Chapter Text
It had already been a lousy day. Brienne got stuck with Hyle Hunt as her partner in Chemistry and had to endure his sorry excuse for a personality for the better part of an hour. But the class was finally over, and all she had to do was grab the rest of her stuff, and she would be out of here until Monday. But unfortunately, Ronnet must have heard about the partner situation and been reminded of her existence. He was at her locker, waiting for her when she got there.
“Have any dates this weekend, Tarth?” Ronnet drawled, his voice dripping with mockery.
Oh Gods, here we go again. Just ignore him, words are winds, she thought, elbowing him out of the way so she could actually open her locker.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot who I’m asking. Of course, you don’t,” he went on chuckling, and she could hear the smirk in his voice even if she couldn’t see it, refusing to look at him. “Too bad you didn’t take any of us up on our offer. It’s likely the only opportunity you’ll ever get, ugly as you are.”
The bet was months ago, and Brienne was hoping that they’d leave her alone after that disaster. She prayed that Jaime wasn’t at his own locker but didn’t dare turn around to find out. He still didn’t know about the bet, which was nothing short of a miracle considering the size of their school. Jaime didn’t hang out with the likes of Hyle or Ronnet, but Brienne was shocked that Cersei never mentioned it to him in passing. She was glad for it though, him finding out and giving her looks of pity would be more humiliating than the event itself.
She had liked Jaime for a while but knew nothing would ever come of it. Guys like him didn’t date girls like her, and she knew that perfectly well. If friendship was all their relationship would ever be, she was content. Or at least, as content as she could be. All the same, she didn’t need him to hear about this. She continued to ignore Ronnet, gathering her books from her locker to finally go home and forget this shitty day ever happened. However, he wasn’t going to make it easy.
“Hey. Hey Beauty,” he said, and Brienne could sense that he had moved into her space. She could practically feel him breathing down her neck. Fighting the urge to shiver in disgust and curl in on herself, she squared her shoulders. She wasn’t going to let a blatant intimidation tactic work on her and doubled down on the decision to pretend that he didn’t exist.
When her belongings were gathered, she went to close her locker. Before she could do so, Ronnet shoved her firmly on the back, so she crashed into the one beside hers. Alright, that’s it. She had been more than patient, but he had crossed the line. Dreading the consequences, she went to turn and give Ronnet a punch in the face, but a flash of shining gold made her stop short. A fist coming from seemingly nowhere smashed into Ronnet’s previously smug face. He fell to the ground, clutching his cheek.
Brienne turned to discover that her defender had been none other than Jaime Lannister. He was breathing heavily and looking down at Ronnet like he was the scum of the earth. The sight lifted her spirits considerably, though she was still afraid that Jaime had heard too much.
“If you ever put your hands on her again, you’re gonna lose more than teeth.” Jaime said in a low, threatening tone, his fists still clenched tightly. “Now get out of here before I make you.”
Brienne found the source of the golden flash; it was the watch adorning his wrist. It caught the light once more, the gleam nearly blinding her. She turned back to Ronnet, who was trying in vain to gather his dignity after this dressing down. After spitting blood at Jaime’s feet, he got up. He mumbled something about having better things to do anyway. Brienne and Jaime both watched as he stalked off, still holding his face. Close to a dozen students had assembled to watch the scene but now lost interest, going about their business.
“You okay?” He asked, unclenching his fists and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. Brienne had almost forgotten she had been shoved in the first place. Other than a small ache in her ribs, no harm had been done, physically anyway.
“I’m fine. You know you didn’t need to step in. I could’ve done that.”
“I know. But... I couldn’t just stand there,” He said, appearing to fight between pride and guilt. Pride won out, and he pressed on, “What offer was he talking about?”
At that moment, she wanted nothing more than for a hole in the floor to appear and let it swallow her up. She couldn’t have this conversation here, not right in the hallway. Or at all, preferably.
“I really don’t want to talk about it, Jaime. I’ll tell you... some other time.”
“Is it that bad? Wait, should I have done more than punch and threaten him?” He asked, looking back to where Ronnet had fled.
“No, it’s fine. It was a while ago anyway; I’d pretty much forgotten all about it.” She said casually, waving it away as though it could be swatted out of the air. But Jaime didn’t look convinced in the slightest. He removed his hand from her shoulder and gave her a look.
“Brienne come on. I know you well enough to know when you’re lying. What did he do?”
She turned and finally shut her locker and put her backpack on. Jaime wasn’t going to let this go, but she still didn’t want this whole story being broadcasted to the few students lingering in the halls.
“Call me once you get home, and I’ll tell you. But you have to promise that once you get to your house and hear what I have to say that you’ll stay at your house and not go anywhere. Are we clear?” She was grateful for his support and would be lying if she said she didn’t love that Jaime had just punched Ronnet for her, but he didn’t need to do any more punching on her behalf.
Jaime already looked mutinous, but he relented. “Fine, I won’t go anywhere.”
“And you won’t call Bronn or anyone else to go attack those involved.”
“Oh, Come on!” Jaime groaned.
“Promise.”
“Alright, alright. If that’s what it takes. I’ll talk to you in a little bit,” He said, adjusting his backpack straps. He went to walk away but stopped and looked back at her, concern overtaking his expression once more, “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, Jaime,” Brienne sighed, though she couldn’t keep a small smile from her face, “and thank you. For helping me.”
She knew that he’d never be interested in her, but knowing that he cared enough to defend her meant a lot. It was almost enough to fill the emptiness the longing for him had left in her chest.
“Anytime.” He smiled back and turned away.
Brienne had only just walked into her bedroom when her phone rang, she picked up after waiting five seconds, hoping to appear casual. This would be a serious conversation that had nothing to do with her crush on him, but she still did her best to hide any traces of it in her behavior.
