Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Robb Stark had been anxious as the days counted down to his sixteenth birthday.

When you turn sixteen years old, you are given a step counter that counted down the number of steps it took for you to meet your soulmate. Robb had been waiting since he was five to get his counter after his mother had shown him her old one. He was beyond eager to see how many steps he’d have to go before he met that person. His person. His soulmate. The person that was supposed to be his one and only.

The week before his birthday, Robb would check the mailbox thrice a day in the hopes that it had come early. He vaguely remembered hearing stories about that and hoped it would be the case for him too. Like his parents had told him time and time again, the counter arrived nine o'clock on his birthday just as he finished up breakfast.

"I don't see why you're so excited about it," Theon remarked with a roll of his eyes as Robb held the box in his hands. His fingers were shaking ever-so-slightly as he pulled the tape off the ink black box. He was trying to hold himself back from ripping the box apart, taking his time to open it slowly. He was trying to treasure the memory even though it felt like torture going so slow.

Robb had brought the counter up to his room. He wanted to open it without an audience…well, except for his best mate but that was different. He shared everything with Theon so why wouldn’t he share this? After all, his soulmate would have to get along with Theon so Robb might as well include him as much as he can in the beginning to make that clear. Just because he was getting a soulmate, didn’t mean he was going to lose his best friend (no matter how much Jon teased Theon about that).

"Because," Robb huffed, "I get to know when I meet them."

"Not when," Theon sneered, "how many steps, a stupid method of you ask me. I think a timer would have made more sense."

"You're just bitter that you never got a counter," Robb shot back with a joking smirk.

Theon was already eighteen and he had never gotten a counter. The government could only issue them if you were registered with the SCI but the Greyjoys- actually almost all Iron Born -never bothered to do so. Damn separatists. Then again, it was only this generation that the Starks got themselves counters. The idea of knowing when you’d meet your soulmate was a rather new trend that started in the South and was working its way North (even if it was taking a few decades to actually get around to Winterfell).

Theon just rolled his eyes and plopped his chin onto Robb's shoulder so he could watch Robb open it. "Let's just get this over with." There was a slight edge in his drawl this time and Robb wondered if maybe he pressed a button of Theon's. He had been getting extra moody as of the late.

Breathing deeply, Robb lifted the lid off the box and peered inside. The black counter was nestled in a pillow of soft red velvet. The counter itself was a simplistic black wristband; it almost looked like a watch. Once turned on, it would display tiny white numbers that would begin to count down with every step you take until you are destined to meet your soulmate. When it reached zero and you met your soulmate, the counter would fade from obsidian to ivory.

Beaming with excitement, Robb pulled out the counter and held it in his left hand, grabbing for Theon with the right. Pressed against his shoulder, Robb felt Theon suck in a breath as Robb turned it on.

Robb blinked as the number came to the screen. Theon exhaled sharply, like a choke, but remained silent.

- - -

"Wha..." The words died in his mouth as he stared at the three little blinking dashes that should have been numbers. Both watched in confusion as the counter faded from depthless black to….grey, the dashes never ceasing to blink bright and white.

"What the fuck?" Theon supplied, eyebrows pinched together because even if he didn’t have a counter, he knew it wasn’t supposed to do that.

"I don't know." Robb tapped the screen but nothing happened. Still grey and still flashing.

"What does it mean?" Theon voiced the same thought spinning at hyper-speed in Robb's head.

"I…I don't know."

Robb crumpled in on himself, the fucking grey counter with flashing dashes falling helplessly in his lap. With his trembling hands, Robb scrubbed his face and dragged his hands through his hair until they encountered the curls that locked his fingers in place. Angrily, he tugged at it. 

All he wanted was to know that someone was out there just for him, a soulmate that was his and his alone; someone he didn’t have to share with his siblings; someone that was his other half and someone who was just a couple of footsteps away, but apparently, that wasn't destined for him. Robb didn't get a soulmate. Robb wasn't going to find his other half. Robb was going to be forced to be incomplete. Broken.

It wasn't even the end of the world and he knew that deep down; many people didn't find their soulmates. Usually, those were people who weren’t registered with the SCI like Theon. It didn't mean their soulmate wasn't out there, it just meant that they wouldn’t know. They could walk right past their soulmate and never know. And they could be just fine without it. They could find love and happiness with someone who wasn’t their soulmate- if the number of girls and boys Theon has already filtered through was any indication. Still, Robb couldn't help but feel the crushing blow because unlike those who weren’t registered, Robb didn't have a soulmate. That’s what the flashing dashes meant, right? That’s the only thing that made sense.

Beside him, Theon shifted until he could fit an arm around Robb, haul up and pull him close. The other arm snaked across Robb's front and trailed up his arm, neck, cheek – wiping away a tear Robb didn't know he had shed – before dragging the tips of his fingers through Robb's hair and gentle scratching his scalp.

"It's not the end of the world," Theon offered readily. "Who gives a fuck? I don’t have a soulmate and I’m fine."

“You do,” Robb whispered angrily. “You just don’t know who. You don’t care.”

“Come on,” Theon sighed, his fingers moving to rub Robb’s temple, a move that never failed to remove tension from Robb.

"I care," Robb grumbled, turning to bury his face into Theon's neck.

The tiny silver lining to not having a soulmate was that now maybe he could put that stock in Theon. He never thought too much about it, his affections for Theon that went way above friendship. It wouldn't have been right to. He had always thought that there was someone out there for him and it would have been wrong to try and pursue the feelings he had for Theon. Besides, Theon had a soulmate, he just didn’t care. Someone was bound to get hurt in the end. But now? Nothing was holding him back. He didn't have a soulmate and Theon was absolutely against the whole idea of soulmates so maybe they could...

"Theon?" Robb pulled back enough to meet his friend's gaze. They were still terrible close and Robb wanted nothing more than to make sure they were never further than this again. It was the kind of crippling want Robb only really experience with Theon. Imagine if he actually had a soulmate. Maybe this was for the best…

"Stark," Theon murmured fondly, pulling at the mess of knots in Robb's gut.

Pushing himself forward, Robb pressed his lips softly against Theon's, his eyes closed and his hands groping at Theon's soft jacket, anchoring him in place.

Theon made a soft gasp of surprise, pulling himself back slightly before moving forward with newfound purpose. He wrapped the hand that had been in Robb's hair around his neck and Robb pulled him close, nearly urging Theon to his lap.

But just as suddenly as Robb initiated it, Theon ended it pulling away with a quick jerk and a blank expression.

Robb swallowed, half wondering that he read the situation wrong, half wanting to pull Theon back, and all the while feeling the cold slap of rejection.

"Sorry," Theon hissed, closing his eyes and covering them with the crook of his arm, leaning as far away as he could from Robb, despite being half on top of him. "Sorry."

Dumbstruck, Robb asked, "Why are you sorry?"

Theon peeked at Robb. "This can't happen, you know that." He almost looked pained to say it but firm all the same.

"Why?" Robb asked, his stomach clenching but this time uncomfortably, no thrill tingling up his spine or tickling his lips like it had when he kissed Theon.

Theon shook his head, his bangs covering his eyes. "You want that." Theon pointed to the odd grey counter that had tumbled to the ground in their rushed kiss.

Robb felt like he was choking and he was struggling to breathe as he said, "I want you too."

There was a breath of silence before Theon spoke. "You can't have both." It was strange how he could sound both angry and detached at the same time.

"But I don't have both," Robb argued quietly. "I don't have a soulmate."

"So what? I'm the consolation prize?" Theon snapped, hurt shining through his eyes.

Robb curled in. I wanted you even before I didn't know I was broken. I wanted you since I've known you. I wanted you to be my soulmate. I wanted so badly for you to be my only one. I want you to be mine and I want to be yours. However, what came out of his mouth was, "It wasn't like that."

Fuck, did he sound pathetic. Maybe it was for the best he was broken. His could-have-been soulmate would have been horribly disappointed.

Theon caught his tone and the anger in his eyes dissipated into a softer, rarer emotion. "I know," Theon sighed. "I know."

"So, now what?" Robb asked carefully, keeping his distance but wanted to touch oh-so-badly.

Theon looked pained once again as he stared at the abandoned counter. "We go downstairs and tell your parents." Hope dared a chance in Robb's chest but Theon instantly quashed it. "Then we drive down to the SCI center downtown and see what that means."

Deflated, Robb crossed his arms. "It means I don't have a soulmate."

"You don't know that.” Theon rolled his eyes as he stood up and collected the box and counter from the ground.

"How do you know that?" Robb asked dully.

Theon looked down at the counter in his hands before extending his other hand to Robb. "Because how can someone like you not have someone out there just for you?"

They went the next morning, Robb dragging Theon along despite his initial refusal. They both sat in the back in dead silence as his parents drove them.

