𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

Winter holidays | The Company

Several cars were arriving at a small village nestled between snowy mountains, crossing the road lined with the white blanket when the snowflakes fell gently from the sky. All the vehicles stopped right next to a wooden cabin and turned off the lights. The first car to open its doors was that of the brothers Fili and Kili, who ran with their skis on their shoulders towards the door of the house.

"Whoever arrives last will have to make food for the whole company!" Kili yelled as he stumbled across the snow, followed by his brother.

Thorin, Dwalin, and Balin got out of the same car along with the rest, and it was Thorin who turned off the car as the others headed for the cabin, being the last to arrive.

"Congratulations, Uncle Thorin, today it's your turn to cook a good and filling dish for these stomachs, which require your food," Fili said with a mischievous smile. "You'll have to work for it, you don't want to let us down."

"Fili, Kili, let's not start with your games," Thorin said with an annoyed tone and a frown, but the sentence was useless as his nephews ignored his words.

"Come on guys, let's light the fireplace," Y/N said, opening the door of the house and leaving her things in the room she chose. Everyone else was the next to do the same, once again getting Thorin to grumble. He didn't like losing out on the mischief of his nephews, but most of all, he didn't like having to obey what they said. He always ended badly.

All but Thorin were preparing to go outside again and thus have a snowball battle. In this way they would come to the cabin hungrier and could eat what Thorin cooked for them. They put on their warm winter clothes and went outside.

The first to start the snowball battle was Bofur, who, with little force, threw a rather large snowball at Y/N.

"Hey! What are you supposed to be doing?" she asked smiling and throwing a snowball at him in revenge, throwing his hat to the ground. Then Dwalin did the same to Kili, and so on among all, except Bombur, who threw himself on his back with open arms to the snow and began to make angels throughout the area, being independent of everyone.

Time passed and it was almost time for lunch. Thorin, with the tray of freshly prepared, steaming and richly scented food, opened the door to let them know, but before he could say a single word, he received a snowball from one of his nephews in the face, causing him to swallow his words and closed his eyes with an expression on his face that lacked feelings. Laughs were immediately heard from the brothers and it was Kili who lost his balance and fell collapsed into the snow, getting not only Fili to laugh, but also the rest of the company.

"Very funny..." Kili said grumbling as he got up, being helped by his brother.

Once they entered, they sat at the table and waited for the delicacies to be served, and once they satiated their appetite, Ori took a piece of bread and threw it to the one in front of him, which was neither no less than Dwalin, and then, the latter took a good portion of the pig Thorin had prepared without thinking of the consequences, and began to throw food to everyone. That certainly bothered Thorin, they couldn't play with the food he had made, and he made it known, putting on a good show. Fili and Kili then crawled under the table and went to another part of the house to also avoid any kind of quarrel.

They went to the bedrooms and got their skis.

"Hey! How about we go skiing? And this time you're coming with us Uncle Thorin, you need to relax a bit," Kili said, showing them the skis and interrupting the awkward moment that had been generated. Then several of them got up, including Y/N, and went to their bedrooms to get their skis. Without saying anything else, many were already preparing to go outside, leaving Thorin somewhat surprised at the sudden change that had occurred. Out of nowhere he was alone at the table and no one thought of waiting for him, not even Balin.

They all went up the hill on their skis, trying to get to the top, while Thorin left the house a bit grumpy still, away from everyone, dragging their skis to the top. He watched as several tumbled down the hill as he kept going upward, watching his nephews, Dwalin, Nori, Ori, Bofur, and Y/N fall into the same spot as they huddled together, laughing.

At last he reached the top, when everyone was already at the bottom, and he decided to jump to try to reach them before they went back up, but he didn't succeed. Only Balin was waiting for him at the bottom.

"I see you are a little behind, Thorin," the old man said with an endearing smile patting him on the back once he reached his side.

"I'm tired of the same thing," Thorin replied with a serious face, making Balin laugh.

"You have to take it easy, lad," he said stroking Thorin's arm and sitting down on a fallen log. "I'm too old for this..."

Thorin sat next to him and threw the ski poles into the snow, disgusted, as he watched the others throw themselves off again, watching how they laughed.

Meanwhile, Kili and Fili were planning different ways to jump on the skis once they were at the top of the hill again.

"Fili, I'll get on your back and we'll both go down on your skis," Kili said.

"I think it is a good idea, as well as fun, the rest of you could do the same," said the blond.

"I don't want anyone to get on my back," Dwalin said with a frown.

"And what if Ori climbs? He's light. Or Bilbo maybe," Y/N commented.

"No, no way, I don't let anyone..." but before finishing, Ori, upon hearing Y/N's idea, went straight to Dwalin's back and climbed on, causing their bodies to, due to gravity, gave in and started down the hill, hearing Dwalin's disapproval loudly and making the rest laugh.

Kili climbed on top of Fili and they did the same, only this time the end of the journey ended badly once again, as they both fell into the snow and complained about the blows they received, making Thorin laugh to himself when he saw them. The others did the same, they jumped on their skis in pairs and went downhill, and so on until they had a good time.

Then they returned to the cabin to warm up, and while some bathed in hot water, others drank hot chocolate and coffee for a snack next to the lit fireplace with blankets over their shoulders, relaxing their bodies and telling stories. At the same time, Thorin was sitting in the armchair, separated from everyone once more, and staring at the flames of the logs that were burning in the fireplace, losing himself in the warmth they transmitted to him, as if the image hypnotized him little by little, wanting to give in to sleep.

"Thorin," he heard once, but he didn't react.

"Thorin," he listened again, but continued to ignore that person.

"Thorin!" said that voice a little louder, "waking up" the aforementioned from his lethargy.

"Balin... Sorry, I don't know what happened to me..." he answered at the end somewhat confused and touching his head.

"Dinner is ready, you have fallen asleep," replied the old man, handing him a bowl full of soup.

"Thank you," Thorin replied with a slight smile, picking up the bowl, warming his hands and starting to blow on the steaming soup as he pulled the blankets over his shoulders tightly.

All at the same time were at the table while they ate and drank, chatting amiably with laughs. And shortly after dinner, they went to their rooms and went to bed, getting once again Thorin to stay alone, only accompanied by Balin. They both got into their beds after turning off the lights next to them.

"Good night, Thorin," said Balin.

"Good night, Balin," Thorin replied.

However, having relaxed, Kili said a few words that Thorin didn't like at all:

"What if we go skating to the lake tomorrow?" he asked, receiving the affirmative from many and causing Thorin to grumble again.