Boromir didn't know when he fell asleep but when he woke up no was else was moving and he guessed that he's had about three hours of sleep. It would be enough to keep him going for all of the next day. He shifted position slightly, without thinking and then instantly stilled himself as he remembered that Merry and Pippin were using him as a pillow. Boromir didn't open his eyes, he couldn't decide which was worse, the darkness behind his closed eyelids or the darkness of Moria, he still had an eerie feeling that there was something lurking in the darkness of Moria that could hurt him, and those he now held dear to him. Without thinking Boromir lifted one of his hands and ran it through on of the curls of the hobbits head, he didn't know which one, Merry or Pippin. The hobbit in question however, shifted slightly and Boromir decided that he wouldn't be trying that again.
Laying in the darkness with nothing to do and nothing to keep his mind occupied was a new experience for Boromir - even in childhood he had always had Faramir to talk to in such times as neither of them slept a lot, even though they knew they were relatively safe in the rooms they had made for themselves, rooms their Father did not know the location of. And when serving with the army there was always something Boromir could do in the dead of night, when he couldn't sleep for any longer and he was never in darkness, there was always some sort of fire giving off some light. And he was only scared of the dark when he had the feeling that there was something out there which could hurt him, otherwise he was scared of more real things, things which could hurt him and the relative few he could call friends.
Boromir was shocked to wake up a few hours later, he didn't know when he had fell back asleep and he couldn't say he felt better off for the extra sleep, if anything he felt more tired. But Gandalf, Aragorn and Frodo where up, so Boromir gently shifted Merry and Pippin off him and went and joined them where they were sitting. They all shot him smiles and Aragorn offered him his pipe, which he had lit and was smoking. Boromir took it simply to be polite, he didn't particularly smoke and he had no intention of starting, he thought of it as a bad habit.
There was silence for a while as Boromir and Aragorn passed the pipe back and forth and finally Gandalf spoke. "We should come to the exist today," Boromir could not help feel a sense of relief at the simply statement.
Aragorn entered the conversation; "and then head for the woods of Lorien?"
"It will be the safest route to take," Gandalf answered and Boromir had seen Frodo visibly cheer up with that piece of information. Boromir was quite happy himself and he knew that Faramir was going to be green with jealousy when Boromir told him he'd visited Lorien whilst he was stuck in Ithilien.
Boromir shifted position and sat back slightly. Aragorn offered him the pipe again and once again he took it, he needed to gain Aragorn's trust and then his friendship if Gondor was to have any sort of future at all, and Gondor's future was one of the most important things to Boromir, he would not see the White City fall. Handing the pipe back to Aragorn he caught the man's eye and offered a shy smile, which was returned. Boromir knew that he was no good at the whole friendship thing, having very little experience in the area, since he had few friends. Before the fellowship he had only had one, his best friend, who also happened to be his brother.
Sam had now woken up, which left only Gimli, Merry and Pippin still asleep, and the others let them sleep on. Sam now joined the little group, eyeing Boromir cautiously, since Frodo was sitting next to him. Boromir didn't know how to put the hobbit's mind at rest but he knew that if he avoided Sam's gaze he would make the hobbit worry more. So he met Sam's gaze straight on, with what he hoped was a neutral expression on his face. Sam seemed satisfied and sat down on the other side of Frodo and Boromir let his gaze drop to the ground and he took a deep breath, willing no one to notice. He lay his hands on the ground, one of either side of them and clenched them into fists - he'd never known what it was like to have a friend to be protective of you if he didn't count Faramir and he had a lot to learn. He was startled, yet didn't make any movement, when a hand covered his clenched fist and he knew it to be Aragorn's, who was sat on his other side. Boromir met the ranger's gaze hesitantly and accepted the pipe once more. He took a long drag of it, and for the first time since he had accepted it was actually grateful for it. Boromir handed the pipe back to Aragorn and was surprised when the man gave his hand a gentle squeeze under the cover of simply taking the pipe back. Boromir didn't let his surprise show on his face, after his childhood he could keep his appearance perfectly calm, even when he was screaming inside. Faramir could do the same.
Aragorn noticed that Boromir didn't seem to display any emotions and this worried him. He wished he knew what was going on in the man's head, but he didn't know what to talk to him about, despite Boromir's reassurances Aragorn still thought the Steward's son saw him as a threat to his place in Gondor. Little did the future king know. Boromir, in fact, saw Aragorn as Gondor's only hope and the only way that he and Faramir could possibly come out of the war alive, for if Aragorn did not claim the throne, then Denethor would surely kill them.