Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“BEST SUMMER EVER!,” Sansa shouted at the top of her lungs. 

“Seven hells,” Robb grunted as he carried her up the back stairs. 

Myrcella tried not to laugh, but it was difficult considering Sansa had just tucked a flower behind his ear. Plus she was a little drunk. 

Though definitely not as drunk as Sansa. 

“How much did she drink?,” Robb asked her as she held the door open for them. 

“Um…,” she evaded. 

Sansa looked over and pointed her finger at her. Or tried to, anyway. It ended up about six inches to her right. 

“Snitches get stitches,” she warned though and then her face fell, “I’m just kidding I’d never hurt you baby but don’t tell him I drank four tekillas.”

“FOUR TEQUILAS?,” Robb practically shouted and she couldn’t help but stomp on his foot. 

He glared at her but when a pack of dogs started barking she raised her eyebrow at him as though to say see?

“Four tekillas,” Sansa corrected and Robb turned to look at her, “Tekillas.”

“Stop saying tequila like that,” Robb ordered. 

Sansa groaned and gave up, which resulted in her throwing her head back and making herself dead weight in his arms. He stumbled a little but righted himself well enough and redistributed her in his arms and started walking up the back stairs. 

He had to go up two flights, to the wing of the house where the elder Stark children had their bedrooms and only slowed as he neared the very top. 

“You’ve got this,” she cajoled. 

As though that had actually worked he started walking quicker and finally made it into Sansa’s bedroom. She pulled the covers back and Robb laid her down. 

“You’re both so pretty,” Sansa said, holding her hands in front of her to frame them like a picture. 

“So are you, Dovey,” she grinned, “Do you need advil or anything?”

“Noooope,” she cooed, she looked at them and shook her head, “So pretty. So tekilla.”

“TEQUILA,” Robb practically shouted and she clamped a hand over his mouth. 

“Do you want your Dad to come in, you ninny?,” she asked. 

She felt more than heard him laugh, his breath tickling her skin and she snatched her hand away. She smiled, trying to hide her blush by turning back to Sansa.

“Sleep tight, Sansa,” she said and kissed her forehead.

“Thanks El,” Sansa returned.

“I’m the one who carried you,” Robb pointed out.

“OOOh somebody’s jealoussss,” Sansa cooed at him and then held her hand out, “You’re the best brother everrrr.”

“I know,” he chuckled, “Get some sleep, San, it won’t be better in the morning but we’ll deal with that then.”

She giggled and headed for the door, feeling him at her heels. They shut out the light and closed Sansa’s door. The rest of the Stark house was quiet, the other kids long asleep and Ned and Catelyn assured that Robb would get Sansa home safely. 

He always did, he was just that kind of big brother.

Not like hers.

She pulled her phone out of her bag and checked it. A few texts from Trystane, one from Harry, one from Shireen. None from Joffrey though - even though they’d been at the same party.

It wasn’t a surprise, really. He wasn’t that kind of big brother. Not even a year away at college had endeared him to her or Tommen.

“Thanks for grabbing her, it would have taken me way longer to carry her back,” she joked. 

He grinned and stretched, his t shirt rising up to reveal those groin muscles that every attractive boy seemed to have. She tried not to look but it was kind of hard not to. 

“You staying over?,” he wondered.

She shook her head, “No I have an early tennis lesson. I should go back.”

He nodded, “Alright come on, I’ll walk you.”

She shook her head, “You don’t -“

“Don’t give me that, Baratheon. Your Dad would murder me if I let you walk home alone right now,” he said, “And so would mine, come on.”

He made a good point so she nodded and followed him back down the stairs. It wasn’t terribly far to her house, especially if you walked by the lake - but lot’s of people partied in the woods, not just teenagers. In truth, she hadn’t been looking forward to walking by herself. 

It was a warm night, and the tequila in her blood warmed her further, making the light breeze coming off the water a welcome respite. 

They walked in silence for a little bit. She’d always liked that about him, he never felt the need to fill silences like his best friend Theon did. She could be quiet as well, prone to daydreaming, and though she was social she was horribly introverted. Senseless chatter took the metal out of her. 

They came across a couple coupling against a tree and Robb chuckled as she covered her eyes, grabbing his arm so that she didn’t fall as she tried to give them their privacy.

“Nothing’s changed around here,” he said once they’d gone a safe distance.

She wondered, “Is it odd to be home?”

He’d just returned from his first year at college too. He’d gone to their father’s alma mater, The Vale, where she was heading in the fall. 

He shrugged, “A little, I guess. The normal stuff, my mom ragging on me for my messy room and that sort of thing feels a little strange but um… kind of nice too.”

She smiled at that, he’d always been a Mama’s boy. 

He nudged his arm against hers, “What about you? Are you ready for the fall?”

She felt a nervous shiver run down her spine but she nodded, “Definitely.”

He looked at her and grinned, “Liar. What are you worried about?”

She shrugged, “Lots of things.”

“Like? I mean, with the amount of APs you took, aren’t you practically starting as a sophomore?”

“Second semester freshman, technically,” she clarified, “But it’s not the academics - I feel like I’ll adjust to that but… everything else, I don’t know…”

“Don’t tell me you’ll be homesick…”

She chuckled, “Slim chance of that. No, but I’ll be Sansa-sick.”

He grimaced and nodded, “Yeah that’s a tough one. But, she’s so good about staying in touch. She was always sending me care packages and writing me letters and setting up times to video chat, and I’m just her brother. You’re her soulmate.”

She giggled and nodded, because that was fair. She might be the only person in the world who ranked higher in Sansa’s esteem than him. 

“But there’s just…,” she started and then shook her head, “I don’t know, I’m just being silly.”

“Maybe,” he said, “But knowing you I’d bet not.”

“I’ve had two tekillas so I’m just going to come out and say this…”

“OH MY GOD IT’S TEQUILA,” he practically shouted at her. 

She chuckled, “No, it’s tekilla… it’s Harry Hardyng’s signature cocktail.”

“God he’s a douche,” Robb grimaced.

She nodded at that. She wondered briefly if Robb felt that way because Harry had dated Jeyne Westerling after him or because he was currently trying to date Sansa. Or because he was just, well, a douche. 

“But you were saying…,” Robb prompted. 

She bit her lip and he raised his eyebrows at her. He made most girls nervous, some couldn’t even talk to him, but it had never been that way for her. In fact, he’d had to translate a lot of her babble when she was a baby, him being the only one to understand the language she and Sansa had developed.

He was gorgeous, that was obvious, but to her he had always just been Robb. The boy she could bring all her secrets to. 

“I’m a virgin,” she finally just said. Even in the dark she could tell that he was blushing. “See? Sorry, I just, I don’t know. I’m not embarrassed about it, or anything, but I’m just like…”

“Like what?,” he asked. 

“Well I’m really a virgin,” she said. 

“I believe you…”

“No I mean that… well… all I’ve ever done is kiss…,” she clarified and now it was her who was blushing.

He was silent for a moment and then he said, “That isn’t a bad thing.”

“It is if I find someone I’m really into and then I freak them out by being horrible at everything,” she pointed out.

“That’s unlikely,” he said. 

“What makes you say that?,” she wondered.

“Well because… when you’re that into someone, it kind of just… clicks.”

“How many virgins have you slept with?,” she challenged.

“What?,” he asked, as though horrified that the conversation had come around to him.

“How many?,” she asked again, though she could guess the answer.

Robb had never had a serious girlfriend. He had girls that he hooked up with exclusively, like Jeyne Westerling, but he’d never had a hold-hands-in-the-hallway-bring-them-to-Sunday-dinner kind of relationship. Which she knew, because she was usually at the Starks’ Sunday dinners.

He would never casually hook up with a virgin, because while he was a bit slutty, he was very careful with girls’ feelings.

“Um…none.”

“So…”

“Okay, fine, point taken. But honestly… guys are usually pretty happy to take the lead on that… and if they got a girl like you into bed they are going to think anything you do is amazing,” he waved her off as though she had nothing to worry about.

“What if I bit their dick?,” she questioned.

“Why would you do that?,” he practically gasped.

“To prove this point…”

He chuckled and shook his head, “Well I’ll bet you could even find some guys alright with that. But seriously I think the main thing is just not to overthink that stuff, you know? I mean, the best sex I’ve had is when everyone’s super relaxed about it…”

“You only say that because you’re good at it,” she reasoned.

“What? How do you know that?,” he sputtered.

“Come on, Robb. Everyone knows that…”

He groaned, “Now that I don’t miss. High school gossip.”

“Even when it’s about your sexual prowess?,” she teased, knocking her shoulder against his arm.

He chuckled, “Especially then.” She grinned and he shook his head, “But seriously, El, you’re overthinking this. The guys are going to go wild for you and you just have to worry about finding someone worth your time. Everything else will happen naturally.”

She nodded, trying to take him at his word. He never lied, so she knew he meant it, she just wasn’t so sure that she believed him.

It was the second tekilla that made her admit, “I just wish I knew if I was even a good kisser.”

“Well without having kissed you I couldn’t say for sure, but I’m sure that you are,” he noted kindly.

She stopped walking as the plan formed in her mind. Even as she thought of it, she knew that she couldn’t actually do it. It wasn’t fair to ask, plus he was Sansa’s brother. He was practically her brother - they had taken baths together as kids.

She watched him walk ahead, not having realised that she’d stopped and took in the sinewy muscles of his back, evident even in his t shirt and his russet curls. He was a far cry from the boy that used to read her Goodnight Moon. He was practically a man now. 

And he really was undeniably gorgeous. With a reputation for being incredible in bed. 

She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

“Would you?,” she found herself asking anyway.

He stopped walking and turned around, “Would I what?”

She fidgeted with the hem of her top, “Kiss me. Just once. And tell me, for sure.”

“You want me to kiss you?,” he asked, sounding nervous. Strangely that made her less so.

“I know I’m not your type or anything but-“

“What makes you say that?,” he interrupted.

“Well just because… the girls you date… tend to be…,” she started and he raised his eyebrows at her, “B…-runette.”

He chuckled at her, as though he knew she was about to say busty, though both were true. There had been the Jeynes (Poole and Westerling) and Margery Tyrell and Roslin Frey. All brunettes, all significantly curvier than her. 

“You’d tell me, if I was bad it I mean,” she pointed out, “And you wouldn’t… make fun of me… or tell anyone.”

“You sound awfully sure of that,” he said. 

“I’m surer of that than just about anything,” she told him, “It’s not who you are. I trust you.”

He scratched his cheek, “Not sure that’s such a good idea.”

She nodded, “You’re right, I shouldn’t have suggested it… sorry I just…”

“I meant you trusting me,” he clarified. “But… you’re right, I mean… I would never tell anyone anything you didn’t want me to.”

“So… should I walk closer to you?,” she wondered.

He nodded, “I think that’s a good start.”

She took a deep breath and closed the distance between them, until there was only about a foot. He was tall, much taller than her, and when he stepped a few inches closer to her she looked up at him.

She wished that she had put on chapstick or something, but there was no time. She asked him a question with her eyes and he nodded slightly.

She stood up on her tiptoes and he bent down and their lips met somewhere in the middle. His were warm and soft, and they pressed against hers briefly before he pulled away.

“Very nice,” he stepped away.

She scowled at him, “That was a peck… look, maybe this was a mistake…,” because he clearly didn’t want to go through with it so she started to walk away, desperate to forget this embarrassing ordeal had ever happened.

She’d hardly gone a foot when she felt his hand on her forearm turning her back to him. Before she could ask him what he was doing he had kissed her again. 

This time was different, his other hand held her face gently and he kissed her like he meant it. His lips wandered over hers in a delicious pattern, every time she thought she’d gotten used to it he altered it and she found herself chasing his lips. It was the most intoxicating frustration and she wrapped her arm around his neck, trying to hold him steady and then she felt his lips teasing hers open, his tongue gliding against hers. 

A warm rush shot down straight to her core and she licked at his tongue gently before she retreated and took his pillowy bottom lip in between hers, sucking on it. 

The hand that had been holding her forearm wandered up until he gripped into her hair, tilting her head back. She sucked on his lip again, liking the way it tasted, and he groaned into her mouth which sent a shiver all through her body. She could feel the heat radiating off of him so she pressed herself closer to him, her tongue wandering into his mouth.

He pressed her back against something hard, and she wrapped her arm around his waist, pulling him flush against her. 

He broke the kiss and before she knew it his lips were at her throat. They ghosted up the column of it, before pressing a kiss behind her ear that made her toes curl.

“Robb,” she whimpered.

He froze against her, and it was only then that she realised her hand was in his hair, his leg pressed in between hers.

She could have sworn he nuzzled into her once before he pulled away. She dropped her hand and tried not to shiver when he did, it was tricky though, with the loss of heat - and him.

He looked away and cleared his throat, twisting his legs momentarily.

“Confirmed,” he nodded.

“Hmm?,” she wondered, her mind still a little hazy.

“You… are a… very good kisser,” he said.

“Oh,” she remembered how this had all started. “Thank you.”

He nodded and, as though nothing had just happened, they continued walking towards her house. He walked her into the circular drive and only stopped walking when she’d gone up the two steps to her terrace.

“Thank you,” she said once again, turning around to face him, “For walking me home and for…”

“The pleasure was all mine, Baratheon,” he teased.

She blushed and chuckled, giving him a small wave and then heading towards her house. 

She unlocked her door and went inside, locking it behind her. The house was quiet so she tiptoed up the stairs to her suite. She found Tommen’s cat, Ser Pounce, sleeping soundly on her bed and she scratched behind his ears and pulled off her tank top and shorts, unsnapping her bra and pulling down her underwear.

She tossed everything in the hamper and was going to grab some pajamas when she heard her phone ding.

She grabbed it out of her bag, and was surprised to see that she had a text from Robb.

You’ve got nothing to worry about, El. College doesn’t stand a chance against you.

She grinned and bit her lip, putting her phone down and going to her drawers to pull out a pair of pajamas. She grabbed a blue and white striped set and pulled them on and went into her bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. 

She should be tired, but for some reason she felt wired and practically skipped back to her bed.

She plopped herself down and Ser Pounce meowed in annoyance though he got up and walked up her body before settling on her chest. 

She grabbed her phone and looked at the message again before responding.

I hope you’re right… but there’s more to it all than just kissing, right?

She saw the typing bubbles appear and a moment later he responded.

More to college? Yeah. There’s drinking too.

She giggled but sent back the eyeroll emoji. You know what I mean.

Robb: Yeah, I know what you mean. 

Ella: It’s weird, huh? Me talking to you about this.

Robb: Well it wasn’t what I expected to be talking to you about. But I don’t mind. You can talk to me about anything, always, you know that.

Robb: Don’t you?

Ella: Yeah, I know.

Ella: I just hear all these horror stories about girls first times, you know? I don’t want to be one of them.

Robb: I don’t want you to be one of them either. 

The typing bubbles appeared and then disappeared. And then reappeared and then disappeared again. This happened four or five times before she pressed call.

“Lo?,” he answered, and it sounded like he was getting into bed.

“Hey…,” she said, suddenly nervous. “You um… it seemed like you were having a hard time saying whatever you were about to say…”

She heard him sigh and she wondered if she shouldn’t have called. 

“I don’t like you freaking out about this,” he told her.

“Yes how unfortunate for you,” she noted dryly.

He let out a loud sigh, “I just don’t like the idea of some guy preying on your lack of experience.”

“Yeah well it’s a little tough to get experience without risking that,” she pointed out, then joked, “Unless you’re offering, of course.”

She expected him to laugh, but he didn’t. 

“What if I am?,” he asked, “Offering, I mean.”

“To what… exactly?,” she wondered. 

“To…show you the ropes,” he said, which didn’t really clarify much but had her sitting up anyway. “If you want.”

She thought about that kiss, the way it felt with his hands in her hair and his lips on hers. He was good at it, everyone said so. And she trusted him. More than any boy she’d ever known.

“You’d do that?,” she asked. 

“Why not?,” he returned and she could practically see him shrugging. “We’re both single and um, it’s not like kissing you was such a chore.”

“You should be a poet,” she teased.

He chuckled, “Don’t be like that. You want me to say it? I’ll say it. Kissing you felt good… Really good. I’d like to do it again.”

Her heart was beating wildly and she wondered how only earlier tonight she’d thought that he didn’t make her nervous.

“Kissing you felt good too,” she admitted, because whenever something frightened her she liked to push ahead. 

“So, think about it,” he said, “The offer is there whenever you want it. No hard feelings if you never take me up on it but it’s there.”

“I want to,” she told him immediately, “I want you to teach me to be good at it.”

“That’s not what I’m offering, El, I’m not doing this for your future boyfriend, I’m doing it for you,” he told her. 

“So what does that mean?,” she wondered. 

“It means that I know too many girls that don’t know what they like, because nobody has ever tried to figure it out. They end up dating douchebags that act like flopping around on top of them is a gift. I don’t want that for you,” he lamented. 

“So you want to…”

“Help you find what you like.”

“Why? I mean, what would you get out of that?,” she couldn’t help but ask. 

He chuckled, “Oh you sweet, summer child.”

Chapter Text

“I never even asked you where you ended up last night?,” Theon said as they docked his sailboat. “Telllll me it wasn’t with Jeyne Poole.”

Robb chuckled, “Of course not, I was told she’s off limits.”

Theon grinned, “Damn straight she is. I mean honestly did you see her? What is the opposite of the freshman fifteen?”

Robb grimaced and shook his head. Theon was right, Jeyne looked better now than she ever had, but he knew from Sansa that you never talked about a girl’s weight. 

“So?,” Theon prompted.

“Sansa was wasted, I took her home,” he told him.

“Dovey,” Theon groaned, “She’s such a cockblock. Yara would never do that to me.”

“Yara has literally stolen two of your girlfriends,” Robb pointed out.

Besides, if he hadn’t taken Sansa home he never would have walked Ella home. Never would have felt her body pressed against his, never would have heard what his name sounded like when she whimpered it. 

Sansa was clearly the superior sister.

“Whatever,” Theon grinned, “So why didn’t you come back?”

“I uh, had to walk Ella home too,” he told him.

Theon closed his eyes and smiled, “Speaking of girls that have grown up…”

“Watch it,” Robb warned.

Theon chuckled and hopped off the boat and Robb followed. 

“I’m not saying I’m going to do anything,” Theon told him, “Virgins are too needy but good lord that ass.”

“Seriously man, watch it,” Robb found himself growling.

He hadn’t been lying to Ella last night. He hated it when guys reduced girls to their experience, like it was some kind of flaw or something. As though there was some perfect medium of a girl not being a virgin but also not having fucked enough people to be considered a slut and it was all just bullshit. 

Theon chuckled and held his hands up, “Down boy. I know she’s like a sister to you. She’s off limits, alright?”

“It’s not that,” Robb shook his head, because it wasn’t like Ella belonged to him. “Just don’t talk about her like that.”

Theon looked at him for a moment longer and he averted his gaze, grabbing the cooler he’d taken on the boat. 

“Alright,” Theon said eventually, and then grinned, “But admit it, you’ve thought about grabbing that perky little ass of hers just as much as I have.”

Robb grimaced, because yeah, he had. He had thought about it a lot. Had even before last night. 

It wasn’t like he had a crush on her or anything. She’d always been one of his closest friends. He still remembered her standing next to Sansa the morning he left for university, hugging Sansa, who was sobbing, a single tear running down her cheek as she waved goodbye as his parents drove him off. 

But it was kind of impossible to be in the same vicinity as her and not realise what an absolute knockout she was. And Theon was right, she had grown up this year.

She’d always been a beauty, all wide green eyes and golden hair, but she’d matured over the winter. She was still slender, but she looked less like a new fawn than she had even a summer before.

And her ass was the stuff of daydreams. 

“Once or twice,” he admitted, because it was easier to say that than tell him that if their conversation from last night came to fruition he might be grabbing that ass very soon. 

It was then that he remembered she was coming to dinner, and he was suddenly famished.

“Look uh, I gotta get back for family dinner. See you tomorrow?,” he asked.

Theon nodded and Robb raced off. They only lived a few houses down from each other and he was on his family’s property in no time, walking up the expansive backyard and up the back steps. 

He turned to the left and walked onto the terrace, knowing that with it being such a warm night everyone would be eating outside. 

And there it was. That perky, perfect, ass. 

“Hey,” he managed and Ella turned around. 

Oh yeah, she’d grown up this year. 

Her golden hair was pulled off her face in some half-up style, and she wore a light pink onesie thing, he thought it was called a playsuit maybe. Sansa would know. It was high across her neck with tiny, barely there straps and it hugged her upper body perfectly, the shorts part of it was looser but short, the fabric kissing her already tan legs. 

She gave him the smile that she’d always given him. It was the one that made you think she knew a marvellous secret. Now though, he felt like he was in on it.

“Hi Wolf,” she said, “Did you have good wind today?”

“Yep, about 15 knots,” he told her as she started placing forks at every place setting.  “Need any help?”

“You are awfully generous this summer,” she teased and he chuckled, grabbing a couple of the glasses that were sitting in a group and putting them at the right place, following her around the table. 

“What can I say?,” he asked, “I was raised right.”

Ella looked at him and grinned, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Her fingertips brushed against the place where his lips had made her whimper, her body rolling against his. 

“Well I’ll take that as a compliment,” his mom said as she came out onto the terrace. 

Ella blushed and so did he, but he turned to his mom and smacked a kiss on her head, “All the glory goes to you, Mom.”

Ella giggled and so did his mom, but she crossed to where Ella was standing and smoothed her hair. 

“Thank you, sweetling,” she said, wrapping her arms around her, “I think you’re the only one who can make these sons of mine behave.”

He opened his mouth in mock-horror and the pair of them laughed at him, their heads pressed against one another. His mom loved Ella. His whole family loved her, always had, but his mom was especially vocal about it, always wondering at how such a sweet girl could have come from such an awful woman. His parents had already offered to move Ella into her dorm at The Vale, knowing that Cersei and Robert would probably hire someone to do it, and had made him promise to look out for her at school. 

As though that was ever in question.

“I’m good but I’m not that good,” Ella teased, and his mom laughed and went back inside. 

He and Ella finished setting the table in silence and then walked back in the house. 

“Robb! I jumped off the pier today,” his little brother Rickon shouted on sight. 

“AWOOOOO,” Robb let out a howl and Rickon mimicked him. He held his hand up for a high five, “Way to go, buddy, I didn’t do that until I was ten.”

“Really?,” his nine year old brother wiggled excitedly. 

The pier was a right of passage at the day camp that he and all his siblings had gone to at one point or another. Every few years the director tried to outlaw the kids jumping off of it, clearly afraid of an accident and a lawsuit, but traditions died slow deaths there and he lost every time. 

“Is my cousin Shireen in your group?,” Ella asked him as she started tossing the salad with dressing. 

Rickon’s smile died and he nodded at her. Ella’s face fell and she placed down the tongs.

“What’s wrong, little one?,” she asked, walking over to him. 

Rickon looked at him and then back at her, “Some kids were teasing her. About her scar.”

Ella’s eyes closed and his stomach churned in anger. Shireen Baratheon was just about the sweetest little girl on the planet, so like her older cousin. He’d always known she’d have a hard time, kids could be so cruel. 

“You can put a stop to that,” he told him. 

Ella’s eyes opened and she looked at him and then back at Rickon, stroking his curls. He looked at her adoringly and then turned back to him, a small grin on his face, “I know, I knocked Ryan Bolton into the dirt.”

“Wow,” Robb nodded, impressed, “Big day for you, huh?” 

His little brother shrugged, as though he did it all the time and Robb couldn’t help but chuckle. 

Ella didn’t find it so funny though and said, “You know, little one, there are other ways too… you could just maybe spend some time with her? People might be nicer to her if they see that she’s friends with you.”

Rickon smiled at her, “Okay Lella, I’ll play with her tomorrow. But I’ll still knock anyone into the dirt that is mean to her.”

Ella’s brow furrowed but Rickon hopped off his stool and went to go pet his dog, Shaggy. 

Ella went back to tossing the salad, a scowl on her face. His heart hurt for her, just as his family had adopted her, she had adopted her little cousin whose parents were just as terrible as hers. 

“It’ll get better for her,” he promised, “Rick’s got the whole fourth grade scene on tap, no one will bother her if he’s -“

“What kind of lesson is that?,” she interrupted him. He raised his eyebrows at her, “He can’t just hurt anyone that’s mean to her.”

“She’s nine years old, El,” he pointed out, “Do you want kids torturing her?”

“Of course not,” she said, “But I also don’t want him being an attack dog. For one thing, that isn’t a healthy way of dealing with anything and for another, he’s just a kid too, he shouldn’t have to be her protector.”

Robb sighed and he rubbed her shoulder, finding it tense, “Hate to break it to you, honey, but Stark boys don’t take too kindly to anyone hurting Baratheon girls.”

She scowled and he waited until the smile he was sure would come overtook her lips. He grinned and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. 

“I don’t know why your mother has so much faith in me,” she groaned, though her arm wrapped around his back, her chin on his chest, “I clearly am terrible at taming her sons’ wildness.”

“Admit it,” he said in a low voice, “You like us wild.”

Her eyes widened and they trailed down to his lips. He gave her the grin that Margaery Tyrell had described as roguish and her lips opened just a bit, giving him a glimpse of her tongue. 

“I’ve been thinking about last night,” she told him softly.

“Oh me too,” he admitted eagerly.

She scrunched her nose in frustration, all but rolling her eyes, “I meant our conversation.”

“That too,” he grinned. 

Now she did roll her eyes and opened her mouth to probably set him straight when his Mom came back inside.

“Kiiiiiids dinnnnner,” she called.

From all corners of the house, a stampede of kids and dogs descended. Arya came clomping down the kitchen stairs, and they heard Sansa filing down the back. Bran came in from the living room and even his Dad came in from his study. 

The dogs, eager for scraps, came running as well. 

He glanced briefly at Ella but she merely smiled as she tossed some pepper on the salad. She was always at home in the chaos of his house.

Ella tugged lightly on his shirt, “Can we talk after dinner?”

He nodded, and picked up the salad bowl, but couldn’t help but ask, “Talk?”

He wondered if she regretted it. The kiss and the plan. She’d been a little tipsy. But so had he and he wasn’t regretting one second of it - except maybe stopping when she whimpered his name. 

The idea of what could have happened if he’d kept going had been on his mind last night when he took himself in hand. And again this morning. 

He knew sex against a tree wasn’t highly likely but it was his fantasy so he suspended disbelief.

She stepped forward, her hands covering his briefly. He felt a spark that he couldn’t quite explain and his eyes fell down to look, but her hands were already on the bowl. 

She took it out of his hands and he looked back up just in time to see a small smile set on her face as she said, “For starters.”

With that she walked towards the terrace, wrapping an arm around Arya’s shoulders as she did. His little sister leaned against her, wrapping her arms around her waist and saying something that made Ella throw her head back and laugh. 

He followed them out as his family was settling around the table. He plopped into the open seat in between Sansa and Arya. 

When they were younger you couldn’t have paid him enough to sit there, right in the line of fire, but as they’d gotten older - and especially with Sansa off to college in the fall - they’d gotten closer. Now they were more likely to gang up on him, which after a year away he sorely missed. 

“How’s your group?,” Ella asked Arya.

“They are such little shits,” Arya sighed. 

“Language!,” his Mom reprimanded. 

He didn’t have to look at Arya to know that she was rolling her eyes, “Fine, feces.”

His father choked on his red wine, coughing loudly. Ella was closest and slapped him on the back, the only one of them who wasn’t laughing at him. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she told Arya glumly though, “I always loved my campers.”

“Thank you,” Bran quipped. 

Ella grinned and sat back down, ruffling his hair, “Best camper of 2016 right here, ladies and gentlemen.”

“It was rigged,” Arya muffle-shouted and he chuckled. 

His Mom had made turkey burgers and hamburgers and he grabbed one of each. He watched as Rickon carefully picked all of the cucumbers out of his salad and placed them on Sansa’s plate. 

He’d missed this when he was away at school. He had known that he was going to miss them all, but he hadn’t realised how much until he was there. He had a great group of friends, but he missed hearing about everyone’s day, knowing what all the kids were up to. The funniest things seemed to happen to Bran and Arya’s commentary was always spot on. 

He’d just missed them, plain and simple. He’d also missed his Mom’s cooking, so he dug in, listening to his Dad try and get some information out of Bran, who was skilled in evasive techniques.

“Sansa, stop texting at the table,” his Mom ordered. 

“Sorry,” Sansa sighed, placing her phone on her seat next to her. She looked over at Ella and said, “Jeyne wants to know if we want to go over to her house tonight, Harry and Trystane and a few other people are heading over…”

He knew that Trystane had taken Ella to prom. Sansa had told him all about it, best friends going with best friends. They looked good together, and he knew Trystane pretty well from lacrosse. He was better than his friend Harry, that was for sure, and a pretty good guy - if not a bit cocky for his taste. Though, the same could be said for him he supposed. 

Even still, he had been looking forward to… talking to Ella. But why would she want to practice with him when the real thing was waiting for her at Jeyne’s house? 

“Um…,” Ella started, wrinkling her nose and shaking her head. She glanced at him briefly as she tucked her hair being her ear, “I’m kind of tired actually, and I think Robb and I were going to look at the course catalogue and talk about professors… right?”

Everyone turned to look at him and he manfully swallowed down the large bite that had somehow amassed as he waited for Ella to answer. He coughed a bit and both Sansa and Arya smacked his back, which wasn’t actually all that helpful. 

He took a sip of water and lied, “Yup…that was uh… the plan anyway.”

“You guys are such nerds,” Sansa teased, picking up her fork and stabbing a pepper with it. She shrugged, “But you guys could always come by after,” she noted looking over at him, “There’ll probably be some people from your year there too. Not that you wouldn’t be welcome anyway.”

“Maybe we’ll head over,” he said, though he honestly had no interest in going to Jeyne Poole’s house. 

“I’ll go,” Arya piped up. 

He caught Ella’s eye across the table and knew that his face held an identical grin. Arya was sixteen and had started being allowed to go to parties this year, but she didn’t really run in the same crowd that he and Sansa did, even though their friends loved her. She had always been too cool for it.

“Really?,” Sansa asked. “Why?”

He looked over at Arya and found her blushing, “Just um… something to do.”

“Cool,” Sansa took her at her word, but he wasn’t so sure that was the whole story. “Can I do your make-up?”

“Sure,” Arya said and everything stopped. 

He looked at Sansa and she gave him a hmm expression and he glanced at his Dad who gave him a who do you think this bastard is expression. The same one they’d shared over Sansa a few times before. 

“Why is everyone looking at me?,” Arya asked stubbornly, making it clear she didn’t actually want an answer, “What do I care what Sansa wants to do to my face?”

His Mom shook her head, and he could tell she was trying not to smile, “I think it’s lovely, you girls going together.” 

He was beginning to think that maybe he and Ella would have to stop by later on. At sixteen she was definitely old enough to date, but he wanted to get a look at whatever guy she liked enough to wear make-up for. That wasn’t Arya. 

“Well that sounds fun,” Ella piped up, “Now that both my girls are going to be there maybe I’ll have to stop by. Robb, you’ll walk me over later on, won’t you?”

She glanced at him meaningfully and he grinned gratefully, “How can I say no?”

She pretended to think about and then teased, “You can’t, don’t bother trying,” flipping her hair haughtily and making his family laugh. 

Dinner passed as normal, and after they’d helped clean up, he and Ella walked up the back staircase to his room. He shut the door behind them and she turned around when she heard the lock click.

“Rick will want to come hang out,” he explained and she nodded. “Um, make yourself comfortable…” 

He grimaced, because he felt like that’s the kind of thing a guy would say in a bad porno. She clearly didn’t watch porn because she didn’t seem to sense anything amiss and went and perched on his desk.

He followed her and sat down in his desk chair, her calf resting against his thigh. He was surprised by how much he wanted to run his hand up the length of it, but it looked so smooth. 

“So…,” she started and he forced his attention off of her legs, “About last night… I know that we both had a bit to drink and everything and that you know um… well I guess what I’m saying is that if you want to take the offer back I understand.”

She had her bottom lip worried between her teeth, and he couldn’t tell if it was because she wanted him to forget it all happened or because she didn’t. 

He wanted to take that bottom lip of hers in between his teeth. 

“I’m not taking it back,” he told her, and just in case added, “But um, there’s no pressure…,” she glanced at him, “If you don’t want to.”

“I want to,” she said softly, her face breaking into a gorgeous grin, but it quickly turned serious, “But I want to amend the terms.”

He cleared his throat and nodded, “Alright,” figuring that she would want to only do things over the clothes or that she’d want him to just talk her through it. 

“I know that you want this to be about me,” she said, “You know um… learning what I like and everything…” He nodded, because he’d slept with enough girls who had no idea what they liked because no one had ever bothered to find out. He didn’t want that for her. “But I think it would help me to enjoy it and you know, relax, and everything, if I felt like I knew what I was doing.”

“So you want me to…,” he started, because he wasn’t sure if he could say it. 

It felt too selfish, too close to what he wanted, to feel her hands and lips and every other inch of her on him, to say it out loud.

She glanced at him and then placed her hands on his shoulders and lowered herself into his lap, straddling him. He swallowed hard as she settled herself against him, not sure where to put his hands.

“Teach me. How to…,” she started and then looked up at him with wide eyes, “How to… make it feel good.”

He wondered if she knew what her words did to him. If she knew what the combination of that innocent gaze and sinful suggestion did to his mind, to his cock. 

“I only know what I like,” he warned half-heartedly, but the air already felt thick between them.

Her eyes wandered down to his lips and back up to his eyes, and she all but whispered, “That’s a good place to start.”

He wondered if this was a mistake. If he wasn’t acting like the exact guy he was trying to protect her from. He didn’t like the sound of it, him teaching her to please him. Though a part of him really liked the sound of it. 

He banished that part and tried to think about it logically. He wouldn’t play with her emotions, or make her do anything she didn’t want to. He could still make it mostly about her. And she’d always known her own mind, and he could tell that she really wanted this. 

And honestly, so did he. 

“So is this,” he admitted. Her eyes questioned him and he let his eyes roam down her body, to where she was pressed up against him and then back up, and grinned at her, “That move you just pulled. Very sexy.”

A delicious blush covered her cheeks and she gave him a small smile. 

Her eyes turned serious though and he felt her fingertips ghosting over his cheek, making him stomach clench.

He nodded, though he wasn’t sure what question he was answering, and leaned in closer to her, his forehead falling against hers. He let the heat build between them, and though he wanted to close the final distance and press his lips to hers he waited. 

After a moment he felt her soft lips press against his tentatively, all but shaking, so he pecked her softly and waited once again. 

She kissed him again more firmly, their lips still closed against one another’s, and then she tilted her head the other way, her fingers weaving into his hair and parted his lips with her own. 

He couldn’t help but sigh into her mouth and she took advantage, slipping her tongue against his. He held her cheek, his thumb underneath her jaw, his other hand on her thigh, half over her shorts, half on her bare leg. Which was just as smooth as he’d imagined. 

He really wasn’t sure what she’d been worried about. She was a glorious kisser and he gave into it fully, deepening it. She let him take control and he pulled back, sucking her bottom lip the way she had his the night before. 

She moaned, her fingers scrunching in his hair and he kissed her upper lip quickly and then sucked her bottom one again, gripping her thigh. 

She pulled away and there was a question in her eyes and she leaned forward tentatively, bending her head and pressing a soft kiss to his neck. It made the hair on his arms raise and she pressed another. 

“Is this okay?,” she all but whispered in his ear and he nodded, not trusting himself to speak. “Where else do you like to be kissed?”

Everywhere, he could have said. 

“The um,” he started, his mouth dry, “Ears are uh…usually a winner.” 

She pressed a soft kiss to the shell of it which felt nice, but she looked at him questioningly.

“Why are you blushing?,” she wondered. 

He groaned, “Because I feel like a creep.”

She rolled her eyes, “You’re the least creepy person I know, come on,” she pleaded and he caught a wicked glimmer in her eye and then her lips were against his ear, “You were right, I do like you wild, come on Wolf, show me how to make you howl.”

Fuck.

“Suck on my earlobe,” he found himself saying. He felt himself harden fully as she did exactly that. One of her hands returned to his hair, the other was on his chest, “Use your teeth.”

He felt her teeth graze the shell of his ear and he groaned, grabbing her face and kissing her once again. Their lips trailed over one another’s in a delicious rhythm, and he fought the urge to moan. 

He realised then that she was moving against him, and he pressed his hand to the small of her back, guiding her movements. He personally wasn’t one much for dry humping, but he knew it got basically every girl off and he was desperate to see if it worked for her. 

He broke the kiss and fought for breath, “I…have another term.”

“A what?,” she asked, blinking. 

Her lips were swollen and her eyes were hazy and she was so gorgeous it defied reason. 

“You…have… to tell me,” he ordered, “If you don’t like what I’m doing to you.”

“But you haven’t done anything to me,” she all but pouted. 

He grinned, and cocked his head to the side, “Something you’d like in particular, Miss Baratheon?” She blushed and he rid his voice of its teasing tone, “Tell me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“It felt really good, last night… when you kissed my neck and that spot…,” she started. 

He kissed her lips briefly, because they were right there and horribly kissable and then he kissed her cheek, and her jawbone, and down to her neck, until he got to the spot behind her. He whispered a kiss against it.

“That spot?,” he all but growled in her ear. 

Her entire body shivered and she nodded against his head, so he pressed a firmer kiss against it. He gripped her hair as gently as he was able and tilted her head back, kissing across her throat to the same spot on the other side, grinning when he felt her clutch his shoulder. 

