Work Text:
18+ starks plus add-ons
Arya:
COME TO OUR APARTMENT FOR THE GRAND PREMIERE OF TIME UNIVERSITY THIS EVE. IT WILL BE HORRIBLE AND I AM EXCITED
Sansa:
snacks will be provided
Margaery:
Can’t.
Arya:
????????
Robb:
“I have a life.” - Margaery
Theon:
can we believe the audacity to insult us secondhand. someone remove her from the group
Robb:
“Whoever removes me from the group will be removed from my life.” -Margaery
Gendry:
what’s the point of BEING in the group if you don’t … text in it
Bran:
I refuse to participate in a show that doesn’t acknowledge the depth to which time is a man-made concept we cannot begin to fathom and control
Arya:
PLEASE STOP THE DISCOURSE
i just want to watch … stupid show … with the 3 dum bitches i can tolerate
Jon:
Arya there are obviously more than three of us in this group chat.
Arya:
👀
They started watching the show by accident, or perhaps not accident exactly but mostly as a joke.
“It’ll be a good laugh,” Arya said as she grabbed popcorn from the microwave and tossed it into the bowl. Gendry was pulling beers from the fridge, and Sansa and him were sitting on the couch with Robb who Jon suspected was texting Margaery who, though she had refused to come, still insisted get updates of what was happening.
Arya had been fairly convinced since seeing the trailer before a Youtube video two weeks ago that the show was going to be a hot fucking mess. It seemed to combine the ideas of time travel and alternate dimensions while somehow also being about the college experience, and Jon had mostly agreed to watch because Sansa had promised she would make her artichoke dip if he did. It was called Time University which seemed to pretty much speak to the quality they expected of it.
“It looks like shit ,” Theon said excitedly as he fell into the chair. The potato chip bag on his lap crinkled annoyingly.
“You better not touch that while we’re watching,” Sansa said as she waved over at the bag, Theon shoveling a handful of chips into his mouth all the while. “Do you understand how annoying that’ll be?”
Arya handed Sansa a bowl of popcorn before slipping onto the floor with her own, leaning her back against the couch. Gendry fell into the only other open chair, and he threw the controller to Arya who turned it up.
“There. Now we hopefully can’t hear Theon speak either,” Arya said as she tilted her head up to look at her sister with a shit-eating grin.
“I hate all of you,” Theon grumbled.
Sansa smiled back at her sister, ruffling her hair in a way that made Arya swat her hand in return. Jon was about to make some sort of remark, but then the title screen flashed and Arya was shushing everyone with a fervor that got even Robb to drop his phone into his lap and pay attention.
The show was pretty horrible, honestly, but there was something about the characters that actually kept them watching. Robb dropped out about two weeks later, and Gendry said the lack of time travel rule consistency made it unwatchable. So, then it was just the Stark Sisters, Theon, and Jon which Jon thought was sort of alarming to what he considered his own impeccable taste but whatever. It was fun.
time university fan club ⏰
Sansa:
new ep tonight!! come to the stark sister apartment at an appropriate time!!!
Theon:
I feel like the ‘at an appropriate time’ is aimed at me and it hurts
Arya:
if you show up three hours early again i will keep the door locked and not let you in
Theon:
SORRY FOR THINKING WE WANTED TO DISCUSS THEORIES BEFORE THE NEW EP
Jon:
Want us to bring anything?
Sansa:
just whatever you want to drink
Theon:
And apparently NOT a desire to discuss reddit theories
Sansa was sprawled across the couch, her feet in Jon’s lap. The show was playing and the two main characters were on the screen together, stuck in 1932 for some reason that had been poorly explained frankly, and then they were hiding in a corridor with their faces inches apart—
“Oh my fucking god,” Sansa squealed, pushing herself up a bit and slapping at Jon’s shoulder as her eyes stayed glued on the screen. “Are they going to…”
The two of them stepped away, and she sunk back further into the couch. Jon was sort of confused on why Sansa was getting so excited.
“God, what the fuck are they doing, ” Theon grumbled.
