Chapter Text
The first time he kisses her is at Robb's graduation party - the after hours kind. They're a mess of limbs pressed into a corner and all she can think about is the bow of his mouth and the loose way he holds the neck of a bottle. She's never been fond of beer, but she chases the taste of it across his tongue all the same.
They don't speak of it the next morning, though she keeps the memory closely guarded while thoughts of Joffrey fade away.
----
The second time she initiates, pressing him back into the counter of Sam Tarly's sad apartment kitchen. He tastes crisp this time, his gin and tonic forgotten as he curls a hand around her waist. They were meant to be getting dessert, or alcohol, or maybe it was plates, Sansa can't seem to remember as she slips her hand beneath his shirt.
He shivers and puts his lips to her jaw.
----
The third time is expected, a look across the room, the fleeting touch of his hand at her back. It's 10 am at Old Nan's birthday party and there's no alcohol to breed false familiarity. Aware of the cool look her mother is sending her way, she makes excuses and slips out onto the porch. He's got an unlit cigarette between his fingers and she takes a moment to appreciate the subterfuge before one side of his mouth crooks up and he's in her space.
She tastes like lemon cake, she knows, and it warms something low in her belly to hear him chuckle after the first swipe of tongue.
----
The fourth time they have an audience, holed up beneath the sheets of an impromptu blanket fort. They've been fending off tiny invaders for the better part of an hour when she catches one of his curls around her finger and tugs. The shock sets him off-balance, enough of a distraction for her cousins to come tumbling in. His wounded look of betrayal as they take him down is nearly enough to make her contrite.
As a peace offering, she presses her mouth to the corner of his lips, laughing.
----
The fifth time he kisses her is in a gravel driveway at the tail-end of July. The summer air is balmy and she watches the play of his muscles beneath his shirt as he loads luggage into the car. Robb and Jeyne are held up with goodbyes and the rest of her siblings have all dispersed to separate corners of the house. It's startlingly quiet. He'll still be here, she knows, but she can't seem to shake the feeling of an ending, so she fists his t-shirt in lieu of speaking.
His mouth on hers is enough.