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"You never told me I was Gollum!" Pippin scowled at Frodo and Sam who were chuckling a little.
"We thought you knew!" Sam said.
"And besides," Frodo remarked, "It wasn't nearly as bad as some of the things you and Merry made me do."
"What did we make you do?" Merry asked, now curious.
"Remember Rainbow?" He muttered. The sound was barely audiable, yet his companions all seemed to hear it.
Pippin's scowl faded to be replaced by a grin. "Yeah, yeah! That was part of Mushroomir and Bacon!"
"I remember that!" Merry shouted, only to be hushed by Aragorn.
"Try to speak quietly." He gently reminded the hobbit. "We don't know what is down here."
"I remember that!" Merry whispered again. Sam rolled his eyes.
"Bacon and... Mushroomir?" Boromir asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Bacon and Mushroomir." Merry repeated excitedly.
"I still can't believe you guys made me do that." Frodo cast a not-too-friendly look at the two smiling hobbits, and then sighed. " I guess I'll tell this one. One summer, I was off to visit Merry and Pippin in Buckland, for a family reunion type gathering, and the second day I was there, they managed to rope me into one of their games."
"You wanted to join!" Merry interrupted. Sam shushed him.
"Yes, but not as Rainbow!" Pippin snickered as Frodo continued, "Apparently, Merry and Pippin had some game where there was an incredible ranger named Mushroomir who had an apprentice named Bacon, and the two went around saving innocent hobbits. In this instance, I... Rainbow.... was captured by a dragon and in need of rescuing. Of course, the whole thing was improvised on a big tarp in the middle of some field by the main road, and by the time we finished, there was a group of maybe 20 hobbits watching."
Gimli gave a good, hearty laugh. "That must have been interesting. Who played the dragon?"
"Pippin." Frodo replied, "Pippin, Bacon, at that point, was with me when I was captured, and told Merry, er, Mushroomir. Once they got to the lair, Merry did the fighting and Pip was the dragon."
"That was one of our best ones! It was in front of a live audience!" Merry exclaimed, struggling to keep his voice quieter than before.
"Easy for you to say! I was in Buckland not a year ago, when some one asked if I still went by Rainbow!" Pippin and Merry both burst into laughter at this, and Frodo couldn't stop the grin creeping onto his face as well.
It was short lived, however, as Sam piped up merrily, "At least they forgot that awful rumor about you shoving Mr. Boffin in the Brandywine."
"Sam!"
"But it's true, ! That was a terrible rumor- everyone said that you, Mr. Merry, and Mr. Boffin were going along in a wagon, when you and Merry hopped out, and you turned around and gave it a nice push, sending Mr. Boffin flying into the river!"
Frodo seemed at a loss for words.
"I must say, Frodo," Gandalf stated from the the front of the group, his eyes twinkling, "I never took you for that sort of hobbit."
"That's not what happened!" The hobbit protested, "I don't know who started that rumor, but that's all it was: a rumor!"
"Ah, it's alright, lad," Gimli said as he fell in step next to the ring bearer in order to give him a thump on the back, "We all have a different side to us and do rash things occasionally."
"But it's not true! Listen, Merry, Folco, and I were in a wagon- Mrs. Brandybuck had been pulling us along the riverbank, when she stopped and said it was time for luncheon. Merry crawled out, and I followed, but I sort of jumped out instead, and the whole thing went rolling backwards, with Folco still inside! We fetched him out of the water as fast as we could; he was fine, and I apologized, and everything was alright. He had practically forgotten by the time I left the next day. Then, a few days after I'm back in Hobbiton, I hear someone talking about how I tried to drown one of the Boffins by pushing him into the Brandywine! That afternoon, Bilbo even sat me down and asked if I had something to say for myself! The whole thing was completely ridiculous."
"Who started the rumor?" Aragorn inquired, and, although it did not show on his face, his eyes danced with amusement.
"No one knows!" Frodo cried, exasperated. "I tried all I could, but I kept on reaching dead ends!"
"Oh, well that's easy!" Pippin chimed in matter-of-factly, "The day after you left, Merry came running down the main street shouting out the whole story; You and him were taking Folco along the Brandywine in his favorite wagon, when he stole your cookies and ate them. Then you pushed him in. Right, Merry?"
Merry went incredibly pale as Frodo turned to him, and was very glad that looks couldn't kill, otherwise he'd be roasting in Mount Doom.