The thing about soulmates is that sometimes they aren't who you think they are going to be. His mother, for example, had her counter reach zero when she was introduced to the whole Stark family. The counter can only tell you the number of steps, not who it was. So if your counter reached zero in a room of three other boys roughly within your age bracket and all of which weren’t register with the SCI, well, you just had to do your best guess at that point. Catelyn had thought it was Robb's Uncle Brandon. Turns out it was the man to the left, her current husband, and Robb’s father. The counter system isn't anywhere near perfect, but you just have to adapt and work with what you are given. If you are given anything.

However, his parents had never heard of dashes instead of numbers and counters turning grey. None of them had. Even after consulting the internet, they came up with almost nothing except for occurrences of double soulmates where there were multiple sets of numbers rather than one.

"I'm sure it's fine," his father had reassured at the house, on the drive over, in the parking lot, and now in front of their case worker's office door.

Ned went to raise his fist to knock but the door swung wide open and nearly knocked him on the head. The man standing on the other side observed the group crowded by the door before peering back into the office.

"Wench, you got a group." The man turned and flashed them all an easy smile. It was a surface smile, didn't touch the rest of his face and held no truth. "Good luck," he drawled with hints of sarcasm in his tone as he walked off. Robb noted the white counter on his wrist sourly.

"Ignore him," a beastly woman took his place. Beastly in the sense that she towered them all and was quite built. Her hair was cropped short and her eyes were cut sapphires. Again, Robb couldn’t help but eye the white counter secured on her wrist. "Brienne Tarth, you must be the Starks?"

Robb's father took over and Robb slyly reached for Theon's hand. They had held them in the car but Theon had ripped away once they had parked. Robb wasn't sure Theon would hold it, but he felt leagues calmer (or at least braver) when Theon gripped his hand back and squeezed tightly for a moment.

They were beckoned into the office seconds later. Theon slid his hand out of Robb's and silently gestured to the wall by the door. He had made it clear he wasn't going to go into the conference and he was only coming for emotional support; the same type of emotional support that hugged Robb throughout the night as they waited anxiously for the morning to come and the same emotional support that refused to kiss him on the lips but didn’t seem to mind kisses to Robb’s forehead, temples, and cheeks. Robb nodded his head and ducked into the office with his parents.

Brienne Tarth's office was small and quaint. The desk was bare save for a couple of tools and a computer. She sat behind it and gestured to the seats in front of the desk. His mother and Robb took the seats while his father stood behind.

"You called about a misfunctioning counter?" she started, cutting right to the chase. She typed at her computer, pulling up their records.

Robb slowly nodded his head and set the grey counter on the desk. Brienne took it with care and glanced down, turning it this way and that.

"Oh." She sounded pleasantly surprised, a tiny smile flying to her face.                                                                                                                    

"What does that mean?" Robb asked quickly, his heart racing a mile a minute.

Brienne set down the counter. "You've already met your soulmate."

Ned and Cat shared a look of concern. "He's only sixteen."

Brienne nodded her head in understanding. "It's incredibly rare, but not unheard of. The counters are issued at age sixteen to stop people from obsessing and to focus on their growth and development. You shouldn’t have to worry about soulmates until you are ready to have one. Statistically, well over 96% meet their soulmate after the age of sixteen, some even much later in life. However, some people are an exception to this rule, like your son. You can't have steps counting to when you meet your soulmate when you've already met them. The grey color is usually just the counter futzing up. We can fix the coloration if you would like.”

Silence drifted into the office and Robb stared at the counter in awe. "So I won't know who it is." It wasn't a question but a hard-to-swallow statement. That meant his soulmate could be some stranger on the street or the guy he’d been daydreaming about for years and was standing just on the other side of the door but it wouldn’t matter because Robb wouldn’t be able to find out.

"Not necessarily," Brienne smiled again. "We don't recommend it at your age, but there is a test we can do that'll tell you."

"A test," his mother asked in confusion. It probably would have saved her, Brandon, and Ned a lot of grief to have a test like that.

"Yes," Brienne reached into one of her drawers and pulled out a light blue pamphlet. "If you think you have found your soulmate and want to check, we have a test to see if it is the case. Of course, you will both need to be present for the test and you have to be prepared for the answer to be a no, but we can tell you whether or not you and your partner are soulmates within five minutes."

Robb's mind was running through a thousand thoughts and emotions. He already met his soulmate which could mean it was anyone he ran into in his life...but it could also mean it was the person standing right outside the door. The person that twisted Robb's insides, the person who Robb hating being away from so much that it almost hurt. The person that Robb had been willing to throw the whole soulmate thing away to be with…but maybe he didn't even have to.

"Do they have to be registered to be tested?" Robb asked anxiously, ignoring the strange look from his mother.

Brienne cocked her head to the side as if she was reading his mind and following his line of questioning. "The test was created for those who weren't registered."

Robb nodded his head, satisfied with the answer as he grabbed back his counter and looked at it with newfound pride. He wasn’t broken, he simply beat the system. Theon was bound to get a hoot from that.

"Thank you for your time," Ned said as he settled a heavy hand on Robb's shoulder, silently asking if there was anything else Robb needed to ask.

"Absolutely," Brienne nodded as she pushed the pamphlet across the desk to Robb. "The test can be taken at any time, but you should wait until you are 100% certain. There is no rush."

Robb nodded his head in agreement. He'd have to convince Theon to take it. Hell, he'd have to convince Theon to give them a chance before he could even think about the test. But there was hope and Robb was willing.

Following his parents out, Theon pushed off the wall to watched Robb. Robb kept his face trained to not show one way or another. This was a conversation he didn't want to have in the middle of the hallway in front of his parents and the SCI case worker. The only reassurance he gave Theon was holding his hand once they were in the car on their way home.

Theon didn’t waste a second. After the door to Robb’s room was shut and the two were finally alone, Theon stared him down silently begging for an answer of some sort but not outright asking.

Robb wasn’t cruel, especially since he had been waiting the whole car ride to share the news. “I already met my soulmate.”

The reaction was not what he had expected.

“Fuck,” Theon hissed, biting his lip and looking pissed off at the world. Robb watched wide-eyed as Theon sunk onto Robb’s bed glaring at nothing in particular, his hands gripping his knees hard. “Goddamnit.”

“Wha-”

“So you have one,” Theon glared up at Robb but his anger wasn’t directed at Robb. “A soulmate, you have one?”

“That’s what Brienne said,” Robb shrugged, sinking next to Theon and watching his friend twitch and worry.

“So you’ll never know who,” Theon spat out darkly.

“I didn’t say that,” Robb answered quickly, putting a hand on top of Theon’s. He counted it as a victory Theon didn’t rip his hand away immediately, although he didn’t let the touch remain long. “There is a test we can take to see.”

Theon looked ready to fire off another retort but choked and whipped around to actually meet Robb’s eyes. “We?”

Robb fought off his blush. “I mean, maybe.” Robb ducked his head and traced his sheets. He could feel Theon’s piercing stare but he wanted to take this conversation slow. Figure it out piece by piece and word everything carefully. “It would make sense, though, right?” Robb glanced back up to see Theon’s reaction.

“We’re best friends,” Theon stated. Robb wasn’t sure if it was in consideration or disregard.

“And we already kissed,” Robb grinned and watched Theon’s lips twitched up. He wasn’t even going to mention they had been sharing a bed since they’ve known each other and had probably outgrown it a few years ago. “We don’t even have to get tested,” Robb continued. “But we have that option.”

Theon paused a moment and cocked his head to the side. “We aren’t even together.”

“Yet,” Robb reaching for his hand again and Theon allowed it. “I mean, shouldn’t we try this? Wouldn’t it be dumb of us not to?”

“And we don’t have to get tested?” Theon asked, Robb finally realizing Theon hiccup.

Robb pulled Theon close. “I already know, so what’s the point? Fuck it. It costs two hundred and seventy-five dollars anyways. With that, you can find really cheap plane tickets or go on a road trip or something”

Theon smirked as he leaned closer to Robb. “Already planning vacations with me?”

Robb matched his grin as their lips touched. “Now and always.”

Theon groaned, recognizing the cheesy-ass saying from oh-so-long ago, back when they were just little kids playing at the park. “Fucking dweeb.”

“You love it.”

 “I do.”                  

Chapter Text

Jon Snow didn’t even care as his sixteenth birthday had come and gone.

He got his counter on his sixteenth just as every other person on the planet and held just as much excitement about it as he did when he received a pair of socks from Greyjoy on his fourteenth or a clay bowl from his distant politician aunt and her wild horse farmer husband. In other words, Jon didn’t really care all that much about finding his soulmate. Not like Robb who, while never really talking about it, wanted his so bad that Jon wondered if there was something wrong with him. And definitely not like Sansa who focused her whole life in trying to fit what she already had into the soulmate parameters of a countdown. Not even like Arya who venomously hated the idea of soulmates and being tied down to a stranger that she refused the concept as a whole.

