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phthalomushroom · 21 days

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The Family (6)

pairings: modern!mafia!aemondxreader

summary: You had left Kings Landing and the Targaryen family four years ago. Now back and living with your old roommate you realize that the life you had thought you escaped had seemingly been waiting for you. But will the family really let you go? Will the people you left behind forgive you? Can you forget the past and look to the future?

warnings: language, mentions of trauma, shooting, gunfight, injury, angst

word count: 2.09k

note: I did not proofread this so if there is any errors, apologies in advance. Hope this chapter answers some questions, enjoy!

Five years ago…

You didn’t like how much changed in the short time of your senior year. You had moved out of your father’s house, moved to an apartment with Baela - for surprisingly cheap- and had gotten into your dream school.

Yet with all the change you still had yet to confide in the one person who meant the world to you. Months of agonizing over whether to stay or go, months of worrying how he’d react, months of chickening out finally lead you to your decision.

You had to tell Aemond you were going to North College.

It was a decision you had arrived at with a heavy heart but this was your dream school and one that had offered you a scholarship that you would never have dreamed of. Baela had said you would have been a fool to pass it up and you couldn’t agree more with her. She was the only one who knew about this- considering she heard some of your late night breakdowns over the decision.

You knew that you needed to tell Aemond as soon as possible, especially with graduation happening in less than a month. You didn’t know why you held back from telling him, maybe scared that telling him would make it all the more real. Maybe telling him meant that your relationship would be in limbo. You didn’t want to end things, but there were expectations for him, you knew that, and with those expectations meant that he needed to be relied on. He needed to be here, always.

Which meant that you would be on the backburner.

You knew he’d be proud- happy even, at least at first. But once he’d think about what that meant for the two of you, for your relationship, you didn’t think he would be so agreeable anymore. He loved you, he loved being around you, so to tell him you were going to be six hours away meant he would have to love you from afar.

And Aemond would never agree to that.

Things were brewing with his family business. The Lannister family was getting bolder, interrupting business dealings, interfering in public elections, and putting the Targaryen power into question. It didn’t help that Aemond’s older sister was beginning to be put on the ousts of the family as Aemond’s father fell into a coma.

A coma that Aemond had told you he had suspicions about.

Aemond was on edge most days now, even now as you watched him from across the dancefloor. You had snuck off from your friends, from him, to get some fresh air from the sweaty ballroom. He was stiff, his shoulders taut, even as Jace seemed to have told a joke to the group, his smile didn’t meet his eyes.

You desperately wished that he would open up to you about anything. At first you were fine with the secrest, knowing Aemond would tell you eventually but now… he never talked about it. It was starting to feel like there was a space forming between you two that was filled with all the secrets he kept. Maybe that’s why you kept your leaving a secret, you wanted to know what it was like to hold something back from the person you love.

And it didn’t feel good.

“You don’t look like you're having fun.” Baela stopped beside you, handing you some punch.

“Just… a lot on my mind.”

“Then you haven’t told him yet.”

You let out a breath, looking at the punch in the glass before taking a sip. “I’ll tell him tomorrow, let him enjoy tonight without having to worry.”

“He seems worried already.”

“So you’ve noticed it too.”’

“He’s more assholey than usual. I had thought it was because you had told him but guess not.”

You shook your head. “Somethings wrong. I don’t want to pry but he's not talking to me anymore.”

“It might be his dad, Jace was telling me they’re in talks of taking his dad off life support.”

You looked towards Aemond, frowning. “He didn’t mention anything about that to me.”

Baela frowned. “Sorry for breaking the news.”

As if he could feel you watching him, he looked towards you, your eyes meeting. He smiled slightly, a light coming back to his eyes that he had been missing before. He nods his head towards the exit, a silent question being asked.

“I’m going to head out, tell everyone I said bye.”

“Of course.”

You made your way through the crowd of people, meeting Aemond by the door. He took your hand giving you a quick peck on the lips before leading you out to the awaiting car.

“A little early to be leaving,” you said as you slid onto the leather seats.

“As much as I love organized events, our night is fully booked.”

Aemond’s driver wordlessly started the car and began driving towards downtown. Aemond put his hand on your thigh, his thumb lightly drawing circles on your skin. You wrapped your hand around his arm, pulling him closer, looking up at him. He was staring straight ahead, sweat gathering at his brow, he looked… nervous.

You put your chin on his shoulder. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Everythings great.” He turned to face you, kissing your forehead before looking straight ahead again.

“Aemond… talk to me.”

“We’re here.”

The car had stopped in front of Federicos, the restaurant unusually closed for a prime time for elegant dining. Aemond opened the door, offering his hand to help you out before leading you inside.

The restaurant was filled with candles, a rose petal pathway led down to a flower arch and a bottle of wine. Aemond walked down the path, his hand in his pockets pulling out a velvet box.

Your heart beat rapidly, palms sweating. “Aemond… what is this?”

“I haven’t had the best role models for relationships.” He turned back to you with a shy smile on his face, tears in his eyes. “But you taught me what it’s like to love safely. You are probably the only good thing in my life and I know I’m not deserving of you but… you have been someone who has always made me feel lighter.”

Your feet moved without thought down the path of rose petals.

“I hope that everyday, for the rest of our lives together I can prove that I am deserving of you, that you and I are meant to be in every way. I don’t want to say that you make me a better man because that’s not your job, but you do. You make me likable, tolerable.”

You laughed at that as he took your hand in his.

“I am so in love with you that I know not even death could tear us apart. Your kind, determined, tough, and a fucking smart-ass, but I love you and… I want to marry you.”

He opened the velvet box to expose a beautiful diamond ring, sinking to one knee. “So, will you marry me?”

You stared not at the ring, but at him, at the love in his eyes. The word yes on the tip of your tongue but all you could think about was that gaping hole that had formed in your relationship and the future you had been dreaming of.

Your mouth became dry and your ears began to ring.

You loved him, god did you love him, and yes you wanted to marry him eventually. But now? You had plans and dreams, you had wanted to see the world outside of King’s Landing and he… he needed to stay. He had to stay and you had to leave.

The Aemond you fell in love with, the Aemond from a year ago would have known that this was not what you wanted- marriage at eighteen was not something you wanted.

Aemond’s smile dropped slightly, his eyes flickering across your face, reading you. He was so good at reading you.

He slowly stood, closing the velvet box.

The snap echoing through the quiet room.

He grabbed the wine from the small table, pulling out a chair and uncorking it. He took a gulp- once, twice. He wiped a bead of red that escaped from the corner of his mouth.

“Why not?”

He sounded so dejected, so… hurt.

“It’s not what I want.”

He snorted, setting the bottle on the table. “Not what you wanted…” he shook his head putting a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry.”

“You know, I asked my mother for her ring- a family tradition you know- she wouldn’t give it to me. She said, ‘she’s not ready.’” He looked up, meeting your eyes. “I… I guess she knew you better than me.”

You walked over to him, kneeling to look him in the eyes as you put your arms around his neck. “Just not right now, we… we have so much time but-”

“How do you know that?”

“What?”

