A Name Is A Dangerous Thing
Summary: Five times Arya is tempted to tell Gendry her name and the one time she does.
A/N: This is a sequel to my fic Addicted, which is chapter 4 in Moments, from axgweek 2013. This is for axgweek 2014, prompt tempted. There's some description of death and blood so if you trigger easily skip this one.
1.
Arya has learned it's best not to get attached to people. The people she gets attached to tend to end up dead. Which is why she's been careful, making acquaintances, but never anyone who would consider her a friend and wonder where she goes for weeks or months at a time.
That's why she's starting to struggle with Gendry. When she first met him at that bar she picked him purely for his size, she knew some Lannister thugs were following her, and she needed to hide, and he happened to be an excellent wall of flesh to hide behind. Even drunk he was a good kisser, holding her pressed against the wall, it was easy to lose herself to the moment, she was allowed to enjoy physical contact every once in awhile.
So imagine her surprise when she went to pick up her week's supply of weed to sell to find the guy sitting on Hot Pie's couch. Normally she just gives Hot Pie last week's profits and picks up the new supply and leaves. She started selling for him partially for the extra cash but also for the access it gave her to the people in the drug scene. They often knew things that she needed, like where and when certain gang members would be.
This time though she lets Hot Pie introduce her to his friends, most of them were super baked, so she didn't really care about them, but she found out his name, Gendry, and smiled, maybe she would get a repeat of the other night.
Her job at the strip club was also for the purposes of her list. She found out through some of her regular clients that it was considered a neutral place for the families to do business. She was able to swing a bartending/waitressing gig pretty easily and has since been determining her current target's, the accountant, schedule and habits.
The crowd was being especially rowdy tonight and after she dropped off another round she looked and saw none other than Gendry, hunched near the bar trying to make himself smaller. As she made her way over she had to avoid some reaching hands and made it while the manager was talking to him. It clicked that he must be here for the open bouncer position.
She spoke when she slid next to them, "Hello again, Gendry." The manager rose his eyebrows, a smile taking over the current frown on his face.
"Ahh! You know our Cat here do you?"
"Cat?" He looked at her and Arya smiled, knowing he thought her name was Weasel.
"Yes, we know each other, Gendry is a friend of mine, he would be good security for us." The manager nodded, accepting this recommendation without question.
He turned to Gendry and instructed, "Show up tomorrow night to get trained, and you'll start next week with three nights a week." And with that, he walked off, leaving him standing there with Arya.
She knew she wanted a chance to see him in private again so she told him, "I get off at two, I'll be outside waiting for you." She turned and left him, running by the newly sat table to get their drink orders, and got far too many "I'll have one of you, baby," in response.
She spent the rest of the evening scoping out her target, where he sat in one of the large booths in the back. He handled all the Frey's and Bolton's cash flow, and she wanted very much to interrupt it, it helped that he was a piece of scum human being too. A lot of his patrons came through the club to make their payments and to purchase their 'insurance' meant to protect them from other gangs.
By the time her shift ended she had a plan in mind to take him out, now she only needed the right timing to put it in motion. She grabbed her coat and exited the building, she spotted Gendry and walked over to his car, sliding in the passenger seat. Before he drove off he turned to her and asked, "Where too, m'lady."
She snorted, and tried to keep the smile off her face, "Don't call me that." Leaning over she punched his arm from across the seat, and grinned when she saw him wince a bit. "Your place." She never had anyone over at her place, because she didn't really have a place, she had several places where she stayed, none of which were ever really home.
They drove in silence for a bit before Gendry spoke again, "So, what should I call you? Weasel, Cat?"
"Call me Cat at work, Weasel around Hot Pie." She didn't want him to accidentally confuse the other people she knew.
"And when we're alone? What should I call you then?"
"You can call me Arry, if you'd like." She would give him that, the closest she could get to giving him her name, it would be so nice to be called Arya again but she couldn't take that risk.
He parked behind a shabby looking apartment building, and she followed him up the third floor. He hovered after she followed him in, and she walked passed to lean against the couch, pulling off the ridiculously high heels she wears at the club. She walked up to him and he let out a laugh, presumably at how she barely reached his shoulders.
