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The debut of their challenge was an accident. It was in their fourth grade class, Dany the new girl and everyone knowing that and only that. She was quiet - had yet to make her own impression other than the new presence in the room.
Valentine's Day, Dany thought, would be a great way to make that impression, though. She was crafty, and creative, and always made her Valentines instead of buying those drug-store packs.
And so when her table was called to distribute their Valentines to the designated bags in the front of the room, she did it gladly. She had personalized every one of them to the kid who would get it; a dragon either dribbling a basketball or twirling on its toes.
She came back to her seat empty handed and excited. Busying herself with a cookie that the Parent Association had provided the class party, deciding whether to watch her bag get filled with the notes or be invited to the surprise when they were permitted to go collect them.
Dany chose the latter.
But when she carried her bag of Valentines back to her desk….it felt incredibly light.
When she opened it, she realized it was not heavy because it was incredibly empty.
There were a few - but after a quick count, she knew it was no more than the default notes from the teachers and parents, and then that girl Ferila who was favoring everyone so she would win the student council presidential election.
Her neck burned under her turtleneck around her, kids exclaimed about how many there were for them, how many lollipops and candy hearts they saw.
Dany took out one of the four Valentine’s she had.
You’ve been a wonderful addition
to our class, Dany! Happy Valentine's Day!
~ Ms. Martell
She chewed her bottom lip as she reached for the next.
“What is this?!” a voice called from the other side of the room. Laughs followed.
“Wait, lemme see if I got one!”
“Ha! Look at mine! Who even owns googly eyes .”
Dany gulped as she looked up. She did. Dany owned googly eyes - specifically for her Valentines.
A small crowd formed by Table 3. Everyone was laughing and pointing at each other’s - and for a hopeful moment, Dany believed they loved her work as much as she did.
But that wish was diminished when they read her name signed at the bottom and then searched for her. She made eye contact with a boy - Theon, she remembered - and waited for the Good job!
Instead, he started laughing even harder.
“See! I told you guys she was weird! Probably a mute!”
No, she wasn’t. She had read aloud in class a few times. Besides, that was mean either way. And so she decided to not take it personally.
Dany casted her eyes to her cookie and word puzzle.
By the end of the party, the whole class was comparing their Valentine given by Dany. Not in the way she wanted them to, though - and no matter how much she told herself it didn’t matter, a small tear slipped out as she put her backpack on her shoulders as everyone filed out around her.
“Hey, uh…”
Dany jumped at someone’s voice behind her, wiping the stray tear away as she spun to face them.
A boy was there...a Stark boy, she thought. They all had the same look, anyway. But this one was always quieter than the rest, smaller, in a sense - and so it surprised her that he was...well, in front of her. Talking to her.
“Your Valentines were really cool. I bet you didn’t get any half as good back.”
She didn’t get any, really, so she shrugged. He somehow...seemed to read what she was thinking, though. His eyes glanced to her bag.
“I’m the new girl. It’s okay.” he nodded, but then reached into his own bag.
“Well, I did make one for you. Not as cool, but -” he handed it to her. “I didn’t know how to spell your name, so I never put it in your bag.”
Dany looked at him in disbelief, and then down to his Valentine. It was self-made, like her, just a bit generic.
Have a SWEET Valentine's Day,
D~~~~ Danaris Deneress Da
Nevertheless, she smiled - not even at the attempts of spelling her name, but the fact that he attempted .
“Thank you,” she told him. “And it’s alright, my name is pretty hard. You can just call me Dany.”
He smiled sheepishly and nodded, walking out the door.
The next day, he gave her a new card, this one with her nickname attached.
Take 2 -
Hope you had a SWEET
Valentine's Day, Danny!
From,
Jon
PS. I wanna know how to spell your name correctly
<3<3<3
Dany dialed it down next year. Of course, she still made them herself - but this time, she drew her Cupid Dragon (a pink dragon with white-tipped wings, a halo of fire, and a bow with heart-tipped arrows) more generalized and photo copied them with color.
It was their last year of elementary school. Their last party, too. So everyone made their teeth stained with purple icing, handed out as much candy as possible, and passed around their notes saying;
Be my Valentine?
Yes No
(circle)
(or, in Theon’s case;
Be my Valentine?
Yes Yes )
Next year was middle school. Next year, it was going to get real .
As for this year, though, Dany still carried her bag back to them table as some boys and girls still snickered at her self-made card by the black board. Thankfully, her bag was a little heavier this year; she had made some friends. Being quiet, not many, but still. Enough.
She had gotten to the bottom of the bag without noticing the lack of one from a certain someone.
Jon seemed to notice Dany a little more after Valentine's Day last year. He would call on her when the teacher told him to pick the next person to read out loud. Once or twice, he had helped her put her art on the empty shelf up high to dry, seeing that she was still pretty small for her age but his legs were getting long.
But they weren’t friends. She didn’t expect them to be, either. He was just nicer than other boys in their classes.
Dany walked down the stairway, bottom of her Valentine Bag hitting the steps behind her. She turned the corner out of the school, and almost bumped into Jon on the other side.
“Oh - there you are.”
“Hi.”
He smiled at her awkwardly before shuffling into his bag.
“I was gonna just put this in your bag, but wanted to see your reaction.” he handed a folded paper to her.
“Oh.”
She looked over it - it was a Valentine, hand made like last year. But this time, he drew a dragon and a wolf sitting together. On the dragon side, the background was ice, and the wolf’s was fire.
Danny,
Opposites Attract!
Happy Valentine's Day,
Jon
“Like magnets,” Dany remembered. They were learning about poles and magnets about two weeks ago in class. They were in a group of four together for an experiment.
“I like wolves, if you haven’t noticed.”
Dany nodded. She did, actually - all his stories and paintings in art were focused on them.
“I was also worried I wouldn’t live up to your card last year - but then we did that lesson and I got that idea.”
“It’s good, thank you. Although I don’t think anything lives up to my card last year.”
“Oh yeah? Not even this year’s?” he ruffled a bit before pulling out his card she slipped into his bag. Dany scrunched her nose - she liked her cards, yes, but wished she had pushed the criticism aside from last year and did what she wanted.
“No, your’s definitely wins this year.”
“I’m honored. Who do you think will win next year?”
“What do you mean?”
“The cards, next year - whose will be better?”
Dany narrowed her eyes.
“Is that a challenge?”
Jon smirked, and before answering, he turned around and ran off.
“Oh, it’s on!”
<3<3<3
Turns out, the next year, it was completely not on.
Dany sneezed into another tissue, wincing as she wiped her red, tissue-scraped nose. It was flurrying outside and she nuzzled further back under her blankets.
It was Valentine's Day, her first serious one of middle school - but she was far too delirious to remember.
It was day four of her being bed ridden. Her throat was sore and she couldn’t breathe through her nose.
At least she didn’t have to deal with the drama that she heard was coming with Valentine's Day and middle school, though.
The hours of the school day ticked on as Disney Channel played softly in the background. Her mother had come in with soup, and sometime after school, Rhaegar gave her one of those mini heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. Dany tucked it away in her drawer. All food was tasteless, as of right now. Even candy.
