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Alicent gets off the bus on Monday feeling more anxious than usual, scanning the courtyard for Rhaenyra’s distinctive silver hair. She probably should relax. It’s probably no big deal. It’s just—she’s never really dated anyone, in school or otherwise, and isn’t really sure how she should act around Rhaenyra. Should she approach her? Ignore her? Pretend nothing has changed?
She should probably follow Rhaenyra’s lead, she decides, as she walks into the building. It was one date, and even if it was great, better than great really, it doesn’t have to mean the same to Rhaenyra that it did to Alicent. Rhaenyra might have texted her a bunch of times during the weekend, but might still not want to go on another date. Might not acknowledge Alicent at all. That would be fine.
It’s silly to be this nervous, she knows. It’s not like Rhaenyra is some high-school movie mean girl who only went out on a date with Alicent for some bet and is going to reveal it was all a joke in the cruelest and most dramatic way possible. If Rhaenyra doesn’t feel the same way about the date, they’ll just go their separate ways and that will be that.
Right?
Still. Even if King’s Landing High isn’t exactly a high school movie, and Rhaenyra isn’t some mean jock – she isn’t – there are still students who command attention, and students who don’t. Rhaenyra is popular. Exceedingly so. She is always surrounded by people, always at the center of attention, and the school at large loves gossiping endlessly about who she might or might not be dating. Alicent is not an outcast, but she is far from popular. She likes to stay in the background, get in no trouble, and do exactly what is expected of her. Half of her classmates still think her name is “Alison”, even after four years.
Alicent has to admit, though, it turns out she likes Rhaenyra. A lot, actually, even if they might not work out. She liked their date, and Rhaenyra’s smiles and dumb jokes, and the dimples that show up on her cheeks when she grins for real. She liked kissing her. Part of her kind of wants Rhaenyra to pay attention to her in school, where everybody might see, even if she also would prefer Rhaenyra to ignore her completely and pretend nothing at all happened.
It might be preferable, really, for Rhaenyra to ignore her. Alicent isn’t exactly ready to have the “I am dating Rhaenyra” conversation with her dad just yet. He isn’t exactly friendly with other parents, but with Alicent’s luck, it would surely get back to him somehow.
Alicent makes it to her locker so lost in her own spiraling thoughts that she nearly collides into Criston, who is, as usual, waiting for her to walk to the first class they share.
“Hey, Ali,” he says as Alicent opens her locker. “How was the weekend? Made any progress on the new campaign?”
Alicent shakes her head. She’s been working on a homebrew campaign for the better part of two months. It started as a small one-shot she planned to try on the party, but she still hasn’t been able to finish it. She tried to keep it simple but then decided to tweak a few rules and introduce some of her own ideas because it seemed fun. Then she figured it would be interesting to create a new setting, and then the setting needed structures and rules. Somehow, one day she found she’d spent four hours devising the rules of spell-casting underwater, had five different spreadsheets for the campaign, and barely even had a plot.
She works on it most of her weekends, for hours at a time, often video calling Gwayne, if he has the time, to show her progress and get his ideas regarding the spell-casting mechanics she keeps endlessly tweaking. This weekend though, between the date, thinking about the date, and then Rhaenyra sending her dumb memes and videos all weekend, Alicent barely even glanced at her campaign files.
“Not quite,” she admits, pulling her chemistry book from her locker. “Didn’t get to work on it at all, really.”
Criston gives her a befuddled look. “You didn’t work on it at all ? Were you sick?”
Alicent crosses her arms. Is it really that surprising that she might want to do something else with her weekend? First, her father assumed she’d stay in on Friday and now Criston is shocked she has other interests besides Towers and Dragons. They’re not exactly wrong, but it still rubs her the wrong way.
Alicent opens her mouth to say something scathing, but Criston doesn’t let her.
“Oh, shit,” he says, looking at something behind Alicent. “Rhaenyra is coming this way. How does my hair look?”
Alicent narrows his eyes at him. “Your hair?”
Criston is too busy looking at his image in his cell phone camera and fiddling with the placement of stray locks of his hair to notice her expression. “I wanna ask her out.”
Alicent blinks. “You want to ask Rhaenyra out?”
Criston looks up, his hair perfectly imperfect, and raises his eyebrows. “Yeah,” he says. “I think she might go for it.”
Alicent bites the inside of her cheek. Would she? Alicent and Rhaenyra have only gone on one date, and Rhaenyra could be dating other people. Has she been flirting with Criston, too?
“What makes you say that?” Alicent asks.
Criston straightens his shirt. “She came to the Towers and Dragons session. She wanted to trade characters with me. I think she was there to see me.”
Well, that is just a bit presumptuous, isn’t it? Alicent crosses her arms. “Maybe she had other reasons to be there?”
Criston snorts. “Like what, actually playing Towers and Dragons? C’mon,” he says, and then straightens, putting a big, fake smile on his face. “Ok, pretend I made you laugh. She’s coming over here.”
Criston lets out an extremely fake bark of laughter. Alicent keeps her eyes crossed and glares at him. She turns around to see Rhaenyra lean her shoulder against the locker to the right of Alicent’s.
She really, really hopes Rhaenyra isn’t about to flirt with Criston in front of her. Alicent might actually die if that happens.
“Rhaenyra,” Criston says, smiling wide. “Hey! How was your weekend?”
Rhaenyra gives Criston a distracted, if polite, smile. “Oh, hey Cristian.”