“I’d like to touch you, Ella,” he found himself telling her. 

“W-where?,” she asked, her voice tremoring slightly. 

“Only where you want me to,” he promised. 

She leaned her cheek on his shoulder and said, “I don’t think I’m ready for you to touch me… there yet… but you can touch me anywhere else.”

He kissed the cheek that was exposed to him, “Okay, honey.”

In truth he could not deny that he wanted his hands on her cunt. He wanted his lips there too, and his tongue. His cock. But there was more than enough of her glorious body to occupy him until she was ready for all that. 

He rubbed her back, and found it tensed. He continued kneading it, kissing her cheek and her neck lazily until he felt it uncoil. He moved the hand on her thigh up, onto her hip and let his finger trail up her sides, his knuckles grazing her ribs. 

She shivered and then lifted her head off his shoulder. He paused there, his fingers tracing circles at her ribs and she nodded slightly. He dragged his knuckles up, until he felt the side of her soft breast. 

He could feel her holding her breath and he was holding his too as his fingers trailed over her breast. He took his index finger and circled her nipple and only when it peaked did he flatten his palm against her breast fully, squeezing it gently. 

He looked at her face and found her looking down at his hand. He wasn’t sure how she felt about it being there, considering he was the first person to ever touch her, so he took his other hand and pressed his index finger under her chin, tilting it up. 

He groaned when he saw her eyes, there was wildfire in them, the calm green was gone entirely.

He wasn’t sure who reached for who first but their lips met again. His hand moved down her body once again, both of them, and grabbed onto her ass.

She moaned in his mouth so he squeezed it as he stood up, bringing her with him and tackling her onto the bed. 

She dragged his shirt over his head, her fingernails scratching his back as he nipped at her collarbone.

“Fuck,” he groaned against her, grasping her thigh and hooking her leg around his waist. 

He rolled them so that she was on top of him and she didn’t miss a beat, nipping at his earlobe. He grasped her back, dragging his hands down her body until he could grab her butt again. 

He did, with both hands, squeezing it because it really was utter perfection and she responded by grinding herself against him and grabbing his shoulders, pulling him up so that he was seated.

“Are you sure you really want to do this?,” he couldn’t help but ask. 

She pulled away, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” he assured her, “I just mean that you’re a natural… not sure you need me at all…”

Shut up you stupid fucking idiot.

She gave him a small smile and said, “I um… am sure…”

Thank fucking god.

She giggled and he realised that he’d said that out loud, and he chuckled. Their lips met laughing and the kiss took on a sweetness that spread like Novocain in his veins. 

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek and then paused. He pulled away slightly and saw her looking down again. 

“What?,” he wondered. 

“You’re really hot,” she told him and he blushed.

“Thank you,” he said, though he wasn’t really sure what to say. 

“Why is that embarrassing to hear?,” she wondered, brushing his hair back, a small smile on her face, “It can’t be a surprise…”

“Ella,” he groaned, because it was embarrassing. 

“You have so many abs!,” she argued stubbornly and he chuckled, but the laughter died on his lips when he felt her finger trailing down them, one by one, getting very close to his hips, “See? One, two, three, four, fivesixsev-“

He broke her counting off by kissing her, and he felt her smiling against his lips, her small hands cupping his cheeks. 

“What are we going to tell Sansa?,” she asked.

He closed his eyes, the blood leaving his cock immediately and giving him a bit of a head rush as it shot to every other part of his body.

“I don’t know,” he said, “I’m not really in the habit of telling her who I’m hooking up with.”

“No, I meant about courses,” Ella said, “She’ll want to know what I decided, but that’s a good point… I tell Sansa everything.”

“Look um, do whatever you think is right, but I know my sister and she won’t understand this. She’ll be marrying us off in six weeks flat,” he told her, “She’s a romantic, you know?”

Ella was as well, which is one of the reasons he’d been surprised she wanted to go ahead with this. He’d have figured she wanted to be in love before she did anything like this. 

“You’re right,” she sighed, “I just don’t like lying to her. But she wouldn’t understand this… and I guess I have a right to keep some things private.”

“You do,” he agreed, relieved. And then found her grinning, “What?”

“I’ve never been someone’s dirty little secret,” she grinned, wiggling slightly, “It feels so grown up.”

He chuckled, “I think technically I’m your dirty little secret.”

“Even better,” she said, and then smacked a kiss on his lips and tackled him backwards. 

He kissed her for a little while longer, not with any intentions, just because it felt nice to have her on top of him, her body under his hands, her lips against his. 

She pulled away after a little while and asked, “Who do you think it is?”

“Okay the first thing you have to understand is that you my brain will not be operating at full capacity when we do this,” he told her and she giggled, “Who do I think who is?”

“The boy,” Ella told him, “That’s got Arya all turned around.”

He had nearly forgotten about that and released her, rolling over and looking at the clock. It was nearly nine o’clock, his sisters would have left at least an hour ago. 

“Get up, get dressed,” he told her.

“I am dressed,” she pointed out.

“Right, the um, brain thing…,” he said by way of explanation. 

He got off the bed and looked at her. She had that smile on her face. He groaned and hopped on the bed once more and kissed her and then forced himself off of it, trying to locate his t shirt. 

She sat up and bent over the other side of the bed and grabbed it, “Here you go. Though you may want to wear something else.”

He glanced at it and saw that he’d still been wearing the t shirt he’d worn sailing. It was faded and honestly probably a little smelly so he nodded and took it from her and tossed it in the hamper. 

He walked over to his dresser and grabbed his deodorant, rubbing it on. He felt a pair of warm lips press between his shoulder blades, and he closed his eyes, his head falling forward as her arms wrapped around him. 

“Thanks,” she said, her cheek against his back. He covered one of her hands with his own, knowing she wasn’t finished. “You’re making something really scary not scary at all.”

He smiled, raising her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to her palm and turned around. 

“It’s not supposed to be scary, it’s supposed to be fun. If anyone ever frightens you, you know what to do,” he told her earnestly. 

“Find Rickon?,” she teased and he chuckled, though in all honesty his little brother would defend her until his last breath. 

“But seriously, El, you’ve got to stop acting like I’m being this altruistic, great guy,” he urged her, “That right there was the most fun I’ve had in ages.”

“Really?,” she grinned hopefully, “Can we do it again tomorrow? My parents will be out of town…”

How many times had heard that phrase in his nineteen years on earth? All those girls had meant one thing. Sex. 

She didn’t. 

He nodded and went to his closet, trying not to think about the fact that he was more excited by her offer than any other that he’d ever received. 

Chapter Text

“Are you sure?,” Sansa asked. 

“Yeah, Dovey, I’m sure,” she said into the phone, “I’m… not in the mood to go out.”

Sansa giggled, “That’s what you said last night at dinner and then Robb had to practically throw you over his shoulder to get you out of there.”

They’d gone to Jeyne’s last night and she had been surprised by how normal it felt, walking over there with him. She’d been afraid that hooking up might make them awkward around each other when they weren’t, but she supposed that was the good thing about a guy as experienced as Robb. It didn’t faze him. 

Well, one of the good things anyway. 

She knew that they hadn’t really done much of anything in the grand scheme of things, but considering that she’d only kissed three people in her life - one of which had been during a game of spin-the-bottle - it certainly felt like a lot. And he was living up to his reputation. 

He knew exactly what he was doing and her body reacted to him in a way she didn’t entirely understand.

Even still, it had been totally normal as they walked over to Jeyne’s. They actually had spoken about classes, she’d been researching professors and it turned out that he had two of the ones she was most interested in. He’d warned her off one and encouraged her on the other and by the time they’d arrived at the party he’d had her cracking up over stories of the antics of his rugby teammates. 

They’d gone their separate ways for a bit, she to find Sansa, he to find Theon. Though they’d come back together when they realised that Sansa and Theon were together, part of a group on the back deck playing never-have-I-ever. 

She never played that because the truth was, she hadn’t done much of anything so there wasn’t much point, but she’d simply sat on Jeyne Poole’s lap and giggled as Sansa groaned each time Robb had to drink. 

Never-Have-I-Ever had sex in a sibling’s bed (Eww, Robby, whose?)

Never-Have-I-Ever caught my parent’s having sex (Stop, no)

Never-Have-I-Ever had a threesome (Okay, I think it’s time for a refill…)

He was by no means the wildest in the group, that honour fell to Theon, or maybe Willem Bracken, but he’d done his fair share. It wasn’t surprising, he was young and gorgeous and other than his devotion to the people he loved, didn’t take anything too seriously. 

After that someone had started blaring fun, summery music and everyone had gotten up and danced - they’d danced in Jeyne’s house and on the deck, down onto the lawn, even on the dock. 

She’d danced with Sansa and Jeyne and Arya - whose mysterious boy never showed, apparently - and Theon and Robb. Trystane had twirled her around for a while and she’d even danced with Harry Hardyng. Nobody was wearing shoes and everybody drank too much and it was exactly the kind of summer night that got her through the North’s long, cold winters. 

So when it had come time to go, she hadn’t been exactly eager. 

“Ella, come on, it’s three am,” Robb said. 

“Are you sure?,” she asked, swaying to the beat, “It feels early.”

“That’s the gin,” he teased and she grinned, taking his hand and pulling him towards her. The truth was, she wasn’t drunk, just a little buzzed and incredibly happy to be with all of her closest friends. “Ella…”

She took his hands in hers, moving to the beat, “Come on, Wolf, just one more dance before bed…”

He sighed, “How can I say no to that?”

“You can’t,” she reminded him, “Don’t bother trying…”

His eyes had fallen to her lips and then he’d twirled her and they danced for three songs after that. 

“I just didn’t feel like walking,” she joked and Sansa giggled in her ear. 

“Come onnn, Robb doesn’t want to come either and it won’t be as fun without either of you,” Sansa pleaded. 

Guilt churned in Ella’s stomach. She had never lied to Sansa before last night, and now she must have lied to her five times already. 

It made her feel awful, but Robb was right. She wouldn’t understand this. To her, sex was going to be a magical thing between two people who loved each other. Ella agreed with that, to an extent. She hoped that it would be, one day, anyway. But she also knew that it didn’t just happen and that it could be a longtime yet before she felt anything close to love and she wasn’t entirely sure that she should have to wait for an immensity of feeling.

It wasn’t that she wanted to sleep around or anything. She wasn’t even entirely sure she was ready to have sex. But being with Robb wasn’t sleeping around. He’d keep her safe and he wouldn’t push her to do anything she wasn’t ready to do, and he was experienced enough that he didn’t even seem to mind taking it slow. 

And the way he kissed her set electric currents through her veins. She didn’t want to have to stop that. 

Even still, she hated this. Lying. Especially to Sansa, her soulmate. 

“Sorry, Dovey. We’ll hang out tomorrow night, okay? We’ll do whatever you want,” she promised. 

“Whatever I want?,” Sansa confirmed, “You promise?”

Ella rolled her eyes and grinned, “Promise.”

“Good,” Sansa exulted, “Because I already told Harry and Trystane we’d go for dinner with them.”

Ella chuckled, because even though her best friend sometimes seemed the innocent little Dove, there was always more at work in that mind of hers. 

“Fine, I’ll come over in the morning and we’ll spend the day together and get ready and then go, okay?,” she told her. 

Sansa agreed that this was a logical course of action and they hung up, she promising to bring her pink sundress that looked better on Sansa, and Sansa promising that they’d leave if Harry and Trystane were acting like asses.

She was surprised a few minutes later when the doorbell rang. She hopped out of bed and padded down the stairs to the front door and opened it. 

There, looking perfect and if she wasn’t mistaken a little excited, was Robb Stark.

“What are you doing here?,” she wondered.

His brow furrowed, “You invited me…”

She grinned, “No I meant here at my front door, you usually come in through my balcony.”

“Oh,” he said, letting out a sigh that sounded like relief, “I didn’t want to crush these.”

With that he proffered a small bouquet of wildflowers. She looked at the flowers dumbly and then up at him and then back at the flowers. Nobody had ever brought her flowers before, except her Uncle Jaime but he didn’t count. 

“You picked these for me?,” she wondered. 

“Of course I did,” he said, as though it was nothing and handed them to her.

“Thank you,” she smiled and took them from him, stepping aside so he could come in. “Let me just grab a vase, are you hungry or anything?”

“No just ate,” he said as he followed her into the kitchen. 

She went to the cupboard to grab a vase and stood on her tiptoes, only to find him behind her a second later, grabbing it easily off the top shelf. She felt his body against hers, and it felt so big in comparison, his arms surrounding her.

“T-thank you,” she said as he placed the vase down on the counter for her. 

He didn’t say anything but he didn’t step away either, and she was suddenly aware of every cell in her body.

She leaned back against him and his body seemed to mold to hers, his nose at her hair. She tilted her head back to look at him and no sooner had their eyes met than his lips descended on hers, his hand cupping her face holding her steady. 

She was just falling into the kiss when he pressed one slow one to her and then kissed her forehead, “Sorry, I’ve been thinking about doing that since we left my house last night.”

She grinned, “Really?”

He chuckled at her and swiped her nose, stepping away, “Yes, really. I don’t understand why that’s surprising.”

She filled the vase with water and thought about that. Why was it surprising? She knew she was a pretty girl, objectively, but she really was the exact opposite of his type.

She placed the flowers in the vase, arranging them simply and smiled, “These are beautiful.”

“As are you, my dear,” he quipped and then held his arms wide jovially, “Now, what would you like to learn tonight?”

She grinned, “Well… you can advise me on other things too, right you know um… not just sex but…”

He chuckled, “I’m going to put Advisor to Myrcella Penelope Baratheon on my resume. But uh, yeah, did you want to look at more courses?”

She smiled, “Not exactly,” and walked by him, “I went shopping today.”

“Oh yeah? Well I think sundress decisions are more firmly in Sansa’s wheelhouse…,” he teased as he followed her up the stairs. 

They walked into her room and she placed the vase of flowers on her bedside table and gestured for him to sit in the overstuffed armchair. 

“Do you mind?,” she asked. 

He shook his head, kicking off his shoes and grabbing a book off her bookshelf, “Not sure how helpful I’ll be, but by all means, Baratheon.”

She picked up her shopping back and went into her bathroom. She pulled off the sundress she was wearing and pulled out the first article. 

She looked at herself in the mirror, taking a deep breath before she started getting changed. 

When she was sure that everything was laying the way it was supposed to she went to the door. She didn’t look in the mirror, she couldn’t or she’d lose her nerve, so she opened the door and stepped back into her bedroom.

Robb had reclined fully, his feet up on the ottoman and he was engrossed in whatever book he’d chosen.

“So what do you think?,” she asked. 

He looked up briefly and then went to dog ear his page but his head snapped back up so fast she was afraid he’d actually hurt himself. 

“That’s not a sundress,” he said.

“I’m aware of that,” she agreed.

“You said -“

“No, you said…,” she reminded him, “I just… didn’t correct you.”

His mouth was open in shock but his grinned turned wide, “Um… okay… turn around.”

She did exactly that, though she felt silly, and when she turned back facing him she couldn’t meet his gaze, “So what do you think?”

The outfit in question wasn’t so much an outfit as it was underwear. She’d gone to the overpriced lingerie store in town and had two women helping her with measurements and styles before walking out with a few different things. 

The first that she was wearing was a deep, wine red silk bra and underwear set. The underwear was pretty standard and felt nice, but the bra was padded and push up and she didn’t really recognise her chest in it.

“I like it,” he nodded, “A lot…But…,” Her cheeks flamed in embarrassment and she wondered if they matched the lingerie. “It looks painful.”

“It is a little!,” she agreed and lamented, “I don’t think my boobs are supposed to do this.  They just kept telling me how sexy it was…”

“It is,” he agreed readily, “I mean, um, wow, but there’s no reason for it to hurt. I like the underwear though, can you keep those?”

She liked them too and nodded, “Yeah I like these, they feel really nice.”

“They do?,” he asked, and she could hear the curiosity in his voice. 

She glanced at him and found him looking at her hungrily, which made her more confident than any push-up bra ever could. 

“Do you want to feel?,” she asked and he nodded slowly. 

She walked over to him and he kicked the ottoman away and pulled her in front of him. He was so tall that his head hit her shoulder even seated, his eyes perfectly in line with her very pushed up breasts.

His fingers trailed up the sides of her thighs and underwear and she felt goosebumps rise on her skin. 

“It does feel nice,” he agreed, his hands moving behind her until they cupped her butt. 

She moaned when he squeezed it, her back arching on its own accord and she felt his lips at the top of her breasts. 

She looked down at him and he up at her and he pressed a purposeful kiss to her left breast. Her heart was beating rapidly, and she wondered if this is what all those romance authors meant by heaving bosoms. 

“Does it really hurt?,” he asked, gesturing to the bra. She nodded dumbly. “Should I…?,” he asked, gesturing to the bra. She nodded dumbly again. 

He kept his eyes on hers as he moved his hands up her back and unsnapped her bra. She felt instant relief but it was overshadowed by the feel of his palms moving up her shoulder blades before taking hold of the straps and brushing them down her arms, the cups of the bra falling as well until the offending garment was on the floor. 

“Much better,” he sighed, as though he too was in relief and she couldn’t help but giggle. 

He grinned and he looked up at her and she couldn’t help but cup his handsome face and bend to press a kiss to his lips. He kissed her back softly, slowly, in a way that made her crave more. She took it, deepening the kiss and he pulled her into his lap so that she was sitting on one of his legs.

She wrapped her arm around his neck, her other hand at the collar of his shirt, one of his hands was wrapped around her waist, the other resting on her thigh as his tongue glided over hers deliciously. 

His hand around her waist moved down until he was holding her by her butt and he pulled away. 

“These really do feel nice,” he said, looking down and examining the fabric.

She grinned, “I know right?”

“So does this,” he said, squeezing her butt and she half moaned half giggled. “Fuck Ella.”

She grinned and kissed him softly, “Well at least I’ve got one keeper…”

“Yeah, one out of two ain’t bad,” he nodded, but his attention was focusing on her neck.

“Oh that’s not all I bought,” she noted. 

He froze on her neck and she could feel his lips turn upwards in a smile which beckoned her own. 

He pulled away and looked at her, looking like a little boy on Christmas morning for a moment, “It isn’t?”

She shook her head, “Would you-“

“Yep,” he said enthusiastically and she kissed his cheek and got up. “Wait, one more look.”

She rolled her eyes and turned around, placing a hand on her hip and scowling at him. He was undeterred and grinned at her, nodding that she was allowed to go back into the bathroom. 

She bent over to grab the bra and she squealed when she felt him kiss her butt cheek. 

“Oh Ella, we have fun, don’t we?,” he teased and she chuckled as she went back into the bathroom and closed the door. 

She dropped the bra back in the bag and pulled off her panties. They were wet and her cheeks flushed, but she tore off the tag and dropped them in her hamper. 

She pulled out the next piece, grinning wickedly as she pulled it on. She wondered why more people didn’t do this. Find someone they were totally comfortable with and just try things out. She knew that her friendship with Robb was special, that he was special, there weren’t many boys like him - if any - but even still. 

She pulled on the next piece, not even bothering to be worried this time after his reaction to her in the last one and stepped out of the bathroom. 

She spun for him and when she looked back at him he looked like he was trying to fit his entire fist in his mouth, biting on his knuckle.

“Yes?,” she wondered.

“Fuck yes,” he breathed out. “Please tell me that’s comfortable.”

“Surprisingly yes,” she confirmed. 

It was a black one piece and could have passed as a bathing suit if it wasn’t one hundred percent lace. It was a halter top and low cut, pushing her breasts together, though not obscenely. It had an incredibly low back and the underwear bit was boy shorts, which was infinitely preferable to thongs. 

It was sexy but kind of playful too and had been her favourite piece she’d tried on. 

“Can you um, come over here please?,” he asked. 

She padded over to him and she wondered for a moment if he was going to pull her back into his lap. To her surprise he grabbed onto the tag and ripped it off. 

“This we’re keeping,” he nodded, pressing a kiss in between her breasts.

She giggled, her hands roaming into his soft curls as his lips kissed the swell of one breast and then the other, nuzzling in between them.

“Robb!,” she breathed out, half admonishing, half praising. 

“Do you have any idea how perfect your breasts are?,” he asked, pressing a reverent kiss to one. 

“You don’t have to say that,” she told him. 

He looked up at her and asked, “When have I ever lied to you?”

Never. 

“They’re small,” she pointed out. 

He grinned, “So are you,” he nuzzled against them and her nipples peaked, “Absolutely perfect.”

“I have one more set,” she told him, “Do you want to see?”

“Yes,” he said and she went to step away but he pulled her back, pressing another kiss to her chest, “Goodbye old friend.”

“I’ll be right back,” she pointed out.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he said with his roguish grin. 

She went back into the bathroom and pulled off the outfit. She hoped the next one wouldn’t disappoint him, and she folded the black number just in case. 

She pulled on the final garments, a light blue lace bralet and matching boy shorts that she’d thought looked nice against her newly tanned skin. 

She poked her head out, “You have to be nice to this new outfit, you can’t blame it for not being the other one.”

“I’ll do my best,” he laughed. 

She opened the door wider and kept her eyes trained on his face. His laughter died but his eyes were still smiling as they wandered over her. 

She walked closer to him, “So?”

“I like it,” he said, but his voice sounded a little funny.

She furrowed her brow and crossed the remaining distance to him, taking his face in her hands. Faux-sternly she asked, “Are you lying to me, Robb Stark?”

He gave her a small smile and his fingers traced over her cheek, tucking a lock of hair behind her, “No, honey, I’m not lying to you. It’s very you.”

“Why does that sound like a bad thing?,” she wondered. 

He shook his head, “It isn’t. It’s delicate and beautiful and innocent, just like you.”

He felt more comfortable with her in the other one, when it wasn’t so obvious what she was, who she was to him. She’d been so surprised at the comfort she felt with him through this that she hadn’t even stopped to question whether he felt the same.  

She moved her hands down to his shoulders and pushed him back gently, until his back rested against the chair, and she climbed into his lap. His arms came around her immediately and as she rested her cheek against the back of the chair, he turned to look at her. 

“You doing okay with this?,” she asked. 

“With what?,” he asked. 

“This, what we’re doing…,” she said. “I….I feel so comfortable you know, with you, but I’m not the only one in this. Your feelings matter to me just as much, and I want to make sure you’re okay with it too.”

“I’m okay with it,” he confirmed, his fingers trailing down her arm gently, “Like I said last night, I’m having fun. A lot of fun. And yeah, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little strange, you know, I’ve known you since you were born and everything, but the weirdest part is that it isn’t all that weird, you know?”

“I really do,” she agreed. Then asked, “So, what do we think? Is this a keeper?”

He adopted a serious face and leaned back from her to examine her more fully, “Oh I think so.”

She grinned and leaned forward, pressing her lips to his. He kissed her back slowly at first, until they sank into it, his hand taking hold of her hair. 

She reached down and pulled up the hem of his shirt and he chuckled against her lips, “What?,” she asked.

He looked at her, “I’m starting to think you just like me for my body.”

“Says the man who literally kissed my ass,” she pointed out. 

He grinned and lifted up his arms and she pulled his t shirt off of him. She really did like his body. It was spectacular.

She pressed a kiss to his collarbone, her fingers tracing through his chest hair. She kissed his shoulder, trailing her lips back to his neck, sucking on it gently. His hands started roaming all over her and she kissed her way up, nipping his earlobe. 

“Fuck,” he murmured and all of a sudden she was straddling him. 

He leaned forward and attacked her neck and all she could do was arch her back, exposing more of herself to him. He held her back firmly, his large hands splayed over it as he nipped and sucked and kissed her neck and chest. 

“Will you…,” she started. 

“Yes,” he agreed and she would have laughed if she could have found anything funny. 

“I… I want to feel your lips… um…,” she started but found she couldn’t say it. 

He leaned his head back and looked at her, and he smiled softly at her and she knew he knew what she wanted. He pulled her bralet up and over her head and pressed a kiss to the top of her right breast, and then trailed his tongue down to her nipple.

“Robb,” she whimpered.

He circled her nipple with his tongue and then sucked it into his lips, tugging on it gently. She felt herself grow impossibly wet and there was a dull ache, a throbbing almost, at her core. 

He moved to the other breast and pressed hot, open mouth kisses to it and she needed something, anything to relieve the tension, and her hips moved at their own accord. 

Her center brushed up against him and she gasped at the jolt of pleasure. He looked up at her and she knew that she must be blushing, but she felt his hands move down her back until he was grasping her hips, and he pressed her up against him again. 

She felt warm all over and she knew that she should be embarrassed but he was looking at her like there was nothing to be embarrassed about so she ground against him again, harder this time, more purposeful. A sigh caught in his throat, his mouth parting and his perfect, pillowy lips were begging to be kissed so she did exactly that. 

He met her kiss eagerly and she gripped onto him desperately, allowing him to take control, begging for him to. 

She rocked against him again, but it didn’t seem to do the same thing and she tried again in frustration.

His hands left her back and she heard his belt unbuckle. A bit of fear ran through her. 

“Robb I’m not rea-,” she started.

“I know, I’m keeping my boxers on, don’t worry, but I promise you it’s going to feel better this way,” he said and she felt his finger under her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze, “I only want to make you feel good, I’m not going to ask you to do anything other than what you were just doing. Okay? Do you trust me?”

She nodded without hesitation, because it was Robb. He undid the button on his shorts and unzipped them, his knuckle brushing against the apex of her thighs. She let out a surprised gasp and his eyes met hers. 

“You’re so wet,” he told her.

“I’m sorry,” she said automatically.

“Never, and I mean never apologise for that,” he ordered and pulled down his shorts. “You’re supposed to be turned on, El, that’s the whole point. I’m not apologising about this, am I?,” he asked, gesturing to his groin. 

“Can I?,” she asked. 

His eyes widened but he nodded and she brought a shaking hand to touch him through his boxers.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected it to feel like, but it wasn’t this. It was hard and thick and warm. She moved her hand up, wondering how far it went and found that it went quite far. 

“You’re big,” she guessed. 

“Oh Baratheon, you always know just what to say,” he teased, but his voice sounded tight. 

“Am I hurting you?,” she wondered, making sure her grip was loose.

“What’s the opposite of hurting?,” he asked, but he took her hand and pulled it away, interlacing their fingers. “But where were we?”

It was apparently a rhetorical question because he let go of her hand and grabbed her by the back of her thighs, pulling her more firmly against him. He was right, of course he was. It already felt better like this, as his cock pressed against her center. 

Robb Stark’s cock is touching me. I’m touching his cock. His hard cock. Which I caused.

It was a heady feeling, turning him on. It defied reason. He could have any girl he wanted and he’d never seemed to want one like her, but here he was, wanting her. 

“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. 

“That’s what I’m here for,” he reminded her, “Let me worry about what to do and you just tell me how it feels, alright?”

“Okay,” she nodded. 

His large hands grasped her hips and he pulled her body against his, rolling it. His cock rubbed against her, hitting that bundle of nerves that she sometimes tried to find at night. 

“Oh,” she said. 

It wasn’t much of an answer but it seemed to be sufficient because he did it again, easing her back and then forward in a longer stroke this time. He brushed against the spot again and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. 

“Tell me, Ella,” he urged, doing it again, faster this time. 

“Good, good it feels good,” she told him, gripping his shoulders. 

He rolled her body, which was pliant and willing under his hands, and she cried out as a rush of pleasure sparked in her, warmth pooling in her stomach. 

His hands stayed on her waist but he didn’t make another move so she mimicked what he had just done. Another rush of pleasure swept through her so she did it again, this time rubbing herself down the length of his hard cock. 

“Robb is this…?,” she wondered.

“Fuck, El, keep doing that,” he all but whimpered so she did it again, widening her legs so she could get even closer to him. 

She wanted to crawl inside of him, or him inside of her, either way she wanted to get closer and closer. 

She felt her body building to something and she wanted to reach out and grab it. She’d neared this before, felt this, as though there was something around a corner that she couldn’t entirely reach. It always retreated though, like the horizon, she could never quite catch it. 

A shot of worry went through her, not wanting that to happen now and she lost her rhythm. 

Robb was there though, just like he said, and his hands moved down until he gripped her butt cheeks and rocked her against him again. That delicious feeling was back as he moved her on him again and again. She was climbing, higher and higher, she felt it all the way down in her toes and she scrunched her eyes shut, afraid she’d lose it. 

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in his neck, “Robb.”

“You’re so close, honey,” he assured her and all of a sudden she felt him bucking into her, “Fuck so am I.”

Her head snapped off his shoulder and she looked at him, “You’re going to?”

“God yes,” he confirmed, and she moaned as he hit her at a new angle, “I’m going to come with you, Ella. You feel so god damn good.”

She looked in his eyes and saw a look she’d never seen before and all at once she climbed so high that she just popped as a wave of pleasure coursed through every inch of her. 

He gritted and grasped onto her tightly, his cheek falling against her breast as his body shuddered. 

They were both panting, holding onto one another and she finally understood what all the fuss was about. 

“Mmmmm,” she mumbled, a dopey grin on her face as he fell back against the chair and pulled her with him.

“Basically,” he agreed. “Fuck. I’ve never even liked that.”

“Why’d you do it then?,” she asked lazily, feeling a delicious weight in her limbs. 

“Because I knew you would,” he told her simply, as though it was obvious.

“You’re a good man, Robb Stark,” she said.

“Oh yeah, a real saint,” he chuckled. 

His fingers were tracing patterns on her back and she wondered if every orgasm would feel like that or if it was just extra powerful because it was her first. He seemed to enjoy his, which gave her some hope that others would live up to this one. 

He kissed her shoulder, his hand moving up until it was scrunching in her hair, rubbing her head gently. 

She moved slightly and felt moisture, more than before where their bodies met. 

“Oh,” she said stupidly, looking down. 

He did as well and moved her slightly, “Sorry I should um, clean myself up…”

“You can hop in my shower if you want,” she offered, “Towels are in the cupboard next to the sink.”

“Yeah that’s a good idea,” he agreed and they eased off the chair. 

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and grabbed his shorts and t shirt off the floor. On a whim she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his butt, making him yelp.

“See?,” she asked, “It’s alarming.” 

He chuckled as he padded into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. A few seconds later she heard the shower turn on and she looked down at herself. She wasn’t quite as messy as him but she wasn’t entirely put together either. 

She pulled down her panties and tossed them to the side and went over to her drawers and pulled out a pair of men’s navy blue and white striped pajamas. They definitely weren’t sexy, but she wanted to be comfortable now. She wanted to feel like herself. 

The material felt different against her skin though. Softer than usual, like a caress. Everything seemed a little brighter. 

She went over to her bed and got onto it and all but moaned. It felt more comfortable, the pillows fluffier. 

She let out a delighted giggle and hugged herself.

She heard the shower turn off and a minute later, Robb walked out looking squeaky clean, dressed once again. 

“You look so cozy,” he said. 

“I am so cozy,” she agreed. “My bed is so comfortable, I never realised. Come feel, it’s delicious.”

He grinned and walked over. Rather than go to the other side of the bed though he sat down next to her and pried her legs apart before easing his way in between them. 

He laid down on top of her with his back against her chest and she let out a chuckle. 

“Oh you’re right, this is delicious,” he agreed, nuzzling his cheek against hers.

She giggled and wrapped her arms around his chest, resting her calves on his thighs. 

“You smell like me,” she told him.

“You smell like me,” he told her.

She nuzzled her nose against his temple. He just felt so nice. His fingers trailed up and down her thighs, not lasciviously, almost leisurely.

Like he had no where else in the world to be.

He’d always had that way about him, a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the world. When he was with you he never had his cell phone out, he always focused on you. 

Her chest felt incredibly full, and she was overcome with love for him. 

Not romantic love, of course, but love all the same. 

“Does it always feel like that?,” she wondered. 

“No,” he said, “Only when you really connect with someone.”

She liked that he’d felt that too, that tethering. 

“What does it feel like when you don’t?,” she asked.

“Well,” he started and thought about it, “I mean, it can still feel good, really good, but you know how it feels when you come on your own?”

“No,” she admitted.

His fingers stopped moving on her thighs and he sat up and turned to look at her, “El?”

She sighed and smoothed the bedspread beside her. 

“Did you um… notice when we were, well, while, that I kind of… stopped at one point?,” she asked. 

“Yeah.”

“Well I, I could feel it you know, building, and I’ve felt that before when I’ve tried to…,” she trailed off, her cheeks burning.

“Touch yourself.”

“Right and I always kind of hit a point where I like…”

“Lose it?,” he offered.

“How did you know?,” she wondered.

“Because that’s totally normal,” he assured her, “That happens to a lot of girls. Why do you think I took control?”

“I don’t know. But anyway, when that’s happened to me in the past when I’m touching myself I’ve never…pushed past it?,” she confessed. 

“So that was your first?,” he clarified.

“Yes,” she confirmed.

“Oh honey,” he sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and rubbing the shell of it. “I wish I’d known. I’d have made it special.”

“It felt pretty special to me,” she said stubbornly.

He grinned, “Fair enough.”

With that he dove back on the pillows next to her and wrapped her in his arms and pulled her so she was lying on top of him. She leaned her cheek on his chest and closed her eyes. 

“Have you ever tried a vibrator?,” he asked casually after a little while.

“What?! No!,” she sputtered in embarrassment. “Who uses those?”

“Literally every other girl I’ve ever hooked up with,” he noted.

“Oh,” she said, feeling a little stupid, and then yawned.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow,” he promised, “You should get some rest. I’ll head out.”

She burrowed into him, “You don’t have to leave if you don’t want. Everyone’s gone this weekend.”

“Why didn’t you come stay with us?,” he wondered.

“I’ll stay over tomorrow night. I’m used to being on my own though, you know that.”

“Yeah, yeah I know that,” he agreed, then noted, “This bed really is comfy.”

She smiled, “So are you.”

He pressed a kiss to her hair, “I’ll stay. It’s too big a house for you to be here on your own.”

“You don’t have to,” she assured him. 

“Can I?,” he asked softly. 

“Of course you can,” she yawned, making herself nice and comfortable on him, “But I’m not moving.”

He wrapped his arms around her more firmly.

“Good.”

Chapter Text

Come over, I’m all alone in my big house…

He looked at the text message. It was tempting, really tempting. Not as tempting as the next one though.

I’m all alone in my big bed…

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t interested. He knew that bed. It was comfortable. There was a beautiful girl lying in it, probably not wearing many clothes, if any. 

A beautiful girl with light brown hair and clear blue eyes, a laugh that always made you think of sex. 

Are you going to make me beg? Margaery Tyrell asked. 

He could go over there and crawl into bed with her. Crawl inside of her. It would feel good, it always had. 

Of all the girls he’d dated in high school, she’d always been his favourite.

She was beautiful and exciting and cocky in the sexiest way possible. She knew what to do with her body, certainly, what to do with his, and she was clever and warm. 

He was about to text her back Yeah, and you’re gonna like it because she’d always liked him a bit rough when a pair of jade eyes flashed in his mind. 

All at once, memories of the night before raced through his mind. Ella in all those sexy get-ups. He should have told her that she didn’t need them, because she didn’t. He’d make sure to tell her that next time, but he couldn’t find it in himself to say no when she’d asked him if he wanted to see the next one. Because he did, of course he did. 

He couldn’t believe that he’d given her her first orgasm without even realising it. He should have known, she’d tried to tell him. The look on her face was something he’d never forget, all her perfect features contorted in pleasure. 

Everything about her was soft, innocent, playful and yet his body reacted to her more strongly than any of the confident, sexy girls he’d been with in the past. 

Does it always feel like that? 

How was he supposed to tell her that it had never felt like that? That he’d connected more with her dry-humping than any girl he’d ever been inside of?

Even still he couldn’t lie to her. No, only when you really connect with someone, which he figured must be true enough. 

It was just because they knew each other so well. He’d cared about her more than he cared about any of those other girls long before they started hooking up. She was Ella, his Ella. Of course they connected, they always had. 

It occurred to him that this probably hadn’t occurred to her. She’d never hooked up with someone else, so she didn’t know that what happened last night was the exception. 

Though she might after tonight.

Her and Sansa were on a double date currently with Trystane and Harry. They’d come to pick them up as he and his family were sitting down to dinner, all Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Stark as though they were gentlemen. He’d played that game, shaking Walder Frey’s hand one moment and then fucking Roslin in his sports car the next. He knew that game well. 

Ella had looked beautiful wearing a white top that tied at her impossibly tiny waist, a pair of loose jeans and a strappy pair of heels and Trystane, who was usually too smooth for his own good, stumbled all over himself to tell her so. She’d accepted his reverence kindly, and had walked off the terrace with his hand on the small of her back. 

He hadn’t expected her to look back at him, but he watched her go anyway, and when she’d turned back to look at him he tried to give her a smile but he was pretty sure it came out as a grimace. 

He pressed send on his text to Margaery. 

He ran upstairs and brushed his teeth and rolled on some deodorant. He grabbed the keys to his truck off his bedside table and was clomping down the back stairs when he heard arguing in the front hall. 

He turned the corner and was surprised to see that it was Sansa and Ella. They never argued. He looked at his phone, it was only 8:45, pretty early as far as dates went. 

“Sansa, please don’t be upset,” Ella pleaded.

“Just leave me alone, Ella,” Sansa pleaded right back.

They both sounded on the verge of tears and his heart hurt hearing it.

“I’m just looking out for you,” Ella said softly.

“Yeah well stop,” Sansa demanded and with that she ran up the front stairs.

He walked around the corner and found Ella sitting on the floor with his dog Grey Wind’s head in her lap. She was petting him glumly, looking at him as though he might hold the secrets of the universe inside his big fluffy head, and he was looking up at her like if he knew what a universe was, she’d be at the center of his.

