Work Text:
Ghost swallowed the ring.
Theon, the unhelpful fucker was laughing as Jon pleaded with Ghost to do his thing, quickly because Sansa will be arriving any minute now and everything has already been planned up to the very last second and this was just not happening.
Panic had inevitably set in and Jon started pacing the room, throwing quick desperate glances at his husky.
“You were going to be the best man, did you know that? Now, I’m not so sure.” Jon told him, wincing as Ghost uncaringly huffed, rolled on to his back, legs playfully kicking up, obviously begging for a belly rub. “I think not. Not until you get that ring out.”
Jon was usually a chill guy. A little shy with strangers who would mostly misjudge him and call him moody or broody but Jon didn’t particularly care about what others thought of him. As an only child, he'd gotten used to being alone. He wasn't necessarily lonely, he was just used to having a small private circle. Growing up, it was just him and his mum, his father had left when he was barely a year old and Jon didn't really cared. His mother was enough for him. He didn’t grow up with a large family filled with noises and fights and games and everything that he adored about the Starks.
He’d met them through Robb; they were both in their second year at the uni and had shared an apartment. They hit it off marvelously, Robb was the brother he had wished he had. They shared a love for football, huskies (Robb’s husky was named Grey Wind), they even liked the same music (bit of everything, he and Robb did not believe in the whole 'genre' thing, if it's good music, doesn't matter if it's pop or punk or whatever), they liked going out and having fun, but they were both surprisingly responsible enough to never get so thoroughly smashed and more than their shared hobbies they both had a strong sense of rightness and hated seeing injustice.
Robb had been determined to be a lawyer while Jon was studying to be a teacher. He liked kids, kids adored him. His quiet demeanor calmed them down. His own mother, Lyanna Snow had been a teacher and that was where he probably got his passion for teaching.
It didn’t take long before he got invited to spend a summer over at Winterfell, where he met Robb’s family. And Sansa.
Sansa had come running towards them, throwing herself at Robb, hugging him fiercely. Jon often heard them talking on the phone and was aware that Sansa had just gotten over a bad break up. Robb had patiently talked to her throughout the whole ordeal. Robb had told him that although he loved all his siblings he was especially close to Sansa and Jon had seen how strong their bond was.
He didn’t make any moves the first time he met her (timing aside). To be honest he had been utterly floored at how beautiful Sansa was. She had literally rendered him speechless and from the pitying look Robb had shot him when he introduced them, Jon knew Sansa had the same effect on almost everyone she met.
Her face was sweet and her blue eyes were captivating. And Jon had never used that word describe a woman, ever. But it was true, he had wanted to look into her eyes that reminded him of blue summer skies. Her auburn her glowed and there was an unmistakable radiance in her, even when, at that time she only had sad smiles to offer him.
Jon saw her more often when she came and lived with them and well, what can he say? He fell for her. Hard. Truly, deeply hard. She wasn’t just a devastatingly pretty face, she was also smart and funny and incredibly soft-hearted. She fell in love with Ghost even before she realized that Jon was more lovable and capable of doing loads more than just sitting and playing dead and catching tennis balls thrown into the air. He was good at snuggling too, although he did probably lick her more often than Ghost did, but she tasted sweet and tart and Jon very quickly got addicted to her. That was no fault of his too, by the way.
After years of dating and then finally moving in together a few months ago, Jon had decided that he would very much like to spend the rest of his life with her and that he needed first to let her family know. He wanted to make things right. He’d heard Arya tease Sansa about how she used to plan her wedding when they were younger: blue roses and snow and lemon cakes and a dress that would make her soon-to-be-husband cry. He wanted that for her. He was already certain about the crying part anyway. Was there any other sign more potent about truly wanting to marry her than his almost strange need to cry out of sheer joy upon seeing her walk the aisle towards him. Oh, he'd give her a good cry.
And so Jon bought the ring and tried to gather the whole Stark family. A feat of tremendous proportions seeing that they all lived across the country: Arya (with Gendry) at Dragonstone, starting up her small punk band, Robb at White Harbor establishing his law firm, Bran in Dorne, hanging out with their cousins twice (or thrice removed?) trying out this adventurous, tree-hugging thing (he should be at Highgarden, Arya scoffed) and Rickon with Ned and Cat, wherever Ned and Cat were.
At the moment Ned Stark was at King’s Landing, working as a personal adviser to the business magnate and family friend, Robert Baratheon who was currently being besieged by his ex-wife and her Lannister family, over the settlement of their long over-due divorce. Joffrey his son, who turned out not be his son, but the son of his wife and his wife's brother - twin brother (!!!) had been Sansa's horrible ex-boyfriend and Gendry, who was Robert's son from another woman, was Arya's current not-horrible-at-all boyfriend.
Yes. Drama surrounded them. And you can just imagine how lively their dinner conversations were. Jon had been confused and then fascinated and then bored by it all. He had gotten used to it by now. The Starks was an old family that went back thousands of years, their connection in society and politics was something he had learned to accept. A small price to pay to have Sansa in his life.
Anyway, it had been exhausting trying and ensuring that the whole Stark clan changed their winter plans so that they can all be at Winterfell for tonight’s dinner.
