Late October 2012

Renly was still in bed with the curtains firmly shut and his duvet pulled over his head when he was rudely awoken by someone knocking loudly on his bedroom door. He briefly considered calling for them to come in, and yet his head was still spinning far too much for him to face the world just yet, and so instead, he tried to drown the noise out, burying his head under his many pillows.

Whoever it was, Brienne or Jaime he supposed, must have been feeling rather persistent that morning though, for they knocked again, loudly.

And so reluctantly, Renly sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, feeling his head pound as the room span around him, courtesy no doubt of the house party one of the other lawyers had invited him to yesterday. His memory of it was blurry to say the least, and yet he was sure Brienne and Jaime had come too, Jaime of course complaining loudly and often that he was too old to be drinking Tesco-value Vodka and watching students throwing up all over themselves, and so how either of them were up quite this early was beyond Renly.

He was just about to lie back down and stubbornly ignore the knocking when the door flew open of its own accord however and he found himself staring up into Jaime Lannister's smug face.

"Rude to keep a lady waiting," he called, smirking as he ushered a distinctly embarassed-looking Brienne forward.

Renly groaned and pulled the covers back over his shoulders, suddenly conscious of the fact he didn't seem to be wearing much despite the fact that he supposed Brienne probably had little to no interest in seeing him without his clothes now that she had Jaime to fawn over. Once he was suitably covered though, he turned to glare at Jaime.

"Have you never heard of a little thing called privacy Jaime?" Renly shot through the open door.

Jaime laughed. "Someone's touchy this morning."

Renly yawned. "Someone's rude this morning. I might have had company for all you bloody well know."

Jaime snorted. "Fat chance of that. You'd still be passed out on the kitchen table if Brienne hadn't taken pity on you and put you to bed yesterday." He grinned condescendingly at Renly before then swanning out of the room, leaving Brienne standing alone in the doorway.

Renly groaned and lay back down. That would be why he had no recollection of coming home yesterday. In fact, the last thing he remembered was challenging Brienne to a drinking competition, an idea that Renly knew to be a ridiculously stupid one now, but that had seemed like such a brilliant one yesterday after a few glasses of wine. He was mildly worried for a few moments that Brienne had undressed him too, and that Jaime had watched on and filmed it or something, but glancing around, he couldn't see any of his clothes meticulously folded anywhere as Brienne would no doubt have done. Thankfully, on further inspection, he found yesterday's outfit in a crumpled heap under his duvet, a sure sign that he had probably undressed himself drunkenly after Brienne had put him to bed. Probably, he thought with another groan, as for all he knew, Brienne may well have undressed him whilst Jaime filmed it before Jaime then screwed up his clothes in an attempt to make him think he'd taken his own clothes off. He wouldn't put it past Jaime to do something like that, and yet he liked to think that Brienne liked him enough not to let her boyfriend post naked pictures of him on facebook.

He was pulled from his musings, however, when the woman herself stumbled forward, a large tray balanced in her arms.

"Morning." Renly mumbled as politely as he could manage. He supposed it wasn't her fault her boyfriend was such an arse who had no respect for privacy.

"Morning?" She looked confused. "It's half past one Renly."

Renly just groaned and pulled the pillow back over his head. "Can't be."

"Well it is." To Renly's annoyance, she drew back the curtains, letting the light stream in. His annoyance faded though, when he glanced up and saw that the tray she had in her arms was carrying breakfast and it was quickly coming his way.

He sat up rather quickly then. "Is that for me?" he asked hopefully, grinning when she nodded.

"Don't thank me," she mumbled, rather embarrassed. "I was making some for Jaime anyway."

Renly laughed. He should have known there had been a reason behind her bringing him breakfast in bed. He tucked in eagerly though. "Brienne?" he asked presently, in between mouthfuls of toast. "How is it that you're never hung over?"

She just shrugged and Renly sighed. It was one of the great mysteries of Brienne. She didn't often drink, but when she did, she seemed more tank than human, drinking them all under the table and never seeming to suffer for it afterwards. More than once, she had dragged both himself and Jaime back from various parties where they'd drunk too much.