“Hi honey,” he said softly. Ella looked up at him and there were tears in her eyes. “Bad date?”

She let out a cry-laugh and nodded, “Yeah, Wolf, you could say that.”

“I’m sorry,” he told her honestly, “I was heading out but I can cancel - we can watch a movie or something.”

She shook her head, “No, I don’t want to ruin your plans. I don’t think Sansa wants me staying over anyway.”

Maybe not, but everyone else here does. 

That was the thing about Ella. She didn’t just belong to Sansa, she belonged to all of them. 

“Come on, I’ll drive you,” he told her. 

“You don’t mind?,” she asked. 

He shook his head and she leaned down and kissed Grey Wind’s forehead and got up. His dog glared at him but Ella walked over to him and leaned her face against his arm. 

“I hate boys,” she said. 

“Me too,” he agreed and she giggled against his bicep. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “Seriously we’re the worst.”

She tilted her head back and looked at him, smiling sadly and he wondered what exactly had happened. It couldn’t have been too bad if she was laughing, which gave him some comfort.

He lead her out to his truck and pulled out of his long driveway. 

“Harry’s such a douche,” she grumbled. 

“What’d he do to her?,” he growled.

“Nothing,” she said and then placed her hand on his forearm, “Nothing, okay? He just… he’s such an…”

“Operator,” Robb finished for her.

“Yes!,” she agreed, “You should hear the things he says to her. You’d think they were Pyramus and Thisbe for godsake.”

“That’s why I love you El, your insults are always so intellectual,” he teased and she chuckled. 

“But he says all these things to her,” she went on, not bothering to elaborate because he could imagine, “Meanwhile his phone is blowing up with other girls. And not unsolicited either. These are conversations. Some of which he initiated.”

“You read his text messages?,” he asked.

She shrugged, “The dumbass asked me to DJ, what’d he expect I’d do with his phone when he’s trying to date my best friend?”

He chuckled, because fair enough. She was the sweetest girl he knew but absolutely lethal when it came to protecting the people she loved. 

“So what happened?,” he wondered, because he wasn’t sure how this had lead to Sansa being mad at Ella.

“Well,” she sighed, “I tried to get Sansa to leave without, you know, making a scene, because Harry was like really trying it with her and I didn’t want her to do anything she’d regret, but that turned into a discussion which of course Harry Fucking Hardyng thought he should be a part of. I told him to stay out of it and then he told me to stay out of it which prompted me to act in a totally dignified manner obviously and anyway Sansa got pissed at me.”

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing but couldn’t but ask, “What um, constitutes a totally dignified manner?”

“I showed Sansa screenshots of the conversations,” she muttered.

“You took screenshots?!,” he practically screeched.

“And airdropped them to myself,” she confirmed. 

He chuckled, “Fuck you’re good.”

“And don’t you forget it,” she teased but then banged her head against the head rest, “I wasn’t trying to embarrass her, but I did, I guess. I just know that he would have weaselled his way out of it somehow if I didn’t show her proof - he… she’s so smart but…”

“He preys on her innocence,” he finished for her. 

“Yeah,” she agreed, “Just like you said would happen to me. I think she thinks that I feel superior or something, you know, in the situation with Trystane but I don’t. I just don’t care as much as she does.”

He ignored the relief that flooded through his body at that and said, “I thought you guys were um, heading in that direction… after prom and everything.”

“What’s the point?,” she wondered, “He’s nice and all, he’s a great date and he’s really kind and handsome and everything, but he’s heading to Dorne for school and I’m off to The Vale. I don’t think I feel strongly enough for him to want to do long distance, so what’s the point of falling for him now?”

“Do you think you could? Fall for him, I mean?,” he asked. 

“Honestly, I think that if I could really fall for him none of that practical stuff would make a bit of difference, you know?,” she mused.

“I know,” he confirmed. 

He pulled into her driveway and parked his truck. The house was dark. It was so big and cold looking, the complete opposite of the girl that called it home.

He turned towards her, “Sansa will get over it. And for what it’s worth, thank you. She’s lucky to have you looking out for her.”

“Says the boy who is already plotting the different ways of mutilating Harry Hardyng,” she teased.

She was absolutely right. He’d never liked Harry and had been hugely annoyed when he’d found out he was taking Sansa to prom. Harry had dated Jeyne Westerling after him his junior year and had done exactly the same thing to her, promising her the moon while he was fucking anything in a skirt. He’d tried to warn Sansa but Harry was smart, preying on a girl’s desire to be different from the rest. 

It was the oldest trick in the book for a reason. It worked. 

No one else he knew of had ever been stupid enough to try it on Sansa though. It served to reason that Harry would be the first. 

“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” he joked and she smiled. 

“I’m going to watch a movie, wanna join?,” she asked him and before he could answer her brow furrowed, “Never mind! You were heading out, weren’t you?”

“Oh um…,” he started, thinking of Margaery Tyrell in bed waiting for him. He looked at Ella, who was looking at him like he’d lost all sense. Maybe he had. “I’d like that, actually.”

“Really?,” she asked and he nodded. Her face broke into an irresistible smile, “Great! What are you in the mood to watch?,” she asked as she got out of the truck. 

They debated the merits of horror vs comedy all the way into her house and up the stairs to her bedroom. 

He sent Marg a sorry, something came up text as Ella went to her drawers. She pulled out a pair of white silk pajamas. 

“I’m going to change, go grab something from Tommen’s room,” she urged. 

“Oh that’s okay,” he shook his head. 

She rolled her eyes, “But you have to be cozy.”

“Oh I have to, do I?,” he challenged. 

She grinned, “Yes. Go on, definitely don’t go into Joff’s room though - the police are still investigating.”

He burst out laughing because honestly he wouldn’t be surprised if Joffrey’s bedroom was being investigated by the police. He was, without a doubt, one of the worst people he’d ever met in his entire life. He’d been shoved together with him the way Ella and Sansa were, to much different results. They loathed one another. 

Ella had developed a way of dealing with him over the years, but there was nothing that confirmed Joffrey’s evil more than the way he treated his sister. Robb couldn’t imagine not loving one of his siblings, but Joffrey hated her in a way that was frightening. 

He wandered down the hall to Tommen’s room - who was Joffrey’s antithesis in everything except looks - and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t shirt. He changed into them in there, and he had to admit he was more comfortable. 

He went back into Ella’s room to find her dressed in the silk pajamas. He tried not to imagine what she had on underneath, tried not to hope that it was nothing. 

“Can we watch Animal House?,” she asked. 

“Toga, toga, toga,” he answered and she grinned as she selected it. 

“Want to do a face mask?,” she asked, picking something off of her vanity.

“No,” he scoffed, “I know we look alike but I’m actually not Sansa.”

She giggled and said, “Come on, Wolf, just smell it…”

With that she brought it over and unscrewed the cap and held it under his nose. It did smell nice, though what it smelled like he couldn’t really say. 

“No,” he repeated. 

“But it’s anti-aging!,” she teased with a grin. 

“I’m nineteen,” he pointed out.

“And with this, you might look like it again,” she said solemnly, though a small smile was teasing at the corners of her lips.

“You little shit,” he said, tackling her back onto the bed. She let out a surprised squeal and he started tickling her, “Take it back.”

“Never!,” she argued, trying to wiggle away. 

“Tell me I’m pretty,” he ordered, getting her behind the knee where she was most ticklish.

She yelped but cooed at him, “You were the prettiest debutante of your dayyy.”

He was straddling her, and he looked down at her. There was a flush on her cheeks and a brightness in her eyes, her hands locked above her head where he held her wrists in one of his hands. 

Her eyes met his and she gave him a challenging look as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. 

He loosened his grip on her wrists slightly and leaned in closer to her. 

“Did you kiss Trystane tonight, Ella?,” he asked. 

Her brow furrowed, “Of course not, I kissed you this morning.”

A pang of guilt throbbed in his chest. He’d woken up this morning with Ella in his arms, their limbs tangled together like vines. To his surprise it had felt totally normal, he’d made them smoothies as she showered and they’d drank them on her terrace, talking about his family’s July 4th party coming up and who she thought Arya’s mystery man might be. He’d gone to kiss her goodbye, because it felt natural to, and her lips had tasted like berries and mint toothpaste and he’d pulled her against him and kissed her for a while longer. 

It would never occur to Ella that she could kiss two boys in the same day, but considering that he’d kissed two girls at the same time before it didn’t really feel that strange to him. It should have, though. And she had a right to know that.

“I um… I was going to go over to Margaery’s tonight,” he told her. “I … probably would have kissed her. Probably would have done more than kiss her, honestly. I don’t know if you want to know that kind of stuff but… you’re right, I shouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, no I mean… you can do whatever you want. I just… I’m not comfortable with it for me. And I guess, well I guess I wouldn’t want to kiss you after you’d kissed someone else that day. But, what we’re doing shouldn’t hold you back from anything else. I know what this is,” she told him pragmatically, and gave him a sad smile, “Sorry I interfered with your night with the goddess.”

“Do I seem upset about where I am?,” he challenged, releasing her hands and resting both of his forearms on the bed, boxing her in. 

She shook her head, and reached a small hand up and stroked his face, “No, but that’s always been a talent of yours.”

“What has?,” he wondered, momentarily distracted by her edible wrist. 

Her knuckle trailed under his chin and he felt warmth coursing through his veins. 

“You always make everyone feel like they are the most important person on earth,” she told him.

He thought about that. It was a nice compliment and all, but he just wasn’t entirely sure that it was true. He’d been accused by multiple girls of having a wandering eye, or being distant. He didn’t try to be, it just kind of happened.

He could understand why she felt that way though. She was one of the most important people in his world. Maybe the most after his family. 

“I’m exactly where I want to be, Ella,” he said, because he didn’t want to lie to her but he wasn’t sure he wanted to keep the conversation going either.

“So were you just curious?,” she asked. 

“About?,” he wondered.

“Whether I’d kissed Trystane,” she clarified, “Were you just curious or… was there another reason?”

He grinned and leaned down and pressed a kiss to her neck, moving his lips up to her ear, “What kind of reason?”

He let his teeth graze the shell of her ear and she shivered beneath him, and told him in a breathy voice, “That kind of reason.”

“Hmmm,” he pretended to ponder, pressing a light kiss to her temple. 

“Robb,” she whined, “Are you going to make me beg for it?”

Yeah, and you’re gonna like it he had said to a different girl this evening. 

But Ella wasn’t Margaery. 

He leaned down and took her lips in his. She kissed him back slowly, softly. If she had been Margaery, or any other girl, they’d be naked by now, devouring one another. Soft and slow wasn’t really his thing. 

Or he hadn’t thought that it was. 

Now though he sank into her, her tongue gliding against his gently. Her fingers stroked his hair, not gripping it in desperation but just in a purposeful, comforting way. 

He moved his hand under the hem of her pajama shirt, his fingers trailing up and down her waist lazily. Her skin was so smooth and warm, her slenderness making the slight curves captivating. 

Her skin was littered in goosebumps now and he smoothed his hand over her abdomen trying to warm her up. She shivered even more. 

“Do you want to get under the covers?,” he asked. 

“I don’t think that will help,” she said and kissed him once more. 

It was deeper this time, more playful though too, more confident. She pulled at the hem of his t shirt and he helped her pull it off of him. 

She ran her hands up his abdomen to his chest and it was his turn to shiver. She smiled at him and he felt her nudging him. He looked down at her and she raised her brows.

He knew what she wanted so he fell back on the bed on his back. She rolled on her side and trailed her fingers down his abs like she was strumming a guitar, as she pressed a kiss to his chest. 

She pressed another and another, getting up on her knees and straddling him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and licked and nipped one of his pecks.

“Fuck Ella,” he groaned. 

She looked up at him, meeting his gaze with those jadeite eyes as she pressed another kiss to his breastbone. He hissed as though he’d been scalded and she ran her hands down his shoulders and when her fingers got to his chest she grazed her nails down them. 

“Fuck Ella,” he repeated, but it came out as a whimper. 

There was wildfire in her eyes as she kissed down his ribs and his abs. 

“I want to touch you, Robb,” she told him quietly.

He was already hard as a rock, how could he not be, and his vision had gone a little blurry. 

“You don’t have to,” he managed. 

He felt her hand wander down him further, and then she was cupping him through the sweatpants. He closed his eyes in pleasure. 

“But I want to,” she said. 

She released him and her hand moved back up his body. She cupped his cheek and he opened his eyes as she tilted his head towards her. The beauty mark under her left eye was winking at him. 

“I want to make you come again,” she told him earnestly, and as though it were some big favour asked, “Will you show me how?”

His mouth was dry and he couldn’t speak so he merely nodded. 

“Will you take these off?,” she asked, “I mean, do you mind?”

There were a million retorts he could give her but she was genuinely asking, so he wouldn’t tease her. He pulled the sweatpants off of him, kicking them off the bed and looked her in the eyes.

Meaningfully he let his eyes wander down his body to his hard cock, giving her permission to look as well. As he felt her eyes travel down his body, his trailed back up hers. Her eyes widened as they rested on his cock, standing hard and proud for her. 

“What do I do?,” she asked. 

He had never been more grateful that he’d offered this than he was in this moment. And it wasn’t because she was eager to make him come, though he was pretty damn happy about that too. But he could only imagine what another guy might say if she asked him that. And though there were a countless number of filthy things he wanted to do to her magnificent body, and an equal amount of things he wanted her to do his, he’d be careful not to push too hard. Which was challenging.

Even for him, who loved her dearly. 

“Do you have any lotion?,” he asked. 

She nodded and straddled him once again reaching over to reach into the drawer of her nightstand. Her pajama top rose up and exposed her newly tan stomach to him and he pressed a kiss to it. 

She had proffered the lotion and straightened back up but he held her steady, lifting her pajama top and pulling her against his lips. He pulled her up, until she was all but standing on the bed though she was supporting none of her weight, and kissed her belly button and then lower and he swore he could smell her arousal. 

He wanted her pajama bottoms off, he wanted to taste her, but he knew she wasn’t ready for that yet. 

She let him pull up her pajama top though and he kissed her ribs and underneath one of her soft breasts, his hands moving down and grabbing her perfect ass. 

“Robb, Robb, stop, stop, stop,” she pleaded.

“Sorry,” he said, lowering her again. He confessed, “Your body is distracting.”

She grinned, a blush covering her dimple, “So is yours.”

She pushed him gently backwards and undid the cap on the lotion. She squirted a little bit on her hand and rubbed them together. 

“What do I do?,” she asked. 

“Start by doing what you think you should do,” he urged. 

All of her instincts had been spot on so far. 

She reached a tentative hand down his body, and all the blood was not already there rushed straight to his cock. He felt her hand wrap around him softly, the lotion making it glide up him. 

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to keep his hips on the bed. She moved her hand down until it was at the base of his cock and then rubbed back up. 

“How’s that?,” she wondered.

“Good,” he managed. 

“You’re so hard,” she said in wonder.

“You’re really hot,” he pointed out.

She giggled once and then focused, rubbing up and down his length slowly. 

“A little tighter,” he said as gently as possible. 

He felt her hand tighten around him and he moaned in pleasure.

“What else?,” she asked eagerly. 

“A little faster,” he pleaded uselessly, because he wasn’t going to last very long anyway. 

She started rubbing him faster and he saw stars, her slick hand making obscene noises. 

“My… my balls,” he said weakly. 

“I should touch them?,” she asked. 

“Gently,” he sputtered in pleasure as she kneaded his cock, rubbing him up and down the whole time. 

She lowered her other hand to his balls but lost her rhythm on his cock. She sighed in frustration and he was about to tell her not to bother, that what she was doing was enough, more than enough, so fucking good, when she hooked one leg over him so she was sitting on his stomach. 

She massaged his balls gently as she took up her rhythm on his cock once again. Her golden hair was lifting off her back as she sped up again and again, without him having to say a thing. 

He reached around her and grabbed hold of her breasts. She let out a moan and he squeezed them gently, holding on for dear life as he barrelled towards an orgasm.

“Fuck, El I’m going to come, fuck don’t stop fuck, fuck fuck fuckkkkk,” he grunted as he felt his cock release in spurts. 

He found the strength to grab a tissue off her bedside table and hand it to her, and he was vaguely aware that she was wiping her hands off. 

He caught his breath, and looked at her. She looked so fucking hot in her prissy white pajama pants, her slender back completely bare, her golden hair splayed over it. He took her by the hips and moved her forwards so that he could sit up.

He moved her hair to the side and pressed a kiss in between her shoulder blades. He trailed his lips up her back to her shoulder and felt her lean her head back against him, exposing her neck to him. He sucked on it gently, his hands moving up her waist and to her abdomen. 

When he moved them up to cup her breasts he found her nipples already peaked and groaned against her neck. The shallow weight of her head and the softness of her hair were a dizzying combination against his shoulder, and he rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers.

She let out moan that he felt right in his cock, sparking it back to life already. 

He moved one of his hands up her further, the other crossing her chest and grabbing her other breast, and he grabbed hold of her neck gently. She let out a gasp and he grinned against her temple. 

She didn’t know it yet, but she was going to like it a little rough. 

There was time for that though, plenty of time and he pressed gentle kisses to her cheekbone, holding her neck tenderly. 

“Touch me,” she whispered.

His eyes opened and he took in the picture before him. Myrcella Baratheon, straddling his lap, every inch of her open and submissive to him. It beckoned the animal in him, but it tempered him too. 

Trust like that from a girl like her was no little thing.

“I am touching you,” he said in her ear, because it was only two days earlier that she’d told him she wasn’t ready. 

“Robb please,” she begged.

He was hard as a rock now, but that didn’t matter. 

He took hold of her waist and he moved them back on the bed, and he pulled her back against his chest, lowering her legs down so that he was supporting her completely. 

“I’m going to make you come, Ella,” he promised in her ear, “And I don’t care how long it takes, okay? So just relax and tell me if it doesn’t feel alright.”

He had seen it last night, her frustration with herself. It was the worst thing to feel, making all the pleasure disappear, putting too much pressure on herself. 

She nodded against him, and he felt the weight on top of him deepen slightly as she relaxed against him. 

He moved his hands up her body and pressed two fingers against her lower lip, “Suck,” he ordered.

He didn’t, couldn’t, think about how quickly she listened to him. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, think about her hot wet mouth surrounding his fingers, the tip of her tongue swiping against the pad of his fingers.

He dragged his fingers out of her mouth because there was only so much a guy could take and he lifted the waistband of her pajama pants with his other hand and trailed his fingers down to the apex of her thighs. 

He groaned as his fingers slid against her. He needn’tve had her suck at all, she was already dripping.

I’m touching Ella Baratheon’s cunt. She’s so wet. For me. 

It was a heady feeling, turning her on, and his fingers were greedy as they wandered over her. She was soft and smooth and warm, and wet, so wet. 

She let out a broken breath as his finger slipped inside of her briefly and he focused once again. He cupped her, kneading her gently with his fingers, the heal of his palm pressing gently against the part of her protecting that most sensitive bit. She gasped, her hips rising against him. He rolled the heal of his palm in a small circle and she let out a soft moan. 

His hand hit against the fabric of her pajamas and he didn’t think, he just pulled them down with the other hand. He felt her bare ass against his cock and he groaned. Every inch of her was on him and she felt so good.

He tilted her chin up and kissed her as he parted her folds and found her pearl. She moaned in his mouth as he circled it with his finger. 

He sucked on her bottom lip as he slipped two fingers inside of her. He bit her accidentally when he realised how tight she was and she jumped.

“Sorry,” he whispered against her lips, kissing her softly in apology. 

He pulled one finger away and entered her with just one. She was resisting him and he brought his other hand back down her body and squeezed her breast gently. He got all the way in to the knuckle. 

He moved his finger in and out of her, his palm against her clit. 

“You feel so good, Ella,” he told her, “So perfect, of course you are, how could you not be?”

She opened up like a flower for him and he slipped another finger inside, groaning when he felt it. 

“Do you like hearing that?,” he asked, wondering if she had a praise kink.

She shook her head and corrected, “Your voice… it’s…talk oh god Robb…”

He started to move his fingers in and out of her more purposefully, his palm rotating over her clit all the while. 

“I’ll talk to you, honey, if that’s what you want,” he promised, “I could touch you all night just to hear you say my name like that.” She rocked her hips against him, “That’s it, El, show me what you like, I’m gonna do whatever you want. Anything to make you come, you’re so fucking pretty when you come.”

She rocked her hips against him again and he replaced his palm with his thumb, pressing against her clit again and again. 

“Robb!,” she moaned. 

He squeezed her breast, “Fuck just like that El, that’s how I like to hear my name on your lips. You drive me crazy, d’you know that? I’ve been thinking about this cunt of yours every second these past couple days.”

“Robb, Robb, I’m going to, oh god,” she cried out. 

He could feel her, tightening around his fingers, “That’s it El, you’re so close, you like me touching you, hmm? I like it when you touch me too, so fucking hot, oh there it is, I can feel it, can you?,” he asked and she nodded against his lips, he grinned, “Come for me, honey, come on my fingers, you’re so close, there you go, just like - oh Ella.”

She came with his name on her lips. He felt her walls tighten and spasm and he rubbed his cock against her ass to give himself some relief because all he wanted in that moment was to shove inside of her and make her come on his cock like she’d just come on his fingers. 

She slumped back against him and he eased back on the pillows, laying down a bit more and holding her to him.

“Good lord,” she sighed and he chuckled. 

She rolled off of him dramatically, landing on her stomach. She looked so deliciously rumpled, and he allowed his eyes to move down her body. Her butt was just as glorious as he expected it would be. 

Even though he’d seen almost every part of her naked individually, there was nothing like seeing the whole thing. 

“I think maybe this was a mistake,” she said and his eyes snapped up to hers. She gave him a rueful smile though and said, “You’ll spoil me for other boys.”

He grinned and got on his hands and knees. He pressed a kiss to the small of her back, his hand rubbing up and down her thigh. 

He rubbed it up and over her butt and her back, and gripped her shoulder gently and turned her over. She flopped like a ragdoll and he leaned down and kissed her pretty pink lips. 

“My evil plan has worked perfectly then,” he teased.

She giggled, “Trying to keep me all to yourself?”

He sighed and lay down on his side next to her. She turned towards him, laying her cheek on the pillow as well. 

“What’s going on in this mind of yours, Wolf?,” she wondered.

“You’re not mine,” he told her. 

“I know, I was just teasing,” she promised. 

“But when we’re like this,” he went on, “It feels like you are.”

Her eyes widened and she nodded, “I know. What does it mean?”

“I don’t know,” he told her honestly. 

“It feels good though, doesn’t it?,” she wondered.

“Yeah, it does,” he agreed.

She went silent and he could tell her mind was working it over. He trailed his fingers up and down her spine, and she traced circles on his bicep.

“Maybe it’s okay,” she mused after a little while. “Because in a way, you’ve always belonged to me, and I’ve always belonged to you. Haven’t I?” He’d thought it just earlier tonight, that she’d belonged to him just as much as she did to Sansa. She always had. So he nodded. “So maybe it’s okay,” she suggested in a small voice, “For us to belong to each other like this for a little while.”

“Yeah, honey, maybe it’s okay,” he confirmed. 

It was the first time in eighteen years that he lied to her. 

Chapter Text

Summer was moving too quickly. 

It always did, living in the North. They waited for it all year, for the snows to melt and the winds to die down. In summer, their home was like a different world. Lush and easy and warm. 

Every year it went by too fast. By August the leaves would already be turning and people would start taking their boats out of the water. 

This year it seemed particularly so, with them all barrelling towards the future at top speed. 

Everyone felt it, she could tell. People stayed at parties later and at the beach longer. Nights people might have chosen to stay home, now everyone went out. Fights that might have lasted weeks were resolved in a matter of hours. 

They were growing up, it seemed, whether they wanted to or not. 

It was mid-July, and her tan was deep, her limbs especially sinewy from hours outdoors playing tennis and volleyball on the beach, from waterskiing and horseback riding. 

They weren’t adults entirely, because her entire class, and the one above it, were in a weeks long water balloon fight. You weren’t safe anywhere, all around the lake you could hear yelps and laughter following it at all hours of the day and night. 

Her mother hadn’t found it funny when Willem Bracken had exploded one over her head at the yacht club last week, even less so when she’d chased him around the deck to the hoots and hollers of the other members. 

Family dinners lasted longer now, not hers, of course, but the Stark’s. She’d noticed it last summer with Robb, how he had lingered over dessert with everyone when even a summer before he would have been scarfing down his food and racing off. 

The kids all knew what it was to lose one of their pack now, and this fall they’d be losing two. Three, if they counted her, which they always seemed to. 

Every day new items arrived from across the Narrow Sea for school. It was her mother’s way of showing her she was loved, though new couture dresses didn’t feel particularly suitable to fraternity parties in the Vale. Their housekeeper/her nanny Eglantine folded each new one with tissue paper, sighing, and then the next day something practical like a new pair of mittens would arrive and get packed next to silk. Her only comfort was that it was surely being paid for by the card her mother gave Eglantine for household necessities.

She tried to insist that she could pack on her own but she was always quickly rebuffed, Eglantine saying If I don’t do it I’m just going to be wondering about it. 

She spent most of her days with Sansa. They included their other friends, of course, but some nights one of them would turn to the other and say let’s have a just us day tomorrow. Every time she thought of saying goodbye to her she had to fight off tears, and they’d already planned out every time they’d see one another during their first semester.

It wasn’t just fear of missing her that infected their time together though. There was the lie, the lie that felt bigger and bigger every day. Sansa still didn’t know about her and Robb, but it became clearer and clearer that he had been right. She wouldn’t understand what was going on between them. 

How could she, when Ella didn’t understand it herself?

He, apart from Sansa, was the one she spent most of her time with. This didn’t raise any eyebrows, as it had always been that way. She knew his family thought he was seeing someone though, for he spent long stretches staying over at her house, returning only to his own for a change of clothes and meals. 

It wasn’t like they were having sex all the time. They weren’t having sex at all, in fact. 

They went sailing with Theon and Sansa and played mixed doubles with them at the club. On particularly hot days they’d buy tickets to three movies in a row and sit in the cold dark and eat too much popcorn and talk all the way through the movies as they were usually the only ones there. 

At night, more often than not, he’d show her something new. She was sure none of it was particularly groundbreaking, but it certainly felt that way to her, when he found a new part of her to kiss - the crook of her elbow, his teeth on her heel. Sometimes though, he’d just walk her home after parties and they’d fall into bed, one or the other too tipsy to do much of anything except press laughing kisses to the other’s lips. 

She was sure that on some nights when he wasn’t with her he found his way into some other girl’s bed, that was just the way he’d always been and she wouldn’t ruin the time they were together by wondering what he was doing when they weren’t. 

Trystane had kissed her a couple weeks back, and it had felt nice and new. He’d been nervous, which was sweet because he was no blushing virgin, but when he’d tried to go further she hadn’t craved his hands so she’d asked him to stop. Just the way Robb would have wanted her to, because he was right. 

She didn’t own Trystane Martell a damn thing. 

Robb had come in through her balcony that night and she’d stopped him when he went to kiss her. 

This is a first, he teased. 

I kissed Trystane, she told him. 

Where?, he asked her. 

At Jeyne’s house.

He had smirked at her and asked, Where did he kiss you, Ella?

Oh, she laughed, My lips, of course. 

Ah, he nodded, as though this was very interesting information. Then I will just have to find somewhere else to kiss…

With that he’d knelt before her and undone the strings of her pajamas, pulling them down her legs. He’d looked up at her and asked, Won’t I?

She’d nodded, tears on her eyelashes as she felt his lips press to her center. He’d lapped at her leisurely, his tongue wandering over her as though she were a new continent he was intent on exploring. 

He’d carried her to bed when he was finished and laid her down. When he asked her Did Trystane kiss you like that? she didn’t tell him that he sounded rather jealous. 

She wondered if they’d continue this at school. It would be even easier then, no family dinners, no one to wonder where they’d disappeared to. 

Maybe there was a sorority girl with brown hair and curves waiting for him though. Maybe that girl was just exactly his type and he wouldn’t have time to dally with her anymore.

Not that he ever made her feel like that’s what they were doing, but just like she’d told him, that had always been a talent of his. 

He was gifted, truly he must be, because some nights when he held her it felt like he never wanted to let her go. 

*

The parking lot was crowded, bustling with activity. She made her way through as quickly as possible, waving to old campers of hers who were now CITs and their parents who’d all tipped her generously at the end of the summer. 

She found her way towards the group of children still waiting to be picked up, and all of a sudden tan, slender limbs were wrapped around her completely.

“Oof,” she chuckled, all but falling to the ground from the force of both Shireen and Rickon leaping at her. 

The pair had been fast friends after she’d first requested it, and though Rickon had gotten in more than one fight with one bully or another teasing Shireen, for the most part his friendship protected her. 

Shireen had become the light of his little life, and some nights at dinner he’d say something like Did you know that some horses like peanut butter? and everyone would remark that they didn’t, except for her, who had been the one to prove it to Shireen in the first place. 

“Hi little one,” she said, stroking Rickon’s soft curls, so like his eldest brother’s. And then turned to Shireen and pressed a kiss to her scar, “How’s my girl?”

“Good!,” they both answered and then started talking over one another trying to tell her about their day. 

She waved to their counselor and took both of their hands as she walked them through the parking lot. Rickon insisted that he was old enough not to need to hold someone’s hand, but then he interlaced their fingers anyway saying but I don’t mind Lella. 

She got them settled in her convertible, though she rummaged in Shireen’s backpack and made her pull on her hat because her face was looking pink. 

“So,” she said as she pulled out of the parking lot, “I’m craving some black raspberry ice cream. Do you guys mind if we stop for some?”

Their cheers brought a grin to her face and she started driving them through their small town. She was committing it all to memory, the way the kids sang along to oldies and the people walking their dogs, the warm summer breeze and the shopkeepers that waved to her as she drove by. 

She found a spot in front of the ice cream shop and let the kids out of the car. They raced in, already debating the merits of mint chocolate chip vs rocky road and she waved to Pop. 

“Oh boy, the cavalry’s here,” he grinned at her, “What’ll it be kids?”

“May I please have a scoop of coffee-oreo, in a cup please, Pop?,” Shireen asked him politely. 

He grinned at her and nodded and then turned to Rickon. 

“Can I haaaaaaave a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of mint chocolate chip in a cone, please?,” Rickon asked.

“And a cup on the side!,” she piped up and Pop chuckled and nodded. 

“And your usual, Miss Myrcella?,” he asked her and she grinned at him, ignoring the pang in her stomach. She was getting sentimental abut all kinds of things these days. “Why don’t you kids take a seat and I’ll bring these over to you.”

She thanked him and followed Rickon and Shireen over to a table in the corner that looked out over the street. Shireen was pointing to a dog and Rickon asked her what she thought its name was, which prompted a very large discussion about whether it was a boy or girl dog and why girls and boys had different names anyhow. 

She listened, stirring the pot occasionally, and took out her phone. She had a text from Robb. 

Hey, where are you? 

Pop’s with Shireen and Rickon. 

Be right there. 

She’d seen him just that morning. He’d stayed over last night even though she had her period and wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything except eat cupcakes and watch old movies. He’d eaten four to her two and asked her questions all through How To Steal a Million, grinning at her when her hormones finally made her smack him with a pillow to shut him up. 

Even still, she was looking forward to him coming and knew the kids would be too.

Pop brought over their ice creams on a little tray, setting the correct one down in front of each of them. 

“Hey Pop, sorry about this but can I also please have two scoops of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge?,” she asked. 

“Robb joining you?,” he asked and she nodded. 

The kids let out a cheer and Pop went to go fix the last ice cream. A minute later Robb walked in.

“Robby! Over here!,” Rickon called excitedly.

He looked gorgeous, in a light blue t shirt and navy blue shorts, his hair wet either from the lake or the shower. He grinned when he saw them all and high fived Rickon. 

“How’s my best girl?,” he asked Shireen, wrapping his arms around her and pressing a kiss to her scar. 

“I’m good, sit sit sit we just ordered for you,” Shireen told him excitedly. 

She loved Robb dearly, always had. He’d worked for her father, Ella’s uncle, one summer and Shireen had kept him company every day as he filed and wrote proposals. It shouldn’t have been much fun for her, but she talked about it like it was a great adventure.

Knowing Robb, he’d made it one. 

“You didn’t say hi to Lella,” Rickon reprimanded sternly. 

“Hi Lella,” Robb grinned down at her. 

“Now kiss her!,” Shireen ordered gleefully.

She opened her mouth to protest but he wrapped his arms around her from behind, just like he’d done to Shireen and smacked a smattering of kisses on her cheek until she was giggling like she was no older than the kids. 

With that he finally took the seat next to her, praising Pop as he brought over his ice cream and handing him a twenty before she could reach for her wallet. 

She opened her mouth in horror at him and he stuck out his tongue at her, chuckling when she kicked his shin under the table. 

“So who jumped off the pier today?,” he asked them.

“MEEEE,” both Shireen and Rickon exulted. 

She grinned over at them but her smiled dropped when she really looked at Shireen. She pushed some hair off her face and tilted her chin upwards.

“Shy you’ve gotten too much sun,” she reprimanded gently, “You’ve got to be better about putting sunblock on after swimming. This skin of yours is too beautiful to damage.”

“It’s already damaged,” Shireen said glumly. 

“No it isn’t,” she argued, “It’s perfect and I want it to stay that way.” She felt Robb’s hand on her knee, telling her to take it down a notch and she sighed. “I just want you to be healthy, okay, Shy? So wear some sunblock for meeee, pretty pretty please.”

“I ran out,” Shireen told her. 

“When?,” she asked, realising that she hadn’t seen any in her backpack.

“Monday,” Shireen told her. 

It was Friday. Her piece of shit aunt and uncle had let their daughter go to camp every day for a week without sunblock to protect her. They should know that she had to be extra careful. Her scar made her more susceptible to sun damage, and she really should be wearing a hat whenever she was in the sun. 

“We’ll go to the pharmacy and get you some after this, okay?,” she asked. Shireen nodded happily, eating her ice cream. Ella was no longer in the mood for hers though. Robb’s hand was still on her knee, but it was no longer warning, just comforting. “Do you need anything else? Did you um… run out of anything else?”

“No,” Shireen said. 

“What about your water bottle?,” Rickon piped up.

Robb’s hand tightened on her knee and she glanced at him, but he wasn’t looking at her to warn her, his jaw was set. 

“What happened to your water bottle?,” she asked. 

Shireen and Rickon exchanged a glance, and she saw Shireen shake her head at Rickon. He looked at her wide eyed, clearly torn between being worried for his friend and not wanting to betray her trust. 

“Rick,” Robb said sternly. 

Rickon sighed and turned to his older brother, “Some kids stole it today.”

She placed her hand on Robb’s, because he was gripping her knee almost painfully. He loosened his grip and interlaced their fingers. 

“Did you tell your counsellor?,” he asked his little brother. 

Rickon glanced nervously at Shireen and shook his head, tears pooling in his eyes, “B-but I shared mine.”

It didn’t take a genius to know that Shireen had begged him not to tell. Even still, Robb was looking at his little brother like he still had some lessons to teach him. 

It was no accident that every generation of Stark men were noble and good. The older ones always made damn sure of it.

Even still, he was only nine. It wasn’t his job to be her protector. 

“That was very gallant of you, little one,” she told him, “Thank you. Shy we’ll get you a new water bottle too, okay?”

Her cousin nodded and she and Robb changed the subject, asking them about summer reading and if they were excited about the all-camp sleepover. 

When they were finished with their ice creams, Robb had guided Rickon towards his truck and she’d taken Shireen towards her car, promising that they’d be right behind them after a trip to pick up a few things. They were both having dinner at the Starks that evening, as they so often did. Shireen had been brought into the pack just like she had. 

Shireen wanted to listen to girly music and the pair of them sang Taylor Swift at the top of their lungs, not caring about the odd looks other drivers were giving them. She took Shireen to the pharmacy and bough her four bottles of sunblock and bug spray, a new hat and swim shirt, and a water bottle that was meant to keep water cold all day. 

She’d then purchased some pink nail polish and promised that her or Sansa would paint her toenails after dinner. 

At the cash register they were selling face masks and on a whim she bought one to give to Robb as a gag. 

They drove the familiar roads to the Starks, and when they got there Bran and Rickon and Jojen were running through the sprinklers. Shireen had gone to join them and she went into the house to see if Catelyn needed any help with dinner.

No one was around on the first floor though so she went up to third floor. Sansa’s bedroom was empty, and she remembered that Theon was giving her a sailing lesson today.

Though why Sansa needed a sailing lesson when they’d both learned when they were six she had no idea. 

She went further down the hall to Robb’s room. She didn’t bother to knock, he never did, and found him pacing on the phone. 

“Yeah, look just keep a special eye on her okay? Yeah, just make sure she’s wearing sunblock and has enough lunch and water… yeah let me know if you find out who did it. I know… I know he loves her, but he’s just a kid… yeah… mmhm, okay thanks…and if you notice anything just call me okay? Yeah I know, but call this number if she needs anything… thanks.”

“Who was that?,” she asked as he hung up the phone.

He froze, his back to her and she closed the door behind her. She walked around to face him and he looked at her guiltily. 

“I called their counsellor, okay?,” he grumbled. “Rickon told me that Shireen’s been packing her own lunches.”

“I’ll talk to her nanny,” Ella sighed, “I’ll ask her to pack it the day before.”

“Why don’t we talk to her parents?,” Robb spat. 

