Oh, I'm always delighted by stories about the friendships between the lads as children!  And I especially love them when they show how close Frodo and Merry were.

 He knew that Merry sensed his pain- the little lad saw, heard, and felt everything. Merry crawled into his lap and squeezed his hand, his flaming anger reduced now to only ashes, replaced with his innate desire to comfort. Frodo squeezed back and murmured,

“You may not know it now, but you’ll understand someday. I promise.”

Merry nodded and buried his face in Frodo’s chest, finally giving in to his tears. He wept for all he was worth while Frodo rubbed his back in small circles and stroked his curly hair as he murmured, “I’m going to miss you, too, dear one.”

And I also loved the part where Frodo threatened the bullies with Gandalf!  That was just too funny and cute!

The only little problem I could see was it being slightly AU to canon about their ages--but your change was so small compared to the way *some* people do it that I didn't really mind it.

This has the promise of being very cute and funny!

I don't think the modern tone is inappropriate in humor, in fact it's similar to the humorous tone a couple of my favorite writers use in their hobbity stories.

It's also wise to explain the workings of your AU at the beginning.  And thanks for the mention of my age chari!