title : And Comes the Summer
fandom : game of thrones
pairing : robb stark & jon snow
notes : so this is what I'm doing instead of writing hockey fic. whoops. warning : it's sad.
Jon Snow knows the moment Robb dies.
He awakes with a hollow gasp, clutching his chest with trembling fingers and a dry sob breaks the silence of the dark. It’s the most extraordinary pain he’s felt in his life and it sends him into a frenzy as his vision blurs and he can do little more than wail, his fists pounding into the unforgiving stone floor.
Sam finds him this way- hands covered in blood and his eyes are just as red from tears and he cries- “My brother, my brother-” like it’s a mantra, his skin growing more pale with every passing second.
It’s the first time Jon Snow has known true and relentless pain.
“Jon,” Sam starts, falling to his knees where Jon is lying on the floor, “What’s wrong? Are you- unwell?”
Jon’s breath catches and he cries out again, body curling into itself as he waits for the pain of death to pass. He can feel the way it slows his heart and his skin is cold, so cold.
But in the cold, there is also warmth.
- - -
“Bet you can’t catch me, Jon Snow,” Robb laughs, jabbing at Jon with his play sword before turning tail and running.
Jon chases him, always staying a few steps behind until they’re out of eyeshot of the castle, and then his fingers snag in his brother’s furs and he closes his hand around the softness.
“I’ve caught you,” he breathes, pulling Robb back into a loose embrace, “Now what will I do with you?”
- - -
The vision is fleeting and Jon nearly laughs aloud. He wants this to be the last thing Robb remembers, and he wonders if this is what Robb is seeing right now. Happiness.
Love.
- - -
They end up tangled in soft moss, leaves crunching under their weight. Jon lets Robb weave the last of the summer flowers in his hair and they pretend for a moment that this is what life is supposed to be.
In this place, Jon isn’t a bastard and Robb isn’t to inherit his father’s title. They simply exist together, lucky enough to have found each other.
“You’re beautiful, you know?” Robb says suddenly, pressing his mouth to Jon’s warm skin. “More beautiful than Sansa even.”
Jon scoffs and shakes his head. “Don’t let Sansa hear you say that.”
“I’d shout it to the world if only you’d let me.”
- - -
The pain is a pulse and Jon can hear Robb’s last breaths as if they’re his own. His hands twitch and he can feel Robb’s fingers threading between his, he can feel his brother’s smile against his mouth and the playful dart of his teasing tongue.
“I love you.”
Jon isn’t sure if the words are his own or ghosted in from elsewhere, from the beyond. They warm his heart and pierce it once again in the same breath, a bittersweet torment.
- - -
“We could stay here forever,” Robb tells him, “We don’t have to go back to Winterfell.”
Jon wants to believe him, but he knows it could never be. Not in this life.
“Very funny, Stark,” he replies, tongue cutting on the family name, “We should get back before your mother starts to worry. She might think I’ve murdered you.”
Robb’s smile brightens the darkness and Jon finds himself falling back into his arms. It isn’t the least bit cold anymore, and the ground is soft beneath them.
“Forever isn’t such a long time,” Jon says, head cushioned on Robb’s strong chest. “I wouldn’t mind being here forever with you.”
They sleep the sleep of the dead and when they wake, summer has returned and everything is beautiful once again.
X x X x X