“Because that won’t help anything, don’t you remember when your mom tried talking to mine?,” she asked. 

His eyes went wide, “I didn’t think you knew about that.”

“Yeah well,” she shrugged, “I did. You know, my family isn’t like yours, Robb. Why do you think I’m such a good cook? My mother lives on celery and vodka. You know, if it weren’t for Eglantine and your mom… just trust me, okay? I’ll speak with her nanny.”

He sighed and nodded, “Her counsellor thinks he knows who stole her water bottle. He’s going to keep a special eye out.”

“Thank you,” she said, banging her head against his chest, “Kids are the worst.”

“Basically,” he agreed, rubbing her hair.

She looked up at him and smiled, “But you are the best.”

He pulled her hair off her neck and twisted it around his hand, tugging it back. 

“It doesn’t take a good person to know that what’s going on is fucked up,” he told her earnestly. 

“No,” she agreed, running her hands up his shoulders, “But it takes a great person to look out for a little girl for no particular reason.”

He furrowed his brow, “No particular reason? How about she’s a little kid who should be taken care of? How about because my little brother loves her?…How about because you do?” She smiled up at him. “What?”

She pressed down on his shoulders until he sat on his bed, and she sat down on one of his legs. His arms wrapped around her waist and he was looking at her expectantly. 

“I just realised that you have no idea how special your goodness is,” she told him honestly. 

A blush peppered his high cheekbones and he gave her a bashful smile. It was hard not to kiss it, so she did, and he pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. It wasn’t presumptive or inciting, it was a kiss for the sake of it. 

He’d been teaching her all kinds of things, but this he’d learned from her. 

He kissed her nose and it was her turn to grin. 

“Where is she now?,” he asked.

“Outside, running through the sprinklers with Rickon and Bran and Jojen, being a kid.”

“We could go be kids with them,” he offered, and then tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, his eyes falling to her lips and wandering back up, “Or…”

“Or?,” she teased, cocking her head to the side. 

“Or we could stay up here for some… adult activities,” he murmured, nuzzling his nose against hers.

She stroked her fingers through his soft curls and said, “I’m feeling awfully grown up all of a sudden…”

He grinned and pulled her to him, kissing her purposefully now, his lips parting hers and his tongue massaging hers. She’d realised about a week ago how much he’d held back with her in the beginning. He was still incredibly gentle, seeming to crave her softness at times, but there were others when he manhandled her in a way that made her feel delicate and desired like nothing else. 

His hand grasped her thigh and started moving upwards, and her body responded to him. 

“This sundress,” he groaned, the hem of it in between his fingers. 

“What about it?,” she asked. 

He tugged her hair back and kissed her neck, “It’s so prissy, just like you.”

“I’m not prissy,” she said haughtily and he pulled away from her and raised his eyebrows like See? She grinned, “I’m not I just… have high standards for myself and those around me.”

“Honey,” he chuckled, “You’re a priss,” with that he tackled her backwards, boxing her in and grinning down at her, “But that’s what I like about you.”

“Oh is that all?,” she wondered rather prissily.

He scrunched his nose adorably and allowed, “There may be one or two other things…”

“Oh yeah l-,” 

“Robby!,” Sansa called, throwing open the door. 

Robb sprung off of her and she smoothed down her dress. 

“Oh, Ella good you’re here,” Sansa grinned, plopping down on the bed next to her. 

“Well isn’t this a sight,” Theon grinned as he followed her in. She picked up a pillow and chucked it at him. He dodged it, “Don’t be such a priss, El.”

Robb burst out laughing and she glared at him, but he ignored her. 

“How was your day?,” she asked them. 

“Good, the movie was crap though,” Theon said quickly. 

She turned towards Sansa who was looking at Theon, and said, “I thought you guys were sailing today…”

Sansa turned to her and there was something in her eyes she couldn’t quite place, but she informed her casually, “No wind.”

“Oh,” Ella nodded.

“So what have you guys been doing?,” Sansa asked her and Robb. 

She glanced at Robb but he looked speechless. 

“Trying to figure out what to do tonight,” she supplied. 

“There’s a party at the Tarly’s,” Theon offered.

“Sounds good,” Robb agreed. 

Sansa turned to her, a small smile on her face, “But then let’s have a just us day tomorrow?”

“Naked, hopefully,” Theon suggested.

This time it was Sansa’s pillow that was thrown at him and just like that, they were kids again.

Chapter Text

Robb pulled on the jib line until the sail stopped luffing. He sat back down and leaned his head back so that he could feel the sun on his face. 

They had a glorious day, bright and clear with a strong wind. They were on the north side of the lake, which didn’t get as many people in the afternoons because the water got choppier, so they had space to move freely. 

It was the first of August, and time seemed to be speeding up at an unprecedented pace. Two weeks from now, Theon would be heading back to school down South in the Reach, Sansa following three days later to start at the Fashion Institute in Highgarden. 

Classes didn’t start for him until the 25th, but Ella’s move in day was the 20th so he’d be going with his father and her then. He had a house off-campus with some friends and could move in any time he wanted, but he was in no real hurry to get back. 

He wondered what it would be like when he did get to school, with Ella there. Before this summer, he wouldn’t have had to think about it. They’d hang out in the library and she’d come to see his rugby games. He’d take her out to parties with him, making sure his girl friends were nice to her and his guy friends were nowhere near her. They’d coordinate travel plans and look out for each other, like they aways had. 

Maybe it didn’t have to be different now. Maybe they’d do all those things. They spent plenty of time together now, and nothing was strange about it. 

In truth, he spent more time with her than any girl he’d ever dated. He’d never really had a girlfriend, but he had to imagine that this was what it was like. They went to parties together and went home together. They hung out with their friends and on their own. They had inside jokes and he knew how to make her laugh when she was in a foul mood and she knew how to bring him out of his.

With girls he’d dated in the past, he’d never really had much desire to be around them so much. He liked hooking up with them and he’d had a great time with Marg, but he always reached a point where he just wanted to go and be with his friends. But Ella was his friend, and he never really seemed to get sick of her. 

Maybe he would if they were dating. 

“What are you up to tonight?,” Theon asked. 

Robb’s brow furrowed, “I thought we were going to that party with Yara?”

Theon’s cheeks went a bit red, which was weird, and he shook his head, “Uh, no man I can’t. I’ve got plans.”

He narrowed his eyes at him, “What’s her name?”

Theon gave him a cocky grin and winked, “Which one?”

Robb rolled his eyes. He was about to press him for details, it was unlike Theon not to want to share names and exact measurements. He wondered briefly if the girl had a boyfriend, but Theon usually thought that was funny. 

He was distracted by a buzzing in his pocket and saw he had a text from Ella. 

Wolf, your sister is ditching me tonight. It is now up to you to mend my broken heart by entertaining me. 

He grinned and typed back God El, you’re so needy. 

He watched as the typing bubbles appeared and a moment later he received Come onnn let’s do something fun and stupid, you owe me.

How do you figure?

Well, let me rephrase. You will owe me. Wink, wink. 

He felt himself grow hard at the mere thought of what she might do. They hadn’t really gone too much further, but she had become expert at jacking him off and dry humping him into oblivion. It was strange, he knew, that he was satisfied by that. At school he had a number of girls he’d text if someone he thought was a sure thing turned out not to be. But he hadn’t been with anyone else since the first night he kissed her. 

There were times when he knew that he could convince her to do more. She knew her own mind but her body was another story. 

There were some nights when he considered it, when he thought about whispering in her ear how much he’d like to feel her lips around his cock, some mornings when she looked so beautiful that he wanted to beg for her to let him have her. He never did though, because that would change everything. 

And not just for her. 

Though he was not such a fool as to think that things hadn’t changed already.

He wondered if she ever thought about it. She never asked him about other girls, not once, though he knew he brought up Trystane’s name far more than he should. In fairness, he had stopped by once or twice when they were at her house - once with his family’s new puppy, who Ella had apparently mentioned wanting to meet at some point, and another on a whim as I was driving by. Luckily they’d been clothed both times, but that hadn’t stopped Trystane’s normally friendly demeanour from changing towards him in the last few weeks. 

Not that that was any great loss in his opinion, but nobody knew about him and Ella and a jealous rival could be awfully inconvenient. 

He wasn’t sure what the fallout would be like if everyone found out about them, but he knew that it would be substantial. The thing was that he’d used to worry about hurting other people when they found out, Sansa most especially, but now his fears were all tied to Ella and that she’d want to call it off. 

Somehow or other this thing between them had become exactly that, a thing. Something more real and important than he’d care to admit. Something that he didn’t want to lose. 

I’ll pick you up at 8. 

“Who’s the girl?,” Theon asked. 

Robb furrowed his brow, putting his phone away and scoffing, “I think I’m still waiting on an answer to that one…”

Theon chuckled, “She’s got you giggling like a schoolgirl and sketchy to boot? You’re fucked man.”

He hadn’t realised that he had been giggling. He found it a little hard to believe. At most he had chuckled. Besides, who was Theon to talk? 

He pulled on his sunglasses and leaned back, “Yeah well, pot, kettle, brother.”

*

He didn’t bother with the front door, knowing that her whole family was gone. They were all visiting her grandfather at Casterly Rock, but she had begged off, citing her inability to get off of work. 

The fact that she didn’t have a job somehow had not occurred to either of her parents. 

He hopped up onto the balcony off of her room. Why her parents allowed a beautiful eighteen year old girl to have a very accessible balcony off of her room, he’d never understand but would also never really question. 

“Knock, knock,” he said, rather than knocking because it always made her laugh.

His breath caught in his throat when she turned to look at him. She was wearing a sundress the colour of sea foam, that was fitted through her tiny middle and flared out, making her legs look impossibly long and slender. It criss-crossed at the neck and she wore her hair half-up, half-down, showing off her elegant neck and shoulders which were now a deep golden from days spent outside. 

“Does this go with fun and stupid?,” she asked, half-twirling this way and that. 

“You are so beautiful,” he told her.

She grinned, “I’ll take that as a yes,” and crossed to him, “Are these for me?”

Everything is for you, an idiotic voice whispered in his head.

She raised her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side, and he shook himself out of it. He looked down at the flowers he was starting to scrunch in his hand and nodded. 

“Finally figured out how to get them up here,” he told her, handing them to her. 

“Did you put them in your mouth?,” she asked, “Tell me you did!”

He chuckled, “Now where would be the fun in my telling you?”

“Good point,” she conceded and looked at them. 

He brought her flowers often, picking them along his way. It didn’t take much effort and they always made her smile a special kind of way. She’d smile at the flowers and not at him, and for some reason that felt important. 

“They’re pretty,” she told him and then leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, “And so are you.”

She went to move away but he caught her by wrapping an arm around her back. He sought her lips again, taking her cheek in his free hand and she let him kiss her. After a moment though he felt her arms wrap around his neck, her body pressing against his and she kissed him back fully. 

He wanted to reach his hands underneath her dress and feel the silky skin between her legs making her cry out his name again and again, but he didn’t. He settled for letting his hand wander down to her butt and squeezing it once. 

She squealed against his lips, pulling back to grin at him, and he surprised them both by smacking his palm against her ass. Her breath caught in her throat and she let out a silent gasp, her eyes on his. 

He would have apologised if not for the wildfire simmering in her eyes. 

“Did you like that?,” he asked, rubbing his palm over her butt gently. Her nod was slight but definitive and he grinned at her and nudged his nose against hers, “Then I’ve got more to teach you.”

“Okay,” she all but whispered.

“But first,” he said, “I believe you requested fun and stupid?” She trailed her fingers over the flowers she was still holding and nodded. “Alright then, let’s go.”

She went to the vase on her night stand and took it into her bathroom. He heard water running and she came out, arranging her new bouquet and set it back down on the table. 

“What do I need?,” she asked. 

“Nothing,” he assured her, “I’ve got you.”

She walked over to him slowly, as though she were approaching an animal in the wild, and he felt her small hand slip into his. She wouldn’t meet his gaze, which was odd considering he’d touched every inch of her and she him. He looked down at their hands, and interlaced their fingers and pulled her out the door before either of them could think about it anymore. 

He took her out to his truck and she climbed in. He climbed in the other side and pulled out of her circular drive and up her long driveway. 

“So where are you taking me?,” she asked. 

“You’ll see,” he evaded, pulling onto the main street. 

“You’re quite secretive today…,” she teased. 

She was the second person to tell him that today, but he shrugged and asked, “Don’t you trust me, El?”

She was silent for a moment and then asked, “Robb, can I ask you something?”

He could have told her that she hadn’t answered his question, but he didn’t. He merely nodded, “Course you can.”

He pulled onto the highway and he looked at her briefly. He couldn’t tell if she was trying to figure out where they were going or trying to figure out how to ask what she wanted to but he waited all the same. Pushing never did any good with her. 

He switched lanes, drumming the steering wheel to the beat of the song on the radio.

“I guess what I’m wondering is, and there’s no wrong answer here, I’m merely curious…,” she started. 

“So this is for science,” he clarified.

“Exactly,” she giggled. “So objectively speaking is this… a date?”

He tried to figure out how to answer that. 

Was this night any different than those nights they spent holed up in her room, kissing every so often but mostly laughing and talking and watching movies? Was this different than when they’d sneak off after dinner at his house and go make out in the boathouse? Had those been dates? 

What did it mean if they were? And if they weren’t, did it change anything, really?

“I think so,” he said. 

“Okay,” she nodded, and as he turned to pull off the highway the streetlights caught on her smile. 

“Okay,” he repeated, parking his truck. 

“We’re here?,” she asked, leaning her head out the window to look and turning back to him with a grin, “Best date ever.”

He chuckled but reprimanded, “Be cool, Baratheon.”

She slid over in the bench seat, the fluorescent lights catching in her eyes, her voice taking on a bedroom tone when she promised, “Oh I was born cool, baby.”

And when she pressed her lips to his, all he could think was best date ever. 

*

Ella’s famous Baratheon bravado was on full display as they walked inside. There was no bouncer at the front door thankfully, because even with the confidence in her step there’s no way a face as angelic as hers wouldn’t raise some eyebrows. 

He’d been here before and the trick was always to come at 8:30 when the bouncers changed shifts. It was always too busy for the bartenders to take much notice and once you were inside they figured you were of age. 

He could have taken her to the yacht club where both of their family’s belonged. There was an undiscussed rule there that as soon as members turned eighteen the bartenders started pouring for them, but that was hardly special. They’d drank there just last week with Theon and Sansa and Yara and a few of the guys from Theon’s sailing team. The manager had bought them all a round of dark and stormy’s and they’d ended up in the kitchens eating truffle french fries and caesar salad’s with the cooks at the end of the night. 

This though, a dive bar off Route 1 would be a first for Myrcella Penelope Baratheon, who was an indefinable mix of prissy and laid back, and he had long planned to be the one to show it to her. 

She winked at him as they made their way through and he bumped into another patron - a burly guy who looked at him sternly. 

“Sorry,” he apologised, “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” 

The man took one look at Ella and nodded, “Makes sense.”

Ella pulled him away before he could do something stupid and pulled up a seat at the bar. There were tons of people waiting for drinks, but none as pretty or bright as her, so the old bartender meandered over to them, ignoring the angry hands waving in his face. 

“What’ll it be darlin?,” he asked her. 

“A beer, please,” she said meekly and the bartender gave her a look. She shook her head then and said more confidently, “No um, make that a double gin and tonic - and none of that well stuff, top shelf - he’s buying.”

The bartender turned to look at him and he said, “I’ll have her beer. Whatever you have local on draft.”

He nodded and set about grabbing their drinks. He turned to look at Ella but she was looking around. There was a small smile on her lips, as her head bopped slightly to the old school song coming out of the speakers. 

He remembered his first time here. He’d probably looked much the same. It was nice experiencing it for the first time twice. 

“What do you think?,” he asked her. 

She returned his question with another question, a habit of hers, “Do you ever read Sylvia Plath?”

He chuckled, “Oh god, is it that bad?”

She grinned and nudged his shin with her foot, “No it just… it reminds me of this quote I can’t quite remember. Something about wanting to be able to go to places like this and blend in…”

“If you wanted to blend in, that dress was a mistake,” he told her, thanking the bartender who handed them their drinks, “But then again, so was that face.”

She chuckled and clinked her glass against his, taking a small sip. 

“I like date Robb,” she informed him, half-shouting to be heard over the crowd. 

“Is he so different than any other Robb?,” he all but yelled back. 

“Not really,” she shook her head, sipping her drink more fully now, and shrugged, as though it were obvious, “But I like every version of you.”

“I like every version of you too,” he said softly.

She seemed to hear him anyway and raised a challenging eyebrow, “Even the one that beats you in darts?”

He grinned, sliding off his seat and picking up their drinks, “If I ever meet her I’ll let you know.”

*

He wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, because he’d only been in the line for the bathroom for five minutes, but when he came back Ella was drunk. 

And very, very popular. 

That part had happened a little earlier. She had in fact beat him at darts and a crowd had amassed when he’d challenged her to a rematch. The burly guy that he’d bumped into before had said I’ve got winner and Ella had shrugged nonchalantly and said, Your funeral before hitting the bull’s eye once again. 

Bet’s were taken and lost, until one by one they all started believing in the baby in the green dress. Everyone seemed to know that she was underage and no one seemed to care, and when some middle aged women had dragged her into the middle of the floor to dance, he’d let her go without a second thought. 

He began to wonder now though if there hadn’t been some shots taken amidst dancing, because as he came back he found her sitting on the bar, her ankles crossed primly even in her slightly reduced state, pouring whiskey from the bottle into a college girl’s mouth. 

“Robb,” she smiled when she saw him, wiggling the bottle at him, “Give me a kiss and I’ll give you a swig.”

He chuckled at her and uncrossed her ankles, and stepped in between her legs, making sure that her dress didn’t ride up too far in the process. 

“I’ll take the kiss but I’m all done for the night,” he told her, “I’m driving, remember?”

She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned her forehead against his, “You’re so responsible. So good.”

He took her face in his hands and told her sternly, “Higher your standards.”

She grinned and planted a kiss to his nose rather than his lips, “But you’re already so tall, baby.”

About a half hour ago he’d noticed the slight lilt in her voice that always came out when she’d drank a little too much. Her maternal grandmother had been a southern belle and every so often her vowels would catch in the most adorable way. 

“Alright, Miss Scarlet,” he grinned, “I think I ought to take you home.”

“You’ll come with me though,” she told him, and then asked, “And stay?”

“If you want me to,” he confirmed. 

With that she grinned and slid off the bar into his arms. He lowered her to the floor but didn’t quite let go, her back against the bar and her front to him. He gestured to the bartender that he wanted to close out and he signed his bill as Ella’s hands wandered up his shirt.

“Ella,” he half chuckled half groaned. 

“One, two, three, four, fivesixseveneight,” she cooed in his ear. “Too many abs for one person.”

“Should I give one or two away?,” he asked as he put his credit card into his wallet. 

She looked up at him and sputtered out a laugh. He couldn’t help but look at her incredulously as tears all but fell down her face. 

“What?,” he asked. 

“You… you… you can’t just… give them away, you ninny,” she informed him. 

It was then that he realised she was well and truly drunk, so he wrapped his arm around her and lead her out. She waved goodbye and blew kisses to people and not for the first time he wondered how she could call herself introverted. 

He helped her into the truck, not that she was stumbling or anything, but she’d burrowed into his side and her lips felt warm against his neck in contrast to the cool August air. 

He went around to his side and though he’d only had a beer, when he pulled out of the parking lot he decided to stay clear of the highway, not wanting to risk getting stopped with a very drunken underage Ella in the car. 

He drove them down backroads, where the speed limit was slower, and she rolled down her window and leaned her head against his shoulder, resting her feet up on the window, her toes catching the wind. 

All at once he was transported back in time to when he was younger. It had only been him, Sansa and Arya at that time and his dad had been driving them and his mom in a truck just like this. The girls were in the back seat in their car seats, but his Mom had let him sit up front in her lap and she’d rolled down the window and stuck her feet out just like El was doing now. 

“Thank you for taking me,” she said, sounding more sober than she had only a few minutes before. 

“You’re welcome,” he managed, a cold sweat running down his back.

“Robb I have a question,” she told him.

“Another one for science?,” he wondered.

“No,” she said, her fingers trailing up and down his arm, which had found it’s way around her. “This one’s for me.”

“Go on then,” he told her.

“Why aren’t you trying to sleep with me?,” she asked. 

“Because I’m driving and you’re hammered,” he informed her. 

She giggled and leaned her head back even further, laying her head in his lap and looking up at him. 

It took everything in his power to keep his eyes on the road, but he had to. Precious cargo, and all that. 

He felt her small hand on his cheek, and then her knuckles rubbing against his jaw. 

“I don’t mean now, I mean ever,” she clarified.

He sighed and turned slowly onto the street that would lead to her house. 

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he told her. “You must know that I do, but…”

“What’s that thing Dad always says?”

He smirked, because she meant his dad and not hers. If his father had heard that he probably would have keeled over and died out of pure joy. 

But that was exactly the problem, wasn’t it? 

She didn’t just belong to him. She belonged to all of them, and they’d no sooner let her go than they’d turn their backs on him. 

“Everything would change, El,” he told her, “Everything.”

“Hasn’t it already?”

Chapter Text

“Okay so, Professor Thorne is…,” she prompted.

“He made my friend Jon cry once,” Robb noted as he clicked on a course titled History of Female Pleasure.

“Does Jon… have a weak constitution?,” she asked as she took her laptop back and closed out of that course.

“Oh my god Jane Austen…,” he chuckled, grabbing his own computer and typing in History of Female Pleasure and putting it on his alternates list, “No he does not have a weak constitution. He’s the toughest guy I know, though don’t tell him I said so when you meet him.”

It was Monday night and they’d begged off a party so that they could register for classes. They were lying on her bed, Parks & Rec on in the background, with both their laptops opened. Robb had already registered for a couple of his, prereqs for his business major, and she’d chosen the literature course that she wanted and had signed up for High Valyrian, but they both had a number of other courses to fill for the first semester. 

Robb had been a godsend all summer, answering all of the questions she asked - about the best time to study in the library and if there were any buildings that were off campus. When she’d gotten her freshman dorm assignment he’d taken one look at it and said Nope and had called the school and done a scarily accurate impression of her grandfather to have it changed. Coincidentally, he’d gotten her a large single room in the dorm closest to his off-campus house and the rugby field, but he’d assured her that it was the best one and that a friend of his would be her R.A. and would let her get away with anything. 

What kind of friend?

What do you mean what kind of friend?

Like a friend friend or a sex friend?

Um, a friend friend.

So you haven’t had sex with her?

Well I mean… Once, no twice. But she’s a friend friend.

You’re way too handsome for your own good, Wolf.

Surprisingly, I’m cool with it. 

But now it was time to really choose courses and she wanted to make sure that she chose right. She loved school and as excited as she was about parties and being away from her parents, she was really excited about her classes too. It felt luxurious that she’d get to study whatever she wanted for four years. Six if she decided to pursue a Master’s degree like she was planning to.

“Fine, so Professor Thorne is a no,” she said, scrolling down and looking at her other options for a history course. “How about Great Families of Westeros with Professor Luwin?”

“I was thinking of taking that too, actually, I took a class with Luwin last year and he’s great. He knows everything and he’s really cool, I mean, he’s like a thousand but…,” Robb trailed off and expanded the outline of the course. 

“We could be study buddies,” she told him, turning to look at him. 

His gorgeous face turned pink and he grinned, turning to her and saying, “If you think I’m going to let you copy my notes just because I like your body… you are absolutely right.”

She giggled and asked, gesturing down to her tank top and boxers covered form, “This body?”

“Hmm,” he said, moving her laptop away, “Let me double check…”

She grinned, all but groaning at how corny he was, and he tackled her backwards. 

He boxed her in completely, straddling her, and lowered his lips to her neck. 

“Robb…,” she sighed, tilting her neck to allow him better access, “These are due in two days…”

“More than enough time,” he assured her as he kissed her favourite spot behind her ear and making her see stars. 

“Off!,” she all but shouted at him. 

“Me?,” he asked in concern. 

“No, you ninny, your shirt,” she clarified, “Off, off, off.”

He chuckled and pulled off his t shirt. Her gaze wandered over his chest and abs, all but licking her lips. 

“You can’t just say that, you know,” he teased, “What if I commanded you take off your clothes?”

She grinned, “It’d be a nice change of pace from you ripping them.”

His face fell in mock-horror and he all but fell down on top of her, “That was one time.”

“Yeah well it was my favourite dress,” she pointed out.

“Mine too,” he grinned and kissed her lips. 

Professors and courses flew out of her mind as his lips wandered over hers. He had this way of kissing her that made her forget everything that wasn’t him. She opened her mouth and his tongue slipped against hers, his fingers tangling in her hair as hers explored his back. 

“We haven’t talked about it,” she told him, pulling away.

“Talked about what?,” he asked against her neck. 

“Our conversation…,” she started and he pulled away and looked at her, “On the way home… from the bar?”

He got off of her and sat with his head against her headboard. She sat up, smoothing her tank top and sitting criss-crossed facing him.

“I wasn’t sure that you remembered…,” he said after a moment. 

“Were you hoping I’d forgotten?,” she asked in a voice smaller than she would have liked. 

“No,” he shook his head, but he wasn’t looking at her. She waited patiently and he looked at her and repeated, “No, no of course not.”

“We don’t have to,” she said quickly, “If you don’t want to, I mean I…I j-“

“Ella, honey,” he all but grimaced and all of a sudden she was in his arms and being pulled into his lap. “I have failed completely.”

“At what?,” she wondered, because Robb Stark succeeded at everything he did. 

“At convincing you of just how utterly irresistible you are,” he sighed, leaning his forehead against her in frustration, “Which I’ve been working very hard at all summer.”

She giggled, “That wasn’t part of the deal…”

He grinned and looked into her eyes, nuzzling his nose against hers and all but cooing, “It was a side project.”

Warmth radiated through her body, all of her senses heightened. She’d been feeling it for weeks now, maybe longer, this overwhelming rightness when they were together. 

She’d fallen for him, plain and simple. And now, in his arms, it felt like it really all might be simple. 

“So… you want to,” she supplied.

“Oh,” he nodded, his voice dropping an octave and making her shiver, “I definitely want to.”

“If we did…,” she started and he pulled away from her and tucked some hair behind her ear. She leaned her cheek against his palm and he stroked it softly. “What…”

“Would it mean?,” he supplied for her. She nodded and he sighed, “Well, I think it’d have to mean that-“

“OH MY GOD!,” a voice shouted from the doorway. 

There, dressed to the nines, was her best friend and, at the moment inconveniently, Robb’s sister Sansa. 

“Dovey,” she started as she hopped out of Robb’s lap. “I can explain.”

“I knew it, I told him - I -“

“Told who?,” she asked her. 

Sansa looked at her, her blue eyes wide and a flush on her cheeks. Ella had a pretty idea of who he was but Sansa clearly didn’t want Robb to know so she didn’t press it. 

“Dovey, this isn’t what you think,” Robb told her, getting off the bed and pulling on his shirt. 

“So you’re not dating my best friend?,” Sansa challenged, crossing her arms. 

Which, if Ella was right about who he was, was just the tiniest bit hypocritical. 

Robb glanced at her and scratched his head, “Well um…”

“We don’t know,” she told her honestly, “I think we may have been in the process of sorting that out when you walked in here.”

Sansa chuckled harshly, “Well considering the fact that you were on top of him and his shirt was off I think you’re more than just friends.”

Ella felt a vicious blush on her cheeks and she looked down at the floor. 

“I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you,” she said, “But I just… It started so casually and we didn’t think you’d understand and if you really aren’t comfortable with it then we’ll stop but -“

“We will?,” Robb reared at her. 

She hadn’t been expecting ire to come from her left and she looked at him. She had never seen anyone look so hurt before and she wanted to take the words back, but she couldn’t. 

“She’s my soulmate,” she told him, tears flooding her eyes, “If it comes between her happiness and mine… I’m always going to choose hers.”

He chuckled harshly. It was a familial trait. 

“Yeah, El, and what about mine?,” he asked her.

“Robb, wait, please I just,” she went to grab his arm. 

She couldn’t explain to them both at once that they were the most important person in her life. But they were. Most people didn’t get one person that they’d tear their heart out of your chest for but she had two and right now she felt like she was being stretched on the rack between them. 

He shook out of her grasp and grabbed his laptop off the bed and stormed out. She and Sansa both watched him go in silence.

She felt a sob welling up in her body and all she wanted to do was run after him and tell him. Tell him that she wanted him and only him. That she wanted him to be her first because she was pretty sure she wanted him to be her last and she didn’t want to be a friend friend or a sex friend or anything other kind of friend except his girlfriend. 

But Sansa was still standing there and she deserved an explanation. 

“We didn’t tell you, because when things first started it wasn’t supposed to be anything,” she started, “We were… just… well the truth is I was kind of freaking out about having no experience and he offered to help because he didn’t want me being taken advantage of and -,” she broke off when Sansa started laughing. “What?”

Sansa’s face fell and she shook her head, “You think that’s why he offered?”

“He’s never lied to me, not once,” she told her.

Sansa nodded, “Maybe not, but he’s lied to me, and himself too I’d wager. For you.”

“Sansa I’m sorry I -“

“You know, El,” Sansa sighed, “I used to think you were the smartest girl I’d ever met.”

Ella flinched as though she’d been slapped. She’d seen Sansa’s coldness, the way she could wrap it around herself like armour, but it had never once been directed at her in eighteen years. 

And it beckoned her Baratheon temper.

“Like you’re any smarter, fooling around with Theon Greyjoy,” she said spitefully, regretting it instantly. 

Sansa opened her mouth and then shut it again. She shook her head and turned on her heel. 

But she stopped when she got to the door, “We aren’t fooling around. He loves me, and I love him. It’s why I came over here, I was going to bring you to his house. We wanted to tell you and Robb together, because the secret was killing us both.”

There were a million things she could have said but all she could think of was, “What does it feel like?”

“What?,” Sansa asked. 

“Being in love,” she answered.

Sansa offered her first genuine smile, her cheeks turning pink, “I don’t know how to describe what it feels like, but I’ll tell you one thing,” she said, gesturing to the bed where she and Robb had just been sitting, “I’ll bet it looks a lot like that.”

Chapter Text

Robb lay in bed and pressed play on the voicemail. 

Robb, it’s me. I’m trying to give you your space because I know I upset you, but please call me back. I… I felt like we were on the verge of something great and I mucked it all up. I… just call me back, please, I miss you.

He had it memorised by now, and he’d only received it that morning. It had been two days since he’d seen Ella, and every single second of each of them had been spent trying not to go over to her house. 

He scrolled over to the text messages he’d received from her. 

Please come back. 

I really want to talk about this, us. 

Can I come over?

I’m sorry I’ve been so pushy. I’m here whenever you’re ready.

The last he’d received a couple of hours ago. Each of them brought the usual spark of excitement that always accompanied a text from her, until he remembered and he was sobered once again. 

He was about to press play on the voicemail once again when his door opened. For a brief moment he thought it might be Ella, but his sister walked into the room instead.

“Hi Robby,” she said quietly.

He forced himself to sit up in bed, ignoring how difficult it was. His head felt heavy and foggy, his limbs weak. 

“Hey Dovey,” he managed.

“It’s a beautiful night out,” she noted.

“I know,” he agreed, “I was outside earlier.”

“When?,” she asked. 

He leaned his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes, yawning, “Yesterday.”

Sansa sighed and sat down on his bed. He slid back down until he was laying on the pillows. It felt better here. 

“I was just with Ella,” Sansa informed him, undeterred by the fact that he clearly had no interest in speaking with her or anyone else. 

“I’m glad you two made up,” he said honestly though. 

“Are you two going to?,” she asked him, but he remained silent. “She’s a mess Robb.” His jaw clenched and he gritted his teeth, ignoring the pangs in his heart. “She’s hardly gotten out of bed, but she asked me to give you these.”

His eyes opened on their own accord and he looked at what Sansa was proffering. 

It was a bouquet of wildflowers. Because of course it was.

He took them from her and felt warmth coursing through his veins. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked down at them, thinking of her picking them for him. 

Oh, so that’s why.

“You’re sulking,” Sansa pointed out needlessly.

“Brooding,” he corrected, like Jon always did when he accused him of the same. 

Sansa scoffed, “Okay Jane Austen.”

All at once he heard Ella’s bright, twinkling laughter and could practically smell her jasmine soap. 

“Sansa just… can you just leave me to figure this out on my own?,” he asked her. 

“No,” she informed him, “Because I have a very heartbroken best friend and if you were any other boy I’d be kicking your ass right now but the sad fact is that I love you and I’m worried about you so I can’t and it’s pissing me off.”

He chuckled, “I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” she pointed out. 

“I shouldn’t have hid it from you,” he conceded.

“You think that’s what I’m upset about?,” she wondered, rolling her eyes, “Game recognises game, I’ve been dating Theon behind your back since July 4th.”

He burst out laughing, imagining the pair of them going on dates. Theon picking Sansa up, holding her hand. Telling her she looked pretty without his usual cockiness. It was ridiculous. 

“Oh my god, thanks, Dovey I really needed that.”

“I’m not kidding,” she said with a straight face.

Too straight of a face.

“I’m sorry fucking what?,” he all but shouted at her, sitting back up. “You… and Theon. Theon Greyjoy. The guy who has girls saved in his phone by their bra sizes?”

Sansa’s face coloured in annoyance and she all but growled, “Not anymore.”

“He deleted them?,” he couldn’t help but ask. 

“I made him start with the double d’s,” she told him a bit smugly. 

He chuckled and shook his head, “I’m not okay with this.”

“Yeah well, that’s unfortunate for you, because we’re in love and we love you so you’re just going to have to get okay with it,” she informed him. 

If you really aren’t comfortable with it we’ll stop…

He’d heard it in his head over and over again. It had been like whiplash. Real, honest to goodness whiplash.

He’d been about to ask her to be his girlfriend. His first girlfriend, and hopefully his last. He’d wanted to tell her that he wanted to be her first, her only, that he was ready whenever she was but that he wasn’t going anywhere and they’d take it as slow as she wanted. He was going to tell her that he’d fallen for her. Plain and simple.

Except that it wasn’t. 

Because a part of him had been relieved when Sansa had walked in. Because Ella would be his first girlfriend but he wanted her to be his last and he was terrified that he’d screw it up, hurt her. 

And then she’d told Sansa that they’d stop if she wanted them to.

Whiplash, and again. 

“If only Ella had your fortitude,” he sighed.

“Oh fuck you, Robb,” Sansa practically spat at him. “Tell me you are not angry with her for that?”

“Sansa…”

“List me her best qualities,” she urged him and he shook his head. He had no desire to think about her best qualities, let alone list them. It was all he’d been thinking about. “Fine, I’ll do it. She’s generous, to a fault. Kind and empathetic. Selfless. Loyal. Are you seriously going to punish her for being herself?”

“Sansa,” he closed his eyes, trying to get the pain in his heart to dissipate. “I know how special she is. But it isn’t just that, I’m afraid that…”

“That what?,” Sansa asked in a kinder voice.

“That I’d hurt her, you know, that I’d grow bored, eventually, or get restless, the way I have with all the others… Roslin, the Jeynes, Marg…,” he trailed off, not even bothering to mention the girls at school. 

“You really have no idea, do you?,” she asked him, her eyes trailing over his face as though trying to solve a puzzle.

“About what?,” he wondered. 

“You say you understand how special she is,” Sansa started, “But you’ve never really thought about it, have you? You’ve never realised?”

“Realised what?,” he asked in frustration.

She smiled at him sympathetically, and took his hand in hers, “Why all of them look alike, and none of them look like her.”

*

The nights had grown cooler. August nights always did but it snuck up on him every year. There was a crispness in the air that made him think of falling leaves and new notebooks. Autumn had always rejuvenated him, the real start of a new year. 

He walked the familiar path, the one he could travel with his eyes closed without misstepping once.

He didn’t know what he was going to say when he saw her, all he knew was that there was a beautiful girl on the other side of this path and that he missed her more than he’d ever missed anyone in his whole life. 

He was trying to figure out how to tell her when he nearly bumped into someone. 

“Robb?”

“Ella?!,” he asked, as his eyes adjusted. “What are you doing out here by yourself?”

“I was coming to see you,” she said, “I know I said I’d give you space, I know I did but I can’t.”

There were so many things he could say to that but all he could think of was, “I don’t like you out here by yourself.”

“Good thing I’m with you then,” she pointed out a bit stubbornly in a way that made a smile tug at his lips. “Robb, I’m -“

“Let’s get you home,” he interrupted her, reaching for her hand. It felt like an icicle. “El you’re freezing!”

“I know,” her teeth chattered, “August always sneaks up on me.” He sighed and interlaced their fingers and started pulling her towards her house. He wrapped his arm around her after a minute because he could feel her shaking and it felt so good to have her in his arms once again that he wrapped his other arm around her too. “How can you see where we’re going?”

“I don’t need to,” he told her honestly. “I know the way by heart.”

“By heart,” he could have sworn she whispered against his shoulder. 

They were to her house in minutes, and it was now her who lead him up the back stairs. The house was dark and silent, her family gone once again, and he followed her wordlessly up the stairs, her brother’s cat following them dutifully.

When they got into her bedroom she turned to him and he saw her eyes rimmed in red, her nose slightly chapped. 

“Please forgive me,” she started, tears falling out of her eyes, “I’ve fallen for you so completely and I can’t stand this. I can’t stand it. And I know, I know that it wasn’t part of the deal, I know that. And I know you’re angry with me, but before you end it…,” she broke off, wiping her eyes and stepped closer to him, looking up him with her jadeite eyes, “Just… just please don’t end it.”

