Work Text:
Ned Stark is a simple man, yes he has seven children, both adopted and biological. But at his heart, he’s really very simple. He likes his morning coffee to be scalding hot, but won’t complain if it’s room temperature because someone thought to make him a cup before he got up. He loves his wife and children, who all know that he sleeps in on Sunday morning, it’s his one vice really, Catelyn finessed and drilled a lot of his other vices out of him before Arya was born.
So is it any wonder that he was more than a little confused when his phone woke him up during his precious sleeping time?
“Someone had better be in the hospital,” he mumbled as he reached for his glasses and phone.
“Hello?” He nearly slurred, but made a great save he thought.
“Oh, it’s Sunday-” Ned quickly realized that no there wasn’t an emergency, his second youngest had just forgotten the long-standing tradition of letting his father sleep in one day a week.
“Yes, but seeing as you’ve already woken me up why are you calling Brandon?” Ned said before yawning.
“I blew it with Meera.”
Ned’s eyebrows shot to his hairline, of all the things his son could be calling about that hadn’t crossed his mind, not for Bran. He was the astute one, the one that looked before he leaped, the one that DIDN’T need bail money; he still wasn’t sure how all his children save Bran had managed that.
“What happened,” Ned groaned giving the bedside clock a glance told him that Catelyn was at her sisters for their weekly tea date, pulling himself out of bed, wishing for that beloved cup of coffee. He had a strange feeling that this was going to be a long conversation.
(#)
(The night before)
Bran was less than pleased when Theon had shown up unannounced at his apartment, he was even less than impressed when he found out why Theon was there.
“So let me get this clear: you forgot to plan Robb’s bachelor party until earlier this week, and now because all of your ideas involve copious amounts of alcohol and naked people, both of which Jayne asked that you not do, your backup for this non existent plan is to have the party in my apartment?”
“Got it in one Branny,” Theon said as he opened the large cardboard box he’d somehow managed to cart up with him.
“What- has it occurred to you that I might have plans this evening?”
“Cancel them, Robb is only getting married for the first time once, and what kind of brother would you be if you didn’t attend his bachelor party?”
Bran’s eye started to twitch as he reminded himself that the jail time wouldn’t be worth what he wanted to do to the man in front of him who was pulling things out of his box while looking around.
“Bit sparse on the decor are we,” Theon said, “At least you’ve got a t.v.”
“NO. You can’t just barge into my home and commandeer it. More importantly, I have a date.”
Theon looked shocked, “You’re still dating that girl from Christmas?”
“Yes.” Bran grit out doing his darndest to glare a hole into the man’s head.
“Then give her a call,” he said smoothly composer returning, “I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“Theon, stop,” Bran grabbed the other’s hand pausing his pulling out what looked like a giant bears head from the box, “I’m sorry but I’ve been planning my date longer than you’ve been planning this party. You’re just going to have to move it to a different day and location.”
“No can do, Robb and the other’s are already on their way here, I told them you were cool with it. Not to mention it’s just family not all of his friends could come all the way down to Brighton.”
Bran opened his mouth to tell Theon off when his apartment buzzer went off.
(#)
“So,” Ned said cup of scalding coffee in hand, “you went ahead and let them have the party at your apartment?”
“I wish, but Robb was slightly sauced when he got there so-”
(#)
“Bran, you can’t skip out on my Bachelor party!” Robb whinged at him, Theon had told the three newcomers what was up not allowing Bran a word in.
“Robb he has a date-” Jon started looking a bit uneasy.
“So! Bros before-” Robb stopped before he finished that sentence when he noticed his younger brother’s fist start to rise slightly, remembering his black eye from Christmas.
“Robb, I don’t think-” Jon started again only to have Theon but in.
“Jon, shut up you’re ruining the mood, all Branny has to do is call his girl up and let her know what’s up.”
“No.” Bran said, “I have been planning this evening for two months.”
