Chapter Text
“Maekar. Sweetling. Light of my life. Why is Aegon wearing a dog collar?”
“Because they wouldn’t let me microchip him.”
Baelor stared at his brother, aghast.
“You wanted to microchip our son?”
Maekar shrugged and tossed back the rest of his wine. They had decided to picnic in the gardens, owing to the lovely weather and the remains of their feast lay scattered at a table next to him.
Aegon, giggling in all his collared glory, was being spun about like a rag doll by Rhae. Matarys and Daella had laid a blanket under the shade of their big Weirwood tree, talking about some show they were watching. They had placed a number of cushions in front of them, as if anticipating a (not so) gently tossed Egg.
Baelor sighed and dragged a chair towards Maekar, snagging a bowl of cut fruit on the way.
“The shrug answers nothing, brother.”
“The boy is a menace. He is too young to be given the responsibility of a phone, and too old for a persistent minder. Last night, he snuck out of bed to join Aerion on his date. How he got to the restaurant, with no cash and no coat, is still a mystery.”
“And who was our little spitfire on a date with this time?”
“Some tall boy with a foolish name. Called himself Dunk.”
Again, Baelor found himself unmoored.
“Duncan? The one who worked security at one of your boutiques?”
“Oh.” Maekar frowned. “I didn’t realize it was the same person. Is that where they met then?”
“Yes, and I do understand why Egg snuck out to see him. He saved the boy from Aerion’s wrath one day at the boutique, when Valarr was distracted. Duncan carried a weeping Egg and comforted him for a while until Aerion calmed down. The aftermath was very heart warming, I heard.”
“And Valarr provided all these details willingly?”
“Oh, gods no. Daeron dragged it out of him because he didn’t want us causing a scene over another one of Aerion’s flings.”
They both shuddered at that reminder.
Aerion previous boyfriend had been an older man in his mid-twenties called Donnel. When Maekar had demanded they break up, Aerion loudly argued that at least he wasn’t fucking his brother or his cousin. A terrible way to find out that Valarr and Daeron were a throuple with Kiera, but certainly not the worst, given their family history.
It resulted an awkward family dinner, where Baelor had shoved a box of condoms towards them and begged them not to have children until they were twenty-five. To which Daeron, who obviously had a death wish, made a damning statement before grabbing his partners and literally running away from the table.
“No grandchildren until we’re ready uncle, but you must promise to never bite my father in a spot so visible that I can identify all your vampire teeth on his neck.”
Safe to say, Daeron did not visit home for a month after.
“In any case,” said Maekar, drawing Baelor out of his terrible thoughts. “The collar remains when we are home, and when we are outside, I will leash the boy myself. I will not have our baby go missing because of his own foolishness, brother.”
Said baby had finally been tossed into the cushions and was attempting to place leaves in Daella’s hair. It was going rather poorly.
“I understand your fear, but Aegon is a smart boy. He wouldn’t risk himself unduly.”
“He’s seven and an idiot. Did you not hear me when I said he snuck out last night? I didn’t even know he had left until Aerion called me, furious that his little brother had gatecrashed his date. Again.”
Baelor frowned.
“Perhaps we should increase the security.”
“Daeron will teach him how to dodge the guards again. No. The collar stays until I hand stitch trackers into all his clothes. As will the air tags I put in his bags.”
“You can be quite terrifying, my darling.”
“Better that than my children missing or dead.”
To that, Baelor had no response. Dyanna had died young, leaving Maekar devastated with five grieving children and a new baby to take care of. Baelor, for all that he loved his wife and children, was quietly grateful that he had only two to look after once she had passed.
It hadn’t been long before Maekar had been gently bullied back to their family compound with his brood. They had enough space and more for all six children, and Valarr and Matarys were excited to have their cousins nearby.
And Maekar had stumbled into his arms, gaunt with red eyes. Daeron was carrying a sleeping Egg, while Aerion and Daella were holding on to Aemon and Rhae. His brother was fractured, and it was finally within Baelor’s rights to fix it.
It wasn’t easy. Raising eight spirited children who lost their mothers young was a special kind of hell. Aerion argued with everyone, Matarys hated the baby, the girls were tired of all the men around the estate. It was only two years after they had moved in, some semblance of order began to emerge.
Their parents had unceremoniously kicked them out for a week and asked them to get their shit together.
“I want to spend time with my grandchildren, you are in the way,” said Myriah.
“You’ve done what was expected, it is okay to be selfish for once,” said their father, with a knowing look.
So they went. They cried, they fought. Maekar broke a vase over Baelor’s head and they spent an evening at the hospital. They kissed in the darkness of Maekar’s apartment in the city, an escape he clung to when the children were driving him mad. Baelor fucked Maekar on the sofa, all ungainly limbs and desperation, finally getting to indulge in what was unspoken for so many years.
After a week they were back, stronger than ever and ready to raise their small army of children. With Aegon and Rhae already calling Baelor daddy, and Matarys shyly asking if he could call Maekar papa. They had constant eyes on them and unsavory tabloid articles. But they were the Targaryens, they would endure.
And they would endure this too. Maekar’s over-protectiveness and Aegon’s penchant for mischief. Aerion’s inappropriate boyfriends and all that was wrong with Valarr and Daeron. Only their middle children were absolute angels. (They don’t think about the strange cackling and various fumes that come out of Rhae’s chemistry lab. As long as she didn’t set the house or any of her siblings on fire, she was good.)
“Dad!”
That was the only warning Baelor had before Aegon jumped on him, kneeing him in the stomach and upending the fruit bowl.
“Aegon!” barked Maekar. “Must you insist on throwing yourself around like a small missile? What if you had hurt your father?”
Egg’s eyes grew large and wet and Baelor wasted no time in tucking him under his chin and cuddling him.
“No harm was done, my darling. But perhaps next time, check if there is something I’m holding before you try to show your violent affections, hmm?”
Aegon let out a watery giggle and placed an affectionate kiss on Baelor’s bearded cheek. The cheeky little snot.
“Sorry dad. I was only excited to see you, promise!”
“Since you’re so excited to see me, will you tell me about your adventure with Duncan and Aerion last night? Or is there another reason that your Papa decided to collar you like an unruly dog.”
Egg froze slightly, before wriggling out of his grasp entirely and jumping to his feet.
“After I show Aemon that new frog I found. Bye dad, bye papa!”
He took off running into the house, ignoring his siblings laughing summons.
“What did I tell you?” grumbled Maekar. “Absolute menace.”