The Miracle of Love

Chapter 28

Bilbo opened his locker when someone called his name.

"Baggins!"

He didn't have to turn around to know who it was. "What do you want, Thorin?" He tried to sound annoyed by his presence but he knew he failed completely.

"You," came a simple reply. Thorin wrapped his arms around him from behind and rested his head on Bilbo's shoulder as the latter continued going through his locker.

"Well, you can't have me. I thought we established that yesterday."

"All I remember from yesterday is your kiss. That's all," he whispered in his ear.

Bilbo turned around and looked Thorin in the eyes. "You're acting weird again," he reminded him. "I don't like you when you're acting weird."

"Then tell me what I have to do so that you'll forgive me."

Bilbo thought about it for a second. "I don't know. I don't think there's anything you can do that I would forgive you." He was enjoying this game he and Thorin were now playing. He was enjoying it far too much for his liking.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something."

"I don't know if I want to," Bilbo continued to play. "I enjoy being single."

"And I enjoy being in a relationship. With you," Thorin quickly added.

"I'm not even sure if we were together for eight hours."

"The best eight hours of my life."

Bilbo just shook his head. "Don't be cocky, it doesn't suit you."

"Really? I thought that was the reason you fell for me."

"I fell for you because I believed you were a good person," Bilbo corrected, poking Thorin's chest.

"Nothing has changed."

"Everything changed," Bilbo said. "You lied—"

"And I'm sorry about that," interrupted Thorin.

"… And I just can't forgive you so easily."

"But can you at least try? That's all I'm asking." Thorin now had Bilbo pinned back to the lockers.

"I'll think about it."

"That's a start," Thorin smiled. "Join us for lunch?" He knew that Bilbo was about to say no. "If you say no, I'll have to kiss you right now to change your mind."

Bilbo licked his lips in anticipation. This didn't sound like a bad idea. But he was still angry. Damn the bastard and his charm. "You leave me no choice…"

"It's better this way. If you think too much you make all the wrong decisions." Bilbo had to admit that Thorin was right. All the reckless things he did were still the best things that ever happened to him. The bell rang. "I have to go to class," Thorin said. "I'll see you at lunch. And don't try to hide from me, because I will find you Bilbo Baggins. I will always find you." He placed a kiss on his cheek before he disappeared.

Bilbo let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, when Thorin let go of him. He was trapped for a few minutes, but the funny thing was that he enjoyed being trapped by Thorin. It made him feel safe.

He looked around, only to see a group of students staring at him, and whispering again. And for the first time in two weeks, Bilbo didn't care what they were whispering about because it was none of their business. This was between him and Thorin and everyone else should just get a life and stop being so interested in his.

:::

"Bilbo!" Kíli exclaimed, happy to see him again.

"Can I join you?"

Everyone nodded and made some space so that he could sit at their table.

"I thought you would avoid us forever," Kíli said. "But I'm happy that you're back."

"Have you talked with Thorin?" Fíli asked carefully.

Bilbo met Dwalin's eyes, and he knew that he knew everything. It was expected, after all, they were best friends.

"We talked…" Bilbo started, rather unsure. "But we haven't finished… talking. Let's just say that things are far from okay between us."

"Really?"

Bilbo jumped with surprise when Thorin suddenly appeared next to him. "Don't do that," he scolded and slapped his arm when Thorin sat down next to him. "You scared me."

"I noticed," Thorin smirked. "So what did I miss?" He asked everyone and then turned to Bilbo. "Did you miss me?" he asked and Bilbo just shook his head.

"We were talking about plans for a New Year party," said Fíli. "Mum and dad are leaving."

"Really?" Thorin asked and stole a piece of orange from Bilbo, who swatted his hand away and sent him a look. "I spoke with mum this morning, but she didn't say anything."

"She told us last night at dinner," answered Fíli. "I don't even remember where she said they were going."

"And you won't be going with them?" asked Bilbo.

"If we go we'll get bored to death," told him Kíli and Bilbo nodded in understanding. The boys' idea of fun wasn't spending vacation with their parents.

"So your house is free?" asked Dwalin.

"No, no, no, no," Thorin protested. He knew exactly what Dwalin was thinking. "Not this year."

"Come on…"

"Nope. I want to have fun this year and not keep a watch on our house so that it doesn't burn to the ground. Especially," he looked at Fíli and Kíli, "when some people don't understand when I say a few people can be invited, not half of the school."

"It got out of control," Kíli defended. "Just a little."

"We can't be at my place," said Ori. "My brothers are coming home and Dori would kill me if I even ask about throwing a party at our house."

"That leaves us with you, Dwalin," said Thorin.

"Balin is coming home."

