Set Up
Jon blinks back at the fire in fear, as he begrudgingly accepts that he's now alone, and stuck with this strange, ethereal girl that he just can't quite figure out.
He clears his throat, mustering the courage to tell her what he's been thinking.
"So that was... rather awkward before, wasn't it?" he mumbles, still watching the flames.
She shakes her head at him dubiously, unsure what he means.
"The way they were all acting... towards the end of the meeting, I mean?" he clarifies. "Like right before they went up to bed."
She shrugs again, now humming, flipping through her Quidditch Captain notebook. "I guess." She smiles to herself, staring at the word Captain, engraved in the leather binding.
"You didn't think it was weird?"
She knits her dark brows in thought, absently sitting back down— directly across from him in a dark velvet armchair, still looking through her small book. "No?"
She had to have noticed, she's smarter than that?
What is she hiding, what are they all planning?
This will not happen to him again.
No. He has to just say it.
He coughs nervously in casual suggestion, then murmurs, "They're not... trying to— set me up, are they?"
Dany pauses at first—then scowls up at him, immediately horrified and confused.
“I'm sorry what? Set up, how?"
He looks down, smoothing his fingers over his tie, "Yeah. I mean, I get the quidditch interview and all... but why did they want me to talk to you completely alone? What else is this for?"
"They—didn't?" She forces a terribly, false smile. "What are you asking me?"
He peers back up at her strictly like he knows her angle, "Come on, that had to have crossed your mind that I might think that, considering my situation."
"Sit—Situation? No?" She narrows her eyes at him in utter disbelief, "No, Jon Snow, that hadn't exactly crossed my mind, at all?"
Wait a minute. He gets her being defensive, that makes sense. But why...
Why was she so... embarrassed?
She hiccups crossly again, "I hope you know this is strictly professional, Snow? You and I. Nothing more."
His expression freezes. Then, his shoulders drop softly in realization.
Hold on.
"Got it?" she presses, her brows twisting into a scowl.
He nods back— while simultaneously, his fears slowly begin brightening from dark to light, now fully processing her tone and... words.
She thought... that he was coming on to her... romantically?
He chuckles to himself...
His stomach pools a twisting knot, spreading a foreign kind of warmth inside of him. And not out of embarrassment for her, or himself...
He just felt warm.
That was not what he meant. But it did amuse him entirely.
He raises his eyebrows high, now chuckling uncertaintly, "Uh, so what do you mean by 'professional?'" He glances up at a moving painting that suddenly caught his eye. "Like that we would just be teammates?"
He didn’t want to embarrass her... but he was going to have a little fun with this.
She glares back at him, crossing her arms conservatively, looking around the room. Standing her ground. "Yes." She recites clearly.
Unable to stop himself from coming across as a bit too smug, he sits up straighter in his seat, hiding his smirk quietly. "No, I knew that. But uhm," he smiles at her from across the room, leaning forward. "We can’t also be friends?"
Dany's eyes flutter, blinking back at him skeptically. Her mouth parts open slightly, then just as quickly seals into a tight line.
She still seemed angry. And that shouldn’t make him want to laugh, but... it does. Probably because she wasn’t really angry, just flustered. He had a feeling he wouldn’t want to be around Dany when she was truly mad. “Oh. We’ll see,” she frowns.
He quirks a brow, as she ignores him again, getting more flustered, ruffling through her papers.
She exhales in irritation, suddenly gaining back her composure, and then flits her eyes back up at him in warning.
He decided that she was most interesting like this. Like she was no longer putting on a show. That he made her feel this way, intentional or not. Unprepared for once, and completely human—
She had flaws and why did that make her so much more attractive. Fuck, he shouldn’t say that.
Okay, he was an awful person... why would he even be thinking about that after embarrassing her—
"All right, well. Now that we've unnecessarily cleared up that confusion." She snaps him out of his awakening thoughts. "We can finish the interview?"
Well. This was awkward. But he didn't really care though, him speaking up was definitely worth it.
"Okay." He can’t help but smile at her again in relief, as the notepad lifts again, gently floating up into the air, the magic quill zipping up to it, scribbling her words, as she asks him what other positions he’s had experience with. And now he's able to respond quite easily, feeling much more comfortable.
Because at least it wasn’t what he thought was happening to him. That could have been worse.
Much worse.