Sanity Hangs by a Thread
Author: MSM/the7bells/Meredith/ME!
Cat: General
Disclaimer: I'm Tolkein, and you are a flower. Got that? If that is not the case, I don't own anything but the books, LotR DVD's and several copies of the Hobbit.
Summary: Pippin and Merry find out what a mischievous team they are. Not only are they insane, but they'll tow the Shire behind them while they turn it on its head.
Rating: PG
Notes: I don't really write depressing fics. I have a tendency to make fun of serious things, and this really isn't the funniest thing I've ever written. In fact, it could be the most serious. And I'm writing it when I should be working on my science project.
Betas: I don't have any. But tell me about the mistakes, k?
Meriadoc Brandybuck was about ten when he had his first real run in with his cousin Peregrin Took. Peregrin, or Pippin as his mother called him, was about five, and trying to get into mischief already. But it wasn't until Merry was seventeen and Pippin twelve that they first really connected. Pippin had gotten into trouble right under Merry's nose, and his mother came storming up, eyes flashing, and Merry cut smoothly in with a lie about how it wasn't Pippin, but his little sister. Pippin just stared at Merry.
"Well, I've been in trouble enough times to know exactly how to divert it." Merry responded with a shrug. Pippin never left him alone after that. Merry found he didn't really mind having his younger cousin tag along everywhere he went.
It was a few weeks later when they had their first raid on Farmer Maggot's farm, with Frodo. They had "only stolen some mushrooms," according to Pippin. At the end of that little expenditure, Frodo had sworn never to do it again, and that the other two's sanity was hanging on a thread for even suggesting it. Pippin grinned and shrugged. "Well, we are insane, aren't we Merry?"
Merry chuckled. "Yes we are Pip." Frodo just shook his head.
"I give up you two. Just don't absolutely destroy the Shire."
"Now there's an idea."
Over the years, the friendship, unlike most, strengthened. There were the times in the spring where they'd pick the flowers, and string them across the holes where the occupants were allergic, in summer, where they'd sneak buckets into strategic locations, and dumped them on the heads of those not paying attention. In the fall, Pippin would climb up the apple trees and pick about twenty, where they proceeded to try and cheat most of the Shire out of their money. In the winter, snow found its way down the most dignified Hobbits backs.
In short the two were a hurricane, turning the Shire on its head. Merry simply planted the idea and Pippin carried it out. They were inseparable, and the entire Shire waited for the right Hobbit woman to come along and settle one of them down, breaking the Destructive Duo in two, and ending the tyranny on the Shire. They all knew it was foolish. Merry and Pippin attacked girls and boys alike with various pranks. No one looked at them after getting bowled over by one of their numerable pranks.
And so, it stayed that way. One day, lying on the bank of Brandywine river, eating some apples filched from Farmer Maggot's crop, Merry and Pippin reflected on that first meeting.
"Hey, Pip, do you even remember why you were in trouble that first day." Merry asked his younger cousin.
Pippin thought a moment, and then laughed. "No."
Merry laughed too. After a while, they quieted down. "So, Merry, are you going to Bilbo's party tomorrow?"
"Of course I am. Mum's making me, and besides, it'll be an…ah…opportunity to get our hands on some fireworks."
"Hmmm… that could be fun." They laughed again, and as the sun set, the Hobbit's lay on the bank of that river, not knowing that something would happen tomorrow that would in time, change their lives forever.