Chapter Text
“Thank you both for agreeing to sit down with me today. I imagine you have quite a rigorous schedule.”
“Of course, it’s no trouble at all,” Jaime said brightly.
“To start us off, I’d like to start at the beginning.” Jeyne pulled her printed sheet of bullet points closer to herself. “I hear that the two of you have been training together at the Lannister Ice Complex for more than a decade now.”
Brienne nodded at the same time that Jaime replied, “Yes.”
“Jaime, I imagine growing up in a family of competitive figure skaters, you must have had a lot of early exposure to the sport.”
“Absolutely,” He flashed the interviewer a charming smile. “My parents had me in skates as soon as I could stand upright, and when my parents were off at tournaments or preparing for competition, I would go and stay at my aunt Genna’s house, and obviously she has had a significant impact on my career.”
“I’d certainly say so! As our readers will be well aware Jaime, you are a third-generation Olympic medal figure skater. Do you think that the Lannister family has some sort of magic in your blood when it comes to this sport?”
Brienne crossed her arms and relaxed further into her seat, accidentally bumping her knee against her partner’s as she did.
“It’s really hard to say. I have a lot of love for the sport, I mean, it’s my whole life. But you could say the same thing about any skater who’s pursued a career on the ice. I don’t think that I have any sort of physical advantage when it comes to skating because of my parents or grandparents, but I certainly have had more opportunities come my way because of my name.”
That captured Brienne’s attention. She turned her shoulder a touch so she was facing more towards Jaime as he continued.
“Because I come from this family with a long tradition it’s certainly put a target on my back. People want to be able to say that they took me down, and I can’t blame them. It must be frustrating. But I make it my goal every time I get out on the ice to show that I’m more than my name and my parent’s reputation.
Sure, I had advantages early on in my career that gave me a leg-up, but it also took a lot of hard work and dedication. It’s a weird position to be in. But to answer your question, I don’t have gold running through my veins or anything like that.”
Brienne’s lips had parted as her jaw went ever so slightly slack. Did Jaime really just acknowledge his nepo-baby status in such a nuanced way? She was genuinely impressed.
The interviewer took down a brief note on her paper and shifted her attention to Brienne.
“Have you two known each other since you started skating at the complex?”
“No,” she answered trying not to be bugged. Didn’t this lady realize that Jaime was older and more talented than Brienne? “He was more advanced than I was, so we were in different classes. We probably met a year or so after I started.”
Jeyne gave Brienne a small smile. “But you are good friends with the family, are you not?”
How did people know about that? Brienne steadied herself and did her best to give a real answer that would let people know that she was capable of being likable.
“Yeah, so because of our age difference, I didn’t initially meet Jaime in the rink. I became good friends with Jaime’s brother, Tyrion. He and I are the same age, and he would get dragged to the LC every weekend. He was always nose-deep in a book-”
“That hasn’t changed,” Jaime interrupted with fondness for his brother in his voice.
“Right,” Brienne continued. “Well we were both quiet kids, and I guess we just felt like kindred spirits or something like that.”
“So you two have been in the same sphere for some time now. I think it’s fair to say this partnership has been a long time coming,” Jayne said while nodding as if she was agreeing with herself.
Jaime and Brienne looked at each other for a beat, Jaime’s face looked a bit off. Like he was fighting to keep a neutral face. Brienne managed to keep herself from laughing.
“You could say that,” Jaime said quietly, with gravel in his voice.
Jeyne’s eyes went back to Brienne. “I’m sure you’ve seen the video that went semi-viral where you were using some colorful language with Jaime.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Of course she was going to try to air out Brienne’s dirty laundry.
“There was quite a response from Jaime’s fans, but it sounds like to me that perhaps that was just the two of you playing around,” Jeyne supposed.
Brienne felt her leg begin to slowly shake.
Motherfucking shit.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Shit.
She managed to slowly nod in response. When the complete moron seated next to her squeezed her knee firmly, and said in a tense voice that was barely recognizable as his own, “Oh yeah we play around like that all the time.”
Brienne struggled to keep it together, but she had promised Genna that she could do this. She would do this.
Jeyne gave the pair a discerning look before continuing. “What are your favorite strengths of Brienne’s skating?” She gestured over to Jaime.
“Oh, wow. Well, you know…”
Brienne’s leg started to bounce at double time.
“She’s really a tremendous athlete,” Jaime said lamely.
