Chapter Text
Aegon had just been declared an omega after his fourteenth nameday. His first heat was the most horrifying thing that had ever happened to him.
Of course, the way his mother and grandfather punished him didn't count.
His first heat alone was torture. Fortunately, his mother was still willing to take care of him through it. She stayed by his side, sang him lullabies, and never left him alone.
Honestly... it wasn't that bad.
What wasn't pleasant was his grandfather going all the way from Oldtown just to beat him after his heat had ended while lecturing him that he should have been an alpha because the Iron Throne belonged to him or... yeah... BLAH BLAH BLAH. Hey, it wasn't Aegon's fault that he had presented as an omega. It wasn't his choice,FUCKING DISGUSTING OLD BETA MAN!!
A few things had changed after he became an omega. His clothes now had to cover almost his entire body until he could barely breathe, there were endless rules about what he could and couldn't do, he was expected to be betrothed to one of the lords of the Seven Kingdoms, and he even had to spend time embroidering with his sister, Helaena. Aegon absolutely did not listen to any of it. Not at all. Because he simply didn't care.
Ever since presenting as an omega, his youngest brother, Daeron, had also started running into his room just to hug him and even sleep beside him. It was a completely new development because, as far as Aegon could remember, the child used to do nothing but yank on his hair and chew on it like candy!!!
The servants and guards said that Daeron probably enjoyed being around Aegon because of his omega scent. Babies and young children usually liked the scent of their omega mothers. BUT HE WASN'T DAERON'S MOTHER!! The servants also claimed that Daeron liked breathing in Aegon's omega scent because he had been surrounded by alphas and betas since birth inside the Red Keep, while his mother, Alicent, was a beta and therefore had no secondary scent of her own.
At first, Aegon hated all of it. He had even considered handing Daeron back to his caretakers and telling the child to get as far away from him as possible. But the moment he looked at the little boy with those big eyes clinging to him like a monkey, he gave up on the idea. Well... it seemed Daeron's nickname in his head had changed from that annoying little demon to that adorable little demon.
It wasn't just his relationship with Daeron that had improved. His relationship with Helaena had also grown better because they spent so much time embroidering together. And, much to his surprise, his little sister loved gossip!! Not vulgar gossip, of course, but gossip about life in the Red Keep and the insects she kept, which apparently had complicated relationship problems of their own. Well... it wasn't so bad.
But even Aemond... trust him, AEMOND!! His little brother had become incredibly protective ever since Aegon presented as an omega. He would growl at anyone who stood too close to Aegon. Daeron quickly picked up the habit as well, only his version was far more aggressive.
Seeing that Daeron had somehow become much calmer and always wanted to stay close to Aegon, their mother proudly handed over the responsibility of looking after Daeron to him.
Ugh... how annoying.
His nephews also came to visit and play with him quite often. Jace, uhh... Lucas? And the baby... well, Aegon would remember their names later.
His oldest nephew, Jace, was the one he was closest to. Besides laughing at every joke Aegon made and always playing along with his antics, the boy would often steal cakes from the kitchens and bring them to Aegon. Sometimes it was candy, and every now and then... gemstones. Uh, yes, Aegon decided not to question where the gemstones had come from because Jace was looking at him with the most adorable face imaginable.
As for the one named Luke... well, he was nice enough.
And their youngest brother... well, he couldn't even say a single word or crawl yet, so... maybe later.
Surprisingly, Jace had also become just as protective as Aemond. Even though the two of them argued constantly and couldn't get along to save their lives, they would always unite whenever an alpha came anywhere near Aegon. Naturally, Daeron would join in as well.
The boy also had a habit of sneaking after Aegon wherever he went just to hug him or hold his hand. Whenever Aegon tried to shoo him away, Jace would immediately offer to look after Daeron for him instead
an offer far too tempting for Aegon to refuse.
Because Jace followed Aegon everywhere like his own shadow under the excuse of "protecting" him, Aemond became increasingly irritated. As a result, the two of them constantly got into heated arguments over who was more qualified to protect Aegon.
"You're still too little to protect my brother. Go back to your mother's skirts!!"
"We're the same age, Aemond, and YOU'RE SHORTER!!"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M SHORTER, YOU CHUBBY-CHEEKED IDIOT!!"
"TINY LEGS!!"
"YOU INSOLENT BRAT!!!!"
The moment they started clawing at each other, Aegon immediately scooped Daeron into his arms and fled the scene of the impending disaster, followed by the boy who... uh, right, the one named Luke.
This happened so often that the two people who ended up separating them the most, Ser Criston and Ser Harwin, eventually grew fed up and complained to each boy's mother.
"This isn't fair, Mother!! I just want to protect my uncle from strange men! Aemond won't even let me get close to him, you party pooper!!"
"Who are you calling a party pooper, you failed poet!!"
"YOU GRUMPY DOG!!"
"MESSY HAIR!!"
"MY HAIR IS NOT MESSY!! UNCLE AEGON SAID MY HAIR LOOKS NICE!! YOUR HAIR IS THE MESSY ONE!!"
"YOU INSOLENT BRAT, MY HAIR IS NOT MESSY!! YOU CHUBBY KID!!"
"SHORTY!!!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!"
Rhaenyra's shout sent a chill through the entire room. Even Alicent, who had been talking to one of the servants, immediately turned to look at her. Rhaenyra cleared her throat, looked at the two boys who had just been about to start pulling each other's hair, then smiled.
