#alpha!dwalin

Nori tossed his head back and cried out hoarsely as he came again.

He'd long since lost count, had no way of knowing how many this one made, but his body buzzed with the pleasure of each one, the sensation of it hot as forgefire coursing through his veins.

A gentle hand, big and familiar, cupped his face, and though his vision swam, he managed to focus his gaze on Dwalin who looked down at him with nothing but awed adoration in his eyes. Nori made a wordless sound — one of encouragement and reassurance, though Dwalin looked as though he hardly needed it.

It was an understanding they had, now.

Dwalin understood what it meant for him to need to be taken apart, before he could be put back together. And this was one way that he could do that — one way he could help and hold Nori.

It was the smoothing of a wax tablet, the sanding smooth a roughly hewn bit of stone.

To be brought to the peak of his pleasure over and over again tempered him, like hammer to steel. Quieted his mind when he could not silence it himself.

And there was none he trusted more to do this for him — to know this side of him and not use it against him — than his mate. Dwalin had never once turned away, even when Nori himself thought he ought to have. And for that, he could only feel infinitely grateful.

So when Dwalin's fingers returned to his cunt, flushed and slick from his countless peaks prior, he swallowed and nodded, shuddering when the alpha's thick fingers slid into him, familiar and yet still just enough of an aching stretch to leave him writhing.

"Dwa—lin," he gasped out, head lolling atop the pillow, fingers fluttering across the sheets as though he couldn't quite grasp them, hold them for long enough, "Please, please-" he keened, and though he no longer had the words to ask, Dwalin — his good, sweet Dwalin — knew just what he needed.

Thick fingers thrust in deep, before pulling out, another one added when it pushed back in, and curled just so.

Nori gave a throaty shout as he saw stars dance across his vision, and he bucked and canted his hips, wanting — needing — to feel more of those delicious fingers.

He was begging, though he was only distantly aware of the fact that he was doing it. He was far too taken by the thick fingers beckoning him closer and closer to his peak, aching and drenched as he was.

The sound that was punched out of him as he finally, finally managed one more peak was hardly any recognizable words, but Dwalin seemed to recognize the broken syllables of his own name, seemed to hear the emotion behind them as he slowly, carefully withdrew his fingers, and pulled Nori into his arms, curling around him protectively, whispering soft praise and sweet words.

Nori, for all that he claimed that he'd always be a thief at heart, was largely reformed as far as Dwalin was concerned. It certainly helped that there was no need for him to steal, these days. Not when he owned a fourteenth of the gold in Erebor.

But he'd not let his skills dull, it seemed.

At first, it was small things.

His towel, his tunic — things that could easily have been lost or mixed up in the washing.

But then it became things a bit more difficult to lose.

His furs, his traveling cloak, the quilt off of their bed.

Each time Dwalin tried to bring it up, Nori looked at him with such wide eyes, such a hurt expression at the thought of Dwalin even implying that he'd take such things, that he couldn't finish asking.

But what other explanation was there, if it wasn't Nori taking these things? And to what end?

…It took Dwalin longer than he would have liked to put the pieces together.

The things that had gone missing were — for the most part — his belongings. Imbued with his scent. And the only reason Nori might be seeking out things — soft things — with his scent on them could only mean one thing.

He was making a nest.

Dwalin could not deny that his heart leapt at the thought. To have his mate, his omega building a nest meant more than he could say. It was a terribly intimate gesture, he knew — one that showed great trust and was most often the first step to bonding, and he'd never thought, never dared to hope, that Nori would want a proper courtship, but if there was a possibility that he'd want to, that he'd be willing to try, then Dwalin would do everything he could to be an alpha worthy of such trust.

Of such love.

And the first step was, of course, letting Nori finish the nest, painstaking a process though it may be. For the omega, once finished with the nest, would present it to their alpha — a gift, an old tradition to show that they would provide. And it was the alpha's duty then, to protect it, to keep it a place safe for the omega to spend their heat.

Dwalin could not deny that his mouth watered at the thought of Nori approaching his heat.