For: @dk65
Prompt: The classic long-distance relationship, surprise you at midnight before the holiday because you thought I wasn't going to be able to make it in time.
Ship: Sansa Stark/Tyrion Lannister
Sansa wasn’t sure why she cracked open an entire bottle of champagne on her own, especially when Tyrion was away on business. Away, away. Not anywhere nearby. Out of town, out of sight, but not out of mind.
She’d considered inviting Arya and Gendry over to spend the evening. They’d have come if she asked. But somehow, seeing another happy couple when she and Tyrion were apart in more ways than physical distance made her sad. She’d known that arranged marriages sometimes tended to begin on the cold side of things, but she’d expected those things to heat up eventually. But now, here she was, nearing her first wedding anniversary and alone in every sense other than her marital status.
Taking a sip from the flute in her hand, she reached for the television remote. Surely there was a show she could disappear into. Or at least binge for a bit. Something to take her mind off of how lonely she felt whether her husband was here or not.
The sound of the front door opening jarred her from scanning through the Netflix menu, and as she stood to peer down the hallway to the front door of the flat, she heard his voice.
“It’s me, Sansa. Sorry to scare you.”
“Tyrion?” she called, ducking around the corner to peer at him standing at the end, shaking the snow out of his coat before hanging it on a hook by the door. “You’re back?”
“Indeed, I thought I’d surprise you,” he said, slipping out of his shoes and leaving his bag there beside them. “If you’re in the mood for surprising, that is.”
“I wasn’t expecting you,” she stammered.
He chuckled. “Hence the surprise. I take it was successful?”
“Yes,” she replied, taking another sip from her champagne and downing the entire flute as an afterthought. “I didn’t think you wanted to celebrate the holiday at home…”
Tyrion searched her face for a long moment before responding. “Why wouldn’t I?”
She shrugged. “You didn’t seem to wish to spend any other days here either. Not holidays. Not weekends. Not weeknights…”
He tilted his head to the side. “Perhaps I thought it was you who didn’t wish to spend any time in my presence.”
She pressed her lips together and turned to stalk back into the living room. He followed, taking in her sad party-of-one as he did. She refilled her glass and offered it to him, leaving to fish another flute out of the china cabinet.
“You haven’t responded,” he said slowly.
“I’m merely trying to form a response,” she snapped. “But I see there’s no need to sugar coat my words. I’ve known since our betrothal that you desired someone else, and I’ve done very well not to bring it up. So color me surprised that you’re here. Did your holiday plans with ‘someone else’ fall to ruin?”
He opened his mouth and closed it again. Opened once more. Closed. He looked like a fish gasping for air. “Sansa, I don’t have someone else.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” she countered. “I know for a fact you were seeing someone when our betrothal was announced.”
“An affair that ended when we were married,” he argued.
“Did it though?” she asked.
“Yes, it did. Please, if I’ve been having sex with someone all this time, please explain it to me in excruciating detail because I don’t have any memory of these escapades.”
Sansa faltered, searching his eyes and having no way of gauging his honesty, she meekly asked again. “Did it though?”
“It did,” he assured her, coming closer and reaching for her hand. “It did.”
“Oh, gods…” she staggered to the couch to sit down. “I thought… well, you know what I thought…”
“You thought I was carrying on an affair this entire time?” he asked.
Nodding, Sansa set her champagne down and covered her face with her hands.
“You thought I was involved with someone else, and that’s why you kept your distance.”She sniffed and nodded again, not dropping her hands from her eyes until Tyrion gently grasped both of her wrists and tugged them away. “I wasn’t. You must believe me.”
Having no reason not to believe him, she did the only thing she could have done.
“Why didn’t you… at least try?”
“I was giving you space. Time to get accustomed to being my wife.”
“You never gave me a thing to become accustomed to,” she reminded him.
“Would you like to… become accustomed to me?” Tyrion asked hopefully.
Sansa nodded and Tyrion closed the distance between them, planting a kiss on her lips that was soft and inviting. She took his invitation quite willingly.
@zip00198704 said: lol re ned seeing robert naked many times! so cute!
Haha, I think Robert is super comfortable with his body and he has no problem being naked. And sharing rooms and apartments with Ned leads to him seeing him naked quite often (Robert, I don’t think, has seen Ned naked as often, I don’t think Ned is as comfortable with his body as Robert...)
In case you're looking for prompts--how about PI Jon Snow and photographer Sansa Stark working together for lawyer Tyrion Lannister?
So yes, I haven’t posted in forever, my b everyone. But finally my life has calmed down and I got some inspiration back. That said, this may not have been exactly what you were looking for.
And when I say not what you’re looking for I mean I wrote a Veronica Mars AU. Though to be fair, everyone is still in the positions you asked for and damn, I just couldn’t resist, making Jon a sarcastic, loner teen detective a la Kristin Bell.
