10 things I hate about Tyrion Lannister

"Oh, God, Margaery, it was so awful." Sansa sighed into her cellphone.
She had just finished her shift at the ice rink, and was rifling through her purse for her bus pass as she spoke.
"You talked to him? At last!"
At least Margaery seemed pleased.
She had been bugging Sansa for the last two weeks to do it, so she'd spent ages lurking in the library, making sure most people were gone so nobody would see her talking to Tyrion, but even after waiting forever, she hadn't gotten the courage to just go and do it until that day.
"Well, you know, I'm not exactly experienced at this. I haven't even asked out somebody I genuinely like before, so asking out somebody I'm getting paid to go out with is even harder. You should be doing this. You're the professional." she sniffed, but regretted it and said sorry immediately after.
"Don't worry, silly girl. But if I were taking out Tyrion, there wouldn't be any point. Unless I went out with both Tyrion and Joffrey... which I could do, but honestly, it sounds like a hassle."
"Mhmm."

Sansa stuffed her arms into the sleeves of her coat, shrugged it on, shut the door to the staff room, and waved to the custodian before walking out the doors. She liked working at the ice rink, because the cool air and the scraping sound of skates against the ice reminded her of home, of Robb and Jon, Arya, Rickon, and even her dad ice skating on the frozen lake outside their house.
Bran too, before the accident. But that just made her miss home more.

"So what did you say to him?" Margaery asked as Sansa walked to the bus stop.
"I don't know. Something stupid. I'm not used to this... and I'll have you know this is a last resort. The only local place hiring is Lannister bank! And all my friends' parents already have babysitters..."
"What do you mean 'something stupid'? You're like the smartest girl I know, that's impossible."
"You're the smartest girl you know." Sansa retorted and Margaery laughed, but didn't deny it, of course.
"I don't know, I think... ugh I can't really remember. He's so hard to talk to!" she groaned, frustrated.
"Whenever I tried to say something nice, he was just like 'oh well I'm an ugly dwarf lol lol so piss off'" she said, trying to imitate his voice. Judging by Margaery's laughter, she hadn't done a very good job.
"I'm serious, I have no idea what to talk to him about. I'm pretty sure you're the only girl he's ever actually spoken to."
"Try again. Are you going back on Monday?"
Sansa pursed her lips as the bus arrived, and got on.
"I asked if I could sit with him again." she said, giving the driver a smile and showing him her bus pass before plonking herself down in the first available seat. "So... yes? Ugh..." she groaned.
"There, there. Well, I've got to set the table for dinner now. See you in ten?"
"Yep." Sansa replied, and hung up.
She leant her head back against the window and sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than she'd thought- and she hadn't expected it to be easy.

Tyrion Lannister... Well, he certainly wasn't at all how she'd expected.
She really didn't know him at all- she'd heard of him, just as she'd heard of Jaime and Cersei.
The twins were seniors, preparing to graduate this year. Cersei was blonde, statuesque, and apparently dating Robert Baratheon, although to be honest, Sansa only ever saw her with her brother Jaime.
Jaime was the star of both the rugby and wrestling teams, and was nicknamed 'Kingslayer' after beating the champion of their rival school's wrestling team (the Targaryan Kings) three years in a row.
Their younger brother Tyrion was just known as 'the Imp'.
Or as 'Gimli' by those who socialised in nerdier circles.
Hardly ever as 'Tyrion'. And certainly never with the sort of respect that his siblings got.

So, not knowing him at all, Sansa had vaguely expected Tyrion to be a rather pitiable sort of person.
Lonely. Anti-social. Perhaps stupid.
And although she'd heard rumors that he was actually quite vulgar, she certainly hadn't been expecting him to be so direct.
And although his humour seemed to be mostly self-depricating, he seemed confident. And certainly intelligent. And he didn't seem to think much of the rest of the Lannisters.

Well, she thought gloomily as the bus pulled away from the kerb, that's one thing we've got in common...