Criston’s face falls so hard that Alicent almost feels bad for him. Almost .
“Criston,” he corrects.
Rhaenyra snaps her fingers, giving him a sheepish smile. “Ah, shit,” she says, “Sorry, Criston.”
Before Criston can reply, Rhaenyra turns her attention towards Alicent, her smile widening. “Hey.”
Alicent really wishes she could help the absolutely dumb smile that spreads across her face. As it is, she can feel it going almost from ear to ear. “Hey.”
“Are you doing anything after school today?” Rhaenyra asks.
Alicent resists the urge to do something completely idiotic, like twirling her hair. “Nope.”
Rhaenyra grins, bouncing on her heels. “Sweet,” she says. “Wanna hang out? We can do homework, or whatever?”
Alicent raises her eyebrows. “You want to hang out to do homework?”
Rhaenyra grins even wider, her dimples showing and her eyes shining. She shrugs. “Or whatever.”
To Alicent’s everlasting credit, she manages to stifle the embarrassing giggle that wants to escape her lips. “Sure, sounds fun.”
A passing soccer player gives Rhaenyra a pat on the back, and she nods at them. “See you at practice, Cregan, don’t be late!” she yells after him and then turns her eyes back to Alicent. “See you after the last period, then?”
Alicent valiantly fights the desire to kiss Rhaenyra in the middle of the hallway, if only to wipe the confused look off Criston’s face.
“Sounds good.”
*
“You went on a date with her,” Criston repeats.
Alicent sighs as she avoids colliding with a student that’s running in the opposite direction, and absolutely not looking at where he’s going. “Yes,” she replies. “For the third time . We went on a date on Friday.”
“With Rhaenyra,” Criston says. “Targaryen. The captain of our soccer team.”
Alicent puts her backpack down on her seat. “Yes. Do you know any other Rhaenyras?”
Criston takes his usual seat next to her. “She asked you out.”
Alicent glares at him as she takes out her notebook. “The disbelief is starting to feel a bit offensive, Criston.”
Criston raises his hands in defeat. “Sorry,” he says. He is quiet for a few moments, his brow furrowed in concentration. He turns to Alicent. “Are you sure it was, like, a date date ? ”
Alicent was pretty sure when Rhaenyra tried to put her hand up her shirt as they made out. Yes.
“Pretty sure, Criston,” Alicent says instead. “Is that really so hard to believe?”
Criston gives her a contrite look. “Sorry, no,” he says, sounding very much like the answer is actually yes. “Sorry, I just — I’m surprised. I didn’t know you were into girls.”
“Surprised by what?” Tyland asks, taking his regular seat behind Alicent.
“Alicent thinks she went on a date with Rhaenyra,” Criston explains.
Alicent throws her hands up in the air. “I don’t think I did, Criston,” she exclaims. “I did .”
Tyland tilts his head. “Rhaenyra?” he asks. “Targaryen?”
Criston points at Tyland. “See, that’s what I asked.”
Alicent groans.
*
Alicent only catches glimpses of Rhaenyra for the rest of the morning, which is fine. She didn’t exactly expect Rhaenyra to be all over her at school, nor would she want that. They’ve made plans for after school, and even if all of her friends think she imagined her date with Rhaenyra, Alicent knows it was real.
Still, somehow, by the time lunch arrives, Alicent has worked herself into a truly wretched mood.
Maybe the date wasn’t even that good. Maybe Rhaenyra thought the kiss sucked, or that Alicent was boring, and wants to see her after school to let her down gently.
She walks into the lunchroom and puts down her tray at her usual table, next to Criston, and across from Larys.
As she sits down, the sound of laughter rings through the lunchroom, and Alicent looks up to see Rhaenyra sitting with her usual crowd. She’s clearly just said something funny, because Harwin is wiping away tears as he chuckles. Jason is making a disgusted and amused face, and Laena is smiling wide, her eyes shining with mirth.
Rhaenyra leans into Laena, says something in her ear, and the other girl lets out a loud belly laugh, punching Rhaenyra playfully in the arm as Rhaenyra grins in delight, evidently proud of herself for making Laena laugh.
Rhaenyra then looks up and her eyes lock with Alicent for a moment. Alicent cannot help it. She tenses, blushing deeply, realizing Rhaenyra has just caught her staring at her like an absolute weirdo.
If Rhaenyra cares, she doesn’t show it. She just gives Alicent a small, almost distracted smile and glances away.
Criston clears his throat. “So,” he says. “Are we on for the session tomorrow?”
*
By the time school ends, Alicent is half ready to bail on Rhaenyra. She barely even talked to Rhaenyra, and she still somehow made a fool of herself. She will cancel, and Rhaenyra can let her down by text, and Alicent can spend as long as she needs crafting a response that seems appropriately nonchalant.
Even as she tells herself this, she knows she’s full of crap. She won’t bail.
When the time comes, she steps outside, and when she sees Rhaenyra leaning on the hood of her car, waiting for her, she walks over.
Alicent clutches the strap of her backpack. “Hey.”
Rhaenyra smiles wide. “Hey,” she echoes, jumping off the car and walking towards the passenger door. “Are you ready? We can go to my place? My dad won’t be home for hours.”
Alicent bites the inside of her bottom lip. “Are you sure you, like, want to hang out?”
Rhaenyra furrows her brow. “Yeah?”
“Ok,” Alicent says. “Because I’m not—If you’d rather do something else, with your friends or whatever, that is fine.”
