Chapter Text
Alicent spots her wife just as she reaches the main doors of their children’s school, looking attractive as ever in a bespoke navy suit and heels, sunglasses pushed to the top her head.
“They called you too?” She asks in greeting, snatching the half-finished iced coffee out of her wife's hands as Rhaenyra holds the door open for her.
Rhaenyra makes a noise of protest. “Luckily my noon meeting was cancelled. Did they even tell you what exactly happened?”
Alicent sighs, taking a much needed sip of the coffee with a grimace. It’s predictably far too sweet, but she needs as much caffeine as she can get. Today was already shaping up to be a busy day at the office, and being forced to leave during her lunch break because her son got into a fight at school is just making her day infinitely more stressful.
“Just that he got into a fight with some kid.”
“That’s not like him,” Rhaenyra frowns, their heels clicking in unison as they walk through the quiet halls of Blackwater Preparatory School.
Alicent nods. “I know, right? Not like him at all. It must have been the other boy’s fault.”
Aemond’s always been a good kid. Not by any means angelic, but definitely a well behaved boy. Well, at the very least better behaved than his brothers. What Alicent means to say is that by her children’s standards, Aemond is practically a saint. He does well enough in school, his report cards always say that he’s bright, if not a bit quiet in class, and the only disciplinary incident he’s ever had was back in kindergarten when he pushed a boy two grades above him on the playground for calling Helaena a nasty name.
Rhaenyra seems to adamantly agree. “Yeah. Some little twerp with a big mouth and a punchable face, I bet.”
For about the billionth time, Alicent wonders how her wife is an actual grown adult with six kids and a company under her control.
They walk through the familiar main office, and Alicent flashes a slightly embarrassed smile at the principal’s secretary. She really thought she was done with these visits once Aegon started attending high school three years prior. At least Principal Beesbury is retired now, so she’ll never have to relive the shame of sitting in front of the ever-patient old man for the hundredth time as she watched her eldest son take another few years off of his already dwindling life.
She pushes open the principal’s door, ready to defend Aemond against whatever nonsense this bully and his likely asshole parents have to say, when—
“Oh Gods. Really?”
It’s Lucerys.
Both their boys are sitting slumped in their chairs, with unhappy pouts and crossed arms. Aemond has what looks to be a newly forming black eye, and Luke has an icepack pressed to his lower lip, the paper towel dotted with blood.
Suddenly it makes sense why they were both called in, even though Alicent is pretty sure they haven’t gotten around to updating their kids’ records at Blackwater. They’d obviously done it for Rhaenyra’s youngest children as soon as they married, so that Alicent could pick them up from daycare and pre school, and even for their eldest at King’s Gate High, that time when Helaena wanted Rhaenyra to chaperone one of her overnight science trips. But they’ve admittedly been busy the past year or so, and Alicent is ashamed to admit that calling Blackwater sort of just… slipped her mind.
Rhaenyra comes to a grinding halt right behind her. “Oh, what the fu—”
“Thank you both for coming,” Principal Marlow interrupts, her smile tight and cold. She shoots Rhaenyra a chastising look that has even Alicent straightening her back. “Please, take a seat."
Alicent slips into the seat by Aemond’s side, whilst Rhaenyra does the same by Lucerys. Both their sons refuse to meet their eyes, even as they look them over for any more injuries.
“Now, we had a little bit of an incident during recess today.”
Alicent clears her throat. “What happened?”
Principal Marlow laces her fingers on top of her mahogany desk, peering down at the four of them. Why is her chair so high? Or are theirs just abnormally small? Alicent wonders.
“Well, apparently there was some name calling and shoving on the playground earlier today. By the time a teacher separated them, Aemond had his foot on top of Lucerys’s chest.”
“Aemond, that’s not like you,” Rhaenyra frowns, leaning around Luke to get a better look at Aemond’s bruised face.
Principal Marlow pauses. “Wait a minute. You’re Aemond’s mother?”
“Sister,” Rhaenyra corrects.
Principal Marlow looks at Alicent. “So then you’re—”
“His mother,” Alicent provides.
Principal Marlow freezes in confusion, her eyes flickering between both of them, then to Luke.
“I’m sorry, so neither of you are here for Lucerys?”
“I am,” Rhaenyra points to herself, her free hand carding through Luke’s messy curls. “He’s my son.”
“My step son,” Alicent offers up.
Principal Marlow stares for a moment in complete silence.
“I’m— not following.”
“We’re married,” Rhaenyra gestures behind their boys between the two of them, “Aemond is my half brother and step-son, and Luke is my son. And Alicent’s step-son.”
“So Aemond’s my uncle and my step-brother. Uncle step-brother,” Luke speaks up for the first time, his voice slightly nasally and muffled by the icepack, but no less cheerful than usual.
“Don’t calling me that or else I’ll punch you in the mouth again!” Aemond explodes, his pale face turning bright red as his fingers dig into the arms of his chair.
Ah. So that’s it.
“Aemond,” she and Rhaenyra scold in unison.
“Oooh, I’m so scared!” Luke taunts.
“Luke!”
“Mother, he keeps calling me that in front of my friends—”
“Because it’s funny—”
“Okay,” Principal Marlow interrupts, almost frantically. “I’m getting the sense that you’re all related… somehow. So it’s probably best if you work this out at home so the boys can go back to class. All right?”
Whereas before she seemed almost eager to discipline not just the boys, but perhaps Alicent and Rhaenyra as well, now the woman looks ready to throw them out the window if they don’t leave her office fast enough.
“That’s probably for the best,” Alicent nods, throwing her purse over her shoulder. “But we’re not happy about this, boys. This is not how mature young adults behave.”
Aemond and Luke at least both have the decency to look ashamed as they stand.
Principal Marlow scribbles out two slips. “Aemond, head back to class. Luke, sixth grade is in P.E. now. Here’s your note for Coach Dickon.”
Rhaenyra’s poorly concealed laughter breaks the silence.
“Rhaenyra!” Alicent hisses, shooting her imbecile of a wife an incredulous glare.
“Mrs. Targaryen, that’s quite immature,” Principal Marlow scolds.
“Sorry, I—” Rhaenyra gulps. Luke and Aemond look down, sucking in their lips as their shoulders shake in silent laughter. “Sorry, ma’am. Won’t happen again. Come along, boys!” She rushes out of the office, pulling each of the boys by their arm.
Alicent dies just a little bit inside when she hears Rhaenyra and their sons erupt into laughter the moment the door swings closed, leaving Alicent alone to weather Principal Marlow’s thunderous glare.
She decides a similarly hasty exit is in order.
“Thank you for your time, Principal Marlow! Sorry about the boys!”