A/N:
*Dany's 20 (and sort of a genius with languages, which is why she's in an MA programme) and Robb's 22.
*I know this is a random pairing, but it's my beautiful crack!ship and I wanted to explore it in an AU capacity since there's not much fic out there.
*This is basically my first (published) fic and I don't have a beta, so I'm sorry if it's terrible lol.
*This was supposed to be a one-shot drabble and my muse sort of kicked my ass and this is what resulted. I have a few ideas for this universe, so if people want more, I'll gladly keep writing until I run out of things to make the characters do.
*I've been in the US for a long time (and only lived in a British commonwealth before that) so my Britishisms might be a bit off. If anyone has any experience with English and Scottish slang/everyday language and sees something that needs fixing, let me know!
Our Hearts Come Undone
And every time I'm meant to be acting sensible
You drift into my head
And turn me into a crumbling fool
Daenerys' stomach roiled as she crawled out of bed; her mouth tasted of ash and her tongue felt dry and heavy like she'd been sucking on cotton balls in her sleep. She winced and stumbled into the hallway, sweeping her hands along the walls for the light switch. She made her way to the sitting room; Irri was sprawled on the settee with Jhiqui on the airbed next to her.
She winced as last night's memories came flooding back.
They'd arrived at her door in a flurry of excitement, with dinner and 3 bottles of red wine. "We demand your wonderful presence tonight and we will not quit until you wipe that sad wet dog look off your face," Jhiqui had sworn.
For almost two weeks, Dany had locked herself away from the world, used up most of her sick days, skipped her uni courses and watched every bittersweet romance she could get her hands on. She'd been a shit friend to the girls lately, but they still loved her; her spirit rose whenever they came 'round and last night, she'd needed the company. Irri, excited for her first weekend back in Edinburgh after a month in India, had suggested they go bar hopping with friends. They could've dragged her to a dozen bizarre circus shows and she wouldn't have noticed. Even with them there, he constantly ran through her thoughts and every time they spotted a ginger-haired male, she couldn't help but scowl. The universe was testing her last night; it seemed every man who approached her sported similarly wavy reddish locks.
She couldn't remember how many drinks her friends had bought her because she had stopped counting, not caring if she ended up in the back of a SAS wagon with an IV in her arm.
Irri stirred as Dany shuffled into the kitchen to grab a glass of water and some paracetamol from the cupboard.
"You should get some sleep, love, I'm sure you need it after last night," she said softly, her voice full of concern.
"What happened last night? I forgot everything after, I don't know, the fourth guy—that sounds quite wrong, doesn't it?"
"Well…"
Her eyebrows shot up in question at Irri's hesitation.
"Well, obviously our plan to get you pissed off your ass worked, but as soon as you got to that point you started turning down all the blokes who tried to chat you up except the gingers and when one of them went in for a kiss, yeah, you stormed off. We found you outside sobbing at a stranger."
"Oh."
"We came back, got you water, and put you to bed; how're you feeling?"
"Like I should have quit after the wine."
"I'm sorry, we just wanted you to feel better, emotionally at least, and we hadn't seen much of you—it's not your fault, you know?"
Dany had a feeling Irri was referring to more than just last night's episode, "I know…" she lied as she sat down and rested her head on Irri's shoulder; Jhiqui still slumbered peacefully on the airbed nearby. Everything had been her fault.
###
She remembered the first time she'd met Robb Stark. He was with his cousin and siblings, Jon, Sansa, Arya and best friend, Theon; she was assigned to tour them around the National Galleries. Usually she only interacted with small French, Spanish and Arabic-speaking groups, never any locals, but they'd been short a few guides that day. He had seemed shy, so she focused her attention to his brother, who smiled and introduced everyone by name. As she led them throughout the echoing corridors, concentrating on facts and answering questions from his inquisitive sisters, she noticed his lingering glances. Of course she shook it off, thinking she'd imagined those looks. She guided tours here; having handsome men stare intently in her general direction wasn't exactly extraordinary.
###
"Tea for mi' terribly hungover lady," Irri handed her a cup of something that smelled strong and spicy.
"What would I do without you?"
"You'd probably wander into traffic—kidding, you'd likely not be in this state, cursing our names—I'm gonna take a shower. Jhiqui'll be up eventually and we can get breakfast or something," Irri said, heading to the bathroom.
Dany relaxed against the sofa with her tea, losing herself in her thoughts once more.