"What you up to this afternoon then?" Renly asked, once most of the breakfast had disappeared. He grinned. "Though I suppose if Jaime's around, then you'll probably just be...?"

Brienne blushed furiously, turning the same colour as her freckles. "Actually, he's agreed to come to the courts with me. Try to play with his left hand."

Renly raised an eyebrow. For months now, both Brienne and Jaime's coach had been trying to convince Jaime that just because he'd lost decent use of his right hand, it didn't mean his tennis career was necessarily over. It wasn't until now though it seemed, that Jaime was willing to take her up on her constant offers to practice with him.

Renly grinned. "Can I come watch?" He'd seen Jaime play countless times, usually on television winning some grand slam or another, and whilst it usually bored him to death to see Jaime collect trophies like other people collected stamps, he imagined that watching the infamously talented Jaime Lannister struggle to hit a ball with his left hand might be a good way to spend a hung-over afternoon.

Brienne though, being Brienne and without a dishonest bone in her body, seemingly didn't notice his ulterior motive, for she nodded and smiled. "If you like." she said. "Though only if you're supportive."

Renly grinned widely. "Of course I'll be supportive."

She looked a little suspicious then but didn't withdraw her offer and so after she left, Renly dragged himself out of bed, stumbling into the shower before dressing.

Brienne and Jaime were bickering by the time he got downstairs, Jaime insisting adamantly that he was perfectly capable of driving to the courts one-handed whilst Brienne duly recited the Highway Code at him, even despite the fact that she didn't hold so much as a provisional driving licence.

If Jaime hadn't gotten on his bad side this morning, Renly might have considered offering to drive them, but as it was, he'd spent his last tenner on wine last night anyway and his petrol was a little on the low side. For not the first time, he wished that Stannis wasn't quite so adamant that Renly learn to be financially responsible rather than sponging off him and Robert.

"We'll walk then." Brienne insisted, wrapping a stripy scarf around her neck that definitely had once belonged to Jaime before opening the door and ushering them outside as if both he and Jaime needed help crossing the road or something.

It was a twenty minute walk to the tennis courts that Jaime and Brienne favoured and yet every step proved to be worth it, Renly thought, for the afternoon was as amusing as he'd hoped. He'd settled himself down on a bench at the edge of the courts, where he had a perfect view.

Jaime and Brienne together was usually an odd sight by any standards, and yet today they looked even more ridiculous for Jaime had decided to don a rather odd tweed cap which must have originally belonged to either his father or someone who evidently played more golf than was advisable. He'd pulled it low over his eyes, the peak shading his face and supposedly keeping any of the other players from recognising him. It was working, Renly thought. The hat, combined with the fact that he was currently playing rather like a particularly competitive twelve year old schoolgirl might, meant that Renly reckoned it was highly unlikely that anyone would recognise him as the three year running Wimbledon champion.

Brienne and Jaime were standing talking now, Jaime's hands in Brienne's own large ones in a rare display of public affection as she no doubt told him he was doing well despite the fact that even Renly with his piss-poor knowledge of tennis could have told him that wasn't the case. He was quite enjoying listening to her feeble encouragement and yet when Brienne lifted her hand to Jaime's face and she tenderly started stroking his hair, Renly quickly changed his mind, having a sudden urge to vomit that had nothing to do with the fact he'd been drinking last night.

Looking away, he contemplated getting his textbook out of his bag and doing some reading for his next essay, but his head was throbbing a little too much still for that. And so finding nothing better to do, he glanced around instead at Jaime and Brienne's tennis-playing peers.

The people on the courts around them were looking rather better than Jaime had been, most darting around the court with such an energy that Renly would have thought they were in a grand-slam final rather than merely practising on a cold autumn afternoon. One girl Renly even found he recognised; she'd been in the US open quarter-finals last year and was practising serving, the ball moving with such a speed that Renly could barely track it. Every now and again though, she'd take a break, casting suspicious looks in Jaime's direction.

