meme #004 | slow-dancing ( think outside the boxstep )

[the]

slow dancing ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ a meme → COMMENT WITH YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME, FANDOM, AND PREFERENCE. → PICK A CHARACTER YOU WANT TO TAG AND GO FOR IT. → PLAY NICE; NO WANK, FLAMES, OR GENERAL HUMBUGGERY. ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ the deal FORMAL OR INFORMAL, WITH MUSIC OR WITHOUT, YOU COULD BE AT A GLAMOUROUS GALA WHILE A SINGER CROONS SOFTLY OR IN THE SILENCE OF YOUR OWN LIVING ROOM. WHEREVER YOU ARE, YOU HAVE THE URGE TO DANCE. DID YOU ASK YOUR PARTNER OR DID THEY ASK YOU? HAVE YOU GOT TWO LEFT FEET OR IS THE VIENNESE WALTZ YOUR JAM? IT COULD BE AWKWARD, IT COULD BE ROMANTIC. EITHER WAY IT'S CUTE AS HELL.

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[inheritings]

[ people are watching.

it's nothing new, nothing so different, but it feels like it is, because jeyne is on his arm and no one expected that. everyone expects roslin frey, roslin frey and all the political support her father brings to the table, and robb getting in bed with her is beneficial for everyone.

everyone except him, apparently, because all he wants is jeyne westerling and her sweet smiles and the ways she hums in the morning, thick black hair tumbling down over her shoulders, just the right length for robb to tug on lightly when he wants to kiss her.

and now he tangles his fingers with hers, offers her his arm like a gentleman. ]

Hold on to me. I won't let you fall.

[ and if she did step on his toes, at least she could be the one putting bandaids on them later. ]

[nursings]

[if her eyes are wide, it's because she's shy. she wants to tell him that she is all kinds of wrong for him and the way she wets lips painted red is as enough a message as her heart can share.

because even if she is all sorts of wrong, bad blood, bad family bad everything--she's here. and he's being a gentleman and he doesn't see westerling on her forehead he just sees jeyne. and while she could look, run, hide from all these voices and faces--she's looking at robb.

that doesn't stop her from wanting to pull on his hands, tell him they should go take a walk, she can be barefoot or dance just the two of them and kiss and do all the things that wouldn't be right--it doesn't stop her from wanting.

how did this even happen. she wants to say, how did she stop being so careful--was it when he blushed or had that smile or was it the curls? (she had such a thing for hair) and she just doesn't know.

she lightly pinches his arm at that, biting back a snort.]

Such a charmer, Robb. [but do you even know that no one ever talks to me like this? is what her face says, all pink and tan skin.

it's that and so many other things that keeps her standing there, sliding her arm through his in those heels she always wanted to try wearing again. and she likes to think she's putting on her brave face, smile and all.]

Okay. You've got me now. [you've had me for a while. ugh..]

[inheritings]

[ there's a squeeze of his fingers, tight through hers. it's meant to be reassuring. i won't let anything happen to you. even if they're descending into the snake pit, into the den of wolves and lions and other dangerous things just waiting to snap up unsuspecting people and crush them in their jaws.

or maybe robb's just being too literal in that comparison.

regardless, he holds her hand tightly in the crook of his elbow, a little smile lingering about his mouth at her words.

you've got me, she says, and perhaps it's not meant to be taken any other way than just the clutch of her hand against his bicep, but he wants it to be more. wants it to be something binding and possessive, but that seems too much, especially for here and now, in this place with so many eyes on them. so he smiles, leans close to whisper in her ear. ]

I mean to hold you, Jeyne Westerling.

[ the way a conqueror holds a castle. ]

Do you want to dance?

[nursings]

[there will always be a part of her going back to a time when the cameras burned hot on her skin, hotter than anything. where she had slipped and no one had caught her when she fell.

when the eyes were scrutinizing and it was every member of her family for themselves. but it's not like that now.

she can feel his fingers laced through hers, warm and steady. she focuses on his curls, his blue eyes and his smile and nothing else. jeyne tries to imagine that it's just them alone going for a dance, and she's just jeyne. and it seems that robb is okay with that.

(just jeyne.)

as he whispers her full name in her ear it leaves ghosts of fingers on the back of her neck, little goosebumps that are far from unpleasant. his breath is warm and it's safe there; folded in the crook of his arm.

she glances down, at their folded sides interwoven and her cheeks color as she looks up at him knowingly.]

Not every day I get to wear something like this.

[her face softens, not so guarded, nervous. all she needs to focus on is robb. one of jeyne's soft, amused smiles tugs at the corners of her mouth.]