He leaned his forehead against hers and she held him by the back of his head, kissing his lips and his cheeks. 

“Do you remember, the night this all started?,” he asked and she stopped kissing him and nodded. “You told me that you weren’t my type. You weren’t wrong. I’d never been with anyone like you. But I realised tonight… well, Sansa kind of told me tonight… that there’s a reason for that.”

“Because you like big boobs?,” she guessed and he chuckled when he saw her small smile. 

“No,” he said, taking her face in his hands, “Because I never thought I was going to get you, and if I couldn’t have the real thing I didn’t want some knock-off version of you. So I went for your opposite. Because it was easier. It was easier than admitting…”

“Admitting what?,” she asked softly. 

“That I never really fell for you,” he told her and felt her tense up, so he pressed his lips to her forehead briefly, “Or if I did, it happened so long ago that I didn’t even realise it. You’ve just been there, honey, you’ve just been there in my heart this whole time and I was either too stupid or too stubborn to see it.”

“Probably a little bit of both,” she muttered and then looked up at him and grinned. 

He looked down at her, pushing some of her soft golden hair away from her face, his heart felt so full it was almost unbearable, “There’s something you have to know though.”

“What’s that?,” she asked bravely. 

“I love you,” he told her, the first girl he’d ever said it to and he knew then and there that she was going to be the last. “I’m in love with you.”

A delicious blush spread up her cheeks and she closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against his hand. All at once a slow smile overtook her face.

“I love you too,” she assured him, her eyes opening and looking into his, “I’m so in love with you.”

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. They were soft and warm and inviting and they wandered over his in the now familiar delicious pattern they’d created. 

They were all lips and fingers as he walked her back to her bed and tackled her onto it. 

“Robb,” she sighed as he kissed her neck, “You’re my boyfriend now, right?”

He grinned against her neck and then pulled away, “Yeah, that’s a pretty safe bet.”

“But you can still…advise me on things?,” she asked curiously. 

He chuckled, “Still have to update my CV, but sure, what do you need?”

There was no laughter in her eyes, only love and desire, and she grazed her knuckle against his cheekbone, “Teach me how to make love.”

“I can’t,” he leaned down closer to her, “I’ve never done that before,” he told her, grabbing her hand and raising it above her head and interlacing their fingers, “So we’re just going to have to learn together, is that okay?”

She smiled, “Yeah, Wolf, yeah, that’s okay.”

He took hold of her face gently, committing every detail to memory, the elegant slope of her nose, the delicate line of her cheek, her otherworldy green eyes and the long lashes that framed them, and finally down to her perfect bow lips. 

He leaned down and kissed her, and she kissed him back, sucking his bottom lip in the way that drove him crazy. They both reached for his shirt at the same time and he pulled it off, letting it fall to the floor. He pulled her up and pulled off her shirt as well, pressing kisses to her edible shoulders.

She fell back down on the bed and her hand came up to his abdomen, that always seemed to fascinate her, and it looked so small against him. 

“You’re beautiful, Robb Stark,” she said with a small smile. 

“Beautiful,” he said with a chuckle, “Do not talk to me of beauty, Ella Baratheon.”

She was wearing the light blue lace bra she’d tried on for him months before. The one that had almost made him stop it all because it was Ella and she was beautiful and perfect and innocent and he felt like a monster intent on corrupting her. He pulled off the offending garment, which he’d grown to adore, and pressed a kiss in between her breasts.

He took one in his mouth, letting his tongue lather her nipple. It peaked against him and she arched off the bed when he leaned back, not wanting to lose contact. 

He kissed his way down her body, kissing the beauty mark on one of her ribs that he’d loved ever since he’d first seen it. He pulled down her soft cotton shorts and pressed a kiss to the matching boyshorts. 

“Robb where are you going?,” she asked him. 

He looked up at her and grinned, his chin on her stomach, “Oh you know where I’m going.”

“I don’t… can you just use your fingers tonight?,” she asked and he could feel the stress rolling off of her. 

He moved back up her and took her cheek in his hand, “Of course, only what you’re comfortable with, you know that.”

In truth he was dying to bury his face in her cunt. He had done so a number of times since the first and he still wasn’t used to it, it was intoxicating, and he knew she enjoyed it. She didn’t seem to be enjoying the thought now though as she trembled lightly. 

“Honey, you’re shaking,” he said in concern, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” she said with strength in her voice, she wrapped her arm around his neck, “I just need you here,” she said and he let his forehead fall against hers, “If I can see your eyes I’ll be alright.”

He leaned in and kissed her reverently. She kept finding ways of telling him she loved him and he wanted them all greedily. 

He moved his hand down her body slowly, pulling out of the kiss and looking down at her so she’d know his intention. He pulled the underwear down her and his hand found her cunt and he let his fingers flutter over it lightly. She was wet and warm and when he let his finger enter her he remembered how tight she was. 

He dipped his finger in shallowly until her hips canted and then he gave her what she wanted and pushed it all the way in to his knuckle. All the while he kept his eyes on hers. 

It was the most intimate thing he’d ever experienced. Had been from the start. He’d told her once that her body told him everything he needed to know without her saying a thing, it was all in the flash of her eyes, the clench of her muscles around him, the hike in her breath. 

He got lost in her until there was nothing left but her eyes and the movement of his fingers and her sweet breath on his face. 

“Robb, I’m going to,” she warned. 

“I know,” he said and kept doing what he was doing, having added another finger. “I want to do this every night, god you’ve turned my world upside down. Come for me, it’s okay honey, that’s it, that’s Oh Ella,” he groaned as she came around his fingers. 

He removed his fingers and brought them to his lips, sucking them deeply. Had he not been hard as a rock before, that would have done it. She was sweet like no one else, and he craved her in a way he’d never really gotten used to. 

She pulled him and kissed him, pressing her naked chest against his, pushing him back on the bed and crawling on top of him. 

“Fuck El,” he groaned as she kissed and licked his pecks.

Her golden hair was splayed out on his chest as she kissed lower and lower, her hand wandering down and cupping him through his shorts. Her hand moved to unbutton them and then she reached her hand underneath his boxers and took hold of him. 

She nibbled his ear as she stroked him, more confident than she had been only moments before. She knew exactly how to touch him, and he groaned as he felt her tongue at his ear.

“El, stop stop stop,” he pleaded and she looked at him in surprise. He’d never requested that before. “I’m ready, are you?”

She nodded and he pushed her gently so that she lay on her back on the bed. He made quick work of his shorts and boxers and grabbed his wallet out of his shorts.

“What are you doing?,” she wondered.

He looked at her as he pulled a condom out of his wallet.

“I’m on the pill,” she informed him. “I… I want to feel just you.”

“Don’t you want to ask if I’m safe?,” he wondered, he knew he had a bit of a reputation. 

“You wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t,” she reasoned and he loved her faith in him, that he would do the right thing by her. 

He dropped the condom and leaned down and kissed her. She sucked on his tongue that he knew still had remnants of her on it. Her soft calf rubbed against his and she let her fingers trail down his back. Everything about her was so delicate and it made him feel like an animal. 

“I need you, Ella,” he whimpered, losing sense, “I need you right now.”

“Take me,” she pleaded, “Robb take me please I’m ready.”

He kissed her once more and moved so that he was in between her legs, repositioning so that he could place himself at her entrance. She arched her back, her legs falling on either side of him, her calves resting on his. He took himself in hand and pressed against her entrance. She was wet and so inviting and he moved inside of her a little bit. Her hands fell to his biceps and he looked at her but she nodded so he pushed inside of her another inch. He felt her body resisting his and he realised then that as much as he’d taught her she’d taught him just as much. 

So he kissed her cheek and her neck and he promised in her ear, “You’re doing so good, El, you feel so good.”

He felt her open for him slightly at the sound of his voice and he groaned as he eased in a bit further. He pulled out and then moved back in the same amount again, repeating it a few times until it started to get easier. He went a bit deeper and he knew he was nearing the point of no return and he eased back out once again. He hovered over her and she placed her hand on his cheek. 

“Robb, you have to hurt me a little,” she told him strongly, voicing his worries, “It’s okay.”

“Ella, I don’t know if I can,” he said, shaking his head incredulously.

He had dreamed of this moment since the first moment he’d kissed her, further back if he was being honest with himself, but now that it was here he found himself unable. 

“Of course you can, we’ll do it together,” she told him soothingly, and he felt pathetic. “I just need your help okay?”

He nodded at her and took her thigh in his hand. He moved in deeper and she canted her hips and she let out a little cry but all of a sudden their hips were against one another’s. 

“Are you okay?,” he asked her. 

She nodded, wiggling her hips and he saw stars. She moved to wrap her other leg around him and he went even deeper and they both cried out this time. 

“You’re inside me,” she said a bit incredulously.

“I know,” he nodded, brushing hair out of her eyes, “How do you feel?”

“You’re my first, Robb Stark,” she said happily, tears in her eyes, “It’s so perfect that you’re here with me.”

“Oh Ella,” he said and now tears were flooding his eyes as well. He hadn’t even cried during his first time, but this was Ella. His Ella, his golden girl and she was so soft and brave and his. “There’s no where else I want to be. There’s nowhere for me except with you. There never has been.”

“Show me, show me,” she pleaded and he wiped a tear off her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

He pulled out of her slowly and thrusted back in. She didn’t protest so he did it again. His eyes found hers after he’d gotten into a rhythm and he found that she’d been watching him for some time. 

He had been wrong. Because this was the most intimate thing he’d ever experienced.

Her breath hitched and so did his. He was overwhelmed, there was no way he’d last. 

He told himself it was for the best, that she must be in pain, that it was alright if he didn’t last so long this time around. 

“Robb,” she sighed delicately, “You feel so good, god do I love you.”

“Ella,” he groaned, “Say it again.”

“I love you, Robb, I love you completely and I’ve wanted, oh that feels good, this for so long,” she said softly. 

“Ella honey I’m not, I can’t go much longer,” he said. 

“That’s okay, I want you to let go,” she said, “I want to feel you come inside me.”

“Fuck Ella,” he groaned out as he spilled inside of her. 

He all but collapsed on top of her and she stroked her hand through his hair as he rested his cheek on her breast. If he was hurting her she didn’t say and she hummed softly as though trying to lull him to sleep. 

He remembered his first time. It was with an older girl, Ros. She’d been gorgeous and experienced and had held him just like this after, which had made him feel a little bit like a child but he’d been so pleased with himself it didn’t much matter. 

This was different though, so much different. She always told him how safe he made her feel, without realising that she made him feel the same. With her arms and legs wrapped around him, her delicate smell surrounding him, he felt safe and loved in a way he’d only ever felt with his family. It should have been strange, that, but it wasn’t, because she was his family. Always had been. 

They’d always belonged to one another, never more than now. 

He realised after a time though that she hadn’t said anything, and he realised that he had just made love to the girl of his dreams for the first time, but she’d just lost her virginity and her mind might not be quite as at ease as his. Plus she hadn’t had an orgasm.

“You’ll see, honey, it get’s better, you didn’t come this time around but we’ll learn each other and I’ll make you feel so much better.”

“It can feel better than that?,” she asked incredulously. 

“Of course it can,” he said, terrified that she wouldn’t want to try again. 

He’d still love her and everything and want to be with her of course, but he didn’t want that entirely off the table. 

“But…it…you,” she said, tears appearing in her eyes, “You felt good. It was…,” she said and her lower lip started trembling, “Perfect.”

He realised then his error. She’d felt like he was trying to take something away from her, something precious. He got off of her and pulled her into his lap, pressing kisses to her cheeks and temple. 

“It was,” he confirmed, but she looked skeptical, “I’m such a ninny- I didn’t mean it like that. Ella, of course it was perfect, for me. You are everything I’ve ever wanted and you felt so good, like you were made for me. And I’m so happy that it felt good for you too. I just… it was your first time. It can only get better from here.”

She seemed to believe him and rested her head on his shoulder. He let his fingers wander over her silky skin and they sat there for a little while. He’d always enjoyed this with her, the afterwards.

He enjoyed the during, of course, but while with other girls he’d always been ready to head out the moment everyone had come, with her he was never in any rush, choosing to stay over most nights and linger in the mornings. 

He really was such a ninny, he should have known that he was fucked. Just like Theon said.

Theon.

“Wait El, I know this is a really special moment and everything but I have to tell you something,” he said, “I can’t wait.”

“Okay,” she said and he could hear her grin.

“Theon and Sansa are together. Like together, together,” he informed her. She was silent for a moment. “I know, I was in shock too.”

She giggled and picked her head off his shoulder, turning to look at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. 

“Okay, now I have to tell you something,” she said, “I know. I’ve known for a while now.”

“Um.”

“Well okay, I’ve suspected for a while now,” she amended, “But I found out definitively the night Sansa caught us.”

“And you didn’t tell me?,” he asked. 

She fixed him with a look, “You weren’t answering any of my calls.”

“Right,” he nodded, and then mumbled, “You could have texted it to me.”

She let out one of her deep belly chuckles that always brought a smile to his face and leaned her head against his, “Alright, the next time I find out about one of your sister’s secret boyfriends, I’ll tell you who it is immediately.”

He groaned, because nobody had figured out who Arya was infatuated yet, even though he, Sansa, Theon and Ella had been actively trying to sort it out all summer long. He wasn’t really sure what it was about him and his siblings that made them all so secretive when it came to this stuff, but he’d set a better example for them from now on.

Because there was no way he was hiding that he and Ella were together. He couldn’t wait to tell his parents, his Dad would be so proud.

“I’m still not happy about it,” he noted stubbornly.

She trailed her hand over his forearm and sighed, “I was skeptical too, but you should talk to him. He’s so worried about how you feel.”

“You’ve talked to him?,” he asked.

“He came over with Sansa yesterday to try to cheer me up,” she said softly, “We sat out back and he told me everything, how it all happened, how he’d been wasting his time with other girls because he never thought he’d get the one he really wanted…,” she trailed off meaningfully, “And you should see them together. They’re really sweet. It’s not like the way she was with Harry, you know, pliant almost… she’s really strong with him, confident, and he’s total mush for her.”

He couldn’t really imagine Theon being mush, but if anyone was capable of turning him into it, it was Sansa.

“Fine,” he grumbled, “We’ll go to dinner with them tomorrow at the club.”

“Sounds very civilised,” she grinned and kissed his cheek, and then whispered in his ear, “Hey Robb?”

“Yeah, honey,” he whispered back.

“Remember what you were going to do…you know…before…,” she trailed off meaningfully yet again. 

He grinned, all thoughts of Theon and Sansa and everyone else gone, and tossed her back on the bed making her giggle. 

He crawled over her wolfishly and said, “You know, I was just thinking I was in the mood for something sweet. I was going to settle for one of your homemade cookies but this is so much better.”

He took her thighs in his hands and spread them, lowering his face to her.  

“I’ll have you know people love my homemade - Ohh Robb.”

Chapter Text

Ella smoothed her light blue skirt, making sure the matching tank top fell right, twisting this way and that. She tightened her ponytail and secured her gold studs before stepping into a pair of gold flats. She put on a bit of chapstick and grinned when she heard the doorbell ring. 

She bounded down the stairs, Ser Pounce at her heels as though he knew who was at the door just as much as she did. She sprung it open and there was Robb, wearing a light blue shirt and dark blue khaki shorts.

“We match,” she grinned, all but vibrating with excitement.

His smile matched her own and he shook his head, “You look so beautiful.”

“No you,” she argued and leapt into his arms.

He caught her easily and their lips met in a sweet kiss. They pulled apart and looked at each other and she went to kiss his cheek as he went to kiss hers. 

He squeezed her tightly, and said in her ear, “I missed you. It’s so annoying.”

She giggled, “I know, I missed you too.”

They’d only said goodbye to one another five hours earlier, but her stomach had been fluttering all day thinking of seeing him again. They’d stayed up late the night before and when they’d woken in the morning they’d been tangled in each other’s arms and their bodies had come together as though they’d been doing it their whole lives. 

They’d had breakfast on her back deck and then gone back inside and fallen back into bed, and it was only after they’d woken from napping that he’d decided it was time to go home. Though she’d convinced him to stay an hour longer yet. 

He set her down and stepped back and looked at her, “God damn it I’m a lucky man.”

She blushed but tugged him by the collar, “Trust me, baby, I’m the lucky one.”

It was true. He was the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen, all broad shoulders and square jaw, bright blue eyes that sparkled with mischief and desire and love when they looked at her. And he was good, so good, and smart and funny. And she loved him. God how she loved him.

Better yet, he loved her.

He blushed as well and then raised his eyebrows, “I have something for you.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” she told him. 

“I know, but I did so…,” he said and reached in his pocket and pulled out a small satin bag and offered it to her.

She took it from him, pressing a kiss to his lips and then opened the small bag. It was a delicate gold chain with a small pendant on it in the shape of a bouquet.

She looked down at it and grinned, running her finger over the gems. She should reprimand him, because she could tell that they were real, emerald and sapphire and amethyst, but she couldn’t seem to.

“Wildflowers?,” she asked in a small voice.

“Yeah well,” he said bashfully, “It’s going to get cold soon and they won’t be so readily available, so I thought that this might tide you over until springtime when I can pick them again.”

She felt a lump in her throat and she didn’t really trust herself to speak. She looked down at the necklace but all she could think of was tide you over until springtime. She knew he loved her, she could feel it, but that one little sentence was proof that they weren’t going to be like their friends who all fell in and out of relationships and one another’s beds. That he was thinking about them lasting. 

Maybe for forever, like she was. 

“Do you… do you like it?,” he asked which broke her out of her reflection.

She smiled at him, “I love it. And you. Thank you. Will you put it on me?”

He grinned, “Really?”

She scrunched her nose, “Of course really, you ninny.”

He chuckled and held his hand out so she placed the necklace in it and turned around. He stepped in close to her and wrapped the necklace around her neck, fastening it. His breath was on her cheek and she couldn’t help but lean back against his strong chest. 

It probably made it harder for him to fasten the necklace but he didn’t complain, and he laid it flat against her.

She turned back around so that he could see it on her. 

“It looks nice on you,” he told her and then grinned, “But everything does.”

She smiled and stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his cheeks, “I love the wildflowers you bring me, because they’re beautiful and special, but I love them most because you’re the one who brings them. It’s the you of it all that I love.”

“Let’s go,” he said, his voice taking on the deep quality that always sent shivers down her spine, “Before I drag you upstairs and keep you in bed for a week.”

There was something in his eyes, something she’d only seen glimpses of before, and it called to her in a way that nothing ever had. It was impossible to know if she was the moth or the flame but it didn’t quite matter when both would burn. 

She stood on her tiptoes and leaned in closer to him, delighting in the way his eyes trailed down her face, when they reached her lips she grinned and leaned closer still until their noses touched. She pulled away, her eyes on his all the while, and stepped by him out the front door.

“You little minx,” he chuckled, following her and giving her ass a smack. 

She giggled and he was all manners once again, opening her door and helping her into his truck. He drove them the familiar path to the yacht club, and she closed the window when she felt the nip in the air. 

He leaned back and grabbed something out of his backseat and handed it to her without looking. It was a soft, navy blue cashmere sweater, and she wrapped it around her shoulders. 

She slid over the seat and pressed herself against his side, and his arm came around her, warming her more than a sweater ever could. She wasn’t being sappy, he was just an actual furnace. 

She turned to look at him and he kept his eyes on the road. He always did when he drove her. Precious cargo, he’d called her once. 

After a moment he grinned, “What?”

“This spoiling me thing,” she said, letting her voice fall into the lilt he seemed to love, “Is it gonna last?”

“Who knows, honey,” he teased, “Guess you’ll have to stick around and find out.”

She pressed a kiss to his cheek and he tightened his arm around her. He slowed as they reached the long drive of the yacht club and the sign that read 5 miles per hour, no motorcycles, no buffoonery. 

He parked in the members parking lot and they both eased out of his side of the truck. He took hold of her hand and let her up the steps. 

Familiar members of the staff greeted them, and if they were surprised to see them hand and hand they were far too professional to show it. 

“Hi Des,” Robb greeted the maitre’d, “I made a reservation for four on the porch.”

“Of course, Mr. Robb,” the older gentleman said, “Miss Sansa and Mr. Theon are already outside. And hello to you, Miss Ella.”

“Hi handsome,” she grinned as they followed him out. 

As promised, Sansa and Theon were already seated at the corner table overlooking the water. They were seated with their backs facing the water and Robb’s hand tensed.

“Robb?,” she asked softly, waving to their friends. 

“That fucker thinks he gets to sit with his back to the water?,” Robb said through gritted teeth, “No, nope, no.”

She tried to reason with him, “It’s a kind gesture.”

“It’s a statement,” he corrected.

She rolled her eyes, “You’re being a crazy person.”

“You just don’t understand men,” he argued, “This is going on my family’s account. No matter what he says.”

“Wow, your Dad is really showing his Dad, huh?,” she teased. 

He clenched his jaw in annoyance but sputtered out a laugh. She grinned, tugging his hand and pressing her advantage.

“You won’t do any good by punishing him,” she warned him, “He makes her happy. That’s all you want.”

“Not all I want,” he grumbled and she dug the nail of her index finger into his palm because they’d made their way to the table. 

“Dovey!,” she exclaimed, trying to set the tone, “Oh my god that dress.”

“I know right?,” Sansa grinned, “Just put the finishing touches on it today.”

It was beautiful and feminine, just like Sansa. Light pink and sleeveless with a scalloped hem. 

She and Sansa embraced, kissing each other’s cheeks. 

“How’s he doing?,” Sansa whispered in her ear. 

“Just leave him to me,” she whispered back. 

Sansa released her and she went to greet Theon, “Captain.”

“Goldie,” he grinned, kissing her cheek, “Glad to see you back on your feet.”

Last year he would have said it teasingly, but there was an earnestness in his tone as he gripped her shoulder gently.

He’d been really sweet when he’d come to see her with Sansa, not bothering to tell her she was being silly or that she shouldn’t be moping. 

I knew he was sneaking around with someone. Never guessed it’d be you. 

What’s wrong with me?

Nothing, that’s the point. You’re not the kind of girl a guy hides. 

He’d told that he’d known whoever the girl was, she was someone special. That she’d turned his head in a way it never had been before. That he’d always thought they’d be great together and that she just had to have a little patience, because Robb was a Stark. Quick to anger, slow to think. 

That had gotten him a smack in the face with a pillow from Sansa, which he’d accepted with a grin before pressing kisses to her cheek and said Don’t worry, darlin’ you’ve got the Tully brain. 

“Me too,” she grinned, “Thanks.”

They settled into their seats, she taking the spot in between Theon and Robb, figuring that Robb would probably hold off on decking Theon until she and Sansa were out of the line of fire. 

“So,” Sansa started, picking up her menu, “I’m getting the sole muniere, what’s everyone else getting… WAIT, let me guess.”

She grinned, setting down her menu and sitting back in her seat, giving a proceed gesture. Robb and Theon both set their menus down as well, both of them turning to smile at Sansa. Though Robb glared at Theon before doing so. 

“Hmm…,” Sansa said, tapping a slender finger against her lip. Her eyes wandered over all of them, and then rested back on her, “Alright, El, you’re the easiest.”

“Don’t think that’s entirely true,” Theon joked. 

She and Sansa laughed but Robb didn’t, and she kicked his shin under the table. 

“What?,” he asked her. 

She fixed him with a look and he fixed her with one back. 

“Quit stalling, Dovey,” she challenged. 

Sansa narrowed her eyes, “You’ll start with a dry martini and the golden beet salad and have the crab cake appetiser as your entree.”

Robb and Theon both turned to look at her and she jutted her chin forward prissily, picking up her menu, “I haven’t quite decided yet.”

This time Robb did chuckle along with everyone and she placed her hand on his knee and smiled at him.

“Do Robb next,” she ordered. 

Sansa looked at her older brother and he looked at her challengingly back. She grinned and said, “He’s going to have the caesar salad to start, and a burger, rare with cheddar cheese and bacon on it, and an old fashioned - no wait, he’s driving Ella, a beer.”

She blushed and Robb’s mouth fell open. 

“You’re so weird,” he told his sister. 

She grinned, “You love me anyway. Ask for the truffle fries to go with them, because Ella will want some.”

Robb turned to look at her and raised his eyebrows. She grinned, “Pretty please?”

Sansa turned her attentions on her boyfriend, “Hmm, Theon Greyjoy, you’re the hardest…”

The old Theon would have made a joke about that. She glanced at Robb to see if he’d noticed. If he did he was refusing to look impressed by it.

Theon leaned towards her, resting his elbow on the table and his chin in his palm, “Go on, darlin.”

Sansa looked over him and then grinned, “Half a dozen oysters to start, the steak frites but you’ll substitute onion rings for the fries and a martini.”

“Hot damn,” Theon grinned, smacking his hand on the table.

“You’re driving her after a martini?,” Robb asked. 

Theon turned to him and shook his head, “No, we took the boat here. I figured you’d give us a ride back or we’d call Yara.”

“And Mom and Dad are having dinner in the dining room with the Glovers,” Sansa noted, more of an edge in her voice than Theon had, “He never drives me after more than a beer.”

“I never drive myself after more than a beer now either,” Theon all but murmured to her, tucking some hair behind her ear. 

Her expression softened and she turned to him and smiled, leaning into his touch, “That’s right.”

Her heart swelled looking at them. She never thought that Theon would look at any girl the way he was looking at Sansa, and she loved how strong Sansa was in his presence. She’d been so meek around Harry, so pliable, always nodding at whatever he said. But she challenged Theon, demanded more from him, and in doing so, made him someone worthy of her.

She just hoped Robb would see that in time. 

She glanced at him and found him looking out at the water. He was being such a grouch. 

“Well,” she said, “I was thinking that we should do something next Monday, before Theon leaves. Just the four of us. Maybe we could take the sailboat and go to Bear Island, bring a picnic or something?”

“Oooh I love that idea,” Sansa nodded eagerly, “Theon?”

“Definitely,” Theon nodded, and then looked across the table at his best friend, “Robb?”

Robb opened his mouth but then turned to her and said, “Sure, honey. Whatever you want.”

What I want is for you to be nice to your best friend. 

The waiter came and took their order, and she noted that Sansa had called it exactly right except that Robb did order an Old Fashioned. 

I’ll leave the truck here and will get a ride.

I didn’t ask. 

She and Sansa tried to engage both Robb and Theon in conversation, together, but it didn’t quite work. Everything Theon said, Robb jumped on, until Theon started doing the same. 

All the while, they were both being extra attentive to her and Sansa. Recalling all of their inside jokes, regardless of whether they made sense to the conversation or not. Theon told her how much he was going to miss her and Robb made Sansa promise to call him three times a week. Robb scooted his chair closer to hers when he ordered his second old fashioned and Theon asked the waiter for extra lemons for Sansa without prompting.

It was the strangest pissing match she’d ever seen between them, and she’d seen her fair share. 

“I’m um, going to go to the powder room,” she said, standing up, “If he comes back can you order me a jasmine tea, please?”

“Of course, honey. Want to split the lavender cakes you like?,” Robb asked her. 

She scrunched her nose, “You don’t like them.”

“No, but I like you,” he told her sweetly.

It made her want to punch him in the face. 

“Just the tea is fine,” she said instead. 

“I’ll join you,” Sansa said, hopping up. 

“I’ll miss you,” Theon told her.

“You’ll survive,” Sansa rolled her eyes and crossed to her. 

She hooked her arm through hers and they walked through the porch, waving at friends of their parents and friends of theirs. She dutifully stopped by her Uncle Stannis’ table and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. They went inside the powder room and she plopped herself on the couch. 

“Oh. My. God,” Sansa moaned, sitting down next to her. 

“It’s… somehow both better and worse than I expected,” she noted. 

“You weren’t the one being force fed onion rings!,” Sansa argued. 

She tried to be sympathetic, but, “I really wanted one of those onion rings.”

They were both silent for a moment and then Sansa let out a broken laugh and she joined in. Soon they were doubled over, laughing in horror at the boys they loved. 

“Wh-whe-when Robb started peppering your salad,” Sansa managed. 

She cackled, “Oh my- what about Theon and… and… and…”

“I know,” Sansa giggled. 

They both leaned back against the couch and she rested her head on Sansa’s shoulder, “They love you so much, Dovey.”

Sansa leaned her cheek against the top of her head and sighed, “I just wish they remembered that they love each other too.”

Ella nodded, taking her hand, “They will. It’s tough, for Robb, you know. He knows who Theon was before you.”

“But he knows who he was too,” Sansa pointed out, “And how you’ve changed him. Doesn’t he have faith in me? That I could change Theon too.”

“You know, Dovey, I don’t think I did change Robb. Not really. He’s always been like this with the people he loves. And he loves Theon, he’ll come around. You’ll see. They just need to bury the hatchet.”

Sansa was silent for a little while, and she just sat there, content to be sitting with her best friend while the boys they loved waited for them outside. 

“We could… help, you know,” Sansa said softly. 

“Help…how?,” Ella wondered.

“Harry’s at the bar, did you see him?,” Sansa asked almost casually.

“Dovey… what are you thinking?”

“Well, nothing unites an army quite so fast as a common enemy…”

Ella grinned, “I’m parched, I could really go for another drink. How about you?”

Sansa stood up and held her hand out, a mischievous smile on her beautiful face, “I thought you’d never ask.”

Chapter Text

Ella’s tea was getting cold.

He and Theon had each ordered another drink and were halfway through them. They’d been sitting in silence since the girls left. 

He took a sip of his old fashioned and all but slammed the glass down.

“They’ve been gone a while,” Theon noted.

“Yeah, no shit,” he agreed. 

“Just say it,” Theon growled at him, “Just say it so that we can get past this.”

He was so annoyed with everyone telling him to get over it. It wasn’t like he’d been sulking for a week, he’d only found out yesterday. 

He had to admit that Ella was right, Theon and Sansa were kind of sweet together. She was different with him than she had been with Harry, just like Ella said. Stronger, more herself. 

How could she pretend when he’d known her since she was born?

Even still, he didn’t like it. 

Theon was a great friend but was awful with girls. Robb knew that he hadn’t been a saint but he’d always prided himself on being better than Theon. And now his yardstick was dating his little sister. 

He could have almost forgiven Theon for loving her, if he didn’t think about how they’d gotten together when he didn’t.

“How did it start?,” he asked. 

Theon sighed, running his hand through his hair, “I um, was walking her home from a party. It was one that you and Ella weren’t at. Harry was there, you know they’d um… well I guess they’d been dating a bit, but he was there with Roslin. I was playing beer pong with Willem and she brushed by me crying so I followed her out. You know um… I didn’t want her walking home alone.”

“Because she was so much safer with you,” he growled.

“Fuck you, dude,” Theon spat at him, “You may hate me for dating her but don’t fucking say something like that. You know I’d never do anything to her, god how much of a dick do you think I am?”

Robb sighed and acknowledged, “Sorry, that was out of line. Keep going.”

Theon took a sip of his martini and set it down, “So anyway, we were walking back and I was trying to get her to tell me what had been going on, you know, figure out the degree to which we had to murder Harry, and she just… she was so sad. I couldn't understand it, I mean, I knew that she had feelings for him, but I didn’t think they went that deep.” He was tempted to cut in with Theon taking advantage of her feelings, but he bit his tongue, not being quite able to hurt him once again in spite of his anger. “Anyway, I got her laughing, I guess, and I walked her back to your house, talked to your parents for a bit and left.”

Robb glanced at him, “You left?”

“Yeah,” Theon nodded, “What was I going to do? She was your sister. So what if she’s the most beautiful girl in the whole fucking world. She’s your sister. So I left. And she texted me when I got home. And I got these… fucking… I don’t know it’s like every time she texted I got…”

“Butterflies?,” Robb supplied, thinking of how excited he got when Ella texted him. 

“Yeah,” Theon nodded, “It was so annoying. Anyway, you and I were supposed to go sailing the next day, but you cancelled. Don’t have to guess what you were doing now, and Sansa told me Ella was busy so I took her. We um, just hung out, and I don’t know, we talked and… and I just realised how much she’d grown up, you know? Not like… physically, she was just… she’s not a kid anymore and we got to talking about being down in the Reach together for school and how she wanted to come to parties at my school because hers would be all girls practically and I just thought about how difficult it was going to be to keep guys away from her and I said so and she got really angry at me. Like… so mad.”

Robb bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, because Theon looked terrified even now, “Why?”

“Because, and I quote I’ve never been properly kissed so unless you’re going to do it I suggest you leave me to it,” Theon said, perfectly impersonating Sansa’s haughty tone of annoyance. He glanced at him nervously though and went on, “And I told her You know I can’t do that. And she said, Because of Robb. And I said, Yes. And she said, He’s currently kissing my best friend every chance he gets, I see no reason why I shouldn’t do the same. And I was so confused, you know, because I didn’t believe her, that you and Ella were together though I obviously should’ve, that it took me a really long time to figure out what else she’d said. And I finally asked her, Wait, what? and then she kissed me. And my whole fucking world changed. I was going to ignore it, you know, my feelings for her. I’d had a crush on her for a while, how could I not? But she was off-limits, right? And then I realised how fucking fucked up that is… well, she kind of helped me realise that. You know, that she’s her own person, not just your sister, and isn’t it kind of backwards for me to think of her as your property?”

Robb chuckled, because it sounded like Sansa. She’d said as much to him before. 

“So basically you’re blaming it all on Sansa?,” he clarified though. 

“Yeah,” Theon nodded, “No matter how you look at it, it’s all her fault. Because the thing is, Robb, I love you, you’re my best friend, and I’d do anything for you, apart from one thing.”

“Giving her up?,” Robb guessed.

“Yeah,” Theon sighed, “You know, um, things have changed. My loyalty is to her now. I love her, man, I really fucking love her, and I’m sorry if that pisses you off but it doesn’t change anything. She comes first.”

Robb finished his drink. 

“Fine,” he sighed, “I’m over it.”

“Really?,” Theon grinned.

“Yeah,” he nodded, because all he wanted for Sansa was someone who put her first. Who’d stand up to anyone, anything for her. Even him, apparently. “But if you so much as look at another fucking girl I swear to god.”

Theon chuckled, “No worries there. She owns me, it’s…demeaning.”

Robb nodded, so excited that someone else was experiencing it too, “Right? Like… why can’t I even find other girls hot now? It’s so obnoxious. You were right, by the way. With Ella? I’m totally fucked.”

Theon finished his drink, “Yeah um, on a different night I definitely want to hear about how that all started because good god I never thought you’d get the balls to do it.”

Robb scoffed, “Excuse me?”

Theon rolled his eyes, “You’ve loved her for years.”

“WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS?,” he all but shouted at Theon. 

“Because we thought you knew,” Theon explained, which was kind of fair enough. 

Robb glanced at Ella’s tea, “Where are they?”

“Probably hanging out in the bathroom until we kiss and make up,” Theon guessed. 

Robb nodded and waved to a female waitress, she came over and he said, “I think our dates are in the bathroom, could you tell them it’s safe to come out now?”

She furrowed her brow, “Your dates? The blonde and the redhead?,” he and Theon nodded, and she gave them a sympathetic look. They wouldn’t have left, would they? Yes, of course they would have, to prove a point. “They’re at the bar…”

Theon chuckled, “Can you please ask our waiter to put this on 2211?”

Robb shook his head, “1278.”

She rolled her eyes, “I’ll split it.”

Both he and Theon stood up, thanking her, and walked across the porch. They waved to a few people they knew, and he had to actively stop himself from walking over to Ella’s Uncle Stannis and punching him in the face for being such a shit Dad. 

Theon patted him on the back though and they kept walking into the bar. 

He expected to find Sansa and Ella there, a pair of martinis or glasses of rose in front of them, looking very pleased with themselves. 

Instead, he found them talking to Harry and Trystane.

“Well, well, well,” Ella grinned at him, “Look who it is.”

“Your tea got cold,” he informed her and her smile widened. 

Annoyingly it beckoned his own.

She held up her martini, “I was in the mood for something stronger.”

“And you?,” Theon asked Sansa. 

“Me too,” his sister said, taking a casual sip of her martini and winking at Theon.

“Which is why they found us,” Harry said stupidly, and then ran his hand down Sansa’s arm, “Isn’t it, gorgeous?”

His stomach churned in annoyance and he glanced at Theon who was clenching his fists. 

Ella’s eyes went wide and she turned to Harry and Trystane and said, “Well you know, it’s been fun catching up and everything but… we should be heading out.”

With that she tugged on Sansa’s arm and moved to walk towards them. 

“Woah, woah, woah,” Harry shook his head, stepping in front of her, “You can’t just leave.”

“Actually I can,” Ella argued, and Harry made the dumbest move of all and tried to stop her with his hand on her arm. 

He crossed the short distance to him and turned him around, “Keep your hands off her. Unless you want to lose ‘em.”

“Robb,” Ella interjected. 

Harry grinned at him though and released her, “What are you going to do about it, Stark? Because the way I see it, you’re an awful lot of talk.”

Robb chuckled, and Harry shoved him. He was about to deck him when Theon stepped in front of him. 

“Listen up, Hardyng, hitting on Sansa? Bad move. Grabbing Ella? Bad fucking move, man. Now you’re going to push my boy? You’ve got a death wish, don’t you? Touch any of them again and I will fucking end you,” Theon promised, his forehead against Harry’s. 

Harry looked for a moment like he’d do it. Harry wasn’t the type to back down from a fight and neither was Theon, and neither was he for that matter, but he wasn’t particularly keen to have to explain to his parents why they were no longer welcome at the club. 

