I feel like Fili needs a bit of love (The Hobbit, M)

[KickingUpTheDust]

Escorting merchants was never a job that anyone considered particularly fun or fulfilling, but it was one that paid and at least didn't have him stuck in one place all the time. Usually, it was relatively easy as mostly the trouble encountered were common bandits or rarely a small pack of orcs.

But this particular time, Fili and Kili were escorting human merchants. And that meant more fuss and, to an extent, mild racism. Men had a tendency to be rude or superior in comparison to dwarven merchants, who would laugh and swap jokes and tales of customers, families, journeys and such.

The fact that it had been raining heavily for the entire day hadn't helped.

Their clients were well-off and, despite grumbling, relatively dry. Their cloaks were thick and did a decent job of insulating them from the worst of the rain. And as for the two Durin sons, who's cloaks had seen better days, didn't even bother trying to pull their cloaks round them for warmth. They were soaked through.

Fili shivered hard as he felt droplets run down from his saturated hairline and across the long bridge of his nose and the drip shuddered on it's hooked top before dropping off.

Sniffling, Fili adjusted the reins on his horse and rubbed at his nose. The raindrops insisted on journeying down its hooked arch and it was rather -

"HEH-tchOOO!"

- distracting to say the least.

Kili looked over at his brother "Bless."

Fili nodded in acknowledgement, "Wish this sodding rain would knock off. Bloody soaked here."

"Aye, don't I know it. We'll be lucky if we don't blow our pay on medicine for pneumonia at this rate."

"HREshOOOO!"

"Looks like you're well on your way." His younger brother joked, "At least you'll scare away any bandits in the area."

"Let's hope they aren't the only things scared." The elder dwarf laughed, pulling out a handkerchief and rubbed his nose, quickly giving up when he realised it made no difference as it was just as soaked as the rest of him and put it back in his pocket.

[Arty]

Ah Fili!!!! <3

[SneezeyLove]

I'm so glad this is here! I love Kili as much as everybody else, but I feel like Fili often gets overlooked. And let's be honest - he's also quite cute!

[Masking]

OH MY GOD FÍLI.

Oh god, accidentally inducing via raindrop. I have such a soft spot for this scenario!

Dare I hope that there's more?

[alias]

Ahhhhh freaking adorable! I love how you've managed to capture their brotherly relationship in just a few paragraphs. Even though I'm a Kili fangirl, Fili is quite cute as well, and you just made him ten times cuter. You wrote this really well too. Took me right to Middle Earth. If I may be greedy, I hope you treat us to more.

[KickingUpTheDust]

"Nice place." Kili commented, dumping his pack down in their room at the inn the men had insisted on stopping in for the night. "Not the worst we've seen."

Fili sniffed wetly, "Also not the best." He replied, spying the water leaking in from the roof and dripping down as the wind whistled through, not cracks, but holes in the window and walls.

"Either way," Kili chirped, optimistic as ever, "we can get dry. Or at least drier."

Fili didn't respond, he was too busy focusing on the cold, wet feeling that had invaded his nose and made him want to sneeze.

"'Ere pass us your cloak, Fili, I'll go and wring it out in the bath with mine." Kili held is hand out, "Fili?" He repeated, moving closer out of concern upon seeing his brother, frozen, eyes closed, nose wrinkled and a gloved hand poised, ready to catch the sneeze that lurked and threatened in the back of his nose.

"Fi...?"

"Huh, huh-ahADTZHOOOOOO!"

Kili smothered, "Bless. Blimey, that was a Durin sneeze if I've heard one!"

Fili knuckled at his nose, "But rich coming from you."

The younger Durin son laughed, "Gimme your cloak, Fi, sounds like you're already catching cold as it is."

"Nah, I won't be. Probably just the water in my nose. If one of us were to catch cold, it'd be you first."

"I'm not a babby anymore, Fili, you're just as likely as I am."

"You spend half your time sneezing if someone even mentions flowers, or pepper or dust..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kili swiped back, discreetly itching his own nose so as not to prove his brother right, "allergies don't necessarily mean illness. And - you gonna sneeze again?"

"I think I m-might ah - " Fili wiggled his nose and tilted his head back and, to both his frustration and relief, "nope, gone."

"Ah, unlucky, I hate that." Kili grinned, "I'll just squeeze these out, back in a minute, brother."

[MissBayliss]

LOVE. Will love even more if there is contagion.

[Coffee Chicken Barista]

Aw!!!!! YAY!

[Zuki]

This right here is adorable. Love it! Poor Fili, always overlooked.

[RiversD]

Aw, this is sweet! You've got a nice brotherly back-and-forth going here.

"Bless. Blimey, that was a Durin sneeze if I've heard one!"

