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The first time Kíli and Y/n met he called her ‘amralime’, and being a human she had no idea what that meant. They were both sitting by the fire in Bilbo’s house, watching the poor hobbit scurry around trying to control the raging party. Y/n glanced at Kíli for an explanation but he just smiled.

Y/n was the head navigator for the company. Gandalf brought her in just as he brought in Bilbo, knowing that she was the best possible person for the job. Y/n knew the lands of Middle Earth better than anyone.

She hit it off with the two brothers on the very first day of their travel. The three of them rode in this little pack of giggles and youth. A stark contrast to the grey beards and worn faces around them.

On their second day of travel, Kíli called her ‘amralime’ again. Only this time in front of his brother. Fíli’s eyes went wide and a huge smile stretched across his face, he immediately turned his head to see how Y/n would react. But of course she didn’t. The girl just brushed it off as some kind of nickname.

Fíli shot a worried look toward his brother, not knowing Kíli had already said this to her once before. Fíli didn’t want his brother’s heart smashed. Especially not at the beginning of a journey.

But Kíli wasn’t bothered by it. It made things a little more interesting, like a game.
Over the next few days, Y/n got to know Kíli and his brother better. She liked them both, but out of the two Kíli was her favorite. He was funny, and silly, and devilishly charming. Not to mention a looker! Unfortunately, she never could seem to get him alone. He was always with his brother, and Bilbo always seemed to be hanging around her. Not that she didn’t love the little hobbit to pieces. He was a good friend. But sometimes Y/n wished she could shake him loss every once in a while.

Kíli remembered the exact moment when he made the next ‘move’ with Y/n. Ever since the company encountered the trolls Y/n had been uneasy at night, just waiting for the next monster to come out of the dark. Sure, she was surrounded by the best dwarven warriors in the land but didn’t that ease her nerves. The trolls had been especially intrigued by her since she was the only human (and only girl) in the group. Y/n had been separated from the group and lifted into the air for inspection. Nothing horrible happened of course, she didn’t get eaten, but it was still traumatic.

The first few nights after that, she couldn’t sleep. Y/n sat up with the watch or stared aimlessly into the shimmering embers of the dying fire. And when she did sleep, it wasn’t peaceful. This took a serious toll on her through out the day. Y/n hid it well…but Kíli noticed. He already felt guilty enough that he had let her get into harm’s way. He certainly wasn’t going to let her loss any more sleep of those vile trolls.

One evening Kíli decided to do something about it.

Y/n was staring into the fire as usual; smoke dancing around her hair and vacant eyes. Everyone was asleep (well except for Balin who was their first watch of the night).

“Not sleeping again?” Kíli spoke softly as he scotched closer to her.

Y/n jumped a little and whipped her head around. She was relieved to see it was only Kíli. Y/n gave him a delicate smile, “I was about to.”

“Lair,” He chuckled. Y/n smirked and rolled her eyes, too tired to argue.

“Come ‘ere.” Kíli gestured for her to come closer.

She glanced at him, trying to figure what he was up too. He caught her questioning look, “Just… come ‘ere.”

Y/n moved closer to him. Kíli wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against his chest. She ended up sitting between his outstretched legs with her back to his chest and her head resting in the crook of his neck. She was considerably taller than him being a human, so she had to scrunch down a little. That being said however, this was much better than before. The heat of the fire, the cold night air, and his warm breath on her ear turned her cheeks pink.

Y/n felt safe, probably for the first time after the trolls. Slowly, her eyes began to droop and the small ball of nervousness in her stomach eased a bit.

“This is nice,” She murmured.

“Just rest amralime,” He replied.

Kíli could feel her relaxing in his arms as she drifted off to sleep. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers through her tangled and dirty hair.

‘Why don’t humans take better care of their hair?’ He thought. In dwarven culture hair was something you took pride in. Y/n didn’t seem to spear any of her time to maintaining hers. ‘Such lovely hair too...’, Without thought, his fingers started weaving braid. Kíli smiled to himself as he realized what he was doing. He knew full well the courting traditions of his culture, and how braiding was an intricate part of it.

But everyone was asleep, including Y/n, so really… what was the harm in pretending? The young prince like the idea of Y/n being his. It made life a little more bearable and this quest a little less hopeless. Plus, he’d take the braid out before she or any of the others woke up. She’d never have to know!

And true to his word just as he felt himself slipping off, he deftly unwound the braid like it had never happened. He closed his eyes and let the feeling of Y/n’s calm breath sooth him as he fell asleep.

