Fic: "Bag End Books," (1/?) The Hobbit, Dis/Belladonna, Bilbo/Thorin, R, so far
Thanks to BadSkippy on AO3 for inspiring this.
Bag End Books
Author:
_beetle_
Fandom: The Hobbit
Pairing: Dis/Belladonna, Bilbo/Thorin
Rating: PG-13 for now
Word count: Approx. 2,800
Notes/Warnings: None.
Summary: A struggling single mother finds common ground with a well-off widow. Inspired in part by BadSkippy’s wonderful Bilbo/Thorin fic, Random Thoughts, from which I’ve cheerfully lifted Bag End Books in name and photo.
“Happy birthday, Mummy!”
“Happy birthday, Mum!”
Dis Durin woke up on Sunday morning to her boys pouncing on her bed and cuddling up to her, with hugs and kisses, and smiled through a titanic yawn.
“What? Is it my birthday, already?” she asked sleepily through the hand covering her mouth. She squinted her tired eyes open and hissed at the bright sunlight shining through her window, groaning as the boys tried to pull her into sitting position. “Alright, alright, I’m up, loves, just . . . give me a moment to get there fully.”
“But it’s only your birthday for another . . . seventeen hours, Mum!” Kili said, obviously proud of his hard-won skills at maths and telling time. “And we have places to go!”
“Hmm.” Dis yawned again, finally sitting up-to a cheer from her eight year old and a hug from her eleven year old. “And what places, pray tell, must we go on my birthday?”
“It’s a surprise,” Fili said smugly, sitting back and grinning. When he did, with his golden-blond hair and bright blue eyes, he looked just like his father. Dis couldn’t help but return that smile, even as her heart sighed. “Me and Kili and Uncle Thorin have it all planned out!”
“Oh, you do, do you?” Dis pulled a giggling Kili into her arms for more hugs and kisses. Her youngest giggled and squealed, flailing about as she tickled him, too, knocking several half-finished novels from Dis’ bed, to the floor. “Then I shall have to step-to, and smartish, I suppose.”
“Yep,” Fili agreed, climbing off the bed and tugging a still giggling Kili-who was sprawled all over the bed and Dis (he’s going to be a tall one, like his uncle, she thought)-and bending a stern eye on Dis. “Kili and I have made you breakfast, and it’s getting cold.”
Fighting to keep the look of sudden horror off her face-the last time Fili and Kili had made her breakfast, it’d taken hours to clean the kitchen properly. Not to mention the breakfast, itself . . . Marmite-covered everything, just the way the boys liked their breakfasts-Dis tried on another smile. “Really? You’ve made me breakfast? How . . . sweet.”
“Well,” Fili admitted, as Kili hopped to the floor. “Uncle Thorin helped.”
“Yeah. He got all the high stuff off the shelves and made the eggs,” Kili added, frowning. “I don’t think he used nearly enough Marmite, though.”
Dis’ hopes for breakfast cautiously rose. Thorin wais, it was to be acknowledged, a terrible cook. Except for making eggs, it seemed. Be it over-easy, fried, or omelet, Thorin had a knack for making eggs. He claimed he learned in the army, from many details spent in the kitchens, due to . . . shenanigans he’d got up to.
And there he’d always left it, refusing to elucidate on exactly what those shenanigans had been. Especially in mixed company.
“C’mon, Mummy, let’s go!” Kili started up again, taking her hand and tugging on it. Chuckling, Dis let herself be pulled out of bed, pausing only to grab her bathrobe from the back of the bedroom door, before following the boys through the flat, to the kitchen, from which the smells of eggs and sausage beckoned like a siren.
*
Two hours later, blindfolded, but seated very patiently in the passenger seat of Thorin’s car, Dis sighed. “Really, you three, isn’t this going a bit overboard?”
“Nope.” Fili and Kili giggled, and Thorin grunted. “No.”
