Happy ASOIAF Rare Pairs Week! I hope you all have been having fun this week :) I couldn't choose a prompt, so I ended up going with the last day (seventh day) – Free Day; and then I couldn't decide on a couple either, so I bring you three, and a mention of many other rare pairs (and also mentions of Ned/Catelyn, which I know doesn't fit the description of a rare pair, but like so few of those fics are truly of them, and I have a problem with writing Lyanna/Robert without mentioning then, especially Ned; and I was able to keep myself from any Gendry/Arya mentions and that was really hard… but yeah, that would definitely not work as it's one of the big three ships)
I really hope you like this! ENJOY! And thank you so much for organizing this week – it was excellent!
Elia raised her hand up and down Ashara's naked back, even after six years together, Ashara's body still amazed her everyday. Her hands still moving, she stepped closer, her leg thrown over hers and her lips on Ash's shoulder – kissing and murmuring sweet things.
"Hey," Ashara finally murmured, still with her eyes closed, but turning her head. "I'm tired," she whispered.
"You were out late," Elia commented. She had gone to bed before she was home, and this was after she had tried to stay up late reading.
"You should have come. We missed you," Ashara said, finally moving, turning on her side and pulling Elia into her arms – the silk top against her cold body – as they rested their foreheads together.
"You knew about the meeting last night; and with today… I needed the time."
"When do they arrive?"
"I said 12:30 – the kids will probably be here around then. Knowing Robert, he will be here at 13:30 at the earliest."
"It's still 10 am," Ashara said, looking over her shoulder, "I know you got almost everything ready yesterday, so it's quicker to get ready today."
"I did, that's why I couldn't go out with you and my brother."
"Ellaria came too – that's why it became even better and I was out so late. We went clubbing, where we got offered multiple free drinks."
"Hangover?"
"I'm okay, actually. Water and food – waffles," she said, "and Oberyn's secret hangover miracle drink," she pointed out with another kiss. "So I'm okay. And it's still 10 am, you have things ready, so we have time to enjoy our Saturday morning," Ashara told her, rolling down and pulling Elia's body on top of her, dipping her hands under the top.
"Almost 11 am," Elia corrected her, "But I do accept your proposal, finally giving her wife a well deserved kiss.
Myrcella put the book aside as Aegon got dressed after his morning run and shower. She had already been reading for an hour, she started just after they had breakfast and he took off on his run.
"Are you sure this is going to go better than your Mom's and my father's dinner?"
"None of them are going to inappropriately flirt non-stop like Mom and your father."
"There could still be brooding."
"Not as bad as Uncle Jaime – he was being impossible," Myrcella said, "Really, Aegon, they need to meet pre-wedding and we have reduced this to one meal, and organized it in the less damaging way."
"They're going to kill each other at the wedding?!" Aegon commented.
"Rehearsal dinner, probably. We should put on bets – Mom killing Dad first, or my Dad killing yours, or Uncle Jaime killing your dad."
"My dad always dies."
"Against Dad and Uncle Jaime, yeah. Against Lyanna probably too, or your Mom or Ashara." Aegon laughed at that, nodding at her, knowing that she was absolutely right, as always.
"I know…" he said, "the bathroom is yours," he added, making her get up, before continuing, "Is Lyanna really coming today?"
"Yes. If they didn't get into a fight again, which is always a possibility."
"I don't like her with Mom."
"Aegon, we discussed this," Myrcella said, resting her hands on his shoulders, bringing him to reason, "The alternative was our dads meeting and that's the worst option. According to Jon, last time, Robert punched Rhaegar."
"I know – he was mortified. He said that from now on, he's only introducing people to Ned and Catelyn – those normally go without a hitch." Myrcella raised her eyebrows at that comment – she had heard the stories. "The things that go wrong are on the funny side of things, probably one of the Stark siblings says something completely inappropriate."
"So no one tries to kiss each other," Myrcella said, as she was now finally naked and going into the bathroom. "Your parents are still more civil than mine – my can kill each other. The parents table will be awful."
"So you're saying that after all the planning – we could end up not even married."
"There's a high probability," she yelled from the bathroom, before the sound of the shower drowned any other conversations.
The cover was thrown back, Lyanna had her hand on top of Robert's face, then his hand on her back, and their legs thrown over each other's. The only sounds on the dark room were Robert's snores and Lyanna's breathing, the same sounds that before had been louder than four alarms, but thankfully not louder than the phone – and when it rang multiple times, it was loud enough to spark them awake. Lyanna turned on her side, reaching her hand for the phone on Robert's bedside table, raising half of her body and landing on top of him.
"Yes," she mumbled.
"Lya?"
"Yeah," she said waking up a bit, hearing her brother's voice on the other side.
"Of course, Catelyn was right. I should have called earlier," he said, mostly to himself. "Get up! You have lunch at Elia's house today."
"Is that today?"
"Yes," Ned said. "Wake up Robert and get going. I was just calling to remind you to behave yourselves."
"Always," she said and hanged up the call. She dropped the phone on the bedside table and then her hand dropped hard on top of Robert's face.
"What are you doing?" he murmured, catching the hand as she went for another slap on the face.
"It's midday and we're supposed to be at Elia's in half an hour."
"Which is already impossible, so why get up?! Let's just sleep more. Late 20 or 30 minutes is the same."
"No, it's not. Get up!" she yelled, now fully awake, and raising to sit on his stomach. He was looking better since the divorce, but of course not the twenty-something boy she had first fallen in love with.
