The Danger In Missing You

credit goes to Fantasyinallforms

WARNING: SMUT

Summary:

Tragedy strikes the mountain in the form of a cave-in. What's worse is Thorin is away from Erebor and not set to return for several days. Bilbo is determined to help, and when he puts his mind to the task, few are capable of stopping him.

      This was the first time he and Thorin had been parted since reclaiming Erebor nearly a year ago. It was nine days. Hardly a blink in the grand perspective, yet every day seemed to drag. It was made worse that Thorin's reason for leaving had been shrouded in such secrecy. Now he lay sprawled out on his unnecessarily large bed with two days left to go before his love returned and conjuring more and more wild fantasies about his reason for leaving and his fate without him.

In the middle of a spiraling thought about Thorin getting lost and ending up in Gondor, he felt the mountain shake. Bilbo gripped the footboard with a shriek as the rumbling and shifting of the stone slowed to a stop. He stared at the floor in shock as the usually noisy mountain grew dead silent. Then, the next moment, the mountain was louder than ever before. Alarms and the sound of moving feet sprinting in the same direction thundered across Erebor. The shock of the event faded, and Bilbo, too, was on his feet, moving with the crowd. His size served him well as he weaved through the hurrying dwarves, trying to catch sight of a familiar face. Finally, he spotted Dwalin.

"Dwalin!" Bilbo shouted, but it was futile. The amount of noise drowned out any hope of him being heard. He made a beeline for the dwarf until he was at the foot of the stone dais he was standing on. "Dwalin!" He shouted again. This time, he was heard. Dwalin looked down and cursed violently under his breath.

"What are you doing here, Burglar? You're going to get yourself crushed!" another group of Dwarves rushed past with carts, and Bilbo nearly got swept up in the crowd before Dwalin pulled him onto the platform with him. "Thorin will have my head! Go back to the royal quarters!" Dwalin commanded.

"Not before someone tells me what happened!" Bilbo rebutted. Dwalin growled but eventually relented.

"One of the lower mines collapsed. It was a big one. People are rushing to lend aid. Bofur and Balin are leading teams to get the miners out." Dwalin rushed his explanation as he directed the flow of people through the tunnels.

"There are people trapped!" Bilbo turned his head and saw that the wagons were carrying medical supplies and, to his dismay, ceremonial blankets for the dead. "Where was the collapse? I can help!" Bilbo shouted,

"Not a chance hobb-" Bilbo didn't let him finish and jumped from the dias into the back of a cart.

"Sorry Dwalin!" He shouted as the wagon drew on. He would get an earful for that later. The cart took him straight to the mess, and true to his word, Balin and Bofur were shouting orders at dwarves as they came in. The area before the collapse was more spacious than he had anticipated. There was plenty of room for triage and prep. The bulk of the dwarves that had come to assist were creating a line with miners in the front and others in the back passing rocks in the quickest, most efficient way possible. The task looked insurmountable. There had to be at least a ton of rubble blocking the cave entrance.

"Balin, how can I help?" Bilbo shouted as he neared. Balin nearly fell off the rock he was standing on. His eyes went wide with shock, which was quickly replaced with worry.

"Bilbo, you shouldn't be here! Thorin will have my head when he gets back!" Balin grabbed him by the shoulder and started leading him back to the road. Bilbo grumbled under his breath. Despite being brothers, it wasn't always easy to see the similarities between Balin and Dwalin. Right now, they might as well be twins. He was also starting to get angry at the absent Thorin for setting these sentiments in place. He batted Balin's hand away.

"No! You will tell me how I can help, or I will make myself useful." He refused to be swayed from helping. He was courting the king! These were his people! Before an argument could start, a dwarf from the beginning of the line of people passing rocks frantically called Balin over. Balin sprinted to speak to him, Bilbo on his tail.

"Lord Balin! There are a few miners trapped further in. We don't know how many, but one managed to yell for help. We haven't heard anything in over ten minutes and think he might have passed out. There is no way to get to them in time. It'll take another two hours to clear the rubble without causing another collapse". Bilbo stepped away from the conversation. He went just enough where he could still hear Balin and the miner's conversation, but he wanted to get a closer look at the cave-in. Big chunks of rough stone came down all at once and were propped up by other looser boulders. That was above. Below, a channel seems to have been made far too small for any dwarf. A snug fit for himself even but not-. Bilbo turned back to the conversation when he heard Balin let out a resigned sigh and proclaim the dwarves trapped as an unfortunate loss.

