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It had started ever since they were young. When a five-year-old Daenerys had asked him to check her closet for monsters, fearing the dark after they had both unwisely watched a “horror” film with their parents.
Looking back on it, the movie wasn’t all that scary. It was a creature film involving a crocodile hunting down tourists before eventually the good guys won in the end. Well, escaped. The crocodile ended up living and roamed its country for years to come. So why had Daenerys been asking him to check her closet for a 15-foot, man eating lizard? They had seen Primeval, not The Boogeyman or The Grudge. And why had his hand been shaking uncontrollably?
“There’s nothing there, Dany”, he told her stubbornly, refusing to satisfy her piqued fears.
“Just check, Jon!” she begged, clutching onto a black stuffed dragon as she sat atop her bed with her legs crossed.
He rolled his eyes and turned to face the double doors at the end of her room. It was late and he was so very tired. He just wanted to sleep. He raised a hand to the doorknob, and that’s when he noticed it. His small, six-year-old hand shaking as he touched the cool metal under his fingers. He used his left hand to wrap around his wrist, steadying his hand as he gritted his teeth.
He was being ridiculous. He would open the door, and nothing would be there. Just open the door and nothing would be there. Just open the door. Nothing will be there.
He chanted this over and over in his head until finally he flung the doors open, flicking the light as quickly as possible to illuminate the darkened closet.
Nothing.
“There”, he said, his voice becoming serious, “nothing here.”
He moved to the side to allow her a view at the closet filled with vibrant clothes and very much devoid of any cold-blooded croc.
However, she clutched her stuffed dragon closer to her chest and watched him with wide violet eyes.
“Check the entire closet”, she commanded.
He scowled but assented to her request, opening the second closet door as he stepped in and moved clothes around to show her that it was indeed empty.
“There. Happy?”
She nodded, her eyes filling with relief as she began to tuck herself into her covers. Jon turned off the closet light and closed the double doors, making to exit her room; and go into the room across from hers, which belonged to him.
“Thank you, Jon”, she called out to him in a soft voice. “Goodnight.”
He stopped by her doorway and nodded.
“Goodnight, Dany.”
Jon closed the door behind him and walked into his room, making a beeline for his bed and burying himself underneath the covers. When his eyes adjusted, his eyes fell upon the two double doors that were located in a similar place that the two double doors of Daenerys’ room were located.
For a brief moment, his mind debated on checking his own closet for monsters but quickly scoffed at the idea, turning over in his bed and shutting his eyes.
His mind became muddled and he was close to drifting into sleep when suddenly a shrill scream sounded over from across the hall and Jon bolted up from his bed. The next thing he knew, a small blur of platinum zipped into his room, shutting the door behind her and bounding over to leap onto his bed.
“Dany- oof”
She had jumped directly on top of him and squirmed as she rolled to his side, barricading herself between him and the wall.
He recovered from the wind being knocked out of him and turned to her as she began to burrow under the covers.
“Dany, why’d you scream?”
“There’s a monster under my bed”, she squeaked.
“What?”
Suddenly, he heard his grandmother, Daenerys’ mother, walking briskly down the hallway; entering her room and calling out to her daughter before moving to his room and turning on the light.
“Daenerys?”
“She’s right here, Grandma Rhaella”, he said, moving slightly over to show her the small figure in his bed.
His grandmother walked over to the bed and peered over to her daughter.
“Dany, are you all right? Why did you scream? Why are you in Jon’s bed?”
“There’s a monster in my bed.”
“A what?”
Rhaella looked over to him with an inquisitive look.
“She thinks there’s a monster under her bed”, he clarified.
Rhaella gave an “oh” expression and put a comforting hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“There’s nothing you need to worry about, Daenerys. Come, I’ll show you.”
However, Daenerys shook her small head furiously, her tresses of hair flowing with her.
“No! It’ll come back whenever you leave, mama. I’m staying right here!”
To further prove her point, Daenerys tucked the duvet under her legs as if to add a layer of protection from anything trying to snatch her.
Rhaella sighed as she stood up. She knew her daughter better than anyone, so if Daenerys was stubborn in sleeping in Jon’s bed that night. Then, she would sleep in Jon’s bed that night.
