[A/N]
This chapter is dedicated to NewGirl08 who wrote my absolute favorite Gendrya fanfic
Chapter Twelve: Queen Latifah
Groaning, Arya pushed forward the grocery cart with perhaps too much strength as she absorbed the labels, getting potato chips might've looked like an easy task to handle, that's why Arya took it, but in this market it started to develop into rocket science pretty quick.
Sour cream & Onion, BBQ, Cheddar, Salt & Pepper, Flaming Hot, Lemon, and it started getting weirder as she moved forward, there was WOW, the very original name, Honey, Sea Salt, Sriracha, however it was pronounced, Waffles, Ginger, Fries, Moose... Arya wasn't sure if she was looking at chip flavors anymore and her head was slowly forming an ache.
"Oh look, someone dropped skittles here!" The idiot behind her yelled in excitement.
Arya glared at him. "Can we focus on the mission at hand?"
"Yes, buy chips, how can I ever be unfocused." Gendry nodded, resuming to push the two carts, each with one hand, that were filled with souse jars. They were picked randomly after a long discussion and a broken jar aimed at his head.
"Alright, fuck it." She turned. "What are your favorite brands?"
"Hmm," he put a finger at his chin, thinking thoroughly. "I'd go with Patos... Pringles are a close second, Lays are good too, oh, and Cheetus."
"Good." She looked at the shelves, "We'll get a hundred of each."
He stared at her like she had seven heads.
"What?"
If he was a dog, his ears would've dropped, he started walking to the cashier, "We'll need more than three carts."
"Make it quick!" she called after him, and resumed her task, grabbing three bags with one hand and shoving it in whatever place left on top of those jars. Gendry came back with the extra wheels and the packing went more smoothly, Arya was still not sure how many people were attending her sister's graduation party yet, it started with her classmates and relatives, which were already goddamn many, to her and the Stark sibling's friends, then King Robert decided to butt in with the entire royal court, now half the kingdom was about to raid her house tomorrow. She didn't get to see Gendry as often as she wanted, so when he heard she was helping out he decided to give a hand, which a very distracting, very stressful, very sexy hand.
"To think our first date would be in a freaking supermarket." he mumbled.
"Piss off."
"Well, we are walking down an aisle..."
"No seriously, piss off."
"I want at least a kiss at the end." His snickering triggered yet another flying object to his face, Patos chips proved to be useless weapons against that mountain. He caught it midair, "That's cute, but nice try."
And before he knew he had three flying at his direction at once, then six, then Pringles packs because they were more effective, and soon he was overwhelmed and wincing at the bags that were hitting him face on, the last one was thrown so fiercely that the tip cut the side of his cheek. "Thanks, sweetheart, that was just lovely."
Her heart fluttered when he called her that, it was the first time he used a cheesy a pet name, she had to admit it felt pretty nice, but the outcome startled her.
"You're welcome." She said, although horrified to see a tiny drop of blood coming out of perfect cheekbone, but somehow she hid it, showing satisfaction instead.
He rolled his eyes at her. "I can feel how scared you are, y'know" He wiped the blood with the back of his hand. "Relax, I'm not dying."
Godsdamnit she always forgot how easily he read her. That sly bastard picked up on the soulmate sensor way quicker than she did.
Arya produced a napkin from her pocket and reached for him, tapping on his cheek with it, even with the napkin between her fingers and his face, it still felt like she was doing some exotic activity for god's sake. "Be careful."
"You did this." He furrowed his eyebrows.
"I don't hurt people for no reason." She lied, shrugging.
"Oh yeah? And I enjoy cross dressing as a hobby." He shot back.
Arya smirked, "You'd look so cute in a dress."
"Oh please, I look cute in everything."
You do. "With Pigtails too?"
"Pfff, it's extraordinary," he raised his eyebrow, "And feels oddly refreshing."
"Why am I even surprised?" she giggled.
"Y'know," Gendry leaned in, her hand still working on his cut. She suspected that her laugh triggered something when their faces again were so close. It was a huge simulator, no matter how uncomfortable it was. "You can just kiss me."
She frowned, "And why would I do that?"
"Well, I read somewhere that your soulmate's saliva has healing powers."
