Chapter 6

Redheads never looked attractive when they had been crying. Robb was no exception.

He kept the waterworks down while dealing with Mr Scott's business issues (which mostly consisted of calling the late landlord's former tenants and informing them that their contracts had not, in fact, been nullified) and while around anyone outside the family. The other three were in tears more often than not and weren't exactly looking to him for comfort, so Theon left them alone.

None of the Scotts shed a tear in his presence. Cat he had caught a few times hurriedly drying her eyes when he asked her if she needed him to do anything.

"How aren't you crying?" Rickon asked him once, the little boy toddling into the kitchen. He was hungry and his mummy wasn't there to make something for him to eat. Theon took pity on him and grabbed an apple from the bowl on top of the refrigerator.

"How would I cry?"

"Because Daddy's dead." Daddy. Did that mean Rickon thought Mr Scott was Theon's father, too? Probably not. He was too young to ken the difference between "my daddy" and "yours".

Theon leant down and handed Rickon the apple. "Men don't cry," he told the boy.

"How can you be so happy?" Robb snapped, his eyes bloodshot and rimmed in red. His nose was a mess. Theon wanted to do indescribable things to him.

He tilted his head back to look at Robb upside down.

"I'm not happy: I'm watching telly. Sorry, I'm not acting all depressed."

"That's the problem. What's wrong with you?"

Theon brought his head back to look at the television screen, folding his hands in his lap.

"How do you mean, oh, wise one?"

"You haven't cried yet. How no?"

How no? Theon thought. Because I haven't cried since I was seven and my real father told me if I cried again he was going to beat my sister. Because when I was twelve, my uncle stopped visiting and no amount of crying made him come back. Oh, and, let's not forget, when I was seventeen, the age you are now, your own father shook my hand and told me, "Good luck" before tossing me out into the world. Real men don't cry, Robb, or did you forget that?

What he said was:

"I don't cry."

"Aren't you sad at all?"

"A bit."

Robb's hands clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Cry, man, or can't you cry at all?"

"I can," Theon conceded. "I choose not to."

"I thought you were my brother. Fuck you, Grey."

"No," Theon snarled, getting up from the couch and whirling on Robb. "Fuck you. Fuck you for expecting me to be sad about the man you called 'Dad'. In case you haven't noticed, that's what you called him, not me.

"I stopped being your brother three years ago when your father didn't adopt me and I graduated from the system. He chose not to make me part of your family. He abandoned me so don't expect me to cry because your precious daddy's dead."

With that, Theon left the room.

ØØØ

"I'm calling it off," Robb breathed against Theon's skin.

"Calling what off?"

"The engagement." Robb's eyes added the word 'stupid'. "This-" he gestured between them-"isn't right."

Theon told himself he wasn't offended.

"I can't be here and have her there, thinking we're going to end up together. So I'm calling it off." Robb paused. "I thought you'd be happier."

Instead, Theon's stomach clenched. He didn't want to be real. He didn't want this to be a relationship. They were good the way they were. Robb was going to get married and Theon was going to be a bachelor until late in his life when he finally found some woman to settle down with, not…this.

"So what? You break it off and…?"

"And…" Robb trailed off, looking at Theon like he expected him to finish the rest, like they were on the same page. "We stay together. I thought that's what you wanted. If it isn't," he shrugged but Theon would have to be stupid to not see the sentiment underneath.

Was Robb stupid? He was set to follow in his father's footsteps. He didn't need this sort of scandal.

"I don't think you realize what you're asking."

"I'm asking you to be with me!"

"I am with you!"

"I meant officially." Robb's voice quieted. "I want other people to ken."

"Well, I don't," Theon persisted. "Do you want to be branded a poofter?"

"Fuck off, Theon."

Robb pushed off his chest, glaring.

Theon glanced at his crotch and sighed. Well, he could always beat one off.

ØØØ

"Your mum's gone absolute bonkers," Big Jon said, handing Robb the daily newspaper and pointing at a particular article. They had been doing the rounds, he and Theon, checking up on the apartments. There was a storm coming up and Robb had decided to inform the tenants that he was not, in fact, responsible for a lack of power when the lines were down. Theon was mostly there as back-up in case anyone decided to do something funny.

He leaned on Robb's shoulder to read the article.

Late Lord's Wife Demands Trial for Husband's Death, Son's Accident

Lady Catelyn Scott is demanding Cersei Lancaster be brought to trial for the unfortunate accident that killed Lord Chancellor Robert Burton and Lord Eddard Scott several years ago. Mrs Lancaster was taking holiday with the two at the time, as she does every year. "It was unexpected," she tells this reporter. "The gun went off so quickly. I hear these things are very sensitive. I wouldn't know: I don't use the things myself."

Lady Scott's youngest daughter, Arya Scott, remains missing. Any information regarding her disappearance…

Theon raised an eyebrow. Cat had been simmering on the topic for months, ever since the police decided it was an accident. The Lancasters and the Scotts had a long, tumultuous history with little love lost between them. It had always eaten at Mr Scott that Mrs Lancaster was included in their yearly holidays.

Big Jon had done a complete one-eighty since Robb had taken over his father's business. The first time Robb had met with the tenants, he had loudly demanded a drastic rent decrease, no cap on electricity and reupholstering on all the furniture in his home. Robb had told him no, flat out. When Big Jon continued to test him, Robb handed him an eviction notice…and threatened a non-molestation order if he refused to comply.

Big Jon was much more cooperative after that. Theon still didn't want Robb around him without Grey Wind or himself. Mr Scott had been a very lax landlord. These tenants had been too comfortable with the idea that he would never toss them out on their ungrateful arses. Some of them still though they could pressure Robb enough to keep him from doing so.

Others, like Big Jon, thought they could talk to Robb however they wanted.