Chapter Text
10 DAYS BEFORE THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
"Are you going to the Christmas party?", Daenerys tried to sound casual when asking her hot coworker, a Northern brooding guy named Jon Snow if he was going to attend their office Christmas party.
"Don't think so.", he grunted as a response, while he was scratching his trimmed beard and checking his mobile phone while his coffee was being poured out in the coffee individual single serving machine.
She sighed. They had been coworkers for almost a year, and even when they had bonded over their love for football and geek stuff, and even gone to matches and comic cons, he hadn't shown any romantic interest on her. At first she thought that he was grateful with her for being one of the few friendly faces he had found at the office when he started working at this company as a transplant from the North location.
That time of the year was hectic, and she had several milestones on her projects to finish, but she loved the holidays and joining on the festivities so much since she was little. Even if she had grown up in warmer places than London, she was fond of the snowy landscapes and the general holidays buzz that was part of living in the city.
That's why instead of lingering asking him about his reasons of not attending, she just gave him a brief smile and walked back to her office, coffee mug on hand. She was pouring her coffee when he walked into the coffee area.
"Is he coming???", a voice in front of her made her look up while she was taking her comfy seat.
It was Missandei, one of the engineers on her team, whose cubicle was right in front of her office.
Missy and her had been friends since they started working in the Westeros Corporation, and she had joined her team when Daenerys was promoted to Division Project Manager.
She just made a face like "i-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about" and focused on her laptop screen.
Her phone buzzed and she saw a notification from Missy. She just huffed out a laugh and took her mobile to reply.
Missy and Grey, her boyfriend, had been encouraging her to take the initiative and ask Jon out. Normally Dany was outspoken and extrovert, but when she really liked a guy - as it was this case - she felt her confidence would just leave her for good.
It was also a fear that their friendship would get weird in case he didn't correspond her feelings.
That's why she would prefer to leave things as they were.
Also, they worked at the same place! Even if they were working on different sections of the firm, it would make things harder in her opinion.
It was a typical Tuesday with lots of deadlines to meet, so she left the office late that evening.
The weather was typical for December in London, and she had been thinking of going ice skating with her friends. It didn't matter if she was already in her twenties, she loved ice skating like a little girl. They had decided to go that friday afternoon.
The idea of planning that improved her mood for a bit by the time she got to her flat.
She loved her tiny and comfy place. She had found a good place on a good area, and thanks to her promotion she could afford to live with no roommates.
After dropping the keys on the side table, she turned on the lights and her Christmas tree. Her eyes were fixed on the big star on the top, one of the few keepsakes she had from her family.
She had lost most of her family in a fire, when they used to live in Summerhall. Even if she was orphan since she was little, her tutors had been quite supportive, raising her in Dragonstone Place (one of the properties left to her) making sure she needed nothing, but in times like this she missed her family.
Her friends at work had been really important when she moved to London, so she kinda understood how Jon might have felt when he moved to London, away from the family of his uncle, who had raised him when he lost his parents as a kid.
Perhaps she identified with him in that sense, from that day when she saw him eating by himself and decided to go sit with him. The dark, brooding guy actually engaged in a conversation with her, and she found she liked being around him. From their conversation, she found they had a lot of things in common (been in the Harry Potter Wizarding World more times than normal, enjoying the Premier League and such) and from then, they started hanging out a lot.
"I seriously don't get why you root for the Wolves if you are from Liverpool!"
Jon looked at her entertained, when they were sitting at the pub, and she was drinking from her beer glass while the match was almost finished.
"My family is originally from Wolverhampton, but my uncle received a better job offer and moved there. He would disown me and cut me from the family tree if I dared to root for other team!" he said jokingly.
She had no team, but liked watching the matches and cheering for the country.
It might have been the beer she was drinking, but she noticed she enjoyed his company a lot. The way his eyes shined from behind his eyeglasses, with his hair cut short but not so short that would let some curls show framing his face. He was the kind of guy who would have a beard just to look older, but he had a pretty face.
And since those days, she had been panicking since she didn't want to lose his friendship. She had randomly mentioned an ex-girlfriend who was a thing of the past, but even if he was single, she wasn't sure he was interested on her.
She just exhaled and decided to stop ruminating to prepare some dinner and see which episode was next on her watchlist.
7 DAYS TO THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
"Dany, listen to me. Where is the brave and courageous manager I follow? I've seen you stand in front of guys who are double your size fighting for your projects! Why don't you just give it a go with Jon?", Missandei told her while Daenerys was taking a sip of her cappuccino.
They've had a capital time ice skating of the outdoors rink, which was wonderfully decorated and she felt like she wanted to keep ice skating as much as possible but there were time-limits for the skate rental, so they decided to take a stroll along the Christmas By The River market offered in London every year. Missy and her were picking up their hot drinks at the coffee stall, while the others - Grey, Theon, Yara and Jon - were checking a nearby used book pop-up shop.