"What do you mean a loss?" Bilbo questioned.

Balin regarded him. "No helping it, laddie. There is no knowing if they are dead or alive. If they are alive, they're critically injured at best, and we'll get to them too late. We'll retrieve them to give them proper dwarven funerals, but we're not holding hope for anything more."

"You're going to write them off without trying anything else! What if it were Bofur or Bifur trapped in there? No. This is not acceptable at all. There must be something else we can try!" The look from Balin and other dwarves gathered around the conversation said they were entertaining no other options.

"Bilbo, I know this is your first time seeing a cave-in of this magnitude. It's difficult to come to terms with, even for seasoned miners." Balin's tone was pitying, and it did nothing but stoke the coals of Bilbo's resolve hotter. If Balin had given up, then he would have to take matters into his own hands. He waited for Balin to turn away before heading back toward the cave-in. He looked down at his attire, which was already dirty from just being down here, and opted to remove the waistcoat he had hastily thrown on. Best not to do more damage to it than necessary. He would have to climb on his stomach to get through the tunnel.

"You're looking might suspicious over here. Taking your coat off and everything makes it look like you might be trying to sneak your way through that little tunnel in the bottom," Bofur leaned against the rock beside him, twirling his pickax. Despite his always cheerful disposition, he looked haggard. There were several cuts on his face and arms. His hands looked worked raw. Even his hat suffered damage.

"Are you going to tell me to return to the royal chambers too?" Bilbo gruffed. Bofur held his hands up in surrender.

"You wouldn't listen to me if I did, so what's the point." Bofur looked at him calculatingly, then back at the entrance. "Do you think you can get to them?"

"Yes," Bilbo replied resolutely.

"Alright, then I'll cover you. But be careful and try to come out in one piece. If Thorin finds out I helped you and you get hurt, I'll be visiting my forefathers sooner than preferred. He might kill me anyway, frankly. In you go, I suppose." Bofur blocked the small entrance with his body as best he could until Bilbo crawled far enough so his legs weren't sticking out. "The miners should still have their packs. Water, a little food, and minor first aid provisions. If you think they have a concussion, don't let them eat anything. My stone sense tells me there are a few rocks on the other side you'll have to really push to get through. They're loose, and the other rocks are keeping it stable, so it shouldn't cause a structural issue. Don't take risks, Bilbo... and thank you. Those are good dwarves in there. Names are Naris and Kurisa."

The scariest part of crawling through the tunnel was the lack of light. Bofur had entirely blocked the entrance he came from, and there was no light ahead. Bilbo had never experienced true dark before. It felt oppressive. It made the cramped place feel smaller, and he felt his breath speed up. Perhaps Balin was right. This was a fool's errand. He tried to move forward, nauseously aware of how close the walls were to him as he felt the scrape of hem on his arms. He closed his eyes tight, knowing that the darkness of his eyelids was no different than the darkness of the tunnel, but in so many ways, it was. He willed his breath to slow and thought of things that made him happy, things he looked forward to. As always, Thorin came to mind. His strong, stubborn Thorin. He would be so cross and equally worried, but he would walk him through this all the same. Bilbo listened to Thorin's voice in his head, and his resolve grew with every memory of the sound of that deep, rich voice.

The tunnel, it turned out, was not as deep as it looked or felt. Bilbo found the rocks Bofur spoke of with the top of his head, wincing in pain and glaring at the point ahead despite his inability to see it. Heeding Bofur's advice, he put his hands out in front of him and pushed with everything he could muster. It still took multiple tries, but the rocks gave way. Bofur had said they were stable, but Bilbo still took a few extra minutes before he moved again.

The space opened up immediately, and the air smelled less like dust. He stayed on his hands and knees and searched with his hands for a person or a supplies pack. He found several jagged rocks with his face but eventually stumbled upon a pack. Bilbo let out a shaky laugh and promised to kiss the grass in Yavanna's name as his hand wrapped around the handle of a torch. He searched the pack and felt the familiar cold of a flint and steel. Bless dwarves and their resourcefulness. He struck it against the torch, and at last, his vision was restored. With his confidence back, he set himself to his task. He became aware of the reason for not running into the dwarves in his blind stumble. They were slumped against each other on the far wall. A sight that made Bilbo's chest ache.

