Feasting  

*

Late afternoon sun was as monotonous as the sonorous boom 
of Entmoot.  Pippin hadn't yet tired of exploring the trees 
at the rim of the dingle, and from where Merry reclined on 
the slope of grass high up on the east side, he could see 
Pippin's blue coat flit between the gray boles.  Merry lay 
down and closed his eyes.  Against his eyelids, red shapes 
swirled in time with the hoot of woody voices.

A whisper of air heralded Pippin as he dropped to the 
ground next to Merry.  Merry felt a touch to the end of his 
nose and opened his eyes.  Pippin sat facing Merry, 
withdrawing his arm.  Merry reached up and took his hand.  

The cuff of the blue jacket rode well above the bones of 
Pippin's wrist.  Merry drew the hand to his mouth and 
kissed the palm.  He tasted tree sap, a slip of bitterness 
in the sweet curve, and he looked up at Pippin as he opened 
his mouth and licked a little.  Pippin regarded him calmly, 
amusement cached in his cheekbones, making them pink.  
Thick curls bowed into his face when he leaned forward to 
kiss the back of his own hand.  From a hand's breadth away, 
smiling eyes filled all of Merry's middle-earth. 

Merry spoke against Pippin's palm, his lips still touching 
the warm skin.  "You're a silly one today, you ridiculous 
Took." 

Pippin took his hand away and kissed Merry briefly before 
he climbed on him.  "I feel restless, Merry.  I've run 
around the dingle four times, climbed things I think were 
trees, and looked everywhere for some mushrooms."  He 
kissed Merry again, hot and quick.  "I'm hungry.  Ohh, I 
could eat."  He opened his mouth on Merry's and they kissed 
until their lips were wet.  

"What would you have, then?" asked Merry when he could.  

"Nutty bread with butter and honey," he said.  His hands 
were clever at the bottom of Merry's weskit.  Merry pushed 
him off and turned so they lay on their sides, face to 
face.  Pippin said, "Mm, a meat pie, with gravy and 
potatoes.  And new peas."

Merry groaned, gripped by sudden longing.  "Ohh, and sliced 
tomatoes, and corn dripping butter."

Hot in his ear, Pippin said, "Remember the nuts and raisins 
your mother put in the dressing of last year's Yule goose?  
Oh, and that pig Ferdinand killed that winter -- my mother 
helped to roast it, it was so big -- do you remember the 
rosemary? -- and there was sweet potato pie..." 

Merry stilled his lips on Pippin's neck.  "That was no pig 
-- it was a wild boar, and it almost killed  Ferdi!"  He 
brushed hair from Pippin's cheek, and it was long enough to 
tuck behind his ear.  "That was more than ten years ago, 
Pip."

"But I'm hungry!  I feel like I could eat a feast by myself 
and still go wanting."

"You're fussing like a boy entering his tweens instead of a 
gentlehobbit just leaving them." 

"Well," said Pippin, and he held out his arm so the cuff 
rode up several inches. "I'm growing like a tweenager."

Merry frowned.  "So you are, and you know, my breeches were 
loose, and now they're not."  Pippin grinned and explored a 
bit, resting his head on the middle of Merry's chest while 
slipping his fingers in the waistband and tugging, making 
small hums of agreement.  Merry wove his fingers in 
Pippin's thick hair as he watched him play with the 
buttons. "You know what I'd really like best, right now?" 
said Merry.  "A nice second breakfast.  Mushroom omelet and 
sausage, right after a long lie-in." 

"Mother's strawberry jam spread thick on buttered toast," 
Pippin replied dreamily.  He squirmed back up Merry's body 
and kissed the corner of his mouth.

Merry slid his fingers into Pippin's collar and began 
unbuttoning his shirt, folding cloth from flesh as he went.  
"Berries and cream." 

"Enough to bathe in," Pippin agreed, "but," and he applied 
himself to kissing Merry's mouth between words, "only if I 
can join you for that lie-in."  He pushed his weight into 
Merry and hooked an arm around his neck.  His voice became 
hushed and breathless.  "It's been so long since we had a 
soft bed."

Merry agreed with the sentiment, but he honestly didn't 
mind the grass.

~*~