for Lionel

[tooktheblack]

"He probably doesn't," Jon said. He noticed the brush of Lionel's hand and locked his fingers in his for a moment to squeeze it before dropping his own hand again. Just enough to let the other boy know he'd felt it but not so much as to be overt in public

Comments

[wearestars]

Lionel is pretty sure he just witnessed the Westeros equivalent of locking the dog out of the room so that you can have sex. He'd really like to feel bad for Ghost, who may have just given them both the stank eye, but the whole situation is so absurd that it's all Lionel can do to mostly bite back his smile. There's something about sending the wolf away, too, that makes what's happening seem all the more real, even moreso than the brief squeeze of Jon's fingers.

"It's just past the Compound, up here," Lionel says, and slides Jon a sidelong glance as they walk.

[tooktheblack]

"Summerfell is much further away," Jon admitted. "I sort of like that, considering it gives me a chance to be away from so much activity. I don't think I could live in the actual Compound for very long without going mad. Far more people than I'm used to on a daily basis and I'm sort of surly."

Perhaps that was an understatement; other than a few people, of which he counted Lionel in their number, his patience for small talk was very small indeed and he wasn't very good at getting to know other people.

"Much better with wolves than people."

[wearestars]

"Surly?" Lionel echoes with a hiccup of laughter. "No, Jon. A little stoic, maybe. Reticent. Not surly. Surly involves rudeness." Many things Jon may be, but rude is definitely not one of them. Lionel has his doubts that anyone so concerned with propriety and following rules could ever be.

[tooktheblack]

"Clearly you've never been under my command," Jon said, laughing lightly. "I think others might have a different opinion."

He reached for his hand again, though, and squeezed it lightly. This was very new, the idea of intimacy with someone after Ygritte as much as the idea of intimacy with another man but it felt right, for the moment, and Jon was willing to accept it.