Renly smiled idly as he strolled towards the practice yard, enjoying the warm sunshine on his face. It was a rare treat at Storm's End and he hadn't even attempted to attend to any official duties, pressing or not, before heading outside to enjoy the weather.
With Loras having thrown himself into practice at the training yard he had quite forgotten his promise to show him the top of the battlements, and with this weather the opportunity was too good to pass up. He had no doubt too that Loras would have bounded out of bed at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the sunny weather, which, apart from his family, was one of the things Renly knew he missed most about Highgarden. Indeed even from afar he could still make out the mop of curly hair, shining almost gold in the sunshine. Loras was practicing archery, something he enjoyed far less than sword fighting and jousting and yet was still rather good at. Renly wondered if there was anything Loras would fail at if he tried it. Other than obeying authority, that is, he thought with a chuckle.
Over the last few months Loras had quickly turned from being Renly's squire to being his friend and companion, something Renly had no complaints about. Besides, with his insubordinate and feisty nature Loras made a much better friend than he did a squire. The jests whispered under his breath and the looks he would throw Renly made him laugh harder than he had in his life. To his credit though, Loras did check in on Renly most mornings to bring him food and hot water for a bath, and to ask if he needed help with his clothing, something Renly usually refused. Renly was pleased by the offer but he found the whole concept of having someone so close to him in age and whom he considered his friend dressing and undressing him to be a little unsettling.
He came to stand next to Ser Bryen, who was standing with his arms crossed as he watched Loras aim his arrow at a target. The Master at Arms had taken quite an interest in Loras, unsurprisingly, as the boy had bested Renly in swordplay during his first week at Storm's End.
"He's quite good, your little squire, my Lord." Ser Bryen commented casually, to which Renly could only chuckle. It was quite the understatement and yet it was as much of a compliment as one would ever get from the Master at Arms.
Just then Loras released his arrow and it hit the target only a few inches from the center. Renly saw Loras' shoulders slump in disappointment as he slowly turned around, as if he knew he was being watched. He looked wary for a moment, and then smiled broadly as his eyes landed on Renly. With a slight smirk Loras turned back to the target and aimed his arrow at the target once more.
"Although, my Lord, I dare say it would do him some good to be knocked down a few pegs!" Ser Bryen said gruffly.
"Yes, he does quite like to show off, does he not?" Renly said with amusement. While he knew Loras' antics probably annoyed Ser Bryen to no end, Renly only found them amusing. Furthermore, it was obvious that Loras did not care one bit what people thought of him, and so the fact that he always made a point to show off when he knew Renly was watching was quite flattering.
A flock of pigeons suddenly flew over the yard and to Renly's surprise, Loras raised his bow to the sky and released his arrow. The birds sped away in fright as one unfortunate animal dropped to the ground with a thump, Loras' arrow having pierced him straight in the belly.
Loras whipped around and beamed at Renly as several people, including Ser Bryen, stared at him in shock.
"Hey Renly! Supper is ready!" Loras exclaimed, bursting out into laughter.
Renly felt a burning desire to laugh and yet managed to keep it down. By now everyone was aware that Loras called him by his name but somehow, judging by the horrified look on Ser Bryen's face, that knowledge had escaped the Master at Arms. Renly heard Ser Bryen take a deep breath and Renly quickly figured he should get Loras out of there fast before things got messy.
"Loras!" He called to his squire. "Come with me."
He had tried to use the most commanding tone he could yet it proved quite ineffective, Loras only looking at him in confusion before putting down his bow and walking over to him. Renly grabbed his upper arm and dragged him away forcefully, aware of Loras' questioning eyes looking up at him. Once they were out of sight of the training yard, he let go of Loras' arm, and the younger boy turned to look at him angrily.
"I'm sorry," Renly began sheepishly as he saw Loras rubbing his upper arm gingerly. "I didn't mean to cause you harm, but you should be more careful with Ser Bryen. He's…set in his ways, and he'll expect you to act a certain way around me."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Loras said. "My Lord." He finished, his voice flat and unreadable.
