#cupids work hard but aegon works harder

[ariesdiary]

luke and aemond often read under the tree. it is their tradition—sitting silently together, reading, their shoulders touching. after the accident at driftmark, luke waits for aemond to come, but his uncle never shows up.

“he didn’t come again, did he?” aegon silently approaches him. luke nods, sobbing and clenching pages of aemond’s favourite book. “let’s come inside. your mother will kill me if you catch a cold.”

“does he hate me now? i apologised to him many times. i tried to talk to him, but he ignores me. i gave him a wooden dragon toy ser harwin made for me, and he broke it.” lucerys looks at his uncle with pouted lips, walking through the red keep’s corridors.

“is it because i am… a bastard? well then i should stop being a bastard. how to stop being a bastard, uncle?” lucerys looks at aegon with desperate sincerity in the gaze, and that makes aegon’s not so cold heart shrink. he promises to talk to aemond. lucerys hugs him and runs to his mother’s quarters, forgetting about his question.

lucerys still gets ill. for a few weeks, he is not allowed to leave his quarters. luke’s afraid that aemond would come to their place when he’s not around, and he can’t let it happen, so he tries to run away, but is quickly returned back by daemon. when maester confirms he’s healthy, he grabs a book and runs to the tree as fast as he can only to find no one here. then he hears footsteps from behind—aegon pushes aemond in the back and whispers something to him furiously.

“give him that bloody dragon, now!” aegon screams in a whisper, what makes aemond blush and luke giggle. “act like a good boy. or else rhaenyra will hear about your attitude!”

“betrayer,” aemond whispers back to his brother and looks at luke, nervously. he hands his nephew a wooden dragon toy, which he repaired under aegon’s strict supervision. “i am sorry for– for everything. do you want to read together?”

lucerys hugs him tightly and murmurs apologies to uncle’s chest. he looks up and sees aegon, smirking. aemond wraps his arms around luke, and everything feels right.