after TMG, Ive been re reading your works. It’s all so good;seriously I’m in awe. Redlight means you’re leaving caught my eye (and my feelings) tho. can you do a prompt for them please 🙏🙏
first of all - I need you all to know that this message is from February 2023. anon, I don't even know you're still here.
second - I almost always get requests for follow ups on any one-shot I write (a lovely sentiment, thank you), but very often I'm like "there's not really anywhere else to go with this". For red lights, there obviously was room to grow that story, but I was pretty resistant to it because I liked the melancholy tone of it and liked the not-exactly-happy ending. I so rarely do a 'bad' ending (even if this one wasn't 'bad', necessarily, it just didn't end up with them together).
But it did stick in my head over the years, and I think enough time has passed where I'm not so worried about how badly a follow up would ruin the original, so here we are.
Just saw a tweet about two friends having sex for fanfic research purposes and how by fanfic logic they will fall in love
A. Just thought maybe you’d find that funny and
B. Write that as Jonsa?
Anon, I do find this very funny, but I honestly doubt I'd ever write a fic about characters writing fic
BUT, I do know fics like that exist, but for the life of me I can't seem to find them, because unfortunately searching the tag on ao3 for "fanfic" or "fanfiction" or even "writing" brings up any story where the author uses that word in the notes or tags or summary, and I don't feel like reading through hundreds of summaries sooooo I can't list any here. But I'll pop it in the jonsa tag to see if anyone else remembers them, because I KNOW I've seen those
are you taking prompts rn? (totally cool if not, I just had a few ideas and needed to get them out of my system. If you dont like them/cant right now, you can just ignore this or leave this in your askbox lol)
- "revengelay": Jon's gf is sleeping with Sansa's bf. They find out and decide to meet up and ponder whether they should get revenge by also sleeping together
- marriage of convenience: X quits coporate job to do freelance work but loses health insurance. The problem is that X is sickly/has a chronic illness or something and needs the insurance because they have to go to the hospital a lot. Y's parent is dying and their last wish is to see X&Y get married (parent is convinced they would be perfect for one another). Bonus if Y has been in love with X for years but it takes moving in together and being domestic to make X realise their feelings
- cryptic pregnancy: they break up and one of them moves away and they can't make it work because of distance or something but THEN she finds herself in LABOR even though she had absolutely no pregnancy symptoms. (lowkey terrifying but I need more Jonsa Babies fics)
- always the bridesmaid never the bride: The girl who has always dreamed of getting married and starting her own family somehow ends up being the last one in her family/friend group who is still single. She did end up being everyone else's MOH/wedding planner. Enter: Her brother's best friend, who now hires her to plan his wedding to a woman he should absolutely not be with.
- podcaster!Sansa lets it slip that she grew up with famous soccer player!Jon. Her podcast subreddit immediately finds old childhood pics of them together and newer ones of her and Robb at his games and now they're being shipped together. His team finds out and tries to use it to improve his image (he's seen a big GRUMP). The Starks are living for it. Yes this is another fake dating idea lol.
Anon, this was sent August 15, 2024. It's been almost two years. I hope you're still around, whoever you are.
Now, unfortunately when I get a list of prompts, I usually only pick one because when I respond to the ask, I can't respond to it again, so I tend to just forget about the rest. For this, I chose:
always the bridesmaid never the bride
As usual, I didn't fully do this prompt, but I was definitely inspired by it, so thank you! You can read the fic here
wait if we’re showing love for your WIPs!!! i wanna tell you how much i love white knuckles!! i always go back to reread. the bits with jory are so 🥺🥺🥺 to me and i feel like you captured jon and ned so well. im obsessed with how you portray the start of their dynamic and the grief that exists between them. its such a creative and interesting concept too!! rlly nothing ive come across in fics since i first read it!!
White knuckles is one of those fics where I got carried away by getting a lot of comments on it. Like more comments than I had ever really gotten on a fic before, and I was like "yeah ok I have some more ideas for it" only to then realize that I didn't know how to finish the story. I had an idea at one point, but I've since realized it's sort of stupid and wouldn't be realistic. I've always regretted not keeping it a one shot. I don't hate the other chapters, don't get me wrong, but for most of my writing career that was the only incomplete fic I had and it always bothered me. (Clearly this year I decided to say fuck it and now I have a bunch of WIPs, but alas)
I also feel like I was trying to force the jonsa too much because that's what I thought people wanted, when the story is very much a Jon-centric story with lots of messy family dynamics and jonsa as a little side piece of it, and I really should have stuck to that
I am glad you like it, though, and I do always hold out hope that I'll get inspired to write more. This is another fic where I've had something half written for years and it's just been sitting around. Probably since 2022.
You know what, I'm continuing the 2025 vibe of fuck it. I'll post what I have here, because there's a very good chance I will never ever finish this to post for real. If anyone wants to read the story first, here it is.
