Chapter Text
Jon makes a face as he inspects himself in the mirror, already dreading the night ahead of him. He loosens the dark blue tie from his collar, then takes it off.
He's not sure what he's supposed to be wearing for this double-date thing. Going on dates is difficult enough for him as it ís since he’s terrible with meeting new people, but going on a double date that his half-sister invited him to is just on another level of complicated.
When he decided, very reluctantly, to bond with his biological siblings, this kind of situation wasn’t really what he had in mind. Then again, he didn’t actually know what to expect. He never even knew he had living relatives until five months ago when he got a call from some lawyer guy from King's Landing.
It was then that he found out his recently departed biological father, whose name was Rhaegar, apparently, left him with a substantial amount of money. It was a bizarre phone call, to say the least. Even crazier than that was the call from his biological father's daughter, Rhaenys, who had also just learned about him. She was nice during their call. Friendly, even. But he hoped that if none of it was a sick prank, then those calls would be the end of it.
Jon didn’t want to deal with any of it now, at twenty-six, when he’d mostly grown out of his insecurities and thought he’d overcome any issues of abandonment. Yet that long-ignored fury from his youth burned in the pit of his stomach at the thought of Rhaegar and his kids and his money. At the thought of Rhaegar knowing exactly who Jon was and where he lived and how to contact him, yet it still took him dying to reach out.
Now his children are in Winterfell. Rhaenys and Aegon, with their polished demeanor and careful yet sophisticated speech. They’re both older than him, though Aegon is only two months his senior, and they discovered his existence just as he discovered theirs, and it’s all so absurd that he wishes he could wake up from it like some terrible dream.
Apparently, they want to get to know him. He can’t decide if he trusts that, considering the whole inheritance thing. He’d told them he didn’t want it, that he’d sign whatever document they drafted about him forfeiting any claim to his father’s fortune, but they’d waved that off and still flew North to meet him.
As much as he didn’t want to meet them - it didn’t matter to him that they were his blood relations, they were still just strangers - he’s been raised better than to ignore them altogether. His mother would’ve been sad if he was anything but polite; he can almost imagine the hurt face she would pull to discover his inhospitality and just the thought of doing anything that would result in that look, if she were still alive, made the pit of his stomach roll with guilt.
So he played nice and agreed to meet with them once they’d arrived. In fact, he's seen them a few times in the two weeks that they've been in Winterfell. They're alright, he supposes. They seem decent, maybe a bit… affected. Though considering they were apparently raised by a rich as fuck father, he's not all that surprised.
His phone pings with a message, saving him from going further down a bitter rabbit hole. It's a text from Rhaenys asking what time he thinks he'll get to the restaurant. He types a quick reply and continues getting ready.
They're going to one of the more high-end restaurants uptown, which Jon has never even been to, so he's at a loss for what to wear. It takes him a few more minutes before deciding to go with his black polo, no tie, and his gray coat. Simple and easy, but that’s basically most of his wardrobe.
He turns to his dog, who has been quietly judging him from the bed. "What do you think, Ghost?" He asks, presenting himself to the white-furred direwolf as if it will reply.
"Hey, Jon, can I borrow your -" Robb, his best friend and roommate, wanders through his open door without thought, stopping only when he notices the state Jon is in. "You're looking smart," Robb notes, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Where are you off to?"
"Dinner," he replies gruffly as he unbuttons the first few buttons of his top.
"With who?"
"I'm meeting my half-sister." He studies Robb from the mirror as he fixes his collar and notes that his best friend’s all dressed up himself. "You?"
Robb grins. "Fancy date." He does a pose, one of those tucked-in belly poses that he finds funny. "How do I look?"
"Fancy."
"Good talk," Robb snorts before jumping onto his bed. “So, how’s that whole thing with your siblings, anyway? You haven’t said much about it."
Jon huffs. “And you think now’s a good time to discuss it?”