"I'll get up," he agreed, holding her waist and pulling her down.
"Really, get up, Robert," she said, "We still need to shower. We definitely do not have time for this."
"We should share the shower – save time," he asked.
"If we're doing that, it's really to save time. No funny business."
"100%," he said pulling her out of him and them up from the bed with him, not even letting her feet touch the floor.
"Bathroom," she ordered, throwing her legs around his waist as he moved them around his (their) apartment – Lyanna pretty much lived there, but she still kept the apartment where she had raised Jon, but she was rarely there anymore. Robert walked up to the bathroom and then dropped her when they were finally ready to discharge of their pijammas – both wearing the same ensemble – a pair of Robert's boxers and t-shirt.
"Really, Robert, just showering. Stop looking at me like that," she warned once again as she dropped the final of her clothes.
"I can look, babe. You said nothing about not looking."
"You're impossible," she complained, getting into the shower, quickly followed by Robert.
The tub was definitely way too small for them but they got by, and if you asked Robert's inadequate math skills, they definitely saved time.
Elia had her back to Ashara as she came to the kitchen. Elia was wearing a long high-waist skirt with oranges, reds, purples and browns, and a simple dark blouse slipped into it, and as Ashara came closer, she quickly pulled it out of the skirt, wanting to touch her skin.
"You're tall," Elia said, looking up at Ash, now towering over her, then looking down at the skinny jeans and the very high heels contrasting with Elia's bare feet.
"It rattles me how tall Robert is," she explained.
"Really?"
"Yes, it always did," she said. "Lyanna and Robert's height difference is astonishing. I like being the same height as you."
"Me too, but you don't look bad this tall either," Elia whispered.
"When don't I?" she said, with a smirk, before looking over Elia's shoulder to all the food she was preparing. "It looks good."
"It does," she said, looking over the dishes, "most of them are mild, this one is sort of spicy, and this one is actually spicy and probably just for us two," she said, pointing to the smaller pan, "Not even Aegon will eat it, which always makes his cousins mock him."
"As they should," Ashara said with a smile, "It comes from being in King's Landing all the time."
"Ash, we've lived here since our twenties now," Elia argued, turning around.
"It's still not Dorne," she said.
"And Rhaenys still definitely eats this. Sometimes it gets her a bit indisposed, but she still loves it."
"That's my girl," said Ashara, sharing a look with Elia. "But now, what can I do to help?"
"Plates and cutlery. And find some candles."
"Candles? You think that's a good idea with Robert and Lyanna coming."
"Put the small ones with the glasses, they can't throw those down, right?"
"I really wouldn't put it past them," Ashara said, before disappearing to get the table ready for lunch. She prepared just like Elia had asked, they were using their best plates – not the china from Elia's wedding, but the cute and colourful ones they got from Ikea for their new home. The candles would light the room, even if they left the curtains ran closed. Ashara looked over the table once again, making sure it was okay, she still wasn't sure how they would sit – Elia at the end of the table for sure, either her or Aegon next to her. And then she started thinking of how to seat the others, and now there were two options, either Elia and Ashara would have to sit right next to them and that wasn't appealing, or one of them would sit at the end of table – and she wasn't putting Robert there, because why do men always get the head of table and sitting Lyanna there just seemed rude.
"Elia!" Ashara yelled.
"Yes, I was just coming to join you. I really can't do anything else now, leaving the final touches until we know they're close."
"Can I pull the table?"
"Why? It looks great like this."
"I think it's better we sit three on each side, without anyone at the end of the table."
"Why?"
"Running sitting arrangements through my head." Elia took a moment to do the same before definitely nodding to Ashara's request and they set on carefully rearranging the table, before finally calling it as done and perfect.
"Come sit down with me," Ashara said, sitting on the armchair and pulling Elia to her lap, getting her dark top once again from her skirt and running her hands across her back and waist.
"They can be here any moment, you know that, right?" Elia said, but didn't listen to her own words, as she kissed her neck, and raised her hands to her hair.
"Elia, not the hair... It took a long time. I won't touch yours either." Elia realised where her hands were and drop them, to touch only the fallen tips of it as she now lowered her lips on her chest, along her uncovered skin. Ashara's fingers were about to venture under the skirt when they heard the doorbell.
"We should go," Elia said getting up, "Get the door, I need to handle this," she said, looking down to her crooked skirt and out of place shirt.
"I'm sure that my chest is completely clear of any evidence of our previous activities."
It wasn't, but it was better Ashara then Elia, especially when she knew it was her son on the other side of the door. She heard their voices quickly after and walked into the hall, now composed, as Ashara hugged Aegon.
"Mom," he said coming to hug her too. "How bad were you to let Aunt Ash come to the door with lipstick on her neck and chest?!"
"I told you, Els," Ashara answered, closing the door, "I'm going to clean myself and I'll bring your lipstick."
"Thanks," said Elia, already turning her head to her son's fiancée. "Hello, Myrcella, how are you?"
"Good, thank you for having me, Mrs Martell."
"Elia and Ashara, we've told you."
"Elia, and thank you for letting my Dad come. And Lyanna, I know-"
"Things of the past," Elia murmured. Ashara knew that not to be true and as she came to the room, she touched her fingers in comforting way as she gave her the lipstick. Elia didn't hold any ill towards Lyanna, but she still wasn't her favorite person.
"Now tell me about your trip here," Ashara asked, pulling them along to the living room, and once again she took Elia's to her lap on the armchair.