There was a knock on her door.
“Dany, love?”
“Mhm,” she muffled in response to her mom.
“A boy came by and dropped something off. I think you have a Valentine, honey!”
Dany sat up. Valentine?
Oh! Valentine.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
“What?” her mother asked, walking into her room. “It’s cute!”
She had no idea that it was already Valentine's Day. She was planning something, something big, that would’ve been a great kickoff to their competition. Instead, she was sick, and didn’t even realize it was Valentine's Day.
“No, no no no no no.” she untucked her covers, sweeping past her mom and to her closest, where a box sat. But inside was nothing but the start of what she would’ve made. “No!”
“What’s wrong?” Her mother kneeled next to her, tentatively holding something out - she glanced down, sniffing up her runny nose.
There was a small dragon stuffed animal, and the card was in the shape of a pink fire that the dragon would breathe.
Danny,
If you weren’t sneezing so much last week,
I would think you were scared of this competition.
But no worries, I went easy on you. This year.
Feel better,
Jon
(next year is when the real competition begins)
Dany groaned, face falling into her hands.
“I forgot it was Valentine's Day.”
<3<3<3
The next year though, she made a very big deal of not forgetting.
As well as the understanding that; This. Was. Not. A. Game.
She had lost a year - Jon had leverage, with three years on his back, plus living through a Valentine's Day in middle school. But Dany was prepared.
“Dany!”
She turned around, a huge smile on her face as she spotted Missandei waving at her from her bus window. Missandei, along with most other girls, had glitter around their eyes and red on their lips. Some wore heart headbands or others floofy pink skirts. Everything was bright, and Dany already knew middle school Valentine's Day was going to be much better than she expected.
She waited for her friend to run up to her before walking into the school.
“Is everything set?” Missandei whispered.
“Almost. Last two steps, then we’re set.”
“Good.”
They passed the Candy Gram stand and headed to homeroom.
Jon was hitting early, it seemed. Something was set on her desk in the far back of the room. Missandei gave her a nudge, which Dany waved off. “Please, I’ve had two years.”
On her desk was a Candy Gram with a card attached. They didn’t have Homeroom together, so he probably came in early so she didn’t catch him.
Danny,
Hope you didn’t bail on me this year.
Actually, I hope you did. Just so you don’t
get too embarrassed when you know I won.
Jon
She bit her cheek at his choice of Valentine - and misspelling her nickname again - but it didn’t matter.
The day was normal. Not one class went without the passing of the classic ‘ Will you be my Valentine?’ notes, something Dany did not expect people to carry into middle school.
But, along with that, were Candy Grams on her desk every time she would walk into her next classroom.
By the third period, people started to catch on. It seemed like Jon was giving her the amount of Candy Grams pertaining to the class period she was in - so right now, Dany was standing in front of three of them.
“You’ve really caught someone’s eye , Daenerys,” a girl’s voice sneered. Dany ignored the bad undertone, knowing that this girl was waiting for a boy to ask her to start dating today.
“Something like that,” Dany said, sitting down.
It continued throughout the rest of the school day. She looked for him during lunch, when five Candy Grams were delivered to her personally, but Jon was nowhere to be found. Jealous girls and curious boys had started to look on.
By seventh period, a teacher had finally gifted Dany a reusable bag to carry them all - by then she was sporting twenty eight Candy Grams. People were whispering about multiple things along the lines of it;
- Whether or not it was from the same person
- Who it would be from
- When and if they were approaching her at the after-school-party
- If she would say yes
- If it was multiple people, who she would say yes to.
The eighth period bell rang - and with it, Everyone ran down to the gym, where the party was going to begin.
Dany went along with them, lugging her bag of 35 Candy Grams with her.
“Are you nervous?” Missandei asked her, holding the strap to the bag alongside her. Dany shook her head.
“Not one bit.”
Silently, Dany walked in and sat down at a table like everyone else. They were to wait until everyone showed up, and then were allowed to play the games and eat the goodies.
It was barely thirty seconds before Jon dropped into the empty seat next to her. They didn’t have classes together this year, and Dany had yet to see him today. He lacked any Valentine accessories like all of the other boys.
“Gotta say, Dany. I was pretty let down when all you gave me was another handmade card. It was good, I can't deny that, but I expected better after the annoyance you expressed when you returned to school last year.”
“Sorry for the disappointment. Seems like you’ve won another year, though. Congratulations.”
He narrowed his eyes, but then nodded.
“Thanks. See you in student council. Can’t wait for next year.”
“Same.”
He walked back to his table, turning to his friends. Dany felt all the eyes on her - it most definitely must have seemed like she just rejected him. Despite that, she rested her chin on her hand, hiding her smirk. Her eyes stayed hard on the podium where a teacher was preparing to state opening remarks.
The teacher tapped the microphone. At the sound, people quieted, eager to get to the fun.
“Alright everyone,” the teacher called. Talking settled. Everyone had attention up front. “Let’s settle down, so we can -”
“Excuse me,” a voice called. The teacher turned around, to find a girl in the doorway behind the podium. She wore a red hat - the hat worn for those who worked on the Candy Gram committee. “I have a candy gram delivery, for Jon Stark.”
A few gasps went over the crowd, and Dany moved her hand so it hid her growing smirk. She flicked her eyes over to Jon - he looked ahead, curious.
And that’s when it started.
One after another, the whole committee of six people for the Candy Grams filed into the room. And each of them were rolling storage carts; each stacked with three boxes full of fifty Candy Grams each.
The Candy Grams were 50 cents each. By putting away about half of her allowance a month, Dany was easily able to buy all 900 Candy Grams in time for the preorder forms.
She looked back at Jon - his face had gone slack with disbelief. His cousins and friends around him slapped hands over their mouths.
“Dude, she so beat you.”
The whole room watched them unload the carts. Jon’s eyes were wide as they took the wall of them around him formed.
Dany watched him swallow. “Uhm, whos - whos the sender?”
“Anonymous.”
Instinctively, his face whipped over to her. Dany hid her smile more into her hand and shrugged.
His gaping mouth broke into a smile as he started to laugh and shake his head, running his hands through his hair.
<3<3<3
That was the end of Valentine's Day being fun, it seemed.
Eighth grade brought a whole new game. The boys were all suddenly taller than every girl in the grade, and if you just so happened to look at someone a second too long while working on an assignment, there was a rumor that you had a crush on them. There were no more passing notes - unless it was a love letter, and not asking a ‘circle yes if u wanna date’ question written on post-its.
This is what everyone had been talking about.
Dany sighed, walking past another group of girls giggling with some boys. The costume dress up had fizzled - instead, everyone had their cutest pink sweaters, curls, and dainty makeup. That was Dany’s general look, so hopefully she wasn’t being put into the same group as the try-hards.
She was, however, being...noticed. People were glancing at her as she walked down the hallways, whispering to each other, giving everyone knowing smiles. Dany kept her eyes at her feet, uncomfortable (which she would have been, anyway, considering the extreme PDA against the lockers). Had her hair frizzed or something?
Soon enough, she rounded the corner, and her question had been answered.
