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This… was not… how the evening was supposed to go.
First, a freak storm had flooded the streets of King’s Landing, guaranteeing that his shoes would get wet and that his suit would be damp for the rest of the night. There wasn’t enough magic in the air to coalesce and keep himself dry all the way to her place and he cursed the existence of storms. Coming from the Westerlands, he worked best in overcast weather, not this lightning and thunder nonsense.
Then he had gotten caught in the cross fires of a small duel in a park, a park he never would have normally walked through if it wasn’t for the cover from the rain that the trees brought him compared to the open skies of the sidewalks by the road.
Then, thirdly, a tiny munchkin’s rookie ass spell had hit him and there wasn’t a single adult in sight to fucking reverse it. He couldn’t even reverse it because he didn’t even have his one hand to wave around anymore.
He had paws, big fat, useless paws that couldn’t perform even a wisp of magic.
And he was late.
Very, very late.
Ten whole minutes late.
Brienne was most definitely freaking the fuck out, because he was never late.
Not for her.
Jaime squirmed in the arms of the young boy who had scooped him up in a panic, all of his friends crowding around the two of them yelling about what they had done and how much trouble they would be in.
Jaime really didn’t want to bring out his claws, but if the boy wouldn’t let him go, then he would just have to bring out the scratchers. Puffing in irritation, Jaime opened his maw and roared to try and get the boys to let him go.
But instead an intensely high-pitched mewl reverberated from his throat.
All the boys cooed at him.
Great. Not only had he been turned into a lion cub, he had been turned into an adorable lion cub. This shit was ridiculous. He was not adorable. He was suave; he was sexy. Even with the little usable magic in the air, he should have still turned into the King of the Jungle, not a squeaking kitten.
Having had enough and not wanting to be even later than he already was, Jaime carefully nomed on the hand of the boy who was holding him. The boy screeched in surprise, an over reaction considering that Jaime had barely scratched him with his incisors, and promptly dropped him on to the ground.
Before another one of the boys could grab him in their panic, they couldn’t bloody well help him anyways, Jaime darted between their legs and sped out of the other side of the park and back into the rain.
The cold water soaked through his fur and he shivered, wondering what the boys would do with his nice suit that was now just lying in a useless pile on the ground of some muddy park. He would have to get a new one, which disgruntled him, since it had taken him so long to find a shirt in that particular shade of blue, though he supposed he had a supplier now.
Jaime thought of the other items that he had also left behind. It was too bad. It had been perfect for tonight, but he would be able to find it again soon enough. It would be useless in the hands of anybody else; he had made sure of it.
It took him longer than it would have if he were still a human to reach Brienne’s house, which now meant that he was over a half an hour late, and through her open window he could hear her side of a conversation she was having on the phone.
“I am not over reacting!”
“But he’s never late.”
“By the Seven Tyrion…”
“What if he’s missing?”
“You don’t need to wait twenty-four hours under suspicious circumstances!”
“This is a suspicious circumstance! What if he’s been hexed?”
“He doesn’t always deserve it.”
“Oh, for the love of the Seven Tyrion, this is not because I need a good fuck, this is about your missing brother.”
“Well, it’s not like he wants to fuck me anyway.”
“Stop laughing Tyrion! Shut up! I’m hanging up and going to look for him. You Westerlands boys can’t handle even the smallest of storms,” Brienne huffed and with that she hung up the phone.
Jaime stared at the door willing for her to open it and come find him in all her Stormlands girl glory. The clouds and rain outside would feed her unlike the way that they drained him.
But instead of charging outside, he heard her collapse into her old, ridiculously comfy arm chair, and her muffled voice murmur, “Or maybe this has all been in my head and he’s finally done with me.”
Jaime jolted as he stared at her open window, willing her to look outside, to come and find him, because he was right here! When she still didn’t, he snarled at the door. Letting out a loud roar, that once again came out as a very non-threatening mewl, Jaime charged head first at the entrance. When his skull clattered against the wood, he felt himself collapse, his mighty challenge not putting even a dent into the thick panel.
However, it had caused enough of a racket to rouse Brienne’s attention and through his concussed daze he heard her get up from her chair and come to the door. Slowly, too slowly, it swung open and Jaime dizzily looked up into the most beautiful eyes in the world and helplessly mewled.
Brienne blinked owlishly at the guest on her doorstep before she seemed to register what she was looking at, “Oh you poor thing,” she cooed and scooped Jaime up into her arms and brought him inside, “You got caught in the rain. Let’s get you dry.”
