Chapter Text
“I’m glad you both could clean up your schedules for this meeting” Catelyn Stark says as if it was possible to postpone anything where Catelyn Stark is concerned. There’s a reason why Stark Public Relations is considered one of the best PR agencies in Westeros and the reason for it is no other than Catelyn herself. “We have a lot to discuss”.
“Listen, it’s not that I’m surprised you have called me and the Seven know we had a lot of these meetings in the past few months, but” and Brienne can see from the corner of her eye Jaime motioning with his head towards her, sitting beside him in front of Catelyn’s desk “what the hell is she doing here?”
Brienne can feel her cheeks flushing a very dark shade of red even though she’s not facing Jaime Lannister.
“This is Brienne Tarth. She had a small role in “Tower of Ashes”, was nominated for a Golden Dragon for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for “Fire & Blood” and it’s going to star in “Sworn Sword”, to be released in a few months.” Brienne’s cheeks are possibly Lannister crimson at this point. Even though Catelyn’s tone is nothing more than neutral while listing her accomplishments in her short career, it’s still pleasing to hear it all like this. Not that it can in any way compare with Jaime Lannister and his two Aegon Awards, three Golden Dragons and four blockbuster movies he starred in for over ten years since he started acting.
“Hmm… ok? I’m still confused” he says, completely uninterested in what Catelyn Stark tells him and even though Brienne knows he’s so much better than she is, even though she will probably never be as good as him, she feels annoyed.
Jaime Lannister is an incredible actor, does his own stunts even after an accident that made him lose some of the movements of his right hand, but when it comes to his reputation on his personal life… it couldn’t go in a more opposite direction if he tried. Arrogant, and apparently not even a little bit interested in learning about new actors or actresses in his work field. Brienne wonders if he at least has any idea about the struggles women have to face in this career, especially a woman like her, who doesn’t fit in any of the standards that would certainly crush her and rip her dream apart even before she had a chance to try, if it wasn’t for sheer luck. She knows no matter how much talented she is, it was luck that opened the doors for her to make the most of the opportunities she’s having now.
Of course Jaime doesn’t know a thing about it, and doesn’t care. Suddenly she feels less intimidated by his presence in this room, less star struck. Maybe all those hateful tabloids weren’t so wrong about him after all.
“You don’t even try, do you?” Catelyn signs, while Jaime just stares at her from his chair. Some sort of silent conversation happens in those few seconds they are looking at each other, and Brienne can’t help looking back and forth between them both. Whatever it was, it’s over before she can figure it out, and Catelyn just shake her head, as if she’s disappointed but resigned with whatever she saw in his eyes. “The reason why Brienne is here it’s because what we have to discuss is concerning a common… situation that both of you are facing right now and I came up with a solution that can be beneficial for the two of you.”
Catelyn leans back on her chair, her gaze drifting between Jaime and Brienne before settling on the first one. “ Jaime, we cannot afford another tabloid gossip scandal involving your name again. Only the Old Gods know why you still have the public support that you have despite everything that has been said about you in the past few years, but it’s not going to last forever, especially if you’re seen as the reason for Cersei and Robert Baratheon split. You already have many of those so called “haters” that are only waiting for an opportunity to get their claws on you and it doesn’t matter how handsome you think you are or how good of an actor you actually are… this Cersei madness will crush you beyond repair”.
Cersei Baratheon (former Cersei Lanser) and Jaime Lannister dated once upon a time right at the beginning of their respective careers. For brief six months, they were the perfect match. The golden couple. Two beautiful, young, talented actors who seemed to be perfect for each other at first. Brienne remembers seeing their pictures floating around, paparazzis following them everywhere. Nothing about them was private. Including their messy break up. Something about both of them yelling at each other in a hotel room in Pentos. The police being called and cops arresting Cersei for domestic violence against Jaime, a broken nose and several bites and scratch marks everywhere on his body the proof that the perfect couple wasn’t so perfect after all.
Brienne thinks the only reason why Cersei’s career wasn’t over was because of Jaime’s involvement in the Targaryen scandal that blew up on the gossip tabloids practically at the same time. (Apparently Jaime was responsible for the writer’s decision in killing Aerys Targaryen fan favorite character in the tv series adaptation of “The Ice Dragon” that launched Jaime’s career. Two vain, selfish men who didn’t want to share the spotlight. Jaime being the star of the show had him winning that fight easily. A part of the public never forgave him though, and of course the tabloids take advantage of that to this day). There has been rumors over the years about Cersei and Jaime having an affair, even though she married mogul Robert Baratheon not long after her split with Jaime.
But now their divorce was splashed all over the media and Jaime’s name has been everywhere attached to it.
“I’ve already told you that’s not how things happened. I am not the reason why they are getting a divorce”
“I don’t care about what’s happening. I care about what’s the first thing people read whenever they Google your name. There’s a reason why you hired us, and you know very well it’s because Stark Public Relation is the best out there. You either allow me to do my job or don’t bother paying me because I will not be attached to the PR disaster that is your personal life right now if you don’t cooperate”.