Well, not exactly. She would have to check if it needed an extra brush before going to homeroom - but it definitely was not the reason everyone was looking at her.
Her jaw dropped as she approached her locker. From the top to bottom, it was decorated with bees .
Fake ones, of course. But the one she was stung by at a birthday party over the summer definitely was not fake. And Jon knew it (“I’m immune, I’m telling you,” he claimed, grabbing her by both shoulders and leading her inside. “They think I’m a tree or something”).
(He made more analogies of what he may be to the bees for them to avoid him. They were all stupid, but it made Dany laugh enough to forget the pain as he helped her clean the sting.)
They were small and looked fuzzy - probably some craft ones - but they also covered the Whole. Thing.
Kids all watched around her. Her bee attack was something only the two of them knew - an inside joke now, it seemed. Multiple younger kids had hands over their mouths, and then there were those other girls who were just jealous. Of what, Dany didn’t know. They were just friends.
Dany approached it, taking it in slowly while she bit her cheek. When she touched them, they stayed on the poster board he glued them on. They felt like pipe-cleaners.
She shook her head, suddenly self conscious of her own...Valentine. She had hid stuffed Valentine Wolves throughout the school, and a scavenger hunt for him to find them all. They could be done between classes, at lunch, and even during a quick trip to the bathroom.
Just when she thought it was over, her locker clicked open. And as the door opened, piles and piles of more bees fell out.
Dany watched it all pour, stunned. Behind it, on the back wall of the locker…
….MINE
Before the bees get you, of course.
(or after. Because i'm immune.)
-Jon
People gasped as the bees fell out, and then crowded behind her when they realized she was reading something.
“Are they dating?”
“I guess so.”
“But they did this last year, too. They weren’t dating then.”
“I thought they just broke up?”
“No, I would know.”
“But he said ‘be mine’! That only what couples say.”
“They aren’t a couple. At least not yet.”
“I hope not. He’s getting cute.”
Whispered fluttered around her, but Dany barely noticed. Instead, she eyed a folded note on top of her books. It was labeled Danny .
She sighed and rolled her eyes at the continuous misspelling. But then picked it up.
Don’t be late for class, though. I’ll come clean this up.
-Jon
P.S. yes, you will get to keep the bees.
The bees were cute.
He told her to get to class, but she stayed by her locker as people lost interest and went to homeroom. She didn’t leave until seeing him round the corner, playfully shoulder checking him with a smile on her face. He was already holding one of the wolves.
<3<3<3
High School was eighth grade but on, like, steroids.
Dany quickly exited the stairwell, completely aware of the make-out sesh going on underneath it. The hallways were strewn with rose petals and streamers and loads of PDA.
It wasn’t like Dany was a prude. Sure, she had yet to have a first kiss, or boyfriend, or requited love, for that matter, but...it wasn’t like she didn’t want to. But it was way too early to be kissing against lockers. Toothpaste couldn’t taste that good.
She avoided yet another bouquet of flowers by ducking underneath it and slipping into her classroom. When she sat down, a flyer was on her desk.
Cupid’s Ball! Tonight, 6:30 PM in the gym!
Ah, right. The Valentine's Day dance.
She was surprised how many people seemed excited about it - most, she would think, would want to spend time...well, alone. With their person. Ahem.
Missandei was making her go, though. They didn’t have a homecoming due to renovations, so Dany was up for it.
She had a dress ready and everything, but didn’t think it was a big deal. Throughout the day, though, she learned it very much would be. She almost forgot to check up on her custom lunch that she handed the lunch ladies to give to Jon because of the sudden wrap up of tips.
“The punch is just that Hawaiian fruit punch stuff, it turns your teeth red. So don’t drink it. Also, don’t eat a lot of snacks, because they always come out with a giant cupcake cake during the last half hour. Its to keep all of those horny upperclassmen in and away from having sex. We think it is, anyway. Also, there may be a kissing booth - but we don’t know, since there was a rumor of mono after last year’s. Either way, don’t wear lipstick. Or lipgloss.”
Dany half listened to the table, the other half staring Jon on the lunchline down. He trudged along, hands in his pockets, tired eyes blinking slowly.
Which was great, because it really showed the comparison of how he looked after being handed his tray.
Missandei’s mother owned a bakery; so naturally, Dany had a lot of leverage when it came to sweets. She and Jon were friends, but she didn't know exactly what he liked - so she just gave him a bit of everything. And a heart-shaped PB & J to top it off.
His eyes grew heavily confused as his hand froze while reaching for the assortment. The lunch lady, tired of this whole ordeal, pushed it into his grasp and went on with her job.
Jon turned towards the lunch room, searching each table. Dany waited for him to find her.
She gave a small wave and thumbs up when he did.
He shook his head, running his hands through his hair shyly and returned to his table.
She had yet to get anything from him by the end of the day - which was odd, because for the past two years, he had done it earlier. There was still the dance tonight...but the thought of that made her...nervous, all of the sudden.
Dany knew they were not just kids anymore. They weren’t in middle school, or elementary school, where long term relationships lasted two weeks. Valentine's Day was no longer just another class party.
But still, it...it felt like they were. At least between her and Jon, and this whole challenge ordeal. They were friendly with each other throughout the year, sure, but not enough to be friends. At least she didn’t think so.
Although, somehow...she knew it probably didn’t look like that to others. The girls that sat at his lunch table had immediately started interrogating him. People have started to look forward to their exchanges every year. Most knew of it, and if they didn’t, someone would tell them.
But then, on February 15th, everything would go back to normal.
Dany became anxious as she looked over herself in the mirror. Missandei walked behind her as she exhaled shakily.
“What’s wrong? You look great.”
She gave her friend a small smile. Like every other girl, Dany was wearing a red slip dress - it was going to be a popular look for sure, but she looked the best in that color. It was decorated with some black lace to separate it from the rest, at least.
“Thanks. I know. I’m just...nervous.”
“What?! Dany, c’mon! I know it’s our first high school dance, but we look hot and -”
“No, no. Not that. Jon hasn’t reciprocated yet.”
Missandei eyed her through the mirror.
“You think he forgot?”
Dany shook her head.
“No way. I’m more nervous about why he needs to wait until the dance to do his thing.”
Missadei stepped next to her friend, looking at her directly rather than in the mirror.
“Why are you so nervous, then? You’ve never been this way before. And it’s never a big deal.”
“Except it is. Everyone knows about it now.”
“Who cares?”
“It used to be just...a thing between us. Some random thing between friends. I don’t want anyone to change that.”
“Then don’t let them.”
Turns out, it wasn’t as big as she expected. He made a pointed moment to say hello to Dany, which she appreciated more than anything else. They never had classes together, except for this silly elective first semester. He was fun to hang out with, when their friend groups happened to be invited to the same place. That wasn't often and mostly during the summer though.
Barely halfway through, Dany had forgotten about the challenge. She and Missandei danced all night, and bonded with other girls that were also there with no romantic partner. They all formed a huge circle. Arms around each other's shoulders, for each slow song that came on - and being a Valentine's Day dance, there were many.
