Chapter Text
“Cut!” Lorean Lannister’s quivering voice sounded as Aemond stonily regarded the snivelling man before leaving the set to the storm of applause let out from the various staff.
He made his rounds, thanking the staff with his assistant Jessica. It was the least he could do. Aemond was already at his wit's end, fucking exhausted, so to speak, from just working with the heir apparent to the Lannister’s television empire for the idiotic commercial they wanted Aemond to film. The poor folks who had to deal with the golden-haired man for days on end had it much worse.
After signing a few autographs from some fans who were members of the staff and directing their requests for photos to his well-rehearsed assistant, who explained in clear terms that Aemond Targaryen did not do photo requests, he made his way to his suite, collapsing into his chair with a huff.
It was of small consolation that the advertisement only took a day to shoot. Something about some hair care product that was supposed to make one’s hair ‘silky smooth like a baby’s bum’. The very tagline had him reeling in anger and refusing to say the words, before Lorean had timidly suggested for them to be flashed on the screen instead, right when Aemond was cued to flick his hair.
He had all reasons to reject the stupid advertisement. It was a waste of his time, and even worse: The blasted product was Lannister’s own. It seemed like the family was not content with the monopoly they had on the television industry, with trashy shows being slated with the worst casts Aemond had ever come across. However, his father had called asking for a favour, for they were on the precipice of signing a big deal with the Lannister conglomerate, where they would invest heavily in whatever new venture arm the Targaryens were taking on yet again. Not that they needed the investment, but for some reason, his father liked to play nice with those from other companies where history with their own went back to the times Aegon Targaryen had founded the Targaryen Bank.
“Do this for me, son.” His father said pleadingly on the phone, “You do want your shares to increase in value, do you not?”
Father had announced the split in his will during the 800th anniversary of Targaryen holdings, and much to everyone’s shock. He had gone with an astounding one-fifth split for Rhaenyra, Aegon, Heleaena, himself and Daeron, respectively. Given that Rhaenyra was given the CEO position and he and his siblings were made to sign waivers in the presence of many stern-faced lawyers that the board could not overturn his half-sister’s position, it still came as a surprise to Aemond and his siblings.
His mother and grandfather had been shocked, to say the least. Otto Hightower was pleased, and seeing that luck was on his side, looked as though he wanted to protest Aegon not receiving the CEO position but was quickly led away at his mother’s demand once he opened his mouth, escorted out by their bodyguard Criston.
“My father, he is due for his massage at the Water Gardens,” his mother quipped, as she grasped his father’s hands, tears shining in her eyes.
“Viserys, my husband, thank you. Thank you for this.”
Even Rhaenyra’s eyes looked bright as she took to the stage for her address as the first female CEO of Targaryen Holdings, her voice betraying none of the disbelief Aemond felt at that time. It was like Rhaenyra already knew of Viserys’s plan, and the small smile she regarded his mother with, who clutched at his arm, still reeling from the turn of events, had him swallowing a lump in his throat.
The emotion that overcame him at his father’s act of kindness toward himself and his siblings quickly dissipated when Aegon’s snores increased in volume. His disgusting, repulsive, older brother had fallen asleep during their father’s address, his head lulling to the side while Helaena continued to knit- Was it a ladybird this time?-Daeron was nowhere in sight, but upon swivelling his head, he saw his younger brother sitting with Joffrey Velaryon, as the two intently played with some mobile game Aemond for the life of him had no interest in. Teenagers these days and their gaming devices. Whatever happened to passing the time reading a good book? Jacaerys and Baela had their heads leaned into each other, as they whispered quietly, no doubt gossiping about the events that had just unfolded. His nephew met his eyes and regarded Aemond with a curt nod before he resumed his conversation.
He took care not to make eye contact with Lucerys. Ever since the incident many years ago where the little fucker had taken his eye, he avoided Lucerys like the plague, steering clear of his nephew during their forced family gatherings every Christmas. The brat had tried to play nice with him still and had thrown a tantrum when Aemond had refused to play cards with him that year. A crying Lucerys had to be dragged away by an exasperated Rhaenyra and a Daemon who looked as if they wanted to throttle him.
Aemond did not care that Lucerys had grown up prettily. His nephew was no longer the small boy he once was, with his plush lips and big eyes. He thought about it sometimes, when he caught unwanted glimpses of his nephew during family gatherings, who seemed to shy away from Aemond, nothing like the shameless thing he had been when they were younger, always begging for Aemond’s attention.
He supposed in some sick, fucked up way he should have been thanking his nephew for gouging his eye out. Critics and scouts loved his sapphire, fawning over what he thought was an ugly scar that only seemed to mar his face. It had even landed him his very first role as a villain in the critically acclaimed ‘Dragon’ television series, which skyrocketed him to the level of fame he was at today.