He pulled away from you, to stand and begin pacing. “How do you know how much time we have? I could have a month, tops, I could have a fucking hour and-”

You stood, grabbing his arm and pulling home to face you. “What are you talking about?”

He shook his head, tears in his eyes. “I… I can’t.”

You leaned up, putting your forehead against his. “I can’t help unless you talk to me.”

He sniffled, wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you closer. “I can’t let you get hurt.”

“I’m tough, remember? I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

He let out a long breath. “I’m handling it, (Y/N/N), but-”

A popping sound sounded from outside followed by glass shattering. Aemond moved before your brain could even process what was happening, pulling you behind the bar as he shielded your body with his own.

He drew one of the guns that was stashed behind the bar, pulling out his phone and dialing as he popped up from the bar and firing back.

“Shots fired! (Y/N) is here and I need an extraction and coverage.”

More shots fired from outside, as more glass broke. Aemond took cover, putting his body over yours again as the bullets ricocheted throughout the restaurant. You did your best to become as small as possible, curling your body into a ball as you put your arms over your head.

“Just breathe, (Y/N), okay? Help is on the way, they’ll be here soon.”

There was a loud bang as if someone had broken down a door and then more gun fire, this time from the back of the restaurant.

“Fuck! They’re inside.”

Aemond stood once again, firing off some more shots, the sound of a few heavy things hitting the ground. The sound of another gun went off, this time closer causing Aemond to duck down as bullets hit the bottles of alcohol on the shelves behind him.

“One more,” he whispered to himself.

When the shots ceased. Aemond stood up again only to get thrown back as a burly looking man tackled him to the ground.You screamed, scooting back as the man began hitting Aemond over and over.

Aemond’s face became bloody and swollen, he tried to turn his head to look at you but with each hit the blows got worse.

Your body was on autopilot as you picked up Aemond’s gun that had fallen from his grasp and pointed it at the man about to kill the love of your life. Tears streamed down your face as you turned your head looking away as you squeezed the trigger.

The gun reverberated through your arms, causing you to drop it. The sound of the hitting stopped but you still couldn’t look. Familiar arms wrapped around you, pulling you away.

“You’re okay,” Aemond said. “You’re okay.”

“Aemond,” you sobbed, clutching him.

“I’m so sorry, (Y/N). I’m so fucking sorry.”

It was then that the adrenaline began to wear off, your body shaking with what just happened. A burning sensation erupted from your hip. You looked down to see a lot of blood staining your pretty dress.

You clutched Aemond’s arm tighter. “Aemond.”

He looked down to see the wound, swearing profusely as he put his hand over it, pushing down.

“I don’t want to die.”

Tears streamed down Aemond’s face now. “You won’t- you won’t, I promise, you won’t.”

Your vision spotted, your ears ringing as you saw Aemond look up and calling out to someone. It took everything in you to hold on long enough to see the man with the medical case kneel above you.

Tag List: @dixie-elocin @liannafae @toodlesxcuddles @watercolorskyy @zenka69 @bellaisasleep @namelesslosers @tssf-imagines @xcharlottemikaelsonx @yourbane @beary-rambles @a-beaverhausen @lightblindingme

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phthalomushroom · 1 month

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The Family (5)

last next

pairings: modern!mafia!aemondxreader

warnings: language, mentions of trauma, stalking, mention of injury

word count: 1.8K

note: I am so sorry for the late post, the words were just not wording and I needed more time to figure out what I wanted to be said. But I finished this chapter and I hope you all enjoy!

Baela and you had split up only a couple of hours ago. She had gotten a call and had needed to leave right away. You had asked what was going on but she assured you everything was fine before leaving.

You still had some errands to do, which lead you across the city to the East side. By the time you finished it had gotten pretty late. Most of the stores were closed and the taxi services were no longer in commission. You looked at your phone to see when the next train was, seeing that you needed to make it fifteen blocks in order to catch the last train for the red line. You began walking, taking in the cool evening air when you had an odd, gut feeling that something wasn’t right.

The streets were a little too quiet, which was never the case during this time. Usually there would be groups of people out walking, people on their balconies laughing but tonight there was just…quiet. You took a look over your shoulder to try and ease your thoughts only to see the man Daemon had mentioned earlier following you.

You looked forward, picking up the pace as you turned the corner. You thought that maybe it was a coincidence but that would be impossible. There were no coincidences in this city, you of all people should know that.

You were made keenly aware that you were nowhere near your apartment nor the train station and there was no way you were going to end up in a subway possibly cornered. You were up on the East side, a side that you didn’t venture much on your own, meaning you were very unfamiliar with it. This was supposed to be a safe part of the city since the rich and high class lived here, there was no way something would happen to you.

Clearly not, as the footsteps behind you got louder, making you instinctually speed up.

This shouldn’t be happening, Daemon should have intervened by now. Unless that whole conversation was just to get under your skin, to throw you off.

What a prick.

However as much as Daemon was a prick you weren’t willing to find out if he was a liar.

You had grabbed your mace out of your bag, your body going into autopilot as your senses tried to assess how close this man was getting to you. You took a turn ending up on a familiar cobblestone street and realized exactly where you could go. You turned down another corner, heading for the brownstone at the end of the street.

You took the stairs two at a time, repeatedly knocking on the door quickly as you watched from the corner of your eye as the man continued to approach.

The heavy wooden door opened to reveal a shirtless and very confused Aemond Targaryen.

“What-”

You wrapped your arms around him, pushing your way inside as you pushed him up against the wall and out of view of the street, kicking the door shut. You peaked through the side window, moving the curtain to see the man that was following you get picked up by a black Audi before speeding away.

“Happy to see you too.”

You looked up to see Aemond smirking at you. You quickly pulled away, taking a couple steps back as you shoved your mace back in your bag. “Your guard dog take the night off?”

Aemond’s eyebrows furrowed, noting what was just in your hand. “Huh?”

“Someone was following me. I thought Daemon was on protection detail.”

His face twisted before he grabbed your hand, taking you up the stairs of the foyer and into the kitchen. He grabbed his phone off the kitchen island.

He started scrolling through contacts. “Help yourself to anything you want, I have to make a call.”

“I think I’ll just go-”

“Sit.”

You instinctively took a seat at the island, watching him walk around the corner to where his office was. You rolled your eyes at yourself, right back here and right back into your old ways.

You set your shopping bags on the ground and put your coat over your chair heading over to the oven where something was simmering. It looked like Aemond had just finished making some mac n’ cheese.

He did say help yourself.

You grabbed a bowl from the shelf and supplied some golden crescents to your bowl. You had just sat down and taken a forkful to your mouth when Aemond came back in, with a shirt on, as he tied up his hair into a low bun.

He looked kinda pretty as a few of the shorter strands framed his face.

He smirked, noting you had been staring. “Eating my food already.”

You blinked, looking away. “You said help yourself.”

“Indeed I did.” He grabbed a bowl, joining you across the island.

It was silent for a while, both of you eating your portions. It felt… normal. Like old times, a chill went down your spine at that. You needed to change that.

“Everything okay?”

Aemond’s face darkened. “It will be.”

