The Bear and Maiden Fair Brewpub and Tavern was located on the northwest side of Kings Landing, in an area that had originally been mostly blue-collar, working class type families. The streets twenty, hell, even five years ago had still been lined with shops catering to the daily needs of its residents - a corner grocery, bakery, post office, the normal every day things. In the time it took for Gendry to move away from the area down to Storms End for university and move back, the rising cost of living in Kings Landing was forcing hoards of young professionals away from downtown and other neighborhoods and into his old stomping grounds. There were new stores popping up between the old ones, gradually filling up the two main cross streets with health food stores, pay-by-the-ounce frozen yogurt and cupcake shops, an Urban Outfitters, an upscale Dornish tapas restaurant, you name it. Perhaps most unexpected, The Bear and the Maiden Fair had added 'brewpub' to its name, added a bunch of standard pub food and mounted televisions all over.
He had a job at a graphic design agency located downtown, and he guessed he couldn't complain too much, since just like the rest of them, he'd also moved to that neighborhood to escape the downtown housing costs, not just because he grew up there. The Bear was his favorite spot, his mother had worked a second job there when he was younger and he'd spent many hours sitting at the counter doing his homework. Nowadays, he was there at least twice a week after work, not for dinner, but he simply wanted to get a pint, maybe a plate of chips and salsa, and watch the hockey game on one of the many big screens.
The only issue was that there was no way in the seven hells he was he'd be caught dead cheering on the Crownland Stags. He was used to being the only person rooting for the Winterfell Direwolves. Hockey was big at his school in Storms End, and his freshman year he had watched the Direwolves play a charity game against their minor league affiliate, the Storms End Lightning, and he was head over heels for them since then.
He was getting frustrated at this evening's game, and then just at the beginning of the second period one of the referees blew their whistle, waved his arms to indicate "high sticking" and "Winterfell," and Gendry slammed his fist down on the counter when the two minute penalty was announced.
"Come on! What the hell?! Two minutes for high sticking? I'll show you godsdamned high sticking!"
It was almost like in a movie. Where someone yells and automatically it's like all the sound is vacuumed out of the room, and the crowd turns in unison to stare. Across the bar he saw a young girl standing up yelling, practically fuming over the ref's call. She wore a grey and white Winterfell jersey with the name STARK across the back and the number 11 below it. Don't see too many Stark jerseys with Ned's number on it these days, he thought. It's all golden boy number 3 Robb now. She was small, he'd noticed since the jersey was practically a dress on her, her short wavy hair spun around in an unruly manner as she shook her fist at the television, and from even thirty feet away he could see something feisty and fiery in the way her eyes lit up in shock. Before he knew what he was doing, he'd picked up his beer and walked over to the booth where she had finally sat down.
"Listen," she started, not bothering to look up and acknowledge him, "I'm sorry if my loudness is interrupting your meal, it's just, well, that call was -"
"That call was shit, was what it was."
She looked up and smile at him, like she'd finally found someone that understood. "Wanna sit down?" she asked, scooting over on the booth, obviously meaning for him to sit on the same side as her so they could both see the big screen. "I figure that maybe us Winterfell fans gotta stick together."
Oh, what the hell? You've been coming to this bar all the time and this is the first time that any girl has wanted to talk to you... and it just happens to be an attractive one who likes Winterfell.
"'Specially in a Stags bar," Gendry replied and took the seat offered. He introduced himself, learned her name was Arya, but there wasn't as much time for small talk when they were busy yelling at the Direwolves to keep it together during the Stags' power play. He was having a hard time concentrating on the game, when it was much more fascinating to watch her get all worked up, or follow her eyes as they raced along with the puck on the screen, or listen to her whisper, "Come on, Robb, godsdammit you can do this," as he broke away with the puck. It was satisfying to watch Robb Stark get a short-handed goal, but it was even better to cheer along with Arya and help drown out all the groans and boos from the rest of the crowd.
She had jumped up and out of her seat, not much taller than Gendry even though he was sitting down, and then wrapped her arms around him in a messy hug, yelling something along the lines of, "Yes! In your face, Kings Landing!" but he wasn't sure when all he could concentrate on was how close she was to him all of a sudden. A second later, the puck dropped again and she removed her arms from around his shoulders and sat back down, but not before flagging a waitress for two more beers.
He noticed now that the jersey she wore wasn't a new reproduction - usually those were just retired players' names sewn on the back of whatever the current jersey style happened to be. The one she wore was older, a bit faded, and looked like it had seen better days. Gods, what I wouldn't give for a Ned Stark jersey.