The fact that his father had bestowed upon him enough company shares to make him a billionaire, multiple times over, was the reason why he had to do the stupid Lannister advert for stupid Lorean, who came up with the stupid hair product that didn’t even work. His hair felt greasy and stiff, and he could not wait to get home to shower the mess off himself.
He was an actor, for fucks sake, not some shiny boy toy who would flash his teeth on demand and flick his hair for some third-rate product. But his father had insisted, so here he was.
Flipping through his phone, and sipping the tea that Jessica had prepared for him on his room table, he opened up the site he had bookmarked and readied himself to read the blog site of the fan page dedicated to him and his works that always seemed to hold his interest in some way.
The fan page was an immensely popular one, having amassed over 500k followers on their blog with detailed writeups on each of his movies and easily navigated columns for fans to traverse reviews on his past works as well. To his delight and surprise, said fan page had a large banner on the top, with a disclaimer that they respected Aemond’s privacy, and that all pictures of himself were posted by credible, verified sources. Absent were the paparazzi pictures he was often plagued with.
Perhaps that was the very thing that drew him in, who had no interest in creating or using social media whatsoever, to the fan page, so to speak. He had his previous experiences with overzealous fans, with one girl even breaking into the set, screaming that she wanted to have his children. That explained the brawny bodyguards he had trailing his every move, currently positioned outside his dressing room.
Despite being evidently written by an amateur, who seemed a little obsessed with him at times, with him having to tune out their constant lust-filled musings over him, the reviews were a fun, lighthearted read. A much-needed change in pace from the dreary movie reviews he often pored over from various critics regarding his various works. He often found himself holding back laughter when reading them sometimes.
To his surprise, there was a new lengthy blog post that was posted just that very morning. Fuck Lorean Lannister for taking his one free day, that could have been spent reading the review in the comfort of his bed. Aemond took another sip of his coffee, as he scrolled through the new post in anticipation.
LIVING IN LOVE- A REVIEW ♡♡♡
My lovelies, my fellow Aemondwives, sorry for the late review! *Avoids tomatoes being thrown* I was sooo busy with coursework, and you know University and all that like why even am I doing this to myself when I can be watching all of Aemond’s filmography!
Where do I begin with this? I love you, Aemond Targaryen, you sexy beast of a man *inserts gif of Aemond wet and chasing his love interest through the rain*, but ‘Living in Love' is probably my least favourite film by him.
(I will NOT be responsible for people in my DMs screaming about me spoiling an Aemond series. The fact that so many of you haven’t watched ‘Spacecraft’ yet cause you guys are AFRAID of seeing Aemond DIE at the end has me dead. That movie has much more of Aemond you guys should be afraid of… to put it nicely (even though I enjoyed every bit of it *hides face and runs to live in the mountains forever* ಠ_ಠ))
*Spoilers ahead, be warned!
Before you guys come after me with pitchforks, let me digress. His acting was phenomenal in this. The smouldering gaze and the way he screamed when Diana (Alys Rivers) died had me quaking, coupled with the amazing sequences shot in the rain, where his chest was visible through his transparent white shirt… *fans self* The range of emotion Aemond has is truly a phenomenon we should have every scientist investigate, and forgive me if I go on another tangent on how beautiful the tears looked in his eye… ( ^ ᴗ ^ )
I think we even got a slight shot during the lovemaking scene of what he has hidden under his pants (more than what we got in Spacecraft) and let me just say I had to take a long, cold shower after that! Omg, the day we get a full nude scene of that man… My body is ready!
Alright, on a serious note: The story sucked. The two lovers getting together when they were children, only to have the girl die when they were in their teens is such an overused movie plot, and it honestly makes me a little disappointed that Aemond even took on such a piece. The pacing was so long, painfully so. How does it take so long for one to get ready in the morning? How does it take so long for one to have breakfast? All these things, fillers, where nothing of importance actually happened, were one too many!
Onto the side characters. Frankly, I do not care about Diana’s sister or Tom’s (Aemond Targaryen) best friend. Their scenes were super draggy and made the movie even more of a bore than it already was. The endless meandering about, talking about their school lives, just got dry and made me want to get to the crux of the story already! It seemed like there was no climax to the movie, and it was a dreary mess with no real *turning point* per se until the very end, where Diana died in Tom’s arms. Even though that proved to be a bore of an ending, the sad music at the end did little to help as well.
Abysmal storytelling aside, the filmography left much to be desired. The camera kept focusing on Diana’s breasts in scenes where it was supposed to be all serious! They zoomed in on her breasts when she told Tom she was sick, like whattt. Honestly, it seemed like a cheap shot of getting a male audience or being explicit and raunchy just for the sake of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love Alys Rivers as an actress. Her works on the Bolton family gore series have me shook to this day! This movie truly did not do her justice.
