"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
Arya hopped off the shiny, black Harley-Davidson Aegon had lovingly named Balerion as it came to a complete stop in front of her house and made a face at him. "Yeah, I think I'll survive," she said. "After all, it's just Sansa and her friends. What could possibly go wrong?"
Aegon raised one eyebrow at her. "Are you kidding me? The last time you had to spend time with your sister's friends, you broke into hives," he told her. "Come on, just say the word and I'll take you back to my place. We can watch horror movies all night and play poker with Duck."
Arya stood on the curb and hesitated. The prospect of a fun night at Aegon's house was tempting, and it certainly beats staying at home on the night of Sansa's all-girls slumber party. But she had made a promise to her parents the day before they left for a business conference in New York that she would support her sister in what she claimed was one of the most important events in the advancement of her social life. In return, they'd promised to enroll her in Jaqen H'ghar's kickboxing class the moment they got back from their trip. So Arya had agreed.
But now she wished she hadn't been so quick to say yes. She did not relish the thought of wasting several hours of her time in the company of Sansa's posh friends, all of whom she dearly hated. That's one night of my life I won't be getting back, she thought darkly to herself. And the worst part was that her brothers wouldn't even be there to share her torment. Bran and Rickon were at the Reeds while Robb and Jon were spending the night at Theon's place, having their own version of a Boy's Night Out.
Arya regretted not bullying her way into their plans. Even a night filled with drunkenness and debauchery with the boys was looking more and more fetching by the moment. She remembered Jon's last text message to her before he left her to her fate. "You know I love you the most, sis," he'd told her. "But leaving me in the house with Sansa and those harpies? Even my love has its limits."
She made a noise that was half a growl and half a sigh and vowed she'd get even with him.
"That bad, huh?" Sensing her discontent, Aegon climbed out of the bike and gave her a hug. At first Arya had been annoyed with his clinginess. But six months of worming his way into her life had prepared her for his random acts of affection, until there came a time when she no longer found the appeal to kick him in the crotch every time he tried to hug her.
"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" she mumbled into his chest.
"Jaqen H'ghar's kickboxing class," Aegon promptly said with a roll of his eyes. "You've only mentioned that to me like a million times. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a crush on the guy, which would be completely fine if you're into, say, ancient men. And what is up with his hair? Red and white, really? That's so tacky. You know, I doubt his class is even good. Maybe you should just bail."
Arya gave him a weird look. "What the hell is your problem? I don't get why you hate Jaqen so much. You don't even know him."
"And you do?"
Aegon looked ready to start another rant, but Arya had neither the time nor the patience to witness it. "You know what, I'd love nothing more than to beat that annoying head of yours into a bloody pulp, but I really gotta go," she said. "The longer I stay out here, the more Sansa would find ways to torture me."
The reminder of her plight was all it took to calm Aegon down. "Oh, right," he said, suddenly back to being sympathetic. He took her hand in his. "Call me if things get really shitty? I promise to come swooping into your room with pizza and a bottle of Duck's special tequila."
Arya had to smile at that. "Yeah, okay. That sounds good."
"Hi, Arya! Want some lemon cakes?"
Arya resisted the urge to flee as she took in the scene before her. Jeyne Poole, her sister's best friend since first grade, was sprawled on Sansa's pink, lace-covered bed, stuffing herself with lemon cakes. To her right was Margaery Tyrell, looking radiant and immaculate in a little white dress that was more appropriate for tea with the Queen of England than for a stupid slumber party. And on the other side of the bed painting her nails a brilliant shade of red was Arianne Martell, the oldest girl in their group and the only one of them who was already married.
"Finally," Sansa said exasperatedly the moment she saw Arya come in. "What took you so long?"
"Sorry. I had to go save a tree or something."
"I'm soglad you're here, Arya! I haven't seen you in forever!" Margaery squealed, leaping off the bed and sweeping her into a bone-crushing hug. "You promised me you'd go shopping with me and Elinor last month but you never showed!"
"I was busy, Marg. Maybe next time." Or in another lifetime. Arya glared at her sister behind Margaery's back but Sansa only rolled her eyes at her.
"Please. If you can get Arya to come shopping with you and convince her to burn all those awful leather jackets and hoodies she likes to wear so much, I'd marry your crippled brother in a heartbeat," Sansa told Margaery with a flip of her hair.