“Hey Jaime, did you get home okay?” She asked, in the hopes that he’d get distracted from his curiosity. “Have any homework you need help with?”
“Nice try, Brienne. Now tell me what that asshole did.”
“It wasn’t just Ronnet. There were... others,” Brienne paused, reluctant to start this painful story. Jaime remained silent, an invitation to continue. Brienne took a deep breath and began. “A while back, some of the guys at school were being weirdly nice to me. That doesn’t usually happen, so I was suspicious from the start. They would offer to carry my books, bring me gifts, that sort of thing. It was annoying, but some of them actually put in some effort, gave me things they knew I would like. I should’ve told them to cut it out, but I didn’t. It went on like that for quite a while. Until Hyle asked me on a date.”
“A date?” Jaime asked, with a strange tension in his voice that she couldn’t decipher.
“Yeah,” Brienne said, not trying to read into his reaction, “He took me to a fancy restaurant. I even wore a dress, and you know I never do that. And I honestly was having a nice time until...”
“What? Brienne, what happened?” The tension still coming through the phone.
“Long story short, it was all a bet. They wanted to see who could be the one to get me to sleep with them. Whoever won would get the money. No one won, Hyle told me everything when he knew I wasn’t going to budge. I never found out the exact amount they were doing it for, but I heard it was a lot.” She thought she would have to grind each word out, but it had been a few months. There was an emptiness that settled in her when she thought about it now. It had happened, and humiliated her beyond belief, but what else did she expect? “I’m not surprised, probably had to be quite a bit to entice anybody, me being... well, me.”
Jaime was dead silent. She didn’t know what to make of this reaction, but at least she didn’t have to see the look on his face. She gave him a solid thirty seconds before saying, “Jaime, are you still there?”
“Names.”
“What?”
“I have Ronnet and Hyle, but I need the rest of their names.”
“No, Jaime, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Yes, it does! How could you think that this doesn’t matter?! Why aren’t you angry about this?”
“Because well— people make fun of me all the time! It’s not exactly a new thing. If I freaked out over every joke made at my expense, I would never be happy, never.”
“What. Are. Their. Names?”
“I said no. You made a promise, and you are going to keep it. Just stay there.”
“Brienne, you’re— you’re not a joke! You don’t deserve to be treated like one. If I had known... wait. Last November, that week, when you wouldn’t talk to me, was that when all this happened?”
“Yes.”
“I knew something was up, I should’ve done something. And what did you mean by ‘me being... well, me’? You’re amazing.”
“Jaime, I didn’t want you to find out. And don’t lie, that’s the one thing I don’t need right now, is you lying to—”
“It’s not a lie! Gods, don’t you get it? Those fucking assholes don’t see it, but I do. People treat you like garbage, but you never let it stop you from being a good person. Do you know how rare that is?”
“That is irrelevant.”
“Irrelevant? Why in the Hell would that be irrelevant?”
“My face is—”
He cut across her once again.
“Your eyes are gorgeous.”
Brienne stopped. The blush that crept across her face felt so warm she wondered if Jaime could feel it over the phone. “What?”
“Your eyes,” Jaime went on, sounding considerably less angry and more unsure than he had this entire conversation. “They are so big and blue, and when you smile, they light up and...”
He trailed off, seeming to lose his momentum.
This wasn’t the first time someone had complimented her eyes. It was, however, the first time that Jaime had done so, and she had never felt so flustered. The voice in her head telling her that this was too good to be true, that there must be some mistake pushed her to ask, “Are you being serious? Or is this—”
“Yes, Brienne, I am being one hundred percent serious. Okay, so you got settled with a few more physical flaws than the average person but... just listen to me. Those things are what make you... you. So, if anyone looks at you and sees anything but the beautiful miracle that you are, they aren’t looking hard enough.”
Brienne had been at a loss for words before, but this... this was new. She didn’t know what an appropriate response to this situation was. No one had ever really bothered to give her such a genuine compliment before, and Jaime of all people was handing them out like candy. It was hard to wrap her head around.
“Are you still there?” He eventually asked, sounding fearful.
“Yeah.”
“Did I just ruin everything?”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, I like you, okay? I’ve held my tongue for a long time because I didn’t want things to be weird. But this whole situation brought everything out, and now... you’ll still talk to me, right?”
He just... confessed that he likes me, and he thinks that I’ll reject him?
She wanted to laugh but didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.
“Jaime. I—I like you too.” She said as evenly as possible, still stuttering on the delivery.
“You do?”
“Yeah,” she could hear her own smile.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Well, I didn’t think you would ever like me back—”
“How could I not?”
“I don’t know,” She finally said, though she could think of several reasons why not. But she was sure he was not interested in hearing them. She just sighed and shook her head, still reeling from this revelation.
“Am I allowed to break my promise now?”
“Jaime, I said you can’t—”
“No no, I’m not planning on going to beat the shit out of Ronnet and Hyle, though it is on my to-do list. I want to leave my house so I can come over and finally kiss you.”
“Oh,” Brienne said, attempting a casual tone once again, though her heart had begun to race. “Well, I suppose I can make an exception for that.”
“Good, I’ll be right there!” He said excitedly, and she could hear his car door opening and shutting over the line. “How many kisses will it take to get you to tell me their names?”
“Jaime.”
“Okay fine, I’ll stop for now. I’ll see you in a minute, B.”
“Okay, See you soon.” She said, again unable to keep the smile out of her voice. She ended the call and dropped her phone onto the bed. Brienne never thought the day would come where she would be thanking Ronnet for being the asshole that he is.
You know, maybe I was overly hasty in writing this day off, because it just got a whole lot better.