PROMPT: "this is totally awkward considering before this the only interactions we've ever had have been casual nods to each other in the hallway but there's a huge fucking spider in my bathtub and you seem like the friendly neighbor type please help me"
He's just gotten settled on the couch, beer in hand, and all too ready to watch whatever Netflix show Eowyn had mentioned earlier when there's a sudden round of frantic knocking on his door. Groaning, Eomer hefts himself to his feet. The last time someone unexpected had knocked, it had been the bratty kids three doors down, attempting to play ding-dong ditch.
"Bergil, Borlas, I swear this time I really will hang you from the fire escape by your toes," he thunders, voice loud enough to carry through the still-closed door. "I know your mother has told you to stop this nonsense-"
He opens the door to find that it's not his precocious pre-teen neighbors, but rather the somewhat drenched but still very, very attractive girl he's been seeing in the lobby for the past couple of weeks. Frankly, Eomer's not sure what he should be more confused by: why she's knocking on his door in the first place, or why she looks like a drowned cat.
Years of his uncle's attempts to teach him and Theodred kick in and he manages to ask, "Can I help you?"
"I hope so," she says, her voice thick with the Dol Amrothian accent. "You're not scared of spiders, are you?"
Eomer blinks. "No. Can't say that I am."
The relieved smile that spreads across her face is nearly blinding in its intensity. "Oh, thank the Valar." At that, she reaches down and plucks him by the hand. Still bewildered, Eomer barely remembers to close the door behind him before she's dragging him down the hall-passed Bergil and Borlas's door, where he can see the boys peeking out to stare at them-and to what must be her apartment.
"I don't-" He tries to say, but she's already pulling him inside. It's a neat apartment, certainly cleaner than his own, with a large assortment of blue throw pillows on the couch and picture frames and flowers covering nearly every inch of available table-space. Eomer scarcely has time to register any of this before she's stopped in front of her bathroom door.
Turning to face him, she bites her lip, looking equal parts sheepish and-damn him-attractive. "I did say why I needed your help, didn't I?"
"If you did, I must have missed it," he says, trying and failing to hold back a smile. By all rights, he should be irritated, because he's tired after a long day at work, or worried, that she's some psychopath dragging him off to some sort of murder dungeon, but…
She's a tiny thing, for starters, all soft curves and curling hair, made even more adorable by the over-large shirt hanging precariously from one shoulder. Plus, he's seen her in the lobby. They've nodded at each other once or twice, her arms usually laden down with obscene amounts of flowers. Not exactly the hobby of a serial killer.
"Oh, Elbereth," she groans, pressing her hands to her eyes. "You must think I'm some sort of lunatic, just carting you off into my apartment-I'm so sorry. There's a spider the size of a warg in my bathtub, and I can handle any other sort of creepy crawler but there's just something about the legs-"
"Say no more," Eomer interjects, well-used to Eowyn's own dislike of the furry little creatures. "I'm well-trained in the art of spider extraction."
He is, and manages to have the little-or not so little, Bema, she really hadn't been exaggerating its size-pest dislodged in a matter of minutes.
"Don't kill it!" Comes a muffled squeak from the otherside of the bathroom door. "It's not its fault I can't stand its creepy, beady eyes-"
Chuckling to himself, Eomer secures the spider in the cup she'd so eagerly provided. "Alright, I'm coming out," he warns. By the time he's opened the door, she's scurried to the other side of the apartment, perched on top of a white barstool.
"The window's open," she whispers, as if the spider will hear her and understand their intentions.
The spider is deposited outside without a hitch and he shuts the window behind it. Grinning, he turns back to announce its dismissal, when a picture on the nearby end-table catches his eye. His arachnophobic neighbor is there, with her arms thrown around a horribly familiar person's neck.
If that bastard is cheating on Eowyn I'll kill him, he thinks grimly, scowling down at the picture of Faramir and the girl-who's now climbing down off of her perch and stepping closer with a smile.
"Thank you so much," she breathes, her face bright with gratitude, "I know I'm a grown woman and I should be able to handle a little spider-"
"How do you know Faramir?" He interrupts, not caring-or, at least convincing himself he doesn't care-that she flinches at the sudden harshness of his tone.
"Faramir?" She repeats. Stepping closer, she sees the picture frame in his hands. "Oh! I'd forgotten all about that one! We'd finally convinced my dad to let him take me to the Shire to visit a friend of his from university-"
Dammit, now he really would have to kill Faramir. And possibly catch that spider again, if only to torment the damnably cute woman who would have a hand in breaking his sister's heart-
"-people can't believe we're cousins most of the time. I suppose we don't really look alike; Faramir takes after Uncle Denethor, poor soul, and I look more like my mother-"
Eomer almost drops the picture frame in surprise. Cousins. Cousins. Hadn't Eowyn mentioned Faramir had an abundance of them, most of them from Dol Amroth?
"How do you know Faramir?" She asks, pulling him from his reverie.
Intensely grateful she lacks mind-reading abilities, Eomer offers her a smile, relieved not to have a reason to dislike her. "He's my sister's boyfriend."
Her eyes widen almost comically. "You're Eowyn's Eomer?"
Eomer can only laugh at such a name-Eowyn's Eomer, Bema, the hell he would give his little sister for that one. "Guilty as charged."
"No wonder you're so wonderful!" She blurts out, before promptly turning red. "Oh, Valar, I mean-I only meant that she always talks about you, her favorite big brother-"
"Her only big brother-"
"Still," she interjects, smiling. "It's nice to finally meet you, Eowyn's Eomer."
He takes her offered hand-it's small, soft, and warm in his-for a shake. "Nice to meet you too, Faramir's…?"
"Lothiriel," she says, smile growing wider.
A beautiful name for a beautiful girl, he thinks.
It seems he owes the spider a thank you.