Chapter Text
Our story begins with a hobbit. A plain and on the outside, ordinary hobbit. Though like some things, the outside can be misleading.
Because the hobbit of this tale is one Bilbo Baggins, son of Belladonna Took and Bungo Baggins.
Two families that were opposites of each other, the Tooks were known for their wild spirits and thirst for adventure.
While the Baggins' were a respectable lot, sticking to their generational routines and never doing anything unexpected.
Well up until a Baggins decided to wed a Took!
A decision that would shake The Shire for the generation, for they made Bilbo, a hobbit a wonderful mix of both families.
He always was looking beyond the green hills, wondering about what else was out there, who else was out there.
His mother would tell him stories of the adventures she herself had been on while his father made sure he could read and understand any map.
So he would never be seen a fool, his father would say. His father cared too deeply about what others thought, to Bilbo anyway.
But as he grew older, the way the other hobbits would look at him and treat him made him understand his fathers worries.
He was never like the others, for many reasons. But when other faunts his age were off playing gardening, he would be found pretending to slay an orc or having tea with elves.
The other hobbits didn't seem to enjoy his mothers traits, traits that were also his. Always telling him to act right and stop his nonsense.
It made him cry many times, his mother told him not to stop doing something he loved, no matter what other people thought.
But one day when he was out playing, a group of hobbits his age had tormented him, leading him to run home with cuts and bruises all over.
The only one home at that time was his father, who gently soothed him so he could talk but his father's face was not of sympathy, but of worry and shame.
His father told him that he loved how much like his mother he was, but that he needed to reel it back a little.
To keep that part of himself to close family and friends, that having it hidden would keep him safe, so he wouldn't be hurt again.
So he did
He closed himself from most of the hobbits of the Shire, he only felt comfortable to be himself around his mother.
He felt he would only shame his father more if he truly acted and spoke how he wished to the older hobbit.
His mother often looked at him with sadness when she caught him putting up his walls but never said anything about it, not to him anyway.
There were many nights where he would sneak to his parents bedroom door and listen in to what they were saying.
Many nights where he heard the sound of his mothers muffled cries and his fathers quiet reassurances.
Bilbo didn't want to hurt anyone, he just wanted to everyone to be happy. But he always seemed to make everyone feel the opposite when he was around.
One night making him change forever.
The night he heard his mother crying about how she worried he would be alone forever. That she had tried to help him make friends by talking to other mothers of the Shire but all said no.
She wailed that night. No matter how much soft soothing his father did, no matter what he said would stop her sobs.
They never spoke about it to him though, he was sure they hadn't even known he was listening.
But he knew he had to make sure his mother knew he would be okay, even if he was alone.
Being alone wasn't so bad.
Right?