Work Text:
July, 28
The streamers hanging on the wall were a bold silver turned golden from the lights in the room. Balloons in the colours of the rainbow and more littered the floor. There were shrieks and screams of children all around. The indistinct conversations of the adults mingling together to form a dull murmur.
Tilted at an odd angle, the camera only caught the people from the waist down, people in long flowy skirts, some in well tailored pants, others in more loose fitting ones and even one in capri shorts. A few children with blonde and brown hair, dressed in nice clothes running around were caught on camera as well.
"Oh, they're coming in," A voice said, close enough to be audible. "Are you recording this?" It sounded like a woman's voice. Light and airy, with a dreamy lilt to it.
"Oh, shit!" A man's voice joined in. "Where'd I put that thing? Aemond's gonna kill me."
The person wearing the capri shorts was frantically turning around, unaware of the camera behind him, filming his blunder. The pair of legs donning capri pants finally went out of frame and there was jostling, the camera losing its focus as someone picked it up.
Lifted up at a proper height and aimed at the center, the scene before the camera became more clear. The streamers covered the entire height of the wall, from the ceiling to the floor. Golden letter balloons with the words, HAPPY BIRTHDAY hung in the middle. A table in the middle, decorated with party hats and paper plates, drinks, and piled high on the sides were gifts in all shapes and sizes, wrapped in shimmery paper.
Conversations became quieter until there was only silence in the room, with the occasional sound of squeaky children's shoes and balloons rubbing together.
The camera turned to the side, focussing on the door. A man with curly brown hair walked in, a young boy in his arms. Rhaegar. Dressed in bright yellow dungarees over a white shirt he looked like an adorable little banana with his yellow bucket hat. He hid his face in the crook of the man's neck, the crowd obviously making him nervous. "Oh, it's okay, honey." The man cooed at Rhaegar rubbing down along his back.
"Look, it's just your nanas, aunties and uncles. Look, your cousins are here too!" Rhaegar finally peeked at the crowd from his hiding spot, eyes wary of the people gathered in the room.
"Nana?" Rhaegar searched the room for his nana until he stopped and pointed towards the corner, his lips curving up in a smile. "Nana!" He yelled.
A woman, tall and beautiful with gorgeous silver blonde hair tied back in braids, walked forward, her smile equally as blinding as Rhaegar's. "Hello, my sweet boy. It's nana." The woman pinched his chubby cheeks kissing him all over his face making the boy squeal in delight. "Can nana hold you?"
Rhaegar shook his head, tightening his hold on the man with the curls. "Uh uh. Only muña."
Muña. So this was what Lucerys looked like. He had the same nose as Rhaegar, the same pout and with identical dimples on their chins.
"He's still a little nervous around everyone besides me and Aemond. That incident still has him spooked." Lucerys kissed Rhaegar's cheek, pulling up one of the straps that had fallen down over Rhaegar's shoulder.
"It's alright. No need to rush him." The woman stepped back as Rhaegar finally scanned the well decorated room with awe. Eyes trained on the table filled with gifts, he swung his legs in excitement. Then he turned to look at the other children gathered there and his excitement grew ten times more, eager to get down and trot on over to where his friends were.
"Muña?" Big purple eyes turned to his mother, asking for permission to join his friends. Now that the earlier nervous energy was gone, the conversations started again in the background as the children walked forward, smiles at the ready and bodies vibrating with energy. There was a movement in the corner as Lucerys glanced towards it.
"In a moment, honey." Lucerys walked over to the table as Aemond soon walked into frame, cake in hand. Bold and vibrant, the cake had a little boy in an orange scarf sitting next to an adorable little fox, stars and a moon sitting on top of the cake.
The children started oohing and aahing at the sight of the cake. Rhaegar himself looked enamoured with it, eyes twinkling along with the stars that adorned the sweet delight, brighter than the candles burning on the top. His little bucket hat was traded in for a party hat with a pom pom attached, making the sight even more adorable.
In an instant, everyone around the room started singing Happy Birthday to Rhaegar. Aemond watched his son with love and adoration, leaning down to lift the hat and kiss his mop of curls before pecking Lucerys on the cheek. The children continued to sing and the adults all clapped and sang, smiles on their faces as they stood next to the table.
The person holding the camera was doing his best to sing along. "Happy Birthday to you." Once the song ended, the person yelled, "Happy Birthday Rhaegar! To my favourite nephew, give your parents hell!"
"Aegon!" Someone besides the cameraman shushed him, there was a smacking sound followed by a pained, "Ouch, Hel. That hurts."
In front, Aemond was staring right back, one purple eye clearly annoyed and with a promise of pain as he mouthed, You're dead.
"Ungrateful twat, he makes me work and still threatens me." Aegon grumbled before doing his job again.
Rhaegar was attempting to blow out the candles for the third time in a row. The first two times, the flames refused to go out. Ruddy cheeks puffed out, Rhaegar tried again. Lucerys bent down, making sure his son was steady on the chair, smiling and laughing at little Rhaegar's huffing and puffing.
Finally, the candles were vanquished and Rhaegar puffed out his chest in victory, clearly proud of his accomplishments. "Happy Birthday, my love." Lucerys kissed his cheeks.
Aemond joined in with a fond ruffle of his curls, his hat taken off a while ago. "Happy Birthday, trēsy."
A slew of "Happy Birthdays" followed soon after. Hugs and kisses one after the other. The children surrounded the birthday boy, their voices high pitched and excited.
"Here, I'll hold it for a bit." The same airy voice spoke up and the camera was handed over, jostling around a bit in the process. The man called Aegon jogged over to place sloppy kisses over Rhaegar's cheeks, with the boy yelping, trying to get away from the attack.
Aegon didn't care about the protests from the boy as he lifted Rhaegar up with a heave and threw him in the air. The boy laughed and screamed as Aegon caught him in his arms, about to repeat it again. Until Aemond interrupted him.
Aemond took Rhaegar and handed the child over to Lucerys, who stood by and watched Aemond wrangle Aegon and drag him by the collar back towards the camera. Aegon was moaning about Aemond having a 'stick up his ass' which only resulted in Aemond smacking him up the head with a scowl. "Watch your mouth." They were now right in front of the camera blocking the view. "Now, do your job and stop cursing in front of the children."
"Boo." The camera shook a bit as Aegon complained. "Stick… in the mud. Happy?"
Aemond walked away with a roll of his eye, standing next to his son and Lucerys as the boy began opening up his many gifts while Lucerys started to cut the cake into generous slices to give to the guests.
"Muña, Kepa, look! Jae got me a rocket!" It was a light up rocket, painted white and red, the windows lit up in a warm yellow.
"What do you say to Jae, honey?" Lucerys patted his little boy, handing over the plates with the cakes to the guests as he did so. He motioned for Aemond to handle the rest of the refreshments, as everyone watched the children sit in a circle in the middle of the room, cups of juice and soda in hand.
"Thank you, Jae. I love it!"
The gifts were opened one by one, each of Rhaegar's excited squeals and woops recorded along with the smiles and laughter of the people around. The last frame on the recording was of the little fox sitting by its lonesome self on what remained of the cake.
Happy Birthday Rhaegar, piped on the cake board, the burnt candle in the shape of a 3 next to it.
Rhaegar, born on the 28th of July. A summer child with a summery disposition.