The moment she touched him, his dizziness faded and he realized that the blue of her eyes hadn’t been quite right. Jaime squirmed in her hold, trying desperately to see her face as her voice didn’t sound quite right either. When she swept into the bathroom to grab a fresh, dry towel, his fur prickled in horror. Salt stains traced down her cheeks and tears still welled at the corner of her eyes, threatening to fall. She had been crying. She had been crying because he hadn’t shown up on time. To her… he still hadn’t shown up at all.
The fluffy white towel dropped over his body and Brienne’s large hands ruffled through his fur, a warming spell, replacing the healing spell, hovering over her palms to slowly dry and fluff him up. When she was done, she picked him up and brought him to her shoulder, cradling him gently, her fingers massaging the fur at his back. “There, there, you’re safe and warm now sweet kitty.”
Jaime mewled helplessly and lapped at the salt tracks on her face. Her hands were so big, but so gentle, that which about her had never changed. Brienne squealed at the sandpaper texture of his tongue and bopped him on the nose. “You must be hungry. Stay the night and tomorrow when it’s dry you can journey off again.”
Jaime wanted to tell her that he never wanted to leave, but instead he continued to lap at the scar on her cheek, magic used to hurt and maim still leaving its mark even after all these months. He wished he could kiss the dark mark away if only to reduce her hurt.
“I have some food, if you don’t mind steak,” Brienne murmured as she wandered into the dining room and Jaime’s blood once again ran cold as he saw the set up inside. Two floating spheres of fire were lit over her small dining room table, a bottle of wine stood between two empty crystal glasses, and two plates piled with food that had been steaming hot not one hour ago were sitting on either side of the flickering flames. Both of the plates already had the steak precut in thought of his normally missing hand.
Jaime frantically turned in Brienne’s arms, pressing his body to her chest, pressing his face into her neck, lapping frantically at the underside of her chin. He mewled and mewled although he wanted to roar, “I’m here. I’m here. I’m not done with you. I’ll never be done with you.”
But despite his best efforts Brienne couldn’t understand him and she couldn’t know that the lion cub in her arms was him, so she opened her arms and dropped him on the table. She pointed at what was supposed to be his plate and she sat down in the chair in front of hers. “Have all of it,” she said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “It’s just all going to go to waste otherwise.”
Why the hell had he set such precedence for being on time? Was this the advantage of being unknowable and fashionably late? Would she be less sad right now if he was always late? Knowing her, probably not. That was why he had always been on time or early every other time.
Jaime pawed at his plate and pushed it so that it was right beside Brienne’s. She regarded him in wide-eyed curiosity and even let out a quiet giggle at his ridiculous efforts. Curling up as close to her as he could, without falling off the table, Jaime jammed his face into his food and then looked up at her while licking the mashed potato off of his whiskers. Brienne laughed outright this time as she took a napkin and wiped away some gravy that had ended up too far up the bridge of his nose for his tongue to reach. “Slow down before you choke,” Brienne murmured and scratched him behind the ear. He pressed his head into her palm and mewled again.
The next time he went at the plate, he delicately pulled one of the cut pieces of steak toward his maw and bit down. The taste exploded in his mouth, seasoned to perfection and Jaime practically vacuumed up the rest of the cuts.
Suddenly, fingers curled under his stomach and picked him up and he was looking into Brienne’s blue eyes, thankfully free of tears and even more thankfully filled with laughter. “I said slow down kitty.”
Jaime roared and playfully batted his paws at her nose. To his shock, Brienne’s face fell and she lowered him back down to the table, “Sorry, my face must be unseemly to look at.”
Jaime’s eyes widened and he shook his head, avoiding the plate that Brienne once again pushed in front of him. He watched as her gaze fell to the empty seat at the other end of the dining table and her shoulders slumped. “Tyrion’s right,” she muttered to herself, “It’s laughable to think that Jaime would want to have anything more to do with me, much less sleep with me.”
“No!” Jaime cried, but it came out as a loud squeak, “He laughed because it’s so obvious how desperately I want to sleep with you! How desperately I want to spend my life with you! Dammit woman!”
Brienne’s hand came and patted him on the head, probably amused by all of the screeching and hisses that were vibrating through him. “I know, you think it’s laughable too.”
Jaime slumped over on his side, despondent.
This evening really wasn’t going the way he wanted this evening to go.
