Dain approached a state of wakefulness, brought about by a happy mumbling near his feet in a childish voice. As sensory awareness returned to him, he noticed two things – firstly, that the spot next to him in bed was cold and empty, and secondly, that the small lump near his feet was, in fact, his offspring. Which meant that Thira had gone to work early, despite it being a rest day, and Thorin had wandered into his parents’ bedroom to play. The helpful (and helpfully quiet) servants would have already have fed his lad, but he still liked being near his parents when he could.

Dain cracked an eye open to see Thorin happily pushing his stuffed pig around on the base of the bed, his Thorin toy perched upon it in haphazard state. His son was happily burbling as he pushed his toy around, and Dain’s cousin-toy was moving around to a steady stream of toddlerish “da-da-doom, do-da-da, da-doom-hish.” When Dain’s foot twitched, his son looked up at him, his toy stilling. He grinned when he saw that Dain was awake.

“Da!” he crowed, and began crawling steadily up the bed, toys in hand. The determined expression in his eyes was belied by his rumpled bedclothes, tousled hair, and the touch of dried drool in the corner of his mouth.

Overall, an adorable combination. And Dain wasn’t biased at all, thank you very much.

Thorin finally achieved his goal of reaching his father, and cuddled into Dain’s arms, sticking his head into his father’s beard.

“And a good morning to you, little badger. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes,” came the piping reply, rather muffled by the beard. “Ate a whole cake.”

“A whole cake?” Dain asked, feigning shock. “That means you don’t get any cake while you’re awake for a whole week! Big boys twelve years old should know not to eat too much cake all at once, even if they are asleep.”

Thorin poked his head out of Dain’s beard, pouting slightly. “No cake? I tell Ma about boiled candies. Then we talk.”

Dain tickled his son’s pudgy little tummy, making his lad squeal. “There’s my smart boy. You’re going to be a master diplomat someday, with ideas like that.”  Thorin smacked Dain in the eye with his pig toy as he laughed. “And an excellent warrior,” Dain added, removing one of his hands to feel at his eye. No bleeding, but it would just might bruise.

eeeeeee @kailthia!!!!

lasdkgfashdfsal oh my god adorableeeee. Dain the sneaker of boiled lollies. The Thorin toy! the crawling up the bed! LITTLE BADGER. is not determinedly cuddling her own lil Dwarfling or anything

You are an utter star, thank you SO much!