So without further ado:
Jon usually handled cases by himself and now he wasbeginning to remember why.
“I’m just saying, I feel like it’s a bit conspicuous sittinghere in your car,” Sansa said, takinga massive bite of her Red Vine (because snacks were essential to the stakeoutexperience. C’mon, Snow.) “I mean,how many of these old shit-mobiles are there still in circulation anyway.”
She kicked the dashboard to emphasize her point and Jonswatted her leg away testily.
“The Le Baron is a classic car, Sansa,” Jon answered her.“Besides, not all of us had mommy and daddy to buy us a brand-new Jeep for ourSuper Sweet Sixteen.”
Sansa crossed her arms and shifted her gaze out the windowsullenly, camera still hung around her neck.
Jon winced as he played the sentence back over in his head.He shouldn’t have mentioned her dad. Mr. Stark had been a great guy, kind ofthe father he never had if he was being honest. He spent pretty much every dayover at the Stark house after he and Robb finished soccer practice.
But even then Sansa hadn’t been a huge fan of his, and hewasn’t a fan of hers. To him, she was always a spoiled, little, rich girl,flaunting her wealth in a way Robb never did. And to her, he was a boy from thewrong zip code, only tolerated because his mother was the sheriff.
But he was Robb’s best friend and she was Dany’s, whichmeant they were always hanging out together nonetheless.
That all changed after Dany dumped him, and then Robb andMr. Stark…
Well, they didn’t really talk anymore. Sansa still ran withthe rest of the 07’ers and Jon had embraced his inner loner (though to behonest it had always been lurking just beneath the surface.) He had Sam andGhost and helping his mom out with cases. After all, it didn’t specify whichSnow would be investigating on the sign for Snow Investigations.
But when Tyrion had come to him with yet another soon-to-bedivorcee searching for evidence of a cheating spouse, Jon found himself in needof a photographer to nail the perv.
Why he thought of Sansa was anyone’s guess. The only thingshe had in common with Nancy Drew was their fondness for plaid miniskirts.True, she was the best photographer at their school paper and the yearbook, butreally it was probably because she had that expensive telephoto lens that Jonjust couldn’t afford.
It certainly wasn’t because he missed her.
In any event, it was clearly a mistake. Because now theywere sitting outside the skeezy motel off the bay waiting for Tyrion’s mysterydivorce client for god knows how long and she wasn’t even speaking to him. Justpassive aggressively eating Red Vines.
“I don’t even know why I said yes to this,” she finallysnapped at him.
“Trust me, I don’t know why I asked,” he muttered.
She turned sharply to glare at him, a wave of red hairflipping over her shoulder.
“You think you’re so much better than us now, just becauseyou sit by yourself at lunch and make snide comments about us all to yourlittle friend,” she sniped.
“I don’t think I’m better than you all, but if I did, couldyou blame me?” he asked. “You all order a hundred bucks worth of food each dayto the school cafeteria, just so you can flash your new AmEx to the studentbody, it’s pathetic.”“It wasn’t so pathetic when you hung out with all of us, was it?” she quicklysnapped back, leaning toward him, her camera swinging angrily from her neck.
“Hey, you abandoned me, not the other way around, remember?”Jon scoffed.
“Oh please, you were out of there the minute Robb died!”
Her eyes widened as soon as the words were out of her mouth,as if she couldn’t quite believe she said them.
Jon sat back in his seat, more than a bit stunned himself.Sometimes it seemed like Sansa had forgotten about it all, the way she justcarried on after Robb and Ned died.
Arya had been so depressed she’d begged her mother for atransfer just to get away, and though he didn’t see the younger kids as much,he’d heard through the grapevine that they were in therapy weekly.
But Sansa had been back to her pink cashmere sweaters andstunning smiles the day after the funeral.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you actually talk about it,”Jon mumbled, staring stubbornly at the wheel to avoid her gaze.
Still, he heard her scoff.
“You don’t just forget a double homicide,” she retorted.
Jon snuck a glance over at her just as she wiped a tear fromthe corner of her eye. It was small, but it was the least composed he’d seenher since middle school.
He opened up his mouth to say something but the moment wasquickly gone as she leaned forward with a gasp, smacking him across the chestto gain his attention.
“Oh my God, is that Cersei Lannister?” she asked in shock,quickly raising her camera.
Jon leaned across the dash to look up to the parking lot ofthe motel where, indeed, a furtive Dr. Cersei Lannister was making her way to amotel room, throwing nervous glances over her shoulder.
Sansa was already snapping photos of the well-coiffedsocialite as she made her way to the second floor.
“You didn’t tell me this was who your mystery client was!”Sansa gasped. “This is too good. She was such a mega-bitch to me when I wasdating Joff. Serves her right for Mr. Baratheon to serve her with divorcepapers, I just can’t believe her own brother would represent her husband in theproceedings.”
“I can,” Jon mumbled under his breath.
