Who: Theodore Winters and Ezra Westerberg What: First meetings When: Monday Where: The Wynn Warnings: None
It’s nothing, but fighting after Robb realized that Ned was bouncing around in someone’s head. The King barely let Ezra sleep, his agitation, impatience, and desire to be close to family bleeding into Ezra’s subconscious. Ezra had spent half the night rolling around on his bed, unable to calm the beating of his heart, and the other half flicking through channels on the television. Robb wanted to be near his father. It wasn’t an entirely unbelievable request. Ezra supposed that he would want to see his father too, if he loved him as Robb loves his.
Of course, Ezra had his concerns. The offer had been extended, on behalf of Theo, to take up residence in the Wynn, but Ezra had no desire to go through his door in exchange for classier lodgings. Twenty-four hour limit or not, the world of Westeros was dangerous. Deaths are a dime a dozen and Ezra was only twenty-two. He didn’t want to die any time soon.
But Robb wanted his father. And he wouldn’t shut up about it. Robb, normally not that difficult to silence, now simmered at the back of Ezra’s mind, his frustration and loneliness more apparent than it had ever been. It was all Father this and Father that. The Starks and Jon. Mother and Sansa. Arya and Bran. Rickon. The North. Still, Ezra worried. If he agreed to head over to the Wynn, even if it was just to take a look, would Robb take over? Ezra felt sorely uninformed regarding the alter scenario.
“Fine, fine,” Ezra muttered after he found himself pacing his hotel room and reaching to anxiously grab at a sword that was naturally not at his hip. It was a nervous habit of Robb’s. Not his. “Just shut up. Jesus.”
It didn’t take long to get over to the Wynn. As soon as Ezra got through the doors, he knew he was where the money’s was. Craning his neck, he tilted his head back, taking in his surroundings. Nope. He could never afford this place. At least, not yet. He could see himself making a killing, though. The tables were probably loaded with drunks. Ezra almost felt underdressed as he walked up to the front desk. Clearing his throat, he leaned on the balls of his feet and tried to look like he had an appointment.
“So, I’m looking for your boss. Is he around?”
Theodore was up in his office, dealing with security, when his cell phone rang. “Winters,” he replied idly.
“There’s a man down here to see you,” the young woman said.
Theo sighed and replied, “I’ll be right down.” He hung up his phone and excused himself from the meeting he was currently in. It didn’t take long at all for him to descend in his private elevator, but he did get held up by a few minor incidents on his way to the front desk. It took him all of fifteen minutes before the young woman who called him pointed him in the direction of the man who’d asked for him. “Hello, I’m Theodore Winters. Can I help you?” he asked, holding his hand out or a handshake.
Ezra had been expecting to have to jump through some hoops to get to see Theodore. He tried not to let his surprise show when the woman at the desk was so accommodating, but he supposed that was her job, after all. He leaned his back against the desk as he waited, trying not to look as anxious as he felt. He had never met anyone with an alter before. Not in person, at least, and certainly not someone with a “head case” from the same series. Ezra found himself picturing all sorts of scenarios. Would Theodore know him instantly? Would something happen with Robb?
He bit his lip at the ping of an elevator and tried to play it cool. Theodore Winters was not what Ezra had been expecting, but to be fair, Ezra had been picturing Ned Stark. He took Theodore’s hand and shook it, clearing his throat, “Ezra Westerberg. We’ve, uh, spoken briefly.”
Theodore was much thinner than Eddard and much more welcoming. He was less bogged down by politics and drama, but he had developed a few wrinkles after discovering Ned. “Ezra, yes, I recall,” he replied, shaking his hand warmly and clapping his other hand around Ezra’s shoulder in a far too familiar way for two men who had never met each other. “Let’s take this up to my office,” Theo suggested, already leading the young man over to the elevator.
He was dressed sharply in a suit and dress shoes, hair freshly trimmed to his typical length. He let go of Ezra after their handshake, but Ned wanted to keep hold of Ezra, simply because Ezra held Robb within him. “How have you been, Ezra?” he asked conversationally as the elevator door opened.
The clap on his shoulder brought up a strange conflict of emotions – a fight between Robb’s innate comfort at being near his father and Ezra’s natural discomfort with being touched, a lingering reminder of his stepfather’s angry fists. Ezra found himself tensing and he forced himself to relax, unleashing a smile. “After you,” He offered with a small tilt of his head, both grateful and disappointed to have his hand released from Theo’s grip. It was strange, having two sets of emotions so opposite in nature, but equally strong and true.
Ezra felt dressed down in comparison to Theo’s suit. Clad in a faded t-shirt and a pair of jeans, torn at the right knee, he wasn’t a very impressive sight. His hair could have done with some trimming and a few days of stubble dotted his cheeks. He wasn’t dirty, however, and Ezra supposed that was where it counted. He raised his eyebrows at the Theo’s conversational tone and wondered if he was genuinely concerned as to Ezra’s status or if it was merely show for the woman at the desk.
