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It's a random morning when their phones all start vibrating and lighting up. Jace, the only semi-responsible one among them, had set the rule way back when they were just getting started. Still young and as innocent as hyper-privileged prep school kids could be, they had gone along with his no phones rule willingly despite claiming to just be messing around with all the audio equipment and the collection of hand me down instruments from some long dead relative. But they knew then what they still know now. They knew deep down that this was gonna be something, they had clicked too well, feeding off each other’s every strum and beat.
Now almost a decade later and in a studio owned by their recording label, surrounded by the newest and best instruments their money could buy, they still follow sixteen year old Jace’s meager rules. Absolutely no distractions while in the studio, no bringing people not working with them inside to observe and pull focus and definitely no phone usage.
The only downside to this was the absolute ruckus four phones in a plastic storage bin created when a news alert regarding their ever scandalous family got sent through all their phones.
The out of tune melody reminded Aemond of the annoying insects that chirped all night at that one Dornish resort his family went to on vacation years ago. If his brain remembers correctly this was just after he got forced off the pain medication he had been prescribed for the “issues” with his eye, or lack thereof. His Mom, pious as can be, had read some random bullshit opinion piece from the High Septon about turning to the Seven in times of pain and sickness instead of “Maesters with secular knowledge.” The Aemond then was drowning in pain and had no patience for the incessant chirping of Dornish bugs.
“Heads up,” Aegon says seconds before throwing Aemond’s phone his way.
“Who’s in trouble now?” Daeron murmurs unintrigued sprawled out on the floor and still strumming away on his bass.
Aemond hasn't even finished typing in his passcode yet when he hears a barely audible seven fucking hells from Jacaerys his work tinkering at the recording console abandoned to so he can instead send an angry glare at his phone. Conversely Aegon starts laughing at the top of his lungs.
Highgarden Magazine @HighgardenMag.
!!!EXCLUSIVE!!!
Prince Lucerys Velaryon captured out and about King’s Landing sporting what looks to be a brand new baby bump. This comes almost a year following the very public split from his soon to be ex-husband Aemond Targaryen! Does this mean those flames have rekindled or is baby #3 the product of a hopefully less familiar gene pool?
[several pictures of Lucerys Velaryon entering and exiting his car while wearing an open grey cardigan over a shirt that fails to obscure his prominent baby bump]
Replies
- [ +1237, - 55 ]
3 kids under 22 he should be in the club omg!!!
2. [ +836, - 42 ]
Aemond needs to stay off him
- more like luke needs grow up and stop crawling back to him
- luke vs. having a modicum of self respect and not constantly getting back together with a serial cheater
3. [ +602, - 29 ]
Is this a new photo there’s no way especially after all of #that
4. [ +237, - 12 ]
But the gossip sites were claiming they broke up
- they literally cant go two days without eachother lol
5. [ -729, + 15 ]
He looks far along and why is everybody assuming the baby is aemond’s they broke up months ago so its obviously not his.
- girl……
- you don't even believe that
- is this bait?
Aemond’s blood runs cold as he whispers, “What the fuck.” And then louder, “These pictures are from outside the kids fucking school!”
Suddenly there are three overgrown men crowding around Aemond to peer down at his phone screen. When Aegon grabs the phone to take a closer look Aemond lets him, not in the mood to fight over it. He walks to leather couch that has seen much better days and lets himself sink into the cushions cradling his head in his hands. Luke is going to be livid.
Unable to read any fucking room in existence, Aegon begins narrating a series of trending tweets.
Donnie @babieelucie
every time they get rumored to be breaking up or are broken up he's pregnant two months later like 1 time it’s whatever but two times.....
A @mrstargxyn_
streets saying the baby isn't aemond’s
Wylah @m__ndwife1 every time i think we got rid of that gold digger he pops back up again
- wizard of lys @lucys_song aemond loves him more than he'll ever like you delusional bitch
- jace’s side piece @velaryonwhore you don't even know him
- jace’s side piece @velaryonwhore plus lucerys is literally richer than aemond his grandfather gave him more shares in the company than all his siblings and cousins combined so what do you mean by gold digger?
