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#a mini Luke
bitofanerdingeneral · 4 months
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They’re really setting up dark Percy. He’s so against the gods already
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aliciasfantasyxox · 6 months
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He’s snuggling into Nick’s embrace that’s so cute😭
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daenerysies · 15 days
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i’m being so serious rn i’m going to need tg to stop glomping onto half of rhaenyra’s kids 🫨
jace would NEVER abandon his family to back aegon’s claim (‘wah wah wah he HATES his mother bc she *made* him a bastard-’ one, jace does not care enough about that to abandon his mother [to whom he is literally the miniature version of] and two, his entire personality is his love for his family. he literally dies trying to save aegon and viserys *after* his mom told him not to go fuck OFF).
rhaena would also *never* abandon her family to back aegon’s claim (apparently she’ll feel sorry about blood & cheese and want to make amends with them. i don’t think so, i think she’d be more upset that her betrothed was ruthlessly slaughtered despite his status as a peace envoy but whatever).
baela is one of rhaenyra’s staunchest supporters (‘the greens reach to usurp our queen’s throne and they must be answer with fire and blood.’ i DO NOT care that it didn’t make it into the show that is canon!baela) and does *not* want driftmark (which only corlys has a say in, and he chose bAsTaRdS over her and rhaena at every single turn don’t even mention it), so stop trying to conflate your hatred of rhaenyra onto her daughter.
aegon iii would never have been happy married to jaehaera and vice versa. these were two heavily traumatized children. jaehaera would have to deal with being married to the son of the man who had her brother executed (not to mention that she already had severe physical and mental health issues that were not being treated and the people around her [aegon ii before he died and alicent after] were actively making her life worse). aegon would have to deal with being married to the daughter of the man who had his dragon burn and eat his mother alive while he watched. which he never ended up letting go of (even with a wife who we know he obviously loved dearly) he wore black for the rest of his life and was stated to be the most solemn king due to what he experienced during the dance. there was no saving them.
leave. them. alone.
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nerdyfangirlmel · 3 months
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Listen listen listen. If they keep up with the adding flashbacks. They’ve gotta be doing Annabeth flashbacks (because that’s what fits sea of monsters best) which not only means babybeth but also that we would get meet Thalia sooner so then they can cast Thalia and have her in it for more than a hot two seconds at the end. Since she’s supposed to be around the same age between her “death” and return.
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shortnotsweet · 1 year
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all bets are off [1/3]
Lucemond High School AU drabble [part 2], She’s All That (1999)
“Am I a bet? Am I a bet, am I a fucking bet?”
“Yes.” It comes out quietly, which makes it all the worse. Luke would have expected Aemond to sneer and look down his long nose at him like the Hightower side of the family had for most of their lives. Luke wishes he would. It would have made it easier. Aemond’s face reflects no relish, or even satisfaction. Instead, it is pale and unreadable. Fitting, perhaps; as it turns out, Luke had read him wrong this entire time.
“Would you have told me before it was over? Before you humiliated me in public?”
The silence speaks for itself.
“Alright,” he scoffs, “that’s it, then.” The bitterness in his voice has an unfamiliar edge, and it sounds mean even to Luke, but it’s right. That’s how he feels. “You played your little game, you had your fun. I get it. It’s over.”
“No.”
“No?”
“It’s not over.”
“It is if I say it is. I don’t want anything from you, and you—you can shut up about debts, or what I owe you. We don’t have to know each other after this.” It’s true; they don’t have any classes together. They run in the same circles but that’s nothing some convenient maneuvering and strategic avoidance can’t fix. Their sides of the family voluntarily meet up for a miserable dinner once every three months and holidays. Luke can make it work.
Aemond’s remaining eye widens and his mouth thins. His face is readable now, at least; he’s livid. In a second, he lunges forward and grabs ahold of Luke’s wrist, trying to drag him back towards himself, to reel him in like he had all those months ago. Luke digs his heels into the ground instinctively, bracing away from the pressure. Luke used to like how big Aemond’s hands were in comparison to his own—the encompassing warmth, the difference in size—but now his grip tightens and locks like a handcuff, squeezing Luke’s wrist to the point of crushing. It hurts. He’s hurting him. Aemond is older and bigger than Luke, he always has been, and now he presses in like a storm cloud blocking out a clear sky.