It was supposed to be their third official date, their hundredth and fifty-third unofficial one by his count, but he knew Brienne disagreed.
He was going to ask her to be his forever girl.
And now she was convinced that he wanted nothing to do with her.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Fucking rain. Fucking park. Fucking kids.
“Tired?” Brienne asked.
Jaime nodded despairingly.
Brienne picked him off of the table and once again cradled him to her shoulder as she carried the plates of food to the kitchen. Hers was about as half eaten as his. He lamented on the wonderful dinner she had cooked for him going into the trash, but then was glad to see that she had instead chosen to wrap up the dishes in foil and placed them into her fridge. Walking back into the dining room, Brienne flicked her fingers and the spheres of fire shuddered and began to move with her through the house as she waved her hand and dosed the rest of the lights on the first floor.
She carried him up the stairs and he looked around curiously. He had never been up here before, despite everything they had been through and realized that the whole second floor was basically a one-bedroom loft with a skylight that took up nearly the entirety of the space.
Brienne set him down on the floor and Jaime gazed up through the glass. The rain had stopped and the sky had cleared. Through the freshly cleansed air, the moon and the stars positively twinkled. He supposed this was why Brienne lived so far on the out skirts of King’s Landing. Amongst the sky scrappers, one couldn’t see the stars like this.
Jaime looked over at Brienne and his heart nearly stuttered to a stop as the two glowing spheres of fire lit up the expanse of her skin, the freckles on her face and neck covering the entirety of her back and her long legs. She had already pulled on a worn pair of soft sleep shorts and was now pulling over her head a thick sweater. One of his, he realized as she turned towards him. She came over to him and scooped him up off the ground again and settled him on her bed, “It’s really warm under the covers,” she said, “I hope you don’t mind if I take away the glass for a bit. Let in some of the magic.”
He shook his head as she crawled beneath her comforter, pulling it up to her neck. He slipped in underneath the blanket and wrestled his way onto her chest before he popped his head out right beside her chin and rested his paws on her clavicle. She giggled lowly and placed a comforting hand over his back before she waved the other. The two spheres of fire finally burnt out and the glass above them disappeared, the cold air rushed in like a waterfall around them, but he felt warm.
“Tonight is still for wishing on shooting stars,” Brienne murmured soothingly into his ear, “Tomorrow reality returns.”
Tomorrow he would fix this mess.
They woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing as the sun broke the horizon. Jaime was under the covers, on the bed, and nestled into Brienne’s stomach and Brienne had curled her whole body around him, wrapping him in her protection. Brienne had glamored the glass back into place before they had fallen asleep and the bedroom was nice and warm, especially cuddled so close in her arms. When the doorbell rang again, Brienne grunted and unfurled as quietly as she could, trying not to disturb him. While Brienne left the bed to get the door, Jaime doubled down on snuggling into the covers, surrounded by her scent.
“Hello?”
“Hello. Are you Miss Brienne Tarth?”
“I am.”
“Nice to meet you Miss Tarth. My name is Tormund Giantsbane; I’m an officer of the Gold Cloaks. I’m here to question you about an incident that occurred at the park down the road last night.” Jaime perked up from his place in bed and wrestled out from under the covers. He rolled off of the bed with a splat of fur, and tumbled down the stairs.
“What happened at the park last night?” Brienne asked curiously.
“Some boys reported that they accidently hexed a gentleman, but the victim ran away before the boys were able to get some help for him.”
“So why are you questioning me?”
“Because the victim left some of his personal effects behind,” the officer said and pulled out Jaime’s damp and muddy, but neatly folded suit.
Brienne’s eyes widened in recognition as Jaime crashed into her ankles. “Jaime? This is Jaime’s. What happened to Jaime?”
“That was what I was hoping you could tell me.”
“How did you know to find me?” Brienne asked as she took the suit from the officer’s hands.
Tormund pulled out another item and Jaime’s eyes widened. This was really not how this was supposed to go. Another man was about to present his gift to Brienne for him. He wanted to wail. “Along with the suit was this,” Tormund said and opened the crimson box. Inside was a silver, delicately chained necklace with one teardrop sapphire jewel adorning it as a pendent. Upon closer inspection the insides of the sapphire swirled unlike any common gem.
Brienne’s eyes widened as her gaze flickered between the contents of the box and the officer standing before her, “That’s a storm jewel.”
Tormund nodded with a small smile on his face and Jaime hated him already, “And the chain it’s magically welded to is inscribed with your name, already containing his and ready to be etched by your magic.”
