AN: Welcome back to Man-Buns and Photorealism! I'm having too much fun with this AU.
I still don't own Lord of the Rings. If I did, I wouldn't have to worry about financial aid and student loans.
"Damn it!" Éowyn cried as she tried and failed to get the door to the main art building open. She was supposed to be putting things in the gallery for the student art show but it was a bit difficult to get doors open when carrying one of Gimli's massive steel pieces. And of course, the damned handicap door was broken. Éowyn huffed to herself and prepared to try again. She set down the sculpture, pulled open the door, stuck her foot in it so it wouldn't close, and reached for the sculpture again -
"God damn it!" Éowyn let out a growl of frustration as the door slipped and slammed shut.
"Need a hand with that?"
Éowyn whirled around, her long blonde ponytail swinging out behind her, and saw Faramir standing there looking a bit amused.
"Oh! Faramir, hi!" she greeted him, tucking a nonexistent loose hair behind her ear. He smiled at her.
"Hi yourself," he said. "Do you need a hand with that?"
Éowyn was about to reflexively brush off his offer of help - she could do it herself, damn it - but she stopped herself. He's just trying to be nice, she told herself, no need to jump down his throat.
"That'd be great, actually," she said with a smile. She went to pick up Gimli's sculpture again, but Faramir got there first. He bent down and picked up the heavy steel piece with ease, straightening up and looking at her expectantly. And no, she hadn't been staring at his shoulders while he did that, that would be ridiculous.
"Where to?" he asked her, shaking her out of her little daze.
"Right," she said, taking a moment to collect herself as she pulled open the door for him, "the gallery. I'm helping set things up for the student show."
"Really? Did you get anything in?" Faramir asked politely as he walked past her and through the door. From his tone of voice, Éowyn could tell that he was actually genuinely interested.
"Two photographs," she replied, falling into step beside him. "Well, it's technically one piece, but it's a diptych, so two photos, but one little card with my name on it."
"What are they photos of?" Faramir asked, and Éowyn was struck again by his genuine interest in her work.
"I uh, well -" Éowyn paused. Not all that many people reacted well when she told them about her work and her subject matter. "I do feminist photography," she told him. He nodded, encouraging her to go on. Well you're just full of surprises, aren't you, Man-Bun. "These ones are black and white shots..."
Éowyn kind of regretted going on for so long about her photography, but at the same time, she'd had a willing audience. She told him all about her work and in return, he told her about the portrait of his roommate that had gotten into the show. Éowyn was excited to see that.
Although, Pippin did make a lot of odd faces on a fairly regular basis; the painting and printmaking student was quite the animated talker. A painting of him making an odd face would probably be very similar to his profile picture on Facebook.
Éowyn got the second door for Faramir and they continued to talk about their work until they reached the gallery, where Merry and Frodo were busy hanging the center line all along the wall. The light haired ceramic artist turned at the sound of footsteps and waved at the approaching pair.
"And she returns, finally," Merry said with a teasing grin.
"Oh, shut up, do you realize how hard it is to move Gimli's sculptures? They're damn heavy and almost as big as Gimli himself," she said. It may have been an exaggeration, but the short man liked to make big sculptures.
"Where do you want this?" Faramir asked, nodding to the sculpture in his arms. Éowyn surveyed the gallery floor for a moment, deliberating where to display it.
"Over on the left, just next to that pedestal will work, she said, striding over to the area she was talking about. Faramir nodded and followed her, setting the sculpture down at her feet. He took a moment to stretch his back and tossed his head in an attempt to get a loose bit of wavy light brown hair behind his ear.
"Do you need help carrying anything else?" he asked.
"Oh, no, I'll be fine, I'm sure you have stuff to work on," Éowyn said. He shrugged.
"Not really," he said. "My painting will still be there."
"Well in that case," Éowyn said with a grin, "a few of Legolas's pieces need to get over here. Willing to make the trek to the 3D building?"
"More than happy to," Faramir said, and the pair left the gallery.
"How much you wanna bet she asks him out in the next week?" Merry asked his cousin as soon as he was sure that Éowyn and Faramir were out of earshot.
"It'll take two weeks, but you're on," Frodo countered.
"Loser orders pizza for the winner."
"Deal."
Thanks for reading! If you liked it, let me know in a review!
