Disclaimer: All ASoIaF belongs to G. R. R. Martin, I own nothing nor gain anything.
Note: Filled for the Kink Meme, OP in my profile. Modern AU.
All the Starks are sitting around the dinner table having an 'emergency family meeting'.
Family meetings were quite common in the Stark household; it allowed them to make plans and work out details of whatever had drove them to call the meeting. Except that this was an emergency.
And it had nothing to do with any Stark (as meetings usually involved one), but Theon. Theon had moved in with them he was quite young; his mother had been committed to a mental institution after the death of his older brothers, his father had been abusive towards him and his uncles, well, they weren't much help. So somehow Theon had ended up with them and he'd been there for so long that all the Stark kids considered him an elder brother.
He was Robb's best friend, Jon could barely stand him but they were civil, he'd offered to beat up Joffrey after he was cruel to Sansa and was teaching Arya archery, Bran liked him because he knew stories about pirates and Rickon, well, Rickon was just a boy. Catelyn thought him for the most part a bad influence due his tendency to get in trouble and Ned simply thought the boy needed a stable father figure.
And so, there they were, around a dinner table with frowns of concern written in all their faces. Ned was the first to break the silence.
"I tried to talk him out of there and he's barely made any sound." His frown was deep and they could all hear the worry in his voice.
"I baked his favorite cake, just to get him out; he didn't." This time it was Catelyn. "I thought I could get him out with cake before dinner, but he's locked himself up." Her lips thinned into a small line that indicated her frustration.
"I told him to go to the arcade with me, nothing." Robb wasn't happy.
"I told him that he was being an idiot and worrying you all. And all I got in reply was a 'go away'." Jon shrugged his shoulders.
"I asked him to come with me to the school dance, I figured he'd liked that. He said that he was sorry, but wouldn't come." Sansa was disappointed, she had been sure that the prospect of a party would lure Theon out, but it hadn't worked.
"I yelled that he'd been an idiot and that he had failed to show up to my archery practice." Arya wasn't happy.
"I asked him for more stories, he just said 'later'. Father, that was two days ago." Bran, much like the rest was worried.
Silence reigned for a while on the table, all Starks processing what each other had said; they all had tried and failed to get Theon out of his room. He'd been there for two days, no one was sure if he'd eaten, gone to the bathroom, bathe, or even sleep.
This was a whole new thing for Theon and it worried the Starks. They had to get him out of that room as soon as it were possible, because two days locked in straight couldn't be good for anyone. Not even Theon.
Ned broke the silence, "I'll get the screw driver and undo his door, it's the only way we'll go in; because he's not coming out on his own and I'm not breaking his door."
"And we all need to be there when we talk to him," Catelyn's voice was firm, "we need him to know that we are worried."
"You know, I didn't think he'd go this far when I suggested he'd take a new hobby." Robb said with a slight laugh.
"Well, Robb, you couldn't know he'd take it this far," Catelyn nodded in agreement with Ned, "this addiction to World of Warcraft has to end."
Because while Theon had done many crazy things in the past, locking himself up to play and shunning all kinds of human contact were worrying enough, they had to put their foot down. And so, the Starks left the table, they weren't sure how Theon would take it (or how Theon would be), but they really needed to talk about his addiction to World of Warcraft.
A/N: All comments, constructive criticism and reviews are welcome; thank you for reading.