“Is Daemon-”

“He’s being taken care of by the family doctor.”

You nodded. “The same one who stitched me up?”

His eyes met yours before quickly looking at the counter, he cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

You put your fork down, sitting back in your chair crossing your arms. “I’m going to need an explanation.”

He mirrored your stance, leaning back against the counter. “I don’t think that's a good idea.”

You started getting up. “Then I’m leaving.”

“No.” He reached over the counter to grab your hand.

You looked up at him. “You were a real asshole the last time we spoke, you know that right?”

He let out a sigh, letting your hand go. “I know. I… I didn’t expect to see you and I was drunk.”

“You never acted like that while you were drunk before.”

“That’s because I dated you.”

You felt your face heat up at that. “Maybe you shouldn’t make it a habit. You're a bit of a mean drunk.”

He let out a small chuckle. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“You were rude.”

“I was flirting.”

“You’re engaged.”

He frowned. “I know.”

“We’re going to have to talk about it. At least to make peace.”

His eyes softened. “I-I can’t.”

You moved to grab your stuff as you made your way to the door. More secrets, more difficulties. You needed the whole truth or nothing and you were beginning to grow tired of being the only one who wanted to have a peaceful life.

“It’s the Lannisters.”

Your feet stopped moving, you almost dropped your things. You slowly turned towards him. “You said they were gone.”

“They were but- but things got complicated. I am going to take care of it.”

“What happened, Aemond?”

“You came back, you weren’t supposed to come back and then everything got more complicated and then Alys-”

“Slow down.” You couldn’t make sense of anything he was trying to say.

He was breathing quickly and his words were beginning to jumble to the point where understanding him was impossible. Tears looked like they were ready to spill from his eyes. You dropped your stuff, walking over to him and taking his face in your hands.

You forced him to look at you. “Breathe, Aemond.”

You moved your hands down so they were rubbing up and down his arms. “You need to breathe.”

He leaned forward, putting his forehead against yours, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

Then another.

You closed your eyes, leaning into him and the familiar sage scent that he got from using his body wash. Despite the years, despite the pain, despite everything you still missed him. He was your everything when you were a teen, he was the only family you had at one point and now, being this close to him, you wondered how you had gone so long without him.

But he was engaged, and as much as you wanted to be selfish you just couldn’t do it.

You pulled away, taking a step back from him. “The Lannisters are back?”

He seemed disappointed.

He nodded, rubbing his face. “They’ve been back for a couple months now.”

“You should have told me.”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t want you involved in this again.”

“Aemond I am involved in this, I mean I was being followed home. Daemon got hurt. It’s like five years ago all over again.”

“No it's not.” He came towards you taking your hands and rubbing his thumb in a circle on the back of your hand. “I’m not going to let that night happen again. I’m not gonna lose you, do you understand me?”

He was looking intensely into your eyes, then his gaze moved to your lips. You hadn’t realized he had gotten so close.

“Aemond.” You breathed. Your head began to spin as if you were drunk, your thoughts going quiet as your body started to move closer to his as if you were magnets destined to meet again.

“I’ve missed you so much.” He leaned down, his breath fanning your face.

“Aemond.” The noise you made was a mixture of a whimper and a plea as Aemond leaned closer meeting your lips with his.

He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer as his tongue invaded your mouth. You snaked your hands up into his hair, pulling the strands from the bun he wore. He moaned, pulling you impossibly closer as he nipped your lower lip. You felt like you were on fire, as your teeth clashed, the kiss becoming more hungry.

More desperate.

Suddenly his phone rang, causing the two of you to jump apart, finally being brought back to reality. He took his phone out of his back pocket, glancing at the caller ID.

“I have to take this.”

You nodded.

“You aren’t leaving tonight,” he said. “You can stay in my room, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Don’t you still have a guest room?”

His face turned red. “Not anymore.”

He turned, heading towards his office as he answered his phone, closing the door behind him.

You made your way upstairs, heading past where you remembered the guest room to be. Against your better judgment you peered inside to see the room that used to house a queen sized bed now be filled with boxes of all kinds of things.

You crept inside, looking into one of the closer boxes. You knew you shouldn't be snooping but after everything that happened tonight you thought fuck it.

You reached into one of the opened boxes pulling out a small onesie. One that was meant for a baby.

Your heart felt like it shattered.

Yeah, maybe you should have minded your business.

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phthalomushroom · 2 months

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The Family (4)

last next

pairings: modern!mafia!aemondxreader

warnings: language, mentions of trauma, stalking?

word count: 1.4K

note: I thought I had the rest of this planned out but my brain keeps finding new ways to change it on me. Next chapter though, we got some tea coming! Hope you enjoy!

You had felt like you were going to throw up.

Once you had left the party you had headed home and downed at least half a bottle of tequila. To say the hangover this morning was a difficult one was an understatement. You pulled yourself out of bed, grabbed your phone that you had discarded somewhere on the floor in your drunken haze and looked through the messages from Baela and Rhaena who were asking where you went.

It seems your drunk self was responsible enough to text back something that resembled that you had made it home.

You moved across the room, barely missing stepping on your shoes as you headed to the kitchen. You needed something to eat that you wouldn’t regurgitate right away. .

“There’s nothing to eat.”

You turned to see Baela lounging on the couch, a rag shielding her eyes from the light.

“We need to go to the grocery store.”

“No shit.” She sat up taking the rag from her face, she looked like she also got hit by a bus. “Glad you drank my tequila, if it was here when I got back I probably wouldn’t be alive right now.”

You frowned, joining her on the couch. “I take it you didn’t enjoy the party either.”

“I take it the talk with Aemond didn’t go well.”

“He was drunk and an asshole.”

She tilted her head. “Aemond doesn’t drink… he is an asshole though.”

“But he was never an asshole to me.”

She smirked. “Then I guess you’ve officially joined ‘Aemond’s an asshole club,’ I’ll get you one of our t-shirts-”

“Baela I’m being serious.”

“So am I, we meet every Tuesday to talk about the new assholey thing he’s done.”

You rolled your eyes, a headache starting to form. “I really thought that there might’ve been something left, but he’s changed since the last time I saw him.”

She shrugged. “He’s gone through a lot. Aegon’s death, Otto being locked up, and now you coming back. There’s been a lot of change happening.”

You rolled your eyes. “So because of all that he’s marrying Alys? I mean he couldn’t have picked someone with a little bit of, I don’t know, humanity?”

Baela chuckled. “I know this won’t be easy but things will get better, I promise. Besides, you’ve got your first encounter down which means you never have to talk to him again.”

“We live in the same city, I doubt I will never talk to him again.”

“Yeah but this time you don’t have to be so civil.”

You smirked, pride flaring in your chest a bit. “I was civil, wasn't I?

Baela wrapped her arm around your shoulder. “I thought you were going to burn the place down, but you didn’t.”

You let out a long breath. “I need food and I need something to take my mind off all this shit.”

Baela smiled. “Shopping?”

You nodded in agreement. “Shopping.”

********

You and Baela had managed to stomach a little bit of breakfast at a cafe before making your way to the East side of the city. You decided on going to a well known store that was big for its unique couture.

