When Aerion's and Dunk's relationship accidentally gets public in Red Keep, I imagine that the questions won't be -- "No way Prince Aerion will date a hedge knight," "A Targaryan prince will never stoop so low, especially Aerion." or " of course not, the Prince has better taste."
Instead, it will be like "No way Ser Duncan is dating that mad one." "Ser Duncan can never fall for such a person. This is clearly a vicious rumor to tarnish Ser Duncan's reputation." or "Clearly it must be some other Targaryan prince, not the mad one. Maybe it's Valarr. Did you double-check?"
“There I saw you standing, must have been the holy light. ‘Cause I can’t see and I can’t feel but the color in your eyes is sayin’ if my dreams come up empty and I wash up on shore, you would find me at the beach, in every life, through every door.”
Dunk playing roblox because Lyonel won’t stop pushing him to. He befriends some sassy kid who insists that he absolutely does not have a bedtime and that his name really is Egg.
Dunk, having the purest intentions of teaching this kind some manners, and breaking that foul mouth of his, doesn’t stop to think about how this might look on the outside. He grows quite fond of this little heathen, and finds himself playing with Egg every night.
Enter Maekar, a widowed father of six who is trying to keep his house from catching on fire while working himself into the ground.
He notices his youngest son looking more relaxed, coming down for breakfast with an actual smile on his face instead of the usual disgust directed at Aerion across the table. Maekar should have felt relieved, but all he could feel was suspicion. Because Aegon did not become a happy, more well-behaved child over night. So Maekar does what any father in his position would do and went through Aegon’s laptop, then his phone, then his tablet. He finds messages between Aegon and this ‘Ser Duncan’ as his son has taken to calling this man. This GROWN man. Speaking to his son at odd hours of the night.
Maekar deals with this like a perfectly normal father would. That is to say, he hires someone to gather any information that is available on this ‘Ser Duncan’ and plans to ruin this man’s entire career. Egg finds out somehow, and in an effort to save Dunk from his fate, he claims that Baelor had hired Dunk to teach Egg how to play rugby, which Egg was super totally into now.
Maekar, of course, calls Baelor to confirm, and Baelor, finding this hilarious, decides to continue the lie. Meanwhile, Dunk has absolutely no clue that Egg’s father is some rich CEO who almost ended Dunk’s life with the snap of his fingers. Egg decides to not tell Dunk any of this until Maekar tells Egg he’s going to come and watch one of Egg’s practices.
Dunk and Lyonel do love their games, but in Westeros with it’s lack of Ye Olde Safewords, they’re inevitably playing with fire and of course there comes a time when all that delicious wrestling goes just a hair too far. Lyonel knows that Dunk is stronger than him when it comes to brute strength, even if he isn’t the swordsman or jouster Lyonel is, and it’s always been a bit of a thrill for him. Until one time Dunk gets him pinned, belly down, with his arms at an actually painful angle and the pressure on his chest just enough to labor his breathing. But he can’t get any words out and Dunk doesn’t notice right away.
And Dunk, poor Dunk, he’s gotten used to not minding his size and strength with Lyonel. It’s the first time he’s not had too. Growing up he broke more than one precious thing accidentally; his only childhood toy, a dried flower that Rafe gave him, the one time Ser Arlan got him clothes that were new. Hes had to work so hard to touch delicate things without breaking them. And when he finally realizes through his own haze of lust that Lyonel has been too quiet for too long, that the last thing he said was for Dunk to let him up, and this time it was meant in earnest and not in play, Dunk is horrified.
He’s afraid this is the end of everything, that he’s broken something that can’t be fixed yet again. Doubly convinced of it when Lyonel immediately sits up and rolls away from him as soon as Dunk lets him go. But Lyonel catches his breath and coughs a command for Dunk to stay, he does accepting whatever punishment his lord sees fit to inflict on him. but Lyonel takes a moment and holds out a hand to him. They’ve got to come up with a better system if they want to be rough with each other, it seems, and Lyonel very much does want them to be rough with each other. So they take it slow and eventually come up with the Stormlands version of RACK.
Concept that haunts me: Maekar getting Hanahaki over Dunk, could be in canon, could be in a Baelor Lives Au, the possibilities are endless
When Maekar offered the hedge knight a place in Summerhall, his intentions had truly been for his youngest son. But Ser Duncan’s rejection had been swift and easy, not purposefully cruel in his need for distance from the very princes that had turned the young man’s life up on its end. And Maekar, who could feel his age with every step he took, felt a distinct, sharp sting beneath his ribs, so different from the usual pains he’s had since the trial.
He watches Ser Duncan leave, feeling the grief settle deep in his bones. He lost his son—though some would say he had lost Aerion long ago—and his brother, who lay in bed, breathing but unmoving, who, the maesters say, might not wake at all, and if he does, he might not wake the same.
It isn’t till they ready themselves to leave, Baelor laying in the wheelhouse with a maester at his side, and Maekar riding close by, that something happens. Aegon was nowhere to be found, and as Maekar yells at the knights for their incompetence in losing his son, he feels that sharp sting once again, more insistent and painful. He shifts, trying to ease the discomfort, but all it does is make it worse. Every breath is accompanied by the feeling of tiny needles scratching at his lungs.
He coughs, loud and wheezy, and feels something crawling up his throat. It’s soft but intrusive, and Maekar gags into his hand, lips curling with disgust as whatever was in his throat plops wetly into his palm. He stares, breath rough but steadying, his mind rolling with possibilities. Because in his hand lay a dandelion, already wilting and soggy from his saliva.
“What the fuck?” He says, sneering at the sheer absurdity of it all. And then, before any nearby servants or knights could probably get a grip on the situation at hand, Maekar throws the small, ugly thing down into the dirt, wiping his hand on his pant leg and moving forward with a sharp kick of his hips.
Because Maekar refused to acknowledge something he wasn't even sure was real, and he most certainly was not going to chase after some fucking hedge knight with bright blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that had Maekar's heart stuttering in his chest.
I haven’t read a hanahaki fic in years, it’s such a good concept. I can imagine Maekar suffering for years, and the only reason it’s not worse than it is is because Dunk was never around.
But then Egg gets homesick and him and Dunk head home, and suddenly, Maekar is coughing left and right, and Dunk starts seeing a suspicious amount of dandelions. He doesn’t mind, he likes them a lot, but it’s still odd. Especially when he starts finding them on the castle floors instead of outside in the dirt.
Dunk’s confused. He grew up in flea bottom, then on the road. He cannot read, and not many people are brave enough to go around speaking of the Targaryen’s and their fucked up family medical history. But Egg knows, and pieces it together faster than anyone besides, perhaps, Baelor. Ensue Egg being an absolute menace but also #1 wingman and match maker. What’s not to like about his father and his favorite person getting together?
People think Lyonel is supernaturally strong, the low born folk see him lift a cart stuck in the mud like it's nothing, little do they know it's because he's been lifting heavy objects and training his body to be able to bodily pick Dunk up without any strain. He wants to literally sweep Dunk off his feet and carry him across their marriage threshold. His main goal in life at the moment is making Dunk swoon because of how strong he is and he wants to fluster Dunk by being capable enough to lift him with little to no effort. Lyonel knows his hedge knight would just about faint if he saw his new found strength, and if people say the Seven blessed him well that's just a new perk to training.
