The hostage plan does actually work. Robb is careful to phrase it right. Apparently Theon could invalidate that kingsmoot they held on the Iron Islands, but Robb convinced everyone to keep the entire affair private until the situation there is settled. And he made clear that fine, he’s keeping Theon around as a hostage, but he’s more useful alive than dead. The truth about Bran and Rickon made it easier to swallow, at least, but he can feel that not everyone is happy about this.
When Robb, privately, tells Theon that it was the only way to settle things (as if he owed him an explanation – sometimes Robb hates himself for caring that much), Theon gives him a sad smile that doesn’t show his teeth and says that out of all the things he’s been in his life, Robb’s hostage isn’t the worst.
For some reason, it makes Robb feel horrible.
Sometimes he hates Theon for still being able to get so easily under his skin the same way he always has, since they were kids. Sometimes he hates himself for his own weakness. And whenever he sees Theon gritting his teeth while standing up or looking out of a window with vacant eyes he hates Ramsay Snow.
What worries him is that Robb doesn’t hate Ramsay Snow because he stole his revenge from him. He hates him because he can’t reconcile the Theon he grew up with and this one who’s glad of being his hostage.
--
He should keep his distance.
He has a wife at Riverrun, a wife that he loves and who will give him a heir soon if the pregnancy goes as hoped (from the letters he receives, it isn’t going as smoothly as it could, but he needs to secure the North again and he can’t go back to Riverrun, as much as he’d like to), and he’s been merciful, but that doesn’t mean that he should care.
They might have been friends once (maybe even brothers, the same way he and Jon were), and they might have fooled together in the darkness of the stables and of their own rooms once or twice (fine, maybe more than that, but it was fooling). It doesn’t mean anything. Not when there’s been pain and suffering and betrayal in between. But he has to be around Theon because not all of his bannermen were happy with his decision, and being around Theon means seeing him wince when he eats and hearing him scream while he sleeps, and it means remembering the times when there was always a smile on his lips and some decidedly not funny joke on his tongue.
It means remembering a time when both of them were going to be lords, which only makes less sufferable a reality when Robb has to fight to reunite his kingdom and when Theon’s best option is being Robb’s hostage. Sometimes Robb thinks about it – it’s not even that being his hostage keeps Theon alive. It’s that he was right when he said that no one from his family ever thought about ransoming him, and it’s fucking sad to realize that Theon really would have nowhere else to go.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: fill: we had the greatest expectations, robb/theon, adwd spoilers, 5/6
Date: 2012-03-06 01:24 am (UTC)When Robb, privately, tells Theon that it was the only way to settle things (as if he owed him an explanation – sometimes Robb hates himself for caring that much), Theon gives him a sad smile that doesn’t show his teeth and says that out of all the things he’s been in his life, Robb’s hostage isn’t the worst.
For some reason, it makes Robb feel horrible.
Sometimes he hates Theon for still being able to get so easily under his skin the same way he always has, since they were kids. Sometimes he hates himself for his own weakness. And whenever he sees Theon gritting his teeth while standing up or looking out of a window with vacant eyes he hates Ramsay Snow.
What worries him is that Robb doesn’t hate Ramsay Snow because he stole his revenge from him. He hates him because he can’t reconcile the Theon he grew up with and this one who’s glad of being his hostage.
--
He should keep his distance.
He has a wife at Riverrun, a wife that he loves and who will give him a heir soon if the pregnancy goes as hoped (from the letters he receives, it isn’t going as smoothly as it could, but he needs to secure the North again and he can’t go back to Riverrun, as much as he’d like to), and he’s been merciful, but that doesn’t mean that he should care.
They might have been friends once (maybe even brothers, the same way he and Jon were), and they might have fooled together in the darkness of the stables and of their own rooms once or twice (fine, maybe more than that, but it was fooling). It doesn’t mean anything. Not when there’s been pain and suffering and betrayal in between. But he has to be around Theon because not all of his bannermen were happy with his decision, and being around Theon means seeing him wince when he eats and hearing him scream while he sleeps, and it means remembering the times when there was always a smile on his lips and some decidedly not funny joke on his tongue.
It means remembering a time when both of them were going to be lords, which only makes less sufferable a reality when Robb has to fight to reunite his kingdom and when Theon’s best option is being Robb’s hostage. Sometimes Robb thinks about it – it’s not even that being his hostage keeps Theon alive. It’s that he was right when he said that no one from his family ever thought about ransoming him, and it’s fucking sad to realize that Theon really would have nowhere else to go.
--