Faramir tries to figure out some stuff and keeps getting distracted by the ladies.
The rating changes into a spicy T at the end.

Give Love on Christmas Day

Faramir had prided himself about being a good project manager, really, he had
But... but truth be told, during the last hour, Éowyn and the whole thing he had maneuvered the two of them into had made him more and more doubt his own abilities.
What had he been thinking? Bringing a stranger, a hook-up, a one-night stand to his family's Christmas party?

But you don't want her to just be a hook-up, do you?

Faramir wasn't naive, and he wasn't delusional either - he understood attraction when he felt it, and most of all, he understood attraction that went beyond the physical level. At least he had thought so. Normally though, he needed a lot longer to click with another person, while Éowyn had simply crashed into him like a blonde comet and flipped everything around in the time of one night. A certainly very memorable night, mind you, but still, he couldn't quite make sense of it. Everything about her, everything they had done had been totally out of his character, but she had made him feel brave. She had made him feel that he could ask for what he wanted, and he would get an honest answer, a yes that truly meant yes, and a no that would be a hard limit, unshakable. That he could be a little bit reckless, let out the rather mischievous side of himself that he often repressed to please others. When they had kissed in the kitchen, just a couple of minutes ago, for a moment the whole party had felt a lot less daunting. For a moment, he had entertained the ridiculous notion that they might even have something like fun.

The arrival of his cousins had everything crashing down, an uncomfortable reality check. He had never taken into consideration that they might know Éowyn when he had asked her to accompany him, but she hadn't mentioned it either. Well, Faramir had known these girls all his life, and their reactions had told him two things for sure:
A) Val thought Éowyn was cool. She respected her, despite the bickering.
B) Lothíriel on the other hand didn't seem to like her at all. It had been clear from the way she had tensed up that there was something between the two of them, some kind of history, even though both had tried to hide it. Faramir had the slight suspicion it might have something to do with Éowyn's brother - after all, he had apparently gone to the University of Durham as well, just as Lotty and Val. This was the only connection he could think of - Now that he thought about it, there had been a certain polo captain Val had been raving and teasing Lotty about at the time, but Faramir didn't remember his name. Truth be told, he had had more urgent things to wonder about than his cousins' uni-crushes. Lotty had never said anything about him though, she had always been rather secretive about these things. Anyway, if they had had an affair, their family didn't know, so Lothíriel would certainly not talk about him and Éowyn either. Not that there was much to tell, which was exactly the problem.

Truly, he loved his cousins and usually, they were the only thing (aside from Boromir) that made these family parties at least somewhat bearable and sometimes even amusing, but all together, they could also be a bit much. Especially when Boromir brought friends. For that reason, he couldn't blame Éowyn when he felt her tensing up next to him the closer they came to the music room, a feeling he could very much relate to. Voices were drifting towards them, loud enough to tell them they had probably been drinking, some cajoling and some giggling. Now, this could go both ways, either help the two of them or really get them into trouble. Better not think too much about it.
Warmth spread through his body when Éowyn's fingers found his, connecting in a reassuring tangle. I that moment, she felt like his, as if this was real and she was his new girl, ready to be introduced to the full crowd for the first time. He pulled her into the room, but as soon as he saw the group, his brain had stumbled, or at least it had felt that way.

There were Val and Lotty, obviously, and two of Lotty's brothers. He also recognized Brandon and Lyanna, and Boromir, and Robert, one of Boromir's best friends from university. He knew the guy briefly, a loud man who was fairly aware of his attractiveness - 'very much a fuckboy' as Val had once put it. Not exactly smart, but not dumb either, impulsive and wealthy - as apparently everyone in this room. He had - as established before - brought a date, who was sitting next to him, throning like a queen.

That alone would have been worth mentioning, but what really struck him was the similarity to his own date next to himself. Long, wavy blond hair fell down over her shoulders in a golden curtain, when she turned towards them he could see these locks were framing a stunning, almost pale face that seemed to be cut from marble. She must be couple of years older than Éowyn, probably more around his own age.
He couldn't quite make out her eye colour from where he was standing, but he was fairly certain it wasn't the same everchanging grey that fascinated him so incredibly with Éowyn. Something tugged at the back of his mind, a familiarity, but he couldn't quite place her.