- Mara @thebastardlove luke could buy you
Reah Flowers @rssaindoii
delusional groupies: lucerys won't leave aemond alone
aemond: "can we try for a third."
gwin #saveluke @fallenstar aemond is literally baby trapping him
- Elyn @kissofanangel you don't know what that phrase means girl
- <3 @alittlelessofyou well... no!
- aegon’s wife @matemeaegon let's get you to bed grandma
That draws a chuckle out of his brothers and a groan out of his nephew. Aegon continues on narrating the next, "Get a lawyer lucerys don't let that blond haired demon keep terrorizing you."
“Would you please quit reading that shit!” Aemond murmurs.
“No, keep going, I wanna hear it. Let's hear what the people have to say” Jace mutters, reaching over to help Aegon swipe. His disdain for his brother-in-law/uncle once again triumphing over his concern for Luke. Or maybe those two things go hand in hand at times.
For Gods’ sake! Aemond thinks with an eye roll.
“Ouu this one has almost twenty thousand likes, ‘Cheating on him then publicly breaking up with him only to get him pregnant two, emphasis on two, separate times. That man is soooo odd,’ Ha they added that gif from the Real Housewives of Pentos.” Aegon is clearly having the time of his life, enjoying this.
Aemond is definitely not. “They don't know shit,” he groans.
Aegon retorts, “You gotta admit though your actions are a bit odd brother.”
His nephew with his eyes now fixed onto his own phone, fingers typing at a mile a minute, lets out a tight chuckle. Listening to and finding the two brothers bickering somehow amusing.
Nothing about this is humorous. Luke deserves a shit ton better than this, a modicum of privacy, and Aemond’s barely there patience has worn thin. He thinks that now is what his therapist would view as ‘the perfect time to maybe take a deep breath’ but changes his mind just as quickly. Fuck breathing exercises! He wants blood. That's the phrase that echoes in his mind as he impulsively gets up to shove Jacaerys.
“What the fuck are you laughing at?” he growls. Jace is looking up at him and seems to be rearing to go for their millionth petty brawl in a decade. How they've managed to semi-amicably work together this long without another critical injury accumulating between them is a mystery no man in the Citadel could uncover.
Daeron ever the mediator jumps between them lightly tugging Aemond back. “Woah relax relax relax,” he pleads. As Aemond brushes him off.
“No, I won't relax actually! Those freaks are following him again,” He barks, purple eye going wide, “We just got back to stable place and now he's gonna have to be a recluse for the next four months because despite our families monopoly on entertainment and government we can't force gossip mags to not harass my pregnant husband while he's dropping our toddlers off at school.”
Most of the tension leaves Jace as he sighs, retreating to the couch to take his own turn at sulking. “I texted muna she's got some people working on it right now,” He tells his uncle trying and failing to placate him. Only one person is ever successful at that, and Jacaerys should know better by now.
“Sorry I don't really have the utmost trust in her ability to take care of things,” Aemond scoffs, “Seeing how the last thing she spearheaded turned out I’d actually rather not involve my sister at all.”
“Fuck you.”
“No, fuck you!”
Aegon reads another "Accusing Lucerys of being a gold digger when it's obvious he's the one bankrolling that man’s lifestyle. Those albums are not selling and the tour tickets are cheaper than dirt.”
Okay very rude and NOT true! The album topped billboard for six weeks straight and the tickets are cheap because the band and their management actually care about their fans and refuse to allow them to get taken advantage of by shady ticket sites and scalpers.
“Stop fucking reading!” Jace and Daeron simultaneously yell at the unwanted narrator, finally shutting him up. But it’s too late, that’s the straw, and Aemond has already pried his phone out of his brother’s hands.