She glowered at him, "Are you just gonna laugh all night or are we going to make out?" The laugh stopped but he moved, lurching forward to grab her hips, lifting her up to sit on the top of the couch. When he leaned into kiss her he overshot and they fell over the back of the couch, she twisted during the fall and he hastened to follow, tumbling until his back hit the floor and she landed on top of him. They spent the rest of the night in dishevelment around the apartment.
Throughout the entire night every time Gendry moaned out "Arry" all she could think about was how great it would sound if he was said Arya instead.
2.
Next time Arya is at the club, one of the girls starts talking about this regular on her other night that has the most beautiful voice.
Laughing the woman says, "He spends the whole time singing, and is voice is like honey, but his cash really sings my song."
Arya questions dubiously, "If he's a singer, how does he have that much cash?"
The woman laughs again, "Oh Cat, he's not a singer full time, he's a cop! A dirty one too, he works for one of the families, you know, covering for them."
Arya nodded, but a month later, when an open shift opens up the night the Dareon normally shows up, Arya takes it. He sings to her when she takes his order, and easily hands over his ID when she says she has to check it. She memorizes the address and gives him his drinks, and even throws in a giggle when he sings her praises the rest of the evening.
Later, she goes to see Gendry, as she normally does when she's about to go hunting. He greats her like he usually does, with enthusiastic kisses, and they fuck on his kitchen table. After, when she leaves, she doesn't tell him when she'll be back, and he doesn't ask. She also doesn't tell him she'll miss him, even though she's tempted too.
She follows Dareon around for two weeks, breaking into his apartment to learn all she can about him. She had a moment of shock when she discovered his old district. He used to work with her brother Jon, but was recently transferred here on assignment. From what she could find, he only started working for the Lannister's recently, after he arrived here, virtually deserting any values he once had as a cop.
As she followed him, she noticed he spent a lot of time at whorehouses, and seemed to also be selling confiscated heroin on the side. So when Dareon showed up the next morning, throat slit and bloated from being dumped in the river. Well, those heroin addicts will do anything for a fix.
She was asleep in Gendry's bed long before his body was found though. And when Gendry came home to find her there, he looked like he was about to ask her where she'd been. So she preemptively silenced him by kissing him, tugging and pulling at his clothes until they were naked and her mind was blank of anything but where they were connected.
Because if she had let him ask her, she honestly didn't know what she would've said. Because she wanted to tell him what she was doing, she wanted to tell her who she was. But, she couldn't, so she'll keep kissing him into silence.
3.
Arya had returned to her job as Cat, resuming her observation of the accountant. He was an independent accountant, who kept track of at least three of the Lannister's minor affiliates accounts. He also was responsible for selling 'insurance' to local shop owners. He would set up camp in one of the more private back booths. There his clients would come, under the pretense of watching the dancers, and swing by to pay him.
As she watched she noticed a peculiar habit he had of sniffing the money after he received it. After several more weeks of watching, she picked one of his customers who enjoyed drinking more than the others. One night, she 'borrowed' his wallet, switching out one of his hundred dollar bills with one of her own. When he noticed his wallet was missing, she came over ducking to the ground in front of him and reaching under his table. While he was distracted from looking at her ass, she pulled out his wallet, coming up and innocently asking if it was his.
He took it, and after a quick glance inside smiled at her, and leeringly, ordered another drink. Later, she watched as he went to the back of the room, pulling out his hundred for the following month of 'protection' and offering it to the accountant. Sure enough, the man lifted it, and took a big sniff, before slipping it into his folder and checking a name off his list.
Later, she heard from one of her pothead clients, he collapsed in his lavish apartment, from a heart attack. It was unfortunate, but at his age and weight, not unheard of.
After she went almost victorious to see Gendry, picking up food from a Chinese place near his apartment and giving him a brief kiss before entering the apartment and sitting down at his table, pulling out the containers.
He seemed confused, but happy, joining her and fighting over the last wanton. As she sat there and laughed, she realized this was the most normal moment she's had in years. But when he called her Arry, she was reminded that she wasn't normal, that she couldn't be normal until she was finished.
