Chapter Text
'WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE TO KISS NED DAYNE?!' Gendry's outburst drew the eyes and ears of almost every student in the hallway.
'Shhh! You'll spoil the ending of the play.' Arya scolded, trading her drama notebook and script for her history textbook before closing her locker.
"You'll spoil the ending." he mocked in an unflattering tone that sounded nothing like her. 'How can you be so calm?'
'Why are you getting so worked up?' Arya countered. 'Besides, it's just a stage kiss.' she shrugged.
'Yeah, Gen. You're kinda coming off as a jealous boyfriend right now. Is there something you two aren't telling me?' Hot Pie asked with a smirk.
'NO!' Arya and Gendry answered in unison, sparing each other the slightest of glances as the bell sounded, forcing the three friends to go their separate ways.
...
The cafeteria was bustling. Plastic trays clattered on table tops, sneakers squeaked on the linoleum, and students called out, waving down their friends in the large space that always smelled of cooking grease, hospital grade detergent and men's deodorant.
'Ned Dayne.' Gendry spat the name with such contempt it was as though the words left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Arya rolled her eyes as he took a seat opposite her and Hot Pie at their usual table.
'You're still going on about that? Christ, Gen, it's a play. Ned's playing The Gallant Knight, I'm The Lost Princess, we kiss after the last line. Big deal.'
'Yeah, but it's Ned. He's so...so-'
'Popular?' Hot Pie offered. 'Smart? No wait, it's because he's school captain. No, no, you hate him because he's blonde, right? Captain of the football team?'
Gendry groaned as his friend counted off a list of all the things Gendry wasn't. Truthfully, he didn't mind Ned. That was until this morning when he found out about the play.
'Enough, Hot Pie. I get it. Aren't you in this stupid thing as well.'
'Yeah, our whole drama class is. Well, some are just doing props and lighting and stuff. I play The Gallant Knight's most bestest buddy. The comic relief.' He puffed out his chest. 'I get a sword and everything.'
'And you, Princess?' Gendry asked Arya. 'What do you do besides kiss Sir Ned? Hmmm? Sit in some tower?'
Arya kicked him under the table. 'I'll have you know that The Lost Princess is actually the hero of the story. Not only does she kick ass, but she saves her own.' Arya popped a few fries in her mouth, pausing to suck the salt and grease from her fingers. 'She doesn't fall for the knight because he rescues her, he falls for the princess because despite appearances she is strong and brave, and capable of rescuing herself. They're equals. That's why I wanted the role.'
'That, and you get a sword.' Hot Pie added.
'And I get a sword.' Arya agreed, high fiving Hot Pie.
Gendry smiled and gave a half hearted laugh at his friends' show of comradery. As the conversation steered to the usual what should we do this weekend? And There's never anything to do in this town, Gendry relaxed into a slouch. His forearms resting on the table as the tension in his neck and shoulders began to ease. So what if that snot Ned got Arya's first kiss. A "stage kiss" Arya had called it. But as he watched her enticing, soft pink lips move as she spoke, he wandered if there really was a difference.
...
'Hey, Mrs Stark.' Gendry greeted Arya's mother as she opened the door. She stepped aside so he could enter the house. The shouts and jeers of Mr Stark, Bran and Rickon filled the living area from the yard, and as he looked through to the sliding doors he caught a glimpse of Ned with a football in hand trying to reach some unseen boundary line with a wild haired Rickon hanging from his back. The gangly youth was almost as tall as his dad. It amazed Gendry that the old man still had it in him to do it.
'Gendry, I've known you since you were Bran's age. How many times must I ask you to call me Catelyn?' she chided, in her prim but motherly tone.
'Sorry, Mrs Stark.' Gendry replied as always, feigning a defensive pose with a grin as she swatted him with a tea towel.
'She's in her room.' Catelyn sighed, making shooing gesture.
He took the stairs two at a time and turned left down the familiar corridor, noting how unusually quiet it was on the second floor. Even with Jon and Robb away at a college upstate and Sansa no doubt with Jeyne and Margaery somewhere, shopping or whatever girls like that like to do, it was never this quiet at the Stark house. With a hand to her doorframe, Gendry swung into Arya's room, curious as to why the sound of Dragon Age: Inquisition wasn't blaring, or even any music.
'Knock, knock!' He announced.
'Hey.' Arya looked up from the sheets of paper she had been pouring over, rolled from her belly onto her side and up into a sitting position. She patted the now vacant space beside her on the bed in invitation and Gendry accepted, taking a seat and leaning back against the bedroom wall as she was.