You scavenged the racks trying to find some good purchases that matched your style. Baela had managed to find a few and had left you to go try them on in the fitting rooms. You had offered to go with her in case she wanted some feedback but had declined on the premise of not wanting to hog the fitting room.

You were currently looking through some sweaters when you heard an all too familiar voice.

“Well, look who's back in town.”

You stiffened, casting a glance over your shoulder to see Daemon Targaryen. He had his hands in his pockets and a sly smirk on his face.

“Daemon.” Was all you said before turning yourself back to the rack. You pushed yourself closer to the clothes, concealing your hand going into your bag to pull out your mace. You made sure to put it in your pocket so that it was easily accessible.

“A cold greeting is not meant for family, sweetheart.” He moved around the rack so that he was in your line of sight.

“We aren’t family.”

He sighed. “I have to say I was disappointed when I heard about the failed engagement. Aemy was so excited, nearly killed him to see you go.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat. “I thought the Targaryens no longer accepted you in the family, after your little coup with Rhaenyra.”

“A misunderstanding, Rhaenyra and I have been welcomed back. My lovely nephew saw to that.”

“Bullshit.”

“You’ve missed a lot since you left.”He leaned against the rack. “You shouldn’t have come back, (Y/N).”

You straightened. “I’m not involved in whatever shit you have going on. So leave me alone.”

He frowned. “I’m just reminding you that despite your disagreements with Aemond you are still seen as part of this family.”

You glared at him. “Aemond never told me anything about the family business. He never wanted me involved.”

“I was talking more in the literal sense.” He held his hands up. “I like you, (Y/N), which is why you should leave town.”

You raised a brow. “Are you threatening me?”

“No, I would never threaten you, I’m just giving you some advice. There are still bad people wandering around and I would hate for something bad to happen like last time.”

You crossed your arms. “That sure seems like a threat, Daemon.”

“If you don’t want to take my word for it, why don’t you ask the man who's been watching you since you and Baela left the cafe.”

You looked to where he gestured with his head to see the man in question. He wore a red baseball cap with a plain t-shirt and jeans and was staring very intently at a pair of tailored pants.

He looked up briefly, catching your eye. He noted that you and Daemon were staring at him. He set the pants down and wandered towards the front of the store out of sight.

“Who was that?”

Daemon shrugged. “Ghosts of Aemond’s it seems, but I guess yours too since you shot their boss.”

You stared at him, unflinching. “That wasn’t me.”

He grinned, pointing a finger at you. “You are a good liar, I’ll give you that.”

Your hand drifted to your pocket with the pepper spray.

“Don’t worry too much,” Daemon said, taking a step back. “Aemonds gave his instructions in regards to you.”

“And what instructions are those?”

“Don’t let you die.”

You huffed a laugh, shaking your head in disbelief. “So he’ll assign a protection detail but he’ll treat me like a mistress.”

He took a step back. “I’ll be watching you, (y/n).”

“Creepy.”

He turned away, heading towards the front of the shop no doubt in hunt of the man in the red baseball cap.

“Was that Daemon?”

You jumped at Baela’s voice, nearly knocking down the rack of clothes you had spent too much time at.

“Yeah,” you answered. “Just coming by to tell me he’s watching me.”

Baela shook her head “The family guard dog is back at it again.”

“Tell me about it.”

Baela had seemed to find some clothes she wanted to buy so you two headed to the registers.

“Can I ask you something?” you asked before Baela could check out.

“Yeah?”

“Daemon mentioned that he was part of the family again. Is that true?”

“Yeah, I don’t know the specifics but about a year after you left Aemond had announced that he and Rhaenyra were no longer enemies of the family.”

You shook your head. “You’re kidding me, even after they killed Aegon?”

Baela shrugged. “Jace said Aemond never does anything without a plan and I guess he needed them back in the family.”

You shook your head, watching as Baela put her clothes on the counter. It didn’t make sense, Aemond’s own brother being poisoned at the hands of those two. The Aemond you knew would never have sided with the people who murdered his big brother. Sure, Aegon and him had their differences and Aegon got on Aemond’s every nerve but he would never disrespect his brother like that.

And now you were being followed by some mystery guy and Daemon.

What the hell happened since you were gone?

Tag List: @dixie-elocin @liannafae @toodlesxcuddles @watercolorskyy @zenka69 @bellaisasleep @namelesslosers @tssf-imagines

185 notes · View notes

phthalomushroom · 2 months

Text

The Family (3)

last next

pairings: modern!mafia!aemondxreader

word count: 3.3k

warnings: language, mentions of trauma, mentions of shooting, alys rivers, Italians, drunk aemond??

notes: this felt rushed but it is also long - sorry about that, idk what happened I've been super busy!!!

You hadn’t spoken to Baela the entire way home.

To say you were more than pissed was an understatement. You couldn’t tell if you were more mad at the situation or at your best friend for keeping such monumental information from you. You stormed into your apartment with a plan to shut yourself in your room for the night when Baela stopped you.

“I was told not to tell you.”

You whipped around. “What?”

“Aemond… wanted to be the one to tell you.”

“And how would he have told me?” You had blocked his number and his social media when you left the city, fully shutting him out of your life. She gave a weak smile.“He didn’t say.”

You crossed your arms.

Baela let out a long breath. “Listen, even if Aemond didn’t ask me not to say anything, I wouldn’t have brought it up.”

“You're my best friend Baela, I should have been told. What kind of friend are you?”

“One that remembers how fucking destroyed you were when you two broke up. One that remembers you leaving the city, fleeing from everyone all because of a fucking guy.”

“Which is why I should have known!”

“Why!” Her voice rose. “So you can run again?”

“I wasn’t running!”

“Then what the fuck were you doing?”

Escaping.

But you couldn’t say that. You couldn’t say that because it would make everything that happened that night too real. It would make everything and everyone you had shut out all these years pointless.

“I couldn’t deal with another 10 hour train ride,” Baela said after a minute of your silence. “Clearly there is still something you have towards Aemond.”

“Baela-”

“Whether it’s feelings or unresolved shit, I don’t know. Just… maybe seeing him, talking to him, will help you.”

She moved past you to go towards her room. She stopped with her hand on the door. “I’m sorry for the part I played in this, but Aemond asked and-”

“You couldn’t say no.”

She frowned, opening the door to step into her room. “He’s the head of the family now since Otto is in jail. You know whatever is asked goes.”

Your heart dropped.

Aemond was head of the family?

********

You had an awful night's sleep. You tossed and turned, thinking about what Baela had said.

Aemond was head of the house, he now ran the family which meant he called all the shots. He finally achieved what he had wanted all those years ago, but how he got there is what plagued you.

Your clock was nearing eight in the morning when your phone chimed. You looked at it seeing a message from an unsaved number, your heart sank as you read the screen.

Heard you're back in town, we need to catch up. - A

The fucking bastard.

You had half a mind to tell him how caught up you were when you decided against it. You threw your phone on your bed and began getting ready for the day, making your way to the kitchen. You saw a note on the table from Baela, apologizing for last night and how she wanted to talk it over more when she got back from the dinner tonight.