Jon hasn’t talked about it with anyone, not in any great detail. He’s not sure he’ll ever want to discuss it. He’s not really good at talking about stuff that matters, not even with people close to him. His thoughts come out stilted from his mouth, they come out all wrong and every syllable he says feels like he’s laying himself bare to the world. Robb knows this, he’s probably one of the few people who’s learned the trick of wrangling the words out of Jon.
“Come on, dude, I’m not expecting a heart-to-heart. I just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing,” Robb says, willing him to say something honest. He waits for a moment for Jon to speak, then again prompts, “So? How has it been?”
Jon heaves out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know, Robb. It’s whatever, I guess,” he answers with a shrug. “Weren’t you gonna borrow something?”
Robb knows him well enough to understand he’s not feeling up to this conversation. “Fine. We’ll revisit it at a later date.” A pause. “I ran out of pomade.”
Jon nods toward the door behind him. “You can get mine in the bathroom.”
Robb rises from the bed and takes the aforementioned product by the sink. Then, on his way out, he says. “Thanks. Have fun on your thing, honeybunch.”
Jon leaves his apartment shortly after that and finds Rhaenys walking outside the restaurant, just arriving herself. “Hey, you’re right on time,” she says in greeting when she sees him approach. She gives him a dazzling smile and an awkward hug, and he mostly manages not to cringe at the contact.
“Yeah,” he replies, ever the chatterbox.
“Thanks for doing this, by the way,” Rhaenys says to fill the silence that passes over them and he thinks she’s learning he’s never going to be the one to do it. She gives him a rueful grin. “I know it was a weird ask but Aegon bailed on me at the last minute and it felt like a waste to cancel.”
He nodded; she'd told him as much when she called him earlier to ask if he was available. And he doesn’t say it, but he finds it strange that she thought of him as an easy filler for her brother. “It’s no problem.” He clears his throat. “Um, so… are they here or..? I mean, do we just go in?”
“They're on the way. It is a bit cold out here though so we should probably head in. I made reservations, anyway, so we might as well wait at the table,” she says after some thought, tucking herself further into her thick coat. Though, just before she approaches the maitre d’, she gets a text that seems to change her mind. “Oh. They’re close. I guess we’ll just wait for them first?”
Jon nods. “Okay.”
Gods, this is already a fucking nightmare and nothing has even happened yet. Then again, it could also just be his introverted nature showing; if he could, he’d pay to be at home in his sweats and with a bottle of ale in hand as he watches hockey reruns.
“That’s them coming in,” Rhaenys cuts through his idle thoughts.
He turns to the door to find -
Robb, smiling at Rhaenys as he approaches her - approaches them. “Hey. You weren’t waiting long, were -” his best friend’s dashing smile evaporates into confusion when he finally takes notice of Jon. “Yo, dude, what are you doing here? I thought you were meeting your…” His gaze flits between Jon and Rhaenys, probably noticing that they’re standing together. He’s frowning as his attention finally settles on Rhaenys. “...sister. You’re his sister. But I thought you said your brother’s name was Aegon.”
“It is. But Aegon couldn’t make it, so…” Rhaenys trails off uncomfortably as if trying to make sense of the situation herself. “This is my youngest brother, Jon.”
Jon tries his best not to wrinkle his nose at the brother bit, but Robb makes a face as soon as he hears it. “Wait, so when you said you were in Winterfell visiting family, you meant you were here to meet Jon,” He says slowly, trying to put the pieces together. Then catching Jon’s eye, he says, “And you’re here to meet your half-sister, Rhaenys, who… who, I’m assuming, invited you on a double date with me and my sister.”
Both Robb and Jon turn to the last member of their odd party - to Sansa, who is standing slightly behind Robb, quietly watching it all unfold. Jon can see a hint of amusement on her face, though she turns it into a polite smile as she steps forward, reaching a hand out to Rhaenys.
“Hi, I’m Sansa,” she introduces herself with a pleasant smile, the only one among them with enough wit to maintain her courtesies. “Robb’s told me so much about you.”
