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Baelor is waiting in the courtyard at dawn.

At least, that’s when Maekar (still employing my favourite Baelor lives to become king and makes Maekar his Hand headcanon) finds Baelor standing there. He wouldn't be surprised if he learned that Baelor has been standing out there all night, though. Fuck, he might even have understood if Baelor had been waiting right here since the ravens came in, letting them know the rebellion was over (for now), Blackfyre was in chains and everyone was heading back here. But that everyone included someone more precious to Baelor than he still quite understood so there was no question that he'd be anxious for that return even more than stamping out another rebellion (not that anyone would dare voice that thought). But there was someone precious to Maekar in the party too (Egg, his baby boy, was finally coming home again after years away). So he stood right alongside Baelor and waited, even if the party wasn't expected to arrive until well after noon.

Baelor having his eyes glued to the gate the entire time. Even with the unmistakable sound of an army marching home. Even with the trumpets announcing their imminent arrival. Even with the proclamations. He keeps looking at the gates anyway because he needs to know the second that Dunk is back home again. (Someone somewhere is telling him "Maybe you want to think about the leader of the failed rebellion instead.") He's scanning the crowd the second that the gates are pushed open, nothing else on his mind. And it takes far too long and yet is somehow also immediate for him to find the unmistakable sight of Dunk among the waves of people streaming into the courtyard and take his first deep breath in years. And then another half a second, max, before he's locking eyes with Dunk.

And then Baelor turns around and marches straight back into the Red Keep.

-

Dunk hasn't been listening to Egg for a while now. He's been at least partly distracted since they started the journey back home again, but it really ramped up when that journey entered its final day and since the first sighting of the city itself? Well, he hasn't been able to pay attention to anything other than getting home again. He knows that Egg is chattering away, his nervous energy coming out a lot louder than Dunk's own single-minded focus, but the only thing running through his head is "Baelor. Baelor. Baelor." He pushes his way through the crowd, wanting to get through the gates as soon as possible, even if there are more important matters to be addressed first- he doesn't really give a fuck about that right now though. And then he's in thr courtyard, scanning the welcoming party for a familiar face (it's been years, but Baelor's is a face that he's seen every night in his dreams and he knows that he'd recognise him, regardless of any change, in a heartbeat). And then there he is. Standing at the top of the stone steps, right next to Maekar. And--

--walking back into the Red Keep?

Dunk doesn't have the time to be confused or saddened or distressed because the next second, Maekar is right next to them, primarily to check on Egg for himself, but he has another purpose, too.

"He wants to see you." Maekar looking Dunk up and down in that way that still makes Dunk feel nervous all these years later. "I imagine he thought a private reunion would be best for all involved. He's in his chambers. I assume you remember the way."

And Dunk doesn't have the time to be embarrassed (the implication of Maekar's words is clear and it's not as if there weren't whispers before he left about the long hours he spent in Baelor's chambers either, but nothing physical happened, save maybe for one occasion of hand-holding, even if they were falling in love the entire time), not because Maekar is spiriting Egg away for a family reunion (maybe even Aemon is back from the Citadel for now, too), but because he's already taking off after Baelor, before Maekar has even finished speaking. He gets through the Red Keep, to Baelor's door, in record time and had to knock exactly one time before Baelor's voice is calling out:

"Enter." (Actually maybe Dunk isn't even done knocking before Baelor is inviting him inside, such is the faith he has in Dunk to follow him immediatel- there's no way it was anyone other than Dunk at his door).

Dunk throws the door open (probably hard enough to break something) and stumbles into the room and there's a moment that stretches into a lifetime where they just stare at each other (taking stock of all the differences they see in each other, but mostly still noticing all the ways they're exactly the same, the very person they've been itching to get back to all this time) before they move.

They mistime things a little, though, so Baelor is still half stepping forward as Dunk is sliding to his knees (the way you're supposed to do to offer deference to the king, not for anything else. Yet) so Dunk's head collides with Baelor's stomach, Baelor gets the wind knocked out of him a little, Dunk drops whatever he's still carrying, Baelor almost tumbles to the floor, but they remain upright, almost laughing at the absurdity.

"I'm sorry," Dunk mutters against Baelor's stomach, while his hands find Baelor's hips.

"Don't be," Baelor mutters back, while his fingers tangle in Dunk's hair.

(They haven’t talked about what all those late night talks and gravitating towards each other and all the ravens exchanged while Dunk was gone, but also they don't even really need to- they Just Know so the physical contact is almost on instinct now)

Baelor is the one who grumbles when Dunk pulls back, but then he's looking down into Dunk's eyes and he can't find anything to complain about. He runs his thumb over the scar on Dunk's cheek (maybe thinks about letting down Dunk's longer than last he saw it hair and running his hands all the way through it).