"What if I mess it all up??" Dany just retorted back to her friend, while she was adding some nutmeg on her latte. "We've having such a good time, what if it gets all weird?"
"If you don't take a chance, you'll never know and will keep wondering what could have been" said Missy, with a serious but understanding look and a soft smile, showing she was supportive with her friend.
They had met some other coworkers at the rink, but only the Greyjoy siblings have stuck with them to go explore the Christmas market.
They kept walking and checking different stalls. Dany got a beautiful painting from a local artist, while the others got some things from the other stalls selling holiday merchandise and gifts. They decided to sit down for a bit to feast on some of the candies and desserts they had gotten.
"Hey Snow, so why are you not going to the office party?", Theon just asked him, as if prompted. Dany immediately exchanged looks with Missy, and she subtly shook her head.
"Normally I don't go to those type of events, mate. I'm terrible at networking and I'd be brooding by the punch to be honest!", Jon chuckled while taking a sip of his hot chocolate.
"Which is pretty much the best place to be! Great choice!" was the reply of Yara, raising her cup of mulled wine.
Grey just feigned like a disappointed face and added:
"I daresay some of your fans at the office would be disappointed of finding out you're not going, those Northern looks might have one or two girls fancying ya."
Dany was just darting bolts of fire from her eyes with a "seriously, can you guys chill out a bit?" expression, while Jon was red as a tomato and the Greyjoys were laughing at Grey's comment.
These fellas were killing her. She was still thinking about it, hours later at her place, feeling the second-hand embarrassment Jon might have felt.
She put her book aside, and took her mobile to text him:
Dany at 12:05 am
Still awake?
Don't pay attention to these lads, they're just messing with you.
She thought for a bit he might have been already asleep, but then her phone screen lighted with a response:
Jon at 12:10 am
No worries, it's okay.
Guys are like that.
Thank you for inviting me to go ice skating. I loved going ice skating with my cousins when I was little.
Her face lightened with his response. She could imagine a little Jon, with his cute dark curls and bright eyes, skating in winter having a great time with his cousins.
Dany at 12:12 am
My pleasure. Glad you enjoyed.
Jon at 12:15 am
Goodnight, Dany.
She could say he was experienced at ice skating. At one point she went through a slippery patch and he held her hand firmly to help her not to fall, and they were skating together for a bit.
The Christmas lights, his smiling face and his hand holding hers while he was teaching her how to do turns, spins and such, it had been magical.
She wanted this with him. Even if they were just meant to be friends.
But suddenly, that feeling turned sour at the thought of him meeting someone else, falling in love with another girl, which meant he would no longer be there for her as she wanted him to.
Missandei was right. She needed to take courage and let him know how she felt. Perhaps she might be lucky and he might feel the same.
5 DAYS TO THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
But as a Project Manager, she was used to unexpected situations to come up and alter the course of projects (all the time).
She had woken up a little bit late that Sunday, after spending part of her Saturday volunteering at the Food Cycle location she always helped through the year and then taking care of some last-minute changes on one of her projects. She decided to do some Christmas shopping she still needed to do, and take some of her Sunday afternoon unwinding and getting the courage to ask Jon to go with her to the Christmas party the next morning.
She had just poured a glass of wine to watch some Netflix when she looked at her phone.
Jon at 7:05 pm
Hey Dany! Just gave a call to Tyrion, will be out the whole week. My uncle found a donor and they will do the surgery tomorrow.
Tyrion was the HR Manager. Jon had told her a couple of months ago they were looking for a kidney donor for his uncle.
She was glad for them, for Jon because his uncle Ned had been like a father figure for him, and he still had younger kids.
But that meant a blow for her plans to invite him to the party.
Yes, she felt guilty for being selfish and was mad with herself. This was a serious matter and he needed to be with his family. Her stupid feelings would have to wait.
She just took a sip from her glass and sighed.
3 DAYS TO THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
The weather was not terrible for the season, so she left the office and instead of taking the tube, decided to walk towards a nearby shopping place to browse a little bit.
She was pretty much done with the Christmas shopping but needed some distraction from her sorrows.
She was low in spirits and discouraged about Jon being already away for the holidays. All her grand schemes to let him know she fancied him were pretty much thrown to the bin. She had texted him randomly but she assumed he was busy with his uncle's surgery so didn't want to bother him.
She had been just a few times around this shopping place, but she never had gone inside the all-year long Christmas store she had seen there.
Since this was the season, she decided to go inside just to see what they had.
When she opened the door, it was as if she had stepped into an explosion of Christmas things all over the place around her.
It was like a Winter Wonderland of all Holly Jolly Christmas things inside, to be honest.
But she needed something to lift her spirits and stop thinking on a certain gruffly Northerner guy with trimmed bear and curly hair.
A smiling and elegant lady walked towards the entrance to greet her:
"Hello dear, how can I help you?"
"Hi! I'm just looking."
