I am laying the blame for this nonsense, squarely on Fíli's heightened interest in architecture. Bilbo thought dryly as he peered over the rim of his sunglasses at the trio before him.
Bilbo had been enjoying a quiet afternoon reading beside his snoozing lump of a partner before he had spied his young nephew trying to appear casual as he wandered past accompanied by both Fíli and Kíli.
This sight on its own would have been unremarkable, and Bilbo may have disregarded it completely to go back to his book had he not noted his nephew-cousins' somewhat shifty countenance and the fact that all three carried garden spades over their shoulders.
Marking his place with a finger, Bilbo had cleared his throat meaningfully causing all three to flinch and stop in their tracks, turning to face him as guilty as toddlers caught with their hands in the biscuit tin.
"I don't think Thorin will be overly impressed if you've killed Frerin and plan on burying the evidence, lads," he had quipped breezily causing Kíli to snicker and Frodo to fidget.
"We haven't killed anyone, promise," Fíli supplied with an easy grin and a reassuring hand on Frodo's shoulder.
"Why the spades then?"
"We're going to build a sandcastle, Uncle," Frodo piped up readily.
"Aren't you getting a little old for all that now?" Bilbo had narrowed his eyes slightly in a quizzical fashion. For all he looked after his teenaged relative quite frequently whilst his parents were away on business, some areas of parenting still baffled him. Such as when a child was too old for balloons at a birthday party, or how long they might continue to enjoy pursuits like making sandcastles at the beach.
"You can never be too old for sandcastles," Kíli sounded near scandalised, and a soft mumble of agreement from Bilbo's side drew attention to the fact that Thorin had been woken by the conversation, clearly sharing his younger nephews' sentiments.
"It's going to be more impressive than you think, Uncle Bilbo," Fíli added, and the calculated use of the title 'uncle' both warmed Bilbo's heart and made him all the more suspicious.
Frodo had readjusted the spade in his grip and nodded excitedly, finally filling Bilbo in on their plan.
"It will look amazing when it's finished! Fíli came up with a design for it last night. It's going to be a replica of the castle in Dornie, but we're going to make it as big as we can. Fee reckons it will be big enough to climb when we're done!"
This had thus inspired Bilbo's thought of blaming the aspiring young architect who was currently smiling sheepishly at him.
Beside him, Thorin yawned hugely and pushed himself up onto his elbows, blinking owlishly in the strong sunlight. "Sounds like more hard work than it's worth to me. Just be careful."
Kíli sniffed imperiously and declared Thorin only said that because he was too old and lazy to join in, which earned him a towel to the face courtesy of his disgruntled uncle.
"Yes, do be careful," Bilbo, continued ignoring their antics completely. "If you end up entombing Frodo in sand I'll be most displeased."
"Aw, have a little faith in me, Bilbo. I'll make sure it doesn't collapse and bury us," Fíli assured.
"Good, because if any accidents do happen, you can be the one to deal with Prim."
The threat was not an idle one, nor one to be taken lightly, and judging by way the grin fell from Fíli's face so quickly, it would have the desired effect in making sure the three boys were sensible with their construction project.
Primula, or Prim, could be a force as formidable as Dís and Vivi combined. Thorin's nephews had only met her once before, but that had been enough for them to realise Frodo's mother was not someone to trifle with.
"Right- of course. Come along you two, let's get building then." Fíli was quick to steer Frodo and his brother away from a blithely smiling Bilbo following a remark like that.
Bilbo grinned at their retreating backs; Thorin hid his chuckle behind the façade of a cough, and Bilbo waited until they were out of earshot before speaking again.
"This mad-cap idea is partially your fault I hope you realise."
"What? How?"
"You always take on bigger projects than is normal, too ambitious by far the lot of you, Fíli obviously gets that from you."
"Rubbish."
Bilbo made as if to argue, opening his mouth before closing it again, a smirk stealing over his features before he nodded sagely.