'What'ya got there?' he asked, sneaking a look at the pages of oddly aligned typing.
'The script for the play.' she answered, flustered. 'I'm trying to memorize it but without being able to rehearse with Ned, the words just aren't sinking in. You know when you read something that's right in front of you but your brain just doesn't register it.' she waved her hands about in irritation, and damn but she was adorable when she was angry.
'Mhmmm. So why can't Ned rehearse with you?' he asked, glad to hear it even if the mere mention of Mr Perfect set his teeth grinding.
'We try to rehearse the lines during drama class, but that's only a few times a week and mostly the class has to go over the choreography and timing and stuff. We're supposed to go over the lines in our own time for now, but Ned has football and chess and-'
'Debate and polo and the Country Club-' he teased, earning him a playful smack on the shoulder.
'He doesn't play polo and he's not in a Country Club. I don't think.'
'Really? He seems like the type.' he pondered whether Richie Rich played golf instead. 'Anyway, how 'bout I help you with the lines? We see each other every day, may as well make myself useful.'
Arya considered for a moment, her dark brows knit together and her lips pursed in the adorable way she always did when she was thinking.
'Okay.'
'Okay? You sure? 'Cause you looked like you were thinking pretty hard about it just then.' he taunted, enjoying the eye roll she gave in return. 'You know, I'm not like you fancy drama kids, with your Shakespeare and...' damned if he could think of another name so he pressed on pretending to try to talk her out of it. '...see, just a big ol' metal work dummy. Probably can't even read-'
'Shut up.' she cut him off softly with a nudge to his side with her elbow. 'You know that stuff you make is like art.'
'Yeah?' he shouldered her in return. Mr Mott and the guys in class had often praised him but to hear it from Arya somehow meant more.
'Yeah. Teacher's pet.' she screwed up her face and poked out her tongue, shoving him again. He tickled her side in retaliation, making her squeal and double over.
'Don't.' she laughed. 'Don't you dare.'
Gendry put up his hands in surrender.
'Wouldn't dream of it.' he replied, knowing how ticklish she was. For a moment the air was thick with anticipation, then in an instant the faux sincerity was wiped from his face, replaced with a devilish grin as he launched himself at her. He was too fast for Arya who tried to flee what she knew was coming. His large hands tickled her sides as she lay helpless on her back.
'Aahh! Stop, stop, stop!' she laughed and squealed again. Her small hands darted to defend her underarms, sides and neck but he was too quick and now sat astride her so that she couldn't kick him. In one swift move both of her hands were captured and pinned above her head, bringing his face and chest down close to hers.
Their giggling died down as grey eyes lingered on blue. He could feel her breath on his face as her chest heaved from the exertion, and watched, captivated as her tongue darted out a little to wet her lips. She was beautiful. Flushed and panting beneath him as he'd so often imagined, but as Arya lifted her head toward his, Gendry released her hands and pushed himself up to climb off of her.
His heart and mind were racing. She was about to kiss him. Arya was going to kiss him. Something he'd wanted so very badly for so long and his first instinct was to run from it? What the hell was wrong with him? Gendry sat up and cleared his throat, unsure of what to say. I'm defective. I. Am. Bloody. Defective.
Arya raised herself up onto her elbows and looked at him, equally stunned.
'We should umm...go over your lines.'
Arya sat up and crossed her legs.
'Yeah, sure.' she answered, quiet and reserved. Gendry felt the sting of her hurt in those two words. He scratched at the back of his head wondering if they should discuss what just happened, or almost happened.
'So, umm...I've only got one copy of the script, but I'll run off another for next time.' she told him, answering his unspoken question. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came to him. All he could do was nod.
...
He was attentive as she told the story of The Lost Princess who was stolen away, and of her childhood best friend, a lowly apprentice who grows up to become a knight in hopes to rescue her. Maybe he didn't notice. She tried to convince herself, but the blush that filled Gendry's cheeks when he looked her in the eye told her otherwise. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. God, he's embarrassed for me.
'Are there back up actors or whatever in case someone you know, breaks a leg or something?' he asked, eyes glued to the paper in his hands.
'You mean understudies? No. it's just our class in the production. Willow Heddle and Edric Storm are playing the younger versions of me and Ned because they're shorter -'
'Edric won't pass for a younger Ned, his hair's black not white.' His screwed up face and scrunched up nose made Arya laugh.
'He'll be dressed in rags and a dorky peasant hat, no one will see his hair and no one is going to break a leg. Though we'll probably tell each other to.' And there it was again. That bewildered look that drew his brows together, highlighting his incredible eyes even more. Oh, they were so blue. It wasn't fair.