“Luke, it wasn’t—it started like that, alright? It was like that in the beginning, but not now. It’s different now, I’m not—just look at me!” There’s something frantic in his words, the way he hovers over Luke like his shadow alone will cage him in. This isn’t the first time Aemond has struck the flight instinct in him, or the urge to fight, but it resonates through Luke’s core nonetheless. There is too much of him near. “I would’t have told you because there’s nothing to tell, not anymore.” Luke cranes his neck to peer over Aemond’s shoulder, searching out the best escape route. “It’s not over. You don’t mean that. We just…this is a rough patch, that’s all. It doesn’t matter how it started, it matters what it is. It’s good now, isn’t it? I’m good for you, I can be whatever you need, I’ll keep you happy. You like me, right? I know you do. I know you like me. Just get in the car, and we’ll talk about this later. Not now. Not like this. Look at me, don’t—don’t be like this. Luke.”
“I’m going home.”
“No. It’s late. You’re going back with me.”
“Let go.”
“Not until you listen.”
“Get off of me,” he snarls, launching himself backwards and ripping out of Aemond’s grasp. “Don’t touch me.” Aemond rears back at this rejection.
“Who else is going to do it? Lonely little Luke, eating lunch alone. Stupid, useless, weak. Can’t play sports, can’t speak in Debate Club, Mommy pays his tuition. He almost wets his pants when someone pulls the fire alarm. Who else is going to touch you, other than me?” Aemond’s mouth curls into a grin; he’s done it before, all sly and cruel. It looks ugly. He never changed, did he? How did Luke never see it before? “You didn’t fuck, didn’t drink at house parties, didn’t go to the beach past bedtime—hell, you probably never rode in a car without buckling the seatbelt. You were so eager for it, and I took you so easily. No one else could do that. No one else can touch you now, not like I can.”
It would have been true five months ago. Poor, common-looking Luke, who blended in with the walls, kept his head down, and startled at car alarms. That Luke was surrounded by gems, by brothers and uncles and friends who excelled at something, who carved names out for themselves. The Luke from five months ago would have balked at this, would have shrunk into himself and cowed to the truth. That Luke thought no one watched him, but he would’ve known if he just looked up. The Luke from now knows what the truth is, for the first time, and it’s nothing that comes out of Aemond’s mouth. Luke knows himself better than he ever has, and knows Aemond like he never wanted to before.
“I don’t think that’ll be any trouble, Uncle. Don’t worry about me,” Luke snorts out without thinking. “If I need someone to give me a ride, it won’t have to be you.” It doesn’t. It won’t. “I can buckle my own seatbelt; better yet, someone else can buckle it for me.” The uncle in question stills.
“Say that again.” He blinks, a curious expression settling over his features. “Say that again.”
“I said, it doesn’t have to be you. Other people will touch me. You’re not the only one around here with a working dick and something to prove. You lost an eye, not an ear. I should’t have to repeat myse—” before he can even finish the sentence, Aemond grabs him again, fingers curling over his shoulders like talons. Luke’s breath stops in his throat. Aemond’s face is so close they could kiss. Instead of leaning into it like he might have a few hours ago, Luke cringes backwards. Never again. The wounded expression on Aemond’s face gives him some satisfaction, but then his mouth morphs into a snarl and Luke would bet anything—his mother’s money, his own life, or whatever Aemond must’ve taken when he made that bet in the first place—that both of his eyes are glowing right now. The prosthetic below the patch shines like a jewel in its socket anyway, but the working eyeball in his head works furiously, searching across Luke’s face for something.
“What did you say, you little shit?” Aemond seethes. “Is there someone else? You have someone else, you were thinking about someone else?” he hisses into Luke’s face and furiously shakes him like a child would a broken toy. “Who is it?” he demands, sounding desperate now. “When? Is it Stark? Aegon? Greyjoy, that waterlogged rat? Daeron? Did one of them touch you—did you let them? Did they kiss you? Tell me, you fucking bastard.” Luke tells him the truth.
