Author's Note: I feel like the most horrible writer on ff. You guys are wonderful, with your readings, favorites and reviews… And here I am, waiting almost another three months 'til updating. I feel horrible. Like I feared, I lost some reviewers and many, many visitors in my absence. I guess I brought it on myself. Thank you so much, all who stuck with me (in reading and/or reviewing) and I'm so grateful that you're here and enjoying my work.

This one-shot is made after a request from CrazyAce'n'PokerFace. It's an adorable idea, and (even though it took me three months) I loved writing it. But CrazyAce'n'PokerFace, tell me if there's anything you want edited. I feel like I didn't do it right and, since it's your request, I want you to tell me if there's anything you want changed.

There's a longer A/N at the end with a question that kinda needs answering. If you wouldn't mind checking it out after reading...

Chris and Guest, the responses to your reviews on Chapter Seven are in the second author's note.

Word Count: 1,720

It was a beautiful and sunny day – the kind where children would wish to leave their chores to their mothers and race down to the skinny brook down the side of the hill opposite to their home, leaving the women who raised them to grumble by themselves before abandoning their own house tasks to work in the garden and enjoy the fresh air - only Fili and Kili were good sons and their mother had no garden to go to outside. So they worked together inside their crowded and hot house, occasionally taking small breaks to stand by a window or outside the front door. Whenever one of them felt like complaining, they would only need to think of Thorin, who was working hard in his smithy and near the fires and steams of his work place; they would suddenly feel warmer and grateful for their cool water and windows.

It was what we would call Spring Cleaning; inch after inch was dusted, scrubbed, and near sparkling by the end of it. The boys had rare permission to enter every single room of the house in order to clean it. They had just finished exploring the rarely entered sleeping place of their mother while playing a game that Dis had made up to keep them entertained:

They started out with ten points. For each space that Fili cleaned, he would gain half a point, and Kili would lose one, and the other way around. At the end of the cleaned room, they would compare points; whoever had the least got to snitch-with-permission twice as much pudding that their mother was making as his brother did. With a new room there was a new game with ten points each.

The two young dwarves sprinted through the halls toward the kitchen, hollering to each other that they would "get there first"; while Kili had won the last race of cleaning, Fili maintained that he was still the fastest runner. They rushed through the walkway between the kitchen and the meal room, narrowly missing their mother in the short journey to the large bowl, which placed on a chair so that the children could more easily reach it. She held the newly cleaned plates high above her head in an attempt to protect them, and half–heartedly scolded her sons for their carelessness.

Kili took his spoon and dug out what was far past more than just his dinnerware's size, and talentedly fit the whole thing in his mouth. Fili, on the other hand, took his time with his own, considering he only got one spoonful. Kili had just finished his second serving before Dis ushered them out with a warning not to come back in again. "I'm making a surprise," she said with a secret smile when they asked her why.

"When do we get to know what it is?" Kili tugged on his brother's hand with anticipation when he asked the question.

"You'll know when your uncle comes home. It's for him too."

"Will we like it?"

"Of course, Kili!" Dis smiled. "It's been a favorite in this family for many generations. Now, you're done cleaning for the day. You've done more than enough work for your ages and deserve a break." She shooed them from the doorway and turned to her cupboards, leaving them to do nothing more than obey orders.

With nearly identical giggles, the brothers hurried off to the front door and to wait for Thorin's figure to climb out of the top of the hill while the setting sun sank. "What do you think she meant by that?" Fili asked. "It's been a favorite."

"It has to be food," Kili replied in a hushed voice."

This made sense, so Fili accepted it. "Then it has to be good."

Thorin arrived not two hours later, though to the boys, it felt like mere minutes and excruciatingly long days. Minutes, because they had fallen into an interesting game of playing dead until the other one made them move without touching them, and days because the smell of their mother's cooking had soon carried out of the kitchen windows and to their nostrils.

Fili was all but drooling in anticipation, and his stomach had begun to state its excitement as well with loud and unashamed growls of hunger. Kili, though, was in torment. Never before had he smelled food so… nasty. He was close to hoping that what was coming from their mother's baking was not the surprise they were told about; he was afraid of what the meal would taste like if this was just the smell.

He ran with Fili to meet his uncle on the road, but after the usual greetings and welcomes home, he was beat to asking the question both he and his brother had been waiting to ask for the last two hours: "What's the family's favorite meal for generations?"

Thorin's brow wrinkled with a quizzical look. "The favorite meal?" He asked, stooping down so that his oldest nephew could climb onto his back. "I must say, Fili. We dwarves are well known for our appetites," he chuckled when he heard his sister's boys snicker. "but if I had to choose one, it would not be difficult, and the answer would be Kuri."

"Kuri? What's that?" Kili's nose wrinkled and his stomach turned at the name when he thought of the smell waiting for them at the house.

