Five Things I Like About You

The storm began as Frodo was getting ready for bed. Lightning flashed, illuminating his room, and thunder sounded in the distance. A steady rain began to fall and a fierce wind caused the branches to scrape against the windows.

An especially loud rumble of thunder was met with a startled cry, followed shortly by the sound of little feet scurrying down the hall. Frodo opened his door just in time for Pippin to barrel into him, grabbing him around the legs with a frightened expression upon his face.

"Bad storm, Frodo," Pippin whimpered, casting a fearful eye at the window.

"I know," Frodo said, patting his cousin's curls in reassurance. "But that's all it is, just a storm. A little rain and wind, nothing more." He winced as thunder crashed overhead, punctuating his words and making Pippin tremble in fright.

"I don't like it," Pippin said when the noise passed.

"Neither do I," Frodo confessed. It was not like Pippin to let something like a storm upset him so, but Frodo supposed that being away from home and his family had something to do with it.

Lifting Pippin up, Frodo plunked him down on the bed and settled beside him. "Let's sit together for a while until the storm passes. We can’t all be like Bilbo and be so immersed in writing or reading that we lose track of everything else. I suspect he’s still working in his study, and has not even noticed all the thunder and lightning.”

Frodo laughed a little at the thought but another crackle of lightning lit the room and revealed the troubled expression on Pippin's face. "I'm sorry, Frodo," he mumbled, tugging on a loose thread on the quilt.

"Whatever are you sorry for?" Frodo asked, surprised. "The storm is hardly your fault."

"But you were going to sleep and now you have to stay up with me because I'm being such a-a-." Pippin wrinkled his nose, trying to remember the word. "A nuisance."

"Where did you get that idea?" Frodo asked, hiding a grin.

Pippin mumbled something that sounded distinctly like "Pervinca."

Frodo sighed. Pervinca was often hot-tempered and spoke without thinking. This was not the first time she had said something hurtful to her brother, and Frodo was certain it would not be the last. "You are not a nuisance at all, Pippin," Frodo reassured him.

"Really?" Pippin seemed quite surprised at this. "Even though I'm always in the way and too little to do anything fun?" From the glum expression on his cousin's face Frodo could tell that Pippin was again repeating Pervinca's words.

"Oh, but that's not true," Frodo replied lightly. "If you were really so wretched, Bilbo and I would never invite you to visit with us for a whole week." When his words did not garner a smile, Frodo continued. "I am very grateful that we're family, Pippin. In fact I could think of a whole list of reasons why I am so glad that you are my cousin."

Astonished, Pippin hardly flinched at the next roar of thunder. "A whole list about me?" he exclaimed.

"Shall I tell you about it now?" Frodo asked. At Pippin's eager nod he laughed. "Very well. First of all, you are an excellent companion: cheerful and friendly and easy to please. Bilbo and I are always sad to see you go home and anxious to have you visit again."

A smile crept across Pippin's face.

"You're very generous, always finding or making some little gift, even when it is not your birthday," Frodo continued. "Just yesterday you gave Bilbo those lovely stones you found in the garden, and today you drew me that beautiful bird."

Pippin beamed as Frodo continued. "You're very helpful. You dry the dishes after meals and you give Sam a hand in the garden, even though he never asks for your help.”

"I like helping," Pippin shrugged. "And I think Sam needs help sometimes too, even if his da doesn't think so."

"That's one of my favorite things about you, Pippin," Frodo said, impressed by his cousin's keen observation. "You learn about people because you always have your eyes and ears open – and you ask plenty of curious questions.”

At Pippin’s yawn, Frodo decided there was time for just one more. “Finally, I love having you for a cousin, Pippin, because for some strange reason you actually like my stories even though they are never as good as Bilbo's. You even tolerate my silly rhymes, and laugh at my awful jokes."

"They're not awful. Well, not all of them," Pippin amended with a giggle. He hugged his cousin tight. "I like your list, Frodo!"

Frodo laughed and ruffled Pippin’s curls. "I'm glad you did." He gestured to the window. "Look, the storm has passed."

Pippin's eyes grew wide; he had been so busy listening to Frodo that he had quite forgotten the storm. It was still raining but the thunder had subsided to the occasional low rumble in the distance. Branches no longer twisted in the wind and lightning flashed only intermittently. After a moment of watching the suddenly calm weather Pippin rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

"I suppose we might try and get some rest now," Frodo said, feeling rather sleepy himself.

"But I have to tell you my list first," Pippin protested, fighting another yawn. "About why I like having you as a cousin."

Frodo recognized that determined glint in his cousin's eyes and knew that Pippin would not give into his own exhaustion and settle down to sleep until he had said what he wanted to say. "A list about me, you said? Well of course I must hear all about it."

Wriggling happily, Pippin claimed one of his cousin’s pillows as his own, apparently settling in for the night. "It's a very long list," he confided, taking no notice of the look of dread on Frodo's tired face.

"I'm glad you're my cousin because you don't think I'm a baby or a nuisance," Pippin began with a grin. "You're also very smart and you almost always know the answer to everything and even if you don't, you never say 'Because I said so' like some grown-ups do."

Frodo smiled. When he was a child he had never liked having his questions dismissed, either.

"I love your stories and you write down my favorite ones in the book you gave me," Pippin continued, smiling as he thought of the book that always travelled with him between Whitwell and Bag End, its pages slowly filling with Frodo's careful writing and quickly becoming worn from many hours of happy reading. Frodo smiled in return, pleased that Pippin was so appreciative of such a simple gift.

Pippin’s eyes were growing heavier and more difficult to keep open. He hardly noticed as Frodo tucked the blankets around him.

"You take Merry and me camping and even if we don't have any adventures you don’t mind if I pretend that we're Bilbo and the dwarves," Pippin added, burrowing deep in the blankets and snuggling close to his cousin. The thoughtful expression on his face was disturbed by a tremendous yawn, and his eyes slowly slipped shut.

With a yawn of his own, Frodo blew out the candle on the nightstand. Just as he drifted into a doze, Frodo heard Pippin speak again.

“Hmm?” he murmured, hovering momentarily between wakefulness and sleep.

“I can’t think of another reason why I like having you for a cousin, Frodo,” Pippin mumbled sleepily. “I just do.”

Frodo smiled and tucked an arm around his cousin. No other reason could have made him happier.