He looked over their conditions and grimes. They were pale, cut in half a dozen places, and the dwarf on the right was clutching his arm to his side concerningly. He placed his hand under their noses and let out a wet laugh of relief that they were still breathing. It was time to wake them. He started with the one on the right. Shaking did nothing, and neither did yelling or splashing them with water. Frustrated and out of options, he went back to the tunnel and shouted for Bofur. Balin answered.

"BILBO! What in Malal's name are you doing!"

"I'm helping! Go get Oin. I need him!" Balin's shadow moved away and, a few minutes later, returned.

"You hurt in there, laddie?" Oin's voice was a relief to hear.

"A little scratched up, nothing major. I can't wake up the dwarves. Nothing I tried worked!" Bilbo pleaded.

"Slap them!" Oin replied.

"Do what now?"

"Slap. Them. They're hardy, being they won't break, especially under your hand. No offense." "Won't that make them enraged when they wake up?" Bilbo called back.

"Might do. Be prepared to duck, and if they can move enough to reach you before realizing who you are, then they're probably in decent shape." That rationalization didn't make Bilbo feel much better, but it had a simple logic. Balin didn't seem to share the sentiment. Bilbo's keen ears heard him mumbling.

"He's going to kill me. Thorin is going to battle me to the death when he gets back." under his breath.

Bilbo did as Oin suggested, and it worked surprisingly well. The dwarf roared angrily and rubbed his face before searching for his assailant. When his eyes settled on Bilbo, they went wide.

"Lord Bilbo, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, not this again." Bilbo slid a hand down his face in irritation. "I'm here to help. What's your name? Are you seriously hurt, and what happened to your friend?"

"This is not merely my friend. I'm Naris. This is my wife, Kurisa." Naris started to move but shouted in pain when he tried. "Ahhh! My leg. I think it's broken." His wife! Bilbo looked at the other dwarf in surprise, only now registering the subtle differences in features that set female dwarves apart. They looked and were treated so much alike that Bilbo still couldn't tell men from women apart at first glance. Bilbo rushed to Naris's side and used a knife he found in the pack to cut the fabric of his trousers to reveal his leg. The flesh was red and purple. But not twisted at the wrong angle, so rockfall broke it. He turned to Kurisa and gingerly parted the front of her tunic to see the damage done. It was a sharp wound not done by a rock but something more pointed. The wound was packed haphazardly, which turned the rush of blood from a spout to a slow trickle. Still, She had lost a lot of blood. The wound bore a sicking resemblance to the one Thorin had received after the battle, and he shut his eyes against the memory. His voice and tears betrayed him anyway.

"What did this?" Bilbo choked. Naris looked at him with sympathy.

"A pickaxe. She had it anchored in the stone to test a pocket when the rumble happened. She fell, and the pickax dislodged. I tried to stop the bleeding, but I passed out." Naris placed a comforting hand on Bilbo's shoulder, and Bilbo tried to push past the memories of grief.

"One moment. OIN!" Bilbo shouted. A gruff response was his queue to speak again. "One broken leg and one puncture wound. Kurisa won't wake up. She lost too much blood!" He heard Oin swear before responding.

"Take the belt off Naris and tie it around his upper thigh. Bind it tight. So tight it almost hurts too much to bear. As for Kurisa, pack it with fresh bandages and try and tie it off. It's the best you can do for now." Bilbo did just that, taking no pleasure in the scream it elicited from Naris. He found the bandages he needed for Kurisa but no cloth. He looked down at his own shirt. It was too small to wrap around her chest, tight enough to bind it.

"Use my shirt," Naris instructed. Bilbo nodded. The shirt was enough to get the bleeding to stop entirely, and now they just waited. Silence didn't last long as they started a conversation about life and risk. Bilbo listened to Naris tell the story of how he and Kurisa met. He spent four months down dead shafts in Ered Luin trying to find a gem that fit her. He never did. One day, she confronted him about why he didn't seem interested in wanting to marry her. She looked so hurt that he gave in and told her everything. She was livid that he thought she would care about something like that, but he still wanted to offer her something, so he forged her marriage stone out of glass. Something that was considered a below-poor thing to do. Even after they gained money and a new home with gems a plenty in Erebor, she kept that glass stone and refused all others. The story was touching, making Bilbo ache for Thorin to be home all the more.