"Oh, fuck you, Sansa." There was a tick forming on her left eye and her head was throbbing. Arya didn't know how much longer she could stand this. Maybe she could still call Aegon and let him know she changed her mind.
With her decision made, she turned on her heel and headed for the door, but Arianne swiftly blocked her way. "Leaving us so soon? But the night is only getting started." With a wicked grin on her face, she gripped Arya's arm and half-dragged her to the bed. Arya struggled to rise, but there were four of them and there was only one of her. Resigned, she grabbed a lemon cake and chewed as loudly as she could, knowing it would scandalize her sister and drive her insane.
"Soooo…" Arianne drawled once she finally stopped squirming. She rolled to her side, one hand propped on her chin, and leaned close to Arya as though she was about to share a secret. "I heard you finally got yourself a boyfriend."
Arya almost choked on her lemon cake. "What?"
Arianne wagged one perfectly manicured nail at her. "Girl, it's no use denying it. Everyone already knows," she teased her. "You should have seen Trystane when he heard about it. Poor guy was so heartbroken he almost cried himself to sleep."
"Arianne, your brother is cute and everything," Jeyne Poole interrupted. "But have you seen Arya's boyfriend? Oh, you would die. I'm telling you, he is so hot."
"Uhh… What the hell are you guys talking about?"
"Arya, don't pretend like you don't know. Sansa already told us about you guys."
"About who?" Arya was so confused and frustrated she was tempted to slap Jeyne senseless just so she could wipe that stupid, knowing smile off her face.
"Oh, you know. That hot European foreign exchange student you've been dating for months. Loras saw him at the gym a couple of times, and even he thinks he's handsome," Margaery chimed in.
Arya shot the girls an incredulous look. "Wait a minute…." she began. "Are you guys talking about Aegon?"
"Who else, silly?"
Arya couldn't help it. The thought was so absurd she threw back her head and laughed.
Sansa, however, was not amused. "What's so funny?" she wanted to know.
"Aegon," Arya wheezed as she tried to get her breathing under control. "You seriously think Aegon is my fucking boyfriend?"
Four pairs of eyes stared back at her in disbelief.
"Oh my god."
Sansa's jaw was hanging open and she had this strange look on her face, as though someone had just thrown a dozen rotten eggs at her. "Arya," she said in a strangled tone. "Are you honestly telling me that all this time you've been dating Aegon you didn't even know about it?"
"If I were dating anyone, don't you think I'd be the first to know?" Arya snapped, annoyed at everyone's reaction. Seriously, what was the big deal?
"Fuck me," Arianne exclaimed, staring at Arya with a mixture of pity and amusement. "I think your sister is serious, Sansa. She really doesn't know."
"How the hell is that even possible?"
Sansa groaned. Arya had never seen her sister this upset before. She looked like she was about to scream or tear her hair out in frustration. "Oh god. What am I going to do with you, Arya?"
Margaery rubbed Sansa's back and held her hand. "Deep breaths, Sansa. Deep breaths," she comforted her, her voice gentle. "There you go, sweetie. We'll get through this together, I promise you."
For her part, Arya couldn't believe this was happening to her. Things had just gone from bizarre to worse in a matter of seconds. She had no idea what was going on anymore. Everyone had suddenly gone batshit crazy and she didn't know how to deal with it. "Okay, so can someone please explain to me why everyone is under the impression that I'm dating Aegon?"
"Arya, he always takes you out to dinner," Sansa pointed out, as though she was talking to a child.
Arya scoffed. "So? That doesn't mean anything! Aegon knows how much I like food. I eat out with Hot Pie too but you don't see me telling everyone that we're dating."
"You go with him to the movies almost every week," Sansa went on, ignoring her previous comment.
"That's because Aegon is the only one who shares my tastes for indie movies. I tried bringing Jon and Bran once but they only slept through the entire thing."
"He joins us for barbeque every Sunday. Dad loves him. Mom hates his guts."
"That's because Mom hates anyone who doesn't live in this prissy neighborhood," Arya complained.
"Yes, but mostly she hates him because he's dating you. Have you never really considered that possibility?"
"Nope," Arya replied with a shrug, looking unconcerned. "You're still not convincing me here, Sansa."