Here you go, anon:
.
Riding with the men of Winterfell is freeing in a way Jon has never known.
It is a different freedom than hunting in the woods alone, or sneaking off to Ygritte's against his mother's will. It is even different from the campgrounds at the tourney – he had kept himself apart there, new and confused and angry.
He rides far behind the Starks, as no one knows his secret yet (if they ever will), and so the men treat him as one of their own. He received endless jokes and teasing, for he has only just joined them and he is younger than most, but it is good-natured and it makes him feel as though he belongs. It is nothing like the teasing he would receive in his small village when he would say something or do something that the townsfolk found strange.
(And he realizes now that they found him strange because he is strange. Looking back, he understands that mother and Arthur taught him things that no commoner would ever need to know. They taught him history and numbers; he could read better than anyone else in the village. He knew the names of the houses, their sigils, their rankings and importance. He wonders at the fine line mother walked - of teaching him enough, of teaching him too much.)
He hunts with the men, though he can tell Lord Stark wishes him not to. But none of the men know that he is a secret royal bastard and so there is no reason why he should not go. The men want to see him shoot, they know he placed in the archery competition, and Jon tries not to let this swell his pride too much.
At night he lays awake under the stars, the snores of the men around him not enough to drown out the thoughts in his head.
As they draw closer and closer to home, he begins to feel dread pool in his stomach. The men are all loyal to Lord Stark, have nothing but good things to say of him. He is a fair and just Lord, not like those sothroners, they tell Jon. The Starks were Kings once, and Jon cannot help but think there is no way he has the blood of Kings running through his veins. Not through his mother and not through his father, either. This is a mistake. They will get to his cabin in the woods and Lord Stark will take one look at mother and say no, that is a different Lyanna, we were mistaken.
….
Jon is not avoiding his cousins, not on purpose. But Lord Stark is clearly keeping him separated and Jon does not try to seek them out.
It is Ghost, ultimately, who does.
Jon has gone into the woods, away from where they have set camp for the night. Though he likes Lord Stark's men and enjoys their company, he is not used to having so many people around all the time and finds he needs moments to himself. He sits on a rock in a clearing and cleans and sharpens his sword - the plain iron of it, the worn leather grip is comforting. He tries not to think about the sword he left behind, glinting gold and studded with rubies and lies.
He senses Ghost before he sees him.
Ghost is silent, always, though Jon had never questioned how strange it was until now, until he watched hardened warriors jump at Ghost's sudden appearance alongside the hunting group. His silence, his white fur, his blood red eyes; Jon knows the men are wary of Ghost. He is big even for a wolfhound and Jon can hear the men whisper that he is a demon in dog form (though they have never seen Ghost flop onto his back and beg for pets from a girl with copper hair. If they had, they would know he is no demon.)
When Ghost finally enters the clearing, he is not alone and Jon nearly drops his whetstone at the sight of Sansa and Arya following behind.
“Oh, Jon,” Sansa says, as though she is not really surprised to find him.
Jon cannot think of a single thing to say except, “your father would not want you wandering about by yourselves.”
“Well, we are not by ourselves,” she says primly. “We have Ghost. And now you.”
Jon scowls as she stands at the edge of the clearing, hands clasped in front of her and eyes wide in innocence as Arya snickers behind her. She is willfully ignoring the truth, that her father would not want her alone in the woods with a near stranger and his demon dog.
“Can I see your sword?” Arya asks, stepping closer and eyeing his sword as though she wishes to wield it herself.
“Ask your father,” Jon replies, which earns him a huff and a scowl, like he knew it would.
He goes back to sharpening his sword, as he does not know how to handle either girl. Do they know who he is yet? Lord Stark said he would not keep it a secret, but it seems as though they still do not know.
“Father says you are leaving us once we reach the Neck,” Sansa says, still with her hands clasped in front of her.
“Aye, I'm to go back home,” he nods, and tries not to think too hard about the way her mouth tips into a frown.
“You should come to Winterfell,” Arya says, hands gripping one end of a large stick, the other end in Ghost's mouth as they both tug against each other. “Ghost even looks like our sigil.”
“I thought your sigil was a grey wolf,” Jon says, ignoring the clenching of his heart. Watching Arya play with Ghost, the idea that he might be welcomed in his mother's home…
“Yes, Ghost would be reversed,” Sansa corrects her sister.
“A bastard's colors,” Arya agrees, and it makes something in Jon's stomach go sour. There is silence after that, before Arya clears her throat and says, “sorry.”
“It's alright,” he says. He knows what he is. He has always known, and it has never truly bothered him, as many in the village were the same. But it is different for nobles, he knows. For them, bastards are a shame. Something to be hidden away.
He stands from the rock and sheathes his sword. “You should get back, there will be talk if you're found out here with me.”