"Haha, nice try." She pushed his face back with the other hand. "I'm not kissing you here."
The contact alone was too much for them, Gendry's anger was back in an instant. He grabbed her wrist. "You're not kissing me anywhere."
"Don't worry, Gendry, a few days from now you'll be gone."
"Your point being?"
"You'll meet all sorts of pretty girls."
"Yeah, and?"
"You'll be free to kiss whoever you want."
"So?"
His indifference was shocking, Arya was relived but also confused at why he wasn't affected like she was. Was he really okay with leaving her just like that?
"Uh ah, don't you even dare question how much I care about you." He read through her again, "In fact, you're the one who looks like you don't give a shit, that, or you have one hell of a self control."
"Gods, you're the one who needs self control!"
He grabbed her other wrist, slowly, pulling her to him. "I like touching you, I like touching my soulmate, is it a fucking crime?"
"Fucking leaving your soulmate is!" the words left her mouth loudly without her realizing it. She needed a slap to the face, self control was not her thing. They avoided that subject ever since it first popped up.
She returned home the day after Theon's outburst; Gendry ignored her all the time she spent at the club so Arya came back, tired, annoyed, and defeated. Clacking the floor with her angry strides and punching the wall at many points during her climb upstairs. She heard her mother's voice but gladly ignored her existence. The second she spotted her infamous punching bag there was no escape for the poor leather and sand stuffing.
She stroke so violently she heard her shirt tearing and blood was painting Gendry's crumbled face. Her shouts were volumes too loud but she didn't care, even her eyes were starting to get wet but Arya was not going to cry over that fucking douche, she didn't cry on her damn grandfather's funeral why she should now?!
Her bed creaked and that's when Arya finally noticed someone was in her room, the person switched the lights on and that's when she realized that that someone was Theon.
Just great. She thought miserably.
Theon's lazy blue eyes trailed from her shirt sleeve to the blood escaping the reopened cuts from earlier sand bag sessions, he sighed. Wordless, Theon grabbed the ointment at her bedside and threw it to his sister, Arya caught it angrily and sat on the floor, not even an ounce of her rage was out yet.
"You're a masochist." He finally said.
Arya stared at the tiny bottle that she used too much lately, choosing to get busy by it rather than the man in front of her.
When she didn't answer, Theon's unexpected knowledge took surface again. "What did you do to him this time?"
She met his eyes for the first time, in a glare. "Brothers usually ask what he did."
"Well," he lied on her bed comfortably, hands behind his head. "I'm technically not your brother so,"
"Of course!" she snapped, yelling too loudly. "You're only my brother when you need something!"
He bent his neck, confused. "Whoa Ar, take it easy."
"No! I'm not gonna fucking taking it easy!" she shot her bottle at him and he murmured a soft 'ouch' at the contact. "When people need Arya! Oh! She's there! But when they don't need her again, bye! I'm traveling overseas!"
Theon was on his elbows trying to understand what she was shouting about. "Arya-"
"You fucking selfish bastards!" she resumed her outburst. "All of you! Fucking ungrateful, stupid, uncaring pieces of shit! This life of mine is just a godsdamn cruel joke! One minute he makes me believe that I can show my everything to him! He makes me smile, he makes me laugh, he makes me blush like a complete idiot, he gives me forty fucking moods a day! Then baaaaam screw you bitch, I have a career!"
Theon sat up, the look of guilt he had on him was another first. "Dude. Calm do-"
"My dream was taken away from me!" she chocked, a painful bile in her throat. "But you know what? Years later, I started to think it was okay, as long as he was there. He made me feel like this shithole is not so bad after all. He – He brought me back to life, you know? But no! Why would someone in their rightful mind ditch something so priceless to a fucking spoiled, repulsive, highborn Lady? I wouldn't. I should've seen it coming!" she had no idea how far she had went. "I should've fucking seen it coming, damn it!"
She paused, feeling something wet. Streams of tears traveled down her cheek and Arya cupped her face immediately, hiding what was buried inside. She sensed a movement and crept between her fingers to see Theon reaching out for something. "Theon! You motherfucker! You're not grabbing your video camer-"
And when she looked up, and saw Theon right in front of her, a box of tissues in his hand. "Let it all out." Was all what he said.
