He couldn't remember the last time a woman had left him this breathless; because Gendry was absolutely certain that the lack of air in his lungs was not from their frantic dash down the street but from the woman running beside him.
Even though he was quite a bit taller than her Arya's fast pace was able to keep up with his much longer strides with ease and they were only half a block away from Theon when he darted down an alley. They followed after him and Gendry could feel his heart pounding, out of anticipation rather than exertion. He had only been waiting for this moment for a few hours, Arya had been waiting a whole year. He couldn't even imagine how fast her heart had to be beating right now.
There was a chain link fence at the end of the dark alleyway and Theon bounded up to the top of it easily. He was just straddling the top when a gun went off in Gendry's ear and orange paint appeared on the leg of Theon's dark jeans. He swore loudly as Gendry blinked in surprise. He'd seen Arya take much harder shots than that so he didn't understand how she could have missed.
He dared to sneak a glance at her from the corner of his eye and at the sight of her smirking at Theon he realized that she had shot Theon in the leg on purpose. She was playing with him like a cat with a mouse. Now, even if he got off the fence, he wouldn't be able to run away.
"It's over." Arya said calmly as she took slow deliberate steps forward. She didn't look very concerned about the fact that Theon still had his own gun pointed at her. Gendry kept pace with Arya carefully, he didn't trust the bitter look on Theon's face and he knew he would fire his gun at any moment. Arya had played intently all game; he didn't understand why she was doing differently now.
"Admit that you got lucky last year." Arya demanded when she was mere feet away from Theon, glaring up at where he perched precariously above them.
Theon let out a harsh bark of laughter. "You're never going to let that go are you?"
Arya didn't answer and even though Gendry had only known her for a matter of hours even he knew the answer to that question was no.
Theon rolled his eyes as Gendry waited with bated breath for whatever was going to happen next. He kept Theon in his crosshairs even though he knew that there was only one way in seven hells he was going to be taking that shot. He spared another glance at Arya, silently pleading with her to shoot Theon so that she could get her revenge and this all could be over. He didn't think that his heart could handle much more stress.
Gendry had no idea how they managed to do this every year.
"Admit it." Arya repeated; her voice low like a growl.
Theon simply laughed once again as he gave her a careless shrug. "Never." He grinned at them manically as he gestured at both of them with his gun. "Let's get this over with. You know I'll take one of you with me."
"You can't take us both." Arya agreed, her gun never wavering even as Theon teetered on the fence, all of his weight being supported on one leg that was now getting shaky. Gendry wondered if it would be considered a dick move to shoot him in that leg just to wipe the smug grin off his face.
Hysterical laughter peeled from Theon's lips and Gendry's mouth suddenly felt like it was filled with sawdust. He knew that it was just a game, just a silly game that the players took far too seriously, but a game nonetheless. But when he watched Theon aim his gun at Arya his blood felt like it had turned to led and he knew that he could not stand to watch her get shot, game or no game.
Gendry watched with a sickening feeling in his gut as Theon's finger squeezed the trigger. Before he even realized what he was doing Gendry leaped, throwing his body in front of Arya. The paintball hit him square in the stomach and Gendry landed on the pavement in a heap with a groan. That was going to leave a mark.
The sound of his groan was lost in a loud crash and even though Gendry knew it was likely against the rules he turned his head to investigate the sound. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Theon laying on the ground, his fingers covered in the orange paint now dripping off his chest as he let out dramatic gaps like he'd been shot with a real bullet.
Gendry looked at Arya in surprise as he realized that him jumping in front of her should have blocked her shot of Theon. He should have been hit in the back by her bullet unless...Gendry smiled to himself as he realized that Arya must have seen him move from the corner of her eye and known that he was going to jump in front of her. She'd had a fraction of a second to decide to change her gun's aim on a guess, thankfully it had worked.
Arya looked down at him then with a smug smirk as she rolled her eyes at Theon's watery gasps. "He's always been the most dramatic."
Theon ignored her callous remark, reaching his hand out in her direction, his fingers shaking like leaves in the wind. Gendry had to admit he was a bit impressed by his performance. "Tell my family I love them." he gasped before letting his hand drop to the pavement and falling still. He stared at Gendry unblinkingly for an unnervingly long time as Arya rolled her eyes again and kicked his foot lightly with her own.
"Tell them yourself." she said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to take pictures of both men on the ground at her feet.
All three of their phones went off as she sent the pictures to the group chain.
Arya looked down at Theon and even from his angle on the pavement Gendry could see the smug grin on her lips. "Game over."
XxX
By the time the three of them made it the last eight blocks to the rental house Theon had his arms around both her and Gendry's shoulders and was regaling them all with the tale of how his team had managed to shake off Bran earlier that morning with no casualties.
Arya rolled her eyes at his antics and his exaggerated storytelling, catching Gendry's eye over Theon's shoulder. She couldn't help but smile as he rolled his eyes back at her in response.
At least his stories helped pass the time and before she knew it Theon was swinging the door to the rental house open, loudly proclaiming, "Make way for Arya Stark! Slayer of the greatest player to ever live and this year's champion!"
