Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It was snowing outside and Bilbo leaned his head on his hand as he leaned against the counter of his shop. He was watching the snow fall and startled as the bell over the door announced a new customer. A few customers, actually. Bilbo stood up and watched as the group sat down. They pulled nearly all of his chairs together to get the group around a cluster of tables. He busied himself with cleaning up as he watched them get settled, as much as a group of goth and metal men could.

Bilbo walked over with his notepad out and smiled and caught at least some attention. “What drinks can I get for you guys?” he asked.

They all started talking at once and Bilbo's eyes widened as his hand froze over his notepad. A man in the middle with long braided hair stood up and banged on the table.

“I will call on you to go and you'll shut up until then,” he said and everyone did as he said with only mild grumbling. “Hi, I'm Thorin, there's 13 of us here and I'm so sorry about that but we're all related so we suffer too. A friend said you had a great mocha, so I'll try that and uh,” he looked down at the menu again. “A blondie.” He looked up with a sheepish smile and sighed as he went through a dozen odd and closely confusing names and orders.

“Hey, thanks for your patience and absolutely no rush on everything, we're here to relax after all,” the man, Thorin, said with another soft smile.

Everyone set their menus down and Thorin collected them to hand to Dwalin to give back to Bilbo. Bilbo took them back and put his notepad in his apron pocket and went back to start on all the orders. He put the menus away and pinned the order up, putting his hands on his hips as he took a deep breath and got to work. Bilbo works calmly as he goes through the motions of making all the drinks. The group is loud but Bilbo enjoys seeing them enjoy themselves and grins as he catches bits and pieces of their conversations. He could tell they were all family and the friendly, if loud, conversation was a nice change of pace for the quiet shop owner.

Thorin seemed worried about how Bilbo would react because he kept glancing over to check on the softer man. Bilbo would just smile and hope it reassured the man that he was enjoying the company, after all, he was. He hadn't grown up with siblings and his family was a different kind of chaos than this so it was a nice change of pace. And every time Thorin looked over, Bilbo started to notice how gorgeous the man was. His bright blue eyes held a mixture of emotions, mostly the worry, but also the total love for his family, the laugh lines as he made fun of his nephew's love life, his meticulously braided hair that shone in the winter light.

Bilbo finished up the drinks and took one last longing glance at Thorin before loading the drinks and food onto trays, taking a couple trips to bring everything to the tables. He triple checked his list before heading over, doing his best to distribute the drinks and food to the right people. A few still got mixed up, but Thorin gave him an impressed look as he ended with his order.

“You did better than our family ever does,” he said with a chuckle. “Thank you, Bilbo.” The table echoed his thanks and Bilbo disappeared behind the counter again.

Bilbo watched them as he busied himself cleaning the counter and kept his chuckles low as he kept up with their boisterous conversation. He looked up as the bell rang and some of his favorite regulars walked in.

“Bard, Thrainduil, how are we today?” Bilbo asked.

“We'll be better after warming up here. My princess was craving something sweet, so of course we came to you. Think you can deliver?” Bard said

Bilbo chuckled. “I hope it will live up to his royal expectations, but we can certainly find something. The almond croissant has been popular lately, but there's always the fudge brownie to rely on. And a caramel macchiato pairs well with both.”

Bard looked over at Thranduil. “Well, love, what'll it be?”

“Let's try the almond croissant today, I'm feeling adventurous in the holiday season,” he said in that lilting voice of his.

“Alright! And for you Bard?”

The man shrugged. “Whatever holiday themed treats the chef suggests.”

Bilbo grinned. “How about a peppermint mocha and a matching fudge?”

“Sounds good to me,” he replied.

The couple sat at a table near the window and talked quietly, the opposite of the big group of men across the way from them. Bilbo focused on making the order for the couple and watched with a forlorn smile as Thorin's group started getting up and putting their things into a neat pile. Kili whispered to Thorin and the others around him chuckled at the comment. Bilbo's curiosity rose but he picked up the order for Bard and Thranduil and walked over to them.

“Here you are, gentlemen. Hopefully it will warm you up on this wintry day,” Bilbo said and laid down their order.

“Thank you Mister Baggins,” Thranduil said.

“Yes, thanks, Bilbo,” Bard said.

Thorin's company passed by him with thanks and some odd winks his way as he went back to the counter.

“Thank you for everything, Bilbo. This was wonderful,” Thorin said, keeping the rear of his group.

