..::Promises::..
by Hayla
~o II o~
It was evening where they stood. A silver moonlight glow gave a blue and ashen look to the trees and grass all around them. He felt the curly hair tickle his nose, but he didn't mind. He didn't dare move and it felt good to inhale the sent of the man drawn up close into his arms. He let his hands, which were tightly wrapped around the other's waist, make slow circles along the man's back.
Instinct told him that he needed to protect and soothe away the pain he knew was just now brimming to the surface from deep inside. The man's smooth face was nestled nicely on his shoulder. It felt perfect, like he belonged in his arms... like he always had and always would. Therefore, he was taken aback and more than a little worried to feel the hitched breaths that were getting stronger by the moment.
He was crying. The man he was holding... he was crying.
"There, there, Pippin. It will be okay," he heard himself say lovingly, though it was as if someone else was controlling his actions. Someone else was saying the words, for they made no sense to him. What, exactly, would be okay? And who was this man whom he had called Pippin? He didn't know. But he had to stop the man from crying... and it just felt right. He couldn't bare to see him cry...
"No, Merry... it won't be..."
His heart was breaking, and he tilted Pippin's face up to his, gently brushing away the droplets from his tear stained face. "Yes it will..." Desperate to comfort and reassure, he reached down and kissed the soft tresses at the crown of his head. "It will, it will... I promise you, Pip."
He trailed small kisses down the brow of Pippin's head, along his cheek, then lightly on his nose. He didn't dare go further, but he wanted to - he wanted to so badly. But there were some places he had not yet dared to go... dared not tread. Instead, he pulled his gray cloak around the both of them, trapping the warmth and dashing away the cold fear that was prickling up the back of his neck.
"I promise you, my sweet Pippin. Don't cry... don't cry..."
The other man looked up, eyes brimming with more unwept tears. The green orbs sparkled with life and a passion filled him that was almost unbearable. He could only hold his breath, thinking the sight so painfully beautiful. He couldn't move, only stay locked in that stare... moments, hours... centuries... time didn't matter. It was safe. Right then. And, if nothing else, it was home.
"Do you love me, Merry," Pippin asked softly, the words almost caught by the wind and lost.
He felt like he had been waiting for this moment all his life. And all he could do was bend down and close the breathe of distance between their mouths. It was as pure a kiss as could be had. It was also the first, or it felt just like the first - filled with all the same worriment and excitement with the slightest hint of clumsiness.
They bumped noses and Pippin tilted slightly to the side, melting completely into his body. All he could do was squeeze the other man tighter and tighter. It felt so right. He broke away only to bury his flushed face in the crook of Pippin's neck.
Home, he thought.
"I do love you," he managed to say as his heart raced inside his chest. "Always... until our time is done on this earth. And forever... till the end of all ages..."
continued...