^I liked this line^

Also that almost-sneeze- poor Fili, he needs a nice dry hanky at least...chance'd be a fine thing.

[SneezeyLove]

Aww, sick Fili and caretaking Kili! I love it!

[KickingUpTheDust]

crying cos i didn;t expect so much positivivivivity

also cos i;m drunk

hahahahahahaha i;m allowed to get drunk in england.

Fili shuddered and moved closer to the small fire in their room, "Food's taking a while."

Kili shrugged, "There was quite a crowd - bless!" Kili frowned as his older brother shivered, "Fi, are you alright?"

"I'm hungry." the elder Durin son commented, rubbing his nose fiercely, "Not eaten a decent meal in almost five days, I'm starving. What are we having for dinner anyway?"

"It's some kind of chicken soupy-stew thing."

"Better some meat than none."

"Aye - bless you!"

Fili sniffled wetly, "You dod't happed to have a dry hadkerchief od you? Bide's all wet."

Kili stood up, "Hang on, I should have a spare deep in my pack. Rain can;t have gotten right the way through."

"EEEEHH-tch'szhOOOOOOO!"

"Fi," Kili warned, handing his sneezing brother the handkerchief with a pained expression on his face, "why don't you just admit it?"

"Adbit what." Fili asked, buring his nose in the cloth,

"You've caught cold."

"Ub, do, because I have - haved - uhdTSCHOOOOOOO!"

Shooting his broither a glare that told him to sa nothing, Fili blew his nose in the handkerchief, cringing at the wetness his nose was producing and, as much as it pained him to admit to himself, let alone his baby brother, he was catching a cold.

Which ultimately meant Kili -

"UDTCH-phoOOOOOO!"

- would catch it also. One sick escort was enough, but two? No. They couldn't afford that.

[Zuki]

awww, poor lambs! And of course fili is only thinking about Kili's well being. What a cute fic.

[crazy_cat_girl]

Fili is my favorite dwarf! I am just obsessed. What a handsome nose!

I LOOOOOOOOVE this fic! Thank you so much for writing this.

I loved the description of the rain rolling down his nose. The wet handkerchief. The gloved hand. <3

I loved Kili's concerned teasing.

I love that Fili is actually concerned about Kili.

I love that Fili's sneezes are constant and LOUD.

Everything about this is perfect and awesome and I can't wait to read the next part!

[KickingUpTheDust]

Kili tried to concentrate on his notes, he really did, but not even the beautiful (and hard) elvish language was enough to distract him from Fili's (failed) discreet sniffling And trying to hold back his explosive sneezes, often failing and resulting in loud half - "HENGshOOOOO!" - half-stifles.

Various times, Kili considered abandoning his (very secret) elvish lesson To try and get Fili to give up this denial but, even if he did, what could he do to help? A cold had no cure, and it's not like they were back home where it was warm and they were surrounded by the comfort of other dwarves. They were in a town of men, where everything and everyone was tall and they had a job to do.

"Ah, ah...ADTHZHOOOOOO!"

To Kili's relief, a knock at the door sounded and he put his attempts at teaching himself elvish back in his pack.

A short woman stood at the door, holding a tray with two steaming bowls and mugs of ale.

"Dinner for the two dwarves in room 43?"

"That would be us." Kili smiled and accepted the tray gratefully,

"HIHtch...htchOOOO! ERshOOOOO!"

Kili turned to see his miserable brother, eyes watering and nose leaking, burying his nose in his handkerchief.

"Bless you!" The woman called into the room, "Good Lord, that is some sneeze, we can hear you all the way downstairs, even over the rabble. Must be an awful cold you've got."

Fili scrambled up, "I dod have a code, i'b - "

"Its pretty normal for dwarves." Kili reassured her.

After she had left, Kili set the tray down, "Dinner."

"They've beed hearig be dowd there." Fili sulked, blowing his nose again, "I bet our dear cliedts have beed havig a good laugh, or doubtig our skills. Bloody - EEEHHschEeeww!"

"Try not to think about it too much." Kili reassured him, "Just get that meal in you, it'll warm you up from the inside out and fight off that cold. Should do something for your nose either way."

Fili sniffed thickly, "Looks good eved if the roob isd great."

"Eh-heh...eh...HARacktschOOOOO!"

Fili looked up, almost surprised that sneeze didn't come from him, "Bless you, brother."

[AngelEyes]

Totally adorable!

[KickingUpTheDust]

"Ah-hah eh-AAAAAsshiiii!"

"Bless," Fili smirked, "dow who's the snee - IIIIHHtch-HEWW!"

"Still you," Kili snapped, blowing his nose on a napkin, "how much pepper did they put in here?"

The elder Durin sniffed, "Edough to loosed up the water id by dose."