No, Jon just didn’t care. It was hard to believe there was someone out there for him and it was hard to believe that it had to be this much of a deal that a whole sub-branch of government was formed around it. Jon’s family didn’t even really want him, which was how he ended up staying with his uncle, aunt, and all his cousins, so why would he hold stock in another person too?

Even when he opened the black box on the morning of his birthday and turned on the counter, he didn’t feel a hint of excitement. He just stared at the seven white numbers on the screen and shrugged. 7,256,908 was an incomprehensible number to Jon. It wasn’t like twenty feet where Jon could see the end in sight. After doing the math with calculating a person’s average steps, the Starks had come to the conclusion that it would take Jon roughly two years to reach zero and find his soulmate. Jon didn’t even know what he was going to do that weekend, let alone in two years. So Jon just decided to never think about it.

He barely paid attention to the thing after first opening it. He wore it because Sansa (and Robb) would throw a fit if he didn’t, but other than that, he never really looked at it. He just assumed to let it tick down to zero and whatever happened, happened. There was no point in stressing over it. What was even the point of wearing it if it ticked down regardless of if it was on his person or not?

But just because he didn’t stress over it, didn’t mean everyone else had let the situation be. If anything, it seemed everyone else had an opinion of what Jon should do and they were all very vocal about it.

Every week, Sansa would come up to Jon and grab his wrist to read the new, smaller number. Every week when she did this, she calculated the new amount of time until Jon was destined to meet “the one”. Even as the years, months, weeks, and days dwindled, Jon still couldn’t find himself to care as much as her.

Robb was even worse. He never outright asked to see Jon’s counter but every now and then, Jon would catch his cousin’s eyes darting over to see what Jon’s new number was. At different times, Robb would begin conversations to feel out Jon’s interest in the counter but was always horribly disappointed that the answer was always an apathetic shrug.

Arya did the opposite of encouraging Jon to find interest in his soulmate by trying to sway him to the side of resistance. Again, she was only met with apathy. Sure, Jon liked the idea of someone that was his and he was theirs but stressing for two years didn’t appeal to him.

However, he hadn’t expected the day to hit him as it had.

He had slipped out of the house early that morning; Ghost hooked up to his leash and the leaves falling in a rainbow of colors. Jon had planned to go on a hike that day with no specific reason in mind. The weather was cooling down and the woods behind their house were quiet and it just nice. Jon found he liked being alone with Ghost in the woods. It was calming and peaceful.

Jon started the day off as just any other normal day.

He certainly didn’t consult his counter before leaving. He barely ever looked at the thing, to begin with, let alone plan his day around it. He barely even registered it on his wrist that morning. He certainly hadn’t realized how low the number had reached until he went to check the time on his wristwatch and his eyes drifted down to the counter hanging just blow.

158

For the first time since Jon had received the counter, panic fluttered into his chest.

He was too far from his house to turn around and make it home before he hit zero and that startling realization made him take a step back and the counter dropped to 157.

The panic hit him hard and fast that he was going to meet his soulmate, right there. In the fucking woods. Pyp and Grenn were going to get a fucking kick out of it. Jon could picture Sam shaking his head with a “Only you, Jon.” Robb and Sansa would chalk it up to romance while Theon and Arya would pessimistically scowl. What would his uncle think? What would Ned think-

Jon broke off from that train of thought and ran over his options in his head, not daring to take a step forward until he reached a decision. For the first time since getting the counter, something akin to nervousness stirred in his gut.

He could walk back toward home. There were more people over there and a higher probability of running into an actual person in the neighborhood rather than the depths of the forest or…he glanced into the depth of the woods where the trees grew thicker.

Jon would admit that part of him was skeptical about the whole soulmate concept. Robb had supposedly already met his and Robb was dead certain it was Greyjoy…but Jon wasn’t too sure he was willing to believe that just as quickly. So, what better way to test out the damn thing than to keep on walking into the center of the woods…where literally no one ever was?

Jon felt a smirk tug on his lips as he tugged Ghost leash.

Unlike the previous two years, Jon couldn’t take his eyes off the counter. Every step he took ticked off the counter just like that. In a way, it was fascinating to watch. Ghost was oblivious to his owner’s amazement and kept up a hurried pace into the dense of trees, veering off the trail. Jon didn’t stop him, eager to make the experience just as difficult as he could. Jon told himself it was to check the validity of the soulmate counter, not the fear that began to trickle down his spine as the numbers grew less and less.

It was when the counter reached the single digits that Jon stopped and looked around. He had been so focused on watching the numbers tick down that he hadn’t really been paying attention to his surroundings. Jon knew the forest like the back of his hand but even now he was slightly uncertain about where exactly they were. He supposed it didn’t really matter. If anything, it made him feel excited. How was his soulmate supposed to find him if Jon didn’t even know where he was?

Jon took a step forward and watched the 9 shift to an 8. Beside him, Ghost nudged his leg. Another step to the 7 and Jon looked around to see that he and Ghost were completely and utterly alone. 6 and there was still not a single soul in sight. 5 and Ghost was getting impatient, nosing at Jon’s free hand silently. At 4, Jon swore he hear footsteps approaching and completely stopped. A few seconds later and he saw a bird burst through the branches and he relaxed. 3. At this point, Jon was beginning to realize that the soulmate counter was bullshit because who was going to show up in the next three steps? Maybe Arya was right, maybe it was just a government conspiracy. 2. Jon wondered how much money the government was siphoning off with telling taxpayers at this shit worked. What a fucking joke.

However, as Jon took another step and his counter reached 1, he froze, unable to take the final step forward. While part of him had already resigned to the fact that the counter was false, another part of him clung to the hope that it might be…true. Jon never felt like he fit in at the Stark household, no matter how much everyone tried to make him feel a part of it. The idea that there was a person who was out there and was supposed to love and accept him for all his faults and history had been a rather nice idea…one Jon wasn’t willing to really give up quite yet.

Unfortunately, Jon couldn’t give it much thought as something smashed into the back of his head and his vision darkened. Jon’s last thought before everything went completely black was the ground was really hard and Ghost was nudging his cold nose against Jon’s cheek. Distantly, Jon could see his counter flash a white 0 and then his vision faded.

Jon awoke and immediately cringed at the pain that blossomed at the base of his skull. A wet nose brushed his cheek and Jon’s eyes flew open to see Ghost’s face inches from his own. Jon reached up and rubbed behind Ghost’s ears. It took another two seconds for Jon to realize that he was still outside and on the cold ground.

With a groan, he sat up and Ghost stayed glued to his side. When he was fully upright, Jon noticed he wasn’t alone.

“Oh good, you’re up,” a man with red hair and a bushy beard looked at Jon curiously. “It’s been about twenty minutes. We were startin’ to worry about you.”

Jon stared at the complete stranger for a whole minute before realization slapped him right across the face. Jon rapidly glanced down to his counter and his stomach dropped at seeing the white counter on his wrist. Jon snapped his head back up at the unknown man but before he could get a word in the man started howling with laughter.

Jon wasn’t sure what was worse: the idea that the counter actually worked and all it took was getting hit on the head or that his man was his soulmate and was now laughing at him. Either way, Theon was going to be relentlessly cruel.

“Who are you?” Jon asked, his face heating up at the man’s laughter died down and he wiped his face of tears from laughing so hard.

“’Name’s Tormund,” he introduced. “And before you ask, I ain’t your soulmate.”

The heat was gone from Jon’s face but confusion took its place, his eyebrows pinched together. “What?”

“I ain’t your soulmate,” Tormund, the strange mountainous man, repeated. “Just be patient.”

Jon wasn’t sure what the hell that was supposed to mean but felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Reaching in, Jon looked to see a few texts from his siblings inquiring about his whereabouts. Jon’s head was still throbbing and he pocketed away his phone. He wanted to get to the bottom of whatever this was before talking to his family.

“…Do you know who is?”

Tormund stared at Jon like he was a funny little amusement, a smile drawing on his lips. “I told you to be patient, didn’t I?”

Jon swallowed and remained silent. Ghost had taken a seat beside Jon and as long as Ghost didn’t sense a threat, Jon was going to assume thing were okay…for now.

A few minutes later, a loud ringing came from Tormund who pulled out his phone. Answering it, the man exchanged a few words with the caller before hanging up.

“Alright, our ride is here,” Tormund stood up from the ground, dusting off his pants. “You think you can stand?”

Jon nodded slowly and pulled himself to his feet. He didn’t immediately fall over but dizziness set in quickly. Before Jon could do much else, Tormund put his arm around Jon’s shoulder to keep him upright.

“Thanks,” Jon muttered, the whole experience feeling surreal. He was beginning to think Tormund was an illusion from being hit on the head.

“No problem,” Tormund said with a jolly shrug. “’Sides, you should meet your actual soulmate.”