###
When the tour ended, Robb had thanked her and promised to find her personally if they had any questions. The next few hours dragged on, likely because of the nice weather, so she took a break at the outside café. Moments later, a shadow blocked her light. As she glanced up, her eyes widened in surprise to see Robb standing in front of her with a lopsided grin. The rest of his group lingered nearby.
"Hi, we just keep running into each other around here don't we."
She flashed him a coy smile, "Indeed we do."
"You looked so engrossed—good book?"
"One of my favourites actually, One Thousand and One
Nights—"
"Ah, haven't read that one."
"In Arabic," she finished.
"Especially not in Arabic, impressive."
"I'm just managing, really, but thank you."
"Erm, I'm sorry to be a bother, but we're leaving in a few minutes…and, we're kind of new in town and since you gave such an interesting tour, I was wondering if you had any suggestions, you know, fun stuff, events, pubs," he rambled and dragged his fingers through his hair.
"I thought you were from here; I don't know if I'm the best person to ask…" she figured he could tell from her accent that she wasn't from Edinburgh.
"We're from nearby, but our family's been in London for a few years now. We came back recently, and truthfully, we just wanted to know about the nightlife."
She laughed, "it's definitely not like London, but we have some great places."
He glanced back at his group, who pretended not to be hanging on his every word.
"Erm, would you be up for another personal tour tonight—I mean—"
"Are you asking me on a date?"
"No!"
His audience sniggered.
"Not that I wouldn't want to, of course."
"Of course," she said, amused as he stumbled over his words.
"I would, but Jon and Theon are tagging along, it wouldn't be much of a date. Just think of it as us extending our hand in friendship."
"I would love to take my new friends for a night on the town."
They agreed on a time and place, and as she made her way back toward the museum doors, she overheard a female voice say, "Up for another personal tour, what was that!"
#
When she arrived, Robb sat by himself on a peeling green bench near the worn stairs of the Scott Monument. He rose to greet her, shuffling anxiously beneath her gaze. "They abandoned us for some band," he explained before she could open her mouth to ask about his cohorts. Dany suspected Jon and Theon had pulled off quite the set-up.
They spent hours talking at dinner and then hours ignoring the dance floor preferring to sit in a corner shouting over the music.
She studied Arabic language in the MA programme at Edinburgh; he studied political science. She loved travelling and she gave tours in several languages per her prestigious internship—having to memorize all the information kept her skills sharp. He captained a local club rugby team and was learning the ins and outs of his father's brewery business. She was born in Paris; her family relocated to Manchester shortly after her mother had died. His family hailed from Glasgow, but they'd spent so many years away that he hardly remembered the city; his father recently inherited property nearby in East Lothian. Before the night ended, they made plans to see each other in two days time.
"Will you be at the galleries tomorrow?"
"Unfortunately, but I'm free very soon. Every month, Rhaegar, that is, my eldest brother and I play catch up. He always lets me pick when and where, so it's usually something silly. He broke this month's date to M&D's…"
"I'd like to fill in, if you'd let me."
#
Her favourite rides were the rollercoasters while he liked anything that spun in circles.
On Dany's long days at the museum, he would stop by with lunch and an excuse that he hadn't had the chance to take everything in.
Their third official date lasted the entire day. They went to brunch then visited the zoo with his sisters and younger brothers, Bran and Rickon, who were excited to meet Robb's "future girlfriend."
"You weren't joking about your family being huge."
"Our parents are really in love and make sure to remind us every couple of years."
When it was time to leave, Sansa insisted that she could wrangle everyone home, plus Jon was nearby shopping for gifts for their parents. She promised to call as soon as they were back and goaded him to stay out as long as possible.
They stopped for dinner and afterwards, they'd kissed languidly under the awning of the restaurant while waiting for a taxi to a local pub. It hadn't been the first time they kissed, but the atmosphere felt different, almost charged. They remained attached at the lips with her straddling his lap during the 10-minute taxi ride. While in front of friends, they sneaked pecks as she trailed her hand up and down his back under his shirt where no one could see. It had scared her how fast they'd reached this point, but she knew what she wanted.
After an hour, Robb announced that they were knackered from their long day and desperately needed sleep. They had raced back to her flat, stopping to kiss under streetlights, against a stranger's car, under a crooked oak tree. She recalled hoping that neither of her big brothers had decided that this was the perfect time to check in with her. Whenever they hadn't seen her in a long while, they would show up out of the blue and unfortunately, they had the habit of interrupting at the most inconvenient times.
