So here's my first Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire fic. Arya and Gendry Modern AU.
Chapter One: Good Bad Influence
"What are you doing?"
"Depends. Are you going to judge me?" Her back was to him as he leaned against the door frame
She was staring down at the rusty faucets and slightly yellow tinged water.
"Well, that really depends if that's blood you're cleaning off your shirt."
"Says the guy in the girls' bathroom."
He cracks a smile. "Touché."
She gives a small smirk and pulls her shirt over head without a second thought. She lets the tap water run over it, soaking it through. Arya's wearing a simple charcoal grey bra. There's nothing special about it, it's just a plain old bra, but Gendry can't stop staring, so instead, he crosses his arms against his chest and leans against the chipped green wall, focusing on Arya's beat up Chuck Taylors as she anxiously taps her foot against the checkered tiles. He's actively trying not to blush and look at her chest, even though he kinda sort of really wants to.
She won't look at him.
Gendry sighs and runs a hand through his already disheveled black hair. He studies the crimson stained sink. He glances at the angry red blotches on Arya's half soaked shirt that she had been vigorously scrubbing with disintegrating paper towels.
"You've gotta stop doing this, Arya. One more fight and you're gonna get expelled."
He walks over and turns off the tap and grabs a wad of paper towels starts wiping the sink clean as she slips her damp shirt back on.
She rolls her eyes. "Why should I care? It's not like I can learn anything from the public school system, anyways."
Gendry chucks the wad bloody and damp paper towels in the trash can and turns on the tap and lets the last of the blood wash down the drain as she slips her damp shirt back on.
He looks over at his best friend.
She looks pale and defeated. Her stormy grey eyes are those of someone who has suffered and lost more than anyone ever should in a lifetime and they look out of place on her face, the one that makes people think she is thirteen rather than fifteen.
Gendry runs a hand through his already disheveled hair, a reflex of his when he doesn't quite know what to do. Which is most of the time, hence is permanently messy hair. "What happened to proving everyone wrong?" He asks the small girl. "To showing them that you aren't what they all think? That you aren't just some… delinquent."
Arya grips the edge of the sink behind her, her knuckles turning ghostly pale and bloodless as she glares down at generic pattern that the black and white checkered tiles made on the grimy floor.
"Are you just going to run away and hide like Sansa does when things get bad?"
"I am not my sister." She voice was like shards of glass. Broken and dangerous.
"Then prove it." He challenges her.
She stubbornly shakes her head as she analyzes her best friend's profile. The rumpled hair and iridescent eyes. His easy smile and the little black mole on his left cheek near his dimple.
Being the star soccer player made him one of the most popular guys in school. Everyone knew the bull who would take them to the state championship again this year.
He was still innocent. The world hadn't quite beaten him down. Not yet.
That was the biggest difference between the two best friends. Not tall and short. Not light and dark. Not popular and feared. Not rich and poor.
It was innocent and scarred.
It wasn't obvious, from the outside, but it ran the deepest. And Arya would do anything to protect him from that world for as long as possible.
Sure, his mother had died when he was young and his father was a dick, but his Uncle Renly had taken care of him.
The world hadn't broken him. Not yet. And Arya would do everything in her power to make damn sure that it never did.
"Why'd ya do it?" Arya may have a quick temper but its always in reaction to something else. Someone else. She always had a reason, even if it wasn't a good one.
"They called him a psychotic bastard who deserves to be locked up. They said I was going to end up just like him. And dad."
The last part came out as barely a whisper, but Gendry hears it. He steps towards her until theres hardly any distance left. He puts his hand on her slightly shaking shoulders. She seems so small standing next to him. He lifts Arya's chin to look her in the eyes.
"Arya, you know that's not true. And your brother... well, he... I mean... Look. You can't just go around breaking people's noses and handing out black eyes like they're lunch tickets."
Arya rolls her eyes and looks away.
"Do you think that's what Jon would want? If he was here? What would he think of you to getting into fights on his behalf and almost getting expelled for it?"
"But he's not here." She whispers it, as if she's hoping that her words weren't true.
But they are.
Her eyes study the graffiti on the bathroom stall doors.
He stares at her for a minute, before blurting out, "Come on, let's get milkshakes at Pie's."
She gives him a devilish smirk. "That would involve ditching class, Mr. Baratheon."
He shrugs. "I know. But its Friday and like you always say 'rules were made to be broken.'"
And just like that, Arya is back to her usual self. "The Golden Boy? Ditching class? I never thought I'd live to see the day!" She over-dramatically throws her hand over her heart and gasps in mock surprise.
Gendry just chuckles at her antics. "What can I say? I guess that I've had a good bad influence."
She grins and attempts to shoulder checks her best friend. "Damn right."
"Now hurry up and get your stuff so we can get the hell out of here already."
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