"He'll understand. And it will be just us, no one else."

Dwalin sighed. He knew he would have to agree to this. "Fine. But if you two," he looked at Fíli and Kíli, "burn down my house with your fireworks, I'm going to kill you."

"Come on," Kíli protested. "You can't celebrate New Year without fireworks. And I've been planning this year's fireworks for weeks now."

Dwalin just shook his head. Kíli and fireworks were two thing that didn't go well together.

"How about you, Bilbo?" asked Ori. "How will you be spending New Year?"

"M-Me?" asked Bilbo and cleared his throat. "Well, khmm, Frodo and I usually help mum make dinner, and after that we normally watch television together and wait 'till midnight. And then we go to sleep."

"So you don't visit any relatives or something?"

"No. I mean we would, but they live too far away, and it takes hours to get there by train, so we usually just stay at home."

"Boring," stated Kíli. "You should join us."

"I don't think it's boring," defended Ori. "I think it's nice to spend time with your family."

"If you change your mind the offer still stands," Fíli said and Bilbo nodded.

"How are things between you two?" carefully asked Kíli. "You are talking again, so that must be good."

"Things are great," Thorin answered.

"Things are not great," Bilbo corrected and sent him a look. "They are far from great."

"Yeah, but we're getting there."

"Very slowly, almost not moving," Bilbo added and Thorin frowned. "Don't look so surprised, I'm still angry at you."

Ori had to hide his smile. Thorin looked like a puppy when Bilbo was scolding him.

"But yesterday you weren't angry at him," Dwalin piped up.

"Finally, someone," smiled Thorin. "Someone who understands!"

"How would you know? You weren't there," Bilbo pointed out. "Thorin could have easily lied to you. Maybe we had sex in the car and all this is just for show." Everyone at the table, Thorin included, just stared at Bilbo with disbelief. He quickly realized he went a little too far so he cleared his throat before he continued. "What I'm trying to say is that this is between me and Thorin and I would appreciate if you would all stay out of it. And ignore the comment about the car."

They all nodded, still shocked from Bilbo's reaction.

"Don't be too hard on him," said Ori and smiled. "You don't want him to give up, don't you," he added and winked. "Walk me to class?"

"Sure." Dwalin took Ori's hand before he looked back at Thorin. "I'll see you in class."

"We have to go as well," Fíli started and pulled Kíli up. "See you at home. Bye Bilbo."

"Bye."

:::

"You didn't have to come with me, you know," said Bilbo as he walked to his class. He was perfectly fine by going himself, but Thorin insisted on coming with him. On one hand Bilbo loved the attention he was getting, on the other hand this felt too good to be true. Maybe Thorin was only pretending so that he would forgive him, and then he would just hurt him again.

"You're thinking again," observed Thorin.

"Hm, what?"

"I said that you were thinking again. You always ignore everything around you and you don't even look where you're going when you are lost in your thoughts. My guess is that you were thinking about me." Bilbo's silence spoke for itself. "I know what I did was wrong," Thorin admitted silently, "and I know it will take a lot of time for you to forgive me, if you'll ever forgive me. I don't want to force you into anything. I'll happily accept whatever you are willing to give me. Even if you would only want to us to be friends."

Bilbo sighed. "I don't know what I want. I knew before, but now I don't. You and Bofur hurt me. Not because you two lied, but because you made a bet that I was stupid enough to sleep with you. You didn't even know me, I'm pretty sure you didn't know I existed, and you made that bet. You didn't even take your time to know me better, you just jumped to your conclusions. I don't have a million friends and I don't drink at the parties, but that still doesn't give you the right to think so low of me. I thought that you slept with me because you thought I was interesting, or whatever stupid reason I came up with. But I never imagined that you did it just because you thought of me as below you. That hurts Thorin."

"I never thought it would get us here," admitted Thorin. "I didn't plan for thing to go this far. Somehow you managed to get under my skin and I can't let you go. I never imagined asking you out, or wanting to be in a relationship with you, but now I want all these things. I want you."

Bilbo opened his mouth so say something, but before he could do so, he saw the same idiot that was bullying him for the last two weeks.

"Freak! You'll be late for class. Better hurry up, you know you're getting slow with all that weight. Oh, I forgot, it's not you – it's the bastard you carry!"

Thorin's eyes darkened and Bilbo saw in the corner of his eyes how he clenched his fingers into a fist. "Say that again," Thorin growled lowly and turned around. "I dare you, say that again."

The boy froze. He didn't see Thorin before, but now he was standing few meters away from him. "I meant every word." He tried to sound brave but he knew he failed completely.

"Thorin," warned Bilbo silently. "Let it go, it's not worth it."