Y/n and Kíli liked this sleeping arrangement so much they decided to continue it through out their journey. They didn’t actually say this out right, they didn’t talk about it, but it always seemed to happen. And surprisingly, no one caught them. Y/n and Kíli were the last ones to sleep and Kíli was the first one to rise.

And every night he braided her hair in secret, contemplating when he would tell her he fancied her. Maybe he’d tell her at the end of the quest when Erebor belonged to dwarves again and everything was right with the world. Or maybe he’d tell her on a whim tomorrow. Who knows?

The young prince got more and more comfortable braiding Y/n’s hair. Kíli tried out more complex weaves and was completely and utterly at ease with the situation. He was no longer looking around anxiously to see if anyone of the company was awake (not like anything bad would happen in everyone found out about them. But the teasing would be awful. And that might ruin his chances with Y/n). However as he became more confident, he became less cautious.

Half asleep, Y/n felt Kíli shift behind her and suddenly he wasn’t there anymore. She felt herself being gently eased back onto the hard ground. The soft muttering of conversation drifted away from her. Though in the haze of sleep she couldn’t tell what they were talking about and honestly didn’t care.

The girl took a deep breath of the cool morning air, slowly waking herself up. The smell of burnt wood and pine needles still hung in the air from last night’s fire. She yawned and sat up peeling her eyes open to survey the camp around her.

The first few rays of sunlight were just cresting over the horizon. ‘Kíli!!!’ She thought, rubbing her exhausted eyes, ‘I did not want to be up this early.’ The rest of the company were still sleeping, with the exception of Kíli, Fíli, and Thorin who she could faintly make out talking a few yards from the fire pit.

Y/n stretched her sore limbs and stood up slowly, so as not to wake anyone. There was no point in trying to go back to sleep now. Thorin would have them moving out in an hour or two anyways. Y/n went over to her pack and pulled out a change of clothes. The ones she was wearing now caked in dirt and spattered blood. It was time to switch it up a bit.

She tiptoed away from the company into the woods and good distance away. A light breeze brushed the tips of the dew covered grass and birds sang in the trees. Y/n always liked the forest. But they were almost to the Misty Mountains now, so she would have to soak this all in while she could.

Y/n went to an outcropping of rocks and changed as quickly as she could behind it. It took longer than she would have liked. Changing was a process and one she could not rush. Y/n always carried these belts with a bunch of handy little pockets on them. She wore several slung across her upper body. It was the perfect place to keep emergency food, medical supplies, healing herbs, cool looking leaves! It was just perfect in general. But they were difficult to put on and even more so to take off.

Finally she finished changing and gathered up her old clothes. As she made her way back to the group, Y/n heard the sounds of grumpy dwarfs just waking up.

Y/n pushed her way through the branches and brambles back into the small clearing they slept in. Everyone was up. Bifur and Bilbo were helping Bomber make breakfast. Ori was talking cheerfully with Balin. Dori and Nori and Óin were already packing up their supplies ready for the long day ahead of them. Glóin was cleaning his war hammer and Dwalin was sharpening his axe. Y/n scanned the area for her two best friends, but Fíli and Kíli were nowhere in sight. Neither was Thorin. Apparently they weren’t back from their little family discussion.

Y/n shrugged and walked over to her pack to put her clothes away.

“Breakfast’s ready!” Bomber called and instantly everyone dropped what they were doing to gather in a circle around the fire pit. Y/n sat down in between to Bilbo and Bofur excited for the slightly stale food coming her way. As the bread, cheese, and dried meat made it’s way around the circle everyone began happily eating.

Bofur passed Y/n her share then turned back to his food. He did a double take making the flaps on his hat bounce. “Oh Mahal!” He muttered under his breath in an excited town. “Oi look at his!” He elbowed the Oin who happened to be next to him.

The chatter stopped as one by one the dwarves turned to look at Y/n. All eyes were on her.

“What?” Y/n asked with a mouth full of bread.

“There something you want to tell us Lass?” Bofur said grinning from ear to ear.

Y/n glanced at Bilbo who looked just as confused as she was.

“Not… particularly?” She scanned the faces of the company for some kind of explanation.

“Oh, so you’re not going to tell us who braided your hair?” Dwalin asked, “You know we’re going to find out eventually.”

‘Braided my hair? What?’ Y/n thought. She raised her hand to her head letting her slight fingers trace of the intricate braid found there.

“Who the hell braided my hair?” She wondered out loud.

