Chapter Text
Lord Jon Arryn felt old and weary as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom. He was tired, oh so tired. Another long day. He returned to his chambers, ready to climb into his bed, and fall asleep. Only he couldn’t because there was already someone there.
Any other man would have been alarmed to see a wolf, albeit a pup, lying at the foot of his bed. Not just a wolf but the famed direwolf supposedly extinct.
However, Jon had once stumbled on Steffon Baratheon cuddling a fully grown direwolf in his tent during the Ninepenny Kings’ war after his father died. (The two men had continuously denied that there was any sort of cuddling. They had merely fallen asleep and just happened to fall asleep near each other). He was well aware of the Stark's secret even before Rickard had opted to send his seven-year-old son to the Vale.
Careful not to waken the slumbering pup, Jon scooped him up in his arms, placing him onto one of his pillows, pulling up the covers just in case he returned to his human form in the middle of the night.
Jon then sat on the other side, patting his head, smiling as the pup made a murmur of contentment.
“I know you’re homesick, Ned,” he whispered. “I don’t blame you. You can come here as often as you like.” He understood how out of place Ned felt in the South, especially when it was potentially dangerous for him to change into a wolf. He had done his best to make the boy feel welcome, even going as far to plant a real weirwood tree in his godswood so Ned could have a piece of the North.
The pup whined lowly, nuzzling his hand, revealing he had been awake the entire time. He scrambled over to Jon, curling up on his legs, his head lying on his foster father’s stomach.
“You’re welcome,” Jon said, his smile growing wider. It felt like all his worries and anxieties were being washed away as he stroked the soft fur. His bones still ached, and he was still tired, but he felt at peace for the first time in thirty years.
He closed his eyes and dreamt of a fully grown direwolf wrapped around a baby falcon, staring down all those who might wish to hurt him, but at the same time keeping the falcon safe and warm.