But maybe, just maybe, when she was finished, she could be normal with Gendry. Oh how she wanted what they had to be real, for him to call her Arya in the morning when they woke up together, instead of Arry, or Cat, or anything else.
4.
Arya had been Mercy for several months now, anticipating the moment her target arrived at the theater. The theater was a rather run down place in Chinatown, but she had it on good authority that Raff "The Sweetling" would be arriving as guard to one of the Lannister's monkey boys.
Taking out Raff wouldn't put much of a dent into the Lannister's plans, but it would give her a certain pleasure. He was one of their many foot soldiers, he was good, and cruel, but they would find others to replace him easily.
The thing about Raff though, was she's met him before, many years ago. He killed one of her companions, a boy with a limp leg, and Raff put a whole through his neck without any hesitation. He wasn't the brightest, or nicest boy, but that didn't matter to Raff.
It mattered to Arya though, so when the Lannister's front accountant, the one who handled the Lannister's Buy/Sell Gold business, had to step in for a bit to collect payments at the club. Arya knew she wouldn't get a better chance to take out his guard. While serving them, she overheard him complaining about how he was going to be sent to try and negotiate with another family's accountant in a shitty theater in Chinatown.
She knew Raff would accompany him, so she went the next day to scope the place out. As luck would have it, they were holding auditions the following week for the new play. She showed up and performed just good enough to get an ensemble spot. From then on she split her time between the theater and the club. She barely saw Gendry during this time, only when their shifts overlapped, but even then they never had time to talk only getting away once in awhile for a quickie in the back room.
She was given a small part, the girl who gets raped in the play, and spent the rest of the time running errands around the theater for the main cast and crew. Through this she got to know the theaters layout quite well, and knew where the good hide-a-ways were.
When opening night came, Arya went about the day as Mercy would, doing last minute costume fixes, and making sure the lead wasn't too drunk he forgot his lines. When the play started, she slipped away, climbing up to the boxes where she knew she would find her target. She brought the front man drinks, and then smiled up at Raff, winking at him as she went to leave the room. She hovered outside the box and heard him murmuring excuses to the other guard.
When he exited he smirked at seeing her leaning against the wall. She blushed, and grabbed his hand, pulling him so he was forced to trot behind her to one of her out of the way spots. Once inside the room, he pressed her against the wall and started kissing her. Under the guise of going for his belt, she slipped out her knife and sliced deep into his thigh, cutting his artery.
She hid the knife and pulled her hand up in mock shock at seeing the blood. He fell to the ground, and when he suggested she carry him to get help, she repeated the words he spoke so long ago, and put a hole in his neck.
After, she cleaned up and hurried backstage, she was about to go on, and Mercy couldn't miss her only line.
Later, after the show ended and the stage reset to the beginning, Arya left, ditching her Mercy clothes and identity. Finding her way back to Gendry's, climbing up the fireplace and in through his window. She kissed him awake, she kissed him until he lay shuddering beneath her, she kissed him until she could no longer feel those vile lips on her, until she no longer cared what he was calling her.
5.
When Hot Pie told her the news, she almost broke character and yelled in frustration. She had swung by to pick up an order when she saw the guys all watching the news, for a change. She walked over, stood behind where Gendry was seated on the couch, and rested her hands on his shoulder.
When she asked what was going on, Hot Pie piped up, "It's all over the news, Arya Stark was found and is marrying Ramsey Bolton. One of her adopted brothers is going to walk her down the aisle and everything." Arya's hand clenched hard into Gendry's shoulder, and his hand came up to wrap around hers.
She bit out, "I thought Bolton didn't have any kids."
Hot Pie explained, oblivious to her anger, "Oh yeah, he legitimized him not too long ago, his bastard son." He finally turned and looked curiously at Arya, "You never watch the news or something, Weasel? It was on just last month."
Last month she was killing Raff, so she must have missed it. But she smiled at him, saying only, "The world is a shitty place. I don't need the news to remind me." She leaned forward to give Gendry a kiss on his temple, and picked up her empty bag, heading towards the door.