“Of course, my pleasure, Thorin,” he replied, his face heating at the compliment.

Thorin gave him a smile and walked out. Bilbo went back to his usual cleaning as the door shut on the man, but jerked his head up as Thranduil spoke to him.

“I see you've gotten yourself tangled up with a rugged man as well.”

“What? Uh, no,” Bilbo sputtered.

Bard and Thranduil both grinned. “You sure about that? I see a little piece of paper on that table that would beg to differ,” Bard pointed out.

Bilbo looked over at the table and sure enough, in Thorin's place was a scrap of paper with a note written on it. “Dec 24, 22h Holiday party”

Bilbo held it up and asked himself, “ Should I go?”

He startled as both Thranduil and Bard answered him with an exasperated, “Yes!”

He put the paper in his apron pocket and finished cleaning up the tables with a smile. He finished just as the couple did.

“You remind me of myself in my early days with Bard, go for it and don't let their chaos keep you from the love you feel,” Thranduil said to him.

Bard grinned as he put his arm around Thranduil’s waist. “Yeah, you've already made a space in the man's heart. It'll get a little crazy but it'll be worth it.”

“Thanks, guys. I'll keep it in mind,” Bilbo said.

“We'll be excited to hear all about it soon,” Bard said as they walked out with a wave.

Chapter Text

Bilbo put on a green sweater and a red bowtie, deciding on a more casual holiday outfit for the party. And he wanted to look nice, not silly, to impress Thorin.

“Is that what I'm doing? Why I'm going?” he asked himself. He sighed and shook his head.

That day when Thorin's company came in was nice in a way beyond just a pretty face. The connection that the company had and the community they invited him into was what he was really going for. Running a small coffee shop brought some sociality into his life, but he didn't have many true friends outside of his regulars. So this was to a life outside of his work.

Bilbo made his way to the party and arrived just a few minutes after the starting time. He was invited in by a beautiful woman who had not been there on the day the company came in. She introduced herself as Dee and brought Bilbo straight to Thorin.

The larger man threw his arm around Bilbo and gave him a half hug. “Hey, you came! So glad to see you.”

Bilbo melted into the hug and smiled. “Yeah, of course I came, I needed some crazy in my life.”

Thorin chuckled and handed him a mug of eggnog. “Well, it'll only get crazier from here. Hope you're ready. And saw you met my sister, Dee.” At the mention, she popped up again and waved.

“Yeah, he hasn't stopped talking about you since that visit. Glad to finally get to meet you,” she said with a wink.

Thorin was bright red and chuckled. “She's my older sister alright. Just... ignore her, it's - whatever.”

Bilbo chuckled with him and nodded. It was sweet that Thorin shared things with his family and they were comfortable enough to tease him.

Bilbo stayed near Thorin for the night and he awkwardly joined in all their cheers and drinking throughout the night. A small box weighed heavily in his hand and as he and Thorin sat together on a couch in the living room, he brought it out. Thorin's dark hair and outfit contrasted the light colored couch and Bilbo watched him take a drink and smiled.

“I didn't think you'd be here today,” Thorin said to him.

Bilbo looks up with wide eyes and grins. “I know! But this is lovely, I'm having a grand time.” He paused to hold up the small present he brought. “Also, I happened to overhear you talking about how everyone forgets your birthday since it's so near the end of the year...” Bilbo paused, keeping his eyes locked on the box, he was too scared to look at Thorin's reaction. “So, I brought you a little gift. I...I hope you like it. But if you don't -” he was cut off unexpectedly, letting out a surprised sound, as Thorin rushed forward to kiss him. Bilbo melted into the kiss and sat the box on Thorin's lap and reached to run his hands through Thorin's hair.

Thorin pulls back and grins at Bilbo. “You are the sweetest man ever. Sorry to just rush in like that, but I couldn't help it.” The usually untouchable looking man was blushing and smiling, his hair a bit messy but so beautiful.

Bilbo gave him a little peck on the lips and hugged him. “You are so sweet, too. I do hope you like the present but I think you gave me a much better one.”

Thorin blushed more and buried his burning face in Bilbo's curls.

“Merry Christmas, Thorin. And here's to many more,” Bilbo whispered and clinked their drinks together.

This brings Thorin out of his embarrassment and he grins as he drinks. “To many more,” he echoed while pulling Bilbo closer to him.