A Week… or Two
Chapter 9: The Confrontation
Once they were on the main road, Merry and Pippin set a straight course for Frodo's. The moon shone brightly in the night; as more tiny stars seemed to appear, dotting the sky with diamonds. Crickets chirped in the tall grasses lining the road, creating a musical ensemble that calmed Merry's heart. Suddenly, Pippin's small, inquiring voice broke the silence, "Merry, how far is it to Frodo?"
Without thinking, Merry responed, "Not far enough. I'd walk across Middle Earth if it meant having you by my side." Then, his words hit him like a blast of cold air. Stopping dead in his tracks, Merry looked at Pippin with apologetic eyes. He had meant to say, "I'm sorry Pip, I shouldn't have said that." After all, Pippin was only 19, not even a tweenager yet. On top of that, Merry was eight years his senior, which would normally mean nothing, had both of them been of age. Not to mention of one of them had been a lass. However, Merry's words never escaped his lips, and his thoughts remained his own, for when he looked at Pippin, he was relieved. Instead of fear and anger, which he had expected, Merry saw a look of admiration and love in his cousin's eyes that he had never seen before. Forget it Merry, you're just putting silly thoughts in your own head again. Pippin loves you; he's not IN love with you, Merry concluded, trying to convince himself that it could have never meant anything different. Pippin, however, was not convinced. Eventually he broke the silence.
"Do you really mean that Merry? Don't you bother trying to cover it up, because I know how to tell when you are lying! Besides Merry! I'm 19 years old, I think I know when someone's hitting on me." Pippin straightened himself to his full height, which was not much shorter than Merry, and folded his arms. Pippin stared his cousin down, making it quite clear that he was not going to move until he had an answer.
Merry began to shake slightly, yet to his relief, unnoticeably. His hands began to wander as he looked for something to do with them to keep Pippin's concerned gaze off his shaking hands. First Merry drew them through his fine golden locks, then into his pockets; followed by behind his back, and back to his pockets, before he finally interwove them with one another in front of himself. "I... I umm, I guess t... there's really no... no readon... reason," he corrected himself, "to try and get out of it, so, umm, yes, Pippin..." He averted his gaze from Pippin's feet to his eyes. There, he found encouragement, and felt a slight weight lift from his shoulders. This gave Merry the courage to complete his statement, and he felt it rise up from somewhere within. "I meant every word of it."
Without a word, Pippin closed the gap between them and planted a tender but firm kiss on his cousin's lips. Turning with a smile, Pippin continued walking down the path towards Frodo's.