Jon looked around the room—Sansa, a little defeated but still enthralled as the two characters walked down the hall side by side; Theon, looking like someone had stolen his sweets; and Arya who actually looked sort of upset herself which was kind of amazing considering she watched almost everything with a stone cold expression.
“What did I miss?” he asked.
The three looked at him, and he felt sort of stupid, but he didn’t get it.
“They should have made out,” Theon said simply. “Like, did you not read into that?”
“Wait…” Jon thought back about the two and all they knew. “But I thought they were kinda like family? Wasn’t that the whole point that they’ve known each other for forever?”
Arya actively looked at him like he was the dumbest thing to ever walk this earth. Sansa like she couldn’t begin to fathom why that was what was stumping him. Theon just kept… eating his snacks and ignoring the lot of them as the show kept moving forward.
“So?” Sansa asked.
“They’re… allowed to do that?” he asked.
Arya laughed and quickly covered it into a cough. Jon had no idea what that meant.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Sansa asked with a raised brow. “Their chemistry is off the charts, and they have shared trauma and experience. They’re familiar with one another, know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Plus they’re both super hot so I think they should make out. “
“Huh,” Jon said, now purposefully ignoring Arya’s gaze because he didn’t want to deal with it and what it must mean. He kept his eyes on the television screen. “I guess I must have missed some of that subtext.”
After a beat Jon looked over at Sansa as she watched the show. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she was wearing an oversized sweatshirt and shorts. With her head tilted he could see the angle of her jaw and the slight blush of her cheeks. She was beautiful. That he had always known without a question of a doubt. Shared trauma and experience, though? Knowing one another’s strengths and weaknesses?
He couldn’t help but notice that sounded sort of like them.
ARYA STARK
Jon:
Hi, just a quick question.
Arya:
???
Jon:
When did Sansa get so pretty?
Arya:
I’m blocking you. Honest to gods BLOCKING YOUR NUMBER
Jon:
Please help me.
Arya:
You talk about how pretty she is at least once a week. and how n i c e she is and how g r a c i o u s and a whole slew of other nauseating words i can’t bear to repeat
Jon:
Wait.
Arya:
waiting … still waiting … been waiting for years for you to get to this very obvious conclusion
Jon:
Do I like Sansa?
Arya:
ding ding ding we HAVE AN IDIOT
you’ve been in love with her since like 16 when you went all caveman cause she was dating Joffrey can’t believe it took you this long
Jon:
Oh my god. Does /everyone/ know?
jon loves sansa amirite
Arya Stark added Jon Snow
Arya:
hi everybody, jon snow just texted me to reveal he finally realized he has feelings for sansa stark and DIDN’T KNOW WHO KNEW. roll call pls
Jon:
Arya is this group for real are we for real pls tell me this is a joke
Theon:
NOT A JOKE MY FRIEND. we’re been a small but devoted group of followers for several years now
clearly this is Real and Intense if your grammar went out the window
Margaery:
I have to say. It’s about time.
If I had known your stupid show somehow lead to realizations like this perhaps I would have tried watching
(i still would not have tried watching)
Bran:
I’m mostly just here because one time I had a dream you and sansa were on a beach and you had to save Sansa from a crab that chased her down a whole stretch of sand and somehow marrying her was the only solution and Arya went ‘maybe you’re psychic’
Jon:
I … don’t know how to process any of this. Can I leave this group?
Arya:
absolutely not
Gendry:
I have tried on multiple occasions and Arya just keeps adding me back in
SANSA STARK
Sansa:
jon i need to tell you something it’s very serious and i need you not to judge me pls
Jon:
You’re freaking me out. Did you kill someone?
Sansa:
not this time. i stayed up until 3 in the morning reading fanfiction for that stupid gd show
Jon:
I’m not going to gloss over the ‘not this time’ part of the conversation.
Sansa:
I think?? I might try writing some?? I just need those two idiots to kiss, but like I’m worried it’s going to be really poorly written
Jon:
Is that why you’ve come to me?