Renly sighed. He had seen from his observation of the training yard that Loras had quite a temper and so this passive aggressive reaction was not what he had expected.
"Don't be like that Loras. You know I had to do that." He said imploringly. Loras only looked down at the ground and scuffed his boot along the rocky ground in silence. Renly contemplated for a second how odd it was that it was he, the Lord of Storm's End, who was asking forgiveness from his squire, and not the other way around.
"Whatever." Loras mumbled reluctantly, clearly still quite irritated and unwilling to admit Renly was right.
"Come, I really do have something to show you." Renly said, laughing under his breath as he saw Loras' eyes light up despite his resentment.
Renly smiled as he led Loras back to the castle and began to feel his squire's irritation melt away as curiosity took over. Ever since their second night together, when he had shown Loras the cave, Renly knew that Loras' sense of adventure was stronger than any anger or melancholy he could be feeling.
As he entered the castle Renly walked along the perimeter of the exterior wall until he found the doorway he was looking for, flanked by two guards who nodded at him respectfully as he approached. He slipped inside, followed closely by Loras, and proceeded up the steep, curving staircase. It had been a while since he'd been up here and he had forgotten quite how long the climb was. He could hear Loras panting behind him, clearly struggling to keep up with Renly's longer legs.
The air was stuffy and damp inside the cramped stairwell, and Renly was glad for the burst of fresh air as they emerged into the bright sunlight. He went to lean against the parapet, listening to the crashing waves discernible even 150 feet up as they were. It was the best view one could get on Storm's End, Renly thought; Shipbreaker's Bay to the east, the Rainwood and bleak mountains to the south and west and the faint outline of the Kingswood to the north. He used to come up here for hours when he was a child, sitting right in the crenels of the parapet and staring out at the sea. Ser Cortnay had eventually found his hiding spot after ordering every member of the castle to go search for him.
He smiled fondly at the memory and turned towards Loras. To his surprise, Loras was deliberately standing in the middle of the walkway, eyeing the gaps in the low wall rather warily.
"Are you frightened of heights, Loras?" He asked teasingly. He knew that Loras despised being teased and yet he couldn't resist the temptation. Something about the way Loras' cheeks flushed pink and his jaw would clench never failed to amuse Renly.
Sure enough, Loras glared at him angrily. "I'm not frightened of anything." He mumbled. "It's just a long way to fall isn't it?"
That was such a Loras thing to say that Renly could only laugh and grab his arm again, gently this time, to bring him closer to the parapet. He moved his hand to rest on Loras' shoulder as he pointed north-east with the other.
"That's Evenfall Hall. You can see the outline of it sometimes on very clear days."
"Have you been?" Loras asked. "I hear it's supposed to be quite beautiful." Despite his words Loras' tone made it clear that in his mind no place could ever be as beautiful as Highgarden.
"I have, actually. I went on a short tour right before my fourteenth birthday." Renly answered. "The ocean shines like sapphires and there are waterfalls everywhere you look." Renly grimaced though as he remembered one particularly odd development during his stay.
"Lord Selwyn is quite something though. He kept pushing his daughter at me as if she was a plate of sweets I should have a second look at." He said.
Loras burst out laughing. "And did you? Have a second look, that is?" He asked. His voice was all innocence but by now Renly knew not to be fooled.
"I'm quite used to every Lord and their mother pushing young and not-so-young girls at me and yet she was quite a surprise." He smirked at Loras' questioning look. "She was taller than me, for starters, and almost as broad in the shoulders. Also, she seemed rather more willing to challenge me with a sword than with anything else."
"A bride who can wield a weapon! I'm sorry but that is really not what you need, Renly!" Loras exclaimed before bursting out in laughter.
Renly nudged him playfully in the shoulder before turning back to the sea, partly to hide his embarrassment. Truth be told he found the whole ordeal of having girls paraded before him to be more than uncomfortable, especially considering that he never seemed to be particularly attracted to even the prettiest of them. He tried to push that thought from his mind as quickly as it had come, instead squinting into the distance to try and make out the island in the distance. However, although the sun was shining down over Storm's End, as he looked out at the ocean Renly could see dark clouds approaching from the east.