It was the boy on the court next to her though that caught Renly's eye. He was standing with his back to Renly, hitting backhand after backhand as an older man threw a constant stream of tennis balls at him as if he was some kind of tennis ball machine. Renly was sure he'd seen the boy somewhere before, and yet it wasn't until he turned around and pushed his very curly hair out of his eyes that Renly put his finger on quite who it was.

Their eyes met and Renly quickly looked away, turning pointedly back to watching Jaime and Brienne, wishing very much now that he was wearing the ugly cap Jaime was favouring today.

He only glanced back over when it was clear the boy had turned back round and had resumed hitting tennis balls into the corner of the court. Renly didn't know much about tennis and yet he thought he looked good. Whether this was because he was anything decent with a racket or because his polo shirt was sticking to him slightly though, Renly wasn't sure.

He was enviably graceful, like Jaime had been before he messed up his hand, and Renly had to shake himself a little to stop his thoughts becoming rather too inappropriate.

He tried to be discreet with his watching but he must have failed miserably for Jaime caught him looking and raised a mocking eyebrow. "He's good." he commented grudgingly, following Renly's gaze. "Very good in fact." He smirked. "Though I doubt you were watching his tennis."

Renly rolled his eyes even though Jaime's words were rather true. To be quite honest, he didn't really care in the slightest if the boy was any good. But he was hot, hotter than Renly would have liked to admit. A very disconcerting thought considering that Renly still felt mildly uncomfortable when he thought back to their first encounter.

Sighing, he opened his bag and got out his textbook, turning to an inanely dull section on tax that he had to read before even attempting his next essay. He supposed though that even if he only managed ten or twenty pages, it would still be more productive than staring at a fifteen year old he wasn't allowed to sleep with.

It was only when Brienne, quite clearly in Renly's opinion even despite most of his attention being focused on his textbook, began missing shots on purpose to save Jaime's pride, that Renly noticed that the boy had stopped playing and was approaching him. He sighed and had to laugh a little. The boy either had a lot of nerve, absolutely no shame, or perhaps both, for he was walking over to him without even a hint of awkwardness.

"Fancy seeing you here." The boy laughed when he reached him, his tennis racket still in his hand.

"Mm." Renly returned non-committally with a smile, not really knowing what to say for once. A sensible part of him told him that he should probably have as little as possible to do with the the kid and yet the rest of him was insisting that there was no point being rude.

Eventually, he decided on a compromise and figured there couldn't be any harm in just talking to him, and staring at him a bit perhaps. It wasn't like he could fuck him on the side of the tennis courts or anything. So he smiled and shuffled along the bench. "Do you want to sit down?"

The boy, Loras, Renly recalled vaguely, took him up on his offer and sat down beside him. He must not have forgotten Renly's irritation at him though for he left a decent amount of room between them.

"So are you a tennis fan then?" He asked, pushing his hair out of his face and gesturing over to Jaime and Brienne, where Jaime, presumably having become embarrassed at his performance, had reverted back to coaching Brienne as he usually did.

Renly laughed. "Not particularly. Just here for the show."

"But you're on a tennis court with Jaime Lannister?"

Renly laughed. It seemed that Jaime's ugly cap had achieved nothing save for making Jaime look like he bought his clothes in dingy charity shops. "He'll be disappointed he was recognised."

The boy raised an eyebrow, folding his arms and frowning up at Renly. "Is that what that ugly hat is for then?"

Renly laughed. "I assume so. He's dating my friend over there. We don't get on very well."

The boy looked puzzled. "I never knew Jaime Lannister went that way?"

Renly rolled his eyes. He supposed it was rather easy to mistake Brienne for a man, especially when she had her straw-like hair scraped back against her scalp as she always did when she played tennis. She towered over Jaime by a good five inches and hit the ball as hard as most men did. And even Jaime at his two-handed best had struggled often to return her serves. It didn't help either that she even dressed like a man too, refusing to deviate from her simple wardrobe of jeans and some boring top or another, most of which Renly would like very much to burn, for any occasion save for weddings and funerals.

He laughed though. "He's not. My friend's a girl."

The boy looked again and shrugged nonchalantly, not seeming in the least ill-at-ease for having mistaken Brienne for a guy. "So how's law going?" he asked when he'd finished looking Brienne up and down.