“Come on,” he said to Theon, grabbing his arm, “He’s not worth it. He’s just bullshit because he knows he’ll never get another chance with them.”

Theon chuckled, and pushed Harry to the side, placing his body in between him and the girls. Sansa and Ella walked by, their eyes downcast. 

Trystane spoke for the first time, “Ella, I’m sorry.”

Robb glanced at him, he really did look sorry. He could have come to Harry’s defence, but he hadn’t. 

Robb felt Ella’s hand slip into his and she said to Trystane, “You’re a good guy, Trystane,” and then she tugged on Theon’s shirt sleeve, and added, “You just need better friends, that’s all.”

He pulled her hand and placed his other on Sansa’s back, pulling and pushing them forward towards the exit. He glanced back at Ella who was still holding onto Theon’s shirt sleeve, clearly not trusting that they’d follow behind. 

They walked out of the club into the cool August air, and he settled his sweater around Ella’s shoulders. 

“Ladies,” Theon sighed, “I think you owe us an apology.”

Robb furrowed his brow at him but then glanced at Ella and Sansa who were both looking at the ground. 

He crossed his arms, not totally understanding yet but also not willing to risk the chance to lord whatever it was over them. He never had the upper hand with either of them.

“Well?,” he asked stubbornly, because he didn’t have anymore information. 

“Well Sansa thought -,” Ella started but stopped when Sansa smacked her arm. He and Theon glanced at each other and he could tell that Theon was trying not to smile just as much as he was. “We thought that… if you saw someone you really didn’t like… you might… remember… that you like each other?”

Robb’s mouth fell open, “You set us up?”

“Only a little,” Sansa said softly. 

He was fully intending to milk it a little longer but Theon sputtered out a laugh. The girls looked up at him and grinned, and they both looked so hopeful that he couldn’t help but laugh as well.

In truth, it was a pretty good plan. 

Ella hopped into his arms and he caught her to him, “Will you forgive me?,” she asked, cocking her head to the side and looking up at him with her jadeite eyes.

“Anything,” he told her honestly, though unintentionally.

“Anything?,” she asked softly, a small smile on her face. 

He nodded, because he understood what Theon meant. She’d changed him irrevocably. Loving her, being loved by her. He’d never recover from it. There was nothing she could ever do that he wouldn’t forgive. 

Least of all this. 

“So Theon and I kissed and made up…,” he told her and leaned closer to her, “When can we?”

Her eyes trailed down to his lips and then back up to his eyes, “Take me home and teach me something new.”

He was too busy calling an uber to much mind Sansa gagging in the background.

*

“Robb,” she sighed against his lips, squealing and giggling as he banged her up against the door by accident. “You do realise you just tanked your uber rating.”

He grinned, turning her around so that she could unlock the door, “Worth it.”

There was no one around, her family was all gone, once again and the driver couldn’t wait to get rid of them. It was dark, and they were alone. 

“Robb!,” she admonished as his hands wandered up her body and took hold of her breasts. He pulled her back against him, kissing her temple, rubbing her breasts. “We’re outside.”

“No one’s around,” he pointed out, his chuckle half breaking as she pressed her ass against his cock, “Fuck Ella.”

She reached behind her and wrapped her arm around his neck, grinding against him, “What’s wrong, baby? No one’s around…”

“You used to be so shy,” he groaned, covering her hand in his over the key and turning it, all but pushing her inside. 

She turned around and grinned, pushing him against the door playfully. She leaned her body against his, looking up at him with wide eyes. 

“Is that what you want?,” she asked, “Your shy, innocent, flower?”

He pulled her by the back of her head and kissed her deeply. She let her tongue slip against his as she started unbuttoning his shirt. He reached around her top, searching for buttons or a zipper anything to get it off but found nothing. He groaned in frustration and she giggled against his lips. 

She pushed out his arms and gave him a small smile, taking hold of her shirt and showing him the zipper that seemed to go up one side. She raised her eyebrow meaningfully at him, so he continued unbuttoning his shirt. She dragged the zipper up slowly and he took his shirt off fully. 

Her eyes wandered down his body hungrily, and she pulled her shirt over her head.

He was rock hard when he realised she was wearing the black thing, his favourite. All lace and low cut, and he knew that her perfect ass cheeks would be peeking out a little. 

“You’ve been wearing that all night?,” he asked her. 

She nodded, walking towards him once again, her fingers scratching his chest hair, “I got so wet thinking about you seeing me in it.”

“Is that right?,” he asked her, his hands wandering up the backs of her legs, underneath her skirt. He gripped her butt, smacking it once, and then moved one of his hands in front of her and pressed it against her cunt through her panties. She was dripping. “What else were you thinking about?”

“You never answered me,” she reminded him. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist, unzipping her skirt and letting it drop to the floor, “I want you, Myrcella Penelope Baratheon. Priss. Goddess. Wildflower. I’ll take any version of you that I can get, because I love you and you drive me fucking crazy.”

She pressed a kiss to his chest, and another, her fingers unbuckling his belt and then unbuttoning his shorts. She unzipped them as her tongue licked around his nipple, and he his hands disappeared in her hair because all he wanted was for her to keep doing what she was doing. 

She pulled his shorts down, but when her fingers when to the waistband of his boxers he stopped her. 

She looked up at him in confusion, which was fair because he’d never stopped her before. 

“Aren’t you sore?,” he asked. 

They’d had sex four times between last night earlier today, and though he’d tried to be gentle he had to imagine she was in a bit of pain. Especially after she’d gotten on top of him. 

Which wasn’t a good thing to think about when trying not to have sex with your girlfriend.

“A little,” she admitted. 

He was about to tell her that they could just hang out, kiss, watch a movie. He was going to ask her if she wanted him to run her a bath, he’d even take one with her if she wanted. 

But then she dropped to her knees. 

“Ella?,” he gulped. 

She looked up at him and she was the Ella from two months ago. The one who’d worried she wasn’t a good kisser. The one who couldn’t seem to understand why he wanted to kiss her in the first place. 

“I told you I wanted you to teach me something new,” she reminded him. And pulled down his boxers. “You’ve never asked me to do this.”

He wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to have a coherent conversation when he was standing in his girlfriend’s foyer completely naked, while she was wearing sexy lingerie and his dick was an inch from her perfect mouth and she was looking up at him with pleading eyes. 

“I um…,” he tried, closing his eyes, “I didn’t want to…holy fuck,” he whimpered as her hands moved up his thighs. He felt like a virgin in front of a goddess. “I didn’t want to pressure you.”

“But you want me to, right?,” she asked softly. 

“Yes,” he said, his eyes opening, “Yes, fuck yes.”

“Just tell me if I do it wrong,” she pleaded and he nodded.

She kept her eyes on his as she opened her mouth and took his tip inside. He moaned as he felt her wet tongue against it, and she took it for the encouragement it was and took more of him in. 

She slid off of him with a pop and he groaned, and she let her lips glide over him again, taking him further, so far that he felt himself at the back of her throat. She gagged a bit. 

“Not so, you don’t have to,” he couldn’t speak coherently. 

She leaned back and shook her head, “I can’t fit you all the way. You’re too big.”

“God damn it you’re going to make me come,” he said through gritted teeth, “Your hand. You can use your hand.”

She looked down at her palm and then, to his immense surprise, spit in it. He’d never seen her spit in her entire life. Even when she brushed her teeth in front of him she placed her hand on the side of her face so he couldn’t see. 

For some reason it was incredibly sexy. 

She took him back in her mouth and her hand wrapped around the base of his cock and she started moving back and forth. Her mouth was warm and wet and her hand firm around his cock just the way he’d taught her. 

“Fuck, Ella,” he moaned, “So fucking good, honey.”

Her mouth became like a suction cup and he couldn’t help but arch his hips against her. He was about to apologise to her but his little minx smiled around his cock, her hand reaching up to hold his balls. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, I’m going to come, stop, stop, stop,” he pleaded, but she just kept going. “Fuck I can’t-“

He released into her, gripping her hair, and she kept sucking him until he stopped. He pulled on her hair as gently as he could and she looked up at him and slowly pulled off his cock. 

He hissed, he’d never been so fucking tender in his whole life, and she looked up at him in concern.

“Was that okay?,” she asked softly, rubbing his leg comfortingly. 

He stroked his hand in her hair and leaned his head against the door, trying to catch his breath. 

She pressed a kiss to his thigh, her eyes locked on his face. 

He knelt down and took her cheek in his hand and kissed her gently. She kissed him back, her mouth closed and he pried them open. He could taste himself on her lips but he was surprised that he didn’t mind. 

He kissed her and then leaned his forehead against hers. 

“More than,” he confirmed, “I’m not um… thinking straight right now but yes.”

She smiled and kissed him again and then pulled away, “Good, but next time remind me not do this on a marble floor.”

He looked down at her and saw her and winced, “Oh honey…”

“I’m okay,” she smiled. 

He scooped her up in his arms and she wrapped hers around his neck. She stroked her hand through his hair and leaned her cheek on his shoulder. 

“Robb?,” she asked softly.

“Yeah honey?”

“You really don’t mind, do you?,” she asked.

“Carrying you? No,” he told her honestly, as he padded down the hallway to her bedroom. 

He loved holding her.

“No,” she said, lifting her head off his shoulder and looking at him, “That I’m not… you know… as soft and innocent as I used to be.”

His brow furrowed and he laid her down on the bed, sitting next to her. He tried to think of what to say in answer to that, but he couldn’t, because he didn’t understand. 

“Who said you’re not?,” he wondered, his knuckle trailing down her cheek. 

“You did,” she pointed out. 

“No,” he argued, because he had never, would never say that. “I said you weren’t shy anymore. And I was teasing you mostly, but you aren’t, with me. And that’s good, you know, I think because some of that shyness came from not being certain… about how I felt, or being afraid that I might not want you. So I’m glad you’re not shy with me anymore, because that means that you’re comfortable and… secure in that.”

She nodded, taking his hand, “I am… it… I can feel it, all the time now. It’s wrapped around me like a blanket. I’m surer of it than anything else in this world.”

“But honey,” he went on, because this bit was important to him, “Your softness? Your innocence? That’s not tied to sex. That’s who you are. You know, this isn’t the middle ages, I didn’t take your virtue or anything,” he told her and she giggled. “Your body may be perfect, Ella, but your heart is pure.”

She looked up at him and a tear fell out of her eyes. He wiped it with his thumb, and she held his hand and wrist and pressed a kiss to his palm. I love you she whispered against it. 

I love you he mouthed to her. 

He looked down at her, and let his hand wander over her lace covered abdomen. 

“I can’t believe you were wearing this all night,” he grinned. “If I’d known…”

“What would you have done?,” she asked. 

He glanced at her and there was a challenge in her eyes, heat simmering there. He trailed his hand up her body and took hold of her throat lightly. Wildfire exploded like it always seemed to when he did this.

They hadn’t explored it yet. It had been less than a week ago since he’d smacked her ass for the first time. But he could see it. Her desires a perfect companion to his. Naturally. 

He tightened his grip slightly and she gasped.

“Do you really want to know?,” he wondered. She nodded. He squeezed gently, “Answer me, honey.”

“Yes,” she pleaded, her hips rising off the bed ever so slightly. 

Anyone else might have missed it, but at this point he’d probably notice if she lost a single eyelash. 

“I’d have taken you in the bathroom, or a coat closet, and slid your panties to the side,” he told her. She bit her lip, her fingers scrunching in the sheets, “And had my way with you.”

“We’d get caught,” she prompted him. 

He grinned slightly and leaned over her and whispered in her ear, “I’d have covered your mouth, so nobody could hear the way you moan for me.”

“Robb,” she whimpered.

He looked down at her. Her cheeks were flushed, as was her neck. Her nipples were peaked. And she was rubbing her legs together.

“What do you want, El?,” he asked her. 

He knew, but he wanted to hear her say it.

“Touch me, touch me please touch me,” she begged.

He shifted so that he was straddling her. His hand still on her throat and he squeezed her breast with the other, a bit harder than he usually might. She moaned, louder than she usually did. 

He moved his hand down her body and cupped her over her panties. She really was soaking wet and he could feel the heat of her.

“Fuck El,” he groaned, slipping her panties to the side and rubbing her. 

He pushed a finger inside of her, tightening his grip on her neck as he did. 

“Ow,” she whimpered in pain. 

He removed his hands from her immediately, pushing her hair off her face as gently as he could. 

“Honey, did I hurt you? I’m so sorry, I thought you were enjoying it but I pushed too far I’m so sorry.”

“No,” she shook her head, “No I did. I just… I am really sore, I guess.”

He looked down her body and could see her legs clenched together. 

“Can you sit up, please?,” he asked and she did. 

He knelt above her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, before easing the straps of her lingerie down. He pushed her back down on the bed gently and pulled it down her body. 

He stopped so that he could press a kiss to her breast, taking her nipple in his mouth and sucking on it. He felt her hands in his hair so he moved to the other, kissing underneath her breast and the side, all the spots of her that he’d learned were sensitive over the past couple months. 

He continued pulling it down and she raised her hips slightly. He got off of her for a moment so that he could pull it off entirely. He lifted her legs, nipped her heel, trailing his fingers over her thigh.

He pulled her thighs opened and looked at her. She was glistening for him, pink and perfect. He laid down on his stomach though and looked, and he could see that she must be sore. 

He pressed a whisper of a kiss to her and she gasped. 

“Did that hurt?,” he wondered.

“No,” she told him, “It felt good.”

He hooked her legs more firmly over his shoulders, his hands moving up her body to rest on her stomach and he pressed his lips to her again. He licked at her, tasting her sweetness and he heard her delighted sigh. 

He felt her hand take hold of his and he interlaced their fingers, his tongue searching for her pearl. He found it easily and her nails dug into him when he sucked on it. 

He pulled back, kissing her softly, his tongue wandering over her. 

He looked up at her and groaned. Her back was arched, her head thrown back against the pillows, one of her hands holding his and the other squeezing her own breast. 

He found her pearl again and ran his tongue over it and she cried out, in pleasure this time, so he did it again. And again. And again. 

“Robb,” she cried. 

He could die now a happy man. Her thighs on either side of his head, his name tumbling from her lips like a prayer. 

He gave her pearl one final suck and her legs lifted off his shoulders, her head off the bed entirely as though she was going to curl in on him completely and she came in waves, the hand that had been on her breast abandoning it in favour of his hair. 

He licked her through her aftershock and right into another orgasm. He’d never given her two in a row before and she let out a surprised cry.

She collapsed on the bed, completely limp, rolling into the fetal position.

He crawled up her boy and lay behind her, pulling her into his arms, kissing her shoulder. 

“I thought that was an urban legend,” she said when her breathing had steadied, though her heart was still racing. 

“What?”

“Multiple orgasms,” she said and then let out a delighted laugh, her body pressing against his, her cheek nuzzling his. “Oh my god, Hoster, it’s a good thing you’re a good guy.”

He grinned at her use of his middle name and hugged her tighter.

“Sure is, Penelope,” he agreed, “Otherwise I wouldn’tve gotten you.”

“Otherwise you could do whatever you wanted with me,” she corrected and he pushed himself up slightly so he could look down at her. She looked up at him and stroked his cheek and jaw. “You have such power over me, haven’t you noticed?”

He nodded, because he had and he’d never lie to her if he could help it. He kissed her wrist. 

“I know, I’ve…I’ve noticed, and I have to be honest, I like it. But the thing is, El… it’s you who has the real power over me,” he told her, “I notice everything about you, every single thing, the flicker of your eyes, the catch of your breath, and I would never do anything to hurt you. I don’t want to, of course, but it’s more than that. I can’t. My body won’t let me. Every bit of me is loyal to you,” he thought about what Theon had said, “And you will always come first.”

She wrapped her arm around his neck and tackled him back to the bed. Her legs fell on either side of him and she leaned her head against his chest. 

“Promise me something,” she asked. 

“Anything,” he agreed, his fingers trailing up and down her back. 

“End it,” she sighed, “The minute you stop feeling that way. The moment you stop loving me this way. End it. I never want to know what it is to have you and have lost you at the same time.”

It was the easiest promised he’d ever make. It’s easy to promise a solution to a problem that will never happen. 

She didn’t want to hear that though. She’d press him on it. Remind him they were young. She’d tell him that her looks might go, or she could end up just like her mother. She’d tell him that he had no idea who they were going to be five years from now or ten and she wouldn’t want to hear that every version of him would always love every version of her. 

She didn’t want his assurance that he’d love her forever. She wanted him to promise that he’d never put her through the pain of being with him when he didn’t. 

So he simply said, “Promise.”

Chapter Text

The landscape had turned beautiful once again about an hour before. They’d been on long stretches of boring highway for hours. She’d fallen asleep for some of it but Robb had nudged her leg and she’d woken in another world.

She’d loved The Vale for as long as she could remember. Her mother had wanted her to go to university in King’s Landing, like she and her father and her brothers, like Joffrey, but Ella had always wanted to come here. 

She’d been raised on stories of it, the place where Ned and her father met. The drunken nights and the time they’d lead a search party in the snow. All the stories made her think of cozy sweaters and snow boots, crackling fires and rugby games won in the snow. Hearing them was like looking at a vintage photograph, everyone slim with ruddy cheeks and bright eyes, an innocuous moment captured for eternity.

“Which mountain is best?,” she wondered.

“I think Arryn is my favourite,” Robb said and Ned nodded in agreement from the driver’s seat. Robb turned around from his place in the passenger seat and explained, “But we’ll get you a freedom pass that allows you to go to any of the mountains. You can sign up for it during orientation.”

“I need new boots,” she told him, “Mine hardly made it through last winter.”

“Your poles are shot too,” he agreed, “We’ll get you all set up. I want it to be a fair fight when I leave you in the dust.”

Ned chuckled and she leaned her head in between the two seats, and turned to him, “Are you going to let him speak to me that way?”

He grinned, but his eyes stayed on the road, just like his son’s did when he drove her. He switched lanes, shaking his head when another car sped past them. 

“He’s full of shit and he knows it,” Ned assured her, “He’s been following you down the mountain since the winter you learned to ski.”

Robb guffawed and she turned to look at him and he shrugged, “Just admiring the view I guess.”

She giggled and leaned back, pulling her hair into a bun on the top of her head. It was by no means her first road trip with these two, but it was her first just the three of them. Usually she and Sansa were in the way way back, talking or listening to one of their playlists, each with one earbud. 

But Sansa had left for Highgarden the week before and had already started classes.

Ned and Robb were the best consolation prizes she could imagine though. She loved Ned, always had. He and her father had fallen out over the years, and she suspected quite a bit of it had to do with her, but he’d always treated her like one of his own children.

When she’d gotten into The Vale she’d surprised him at his office. He’d been in a meeting and she’d told his secretary that she could wait, but she’d simply said He always wants to be interrupted for one of his kids. He’d come out into the hall and she’d told him and he’d whooped and picked her up, swinging her around like she was no more than a girl of six. He’d apologised to his colleagues and left for the rest of the day, taking her out for an early dinner where they’d spent the whole time discussing what her four years could look like and her pestering him for details of his own college experience. 

The next day a sweatshirt had arrived from the campus store along with a note. 

Ella, 

There was never any doubt in my mind that you’d get in, there has never been any doubt that you will achieve everything you want to. 

Even still, I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you how very proud of you I am, and how special it is to share in your successes. 

Robb will be there to look out for you, but if you run into any trouble, you know I’m just a phone call away. 

I love you, angel, and I always will. 

Ned

“How are you doing, angel?,” Ned asked, glancing at her in the rearview. 

“I’m okay,” she lied. “Cool as a cucumber.”

Robb and Ned shared a glance and chuckled, seeing right through her. She knew that she would be fine, ultimately. But college was a big deal, a big step. 

“If it makes you feel any better,” Ned told her, “I had to pull over and get Robb a drink about a half hour out last year.”

She giggled and all but shrieked, “WHAT?!”

Robb glared at his father, his cheeks red, “Thanks Dad.”

“Anytime, son,” Ned chuckled. “The point is, it’s okay to be nervous. It’s a big step, but you’re ready for it. I just don’t know that The Vale is ready for you.”

Robb turned to her, a grin now on his face. Ned’s pep talks were notorious amongst his children. They were usually peppered with cliches but none of them much minded, because it was impossible not to believe in yourself when he believed in you.

She sighed, “I guess, I guess I’m just mostly worried that my clothes won’t all fit.”

Both Ned and Robb let out a howl of laughter, Robb turning around.

“Now that is a legitimate fear, angel,” Ned agreed, “I’m a bit worried about that one myself.” 

She and Eglantine had worked really hard to downsize, leaving some of the more ridiculous garments that her mother had purchased for her at home, but even still, 90% of the baggage in the truck was hers. In her defence, Robb had moved a lot of stuff into his house after freshman year, but still.

“Don’t worry, honey,” Robb said, typing something on his phone, “Whatever doesn’t fit in your room, we’ll just put in my closet.”

It was said so unceremoniously. As though that were the obvious solution. As though he’d already thought about it and it seemed perfectly normal that some of her clothes would be at his home. That she could treat his closet like her own. 

She wondered if he’d ever run out of ways to tell her he loved her. 

She sincerely hoped he didn’t. 

“Okay,” she said, just as casually.

Robb didn’t seem to think anything of it, but Ned caught her eye in the rearview. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes crinkled at her and she knew that he knew too. What it meant and how it made her feel. That he was happy they’d finally found one another in the way that they were always meant to. That neither of them could’ve chosen better. 

She took a deep breath and looked out the window, smiling to herself. 

It was always impossible not to believe in yourself when he believed in you.

*

“This is…,” she started.

“A dump,” Ned finished for her. 

The house in question was an enormous colonial, with a large porch out front. Fifty years ago it had probably been rather impressive, but years of students living in it had turned it into a decaying skeleton. 

“I love it,” she grinned, meaning it.

Robb turned to her, a small smile on his face, “I know, right? It’s perfect.”

She nodded and followed him into the house, his backpack slung over her shoulder. She had been upset at first that Catelyn wouldn’t be coming with them to move them in, but now she was grateful. She would have had a heart attack.

But Robb was right, it was perfect. They had their whole lives to live in shiny high rises and sprawling, maintained, mansions. But for now, this was exactly right. A house that had seen enough horrors that they wouldn’t crumble it.

Ned followed behind with a duffle of Robb’s, and grabbed her arm as she went to walk up the stairs. She turned and smiled at him and he gave her a sheepish smile as the staircase creaked underneath them. 

Robb unlocked the door and all of her support went right out the window as she stepped outside.

“Oh my god, it reeks,” she groaned, plugging her nose.

Robb chuckled and then let out a howl. From all corners of the house, howls returned and then a stampede of boys ran into the foyer from more directions than she could have imagined.

There were five of them in total, all in various states of dress. Or undress really. Ned dropped Robb’s duffle and then went back out to the car to grab the last of it, and probably to give Robb a minute to greet his friends alone. She wondered if she should do the same.

One, wearing a lacrosse pinny and sweatpants stepped forward and shook Robb’s hand. He was enormous, with sandy brown hair and three days of scruff on his face.

“Grenn, how’s it going?,” Robb asked.

“Good, good man,” Grenn nodded, glancing curiously at her.

She smiled at him, but her attention was drawn by someone else.

“Hellooooo there, Maester,” she said to Sam Tarly.

“Hello Miss Ella,” he smiled shyly at her and she dropped Robb’s backpack and went and kissed his cheek. 

Sam and his brother Dickon were in Robb's and her years respectively. Another family they’d grown up with. Dickon ran with Trystane and Harry’s crowd, he was a good guy overlal though, but Sam had always been sweetness personified and they’d had a bunch of classes together in high school.

“I can’t wait to meet Gilly,” she told him. 

Apparently he’d found love in his freshman year.

“She’s really looking forward to it, she’ll be here tonight, will you?,” Sam asked. 

“Oh,” she furrowed her brow and glanced at Robb, “I don’t know…”

“We’re having a party,” Robb informed her, “I um… can we talk about it later?” She nodded and he grinned, greeting the other guys. They all did that weird man hug thing and then he returned to her side and wrapped his arm around her, “And guys, this is Ella. My girlfriend.”

One of them let out a surprised laugh, and she bit her lip to keep from smiling.

“I’m serious,” Robb said. 

The one who’d laughed gulped and looked at her, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you.”

“I know,” she promised, “You’re just surprised because he’s such a slut.”

“Ella!,” Robb admonished. 

She gave the one who’d laughed an oh-shit expression and he grinned, stepping forward. He was gorgeous, with his black curls pulled into a bun off his face, dressed in all black.

“You must be Jon,” she guessed.

He looked surprised, and pleased, that she knew who he was and he held out his hand to her, “Ella, is it?”

“That’s me,” she nodded.

He smiled at her, but only with his eyes and said, “So you’re the one.”

He said it like he’d always known there was someone. Like there had always been more to Robb than just the playboy.

“If not I’m going to scratch her eyes out,” she shrugged and he chuckled. 

“Pretty and scrappy,” Jon nodded, and then turned to Robb, “Well done, Stark. Is there more stuff in the truck?”

“It’s all Ella’s,” Robb said, “We just got her keys and have got to go move her in.”

“Need help?,” Grenn asked. 

“Oh you guys don’t -,” she started but Robb interrupted, “Yes.”

“They shouldn’t have to move in my things, Robb,” she pointed out.

He turned to her and challenged, “Oh but I should have to move it all in myself?”

“Yes,” she said stubbornly.

The guys laughed and so did Robb who grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. 

“Don’t worry, Ella,” Grenn said, wrapping his arm around her, “You’re just giving us a chance to scope out the hottest freshman girls.”

She grinned, looking up at him, “Quid pro quo, eh?”

“Huh?,” Grenn asked and she blushed. 

“Smartypants too?,” Jon asked, walking by them and slapping Robb on the back, “No chance she’ll stick with you then.”

Robb chased after him, the two of them wrestling like kids and she walked out flanked by Grenn and another guy named Pip on either side of her, the pair of them cracking her up as they commented on Robb and Jon’s chances of winning.

She’d been at school for all of five minutes and she’d already amassed a pack of wolves. Her mother would be so disappointed.

Ella grinned in delight.

*

Ella gasped in fear.

“Woah, it’s huge,” Edd commented. 

He either had the driest sense of humour of anyone she’d ever met or he was serious. She looked at him and determined it was the latter. 

It was a prison cell. 

“I…,” she started, trying to figure out how not to look like a spoiled child in front of all of Robb’s friends.

Robb turned around, blocking her view of the room, “It’s going to be fine.”

“But -,” she started. 

He took her cheeks in his hands, “Trust me, honey, it’s going to be fine. I just need you to leave.”

“But…all my stuff…,” she pointed out.

He smiled, “I know, I’m going to handle it. I promise. I just can’t do that while you’re having a panic attack.”

She looked up into his blue eyes and calm washed over her. Nothing could be so terrible if he was looking at her like that.

She nodded but then shook her head, “I can’t leave you to do all of it.”

He grinned and teased, “Oh, were you going to be doing the heavy lifting?”

She let out a sad giggle and groaned, leaning her head against his chest. He kissed the top of her head, stroking her hair. 

“Dad, can you take Ella to lunch and leave me the keys?,” Robb asked over her head.

Ned was silent for a second and his throat sounded thick when he answered, “Sure thing, son.”

Robb released her and she went to stand on her tiptoes to look in the room but Jon blocked her view. 

“It’s better if you don’t look,” he promised.

She chuckled and nodded, “Thanks guys. We’ll get you some pizza or something?”

All of them looked like they were going to nod but then stopped talking and looked behind her, all of their heads tilting to the side. She turned around and saw a gorgeous girl walking by.

“Get me her number instead?,” Pip requested.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. Robb chuckled, running his hand through his hair.

“Hey,” she said to him. He glanced at her. “I love you something awful.”

He grinned but his cheeks turned pink as all of the guys started making kissy noises at them. If he was any other guy, he might have tried to act tough, but he simply kissed her softly and then turned her around.

Ned took her by the arm and lead her down the stairs. He nodded to other Dad’s moving their sons and daughters in. They all seemed to share the same look. 

How is this happening?

They walked out into the already crisp air and she let out a deep breath. She had to admit that though the room left much to be desired, the dorm itself was perfect. Very pretty from the outside and perfectly situated near Robb’s house and the heart of campus.

All around her, upperclassmen were walking in twos and threes, holding coffee cups or footballs. Classes hadn’t started yet but they were all back early, which was a good sign. 

“So, where to?,” she asked Ned.

“The pub on campus is pretty good,” he told her and started leading her towards it. 

On the way to it he pointed out the dorm he’d stayed in as a freshman and the bench where he’d asked Catelyn to marry him his senior year. She made him pose next to it down on one knee and sent the picture to Catelyn. 

They got to the pub and sat at a table outside, and Ned ordered himself a beer and a cider for her. The waitress didn’t card her, even though it must be incredibly obvious she was a freshman, and left them to make decisions on what they wanted for lunch.

“Was this place here when you were here?,” she wondered.

“No, it was built a few years later,” he told her, “But there was a bar on the edge of campus that we all used to go to after classes. Wouldn’tve eaten any food they made there though.”

She giggled, imagining him and her father drinking dark beer rather than eating lunch. 

She wished she’d known her father then. Before he’d met her mother. He must have been so much happier. 

He sounded a lot like Robb actually, gregarious and fun-loving, loyal to his friends and a bit of a player. Not the sullen man with a thickening neck and perpetually glazed eyes that she knew.

“What did he say, my father I mean, when you offered to move me in?,” she wondered.

Ned’s jaw clenched and he shook his head, “You know your father isn’t the man he used to be…”

That didn’t answer her question. 

“Ned,” she said softly.

Ned took her hand in his and squeezed gently, “He said that it should be me. And I couldn’t disagree with him. He knows he’s been no father to you. I’m not saying it makes it alright, but he knows.”

She held his hand tightly and said the thing she’d never said before, but had long thought.

“I look too much like her, I think,” she told him, “My mother, I mean.”

His eyes brimmed in anger but he said gently, “I think you’re right about that, angel. I think he finds it hard to believe that you’re not a Lannister through and through.”

She took her hand back and nodded, “It’s funny, because if he hadn’t been so worried about that, if he hadn’t distanced himself from me because of it, I might have more Baratheon in me.”

“Believe me, there’s nothing funny about that,” Ned sighed, thanking the waitress as she brought them their drinks. 

Ned ordered himself a burger and she ordered the harvest salad and the waitress left them on their own once again. She took a sip of her cider and smiled. 

“This is good, I’ve never had one before,” she told him.

He grinned, “Figured it was too early in the day for one of your martinis.”

Her mouth fell open, “Ned, what do you know?”

He chuckled at her, “You forget the receipts from all those nights at the club come to me. It’s easy enough to determine who’s who.”

She giggled, covering her mouth. They all thought they’d been so clever, always alternating whose tab to put it on. She should have known they only got away with it because the Starks allowed them to.

She told them about some of their wildest nights at the club and he chuckled and groaned in equal measure. He seemed concerned that they would have gotten in boats afterwards and relaxed when she promised they hadn’t. Though she did tell him that they occasionally went for swims. 

She found herself being grateful that her father hadn’t been even marginally better. If he had, Ned might not have felt so compelled to be a Dad to her too, and she couldn’t imagine one better. 

“He was right, you know,” she told him as she sipped her tea at the end of the meal. Ned raised his brows at her and she realised that is where Robb got it from. “My father, you know. It should be you, moving me in. I can’t imagine it any other way.”

His eyes crinkled at her, filling a little, like they had when she’d given him a #1 Dad mug one year on Father’s Day.

“Me either, angel,” he told her and then leaned forward, “Now, let’s talk about you and my son.”

She gulped and nodded and then he held his hand up, as though he wanted her to high-five him. After a moment she realised that is exactly what he wanted her to do so she smiled and slapped her palm against his.

“I’ve always been so proud of him,” Ned admitted and she nodded. Robb was the kind of son that would make any man proud. “Never more so than seeing who he is with you though.”

“Really?,” she blushed.

He nodded, thanking the waitress for returning the bill and they stood up. He escorted her out of the pub and they walked down the path back towards her dorm. 

He wrapped his arm around her, “Yeah, the thing is… he’s always been this great kid, you know? Loyal and kind, a great big brother to his siblings, but you… you’ve turned him into a good man.”

She smiled, burrowing into him, “You’d done that long before I came along.”

He pressed a kiss to her hair, “No, no, angel. A Dad can lay the groundwork for all of that, but it takes the right girl to come along to really do it. I always hoped it’d be you.”

“I’m glad that it is,” she admitted, and then, because she’d never tell her parents she convinced him, “I love him in a way that scares me.”

“Good,” he said, “Because trust me, he is terrified. That’s the way it always is with great love.”

“Thanks Ned.”

“Anytime, angel,” he promised, “And not to be needy, but don’t you think it’s time you start calling me Dad?”

*

It was a different room. It had to be. 

The room she’d walked into earlier had been dingy and tiny, dark. There had hardly been enough room to open the drawers of the desk without them hitting the bed. 

Now though, everything seemed to make sense. There was even a little window seat she hadn’t seen before. 

“What did you do?,” she asked Robb.

He pulled her inside with an excited grin, “The orientation was all wrong. So we just moved your bed and the desk and the dresser so that it’d make a little more sense. We’ll get you a pillow or something for that seat right there, because it’s got a great view of the quad.”

Everything was set up, pictures of her and Sansa and Jeyne, one of Rickon and Shireen making silly faces at the camera, a picture of her and Robb the night before Sansa left for school. There’d been a bonfire and they were both wearing sweatshirts and her face was all blotchy because she’d been crying but he was kissing her cheek and she was smiling. 

Her bed was made and her laptop was charging and resting on it. 

It was nothing like her room at home but it was comfortable and cozy, and all the more special because he’d set it up for her. 

“I can’t believe you guys did all this,” she told him honestly, though the other guys had left. 

Robb chuckled, “Yeah I kicked them out when the heavy lifting was done. I didn’t want Grenn unpacking your underwear.”

She let out a laugh and Ned chuckled and groaned from the doorway. 

She hopped on the bed and gestured for them to sit as well. Robb took a seat in the desk chair and Ned perched on the window seat.

“Sorry I kind of freaked out,” she told them, feeling silly for her earlier reaction.

They both grinned at her and shook their heads, “We had a feeling you would.”

She blushed and rolled her eyes, not even bothering to defend herself because Robb would just assure her that he loved how prissy she was. 

“Well kids, I hate to do this, but my flight is in a couple of hours,” Ned told them, “I should get to the airport.”

Robb nodded, “I’ll drop you off.”

Ned shook his head, “No you stay here, there are a bunch of taxis downstairs.”

She felt a lump in her stomach. She’d knew this had been coming but she wasn’t ready for it. 

“We don’t mind,” she said softly. 

His eyes crinkled at her and he stood up, “I know but if I don’t get out of here now I’ll start crying like a baby.”

She started to laugh but it turned into a cry halfway through and he opened his arms to her. 

He wrapped her in them and then said, “Stop blubbering over there, son, get in here.”

All of a sudden she felt Robb’s arms wrap around them both. She was smothered in between them and she burrowed into Ned’s chest.

He kissed her hair, and then Robb’s forehead, and they all released one another. 

He placed a hand on both of their shoulders and said, “You kids take care of each other, alright?”

They both nodded and with one smile more for each of them he walked out, shutting the door behind him. 

The room felt smaller without him, somehow, her and Robb felt closer together. She wasn’t entirely sure who reached for who, but she was in his arms in the next moment, their lips meeting in a frenzied kiss. 

She tackled him back onto the bed and pulled her long sleeved shirt off her. His eyes went wide as he looked at her, his hands gripping her waist and she pulled him up so that she could kiss him again. 

He leaned her backwards, kissing her chest, his hand cupping her breast that was covered only in a thin layer of lace. She moaned and shoved him back down, her hips grinding against his as she kissed him deeply. 

His hands squeezed her butt, pulling her right against him and she moaned into his mouth. 

“God I wanted to sneak into your room last night,” he confessed, “My Dad all but strapped me to the bed though.”

She giggled, propping herself up so she could look at him, “I waited for you.”

“Did you now?,” he asked, “What were you wearing?”

“Boring old white cotton underwear,” she told him truthfully.

“And?,” he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him and he groaned, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Now I really regret it. Sorry I left you hanging.”

“It’s okay,” she promised, kissing him once more, “I made use of your gift.”

“My gift?,” he asked. 

“The vibrator…,” she reminded him. 

He’d gotten it for her about two weeks after they’d first started things. He’d been so surprised that she didn’t have one already and insisted that having one might make her not hook up with douchebags because she’d be able to get herself off.

She’d never used it before last night though. 

“You’re telling me,” he whimpered, “That you were in bed, a wall away, wearing nothing but underwear, and using the vibrator I got you?”

She looked at him innocently, “There was nothing good on tv.”

He growled at her and tackled her backwards making her shriek of laughter. 

“You will be the death of me, Ella Baratheon,” he told her, kissing her neck. “What did you think?”

She shivered, “It was a very good present.”

He grinned down at her, his eyes trailing over her face, “That good, huh?”

She nodded, remembering the second setting she’d found and blushed. 

“So am I being replaced?,” he teased and she smiled, shaking her head. 

“I thought of you,” she told him honestly. 

His eyes turned stormy and he buried his face in her neck, pressing a kiss to the spot behind her ear that drove her wild. 

“I want to watch you use it,” he told her. 

“You do?,” she wondered. 

“God yes, honey,” he groaned and he took her hand in his and brought it to his cock, his very hard cock, “That’s what I’m feeling just imagining you using it.”

She was struck once again by the power she seemed to have over him. The way their bodies responded to one another. 

