Note: Late birthday mathom for
It was the worst weather in years, and Pippin was bored. He and Merry had originally only gone over to Crickhollow to pick up some of Merry’s books, which he had left behind when they moved to Buckland for the winter but apparently couldn’t live without one day longer. So, because Pippin could never resist Merry when he got that passionate look in his eyes, they had set out for what both of them considered their real home early in the morning.
At first Pippin had actually liked the idea of a leisurely ride through the snowy landscape, away from Merry’s family, just the two of them for a couple of hours – until it had started snowing like crazy and become obvious that they weren’t going to make it back that day. And then Merry had disappeared into the room he had turned into a library with his precious book, leaving Pippin to his own devices as the storm got progressively stronger, howling around the house.
Having lit the fire until the main room was all warm and cozy, Pippin quickly ran out of things to do. There wasn’t much food in the pantry, so he couldn’t even kill time by eating. He tried to get Merry to leave his books alone, but not even his best pout gave him more than the promise that they would have dinner together later. Dinner! Pippin rolled his eyes at the closed door. That was at least another hour away, with nothing for Pippin to do but lay on the rug in front of the fireplace and listen to the storm.
There had been much more pleasurable evenings spent on that rug, he remembered – when Merry had been with him, the rug rough against their bare skin, their bodies warm from love making and not just from the fire. Merry had had his mind on Pippin then, not on some musty old book.
Rolling onto his back Pippin sighed heavily and noticed that his right foot had started tapping out a rhythm. When he started to pay attention he realized that he had joined in the rhythmic drum of treebranches against the wooden window shutters. It was almost like lying inside a giant drum that was being beaten by a dozen never-tiring giants. Maybe it was a group of Ents that had come to look for the Entwives… Pippin smiled at the thought.
It had been years, and nostalgia swelled up in Pippin. How much he wanted to journey and see Treebeard, visit Legolas and the other remaining Elves, Aragorn, Arwen and their little son in Minas Tirith, and maybe even Faramir and Eowyn in Ithilien... The longing was a familiar friend for Pippin, and he let it wash over him, staring blindly into the dancing flames.
His growing melancholia was abruptly interrupted by a warm body settling down next to him and soft breath stroking his skin, as Merry buried his face in Pippin’s neck and wrapped both arms around his middle. Pippin smiled slowly and stretched like a cat, rubbing himself against his favorite pillow, yawning widely as the present caught up with him.
“Hey there…” Merry whispered, tightening his hold on Pippin. “Were you dreaming? You seemed far away.”
Pippin turned to look into his lover’s eyes, drinking in the beloved face. “Well, I was. You had better things to do, after all, so I had to keep myself occupied.” He softened his words by smiling, letting Merry know that he wasn’t really mad. After all, Merry was here now, and Pippin didn’t feel like wasting time and energy on rehashing their age-old fight about the relative importance of books and Pippin.
Merry returned the smile gratefully and leaned in for a soft kiss, hardly more than a flutter. “Sorry, Pip – I just got caught up in this book, and you know how I get then sometimes… But I didn’t like to think of you here all by yourself, when today was supposed to be about the two of us.”
Pippin kissed Merry back, this time with a bit more emphasis. “But I wasn’t alone, Merry mine -- the Ents were keeping me company.”
Confusion showed on Merry’s face, and Pippin pushed him onto his back and settled down in his favorite cuddle position, resting his face just above Merry’s heart, adding the steady beating of it to the noise of the storm.
“Just listen…” he whispered and felt Merry relax under him, following Pippin’s lead without question. They lay on the rug in front of the warm fire and listened to the Ents drumming outside – and Pippin wasn’t bored anymore.
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