Thorin looked at Bilbo who was sitting opposite of him on the great banquet table they had sat up in the Great Hall of Erebor. The hall had been decorated with countless candles which spread their soft light and softened even the hardest edges of the old dwarven walls.
It had been one year since they had been retaken Erebor, slain a dragon and defeated an army of Orcs.
The reconstruction of the old dwarven kingdom went slowly but with great care and with every detail that was necessary to let it shine again in its old greatness. Right before the battle he had not been at his greatest. He had been mad for the gold inside the treasury.
The first time he had laid eyes on it after long decades he was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it. It was all his. He did get clear again after he saw the dragon approaching. But after that the episodes of the gold sickness had become longer and longer. It had taken a battle and his nephews deeply wounded to set him entirely free from the influence of the gold.
His nephews, Fili and Kili, the Golden Lion of Erebor and his brother the Fierce Wolf, who had just shortly before the quest discovered their feelings for each other, had nearly paid for his stupidity. Now they were sitting next to each other, flirting shamelessly while feasting. Thorin smiled when he saw them like that. He was glad they had gotten back to their old spirits.
He looked over the table, his eye catching Dwalin who was sitting next to Ori. They were such an unlikely couple but yet they complemented each other perfectly. Where Dwalin was big and strong Ori was small and soft. It had taken long for them to allow the mutual feelings they shared, in Dwalin's case the fact that Ori was the brother to Nori, a thief he had tried to catch multiple times in Ered Luin. It had taken a long while for them but finally they had admitted their feelings for each other and would even marry in a few weeks.
Thorin looked over the table to Bilbo. He was basked in candlelight and looked more beautiful than ever. Candlelight suited Bilbo, as did every light, Thorin scolded himself, but it had been candlelight Thorin had gotten the first proper sight of his Hobbit. He immediately thought him beautiful. Even more beautiful than every gem and gold he had set his eyes on. Bilbo's hair shone like the purest of gold while his eyes twinkled like emeralds.
“-rin. Thorin! Are you even listening?” He must have been deeply lost in his thoughts because he only just noticed that Bilbo had asked him a question.
“Yes, yes. I am listening.”
“Well then ...what did I just say?”
“That you … like the roasted meat?”
Bilbo had to laugh. “I never liked that. Why should I now?” Bilbo stood up and walked around the table to Thorin. He laid his hand upon the dwarfs arm. “What troubles you, my King? The last I saw you that thoughtful was right after the battle.”
“Nothing troubles me, my Bilbo, my dear Bilbo. But one year ago I hadn't dared to think that we would sit this peacefully in that hall. One year ago I nearly lost everything that was dear to me.”
“Shhhh, don't talk any more.” Bilbo laid a finger upon Thorin's lips. “Everything is well now.”
Thorin smiled at Bilbo. He nearly had killed the kind Hobbit and yet he was loyal to him and supported him where he could. Bilbo had really to be in love with him. As he was with Bilbo.
“Did I ever tell you what I was thinking when I first saw you?”
“Yes, you told me that very clearly and in a mocking way. You thought me a grocer.”
Thorin had to laugh. “You will hold that against me for the next fifty years, won't you?” The King said softly.
Now Bilbo had to laugh. “Maybe.”
Thorin pulled Bilbo into his lap. It was just them and the company, so he didn't care to show his affection for Bilbo besides touching and linking their fingers as he did in court.
“I thought, all those month ago and half a world to the west, that you had to be the most kind and beautiful creature in the whole of Middle Earth. The first real look I got on you was in candlelight and it suited you so very well. You looked like an angel, like a saviour. My saviour.”
Bilbo had gotten red and looked up under heavy eyelashes. “Am I that? Your saviour?”
“That and so much more.” Thorin leaned in and kissed Bilbo deeply. He took all the time in the world and ignored the hail of catcalls from the company.
As he parted from Bilbo's lips he looked his Hobbit deep in the eyes. “Will you do me the honour and marry me, Bilbo Baggins? Will you do me the honour and become my Consort?”
Bilbo laughed and smiled brightly, the candlelight turning his hair in the purest gold. “Yes, yes I will.”