Jon didn’t press further. Instead, he half-leaned, half followed Tormund out of the forest with Ghost still glued to his side.

They had been walking for about five minutes before Jon asked, “Did you hit me on the head?” It felt like a valid question to be asking.

“Oh no,” Tormund shook his head. Tormund held out a fucking arrow with a tennis ball strapped to the end to blunt it. “That did.”

Now Jon was 100% sure this was a dream. “So, what, cupid hit me?” Jon snapped.

Tormund laughed loudly at this, stopping their walk entirely. “Yeah, it would seem like it, wouldn’t it?”

Jon refused to say anything more as Tormund continued on, pulling Jon as if he were a weightless balloon. Relief filled Jon’s chest as the trees began to thin out and the parking lot came into view, meaning he had somehow walked to the other side of the woods. Jon was rather surprised to see a large group of people standing in the parking lot, some carrying bows and arrows and one person in particular with a first aid kit.

That person came rushing forward.

“You shouldn’t have moved him,” she hissed, gesturing for Tormund to set Jon down on the bench. “He could have a concussion.”

Tormund rolled his eyes and Jon watched helplessly as the girl with the first aid kit began to tenderly touch Jon’s head. Jon snapped his head up to check her wrist and found a black counter instead of a white one. She was not his soulmate either.

“Ygritte didn’t hit him that hard,” Tormund muttered. “You’re spookin’ him, Gil.”

The girl named Gil, apparently, huffed. “You don’t know that. Now go. I need to check if he is okay.” She shooed Tormund away and turned her full attention on Jon. “Can you tell me your name and what today’s date is?”

Jon did so with zero hesitation and the girl nodded her head, listing off a bunch of questions Jon answered just as quickly.  Rickon had gotten a concussion twice in the past three years and Jon was all too familiar with the checklist of signs.

“Well, I don’t think you have a concussion, at least not a very serious one,” she mused, removing her hands from Jon’s head and smiling brightly. “I’d suggest sitting still for a bit until you are feeling better. Do you need to call anyone?”

Jon should have answered yes but instead, he held up his wrist to show his white counter because out of everything that was going on, it was the one question nagging in the back of his mind even more annoying than the throbbing from the bump on his head.

“Right,” the girl nodded, “I’ll go get her.”

Jon relaxed a bit at the new information. Her, a woman. That narrowed down his search to at least half the people in the parking lot and Jon was going to hope that his soulmate was around his age and not like Tormund who looked twenty years older than him. However, as Jon watch the woman named Gil walk off, nerves completely filled his stomach. No amount of Ghost petting could ease Jon’s nerves as he eyed the crowds of people standing the parking lot, all talking and glancing over at Jon every now and then. Not when he saw a woman with wild red hair approached, eyes watching Jon carefully and a white counter shining brightly on her slender wrist.

She looked at Jon carefully and Jon’s stomach twisted as her eyes narrowed. She glanced down at Ghost as her expression remained neutral. Out of all the possible ways to meet your soulmate, Jon guessed this was probably one of the more awkward scenarios imaginable.

“So,” Jon said, watching her eyes lifted back up to him. Rather than addressing the elephant in the room, Jon asked, “What’s your name?”

She blinked and a tiny amused look flashed across her face. “Ygritte.”

“I’m Jon-” he paused with a blink. “Wait, you were the one who shot me with an arrow?”

Ygritte blinked as guilt flashed across her face. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I was helping one of my campers,” she gestured toward the parking lot. “He released too early before he set his mark. I’m more amazed it managed to hit a person rather than a tree.”

Jon wasn’t even sure what the hell to say to that. His soulmate…shot him in the head…with an arrow…Okay; well she helped shoot him with one. Wordlessly, Jon looked at the logo of her shirt featuring a bow and arrow with the words The Wildlings in forest green font.

“If your head still hurts, I can go get Gilly-” before Ygritte could turn away, Jon grabbed her wrist, the one with the counter, and yanked her forward.

Now Jon wasn’t sure he was a firm believer in the myths of electric currents and special vibes when soulmates touched or the feeling of alignment when you met the one. Robb claimed something like that was true and Theon never wanted to discuss these matters with Jon. So, Jon was willing to chalk up the shiver that went through his body more on nerves than those soulmate myths, even though he could see the hair rise on Ygritte’s arm, just like his.

She stared and Jon stared back.

“I’m fine,” he managed to say, willing his hand to let her go but his hand not quite responding yet.

“I’m glad,” she smirked a bit. “Would have been a shitty first meeting if we’d have to drive you to the hospital.”

“I think you mean it would have only been marginally shittier,” Jon shot back. “I still got shot in the head.”

“Oh, it didn’t even break skin.”

“It knocked me out,” Jon all but exclaimed as he finally managed to get his hand to release hers. There was little heat behind his words as the girl, Ygritte, his soulmate smiled brightly at their small exchange.

“I guess I can make it up to you.” She plopped down in the space beside him and without hesitation scratched behind Ghost’s ears. Jon was amazed to see Ghost’s eyes close in delight instead of the usual snarl that came when anyone touched him without permission. Grenn had been on the receiving end of Ghost’s fangs a few too many times from doing the same motion.

Jon looked up at her in awe. “How would you do that? Make it up to me, I mean.”

She smirked and winked. Jon grew red as Ygritte threw her head back in a laugh. “Coffee. I was thinking a coffee. I’d buy, of course. I suppose if you are a good little boy I’d even throw in a pastry.” She laughed again.

“Coffee sounds…nice,” Jon muttered, urging the color to leave his face but only feeling it burn brighter.

“Next Wednesday?” she asked, head cocked to the side. “I mean, we should probably figure out the soulmate thing.”

Jon nodded his head. “Probably.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it, though,” she winked again with a giant grin.

Jon numbly nodded his head before blurting out, “We should exchange numbers.”

Ygritte’s eyes shined with delight. “You read my mind.”

After exchanging numbers, Ygritte offered Jon and Ghost a ride home. They used the pretense of Jon’s head injury but Jon probably would have said yes anyway. He never understood Robb’s fascination with Theon, not even when Robb claimed it was because they were soulmates but now…Jon though he might have begun to understand the awe. He didn’t want to take his eyes of Ygritte, let alone leave her. He still had so many questions.

The ride was short and their conversation was kept to a minimum, Ygritte explaining why they were in the forest shooting of arrows. In the end, Jon found the car ride too short but thought maybe that was for the best. You should always leave wanting more, right?

“So, Wednesday?” Ygritte asked as she put the car in park.

“Wednesday,” Jon nodded, curious of what would come from Ygritte and this connection. Jon was pleased to find that curiosity was lined with eagerness.

“You need help getting to the door?” she asked, half ready to get out the door.

“No,” Jon shook his head, wincing at the movement. “I can make it that far, besides…”

“Ah,” Ygritte smirked, “siblings and parents, right?” When Jon nodded his head, she grinned. “Say no more, I get it.”

“I’ll text you,” Jon promised.

His heart thudded loudly when Ygritte said, “I’ll be waiting.”

Jon began to unbuckle his seatbelt but before he could fully exit the car, Ygritte leaned over the center console and pressed a kiss to Jon’s cheek, right by the corner of his mouth. He froze, like he had been dunked in an ice bath but was instantly warmed by it, all in the span of a second.

“Something to look forward to,” Ygritte hummed. She reached into the back seat and patted Ghost on the head before he leaped to the front seat and followed Jon out the car.

“See you Wednesday,” Jon said holding the door open, not all that ready to close it up and leave.

“See you Wednesday,” Ygritte echoed.

Not wanting the conversation to end (he wanted to know all about her); Jon closed the door and waved as he walked to the front. Jon waited until Ygritte had pulled out of the driveway and had driven off before turning toward the front door. Glancing down at his wrist, Jon knew he was going to be bombarded with questions about his white counter and Jon wasn’t sure he was ready to answer them immediately, but he was interested to see if the counter was valid. Based on the initial interaction, Jon would say they were off to a not-so-bad start.

Chapter Text

Sansa Stark had been beyond excited for her sixteenth birthday, but not exactly the way most girls her age were.

Like most girls, she was excited about the prospect of growing up. She was anxious to become a full-fledged woman of the world and experience adulthood. She couldn’t wait for university, her dream job, her dream house, her dream wedding, and everything that came with those.

But unlike most, she had no interest in finding love with her counter. No, in her case she was beyond excited to reaffirm it with a grey counter, just as her brother had. Of course, that all had come tumbling down when she got her counter and it read 14,829,482 instead of the three white dashes like Robb’s had. Like she had hoped hers would have. Her sixteenth birthday ended with tears, Sansa worried out of her mind on how she was to tell her boyfriend that they weren’t soulmates.