Jaime groans, throwing his head back to dramatically signal his annoyance. “Fine. You have a point I suppose. So what’s the plan here?”
Catelyn shifts her gaze to Brienne and suddenly she wishes she had never auditioned for that role in “Tower of Ashes”. She’s as confused as Jaime when it comes to why she’s here, and part of her is afraid to find out what’s going on.
“That’s where Brienne enters.” Catelyn smiles and for a moment she’s almost strangely soft towards Brienne, a motherly gaze directed at her. But it’s gone within seconds, Catelyn becoming all steel and business, neutral and professional. “There are high chances of “Sworn Sword” receiving several nominations not only at the Golden Dragon Awards, but also Aegon Awards as well. I’ve been in contact with your agent and they are ready to work together for a campaign when the time comes. I think there are huge chances you might be nominated as well Brienne.”
Brienne can already feel her heart beating faster. She doesn’t want to create expectations, but it’s impossible not to imagine how it would feel like to be at least nominated for her first main role. Being nominated for a Golden Dragon for “Fire & Blood” was already beyond her expectations, but an actual main role such as her part in “Sworn Sword”? It’s something she can’t even wrap her head around if it actually happens.
“That all sounds great but I’m still not getting what all of that has to do with my” Jaime interrupts, mimicking quotation marks in the air with his hand “PR disaster of a personal life” . Catelyn ignores him, directing her words to Brienne instead.
“Your name is going to be out there. We know it, and other people know it as well. And they will try to use it for their advantage if they can. They already started it. I know you don’t read about yourself and I think it’s a healthy way of dealing with media and fame, I understand it completely, but-“
“You don’t read what they say about you? Really?” Jaime interrupts again, looking at Brienne as if she has grown two heads in the span of five seconds. Brienne scowls, shooting him an annoyed look.
“I don’t see the point” she mutters, ignoring his surprised expression and looking back at Catelyn.
“As I was saying” she continues “ lately there has been some articles digging back into your relationship with Hyle Hunt. And I think his team might be behind it. I’m afraid that it will get worse when “Sworn Sword” is released. And the narrative that he’s creating… it doesn’t please me. It does not go well with the image we have been building for you since we started. And we need to counterattack that”.
Brienne cringes at Hyle’s mention.
They dated for two years. They were classmates on the acting course they both took in Citadel, and when he got his role as the main lead in a teenage romance tv show, she was incredible happy for him. She truly was.
Until when, a year later, he was spotted frenching the main actress at a pool party in Highgarden, the day before her first day of shooting “Fire & Blood”. Brienne still remembers the humiliation of seeing those pictures everywhere, the comments on the internet from the small but very loud fandom of the tv show celebrating the couple becoming “canon” in real life. The comments making fun of her, of her size, her height, her ugliness.
She’ll be lying to herself if she pretends it doesn’t still sting when she remembers. Hyle never apologized. He didn’t even call her to warn her about the pictures before it was out there. He never even called to properly break up with her, not that the pictures weren’t already enough hint of their situation. He released an article on Westeros People Magazine stating they weren’t dating anymore at the time the pictures were taken (they very much were) and had kept their break up private. She hadn’t heard of him since. She never cared about contradicting his version of the facts.
“What are they saying?” She asks before she can help herself.
“Just speculating about it. But they paint him in a rather good light, and imply that you would like to pursue a romantic relationship again, or at least keep in touch after what happened. I feel they might try to force this romantic angle even more when the movie is released. His career hasn’t gone anywhere after his show was canceled so I can see the appeal for him. Unless you’re in contact with him or is in some sort of relationship with him I don’t know about-“
“I’m not! I’m definitely not” Brienne answers, fast. She rather meet the Stranger herself than seeing Hyle’s face after what he did.
“That’s what I imagined. I don’t think it’s a good thing to have this narrative out there. Your name attached to his is not a good thing for you. If I was working with you at the time those pictures of him were “leaked”, I would definitely had that situation sorted out in a way that benefited you. But we can’t go back in time. We must move forward”.
“Wait” Brienne says, her attention picked by what Catelyn said. “What do you mean with “leaked”? You think he leaked those pictures on purpose?”
Catelyn gives her a look that makes her feel as if she’s ten years old, instead of twenty five.
“I cannot, of course, say it with a hundred percent sure, but it wouldn’t be the first time two actors want to take advantage of their fan base by playing pretend with their fictional romance in the real world. Their relationship lasted three months after that, that’s clearly a sign it was not something serious besides getting media attention by using their fans”
“I… I didn’t know they broke up so fast” Brienne mutters.
“You didn’t know when you ex broke up with the girl he cheated on you with? I get not reading about yourself, but not even about your ex?” Jaime asks in that same tone as if he’s actually talking to an alien.
“I’m not interested in what these tabloids talk about. Most of it it’s not even true anyway”. She shots back, scowling even more.
“It’s not, but if you can’t beat the system, you join the system and makes it work to your benefit. We need them. You both need them”. Catelyn says.
She opens a drawer beneath her desk, pulling out some papers and dropping a copy in front of Jaime and Brienne each.