Rhaenyra blinks. “Sorry, I’m confused,” she says. “I thought you wanted to hang out? Why would I rather do something else?”
Alicent bites harder on her lower lip. Because you didn’t pay attention to me. Because when we locked eyes at lunch and you looked away, it hurt my feelings. Because my friends think I’m imagining things .
“Nothing,” Alicent says. “Nevermind, it’s stupid. I want to hang out.”
Rhaenyra gives her a quizzical look. She shrugs. “My place then?”
Alicent nods. “Sure, sounds good.”
*
Rhaenyra turns to Alicent as they enter her house. “Do you have homework to do?” she asks. “Or are you cool to just hang out?”
Alicent has an essay to finish, and her entire AP chemistry assignment to get through. “I’m ok,” she says. “I’m happy to hang out.”
Rhaenyra smiles. “Awesome,” she says, and then grabs Alicent’s hand with no warning, just as she did during their date, and guides them towards the living room.
Alicent smiles and lets herself be dragged towards a big sectional couch in the middle of the living room. Rhaenyra lets go of Alicent’s hand to sit down on the couch, cross-legged, and grabs a remote. “Wanna watch something?”
Alicent hesitates a bit too long before sitting at a distance she hopes is both close enough to be casual and far enough to not look needy. Truth be told, there’s something else she’d much rather do other than watch TV, but an ugly knot of insecurity has been gnawing at her all day, ever since lunch, and there’s no possible way she could make the first move right now.
“Sure,” she says. “Whatever you’d like. I’m not picky.”
Rhaenyra smiles, and flicks around a streaming app before settling on a reality show called “So You Think You Can Beat a Dragon?” where people try to avoid an animatronic dragon soaking them in orange goop and “burning them” while trying to go through an elaborate obstacle course.
They watch for about five minutes, and it’s five minutes too long for Alicent. What is this garbage? How does a thing like this even get the green light to be produced? She turns to Rhaenyra to make a comment along those lines, only to find Rhaenyra smiling at her.
Alicent feels heat settle in her cheeks. “What?”
Rhaenyra grins wider. “Nothing,” she says, shrugging. “You’re just really hot.”
Alicent blushes harder. She probably looks like a tomato. “Umm, thank you.”
Rhaenyra inches closer on the couch, her eyes flashing to Alicent’s lips. “Can I kiss you?”
Alicent is nodding before Rhaenyra even finishes asking the question.
*
The kiss rather quickly devolves into a heavy make-out session. Rhaenyra kisses her, quite gently and hesitantly at first, which makes Alicent’s stomach flutter. She loops her arms around Rhaenyra’s neck, and Rhaenyra then wastes no time in deepening the kiss. When Alicent feels Rhaenyra’s fingertips sneak underneath her shirt, she switches the angle of her body to make it easier for Rhaenyra’s hand to slide upwards.
Then, minutes into the make-out session, Alicent is practically straddling Rhaenyra, both of Rhaenyra’s hands are under her shirt, on her back, resting just below the clasp of her bra, and her lips already feel swollen from kissing.
It’s precisely at that moment that somebody clears their throat behind them.
Alicent’s entire body tenses instantly, her heart sinking all the way down to her toes. She jumps from Rhaenyra so fast she nearly falls off the couch.
Rhaenyra, for her part, just sits there on the couch, completely unfazed. “Hey, Dad.”
Rhaenyra’s dad is a man of similar age as Alicent’s father, with short sparse silver hair. He is looking at them amusedly. “Hi, Rhaenyra,” he says. “Hello, Rhaenyra’s friend.”
Alicent wonders if it would be rude to just run away without saying anything, and move to Highgarden to live with her cousins. Probably, right?
“Hi, um, sir – Mr. Targaryen. Hi.”
Rhaenyra’s dad grimaces. “Please,” he says, “call me Viserys. Are you two staying for dinner?”
Rhaenyra nods. “I’ll be around,” she says, then turns to Alicent. “Want to stay for dinner?”
Alicent’s blush is still intense, and she still wishes the earth could just swallow her whole, but she also is not quite ready to part with Rhaenyra just yet. “I’ll text my dad.”
Rhaenyra grins. “Awesome,” she turns to her father. “Can we order something?”
Viserys raises his eyebrows. “We ordered something yesterday. I am cooking today.”
Rhaenyra groans. “Fine,” she says. “Alicent and I will be in my room.”
Viserys hums. “Mm,” he says. “I’ll call you down. Open door, please.”
Alicent is sure blushing this much has to be a health hazard. She’s probably gonna have a stroke.
*
Alicent’s dad, shockingly, actually allows her to stay at Rhaenyra’s for dinner with almost no fuss. Alicent stares at her phone for a full minute, wondering if this is some sort of “ I am kidnapped ” code Alicent should really be getting before she gives up and decides to just enjoy the unexpected blessing.
Rhaenyra and she spend the time until dinner making out some more, although Alicent is a lot more reserved with the open door, especially with the sounds of Rhaenyra’s dad loudly humming some random tune while cooking downstairs as a background.
Rhaenyra’s dad calls them down about an hour later to a kitchen that smells strongly of something burnt.
Rhaenyra smiles as she walks into the kitchen, noticing a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the counter. “Oh, score. Can I have one of these?”
Viserys nods. “Just one. We’re about to have dinner. Your aunt Jeyne sent them over. Jessamyn has been into baking again.”
“Awesome,” she says, stuffing nearly an entire cookie into her mouth all at once. She chews loudly for a few moments and then swallows. “Oh, Dad! Alicent is into the shields and dragons thing.”