“Oh, you know,” He replied with a wide gesture of his hand as he stepped into the elevator. “Hearing voices. Visiting strangers in hotels ‘cause my alternate personality has got to have his way. The usual,” He grinned at this. “You? This is quite…the Wynn’s pretty impressive. I’ve never been in here before.”
Theo noticed the way Ezra tensed; it was hard to miss. He wondered if it was strictly because of him and resolved to have better control over himself until he and Ezra got to know each other better. They stepped into the elevator and the door closed in front of them. Theo slid his key card into the slot above the buttons and the elevator began to move. Only employees could access the floor his office was on though the only other employee that could get into Theo’s office without him was Kate Rutledge, his second in command and the person who ran the casino portion of the Wynn.
“Your sense of humor is refreshing,” he replied with a smile. “It certainly seems like it’s becoming the new normal for a good number of us. I find myself wondering which of my employees are also dealing with this.” Theo glanced at Ezra, noting the way he looked. There was nothing wrong with it, of course, but Ned thought it wasn’t appropriate for his son. “Thank you,” he added, after Ezra complimented the Wynn. “I’m afraid the only thing I can take credit for the upkeep.” The doors opened to reveal a hallway with half-glass doors and walls along the corridor. Theo could see inside every room, which he preferred. He wanted to know what was going on. “My office is this way,” he explained, gesturing to the door at the end of the hallway as he led Ezra out of the elevator.
Ezra had never been on the other end of casino and hotel security. He found himself tracking Theo’s movements, feeling like he was in on some sort of big secret. It was just a basic key card system, but it was interesting nonetheless. A few years ago, back in Atlantic City, Ezra had entertained the idea of one day running a casino – it had been a passing fancy once he realized how unlikely it was.
“Did you try looking into the ones who’ve started talking to themselves?” Ezra inquired playfully. He made a concerted effort to try to casually give Theo a once-over as they rode the elevator. Running a hand through his hair, he mussed it absently, watching the older man with his peripheral vision. “So, you weren’t kidding about being something like security over here. Have you worked here long?”
As they left the elevator and entered the hallway, Ezra tried not to look too much like a thief scoping out a potential job, although he felt that he did regardless. He was having trouble focusing on anything for too long, vision switching from one door to the next. Following Theo, he could feel Robb’s dissatisfaction with the conversation, but he chose to ignore it. The King in the North would get his chance.
Theo wasn’t worried about Ezra stealing from him. In fact, it never even dawned on him, though he wasn’t sure if that was because he had Robb within him or not. Regardless, he led Ezra down the hallway to his office, where a swipe of his ID and thumbprint was necessary to get in. “Since the day I graduated college,” Theo replied with a wink as he opened the door to his office. “Of course, I’ve come a long way from the Front Desk,” he added.
His office was understated but tasteful. All of the woodwork was made of a deep, solid mahogany accented with pewter metalwork. There were slight undertones of royalty, but that had been done purely by accident. His tastes just tended toward the expensive and tasteful; it just happened to work out that he could afford it now. “Have a seat,” he suggested, gesturing to a chair in front of his desk. He took a seat in his black leather swivel chair and grinned. “I just run the place now.”
Ezra didn’t consider himself to have much in common with Robb Stark, so he had always assumed that whatever brought the other man and himself together had been random selection at best. Seeing Theo’s office…Ezra could see a little bit of Ned. The decoration combined with the explanation that he had started at the front desk and worked his way up smacked of Stark. Ezra cleared his throat and wondered when the hell he’d start getting to order people around. “College? Fancy.”
The chair was comfortable and Ezra wanted to hate him for it. He had never had wealth. He had come from the opposite of it, really, and despite the fact that he was doing well for himself nowadays, he never really could shake that distrust for the uppercrust. He sank into the chair, feeling largely like a kid called into the principal’s office. The wind went out of his sails and he found himself at a little bit of a loss as what to say. Biting the edge of his thumb, he settled on his age-old solution to awkward situations. A joke. “So, are we like, supposed to hug or something now?”
“University of Nevada Las Vegas,” he replied with a nod as he leaned back in his chair. It was hard to reconcile the man sitting on the other side of his desk with what Ned remembered of Robb. He wanted to ask about all of Ezra’s personal things, like what he was doing with his life and where he was living. He was already intending on offering Raegan a suite at the hotel simply because she was his niece. How could he not offer some kind of accommodation to the man who had Ned’s son in his head.
His thoughts had distracted him but Ezra’s joke brought his attention back to the matter at hand. “Not necessarily,” he replied with a smile. “Ned would certainly enjoy it, but like I said over the journals, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Here, I’m not your father and I wont leverage what I might help you with against you, if you’re worried about that.”
Ezra knew little of what colleges were considered “good” beyond the typical Ivy Leagues that one heard about in movies. Theo’s school must have been alright if he was running a casino and hotel. “Well, I graduated from high school. So, you know. That.”
