Obviously foredated to on or after March 21st, 2023. Written January 24th - 28th, 2023. Takes place in the "original" HOTD-verse, wherein Nathaniel is dating Aemond, and Sebastian is indifferent to the latter's existence. CW: Ableism and ace-phobia. Aphobia? Whatever the term is for being -phobic against asexual people.
“I’m worried
about Trinket,” Sebastian said one spring day. “Trophy’s fathered a litter of Pegasus
dragon things. Threnody’s shown interest in a male dragon.” Threnody’s
boyfriend’s intelligence was on par with Trophy’s, but Sebastian chose not to
mention it. “Trinket’s the oldest and he’s the only one who’s shown zero
interest in mating.” Sebastian made a little moue. “He’s also my favorite. I
was looking forward to little Trinkets bumbling around.”
Daemon scoffed
and rolled his eyes disdainfully, but Trent put a reassuring hand on his
shoulder.
“I wouldn’t
worry. Maybe he’s just a late bloomer. Or maybe he’s having a secret affair.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Sebastian was vaguely mollified.
It was true that
Trinket had shown zero interest in mating. He preferred to spend time with
humans, specifically Trent, Sebastian, Nathaniel, and Aemond. Actually, he
spent most of his time with Aemond, to the point where Aemond’s tongue-in-cheek
threat to ‘steal’ Trinket from Trent and Sebastian seemed to have come true.
When Trinket got too big to comfortably perch on Aemond’s shoulder, he stopped flying
at head-and-shoulder height beside Aemond and instead walked on his four paws,
either beside or behind him. He also went from curling up entirely in Aemond’s
lap to curling up beside him with just his head and forepaws in Aemond’s lap,
mindful of his own weight.
In fact, by
mid-April, one would be forgiven for thinking Trinket was Aemond’s pet rather
than Sebastian’s or Trent. Trinket had taken to following Aemond everywhere,
even curling up and sleeping beside him on the bed at night and eating
leftovers from his plate at mealtimes. (He still wouldn’t let Aemond or Aegon
feed him Helaena’s insects.) He even put up with Aegon pulling his tail a few
times when drunk, although he issued a warning growl and essentially threatened
to burn the rest of Aegon’s booze if he did it too much.
For their part,
Sebastian and Trent chose to let Trinket spend as much time with Aemond as he
wanted. Aemond’s quarters were a better environment than a brothel anyway, and
Aemond appreciated having another companion whom he could tell everything and,
unlike Nathaniel, made no demands or judgments.
Aemond didn’t
understand Sebastian’s concern. “He’s not the last of his kind. What does it
matter?” he asked now.
Sebastian levelled
a cold stare at Aemond. They were both dating Nathaniel, in that Sebastian was
the one Nathaniel went to when Aemond was being hard to talk to or wasn’t in
the mood for sex, which was often.
“I wouldn’t
expect a broken man like you to understand.” Sebastian was referring to Aemond’s
comparatively diminished libido. Whether that’s how Aemond took it or not,
Sebastian almost instantly found himself flat on his back with a dagger at his
throat. He smiled, eyes hooded with lust.
“There it is,”
he whispered. “That must be it. What Nathaniel sees in you. Your beauty,
elegance… and violence.”
Aemond rolled
his eye and pressed the dagger more firmly to Sebastian’s throat. Before he
could add words to the threat, Sebastian cupped his hand.
“I’m sorry,” he
said gently. “I’m told it’s inappropriate to refer to someone asexual as
broken.”
“You think?” Daemon
interjected.
“He’s not ace,”
said Nathaniel.
“Silence,
Nathaniel, it’s not his concern.” Aemond clearly wasn’t pacified.
“No,” Sebastian
agreed. He was stroking Aemond’s hand now, thumbing the younger man’s knuckles.
“And you’re right. I shouldn’t worry about Trinket’s mating life, or yours.
After all… it seems you’ll at least have each other. You can be whatever’s the
male version of old maids together.”
“Okay.” Trent
plucked Aemond off Sebastian. “You don’t need to get in a fight right now.”
Sebastian
shrugged and stood. “Fine,” he said. “See you tonight, Nathaniel.” He winked,
then headed off.
No comments:
Post a Comment