She had, admittedly, snuck glances at Jon multiple times during the night at Jon. He somehow caught on quickly and would always smile at her. Once even, their two groups danced together(that was when she lost Missandei to his friend Grey).
It was nice. And fun.
Towards the end of the night, about 45 minutes before everyone was to leave, they wheeled a cake out. Like someone told her during the day, with a closer inspection of it, it was made of cupcakes. And with an even closer inspection -
Oh. oh, gods.
Nothing is as SWEET than Danny!
And then, on one singular cupcake at the bottom;
-J
People made room for her as she stepped closer. Immediately, Dany turned around to find Missandei. Instead, she found Jon at the head of the crowd.
She buried her smile into her teeth, shaking her head. A few phones came out as they met in the middle.
“You reused a saying. That’s cheating.”
“Though I’d make a call back. Five years since the start and all.”
“It has really been five years, huh.”
People realized nothing interesting was going to happen. They all started to continue with their night.
“Five years of me winning .”
“Hey! Nope. I have definitely up-stood you a few times -”
“Besides seventh grade, I don’t see any competition.”
“I don’t think any of your wins should count until you spell my name right.”
His eyebrows furrowed, and she couldn’t help but giggle. Before she could even realize it, he had walked past her to look at the name written on the cupcakes.
She joined him, watching his eyes stay on her name.
“It’s only one ‘n’, idiot. D-A-N-Y.”
Astonishment marked his face as he looked at her.
“But your full name -”
“D-A-E-N-E-R-Y-S. Still one ‘N’.”
“That’s not fair. I asked you, back in fifth grade!”
“No, you said you wanted to know how to spell it. Besides, that's no excuse. I sign your Valentines with my name every year.”
“Seventh grade was anonymous.”
“The card wasn’t”
Hr took a moment. His fingers found his hair, leaving the gelled strands messy. Dany went to fix them, and he tilted his head towards her, allowing it.
“Gods, I can’t believe I never caught onto that. I even had them hanging on my wall -”
“On your wall?” Not every boy would...well, not like she would know. But she never thought…
“Well, yeah. You’re my friend and stuff. And this is a year’s worth of effort and all.”
“- Friends? We’re friends?” If her voice wasn’t at such a point of awe, she knew that question may have seemed mocking. But Jon read her face. His eyebrows twitched.
“I’d like to say so. I thought we were. Are.” The words were said a bit hesitantly. Like they were trudging on a thin line surrounded by a void.
“Sorry,” she said, huffing a laugh. “I just - it’s not like I don’t want us to be. I just feel like we barely...hang out. And stuff. Like friends do.” Dany inwardly cringed once she said it. She had definitely dug herself a hole.
But Jon nodded, turning to the table and taking two cupcakes. He handed one to her.
“Okay. So let’s start hanging out more. I get my license over the summer.”
It felt like the moment was...awkward.
“You don’t have to if you don’t wanna,” Dany mentioned.
“No, but you’re right. Besides...keep your friends close and enemies closer.”
Dany searched his eyes, trying to bite back her laugh. And failed.
“Ah, that’s nice to know. So you’re just going to hang out with me so you know my tactics.”
Jon shrugged and then waved her off.
“Please. Don’t downgrade my thinking like that. I’ve won every -”
Dany gave him a pointed look.
“ Most years. Shouldn’t matter if I spelled your name wrong for most -”
Dany raised her eyebrows.
“Fine. Every year. But my ideas were elite.”
She looked at him for a moment, gladly taking in his pride. Over his shoulder, she eyed the drinks station; and among it, a sharpie.
Dany squeezed between him and the table, grabbing it. She scooped his hand up by dainty fingers, bringing his to her face, and letting them tuck her own to his palm.
She opened the sharpie with her teeth and successfully put the cap on the back of it.
“I’ll give you a pass. But I’m going to write it down, and you can’t get it wrong after that. Especially because it’s on your body.”
He was looking straight at her as she said this, nodding solemnly before flicking his eyes down to where her fingers were between his and his palm.
Dany caught the moment, but decided to ignore it, and got to work on the top of his hand.
Daenerys
Dany
She paused at the end of the Y, glancing up at him. He was heavily focused on her writing but still found her gaze. She watched his tongue run across the top of his bottom teeth.
Dany smiled, taking her bottom lip to her own teeth, and went back in to write her phone number.
“Good idea. People already think we’re dating, so id like to be a good boyfriend and have your number, at least.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Dany nodded, breath caught in her throat.
“See you, Dany.” He handed her a cupcake with a small bow. She took a bite as he started walking away, watching him go.
He turned back around once and she gave him a wave. In return, his shoulders shook with a chuckle, and he knowing wiped his nose.
Dany brought a hand to her own. There was icing on it. He gave her a thumbs up when she successfully wiped it off, disappearing back into the crowd.
She licked it off her finger, neck getting hot when she realized one odd, unbalancing thing. She was definitely starting to have a crush on him.
<3<3<3
They kept up with their plan through the next year. They found each other in between classes, before and after school, in the breaks of their clubs. When Dany’s birthday came in May, he made sure to get her a sketchbook. When his came in August, she got him a keychain for his new car.
Jon being almost a year older than her, she had to hide her jealousy that came with when he got his license, when she was only getting her permit. But he promised her that he would drive her around if she wanted, and never let her down with it. He would pick her up for school when she was too late to walk, and to the bookstore when a limited edition came out and no one else was free to.
They had their own playlist for driving. He was surprised to learn that she knew the entirety of Fergalicious, and she was surprised to learn that he liked Indie more than anything else.
Somehow, the fact that they were hanging out more made Valentine's Day’s impending challenge even more...hard. It was early December that Dany even realized that she had yet to even plan or think of a plan for it. And then. Later realized, even though she knew so much more about him, it was so much harder to think about something.
“Why don't you get him concert tickets or something?” Missandei had asked her one day.
“No, it's not creative enough. I gotta think of something that will actually hold up to what he does.” she groaned, face falling into her hands. “Ugh! Why does he have to be so creative with things?”
“First guy I've ever met that is, honestly.”
“Yeah,” Dany huffed. It also didn’t help that among the new fresh air of friendship between them, the realization of her crush on him circled around her mind. It was weird.
In the end, she decided to very simply dye Ghost, his dog he had gotten about two years ago, pink. Her good behavior so far in high school earned enough trust with the superintendent to make the newly-pinked fur ball a guest at the Valentine's Day Dance.
It was a fun sight, honestly. She could directly tie the expression that appeared on Jon’s face to what happened back in seventh grade with the Candy Grams. This time, though, it was a perfect ascending expression of surprise to glee to terror as Ghost trotted across the dance floor. Dany held the retractable leash at the opposite end of the dance floor, stepping out from behind the crowd to catch Jon's eye when he realized his big scary fluffball was pink .
But then he grinned and laughed, Ghost licking his face and knocking him to the floor. After everyone got a chance to pet him, Dany led him back to Arya, who she thanked and tipped with a ten dollar bill.
Jon was in clear sight when she returned to the gymnasium. His one arm extended as they walked towards each other, and Dany let herself fold into the congratulatory hug with a smile.