Sansa:
you are the only person I know who consistently capitalizes their texts so i assume you have knowledge on grammar and writing that i do not
Jon:
Is there a name for someone who edits fanfiction? What do the kids call it?
Sansa:
The Kids call it…. ✨a beta reader✨
As the episode ended, the midway point for the season as they were now six episodes in, Sansa kicked Jon’s thigh to grab his attention. “Would you be willing to hang out for a bit longer? I want your opinion on something.”
“Fic stuff?” he asked. He felt like he was finally beginning to get some of this lingo, though he was sort of still struggling, too. It was just a whole other world he hadn’t even known existed, and he probably never would have if it wasn’t for Sansa.
She nodded. “I’m struggling with this one bit, and I want to know what you think.”
He shrugged. “Fine with me.”
“Sweet, I’ll go grab my laptop.”
Jon said bye to Theon as Sansa disappeared, and then Arya was wagging her eyebrows at him in a way that was actually kind of disturbing before going to pass out in her own room. Jon was happy when Sansa finally reappeared. She sat cross-legged on the couch, biting her lip as she went to her Google Drive to find what she was looking for.
“Okay here,” she said as she handed it over, but then she was scooting close enough to point out the document over his shoulder, and her hair was hovering over his skin. He could smell her this close—sort of like fresh apples? He wondered what shampoo she used—and it was incredibly distracting.
How had he gone so long not realizing he was very much in love with her again?
“So, basically Charlie and Anna have to go to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire for undisclosed fic reasons—”
“You haven’t figured out why they’re there yet, have you?” he asked with a raised brow.
She narrowed her yes. “Obviously not. It’s like the one weird bit of history I know so I had to use it, but I have no idea why The Time Master would be fucking with this bit of history.”
“Messing with improved factory safety requirements doesn’t seem exactly like part of his whole evil scheme,” Jon said.
“No, not exactly.” Sansa laughed. “I’m sure I can make it vague. It’s not really about why they’re there anyways.”
“Is that the problem? What’s the problem?”
“If you’d let me finish ,” she began, though there was a smile on her face and it was obvious enough she didn’t actually care about the interruption. “The whole concept is they get split up, and then he thinks she might have burned in the building? So he’s freaking out, and then she appears and they have this big love confession. Plot stuff is tricky. Mostly I need to figure out how to get from here to here.”
“I thought you were writing this because you wanted more happiness than the show,” he said. “This is just sad. ”
“Well you see,” she replied, smiling as she turned her eyes from the screen to him, “it’s better because it’s sad but then they make out. And tell each other they love the other. Happy ending.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, all the while wondering if her skin had always been this flawless. “Fine. Let me read,” Jon said. “Then maybe I can help.”
She fell back on the couch, giving him the space to read through her words. He missed the warmth of her right beside him, but it was certainly easier to focus with her all the way over there. The beginning section was a bit rough, but he knew with some clearing up of extra exposition it would be good. Then there was a big jump to the love confession, which was pretty dramatic but honestly sort of real. Jon thought it fit the tone of the show pretty well.
“I see why you’re struggling between the two sections,” he said as he finished. “There’s a lot of stuff to get through that you don’t really need.”
Sansa propped up onto her elbow to look at him, eyes open and expressive. Her hair fell over her shoulders, and for a second Jon thought about what it would be like to go into his room and find her like that on his bed. He cleared his throat and looked back to the screen.
“I think if you were to switch the first section to Anna’s point of view up until she’s trapped, then switch to his point of view where he’s freaking out and looking for her you don’t have to worry about the messy middle bits. Just don’t write them.”
Her eyes gleamed. “Oh my god,” she said. Sansa was crawling over the couch to him, grabbing the laptop from his hands, and crossing her legs again. “That’s brilliant.”
Jon beamed. “Any time I can help.”
Sansa was pushing her hair behind her ears, and she looked over to meet his smile. “I’m going to be pretty invested in finishing this so I’m probably not good company, but if I share it over tonight can you edit? I want to post.”
