bath- and other activities- when it was time to braid in the marriage braids rather than the courting ones.
"That has already been taken care of, but we appreciate your support Balin. Dwalin. If you could not tell the others..."
"Aye, we understand. We won't spoil the fun." Grabbing his brother by the arm Balin started dragging the large dwarf from the kitchen.
"Master Balin? If you could ask everyone to come to the dinning room? Lunch is ready."
"Aye laddie, that I'll do. And you are to call me Balin from now on." With another nod and a happy smile, the old dwarf left the kitchen.
"Do you think Dwalin will be alright?" Bilbo asked with concern for the stunned warrior.
"He'll be fine, he just never expected me to marry; I never expected myself to marry either, so I cannot blame him." With a quick kiss to the top of his husbands head, Thorin grabbed a couple of heavily laden platters and retreated to the dinning room. With a sigh, the small man grabbed a couple more platters and followed.
Four down, eight to go.
As everyone took their seats no-one noticed anything odd about Bilbo sitting on Thorin's left with Fili and Kili on his left- except for Gandalf who was giving himself over to silent chuckles- they were all too busy eating the hearty soup and devouring the other edibles placed in front of them, while still nursing at the special tea.
It wasn't until Oin looked up to ask about the properties of the herbs in the tea that anyone noticed, but instead of saying anything, the near deaf healer just gave a happy wink and went back to his meal. And that was how it went: one of the company would look up, give a little start, then a happy nod or wink and return to their meal.
By the time lunch was over everyone knew, and Bilbo felt relaxed and happy about how quickly he had been excepted as their King's' husband. At least he had been relaxed, then Kili spoke up.
"So Uncle Bilbo, how did you entice Uncle Thorin into marring you?" As Bilbos' face flamed red, the rest of the company erupted: half in uproarious laughter, the other half in shouts to not ask such impertinent questions of a newlywed couple. As the noise settled down, Bilbo answered Kili's question.
"It was actually Thorin who enticed me." As all eyes zeroed in on the King, Bilbo got to see a flush rise up from under the thick beard.
Clearing his throat, Thorin fiddled with his newest braid and looked to his oldest friend for help. Dwalin was still embarrassed about his earlier display in the kitchen, so he dove right in to show his support for his friend's union.
"If I may ask, Master Baggins, where did you get the beads Thorin is wearing? They weren't made by Dwarf hands, I don't think. Did you make them yourself?" Receiving thankful looks from the new couple, Dwalin felt better about before.
"Yes, I did make them myself Master Dwalin. As I became interested in your culture, I wanted to make myself something Dwarvish but meaningful. I started by whittling beads from wood to get a feel for the design- it's something I still do as I enjoy the intricate carving required. Eventually I tried my hand at metal work" Picking up a spoon he held it so all could see.
"Pewter was the easiest metal I could get in the shire to practice with- I've never gotten good enough to try working with other metals- so I started by making utensils, in order to get a feel for metallurgy." Everyone looked with admiration at their silverware, they had all thought it bought from a dwarvish blacksmith.
"I eventually made beads that I considered to be good enough work for a Hobbit, so I etched the closest thing to a family crest as a I could get on to a pair. I never thought I would be exchanging them though." Looking down with a blush- he really had to learn not to ramble when he was nervous- Bilbo hoped he could slip away soon- preferably with Thorin.
Gloin- who was seated on Thorin's right, and had been surprised at not having seen the obvious braiding when he first sat down- leaned in to take a closer look at the beads in Thorin's hair.
"These beads are incredibly well made, you have done an amazing job with the pewter. Dwarves do not normally use it, but seeing what you have done here I think I'll start working with it more. And as for the wooden one! It is perhaps the most intricate bead I have ever seen, you have true skill there." Pulling back, Gloin made room for everyone to crowd around the King for a look at his amazing marriage beads.
And amazing they were.
The wooden bead was an exact replica of Bag End as seen from all sides, some type of stain had been used to give the door a bright green color as well as to color in the flowers surrounding it.
The pewter bead had a spiral of Khudzul wrapping around it stating the hobbits proper name, family name and the name of his smial. It also had a ruby carved into a beautiful rose with emerald chips for leaves.
Looking to the small man with open admiration, they all realized how truly amazing this hobbit was- he had been able to create such beauty without any formal training!
And they also realized how uncomfortable they were all making him by standing around, staring at him like that. It was Ori who finally broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Bilbo, if it's alright by you I'd like to go look over some more of your book collection." As the tension snapped, everyone began clearing the table and cleaning the mess left behind. When Bilbo tried to help he was gently pushed out the door with Ori.
With a last look at the industrious work happening in his kitchen and dinning room, the small man led Ori to the room he kept his collection of dwarvish objects in. Remembering how the young dwarf had spoken multiple languages the night before, Bilbo took a guess that he would be interested in the whole of his collection, and not just the dwarven part.
"Ori, would you care to see my whole collection of books?" A simple question, but the sheer joy on the others' face was a priceless answer.
After leaving the scribe to sort out what he wanted to do first- Bilbo had been half afraid the poor boy was going to faint when he had shown him the other rooms he had full of random books- Bilbo tried to find his husband, he really just needed a hug after that lunch experience.
Instead of finding Thorin the small man found his new nephews, they were lounging in the sitting room by the fire. They looked bored. Which was odd as every other dwarf he had passed had looked quite happy with whatever they had found to do.
"Boys? If you're bored you can always ask Ori to give you a book to read." It may have been his library, but the young dwarf had already shown himself capable of defending it from anyone; even its owner.
"It's not that Uncle Bilbo."
"We just have never been too keen on being snowed in."
"It happens a lot in the Blue Mountains."
"There's nothing good to do when you can't get outside." With a smirk- only half of which was directed at the way the boys finished each others' sentences- Bilbo decided to teach these boys how hobbits dealt with being snowed in.
"Come with me. I'm going to show you just how much fun there is to be had with piles of snow, and then I'll tell you all about mid-winter traditions in the Shire." Heading back into his- now spotless- kitchen, Bilbo grabbed three large bowls and handed them to the boys.
"Go and fill those with clean snow. Just open the door- it should be packed tight enough so it won't fall- and dig the bowls in. Then you can meet me back in the sitting room."
As the boys scampered off to do his bidding, a pair of strong-arms circled his waist from behind. Tilting his head back Bilbo met soft lips with his own. Pulling back just far enough to speak, the hobbit asked his husband:
"Would you like to learn about mid-winter traditions in the Shire?" Thorin tightened his arms around his husband's waist.
"I would love to learn anything you would care to teach me." Giving an indecent chuckle, Bilbo grabbed another bowl from the shelf.
"Maybe later, but for now follow our nephews and fill us a bowl." As his husband walked off to get snow, the hobbit grabbed several different flavored syrups from his shelves. He hadn't eaten snow in years!
AN: I cut it off here to keep the chapter from running overly long. I hope you all don't mind.
Up next: The story behind mid-winter in the Shire.
And if any of you have any requests for what should happen in later chapters, then feel free to send them my way. I can always use new inspiration.
Thanks for reading and please review, it would mean so much to me.