“Are you proposing?” Asked Rickon excitedly, a wild grin crossing his face. The other three shot him shocked looks. Bran rolled his eyes at them, no he wasn’t ready to propose, yet. He did want to go out tonight though and not with his brothers.
“No-” He held up his hand to keep Theon from talking over him, “but I would like to go out with my girlfriend tonight, her favorite music group is playing and I managed to get tickets to a sold-out show. Not to mention, she’s out in the country working today and will be meeting me at the venue directly after finishing her work day. She’s not going to have good enough reception for me to reach her.”
“Leave a voicemail then, she’ll get it and understand,” Theon said.
“I,” Robb stated loudly, “have a better idea, but it involves taking Bran’s phone and holding him hostage.”
Bran looked around at the three slightly larger men surrounding him, Theon wrestling champion from their secondary school, Robb he knew lifted weights and was a physical trainer, Jon the model did strength training to stay in shape, then there was Rickon who did just about every sport at school, and him.
“Guys we should just let him go on his date,” Rickon said sullenly.
“No!” Robb shouted as he charged at Bran
(#)
Ned sat at the island in his large kitchen casually munching on fruit from the bowl that his wife kept stocked taking mental notes on what he was going to be talking to each of his other sons when they arrived back home or came over for dinner.
“Please tell me you won that fight?”
“Dad I have the strength of a chicken nugget, who do you think won?”
(#)
(Meera's pov)
“Hello?” Meera answered, her sunshine and rainbows voice in place, it was a bit hard to shake off after dealing with a dramatic client all afternoon and she was sure the guy pumping petrol next to her was a bit creeped out, as she got into her brother’s car that she borrowed for the day.
“Meera,” she nearly rolled her eyes, “what is it Jojen, I’m about to get on the road to meet Bran?”
“That’s why I’m calling, Bran texted me there was a family emergency and he can’t go out tonight.”
“What? Did he say what happened?” She put him on speaker in the car so she could check her messages to see if he had called or texted her.
“No, I’ve been trying to get a hold of him but his phone keeps going to voicemail.”
Meera not finding any messages slumped in the driver's seat, this wasn’t about the concert that she’d been looking forward to seeing, it was about Bran not communicating with her. They had talked last night, he hadn’t mentioned anything about someone being sick. She was surprised that he would contact Jojen over her though as they both had been stubborn about not using him as a third party.
“Ok, then I guess I’m coming home then.”
“Go to the place you were going to meet up at I’ll keep trying to get a hold of him he might meet you to pass off the tickets, he knew how much the concert meant to you.”
“Alright then, I’ll call you when I get there.” She hung up the phone and turned on the car to head back into Brighton. Her boyfriend heavy on her mind.
(#)
“Pass me another drink if you would Sir Theon,” Robb said, much too jovial for any sober person before rolling the dice.
They were playing a role-playing fantasy game, everyone except Bran who had somehow been taped to his chair and had the costume bears head on. The rest of them were in fancy dress. Robb was dressed as a king, Rickon was some type of warlock or wizard, Jon had dubbed himself a high elf, and Theon was wearing a ridiculous wig and had proclaimed himself Thor. It was obvious that Rickon was not comfortable with this situation but he really didn’t have a way to fix it as Theon had confiscated all the phones after taking Brans. How he’d unlocked it was still a mystery.
Bran was trying to get out of his bindings, who knew that scotch tape was so durable? Ticked off at the whole group for sudo kidnapping him or at least holding him hostage in his own home. He’d already chewed them all out verbally, only to be ignored. Now he just wanted a phone so that he could call his girlfriend to come to rescue him. Yes he was well aware that she was scarier than he was, he crunched numbers, she dealt with people all day; she has extensive experience in dealing with complete and utter morons.
He almost had his wrist free when he heard his phone ring muffled though it was, coming from somewhere in the kitchen. Theon noticed too, his face taking on a cross look.
“Who would be calling you on a Saturday night, don’t they have better things to do?”