“Of course.” He stood up and grabbed his coat from the back of the couch, slouching into it and looking down at Sansa from her spot. She tilted her head up and gave him another smile, and he couldn’t help himself from dipping down and giving her a kiss on her forehead. She looked pleased, though a little surprised, at the sudden burst of affection. “For good luck.”
Her smile grew, but by the time he had turned around the sound of keys typing was already filling the space.
SANSA STARK
Sansa:
how does it feel to be the editor of a famous fic writer
and by famous i mean like two people validated me and i’ll be riding that wave for a while
Jon:
Your response seems pretty good to me based on what I know of the fandom size.
Sansa:
i’m sorry. did you… just use the word… fandom.
jON SNOW. KNOWS THE WORD FANDOM. shook
is it suddenly hot in here
Jon:
You’re weird. Congrats on the fic.
Sansa:
did i scare you off no come back don’t leave me
did u know every time you text me i have to condition myself to not get anxious that you end your sentences with periods
Jon:
It’s just proper grammar.
Sansa:
and super passive aggressive but whatever floats your boat
guess that's why you’re my beta reader
ROBB STARK
Jon:
How did you get Margaery to fall in love with you?
Robb:
Is this about Sansa??? I don’t want to hear about any feelings for Sansa yuck
Jon:
Fine.
MARGAERY TYRELL
Jon:
How did Robb get you to fall in love with him?
Margaery:
Oh sweetie. Do you really think that boy even knew what was happening to him?
Look at me. I maneuvered the whole thing.
Jon:
This isn’t helpful.
ROBB STARK
Robb:
don’t text Marg about Sansa either she’ll start telling you lies about how I wasn’t the one to win her over when in fact i had a ten step plan
Jon:
You’re both insufferable. I give up.
Robb:
That's the spirit!
SANSA STARK
Sansa:
sos!!!! I need help!!!
Jon:
Yes?
Sansa:
I just finished another small fic, can you please give it a look through??
if it’s no bother
and you have the time
Jon:
Yeah, sure. Give me a few minutes.
Sansa:
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxox
Jon sat down in front of his laptop at his desk, a fresh cup of coffee in his hands, as he opened up the newest Google doc Sansa had shared with him. The title was simply goodbye scene, and Jon settled in to read as he pushed his glasses further up his nose.
Charlie stood in front of her, tall and sturdy. Sometimes when Anna looked at him she thought she could see all the versions of him he had been over their lives. There was the boy who used to use his allowance to buy her slush pops at the convenience store down the street, and there was the teenager who had taken her to Prom when her date dropped out at the last minute.
Now, there was him—older, more weary, but just as beautiful. And sometimes when he looked at her Anna could almost convince herself he loved her the way she did him.
“You better come back safe,” he said with a soft smile, the sort that went straight to Anna’s heart. “You know I’d come if I could, but—”
“I know,” she replied. She didn’t know why he was still following her after all this time, still thought she was someone worth protecting and loving, but she wasn’t going to stop him. She would take him for as long as he would offer himself. “I’ll be back before you’ve even turned in your midterm paper for Professor Berg.”
“You better.” His words were light, but his face was anything but. Suddenly, so quick Anna could feel her heart jump into her throat, he stepped forward. His hands came to the sides of her face, and she thought that maybe he was about to do it. Maybe he was going to kiss her like she had spent years thinking about as she laid in bed at night.
Then, his lips found her forehead softly instead. It lasted for a beat too long. Too long because Anna couldn’t breathe the whole time, and when he pulled back she knew she must be flush and out of breath.
“For good luck,” he said.
“Wait,” Jon said as his face scrunched up, and then softly as he bent forward to look at those familiar words on the screen again, “What the fuck.”
For good luck had been exactly what he said to her the other night as he kissed her forehead before leaving. It couldn’t mean… It couldn’t possibly…
“Oh my god.” He reached for his phone as quickly as he could manage, nearly falling off his swivel chair in the process.
ARYA STARK
Jon:
Hi. So your sister is writing fanficiton about me I think and my brain has stopped working.
