sentential

title: a star that exploded
fandom: Game of Thrones
pairing: Jon/Robb
rating: PG-13
summary: In some worlds they get to be together. In some worlds there's only one kiss. In some worlds no-one says a word.
spoilers/notes: Written as an antidote to never tell the one you want that you do, a ficlet I posted yesterday in which Jon and Robb - as in the show - fail to get their happy ending. In this one, they get more endings than I can count and only some of them are sad. Title from that Lawrence Krauss quote. Alternative title is "the most poetic thing I know about physics". Warning for incest. 942 words.

There are worlds where Jon Snow and Robb Stark are sharing a bed at Winterfell, huddled close together for warmth. When winter comes, another human body, pressed to yours, is an invaluable heat source. In one world, Robb Stark snuggles up against Jon and kisses the space between his neck and his shoulders. In another, their legs are interlocked beneath the layers of wool and furs.

There are worlds where Jon Snow tries to run away from Winterfell. In every one of them Robb Stark tries to track him down. In most of them, he succeeds. In one world, he runs out of the gates after Jon and keeps running until he catches up with him than a mile from the castle. He wrestles Jon to the ground. He kisses him. He says “You can’t.” They walk back to Winterfell close together, shoulders bumping together, and they tell no-one about Jon’s attempt to run away and never speak of how Robb convinced him to come home.

There are worlds where Robb Stark finds his brother, dejected in the yard, and sits next to him in silence until Jon is ready to talk. There’s a world where Jon Snow never says a word. There’s a world where Robb takes Jon by the hand and leads him inside in silence.

There are worlds where Robb asks Jon what’s wrong and Jon kisses him. There is a world where Robb Stark pushes him away. There is a world where someone sees. There is a world where Robb Stark reaches up to tuck Jon’s hair behind his ear, looks into his eyes and kisses back and another where he pushes his brother up against the wall.

For every world where Robb buries his fingers in Jon’s hair when they kiss, there’s a world where Jon’s hand finds the back of Robb’s neck and pulls him in closer.

For everyone world where Robb doesn’t know what Jon means when he says “Robb, I—”, there’s a world where he knows exactly what Jon wants to say and why he can’t say it and he answers with actions instead of words.

There are some worlds where Robb Stark and Jon Snow don’t exist, and some where only one of them does. In worlds where only one exists, the other isn’t quite the same.

For every Jon Snow, there is a Robb Stark, but sometimes they are in different universes and sometimes they are just torn apart by chance and circumstance.

There is a world where Robb Stark finds out that Jon is out there somewhere, that his father had sent the boy away at his mother’s behest, and he searches him out. Jon looks just like Ned, only he’s beautiful, and he has this smile that Robb hadn’t expected. Robb takes Jon back to Winterfell and tries to offer him everything he has without saying that that’s what he’s doing.

There are worlds where they have different names. There is a world where Jon Snow does not have a bastard’s name. He is Jon Snow and he is not Jon Snow.

There is a world where Jon Snow is heir to Winterfell and lives to be the Lord of Winterfell. He is a good lord and just. When Robb visits him there, he tells Jon Snow this and wants to tell him other things as well - but doesn’t.

There are worlds where Jon Snow is a sworn brother of the Night’s Watch and then there are worlds where he is not. There is a world where he almost became one but Robb said “I need you by my side” and that was enough. There is a world where Jon went beyond the Wall to say his vows and Robb came after him, almost too late. Robb didn’t say anything when he reined up his horse near the heart tree but when Jon looked at him, he knew what Robb’s being there meant, and he didn’t say his vows.

There are worlds where Jon Snow is a deserter who leaves the Night’s Watch to fight at his brother’s side. There are worlds where Jon Snow is a deserter and comes to Robb Stark in the night and Robb sends him back to the Wall, says “we can’t, Jon, we can’t” but lets him stay until dawn anyway. There are worlds where they die, side by side. There are worlds where they fight the war and win. There is a world where Robb is King and Jon commands his armies and Robb doesn’t care that people look at them sometimes as if they know more than they should.

There are worlds where they live apart for years and worlds where they live and die together. There are worlds where things are said and worlds where they are unsaid.

There is a world where Jon Snow writes a letter and burns it. There is a world where Robb Stark writes a letter and sends it but the raven never arrives.

There is a world where he almost says it. There is a world where no-one says anything.

There is a world where everyone in Winterfell knows and no-one says a word and one where it’s all anyone talks about.

In one world, Robb Stark and Jon Snow embrace so hard that it hurts and then Robb Stark walks away. In another, he looks back and sees the way Jon’s eyes have followed him. It’s enough to make Robb walk back across the yard toward Jon even though he has no idea what he’s going to say. He only knows that he can’t let Jon leave. In that world, Jon doesn’t leave.