After dinner Thorin encouraged Kili to come with him. They walked onto the empty quiet street and towards a house with a huge beautiful front garden. The door was an unusually shade of green and over it was a sign "Bag End". Thorin rang the bell, and soon the door was opened by no other than Gandalf himself.
"I'm so glad to see you both, please come in." He greeted them, it was clear he felt at home in this house. They followed him into the living room, and as soon as they entered Gandalf introduced them to a short man. He had curly fair hair, and bluish eyes. He wasn't slim, but he wasn't fat either. He was over thirty, and by all means anyone could call him cute.
"Bilbo Baggins, this is Thorin Durin and young Kili."
"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Bilbo replied. "Although I doubt I can be of much help."
"Don't be shy Bilbo; you're just the right person for this task." Gandalf spoke confidently.
"If you insist." Bilbo finally murmured.
"Uncle I'm home!" Suddenly a joyful voice startled them.
"Ah dear Frodo, please join us!" Gandalf greeted the newcomer with enthusiasm.
"Headmaster Gandalf what a pleasure to see you yet again today." The short dark hair boy greeted the older man.
"The pleasure is all mine dear boy!" Gandalf smiled at the boy.
Kili carefully looked at the short dark haired boy, he was probably his age, and he had eyes similar to Fili's. And he seemed very friendly.
"Tea anyone?" Gandalf quickly ran towards the kitchen and brought in a kettle with hot water.
The host looked at the headmaster clearly irritated but he couldn't say a thing to the imposing older man.
"Dear Kili, I've arranged tryouts for you at the archery section on Saturday at 10 a.m., will you be able to come?" Gandalf asked politely.
"I would really like that." Kili glanced at his uncle.
"I'm going to be busy, but I'll ask Fili to drive you." Thorin was rewarded with a smile from the boy.
"From Monday Kili here is going to be going to our school, I hope you'll help him feel at home Frodo." Gandalf turned to the smaller boy.
"Are we going to be in the same class?" Frodo asked curiously, but the shy boy didn't answer.
"He's going to have an individual program, that's why I would like you to help him out." Gandalf gently informed the boy.
"Why of course, I'll show you around and introduce you to some of the nicer people around." Frodo smiled at the boy and tried to get a reaction, but to his consternation they boy was unusually withdrawn and silent.
"Frodo and Thorin - why don't we go to the garden, I've wanted to show you something interesting." Gandalf used a lame excuse to force Kili and Bilbo to stay alone.
"That old bugger." Bilbo murmured as he was left alone with the very silent and withdrawn boy. Kili glanced with a desperate look at Thorin but his uncle firmly glared at him to stay there. Bilbo's conscience seeing the boy's reaction kicked in. "Gandalf always gets what he wants, one way or another." He informed the boy dully.
"So it seems there is no option out neither for you nor for me, let's talk about what we're going to do." Bilbo began, still a bit worried with the apparent lack of reaction from the boy.
"Gandalf told me you lived in Alaska could you please tell me what's it like over there? I've always wanted to see it, but I've never had the chance." Bilbo gently asked, and hearing the apparent pleading in his voice the boy raised his head a bit and looked directly at him for the first time.
"It's very cold." The boy told him.
"How can you live all year round with so much snow?" Bilbo asked gently.
"You get used to it. It's like life has only one faze." Kili told him hesitantly. "But you can tell the time of year by the natural cycle in the forest."
"Archery is an unusual sport, how did you start training it?" Bilbo gently led the discussion happy the boy started speaking at all. When Gandalf called him and told him he just had to take this care Bilbo bluntly refused. Working many years with troublesome kids was a pain for him, and now being away from the office for several years he felt free. In the past he usually got too involved with his patients and would personally go through the same pain there were in. This boy was an enigma, Gandalf told him about the ADD papers sent from Alaska, but even fifteen minutes with this boy were enough for Bilbo to determine this was not ADD at all.
"My foster father Beorn was very good at it. He trained us all in archery and shooting." The boy slowly began explaining.
"What else did he teach you?" Bilbo asked honestly interested.
"I'm good at tracking animals, and I've done some bear watching." Kili admitted. "Beorn doesn't like hunting because he's a national park ranger, so we would just track the animals, take photos and observe them."
"I've never met anyone who could do that." Bilbo noticed with a smile. "Can you tell me more about it?" He asked pleadingly and to his surprise the boy did as asked.
"You look like you want to ask me something?" Bilbo gently asked as they boy finished talking about tracking bears.
"I've been wondering." Kili spoke slowly.
"About what?" Bilbo inquired.
"Gandalf said you stay home and write. I was wondering what do you write?" Kili finally spoke the question out loud.
"Well most people who know me personally don't know my pen name, but since you already told me you dislike reading, I might as well read a fragment just for you." Bilbo told the boy with anxiety in his voice.
"So nobody read your books?" Kili asked.