"There's a storm coming." Loras said, making Renly jump. This wasn't the first occasion where Loras had seemed to read his mind and Renly was beginning to wonder if that was a secret talent of House Tyrell.
"So it seems." Renly agreed. "We should get back. I expect Ser Bryen will want to have a word with you soon enough."
Loras smirked. "And should I tell him you beat me delirious for my insolence and threatened to throw me off the battlements?"
"Precisely!" Renly agreed. "That should do the trick nicely I reckon." Their laughter echoed against the damp walls of the staircase as they made their way back down the steep, curving steps.
Hours later, Renly sat in his bed, reading a book by candlelight. It was one of the endless books on the history of Westeros that Ser Cortnay kept pushing him to read, and this one proved to be just as dull as the others. The storm rolling in from the sea had just hit the castle and the loud cracks of thunder and the rain pelting against his windows did little to help his concentration. His mind had just started to wander to another book that would keep his attention much more effectively, when a soft knock on the door brought him back to reality.
"Who is it?" He called out, not quite sure who to expect in his chambers at that time of night.
"It's me! Can I come in?" The voice on the other side of the door replied. Renly chuckled; there was only one person in all the seven kingdoms who would have dared respond to him so casually, and either way he would have known that voice anywhere.
"Come in, Loras!" He replied, closing his book and setting it on the table beside his bed.
Loras stepped into his chambers, closing the door behind him softly. He was dressed in linen breeches and a white undershirt, and Renly thought he looked quite different without his usual dazzling green and gold garments.
"Did I wake you?" Loras asked almost shyly.
"Oh not at all, actually you rescued me from the terrible fate of having to read about some Targaryen or other having to marry his sister." Renly chuckled, and yet Loras remained standing awkwardly by the door, averting his eyes and looking down at the ground.
"Why are you not sleeping?" He tried again, this time in genuine concern. He knew his squire was prone to wake up at the crack of dawn to get as much training in as he could and so he must have been exhausted by the time night came.
"It's just…the storm is very loud, and I couldn't fall asleep with the sound of the rain and thunder…" Loras said hesitantly.
Renly felt a sudden warmth of affection for his squire; Loras could pretend to be as tough he as he liked and yet it was moments like these that proved that his curly-haired friend was more of a human being than anyone else Renly had ever known. Loras was brash and arrogant on the surface but when you scraped that away he was unabashedly raw and honest in a way that Renly, who had been brought up with the fake charm of court, found quite unsettling.
"Come." Renly said, patting the sheets next to him.
Loras came to sit on the edge of his bed, still looking quite uncomfortable. Renly couldn't blame him; they often lounged around in his room in the evenings, usually pretending to come up with a response to a raven Renly had received, while really just talking about inconsequential things, but then they were always fully clothed.
"The storm is always quieter here." He mentioned. "The windows are built more thickly."
Renly smiled as he saw Loras nod sleepily; even with his squire's initial discomfort, it seemed he wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere.
Renly reached over and tugged the blankets on Loras' side of the bed open.
"Stay. Get some sleep." He said, leaning over to blow out the candle next to his bed.
From the other side of the bed he felt Loras slide under the blankets, and within what seemed like minutes he heard his breathing shift to the slow cadence of sleep.
Renly though found it harder to fall asleep, his mind wandering to the last time he had shared a bed with someone. He had spent much of the Siege clinging to his older brother and yet this felt quite different, for some reason Renly couldn't quite place.
He was brought out of his reverie when he felt Loras shift in his sleep, the younger boy curling up into a ball and leaning into Renly's back. Renly supposed it was one of those unconscious, affectionate gestures that Loras was used to sharing with his siblings, and yet he couldn't help but tense up slightly. The feeling was far from unpleasant thought; Loras was warm against his back, quite like a cat curling up to sleep. Renly felt himself holding his breath, afraid to move lest he wake the boy sleeping next to him.