“You don’t know?!?” Bofur asked completely taken off guard, “That must have taken hours! How could you sit still long enough for someone to do that and not know who it is?”

“But why would anyone want to braid my hair? Don’t all of you have enough of your own? You don’t need to go messing with mine!”

The dwarves looked at one another. She didn’t realize. She didn’t know. Well of course she didn’t know! She’s human.

Their glances were interrupted by Thorin, Kíli, and Fíli re-entering the campsite and walking over to the group.

“Hmmm… that’s an interesting point lassie,” Bofur said, an impish smile spreading across his face. “Why would any one do that?

“Why would anyone want to do what?” Fíli asked as the three of them joined the circle, eager to get their share of breakfast.

“Oh, good morning Fíli! We were just wondering why anyone would braid Miss Y/n’s hair,” Nori answered.

Kíli’s head snapped up, looking at Y/n. ‘Oh Mahal!’ He thought. He had forgotten to take it out! He usually did it in the morning before anyone woke up but Thorin had dragged him and his brother way to discuss royal matters. He didn’t have time to undo it this morning.

Fíli smirked and glanced at his brother. “Why I have no idea Noir! What an odd and random act that is,” It sounded a little forced but that just made it funnier. There was a scattering of giggling amongst the group. Even Thorin smiled.

Y/n squinted at Fíli, “What’s going on?” He just smiled and shrugged. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Well, when a dwarf braids someone’s hair, it means they’re trying to court that person…” Balin explained, “Someone here is trying to court you.”

“But not doing a very good job of it,” Fíli muttered, laughing as his brother elbowed him.

Y/n’s mouth dropped open. ‘Oh man,’ She thought, as she looked around at all the dwarves. Honestly there was only one person here that she really wanted to court. But what were the chances it was actually him?

“My bet’s on Glóin,” Dori teased.

“OI! YOU KNOW FULL WELL I’M A MARRIED DWARF!” Glóin boomed, despising the idea that he could love anyone other than his beautiful wife.

Everyone laughed. Y/n giggled, ‘One less to worry about.’

“Alright,” Thorin spoke up. “Enough of this idle gossip. It’s time to get moving,” There were several groans from the group. “Unless, you all want to become an Orc’s breakfast, in which case stay right where you are,”

That lit a fire under everyone’s tailpipe. Y/n scurried with the others to pack up their supplies and jump on their ponies.

Kíli watched as Y/n rode along side Bilbo and Nori, they were all talking about something (probably what had happened this morning) but he was out of earshot.

Y/n hadn’t taken the braid out yet, and Kíli couldn’t help take that as a good sign. Though it didn’t exactly ease his nerves. His heart was still racing. What should he do now? What if she thought it was someone else? What if she liked someone else more?

Kíli quickly steered his pony over to his brother’s.

“What should I do know?” He asked Fíli, getting right to the point. Fíli laughed.

“What you mean about Y/n’s hair? You need lessons dear brother! Sloppy, sloppy work. Barbery is definitely not the trade for you.”

Kíli ignored his brother’s taunting, “Is it really that obvious it was me?”

“Not to her.”

“To everyone else?”

“Absolutely!” Fíli laughed again, “You might be sneaky with a bow and arrow but you aren’t with matters of love.”

Kíli sighed, “So what do I do now Fi?”

“Well it might help if she actually knew it was you Ki.”

Kíli grumbled something about no way he was just telling her.

“Okay fine,” Fíli chuckled. “You tried a dwarf courting ritual, but she wouldn’t know what that meant would she? So try a human one! Maybe that’ll get the message across. But… then again… knowing you, you’ll probably bungle it somehow!”

“Shut it,” Kíli smiled, his nerves eased by the playful words of his brother.

It was a good idea Kíli had to admit. But unfortunately there was one decidedly big hole in the plan; neither of them new any human courting traditions. So Kíli went to the only other none dwarf in the company who would give him the time of day.

“Hey Bilbo? Can I speak to you for a moment?”

“Of course,” The two fell behind from the rest as to have a little privacy.

“So I suppose you know who braided Y/n’s hair,”

“If you’re here to make bet with me Master Kíli, I’m sorry to tell you I’ve learned my lesson from last time.”

“No, no! It isn’t anything like that. I was just wondering… do you happened to know… any, um, human courting rituals?” He spoke so softly that Bilbo almost didn’t here him.

“Ohoho! I always suspected it was you!” The hobbit cheered.