Thorin ignored Bilbo's warning. "Then I dare you to repeat what you said. Come on now, don't be shy…"

"He is a freak. An abomi-"

"Thorin!" exclaimed Bilbo when his fist connected to that boy's face.

:::

"This is great, just great," muttered Bilbo as he was pacing up and down nurse's office. "You just had to do that, didn't you?"

"He insulted you," defended Thorin and winced in pain when he moved the ice pack on his sore lip. "He was practically asking for it."

Bilbo glared at Thorin. "That still doesn't give you the right to hit someone!"

"In my defense, he hit me as well. And it hurts. A lot," he added.

"You deserved it," Bilbo said, but his eyes softened. It still felt pretty good that Thorin punched that guy because he insulted him.

"Where is that nurse?" Thorin complained.

"Does it hurt?" Bilbo teased.

"Yes."

"Poor Thorin," Bilbo smiled.

"What is taking so long?"

"You managed to hit him pretty badly, so my guess is that she is still dealing with him."

"I just need something for the pain."

Bilbo stepped closer and took the ice pack from Thorin. "It doesn't look so bad," he said as he got a better look at Thorin's cut lower lip. "You'll be just fine."

"Is that your diagnosis, Doctor Baggins?" Thorin smirked and pulled Bilbo closer so that he was standing between his legs, his hands resting on Bilbo's hips. "Are you sure you can't do anything about the pain? I'm willing to do anything to make the pain go away."

Bilbo raised an eyebrow before taking a closer look. "I'm not sure. Does that hurt," he asked as he gently pressed his finger to the sore lip and Thorin winced in pain.

"Ouch, yes, it hurts."

"And this?"

"Ouch, yes… You proved your point," he said and pulled Bilbo's hand away from his face. "It hurts."

"You are a big boy, you'll live." Before Thorin could say something Bilbo pressed a light kiss on his lip. "Better?"

"It would be even more if I would get another one."

"I'm sorry, but that's all you'll get."

"Bilbo Baggins," said a deep voice, "and Thorin Durin. It's not really a surprise, is it?" Bilbo immediately untangled from Thorin's arms when Gandalf entered the room. "In the last few months I've seen you more times than in the last four years." Both teens remained quiet, unsure about who Gandalf was talking about. Most likely both of them. "What happened this time?"

"They got into a fight," answered the nurse, who just returned from her office. "I already took care of the other boy and called his parents."

Gandalf eyed Thorin suspiciously before he spoke. "And who was the one who started the fight? Bilbo, would you be so kind to explain what happened?"

Bilbo swallowed hard, before searching for Thorin's hand and intertwining their fingers. "Well, hmm, it was Thorin who started it. But really that guy was just asking for it." Thorin just stared at Bilbo with his mouth slightly opened. "He insulted me, he said a lot of awful stuff I'd rather not repeat, and when Thorin warned him he didn't back off, and this happened."

"I see," said Gandalf quietly. "Nonetheless Thorin initiated a fight, and for that the school rules state that he should be suspended for three weeks."

"I don't think that is necessary," Bilbo interrupted quickly. "After all, he was just trying to defend me. He did nothing wrong. And he was never in a fight before, at least not in school. Don't you think suspension is a little harsh punishment?"

"The boy's parents will want to know what happened, and they will expect Thorin to be punished," Gandalf answered calmly at Bilbo's boldness.

"Then I will demand for him to be suspended for bullying me for the last two weeks. And believe me, I have witnesses."

Gandalf thought about it for a moment. "Very well then. I'll talk to the parents and explain what happened. But Bilbo," he warned, "next time when someone is bullying you, come to my office and we'll deal with it immediately. I'm on your side, remember?"

"Thank you, Sir."

"I'll go talk to the other boy. In the meantime…" he nodded at the nurse who finally checked Thorin's injury.

"Thanks," mumbled Thorin.

"Don't mention it," said Bilbo nonchalantly.

:::

They were having a quiet family dinner, when Frodo decided to speak. "Thorin got in a fight today," he announced and Bilbo almost chocked on the soup he was eating. "Because of Bilbo," he quickly added.

Belladonna patted her son on the back so that he stopped coughing. "Bilbo is that true?"

The silence spoke for itself.

"I knew that boy was trouble," said Bungo, reminding everyone that he didn't approve of Thorin. "It's best if you stay away from him son. And that means you too, Frodo."

"How do you even know what happened," Bilbo questioned when his coughing stopped. "You have classes in the other building."

"Things like that spread fast. Really fast. Is it true that you were called to the principal's office?"

"No!"

"Oh," Frodo sounded disappointed. "But Thorin did get suspended for two months for fighting, didn't he?"