“Don’t worry, it washes out after about a week.”
“A week ?” Jon pulled away from her, stunned. She liked how he kept holding her elbow, though. Dany gave him a pretentious smile.
“Why, of course! If I don't win for creativity, let me at least win for the extended holiday spirit.”
Jon shook his head and pulled her back into him. She wrapped her arms gladly around his torso. “My ideas are always the best. But I’m afraid yours is significantly longer. Mines only about...three minutes and forty nine seconds.”
It was Dany’s turn to pull away. “What?”
As if that was the cue, the music died down, and Jon ran off to take the stage. Dany followed him partway before stopping in the crowd, heart thumping wildly and loud.
“Hey guys, sorry to pause the hype,” He opened with. Some freshman questioned the interruption, but others snickered excitedly. At this point, people looked forward to their challenge every year. “But it’s Valentine's Day as we are all aware. And my sister,” he gestured to the stairs, where Sansa hesitantly walked on to the stage. “Is a beautiful musician. And I would like her to gift us with a very slow and romantic song for the lovebirds in the room.”
Some people hollered and whooped. Jon grinned at the encouragement. Sansa sat at a grand piano behind him.
“So here it is. Performance dedicated to Daenerys Targaryen. Some of you might know her.”
With that he jumped off the stage. He took Dany's wrists and pulled her into the center of the circle forming.
“No,” she whined. Sure, they had their moments of fame once a year, but Dany was good with that. Dancing in front of others, with no crowd to hide her? “No, no, nonononono, Jon, no, please please please -”
“Relax,” he simply stated, placing her wrists on her shoulders. She stared at him with wide eyes, feeling eyes on her everywhere .
And then Sansa started to play.
Even on piano, the song was immediately clicking in her brain. They had played it enough times in his car to wake up from a dead sleep knowing it.
She couldn’t help the gasp contracting her throat as Sansa started playing the first opening chords of Fergalicious.
“Oh my gods,” Dany choked. He gave her a shit-eating grin as Sansa started to dramatically sing the lines. “Oh my gods,” she repeated.
Everyone had equal reactions once recognizing it. They all started to dance though; ironically or not, but they did. Dany watched it happen before relaxing like he told her to, letting her arms loop around his neck.
His hands settled at her waist, and her heart jumped back up.
“I’m trying so hard not to sing along,” she admitted. They had started to actually dance, both not admitting they were starting to look like every other couple in the room.
“Ah, see, that’s the challenge.”
“You owe Sansa, yanno.”
“Nah, she agreed on her own terms.”
Dany laughed and shook her head. She let herself rest her forehead on his shoulder, anyway, closing her eyes as his hands wrapped more across her back.
There was an after party at someone’s house. They didn’t know whose, but they knew the address. Someone held it every year; freshman just weren’t allowed to know.
Dany had never been to a real party, so she and Missandei stuck together. People turned on the real version of Fergalicious when Jon told some of them she knew the whole thing. He was a bit buzzed; she could tell by the amount of excitement he had when she finished the last verse. He threw his arms around her, rocking her back and forth, screaming “That’s my girl!”
It was sweet. She liked the feeling of it, and wanted to be around it the whole night.
Jon was drunk. Why couldn’t she be? Dany left the crowd to get her own drink. When she returned, he was dancing with that new girl. The red headed one. His face was just as red and she was smiling, arms low around her waist.
“Hey, I want to go home,” Dany told Missandei. They left.
<3<3<3
Ygritte was fine. Dany overreacted about the situation. She was nice, and Dany and Jon still hung out together and stuff. She wasn’t in the way.
But then Dany got her license, and suddenly, she felt like she was in the way. It seemed useless for Jon to drive her places she could drive herself to. She didn’t like him using gas on her, either, now that she saw how much it cost. But they still found times to walk with each other in between classes. Until the second semester, actually, when Dany’s electives changed and she had to walk the opposite way.
It was hard to plan Valentine's Day now. She thought it was hard because they were friends last year, but now they were in a new state. And it didn’t help not knowing what exactly it was called. It was two weeks before Valentine’s Day. She had a plan; flimsy, but there. But then Jon walked up to her.
“Hey, um...I was thinking…” He cleared his throat. Dany tried to finish his sentence, but found she couldn’t. She didn’t seem to see him enough anymore to know his mind as well as before.and so she sat into her hip and waited. “I was thinking that we should maybe...that we should maybe skip this year. I’m gonna ask Ygritte out soon and I don’t want it to look...well. You know.”
She couldn’t decide if she did indeed know . But she nodded anyway. She didn’t want to be in the way. Even though they always insisted to people who asked that their challenge was between friends. There wasn’t anything romantic about their actions. It was Just. Friends. So why was it suddenly not?
“Tsk tsk,” Missandei said when she told her. “Boys are dumb.”
She was right. Dany could agree with that.
“It’s fine, really. I don’t remember the last time I had a stress-free Valentine's Day. maybe it'll be nice.”
In the end, he did.
It was as if he could barely wait for it. Dany passed them walking it; his trunk was open, with a poster asking if Ygritte would want to be his girlfriend. He had candy, and flowers, and the girl’s face turned as bright as her hair as he handed them to her.
Dany ducked away before she could see her nod.
She attempted to make the day...not dull. But even with every decoration around her, her stomach left her uncomfortable with the sort of lack of excitement. Like it knew what the day was, but was confused that she wasn’t looking forward to anything.
Because she always looked forward to it. Every year.
She just never really understood how much she did.
Disassociation came into play by period 4.
People were talking. Like every other year, yes. But now it was around the fact that he was dating someone else, that they had thought he was dating Dany until now, ideas of what either of them could possibly do to the other that wasn’t couple-y or romantic.
It never was , Dany tried to say to herself, agitation rising in her. None of it was ever romantic .
But she couldn’t really ever find reasons to back that up.
Thankfully, she didn't have to make much of an effort not to see Jon with Ygritte at the dance. Missandei had gone to distract her, knowing more about what her friend was feeling than Dany herself.
And then Daario caught her cookie before it touched the ground.
Daario Naahris has always flirted with Dany. but then he also flirted with a lot of other girls, so she would always laugh it off. But he was looking at her with mischief in his eyes, and she liked the sight a little more than looking at Jon and Ygritte, so she asked Daario to dance with her.
He was always friendly with her too. She didn’t find it a big deal to go to his house when he asked her, since she had already gone there once to work on a project. He was just grabbing something before going to the after party, anyway. It was nice of him to drive her since the party was down the street from his house, but across town from hers. It just made sense.
“Do you want anything?” he asked her as he searched through cabinets. The chairs at his table were perfectly pushed in, so Dany sat on the counter to watch him roam. “You didn’t eat that much at the dance.”
“Don’t like to drink that much, so I go empty to speed it up,” Dany reasoned. Which, yes, that was true. But she also just couldn’t find an appetite. At least the problems were coming hand in hand. She just wanted to forget this stupid night. Day. week. The past eight years.
“Ah, strategy.”
