Chapter 21: Gendry

He threw himself into working at the garage. He had been shirking a fair amount that semester, swapping shifts as much as possible so that he could have more time for Arya. But his first week back in Oldtown, he remembered just how much he liked doing things with his hands. There was something soothing about problem-solving, about using power tools, and, after a certain point, about getting out of the house.

He came home that afternoon covered in more grease than he had been in years and his shoulders feeling surprisingly sore thanks to a Stallion with a temperamental ignition.

Jon woke with a start from his nap on the couch when Gendry closed the front door and locked it.

"Hullo," he mumbled blearily.

"Sorry to wake you."

"Serves me right, sleeping on the couch. How was work?"

"Nice and distracting."

Jon nodded.

"Arya was by earlier looking for you. She's at practice now."

Gendry pulled his phone out of his pocket. There was no text from Arya waiting for him, so he could only assume that whatever had brought her to the house hadn't been urgent.

She was probably checking to make sure he was up and about. She'd been doing that lately. He'd successfully freaked her out with his whatever-it-was. Ever since he'd come to, she'd made sure that he got out of the house every day, whether it was dragging him on walks or seeing that he hadn't missed class.

It was remarkably sweet, and he had a shrewd suspicion that she didn't realize it.

"Aurane mentioned at breakfast that he has a girl for you again," said Gendry, making his way towards the kitchen and grabbing a slice of the pie that Roslin had brought round during dinner the night before. It was blueberry, and he hadn't had any last night because his mother had always made blueberry pies. But he decided he wanted a slice now.

Jon made a disgruntled noise.

"I had hoped he'd given up by now," called Jon.

"Sounded pretty determined to get you laid."

"If I wanted Aurane's help getting laid, I'd talk to him," sighed Jon. He had come over to stand by the refrigerator. "Could you slice me up some of that?"

Gendry placed a slice of pie onto a plate and handed it to Jon.

Jon took a bite. "Gods Roslin can bake. I don't know why Robb ever let her go."

"From what I understand, Robb just fell in love with someone else."

"Yeah, but how could you fall out of love with someone who makes blueberry pie like this?"

Gendry's stomach lurched and he chose to shrug rather than respond. He had said much the same thing once when he had learned that his father loved his mother's blueberry pies.

"I swear, if I ever find a woman who can bake like this, I'd be a happy man."

Gendry nodded in assent. He wondered for a moment if Arya baked. But the image of her in a kitchen made him start laughing.

"Arya doesn't cook," affirmed Jon, knowing precisely what had gone on in Gendry's head. "You shouldn't let her near yeast. She'll cover your kitchen in dough. There's a rule at home that Arya must be accompanied by an adult in the kitchen at all times. I don't think it changed when she came of age."

"Good thing I cook then."

"Yep." Jon glanced at him over his pie. "You treating her well? You seem to be getting along fine." Jon's tone darkened. "I certainly hear more than I would like coming out of your bedroom."

Gendry's eyebrows shot up and he felt his jaw drop slightly.

"That's what I thought," grinned Jon. "I just didn't have the opportunity to ask earlier this semester, and Robb told me that I needed to do the big-brother-thing since he's not here for it."

Gendry had gotten plenty of Robb's big-brother-thing in King's Landing. Robb had taken him out for beers and then detailed the precise ways in which his irritable greyhound Grey Wind would rip him apart if he did anything that might hurt Arya. He tried to compress the jolt of pain that came from the memory of describing this conversation to his mother. He was moderately satisfied with the results.

In any case, Gendry much preferred Jon's tactic.

"To answer your question," Gendry replied at last, "I think I'd probably still be losing it and hermiting away without Arya, so I treat her pretty well because she's brought me back to being a somewhat a normal person."

Jon's face smoothed, and he nodded.

He took a deep breath, then paused, then spoke.

"If you didn't snap out of it, I was going to talk to you. I…I lost someone suddenly a few years back. And it's rough, and you never really get over it."

"Who?" asked Gendry before he could stop himself.

"A girl I dated in undergrad. Ygritte. She was…excellent. Unlike anything I've ever encountered. She liked to do rock climbing in the reserve and fell one day."

Gendry inhaled sharply. He realized in that moment that he'd never heard Jon talk about his life during undergrad. He talked about some friends—Sam, for example, and Gilly—or he talked about classes, but never anything else.

This had to be why.

Jon looked lost in memory as he continued, his grey eyes pained. "They found her three days later, frozen solid. She'd died the second she hit the ground—broken neck."

"I'm sorry," mumbled Gendry at last.

Jon shook himself. "Thanks."

"Is she why you don't date?"

Jon cocked his head, considering. "Yes. But not because she died and I miss her too much to date anyone ever. I just haven't found anyone anywhere near as spectacular as her."