PROMPT: You forgot your sleeping bag, but I have mine. Surely we can figure this out.
Lothiriel is not an outdoorsy sort of woman.
Eomer knows this, her brothers know this, and Faramir and Boromir know it. So Eomer cannot fathom why-or how-they managed to convince her to join them on this camping trip of theirs. Eowyn is much more comfortable climbing rocks with a pack strapped to her back, but Lothiriel…
It is not a bad thing, merely a fact. Her face is already flushed pink from exertion, her pack looks exceedingly haphazardly jammed full, and her once-neat braid is already unravelling. They are, perhaps, two hours into the hike. And yet, she has not once complained, not asked for help from any of the men or even from Eowyn, who keeps shooting her concerned looks over her shoulder.
Were they with any other group of people, Eomer would have already offered to take her bag-he is used to this sort of physical activity, after five years in the military-but as they're surrounded by his meddlesome sister, her over-protective brothers, and all three of their respective too-knowing cousins, he can't.
It's not that he wants to keep the fact that they've been on a handful of dates a secret-Bema knows he could do worse than Lothiriel-but their families would blow it absolutely out of proportion. Helle, they'd probably try to force them to get married on the spot.
Another two hours later, they've finally reached the campsite. Lothiriel all but collapses, laying comically across her pack as Amrothos laughs at her.
"I hate you. All of you," she says faintly. "You said this was an easy trail!"
Boromir snorts. "Easy for us, little flower. It is not our fault you were always more interested in books and tea than the great outdoors-"
"I like books and tea, too," Faramir defends, passing a now sitting-up, if still wobbly, Lothiriel his canteen. "There is nothing wrong with not liking hiking."
"And you two," Eowyn says, pointing accusatory fingers in Boromir and Amrothos's directions, "could have chosen an easier path."
"And missed the opportunity to reduce Lothiriel to a pile of mush?" Asks Amrothos. "Eowyn, it is as if you don't know me at all!"
Eomer ventures over, pulling Lothiriel to her feet as Faramir and Eowyn do their best to help dig through her pack for her sleeping bag.
"Ugh, my legs are jelly," she grumbles, trembling slightly in his grip.
He grins, leaning just close enough not to be overheard. "I'd offer to rub them down, but I think your brothers might have something to say about that."
She swats him, but the pleased blush in her cheeks lets him know she's not truly upset. "Fiend. Now that's all I'll be able to think about."
It's all he can do to keep from bending to press a kiss to the particularly sensitive patch behind her ear, brothers and cousins and sisters be damned, but then a sudden groan from Faramir calls him back to their surroundings.
"Lothiriel," he says, sounding exasperated, "you did remember to pack a sleeping bag, didn't you?"
Any lingering color drains out of Lothiriel's face. "Of course I did! I put it on top this morning-"
But there had been a mad rush for all of them to pack the car and the more Eomer thinks about it, the more he thinks he remembers seeing a dark blue bundle laying on the counter as Theodred had locked the door behind him. Lothiriel's face is ashen as Amrothos begins to laugh anew, as Erchirion sighs and passes money into Elphir's outstretched hand, and Theodred ambles over to give her shoulder a sympathetic pat.
"Cheer up, Lothiriel," his cousin says, kindly. "We've all spent a night on the ground. It won't kill you."
But she isn't used to such things, though the stubborn set of her jaw tells him that she won't complain, that she won't say a word even if she ends up curled around a root with dirt in her hair. She's quiet all through dinner, though she offers Eowyn a sincere smile when she offers her an extra blanket, nestling down into it as if she'd like to disappear.
Eventually, Eowyn and Faramir disappear to stargaze-Eomer chooses to believe that's what they're actually doing, and likes his blissful innocence-while Elphir, Erchirion, and Amrothos amble off for a midnight swim. Boromir is asleep already, snoring loudly from where his head is pillowed on Theodred's thigh. Lothiriel is nearly asleep as well, leaning a chin on her hand and wavering dangerously close to the fire. Eomer frowns, coming to gently shake her shoulder.
"Lothiriel," he says.
"Hm?" She hums, blinking sleepily up at him. Even uncomfortable, more than a little disheveled and with a smudge of dirt on her nose, he's struck by how lovely she is, how soft.
"Take my sleeping bag," he says.
Eomer can see Theodred grinning at him out of the corner of his eye, and he shoots his cousin a rude hand gesture out of Lothiriel's range of vision.
"No, that's not fair," she protests. "It's my fault I forgot one, I don't want to inconvenience you-"
Despite knowing Theodred would be absolutely insufferable in the morning, Eomer ignores her protests, bending down and scooping her up in his arms. Her outraged squeak is equal parts hilarious and endearing. "Eomer! What are you doing!"
"If you won't take it, I suppose we'll have to share," he says. He won't lie down, for fear of what her brothers might do upon finding them spooning, but he sits, back against a nearby tree as Lothiriel adjusts herself more comfortably in his lap.
"They're going to be merciless, you know," she murmurs, lips brushing distractingly over his neck as she speaks.
"You are not sleeping on the ground," he argues. "It's damned Amrothos's fault you weren't well prepared."
She lifts her head to smile at him, reaching up to lightly scratch her nails along his jaw. "Hm. I can't say I mind, really."
He chuckles, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead even as Theodred all but snickers from across the campfire. "Sleep, Lothiriel."
(Amrothos's squawk wakes the entire camp a few hours later.
"Do shut up, Amrothos," Lothiriel grumbles, burrowing her face deeper into Eomer's shoulder. "Aren't you lot always going on about needing to adapt to one's circumstances?"
"This is not what I meant!" Amrothos cries.
Eomer hides his smile in Lothiriel's hair.)