Rhaenys returns her greeting with a smile of her own, though hers is a bit strained and unsure. “Likewise. I’ve been very excited to meet you.” She pauses, then waves a hand between the three of them. “I take it all of you already know each other?”
Robb laughs, bewildered, and it’s clear his mind is reeling at the revelation that he’s dating Jon’s half-sister. “That is quite an understatement.”
Jon clears his throat. His best friend is clearly too astounded for any helpful remarks, so he answers instead, “Robb and I are friends. And roommates.”
It’s downplaying it a a lot but he’s not entirely sure how to explain how bizarre this whole thing actually is. And frankly, he’s never been one to share too much about his personal life to anyone.
“Ah, I see…” Rhaenys replies slowly. Jon can just see her make the calculations in her mind, trying to decide whether to push through with the whole thing despite yet another obstacle to her night or just give it up. “It’s not going to be awkward, is it? We can just cancel if it is.”
Jon turns his attention to the ground, suddenly finding the patterns there to be quite appealing. He’s known Robb - and Sansa, by extension - since he was six and they’ve practically been attached at the hip ever since. So, yeah, all this is awkward.
Of course, his history with Robb aside, there’s also the fact that Sansa’s in a pretty blue dress that clings to her body in all the right places and Jon’s trying his best not to notice. Or pretend not to, anyway, because the truth of it is, he wouldn’t mind going on a date with her in a theoretical universe where she was interested and there were zero chances of Robb murdering him for it.
“No, there’s no need for that,” Robb speaks up after a bout of silence, finally regaining his composure. He gives Rhaenys a smooth smile. “We’re all here, anyway. We can just get dinner and… talk, I guess?”
Sansa confirms that she doesn’t mind and Jon just shrugs, so they push through with it. With that settled, Rhaenys approaches the maitre d’ and they’re swiftly escorted to their seats.
The three of them lag behind Rhaenys at a slower pace, though only because Robb intentionally pulls them behind. “Which one of us is gonna text Arya to bail us out of this?” He asks in a whisper and Jon can tell in the tone of his voice that it’s only half a joke.
Sansa giggles quietly. “See, I told you this was gonna bite you in the ass somehow.”
“I didn’t know she was Jon’s sister,” he whisper-shouts frantically.
Jon glares at him, both for the term he’d used and for playing a part in all this. “Who even thinks going on a double date with their sibling is a good idea?”
“Me and your sister, apparently,” Robb retorts flatly, then he makes a face. “Your sister. This is too much, it's hurting my brain.”
“At least now you know you have one,” Sansa quips, patting her brother’s back as if she’s relieved at the revelation, and it coaxes a laugh out of Jon.
Almost too quickly, they arrive at the reserved round table and take their seats, with Jon positioned in between Sansa and rhaenys. Another bout of awkward silence passes over them and Jon is starting to think of excuses to leave when Sansa, thankfully, decides to get the conversation going.
She starts by asking Rhaenys about her opinion of Winterfell so far, to which the Southerner replies that she’s been pleasantly surprised and loved everything about the city aside from the cold. Sansa laughs at this, commiserates, then offers suggestions on warmer landmarks Rhaenys could visit if she was so inclined.
To Jon’s absolute relief, Sansa maintains the flow of conversation throughout the whole night, taking the responsibility of ensuring it feels less like a date and more of a group thing. He’s immensely grateful for it because he doubts he or Robb would’ve known what to do otherwise. It’s hard enough to grasp the fact that he has a sister, so it’s extra difficult to fathom that his best friend is dating said sister.
Jon spends half the time just watching Sansa in quiet awe; as someone who can barely string three words to say aloud, it’s a fascinating thing to see her in her element. She’s always been friendly and sociable but it’s almost like magic, the way she somehow smooths out the wrinkles of this disaster of a double date that it ends up being actually kind of nice.
