untitled for now; this goes out to @aegonsdrunkenpoetry who prefers x Reader fics, and since she & I are evenly matched in being head-over-heels for Dunk (and equally obsessed with peter claffey), I'm changing up my usual...just for you, babe😉<333
excerpt - angst, yearning, a secret revealed after a long separation
..."How are you more beautiful now than I remember," he asked, his voice grave, and as sad as his eyes. "How does it seem that time has barely touched you, while I feel the weight and the wear of every night I slept in the hedges since then, dreaming of finding my way back to you?"
"Ser Duncan, I...," you faltered. For all the time you'd known this meeting was coming, despite the many years you'd had to prepare, no words would come as you faced him at last.
He stood before you, taking your hand, his touch as warming to your heart as it ever was. Quietly, so no one around you, not even the boy, could hear what he told you. "You haven't called me that since before our first night together, sweet lass." He took your other hand. "For all that I have gained and become, I haven't changed one mote from the lad that first loved you, not in any way that matters."
"Still Dunk," you asked softly, trembling hard to have him so near after ten years of missing him every day since you'd parted. And every night, too. "Still my sweet lad?"
"As ever, sweetling." Tears stood in his eyes, proof that the tender heart you had loved so well, still beat strong in his chest. "You could have sent for me, love. Let me know you had a son. Our son..."
"I sent you away to take up your destiny, Dunk. My love for you demanded I remain thus resolved."
"Why now, then?" A strain of anger had crept into his voice, as soft-spoken and patient as he remained. "Why not leave me ignorant and protect him from being called the bastard of a hedge knight?"
You broke from his gaze, wishing you had the strength to keep your tears at bay. "Because he is your son, Dunk. And not fit for the life of a weaver." You stepped in to him, close enough to kiss as you looked up into his blue, blue eyes. "I cannot give him the life he deserves anymore. It's time for him to know you. Mayhap even serve you."
"As squire or as son?
"That I must leave in your hands, my love. A father's wisdom and choice."
"I'm not sure I can, sweet lass." Duncan looked down at your joined hands, tracing the fingertips of his right hand in gentle circles upon the back of yours. As wonderfully familiar and as soothing as his lightest touch had been to you in those distant days behind you two. "There...there is much to consider," he tried to explain. "Surely you know this."
"Aye, I do." How badly you wanted to reach for him! To cup your hand against his cheek and tell him you still loved him exactly as you had that day on the beach. And that your body still burned with the memories of how he had loved you, and would again if given the chance. But you could only remind yourself that you were here on account of the boy. The only soul you loved fiercely enough to eclipse your love for Duncan. For your Dunk. "But will you look upon him now? He bears your likeness, as though stamped from birth to be another you."...
— Currently reading? A Storm of Swords. Steel and Snow by GRRM (specifically, Jaime I)
— Currently working on? I was about to include a few upcoming posts in my masterlist. Then I would decide what to actually work on. I guess it would be an essay about something connected to ASOIAF.
— Currently wearing? A black T-shirt and white pajama pants
— Current obsessions? ASOIAF, Ser Duncan the Tall, true crime podcasts
— Last Google search? interview with the vampire claudia last name
— Favourite flower? White rose ex aequo red poppy
I tag (no pressure though): @jacaerysblog @ivestartedtodeeplylovehttydagain @emalaya00 @ayy-lmao0