Sighing again, Dis didn’t even bother turning her head toward the passenger side window. Despite the little rays of light coming in under her very securely tied blindfold, she couldn’t make out anything but the occasional bit of color. Once in a while, one of the boy would pat her shoulder and say: “Almost there, Mum.”
This had been going on for a short eternity, or so it seemed to Dis. Though really, it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. London’s traffic only crawled by, no doubt, even on a Sunday morning.
“You’re gonna love your surprise, Mummy,” Kili said, nearly throttling her with his bony, but strong-armed hug from the back seat. “It’s brilliant!”
“Is it . . . hmm, Jason Statham taking me on a romantic lunch?”
“Ew! No!” Fili exclaimed, sounding pretty horrified, himself. “Not even close! You’re never gonna guess what it is.”
“And we’re not giving you hints,” Kili added forbiddingly, just as Thorin chuckled.
“Alright, boys, we’re here,” he said, and the boys cheered, talking excitedly about how Dis was going to love her surprise while Thorin parked the car. Then they were hopping out, slamming the doors, despite Thorin’s admonition that they did not have to slam the doors to get them to stay shut.
“Can I take off my blindfold now?” Dis asked, with meek amusement. Thorin gently batted her hands gently away from the length of folded cloth.
“Not yet. I’ll come around the car to get you. Just one moment. The boys and I will take you to the boo-er, the surprise.”
Sighing yet again, Dis said: “Yes, Thorin,” and waited to be lead to her surprise.
*
When the blindfold came off, Dis blinked in the light and found herself staring up at a place she’d never before seen.
BAG END BOOKS.
“SURPRISE, MUMMY!” both boys shouted at once, and Thorin, who’d removed the blindfold, leaned in and brushed a kiss across her cheek. “Happy birthday, Sis.”
“Bag End Books,” she murmured, smiling and wrapping her arms around the boys, who were hugging her waist. “I take it you three didn’t buy me the entire bookstore?”
Kili giggled. “Don’t be silly, Mummy!”
“Show it to her, Uncle Thorin!” FIli said, bouncing and leaning over to peer up at Thorin, who smiled his uncertain, rather underused smile, and reached into an inner pocket of his navy peacoat-Dis’ and the boys’ birthday gift to him last year, and he wore it whenever the weather was even slightly chilly-and pulled out a fancy looking gilt card. It looked like an AmEx, until she got a closer look at it.
The card was, despite having been in Thorin’s pocket, chilly and stiff in her hand. It was inscribed with her name, and in each corner was, in bold, but elegant lettering £150. In the center of the card was the name of the establishment in front of which they stood.
“It’s a gift card, Mummy!” Kili exclaimed, his dark eyes lit up with anticipation.
“Yeah. We know how much you like all kinds of books, so we got you this so you could buy whatever books you want, whenever you want!” FIli said, squeezing her tight. “We love you, Mum.”
Eyes welling up with tears, Dis hugged her boys closer. “And I love you, too. So very much.” And with that, her eyes went to Thorin, who smiled his underused smile again, his face ruddy in the brisk fall breeze.
“We put in all our savings from last Christmas and from the Tooth Fairy!” Kili said proudly, and Fili added: “And Uncle Thorin put in the rest!”
Which meant that Thorin had put in the bulk of the money. Dis bent a stern but soft look on her brother, and he shoved his hands in his pocket, looking sheepish. Smithing was a lucrative career-especially when one was as good at it as Thorin-but Thorin was far from rich. Not with the bulk of his money going to Hillcrest Manor, and taking care of their father.
Thorin, you shouldn’t have, Dis mouthed, and Thorin shrugged again, his dark blue eyes meeting her dark brown ones.
I wanted to, and I could. Because I love you, he mouthed back, stepping toward her and the boys and winding his big, strong arms around them.
“I love you all very much,” Dis whispered, her heart beating faster and harder with that love. The tears threatening to overflow her eyes fell, alongside an escaped sob. “My boys.”