Myrcella was finishing her make up after having spent wait to long choosing the dress for this occasion – ending with a simple summer dress with tones of crimson. Now finishing her look, after having done her eyes, lashes and brows, she finished with a red lipstick.
"Wow," Aegon said, looking at her as she dropped her hand on his as he held the shift. "You're looking good."
"Shut up," she muttered. Aegon always went crazy with the red lipstick – something always came out with him – she was hoping it wasn't too much for today. She liked this lipstick, it was more out there than what she normally used and gave her a different type of confidence.
"But you look beautiful as always. And strong."
"I need to be," Myrcella said, "I need to be able to stand up if there are problems. You will be no help."
"Cella," he pleaded.
"You laughed, Aegon. And if anything happens between them, I need to speak up while you laugh."
"If it got bad, I would speak up, definitely."
"Let's wait and see how it goes."
"You're expecting not good things from your father?"
"I don't know, things can be complicated and they can say inappropriate things at times."
"I promise I'll help," he said, turning his hand around and squeezing her hand. Myrcella didn't answer to him, but she hoped to trust him. Aegon turned on the radio after that and they were in silent as the music rang in the car, Myrcella singing along to most of the songs and banging her head a bit. Aegon smiled at that and sang along with her too, and in no time they were at his mother's apartment.
Aegon found his usual parking spot opened – there was always this one every time he came home, he wondered if his mom or Ashara threatened someone for their place to be free when they knew he was coming home.
They rang the door to get into the building and then quickly made it to their apartment door, and the moment the door was opened, it became obvious what they had been doing as they waited. Aegon tried to ignore it, but he couldn't help but mention it as they greeted each other, before finding themselves in the living room.
Aegon sat with Myrcella, and he pulled her as close as he could, letting his fingers trace the hem of her dress as she spoke. She was always a great speaker, so was he, but she told the stories better.
She spoke of the drive here, not mentioning the fight, and she spoke of the proposal once again, making him smile at her own smile. The way her eyes smiled at the memories, the way her lips curled up, and how she took his hand, accepting a whispered "I love you" in her ear, as then she squeezed his hand again.
Aegon looked up after that and noticed the look his mother shared with Ashara, and he couldn't help but speak up.
"Don't you dare mention it," he said with a smirk, "You two were barely presentable when we came in." These types of comments were what he always brought to Myrcella perfectly told stories.
"Come on, Aegon, come help me with the food. Ashara will keep Myrcella company."
Aegon stood up to follow his mother, without first kissing the top of Myrcella's blond curls and leaving her with a smile.
"So how late are we?" Robert asked as he parked the car.
"45 minutes," Lyanna answered, knowing perfectly well they were closer to an hour now. "I texted your daughter, so hopefully the food hasn't gone cold."
"Let's hope not. This is lunch after all – that part should be pleasant."
"So should be seeing your daughter," Lyanna pointed out.
"Of course, it is," he said as they got to the front door and rang the doorbell, and then a voice came through the intercom telling them to come up.
The elevator ride was long, with Robert trying to fix is shirt – he was actually wearing a bottom upped shirt and pants, while Lyanna stood more comfortably in jeans and a shirt.
"Calm down," she whispered as she pushed the elevator door opened, to find the door on the apartment on her left already opened, with Myrcellla waiting.
"Dad, here," she called and greeted him with a quick hug. "Hi, Lya."
"How are you, Myrcella?" Lyanna asked, while Myrcella asked in kind with a wave of her hand.
"Good, come in," she said. "They are finishing things."
"Sorry we're late," Robert told his daughter, following her through the house and Lyanna reached for his hand. They were moving into the dining room, to greet their hosts. Ashara took charge immediately since she knew them better, sharing a handshake with both, before pulling in Elia, introducing her like they hadn't met before, she shook their hands too.
"Please, sit," Elia said, "I'm just going to go get the drinks. We have sangria. Does anyone want something else?"
"Beer for me," Robert said.
"For me too," Lyanna added, but the kids agreed to the sangria.
As they sat, Lyanna realized, they had kept the heads of the table empty and that the kids would probably seat apart – a testimony to how much none of the ladies wanted to sit next to her or Robert. And certainly now with everyone sitting down, it was awkward as fuck, Myrcella and Aegon mostly talked about their wedding plans and that lasted the appetizer, but not longer than that. There were pleasantries exchanged about the food – true pleasantries, the food was actually good.
"I think I'll try the spicy one," Robert said as he went for his third round.
"Robert, this may be too spicy for you," Elia said, "Not even Aegon can eat this."
"Hey!" he complained, looking offended, but he did not reach for the pan.
"Really, Robert?!" Ashara asked as well. Really the more they said they couldn't eat it, the more Lyanna wanted to try it too. But she couldn't let herself try – she really couldn't take spicy things; when Jon was little, every time he spent a bit of time at Rhaegar's house, he would come back asking for Dornish food every take-out night that followed – he had grown to eat and love spicy food, but she never had.
Lyanna didn't want to call out Robert out loud, but he really shouldn't eat it, so she craved her nails onto his upper tight and he shared a look with her but still took a bite of the food.
He ate the piece of lamb covered in sauce, and Lyanna could immediately read in his face that it was too spicy form him, but he kept it hidden from the others – Myrcella waited for something but he just went back to his food, and Elia and Ashara actually looked surprised.
"I guess we were wrong," Ashara said, before going back to her food.