"Perhaps you're right… after all Kíli has a point; you're far too lazy to attempt something like-"
The rest of Bilbo's teasing remark was cut off as Thorin all but flung himself at Bilbo and attacked his sides with merciless fingers as Bilbo gave a shout of laughter. His book falling from his lap, page entirely lost.
The presence of the Durin's staying at Bilbo's holiday cottages during the summer had become something of a tradition by now. Ever since Thorin and Bilbo had made their relationship official two years ago, the pair would find as many excuses as possible to visit the other. Whether, that was Thorin travelling down to Cornwall with various relations to enjoy the warm sun and surf, or Bilbo trundling up to the family's castle in Dornie (often with Frodo in tow). The pair had found ways to make this long distance relationship work and work well.
Of course, there were naysayers, a handful of Bilbo's more scathing relatives had done little to hide their disdain when they had been told of the relationship, claiming it was infatuation that would fizzle out as quickly as an English summer passed.
"Long distance relationships never work out," Lobelia had claimed loftily with all the self-assured confidence of one who knew such things yet had not a whit of actual experience with them.
Bilbo had quite rightly ignored her… and perhaps forgotten to send her a Christmas card that year as well.
And really, didn't this just prove them all wrong, Bilbo thought smugly as he fended off his would be attacker by pouring his glass of ice water over Thorin's head in revenge (Thorin did not shriek, thank you very much). All of them were happy with this arrangement, and Bilbo was quite sure neither he nor Thorin felt their affections 'fizzling out' one bit.
Both he and Thorin were content this way, Bilbo surmised with a smile as Thorin settled himself back on the sand, mock grumbling about his now soaked hair, and not one of them would change a thing.
Well, not for now at least, Bilbo allowed as he stretched his arms above his head and looked fondly around at the gaggle of friends and relations who had joined them on the beach today.
Perhaps someday, Thorin would like to move here permanently… or I could go to Dornie, Bilbo pondered, but did not think much on it beyond that one fleeting contemplation.
They had time after all, and could take things as slowly as they chose, and hang whatever certain people might say about it.
Balin and Dwalin had chosen to visit this time and Thorin had agreed to close the castle in Dornie for the two weeks the whole family visited so they could all spend time together. The pair were seated beneath the shade of a large parasol they had brought with them; Balin looking rather amusing in shorts and t-shirt, sunglasses, a wide brimmed straw hat, and socks-with-sandals ("Don't you say a word, can't abide sand between my toes, laddie. And if this is what I have to wear to avoid it, I will"). Dwalin looked equally ridiculous, having forgotten a hat of his own; the hulking man had borrowed a clean handkerchief from Bilbo and knotted the corners before placing it atop his bald head.
The pair was chatting animatedly with young Sam, a good friend of Frodo's who was visiting. He was a quiet boy, and Bilbo was not surprised to see had obviously had misgivings over the other boys' pet project and so had decided to spend the afternoon listening to Balin and Dwalin's tales instead.
He was keeping an eye on his best friend though Bilbo noted; ever loyal and dependable; Bilbo had no doubts at all that if Frodo got himself into trouble, or called for an extra pair of hands, then Sam would be there in a flash.
Dís and Vivi were out in the surf, clearly trying to best one another and shouting both jeers and encouragement as they crested waves on their boards with all the ease of long practice.
Frerin, Bilbo finally spied atop one of the grassy dunes, playing with Beast, Eileen, and Bramble with sticks and blades of Marram grass. For once, Thorin's younger brother was not getting into mischief and had clearly decided that a relaxing day at the beach was far preferable to whatever prank or scheme would have him running about in this heat.
"Ah good, they didn't kill him after all then."
"Can't say I'd blame them if they did, he's a menace," Thorin grinned, brotherly affection present in his voice as he pillowed his arms behind his head and cracked one eye open to peep at his sibling.
And so went the day.
Bilbo fished his book up off the ground and shook it free of sand before huffing and attempting to find his place again, and Thorin grinned in childish triumph as he persisted in interrupting Bilbo's reading with inane questions about the story or anything else he could think of.
