Chapter Text
Rhaenyra and Harwin broke up because of Daemon.
In hindsight, it was obvious it was going to happen.
Laena, his first wife, had died and, after 6 months of grieving, he was back, and suddenly being platonically married to a man while keeping a sexual relationship with another wasn't enough for her. She wanted a full marriage.
On one hand, it wasn't unexpected to Harwin. She never hid her love for Daemon, in the Targaryen strange way.
On the other... well, they had been in their relationship for, what? Almost a decade?
It stung a little.
Then, of course, she told him they were moving to Valyria, so they could get married and wanted to take the three boys with her. Joffrey was just a little baby, he couldn't tear him away from his mother. And Jace and Luke said they wanted to go, so what could he do?
He wasn't even on the birth certificate of the three.
When she asked him to help her have a baby, he had agreed to sign a contract that just signed his rights away - his lawyer had dumbed it down for him, he would have no right for custody - not only for Jace, but for all of the boys. Any child they had in that arrangement, for ten whole years, would be covered by it.
Harwin sas young and didn't mind. It was less responsibility, he could just be the fun uncle!
Rhaenyra always let him have as much access to them as he could want.
He had to leave to be with his grandfather and when he saw her again everything was changed. Rhaenyr left for Valyria and married her uncle, and he was left behind in Westeros.
He started bonding with Laenor after that. They shared three children, after all, why wouldn't they be at least friends?
They visited the boys together for their birthdays - Leanor even paid for his tickets once, when he was in between jobs and couldn't afford it.
He was a very good friend.
Of course, at Valyria, they discovered the boys had acquired another father. A third one.
Daemon.
And their parenting styles... could differ. Sometimes.
Laenor was the comforting kind, always physically affectionate with the boys, a little overprotective sometimes.
Harwin tried to do his best with the little time he had. There was no time to be a disciplinarian or teach them things.
Daemon expected things from them, the boys.
Harwin and Laenor had watched Joffrey fall on his ass from trying to ride his bike, exchange a strong look with Daemon, and just get up and do it again.
So yes, between the two countries, Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey had three very different fathers, one stepfather and one mother.
Their Christmas was usually spent in Driftmark, with their grandparents, Laenor and Joffrey - who had gotten married sometime after the divorce -, Harwin, and Laena's daughters, of course, Baela and Rhaena.
... who were also Daemon's children.
Every year, he would be invited to go spend the last two weeks of the year with the Velaryons and would be the one driving everyone to the airport, where someone would fly with them to Valyria and then back.
Until that year, when Daemon asked for Christmas to be held in Valyria, in their state.
Harwin was worried about it. Christmas was his time. The boys would already spend Summer with Laenor, and he could only get a couple of days with them at Laenor and Joffrey's house once every two weekends during that time because of work, why would he give up on spending the holiday with his sons?
But then the boys asked him, all three of them. And he couldn't say no.
Rhaenyra was nice enough to pay for him to fly business class and to give him a room in her own house, so he could spend as much time with the boys as possible, to compensate him for his troubles.
She even sent him the list of stuff the boys said they wanted through their year, so he could surprise them - usually, he would ask them directly, but he wouldn't skip on the opportunity of looking like he had guessed their perfect gifts!
So Harwin was pretty confident about what he was packing when his luggage was taken, and he sat down with Joffrey and Laenor to wait for their plane.
"Checking the tracking?" he sat down, finding Laenor on his phone.
"Nyra said they just got there," he locked the screen. "She's going to put them under the tree."
He hummed positively.
"And your parents?"
"They took the kids to the theatre last night," he unlocked it again, clicking on the gallery. "They just sent me a picture, hold up."
Harwin leaned onto the phone and smiled when Laenor finally found the photo of Rhaenys and Corlys surrounded by the grandchildren, with 3D glasses and popcorn.
Gods, he missed them.
He sat back on his seat, watching as Laenor set it as his phone screen, and making a mental note that maybe he should try and take a picture with all three so he could do the same. Maybe he could be in the picture too, he barely had photos with them.
Joffrey - the adult one that his son was named after - came back with coffee and bagels, giving Harwin some before sitting down with Laenor.
"Did you show them the picture with your parents?"
"Yeah," his husband told him, and then showed him his phone. "I made it my screen."
Officially, Harwin was coming as Laenor's friend. Rumoured third in their relationship.
It was strange, not being the father of his own children.
As far as he knew, Rhaenyra's whole family accepted the idea that the boys just resembled her mother's father - which they kind of did, if Harwin wasn't around - so he couldn't quite claim them in public. No custody or sleeping at his house, or anything that would be weird with a friend of the family.
It was his choice, back then. When he sat with Rhaenyra and Laenor, and they talked about Luke and Jace, but now a part of him secretly regretted it.
He was their father, after all.
It was what echoed in his thought as he stared out the window of the plane.
Maybe it was time to start asking for more. More time with them, more acknowledgement.
Legally, he couldn't do much - Laenor certainly would put up a fight and Harwin would hate to lose the friendship between them - between all three of them, Rhaenyra included - but they had to reach an agreement.
Harwin wouldn't leave without one.
It sparked something in his mind.
Maybe he could get the boys to ask just as well.
"Hey," he turned to Laenor. "Do you have Rhaenyra's address there? I forgot... a thing. At home." "I'll just get it delivered there."
"Sure," Laenor grabbed his phone. "I'll just text it to you."
He hummed positively, checking the list again.
Rhaenyra had told him to not buy Luke a dirt bike, but he suddenly couldn't find a text of hers saying that.
It was so strange.
And Jace certainly had space for a Tolkien special edition boxed set.
Joff would love some bath crayons and pavement chalk, he could decorate the whole house with them, his little artist.
He added as many gifts as he could realistically pay for - and he could realistically pay for a lot of things - and set them to deliver a couple of days before Christmas.
Harwin had two whole weeks to show his sons how great of a father he was.