“That’s not your business anymore.”
“Not my business? Not—hah, not my business?” He’s so angry he’s spitting. “Of course it’s my business. It always has been. You’ve always—always, there’s never been a time when—you little idiot. Don’t you get it? You’re mi—”
Luke slaps him.
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phoenix--flying · 4 months
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"remember who the real enemy is" can we take a moment as a fandom to remember that kronos was the big bad and luke was just a puppet for him
like yes he did bad things but he was literally being manipulated and PUNISHED (canonically, he mentions kronos punished him in tlt) and this started when he was 17 THAT WE KNOW OF it could've started earlier since thalia was meant to be the prophecy child
like luke or not, PLEASE remember kronos is the main antagonist of the first series, luke was just a pawn like the other ta kids
thank you for ur time
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8thmuse · 3 months
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luke castellan is such a complex character and also one of the reason why we cant have multi-layered characters, bcs people are just going to hate on them.
i havent read the pjo books in sooo long, i only reread hoo to prepare for the new series xd, and completely forgot how much i like lukes character. because he is right, he has a really good motive to be the “villain”. you understand his actions really well. i loove how he is written. and percy jackson is such a great protagonist to his antagonist. they are soo similar, percy does think that luke is right, he understands him so much, and i think thats neat.
i really hope, that lukes not gonna get ruined in the series, and they give him the complexity that he deserves going forward as well.
and dont even get me started on charlie bushnell.. i do believe there is no better actor for luke. what he does with the character is phenomenal, he really gives the roll justice. the way he acts with his face, especially in the last episode is on another level. his whole performance reminded me how much i love a great antagonist story, percy really is stubborn, i wouldve joined him in a hearhbeat.
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mac-lilly · 4 months
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Baby Luke, Mini Luke & Maxi Luke are ready for MegaCon London!
Also, if you happen to go to London and want a set of baby phantoms (aka the band in the smallest size) let me know. A few people didn't pick up their sets in Paris.
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rubixcubi · 22 days
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Luke gets even fluffier! :3
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spashahoney · 1 year
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When you’re Leia Organa, victim of a war for 12 years, loser of a lover who’s so far away now, and Tired™—and your best friend said he would’ve been handed over the keys to an early victory.
Fair.
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oreolesbian · 1 year
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Let’s discuss two clips taken from a scene in Return of the Jedi.
The first thing to establish is the metatextual disclaimer that ROTJ was released in 1983. The prequel trilogy was released in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively. Because of this, it is important to note that most of the lore about the Jedi Order we know from newer canon does not apply when talking about this film in isolation. In an in-canon context discussion, this is irrelevant, but here I want to discuss specifically the themes and pivotal points to the characterization of Luke Skywalker as established by the original trilogy as a whole.
The entire ROTJ Dagobah sequence as it sits in the narrative is a direct response to the events of the ending of Empire Strikes Back, where Luke disobeyed Ben and Yoda’s instructions and abandoned his training to confront Vader and save his friends before he was ready. That scene in ESB on its own already establishes a rift between Luke’s values and the values of Ben and Yoda. However, it is heavily implied that Luke was wrong to do this because he loses to Vader on Bespin and nearly dies, just as Ben and Yoda feared. However, the revelation of Vader being Luke’s father changes the scenario drastically.
In the scene above and the scene prior to it (Yoda’s death), Luke directly confronts both of his teachers on being lied to about Vader’s true identity. Because up to this point, Luke knows he has been training to eventually kill Vader (and the Emperor). Not bring him to justice - kill him.
Luke, having idolized his father since childhood (as A New Hope establishes), is realistically troubled by the news that he now has to kill his father. So troubled, that he asks Yoda, “Is Vader my father?” just so he can be sure. Luke is visibly angry in this scene when Yoda insists that he knowing would have only made him act more irrationally and emotionally. That he wasn’t ready for the truth. But the underlying question remains, did Yoda or Ben ever really plan to tell Luke the truth? After all, Yoda is disappointed that Luke found out, because he knew it would create resistance.