Even if these similarities hadn't been enough to alarm him, the way Éowyn kept squeezing his hand as if her life depended on it certainly did. Faramir's eyes flickered back to the stranger, wo was now smirking slightly, only a slight lift of the right corner of her lips. Something seemed to pass between her and his fake girlfriend, an agreement maybe, he only hoped it wouldn't cost them too dearly later. Right then, the older woman got up from her perch, like a crouching lioness, more elegantly than the man could have ever imagined, to strut towards him and his partner. She certainly went slower than necessary, as if she wanted to give every step more weight, to make a point.

"Winnie!" she called out, voice sweet, "I wasn't expecting to be here, you really should have told me you'd come."
"Cece," Éowyn responded, deceptively light, "truth be told, I had no idea I would until this morning. And I had no idea you would be here either. I thought you already were at Casterly."
The woman huffed, a sound that included a lot more than simple annoyance. Years worth of family issues, to be precise, if Faramir had to guess. Then she turned towards Faramir.
"So," she started, looking him up and down, "you're the famous Faramir Steward, I suppose."

He shook the offered hand, smiling politely. Her nails were long, almost digging into his skin as her elegant fingers folded around his. So different from Éowyn's, despite the other outer resemblance of the women. He didn't look down, but he could have bet her nails were professionally designed in some fancy way, probably bejewelled.

"Love, that's Cersei Lannister, my cousin. Well, a little bit removed, but cousin is fine," Éowyn introduced the woman with a weird mixture of affection and uncertainty.

Lannister. Of course. Well fuck. It seemed as if he had walked into the bar and straight up picked the most well-connected girl in the whole room - for better and for worse. He gave her a smile that he hoped looked reasonable friendly and less than as if he had just been kicked into the guts.

"A pleasure Cersei, I have heard so much about you already."

Well, he had, just not from Éowyn. And what he knew had told him that he never ever wanted to get on her bad side.
Cersei raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"I feel flattered. Now, join us."

She returned to her seat next to Robert, while him and Éowyn squeezed onto the sofa next to Boromir, who only gave him a lopsided grin. Yeah, they would talk about all of this later. As it turned out, someone had decided to play 'Would you rather', with the additional rule that you could drink instead of answering the question. This either would lead to finding out to finding some interesting things now, or to Éowyn and him getting very very drunk.

"Okay, so, Lyanna," Boromir started, "would you rather be a dragon or a unicorn?"
Lyanna laughed. "Easy. A dragon, of course. Dragons are much cooler. Amrothos, would you rather lose all of the money you've earned this year, or lose all of the memories you've gained this year?"
"That's a hard one, especially since the year is almost over," he admitted.

Faramir found that for him, the decision wouldn't have been hard at all. Despite the mess he was currently in, under no circumstances he would have wanted to forget the night before, or the way his partner was currently pressed against his side, head almost on his shoulder, hair falling in front of the two of them.

"Well, drink then!" Robert called out.
With a smile, Amrothos complied.
"Alright, Éowyn, would you rather be able to talk to plants and they talk back at you, or every time you touch a book, a magazine, or anything written, really, instantly know its content?" he wanted to know.
"The plants, surely," she answered, "after all, I can always read what's written in the books. Robert-" she cocked her head, "would you rather be dumb and happy or intelligent and miserable?"

There was something behind the question, but what, Faramir didn't know. In any case, it amused his brother immensely.
"That's not a question, he's already dumb and happy," he pointed out.
Robert flipped him off but didn't seem to mind. Instead, he took another drink.
"Would you rather go to outer space or the centre of the Earth?" he asked Val.

"Space, absolutely," she answered without missing a beat. "Cersei, would you rather be able to read people's minds or manipulate other people with your thoughts?"

The blond woman gave her a sly look and only shook her head before lifting her glass and taking a dainty sip - somehow it made Faramir wonder whether she wasn't already convinced she could do both. As the sleeve of the red blouse slipped back, he got a glance of the watch on her wrist, the same model as Éowyn was wearing, as far as he could tell. Interesting.

