Concerning Hobbits
Merry and Pippin are unexplored characters in the book and though obviously very close this friendship is never truly developed or touched upon. Here are several events from Merry and Pippins early lives up to and leading into the quest to destroy the ring. It's basically just me developing the story of my two favourite characters and bit more and detailing some of the mischief they no doubt got up to before they joined the fellowship. Enjoy, or not, whichever. PLEASE REVIEW! Flames help Sauron's fire burn so, no thank you! (The events are all dated by the way and this is all compltely accurate with the world Tolkien created, I researched meticulously, also if they seem a bit out of character remeber they are younger here and much more care free!)
I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! (So there!) ALL THE WORK OF THE GENIUS THAT IS J.R.R. TOLKIEN!
3002 – Concerning birthdays and best friends
"MERRY!"
Merry groaned and rolled onto his side pulling his quilts with him.
"Now now Mer, that isn't the way to behave on your birthday, is it?" Pippin giggled down at his cousin from where he stood on Merry's bed. When he got no reply he began to bounce.
"Pippin you little monster leave Merry be" Frodo grinned as he came through the door carrying a tray groaning with a huge assortment of breakfast items.
Merry sat bolt upright and grinned sleepily at Frodo. "Do I smell Breakfast?" Frodo smiled.
"You do indeed, I thought I'd bring you breakfast in bed as treat now you are a tweenager" Pippin frowned slightly as he saw Merry's face darken momentarily but let it pass and began his bouncing again.
"Where's my present Merry?"
"Pippin!" Frodo scowled at his young cousin but Merry just laughed.
"Under the bed Pip" Pippin whooped with joy and flung himself to the floor and scuttled under the bed.
"Where?"
"Keep looking" Merry instructed as he and Frodo tucked into fresh blueberry pancakes.
"I can't see it!"
"It's there somewhere" Merry accepted his cup of nettle tea from Frodo with a smile and listened to the frantic scramblings of Pippin somewhere below them.
"Merry," an indignant and slightly dusty Pippin appeared on the opposite side of the bed, "it is not under the bed"
"I never said this bed did I Pip" Pippin scowled and looked on the verge of a rude comment when he quickly spun around and set about a search of every bedroom in Bag End, silently thanking goodness that they were still at Bag End and not in Brandy Hall which had a good deal more bed rooms.
"Are you sure you don't mind staying here for your birthday?" Frodo felt awkward that both of Merry's parents were occupied with Shire business for their only son's 20th birthday.
"Of course not Frodo, I can have much more fun here anyway" Frodo looked set to continue but was interrupted by a ear shattering whoop from Pippin. Merry smiled.
"He's found his gift then"
"What on middle earth did you get him" laughed Frodo as he and a now dressed Merry followed Pippins exclamations of delight into the smallest bedroom. There sat Pippin, his gift safely nestled in two hands gazing down at it in awe.
"Oh Merry, it's it's, thank you" Pippin gushed, eyes never leaving his hands.
"What on middle earth is it" whispered Frodo an amused smile spreading across his face.
"Well…"
"A mouse" squealed Pippin his eyes finally leaving the little bundle of fluff nestled in his hands to grin, eyes gleaming with excitement at his two older cousins.
"A mouse! Merry lad you think of the strangest things" Frodo laughed and shook his head as he departed to attend to the breakfast things.
"But why isn't he scared?" Pippin's voice returned to an awed whisper as his gaze slid back to the mouse nuzzling around his palms.
"Well, I brought him up see, so he knows me and ever since I thought of giving him to you as a gift he's slept with the shreds of one of your old shirts so he's quite used to your smell. What are you going to call him?" Merry sat down next to Pippin and tickled his finger down the little mouse's back, the mammal wiggling into the touch.
"Where'd you find him?"
"Farmer Maggot's farm last autumn"
"Then I shall call his trespass, because that is what you must have been doing dearest Merry when you found him" Pippin smiled and then turned back to his mouse and informed his of his new name. 'Trespass' pricked up his ears and nibbled at Pippins thumb affectionately.
"I think he likes it" laughed Merry.
*****
As the day wore on Pippin kept a closer watch on Merry, he hadn't forgotten the older hobbits decision to go to Bree when he reached his tweens even if it appeared Merry himself had. The day passed without unusual event and Pippin had all but decided that Merry meant not to go.
Then, a few hours after they had all retired to be Pippin was roused from his activities with Trespass by the sounds of a hobbit sneaking passed his door.
Creeping into the corridor he peered through the gloom at the retreating figure of a hobbit, a hobbit too short to be Frodo and too tall to be Bilbo returning, it was Merry.
"Caught you!" he giggled, flying through the air and latching onto said hobbits back bringing them both crashing to the ground.
"Pip, you moron" Merry and Pippin landed in a heap but did not stay that way for long, Pippin scrambling to his feet and sitting firmly on Merry.
"I'm not letting you go to Bree Meriadoc Brandybuck and that is final!"
"I'm not going Pip"
"Nothing you can say will sway…what?
"I'm… not going" Merry blushed sli8ghtly but it was still visible even though the poor lighting.
