#trust me i tried but i didnt like it so um just erased it lol

[toffins]

its her. a snarky smug bisexual...

[strawberrymeriadoc]

I spent Way too long on this because my brain was fried from school/work. Merry reaches out to that hobbit he ran into (literally) the other day

Merry was hiding in his room as he often did. Actually, he wasn’t sure it was a room so much as a walk in closet. But it was the only thing he could afford at the moment in Minas Tirith so it would have to do. One of his roommates had a friend over and they were hanging out in the kitchen which was right outside Merry’s door. Oh I wish they’d go someplace already, Merry thought. 

The hobbit had been at work all day in Boromir’s office and now he just wanted to be able to sit on his bed and enjoy some peace and quiet. But with all the noise in the apartment, that wasn’t going to happen. He at least wanted someone to talk to if he couldn’t close his eyes and calm down. His mind first went to Jamie but that was a no-go. Since he moved out of their apartment a couple months ago, the two hadn’t talked and Merry at least was feeling much better for it. The summer had just started so there was no chance of making friends at school anytime soon. And working with Professor Boromir, though rewarding, was not exactly a great way to interact with anyone besides Boromir and the occasional librarian. Then Merry thought of that hobbit he had run into on campus (literally) a few days before. What was his name again? It was something with a P. It was definitely a peach color…Merry rummaged through his bag for his phone. Ah! Pippin!

Merry started to type into the little chat box. “It was nice meeting you” No, that’s redundant since it’s implied. He erased the message and tried again: “Hey! This is Merry. How’re you doing? :)” It wasn’t anything flashy but he just wanted to talk about anything. He sent the message and then hid the phone under his pillow. He was too nervous now to keep an eye on his phone. This is so stupid, you don’t even know each other. 

Suddenly loud laughter came from the kitchen and the front door slammed as another roommate came home. Merry didn’t know any of his roommates either. They were two cishet Men and a Dwarf. He was out to the Dwarf (they tend to have a very good sense of gender), but he was stealth to the other two roommates and they were the ones that made Merry the most nervous. He wasn’t sure what would happen if they found out he was trans and he didn’t want to find out. 

Buzz! Startled, Merry reached for his phone. 

“Hey hey, Merry! im doing alright. Came home from work all covered in flour ^^’ it’s been a rough day. How are you? :]”

“Sorry it’s been rough. Want to talk about it at all? And I’m ok...my roommates are bein loud tho :/” 

“Aw im sorry to hear that. Basically what happened was i got to work and already everything had gone to shit. We had all these orders backed up and i had to jump right into it. Got out of work 3 hours later than i was supposed to! And i didnt even get a elevensies or afternoon tea break!”

Merry laughed at that. He hadn’t heard about elevensies or afternoon tea since he was in the Shire. For whatever reason, the Brandybucks prided themselves on eating as little as possible--at least that was true for his mother anyway. Growing up he usually had a light breakfast and a light dinner and that was it. 

“Wow that really sounds like a lot and makes my workday sound like a walk in the park! How did you get into baking?”

“Well my mom taught me growing up and i came to Minas Tirith to go to university but i needed a job in the meantime so i thought i’d try my hand at it. Honestly i just measure out the ingredients for the most part. Other people get to do the fancy stuff. Tho sometimes i help with the delivery if we’re really short-staffed...as you saw lol But what was your work day like?”

“Wait! You’re going to the University too? I’m starting in the humanities department in the Fall! Oh and my work day was kind of unusual, I designed a program for an event that’s being run by the humanities dept. I work for the Chair so I help him with things like that.”

Merry looked out his window and realized it was getting dark. He could make out the top of a tree on the other side of the building across from his apartment. Its black silhouette stood out against the violet sky. 

Mrrr? Peony questioned as she jumped up onto the bed. Merry gave the cat a scratch behind the ears. Buzz!

“Oh man! I cant believe we are both going to school here! That’s so cool. im in the sciences department. Um no worries if you’re not interested at all i totally understand but i have a couple days off this week and id be down to hangout if you’d like.”

Merry was taken aback. He liked Pippin well enough but he was scared too. What if he’s getting the wrong idea and thinks I like him? Merry began to get that fight or flight feeling he got whenever he was in a potential romantic situation. He found it hard to focus and he felt dissociative. 

“I’m alright with it and i don’t mean to shoot you down but just to be clear this is all platonic right? I dont want to give you the wrong idea…”

“Oh I’m sorry if it seemed that way, just wanna hang as friends (if you’ll have me) :]” 

Merry still didn’t trust it having had some bad experiences with this sort of thing in the past. But he didn’t want to be inhibited from making friends his whole life because of some past baggage. 

“Yeah I’m down. I’m free Friday and Saturday.”

“Oh cool, I’m free Friday as well! Friday afternoon? Theres this cafe i really like we could go there? It’s called the Pink Dragon”

Merry smiled. He liked the idea of going to a cafe. It sounded cozy. 

“Sure! I think i might have seen that place around. Sounds nice!”

Then Merry added: “Thanks for inviting me out and for giving me your number in the first place. This is really nice.”

“Haha im glad i did too! It’s very nice to get to meet you, Merry!”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Pippin. See you Friday :)”