Yoda and Ben are fearful of another Vader, and it’s why Yoda was reluctant to train Luke in the first place.
After this, Luke confronts Ben with the same question, upsetly saying, “You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.”
So now we have a second scene of Luke directly doubting his mentors’ motives. Whichever character you agree with being in the right as an audience member, however, is irrelevant, because in terms of character, Luke believes he is right, Ben believes he is right, Yoda believes he is right, etc. And instead of Luke blindly following the wills of his teachers, he truly starts to question whether being a Jedi for him is directly what Yoda and Ben want from him.
Ben laments in the scene above that Luke is their only hope and that Luke’s refusal to kill his own father without at least attempting to find the man he used to be is a doomed scenario. Ben and Yoda have every right to think this - they have seen Vader in both forms and have effectively lost hope in him. Luke, who has only seen a dark side of Vader, has more room for optimism to reclaim the Jedi Knight his father once was.
Not only this, but as a scene, Luke turning against Ben and Yoda’s wishes directly leads an audience to think: ‘Hmm. Vader went against the teachings of Ben and Yoda. Now Luke is doing it too. Is this his path to the Dark Side?’ Which is another narrative point to the scene. All of ROTJ is pushing this ‘what if’ now that we know Luke and Vader are related — all which builds to the ultimate climax of Luke’s decision in the final throne room fight.
“You cannot escape your destiny,” is what Ben says to Luke. But this is what Luke does.
He proves Ben and Yoda wrong.
He proudly proclaims that he’s still a Jedi, but in a way he believes in.
And it’s not even to say that he fully disagrees with Yoda and Ben, because he clearly respects them as his mentors. But Luke changes from ANH to ROTJ. He starts to form his own ideas about what a Jedi is to him, rather than what he’s supposed to do for the good of the galaxy. He makes a decision that he alone can stop Vader without killing him. That he’d rather lay down his life and die a Jedi than do what Yoda and Ben asked him to do (and ironically, what Palpatine also wanted him to do) and live as something he doesn’t believe in.
“Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor.”
For full context, Ben says this immediately after revealing Leia’s true identity to Luke - which leads us to believe that Luke’s care for his sister is something that could be used against him (as we see in the throne room fight when Vader threatens Leia). Luke cares for Leia and Han immensely, hence why he risks everything to rescue them on Bespin. And ultimately his fear of losing Leia is what makes him snap in his fight on the Second Death Star (which we later learn in the prequels, of course, as a direct parallel, is that Anakin’s fear of loss is what drove him to the Dark as well - so it matches up that Lucas is focused on fear as the emotion Jedi must control above all else, and interestingly enough, fear is driving Yoda and Ben throughout the duration of the OT). His feelings served what the Emperor wanted from him - to kill Vader and take his place.
But Ben also says - “[your feelings] do you credit.”
A simple acknowledgment that maybe, maybe Luke’s endless compassion and determination could change something. For the audience, who is fearful that Luke may fall Dark, and for Ben, whose last bit of hope is left lingering on a sentence. “You were our last hope.”
Luke Skywalker is hope. He’s hope. He’s Ben’s hope. He’s Padmé’s hope. He’s Anakin’s hope. He’s Han and Leia’s hope. He’s the Rebellion’s hope. He’s the Jedi’s hope. He’s the universe’s hope. He’s a New Hope.
He represents all of that in this film - in this few seconds, we get so much character.
And this - quintessentially - is why ROTJ is the perfect blueprint for understanding Luke’s character. How he interprets the Jedi way, how he has complicated emotions that both serve him well and lead him astray, and how he triumphs through hope.
So in full — Luke redefines what being a Jedi is for himself. In ANH, he expects it to be a whimsical adventure (it is not). In ESB, he expects it to be whatever Yoda and Ben have planned for him (it is not). And in ROTJ, he doesn’t know what to expect anymore, but embracing what he feels is the right thing to do is what pushes him forward.