Alicent rolls her eyes. “Towers and Dragons!”
“Right, right,” Rhaenyra winks, stuffing the rest of the cookie in her mouth, not bothering to finish chewing before she continues talking. “That thing.”
Alicent gives Rhaenyra’s dad a small, tentative smile. “Rhaenyra tells me you run your own campaign, Sir?”
Viserys nods, smiles kindly, and puffs his chest. “Twenty years running. Based on the lore of Old Valyria. Entirely homebrew. I started it—”
“Before Rhaenyra was even born,” Rhaenyra interrupts, giving her dad an affectionate, exasperated smile. “Please don’t let him start with this. My dad loves this game more than he loves me.”
Viserys gives Rhaenyra a stack of plates. “My game never crashed my car.”
Rhaenyra raises her eyebrows, swiping another cookie from the plate as she makes her way to the kitchen table. “It wasn’t a crash. Barely a teensy scratch.”
Viserys shakes his head and turns to Alicent, handing her some cutlery. “Do you play Towers and Dragons?”
Alicent nods, taking the cutlery carefully. “Yes, Sir,” she says. “I — nothing as impressive as your campaign. I’ve been running premade campaigns for a couple of years.”
Rhaenyra chuckles as she sets down the plates. “See?” she says. “Total nerd. I knew you guys would like each other.”
*
When Alicent gets home, she finds her father is still down in the living room, reading something on his laptop. As usual, he’s squinting at his screen over his long-distance glasses, instead of switching to the ones he should be using.
Alicent nervously glances at the clock on the wall. 8:50 pm. She relaxes the set of her shoulders. It’s a whole forty minutes before her curfew.
“Good evening, Alicent,” her father says. “Did you have a good time with your — with Rhaenyra?”
Alicent sets her keys down in the little bowl by the door. “Yeah,” she says, “we, um, did our homework, and her dad made dinner.”
Her father purses his lips. “That’s very nice of him,” he says. “I am glad you had a good time and that you didn’t neglect your homework.”
Alicent nods. She did, actually, neglect her homework, rather horribly, but she doesn’t regret it. She will just have to get a few less hours of sleep tonight to make up for it. She should get started as soon as possible, though.
“Of course, Dad,” she says. “I should grab a shower and then get some sleep.”
Her father nods. His eyes stray towards his laptop, which is a bit odd. “I am glad,” he says, “that you’d made a… new friend. You should invite her over so I can meet her.”
What’s going with her dad? He’s never asked to meet any of her friends. Also, Rhaenyra and her dad together sounds like hell on earth. She’s definitely not doing that.
She gives her dad a smile. “Sure, I will definitely do that.”
Her father nods once more. “Very well,” he says, stiffly, with that awkward, pained look on his face he gets after they talk about anything not related to chores or her schoolwork. “Goodnight.”
*
The next morning, Alicent hardly talks to Rhaenyra. The other girl sends her a good morning message that has Alicent grinning like a fool, but then seems to be intent on ignoring Alicent completely in school. They share only one class together, Math with Professor Mellos. Rhaenyra shows up late, as usual, surrounded by her cronies, as usual, and laughing loudly at something Daemon has just said.
For a moment, it looks as if she might come Alicent’s way, and Alicent cannot help but panic. Daemon is looking at her with a smirk on his face, and he is probably her least favorite of Rhaenyra’s entourage. Alicent definitely doesn’t want to be made fun of in front of Criston. Rhaenyra did defend her from Mysaria last time, but Alicent isn’t so sure she would do the same in front of all her friends.
As it turns out, she is worried about nothing. Rhaenyra gives her another distracted look and then directs her cronies to follow her to the back of the room, without as much as a “Hey” to Alicent.
Criston watches it all with keen eyes, and Alicent just wants to stomp her feet in frustration. She shouldn’t have told him anything. All that this does is give him more ammunition to think she’s delusional.
It’s whatever, she reminds herself. She doesn’t need Rhaenyra to fawn over her at school, or talk to her, or acknowledge what they do outside of school at all. They’re just hanging out.
It’s just — well. Rhaenyra acknowledged Alicent at school before they went on a date. Excessively. She would always say hello and make dumb comments about her grades or clothes in what Alicent knows now to be misguided attempts at flirting. Now, even though she had her hands up Alicent’s shirt the afternoon before, Rhaenyra seems to want to pretend Alicent doesn’t exist.
Alicent spent twenty minutes she did not have this morning picking a cute outfit to match the skirt with flowers Rhaenyra said she’d liked, only for Rhaenyra to barely even look at her as she walked into the classroom to take her usual seat at the back with Jason and Johanna.
Criston leans towards her desk. “Hey, are you ok?”
Alicent shrugs. “Yeah,” she says. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Criston gives her an odd look. “You’re sort of… you’re holding that pen as if you might stab somebody with it?”
Alicent looks down at her hand. She’s clutching her pen so tightly it looks as if it might just snap in two. She relaxes her hand. “I am fine,” she says. “Just — it’s nothing. Are you ready for the session today?”
Criston glances towards Rhaenyra, and then back at Alicent. “Yeah, totally,” he says. “I made a new character sheet like you asked. Much more balanced.”
Alicent rolls her eyes. Criston’s idea of balance is to put some points on wisdom instead of everything on strength and charisma. She raises her eyebrows. “Let me see it.”
