AN: In case anyone was wondering, Jon's last name is Stark in here because while in GoT a bastard's last name is determined by the providence he lives in, nowadays we are much more civil and fair about that- in fact, being a bastard isn't really a big thing anymore. So there you go. On to the next!
Note: Missie is a little on the fierce side, you can see some hints of it in the show, and since this is a world without slave cities, she is not a suppressed person. ~Foxy
Chapter four: Dany
The door slammed. Another late student left to the ridicule of the teacher. She was too interested in other matters to care.
Dany read over the small section in her text book, and was actually astonished to see that she was the only one to complete it. Perhaps there was a rule somewhere, stating that one must sleep, or flirt, or text- anything but doing what the teacher had assigned- and she just wasn't aware of it. Missie pulled pieces of lined-paper from her curls, discarding them to the floor with a grimace; the boy behind her definitely wasn't a shy one.
A cold index finger pressed into her bare neck, forcing her back to straighten. She turned to face the owner of the husky voice, and was appalled at its familiarity. Dark curly hair and a warm smile: it was the man from earlier- the man who caused Viserys to turn on her.
But he hadn't done it on purpose; which was the truth, although it was hard to convince her so. The class mocked him some more, which caused her cheeks to burn with a blush. Was he flirting? Everyone else seemed to think so. Dany was not prepared for this- she was not used to receiving advances of affection. But soon after, he made it very clear it was not so. Starting a little fight over a note? Poor Dany just about died from embarrassment.
She had two classes that day, but some of the other students were more than blessed to have a single class that morning. The next lecture started in half an hour, and the professor was an old family friend, a man by the name of Jorah Mormont. Viserys tolerated him, but she thought he was nice- except he always stared at her shamelessly, and to the point of it being uncomfortable. Even went as far as comparing her to a goddess one time. An older man would not earn a teenaged girl's favor in this way- or any way similar. He gave her the creeps. Plain and simple.
"Ditch with me?" Missie asked, smiling to her first, and then frowning to her tormentor second. He blew her a kiss and popped a strip of chewing gum onto his tongue. Missie gave an audible noise of disgust, causing the boy's cockiness to burn away, and he pulled on the coat of a red headed boy, both of them flocking over to Dany's mystery man. He leaned on the brick wall, clearly annoyed with his eyes cast to the floor and bottom lip between his teeth.
"I really shouldn't, it's the first day." Dany pushed a silvery strand of hair away from her mouth, and shrugged on her falling bag strap. But her friend pushed out her full lips and pouted, and tugged with all of her weight on the other girl's thin arm.
"I need to get my hair done at that creepy salon- the one in the alley behind the market- don't let me go alone!"
"But-"
"You said the teacher was a total creeper anyways, come on, Dany! I'll pay to have your hair done too~!"
"You-" She stopped walking, turning to Missie with a look of sheer hopefulness, "you will?"
"Yeah- I got some money for all those old records in my closet. You have to ditch with me though. No turning back."
For the longest time, Dany had wanted to dye her hair. While she was often reminded of its beauty, and asked about it from envious women and occasionally children, she thought of it was nothing but a curse. Her mother had that hair. She had it till the day she died. And a very intoxicated Viserys would often cry into her locks and refer to her as 'mother', and asking her why she had left instead of 'stupid Dany'. Many times an old friend would gasp with tearful eyes. 'You look just like her- you look just like your mother!' But that wasn't who she was. That wasn't who she wanted to be. She was Daenerys, not the reflection of a ghost.
She scrimped and saved whatever change she could, so that she may color it something else. Black. Blue. Pink. But the money would never stay in its hiding place. She couldn't blame her brother for being addicted to something so expensive, but she could blame him for stealing. He was plagued with demons too.
"Um…" Her violet eyes traced the distance between them and the door, opening and closing with each entering peer, "Just this once… Good job Missandei. You found my Achilles' heel and used it in a way that will disrupt my learning experience. I'm such a freakin' Push-over." She swatted at her with her pine-green binder, "Bad friend. B-AH-D friend."
