Jon woke, he wasn't sure how much later, bursting with the need to relieve himself. Gendry was curled up against his back, naked body pressed smoothly against his. Jon slipped from the bed noiselessly, shivering as the frigid air burned his unprotected skin. He passed back down the tunnel on bare feet, one hand skimming against the wall, until he was a decent distance away, then took himself in hand, letting the hot stream splash down, sighing noiselessly at the relief. When he was done, he padded quickly back down the tunnel and slipped into the warm bed.

Gendry murmured in his sleep, laying a bare arm around Jon and pulling him closer again. Jon relaxed into his grip. He wasn't sure that what had happened earlier should have happened, but he was too tired, too warm and felt too secure to think about that now. He drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

Next time he woke it was to the awareness that Gendry was awake too. The other man was tracing lazy patterns on his bare hip, curled up behind him. Every now and again he would pause to rub his face into the back of Jon's neck, inhaling deeply. Jon cursed the endless dark that meant he couldn't roll over to see Gendry's face, to see how he felt about the night before. To see what had changed between them.

Gendry must have noticed the change in his breathing as he came awake, because his fingers stilled, and he laid his palm, flat and hot, against Jon's hip. Jon rolled on to his back, putting a small space between the two of them.

He searched for something to say, some comment to capture the enormity of what had happened between them the night before. Not just the physical, but the connection he'd felt with the other man, the safety he felt in his arms, the way his teasing words and looks felt right, familiar.

He wanted more of other man - desperately. But, he was slowly realising, he thought maybe he wanted more than just the physical release they'd shared, maybe more than Gendry wanted to give him. I've only know him a few weeks, he chided himself. I can't be thinking things like this. It's just the heat of the moment, the fear of being trapped together, that's all. Another voice, a small, traitorous one said, You knew Ygritte for far less time than that and you gave her your heart.

And look how that turned out, he thought bitterly, the picture of her staring eyes as he held her to his chest flashing into the front of his mind. He sat up suddenly, pushing the furs off himself.

'We should get moving,' he said to the man still lying in the bedding beside him. 'We have a mission to complete and we can't do it lying around down here.' He felt, more than heard, the stunned and then hurt silence beside him. He knew he wasn't being fair to Gendry. They needed to talk about what had happened, what it meant. But suddenly all he could think of was the way his chest had ripped apart with pain as though the arrow shot at Ygritte had hit him. He couldn't do that again. Couldn't feel that again.

He felt around for his clothes in the dark, pulling his shirt roughly over his head before rustling in his pack for another torch. They were down to two. He lit it quickly and shoved it into a crack in the wall, deliberately not looking Gendry's way as he finished dressing.

They repacked their bags in silence, Jon feeling guilty now at the pained silence coming from the other man as he struggled to put his clothes back to rights, too proud to ask Jon for help.

'Light out?' Jon asked, as they stood, ready to continue.

'Whatever m'lord wants,' Gendry said, a hint of sarcasm colouring his tone. Jon flushed and put the light out, stepping forward into the darkness.

They came across two other dragonglass chambers that morning. Both times they navigated through them by feel, Jon not wanting to waste remaining light and Gendry grunting that he didn't care either way. As with the first, they were large half-spheres, with a single entrance and exit tunnel.

At the exit of second chamber, Jon paused, turning to Gendry in the dark. 'Do you want to stop here for a while?' He asked softly. 'We haven't eaten ...?' Gendry just kept moving, Jon could hear his footsteps in the dark, leading away.

'Wouldn't want to hold you up, your Grace,' he called back over his shoulder, tone neutral, but the words bit into Jon all the same. He thought about calling Gendry back, trying to apologise, to explain why he'd reacted the way he had that morning, but he didn't really understand it himself. So he let Gendry walk on ahead, following with a heavy sigh.