The sound of pickaxes on stone grew ever nearer until Bilbo could hear talking on the other side.

"Bilbo! If you can hear me, step as far away as you can from this rock!" It was Bofur's voice, and Bilbo shouted back his confirmation. However, there wasn't much space to comply. The moment the rockface was open, there was a swarm of dwarves around them, and Bilbo was lifted off his feet and carried out. He only stopped objecting to this when he saw Naris and Kurisa also being carried out. All three were deposited onto cots in a makeshift med station as Oin got to work on Kurisa's wounds. Bilbo spent the next hour being yelled at and then hugged by about half of the company, but mostly Dwalin. The bombardment stopped when Oin joined them.

"He'll be fine with time, and she'll pull through, which means due to Master Baggins, we lost no one." Naris beamed at Bilbo after hearing the news and sat up just enough to address him.

"Lord Bilbo, it is said that you are the king's hobbit, are you not?" Naris asked

"I am my own hobbit, but I am courting the king if that's what you mean to ask," Bilbo replied.

Naris bowed his head. "Then thank you, your highness. I would kneel if I could, but my life is in your service should you ever need it." Completely taken aback, Bilbo quickly stammered a reply.

"Your Highness is not my title! I did this because I care about the people of Erebor and nothing else. You owe me nothing, especially your life!"

"I do, Your Highness. If our king is as great and sure of character as he is meant to be, then you will be our consort in a short time. I will again pledge myself to your service when that title is rightfully bestowed." Those words lingered with Bilbo all evening and into the next until his greenhouse door was slammed open by an infuriated-looking Thorin.

"What do you mean he nearly came to harm!" Thorin was standing with both hands flat on the table in front of him, glaring at Balin. He had been gone for nine long days. A necessary departure to retrieve the last material of his final courting gift to Bilbo. This last gem was all he needed to properly and finally finish a masterwork worthy of his future consort and co-ruler of dwarven kind. He was assured before he left that all would be well in his absence. He was wrong. He had gotten back around midday, and without alerting anyone, he rushed to his forge to put the gem he had sought in his final gift. Pleased with himself, he put his new masterwork in his bag and headed for his room. He barely made it out of the forge before he was waylaid by Balin.

"Look here, laddie; we both know Bilbo gets up to his own trouble." Balin sighed. His adviser knew him well enough to expect this reaction. He tried to reign it in, but it just ended up sounding cautiously calm, like a man about to snap.

"What happened?" Thorin seethed through gritted teeth.

"We had a cave-in. A very big one. One of the older, less stable mines collapsed while miners tried to stabilize it. Bofur sensed it before it happened, and most were able to escape with minor injuries, but two miners were trapped too far in and critically wounded. There was no way we could get to them before they succumbed to their injuries, and we thought they would be a loss. Despite our attempts to keep him away, Bilbo demanded to be amidst the retrieval efforts. He did not take the idea of an inevitable casualty as a suitable answer and started looking for a new one.

"And you let him!" His fury was back as quickly as he tried to quell it.

"Of course, we didn't! However, Bilbo is his own hobbit and wouldn't be waylaid. Even if you were there, you would not have stopped him. I don't know how he did it, but I lost eyes on him for a mere blink, and the next thing he was shouting orders from inside the cave-in!" Balin finished, and Thorin continued to glare daggers even after accepting the explanation. Trying to stop Bilbo when he put his mind to something was like trying to bottle wind. Impossible. "He saved the miner's lives and made it out with only a few cuts and bruises. I just figured you should know before you saw him and thought the worst." Balin held his hands up as if to say that was the last of it.

"Where is Bilbo now?" Thorin asked sternly.

"His greenhouse," Balin replied.

Thorin made a beeline to the greenhouses, looking broody enough that people who would normally have said hello thought better of it. He pushed open the door with every intention of being upset at Bilbo for putting his life in such reckless danger. His words evaporated at the sight of his love, carefully pruning a small odd tree. He looked up sharply at the intrusion.