Both of them laughed and strutted out the exit past the group of boys. Maybe they wanted to show off as girls so often do- or perhaps they were just two really best friends with a full day ahead. Whatever the case, one thing was certain.
"Viserys isn't going to be very happy about this." Dany shook in the swivel chair, head bent at as the older women brushed dark, harsh smelling goop on to her roots.
"Maybe he'll like it…" Missie said as her head was bent back into the sink, thumbs marked pages in whatever outdated magazine she had found. "What color are you getting?"
"A… 'Summery Gold'?" She quoted the ripped box that sat on the counter to her left, sniffling as her nostrils burned and her scalp itched. "Supposed to be a blonde, I guess?"
"Sounds pretty."
"Sounds pretentious."
"Ooh!" Missie gave an excited hoot as some sort of oil was rubbed into the ends of her hair, "that was a big word! Lookit you, Dany! Stepping up in the World."
"Don't patronize me, Miss."
"There's another one!"
"Do you think they'll let me go pee with this stuff on?"
"I wouldn't chance it. What if you can't find your bottoms past the smock? That'd put you in a pretty compromising position."
"I'll just hold it, then. Even though that's not good..." She trailed off, staring at the vast amount of dust sitting on the out of reach shelves. "Why did you need to get your hair done today? Couldn't you have waited till the weekend?"
"Not if we're going to the Frosh party tonight."
"We're not." Dany warned in a correcting tone, being ushered over to the hairdryer.
"It was part of the deal. Check the fine print before you go accepting free hair dye."
"What?" She called over the loud buzzing; the hot air burned the apples of her cheeks and forced her to blink wildly. "You didn't say-"
"Because you would have said no if I had." She admitted as soon as her comrade's drier died into silence, leaving a frantic foil-covered girl.
"But Viserys has a poker game tonight. And I promised to cook for his friends."
"It's at midnight. Your brother will probably be out cold before you know it." Missie tried not to appear too pleased with the scalp massage she was receiving, after all, this was a serious conversation. "Just sneak out your window and I'll pick you up at the corner- you know, the one with the wonky stop sign?"
Dany glared at her with fierce, burning eyes. Say no. Don't let yourself get pushed into things. You are not buying what she's selling. But. She's the only friend you have. You only get one life you know! Be young and crazy!
Say no! Say yes! No. Yes. No- come on stupid. Go for it.
"He better be a sleep, and this better look damn good."
But it did not look good. Not in the slightest.
"What happened?!" Dany gasped out in huff, taking the box into her hands. "It says 'Summery Gold', not fucking-" she threw her angry fists up to motion to the mirror," –this!"
Another woman approached the back at the salon upon hearing the squeals of disapproval. She examined the box and looked towards the younger girl responsible for the dying. Just then Missie appeared out of the bathroom, wiping her wet hands on her jeans; her mouth opened as wide as it could.
"OH SHIT."
"MISSIE!" Dany sobbed out as she swivel around to face her, eyeliner under her eyes in a black mess, "Look at it! It's ruined! I just wanted it to be like- like- like a blonde! Oh god, Viserys will wake the dragon! He will!"
"No one's waking anything-" Missie assured, swiveling her friend back towards the mirror, where she immediately dropped her head onto the counter with a bang, and cried further when it actually hurt. "What went wrong?"
"I put this one in the far back," started the older hairdresser, explaining it more to the other employee than to Missie. "You see, this one didn't come with a package. I put this color in an empty 'Summery Gold' box; I didn't think it'd be used. Check the bottom, I did label it."
And it was labeled, in blue chicken scratch: 'Rich Chocolate'.
"It's pretty Dany, it really is- look! Don't you like it?" She whispered carefully, rubbing her best friend's shoulders.
A puffy eyed girl lifted her face to her reflection, and stared at it. It was dark. Darker than what she was used to. But it was pretty, with red and violet strands- she did like it, and that was what only mattered to most people, but most people didn't have a brother like hers. She wiped her nose on her sleeve, "…Yes."
"Good… come on, fix your makeup."