What is happening am I imagining this please help me i don’t knwo what’s going on
Arya:
Oh my god are you having a stroke
also this sounds super nerdy keep me out of your weird nerd roleplay
Jon:
Um, you literally watch too so if I’m a nerd you’re a nerd. Misguided slander.
Also you quite literally added me to a group chat titled Jon Loves Sansa, Am I Right? so who are we fooling you have invested interest.
Back to the point though I am not alright I need help
Arya:
no it was titled jon loves sansa amirite the grammar and lack of punctuation matters
Jon:
It’s not grammatically correct. If we stop caring about grammar than what is the point.
Arya:
zzzzzzzz
are you done
Jon:
…
I’m done.
CAN WE GET TO THE POINT
Arya:
Oh my fucking gods the last time you were this worked up was when the dogs got your plain black sweatshirt and destroyed it.
you said you’d never find another like it
sigh
Yes you may tell me about the fanfiction. Or just send it?
Jon:
Should be posted tonight, and then you can read it and tell me if I’m crazy.
I’m probably crazy, right?
Sansa wouldn’t have /feelings/ for me, would she?
Arya:
No comment. Let me read the fic and we can discuss.
SANSA STARK
Sansa:
fic posted!! thanks for editing!
Jon:
Of course! No problem.
ARYA STARK
Jon:
It’s posted, and I need you to go look at it this exact minute.
Arya:
what bit is based off your life again?
Jon:
I directly said the words ‘For good luck’ to her.
Arya:
kk gonna go read brb
I read it. Did you really KISS HER FOREHEAD like a sappy goddamn idiot
Jon:
Yes.
Arya:
& you said it was for good luck?
Jon:
Again, yes.
jon loves sansa amirite
Arya:
hahahahahhahhahhahahah sansa wrote fanfiction about jon guys go read this
Jon:
Arya this was meant to be a private matter. I don’t know why I’m friends with literally any of you at this point.
Theon:
u kISSED her FOREHEAD
Margaery:
Wait, this is adorable I want to explode.
This show makes even less sense to me now that I’ve read this thing, but wow.
Jon:
Bye I’m going to go disappear into a very dark cave now.
Theon:
dude … she likes you (for some reason???) … y would you disappear now
Margaery:
Let the man process how he must!
time university fan club ⏰
Sansa:
season finale! tonight! I made a cake!
Theon:
*woot woot*
Arya:
can’t wait for us to no longer have to see theon consistently once a week
Theon:
*sad woot woot*
Jon didn’t know why he was so nervous about going to the Stark sister’s apartment. Well, he obviously knew why , but it wasn’t as if this changed anything. Sansa may or may not have feelings for him, and he could handle and process that like an actual adult. A sensible, mature adult who also hadn’t known he was in love with her for the last few years.
“Come in!” she said with a swing of her arm as she opened the door. She looked so cute with her hair in two braids and glitter on her eyes she had probably put on just for celebration of this. He felt like his chest was going to burst.
He did as she suggested and held out the wine he brought for her. “I’ll get glasses!” she exclaimed with a clap of her hands before she grabbed the bottle. Then she disappeared and Jon was left trying to play it cool.
Theon met his eyes from the sofa, and he winked. Jon hated him.
“You’ll be okay,” Arya whispered as she patted his upper arm and fell into the sofa next to Theon. She held out a beer for Theon, and he took it.
“Anyone else want wine?” Sansa called from the kitchen.
Jon chose the seat closest to him and fell into it. Probably safer if he didn’t end up squished next to Sansa somehow, and then he wouldn’t be able to focus because all he would be thinking about was how warm her body was next to his.
“No!” Arya and Theon called back at the same time.
“Jon?” she asked.
“No, thanks,” he said. He did not bother looking over to Arya and Theon, who he knew would most likely be looking at him with expressions he had no desire to see. Sansa appeared back in the room, handing him an open beer and falling into the sofa between the two of them.
The episode began then, and the room went quiet. There was a big battle between all the college students and The Time Master, and they were all on the edge of their seats the whole time. At the end, with only three minutes of the episode left, Charlie and Anna had a final scene where she was helping to patch him up.
