"Lady Stark"
His voice is unusually hard and there is more than a hint of angriness on it, something that surprises her, even when it shouldn't. A quick look over the people that were in the meeting tells her that she is not the only one and for a moment, her heart is warm to know he leads with good temper. Arya doesn't look at him, but nods in his direction enough to let him know she is listening. When nothing happens for a few seconds of tense silence, she is forced to look up and meet bright blue.
"I need to speak with Lady Stark" This time, his tone is colder, more serene, but angry still. No one makes a move until Davos clears his throat obviously and then it's a sea of half bows while everyone almost runs to leave them alone. The sound of the door closing is the last thing she hears for a while, but neither of them move or look away from each other. This is the confrontation she had being waiting for, the one she knew it was coming, what makes not entirely unprepared for the argument that surely will follow.
"Care to tell me what the hell do you think you are doing?" It's slightly weird that he is almost at point to scream at her, but Arya doesn't let anything show in her face. A valid question, a good starting point.
"A treaty to get food and things from beyond the sea. They would be helpful for…"
"You have no right to do that!" That makes her close her mouth instantly, assessing him with her eyes. He seems like he is about to start shaking, his arms close to his chest and his hands closed. It's almost burning her to not move closer to him, to reach for his arms and caress them until he relaxes. Gendry could be a Baratheon in name now, but that angry look on his face does not belong there, not when he is with her. Still, the girl doesn't move and waits two beats until she tries to speak with him again.
"I wasn't going to do anything without consulting with you" He is the lord after all.
He doesn't seem to care about what she has to say, because he is shaking his head quickly. "Who do you think you are, Arya? That just because you are a highborn you can come and barge directions cause you feel like it? That you can hear my people and offer them solutions even when you are not going to be here to see them unfold? That's not how this works!" He comes a step closer and Arya would lie if she said his words don't hurt her, because they are true. It would also be a lie that the way he speaks make something come alive in her belly, something that was long forgotten since she left Westeros. She is glad that he seems to not be over. "They are not your people!" She knows what he really means, but she closes her eyes and hopes he doesn't explain, but he does.
"You didn't want them to be" Even when her eyes don't look at him, she knows his expression has soften into plain and sincere hurt. You didn't want me. The true meaning of that lingers between them and for all the gods, she wants to tell him that is a lie. That there was nothing that she wanted more than him, than to stay, but death had taken too much of her and there were parts of herself that she needed back before that.
For how explosive they were back then, in another time, their fight is full of long moments of silence. This time, he is the one to break it.
"Arya" This time he sounds pleading, defeated, and she has to open her eyes and look at him. There are so many emotions written on his expression and she knows that she is the one causing them all. "You didn't want this"
Did she?
When she was little, Arya wanted to be a lord. Even when she didn't understand a thing of what was happening, the image of her father talking with everyone mesmerized her, burned in her memory. Later, her only want was to survive, but there was a little part of her that knew she would have to take the North if everyone else was dead. She always thought Gendry and Hot Pie would help her with it.
Again, her words fail her, because nothing comes out of her mouth.
The responsibility is not the reason why she refused him, but the completely sureness of her death in King's Landing. Then it was the need to find herself, to grow, before she could settle anywhere. It has never being about the people and even less, about him.
"I do now"
There is so much more explaining she has to do, but as soon as she speaks, something shifts in Gendry. His eyes scan her, like he is trying to find something out of place in her, but when he doesn't, they stay in her face. Arya waits, not really sure for what, and tries to not even breath too loud. Whatever he is thinking or meditating, it seems like it's going to turn her world.
And it does.
In half a second, he has cross the space between them and taken her face in his hands, slamming his face against hers. It's intense, so full of everything that she has to hold his arms to steady herself. It's too much, but Arya gives as good as she takes and a moment later, he is lifting her up and holding her close to him. His hands are rough and the way they hold her is for sure going to leave a mark on her skin. It doesn't matter, not even in the slightest, because Arya has dreamed with this so many times since she went away that she can barely think this is real. He is there, so entirely hers.
A moan comes out of her lips as he moves down to her neck, to the place where he can feel her pulse against his mouth. Then, another comes out of him as her hand finds its way down to his pants. Many other come as they press against each other, still fully clothed but with wondering hands all over, filling the room with sounds they are not conscious they are doing.
Everyone else is, apparently.
There is a knock on the door that neither of them register, then a lot more until Davos's muffled voice comes out from the other side. "Lord Gendry!" He never calls him like that, what makes Gendry move slightly away from Arya's neck, pressing his forehead against her as he tries to catch his breath.
"Davos" He sounds irritated, what makes Arya chuckle slightly.
"It would be wise…" He starts like all the times he is going to ask him to do something, but doesn't want to say it right away. "It you would try to keep your… Meeting a little more private. The castle…"
"Davos" Gendry's voice comes a little calmer, pressing a quick kiss on Arya's cheek. "Make everyone go away, please" Arya can hear the indignant noise the other man does on the other side of the door and for the way Gendry's cheeks are slightly red, she knows he will be embarrassed as soon as the blood goes to his brain, but she can't help but laugh openly.
He has a smile on his face when he kisses her again. A real smile.
This took forever to write!
In the next one: Sex doesn't solve anything IF YOU DON'T TALK.