They danced together all night. Missandei took note of it at some point and split off, leaving them alone together. Simple, fun, awkward high school junior dance moves, laughing to the moves of the Cotton-Eyed Joe, falling into an embrace as the slow music came on. It all felt...like she was sixteen, and Daario was sixteen, and there were no stupid boys named Jon who were confusing the seven hells out of her. Everything was simple, and high school. Besides, Jon was doing it, so why couldn’t she?
Dany kicked her feet against the bottom cabinets, watching him pour her a glass of water anyway. She took a sip, watching him rest on the island adjacent to her, and then set the cup down beside her.
“You sure you aren’t partied out?”
Dany gave him a look. She knew how teenage boys strategized.
“Hey, just a question. Genuine. Seemed like you were having fun at the dance.”
“I was,” she confirmed, smiling cheekily. “Thanks to you.”
“Pft.” he waved her off. “You always seem like you're having fun. That's why I like being around you.”
“Is that why our physics project was almost late? Because I was being too ‘fun’?”
She watched him step closer to her. His hips brushed her knees.
“No, that would mean you're distracting . Which you are. But I think my mom’s cookies were the reason.”
“Oh, I'm distracting. That's good to hear.” her heart pounded loudly as his eyes looked at her lips.
“It is, yeah.” Her wrists found their way to his palms. Daario breathed deeply through his nose.
She hated the way her heart was beating so fast. How she could feel it in her throat. Was this normal? Was this...anxiety, or nerves, or…
Yes, Dany realized. Because this was what she felt the second before her Valentines were revealed to Jon. It was the feeling of hearing Fergalicious in public, grabbing his arm and jumping up and down. His shoulder squeezes, how they left her wanting something a bit more, how it seemed full filled for weeks after they danced together last year. It was her eyes finding the way he made it clear that he knew how to spell her name on her birthday cards for the past two years by repeating it and underlining it and decorating it.
This feeling was Jon .
But Jon wasn’t here. He was with Ygritte, maybe even in the same sort of position as Dany was, maybe even feeling the same thing. But not with her.
And her feeling it, not with him.
It wasn’t right. But...it felt so close to being to. Whenever she was around him, it felt So. Close .
And gods, it annoyed the seven hells out of Dany. because there was something right there, almost there, and suddenly, it was like Jon was getting it, and she wasn’t.
Jon was kissing someone. Why couldn’t she?
And so she did.
Daario seemed to be waiting for it. Expecting it. She had no idea how long she had just been staring at him, or if he made any funny faces. She just knew that her lips were on his and holy fuck , how was she supposed to kiss with them?
So it was sloppy, but it was a kiss , her first one, and she was on his kitchen counter and he was stepping closer which was making her dress hike up and oh gods oh gods oh gods.
What was she doing ?
She asked herself that as she realized...this wasn’t it. It wasn’t what her mind was asking for, the feeling wasn’t being satisfied. She was just kissing him because she could, and they were young so it made sense, and because she told herself she needed it because Jon was doing it without her.
Shit .
“What?” he said it against her mouth. She must’ve said it outloud. Double shit ( she made sure she didn’t that time.
Dany broke away from him, her head hitting the cupboards behind her.
“Dammit,” she said rubbing her head. But then she realized Daario was looking at her, confused. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“What? No, no, I actually -” she pushed off of the counter, heels clicking against the tile as she brushed past him. Where to was a good question.
“I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t have. That -” she ran a shaky hand through her hair. “That was mean, I'm sorry.”
“What are you talking about, Dany?” he grabbed her wrist, turning her back towards him. Dany bit her lip. “That was fine. I - that was good. Right?”
“No,” she said quickly. “No, I mean - well yes (no), but no, I - I just…”
“Hey, relax.” his voice dropped to something gentle and he took her face into her hands. “Relax, see? It's fine. We’re good. It’s good.”
He leaned in to kiss her again, which Dany didn’t blame him for, but she ducked away.
“It’s not fair. I’m sorry,” she reasoned when she could feel his expression. “I - my mind was somewhere else. I don’t want...this was fast. I - I think I’m gonna go.”
“Go?” he called out to her. She had already started walking, eyes casted to her quick steps on the floor. “What do you mean, go? Go where?”
“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “Home.”
“Your car’s still at the school.”
“The party, then.”
“You just said home. Let me drive you, atleast -”
“No, it’s fine.” the thought of the silence in the car...shed rather get blisters. “I need some fresh air anyway.”
“You are not walking to the school.”
“I’ll get someone to call.”
“Who?” he said, with a different voice. A kind of snap that made her turn towards him. “The boyfriend you aren’t being ‘fair’ to?”
“What?”
He sighed. “You kiss me and then run away. I should be the one asking ‘what’.”
“Daario, I -” she sniffed, feeling a burn come up in her throat. She really did not want to cry tonight. She did not want to be one of those girls. “I’m just confused right now. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry.”
“I think I’m more confused than you right now.”
She almost laughed. “Trust me, you aren’t. I’m - I’m just going to call someone. We can talk later once I - once I clear my head. I promise.”
Dany walked out the door before he could answer it.
After looking for her phone, she realized she had forgotten her keys in his house. Hopefully her house’s front door was unlocked.
Scrolling through her contact list, she went through the options. Dany had friends, just not many. Enough. But besides Missandei (who didn’t have a car), all the others were the kind that she worked on projects with or sit with at lunch. None to pick her up from a guys house.
Well.
The phone rang four times. In those rings, she reminded herself that walking to the school would not only kill her feet, but emotional capacity. But she also would take that over being in a car with Daario right now, alone.
“Dany? You okay?” Somehow, she felt okay doing it with Jon, though.
She sniffed again, blaming it on the chilly air. Her arm wrapped around her torso as she walked a bit further from Daario’s house, the opposite direction of the party down the street.
“Yeah, I was just wondering if you could take me home.”
There was a slight pause. “Sure, no problem.”
Her eyes rolled around a little bit, waiting for him to ask… well, where she was.
“Right now, if you can,” she decided to add in. but not before her throat decided to contract, the weight of the night finally settling onto it.
“O-okay. Uhm -” Just then she heard the sounds of music and voices. He was at the party. But it quieted quickly. “Are you drunk? In a bathroom or something? I saw Missandei -”
“No, I’m - my car’s at the school.” She would’ve kept talking, but a tear rolled down, and it froze her.
“What do you mean? How - how did you get to the party?”
She kicked a rock, not caring that her heels were scuffing.
“I’m not there. I went to Daario's house.” It came out as a whisper, almost.
Another pause. Longer than the last. “Dany, did -”
“Jon. Please, just can…”
“I’ll be right there.”
She could’ve watched him leave to party, start up his car, that's how close he was. But she kept her eyes on the ground as the headlights zoomed up the street and braked in front of her.
The door was unlocked when she opened it and collapsed into the seat. His light indie rock played as he waited for her to buckle her seat belt before continuing down the street.
Dany pressed her knees together, arms wrapping her torso, as she diverted eye contact by looking out the window.
He, thankfully, stayed in their surprisingly comfortable silence until he was about to pass the school.
“Are you sure you don’t want to pick up your car? I’ll follow behind, still -”
“I forgot my keys in his house,” she told him. Now looking at the windshield, Dany could see him glance at her stature.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Nothing ha -” Well, yes, something did happen. “We didn’t have sex. He didn’t...he didn’t hurt me or anything.”
