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It’s always nice to sit around the fire and warm yourself up after a long day of travel, especially when the night is cold and you need both of your blankets to bear the biting air.
A few months have passed since you left Rivendell to join a Company of thirteen dwarves, a halfling and a wizard: summer has been replaced by fall and the chilly breeze is now indicating that winter is upon you. Luckily, however, you’re still travelling through low-altitude lands, which means no snow and the possibility to sleep out in the open without too much trouble. Long story short: two blankets and a fire are enough to keep you warm for tonight.
«All right, everyone get some sleep» Thorin suddenly speaks up. «We have a long road to go through tomorrow. Nori, you take the first watch».
Happy to finally get some rest, the dwarves immediately begin to prepare their beds for the night, while a slightly annoyed Nori stands up and reaches his lookout post under a tree, sitting down with his pipe and wrapping himself in his blankets.
You too start to bustle about with your backpack, when your eye fall upon Ori, huddled up under his covers with some sort of pained expression.
Your brow furrows in confusion. «Ori, is everything all right?».
When he hears your voice calling him, the young dwarf turns around open-mouthed and with wide opened eyes. You’ve had that effect on the dwarves since you joined them: apparently, when having to deal with an elf, they often remained speechless or slightly embarrassed. Of course, the situation got better with the passing of time, but Ori is still a bit impressionable when it comes to talk to you.
«It’s too cold to sleep» he mumbles at last, curling up even more under the blankets.
«Oh, c'mon Ori!» Glóin snorts, resting his head on his backpack, ready to sleep. «Just lay down and ye’ll see that sleep will come sooner than ye think».
But the young dwarf doesn’t seem too convinced about the idea: you don’t need your elf sight to notice he’s already shivering, even if he’s trying not to show it.
You can’t just stay there and watch the scene: without second thoughts, you grab one of your blankets and spring up on your feet, heading towards Ori. Yes, you’re probably going to freeze tonight – or at least catch a cold – but you’ve always had some sort of soft spot for that young dwarf, and you have no intention of letting him there, shivering all night.
«Here» you whisper, bending over him and holding out the blanket to him.
It takes a while for Ori to realize what’s happening, but when he does, he stares at you with an astonished expression. «B-but… now you’ll be c-».
«Don’t worry about me» you cut it short, a reassuring smile on your face. «It’s not the first time I sleep outside when it’s cold. Besides, I’m closer to the fire than you, so I’ll be all right, I promise».
Ori doesn’t move a muscle, almost spellbound before your act of kindness. Your smile grow wider. «Now, take the blanket and have some rest» you encourage him, laying down the cover on his lap and patting him on his back.
But as you stand up again, ready to go back to your improvised bed, an annoyed grunt reaches your ear: you don’t need to turn to know it’s Thorin and you certainly don’t need to pay attention to him. Not after what happened a few weeks ago, at least.
That’s why you reach your bed without even deign to look at him: it won’t be that easy to ignore him until tomorrow – since tonight he’s sleeping right next to you – but you’re determined to do your best. When you finally lay down and cover yourself with your remaining blanket, you turn your back to him. He can watch it all night long, for what you care. The only thing that matters to you, right now, it trying not to mind the cold and to fall asleep as soon as possible.
When you turn your back to him, a snort escapes Thorin’s mouth as he lays down doing the same thing: he’s not afraid to show how irritated he is. What were you thinking? Giving one of your blankets to Ori just because he whined about the cold? And now you’re going to freeze the entire night. Great.
Letting out an annoyed sigh, he pulls his covers up to his nose. He has already enough worries and certainly he doesn’t need the trouble of you catching cold too. You’re not a kid, after all: if you decided that freezing to death is a good plan, well, that’s your business.
That is at least what Thorin tries to repeat himself, along with the fact that he doesn’t really care about you. You’re just an elf. An elf he didn’t want with his Company and whom he only accepted because of Gandalf and Elrond’s insistences.
Too bad you were a skilled and beautiful elf. So skilled and beautiful that you soon made your way in his heart, whether he would have admitted it or not. He realized it when you saved both him and Bilbo from Azog, outside the Goblin caves. And that night at the Eagles’ nests, after talking with you for hours, he couldn’t resist the temptation to lean closer and place a soft kiss on your lips.
A chaste, quick kiss. Nothing more. But that was enough to turn Thorin’s life upside-down. Falling in love with an elf… he got so scared of his own feelings that he started to push you away, pretending he didn’t care about the whole matter – when instead he couldn’t help but think about it every single moment.