And just like that, no matter how far and nostalgic it felt, fat drops of salty liquid were allowed to escape her eyes, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Arya wept, crying her heart out until it was too painful to breathe. "I thought-" a sob fled, followed by another, "He's leaving me." She wiped her eyes violently, not feeling any comfortable with being exposed like that. "He's leaving me Theon."
And she cried like baby, loudly, and painfully. If Arya had the time, she would've felt sorry for Theon, who had no idea what to do or say. Somehow he seemed to remember what Jon always did, so he listened, quietly, not making any sarcastic comments, and at some point started patting her shoulder.
"Wow, dude." he finally said, after a long moment of silence.
Arya wiped her snot with a napkin, and hugged her knees in a pitiful matter. "I swear if you told anyone about this-"
"About what?" He looked puzzled, then a smirk escaped his lips. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
She let out a long sigh, then a hiccup, the ones that you do after a long time of crying. "I wanna die."
"It's okay, I shed a few tears over Jeyne too at some point." He shrugged. "But I didn't go all Billy Elliot to be honest."
She buried her head in her thighs, not in the mood to make fun of him. But she made sure to keep that for suture references.
"Look, Ar." He rubbed the back of his neck. "You expect way too much from the bloody guy. I mean, sure, we can sense your feelings, and tell if you're lying, but that's just basic soulmate bonding, we can't read minds for fuck sake."
"I know that." Her voice was too weak for her liking, but she didn't care anymore.
"And I take you didn't even try to say anything."
"Why would I do?" she asked. "If I did, he won't go."
"My point exactly." He shook his head. "He wouldn't know unless you fucking talk."
"I won't. That's selfish, even for me." When she looked at her bed, she saw an empty glass cup. "What the fuck were you doing?"
"Slacking off in your room," he turned to the direction she was looking at. "And ahh... drinking water."
She rolled her eyes. "Like I'll fucking believe that." It took her a short time before she could connect the dots together. "Seriously, Theon?" she hung her head in disgust.
"What-" he looked at the wall separating Arya and Jeyne's room.
"She's not here, you desperate fool."
"I figured. After two hours."
"You fucking creep."
He stood up, stretching his arms. "You know what to do now."
"Not tell Jeyne that you're trying to listen to her over the wall with a glass?"
He gave her a look, "You're going to say sorry."
"To you?" she narrowed her eyes.
"No, to the clueless Mag you left hanging."
"Since when did you become Cupid?" she told him in annoyance. "Like you'll ever apologize."
"Hey, I'm not the one who rejected me." He paused, spreading his arms. "I mean I won't, I'm fabulous, like look at me."
"Well you did scare the shit out of her when you went all berserk just the night before." She said, "And you're an asshole, so that's enough reason to begin with."
"Look, you're just gonna go very sweetly and say, oh mag, baby, sorry for being a bitch, I was on my period. You girls use that all the time right?"
She opened her mouth in disgust. "Did you just call me a bitch?"
"No. That was figure speech. So technically, you just called yourself a bitch." He smiled.
"Just get out of here." She stood up and went into the bathroom, before staring the sink and washing her face and all the evidence of what happened with it, she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and sent him something that would never come out of her mouth.
'I'm fücking sorry, okay?'
Arya sighed, looking at her soulmate who had no clue what was going on. Stupid, stupid Gendry. He doesn't know anything. Arya had her reasons, and were probably way worse than he expected. One touch, one kiss, was enough for her to lead a path to beyond that very easily. She knew if she kissed him one more time she won't be able to hold it any longer, she would sleep with him if she wanted to or not, it was inevitable with what this man made her feel with every touch.
And she was not drinking from that fountain.
Not when he was leaving after it. She was not going to have sex with her fucking soulmate right before he'd be gone for a year, what would happen to her? Her insanity was already splitting away, she did not need to have a new taste of any sort of pleasure, she was fine without it.
But the fact that she wanted to jump him every time he looked at her wasn't helping.
"Fine!" he broke away from her, and when his hands were gone her flesh almost wept for the contact to come back. "What are you looking at?!" he shouted at the two employees who were creeping at them the whole time, his tone scared them away immediately.