Lyanna waited a bit longer before continuing eating as well, Robert waited another moment as well before non-conspicuously picking up his beer. After that, he kept eating, but only around the spicy part of the food, finishing the other dishes first, but now there was only that. Robert, of course, couldn't leave food on his plate, that would make him look weak, so he ate it again. This time, without the pressure of people looking at him, he thought it would go better. It didn't. It really didn't go as well, it was burning, he felt holes being burned into the sides of his mouth; finishing his beer didn't help either and reaching for Lya's only earned him a protest from her.
"That's mine," she complained until she saw how red his face was – the discomfort was clear. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he whispered, but not one minute later he was up and gone, looking for the bathroom.
"Is he okay?"
"Perfect," Lyanna answered, but Myrcella reached for her arm, her eyes asking the same question. "He's okay," Lyanna answered again, this time with a kinder voice, "but I should go check."
"The bathroom is the third door down the hall," Aegon informed her.
"Robert," Lyanna called in a low voice as she walked down the hall, finally noticing the bathroom door opened, with Robert sitting on a closet toilet, drinking a glass of water and looking through his phone. "You okay?" she asked, a hand reaching for his shoulder.
"I think I must have eaten something wrong – like an actual grain of spice," his voice was still rough from the burning.
"Possible."
"And I looked like a little flower.
"Maybe, but more importantly you worried your daughter.
"And not you?"
"Nah. I've seen you eat a full bucket of hot wings, you can take this."
"Not really. This is so much worse. Really I think I have a new found respect for Elia and Ashara right now."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Also your brother has taken to texting me now, since you've been ignoring him."
"I'm not. I answered him."
"He doesn't think so."
"He's impossible," she said. "You okay to go join them again?" she asked as he pocketed his phone.
"One more cup," he said filling the glass with water again. Then they were ready to go back into the dining room, just before entering the room, she asked the table if it was okay for her to go and get another beer.
"You can get two," they answered.
"No need, we can share this one."
Lyanna sat back down at the table, as no one dared to point out the accident; only Myrcella acknowledge it, by sharing a comforting look with her father.
Then there was silence again. Just the forks and knives on the plates, over and over again. That was definitely stressing Lyanna out, she didn't like silence, her mind going overworked trying to guess what other people were thinking – so it then just came out.
"My brother asked me to tell you he misses you." At that, everyone looked up from their own plates, and Robert was giving her an incredulous look but she just shrugged her shoulders at him.
"Ned is always so sweet. We should do something with him and Catelyn."
"I'm not talking about Ned," Lyanna answered. Not that Ned hadn't been enamoured with her too… but that was before Catelyn, and really, after meeting her, nobody could ever hold a candle to her sister-in-law.
"Benjen? He was always such a nice boy. Not really a boy anymore."
"Ashara. Brandon told me to tell you he misses you."
"How is he doing?"
"Well. But he does miss you."
Of course, she had known it was Brandon – he still loved to mess with her. She normally didn't mind but being brought up in an already tense lunch was not helpful.
Elia sent her a look as she went over each of the Stark brothers – she also knew it was Brandon. He and Ashara had been close and her only permanent sexual relationship for years, really until the moment Elia kissed her for the first time.
"I imagine so, I'm awesome!" she answered with a smile, "And he's at the right age for second marriage's weddings. He's been going alone?"
"Or dragging Lyanna," Robert said, "Also nieces and nephews getting married. You were fun at weddings."
She had been Brandon's permanent date to weddings when they had been sleeping together or even when they weren't. It was a good agreement – they could go together and leave with other people or sometimes go home together – at times they had just kept each other's company, since one or the other was dating someone else, but not ready to take them to a wedding.
"I actually miss the Stark parties, Mostly I miss Maege and her daughters – she was always fun to hang out. I don't even know when was the last time I talked to her…"
"When she had her last grandkid – you called her and talked for awhile," Elia reminded her.
"We should do something together, but I guess she was always more on the Stark side."
"We and the Mormonts go a long way back," Lyanna said, "but she doesn't hate you – she agreed with your and Brandon's relationship and she doesn't fault you for finding love. It's just Brandon hasn't."
"Lyanna will be at the wedding," Myrcella told them, interrupted her trip down memory lane.
"The youngest Mormont?" Ashara asked, recognizing the name, and how the young girl always like being around older Lyanna.
"Yes. She and Rickon and Wylla have a band and they're playing the reception. Rickon is also coming to the ceremony of course, and he's also Shireen's date."
"That's Wylla Manderly – the girl with green hair," Lyanna said. "You remember Wyman – the really fat man is her grandfather."
"Wait, how many Starks are coming?" Ashara asked, realizing this was sounding like a lot of Northerners – she had only thought of Lyanna before – now it seemed like all the North was coming.
Lyanna had brought up her brother. Aegon couldn't believe this. He hadn't had the time or courage to talk to his stepmom about this. Aegon really didn't want to register the Uncle Brandon situation – Jon being a brother in some way to both of them was enough.
Ashara ending up actually reminiscing over the Starks and their parties, so it didn't turn out that bad, not until Myrcella let slip how many Starks were attending the wedding.
"Arya is part of Aegon's party," Myrcella said, "Best woman, she calls herself."
"Really?" Elia asked.
"You know she was my roommate for years until Myrcella moved in with me, with us at the start, and we still see her on almost a daily basis."
"Ohhh… I never realized you were that close." That was definitely Aegon's fault, he never talked to her very often of Arya – it probably went to this idea since he was a kid to not mention the Starks, only Jon who was family, even Brandon when he was around, things were done to ignore his family name.