"But you told Fatty Bolger that when you reached your tweens you were going to Bree"
"Well, I'm not thinking of going just yet, I have only just become a tween you know, ten long years in which to make said trip"
"Then where are you going?" Merry gently pushed Pippin off him and climbed to his feet brushed himself down; Pippin noticed he was wearing his best waistcoat and crisp, ironed shirt and breeches. Pippin scrambled to his feet and tugged on Merry's arm.
"Where are you going?" Merry bit his lip and then looked down at his younger cousin.
"Fatty and Sylus are… well… they're having a party… for me" Merry looked swiftly away from Pippin noting the sudden flash of hurt in the younger hobbits eyes.
"Oh…I see, well you have fun" Pippin threw Merry a forced smile and then disappeared back into his bedroom, softly shutting the door and leaving Merry alone in the passageway.
"Thank you" Merry's words were heard only by the cloaks hung by the door and the ticking clock that Bilbo had brought back from one of his many visits to go know where.
Pippin sat on his bed and stared at the door he had just come through, praying he wouldn't hear the tell tale squeak of Bag End perfectly circular green door being opened and then closed. He shut his eyes tight and tried to block out the sound, hoping that if he didn't hear it, although he still could, perfectly well, Merry would be tucked up in bed and Pippin could just creep down the hallway and slid into his bedroom and they'd spend the whole night, laughing and stealing food from the kitchen like they used to when… when Merry was younger.
Pippin sighed, Merry was a tweenager now, too grownup to hang around with Pippin who was still only twelve, they'd end up spending less and less time together and then eventually Merry would come of age and take over the running of Buckland and then…
Pippin squeezed his eyes tighter, hoping to dispel the tears forming behind his lids and snuggled down under the duvet, willing himself back to a time when Merry wasn't grown up and when it could just be them, when Merry could still be his best friend.
*****
"Pippin!" Merry hissed peering into the dark room.
"Next door along Merry" Frodo mumbled sleepily.
"Oh, sorry Frodo" Merry gave a drunken giggle and shuffled backwards out of the room.
"Glad it was a good party Merry" Frodo muttered to himself and the comforter as the door shut behind the wobbling hobbit.
"Pip, wake up" Merry stumbled into Pippin's room and cursed loudly as his toe met the end of the bed.
"Merry? What on middle earth are you doing?"
"I decided my party was missing some one" Pippin felt a hand tighten around his wrist and before he could object he was being tugged down the passageway in nothing but his nightshirt and out into the cool night air.
"Mer, for heavens…" Merry just shook his head and grabbing a bundle by the door way stared to climb up the side of Bag End. Pippin sighed, he didn't want to hear about Merry's party, it still stung in his chest, but then again this might be one of the last time Merry was able to talk to him, he had to make the most of it, so, sighing again Pippin lent forwards until his palms connected with the dewy grass and began to slowly ascend the smooth mound that made up the outer shell of Bag End.
"Right," Pippin puffed slightly after his difficult climb which he had to restart several times, eyes finally lighting on Merry propped up against the old oak, wrapped in a huge blanket and puffin on his pipe. Pippin flopped down beside him and began to twiddle a blade of Grass between his fingers. "So, who was missing from this party then" If they were going to talk about this then he'd rather get it over with so they could move onto something else.
"Oh, only my best friend" Merry inhaled deeply from his pipe and then released a circle of smoke into the crisp air.
Something twinged deep in Pippin's chest but after a moment he managed to continue. "Fatty couldn't make it after all then"
"Yes, Fatty was there, and Sylus, everyone really" Pippin bit down on his lip to prevent himself from sighing out loud and then cleared his throat desperate to dislodge the lump that had become stuck there.
"Who then?" It was meant as a normal question but it came out as only a whisper.
"You then" Merry whispered back, gaze turning to Pippin for the first time since they had arrived on top of the hole.
"Oh" wait "What, me?" Pippin felt happiness begin to swell in his chest and his breathing didn't seem to be quite right as he shuffled closer to Merry, pleading with whoever that he hadn't misheard that Merry had meant that.
"Of course you Pippin! I only have one best friend and that my little hobbit, is you!" Pippin's eyes nearly pooped out of his head as he stared at Merry in delight and disbelief. Merry, was his best friend.
"Now, that trip to Bree, when I said I wasn't going yet, I didn have a kind of plan as to when I was going to go, I was thinking about eight years time"
Pippin frowned "But you'll be twenty eight by then Merry, even I'll be… I'll be twenty"
"Well done, I knew Aunt Eglantine would teach you your number correctly Pip"
"But…"
"I thought we could go together, when were both in our tweens" Merry blushed slightly but Pippin just grinned ear to ear and threw himself on top of Merry in as big a hug as his small arms could manage.
"I think that's a fabulous idea Merry, you are too clever" Merry grinned and pulled them both upright, tucking Pippin under the blanket and allowing the younger hobbit to snuggle up to him.
"Am I really your best friend Merry?" Pippin tilted his head so he could look past Merry auburn curls and see his face highlighted by streaks of moonlight.
"There's no one else in the world it could be Pippin and I wouldn't have it any other way" Pippin sighed, in contentment this time, and watched the spirals of smoke winding upward to the stars as he slowly fell into a peaceful sleep.
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