𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙍𝙄𝙊𝙍𝙎 (Game of Thrones)

𝙭𝙫𝙞.

They had fallen into a tense silence. Vickon's sword was still drawn. He wasn't going to risk anything. Jon kept glancing back at Ygritte.

Finally, she said something. "You think we're savages because we don't live in stone castles," she stated. "We can't make steel as good as yours, it's true, but we're free. If someone tries to tell us we couldn't lie down as man and woman, we'd shove a spear up his arse. We don't go serving some shit king who's only king because his father was."

Vickon snorted. "Oh no," he said. "You serve Mance Rayder, the traitorous King Beyond the Wall."

"We chose Mance to lead us," Ygritte stated, looking back at him. "He was a crow, same as you both, but he wanted to be free. You both could be free, too. You don't need to live your whole lives taking commands from old men. Wake up when you want to wake up. I could show you the streams to fish, the woods to hunt." She was looking at Jon now. "Build yourself a cabin and find a woman to lie with in the night."

Vickon kept his head down. It was a pretty thing to imagine. But he couldn't betray his vows. Couldn't leave his ailing old uncle at the Wall. No matter how badly he wished he could run and start a new life, Vickon knew that the Gods had already given him that. They had changed him from Prince Vhagar Targaryen to Vickon Waters of Flea Bottom, and that was the only mercy they would give him. He may have wanted another new life, but he couldn't waste the one he'd already been given.

Ygritte moved closer to Jon, her voice barely audible to Vickon. "You're a pretty lad," she said. "The girls would claw each other's eyes out to get naked with you."

"Walk," Jon stated.

But she just continued. "I could teach how to do it."

"I know how to do it," Jon replied.

Ygritte chuckled. "You know nothing, Jon Snow."

"She's right, you know," Vickon chimed in, and Jon shot him a glare.

"Shut up, Vickon."

Vickon's firm resolve broke. "When are you going to accept that you're stuck with me?" When Jon didn't answer, nor even look back at him, he continued. "We were friends, or at least it seemed it. What I said at Craster's, Jon, all of it was true. I wouldn't say it just to be an ass. But I'm sorry."

Ygritte raised an eyebrow as if coming to some sort of conclusion. "I get it now," she said, looking between the two men. "You both are together."

Jon's face turned red, while Vickon began to laugh. He couldn't stop himself. Ygritte looked quite proud of her assessment. "So this is a lover's quarrel, then?" she continued with a grin. "What'd he do so bad, Snow? He's a pretty lad, just like you. I don't think I could ever be angry with him."

Jon was shaking his head. Vickon just kept laughing, feeling tears in his eyes.

"You aren't really helping, Vickon," Jon stated.

Vickon shook his head, taking in a deep breath. "Oh, Gods above," he said, wiping at his eyes. "I haven't laughed like that in a long time."

"We're not together," Jon said to Ygritte, a glare on his face.

"Really?" Ygritte asked. She looked between the two once more.