And there the Durin family stood for long minutes, simply enjoying their closeness. At least until Kili broke away from the hug, laughing, and tugging his mother’s hand once more. “C’mon, Mummy, let’s buy books!”
Laughing, too, and discreetly wiping at her eyes, Dis nodded. “Alright. Let’s see what damage we can do to this giftcard.”
*
Dis was the first to step into Bag End Books, and she instantly fell in love.
“Oh, Thorin . . . boys. . . .” she breathed, looking around the large, yet homey space and all the neatly shelved books. Here and there were chairs and tables, and even a sofa for reading. The floors were shining hard-wood and creaked only slightly underfoot when one walked, said creakings interrupted by the Oriental rugs placed here and there. “Oh, what a wonderful place!”
“Toldja she’d like it,” Kili said from behind her, in a very loud whisper.
“I was the one who told you,” Fili whispered back, and before they could get into an argument over who told whom what, Thorin was shushing them and telling them to put on their “museum manners,” and not touch anything without asking first.
Dis, meanwhile, had shouldered her purse and was drifting around the space in front of the large picture window as one entranced. She literally did not know where to begin. Classics? Modern? Biography? She almost fell prey to vertigo trying to see everything at once!
Spotting a counter with a quaint-looking cash register and a pleasant-looking young man behind it, she immediately made her way over to him, Thorin and the boys on her heels.
She waited for the young man-perhaps eighteen or twenty-to finish ringing up an elderly customer. “You always have the best selection for such great prices,” the woman said in a trembling, but pleased voice. The young man smiled, and it took his face from pleasant to adorable in the space of a heartbeat, lighting up hazel eyes and making his cutely rounded face look even younger than it already did. He ran a hand through unruly, almost-auburn curls and blushed.
“You always say that, Mrs. Fleming,” he said in a pleasing tenor.
“That’s because it’s always true, Bilbo!” Chuckling, the elderly woman took her little brown bag of books and reached out to pat Bilbo on the cheek. “Now, you have a nice day.”
“I will. And you, too!”
Chuckling himself, the young man-Bilbo, according to Mrs. Fleming and to his own nametag-watched Mrs. Fleming go with a smile, then turned his gaze to Dis, Thorin, Fili, and Kili, his eyes lingering longest on Thorin, widening as his mouth dropped open a little.
“Erm, hullo! Welcome to Bag End Books! I’m Bilbo! How may I help you?” he chirruped, his eyes going between Dis and Thorin. A glance at Thorin showed that his eyes weren’t going anywhere but to Bilbo. And lingering there.
Well, Dis thought, smiling a little as she turned back toward the counter and Bilbo, who was staring at Thorin once more, like a man who’d just seen his dream step into reality.
Clearing her throat reluctantly, Dis held up her giftcard. “I have this card and I’d like to buy some books. The problem is, I have no Earthly idea where to begin. I’m a bit overwhelmed.”
Bilbo’s mild, but clearly still gobsmacked gaze came back to rest on Dis and he smiled. “That happens quite a bit when someone receives one of our giftcards. May I ask, is this your first visit to our little store?”
“Yes,” Dis said, charmed by Bilbo’s friendly manner. “I can’t believe I’ve lived in London for so many years and didn’t even know this place was here.”
“London’s best-kept secret, in my humble opinion,” Bilbo said, sotto-voiced, and Dis chuckled. Bilbo’s slightly uncertain smile widened and firmed. “At any rate, I’d be glad to have someone show you around, maybe help you choose a few books to be swept up by.”
“That’d be-quite nice, I think,” Dis said, glancing back at Thorin again-he was very obviously trying not to stare at Bilbo-and the rather well-behaved boys. She suddenly had a marvelous idea. “And you three can wait up here while I browse for a bit.”
“But Mum!”
“Aw, Mummy!”