Later, they ate as they walked, Jon passing some dried meat and traveling cakes across. His gloved fingers brushed against Gendry's as he did. Despite himself, his heartbeat tripped and a zing of heat shot through him. What am I doing? He berated himself as he walked. I want him. Obviously I want him. And he wants me too. Or at least wants to bed me. His thoughts swirled round and round. He's a good man. Honourable, strong, courageous ... and those eyes. He shivered at the remembered intensity of the way Gendry watched him. Jon walked on, lost in his own thoughts, paying no attention to what was going on around him. It came as a shock when he found Gendry's arm barring his was, stopping him with a thud. Jon jerked his head up in surprise. Gendry removed his arm swiftly.

'Something's different,' he said. 'I can hear water and there's this ... smell.' Jon tilted his head in response, straining his senses. He could hear the sound too, a soft dripping and lapping of water. And that smell ... familiar, but not. The tang of metal, and heat and - suddenly Jon's eyes widened and heat flooded his body at the memory of the last time he'd smelt that combination.

'There's a hot spring up ahead,' he said.

'A what?' Gendry asked, despite himself.

'Like a pool of hot water, it's warmed deep in the earth and comes up to the surface,' Jon explained. Gendry didn't say anything in response and Jon sighed.

'We should have light as we approach it,' he said, 'the ground will probably be uneven and we don't want to fall in by mistake.' He lit a torch, using the light to glance up at Gendry's face, but the other man was turned away, looking forward into the tunnel.

They walked on, moving swiftly in the light and before much longer the tunnel widened into an open chamber. It wasn't particularly large, about half the size of the dragonglass ones. Off to the right was a small pool of water. It moved sluggishly and Jon could see wisps of steam rising from it. There were two exit tunnels from the chamber and Jon frowned at the sight. He turned to Gendry, who was studying the water with interest.

'Which way, do you think?' he asked. Gendry looked up, noticing the two exits for the first time. He frowned too, walking over for a closer look. After a while he spoke, 'the only difference I can tell is that this one,' he indicated the tunnel on the right, 'is directly opposite the way we came in, and the other is off on an angle.' He shrugged. 'It's a pretty flimsy thing to hang our lives on.' Jon agreed, but he didn't have any better ideas.

'Let's go down it a while,' he suggested 'and see if anything changes. If we get the feeling it's wrong we can come back and try the other one.'

Gendry just grunted in response and started walking.

The torch had only burned down a quarter before they heard it, a high pitched, whistling wail. 'What's that?' Gendry asked, reaching up to clasp the handle of his hammer.

'I think -' said Jon. 'I think it's the wind.' Gendry turned to look at him, eyes wide. And then they both felt it, the briefest whisper of fresh air. Jon's face lit up in a huge grin and Gendry returned it, face transforming with happiness and pure relief. Jon's heart thumped painfully. 'Gendry -' he began, but the other man interrupted him. 'C'mon, let's get out of here,' he said, setting off at a jog, heedless of leaving the light behind him. Jon hurried to catch up.

As they moved the sound got louder and louder, a tearing, howling wall of noise. The tunnel began to lighten too, until they could make out grey walls ahead of them, outside of the torchlight. The tunnel turned sharply and as the rounded the bend Jon laughed out loud. Gendry joined him, eyes glowing.

'We did it!' the other man cheered. 'We fucking did it.' He sagged to his knees and Jon realised - really realised - for the first time, how much pressure and strain he'd been feeling underground, in the dark. He put his hand on Gendry's shoulder and the other man tensed under his touch. 'Don't,' he said, and Jon withdrew his hand as if stung.

Jon looked out of the mouth of the tunnel, his initial elation giving way as he really saw what was happening outside.

'That's a blizzard,' he said. Snow was flying sideways across the face of the cave at terrifying speed and a heavy drift had built up inside the walls. 'And it's coming on dusk by the look of it.' He considered for a moment.

'I think the best thing to do would be to go back to that pool for the night,' he said, and Gendry looked across at him. 'We can get warm, get clean, and come back in the morning to see if the blizzard's broken. If we go out there now -' Jon didn't bother finishing.

Gendry nodded and looked back at the mouth of the cave. He took a few deep breaths of air, as if filling his lungs, to bring the outside world back into the caves with him. 'I never thought I would be happy to see snow,' he muttered, then he turned his heel and headed back into the darkness.