“Well since you’ve kidnapped me Meera is currently out of an activity tonight so-” Bran trailed off, as he tried to keep his subtle attempt at freedom concealed. He didn’t miss the look that Jon shot Rickon who only raised his eyebrows in reply, Bran felt his spirits rise slightly thinking that at the very least they had some sense between them and might be able to help him out of this situation.
“Can’t be helped, hey you should have fun for the both of you!” Theon said as if this were a novel idea bestowed upon him from the powers that be. Bran was just sure that it was going to be a bad one.
Theon reached for the bottle of whatever alcoholic drink he’d brought with him, his eyes shining.
“You should have a double shots for the rest of the game!”
Bran didn’t drink, he didn’t like how it affected him having only been drunk once in his life that was all it took to ensure that he never wanted to get drunk again. Judging from how fast a sober Theon had gotten tipsy off of five single shots of whatever was in that bottle, he definitely didn’t want double shots of it, heck he didn’t even want one shot. He just wanted to leave and catch up with Meera before it was too late to make their date.
But Theon’s ‘idea’ was met with approval by Robb which only spurred him on as he poured more than a double shot into one of the regular drinking glasses that Bran had in his cabinets.
“Theon, you can’t make Bran drink that!” Rickon said eyes widening as he took in the three fingers full of amber colored liquid.
“Theon, Bran doesn’t even drink wine coolers, he’ll be blackout drunk if you give him that,” Jon said forcefully, reaching for the glass that was being swung towards Bran’s face.
“Whart? Of course Branny drinks, he’s a Doggone Stark! I’ve watched you,” he pointed to Jon then Robb, “down more than this and still walk in a straight line.”
“We’d built up a tolerance by that point, we couldn’t do that when we were first starting out, we would have choked in our sleep,” Jon said getting angrier by the moment.
“Lay off Jon, we’re here to have fun,” Robb said, his statement ruined by his hiccuping after the fact.
“Stop it both of you, Theon I swear if you force him to drink that I will pound your face in then I’ll be calling Aunt Caitlin and Jayne, possibly even the police for assault if not kidnapping. Neither of you is in a position to be making decisions for yourselves, let alone Bran.”
The room got quiet really quick for a few seconds before Theon and Robb broke out laughing.
“Becoming a Daddy has really made you less fun Jon.” Theon gasped as some of the liquid spilled out of the glass and onto the game.
“Theon locked the phones in a time-release container and put it in a bowl of water in the freezer.”
“He what.” Rickon deadpanned, his eyes swinging towards the man in the golden wig.
Bran’s vision was a bit limited by the bears head, but he could clearly see that Jon and Rickon were furious. He just hoped that the soon to be had fight wouldn’t ruin his chances of getting his deposit back.
(#)
Ned sat in the foyer of his house, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, casually waiting for the four bumbling idiots to come through the front door. They couldn’t come in through any other door as he’d made sure to lock them all. He’d finished up his call with Bran about an hour ago, then called Catelyn to ask her to not come back until dinner that evening.
According to Bran, they had each needed to go to the emergency for varying injuries, but instead of allowing him, the only sober person with a valid license (Rickon had lost his after the incident that had him needing bail money) to drive them; Theon locked him in his bathroom while they waited for the cab they’d called.
Jon had been knocked out cold and probably had a concussion, Robb had a dislocated Knee and needed crutches, Theon would need to see a dentist, but he did have obvious stitches holding together his forehead several cuts and bruises all over himself. Rickon and Bran were the ones who majorly kept from getting beat up, the former only sustaining a few bruises as he’d tried to get Bran out of the line of fire when the fists started flying. Mostly between Robb and Theon as after Jon was knocked out they went at each other, they were that drunk.
Ned was off to the side of the door that opened into the house, making him less noticeable by the quartet as they trooped in. But once the door was shut the gloves came off.
“Good Morning.” He shouted, enjoying the winces and desperate shushing.