"Who else is coming?" Ashara asked, but Aegon was still looking at his mother.
"Everyone. Ned has always been an Uncle to me. And Benjen and Brandon were around often as well," Myrcella told them.
"Creeply enough. I still consider Brandon an uncle too."
"You called him Uncle – I had forgotten that," Elia mumbled.
"Ashara brought him to a lot of family things," Aegon said, "And back then, you were still Aunt Ash, instead of the lady banging my mom."
"Doing it with pleasure," she said with a wink, looking at him, and then Aegon noticed his mother kicking her wife under the table.
"Robb Stark is also coming, of course. Myrcella first crush and I'm definitely scared she will run away with him."
"I did not," she said bushing, but it was definitely true, like Lyanna's next words proved.
"Jon's birthday party."
Myrcella's face became even redder at that, but Aegon only laughed, each earned him one of her deadly looks that she normally reserved for when they were alone at home, and when he only laughed only harder, he also earned himself a kick under the table.
"Don't torture my daughter."
"You started it, Dad," Myrcella said. "So back to business. Starks are coming, and then a few work acquaintances. Mom is taking advantage of the wedding to make contacts."
"Not as bad as your brother's," Robert said, "Tommen was so stressed at his wedding."
Robert thought back to his son's wedding, which had been the first time he and Lyanna had gone public to something that wasn't Stark related, since they rekindled their relationship.
That wedding had been a true mess. It definitely left precedent to why Myrcella was stressing so much about her own wedding. Cersei had not liked to have Lyanna around – she would have been okay with Lya being there, it was the date part that bothered her more, so he and Cersei got into a full blown fight, that the old Tyrell lady quite enjoyed and brought up every damn time they were over at their house.
"Dad, please don't to a repeat of that."
"I will try not to. But it was your mom's fault."
"I'll make sure he doesn't," Lyanna promise, taking hold of Robert's leg, before turning the conversation again to her and Brandon. "So you want me to send or say something to Brandon?"
"I'll talk to him at the wedding," Ashara answered, "Maybe he will tell me about his recent escapades."
"He's feeling that the field is a bit played," Robert commented and he felt Brandon's pain and predicament – before he and Lyanna had given their 100% to this, he was realizing that most women around his generation were either married, not interested in dating or he had already slept with them. "Luckily girls turn eighteen everyday."
"Eighteen is not a magic number that makes it okay for someone his age to date them. That girl is no different from who she was the day before," Elia answered immediately.
"That's rich coming from you," Robert said.
"If you don't think I yelled at him for that, you don't know me at all."
"You stayed married to him."
"Again that's my business," she argued.
"And mine, Robert," Lyanna spoke – they had talked about it before, Robert always hated talking about it. "And I wasn't 18, and I agree with you, Elia. I've told Bran that a million times that it's not a magic number, and he honestly doesn't have an habit of going for college girls," Lya said, "But you know I thought myself much older that I was. And I'm sorry for the pain I caused, Elia, but I don't regret it one moment – Jon is the most important thing in my life."
"He's a good boy. So yeah, I wouldn't stop it either, no matter how much it hurt."
Lyanna only nodded at Elia's words and then silent was heard at the table once again, but this time it wasn't awkward. But comfortable.
"It's going well," Ashara said as she followed her into the kitchen, dropping the plates in the sink and throwing her arms around her wife's waist.
"Better than I thought."
"That's for sure. But I can't believe she brought up Brandon."
"How had I not realized they shared an Uncle? I like sort of sharing a brother wasn't already bad enough."
"It's going to be a fun wedding," Ashara said.
"You should really call Maege. I met her a few times when Ned did Jon's birthday parties. She and this huge guy were always telling the best stories – they had a way of spinning them."
"Greatjon," Ashara said, "We should just crash a Stark party."
"That's your plan," Elia answered with a smile, turning around on her arms.
"Yes, and we bring your brother."
"So you can see Ned go crazy," Elia commented, now with a laugh, remembering how the man had looked last time they had met.
"Torturing my brother, I'm down with that."
They turned at the sound of the voice, to find Lyanna in the doorway.
"You were taking a long time, and your son was afraid you were making out – so I offered to come," Lyanna told them quickly, putting down two pots she had brought into the kitchen. "Can I help you with something?"
"Do you want coffee with dessert?" Elia asked, moving to the fridge while Ashara got the plates.
"That would be good. For me, Robert doesn't drink coffee."
Not drinking coffee was a crazy notion to Elia, bit she didn't mention a thing, instead asked to check if the kids wanted any.
"Coffee for Aegon. Myrcella asked if you have decaf."
"I must still have some around here," Ashara said, looking through the cupboards.
"Pantry," Elia murmured, giving the cake and a knife to cut it to Lyanna and then started on the coffee.
"Found it!" Ashara exclaimed, holding a capsule, dusting it a bit on her shirt, before asking, "This is still good, right?"
"Yes, the outside protects the coffee inside," she said, asking for the capsule.
Lyanna didn't stay away and came back to take the coffee back to the kids in the living room, and then came back to choose her own, before falling into a sort of okay conversation with the couple.
Lyanna had left to go to the kitchen since Aegon was still mainly a coward. It wasn't much easier to be left alone with Myrcella's father – he still didn't know what to think of the man who had punched his dad multiple times (and probably would again at the wedding).
"Do you think we can move to the couch?" Her father asked getting up and stretching his legs.
