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elfwannabeTitle: Pretending
Fandom: Merlin (BBC)/ A Game of Thrones, Takes place in![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
paradisa RPG
Characters/Pairings: Gwaine, Catelyn Stark
Summary: He drinks and she pretends not to see. They both care and pretend they don't.
He saw her approaching, so he set down the bottle.
It was ridiculous. He was a grown man, free to make his own decisions. It was no one's business but his own if he drank more than he should. But for some reason, he didn't want her to know. Something about her took him right back to that loss and he was that boy again, eager to please and terribly, terribly afraid of disappointing her. Perhaps it was because she was so much like his own mother- determined, proud, and strong. He wondered if he had disappointed her when he had left home.
....Maybe he had time for one more drink before Catelyn reached him.
She saw, of course.
She wondered who Gwaine thought he was fooling. Perhaps at first she had been blind to his problems, but the more time that she spent with him, the more readily apparent they became, no matter how he tried to hide them.
He drank. It was as simple as that. He was certainly not the first such man she had known in her life, but the others did not remind her so much of her son- had not once worn his face. Even now, returned to manhood, there was something vaguely Bran-like about him. The way he pretended to obey the rules, maybe, or that cheeky smile when he knew he had been caught. She wanted to protect him- to shield him from harm, as she had failed to shield Bran. But she was not his mother, whatever she may feel. So she said nothing. Passed by his bottle without comment and pretended she didn't see.
She didn't need to say anything. The way the corners of her mouth tightened when she saw it was enough.
"Milady." There was something apologetic in his tone, despite himself.
"Ser." He had to wince at the disapproval in her voice. How did she do it? Shame him with that one little word? "Have you been well?"
"Well enough. Far better now, since I have such charming company." He smiled and gave a little bow, sliding his mask back into place- pretending that he feels nothing more than the pleasure any man receives from speaking with a beautiful older woman.
And that's just fine with Catelyn. She continued the conversation, playing the part of the perfect lady: polite, concerned, but distant. Pretended that she felt nothing more than a friendly acquaintance should. Pretended that, on the inside, she's not just as broken as he is and that she didn't want to reach out to him with every fiber of her being.
So they lied, to each other and to themselves. Honesty was dangerous, after all. Honesty makes you vulnerable, takes away that protective armor that they had both so carefully built around themselves. A single breach and it could all come tumbling down, something they both knew all too well.
Fandom: Merlin (BBC)/ A Game of Thrones, Takes place in
paradisa RPGCharacters/Pairings: Gwaine, Catelyn Stark
Summary: He drinks and she pretends not to see. They both care and pretend they don't.
He saw her approaching, so he set down the bottle.
It was ridiculous. He was a grown man, free to make his own decisions. It was no one's business but his own if he drank more than he should. But for some reason, he didn't want her to know. Something about her took him right back to that loss and he was that boy again, eager to please and terribly, terribly afraid of disappointing her. Perhaps it was because she was so much like his own mother- determined, proud, and strong. He wondered if he had disappointed her when he had left home.
....Maybe he had time for one more drink before Catelyn reached him.
She saw, of course.
She wondered who Gwaine thought he was fooling. Perhaps at first she had been blind to his problems, but the more time that she spent with him, the more readily apparent they became, no matter how he tried to hide them.
He drank. It was as simple as that. He was certainly not the first such man she had known in her life, but the others did not remind her so much of her son- had not once worn his face. Even now, returned to manhood, there was something vaguely Bran-like about him. The way he pretended to obey the rules, maybe, or that cheeky smile when he knew he had been caught. She wanted to protect him- to shield him from harm, as she had failed to shield Bran. But she was not his mother, whatever she may feel. So she said nothing. Passed by his bottle without comment and pretended she didn't see.
She didn't need to say anything. The way the corners of her mouth tightened when she saw it was enough.
"Milady." There was something apologetic in his tone, despite himself.
"Ser." He had to wince at the disapproval in her voice. How did she do it? Shame him with that one little word? "Have you been well?"
"Well enough. Far better now, since I have such charming company." He smiled and gave a little bow, sliding his mask back into place- pretending that he feels nothing more than the pleasure any man receives from speaking with a beautiful older woman.
And that's just fine with Catelyn. She continued the conversation, playing the part of the perfect lady: polite, concerned, but distant. Pretended that she felt nothing more than a friendly acquaintance should. Pretended that, on the inside, she's not just as broken as he is and that she didn't want to reach out to him with every fiber of her being.
So they lied, to each other and to themselves. Honesty was dangerous, after all. Honesty makes you vulnerable, takes away that protective armor that they had both so carefully built around themselves. A single breach and it could all come tumbling down, something they both knew all too well.