That’s why he wasn’t surprised when you started to ignore him as well. After all, kissing someone and then pretending like it never happened is not the kind of behavior that makes people love you. But it’s difficult to admit your feelings to someone else when you can’t admit them to yourself in the first place.
Even now, wrapped up in his blankets, he can’t help but being afraid you’re feeling cold. But what can he do? He can’t just approach you and offer his help, not after ignoring you for weeks. He can’t even stay there all night twiddling his thumbs. No, this situation requires something more than words. Something that could help to fix his mistakes once and for all.
And, maybe, Thorin knows just what’s the right thing to do.
A few hours have passed since everyone wished goodnight to each other, but still you’re not able to sleep. Curled up under your blanket, you almost can’t control the shivers that are shaking you from head to foot.
Well, you saw this coming Y/N… you think with a sigh. If at first you managed not to freeze, one single blanket can’t shelter you from the chilly air now that the fire is going out. Snorting in frustration, you fold your arms against your chest, trying to save some warmth, when suddenly you feel someone from behind wrapping you in his strong arms.
Your eyes spring wide open. «Thor-».
«Shhh» he cuts your sentence off, softly brushing his cheek against yours.
You freeze at that contact, no clue about how to behave. You’re mad at him. Mad because of how he treated you the past few weeks. Still, his touch is so warm and soft…
As he places a sweet kiss on your jawline, Thorin’s arms tighten around your waist, pulling you even closer to him. Then, he continues to brush his chin against your neck, following an invisible line on your bare skin. A shiver runs down your spine, but this time it wasn’t the cold to cause it.
After leaving another kiss on your collarbone, the dwarf slowly turns you over so that now you’re facing him directly, your sparkling iris fixed in his; but before leaning down to your face, he stops for a moment to admire you: to him you’ve always been beautiful, but now that you’re laying in his arms you really look perfect, as if you were made to be held by him.
Hypnotized by his sapphire eyes, you don’t even try to resist him when he finally rests his lips on yours. It’s a soft, sweet kiss. I’m sorry, it says. And before going on, he wants to make sure you can actually forgive him: that’s why he soon breaks apart, staring at you again and waiting for an answer.
The truth is you’re inexorably in love with Thorin Oakenshield. No matter how he pushed you away after that kiss at the Eagles’ nests, your heart still skips beats every time you lay your eyes on him. And now, finding yourself in his arms like this… no. You can’t just pretend any longer.
Without hesitating, you grab the two braids hanging from his head and gently pull him down in another kiss, that he quickly deepens, intertwining his tongue with yours. His hand runs immediately on your cheek, sweetly caressing it with his thumb, while you lean your palms on his chest, instinctively gripping the fur collar of his coat.
As the kisses grow more passionate, Thorin slides his hand along your side, reaching the lower part of your back and gently pushing it against him, so that your bodies are drawn ever closer.
When you break apart, he then moves his head to trace a line of kisses down your neck and making you gasp when he suddenly starts to suck your skin. Satisfied with the mark he has left, the dwarf lifts his head to face you again and, when he rests his lips on yours once more, you can’t resist the temptation to bite them softly, making him chuckle and return you the favor.
As desire begins to burn in your bodies, you both understand how that simple moment of cuddles is slowly turning into something else. But just in that moment, a screeching sound startles you both: lifting your heads at the same time, you notice Óin standing up a few meters further, stretching arms and legs. He probably has to take watch over from Nori, but you don’t manage to verify your hypothesis, for a dark blanket suddenly falls on your head.
Carefully remaining under the cover, you turn back to see Thorin placing a finger on his lips and inviting you to remain silent. You quietly wait a few minutes for Nori to go to sleep and then finally emerge again.
Placing a last kiss on the tip of your nose, Thorin leans back and grabs his two blankets and uses them to cover you both. You can’t help but stare at him in surprise when he lays down next to you again.
«We don’t want you to freeze tonight, don’t we?» he smirks, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and gently guiding you to rest your head in the crook of his neck.
«Oh. Aren’t you going to pretend that this never happened?» you whisper with sarcasm, as you nuzzle against him.
«No» he replies, placing a kiss on your forehead. «I’m not going to make that mistake again».
And as sleep gently wraps you both in its fingers, you conclude that you should definitely lend one of your blankets more often.