"Yes, that's okay. Nobody will mind," Aegon answered.
Robert immediately took the couch, spreading his legs. Aegon avoided the arm chair, since his mom and Ash always took that one, so he sat on the other side of the couch with Myrcella next to him.
"This feels better," Robert said, "My knees were touching the table every few seconds." That definitely explained why the table was bumbling every few minutes.
Lyanna brought into the living room a plate with cake soon after, before disappearing again, coming back with the coffee, handing his coffee and then the decaf to Myrcella.
"Thank you," she thanked Lyanna, as she took the cups. Robert then tried to pull her down to him, but she took off back to the kitchen, coming back later with Elia and Ashara on her tow and this time she let herself be pulled down.
"Be careful. I almost dropped my coffee."
"Sorry, it smells like nice coffee," they heard him say to Lyanna, just before whispering something else to her and keeping the conversation that way, until Aegon's mom spoke from the armchair she was sharing with Ashara.
"Feel free to cut yourselves a slice."
Robert was the first one to cut a slice for him – a huge one, almost a quarter of the cake it seemed to Aegon – before offering to cut them one as well.
"Smaller, Dad," Myrcella asked. He heard her, but the smaller slice was still huge for just herself, so she told him that she would just share with Aegon.
"Lya, do you want one? I'm not sharing."
"I know, Robert, but I'll cut my own later. I want to finish my coffee first."
"Elia? Ashara?"
"We're good," they answered and Aegon was pretty sure that they were scared of the size of the slice.
Aegon dipped his fingers into the cake, ready to taste it from his own fingers, but she argued with him about it.
"Don't do that," she whispered, slapping his hand away, and stopping his finger before getting into his mouth.
"So I'll just stay with cake on my fingers?" he asked, raising his eyebrows to her. She raised the fork and got the food from his finger and then fed him from there.
"Thank you," he said, kissing her lips. "It's good cake," he whispered, pulling away, looking at her.
"Really, kid, you mom made the cake, not your girlfriend. Thank your mom," Ashara commented, and Myrcella blushed, hiding her face on his chest.
"Thanks for the cake, Mom, but it tastes better on Myrcella's lips," he answered with a smirk and Myrcella hugged her face even closer to his chest.
"Not better than how it would taste on your mom's body."
"Gods! You did not say that, Ash?" Aegon asked, to find a smirk on Ashara's face to the one he had had before.
"You started it, kid."
"You're scarring me for life."
"Ohh, you're grown up enough to already be as messed up as you gonna be," she answered. "And also old enough to know I enjoy making love to your mother."
"Okay, Ash, stop this," Elia asked her, apologizing to the other people in the room.
"Hey, kid" Myrcella heard near her, with a knock on her shoulder, to find her father behind her. "At least we were never that weird," he whispered in her ear. Her mom and dad would never be like this, they had never loved each other the way Elia and Ashara loved each other; now when he was with Lyanna she could see the love, but they would more often insult than compliment each other.
"Yeah, not that," she said, taking her still red cheeks from Aegon's chest to look at her dad, who had now moved to sit next to her, as Lyanna was closest to the end of the couch.
"Still blushing." Her dad had always joked to her about this, neither he or her mother ever blushed much, but with Myrcella was just so obvious – really she and Sansa has been awful as teens, every time they talked about their crushes or looked at hot boys and beautiful girls, it was so obvious on their faces.
"Still wondering who I get the blushing from," she said, raising her hands to feel her hot cheeks. "Neither you or mom blush, ever."
"It's beautiful when you blush, sweetie," he told her as he always did, when she felt awkward about it.
"Your dad and I had a game of trying to make Ned blush when we were kids," Lyanna told her with a laugh, looking on from behind Robert.
"Really, not just kids," Ashara intervened, "We were in college and you were still doing that, and then you added Catelyn to the game when you realized how easily she blushed."
"Yeah, Ned got so mad at that," Robert said, "I've rarely seen him angry, but I thought he was going to kill me."
"The only time I ever saw him mad. He reminded of Brandon a lot like that."
"He does," Robert said, "Lyanna looks like Brandon when she's mad too."
"Shut up, asshole," Lyanna said, throwing her arms around Robert pulling him down and covering his mouth. The sudden movement of the couch surprised Myrcella and Aegon, as they looked on her father and Lyanna as they fought.
"Be careful," Elia said at the same time as Myrcella. She had seen these two fighting around their apartment, they had broken things, and Lyanna had gotten this huge bruise on her back when she knocked onto the kitchen counter.
"Don't break anything, Dad," Myrcella reminded him.
"We won't," Lyanna whispered, just before kicking on the leg and then moving away, both stopping their fight.
"Fuck, that hurt, Lya," he complained, before smiling at her, and pulling her to his body the same, his arm thrown around her shoulder, and a smile on her face as well.
It was another win for her.
They had been on this endless war for a long time now. For some strange reason, they counted the scars on each other bodies as competition; obviously the most fun were the ones made in the comfort of their bed.
"More cake, Robert?" Elia asked as she finally cut her slice for her and Ashara, obviously much smaller than the one he had cut for himself.
"Yes, but I'll cut mine. Maybe cut one for Lya."
"If you don't mind," Lya added.
"I don't. Size?"
"The one you cut for you is good," Lyanna accepted the plate and Robert stepped forward to cut his own much larger slice. That he now ate with what was left of Lyanna's coffee – the Doctor had told him to not drink more than one cup a day, which he normally kept to the mornings and wasn't hard to follow, cutting down on sugar and fat was much harder.
