AN: Hello, my darling readers! I officially love this AU far too much. This chapter is significantly longer than the first two, but hey, we get some more Faramir and Éowyn cuteness as well as Tauriel and Pippin's first appearances :)

I don't own Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. If I did, I could afford as many C2E2 photo ops as I wanted

New Text From: Faramir Stewart

Hey, are you still up for helping me with my paintings?

New Text From: Éowyn Last Name?

yeah totally! when r u free?

New Text From: Faramir Stewart

Tuesday and Thursday afternoons after painting, Fridays after art history, and pretty much all weekend…

New Text From: Éowyn Last Name?

r u in the 9:00 art history?

New Text From: Faramir Stewart

Nope, the 8:00 :/

New Text From: Éowyn Last Name?

would u mind waiting an hour for my art history to get out on friday? we could do it after

New Text From: Faramir Stewart

Sure!

New Text From: Éowyn Last Name?

see u then :)

That week was quite possibly the longest one that Éowyn had ever endured. It might have been because of the photo critique she had on Wednesday or maybe because of the art history essay due on Friday, but if she was honest with herself, it was because of a certain wavy haired painter and her plans with him on Friday. Somehow Éowyn made it through to Thursday and she found herself lying on her bed, her laptop resting on her stomach and her art history book on her chest. The last thing she wanted to do at that moment was write an essay about abstract expressionism but alas, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Éowyn lifted up the textbook on her chest with the intention of getting back to work, but her eyes drifted to a Dubuffet painting and she let out a loud, exasperated, annoyed, and frustrated sigh.

Across the room, her roommate Tauriel removed one earbud and looked over at the blonde worriedly.

"You doing alright over there?" she asked. Éowyn only grunted in response.

"Is this a chocolate problem or a root beer problem?" the ginger haired gender studies major tried.

"Root beer," Éowyn answered, still staring up at the ceiling. Tauriel removed her other earbud and got out of her own bed, going over to Éowyn's desk and her change jar. She removed $1.50 in quarters, dimes, and nickels and grabbed her own wallet from her desk as well.

"Be right back," she said on her way out.

"Thank you!" Éowyn called after her roommate. Tauriel acknowledged her with a wave as the door was closing and headed for the stairs, the first floor, and the vending machines.

It wasn't long before she was back, carrying a bottle of root beer, a bag of cool ranch doritos, a sprite, and a bag of trail mix. She tossed the doritos to Éowyn and set the root beer on her desk while she took the sprite and trail mix for herself. Éowyn hauled herself up into a sitting position and pushed her textbook off to the side. Abstract Expressionism could wait. She opened up the doritos and snagged the root beer from her desk, moving to sit so she was facing Tauriel's bed.

"You know me so well," Éowyn said through a mouthful of chips. Tauriel rolled her eyes and popped a few nuts and raisins in her mouth.

"I try," she said. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Art history," Éowyn replied.

"Ew, I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's alright. It's just that this essay I need to write, it's on Abstract Expressionism and it's a cool art movement, but the professor really loves Dubuffet and I really don't."

"Ah, so you need to include this guy in your essay but you don't want to."

"Exactly."

A few moments passed in silence (save for the crunching of chips and the crinkling of wrappers) until Tauriel spoke again.

"You sure that's all that's up? You've been antsy all week."

Éowyn said nothing, but her blush gave her away.

"No way, you've got a date? Who is he? How do you know him? Where are you going?"

"Jesus, slow down!" Éowyn stopped her friend. "I don't have a date, I'm just helping him out with some stuff for his paintings."

"Do tell."

"He paints these portraits of people making - well he calls it 'non-traditional' - but they're really just fucking weird faces and he asked me to model for him."

Tauriel practically squealed with excitement.

"Shut up," Éowyn groaned at her, but her smile gave her away. She was really damn excited. However, that didn't mean that Tauriel could get away with giving her a hard time. Éowyn grabbed her scotch tape off of her desk and lobbed the piece of plastic at her roommate, who dodged it expertly, laughing all the while.

"Hey, Pip?" Faramir asked his roommate as the both of them were walking to their 8:00 art history.

"Yeah?" he asked through his bite of bagel.

"Your cousin Merry's friends with Éowyn, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He wouldn't happen to know how she likes her coffee, would he?"

Pippin gave his friend a sidelong glance and a quirked eyebrow.

"Maybe, why do you ask?"

Faramir shrugged, trying to brush his question off as nonchalant.

"No reason."

"Bullshit."

"Would he know or not?"

Pippin sighed and shook his head at his friend as they walked into the art history lecture hall.

"Probably, but why don't you just ask her?"

Faramir didn't get the chance to answer before the professor walked in and began her lecture on Botticelli.

New Text From: Faramir Stewart

Quick question, how do you like your coffee?

Faramir's phone buzzed just as Doctor G was finishing up her lecture and was sorely tempted to check it but fought it back. It would only be a few more minutes. As soon as Doctor G turned off the projector, Faramir dug his phone out of his pocket.

New Text From: Éowyn Last Name?

texting during class, hmm? such a good student :P milk and sugar, why?

Faramir smiled to himself as he typed out his response and sent it.

"You go ahead, Pip," he said to his roommate as they left the lecture hall, "I'm going to get some work done on my painting."

Pippin quirked an eyebrow at him disbelievingly, but let the matter drop, leaving Faramir with a wave.

And now, we wait, Faramir told himself, rounding the corner and starting down the hall to the painting studio.

New Text From: Faramir Stewart

No reason. See you after your class!

