In the morning, Frodo woke before Merry. Slipping quietly out of bed, he found his dressing gown and pulled it on, then went downstairs to the bathroom. The day-servant had banked the bath-fire coals below the large ceramic cistern before leaving last night, as she always did, and there was enough warmed water to fill the small bath. Jars of scented oils and bath salts, left by a previous occupant of the house before Gandalf had taken it, sat on shelves above the towels; Frodo climbed up to find one jar containing yellowed, aged salt crystals with desiccated lavender buds, and threw a few handfuls into the water before he got into the bath.
He was soaking languidly, arms stretched along the curved rim of the tub, head thrown back, when Merry came in.
"I wondered where you'd got to, Frodo," Merry said as perched on the rim at Frodo's feet. "How're you feeling? Not too tired after last night?"
"Not at all," Frodo responded cheerfully. "I feel glorious! A few little aches and sore spots, but I hope to have them soaked out before breakfast-time. It's been a long time since I had a thorough and proper rogering."
"It's been much longer for me, Frodo dear."
They smiled at each other. They were not any more in love with each other today than they'd been yesterday, but their mutual fondness and affection had grown with their new intimacy.
Last night had also been a lesson for Frodo about pleasure for its own sake. He and Sam had started together as lovers, equally inexperienced when they'd first made love in the same bed nearly three years ago. They'd learned from each other in those nights, but neither of them were overly adventurous; once they'd discovered what they liked, they kept to it. Merry's experience was much broader and much more experimental, and for the first time, Frodo appreciated the merits of that education. He'd never imagined two hobbits could do some of the incredible things they'd done last night. The kissing trick was not the only one Merry could do with his tongue and, while Frodo had thought that Sam had put hands on every inch of his body at some point or other during their love-making, Merry had found a couple of places nobody had ever touched before.
In addition to the comfort and companionship Frodo had sought when he'd turned to Merry last night, he'd found that they could also have a great deal of fun as lovers. And he meant to have fun.
"Let's go for a walk in the hills today," he suggested. "Or perhaps another ride with Lady Eowyn. I'm sick of being shut up indoors--I want to go out. Then I must go up to the citadel and find out if there's any investigating left for me to do."
"Probably not, not 'til Cirandil's found, but I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you up and about and looking so well." Merry rose and tossed his robe onto the chair near the fire, where Frodo had also left his. "I hope you haven't used all the hot water."
"There's a bit left."
Merry climbed up on the chair and lifted the cistern lid to peer at the level of water inside. "Not enough to fill another tub."
"Why don't you join me here, then?" Frodo gave him an inviting grin, and flicked his toes to splash at his cousin playfully. Merry came over to the tub; when he was close enough, arm extended out to the surface of the water, intending to splash back, Frodo sat up to grab him by the wrist and hauled him in with a shout and a terrific splash.
There followed a great deal of flailing and laughter, and splashes that sent more water onto the tiled floor. When Frodo let him up for air, Merry reached for the bowl of soft soap beside the bath, scooped out a handful, and showed Frodo a new use for it. There was more splashing and, if the hobbits weren't laughing, the sounds they made were equally joyous.
After awhile, Frodo, panting, said, "We'd better stop. If we don't show up for breakfast, Gandalf will wonder where we are and come looking."
With a reluctant sigh, Merry sat up. "D'you think he guesses?"
"He will soon enough. I don't mind if he knows, but this isn't how I want him to find out!"
Merry chuckled and extracted himself from Frodo and the tub, soap-slick and dripping wet. He filled a pitcher with warm water and set the largest wash-basin on the floor to stand it in, then poured the water over his head to rinse the soap off his skin, the salt out of his hair, and the lavender buds that had clung in curious places. Frodo watched the little dance he performed to accomplish this last task, and laughed again.
"Your turn next!" his cousin warned him, and refilled the pitcher. He brought it to the tub to dump the water over Frodo's head.
After Frodo had washed the salt and soap from his body and stood toweling off, he asked the same question he had the night before: "Will you come home with me, Merry, when I go?"
"I will, if you give me a reason to," Merry answered, then asked him, "What about Sam? What'll you tell him about you and me? How do you think he'll take it?"
"He'll have to be told," said Frodo. "I hope he'll take it well." But he knew that there would be trouble. Sam had always been more physically possessive of him than he'd been of Sam. Even though he'd let Sam marry and didn't mind sharing him with Rose, he knew that Sam wouldn't be as generous about his having another lover, especially if that lover was Merry Brandybuck. Sam was already a little jealous of his close relationship with Merry, and this new intimacy would only make it worse. "You won't mind if I see him once in awhile, do you?"
Merry considered him before he answered, "No, of course not."
"I won't object if you want to see Pip. I don't require that kind of fidelity, and it'd be ridiculous between you and me. I want us to be on good terms--no hard feelings. I'll make Sam understand that this is best for all of us. But I can't see us living at Bag End with the Gamgees." That household arrangement would be too much of a strain for everyone involved.
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