"You remember what subject I study." Renly laughed. He'd thought at the time that the kid hadn't paid any attention at all to him rambling on about all the laws and constitutions that he'd broken by sleeping with him. He was rather pleasantly surprised.

Loras shrugged. "You spent a good ten minutes brandishing one of your text books at me. It would be hard to forget."

Renly grinned. "Right... sorry about that. I probably did overreact a little."

The boy laughed and shrugged. "Nah it's alright. I probably had it coming to be honest."

Renly smiled. It wasn't a proper apology and yet the kid didn't seem like the sort that much went in for grovelling and so Renly supposed he would do well to accept it.

Even that rather poor apology cleared the air rather quite a bit though, and they chatted for a good long while after that, the kid mainly asking him about uni and other banal stuff that Renly was rather good at talking about, and Renly was just beginning to think that the kid was pretty decent company when Loras turned to him and grinned suddenly. "Would you get coffee with me?" he asked, quite clearly aware of the fact that he was pushing his luck here.

"Coffee." Renly echoed blankly. He then caught properly what he'd said. "You want to get coffee?" He clarified. "With me?" He considered refusing the request entirely, just to avoid the temptation of taking him home, but then again caffeine was a very very tempting prospect... And after all, he supposed that getting a coffee with Loras would be no different really from getting coffee with any of the other people he did so with on a regular basis and didn't sleep with.

Loras shrugged. "Well, I would suggest something else entirely." He laughed. "But I was led to believe you didn't desire a repeat?"

Renly laughed. "Definitely not." he rolled his eyes. "But I guess we could get coffee. Just coffee mind you, no euphemisms." He added hastily, in case the kid got any ideas.

Loras just laughed and zipped his tennis racket into a bag before standing up and pulling a jumper over his head. "Don't worry. I'm not going to seduce you in Starbucks."

…...

To Loras' slight disappointment, it did turn out to be nothing but coffee, Renly ordering an cappuccino with three extra shots of coffee and then digging around for what seemed like ages in his wallet like a typical student and paying in mainly twenty pence pieces.

The cashier didn't seem to mind though, in fact quite the opposite. She laughed and waited patiently for him to hand the money over, smiling as Loras imagined most people probably couldn't help smiling at Renly.

They sat by the window, Loras watching the leaves swirling around in a haze of red and gold and sipping his mochaccino absent-mindedly until Renly returned with his own coffee.

"That's not real coffee." Renly laughed as he took a seat opposite him, cappuccino in hand. "That's more like a warmed up chocolate milkshake."

Loras rolled his eyes. "And what you have tastes nice does it?" He eyed it warily. As far as he was concerned, nothing with three extra shots of coffee and hardly any milk could taste decent.

Renly shrugged and grinned. He didn't disagree with Loras but neither did he seem at all fazed by the taste as he sipped his drink steadily. "I'll confess," he laughed. "I'm a little bit of a caffeine addict."

Loras laughed. "Lots of all nighters then?"

Renly sighed. "Too many." He grinned. "Though all of my own making. I don't have exams this year and so going out four times a week seems like more of a sensible option than it ought to be." He laughed. "And what about you? How are the GCSEs going?"

Loras rolled his eyes but decided to let the jibe at how young he was slide. "They're great thanks." he replied flatly, gritting his teeth slightly as Renly's grin widened.

"And what about the tennis?" Renly asked, "I'm guessing that's not just a hobby?"

Loras laughed. "I'll probably take it up full time when I'm done with school." He contemplated telling him quite how many junior tournaments he'd won, but managed to stop himself, remembering what Margaery always told him about being modest until you knew somebody better. "Unless I fail Maths or English or something, I'll probably go to the states of something."

Renly laughed. "Why is it that nobody who's any decent at tennis stays over here?"

Loras grinned. "Because coaching over here is shit?"

Renly laughed at that, before fishing in his pockets this time instead of his wallet and looking delighted when he found a couple of pound coins which he then used to buy as much coffee as he could afford. To his credit, he did offer to share it with Loras, but Loras took one look at the thick coffee-overloaded concoction Renly had ordered and figured he'd politely decline.

