Summer's night dream

What Had Happened Was...

"Thanks for walking me back Drake. That was kind of you." Hana said while following Drake through the cars of the train.
"No problem, what else is a gentleman for, if not to walk his lady friends home at night?" He smiled lightly at her, ignoring Eddard who pulled softly against his leash to go into Lily's compartment as they passed it.

"I mean it, you're a good guy. I don't know why you always try to play like a hard ass." She giggled cutting her eyes up at him.
"I..." Drake furrowed his brows in thought before shaking his head, "I don't try to be anything. All I try to do is not fall under the false narrative that the nobles want to be my friends. It might come off as hard assery, but that's not the intent."

"Have you ever thought that if you try to be their friend, they might want to be your friends?"
"Yes, I've tried and all they'd do is beat me down, so I got tired of it. You've only known Olivia since this year." He sighed running a hand through his hair, "Imagine growing up with a hundred tiny versions of her and Madeleine, and as the kid of a Guard at that."
"That's horrible, I'm sorry they were so mean to you." Hana wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning against him as he continued directing her down the cars, "We're friends though."
"Yeah, we are Hana."
"Beeeeeest frieeeeends."
"Yep, mhmm." He nodded trying not to smile.
"Say it, or I'll pester you like Lily."

"Fine, fine," he chuckled, "we're best friends."
"I knew it."
"You got to be one of my best friends to get me to say it without much argument."
"I know! Oh!" Hana skipped to a stop outside a compartment door, "This is me. I share with Kiara, so that's fun."
"Do you two talk in Mandarin when it's just you?" He asked.
"No, I don't think she know it. Maybe we can swap!" She gasped, "I'll teach her Mandarin, she can teach me German!"
"You're welcome for the bonding material."
"Yes, thank you. I'm going to go pretend to be asleep before she gets here though. If I'm lucky I'll actually be asleep."
"Ha! Okay Hana, goodnight. And once again, great chocolate party. Big fan of torturing Maxwell."
"Thank you Drake. See you at the breakfast buffet... maybe." She giggled opening her door.
"I'll drop you a plate of fruit if I don't see you."
"That would be really sweet Drake!"
"Goodnight Hana." He laughed retreating back up the train to Lily's compartment with Eddard in tow.
"Goodnight!" She called after him before shutting her door.

"Come on Ned, let's get you home." He sighed picking the corgi back up in order to cover ground quicker.

Eddard huffed, relaxing into Drake's arm while being carried back to his new bed. Drake was amazed how quickly the little dog seemed to adjust and attach to Lily, but he wasn't completely surprised. Lily was special like that, she had a way to make everyone feel better around her, of course the dog already liked her. Plus she did drop a decent amount of money on him for all the stuff they got, the dog had probably never seen so many toy and chew options in his life. He might have joked about the dog's size but if Lily loved him, Drake was determined to at least be on the dog's good side. He knew Lily would take his canine opinion into deep consideration, it would only pay off to be the wiggly ball of fur's number two favorite. Thought he felt like Hana and Maxwell would make that a hard race to win.

Slipping into Lily's compartment he set Eddard down and stared at the cage debating locking the dog up or leaving him loose. He felt bad locking him up, even if it was a generous sized cage, Eddard was use to roaming the streets. Drake could sympathize with how it would feel going from the streets to a cage. Then his eyes traveled to Lily's things laying around the space, and he imagined her walking in and the dog having destroyed half her stuff from being locked in the compartment alone. He let out a sigh and picked the cage up to carry it into the bathroom where he set it between the shower and toilet. He made sure there was fresh food and water in the bowls, grabbed a few toys and chews before setting Eddard in the cage with his chewed on bully stick. Eddard whined at him so he stroked the dog's head a few times with a soft smile. The dog wasn't too bad for being pint sized.