He claims the Jedi title in a way that is fully earned and does not need the approval of his mentors nor the standard training (that he would never get in his era anyway). The Jedi return because of Luke - but they come back different. And not in a direct ‘the Jedi of old were all bad’ way, but in a ‘looking towards the future’ way. Because Luke believes in and values the idea of making your own destiny and the flexibility of the Force’s will. An idea which would inevitably pass to his students (who would then have their own personal interpretations of the Jedi way or even the Force in general).
So yes — writing Luke in a way where he teaches exactly the way the old Code would’ve gone without critical thought, or having him lose faith in a student over a single bad feeling, or disregarding him (meta-textually) as a Jedi, or presenting him as sticking to a very strict and specific set of rules for how training is supposed to work, etc., is all directly contrasting to the arc we are presented in the original trilogy.
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catotat · 1 year
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Baby got a driver's license and a glow up
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Now we've got fake future luke, too far into the future luke, and 1 year post UF luke
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aliciasfantasyxox · 6 months
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youngbeezer · 1 year
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✨Hi!! Could you do an Instagram edit with Luke Hughes with like a dancer? Thank you!
hii ofc!!! hope you enjoy :)
tiny dancer | luke hughes x reader
yourusername posted!
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liked by lhughes_06 and others
yourusername life lately 💅🏼
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yourfriend love yaaa
bestfriend ugh yes love comp season
dylanduke25 slay
-> yourusername so true bestie
nolan_moyle very nice
markestapa who’s more flexible y/n or @erikportilo 🤔
-> yourusername me duh
-> erikportillo is that a challenge 🤔
-> lhughes_06 definitely y/n
-> markestapa @lhughes_06 SIR?
lhughes_06 posted!
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liked by yourusername and others
lhughes_06 so proud of my tiny dancer💃🏽
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yourusername ugh those grapes were so good😪
yourusername love you lukey🤍
liked by lhughes_06
-> dylanduke25 lOvE YoU lUkEy
-> yourusername @dylanduke25 careful duker your jealously is showing😒
jackhughes simp nation
-> yourusername hush! he’s never gonna post me again
user1 everyone shut up luke is active
user2 we love a supportive bf
elblue6 adorable! love you two💙💙
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fixfoxnox · 8 months
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Mini Bug Masterlist (GhostRoachSoap)
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Description: Roach is doing his best to make it as a single parent to his daughter Lilian. He's managed to snag a great job as a secretary to the CEOs of a trillion dollar business, and things are running smoothly.
Then, of course, he runs off and develops a crush on both of his bosses. And things get a little more complicated when the two men meet his daughter and grow attached to her.
Single Parent/CEO AU
Pairings: GhsotRoachSoap, GazPrice (Background) JacksonRoach (Past)
Part 1
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shortnotsweet · 1 year
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all bets are off [2/3]
Lucemond High School AU drabble [part 1], She’s All That (1999)
Aemond Targaryen may be the leading man of Westeros, but Daeron is the man of the hour. His date moves timidly at first, but settles into the steps of a waltz as a swan does to water.
“You’re better than I thought,” he laughs, breathless and pretty. “Better than Jace, at least. He always stepped on my toes.”
“I hope you’d rather dance with me than your brother,” Daeron murmurs into the shell of his ear. “Besides, my mother may not pay attention when it counts, but she made sure we knew how to dance. We’re Targaryens, aren’t we?”
It’s when he swoops down to kiss him—or maybe when Valeryon tilts his head to receive it—that a sudden crash can be heard, followed by horrified—no, delighted—shrieks. Onlookers witness the leading man shoving through the crowd just to get to them. The drink table is overturned on the way; in retrospect, the table was already on its way down, overloaded with spiked punch bowls as it was, and the skirt of Maris Baratheon’s dress snagged on the hinges of the folding leg and helped it capsize once and for all.
Forget Maris, forget the dress, forget the table. No use crying over spilled vodka on a gymnasium floor. This is what matters:
Daeron jumps into action when he hears about the pig because that’s—that’s just fucked. Daeron heard it from Aegon who heard it from Helaena who didn’t hear it from Aemond because he didn’t tell her, but their sister must possess some form of clairvoyance because she always knows about these things. What kind of things?
