**** Don't Own GOT!****

Kissed by Fire

"You don't have to do this" her grey eyes, he saw, were aflame even in the darkness that only ceased in moments when the dancing flames of the torches flickered to illuminate her stubborn features.

"I want to" he said slowly "they need good men" his voice was foreign even to himself as he spoke the words, he watched her face change into a sort of desperation that he could not understand. Arya would never beg, he'd seen enough of her to know that, but he couldn't help but see the plea in her eyes, the plea to round up his sword and leave with her, to leave this idea of joining the brotherhood behind him- behind them. 'you can't leave her' a small imposing voice urged him 'she don't need you' a wiser voice reminded him.

"These men are brothers, they're a family" he reasoned, almost trying to convince himself- not sure if it was working, not sure of anything.

She looked at him with a steady gaze, her eyebrow caved in the way it always was, her cropped hair moving slightly with the rise and fall of her chest. He stared right back feeling as though he could see straight into her soul in that moment in the cold darkness- a darkness he had always lived in, that he should be use to by now- a darkness she seemed to disperse with her light, a light he was drawn to like burning steel supplicating the coolness of water, curious, greedy to be in the presence of her warmth, taking whatever he could get.

She turned abruptly, leaving him without another word. His heart quickened in a desperate panic, in torture to watch her go, for it to end just like that.

"I've never had a family" he confessed, hanging his head, ashamed of what? ashamed that he was no highborn, that he was only a bastard, that when she got home to winterfell she would not speak to him as she did now. He would knell to her and she would pass without a second glance- her hair would have grown by then, aye it would reach her shoulders, brown locks would frame her pretty face, they would sway as she passed, as she left.

"I can be your family" he almost laughed at the absurdity of it and almost suffocated with longing for it to be so. The peculiar mix of emotions caused there to be no sound, no anything as he stared at her. His head tilted on its own accord studying the cause for his sleepless nights, for his laughter, for his hope.

You are my family, you are my everything, there is nothing that you aren't to me, m'lady

"You wouldn't be my family" his blue eyes swept over her features, taking them in like a crumbling man in the desert takes water, memorizing every curve of her face, the shadows the bridge of her nose casts upon her cheekbones, how her eyebrows knit together in sadness, a sadness he wished he could chase away

"you'd be m'lady" he closed his eyes, breaking as he waited for her to storm out.

The air was still, it made him wonder if she had gone, did she look back at him from the door? Did she know he could not bear to follow her movements as she walked out? his eyes opened and he swallowed whatever had been clogging his airways, pressing tightly on his chest, dangerously close to his heart. He expected to see an empty spot where she had been, instead, his blue eyes clashed with her own blue-gray orbs, they were shining with emotion, her tiny fists were balled up, her nails digging into her palms.

"You Can't" she whispered, the fringe of hair on her forehead rustling with the breath of her words. She took a step towards him "you can't" she repeated, in a voice that held more strength and conviction than her first almost gasp.

Another step, "You Can't" she almost yelled, fiercely poking a finger in his chest. His head hung with an emotion he had never felt, it swept over him in a fatal swoop, he grabbed onto her wrist and she began to struggle against his constraint "I have to" he whispered, "I have to" almost a prayer to the gods that they stay together, that she stay with him.

"you must find your way, and I mine" her balled fists held less strength against his shoulders, he held her motionless against his chest, his face was buried in her hair as he breathed her in and out

"I love you" she said, turning her face to look straight into his eyes, piercing him. There was no question in her young voice, it did not wobble, her eyes did not waver from his

a moment passed before he spoke

"I love you" he said, no "too" attached for it was not just an answer to hers, it was a proclamation of his own, a declaration.

"Then don't leave me, Gendry, don't leave me" she clung to him, so sure that it was him, that she loved him. No one had even been sure of him, he had always been a risk- a bastard in the eyes of the world, but she- Arya, she was sure in him, she cared for him

"I won't" he vowed

Her warm hands found the edges of his face, she held him, their foreheads connecting, their breaths mingling, their hearts pounding.

"You are a stupid bull-headed boy" she laughed in relief, a sound so beautiful that he never wanted to stop, it filled the dark room as it filled every corner of his tired heart.

"Never let me go"