“I just got off the phone with someone who told me about you’re adventures and now all four of you are going to go into the kitchen,” Ned said making his voice louder to drown out the protests of his hungover children. Save Rickon who just looked as guilty as Shaggy dog when he’d dug up the back flower garden last week.
“The kitchen?” Jon questioned.
“Yes. I have a meeting tomorrow and I’ll need my voice for it. So I’ll be using the echo effect that the kitchen has to be making my point.” Ned smiled cheerfully.
“Dad, can’t we change first?” Robb pleaded.
“Did you let Bran go on his date?” Ned said his voice lowering as he glared at his oldest.
Robb’s eyes widened and he leaned back dangerously on his crutches.
“March,” Ned said, and they did. To their surprise, he didn’t lecture them, but he did have them prepare an extravagant meal for their mother which required many of the motorized tools in the kitchen. Yes the echo’s served their purpose, and when their mother got home, her first words bounced off the walls of the room.
“What have you done now?”
All Ned Stark had to do was sit back and enjoy his meal occasionally nodding in agreement or offering a look of shock as she heard the story from all four guilty parties, he had never been so happy to have married Catelyn Tully Stark that he was that whole evening. It was later that evening after Theon had left, taking Robb and Jon with him to drop off at their respective destinations, that Ned told Caitlin the rest of the story that Bran had told him.
(#)
He’d fallen asleep on the toilet, thankfully with the lid shut, he had no idea how Theon in his drunken state had managed to switch the doorknob so that the side to lock and unlock the door was on the outside of the room. His last thought as he’d fallen asleep had been that he just might stay locked in here until someone found him. To his knowledge, his parents were the only ones with a spare key to his apartment.
He woke to a hand shaking his shoulder, looking up he saw a blur of bright colors and briefly wondered if he was dead before he registered that he was looking at a brightly colored shirt. He then realized who was in the brightly colored shirt.
Arya.
A faint memory of giving his sister a key to his place after he’d found her waiting for him in his parking place a few weeks ago surface. She must have just gotten in from a job and found the mess. He sat up and to his delight, he saw Meera and Jojen behind her. But his delight quickly turned to regret and dread as he took in their faces.
Jojen looked like he was overly concerned about what was going on but at the same time, he looked like he wanted to throttle Bran.
Meera though, she looked like an oncoming storm, her face appearing to be peaceful while green eyes flashing with a warning.
“Alright, I have questions but first,” she held up a finger, “what in the name of sanity have you got on your head?”
(#)
“Why was Arya there?” Catelyn asked shocked at the events that her elder sons (excluding Rickon for obvious reasons, even if he was grounded until he moved out).
She couldn’t believe that they could be so irresponsible to not check on their brother who they had locked into his own bathroom and left him there. They hadn’t even thought to check on him before they’d left Brighton until they were halfway to Bath and realized that their phones were still locked in Bran’s freezer.
“Apparently, our daughter is seeing Jojen Reed no idea on if it’s going to be a permanent thing or not. They had taken the opportunity to hang out while Bran and Meera were going to be at the concert, but when Jojen got the text about a family emergency, Arya started texting around to see what was up. Jayne and Ygritte told her about the bachelor party that was going on. She then started texting all the boys but couldn’t get a hold of them. So they went to check Bran’s place and found the living room destroyed.”
Catelyn gasped face starting to redden at the prospect of what had happened.
“From what I gather they all owe Bran a new coffee table, and payment for carpet cleaning, not to mention they should pay him the deposit that he’s not going to be getting back.”
She nodded in agreement lips set in a firm line.
“But back to Meera and Bran, he still had the bears head on and removed it as she started in on him. According to Arya who I texted to check on her, ‘she’s just like Mum when she gets wound up over something stupid that we’ve done.’”
(#)
“I can’t believe you would scare me like this! Not to mention lying to me. You could have told me that your brothers were coming in town, that you were needed to attend the bachelor party, but no you had to text JOJEN. News flash Brandon Stark you’re not dating Jojen.” Meera’s voice was nowhere near calm her voice was shrill and shrieking loud enough for all his neighbors to hear her.
