“And just where exactly did y’ manage to find that?”
Amera smirked, pleased by the grin twitching onto Fili’s features, accompanied by an arched brow. “I picked it up in the market earlier. It wasn’t easy to hide it either, you know Bofur can sniff out any sort of drink within a league.” And it was true. Amera had slipped the two bottles of wine behind a curtain in the corner of Bard’s dingy home before anyone could spy here, only retrieving them once Bard and his children had gone to bed and the other dwarves had gone to lay their heads down.
With her free hand, Amera grabbed a hold of two glasses and moved to join Fili on the floor at their space before the hearth. “That’s m’girl,” He grinned fully now, leaning in to peck her lips as she handed him a bottle and placed the other one aside, “And what’s the reason for such a special occasion as this, hm? If you’re hopin’ to wine me up and get me to lower m’ morals, well-“
“Apparently it’s some sort of a holiday,” She snorts, holding out a pewter cup for him to fill, “I overheard some of the women speaking about it.” Amera takes a small sip, looking over the rim towards him. “You’re supposed to spend the day with someone who holds your affections.”
“Well,” Amera shrugged, huddling up beneath the blankets and drawing closer to him, “I had asked Oin if he had the evening free, but he didn’t quite seem to understand the implications of such a request and I didn’t wish for the wine to go to waste, so I thought I might as well as ask you.”
Fili huffed loudly and she laughed. “There y’ go again, always bringin’ up Oin! Y’ certain y’ don’t fancy him, too?”
However, his frown faded as she took another small sip of the wine and leaned in to kiss him. After a long moment, Amera rested her forehead against his, grinning and murmuring gently, “There’s only one I happen to fancy, if you must know.”
“That so?” Fili smirked, bumping his nose against her own as he reached to pour himself more wine.
By the time only half a bottle of wine remained, they had both grown warm and shrugged off the blankets about them, comfortable with the glowing hearth and the heat they both exuded. Fili’s braids had become tousled and messied, while the laces on the front of Amera’s robes were decidedly loosened. Luckily for them both, no one else in the house had decided they wished for a late night drink or bit of fresh air, and in turn had been granted their rare privacy.
Breaking their (increasingly sloppy) kiss, Amera reached to pour herself more wine. Flushed and giggly, she arched both brows at Fili as he moved to kiss her neck. There was a certain amount of familiarity between them now, she realized as she laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. The intricacies of the other were still largely unknown, but both she and Fili now at least had some idea of what the other liked, wished for. It was a new language to her, intimacy, but one she enjoyed learning despite her initial nervousness with Fili at her side.
“Fili,” She closed her eyes, voice growing dreamy as his braids tickled the delicate skin of her neck, “Do you know where we’ll be in a year?”
His lips paused while he snorted softly, “Hopefully not trapped in the corner of Bard’s dingy home.”
Amera giggled again, sipping her wine contentedly. “Of course not, at least…well, we’ll move to a different corner if that should happen. But, Fili, a year from now we’ll be in Erebor!” A quiet sigh and a few slurs coloring the ends of her words. “A year from now, you’ll have your home, Fili, your halls! Can you imagine them?”
He stopped then, resting her head against his shoulder in a rare display of what she suspected, despite the wine flowing through her, was shyness. “And….and y’ would like that, Amera? To be in Erebor?” Fili drew in a small breath. “W’ me?”
Amera shifted to meet his gaze, narrowing her eyes at him in confusion. “Of course I would, don’t be stupid! Even if they were covered in ash, I’d wish to be there with you.” She snorted, shaking her head and stealing another sip, speaking as if such were obvious, “I love you. You are, without a doubt, the best thing to ever happen to me.”
Fili stared at her then and she drunkenly worked to read his expression, but a moment later and his lips had crashed fully into her own. Amera eagerly returned it, a free hand weaving into his hair, but she gasped and pulled away as her hand tipped the wine onto his shirt. Cursing, she quickly began to look for something to clean it up, blushing from both the drink and embarrassment. However, Fili simply laughed and shook his head. He pressed a hand to her lips to silence her frantic apologies, “Amera, Mera’, it’s alright! Tis’ but a poor excuse for a shirt, anyway!”
She stared as he tugged it off casually, the firelight flickering over his muscled chest. Fili noticed her reaction and smirked proudly, winking at her. Amera recalled the last time they had gotten drunk together, in Imladris what seemed like an eternity ago. She had seen his torso for the first them and had been all but sick with humiliation at the feelings of lust that the wine had coaxed from her.
But now, things were different between them. They had grown, together, and somehow, impossibly, they had realized they needed each other. Even without the wine staining her lips, Amera would profess her love for him for any who asked it or doubted it. She gently pushed against his shoulder and his eyes widened briefly as her lips trailed to his stomach. He was warm, exuding the heat he so easily gave off, and Amera grinned as he fidgeted beneath her. A moment later however, and he had rolled atop her and kissed her fully, a hand reaching out to push the wine bottles out of the way.
Yes, a year from now, perhaps, she might be at his side in the stone halls of his forefathers, amidst what riches she could not imagine. But now, as Fili kissed her and her hands reached to tug off his belt, the cold, rough floorboards beneath her back were more than enough to call home.