Arya rolled her eyes again so hard that it felt like they might fall out of their sockets and she stepped into the crowded house to frenzied cheers. She beckoned Gendry after her when she realized that he was still standing unsurely in the doorway.
"How exactly are you the greatest player to ever live if she killed you Greyjoy?" Ygritte asked curiously as she came and slapped Arya heartily on the back. Rickon jumped up from the couch he was sitting on with Shireen to wrap her in a big hug that Arya happily returned.
"I killed her last year!" Theon cried, taking the drink out of Robb's hand, ignoring his protests and downing it in a gulp.
"It was a fluke!" Arya cried and much to her chagrin several other voices joined hers on the statement. She tried to fight back a blush but judging from the look her father was giving her she didn't think it worked very well.
"Who is your addition?" Ned Stark asked, surveying Gendry up and down. Arya suddenly felt like the room was much too crowded and she ducked out from the arm Ygritte still had around her shoulders to grab the soda out of Bran's hands just to give her own hands something to do. When he started to protest Arya held up her arm so he could see the paint he'd left on her sleeve. She knew it was a cheap move but he let her have the soda so she was okay with it.
"This is Gendry." Rickon said warmly, slapping him on the back as he and Shireen exchanged awkward waves.
"He's the one who shot me!" Jon cried happily as he wrapped his arms around Ygritte's waist and pulled her to him. Judging from the way he swayed Arya would wager he had been drinking since then. "Where'd you find him?"
"He found us." Arya admitted; her eyes locked on Gendry's from across the room. He gave her a small smile at the words and she felt her stomach swoop at the sight. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant sensation.
After several different recounts of their standoff in the alley, all three of them being forced to tell their own version to the room more than once, and after everyone had slowly began to drift off into separate groups of twos and threes to recount their own favorite parts of the game Arya snuck out on to the back porch. She walked to the edge and placed her hands on the worn wooden railing as she took in a grateful breath of fresh air.
She hated calling the smog filled air of King's Landing 'fresh' when she thought of the air back home in Winterfell that somehow always tasted like snow and pine trees but it was a bit better than the stuffy air inside the house. She adored her family and she was already dreading when they would leave in three days. She knew they would all be together again next summer but she had no idea if she would get to see any of them until then. She hated that she always spent the back half of their visits already missing them.
The sound of the door opening behind her drew her from her melancholy thoughts and she cast a look over her shoulder, not all that surprised to find Gendry stepping nervously out onto the porch behind her. He let the door fall shut and they surveyed each other in silence for a moment, unsure of how to act with each other now that the circumstances that they had met under were over.
"Figured you'd be inside basking in your victory." Gendry finally said as he moved to stand beside her against the railing.
"I can bask just fine out here thanks." Arya quipped before silently cursing to herself. The game was over now and he hadn't stood in her way, in fact Gendry had even taken a bullet for her. There was no need to be snippy with him now. "It's your victory too you know. We're on the same team."
Gendry gave a small nod as he smiled down at her. "That has to be the nicest thing I've heard you say all day."
Arya narrowed her eyes at him. "Is that your polite way of saying that's the nicest thing you've heard me say ever?" She was trying to thank him for playing and he was teasing her? Who exactly did this paintball game crashing gym goer think he was?
In truth, Arya had to admit it was nice to be teased. She couldn't remember the last time someone who wasn't family had done so in a way that didn't make her want to put her fist into their throat.
"Can I ask you something?" Gendry suddenly asked, it didn't escape Arya's notice that he was avoiding her question. She nodded warily, not entirely sure what to expect to come out of his mouth. "What happened last year?"
Arya started in surprise. Even with all the times last year's game had been mentioned today for some reason that was not the question she was expecting. Maybe it was because she was so used to everyone else in her life already knowing about it. She hated talking about it but Gendry did take a bullet for her after all, she supposed she owed him this much.
"Theon shot me." Arya admitted with a sigh.
Gendry rolled his bright blue eyes (seriously how were they that blue? Was he wearing contacts?) at her. "I knew that much."
He let the words hang there in the air between them letting Arya decide what to do with them. It would be easy to leave it like that, to not delve further into her memory of shame that used to keep her awake at night for weeks.
Arya crossed her arms over her chest uncomfortably, not with Gendry's line of questioning but with the sudden realization that maybe her family was right and she did take this game too seriously. It was the only time she saw all of her siblings at the same time anymore so Arya didn't really care what they thought. Of course, she was going to take it seriously.
"He shot me in the back." Arya finally let out in a rush, her shoulders slumping a little as the words left her. She always felt small admitting those words. She looked up at Gendry curiously, expecting to see him looking at her with pity or smugness but instead he was just looking at her with confusion written all over his face.
"I've never been shot in the back." Arya continued when it became apparent that Gendry was going to be too polite to ask what the hell the big deal was. "No one has ever managed to sneak up on me before." she finished in a small voice that she hated. She wanted to go on to explain that she had just gotten done hiding out in a music shop and someone had turned on the amp right beside her as loud as it would go. Her ears had been ringing so badly she hadn't managed to hear Theon's footsteps and he shot her square in the back. Not only that but she was the first person out on her team. Arya couldn't remember the last year when she wasn't one of the final four players of the game.