She pressed her advantage, rubbing him over his pants, “I’ll give you a show one of these days then, if that’s what you want.”

“Fuck, Ella,” he groaned, his fingers going to undo her jeans. 

She unbuckled his belt and soon they were naked and he was on top of her and then he was inside of her. They’d learned their way together, just like he said, over the past couple of weeks and she moaned as he gripped her thigh. 

“God you feel so fucking good,” he told her and she wrapped her legs around him, taking him deeper inside of her. 

She gripped onto his back and he rolled his hips against her in the way they’d found she liked. She dug her nails into his back and he grunted, thrusting into her harder, so she dragged her nails down his back. 

His breath quickened as did his pace and her breath hitched. He looked down at her and she up at him and the edges of her vision took on a shimmery quality.

She felt warmth pool in her stomach and her hands wandered down his body and squeezed his perfect ass, pulling him even harder against her. 

“Oh fuck honey,” he groaned, his hand reaching in between them. 

His fingers rubbed over her clit vigorously, the way they always did when he really wanted her to come, and she moaned for him like she always did. 

“That’s it,” he grinned, his thrusts getting long and hard. 

He was so big and powerful and the feel of him filling her again and again was unlike anything else. 

“Yes, baby, just like that,” she cried, “Oh god Robb.”

“Are you gonna come for me, Ella?,” he asked her, his other hand finding her throat as he thrust into her again and again, his fingers still dancing over her clit. 

His fingers felt warm and firm around her, she didn’t understand why she liked it and it didn’t much matter because he did too. She nodded, of course she was going to come for him. 

He tightened his grip on her, fire in his eyes and rolled his hips against her, “Do it, come for me. Now.”

As though a switch had been flipped, she felt herself crash in a delightful wave of pleasure. Her body pulsed with it and then he was groaning against her neck as he exploded inside of her. 

They lay panting, their bodies still intertwined, him still inside of her. She stroked her fingers down his back and it was covered in a sheen of sweat, she kissed his shoulder, finding it salty. 

He eased out of her and she gripped his shoulders, he pressed kisses to her cheeks. Her body was still getting used to sex and even though she enjoyed everything they did, more than enjoyed really, she still needed a bit of tenderness afterwards. Robb was always very happy to give it to her. 

“The guys all think you’re great,” he told her as they lay back on her pillows. 

“I met them for like two seconds,” she pointed out.

“Greatness such as yours cannot be hidden,” he told her haughtily and she giggled, looking up at him and pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

“They seemed surprised that we were together,” she pointed out. 

“They shouldn’tve been,” he told her, and then tickled her, “After we went instagram offish.”

She chuckled, it had been Sansa’s idea that both Theon and Robb do it in advance of returning to school. 

Why? 

So that it’s clear.

So that what’s clear?

That you’re not open for business.

Robb had looked at her, clearly wondering if they were in on it together, but she and Sansa hadn’t spoken about it. In truth, she didn’t really care if the world knew that she and Robb were together, she trusted him. And she’d made sure that he knew it. 

Even still, later that night when she saw that she’d been tagged in a post by him she smiled. It was a picture of the two of them that Sansa must have taken earlier that day. She’d been laughing at something Theon was saying and Robb was looking up at her. 

The caption had been simple: This girl, that laugh. 

She’d commented on it immediately: The laugh courtesy of @squidboy, but the girl is all yours.

“Jon doesn’t strike me as one much for instagram,” she noted. 

“Yeah I don’t even think he had a facebook in middle school,” he agreed, “But I’d like it… if you guys got to know each other.”

“Uh ohhh don’t tell Theon but I think we’ve got another bromance on our hands,” she teased. 

Robb smiled but looked down at her, “I mean it, El. You guys are my best friends.”

She felt her heart thudding in her chest and burrowed into him. She considered Robb one of her best friends too, but she knew it was different for boys. The bro code and all that. 

“I’m going to friend the shit out of Jon Snow,” she promised, thinking of the broody exterior and kind eyes. Observer’s eyes, her grandmother would have called them. She had them too. She wouldn’t mind being Jon Snow’s friend, he seemed like he’d be a good one. And if it was important to Robb it was important to her. She wanted to be friends with all of them. “You know, a good start in that would be you inviting me to your party tonight…”

He grimaced and shook his head, “I wasn’t not inviting you on purpose, I mean I was but…”

She rolled her eyes, “It’s okay, Robb, I get it. You haven’t seen these people in months, it’s totally fine if you want to spend the night just with them. I have three years to get to know all of them.”

“That’s not it,” he told her and she fixed him with a look. He stroked her cheek, “Really, it’s not. I can’t wait for you to meet everyone. I just… I got a freshman year, you know? A chance to make friends with people in my dorm and the craziness of frosh week… I don’t want to take that from you. You’ll see you’ve got dorm orientation in what? An hour. People will start to group together, see what everyone else is doing tonight. And if no one has a plan you can trick them into thinking your cool by telling them you know about a party.”

She had been nodding along, because it all made sense, until the last. 

Her mouth dropped open and she squealed, “Trick is it?”

He chuckled and tickled her, “Look, I happen to think it’s very cool that you read Jane Austen on Saturday nights and do needlepoint as well as my grandmother but…”

She tried to be annoyed with him but sputtered out a laugh, deep from her belly, because it was all true and he loved her anyway. 

“Just for that I’m going to make tons of friends and do really cool things with them,” she told him prissily. 

*

Except she didn’t.

Dorm orientation started out fine. Everyone seemed pretty nervous, which made her less so, and they all introduced themselves one by one. 

Name, where you’re from, what you’re thinking of majoring in, one interesting fact about yourself. 

Wymar, The Reach, Business, I’ve got a big dick. *laughter*

Lya, The Eyrie, Pre-Med, I don’t believe Wymar. *laughter*

It went around and around, she’d forgotten almost everyone’s names. The boy sitting next to her was up. 

Hi everyone I’m…Pod, not sure what I want to study…oh I’m from Lannisport…. what? oh… an interesting fact… um… can you come back to me?

It was her turn and everyone looked at her expectantly. She smiled at Pod reassuringly, his round cheeks were red and there seemed to be sweat pooling on his upper lip. 

“I’m Myrcella, but everyone calls me Ella, I’m from Wintertown, I think I want to study Art History, and…,” she should have been thinking about her interesting fact as everyone else was going, but she hadn’t. 

She wasn’t really sure what exactly was interesting about her. She was eighteen, she hadn’t done anything yet. She could tell them that she hated her family, but that didn’t seem very dorm orientation-like. She could tell him that her boyfriend was really sexy, but again, not really interesting about her. 

“I hate bears,” Pod said to her left. She along with everyone else turned to look at him. His whole face was red now but he nodded, going for it completely and said, “Yeah, fuck bears.”

She laughed along with everyone else and when it quieted down she said, “I don’t think I can follow that…”

That seemed to be sufficient and the attention turned to the person next to her.

She turned to Pod and said quietly, “Thank you.”

He grinned at her, “Thanks for not laughing at me when I made an ass out of myself.”

“You didn’t,” she assured him, “This is a unique brand of torture for us introverts, hmm?”

He nodded and smiled at her kindly. She liked that he looked her in the eyes, not the way that she’d some of the other boys look at her and the other girls. She nudged her arm against his, giving him a smile in return and then listened as everyone else went.

After that they’d gotten a tour of the dorm. She tried to fall into step next to some girls, but they ignored her. They then played a few trust exercises. 

Everyone seemed to have a partner except for her. How had that happened? As far as she knew, no one really knew each other, and yet, in that stupid exercise everyone had already found their group. 

“Ella!,” an excited voice called, “Come join us.”

She looked to where the voice was coming from and saw Pod. He was standing with someone, another guy, who was large, probably 6’3’’ or so and broad. He had a shaved head and she wasn’t entirely certain how the two of them had paired together because he seemed the complete opposite of docile Pod. 

Even still, she didn’t have much choice so she walked over to them and held her hand out.

“Hi, I’m Ella,” she introduced herself. 

“The girl with nothing interesting about them,” he noted as he shook her hand. She giggled and he smiled briefly, “I’m Gendry.”

She tried to place him and then asked, “King’s Landing, right?” He nodded, and she looked at him more. He shifted a little uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, you just… you remind me of someone…”

She couldn’t place who it was, but she felt like she’d met him before. 

They did the stupid trust exercise and then listened as as their R.A. explained where the infirmary was and noted that people should walk home in pairs. 

Everyone started breaking apart in groups, heading back to their rooms or maybe to the football game that was happening that night. 

She watched as groups of girls travelled in packs. It made her miss Sansa. 

“So,” Gendry said, “I guess I’ll see you guys later.”

“Wait, what are you doing tonight?,” Pod asked. 

“Nothing,” Gendry said definitively.

He didn’t say it like he didn’t have any plans. He said it like doing nothing was his plan. 

She bet he, like Robb, wouldn’t judge her for staying in on a Saturday night to read or catch up on schoolwork. And Pod seemed like he would think it was kind of cool that she did needlepoint. 

“Well um, if that falls through,” she teased and Gendry chuckled, a deep belly chuckle, “My boyfriend and his housemates are having a party.”

“Wait really?,” Pod asked excitedly, and she liked that both of them hadn’t seemed disappointed that she was dating someone. “Can we go? Will there be girls there?”

She grinned, “I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet. We definitely can go, what do you say, Gendry?”

He sighed but Pod started bouncing. Gendry looked at him in confusion but also like it was kind of working, so she started bouncing too. 

“Come onnnnn,” she grinned, taking hold of his hands and trying to make him bounce too. 

“Fine,” Gendry sighed, though he absolutely didn’t bounce, “But I’m not paying at the door.”

“Of course you’re not,” she assured him. 

*

“That’ll be five dollars,” Grenn said. 

“Grenn!,” she scolded. 

He rolled his eyes, “Not you, obviously, but them.”

“But Robb said I could bring whoever I wanted,” she pointed out. 

Grenn shrugged, “Yeah well Robb didn’t want to work the door, now did he? My door, my rules. All guys pay.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to Pod and Gendry to apologise. Gendry fixed her with a look but Pod proffered ten dollars and handed it to Grenn. 

Pod grinned, “Our first college party.”

With that he started bouncing again. So did she.

“Come onnn, Gendry,” she teased.

Gendry chuckled at them and gave them a single bounce which made them both hoot and holler. 

“You guys are idiots,” he said, taking the red cups out of Grenn’s hand and passing one to each of them. 

“Oh don’t be like that, I hate it when we fight,” Pod teased, following him in.

She patted Grenn’s arm and followed them into the house. 

It was both exactly like a high school party, and nothing like it. It was the same general set up, guys and girls strewn about the room, some playing drinking games, others dancing, others just talking. The red solo cups were all the same, but no one was freaking out about their mother’s porcelain or their father’s office. 

It felt wilder, even though it was early. No one here had a curfew, or had to be DD. Anything could happen. 

Some indie rock song was blaring out of the speakers and she followed the boys over to the keg. Gendry offered her some but she waved him off, knowing that Robb would have a stash of something better, and scanned the room. 

She wasn’t sure how it was possible, but somehow everyone here was hot. She tried to remember if a picture had been required on her application or if Robb and his friends just attracted a certain kind of person. 

All the girls were beautiful, and all seemed so much older than her. 

She saw Robb across the room, he was talking to Jon and some girl, both their arms around her shoulders looking down at her lovingly. 

“AWOOOOOOO,” she called, and she could have sworn everyone in the party stopped and turned to look at her. 

She couldn’t help but blush, but then Robb and Jon both smiled at her and called back, “AWOOOOOOOOOO.”

She wondered if Robb had spoken to Jon about being friends with her too. 

Everything in the party started again and the crowd parted for Robb and Jon and the girl they’d been talking to. She was pretty, with brown hair and a shy smile. She didn’t seem like the other girls, for some reason, and she liked her on sight.

“Hi honey,” Robb crossed the remaining distance to her, picking her up and spinning her around. 

She hugged him tightly, all of the insecurity she’d felt at orientation gone the moment she was back in his arms. He seemed to sense something was up and cupped the back of her hair. She burrowed into him for a moment and he set her down. 

“How was orientation?,” he asked. 

“Good,” she lied, though it was so obvious that it hardly counted as one. 

He smiled at her sadly and stroked her cheek. 

“I um… brought some friends though,” she said brightly, because everything came so easily to him and she didn’t want to be a wet blanket. She turned to Gendry and Pod, “Pod, Gendry, this is my boyfriend Robb, and his housemate Jon, and…,” she turned to the girl with them. 

“I’m Gilly,” she introduced herself. 

“Gilly?!,” she asked excitedly and Gilly nodded. Without thinking she wrapped her arms around her, “I’ve heard so much about you.”

Gilly hugged her, rubbing her back, “Me too. Sam tells me you’re the kindest person he’s ever met.”

She pulled away and smiled, “He said that?”

“And here I thought I was special,” Pod cut in. 

She giggled and rolled her eyes, “You’re the one who saved me, remember?”

“What’s this?,” Robb wondered, taking her red cup out of her hands and pulling a flask out of his back pocket and pouring something in it. 

She took the cup back and took a small sip of whiskey, “This orientation thing… we all had to say something interesting about ourselves and I couldn’t think of anything.”

Robb glanced at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “Couldn’t narrow it down, huh?”

She beamed up at him and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

“Thanks for looking out for her,” Robb said to Pod, “And Gendry, nice to meet you. Hey have we met before?”

“No,” Gendry shook his head, “Don’t think so,” he held his hand out though, “Nice to meet you though, man. Ella told me you’re on the rugby team?”

She and Pod exchanged a glance. It was the most Gendry had spoken in the entire time that they’d known him. 

Robb clearly didn’t know that though and nodded, “Yeah, Jon and I both are. You play? We need a few new guys.”

Gendry nodded, “Yeah my team was all-state.”

“What position do you play?,” Jon asked him.

Ella felt a small hand taking hers and she looked over and saw Gilly. 

“Come on,” she said, “This lot’ll be talking about that stupid game for hours and the season hasn’t even started yet. Let’s leave them to it?”

She grinned and nodded, following Gilly away. The older girl seemed to know some people, but not all, and waved shyly even though people seemed excited to see her. 

They wandered into the kitchen and Gilly hoisted herself up on the counter, so Ella did the same. 

“So orientation was rough, huh?,” she asked. 

Ella picked at the sleeve of her dress, “Just a little, um… I didn’t realise how hard it can be to make new girlfriends. I’ve known all of mine since preschool.”

Gilly nodded sympathetically, “You will, definitely. Once classes start and everything. Robb mentioned you were studying art history? You’ll meet loads of girls in those classes.”

“I hope so,” she said, “Don’t get me wrong, Pod and Gendry are the duo I never knew I needed, and I love Robb, but I’ve never been the girl who just hung out with boys. Boys are so smelly, except Robb.”

Gilly giggled, “Agreed. And no I am all about the girl power, but you have to understand how intimidating you are to a bunch of insecure freshman.”

“But I’m an insecure freshman,” she pointed out.

Gilly grinned, “Maybe on the inside, but on the outside you are the gorgeous girl with the handsome boyfriend who can literally stop a party in its tracks by letting out a howl. If my ear hadn’t been talked off about what a lovely person you are, you’d scare the bajeezus out of me.”

She giggled, “Sorry they’ve been talking your ear off. I think Robb’s worried about me.”

“No,” Gilly shook her head, “He just can’t stand the idea that anyone could miss it, what he sees in you. It’s like a personal affront to him.”

One of her favorite songs came on and she threw back the whiskey in her cup. 

“I think the time has come,” she told Gilly. 

“The time?,” Gilly asked her dramatically, “Could it be?”

“Oh yes, oh yes, yes, yes,” she grinned, hopping off the counter. 

Gilly followed her off and they danced their way into the living room. The tempo of the party seemed to have gone up and they were packed in amongst a number of bodies. 

She threw her hands up in the air and moved her body to the song, Gilly was doing the same and they smiled at each other.

The floor seemed to be shaking, and the windows were rattling, and they were all there. 

Suddenly she was being twirled and she was surprised that it was right into Jon’s arms. She placed her hands on his shoulders and he placed his hands on her waist, and they were jumping up and down to the music. 

“Sorry orientation didn’t work out,” he shouted to her over the music. 

“It’s okay,” she shouted back.

“The thing you’ll learn,” he told her, “Is that most people suck!”

She cackled, the pair of them still jumping up and down. 

“You’re a ray of sunshine, you know that, Snow?,” she asked him.

He crinkled his eyes at her, “It’ll get better.”

She smiled at him, “It already has.”

He took one of her hands and twirled her out and then pulled her back to him, “Did Robb give you the same speech he gave me?”

“About us being friends?,” she asked and he nodded, “Yep. Think you can handle it?”

“Being friends with you?,” he groaned dramatically, “Really bad for my reputation.”

“That’s too bad,” she sighed equally dramatically, and then made to fall back completely. Jon stepped forward and caught her before she could fall to the floor, and she looked up at him, “Because according to my R.A., this means we’re friends now.”

He chuckled and pulled her up and then onto his shoulder, spinning her around. 

She was deposited back onto the ground and they were all there, Jon and Robb and Gilly, Sam and Grenn and Pod and Gendry. 

It wasn’t the first night she expected, but it didn’t much matter, because all at once, she started to like college. 

Chapter Text

Everything hurt. 

He was vaguely aware that he was laying down. He believed he was outside. 

There were a few things he knew for certain though. His name was Robb Stark. He was in love with Ella Baratheon. And Gendry Waters had just made the rugby team. 

“Holy shit, dude, you okay?,” his newest teammate asked. 

“I’m good,” he lied, trying to heave himself up. 

Gendry grimaced and bent over, extending his hand and Robb gripped onto it, letting him pull him up. He coughed a few times and stretched, and it felt like his body parts were moving back to the right places. 

He’d played a lot of sports in his day. Football, rugby, lacrosse, hockey. He’d broken his leg, dislocated his shoulder, and had enough concussions that his doctor gave him an MRI every six months. But he had never, in his life, been hit like that. 

Gendry was a steel fucking door. 

“Welcome to the team, man,” he said with a grin. 

Relief washed over Gendry’s features. He’d clearly been afraid that he’d just screwed it up, but with the vast majority of their team from the year before having graduated, Jon and Robb as co-captains weren’t in the position to be picky. 

Plus, Gendry could flat out play. 

“Dude that hit was sick,” Grenn said coming over and slapping Gendry on the back, and then looked at him accusingly, “But what the hell were you doing all summer?”

“More like who were you doing all summer?,” their teammate Wymar asked. 

At that exact moment, as though through divine intervention, they all heard a light voice call, “WOOOHOOO GO KNIGHTS!”

They all turned to look at Ella who hopefully had just arrived, standing on the sidelines. The fact that she hadn’t rushed over and tackled Gendry meant that she probably hadn’t seen him get knocked over. 

“Dibs,” five of his teammates called. 

He hated himself for the bit of pride that ran through him at that. He wasn’t surprised by it, Ella was the most beautiful girl in the world, even still he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the fact that everyone wanted her but only he got her.

“Sorry boys,” he shrugged, and tried to run over to her. He was still a little winded though and kind of half walked, half trotted. “Hi honey.”

“Hi,” Ella grinned, crossing the remaining distance and pulling his face to hers so that she could kiss him. 

“Sorry I’m all sweaty,” he told her, trying not to get his muddy hands on her clothes. 

“I’m not,” she told him and he chuckled. She furrowed her brow, cocking her head to the side and nodded towards the guys amassed, “How’re they looking?”

“A few of them are pretty good actually, Gendry’s crazy strong, no wonder his nickname in high school was Bull,” he told her. 

“Huh, that’s funny,” Ella said, but she was looking past him. 

“I know, just like your Dad, right?,” he asked her. She kind of zoned out for a minute and he waved his hand in front of her face, “Thinking about trading me in?”

She snapped out of it and giggled, “No, sorry, I was just thinking I should get to the library to grab a few things…”

He grinned, “It’s syllabus week.”

She blushed and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, “I know but I just… don’t want to fall behind.”

There was absolutely no chance of that. They’d had their first class together yesterday, and Ella had refused to walk over with him, citing his penchant for tardiness. He’d arrived, two minutes early thank you very much, and found her sitting in the front row, her laptop already open, the pair of reading glasses he adored perched on her face. 

She’d allowed him to sit next to her but had refused to speak with him even as Professor Luwin was setting up his presentation, and when he’d tried to pass her a note she had quickly stuffed it into her jeans pocket as though this were still high school and she might get detention. 

She’d taken extensive notes, searching the campus library database for the supplementary reading all the while. 

She was just a wee bit intense when it came to school, and he found it incredibly endearing. 

He’d always been a good student and he liked certain subjects, like history and politics, but Ella loved the act of learning. Far be it from him to try and deter her. 

“No, we wouldn’t want that,” he agreed, “I’m almost done here, want to meet me back at my house after and we can decide what to do for dinner?”

She smiled and nodded, “I’ll see you soon.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and waved to the teammates of his that she knew and started walking towards the library. He turned to go join everyone, knowing full well that he was about to get the piss taken out of him, “Oh and Robb?” He turned around and she gave him a grin, “Don’t shower before I get there…”

His mouth dropped in shock and she gave him a wink, sauntering off towards the library like she was absolutely aware of and delighted about what she’d just done to him. 

He was chuckling by the time he got back to his teammates and they all stood there looking at him. 

“Come on guys, are we gonna practice or what?,” he asked. 

“Gendry,” Jon said.

“On it,” Gendry noted and charged straight for him. 

*

Robb walked through Ella’s dorm, passing one room that reeked of weed, and another where it was obvious the guys inside were playing video games. He walked by a girl in a towel who grinned at him, and he stepped to the side to let her by. He walked by another room where the door was open and a small group of girls were sitting inside, listening to music and painting their nails. 

He got to Ella’s room and knocked. She opened the door, a smile already on her face and pulled him inside, kissing him softly on the mouth. 

He slammed the door shut and picked her up in his arms to grant himself better access and kissed her lips and her cheek and her neck. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and her glasses were on, and she was wearing boxers and knee socks and one of his sweaters. 

He felt her hands in his hair as she deepened the kiss, and he walked her back to her bed, climbing on it and laying her down. 

“I missed you,” he said stupidly. He’d seen her in class a few hours ago.

“I missed you too,” she told him though, her hands rubbing his back and snuggling into him, “Thanks for coming to me.”

He stroked her hair, “Of course, I know the house can be a bit much.”

In truth, he wasn’t sorry to leave it. He loved his housemates, but there was a party nearly every night. Even if it was just them and some of the rugby guys, things got out of hand. 

Ella and Sam had made everyone dinner the night before and afterwards she’d been sitting on the couch with Jon doing some reading for class and Grenn had walked in with a bunch of girls who’d all demanded Jon do shots. She’d been a trooper but the girls hadn’t been particularly nice and she’d pressed a kiss to his lips after an hour saying I’ve got an early lecture. He’d offered to walk her home but Gendry had been on his way back from the library and come to grab her. The girls had taken one look at him and tried to make him do shots as well but he’d merely shaken his head, saluted them, and picked up Ella’s backpack and slung it over his shoulder. 

He was glad she’d found Gendry, and Pod for that matter. Pod was a sweet guy, funny and good hearted, but Gendry was like solid granite. He wasn’t the fuzziest guy in the world, but there was a deep goodness to him and in spite of him acting like Ella was an annoying little sister some of the time, he was totally devoted to her. 

They were oddly similar actually, though Ella was a good deal more bubbly. Both were quiet and studious, observers, and while Ella was gregarious where Gendry was prone to sullenness, there was something strange about seeing them together. 

And the oddest thing of all was that he wasn’t jealous of Gendry. At all. 

He’d learned in his and Ella’s relatively short relationship that he didn’t have the longest temper when it came to guys hitting on her, he’d nearly taken a swing at Trystane a time or two before they were even official, but with Gendry he never got the least bit frustrated or nervous.

“I love the guys,” Ella said taking him out of his thoughts, “But you know me.”

He smiled at her, stroking her cheek, “Yeah, honey, I do.” 

They heard a shriek of laughter from the hallway and he glanced at Ella who looked at the door longingly. She caught his eye though and smiled at him. 

“It’s okay to be lonely,” he told her.

She leaned her head back on the pillows and let her knuckles trail over his cheek, “How can I be lonely when you’re here with me?”

He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her warm palm. She was so sweet and loving and he was content to spend every moment with her that she’d give him, but Ella was a girl who needed girlfriends. He and the guys weren’t enough - even if she’d quickly stolen all of their affections away from him. 

“Because Sansa isn’t,” he said softly. 

Her eyes filled with tears for a second and he regretted saying anything but she smiled, “One of her teachers is already trying to set her up with an internship over the summer, did she tell you?”

He nodded, “Yeah she told me. She’s trying not to get her hopes up, which is ridiculous because -“

“She’s totally going to get it,” they both said at the same time. 

“Gilly says girls find me intimidating,” she told him, a tone of annoyance in her voice, “Which… I don’t know, I think is kind of lame.”

He chuckled, “Well, that’s because it is kind of lame. It’s not your fault you’re pretty.”

She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, tackling him backwards, “You see Stark? This is the kind of blind support I need in my life.” She looked at him seriously though and said, “But the thing is… I’m okay, I really am. I don’t need a ton of people, and I just don’t want you to be…”

“Be what, honey?”

She sighed, “I don’t know, like… disappointed in me or something. I know that you’re really social and popular and everything and I love that part of you because it’s you, but I’m not like that, you know? I never wanted to be out every night and everything… and I just don’t want to be a wet blanket.”

He laughed at her, he didn’t mean to or anything but, “Ella you literally swung from the rafters on Saturday night. I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” he admitted and she giggled, smacking her face in embarrassment. He moved her hand away from her face and told her, “I’m not disappointed. I could never be disappointed in you. I just want you to be happy, that’s all. And if you tell me that hanging out with me and the guys and Pod and Gendry is enough for you then that’s fine and I’ll take you as much as I can get you. I just…”

“Just…,” she prompted.

“I just think it’s really fucking annoying that those girls haven’t invited you over to paint your nails… you’re really good at it,” he told her.

She grinned and scrunched her nose adorably, “Yeah, I’m super good at it.”

He rolled her off of him and moved to go up, “I’m going to go tell them -“

She giggled, wrapping her arms and legs around him so that he’d stay put. He leaned back against her, her back on the bed and his back on her. 

“I brought you something,” he remembered, reaching into his pocket and pulling it out.

She took it from him and held it in her small hand, “What is it?”

“A vape,” he explained, “I know you didn’t like the taste of the joint Jon rolled the other night, but you super loved being high.”

It had been Sunday night and they’d had the football game on. Ella had been laying with her head in his lap, her legs tucked up. Jon had thrown a pillow on her legs and rested against them, handing her the joint as though it was no big deal. 

She’d glanced up at him and he took it from her wordlessly, taking a hit. He figured she didn’t want people to know it was her first time, but he didn’t want her not to know what to do either. She watched him studiously and then held her hand out for it. She’d coughed a bit and stolen his water, taken another hit and then passed it on to Sam. 

They’d all been sitting there watching the game and then out of nowhere she’d just started giggling. 

He looked down at her and there’d been tears rolling out of her eyes, and all of a sudden he’d heard Jon start laughing, and then Sam. He’d managed to hold it together alright which they’d all found hilarious and then they’d all settled down. 

“I like it here,” she told them after a little bit. 

“It’s better when you’re here,” Jon had said back. 

Ella had looked up at him and grinned, “I told you I was going to friend the shit out of him.”

She let out her deep belly chuckle and agreed, “Yeah I really did. What does it taste like?”

“Not much of anything,” he told her honestly, clicking the bottom of it a few times until it lit up. He handed it back to her, “Just take it easy at first, it’s pretty strong and it can ruin your whole day.”

She took it from him, sitting them up a bit, her calves resting on his thighs, her other arm wrapped around his chest, her head on his shoulder. She inhaled a bit and released the vapour.

“Ooh so much better, good looking out Stark,” she said and handed to him. 

He took a few hits and handed it back to her and she took another two and then placed it on the bed beside them. 

The hand that had been holding the vape started stroking his hair, and he leaned his head back against her shoulder. He could feel her soft breasts against his back and her fingers in her hair and her cheek against his. 

He let his fingers trail up and down the smooth skin of her legs. She’s just shaved them and he could tell she’d put lotion on. He picked up one of her legs and pressed a kiss to her calf and her bedroom laugh vibrated in his ear.

They sat like that for a while, not talking. It wasn’t the weed, or rather, it wasn’t just the weed. There had always been a comfort in their silences, she’d gravitated towards him when they were kids because her house was never silent and she liked to tell him that he drowned it all out. 

He remembered her coming to sit beside him under the Weirwood tree on his family’s property. He’d come out there to be alone, and had been annoyed when he heard leaves crunching under someone’s feet. He hadn’t realised at the time how strange it was that his annoyance had disappeared when he saw that it was her. 

“My parents are fighting again,” she told him. “Sansa will make me talk about it.”

“I won’t,” he assured her.

“I won’t make you tell me why you’re out here all alone either,” she promised, coming to sit next to him. 

They’d sat in silence for a while, and then they both started to speak at the same time.

“I don’t understand why they won’t just get divorced -,” she said, at the same time he told her, “Dad’s on me about my grades.”

They had laughed, and both sighed and then she’d rested her cheek on his shoulder. They’d sat there for a long while and when he walked her back to the house, he’d gone in to study, because he really shouldn’t have been getting a B- and she’d gone to tell Sansa everything. 

They’d always known how to give the other exactly what they needed.

“You’re enough,” she told him. He glanced over at her and she looked over at him, “If all I had was you, forever, it would be enough.”

*

“More!,” Ella shouted at him.

“Easy, Baratheon,” he chuckled but he acquiesced and poured a bit more whiskey in his shot glass.

She held hers up and wrapped her arm around Jon’s shoulders, standing adorably on her tiptoes to do so, “Alright Snow, what are we drinking to?”

He grinned down at her, wrapping his arm around her waist and teased, “Why do we always have to drink to something, why not just drink?”

She looked at him sternly and said, “If you don’t choose something I’m going to make you drink to friendship.”

“Fine,” Jon sighed, “To… Ella’s ass.”

“I’ll drink to that,” he agreed, knocking his back and then punching Jon in the arm. 

Jon chuckled, shaking his arm, and let out a wooop, “God damn it that felt good!”

He grinned and Ella rolled her eyes, bopping her head to the music. It was Saturday night and they were having yet another party. He wasn’t sure who most of the people were but it didn’t really matter because everyone had come with a glimmer in their eye. 

Something was going to happen tonight, he wasn’t entirely sure what, but he could feel it. 

Ella gave him a closed lip smile and he could tell she felt it too.

He pulled her by the back of her head and kissed her, and her tongue slipped against his gently before pulling away. 

“Not in front of the kids,” she chided, gesturing to Jon and Edd.

“Yeah Dad,” Edd groaned.

“Whose ass were you all drinking to?,” a girl cut into their conversation.

She had dark red hair and clear blue eyes, a northern accent. She was pretty, in a wild sort of way.

“Mine,” Ella said in delight.

It hadn’t been her first shot of the night.

The girl looked her over and then made a twirling gesture. Ella turned around in a slow circle that all but made him groan and then grinned at the girl. 

“Yeah, I’ll drink to that,” the girl nodded and Ella let out a woop and poured her a shot.

She knocked it back and then also punched Jon in the arm.

Jon looked alarmed, and a little turned on. 

The girl put her hand on her slim hip, “I’m Ygritte. Do you dance?”

“Jon, no,” he answered gruffly.

“I do,” Ella held her hand up. 

Ygritte turned to her and smiled, holding out her hand, “Yeah you’ll do.”

Ella gave him an oh-shit expression but let Ygritte pull her out of the kitchen. He and Jon wordlessly followed, but remained on the edge of the living room and they watched the girls start to dance in the middle of it.

It was some upbeat rock song, and Ella’s hands were raised above her head, her dress swishing against her legs as she moved. He wondered what she was wearing underneath, had been since she’d shown up earlier with her legs looking about a mile long thanks to her ankle boots.

“Which one of us do you think she was hitting on?,” Jon asked him.

Robb watched as Ygritte’s eyes lingered on Ella’s form and then she looked over at Jon and grinned at him.

“I think both of you,” he told him honestly.

“Do you think Ella knows that?,” Jon wondered, and they watched as Ella twirled Ygritte.

“Um, probably not,” he chuckled. 

“Is she…”

“Is she what?,” he asked.

“Interested in girls too?,” Jon wondered.

Robb’s stomach lurched. He had never really thought about that. She’d never mentioned anything, but she probably wouldn’t. Not unless he asked, which he hadn’t, because the truth was, he’d never seen her look at anyone with desire in her eyes other than him.

He watched as Ygritte and Ella danced. They looked good together, regardless of what it meant. Ella looked happy.

“I don’t know,” he told him honestly.

He grinned as Ygritte said something in Ella’s ear that made her toss her head back and laugh. Ygritte’s eyes fell to her neck. He knew that look. But Ella didn’t seem to notice and waved someone over, throwing her arms around Gilly and introducing the pair of them.

The girls were busy dancing so he and Jon went over and got in the queue to play beer pong. They were up against Sam and Pod, which wasn’t really fair, and they made quick work of them. 

Gendry and Wymar were a bit more of a fair fight but they still beat them, and then played against Grenn and Edd.

He glanced over at Ella every so often, she was still dancing with Gilly and Ygritte. She’d thrown her hair up in a ponytail and as though she felt his eyes on her she looked over at him and blew him a kiss. 

He pretended to stagger back, clutching his heart and he could practically feel her giggle from across the room. 

“What has that girl done to you?,” Jon asked at his side. 

He shrugged, “The only thing to do with a girl like her is let her destroy you.”

Jon opened his mouth as though he was going to respond, but he nodded behind him and said, “Speaking of destruction.”

Robb grinned and turned, about to ask Ella if she wanted to throw a celebrity, but it wasn’t her. 

“Hi stranger,” a sultry voice said. 

“Dhorea,” he gulped. 

She grinned, “Well don’t I even get a hug?”

He nodded and stepped forward, hugging her briefly. She pulled him away from the beer pong table, and Wymar stepped in next to Jon to take his place. 

“So how was your summer?,” she asked. 

“Best ever,” he told her honestly, “How about yours.”

“Oh you know,” she grinned, looking off into the distance before closing her eyes. 

It was a gift of hers, making you think about sex whether you wanted to or not. 

They’d hooked up for a while at the end of their freshman year. She was fun but absolutely wild and like Jon had noted, had a talent for destruction. 

He felt a little guilty. He hadn’t thought about her once all summer.

“I kept thinking you’d call,” she pouted, taking his cup out of his hand and taking a sip of his drink. 

She offered it back to him but he waved her off and ran his hand through his hair. 

“Yeah the thing is, Dhorea, I’m in a relationship,” he told her. 

She let out a melodic laugh, “No.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah, she’s around here somewhere.”

The laughter died and she shook her head, “But you don’t have girlfriends.”

“Um…,” he started stupidly. “Well the thing is…”

“Who is she?,” she demanded. 

“Oh, well,” he gestured vaguely, trying not to look to the last spot he’d seen Ella. He didn’t want to introduce her to an angry Dhorea. “We grew up together.”

Dhorea looked at him and threw back the rest of his whiskey. She dropped the cup on the floor petulantly and he fought the urge to roll his eyes. 

He never wanted to tell anyone how to feel, but he had to admit he thought she was being a little overdramatic. They’d never even been exclusive.

“Okay but -,” Dhorea started and then the hair on his arms stood up as she looked to his left. 

“Hi, I’m Ella,” a sweet voice said. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

“You don’t like blondes,” Dhorea said instead of saying hello to her.

“Sucks to be me then,” Ella joked and he couldn’t help but chuckle. He looked over at her, trying to convince her with just a look that she had nothing to be worried about, but she merely smiled at him and shrugged, walking in between them, her fingers ghosting across his abs, making him shiver. “Well I’ll leave you guys to it.”

She walked away without another look at Dhorea, but she turned around and winked at him, walking backwards a few steps and then turning and walking down the hall.

“It was nice seeing you,” he said absently to Dhorea and followed Ella down the hall as though he was in a trance. 

The light was on in the library and he looked inside, seeing her sitting up on the desk, her legs crossed, a book open in her lap. 

He closed the door, prepared for her ire. He’d never really seen it but he had a feeling it was going to be pretty bad. She was scrappy.

“You guys have got quite a collection,” she told him, gesturing vaguely to the books, “All sorts of pretty things.”

He crossed to her and took the book from her hands, taking her cheeks in his, “Ella you have nothing to worry about. She’s just someone I used to sort of see.”

“Who is?,” she asked stubbornly, raising an eyebrow.

“Her name is Dhorea,” he sighed, “And she’s no threat to you.”

To his surprise she grabbed him by the back of his head and kissed him. It lit a fire in his veins and he pried her legs apart so that he could step in between them, kissing her back. 

“Why would I worried?,” she asked him, gripping his shirt in her hand. She let her tongue trail over his bottom lip and he groaned and she grinned against him, “You’re mine, Robb Stark,” she said and suddenly her hand was on his cock, “And so is this.”

“Fuck, Ella,” he groaned as she started rubbing him through his pants.

Her hand moved up and unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants and reached underneath his boxers, “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, fuck yes,” he whimpered as she started rubbing him expertly, her other hand still holding the back of his neck. 

“Good,” she told him, her hand working him as she bit his bottom lip. 

He growled at her and his hands moved up her thighs and pulled her underwear down, his fingers finding her cunt wet. 

