Stay

01

The thing between you and Aemond had been going on for roughly five months at this point. Was it even a thing? You both were hooking up with each other whenever you felt like it. Sometimes it was only one message a week, other times it was five. That usually depended on how busy you both were with college, or how badly one of you needed a distraction from it. And you always kept things casual.

But weirdly, some things had turned into habits you both did not bother to address. Whenever Aemond and you hooked up at your place, for example, he tended to stay a little longer than anticipated, like one-movie-and-several-rounds-of-fucking long. You always thought the benefits part of being friends with benefits only included sex, but with Aemond it also seemed to include cuddling and life advice.

Another weird habit was that you both never seemed to pay any attention to the movies you chose to watch anymore, and instead did the most domestic things together. The movie was usually just to give you both some background noise, whilst you showed him some funny memes or he decided to rant about whatever pissed him off that day.

So, technically, your friends with benefits was close to turning into a relationship.

But neither of you felt bold enough to bring the topic up, the fear of being rejected by the other one far too big.

Said habits also were the main reason, the blonde boy was currently laying in your bed with one arm behind his head and his other wrapped around your waist to keep your body comfortably nestled against his. His fingers were fidgeting with the fabric of the oversized t-shirt you wore. His t-shirt.

He was complaining about his brother Aegon and whatever Aemond deemed Aegon was doing wrong in his life, whilst you drew lazy patterns on his naked torso, your index finger carefully following the sharp outlines of his abs. "Are you even listening?" His sharp voice cut in, catching your attention. "I - yeah, sure," you stressed, tilting your head upwards to look at him.

You were flashing him your biggest puppy dog eyes as an attempt to convince him, but Aemond did not seem to buy your lies. "What is it?" With the way he sighed ever so slightly before asking the question, you were sure he was disappointed he had spent the past 15 minutes of his life telling you stuff you didn't even care about. And considering how quiet he was the first nights you had spent together, you couldn't even be mad at him.

"It's just...," you shifted next to him in order to sit up and get a better view of him, "...I've met Jace at the frat party yesterday." The clenching of his jaw was perfectly visible, and a reaction you knew was coming. It always did whenever you had mentioned your ex-boyfriend before, even though you had only talked about him briefly before and only once your situationship with Aemond became a bit more serious.

Despite your sitting position, Aemond kept his hand on your waist, his fingers slightly digging into your flesh, another indicator that he was not pleased about the mention of your ex. You weren't even sure why he acted that way whenever the topic of Jace came up, but you always blamed it on Aemond not wanting to talk about things that were threatening to deepen your relationship.

"And what did he want?" He asked, stern eyes fixed with yours. Aemond was intense. In everything he did. And as of right now, it was the intensity of his gaze that had your composure crumbling, resulting in you fidgeting with your fingers in order to pull your thoughts away from him. "Oh, you-you know, he just asked if we could be friends again." That alone had him snorting out, a sound you rarely heard from Aemond, and with him raising his eyebrows, you knew he expected you to keep talking. "I told him I wasn't sure and that I had to think about it, but he apologized and said he was sorry for how things ended between us." Aemond pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. That, however, offended you, because he was in no position to judge you for your choices. "Why are you pissed?" You hissed, emphasizing the you.