Denial runs in the family; it’s in their blood. Having lived half a life with both, Daeron can guess which side. He’s the level one, the normal one. He spots the abnormal a mile away.
He sees it in the way their mother openly tosses Rhaenyra’s family holiday cards into the trash without even opening the envelopes, but must privately fish them out later in the evening. He found them all once at the back of her fragrance drawer, stacked chronologically by the year and tucked behind vintage perfume bottles, neatly out of sight.
He supposes Aemond is much the same. Aemond, the older brother he sparsely knows, has many tells. For example: two separate underwear drawers, a jar filled with hard lemon candies he himself doesn’t touch, a journal he once tackled Aegon for opening. With him, things stay out of sight, but never out of mind.
That’s why Daeron doesn’t rat him out when he first hears about the bet. From what Aegon has said, Helaena doesn’t contradict, and Daeron has witnessed, Aemond’s watched Luke for years and wants him in every possible way. Perhaps he is like Alicent, Daeron thinks, who lovingly files away memorabilia to dissect later. Perhaps Aemond will get the right of it in the end.
Then, Daeron catches wind of the blood and sees red. Right or wrong, plotting to seduce the object of your ire over the course of a school year and humiliate him come prom night by dumping him onstage, then dumping a bucket of blood suspended from the ceiling over him is—well. Aegon says it best.
“Pig’s blood? Really, Aemond? You’re like a cartoon supervillain.”
They all know Aemond never would’ve gone through with it. The Baratheon girls, save for one, are vapid creatures. Aemond never needed Maris’s favor to secure an internship with her father, but it was always an excuse. The moment she pointed out Luke—shy, wallflower freshman as he was—Aemond hatched his own plan. They’re Targaryens in name and blood, but they’re Hightowers, too. It’s in their conniving nature.
That summer, Luke should’ve taken one look at Aemond’s outstretched hand and taken off at a sprint. Daeron would’ve taken Luke’s hand himself and dragged him away, had he known.
Luke runs track in the winter and spring and hides himself away in the summer and fall, like an inverse of seasonal depression. Luke is a good runner. He’s skinny, but has strong legs and the instinct for it; the second the starting pistol blows, he jolts like a jackrabbit and covers the two-hundred stretch like it’s nothing. Daeron watches him run from the bleachers because he’s good at it, and because Luke sometimes wears these little shorts that barely cover anything. Aemond watches too, of course, stealing glances during lacrosse practice and nearly letting the ball get away from him. After the infamous breakup—which took place behind the scenes but played out in the aftermath for the entire school to see and speculate on—Aemond is even less subtle about it. A few times he moves to abandon the field, as if to run after Luke like a hound catching a scent. Then he’ll catch sight of Daeron in the bleachers and glower.
(“Who dumped who? It had to be Aemond, right?”
“No, no. Look at him. That’s not the look of someone who escaped a relationship.”
“What are they supposed to look like then?”
“Free, I guess. Liberated. I dunno.”)
Lucerys Valeryon pulls up the driveway in the dead of night. It’s the end of April.
Daeron watches for him out his bedroom window, then hurries downstairs and out the back door when he sees the Beetle convertible emerge, a baby blue blot in the dark. Luke called him beforehand, said he had to drop off Aemond’s things before he got too attached. Borrowed shirts, origami candy wrappers, a roll of photos sheathed in an envelope. A hardcover children’s book. It is a good thing Aemond and the rest of the household is asleep; he’d been in a black mood for weeks and knowing Lucerys was so close again would have him frothing at the mouth. Who knows what he’d be driven to do.
Daeron meets him at the edge of the lawn. Luke takes one look at him—his hair, the color of his eyes—and his expression crumbles. He cries on the curb. Daeron crouches down next to him. You’re my friend. You’re beautiful. You never deserved this, he thinks. Neither does Aemond. He never did.
“I have a suit,” Daeron says instead. And both eyes. “You were excited about it, right? Go with me.”