“Do you guys want to go get drinks?” Rhaenys asks as they’re walking out of the restaurant, a hopeful smile on her face.
“Ah, I’m probably gonna call it a night,” Jon says apologetically. “I have an early shift at the station.”
As fun as the night ends up being, he still feels a bit worn out by it. He likes his half-sister, really, it just feels too much sometimes. It feels like both she and Aegon have quickly moved past the fact that they didn’t know he existed a few months ago and vice versa. Meanwhile, he’s still struggling to even believe it’s not some horrible prank on him.
“I think I’m gonna do the same,” Sansa echoes.
They all turn to Robb then, who gives Jon a meaningful look. Robb has mentioned before that he was seeing a girl. Not serious yet, Jon remembers. Just a couple of dates so far, but he did mention wanting a bit more. Wanting more with Jon's biological sister, it turns out. Gods, that's gonna be something to wrap his head around.
“You two should go ahead,” Jon encourages because he knows that’s what his best friend is waiting for.
“Okay. Party for two, then,” Robb says, giving Rhaenys his trademark smile as he reaches for her hand. Then he turns to Sansa as he fishes something out of his pocket. “San, you wanna take my car? We can probably just book a ride later.”
“I can drive her,” Jon offers. “I drove here, too.”
“Oh, okay, that’s better actually,” Robb says with a happy grin.
“Alright, well,” Rhaenys speaks up, giving Sansa a goodbye hug and then a wave to him. “Tonight was great. We should do it again when it’s less awkward.”
The acknowledgement wrangles an involuntary smile out of Jon. “Sure.”
Then she and Robb start to walk away in the direction of the bar street, but not before Robb blows him a playful kiss. “Don’t wait up, babycakes.”
Jon just rolls his eyes and turns to Sansa to let her know where he’s parked.
“Why does he do that?” She asks before he can say anything.
“Do what?”
“Call you pet names all the time?”
“Oh,” he says, then chuckles. Sansa’s been living in Eyrie up until a few months back so he supposes she wouldn’t know the lore. “Um, he found out from Rickon that your mom thought we were secretly together. He kind of started doing the pet names to tease her and he just decided not to stop.”
“Wait. My mom thinks you guys are dating?” She asks, a surprise laugh escaping her as they start to walk.
“I don’t know if she still does but she did, yeah.” He rubs the back of his neck tentatively. “I’m not even sure what gave her the idea but I probably should’ve guessed. She kept giving us couple-type gifts.”
Sansa giggles and the sound sends a wave of satisfaction through him. “Like what?”
”Random stuff. You know, like dinnerware sets, mugs, matching robes.”
He glances at her and can’t help but smile at the amusement coloring her face as she laughs even more. It’s been a while since he’s seen her so unguarded; since coming back North, she’s been a bit withdrawn and reticent. It’s so unlike the Sansa any of them remembered that they were all starting to worry.
None of them know exactly what brought the change in her, or what finally brought her back home, just that she seems to be going through something she’s not ready to share.
He knows her siblings have been trying to keep her spirits up since she returned. In fact, if he had to guess, Robb probably thought bringing her out and setting her up on a date would help. Too bad it turned out to be a dud.
He scrambles for something to say because they’ve rarely spoken beyond pleasantries and wants to keep the conversation going. “So, uh, how’s it been so far? Being back home?”
“It’s been nice. Kind of weird too, I guess,” she admits, looking slightly up at the stars above. “I haven’t lived at home since high school. It’s strange staying in my childhood bedroom and having Mom insist on doing everything for me.”
“Are you still looking for an apartment? Arya mentioned something like that.”
“Yeah, it's slow going, though," she answers with a sigh.
He nods, thinking. He’s not sure he knows what more to say, but then remembers something. "Someone's moving out of our building soon if you’re interested," he says, not exactly offering. "But then that would mean, you know… Robb…"
She smiles. "It means I'd have to deal with him and his constant badgering." she finishes and he chuckles.
"Exactly."
