Late again, Jon thought as he heard Arya's key turn in the lock of their apartment. If she was trying to go unnoticed, she had failed. When did she sneak out? Haven't seen her since lunch

"Where are you coming from?", Jon tried to be casual, looking at Arya kicking her way out of her snickers. Nymeria was near his feet, and shook her tail after noticing her mistress getting in. You tell her something, he mentally addressed the husky, It's past ten pm

"I went out with a friend.", she answered. A friend? All the friends she ever talked about were boys. Ah- what were the weird nick-names she gave them? There was Lommy, Hotpie, little Jerry and oh-yes. Gendry. That Gendry name he had heard quite a few times. From her mouth and from Sansa's, and Sansa had a gift to see these kinds of things. Could she have been on a date with that Gendry boy?

"Gendry?", he asked, a brow lifting. He pretended to not care by continuing to read his book, but some voice in him kept asking questions. How is he like? Is he smart and strong? She deserved no less. He wanted to meet him, she had talked about him quite a few times indeed. He wanted to see what made him so special to her, what made her want to go out during a holiday evening, when she usually loved to snuggle in her bed and watch her shows until an indecent hour of the night, and then come sneak in his bed and speak with him when she still couldn't find sleep. He loved those evenings. It had been a while since she hadn't done it though, not since the last holiday.

"How do you know?", she asked, and slipped on the sofa with him after giving the dog a scratch behind the ears.

"You speak about him a lot.", he said, circling her small shoulders. A confused look was in her eyes, but she snuggled against him. He liked to have her near, it felt like… this was where she belonged.

"Hmm.", she simply answered. Like, really, how is he like? What's making her so… weird? Jon kept asking himself. "Is Sansa better? That diner we ate in at noon didn't quite agree with her stomach last time I checked on her.", Arya continued.

"She skipped dinner but she said she was fine. She went out with a guy she met at the sports hall, so it musn't be that terrible.", he chortled.

"That guy she keeps texting? Ah, what's his name again… he's a boxing teacher right?"

"Sandor something."

"What do you think about him?", she asked, trying to read the page he he was at. That question startled him. Right, what did he think about Sandor? He knew him, he had seen him and even talked with him a little bit when he had gone at the sports hall to do some bodybuilding. He seemed like a decent man, a bit harsh in his words, but Jon had never wondered what he genuinely thought about him.

"Well… he can't be any worse than this Joffrey she's told me about."

"That was the beginning of High-School, she's way past that now.", Arya answered. Jon smiled. Yes, San had changed a lot. As a child she always dreamed of princesses and fame and boys. Now she was way down on earth. He worried not a single bit about her.

"You've been skipping theatre.", he noted, expecting a reaction from the younger one. He didn't want to fight again, he just wanted to… see how she handled the subject now.

"I won't ever go back.", she answered, not bothering to rise her eyes from his page. Is she even reading? It's a super boring history facts book, she hates those. It did not matter. She said she wouldn't ever go back to that old pervert, and that felt somewhat like triumph. She's starting to understand, part of him was proud of her. Aye, but we got that Gendry boy now, the other part said, but he stifled it. She pretended to read for another minute, and then left, off to the bathroom, and he closed his book and retired to his bedroom.

Later in his bed he tossed and turned, unable to find sleep. Usually Ygritte was here warming his bed on Sunday evenings, because they both didn't work on Monday mornings and they could sleep in and have some louder pillow play while Sansa and Arya were gone from the flat. But with their recent argument he doubted that would ever happen again. And as expected on holiday evenings, another lady came to crawl in his bedroom.

"I can't sleep.", she said, and her wet brown hair shone with the lights that passed through the curtains.

"Aye, come here you.", he moved aside, leaving her some space in his bed. He knew she found his bed more comfortable. He had a king size while she still had some toddler thing. Well, not actually a toddler thing, but she looked like a toddler in it because of how short she was. She snuggled up against him. Yes, he loved this kind of evenings.

"Do you have any holiday for Christmas?", she whispered. She didn't need to. Sansa had not come back from her date, and they were the only two in the flat. But he whispered as well, he liked how intimate it sounded, like they were hiding from the rest of the world.

"I reserved Christmas eve and the morning of Christmas day.", he answered. He had taken these measures as soon as he had arrived here. He knew Sansa and Arya had kept the tradition of sipping hot chocolate while watching some old movie after moving to LA, and kept it even after dad's death, when they spent Christmas just the two of them. How awful must that be, he thought. Even if he had been far away with strangers, he had always spent Christmas with loads of people, even when he worked, it had always remained a cheerful day. Now imagining the two of them sitting on a couch by themselves in this tiny flat wasn't as cheerful, especially when it was impossible to forget that the couch was a three seats thing, and that however they might have sat, they must have noticed the blank space. And it was their first Christmas without their mother… he would have never forgiven himself if he were not here for them this time. Arya's broad smile at his answer made him a thousand times more convinced by his decision. He had been right to push his request to his chief, if that was enough to make her smile this much. He took her in his arms, and buried his nose in her wet hair. "It's going to be a cool Christmas, you'll see. We'll buy a tree and decorate it with popcorn. And then it'll be your birthday. I already have your gift." He heard her giggle, and kept his nose in her wet hair. He loved the fresh feeling. He felt her arm circle him, and inhaled her scent of shampoo.

"How's Ygritte?", she spoke against his shirt, troubling the peace of that moment. Why is she talking about her?

"No idea. I don't think you'll see her hang around here anymore.", he said. He would have liked to see her reaction. He didn't know why. He didn't even know if she even had any reaction. Why would she, in the end? How was she supposed to react to him dumping his girlfriend? He'd never know, her face was buried in his chest. His own reaction though was quite clear. He was happy. Relieved. He didn't feel like a toy anymore. Sometimes it felt weird to think of himself as a celibate, but he liked the freedom.

She said nothing, and kept her face hidden. At some point she squeezed him tighter. Shouldn't she be saying that she's sad for me or something? He asked himself. But he forgot about it. He hadn't really expected her to be sad for him. A few minutes after her breathing was steady and regular against his chest, he allowed himself to breathe in a whiff of the smell of shampoo in her hair again. It was spicy with fruit. He kept her locked in his embrace, and drifted off to sleep.

When he woke, she had disappeared. He looked for her for a few seconds, the time he needed to emerge from the sleepy haze, and realized the flat was dead silent. He was partly relieved, partly confused. He sighed. Good, he thought bitterly. At least she didn't feel the morning hardness, or so he hoped, because that would have been an awkward situation to experience with his little sister. Little sister, he almost laughed. He tried to stifle the sneaky voice in his head that told him he would have almost liked to see how she would have reacted to his morning hardness. Good, it's good that she left, he convinced himself once again. Because on top of that uncontrollable erection situation, on mornings his mind was always in a weird state figuring out the line between dream and reality, and had he woken with her in his arms, he knew he would have been tempted to kiss her. As a thoughtless reflex, of course. He always kissed Ygritte when she woke next to him.