Criston closes his notebook. “Nope,” he says. “You’ll just have to trust me.”
Alicent opens her mouth to insist, but then closes it. Gwayne has told her, repeatedly, that she should stop trying to micromanage her players. “Fine,” she says. “But if you die, again , it’s your own fault and we’re not retconning it.”
Larys turns around in his chair and glares at Criston. “If you lead us into another TPK, I am killing your hamster.”
Criston frowns. “How did you know I have a hamster?”
Larys smiles. He taps his temple. “Exactly.”
Alicent sighs. Total Party Kill might not be a terrible idea.
*
In the end, the session is surprisingly good. Criston’s character is still imbalanced, but not enough that it hurts the party, and everybody, rather miraculously, focuses on investigating what Alicent wants them to investigate, instead of obsessing over random door knobs because Alicent made the mistake of calling them “particularly shiny.”
They have one combat encounter, explore the dungeon, and Alicent gets to have fun playing a particularly annoying NPC she’s been hoping to use forever.
It’s great. She should be happy. Instead, as she packs for the night, she finds herself still annoyed about how much Rhaenyra’s avoidance is still bothering her.
“Oh, nice! I thought I might’ve lost you.”
Alicent looks up to see Rhaenyra smiling at her. She’s wearing her soccer uniform, and looks sweaty, with mud on her forearms and some streaked on her shorts and knees. It’s not… unappealing.
She’s also breathing hard, as if she’s just finished sprinting.
“Hey,” Alicent says, trying to hold on to her anger. “Did you just run all the way here from practice?”
Rhaenyra shrugs. “Yeah,” she says. “I just wanted to catch you before you left. See if you wanted a ride, maybe?”
Alicent smiles. “That’d be nice.” Rhaenyra takes a step closer, and Alicent crinkles her nose. “I can wait for you to shower, though,” she adds.
Rhaenyra snorts, then wiggles her eyebrows. “Are you saying I stink?
Alicent makes a big show of sniffing the air. “Yes,” she says. “It’s dreadful.”
Rhaenyra chuckles. She takes a step forward. “Really?” she asks. “Too dreadful for a kiss?”
Alicent bites her tongue to keep from smiling. “Absolutely,” she replies, as deadpan as she can. “Can barely stand to be in the same room with you.”
Rhaenyra takes another step forward, standing toe-to-toe with Alicent. “Wow. That’s really hurtful.”
Alicent tilts her head and squints at Rhaenyra. “You look absolutely devastated.”
Rhaenyra’s answering smile could light up the entire room. “Positively bereft .”
Alicent chuckles. “Somebody’s been working on the vocabulary portion of the SATs.”
Rhaenyra leans in, her nose brushing against Alicent’s. “Mmm,” she hums. “I am desolate. Wretched. Inconsolable.”
Alicent rolls her eyes. “Shut up and kiss me.”
Rhaenyra does.
*
The rest of the week passes much the same. Alicent and Rhaenyra hardly interact in school, but as soon as school ends, Rhaenyra is there, wanting to hang out.
On Wednesday, Rhaenyra drives them to a beach on the outskirts of town, ostensibly to watch the sunset. They talk about their plans for the future, and what Alicent wants to do with her life, and Rhaenyra’s family, and how she is still trying to figure out what her future holds. After Rhaenyra repeatedly insists, Alicent explains her Towers and Dragons homebrew campaign, and tries to make a blueprint in the sand for the dungeon she’s been tweaking for ages to show Rhaenyra the problems with it.
Rhaenyra listens attentively and joins in trying to draw the dungeon when it's clear Alicent is hopeless at it. She somehow convinces Alicent to try to create a three-dimensional sand model of it, and they spend an hour squinting together at the tiny blueprint of it on Alicent’s phone, only for it to collapse again and again.
Rhaenyra pouts, adorably so, and Alicent cannot resist the urge to kiss her. They make out on the sand for twenty minutes, and Alicent swears she’ll find sand in her room for the next twenty years.
On Thursday, they hang out only for a little, lest Alicent’s dad remember who he is. They drive around a bit after school, and make out in Rhaenyra’s car, which is easier said than done in a tiny sports vehicle. Rhaenyra drives her home afterwards.
It’s nice. It’s great. Yet still, in school, as soon as Rhaenyra’s friends are around, she completely ignores Alicent. It’s hard not to feel a bit insecure about it. Like she’s good enough to hang out with, to kiss and touch and laugh with, as long as none of Rhaenyra’s cooler friends are there to see it.
*
On Friday, Rhaenyra texts her first thing in the morning.
morning! are u coming to the game tonite?
Alicent had planned to, but now she feels as if it’s maybe a dumb idea. Is she just gonna sit there in the bleachers, freezing her ass off, while Rhaenyra just ignores her?
I’m not sure yet.
Rhaenyra’s reply comes immediately.
pleaaaase? it’s a big game
Alicent bites her lip. She’s definitely going to regret this when she’s sitting alone in the bleachers, wishing she was home, and Rhaenyra is ignoring her.
Again.
Ok, I’ll be there. Will I see you after?
yess, awesome! i’ll look for you in the crowd
*
The game is at 7:00 pm. By 6:00 pm, Alicent has been ready for an hour and has spent her time engaging in the very productive activity of endlessly pacing around her room.
It will be fine. Even if Rhaenyra ignores her, she will be ok. It’s no big deal. It’s just a soccer game. They’ve been hanging out for a week. She doesn’t need Rhaenyra to do or say anything. She’s fine.