You crumbled the note throwing it in the trash. You had already forgiven her in all honesty, you couldn’t be mad at her for long. Besides you were being too harsh on Baela, after all you hadn’t told her anything from that night. She only knew that you and Aemond weren’t together anymore and that you needed to leave right away. In the end you were taking a lot of your frustrations out on her rather than the real person causing it. But to redirect those feelings meant that you would need to talk to Aemond and that wasn’t going to happen.

Not anytime soon anyway.

You sent Baela a quick text telling her all is forgiven and that you would see her when she got back from the celebration dinner.

You rummaged through the cabinets trying to find anything to eat but it seems like you’d need to do a grocery run. Thankfully you didn’t start full time at work till next week, your employer understood that you needed to settle into your “new” home.

At least that's what you had hinted at when they asked when you could start.

You put your shoes on and headed out of the apartment, going to the cafe that was a block away from where you lived. From what you remembered this place had the best chocolate croissants and made the best drinks you’ve ever had.

You had just put in your order, sitting at one of the corner tables, scrolling through your phone as you waited for your name to be called, when the chair across from you screeched.

You looked up meeting the delightful green eyes of Alicent Hightower.

You nearly choked on your spit.

She smiled cheerily at you. “I heard you were in town.”

You smiled back, putting your phone in your bag. “I just got in yesterday, I was gonna call but-”

She held her hand up. “Best not to, there are prying eyes and listening ears all around that house I swear.”

You laughed. Alicent Hightower had been like a mother to you when your own mother left. When you had come crying to Aemond freshman year when your family was falling apart, Alicent was the one who wrapped her arms around you and let you stay in the house until you were ready to go back.

You still remember her rage when you had told her about the note your mother left.

She truly was one of the things you missed about the Targaryen family.

“What are you doing on this side of the city?” Alicent, along with most of her family lived in an estate on the East side of the city that overlooked the canal.

“You know this side makes the best pastries.” She gestured to the boxes by her feet.

“Georginos is pretty stellar.”

She grinned, reaching across the table to give your hands a squeeze. “And how are you doing?”

You put on a convincing smile. “Great, no problems yet.”

She nodded. “Good to hear. After what Aemond told me, I’m surprised you decided to stick around here.”

Your heart dropped. “What?”

“The rats, dear. I don’t know how you and Baela are able to live in an apartment with rats in it.”

You swallowed your confusion. “A lot of traps.”

“Aemond said he’s heading over later to talk with the exterminator, I’m confident he’ll take care of you.”

You nodded along. “Yup!”

She squeezed your hands again. “I’m so happy that you and him could remain friends all these years, I mean I had half a mind to drag him to Winterfell and make nice.”

You nodded along, hoping your face didn’t show the confusion and anger you felt.

“Anyway, what is your number? I've missed our chats.”

You hastily reached into your bag, wanting the uncomfortableness of this conversation to end. You pulled your phone out and along with it, the invite from Alys.

Alicent’s eyes widened, upon seeing the crumpled invitation. She looked up at you smiling. “I was hoping Aemond would take my advice on inviting you.”

You gave a half hearted laugh, shoving the invite back into your bag.

Could this get any worse?

“So I take it I'll be seeing you tonight then.” She stooped to pick up the pastry boxes.

Come fucking on.

“I actually wasn’t planning on attending.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

You stumbled over your words. “I’m Aemond’s ex.”

“But you're part of the family.”

“It wouldn’t look good if I came.”

“And why not? You and Aemond are still best friends, it would be absurd for you not to be there.”

“I just don’t think Alys-”

Alicent snorted. “Screw what Alys thinks, I’m the one paying for the whole damn charade. I might as well get a say in who gets to come.”

Just then your order got called. She grinned pushing in her chair. “Till tonight, dear.”

You watched her walk out, at a loss for words frozen in your seat.

What the fuck just happened?

********

You had managed to fill Baela in on the phone of what happened in the cafe. Telling her about Aemond’s lies to his mother and the insistence of Alicent that you attended the dinner. Baela was able to stop by after work so that you two could walk in together.

You had just managed to find a dress in the back of your closet that would work for the formal occasion, your boxes from Winterfell still hadn’t come yet, to your dismay. The dress was slick black that had a perfect neckline that accentuated your boobs and yet didn’t do too much to make it seem like you were trying. Baela had described it as ‘tasteful sexy.’When you were looking in the mirror you couldn’t remember for the life of you where you had gotten it but didn’t care as you quickly left for the event.

You were already late and you didn’t want to have to spend anymore than an hour at the dinner. Luckily it was at Federicos, the whole place having been shut down for the special event.

The restaurant came into view as you walked up the street, you could see Jace, Luce, and Rhaena all standing outside waiting.

“You ready?” Baela asked. “We can bail out now, Luce can vomit on cue.”

“Tempting but gross,” You responded. You let out a long breath fidgeting with your handbag. “If I don’t show up Alys will be smug, and Alicent will hunt me down.”

“You don’t say no to the family.” She squeezed your hand.

You approached your friends, plastering on a smile that you knew you’d have on all night.

Rhaena hugged you first. “Finally, I’ve been trying to get Baela to let me come over to see you.”

“Yeah, it's been a crazy first day back.”

“Are you ready to go in?” Jace asked.

“Of course, I’ve been wanting those garlic knots since we left last night.”

You hated faking it for them. You’d rather leave, you’d rather not be here. But maybe this was a fateful way of telling you to face your shit head on. So you took a deep breath as everyone filed inside, squared your shoulders and knew that you would get drunk as shit after this.

For now you picked up a cocktail from the bar with the others and sipped carefully, you needed a clear head for the night. You already spotted Alys making her rounds around the room, but hadn’t noticed Aemond among the crowd. You looked around again seeing Alicent sitting at the corner booth, nursing a glass of wine.

“I’m gonna go make an appearance with Alicent,” you told Baela.

You snaked your way through the crowd, all mostly being people from Alys’s side with a few Targaryens and Hightowers mixed in. A part of you wondered why more of the family hadn’t come but those thoughts were put on the back burner when you took the seat across from Alicent.

She smiled. “Glad you could make it, love.”

“Glad to have been invited.

She waved you off. “Of course.”

“This place looks amazing, Alys really outdid herself.” You looked around at the black and white monochrome decorations that were dispersed around the restaurant.

“It’s tacky,” she frowned. “And dull.”

You chuckled. “You are just as blunt as I remember you.”

She lifted her glass. “Always.”

Her eyes drifted over your shoulder just as you heard a voice say your name. You turned to see a wide eyed Aemond Targaryen standing in all black with an empty whisky glass in his hand and a beer in the other. His hair that was cut short the last time you saw him had grown out and was now tied in a bun at the nape of his neck. He was as handsome as ever and the skip your heart did told you everything you needed to know.

You needed to be strong and you needed to be cold.

You swallowed the panic that rose and instead raised your glass to him. “I guess congratulations are in order.”

That seemed to knock him out of his stupor as he gave you an easy smile.

