A Shot in the Dark (Thilbo - Bagginshield)

Chapter 45

His admission made Thorin look even more pained. "Fine, fine, I get it. I made a mistake. I'll... apologize to him. Eventually."

"Good." He gave Thorin's braids a playful tug and patted the hands still holding his waist. "Now let me go so you can go and yell at our friends."

Thorin squeezed the flesh in his hands before allowing him to step back and off of his boots. Once free, he stepped aside as the king marched over to the group of Dwarves grumbling and exchanging gold and proceeded to yell at them in Khuzdûl. As the group descended into chaos, Bilbo reached up and traced his lips with his fingers and wondered idly if his face was as happy as he felt.

~*~

At the first sight of Mirkwood, Bilbo thought he was hallucinating.

"Is that Mirkwood? Have we already arrived?" he asked Kíli, who walked close to him.

Kíli nodded with an amused smile. "Yes, we've reached Mirkwood. Why so surprised? You knew we were heading there first."

"I guess I expected the journey to take longer," he admitted, biting his lower in thought. "Are we going through it to get to Erebor?"

"Yes. The Men we hired will be returning to their kingdoms while the Elves will lead us through Mirkwood to get back to Erebor," the prince explained, pushing some of his wild hair out of his face.

"Oh. Do you think... Do you think Thranduil will allow me to visit Tauriel, Beorn, and Bard?" he wondered quietly, fiddling with one of his beads.

Kíli shrugged. "Sure, why not? They're your friends. He can't stop that."

"No, but I did nearly get his captain of the guard killed," Bilbo pointed out.

"From what I remember, it was her choice to go with you," the Dwarf reminded with a frown. "He can't hold you responsible for her injuries."

"But he can keep me away from her in order to protect her from the trouble I seem to bring," he retorted, feeling his heart twist at the thought of never seeing the Elf again.

Kíli shook his head stubbornly and ended up making his messy hair even messier. "No. I won't let him. You're friends and you should be allowed to see her."

Bilbo smiled and reached up to fix the prince's messy locks. "Thank you, Kíli. I appreciate that."

The brunet beamed and leaned into his touch. "Of course! Anything for my new uncle!"

"I haven't married Thorin yet," he reminded, rolling his eyes with a fond smile.

"But you are going to marry him," the Dwarf pushed with a grin.

He shrugged and finally gave up on trying to tame Kíli's hair. It really did have a mind of its own. "Sure, once he beats my grandmother in a drinking contest."

Kíli stopped and stared. "What? He has to do what?"

Bilbo grinned and kept walking. "Hobbit tradition. If he wants to marry me, he has to out drink my family. If he does, then I'll marry him!"

Behind him, Kíli began to laugh so hard that he needed Bofur to hold him up.

~*~

They reached the beginning of Mirkwood just as the sun was setting. As the Dwarves began to set up camp alongside the Elves, Bilbo decided to hunt down Dáin in order to ask him to take him to Thranduil.

"Now why would you want to see that tree fucker?" the Dwarf lord asked, raising one of his brows high in judgment.

"Because I need his permission to see my friends," he explained calmly, bracing his hands on his hips.