Work Text:
Sansa’s apartment wasn’t hard to find. Jon remembered where she lived from when she was hired. Plus, he passed by her building any time he went grocery shopping. Once, he’d even seen her getting into her car in the driveway on the side of her building. She’d been wearing a skirt and he remembered the sight of one long sleek leg outside the door and how he’d nearly crashed his car ogling it.
He stood now in front of said building - which was really just a rather large white house with, judging from the outside mailboxes, had about six units inside. Sansa’s apartment was on the first floor - he saw the number on the door - and he climbed the wrap around porch up to her door.
He rapped on the door, clutching her resume in his hand, and waited, imagining her answering the door with red eyes and a red nose from crying over how terribly he’d treated her. He did not expect her to answer the door laughing with a glass of wine in her hand.
But that’s what she did.
Her smile fell when she saw who she’d just opened her door to. “What are you doing here?” she asked bluntly. Her hair was done up in messy ponytail, she wore a baggy gray sweatshirt and a pair of blue yoga pants. She was barefoot, her cheeks were red, and her eyeliner was a bit smudged under her eyes. But it was not from tears.
Jon still wanted her. And seeing her like this somehow made him want her more. He held up her resume.
She squinted and leaned in closer to take a look at it. She straightened and pointed at him. “What are you doing with my resume?”
“It was in your printer,” he said.
“In my...no I…” She made a face. “I left it there.”
“Yes.”
“Were you using my printer or something? Is yours broken? Do I need to call for repairs.”
“No,” Jon said in frustration. “I want to know if you’re planning on resigning. What is this about?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What were you doing in my office? What were you doing in my office that you found my resume in my printer?”
“I am allowed to go in your office, Sansa,” he said testily.
“Yeah, but you never do. The most you do is hover in the doorway. Or just bark at me from your office so I have to come running to yours.”
Jesus. She made him sound like a dick.
And maybe she made him sound like a dick because he was.
It was clear she was also not going to let it go and so he sucked it up and looked her right in the eye. “I wanted to be close to you so I went in your office.”
She looked absolutely gobsmacked that he’d just admitted that.
Before she could respond to that, a tall lean man with a stiff gait and a limp came walking through the hallway behind her. He had a beard, he wore glasses, and his dark bushy brows were furrowed. “Sansa, darling? Who is it?”
Darling? Jon thought. What the fuck?
Sansa straightened and frowned at Jon. “It’s um…” She pointed at Jon. “Stay there. Don’t move.”
Jon nodded and stepped back. Sansa shut the door on him.
Sighing, Jon meandered over to the porch railing and leaned against it. The door opened not five minutes later and the guy in her apartment stepped out with Sansa in the doorway.
Jon glowered as he kissed Sansa’s hand and smiled at her, causing her to smile in a way that appeared somehow very intimate.
Jon cleared his throat and when the other guy straightened and turned, he glared. Well that was just fine. Jon had some questions of his own like exactly who the fuck this guy was and what he was to Sansa. Jon glared back.
“Jon,” Sansa said softly as the man in question made his way off the porch and headed to the parking lot.
Jon couldn’t help but feel a little smug since he wasn’t the one who had been sent home. Sansa stepped to the side to let him in. Jon entered her apartment and glanced around the cream- toned living room with splashes of red here and there - he wasn’t here for the decor. But the overstuffed couch against the wall looked like a good place to have her. It looked comfortable for one, and for another, it was close.
He turned as she shut the door and thought - well, maybe he could just take her against the door. He put her resume on the dark wood coffee table and started for her. Her back was against the door. He lurched forward with intent and she caught a whiff of it before he could make contact because she scurried away and put some distance between them.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
Okay, so she obviously needed some buttering up. Not that he could blame her. He had handled the whole thing quite badly. He lifted his arms and then dropped them in a gesture of giving up. “It’s no use, Sansa. I can’t even go a day without you. I wanted you next to me last night in my bed, and seeing you all day and not being able to touch you even once? Torture. Plus, the cold shoulder you’ve been giving me is killing me slowly.” He stepped forward. “I was a right bastard and I’m sorry.”
