The Prize

Title: The Prize
Author: LioraJean
E-mail: liorajean@yahoo.com
Rating: R
Category(s): Slash
Author's Notes: This is my second fic, the first was PG-13 so it did not belong here. I wrote this in honor of Jinx, my muse. Thanks to my beta readers, Emma and Salina, who provided fresh
pairs of eyes that I really needed. Both good and bad reviews are accepted, but do please sign a name - anonymous reviews are simply cowardly. Be proud of your reviews - it's not like I'm going to come to your house and beat you up.

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Merry and Pippin tore at their clothing, racing to see which was the
quickest in getting totally nude. They smirked devilishly at one
another; both determined to trounce the other. The hobbits began to
pant as various articles of their clothing piled up on the terrain
around them.

The heat of the summer and afternoon sun surrounded the stripping
lads, the sound of the water hole mingling with the boys' shuffling.

Throwing his trousers, the last piece of attire, onto the ground,
Merry let out a hoot of victory. He placed his hands proudly on his
hips, as he stood, gloriously naked, with his clothes scattered
around him. He raised his eyebrows and smiled cheekily at Pippin.
Laughing, he turned and darted for the water and dived in, bobbing
back up moments later.

Pippin, accepting his defeat, slowed the pace at which he undressed.
Merry leisurely eyed his cousin as he stripped, silently taunting
Pippin for his loss. Pippin made silly faces at Merry as he removed
the remainder of his garb, kicking his trousers off.

"I'll `ave you for that, Brandybuck," he jested as he dug his feet
into the soil to get a running start. He flew wildly into the water,
spraying it in every direction and disappearing under the depths of
it.

Merry knew perfectly well what his friend would try to do. He tread
frantically in the water as he strained to detect the direction from
which Pippin would ascend. He felt hands on his hips as his cousin
blasted from the water and gripped him from behind.

Pippin giggled as his hands moved from Merry's hips to his hair and
plunged him under the water. He held his cousin down as the panicked
hobbit fought him. Merry climbed his way back to the surface of the
water, returning to the air with a cry.

"Pip," Merry whined, coughing and sputtering. "That was mean!"

Realizing that his cousin's hurt was not in jest, Pippin's paddled
over to him and lifted a dripping hand to tenderly stroke his
hair. "I'm sorry, Merry," he said as his eyes grew wide and his
mouth contorted to a concerned frown. He took Merry by the hand and
led him toward the bank, treading until their feet touched murky
sand.

Pip wrapped his arms around Merry, pulling him close to comfort him.
Merry's coughing subsided, and the cousins were left standing waist
deep in the water, holding one another.

Merry drank in the feeling of his best friend pressed nude against
him. His skin felt alive against that of his cousin, chest against
chest, hips against hips. The warmth of Pippin was possibly more
comforting than any words of remorse. He felt his heartbeat quicken
as Pippin's hands began to roam his body.

"I never got my prize for winning the race," Merry whispered into
Pip's daintily pointed ear.

"Prize?" Pippin questioned, pulling back and looking at his friend
quite innocently. It was a gaze of pure virtue, his eyes
inquisitive, his head cocked slightly to one side and his mouth
parted slightly. Realizing that Pippin honestly did not know his
intentions, Merry raised an eyebrow and widened his eyes. Pippin's
face turned to an expression of desire, shifting to a knowing half-
grin when it dawned on him what Merry had meant.

Merry's right hand wandered delicately down from Pippin's back,
caressed his side and stroked a lazy circle on his hip. He admired
the beautiful lad that Pippin had become. Merry so loved the way his
cousin's face could express childlike mischief, mature insight and,
as it did then, such a depth of lust.

It was then that the pair became too lost in one another to be
bothered with the scene around them. Everything surrounding them
seemed to disappear; they were the only things that seemed to exist
in the universe.

Delicately, Merry ran his first finger softly over his cousin's hip,
traveling up his tummy and gliding over his chest. This invoked a
delighted sigh from Pippin, who squeezed his eyes shut and lowered
his head. Merry took advantage of the new angle and nibbled at the
younger hobbit's pointed ear, earning him a cry of delight.

He felt Pippin shove his hips forward. "Merry," he begged. "Don't
tease me."

With a joyful giggle, Merry carried his hand subtly over his friend's
chest, detouring to caress his nipples. He then traveled again over
Pip's abdomen and settled on his arousal. With that contact, Pippin
shakily released the breath he had been holding in his lungs.

With the greatest of care, Merry stroked at him using just his
fingertips, enjoying the sight and sound of Pippin squirming and
whimpering.

Pippin's need overcame him, and he impatiently grabbed Merry's
fingers, tightening them around him and bucking his hips forward.
Merry bit down gently on Pippin's ear, then traced his tongue up and
over the point. With a soft chuckle, he began to place delicate
kisses on Pippin's neck. He pushed back on Pippin's thrusting and
tightened his hand around him.

Pip used his free hand to dig painfully into Merry's shoulder, making
deep marks as his body tensed. Merry felt the final push into his
fist, and savored Pippin's cries as he came. Pippin collapsed onto
Merry, releasing his hand in favor of wrapping his arms around his
cousin's back and clasping at his neck.

Merry took the younger hobbit into his arms as the tension in his
body was slowly replaced with tranquil afterglow. Pippin laid his
head on Merry's shoulder and absently kissed at the marks he'd left.
The friends embraced, Merry's hands traveling up Pippin's back and
gently tangling themselves in his wet curls. Pippin made small,
appreciative whimpers in his cousin's ear. A radiance of adoratioand and release surrounded the pair, settling over them.

Leaning forward, Merry pursed his lips and sent a gentle breeze into
Pippin's ear. "It looks like you got the prize instead," he teased
as he pushed Pip's tresses back. He shifted downwards and placed a
tender kiss on Pippin's jaw line.

Quiet laughter came from the direction of the embankment, breaking
the mood and causing the lovers to abruptly sever their cuddling.
Pippin stumbled back with a cry, falling down into the water. Merry
froze, his mind racing with the possibility of a thrashing or worse
for being caught in a compromising position with another lad, most
especially his cousin. He silently kickimseimself for not being more
cautious in such a public place.

"No," came a voice from behind a tree a few feet up the
embankment. "I was the one that got the prize."

Putting his pipe in his mouth, Frodo stepped out from behind the
tree. A grin creeping up his face, he crossed his arms and shook his
head at the terrified couple. He rolled back on his heels and jammed
his hands in his pockets. With a final hearty laugh, he turned
around and trudged away from the bank and into the grass.

Pippin gaped as he pulled himself onto his feet, flailing water
everywhere as he did so. Merry breathed a deep sigh of relief, his
muscles relaxing slightly.

"Excellent show, lads," Frodo called back, as he walked away from the
stunned lovers.