Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What did you just say?” Sansa stared across the table at her fiance Joffrey in horror. No way did he just say what she thought he said.

No way was he admitting to cheating and breaking up with her at a Denny’s.

She did not just have her world ended over the Grand Slam breakfast right before she had to go to work.

Joffrey didn’t even have the courtesy to look mortified, either by his cheating or at his choice of venue to drop the bad news. Instead, he was trying to hide a smirk and not doing a very good job at it.

“I mean, it just happened.”

His lame excuse made her want to puke up poorly cooked eggs and burnt bacon. She felt dizzy. She grabbed a hold of the coffee mug in front of her as if it could support her. Sweet, sweet coffee. At least you would never let me down, she thought. Not like this asshole.

She took a sip and the caffeine seemed to clear her head a little. “What do you mean, it just happened? Cheating doesn’t just happen, Joffrey. You don’t just happen to put your penis in another woman’s vagina. There’s about a billion steps you have to cross from fully clothed to intercourse.”

He flinched at her blunt words, and cast a quick look around the Dennys. No one else here seemed to care what they were talking about, from the tired looking waitresses to the booth of burnouts a few feet away. The Lannisters were always so concerned about how they were perceived by others, but not enough to stop doing shitty things. Sansa knew that Joffrey’s father, Jaime, had cheated on his mother Ceresi, several times, and they had kept it quiet because his father was a state senator, and Joff seemed to be following right in his father’s footsteps, working at the family consulting business, having political aspirations, and the cheating.

But Sansa was the one who was bad for “causing a scene” just because she said not nice words in a loud tone.

At least the smirk was wiped off Joffrey’s face. “You don’t have to be so loud.”

“Is that why you took me to a Dennys?” Sansa asked, this time deliberately raising her voice. “So I wouldn’t make a scene when you told me that you’re having an affair with the woman you swore was ‘just a family friend?’’

At this, the two waitresses looked over at them from their workstation. Even the burnouts gave them a surprised glance. One of the waitresses shook her head.

Joffrey glared at me. “Get yourself together, Sansa. This is not how people of class act.”

“People of class don’t cheat on their fiancees either.”

Sansa was thunderstruck by this whole situation. She knew Cersei hated her for being a Stark and not one of their monied friends like the Tyrells. And Sansa was a disappointment, since she was nothing but a lowly barista at cafe, a job given to her by her mom’s childhood friend. It didn’t matter that most of Joff’s friends didn’t work at all, and Joff pretty much “worked” in name only at his father’s firm, Sansa was low class according to Cersei. Joff had always said she was more real than any of his friends, but apparently reality got old quick.

She had noticed he started getting a lot of texts on his phone, but he explained those away as messages from friends, and had started meeting “the boys” after work for drinks. And when he was home with her, he seemed extra irritated. He would claim Sansa never made anything he liked to eat, even though just a month ago, he had told her the chicken tetrazzini she made was the best thing he had ever eaten. He would snap that she never let him watch anything he wanted to watch, even though she had never been a fan of those car fix-up shows and yet that was what they were watching, and like Joff was ever going to do anything to get his hands dirty. He had made a random comment that she should dress more professionally, even though her sweaters, jeans, and ironic t-shirts were pretty much the standard barista uniform.

The coup de gras was last week when he made fun of her songwriting, the only thing she loved to do, and said the musical art project she did with Arya for YouTube and social media was something teenagers did and not something an adult should be doing. She had cried at that, feeling as if he had physically struck her. He knew how much her music meant to her, and the fact that people actually tuned in to listen to her sing and watch Arya’s animations, made her proud. They had even monetized their channel and had released the music on iTunes. It wasn’t just a hobby, it was a side gig, and she hoped one day she could quit the coffee shop and make it her career. He had always encouraged it before now…

When she started adding up this sudden change and all of the other weird behaviors, she was suspicious. And since she was the one that actually paid the bills, because “he made the money and she should do something,” she looked over both his credit card bills and the shared cell phone plan a bit more carefully. The bulk of the texts were coming from one number, and there was a strange amount of money spent at fancy restaurants that seemed more for romantic dinners than after-work drinks with his friends.

She had finally gotten up the nerve last week and asked who the number belonged to, because it sure was suddenly showing up a lot, and he admitted it was Margarey Tyrell, an old family friend, whose parents were getting a divorce, and he wanted to be “there for her.” He said they had practically grown up together, and she was “almost like a sister” to him. Then he had gotten angry and said Sansa was being unreasonably jealous.

But if Margarey Tyrell was like a sister to Joffrey, it was the kind you slept with, since he admitted he had taken her to drinks one night, one thing had led to another back at her apartment, and now he was leaving Sansa to be with her.

“Look, I don’t know what you want me to say,” Joffrey said, frowning at her like she was the one ruining his life. “I haven’t been happy for a long time.”

“It would have been REALLY nice if you had said something, instead of letting me go ahead and plan a wedding that was never going to happen.” Sansa still felt the edges of shock threatening to devour her. “You sure seemed happy until your mom reconnected the two of you at the country club.”

“Well, sometimes you don’t know how miserable you are until someone points it out to you.” He shrugged. “She makes me happy. She understands me, we grew up together, our parents are best friends. She just never knew how she felt until we got engaged. That’s not her fault. But we’re together now, so…”

Sansa hadn’t been about to beg him to stay, but a part of her couldn’t believe he’d just end it like that, after reconnecting with this girl a month ago.

“It’s not as simple as it’s over, we’re broken up,” she said, feeling hot and cold somehow at the same time. Was that what you felt like when you went into shock? “We have bills together. I’ve put non-refundable down payments on things for the wedding. We live together…”

He waved away her concerns physically with an impatient hand, like they were annoying gnats. “Our bills we can sort on our own. Maybe you can talk to the wedding people, this kind of thing happens all the time, they must have a refund policy.”

Sansa didn’t know how often fiances broke up with you for family friends that were like sisters, but she knew what non-refundable meant on contracts. “Joff, they’re not going to…”

“And as for living together, well, the apartment is in my name. You were never listed as a tenant. Maybe you can stay with Shae for a bit.”

Sansa was panicking now. The thought of dividing up everything they bought together, of trying to find a place on her small salary. “But Shae’s already got a roommate, they’re not going to want me…”

“Well maybe you can get a roommate then. I’m sure you can figure something out.” Joffrey made it clear that her concerns were no longer his problem, and moreover, he didn’t care about them either. Sansa was hurt by how quickly he seemed to be able to shut off his emotion toward her. “But you need to sort it out by the weekend.”

Sansa was sure she hadn’t heard him correctly. “Excuse me?”

“I want your things out of my apartment by the end of the weekend.”

“It’s Thursday! I don’t even have…”

“Look, Margarey is telling her boyfriend about us now, and she said he’s got a terrible temper, and she’s afraid that he will do something crazy, so she needs to move in with me as soon as possible and get her things into our place pretty quickly. She said she wouldn’t mind putting some of your things in boxes as she moves in, but…”

“Your girlfriend is not touching my things!” Sansa interjected hotly. “You can’t evict anyone without a 30 days notice, so there’s no way you can kick me out by Sunday night.”

Joffrey leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at her. “You WILL get your shit and get out of my apartment, Sansa.” His voice had turned to a low hiss. “And you will do it by Sunday night. Or I will toss your shit outside in the lobby. I don’t give a damn. Margarey and I are going to be happy together and there’s not a damn thing in the world you can do about it.”

Sansa felt like she was having an out of body experience. No way was this real life. “I HAVE to find a place to live, Joffrey. You have to understand that. It’s going to be hard enough to find anything I can afford, let alone anything that is available right now…”

“So go to Alaska with your brother, or go to Portland with Arya. I’m sure they’d take you in.”

He knew that Sansa needed some distance with Arya. The two sisters could never live together again, childhood was fraught enough. And Sansa had a strained relationship with Jon, their half-brother. Their father had cheated on Arya and Sansa’s mother, and Jon was the result, something no one had found out until Sansa was 13 and Jon 15. He lived with his mother and then joined the military out of high school. They had been building a relationship, but it wasn’t the kind of thing where she felt like she could just turn up on his doorstep looking for a home. And she wasn’t going to Alaska anyway.

“I also want my ring back,” Joffrey said, holding out his hand. “It’s a family heirloom, you understand.”

Sansa looked down at the small diamonds surrounding an emerald in a platinum setting that had been some ring that belonged to his mother, not even an engagement ring, but something his dad had given her for Christmas one year that he had decided to use. And she hadn’t even minded, she had loved him and wanted to marry him.

Hands shaking, she twisted the ring back and forth on her hand, but it felt stuck and wouldn’t move.

Joffrey frowned. “Come on, Sansa, don’t make even this difficult.”

“I’m trying!” She twisted hard, finally succeeding in getting it off and flipped it toward him. Her finger looked bare, a thin line that marked her as having been engaged, but now was nothing. Something he didn’t want anymore.

Joffrey put the ring in his pocket and stood up. “Text me when you’re ready to pick up your things this weekend so I know you’re coming. Oh, I ordered you an Uber to take you to work today, but after that, you’re going to figure out your own rides to and from wherever you’re living.”

So now Sansa had no home, no transportation, and no fiance. Her stomach rolled. She watched Joffrey walk away from her without a second glance, looking at his phone, probably texting Margarey. She made it in time to the bathroom to throw up.

The Uber driver looked at her like she was going to throw up again, but all she did was sob quietly in the backseat while she texted her brother and sister the news of the breakup and her now homelessness, knowing they’d respond when they could. She thought she was all cried out, but as she walked into the door at Sticky Fingers, the cafe she worked at, Shae, her best friend, looked up and said, “Oh my God, what happened?” and Sansa burst into fresh tears.

Petyr Baelish, her boss and her mother’s childhood best friend, had given Sansa this job after her mother had died of cancer. Sansa had dropped out of college to take care of her, and hadn’t gone back. Petyr always claimed Sansa was like the daughter he never had, and still managed to hit on her.

“Joffrey broke up with me at Denny’s!” Sansa managed between sobs.

“Oh honey, no!” Shae came around the counter to hug her. “And right before work too? That son of a bitch!”

“Shae, language!” Petyr said, coming over to them. “Sansa, dear, sit down. You look like you might pass out.”

Sansa felt like she might pass out. She let Petyr lead her to a table, his hand on the small of her back in way too intimate of a gesture, and sat down in the chair he pulled out.

Shae came over to her with a mug of herbal tea. “It’ll help. Do you want anything to eat?”

“Nice of you to be so free with my product, Shae,” Petyr said.

Shae waved him away. “Give me a minute with her.”

“As long as its a minute. One of you needs to be working.” Petyr walked back to his office.

Shae gave her a hug. “Tell me quick before the next rush.”

Sansa went over the whole thing with Shae, the words still sounding unreal to her.

“You can stay on my couch,” Shae said.

“Thank you,” Sansa felt tears well up again. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do…”

“Shae!” Petyr was leaning out of his office. “Customer!” He pointed at the man standing at the counter.

Shae rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, he could do it, but nooo…” She jumped up. “I’m coming!”

Sansa took a sip of her drink and watched Shae walk to the counter. She saw the man’s back and still immediately knew who it was - Grumpy Black Coffee.

Baristas tended to have nicknames for regulars, White Iced Cake Donut Girl, Peppermint Mocha 2 Extra Shots, and the like. Grumpy Black Coffee was easily recognizable for a lot of reasons, but one was definitely his height - he was at least 6’6, and built like someone who lifted heavy things for a living. He had shoulder-length dark hair that he let fall over the right side of his face - that was a mess of scars from some sort of accident, and a trim beard. He was always wearing some variation of black t-shirt, jeans, and heavy work boots. Sansa wondered if he ever smiled, he came in every day, rolled his eyes at the special menu, and ordered “1 large black coffee, none of that fancy shit.” He tipped well, never minded the wait, but was always brusque and to the point. Sansa and Shae liked to imagine what his job was - they had last decided on assassin.

Grumpy Black Coffee got his coffee from Shae, turned to walk to the door and saw her. He looked surprised to see her sitting there, he was probably expecting her to be behind the counter, and then he took in her puffy, tear-streaked face. Sansa fully expected him to pass by her quickly, but instead he walked right up to her and said, “What happened?”

Considering Sansa had never talked to him beyond the usual coffee chatter, she was caught off guard, and blurted out the truth. “Bad breakup.”

He sipped his coffee. “He’s a moron.”

Sansa didn’t know what to say to that.

A ringing noise came from his pocket, and he pulled out a phone that looked small in his large hands. “Hello? Frosty! How are you?” He walked off, continuing his conversation.

Shae walked up. “Petyr keeps staring at you. He’s either going to offer to comfort you in your hour of need or yell at you to get to work. Either way…”

“Yeah, I’m coming.” Sansa watched Grumpy Black Coffee walk away from the window, wondering why him calling Joffrey a moron made her feel a tiny bit better.

Chapter Text

Sandor only visited the pretentious cafe next door because of the hot redhead.

He had been walking by the overly fussy coffee shop one day, on the way somewhere, and happened to glance in and see her. She had been cleaning tables near the window, braided red hair falling over her shoulder, and she happened to look up and see him.

She had the prettiest blue eyes. He stopped walking.

He waited for her to react to his scars, he was used to seeing it since he left combat and came home. People, especially women, would glance at him and then try not to look at him, and try not to make their not looking noticeable.

The redhead did the strangest thing. She gave him a small smile, and a little wave.

Sandor was so surprised, he actually scurried off, like a scared rabbit, heart beating fast, not from fear, but from a strange exhilaration.

The next day, he walked into the coffee shop, and the redhead was there behind the counter, making coffee. She smiled in recognition when she saw him. “Decided not to pass us by today?”

She was even prettier up close. Soft pink lips, those big blue eyes, and curves that weren’t hidden by the band t-shirt and jeans she wore.

He realized he was staring at her, and looked at the menu quickly, seeing all of the options that were more dessert than coffee. “1 large black coffee.” He hoped this was one of the places that had large and not the weird made up names for sizes instead.

“Do you want house blend, dark roast, or light roast?”

Apparently you couldn’t even order black coffee without having pointless options. “I have no fucking idea.”

Her pink lips quirked into a real smile, and not the fake work one he was very familiar with. “You look like a dark roast kind of guy.”

When she handed him the cup, their fingers brushed slightly. Sandor had had kisses that felt less intimate than that.

She seemed like she was waiting for him to try it, so he took a sip. It was surprisingly good, and it must have shown on his face, because she said, “I knew it. You’re a dark roast person.”

He shoved five dollars into the tip jar. She noticed that. “Have a good day!”

He nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

And he had been back every day. It wasn’t for the coffee. It was to see her. Sometimes he would sit and drink his coffee, and listen to her chat with her coworkers. That was how he learned her name was Sansa. And that she was engaged.

He wasn’t shocked. She was gorgeous, of course, she had a man. And even if she didn’t, there was no way she’d be interested in him - way too out of his league.

But it became the bright spot of his day, to stop for overpriced coffee and see Sansa.

He almost didn’t see her that day - he was used to her being at the counter, and was more than a little disappointed that her dark-haired coworker waited on him that day. And then he had turned around and saw her sitting at a table, still wiping her eyes, face puffy, lips red, all signs that she had been crying.

She was always such a cheery little thing, it was extra shocking to see her like this. His first thought was that he’d kill whoever it was that hurt her, and he strode up to her, ready for a fight.

“What happened?” he asked, more or less wanting a name. If that creepy boss of hers had laid a hand on her…

“Bad breakup,” she said.

He took a sip of his coffee. From the looks of it, she had not made the decision, so it was obvious that the fiance had broken up with her. Some guy had her and dumped her? “He’s a moron.”

Those big eyes widened.

Just then, his phone rang, saving him from saying anything stupid like, Now that you’re single, want to have a drink with me, and he answered quickly. “Hello?”

“Hound!”

It was his best friend. “Frosty! How are you?” He exited the coffee shop. Knowing Jon Snow, he was going to have all sorts of stories about the Alaskan wilderness and the adventure tours he did, and the women he charmed on those tours.

“Same shit, different day.” That had been their motto back in the military.

The nicknames were reminiscent of the comraderie among their unit. Sandor had gotten the name Hound because he had a nose for bad situations, according to Jon. Jon had been Snowman for obvious reasons, and Sandor had changed it to Frosty one night and it stuck.

“Tell me about it.” Sandor felt like he had been stuck in a rut since he had been discharged after the shrapnel injury he sustained not only ruined his looks, which let’s face it, were never great to begin with, but also ended his career. He hadn’t had a home to come back to - Gregor had made sure of that - so he took his grandad’s apartment over the bar, and then spent his evenings working there, as a bartender, a bouncer, a dishwasher, whatever was needed.

“When are you going to come up and visit me?” Frosty was asking.

“When there isn’t feet of snow up there.” Sandor had no love of the cold.

His friend laughed. “You seeing anyone?”

Sandor laughed at that. “Has hell frozen over yet?”

“Dude, I’m worried about you. Ever since the divorce and your discharge, all you’ve done is work at the bar. I’ve invited you up here a million times, you never come. Bane says he hasn’t heard from you in months, and he lives in the lower 48, so he’s closer than I am. You’ve got to do more than serve drunks and stare at the TV.”

“I’m fine.”

“You sound it.” Jon was being sarcastic. “Hey, do you still have that spare room?”

“Yeah, you coming for a visit?”

“Eventually, but that’s not why I’m asking. My sister is looking for a place to stay, she just had a bad thing with a roommate, it’s a whole story. Could you do me a massive favor and let her stay with you until she can find her own place?”

Sandor cringed. He didn’t exactly want a roommate, let alone a female one. He didn’t need some woman taking up his space. He had been married, and it hadn’t worked out well. If it was anyone else in the world, he would tell them absolutely not. But it was Frosty. The man had saved his hide more times than he could count. They were like brothers. If he couldn’t do a favor for Jon…

“Which sister? The artist or the songbird?” Jon had talked alot about his half-sisters during their time in the military. He had been particularly proud of their joint venture - an animated musical that they shared online. Sandor remembered hearing the voice of the singer, that throaty voice following him into his dreams many nights.

“The songbird. Don’t tell her I showed you guys the videos, she’s shy about people she knows watching it. She’s never wanted to perform in front of people.”

“Don’t know why, she’s got a great voice.”

“I know. And she writes the music and the lyrics. She and Arya got all the talent in the family. I’m just the pretty face.”

Sandor felt himself relenting. “How long do you think?”

“A few months. Arya’s already looking at apartments in the area for her. And I’ll pay you rent while she’s there, just tell me what half of the costs is.”

“You don’t have to.”

“No, but I’m going to.”

Sandor knew he would too. “Well, tell her it’s not much, but she’s welcome to it.”

“Hound, you’re the best! I really appreciate this, man.”

“Text me her number, I’ll reach out and we’ll plan a move in time.”

“Sending it now.” A moment later, Sandor heard a ding on his phone. “I think it goes without saying, but don’t mess with my sister.”

Sandor knew Jon was protective of his sisters, but like he would try anything. “Frosty, you know I’ve sworn off dating.”

“I'm just saying, she's in a vulnerable state right now. And is my sister.”

“You’re thinking of Bane. He’s the ladies man, not me.” Their friend Bane was always charming the ladies, and Frosty was the typical pretty boy, pulling women without even trying. Sandor knew he was neither. "Your sister and the rest of the women in this town aren't interested."

“Sandor Clegane is going to be a celibate monk now?”

“Yeah, one who works at a bar. I’ll text my new roommate later, gotta go.”

Chapter Text

Sansa was grateful that Shae’s roommate was fine with her staying on their couch for the time being. She was glad to have anywhere to stay since Joffrey kicked her out of their apartmetnt with only the clothes on her back and promptly moved Margarey in.

But it didn’t mean that the couch was comfortable. It was a typical thrift store find, and the cushions were lumpy in places, flat in the other, and she detected a faint whiff of cat pee.

She had gone from sleeping in their large king-sized bed with the high-thread count sheets (only the best for Joffrey) to trying to sleep on a smelly, lumpy couch with a throw blanket with anime characters on it as her only covers. And she wasn’t the one that cheated! Shouldn’t the cheater be the one on the couch?

She had already cried her heart out with Arya on the phone earlier, and as expected, Arya was ready to hop on a plane and come kick the shit out of Joffrey.

“How long has this shit been going on?” Arya asked.

“As near as I can tell, a month.”

“So he’s ready to bail on a 4-year relationship for some chick he’s known for a month?”

“Well, she’s an old family friend, so he’s known her longer than that.”

“Do you think he’s hooked up with her before?”

Sansa hadn’t thought that before, but now she did. “I don’t know, maybe? I don’t want to think about it, Arya. I’m sick enough as it is.”

“He’s such a piece of shit,” Arya said. “I never understood what you saw in him, Sansa! He’s never treated you well.”

“He wasn’t a bad boyfriend,” Sansa defended. “He took care of most of the bills. He was sweet when we first started dating.”

“Jesus, do you hear yourself? You’re talking about when you first started dating. Everyone is nice when you first start dating, it’s like a job interview, you’re on your best behavior.”

“He took care of me when I was sick with the flu that one time...”

“Once. Stop defending him, Sansa!”

“I love him, Arya! I can’t just turn the feelings off like he can.”

“Exactly. He just turned off the feelings. He’s always been a self-centered little prick.”

Sansa sighed. Arya had seemed ambivalent at best to Joffrey, but when he wouldn’t let her come stay at their place for Christmas because she wanted to bring her dog, Nymeria, with her, Arya had cussed him out over Facetime and had gone to Alaska for Christmas that year. Sansa had felt stuck between the man she loved and her sister and tried to smooth things over to no avail.

“What did he think of Artemis in the Garden?” Arya asked, mentioning their project.

Sansa was silent.

“That’s what I thought. It didn’t involve him, so your songwriting and singing, the thing you love more than anything, wasn’t important to him.”

Sansa couldn’t disagree with her.

“You know what? Jon never liked him either.”

“Jesus, Arya.”

Once she was satisfied that Arya wasn’t coming to kill Joffrey, Sansa had convinced her the best way she could help right now was to start the online search for apartments for her. Arya seemed to have better luck than Sansa did finding things online. She was confident she would get a call by Sunday morning at the latest from Arya declaring she had found a sublet with 8 other roommates or something.

Jon had texted earlier that he had a plan, and she hadn’t been able to call him back yet, so she finally dialed his number. He picked up immediately, greeting her with, “I found you a place!”

That was the last thing she had expected. “What? How?”

“An Army buddy of mine lives there. The Hound, you remember me talking about him?”

Sansa rolled her eyes. Her brother and his nicknames for his friends. “Maybe?”

“The one that got discharged early? Took a shitload of shrapnel?”

“Yeah, I remember you talking about that.”

“Well he just so happens to have a spare room in his apartment. I asked if you could stay there until you found your own place, and he said sure. He works at the bar the apartment is over, so you probably won’t see him a lot. Your schedules don’t overlap, so it’s almost like having your own place.”

Sansa groaned, thinking of trying to sleep while there was a bar below her. But beggars couldn’t be choosers, and having her own space and own bed would be better than what she had now. She could always sleep with her earbuds in and get a sound machine. “What bar does he work at?”

“The Stranger.”

“Are you serious?” Sansa had only looked at that place every single day. “It’s right next door to Sticky Fingers!”

“It’s meant to be! You won’t have to worry about getting to work without a car.”

That was a big advantage for Sansa. “How much is rent?”

“He wasn’t going to take any, but don’t worry, I’m covering it for you. I want you to save as much as you can so you can find a place.”

Sansa felt her eyes brim with tears at her brother’s generosity. “Thank you, Jon. You didn’t have to do that.”

“You’re my sister,” he said simply.

“So what’s this guy like?”

“Hound’s a great guy, he’s a bit rough around the edges, but has a heart of gold. He’s saved my ass more than a few times. I wouldn’t send you to live with someone I didn’t trust 100%.”

“Does he have a name beyond Hound?”

Jon laughed. “Yes, it’s Sandor. Sandor Clegane.”

“OK. Well this sounds like it just might work. I’ve never had a guy roommate before. Well, except Joffrey.”

“He will be a perfect gentleman, don’t worry. He’s not a creep to begin with, plus I warned him not to mess with you.”

“After Joffrey, I’m not messing with anyone.”

“That’s pretty much what he said too, you can have yourself a little Lonely Hearts Club. His wife left him for his brother while we were shipped out.”

“Oh my God, that’s terrible!” Not that she wished that on anyone, but at least he understood her current state of mind. She hoped he wouldn’t be the typical divorced guy and bring an endless parade of much younger women back from the bar, but again beggar and choosers.

“I already gave him your number, I’m texting you his right now. He sounded like he was fine with you moving in ASAP. He’s up late, working at a bar obviously, so you can text him now, maybe work it out between the two of you.”

“Thank you so much for all of this,” she said. “You’re the best big brother.”

“Love you, sis.”

“Love you too.” They hung up and Sansa took a deep breath, suddenly terribly nervous to be messaging this guy. She put his name into her phone. Sandor Clegane. Roommate. She typed him a quick text.

Hi, Sandor. Jon said you agreed to let me stay at your place. Thank you so much!

She didn’t expect a reply back quickly, but she saw the sign that he was typing pop right back up.

No problem. I owe your brother a lot.

I have to have my stuff out of my old place by Sunday evening. Is that a problem?

Not at all. He said you needed somewhere ASAP.

Your old roommate’s a dick for only giving you a few days to move.

Sansa snorted at that.

You have no idea. It’s my ex-boyfriend.

Ouch. Were you together long?

Four years.

That sucks.

He cheated on me and is moving his new girlfriend in.

She didn’t know why she was telling heartbreak to a complete stranger, maybe it was because he was one.

Been there, done that.

Jon mentioned you were divorced.

Did he tell you why?

Yes. My situation sucks, but that’s horrible. Your brother and your wife.

Yeah. I let her have most of my stuff, I didn’t want to see either of them again. Moved clear across the country to get away from them.

Sansa wished she could be like that, just move away and leave everything behind, but Joffrey had all of her clothes, her books, some of her mother’s things…she wasn’t leaving them to go into the trash.

I want my stuff, so I’ve got to figure that out. I guess I need to rent a moving van and movers.

I could help, if you want. I was always the heavy lifter back in the unit.

Sansa was surprised. Most people wouldn’t offer to help anyone move that wasn’t their best friend or relative.

That’s sweet of you, but you don’t have to. You’re already doing so much.

It’s no problem. Happy to help if you want.

Sansa bit her lip. He really did seem like a nice guy. Joffrey had probably never lifted anything heavy in his life.

It would be nice to have a friendly face there.

Not that we’ve met yet.

God she was so cringey. She sounded like an idiot. No wonder Joffrey left her.

I get it. Is your ex a big guy?

There was no way anyone anywhere would call Joffrey a big guy. He was about Sansa’s height - 5’7.

No.

I am. I can loom behind you glaring at him. Just an offer.

She actually laughed. After such a terrible, life ruining day, she needed that.

Yes, please.

Just let me know when and where, Songbird.

She looked at the nickname. That was Jon’s for her. It wasn’t surprising he had spread that to the men in his unit. She wondered if he had ever shown them the videos. She knew it sounded stupid, but it felt weird knowing people she knew listened to her music. Strangers online that she didn’t have to see were different. She had tried to sing a solo in choir in high school, and some of the popular kids made fun of her, and ever since then she hated singing in front of people.

Jon told you about that?

She saw the dots appear, disappear. Appear, disappear. Then.

Yeah. He’s really proud of both of you.

Your voice is amazing.

She stared at the last text. Joffrey had never said anything about her singing, other than that last dig about it being something a teenager would do. He would see her with her guitar, her keyboard, and her notebook, and kind of roll his eyes in what she thought was a loving way and say something about her trying to be the next Taylor Swift and go play video games while she wrote.

He had heard her singing around the house and in the shower. He had never complimented her like complete strangers on the Internet did. Like Jon’s friend just did. And why had that been OK with her? Yes, it was a hobby, like his video games were a hobby, but it was also something she was passionate about.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

You may have sung me to sleep a few times.

Sansa blushed. It was weirdly intimate to think about, her voice in his ear as he fell asleep. She found herself wondering what he looked like.

Well I hope I gave you sweet dreams.

Oh my God, was she flirting with her new roommate?

You definitely did, Songbird.

Was he flirting back?

She should not be flirting with anyone! She had just had her heart broken. She had to get this back on track.

I’ll find out when my ex will let me in to get my stuff and text you.

There was a pause, like maybe he was regrouping too, and then she got a reply back.

Just let me know when and I’ll be there.

Sansa let it go at that. Why on earth had she flirted with him? It was probably just a reaction from today, wanting to know that someone still found her attractive, well, he couldn’t see her, but found her interesting at least, and had complimented her singing.