Her sister sighed. "Okay, how about this," she said. "About a month after you met Aegon, Robb and the boys sat down and had The Talk with him."
"What talk? Aegon never mentioned any of that to me."
"Yeah, and probably with good reason. God, I shouldn't even be telling you this. I mean, Robb made me swear not to say anything. But, well, these are desperate times…" There was a long pause before Sansa finally decided to speak again. "Arya, they cornered Aegon and threatened to send him back to Europe in a coffin."
"WHAT?"
"But he must have said or done something right because three days later, the boys were singing a different tune and things eventually cooled down between them."
"Damn. Sansa, remind me never to get on your brothers' bad side," Jeyne commented with a shudder.
"That's it. I am going to kill them," Arya snarled, clenching her hands into fists. All this talk about boyfriends and brothers was only making her feel more awful. Her head was pounding and any minute now she was going to snap.
"I'd worry more about your boyfriend, if I were you."
Arya exhaled. "For the last time, Aegon is not my boyfriend."
"Really? My cousin Megga swears she saw you at Renly Baratheon's fashion show after-party last week with this tall, super blond guy. She said she tried to flirt with him but he never so much as batted an eyelash. And I'll have you know, my cousin Megga was very pretty," Margaery informed her with a smile.
"I had no choice!" Arya defended herself. "The only reason I was even there in the first place was because Mom threatened to cut off my allowance for an entire month if I didn't go. And I only took Aegon as my plus one because no one else was willing to come with me that night. So stop making a big deal out of it, okay?"
"Arya, the fact that he was in a room surrounded by gorgeous models but he didn't flirt with any of them means that he must really like you."
"That's bullshit, Sansa. Aegon isn't into me like that," Arya said hotly. But then she remembered his irrational hatred for Jaqen and the way he balked whenever she suggested inviting Gendry and Hot Pie over for pizza at his place. He'd even punched Edric Dayne in the cafeteria once when he heard him ask her out in front of his friends a week before the winter formal. That had almost gotten him expelled.
But was he just being a protective friend or was Sansa right? Did he actually have feelings for her? That's stupid. Of course he doesn't. We're just friends, that's all, Arya tried to convince herself. But the more she thought about it, the more her doubts lingered.
"Oh, and he's always hugging you and touching you too," Sansa observed.
"Girl, trust me, that is not normal friend behavior," Arianne told her with a shake of her head.
"That's just Aegon being Aegon. He was born clingy."
Jeyne looked at her as though she'd just grown a second head. "Wow, you are the densest person I've ever met," she deadpanned.
Margaery giggled. "A man as gorgeous as him… Don't tell me you've never kissed him before?"
Against her will, Arya turned a horrible shade of red. "No!" she said, far too quickly to convince the girls.
"Really? Not even once? Twice? Thrice?"
"Fine! It happened twice, okay?" Arya found herself saying, her face heating up as the memory of that night came crashing back to her. "But it doesn't count because we were both drunk at that time."
Jeyne buried her head in her hands and pronounced her case hopeless.
"Arya, listen to me," Sansa said firmly in a voice that brooked no argument.
"What?"
"You're dating Aegon. Get over it."
By the time Arya stumbled back to her room, her hair done in an intricate braid and her skin smelling of sweet roses thanks to Margaery, she was close to having a panic attack. She shut the door behind her with a bang, effectively muffling the girlish screams and giggles coming from Sansa's bedroom.
But there was no way she could sleep now after all the things they've said to her. She quickly snatched her phone, her finger poised to call Aegon on speed dial, before she remembered that she couldn't exactly talk to him about this. She wasn't ready yet. So she called the next best person on her list.
It took five rings before Jon picked up.
"Hello?" he slurred. Arya could hear loud trance music, voices shouting, and what sounded like Robb alternately retching and speaking in broken Spanish. Good to know that at least someone tonight is having fun.
"Jon!" Arya screamed into the phone. "Sansa says Aegon is my boyfriend. Do you think it's true?"
"What? Hold on, I can't hear you over all this noise." Jon's voice dropped one volume lower, as though he'd covered his hand on the receiver, but Arya still heard him loud enough as he shouted to someone over his shoulder, "Will you shut up and stop bothering me? I need to speak to my sister for a minute!"