“But are you okay?”
She raised her brows. It seemed like forever ago that she did them up for tonight.
“Ask me when it’s all over.”
“Wh-what is?”
“I have no idea.”
In the end, Jon gave her the extra jacket he always kept in the car because his heater wasn’t kicking up. She used it as a blanket in his passenger seat. and when she finally got home, he found she was exhausted in too many ways to actually get ready for bed. So she slipped off her heels and put his jacket through her arms, tucking herself into bed and closing her eyes until she finally succumbed to sleep.
But first, tears had to release, all based on one stupid, hideous thing;
“Happy Valentine's Day, Dany,” he told her as she shut the door, too late for her to say it back.
<3<3<3
They wound up dating well after that.
By they, it was both Jon and Ygritte and Daario with Dany. clearing her head just lead to one realistic solution; she just needed to get over Jon. What they did was just a child’s game, and last year, they stopped being children.
And so she got over him. Mostly. Enough to get into what she built with Daario on that night last year, whether it was a mess or not.
Well, that’s what she kept repeating. But then they broke up.
It was a week before Jon’s eighteenth birthday. So, of a fact, it was a good thing; she was able to go to her friend’s birthday (yes, they were friends) without feeling remorse of him being a part of the gender she was attracted to.
But it was a bad thing. Because the adorable idiot got icing on his face, and although that was always her job when they used to eat out together, Ygritte was there to wipe it in Dany’s place.
Yes. Because they didn’t break up.
It was annoying, to put it short. Somehow even during her four month relationship with Daario, she found Jon and Ygritte annoying. Not them as individuals. Just...together.
She stopped going to some hang outs because of it. Of course, Jon and her stayed friends, and their two friend groups always tagged together. Especially since it was senior year. Better make the most of it.
And Dany tried . She really did. But when they had open campus, it was annoying that she never seemed to go out with him. They were finally in the same classes this year, but they worked so well together that they never needed to meet after school. But the times they were partners were fun.
Except Ygritte. Ygritte Ygritte Ygritte.
She was everywhere. Missandei even said it. She didn't do anything, but she was always there. There weren’t any problems with it. Except that she was there.
One time, Dany and her had to work on a worksheet together. They didn’t have a similar personality so they never really had reason to talk, but she was nice. She was new when she and Jon met, like Dany was all those years ago, and she didn’t know about their strange Valentine's Day challenge. At least she never mentioned it. And so Dany didn’t, in case Jon wanted to keep it out of everything. Even though relationships shouldn’t do that.
Dany would know. She kept her feelings for Jon to herself, and long story short, that was why Daario was her Ex.
At this point she knew it was just denying them or ignoring them or whatever. But as much as she didnt like the relationship, it seemed like Jon did. It wouldn’t be right to say her own.
She should have repeated that more often than she did though (for emphasis, she did repeat it often. Almost every time she looks at him, gods-dammit).
February 14th. Cupids’ Day or whatever. Dany couldn’t really care, honestly. She was drunk on wine in a stranger’s bathtub.
To the right was the faucet. In the corner was some soap or something. Remember, she didn’t care.
don't care don't care don't care don't care don't care don't care don't care .
She took another swig from the bottle. Egh, red wine. It left that tangy taste behind. But it was the reminder of the reminder don't care.
And she didn’t, is what she told her mind. When she walked into school with everyone, including Missandei now, having a stupid Valentine and not her. How she should win out of anyone, actually,in the valentine department, since she had one every year since fourth grade. But she didn’t. But she did. Kinda. In a way. Platonically.
Another repeated reminder. don't care. Platonic. don't care. Platonic. don't care. Half Valentine. Red wine. Ew.
She almost had one. Actually, last year, she did kiss someone on Valentine's Day. Sure, it didn’t actually make sense a half bit until about three months later, but didn’t it still count? Even though she only kissed him because she wanted to kiss someone else? Even though she then called that someone else? Even after she thought for three months and dated for four, she still didn’t want to admit it was just a filler for something she didn’t have?
If it wasn’t for Jon, she’d have a Valentine. That was a confirmed bias, maybe, but based on reasons her wine-drunk mind was coming up with, it made the most sense.
Gods. She really wore this stupid dress to make him think she was prettier. It was at that level.
Multiple people had interrupted her private session to actually...use the bathroom. Some would roll their eyes and walk out. Others, if they stared long enough, would get the shower curtain pulled across for them so they had some privacy. When they left, she would reopen the curtain.
For a few times she just left it closed, though. Too much work.
Which got her to her current situation.
The door had slammed against the opposite wall before slamming back shut. There was a creaky tile that someone kept pacing over, deep and and agitated breaths coming in and out quickly.
Dany peaked out from behind the curtain. She was laying down, maybe to take a nap. But it was Jon who was pacing all stressed and shit.
“Jon?” she questioned, and immediately regretted it. She wished she could’ve watched him do...whatever it was he was doing before.
Jon nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping his head wildly to the shower. She was stuck in a drunken confused look.
“Shit, Dany. Way to scare a person.”
“I’m not here to scare people.”
He looked at her to prompt a continuation. Dany simply pulled back the curtain enough to show the wine bottle resting on her stomach. He pressed his lips in an understanding nod and sat on the closed toilet seat, elbows on his knees.
“You okay?”
“‘M fine. Just hangin’ with my Valentine.” she took a swig of it in case he couldn’t guess.
Surprisingly, he gave her a questioning look.
“Oh?”
She looked at him. “...oh?”
“After all these years, you give up the final battle for a bottle of wine.”
She just stared at him, confused. He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’m still waiting for your Valentine, Dany.”
“My...my what?”
“C’mon. No amount of alcohol can make you forget about what you’re gonna be doing -”
“Jon,” she sat up. “I - I didn’t plan anything.”
He looked at her. She saw his throat bob.
“Wha - what?”
“You said that we shouldn’t do it anymore. Last year.”
His fingers wrung together. His voice came out shakily;
“Yeah, but I...I said that we were taking a break. Just for last year.”
When a giant weight should've been taken off her chest, it passed heavier into it.
“Sorry that I got confused. You know, with the girlfriend and all.”
She was surprised by the words that came out - the harsh undertone, even if they were said quite friendly. But Jon nodded, biting his cheek before dropping his head.
“Shit,” he said.
“You’ve gotten put the seat up to do that. And pull down your pants.”
He let his body shake with a single laugh. But then his hands came to his face, rubbing it as he shook his head. “Ah, shit.”
“I’m confused.” when he didn’t answer, and instead stared at her with praying hands pressed to her lips, she recounted. “Why did you storm in here all mad?”
He gave her an ironic chuckle. “I was setting up your Valentine thing. ‘ been getting mad that we - I - was still doing it.”
“She knows?”
“Talk of the school.”
Dany drank again.
“Why, then.”
He took a moment to make sure he set his focus on her.
“Because I didn’t want to do it last year.” Dany didn’t know what to say, so she just waited. “And when she asked me why back when she learned about it, I told her because I didn’t want it to look like I was asking two girls out.”