“Will you keep an eye on them for a little while, for me, Thorin?” Dis asked sweetly, ignoring pleas to come with her from Fili and puppy-dog eyes from Kili. When Thorin nodded, his eyes still darting everywhere but at Bilbo, Dis turned back to Bilbo and put on her most innocent smile. “He’s really the best brother a girl could have, isn’t he?”
“Brother?” Bilbo seemed surprised. And indeed, he wouldn’t be the first to take Thorin for her husband. She and Thorin bore little enough of a physical resemblance to each other: but for their mother’s dark blue eyes, Thorin took almost entirely after their tall, burly, dark-haired father. And but for her father’s dark brown eyes and curls, Dis took entirely after their small, fair mother. “Oh, er, of course!”
Bilbo was quick to agree, blushing and stealing another glance a Thorin, and offering a smile before excusing himself for a moment.
“I’ll get you Bag End Books’ pre-eminent expert on all things literature. Be back in just a tic.”
Dis turned to watch Thorin watch Bilbo go, and snorted at the poleaxed look on Thorin’s normally somber face.
“Stare any harder, and he’ll burst into flame,” she noted dryly. Thorin glanced at her and blushed.
“I wasn’t staring.”
“His arse would beg to differ.” Dis snorted again and Thorin turned even redder, but didn’t take his eyes off the aforementioned arse till it rounded a corner and disappeared behind some shelves. “He’s very cute. And he couldn’t take his eyes off of you, either.”
Thorin cleared his throat gruffly. “That’s neither here nor there.”
“You should ask him to coffee.”
“No, I should not.”
“And why is that?”
“You think he hasn’t had a ton of leering patrons just randomly ask him out to coffee before?” Thorin glanced wistfully off in the direction Bilbo had gone. “Chatting up the staff is . . . not something I do. Ever.”
“Well. I think he’d say yes if you asked him.” Dis mused. “He seemed quite taken with you.”
Thorin choked then stammered. “I . . . I . . . have you not noticed how young he is? If he’s twenty, I’ll smile and eat this building from foundation to shingles!”
“You make it sound as if you’re ninety. You’re only thirty-four.” Dis dismissed. Then noting the boys’ curious eyes on them, leaned in to whisper. “And you can’t spend the rest of your life pining over Thranduil.”
“I’m not pining!” Thorin hissed back, his dark brows drawing together. “It’s been six years. No one pines after six years!”
“Then when was the last time you went on a date?”
“That would be in the third week of none of your business.”
Dis rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Bilbo rounded the corner again, with someone in tow. This time, Dis’ mouth was the one to drop open in a gape.
The woman walking slightly behind Bilbo was a couple inches taller than him, but bore a strong resemblance to him, but for the obvious difference in their respective ages. She had the same changeable hazel eyes and the same curly, almost-auburn hair. Her face was round, like Bilbo’s, and lightly tanned, as if she spent a lot of time outside-unlike Dis, who spent most of her time in the office, under fluorescent lighting, directing calls and other employees, and being the office nanny-and when she smiled, her teeth were even and white, with a slight gap between the front two. Her face was lined liberally with smile- and laugh-lines, but was, in spite of that, a very girlish face.
She, like Bilbo, was dressed in a Bag End Books t-shirt, but unlike the vest and jeans Bilbo wore with his, she wore an apron over fashionable twill trousers.
She had an air of intelligence about her, and of savoir faire that almost made Dis, in her old coat, faded Manchester United Jersey, and worn mom-jeans feel rather scruffy. Almost, but for the equally palpable air of sweetness and warmth that attended her as well.
Well, it’s obvious where Bilbo gets his personality from, Dis thought, her breath quite taken away as the woman, rather than step behind the counter, as Bilbo had, held out her hand to Dis, her direct hazel eyes taking in Thorin, Fili, and Kili, as well.
“Welcome to Bag End Books,” she said in a pleasantly low voice. She was smiling as Dis took her hand and a static shock passed between them, causing Dis to start and the woman to laugh, even as she held Dis’ hand for longer than was strictly necessary. “I’m Belladonna Took-Baggins, and I’ll be glad to help you get your bearings in this labyrinth.”