Arya grunted and went after him, unless he was secretly loaded, she had to pay. They were standing angrily next to each other, arms folded on their chests and a scowl on their faces. The man handling their grocery was starting to sweat nervously; they were glaring holes at him like he killed their entire family.
The only change of expression Gendry had was when he saw the bill; she swore he walked two steps back from the tension.
Arya paid the 987.99$ with Robb's credit card and made Gendry and two staffmen take the bags to the car, while she was casually sitting in her driver's seat.
That's when her phone started beeping way too many times, Arya had a hunch that they added her back up to the group she exited a week ago because it was full of shit. But now that Jon had found his soulmate, in which, in every way physically possible, was the worst influence on him, the chat became active again with the juicy news.
Ygritte Bael, even if Arya refused to admit, was a really cool girl, and perhaps a good match. The outgoing sassiness and Jon's polite and collective nature seemed to work in a good formula together. Jon told her all about it over the phone that she had grown sick of how many times he said that Ygritte reminded him of her, thankfully she was about to meet her tomorrow but they were already acquainted over the net.
She opened her messenger despite knowing it was a bad idea.
The Stark Prick House
She sighed, knowing all too well who renamed the conversation again. Arya scrolled over the old messages to see what they were talking about.
Lord Snow (Jon): Sup motherfuckers
Lady killer (Theon): Who are you and how the fuck did you dare to hack my brother?
Broken (Bran): Jon? Is that you?
Lord Snow: Stfu
Little Bird (Sansa): I thought this convo was dead
Young Wolf (Robb): Jon, bro, did you finally lose your virginity?
Lady killer: No fücking way!
Kissed By Fire (Ygritte) renamed the conversation "The Stark Cunt House"
Kissed By Fire: Much better
Arya laughed at that.
Lady Killer: Hey, don't stain our name like that!
Lord Snow: Says the Greyjoy
Lady Killer: Still!
Broken: Dude this is nothing. He named himself HentaiMaster9000 on twitter
Young Wolf: Lmoa
Broken: When Theon's creativity strikes...
Kissed By Fire: He's productive I give him that
Lady Killer: Since when did SHE join this sacred convo?
Kissed By Fire: Since I sucked your brother's cock, that's when.
Broken: Whoa
Lord Snow: Ygritte!
Young Wolf: So he DID lose his virginity
Kissed By Fire: Yes boys, he did
Little Bird: I'm out!
Lady Killer: Holy Drowned God!
Kissed By Fire: I made sure of it. I'll give you a 100% guarantee
Lord Snow: Ygritte!
Kissed By Fire: Make it 99%
Kissed By Fire: Shut it Jonny boy I made your night
Young Wolf: I will not even ask who was on top
Winterfell Prince (Rickon): I always wondered what comes after 69...
Lord Snow: Rickon...
Young Wolf: Don't
Winterfell Prince: Mouthwash!
Broken: Dude, this joke is so old even Walder Frey uses it
Lord Snow: Rick, I'll make sure to inform your mother on the type of porn you're watching
Winterfell Prince: Theon said Brazzers will turn me into a man
Young Wolf: Who brought this minor here?
Winterfell Prince: I'm a Stark too y'know!
Lord Snow: Gtfo
Lady Killer: Look guys, Jonny learned new slangs
Lady Killer: Stfu... Gtfo.., etc...
Kissed By Fire: Shut up bitch only I can call him Jonny
Young Wolf: It's okay Jon, your inexperience with women is known
Lady Killer: It. Is. Known.
Lord Snow: Screw you all
Lady Killer: So Gritte, did he manage to do something or did you have to resort to dildos at the end?
Broken: Wtf man
Kissed By Fire: Well, it WAS smaller than expected
Winterfell Prince: Eww –throws up-
Lady Killer: Did you end up asking if it's in yet?
Broken: Are we seriously discussing how big Jon's penis is in a family group?
Little Bird: Well, you know what they say. Size doesn't matter ;-)
Young Wolf: Says the one who has a fucking 7 feet tall soulmate
Broken: Did Sansa just make... a sex joke?
Lady Killer: This Gigantore is bad influence
Little Bird: His name is Sandor!