Sansa didn’t know they were coming, all she knew that she and Jon were staying at her family’s estate for the weekend. Jon had always loved Winterfell and when he casualy requested that they do a quick weekend getaway at her palatial home, Sansa had been more than happy to oblige.
Jon had painstakingly coordinated everyone’s schedule, which involved a lot of pleading with Robb and Arya and Bran and Ned and Cat and Rickon to clear their schedules. They weren’t particularly busy but he had to do every thing in secret and it surprised Jon how stressful it was trying to hide things from Sansa. In the end, the Starks had all known what he had been planning and was just gleefully stressing him out (“Of course we’ll be there, you mopey shit,” Arya said giggling over the phone. “In fact, we’re all arriving together at Winterfell a day before you two arrive. Sansa would be floored. She thinks we’re all going to have Christmas at King’s Landing with Mum and Dad.”)
That was the Starks for you.
He didn't want a big, elaborate proposal that had balloons and dancing strangers, gathering around them. He wanted it to be a truly romantic gesture, but something intimate as well. Her family will surprise Sansa and then he will go down on his knees, take the ring out of his pocket, offer it up to her, wait for her to say ‘yes’, as he try his damnest not to bawl like a baby.
She will say ‘yes’. Jon was already sure of it, they’ve already discussed this and he just wanted to give her the dream proposal. It has to be tonight. It was going to snow tonight, that was the whole point of choosing this date!
“Ghost, c’mmon buddy! You’ve already ate all of my winter provision. Please, do this for daddy.”
Behind him, Jon could hear Theon rolling on the floor, almost choking with laughter. “We should feed him chocolates.”
Jon turned to glare at Theon, trying to remember how they ended up as friends in the first place. “You dog murderer!”
Theon rolled his eyes, “I was just kidding! Fuck’s sake, Jon. Calm the fuck down, alright. These things happen. Not as funny as this, probably, but you know, you can ask the Starks to help you sort through Ghost’s...” Theon made vague hand gestures. “They’d be a lot, seeing as you fed him everything inside your cupboards.”
Jon groaned. No. Why was this happening to him? He's done enough pleading with Ghost. Clearly he wasn't going to cooperate. He wasn't going to be late to his own proposal. He stood up, and took Ghost's leash from where it was hanging near the kitchen door. "Here, be of use for once, will you? Help me with Ghost; we’re taking him to Winterfell.” Jon thought he still might be able to salvage his proposal.
Sansa was radiant with happiness, joyful tears clinging unto her long lashes as she finished hugging everyone. She was wearing her favorite blue dress that brought out her eyes and made Jon’s heart do ridiculous somersaults inside his chest.
They were all laughing-crying as they greeted each other. The high pitched, “You guys! You’re here! You’re all here! What is going on?” questions from Sansa, was very professionally, casually waved off by hugging and re-hugging her. Jon was impressed. So far, Sansa still didn't seem to know what was going to happen.
Her family seemed equally pleased and so, so terribly excited as they practically bounced on their feet. No one blinked when he had Ghost by his side and it made Jon all the more excited to officially become part of their family. He love this family almost as much as he love Sansa.
Robb kept expectantly glancing at him, waiting for the sign, which was him, kneeling on the floor. Arya was rolling her eyes, mouthing off the words, “slow poke”, while Ned and Cat could not keep the grins from the faces.
Jon felt his throat constricting. This was it. He hoped Ghost remembered all the tricks he had taught him. They hadn’t been doing it lately, mostly because they were both busy trying to snuggle with Sansa, but… here goes nothing.
Jon knelt down and miraculously Ghost followed, his front legs bent, tail wagging merrily. Jon watched as Sansa’s eyes widened, her mouth forming an O-of surprise. She cautiously stepped towards him. Jon reached out to taker her hands. Her fingers were cold and trembling. Jon lovingly wrapped her impossibly sweetly small hands inside his, warming her and from behind her there was a gentle sigh from Cat and even Arya.
“Are you taking notes about this, lads?” He heard Ned stage-whisper to his boys who had all suddenly become silent, truly a rare sight for the Starks, who were almost always boisterous and full of chatter.
“Sansa I…” Jon had written all that he was going to say and he could actually remember it word for word but suddenly, long flowery words seemed useless. He has all his life to tell her how much he loved her and the face she makes whenever he surprised her with the littlest of things, like breakfast in bed or flowers – and no matter how small the gesture, she appreciated it, hugging him extra hard as she thanked him. Jon would spend the rest of his life telling her how much he needed her comforting arms, holding him every time he felt despondent or tired – for whatever reason, most of them imagined insecurities. Jon was going to whisper to her how he craved her touch and the way she would pull his hair or rake her nails across his back every time he slid so fully and so tightly inside of her. Jon was going to remind her every day how he listened to the messages she’d leave on his voicemail, telling him that she suddenly missed him in the middle of the afternoon, or when she whispered in her slow sexy voice what she would like to do to him as soon as they were inside their apartment. Jon will forever thank her for loving him, for taking care of Ghost, for always mumbling ‘good night, I love you’ even though they were still fighting.