The thing was she had been so sure. Surer than anything Sansa had ever felt before. How could Joffrey not be her soulmate? All the signs pointed to it. According to Robb, he got butterflies in his stomach whenever he was around Theon and Sansa had butterflies in her stomach before she had even spoken three words to Joffrey. That, in it of itself, should have been proof. According to her mother, soulmate business could be tricky if not dealt right, but Sansa had done everything by the book (and she had plenty of actual books on the subject matter). According to her father, sometimes our love blinds us from truth, but if it was love that was blinding her wouldn’t that be the surest estimate of a soulmate? Not some counter issued out by the hundreds every day? Surely she knew better than a black wristband. Surely her heart knew better than a piece of machinery.

At least Joffrey had believed her, shrugging without a care as Sansa declared that she wasn’t going to listen to some hunk of junk. She knew her heart that Joffrey was right there with her.

However, Sansa couldn’t shake the thought of the counter, knowing that it was ticking down without her wearing it. It wasn’t the only counter she thought of. She thought of Jon who hadn’t cared for a counter yet ended up with a girl that he was madly in love with, whether he admitted it or not. She thought of Robb who wasn’t even sure Theon was his soulmate but followed his heart. She thought of Joffrey’s counter, never opened and still resting in the box, probably thrown under his bed somewhere. She remembered how he chucked the counter box aside without care as soon as it landed in his hands. Sansa had counted it as a romantic endeavor but she was still curious what his counter said.

Would it have a long multi-digit number too? Would there be someone on the other side of the zero who was his perfect half? Would Joffrey leave Sansa the moment he realized that the counter might have more validity than his feelings? Was Sansa wondering the same questions but for herself?

She would deny anyone who asked her if she was hesitant, claim that she had faith in her heart, but every night Sansa would reach into the drawer of her nightstand and watch the counter trickle down in accordance with the steps she took that day, each night wondering if she was sure that Joffrey was her one and only.

It took two years for Sansa to come to the conclusion that she was fucking wrong. It also took a split lip, tears in her eyes, and feeling the tangle of five pairs of arms as her siblings all at once tried to comfort her.  

Robb had been furious, fire in his eyes after hearing this wasn’t the first time Joffrey had struck her. Jon was full of silent rage, lips pressed in tight as he blamed himself for not seeing it sooner. Arya was vocal, hissing and snarling that she had not followed her instincts that Joffrey was bad news. Bran tightened his hands over his wheelchair arms, knuckles turned white because he didn’t know what to do. Rickon cried, tears sliding down his cheeks because he could feel the same sadness Sansa felt.

The weird part was she got over it quicker than they had all expected. Her parents were actually worried about the fact that Sansa had moved on from a five-year relationship that had been abusive for some time without any more than a huff when his name was brought up. Her siblings were all ranging from confused to skeptical of Sansa’s apparent dismissal of the fail relationship. Her friends wanted to comfort her but were unsure how to when Sansa seemed just fine.

The thing was Sansa was happy. It wasn’t because she had escaped Joffrey’s clutches, but it was because she still had hope. She smiled down at the counter displayed proudly on her wrist.

She had been foolish to think she had known better than fate and universal truths, or maybe she had been naïve to think she had her life all figured out with a boyfriend she met when she was only thirteen. She had barely even reached puberty back then, how was she supposed to know what true love was?

Either way, Sansa didn’t want to dwell on the past of a failed relationship brought on by childhood ignorance. She wanted to look into the future, and judging by the still too large to comprehend number on her counter, she still had ways to go.

In a strange way, Sansa had felt relieved in seeing such a large number. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to meet her soulmate. It was rather that she needed the time to herself; time to figure out who she was when she wasn’t trying to fit into a mold that just wasn’t meant for her.

Those two years had been wondrous. She got into Kings Landing University with a focus in fashion but following her father’s advice and also taking a handful of business classes. Halfway through the first year, she changed her major to business, although still retaining the fashion classes as electives. It was in her second year of university that she got a TA position to one of her favorite business professors, Renly Baratheon (coincidentally, the uncle of her failed boyfriend Joffrey). It was also during her second year of University, a few months after turning twenty years of age that her counter dropped the quadruple digits.

That night she called Robb, whispering excitedly about her good fortune and the fact that she could be meeting her soulmate any day now. When the phone was passed to Jon who congratulated her on her upcoming soulmate meeting and she told him about university life and her classes, Jon asking all the right questions. It was Arya who rolled her eyes at Sansa’s excitement in soulmate garbage and asked her about what it was like to live away from home. Bran and Rickon both chimed in their excitement of just hearing from their oldest sister, complaining about home life and the other siblings in groans and moans.

As the days approached, Sansa grew anxious, eager and nervous all in one.

“You know what will take your mind off it?” Renly asked as they walked along the sidewalk toward his office, Sansa carrying the tests that needed to be graded and Renly carrying their coffees. “You should meet my boyfriend.”

Sansa grinned brightly at the prospect. “I finally get to meet him?” Renly was younger than most professors on campus and he had a much freer exchange with Sansa than most professors and TAs did.

“I told you I’m not hiding him, he’s just been out of town for the past couple of months,” Renly smiled excitedly. “His brother recently had another surgery on his leg and Loras went to help out.”

“He sounds sweet,” Sansa smiled softly. She wondered if her soulmate would be like that.

“Much kinder than I would be to my brothers,” Renly chuckled. “If Stannis was injured, I’d send him a fruit basket at the most.” Renly thought for a moment and smiled wickedly, “With peaches, of course.”

“Of course,” Sansa agreed although she didn’t understand the relevance of the peach.

“And Robert…probably a crate of wine,” Renly nodded. “Although, it wouldn’t last long.”

Sansa remained silent upon the mention of her ex-boyfriend’s father. It was easier not to go down that road.

Renly, sensing it, went back to the subject of his boyfriend. “Why don’t you get dinner with us on Sunday? Consider it a reward for all the good work you’ve done this semester.”

Sansa would have said how just being able to put this experience on her resume was reward enough, but she was dying to meet the elusive boyfriend she had heard so much about. “I’d love to.”

“Excellent!” Renly clapped her on the shoulder. “It’ll be fun.”

Sansa was sure of it, already mentally counting down the days.

Sunday approached quicker than Sansa thought, surprising her pleasantly as she turned in her essay on economic patterns. She had just enough time to shower, change, and just as she was about to leave her apartment, she slipped on her counter almost without thinking. It was second nature at this point.

It wasn’t until she was halfway to the restaurant Renly has texted her that she glanced on the counter. Thankfully has was at a stop light or else she might have veered off the side of the road when she read the numbers 42 on her counter.

It wasn’t that Sansa didn’t know the numbers had been approaching, she had and had for a while, it’s just she was so caught up in the present that she barely paid attention to the future- especially the soulmate future. But now…there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she wouldn’t meet her soulmate tonight, not with a number so low.

It was hard not to pay attention to the counter as she got out of the car. It was even harder to look ahead to where she was going as she watched the numbers dip past the 30 and trickle down.

The counter reached 7 when Sansa was forced to stop and Renly enveloped her in a friendly hug.

“You look wonderful tonight,” he complimented her and admired the fabric of the dress she wore tonight. She had made it a few weeks prior and was momentarily distracted from the counter to beam at the success of her handiwork. The thought didn’t last long, though, but the number hadn’t changed as they remained rooted in one spot.

“You’ll have to forgive Loras for running late,” Renly apologized. “There was something of an emergency.”

“His brother?” Sansa asked worriedly, but albeit semi-halfheartedly with the counter taking too much of her attention.

“No, his sister,” Renly smiled sweetly. “Nothing too serious, but enough to delay them for a few minutes.”

Sansa almost didn’t catch the pronoun. “Them?”

“I invited his sister,” Renly beamed. “I think you two would hit it off well. She is a political science major.”

Sansa nodded her head distantly as she scanned restaurant. Almost all the men were with their respective dates and Sansa felt a trickle of worry that her soulmate might already be in a committed relationship. She had heard the horror stories of home wrecker soulmates and did not want to be in those shoes.

The door behind Sansa opened and a couple walked in. The man was beyond attractive with honey brown hair and golden eyes. The woman on his arm with just as beautiful with her soft, curly brown hair and big doe eyes.

“Ah, there they are,” Renly said fondly, wrapping an arm around Sansa’s shoulders and leading her forward.

Panic filled Sansa’s chest in the realization that the couple before her was Renly’s boyfriend and the boyfriend’s sister. They were only a couple steps away, probably the same number of steps on Sansa’s counter. The thing was Sansa liked Renly; she didn’t want to break up her professor and his boyfriend, her mind going to the worst possible scenario. She didn’t want to be a home wrecker to her professor and his boyfriend. She didn’t want to but as they came to a stop in front of Loras and his sister, Sansa’s dread bloomed as her counter reached zero.

Sansa’s eyes were locked on her counter in despair, but not enough to hear a soft “Oh!”

Glancing up, Sansa expected Loras to display a stark white counter and while he did have one, it was his sister staring down at her counter. Sansa could see the black fade to white, just as Sansa’s did.