"Really, Elia, this cake is excellent," Robert said, "But Ashara is right, eating it out of a beautiful woman's body seems like a better option." He had a smirk on his face and he immediately felt another punch from Lyanna, and Ashara had gotten up.
"Hey! Don't say that!"
"I wasn't specifically talking about your wife – not that you aren't a hot woman, Elia, you are."
"But still, Dad, don't say that."
"I was just agreeing with our hosts."
"I'm sure we can find a way to entertain ourselves alone, you don't need to go into other's plans," Lyanna whispered in his ear.
"I'm sure," he said squeezing her leg, higher in the inner tight than he should be doing in public.
"I can put on some music if you want," Ashara said, reaching for the TV's remote control.
"Or if you have some embarrassing videos and photos of Aegon that would be good," Lyanna suggested. "When Jon came home with Joy, I had so many baby videos, most of them with him naked and in the bath," she told the group.
"Joy like that. I wouldn't mind to see baby Aegon," Myrcella said, probably having hear the story from her cousin.
"I'm glad she liked it. I did the same with his older girlfriend, Alys, and she couldn't stop laughing."
"Lya, you did the same with Brandon and Ned," Ashara pointed out with a laugh, making Robert laugh as well. He remembered seeing those too, she had brought at least seven photos of naked baby Ned for his wedding with Catelyn; and then for Brandon, he wasn't a baby in all of the photos, the amount of embarrassing photos from his teen years (Ned had hidden from the camera during those years – really when it came to embarrassing photos of older Ned, Robert probably had them all and they were very few).
"Okay, it seems than I've done that for years," she said, sharing a smile with Robert.
"I'll go look for Aegon's photos. I'll probably have good ones. I may have a few videos with Jon that you haven't seen yet, or at least haven't seen in years."
"I would like that," she answered, "with him living in the North, he's closer to Ned than to us."
"I know."
"I miss him too," Aegon answered as his mother left, "he's coming for the entire week before the wedding, and staying with Arya."
"He didn't tell me that," she complained. She hadn't talked with Jon for too long, the last time they talked, he was going for a long mission up past the Wall.
"He emailed, he stopped somewhere. He was finally able to get the time off," Aegon told her. "He will talk to you soon, I'm sure." At that, Lyanna made a mental note to try to call him or leave a message for him to call her – hopefully he was okay.
"I found some," Elia said with a smile, coming into the room, which earned a grunt from her son. "Aegon, come help me set this up."
"Why am I doing this?" he said getting up from the couch.
"Go," Myrcella said, "I want to see these videos."
"Put one of the ones from your birthday. There won't be anything to embarrassing, and your brother should be in all of them."
"Three years old," Aegon said coming back to the couch, "it's probably the first birthday I have a few memories of."
Robert watched the video, feeling in himself the desire to punch something with the vision of Rhaegar at the TV, but as Jon appeared, he turned his eyes to Lyanna, seeing the little smile on her face appear.
Her son was so little. Jon was just on the floor, mostly crawling after his siblings, trying to catch up with Aegon, who seemed to have been playing with a remote car he should have gotten that some day. At some point he was just crawling too fast, that Rhaegar had to get him and then place him with Rhaenys who played peek-a-boo with him.
"Your sister loved playing that with you and Jon," Elia said. "Jon just got that confused look on his face, waiting to see what happened next," she reminded her, "but you, Aegon, you would cry your lungs out until your sister came back."
"Arya did that too at first," Lyanna said, "And then she learned to just pull on whatever people were holding to cover their faces."
"Hopefully some of the other kids were quieter…" said Elia.
"Sansa and Bran were much like Jon, just waiting to see what happened next."
Robert looked at Myrcella, trying to think if he could remember how she reacted, but he had very little memories of how she was at that age – a few memories of throwing her up in the air was the most he couldn't think of, and even with those, he couldn't be sure if it was her, Joffrey or Tommen… His daughter shared a look with him, and he took her hand, murmuring her an "I'm sorry", she only nodded, accepting it, but still needing it from him – he hadn't been fair to her.
"The cake… that's adorable," Myrcella said, making him turn his eyes back to the TV, seeing this purple cake with some kids' show in it.
Rhaenys was holding Jon, clapping his hands as they sang happy birthday, but before the end of the song, Jon got his hand away and stuck it on the cake.
"You never told me that, Elia. I'm sorry."
"See what happens next," Ashara said, "I remember this."
"I taste cake first," in the video Aegon said, before taking Jon's hand and tasting the cake from his brother's hands.
"I did not remember that," he said.
"You were three, kid."
Lyanna was finishing taking a photo of the screen when she turned to Aegon and told him,
"I'm sure your brother doesn't remember this either."
"He shouldn't, he was younger than me. He is younger than me."
"Behaves better than you," Elia muttered.
"Mom…" he complained, making the adults laugh. But they continued with the home movies, at certain point Robert realized he wasn't even watching the tv anymore, only seeing her face, her eyes – her little smiles at first (the smile that was only Jon's) and then the doubt on her face as well, and then little tears… he pulled her closer at that, close enough to whisper in her ear.
"You, okay?"
"I missed too much, Robert. There's this part of him that only belongs to the Targaryens and Elia, and then I gave him away to my brother – I broke my son in three," she whispered, "at least two thirds of his young self that I never knew."