Before he could even say anything else though, Sansa was already whispering “yes, yes, yes…” her voice was like music to his ears and even when he had been certain that this was what Sansa also wanted, to have their futures entwined, Jon was suddenly overcome with such relief, he felt as though his stomach had turned into slush. But he had to do this right.
He looked up into her tear-stained smiling face and probably grinning like an idiot (an idiot that she will marry anyway), Jon asked her, “I wanted to do this in front of your family so that I can promise them too that I will protect you always and never hurt you and I realized that sometimes, I might not be able to do that and I might falter and disappoint you, but I can promise you that I will try with everything that I have got to make you happy, to make amends if I make mistakes and to always, always remember this moment, because this is the moment where I am one hundred percent sure of what I want and I want you. Will you marry me, Sansa Stark?”
Sansa sniffed, wiped of her tears and beamed at him, her smile was glorious and warm and promising and everything that made Jon’s heart melt. “Yes, Jon Snow. I will marry you.”
He was about to jump up and give her a bone-crushing-I'm-so-happy-you-said-yes!-embrace when Arya cleared her throat, “Where’s the ring, you doofus?!”
Jon felt his whole face reddening as he very slowly, very deliberately turned his head towards Ghost, who happily congratulated him, excitedly wagging his tail. His husky must have felt everyone's eyes on him as he sat down, tilted his head a few times and blinked up at them. He lolled his tongue out, throwing his head and doing his silent huffing bark. Ghost was being his usual adorable self, completely unaware of all the trouble that he had caused.
There was a confused silence as the Stark's gaze lingered on Ghost and then, realization slowly dawned in.
“Oh, my gods, Jon, no....” Robb muttered sounding halfway between laughing and groaning in disgust.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Jon, seriously?! What the fuck!”
“Language, Arya!” Cat immediately cut in, trying to stifle a giggle and elbowing Ned as he tried to contain his own laughter.
Jon slowly got up, and sheepishly scratched his head as he waited for either Sansa bopping his head or --- Jon felt himself grinning when Sansa let out a peal of laughter that filled him from head to toe. If melted chocolate had a sound, it would be Sansa’s laugh.
“Oh no, oh no! You poor babies.” Sansa said looking first at him and then at Ghost who was now lying on the floor, back to his old tricks of trying to get a belly rub. She fell into Jon’s arms, laughing merrily, wiping tears off her face and Jon didn’t think he could love her any more than he did at this moment but he was certain he’ll be proven wrong many, many times more.
Sansa’s laughter seemed to have triggered the rest of the Starks and everyone started laughing and giggling.
“What’s going on?” Rickon, who hadn't caught on, asked looking at his parents and then his siblings.
Bran very succinctly explained, “Ghost ate Sansa’s engagement ring.”
Rickon made the appropriate gagging sounds.
“How upset were you?” Sansa asked as she finally calmed down.
Jon pouted, running his hand through his hair. “More like panicked. We’ve ran out of food in the apartment, by the way.” Jon squeezed her hand, pulling Sansa close so he could drop a kiss on her forehead. “I’m so sorry, I wanted it to be perfect and I was so excited and I kept looking at the ring and then you or someone called and I placed it on the table and the next thing I knew it was gone and I turned our apartment upside down but I couldn't find it and then Ghost went walking in front of me and I saw your ring between his teeth, I lunged at him and he swallowed it."
Sansa laughed once more. “It’s fine. Really. I love you. The ring doesn’t matter… that much. Ghost will eventually have to… and we’ll find it.”
“Well, you know what they say. Nothing bonds a future husband and wife than going through shit. Literally.” Arya said, walking up to them, smirking. She offered her congratulations then gleefully showed Jon a video clip of him kneeling down. “We need a video of Ghost shitting the ring out too. Call me when that happens. But I won’t be helping you look for it.”
Jon glanced at Robb who looked at him with a horrified face. “You’re on your own there, Snow.”
Bran and Rickon and Ned and Cat, congratulated them as they slowly backed away, their faces shining with laughter. “Dinner needs to be checked. Or something.” Cat said, hastily pointing at the kitchen.
“I’ll help.” Rickon and Ned both piped up.
“Me too.” Bran who very rarely did household work quickly volunteered.
Sansa watched as her family disappeared into the next room and she laughed, “Cowards!” She called out to them, giggling happily. She must have felt Jon staring at her and he knew he was looking at her with nothing but love and adoration because she very gently fisted her hands on his shirt, pulling him flush against her. "Come here, you." She kissed him slow and languid and Jon could taste her happiness.
“I love you.” He murmured when Sansa pulled away.
“I love you. And you too!” Sansa said when Ghost sidled up between her legs, his big eyes looking up at her. “But you better give my ring back!”
Ghost huffed in reply, sauntering over near the fireplace and settling down there to sleep.
Jon groaned. “It’s going to be long weekend.”
Sansa smiled, wrapping both her arms around his waist and leaning her head against his, “It’s fine. As long as I’m with you and you’ll do all the searching.” She planted a sloppy kiss against his cheeks, laughing as Jon started to protest.