(Once when she was 16, she invited her older boyfriend to the house, expecting them to be gone for another week. Rhaegar came home early with Viserys in tow. They wanted to surprise her with belated birthday presents and a cake and instead got an eyeful of their little sister with some bloke they'd never heard of let alone met. Rhaegar sent him on his way and both gave her an embarrassing talking to, which impelled her to confess that she knew what to do because they'd been careful the first time. They vowed to keep her locked in a tower, but their irritation didn't last, as there was nothing that could be done about the fact that she was growing up and had to make her own mistakes. Their protectiveness annoyed her at times, but in the end, she appreciated that her brothers cared so much for her, especially since all they had was each other.)
Gladly, neither had dropped by for a surprise visit that night, which meant that introducing Robb could wait a few more weeks and that she didn't need to awkwardly convince them to leave.
As soon as she closed the door, Robb pressed her against it. It wasn't long until he had her blouse on the floor and his lips and tongue working at her nipple.
#
Weeks passed in a blissful haze. Dany had met all his siblings and loved having his little sisters around, especially Sansa. Her brothers had convinced her that it was only fair that they take Robb out since she knew his entire family; surprisingly he had come back singing their praises.
The first time she met his parents, she fretted over facing his mother since he spoke of her so often. When he sprung the invitation on her, a bright red rash had crept up all over her skin, and she was still flushed hours later as she stepped foot into their massive home.
"You didn't tell me your family basically lived in a castle."
"Hardly, we had the entire place gutted and modernized; it looks nothing like a castle," he countered smartly.
She shot him a glare.
She had tripped over her words several times throughout dinner and nervously spilled her (luckily white) wine all over the oak table. Sansa, Arya and Bran had found her sudden clumsiness amusing and his parents had given them stern looks for laughing at a guest's expense.
#
Their romance stalled as quickly as they'd found themselves in each other's arms. She told herself that it was a normal part of any relationship, the point where annoying habits started surfacing. Robb occasionally cancelled plans because of family duties; she never fussed because he was always so apologetic and sweet and more than made up for missing her when they finally saw each other. Soon enough, cancellations were a common occurrence between them and she stopped accepting excuses so easily. She liked his family, but she couldn't help thinking that maybe they didn't share the same feelings.
She didn't fit; her family had been broken a long time ago. Her mother died from complications during her birth and her father had been driven mad with grief. He had left her brothers to raise her and fend for themselves. Dany had been 3 then, Viserys, 9, and Rhaegar was almost 15. A family friend took pity on them for a short time, but Rhaegar was the closest thing to a father that she had. These days, he was always off salvaging their father's vineyards and traipsing around the globe with his girlfriend. He had also taken up the habit of rescheduling plans with her. She felt less close to Viserys, even though when she was younger, he had been the one telling her stories and letting her climbed into his bed after horrible nightmares. She had an inkling that he somewhat resented her for killing their mother. He loved and protected her, but it felt like a reluctant kind of love, not the wholehearted sort she felt Rhaegar had for her.
She wanted to tell Robb how loneliness and insecurity ate at her, how hurt she felt when he wouldn't confide in her, but the words never came. Instead she punished him by making him wait hours for her when he finally had time to see her, and dragged him into petty fights about things that didn't matter. They'd descended into such a terrible argument one morning that he had stormed out of her flat, slamming the door in her face. She had never seen him so angry. Though, when they argued like that, his anger always left him as quickly as it came while hers stewed until it threatened to bubble over.
Two hours later, Robb had walked through the door with flowers and her favourite treat; he wordlessly placed them on her table and scooped her into his arms, kissing her between "I'm sorry" and "forgive me." They'd fucked on the floor of her sitting room, him grunting his release into the hallow of her neck as she gasped his name; she'd teetered on the counter top, holding to the cupboard for balance as he made her buck and come against his tongue, and when they'd finally reached her bed, he held her against him, driving into her slowly, their bodies and lips pushing against each other, all the urgency from earlier gone. She always apologized during moments like this, but never said what she really wanted to say, that she loved him and needed him.
#
Dany thought back to the night Robb failed to show at her birthday bash that he had insisted on planning. Livid and hurt, she had left him a resolute message, "we were stupid about all this…we moved too fast…some time apart could be good."
She spent the rest of the night at Irri's, comforted by her best girlfriends. In the morning, she raced to his family's house with flowers clutched in her hand.