And great ! As if his life could not be any worse at this moment, an incoming call from an unsaved number starts to come through. Unsaved because pretending his uncle doesn't exist is the only act of rebellion he has at his fingertips these days. He doesn't answer, electing to start packing up his electric guitar and taking his pissed off ass home to his beautiful family instead.
He knows Luke has probably seen everything. He will undoubtedly be just as upset by this.
This as in the microscope he's forced under whenever he does anything even remotely normal. This as in their parents and siblings constant need to insert themselves into their relationship even over a decade later. Their moms with their quiet disapproval and Daemon with his very loud disapproval. Sometimes loud enough that he takes a page out of the High Septon’s book, i.e. paywalled blog, and writes a snarky op-ed on dysfunctional couples.
‘When Is It Time to Call It Quits?’ Well nobody fucking asked Dr. D Targaryen, you hypocritical cunt!
Just the mention of that article makes Aemond’s blood boil.
Unfortunately their children are also not spared this microscope. Aenys and Aerea have already started throwing stuff at the paparazzi that prowl their private school pretending to be prospective parents taking tours, and those are just the ones with any couth. The real vultures don’t even pretend to be anything different. They've chased his family, close and extended included, into the bathroom on multiple occasions. They're even worse whenever a big event takes place: graduation, funeral, bun in the oven, they go absolutely feral.
And the most screwed up part of all this is the fact that a fortnight from now Aemond has to pack up and go on his stupidly cheap tour across Essos and on this cheaper than dirt tour he will do what he always does. Make everything much much much worse.
He'll daydrink to pass the time, then get high at sunset to stay awake. Their managers will have to keep reminding him through his in-ears what city he's supposed to scream that he ‘loves being in’. Then he'll miss his mate and he’ll miss their children, but Luke will be mad at him. The omega will ignore all his texts and field all his calls. Because without fail Jacearys will report all of Aemonds transgressions back to Lucerys before Aemond has even unbuckled his belt and fucked whatever pretty omega makes eyes at him from across the bar that night.
Gripping his steering wheel he thinks back to an easier time before all of this got so real. He misses when they were both young and stupid, Luke more young and him more stupid. Hooking up, getting prematurely engaged, spending every minute breathing the same air. When Aenys was still in diapers with his newborn white curls and his blueish-purple eyes that had yet to even settle into their now teal color.
Everybody warned them that it wouldn't be manageable due to their past and current "circumstances". Circumstances the politically correct coding for Luke still being in high school and a 1 year shy from graduating and Aemond with his growing drug habit that he was still in denial about back then.
There is absolutely no denial now as he rushes to cool his nerves draining the tiniest vial of milky white liquid he has stashed in his glove box as he pulls into their large driveway. He needs it if he’s to head inside and comfort his probably spiraling husband. The Omega he should have been separated from by now, especially, after promising he would let him go out of love. But alas a man is weak and even weaker in the face of the only other person who truly loves him.
Luke hears the door open from where he sits on the living room couch. Phone pressed to his ear, suffering through Daemon's lecture that is truly just rambling and threats.
"He's here, I have to go,” he says, Aemond’s arrival being his saving grace.
"No," Daemon grumbles back, "Put your husband on the phone!" he spits the word husband like venom on his tongue.
"Kepa please not right now," Luke groans, getting a quick kiss on his forehead as Aemond walks past him to go peer through the sliding glass doors at their kids running around the yard. He smiles as he watches Aerea terrorizing her older brother with what looks to be some bug cradled in her little hands.
Her white hair is loaded with weeds and flowers, lately she’s been obsessed with Aemond’s history books on the Children of the Forest and has taken to fashioning herself as one of them at almost every hour of the day. If Aerea is not going to charity galas with sticks in her hair, to her grandmothers’ and Muna’s dismay, she is forcing her Kepa to recite the stories of the children to her.
