4: Pippin

Pippin was up when the sky began to grow light, which was at about the seventh hour of the clock. Being young, Pippin did not mind being up and about early, but he knew that Frodo would – which was exactly the reason for his early start.

He wandered to the kitchen, a bleary-eyed Merry following, sleep still in his eyes, which he could hardly keep open.

'Pippin, did we have to start so early? Couldn't it have waited? You know I don't like mornings…'

'Of course we have to start early, Merry. How else are we going to get Frodo up? We can't indulge him, you know,' Pippin responded tartly to his cousin. He began trying to sort out breakfast, banging the pots and pans loudly as he did so, but not really achieving anything but a mess. Merry took pity on him and took over – at least he managed to crack the eggs into the pan, and not over the countertop.

The sound of sizzling eggs and bread being toasted filled the kitchen, until the sound and smell of eggs burning and toast turning black that replaced it. Quickly, Merry and Pippin set about salvaging the food; luckily the eggs weren't too badly burnt but Pippin did have to spend five minutes standing over the bin scraping the charcoal off the toast in order to make it edible.

When that was done, Pippin heaped the food onto a plate and carried it down the hall to Frodo's room, singing loudly as he did so.

Throwing open the door, Pippin set the tray down on the bedside table and then proceeded to leap onto Frodo's bed, grabbing Frodo by the shoulder and gently shaking him.

'Wake up, dear cousin Frodo! It's another lovely day, and we've got you breakfast!'

Groggily Frodo looked up at Pippin.

'What's the time?' he mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he made to sit up.

Still ensconced in Frodo's blankets, Pippin replied chirpily, 'Early!'

'Pippin, I told you not to get me up! I'm going back to sleep…' Frodo groaned, and made to slip back down under the quilt.

'No you're not, Frodo, because if you do, I'll sit on you until you get up,' Pippin warned.

'That would just defeat the point, Pippin, because if you sit on me I won't be able to get up,' Frodo pointed out.

'Would you like to try it?' Pippin asked sweetly – too sweetly. Frodo glared at his youngest cousin, and at Merry, who was standing by the open door.

'Fine, I'm getting up. Where's breakfast?'

Pippin pointed to the tray of slightly burnt food. Frodo looked at it sceptically.

'I think I'll come and have bread and jam in a moment. But first, I want to get dressed.'

He picked up the tray and placed it firmly in Pippin's hands, and then chivvied them out of his bedroom and shut the door.

Once outside, Merry and Pippin shared an excited glance.

'We're getting somewhere, Pip!' Merry said in a delighted whisper.

Pippin only smiled knowingly in reply.

Not long after, Frodo entered the kitchen fully dressed, and set about getting himself some bread and covering it with thick, sweet strawberry jam. Merry and Pippin, deciding it would be wasteful to throw away the eggs and toast, had made quick work of eating it themselves. Waste not, want not, went the saying.

While they sat at the breakfast table, they could hear Sam arriving and starting work in the garden. In the silence as Frodo ate without looking at them, Merry and Pippin grew fidgety as the sound of Sam's clippers and shears became the only other sound apart from Frodo steadily chewing.

Suddenly Pippin piped up.

'Frodo, it's been so long since you last came to see us at Great Smials. Why don't we play a game? You always used to like Hide and Seek and you always won; we could play that!'

Excitement was visible on Pippin's face at the thought of playing a game with his older cousins. Hide and Seek was his favourite game!

'Sorry Pippin, but I really am not in the mood to be running around-'

'Please, Frodo?' Pippin turned every ounce of charm and cuteness on that he could – and having three older sisters, Pippin had had really rather a lot of practice. At the sight of his younger cousins pleading face, downturned mouth and sorrowful eyes staring balefully at him, Frodo gave a sigh.

'Alright then, Pippin. But only for a bit!'

Pippin gave a gasp of delight and threw his arms around Frodo. At first Frodo accepted the embrace but woodenly; when Pippin tightened his grasp, Frodo's arms wrapped around his cousin and Pippin felt a soft kiss land on his head. He smirked into Frodo's shirt; he knew his cousin was getting better.

Graciously, Pippin let the others hide first, while he counted. He wandered around the smial trying to find Merry and Frodo. He found Merry crouched under the low table in the front parlour, but he couldn't see Frodo anywhere. Confused, he and Merry searched the smial, but he was nowhere to be found.

'He hasn't run off, has he?' Pippin asked anxiously.

'I don't know… Maybe, Pip,' Merry replied.

Suddenly they heard an exclamation from the garden. It was Sam's voice, raised in astonishment.