“Alicent,” her father calls from downstairs. “Would you come down, please? There’s something I want to talk about.”
Alicent grimaces. Something he needs to talk about? There is no way this is good. He’s probably finally come to his senses, and is going to say she can’t go out tonight. Maybe that’d be a blessing in disguise.
Alicent walks down the stairs, and her heart does a somersault.
“ Gwayne !”
Gwayne gives her a wide, bright smile. “Hey, little sister,” he says. “Surprise!”
Alicent throws herself shamelessly into Gwayne’s arms. She hasn’t seen him in months . She didn’t expect to see him until Christmas. “What are you doing here?”
Gwayne chuckles. “I read your latest spreadsheet for your Towers and Dragons campaign,” he replies. “I decided you needed rescuing from yourself. That thing has twenty-five tabs.”
Alicent grins against his chest. “Shut up.”
Gwayne pulls back a little. He tilts his head, still smiling. “No,” he says, “I am serious. You’re deranged.”
Alicent rolls her eyes. “Did you make any improvements?”
Gwayne clears his throat, just as their dad does, with a big, awkward look on his face. “Look,” he says, “it’s not my fault your class system is horribly imbalanced.”
Alicent pokes her tongue out at him. “You just don’t understand multi-classing.”
Gwayne chuckles. “Fine,” he says. “I’ll be here for the weekend. I have some plans with some friends in town tomorrow, but we can hang out tonight though?”
Alicent bites her bottom lip. “Oh,” she says. “I kind of have plans tonight.”
Gwayne, blessedly, does not act surprised at all. “Ah, bummer,” he says. “Where are you going?”
Alicent smiles, a thought suddenly occurring to her. Maybe she doesn’t need to freeze alone. “Actually,” she says. “Maybe you want to join?”
*
“I can’t believe you dragged me to a soccer game,” Gwayne grumbles as they sit down in the bleachers. “I went my entire highschool career watching only two of these. I was very proud of that fact.”
Alicent tightens her scarf. It’s fucking freezing. “I am so sad for you.”
Gwayne hums. “Mm,” he says, “I bet.”
They sit quietly for a moment, and Alicent watches as Rhaenyra comes onto the field, stopping to chat with Laena, who looks devastatingly attractive in her cheerleading outfit. It’s perfectly fine, and Alicent is not bothered by it, nor by the wide smiles on both of their faces.
“Ok,” Gwayne says. “Which one is it?”
Alicent turns to look at him, peeling her eyes from Rhaenyra and Laena with some difficulty. “What?”
Gwayne nods towards the soccer field. “Which one are you dating?” he says. “I know you didn’t drag me here on a Friday night because you suddenly love soccer, little sister.”
Alicent feels heat rise all the way to the tip of her ears. “Shut up.”
Gwayne chuckles. “Ok,” he says. “I know! Maybe I should guess , or better yet, maybe I should go down to the field and talk to each of them directly, see what’s what.”
Alicent buries her face in her hands. “Go back to college now, please.”
*
As it begins, Alicent has to begrudgingly admit she can kind of understand why these games are so popular. The stadium is absolutely packed, and it’s hard to deny there’s a sort of electric energy coursing through the air. It’s kind of exhilarating, even if it is also overwhelming.
Gwayne leans into her. “Is it that one?” he asks, pointing at Cregan Stark.
Alicent rolls her eyes, clapping along with the crowd as the team takes the first kick. “Nope,” she says. “Watch the game, Gwayne.”
Gwayne shrugs, and Alicent settles her attention back on the game. She knits her brows. “Are high school soccer games always this… intense?”
Gwayne shrugs again. “I thought we established my expertise on the matter is rather shaky.”
Alicent pokes her tongue out at Gwayne. Maybe it’s normal, but Rhaenyra is getting absolutely hounded by the other team. Every time she so much as touches the ball, which is often, as Cregan and Laenor seem to pass her the ball every opportunity they get, players immediately surround her.
Gwayne follows her eyes, as she anxiously watches Rhaenyra getting the ball again, only to be the target of an ugly-looking tackle that makes the crowd boo and scream at the referee.
“That striker is really getting kicked to hells and back, no?” Gwayne asks, his tone a little too casual.
“I guess,” Alicent says. “I didn’t realize.”
Gwayne chuckles. “Sure.”
*
It doesn’t improve at all during the first half. Rhaenyra continues to get hounded, suffering tackle after tackle and getting visibly more annoyed as the game progresses. The crowd keeps booing and screaming at the referee, before cheering loudly when number seven finally gets a yellow card after she tackles Rhaenyra to the ground.
Sunspear Academy scores three goals, and by the time the referee blows the whistle for half-time, the earlier excitement in the crowd has been replaced by disappointment. They barely clap as the dejected-looking team makes its way off the field, Rhaenyra leading the group, even if she’s limping slightly.
“That was rough,” Gwayne says. “I hope it improves in the second half.”
Alicent grimaces. She really hopes it does, for Rhaenyra’s sake. The other girl looks angry, wildly gesticulating towards the field and down to her legs, as she talks with Coach Westerling on the sidelines. He’s obviously trying to talk her down, with little success.
Alicent wonders, for a mad moment, if she should go down and try to talk to Rhaenyra herself, but then she sees Laena approaching her instead.