“I would have understood, I wouldn’t have been happy about it, but I wouldn’t have been out of my mind trying to find you at all hours of the night. How can I trust you when you won’t be honest with me?”
“Trust?” Bran suddenly spat, “Meera I didn’t send that text, Theon did after he and Robb tackled me to the ground and tied me up in a chair, I only got out of it just before I got locked in here. We’re both the victims of drunk idiots here.”
“You could have fought back-”
“You’re blaming me? I can’t control my brothers.”
“You could have-”
“Meera stop,” Jojen cut in, his focus on his sister, “you both need a bit to calm down, let’s go home and sleep on it ok?”
“I don’t need to sleep on it, I’m done with this.” She stormed out of the apartment leaving a shocked trio in her wake as the door slammed. A few beats passed before anyone spoke.
“She didn’t mean that,” Jojen said nearly whispering, looking shaken.
“I think she was quite clear with her words.” Jojen’s eyes swung to meet Bran’s.
“She’s angry, within reason but she’s not thinking logically and neither are you I think.” Jojen held out his hand to Arya who shook her head and walked out of the room, intent on following Meera out of the apartment.
“Cool off before you contact her, just give it a day or so.”
Bran watched as his friend then took his leave listening for the door to shut before he left the room surveying the destruction that was his living room. He then went into the kitchen to begin thawing out his phone, determining that he would give them back when he felt like it. His thoughts turned to the events that had led him up to this point trying to figure out where he could have done things differently.
He really couldn’t have fought off his brothers. He had almost gotten himself free before Theon had to go and be a destructive chaos dragon and incite a brawl in his living room. Which had only lead to his re-imprisonment in his own bathroom while they went to the emergency room. He couldn’t have controlled this night. He’d tried, he had tried to keep from being tackled and tied up but it had been a waste of energy. He’d done nothing wrong.
But if that were true then why was he the one suffering? Why was Meera angry with him? If he had done all those things that she’d accused him of, sneaking around, lying, leading her on a fevered search for him, yeah he’d understand her anger. But he hadn’t done any of that.
He ran his hand through his hair as he watched the water slowly drip off the bowl that Theon had placed the phones in. His hope for a positive outcome to this ebbing away like the ice that was slowly melting off the container.
He’d deal with this in the morning, Jojen was right he was in no condition to think rationally.
(#)
(Sunday Afternoon)
Meera wasn’t answering her phone, all his calls got sent directly to voicemail. Bran had ended up calling Jojen instead, after calling his Dad looking for wisdom from the man. Bran assumed that the elder had to have made some horrendous mistakes with his own mother and as Meera had reminded him of her the previous night, he figured that handling her the same way would only work in his favor.
Jojen had been less than thrilled when Bran called but he did offer the phone to his sister when he learned the reason for the call.
“I think,” she said before he could speak, “that we need to take a break.”
“What?”
“We need a break, after last night- I just need space to figure things out.”
Bran sat there words of apology dying replaced by whispered, “Are you sure?”
There was a long pause before she replied, “Yes.”
Her voice wasn’t hard with resolve, it was broken, a wisp of breath that didn’t want to be expelled. Yet it was.
“Ok, just let me know what you decide then when you’ve figured it out,” Bran said quietly.
“Thank you.” She then hung up the phone.
Bran sat back against his couch trying to sort his feelings, eyes casting around the still destroyed room before it landed on the bottle of booze that had somehow escaped being smashed during the brawl. Standing up he retrieved it eyes trailing over it in precision as he walked into the kitchen. He resisted chucking the cellphones his brothers had left behind into the garbage disposal. He took the bottle to the sink. It was empty as he’d loaded it while waiting for his phone to charge and thaw out. He then proceeded to smash the empty bottle into the sink. Exercising his anger only lead to tears.
Dropping the bottleneck into the sink with the rest of the shards, he sank to the floor tears still coming over all he’d lost in one night. Working to banish thoughts of those who had caused his loss.