Thorin while being away tried not to think about Fili and Kili, but only about Bilbo. His mind was full of visions of happiness he never hoped would come. For all those years he was alone and without purpose in life. He had Fili, he had to raise him and take care of him, but having a partner is a different thing. He kept wondering if he did a good job raising Fili, then he thought about that Kili's appearance ruined the good job he did, and then again he realised that Fili being the calm and sensitive person he always wanted him to be, embraced Kili and took care of him because he was raised well. Fili, the strong, gentle and caring, and Kili the emotionally unstable, fragile and sensitive. Two opposites that had to collide. In a way Fili made the problems with Kili practically go away. When he found Kili, when he talked to the psychologist in Alaska, he had so many fears. When Bilbo explained what exactly was wrong with Kili, his fears double. Somehow Kili next to Fili meant absolutely no problems. After days of thinking he suddenly realised it didn't really matter if they slept or not slept together. If they had sex or not. What mattered was that Kili was better. Now it was a question of keeping that state.
Coming back home, he texted Fili to pick him up alone at the airport.
As he walked up to the blond who didn't greet him with a smile for the first time, Thorin felt a ping of pain. He caused the rift between them.
"I asked you to come here, because I think we need to talk." Thorin gently told him trying to remain composed. "Let's go and eat somewhere."
"So what did you want to talk about?" Fili asked quietly as they were getting into the car.
"Make me understand." Thorin said simply. "I just want to understand."
"Well there is just so much going on." Fili tried to focus on the road. "The moment you told me I had a brother made me worried, I had imagined so much different things, I had imagined him to be different. To be pitiful, weak, uninteresting. Another of my fears, fed by the information you told me on the phone, was a person violent, aggressive and unstable. What I saw at the airport, was someone fragile, emotional and cute beyond measure. He was so much different than any of my visions. He was witty, smart and extremely attractive. He was just perfect."
"Perfect?" Thorin mumbled.
"He's just so amazing, there are no right words to describe him. He's extremely cute, talented, and smart. He's shy and reserved at the same time. He needs me." Fili finished on that note.
"What does the fact that he needs you have in common with having sex with him?" Thorin noticed brutally.
"He's just the most amazing person in the world for me." Fili told him. "And he's the only person I've been attracted to like this."
"You only have one brother for all we know." Thorin noticed grimly.
"You don't understand!" Fili told him as he stopped in front of the restaurant. "I've had girls crawl over me for the last four years, I've went out with Sigrid for several weeks. I've been attracted to boys since forever, but when Sigrid appeared I realized boys were really my thing. But I've never felt truly attracted to anyone; I have never been in love until..."
"Until what?" Thorin mumbled.
"Until I saw Kili." Fili replied.
They sat down and ordered. "We haven't spent time together like this in a few weeks." Thorin suddenly noticed.
"For me it seems to quiet and lonely. Not that I don't like spending time with you, Uncle. It's more like..." Fili tried to explain.
"Someone is missing?" Thorin suggested understanding Fili for the first time in a while.
"Yeah. It's natural for me that Kili is around. It's like life is much better when he is there." Fili told him. "When I'm at school, or when we're apart, I'm only thinking about seeing him again. And when I'm with him I think about not ever letting him go."
"Nevertheless I'm still worried." Thorin told him. "What if you break up? What if one of you finds love somewhere else?"
"Isn't that risk present in any relationship?" Fili asked looking at his uncle firmly. "I've made my decision, and I'm not planning to leave him ever."
"I still think this is all wrong." Thorin admitted. "You're both too young to be engaging into a risky relationship like this, Kili is way too young."
"I know he is, and I know there is a chance he'll change his mind later." Fili told him. "But I'm happy for anything I get."
"You know that if you ever change your mind you might destroy him?" Thorin noticed. "He's so fragile..."
"That's why your leaving without saying goodbye hurt him so much. I had to keep him close all week, and today when I left to pick you up he was devastated. If it hadn't been for Bilbo I wouldn't have come here to meet you at all." Fili was firm. "I'm never going to leave him or hurt him."
"I hope so." Thorin told him. "I'm sorry I left so rapidly, but I had to think things over. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to fully accept this union, but I'm not going to reject you two, and I'll try to be a good uncle for both of you."
"We're not going to be openly together in public, and we'll try to behave next to you." Fili told him.
"That will do for now." Thorin admitted.
Coming home Thorin tried to be as warm as possible towards Kili, the boy was surprised uncle brought him some presents from his trip, but Fili told him uncle always did that. Thorin brought presents for everybody, Bilbo and Frodo included. Later they went home and somehow it seemed strange to be home without Frodo and Bilbo.