“Well,” Renly remarked, breaking the awkward silence that consumed the front room of the restaurant, several people on the sidelines watching in interest as Sansa stared at Loras’ sister, not even knowing her name. “I suppose this is as good as any for you two to meet.”

“I’m not the gay one anymore,” Loras grinned over at his sister who was still looking at her and Sansa’s counters in deep thought.

Loras’ statement seemed to pull his sister from her thoughts. “Loras, you are always going to be the gay one. I can’t steal that crown from you.”

Renly snorted with laughter and Sansa couldn’t help but smile timidly. Loras looked over at them before turning back to his sister. “Way to make a first impression, Marge.”

Renly settled a hand on Sansa’s shoulder. “I wasn’t even aware of your interest in women.”

Sansa swallowed roughly. “Me neither.”

The silence that followed was awkward and still. Renly looked at a complete loss for words, Loras was looking between his sister and Sansa for answers, and Loras’ sister was looking at Sansa curiously. All the while, Sansa was still trying to understand what the hell was going on.

Sure, she thought girls were pretty but didn’t all girls? It was just a thing, admiring how pretty other girls were. From their clothes to their hair to their makeup to their soft skin and pretty pink lips...but no. Sansa didn’t feel the same way about girls as she did boys. With boys it was obvious. With boys her stomach clenched and she felt nervous but excited all at once. With girls it was different. It was comfortable, warm. That wasn’t love or attraction, was it? That was just platonic and friendly…right? The easiest way to define the two was boys made Sansa feel as if she had been dunked in an ice bath…girls made her feel like she was laying out under the sun. Both were thrilling but they weren’t the same, therefore they couldn’t both be attraction. She had an obvious attraction to boys but girls it wasn’t…

“I feel like we have a lot to unpack here,” Renly broke the silence; his hand squeezing her shoulder comfortingly. “Maybe it would be best if you two talked…privately?”

“Yes,” Loras picked up exactly where Renly left off. “Margaery, why don’t you and Sansa go outside, talk and get some fresh air while Renly and I get a table. No rush.”

As the two men left, Sansa finally met Margaery’s eyes. She felt that warmth in her stomach and her face heating up, but she also felt her heart speeding up in a mixture of anxiety and excitement, neither of which she was able to quash.

 “Shall we?” Margaery asked, her hand held out for Sansa to grab.

Slowly, Sansa reached out and- she wasn’t going to be naïve and say it was a soulmate connection and accounted it all to her emotional state but -when their hands touched, Sansa was sure she felt a small zap of electricit

"I'm Margaery," she introduced, a confident smile on her face that nearly made Sansa's knees buckle in nerves.

Sansa smiled, as much as she could stomach with the emotions she was struggling with. "Sansa."

Silence drifted between them again, neither of them sure what to say next as they began to walk, out the restaurant and down the sidewalk. Sansa wondered if Robb or Jon had the same issues with their soulmates...probably not Robb, although he and Theon had their own set of issues and Sansa couldn't imagine Ygritte being shy in any situation, not matter how much Jon would be confused at knowing what to do.

"We're soulmates," Margaery continued on, leveling her gaze with Sansa. "Nice to finally meet you."

Heat rose to Sansa's cheeks again but she nodded her head. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time and now that I'm here, I'm not sure what to do."

Margaery's eyes danced in laughter. "Same. It's like, you think about this moment for years and years, planning it out to the last detail, imagining what you are going to say, what you are going to do, even thinking about what you are going to feel-"

"-yet when the moment comes you're speechless," Sansa finished.

"Exactly," Margaery's smile grew. "You always have this person in mind and it is never the person you end up meeting, which I suppose logically makes sense."

"You ever expect a girl on the other end?" Sansa asked hesitantly, eyes fixed ahead and not on Margaery.

Sansa didn't see Margaery's reaction but she could hear the happy hum. "Never gave too much thought about who was on the other end, just as long as someone was there, I guess. What about you? You looked so panicked when we approached."

"I thought it was your brother for a moment," Sansa admitted.

"So you never expected a girl?" Sansa silence was answer enough and Margaery hummed again. "We don't have to do anything with this if you don't want to. I know plenty of soulmates who never give into each other and live happy lives."

"It's not that." Sansa turned and grabbed Margaery's shoulder, that electric tremor coming back. "It's just...when I got my counter I had been in a relationship."

"Really?" Margaery's eyes widened slightly before her eyebrows pinched together. "You're not still together...are you?"

"No! No, never. He was horrible and for more reasons than not being my soulmate. But we had been dating before we got our counters so I always thought it would be him and when it wasn't, I always thought it would be a him, not a her. I just never thought about it being a girl so I'm still coming to terms with that part because I don't mind it and I'm not sure I haven't thought about it I'm just-"

"Confused," Margaery cut Sansa's mini-ramble off, grabbing Sansa's hands and squeezing. "And that's okay. There isn't a rush to do anything with this. We can go slow or not at all. Whatever you feel comfortable with doing because there isn't a point otherwise."

A smile was threatening to break through Sansa's face. "And this is okay with you?"

Margaery threw her head back and laughed. "I'm not in a rush for anything and I wouldn't want to get in a relationship with someone who didn't want to. That doesn't make either of us happy and that's what's most important. So we can just be friends, get to know each other. There is nothing wrong with that."

Sansa felt speechless but tried to push the words out anyway. "I...just...thank you."

Margaery winked playfully. "Don't sweat it. Now, shall we go back inside before Renly and my brother begin dinner without us?"

"Let's go." Sansa tugged on the hand she hadn’t realized she had been holding and a part of her didn't feel like letting go of. "I've been dying to meet Renly's mystery man."

"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, Loras is an idiot."

The two fell into laughter, never letting go of each other’s hands as they walked back to the restaurant, to the table, throughout the conversation, and only breaking apart when it was time for dinner.

“I have to ask-” Renly pinned Sansa and then Margaery with a questioning look “-what are you two going to do with the newly found information?” They had managed to get through the whole dinner without talking about it but it looked like Renly couldn’t hold in his inquisitions anymore. “Whatever you decide is perfectly fine but I’m curious.”

“Slow,” Sansa said, giving Margaery a soft smile. “We are taking it slow.”

“How slow are you talking?” Loras asked, looking between the two girls skeptically. “Like we are just friends first, or is there kissing no sex, sex and no emotions, no sex until the third- Margaery, did you just kick me?”

“I think we can all agree you talk too much,” Margaery narrowed her eyes.

Sansa couldn’t help but laugh at the sibling’s antics. It reminded her too much of her own siblings. Renly only sighed and waved for the bill as Margaery and Loras fell into quiet sibling bickering.

“That’s something you’ll have to get used to,” Renly grumbled to Sansa. “And there are two others ones. Willas might not look like it but he is just as bad as Margaery and Garlan…well, you’ll meet him eventually. He’s his own brand of Tyrell crazy.”

“They’ve still got nothing on my siblings,” Sansa shrugged. “That’ll be the true soulmate test.” Theon had already passed being with the Starks before Robb was his possible-soulmate and Ygritte fitted in almost too well. Sansa was curious what her family would think of Margaery. She could already hear Arya’s “Well, anyone is better than Joffrey.”

Renly paid- even though Sansa insisted she pay for her own but he was hearing none of that –and pulled the two Tyrell siblings out of their conversation. The night was coming to a close and it felt almost bittersweet to Sansa. She liked Margaery and wanted to see more of her, but she also just needed time to absorb everything.

“Put your number in-” Margaery held out her phone for Sansa “-so we can talk and meet up without the peanut gallery.”

“Oh, you love us,” Loras grinned but walked off with Renly to give them privacy.

“We should meet up sometime next week,” Sansa smiled as she handed Margaery the phone back. “I’d like that. A lot.”

Margaery’s smile was probably going to ruin Sansa forever and that’s the only reason she could think to use to defend why she leaned in and pressed a kiss against it. Margaery was quick to answer and kissed back just as softly.

“Until next time?”

“Absolutely.”

Chapter Text

Arya Stark dreaded the moments before her sixteenth birthday since the day she learned what it would mean for her.

She did everything in her power to make sure it didn’t happen, like skipping her birthday would make destiny and fate stop on its heels. She tried to get sick, taking cold showers and sleeping in the drafty hallways as if being sick would make a difference. She tried to stop their mail from being delivered, calling the post office and claiming they had moved (alas her mother caught her and grounded her for the week after finding she had been charged for late bills). She even tried to run away, leashing up Nymeria and offering Jon and Rickon to coming along. Jon declined because he had a girlfriend to think about and no matter how cool she was, she wasn’t invited and Rickon didn’t want to leave without mother and ruined the whole point. Arya would have asked Robb but he was the worst of them all, finding his soulmate before he was supposed to- overachiever as always. Bran would rather face the odds than go on an adventure and Sansa, well, that was just a plain old no.