"It's deer prepared a certain way. I'm not quite sure how, but the spices and sauces mixed into that meat is unbelievable."

"Sounds great. We're having it tonight," Fili informed Thorin.

"Fili! Mother said it was supposed to be a surprise!" Kili stared up at his brother with a look in his eyes that was close to one of those betrayed.

Thorin laughed out loud and put Fili down easily. "Do not worry, Little One. I will not let on to your mother that I know."

They sat down at the dining table, the boys smiling at Dis' happy humming and their success in keeping their knowledge hidden, judging by the dwarf mother's secretive smile, still held in place. She placed a large, covered dish in the center of the table and sat down beside her brother. Her lifting the lid relieved Thorin of his silence. "It was a hot day to be making Kuri, Dis. What made you think of it?"

"This meal has always been a reward for the hard-working. My boys helped with the cleaning, and you spent the entire day in the smithy. I'm proud of the three of you and thought this would be the perfect treat."

Predictably, Fili thought that this would be a perfect time to speak up. "But you cook for us! No one else does that, and no one could do a better job." To support his words, Fili took a long sniff of the scent rising from the food in front of them and snitched a bite of the potatoes.

Thorin chuckled and admitted that there was no disagreeing while Kili reached over to hug his mother and kiss her cheek.

Now, in case you have forgotten, Kili was not as anticipating as his brother and uncle when he saw the food that he was supposed to eat and enjoy. In fact, he was rather anxious. Just like every dwarf, he loved meat… but something was different here. Something smelled disgusting. He bit his lip and obediently handed hit plate to Thorin when it was his turn to be served, and picked up his fork like everybody else when it was time to eat. But when they all tasted the food, he was the only one with a sour expression on his face.

If someone were to ask what the substance tasted like that moment, he would have replied simply, "bad". But Fili had his eyes closed in delight, and the adults had their eyes fixed on their plates. He briefly considered spitting his bite back out onto the plate, but thought better of it; anyone could see that his mother basked in the praise she received for her cooking, and that would surely be seen as an insult. So he chewed tenderly and quickly swallowed.

"What makes it so… sour?"

"You're probably tasting the Chuf cheese," Dis replied. "I don't think you or Fili would have had a chance to eat any before today; it's very expensive-"

"And very good!" Fili was practically bouncing in his seat. "Isn't it great, Kili?"

Kili smiled instead of wincing. "It's good. I haven't ever tasted something like this before."

"You can say that again!" Though the words could barely be understood through the foot occupying Fili's mouth, they were, and everybody laughed at what he said. Kili silently agreed.

When the family was nearly finished with dinner (save Kili, whose plate was still a third of the way full), Dis called her youngest son to the kitchen to help her bring out the dessert. Slipping from his seat, Kili raced to meet with his mother, because the idea of a sweet after-meal is enough to get any child's feet moving. When he got there, it was to see her smiling fondly at him. "You didn't like Supper, did you?"

The look on her son's face was near priceless. She had never before seen someone look so adorably guilty, yet entirely innocent at the same time. "It was good!" His voice was tiny and, surprisingly, honest. So her son was a good liar. "Just not my favorite." There.

"It's alright if you don't like it, Kili. I didn't fancy it much when I was a child either. I even thought you might not. Which is why…" she reached behind her and pulled a large platter of cakes and pudding cups off the counter. "I made plenty of sweets for after dinner."

Kili's smile stretched the farthest it had that week at what was before him, and held out his hands in an offer to take the platter from his mother.

Needless to say, looking back, Kili didn't care at all that the dinner was worth fretting over. He quite enjoyed the treats afterwards, and the drinks that washed the cheesy taste from his mouth. Though he could have done without the stomach ache afterwards…

A/N:

Chris: Thank you! I'm glad you thought so, and hope you still do. Thank you for taking the time to review! ^_^

Guest: Thanks! I'm sooo happy you're liking the one-shots.

Now for the question...

I'd like to ask now if any of you mind your requests being combined with others'. Example: shinyisbetterthanrockin' asks me to write a one-shot where Fili and Kili braid Thorin's hair and it'snotabeardit'samoustache asks me to write one where Kili picks flowers for his mother. May I combine them so that one one-shot starts with Kili picking the flowers and giving them to Dis and ends with Thorin sporting his new hairstyle and pretending to admire himself in a mirror?

Of course, these pennames and requests are not real to my knowledge, (though I half like the story ideas) but you get the idea. :) So! If you've requested any one-shots, either PM me your answer or leave it in a review with your thoughts on my latest chapter! :D The last suggestion preferred.

Wow. I guess almost three month's absense means I have alot to talk about... Squeezing this in real quick: Review, please?

P.S. Do I make it obvious that Fili's my favorite dwarf? The fear just struck me that I'm neglecting Kili (who seems to be everyone's favorite. Maybe I'm neglecting Fili in hopes that I won't ignore Kili. Thoughts?