I did dress up, after all. Hold me then, Robb Stark. Hold me and dance with me. [she then laughs a little, lifting one red heel]

Or I'll bring us both down.

[inheritings]

[ he smiles, kisses her cheek before they descend the stairs. all are watching, the freys with expressions of knife-edged distaste. robb turns slightly, putting himself between those expressions and jeyne, because none of this is her fault. it isn't her fault that robb's head was turned, that he opened his eyes to see her sitting aside of him. it's not jeyne's fault that her soft hands and sweet smile knocked all sense of duty out of his head. it was robb's own choice, just as it's robb's choice now to spin them onto the floor, slid a hand to the small of her back and tug her close. ]

It's a waltz. They're easy, just hold on to me.

[ there's a smile softening his face, the happiest he's ever been at one of these affairs. ]

You can stand on my shoes, if you like.

[nursings]

[jeyne thinks it's a little cute, that he's shielding her from the eyes of the freys. but she can't help but think in the back of her mind that this is all wrong. that it can only end badly. and she leans in a little to the kiss as if to make it last, like a luck-charm on her skin as she presses close to his side, a faint, breathy laugh escaping her. ]

Waltz..right. And it's usually the guy that doesn't know how to dance.

[she would bite her lip but her red lipstick would come off and tongue in cheek doesn't look good on cameras, so instead she quietly laughs into his shoulder]

Let's make that a last resort, Robb. These are weapons, let no one tell you different.

[but when she catches a glance at him she raises a brow, lips twitching slightly.]

I'd almost think you were enjoying yourself.

[inheritings]

[ it's an instinct he doesn't understand, but doesn't mind. jeyne is something to be protected, something precious and necessary as the air in his lungs. ]

I've been waltzing since I learned to walk.

[ because people always think it's adorable, little children dancing at state functions. robb's been a feature for longer than he'd cared to remember, growing up before the eyes of the american public. and now here he was with a girl on his arm, a girl he might just love. it's a heady thing. ]

And I like these functions better, when I have you here with me.

[ everything is easier to tolerate with jeyne at his side to laugh and squeeze his arm and offer the kind of silent support he's never realized he wanted. ]

[nursings]

Impressive.

[and she sounds sincere when she says that, as her feet try to follow him and her dress curls around her calves. jeyne imagines a little robb in her mind, did he have a serious expression back then too? no..i don't think so. because she can see a smiling child in her mind and it makes her lips curve fondly as she lowers her eyes, keeping her body close to him.

he sounds genuine. when he says that. when he pulls her close and gives her those rare smiles that she collects and stores away in her mind. there's no reason for her to be here, but maybe there is. ]

Well, I can't imagine going to so many and not having at least a somewhat good time.

[she laughs quietly, glancing down--almost to look at her feet and just because sometimes she doesn't know what to do when he looks at her like that.]

Do you want to know a secret?

[inheritings]

[ back then robb stark was too serious for such a small boy, small and angry and prone to lashing out with fists at inopportune moments. and maybe now he was better at it, better at playing his role and keeping his temper in hand, but the little boy wasn't gone, not truly.

the metal of her zipper is cool against his palm. he likes this, likes the way she fits so neatly against him, as if they were made for each other. two corresponding puzzle pieces, neatly matched and moving in tandem. her head ducks and he mirrors her, wanting to keep eye contact, keep his view of her face. ]

I'd like to know any secret you wish to tell me.

[nursings]

[ jeyne smiles a bit, her forehead barely brushing his as she wets her lips, (ever a habit), and purses them. she glances up again--then down once more. ]

It's embarassing. The last time I went to a function was..well, it was a really long time ago.And I had these shoes. They just looked like something I wanted to say I could pull off, so I wore them.

[ something ripples across her face, her brows furrowing. ]

I tripped in them. In front of everyone. By then our family had nothing worth keeping to anyone. It felt like the last straw.
So-- I..put them in my closet. Said I'd never wear them again because I wasn't supposed to, obviously. It wasn't major news, and everyone forgot about it--but I didn't.

[she forces a quick smile because she doesn't want to sound awkward.]

Yet I didn't throw them away.

[she glances up at him with a wry smile,
rolling her eyes at herself. ]

I figured they'd just give me more bad luck but I loved those shoes. So I kept them around. I didn't have anyone to help me stay upright with them back then.

[ she leans in, smiling into his shoulder ]

I'm wearing them right now, Robb. And I haven't fallen once. What do you think of that? I never thought I'd wear these again. I think you make me a little bit lucky, what do you think? I haven’t fallen down yet, but here’s fingers crossed.

[ ( it's too late now, isn't it? )
to run away in these heels because if she didn't have him to dance with she'd just fall. but she's already falling in another way, isn't she? ]