“And you, Brienne? What drew you to partner up with Jaime? I mean, other than the fact that he’s the reigning world champion, of course,” she asked.
Brienne didn’t like the way Jeyne asked that question at all, but managed to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. “What more is there?” She shrugged.
“I know you two haven’t been paired up together for very long, but if there was one piece of criticism you wanted to say to the other, what would it be?”
Brienne jumped to answer first because she didn’t know if Jaime would be able to reel it in. “What? Criticize this guy?” She said with a relatively balanced voice. “There’s really nothing at all. I mean, everything he does is…perfect.”
She felt like she was going to hurl.
“And you, Jaime?”
“Oh wow. Well. I suppose Brienne can sometimes be too nice!”
The woman interviewing blinked. “Too nice?” She asked, and it didn’t even really offend Brienne because really? That’s what Jaime decided to go with?
“Well. That certainly is…sweet,” Jeyne replied before clearing her throat and once again pivoting back to Brienne. “What do you think about your old partner and Talla Tarly announcing that they’re competing this season?
Brienne sat up straight in her seat, and she felt herself so rigid. The mention of her old partner made her see red. Why the fuck was Hyle being brought up for this interview? Wasn’t this supposed to be some stupid puff piece?
Jaime squeezed at her leg again, and it was enough to snap Brienne back into the present.
“I don’t think anything about it.”
Maybe she should have said that she wished them good luck, or that there were no hard feelings, but she couldn’t be bothered.
“Is it true that you haven’t spoken to him since your last season together ended?”
Brienne didn’t think it was wise to mention that she had called him sad and drunk after he’d given her the boot. Not that Hyle had answered, but she was fairly certain that she’d left a message with some pretty colorful language.
“That’s correct.”
“Is it true that he told you that he was done over a text message?”
This Jeyne girl sure had some nerve to ask about that, Brienne would almost be impressed by her audacity. Brienne hadn’t told anyone that, because Hyle hadn’t told her. Period. She had found out when he’d announced that he and Talla would be taking the next season off to train together. She read it from an article that came out two days after she and Hyle started their planned month-long break.
Jaime leaned forward in his seat, removing his hand from Brienne’s leg- she hadn’t even noticed that he had kept it there.
“Can we speak about Brienne and I instead? I’m fairly certain that my aunt communicated that we didn’t want to talk about our past partners,” He cut in suddenly, his voice in that shitty rich-boy voice that she usually couldn’t stand. In that moment, it was music to her ears.
The woman interviewing them went pink, and she nodded. “Yes, of course.”
Brienne noticed that she didn’t apologize.
“What are your expectations for the season?” Jeyne continued, not even missing a beat.
“We’re going to do well,” Jaime responded with a steely expression. “Better than well, actually.”
“What do you mean by that?”
His leg rested against Brienne’s, and she could feel the heat of his body and the tension in his muscles. But she didn’t move away from him.
“That means I don’t expect this season to go any differently from any other season.”
The interviewer’s eyes went wide. “You think so?”
Brienne watched as Jaime slowly nodded. “I know it.”
“So you’re not taking the season off?”
Ha. Little did she know that Brienne would only be skating with Jaime for this one season. They didn’t have the time to spare.
“No.”
“You’re really that confident?” she asked with a smirk.
“Yes,” he answered without pause.
She looked back to Brienne. “What do you think? Is it possible?”
Something about Jaime’s attitude was contagious. The old Brienne would have fumbled that question, but this woman had already insulted her more than she could stand. “Jaime is one of the best competitors in this sport. I’ve already learned a lot from him, and I’m just going to keep on learning.”
Brienne almost believed herself.
“But you think it’s possible to skip through that learning period?”
“Yes.”
Jeyne’s eyes narrowed. “Will you be able to get over the nerves that have plagued you in the past?”
Brienne took a deep breath. “I have a partner I can rely on, I trust Jaime, so I have less to stress about,” she said slowly while meeting the woman’s gaze.
“So you think your past issues were because of Hy-”
Jaime snapped up to his feet and held his extended hand out in Brienne’s direction
“Jeyne, it was so nice to meet you, but I’m afraid my partner and I have another engagement.”
“Yes of course,” she said as she went to turn off her recorder.
Jaime reached over further, gripping Brienne’s hand as he helped her up from the table. Brienne forgot to be bugged by him touching her as the two walked from the room, leaving their interviewer behind.