Pippin smiled to himself as the fellowship stopped for food. He was sat in between Merry and Boromir, with Legolas on the other side of Boromir. He had seen Boromir and Legolas walking along holding hands and while he was fine with that, he and Merry held each other's hands all the time, and whilst on the quest they had held Boromir's as well. But the idea that there was something more than friendship going on between Legolas and Boromir was funny to Pippin, especially the way Aragorn put it. He just couldn't imagine it. He decided to question Boromir later, the man from Gondor was a good pillow and he was determined that he would be using him as one tonight. Boromir didn't seem to mind when he and Merry done this, he had never complained, but then, it seemed like Boromir hadn't complained about anything when on the quest. And from what he had told Merry and Pippin, it seemed like he was used to putting up with things, even if he didn't like them. Pippin mad a note to ask Boromir if he minded being used as a pillow.
Boromir wondered how long the fellowship was going to stop for. Having eaten all that he wanted to and haven given the rest away to Merry and Pippin he had nothing to do but sit and wait for the others. Since he hadn't got much sleep last night he could feel his eyes begin to get heavy and he fought to stay awake. He knew he'd be fine as soon as they were walking again, but he didn't want anyone to see how tired he actually was. Because if they did they might force the rest of the fellowship to rest a while longer so that he could get some sleep. And he couldn't hold up the fellowship. He would not hold up the fellowship. And the sooner they were out of the mines of Moria, the better, in Boromir's opinion.
Soon the fellowship was moving again, and Boromir couldn't of been more glad. Walking along he felt the tiredness leave him and his head became clear again. The fellowship had separated him and Legolas; they had obviously seen them walking along hand-in-hand. The separation had been done jokingly and Boromir knew that he could catch up to Legolas if he wanted to. The whole act of the separation had both him and Legolas laughing along with everyone else and spirits were quite high. Although at the edge of his mind Boromir knew that he was surrounded by darkness and he still didn't feel all that comfortable.
The hobbits seemed to be managing fine though and Boromir couldn't help but feel proud of them. He had expected them to be scared. But maybe they were like him, putting on brave faces for everyone else and not showing how scared they really were. Only Legolas knew how scared Boromir was, but if you looked at either Boromir or Legolas as they walked along you wouldn't be able to tell that both wanted out of the place and that they wanted out preferably now!
Presently a hand slipped into Boromir's and he knew that it couldn't be Legolas' because he had had his eyes trained on the elf, who was someway in front of him for the last ten minutes. He found himself checking up on Legolas, just to make sure that he was ok and that the darkness was not affecting him too badly. And since Legolas was up ahead, it left two options as to who was holding his hand. Merry, or the youngest member of the fellowship, Pippin. Boromir glanced down and saw that it was indeed Pippin. However, the last time Boromir had checked, the hobbit had been up near Legolas, so how he had got back to where he was Boromir didn't know. What he did know however was that the hobbit was tiring. The steps were steep, especially for one so small. Boromir was managing the climbing alright, but he could see how Pippin had tired so easily. He quickly swept the hobbit up into his arms and tucked him into his cloak.
Pippin gave a sigh, half of relief, half of happiness and lay his head on Boromir's shoulder. Boromir thought back to how only a few days ago he would of shied away from the contact, or wouldn't have offered it at all. Merry, Pippin, Legolas and the rest of the fellowship had somehow managed to get into his heart. They had managed to get past all the walls he had created around himself to keep others out, and to keep them safe. A few days ago Boromir would have still picked up Pippin when he began to fall behind, but it would have been out of a sense of duty and necessity. Now it was because the little hobbit was his friend. Also a few days ago Boromir wouldn't of tucked his cloak around Pippin, nor let the young one rest his head on his shoulder.
Pippin noticed Boromir had a slightly glazed look in his eyes, the look he had come to recognise as the one, which meant that Boromir was back in his past. He gently gathered a fist full of the man's blonde hair, so that he wasn't aware of the fact that he had and gave it a light tug, taking Boromir by surprise. "Ouch, little one," Boromir complained, although Pippin could hear the hint of a smile which he wore on his face in his voice. "Will you please find a better way to bring me out of my thoughts other than by tugging on my hair?" Boromir asked.
"Nope," Pippin replied, giggling in Boromir's ear.