"Your place is pretty close to my work,” she says as if genuinely considering it. “I have been looking for an apartment in that area but it's been tough to find a good one. At this point, I think having to deal with Robb would be a fair enough trade.”
"You say that, but you haven't lived with the guy in years. He can get annoying."
Her mouth quirks up. "Well, you've survived so far."
He snorts. "Yeah but I benefit with cheaper rent," he jokes. "No, but really, our complex is decent. I'm kind of friends with the guy moving out. If you need contact info for his landlord or something, I can help."
She smiles at him. Small and soft and so fucking punch-to-the-gut pretty. "I'll consider it. Thanks, Jon."
He swallows and nods, turning away so he can avoid staring at her. It's not news that Sansa's beautiful; she's always been beautiful. He just kind of hates that he notices it. It feels wrong to know it somehow, though he can’t exactly explain why.
They fall into a bout of silence, one that feels unwelcome. Usually, he doesn’t mind the quiet, especially if it saves him from having to converse. This time, he wants to say something, to keep her talking and maybe earn another of her pretty smiles.
In an effort to receive it, he says, “So, uh… how long do you think I should wait before admitting that that whole thing earlier was weird?”
To his delight, she rewards him with a laugh. “I think you’ve held off on saying it for long enough,” she offers. “I’m sorry you couldn’t score a hot date.”
He scoffs, slightly in disbelief. “Are you kidding? I think I should be the one apologizing, you’re the one who got lowballed here. You were promised Aegon and you got me instead. I’m sure you’d have liked him, he’s a real charmer as far as I know.”
“I’m glad it was you,” she says, to his surprise, as she turns to look him in the eye. He’ll never admit it to anyone, least of all to any of her siblings, but he felt a pleasant rumbling in his stomach at her words. “I wasn’t looking forward to tonight. I told Robb I didn’t want to do it but he wouldn’t let it go, so I gave in to get it over with. You were a nice surprise.”
He let himself smile, though only a little. “I’m sure it was entertaining.”
“Not for you,” she points out. “It seemed like you wanted to run out of there the whole time.”
“Yeah. Honestly, I kind of did. It had less to do with you guys being there, though. The whole having siblings thing… I don’t think it’s for me.”
She quirks her eyebrow curiously at him. “I find that hard to believe. Have you seen yourself with my siblings?”
“That’s different. I mean - I don’t know… with Rhaenys and Aegon, it just feels weird. I thought I was an only child all my life. I was an only child. Now I’m the youngest of three?” He shakes his head and then sighs. No matter how hard he tries, he just can’t make himself get over the absurdity. “There’s a lot of baggage that comes with it, too. A lot of history that I didn’t even know about.”
He tucks his hands in his pockets, frown deepening in thought. “And now it feels like I have to re-align everything I know about my life when I don’t even want to. Part of me is mad at my mom for not telling me about it, but the other is glad she didn’t. Knowing about it now, we were struggling so much it would’ve fucked me up as a kid to know my dad had plenty of resources and opportunities to be there and he chose not to.”
He realizes what he’d done once he’d said his piece and winces. “Sorry. That was a lot. I didn’t mean to -”
“No, go ahead. I’m sure it’s been a crazy few months for you. The others have told me a bit about your situation, I can’t even imagine how I’d begin to process it if I were in your shoes.”
“I still don’t know how either, to be honest,” He sighs out. “Between you and me, I was just hoping they'd get bored of me and leave."
She titls her head thoughtfully at him and the motion is so entrancing that it takes all his brain power not to copy her movement. "You don't like them?"
He clears his throat and looks ahead, ignoring how his heartbeat stutters under her big blue-eyed gaze. "I don't know them well enough to decide that. I think maybe I just don’t like things being complicated. And all that definitely is.”
She hums just as they reach his car. "Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I mean... it might be awkward talking about it with Robb since -" she gestures behind them and he assumes she means with Robb dating Rhaenys. "I'm here to listen."