nothing but wine and tea | bagginshield

chocolate bar.

Bilbo must have assumed that from the first moment he accepted that Evrin and Bifur invite themselves to spend the mealtimes with him, he had somehow given way for the rest of the company of Dwarves to do so as well.

Little by little, and as if Bilbo didn't notice, they begin to invade his silent kitchen with laughter and forgotten dishes, and for the first time since his arrival in Erebor, he has settled into the habit of closing the shop for a brief hour and half to have his breakfast and lunch.

He remembers how the day after Bifur and Evrin visited the shop to have dinner with him, and when the clock on his wall pointed to noon, Bombur and Bofur had arrived, holding both containers full of food and a slight frown invading Bombur's face, at the slight absence of customers inside the store but the clear 'open' sign on the door.

Bilbo greets them with joy, putting aside the paperwork he had started to do due to what seemed to be a little time to spare and not the sacred lunch hour.

He sets up a special table for them in no time, with napkins, large bowls that he never thought of using but turned out to be perfect for the salad and the stew, everything on one of those tablecloths that he keeps to accommodate them on the small table in his room for dinner time.

He is about to take a seat next to Bombur and Bofur when the bell above the door is heard jingling. "Oh, please allow me a moment," Bilbo excuses himself, removing the napkin he had placed on his lap and quickly moving to attend to the customer.

When Bilbo did not yet know the hustle and bustle of the shop and all his meals were inside Bag End, the fact that someone had interrupted his mealtime would have seemed a completely outrageous action to him but now, he is used to dividing his mealtimes among clients who are looking at the last minute for the herbs they need to season their meals and his own food.

After the customer leaves he returned to the table, arranging the napkin on his lap again and helping both Dwarves serve the food and passing the bowl of salad to Bombur, Bilbo did not expect to find a marked frown on his face and it had never even crossed his mind that Bombur's face could carry out such a gesture.

"Do you do that all the time?" He asks, his voice never leaving its soft tone but Bilbo can't ignore the slight tone of reproach that he wishes to go unnoticed.

This time, it was his turn to frown. "Do what?"

Bombur sighs, the same way his father had done when Bilbo was a little fauntling whose face shone with his latest mischief. "You should close the store during meals, I'm sure that's why you don't eat well." He says, not leaving his sweet tone aside but making Bilbo feel like a child and not an adult.

"Don't pay attention to Bombur, Bilbo," Bofur quickly intervenes, noticing how his frown seemed more one of irritation than doubt. "I'm sure you're in the ideal weight for a Hobbit your age!"

Bilbo, in fact, does not weigh the same as a healthy Hobbit of his age, but he clearly does not mention it, instead, he begins to stuff his cheeks with food to show Bombur that he does eat more than well, and when he is on his third plate of stew, a satisfied smile dances on the red-haired Dwarf's face that he is clearly trying to hide behind his own plate.

He was teasing me, he finally realizes when both Dwarves have left with the promise of joining him at another meal time soon.

The day after that, he wakes up to the smell of freshly cooked bacon and eggs, so delicious is the aroma that Bilbo actually believes for a moment that he is still dreaming, until reality hits him so hard it almost makes him fall off from the bed by getting tangled in his sheets, because there was simply no way that something was cooking in his kitchen because he lives in Erebor alone.