"W-What? Where do you get information like this? People really shouldn't be spreading lies. And to answer your question, no, Thorin wasn't suspended."

"Why did he get into a fight?" asked Belladonna, "And why were you there?"

"Because they're dating!" exclaimed Frodo and Belladonna's eyes widened in surprise.

"We are not dating. Really, we're not." Bilbo could see his father let out a breath of relief. "Some idiot who was picking on me for the last two weeks decided to insult me and Thorin lost his temper. But the guy is fine, they both are," Bilbo explained quickly.

"So he saved you like a damsel in distress," Frodo teased, and if looks could kill…

"Just shut up," Bilbo snapped. "The principal just came to ask us what happened, nothing more. Thorin won't be punished."

"Why didn't you say something about others picking on you?" asked his mother, concerned about all the things Bilbo was hiding from them lately.

"It wasn't important. Besides, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"Did you thank Thorin for stepping up for you?"

Bilbo, not just Bilbo, everyone was staring at Belladonna in disbelief. "S-Stepping up for me? Thanking him? Have you ever listened when I talked about Thorin? He is being all nice because he wants me to forgive him. It's just one of his games."

"That doesn't answer my question," Belladonna noted, and looked expectantly at her son.

"I showed him I was grateful… in a way."

"By kissing him!" Frodo teased and Bilbo turned red.

"What are his plans for New Year?"

Bilbo rolled his eyes. "Why is this important right now? I don't know… He'll probably go to a party or something…"

"Well you could invite him here."

"No," Bungo and Bilbo exclaimed, while Frodo couldn't be more excited about it.

"Absolutely not," insisted Bungo. "That boy is trouble."

"Then if that turns out to be true, when the night is over I won't say another word," his wife countered. "I think we should give him a chance, and then we can judge him. Who knows, maybe he'll surprise you."

"I agree with dad," Bilbo protested. "I don't want Thorin here."

"I think this is a great idea," Frodo piped up.

"No, it's a terrible idea. I'll say thank you, but I won't be inviting him for New Year's dinner."

"Don't be so stubborn, Bilbo," Belladonna scolded. "Give him another chance."

"He's had plenty. That's my last word. Thorin Durin won't be coming to our house on New Year's Eve," he declared before he stood up and stormed back to his room.

:::

Frodo was waiting patiently for his brother in front of the school, so that they could go home together. He didn't have to wait long for Bilbo to show up, with Thorin right next to him.

"Hi Thorin," greeted Frodo and Bilbo rolled his eyes.

"Ready to go home?"

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your boyfriend," Frodo teased.

"He's not my boyfriend," Bilbo corrected and sent Frodo a warning glare.

"I can drive you," Thorin offered. "Fíli and Kíli are already home."

"That would be lovely, thank you," Frodo smiled. "Coming, Bilbo?"

"Come, I'll drive you home," Thorin said.

"You don't have to."

"Your crown won't fall off your head if you allow me to drive you home you know."

Bilbo frowned, but in the end he still followed Thorin to his car. For the last few days Thorin had been very nice to him, but Bilbo couldn't help but worry that all this was just for show.

They drove in complete silence and a few minutes later Thorin pulled over in front of Bilbo's house.

"Thanks for the ride," Bilbo said and smiled weakly. "Come on Frodo, let's go. I have homework to do."

"Did you tell him?" his brother asked.

"Tell me what?"

Before Bilbo could open his mouth Frodo spoke. "Mum said to invite you over for New Year's."

"Oh…"

"You don't have to come," Bilbo said quickly when he saw how shocked Thorin was. "She didn't actually say that you are invited, she just mentioned you and New Year's dinner. That's all."

Thorin turned back to Frodo. "Could you give us a minute?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks for the ride."

"No problem," Thorin said as Frodo closed the doors and now he and Bilbo were alone in the car. "I know when you're lying, you know. And if you didn't want me to come, all you had to do is say so. I wouldn't take it personally. I mean I would, but I would understand your motives."

Bilbo's heart clenched at Thorin's words. He managed to reject him whenever it was possible, but Thorin still refused to give up. "It is a family dinner so…"

"You don't have to explain… I understand."

"… Maybe it's a perfect opportunity for you to meet my parents," Bilbo finished and Thorin's eyes snapped up. He wasn't quite sure if he heard right.

"So, what you are trying to say is…"

"… I wouldn't mind if you joined us," Bilbo smiled and blushed.

:::

"Mum!" called Frodo when he entered the house. "Bilbo invited Thorin over for New Year."

Bilbo muttered something under his breath before he went up to his room.

Author's notes:

A big 'thank you' to Chamelaucium.

New chapter, as promised.

Bad news: school started so updates won't be regular.

Thank you all for continuous support :)