“Oh Ella,” he groaned, parting her lips and tracing his finger over her pearl, “So wet for me. Is that what does it for you? Knowing you own me? Knowing you can have me anytime you want?,” he asked, pushing two fingers inside of her, “Is that what gets you off now?”

She grabbed his hand and pulled it away from her and to his utter surprise and delight, took the fingers that had just been inside of her into her mouth and licked them clean. 

He could have come right there, her eyes taking on the hazy quality they always had when she was really turned on. 

She released his fingers with a pop and said, “You’re what gets me off now.”

He attacked her lips with his, his tongue entering her mouth, lapping at hers. He’d never tasted her sweetness off her tongue before and it was the most glorious thing he’d ever had. 

She moaned into his mouth, her hand going back to his cock, her other pulling down his pants.

“Let me, let me get the door,” he said to her, because there was no way he wasn’t having her on this desk.

He look towards the door but felt her palm on his cheek, turning him back to look at her. She leaned in close to his lips and whispered, “I don’t care.”

He grinned, because if she didn’t, then he sure as hell didn’t either. The entire party could come in and watch for all he cared.

Even still he couldn’t resist teasing her. He wrapped his hands around her thighs and pulled her closer towards him. 

“You want people to see me making love to you?,” he asked. 

She shook her head, and there was no smile on her face, and only desire in her eyes. She took his cock in hand and guided him towards her, arching her hips. 

“No,” she told him, “And I don’t want you making love to me either.”

He groaned, steadying himself as she rubbed his cock against her folds, “You’re sending some mixed messages, El.”

Now she did grin, “I don’t want you to make love to me. I want you to fuck me.”

He batted her hand away and took his cock in hand and shoved inside of her. She let out a surprised moan and he yanked on her ponytail, attacking her neck as he thrust inside of her again. 

Her hands wandered up the back of his shirt, and he rolled his hips against her, all but begging her for it. She gave him what he wanted, she always did, and dug her nails into his back, dragging them down.

“Fuck,” he grunted.

He set a merciless pace. He had never fucked her like this. Their sex was great, incredible, but it had never been like this. She had never been like this, so neither had he.

They’d always known how to give the other exactly what they needed.

Ella arched her back, her elegant neck falling back, her thighs locked around him as he pounded into her. 

She looked so vulnerable and it released the animal inside of him and he gripped her hips harshly, pulling her against him again and again.

“FUCK, ROBBB,” she cried out with abandon. It was music to his ears. “Fuck, fuck, just like that baby.”

He rocked his hips against her, grabbing her by the back of her neck and crushing his lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her hips rocking against his in their own delicious rhythm.

He groaned into her mouth, breaking the kiss as he moaned. 

“God your cunt is perfect,” he told her, “So fucking good.”

“Robb, Robb,” she said, yanking his hair. “I want to ride you.”

He leaned in and kissed her, gripping her by her perfect ass and pulling her off the desk, turning around and hoisting himself onto it. 

She got on her knees straddling him. He was still inside of her and she didn’t miss a beat, rocking against him. 

“Fuck, El,” he groaned, spanking her. She let out a moan, and he felt her walls clench around him so he did it again. “That’s right, show me how much you love my cock.”

She cried out, her arms wrapping around his neck as she rocked back and forth on him. She was moving fast, their thighs slapping together. Her cheeks were flushed and she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and he just wanted to ravage her again and again. 

He gripped a butt cheek in one hand, the other spanking the other cheek again and again. 

“FUCKFUCKFUCK,” Ella cried, “I’m going to come baby, come with me, I want to feel you come inside me.”

“Almost,” he nodded, grabbing her breast, “So fucking close.”

She moaned in his ear, “Fuck I love your cock, baby.”

He bit her neck and he felt her walls tighten around him, spasming and all but milking his cock as he shuddered inside of her. 

They stayed like that, panting against one another, his cock still inside of her. 

“Dhorea seems nice,” she said conversationally and he sputtered out a laugh. 

“I knew you were jealous,” he teased. 

She leaned back and looked at him, “I wasn’t.” He fixed her with a look and she grinned, “I wasn’t.”

“Then what was this?,” he asked her. 

She shrugged, “I guess watching you turn down beautiful girls is a kink of mine…”

He chuckled at her, “Well prepare to be turned on all the time…”

She smiled and kissed him sweetly, tenderly, in such painful contrast to what they’d just done that he felt tears flood his eyes. He loved her with such fervor that it was terrifying, but feeling her love him back in the same way was the most satisfying feeling in the world.

He cupped her cheeks and kissed them and her forehead and finally her lips again. 

“I mean it Ella,” he told her, because even if she wasn’t jealous she had to know. He thought about what she’d said last week in her dorm room. “If all I had was you, forever, it would be enough.”

“Robb?,” she asked softly.

“Yeah, honey?”

“Make love to me.”

Chapter Text

“Mmmm,” she smiled, stretching lazily. 

Robb chuckled against her neck, which he’d just been nuzzling, “You sound like Ser Pounce.”

She giggled and then frowned, “I miss that cat.”

“Weirdly I miss him too,” Robb agreed, his fingers running over her ribs and making her shiver. 

It was a rotten day outside, rain and wind, even some hail. She’d ran over to his house that morning and he’d immediately brought her into the shower because she’d been soaked through in spite of the short distance, warming her body with his. 

She’d dressed in a pair of his sweatpants and one of his sweaters, and he’d pulled a pair of the socks his mom had knit for him on her feet. They’d crawled into bed and hadn’t gotten out of it six hours later. 

She arched her neck backwards and he took the hint, continuing his attentions to it. He pressed soft, leisurely kisses to her, and she breathed in his clean boy smell, kissing his hair and running her fingers through it. 

Her hand wandered down to his back and she rubbed his shoulders gently. He put his body through so much with rugby and it felt like every time they made love she found a different bruise on his perfect body. 

He moaned against her neck, causing vibrations against it, so she kneaded him a bit more firmly. 

“God El that feels really good,” he told her.

“Lay down,” she told him. 

He got off of her and laid down on his stomach, hugging a pillow to him. He always reminded her of Rickon when he did that, the way his little brother would hold his stuffed wolf. She pressed a loving kiss to his cheek, hugging him gently, because she couldn’t hug the littlest Stark that she missed so much. 

She got on his back, sitting on his butt and started rubbing his shoulders. He groaned and she moved down his back, working the knots she found there. 

She’d always loved his back, it was so muscled, so impossibly masculine. 

She dug her palm underneath his shoulder blade and he groaned in pleasure, so she repeated it with his other. 

“God El you’re even better than my PT,” he said appreciatively. 

She leaned down and said in his ear, “Wow baby, you really know how to make a girl feel special.”

He chuckled, grabbing her by the back of the head and pressed a kiss to her cheek and she sat back up, continuing her attentions. 

“Robb, El, you decent?,” they heard. 

“Go away,” Robb shouted at the same time as she said, “Yes.”

The door opened and Jon stood there. He looked at them, Robb laying on his stomach in sweatpants, her covered head to toe in oversized garments, and then the tv. 

“Is this what boyfriends and girlfriends do?,” Jon asked. 

“Um…,” she started and then realised she had no idea what boyfriends and girlfriends did, “I don’t know?”

“Massages and Parks & Rec? I want that…,” Jon grumbled, looking at her with puppy dog eyes. 

Robb chucked a pillow at him, “Stop looking at her like that, man.”

“But she’s so prettttty,” Jon teased him because Robb was so easy to fluster. 

All the boys liked to pretend to hit on her in front of him. All except Sam and Gendry anyway. They asked her to sit next to them at dinner or complimented a new dress. They never let her carry anything and always asked her to be their beer pong partner.

It drove Robb crazy. She thought it was hilarious. 

“No massages, but you can watch with us,” she told him, gesturing to Robb’s overstuffed armchair. 

Jon grinned and sat down, and she got off of Robb and sat back against his headboard. It wasn’t that there was anything sexual about what she was doing, but even still it felt a little strange to be in that position in front of him. 

“I really fucking hate you sometimes, Snow,” Robb told him, sitting up as well. 

She opened her legs, knowing how she could appease him, and he gave her a soft, satisfied smile and sat in between them, his back to her front. 

She wrapped her arms around him, her cheek on his shoulder, laughing as Tom and Donna tried on a myriad of ridiculous outfits. 

“Treat yo self,” Jon intoned from the chair and even Robb laughed. 

“Fine. Leather. Goods,” she agreed. 

Robb grabbed his t shirt and pulled it on and then settled back against her, rubbing her legs absentmindedly. 

“If you had to fight Ron Swanson or Captain Holt, who’d you choose?,” Robb turned to Jon and asked.

Jon rubbed his cheek as though that was the question, and thought about it for a while. 

“Swanson,” he finally said definitively.

“Totally,” Robb nodded, as though he’d chosen his best friend very well.

She couldn’t disagree with him. Well, she’d rather fight Captain Holt because Ron Swanson might bite your ear off, but she couldn’t disagree with him about Jon. 

They’d both teased him about it at first, but it had become abundantly clear very early on why it was so important to Robb that the pair of them became friends. Jon was his person. His barometer. He was his moral compass and his yardstick. And Robb was the same for him. 

They were as close as brothers, though more often than not they acted like rivals, and fierce friends. A slight against one was a slight against both, but it was more than just testosterone. They took care of each other the way that she and Sansa did. 

It had been easy, really. Jon wasn’t the warmest guy in the world to most people, but she knew that he was inclined to like her from the start out of loyalty to Robb. She liked to think that she’d won him over on her own though, and he was more like her and Gendry than Robb was - more of an observer than anything else. 

He was kind to her, so kind, and horribly protective.

“April or Gina?,” she asked. 

“To date?,” Jon asked.

“No to fight,” she replied.

“April,” they said in tandem and she giggled. She would have chosen April too. 

Her phone buzzed on Robb’s night stand and Jon tossed it to her. She had a text from Ygritte. 

How are you spending this shit Saturday?

“Get her over here,” Robb said excitedly. 

“Get who over here?,” Jon wondered.

“Ygritte,” she informed him, and she and Robb turned just in time to see Jon’s cheeks turn pink. “Oh Jon.”

“Go away,” he mumbled and she giggled. 

“Dude, you like her, so wouldn’t spending time with her be a good thing?,” Robb asked. 

Jon scoffed, “You have a girlfriend for a few months and suddenly you’re some relationship guru.”

“It doesn’t take a relationship guru to know that its hard to date someone if you don’t see them,” Robb pointed out.

“What do you think, El?,” Jon asked and Robb through his hands up in exasperation. 

She stroked his head, “Don’t worry, you’re so pretty.” He and Jon chuckled and she went on, “I mean… Ygritte is great, you’re great. You’re attracted to her and she’s definitely made some choice comments about your ass. But, she’s my friend and you’re Robb’s friend and it’s completely disgusting outside, so maybe this doesn’t have to be a big deal? I’ll just tell her to come over in her cosiest clothes and just hang out with us. We’ll smoke some weed and make some pizza and if you guys end up falling madly in love, great, and if not, you’ll be high and have a whole pizza to eat so…”

“See, Robb? That’s helpful,” Jon said, “You’re so intense.”

“I JUST SAID YOU SHOULD SPEND TIME WITH HER.”

“YOU’RE FREAKING ME OUT, MAN.”

If it were any other girl, she might feel guilty encouraging her to come to the madhouse. But Ygritte was cool and tough and could absolutely hold her own. 

It had turned out that they had a literature class together, and had become friends over the past couple of weeks. She lived in the dorm next to her, so they hung out a bunch. Like her, Ygritte was surrounded mostly with guys, and when it was just the two of them she was a bit softer, and horribly horribly funny. 

Now on Tuesday nights she had someone to paint her nails with. Gilly had even come over last Tuesday and they’d gotten drunk on a bottle of white wine like absolute amateurs and Gilly had almost peed in her pants laughing as she drunk dialled Sam. 

She really enjoyed spending time with them both. Neither of them were a Sansa, but nobody got two Sansas in a lifetime. There was no god that would be that generous.

Even still, it was nice having girls to hang out with, and she and Ygritte complemented each other well. Ygritte made her a little bit more wild and she brought her back down to earth a bit. It worked. 

And she’d done more than just compliment Jon’s ass. But it wasn’t Ella’s place to say so. 

I’m at the boys’. We are having ourselves an oafish day and would love for you to join. 

Ygritte typed back How does Jon look?

So she answered Gorgeous and broody, as always.

Be there in ten. 

“Jon,” she said as gently as she was able, “She’s going to be here in ten minutes and - “

“Oh fuck, I have to clean my room!”

*

Things escalated rather quickly after that. They hadn’t gotten halfway through the movie when Jon had stood up and led Ygritte out by the hand towards his room. She and Robb giggled like school kids at first, commending themselves on their matchmaking abilities, but when Ygritte and Jon were on their fifth round of the evening they were a bit less giddy - and a good deal more tired. 

After that, Jon and Ygritte were JonandYgritte. Completely inseparable and vaguely nauseating. Though sweet, really. Kind of. When they weren’t fighting. Or fucking loudly. 

Her first semester seemed to be speeding by, and Sansa and Theon would be there the next weekend to visit. She couldn’t wait for them to come, they, her and Robb all had a group chat going which was updated constantly and she and Sansa had a separate text chain that they didn’t want the boys on and facetimed a few days a week, but it wasn’t the same. 

Sansa and Theon were still going strong in spite of a few rough patches at first. As with Robb, there were a number of girls at Theon’s school that didn’t seem to accept that he was in an exclusive relationship. Where she usually found it funny, Robb always looked terrified of the girls, Sansa had found it less so. She’d called her crying a couple weeks back because some girl had sent Theon unsolicited nudes. 

I don’t get it, is he that great in bed? she wondered, because she couldn’t quite understand what would make a girl do that.

Yeah, he really is Sansa had confirmed glumly. 

As far as she could tell though, Theon had been very well behaved, and a lot of the time the pair of them seemed really happy. She was admittedly a little curious to see what their dynamic would be like next weekend, but all in all she had high hopes that they’d stay together and happy for a long time yet. 

She and Robb had been planning all sorts of activities. There would be a party at his house, of course, and they’d all go to watch his rugby game, but they were also going to take them skiing. She’d found an incredible fabric store in town that she wanted to take Sansa to, and she knew that Robb and Theon would want some boy time as well. 

“We have to take them to that weird pub we found too,” Robb cut into her thoughts. 

“Definitely,” she agreed.

They hadn’t been talking about what they were going to do with Sansa and Theon but she didn’t question that his thoughts mirrored her own. Their minds seemed to trade thoughts all the time, she’d started not to even notice.

“You can’t wear that,” he told her. 

She scrunched her nose at him, “You don’t get to tell me what to wear.”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m serious, you’ll regret it. We’re going to be dancing for hours.”

She looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a pair of ankle boots and a black dress that she’d thought that he would like. 

“Well, what exactly does one where to a rave? Also, are we really calling it a rave? It’s not 1995,” she pointed out. 

He chuckled, “You can call it whatever you want to call it. It’s a warehouse party with something like six dj’s and people will be dressing like it’s 1995. But they are going to be thrashing all around and I don’t want you breaking your ankle because some idiot tries to crowd surf.”

She rolled her eyes, seeing his point. He was always so logical and caring. It would be annoying if she didn’t love it so much. 

“Fine,” she said and sat down on her bed, unzipping her ankle boots. 

She kicked them off and stood up, pulling her dress up her body and letting it fall to the floor. 

Robb stood up and started walking towards her.

“No,” she warned, “We told them we’d meet them by nine.”

He grinned, “They’re always late…”

“Don’t try because you know I’ll give in,” she ordered. He gave her a small smile, “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?,” he asked innocently.

“Like I’m…delicious,” she said in annoyance and he chuckled.

“But you are delicious,” he teased, pulling her by her waist towards him. Her body responded to him immediately, like it always did, her nipples peaked by the time they were pressed against his chest. His hand moved down and her gripped her butt, “Every inch of you.”

“And I want to feel every inch of you,” she promised, standing up on her tiptoes, leaning in as though she was going to kiss him, “When we get home.”

“I love it when you tease me, honey. And fine, we’ll wait, it’s probably better because after I’m done with you…,” he trailed off, a small grin on his face.

“Now whose the tease?,” she asked and he smacked a kiss on her lips and released her. 

She went into her closet and tried to find her most rave appropriate clothes. She didn’t really have any, because she’d never been to one. 

She settled for a black crewneck tank top and a pair of leather leggings, pulling on a pair of plain white sneakers, because she didn’t want to ruin anyone’s fun because her feet were hurting. She stepped out of her closet and put her hand on my hip. 

“Is this better?,” she wondered, looking in the mirror, turning from one side to the other. 

“Um, how long have you had those?,” Robb asked. “The leather pants…”

She shrugged, “A couple months I guess?”

He nodded, “I know I can’t tell you what to wear but um… can you… wear them more?”

She looked at him and found his eyes roving over her hungrily. She adored being looked at that way by him. It made her feel gorgeous and loved and even a little dangerous.

She milked it and turned around, “Really? They don’t make my butt look weird?”

He was to her in a second, pulling her roughly back against him, chuckling lustfully in her ear, “You’re such a fucking tease, Baratheon,” he told her, one of his hands squeezing her breast, “I might just have to punish you when we get home.”

A jolt of excitement ran through her body. He’d gotten a bit rougher with her, ever since the night they’d fucked on the desk while a party was going on on the other side of the door. Sometimes when they made love it was still very much that, all sweetness and heavy breaths, intertwined fingers and promises of always whispered between them. She loved that, needed it in such a way that it consumed her. She could cry sometimes with the rightness of it, the way it felt to love him and be loved by him in return, the truth between them when their bodies were joined. But other times he was rough and dirty and wild and she found that she craved that too. 

She turned to him and said, “Promise?”

His eyes bore into hers and he grabbed her face and pulled it to his, pressing one, hot, lingering kiss to her lips. When he pulled away she was starry eyed and he gave her a cocky grin that made her snap out of it. 

They grabbed their coats and hats and mittens and trudged out into the snow. It wasn’t even Halloween yet but The Vale was kind of like the North. It got cold so early and stayed cold so long. 

She didn’t mind it as much here though, not when they could ski every weekend, and all the restaurants had heated patios so you could still sit outside happily on sunny days. 

And she especially didn’t mind it when Robb pulled her hand into his coat pocket along with his. 

He hailed them a taxi and they drove through the downtown streets to the outskirts. It was odd, it looked like a pretty suburban area. But then the taxi driver kept driving, and they found themselves in the forest. 

She scooted closer to Robb and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. 

“I’ve got you, honey,” he whispered in her ear. 

Her nerves dissipated immediately and she breathed him in. She’d be content to stay in the back of this taxi all night, his body against hers, but the driver pulled up and the windows started shaking. 

She looked at Robb and he grinned at her, beckoning her own and he paid the driver and lead her out.

She headed for the back of the line but he grabbed the back of her coat and then placed his hand on her back and lead her right to the doorman. He was enormous, with red hair and a red beard, wearing a t shirt in spite of the cold. 

“Back of the line buddy,” he said to Robb and then looked at her, “You can come in though, beauty.”

She opened her mouth to tell Robb they should just get in line but Robb shook his head and said, “We’re friends with Ygritte.”

“Ygritte?,” the man’s face lit up into a smile, “She’s inside, got herself a new boy, he’s prettier than my daughters… go, go inside, and if anyone gives you trouble, I’ll sort them out.”

Robb grinned and thanked him and they walked inside. People who’d been waiting in line started yelling but the doorman fixed them all with a look that shut them up pretty quickly. 

She pulled off her hat and mittens and stuffed them into the sleeve of her coat. It was cool inside, along the edges where they were, but in the middle where thousands of bodies were dancing she knew it would be hotter than hell. 

“Is there coat check?,” she yelled to Robb. 

He looked over at her and grinned, “You’re adorable, you know that?”

She blushed and he lead her right by the piles of coats and straight to the bar. He said something to the bartender who nodded and Robb grabbed her coat and handed the guy a couple of bills. Their coats disappeared and a plastic cup filled with clear liquid appeared in front of her.

She sniffed it, it was gin so she took a sip. She coughed a bit and took another sip. It was definitely not what she was used to but it wasn’t bad either. 

It was wild in here, she could feel the music rattling her bones. Robb was right, everyone was dressed like it was 1995 and taking one look at the dance floor she was grateful that he’d made her change. Nobody was thrashing about but it looked like a sea of limbs and this music made her want to dance, really dance. She didn’t want to bop her head or move her hips, she wanted her whole body in motion. 

“I thought you’d like it,” Robb said in her ear. 

She looked up at him and smiled, slipping her hand into his and they walked to the VIP area where Ygritte had told them to meet her and Jon. 

The guy pulled the same move with them there, but Ygritte spotted them and waved them in. The doorman acquiesced and lifted the rope and she pulled Robb inside, excited to see their friends. 

Jon was standing, all but bouncing as Ygritte sat on the couch, a slender arm extended behind her like she half-expected someone to paint her portrait. 

Jon turned to them, a bright smile on his face, and pulled her and Robb into a hug, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Robb chuckled and patted his back, “We’re glad to be here too, buddy.”

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek and his forehead fell against hers. 

“Do that again,” he said and she chuckled, figuring he was just taking the piss out of Robb once again. But he was stroking her hair, “It’s so soft.”

She was surprised that Robb extracted his hand from her gently, pressing his other hand to Jon’s chest and pushing him away from her but not pushing. Stranger still, Jon covered that hand in his, gripping it. 

“I love you, man,” Jon told him. 

“I love you too,” Robb promised. 

She wasn’t sure exactly what was going on but she sat down on the couch next to Ygritte, who pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. 

“What’s up with Jon?,” she asked. 

Ygritte smiled and said, “He’s come up.”

“Come up to what?,” she asked. 

Ygritte looked at her and looked like she was going to laugh but then said in her ear, “MDMA, he’s high.”

“Oh,” Ella giggled, it all made sense. No wonder the broody Jon Snow was the human embodiment of the heart-eye emoji. She should have guessed, most of the people here were probably on one thing or another, and there’d been some girls at a party last week that had been on it. She glanced at Ygritte, who looked wholly content with herself - though she always did - and asked, “Are you?”

Ygritte closed her eyes and nodded, picking her hair up and letting it fall all around her pretty face. 

“What does it feel like?,” she wondered. 

“Borrowed happiness,” Ygritte answered without missing a beat. 

She smiled and sipped her drink. She wanted to go dance, but Robb and Jon settled on either side of her and Ygritte. 

Robb curled around her and wrapped his arm around her waist, and said in her ear, “They have more.”

She turned to look at him and asked, “Have you ever done it?”

He nodded, “Once, last year.”

“What did it feel like?,” she asked, because though Jon and Ygritte looked perfectly happy, Robb would never lie to her. 

He tilted his head to the side, thinking about it, and then grinned, “It felt like my blood turned into champagne. Popping in my veins.”

“You want to do it,” she realised. 

“Yeah,” he nodded, “It’s intense but really nice and I… I want to do it with you.”

She found herself blushing stupidly, “Why?”

He grinned, “Because being with you is the closest I’ve ever been to feeling that way sober.”

She knew exactly what he’d meant. Sometimes when they kissed it was like her entire body was lifting off the ground, like she was weightless, like nothing else existed, only him, them. 

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, and he kissed her back.

“Okay,” she said against his lips. 

“Okay,” he said against hers. 

She turned back around and had to clap her hands in front of Ygritte and Jon who were making out. They pulled apart, both starry-eyed. If they’d been drunk they would have both been grouchy with her but they looked at her lovingly. 

“Can we have some?,” she asked, holding the arm that Robb had wrapped around her waist, his chin on her shoulder. 

Ygritte grinned and reached into her pocket, “Open wide, baby girl.” She felt Robb rub his knuckles on her abdomen, calming her nerves and she opened her mouth. Ygritte placed a small pill on her tongue and then turned to Robb, “You too, handsome.”

Before she could think anymore of it she took a sip of her drink and swallowed it. 

“How will I know if it’s working?,” she asked. 

“You’ll know,” they all answered.

She grinned and shrugged, trusting them, and went to take another sip of her drink. Jon grabbed it from her though and handed her a water bottle instead.

Ygritte stood up wordlessly and took her hand. She stood up as well and followed her out of the VIP space, Robb and Jon on their heels. 

Ygritte started leading her through the throngs of people dancing, and she wasn’t sure if the crowd was parting for Ygritte or for Robb behind her, but they parted all the same. 

They all stopped when they’d gotten to a point where they couldn’t see any of the walls. It should have felt claustrophobic, but strangely it didn’t, and the music was so good that she started dancing immediately. 

She’d never really been into electro or whatever this was called, but that was because she’d never felt the bass reverberating in her chest, never stood in the middle of a thousand people all moving to the same beat as though tethered by string.

Ygritte started to dance, her eyes closed, her body moving in perfect sympathy with the music. There was a light sheen of sweat on her body already, and as though she were a magnet, Jon fused against her. It was like they were dancing in slow motion, their bodies moving as one. It wasn’t even sexual, but it was oddly mesmerising. 

She looked at Robb to see if he was feeling anything, but he merely smiled his normal smile at her, dancing happily. 

She moved her hips, her arms above her head, closing her eyes and giving into it all. Her cheeks felt flushed but her body felt cool, and it was familiar, like going for a run on a cold day, or sitting in the lake, the sun on her face. 

The beat picked up and her body went with it, and then she felt an electric caress on her arm. 

She opened her eyes, her fingers already reaching and found Robb all of a sudden right there, his hands on her arms. She looked up at him and his eyes were nearly black but no less beautiful, and he was looking at her like he’d never seen anything quite like her. 

“Do you feel that?,” he asked, his finger trailing down her arm and she shivered. 

The base had dropped and all around them people were dancing wildly but she and Robb were standing still and she’d never experienced anything like it. 

“I feel everything,” she told him.

Champagne bubbles and adrenaline and him. 

His hands moved up to her face and she closed her eyes at the feel of it, his lips touched hers and she gasped into his mouth. He kissed her slowly, patiently, his hands still cupping her cheeks, one of her arms wrapped around his neck, her other hand on his chest. All at once their bodies started swaying, and when she opened her eyes fireworks went off. The beat was rising once again and he opened his eyes and grinned at her, and they started dancing as one. 

She placed her hands on his shoulders as it really took off and he had his hands on her waist and they were bouncing up and down and all of her atoms were hugging his. 

“Is it what you expected?,” she asked him. 

He shook his head, the vast orbs of his eyes drinking her in, drowning her, “More. You’re always so much more.”

She was about to tell him that he was too, but she felt a new hand on hers and she looked behind her. 

“How do you feel, baby girl?,” Ygritte asked and Ella could only smile. “Attagirl.”

She twirled Ygritte, her best dance partner, and the other girl pulled her to her. She smelled good, like lavender and mint, and her hand was so soft in hers. 

Ygritte draped her arms over her shoulders and they danced together. Her body felt good against her, so different than Robb’s, softer, smaller. 

Ygritte ran her hands through her hair and it felt like electric currents, and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation. 

And then she felt a pair of unfamiliar lips press to hers. 

She knew she wasn’t supposed to, so she pulled away and turned to Robb.

He was watching her already.

“Robb,” she said simply.

He stepped to her, “I’m here, honey. I’ve got you.”

She wasn’t sure if he’d seen so she said, “I kissed Ygritte, I’m sorry.”

“Did you like it?,” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she told him truthfully. 

She had liked dancing with Ygritte but the kiss had only lasted a second. But everything felt so good, even guilt. 

“I liked it,” he told her and she looked up at him, “You’re so beautiful together.”

“Do you want me to kiss her again?,” she asked. 

Say yes. Tell me to. I want to. But I don’t know what that means. 

She wondered if he could hear her thoughts even now. 

He pushed some hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear and smiled softly at her, as though he knew and he’d always give her exactly what she needed, “Yeah, I want you to.”

“Stay close?,” she asked and he nodded. 

She turned back to Ygritte, and reached out and rubbed her hand up her arm. Ygritte’s eyes closed and she smiled, and she continued moving upwards until she wrapped her arm around her neck. 

Her body pressed against hers, her soft breasts against hers, and her other arm wrapped around her waist. 

Ygritte’s wrapped around her waist and then moved down and squeezed her butt. 

“I’ve been wanting to do that since the minute I first saw you,” Ygritte told her.

She leaned in slowly and pressed her lips to hers. It was so different, but it felt nice. 

Everything felt so nice. 

The hand around her waist moved up so that she could cup Ygritte’s face and deepen the kiss, and she sucked on Ygritte’s bottom lip the way Robb liked. She seemed to like it too and deepened the kiss, her tongue moving against hers. 

It set off explosions in her mind and her hand disappeared into Ygritte’s soft hair. 

She felt a different pair of hands on her hips, a pair of lips at her neck and she would have been frightened but she could smell Robb’s smell, felt the familiar feel of his body.

Ygritte stopped kissing her and took one look at Robb and then leaned down and kissed the other side of her neck. She moaned, it felt too good, having two people kissing her, one soft the other hard, their hands roaming over her. 

She opened her eyes and saw Jon staring at her. His mouth was open slightly and his eyes, already nearly black, were shining with want. His whole body looked tensed, as though holding himself back. 

He wanted. She wasn’t sure which one of them he wanted, but he wanted and there was only one of them he could have. 

She stroked her hand through Ygritte’s hair and said her name. Ygritte looked up at her lustfully, kissing her lips again and Ella gave into it for a moment longer before pulling away.

“Jon,” she said and Ygritte looked to her right. 

She stepped towards him and he stepped towards her, grabbing her by the back of her head and kissing her. She smiled, watching them. They were so pretty together, so happy - not fighting. 

She turned around and looked up at Robb. He smiled down at her and they started dancing once again. 

An upbeat song was on, and she felt like there was a breeze in the room though she wasn’t sure where it had come from. Robb’s skin was sparkling and every move of her hair was a caress. 

She jumped up and down, her arms above her head. The floor felt like a trampoline, and the lights kept changing, each one becoming her favourite as soon as they fell upon his face.

She jumped up and as though he’d been afraid she would reach the moon he grabbed her to him, their faces inches from one another.

He was looking into her eyes, as though there were entire continents inside he had yet to explore, and she smiled at him, because it was impossible not to.

“I really fucking love you,” he told her. 

She wrapped her arms around his neck, “Maybe it’s the drugs.”

“No,” he shook his head and grinned at her, and then threw his head back and laughed, letting out a woop and looking back at her, “No. I’m going to marry you someday, Myrcella Penelope Baratheon. Mark my words.”

“Is that a proposal?,” she teased, though her heart was thudding in her chest. 

He leaned his forehead against hers, “It’s a promise.”

Chapter Text

“El, you’re vibrating,” he teased. 

She shoved him, “I’m just excited.”

“I know, me too,” he agreed.

Sansa and Theon had landed a half hour before at Eyrie International Airport. His little sister had been documenting their entire journey, her instagram story had to be at least fifteen pictures long at this point, and Ella had been devouring it all.

She’d been on edge all week. She’d cleaned her dorm room and then his bedroom, even though he’d told her that he would. Edd was out of town this weekend so she’d then cleaned his room and put brand new sheets and a new comforter on the bed for “Theon”. As far as his parents were told, Sansa would be staying with Ella and Theon would be staying with him. And as far as he was concerned that was what was happening regardless of the realities of the sleeping arrangements. 

He was looking forward to seeing them. He and Theon kept in touch, but nothing like Sansa and Ella - it would be physically impossible for two people not in the same place to speak to each other more than Sansa and Ella - and he wanted to hear about how things were really going. He knew that there had been a few ugly fights between the two of them, which he supposed was normal, but they both insisted they were happy and solid. 

He was actually getting a little worried because he and Ella hadn’t fought yet. There had been that whole business when Sansa walked in on them over the summer, but since then it had been completely smooth sailing. There were moments of course when one of them wasn’t their best, he snapped at her after a rugby game that he’d played really poorly in and she’d done the same when she’d gotten a B+ on a paper. But they both apologised so quickly, telling the other that it wasn’t them, they were just disappointed in themselves, and the other had been quick to assure them that it was alright, that they were doing better than they thought, that they loved them even if they were a total hack/dummy. 

He never got angry with her though, never, and she never seemed to get angry at him. He was a little worried, because from everything he’d heard, couples were supposed to fight. He didn’t particularly want to fight with her, he didn’t want to be like Jon and Ygritte that picked at each other constantly. She was too smart to fight with, he’d definitely lose, and he also just didn’t like the idea of it - of them saying mean things to one another. 

He knew he’d have to get over that, because it was bound to happen, but he’d take a happy, drama-free relationship for as long as he could get it. 

He looked over at Ella and smiled. She was trying to keep herself busy by working on a paper while they waited and she was wearing her glasses, her hair up in a high ponytail, a fuzzy white sweater on. 

“Hey El?,” he asked. She turned to him and raised her eyebrows, “Do I ever piss you off?”

Because apparently he couldn’t help himself, and starting their first fight ten minutes before their best friends showed up was obviously a good decision.

“Like when you interrupt me mid-closing argument?,” she asked, gesturing to her computer. 

He grinned, “No I mean actually piss you off.”

She scrunched her nose adorably, “No, I don’t think so. You’re so nice to me.”

She was really nice to him too. She did things for him all the time without even asking, always listened when he needed to talk something through. She was always happy to see him. 

“Hm,” he nodded, because maybe they were just better than other couples. 

He liked the idea of that a lot. 

“What?,” she asked, closing her computer and placing it on the coffee table. 

She turned and tucked her feet up under her and focused on him entirely. She always did that when he spoke to her, she never texted while you were talking to her or tried to do something else. That’s why it always annoyed her when he tried to talk to her while she studied, because she never did anything halfway.

“I was just thinking that we never fight,” he told her. 

She cocked her head to the side and then a smile graced her gorgeous face, “Oh, yeah, I guess we don’t.”

“Do you think that’s bad?,” he asked.

“Do you want to fight with me?,” she asked.

“No,” he answered honestly, “Of course not… I’ve just… well… what if it means that there’s I don’t know… something wrong with us, like… a lack of passion or something.”

“A lack of passion,” she repeated and he nodded. She sputtered out a laugh and then moved forward so she could sit in his lap. She pushed his hair off of his face, and up close he could see just how perfect her skin was, her nose dotted in freckles, her jadeite eyes like a cool river, looking earnestly into his, “I don’t mean to laugh at you if you’re really concerned about this, but are you forgetting how I woke up this morning?”

He closed his eyes and let out noise that sounded strangely like Grey Wind. 

He’d gone for a run that morning and come back and found her naked in his bed. It wasn’t a rare occurrence but it hadn’t lost its lustre either. She’d moved to the spot that he’d vacated, probably drawn to the warmth he’d left behind, and she’d looked like she was exactly where she was supposed to be. 

He hadn’t even showered, he’d just gone to the bed and pulled the covers off of her, moving her onto her back and opened her legs, lowering his face to her. She’d woken up mid-orgasm, and when he’d gone to go shower she’d wordlessly followed behind. The water had gone cold by the time they were finished, after he’d made love to her up against the wall and then fucked her roughly from behind. He’d come twice, she’d come three times, and they’d fallen back into bed, kissing every inch of the other’s newly clean body for the next hour before they’d finally gotten up for class. He’d walked her to hers and then sprinted to his and when he got there he had a text message from her saying My alarm clock is going in the garbage, you’re the only wake up call I want from now on. 

“Good point,” he allowed. 

She ran her knuckle gently across his cheek bone and he could tell she was thinking something through so he waited, his fingers rubbing her back. 

“I’m sure we’ll have a fight,” she said after a moment, “A lot of them, it’s bound to happen. But I don’t think we should worry about what it means that we don’t, because every couple is different, right? And you and I were such good friends first, maybe we’re just…”

“Better?,” he supplied.

She giggled, “No, but different.”

He pretended to cough, “Better.”

She was about to shove him when his doorbell rang. Her entire face lit up, “They’reherethey’rehere.”

She hopped off his lap and sprinted to the door, opening it wide. She was in Theon’s arms in the next moment, and comically was reaching for Sansa as Theon was hugging her. Sansa was slapping Theon’s back impatiently and he finally set Ella down.

Sansa and Ella embraced, rocking back and forth, speaking over each other, laughing, crying. He and Theon watched helplessly, stupid grins on their faces watching it all.

“Sansa’s been a wreck,” Theon confided. 

“So has Ella,” he confirmed. 

Then, as though they were realising that they hadn’t seen one another either, they reached for each other and hugged briefly.

When the girls finally broke apart, he tackled Sansa in a hug. He’d missed her so much, and she burrowed into him, squeezing him tightly.

“All good, Dovey?,” he asked softly in her ear. 

She nodded, hugging him tighter, “I just missed you.”

“I missed you too,” he told her honestly. 

There was something to it though. It was different than when he’d gone home for Thanksgiving last year. She’d leapt into his arms, so excited to tell him everything. She’d already been accepted to the Fashion Institute and she’d been overwhelmed with happiness. She’d tugged him up to her bedroom and asked him tons of questions, though they’d spoken every week. 

This was different though, she hadn’t burrowed into his chest as though she wanted to hide from the world. 

He figured that it might just be that he was her first bit of home other than Theon that she’d had since she moved away. Last year he’d come to her, she’d had Ella and their family, all her friends. Now though, she’d been on her own. So maybe it was just that. 

For some reason though, he doubted it.

*

“You didn’t!,” Sansa gasped. 

“We did,” Ella nodded, “Don’t tell your parents.”

Sansa rolled her eyes, “As if I would tell Mom and Dad you did ecstasy. Dad would fly down here just to kick Robb’s ass and then wrap you in a cocoon and tell you that you had never done anything wrong in your life ever.”