yep, actually, it's one of my favourite aus! look, i'm probably one of the not so many people who don't really like childhood friends trope lol. to me, it must be done really good not to feel forced and more siblings-like. but jon and dany? i can see it ngl. with rhaelya live/the rebellion never happens aus, i also love to give jon more siblings while keeping the starklings his favourite cousins. dany, being only a year younger than jon (but my favoruite headcanon is that it's only half a year, and fuck logical timelines), would also be often around him (and other potential targ children). they would find small adventures together, miss each other if separated, fight but make up like most children do, get jealous in this adorable childish way when there's a sudden disturbance in their duo in the face of another kid since they're each other's closest companion lol. they both would grow into themselves and the talented, caring leaders they are. imagine them studying together, learning horseriding together (maybe by lyanna!), whispering to each other during lessons behind the maester's back, be engaged in learning their house's history (remember how in canon dany thought baelor locking up his sisters was fiction? i can totally see small jon and dany being entirely confused to learn that sth like this really happened lmao). imagine them watching dragon skulls, staring up at balerion's teeth until their necks hurt, go treasure hunting in maegor's secret passages, go to dragonstone and play around the painted table, travel around westeros and see other regions, go to the wall and meet maester aemon, get angry if they see smallfolk being mistreated, aspiring to change things... while i do think that rhaegar and lyanna ruling together would already be a great improvement over uncaring baratheon-lannister regime in canon, and that they would undo a lot of damage tywin did as the hand of the king (removing the laws protecting the smallfolk that aegon v implemented e.g., or improving several things for women, bc nobody can persuade me that lyanna wouldn't do that if she ever was in the position of power), there's always something to improve in this faux medieval shitty world lol. so jon and dany would be a great next generation type of thing, bringing even more revolutionary changes, something that westeros wasn't ready for before but would be now.
(also hey, going back to the "childhood" part once again for a moment, i just must say that small dany gives me cuteness aggression, so i love picturing her as the baby of the family even if rhaegar and lyanna have other younger kids lmao. rhaella, rhaegar, lyanna, barristan and others doting on baby dany? oh, i love it, i love it so much!)
having said all that, i only now realise that i basically described my own fic lol (not to self promote but hey). tho i must say it was a new year fluff, like, 100%. and to me, the most interesting thing about dany and jon growing up together is a little bit more serious stuff, about how they would learn together and also complete each other, as they already do in canon with their different perspectives. if anyone knows a really compelling story digging into this topic, pls let me know!
however, imo, there's one major disadvantage for any "everyone is alive" aus. while dany gets a happy family and happy childhood, she loses her chance to be a queen regnant. without rhaegar, viserys and their potential legitimate children being dead, dany cannot lawfully inherit the iron throne. so, to me, it's either 1) making peace with the fact that jon becomes king as rhaegar's heir in the "everything is perfect" au and dany still gets a chance to shine and help people as his queen (include there coping that they would definitely invent some new laws to give a consort more power or sth lol), OR 2) invent a wilder au to push dany into her rightful and iconic position of queen regnant. e.g., rhaegar did have another wife but for some reason no living children, viserys somehow drops dead, so dany is his heir and jon, the king's bastard son (with his beloved paramour lady lyanna ehehe, which reminds me of this au (1, 2), becomes her consort in the future. details can depend! like, was it more of a forbidden love in the beginning? bc jon and dany thought nobody would approve? would rhaegar, lyanna and others be supportive in the face of the common westerosi resentment of bastards, or not? would they pull through the potential drama of love vs duty in this au, but re: love they have for each other vs stupid lords undermining dany's position bc of her choice to marry jon? so many possibilities!
agagxvsh, as you can see, im quite passionate about the topic. thank you for the ask <33
