Gendry

Gendry had a lot of trouble trying to fall asleep that night. He did not know what possessed him to offer this girl to spend the night at his home. He had a feeling she was trouble from the moment he saw her. However, he still somehow wanted to be in her presence, and even though he first thought she was a boy, once they were both inside his apartment he realized that she looked nothing like a boy at all. Her light brown hair fell just above her shoulders covering the sides of her face. Her face was beautiful. It was long, had soft features, and she had the biggest eyes he's ever seen in the most beautiful shade of gray.

It must have been around 2 am when he heard the screeching that came with the opening of the door into his bedroom. Great, he thought, as if I needed another reminder of what a creep I am, now I get to see her in her pyjamas. It then hit him that she had nothing but her yellow satchel bag with her, so there was no way she even had any pyjamas on her. Shit! He quickly shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep. He could hear that she was making her way across the room, reaching for something at the coffee table, and then making her way over to the TV. Bright light filled the room as she turned the TV on.

By keeping the very corner of his left eye slightly open, he had a semi-decent view of what she was doing. At the moment, she was watching him. Wait, no, not watching him, more like checking him out. He suddenly became very aware of his current lack of clothes. He was very glad that tonight he decided to opt out of his usual sleeping attire – his nameday suit – and instead chose to wear his pyjama bottoms.

After what seemed to him like hours, Arry took her gaze off of him and back to the TV. As she sat there staring aimlessly at the flashing pictures across the screen he wondered if he should "awake" from his sleep and strike a conversation with her. He decided to go against it since she might be freaked out and think that he's been lying there watching her all this time. Guilty, he thought.

After some time he started to doze off only to be woken up by the sounds made from the sudden movements from across the room. She was fidgeting with the remote before captions appeared on screen. Gendry couldn't see what the captions read, but he did see a picture of Eddard Stark on the screen. He briefly met Mr. Stark a few weeks ago down at the shop, and heard of his arrest earlier in the day. Next to Mr. Stark's picture was a picture of a young girl. Gendry didn't clue in that the young girl on the TV was actually Arry, until he saw what looked like tears in Arry's eyes.

It made no sense to him. Why was her picture on the television next to Eddard Stark's? All he knew was that he was suddenly walking towards Arry. Trying to get her attention, he placed a hand on her shoulder, which made her turn around. Before he knew what was happening she was crying against his chest, and he found his other hand patting her gently on her head.

He held this girl he had just met a few hours earlier in a close embrace as she let out her sobs. He's never had a woman other than his late mother cry in front of him, and he was unsure of what else to do other than just be there for her. After a few minutes Arry stepped away from him and muttered a "sorry".

"Don't be sorry, Arry. Why are you crying?" he asked in a quiet and gentle tone. "Why was there a picture of you on the news?"

Suddenly she looked up at him, her gray eyes peering into his for what seemed like forever, only to look down at the ground afterwards.

"It's nothing," she muttered, sniffling her nose. "Listen, I need you to try and fix the bike now. I'll pay you double. Or triple! I know you said the engine needed changing, but I'm sure you can do something about the current one, right?"

"Arry, it's not that simple!" he said a little louder than he intended. "Listen, you need to tell me what's going on. Why on earth is KLPD looking for you? Are you really a thief like Hot Pie and Lommy – "

"I AM NOT A THIEF!" she screamed at him only to break out into another cry.

Shit. Okay, he definitely did not have control over this situation. He just made her cry. He patted her on the back as he began to speak.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just don't know what else to think. You come to my shop in the middle of the night, demand to have your bike repaired as soon as possible, ask me to open my home up to you, then I see you on the news and you – "

"I NEVER asked you to open your home up to me. YOU insisted. I was perfectly fine sleeping outside."

"Listen Arry, whatever it is we can figure it out," he began to say.

"STOP CALLING ME ARRY! My name is Arya, Arya Stark. And that," she said pointing at another shot of Eddard Stark on the TV, "that, is my father."

Gendry couldn't believe it. Of course he's heard of her. The rebellious daughter of the director of finances for Stag-O-Metal, only the most successful software company in all of Westeros. Although he didn't know what she looked like, he should've pieced two and two together. Young, rides a motorcycle, has a bit of a temper and that signature Northern look.

He didn't know what to say, instead he came closer to her trying to enclose her into another embrace.

She gave him a hard shove. He was surprised by her strength.

"GET AWAY!" she snapped. "NOW that you know my name, you're being nice to me? Well let me tell you one thing, whatever you think you know is wrong. The newscasters are lying. I had no involvement in this fraud. And neither did my father. He is innocent. The Lannisters are trying to frame us! If you even so much as think of turning me in, I will kill you, and that is a promise."

Her involvement in the fraud? What was she talking about? Perhaps that is why she is on the news. Will anyone actually believe that a teenager can be involved in a fraud? She may not act like it, and now that he has seen more of her, look like it, but deep inside she was still a child. She is a child who has had her father arrested and is now fleeing the city from the blond-haired family he has heard so many unpleasant things about.

At that moment Gendry realized that this girl needed his protection. He knew what he had to do. He went over to the kitchen counter, pulled out a pair of scissors out of a drawer, walked back to her and started cutting her hair even shorter than it already was.

The shock on her face was something he knew he would never forget.

"I'm not going to turn you in, and you are not going to kill me. I will make sure of your safe return to your family, and THAT is a promise, Arry."

A/N: I know, I know. I made Arya cry an awful lot in this chapter which I realize is a little ooc. But whatever, she made up for it by being extra loud and extra snappy :P Again, I'm not sure why, but as of now I enjoy writing from Gendry's perspective A LOT more. Maybe because Joe Dempsie is a total babe and I'm hopelessly in love with him (joking, kind of). Or maybe because I love Arya's character and so does Gendry, so I just love channelling my love for her through him, lol! Anyway, hope ya'll are enjoying the story thus far, please review if you get a chance!

PS. I hope everyone got the nameday suit reference… nameday=birthday, so nameday suit = birthday suit = nada.