No one had let her live it down all year, least of all Theon.
"That sucks." Gendry said with a shake of his head. Arya nodded hers in response.
It had sucked.
It was strange that he had managed to sum up the way she felt about the whole thing with three little words. Everyone else had simply teased her or told her it was just a game. It was nice to have someone just acknowledge that it had hurt without making a big deal about it or diminishing it.
"Do you feel better now that you've had your revenge?" Gendry asked and Arya let out a grateful breath that he wasn't going to make her keep rehashing last year.
"A bit." Arya admitted as she looked over her shoulder to make sure the door was still shut. She shifted closer to him to whisper conspiratorially. "I'll probably still target him for the next few years though."
Gendry let out a startled laugh. "What if he's on your team?" he asked curiously, tipping his head down towards hers.
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." Arya shrugged causing Gendry to softly laugh again. She realized that she wanted to make him do that more often. It was a surprising, but not unpleasant, realization.
"Well if you need an addition next year give me a call." Gendry said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he looked down at her.
Arya swallowed hard as he did so and her pulse began to speed up as she realized how close together they were now standing. His fingers were only a hair's breath away from her own where they rested on the railing and Arya flicked her eyes up to meet Gendry's before she moved her hand a fraction of an inch so that the tips of their fingers were brushing. She bit back a smile when he sucked in a startled breath at her touch.
"I noticed that couples played on separate teams." Gendry suddenly whispered, his voice quavering lightly, pulling Arya's gaze away from his mouth where it had settled.
She nodded; a bit taken aback that he wanted to talk about the game now. But Arya loved to talk about the game so she didn't mind that much doing so at the moment. Her throat felt suddenly dry as she agreed. "That's another rule."
Gendry's bright blue eyes suddenly looked a shade darker as he tilted his head down even more towards her. Gods he was tall. "So, if I kiss you now, will that affect us winning?"
Arya gave a minuscule shake of her head, unsure of what it said about her that she was slightly turned on by the fact that he wanted to make sure he wasn't risking their championship by kissing her. She was suddenly incredibly breathless and she felt like a character in one of those silly romance movies Sansa was so fond of. She managed to draw in enough breath to keep her voice from shaking as she whispered, "The game is over for the year. They can't take the win away from us."
The last word was still lingering on her lips when Gendry leaned down and kissed her.
He rose his hands to cup her face, his fingers resting feather light against her cheeks. Arya placed her hands on his chest, her hands curling into his t-shirt to pull him closer as she pushed up onto her toes so that he didn't have to lean down so far.
Maybe letting him play wasn't such a bad idea after all.
XxX
He could have stayed out there on the porch for hours, kissing or no kissing, but after a little while Arya whispered that they should go back inside before people came looking for her. No sooner had she stepped out of the circle of his arms had the door flung open and Sansa had called Arya in so that she could get a photo of her with Theon for the album.
Gendry was not at all surprised to learn that they had a whole photo album dedicated to their yearly paintball game.
He was a bit surprised when he was even dragged into a few photos, one with the team he had crashed himself onto and one group shot of all of them that Arya's parents took. (Gendry had been very startled when he realized that he had just made out with Arya on the porch while her parents were inside, it left him feeling strangely giddy like a kid who had just gotten away with doing something naughty.) He also had to pose with Jon, who was the only player he had taken out. The man had pulled him to him tightly and for a moment Gendry thought he might have seen what happened outside but then he realized that he was just using him to help him stand upright.
When Gendry was done with the photos he stood awkwardly off to the side and watched the others take theirs, unsure of who to talk to now that Arya was occupied and he had lost sight of Rickon and his cousin. He tried very hard not to think about what that probably meant.
He was content with watching the photos being taken and laughing at the shenanigans of the family, his gaze being drawn more often than not to Arya.
"See something you like?" a familiar voice drawled from beside him and Gendry started in surprise. Ygritte smirked up at him and Gendry squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. He had little doubt that the smirk wasn't because he had been caught staring at Arya but because Ygritte had caught them doing something else entirely.
"You know, if things work out between you two you won't be able to play on the same team next year." Ygritte mused thoughtfully before grinning at the look on Gendry's face when he felt his blood run cold. She patted him on the shoulder in comfort before she walked off to locate Jon.
The cold chill running down Gendry's spine had very little to do with someone insinuating that he would be dating a person he just met hours ago in a year and everything to do with the way he had seen Arya play the game today. She had been playing this game for over half of her life, he was no match for her that much had already been made obvious. Gendry couldn't shake the cold snake of fear wrapping itself around his chest at the thought of being on the other end of her gun.
Across the room Arya suddenly caught him staring at her and smiled. Gendry wasn't used to seeing an expression on her face that wasn't a glare so it took him a little by surprise. She rolled her eyes at him before being pulled back into conversation with Jeyne and Gendry shook his head at himself as he tried to decide if the thought of playing this insane game of paintball against Arya was making him scared or horny.
Arya met his eyes across the room again and this time she smirked at him as if she could read his thoughts. Gendry took a quick swig of the drink in his hand and tried to act nonchalant as he realized without a doubt it was definitely both.