"You mean the stuffiness from your cold." Kili corrected, before his breath hitched again, "Oh n-no, it...burns...ah!"

Fili sniggered and took another mouthful as he watched his brother succumb to another fit of sneezing into the napkin.

After they had cleared their bowls and settled opposite each other, backs against their beds, Fili looked through the map.

"How far are we?" Kili asked, looking over his elvish notes,

"Just a day dow." Fili replied, reaching for the handkerchief and sneezing into it painfully,

"You alright?" the younger Durin frowned, noticing Fili's wince,

Fili coughed, there was a burning scratch at the back of his throat making every swallow itchy and heated, "Just sobethig caught id by throat."

Kili rolled his eyes and went back to studying. He'd been wanting to learn elvish since he was a small boy, since his first real encounter with an elf-maid. They were beautiful and fascinating, whatever his uncle and other dwarves said, and they weren't all bad...

THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP

The brothers looked at each other, confused, then at the door.

"Who is it?"

"Are those the dwarves in there?"

Fili stood up and called through the door, "So what if there are?"

The sound of mocking laughter came through the door, "Come on out, we want to see you!"

"Why?"

"See how tough you are, or if we can turn you to...ash." sniggers and cackles were heard.

Kili grabbed his daggers before being stopped by Fili, "Igdore theb," he muttered, "they're drugk. Lookig for a fight. You dow how they are, just leave theb, it's dot worth it."

"They're deliberately provoking us!"

"Exactly why we should igdore them - huh...huh-TCHOOOO! Urgh."

"Fi..." Kili sighed, bringing him away from the door, "please, don't keep telling me you're fine. You're sick."

"I'b fi...IIIIHHtschEEWW!"

"Fi, look," the archer sat next to him, "we've got a night here. Somewhere with a bed and not entirely exposed to the elements. We've got food and a chance to rest. Can you please just let yourself be ill for the night so you can have some chance of getting better sooner?"

Fili did not answer, but sneezed another three times before sniffing thickly and replying "I'b goig to bed."

"Fili..."

He knew his brother was right, but to feel so pathetically weak, to admit it, when they had to be strong...he just. He couldn't.

Putting his pillow over his head to block out the mocking taunts from outside, he tried to sleep, and left Kili to his reading,

[Masking]

OH MY GOD, poor Fíli, and those horrible Men. And KÍLI WITH THE PEPPER!

[crazy_cat_girl]

Gosh, this makes me so happy! I keep checking back for new chapters and today, I found TWO!

I love that Fili's sneezes are so loud, they can hear it over the noise of the bar. And that he's STILL denying illness, even though he is a hot mess.

Seriously, I love this fic so much!

[SneezeyLove]

Fili's adorable when he's in denial. <3

[KickingUpTheDust]

"Fi?"

Fili blew his nose for the forty-first time that day. It was now the afternoon and there had been no rest for any of them that day.

"Shouldn't we find somewhere to break sometime soon?" Kili called to their employers.

"You both said yourself we aren't far from our destination," the leader snapped back, "you'll have plenty of rest when we get there."

"EEEEHHH-iiiHOOO!"

"And keep whatever you've got to yourself!" he shouted over at Fili, who sniffed and glared.

Kili sighed and cast a worried look at his older brother, silently praying they didn't run into any problems while they were still travelling. Fighting was the last thing Fili should be doing right now, besides travelling.

It was not quite raining when they finally arrived, the dark and cold evening that it was, but there was a bite in the air, especially given the brothers' cloaks, while not as sodden as they were last night, were still not entirely dry. And the fact that the stars were concealed by a weight of heavy cloud in the air, dark grey and thick like dust, looked most foreboding.

Fili did not normally mind the rain, but the one thing he wanted now was to be warm and dry.

"You go and get a bath," Kili told him, as soon as they hit their rooms, "nice and steamy, loosen up all that in your nose and - blesses - relax your muscles. You need a good night's sleep. I'll get the food."

"You dod't deed to, I'b...I cad...EEEERRscHOO! You cad get the first bath, you've beed ridig for as log as I have."

"Fi, you can barely talk, go."

Holding his hands up in defeat, Fili strolled downstairs into the bathroom.

It was a communal place, and after placing his clothing and towel on the shelf, the elder Durin lowered himself into the steaming water and gave an audible sigh. He was lucky, the place was more or less empty, save for two men in the other bath with their arms around one another.

Fili sniffed and twitched his nose. Kili was right, but the steam was making his nose run more than he anticipated and, not having a handkerchief to hand, he simply raised his hands to his nose and exploded with a 'Huh-EEEEHHHtcheeeew! EEEEshew!"

One of the men blessed him and Fili nodded thank you, but he was more concerned about the mess his nose had produced and closed his eyes, trying not to sneeze again.