Kissed By Fire: It doesn't matter folks, I happen to like his tongue more
No One (Arya): Ygritte?
Kissed By Fire: Yes?
No One: SHUT THE FUCK UP
Kissed By Fire: So rude...
Broken: And a wild Arya STRIKES!
Young Wolf: Ar, you used that credit wisely didn't you?
No One: Ahh...
Young Wolf: I got the bloody email from the bank!
Winterfell Prince: Guys you lost me on tongues
Lady Killer: Oh you poor innocent soul
Young Wolf: Don't
Kissed By Fire: Well you see...
No One: Ygritte?
Kissed By Fire: Go fuck yourself Arya I ain't falling for it again
No One: Still, SHUT THE FUCK UP
Kissed By Fire: Anyways Rick, I thinks it's how southerners men do it here I really didn't see it coming tbh
Lady Killer: *cumming
Broken: Lol
Young Wolf: I saw what you did there
Lord Snow: Ygritte!
Kissed By Fire: Stop saying my name so much I know you like it on that tongue of yours
Lord Snow: No more kisses until you stop the verbal abuse!
Kissed By Fire: Anywhere?
Lord Snow: Anywhere!
Kissed By Fire: :'-(
Young Wolf: Hey btw why can Jon add Ygritte and nobody let's me add Jeyne?
Lady Killer: Because 1. Ygritte is fun
No One: And 2. Jeyne is not
Young Wolf: Shut your holes
Lord Snow: Tbh Robb, she's like a Catelyn 2.0
Little Bird: If Robb adds Jeyne I'll add the other Jeyne
Lady Killer: Do that and I'm fucking blocking you everywhere, little cheek
Young Wolf: Calm the steam bro, we don't want another one of our wolf statues gone as victim again
Kissed By Fire: What sort of man vents his anger out on statues?
No One: The liar sort
Young Wolf: Don't you even dare think we're over it, Greyjoy
Lady Killer: Alright bitches you have two choices. A. Stop talking about her. Or B. Imma start sending my nude collection.
No One: Oh look, the weather is so nice today!
Broken: I like trees!
Kissed By Fire: Jon Snow knows nothing!
Lady Killer: Good.
Lady Killer: Now, let's go back to our favorite subject shall we?
Lady Killer: Ar, how's mag?
Kissed By Fire: Did you bang
Lord Snow: FFS!
Young Wolf: I'll have to stop you right there, I'm not interested in our sister's sex life
No One: SHUT THE FUCK UP
Lady Killer: He be maggin', but all he's thinking is bangin'
Young Wolf: I thought your rapper phase was long over
Lord Snow: Stop talking about Arya like that!
Kissed By Fire: It was an innocent question
No One: I'm signing off! Don't add me back up!
Arya slammed her phone in the coffee holder, Theon has a mysterious way of finding things out without even trying to. Her phone started whining again and she knew they did add her back up. She tried her hardest not to think of banging Gendry.
But she did.
As if he heard her thoughts, Gendry jumped in all of his glory to her modest sized car, barely fitting in, he was a gentleman enough to tip the boys who helped him with the grocery and did not make an attempt to talk to her.
She started the engine, put the pedal to the metal, and left the yard in dust. It was rather hard to pay attention to the speed limits when there was a pile of built up sexual desire in a human form sitting inches away from her. "Dropping you off at Mott's?"
"Yeah." He coldly answered, clearly still angry about their conversation and resumed to check his phone with not even a glance at her direction.
She almost ran by a senior lady walking like she was in a middle of physical therapy, but she steered away in time, earning wild barks from her dog instead, she considered driving back and giving that little fur ball a taste of her tires but she thought better of it.
"If you are trying to kill us, I will not consent with a car accident." He said lazily, smirking at his phone for a moment after.
"Oh yeah?" she snapped. "What do you suggest then?"
He pursed his lips, and had no idea how gorgeous it made him look. "Make it more dramatic, we can both jump from the tower of Joy like that Ashara woman."
"Ha. Funny." She steered away from another innocent citizen just at the right time.
His snickering caught her attention, when she looked he was typing something on his phone again. "What's so funny?"
He turned, a grin on his face, but definitely not for her. "What?"
"What's so fucking funny?!"