"Not too often you see someone with a Ned Stark jersey," Gendry mentioned during a time out towards the end of the second period. They hadn't made much real conversation at all, they were all loud cheers, harassing the ref, or finding different names to call the Stag players. "Especially one from that era. You know how much those go for on eBay, yea?"
"Well, it's not too often to you see someone in Kings Landing who doesn't root for a Stag or a Lion," she teased. "And yes, I do know how much they go for on eBay. I'm never getting rid of this one though... my dad gave it to me, as a present, years ago. He's not, umm... he passed away, a few years back," she added quietly.
"Hey," he started to say as he sat a bit closer, and maybe against his better judgment grabbed a hold of her left hand that was resting on the booth. "I know. I lost my mom my junior year of university," he said. He took a second to unbutton his work shirt, fully knowing that he was confusing her, but he watched her eyes widen when he reached inside his t-shirt and pulled out a gold seven-pointed star necklace. "It was hers. Don't think I believe in any of it, but that doesn't really matter. I think they'd both want us to enjoy the game though."
"He would," she agreed as the puck dropped again at the end of the time out. "And he'd be over the moon if he'd witnessed Robb's goal. Fuck me, that was awesome."
The last five minutes of the second period were shaping up to be the most exciting the game had seen so far. Arya and Gendry were as loud as they'd ever been, until the Stags forward Blount skated full-force into Direwolf number 45 Umber, cross-checking him into the glass. Both Arya and Gendry jumped to their feet to watch as the rest of both teams rallied around them, sticks were thrown to the wayside, gloves were yanked off, and punches started to fly.
They were both too busy yelling at a nearby table of middle-aged men in Stag t-shirts to notice the general manager walking up from behind.
XxXxX
Five minutes later, they were outside, sitting on the curb underneath an orange street light.
"I cannot believe you got us kicked out of The Bear... shit, I've been coming to this place since before I could see over the counter," Gendry said. He wasn't angry, he'd had an amazing time so far that evening, but knew that getting kicked out was only going to make the time with her come to a close sooner.
"I did not get us kicked out, if anything it was you and your... Wait. Before you could see over the counter?"
He nodded. "My mom used to work here. I'd come after school to do my homework. Wasn't into hockey then, but this place wasn't exactly a sports bar fifteen years ago."
"I'd never have guessed," she said. "I've been into hockey all my life. Raised on the ice, actually. Some of my best memories are playing pond hockey in the winter with my brothers, even my sister would join in, but I think she really just wanted to be a figure skater. I grew up in Winterfell... played high school hockey and some at UW Winterfell, before I transferred down here, but I was nowhere near as good as my brothers or my dad..."
They sat in silence for another moment or so, until Arya looked over at the time on her phone and finally stood up off the curb.
"So, I figure we've got about ten minutes before the third period starts. You wanna come over and watch the rest of the game? I'm just a block or two away."
He watched as she reached her hand out to him, as if a hundred pounds of her could possibly help him stand up, but he took it anyways. In for a silver, in for a dragon, he thought, a phrase his mother used to always say to him. She surprised him when she didn't drop his hand immediately after he stood, instead she clung to it until they arrived at the front entrance to her building.
She bent down to get the mail out of the little metal box on the wall next to the door, which was when Gendry noticed the name tag below her apartment number.
"Holy shit...," he managed to eke out. It's official. I am the stupidest person in all of Westeros.
"Finally figured it out, huh?" she asked. Arya grabbed her mail, shoving it into her messenger bag and locking the mailbox door again. "... took ya long enough."
"Your father is Ned Stark... the Ned Stark... and that jersey... that's his jersey..." Gendry knew he must've looked awful, mouth hanging open and staring at her incredulously.
"Oh, don't go all fanboy on me now, Gendry," she said, pretending to pout. "And just when I was starting to think I liked you."
Forming a coherent sentence was not something he was able to do at that moment. He was too busy processing everything that had happened that night, from meeting another Direwolves fan randomly in Kings Landing, watching Robb Stark - her brother - make a short-handed goal, to getting kicked out of the bar for being too rowdy, to ...wait. Did she just say she likes me?
Gendry felt her hand grab his again and he looked down at her. "Seven hells, Gendry, snap out of it," she said as she opened the door to her building, tugging him along with her. He followed a step behind her on the stairs. "You've got plenty of time to worship my Winterfell hockey memorabilia later, but I swear to all the gods that if you make me miss any of the third period, you will regret it."