“Ok”, Rhaella said softly, leaning over to give Daenerys a kiss on her forehead.
“Goodnight”, she whispered. Rhaella then did the same to Jon.
“Goodnight”, both Jon and Daenerys repeated, watching Rhaella leave as she turned off the light and closed the door behind her.
Jon gave a small noise of annoyance; he usually slept with the door open, but he felt too tired to get up and close it. So, he simply ignored it and closed his eyes, but he also took the time to address his aunt beside him.
“This is just for tonight, you know. I’m not sharing my bed again when you have a bed of your own in your own room.”
Daenerys stayed quiet beside him, only her small breaths being an indication that she heard what he was saying.
“Whatever”, he said. “Goodnight.”
He felt his body grow heavy as he neared sleep once more.
“Goodnight”, she whispered, nuzzling into his side as she clutched his arm as a makeshift stuffed animal.
He wanted to tell her to release him, and to let him sleep comfortably, but this was only for a night. By tomorrow, she would be back in her room and back in her bed to sleep in and he’d go back to sleeping how he normally would.
It was only for one night.
-
It wasn’t just for one night.
It wasn’t even for two. She had been sleeping in his room for two entire months before his father decided to try and coach her into sleeping in her own room.
Nothing worked. Not when his grandmother tried to talk her into sleeping in her own room, nor when his own mother tried to.
And just when it seemed that Daenerys would finally let Jon sleepy peacefully in his own bed, his father just had to choose to watch The Grudge one day without knowing that he and Daenerys were in the same room and watching the movie with him. Not even Jon complained when Daenerys slept in his room that night.
And his bedroom door? It was closed every night, because she was too scared and her eyes often played tricks on her that there was a shadowy figure just outside that wanted to make its way in.
He wanted to scream. It was his room! He should be able to sleep in it by himself.
His parents and grandmother were too lenient with her. They should’ve put their foot down and forced her to get over her childish fear.
However, as the months went by, Jon soon found himself not questioning her presence in his room at all. Instead, he simply performed the usual routine and went to sleep as usual.
-
Six years had passed and she was still sleeping in his room. It wasn’t that she was still afraid, but she had just never gone back to sleeping in her room. And he hadn’t exactly challenged her either.
It was only at night, after all. Back then, even the thought of being in her room alone frightened her but now she used the room for her personal leisure before moving to his room in the late hours to find sleep.
He asked her once why she didn’t just sleep in her room now that she wasn’t afraid. Her response was that she only used her room to give him his personal space. She didn’t want to intrude on his personal time and felt it was good for them to spend time apart.
He never asked her why she didn’t sleep in her room again.
However, there was one instance he could recall where he almost kicked her out. It was all over a fight that he couldn’t even remember how it started. But he did remember how it ended.
“You’re so annoying and childish. You’re still sleeping in my room as if you’re afraid like some baby.”
That’s what he had said. And of course, she hadn’t liked that comment at all. She had flung a stuffed animal at his head (oh yeah, those now occupied his room it seemed) and laid down beneath the covers. He had been met with silence for half an hour, playing on his gaming console, before she spoke.
“I’m tired” she told him.
“Good for you”, he replied, still mashing the buttons on his controller.
He was playing Mortal Kombat online with a friend of his, his headset on, and he was utterly kicking his friend’s ass.
“Jon”, Daenerys hissed, “I said that I’m tired.”
“I heard you the first time.”
He continued to press in the fighting combos when Daenerys’ flung another stuffed animal at his head. It wasn’t a hard object or a painful throw, but it was enough to throw him off his concentration and give his friend the upper hand.
“Hey!”
He turned around with anger bubbling in his chest and met a glaring violet gaze.
“I’m. Tired.”
Jon clenched his fist and had a snide remark burning on the tip of his tongue but quickly swallowed it back as he remembered it best to avoid conflict rather than stir it.
He gritted his teeth and told his friend it was time for him to head to bed before shutting the console off and enveloping the room in darkness. Jon walked over to his bed and took his usual place beside her.