Laena puts her hand on Rhaenyra’s forearm, rubbing up and down, and Rhaenyra’s body visibly relaxes. Then, Laena brushes Rhaenyra’s sweaty hair off her forehead and says something in Rhaenyra’s ear, gesturing towards the stands. Rhaenyra laughs and pokes her tongue out at Laena, her demeanor a complete one-eighty from the tense, angry-looking player she was just moments ago.
Alicent shouldn’t be jealous. They’ve been dating — if that’s even what they’re doing — for a week . She should be able to just ignore it. She should be more casual, more relaxed about this, but it is kind of shitty to be invited here, for Rhaenyra to insist that she come, only for her to flirt with Laena right in front of her face. She was fine being ignored, but she sure as hells doesn’t need to be insulted on top of that.
“You know what?” She says to Gwayne. “I don’t actually think this is going to improve in the second half. Let’s go home.”
Gwayne’s eyes stray to the field, to Laena and Rhaenyra still talking by the sidelines. “Are you sure?”
Alicent nods. She needs to get out of here before she does something really, really stupid, like yelling at Rhaenyra in front of her entire soccer team. “Turns out you’re right,” she says. “Soccer isn’t worth the time.”
*
Alicent makes it as far as the bottom of the stands when she hears Rhaenyra’s voice.
“Alicent, wait!”
Alicent closes her eyes tightly, takes a deep breath, and turns around. Rhaenyra is jogging her way, an earnestly concerned look on her face that absolutely infuriates Alicent.
“Is everything ok?” Rhaenyra asks.
“Everything is great,” Alicent says. “Peachy.”
Rhaenyra stops several steps away from Alicent. Of fucking course. “It, um,” she says, looking at Alicent as if she’s a dog about to bite her, “it doesn’t sound very peachy?”
Alicent throws her arms up in the air, something inside of her practically vibrating in anger and needing an outlet. “It’s great!” she says. “It’s amazing. It’s awesome. Don’t worry. Once I leave, you can go back to flirting with Laena.”
Rhaenyra just stares at her. “What?”
Alicent makes a shooing gesture with her hand. “Quickly now,” she says, “before somebody sees you talking with me.”
Rhaenyra takes a step backwards. “Sorry,” she says. “Do you not want people to see us talking? We can talk somewhere else?”
It’s Alicent’s turn to be confused now. “Why are you making this about me? You’re the one who doesn’t want to be seen with me!”
Rhaenyra blinks. “Me?”
Alicent could just scream. Is Rhaenyra trying to piss her off? “You’ve been ignoring me all week.”
Rhaenyra opens her mouth and then closes it. She furrows her brows. “I —” she says, after a few moments. “Sorry, I am really confused. We hung out every day this week.”
Alicent closes the distance between them and pokes Rhaenyra right in the middle of her chest. “You’ve been ignoring me at school. Whenever your friends are watching.”
Rhaenyra looks at her for a second, confused, and then realization evidently hits her. “Ah,” she says. “Shit.”
Alicent narrows her eyes. She pokes Rhaenyra again. “Shit? Is that it?”
Rhaenyra raises her hands in defeat. “Yes, shit. I thought — fuck. I thought maybe you wouldn’t want people to see us together, to know. I was — I thought I was following your lead.”
“ What ?”
“Yeah,” Rhaenyra says, scratching the back of her head. “You seemed really uncomfortable with your friend, uh, Chris? And then when I was going to sit close to you during math, you seemed to panic. I didn’t want to be like, pushy, or whatever.”
Oh.
Ah, shit.
Alicent was uncomfortable on that first day, because she thought Criston was going to flirt with Rhaenyra in front of her. She did panic when Rhaenyra looked to be heading her way in math class, because Daemon was right next to her, smirking at Alicent like the giant asshole he is.
“She was talking about you,” Rhaenyra says. “By the way.”
Alicent tilts her head. “Who?”
“Laena,” she says, “she walked up to me, told me to shape up, because my girlfriend was watching. I couldn’t embarrass myself in front of you, not after I, and I quote, drove her to the brink of madness talking about you all week.”
Alicent feels heat crawl up her neck. Now she is truly embarrassed. “Oh,” she says. “That’s, uh — sorry I assumed.”
Rhaenyra chuckles. “I think we might need to communicate a bit better,” she says, and grabs Alicent’s hand. “Stay? I need to go to the locker room or Coach Westerling will kill me, but stay? We can talk after the game.”
Alicent looks down at their joined hands, and then up. She smiles at Rhaenyra. “Ok.”
*
Alicent walks back to Gwayne, who respectfully stayed a few paces behind, still feeling her cheeks burning despite the chilly air.
He raises his eyebrows, a shit-eating grin on his face. “So that’s the one, eh?”
If Gwayne cares at all that Rhaenyra is a girl, there’s no sign in his tone or expression. Alicent gives him a tentative smile. “That’s the one.”
Gwayne whistles. “The star player, eh? I never dated anyone half as popular in high school.”
Alicent bumps her shoulder against him. “You didn’t date at all in high school.”
Gwayne gives her a sideways look, shrugging. “Just because dad and you didn’t find out doesn’t mean I didn’t date.”
Alicent gives him a long look.
He rolls his eyes. “Fine, I didn’t date. Are we still going home?”
Alicent shakes her head. “We’re staying.”
Gwayne’s shit-eating grin returns. “Uh-huh, I see.”
“Shut up.”
“Make me, tiny.”
*
The second half of the game starts much the same as the first, and the disappointment of the crowd is palpable. Every time Rhaenyra gets tackled, or Laenor misses a pass, the crowd groans and loudly complains about Coach Westerling’s stupid fancy tactics .
