Author's Note
Well, I warned you it was coming. The second coming of Merry and Pippin. grin

My computer's been acting up and I can't get internet access at all. pulls out hair and screams So I've typed this up and I'm posting it at the library. However I don't think they'd appreciate the fact that I'm using their computers to post slash stories. But God bless them.

So lets move on. I promised (mainly GoGoTorturegirlYeah) another Merry/Pippin. And after about a week of fighting off Lupin/Sirius plot bunnies (damn that Prisoner of Azkaban movie) because I NEEDED to get this done first, I finished this little diddy. And I don't own any of the characters! So...Enjoy!

For GoGoTorturegirlYeah, because after all the effort she has put into her stories and that curse called writer's cramp, I thought she rather deserved this.

Comfort

Merry couldn't really ever remember being apart from Pippin.

He knew that eventually they'd have to grow up. And they'd get married and have children and would see each other rather often. But not as often as they'd like to. Part of Merry wished that they could just stay like this forever, and not grow up at all. He didn't want to leave Pippin and get married and have children. They'd always been together. An adventure without Pippin just wasn't an adventure.

Knowing Pippin was right there beside him, or following behind him, or tripping over something right in front of him, was something Merry was used to. A sort of comfort, if you will.

They'd slept in the same bed at Brandy Hall every night of every summer since Merry could remember. They would spend those long summer days running from Farmer Maggot, and lying by the Brandywine, and eventually tumbling into Merry's old bed at some ungodly hour of the night and fall asleep with the windows open and the warm breeze blowing through the bedcovers.

And during the winter it seemed infinitely colder, not only because of the change in weather, but because Pippin usually went home at the end of the day, his mother thought that he would fall into a drift of snow and be lost forever. Personally, Merry didn't see the sense in making his younger cousin trudge home through the freezing cold, especially since she was so worried about him to begin with. And so they had convinced her to let Pippin stay at Brandy Hall that one very cold night, when the wind howled outside, blowing the snow in to big piles around the house.

So maybe it wasn't so wrong that Merry was feeling this way now. He had stayed awake longer than he should, just to listen to the steady sound of Pippin's breathing. "Merry..."

He jumped at the sound of his name.

"Pippin! Why aren't you asleep?"

"I can't sleep! Why aren't you?"

"I can't either Pip."

Pippin turned on his side. He could scarcely make out the form of his cousin lying next to him in the dark. His profile, Pippin thought, looked rather nice in the little moonlight there was. But thinking of Merry only made Pippin want to sleep less, but be closer to him.
So Pippin wriggled himself over, getting close enough that their shoulders brushed, and this time when Pippin rolled over on his side, he could see every small detail in Merry's face. Merry smiled and looked down at Pippin, and Pippin smiled back, his eyes searching Merry's face.
It was warm and comfortable with Merry lying next to him. Content with themselves and curled there next to each other.

"Why couldn't you sleep Pip?" Merry asked, brushing his cousin's flushed check with his thumb, watching Pippin's eyes.

"Dunno Merry..." Pippin said a little shakily "Maybe because you're..."

But Merry kissed him then, and he never got to finish his sentence. He forgot any reasonable thought he had had then.

But he remembered to kiss him back. Merry lips were soft and warm, and he could feel every lovely curve of Merry's lips. Pippin squirmed happily against his chest, hoping that later he would remember every single detail of this.

Merry smiled, and chuckled softly against Pippin's mouth. Pippin frowned slightly, his brow furrowing, eyes questioning.
Merry looked at him fondly, smling still, in spite of Pippin's petty frustration. He kissed him again before Pippin could voice a word of discontent, and murmured gently, barely brushing his lips against Pippin's.

"I think we'll be able to find a way to fall asleep now Pip."