They hadn’t bid each other goodnight, instead the both of them drifting into sleep in a silenced anger. However, their routine hadn’t changed. She would spend the day in her room before going over to his to find her sleep.
-
It had now been ten years since their living situation had started. She was now fifteen while he had only turned sixteen recently. It was the season of autumn and, in a surprising turn of events, Daenerys had been hosting her first sleepover.
He hadn’t thought this day would ever come, but, then again, she was no longer a frightened five-year-old child.
It brought him back to a memory of when he was younger; of his best friend asking him if he’d like to stay over at his house.
“Hey, Jon!”, his best friend, Grenn, greeted one day after math class. “Want to come over to my house and play video games?”
“Sure”, Jon replied, tucking his notebook into his bag.
“By the way, want to spend the night? It’s Friday.”
Jon paused what he was doing, thinking over the idea before sighing.
“I don’t know, Grenn.”
“Oh, come on! It’s Friday. And we only live 10 minutes away from one another.”
Jon walked to his locker, highly tempted to accept the offer when two violet eyes flashed in his mind.
“Sorry, Grenn, but my mom doesn’t like me staying at other people’s houses. She’s overbearing.”
Grenn sighed and tried one last time.
“Can’t you ask? Maybe she’ll say yes this time.”
“I’ll ask”, he lied.
And now years later, he wondered if he should have taken up the offer. Grenn hadn’t bothered to ask anymore, the thought of Lyanna being overbearing ingrained into his mind, and simply opted to visit or have Jon visit him.
He sighed as he beat another player on Mortal Kombat Online, looking over to his alarm clock and seeing that it was a little over 2:00 am. He could no longer hear the giggling coming from Daenerys’ room, so he could only assume that she was asleep.
He gave a small smile as he shut his game system off, turning off the lights and closing the door behind him before he went to sleep. Even as she slept away from his bed for the first time in years, she still needed to share the room with others. It was progress, though, he supposed.
He closed his eyes and curled into his spot, drifting off into a forlorn sleep.
At least, that’s what he thought would happen. Only a few moments after he found the perfect position, he heard his bedroom door creak open and close.
He turned over to see what had caused it and saw the familiar figure of his aunt walking over to the side of the bed she usually slept on.
“Dany?” he asked semi-groggily.
She gave him a sheepish smile as she crawled on the mattress to get underneath the covers. She slipped under, and he could feel the warmth radiate off her skin next to him.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?”
He shook his head and she smiled genuinely.
“Oh, ok.”
“Dany…why are you here?”
She gave him a confused look in response.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I thought you were having a sleepover?”
“I am. Margaery and Missandei are sharing my bed right now.”
“That’s not the point. Why aren’t you sleeping in your room?”
She gave him another confused look.
“Because I’m sleeping here… Jon, I always sleep here.”
“I know. But in a sleepover, one sleeps in the same room as their friends.”
“You want Missandei and Margaery to sleep here? There isn’t enough room on your bed.”
He gave an exasperated huff of annoyance.
“You’re missing the point. I mean that you should be sleeping in your room with them since this is a sleepover.”
“This is a sleepover”, she insisted. “Missandei and Margaery are sleeping over at my house.”
He felt his eye twitch.
“Yes, and one hundred percent of the time, the host sleeps in the same room as her friends.”
“Well, it’s ninety-nine-point nine percent now.”
Why was he even having this debate with her? Of course, she would sleep in his room. Why did he even think otherwise?
“Whatever. What were you guys talking about anyways? I heard a lot of giggling coming from your room, even with my headset on.”
Had he turned to her; he would’ve seen a coy smile play upon her lips as she answered.
“Oh… not much really. Just gossip, social stuff…boys.”
A deadpan look crossed over his face as he rolled away from her.
Normally girls would fawn over the cutest boy celebrities. Fall in love with the school’s popular kid or jock. His aunt? She had decided to take an interest in him. He hadn’t begun to notice until only a month before, when she would snuggle up to him every night as they went to sleep.
