When you're reading a Thorin/Bilbo fanfic, you notice it doesn't have many tags, but the summary is so good that you decide to give it a chance. As you keep reading, you realize the plot is amazing, until certain details start to throw you off. Suddenly, it's mentioned that Kíli and Fíli are soulmates, and you think, "Oh, they probably mean platonic soulmates, or just that they're brothers with an incredibly strong bond. There's no way this is going to be romantic."
But deep down, you know that's probably not the case. You start noticing little hints that make you suspect the author is eventually going to pair them together. Even so, you keep reading, hoping you're wrong. Then the moment finally comes when the relationship is confirmed, and the whole story is ruined for you. You can't stop thinking about that part, and it ends up overshadowing everything else that was great about the fic. In the end, you just drop it and delete it because the idea of Kíli and Fíli as a romantic couple makes you uncomfortable. To you, they're brothers, and you simply can't see them any other way.
The worst part is that this has happened to me far too many times. So many fanfics with incredible, genuinely interesting plots end up being ruined because the authors don't tag from the beginning that Kíli and Fíli will have a romantic relationship. If that information were included in the tags, I could simply avoid reading those fics in the first place and spare myself the disappointment of getting invested in a story I was genuinely enjoying. Has this ever happened to you? And could someone please recommend a story where this doesn't happen, where they're just brothers and the pairing is Bilbo/Thorin?
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