TBC
Bag End Books
Author:
_beetle_
Fandom: The Hobbit
Pairing: Dis/Belladonna, Bilbo/Thorin
Rating: PG-13 for now
Word count: Approx. 2,800
Notes/Warnings: None.
Summary: A struggling single mother finds common ground with a well-off widow. Inspired in part by BadSkippy’s wonderful Bilbo/Thorin fic, Random Thoughts, from which I’ve cheerfully lifted Bag End Books in name and photo.
“Happy birthday, Mummy!”
“Happy birthday, Mum!”
Dis Durin woke up on Sunday morning to her boys pouncing on her bed and cuddling up to her, with hugs and kisses, and smiled through a titanic yawn.
“What? Is it my birthday, already?” she asked sleepily through the hand covering her mouth. She squinted her tired eyes open and hissed at the bright sunlight shining through her window, groaning as the boys tried to pull her into sitting position. “Alright, alright, I’m up, loves, just . . . give me a moment to get there fully.”
“But it’s only your birthday for another . . . seventeen hours, Mum!” Kili said, obviously proud of his hard-won skills at maths and telling time. “And we have places to go!”
“Hmm.” Dis yawned again, finally sitting up-to a cheer from her eight year old and a hug from her eleven year old. “And what places, pray tell, must we go on my birthday?”
“It’s a surprise,” Fili said smugly, sitting back and grinning. When he did, with his golden-blond hair and bright blue eyes, he looked just like his father. Dis couldn’t help but return that smile, even as her heart sighed. “Me and Kili and Uncle Thorin have it all planned out!”
“Oh, you do, do you?” Dis pulled a giggling Kili into her arms for more hugs and kisses. Her youngest giggled and squealed, flailing about as she tickled him, too, knocking several half-finished novels from Dis’ bed, to the floor. “Then I shall have to step-to, and smartish, I suppose.”
“Yep,” Fili agreed, climbing off the bed and tugging a still giggling Kili-who was sprawled all over the bed and Dis (he’s going to be a tall one, like his uncle, she thought)-and bending a stern eye on Dis. “Kili and I have made you breakfast, and it’s getting cold.”
Fighting to keep the look of sudden horror off her face-the last time Fili and Kili had made her breakfast, it’d taken hours to clean the kitchen properly. Not to mention the breakfast, itself . . . Marmite-covered everything, just the way the boys liked their breakfasts-Dis tried on another smile. “Really? You’ve made me breakfast? How . . . sweet.”
“Well,” Fili admitted, as Kili hopped to the floor. “Uncle Thorin helped.”
“Yeah. He got all the high stuff off the shelves and made the eggs,” Kili added, frowning. “I don’t think he used nearly enough Marmite, though.”
Dis’ hopes for breakfast cautiously rose. Thorin wais, it was to be acknowledged, a terrible cook. Except for making eggs, it seemed. Be it over-easy, fried, or omelet, Thorin had a knack for making eggs. He claimed he learned in the army, from many details spent in the kitchens, due to . . . shenanigans he’d got up to.
And there he’d always left it, refusing to elucidate on exactly what those shenanigans had been. Especially in mixed company.
“C’mon, Mummy, let’s go!” Kili started up again, taking her hand and tugging on it. Chuckling, Dis let herself be pulled out of bed, pausing only to grab her bathrobe from the back of the bedroom door, before following the boys through the flat, to the kitchen, from which the smells of eggs and sausage beckoned like a siren.
*
Two hours later, blindfolded, but seated very patiently in the passenger seat of Thorin’s car, Dis sighed. “Really, you three, isn’t this going a bit overboard?”
“Nope.” Fili and Kili giggled, and Thorin grunted. “No.”
Sighing again, Dis didn’t even bother turning her head toward the passenger side window. Despite the little rays of light coming in under her very securely tied blindfold, she couldn’t make out anything but the occasional bit of color. Once in a while, one of the boy would pat her shoulder and say: “Almost there, Mum.”