"Not really, they are published so many people have read them, but few people know that it was me who wrote them." Bilbo explained.
"Are you scared your friends will criticize your books?"Kili immediately caught the reason why Bilbo never told anyone his penname.
"You really are smart." Bilbo commented. "Yes, I fear criticism and comments." He approached a bookshelf and took a book from it. He opened it and chose his favourite chapter and began reading.
"Dawn comes like sunlight in the everlasting darkness..." His voice echoed in the room as he was reading out loud and the boy was listening to him silently.
After nearly of twenty minutes the chapter was over and Bilbo lifted his head to look at the boy. Kili had tears in his eyes and some kind of pleasing.
"Tell me was it that bad?" Bilbo asked scared.
"It was beautiful..." Kili whispered.
"But what's wrong?" Bilbo gently asked.
"I wish I had a piece of paper and a pencil to draw that I saw while listening to your story..." The boy looked at him deeply and demandingly.
"Well let's make this our secret then, you keep my books to yourself and I'll keep your drawing to yourself." Bilbo approached his desk and pulled out several clear sheets of paper and a pencil case.
"I'll get something to drink, and a snack, I'll be right back." Bilbo told the boy, but he wasn't listening his hands were already gliding over the paper.
"So you're taking him as a patient?" Frodo asked Bilbo as he came into the kitchen.
"I'm taking him as a friend, he really needs help." Bilbo gently told his nephew. "Where are Gandalf and his uncle?"
"They left like an hour ago." Frodo told him. "How long do you plan this session to last?"
"As long as it needs to last." Bilbo replied taking a tray with orange juice and cookies back into his office.
When he came back Kili was focused on the drawing and didn't indicate he saw Bilbo enter. Bilbo slowly approached him and glanced at the drawing only to hold his breath. The boy had depicted his vision, the one he worked so long to describe using words.
"It's beautiful." Bilbo gently told him, the boy looked up to him.
"Do you really think so?" Kili asked hesitantly.
"You really have a huge talent." Bilbo told him confidently and finally saw the boy smile truly at him.
"When you come tomorrow I'll read another part of my book, but next time I'll make sure you'll have better tools for drawing." He smiled at the boy and gently touched his back. Many FAS patients were oversensitive to touch, but not this boy.
"I'd really like that." Kili smiled at him. "When can I come again?"
"Let's meet tomorrow around 12 am?" Bilbo gently asked. "Then you could stay for lunch with us."
"But I wanted to cook lunch for Fili." The boy told him with anguish in his eyes.
"Why not invite him to come to join us for lunch?" Bilbo immediately found a solution.
The boy rewarded him with a huge smile. "What time should I tell him to join us?" Kili gently asked clearly happy.
"At around 1 pm." Bilbo answered. "Do you know your way back home?" He asked thinking of another typical symptom of FAS, meaning special disorientation.
"Yeah, it's really close." Kili replied. "I'm good at finding my way."
Bilbo walked Kili to the door and watched him confidently walk in the direction of his new home.
"Bilbo who made those drawings on your desk? They're magnificent." Frodo came after a moment to Bilbo still looking outside the door.
"Guess." Bilbo asked. "And then keep the answer to yourself; he's very shy about it."
"You're unbelievable uncle." Frodo said. "It took you two hours to make him talk and reveal his deepest secret."
"I'm still a pro." Bilbo admitted. "He's a nice kid. And in time he'll be just fine. Tomorrow after dropping you off at school, I'm going shopping; we need more painting equipment for my newest friend."
"Will I be able to see his new works when I come home from school?" Frodo asked curiously.
"We'll see what he creates this time." Bilbo admitted.
Kili quickly got home and confidently walked in. Somehow talking to Bilbo made him feel much better. Being able to listen to his book and later draw what he imagined it to be, was like clearing all his fears. He went upstairs to his room. The house was already very quiet and he assumed both Thorin and Fili went to bed.
To his surprise he heard a knock on the door just several minutes after coming home.
"Hey, how was it?" Fili gently asked and walked in. He was already dressed for bed.
"Yeah, it was okay." Kili told him.
"Good, I was worried." Fili told him and lay down in Kili's bed.
Kili looked at him surprised. "What?" Fili asked pretending he did not know what Kili thought.
"Why are you here?" Kili finally asked.
"I decided I might as well come here now, rather than be woken up in like two hours and come here anyway." Fili smiled at him. "Or do you doubt I would have to come here again in the middle of the night?"
"I'm not sure." Kili replied taking a long time to think.
"Do you want me to go back to my room?" Fili asked suddenly.
Kili just shook his head and got under the cover. Somehow when Fili would come in the middle of the night it was natural to snuggle in, but now he suddenly felt uncomfortable. Uncomfortably arousing, and he consciously couldn't just hug him now.
"So now you're going to pretend you want to sleep alone?" Fili gently teased him.