“You could have gotten hurt,” Anna was saying angrily as she dabbed the cut above his eye with antiseptic.
Charlie rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Not as long as you’re okay.”
Then she bent forward and kissed him, and Jon felt the breath stop in his chest. Sansa was squealing on the couch, and Arya was laughing hysterically, and this whole situation was so absolutely ridiculous. A few months ago Jon didn’t even know what fanfiction was , and now here he was beta reading it for the girl who he loved who might also be writing it about them. The whole situation sounded ridiculous. It was ridiculous.
The episode finally came to a close, and Sansa clapped on the couch. He was scared to look over at any of them, and when the three of them began discussing theories Jon excused himself to go to the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face, looked at his stupid sad eyes in the mirror, and tried to get a control over himself.
“Just… tell her,” he whispered to the mirror. “It can’t actually be that hard.” He took a final deep breath and exited back into the living room.
Sansa stood from the sofa when he returned, looking a little nervous. She held her hands clasped in front of her. “Theon is gone,” she said. “Arya is in her room.”
“Okay,” he said with a nod, wondering why she would bother to point it out in the first place if it didn’t mean something.
She walked around the coffee table to step in front of him. This close, he could see where the sparkles on her face had smudged to her cheek. He felt his lips quirk up looking at it, and he felt an urge to reach out and wipe it away.
“Anna and Charlie kissed,” she started, the words coming slowly as if she was still figuring out what she was going to say next. “Maybe I don’t need to write fanfiction anymore.”
He shrugged. “It’s really good. I think you should keep writing it if you want. Your internet following would miss you.”
She bit back a smile. “You’d keep reading it for me? It probably wouldn’t be as good without you fixing all my run-on sentences.”
“I don’t know,” he began, trying to remember the pep talk he’d given himself in the bathroom just seconds ago. “Is this scene going to end up in whatever you write next?”
He could see her breath falter, and then she was stepping closer still and there was really no more space between them. The two of them were the same height and so close he would barely have to move to kiss her. Her eyes were glittering and beautiful, and he never wanted to look anywhere else.
“Depends what you do,” she said with a challenging tilt of her head. “Are you going to finally kiss me?”
It was all the invitation he needed, and then his hands were cupping her cheeks and his lips were on hers. It felt like a breath of fresh air, like as comforting as slipping into his favorite sweater, like they should have been doing this forever. Like they had been doing this forever.
“I really like you,” he said as they pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. “Sorry it took me so long to realize. Or do anything about it.”
“I mean, at least you didn’t write shitty fanfiction about us making out through two characters that have similar backstory,” Sansa said with a giggle.
He laughed, and he rubbed his thumb over the wayward bit of glitter on her cheek. It mostly just spread it out more, but it left her glowing. “No, I just edited it for you.”
Laughing still, Sansa reached forward and kissed him again. Her smile was nearly too wide for them to do it properly, but Jon didn’t care. His smile was just as full.
jon loves sansa amirite
Jon:
Sansa kissed me so I guess she actually likes me back.
Also can we delete this group now.
Margaery:
Oh my god I am so happy!
Also No!!!!
Arya:
dude obviously she likes you back why do you think we also have a group called sansa wants to have jon snow’s bbs
Theon:
I got kicked out of that one because I added Robb and he had a panic attack.
Margaery:
My boyfriend is fragile. We will have to reveal this to him slowly, maybe we can just pass off your wedding as a sort of friendship ceremony?
Gendry:
How come I have not managed to get kicked out of either group message I do not want to be here
Arya:
gendry stop posturing you love this
Bran:
Congratulations, this is almost exactly how it happened in my dream I think. I don’t really remember.
SANSA STARK
Jon:
All our friends and family are weird. We should run away and never talk to them again.
Sansa:
Jon, you’re on the other side of my bed just talk to me. Also I saw you giggle at one of those messages like a little girl don’t pretend to hate them.
Jon:
Sansa Stark… look at that grammar. Periods and everything.
Sansa:
Just trying to impress my boyfriend ;)