Hey Everybody!
This was originally intended to be a one shot but now I'm thinking about continuing it so let me know whether I should not.
This is based off of the TV show, but to those you who read the book, I'm working my way through the first in the series right now! In this story I imagine Arya as around fourteen and Gendry around eighteen. I love them together but before you read this expecting a sex scene remember their ages, it is friendship with hopeful undertones of something more.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Games of Thrones book or tv series.
Enjoy!
Arya walked gingerly paying special attention to the raw blister that rubbed against the rough hewn leather of her shoe. Her foot throbbed but Arya set her lips and in a determined line and trudged on, trailing behind the band of men she was travelling with.
The forest loomed high around the small party, casting them in shadows. The temperature was dropping steadily the further north they reached. The gnarled branches twisted around one another giving them a sinister appearance. Ayra eyed them apprehensively. There was no telling what secrets they held. She took small comfort in the security the Wall provided. She brushed away the old wives' tales that were forming like cobwebs in her mind.
She caught one of the men destined for the Wall eyeing her. She glared out at him from under her short locks and spit on the dirt. She had no respect for criminals. They were the traitors, not her father.
Arya felt a sticky wetness clinging to her heel. The blister was bleeding. She looked around, there were no signs that they were stopping soon. She cursed under her breath and developed a stilted hobble in an attempted to soothe the blister.
From out of the corner of eye Gendry watched Arya's small hunched figure. His brow furrowed as he wondered what she was doing. He quickly connected the dots. Gendry dropped to Arya's side and nudged her with his shoulder.
" 'Arry," Gendry's eyes glinted with laughter, "What's got you walking like a stooped old man?"
Arya shot Gendry a dark look and straightened up despite her protesting blister. "I am perfectly alright." She said stiffly.
Gendry let out a deep low chuckle, "If you say so, 'Arry."
Arya quickened her pace and resumed her hunched position. The ache in her foot was now a stabbing constant pain. She had walked several meters before strong muscled arms wrapped around her thin frame and swept her feet out from under her.
Stunned into momentary silence Arya found herself staring at Gendry's backside, slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Her senses flooded back to her , "Put me down, you giant oaf!" Arya howled. "Now!" She lowered her voice lest she be discovered as a girl.
A few men turned their heads at Arya's curses but no one interfered. She could hear the deep laughter of a man on horseback.
Arya pounded Gendry's broad back with small clenched fists. "You are real angry for such a little one," Gendry smirked, paying no attention to Arya's blows.
She hung limp, trying a new tactic. She let all her weight hang in hopes of tiring and tricking Gendry into letting her down. "I am a bag of bricks, I am a bag of bricks," Arya repeated under her breath.
She could feel Gendry's body quake with laughter, "What's that you're muttering?"
"I am a bag of bricks," Arya said indignantly.
Gendry raised an eyebrow, "A bag of bricks, eh?"
"Yes, and soon you will tire and be forced to put me down." She quipped triumphantly.
Gendry shook his head. He often wondered where Arya came up with her nonsense. "You weigh about as much as a bag of feathers." He spoke the truth, now that she had stopped squirming he barely noticed the small girl slung over his shoulder except for her incessant complaints.
With the failure of her last strategy fresh in her mind, Arya resumed hitting Gendry. He seemed to mind it as much as one minds a passing fly. "Put me down, Gendry!" Arya commanded in her sternest voice.
Her words seemed to have down the trick. Gendry stopped short and dumped her unceremoniously on the ground. "As M'lady commands." He said a mischievous smile lighting up his features.
"I am not a lady!" Arya said angrily, looking up at him from the hard packed gravel of the road. She rubbed her newly bruised tailbone. She certainly did not look the part of a lady. Her short dirty hair hung over her bright eyes and her pale skin was almost unrecognizably. No one would mistake her for a lady now.
"So you've said." Gendry crouched down to Arya's level. She found herself studying his strong jaw, before her eyes were drawn down to his hand on her blistered foot.
She snatched it away but Gendry was too fast for her. "What are you doing?" Her eyes widened as he gently peeled off her shoe and then sock.
"If you won't let me carry you at least let me take a look," He shrugged like it was nothing. Arya reluctantly nodded her consent and he continued.
Gendry grimanced at the sight of the blister, it was a bright pink color crusted with dried blood and oozed slightly. "You don't let anything stop you, do you Arya?" Ayra's named tasted sweet and foreign on his tongue.
Without warning in one fluid motion Gendry removed his shirt. Arya's eyes were as round as saucers. She caught sight of broad shoulders and defined stomach muscles before she turned away red faced. She heard the loud rip of fabric.
Gendry hid his smile when he spotted the blush creep onto Ayra's cheeks. Sometimes he forget she was a girl. "Am I really that hideous?" He couldn't resist teasing the girl.
Arya crossed her arm and looked Gendry coolly in the eyes careful not to allow her gaze to lower. "A Lady shouldn't be in the presence of a half dressed man. It's improper." She sounded like Sansa to her own ears and a pang of homesickness crashed over her like a wave.
Gendry smirked, "It's a good thing you aren't a Lady," throwing her own words back at her. He took the strip of fabric and wound it around her heel.
His hands were rough from the years of working as a smith's apprentice and Arya was surpised by his gentle touch. When he finished he slid on her boot and pulled her to her feet.
The effect of the wrap was instantaneous. Although she had limited mobility in her ankle, the blister was no longer rubbing painfully against her shoe. Her annoyances forgotten, Arya looked up at Gendry and smiled, "Thanks."
Gendry pulled her his shirt over his head and shrugged on his leather vest. A half smile graced his lips, "Don't mention it, M'lady."
Arya shoved him playfully, "Shut it, bastard."She watched the smile spread across his face from out of the corner of her eyes.
It wasn't long before they caught up with their party. They were setting up camp in a small clearing and Gendry and Arya were immediately put to work. The men were uneasy and a silence had descended upon the camp broken only by the whispering of the prisoners amongst themselves.
Arya was tasked with bringing the prisoners their meager meal. She worked quickly, the hardened faces of the men made her nervous. The barred wagon was at the edge of the camp near the thickest of the wooded area.
She pushed the food in between the bars, "Well aren't you a pretty little boy," A man sneered and pushed his face against the bars. It was the same man who eyed her before.
Arya bared her teeth and narrowed her eyes, "Look all you like because it's the last thing you'll see before you freeze to death on the Wall."
The prisoner clutched his stomach and laughter boomed out of his mouth. Suddenly all traces of humor were gone from his face. "Watch out boy, talk like that and you might just lose a tongue or maybe…" He paused, "Your head."
Arya felt a sharp edge against her throat and an arm pulled her close. The men smelled of sweat and horse. Hot breath raised the hair on the back of her neck.
"One move and you're dead." Her captor whispered in her ear, his beard scratched her cheek. The prisoner was cackling like a madman, which perhaps he was. Armed men emerged from the wood and surrounded the camp. Arya, the knife stilled pressed to her throat, stumbled into the center of the clearing.
"Release the prisoners or the boy dies." It dawned on Arya, the man was referring to her. Her heart pounded in her chest. If only she could reach Needle.
Gendry's heart stopped when he say the bandit wrestling with a small struggling figure. Arya, he thought immediately. A fire burned in his chest when he saw the silver dagger pressed to her throat. Without a moment's thought he charged forward, no strategy, armed with only a sword and the thought of Arya's safety.
Thanks so much for giving my writing a chance! I hope you liked it. Please take the time to review, I accept constructive criticism. If you want me to continue this let me know!