Somehow Tyrion almost always managed to work a dig at hisfamous sister into conversation, though hiring a P.I. to catch her in the actwas admittedly a bit much. Still, it explained the need for secrecy and hisnone-too-subtle, “you’ll know her when you see her,” comment when he inquiredabout the client.
Cersei finally stopped in front of Room 217 and with onelast look around she knocked on the door.
Jon leaned forward and placed a hand on Sansa’s shoulder,momentarily forgetting their earlier argument.“Get ready, this is the money shot.”
Sansa snapped the photo the moment the door opened, thoughJon was too stunned to hear the click of the camera when he saw who it was.
Rhaegar Targaryen was shirtless in nothing but a towel whenhe answered the door.
He pushed his wet, silver hair back and grinned at hisguest, quickly ushering her into the motel. He kissed her as she walked pasthim in the doorway and Jon was vaguely aware of Sansa taking another photo.
No doubt, Tyrion would be pleased.
And just like that it was over. The door shut and it wasonce again just Sansa and Jon in the Le Baron.
Sansa slowly lowered her camera and looked at him withworry.
“God, Snow,” she said. “Are you alright? Dany told me thereason you broke up is because she found out that…”
Jon set his jaw and turned the key in the ignition, theengine revving to life.
“I think you got the shot,” he said shortly. “We don’t needto stick around until she leaves. I should get these to Tyrion ASAP anyway andyou probably have—I don’t know—a party, or something to get to.”
“Jon—,” she started to say, laying a gentle hand on hisshoulder, but he abruptly shook her off.
“God, Sansa, it’s fine!” he shouted. “I don’t want to talkabout it and certainly not with you.”
She reeled back, hurt in her eyes, and Jon was immediatelyready to take it back. But he bit his tongue instead and pulled out onto thehighway. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Rhaegar Targaryen, and he wasn’tabout to apologize to Sansa if it meant having to talk about the thing thatmade bile fill the back of his throat just thinking about it.
The ride back to Snow Investigations was made in silence. Atone point Sansa rolled her window down and let her hand drift along the airrushing by and Jon was immediately reminded of when she would do that verything on late night McDonald’s runs with Robb and Dany.
The sun was sinking into the water and the red lightreflected back onto Sansa’s auburn hair, making it appear even more red than itwas.
As if feeling his eyes on her, she looked back at him, blueclashing with grey and Jon quickly reverted to the road.
As soon as they pulled up in front of his mom’s building heonce again opened his mouth to say something to her, but she unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled out the SD card from her camera.
“Get this back to me by Tuesday,” she said, handing it tohim while avoiding eye contact. “I have to shoot the basketball game at four.You can just give it to me at school, but notin front of anyone worth knowing. Okay, Snow?”He nodded dumbfounded. She quickly made her way across the street to her babyblue Jeep, her camera held in front of her like a shield.
Jon waved half-heartedly at her retreating back and made hisway into the office.
He sighed as he sat down at the front desk and put the SDinto the card reader attached to his laptop.
He didn’t even notice Tyrion sitting on the waiting roomcouch until he spoke up.
“You know, for a detective, you’re really not veryobservant,” he said.
Jon jumped slightly in his chair, a hand flying to his chestin a most unmanly-like way.
“Christ, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” he told him.
Tyrion jumped off the couch, making his way to stand beforeJon’s desk.
He put his hands in his slack pockets and smirked.
“Was that Sansa Stark’s Jeep I saw out front?” he asked.
“I don’t ask you about how you do your business, you don’task me how I do mine,” Jon retorted, pulling up Sansa’s photos and transferringthem, without looking, to a flash drive.
“Oh, it was business then,” Tyrion said, disappointmentevident in his voice. “And here I thought it might be young love.”
Jon glared at him over his laptop and handed him the flashdrive.
“Please, 07 princess isn’t exactly my type,” he said. “Butshe’s a much better photographer than me. I think you’ll be pleased. And don’tworry, she knows the confidentiality deal. She won’t be telling anyone aboutyour ‘secret client’ even if your sister was a mega-bitch to her.”
Tyrion laughed, whirling the flash drive’s dangle around hisfinger.
“Mega-bitch,” he chortled. “That’s a new one. I like it.Tell Ms. Stark she’s really captured my sister’s essence. I’ll wire you themoney tomorrow, Snow.”
Tyrion turned to leave and his hand was on the door when Jonfelt the words bubble to his lips.
“Tell your brother, he’d be better served keeping his eye onDeputy Tarth,” Jon said, seeing Tyrion’s back freeze. “Turns out your sister’snot one to keep it in the family after all.”
Tyrion turned his head to face him with a tight grin.
“Confidentiality, remember?” the lawyer said.
“Of course,” Jon replied, spinning in his desk chair. “Justthought I’d remind you that this P.I. isn’t as unobservant as you give himcredit for.”
