𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐈𝐂 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 // 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘪 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯

~ twenty ~

"Alright," I stated, giving Kili a nudge with my shoulder. "Your turn to be sappy."

He laughed and shook his head. "You're just so needy, aren't you?"

I laughed. "Shut up and tell me a story!"

"Alright, fine!" He surrendered. I propped my elbows on my knees and rested my head on my palms, looking up at him with admiring eyes.

"It was many moons ago, when I was very young. Fili and I were up to trouble as usual. We were at the state of boyhood where we thought driving Thorin out of his mind was the most entertaining thing ever. One day, we wandered through the woods to look for branches. With those branches, we tried to carve out our own swords with a switch blade we stole from Thorin. It was quite a terrible sword, it was dull and didn't even have much of a handle. But I thought it was a work of art." He laughed, looking down at the stone in his hands.

"This can't be good," I scoffed.

"Once our prized weapons were created, we set the ultimate trap. When you entered Fili and I's room. There was a wardrobe on each side of the door. We each climbed to the top of one with our swords ready. Then Fili called for Thorin. Once Thorin entered our room, we both jumped on his shoulders, using our wooden weapons to smash down onto his head."

"That's pretty much a death wish on its own, Kili."

"I had never seen him so upset," he chuckled. "He grabbed us by our tunics and tossed us onto our beds, telling us to wait there. Moments later, Thorin came back to our room and told us to follow him outside. There stood Dwalin with a miniature bow for me and dulled knives for Fili. We raced to Dwalin and took our weapons. I quickly started my way to the target we had set up in the back yard and placed my first arrow on the bow string. Granted, I had no idea what I was doing and had the arrow pointing the wrong way. Before I had the chance to release, Thorin raced to my side and adjusted the bow, showing how to properly do it. It took a lot of practice and I kept Thorin on his toes, that's for sure. One time I shot one right in his backside!"

I cupped my hands around my mouth, letting out a restrained laugh.

"I paid for that later." The smile disappeared on Kili's face. "Thorin was a different man then. He wasn't obsessed with reentering the mountain, or at least he didn't demonstrate it around us. Soon enough the pressure of being a righteous ruler crashed down on Fili, and our childhood changed dramatically. I may have still had the liberty to be reckless and irresponsible because there was a high chance I would never rule under the mountain, but I began to lose my brother to his responsibility of being the next heir to the throne. Thorin grew to be hard on us, our carefree fun diminished."

"Thorin loves you, Kili. That's why he's so hard on you, to make sure your taken care of so he doesn't lose you. Think about it, he's lost almost everyone dear to him, except you and Fili. Someone who goes through those things is going to be protective over who they have left." I reached over, squeezed Kili's hand and rested my head on his shoulder.