"I'm not sure..." Kili played with the cover, clenching it. He glanced at Fili who had a carefree playfully smile on his face. "This is just so intimate..." He gently told his brother.
"And when I hug you in the middle of the night it's different?" Fili asked suspiciously.
"Somehow, yes it is." Kili noticed.
"So do you want me to leave and then come back?" Fili asked with a smile, he reached and gently took his hand into his. Kili just stared at their joint hands. Fili loved the sensation of touching his hand; somehow it seemed almost as intimate as kissing.
"Just say a word, and I'm gone." Fili taunted his brother. Kili's eyes wandered from their now entwined fingers and to his brother's eyes.
"Stay." He finally whispered, before he could catch what was happening Fili's arms grabbed him and pulled him into an embrace. Kili gently squeaked but was relived the decision was made for him, now he could just lay his head on his brother's muscular chest without any hesitation. Fili gently put his head into Kili's hair, and finally felt in the right place.
"We can talk if you don't feel like sleeping yet." Fili gently whispered to him.
"I don't know what to talk about." Kili whispered back.
"Anything, everything." Fili replied. "Just talk to me, I really want you to talk to me." Kili felt surprised hearing those words, it seemed Fili really wanted to hear what Kili had to say but his head was empty.
"I love the sunshine in the morning and the woods at dawn." Kili gently told him remembering what he told Bilbo about Alaska. "I used to wake up really early and walk out with Beorn and we would track bears in the mountains. The snow smells different in the high woods up the mountains; it's like a dry smell drilling in your nose." He stopped for a moment, and Fili just stroked his arm and gently touched the skin on his arm.
"What if you met a bear?" Fili suddenly asked.
"If it was one of Beorn's bears they would come up to us for a snack and we would take photos of them and read their biochip to upload new information. If it was a bear from a different area, I would put it to sleep using a dart and we would also read the biochip information." Kili continued explaining.
"Living here is going to be boring for you, no bears in the area." Fili noticed.
"No, it's not boring. Just a bit different and more stressful." Kili replied. "And no option to skip school because it's too cold or there is too much snow." He gently giggled.
"Yup, that won't work here. But I sometimes play the broken car card." Fili joked. "Uncle is sensible when it comes to those things."
"I surely hope so." Kili murmured. "When he sees my grades he's going to have a heart attack."
"Nah, he's survived worse." Fili noticed. "We're angles in comparison to mom."
"That's for sure; too bad you're the only angel with golden locks." Kili joked and Fili instead of hugging him gently began tickling him ferociously.
"I'm no angel!" He told him as they were rolling over the bed.
"No, but you're a perfect brother." Kili replied after he landed on Fili and finally got him to stop tickling him.
"No, I'm not a good brother at all." Fili whispered staring into Kili's eyes again. He loved looking at him, however having Kili so close was making him worried the boy would accidentally find out the dirty proof why he wasn't a good brother.
"You're perfect for me." Kili replied sharing the deep stare with Fili, fully aware he was practically sitting on his brother in a way he shouldn't.
"There are many things about me that might change your mind." Fili suddenly told him with his eyes serious and dark.
"Nothing will make me change my mind about you being a perfect brother." Kili told him still holding his deep glare. "But I'm positive I don't deserve you."
"Will you please stop saying that!" Fili suddenly flipped Kili underneath him. "It makes me so mad when you say that! You deserve to be here! You're fucking perfect!" Fili stared at him deeply but with a tint of anger in his eyes.
"I'm hopeless! I'm stupid! And you're fucking perfect not me!" Kili's eyes suddenly filed with tears, but he didn't cry.
"I'm not perfect! And I'm definitely not the perfect brother!" Fili told him firmly.
"Why not?" Kili suddenly asked still not believing there could be anything not perfect about his perfect brother.
Fili went silent but his eyes were so deep and serious that Kili couldn't take it. He switched their position in one swift move and poked his brother's chest. "You see – no logical reason. So as far as I'm concerned you're the best brother I could have ever imagined." Kili informed him.
"And as far as I'm concerned you're fucking perfect." Fili replied with a huge smile.
Kili suddenly felt all thrilled and happy, he leaned forward and hid his head in the crock of Fili's neck. He gently shifted lying fully onto his brother. He felt those strong arms go around him again, and the immense feeling of happiness. "I love you." He said out of the blue.
Fili's heart did a flip and he could reply the only right words. "I love you too."
Suddenly he felt his neck become wet. "Hey no more crying!" Fili scolded Kili gently.
"I'm just so happy!" Kili told him. "I never thought I'd be in such a house, I've never thought I would have a family. And I never thought I'd have a brother like you."
"So just stop crying." Fili told him, and leaned in and gently kissed his brother's forehead. After a moment he felt Kili fully relax and it was evident he fell asleep peacefully. Fili just hid his face in his hair and followed suit.