“By the Seven…”
“So you don’t know where this Jaime Lannister has gone?”
Brienne shook her head as she tried not to cry, “No. He was supposed to come over last night, but he never showed.”
Tormund sighed, closed the box, and held it out to her, “This is rightfully yours, so I’ll return it to you. If he was planning on giving it to you last night, I imagine that something terrible must have stopped him from getting here.”
That was when Jaime decided to make his presence once again known. Because really, was Tormund fucking Giantsbane trying to send Brienne spiraling again?
Both people looked down at him.
Brienne blinked owlishly at him and he almost saw the pieces fall into place. “What kind of hex did the boys cast?”
Tormund grinned and waved his fingers at Jaime. He was prepared to gnaw those fat sausages off, “A transfiguration spell.”
“Oh…”
“I’ll close Jaime Lannister’s missing persons file. Good day Brienne Tarth.”
“Good day Tormund Giantsbane.”
Brienne closed the door and leaned up against the wood before she slid down to the floor with closed eyes and her hands covering her mouth. Jaime jumped onto her lap and nuzzled her stomach.
Brienne popped open one eye to peek at him, “Jaime?”
He mewled.
Both her eyes widened as she looked to the sky in realization, “Gods. Oh Gods!”
He mewled again. A haughty mewl if there ever was one.
Brienne flushed bright red and covered her cheeks with her hands as she looked back down at him, “I don’t think I can turn you back. You’re just going to have to stay as a cat forever.”
Jaime protested vehemently. One, he was a lion dammit, and two, he was a human for fucks sake.
“It’s too embarrassing,” Brienne squeaked, hiding her face in her hands and stomping her feet adorably, “I told you I wanted to sleep with you last night.”
Jaime protested louder.
“You bought me a storm jewel? You forged me a chain?”
“Change me back you infuriating woman so I can tell you that I not only bought you a storm jewel, but one that matched the colour of your eyes,” Jaime wanted to scream, but instead screeched adorably. “Change me back so I can tell you that I’ve been forging that chain for you for months!”
Brienne reached over to the red box and popped it open again. She stared at the sapphire pendant and felt the energy around her sharpen. Slowly, she took the necklace from the box and ran her fingers along the silver chain. After a long moment, she clasped the necklace around her neck.
Jaime pouted. He had wanted to be the one to put it on her. Optimally, while peppering kisses on the back of her neck.
Immediately, she felt her magic begin to magnify in a way that the storm last night couldn’t even begin to bring about and Brienne breathed out a sigh as she felt a magical bond form with the kitten before her. Her eyes softened. “It really is you.”
Jaime mewled and rolled onto his back, exasperated. He basked in the feeling of her magic flowing through him, of their connection. She knew the necklace had come from him and she had still put it on, the silver links forged by his hand connected them now. It was a declaration of his intent, of his love, if there ever was any.
Brienne bit her lower lip shyly and Jaime rolled back onto all four paws. She stared into his eyes for a moment before a smile burst forth on her lips. Jaime mewled in elation. With a wave of her hand, he was back in his regular body, naked as the day he was born.
He didn’t waste even a second. In the next moment, he was on her. His lips pressed against hers, his left hand entwined in her right, and his stump caressed her waist. Brienne squeaked in surprise, stunned for an instant before she was all heat and fury, devouring his kisses, knowing that they were her own. He made sure she could feel how hard she made him before she could begin to question all the ways he wanted her.
Jaime growled as he pulled off his sweater she was wearing, and latched his mouth onto her breast. She cried out in pleasure as her hands tangled into his hair. His hand then went to pull down her shorts and panties, if she was willing, there was no point anymore in waiting. His teeth nipped her collarbone, “I’ll show you how much I want to fuck you Brienne.” He then waved his hand in the air.
Brienne gasped as the world tilted and Jaime lowered her all the way down to the ground… no, onto her bed, she realized. One of her hands grasped at the back of his neck, the other his forearm, “Please… please show me.” Then she kissed his stump and he nearly felt his heart burst in loving her.
“And I’ll love you forever after too,” Jaime promised between kisses, “So you’ll never doubt me again.”
Brienne shuddered at the intensity of his emotions, escalating exponentially as they swirled precariously with hers through the power of their link. It was a powerful thing, an unending thing, linking their magic like this. But he had offered and she had accepted and so they could feel it deep into their souls, “I’ll love you forever too.”