"Thorin!" Bilbo nearly dropped the shears in surprise. "When did you get back?" Thorin didn't even reply. He crossed the room in as few steps as possible and pulled Bilbo into his embrace. After holding him for a good long while, he stepped back and cradled Bilbo's head in his hands, turning it slightly to see it completely. He had a cut across his cheek and one on his chin. Thorin rubbed his finger over them with a frown. He moved to run his hands down Bilbo's arms until he could hold his wrists and bring his hands up to eye level. Bilbo's palms were scraped, and his knuckles were worn and scabbed. "I-I suppose Balin told you?" Thorin dropped his wrists to look into his eyes. "Now look here, I won't have you deciding what I can and can't do, and you will not stand in my way if I think I can help. If I hadn't stepped in and they died, I would never have forgiven myself!"

He was right. Of course, he was, but Thorin was still trying to resist the urge to hide what was most precious to him away so that he could never get hurt. He settled for the next best thing: feeling Bilbo under his hands. He pressed his lips to Bilbo's as gently as he could with white-hot need coursing through him. Bilbo melted into him, setting his hands on his chest and leaning into his touch. It had only been nine days, but it felt like far too long to be away. He looked around for a clear space on the table, and when he found none, he opted to back Bilbo up and press him against the nearest wall. Bilbo let himself be manhandled with a giggle as Thorin ran his hands along his soft, plush skin. When he got to those small, nimble hands, he pinned one above Bilbo's head and laced their fingers together while nipping at the skin of his neck. His free hand was preoccupying itself with the strings on Bilbo's trousers.

"Th-Thorin, are you sure? People will hear!" Bilbo made no move to push him away. If anything, he pressed into his touch more.

"I don't care if they do. As long as you're comfortable." The whimper from Bilbo was enough of an answer. With his laces undone, he started tugging down his trousers until they were just low enough that it was easy to grab ahold of his lover's already stiff cock. Bilbo seemed to either forget about their location or stop caring entirely as he keened loudly with every tug. Not that they had much to worry about. No one other than Bilbo would be in the greenhouses this late into the evening.

This was bliss. The news Balin had shared had made his head spiral with all the things that could go hopelessly wrong for Bilbo being such a small being in such a large place. The only cure for that anxiety, even if temporary, was to hear him so very alive under him. He swallowed Bilbo's gasps with long kisses, paying no attention to his own need until he felt Bilbo's legs start to give out on him. He released Bilbo's hand, still pinned to the wall, to snake it around his waist and steady him.

Bilbo came with a cry, his hands tangled in Thorin's hair, grabbing at it with little regard for the strength of his grip. It was enough pressure for a little growl to escape him as he held Bilbo through the waves of his pleasure. Bilbo slumped forward into his arms, breathing heavily, which only made Thorin chuckle. He cleaned his hand on a garden towel and pulled Bilbo's trousers back to a respectable position.

"I-I thought you were going to be angry. I can't say I expected that warm of a welcome." Bilbo was still slumped forward, resting his head into the coat he was now realizing he never took off. He did so now and wrapped it around his hobbit's shoulders.

"I did not get the impression it was unwelcome?" It was a question as much as a statement. Bilbo's comfort was always paramount to him.

"Certainly not, but what I'm not sure about is why you bothered to pull my pants back up. This isn't over yet, is it?" Bilbo purred. Thorin hastened to get his lips back on Bilbo as he yanked his pants back down. If Bilbo was this willing, he wasn't going to waste any time.

"Oil?" Thorin said between heated kisses, and Bilbo pointed to a glass vile on the table behind him. He snathed it and oiled his fingers before pressing a thick digit to Bilbo's entrance. The effect was immediate as his hobbit lover whimpered his name in need. Thorin was still untouched, his cock rock hard and throbbing. He added another finger and felt Bilbo squirm and try to press himself further onto the digit. Thorin grinned into his neck and started scissoring his fingers.