The lady replied to her:
"Okay, just looking, I'm Santa and if you need anything, let me know."
She chuckled against her own will at the silly response from the store lady.
She spent some time looking at the excessively Christmas-y, almost falling into corny type of holidays decorations. She didn't really plan to buy anything at all, until she walked by the register and one card got her attention on the Christmas card section.
She grabbed the card to see it closer.
She loved it. In the front, there was a just a beautiful illustration of a Christmas mistletoe, while the content just said "YOU AND ME HERE, UNDERNEATH THE MISTLETOE".
"Looking for a card for a boyfriend?" the lady called Santa peeked behind her.
"Just a friend." she immediately replied.
"If you give him that card, he might not be just a friend anymore" was Santa's snarky response, giving Dany a wink.
THE DAY OF THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
She was working half the day in order to go get ready for the evening big event.
Before walking out of the office, she passed by Jon's office and walked towards his desk, leaving the card inside a white envelope with his name on it.
She had written inside:
"Dear Jon,
I'm happy to hear about your uncle finally getting the kidney he needs, and hope his condition improves soon.
It will be sad not to see you before the holidays and especially, not underneath the mistletoe at the office’s Christmas party.
Particularly because (if you can't say it at Christmas, when can you, eh?) I like you and I'd like you to kiss me.
With Love,
Dany"
She didn't know why she dared to leave that card on his desk, especially when it would be improbable for him to come back all the way from Liverpool before the holidays.
But she had thought of no one else when she saw the card, so she didn't want to keep it either.
Perhaps she would walk back during the holidays and snatch it before he noticed.
But the world was of those who were brave, wasn't it so?
She kept walking and didn't look back.
**************************
She would be lying if she said she wasn't having a good time.
For starters, she looked dashing.
She was wearing a beautiful long red dress that suited her slim figure perfectly and her long silver hair was arranged in some intricate braids. She could feel the eyes of many when she walked inside the party room the company had reserved for the Christmas party.
Everyone was having a good time - and some seemed as having too much of a good time just by seeing how festive they were.
Missy looked fantastic with her curly hair beautifully arranged and wearing a black dress. Grey and her were hanging out with her and some of their team members, and even when she was laughing with their shenanigans and joking about the Christmas crackers, she couldn't help to feel she missed him.
Yes, she knew he had a reason not to be there, and even if he hadn't nothing ensured he would like her as she liked him.
She discarded those thoughts and joined the others to the dance floor.
Later on the party, she was laughing after grabbing another cracker to open with Yara, and while Yara was putting her paper crown on, she felt her phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen and almost dropped the phone after reading the message.
Jon at 10:03 pm
you and me here, underneath the mistletoe
She almost left out an expletive.
She excused herself from the others and walked to the entrance. They might have thought she went to the loo, but she really didn't care.
This was not happening.
Did it mean what she thought it meant? Only one way to find out.
Her heart was pounding hard like it was going to leave her chest.
She walked to the main hall entrance, where she had seen a huge and beautiful mistletoe hanging from a chandelier.
Jon was there.
Not only he was there, he was wearing a suit, as if he had come to the party. He looked gorgeous.
Her legs were walking automatically and she stopped a few steps from him.
She could finally find her voice and said:
"I thought you would be back home."
He softly smiled.
"Change of plans. I couldn't leave for the holidays just like that and came back to the office. I am glad I did, since I found your card."
She found herself speechless.
Jon didn't wait for a response and walked towards her, and kissed her.
Dany could not lie saying she hadn't fantasized about kissing him. Especially when they were hanging out together, and he would be talking and smiling at her with such kissable lips.
It was better than she had expected.
When they broke the kiss, he added:
"I couldn't leave without seeing you again. I am glad I wasn't mistaken."
Daenerys replied: "Mistaken about what?"
"Dany, I have been getting the courage to ask you out. Not as just pub mates or geek buddies. I've had a crush on you since I met you."
She chuckled.
"I guess you and I both."
He was still holding her face with his hands and looking at her intensely.
"What do you say if we join the party?"
"I like the sound of that."
THE MORNING AFTER THE PARTY
Dany woke up late that Saturday morning.
The party had lasted up after the midnight, and they all had a wonderful time.
Just the feeling of being dancing together was unexpected, but she loved it.
She didn't mind the approving looks of her friends, while Grey and Theon would pretend to give Jon a hard time.
Needless to say he accompanied her to her flat. The night was beautiful and there was a light layer of snow in the streets.
Had it all been a dream?
She woke up with the feeling of his arm holding her waist, while Jon was still asleep. She felt his strong abs on her back and his strubble softly scratching on the back of her neck.
It wasn’t a dream. This was real.
She smiled to herself remembering the last night and how they got to know each other better, and trying to make it up for a lot of pent-up feelings for each other. And oh boy, they seized the night in that aspect.
She could not stop thinking they had taken too long to take the first step.
But what mattered was that they finally did. And that they were together now.