The last thing she needed to do was flirt with the guy she was living with. That would make things so awkward. They could be friends, and from what Jon said, she probably wouldn’t see him much at all anyway.

She sent Joffrey a quick text, wanting to know when she could come get her stuff. She knew he hated to be texted late at night. She hoped the text woke him up.

As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered if Sandor would listen to her music tonight.

Chapter Text

Sandor had spent most of his evening at the bar behind it, mixing drinks, but he kept checking his phone for another message from Frosty’s sister.

It had been nice talking to someone who had been through the same heartbreak he had been with Eve and Gregor. That sounded horrible, but he just felt like she had insight that Frosty and Bane did not. Maybe it would be nice to have a woman friend.

He had offered to help her get her things from her ex - he could only imagine how painful that would be by yourself, that was why he left all of his stuff behind in the move. He’d be glad to move her things out and glare at her ex for her.

He kicked himself for not asking for her first name - everyone had a nickname with Frosty, and it was either “my sister” or “the Songbird.” He’d texted him to ask for her name, and he hadn’t replied yet, which probably meant he was out of signal range - he took tour groups out in the middle of nowhere a lot. And he didn’t want to sound like an idiot and ask her what it was. He just hoped Jon would be back before he helped her move in.

He kept going back to the exchange when they had talked about her music. Had she flirted with him a little? He really had listened to some of her music to fall asleep, she had this soft, throaty sound that was soothing and sexy at the same time. If she had flirted, it felt like she backpedaled quickly. Well if he had made her feel a little bit better at the end of a bad day, that was fine. He wasn’t Bane, he wasn’t flirting with women every chance he got and taking them home at night.

But when he did lay down to sleep that night, he had called up one of her songs and listened to it to fall asleep.

When he woke up right before noon, he had another text from her. He had put her in his phone under “Songbird”.

Hey, can I have a mattress delivered to the apartment so I can have something to sleep on?

Of course. Here’s the address.

He sent her a pin with the address to give to the delivery men.

Thanks. My ex wants me to pick up my things Saturday at noon.

He’d have to get up a bit early after a Friday night, but he could manage it.

I can swing that. Just send me the address.

She sent him the address, and he looked it up on Google. It was a nice complex in the suburbs. Poor girl was in for a shock. His apartment wasn’t as nice and plush as that - it was in an old building in the downtown, and above a bar.

He made a crack about how his girlfriend has already started bagging up my things.

What a dick.
I hate him already.

You’re not the only one. Apparently my brother and sister never liked him.

Did you have people telling you how much they disliked your wife after your split?

Well, the guys in the unit didn’t like her.

She took all of our mutual friends in the divorce, along with my brother.

I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up.

No, it’s cool. I was never close with my brother obviously.

Your brother is more like my brother now.

He and Gregor had always had a fraught relationship. Gregor had never gotten over the fact that Sandor had been born, and taken him out of only child status. Sandor didn’t know why he cared that much - Gregor was their father’s favorite, the son he wanted, and Sandor the unwanted spare. Gregor had been his bully from day one, and their father had been his second one. Nothing Sandor did was good enough for him. Gregor was the sports player, Sandor wasn’t coordinated enough. Gregor had been recruited by several colleges to play for them, and it looked like he might even get recruited for the NFL until an injury ruined his career and took away his scholarship. Sandor had joined the military right out of high school like a lot of boys in their small town. He was nothing special.

Sandor didn’t really feel the loss of not having a relationship with his brother or his father, who just saw that Eve had finally wised up and chosen the better brother. The two people he missed in his family had both passed already - his mother, who died when he was in elementary school, and his grandad, his mother’s father, who died right after Sandor got injured. He had been an Army man too, and had been so proud that he had joined.

“It’ll make a man out of you, son,” he had told Sandor, the day he had left for basic training. And he hadn’t been wrong.

Sandor had gotten cleaned up and dressed between texts with Jon’s sister, and decided to head over to get his daily coffee and catch a glimpse of Sansa.

He knew what Frosty and Bane would say if they saw him going every day to buy overpriced coffee just to see a woman. They’d both be yelling at him to ask her out already.

“What’s the worst she could do, say no?” Bane would say. And that was fine for him to say, he wasn’t a pretty boy like Frosty, but somehow that ginger was able to pull pretty much any woman he wanted with a combination of charm and looks.

Someone who looked like Sansa would be more interested in someone like Frosty, not someone like him. She’d definitely say no. He couldn’t keep a hold of Eve, and she was nowhere near as pretty as Sansa was.

Frosty would tell him he was too hard on himself, and well, he wasn’t wrong. But he knew his limits with women.

The smell of coffee hit him as he walked into Sticky Fingers (why would you name a coffee shop that?) and Sansa looked up from her phone as he walked in, looking like she had been waiting for a message. He hoped she wasn’t waiting on a message from the stupid fiancé that was making her cry yesterday. She deserved much better than that - she deserved someone who would do anything to make her happy.

She smiled when saw him. “Large dark roast black coffee.”

He nodded. “That’s me.”

She passed him the coffee, and he paid and put five dollars in the tip jar.

“You have a good day,” she said, sounding happier than she did yesterday.

“You too.” He paused. Say something to her, idiot! “Better day today?”

She nodded. “Yes, thank you. Yesterday was the worst.”

He hesitated for a moment, and then said, “Someone who makes you cry like that isn’t worth it.”

She sighed. “Yeah, that’s what everyone is telling me.”

He took a sip of coffee, willing himself to do it, just ask her out. “Have you ever been to the bar next door?”

“No, but I…”

“Sansa! You have a line!” Her boss was yelling at her, pointing behind Sandor, and giving him a sharp look.

She flinched. “I’m sorry. Have a good day. See you tomorrow.”

Sandor moved out of the way so she could wait on the family behind him. Well if that wasn’t fate telling him not to make an idiot of himself.

His phone rang as soon as he stepped outside. He answered quickly, hoping for Jon. “Hello?”

“Whatcha up to, asshole?”

It was Bane.

“I was just about to ask out this hot woman, and then fate reminded me what a bad idea it was.”

“Why did you answer my call, if you were with a hot woman? Hang up and go ask her out, stupid!”

He sighed as he walked back to his apartment. “No, it wasn’t your call, it was…everything else. The world I guess.”

Bane sighed over the phone. “Hound, I swear to God, I want to go find your brother and your ex and kick the shit out of them for fucking with you like this. Forget that bitch. She is not worth two years of tormenting yourself that she was right to leave with that asshole. The only way she was right to leave with him was because they’re both toxic as hell and you’re better off without them. Now go back and ask that woman out.”

Sandor unlocked his door. “Too late I’m already home.”

“Be that way. I saw you had called earlier, what’s going on?”

“Do you know Frosty’s sister’s name?”

“Which one, the artist or the singer?”

“The singer.”

“I don’t know either of their names, he always calls them the Wild One and the Songbird.”

Sandor snorted. “Then why did you ask me which one?”

“I don’t know.”

Sandor loved Tormund like a brother, but sometimes…

“Why you wanting to know what either of Frosty’s sisters’ names are?”

“The Songbird is moving in with me tomorrow.”

It was silent on the other end of the line. Then Bane sputtered, “I’m so confused. You wanted to ask out a woman, but didn’t, but you’ve got a woman that’s moving in with you AND you don’t know her name? AND it’s Frosty’s sister? Did you hit your head recently?”

Sandor realized then how that sounded. “No, she’s not moving in romantically, she’s not my girlfriend. She had been living with an ex, but he has a new girlfriend, so he was kicking her out and she needed a new place ASAP, and Frosty asked me if she could stay here temporarily.”

“Oh.”

“And you know how Jon is, he never told me her actual name, and I texted him, but I think he’s out in the middle of nowhere beyond cell reception, and I didn’t want to sound like an idiot asking her tomorrow, ‘by the way, what’s your name,’ so I was hoping you knew.”

“You’re out of luck. You’re going to have to sound like an idiot.”

“Great.”

“Or just call her Songbird until Jon gets back with you.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“So tell me about this hot woman you chickened out with. What’s she look like?”

“She works at the coffee shop next door to me. She’s got this perfect body, all the curves where you want them, the brightest blue eyes, long red hair she’s always got braided…”

“Wait a minute, you told me you hated gingers.”

“No, I just hate you.”

“Ha ha.” There was a pause and then, “Shit, I missed my exit.”

“Are you talking to me while you’re driving?” Sandor remembered Tormund’s driving back during combat, and it was scary enough when he was paying full attention to it.

“Speaker phone. Hound, I gotta go. Go back tomorrow and ask that girl out!” He hung up.

Sandor would be too busy tomorrow helping Jon’s sister move in, he would miss coffee. He wondered if Sansa would notice when he didn’t show up like usual.

Chapter Text

Sansa got to her old apartment early, a lump in her throat. It felt so weird now to be here, and it had only been a day or two, but everything was different. She was the visitor now.

She had rented a van so she could load up her things, and Sandor was going to meet her here to help. Standing here now, she was really glad he volunteered to help. She needed someone on her side in this horrid situation.

He had texted her just as she arrived here, saying he was on his way, but traffic was horrible. She hoped he wouldn’t be too late.

She knocked on the door, not wanting to walk in on anything. Even though she had texted him earlier to let him know she was on her way, knowing how petty Joffrey was, she wouldn’t put it past him to make her walk in on him and Margaery having naked sexcapades on the couch.

The very thought of that made her dry heave.

“Yes?” She heard in response to her knock on the other side of the door. She took it as an invitation, opening the door slightly.

“It’s me,” she said. “I came for my stuff.”

“Come in!”

Joffrey was sitting on the couch, his blond hair all rumpled, wearing his weekend look, which was khakis and a polo shirt. He barely glanced up at her from the video game he was playing.

Sansa stared at Margaery, his new girl. She had her long legs on Joffrey’s lap, was wearing the tiniest pair of shorts, and a thin tank top that her breasts were practically spilling out of.

“We already gathered up a bunch of your stuff, so I could have the space,” said Margaery, her lips sliding into a malicious smile. “It’s all in trash bags in the bedroom.”

The significance of the trash bags and the bedroom were not lost on Sansa. “I told him not to do that.”

“Well, we did,” Margaery said. “Oh, and I need your key. You know how this place is about getting new keys made.”

Sansa felt tears brewing, but fought them off. This woman was doing everything she could to really twist the knife in. She reached into her bag for her keys, and found the key to the apartment. She remembered the day Joffrey gave it to her, after they had been dating for a month, and he said he wanted her to feel at home in his place. He had given it to her in a little jewelry box.

She would NOT cry in front of him or this hateful woman.

She got the key off her key ring, just as her phone dinged with a text. She slapped the key down on the coffee table in front of Joffrey and Margaery instead of putting it in her outreached hand, she could be petty too, and dug in her bag for her phone, praying to all of the gods that it was Sandor saying he was here.

Hey Songbird, I’m here. Which floor is it again?

They had answered her prayers.

I’ll come down to the lobby and get you, hang on.

Look for the tallest guy you can find, that’ll be me.

She actually smiled at that.

“Sansa!” Joffrey snapped, and she turned her attention back to him. “Quit playing on your phone and get your stuff!”

“I’ll be right back, my roommate is here to help me carry my things.” She turned and went out the door, waiting until she got to the elevator to let some tears fall. Why did this have to be happening?

She got it together by the time the elevator reached the first floor, she didn’t want to start a crying jag and look puffy, Joffrey and Margaery would notice and probably make fun of her some more.

The door opened and she stepped out into the lobby. Look for the tallest guy you can find, he had said. She scanned the lobby and then was shocked with recognition.

Grumpy Black Coffee was here!

And he was the tallest guy in the lobby.

Actually, he was the only guy in the lobby, other than the reception guy sitting behind a desk.

He had turned to look down the first floor hallway, but turned back and caught sight of her, recognition dawning. They both stared at each other for a few seconds.

Sansa recovered first. She smiled and waved, starting to walk toward him. Obviously Grumpy Black Coffee lived near the coffee shop to go there every day…and hadn’t he asked her yesterday if she had been to the bar next door? He worked there and lived above it!

“Hi!” she said, coming up to him. “Sandor?”

He still hadn’t recovered, the shock was still plain on his face. “You’re Jon’s sister?”

“Sansa Stark,” she said. “We have different last names, but yep, that’s my brother. What are the chances that we’d already know each other? Well, know each other in a customer setting kind of way. I know how you like coffee, but not much else. Well, other than what you and Jon told me on the phone.” Oh my God, she was babbling. She shut up.

“Have you been crying?” He actually looked concerned.

She felt her face flush with embarrassment. “They started throwing my stuff in garbage bags, and she wanted my key, and she was practically laying in his lap…” She felt the tears start again. “Shit.” She started frantically wiping at them.

He did the most surprising thing, and stepped forward, enveloping her in those large arms. It didn’t feel like a hug from a stranger, but more like one from a friend. Maybe it was the combination of him being Jon’s best friend and her seeing him every day for so long. She hugged him back. What kind of cologne did he use? He smelled good, like the outdoors and leather. She also felt like a tiny doll in his arms, he was over a foot taller than her, and much broader than Joffrey, built like he lifted heavy things for living, instead of tending bar.

She realized she was probably hugging him too long, and stepped back. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“I could tell.” He looked down at her, and gave her a small smile.

Oh my God, he did smile! He had a nice one, actually. She didn’t normally like guys with beards, but it looked right on his features. O.K., she had to stop thinking things like that. Get a grip, Sansa, she thought. You just had your heart broken, don’t go pouncing on your brand new roommate, just because you kind of know him. And because he’s kind of attractive.

She had to say something. “Well, good news for you, since you’re now my roommate, you get the friends and family discount for coffee.”

He gave a small chuckle. And he laughed too! Sandor Clegane was much more interesting than Grumpy Black Coffee. “Well, the same for you at the bar.”

“Cool.” She motioned toward the elevator. “Shall we?”

As they walked into the elevator, he said, “Do you want to mess with them?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your ex and his new girlfriend. Do you want to mess with them a bit?”

“I mean…yes,” she said. Messing with them would be so much better than wanting to cry through the whole thing. “Why? Do you have a plan?”

“Did you tell him I was coming?”

“I said my roommate was coming…”

“Even better, he’s going to be expecting a girl. So let’s be REALLY good friends. Old friends. Ones that are flirty. It will fuck with his head.”

“You think? He’s the one that broke up with me…”

“Oh, he’ll care, trust me. He can move on, but he doesn’t want YOU to.”

“O.K.” She was willing to try, and if it upset Joffrey and made him jealous, maybe he’d realize what he was giving up with her.

The elevator doors opened and she walked ahead, leading him to the door. He paused, putting a hand out to stop her and then said, “Let’s get this over with, baby. I don’t want to be with your ex all day.” He motioned to the door for her to open.

Sansa felt a small giggle bubble out of her. She opened the door, and saw that indeed, Joffrey and Margaery were staring as they walked in.

She turned back to Sandor, and noticed he was looking with total disdain at the two of them, not unlike how he looked at Petyr. “The bedroom is back this way.” She motioned to him to follow her.

Joffrey stood up, walking over to her. “Sansa? Who is this?” He was openly staring at Sandor with total confusion.

“My roommate,” she said.

Sandor made a soft snort, a wry grin on his face. “Roommate.”

Joffrey definitely clocked that. His head snapped back and forth between them. “Sansa…”

“Oh, sorry. Sandor, Joffrey, Joffrey, Sandor.” She motioned between them as she did the introductions. “And that’s Margaery.”

Sandor looked at Margaery like he was extremely unimpressed, and shook his head. “Sure.” He looked back at Sansa. “Did you leave the van in the loading area, baby?”

From the corner of her vision, Sansa could see Joffrey’s mouth was hanging open.

“Yeah, it’s unlocked.”

“Cool. I’ll get the heavy shit first.” He stepped around Joffrey. “Excuse me.” He headed in the direction she had pointed.

Joffrey actually grabbed Sansa’s arm as she went down the hall. “Who the fuck is that?” he hissed.

“I told you already. My roommate, Sandor Clegane. He’s my brother’s best friend.”

“Why are you living with him? How long have you known him?”

“Oh, we're old friends.” Sansa shook her head. “Honestly Joffrey, why do you care who I live with?”

“I don’t…I mean…I’d like to think we’re still friends, Sansa. I mean, we had a four-year relationship…”

“That you ended, remember?”

“Baby, did you say you wanted the dresser in here?” Sandor called out.

“Yes, the oak one on the left, it was my mom’s,” she said back.

Joffrey’s face looked a bit red. “Why does he keep calling you that?”

She waved him away. “Oh, it’s an old joke, you wouldn’t get it.”

“Is this your stuff in there or someone else’s? Oh, there’s no way you could wear this bra, it’s way too small for you. I’m throwing this shit on the floor.”

Margaery jumped up and went flying past them down the hallway. “Wait a minute!”

Sansa went around Joffrey and headed back there herself. Margaery was frantically scooping up tiny underwear and bras that Sandor had literally thrown on the floor. And he was right, they were NOT her things. The bitch had taken Sansa’s stuff out and replaced them with hers!

Joffrey followed right after her. “Wait, Sansa, I told you we packed most of your things…”

“I’m taking MY mother’s dresser, Joffrey. You can’t keep it.”

“I’m sorry, we were just looking for places to put things…” He trailed off as he watched Sandor lift the entire dresser, now empty and lug it toward the door, literally stepping over Margaery as she was scooping up underwear.

Sandor looked down at him. “Dude, move.”

Joffrey was stunned and actually followed instructions.

“Where’s my jewelry box?” Sansa asked, as it hadn’t been on top of the dresser when Sandor took it. She didn’t have much by the way of fancy jewelry, but had her grandmother’s engagement ring in there and some of her mother’s old jewelry that she wanted for sentimental reasons.

He shrugged. “Probably in one of the bags.”

“Are those my boots?” Sansa asked, pointing to a pair that were shoved under a mound of Joffrey’s clothes in the closet. She went closer to investigate.

“I don’t know how they got there!”

“Joffrey, why is my jewelry box in the closet behind your shoes?”

His face turned red. “I don’t know what you’re implying…”

“I don’t think it teleported there.” Sansa looked over to where Margaery was piling her underwear on the bed.

Margaery caught the look. “I don’t want any of your trashy stuff.”

“Not even Joffrey?” Sansa was never quippy, that was Arya, but it was like her sister had taken over her body in that moment.

Both Joffrey and Margaery sputtered at that.

“And I’m taking my bookshelf from the living room,” Sansa said. “Where did you put my guitar and my keyboard?”

“God forbid you couldn’t write your stupid music,” Margaery said with scorn. “It’d be too bad if you had to do something productive other than slinging coffee. But that’s all you’re good for I guess.”

That hurt. Sansa felt a bit of the confidence she had been getting back by this game with Sandor disappear.

“That’s a lot of words for ‘I’m a jealous bitch,’” Sandor said from behind her. Margaery glared at him, but didn’t say anything else. He took a hold of Sansa’s arm. “And I’ve already got your guitar and keyboard, baby, don’t worry about it.”

Working with Sandor, Sansa managed to get her clothes and her books, all stuffed in bags, down to the van, while Sandor easily took care of her bookshelf.

“Is there anything else you want?” Sandor asked her, quietly in the living room while Joffrey and Margaery were exchanging some sort of hissed conversation in the bedroom. Sansa thought about it, but shook her head no. They had purchased things together, like that couch, and kitchen items, but she didn’t want any of it. This was going to be a new beginning for her, and she was going to start fresh once she got her own place.

“If you’re sure,” Sandor said. “I can grab anything else you want. Your ex is a lightweight, he’s not stopping me.”

Sansa had to laugh at the image of him mowing down Joffrey carrying her furniture. “No, I’m good. Thank you though. I’m really glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad to be of help.”

“Have you gotten everything?” Joffrey asked, coming back into the living room, minus Margaery. She was probably still sulking in the bedroom.

Sansa took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes.”

Joffrey looked surprised; he probably was expecting more of a fight for some of the other things. “Well then. Take care of yourself, Sansa.”

She felt Sandor slip an arm around her waist. “I’ve got her back, don’t you worry.”

Even though it was just pretend, she had to admit that sounded reassuring. She looked up at her new roommate. “We’d better get going if we’re going to beat the traffic home.”

He nodded and then looked at Joffrey. “See you around, Josh.”

“It’s Joffrey…”

“My mistake.” He leaned forward. “Enjoy your downgrade.” He nudged Sansa. “Come on, baby.”

Sansa left Joffrey behind, looking stunned.

Chapter Text

Anyone who has ever moved or helped anyone move knows what a grind it is, packing up things one place, moving it down stairs or in this case, cramming it into an elevator, loading up the van, then getting to the new place, carrying everything up the stairs, and then unpacking. It’s exhausting and no one wants to do it in their spare time, right before work.

Sandor barely even noticed the chore part - he was still in awe of his new roommate. His best friend’s little sister, who was also Sansa, the hot redhead from the coffee shop next door that he had tried to ask out the day before and gotten interrupted.

His dream girl was now going to be living with him. And her brother had already told him not to mess with her. He wasn’t sure how Jon would feel about their little act at her ex’s apartment.

Sandor had known that the kind of guy Joffrey was, he would want his ex to cry herself to sleep every night, brokenhearted at the reality of losing him. So to have a new guy, a much bigger guy, there calling her pet names and touching her would drive him crazy.

However, it also had the added bonus of Sandor, getting to pretend, for even a moment, that she was his. And it was a nice feeling.

When she had started crying in the apartment’s lobby, he had acted on instinct and hugged her. She had looked like she needed a hug, a reminder that someone was there in her corner.

But to have her for a moment, in his arms, was his new idea of heaven.

And when it seemed like she didn’t want to let him go…He could pretend, just for a moment…

He had been worried, when he pulled up to the curb in front of his apartment, to start helping her unload the van. She had been used to living in such a nice place, his was going to seem like such a downgrade.

She was looking up at the windows above the bar. “It’s going to be so nice to be able to just roll out of bed and go to work.” She smiled at him. “Well, you know!”

He nodded. “It is nice.” He handed her a key. “This is yours. It unlocks the stairwell door and the front door.”

She pocketed the key, and grabbed her guitar case in one hand and keyboard case in the other. “I’m so glad we already knew each other, it feels less like I’m moving in with a total stranger.”

“My favorite barista,” he said without thinking, picking up her dresser.

She turned with a grin. “Aw, am I your favorite? Thanks. I get to tell Shae I’m the favorite! You’re just grumpy when she waits on you because it’s not me.”

She wasn’t wrong. Every time he came in and the dark-haired woman was at the counter, he was immediately disappointed.

“She started calling you Grumpy Black Coffee.” She sent him an apologetic look.

He had to laugh. Bane always said his resting face was a scowl. But he noticed Sansa never seemed to mind, she had always been cheery when he came in, with a smile.

They ascended the stairs with her items, and she unlocked the front door, immediately stepping aside once she got in so he could get through.

His apartment was a long row - the front door opening into the living room and kitchen area, then leading back to his bedroom, with the bathroom next, and then finally her bedroom. “Yours is at the very back,” he said, leading her to it. “I know this isn’t as nice as your old place…”

“No, it’s fine,” she said. “I’ve got everything I need.”

Together, they made quick work of carrying all of her things up the stairs and into her room. It wasn’t a large room, so it was filled with the bags of her stuff.

“I’ve got to go to work,” he said to her apologetically. “I’d bail, but it’s a Saturday night…”

“Oh yeah, your boss would kill you.” She shook her head. “No, you’ve helped so much already. I’ll be fine!”

“Well, the place is yours. Eat whatever in the fridge or the pantry. I just got some groceries delivered yesterday, but I wasn’t sure what you liked so…”

“I’ll be fine, really.” She made a shooing motion. “I don’t want you to get in trouble. Go to work.”

Yeah, Sandor’s boss was a real hard ass. “Come by later if you want. There’s a band playing tonight. Well, you’ll hear them whether you want to or not.” He winced. “Sorry about that.”

“I’ve got headphones, it’s fine. And maybe I will. I’ll see how tired I am.”

Sandor had left her to sort all of her things. He felt bad, knowing the bar noise, which had never bothered him because he was THERE, would be a problem for her, trying to sleep so she could get up and work the next day. This was going to suck for her, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Friday and Saturday nights, especially when there was a band playing, and there usually was, meant that he was working security, keeping an eye on everything and everyone. Usually it meant stepping in and defusing situations. He didn’t have to routinely kick people out, it depended on what band was playing, some audiences were more rowdy than others. Tonight’s was attracting a college crowd, and he had to remind everyone to double-check IDs, and he had spent the first half of the evening stationed outside checking IDs himself. He had caught a few obvious fakes and sent them away, but if there were any there now, they were really good fakes.

Some college boys had gotten into a shoving match, which he broke up quickly, and then a girl had gotten into a fight with an ex, and that one he had ended up having to call the cops on, as she just WOULD NOT leave. Everyone thought guys were the one that got kicked out the most - and it was the women that got the wildest in his experience.

He was surprised when he was making his rounds through the place and caught sight of a familiar face sitting at the bar. She was sitting at the very end, watching the band, sipping a beer.

He made his way over to her, and when he came over, he leaned down to yell - you could never talk when the bands were there - “You came!”

“Yeah, I was getting into the music upstairs, and the store is closed tomorrow, so I thought, why not?”

He motioned to Beric, who was working the bar, and he came over. “Hers is on me,” he yelled to him.

Beric gave him a thumbs up, and looked at Sansa and grinned. Didn’t he wish he meant it in that way.

He leaned against the bar next to her and watched the crowd from there.

She stood to lean up to yell at him. It was a bit comical, so he leaned over for her. Having a conversation meant being up in each other’s face to do it. And he didn’t mind being in her space.

“I didn’t know you worked security. Should have guessed though. Biggest guy in the room.”

He laughed. “That’s just tonight. I do it all, fill-in where needed.”

“I saw a police cruiser earlier.”

“Had to kick a girl out, and she wouldn’t leave. Wanted to fight me.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish.”

Baric came back over. “Boss, you want one?”

Sandor shook his head. “I’m working.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Sansa looked between them. “Did he call you boss? Wait, is this your bar?”

“It used to be my grandad’s, but yeah. I inherited it and my apartment when he died.”

“That’s so cool! You own a business! I don’t really own anything.”

“You write music though. That’s cool.”

“Yeah, I guess. Joffrey used to call me a teenager, because I work at a coffee shop, and do stuff on social media.”

“Your ex is a dick.”

She took a drink and about spit it out. “Sandor!”

“I call it like I see it.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

He hoped he didn’t offend her, he knew they had just broken up and she was bound to still have feelings for him. But there was no doubt in his mind - her ex was a dick.

“I think I’ve been making a lot of excuses for him over the years,” she said, watching the band play. “To other people and to myself.”

“I get it, trust me. Sunk cost fallacy.”

“What is that?”

“When you’ve already spent so much time and energy on someone that it seems better to stick with them than start over, even if they’re wrong for you.”

“Wow. That seems deep for a conversation we have to be shouting to be heard.” She touched his arm as she leaned up to speak. “Is this part of the bartender package, that listen to my problems and give out advice?”

He shook his head. “Roommate and friends only.” He motioned to the people around them. “I don’t care about these drunk people’s problems.”

She laughed.

As the band was winding down, people started to leave too. Sansa finished her drink.

“Thanks for hanging out with me,” she said. “And really all of today. You’re a good friend to Jon. And me.”

“It was my pleasure. You’re welcome anytime.” He had gotten his date at the bar. Sort of. Except as a roommate and a friend and not as someone interested.

“I hope you didn’t get in trouble with your boss,” she said, putting a hand on his arm.

“Well, you know, my boss is a hardass.”

She got up to leave. “See you upstairs!”

Baric caught her parting words and looked at her retreating back and then at Sandor. “Damn, you spend every day here actively ignoring women, and then you bring home a knockout. Good for you, boss!”

“She’s not a date, she’s my roommate.”

Baric whistled. “So is she single?”

Sandor shot him a glare.

Baric laughed. “So you want her to be a date. I see. I don’t blame you. So how did you end up with a hot roommate you’d rather be sleeping with?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ll bet.” Baric sat a beer down in front of him. “We’re closing up, you’re not working now, and you need this.”

Sandor took the drink.

Chapter Text

Sansa woke the next morning with the uncomfortable feeling you always have when you’re in a new surroundings. She had put her stuff away last night as best she could - her new closet and dresser were both stuffed to overflowing - and all of her books were on the bookshelf. Her guitar and keyboard were still in their cases on the other side of her bed against the wall so she had to look at them to remind herself she had work to do.

