Wool to Brave the Seasons - [18+]

Bonus Chapter

"I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm"

Cold days had a way of seeping through every layer of skin and muscle until they sunk through one's bones and replaced the marrow with frost. A chill so insidious, sneaking in to steal every minute spark of heat it can find. Causing the bones to ache and creak with each movement, stiffening joints until even sitting was painful after a while.

Winter often felt endless; sometimes, he believed it could remain forever. But the seasons are set upon an unfailing clock. Like death, winter arrives without invitation or want and is needed to decay and end all we planted and nourished throughout the year, but spring always returns.

And the cycle of life begins anew.

Barren land was soon replenished, new seeds were planted, and the summer was spent bringing them to bloom and then harvest. Only to see it wiped by ice and snow mere months later.

Nothing in life remains stagnant, and things must die for new things to grow. Trying to stand in the way of that was a lesson in futility, as Jon had learned more than once.

He hadn't expected that his secret affection for the woman next door could end in anything but a swift, icy death when she spurned him, or worse, reality didn't compare to the fantasy he had in his head.

How grateful he was to be wrong and learn that it could grow and change into something tangible. Something he wanted to protect and look after, no longer a secret he hid to protect himself from possible hurt.

Now his chance of hurt had increased tenfold, and he found it didn't frighten him as much as he once believed it would. Like the earth and its shifting seasons, he was changing, and he knew it was for the better.

The day's weak sun had long faded, and heavy, low-hanging snow clouds overflowing with frozen tears threatened to unleash their burden upon the world outside the window, but none of it mattered as thoughts of silver hair and her dazzling smile ran through his head.

Jon suppressed a shiver. He didn't want to give away just how cold he was each time he ventured outside to indulge his siblings in their wish to have a snowball fight. They liked to tease him for growing soft since he moved away, and he had already given them enough ammunition to poke fun at him.

He didn't mind; he gave it right back, but he didn't miss the winters here and doubted he ever would.

He sat by the crackling fire, soothing heat washing over him as he stared blindly at the book he was failing to read and couldn't remember a word of what came before the paragraph he kept zoning out on. Tiredness after eating a big meal didn't help, and trying to keep up with their many different conversations left him seeking sanctuary by the fire.

Robb and Bran had already gone to return to school or work, and he'd only spent a short time catching up with them. Thanks to Robb's constant teasing about Jon's distraction and a particular bite mark on his neck, he nearly drove his brother home himself.

Their parents had left earlier that morning, paying a visit to friends and relatives they hadn't seen over the Holidays, and he secretly was relieved the house wasn't full of people.

It left him plenty of time to think of Dany and worry about how she'd act once they both returned home and took their new relationship into the real world. He was terrified they only worked due to circumstance and chance. When daylight and reality crept in, he fretted that they'd have a rude awakening.

He'd move so she didn't have to; he decided that the moment she kissed him, he couldn't handle seeing her if he lost her after knowing how it felt to have her. The heat of her touch and heart had burned away any doubt or fears he had had before she knew his name.