A/N: Written for Marigold as a holiday request ficlet.

A Took by Any Name

Yawning hugely, Pippin wandered into the kitchen. He had passed Merry in the passageway as his cousin went to wake Frodo, and Fatty had eaten already and gone outside to have a look around. Only Sam was there now, cooking another round of breakfast.

"Good Morning," Pippin said, pouring himself a cup of tea before standing at Sam's elbow. His nose twitched at the smell of eggs, sausages and bacon sizzling in the pan, and he stared at them longingly as his stomach gave a loud rumble.

"'Morning, Mister Pippin!" Sam said, glancing over his shoulder with a grin. "I'll have your breakfast ready in half a moment."

Pippin blinked sleepily. "Did you just call me Mister Pippin?" he asked incredulously, wondering if he was truly awake.

Frowning, Sam removed the strips of bacon from the pan and arranged them in a dish. His ears had turned a bright shade of red.

"I didn't mean any harm, sir," he replied, casting a doubtful glance at Pippin. "It just seems more fitting to call you 'Mister' now, if you follow me."

"But you called me 'Master Pippin' only yesterday," Pippin pointed out as he helped himself to a crispy piece of bacon and munched on it thoughtfully. "Why the sudden change? Not that I mind it, of course. In just a few months I'll be twenty-nine, you know. I'm nearly out of my tweens."

"I know," Sam replied, hiding a smile. "Though most days I can't help but think of you as young, not when I remember how you were small enough to fit inside a wheelbarrow."

Pippin smiled as Sam continued. "But when I heard Farmer Maggot call you 'Mister Pippin' yesterday I got to thinking and I realized you're not such a little lad these days, what with you helping Mister Merry with the Conspiracy, as he likes to call it, and leaving the Shire with Mister Frodo." Sam shrugged a little as he set a set a heaping plate on the table for Pippin. "It hardly seems proper to call you 'Master Pippin' after all that.'

"Thank you, Sam," Pippin said, grinning up at him as he tucked into his breakfast. "I'm glad of it. Now I won't feel too young amongst such elderly hobbits," he added with a laugh as Merry entered the room, followed by a very bleary-eyed Frodo.

"I know you are not talking about me, dear cousin." Frodo said as he shuffled over to the table. "You should be grateful that you are accompanying such seasoned travellers. You could learn a thing or two from your elders, Pippin- namely how to keep up. You certainly have not mastered that yet."

Before Pippin could protest Merry plopped down beside him on the bench and stole the last piece of bacon from his plate. "Enough lazing about, Pippin," he said. "You had better get your pack ready. We're leaving soon."

"All right, all right," Pippin exclaimed, heading back to his room with his cousins' laughter echoing after him. He shook his head in exasperation. Sam may not consider him 'Master Pippin' any longer, but his cousins would never forget that he is the youngest.