Where was the CHEMISTRY? \ (￣^￣)/ ???
The two main leads had little to no chemistry. Even the sex scenes looked forced! Don’t even get me started on the kissing scenes, they looked like two goldfishes going at it. My siblings were rolling on the floor, gasping in laughter at the very scene, like, WHY. To think I had been waiting in excitement for a whole year since the movie was announced. It was a tad bit embarrassing as an Aemond fan, after hyping up the movie so much to my family. Was no chemistry test done for either of them? (shameless promo: I am here, Aemond, ready to have spicy kiss scenes with you!!!)
Another big thing I found an issue with, was that both Aemond and Alys were playing HIGHSCHOOLERS. That is right, high schoolers! I know Aemond is only 25 and Alys doesn't look a day above 25 despite being almost 50 (to be fair, both of them look the same age, no mismatch in that), but my goodness, at least make them play University students! If I have to hear Aemond ask his mother for permission before staying out late after school, I’m going to spit out all my coffee laughing. Aemond hasn’t played anyone of a high schooler’s age, even when he was of said age! Make it make sense ヽ(`д´；)/
Apologies for the slightly deranged review from a small fry like myself. I am no critic, after all. In my opinion, this movie was one of Aemond’s worsts. (I’m sorry, Aemond baby, please forgive me). The fact that this review is so short says it all, cause I don’t want to disparage my love, who has worked so hard throughout this year. Let us all take this as a silly little romcom mistake that is a rite of passage for all actors, shall we? *_*
*Peeks out of my hiding spot* so now that the review is done, shall we talk about the new hair commercial Aemond is slated to be in?? OMFG I saw the preview pictures, and let me just say it was not just his hair that was wet after that *cough cough*. I am sooo excited about the release. I have already pre-ordered multiples of the hair sets! (with the little brush they have on the site as well!) My hair is pretty unruly, so my next post will probably be a review of those products. I’m sure they will be great. The links to purchase them are here *insert link*, do support Aemond if you can! I’m sure you all want to see him in more commercials as much as I do (an underwear commercial would be nice, hehe)( ͡° ε ͡°)
Feel free to flood my DMs with discussions of ‘Living in Love’. I love talking to you guys (or sometimes even debating, hehe). Aemond’s filmography is just sooo vast that I can go on for hours talking about it, to be honest! ✧w✧
Until next time, my fellow Aemondwives!( ˘ ³˘)♥
♡ AemondTargUpdates ♡
-
Aemond sputtered on his tea, letting out a shout of pain when the hot tea drenched the front of his collared shirt. He angrily swiped some tissues from the table, dabbing at his shirt furiously while he continued to scroll through the post AemondTargUpdates had made.
How dare he disgrace him like this? The movie had gotten rave reviews from critics and had smashed box office records, with many saying they left the theatres sobbing with the love story of Diana and Tom etched in their minds forever. It was his first foray into the romance genre, and he had picked the film in contention with many others, liking the solemness and seriousness the plot had to offer. And this little twig who hadn’t even finished his university degree thought it was bad?
The only reason he knew AemondTargUpdates was a boy, was from the way he referenced himself at times, and the constant references he made to having been forced to play in the all-boys mini-league hockey team when he was younger. It was horrible how he knew all of this about the bloody fan page that just shat on the new movie he put his blood, sweat and tears into.
Scanning the end of the review again, he could feel his brows furrow in rage when he realised that the boy was insinuating that he looked OLD. Him. Aemond Targaryen. Looked old. Was it all the stress finally getting to him…? He touched his face briefly before it contorted into a scowl.
He felt himself grow faint as he sat in his chair. The little fool behind AemondTargUpdates had somehow grown on him over the years, and he had for some dreadful reason grown fond of the comforting presence of the little funny quips the fan page provided on his work. How dare he look forward to the terrible advertisement he had to do for the asshole Lorean Lannister, whose only thing he was good at was using his father’s connections to get where he wanted. How dare he prefer that stupid advertisement compared to the art piece of a movie he had spent almost an entire year shooting!
Refusing to be outdone, and in a fit of fury, Aeond started to tap on his phone, penning out the longest message he had ever written on any social media platform.
Eyepatch1234567
It is disappointing, that the most popular fan page of Aemond Targaryen has such a poor take. In my humble opinion, the movie was amazing. Aemond and Alys’s chemistry as their characters, Tom and Diana, seemed to be off the charts throughout. I am sure the casting directors had a chemistry read beforehand as well. Do you honestly think professionals in the industry are unaware of what they are doing? To think a mindless plebeian like yourself thinks that a shoddy advertisement is more worth looking forward to than the most anticipated romance movie of the year shows how little you know about film and movies.
He sent the message to AemondTargUpdates with a scowl lining his face before he slammed his phone down, the table rattling with the force of his fist.