An Unexpected Family - Chapter Two
Warning: Talks about death, the military
Read the previous chapter here: https://captaindwobbit.tumblr.com/post/625828977843519488/an-unexpected-family-chapter-one or on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/7532368/chapters/59508406#workskin
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Monday September 1st, 2014
It took ages for the first day of school to roll around.
School was hell, everyone looked at her like she was a sick shelter puppy. Maybe she was, Ninnith wasn’t sure anymore. The prospect of seeing Uncle Thorin again helped her through it, but just barely. It would’ve been nice to spend the first day of school without the pitying glances. At least she was in Kíli’s class.
The new English teacher, Miss Baggins, also seemed very nice. She was also the only teacher who had treated her like a normal person, which Ninnith greatly appreciated. Miss Baggins was also going to be their form teacher for the year.
The rest school day had been uneventful, though, and she told Dís as much when the woman asked Ninnith how her day went.
Kíli was more enthusiastic, though, so excited he started talking with his mouth full during dinner, much to his mother’s annoyance. “We have a new form teacher, Miss Boggins. She teaches English and wears vests like headmaster Gandalf sometimes does. It’s like she’s wearing a uniform, like us, which is considerate of her.”
Ninnith rolled her eyes and swallowed her food before speaking. “Baggins, Kíli, her last name is Baggins.”
“Same difference”, the boy grumbled, and he stuck out his tongue.
The obvious more mature one out of the two, Ninnith rolled her eyes once more and decided to flick a mushroom at him when Dís turned her back to them to start cleaning up.
If the woman noticed, then she didn’t show it. “You’ve been awfully silent, Fíli, is something up?” she asked her son.
Fíli looked up from where he was frowning at his food as if it had personally offended him. “What?”
Kíli and Ninnith shot each other a Look before turning to the blonde in unison. “Is it a girl?” Kíli asked, beaming. Fíli growled and bumped his elbow into Kíli’s ribs. “No!” he exclaimed, voice cracking a little. It had begun to do that a lot lately, now that Fíli was 15. “It’s not a girl. There’s this new kid in our class, Ori. I tried to talk to him, but he just turned red, sputtered and then ran away.” The teen scratched the back of his head, frown not leaving his face. “He skipped a year, or so I’ve heard, and I figured he could use a friend. Guess not.”
“Hmm, Ori… Think I’ve heard that name before” Dís mused from where she was leaning against the kitchen counter. “I’m sure he’s just a bit socially awkward, it was nice of you to try to talk to him. Don’t just give up on him, okay? I’m sure he’d like a friend.”
Fíli got up from his seat with a shrug and put his plate and utensils in the dishwasher. “I’ll try, but I won’t go chasing him if he runs off again.”
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After dinner, Kíli and Ninnith sat on the couch to look at the homework they’d gotten and check out their textbooks. At least, that was what Ninnith was doing, Kili was just doodling on the front page of the notebook. Ninnith peeked over from where she was working, and saw that he’d drawn himself fighting a dragon with the text “Kíli’s Math Notes” on top of it.
The girl snorted at the drawing. “I like your pencil sword.”
“Sharpened pencils are dangerous”, Kíli said sternly, “I still have a scar in my palm from when you stabbed me with one.”
Rolling her eyes, Ninnith went back to look at the list of books Miss Baggins had given them. “I was 5, and I’ve already apologized for that so many times. Which book are you going to read for the upcoming assignment?”
Her friend shrugged a little, looking over at the list in her hands. “The thinnest. Books and I don’t mix well.”
Ninnith sighed and bumped his shoulder. “We used to read together all the time when we were kids.” She knew Kíli was dyslexic, but Ninnith wasn’t going to let it bring him down. “So what if you read a bit more slowly than the rest? Miss Baggins even put fun books on the list, too!”
“I’ll see, we still have time.” Kíli mumbled, going back to drawing, and Ninnith knew the conversation was over. She didn’t plan on completely letting it go, though. Kíli just needed some motivation.
“Are you looking forward to Uncle Thorin coming over?” Ninnith asked, deciding to change the subject. The brunet sat up to look at her, face split into a wide grin. “You bet your ass I am! I haven’t seen him in nearly over a year. Well, physically. Hope nothing bad’s happened to him, though.”
Ninnith took the brown strand of hair her friend was nearly eating and tucked it behind his ear. He’d started growing his hair after he’d stumbled of pictures of Uncle Thorin as a teenager. He’d looked like a different person, with his piercings and long hair. Still handsome, of course, Ninnith had to admit, and a bit like a mix of Fíli and Kíli. Kíli had started talking about getting his eyebrow pierced, but his mother had protested at that. She’d told him they could talk about body modifications again when he was 16. Kíli had just shrugged and agreed.