You heard Alicent get up from her seat, rounding to her son. “I can take this to the bar, you two should catch up.”

Aemond let her move past him, taking the empty glass from his hand before he slid into the seat opposite of you. He leaned back like he didn’t have a care in the world, his eyes glazed. “You never answered my text.”

“What text?” You took a sip of your drink.

He smirked, taking a sip of his beer. “You never were a good liar.”

“I blocked your number.”

“I got another number.”

You shook your head, he was still insufferable it seemed. “Seems like a lot of trouble to contact an ex.”

“You’re worth it.”

“You're engaged.” You weren’t going to let him win this.

He leaned forward putting his forearms on the table as he set the beer down. The veins of his forearms strained slightly. “I was going to tell you when we met up.”

“And how would we have done that?”

“Well if you were going to continue ignoring me it was going to be more of an “accidental” meeting. I think that would have been charming.”

You rolled your eyes. “You’re insane.”

“And you are still as beautiful as the day I first saw you.”

“I wonder how Alys would feel about that comment.”

“Alys isn’t here,” he slurred.

Now that pissed you off. Yes, you hated Alys Rivers but like hell were you going to be treated like some mistress. “You're an asshole, you know that?”

He shrugged, leaning back as he took a swig of his beet. “I don’t understand how I can be the asshole when you're the one wearing a dress that I bought you. That is just insulting to my soon to be bride.”

Your stomach turned. That’s where you knew the dress from. Aemond had gotten it for you on your last anniversary. But if he was going to be an asshole about it, so could you. Strong and cold, that’s what you needed to be.

You shrugged like he did. “A lot of men have bought me a lot of things over the years, I must have just forgotten.”

Something flickered in his eyes at that, like a fire had suddenly been lit. “You’re lying.”

“Kinda like how you're lying to your mom about us.”

His face blanched, clearly taken aback. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re best friends? You’re helping with the rats in my apartment?”

He regained his composure quicker than you thought. “We are best friends and I did help with the rats.”

“That was the first week we moved in and it was one.”

He waved his hand. “Semantics.”

“We haven’t talked in years and from what your mother tells me it’s like we talk everyday.”

He leaned on the table again“What are you doing here, (y/n).”

“I was invited by your beautiful fiancee and your mother.”

“No, what are you really doing here?”

You ground your teeth. “Your mother invited me. You don’t say no to the family.”

“Except you.”

“What?”

“Everyone else can’t say no but you.”

You frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You were always the exception, (y/n). Then, now, always.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“I know that if you really didn’t want to come here you wouldn’t have, rules be damned. So why did you really show up here in a dress I bought you for our anniversary?”

You hadn’t realized it but during your exchanging of words his hands and yours had moved closer, your fingertips just touching.

Just then Alys came around the table sitting on Aemond’s lap, he pulled his hands away snaking them around her waist. “We’re doing toasts soon, honey.”

His eye drifted to you, before he looked at Alys. “I’ll be there in a minute, just need to finish this conversation.”

Alys suddenly looked at you, her eyebrows shooting up as she tried to look surprised. “Oh, you came! I gotta say I didn’t think you’d show.”

You looked at Aemond then. “I’m just here for the celebration.”

She smirked. “Well I hope your gift is nice, gods know enough of these people only gave us cash.”

She stood up then, leaning down and giving Aemond a long kiss. You looked at your now empty glass.

He pulled away first, giving her a weak smile before she darted off back in the crowd. He folded his arms over his chest. “Celebrating Alys and I’s engagement? Seems very mature of you.”

You scoffed. “And how would you like me to react Aemond? Smash all the glasses, destroy the present table, burn the whole place to the ground?

It was his turn to scoff. “Well at least it would be a reaction, instead of this cold whatever.”

“I have been nothing but polite since we started talking.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.”

“Then what are you talking about, Aemond?”

He leaned forward. “You’re shutting me out, putting walls up, being cold.”

“And what’s the problem with that? You were the one who told me to leave, Aemond. Then I come back and you’re trying to act like we’re friends. I don’t know you.”

“You’ll always know me, just like I will always know you.”

“Then how come I look at you and I don’t recognize you.”

“Maybe you don’t want to recognize me.”

“Don’t do that.”

He smirked. “Do what?”

You gestured to him. “Those stupid fucking games - answering my questions with questions, giving stupid fucking philosophical answers.”

He crossed his arms. “And why is that?”

You huffed. “You’re a prick.”

He shrugged. “At least I got some reaction out of you instead of that ice princess bullshit.” His voice went high pitched as he mocked you- “congratulations are in order, beautiful fiancee.”

“Is being nice a crime now in your family?

“No but being a liar and a coward is.”

You rolled your eyes. “Get a grip, Aemond.”

“What’s the real reason you came tonight?”

“I was invited by Alys and your mother, you know how they both can be.”

“Bullshit,” he spat. “I think you came here because you were curious, you couldn’t stay away.”

You wanted to laugh. This was such bullshit, what even was happening right now. Was he mad at you cause you weren’t mad?

“Admit it.” He scooted closer.“I think you wanted to be here tonight to see for yourself if you could get me back.” He was leaning across the table now, his eyes flitting between yours. His voice dropped. “The ring was always yours, she’s just keeping it warm for ya darling.”

You could smell the alcohol on his breath. He was clearly drunk and now he was being cruel. When you knew him he would never have let himself get to this level of intoxicated and he certainly would never have been so mean to you.

What the fuck happened when you left?

You shook your head, looking away from him.“I’m not here for you, Aemond.”

He arched his brow. “Then why’d you come?”

“To see for myself that everything we had was a lie.”

He leaned back, shaking his head. “What are you talking about?”

“Seeing you tonight like this, with her, I understand now that it wasn’t love we had but convenience.” You started getting up. “I hope you two are very happy together.”

He stared wide eyed, watching as you began pushing through the crowd. “Wait.”

“Goodbye, Aemond. Have a good wedding.” You waved over your shoulder as you walked away from Aemond Targaryen.

Tag List: @dixie-elocin @liannafae @toodlesxcuddles @watercolorskyy @zenka69 @bellaisasleep

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phthalomushroom · 2 months

Note

Hey<3 do you have any idea how many chapters “the family” is going to be?

Hi! I have a rough estimate of at most 10 chapters give or take depending on pacing and planning!

#aemond targaryen #fanfic #modern!aemon targaryen x reader

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phthalomushroom · 2 months

Text

The Family (2)

last next

pairings: modern!mafia!aemondxreader

warnings: language, mentions of trauma, mentions of shooting, alys rivers, Italians

word count: 1.7k

notes: thank you for all the love on the first part, and sorry I wasn't able to respond I've been really busy this week. I changed the name and I think this fits a bit better. I hope you enjoy this chapter the next one will be a bit more drama filled - there's plenty more to come. <333

Six Years Ago….

No one ever got a table at Federicos. No matter how early someone called to ask for a reservation they would tell you they were booked out weeks in advance. If you did get a table they would cancel the reservation on you, apologizing for the important event they had to host. Everyone in town knew this challenge, but that didn’t stop anyone from trying to get inside.