Arya managed their social medias for Artemis in the Garden since she was the one that did the editing and animating, and had gotten a private message asking if they’d like to make a presentation at a music and art conference that would have industry professionals there. They could use some of their old work, but Arya thought it would make more of an impact if they had new stuff to show, and Sansa agreed.

The problem was she had writer’s block for over a month now and hadn’t even picked up her instruments, or put pen to paper for lyrics.

When she had been happy with Joffrey, lyrics and music flowed out of her. And then her creative well dried up around the same time her relationship had started dying.

Sansa decided staring at the instruments was not helping, and got up. It was her day off - the coffee shop was closed on Sundays - so she could get used to her new surroundings and try to make it feel more like home.

She walked past her roommate’s closed door, wondering if he had work later or if he was off today too.

She had gone downstairs to hang out with him last night because sitting in a strange apartment alone was threatening to bring on the tears again. And the music was loud, so she was not going to be able to sleep. And she had actually had fun once she was there, listening to the music and talking to Sandor. He had been a good friend to her yesterday, and didn’t seem like a complete stranger to her now. So maybe her new living situation wasn’t going to completely suck after all.

Well the loud music when she was trying to sleep was going to suck. It would be nice if she could sleep in like today most days and not have to be at work so early to open the store. She wondered if Shae would consider switching shifts for a bit. She sent her a quick text asking.

Going into the kitchen to see about breakfast, she discovered Sandor had a Keurig, which wasn’t her favorite way to make coffee, but he did come to her store all the time so maybe it was for when they weren’t open? She had no idea where anything was, so after opening all of the drawers and cabinets, she located the coffee pods, cups, and milk. She could make herself a kind of cafe au lait. Seeing about food, she discovered Sandor’s diet was exactly what she expected - cold cuts, frozen meals, canned things and the like, just like Jon. Getting on her phone, she started ordering things from the nearest grocery store that delivered so she could have some meals to make so she could have dinners and leftovers for lunch at work. She did help herself to some poptarts though. She was glad to see she and Sandor shared an affinity to the brown sugar cinnamon ones.

Her phone rang - it was Shae. She answered it.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Are you OK? You never wanted to work the closing shift, you said it messed with your schedule.”

“My schedule with Joffrey isn’t my schedule anymore. And now I live over a bar that has actual bands playing, so I’d like to be able to sleep.”

“Do they? Damn, I’ll have to come by some night! But yeah, switching is fine with me. And you know Petyr won’t care what you do since you’re ‘like a daughter’ to him.”

“Yeah, a daughter whose ass he stares at constantly.”

“You do have a good ass.”

“I do.”

They both laughed.

“Speaking of asses, how did it go getting your stuff from Joffrey?”

“Did everyone secretly hate him and just never tell me?”

“I can’t speak for your sister or your brother, but I can definitely answer yes for myself.”

Sansa sighed. Maybe next time her friends and family should say something to her instead of keeping their feelings to themselves. “It went O.K., but thank God Sandor was there.”

“Oh yeah, the new roomie. Did he glower at Joffrey like he said he would?”

“Even better, he made it sound like we were much friendlier than we are. Like calling me baby and being flirty. He told me he was going to do it to mess with Joff, and it really did. He was turning red and stuttering!”

“Typical man. Doesn’t want you anymore, but doesn’t want anyone else to have you. Good for your roommate. So what’s he look like anyway? Besides tall.”

“Oh, you’re going to die when I tell you this. Sandor is Grumpy Black Coffee.”

“What?” Shae screeched over the phone. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack. Which I think both of us had when I met him in the lobby. It was surreal.”

“Oh my God! Now you can find out what he does for a living! I’m still going with assassin.”

“He owns the bar we live above. So he’s a bar owner, not an assassin.”

“A bar owner would be the perfect cover for an assassin. And he was in the military! Honestly, this just adds more fuel to my assassin theory.”

Sansa laughed. “And, you’re never going to believe this - he smiles! And laughs. And is NOT grumpy all the time. He said I’m his favorite barista so he’s just grumpy when you wait on him.”

“He said you're his favorite? Dude, I think he likes you.”

Sansa rolled her eyes. “Shae, stop it.”

“I’m just saying! He says you’re his favorite barista, and he looks annoyed as fuck if I wait on him. And it’s not because you make his coffee better, all we do is pour it, his order is basic as hell. What would be the difference in baristas? It’s you. He likes you.”

“Shae…”

“And then, add in the fact that he was willing to flirt with you in front of your ex, he was willing to help you move your stuff…”

“He volunteered to do that before he knew it was me!”

“You know, he’s not bad looking…”

“Shae, oh my God. I’m not looking to date anyone right now. I just got broken up with. I’ll never be into anyone again.”

“That’s stupid, of course you will. Fucking Joffrey isn’t going to ruin your life.”

“It feels like it.”

“It’s not. You’re going to have an awesome life without him and you’re gonna rub his nose in it. Speaking of, you know what you should do? Take some selfies with Grumpy Hot Coffee and put them on socials. Make sure to look all hot and couple-y with him, and make Joffrey jealous.”

“Sandor, and I don’t know if he’d want to do that.”

“Well ask him! He was willing to play act while you were moving, he might for this.”

“We’ll see.” Sansa heard a door open and shut, and then the bathroom door shut and a few seconds later, running water. “He’s up and around too. I should go.”

“Tell Grumpy Black Coffee I said hi!”

Sansa laughed as they hung up. She ate her pop tart and drank her coffee at the small kitchen table, messing on her phone as she did so. She got a text from Jon as she scrolled through social media.

Did you get moved in OK?

Yep, no problems. Sandor was a big help.

Good. You guys getting along?

Yeah. He’s really sweet.

I don’t know that I’d ever call Hound sweet, but OK.

Well, he was sweet to me, dealing with Joffrey and all.

That’s good.

Speaking of the devil, not that she’d call Sandor the devil, he wandered into the kitchen, wearing his standard jeans, and pulling on one of his black t-shirts. Sansa got a brief glimpse of his stomach and chest.

Damn.

She saw a hint of scarring from the shrapnel on his right side, but the rest was…not bad at all. He didn’t have the super crazy defined abs, but more of the “I lift heavy things for a living” kind of body - flat stomach, nice chest…just damn. She felt her face flush.

He ran a hand through his wet hair, which damn, was hot like that, and then noticed her sitting there. “Shit! You scared the hell out of me!”

“Forget I was here?” She tried to act like she had not been just checking him out. O.K., so Joffrey hadn’t been interested in bedroom activity with her for a month. Maybe two. Was she just that pent up?

“Just didn’t know you were right there.” He flicked his gaze down to her very bare legs in her short boxer shorts she wore to bed and an old t-shirt that had shrank in the wash and was getting threadbare, but was oh so comfortable. He noticed her noticing his looking, and quickly turned to the cabinet and started reaching around.

Sansa sipped her coffee. She wasn’t going to begrudge him a look, she had just done the same thing after all. “Shae says hi, by the way.”

“Hello to Shae.” He snagged himself a pop tart. “Did you sleep OK?”

“Yes, once I got to sleep. Shae is going to trade me for the mid-day shift, so I don’t have to worry about noise keeping me up late.”

He winced. “I’m sorry about that.”

“She doesn’t care either way. I just had the morning shift before because it was better for Joffrey’s schedule. You just might have to see me more now, instead of being completely opposite shifts.”

“That’s fine, as long as you’re fine with it. I have to warn you, I’m either here or at the bar. Bane says I have no life.”

“I have no life either. Other than Shae, my friends were friends of Joff’s so…”

“He also got them in the divorce?”

“Something like that.”

Her phone dinged, letting her know that her groceries were on their way. “Are you working tonight?”

“No, we’re closed Sunday nights.” He started making himself coffee. “I guess we have the same day off.”

“I’m having groceries delivered. Can I make you dinner to thank you for your hospitality?”

He ducked his head, hair falling into eyes in a sexy way. Jesus, what was with her today? “You don’t have to. However, I will never turn down a home cooked meal. I don’t exactly cook much. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to!”

“Well, I want to, you’ve been so nice to me, and it’s so hard to cook for one person, and I really want chicken tetrazzini, so…”

“I will be more than happy to help eat chicken tetrazzini, whatever that is, because it is not hot dogs or frozen pizza.”

“Yay!” She grinned, getting up and putting her cup in the dishwasher. “OK, I’m going to go grab a shower before the groceries arrive.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll keep an eye out and can get them. You’re cooking, the least I can do is carry them up and put them away.”

She paused. “Sandor, there’s…girl supplies in there.”

He frowned. “I was married, remember? I’m capable of touching girl supplies, and even buying them at stores, as long as you’re specific about what you need.”

“Oh.” She was pleasantly surprised. She thought all guys were terrified of those products. “Joffrey threw a fit if he had to be with me when I bought them, or carry them in or out of the house.”

“Jesus Christ, what a pussy. The more you talk about him, the more I find new reasons to hate him.”

Sansa wasn’t going to miss that either, that’s for sure. Let Margaery deal with his issues around feminine hygiene. “OK, then. Just put the girl stuff on my bed.”

She grabbed her towel, shampoo and body wash, and her clothes to change into, and headed off to get ready for the day.

Chapter Text

Sandor felt like he was trapped in a strange hell of his own making.

He had wandered into the kitchen in the morning, still getting dressed, and there was Sansa, red hair out of the usual braid, looking rumpled from sleep and flowing down her shoulders and back, wearing the tightest t-shirt he had ever seen on her and obviously no bra, and the shortest pair of shorts in the world, barefoot, no makeup, drinking coffee and eating one of his poptarts.

Of course he was instantly hard.

So he was extremely uncomfortable early in the morning, before coffee, all because he had inadvertently moved his fantasy woman into his apartment. She would be there, looking hot, every morning when he got up, and leaving his bathroom after her shower smelling like vanilla and cinnamon.

She had spent the afternoon with him, laying across his couch while he took the chair, those long legs in a pair of joggers, wearing novelty socks with cartoon characters on them, her hair up in a ponytail, wearing a t-shirt that was cropped enough that occasionally he caught a glimpse of a slice of skin at her stomach, watching Law & Order reruns with him because “that’s what all decent people do on Sunday afternoons.”

Of course he was hard.

Now she was puttering around in the kitchen, making whatever chicken tetrazzini was, music playing, singing along off and on with that gorgeous voice, occasionally swearing because she dropped something, and making his apartment feel more like a home, and not just a place he slept in.

Of course he was hard.

This was ridiculous. He couldn’t live like this, constantly turned on by this insanely hot woman he was living with. Who was his best friend’s sister, couldn’t forget about that.

Somewhere, Bane was laughing at him.

And even though he felt like he was 13-years-old again, turned on by her just being there, he liked that she was there. He liked that she also liked brown sugar pop tarts, and to watch Law & Order reruns (she was right, it IS what decent people do on Sunday afternoons), and that she offered to cook for him, and sang along with the filthiest song he had heard in a while while she did so.

Was it possible to fall in love with someone that fast? Because damn. He didn’t remember being this obsessed with Eve, and he had been married to her!

He wandered in to the kitchen doorway. “Do you need help in there?”

“Just putting it in to bake now,” she said. “So glad you had a casserole dish.”

“It was totally by accident, I assure you. It was here when I moved in.”

“Thank God your grandfather cooked occasionally,” she said, leaning against the counter. “Why do all guys live with the bare necessities when they are by themselves?”

“We think we don’t need much. Or at least, we’re willing to do without much.”

“Spices aren’t much, you know.”

He shrugged. “Just don’t think about it. Military, remember? We’re used to bad food, strong black coffee, and not much else.”

Another song came on her phone, which was one of hers. She lunged for it, going to switch to something else.

“Don’t turn it off,” he said. “I like that one.”

Her face was a little pink, but she did hit back so it restarted.

“How come you don’t like people hearing it? You’ve got such a gorgeous voice.”

She did blush now. “Thank you. I don’t know, I feel embarrassed I guess. I write about personal things, things I’m feeling or experiencing, especially romance and love, and my friends hearing the intimate details of my life feels funny. Like I’m talking about my sex life with them.”

“You don’t mind telling total strangers that?”

“No, because I don’t know them. Who cares if they judge me.”

“You think your friends are going to judge you?”

“Well…Joffrey’s friends would. Shae probably wouldn’t.”

She needed to realize how much better off she was without that guy. “Fuck your ex and his stupid friends. You’re talented, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of that.”

“Well, thank you, but I don’t feel talented right now. I haven’t been able to write anything for a while now. I’ve even been listening to other people’s angry breakup music, but I just can’t do it. I’ve always written about love and romance and intimacy, and I don’t want to write ‘Fuck You Joffrey music.’” She sighed. “So I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m supposed to be writing new things for Arya to animate and I just can’t.” She crossed her arms around herself protectively.

“I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself,” he said. “You literally just had a bad breakup, had to move in with a stranger…”

“Are you really a stranger though?” She gave him a small smile. “I’ve seen you every day for like a year or more. You don’t feel like a stranger.”

God, now her words were having the same effect on him! “You don’t feel like a stranger to me either.”

“We’re old friends by this point,” she said.

The ice that flushed through him at that word helped somewhat. Friends. Of course she saw him as a friend, and that was all.

“Well, as a friend, who thinks you’re talented and just going through a rough time, I think you should give yourself some grace,” he said.

“Yeah, but I’ve got a short time to get things to Arya so she can work on it before our conference. We were invited to maybe pitch to some industry professionals.”

“Are you kidding? That’s awesome!”

“Yeah. So you see my predicament. I need new songs, and can’t write them.”

“Could you, I don’t know, write about your love of chicken tetrazzini? Because it smells really fucking good.”

She laughed. “I don’t know, maybe? I’m starving too. And it’s ready anyway. Hand me a potholder.”

“Do I have a potholder?”

“Yes, Sandor, you have a potholder!” She pointed over to the drawer by the sink. “Right in there.”

She reached in, pulling it out and a loaf of garlic bread. She carried both to the kitchen table, which he noticed she had sat out plates and forks and napkins. She came back holding a bowl that contained salad.

“You don’t have salad tongs, so we will have to make do.”

“However will we live?” he joked.

“I had to open a bottle of wine for the sauce, so might as have some,” she said, bringing in two mismatched glasses that were more for drinking soda or beer. “You’re a bartender with no wine glasses! You know better!”

“You want me to run downstairs and grab some?”

“No, but remind me next time and I’ll have you do it.”

He liked that she had mentioned a next time. It was just a friendly dinner, because she wanted to not eat basic food, but it felt…more special than that.

She looked everything over, and then went back into the kitchen area, coming back with her phone. “I promised Shae I’d send her a photo.” She stood over everything, and clicked her phone. “You know, I’m just gonna put it online, prove to Jon we’re getting along and I’m even feeding you. He’ll be jealous, you know he’s up in Alaska right now surviving on potted meat.”

“That’s what I’d be doing right now if you weren’t here,” he said. “Shouldn’t you take a photo of us to prove we’re getting along?”

“Good point.” She walked over to where he sat, and put her head against his. “Smile so Shae knows you actually do it.”

Of course, her standing that close to him and the same exact effect on him as everything else she did.

She moved away, sat the phone down, and picked up her fork, eating some. Sandor did the same and then moaned. “Holy shit.”

She grinned. “Right?”

“I would fight someone for that whole dish.”

“I can teach you how to make it if you want sometime.”

He thought he would like that, working with her, listening to her filthy music, laughing about his terrible cooking skills. “Absolutely.”

When they had finished, Sansa picked up her phone and started typing. “Hey do you have an account? I’ll tag you. We can be friends on socials AND in real life.” She grinned, looking up at him.

“I never use it, but sure. It’s just my name.”

“You’re so no frills about everything, I love it,” she said, typing some more, looking down at her phone, not realizing she had just made his heart stop, saying she loved anything about him.

His phone dinged, and he saw the notification - Sansa Stark wants to be your friend.

God, he wanted to be more than Sansa Stark’s friend.

He wanted a day just like today - pop tarts and coffee, Law and Order reruns, chicken tetrazzini - and her in his bed at the end of it. He wanted to be buried in her, her nails digging into his back, his name on her lips…

His phone dinged again, and Sansa said, “Is Tourmond Hovland one of yours and Jon’s friends?”

“Yeah, that’s Bane.” He looked down at his phone, which now held a string of text messages from Bane. That were all capital letters and looked a bit deranged.

HOLY FUCK IS THAT THE HOT REDHEAD????????????

HOUND YOU SON OF A BITCH

HOW THE FUCK DID YOU LAND HER?????

“Explains why I didn’t know his real name,” Sansa said with a laugh.

That’s Jon’s sister, Sansa.

My roommate.

But…she’s a smokeshow. And she is a redhead.

She is at that.

“He commented on the picture hound in all caps and a lot of exclamation points. Is that normal?” Sansa asked.

“Nothing with him is normal.”

So she IS the hot redhead you wanted to ask out?

Yes.

So you’re living with the hot redhead you wanted to ask out.

Yes.

And Jon would actually kill you if you did ask her out.

Probably.

“Shae wrote, Oh my God, he actually smiles!” Sansa said. “She also wants our leftovers.”

“Absolutely not, I will barricade the door,” Sandor told her.

All of a sudden, her mouth dropped open and she grabbed his arm. “Oh my God, Sandor. Joffrey just texted me.”

She turned her phone to him so he could see it.

Why are you making him chicken tetrazzini? You know I loved it when you cooked that.

“He literally just yelled at me that I never made anything he liked to eat, and now he loved that? Whatever.”

“Tell him it is a special night,” Sandor said. “And then don’t answer him again.”

She laughed, typing as she did. “You’re an evil genius.”

God he wanted to tell her just forget about her moron ex, he would treat her so much better. He would never cheat on her, what kind of an insane person would, and would support her music no matter what, and…

Bane texted him again.

What kind of a fucked up situation are you in?

This is why you’re the Hound.

No shit.

Chapter Text

Over the course of a week, Sansa started to feel more at home at her new place and get into a routine. It was very nice to be able to walk next door to work. And the closing shift was like the morning shift, but in reverse, she didn’t mind cleaning up at the end of the day and getting things set up for Shae to open. She found the bar noise wasn’t as bad during the week, so it wasn’t too hard to fall asleep most nights.

She didn’t see her roommate a whole lot - they still worked opposite shifts in a lot of ways - so it was still like they had the apartment to themselves during their “off work” times. But he would come in for his morning coffee and had started to linger to chat with her a bit in between customers, much to Petyr’s annoyance, and she had visited one evening at the bar when she couldn’t take being alone upstairs.

Shae wanted to hear the band playing Friday night, and see Sansa’s new place, so the two made plans to have dinner and then go hang out at the bar after.

“You can tell a man lived here by himself,” Shae said as she walked in the door.

“I know, right?” Sansa looked around. There were no decorations of any kind on the walls, just the older dark colored couch and chair and the television mounted on the wall. “Plus, it’s Sandor, and I think it’s the military in him and his no-frills approach to life, he doesn’t see the need for the “extras.”

“Could be worse. My last boyfriend’s idea of decor was beer bottles he collected and a Budweiser sign.”

Sansa had already had their food in the oven, so she took Shae on the tour.

“Your room’s cute,” Shae said.

“Thanks.”

Shae nodded to the instruments. “Are you ever going to play me one of your songs?”

Sansa blushed. “Maybe. I really need to figure out something to write soon, or Arya and I are just going to have to use old material for the conference.”

“You need to do something to get out of your creative rut,” Shae said.

“If I could, believe me, I would.” Sansa didn’t think she or Sandor understood how frustrating the situation was for her. The music that used to pour out of her, that made her feel alive and more real, was just…gone. It broke her heart more than Joffrey did, in a way.

As they passed by Sandor’s door again, Shae inclined her head toward it. “You ever been in there?”

“No! It’s his room - I’m already invading his space as it is, I’m not going to go snooping more.”

Shae grinned mischievously. “You could write a song about that. ‘I. Snuck in Your Room. You Weren’t There. I Saw Your Plain Black T-Shirt Collection.”

Sansa laughed. “I’ll give you a song credit.”

“You have to. Plain Black T-Shirt Collection is going to be a hit. I want royalties.”

They went back to the kitchen, and started eating.

“Seriously, I don’t know what kind of unholy magic you do in the kitchen to make chicken this moist,” Shae said taking a bite. “I can barely stand to touch chicken to cook it.”

“You do have to touch raw chicken to cook it.”

“I can follow instructions and cook stuff,” Shae said. “But it never turns out this good. I think you’re a kitchen witch, Sansa.”

She laughed. “Now you sound like Sandor. He’s all the time telling me I should open a restaurant because I’m such a good cook.”

Shae sat her fork down and looked at her. “You’re cooking for him?”

Sansa took a drink of water to buy for time. “What? Why are you making it sound so sinister? It’s so hard to cook for one person, and I can only take so much leftovers…And you should see what he would eat instead, like SPAM and spaghetti os and stuff like that.”

“Uh huh.”

“And I’m home in the evening, and he usually just comes upstairs on his break to eat…and it’s nice to have company. And he said he’d pay for groceries if I’m cooking, so I’m saving money!”

“Oh, so you’re cooking for him every day, I see.”

Sansa glared at her friend. “You’re making this sound like more of a thing than it is.”

“Am I?” Shae steepled her fingers together, laying her chin on top as she looked at her. “I’ve known you for YEARS and this is the first time you’ve ever had me over for dinner. You’ve known him for a week.”

“Well, but I live with him! And it was Joffrey’s fault I didn’t have you over before, he didn’t like people coming over…unless it was his friends.”

“Reason number 573 why Joffrey is a DICK who didn’t deserve you. But forget about Joffrey forever, I’m going back to you and Grumpy Black Coffee.”

“Sandor,” Sansa muttered.

“He’ll always be Grumpy Black Coffee to me, because I’m not his favorite barista, like you.” Shae batted her eyes at Sansa.

“Is there a point to all of this?” Sansa pushed her plate away, no longer hungry.

“I think you like him,” Shae said.

“I do, he’s a good friend.”

Shae gave her an exasperated look. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Can I remind you that I just got dumped by my fiance a week ago?”

“And so what?” Shae took a drink of water. “Sansa, I love you. But things with you and Joffrey weren’t great for a while. I’m not saying he was right to cheat on you. But I am saying that you two weren’t right for each other and maybe deep down you knew that too.”

The door to the apartment opened and they both stopped talking. Sansa was thrilled Sandor showed up so the subject could be changed now.

“Damn, what smells so good?” Sandor called out as he came into the kitchen.

Shae smiled at him. “Hi, Grumpy Black Coffee.”

“Hi yourself, Needy Jack and Coke.”

Shae narrowed her eyes. “How’d you know I drank that?”

“You look the type.” He went over to the cupboard, got a plate, heaped food on it and sat down at the table with them.

“Since when did you get a personality?” Shae asked, eying him.

“Always had one.”

“I just love it when my friends get along,” Sansa said with a wry grin.

“It’s already packed down there,” Sandor said. “You girls probably want to get there soon. I’ve got to get back ASAP to help Baric at the bar.” He pointed to the chicken. “You could charge people $30 a plate for this,” he said to Sansa.

“Thanks.”

“I told her she’s a kitchen witch,” Shae said.

“She really is. It’ll be hard to go back to hot dogs and SPAM eventually.”

“Want to go get ready?” Sansa asked her. She wanted to dress up and go dance and make a night out of it.

Sandor looked at both of them, in their jeans and t-shirts. “There’s no dress code you know.”

“We want to look cute,” Sansa said. “Wear our going out outfits.”

“Well I won’t stop you. See you two later.” He put his plate in the dishwasher. “Leave the dishes, I’ll run the dishwasher when I get home tonight.” He headed out the door.

“Ok, thanks!” Sansa called back, leading Shae back to her room.

“He totally likes you,” Shae said.

“He likes my food, you do too. Do you want to tell me something?” Sansa stripped out of her shirt and jeans, grabbing a cute mini dress she never had a chance to wear that had a low back, a high neckline and was a royal blue that made her eyes even bluer. There was no wearing a bra with this dress.

“Do you not notice how he looks at you?”

“What does that even mean?” Sansa reached into her closet for the boots Joffrey’s horrid girlfriend had tried to steal. They were over the knee and would look good with the dress. “He looks at me, he looks at you too!”

“He does not look at me like that, is all I’m saying. He barely acknowledges my existence.”

“Wait, do YOU like him?” Sansa turned to look at her friend.

“It wouldn’t matter if I did, because he only has eyes for you, is what I’m saying. Pay attention, Sansa!”

Sansa had already done a bit of makeup before dinner, so she just had to do finishing touches to complete her outfit. “What do you think?” She turned to Shae and struck a pose.

“You are going to fucking kill Grumpy Black Coffee wearing that. I’m straight and I’d fuck you.”

Sansa laughed. “Let’s go! I want to dance and have fun and not think about men.”

“You might have to, because you’re gonna get a lot of drinks sent your way in that.”

Sandor was not wrong about the place being packed. There was standing room only up by the stage and dance floor, and he was behind the bar with a couple of other bartenders, and there were people everywhere.

“Want to do a shot?” Shae asked.

“Sure.” The musicians started, people swarmed to the dance floor area, with drinks in hand. Hanging on to each other, they made their way through the crowd, the music already blaring.

The line at the bar had thinned somewhat, so they didn’t have to wait too long.

“What’ll you have…” Sandor trailed off when he saw it was her. “Holy shit.”

“Told you,” Shae yelled in her ear. “Lemon drops,” she ordered to Sandor.

He started making it, while also looking at Sansa, up and down, taking in the whole look.

“What?” she said.

“You look fucking hot,” he said, sitting the drinks in front of them. “I’ll put it on your tab.”

Sansa felt herself blush. “Thanks.”

“Do a shot with us,” Shae said to Sandor.

“I’m not drinking that shit.”

“Then drink something manly, just do a shot with us. Bartenders are supposed to do a shot with the hot girls when they ask,” Shae said to him.

“You’re the boss, you won’t get in trouble,” Sansa said.

He looked at her and she could see the moment he relented. “What the hell.”

“Yay!” Shae cheered. “Ready?”

He pulled a bottle up from the bar, Sansa couldn’t see what it was, maybe tequila, and poured.

“1..2..3!” Shae chanted and they all drank.

The burn of the alcohol hit with the sweet and sour as Sansa drank it down.

“One more time, bartender,” Shae said. “Keep up with us!”

They had the next round, and then Sansa grabbed Shae’s arm. “I want to dance!”

The night became a blur of music, dancing, and alcohol.

Chapter Text

Sandor never made it a habit to drink at the bar - the owners that did that usually became alcoholics. He didn’t want his bartenders drinking either, as tipsy bartenders can overserve, overpour and not charge correctly. Not that he was getting drunk off of a couple of shots of tequila anyway. But it wasn’t a habit he was going to continue. He had only done it because Sansa asked. Peer pressure, that’s what he would claim.

He was maybe influenced by how hot Sansa looked that night. Of course, he thought she was gorgeous in her standard work outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. But dressed up for a night out? Well, he was back to his earlier problem, except now at work.

He watched as she and her friend went out dancing to the music the band was playing, gyrating like all the other women were doing, and he saw multiple guys notice Sansa, checking her out.

If any of them touched her, he was kicking them out. And probably kicking their ass first.

“Are you ringing that in or are you just going to stand there glaring?” Baric said.

Sandor had forgotten he was in front of the cash register. “Yeah, sorry.”

“I’m caught up if you need to go do a round or two, make sure everyone’s behaving.”

“Yeah, I probably will.”

“You can stare at your hot roommate up close instead of back here.”

Sandor shot him a glare.

“I mean, I’d stare too, because damn.” Beric leaned over. “Boss, you need to snap that up quick, because she’s not staying single for long.”

“She’s not interested.”

“Dude, I’d take the risk and make a play just in case. Otherwise, you’re gonna have to be listening to her fuck one of the Chads around here through the walls.”

The thought of that made him want to kill someone. “I’m going to make a round.”

He took a walk around the inside, making sure no one looked like they were too drunk or too amped up. The music tonight was more dancing music, which was what Sansa and her friend wanted, and in general, there tended to be less fighting. Unless two guys got into a shoving match over a girl.

And if it was a guy showing interest in Sansa, he just might be the other guy.

He had tried to keep an eye on her and her friend, make sure they weren’t drinking too much, or getting any unwanted attention. He had seen a few guys go up to Sansa, but she seemed to rebuff them, thank all of the Gods. Both women were more than a little bit tipsy, having gotten drinks from one of the other bartenders at some point. The band was wrapping up, so maybe they’d call it a night too.

The crowd was cheering for the band, Sansa and Shae jumping up and down, squealing. Yeah, they were past tipsy.

He went up to them. “Do I need to call you a cab?” he asked Shae.

“No, I got a rideshare!” She held up her phone. “You might need to help your roommate upstairs though.” She pushed Sansa toward him, who gave him an enthusiastic hug.

“This was so much fun!” she yelled. “Is it this much fun every night?”

Shae grinned at him. “You’re welcome, Black Coffee.” She turned and headed for the door.

What the fuck? Had she been trying to get Sansa drunk on purpose?

“I think you’ve had enough fun for one night, Songbird.”

She smiled. “I like it when you call me Songbird. It’s cute.”

“OK then.” He put an arm around her to make sure she didn’t fall, and she held onto him. He led her toward the door so they could go up the stairs to their apartment. Baric caught sight of him and gave him a thumbs up.

She made her way up the stairs and she was two away from the landing at the top, when she stopped abruptly, turning to face him. “Hey.”

He just about missed the step, not expecting the stop. “Why did you stop?”

“Look.” She leaned over, putting her hands on his shoulders. “I’m taller than you, Sandor.”

At least she was amusing after drinking a bit too much. “Yes, you are.” He put a hand on her hip. “Are you going to go inside or just hang out in the hallway?”

“I want to try something.” They were standing close already, and she was, as she had put it, taller than him. She moved forward, bringing her lips to his, pressing a hand to the back of his head, as if she were afraid he would escape.

Like he was going anywhere. He slid his hands around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She kissed him harder, sliding her tongue in his mouth, tasting of lemons. His head spun, and it was not from the drinks earlier. It was from her, from the intensity of this moment. This was really happening.

She pulled back just slightly, so her sweet mouth was still just a breath away from his. “I think you like me.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“I think I like you too.” She kissed him again, nipping his lip before pulling away. “Let’s go inside.” She grabbed him by the arm, pulling him toward the door, and struggled with the key. He opened it for her. He had just made it inside when she pushed him down onto the couch, immediately straddling him and kissing him.

He caught her red hair in his hand, holding her there to him, exploring her mouth, tilting her head back so he could kiss the white column of her throat. He ran his other hand up from her hip to her breast, stroking her nipple. She grinded on his lap, her skirt hiked up, rubbing against the length of him, gasping as she did so. He could almost feel her, there was only a few layers of clothes between them.

Oh fuck. This couldn’t continue. All he wanted was to keep going to the natural conclusion, scoop her up, take her to his bed, and ravish her. But she was drunk. He had to stop this.

God fucking dammit.

He held her by the shoulders. “Hey, we’ve got to stop.”

“Nooo,” she whined, kissing him again. “You feel good.”

“I agree, but you’re drunk.”

“Just a little.”

“A little too much. I want you to actually want this, not get carried away by lemon drops.”

She leaned back to look at him in the darkened room, the only light coming in from the streetlight outside, casting a shadow on her. “You think it’s only because I’m drunk?”

“I think you’ve never practically devoured me before, and the lemon drops just might have something to do with it.”

“Maybe I was too nervous to make a move without the lemon drops.”

“Maybe. But let’s wait until you’re lemon drop free before moving any further.”

She frowned, sliding off his lap. “Maybe you don’t like me without lemon drops.”

“I didn’t drink those, that makes no sense…” He was trying to reason with a drunk person. “Let’s go to sleep and see how we both feel tomorrow.”

“You won’t like me tomorrow,” she said.

“I assure you that’s untrue, baby,” he said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’ve liked you for a long time now.”

She captured his hand in hers. “You’re one of my only friends, it would suck if you didn’t like me anymore.” She started toward her bedroom, and he thought he had succeeded in getting her to sleep it off, but then she veered off and went into his room instead.

He did not drink enough tequila for this. “Wrong room.”

She was already kicking off her shoes.

“Sansa, you’re in the wrong room.”

“No, I want to sleep with you,” she said. “Actual sleep. I feel lonely at night and it’s dark and I’m all by myself..”

Jesus.

She was already crawling into his bed, leaving her clothes on, but pulling his blanket over her.

He decided right then he wasn’t going to fight it. Just sleeping in the same bed was fine.

He kicked off his shoes and lay down on his bed, clothes still on. She reached over and grabbed his arm, putting it around her waist.

“You have to cuddle.”

He had to smile at that. “Do I?”

“Mmmhmm.” She held onto his hand.

Maybe he was an idiot for stopping her from going further. But the night was ending in a great way, her in his arms, the taste of her mouth still on his lips.

Chapter Text

Sansa woke in the morning with a headache, and once again, the feeling like she had no idea where she was. Everything seemed backward from her room.

And then she noticed she was still fully clothed, with someone in bed next to her.

Oh. My. God. She remembered going into Sandor’s room the night before, insisting on sleeping there.

She looked over. He was still asleep, and fully clothed on top of the covers. She threw the blanket that she had wrapped around herself at some point in the night onto him and slunk out of the room, heading to the living room, the entire night coming back to her in bursts.

She remembered having shots the night before. Several shots. She and Shae convinced Sandor to do shots with them. And then Shae brought over beers. And then another.

And Sandor said she was fucking hot.

And that was buzzing in her brain, along with all of the alcohol, and she had mauled him as he had tried to get her home. She had pretty much thrown herself at him.

He had kissed her back though. And he was a really good kisser. Really good. She wouldn’t mind doing that again.

He had been a gentleman, though, and had shut her down when she had tried to tempt him into having sex on the couch. There were a lot of guys that wouldn’t have stopped her, even though she was clearly a bit too intoxicated to really consent.

She was embarrassed that she had thrown herself at him like that. He was her friend, and her roommate, and OK, obviously she was attracted to him, but she was not normally that aggressive. She had wanted to go out last night and dance, to not feel sad anymore about her breakup. She guessed she had done just that, but rebounding with her roommate would probably be a spectacularly bad idea.

And yet, she kinda wanted to. Sometimes bad ideas sounded like good ideas.

And then she got that hit - the voice in her head that said, This is a song. She jumped up and ran in her room for her notebook.

She was still on the couch, scribbling like crazy, when she heard Sandor’s door open and then he came out, still dressed in last night’s clothes, like her.

“Do you want coffee?” he asked, walking past her and heading to the kitchen.

“Yes, all the coffee.” She finished writing in her notebook, capturing the last little bit of lyrics. She then realized what time it was. “Shit! I have to go to work!”

“You’re a bit overdressed.” He came back holding a cup out to her. “It’s just black, sorry. You will have to be Grumpy Black Coffee.”

She smiled at that. The thought of anything else made her stomach hurt. She sipped it, willing the caffeine to take her headache away.

He came back in with his own cup, and sat down in the armchair looking at her. “Regretting the lemon drops yet?”

“Maybe a little. I’ll bet Shae is too.”

He gestured toward her notebook. “What are you doing?”

She held it up. “Writing! I woke up with a headache, and words for a song.”

“Really? That’s great!” He looked genuinely pleased for her. He really was a good friend.

“Yes, I had to catch it before it vanished on me. Everything last night…helped start up the creative part of me again.”

“Good, I’m glad.”

She closed the notebook and looked him in the eye. She was embarrassed, but owed him that. “I’m sorry I mauled you last night. And for taking over your bed. Thank you for being decent about it. I know you turned me down, and I just got dumped, and rebounds are always stupid, and now I’ve made things really awkward, and you won’t want to hang out with me anymore, and this is probably why I shouldn’t drink that much, and I’m babbling and I’m just going to shut up. Actually, I’m going to shut up and go to work, I’m going to be late.” She leapt up and practically sprinted to her room. She had to get dressed and get down there, thank God she did live next door.

He was pacing around the living room as she entered, tossing her hair back into a ponytail and frantically grabbing for her keys. “Wait, Sansa.”

“I have to go.” Yes, she had to go to work, but she was also being a bit of a coward. She didn’t want to hear that her drunken antics had ruined their friendship.

“Just a second, please.”

She halted at the door and turned back to him.

“You said I turned you down, like I had no interest, and that’s not true. You were drunk. I didn’t want it like that.”

“I understand.” No one wanted to be someone’s drunken hook up, she got it.

“I’m not sure that you do. I know you’re not over Joffrey yet…and yeah, rebounds are bad, but do you get that it was hard for me to shut that down last night?”

She nodded. “Thanks for being a good friend. I’m seriously late, I’ve got to go.” She shut the door quickly before he could say anything else, and ran down the stairs and next door.

Petyr glared at her and she burst into the room. “Sansa, you’re late!” He pointed at the line of people that snaked to the door.

“I know, I’m so sorry.”

“You live right next door!”

“I’m so sorry!”

“He COULD help, you know,” Shae said as Sansa rounded the counter and put her apron on, taking her spot behind the espresso machine. “How’s your head?”

“I’ve never had any complaints,” she countered with the joke. “But for real, it hurts. You?”

“Same.”

The two of them worked in sync to get the tickets done. Sansa got into the zone, pouring shots of coffee - not lemon drops, never again - and frothing milk.

She remembered making Sandor snuggle with her to fall asleep last night. While again, embarrassing that she had basically barreled in there and made herself comfortable, it had felt nice in his arms. Why couldn’t it be a thing that you could cuddle up with your nice male friends every once in a while? Or, you know, make out with them a bit if you needed some song inspiration?

The line finally thinned out, and Sansa started wiping down the machine. She noticed Sandor hadn’t come in for his usual coffee, and granted they had both drank some right before she came to work, but maybe he was giving her space after she basically dry-humped him last night. Honestly, she wouldn’t blame him. Sure, everyone had needs, everyone got horny, but good God…

And why did her memories of it have to be so hot?

“How come your roommate hasn’t come by?” Shae said to her, as she wiped the counter, so they could talk and Petyr not yell at them.

“I…maybe scared him away,” Sansa said.

Shae stopped cleaning. “Oh? What happened?”

“I kinda made out with him, tried to screw him on the couch, and when he said no, I went to sleep in his bed.”

“Oh my God!”

Petyr’s head swiveled toward them. “Girls! This isn’t the time to gossip, it’s the time to clean.”

They both continued to wipe, giving each other sidelong glances.

“I knew if I got a few drinks in you, you’d make a move,” Shae said just above a whisper to her.

“You got me drunk on purpose?” Sansa hissed back at her.

“I encouraged you to drink in the hopes that you might forget about prim and orderly Sansa, who is still hung up on that loser Joffrey, and be the new and improved Sansa, and take a chance on a guy that you obviously like and who obviously likes you.”

“Yeah, but he knows I’m not over Joffrey and agreed that rebounds are a bad idea.” Sansa sighed. “I wish making out with guy friends was a thing. It unlocked song lyrics in me! Do you think I could convince him to just hook up with me once in the name of music? I could get so much work done!”

Shae laughed. “Sansa, you idiot! You’re talking about Friends with Benefits.”

“What is that?”

“You poor sheltered creature. Have you ever even had a one-night stand?”

“Once. When I was going to college. After I went to a fraternity party and did a bunch of Jello shots. Maybe I shouldn’t do shots, they apparently make me super horny.”

“Or you should do them more often.” Shae winked at her. “Friends with Benefits is when you hook up with a guy friend just for the sex. Or I guess in your instance, for the sex and the music. You’re not in a relationship beyond friendship. You can hook up and go back to being friends. That’s what you need to do with your roommate. You said you two agreed that you’re not over Joffrey and rebounds are a bad idea. There you go. You can get some needs met AND write some music. Sounds like a win-win.”

Sansa knew she wasn’t ready for an actual relationship yet, after Joffrey she felt a bit less trusting than she was before. Maybe this was what she needed. “Yeah, but do you think he’d go for it?”

Shae cocked her head. “Sansa. Look at you. Look at him. You’re out of his league. And he’s a guy. I think he’ll go for it. I think if he didn’t have morals, he’d have gladly fucked you on the couch last night.”

“Shae! Are you swearing over there?”

“No!” She yelled back at Petyr. She turned back to Sansa. “You need to go for it! Go home and seduce him. Get some and get that songwriting!”

Sansa wasn’t sure if she had it in her without alcohol, but she could already hear the music in her head…

Chapter Text

Sandor spent his entire afternoon off trying to figure out what to do. Sansa seemed embarrassed about her behavior the night before, and thought that he had been a good friend overcoming his baser male instincts and turned her down to maintain their friendship. And if it really was just the alcohol mixing with the hurt from her breakup that made her act out like that, and she truly wasn’t interested, then he supposed that was true. But another part of her acted like she had been interested, and she thought he had turned her down due to lack of interest on his part, and now she was embarrassed.

Which was true?

He thought it best to give her the day to get it figured out in her own mind, he had been hungover a time or two and knew it was hard to think clearly. Either way, he didn’t want her to feel embarrassed, but if she thought he wasn’t interested, then he had to clear that up.

As if he had some sort of weird sixth sense, Frosty called him.

“Hey, Hound! How’s my sister?”

“She’s good.” Sandor wondered how badly the conversation would go if he told him she drunkenly tried to have her way with him last night.

“Are you two getting along?”

Your sister had her tongue in my mouth last night, so I’d say yes. “Of course. She’s been kind enough to cook us dinner if I buy groceries.”

“Yeah, I saw her photo on social media. Lucky you, she made that chicken spaghetti dish for me one time when I visited, I could eat that every day!”

“Same.”

“Is she doing OK after the breakup? Honestly, I never liked her fiance, but if he was what made her happy, that’s all I could want for her. But for the last six months or so, she certainly didn’t seem happy.”

“I met him and he’s a dick. I think she’s well rid of him.”

“Yeah. I just don’t want her sitting around home all the time, only going to work, and moping.”

“Why does that sound more like a pointed attack on me?”

“Maybe because I don’t want her to end up like you! I don’t want to hear that you’re both just slumped in front of the T.V. watching Law and Order reruns on your days off.”

“Then you don’t want to hear about last week then.”

Jon sighed. “Please, do me a huge favor, Sandor. Make her go out and do things. Go out and do things with her, even! It would do you both a world of good.”

“You’re saying you want me to take your sister out…”

“Well, not like that! Just be a surrogate big brother for me, and make her leave the apartment and do things that aren’t work occasionally.”

Sandor knew one thing - he did NOT want to be Sansa’s surrogate big brother. “Her friend from work took her to the bar last night…”

Jon was quiet, and then, “It’s not that guy she works for?”

“No, her female friend, Shae. They went dancing, had one too many drinks, seemed to have a good time.”

“Oh, good. That doesn’t solve my problem with you though.”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been saying that for years, and I seriously doubt it. Bane said you’ve been obsessed with some woman, but haven’t asked her out, and, I quote, ‘Just lurk around like an asshole.’”

“He told you about that, huh?” He was assuming Bane never told Frosty her actual identity, or this conversation would have been going a different way.

“You should ask her out! Leave Eve in the past where she belongs. Two years is a long time. You need to get laid.”

Well, he almost did. But to Jon, he said, “I don’t have the way with women you and Bane do.”

“Take a chance and ask her out. Maybe she’ll surprise you and say yes.”

And maybe she’ll barge into my room and want to snuggle again so I can have the best sleep of my life. “Not that I don’t love being nagged, but I’ve got to go to work.”

“Be that way. You and Sansa go do something that isn’t Law and Order reruns on Sunday!’

If they could get over her embarrassment from last night, he’d be glad to go anywhere with her.

At work, he noticed Beric linger around his office door as he was working on paperwork before opening. “What’s up?”

“Just curious how it went with your hot roommate last night.”

“I managed to get her upstairs and to bed without too much trouble.”

“Yours or hers?”

“I don’t sleep with drunk women.” He wasn’t going to mention the actual sleeping in his bed. “Go change the keg and stop being a nosy auntie.”

The evening went fast, and when Sandor went upstairs for his break, he wondered if Sansa would even be there or if she was still too embarrassed. As he got to the door, he didn’t smell anything cooking so he thought maybe she wasn’t there, but the door was unlocked. As he opened it, he heard the sounds of a guitar strumming and her singing softly. She was sitting on the couch, playing, wearing one of those cute strappy dresses girls wore in the summer, hair down around her shoulders. He had an uncomfortable flashback of wrapping that hair around his hand, kissing her throat…

She looked up as he walked in. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry, I didn’t make anything to eat, I sat down here after work and just started writing and lost track of time.”

“That’s fine, I’ve got plenty of frozen meals.” He started to head toward the kitchen, and then paused at the door. “It sounds good, what you’re playing.”

She smiled, and then started playing again and singing. He caught the lyrics, about only being daring after taking shots and making the best mistakes then. He wasn’t sure how to take that - so kissing him had been a mistake but a good one?

“You should come perform one night downstairs,” he said.

She ducked her head. “I couldn’t. Stage fright.”

“You said it was people you knew, and you just sang in front of me.”

“Well, you helped write it in a way.”

“I think someone along the way got in your head about your music.” And he had a feeling it was Joffrey.

She didn’t deny it. Instead, she put her guitar down and stood up. “Sandor, I haven’t been able to write in months, and after last night, it was like my brain woke up again. Like I woke up again.” She started moving toward him, her hips swishing seductively in that dress.

Holy shit.

“I need to be able to keep writing. Could you help me?” She came over and stood right in front of him, a breath away.

“How?” He wasn’t sure what she was asking.

“I need things like last night again. Not the alcohol.” She bit her lip, ducking her head, suddenly acting unsure. “And you said maybe without the lemon drops...”

This wasn’t happening.

“We’re both single, we have really good chemistry, and I know we agreed rebounds are a bad idea, but it doesn’t have to be like that. We could be friends…” She reached out and took both of his hands, putting them on her waist. “...That hook up sometimes. For physical needs and for the music.”

Oh, my God. She was trying to seduce him. She didn’t get that he was a sure thing when it came to her.

Could he do this? Be with her, and eventually let her go once she got what she wanted?

She slid her own arms up his back, pulling him closer. “You like me, I like you…” She leaned up, tipping her head up to his.

Fuck it.

Their mouths crashed together.

Chapter Text

Sansa had spent all day torturing herself. Would she screw up a friendship by trying this? Was she daring enough to try something like this? Was this a colossally bad idea? What was she going to do if he turned her down again?

Then she decided those too were song lyrics, and that this was helping, so she was definitely going to try to seduce Sandor into being her friend with benefits.

Maybe it was a reaction to her relationship with Joffrey. Maybe after her engagement ended because her fiancé found someone else, she was trying to prove something, that she was still desirable by someone. And what was wrong with that? She was young and had her heart broken. Why not have a fling with a readily available guy that she was attracted to?

She could never tell Jon though. He could never tell Jon. She knew he’d be pissed off at Sandor, and that wasn’t fair to him, this was all her idea.

She decided if he turned her down, she would laugh it off, and probably start looking for a new apartment ASAP.

But holy shit, he was NOT turning her down. She had put his hands on her hips, slid into his arms, raised up her lips, he had to make the final move to bend down because of his height, and suddenly his mouth was on hers, and he was kissing her like he wanted to devour her. His lips were crushing in a good way. She kept raising up on her tiptoes to get to him, her tongue exploring his mouth, meeting his. She kept leaning up, and suddenly he was fixing it by picking her up like she was nothing, his hands on her ass, she was wrapping her legs around his waist, never breaking the kiss.

He carried her like that to his room, dropping her down on his bed, and following her onto it, his weight on top of her in a good way. She reached down to the hem of his shirt, wanting it off, wanting to touch him, feel all of his skin on her, but he stopped her hand. “Don’t.”

She stopped, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you think?” he asked softly. “I’m a mess.”

She honestly had no idea what he meant for a moment, and then she remembered his injury, all the shrapnel. “I don’t care.” She knew it was there, but she didn’t think about it much at all.

“I do,” he said, his tone a bit painful, and she had the sudden thought that someone had reacted badly to his scars. She had a feeling it was his ex.

“I just want to touch you,” she said, leaning up to kiss him again. He was a really good kisser, just the right amount of pressure, the right amount of tongue, she could kiss him all day. She slid a hand up his shirt, to his flat stomach and chest, making sure to avoid his scars since it bothered him.

“Let me touch you,” he said against her mouth, his voice a husky growl with need. It made a warm feeling spread through her. “Let me please you.”

He kept his mouth on hers, but reached between them, pushing the skirt of her dress up around her waist, and then his hand was between her legs. She parted her legs for him, and felt his hand there, pushing aside her panties. She gasped into his mouth when he slid a finger in and started moving it, in and out. When he added a second, she moaned aloud, grinding against his hand, moving her hips along with the rhythm he was creating.

“You like that?” His other hand came around to cup her breast, rubbing her nipple through her dress with his thumb. It made her ache to have these layers between them, when all that she wanted was skin.

“These are in the way,” he growled in her ear, and then removed his hand long enough to take off her underwear. They went somewhere, she didn’t care where, just off. She would take all of the layers off between them, but she was half under his body and couldn’t move.

His hand didn’t return, and instead he moved further down her body. He ran his mouth over her still unfortunately clothed body, leaving hot kisses she wished she could feel on bare flesh, and then he settled between her legs, nudging them further apart as he did so, and then his mouth was on her sex.

Sansa gasped at the contact, and then almost immediately began to squirm under the attention his lips and tongue were giving. Every lick, every suck seemed to be designed to make her shake. Every nerve there seemed switched on and alive like never before. She clutched at his shoulder, the bed sheet, anything she could find as her body arched, wanting more. When he added his fingers back, thrusting in and out, all the way down to the knuckle, her cries became louder. She had normally not been that loudly enthusiastic during sex, but she also hadn’t had anyone be this talented with his mouth either.

The wave crash of her orgasm surprised her with its intensity, her body locking up with it, a strangled gasp of a cry coming out. As the waves gradually receded, and she was left staring up at the ceiling, shivering, he slowed with his hand and tongue, and then finally stopped. She almost wanted to cry when he removed his fingers.

“I like that music, Songbird,” he said, resting his head on her thigh, leaving a parting kiss there. “Did it give you inspiration?”

“Oh yes,” she said, her voice sounding dreamy to her own ears, as he moved to lay down next to her.

“Will you play it for me later?” He brushed her hair away from her face.

“If you want me too.”

His smile was wicked. “I want to be able to hear it and taste you on my lips.”

That was definitely a song lyric.

She wanted to do something for him after everything he just did. She sat up, reaching down for the button of his pants.

His hand came down on hers. “What are you doing?”

“I want you to enjoy it too,” she said. She couldn’t be using him for both music and the wonderful things he could do to her, and not give a little something back.

Plus, now she REALLY wanted to touch him. It was almost unbearable.

“What makes you think I didn’t enjoy all of that?”

She cocked her head. “Well, it was specifically for me.”

“And?”

“Well, I mean, you didn’t…”

“Ok, I’m going to say something extremely blunt. I like eating pussy. I’m not doing it as a special favor to you. I like watching you come from it. I like how you taste. I will do it until my jaw hurts, because it’s fucking hot.”

Sansa hadn’t been with many men, but she was sure the ones she had been with had only done that as a means for a blowjob or to move along to sex. Damn, Sandor was full of surprises.

“Fuck!” He suddenly exploded. “I left Baric alone downstairs and we had a call-off. God damn it.” He got up from the bed.

Sansa gelt bereft. “You have to go?”

He turned back to her, looking upset. “I’m sorry, baby. If it was any other night but Saturday, I would blow it off. But we’re short-staffed, and I only intended to be gone for like 15 minutes, and it’s been a lot longer than that.”

“I guess I distracted you.”

“In a really fucking good way.”

She got up off his bed, readjusting her dress. She had no idea where her underwear went, maybe he’d find them later. “Sandor, Jon can’t know about this. I don’t want him upset with you.”

“Why would I tell Jon? It’s between us.” He started to leave the room, heading back toward the front door.

“So…” She followed after him, not knowing how to ask this. “Tomorrow’s our day off.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you want to…”

“Do this again? Yes. And I promised Jon that I would take you out to do something - he’s worried that you’re depressed and not leaving the apartment except for work.”

“I went to the bar last night!”

“I told him, but he said I needed to get out some too.”

They could have a friends date and then some friends benefits. What a way to spend the day.

Chapter Text

Sandor stumbled back downstairs like he had just visited an alternate reality and was rejoining the real world.

He would have thought he had an extremely vivid fantasy, if not for Sansa’s taste still on his tongue.

What the fuck just happened?

As expected, there was a huge line at the bar, Beric was swamped and looking miserable when Sandor rejoined him.

“Everything OK?” he asked as Sandor came behind the bar counter and started taking orders.

“Fine.” Better than fine actually. Sansa could say she used that encounter to help her write music, but he was the one that was going to remember the sounds she made until the day that he died.

He had no idea how he finished the evening and helped close up the bar because he kept replaying everything in his head. The way her body shook. The way she grabbed his shoulder and the bed, like she was going to fall off or float up to the ceiling. He probably had half moons on him from her nails digging in, and he didn’t care in the least. He wanted her to scratch him up, mark him, so the next time he saw them, he’d know that was real. It happened.

Even if the next time he saw her, she had decided it was a one-off, it still had happened.

He was going to have a massive amount of paperwork to work on Monday, as he couldn’t concentrate long enough to get anything done, and just left the deposits locked up in the safe.

Beric came in just as he finished locking it up. “Boss? Are you sure you’re ok? You’ve been somewhere else ever since you came back tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Better than good, actually. Once he had decided to have her in any way she offered, he was in a new and better world. One in which he had Sansa Stark in his bed.

“I thought someone died or something.”

“Nothing like that.”

When Sandor locked the door to the bar behind him, saying goodnight to the rest of the staff, he felt tired but also like he had downed about five coffees. He was still on the high of the encounter with Sansa, still extremely turned on by it and thought about going to the shower tonight and taking care of it, but by the time he made his way up the stairs, decided that he was going to bed and would try to actually sleep.

The apartment was dark and silent. For a moment, he had let himself imagine she would be sitting on the couch, waiting for him, but knew that was far fetched. He threw his keys down on the side table, locking the door behind him, and headed for his room, his bed calling to him.

He got undressed, down to his boxers and slid under the covers. Unbidden, his mind immediately went back to what had gone down here just a few short hours ago, and he was once more wide awake and turned on. It might have been his imagination, but he could swear he could still smell her scent here on his sheets.

He had turned onto his side and was willing himself to calm down and go to sleep when he heard the door open. In the dark, only illuminated from the streetlight from the window, he could see her slight figure. “Sansa?”

She went to the other side of the bed, slipping in under the covers. “I can’t sleep. I’m too wired.”

He knew exactly how she felt. He turned to face her, and immediately felt her hand on his cock through his boxers. And it did predictable things to him. “What are you doing?”

“I keep thinking about it and I want to do something for you.” She was tugging his boxers down, and pushing back the sheets and he wasn’t fighting her. “Please just let me. I won’t look at your scars if that’s what you’re afraid of, it’s dark.”

He didn’t even make a conscious decision - he had turned onto his back, and she was moving next to him, and then her sweet mouth was on his cock, taking him in inch by inch. He groaned, feeling her suck, and start to move. “God, Sansa.” His hips bucked with her movement, and without even thinking, he tangled his hand in her hair, winding it in his fingers. “Like that, baby. Fuck.”

She let her teeth drag, just a little, adding her tongue as she came up, and then sucked going back down, creating the right amount of pressure. He moaned words of encouragement to her that he hoped made sense, he was losing his grasp on reality at that moment. The world narrowed down to her mouth on him, and unsurprisingly considering he spent the entire night reliving what he had done to her earlier, he was fast reaching the breaking point.

“I’m so close, baby,” he warned, knowing most women didn’t like taking it. He loosened his grip on her hair so she could move, giving her the option of how she wanted to finish him. She sucked one more time, taking him all the way down, and then her mouth was gone and it was her hand gripping him tightly, and he released on himself with a cry, moaning as she continued to stroke him. He was panting her name, over and over.

He reached over to grab tissues to clean himself off, still shaking.

“You’re a talker,” Sansa said, her voice warm and sultry in the dark. “I like it.”

Once clean, he lay back down, and she scooted over, laying her head on his chest. Her hand was on his right side, and he knew she could feel the scars there, and for once, he didn’t care.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, stroking her hair.

“No, but I wanted to,” she said. “And I’ll be able to sleep now.”

“Stay here?”

She snuggled up more. “Yes please.”

Both of them now satiated, he gave into sleep, holding her in his arms.

When he woke in the morning, he was alone in his bed, and he could hear music playing. Apparently last night had been very inspirational for the Songbird.

He got up and took a shower. He imagined a world where Sansa came in with him, but honestly he hadn’t expected her to come into his bed in the night and insist on giving him a blow job either, so give her a day or two and she just might surprise him one morning.

He walked into the living room to see her with her guitar, keyboard and notebooks spread around her on the floor. She was writing something in one notebook that looked like chord progressions. She looked up and smiled when he came in. “Good morning! Sorry for leaving, but I woke up with music on the brain.”

He didn’t expect her to stay until he got up. Was that a Joffrey thing?

“I know you wake up earlier than me, I didn’t think you abandoned me,” he said. “I’m glad to see it helped.”

“In multiple ways,” she said.

He grinned. “I’d have to agree. So what do you want to do so Jon will not think we’re depressed losers that never leave the house?”

“There’s food trucks down at the park today. Do you want to go eat? I’ll take lots of pics and send them as evidence to Jon.”

“And then go home?”

“Hey, we left the house!” She laughed.

Sandor couldn’t think of a better way to spend his day off.

Chapter Text

“Can I ask a question,” Sansa asked as they walked down to the park.

“I don’t know if I know you well enough for questions,” Sandor teased.

“What is with all of the dark t-shirts and jeans? I don’t think I have ever seen you in anything else.”

“I don’t know, it’s easy I guess. Wear a uniform for so long, you end up doing it in civilian life.”

“I wondered about that.” She had assumed that factored into it, also his very low maintenance personality. After high maintenance Joffrey, she liked that he wasn’t a bottomless hole of need.

“Is that a problem?” He eyed her warily, and it made her wonder if she had accidentally stumbled onto something that had been a problem with his ex.

“No, I don’t care what you wear. It fits with your personality - you are the most no frills person I know.”

“Be honest, could you picture me in a polo shirt? In a suit and tie?”

“Definitely not the polo shirt, but let’s be real, men look hot in a suit and tie. So yes, I could picture it, and it’s nice.” She bumped against his side in a flirtatious manner. At this point, he knew she thought he was attractive, obviously, after last night, so why not flirt a little?

“Well when you start performing concerts, maybe I will show up at one of them in a suit.”

“So you’re saying it’s never happening.”

He looked upset. “Why do you do that? Talk down about your music like that? Is this a Joffrey thing?”

She shrugged. “I mean, he wasn’t the most supportive of it. He wants to be a politician…”

Sandor snorted. “Of course.”

“And how many politicians have songwriter wives? He made it clear that when we got married, I was going to be a wife.”

He eyed her. “And you wanted that? To just give up on everything you worked on?”

“Well, no. Jesus, Sandor, now you sound like Arya.” She had almost the exact same argument with her sister several times. Now that she was out from under the Joffrey situation, she was beginning to realize that maybe she had been making excuses for quite a while, and it wasn’t the romance she thought it was.

He seemed to sense that he was going down a dangerous road with her and backed off a bit. “Here I figured I’d sound more like Jon.”

“Oh, trust me, he said a few things a time or two.” She changed the subject as they walked up to the park. There were a lot of people visiting the food trucks, and several vendors also set up selling a variety of items. “They have Korean chicken! I’m definitely getting that. What about you?”

He looked around at the trucks. “Honestly? I kind of want to try something out of each one. We could just share…”

“Oh let’s!” She grabbed his arm, leading him to the first truck. “OK, Korean chicken…what do you want at the barbecue place?”

“Ribs?”

“That sounds good. Oh my God, walking tacos. My favorite street food.”

He laughed. “That’s just ground beef and nacho chips with lettuce and sour cream mixed in.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“OK, walking taco it is then. What about…”

“They have elephant ears!” She grabbed his hand and started pulling him to the furthest truck. “Arya and I used to eat these every summer during the Fourth of July fireworks. I haven’t seen one in years. I have to get one and send her pics to torment her.”

“Damn baby, you take food seriously!”

Sansa glanced up at him, hearing the endearment, and then realized she was still holding his hand.

“Sansa?”

She whirled in the direction of the voice. It was Joffrey and Margaery! Joffrey was looking between her and Sandor, and he had definitely clocked the hand holding.

Sandor pulled her a bit closer to him. “Oh, hi Jimmy.”

“It’s Joffrey,” Joffrey said. “How have you been Sansa? You look good.” Margaery shot him a glare.

“Oh, thank you. We’ve been good, thanks,” Sansa said, looking up at Sandor. “We’ve both been so busy at work, it’s good to finally have a day off. How about you two?”

“I’m sure work is very busy at that coffee shop,” Margaery said to Sansa. “Are there many people that actually come all the way downtown?”

“Well, you’re here,” Sandor cut in. “So I guess the answer is yes.”

She shot him a glare now. “And what is it you do?”

“Sandor’s been out of the military for a bit now, but he’s a business owner,” Sansa said. “Like your dad, Joffrey.”

Joffrey’s face was turning red.

“Baby, you want to go order? Crazy bumping into you, see you around, Jeffrey, Margaret.” Sandor said, leading Sansa away from them.

Sansa waited until they had moved on before she burst out laughing. “The forgetting their names act you do kills me.” She gave her order to the lady at the elephant ear truck.

Sandor grinned. “It’s so much fun to do too.”

“Do you want to go grab half of the food, and I’ll get the other, and we’ll meet back at the picnic tables along the back there?” Sansa pointed to a nearby pavilion.

“Yes, as long as you swear you will not eat that entire elephant ear between now and then, because I want to know why you’re obsessed with it.”

“I make no promises.”

He squeezed her hand and let go, and that was when Sansa realized she was still holding his hand. What was she doing? Sandor probably thought she spotted Joffrey before he did, and was doing it to irk him, but that was not the case. She needed to get back on track - he was not her boyfriend, he was her roommate that she would occasionally hook up with.

Sansa got her half of the food, and made her way to the picnic tables. Sandor had gotten his as well.

She pulled out her phone. “I’m taking a photo so Jon can see us outside.” She snapped one, Sandor on the other side of the table with the food and posted it with the caption - “We finally left the house!” That done, she put her phone back into her bag and started eating.

They were discussing what their favorite dish was - Sandor said the Korean chicken was good and asked if she could cook it, and thought her elephant ear was a flat donut, which she told him was the point, when she heard a strange noise coming from under the table. She looked down.

There was a small black kitten there.

“Oh! Hi kitty!” The little cat came up to her and let her pet it. She broke off a piece of meat from a rib and sat it down in front of it. “Aren’t you cute!” She looked around. No one seemed to be looking for a cat. “Wonder where it came from?”

“It probably wandered here for the food. Someone could have dumped it here at the park. People do that sometimes,” Sandor said.

“That’s horrible.”

“People suck. You work in the service industry, you know that.”

The little cat ate the meat and looked up at her. She bent down and picked it up. “It’s so little. It’s just a baby.” Joffrey had never let her have pets, he claimed allergies, but she thought now maybe he just didn’t like the responsibility. “Sandor. Would our landlord let us have a pet?”

Sandor looked unsure of the animal. “The landlord has never had a cat in his life and has always been more of a dog person.”

She stared at him for a moment. “Wait, you’re the landlord?”

“Yes. I own the building with the bar and the apartment. I’m also your boss’ landlord. My granddad owned both buildings and left them to me. I’ve also got a few investment properties further out.”

“So you own a business and real estate! You’re a proper grownup!”

“Well, to be fair, Sansa, I just inherited most of them.”

“You said ‘most.’”

He ducked his head. “The investment properties I bought myself.”

“You’re too much sometimes. Acting like oh, I work at bar, just kidding I own it, just kidding I’m a real estate mogul!”

He laughed. “Mogul sounds like I should be in a suit and tie.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t stop you…” She jumped as the cat kneaded its paws on her bare leg. It had apparently been a bad idea to wear shorts. “Ow, sharp baby!”

“And this is why I’ve always been more of a dog person.”

“Look at its face!” She held it up in front of him. “It says ‘Pwease can I go wive with the nice wady?’”

“Only if you promise to NEVER do that creepy baby voice again.” Sandor shuddered.

“Yay!” Sansa cuddled the kitten in her arms and shot him a grateful look. “Sandor, this is why you’re my favorite!”

“I’m only allowing it because you’re mine too.” His voice was husky.

His eyes locked on hers, and Sansa felt something pass between the two of them, almost like an electric current. It made her heart race.

“What are you going to call it?” He asked, pointing to the cat like nothing had just happened.

“Um…Walking Taco! Taco for short.”

He shook his head. “And dog people name their pets real names, like Max or Remy.”

“That’s why cats are more fun! The possibilities are endless.”

They started talking about all the things Sansa would need for Taco, and he said they could take his truck and go to the local large pet supply store that was in the area, and Sansa forgot about Joffrey and Margaery and whatever that strange feeling had been.

Chapter Text

Sandor didn’t know how he ended up as a co-owner of a “house panther” as Sansa called it, but he was somehow walking up the aisles of a pet supply store, pushing a cart for her as she carried the cat, and gradually added more things for it - cat food, cat litter and litter box, a bed, a fancy water bowl that bubbled, a grazing food dish, cat treats…she was going to end up spending hundreds of dollars on a free cat.

“Ooh look! It’s a little collar - with tacos on it! For Taco!” She added that to her pile. “And here’s a toy wand with a feather…on a taco!” Into the pile it went.

Her excitement was catching, he had to admit. He found himself smiling.

She careened around the corner, squealing about a cat tree. Cats got trees?

A man walking in the other direction watched her fly past him, and then saw Sandor pushing the cart. He nodded knowingly. “Girlfriend got a new cat, huh? That’s going to put a dent in your wallet.”

“All of this for something she found for free at the park,” Sandor said to him.

“Wait until you get the vet bill,” the man said.

“Sandor! Can we fit this in your truck?” she called.

The man laughed. ‘Good luck, dude. After this one gets bigger, she’s going to insist it needs a friend. That’s what happened with my wife, and now we have five cats.”

Sandor came around the corner and found Sansa with a huge box. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s the cat tree! It needs to be able to climb, otherwise it’ll tear up your non-existent curtains.”

“Um, O.K. Where are you going to put it?”

She paused a beat too long. “My room?”

He sighed. “Where are you really wanting to put it?”

“The living room…” She gave him the most pathetic look. “Please? I hate thinking about forcing poor little Taco to live in my room constantly…”

What the hell. He was already this far in. “Fine. But you owe me.”

She grinned. “I’m going to go get another cart!” She and the cat took off to the front of the store.

The man from earlier saw him now with the giant box. “You realize she’s going to want you to put that together when you get home?”

“This is supposed to be my day off too,” Sandor said to him.

The man laughed. “The things we do for women.”

Sandor saw Sansa coming back, cat now in the child’s seat of a cart. And he realized what the man had said earlier - girlfriend got a new cat. He assumed they were a couple. Because that was exactly what they were acting like. She had been constantly touching him earlier, holding onto his arm, even holding his hand, and he hadn’t stopped her. She had slept the last two nights in his bed, last night because he asked her to.

This was supposed to be about sex, and for him it was not.

And for her? He wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing - if he said anything to her, it would spook her off.

This was why he was the Hound - only he could somehow end up in a situationship with his best friend’s sister, who literally just got out of a long-term relationship.

He really should end this now, otherwise he was going to get his heart ripped out once again.

“My credit card is going to scream, but it’s going to be worth it!” She said as she came back. “Will you help me put this together when we get home? I swear I will make it worth your while.”

He wasn’t going to end anything. He was going to go home with her, build the damn cat tree, and then take her into his bed and make her scream and claw at the bed, because he was a lovestruck idiot.

One who apparently had a cat now.

They ended up spending the rest of the day with the cat and its things.

He watched as she placed the cat’s bed in her room, the food and water bowl right outside her room in the hallway, while the cat attacked his boot. He tapped his foot, and it pounced again. OK, so the cat might be cute.

“Where should I put the litter box?” she asked him, as if he had any idea where a cat’s things would go.

“Bathroom?”

“Makes the most sense I guess.”

She gave the cat its food and water, and they decided to tackle the cat tree. It quickly became a lot of putting random pieces of plywood with carpet stapled to it together, and trying to figure out which parts were the ones in the terrible directions. There were a lot of ‘where is part B,’ ‘are you sure this is part C, because it sure didn’t look right’.

It was the most stupidly domestic thing he had done since he had been married to Eve, and unlike with Eve, it didn’t devolve into her screaming at him, and him leaving to go to a bar to avoid her.

Instead, Sansa came over and looked at the directions, and agreed that it didn’t look right, but it was the thing that looked the closest, so they might as well try it. She was not spoiling for a fight, or wanting to argue, or acting annoyed by his very presence. She really seemed like she enjoyed having him around.

And then her hair slid down her shoulder, brushing against his cheek, and he couldn’t help himself. He had her down on the floor underneath him in seconds, kissing her like he was a starving man, and she had her fingers in his hair, even as he was trying to pull her shorts off.

“We can’t do this in front of the baby!” she said, giggling.

“You owe me, remember?” Had he ever wanted anyone as much as he wanted Sansa Stark? He scooped her up, taking her into his room and shutting the door behind them. Just as he dropped her down on the bed, she immediately stripped out of clothes without any kind of shyness. Well, all right then.

He created a map of her naked body with his mouth, trailing kisses at each new place he discovered, his hands trailblazing the way. He listened to every hitch of her breath, every gasp, noting where she was the most sensitive. He experimented with pressure, with teeth, learning where she liked featherlight touches and where she wanted more.

He has never been more aware of a woman’s body until now.

“How is this paying YOU back,” she asked as he lavished attention on her breast, and simultaneously slid a finger into her. She arched her back and moaned deliciously. He wanted to keep doing whatever he could to keep her making that sound. It was his new goal in life.

“I like what I like,” he said, and then moved down to his favorite part.

He was not fucking around when he told her he liked eating pussy. Obviously intercourse was great, he’d never turn that down either, but he knew from experience sometimes women could just not get there from it. But if you paid attention, learned how much speed, pressure, and where to place it by going down on them, you could get a woman off, sometimes more than once, and that was an accomplishment. Getting his rocks off was fine, making a woman lose total control was his favorite thing ever.

And when that woman was Sansa Stark, he could gladly spend all day between her legs.

He had already learned a bit about what she liked from last time, and God knew she was vocal about it, he didn’t have to guess. She was already moaning and writhing, her fingers literally tangled in his hair while his tongue worked her when there was a sudden repetitive banging noise on the closed door followed by a pitiful meow.

He felt her whole body sag. Mood killing cat.

“Jesus Christ.”

Sansa started giggling. “Is this what parents go through with kids?” There was more banging and then meowing. It was going to be too distracting.

He reached over to his bedside table, fumbling with his phone, brought up music, hit the first song that came up, and cranked it as loud as it would go.

A loud heavy metal song came on with lots of screaming.

Sansa was full on laughing now. “Sandor, that makes it worse actually.”

“It’ll drown out the cries of your child.”

“You made that sound so sinister.” Her words cut off the moment he put his mouth on her again. “Oh…”

He got her back in the mood again pretty quickly, and soon he had her making that breathy moaning sound that he loved, because it meant she was almost there. He pretty much had to pin her down, between the shaking and the involuntary hip movement, she would have accidentally moved out of reach otherwise. And then he felt her nails digging his shoulder and she cried out, as her entire body tensed. Fuck yes.

When her body finally relaxed again, and she had that dazed grin still on her face, she said, “I will never hear that song the same way again. I’m going to have a weird Pavlovian response to it from now on.”

“It’s one of my favorites now,” Sandor said, from his position, laying his head on her stomach. “I will forever taste you when I hear it.”

The song ended, it was very quiet, and then they heard the banging on the door again and the pitiful meow.

He rolled his eyes, getting up. “Oh my God, go get dressed and see to your animal before he breaks down the door.”

“I’m not winning you over to cats so far,” she said, getting up and gathering up her clothes, and dressing.

“The interrupting part is not winning it any favors,” he said. He opened the door and the cat immediately ran in, and jumped up on the bed, rolling onto its back and showing Sandor its belly. “Excuse me?”

Sansa laughed and scooped it up. “Taco, don’t push it.”

After they finished putting the cat tree together, and ordered pizza, Sansa was taking photos of the cat doing all of the cat things, including playing, sleeping and attacking him. They were sitting comfortably on the floor, the cat between them.

Sandor got a text message. It was from Bane.

I’m coming to town next week for work, thought I’d come by.

Great, it’s been a bit.

I also want to meet your hot roommate.

He looked up at Sansa. “Jon’s and my friend Bane is coming to town next week. He wants to meet my roommate.”

Or is it girlfriend?

Sandor had never said anything to Bane about Sansa’s “benefits.”

Roommate.

“OK. Maybe he can tell me some interesting stories about you,” she said with a grin.

You two have sure been looking cozy online.

We’re friends.

Sure, you’re friends with the woman you’ve been thirsting after.

I am.

So when I show up, you’re going to be perfectly fine if I shoot my shot with her? I’m not the one living with her, and Frosty will just have to get over it. She’s a fucking smokeshow.

The amount of rage Sandor felt even thinking of anyone - including one of his friends - luring Sansa away was a bit frightening even to him.

“He’s a bit of a flirt, just to warn you,” Sandor said to her.

She waved that away. “I’ve had plenty of random dudes flirt with me at the coffee shop, I can handle it.”

Your total silence tells me all I need to know.
Fuck you.

Did you get a cat with her?

It’s her cat, not mine.

Why does the caption to this picture with you literally holding the cat say ‘My Two Guys?”

He had known she’d taken a photo of him and the cat, but not what she captioned it. God, he wished he was hers. But he had a feeling he knew what was going on there.

She’s just messing with her ex.

Is she also messing with you?

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Sandor. It looks a lot like she’s leading you on.

Sandor knew exactly what Sansa wanted out of him - inspiration for her music. She was willing to fool around for it simply because he was available and she wasn’t looking for a relationship right now. There was no leading him on. If anyone was leading him on, it was his own wishful thinking, hoping that she was maybe changing her mind on that.

She laughed. “Oh my God, Sandor, Joffrey left an angry reaction to my photo of you and Taco! He’s got Margaery, what does he care?”

Yeah, that’s what he thought.

She’s not. I know she’s not interested.

Did you ask her? Or are you just assuming, because she’s Frosty’s sister, and Eve is a bitch who fucked with your head?

Sandor didn’t know how to answer that at this point.

Chapter Text

Sansa had to admit, while she enjoyed cuddling baby Taco in bed at night, she kind of also missed snuggling up with Sandor. But they had seemed to keep their “inspiration” times to the weekend, so she went back to her own room with the cat during the week.

Despite not being a “cat person” she noticed she got plenty of texts of photos of the cat during the day when Sandor was alone in the apartment with Taco. ‘Your cat misses you,’ with a picture of Taco sitting on the couch next to him. ‘Your cat is a menace,’ with a picture of Taco looking innocent next to a knocked over soda can. ‘Your cat wants to murder,’ with a picture of Taco attacking a toy.

Sansa had sent a couple songs to Arya to work on a few days ago, and she had been expecting a call from her sister. Arya usually called to bounce ideas for the art concept off of her, so there was a thread of continuity between the visuals and the audio.

She had just gotten home from work on Friday, when she got a call from her. She nudged Taco with her foot so he couldn’t escape out the door, and answered her phone.

“Arya! I was wondering when you were going to call!”

“I’ve got a whole bunch of ideas for these songs. I want Artemis walking through a garden, things that were dead becoming alive again, maybe her with a horned god…”

“You’re the artist, I’m just the singer/songwriter.”

“Speaking of, you were so worried about being in a slump after that asshole Joffrey and this is some of the best stuff you’ve ever written.”

“Aww, thanks.”

“So, were you just going to keep your new boyfriend a secret from me? You didn’t even soft launch, you just straight up hard launched him online. I was shocked.”

Arya wasn't the only one shocked. Sansa never thought that people would see her photos and believe that Sandor was her boyfriend. They were photos of her with a friend (no one but Shae knew about the friends with benefits thing), was it just because he was a guy people made that conclusion?

“Arya…”

“He’s not your usual type, but maybe that’s a good thing. Joffrey was your usual type and he sucked. This guy looks like he could break Joffrey like a twig. When did you meet? Where did you meet, you never go anywhere, you’re worse of a homebody than me.”

“Arya!” Sansa interrupted her sister. “That’s Sandor. My roommate. Jon’s friend?”

“You’re dating Jon’s friend? What’s he think about that?”

“No, I just said he was my roommate! He’s a friend. We were just hanging out, that’s all.”

Arya was silent for a long moment. Then she said, “He’s not just a friend. Did you forget you sent me three songs that are very obviously about him?”

Sansa sighed. She was going to have to just tell her. “OK. So I needed inspiration for my songs, and I convinced him to help me. And we fooled around some. Just for inspiration! We’re not together…”

Arya burst out laughing. “Sansa, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! You doing some sort of Friends with Benefits thing with this guy for music.”

“Well that’s what we’re doing!”

“Maybe that’s what he’s doing, but that’s not what you’re doing! I know you! You aren’t capable of having some no-strings attached relationship. You have sex with a guy, you get attached.”

“Well, we’ve just fooled around, so I’m not attached.”

“Fooled around…that can mean a lot of things depending on who you talk to. Care to be more specific?”

“I don’t want to talk about this with my sister!”

“I listen to your music! Lord, I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. O.K. Miss Goody Two Shoes, let’s go by the base system. 1st base is kissing, 2nd base is touching, over AND under clothes, 3rd is mouth stuff and 4th is the whole shebang. Which base are we talking?”

“Third,” Sansa mumbled.

“What?”

“Oh my God, I said third all right?”

Arya cackled again. “You’re attached.”

“Arya! I’m not attached!”

“You’re not, huh? Tell me this. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best you’ve ever had, and 1 being that idiot you had the one-night stand with in college that put you off the whole thing, how is it so far? And be honest!”

There were times when Arya drove Sansa nuts, and this was one of those times. “I don’t know…”

“Yes, you do, you just don’t want to say. Close your eyes and say the first number that comes to mind.”

Sansa sighed. “9.”

Arya was silent. Then, “Did you just say 9? For only third base?”

“Arya, I didn’t even want to do this…”

“Sansa, you gave Joffrey a 7 that time I got you drunk on that pitcher of Bee’s Knees and asked. And that was right after you got engaged! A 7 for all the bases! And you just gave this guy a 9 for three of them?”

“Arya…”

“Damn, if you don’t want him, can I have him then? My last partner was an 8 on a good day and a 6.5 on the rest!”

“Arya!” Sansa had to admit, her heart stuttered with jealousy at the thought of Sandor being with someone else. Obviously he could be with anyone else he wanted, they weren’t together… but damn that felt almost like a stab to her stomach. He could bring home any of those girls that hung at the bar all the time, in their little shirts and short skirts, that Sansa saw flirting with him when they went to order drinks.

“I will fly out right now for a 9 on third base, I am not kidding. You don’t want him, you’re not attached, you might as well let me have him!”

“Arya, shut up right now, or I’m hanging up,” Sansa snapped, still sore from thinking about Sandor bringing home one of those girls and her having to listen to them. If it was Arya, it would be even worse.

“Why do you sound so angry? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Sansa felt an angry tear slide down her cheek.

“Sansa.” Arya’s voice softened. “I’m sorry for giving you shit. I’m your sister. I know you. You are getting attached to this guy. If that’s really not what you want, you need to stop it now.”

“But the music…”

“Sweetie, forget the music. We’ve got plenty to work with. Or better still, sit down and actually listen to the music. Listen to it and forget that you wrote it for a moment. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was the best you’ve ever written, and I think I’m getting why now.”

“Why is that?”

“You’re actually falling for this guy. You went with Joff because you thought he was what Mom and Dad would want for you - from a wealthy, connected family, the country club membership, the family firm, all that shit. But you never sounded happy with him. Not like this.”

“I’ve only known him for like two weeks…”

“Exactly. You’ve only known him for two weeks, and in your music, you sound more in love with him than you ever did with Joffrey, who you were with for four years.”

Sansa sniffled. “Arya. You can’t be in love with someone after two weeks.”

“You’re probably right. But Sansa? I don’t think you want to lose someone that makes you feel like that after two weeks. If you thought it hurt when you broke up with Joffrey, if you screw this up with all of your overthinking, you are going to be devastated.”

Sansa was silent. She didn’t know how she felt about what Arya was saying. When she started this, she had only been thinking about her music, and how to get back on track. And she had thoroughly liked kissing Sandor, and she thought maybe a little romp like this would put the pain of Joffrey’s betrayal behind her, and she’d be ready to move on. And maybe she’d hear her music from now and think back on a time in her life when she did something wild and out of character, and laugh about it, or remember it fondly.

But Arya had to go and ruin that by making her think about Sandor with someone else.

She liked hanging out with him on their days off. She looked forward to him coming back upstairs for dinner and seeing him on his breaks. Everytime she looked up at work, and he was walking in to get a coffee, she felt a little less stressed. She liked it when he called her Songbird and that he was so enthusiastic about her music, like no one had ever been before.

And all of that would go away if he met someone else.

She liked that he didn’t particularly like cats, but let her have Taco and even played with him and helped her build a cat tree. She liked that he was the kind of person who would help out his friend’s sister. She liked that he was the kind of guy who would not take advantage of someone who was drunk. She liked that he stepped in immediately with Joffrey to torment him for her. Despite an entirely gruff exterior, he was quite a kind and thoughtful person.

Some other woman would definitely see all of that.

She really liked the things he could do to her with his mouth. She liked it when she had her mouth on him, he was practically out of control and still gentle with her. She liked those moments when he too seemed to forget they weren’t really together and called her baby.

Some other woman would definitely want all of that. And she’d be left with nothing.

That thought alone made her feel sick.

“Sansa? Are you still there? You got really quiet.”

“You’re right,” she said softly.

“I can’t hear you. What?”

“I said you’re right. I’m attached.”

“Well no shit.”

“God, Arya, what am I going to do? I told him it was a casual thing, no strings. He’s going to think I’m trying to trap him in a relationship or something.”

“Well you know him, how does he feel about relationships? Maybe he’s actually hoping for one.”

“He was married, and his ex-wife left him for his brother.”

“Ooh, that’s bad.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Changing the subject a little, have you been sending Jon the same pictures you keep posting online?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because you two seem awfully close in them, and didn’t you tell me Jon told him not to mess with you? And now it is very obvious that he did NOT listen. Jon’s gonna be pissed at him.”

Sansa didn’t want to mess with their friendship. “You’re making this worse, Arya.”

“Dude, I’m not the one doing any of this. Other than this stupid “friends with benefits” thing, I’m pro-this guy. You seem happier with him than you ever did with Joffrey, a 9 for three bases, if you can turn this situationship into a relationship, you have my blessings. How does he feel about dogs?”

“He actually said he’s more of a dog person than a cat person.”

“Then go with God. The ex-wife cheating with the brother baggage and the fucked up way you started this is brutal, but if anyone can turn it around, you can.”

“And if I can’t?” That was now Sansa’s biggest fear, that she had messed up the potential of a really good thing.

“Then you need to stop all of this now before you get really hurt.”

Chapter Text

Sandor kept an eye on the door. Not only was Sansa coming to hang out at the bar with him tonight, but Tourmond said he’d be there, and he hadn’t seen him in months. It was a busy Friday night, with a lot of people turning up for the band that was performing tonight. That was another reason Sandor kept his eye on the door, the bands usually turned up early to do sound checks and get set up and this one was very late. He prayed to all the gods, old and new, that they would actually show up.

Everyone knew that he had a friend coming by, so unless they got really slammed, he was off work tonight.

Bane turned up before the band or Sansa. “Clegane!” He gave him a back slapping hug.

“Tourmond.” Sandor led him back to a booth close to the bar.

“This place is packed.”

“Usually is on Fridays and Saturdays. We get live music then.” Sandor poured himself and Bane and beer and sat them down and then took a seat so he could watch the door. “So how’s work?”

“Can’t complain.” Tourmond ran a security consultant company. “I get to travel a lot.” He looked around. “So where’s the not girlfriend? Upstairs with the not your cat?”

“Probably.”

“I say this with all the respect in the world, but what the fuck is going on, Clegane?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know she was the one you wanted to ask out. You’re living with her, apparently adopting animals with her, and every picture I see of you two you look like you’re a couple, and they’re all captioned something suggestive: ‘Dinner for two,’ ‘We finally left the apartment,’ ‘I’m fucking Sandor Clegane.’”

“There is no way that the last one is real.”

“Well it’s not, but it might as well be! I’m shocked Frosty hasn’t called you up and read you the riot act.”

“He does social media as much as I do, which is to say not often, whereas apparently you live on it.” Sandor was really starting to wonder what was going on with the band. “I told you, she’s just messing with her ex.”

“It seems like it might be more…” he trailed off, staring at the woman walking up to them. “Fuck me.”

Sandor too stared.

Sansa was making her way to them, wearing a short black dress with a slit up one side, and those boots she wore when she and Shae went dancing. Her hair hung down her back in waves. She was definitely worth staring at.

“Wow, this place is packed!” She came up to the table and slid in the booth next to Sandor. “You must be Bane! Nice to meet you.”

“You’re Frosty’s sister?” Tourmond said to her.

“Well, half-sister, but yes.”

“You got all of the good genetics.” Tourmond seemed to get over his ‘shyness’ and had turned on his usual charm.

She laughed. “Thanks.”

“So, what’s it like living with Hound? He still spending his Sundays laying around watching Law & Order reruns?”

She nudged Sandor with her arm. “Are you kidding me? We both like doing that!”

Tourmond looked right at Sandor. “Dude, she sounds like your dream girl.”

Sandor considered that he might have to kill his friend.

He was thankfully saved from having to reply by Baric coming up to his booth. “Boss, we’ve got a major problem.”

Of course they did. “What is it?”

“Band just called in - they aren’t coming. Van broke down.”

“Shit.” Sandor nudged Sansa, who got up. “Sorry guys, I’ve got to take care of this.”

“What are you going to do?” Sansa asked him.

“I don’t know. I guess just make an announcement that there’s no music tonight. There goes tonight’s profit. This fucking sucks, I’ve got a bunch of vendor bills due and the profits tonight were going to take care of them.”

“The joys of being a business owner,” said Bane. “Too bad you don’t know someone who sings that could fill in.”

They both looked at Sansa.

She looked at Sandor. “Oh. No, I couldn’t.”

“Sansa, Friday and Saturday nights are when we make the most profits, and the bartenders and waitresses make their most tips. Everyone’s going to leave.”

She bit her lip. “Sandor…”

“I would owe you,” he said. “Big time.” If Bane wasn’t there right now, he could describe the many, many ways he could repay her.

She looked between them. “No one came here to see me, though, they’ll probably leave anyway.”

“Some people just come for the live music, they don’t come for specific bands.”

“You go up there, and they aren’t going to complain,” said Tourmond. “Trust me. A beautiful woman singing? They’ll stay.”

Sansa sighed. “O.K., fine. I’ll do it.”

Sandor hugged her, dropping a kiss on top of her head. “Thank you so much, baby.”

“I’ll go get my stuff and throw up from nerves, and be right back,” she said, and started to head back toward the door.

Sandor noticed Bane looking at him. “What?”

“Don’t even try to sell me that she’s just a friend now, after all of that just now.”

Sandor considered everything and finally gave up. “All right, fine. I don’t know what it is at this point, but yeah, there’s something going on.”

Bane slapped him on the back. “I knew you had it in you! It’s about fucking time! You’re finally putting Eve where she belongs, in the garbage past, and with someone that hot…it’s just too bad that Jon’s going to fucking kill you.”

“Jon’s not going to know,” Sandor said, giving Bane a warning look. “So don’t fucking say anything Tourmond.”

“Hey, if you don’t know what it is, I certainly don’t!” Bane held up his hands in surrender. “But it’s Jon. He’s going to figure it out at some point.”

“Well, we’ll deal with it when we get there.” He saw Sansa coming back, carrying her guitar. Her blue eyes were huge and she looked paler than usual.

“I think I’m going to have a panic attack,” she said, as he and Bane came up to her.

“You’re going to be fine,” Sandor said. “You don’t know these people. They aren’t going to judge you, remember?”

“The last time I performed in front of people, they made fun of me,” she said to him.

“No one’s going to make fun of you. If they do, I will kick the shit out of them. Biggest guy in the room, remember?”

She gave him a small smile. “You’d beat up everyone in this room?”

“Literally everyone. Bodies everywhere.”

“I need you to stand up front,” she said. “I think it’ll help.”

He nodded. “Whatever you need, baby.”

“I may need alcohol after this,” she said. “And alot of it.”

“I’ll hold your hair back while you puke if need be, and Taco can beat the door down.”

She laughed. “O.K. Let’s do this before I chicken out.”

He lead her up to the stage, and the crowd started murmuring. He brought over the microphone, and adjusted it for her and then turned it on. “We have a change in programming tonight. Goat Jam had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances.” The crowd groaned almost in unison, and he felt Sansa shrink next to him. “However, we were fortunate enough to have a friend available to perform tonight. So let’s give it up for the singer/songwriter behind the popular music and art project, Artemis in the Garden, Sansa Stark!”

The audience clapped along gamely, Sandor wasn’t sure if it was because they knew her or not, or were just enjoying a Friday night out with music. He turned to her. “You’ve got this.” He got down off the small stage and went to stand up front, near Bane.

Sansa adjusted the microphone. “So these are some new songs I’ve been working on.” She strummed the guitar, and then began to sing. It was the song she wrote the morning after her lemon drops.

And Sandor let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. You could get a sense of a crowd, and if they are enjoying the music, and before the first song was over, he knew she had them. People started swaying along to the beat, and when she finished the first song, there was loud cheering and clapping.

Sansa ducked her head and blushed. “Wow, thank you. Here’s another one.” When she started singing, he recognized a line from what she wrote right after they started their beneficial relationship. These songs were about him! That was a very weird feeling.

By the time she hit the third song, something had happened - she was relaxing, her nerves seemed to be fading. The song was a bit different than the other two, her voice dropped to a sexy, sultry tone, and the lyrics were…quite hot actually. She caught his eye as she was singing, her lips curling into a sexy smile, and she was definitely singing to him now. About doors being beaten down and scratching you up.

People really cheered after that one, and Sandor saw several people had their phones out, filming.

She sang some of her older songs, ones that had been on their video channel, and then sang a song that was by a pop star, putting her own spin on it.

When she finally announced she was playing the last song, the audience groaned.

“This last song is for someone special,” she said. “You know who you are. Thank you for the inspiration.” And she sang a very beautiful and sad song. A song begging for someone to remember her when this is all over.

As if he could ever forget.

When it was over, the crowd went nuts, cheering and clapping and yelling. Sansa looked in awe of the attention, smiling and waving to everyone, and then moved off the stage with her guitar. Almost immediately, several guys tried to go talk to her.

“Dude, you’d better move it now if you want to stand any chance of keeping a hold of her,” said Bane.

Sandor crossed over to her, and pushed his way through the crowd surrounding her. “All right, move! Back up.” The men did as he said, but grumbled.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him when he came up. “I can’t believe it! They liked it!”

“I hope you know I’m going to have requests now to get you back to perform,” he said. “You did so well, baby, I’m so proud of you.”

“I don’t even think I need the alcohol now, I’m on like a high!” She was practically bouncing up and down. “This is the best night of my life!”

“I’m so glad.”

She raised her face up, leaning on tiptoes, and without even thinking about it, he leaned forward to kiss her, putting his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Someone in the crowd wolf whistled.

It seemed to bring them both back to reality. He let go of her quickly. “Shit. I’m sorry.” They had never done anything like this in public before.

“No, I’m sorry. I started it.”

Sandor felt like he was letting something important pass by. “Sansa…”

“I’m going back upstairs,” she said quickly. “I’ll see you later.” She took off, making a beeline for the door.

Sandor turned to see Tourmond standing there, having witnessed the whole thing.

“Why the fuck are you standing there?” he asked. “Go after her!”

Chapter Text

It had been the best night of her life.

Sansa had performed in front of a crowd of people, no one had laughed at her or made fun of her, and they had all enjoyed her music! They had cheered and clapped and it had been wonderful.

She had only done it because Sandor asked her to. He had been willing to go along with, as Arya had put it, her stupid idea. He had helped her write this music, so she should help him with it. If it hadn’t been for him, it wouldn’t exist anyway. She owed him a lot.

But when it all came down to it, that wasn’t why she had done it, because she owed him.

She had done it because she was attached.

She did it because she cared for him. He needed help, and she could fix it for him. Why wouldn’t she do it? She had to overcome her anxiety, and her stage fright, and her fear of rejection, and just do it for him. Because he was Sandor, and she…well she wasn’t completing that thought. Not right now.

But when he came up to her after the performance, and she was still hopped up on adrenaline and excitement, she had done the thing that felt the most natural - had turned her face up to his and he had taken the invitation and kissed her.

In front of everyone. In front of his friend, his coworkers, the crowd, the Gods, Old and New, everyone.

Like they were together. A couple.

She opened the door to the apartment, and Taco was waiting, meowing and twining himself around her feet as she walked.

“Hey baby,” she said, sitting her guitar down in the living room, and picking up the cat, carried him over to the couch, taking off her boots there. “Mama is having a crazy night.” Taco purred as she petted him.

She could hear the sounds of someone coming up the stairs, so she sat Taco down next to her, and stood up from the couch.

Sandor flung open the door, standing there. “Sansa.”

She met his gaze directly. She could tell he was in the same place she was, no longer sure exactly what this was.

She might not know what this was, but knew what she wanted. She went over to him, took his hand, and led him back to his room.

Once inside, and making sure the door was closed or otherwise the cat would push his way in, she turned to face him, and unzipped her dress, letting it pool to the floor. He watched as if transfixed, as she stripped away layers, and then went to his bed.

He followed her over, and she stopped him right at the bed, sitting up on her knees to face him. She grabbed the hem of his shirt. He made as if to stop her again, and she looked up at him wordlessly. He saw her silent message, and his hand fell away, helping her tug it off. She moved on to his pants, until he was as bare as she was.

Yes, he had a lot of scars from the shrapnel, and they were noticeable. But her mind acknowledged them and moved on to other, more interesting parts. She pulled him toward her, dropping down on the bed, settling herself so she could kiss him first.

His kisses were hungry, ravenous, and spurred her on for more. As much as she liked kissing him, and as much as she liked his mouth on her body, she needed more tonight.

“I want you,” she said against his mouth.

“I always want you, Songbird.”

She reached between them, settling him at her entrance. She had stayed on the pill after her breakup. And then she felt him sinking into her, inch by inch, slowly. He reached under her back, readjusting her position, and she felt him go all the way in, and she gasped at the fullness. He was DEFINITELY bigger than Joffrey. Holy shit.. He groaned as it happened, a satisfied noise.

He moved in her slowly, letting her get used to it. She trailed kisses across his chest as he moved over her, almost as if he was afraid of hurting her. It was sweet and tender, and dare she say it, loving. She adjusted her angle so she could nip his throat, tangling her fingers in his hair as she did so.

He groaned and sped up a bit, and she felt her lips twist in a grin. Hell yes.

It seemed to break the control he had. “You feel so good, baby. I could stay buried in you forever.”

“Yes, please,” she said, as he hit just the right amount of speed for her, and she found an angle she liked. “Oh God, right there! Don’t stop!” She felt everything start to build in her as she clung to him, kissing him, nipping at him, losing her own control, words becoming moans,as she chased down that overwhelming high of release.

“I want to fuck you like this every day,” he growled, voice rough. “I want to hear you make those sounds in my sleep.”

She was tilting right at edge, and he seemed to know it. “Sandor…”

“That’s it. I want you to come for me, baby. I want to feel it. Please. I need you to. I love you so much.”

The wave of release hit her, and as she cried out, she felt her nails scrabble across his back, her body going into that tension and then relaxation.

She felt him speed up as she was coming down off of it, and then he made a throaty cry as he finished, and then he was panting, curling himself around her so his full weight wasn't on her.

She hugged him closer, running the tips of her fingers in his hair. God, she loved his hair. It was so nice to be able to touch it like this. Why had long hair on men ever gone out of style?

It was like they were both coming out of an out-of-body experience.

“Holy fuck, what was that?” He said, moving so he was no longer on top of her, instead laying next to her. She felt a sad whimper escape her. He caught his fingers in her hair now, twisting a strand as he faced her.

“That was a 10,” she said. “And at least that many songs.”

“God, you’re amazing,” he said. “What can you not excel at?”

“I cannot even draw a stick figure,” she said. “Arya got all the artistic talent.”

“Are you staying here tonight?” he asked, as she curled up next to him, her arm going across him.

“Mmmhhmmm.”

“Your cat is going to throw a fit.”

“He’ll get over it, because I’m not moving.”

Right before she fell asleep, she remembered what he said, right before her orgasm.

I love you so much.

Chapter Text

When he woke up the next morning, Sansa was already gone, left for work judging by the time. He could hear her cat meowing pitifully outside the door.

“Yes, I miss her too,” he said to the cat. “Fine, I’m coming!”

He got up to take a shower and the cat howled by its bowl. Which had food in it.

“You’ve got food, Taco. You’re fine.”

The shower still smelled like vanilla and cinnamon. Wherever he went, Sansa haunted him.

Last night had been fucking amazing. For whatever reason, they kept stopping short of intercourse, though he was never going to complain about where they did stop. But when he followed her up the stairs last night, and saw her sitting there with that intense look in her eyes, he knew it was going to happen. Something had irrevocably shifted for her. She had faced her stage fright fears for him, and that changed things.

Though nothing really had changed for him, in another way it had. After last night, he couldn’t really go back to pretending that nothing was happening between them. He had felt it, she had felt it, and why bother to pretend they didn’t?

He had been in love with her for a while now. Sure, it had only been a few weeks, but he felt like he had been in love with her from the moment he saw her standing there in Joffrey’s lobby and put together the woman he had been lusting after with the woman he had been chatting with. He knew realistically they still didn’t know a lot about each other, and any relationship would require work, but they needed to stop pretending this wasn’t a relationship and start acting like it was and try to make this really work.

He loved her, and he couldn’t lose her. Sure, she had just gotten out of a long-term relationship - they could work through it. Sure, she might be on the rebound - they could work through it. Sure, Jon was going to be livid - Sansa could protect him from his wrath. He thought Jon MIGHT be less livid if he knew how stupidly crazy in love with her Sandor was, and that it was not a hookup. After all, he didn’t like Joffrey, and liked Sandor (up until now), wouldn’t he rather his sister be with him?

He had gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed, just about ready to eat his breakfast Pop Tart and feed Taco bites of it (of which he would NEVER tell Sansa) when his phone started dinging with a bunch of messages. He picked it up, figuring it to be Bane.

He was half right.

A bunch of the messages were, in fact, from Bane:

How’d it go last night? You didn’t come back.

Hope that means it went REALLY well.

Did you finally get some? Break that two-year losing streak?

Your girl is blowing up online! A bunch of people shared videos of her performance.

Holy shit, it’s on a music news website!

Alot of people are talking about the bar too, you’re gonna get a bunch of customers!

I’ll bet the traffic to her videos online just skyrocketed.

There’s a video of you two kissing someone filmed, BTW.

Oh shit.

Frosty knows.

I repeat, Jon Snow knows!

He is the opposite of happy.

I…just wouldn’t pick up when he calls if I were you.

He yelled at me and I’m not the one kissing his sister!

This is why you’re the Hound, Sandor.

Gotta say, it’s probably worth it for her though, because damn, she’s hot.

For the love of God, don’t tell Jon I said that.

He had two missed calls from Jon. And one text message from him:

What. The. Fuck.

Sandor’s phone rang again, with another call from Jon. Sandor tossed it on the kitchen table in fear.

Everyone thought Sandor was scary when he was angry, because he was big and his features were harder and more menacing.

He was nowhere near as scary as Jon Snow when he was angry.

He looked over at Taco, who was looking excitedly at the Pop Tart. He broke off a chunk and flipped it to him.

“Your uncle is a scary man,” he said to the cat.

Right. So the first thing he had to do was sit down and talk to Sansa. He had to make sure she knew that he loved her, and wanted to make this work for real. That was the most important thing.

The second thing was figuring out how to talk to Jon about it. Because if he was calling Sandor’s phone, he was most definitely calling hers as well.

She was at work and couldn’t answer, but that probably wouldn’t keep Jon at bay for long.

Leaving his phone behind, Sandor grabbed his keys and wallet and shooed Taco away from the door - damn cat always wanted to go with them wherever they went, it was needy - locked up and headed down the stairs for his daily coffee at Sticky Fingers. He didn’t need to go every day as an excuse to see Sansa, he lived with her after all, but he loved having the excuse anyway. He could spend a few minutes talking with her, he wasn’t going to make professions of love at the coffee store while she was working, but maybe they could at least start talking about the Jon situation.

He walked over to the coffee shop, reaching for the door, expecting to see Sansa behind the counter like usual. She would look up and smile, like every other time he visited, but this time he would remember last night, and think about the scratches on his back that he had discovered in the shower. She had put them there, marking him as hers.

He would love to be hers.

Sansa was not behind the counter. Instead, Shae was there. She had been staring at a couple making out nearby, probably ready to tell them to get a room, and she turned automatically to greet the next customer and saw that it was him. Her mouth fell open. “Sandor!”

That may have been the first time she had ever called him by his real name.

The girl of the couple making out, pushed her partner away quickly, and turned to him with wide eyes.

It was Sansa.

And the guy she had been kissing was Joffrey.

Sandor felt what was left of his heart break.

It had happened again.

Joffrey smirked at him.

He had been so stupid.

‘Sansa, get back together with your boyfriend on your own time!” Petyr yelled from across the room.

Why had he done this to himself?

Sandor turned on his heel and walked back the way he came without another word.

Sansa cried out “Sandor, wait…” just as the door closed behind him.

Those big blue eyes…that mouth that he had just kissed…She had just come from his bed this morning.

Of course she was back with Joffrey. Why would he have expected anything different? She had just been killing time with him until something better came along.

He was at the door to the stairwell when she flung open the front door of the coffee shop. “Sandor, it’s not what it looks like,” she yelled across the lot, almost the exact fucking thing Eve had said to him when he found her and Gregor in their bed.

“Of course it is,” he said to himself as the door to the stairwell closed behind him. “It always is.”

He was going to do the exact same thing he did when Eve did this to him - get as drunk as possible.

Chapter Text

Sansa went to work the next morning still on a high from the night before.

She had performed in front of a crowd of people who loved her music!

And then she had gone home with Sandor and they had made love.

Sansa, the woman who wrote love songs and wanted to make a living out of it, who had always considered herself a romantic, was also someone who thought the phrase ‘make love’ for sex was stupid. It was a biological function, meant to entice humans into continuing the species. Frankly, if you didn’t make it somewhat fun for both parties, probably the entire human race would die out. She preferred practically every other slang term for it.

Well apparently she had never had anyone make love to her before, because that is definitely what that was. It was special, it had been passionate, yet tender at the same time. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Nothing with Joffrey had been like that.

I love you so much.

She got a strange sort of feeling in her stomach when she remembered Sandor saying that. She’d known him only a few weeks…but he’d said it. And she’d felt that connection with him…

Her phone rang as she started down the stairs. It was Arya.

“What the fuck did you do?”

Sansa stared at the phone for a second. “What do you mean?”

“Sansa, I’ve never seen such a spike in our numbers. Our subscribers shot through the roof. When I got online this morning, I had not one, not two, but three requests for us to meet with labels at the conference! I had no idea what the fuck was going on, until I went on social media and saw we suddenly had like 200% more likes and that we were tagged in what seemed like a million videos. You performed? On stage?!”

“Well, Sandor had a band cancel and needed help…Are you mad, Arya? I didn’t mean to do something without you!”

“Sansa, people are calling us the female version of the gorillaz. I had an actual comic company ask if I would be interested in working with them. I don’t know how this spread so quickly after one performance in a random bar, But I’m not going to question it. I’m just going to enjoy it. I’m so fucking proud of you for getting up there and doing that! Even if this whole publicity thing hadn’t happened, I’d still be proud of you!”

“Thanks, Arya.” Sansa wished she could reach through the phone and hug her sister.

“So I take it things are going well with your situationship? I saw a video of you two kissing. Jesus, he’s freaking big and scary next to you!”

“It was a good night,” Sansa admitted.

“Oh really? I want details but not graphic ones. Still attached?”

“He said he loved me.”

“Really? Sansa. Was it during? Because you know the rule.”

“Arya…”

“Sansa you know the rule! Never trust anything a guy says during sex.”

“I think he meant it though.”

“Honestly, with how bizarre this relationship is, I believe it too. And that just might soften the blow.”

“What blow?”

“So Jon saw the video of you two kissing online. And he is PISSED. He called me up and asked if I knew.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him to calm down and that you were a grown woman who could make her own decisions.”

“So you dodged the question.”

“Yeah, I’m not dealing with him when he’s like that.”

Sansa laughed. “I’ll deal with Jon later. I gotta go to work.”

As she walked into the coffee shop, Shae whistled. “If it isn’t the famous songstress.”

“How did this become such a thing?”

“Someone in the music industry got the video from a friend and it went from there. When you become a famous singer, I can say I knew you when!”

“OK, you’re not famous yet, you need to get to work,” Petyr said to her, coming up. “Sansa, are you really dating that guy I see in here talking to you all the time? The one that owns the bar?”

“And this building.”

Petyr grimaced. “Yes, well…” He turned on his heel and went back to his office.

“Sandor owns this building?” Shae asked.

The two got to work and began to get into the flow. Sansa’s phone kept beeping so she had to put it on silent. A lot of people had seen the videos of her singing online.

She had gotten one text message from Jon: Please tell me I didn’t see a video of you kissing my best friend. She hadn’t bothered to answer it.

She had also gotten one from Joffrey: Sansa, I need to talk to you. She hadn’t bothered to answer it either. Now he wanted to talk? Forget him.

She was so into the routine with Shae that she actually greeted the next customer before even realizing who it was.

“Sansa, please. I really need to talk to you.”

It was Joffrey.

“I’m working Joffrey, I can’t talk,” she said.

“I’ll order something. Give me a latte.”

Sansa purposely rang in the most expensive latte they had, which also happened to be the sweetest, which Joffrey would hate. “What do you want, Joffrey?”

“Just to talk to you. Give me like five minutes.”

“Again Joffrey, I’m working.”

“Yes, but you get a break. You can have a five minute break.” He looked over at Shae. “She can have a five minute break, right?”

Shae looked over at Sansa, probably to see if she wanted her to allow it or not. Sansa shrugged. Better to see whatever it was he wanted and get it over and done with.

“Five minutes exactly, Joffrey.” She looked back over to where Petyr was. “I’m taking my five minute break now.” She knew he’d be watching the clock.

Shae handed Joffrey his expensive sugar bomb. “Enjoy.”

They both stared at him until he felt compelled to take a drink. Sansa got extreme satisfaction from watching him grimace.

“So what do you want, Joffrey?” Sansa said, leading him over to a table.

“Sansa,” he sat the drink down. “I saw your video. You were amazing. Brilliant! And just watching you made me realize how badly I messed up. I was so lucky to have you, and screwed that up.”

“I mean…kind of, yeah.” Sansa had no idea what Joffrey wanted.

“You’re so talented, and why didn’t I notice when I had the chance?”

“Um, I don’t know?”

“And Margaery and I, well she and I aren’t getting along like I thought we would. We always got along, you and I did.”

“Joffrey, I’m sorry, is there a point to this?”

He took her hand in his. “Sansa, I want you back. I made a terrible mistake. I’ll do anything to get you back, please.”

Sansa pulled her hand away. “Joffrey, you broke up with me. You cheated on me.”

“I know, and I’m truly sorry.”

Sansa stood up. “Joffrey, I don’t know what to say. You made your decision already. It’s over.” She started to walk back over to the counter. “As are your five minutes.”

Joffrey grabbed her arm. “I regret losing you, Sansa. Please, it can’t be over. You still love me.”

“Joff, no. I really don’t.” She tried to pull her arm away.

“It’s only been a few weeks! You can’t fall out of love that fast.”

“You did!”

“Sansa,” Joffrey suddenly pulled her to him, holding him to her tightly and kissing her.

Sansa was so shocked that he did that, it was like her brain stalled. What the hell was Joffrey doing? Why did she ever like kissing Joffrey? Gross. She tried to disentangle herself from him, but he held her tighter. She struggled against him.

From over at the counter, she heard Shae gasp. “Sandor!”

Sansa finally was able to push Joffrey off of her. She turned to see Sandor standing there, looking horrified.

Oh no. He probably thought she was actually kissing Joffrey, instead of trying to get him off of her.

Joffrey smirked at Sandor, like he had somehow planned this.

‘Sansa, get back together with your boyfriend on your own time!” Petyr yelled from across the room.

Nonononono.

Sandor turned and walked right back out of the store, as fast as he could.

“Sandor, wait,” Sansa called after him. Surely he had to know now that she didn’t want Joffrey, she wanted him.

The door shut behind him.

Sansa skirted past Joffrey and went to the door.

“Sansa! You’re still on the clock!”

She ignored Petyr and flung the door to the store open, seeing him almost to the apartment’s stairwell.

“Sandor, It’s not what it looks like,” she yelled across the lot, hoping he would understand. Her heart had dropped into her stomach. His ex wife and his brother. He must have seen them like this.

He continued on like he hadn’t heard her.

How had Joffrey ruined everything?

She turned, storming back over. “What the hell, Joffrey?”

“You’re meant to be with me, not with him,” he said.

She wanted to strangle him. “Go back to Margaery,” she spat. “Stop trying to ruin my life!”

“Sansa, you need to stop having your personal life affect work,” Petyr said to her. “If this keeps up, I’m going to have to let you go.” He looked at Joffrey. “And you need to leave.”

Well, if Petyr was going to threaten her job, the least he could do was get rid of Joffrey.

Chapter Text

Sandor went back to his apartment and went straight to a cabinet where he kept a bottle of whiskey in case of an emergency.

Getting his heart broken like this was definitely an emergency.

He poured himself a drink and downed it straight, and went back for another.

He had to be the stupidest person alive.

He had known better. This time he had really known better.

He couldn’t keep his wife, why did he think he could keep Sansa? This was why he hadn’t dated before this, and he should have kept not getting involved with anyone.

He should have told Jon no to begin with, and let him find someone else for his sister to live with while she and her fiance had their “breakup.”

And he should have never, ever agreed to Sansa’s proposal to help with “inspiration.” That was possibly the stupidest thing he did.

His phone dinged. Finishing his drink, and pouring another, he went over and picked it up.

Unsurprisingly, it was a message from Sansa.

Sandor I didn’t kiss Joffrey, he kissed me!

Did women have a meeting where they all discussed stupid explanations for cheating? ‘It’s not what it looks like,’ ‘I didn’t kiss Joffrey, he kissed me,’ ‘I didn’t plan to sleep with Gregor, it just happened.’

Sansa had gotten what she wanted, her music inspiration, and made her precious Joffrey jealous enough that he came back to her. Now that he was back, she wouldn’t need Sandor anymore. She could go back to her plans of being his rich wife, and probably quit her music career and the coffee shop, and he’d never see her again.

Sandor continued his drinking and hating himself. Why had he ever stupidly believed she would really want him? Someone like her would never be with someone like him. She was too pretty, too smart, too talented. Realistically, she would want someone like Joffrey, who wasn’t a fucked up mess from the military, and worked an office job, and not at a bar.

His phone rang, and he looked over, wondering if now she was going to call, since he hadn’t answered. It was Jon. Since he was spoiling for a fight, he answered it.

“What?”

“What do you mean, what? Why did I wake up this morning to a video of you kissing my sister? That was the one thing I said, DO NOT mess with my sister! So why am I getting video evidence of you messing with my sister!”

“Because you’ve got shit friends.”

“Clearly! Honestly, I would have predicted this with Bane, fucker is horny as hell, but not you! I thought I could trust my best friend, but I guess I can’t.”

“Well you don’t have to worry about it now, since she’s back with Joffrey.”

“Back with Joffrey…are you drunk? It’s not even noon there!”

“Yeah, and I plan to get even more drunk before the day is over.”

“Sandor, what the fuck is going on down there?”

“Don’t worry about me, Jon. In fact, don’t call back. We’re done here.” He hung up, threw the phone back down on the counter, and taking the bottle, stumbled into the living room to drink in peace.

Taco came over to him, jumping up on the couch next to him, and started rubbing against him, purring.

“Go away, Taco.” He didn’t need her cat rubbing it in.

The cat put his paws on his knee, and started kneading.

“Damn it, cat!” he thundered, and Taco, scared by how loud he was, took off for Sansa’s room to hide.

God fucking dammit. Sandor had never felt more like a miserable piece of shit than in this moment. He hadn’t meant to upset the cat…he had never meant to have a cat in the first place. He hadn’t meant to fall in love again because of how badly his relationship with Eve had deteriorated, he hadn’t wanted to go through that again. If only he hadn’t looked in the window that day, and seen Sansa…

His drunken reverie was interrupted by someone pounding on the door. “Clegane! Open up!”

He got up unsteadily on his feet - realizing then just how drunk he was -and went to the door.
“What the fuck you want, Bane?”

“Hound, you are a magnet for trouble.”

“You came here to tell me something I already know?”

“No, I got a call from Jon, saying something was majorly wrong with you, you were drunk as hell and told him never to call again, so I had to hop in my car and drive all the way back here to see what’s got your wires crossed.”

“Women.” Sandor took another drink from the bottle.

Bane reached over and took it. “Let’s not do alcohol poisoning today, Clegane. What the fuck happened with your girl? I told Jon when you left me, you were all over each other, and he told me your drunk ass said she’s back with her ex. How did you screw that up in less than 24 hours?”

“I didn’t do anything except walk in on her and her ex.”

“Fucking?”

“No, kissing. Right in the middle of her work.”

“Jesus, how does that keep happening to you?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.” He apparently only picked women who wanted other men.

“What did she say when you caught her?”

“Well she dropped the classic, ‘It’s not what it looks like.’ And she said that he kissed her, she didn’t kiss him.”

“So did she push him away or anything?”

“After I got there and saw them.”

“So she DID push him away?”

“I just said that, what part of this aren’t you getting?”

“What part of this aren’t YOU getting? She said he kissed her, she didn’t kiss him, and she pushed him away, which definitely backs up her version of events, so I don’t get how this got made into she’s back with her ex. Were you drunk when this went down?”

“No, I was very sober.”

“Dude, I know you have baggage because of Eve…”

“Let’s not bring her into this. Sansa wanted music inspiration and to make her boyfriend jealous, and is done with me.”

“I’m not the one who’s drunk and I’m getting confused. You told me before that you were just friends and she was making an ex jealous. Then I get here, you two are very much acting like a couple, and you tell me there’s something going on, but it’s very much undefined. And now you’re doing the ‘she’s just like Eve’ thing, like she cheated on you by kissing her ex, which it still sounds to me like she didn’t want to kiss him, but anyway. So are you together or not?”

Sandor ran a hand through his hair. “Well, she wanted a friend with benefits to help with inspiration with her music…”

“So why does it matter to you if she kissed her ex? The whole point of friends with benefits is that you’re NOT in a relationship, and both people can kiss or fuck whoever else they want!”

Sandor shook his head. “I know that…”

“Do you? Because it doesn’t sound like you do, the way you’re acting. What did you say to her when all this went down?”

“Nothing, I just left.”

“Thank all the gods for that. You run your stupid mouth about how she ‘cheated’ and is back with her ex, and you’ll never see her again, not that I’d blame her. You are the last fucking person in the world that needs to do friends with benefits with someone you live with, Hound. It’s fucking with your head, big time.”

“No shit.”

“My unsolicited advice? You need to stop this. Maybe she’s back with this guy, maybe she’s not, but you need to stop this before you go and do something stupid, like fall in love with her.” Tourmond looked at him closer. “Oh, shit. Are we already too late for that?”

“Way too late.”

Chapter Text

Sansa felt like a nervous wreck all through the rest of her shift. She couldn’t leave and go talk to Sandor, like she wanted, because she was pretty sure Petyr would fire her. She had snuck in one text to him, but he hadn’t responded. She could not believe how everything had ended up like this. She had been in some sort of romantic daydream, and now was in a nightmare. All because of stupid Joffrey and his lips.

“You OK?” Shae asked.

“I’m so worried Sandor’s going to hate me now, since he saw stupid Joffrey kissing me, he’s probably going to think I’m cheating on him like his ex-wife did. The look on his face…”

“Wait, when did you start dating?”

“We haven’t!”

“So how can you cheat on someone you aren’t dating? That’s not how Friends with Benefits works, Sansa.”

“I know, but I’m not sure what we’re doing anymore. He said that he loved me…”

“When?”

“Last night.”

“During sex?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Sansa, we don’t listen to what guys say then. They will say whatever it is they think you want to hear.”

Sansa ducked her head. “I just thought maybe he meant it…”

Shae looked at her. “Oh honey, did you want him to?”

Sansa stared at her hands in her lap. “Maybe.”

Shae bent down and caught her eyes. “Sansa. Do you think you might be falling in love with this guy?”

Sansa looked at her friend. “Maybe.”

“Well, then you two REALLY need to have a talk about what you want this to be.”

“But he saw Joffrey kiss me! I’m pretty sure he’s mad, so he’ll probably not want this to be anything.”

“Well if that’s the case, then it’s better that it’s done now before you get hurt again. You JUST broke up with Joffrey. You got some music, you got a hell of a lot of attention, you’re on social media everywhere, it’s nuts. Sounds like he’s got some major damage from the ex. Think of it this way, if he’s not interested, you got your rebound out of the way! Just please don’t go back to Joffrey.”

“Oh, no chance of that, trust me.”

Sansa’s phone started ringing. She hoped it was Sandor, calling to talk after her text, but it was Jon.

She sighed. “Ugh, it’s my brother.”

“Go run to the bathroom and take his call real quick, then go wash your face and come back here and finish work.”

Sansa gave her a small smile, and went to the bathroom to do both. “Hey Jon. What’s up?”

“Are you back with Joffrey?”

“God, no!”

“That’s what Sandor told me when I called to read him the riot act for that video of you two kissing.”

Her heart sank. So even though she had texted him that Joffrey had forced that kiss on her, Sandor still saw it as evidence that she wanted Joffrey back. “Well Sandor doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and don’t worry about that kiss, it’s not happening again.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound too wobbly.

“Why did it even happen in the first place?”

This was the cherry on top of the shit sundae that was her day. “You’re not my father, so back all the way off, Jon,” she snapped.

“Are you O.K.? You sound funny. And when I finally got Sandor to pick up, he was drunk as hell before noon, which is not like him, and he told me to never call again.”

“Maybe you’re annoying the shit out of him like you are me.” For some reason, this was the final straw for Sansa. “And you’re calling me while I’m at work to do this, my boss is sick of my personal life interfering at work, I’m gonna lose my job if this continues, so call to yell at me after business hours.” She hung up and turned off her phone. Then she went over and washed her face, squaring her shoulders.

If nothing else, maybe anger could carry her the rest of the way through this day.

Her stomach was a nervous, fluttery wreck when she headed home to the apartment. Sandor would probably be at work, but she still didn’t know what she was going to say to him when she saw him again. How could she make him understand that she didn’t want to kiss Joffrey?

She had barely locked the door to the coffee shop, when her phone rang. It was Arya.

“Hey, you O.K.? Jon called me and said Sandor said you were getting back with Joffrey and you said weren’t. What’s happened? Why does Mr. 9 think you’re back with Joffrey?”

Sansa quickly explained the situation to her sister.

“You know what I think? I think you two need a break from each other. You moved in during an intensely emotional time for you, then started your situationship immediately. It sounds like he has some major baggage from how his marriage ended. You two have put all of that together in a very quick timeline, and it’s a lot. I think you need some space to figure out what you really want with each other.”

Sansa had to admit that Arya had a good idea. “Except we live together.”

“Can you take a two week vacation from work?”

Sansa sighed. “I don’t know, I’ll have to talk to Petyr. Why?”

“So do you remember my friend, Jaqen? He owns a recording studio. He offered to let you come down there and professionally record your music that we’re going to present at the conference. You could record there, you can help me look over editing for the videos, we can spend some time together that isn’t completely just the stress of the conference. And you get the added bonus of giving yourself some time to miss Mr. 9 and vice versa. And if you don’t miss him or he doesn’t miss you, you know that’s all done.”

Sansa did like the idea. “Let me talk to Petyr. He’s been talking of hiring a part-timer, so maybe he could and they can have all of my hours while I’m gone, but be part-time when I’m back.”

“Yay! Sister bonding time! And we can fly out for the conference together, which means less time at an airport by yourself. Oh hey, Jon’s got a vacation coming up, and he’s been talking of flying out to hang out in the city while we are at the conference, and be there for moral support in the evenings. I’m looking at getting us a rental as we speak. I wouldn’t mind having a pool to relax in during the evenings.”

Sansa wouldn’t mind seeing her brother again, instead of having phone conversations. “That all sounds good. I’m going to go try to clear the air with Sandor.”

“Good luck!”

Sansa squared her shoulders and walked up the steps to her apartment, thinking of what she was going to say to him.

Chapter Text

Sandor could tell when Sansa walked in, that she did not expect to find him in the living room, still drunk despite Bane taking his bottle with him when he left, and slumped on the couch watching animal documentaries with Taco asleep on the couch within reaching distance so he could get some occasional pets and scratches.

“Um, how come you’re here,” she asked, taking it all in, and looking more than a bit concerned. Why did she have to be sweet, even when she was breaking his heart? “Don’t you need to be at the bar?”

“They can do without me today.”

She lifted Taco up from the couch so she could sit there, and tried to put him in her lap. Taco immediately ran off. Yeah, cat, withhold affection. The men in this place have to stick together!

She looked like she didn’t know where to start. “Sandor. You took off and you wouldn’t let me explain. I tried to text you…I would have tried to come talk to you sooner, but Petyr basically threatened my job over what happened today.”

Sandor immediately felt bad that he had in any way contributed to making her boss angry with her, then thought she shouldn’t have made out with Joffrey in the first place, and then went back to Tourmond saying it sounded like Joffrey had kissed her against her will, and felt bad again. A roller coaster of emotions. But Bane was right - he couldn’t keep up this friends with benefits thing anymore.

“And then Jon called to ask me if I was back with Joffrey, because you told him I was.” She touched his arm. He didn’t pull away, but he also didn’t lean into it, just sat there, knowing this might be the last time she’d ever touch him again. “Sandor, I swear to God, I am NOT back with Joffrey. I didn’t want to kiss him, he just grabbed me and did it! He’s feeling some kind of way because he and Margaery are fighting. I don’t know what else to say or do to make you believe me!” She looked torn between crying and being angry.

That made him feel even worse. He never wanted to make her cry. Just because he got everything twisted in his mind, read too much into everything they were doing, and now he had really hurt her feelings.

“It’s OK either way,” he said. Or slurred. One or the other. “We aren’t together, so it doesn’t matter at all to me if you are with Joffrey or not.”

She looked at him very confused. “It doesn’t matter to you if I’m with Joffrey? Why would you not answer me? Why would you tell Jon I was with him? Why are you obviously drunk right now? What the fuck?”

Ooh, she was edging toward angry then. It was better than her crying.

“Everything just fucked with my head there for a moment. Not your fault. We’re friends and roommates and that’s all we’ll ever be. Neither of us want anything else.”

She bit her lip. “But last night…you said…”

“I say a lot of random shit in bed, you know I’m a talker.” He was way too drunk to remember what he said. “I apologize for whatever it was. And for being weird earlier.”

Her hands went back in her lap and she looked down. Suddenly she felt a million miles away, even though she was right there.

She took in a deep breath, and then continued. “So, could you watch Taco for me for two weeks?”

He blinked at the rapid change of conversation that he couldn’t keep up with. “Sure?”

“I’m going to visit my sister. We have some work to do with the music. If you can’t, it’s fine, I can see if Shae can, or I could always take him with me.”

“No, I can do it, it’s fine.”

“O.K. Thank you.” She stood up. “Oh, and don’t worry, when I get back, I’m going to find a new place. Arya and Jon are going to help me look.”

Sandor felt the cold sting of her words in his stomach. She was going to leave?

“I know this was only temporary, and you’ve been so great to let me stay for a few weeks. I didn’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of a friend.”

Was it his imagination or did she place extra emphasis on the word friend?

“You’ll get the place back to yourself real soon, I promise,” she said. Her phone rang and she looked down at it. “Ooh, it’s Petyr, I’ve got to take this.” She started walking back toward her room. “Petyr, hey, I have a favor to ask. I know I haven’t taken vacation in a while…” He heard her go into her room and close the door.

It was probably better that she did find a new place. This was never meant to be permanent, and since he couldn’t handle the friends with benefits after getting too attached, he should probably not be around her so much.

Soon, she would be gone. She would take her cat, and her music, and her singing in the kitchen making dinner, and her gorgeous body, and her laugh, and live somewhere else where he wouldn’t have to see what he couldn’t have all the fucking time.

It was better this way.

He just had to keep repeating it to himself.

Chapter Text

Sansa spent the entirety of the plane ride to Portland scribbling lyrics for songs into her notebook. The last few days, while confusing as hell, at least gave her plenty to work with, song-wise.

Arya had been able to get her a flight out the very next afternoon, and Sandor had been shocked that Sansa was leaving that quickly.

Once Arya had sent her a ticket, Sansa had asked Shae if she could take her to the airport, and let Petyr know she was definitely taking her vacation.

All that was left was to let Sandor know he’d have to watch Taco for her.

The strangeness was never more apparent than when she went to his door to knock. Knocking in itself was strange - how many times in this short period had she just walked in? Just two days ago, she had been in that bed, sure that there were definitely feelings between them, that maybe this actually was a relationship, and then stupid Joffrey happened and drunk Sandor was telling her he didn’t care who she was with because there wasn’t anything between them, breaking her heart.

She knocked, knowing he usually slept in on his day off, and probably was trying to sleep off a hangover. “Sandor…can you watch Taco? I’m leaving.”

She heard rustling around, and then he opened the door, looking rumpled from sleep, and obviously had just pulled on some clothes. She was still attracted to him, obviously, and her first instinct was that she wanted to lean up and kiss him goodbye.

But he had made it clear that he didn’t want that.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah, remember? I told you I’m going to stay with Arya for a few weeks…” Had he been that drunk?

“Yeah, I know, I just didn’t expect it was going to be so soon.”

“Is that a problem? Shae said she could take him temporarily.”

“No, I can. Have a good trip.”

“Thank you.” God she hated how weird this was now. Arya was right. She did need the two-week break.

Arya had made Sansa promise that she would go on a Sandor detox the moment she walked out the door - no texting him, no calling him, no social media stalking or contacting. And Sansa was determined to keep that promise.

Except, what if he never tried to contact her in two weeks? She’d be heartbroken, that he was fine not talking to her or seeing her.

She had written so much on the plane, trying to process it all. Her feelings, his feelings, where it all went wrong, what she wanted…it was a mess of emotion.

She hadn’t been this emotional about the breakup with Joffrey. And this wasn’t even a breakup, because they had never been together! Had she just been using Sandor so she didn’t have to face those emotions and now was finally feeling them? Was that why this was so intense? Or had her relationship with Joffrey been dying for a while, and she had stumbled onto something that was good, but lost it already?

When the plane touched down, Sansa put her notebook away into her backpack, ready to concentrate on the here and now. She was going to have a fun time with her sister and try to put Sandor behind her.

As she walked through the terminal, she tried to keep her mind on the days ahead. Arya wanted her help with the look of the new songs, and had been leaning toward a more minimal aspect, a lot of color and simple sketches, and from what Sansa had already seen, they were a powerful aid to the music.

She just realized that she was going to have to sing the songs she had written recently. When she was happy with whatever she and Sandor had, and not a weird mess like now. Shit.

Arya was waving as Sansa came down the stairs that lead to the public area of the terminal. Sansa smiled. Arya had always been so carefree, never worried about what other people thought of her, while Sansa was largely a bundle of anxiety, always worrying about what other people thought of her.

Arya hugged enthusiastically. “It has been too long! I mean, we talk all the time on the phone or text, but I haven’t been in the same room with you in ages! Fucking Joffrey!”

“Well I am free as a bird, and all yours for the next two weeks.And despite rumors to the contrary, I am not getting back with Joffrey ever.”

“Hear hear!” Arya led her back toward the parking area. “Hey, I know you’re going to be jet laggy with the time difference, but do you want to go meet Jaqen for drinks? He’s excited to meet the sister I’ve been nattering on about forever.”

Sansa didn’t know if she wanted to be social, but she needed to do something other than sit in Arya’s apartment and write sad songs. “Sure. I probably look like hell though from travel.”

Arya gave her a skeptical look. “Please. You always look good, it makes me sick. You look better than me on your worst day.”

As they drove to the bar, Sansa looked out the window at the city as Arya chatted about things she had been doing, the mock-up she had done for the comic book company that contacted her, even about her dog Nymeria. Sansa felt a smile fall over her face as she basked in the warm glow of family comfort. She hated that her sister and brother had landed so far away and they weren’t in the same city. She had stayed where she was because of her mom, and then because of Joffrey. Maybe she should start considering moving closer to Arya.

They pulled up to a bar that was nothing like Sandor’s, which was more industrial, and instead felt more like a speakeasy crossed with a restaurant you’d go to for a special occasion. Once inside, Sansa noticed that the bartenders all wore suit pants, suspenders and a bow tie over collared shirts. She could only imagine Sandor and Baric at a place like this.

God, she had to stop thinking about Sandor!

Arya went over and enthusiastically hugged a guy, dropping a kiss on his cheek. “Jaqen! What did you order, that looks insane.”

“They do a great absinthe cocktail here, you need to order it.”

Arya motioned to Sansa. “Jaqen H’ghar, meet the songbird behind this operation, Sansa Stark. Sansa, this is Jaqen, my musical friend.”

He shook her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m a big fan.” He held her hand for a long moment before letting go.

He was really hot. He had dark wavy hair with blond streaks that was up in a man bun - apparently long hair on men was Sansa’s new thing, who knew - gray eyes, and a goatee.

Sansa felt her face flush. “Thank you.”

“I’m looking forward to working with you,” he said, pulling out her chair for her. “I think recording in a professional studio is going to give you that edge. You sound good as is, but with my help…”

Sansa ordered a Bee’s Knees from the waitress. “What, my recording in my closet isn’t good enough?” She grinned.

“We’ve been so bootleg for so long, I don’t know that either of us will know what to do with professional equipment without some guidance,” Arya said.

“Which I’m happy to provide.” His eyes flicked to Sansa.

He and Arya started talking about some of the local musicians he had worked with and he started asking Sansa some questions about favorite bands, and though she was tired, Sansa found herself having a good time. And she definitely noticed Jaqen flirting with her.

Arya finally noticed her lagging. “I need to get Sansa home before jet lag really kicks in.”

“Of course.” Jaqen turned to her. “I look forward to working with you this week, Sansa.”

“Same. Thank you so much,” she said.

As she and Arya got back in the car, her sister gave her a sideways glance. “He was totally flirting with you the entire time.”

“I noticed.”

“You know, while you’re here, you could have an actual fling with a guy you will never see again and not live with,” Arya said. “I know Jaqen is not looking for a relationship.”

“I think I’ve had my fill of flings with my siblings’ friends, thank you.”

At her sister’s apartment, she and Arya ended up hanging out on the couch for the rest of the evening, watching a movie, eating popcorn and playing with Nymeria. It was a fun evening, but Sansa kept feeling that itch in her brain that said over and over again…song.

“Hey Ar, do you care if I work on some music? I feel like I’m not going to be able to sleep unless I do. I was writing lyrics on the plane ride.”

“Absolutely! Go for it. I’ll go work on some editing in my room with Nymeria. The living room is all yours.”

“Thanks.”

Getting her guitar out, she worked through it, playing, switching chords, finding what was working with the lyrics. It was late (for her with the jetlag) by the time she finished a rough sketch of a song. She set up her phone to record, staring up at Arya’s ceiling, played the first verse and chorus, and then posted it on her personal social media. She had a few songwriting friends on there that would give her some constructive feedback.

And she prepared for the next day, when she would have to start singing the songs she had written with Sandor.

Chapter Text

Sandor had to do something to keep his mind off of Sansa.

It was horribly quiet in his apartment now. It felt like all the life had left when she did. And the worst part was that she hadn’t been there that long, so it was really returning to what his life was like before she walked in.

Too bad he was realizing now how sad and lonely his life was.

At least he had Taco still. Sandor didn’t know what he was going to do when she returned and took the cat with her. Could he convince her to share custody? He was used to walking in and Taco chirping and following him around, wanting him to stand there and watch him eat - he had a grazing bowl, so it was generally always filled and he checked every evening just to make sure, the cat just wanted someone to watch him. When he got home from work, Taco was usually also ready to play, either with his taco wand, or bat around these little squishy balls that Sansa had bought when they got him. No, when she got him. It was her cat, not his. There’d be no more little black cat on one end of the couch while he watched T.V. soon enough.

In a moment of depression, he had bought a dog costume online that was a taco and took some funny photos of the cat wearing it (who frankly looked miserable) and actually uploaded it to his rarely used social media. He lied to himself that he was doing it so Bane would see it, but that was completely untrue - he was hoping Sansa would.

Unfortunately, by logging in, he saw that she was tagged in some photos online. She was at what looked like one of those expensive drinks because of the ambiance bars, with a woman with short dark hair and a variety of piercings and tattoos, which must have been her sister, Arya.

She was also with a guy.

Sandor zoomed in on the photo. Captioned by her sister - Chasing the green fairy after a hard day at work with these two bohemians - they were sitting on a plush looking couch holding up drinks, squeezed together for the photo. Or at least he hoped it was for the photo. Sansa was in the middle, squeezed between her sister and the guy, who had the look of one of those who could easily charm women, like Jon or Tourmond. Long hair up in one of those ridiculous man buns, he had one arm casually slung along the back of the couch. Sansa looked happy. He also had to admit that she looked more like she should be with whoever this Jaqen guy was, rather than him.

He quickly clicked out of the photo and somehow clicked on a video that was on her profile. It was a video of a ceiling, but he heard an acoustic guitar playing, and then her voice.

God, her voice. He was going to have to stop listening to her music, because he couldn’t hear her voice without having extremely vivid flashbacks of those breathy little moans she made right before…

And now he was thinking about her nails on his back, and her holding onto the side of the bed, and…he had to do something constructive and not listen to this.

He shut his phone off quickly, hurrying downstairs to the bar, trying very hard not to think about how she tasted, or that little sigh of satisfaction she made when he was fully buried in her…

He had been spending a lot of his time at the bar since she left, hating being home alone. His usual work that he tried to squeeze in on not busy nights was already done.

It was time to start deep cleaning literally everything.

While he made sure everything was cleaned regularly, and the staff had a cleaning schedule that he routinely helped with and checked, they hadn’t done a deep clean in a bit. He cued up some metal music, since the bar wasn’t opening for hours and he was the only one there, and blasted it, pulling all of the cleaning supplies out. You’d be able to eat off this floor by the time he was done.

The music was turned up so loud and he was so intense on the scrubbing, that he never heard anyone come in. It was only when his phone tried to play the song that he had put on when he and Sansa had been trying to ignore Taco, and she had said she’d have a Pavlovian response to it forever, and he practically threw himself across the bar to change it, did he realize that Beric was there.

Beric stared. “Boss? Are you alright?”

“Fine.” Sandor breathed a sigh of relief when the phone played a different song. “Just cleaning.”

“Did we fail a health inspection or something?”

“No, I just thought a good scrub down was needed.”

“There’s a good scrub down, and then there’s whatever this is.” Beric looked at the liquor bottles, fronted and faced properly, the fresh ice, the spotless glassware all lined up, things he usually did to start the shift. “When did you get here?”

“Ten or so? I don’t sleep much.”

“You didn’t leave last night until 3! What is going on with you?” Beric eyed him carefully. “Did something happen with you and your redhead? You’ve quit taking dinner breaks, and you used to practically run up there to see her.”

“She doesn’t live here anymore,” Sandor said, trying to ease his way into it. Nope. It was still like a punch to the gut when he said it.

“What the hell happened?”

“It was always going to be temporary. She needed a place to stay in between apartments. She’s visiting family right now, but when she gets back she’s getting a new place.”

Beric frowned. “And here I thought you two had something going.”

“Why’d you think that?”

“Well for starters, the fact that you were kissing the night she performed here. But even if you hadn’t, there’s also you pretty much hanging on her every fucking word when she’s here. And she always seemed giddy around you. And now she’s gone and you’re about to wear a hole into the linoleum aggressively cleaning it. Call me Sherlock, because I’m putting 2 and 2 together. So what did you do to fuck it up?”

“How do you know I fucked it up?”

Beric laughed. “You were always punching above your weight with that one, Boss.”

Didn’t he know it. And maybe that was the problem. He didn’t think he could keep her, that she’d really want to be with someone like him when she could so easily have someone better, of course, she went back to Joffrey or got with a smarmy looking guy with a man bun.

“There’s really only one thing you can do,” Beric said.

“And what’s that?”

“Beg her to forgive whatever idiotic thing you did, and pray to the Lord of Light himself that she does before someone younger and better looking gives her a better offer.”

“I think that may have already happened.”

“Well then, you’re fucked. Guess you’ll have a great story of the one that got away.” Beric whistled as the door opened. “Well, if it isn’t the hottie from next door! I thought you worked mornings now!”

“I’m back to middays while this guy’s ‘favorite’ barista is out of town on vacation,” Shae said, walking in and going up to the bar, ordering a Jack and Coke from Beric. “Petyr’s been working mornings for the first time ever, because he’s too cheap to hire any help, and of course, he screws up everything, leaving me to fix it, and clean everything when I arrive AND when I leave. Hence me being here.”

Sandor went back to deep cleaning one of the booths. Shae took a sip from her drink and watched him.

“Hey Grumpy Black Coffee, are you hiring? I swear to all the Gods that if Sansa really decides to stay in Portland, I’m quitting.”

Sandor knocked over a bottle of cleaning solution. “She’s thinking of staying?” he yelped.

Beric and Shae stared at him.

“I mean…her sister’s there,” Shae said. “She has no one here really, nothing keeping her here. I think she could easily find a barista job out there. Or maybe she could go back to college finally, you know she had to drop out to take care of her mother when she had cancer.”

Sandor felt like he was underwater, struggling to breathe.

“And now with that hot friend of her sister’s hanging around, I mean, I’d sure as hell stick around and see where that went because damn. Boy is FINE.”

Sandor was in the deep end, flailing around, trying not to die.

Beric gave Shae a sharp look. “You are mean.”

She smirked. “I’m just saying. He’s the one who told her it didn’t matter to him if she was back with her ex or not. And that they’re never going to be anything but friends because that’s all either of them want.”

Holy shit. Women really do tell each other everything.

“So he doesn’t care if she decides to stay and fuck that hot piece of ass over and over again until it’s like you never even existed.” Her words got harsher as she spoke, maintaining eye contact with him. He looked away, but not before he saw her smile and take another drink, knowing she got to him.

Beric looked between the two of them. “Well, that’s one way of fucking things up. And Jesus, Shae. Really rubbing it in there.”

She shrugged. “Just saying. He didn’t want it, so somebody else took it. He shouldn’t be the one moping around like he lost the love of his life. I’m the real loser here, since if she moves, I will lose my best friend and my favorite coworker.”

“She is though.” Sandor didn’t even realize he had said the words until both Beric and Shae looked at him.

“My best friend and coworker? Yeah, I know,” Shae said. “Thanks for all but packing her off and mailing her to Portland.”

“She’s the love of my life.”

Now Beric and Shae were really staring at him.

“Well, holy shit, Sandor, if Sansa’s the love of your life, why are you telling us instead of her?” Shae asked.

“What the hell did I just walk into?”

Everyone turned to look at the door.

It was Jon Snow.

Chapter Text

Sansa had to admit, she enjoyed recording in an actual studio, and not just in her closet.

Plus, she had Jaqen there to offer suggestions on how to improve, and he had some good ones.

He also wasn’t hard on the eyes. And it felt a little better, singing these more upbeat, sexy songs with a hot guy looking at you, then, again, hiding amid your clothes and shoes in the closet for better acoustics. And thinking about the guy that you wrote the songs for, and wanting to cry. So yeah. This was better.

She had fun with Arya too. They went to some of Arya’s favorite restaurants, did some touristy things, took Nymeria to the dog park, and Sansa even talked Arya into visiting a cat cafe. Although, after visiting the kitties, she missed her own. And they went out for drinks a few times with Jaqen, who while he remained a perfect gentleman while out and a professional at work, did manage to make his interest in Sansa known.

All in all, this had been a great working vacation so far, if not for the fact that Sansa kept wanting to tell Sandor about it.

She’d have a drink and wonder what he’d think of the recipe, or the look of the bar. She’d eat a dish with Arya and wish she could send him a picture of it or make him try it.

But she was trying a detox, so she shouldn’t do any of those things. Did he miss her at all?

“I like that little hint of sadness in your voice,” said Jaqen as they recorded her last song - the one that she had sung at the end of the night in the bar. Asking Sandor to remember her after this was over, and what irony, that‘s all she wanted now. “The music is very pop and cheery, but that little bit of sadness adds emotional gravitas to the entire song.”

Sansa guessed her heartbreak was good for something.

“I saw the preliminary edit of the art Arya is using with this song, it is going to knock it out of the park for you two, I just know it.”

“From your lips to the Gods’ ears,” Sansa said. As the conference neared, she kept getting more and more nervous. She really wanted this to work out, but so far…not much in her life had worked out.

“You’re both so talented, even if it doesn’t happen this time, it is going to,” Jaqen said, going over the recording on his computer. “I’ve seen the new stuff you’ve been working on, your sound is really maturing.”

Sansa had been keeping up her nightly project, working on songs about her heartbreak, and posting a short clip on her personal page. Several people had commented on them, saying they liked the moodiness, that they couldn’t wait to hear the whole thing. It had all been nice and gratifying to hear. But the one person she wanted to comment so far had not.

