Based on the modern Mafiaverse AU Lydia and I wrote in 💚 Takes place after "Troy's First Time", so... after Thanksgiving 2023. Technically also takes place before the Sebastian/Alicent one. Written January 29th-30th, 2023.
“I’d rather just
remain friends.”
Troy was stunned
speechless. So then, his feelings for Aemond had been unrequited after all. His
body tensed in an effort to fend off the pain shooting through him.
Aemond couldn’t
tell what Troy was thinking, but he seemed to be mulling it over. Tense moments
passed, in which Aemond silently prayed Troy wouldn’t turn out to be as insane
as Sebastian, nor as obsessive or entitled.
He wasn’t. After
he’d processed Aemond’s words, Troy simply said, “Cool. See you in class,” and
left. Still, Aemond spent the rest of the weekend waiting for the other shoe to
drop. What if Troy had told his parents and they were out for Aemond’s blood?
Rejecting Sebastian had caused enough trouble, but at least he’d mellowed out
when it looked like Aemond might start dating his son. What would Sebastian do
now that Aemond had spurned is generous “Welcome to the family”?
Troy was devastated,
and of course the first thought to cross his mind was that he should talk to
his parents or Cygnet about it… but he quickly realised that would do more harm
than good. The last thing he wanted to do was paint a target on his best friend’s
back. After all, they were still friends, and that was better than
nothing. He’d just have to make sure they were still cool, and that meant
backing off and letting Aemond decide when they’d hang out again.
He'd stopped going
to all the parties on campus when he and Aemond had begun hanging out more. Now
he was back on the social scene. He brought Cygnet, who was usually such a
wallflower, to a frat party the next night. He kept her company till she found
some people she felt comfortable talking to, then he mingled with as many
people as possible, though he was still fairly straight-laced. A couple people
wondered where Aemond was. Troy told them he was studying.
Sunday morning
Troy made baked potatoes, scrambled eggs, and French toast to help his friends
get over their hangovers. He found when he was chatting up his friends,
cooking, cleaning, and exercising, he wasn’t thinking about Aemond. So he kept himself
as active as he could and crashed anywhere other than his own room. Luckily,
Cygnet was more than happy to share hers, and she confirmed when asked that she
hadn’t tried sleeping with Sebastian again.
Of course,
Cygnet wondered why exactly Troy didn’t want to go back to his room after the
rest of the partygoers had dispersed. Troy didn’t want to talk about it,
though, and she didn’t push. She opened her room to him and, when he asked
(much to her surprise and delight), her bed as well.
Troy wasn’t sure
what the hell had possessed him to try sleeping with Cygnet again. Maybe he
didn’t want her to go through the pain of rejection. Maybe he thought he’d
feel better, knowing his other best friend loved and wanted him. It wasn’t
so bad as long as he could wear a condom and they kept the lights off. She was
adventurous and affectionate, and… well, it could have been worse. It was
better than being lonely. And he had remembered to tell her it would be
better to keep things casual. She’d agreed, so it would all be okay, right?
Aemond really
shouldn’t have been surprised, come Monday morning, to see Troy and Cygnet
waltz into the cafeteria arm-in-arm. Well, more like she was clinging to his
arm with both of hers and gazing up at him with moon eyes. Aemond was pretty
sure that was Troy’s hoodie she was wearing, unzipped just enough you could
tell there was nothing underneath it. At least she’d had the decency to put on
leggings before parading herself in public. Aemond searched Troy’s face for any
hint of discomfort and was punished with a dazzling smile, as the pair of them…
bypassed his table completely in favour of the football team.
“Stay here,” he heard
Troy tell Cygnet. “I’m going to get our trays, okay?”
“Okay!” Was she kissing
him? Aemond scoffed to himself and returned his attention to his meal.
It’s only
awkward if you make it awkward, Troy told himself
as he got breakfast for Cygnet and himself. He’d smiled at Aemond upon
entering, like he always did, but Aemond had stared right through him. He
probably needed some more space, so Troy hadn’t gone to say hi or sit with him.
Aemond would approach when he was ready.
Troy’s patience
was rewarded sooner than he’d expected. As he was returning to his teammates’
table, he heard Aemond speak.
“Are you
together?”
Troy managed a
small, sad smile. “It’s just casual. She’s free to see whoever, you know, as
long as they’re not related to me.”
“Mm.” Aemond
didn’t really seem to care. That was fair enough. He’d probably just asked to
be polite. As Troy was about to keep walking, Aemond asked another question: “Does
she know about our… conversation earlier?”
Troy shook his
head. “Of course not. I don’t want my parents finding out. Um, but hey, let me
know if you want me to email you my lecture notes, okay? I’ll be running laps
between classes, but I can….” He trailed off awkwardly.