He shifted in his, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the edge of the desk. Part of him was wondering if this had been a mistake, if he was just merely opening a door into a lifestyle that Robb would come to expect. “I’ll be straight with you. I was considering never talking to you again, but Robb’s a persistent little shit sometimes.” He paused, a wince flashing across his face. “What I mean to say is – I appreciate what you’re offering. I’ve just never met anyone…you know. Like this. Us. Whatever. And I’m just trying to figure out how to make everything work because I guess I wouldn’t want to be trapped in someone’s head either.”
Eddard seemed surprised that the boy - young man, Theodore corrected - had only competed high school, but Theo wasn’t about to pry. He wanted Ezra to stay close and gaining his trust would be a valuable step in ensuring that. “High school is good,” he replied, nodding slightly. It was better than a GED at least, though he commended anyone who managed to go through the process.
He stayed silent as Ezra leveled with him and he was grateful for the honesty. “I appreciate that, and please, don’t feel like you have to censor yourself with me,” Theo insisted. “I try to just go with it because I feel like that’s the easiest way to keep everything working smoothly. I can understand your apprehension about taking what I’m offering. Don’t feel like you have to do anything, but I am here as a resource if you need me.”
“High school’s great,” Ezra replied, a touch defensively. He had never wanted to work in an office, never dreamed of being a doctor or lawyer. No, he had just always known two things: that he wanted to get out of his stepfather’s house and that he wanted to play cards. He didn’t need to attend a university to accomplish of those. He was tempted to defend himself, to say that he made more than his mother ever had or say that he had always had a knack for math, but he kept silent on the matter. It was none of Theo’s business, Ezra decided, and he didn’t want to come across as a whining little kid.
At Theo’s offer of being a resource, Ezra shook his head an laughed. He didn’t mean to, but the situation was flat out bizarre to him. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to like, be insulting or anything. It’s just – you’re such a dad and I could be a serial killer or something.” He leaned back in his chair and was quick to add, “I’m not. Obviously. I just mean that we don’t know each other and I get what you’re trying to do, but I can’t live here. Not yet, anyway.” He paused to glance around Theo’s office, grinning all the while. “I mean, the rent alone would like, set me back three years of saving and I am not going back to eating Ramen three times a day.”
Theo arched an eyebrow at how defensive Ezra was about high school. The cold hard facts were that if someone wanted to make something of themselves, they’d need a college degree or sheer dumb luck. He preferred the sure thing. He was distracted, again, by Ezra, though this time it was his laughing. Ned was definitely offended, but Theo wasn’t. He wasn’t exactly an ‘adult’ yet in the strictest sense.
It was Theo’s turn to lean forward on his desk, his hands clasped on top of some paperwork. “Look, I’m not an idiot. You’d be surprised what I can find out about you with just a name, and I’m not saying that as a threat. If you come to stay here as a personal guest of mine, I’m going to do a background check on you. It’s nothing personal, it’s just good business. I don’t know if you’re a serial killer, but you do have Robb Stark floating around in your head and Ned would prefer that he be close.” He paused for a moment. “I’m not trying to be your father, but I can help you, if you’re willing. You play cards right?”
“I am sorry, Father.” The words were out before Ezra can stop them. Humiliation, anger with Robb chasing its heels, swept through him and he slapped his hands over his mouth in a fashion that was probably far more comical than he intended. Releasing his face, he dropped his hands into his lap, clenching and unclenching his fists. He took a few heartbeats to consider if he should say something or not before settling on ignoring the incident altogether.
“Yes,” He replied, internally congratulating himself on keeping his voice even. “I play cards.”
The apology and the title were a pleasant surprise and Theo nodded approvingly. Okay, so maybe this was going to be very difficult, but he’d do his best not to let Ned influence this too much. He refrained from giving any other indication that the apology had been appreciated because he didn’t want to embarrass or offend Ezra further. “If you’d like, play a few hands at the Wynn. If you do well and agree to play here most of the time, we can get a discounted rate for the room or, if you happen to do exceptionally well, we can comp it while you play here,” Theo offered. He thought that was very generous of him.
Ezra knew that comping rooms or giving them out at discounted rates were common practice for high rollers, but, coming from Theo, it still smacked of charity to him. Still, after his little outburst, he had no real interest in provoking Robb any further, let alone embarrassing himself. “I could do that. Thank you,” he replied evenly. He still felt...ridiculous, so he stood up and held out his hand. “But, you know, I think our time’s up for now.”
Theo couldn’t really read Ezra as well as he would’ve liked, but he’d get better with time if they continued to stay in contact. He hoped that they would, though not strictly because of the fact that the voices in their head where father and son. He stood and shook Ezra’s hand firmly before handing him a business card. “That has my personal number on it. If you need anything...” He let the offer trail off with a smile.