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“Renly!” Stannis knocked upon the bathroom door for the third time. “Hurry up and get out!”
“I’m washing my hair!” Came Renly’s reply, annoyed and whining back at his elder brother from beneath the running shower.
“Fine then!” Stannis growled. “I’ll use the bathroom downstairs!”
“Robert was throwing up down there!” Renly called to him again. “I wouldn’t!”
Stannis rolled his eyes and started down the staircase to the guest bathroom near the entryway.
Sure enough, when he reached to flip on the light, his older brother was face down on the floor next to the toilet, groaning in pain at the sudden brightness to the room.
“Shut the damn light off!” He cried at Stannis.
“No. Move.” The younger huffed at him, stepping around his brother’s body so that he could stand before the mirror to finish fixing his tie. “Are you actually going to show up to the office today, Robert? Or have you drunk yourself so sick that you can’t move?”
“Fuck off.” Came a quiet but harsh reply.
Stannis sighed and rolled his eyes again, shutting the light back off once he’d finished getting ready for work. “You could at least move to the couch, couldn’t you?” He muttered at Robert, stepping over him again as he left the bathroom. “This is just sad.”
Robert didn’t answer him, as a wave of nausea forced him to begin vomiting again.
“Renly!” Stannis called for his younger brother, ignoring the elder, who deserved every bit of what he’d gotten from his night of binge drinking. “Get down here or you’ll be late for school!”
“Do you have to rush me everywhere we go!?” Renly demanded rather dramatically, coming down the stairs still drying his hair. “School doesn’t start until eight! We’ve got another half hour!”
“Just get your things so we can leave.” Stannis gritted his teeth in anger.
He’d already had enough of his family for the day and he’d only woken up an hour ago.
“Is Robert still sick?” Renly asked gently, grabbing his backpack from the kitchen table and tossing his dirty towel into the hamper near the dryer. “Maybe we shouldn’t leave.”
“He’ll be fine.” Stannis promised, taking out his phone and dialing Ned Stark. “Go to the car. I need to make a call.”
Renly let out an exasperated sigh at being ordered at again, but he obeyed anyway, leaving Stannis to wait for the phone.
Three rings and then finally a half yawned “Hello?” graced his ears.
“Stark, this is Stannis Baratheon.” Stannis spoke gruffly, grabbing up his briefcase and the rest of his things so that he could leave the house. “Please come and get my dear brother off of the bathroom floor if you can manage it. He’s battling another hangover and I don’t have time to deal with foolishness today.”
“How did...I was with him last night, Stannis. We weren’t drinking.” Ned assured the irritated Baratheon, obviously confused as to how Robert had managed to bring down this suffering upon himself this time.
“Obviously he was drinking after you left him.” Stannis scoffed at Ned’s innocent ignorance. He knew Robert better than most. He knew how quickly he ran to his vices once left unattended.
“I was not...” Said burden attempted to argue, still groaning pitifully from his place on the bathroom floor.
“Oh ofcourse not.” Stannis muttered sarcastically, heading straight for the door then. “Ned, I’m leaving.” He told Robert’s newly acknowledged lover. “If you want someone to tend to Robert, come and do it yourself.”
“Alright, alright.” Ned sighed, sounding quite worried. “I’m on my way. Go on.”
“Thank you.” Stannis huffed before hanging up and getting into his car with Renly. “Are you texting someone? Who is it?” He asked his little brother when he saw him smirking down at his own phone.
That smile quickly turned to a guilty frown and Renly blushed, hiding his phone in his lap.
“Not the Tyrell boy, I hope.” Stannis frowned as they pulled out of the driveway.
“It’s none of your business who I talk to.” Renly mumbled under his breath, leaning against the passenger window and refusing to look at Stannis while they drove.
“No no, you’re absolutely right.” Stannis snorted. “All I’ve ever done is put a roof over your head and make sure you’ve always been fed and well looked after, but no, it’s none of my business who you talk to with the phone that I pay for.”
His own text tone went off suddenly, and Renly glanced down at the screen lying on the console between them.
“Gross,” He muttered. “Your boyfriend just sent you a kissy face emoji.”
Stannis’s face immediately reddened. “And THAT is none of YOUR business.” He growled at Renly, taking his phone and shoving it into the pocket of his jacket.