This had been going on for a short eternity, or so it seemed to Dis. Though really, it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. London’s traffic only crawled by, no doubt, even on a Sunday morning.
“You’re gonna love your surprise, Mummy,” Kili said, nearly throttling her with his bony, but strong-armed hug from the back seat. “It’s brilliant!”
“Is it . . . hmm, Jason Statham taking me on a romantic lunch?”
“Ew! No!” Fili exclaimed, sounding pretty horrified, himself. “Not even close! You’re never gonna guess what it is.”
“And we’re not giving you hints,” Kili added forbiddingly, just as Thorin chuckled.
“Alright, boys, we’re here,” he said, and the boys cheered, talking excitedly about how Dis was going to love her surprise while Thorin parked the car. Then they were hopping out, slamming the doors, despite Thorin’s admonition that they did not have to slam the doors to get them to stay shut.
“Can I take off my blindfold now?” Dis asked, with meek amusement. Thorin gently batted her hands gently away from the length of folded cloth.
“Not yet. I’ll come around the car to get you. Just one moment. The boys and I will take you to the boo-er, the surprise.”
Sighing yet again, Dis said: “Yes, Thorin,” and waited to be lead to her surprise.
*
When the blindfold came off, Dis blinked in the light and found herself staring up at a place she’d never before seen.
BAG END BOOKS.
“SURPRISE, MUMMY!” both boys shouted at once, and Thorin, who’d removed the blindfold, leaned in and brushed a kiss across her cheek. “Happy birthday, Sis.”
“Bag End Books,” she murmured, smiling and wrapping her arms around the boys, who were hugging her waist. “I take it you three didn’t buy me the entire bookstore?”
Kili giggled. “Don’t be silly, Mummy!”
“Show it to her, Uncle Thorin!” FIli said, bouncing and leaning over to peer up at Thorin, who smiled his uncertain, rather underused smile, and reached into an inner pocket of his navy peacoat-Dis’ and the boys’ birthday gift to him last year, and he wore it whenever the weather was even slightly chilly-and pulled out a fancy looking gilt card. It looked like an AmEx, until she got a closer look at it.
The card was, despite having been in Thorin’s pocket, chilly and stiff in her hand. It was inscribed with her name, and in each corner was, in bold, but elegant lettering £150. In the center of the card was the name of the establishment in front of which they stood.
“It’s a gift card, Mummy!” Kili exclaimed, his dark eyes lit up with anticipation.
“Yeah. We know how much you like all kinds of books, so we got you this so you could buy whatever books you want, whenever you want!” FIli said, squeezing her tight. “We love you, Mum.”
Eyes welling up with tears, Dis hugged her boys closer. “And I love you, too. So very much.” And with that, her eyes went to Thorin, who smiled his underused smile again, his face ruddy in the brisk fall breeze.
“We put in all our savings from last Christmas and from the Tooth Fairy!” Kili said proudly, and Fili added: “And Uncle Thorin put in the rest!”
Which meant that Thorin had put in the bulk of the money. Dis bent a stern but soft look on her brother, and he shoved his hands in his pocket, looking sheepish. Smithing was a lucrative career-especially when one was as good at it as Thorin-but Thorin was far from rich. Not with the bulk of his money going to Hillcrest Manor, and taking care of their father.
Thorin, you shouldn’t have, Dis mouthed, and Thorin shrugged again, his dark blue eyes meeting her dark brown ones.
I wanted to, and I could. Because I love you, he mouthed back, stepping toward her and the boys and winding his big, strong arms around them.
“I love you all very much,” Dis whispered, her heart beating faster and harder with that love. The tears threatening to overflow her eyes fell, alongside an escaped sob. “My boys.”
And there the Durin family stood for long minutes, simply enjoying their closeness. At least until Kili broke away from the hug, laughing, and tugging his mother’s hand once more. “C’mon, Mummy, let’s buy books!”
