(A/N: I lied. I can't stop writing so here I am…making a post a day. Somebody get me off FFN!

I'm still a bit unsure about the ratings here, trying to decide whether to change it to a T or M. I'm making it an M just to be sure. And who knows how this fic will turn out in the future hehe.

Again, thank you for taking time out to read/follow/favorite/review. As a fic noob, I'm extremely happy that I'm somehow making GoT lovers…ahem, Gendrya…excited over a fic. Let us unite and have our feels combust and rain all over the place.)

Gendry tried not to stare.

He should have known that choosing to read a book instead of being out there with the others would dampen his spirits. Not that there's anything to lighten him up anyway, considering he'd been going out of his way to avoid that little Stark girl. Ever since that night two weeks ago, he decided to keep things as uncomplicated as they were before that slip of a girl came back into his life.

Came back into his life. Gendry had to laugh at himself for even thinking that, as if she was ever in his life in the first place. Those long-ago summers spent in a whirl of pre-teen excitement over school vacation, and he doesn't even remember most of it. Maybe except for those late night bonfires by the beach, practical jokes in the house, and those secret drinking sessions the boys had in the attic.

Oh, right. And that gum-in-the-hair incident.

Gendry felt stupid for doing it. He felt stupid then, he still felt that way now. He knew it was an immature prank that he played on Arya, but it got him in so much trouble that he was grounded for the rest of the summer.

(Flashback)

"Gendry's got a crush! Gendry's got a crush!"

Joffrey had been teasing him the whole day and he was getting tired of telling his brother to 'fuck off'. If there's any secret you'd like to keep, it's always best to keep them from Joffrey. His brother is the worst at keeping them.

"I'm telling Arya!" Joffrey declared proudly.

Gendry pulled the back of Joffrey's shirt to stop him. "No, you're not!" Gendry said, tightening his hold on his brother's shirt. "If you tell Arya, I'm going to tell Sansa that you went through her suitcase and found her bra and panties!"

It was Joffrey's turn to look horrified. "No, you're not!"

Gendry grinned. "Exactly why you're not going to say anything to Arya. And besides, THERE'S NOTHING TO SAY!"

"Yeah, right! JUST ADMIT IT! YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON LITTLE ARYA STARK!"

"LIAR!" Gendry shouted out to no one in particular. " JOFFREY IS A LIAR!"

"YOU'RE A LIAR TOO!" Joffrey shot back.

Gendry's face was red. Maybe because of anger at his brother or maybe because someone found out the one thing he's been trying hard to conceal all summer.

"I'll prove it! I'll prove to you that I have no crush on Arya!"

That night, the brothers found her asleep in her room. Luckily for them, the door was ajar so they were able to sneak in easily.

"What are you going to do?" asked Joffrey.

He watched as Gendry put a finger to his lips to keep his brother from making any noise. Then he tiptoed towards the bed where Arya must have dozed off after swimming. She was lying face down, her hair a tangled mess. Gendry took out several sticks of gum from his pocket and then started putting them in his mouth. Joffrey watched Gendry chew everything at once. He was curious as to what kind of prank the older brother will be playing now. Joffrey felt sorry for Arya at that moment, but he was too interested to find out what happens next.

Joffrey's eyes widened when Gendry stuck gum into Arya's hair. For a big guy, Gendry was pretty stealthy. Arya stayed asleep, oblivious to the prank being played on her.

When they finally snuck out of the room, Joffrey took one last look at the sleeping girl and felt sorry for her. She had gum on several parts of her hair. He's not a girl, but he knew it would be a disaster to get everything out now. She might have to get a haircut if she wanted to get the gum out of her hair.

"That was mean, Gendry." Joffrey said, when they were finally in Gendry's room.

"No," Gendry said while still laughing. "That was hilarious! Genius!"

They were having breakfast altogether the following day, and both brothers have forgotten about the prank. That is, until they heard a scream from upstairs.

Sansa and Catelyn tried their best to get the gum out of Arya's hair, but it was close to impossible because the only thing they were able to do was to get it all the more tangled. "You're going to have to cut it short," Sansa said, looking at her sister with pity. "Like…really short."

Arya cried the rest of the day. Gendry didn't see her until the following morning, when the Starks decided to make an early end to their vacation. He saw a glimpse of Arya-her hair now cut like a boy's-as she went inside the car. He felt like an idiot. He knew he went overboard and if he could, he'd go back to that day and just admitted to Joffrey that he did have a crush on Arya. Now he's gone and ruined what could have been a summer with her, all because of his stupidity.

As their car rolled out of the driveway and away from the embarrassed Baratheons, Gendry did the only thing he could think of. He ran after the car, as fast as his chubby legs could carry him, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I'M SORRY, ARYA! I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY!"

He saw Arya look out the window and straight at him. She only shrugged, and Gendry took that as a positive sign. But she looked so sad, and Gendry felt his heart break into a thousand little pieces.

His spirits were at its lowest, and he was grounded for the rest of summer. And Joffrey called him "Gumby" for months.

