"Boromir." Frodo said when they were walking closer to the pass of caradharas. "Would you mind terribly if I asked you a question?"
The Prince of Gondor didn't stop walking, but slowed his movements so that the hobbit could catch up with him. "Not at all, little one. Ask as you please." he responded with a friendly smile to encourage Frodo, who beamed back at him.
"How old are you?" The question surprised him greatly, the only one capable and expected of asking questions of such levels could be Faramir, not a smart, innocent hobbit as Frodo himself.
Behind Frodo and himself, Merry and Pippin were laughing so hard at his dumbfounded face, while Sam simply looked sorry for Boromir. Frodo turned the colour of a badly grown turnip as he realised what he had said.
"I...I...um, didn't mean to get you so embarrassed." he said, while shooting his sniggering cousins an icy glare that shut them up instantly. "I was just... curious. I'm very sorry!" Now Frodo was the one who was looking heavily ashamed. He preferred it if others didn't suffer on his account, and in this case, he had a dying urge to bury himself under the earth and never come out.
"It is quite alright, Frodo." Boromir blinked a bit, slowly overcoming the shock that had him staring at the four halflings rather dumbly that Pippin had to turn away from betraying the fact that he was smiling and Frodo turned absolutely crimson. "I was just... surprised. Nobody has asked that of me for a long time."
"So...you will answer it, surely?" Frodo's face regained its milky, creamy posture once more and a small smile on his lips. Boromir found it easier for his heart to turn to the brown-haired hobbit and relax on of the journey ahead.
"Of course, little one. If you wish."
"I'm not little." Frodo stuck out his lower lip in an adorable pout that reminded him of his younger brother back home. "I turned fifty before we left for Rivendell."
"Pardon?" Boromir was VERY surprised, Frodo looked no older than Pippin than he did younger than Merry or Sam. Hobbits were indeed strange creatures.
"You heard me correctly." Frodo chirped cheerfully. "Now its your turn."
"My turn?" Boromir asked weakly.
"Yes, I gave you my age and now must give me yours."
He gave a sigh. There was just no escaping this one. "I'm about to be thirty-eight, if you must know. Are you satisfied now?"
He didn't know what he had expected, but Frodo's reaction was not one of them. The other three traveling behind them skidded to a halt when Frodo froze in amazement, gaping at the man above him. There were assorted cries of "Frodo!" and "It seems you need a new pair of eyes, cousin." but Frodo was too starstruck to pay attention.
"You're... joking." Frodo accused. His knees felt weak and soft. Sam had to catch him before his feet gave out, sensitive to previous dangers. He searched his master for any injuries or signs of anything ailing him, but saw nothing more than a blank face.
"What's wrong, Mr Frodo?"
Frodo turned to him with a bright smile on his face. It was a bit frightening. "Sam, did you know, Boromir's the same age as you are!"
"Oh...thank the stars, I thought it was something over the top than that, of all things." the stout little gardener muttered under his breath.
"Thirty-eight!" another voice cried. It seemed Merry and Pippin had finally caught on. "That's hardly an adult! Who's father would send them out on such a dangerous mission at a much young age?"
Boromir gave an incredulous look at Pippin continued on hastily, as if reading his mind: "Well, Merry and I, are younger, but we're here under dire circumstances! Like I said at the Council, 'You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us.'"
"Boromir, please sit down." Frodo's voice came gently, soothingly. He noticed they were no longer walking for hours on end, it seemed Gimli had found a decent enough cave to spend the night, much to Legolas' dismay and he was surrounded by the rest of the Fellowship on all sides, with a blazing fire illuminating their faces.
"I do not understand the reason of your excitement and incredulity." he said shakily. "How is being thirty-eight young?"
Gandalf and Legolas smiled, Boromir was going to have a hard time adjusting to the hobbits. But, as they had a long way to go, it might as well be worth it. Frodo smiled also, but not with amusement in his voice and appearance, but with understanding and sympathy for the man.
"You see, Boromir, we hobbits are an entirely different race. We do things differently, dress differently - as you might have noticed, we wear no shoes on the soles of our feet, they are rather tough flesh you know - we even have a larger amount of meals than you folk-"
"We'd noticed." Gimli chuckled.
"Wait until you hear about the number of meals." Gandalf smiled softly.
"Breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, evening tea, supper and dinner!" Pippin ticked each off of his fingers.
"Seven meals!" Boromir exclaimed, shocked. "How can you remain so thin!" he directed the last part at Frodo, who blushed and turned away.
"Mr Frodo is underweight." Sam explained. "He eats much less than the rest of us, and is much less enthusiastic to hear the word 'food' itself. Sometimes, when the season of flu draws near, it is impossible to get him to eat anything!" he shook his head fondly yet exasperated. "Stubborn hobbit, he is."
"I am most definitely NOT." Frodo blushed furiously. "Samwise Gamgee, you take those inconceivable lies back this instant!"
Gimli and Gandalf chortled with laughter.
"You skip more than half of the meals!" Merry said, at the same time, Pippin shouted, "Ask Bilbo, he'll say the same thing!"
"I. Am. Completely. Healthy." Frodo snapped.
"So, why do you consider me so young again?" Boromir asked.
"Oh! Well, the aging law. When you are in your teens, you are a teenager. I suppose you know that much. But to us hobbits, we have more. Like Pippin, for example, he's 28, and we consider him a tween, you know because he's in his twenties." Frodo gestured to his cousin(who waved at them happily, pleased to be given attention). "You become of age after you turn 33, and you're an adult then. But still, you're very youthful, I must say, 38..."
."Now I understand. Thank you, Frodo. " Boromir nodded his thanks. "So, you're 50, and Pippin is 28, so what about Merry and Samwise?"
"Merry is only one age part from aging, 34 and Sam is four years older. Of course, all three of them are too young to be here, but they won't go if I traded a jam tart with them." Frodo shook his head, slightly annoyed.
"We certainly wouldn't!" Sam said sticking his chest out.
"You're definitely going mad, Cousin. Trying to run away to Bree by yourself with a certain Dark Lord's certain ring when we're asleep, I don't know what you'll possibly do next." Merry nudged him in the ribs playfully. Frodo rolled his eyes.
"Call me 'cracked' again, and you'll end up with my hairy foot in your face." he warned irritably.
"Ouch." Pippin said, grinning widely.
"You're no better." Frodo mumbled, turning to him, but Pippin no longer saw him.
"By the way, Gandalf, I've been meaning to ask you...How old are YOU?"
Everyone, including Aragorn and Frodo, stopped to look at the wizard, seated calmly between a certain dwarf and a certain prince of Mirkwood.
"I honestly cannot tell you the answer to that Peregrin. I have lived to see the First Age sprout into bloom, see summer turn into winter, survived the First War, and anyway I do not find those types of enquiries that interesting." Gandalf replied wisely. Frodo blinked twice and his mouth slowly formed into a smile, which faded immediately when Pippin opened his own a second later.
"So you're saying YOU HAVE BECOME SO OLD THAT YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN YOUR AGE?!"
"Peregrin Took, you absolute fool! What's under that head of curls?!"
"OUCH! Okay, okay, I didn't mean it! Merry, get Frodo off of me! OWW! My ear will get torn off if you don't let me go!"
A/N: I'll try to update as soon as I can, I don't have many ideas left.