They laughed when they reached Hot Pies lines, a role that they both agreed he'd be brilliant at. And as they over acted and over emphasised Arya and Ned's lines the unfamiliar awkward tension that filled the room only moments earlier disappeared like vapour.
'Sir, is it? Are we to address one another so formal after all these years, ...emlady?' Gendry struggled with the last word.
'M'lady.' Arya corrected him. 'It's like my lady but how someone from the lower class would say it.'
'M'lady.' Gendry tried the word out. 'But shouldn't he be calling her Princess?'
'He calls her that because their social differences is a sore point, but in the end m'lady becomes a term of endearment. Like, he can't say what he really wants to tell her so-'
'Oh, like Westley in The Princess Bride?'
'You've watched The Princess Bride?' Arya asked with a snort of poorly concealed humour.
'Hasn't everybody?'
'I haven't.' she lied, finding the image of Gendry watching Sansa's favourite movie hilarious. Of course Arya had seen it, Sansa would pull her down to the couch to watch it with her a few times a year. Her sister would gush over Buttercup and Westley, while Inigo Montoya had always been Arya's favourite.
'Yeah, well...' he stumbled for a response. '...there was a commercial on when I turned on the TV . When I sat down on the couch and got comfortable the show started and I couldn't find the remote. I couldn't be bothered getting back up to change channels so...I watched it.' Gendry gave a nonchalant shrug. 'We should watch it sometime, you might like it. There's some pretty iconic lines and sword fighting and stuff.' he leapt up, pointed an imaginary sword at her and stood sideways. "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
She bit her lip grinning. He sounded just like him.
'And you've only watched it once, huh?'Arya folded her arms across her chest and raised a brow. Gendry swiped a pillow off her bed and threw it at her.
'Shut up, you.' he growled then walked towards to the door, giving her his trademark Gendry grin over his shoulder. 'We'll go over the rest tomorrow, yeah?'
'Whatever you say, Inigo Montoya. Just shut the door on your way out.' she ordered, throwing the pillow back at him.
'As you wish, m'lady.'
With Gendry now gone and her bedroom door closed, Arya leapt from her bed and let her excitement burst from her in the form of a ridiculous happy dance. Collapsing back on her bed with arms flung wide, Arya closed her eyes grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
As you wish, m'lady.
...
It had been two weeks since they first went over the lines for Arya's play. Two weeks since she almost kissed him. Had she though? They'd so quickly recovered from that moment and fallen back into their easy friendship that Gendry almost suspected he had imagined the whole thing.
One thing that was certain, he'd actually come to enjoy their rehearsals. Sure, Gendry wouldn't get to act the part of The Gallant Knight on the night of the play, but he didn't care. Truth be told, the idea of performing in front of the whole school and their families was so completely mortifying his stomach tied itself in knots just thinking about it. No, he could never do it. Those drama kids were a different breed. Except for Arya. Just thinking her name brought a smile to his face as he waited for her to get out of class.
Students swarmed the hall, talking loudly over one another. Some pushed each other playfully, others like Joffrey did so just because they got some sort of sick joy out of throwing their weight about. Gendry watched the blonde prick go by, then continued scanning the crowd for his friends. Their drama classes always ran late these days, but it was the last class of the week and Gendry had all the time in the world. He shifted to lean against Arya's locker with his arms crossed just as he heard the sweet sound of her voice amidst the roar of everyone else. As he stood back up the smile dropped from his face, Ned and Lommy were with them.
'Hey, Gen.'
'Hey, Ar.' he replied, not liking how close Ned was standing to her. The boy must've read it in Gendry's face, he stepped up beside him, clapping a hand to Gendry's shoulder.
'I've been meaning to thank you, Gendry.'
'Thank me?'
'Yes, Arya told me you've been helping her run through the lines. She's really quite good. As are you, I'm told.' Something glinted in Ned's eye and mischief tugged at the corner of his mouth. 'It would appear you have become quite the thespian.' Ne d pressed his lips together in anticipation. His eyes darted to Lommy who snorted a laugh he couldn't contain. Arya sighed and rolled her eyes.
Did he really just call me that? Gendry couldn't believe his ears. Now he really had a reason to hate him.
'You know, I thought you were better than that, Ned. To use that word as a slur-' Gendry shook his head in disgust. 'People have the right to love whoever they choose, without that kind of homophobic-' The rest of his speech was swallowed up in the combined uproar of Lommy and Ned. Even Hot Pie joined in, laughing at Gendry's expense.