Ten minutes into the half, to loud boos, Westerling calls Rhaenyra to the sidelines. Alicent has no idea what he’s saying, but it’s hard to miss the look of determination on Rhaenyra’s face as she listens. Once he’s done, she nods, looking resolute, and runs back onto the pitch to whisper into Cregan’s ear, who nods in turn and passes along the message to the next player.
Alicent isn’t sure what’s changed, if anything, but the next time Rhaenyra gets the ball, it seems like the defenders have gotten disorganized or lost, and she’s only marked by number seven. She almost dribbles past her, and is about to shoot when number seven comes from behind with a tackle so dirty Alicent springs to her feet and boos alongside nearly half the stadium.
The referee sprints to the box and shows number seven her second yellow card of the night, and with that, a red, and awards a penalty to King’s Landing High. The stadium erupts in cheers, so loud Alicent almost has to cover her ears.
Alicent cannot help it. With the energy in the stadium and watching Rhaenyra play, it’s hard not to get caught up in it. She feels her heart racing as she watches Rhaenyra step up to take the kick. Rhaenyra takes a deep breath, runs up to the ball, and sends it flying into the top corner of the net. The crowd roars , and Alicent is jumping to her feet and screaming at the top of her lungs with the rest of them before she even realizes what she’s doing.
It changes everything.
With only ten players, Sunspear Academy cannot keep up the pace after a grueling first half of pressing, and completely collapses under King’s Landing’s attacks. Five minutes after the penalty, it’s Laenor who scores, and Rhaenyra runs up to him, tackling him to the ground in celebration. Barely three minutes after that, Oscar Tully finds the back of the net with a header.
For the next ten minutes, the only sounds in the stadium are the ones coming from the soccer pitch. Everybody in the bleachers seems to be collectively holding their breath, completely enraptured by the game, and tense as a wire.
Finally, with five minutes left on the clock, Laenor gets a pass from Cregan, dribbles past a defender, and, when he looks about to try to shoot it past the goalie, he kicks it towards his right, where Rhaenyra is running up the middle of the field. Rhaenyra barely has to kick the ball. She just needs a gentle, almost distracted tap of her foot, and the score is 4-3.
It’s utter chaos.
Everybody swarms towards Rhaenyra. Her teammates, the kids on the bench, and even some cheerleaders are running towards her, screaming, cheering, and clapping.
Alicent jumps to her feet again and claps along with everybody else, only to see Rhaenyra avoid her teammates’ hugs and cheers, and start running towards the sidelines.
“Oh,” Gwayne says. “Oh, this is going to be good.”
Alicent watches, her hands frozen mid-clap, as Rhaenyra avoids a befuddled-looking Coach Westerling and jumps past the barrier and out of the pitch.
“ Targaryen !” Coach Westerling screams. “What the hell are you doing? There are three more minutes on the clock.”
“I only need one!” Rhaenyra shouts without looking back, as she sprints up the stands, towards Alicent.
The stadium is packed to the brim, but everybody parts for Rhaenyra, as if directed by an invisible force, watching her with bewildered, amused expressions and giving her pats on the back.
Rhaenyra stops in the row below Alicent’s seat, looking up at her. “Three more minutes,” she says. “Good luck kiss?”
Oh, Gods. Everyone is looking at them. Alicent might just die of embarrassment.
That is, if her heart doesn’t explode first.
She nods.
Rhaenyra jumps up into Alicent’s row, grabs her hand, and kisses her.
The crowd cheers louder than when she scored the fourth goal.
*
The referee gives Rhaenyra a yellow card when she re-enters the field, and she complains, pulling an exaggerated, confused act as if she has absolutely no idea why she would get carded. It doesn’t change the result though. Five minutes later, the final whistle signals the end of the game.
The score is 4-3, and King’s Landing High is going to the national finals.
Alicent claps and cheers along with the stadium as she watches the team celebrate, throwing Rhaenyra and Laenor up in the air and chanting loudly some song Alicent doesn’t recognize.
“Have you told Dad yet?” Gwayne asks.
Alicent bites her bottom lip. She shakes her head. “I don’t really wanna think about that tonight.”
Gwayne nods. “Fair enough,” he says. “Though you did make your relationship, uh, rather public.”
Alicent bites her bottom lip harder. That display is surely going to make the rumor mill explode. “I know.”
Gwayne puts one arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Look, I’ll be there, ok? We can talk to him tomorrow. Today, enjoy the victory party.”
Alicent looks up at him. “Victory party?”
Gwayne nods towards the field, where Rhaenyra is making her way to the sidelines, scanning the crowd as she goes. “I think your girlfriend is about to invite you to one.”
Alicent blushes. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
Gwayne just snorts. “Sure, Ali. Whatever you say.”
*
Rhaenyra leans against the hood of her car. “You sure you want to go to the party?” she asks. “We don’t have to.”
Alicent nods. It’s probably gonna be loud, and obnoxious, and filled with drunk soccer players. Rhaenyra shouldn’t miss it. “I want to.”
Rhaenyra smiles. “Maybe another good luck kiss first?”
Alicent smiles. She taps her chin with her index finger. “The game is over,” she says. “What do you need good luck for?”
Rhaenyra grabs Alicent’s hand and pulls her forward until they’re toe-to-toe. She grins, her dimples showing, and shrugs. “Never a bad idea to be lucky.”
Alicent loops her arms around Rhaenyra’s neck. “No, I guess not.”