On the day of her birthday, Arya ran to the woods behind their house to hide but was found and dragged back in by her father an hour later. She struggled against his grip on her shoulder, trying to shake him off.

“I don’t want it,” Arya hissed lowly.

Ned nodded his head and ruffled her hair affectionately. “Then you don’t have to have it.”

Arya blinked. “I don’t?”

“I’m not going to force it on you. You don’t have to open it if you don’t want to.”

And that is the reason the counter box laid unopened in her closet for about an hour before Sansa annoyed Arya enough to opening it.

The actual opening of her counter was rather anticlimactic. The only person present was Sansa who insisted she just open it and Arya preferred it that way (or maybe even without Sansa, if she were being honest). When she ripped open the box and peered inside, dread filled Arya and made her wish she had thrown the damn thing away and never looked at it.

1,250,467

“Wow,” Sansa said amazed. “That’s not even a whole year!” Of course, she’d know how many steps the average person took in a year.

“Whatever,” Arya grumbled, shoving the counter back into the box and throwing the whole thing back into her open closet.

Sansa only shook her head in dismay and left to tell everyone the amazing news. Arya spent the rest of the day in her room, sulking and not taking any steps. She was too old to cry about stupid things like this, but the frustration of the situation made her want to. She even found herself wiping her eyes, especially when she looked into the closest and could see the shiny black box among the clothes.

However, three days into taking the least amount of steps and staying in bed as much as possible, her father came to her again and said, “Just because you’ll meet your soulmate then, doesn’t mean that you have to pursue anything with them. Not everyone is going to be like Robb or Sansa. Jon even took a little bit to warm up to his soulmate.”

“Well, I don’t want to warm up to anyone,” Arya mumbled, burying her face into her pillow.

“Then don’t,” her father ruffled her hair. “No one is forcing you to do anything.”

“But the counter-”

“The counter,” Ned spoke calmly and surely, “is just information. Knowledge is power but you chose what you want to do with that knowledge, not the other way around.”

Arya didn’t say anything and her father left shortly after pressing a kiss to the top of her head. But the next day, when ten o’clock rolled around, Arya slunk down the stairs and plopped herself in a chair across from Theon Greyjoy at the kitchen table, both of them late risers.

“Change your mind?” he mused, shoving a piece of waffle into his mouth.

“No,” Arya stole his plate and he didn’t fight her on it. “I just don’t care.”

“Good,” he smirked and nodded his head in understanding. “I wouldn’t want some poor sap to be stuck with you.”

Arya kicked him under the table but the subject dropped after that. Her actual siblings were a little less receptive to the idea of Arya not giving a damn about what the counter did or said ranging from Jon’s understanding, Robb’s support, Sansa’s apprehension and Bran and Rickon’s curiosity to see what would happen in less than a year’s time.

Thankfully, no one pressed Arya about the counter locked in her room after that. She basically forgot about it a week after her birthday. The most Arya ever came to being aware of the counter’s existence was when one or two of her siblings, usually Sansa and Rickon, came to check how many steps she had left. She rarely, if ever, wore it. Again, usually it was on Sansa’s insistence, especially as the number of steps dwindled down to the thousands and the days grew closer.

But as those steps grew less, Arya couldn’t help but think about the counter and the dwindling steps. She didn’t care for who would be on the other side; all she knew was her life was ruined no matter who it was. Or would be ruined in such a short time. Only sixteen and her life was going to be over.

"Arya, get up, we are going outside."

"Never," Arya crossed her arms firmly over her chest, pushing herself as far back as she could against her pillows. For the past five days, she made as minimal steps as possible. Her counter has reached the double digits and it was only a matter of time (or steps) until Arya hit zero. She knew it was going to happen soon, but she wasn't ready. She was only sixteen years old. She wasn't ready for a soulmate. She wasn't like Robb who had his whole life and soulmate figured out before he was sixteen. She wasn't like Jon who found happiness in his soulmate after years of uncertainty and misery. She definitely wasn't Sansa who had time to find herself before finding her soulmate. Arya didn't have time, she didn't have her life figured out, and she knew deep in her heart she wasn't going to find happiness in a person, at least until she found happiness in herself. She needed time, more time than the counter was going to ever give her.

But that didn't mean her family agreed with Arya staying in bed until she was ready. They let her miss a week of school- probably more her father’s doing than her mother’s -and Rickon even pitied her situation enough to bring food directly to her. The only time she moved was to go to the bathroom but she got Jon to carry her to the door more times than not.

When she had woke up the first morning at the beginning of the week, her counter read 97 but five days later it had gone down to 72. It was Saturday, the sixth day of her double-digit counter and it seemed as if the pity and sympathy had come to an end as all her siblings stood at the end of the bed.

"It is easier if you just face it," Jon tried sweetly, holding a hand out for her.

Arya pulled the covers tighter around her, hoping to bind herself to her bed. "No, not today."

"We hate to do this," Sansa sighed, "but it is for your own good."

"You don't hate it!" Arya growled. "You even came back home from King’s Landing to see it! You want this!"

Sansa shrugged but patted Rickon on the shoulder. "Grab her blankets. Bran blocked the door. Robb, Jon, whenever you are ready."

Arya could only watch in dismay as both Robb and Jon came to the side of her bed, Rickon's little hands grabbing the bottom of her blankets. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sansa rummaging through her closet and Bran watched from the door, his chair blocking her exit.

It happened quicker than Arya could even process. One minute she was gripping onto her bedding for her life and the next, Jon had his arms around her and was carrying her towards the car, fully clothed with the outfit Sansa had picked out and her counter in Bran's hands. She had refused the counter on her wrist, savagely ripping it off but they took it along with them. It would still document her steps, now at 64 with her struggle but she wasn't going to take another step, they couldn't make her and Arya already knew dragging didn't register.

Robb drove with Sansa in the front seat. They had the audacity to talk about getting coffee and going shopping, catching up like Arya wasn't about to have her life end forever. Jon and Bran bracketed her in case she thought of flinging herself out of the car with Rickon curled up on Jon's lap, his legs over Arya like another seatbelt.

When they pulled up at the town center, Arya grabbed the seat for dear life. It was no use, not with Jon lifting her out of the car like she weighed as much as a balloon. No amount of kicking or screaming would do it, he simply ignored it. The worst part is no one even looked over. The rest of her siblings worried about getting Bran in his chair or making sure Sansa had all her coupons or if Rickon wanted to go shopping with Jon and Sansa or having coffee with Robb and Bran.

When Arya was gently set on the sidewalk, she froze in place, keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground.

"You're going to have to move eventually," Robb sighed. "You are making this out to be way worse than it really is."

Arya didn't respond with anything other than a glare.

"Just leave her," Jon shrugged with a little tough love in his voice. "She can't stay there forever."

Oh, just you wait. Arya didn't even give Jon a reaction, keeping her glare on the rest of her siblings.

With a final goodbye from all her siblings and a reassuring pat from Rickon, Arya was left alone on the sidewalk. It took her a few minutes to realize that Rickon had slipped her counter into her pocket.

The only reason Arya dug it out of her pocket was to see how many steps she managed to lose in the fight with her siblings from her bed to the sidewalk. She sighed with relief to see 59 was the number blinking. With that, Arya kept the counter in her fist: not looking at the screen but not forgetting the reason she was going to stand absolutely still. Even if the sun was bearing down on her and even if people muttered rude comments as she blocked the sidewalk. She didn’t care. Arya was as clever as she stubborn. It would take a mighty force to get her to move.

She hadn’t realized at the time that an actual mighty force would come two hours later, as her legs begun to ache and sweat was covering her body. She was thirsty but not thirsty enough to leave her spot. She knew her siblings would fold soon and she was willing to wait it out.

That didn’t stop some asshole from knocking her to the ground, counter flying out of her hand as a body fell on top of her.

“Shit!” the body yelped over her, it was male and squeaky like it was still going through puberty. “Sorry!” The body rolled off her and she watched as a scrawny kid half crawled, half stumbled toward his cellphone that had fallen to the street. He swiped up his phone, leaving Arya’s counter in the dirt. He pressed his phone to his ear without even a glance at Arya. “You guys still there? Don’t let him move! I want to see it! I’m like a minute away!” and with that, the kid was running without a single fucking look at the person he shoved to the street.

With pride, anger and a bit of adrenaline-fueled blindness, Arya raced to her feet and took off after the boy, her legs still weak from the hours of standing but she pushed herself to follow. “Hey! Get back here!” she yelled, sprinting after him.

They weaved through crowds, Arya still fuming as she chased the boy. She idly noted her jaw hurt from crashing to the ground and she knew she was going to give that guy a piece of her mind. She almost had him, until she didn’t.