"Faramir," she began sweetly, too sweetly, "would you rather find your soulmate or have your dream job?"
He only felt Éowyn stiffen because she was sitting so closely next to him, but the change was certainly there. So, he kept his face carefully neutral.
"The soulmate, I suppose. When it comes to jobs, there is always enough time for a new dream."

They went back and forth, the game developing into a lively affair, certainly helped by the alcohol. At one point, his other cousin and his wife joined them with the baby who was fussed over profusely before the parents decided it was time for them to go home before the youngest member of the Swan family decided to have an early afternoon meltdown. In the developing chaos, Faramir lightly tugged at Éowyn's hand. Her eyes shot up to meet his, full of questions, but he only smiled slightly before motioning for her to follow him. She did without asking any more questions, up the grand staircase with its carpet on the wooden stairs and the pictures on the wall, ancestors that seemed to judge them for sneaking out of a family function.

"Where are we going?" she finally hissed as they had reached the second floor, and he was pulling her down the hallway towards a dark door almost at the end.
He gave her a lopsided smile.
"Keeping up the image of the secretive couple."

Faramir pulled out a key and quickly opened the door. It was his room, almost unchanged over the last couple of years, since he had given it a makeover during his college years.
Instead of the blue, grey, and silver that were most prominent in the rest of the house, his room was held more in natural colours such as greens, browns, tan, and occasional dashes of yellow. Patterned curtains were framing the huge windows that were opening towards the garden and let the light stream onto his bed. Said bed seemed freshly made, and the whole room smelled vaguely like pine needles - The cleaning staff apparently kept the whole room in pristine condition. A waste of effort, usually, but right now, the man appreciated their effort very much. Maybe he should get them a gift basket or something. Books were filling every available space on the room-high shelves, mixed with boxes made from natural material that were filled with knick knack of any kind. Or at least had been, if nobody had thrown out his stuff in the meantime. He wouldn't put that past his family. Luckily, he had taken his most important (and most embarrassing) belongings to Edinburgh with him. When he turned around, he could see Éowyn still close to the door, she had crossed her arms in front of her body, her chin stood out in an almost defiant gesture.

"So, after all the stuff downstairs, now I am not couply enough?"
It was a challenge, but as he came closer, he could also see the spark of amusement in her eyes. With two steps, he had her backed up against the door, the lock quietly clicking shut. Faramir cupped her face in his hands.
"You are wonderful, despite your very scary cousin. But maybe I just want you a little bit for myself."
Her shoulders loosened slightly as she looked up at him.
"Well, you could have just said. Like 'Éowyn, I want to drag you up into my bedroom to do inappropriate things to you, what do you say?'. Is that so hard?"
Heat rushed into his face, he was sure his cheeks must be burning red by now. For a moment, he let his forehead rest against hers.
"Yeah, it is, sort of," he told her lowly in the quiet of the room, "especially here."

Where I am not used to be listened to.

He didn't add the last part of information, but apparently, he didn't have to. When he opened his eyes again, she looked furious, but then her hands were in his hair in that incredibly seductive way of hers, keeping him close to her.

"How much time do we have?"
He considered the question.
"Well, my father and uncle will want all of us to join them for a bit. So, we will certainly be late for that."
"Do you want to piss them off? Even though they might attack you for that later? Or do you want to show me off without drama?"

She was giving him a choice, though it might not have been a fully fair one, since she was drawing tiny little circles on his scalp at the same time. How should he concentrate like that?

"Is there a middle option?" he tried to make light of the situation.
He only saw a grin flash over her face before she was on him, kissing him breathless, arms around him, twisting them until he leaned against the door. Her greedy hands skimmed over his dress shirt, though she didn't open the buttons, happy to simply draw patterns over his abs that made him catch his breath. Finally, she reached the buckle of his belt and he stiffened.
"Let me," she told him against his lips, reinforcing her words with a kiss when he still wasn't convinced, "you're not making me, Faramir. Everything I do, I do it because I chose to, alright?"

Had he been a little more coherent, he might have tried to discern the weight she put behind the words, but right now, he could only nod. His head fell back against the door while she continued to kiss his neck, his lips, swallowing his moans, and he let himself go under.