"Okaaaay. Who was that?" Arya asked, curious despite herself.
Jon sighed irritably. "Some redheaded skank with an unpronounceable name. She's convinced I'm here to steal her from her gangster boyfriend," he explained. "Anyway, you were saying?"
Arya sank to the bed and closed her eyes, unsure of how to proceed now that she had Jon's full attention. "Sansa says Aegon is my boyfriend!" she repeated, forcing the words out of her mouth.
Jon didn't say anything for a while, and Arya was about to cut the connection and call him again, when she heard the noise.
"You asshole!" Arya screeched, wishing she could throw an empty beer bottle at her brother's head. "Are you fucking laughing at me? Jon, this isn't funny!"
But that only made him laugh harder.
"Hey, Robb!" he shouted over the phone. "You owe me and Theon a hundred bucks!"
"Yes! Drinks are on me tonight, baby!" Arya heard the clink of glasses and what was unmistakably Theon's cry of victory.
"What the hell was that? Were you betting on me, Jon Stark? Oh, you are so fucking dead!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Jon apologized as he tried his best to contain his laughter. "I couldn't help it. Okay, I'm switching back to serious mode now. What happened?"
Arya wasn't feeling very forgiving at the moment, but who else could she talk to but Jon? All the same, she made a mental note to ask her traitorous oaf of a brother for a hundred dollars the next time she saw him. He owed her that much at least. "So you all think I'm dating Aegon? Damn it! Does the entire world know about this affair but me?"
Jon chuckled. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You wouldn't be Arya if you knew."
"Six months, Jon! Apparently I've been dating him for six months and not once have I thought that he was anything other than a friend. God, how could I be so fucking stupid?" Arya was close to tears by then.
"There, there." Jon comforted her. "You guys will be fine. Just… talk to him about it. You'll feel loads better afterwards, I promise you."
"Fine. Maybe you're right."
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Good luck, little sis. Love you."
The line went dead. Arya threw her phone in a fit and watched it bounce off the carpet. Then with nothing else left to do, she screamed into her pillow and allowed her rage to consume her.
She woke up the next morning to the thunderous sound of Kingslayer's "The Rains of Castamere" playing in the background. Blearily, she groped under her pillow and on her nightstand for her phone, before remembering that she'd kicked it somewhere under the bed last night.
She groaned and buried her head back under the covers, but the thing wouldn't stop ringing. "Goddammit," Arya cursed as she finally gave up on sleep. When she finally located the missing gadget, she saw that had three missed calls and about a dozen unread messages, all from Aegon.
She pressed ignore and flopped back on her bed. My life sucks, she declared miserably, staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Then without meaning to, her gaze drifted back to a framed photograph of her and Aegon propped up on her bedside table. It was taken last December, no doubt by Bran, and showed the pair of them laughing, with Arya riding on Aegon's back, her skinny arms wrapped around his neck and her face turned away from the camera. In the picture, Aegon was grinning from ear to ear, snowflakes melting on his ash blond hair, and his cheeks had turned an adorable shade of pink from the cold.
Arya remembered that day well. It was Aegon's first Christmas away from home, and he'd spent the day at her house despite her mother's objections, building snow castles and playing in the backyard with the rest of the Stark siblings. She remembered the way Aegon had lifted her off her feet and twirled her around when they won their first snowball fight against Robb and Bran. Even then they'd acted like a couple, Arya now realized.
A sudden noise outside startled her. Whirling around, she saw Aegon's head poking out of her window. "Hey," he said by way of greeting as he wedged his way inside her room the way he'd done a thousand times before, not even caring if the neighbors saw him.
"Ever heard of using the front door like a normal person?"
"Nope. Where's the fun in that?" Aegon replied. "Anyway, how come you aren't answering my calls?"
Arya shrugged. "Sorry. I just woke up," she said, refusing to say anything more than that.
Aegon glowered at her. "How were things last night? You look tired." He touched the dark circles underneath her eyes with his fingertips and Arya resisted the urge to lean away from him. A day ago this wouldn't have bothered her, but after what Sansa and the girls said last night…
"Horrible. Last night was horrible."
"Wanna talk about it?"
Arya bit her lip. "Maybe later," she said instead.
