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Rhaenys looks at the selection in front of her and almost gives up. She’d been at this for a very long time. Too long, if the looks the shop associate keeps giving her indicates.
She looks down at her watch. Eesh. She was only looking for a pair of socks. It shouldn’t be that hard.
She holds in a sigh. This is what she gets for trying to shop for things in December that wasn’t a gift for other people.
Why can’t she find one pair of normal socks? Sure, she’s looking for a slightly thick pair, but, everything here is so very… Christmas-y.
Wearing Christmas themed socks outside of December? Anyone can, of course, and she doesn’t embarrass easily. It’s the principle of the matter.
Unfortunately, her favorite comfortable pair, the pair Grandmother Rhaella gave her…have been worn down. One has a hole now too large for her to justify keeping them.
From beside her there’s shuffling. Though she doesn’t look, she hears, “Are you buying them for you or for someone else?”
She startles and looks up. Blond hair, green eyes. He reminds her of Jaime Lannister. As far as she knew Jaime Lannister didn’t have kids and neither did Tyrion. Cersei had kids, she recalled. This wasn’t one of Cersei’s though. They had met those three, though it was a while ago, when Tommen was just starting nursery school. This wasn’t Joff. But, her parents had said there were a lot of Lannisters.
Then again, for all she knew, this guy wasn’t a Lannister.
What this guy was, however, was waiting for an answer. She nods. “Yes, they’re for me.”
He nods. He starts shuffling through the collection and soon lets out a triumphant “Ha”.
She leans over, curious, as he pulls out a pair.
“These are the ones you need”, he says, far too sure of himself.
He’s holding out what may be the ugliest pair of socks she’s ever seen in her life. Red, green, and white; festooned with reindeer, candy canes, and Christmas trees. She’s very glad she was looking for socks for her and not to give someone else. She’d never live it down if she gave anyone something like this. Obara would probably kill her.
She looks away from that monstrosity towards the face that’s a thousand times better looking than those socks. Is he serious? Oh no! He looks it.
She didn’t know where to begin. “They’re…um…”
“Hideous?” He asks with a grin. He’s actually proud about it. This jerk.
She crosses her arms against her chest. “Yes.”
He nods, smiling. “You will like them.”
She looks at them again. They look like Christmas threw up on the socks and given the rest of the collection, that’s saying something.
Her face must have given it away because he laughs and assures her, “They are cozy.”
She looks at them again and lets out a laugh. They better be since they are just that ugly. “How do you even know?”
Then, he turns slightly bashful. He tells her: “My brother bought me a similar pair last year.”
She guesses, “As a gag gift?”
He looks away, face reddening. Why does she find that endearing?
He shrugs and rolls his shoulders back to stand upright. He repeats, “They’re cozy. Will, my brother, meant it as a joke but jokes on him. They’re very comfortable.”
She’s still not sure, but, is she really going to waste more time on socks? And really, who cares so long as they do the job? Then, she realizes she’s not given him an answer. “Socks are socks right?”
He beams at her. “Exactly.”
She finds herself smiling back. “Alright, you’re good at selling me on them…but, you haven’t told me your name.”
If anything, his cheeks go redder. “Lance. Lannister.”
Ha! She knew it. She bites back a smile. “Lance?” Like Lancelot? The knight? Well, he technically he has saved her from sock-shopping hell.
He blushes deeper. “Lancel, actually, but, don’t hold that against me. I didn’t pick it.”
She huffs. She really can’t complain, can she?
She introduces herself. “Alright, Lance. I’m Rhaenys.”
His eyes go slightly wide. She can practically see the “Targaryen” float across his mind. She has the name but not the look.
He’s not running. That’s a good sign, right?
“Very well, Rhaenys,” he replies, sounding out the name. Now, she’s feeling her own cheeks heat up. She liked the way he pronounced it too much.
Then, he asks, her “So, have you decided about the socks?”
She blinks. She almost forgot why she was here. He pushes the pair in his hands towards her.
She looks at them. They really are ugly. But, she takes them. They are very soft…they’re also sturdy. He wasn’t wrong about how good they’d be. She looks at him and his very green eyes. Darn it!
Defeated, she exclaims, “They are what you said.”
He grins. “Wonderful.”
‘Not so fast, Lannister’, she thinks. “I will buy them, on one condition.”
He blinks at her. “What?”
She smirks, “Since you’re concerned about cozy socks, you have to let me pick out a pair for you.”
He seems delighted. “Sounds good to me.”
With that, she sets out to find the world’s second ugliest pair of cozy socks. That and try to figure out what sort of date she wants to take Lance out on.