Fic Rec Fridays 2019 - part 26

Diplomatic Relations (20136 words) by Thorinsmut
Chapters: 10/10
Fandom: The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Azog/Thorin
Characters: Thorin, Azog, Thrór, Thráin, Frerin, Lady Dis too probably, Bolg - mentioned, Other Orcs and Dwarves too probably, Daisy the Warg
Additional Tags: AU: no arkenstone - no gold sickness - no smaug, AU: free orcs, Consentual Azog/Thorin, Interspecies, anti-orc racism, Diplomacy, trade negotiations, not a romance just a fling, Warg pups, Past Slavery, Proud Dad!Azog, lots of talking, oddly fluffy, unlikely friendship, Smut, Anal Sex, Casual Sex, Size Kink, Complete
Series: Part 1 of Free Orcs AU

Summary:

Erebor prospers.
The arkenstone was never found, the sky is free of dragons, and the royal line free of any madness.

The Orcs meanwhile waged a bitter civil war, but now a group of free Orcs have become a powerful trading force in the North.

Erebor agrees to host a diplomatic envoy from the free Orcs of Gundabad to discuss trading directly.

Mutual curiosity takes care of the rest.

---

Okay folks, trust me on this one. Trust me like I trusted TS, because they've yet to fail me - and it was a trust well-placed. Because this ship… I don't go there. Just… NO.

But a serious, well-made AU can work wonders. Here, I went in with great doubts, and came out a shipper, if only in this one, very particular set of circumstances. Because, by some strange story-telling magic, it works.

And if you want, you can easily read this for the friendship and skip the benefits; there's still a great arc of a character overcoming ingrained prejudices, and a smidgen of politics, and orcs carving themselves a far fairer share of the world than the one provided by canon. And yes, warg pups, I suggest you read this for the warg pups. But not going to lie: the hot bits are hot.

I'm not quite through the entire series yet, but I can already tell you it will only get better. And that's saying a lot.