"Okay." Aegon lied down on the bed next to her, hands behind his head, looking utterly relaxed and at home in her messy bedroom.
"Hey Aegon?"
"Yeah?"
"If I told you I wanted to date Jaqen, what would you do?"
Aegon snarled, his face alight with displeasure. "I'll teach him a thing or two about kickboxing," he promised her, cracking his knuckles. "And he'll die first before I allow him to touch you."
"Why?" she asked him.
"What do you mean why? You're too good for that shithead, you know that." After a beat he turned and looked suspiciously at her. "Why? You really like him?"
There was no mistaking the naked jealousy on his face now. Arya sighed. "No, I don't. Not really. I just like the way he fights," she grudgingly confessed.
"Well, good."
"Good. Now wipe that stupid smug look off your face."
Aegon grinned. "Alright, alright. Seriously though, what is up with you? You're acting bitchier than usual. Are you PMS-ing again? But no, that can't be it. Your period's not for another few days."
Arya looked at him in disbelief, trying not to feel too creeped out by the fact that Aegon, of all people, had been monitoring her menstrual cycle. Clearly, nothing about their relationship was normal.
"Forget it. It's nothing," she mumbled.
"It is not nothing," Aegon insisted. "C'mon. Tell me what's wrong or I swear to God I'll knock on your sister's door and ask her myself."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Try me."
Arya huffed and bit her lip. She might as well say it now and be done with it. "Sansa says we're dating," she blurted out, eyes studiously fixed to the ceiling.
"Oh." Aegon blinked. Then he shrugged. "Okay. Cool."
That earned him a smack on the head from Arya. "Cool? That's all you have to say? Aegon Targaryen, you idiot!"
"Well, what else do you want me to say?" He laughed. "I mean, now that you think about it, it kinda makes sense, you know? Who else would I willingly date except you?"
"Marg says her cousin Megga likes you. Jeyne too. Heck, even Arianne would gladly rip her marriage contract to pieces if it means she'd get to date you."
Aegon sent her a look, the one that said she was being the idiot in this situation, not him. "Screw those girls. If I could have you, you honestly think I'd give a damn about any of them? Arya Stark, you're my girl. You've always been mine, even if we're both too stubborn to admit it."
There were a thousand things she could have said in response to that. She could've slugged him on the face, at the very least. He certainly deserved it. But Aegon always had this weird way of making her feel warm and happy, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't stay mad at him.
"So you're saying you want to date me?" she asked him.
"No. I'm saying that we're dating. There is a difference, see?" The cheeky bastard even had the nerve to grin at her.
"Well, what will this mean, you know, for us? I've never had a boyfriend before."
Aegon's smile widened. "It means that guys like Edric Dayne will finally leave you alone," he told her, looking entirely too happy with the situation than Arya would have liked. "But wanna know what the best part is? It means I get unlimited kissing rights to you!"
Arya rolled her eyes. "God, you're such a guy. What makes you think I even want to kiss you?"
"Is that a challenge, Arya Stark?" In a blink, Aegon moved. He flipped her on her back, the full force of his weight on top of her, and pinned her arms to the bed, ignoring her feeble attempts to fight him. And when Arya opened her mouth to curse him, his lips met hers. She growled like a wolf caught unawares and bit his lip, hard enough to draw blood, and soon enough it became a battle for dominance. She fought him with her lips and her tongue and her nails painfully digging at his back, and somewhere within the wildness that was her heart, she acknowledged that this – whatever this was – felt right. Aegon was just as much a part of her as she was a part of him. And so long as he kept kissing her like that, she would have gladly agreed to be his, the whole world be damned.
When they finally broke off for air, both of them were breathing hard and they wore matching pleased looks on their faces. "Oh wow," Aegon breathed, his cheeks flushed. "That was…"
Arya smirked. "Not bad, Targaryen. You kiss better when you're sober."
"My kissing skills are not up for debate. Oh, and just so you know, I am so never breaking up with you," Aegon declared as he possessively wrapped his arms around her torso. "You're stuck with me now, Stark. Forever."
Forever. That alone should've sent alarm bells ringing in her head, but for the first time in her life, the thought of forever with Aegon Targaryen didn't seem so scary after all.
AN: Tried my hand at Modern AU and this is what I got. Clearly, I have too much time on my hands. *bangs head against the wall*