They didn't stay long after Renly had finished his second coffee, and because it was dark, to Loras' embarrassment Renly insisted on walking with him all the way to his road, as if Loras was some child he'd been entertaining for the evening and not someone he'd just happened to have coffee with.

They swapped numbers though which Loras supposed was nice, even if Renly did make a, rather unnecessary in Loras' opinion, point of telling him that this didn't mean he was thinking of sleeping with him again anytime in the near future.

He did seem happy to go with Loras to get coffee again though, and before long, Loras found that they were meeting up at least once a week, usually on a Wednesday evening which was the day Loras was led to believe Renly handed in his weekly essay. As such, he would often text Loras on wednesday morning, or sometimes, rather worryingly Loras thought, very very late on tuesday night when he was no doubt rushing to finish his work, to tell him that he would soon be in dire need of his caffeine fix.

Usually they went to coffee shops, the locations of which Renly seemed to know like the back of his hand, and yet once or twice, when Renly confessed that he'd spent the money he'd allocated himself for that week on some new pair of jeans, or a new shirt he simply couldn't not buy, they'd go to his place. Loras had been hopeful the first time and yet that feeling had quickly faded when Renly had laughed at his expression and insisted that they stay in the kitchen, a rule he adhered to flawlessly, for there was never even once a hint that they might go upstairs.

And it was easier than Loras had expected, being nothing but friends with a guy he'd like nothing better than to slam against the wall and kiss senseless. For whilst Renly was hot, ridiculously hot in fact, he was more than that, he was irresistably charming. There was no other word for it really, Loras supposed. Renly just exuded the sort of charisma that left Loras unable to feel even vaguely frustrated with him for refusing him anything more intimate than sharing the occasional coffee between them, and instead made Loras desperate for Renly to like him.

That charm of his must have worked on everyone else too, for from a quick glimpse of Renly scrolling through his contacts on his phone, he seemed to have thousands of people he evidently knew well enough to have their number. And from their weekly coffee trips, it indeed seemed that Renly did literally know everybody. More often than not, there'd be some acquaintance of his who'd spot him in the Starbucks queue, or some friend who would yell his name from across the road and wave as they walked back. He always seemed pleased to see them, and yet when Loras asked who they were afterwards, he'd always laugh and tell him that it was just some guy he sat next to him in lectures, or some girl he'd met at a party last week. Nobody he'd always insist.

And so, aside from the rather masculine girl who Loras still refused to believe was dating the best tennis player in the country, Renly didn't seem to talk about any of the other people he knew. And Loras didn't really know what to make of that- this evidently popular guy who on closer inspection actually seemed to have no close friends.

It was odd. When he'd first met Renly, that morning in his bedroom when he'd brandished a text book at him, he'd thought him easy to grasp, as easy to read as an open book. And yet the more time Loras spent with him, the more confused Loras became. There were a very few things that were rather evident about him; he was obviously very ambitious for instance, and smart too, Loras guessed, seeing as he seemed to get firsts on all his essays despite seeming to spend a decent portion of his week drunk, but as for for the most part, Loras found himself coming up entirely blank where Renly was conerned.

He was a walking contradiction, Loras thought, as friendly and easy going as they came and yet insistent on keeping everyone at arm's length. He'd smile at everyone and share a joke with anyone, and yet never share anything more personal than his self-professed addiction to caffeine.

And it drove Loras crazy, knowing that however hard he tried, he'd most likely never get any closer to really knowing Renly than that boy who sat next to him in lectures or the girl he'd met at a house party that one time, people Renly always casually told him were nobody important. And sometimes, after they'd gone their separate ways for the evening, Loras would find himself wondering what Renly would say about him if Loras happened to bump into him while he with another one of his acquaintances. He could hear his words now. That's just some guy I sometimes get coffee with would no doubt be the reply.

And yet the more Renly pushed him gently away, the more desperate Loras found himself becoming to be different from all those other people, to be the person that Renly did tell things to, that he did let through those walls of his.

As it happened though, that seemed very very unlikely.

A/N Thanks guys for all the interest :) This will be updated every Wednesday evening from now on :)