Chapter Text
They’d been seeing each other at least once a week in the café, Aemond went there during any free time he had. Whenever he had a morning lecture with Amelie he’d leave home early just to grab her an oat milk latte, in addition to his own coffee, so they could enjoy it together. Aemond’s sister had moved in with him after a messy breakup, and her kitten and Vhagar had become such close friends that Vhagar no longer cared about Aemond leaving the house. This had let him realise that Amelie and him actually had most lectures together. He had never really established a close friend group in his major so he’d now been completely adopted by Amelie’s group, she refused to let him sit alone and also sitting without her friends, so they had only one solution.
“I’m so sick of this fucking lecture, the man looks like he’s been teaching for 50 years, he’s old to have learnt how to teach by now, no?” Amelie whispered into his ear after the professor started reading one more slide verbatim.
“Do what everyone else is doing and start studying for other classes,” he whispered back.
“I’m so sick of studying, I shouldn’t have even left the house today,” Aemond levelled her with an amused look. She said that sentence at the very least once a day and yet she came to classes every day. “I’m serious, I know how to read, there’s no point in being here if he’s just reading the powerpoint.”
She was right, of course, and yet the whole class kept coming to the lectures, at least the room was warm. He smiled at her and continued to work on his notes.
“Do you think he’d notice if I just left? He seems like he’s essentially asleep,” Amelie said after looking at her watch.
He looked at the time himself, “Amelie, there’s only 10 minutes left, you’re not going to leave now.”
“Alright, that’s the end of that chapter, you can leave now, there’s no point in starting another one so late in the class,” they heard the professor say, the whole class was suddenly revived since he’d drastically changed tones from when he was reading. He looked at Amelie as they left the room and found her smiling triumphantly as if she managed to cut the class short herself.
It was then that he decided he needed to be brave. He gestured for her to stay a little behind while her friends disappeared down the corridor. “I’ve been thinking, I don’t know, but maybe you’d like to go see Vhagar or something?”
“Aemond, are you asking me out by using your cat as an excuse?” she asked him with a smile. He was, of course, but that hadn’t been the answer he was looking for.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to, of course,” he added quickly, he had been terrified of asking and making her uncomfortable and now he thought he did just that.
“I’d love to, silly, I love Vhagar,” she told him. “When were you thinking?”
“That’s the thing. The next lecture is kind of pointless as well, right?” she nodded. “My sister is a nurse and it’d be kind of mean to go there when she’s resting, so maybe we could go now? Then come back for your shift?” He kind of mumbled the last bit.
“For Vhagar? I’d even miss work,” she laughed a little, stopping and looking right into his eyes.
“Only for Vhagar, right?” he asked, vaguely aware of the literal scene they were making in the middle of the hallway.
“And your sister’s cat, of course, I have to meet her,” the sarcasm evident in her voice, a smile playing in her eyes.
“Of course,” he said, extending his hand for her to take.
He didn’t let go of her hand for the whole walk to the train station. And she didn’t seem to mind, since she intertwined their fingers during the train ride, leaning slightly into him for balance. He led her to his flat quickly, regardless of what she’d said he wasn’t planning on making Amelie miss work.
The second he opened the door to his flat, Aemond heard the two cats meow. “Careful, Dreamfyre isn’t the best of staying inside,” he told Amelie and she immediately closed the door behind her. Vhagar heard Aemond’s voice and padded to the door, but completely ignored his presence when she realised who he’d brought.
“Oh, hello, baby,” Amelie cooed, crouching down to the black mass of fur. Vhagar was getting too fat, Aemond thought, she was probably stealing Dreamfyre’s food. “You remember me, don’t you, my love? You do,” Amelie just sat down unceremoniously on the floor right by the front door.
“Amelie, you can sit on the couch, you know that, right?” he told her. He picked Dreamfyre up, who was nervously watching Amelie, utterly confused.
“Up we go, my baby,” she tells Vhagar, getting up with the cat in her arms. “Is that the baby?” she gestured to Dreamfyre. “She’s so tiny! Oh, Aemond, I’m never leaving this house, I swear. Call my boss, I won’t even go to work!”
He led her to the couch and left her there with the cats while he ran to the kitchen to make them both coffee. Aemond was almost done when he heard Amelie’s steps approaching him.
“This is a huge flat, if you’d told me you were rich I wouldn’t have given you free refills. I think they’re bored of me already, I was abandoned,” she told him from the doorway.
“They clearly have terrible taste,” he handed her the latte he’d just made. “I’m not a barista, but hopefully it’s drinkable.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you,” she was leaning back on the counter, next to him. He turned to face her and she looked up to meet his gaze. He found himself leaning into her slowly, fully expecting her to pull away. When he realised she was doing the same, he finally threw caution to the wind, closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the kiss. Amelie tasted like coffee and mint and right then he swore he’d never let her go after this kiss.
Aemond completely forgot about Amelie’s work, the cats, his sister and just held her jaw, deepening the kiss. Her hands left his waist and went to the counter, Amelie trying to lift herself up to his height. He broke the kiss and quickly pulled her up, fitting himself between her thighs.
He stopped for a moment, a hand on her waist and the other over her jaw, stroking it once more. “You’re beautiful,” he told her.
“Shut up,” she said, pulling him to her once more. He didn’t know how long they stayed there, because the next thing he knew, he heard his sister walking into the kitchen yelling his name.
“Oh fuck, I’m so sorry,” Helaena squeaked when she realised why he wasn’t responding. Aemond and Amalie sprung apart and she jumped off the counter, looking intently at her shoes. He felt like a complete highschooler caught by his parents. “I, uhm, had no idea you had guests…” his sister continued.
“Yeah… Sorry about that,” he told her. “This is Amelie, Amelie this is my sister, Helaena.”
Amelie looked at the older girl then with a smile. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“You too,” his sister said back. The three of them all stood around for a beat.
“You’re not usually home so early, Hel,” Aemond said, just to try to disperse the awkwardness.
“I told you I only had half a shift today,” she responded. “There you go, Amalie, those are my brother’s excellent listening skills.” They smiled at each other.
“I really should go to the café, too, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Amelie said, and a small panic rose up in Aemond’s chest. He’d expected to stay with her, maybe even invite her for dinner.
“I’ll… Walk you to the door. Bye, Hel,” Aemond rushed to say.
“I was thinking I’d go with you. You know, to study?” Though he’d not intended it, it came out as a question.
“I mean, I still have an hour… It’d be a shame if I went alone so early, wouldn’t it?” She said, the bashfulness of being caught leaving her now that she was alone.
“It really would, it’s so cold outside, I couldn’t let you go alone,” he told her, pulling her against his front by her waist and leaving a small kiss over her hairline.