“The plan is basically to have both of you in a romantic relationship with each other for a while. It’s going to silence the rumors on Jaime being the reason for the Baratheon’s split, it will break Hyle’s attempts in linking his name with yours Brienne, and it will bring a fresh wave of interest in both of your names that won’t be attached to anything negative that could cause a stain on your reputation. It’s very simple, and if it works effectively, we’ll see the expected results in a few months. Of course, we’ll have this relationship lasting longer than that, for precaution and for credibility. It’s going to be a clean break up too so there won’t be any sort of unwanted consequences. Every detail is in these contracts, which both of you have a copy and can run through with your lawyers before signing it up, but we can of course discuss any questions you both have and cover the basics here if you both wish to do so”.
Brienne stares at Catelyn, waiting for the moment where she’ll tell her that this is all a joke, but the moment never comes. She shifts her gaze to Jaime, and instead of being as surprised with this whole nonsense as she is, as he should be, he has the contract in his hand instead, reading it carefully as if he’s actually considering the whole idea.
She cannot believe they are serious about this.
“I cannot believe you’re both serious about this”.
Catelyn’s gaze is suddenly cold, and Brienne has the urge of apologizing to her for have been born in the first place.
“I take my work very seriously Brienne. I don’t understand why you think I wouldn’t”.
“I know, that’s not-“ Brienne swallows, drops her eyes to her hands and takes a deep breath “I’m sorry Cat, that’s not what I was implying at all. I just don’t think there’s any way this could be believable. Besides, I thought… I mean, we should keep our personal lives private, shouldn’t we? We’re actors, our job is acting, and we should be grateful to the public but besides that we don’t owe people anything else when it comes to our personal lives. I just don’t understand-“
Jaime bursts out laughing. Brienne can feel anger and embarrassment competing to see which one will make her face even redder.
“Brienne, I know this is all very new to you” Catelyn’s voice brings her attention away from Jaime “ but this industry works in ways that we either play the game and win or we are played and lose. You’re right, you don’t owe people anything else besides your gratitude and the work you put out there, but the industry doesn’t care about it. We give the media and the tabloids just the necessary for them to be satisfied with their sells and clicks, and that way you protect what’s real and important and what you don’t want out there for the world to see”.
This is all way more complicated than she ever signed up for when she decided to pursue her dream of acting. She trusts Catelyn though, more than anyone in this business, so she nods.
But she still doesn’t think this is gonna work and she tells Catelyn that much.
“But why exactly you think it won’t?”
“Well, I mean…” and Brienne looks at Jaime, who after laughing at her, had gone back to read the contract in his hand. He seems to sense that both women have their eyes on him, lifting his gaze from the paper and staring at both of them.
“What?”
“You think he’s going to be a problem?” Catelyn asks
“I think-“ Brienne starts.
“Stop talking about me as if I’m not in the room” he tells Catelyn, before looking at Brienne. “ What, you think I can’t pull this off? I’m an actor remember? I have two Aegon Awards to prove it to you, you think I’m not talented enough to make this believable? Let me tell you that-”.
“That’s not what I meant!”
“What did you mean then?”
Brienne stares at him for what feels like forever, because it’s obvious what she meant and she doesn’t want to tell him. She doesn’t believe he doesn’t know what she’s talking about and she won’t humiliate herself even more.
He’s Jaime Lannister. She’s Brienne Tarth. Nobody will believe they are in some sort of romance, that Jaime Lannister is interested in her of all people. She remembers the comments she read about her relationship with Hyle, how his fans thought he deserved so much better. There’s no way the media or the public will fall for this.
But Jaime doesn’t seem to grasp that concept. Quite the opposite in fact. Because he turns to Catelyn and says, a smile playing on his lips:
“Where do I sign up?”.
Eighteen months.
The first three months will be to establish the relationship, slowly creating a connection between the two of them in the eyes of the public. Starting with a few social media interactions here and there, followed by mentioning the other when one of them is interviewed on red carpets, tv shows or any sort of public appearance that involves being asked questions by reporters.
The next six months will be different. There won’t be only social media interactions.They will be seen together. At first, the sightings will be few and far inbetween, no pictures taken. A tweet about them having dinner together. A comment saying they were seen at a movie theater in King’s Landing. Then the pictures will happen. Casual and organic. Both of them strolling down the street in Lannisport. Both of them sitting at a restaurant having lunch. Jaime leaving Brienne’s place in the morning. Jaime and Brienne at the airport going on a vacation together. Both of them holding hands while strolling down the beach in Dorne.
Finally, the award season will be the moment where they will make their official debut as a couple. Regardless of Brienne being nominated or not, they will walk the red carpet together.
After that, things will go on reverse. The interactions on social media will decrease in numbers. They will be seen less and less in each other’s company, always out and about without each other. Rumors of a possible break up will surround them on the last weeks.
Until, at the end of those eighteen months, an official statement will be released for Westeros People Magazine confirming the end of their relationship. The reason will be they couldn’t get their schedules to match. They couldn’t find time to spend together, both of them too busy to dedicate the necessary energy to their relationship at the moment. There won’t be any hard feelings between Jaime and Brienne, only respect. They will, of course, continue to be friends.