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Jaime Lannister was bored out of his mind. He slowly sipped his eggnog and briefly considered leaving this god-awful Stark-Baratheon Christmas party he was forced by his father and sister to attend. That was when he saw Brienne Tarth arrive and be greeted by Catelyn Tully, and any thoughts of leaving flew away .
He grinned to himself and decided this party might be worth the effort after all. He started walking towards her, trying to come up with lines to tease her, so he can bring out the famous lobster-red blush he so loves on her freckled cheeks. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a running Rickon Stark who run into him full force, making his almost full glass of eggnog spill on his expensive shirt. He cursed inwardly at the mess, before following an apologizing, but not-so-secretly amused Ned Stark, who offered him a change of clothes.
He deeply regretted accepting that offer when he saw what Ned Stark gave him to wear. It was the most ugly Christmas sweater in existence. Bright green, with red sleeves, white reindeers, snowflakes, little sewn gift boxes and an “I love Santa” line among other atrocious details. The self-righteous bastard informed him that Catelyn knitted that one -among many others- for the family, since she had so much time in her hands after Robb, Sansa and Arya left home for college. How could a woman raising a hurricane like Rickon Stark get free time to knit was beyond him, but he begrudgingly accepted the sweater because the sooner he did, the sooner he could go back outside and look for Brienne.
There was a time where he would find the possibility of spending time with her voluntarily laughable, but after working together on many projects and interacting with her in the office, he found he had developed a soft spot for the tall blushing girl. They had spent too many long hours at the office alone and she had somehow gained his trust overtime, prompting him to spill his guts on anything and everything and she surprised him with her reactions, reciprocating his trust and even respect. He could not stop himself from teasing her though, she was too good of a subject for that, so she was still somewhat weary of him. He would break down her defenses some day soon, he was sure of that.
He headed back out and looked around for her but could not manage to see her anywhere. He felt anxious all of a sudden. Did she leave already? He saw Margaery Tyrell smirking at him as if she knew something he didn’t. She walked up to him and with a fake-innocent smile she greeted him. “Nice sweater you got there, Lannister. Looking for Brienne? She just went out the front balcony for some air..” He didn’t even deign a response to the always-scheming rose, but he did make a beeline for the front balcony. He opened the door and walked out. It was freezing, it would probably snow later that night, but hey, guess what? He had the ugly sweater and the blushes of his favorite giantess to warm him.
“Tarth”, he nodded at her, pretending to be uninterested.
“There are other balconies you know, if you would like some alone time”, she said looking at him a bit weary.
“Oh this one suits me just fine..Nothing better than a little fresh air and the pleasure of your company”, he drawled at her, when he realized the truth of that sentence. When had spending time with Tarth become the best thing he could do with his time? He enjoyed teasing her, yes, and they were something like friends now, but becoming the one person he preferred seeing over anyone else? That was new but exciting to discover, and he didn’t mind it. At all.
He saw her eyeing him, feeling smug that she was probably ogling his good looks, like most women did in his presence, until he realized she was staring at his sweater, barely containing laughter. It really was the ugliest Christmas sweater ever… probably the ugliest sweater, period. He inwardly cursed Rickon-the-menace and his mother for messing up his game.
“That’s a very attractive look..” she finally said while smirking at him. Her audacity was unbelievable! How could she ever doubt he could make any clothes , even an ugly-ass sweater, work for him? So he started caressing his whole body sensually and did his best very-ill-and-throaty Monica Geller impression: “Are you sayin’ you don’t wanna get with dis?” (*) Elated, he saw her giggle, until she stopped, looking a bit more flushed. He followed her eyeline and noticed her checking out his slightly uncovered six-pack. Victory! Gym time definitely paid out. She finally looked up again, rolled her eyes and -looking amused- she responded with “Could you be any more ridiculous?”
“Challenge accepted!” he declared channeling his inner Barney Stinson. One night, after the end of an exhausting project, he had managed to make her open up to him a bit more. Among other things, she revealed that she loved to binge-watch multiple seasons of comedies after the end of stressful projects as a means to relax and unwind. He made it his mission after that to catch up as well and he would throw lines at her at any given chance, in an effort to make her laugh. She was often so dour and guarded, at least around him, and he didn’t like it one bit. He was used to people being charmed by him. Never before had he made such an effort to earn a smile, but when she did smile it was all worth it. He was getting better at that lately, and it had become an addiction. He wanted more, and he would be damned if he would let this opportunity go to waste.
He took a praying pose, then looked up at the sky and breathed in deep before starting with his next line: “Dear Seven. It’s me. Jaime. Whad Up? How about some snow for a bro?”(*)
She laughed heartily at that and smiled at him, making feel all warm and fuzzy all of a sudden. She looked into his eyes and he was lost in the blue of hers and the alluring pink of her lips. He was getting ready to lean in, when she snapped away, looking even more deliciously flushed, declaring: “ Oh my god! It worked! Look! It just started snowing!” She had her eyes turned up at the sky looking all giddy and wondrous.
“Not too much snow in Tarth then, huh?”.
“No not really”, she replied without looking at him. He watched the first snowflakes falling from above, landing on her smiling moonlit face, mesmerized by the little drops melting on her skin, sliding down those freckles he decided he definitely wanted a taste of. He raised his hand to cup her cheek, when she turned to him looking alarmed by his move. She looked into his eyes and he could see a mix of fear and perhaps some longing? He used his thumb to tenderly wipe the melted snowflakes from her skin while she sighed and he thought he felt an almost imperceptible tilt of her face in his hand. He couldn’t wait any more. He brought his face to barely a breath away from hers and lightly touched her lips with his. She hummed contentedly, and he used his other hand to hug her waist and bring her closer to him, before initiating a more hungry passionate kiss. He couldn’t tell how much time they spent making out afterwards. He instantly made it his New Year's resolution - possibly life’s resolution- to never stop kissing the woman in his embrace. She was all cute and flustered, whining feebly when he pulled away. He smiled at her, proceeding to kiss the tip of her frosty nose and then hugged her even closer.
“Merry Christmas Brienne”.
“Merry Christmas Jaime”.
Coming to this party? Best decision ever. That ugly Christmas sweater? Just earned a place over his fireplace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wrote this early December, and just yesterday, this pic was posted online (!):
Thank you Nikolaj for being in my mind and obliging my fluffy dreams! You really are a cool bro. Bro high-five!