New Text From: Éowyn Last Name?

k… see u then :)

Dr. G let her 9:00 class out a few minutes early and Éowyn shot out of her seat, making a beeline for the door. She turned the corner and navigated the hallways until she reached the painting studio. She wandered the same path she'd taken the other day and found Faramir hard at work, again. Just like that other day, his hair was pulled back in that damned man bun but instead of his painting, he had his nose in his sketchbook. He looked up at the sound of her footsteps and smiled widely at her. Damn, he has a cute smile. Éowyn smiled back at him and he straightened up, setting down his sketchbook and reaching down to pick something up off the floor.

"Milk and sugar, just like you told me," he said, handing her a medium sized to-go up of coffee.

"Oh, no, you didn't have to!" Éowyn protested even as she took the cup from his hands. He shrugged and grabbed a second cup that she hadn't noticed.

"You're doing me a huge favor, it's the least I can do," he assured her. Éowyn sighed, but she ceased her protests. She got free coffee out of the deal and she could live with that.

"Where d'you wanna take these, then?" she asked after another sip of her coffee.

"Well, I was thinking we'd take a few downstairs in the photo studio and then a few outside?"

"Sounds good to me," Éowyn agreed, "shall we?"

"We shall," Faramir responded with a grin, slinging his camera over his shoulder and snatching up his keys.

"Don't forget your coffee," Éowyn pointed out with a little smile, nodding to the cup that he had set on his little table.

"Oh, oops, thanks," Faramir said, a little flustered. With everything finally in order, they made their way downstairs to the photo studio. Éowyn unlocked the room seeing as Faramir had his hands full and held the door for him. She flicked on the light switch and the room was illuminated by the single fluorescent strip on the ceiling. Éowyn went about plugging in the large lamps while Faramir set up the tripod and camera.

"What kind of faces do you think you want for this?" Éowyn asked.

"Well, what I'm trying to do with these is catch people without their inhibitions - like the faces they put on for the world, you know?"

Éowyn hummed an affirmative noise, prompting him to go on.

"I want to get rid of that mask, the superficial front that people put up so I guess I mean something genuine, something on the sillier side, almost childish," he explained as he finished setting up the camera.

"That, I can do," Éowyn said as she finished fiddling with the lamps, flashing him a grin.

After an hour, Faramir had a wide array of photos to choose from. Éowyn proved to be a most accommodating model; responding easily to his feedback. She even moved her damn tongue a centimeter to the right when Faramir thought that it might make the composition better. There were pictures of her with her tongue sticking out and her eyebrows quirked; her hands mussing up her hair while she bared her teeth in a wide shout; her eyes crossed and her mouth in a deranged half-grin; her nose scrunched up and her eyes screwed shut; and a few featured her laughing, joyful and free.

Faramir was pretty sure he knew which one he was going to use, but Éowyn had ideas for places to take more photos outside and he wasn't about to decline an opportunity to spend more time with her. So outside they went, and Faramir got a a few of the same faces, but the ones with her laughing were always the best. They were in the quad; Éowyn was sitting on a short landscaping wall and Faramir was seated on the ground. He'd cracked a joke about the head of the art department, Professor Greyhame, and Éowyn was lost in a fit of giggles. Faramir got a shot of her grinning wide with laughter, her eyes tightly shut, and one hand in her loose hair. That's it.

They spent awhile longer just sitting together, talking about everything from expensive art supplies to ridiculous roommates, until Faramir's stomach interrupted them with a loud grumble.

"Hungry, are you?" Éowyn asked with a teasing grin.

"A little," Faramir replied with a shrug and a little smile.

"C'mon," Éowyn said, getting to her feet and extending a hand out to help him up. "Let's go get some food, my treat."

Faramir paused, looking up at her. There was some amazing backlighting going on there - the sun was above her but was low enough in the sky that at this angle, it was just behind her head, illuminating her with a golden glow.

"Faramir?" Éowyn asked, dragging out the syllables as she waved a hand in front of his face.

"Sorry, yeah, lunch sounds great," he said, taking her offered right hand in his left and letting her help haul him to his feet.

When he stood up, Éowyn was struck again by not just his looks, but the height difference between them and the way her hand - so scarred and stained from steel, soot, and chemicals - fit so nicely in his own - smudged with charcoal and with bits of paint stuck under his fingernails. She smiled up at him, though her smile quickly turned into a mischievous grin that had Faramir's stomach swooping.

"C'mon," she said, and she was off, his hand still firmly in her grip as she ran for the parking lot. Faramir nearly tripped over his own feet before he caught up with her pace, the pair of them grinning like idiots as they ran.

Half an hour, two disagreements over who would pay for whose food, and one spilled free cup of water later, Faramir and Éowyn were back in her car; the windows were rolled down, the radio was tuned to the classic rock oldies station, and they each had a carton of Chinese takeout in their laps. They chatted for awhile, traded bites of sesame chicken and spicy ma po tofu (Faramir could hardly handle the spice), and Éowyn couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun. Finally, Faramir took note of the time and the pair of them realized that shit, we have an art gallery opening to go to in an hour, and Éowyn started the car, driving them back to campus.

Faramir directed her to the two-person apartment he shared with Pippin (two doors down from Merry, Frodo, and Sam's place) and she parked just by the curb.

"This was fun," Faramir said, unbuckling his seat belt.

"Yeah, it was," Éowyn agreed, smiling at him as he ran his fingers through his hair to get it out of his face.

"Thanks again for helping me out," Faramir said sincerely.

"Hey, no problem, it was my pleasure," Éowyn assured him. Faramir returned her smile as he clambered out of her car. He opened his mouth to say goodbye, but Éowyn spoke before he could.

"Would you, maybe, want to do this again sometime?" she asked through the open window. Faramir gave her a puzzled look. "But, like, a date this time," she added and he could hear the hopeful tone her voice took on.

"You beat me to the punch," he said, smiling even wider. "See you around."

Thanks so much for reading! If you liked it, let me know why in a review.