“Your Mum said he wasn’t injured, so there’s that. Maybe you can ask him to come with you to get a second hole pierced.” Then a conversation about weird body modifications followed, and they got lost in watching YouTube videos about them until Dís told them it was time for bed.
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Friday September 5th, 2014
Ninnith was nervous. She hadn’t seen Uncle Thorin in several years. The girl didn’t really know how he would react to seeing her in his sister’s house. She herself still felt like a bit of an intruder at times. It was one thing to be close to a family, and another to live with them.
The sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted her train of thought, and Kíli shot up from where he was sitting next to her on the couch to go open the door. Fíli shook his head at how his brother jumped over the back of the couch – something their mother had told them not to do – and followed his brother at a calmer pace.
Ninnith could hear the door opening and Dís greeting her brother. Then Fíli and Kíli’s voices filled the hallway. All right, she could do this. Taking several deep breaths, she got off the couch and walked over to the hallway.
The blonde was just about to step into the hallway when Thorin nearly bumped into her, and she scolded herself for having waited too long to go. It had only felt like seconds!
“Oh, hello, I’m Thorin”, the man fumbled a bit awkwardly, and it honestly made Ninnith feel better to know she wasn’t the only socially challenged person in the room. “Uhh, not sure if you remember me, it’s been a long time.”
"Yes, I remember you, " Ninnith took a smiled slightly, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss the tall man on the cheek. "uncle Thorin." The man's shoulders visibly relaxed, and his eyes glossed over. Oh no, he couldn't cry. If he started crying, then Ninnith would too. She'd always had issues with that sort of thing. Blue eyes focusing on Ninnith’s green ones, he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly.
“Who wants food?” Dís yelled from the kitchen, breaking the rather awkward silence. Thorin had looked like he wanted to say something, but Fíli and Kíli both ran to the kitchen, and the tension was broken.
Dinner looked delicious, Dís’ lasagna had always been one of Ninnith’s favourites. The blonde girl filled her plate while Kíli bombarded his uncle with questions, talking so quickly it was amazing the man understood at all. If she was honest, she was zoning out while eating until she heard Kíli ask how long Thorin was staying.
“I’ll start looking for apartment next week, but I’m going to stay here for a while”, their uncle replied before finishing the last bite of his garlic bread.
Kíli positively beamed at that – the teen was looking forward to spending time with his uncle. “Uncle, why did you come back? You haven’t said, and Mum won’t tell us.”
Thorin smiled and grabbed some more garlic bread. “I decided it was time for me to be with my family more often.” The dark-haired man met Dís’ equally blue eyes at those words, the smile not leaving his face. There was something sad in his eyes, though, Ninnith noticed. It was the same look Dís got sometimes, when she thought no one could see her.
Ninnith finished up her food and patted her stomach. “Wow, I’m so full, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat for the next few days.” She got up and quickly put her plate in the dishwasher. “Hey Fíli, could you maybe come help Kíli and I with our maths homework? There’s this one question we just can’t solve.” Kíli frowned a bit, he hadn’t really talked with his friend about maths yet. He was used to Ninnith’s schemes, though, so he didn’t say anything. His brother just looked confused. “Really? We have all weekend, does it need to be- ow!” Fíli turned to glare at his brother, who’d just kicked him under the table. “Okay, if it’s that urgent…”
“Great, thanks Fee. Dinner was absolutely delicious, Dís, thank you!” And with that, all three of the teens left the room and headed upstairs.
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“Okay, so what was all that about?” Fíli asked once they’d made it to the boys’ bedroom, arms crossed over his chest. “Uncle Thorin obviously has to talk to your Mum about something, so I’m giving them some time.” She ran a hand through her hair and sat down on Fíli’s desk chair, spinning around.
“They could’ve done so after we all went to bed. You didn’t have to lie about homework.” The older teen grumbled and walked over to the chair, grabbing it to keep it from spinning. “And stop spinning my chair like that, you’ll break it.”
Ninnith tilted her head back to look at him, smiling a little. “So grumpy! What happened to our fun-loving Fíli?” The older teenager glared at her at first, but then her smirked. “I’ll show you fun-loving!” Fíli reached over and started tickling the girl’s sides. That would teach her not to antagonize someone who knew all her ticklish spots!
Kíli cleared his throat from where he was sitting on his bed, and lifted up his maths notebook. “We actually do have maths homework. I don’t know about her, but I need help with this. You two can continue that-” The brunette waved a hand in Ninnith and Fíli’s general direction, “when you’re done helping me.”