At first, he thought the bed size was an issue, and his father had ordered a King sized frame and mattress to alleviate the problem, but Daenerys still snuggled close to him. Then, her hands began to wander and rub his chest and stomach slowly as they slept. One time, he had even woken up to her hand inside his shirt as she hugged him in her sleep. When he demanded to know why she had her hand inside his shirt, she simply told him that she had been freezing and that skin to skin contact was the best way to exchange heat.
Those were the obvious passes at him. The more subtle ones included her joining the football team as an assistant to the coach, watching him and praying that he was put on the “skins” team during practice.
He was oblivious to the glares full of jealousy from his teammate as Daenerys stuck by him during practice. One time she had grabbed her towel and began drying the sweat from his body. His cheeks burned as coach Barristan watched them from the sidelines with a raised brow.
Whenever they practiced, Jon made sure he was on the other side of the field from his aunt.
“Hey, Jon”, she whispered, bringing him out of his thoughts.
“What?”
“Have you ever kissed anyone.”
He felt his breath catch in his throat, but he swallowed it down and found his strength back in his voice.
“No.”
“Oh?” He ignored the relief and happiness in her voice. “Why not?”
“Too busy with football” he gruffed out.
“Football? But you score a lot of goals and play so well each game. Surely it isn’t that time consuming.”
“That’s why I’m busy with it”, he snarked at her. “I need to focus before each game to play as well as I can.”
She hummed at his response and stayed silent for a few moments.
“I haven’t kissed anyone either”, she confessed.
“Good for you”, he responded, now wanting to ignore her and go to sleep.
“Jon.”
“What?” he sighed.
A pause.
“Want to give me a goodnight kiss?”
His eyes flew open, faster than they ever had, and he turned over to face her.
“What?!” he hissed.
“A goodnight kiss”, she said innocently. “Give me one.”
“No.”
She pouted.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Fine”, she responded.
Jon turned back over to his side and closed his eyes, attempting to ignore his thumping heart to go to sleep.
“Jon, coach Barristan told me to tell you to stop drifting too wide and stay central. I don’t know what that means, but he told me to tell you it.”
He gritted his teeth.
“Ok”, he responded. “Go to sleep.”
“Also, Mr. Jorah wanted me to stay late for tutoring. Not sure why, I’m making an A in his class. He seems to not like you for some reason, though. Miss Melisandre, though, she seems to like you. She likes you a lot, I’d say-”
“Ok! If I give you a goodnight kiss will you let me sleep?”
He rolled over to face and her, seeing her give him a smile as she nodded.
Jon huffed out, steeling his nerves as he closed his eyes and puckered his lips as he leaned over. Daenerys had already closed her eyes and slightly puckered her own lips as she waited for him. He leaned forward and made contact with her skin, staying there for two seconds before pulling away.
He opened his eyes and was met with a glare.
“What was that?” she demanded.
He gave her a confused look.
“A goodnight kiss. Like you wanted.”
“No. That was a peck on the cheek. That’s a kiss a grandmother gives to her grandchild”, she growled.
“Come on”, she continued, “give me a real one.”
Jon blinked as he stared at her, suddenly feeling very nervous as he laid next to her.
“Uh…ok.”
She closed her eyes once more tilted her head out towards him, waiting for him to make the move once more.
Jon puckered his lips as well and moved down to her face before placing his lips upon hers. Her reaction was instantaneous, moving a hand to wrap around his neck and keep him close. She tasted of spearmint, and he wondered if she had just brushed her teeth as he kissed her. She began to nibble on his bottom lip between her teeth slightly as her leg began creeping over his waist to straddle him. However, when he felt her tongue move between his lips and touch his own, Jon forced himself back and away, ignoring the growing feeling in his body.
“There”, he said quickly, angling his head away from her grip and rolling over away from her, “your goodnight kiss.”
He clenched his fist and noticed his palm sweaty with nerves, his heart racing wildly in his chest and his lips burning with the feeling of her own. He did not doubt that his face must have been as red as a tomato as he laid in bed next to the girl who had just turned into his first kiss.
“Hey, Jon….”
What now? What could she possibly want?
“Yes, Dany?”
“Do you want to kiss me goodnight again?”
“Dany.”
“Yes, Jon?”
“Go. To. Sleep.”