~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Frodo let the letter fall from his hands as he sat down promptly on the bed. 'A love letter?' he thought. 'I don't believe it…' He read the words again. It was definitely addressed to him. Who could it be?
His mind began reeling. It was someone in the Fellowship; he knew that much, for the anonymous writer had said that he was going on the quest, too. Well, that narrowed it down quite nicely. Only 8 to choose from. But other than that, he had nowhere to begin.
'I suppose I will just have to keep an eye out, and look for clues,' Frodo decided.
"Frodo?" the voice startled him out of his intensive ponderings.
"Oh, good morning, Merry," Frodo said, hiding the letter under his pillow quickly. He turned around. "What is it?"
"I was told to tell you that breakfast is ready, down in Elrond's nice hall," Merry said, looking confused. "But you seemed rather intrigued in something, so intrigued that you didn't answer me the first two times that I called you name. What was it?"
"Nothing!" Frodo answered, too quickly. "Nothing at all. I was just tired."
"Ah…" Merry said, nodding skeptically. "Then…what was it you hid under your pillow?"
"Simply a bag of herbs," Frodo lied.
"Alright then," he shrugged. Merry knew he wouldn't get anything out of Frodo. "Well, get yourself dressed and hurry on down to breakfast, or there won't be any left."
"Right, I'll see you," Frodo said. Merry left and Frodo dressed himself, then left his room and headed to the dining hall.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Merry watched as Frodo left his room, hidden behind a bush nearby. Checking to make sure that no one was around, he quickly and quietly tip-toed to the door of Frodo's room. He opened the knob silently, walked in, then shut the door slowly. He walked over to the bed. The comforter and sheets were still wrinkled and untidy, as Frodo had not made the bed that morning.
Merry moved his eyes to the pillow, carefully lifting it. He saw an envelope, and a piece of folded paper beside it. The paper rustled slightly as he picked it up.
He began to read. As he did, his eyes widened. "'Frodo Baggins, I feel that I'm quite in love with you'?!" Merry muttered to himself. "Who wrote this?!"
Footsteps were heard, coming closer to the door of Frodo's room. Merry panicked and stuffed the letter in his breeches pocket, then jumped out of a conveniently open window. He hid in the bushes and listened until he heard the maids leave Frodo's room. 'They must come during breakfast to make beds and such,' Merry said to himself. 'Guess Pip and I needn't make our beds every morning, then.'
And then, he strolled off towards the dining hall. Perhaps he could get some leftovers.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Oi! Merry!" Merry heard his cousin, Pippin, calling. He saw the young, brown haired hobbit sitting at a table near the end of the hall. There was a seat saved next to him.
"Hullo there, Pip," Merry said, sitting down next to his younger cousin.
"Why are you late to breakfast?" Pippin asked, handing him a plate of bacon.
"Oh." Merry took some bacon and put it on his plate, then reached for the eggs. "I was in Frodo's room, telling him breakfast was ready."
"That can't've taken too long," Pippin said. "Unless Frodo was extra sleepy…"
"No," Merry said, setting down the plate of eggs. "But I found this under his pillow after he left." Merry reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter. "Read it!"
Pippin did, and a look of confusion came over his face. "Wow," he said finally, folding it up and handing it back to Merry. "Looks like someone fancies our Frodo quite a bit."
"I know! It's excellent. I only wish I knew who it was…" Merry reached for the basket of rolls.
Pippin shrugged. "It's not really our business."
Merry cocked an eyebrow at him, but then shrugged too. "I suppose you're right, Pip." He reached over and patted his cousin on the shoulder. "You're growin' up fast."
They ate the rest of their meal in silence.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Sam stood up from his table and walked out the door of Elrond's dining hall. He put his hands in his pockets and strolled down the path, letting the wonderfully golden morning sun shine on his tanned gardener's face. It wasn't until he heard a laugh that he noticed Merry and Pippin, several feet in front of him.
He was about to call out to them, when he saw something flutter out of Merry's pocket. Merry didn't seem to notice. Sam was about to cry, "Hey, Brandybuck, you dropped something!" when the two cousins rounded a corner and walked out of sight.
Sam ambled up to the thing he had seen fall out of Merry's pocket. He looked at it, and realized that it was a letter. 'Well, I'll just keep it until I see Merry, then I'll give it to him,' he told himself.
He picked up the piece of paper and began to unfold it, then thought: 'Samwise, you nosy fool, don't go readin' other people's mail. It's not kind.' But curiosity got the better of him, and he open it and began to read.
His eyes widen and his face fell as he began to read. He slowly brought his hands down and said aloud, "Mr. Merry loves my Mr. Frodo?!"
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
A/N: So, chapter two! Hope you like it, everyone. Please review. I do like my reviews. ^_^
FuschiaDoorsKick: Teehee. I'm glad you like this. Go love triangles! Yeah, it doesn't work too well to write fics in notebooks, cuz then you need to retype them. And that's boring work. ^_^
Ranal Peredhil: XD I'm glad you like the title. It doesn't suck as much as I thought it was going to…I wrote the fic before I named it, so…Yeah. And you're right. Love lines aren't as good as love triangles. Love lines are just boring and fluffy. Gotta have love triangles, or life isn't interesting!!! I hope you like this chapter.
