The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings one shots and Imagines

Brownie - Part 1 - Merry x Reader

Life had not really been the same for Sam, Pippin and Merry, since their adventure; since they had travelled to Grey Havens to say goodbye to Frodo, who had journeyed with Bilbo, Gandalf and the elves to the Undying Lands. Yet as time had passed, some semblance of normality had come back to their lives. Sam had married Rosie, and had Elanor; Pippin was courting Diamond of Long Cleeve and Merry..........well, Merry had done his best to return to the life that he had once had; but there had been something different when he had got back to his home. It as if something had taken over his little house in his absent. And it was something that had kept him busy. Merry sure that even Pippin would think that he had lost his mind if he were to tell him about it; but he knew it was there, he could hear it at night, beavering away, getting the house just as it wanted it. And as much as he had tried to appease, to thank it by leaving out offerings of food, in truth, what he really wanted to do was capture it, and hope that he could perhaps persuade it to move into someone else's house. That was if it was possible to talk to a brownie, never mind persuade one to move on.

His mother had told him about the mysterious little creatures when he was little, and it wasn't that having a brownie in the house was a bad thing. The unseen creatures slept or hid during the day, and only came out at night to undertake chores. This one, taking it upon itself to clean up after Merry; anything he left out before he went to bed, moved to its proper place by the time he rose the next morning. Even snags or rips in his clothes could be found mended, after he had left them draped over the back of a chair. So, having the little creature take up a little part of his home would probably be seen as not the worst thing, by most. It was just that Merry didn't mind a little mess, he liked things to be where he left them, not where the brownie wanted them. Though catching the thing was easier said than done, and everything that Merry had tried to this point, had failed. Though that didn't mean that he had given up. In fact, tonight he had decided to pretend to go to bed, blowing out all the candles and making his way to the bedroom, before sneaking back out, and waiting for the little being to appear. The only problem........he had fallen asleep................

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Quietly, she stood looking up at the huge hobbit, as he lay slumped, asleep, up against the wall. Her hands placed on her hips, as she shook her head. It wasn't that she minded that he was there, it was that he just had a habit of leaving a mess. And if there was one thing that she didn't like, it was a mess. Though, she couldn't help but smile, as one of his pale, curled locks fell over his eyes.

From what little she had seen of him, he was a sweet thing, with a rather infectious smile and a pair of bright, mischievous eyes; and the fact that he had been doing his best to catch her for some time, and failing, had caused her no end of amusement. Though, he had left her out gift of porridge, honey and cake, as thanks for her nightly endeavours. So, if she could just get him out of his terrible habit of being messy, everything would be fine.

"How have you done that again..........?" She asked in disbelief, as she clambered up onto the sleeping hobbits lap, and looked at the jagged tear in his shirt.

"I swear that I only fixed this, last night; and my stitches never come loose........ Well, first I will fix this, then you dropped some flour on the larder floor, which will need to be swept. And of course, you left your supper plate in the sink, so that will need to be washed. After that, the flowers on the sill are dying, so I will go and pick some of the night blooming jasmine. I swear, since you came back, I have never had a minute to myself............." She continued, as she pulled out her needle and thread. The brownie taking a seat on the hobbits lap, as she went about her first chore for the night. Her tiny, nimble fingers making light work of the mend.

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Merry groaned, as he slowly woke, and realised that instead of staying awake and catching the brownie, he had fallen asleep on the floor. He knew there was a way of getting a brownie to leave a house, it was one of the things that his mother had mentioned; but for the life of him, he couldn't remember. That, and he didn't really want to offend the little being. Merry sure that if the brownie wasn't quite so fastidious, they could probably live quite harmoniously; but until he could catch the thing............ The hobbit rubbing his hand over his rumbling belly, that was telling him that it was time for breakfast. Merry looking down, as his fingers brushed over something on his shirt; his eyes growing wide as he saw that where there had once been a small tear, the brownie had not just simply sewn it, it had stitched a small flower. Merry wondering how long it had been sat with him. How long it had looked upon him as he had slept. The hobbit just groaning at himself, before he slowly got to his feet and went to see what else the brownie had been up to.