"There is something I wanted to ask you both." Thorin motioned them to sit down. Kili seemed really nervous which made Thorin worried. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. I'm getting older and I've had enough of being alone. Before I make a huge decision I need to know what both of you think about it." Thorin told them.
"What kind of decision?" Fili asked surprised. "As you probably know I've been together with Bilbo for a short while, but I intend to ask him to marry me." Thorin threw the bomb on their head suddenly.
Both boys had open wide eyes listening to the news. It was so sudden and so quick.
"Are you sure?" Fili asked him.
"As sure as you two seem to want to be together." Thorin noticed sternly.
"Will you ask them to move in here?" Fili asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, that's a decision I'll have to make with Bilbo." Thorin told them. "I was more thinking about whether you would support me in such a decision. It will mean coming out publicly, it might influence many aspects of our lives, your school including."
"We're both gay so it would hypocritical to forbid you to seek happiness." Kili suddenly told him.
"We love Bilbo." Fili told him. "And it would be great to have both of them around permanently."
"So you have nothing against?" Thorin asked surprised.
"Don't worry about school. We have few friends as it is and the rest of the school talk about Fili all the time anyway." Kili told him slowly.
"What do you mean they talk about Fili all the time?" Thorin was clearly surprised.
"Fili is the hottest guy in school." Kili's voice was full of confidence and playful tone. "And all the girls stalk him."
"Why haven't you told me before?" Thorin asked surprised.
"It's not all that important, I got used to it and I just ignore it." Fili slowly replied.
"Is there anything else I should know?" Thorin asked.
"I started training MMA with Fili and Gimli." Kili told him with a confident smile.
"You have?" Thorin replied with a smile.
"And my teacher Lindir asked me to illustrate eighteenth century poetry for an art contest." Kili added with a huge smile.
"Will you show me your newest drawings?" Thorin asked with a smile. And Kili immediately rushed to get his sketchbook. Kili sat down and Thorin sat right next to him, somehow the closeness of the boys didn't bother him as the boys were showing Kili's newest masterpieces.
"You truly are talented." Thorin was amazed with Kili's artistic talents.
"I've also drawn some of our friends." Kili flipped to the sketches he did during school in the last two weeks.
"I love this picture of Bilbo." Thorin stopped seeing a cute photo of Bilbo in his garden.
"Keep it Uncle." Kili swiftly removed the picture from the book.
The next day Fili and Kili took Frodo out in the evening to give Thorin a lot of time to talk to Bilbo alone. The three of them went to the cinema and to dinner in town.
Bilbo was surprised to see Thorin drop by, they had little alone time since Thorin's return from China. At first he though Thorin wanted to just spend some time together, to talk or just be close, but with every passing moment he kept sensing there was more to it.
As they were finishing dinner Bilbo could feel Thorin's deep gaze on him, and there was some kind of decisiveness and firmness in those eyes.
"Is it just me, or do you have something more in mind for tonight?" Bilbo asked deciding to face the facts face on. He was mentally prepared for anything, starting from a talk about breaking up or hiding their relationship from their friends, but what he heard shook his entire world.
"Bilbo, will you marry me?" Thorin asked looking at him seriously with deep emotions on his face.
Bilbo was just speechless. For the first time in his life no witty answer came to his mind, no correct answer dawned on him. His mind just turned off for a moment.
"Don't you think this is a bit sudden?" Bilbo gently suggested. "After all we've known each other for like three weeks."
"Three weeks to realise I'm old and I have no reason to wait for doing what I really want." Thorin told him. "Ever since we've met I'm obsessed with you, and it is evident I can't live without you. I love you Bilbo." Thorin looked him into the eyes. "Make my life complete." He begged with deep emotion in his eyes.
"What will your boys say?" Bilbo thought deeply about everything, his mind slowly analyzing the sudden idea.
"We have their blessing." Thorin replied. "And I've already asked Frodo for the permission to marry you, and he said gave us his blessing as well."
"Where would we live? What about your business? Won't it be influence by this public out coming? What about the boys' school?" Bilbo's mind was full of questions.
"You're thinking too much." Thorin gasped. "Just tell me what you feel when I do this." And he pressed a warm kiss onto Bilbo's lips. "Just tell me what your heart says when I do this." He reached and brought the man closer. "Tell me, does your heart scream with joy like mine?"
"Yes it does..." Bilbo's voice broke down a bit. "But you see Thorin; there are many things we should talk about before we dive in the deep end of the pool."
"And let's spend the rest of our lives discussing those things together." Thorin stood up quickly. "Preferably being naked in bed right after we finish making love." Not giving Bilbo a chance to say anything Thorin simply carried him into the bedroom and kissed him deeply.