It was a good four hours before Thorin suggested they go to check on the progress of the so-called Durin-Baggins Sandcastle and Bilbo agreed, finally setting his book aside properly.
Since they had not heard any panicked screams or cries for help, Bilbo felt it was safe to assume that Fíli had been as good as his word and prevented a disastrous collapse of their edifice. Still, from where they were seated they could not see their boys' progress as easily as Balin, Dwalin, and Sam could, and the pair was curious as to how the sandcastle looked.
"You just want to join in and try to prove to them that you're not old and lazy after all," Bilbo joked and was met with a snort from his love… though Thorin did not deny it.
Thorin offered Bilbo a hand and pulled him to his feet, not bothering to let go as the pair began their trek over to the impromptu construction site.
It was nice how comfortable they were with one another. Before meeting Thorin, Bilbo had always been sceptical over casual intimacy or showing affection in public. Now though, with his fingers laced with Thorin's, he decided he would not have it any other way.
The sandcastle was quite impressive, Bilbo had to admit. He remembered hearing about professional sand sculptors who took days to perfect their creations, only to have them crumble and wash out to sea in a short space of time.
It had always seemed like a waste of energy to him, but looking at the pleased faces of their nephews now, Bilbo felt that perhaps it was not such a waste after all.
It wasn't even near completion, they had been far too ambitious in that respect. However, they had made an excellent start. The large mound of wet sand they had piled up was wide and sturdy, standing taller than Thorin.
Perched atop and industriously carving the shape of the Durin's castle were Kíli and Frodo. Fíli had been helping too naturally, but right now was on the ground, a piece of paper with his plan for their construction drawn in minute detail complete with neatly annotated notes in his hands. He circled the mound, calling out advice to his brother and Frodo as they adjusted things to his liking.
"I must say this is very impressive." It appeared Thorin and Bilbo were not the only pair to come over to admire what was going on. Vivi was grinning ear to ear as she walked over with an arm around Dís's waist.
"It is, isn't it?" Bilbo beamed at them, and felt his smile widen even more when he noticed how pleased Fíli looked, his ears and cheeks pink with the praise.
"Well, it's taking quite a bit longer than I thought it would," Fíli mumbled and shrugged. "But it is nice to see it coming together."
"You could always complete it tomorrow," Bilbo offered. "There are no other family's here at the moment and this part of the beach is private anyway, so there's no risk to anyone by leaving it standing a while."
Fíli, Kíli, and Frodo all cheered at the news, and Thorin grinned at them before picking up Fíli's abandoned spade.
"Mind if I help at bit before we go inside?"
Behind him, Dís rolled her eyes and Bilbo stifled a laugh. Kíli's words had really been taken to heart it seemed, and Bilbo had been right when he'd suggested that Thorin wanted to prove a point to them.
"Alright," Fíli agreed. "But I don't want to test how many people it can hold just yet. If you can collect more wet sand for us that would be helpful."
Thorin nodded, and was off down towards the shore without another word, grabbing the large pail they had as he went.
Bilbo decided to join him, but instead of collecting sand, he decided to collect shells.
Sandcastles, he thought resolutely, whether they were based on real castles or not, always needed shells for decoration and was pleased to hear Sam and Dwalin (both artistic souls) offer to design flags for the keep.
Vivi suggested carving a channel from the sea to the castle to act as a moat when they had finished the initial building, and Balin was happy to lend advice to Fíli. Even Frerin had come over to admire the slow progress they were making, though he was more content to sit back, watch, and keep the animals from getting too close to the structure.
Bilbo smiled contentedly as he hummed a quiet tune and selected this shell and that by Thorin's side. What had started as a project between three was quickly becoming a task the whole group was enjoying, and really, weren't times like these the best anyone could ask for?
Bilbo certainly thought so.
The castle might take a lot of effort and time to complete, they may have to leave it overnight and return tomorrow, but in the end, it would all be worth it.