The Hobbit ~ Tumblr Challenges

Nori ~ Temperance

Your head was pounding.

It took sometime to convince yourself to move, to tell yourself that you actually had to get up, but as soon as you opened your eyes, you regretted it, groaning as light stabbed through them.

The bed shifted behind you and you felt someone leave, groaning as they do, but the shuffling feet leave the room.

This took a moment to catch up with you and you risked opening your eyes again, frowning as you realised that you didn't recognise the room you were in.

A slow trickle of fear creeps up your spine as you roll and look at the empty space next to you and then to the door that led to the washroom, as you stared, you realised you had zero recollection of what had happened the night before.

Sitting upright, the blankets fell off of you and you realised that you were bare in the bed and you looked over at the pile of clothes on the floor.

Panic gripped you now and you scrambled up, ignoring the turn of your stomach as you fought to throw your clothes back on.

How could you be so stupid? There was a reason that you didn't drink anymore, and this was exactly it, you lost all self-control. How you'd even been talked into it was beyond you, and now this had happened.

You didn't want to know what Nori would think. You didn't want to think about the consequences of it. That made the sickness feel so much was worse and you couldn't help the small sob that broke from you.

The door from the washroom began to open and you panicked and ran, not wanting to see who it was, not wanting to face that shame from whatever your drunkenness had got you into the night before.

Outside, the fresh air hitting you, you threw up.

It felt like a long walk home, your feet dragging as you tried to dig up anything from your memories, something that would give you any sort of clue as to why you had let yourself go so much. You had to keep stopping, and while you weren't sick again, you kept coming closer as the panic and sheer disgust as yourself threatened to overwhelm you.

How were you going to tell Nori?

The two of you hadn't had the best start as it was and even initially courting had been rocky, but the two of you had made it, you loved each other deeply, and even though you fought on occasion, the two of you were comfortable.

And now you'd gone and done this.

It was breaking your heart.

You practically burst into your home and quickly shut the door behind you, breathing hard, not wanting to face anyone, and there you broke down for a moment, hurrying to the bathroom to be sick again and sit on the cool floor for a while.

There was no way around it, you were going to have to tell Nori, you knew that, it would eat you up if you didn't. It wasn't going to be a fun conversation, but for the sake of possibly saving what you had let, it needed to be done.

You cleaned up and put on some fresh clothes, then proceeded to pace back and forth in the living room, waiting for Nori to get home.

It was hard to tell how long it was, but eventually you heard the front door open.

"Y/N?"

You swallowed. "In here Nori."

He looks worried as he comes into the room, frowning slightly at you.

You don't give him a chance to speak. "I need to talk to you."

Nori's eyebrows raise. "Well, that's sudden."

"Nori...please."

Nodding, he enters and sits, looking over at your overly serious expression. "Has something happened love?"

You licked your lips, unable to meet his eye. "I...this is about last night."

"Last night?"

"Yes," You drew a shuddering breath, missing his surprised look before a soft smile came to him. "And I...I want you to know that I have no recollection of what actually happened, but I still love you and I in no way will I...I..."

The tears were going to start again, you knew it, you could feel them starting to prick at the corner of your eyes. "Oh Nori...I'm so sorry...I don't know what I've done..."

With all that you were feeling, all the guilt welling up inside of you, a soft laugh from Nori was not what you were expecting, causing you to finally look at him.

Nori's expression was soft. "Y/N, my dear Y/N, my love, I promise that things aren't as bad as they look."

You stared at him miserably. "What?"

Chuckling again, Nori stands and comes over to you, resting his hands on your shoulders, smiling at you. "You were with me last night. All night. As I promised when we started celebrating, I wasn't going to let you out of my sight."

Freezing, your mind worked this over, but after all the panicking, after all the thoughts that you'd had, it just didn't make sense.

Nori kissed your forehead. "That was me getting out of bed this morning; we had quite the wild ride last night, we were celebrating after all, and can I say I was more than surprised to find you running out the door when I came out."

Heat flooded your face. "So...I didn't..."

"No," He kisses your lips softly. "No, you didn't cheat on me love, we were together all night and embarrassed ourselves immeasurably, but no, there was nothing as drastic as that." He chuckles again. "If I remember correctly, I believe your words were 'I love you too much to ever even look at another'."

Finally, you felt yourself relax, sinking into his arms and even giving a weak chuckle, even as your heart continued to race. "Guess I made a real arse of myself, didn't I?"

"Just a little one," He chuckles and kisses you again. "But that's why I love you."

"Because I'm an idiot?"

"Because you're damned adorable."