Well, at least that was how it was for everyone besides the Targaryen family. The Targaryens owned all kinds of shops and restaurants across King’s Landing that were fronts for their other dealings. But Federicos was special because it was just a gathering spot meant for celebrations and get-togethers, the family friend who owned it always had the private room of the restaurant ready for use in case the family had a need for it.

Aemond didn’t tell you much about the family business, you only knew bits and pieces from overhearing conversations or from the gossip of those in the city. He always said that he never liked the idea of you being caught up in the craziness of it all.

You’ve known Aemond since grade school, basically grew up together. You’d always catch him staring in Science and English. It was only in highschool when his locker was next to yours did he finally start talking to you. Those brief conversations quickly turned into study sessions during study hall, which turned into after school plans, which turned into him asking you out.

But tonight, the first big homecoming dance of your senior year, Aemond had booked the private room of Fredericos to celebrate with all your friends. You would say that everyone was going their own way but everyone who grows up in King’s Landing usually stays, either opting to start work right away or going to Citadel University.

Unbeknownst to everyone, not that it was their business anyway, you had applied out of the city, far away places.You had gotten into all of them but were still waiting to hear back from your top school at North College of Winterfell.

Your phone pinged with a text from Aemond telling you he was waiting outside.

You finished getting ready, though, Federicos was a formal place you never went over the top. You opted cute and semi-formal, since you were heading to the dance right after. You quickly stuffed your purse with the essentials before bounding down the stairs.

You walked past your passed out father, the typical beer cans surrounding him, and headed for the door when you noticed today's mail had slipped through the door’s mail slot. You would have stepped over it all when you noticed a big thick envelope at the bottom of the pile.

Bending down you grabbed the letter, flipping it over to see it was addressed to your from Winterfell. You quickly opened it, heart hammering in your chest when you read the words you didn’t know you were hoping to see.

Congratulations.

********

There were people who you never wanted to see again from King’s Landing and there were people who you couldn’t wait to see.

Vincent Federico was someone who you could not wait to see.

The small Italian man was as heartwarming as his meatballs and was always willing to do what he needed to help. When he first heard of your moving out after your blow out with your father, he offered you a job as a waitress to help keep you off the streets. When he found out that you were leaving for Winterfell he didn’t say a word to Aemond about it, keeping it a secret until the very day of your departure.

Of course he would say he knew nothing about it, but you knew he had overheard your conversation with Baela that night.

Now walking into Federicos the nerves hit you all at once. Vincent smiled as he saw you come in from where he sat at the bar, getting up from the stool to envelope you in a big bear hug.

“Long time no see, kid.” The man grinned in a way that his gold tooth where his left canine should be shimmered in the light.

“I know, I tried to visit but I didn’t want to ruin business.”

He waved you off. “You're outta your mind.”

“No hug for me Vinnie?” Baela piped up from next to you.

Vinnie grinned wrapping his arms around her, lifting her up off the ground before setting her back on her feet. “I saw you last week, you miss me that much?”

“Of course.”

“Careful, Jace might get jealous.”

“Jace knows that our relationship is one of pure garlic bread, he knows better than to interfere.”

Vinnie chuckled, waving his hand as he turned toward the tables. “Follow me, I got your favorite table all prepared.”

He seated us at the corner booth that overlooked the restaurant. Vinnie had already set out a plate of his famous garlic bread, knowing it was your favorite, as well as having already poured your favorite wine. Since Baela and you have been coming here for years, you already knew what you were getting and put your orders in.

Baela and you started catching up on the things that you weren’t able to share over the phone. Baela caught you up on the latest gossip of the city, of the schoolmates you left behind. Unsurprising, a majority of your graduating class still lived in King’s Landing.

Which meant you were bound to run into someone eventually.

“So,” you started taking a sip of your wine. “What’s the plans looking like for you and Jace?”

By now your meals had arrived, in between mouthfuls of spaghetti Baela asked. “What do you mean?”

“I’m just trying to get an idea of who’s gonna get the apartment in our divorce.”

“Why? Sick of me already?”

You chuckled. “No, I just mean with how serious Jace is I’m surprised you two haven’t made bigger moves for the future.”

“We’re still young, marriage now is like being a child bride.”

You grinned, understanding the feeling. “Oh, I know. But have you two talked about moving in? I mean you’ve been together since middle school, you know everything about each other.”

“We knew everything about each other.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ever since he officially became part of the family, he doesn’t tell me as much. He keeps secrets from me, tells me it's for the best and that he’s protecting me. I don’t know, this probably sounds cliche.”

“It does,” you admit, but you remembered a similar feeling when you dated Aemond. “But that is who he is now.”

“Can I ask you something?”

You leaned closer. “Anything.”

“If the shooting never happened, would you have ranaway?”

You played with the rim of your glass, causing a slight high pitch noise. “I think I would have left eventually.”

“Would you have left with Aemond?”

You looked up meeting Baela’s eyes. “I think if everything didn’t go down as it did I would have stayed here and I would have regretted it like my mother did.”

“Is it really so bad?” She asked. “Being here, being with us?”

I shook my head, about to respond when a hand slapped down on the table, nearly spilling the wine. Alys Rivers leaned down smiling sweetly at you.

“Look who's back in town.”

Her green eyes were like daggers as she looked you up and down. You returned the gesture noting her skintight red dress, her too tall heels.

You smiled. “I see you haven’t changed since highschool Alys.”

She whipped her dark hair over a shoulder, threading her fingers through the strands. “Well, I hope you’d see some change in me (Y/N), I certainly see you have changed.”

You remained composed, taking a sip of wine. Even though she was three years older than you she still found it in her to act like the child she did in highschool. Aemond always told you it was because her dad didn’t give her enough attention but you knew she hated you because you didn’t come from a well off family. You didn’t back down then and you certainly weren’t going to back down now.

“So what have you been up to?” You asked, faking nice.

“Oh, I’ve joined the family business.” She made note to move her left hand to the side of her lips, bringing attention to the ring on her finger.

Your ring. The same oval diamond ring you saw four years ago.

Which meant…

You let your eyes widen for a second before composing yourself. “Wow, congratulations! I’m happy for you.”

“Aren’t you going to ask who the lucky man is?”

She would not win, you wouldn’t let her. You can spiral later, but not in front of her.

You shot a look at Baela to find her frowning at her plate, she knew and she didn’t tell you. Now you were in the midst of a battle of wills and she was trying to sit it out.

Hell no.

You kicked Baela under the table, gaining her attention. If she was going to keep something like this from you, the least she could do is help.

Baela cleared her throat. “Who is the lucky guy Alys?”

“Well, you should already know who it is,” she waved Baela off. “It’s Aemond of course. We’ve been going out for the past three and half years, now. The proposal was long overdue.”

“Of course, you aren’t getting any younger are you?”

Alys sucked her teeth. “What a joy it is to have you back in the city, (Y/N). You’ve really been missed. I just hope that the Targaryen are as welcoming as I am.”

“She doesn’t have any involvement with the Targaryens anymore, Alys.” Baela sat up straighter at the mention of the family.

Her family now.