'No, Gen. Thes-pian not lesbian. It's another term for actor. Just ignore them, they need to grow up.' She put her stuff away in her locker as Ned swore, still giggling, that he meant nothing by it. Gendry wasn't buying it and from the look on Arya's face neither was she.
'He's a thespian. They thespianing together.' Lommy affected his best Pennsatucky accent, setting off Hot Pie and Ned once more.
'Sorry, mate. You gotta admit that was bloody funny.' Hot Pie apologised, still grinning.
Arya slammed the locker shut and tugged on his sleeve, giving the others a middle finger farewell as she dragged Gendry away.
...
'He did that on purpose, Arya.' Gendry kicked at a rock on Winterfell Drive, still fuming as he walked her home.
'Yeah, I know.'
'And not just for the sake of the joke, but to make me look like an idiot! He knew what I'd think he said.'
'You are an idiot.' she said, giving him the look she reserved for when he was fired up over something small. That look that said she knew him better than he knew himself. 'It was just a joke. He didn't mean anything by it.'
'Didn't mean anything by it? Arya, why are you defending him?' Stopping by her gate, Gendry turned Arya to face him.
'I'm not. He-'
'Do you like him or something?' His words came out flat, calm even. Inside, he was anything but calm. His chest felt like it was being squeezed by some invisible force and his stomach was doing somersaults that would shame an Olympic gymnast.
'Like him?! What? Gendry-' She stared up at him like he'd just sprouted a second head.
'Do. You. Like. Ned. Dayne?' He knew she hated being spoken to like that but he just wanted a straight, yes or no answer.
'Everyone likes Ned. He's a nice guy.'
'You know what I mean. Do you like him more than a friend?'
Arya thought back to the kiss that Gendry backed away from. The kiss that he didn't want.
'NO!!' she blasted, pushing past him and through the gate, slamming it between them. 'I don't like him more than a friend. Not that that's any of your business, because I don't like you even as a friend right now!' Then she was off. Bag flung over her shoulder and marching toward the house, leaving him in her dust. He didn't come after her. And a good thing too, she wanted to punch him in his stupid face.
Who does he think he is? Just because he didn't want her, should it matter to him if anyone else did? Arya wasn't even sure if Ned did have feelings for her. He was nice to everyone, well except for Gendry earlier. But none of that mattered because she didn't like Ned that way, and Gendry was a stupid, stubborn...
'ASS!' she swore to no one in particular on the other side of her front door. Leaning against it, she wondered how the hell it was possible to love someone and absolutely hate them all at once.
...
By lunchtime on Monday Gendry was ready to apologise. Maybe it was Arya that owed him the apology, he hadn't quite decided, but they hadn't seen or spoken to each other since she stormed off after school on Friday and something, or someone, had to give.
An entire weekend had come and gone without Arya Stark in it. Gendry stirred his plastic fork through the pile of lettuce, garnished with one piece of tomato that called itself a salad, and wondered when they'd last gone that long without each other. Sure, in the early days when she'd go camping or to the beach with her family, before he started getting invited too. But even back then they'd call or at least text one another a handful of times throughout the day.
A tray bearing an assortment of all the cafeteria had on offer, dropped down in front of his. It was Hot Pie. Only Hot Pie. Taking a seat without even looking at Gendry, who was searching the room, his friend answered
'She's not here.'
'Huh?'
'Arya.' Hot Pie explained, peeling the lid off of his pudding cup. 'She's not coming to lunch. Rehearsals with Ned.' He met Gendry's eye on those last few words.
'Whatever.' Gendry exhaled long and hard. Elbows resting on the table, he raked his fingers along his scalp.
'Da-aad?!' Hot Pie whined. 'Does this mean you and Mom are getting a divorce?'
'Shut up.' Gendry groaned.
'Does this mean I only get to see you every other weekend? I don't want two Christmases!' He was really hamming it up now.
'Wow, Hot Pie. That drama class is really paying off. Can you stop now?'
'Come on, Gen. It's no secret that you two have something going on beyond friendship.'
'We don't.' We may not even have that anymore.
'But you want to?' For all his friend liked to joke about usually, right then he was the very picture of sincerity. Gendry's silence and poor attempt at a smile was all the answer needed. 'So? Do something about it.'
'Like what? She's avoiding me.'
' 'Cause she's pissed! Like, really pissed. Whatever you said or did must've really gotten under her skin. She was in a hell of a mood in class. Even ripped Ned a new one.'
That made Gendry smile. A real smile.
'So what are you going to do?'
Gendry pinched a fry from Hot Pie's tray and thought, taking a bite before answering.
'Something stupid.'