Warnings: -
Word count: 1259
Other: Gender-neutral reader! My first, please be kind.
This was requested by Drag0nRider201
Y/N has always been a bookworm, but they never expected to meet someone as excited about books as they were.
You had plenty of pen-pals but you never got this excited when you got a letter from them, only Bilbo's letters made you feel this way. Your heart jumped with joy when the heavy letter was handed to you, and you were fidgeting in your seat to get to your room to read it. When Balin gave you permission to leave after the lesson was over, you jumped up and practically ran to your room.
The letter was written with neat handwriting on quite a thick parchment, and there were smudges here and there when he had had too much ink on his quill, a quirk of his.
Dear Y/N,
I cannot describe how happy I was when you told me you had read Adventures of Dillyhopper, it is one of the books I never get to talk about, as people tend to think it is slightly weird. But I really like the story and I am so happy that you did too.
I am so sorry to hear about your illness, I hope you are feeling better now. I have not gotten ill during this summer, but I fear that when the autumn comes I will get sick, as I do every year. I just hope Frodo is in good shape then so he can take care of me. The illness that tends to haunt me every year makes me stay in bed for most of my day, so Frodo will have to help me cook and such.
Also, congratulations on your engagement! I heard from Balin that your spouse is a wonderful person and I can't wait to meet them. I am invited to the wedding, aren't I? Because if I'm not, we are going to have a big problem...
You read the rest of the letter with a smile on your face, eyes skimming on the neat words until he ended the letter with the typical 'my best wishes' and then a signature. You folded the letter and placed into the small chest that rested on your desk for the letters you got from Bilbo.
It had been seventeen years since Erebor had been reclaimed, and life in the kingdom was blossoming. The business was booming, visitors kept arriving and leaving, and relations with nearby kingdoms were peaceful. Well, not with the elves but everyone else. It had been sixteen long years since Bilbo and you had seen each other last, but your friendship was strong as ever. It had been so since the day you first met.
- - - -
Bilbo felt helpless. Twelve dwarves had just barged in his front door and now they were making a mess in his house. Some of them were in the kitchen, some in the bathrooms, some in the pantry, and a few of them sat aside, smoking their pipes. A white-bearded and older looking dwarf, that had stated his name to be Balin, kept looking out the window and huffing every now and then as he glanced around Bilbo's house to see what everyone was doing.
Everyone was seated next to the table, full of all the food they had eaten, but Balin still looked slightly irritated and kept tapping the table with his fingers. Bilbo was just cleaning (trying to clean) the mess they had left in the kitchen when the doorbell rung again. He sighed, accepting his fate. More dwarves would come. It didn't matter anyway, one more couldn't make the situation any worse.
He opened the door and got to face to face with you. You were not the typical dwarf, you were quite lanky and had short hair, but you also had thick glasses on your nose that you had to keep pushing up your nose.
"Hello, Y/N at your service." You bowed shortly and pushed the glasses up your nose, and looked at Biblo with a smile.
"Bilbo Baggins at yours," Bilbo muttered, now having gotten his manners back.
"Y/N! There you are! I thought you weren't coming at all." Balin's voice sounded and you hurried to its direction, grabbing a quill and ink out of your bag in addition to a thick leatherbound book.
"I'm sorry Balin, I got stuck into a storm." You muttered to the older dwarf, and he gave you a small headshake and a smile when he started to tell you what to write down.
The meeting had been a success, your hands were covered in small splatters of ink after your furious writing. Balin was having a furious conversation with Thorin whether or not you would be allowed to join the company, and you were sitting slightly away, trying to clean your hands. Bilbo approached you with a rag and handed it to you, and you accepted it, grateful and started to clean your hands. Bilbo was curious as to why you were there, you didn't strike him as the warrior type like the others were.
"I am sorry if I am impolite but why are you here?" Bilbo asked and you gave him a smile, straightening your glasses.
"I'm Balin's apprentice, I hope to join the company to gain experience. I haven't been outside that much and my parents thought it would be good for me." You muttered the last words, and Bilbo frowned and his frown deepened when he heard the words the dwarfs were exchanging slightly away.
"How does Balin think bringing Y/N along will be a good idea?"
"Seriously, Y/N will be nothing but a burden. I bet they'll be always in someone's way."
"They are way in over their heads in this one." And other harsh whispers sounded from the dwarves and judging by your posture, you could hear them good as day.
"Don't mind them, you'll do fine." Bilbo tried to console you, and you lifted your eyes to him.
"You would do well too." You muttered and managed to give him a small smile. He stood rigid for a moment but smiled slightly.
"I would?" He asked, looking at you.
"Yes. Reading is a much better past time as most people think, it keeps the minds sharp and helps you think of different solutions to different problems. You and I are quite alike, we are both bookworms and I don't think the other's appreciate us that much." You let out a small laugh at the end of that sentence, and Bilbo joined you.
It happened that Thorin accepted you to the company after Balin threatened that he wouldn't leave if you couldn't come. And you had managed to talk Bilbo over in being the company's burglar. Every night, you would talk about stories you'd read and what kind of stories were your favorites, what kind of characters drove you insane. You talked about everything book related as everyone else in the company wanted to talk about battles and weapons and other bloody things and neither you or Bilbo had any interest in participating in such conversations. So you simply had your own. Your friendship kept growing stronger every time you talked, and when a month had passed, there was hardly anything you didn't know about each other.
I have had zero motivation to write in the past few days, I'm so sorry about that. I will work on the requests I have and a few of my original ideas as well, so I will get something out. Eventually.