“Yes it was, now shush!” He waited until Bilbo quieted down. “But you see, she didn’t know what it meant. So I was just wondering if you knew of any human traditions.”

Bilbo thought for a moment, “Hmmm… well Hobbits give each other food and permission to cook in one’s kitchen. You could try that…”

“She’s not a hobbit!” Kíli replied incredulously, “And I don’t have a kitchen on hand!”

“Oh yes that’s right,” Bilbo fell silent again, “I heard humans tend to give each other flowers as a sort of courting proposal. Either that or rings, I can’t be sure.”

A smile grew across Kíli face, “Thanks a ton Bilbo. Always knew I could count on you,” He patted the small hobbit on the shoulder almost knocking Bilbo off of his horse.

The rest of the day Kíli spent looking at the ground, searching for flowers he deemed adequate. If he liked them he picked them. And soon he was hiding a raggedy bouquet under his cloak hoping Y/n wouldn’t notice.

Soon dusk fell and Thorin ordered everyone to set up camp. Y/n helped Fíli and Dori gather firewood and light a spark. It was odd the Kíli didn’t help as well. They usually did that together (they usually did everything together). In fact, he hadn’t really spoken to her all day. Y/n hoped she hadn’t done something to upset him.
“Well if I did do something to upset him,” She muttered to herself. “He should just grow a pair and tell me so we can work this out like responsible adults!” Y/n snorted. Kíli and ‘responsible adult’ had never been uttered in the same sentence before.

Soon the fire was light and food was cooking. Y/n went back to her pack just to make sure nothing had fallen out during the day. To her surprise, something was laying on her bedroll. It was a beat up bouquet made of the flowers she had seen growing by the trail.

The girl let out a pleased laugh. Her suitor was certainly trying their hardest, whoever it was. They had actually taken the time to understand some human culture. That said something about the person, about their character. Y/n beamed and scooped the bouquet up to smell, but her eye was caught by a large leaf hanging off of the twine that held it together. Something was written on it, presumably with some of Ori’s precious ink. It just said: “Love, Kíli”

Y/n sucked in a breath. It took her brain a moment to process this. The one person she actually had feelings for felt the same way. She let out a squeal as she rejoiced. Many heads turned her way.

“I think he finally got the stones to tell her,” Balin muttered to Bifur, who grunted.

Y/n quickly turned on her heal and marched over to Kíli who was in conversation with Fíli and Thorin once again.

“Excuse me Thorin?” Y/n asked politely, not wanting to anger the already grumpy leader. “May I barrow Kíli for a moment?”

Thorin nodded and turned his attention to Fíli (who was not happy about being left alone with his very intimidating Uncle, who he desperately wanted validation from).

Y/n grabbed Kíli by the hand and dragged him away from camp just a little bit into the woods. Once she was satisfied that no one could eavesdropped she turned to him, a smile on her lips.

They both looked at each other for a moment.

“I got your flowers.”

“Oh…um…” Kíli said awkwardly scratching the back of his head. “If you don’t like ‘em you can just toss ‘em-”

“No! I love them,” She threw her arms around him and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

“Oh,” Kíli sighed in relief. It would have been the death of him if she had said no. Eventually she pulled away looking into his eyes, their faces still close. Kíli leaned in and gently and pressed his lips to hers. When he didn’t feel any signs not to, he deepened the kiss. It was hungry, filled with passion and fire. He tasted of pipe smoke and his bread tickled Y/n’s face. Reluctantly the two pulled away gasping for breath.

“So then…?” Kíli asked trying to figure out how to phrase his question.

“Yes!” Y/n murmured. “Of course I’ll court you!”

“Oh thank Mahal, amralime.” Kíli muttered leaning in for another kiss.

“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!” Y/n said pressing a finger to his lips, stopping him in his tracks. “I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while. What does that mean?”

“It… means my love in Khuzdul.”

Y/n looked at him breathlessly, “You called me that the first time we spoke.”

“I’ve loved you from the first day we met.”

Y/n could feel her heart melting on the spot, “I love you too.”

Kíli kissed her again, but quickly this time. He threw his arm around her shoulder and they walked back to camp.

“So will you actually let braid your hair this time?”

“I suppose…” She teased. “Also how did you manage to braid it before? Bofur said it must have taken hours!”

“You sleep like a log,” Kíli poked her side playfully.

Y/n hummed, understanding. “So does this mean I get to sleep with you every night?”

“I would have it no other way.”

Y/n giggled as Kíli stood on his tiptoes to press a kiss to her temple. She could not have been happier.