By: Dana
Summary: Sometimes you have to do something twice in order to do it right.
Characters: Pippin, Merry
Pairings: Merry/Pippin
Rating: G
Warnings: Light slash
Author's Notes: A set of drabbles/snippets, in three different tenses, all about Merry, and Pippin, and kissing.
Disclaimer: The author makes no claim to owning the rights of anything to do with J.R.R. Tolkien or New Line Cinema. Any and all characters and situations that have been borrowed are for the author's personal use only, and for the entertainment of others.

Pippin Took, while on holiday in Buckland, was and always had been a talented lad when it came to stealing the proverbial spotlight (not that there were such things in the Shire, or even all of Middle Earth), in effect becoming the center of attention.

"Kissing Merry," he was once heard saying, "is like kissing a horse."

The lads and lasses that were gathered with him out before the front doors of Brandy Hall fell silent as one by one they looked to the lad from Buckland. He was modest enough to blush, and yet anything but humble as he grinned.

"And how would you know?" Estella Bolger had asked him with a sharp raise of her brows.

"I have my ways," Pippin then replied with a laugh and it wasn't until tea that they would finally leave him be.

"I hear you've been spreading rumors about me," Merry said to Pippin in a voice that could make metal melt. With a laugh, Pippin paused. They were on the road to Bag End, and it seemed that there was no one near for miles around.

"Whatever do you mean, cousin?" Pippin asked with a smile, hefting his pack as he started again.

Merry eyed him and sighed deeply. "I was drunk, you know," he said, catching up with Pippin so he could walk at his side.

"I know," Pippin replied dryly, "Merry, and so was I. And that doesn't excuse the fact that kissing you was much like what I imagine kissing a horse would be like. And you bit my nose."

Merry laughed. "And you wonder often, I guess?"

"O, Merry, maybe I do," and Pippin laughed. "Of course, I suppose, we've stumbled upon a problem."

"Have we, then?"

"We have," Pippin replied seriously, looking to Merry intently. Step by step, closer to Bag End. When Pippin spoke, it was with a wistful sort of smile on his lips. "It seems that neither of us is drunk right now."

"You seem to be right, Pippin. Of course, if I were to kiss you again, I might just need a strong drink for after. Or even before."

"Well then, I'll buy you a round at the Green Dragon," Pippin said, and Merry took it into consideration.

Pippin stumbles and Merry puts his arm around his cousin's shoulder. "Steady there, Pippin-lad," he chuckles and gives Pippin's upper arm a squeeze.

Pippin stumbles again, though, and his laugh spreads like wild fire. "Goodness, Merry. One round turned into three into five. I can't see how we'll make it to Bag End in one piece."

"We've a talent, love," Merry laughs, too, and Pippin's mixes and mingles. "We might just end up asleep in the ditch at the side of the road."

"I think you mean passed out."

"I think that you are right."

And then they're laughing all over again.

"You know..." Pippin begins, his voice trailing off.

"I know?"

"O, yes, you know," and then Pippin is laughing and he reaches out to stop Merry, turning so they're face to face. He rests his hands on Merry's shoulders. "We're drunk again."

"Aye, we are," and Merry can't stop laughing, either, and Pippin wears a serious look upon his brow.

"Merry?"

"Aye, Pippin?"

"We should try again, I think."

"It won't make much difference, Pip," but Merry is leaning forward and Pippin is too, eyes are closing and noses are suddenly bumping against each other. Pippin throws his head back, laughing, rubbing his nose.

"Let us try that again," and he nearly sounds sober but it's obvious that he's not, and they do, and this time their mouths fit together and lips open and tongues slide together and Merry drowns in the taste of Pippin and Pippin is born again in the taste of Merry.

"That was nice," Merry murmurs against Pippin's lips, voice thick and heavy.

"It calls for another," Pippin mumbles, too, and it's as easy as that.