'Why, Mr Frodo sir! Whatever are you doing in here?'

Quick as a flash Merry and Pippin raced out to the garden to see Frodo outside the garden tool shed talking with Sam, who had gone red and looked embarrassed as he realised the mistake he'd made when he saw Merry and Pippin come storming out of the smial.

'I'm awful sorry, sir,' he said worriedly to Frodo.

'Don't worry, Sam. I shouldn't have hidden where I'd get in the way,' he replied briskly, and immediately started back inside.

'Oh no, Mr Frodo, you weren't-' Sam began, but he was addressing Frodo's back. Pippin saw his eyes fill with tears as he was ignored by the master he looked up to and respected. Taking pity on him, Pippin placed a hand on Sam's arm and offered a timid smile.

'I'm sorry, Sam. I thought he was feeling better today…'

'Naught to worrit about, sirs. Please, don't mind me. I'd best finish my work, now…' hurriedly Sam patted Pippin's hand and then walked off to the other end of the garden, and as he went Pippin heard him take a shuddering breath.

Turning to his cousin, Pippin said desperately, 'Merry, we can't let this go on. Frodo needs to understand that it's not all about him – that he's hurting Sam.' He looked back towards the gardener, bowed over the flower beds. 'Come on,' he commanded, and the two of them walked back into the smial.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, with Merry and Pippin testing various methods of capturing Frodo's interest. They tried food competitions to see who could eat the most in two minutes – this idea was rather put paid to, however, when it became apparent that there wasn't really much expendable food in the smial, as Frodo hadn't bothered to go shopping since Bilbo had left.

Merry offered to go and on his way down the garden path Sam stopped him, and offered his assistance, and the two of them walked into Hobbiton to collect some groceries.

It was growing dark while they were out, and Frodo was lying lethargically on the sofa in the parlour – after Pippin had insisted on following him everywhere he had grown bored of trying to shake off the young hobbit and to keep him happy stayed where he was wanted – but he didn't respond to Pippin's questions except for a nod or shake of the head, and simply stared up at the ceiling.

Pippin decided it was time to play his 'cute' card again. Quietly he slipped out of the parlour and into the study, where he looked at the books lined up neatly on the shelves and carefully considered his choice. He chose a volume that looked to be full of old fairy tales; an old tome, but well-thumbed. It looked as if Frodo had had similar interests in stories as his young cousin some years ago.

Pippin pulled it off its shelf and carried it back to the parlour. Then he carefully hitched himself up onto the sofa so that he was sitting on Frodo's stomach. Frodo didn't try to throw him off, but he did heave a little sigh.

'Frodo, will you read to me, please?' Pippin asked in his most innocent voice.

'No, Pippin,' Frodo replied, his eyes closed.

'Alright then.' Pippin inflected his voice with enough melancholy to make Frodo feel bad, but then brightened it considerably. 'I'll read to you, cousin Frodo!'

Frodo gave a ghost of a smile and stayed still. Pippin took this as confirmation that he could begin.

Flicking through the leaves of the book, Pippin came to one story on which a marker had been placed, long forgotten about now. Pippin assumed it was once Frodo's favourite story. In fancy script, the title proclaimed 'Ainulindale'*.

Pippin struggled with the word, but eventually pronounced it. He saw Frodo smile, his eyes closed as he listened. Then Pippin began to read.

Instantly he was caught up in the story, the tale of how the world came to be. Forgetting all about Frodo, he read on, lost in the beauty of this creation story. He only remembered where he was when he heard the front door close, and Merry announce his return.

Pippin looked at Frodo to ask him what he thought about the story, but he realised his cousin was asleep; sleeping blissfully and peacefully, lulled by the words into rest. He looked so serene, Pippin thought.

Merry appeared in the doorway.

'Pippin, Frodo, I got-'

Pippin hushed him.

'He's asleep, Merry,' he whispered, and the two younger hobbits regarded their sleeping cousin. Even then, he still had a smile on his face. Merry set down the groceries and proceeded to carry Frodo into his bedroom, with Pippin's help, and they set him down on the bed and wrapped the blankets around him and dimmed the lamps.

When Pippin gave Frodo a last hug before he left the room, he heard Frodo give a low mumble into his ear, no louder than a sigh.

'Thank you.'

* "Ainulindale" is the creation story of Middle-Earth as told in The Silmarillion.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's always fun to write chapters about Pippin; he's just so adorable! Especially as he's really young at this point.

Anyway. Please review and I really hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading :)