Archive of Our Own

Robb stared at his phone for a good half an hour. It was three in the morning and the only reason why he kept his phone with the ringtone on was the same asshole who just texted him.
It was something he had been doing for the past ten years or so, since the two of them got their personal phones and his best friend would have called him if something was wrong (namely he got too drunk to drive his sorry ass home, his psychopath of an ex boyfriend spilled his drink at some club or his father showed up at his place). But that, well -

Robb Stark and Theon Greyjoy had been best friends since Balon’s popularity in the Islands decreased after the referendum to obtain independence from King’s Landing. Alannys, Theon’s mother and, according to Robb, the only person in that family with some brain cells took her younger children and moved to the North because like hell she was going to stay married to that man, or risk her children’s future over his dumbassery. Luckily, she was just as much old money as Balon was, if not even more, so it wasn’t like they were really struggling.

But Theon wasn’t a social butterfly, when he was a child, and the North wasn’t warm to newcomers, especially not to ironborn.
Robb didn’t care. He decided he would have friended the new kid and that he did, out of sheer stubbornness. He had been five; eight years later, as he was approaching his teenage years, he would have regretted it. Because Theon, who was a couple of years older, was hot. There was no other way to put it. And very popular with the girls too.

Robb didn’t care, he had his first girlfriends, experimented a bit just to be sure that he liked boys in general as well and not only Theon - jury was still out on that: he technically found boys and then men attractive, but only looked at that way his best friend - and was more than sure that Theon was as straight as an arrow.

Until Ramsay Bolton happened. And sure, it hurt to listen to Theon talk about his boyfriend, especially considering that he had never been serious with anyone before, but if he was happy, well, Robb would have been happy for him. (And if the entire pregnancy scare with Jeyne happened just when Theon told him he was serious with Ramsay it wasn’t like someone had to know, right? They had been seventeen back then, and people at seventeen do stupid stuff.)

Except that, at some point, it had been evident that Theon wasn’t happy and when he called him in the middle of the night he couldn’t help but run there. And after how things went down between Theon and Ramsay, Robb understood why his best friend didn’t want to listen about anything concerning any kind of relationship.
Robb was fine with that. It wasn’t like he ever got the impression of Theon liking him back.

And, somehow, he managed to keep his own feelings concealed enough. But still, he had to read the text over and over again just to be sure he wasn’t sleeping and dreamt of it.
It wasn’t romantic by any means, and very likely was a drunk text, but that was the kind of thing Theon would have said and, even if he’d probably forgotten about it the moment he hit the send button, Robb couldn’t deny that his heart sank a bit.

It didn’t matter that he was trying not to think about the fact that Sansa told him Theon allowed Robb to touch and occupy his personal space way more than he allowed everyone else, his one night stand companions included, and that must have meant something: his sister was a romantic at heart and couldn’t bear the idea of Robb’s pining not being corresponded.

Still, if Theon was that drunk to send those kinds of messages, he had to be sure he could come back home without crashing into some tree, especially considering that if he remembered correctly, he went out to drink with Asha and her boyfriends. Which meant everyone would have been too drunk to even stand once the pub of their choice would have closed.
He ran a hand in his hair, dragged himself out of the bed and into some decent clothes and really hoped they went drinking at Asha’s favorite place which was, luckily, closer to his home than Theon’s favorite one, near Seagard.

Just to be sure, he texted Jeyne who knew worked at her father’s pub on Fridays and Mondays and when he got the confirmation that yes, Theon, Asha, Qarl and Tris had been at the Blue Plate when she left around an hour before and Robb’s best friend looked definitely trashed he got in the car.

The moment he reached the pub and noticed that the only vehicles parked outside of it were Asha’s motorbike and Theon’s new car he felt like he should have at least apologized to Vayon Poole if anything because he knew who his best friend was out drinking with and no apology would have come from anyone from the Iron Islands. It didn’t take long to identify the people he was looking for either, even if the pub wasn’t as empty as he would have expected.

“Look,” Asha yelled, the moment the door closed at Robb’s back. Someone who didn’t know her, would have said that she sounded more sober than the number of empty glasses in front of her would have told, but the fact that she was making out with Qarl and was seated on Tristifer’s lap was telling. She usually wasn’t so keen to any kind of touching in public, and Robb suspected it was something which ran in Greyjoy's DNA. “Your boyfriend is here!”

And that was extremely weird. But what was even weirder was that, a moment later, sand colored hair appeared from behind the corner as Theon threw his head back to take another sip of whatever he was drinking.

“Shhhhh,” He said, just as loudly as Asha had. “ He doesn’t know.”

Tristifer, who up at that moment had been extremely interested in Asha’s neck, raised his head to look at the scene in front of him and waved lazily at Robb. “I guess he knows it now. Hi Robb!”

Robb felt his cheeks turning red, heath rising up from his neck as he wished for the earth to open under his feet and swallow him whole. He was also extremely aware of how badly he dressed but, once again, he dragged himself out of bed and it was a lot for him that he didn’t leave his home in his pajamas.
It didn’t help that now Theon was looking at him as a deer caught in the highlights and Asha was openly chuckling. He knew he had to say something before Theon went for the back door (Robb also knew Vayon would have let him after Theon saved Jeyne from Ramsay and he didn’t really want to waste time explaining to his father’s friend why he was running after Theon in the night so he had to act, fast!)

“I read the text,” He said, and it seemed like those words were the hardest to ever pronounce. He also was half sure they were the wrong one to start the conversation with, but, at least, Theon didn’t make a run for it yet. “And I thought you sent it while drunk, but apparently you are also sure of it… Or like… That I don’t know that I’m your boyfriend, and I feel like we don’t need to have this conversation in front of them, but I’d like to have it because I’d very much like to know it. And be it, for the matter, your boyfriend. But only if you are sober and you want it in the morning and… Gods, I’m rambling.”

And maybe he was well aware of the fact that he sounded more drunk than any of the people he was talking to did. But Theon now wasn’t standing anymore, and was half seated on the booth and he counted it as a good sign that he didn’t plan on getting out of the pub, not alone, at least.

“Are you even for real, Stark?” He asked, but his voice wasn’t as smug as always, and sounded almost thin, almost scared. Robb nodded, but it was Qarl who spoke.

“Of course he is,” He said, visibly rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “I haven’t been around the two of you that much and it's still clear that he’s got it bad for you. So, for fuck’s sake, please, do a favor to everyone and just fess up. He looks like a kicked puppy and if I hear once again one single word about Robb Stark’s ass, I’m going to throw myself under the next bus.”

And, well, at least by now Theon’s cheeks were not as red as Robb’s (bless h8is skin, but he didn’t blush that hard), but were starting to turn that adorable shade of pink and Robb was too sleep deprived to even deny that he found it extremely cute. “Well, what he said, mostly. Bar the part about my ass.”

He needed a drink. Or ten.

“Too bad, you have an amazing ass, if I must be honest,” Theon said, and now he did sound a bit drunk especially considering that he chose that moment to stand and apparently doing it while talking was too much for his inebriated brain because he was this close to falling on the floor. Robb reached for his arm with the collateral result of finding their lips too close.

“It’s better if we…” Robb whispered, and he would have lied if he said he didn’t expect the soft lips pressed against his own to silence him. The last thing he wanted to do was to push Theon back, but he was too drunk to consent to anything, and Robb wasn’t going to take advantage of that, even if he wasn’t sure he would have received other kisses once Theon would have been sober. “Theon, you are drunk.”

“I know, and your lips are even softer than they look and your eyes are soooooo blue,” He slurred, leaning even more against his chest. “And you are so warm… You are like summer, and I love summer!”

He raised his sea-colored eyes on Robb and he could pinpoint the exact moment when his brain cells decided to work together toward the words Robb had dreamt to hear from Theon’s lip for so long. “Drowned God, I think I love you. And… shit, I need a bathroom, don’t move!”

He run away on steadier legs than Robb would have guessed and only when he heard Asha laughing he remembered they weren’t alone in the pub, but it wasn’t like he could do something or even move an inch as taken aback from his best friend’s words as he was. He vaguely saw some money going from Tristifer and Qarl’s hands to Asha’s and, a moment later, she leaned back on the booth so that she was looking toward the bar area of the pub.

“Poole,” She said, raising her voice over the low music still going on for the few people still there. “Tell your daughter she owns me a drink, since that idiot of my brother dropped the L-word first.”

Robb wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Also because a moment later Theon re-emerged from the bathroom and it was clear he was feeling slightly better and his hair was vaguely damp which meant he probably had water sprawled on his face. Robb got drunk with Theon enough times to realize that he was way sober than he had before.

“It’s better if i don’t kiss you, now,” He said, a smirk which somehow looked apologetic on his lips. “But I’d like to, in general and I meant it. And maybe we can start from the first step and not the last one.”

Robb was only too happy to agree. He nodded and knew he was beaming like an idiot a moment later. “Then maybe we can go outside and talk. I feel like we’ve given enough of a show.”

And if he felt even happier when it was Theon that reached for his hand, it wasn’t like anyone had to know.