Secret Presents
Relationships: (platonic) Faramir x Sister!Reader, (platonic) Boromir x Sister!Reader.
Genre: family fic, sibling bonds, fluff, birthday fic.
Warnings: Denthor's terrible parenting, use of she/her pronoums. I am not sure if birthdays are culturally accurate for gondorians, but since in lotr we saw at least one hobbit birthday let's pretend they also could have birthday customs for the sake of this.
Summary: Boromir and Faramir surprise their sister on the morning of her birthday filling her with affection while furtively bringing her different sorts of gifts their father wouldn't approve.
Note: (Late) birthday gift for my bestie @beautifultypewriter, also inspired in her gondor girl concept. I hope the fluff will be good enough to compensate the delay <3
She didn't expected anyone to remember, there were allways more important things going on in such convoluted times.
Completely absent from her father's thoughts, only her brothers could possibly think about it. During the occassions in which Denethor do cared to celebrate her, he was always actually celebrating himself. Birthday parties that were generic social events for the nobiity, occassions for him to show off his might in decline and pretend for the public that he could resemble a father.
If he could possibly be thinking on doing something, she would rather hide far away from it for as long as possible. The only good reason the Steward of Gondor could have to remember that he had a daughter were the men arround him making the recall. He would only use it as an excuse to push yet even more insufferable nobles in her direction.
Feeling the call of the servant announcing her waking time that morning made her groan of frustration, wanting it to be over before it ever began. She emerged from the covers only caring to make sure to be in a visible state before opening the door, trying hard to remember not to share her mood with the servantfolk through terrible manners.
What she found instead were her two brothers hidding their presence on the usual call, ready to join forces as soon as they will find her. Their happy faces said it all, and she almost regretted her grumpyness.
" What are you doing here? "
To a gestural sign of Faramir, Boromir went ahead to lift her up from the ground. Almost like a father would do for his child, only with tons of chuckling in between.
" HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR SISTER!!"
In a matter of instants she was smiling again while being carried back inside her bedroom.
" Are you insane? What is this? "
Faramir calmed his own laughter to explain.
" Your birthday surprise! I bet you thought we would forget. "
She was perfectly aware of how strongly they loved her, but war kept them always bussy and she was perfectly ready to forgive them if that was the case.
" Orcs are constantly pushing the limits of our borders, of course you could forget! "
" But we would never. " Boromir cheerfully insisted, releasing her on her bed. " Have we ever failed you? "
She giggled and nodded negatively.
" ... Then why did you seem so upset looking at us from you doorframe ? " Faramir inquired. " It think somone really needs to get their spirits lifted. "
With a mischievous look he approached for a strong hug ending only when he sneaked one hand to her already known ticklish point. Her loud laughing comforted them all, so Boromir encouraged Faramir to keep going untill she started fighting back and the situation could escalate into an actual tickle fight unleashed right in front of the servants.
She was red from laughing and playfully smacked them in return, when her eldest brother gave premission for the maidservant to enter. She was carrying a curiously long chest with the help of one lad and presented it to the lady by command before retiring.
" See, if we would have waited untill you would come down for breakfast, we wouldn't be able to bring your presents. " Faramir continued. " These are of the kind our father will not wish to see. "
A sparkle of excitement lighted her eyes.
" Certainly not fitting for a lady, by his expressed opinion. " Boromir added. " He would be very dissapointed of me if he would find out I'm letting Faramir present you with this."
" Not as much as when he will see what you got her. " He commented in response. " ... And yours can't be hidden easily, as one can do with mine. "
Curiosity was growing with each of their teasing recalls and she rushed to open the mysterious casket used to hide such secret present from the world untill reaching her.
It revealed a bow, perfectly new and with its matching quiver following the style of the one that was her brother's favorite.
" Nurturing your passions is important to me, and being honest i'm slightly jealous you have gained more practice with Boromir's weapon of choice. "
He was joking and she could perfectly tell. Her brothers never had to compete for her love the way their father intended them to.
Here eyes were roaming the weapon with increasing surprise, then inmediately directed to look at her brother with the happiest adoration.
" It's perfect!! Just, ... perfect!! Beloved brother, I would love to practice with you. " She thanked, hugging him from up front and practically jumping from the joy. " I can't wait to try it!! "
" We will tell father is an harp." Faramir joked, sharing her excitement. " I doubt he would ever ask you to play music for him, so he will never discover it."
You chuckled together seeing that Boromir was allowing you the mean spirited commentary.
" My gift will also work as a distractive strategy: he will never get a moment to wonder about anything else. "
She questioned Faramir with her glance, but he provided no clues.
" Boromir ... what have you exactly done?? "
Their eldest brother began to chuckle, assuming the mysterious guilt for some possibly memorable mischief.
" Come down with us and you will find out. "
She smiled and quickly followed the instruction, begging them to leave her proper space to at least dress decently before being publicly perceived for the first time in the day. Neither of her brothers wanted to miss what was about to come, so they awaited outside only to find themselves going after her later because excitement made her run her way down.
Hardly catching his breath, Boromir indicated her to go outside. Her cluelessness made her even more desperate for finding the surprise, but she inmediately stumbled with it once the final instruction was correctly followed.
A magnificent horse, one that she never recalled to have seen before.
" It was almost impossible to import, but your dear brother planned things with time and sent clever merchants on the quest for it. " Boromir recalled, pridefully. " They wouldn't have sold this easily for a mighty lord of the city, but couldn't refuse when told it would dissapoint a young lady. "
She looked at him in disbelief, unsure of the guess she was about to make.
" No,no, no ... There is no way. You couldn't ... "
" Send men to Rohan despite the uncertain danger it implies just to get you a horse? " Faramir followed, finishing her sentence in a wondering tone. " Don't worry, your present also worked as harmless excuse to obtain trustable testimonies about the state of our old allies. Something we have been wanting to find out for a long time, but father kept refusing to investigate. "
The clarification amused her more than the explanation itself.
" You are unbelievable!! How are we going to hide this? "
Boromir wasn't troubled by her very logical reasoning.
" We won't, and I will assume all guilt. Wait to see how fast he will find a reason to excuse me. "
He made her laugh through that lighthearted mock of his unwanted privilege, aspect he manipulated in contructive ways when it could bring a side benefict to his siblings.
Looking at her smiling brothers awaiting her final verdict made her feel the luckiest girl in Middle Earth.
" I have the best brothers in the world. "
