#irritable and panicked and clueless under pressure instead of looking at it like a fun challenge or an adventure

[faaun]

anyway this upcoming trip w my gf. will decide a lot i think

[whitecrossgirl]

Pressure

AN: Ok I am totally blown away by the amazing feedback and support that I’ve gotten for my fics, seriously, you guys are amazing. I hope you enjoy this update.

College AU

After three years of study at the University of the Crownlands; there were some things that Brienne had learnt that would stay with her forever. Such as the ability to endure a two and a half hour lecture whilst dying of a hangover, how to marathon a whole season in one day and of course, how to survive on a diet of noodles, toast and alcohol. However as March came to an end and their various deadlines for their dissertations drew closer; there was also a simultaneous lesson on how different people handled the stress, pressure and realisation that despite studying a degree for three years; they felt absolutely clueless about their dissertation topic. Fun nights out and lazy days chilling out and joking around in lectures had been replaced with study sessions, frantic journal searching and panicked tutorial sessions which seemed to do more harm than good.

Brienne seemed to be coping the best out of her friendship group; at least she presented it that way. Her stress manifested itself in the form of insomnia and she was surviving off of Red Bull and coffee. Her housemate Bronn challenged his energy into obsessively cleaning the house. Her coursemate Sam had all but moved into the library. Her other housemate Daenerys was suffering from panic attacks and meltdowns at the mere mention of a deadline. Daenerys’ cousin Jon was issuing daily (sometimes hourly) threats of dropping out and moving to Dorne to become a stripper. Brienne’s boyfriend Jaime was channelling any stress and anxieties into being childishly annoying. Whereas his twin sister Cersei, well…

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU JAIME! DON’T THINK THAT I WON’T!”

Cersei chose violence.

Brienne could hear Cersei’s demonic shrieking as she walked around the side of the Lannister’s town house/mansion. Cersei was standing by the pool holding Jaime in a headlock. Jaime was trying to free himself but Cersei’s grip tightened and his face was turning purple. He seemed to be trying to choke out words but instead sounded like he dying.

“GIVE IT BACK OR I SWEAR TO THE SEVEN I WILL PULL YOUR HE- oh, hi Brienne,” Cersei said, looking up to see Brienne set her backpack on the ground. Jaime waved a hand at her. Or he was begging for help. As an only child. Brienne knew better than to get involved with a sibling fight.

“Hey Cersei,” Brienne replied as Cersei turned her attention back to Jaime.

“I WILL PULL YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK!” Cersei bellowed as Jaime managed to loosen his neck slightly.

“Alright you psycho, I’ll give it back.” Jaime rasped and Cersei promptly released her grip on him. Massaging his neck, Jaime crossed the garden towards where their gardener hand placed several large vases filled with flowers. Jaime reached behind one of them and produced a large, worn, slightly dirty stuffed elephant and walked back over the garden, offering it to Cersei. Cersei immediately grabbed the elephant, tucked it under arm and walked back inside without a word.

Brienne, who had in that time removed her shoes and socks and sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in the water, rolled her eyes at Jaime. “You just had to steal her Nellie-phant, didn’t you?”

“She was annoying me.” Jaime justified as he sat next to her. He grinned to himself and Brienne raised a hand in warning.

“Don’t even think about it.” Brienne warned. “How’s your work coming along?”

“Terribly but better than Edmure’s. he had his tutorial before me, poor bastard walked out in tears.” Jaime replied. Admittedly, he was terrified of failing his dissertation; in their final year, their dissertation was an entire unit of study, one of four they needed to complete and pass in order to graduate. He had always struggled academically, especially compared to Cersei and Tyrion and he wanted to do well, to show he could actually get through his education.

“Poor guy,” Brienne said. “Daenerys had another meltdown, she’s putting herself under too much pressure.”

“Yeah but everyone is. It’s stressful,” Jaime reasoned and Brienne shook her head.

“No, this time she wanted to burn all of her work. She’s not been this bad since the exams we had at the end of first year. She actually set the kitchen in our flat on fire, remember?” Brienne asked, remembering the time Daenerys had left a chip pan on and open while she tried to revise. That was when they had all learnt that it was true, chip pans did easily catch fire.