He was agile, she’ll give him that. She hadn’t expected the scrawny kid to sidestep so quickly. She hadn’t expected there to be someone just standing there. Then again, Arya didn’t have room to talk as she had done the exact same thing only moments ago. Regardless, the point was she didn’t see him standing there as the scrawny weasel moved around him.

The crash this time was less powerful than before. Probably because Arya and the scrawny kid were roughly the same weight and this guy was like four times Arya’s size. Still, she was pleased enough to note she was able to push him back a step. A step she would immediately regret.

“Holy shit,” the scrawny kid gasped, standing beside Arya and her new stranger. The stranger who was looking down, not at Arya, but the fading black to white counter on his wrist.

“Well, looks like you met your soulmate, Waters. And it’s a dude!” a third person spoke up; one Arya hadn’t even seen when she crashed.

Stumbling backward, Arya looked up at her stranger, a tall muscular boy with the most stunned expression on his face. Arya was about to say something, anything to him, but was more focused on something else.

“I’m a girl, you fuckhead,” Arya hissed at the third, portly boy.

“Some soulmate,” he muttered to the tall boy.

“Shut your mouth, Hot Pie,” he hissed back, breathing heavily before looking at Arya with impossibly wide eyes. “What did you do?”

“What did I do?” Arya exclaimed, taking a step further away. “You were just standing there!”

“That was the point,” he snapped back to her before rubbing his face with his hands. “I didn’t want to meet you.”

It should have felt like a slap in the face. Apparently, Arya was that awful a human being that someone would be this upset about being her soulmate. Except…Arya had felt the exact same way. So much in fact that her only reaction was to start laughing, un-fucking-controllable laughter.

“I think your soulmate is crazy,” Hot Pie whispered. “Couldn’t you have been chased by someone else, Lommy and find Gendry a normal human being?”

“I didn’t mean for her to chase me!” the boy named Lommy exclaimed. “She was just standing there when I ran into her and she started running after me!”

Realization came crashing onto the tall boy’s face. “Standing there?”

Still giggling, the laughter unable to stop, Arya nodded her head. “Newsflash: didn’t want to meet you either.”

“I take it back,” the one called Hot Pie deadpanned. “She’s perfect for you Gendry.” Arya and Gendry, her soulmate, both sneered at Hot Pie with disgust. “What? You think your soulmate is someone who isn’t perfect for you? Just because you don’t want it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t fit. Now can we get something to eat? We’ve been here all day and I’m starving.”

“Please?” Lommy nodded vigorously in agreement. “You said you’d pay, Gendry.”

Gendry looked at his two friends and sighed tiredly. “Fine.” He glanced at Arya. “You coming?”

“So much for not wanting to meet her,” Hot Pie muttered with a smirk.

“Well, she’s here. What do you want me to do? Ignore her?” Gendry grumbled, waving his hands around. Arya’s eye couldn’t help but be drawn to his white counter and it suddenly hit her that hers was still on the street somewhere.

Wordlessly, she spun on her heel, knowing her siblings (Sansa) would have a fit if she didn’t retrieve it. It wasn’t so much for sentimentality, but a person’s counter held some basic details about the person it was assigned to and it was probably for the best she grabbed it before some weirdo did.

“Where are you going?” Gendry asked, walking up to her side. Arya was disgusted with herself that she didn’t seem to mind.

“I left my counter on the street. I should probably go see if it is still there.”

Hot Pie pulled up on her other side with Lommy next to him. “You left your counter on the street?”

“Well, someone knocked it out of my hand,” Arya pinned Lommy with a piercing glare.

“And you just left it there!” Lommy shot back.

“You don’t have to come along,” Arya muttered, but she didn’t outright tell them to go, not like she would have if it were other people. She didn’t like that revelation.

Bittersweetly, Arya’s counter was still there, stark white instead of ink black as she had left it. She picked it up, not even bothering to see if it was still intact. It didn’t really matter anyway. It would probably just go back into her closet.

Behind her, one of the three boys coughed. Turning, she saw Hot Pie looking at her questioningly. “You coming with us to lunch or not?”

Arya crossed her arms firmly over her chest. “I don’t know. Are you buying for me?”

“Let your soulmate do it,” Hot Pie patted Gendry on the arm.

Gendry and Arya groaned in unison but followed as Hot Pie led them to a tiny café where they took up a table in the back.

“So, what’s your name? Or are we just calling up Gendry’s Unfortunate Soulmate?” Lommy asked, giving Arya an appraising look.

“Arya,” she muttered, sipping her soft drink with a shrug. “Arya Stark.”

“Lommy Greenhands,” Lommy introduced.

“Greenhands?” Arya pointedly looked at his not-so-green hands.

“Shut up! Arya’s a dumb name too,” Lommy shot back.

“Anyway,” Hot Pie interrupted, “I’m Hot Pie, and yes it is a nickname.”

“We don’t call him by his real name,” Gendry muttered from across the table.

“I don’t even know it,” Lommy admitted. “Oh! And this is Gendry!” As if they hadn’t said all their names multiple times before the introductions.

“So, you two are…soulmates?” Hot Pie just jumped right into it, like it was meant to be a group discussion.

“I guess,” Arya grumbled, still not wanting to meet Gendry’s eyes. “It’s whatever.”

“So you both don’t want one?” Lommy asked. He was smiling like he couldn’t help it. “Well, aren’t you two just a match made in heaven?”

“Or some government lab,” Gendry muttered.

Arya smacked the table hard. “You think that too?”

Gendry looked up, a pleasant expression on his face for the first time. “Thank you. Neither of them-” he gestured to both Lommy and Hot Pie “-think it is true.”

“But it makes so much sense! The government issues them so they must be behind the matching process!”

“Right?”

“So, do we stay until they start making out or…?” Hot Pie stage whispered to Lommy, both of them sniggering like children.

“Ew.”

“Gross.”

Arya and Gendry both looked at each other, grinned, and high five. At least they were on the same page. It would be unfortunate if her soulmate actually wanted her.  

Lunch turned into an afternoon affair, Arya staying with the three boys well into the evening as they sat, talked, rambled, and reordered basket after basket of French fries. It wasn’t the worst way to spend the day…actually, it was probably one of Arya’s better days in a long time and it had nothing to do with the fact that the guy in front of her was her soulmate or supposedly was her soulmate. It was more the fact that she might have gained three friends that day. Well, two according to Hot Pie since Gendry wasn’t allowed to count being her soulmate. But still, it was nice.

“Give me your number,” Hot Pie demanded and Lommy nodded his head insistently. “We can add you to our group chat. You seem alright.”

Arya dug for her phone and noticed a few texts, mostly from Sansa and Jon asking for an update. Once Lommy and Hot Pie put their numbers in, Gendry reached for the phone it was meant with teasing.

“Ooh, want your girlfriend’s number?”

He ignored it and handed the phone wordlessly to Arya. While they had gotten along splendidly during the day, both of them were too conscious of their present situation to overzealously talk. Arya found herself toning back her enthusiasm to similar interests and wondered if he did the same.

“Are you busy tomorrow?” Lommy asked as they exited the café.

“I doubt it,” Arya admitted.

“We are doing a movie day at Gendry’s if you want to come,” Hot Pie offered as he and Lommy headed in one direction. “I’m sure Gendry wouldn’t mind.” The comment was followed by winking and plenty of muffled laughs. “Text us! Later, Stark.”

Arya waved them goodbye and it was until they turned the corner that she realized she was left alone. With Gendry. Her fucking soulmate.

They walked in silence at first, neither of them sure what to say but knowing that they should say something.

“I don’t want a soulmate because I want to live my life,” Arya blurted out. There. She might as well get it out there.

Gendry’s sigh of relief was both reassuring and comforting. “I don’t want a soulmate because I want to see what life is like before introducing someone else into it.” Both of them smiled at this. “Plus, I’m only nineteen.”

Arya chuckled. “I’m only sixteen.”

Gendry’s eyes widened. “Well, at least know we have to wait.”

“That’s not a horrible age difference,” Arya sneered playfully.

“No, but some people would consider that pedophilia.”

“I’m three years younger! I’m not a child! Get a grip.”

“You look like one! What are you? Four feet tall?”

“Yeah, Gendry, I’m four fucking feet tall. God, my soulmate’s an idiot.”

“At least I’m an adult, you child.”

As they came to the end of the sidewalk, both began to turn separate ways and realize their conversation is coming to a close.

Arya swallowed. “So, we cool?”

Gendry’s eyebrows rose. “With the soulmate thing?”

“With the friend thing,” she corrected. “We both agreed we didn’t want soulmates, so let’s just forget it.” Arya stuck out her hand. “It never happened. Deal?”

Gendry gave her a small smile and grasped her hand. If he felt the electric pulse up his arm like she did, he didn’t mention or say anything about it. “Deal.”

Six years later, Gendry asked Arya on the date he had been wanting to ask for the past two years and Arya said yes to the guy she had been thinking about for the past year.