“Yeah,” Dany agreed, remembering the conversion well.
“But I wanted to do it this year.” he was waiting for her to connect the dots, but her mind swam in a puddle of anything but logic. “She’s saying by me not wanting to do it last year, I saw our exchanges as romantic. And now I wanna do it this year, which somehow makes it wrong because apparently I saw it in that mindset. And from what you’re saying...she’s right.”
She started shaking her head, knowing what he wanted to hear. And honestly, it was what her brain wanted to hear, too. “You know what, Jon? It’s - no. It’s no. You know what I hated most about high school?” she thought for a moment. “You know what? Fuck it. And middle school. Do you know what I hated, Jon?”
She gave a dramatic stare. He shook his head, watching her wave the wine bottle.
“Everyone just... assumes. They see what they wanna, and then they say what they wanna.everyone started catching onto our little contest, and suddenly, they…” she sighed. “They just...boom. Everyone suddenly thinks that they know us. Just because they know we exist one day a year. Sure, we wanna do some Valentine's Day card contests. But does that mean we’re - we’re...we’re in love with each other?!” it was supposed to be a rhetoric question. As much as she was screaming at herself to shut up, at least it didn’t come out awfully.
She drove her focus back to Jon, waiting for him to agree. But he just stared at her.
Dany stared back. She was out of words. He nails tapped on the bottle at the same time his knee bounced.
“Dany,” he said, “Why are you in here?”
Her forehead crunched. “I told you. I had a date with my wine.”
He braced off the seat to kneel on the floor next to her. “No,” he said softly. “That’s not why.”
She watched him for a second. The way his eyebrows tilted in the concerned way he always found them in, how he habitually bit his lip.
“To get away from it,” she admitted. Her mind was clearing, just looking at his face, by understanding how serious they were going to fall into. “From the couples. From Daario.” she paused. “From you and Ygritte.”
He just nodded.
“Daario’s not out there. I don’t think Ygritte is either. We - I think we broke up.”
“You think?”
He scanned her face. “No, yeah. We did.”
“I’m - I'm sorry.”
“No, you...you didn’t do anything.”
“I know, but -”
“Gods, that’s the problem .” he rubbed his face again. “You didn’t do anything . You just - you’ve always just been you .”
“Wh...what?”
“I’ve...gods, for almost two years, I’ve pretended it hasn’t affected me. You haven’t. But I just...I just always…”
Dany looked at him calmly. Although, frankly, her heart was in her vagina.
“Jon.”
He looked at her. Helpless, it seemed.
“I told you why I broke up with Daario.” They both wanted different things . That's what she told him. It was close enough to the truth. “But I never told you why I got together with him in the first place.”
She turned more towards him.
“You remember when you picked me up from his house last year?”
“You never told me what happened.”
“I was...frustrated. And I never told you because it would make me frustrated to think about.'' She took a deep breath. “But...I don’t think I need to be frustrated anymore.”
“And why’s that?”
“I kissed him,” she said simply. “But it wasn’t because I wanted to. It’s… I didn’t want to kiss him .” She hesitantly glanced at him. The sight was better than expected. As he was better at putting dots together than she was. “I knew I had these feelings inside me, and I knew what would make me so much better about feeling them. But just as I thought it was right there...it started to take three steps when I could only take two.
“So I did what I could. I did it with the person who was taking one step.”
Jon swallowed. “But you guys didn’t get together right after that.”
“Because I knew it was wrong . I knew what I was doing, and I knew it wasn’t helping. I knew it wasn’t fair to use him as an outlet.”
“But you got together later?”
“Because I convinced myself it wasn’t true.” she saw his hand holding the edge of the bathtub. After a moment of thought, she took it...just to play with his fingers. “I convinced myself that I had succeeded in getting over you.” it was terrifying to say. And yet, his hand didn’t move away from hers.
“I thought I had to get over you,” Jon shrugged. Her breath stopped midway in her windpipe.
“What?”
“Dany. I had a crush on you since third grade. I just thought you weren’t gonna date til we got older. And then we got older, and you looked fine with how we were.”
“Shit. Then they were right.”
“What? Who?”
She giggled. “Everyone. They all assumed correctly. Everyone except us.”
His eyes went over her face before his whole face breaking into a smile.
And that’s how they both ended up laying on a stranger’s bathroom floor with split wine in the bathtub and Jon kissing her cheek when she complained about her abs hurting.
“Okay, just keep closing your eyes.”
“I haven’t stopped.”
“Okay. Good. We have to hurry; it's almost midnight, and we gotta do it before Valentine's Day ends.”
Jon whipped her around yet another corner, more voices and conversations filling her ears.
“Seven steps.”
“O-okay.”
“One, two, three,” he paused, waiting for her to catch up one foot up at a time. “Four, five, six, seven - okay, walk normally.”
“Walking normally.”
“Two more turns.”
“I’ve never been in this house before. Did I really have to close my eyes this whole time?”
“It’s for effect.” she tried to hide her gasp when his hands left her shoulders. “Okay, on the count of three.”
“On three? Or after?”
“On.”
“Okay, I'm ready.”
The party noises quieted from behind her as a door clicked into place.
“One, two, three.”
Her eyes adjusted to the brighter lights of some random person’s bedroom. But once that came into play…
“Jon, seven hells.”
In front of her was...well, her card. Her first ever card, from fourth grade, remade out of a poster board to match to an extreme size.
He gestured at her to open it.
“How did you even…”
“Just open it.”
She lifted the flap open to read the message inside. She was expecting just a complete replica of her first card. Instead… well.
All the reasons why you’re my best friend I love you:
There was a direct numbered list that went to the bottom. but then, around it, there were more and more small notes and paragraphs and sticky notes.
Although, she couldn’t really read any of them. Whenever she tried to, her eyes just found the handwritten I love you , clearly done with a stray sharpie in the minutes he left her in the bathroom.
“I, uh...I just read it over again, and realized this whole time I was just confused. It was all right in front of me. I know it's fast, since we literally just talked things out and everything, but once it got in mind I just knew I needed to say it.”
Her throat burned; and finally, it was in the best way, and so she liked the feeling. His hands were awkwardly on his hips and so she slid her hands through the space between to pull him to her. She liked that feeling too.
“It's not too fast. It’s been eight years.”
“I just...i hope you’re okay with it -”
Dany didn’t let him doubt any longer. She pushed away from him, but only enough to place a hand on his cheek and bring her lips to his.
He responded immediately, closing his mouth over hers, slightly rocking them back and forth as his hand found her hair. They found a soft rhythm; a rhythm that matched with the patience that they held all these years until they realized they were in the middle the whole time. It was something that said they had been waiting for it, so they shouldn’t rush. They didn’t need to.
The kiss broke when Jon chuckled in her mouth. It was a weird feeling, and so she pulled away, curious.
“You taste like a shit ton of wine.”
Dany laughed, her hands falling to his chest.
“You won again.”
He kissed her again, briefly. But it was still gentle, and Dany latched onto it.
“Nah,” Jon said. “This right here wins over all of the years.”