"You're better than me," he told her back. "You remember these little things about him. I couldn't tell you the same about Myrcella or her brothers, I can't tell you anything," he admitted. "You were a good parent," he reminded her, knowing that she was, while he had never been, but he could try now and at least try to be a better grandparent.
Lyanna thanked him with a hug, rested her head on his chest, and turned her eyes to her son.
Aegon and Myrcella had stayed a bit longer after Robert and Lyanna left, but now they were gone too, with Ashara finally closing the door as they disappeared into the elevator.
"We should clean this up," Elia said, but in no mood to move.
"We have time," Ashara said, moving to the sound system and choosing a CD to put in, "Come here."
Ashara opened her arms and Elia easily and quickly slipped into them, and with Ashara's current height in heels, her head fitted right on her shoulder, holding their arms around each other, they started swaying to the sound of the music.
"Your youngest is getting married," Ashara murmured.
"Is that some kind of hint that I'm getting old?" she asked with a smile.
"Nah, that's only when your oldest gets married too."
"So I should keep my daughter from getting married. I don't want you to get sick of my little old self."
"Never," she pointed out with a kiss, "we're in this together, until the end."
"Just old people sitting outside with a book," Elia said, really appreciating that idea.
"Yes, and just because I love you, I would sit with you."
"Thank you," she said, standing to her tiptoes, to kiss her lips and Ashara held her there, before getting herself off her heels, dropping to her normal height, making it much easier to kiss her wife.
Pulling apart, they were finally at the same height, and Ashara threw in a little peck again, before stepping back, leaving Elia wondering where she was going, but soon noticed her on the sound system again, this time turning on the radio, finding a station that pleased both.
"But now we're still young," Ashara said, giving her hand out to Elia and then making her spin around the room and then laugh, both twirling around the room as Shape of You played around them.
"It didn't go as bad as we feared," Myrcella commented as they finally sat down on the subway. They had left the car at his mother's and taken the subway downtown – they hadn't been there together in so long. They still lived in King's Landing, but far away from the center, that they rarely found themselves there, unless it was for work.
"Maybe they will be able to keep the peace at the wedding."
"Yeah, let's hope," she said – it was really the only thing she could do. "I'm going dress shopping tomorrow."
"And actually buying one?!"
"Yes," she said rolling her eyes. "Arianne is finally coming for Dorne and I needed her here as my Maid of Honor – I need her to approve the dress I like."
"I should get a vote too."
"That's bad luck, and it's my dress – I choose."
"You helped choose my suit."
"You didn't even listen to me, Aegon," she complained.
"You wanted me to go with a simple black suit."
"You would look good."
"I compromised with white," he argued as they left the subway. His first options had been red, or yellow or orange or purple – that last one had been hard to talk him out of.
"We'll both look great in white."
"And my purple tie," he said with a smile, he was thinking of getting a purple pocket square too and maybe a lilac shirt.
"You're going to kill me with you fashion choices," Myrcella complained, rolling her eyes.
"Like you haven't convinced Arya to do your bidding and stop most of my suggestions."
"I didn't, actually. She just happens to have some good sense," she said, "You were the one who's sending her to the wedding dress shopping tomorrow with your suggestions."
"Sansa's fault, she's the one who convinced Arya to go, not me," he pleaded, crossing his chest, before taking her hand. "But now, since she was going, I may have let her know some of by opinions and plans."
"That's what I thought," a smile on her face as she said that, as they walked down the street, looking for the best ice scream parlour. They had found it on one of they first dates, and it had become their place since then.
Even without coming here for the last few months, it still looked the same, and they entered as one of the new songs from Ed Sheeran played from the speakers, as they made it to the counter. They ordered their traditional three scoops of ice cream on a bowl – cookie-cream, lemon and raspberry – with extra cookies, sprinkles and some gummy bears, it was really perfect for sharing.
Lyanna had taken the wheel this time, speeding more than she should to get home. She did this often enough that she knew how to avoid any places with cops or radars. They both appreciated the speed, not just because they would get home quicker, but because the thrill of speed felt good on the car and on them, as Lyanna's elbow outside on the window, and Robert with his full arm out of the car.
"I'm ordering wings and cheesy bread from Domino's," Robert commented as he reached for his phone now that they were closer to their home. "We stop on the way."
"I know," Lyanna said. To their common annoyance Domino's didn't deliver small orders, luckily the store was close enough for them to walk there if they were really craving either sides or desserts.
The rest of the drive was quiet and she parked in front of it, with the blinkers on, hoping that Robert would be quick – it had been twenty minutes since their order, so hopefully it would be ready by now.
Robert left Lyanna alone in the car, counting the coins he had taken from the cup holder. He put aside all the ones he needed on his right handed and threw the rest back in his pocket.
His number had already been called when he got to the counter, so he quickly paid for the food and joined Lyanna in the car once again, the delicious smell of the bread invading the car and making their mouths salivate – both wanting to throw the box open and eat some.
"Robert, don't, leave them to eat at home," Lyanna warned. "They will go great as I kick your ass at FIFA."
"I'll beat you, I'm sure," he told her with a smirk, before putting the boxes on the backseat, not wanting to be tempted anymore. They were so close to home now, and in silence the music filled the car, and as she looked for a place to park, Robert couldn't help but sing a long to some specific words, looking directly into her eyes.
"I'm in love with your body," he whispered, "I'm in love with the shape of you," he said now with a smile, "I'm in love with your body."
But Lyanna interrupted the next line of the song and then made them both laugh, by saying, "No way, you're eating that greasy food out of my body."