He frowned. "With that tone?"
"Yes. That tone."
"Then none of your business." He was typing again before she looked at him.
A guy with a Mercedes saw her rampaging and decided to join in on a race, the poor fellow clearly chose the wrong person, and the wrong day. She accelerated and made a rough turn but Gendry wouldn't even budge, he started laughing at his screen and not giving any attention to the outside world.
"Could you fucking stop?!" she said, trying to concentrate at the car that was neck in neck with hers, she knew he'll run her by soon because their car engines weren't really meant to pair.
She didn't know if he was trying to piss her off on purpose, or if his mouth just slipped, but a moment later he said, "But this chick is too funny."
Too occupied with what she was doing, Arya didn't even pay attention. "Keep it down then."
Her reaction seemed to surprise him, because he fell awfully silence after it. She appreciated the ten very quiet minutes until her opponent escaped into another street and Arya didn't have any more distraction to cling to. Her mind started working out what he said and her eyes snapped open, "Wait hold up, what?"
"What?"
"What chick?"
"A chick."
"Does she have a name?" Because Arya's list didn't have a limit.
He gave her a very cute smirk, but Arya was about to seriously punch him. What fucking chick?! "Her name is Latifah, she's hilarious."
Her left foot found the breaks and she reached out for it way too suddenly, the car was pulled to a stop, her elbows made contact with her ribs but Gendry didn't seem to move.
"Get out." she fumed.
Arya didn't know what she expected, maybe she thought he'll explain and apologize for texting another girl knowing how much she hated it but he clearly didn't. He looked in front of him for an instant and his lips formed a thin line, his eyes were stormy and she could almost see a nerve popping up at the side of his neck. She braced for him bursting or something because he was really pissed. But roughly, Gendry opened the door and stepped out without uttering a single word, almost breaking the door when he shut it closed.
"What are you doing?!" she found herself saying.
"I'm getting out." he said with a low voice, it would've scared Arya less if he yelled.
She clutched the steering wheel way too roughly, her bruised knuckles turning white. "Say hi to that chick then!"
There was nothing on the road but she glared at it so fiercely the pavement would've started shaking by then. Gendry disappeared and walked to her window side, pulling his phone out and pointing the screen at her face like it was a gun.
"I told Ed about your Fast & Furious episode and he started calling you Queen Latifah and sending me memes." He said angrily,"And when he looked it up it, it turned out Latifah means kind in Arabic, which is pretty fucking ironic."
Arya was consumed with embarrassment and guilt, she was trying to come up with a way to say sorry but her tongue was rolling on its own. "What does Queen Latifah have to do with anything?!"
"Taxi, have you watched it?"
She shook her head.
"Well, it's a fucking good movie." He ran a hand through his hair, sighing the frustration out. "Just do me a favor, Arya."
"What?"
"Get a lot of good sleep tonight." She thought he was joking, but he looked serious.
"What are you? My mom?" Arya Stark, this is not how you apologize. Her consciousness scolded her.
He gave her a sharp look to shut her mouth, then continued. "Rest well, and stay sober tomorrow night. I have some plans for you."
She narrowed her eyes at the strange request. She was hoping it's not something stupid most guys did to impress a girl, but again, that's not how Gendry did things. "What plans?"
His smile was back. "That's for me to know and for you to find out." he leaned in closer, and Arya had a weird sense of a déjà vu, he stared at her lips for a long painful moment and Arya wanted him to kiss her so badly that she forgot all the resolve she thought she collected. An evil voice in his head seemed to stop him, he straightened his spine, frustrated, and started walking away. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Where are you going?" she said in surprise.
"I have some... errands to run."
Arya sunk in her seat for a long time, ignoring the horns drivers made when they passed by, thinking about what Gendry said. When almost another ten minutes passed her phone was active again and begging to be opened by the amount of texts she was receiving. Arya was not in mood to tolerate her siblings so in an attempt to put the cell on silent, she opened it, and was surprised to see a certain name on her inbox.
Bullhead: You're an idiot. But I love you.
Not even having time to recover from the first, he sent a second.
: P.S you're so cute when you're jealous.
Her eyes widened and Arya threw the phone away like it was poison.
She desperately needed that nonexistent self control.