the accident of a beating heart (Game of Thrones OC)
Petyr Baratheon was born during a summer storm. His mother laboured from the morning till the end of the night and suffered greatly for it.
When Petyr was born, he wasn’t breathing, and he did not for several long seconds during which Stannis, his father, held and watched him unblinkingly while the maester told him the babe would not wake up.
“He is stillborn, my Lord,” said the old man regretfully, shaking his head.
And as if to contradict him, the child abruptly opened his bleary eyes, and began to wail.
***
Prince Petyr was a quiet child.
A year older than his cousin the heir to the throne, he did not have Joffrey’s exuberance or his taste for violence. Instead, he was studious and dutiful, always trailing after his father if he was not attending lessons. He seldom spoke at court if he was not first spoken to.
He was not as beautiful as his cousin, but his face had charm, nonetheless. He had his father’s sinewy build and broad shoulders, his dark blue eyes, his hollow cheeks and full, thick brows. He had his mother’s sharp nose and her pointy teeth, set in a thin mouth that was darker than his father’s pale lips. He also inherited the Florent protruding ears, though they were partially hidden by the thick dark hair so common in the Baratheon side of his family.
Stannis loved his child very much, and it was said that the dour man could only be seen smiling in his presence. He taught his son how to handle his sword personally and often took him around the harbour he called his domain as Master of Ships.
Selyse loved him too, but in a more desperate manner. After the painful birth that gave her Petyr, she suffered through two miscarriages and almost lost her last child to greyscale, which made her quite obsessive with her only son and almost disdainful of Shireen, the last child she would ever bear. Petyr indulged her every whim, although he tried hard to get his mother to pay the same attention to his little sister.
Petyr was a quiet child, and most who knew him had nothing but praise for him and those who didn’t scarcely knew enough about him to say anything negative.
So it came as a surprise to everyone when he approached the king at age six and asked for permission to be his cupbearer. It was a bold move for a child. And they were all even more aghast when he responded to Prince Joffrey’s unsurprising protests by scoffing and saying he had no care for the words of a bastard.
“No one’s ever had blond hair in the entire Baratheon history,” he affirmed with narrowed eyes, lisping as he spoke. “I don’t see why I should listen to you when you’re not even the king’s son.”
Silence hung heavy in the dining hall.
“Is your son parroting your words, brother?” asked Robert dangerously, looking between Stannis and his wife.
“... no. It had never occurred to me to check the hair colour of our predecessors and compare them to your current children. But Petyr must have heard it from somewhere. Petyr? Who said that to you?”
Petyr pointed at his namesake, the Master of Coins Petyr Baelish.
“He said so.”
***
Petyr Baelish was executed the next day.
His younger namesake was not.