She looked thoughtful as she studied him. “Sounds to me a bit like that madness you thought it was. Wasn’t that why you wanted to ‘take a break’? Because it could have just been ‘temporary madness’?”
He nodded. She was good. She’d made an excellent attorney. “Yes, that is what I said. And I was wrong.”
“And this visit was spurred on by the discovery of my resume?”
“I can’t stand the idea of you leaving, Sansa. You’re the best paralegal I’ve ever had.”
“I’m sure there are others out there who would be willing to put up with your shit.”
Jon frowned. She definitely wasn’t afraid of him anymore, that was for sure.
“Am I that terrible?” he asked.
“You made me feel used, Jon. Like I was just some fling for you to have while we were away and then you made all the decisions for how we’d proceed and basically made it sound like a one-off.”
“It was more than a one-off. We did have a lot of sex,” he attempted to joke with a bit of a grin.
She wasn’t amused. “What are you saying then?”
“I want you, Sansa.”
“To work for you.”
“That, too. But I just...I want you.”
“And discovering my resume just gave you the reason to come over here and declare yourself.”
“Well, it -- it helped.”
She pursed her lips together and nodded. “I see.”
“Do you?”
“So you’ve thought it all through then. You want to try dating.”
He froze. She saw it. He held up his hands to defend himself, to tell her that she’d just caught him off guard - which wasn’t a complete lie - when she pointed to the door and said, “Get out.”
“Sansa, wait, just hear me out--”
“No. You’ve ascertained that you want me - as in, you want to have sex with me - but you’re still not sure you want to see what else could be there be between us.”
He threw up his hands. “You’ve already decided then? You’re not the least bit afraid of what people might say at work? How they might accuse you of being my favorite for the simple fact that we’re dating? Are you prepared for all the older man and younger woman jokes? Are you ready for all the judgment that would inevitably be tossed our way?”
“No, Jon, I’m not ready for any of that and it’s not like I am not aware of what we’d have to face. It’s also not like I didn’t know you’d get all skittish about the idea of dating me while we work together. I even knew on some level you’d change your mind, but crap, I wasn’t prepared for how craptastic it was. You just shut it all down completely and made it sound like what happened in King’s Landing stays in King’s Landing - like I was just there to service you. Stupid young Sansa with pie in the sky hopes of Jon Snow liking her more than just when she’s on her back or filing his goddamn papers!”
He stepped forward and she shook her head. He stopped.
“You don’t know what you want,” she said. “ You want to fuck me, but you don’t want me.”
He shook his head. “Not true. I do like you, Sansa. More than you know. It…” He let out a sigh of frustration. “It scares me how much I like you.”
“But we’re still not on the same page.”
“Tell me what I can do to make this better?” he asked. “I don’t want to give you up, Sansa. And I don’t want you to leave your position either.”
“I think…”
“Yes?”
“We should take a break.”
“Sansa,” he said, his temper flaring. She’d tossed his words back in his face once already and he’d deserved it, but this, this pissed him off.
“I’m serious. Maybe we need to reassess. Maybe just getting something off the ground is too hard when it all comes down to it.”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Well, you don’t have a choice. I’m not convinced you’re ready and now...well, now I’m not sure I am.”
“So what are you going to do? Date that guy who left here tonight? Who was he anyway? Some poor chump you’ve got waiting for you in the wings?”
She glared at him. “He’s my friend. And I don’t have to explain anything to you Mr. It Could All Just Be Temporary Madness!”
Jon’s jaw clenched.
“It’s time for you to leave now,” she said firmly.
He didn’t want to go, but what choice did he have? He started for the door when she said his name softly. His heart gave a leap of hope and he turned. “Yes?”
“I trust we can still be professional at work?”
Fuck.
He nodded. “Goodnight, Sansa.”
“Goodnight, Jon.”
He left, hating every step that he took away from her. He got in his car and sat there, gripping the steering wheel so hard he wondered if he could snap it in half. He knew three things: 1. He still hated office relationships but 2. He still wanted Sansa and 3. He liked her for more than just sex.
So, maybe even though he’d somehow managed to royally fuck himself in this situation, he just needed a plan for them. And then he just had to convince her to give him another chance.
He was down but not out.