“Well, now that you’re done recording,” Jaqen said, coming over to her. “And we won’t be working together everyday anymore, I figure now is as good a time as any. Sansa, I think you’re gorgeous, and funny, and smart, and amazingly talented. I know you and Arya are going to be flying out to your conference soon, but before you go, I have to ask if I can take you out.”

“Oh, Jaqen.” Sansa couldn’t say she hadn’t been expecting this, because she really had. And he was really hot, and smart about music, and a decent guy. But there was one huge problem she couldn’t overlook.

She was still in love with Sandor.

She was just going to go home and tell him straight up. If he didn’t feel the same way, fine, she would be heartbroken, but she had to tell him.

Jaqen looked at her face, and then nodded. “It’s the guy, isn’t it? The one from your songs. Both these and those new ones you’ve been writing. You love him.”

She nodded. “I don’t know that he still cares at all, or if he even knows, but I have to tell him.”

“If he’s ever listened to your songs, he knows.” Jaqen shook his head. “Well, he’s a lucky guy. You can tell him I said that. And, you know, if things don’t work out…”

“I know who to call.” Sansa’s phone dinged. “Oh, it’s probably Arya.”

“Tell her to get her butt over here, we have to send you two off in style!”

“She’s on her way.” Then Sansa noticed her phone had another notification.

Sandor Clegane liked your post.

It felt like her heart had skipped a beat. She quickly opened up the app, clicking on the notifications. It was all the music she had done recently.

Sandor Clegane liked your post. Sandor Clegane liked your post.

She knew he was never on social media, so he had to have gone out of his way to see the videos. She quickly clicked on his name, bringing up his profile and scrolled down to see…several pictures of Taco in a taco costume.

Sandor had bought a taco costume for her cat, dressed him in it, and took photos. And then posted them on social media.

She pulled up the comments. One was from Tourmond, asking if he needed to make another visit if this is what he was doing in his spare time. One was from Beric, saying he needed some tequila to go with the taco.

Sansa clicked comment, and then quickly typed, “It’s Taco in a taco! Love it!” and clicked post. Then she liked the photo.

It was the first contact they had in a while. It was social media and a silly photo of her cat. But why was her heart pounding so fast?

Her phone rang. It was Jon.

She looked back to Jaqen. “I’m going to take this. I’ll meet you outside.”

He gave her a thumbs up, and she picked up the call, stepping outside. “Hey, Jon.”

“Hey sis. You sound a little better since the last time I called you.”

He had called right as everything was falling apart. “Yeah. Guess I needed a vacation.”

“Arya told you I’m planning on coming down to see you guys?”

“Yes, and wait until you see the place she booked us,” Sansa said. “It’s got like 5 bedrooms, a pool, a hot tub, a game room, we’re gonna want to stay forever.”

“Sounds like. So since you’re in a better mood now, can I ask about what exactly happened?”

Sansa sighed. “That’s a pretty open-ended question.”

“I’ll be more specific. So why were you kissing my best friend, who I specifically asked to not mess with you, since you are my sister and just came out of a breakup.”

“Because I love him,” Sansa blurted out.

Jon was silent on the other end of the line. Then he said, “You love him?” the shock plain in his voice.

“It didn’t start out like this. We were just friends, but I really liked hanging out with him, and he was so nice helping me with Joffrey, and then I wanted to write music again, and Shae gave me this stupid suggestion to have a Friend with Benefits…and I got drunk and came onto him, and then it all just kind of happened from there.”

“Now you’re telling me you had a Friends with Benefits relationship with my best friend? I may kill him.”

“Jon, no! It was my idea, if you’re gonna be mad at anyone, be mad at me.”

“So at some point it stopped being a Friends with Benefits relationship?”

Sansa thought of the night of her performance, the night they had made love. “Yes. At least for me anyway. I fell in love with him.”

“Does he know how you feel? How does he feel?”

“I don’t think so and I have no idea anymore,” Sansa said. “I thought he felt the same, but then Joffrey showed up and wrecked everything trying to get me back. He kissed me, I did push him away, but Sandor saw, and assumed we were back together.”

“So what are you going to do now?”

“Tell him I love him the next time I see him,” Sansa said. “No more dancing around the subject.”

“And if he doesn’t feel the same way?”

“I guess I’ll be writing a lot of songs about heartbreak then.”

“And if he does feel the same way.”

“You get to get used to seeing your best friend and your sister kissing.”

Jon sighed. “Sansa, I told you what happened with his wife. He was really messed up from that whole thing - the fact that it was his brother, he got injured, his grandfather had just died, it was a really shitty time for him. I don’t know how that’s affected him, relationship-wise. He may not want to ever get married again, or have kids, or even live with someone after everything. He may have really bad trust issues now, well, I think you got a bit of insight into that seeing as how he immediately assumed you were back with Joffrey. And let’s not forget you were literally engaged and going to marry Joffrey about a month ago. And now you’re in love with someone else.”

“Is there a point to this?”

“My point is, it’s not going to be easy. If either of you are wanting easy, this isn’t it.”

“Maybe I don’t want easy. Maybe I just want him.”

Jon was silent again. Then he said, “O.K. I’ll see you soon, Sansa. We can talk more about this then.”

“O.K.” They hung up. Sansa wondered if he also had read Sandor the riot act. And what had Sandor said to Jon?

She pulled up the photo of Taco as a taco, and saved it as her phone’s wallpaper.

Chapter Text

“Frosty? What are you doing here?” Sandor was shocked. He hadn’t seen his best friend in person in quite some time.

“Bane and I are worried about you,” Jon said simply. “After everything that has happened. I know you’ve got a spare room, so I thought I’d come for a visit and check on you in person.”

Sandor looked back at Beric. “I’m going to go get him settled and I’ll come back.”

“Boss, you’ve literally cleaned this place top to bottom and it doesn’t get busy for a while yet. Everyone else is going to be here soon. I think we can handle it for a couple of hours.”

Sandor led Jon back to the stairs to his apartment. As soon as he opened the door, Taco was there, meowing.

“I can’t believe you of all people, have a cat,” Jon said, putting his bag down, and petting the cat. “You’ve always been a dog person.”

“It’s your sister’s, not mine. That’s your nephew.”

Jon kept petting Taco. “It’s not yours, and yet I’ve seen plenty of photos with you and this cat. Oh and let’s not forget, dressing this cat up in a Halloween costume while I know Sansa’s with Arya.”

“You’re never on social media, how did you even see that?”

“I had to get on social media to see what the hell was going on under my nose,” Jon said. “After I asked my best friend for a favor, and specifically said not to mess with my sister because she literally got cheated on and broken up with and was in a vulnerable place.”

Sandor had been expecting this for quite some time. “Jon, I really wish I could say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”

Jon stared at him. “What the fuck Sandor?”

“Jon, I’m in love with your sister.”

“I feel like I need to sit down for this.” Jon went over to the couch, Taco following him for more pets and scratches. “You’ve known Sansa for like a month. You love her already, and you told that girl downstairs she’s the love of your life. What about Eve?”

“What about Eve?”

“You were married to her for years!”

“And? She’s apparently the love of Gregor’s life, not mine.”

“O.K., forget for a moment this is my sister. I’m just Frosty, the best friend. Tell me exactly how this started, but please skip over any graphic details.”

“I was just walking by the coffee shop next door one day, happened to glance over and she was by the window, cleaning a table, and she looked up at me and smiled, and it was like a lightning bolt hit me. I started going to that coffee shop every single day just to see her, not for their overpriced shit coffee.”

“So now you’re telling me you fell in love at first sight with my sister?”

“You can ask Bane, all I ever did was talk about the hot redhead at the coffee shop.”

“Of all the people in the world, I would have never pegged Sandor Clegane to be a romantic at heart.”

“And then I started talking to your sister over text, and she was nice, and when I found out it was the same person…” He sighed. “She’s gorgeous and sweet and fun and so talented with music it’s crazy, and caring enough to make her brother’s friend all these meals just because, and likes brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts and Law & Order reruns on Sundays. When she brought up the Friends with Benefits thing, I couldn’t help it, I caved.”

“Wait..what?” Jon was looking murderous again.

Sandor knew he was in dangerous territory. “She said she needed inspiration for her songs, and couldn’t write without…”

“I thought you just kissed her, so now you’re telling me you've been sleeping with my sister?”

“You’re supposed to be my friend right now, remember?”

“Which is why I’m not killing you now.” Jon’s jaw was as clenched as possible. “So she proposed this arrangement, and you couldn’t help yourself, is that it?”

“Basically, yes.” Sandor didn’t move, afraid anything would set off Jon right now.

“How was it that she ended up performing at your bar? Arya and I have tried over and over to get her to get out there and actually perform and she always refused.”

“She was there the night a band no-showed, and I asked her to fill in, and she did.”

“You just asked.” Jon snorted. “Her brother and sister have only asked for years, but you show up and ask and she just does it.”

“Are you mad at me for that?”

“Oh, I’m mad at you for a lot of things right now. So what exactly happened the morning I called you and you were drunk?”

“Well, I woke up and she was already gone to work.”

“The fact that you worded it like that…so not only were you euphemistically sleeping with my sister, you were also literally sleeping with my sister. Jesus. Continue.”

“And I went over to the coffee shop to see her, and Joffrey was there, and they were kissing. Or he was kissing her, but at the moment, I thought they were kissing, and it was like Eve all over again, and I came back here and got very drunk.”
“So you saw the woman you fell in love with at first sight and were having a no-strings attached relationship with being kissed by her ex - because that’s what Sansa says, that Joffrey kissed her and she wanted no part of it - and so you flipped out and got drunk.”

“Yes. And after I yelled at you, and you sent Bane, he got through to me enough to realize I had no right to complain, so when she finally showed up, I said I didn’t care who she kissed. Something to that effect. I don’t remember 100 percent, you heard how drunk I was. I swung a little too far in the opposite direction between caring and not caring. And then she got upset about that and something I said the night before, which my filter becomes practically non-existent during sex, so God knows…”

Jon’s jaw twitched again. “I’m trying so hard not to kill you right now.”

“Oh fuck.” It occurred to him out of the blue. “I just now remembered what I said. I said I loved her. And then my drunk ass basically acted like I didn’t mean it. Shit.”

Jon sighed. “So tell me this - how DID you expect this to end? You were going to continue this situationship with someone you’re in love with until she got tired of it and moved on? To Joffrey or some other guy? Or did you ever think about the end? Maybe I should just ask if you ever think, Hound.”

At least Jon sounded less murderous. “I guess I just…hoped she wouldn’t leave.”

Jon shook his head. “Sandor.”

“I know! I’m an idiot, I know.”

“So she really doesn’t know how you feel at this point. And how does she feel about you?”

“I think she might have been starting to feel the same way before I fucked everything up.”

“So are you going to do anything about it now, other than mope around and kick yourself for making a mess of things?”

“I want to. But I want her to be happy, and if she’s happier without me…”

‘Sandor, I’m going to tell you something now as Sansa’s brother,” Jon said. “If you’re going to be a pussy about it, and slink off because you think you’re unworthy of her, or you’re never going to be able to trust anyone after Eve, then I want you to leave her the fuck alone. She was literally just cheated on and dumped by a guy she thought she was going to marry, she doesn’t need you fucking with her head, now or ever.”

Sandor nodded. “I get it.”

“Now, if you’re actually going to fight for someone you love, and acknowledge you fucked up but want to fix it, and make it work even though you took the most insane, hardest path possible, then I’m supportive of it. As your friend and as her brother. But you’ve got to decide which way you’re going - the pussy route or the hard route.”

Sandor knew without a doubt which way he wanted to go. “I’m taking the hard route.”

“Are you sure? You can’t pussy out halfway through. You chose to go about this in the most fucked up way possible, so it’s not going to be easy.”

“Fuck easy,” he said seriously. “I love her.”

Jon looked at him for a long moment, and then nodded. “O.K. then. I’ve got some calls to make. Get someone to watch the cat. We’re going on a trip.”

Chapter Text

The first day of the conference was a whirlwind of anxiety for Sansa.

She and Arya had flown in the night before so they could be ready to go when it opened. So they checked in, got their badges, and then went to their rental, stress ate and split a bottle of wine.

The next morning, they went to some panels, and then had their first meeting. The executive seemed to like the music, liked the idea of the art paired with it, but also seemed like he wanted more from them.

They both left the meeting frustrated.

“I think he hated us,” Sansa said to Arya as they walked away, her heels clacking on the tile floor. Arya’s combat boots made a more impressive stompier noise.

“I think he wanted to remake you into some pop princess and as an added bonus, fuck you.”

“Why are men?”

“Yes, why are men?”

A woman in a suit walking by in the opposite direction, snickered at the comment, then looked at them, and halted. “Wait. Aren’t you Sansa Stark?”

Sansa stopped too. “Yes?”

The woman looked at Arya. “So you two are Artemis in the Garden! I kept meaning to email you, but I kept having to solve one crisis or another, so it was on my to-do list when I got back from this. I’m Yara Greyjoy. I work for GreySky Talent as an agent. My best friend was at your performance the other day and sent me a video. I really like your sound, and then I saw the videos and my mind was blown. Have you ever thought about doing a few gigs and incorporating the art into the performance, like on screens?”

“Oh, that was my first in-person performance since I was in school,” Sansa said.

“Well, do you have a talent agent yet? I suppose that should be my first question.”

“No…”

“Well, we’re pretty diverse at GreySky. We’ve got agents in just about every kind of talent. And since you two are a performance artist of two different kinds, I might have to bring in one of my coworkers to help with the art side of things, Arya, but I’d love to sign you, Sansa, and co-sign with you, Arya. Can I send you a standard contract to look over and consider?”

Sansa looked at Arya, who gave her a slight nod.

“Sure,” Sansa said, handing her a card she and Arya had made just for this occasion. “Here’s my email.”

“Great, I’ll get it to you by this evening,” Yara said. “Here’s my card. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. So great running into you and getting to do this in person! You two have a good rest of the conference!”

“You too.” Sansa watched her walk away.

“Oh my God, Sansa, holy shit!” Arya squealed. “We’ve got an actual talent agent interested!”

“If we’d sign with her, I wonder if she would go to the meetings with us?” Sansa thought it would probably be better to have a talent agent with them than not. At least it would possibly stop some of the creeps.

The contract came while they were in the rideshare on the way back to their rental.

“If you don’t care, I’m going to forward this Jaqen,” Arya said. “He’s dealt with some agents in the past, so he should be able to tell me if it’s decent or full of shit.”

“That’s fine.” Sansa took off her shoes, rubbing her sore feet. “I cannot wait to hit the pool. Or at least stick my feet in it.”

“That’s what you get for wearing heels.”

“I know. I miss my barista outfit of jeans, t-shirts and Chuck Taylors.”

“You might not be wearing that much longer if we get signed and you become famous!”

“I’d settle for popular enough that people buy albums. I wouldn’t mind being regional at best.”

“I’m starving. I’m thinking of ordering Korean chicken, you in?”

“Always for Korean chicken,” Sansa said. “Is Jon going to make it here in time for dinner?”

“I don’t think so. His plane got delayed. But that means more for us. We can order him something when he gets in. I’m excited to see him. I can’t wait to hear about all the shit he’s gotten into in Alaska.”

As soon as they got to their rental, Sansa headed toward her room. “I’m going to go change out of my fancy clothes and into my comfy ones.”

“You don’t want to go swimming?”

“Not after the Korean chicken. Maybe later. I can change again if I need to.”

“Well, you’d better wear a skirt or shorts or something so you can at least stick your feet in the pool for a bit.”

“True. Let’s do that until food arrives. What kind of wine goes good with Korean chicken?”

“Any of it!” Arya yelled back as Sansa went into her room.

She wanted to scrub off her makeup, put on her comfiest clothes and just rot for the rest of the evening. She washed her face, feeling like she scrubbed years off, let her hair out of the complicated braid and updo she had, letting it be loose and tangled all it wanted, found a pair of shorts with a comfortable elastic waistband (for eating all that chicken) and a worn tank top that read Singers Do It Louder - she wasn’t putting a bra back on, her sister and her brother wouldn’t care - put on some flip flops and headed out to the pool. Let the rotting commence.

Arya already had the chicken and two wine glasses by the time she came out to the pool. “Put your feet in and dig in!” She had her feet in, and Sansa could see all of her sister’s tattoos on display in her shorts and black swim top.

Arya looked at Sansa as she sat down next to her, shivering at the bliss of the cold water on her feet. “What are you wearing?”

“My rotting clothes. Why? I told you I’d change into my suit later.”

“Well, Jon’s going to be here soon.”

“Jon’s seen me in my rotting clothes and no makeup before. It’s not like I have to dress up for him.”

“I know…he just may want to go out to a bar or something.”

“Well then, you get to go with him, because I am not moving for the rest of the evening,” Sansa said, sipping from her wine glass and enjoying the feeling of the water on her feet. “We have wine and chicken, what more do we need?”

Her phone dinged. She had shoved it in her shorts pocket, so she leaned back to reach in and grab it.

She almost dropped it when she saw who the message was from.

Sandor Clegane.

Her heart beating fast, she looked at the message.

I miss you.

A burst of excitement and relief washed through her body. He missed her! He thought about her! She wanted to jump up and down and shriek.

She didn’t even realize she had made some sort of gasping noise until Arya looked over at her. “You O.K.? You sounded like you swallowed your tongue just now.”

Arya couldn’t know. She was the one who had advised her to take a detox. She wouldn’t approve of looking at his profile, or him liking her song videos, or reading this text message, let alone responding.

“I about choked on wine. You know how I am, I could choke on my own spit.” Sansa held her phone covertly so Arya wouldn’t see the message.

I miss you too.

She watched the bubble of him typing appear and then disappear. Appear then disappear. Appear.

I didn’t mean that in a friendly way.

The butterflies in her stomach were going insane. She felt like her body was simultaneously hot and cold at the same time.

Well, I didn’t mean it only in a friendly way.

The bubbles appeared and then disappeared. Appeared then disappeared.

I miss hanging out with you and I miss doing things to you.

Her hands were definitely shaking now.

“He’s here!” Arya jumped up as Sansa felt her blood pulsing through her. “Jon’s here! We’re out back!” she yelled into the house. “Sansa, quit playing on your phone!”

She sent a quick message to him.

There’s so much I want to tell you.

She slid her phone back into her pocket and got up, taking her glass of wine with her. Arya squealed and threw her arms around their brother, who had come outside.

“Hey, it's my Wild One,” he said, giving her a hug back. “And my favorite Songbird!” He held out his arms for a hug from her.

Sansa hugged him. “It’s my favorite brother.”

“Wasn’t sure after our last conversation. But hey, I brought you a present, so maybe you won’t be mad at me.”

“What did you bring me?” she asked.

Someone else walked out behind Jon.

“So, what did you want to tell me?” Sandor asked.

Chapter Text

The look on her face made his heart stop.

Sansa looked like she was about to cry, to yell, maybe even to smack him.

Then she gasped his name like no one had ever said it before, like he was a special prize she had just won, and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his waist and hugging him tight. He thought he heard a soft sob as he put his arms around her, hugging her back.

He really hadn’t wanted to show up here not knowing if she would want to see him and thus fuck up her week when she was trying to further her career. Despite Jon’s assurance that he had done some recon and she would want him here, he had texted her as they rode from the airport to the house. That way if she told him to fuck off, he could go elsewhere.

And she had replied back right away. She missed him, and from the feeling of it, missed him as much as he missed her. She held onto him like she was never letting him go, for fear of losing him. Little did she know, he’d let her keep him without question.

“Wait, who has Taco?” She asked, looking up at him, and he noticed she did have some tears on her face. He didn’t think anyone had ever missed him that much before.

“He’s with Shae.”

“O.K. You both told me separately that you wanted to talk this mess out,” said Jon. “So go somewhere and talk, just the two of you. Just. Talk.”

“He means talk, don’t fuck, you animals,” said Arya.

Jon winced. “Jesus Arya. But yes. What she said.”

Sansa took his hand. “Come on.”

“I listened to your new songs,” he said. “The ones you posted on your social media.”

She led him to a staircase. “Oh yeah?” She looked back as they ascended. “What did you think?”

“Your voice is gorgeous, and the music is incredible.”

“And?” She went to a room at the end of the hall and opened the door.

“And…they were very sad.”

“I wonder why.”

He stopped her. “Are they…about me?”

“You know they are.” She walked inside, and he saw her guitar and keyboard case, some clothes laying about, and a bed. There was not really anywhere to sit BUT the bed. Should he take this as a good sign?

She sat down, and motioned for him to sit next to her on the bed. “I don’t know where to start.”

“I do.” He reached out to take her hand. “I’m really sorry for fucking everything up. The whole Joffrey situation…”

“Do you get now that I didn’t kiss Joffrey, I didn’t want to kiss Joffrey, I don’t want Joffrey, I want you!”

He felt like they might be on the cusp of something important. “I always want you, Songbird. But I can’t do this friends with benefits thing anymore.”

She looked surprised and a little sad. “Oh.”

“I love you, and I want to actually be with you. I want to sleep next to you every night, and I want to lock the cat out of our room at night and have to play loud metal music until he shuts up, and I want to eat Poptarts on Sundays and watch Law & Order. And I can’t promise that I won’t do something stupid in the future and make you mad at me, but I swear I will trust that you want to be with me until you say something different.” He finished his speech, his heart beating fast, desperately wanting to know how she was going to react.

“O.K., that’s enough talking.” She pushed him over back onto her bed, and swung her leg over him so she was astride him, kissing him hard, her tongue in his mouth, her hands pulling his shirt from his pants.

He slid his hands up her shirt, and groaned into her mouth at what he found. “I can always tell when you’re not wearing a bra around the house, and it drives me crazy.”

“Are you staring at my breasts all the time?” she asked, lips curling into a smirk, helping him take her shirt off.

“Yes, did you just now notice?” He ran his thumb over her nipple, and then followed it with his mouth. She groaned, and then reached for him again, grabbing his shirt, and pulling it off him.

“We’re supposed to be talking,” she said, even as she wiggled out of her shorts, and reached for him, which was somewhat confusing.

“I’ll talk to you all night long if you want, baby,” he said, helping her with his pants.

She grinned. “We both know you do a lot of talking.”

He recaptured her mouth, holding her there against them, skin to skin, and kissed her, long and deeply. And then, he slowly lowered her down on the bed. He kissed her throat, her collarbone, the hollow in her neck.

“You haven’t seen me in weeks, and this is what you want to do?” She gasped as his mouth found one nipple, then the other.

“No, you know what I want to do,” he said, and made his way further down her body, spreading her legs with his hands, so he could have her with his mouth first. At the first swipe of his tongue, he felt her whole body relax. She sighed. He started with long, slow movements first, and then gradually moved to flicks, and that was when he felt her hands in his hair, which was such a turn on, and now she was moaning and shaking, so he added his fingers, and then she was writhing around on the bed, gasping his name. He could spend forever with his mouth there, making Sansa Stark say his name like that. She made that little breathy noise that he was familiar with and then her whole body clenched around him. Just as he could tell she was coming down off of the wave of it, he started sucking again, moved his fingers up just slightly, flicked his tongue again and this time she actually cried out as she came again. He really hoped Jon was outside and not within earshot.

She was breathing heavy, eyes unfocused, a grin on her face when he looked up at her. “Oh my God, I didn’t expect that.”

“You want more?” He would gladly spend the rest of the night with his head between her legs if that’s what she wanted.

“Yes, but I want you. Now.” She reached for him, and he let her pull him up onto her. “Sandor.”

“Sansa.” She looked so serious now, big blue eyes wide.

She reached up and touched his cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He had for so long now, never dreaming that she’d feel the same way.

She kissed him, sweetly and gently, and then it slowly morphed into something more passionate, and then she moved to better position herself, and he settled himself between her legs, and slowly, gradually sunk into her, inch by inch.

This was his idea of heaven now.

He slid a hand under her hips to help move her to a different angle, and she wrapped her legs around him, and felt himself go all the way in.

The satisfied moan she made was perhaps the best sound in the world.

She moved under him, urging him along a bit faster, her mouth on his chest, on his throat, her hands in his hair. There wasn’t anything in the world other than Sansa Stark.

“You’re the best thing in the world, baby,” he said. “I’m addicted to you. I want to be in you or tasting you.”

“You can have me,” she said. “I’m yours.”

“No one else’s.”

“No one. Just you, baby. Forever.” She gasped, and dug into his shoulder. “Oh God.”

“Fuck yes.” He was so close, but he could tell she was too, and he wanted her orgasm more than his own.

The moment she did, he did right after, the feeling of it sending him right over the edge. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him against her.

When he finally came back to himself, she leaned up and said into his ear. “That was a good talk.”

Chapter Text

Six Months Later…

“What did you order?” Shae asked.

Sansa took the seat across from her at the table. “A lavender and brown sugar cinnamon latte.”

“Ew.”

“Not ew, delicious.”

“I can’t believe we come back here,” Shae said, looking around the coffee shop.

“It’s really the best coffee.”

“So how’s the album coming? I feel like you’ve been in and out of town so much, I never see you.”

“It’s pretty much done now,” Sansa said. “At least my part. “They’re working on the final mixes now.”

“That’s so exciting!”

“I know! The day it comes out, I’m going to be a nervous wreck.”

“It’s going to be great, people are going to love it.”

“Enough about me, I want to hear how things are with Beric,” Sansa said, sipping her coffee.

Shae actually blushed. “Things are good. But you cannot say a thing outside of these sacred walls. The boss doesn’t like employees dating.”

Sansa about spit out her coffee. “I’m sorry, did you say Sandor Clegane wants to tell people not to date and expects them to listen?”

“I know, we appreciate the irony as well.”

Petyr walked by and saw them. “Girls. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, it’s been super busy at work,” Shae said. As he frowned and walked on, she laughed. “You know that man has a Sandor Clegane voodoo doll at home.”

“That explains a lot of things,” said Sansa and they both laughed.

After a lot of coffee, and promises to hang out again when Shae wasn’t working, Sansa headed back to the apartment. She had just passed the dumpster between the two buildings, when she heard a strange noise. She turned and looked closer, and out from under the dumpster came a small orange cat.

“Oh hey! Aren’t you cute?” she said to it. It meowed, and rubbed against her leg, so she knelt down and petted it. The cat leaned up for head scratches and purred.

Sansa looked around. The cat didn’t have a collar, and no one was around, so it was probably a street cat hunting around the dumpster. She started to walk back to the apartment, and the little orange cat followed her. She scooped him up. Decision made.

She went up the stairs to the apartment, dropping her wallet and keys on the table by the door, kicked off her shoes, and padded across the newly remodeled hardwood floor, past her lovely new couch that was the best for Sunday afternoon Law & Order sessions.

She went to her bedroom, still carrying the cat, opened the door, and found Taco, still asleep, curled up on the bed with Sandor.

“Baby, wake up!” she said, going over to his side of the bed and sitting on the edge. “He followed me home, can I keep him?”
Taco immediately hissed and hid under the bed.

Sandor blinked awake. “What?” He looked at what she was holding. “Where did that come from?”

“He was outside the coffee shop by the dumpster. I’m thinking of calling him Grumpy Black Coffee, for nostalgia’s sake.”

Sandor yawned, and reached over to pet the cat. “I’m going to call him BC for short. I wasn’t grumpy, and neither is he.”

Sansa sat the cat down, which immediately jumped down, and went to look under the bed. She leaned over and kissed Sandor. “Yay! We’re a family of four now!”

“Taco sounds really happy about it.” They could both hear the growls coming from under the bed. “Sansa Clegane, if you keep adding cats to this household, we’re definitely going to have to think about moving into a house.”

“We could afford it.” As he scooted over, she crawled back into bed with him. “But I still like living in our apartment. Let’s wait until we decide on a different kind of addition to the family.” She kissed him lingeringly. They didn’t have anything they had to do today after all…

“We’ve been married for three months, Jon’s still getting used to the idea, I think a baby would send him into the grave.”

“I didn’t say now! I meant eventually. I’m having too much fun having you all to myself.” She pulled him onto her.

There was another growl, and then Taco jumped onto the bed, followed by B.C. Taco swatted at the younger cat, who just wanted to play.

“Cat cock block,” Sandor said, groaning, moving so he was next to her again. “You two are spending the night in the living room, so you’d better find a way to coexist.”

“I foresee a lot of metal music in the future,” Sansa said, laughing.

Sandor eyed her. “I suppose you want to go get this one a collar, and a bowl, and all the things?”

“Yes, all the things!”

He groaned. “O.K. Let me go take a shower then.”

She kissed him. “I love you, baby. You’re my favorite husband.”
“Love you too. You’re my favorite wife.”

The End