Bilbo tries his hand at match-making. What he doesn't expect is to find his perfect match in the process...
On his way back to the Blue Mountains from a meeting in Rivendell, Thorin is ambushed on the forest path. His would-be attacker is not at all what he expected, however - instead a poor and hungry hobbit looking to steal his food. Fortunately for Thorin, this hobbit makes a god damn awful thief.
Bilbo is very popular amongst the people of Erebor - after all, he did save their city from a certain dragon. But this has gone too far. The very cheek of it... IN which Thorin is jealous of anyone and everyone and Bilbo doesn't even realise.
Thorin should have learnt not to trust his brother and sister by now. Come with us on holiday, they’d said. It’ll be fun, they’d said. A nice break from work. Yeah right. All this holiday had brought him was being knocked around the head, acute hay-fever, and the biggest, most ridiculous crush ever on the cute, golden-haired fishing instructor.
Bilbo enjoys his quiet existence as a librarian and is perfectly content with living adventure only through books. He's got a nice house and a good job; if his love life is lacking a little, well, that's his own problem and he doesn't let it bother him. But then the arrival of an old family friend with a penchant for fireworks and grey clothes puts a definite spanner in the works, and Bilbo suddenly has a boyfriend and is on his way to meet the in-laws. Of course, nothing is ever easy for Bilbo Baggins.
A chance purchase at the market reawakens Bilbo's love and skill of painting - he will sit for hours, happily mixing colours to his heart's content. And then the requests start coming for portraits, including from the one dwarf who makes Bilbo's heart skip a beat. If it means he gets to spend evenings in Thorin's company under the guise of a reference for his painting, who is Bilbo to refuse?
Courting one's Beloved is a difficult enough process at the best of times, with complex customs and many steps to remember. For Thorin Oakenshield, it's a whole lot more complicated than that. For a start, his Beloved is a hobbit who has absolutely no idea that he even is Thorin's Beloved, let alone the steps of courtship. Secondly, Thorin may or may not be completely invisible to said hobbit, for reasons only the Maker knows. As Thorin is swiftly learning, Mahal has ever laughed upon his sons of the Line of Durin.