By: Dana
Summary: The Yule after the Lithe after the Spring after Merry and Estella married.
Characters: Merry, Pippin, Estella, Diamond
Pairings: Merry/Pippin/Estella/Diamond
Rating: PG
Warnings: Het, slash, cheerful nonmonogamy
Author's Notes: Posted for my month long Birthdaypalooza, August 2007.
Another random snippet. One day, when I get more of this written – and ordered – it won't all seem so random. Anyhow, this is the Yule after the Lithe after the Spring after Merry and Estella married, they, along with Pippin and Diamond, celebrate Yule at Crickhollow. Candlelit OT4-ing, as once put it.
Thanks again to dreamflower02 for the beta.
Series Index: Roads Go On and Years Go By.
fanfic100 claim:
Prompt: Square (#43). Words: 300
66/100.
Disclaimer: The author makes no claim to owning the rights of anything to do with J.R.R. Tolkien or New Line Cinema. Any and all characters and situations that have been borrowed are for the author's personal use only, and for the entertainment of others.

1 Yule, SR 1422

A first might be a first, but that doesn't mean that it need be anything full and new. The difference in Estella's kiss, thinks Diamond, is that Estella is married now to Merry – but she knows Estella's kiss well-enough, and Merry certainly knows Pippin's, and as Diamond herself has rather come to know Pippin's, she now finds herself thinking that she ought to make full acquaintance of Merry's, as well. 'The year's turning,' she says, and there's such dark behind them, but here she sits in warmth, and in such light. 'Merry, lad, won't you kiss me, please?'

The candlelight is warm, the room is warmer, and them already in a tangle (though, not yet, a tangle). It is the first Yule, after the first Lithe, since Estella and Merry were married – and Merry's smile seems brighter now, than Diamond has thought it in a long time.

So he does, grinning, as Estella reaches over, laughing, and kisses Pippin thoroughly, as Merry himself kisses Diamond to distraction. Then, she mutters, 'Happy Yule', wet against Merry's mouth, his arm snaking warm about her waist. 'And happy new year.'

They've all been very busy, in the long months between, since the wedding, since Lithe, and up until Yule – she feels she's spent more time at North Tunnels than she has at Crickhollow, or even at Brandy Hall, and as this is the first of the year, she feels that the year need start out, as they say, on the right foot.

'Happy new year,' Merry breathes out, warm and soft, his eyes soft, candlelit, bright gold-grey. Pippin reaches for Merry, and finds his way to Merry's mouth, and then Estella is kissing Diamond to distraction, and it is a rather nice turn.

Yes, the year will start right, just as it should.