Aemond turns away from the glass doors when Aenys in retaliation for being needled with bugs does something that should probably earn him a scolding. He smiles softly coming around to sit on the coffee table before Lucerys right on time to witness his Omega roll his eyes and hang up on his step-father after exchanging a curt Goodbye.
Aemond raises his brow in question.
"Daemon," Luke says, stating the obvious.
"Figured," Aemond responds unconsciously reaching down for swollen ankles to massage across his lap. Physical touch was not his love language before Luke, but it is now.
Luke relaxes, closing his eyes with a sigh, and begins to fill Aemond in, "He's trying to get me to move back home before the baby comes."
Aemond pauses looking up at his mate, the hazel eyes across from him slowly open under furrowed brunette brows. "Why would we move back to the Keep when we have a perfectly good home right here?" Aemond asks.
Perfectly good is an understatement by the way. The building and renovation of this house was the only topic of conversation in the press for Aenys’ entire kindergarten year. Then again two years later after he naively let his manager talk him into doing a video tour with Architectural Digest.
Luke's pouts shaking his left foot to urge Aemond to continue his ministrations. "Not us," he whispers, glancing across the living room to make sure their littlest ears are still occupied outside, "Just me and the children."
Aemonds begins to laugh at the absurd idea, but just as quickly the smile falls right off his face as he watches that sheepish look emerge on Luke's face. Guilt or embarrassment? Hard to know.
Aemond lets the tiny feet fall from his lap and stands looming over his husband. "Absolutely not," he growls.
Luke reaches for him but Aemond steps away before he can grab his hand. Walking to the opposite side of the living room to pace a hole into the ground.
"You'll be gone for months," Luke says, sounding annoyed.
Why is he annoyed? Aemond is the one that's getting left for dead in this big stupid house. And left for dead is not him being dramatic, coming home to this family is the only thing he has to look forward to most days. Why else would he have to rely so hard on his vices while touring. Being on the road is a kind of limbo and he needs to self medicate to get through it and then he does his absolute worst because then after his over indulgence literally nothing feels real half the time.
The air between them is quiet.
"I'll be back before your due date." Aemond remembers to say maybe a bit too late. He’s way too in his head right now for this conversation and whatever he took in the car is maybe proving to be way too weak for his tolerance.
"It's not just that," Luke whispers.
"Oh okay, then what is it?"
"I don't want to go through what happened last time you were on tour Qybor."
"It won't happen," he moves quickly to sit beside Lucerys, holding both of his delicate hands in larger ones.
He pushes every fiber of his being into it as he says, "I've been sober for months."
A lie.
“Yeah,” Luke sighs, “But baby, I'll be all alone here and I need to be with people or I’m just gonna spiral between all the cameras following me to prenatal appointments or me imagining you halfway across the world doing Gods knows what.”
"You don’t have to worry about me,” He says, “I'm not going to cheat on you ever again Luke." Another lie.
Luke looks away from the man shaking his head and Aemond’s stomach drops. Before he can double down, Lucerys looks back at him with a tense smile, the graceful one he gives their family whenever they say something snide about his marriage.
“Oh really?” he asks. Aemond nods, the nape of his neck has suddenly begun to itch.
Luke chuckles lightly before saying, “Well then I also promise to not find any willing alphas to pass my time with.”
Aemond frowns for a moment, he almost believes him, that’s before his brain finally catches up to the sarcasm dripping from every word. Thanks to the milk of the poppy he took in the car every muscle in his body is slowly beginning to feel like sludge. He is utterly relaxed. But somehow his heart ,somehow, is still on the verge of beating out his chest.
Luke, sensing his panic, grabs Aemond’s face in delicate palms brushing his fingers lightly against his Alpha's jaw tracing the scar up to his forehead.
“See,” he says with another graceful but actually genuine smile, “ I can lie just as well as you.”
He delivers a kiss to Aemond’s lips, better than any drug, and he whispers, “Now come help me pack my things, Qybor.”