Chapter Text
Brienne woke up naked before dawn with the worst hangover of her life and her sleeping nemesis sprawled all over her. She started and immediately regretted it – the sudden movement made her head hurt even worse.
Right, she thought. The party. She and Lannister had both been drinking, quite a lot, while they’d argued over…something. Then they’d gone back to his place. There had to have been a few steps between those things, but Brienne couldn’t quite remember – she remembered what they’d done, but the how and why of it were a blur. I’m never drinking again.
Her face burned as she looked down at Lannister’s arm, thrown over her bare waist. They’d never had a conversation without arguing! What in the seven hells had possessed them that they’d actually slept together?
“Move over,” she mumbled, shoving at him, but Lannister didn’t wake. She grumbled and managed to extricate herself anyway, gathering her clothes from where they’d scattered on the floor. The movement made her stomach roll, but she gritted her teeth and kept going – better to recover in the comfort of her own home than spend another second in Jaime’s. In fact, now that she thought about it, surely it was a good sign that he was still asleep – this way, she could get out of there with her dignity intact. Jaime had never missed an opportunity to mock her, and right then, Brienne’s head hurt far too much for her to retaliate in kind. And Jaime was incapable of feeling embarrassment, while every little thing made Brienne flush. Gods be good, how could she look him in the eye after this?
She picked up the pace.
She glanced back at Jaime once she was dressed. Mercifully, he was still lying with his face buried in the pillows. Brienne crept out of his bedroom and closed the door behind her. Where had her purse ended up?
She’d had it in her hand as Jaime unlocked the door…then he’d kissed her and backed her inside…and it had slipped from her shoulder when he’d offered her another drink in the kitchen. Right. The kitchen. She just had to fetch it, then she could leave. Though maybe she should make coffee…she couldn’t quite remember the advice Rhaenys’s cousin Arianne had given them on one night stand etiquette, but surely coffee had been part of it. Sneaking off without making some just seemed rude.
She brewed a pot, then, unable to resist the aroma, drank a cup as the sun began to rise. By the time she’d washed the mug and set it on the drying rack, light had filled the kitchen. She grabbed her purse. It was really past time she got going.
She didn’t make it to the door.
“Leaving so soon?”
Brienne nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned slowly. Jaime stood in the doorway of his bedroom, arms folded, wearing only a pair of sweats, slung low on his hips. He had drunk every bit as much as she had, and was a decade older than her besides, but he didn’t look like he had a hangover. His bedhead somehow looked good. Life was so unfair. Brienne raked a hand through her hair, trying to tame it. From Jaime’s smirk, it wasn’t working.
“Yes,” she said stiffly. “I have to…be elsewhere. See you at work on Monday.”
Jaime blinked languidly and leaned against the doorframe. “I somehow doubt both of those things.”
“What?”
Jaime arched an eyebrow. His smirk deepened. “You should check your phone.”
“My phone?” she echoed, and dug inside her purse for it. Her eyes widened at the number of alerts. She scanned them quickly, then raised her gaze slowly to meet Jaime’s. “Seriously?”
Jaime laughed and pushed away from the door, heading over to the kitchen with an absurd level of grace for this hour in the morning. “So it seems. Might as well drop that purse and come have some breakfast with me. Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for quite a while.”