Deux pages avant la fin

one genre of fanfiction that seems to have mostly disappeared since i became an adult is shenanigans-type fics. like not exactly crack but just "the gang goes to 7-11" type, extremely low-stakes plot stories. the beach episodes of fanfiction. i just feel like i don't see those around so much anymore. whered they go. i miss them :(

For a Hobbit raised under the open, shifting skies of Eriador, living inside an enclosed stone fortress can sometimes cause a specific mountain-sickness a feeling of suffocation. When Bilbo gets quiet and starts staring blankly at the stone walls, Thorin immediately stops whatever council meeting he is leading. He doesn’t offer words of comfort; instead, he takes Bilbo by the hand and leads him through secret, steep military tunnels that open up onto the very highest, wind-swept peaks of Erebor, far above the clouds. They sit there for hours in silence, the biting wind rustling Bilbo's curls, until the Hobbit can look out at the endless horizon and feel the vastness of the world again

In his extreme old age in Rivendell, as the power of the One Ring fades and his mind begins to slip, Bilbo's memories become chaotic. He often forgets the names of his cousins or what he had for breakfast, but he never forgets the oak leaf pattern. He sits on the balcony for hours, holding the old, dried-up acorn from Beorn’s garden, which never grew because he couldn't bear to plant it without Thorin. When Frodo gently asks him who he is waiting for, Bilbo looks out at the trees with cloudy, tired eyes and whispers, "I am waiting for the King under the Mountain. He promised we would plant it together, and he is very late"

Dwarven bakers make dense, rock-hard travel bread and heavy crusts designed to last for months in deep mines. Bilbo, who misses the fluffy, golden, yeast-risen loaves of the Shire, views this as a personal tragedy. After weeks of complaining, Bilbo takes over a small corner of the royal bakery. He imports proper yeast and teaches the grumbling, heavily bearded royal bakers how to properly knead and proof soft Shire dough. When Thorin is served a warm, fluffy roll with melting butter for breakfast instead of his usual rock-hard ration, his eyes widen in pure delight. The bakers try to take the credit, but Thorin knows exactly whose soft hands saved his kingdom from bad bread