Work Text:
Beep. Beep. Beep.
It was a mundane job, Bilbo thought, when he started there shortly after his 16th birthday, he would never have imagined he would still be working in the same grocery store nearly 12 years later.
Beep. Beep.
Still, it paid his bills, he knew what he was doing and it demanded very little of him. Flexible enough that he could take the occasional day and tend to his garden or go hiking, while it wasn't exactly his idea of an ideal life, he was comfortable.
Bilbo's train of thought paused as he took the payment from the customer he was serving, he gave her a smile and polite farewell as she left. He turned his attention to the next customer, asking if they wanted any bags or help with packing, then set about scanning their purchases through the till.
Beep. Beep.
Recently, it had become less so. Having worked in the store for so long, Bilbo had seen many regulars come and go, usually older people who enjoyed a brief conversation as they packed their shopping, about their grandchildren or their cats, it all blurred together after so many years. One young child was much like the other, and there was only so much he could hear about cats before each story ran into the next. It wasn't that he didn't care, not at all, he thoroughly enjoyed interacting with customers. Some more than others.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Bilbo was so lost in his thoughts he didn't even realise the last customer in his line before he was due a break, the exact reason his life had become so... confusing recently, until he looked up to ask if he would need any assistance. This man would come in every day and buy one or two extremely random items and rather than go to an express till, he would come to Bilbo's, regardless of whether or not there was a queue, and they would have the most pleasant conversations if time allowed. Thorin, he was called, and he was so ridiculously good looking it shouldn't be legal.
Some of Bilbo's colleagues had poked fun at him when he first spoke out about how much he fancied this tall, dark and handsome stranger. They all thought he was too old. Bilbo scoffed at that, Thorin couldn't be much older than himself, maybe in his mid thirties, but no more.
Beep.
"How're you today, Bilbo?" He asked in that voice, that voice that set his skin alight.
"Good, good." Bilbo smiled. "I'm good, ready for a break though. You?"
Beep.
Thorin returned the smile, light creases fanned out at the corners of his eyes. "I'm fine." He coughed lightly. "Look, I'm just gonna come out and say it. I really like you, Bilbo, and I was wondering, uh, if you were free after work today, maybe we could go grab a coffee or something?"
"Um." Bilbo looked up, he could feel how wide his eyes were, he forced himself to blink away the surprise. "I'm free now, I have my lunch break now, um. If you like."
It was Thorin's turn to look surprised. "Oh, yes. Yeah, great."
Beep.
"Oh shoot!" Bilbo exclaimed, he looked down at the ...lettuce he had scanned twice. He glanced at the other item Thorin had chosen to purchase today, a tin of beans, and then at the man in question. "You know you didn't need to buy things as an excuse to talk." He said as he quickly rectified his mistake on the till.
Thorin just shrugged and handed over the money due for his transaction. "Who says I don't actually need these?"
"Right." Bilbo gave him a sceptical look. "So I'll meet you out front in five?"
-
As he looked out at the faces in the room he felt his heart skip a beat for probably the millionth time that day. It still didn't feel real. That he would be stood here, beaming like an idiot, feeling like the happiest man alive. Of course the people he wanted there most were painfully absent. He knew they would be watching, though, that they would be happy with the choices he made.
Everyone was laughing at Bilbo's tale of how they met, the sheer ridiculousness of it never ceased to put a smile on his face. The hand he had rested on Thorin's shoulder drifted up to tuck a stray hair behind his ear. Public speaking had always been a strong point, but never in all his wildest dreams did he think he'd ever be doing so at his own wedding.