"Hey, wait, let's go get you some product." Hot Pie said, following her.
She looked back at him and shook her head. "Not this week, I've got some things to take care of." Hot Pie nodded, used to her taking time off.
She was out the door and halfway to her bike when Gendry came running out after her, "Arry, Arry! Wait up." She paused at her bike, and Gendry jogged up next to her, looking concerned. "You're leaving again aren't you?"
She looked up at him face blank, "Yeah." She stated simply.
His gaze turned frustrated, "You're not going to tell me where you're going, are you?" she shook her head no, "What about when you'll be back?" Another head shake. He looked angry now, and Arya felt horrible, she would love to tell him, but she wasn't an idiot, how exactly would he react if she told him she had to go kill someone.
She went to swing her leg over her bike, and his hand came up to grab her upper arm. "Why won't you tell me anything, Arry?"
She pulled him down into a kiss, putting all her feelings into it, telling him what she could without words before pulling away and seating herself. "I just can't, not yet." She turned the ignition and pushed up the kickstand, pulling away before he could ask her for more.
She traveled for the first time since she was nine, north, all the way to her families estate, which through some loophole, the Boltons had claimed as their own. She stopped and got a room in Wintertown, and there she waited.
She waited until the town filled with people who came for the wedding, she waited until the bar's filled and then emptied, she waited because everyone was happy to have a Stark back in Winterfell. Soon though, after the wedding was done, the rumors started, how horrible Ramsey was, and how without his father still here to put him on a lease, he had free reign, and used it to beat his poor new wife.
The real Arya wouldn't stand for that though, and since she spent her childhood here, she knew better than anyone her way around. So one night she snuck into the estate, making her way through the halls to the master bedroom. She took on the appearance of a serving girl and entered the room. They were both sleeping, the poor girl had tears dried on her cheeks, with darkening bruises surrounding her eyes and a cut lip that was still bleeding as she worried it in her sleep.
She went to the other side of the bed and gazed down at her should be husband. Even in sleep he looked vile, handsome in the physical sense, she supposed, but his face rested in a scowl, and she imagined his eyes were cold. She slipped her knife from her sleeve, it was long and thin, almost like a large needle. She looked around the room until she spotted a heavy looking paper weight on the desk. She grabbed it, returning to her place next to the bastard. She lifted her knife, placing it above his temple, pointed towards the back of his head. She raised the weight and swung down, driving the weapon through his skull and into his brain. Ramsey's eye's opened instinctively but he made no sound. She placed the weight down on the side table and pulled the knife from his head, allowing him to bleed out. She wiped her knife on the blanket and returned the weight to the desk, wiping it of any prints or blood.
She took one final look of her victim, his eyes staring blankly out at her, lifeless at last. She slipped from the room, exiting the property as she entered. When she came down for breakfast at the inn the next morning, she acted just as shocked as the other guests to hear about how poor Arya awoke screaming to find her husband dead in a pool of blood.
+1
She was curled up on Gendry's couch when he walked in. She heard him pause before dropping his keys into the bowl and toeing off his shoes. He walked around the couch and sat next to her, threading his fingers through her hair.
"Ramsey Bolton is dead." He stated, hand still gently running through her hair.
"I know." Arya said, still looking straight ahead at the blank TV.
"They're saying that his wife was an impersonator."
"They're right." Her head turned to look at him, and his hand drifted to her cheek, thumb rubbing circles on her cheekbone.
"Despite what you say, I'm not an idiot." He sighed out, taking his hand back to himself and placing it on his lap.
Arya sat up, and tucked her legs into her body, hugging them close. She looked deep into his eyes, and she found she couldn't do this anymore, she was so sick of lying. "I know, how did you figure it out?"
He shook his head, "I still haven't figured anything out, but if you're on the run from one of the families, then I can help you," he said imploringly.
She smiled sadly at him, "I'm not on the run from them, not anymore." She took a deep breath, and finally told him what she's been tempted to for the last year, her real name. "My name isn't Arry, it's Arya, Arya Stark."
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