Laughing, too, and discreetly wiping at her eyes, Dis nodded. “Alright. Let’s see what damage we can do to this giftcard.”
*
Dis was the first to step into Bag End Books, and she instantly fell in love.
“Oh, Thorin . . . boys. . . .” she breathed, looking around the large, yet homey space and all the neatly shelved books. Here and there were chairs and tables, and even a sofa for reading. The floors were shining hard-wood and creaked only slightly underfoot when one walked, said creakings interrupted by the Oriental rugs placed here and there. “Oh, what a wonderful place!”
“Toldja she’d like it,” Kili said from behind her, in a very loud whisper.
“I was the one who told you,” Fili whispered back, and before they could get into an argument over who told whom what, Thorin was shushing them and telling them to put on their “museum manners,” and not touch anything without asking first.
Dis, meanwhile, had shouldered her purse and was drifting around the space in front of the large picture window as one entranced. She literally did not know where to begin. Classics? Modern? Biography? She almost fell prey to vertigo trying to see everything at once!
Spotting a counter with a quaint-looking cash register and a pleasant-looking young man behind it, she immediately made her way over to him, Thorin and the boys on her heels.
She waited for the young man-perhaps eighteen or twenty-to finish ringing up an elderly customer. “You always have the best selection for such great prices,” the woman said in a trembling, but pleased voice. The young man smiled, and it took his face from pleasant to adorable in the space of a heartbeat, lighting up hazel eyes and making his cutely rounded face look even younger than it already did. He ran a hand through unruly, almost-auburn curls and blushed.
“You always say that, Mrs. Fleming,” he said in a pleasing tenor.
“That’s because it’s always true, Bilbo!” Chuckling, the elderly woman took her little brown bag of books and reached out to pat Bilbo on the cheek. “Now, you have a nice day.”
“I will. And you, too!”
Chuckling himself, the young man-Bilbo, according to Mrs. Fleming and to his own nametag-watched Mrs. Fleming go with a smile, then turned his gaze to Dis, Thorin, Fili, and Kili, his eyes lingering longest on Thorin, widening as his mouth dropped open a little.
“Erm, hullo! Welcome to Bag End Books! I’m Bilbo! How may I help you?” he chirruped, his eyes going between Dis and Thorin. A glance at Thorin showed that his eyes weren’t going anywhere but to Bilbo. And lingering there.
Well, Dis thought, smiling a little as she turned back toward the counter and Bilbo, who was staring at Thorin once more, like a man who’d just seen his dream step into reality.
Clearing her throat reluctantly, Dis held up her giftcard. “I have this card and I’d like to buy some books. The problem is, I have no Earthly idea where to begin. I’m a bit overwhelmed.”
Bilbo’s mild, but clearly still gobsmacked gaze came back to rest on Dis and he smiled. “That happens quite a bit when someone receives one of our giftcards. May I ask, is this your first visit to our little store?”
“Yes,” Dis said, charmed by Bilbo’s friendly manner. “I can’t believe I’ve lived in London for so many years and didn’t even know this place was here.”
“London’s best-kept secret, in my humble opinion,” Bilbo said, sotto-voiced, and Dis chuckled. Bilbo’s slightly uncertain smile widened and firmed. “At any rate, I’d be glad to have someone show you around, maybe help you choose a few books to be swept up by.”
“That’d be-quite nice, I think,” Dis said, glancing back at Thorin again-he was very obviously trying not to stare at Bilbo-and the rather well-behaved boys. She suddenly had a marvelous idea. “And you three can wait up here while I browse for a bit.”
“But Mum!”
“Aw, Mummy!”
“Will you keep an eye on them for a little while, for me, Thorin?” Dis asked sweetly, ignoring pleas to come with her from Fili and puppy-dog eyes from Kili. When Thorin nodded, his eyes still darting everywhere but at Bilbo, Dis turned back to Bilbo and put on her most innocent smile. “He’s really the best brother a girl could have, isn’t he?”