Fíli instantly took his hands off of Ninnith and she would’ve fallen off if he hadn’t reached out to steady her. Her face was red and her hair a mess, but she still sent a fierce glare his way.
The taller teen just grinned at her and went over to Kíli to help him.
Ninnith decided to leave them to it and go to her own room to read reviews on the books on Miss Baggins’ reading list. It was quite the list, and it a lot of fiction novels, which delighted the girl. She was used to having stuffy English teachers who would only allow non-fiction or incredibly boring fiction (it’s not that she hated Jane Austen, but her books were just so tedious to read). She was, however, finding it difficult to decide between the numerous books, two of them being Great Expectations and Ninety Eighty Four. She hadn’t read either of them, despite them being classics. Schindler’s Ark/List had been briefly considered, but Ninnith had decided she wasn’t quite in the right headspace for that book right now. Maybe in the second term. Then there was of course The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which had been a pretty good book, but one she’d never written a report on. It would save her time, but she didn’t want to be a lazy student. Ninnith wanted to impress Miss Baggins.
After about half an hour of reading reviews, she decided to slip on her pyjamas and get comfortable on the bed. Opening YouTube, she scrolled mindlessly through her feed and clicked on a random video. The girl didn’t really care what she watched, as long as it distracted her.
After watching YouTube for what could’ve been twenty minutes or two hours, Ninnith drifted off to sleep.
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When she awoke, her room was completely dark and her mouth felt like she hadn’t drank any water in about a year. Tiptoeing on bare feet, she made her way downstairs, cringing whenever the old stairs creaked. Perhaps the sound of the gentle rain tapping on the windows would mask the sound.
Ninnith got to the kitchen, and was surprised to find it already occupied.
“Oh, hi uncle Thorin”, the girl whispered to the dark-haired and tired looking man. “Just wanted to grab a cuppa before heading back to bed.” The man didn’t react much, he just nodded. In the harsh kitchen light, the bags under his eyes were more defined. The silence was deafening, yet was harshly interrupted when Ninnith opened the cabinet to grab the box of chamomile tea. “Want some?” She turned her head to look at her not-quite-Uncle, and he seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding.
Ninnith prepared the two cups of tea, the only sounds in the kitchen the clanking of tea cups when she set both of them down on the kitchen table. She froze first at the scraping noise the kitchen chair made when she pulled it out, but sat down after a few seconds. The teen carefully picked up her cup and blew on it. At least she had something to do with her hands that way. Ninnith tapped on the cup to keep herself from saying anything. Her cup soon became half-empty, and not a word had been spoken.
“Do you want to talk about it?” The teen asked softly after a few more moments of silence.
Thorin’s head shot up from where he’d been staring at his own mug, as if he only just remembered someone else was in the room with him. “Talk about what?”
No, Ninnith wasn’t having any of that. She was young, yes, but not oblivious. “The real reason you came back home. The reason you’re not in bed right now.”
Blue eyes stared into Ninnith’s own green ones, but she didn’t budge. She’d had years of practice with Kíli and his moods. Thorin finally sighed and ran a hand over his face. “It’s not something someone your age should worry about.”
The girl huffed and took a sip of tea before replying. “Someone my age shouldn’t have to worry about their parents dying, yet here I am.”
The man’s eyes went a little wide at that, but Ninnith just shrugged and offered a sad smile. “Doctor Peredhel says talking about things helps you process them.” Thorin didn’t ask who Doctor Peredhel was, and she appreciated it. It was true, though. Talking to the therapist had helped a lot, he also never pushed her.
“Being in the military, you see things. A lot of things no one – even adults – should see.” He grasped his cup with both hands but didn’t lift it. Instead he stared down at it. “I saw too many people die, and then I heard about Bel- about your parents.” Thorin’s voice was rough with emotion, but Ninnith didn’t dare move or interrupt. A lump was suddenly stuck in her throat. “I had to come home.” That seemed to be all he was willing to say. And that was okay, really, Ninnith wasn’t here to pry. She also didn’t quite want to know the details.
The teen put her cup down and placed her hands on Thorin’s, which were now gripping his own cup too tightly. “Well, I for one am glad you’re here, Uncle. And I know everyone else is, too.” She squeezed the man’s hands and finished the rest of her tea in one gulp. “But if you do need someone to talk to, I could give you Doctor Peredhel’s card. He’s easy to talk to.” Thorin didn’t say anything, but she could tell he was thinking.
Her ‘good night’ was answered distractedly and it made Ninnith frown. She hoped Thorin would accept her offer, or at least talk to someone. It would perhaps get rid of the haunted look in his eyes.
Once in bed, she lay staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours before finally falling into a restless sleep.
Read the next chapter here:to be added
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