Relaxing back into the heat, he felt the water lap against his muscles, feeling them slowly unwind themselves and dipped his golden hair back into the liquid, raising his head and rearing his typical dwarvish nose. Prominent, large for his face, hooked. And at the moment dripping and red and quivering with the urge to sneeze with the desperation to hold it back.

He failed.

Fili shivered upon exiting the water, the cold causing his nose to fill again and sneeze all the way back up to the room, wet hair creating more cold in his body and making him snivel like a child, his throat pain swelling and his head pounding.

He simply could not keep it up.

"Peditham hi sui vellyn?" Kili muttered, repeating himself as he tried to master the pronunciation, "Ped-i-th..."

The young archer was interrupted by his brother's footsteps and he stashed his notes away quickly. Looking up, he saw his brother close the door behind him and melted inside. He had never seen his poor brother look so unwell. The way Kili leaned against the closed door and breathed obviously through his mouth and the way a sneeze ripped through him, bending him at the waist told Kili the fight was over.

"Brother," Fili croaked, nasally, "I thigk I'b sick."

[crazy_cat_girl]

So good!

"Dripping and red and quivering with the urge to sneeze with the desperation to hold it back." That. That right there.

And

"He had never seen his poor brother look so unwell." This.

Yup. This is pretty much the best fic ever. <3 I just love Fili.

[SneezeyLove]

Awww, the poor guy! I just wanna hug him and bundle him in blankets and feed him soup!

[KickingUpTheDust]

"Really?" Kili smiled, getting up to meet his brother, "You did a great job of hiding it."

Fili snuffled and leaned into his brother's hand as Kili plastered it to his forehead to gauge his temperature.

"You've got a fever, bed."

"I dod't really wadt to eat adythig, Ki." Fili muttered, shifting under the blankets, "I wodt be able to taste it adyway. You have by share."

"Nope," Kili said firmly, smiling as he did so, and set a steaming bowl of broth on the bedside table, "you need to keep your strength up."

"'Bother always said 'starve a cold'." Fili argued,

"Feed a fever," Kili smirked, "and a fever, you have. Now open."

Fili scowled, "You're edjoyig this."

"It takes me back," Kili admitted, "I remember when we were really little. Usually i was always the one that got sick first but one time you came down with it before me. First time I'd even seen you weaker than me."

Fili smiled, he remembered too, surprised his brother could remember, being such a tiny tot, barely tall enough to see over the bed, "Bother put you id bed with her so you would't catch it. But you would't leave be alode."

He remembered his door creaking open late at night and initially being afraid, as well as feeling so ill, almost as ill as he did now, before he heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet on the wooden floor and a small body struggling up onto the bed, clambering over him.

"I here, Fiwi." his little brother had whispered before pressing a clumsy kiss to his head and snuggling down next to him for the night.

"I did catch it, in the end." Kili laughed, "Come on, open."

Fili sighed, "I'm not a babby, Ki."

"It's not every day I get to be a responsible adult, humour me, brother."

Swallowing a few mouthfuls of the broth, Fili deduced he was right, he couldn't taste it. But the steam did loosen up the stuffy feeling in his nose and, holding up a hand to pause Kili's spoon, he grabbed a napkin and sneezed three times, blowing with a little more ease than before.

"Ucle Thorid caught our cold too that tibe if I rebeber."

"Did he?" Kili frowned, "I remember cuddling up with him in his bed but I didn't know he was sick too."

Fili sniggered and discovered that was a bad idea, he blew his nose again and chuckled, "You were the ode who got hib sick."

"Well, he always was loving and affectionate, how do you know it was me? He was always picking us up, hugging, playfighting, stuff like that."

"You sdeezed id his face!" Fili laughed,

"I was a toddler! What was he expecting?!"

Fili laughed, "EEEHschOOOO! True, and it was alright id the ed. The three of us tucked up id bed together."

Kili smiled at the memory, "Thorin's sneezes always seemed so loud back then, it'd either scare us or make us laugh."

His brother chuckled again, coughing, "And now look, we're dot far off the sabe." And as if to prove his point, "HHAAEEtzhOOOOO! T'zhOOOO!"

"Bless." Kili smiled, "Must have been hungrier than you thought, you've finished the bowl. I'll put these out, you snuggle down and get to sleep, alright?"

"Alright." Fili wiggled down into the sheets and Kili snorted. Being the older brother wasn't bad once in a while.

Fili smiled to himself as he settled down. He could be the younger brother. Just for tonight.

Just for tonight.

[BelieveInRollins]

And I think I just died. RIP me lol I NEED MORE. I LOVE FILI AND KILI SO MUCH. Keep it going!! You're doing an awesome job!!