Gendry never ate gum again, at least not until after a few years.

(End of flashback)

"UNO! UNO! UNO!"

Tommen's shouts started Gendry out of his thoughts. He looked at the group on the other side of the room. Theon and Jon were sitting on the couch. Robb and Joffrey were on the floor, with Arya in between them. Tommen was jumping up and down, obviously excited about defeating the adults.

"I win! I win!" Tommen exclaimed excitedly.

Everyone looked annoyed at having been beaten by a 10 year-old. Everyone except Arya, who was actually laughing. Gendry couldn't help but stare. He loved seeing her smile. He didn't know if it had to do with her cute little crooked teeth, or her lips (that he would so love to kiss and bite), or just the fact that she grew even more pretty over the years. Arya was never an ugly child, but dear God, she was strikingly beautiful now. Everyone said that Sansa was the prettier one, but Gendry always favored Arya more. Even Joffrey thought she was the prettiest of the two. And now Tommen has taken a liking to her. Everywhere Arya went, Tommen tagged along. Gendry wanted to tease his little brother about it, but he chose not to. He learned the hard way how teasing someone about a crush ended up.

Gumby Gendry.

"Oi, Gendry!" Theon called out.

He looked up from reading, raising his brow at Theon. Everyone was looking at him now, so he chanced a look at Arya. She was sitting there, staring at him with her big, pretty eyes…a shocking gray…and he swears he sees a small smile touch her lips.

"You wanna play?" asked Theon, as he dealt a new round of cards.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

"No," Gendry replied with a shrug. "I'm kind of hooked with this book."

Robb laughed. "Right. I haven't seen you turn a page since we started playing."

Gendry said nothing and pretended to keep reading.

"So," Robb continued. "The party at Ramsay's tonight. We're still going, yeah?"

Gendry slowly nodded. "Yeah. Dickwad's…" Gendry looked at Tommen, and relieved that his little brother was busy sorting his cards. "…been texting me non-stop about it. I'm not really in a party mood, but I already said yes."

"I wonder why," Jon said.

Gendry looked up to see Jon looking at him with a blank expression. He wasn't sure what Jon meant. But then again, Jon was Jon and he's mostly puzzling and quiet and a bit serious. Gendry wondered if it had something to do with that night two weeks ago, when he found him and Arya lying on the grass, trying to figure out constellations. Jon Stark can be a bit protective over Arya. But then he's protective of Sansa too, so Gendry decided to let this one go.

After a couple more rounds, everyone called it quits. Tommen appeared to be on a winning streak today.

"Tommen's pretty good with cards," Arya said, ruffling the boy's hair. "Maybe he's ready to move on to poker?"

Everyone laughed, and Tommen blushed. Even Gendry found this amusing enough to stop reading.

"Ooh, right there!" Arya exclaimed excitedly.

Gendry saw her hovering behind him, (how quickly she got there, he didn't know), a silly (but pretty…really pretty) grin on her face. "What's right there?"

It seemed like they've been staring at each other for a while, because the next time Gendry looked around, they were the only ones left in the room. Well maybe save for Theon, who was cleaning up after the others. He was found cheating twice, so they made him clean up the mess they made.

Arya took a seat at the other end of the couch, careful not to be too close to him. It's been two weeks, and Gendry appeared to be avoiding being in the same room with her. She was curious as to why, since they felt comfortable enough to lie side by side that one night, two weeks ago.

"Your smile," she answered, chancing a look at him. "I haven't seen that in a while."

"Hey! I do smile."

"Maybe. But not recently."

"I don't know about that. I smile all the time."

"You're not smiling right now."

Gendry gave her a big, goofy grin. Arya laughed.

Oh God, you're adorable, he thought.

"So," Arya went on, fidgeting with the throw draped over the back of the couch. "You're all going to the party tonight."

"Uh, yeah."

"Are you going with someone?"

Do you want to go with me? Gendry asked her. But he didn't exactly ask that out loud.

"No."

Theon heard this and stopped picking up stray cards and potato chips on the floor. "Aren't you going with Jeyne?"

Gendry wanted to strangle him. Like, really strangle him. He was already picturing it in his mind, and if only he could do it for real.

"Uh…I think so," came his reply.

Theon's forehead creased. "What do you mean you think so? Didn't you ask her to go with you?"

Gendry forgot all about that. Dead. Dead. Dead. Theon's dead, and Gendry will make sure of that. But this is Theon, and he's pretty hard to kill. What was it that Theon always said? 'What is dead may never die.'

He noticed that Arya seemed tense. Instead of him, she was now suddenly interested with picking at her nails.

"Um…yeah. Forgot about that." Gendry said.

"Well," Theon chuckled. "Best not to forget. You know how absurdly jealous and annoyed she gets when you don't keep a promise."

Silence. Awkward silence.

Gendry cleared his throat, for lack of a better thing to say. He shot an annoyed look at Theon, although he doubted the Starks' cousin even noticed. Finally finding the nerve to look, he looked at Arya and found the seat empty.

He seemed to be doing a pretty good at letting her slip through his fingers.