Aemond looked up
at him. For a brief, shining moment, Troy hoped he’d want to hang out. Grab
coffee after class like they used to. Play “Destroy All Humans” after football practice.
So much for
staying friends, Aemond thought. It was obvious
Troy was ditching him just because Aemond wasn’t ready to be his boyfriend. He
stared in shock, hoping Troy would recant and invite him over to play video
games or study together like they always did. After a long pause, Aemond looked
down and shrugged. “Enjoy yourself,” he said.
“Uh… thanks,
man.” What the hell did Troy have to sound so unsure about?
Aemond scoffed.
Maybe he’d go to the track after class and see if that wasn’t just some
bullshit excuse.
Cygnet wondered
why she and Troy weren’t just sitting with Aemond like usual. She saw them
chatting—well, maybe “chatting” wasn’t the right word for it. Neither of them looked
particularly comfortable. Were they in a fight? Was that why Troy didn’t want
to go to his own room?
She stood and
cuddled up to Troy from behind. “Mmm, you got my favourites,” she murmured,
snaking a lox bagel off the tray.
He started. “Oh—yeah,
sorry. You must be starving. Um, well, I’ll see you round, Aemond. I love—to catch
up about our weekends,” he said, clearly in a rush to get back to breakfast
with Cygnet and his football friends.
Cygnet gave
Aemond a polite little smile and wave as she and Troy sat back down. Aemond
just glared, or maybe he wasn’t a morning person. Actually, come to think of
it, Aemond was pretty surly at all hours of the day. He and Troy couldn’t be
more different in that regard.
Aemond dumped
out the rest of his tray and strode out. He must not want to be late to
class, Troy thought. For Aemond, “late” meant “getting there after the
front row seats were taken.” He was an excellent student, one of many admirable
qualities.
Actually, maybe
Troy had made him feel awkward, with how long he’d lingered, with that slip at
the end of their conversation. What kind of idiot said “I love you” to
someone who made it clear they didn’t want to go out? Why couldn’t he think
before he spoke?
He felt
something touch his cheek. Cygnet’s hand. He looked quizzically at her, then
realised she was brushing away a tear.
“Wanna go make
out in the stairwell?” she asked, looking at him with those hopeful doe eyes.
He grimaced and nodded. Maybe if he was late enough, he’d have a seat away from
Aemond, seeing as how Aemond clearly wanted nothing to do with him.
“Lita, Troy.”
“Present!” Troy
called as he stepped breathlessly into the classroom, lips swollen, hair
mussed, cheeks flushed.
Professor O’Donnell
was somewhat less than amused. “You can take your seat next to Mr. Targaryen,”
he said. “Try not to cut it so close tomorrow. Athletes don’t get special
treatment in my class.”
Troy bowed his
head, then took his seat, front row off-centre as always. He stank of that
bullshit “ocean”-scented perfume girls wore when they wanted to pretend they were
mermaids. Aemond found himself wishing he’d thought to scoot over a seat so
Troy would be forced to sit in his blind spot.
“Sorry about
earlier,” Troy whispered. “I didn’t mean… um, we don’t have to catch up if you
don’t want to.”
“Thank you,”
Aemond whispered back. “I’m not interested in your sexcapades.”
For a split
second, Aemond thought Troy might cry, but instead, he just pulled out his
Chromebook, booted it up, and began taking notes as always.
The rest of the
day was no less painfully awkward. Troy threw himself into sports and catching
up with his jock friends. Cygnet ignored the athletes trying to hit on her in favour
of clinging to Troy and kissing him at every opportunity. Aemond listlessly
watched them walk laps hand-in-hand for a little while, then got bored and
texted his brother to hang out.
The next day was
more of the same, although this time Aemond didn’t acknowledge Troy at all
during breakfast and made him sit on his blind side in class. For his part,
Troy seemed less enthused about rubbing his rebound in Aemond’s face. Cygnet
didn’t take the hint and was at least twice as clingy.
Troy noticed
that Aemond wasn’t even touching his assignments. He wondered what could have
possibly happened to make Aemond moody enough to neglect his studies. He wasn’t
sure if they were friends anymore, but he still loved Aemond and cared deeply
about his grades. Even if Aemond didn’t love him, he still loved
learning, right?
He caught Aemond’s
arm on the way out of their last class. Aemond stopped and looked at him
questioningly.
“Come on,” Troy
said, with the smile Aemond had sorely begun to miss. “We’re going to Il
Fornaio.”
Aemond nodded. “A
homework date.”
Troy beamed at
him, and off to Il Fornaio they went.
From then on, things normalized between them. Now that they were both sure they were still friends, they hung out as easily as always, but Troy made sure to balance his time between his best friends and his other friends, and he was careful to treat them all with the same amount of affection (except Cygnet, whom he continued sleeping with at her request) so Aemond wouldn’t feel awkward.
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