“Brother?” Bilbo seemed surprised. And indeed, he wouldn’t be the first to take Thorin for her husband. She and Thorin bore little enough of a physical resemblance to each other: but for their mother’s dark blue eyes, Thorin took almost entirely after their tall, burly, dark-haired father. And but for her father’s dark brown eyes and curls, Dis took entirely after their small, fair mother. “Oh, er, of course!”
Bilbo was quick to agree, blushing and stealing another glance a Thorin, and offering a smile before excusing himself for a moment.
“I’ll get you Bag End Books’ pre-eminent expert on all things literature. Be back in just a tic.”
Dis turned to watch Thorin watch Bilbo go, and snorted at the poleaxed look on Thorin’s normally somber face.
“Stare any harder, and he’ll burst into flame,” she noted dryly. Thorin glanced at her and blushed.
“I wasn’t staring.”
“His arse would beg to differ.” Dis snorted again and Thorin turned even redder, but didn’t take his eyes off the aforementioned arse till it rounded a corner and disappeared behind some shelves. “He’s very cute. And he couldn’t take his eyes off of you, either.”
Thorin cleared his throat gruffly. “That’s neither here nor there.”
“You should ask him to coffee.”
“No, I should not.”
“And why is that?”
“You think he hasn’t had a ton of leering patrons just randomly ask him out to coffee before?” Thorin glanced wistfully off in the direction Bilbo had gone. “Chatting up the staff is . . . not something I do. Ever.”
“Well. I think he’d say yes if you asked him.” Dis mused. “He seemed quite taken with you.”
Thorin choked then stammered. “I . . . I . . . have you not noticed how young he is? If he’s twenty, I’ll smile and eat this building from foundation to shingles!”
“You make it sound as if you’re ninety. You’re only thirty-four.” Dis dismissed. Then noting the boys’ curious eyes on them, leaned in to whisper. “And you can’t spend the rest of your life pining over Thranduil.”
“I’m not pining!” Thorin hissed back, his dark brows drawing together. “It’s been six years. No one pines after six years!”
“Then when was the last time you went on a date?”
“That would be in the third week of none of your business.”
Dis rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Bilbo rounded the corner again, with someone in tow. This time, Dis’ mouth was the one to drop open in a gape.
The woman walking slightly behind Bilbo was a couple inches taller than him, but bore a strong resemblance to him, but for the obvious difference in their respective ages. She had the same changeable hazel eyes and the same curly, almost-auburn hair. Her face was round, like Bilbo’s, and lightly tanned, as if she spent a lot of time outside-unlike Dis, who spent most of her time in the office, under fluorescent lighting, directing calls and other employees, and being the office nanny-and when she smiled, her teeth were even and white, with a slight gap between the front two. Her face was lined liberally with smile- and laugh-lines, but was, in spite of that, a very girlish face.
She, like Bilbo, was dressed in a Bag End Books t-shirt, but unlike the vest and jeans Bilbo wore with his, she wore an apron over fashionable twill trousers.
She had an air of intelligence about her, and of savoir faire that almost made Dis, in her old coat, faded Manchester United Jersey, and worn mom-jeans feel rather scruffy. Almost, but for the equally palpable air of sweetness and warmth that attended her as well.
Well, it’s obvious where Bilbo gets his personality from, Dis thought, her breath quite taken away as the woman, rather than step behind the counter, as Bilbo had, held out her hand to Dis, her direct hazel eyes taking in Thorin, Fili, and Kili, as well.
“Welcome to Bag End Books,” she said in a pleasantly low voice. She was smiling as Dis took her hand and a static shock passed between them, causing Dis to start and the woman to laugh, even as she held Dis’ hand for longer than was strictly necessary. “I’m Belladonna Took-Baggins, and I’ll be glad to help you get your bearings in this labyrinth.”
TBC