"That's… 40 for the oil massage and 70 for the color," the lady gave a fabricated smile, and sat her empty palm on the countertop. "So, about… 111.00 with tax."
"No."Missie argued, "That's 30 for the massage, 25 for your fuck-up. And you'll throw in a complimentary shampoo bottle- none of that cheap shit. Give me that Wen stuff you have under the counter. Yeah, that. And I'm taking this magazine."
"Did they really just give you all of that stuff?" Dany questioned in a croaky voice, rubbing her cheeks where the salty tears had burn them.
"Oh yeah, totally. I just lied and said I was a Lannister." Missie examined the outside of one of the many bottles, reading the directions as she hobbled over the uneven road.
"Why would you do that?"
"To get all this free crap. Duh."
"I've got to go shopping." Dany stopped and swung her bag back over her sweater clad shoulder. "See you later?"
"Yeah. You're down to go to that party tonight, right? There's going to be drinks, music, and delectable hottiesss."
"Where is it gonna be at?"
"I dunno. I'll text Renly and let you know later."
"I don't like Renly," Dany's nose scrunched up and she had made a face as if she had bit into something overwhelmingly sour. Renly Tyrell was notorious for being-literally- the center of everyone's universe. And the other thing…
"'Cause he's gay?" Missie said bluntly, playing with her smartphone.
"Nooo. Because he always insists on bear hugging me till my boobies hurt, and calling me 'bro'."
"It's more like-" Missie looked away from her phone for a moment, so that she could make an accurate depiction in the gruffest voice she could produce. "- 'bruh, got a snapchat? Dick-pics only bruh.' Then he winks like he's hot shit."
"'Hey bro- got a cigarette.' " Dany hunched her shoulders, letting out a horrible old man voice. " 'Wouldn't be the first fag I've had in my mouth today'."
"Dany!" The dark skinned girl let out a melodic laugh, baring her perfect teeth. "That's so messed up! Don't say stuff like that!"
"I didn't! Renly did!"
"Well, yeah, he kinda has the right to. Don't go repeating that around town though!" She shoved the wide eyed brunette, "and fix that voice- dear god, you sound like that old guy at the library!"
"I think that's my uncle."
"Ew, haha." Missie kissed her cheek, and relished in the smell of freshly dyed hair, "see you! Dress hot or else."
"Can't promise you anything."
Dany approached the duplex where her brother was smoking on the lanai beside an enormous stranger with tan skin, long black hair, and rippling arms jutting out from his short sleeved top. The larger man stood up to help her with the groceries she struggled with, but both of them were so unpredictable, that his attempt complicated things. Viserys laughed until he didn't.
"What the fuck?"
"Viserys- I can explain." Dany extended her hand defensively.
"No-no." He shook his head and hand simultaneously, taking a drag on his golden stemmed cigarette. "What do you think?"
At first Dany thought he had meant her, but after a moment had passed, it was clear that he didn't care what she had thought about it. As long as she lived beneath his roof, it was his hair.
The taller man examined her head with dark eyes, dragging his calloused hand through the soft, clean locks, admiring the color that the sunlight had rendered. He simply muttered something, but it was clear from the thick accent that English was not his first language. "Beautiful."
"You should have seen it before, Drogo." Viserys returned through an exhale of smoke, using a sweet yet taunting tone, "I think it looks…"
He gave a moment, as if he were searching for the perfect word to end his perfect sentence,"… ugly."
The man called Drogo tensed, he didn't understand the game between the two siblings, and was highly offended that the other man did not agree with him. He was used to people smaller than him conceding with his every choice. And for no reason but his own, he grew angry. "No. Beautiful. She is beautiful, you are blind."
"Woah! Easy there big fella."Watching her brother lean back in his seat uncomfortably made her giggle, and his eyes moved to her immediately. Her smile only grew more, and she realized that she had won the favor of his own friend. "Better get cookin'. Last time I check, dinner doesn't cook itself."
A glance from the larger man caused her brother to add in something before she had shut the door. "Oh- and uh, Dany… it looks… okay."
"Thank you." She smiled sincerely as the door clicked shut.