He'd seemed surprised to see her, though not excited; he ushered her inside, pulling her into the quietest wing of the house. She told him she regretted what she said the night before, that she just wanted to know what was wrong and why he seemed to be avoiding her, but he hesitated. "I'm not avoiding you; look, I can't talk about what's going on just in case things change," he replied. Before long, their quiet discussion turned sour. They both accused each other of keeping secrets, which puzzled her.
The argument ended abruptly when Dany insinuated that she had spent the night with someone else. He didn't have to ask her to leave; the way he looked at her—his jaw clenched and eyes fixed in a cold stare—said everything. She dropped the flowers at his feet and opened the door to escape the stifling atmosphere. She rushed passed Sansa, who was standing in the hallway ready to greet her. She couldn't manage a hello, words sat in her throat like bits of ice, and she needed to get as far away from Robb as possible. That was almost a month ago and he hadn't called.
###
"Dany…are we still on for Mums? We better hurry, it's almost 11." Jhiqui said, jolting Dany out of her thoughts.
"Oh, right, food, sure...I'll put pants on so we can leave," she mumbled and head into her room.
Irri stood in the kitchen gulping down a glass of water.
"How is she? Still out of it?" asked Jhiqui.
"You could say that. I'm surprised Robb hasn't materialised right out of her thoughts."
"I'm surprised he hasn't come running, they'd been so…loved up."
Just then, Dany strolled into the room, ending all conversation about Robb.
#
They were seated just in time to make the last hour of brunch.
Irri, who'd been dozing off in the taxi to Mum's, perked up as their server left with their orders, "I don't think we've seen you that drunk ever, wait, that's probably a lie..."
"I think we both knew it wouldn't end well when you could only focus on blokes with ginger hair," Jhiqui teased.
"Ugh, I'm a bloody mess," Dany groaned loudly and rested her head against the table.
"At least you're kind of a funny bloody mess…" Irri said, rubbing her back comfortingly.
Danys eyes narrowed as Jhiqui smirked at her, "Last night on our way back to your's, you were all waxing sentimental about Robb's prowess in bed and how much you missed when he woke you up with his mouth and that the first time he'd done it, you couldn't contain your surprise because he'd seemed so sheltered."
Irri grinned, "We half expected you to crawl into bed with one of us the way you were going on."
Dany felt her face grow hot, "It hasn't been THAT long you know, I can do without just fine."
"Sure you can, but, personally, I think we should stop at organic pleasures after this," Jhiqui offered.
"Say that a bit louder, I don't think the entire place just heard you."
"Oh please, most of the people here have been in that shop."
Irri nodded in agreement, "A healthy sex life, even if it's with yourself, is nothing to be ashamed of."
Dany laughed reluctantly, but her face fell as she glanced at her phone vibrating noisily against the tabletop. She let it ring, and then excused herself to the loo. She came back to the table after a few minutes, looking like her brother had just told her that their childhood dog had died all over again. Jhiqui was the first to ask what was wrong.
"I'm not sure, I just—Robb called."
"Brilliant." Jhiqui muttered flatly.
"He says he needs to see me; he sounded upset."
"I guess it's finally time for a talk after weeks of ignoring you?"
Dany rolled her eyes, "You can stop being so nice to me about this, you know very well that I reacted badly and lied to him. If he'd vowed never to speak to me again, I would…probably not be any less upset, but I wouldn't be blaming him."
"Well, did he say what he called you for?"
"He barely said anything, really; maybe he just needs to talk. Maybe he missed me as much as I missed him…" Dany trailed off, poking at a piece of toast left on her plate.
Jhiqui huffed, "Okay, we see where this is going, please be careful. We're not happy with the zombie version of you and if something else goes wrong, we might have to kill your ex-lover."
"Nothing's going to happen."
"Uh huh, when are you seeing him?"
"Later today?" she answered sheepishly.
"And that's a good idea?"
"You don't understand, he sounded like me after I've spent an entire day crying. I couldn't say no, what if it's serious? What if he's hurt or what if someone's deathly ill?"
"Just don't sleep with him," Irri chided.
Dany couldn't promise she could exercise the self-control to avoid falling into his bed, but it was likely Robb never wanted her in it again. She picked up the bill as a thank you to the girls and bid them on their way, then took the long route back to her flat in a daydream. She couldn't change what happened between them, but she could be a friend to him if he needed one.