“Huh?” Luke wipes his face. It’s flushed red and splotchy. He is so lovely. “No, no. You don’t have to keep…” being nice to me, he finishes lamely, mentally. Daeron hears it anyway. Oh, you silly boy. He watched him before this summer, but they’d become true friends by the beginning of fall thanks to Aemond dragging him home every week, much to their mother’s despair and Rhaenyra’s clear delight. It might be one of the best things to ever happen to Daeron, besides his mother finally deciding he can come home. He knows what it’s like, then, that fear. Luke must think that once Aemond is no longer in his orbit, he’ll simply blink out existence like a star burned to a quick. It’s not true. It never was.
“I know. I want to.” Daeron hopes Luke hears his conviction bleeding through, and fears he’ll hear the love there, too. Luke is silent for a moment, turning it over in his mind.
“Okay,” he says wetly, finally. “I’ll go to prom with you. Pick me up at six.”
It’s a month to prom. Aemond’s stuff is packed in a box in the back of the car. It’s a date.
“Thank you for telling me,” Luke mutters against Daeron’s shoulder. “No one else did. They didn’t think I could handle it, I bet, but you—you knew.” A scaly beast that’s lived inside Daeron’s ribcage for longer than he can remember rumbles in agreement.
Luke rests his cheek against his collarbone and Daeron is sure that if he tried, he could hear the staccato of his heartbeat through the skin of his throat.
“Would you have wanted to know? Even if you knew it would make you unhappy?” It was obvious to anyone who knew them that Aemond never would’ve broken up with Luke in the end, not of his own volition. He’d die first.
“Of course.” Luke pulls back, offended. “How else would I—I would’ve never known it wasn’t real.” Daeron almost shakes his head. It was real, alright. Realer than Luke will ever know. But this—this can be real, too. This can be just as good. Better.
“I’m glad, then.” He dips him then, hand creeping down to plant against Luke’s lower back. The speakers continue to warble in the background, but Daeron doesn’t recognize the song; it’s something about moonlight, about fireflies dancing and the silver moon watching on.
“Don’t touch him.”
Ah. Speak of the devil. Daeron’s been touching their nephew all night, but Aemond probably knows that. He’s been watching them out of the corner of his remaining eye, jaw clenched in fury. His poor date—wretched girl she is—stands behind him, clutching at her torn skirt with a mottled expression. She’d scuttled after Aemond, to no avail.
“What are you doing?” Luke asks over Daeron’s shoulder. Everyone is watching. He is not as tall as his brother, but he’s taller than Luke and shifts to angle him away. Aemond, as expected, follows like a dog chasing a tail.
“You’re my boyfriend,” Aemond hisses, wounded, reaching out for Luke’s sleeve, “debasing himself. What are you doing?”
“Was.” Luke jerks away, clinging to Daeron’s arms like he’s a lifeboat at sea. Aemond flinches. “This is my date. I came here because I wanted to.” Luke’s fingers dig into the black fabric of Daeron’s tux. “Leave us alone.” At the mention of us, Aemond’s nostrils flare.
“Didn’t you hear him?” Daeron says blandly. “Leave us alone.” He doesn’t even need to turn to know there’s anguish painted on his face, in the tremor of his lip. You’re losing him, Aemond. One more strike, you’re out.
“How dare you?” Aemond grits out, snagging a fist in Daeron’s lapel instead, to the gasps of the crowd circling around the three of them. “You think you can come back here and help yourself?” You, who was born with nothing, for nothing, shipped away like nothing.
Daeron looks up at Aemond now, at the red rim of his eye and the brokenness behind the pupil. It’s been said that all men demand their pound of flesh. They’re not men, not yet, but Aemond’s been baying for Luke’s blood (and body, mind and soul) for the better of nine years. It’s a three-man play, and the spotlight is sweltering.
Daeron only smiles at the challenge. Maybe it looks sharp. Maybe it looks bloody. Maybe it looks like he has nothing to lose.
(Wrong. He has the audacity, actually. If he plays his cards right, he gets Luke, too.)
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