“Let them talk,” Arya scoffs, a scowl on her face, but when he looks at Sansa, he can see that his words have struck something. In his village, no one cared that he and Ygritte lay together without being wed, not truly. It was something to gossip over, but nothing so scandalous. No one cared when they went out into the woods alone together. But it is different for nobles, he needs to remember this.
(And he thinks about his mother then, of Lord Stark's story. She had run away with the Prince while betrothed to another man. What would people have said of her, if they knew?)
…
Too soon they are at the crossroads. The King's Road continues north, but Jon's cabin lies in a forest west of Greywater Watch. Tomorrow, he will truly begin his journey home.
Lord Stark is taking a small group of men with him to visit Lord Reed, he tells the rest of the party. Everyone else is to continue on to Winterfell, though this brings protests from Arya and Sansa.
“I want to see the crannogmen!” Arya places her fists on her hips, feet set apart and mouth turned down in a frown.
(The more time he spends with her, the more Jon can see his own mother in her and it makes him ache. For home, for a family he never knew.)
Jon watches as Lord Stark sighs and runs a hand over his face. Sansa is less forceful in her protests, but she protests all the same.
“I'm going to speak with my daughters privately,” Lord Stark says, voice solemn and low, and he directs a look at Jory that the man seems to understand.
Jon disappears back into the camp as Lord Stark takes his daughters a bit into the forest, with Jory standing guard. Apprehension curls in his stomach, for he knows what Lord Stark is going to tell them.
…
They are gone for a while, and when they return, both Sansa and Arya's eyes find him amongst the men. Sansa's eyes are red-rimmed, as though she has been crying, though for what, Jon does not know. Perhaps she is upset that she is related to a bastard, that there is such a stain on her family name. Arya looks confused and angry, and Jon wishes to disappear into the forest. He had hoped that in them knowing, he would find the family he has been denied all these years. He should have known better.
He keeps his head down and does not look at them again.
He wishes he had never left his cabin. The outside world is no place for a bastard.
love the premise of Arya getting married and Jon being a f*ckboy/villain for a girl who is "perfect" lol
As soon as Gendry said they're getting married in a sept, i imagined Arya's bouquet consisting of burgundy dahlias and dark calla lilies for some reason.
Can't wait to read more!
Briar is 100% going to go back to her friends and make Jon the villain lmao. Meanwhile, Jon is just still very confused about what happened
And that is a gorgeous combo of flowers and an absolute vibe for Arya!
I’m so glad you’re getting reviews on your old stories! You’re such a great writer, you totally deserve it! It does make me curious though, what are your favorites of the fics you’ve written? 🤍🤍🤍
It's always lovely getting comments on old fics, I can't imagine any writer who wouldn't love that.
As for my favorites... Its very tough, because I love all my fics in their own way and each means something different to me, but there are definitely some that are more self indulgent & I feel more pride in for various reasons. I'll do a top 5 (6 bc I can't cut one), and only go with multi-chapter, actually plotted stories (not one-shots). Not in any particular order and probably subject to change.
-help me out of the shape I'm in (ok this is my #1 sorry to everything else)
-mongrel heart
-the night we met
-lounge act
-the mating game (I feel like this is my best romcom)
-every time is the last time
with an honorable mention to sketches of what was there before, even though it's not a true multi-chapter like the rest of them are, just a series of vignettes
Since Jon was in the police station, he's been having those moments where he's either really exhausted or in a "haze" much like ghost Sansa was when Joffrey was mentioned....
Did Jon sacrifice his soul/part of his life to bring her back? That cliffhanger was cryping af =(
We'll get Jon's thoughts on what happened next chapter. There's not going to be a way for him to know for sure, but his musings are going to be correct, per me.
And yes, his exhaustion is linked to it. But notice, he was pretty tired throughout the fic, and the night before he finds her, he falls quickly asleep the moment she touches him...
Will Jon and Sansa spend only the two weeks in Lys or will they extend their vacation?
Also, i imagine that they will leave for Lys single, but will return in a relationship, right? Or will things begin between them in Lys, but reach their conclusion once they are back, perhaps at Arya's wedding?
How will the Starks react to Jon and Sansa going on the Lys vacation together, considering the relationship between them?
I can't imagine that Briar will be very happy, once she hears that Jon went with Sansa to Lys.
I'm honestly note sure how far I'm taking this one. Like I said in the notes of it, I planned for it to be a one shot (as usual, I don't know why I bother) but then it kept getting longer. I have very little planned for the rest of the fic besides some specific things they'll do on the vacation (aka, the couples activities Sansa mentions). I think that's why I started this, because I haven't written a straight up romcom in a while and I like not really having to plan things in advance lol
This isn't really a spoiler because it's literally the first scene of the next chapter - they aren't going to tell anyone Jon is going. Sansa's going to pretend she's going alone and Jon's going to pretend he's still going to Dorne. And Briar won't know either because he's not announcing it/won't be posting about it if she were to snoop his socials