"Please fuck me, Thorin, please, I'm ready. I'm so ready!" Bilbo pleaded through shattered moans. For good measure, Thorin made sure a third finger could fit in Bilbo's now well-prepared hole before retracting his fingers and oiling his cock. When he turned back around from putting the vile on the table, Bilbo had his front pressed to the wall wiggling his ass seductively. Oh, what a wonderful site it was that Thorin took a moment to enjoy the debauchery of it while giving himself a stoke, but as lovely a sight as it was, he preferred to see his beloved's face while he took him. He gave Bilbo's ass a firm slap before spinning his hobbit back around. In the blink of an eye, he had Bilbo's feet off the ground and comfortably held him in his arms. Bilbo's begging turned to whimpers as Thorin teased entering him.

"It's so fun teasing you like this with all your begging as encouragement." Thorin lowered Bilbo just enough for his tip to enter him and soaked in shattered sounds.

"You're a cruel, mean kin-" Bilbo didn't finish his statement as Thorin released his careful hold and sheathed himself fully in that little body. A sharp shout turned into panting moans as Thorin took his time with him. Bilbo was beautiful like this. He was always beautiful, but the bliss on his features as he lost himself in pleasure made him look angelic. Every day, he fell deeper into love with this being. He would fall apart entirely if he did not have the honor of being able to call him his. To lose his touch, his easy words, or even just the fond look when their eyes met, would have spelled his insanity.

"I love you, by the Valar I love you, Bilbo, amralizu 'ibin abnâmul, my ghivashel, my khebabmudtu, The forge where my heart is made." The words spilled from his lips as he brought them both pleasure by chasing the gasps and mewls of his beloved until his mind gave into a fog of bliss. When he opened his eyes again, Bilbo's eyes were fogged over in the same bliss, his mouth hanging in a lazy, crooked smile begging to be kissed, and so he did before setting him down.

They sat on Thorin's coat in each other's arms while Bilbo ran his fingers through his beard, humming an unfamiliar tune.

"You know you still never told me why you left for so long?" It was barely said as a question, but the request for an explanation was clear.

"Close your eyes," Thorin instructed. Blbo's look was puzzled, but his eyes fluttered closed. He pulled his gift from his haphazardly discarded bag and tried not to drop it in his nervous fumbling. "You can open them again." Thorin held the circlet out, hyperfocused on his reaction. Bilbo's eyes grew wide with wonder as he touched the metal vines and flowers. His gaze finally focused on the highlight of the work. A pendant meant to rest on his forehead. A perfectly sized moss agat in the shape of a diamond.

"T-Thorin this is beautiful." Bilbo sounded breathless, and Thorin wordlessly praised his work for the reaction. "Why go to all that trouble for this?" Bilbo's question wasn't surprising. Always, his little burglar discounted his worth. Thorin would always seek to remind him.

"To ensure it is worthy of you. If it is, tell me now, for I would have you wear it at my side for as long as I rule Erebor. Marry me, Bilbo. In the style of my people or yours, it matters not, but I would bind myself to you forever if you'd let me." Thorin professed. Bilbo looked down at the circlet again and lifted it to place it on his head. He looked as radiant as the golden sun, and his smile was its rays.

"I think I might like having a king bound to me. As long as that king was you. What would that make me?" Bilbo asked teasingly.

"It would make you consort under the mountain and the most powerful person in Erebor." Thorin couldn't contain his smile seeing Bilbo wear his proposal gift. He lifted his hands to his hobbit's face, running his fingers through loose curls.

"Wouldn't you be the most powerful person in the mountain? You are king, after all." Bilbo purred.

"No king who truly loves their One can claim to be most powerful. You could not name a single person who would command me to bend a knee to them that I would not strike down. Yet for you, I would do it gladly." Thorin met Bilbo's lips not in a heated rush as before but softly so that he could swallow the sigh that escaped his lips.

"I would have said yes even if you had given me a glass pendant." Bilbo breathed against his chest, and Thorin gave him a curious look before holding him tight with a smile. Perhaps Bilbo didn't know what that statement meant, but it made Thorin feel lighter to know he was so loved.

"I do think we should head back to our room. We both need to be cleaned up, and it's growing late." Thorin whispered into Bilbo's curls.

"You expect me to walk all the way home after that!" Bilbo let out an exaggerated sigh. Seeing an opportunity, Thorin scooped him up and into his arms effortlessly.

"I wouldn't dare."   

amralizu- I love you'ibin abnâmul-beautiful gemghivashel-treasure of treasurekhebabmudtu-heart-forge"; or the forge where my heart is made