"Please?" Boromir asked again, practically whining, which set Pippin off into even more giggles, which he muffled on Boromir's shoulder. "Oh come on," Boromir protested. "What do I have to do? Get down on my knees and beg?"
Pippin giggled some more and whispered; "Well, you could, it wouldn't get you anywhere though!"
"Yeah, but it'd give everyone else entertainment!" Boromir let his sense of humour come to the front again and Pippin simply left his head on Boromir's shoulder and laughed.
"Maybe we should try it?" Pippin suggested slyly, once he had calmed down.
"No thank you! I am not going to make a fool out of myself! Not even for you!" Boromir told him.
"Spoilsport!" Pippin told him and then clung tightly to Boromir's neck as the man jokingly moved to place him on the ground.
"Am I still a spoilsport now?" Boromir asked as he re-tucked Pippin back into his cloak.
"Nope! And I managed to stop you from brooding!" Pippin gloated, still whispering in the man's ear, so that no one else could hear them.
"Aye, that you did," Boromir admitted.
"Tell me a story," Pippin requested of the man who was fast becoming one of his closest friends on this quest.
"What about?" Boromir asked.
"Anything. You and Faramir," Pippin told him.
"Me and Faramir, hmmm… well, what about me and Faramir. Happier times? Or times when we've had to stick together?" Boromir asked Pippin, wanted to tell him a story he wanted to hear.
"When you had to stick together, although nothing to sad and horrible," Pippin answered.
"Hmmm… how about when our mother died? Before our father got worse?" Boromir asked.
"Yeah, sounds good," Pippin murmured in agreement, settling himself in Boromir's arms.
"Well, when our mother died I was seven and Faramir five…
It had started out as an ordinary day. But by the stillness in the servants and the sympathetic looks they were receiving, Boromir and Faramir knew that something was wrong. Both were bright and although people had said that their mummy was getting better, they could see in her eyes that life was slowly fading from her. It wasn't until many years later though that they questioned whether or not Denethor even loved his wife, or whether she had loved him.
They were in the nursery when their Father entered. Both stood politely, as they had been trained to all their lives. He knelt down in between them, taking one of their hands in each of his own. It was then he told them that their mother had left this earth. Faramir, even though the brothers had suspected this, began to cry at the confirmation. Their father pulled them into a hug and then helped then get changed into black clothes as a sign of respect. He then told them to be quiet and they spent the rest of the day together, reading and staying out of the way.
People didn't see them again until the next morning, since they had slept through the evening meal the night before. They shared a bed that night and the next morning, when they made and appearance for breakfast they were both dressed in identical black outfits, were holding hands and had red eyes, showing that they had been crying. Women fussed over them, and called their outfits sweet. Their mother had always loved it when they dressed identically, and although they had always said they didn't like it, in the months immediately after her death they dressed identically everyday.
A few months after their mother's death, their Father began to get stricter, lessons got tougher, and life generally got harder. Gone was the caring Father that they knew and in his place was a man neither Boromir or Faramir recognised. With this man they could never do anything right, nothing was ever good enough for him. There were no more cuddles and they couldn't run to him when they needed something or for comfort. They turned to each other and began to become suspicious of everyone. Faramir turned even shyer than he already was, but no one noticed apart from Boromir. Boromir got even more protective of his younger brother and Faramir began to get protective of Boromir as well.
"And from that day on, if we were both in Minas Tirith, it was very rare to see us apart," Boromir told Pippin.
"And what about identical outfits?" Pippin asked, curious.
"Oh, we still do that sometimes, especially at important events, people seem to like it," Boromir informed him.
Pippin laughed slightly. "You must miss her a lot," Pippin said.
"I do, but not as much as Faramir, I think, but we have some good memories of her. She comes from Dol Amroth, by the sea, and she'd take us to see her brother there, it's really pretty," Boromir told Pippin. "Not that I can remember all that much, as I said, I was seven when she died."
"Frodo was orphaned when he was young," Pippin informed Boromir. "His uncle Bilbo took him in."
"I didn't know that," Boromir said quietly. "It proves he's a real survivor though."
"Yeah, like you and Faramir," Pippin said.
"I wouldn't go that far," Boromir said with a laugh. I don't even like the darkness of this place that we're in, he thought, and then he realised that Pippin had managed to distract him without even the hobbit himself knowing what he was doing.