“Oh yeah, didn’t she get like 97% in that exam anyway?” Jaime asked and Brienne shrugged; it was hard to keep track but that did seem accurate. Daenerys put herself under a lot of academic pressure and although she always got a high result; it couldn’t be doing her mental health any favours.

“Honestly, it will be a miracle if we all get through the next few weeks without someone dropping out, getting arrested or institutionalised. Or all three.” Brienne said and Jaime laughed.

“It’ll definitely happen. Depends on who’s first.” Jaime quipped as the patio door opened and Cersei walked over to them, Nellie-phant still tucked under her arm. “What do you want?”

“Dad’s working late so Tyrion and I are ordering from Hot Pies. Do you want anything?” Cersei asked the two of them.

“What are you getting?” Brienne asked, Hot Pies was their favourite takeaway; it was a standard pizza/burgers/kebab place but it did the best food in the whole city.

“Tyrion’s getting a kebab, I’m getting a pizza.” Cersei replied.

“Get me a chicken burger, no lettuce. And some cheesy chips.” Jaime decided as Cersei tapped her phone screen.

“Brienne, you want anything?” Cersei offered.

“Can you get me a kebab as well please, just with mayo and chili sauce on it?” Brienne asked and smiled at Cersei. “Thanks.”

“No problem, I’ll shout when it’s here.” Cersei said and returned back inside. Jaime watched her go as Brienne smiled slightly.

“I never understood how the two of you go from trying to kill one another to ordering food like nothing happened.” Brienne stated as her phone began to buzz in her pocket.

“It’s a sibling thing.” Jaime dismissed. “Who is it this time?”

“Jon.” Brienne said, swiping the screen in order to call Jon and listen to him vent and remind him that strippers didn’t make that much money. Plus Tormund probably wouldn’t appreciate him going to Dorne. The stripping, yes, travelling anywhere more south than Kings Landing, hell no. It took about twenty minutes to calm Jon down and by the time she finished the call, she was feeling more than a bit irritated towards her friends.

Just because it seemed like she had her shit together, it in no way, shape or form meant that she actually had her shit together.

Jaime simply gave her a hug before pulling her to her feet, grabbing her bag and leading her inside. He didn’t even try to annoy Cersei, who was sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by textbooks, her laptop and was now cuddling her stuffed elephant while she looked up different journal articles on the library website. Jaime led Brienne into the lounge and sat with her on the couch, letting her lean against him as he teased her hair. He knew that everyone was dealing with more than what they usually did but Brienne was the one holding them together and none of them seemed to realise how much it took out of her. If they didn’t have Brienne reining them in, calming them down, soothing their anxieties; then they probably all would have done something reckless or stupid. From the beginning she had established herself as the Mum Friend; the one who got them home safe from a night out, comforted them in times of stress but also stopped them from going too far. Hell, if it wasn’t for Brienne and her unwavering support and encouragement, Jaime probably wouldn’t have even made it to his third year of uni.

“Is she alright?” Cersei asked, appearing in the doorway with Tyrion, both of them with food in their hands. Jaime looked down at Brienne and realised that she had dozed off. Her lack of sleep finally catching up to her.

“She’s fine,” Jaime replied. “Let her sleep.”

“We’ll put your food in the oven. Make sure she eats something.” Tyrion advised Jaime before he and Cersei left them in peace to eat their food. Jaime smiled down at Brienne and kissed her forehead. Brienne’s forehead crinkled slightly but she didn’t wake. Jaime carefully reached for his phone and opened their group chat. He debated putting a message telling everyone to deal with their own problems but instead, he closed out of the group chat and opened his browser instead. Jaime tapped something into the search bar and glanced at Brienne before looking at the results on the screen.

Engagement rings.

They were too young to be thinking about that stage of their lives; they were still only twenty one after all. They were yet to graduate, travel, build their careers, actually be full time working adults. They were too young for settling down with a marriage, a house and kids.

But maybe one day…