Dunk looks up at Baelor, taking stock of all the new grey hairs he's gained in the last few years (and maybe begins to think about the *other* implications of his current position and how he doesn't mind that one bit).

And then Baelor says something that neither of them are really expecting. "You're covered in blood."

And that kind of breaks the spell a little.

Dunk, tips of his ears and probably his cheeks too flaming red, stumbles to his feet, stammering an apology. "Lack of form, right? Should always try and fancy yourself up a little before going to meet a king. I can--"

Baelor, who has far more important things on his mind than the blood that Dunk is smearing on his clothes, manages to stop him by grabbing his hand (it works surprisingly quickly, which is information he files away for later, too).

Then Dunk is still bright red, but now he's smiling instead of frowning.

Baelor considers this a win and smiles a genuine smile before he asks about the blood again.

"If it's any help, most of it isn't mine."

And somehow that leads to Baelor having even more questions.

So Dunk launches into a series of stories. First, the blood that is his is only a couple of days, max, old and a consequence of him grabbing some jagged rock in the Kingswood (yes, it did lead to mockery from Egg and probably a bunch of other people, too). And then the specifics of every other drop of blood on his clothes (peppered with yet more apologies for his lack of cleanliness).

Baelor listens patiently to all of Dunk's stories (and reminds him that none of those apologies are necessary). And then he finally asks, "So did the jagged rock fight back?" Because he hasn't failed to notice that the hand he's holding, the one that bears the cut and the bandage that now covers it, also has bruised and scraped knuckles and Dunk hasn't mentioned anything about a punch.

And this is the thing that makes Dunk clam up a little and try to pull back.

Baelor won't let him, of course.

"I suppose it's bad form to strike a hostage."

And Baelor had genuinely forgotten that it wasn't just Dunk coming home, but this is the thing that reminds him that another rebellion is over and there's another Blackfyre in chains in the dungeons somewhere. He doesn't ask if Dunk struck him. He doesn't have to.

"He said some very unflattering things about you just outside the city walls. I couldn't let that stand."

Baelor doesn't asks for details- that can come later.

"I didn't want to stop fighting for you, just because he's in chains now. I don't want to ever stop fighting for you."

Baelor dropping Dunk's hand, but only so that he can reach up, drape his arms over Dunk's shoulders and drag him down, pressing their foreheads together. "Thank you." Because he knows that he's lucky to have a warrior like Dunk out there, fighting to protect his king through any danger the world throws at him, but more than that, he knows that he's lucky to have a man like Dunk love him. "But I would very much like for you to stop talking now."

Dunk probably panicking that Baelor is mad and about to kick him out and he'll never--

"I would very much like to kiss you and I think that would be much easier to do if your mouth wasn't otherwise occupied."

Dunk stopped chewing at the Queen’s question and looked around. He realizes now that the whole table is staring at him and he was stuffing his face like a glutton. The man can feel his face flush and quickly puts his fork down.

“I’m sorry my lady! I mean, your Grace!”

His face felt on fire. The Queen probably thought him a disgusting pig that touched her dishes that were made specifically for her. Her literal family’s recipes! She probably didn’t have them often either as some of the ingredients he recognized as hard to get.

A soft laugh startled him out of his troubling thoughts. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who was startled as everyone looked at the King who was still chuckling.

“Forgive me, Ser. I do not mock you but I fear my wife is about to question your very being. I too am curious though as you are not much sun kissed than me. Is the food not burning you? You can be honest as you are among friends at this table.” The good King says to Dunk.

“I wish to know too Father.”, Prince Baelor says looking amused. “I wasn’t aware that my knight had experienced my mother’s culture. It’s a pity though since I wanted to be the first to introduce it to you.”, the Prince smirked.

Prince Maekar scoffed which drew all the attention away from Dunk.

His eldest brother lifted a brow, “Brother, is it wrong that I wanted my knight to know the wonders of mother’s culture? Or is it that you wanted to do it first?”

“You know exactly what you did and my son’s knight probably had a washed down version of Dorne’s culture. He’s probably had never even been near the border of our mother’s country. No the most connection he probably has is lay with a Sand at a brothel.”

“Maekar!” multiple voices shouted.

Dunk was trying to make himself smaller. He didn’t want to get anyone in trouble just because he decided to be greedy. Egg seemed confused as his uncle and grandparents scolded his father but patted his Ser’s arm in comfort.

“What? We all know this Kingdom doesn’t have anything tasteful to say about our mother’s country! They barely tolerate the wine much less the food from Dorne and hedge knights don’t often travel to another kingdom. There is only two possibilities left and we know the boy isn’t Dornish.”