“Of course she does. Aemond told me everything about your relationship you know,” she leaned closer. “I just hope they don’t find out the real reason you left.”

Your heart sank but you kept your composure. You finished your wine. “I have no idea what your talking about.”

Alys grinned, clearly satisfied. “Well, it was nice running into you. Send my regards to Jace, Baela.”

She went to leave but before you were relieved of her presence she reached into her black hermes bag and pulled out an envelope, setting it on the table.

“Aemond and I would love to have you at our celebration dinner.” With that she blew you a kiss and joined her friends in the private room.

You didn’t look at the invitation as you grabbed it off the table and shoved it in your bag. “What the fuck just happened?”

Tag List: @dixie-elocin @liannafae @toodlesxcuddles @watercolorskyy

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phthalomushroom · 3 months

Text

The Family

pairings: modern!mafia!aemondxreader

warnings: language, mentions of trauma, slight panic attack

word count: 1.34k

note: first writing I’m releasing to the world - it is what it is at this point. also working on the title so it probably will not stay that.

The train’s horn pulled you out of the stupor of your book. Your attention drew to the bustling city of King’s Landing that passed by your window. The train was pulling up to the platform and you had half a mind to stay seated until the train left for the next destination. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea, maybe you could have rejected the job your remote internship had offered and found something to do in Winterfell.

But then you caught sight of the white dreads from the crowd, holding a “welcome home” sign and felt the nerves dissipate. You grinned, standing and grabbing your bag. After pushing through the crowd, you were finally face to face with your childhood friend.

Beala welcomed you with open arms. “Four years is too long.”

You shook your head, squeezing Beala once more before pulling away. “You act like you didn’t come to visit.”

“Having to take a ten hour train ride to Winterfell is vastly different than a one minute walk to your room. I’m glad to have my roommate back.”

“I’m happy to see you too.”

You grinned linking arms with her as you both ventured to the streets of King’s Landing. You walked down the sidewalk, briefly filling Baela in on all that recently happened in Winterfell. Up the street, however, you noted the black sedan pulling around the corner, your steps faltered. On instinct you ducked into the nearest store, pulling Baela with you. Luckily, the store you found shelter in was a quaint little bakery, one that seemed new to the block.

Baela knew what you were doing as you both tried to get as deep as you could into the store, keeping an eye on the sedan that drove past the windows.

You hadn’t done this in years, you realized. Hadn’t needed to hide in a store, hadn’t needed to look over your shoulder wondering if someone was coming to get you, wondering if someone was following you. It was too easy to slip back into old habits.

“Can I help you with something?”

You were pulled from your thoughts, looking at the kind cashier.

You cleared your dry throat. “No, just looking.”

Baela took your hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “You're okay, we’re okay.”

You nodded. You knew that. You weren’t involved with the Targaryens anymore which meant you were normal, which meant no more targets on your back. But that didn’t stop your heart from racing. That didn’t stop the nervous sweat that broke out along your skin. It certainly didn’t stop you from laying a hand over the scar on your abdomen.

“We can go now.”

You nodded, willing your legs to follow Baela outside and along the sidewalk. If only to keep your mind from racing did you begin noting the stores you passed.

You once knew these streets like the back of your hand, now as you looked around it was so different. The shops that now littered the streets were bustling, which was usual during the evening rush but so many of the shops you had grown up with seemed to be replaced with imposters.

“What happened to Clarico's?” Your voice was dry but it gained its strength. You noticed the shop that was once a popular corner store you had frequented as a teen, was now left vacant and boarded up.

“Uhm, there was a… situation.”

“Oh?” Baela avoided your eyes. You let out a long breath, calming your still racing heart. “So not much has changed.”

You pushed the thoughts that began to bubble in your mind, you needed to be here - with Baela. Not with him, not in the past.

She pulled you tighter to her, like the past was gonna pull you away. “We have a lot to catch up on.”

********

Baela and your apartment was the same as you had left it all those years ago. The same one eared cat that perched on the concrete steps outside the building. The same broken elevator that had been a death trap since you moved in. The same creaky stairs.

Baela hadn’t changed much of the apartment since you left either. When you walked through the door that familiar vanilla scent hit you.

There was an ongoing joke between you and Baela after her boyfriend, Jace, wondered aloud one day how it always smelled like vanilla but he never saw the candle burn. Baela and you had looked at eachother and instantly knew what had to be done. Ever since, the two of you used a plug in diffuser and kept the same vanilla candle sitting in the center of the kitchen island. It was a stupid bit that Baela seemed to have continued, even without you.

It was a strange comfort to know that even though you left and even though the city changed, you changed, Baela hadn’t.

You went over to the living room table where a photo of Baela, Jace, her sister Rhaena, and Rhaena’s boyfriend Luce were all smiling happily at the beach.

“You better rest up, we have dinner reservations tonight.”

Your head shot up from the photo. “Oh, no. I can’t go out tonight.”

Baela grinned, crossing her arms across her chest. “Why not?”

“Tired?” It was a pathetic lie on your part.

From the look on her face she wasn’t buying it. “He isn’t in the city.”

You set the photo back on the table, rubbing your finger over a groove in the wood. “Who?”

She smirked. “The person you’ve been trying to forget the last four years. Aemond.”

The name sent a shiver through you. In all honesty you had forgotten him- or at least convinced yourself you did. And you had forgotten about him on your walk with Baela, doing your best to concentrate on the now. It took you four years to try to forget the pain of Aemond Targaryen. But the last thing you wanted was to see him.

Four years didn’t seem long enough now.

You walked over to the kitchen table, taking a seat on one of the chairs. “And who told you he’s not in the city?”

Baela joined you at the table. “Jace.”

Your brows rose. “If he knows Aemond’s business then he’s…”

“Yeah. He’s been with the family officially since you left. He’s really happy, we’re really happy.”

You nodded. “You’re okay… with all of it?”

Everything that came with being part of the Targaryen family.

But it was more than a family. It was a business, a business that was generations old and had its control over every aspect of this city. Some parts of the family business even had influence beyond King’s Landing.

It’s why you went to Winterfell. It was the farthest place you could think of where a certain Targaryen couldn’t reach you.

Baela ran her finger over a groove on the table. “I love him. He made his choice and I… I’ll stand with him.”

You saw the hesitation in her eyes, the worry. You wondered if your face reflected hers when your mother asked you a similar question all those years ago.

Is your love strong enough for what he’ll become?

But back then you thought nothing of your mothers questions.

That question now echoed through your mind. Kept you up late throughout the years.

At least now you know the answer to it.

“I’m happy that you’re happy.” You reached out a hand to Baela, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “I’m here now, less than a minute down the hall if you need me.”

“Thank you.” She stood shaking off the moment. She reached in her pocket pulling out a credit card. “Anyway, get ready Jace insisted he pay for dinner. As a welcome home.”

“Well, if he’s paying.” You smirked, standing up.

“Good, cause we’re going to Frederico’s. I know how much you’ve been craving their garlic bread.”

With that she turned, skipping down the hall to her room to begin getting ready.

You let out a long breath, maybe you should have stayed on the train.

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