"How about the two of you protect Aegon together instead of fighting? I'm sure the Queen would appreciate that."
Rhaenyra then turned to Alicent beside her. The woman nodded in agreement before Rhaenyra looked back at Aegon, who was standing on the other side of the room.
"What do you think, Aegon? I'm sure you'd be happy to have your brother and your nephew looking after you."
Aegon shrugged as he swatted Daeron's hand away from his hair.
"Sure. Why wouldn't I be? Hey, Daeron, don't pull it- no, let go-"
After hearing his answer, Rhaenyra turned back to the two boys, who still seemed to be glaring at each other with pure hostility and didn't look the slightest bit sorry despite having just been scolded.
"See? Now be good boys and stop fighting. If the two of you fight again, Ser Erryk will be the one looking after Aegon, and neither of you will be allowed anywhere near him."
Rhaenyra's words were immediately met with a nod of agreement from Alicent.
The moment Jacaerys heard that threat, he stared at his mother in horror. "WHAT!!?? BUT I DIDN'T EVEN START THE FIGHT!!"
"SO NOW YOU'RE BLAMING ME!!?"
"THAT'S THE TRUTH!!"
"YOU INSOLENT BRA-"
"Aemond," Alicent warned.
"Sorry, Mother."
After that, they really did listen to their mothers. They stopped scratching and insulting each other and instead began working together to hiss and even growl at every alpha who came anywhere near Aegon.
Even so, Aemond, who simply loved being a menace, would sometimes deliberately hug Aegon and ask his older brother to pat him on the head. And Aegon always did it without much complaint, something that made Jace insanely jealous.
"This one's for you, this one's for Mondy, this one's for Hels, and this one's for me!!"
Daeron placed the flower crown he had made on Aegon's lap with a wide grin.
"Oh, thank you, Daeron. Why are all the flowers on mine red?"
"Because there were the most of them!!!"
"Uhh... alright."
Daeron immediately ran back to the flower field to pick more flowers. Lucerys sat beside Aegon, still working on his own flower crown. As for the two little growling gremlins, they had disappeared somewhere.
Well. It was a peaceful day.
"Uncle," Lucerys called.
"Yeah?"
"If you marry Jace someday, can I propose to and marry Uncle Aemond?"
"WAIT, WHAT??"
"What? Jace said you two were going to get married."
"WHO SAID I WAS GOING TO MARRY JACAERYS!!??"
"You?"
"ME!? No, no, no! I am NOT getting married!"
"So you're not going to marry Jace?"
"No??"
"Alright, that's okay. I'm still going to propose to and marry Uncle Aemond."
WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THIS LITTLE SHRIMP TALKING ABOUT??
That evening, as dinner began, Jacaerys suddenly stood up and cleared his throat.
"I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to everyone present. However, this is the only opportunity I have to make sure everyone can hear what I wish to say, especially His Grace the King and Her Grace the Queen."
Jace then bowed politely to them. His father and mother could only exchange confused glances at his sudden speech.
"And to you as well, Mother and Father."
He then turned toward Laenor and Rhaenyra.
"Mother is a beautiful and charming lady with a graceful yet strong personality, a true Targaryen, and absolutely perfect. I don't know why Grandfather hasn't commissioned a statue of you that's at least thirty feet tall, but... that's not the point."
Rhaenyra nearly choked after hearing such extravagant praise from her eldest son.
"And to you, Father. You're a polite and kind man, a true sailor with a very large, solitary dragon. You're kind to everyone, you've always taken good care of us, and you even cleaned up Luke's vomit when he got seasick. Truly... disappointing."
"HEY, THAT TIME I—"
"Quiet, Luke. I'm not finished yet. Now then... where was I? Ah, right. Father is also very, very handsome. According to Grandfather, only Joffrey inherited Father's good looks well, at least his nose. But that's alright. I'm not disappointed that only Joffrey got it."
"Uh... thank you? Are you sure you're feeling alright, son? Would you like some water?" Laenor asked as he offered his son a glass.
"No, Father. Thank you, I'm perfectly fine. Anyway, since both Father and Mother are such perfect parents, I will never doubt whoever you choose for me to marry in the future. Whether it's Father's choice, Mother's choice, Grandfather's choice, or even Her Majesty the Queen's, I won't question it because all of you are perfect people, and—"
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" Aemond interrupted irritably.
Helaena immediately scolded him for being rude, but the boy merely shrugged.
"Quiet, Aemond. I have no interest in trading insults with a short brat like you."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST—"
"Now then. I know I'm only eleven years old and I haven't presented as my secondary gender yet. But as the saying goes, first come, first served, and I refuse to be the one who's too late," Jacaerys declared, completely ignoring Aemond, who was hissing angrily at him.
"With that, I hereby announce that I wish to formally ask for Prince Aegon's hand in marriage."
The entire hall fell into complete silence the moment those words left Jacaerys's mouth.
Even Aegon could only stare at him with his mouth hanging open.
No one said a word
THUD!!
Laenor collapsed to the floor, clutching his chest.
A heartbeat later, Alicent's knees gave out as well, sending the guards rushing forward to catch them both. Viserys immediately shouted for the castle maester, while Rhaenyra remained frozen in place, looking as though she was still trying to process what she had just heard.
Meanwhile, Aegon could see Aemond throwing up, Lucaerys spitting out the water in his mouth, Helaena dropping her fork, and even four-year-old Daeron looking like he was about to faint after hearing Jacaerys's proposal.
What the actual fuck is going on!?