Dear Kingfuriosa , here's a new year's story for you! It got longer than I thought it would, but I hope you like it and I hope you had a magical Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Happy New Year
"Oh my days, I can't flipping do this anymore!"
Arya would have laughed at her well-mannered sister if she didn't thoroughly agree with the sentiment. She was cold and tired and everything was wet. Even their wellies that had been stood upside down on cricket stumps (as advised by their resident camping expert) were wet down to their toes.
"I can't fucking do this either." She reached towards her rucksack and didn't even bother opening it, she could see it was soaked through.
"Arya!"
Arya rolled her eyes, but didn't look up from the sad state of her bag, "Sansa, I'm just agreeing with you, there's no need to fly off the handle"
"No, you're standing in a puddle! Quick, you're being dripped on!" She grabbed her by the arm and tugged her to the corner of the tent where the rain hadn't quite reached yet.
"Oh for fuck's sake."
A voice from outside the tent called to them, "Are you two bickering again? Can you leave off for another hour?"
"Can you piss off?" Arya shouted back.
The last thing she wanted right then was Robb acting like mum, telling them to play nicely with each other.
"Our tent's leaked." Sansa called out, looking at Arya sadly. She nodded at her big sister glumly. They were both in soggy pyjamas, having been let down not only by Theon's second best tent, but also by the sleeping bags he had promised were 'like new'.
"How?" the man himself sounded like he was laughing.
"Because it's raining, knobhead!" Arya
"Yeah, but it can't be that bad."
They heard the sounds of someone struggling out of their tent, the squelch of wellies in the mud, and then Theon's head popped in their tent flap.
"Bit damp in here." He grinned at them, shivering in the corner.
"Cunt."
"Arya!" Sansa was horrified, and Theon, although he just kept grinning, did look a little uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, do you honestly have anything positive to say about him right now?"
"No, of course not, but that doesn't mean you get to use words like that. You could call him a liar or tell him to- to- What was it you said last night?"
"Deep throat a cactus."
"Yes, that. Anything that isn't quite so bad!" Sansa had never sounded quite so much like their mother before. There was something about freezing your tits off in the middle of a field that brings out an inner self, Arya supposed.
"Okay," she nodded at her sister and then turned to the floating head, "Theon, go fuck a cactus you lying cunt."
Sansa groaned, but Theon just grinned more broadly.
"Kings Landing has changed you, little one."
"Fuck-"
"Can you at least lend us some dry clothes?" Sansa cut across what was sure to be a stream of profanities coming from Arya with practicality. "Or go and see if the shop by the entrance has any wellies we could borrow?"
"Aye aye, Captain." Theon saluted and disappeared.
"What a dick." Sansa muttered.
The gas campfire wouldn't work. That was the next thing, that huddled in the boys' tent, with Robb and Theon sitting by the open tent flap arguing over what to do, not even the flask full of hot chocolate they had gotten from the campsite shop could bring enough warmth. Sansa and Arya sat on either side of Jon, hunched over and still freezing cold. They had waddled over to the boys tent in their wet wellies and the driest bag they had crammed full of whatever they could salvage.
Arya had somehow ended up with a pair of Jon's socks, even though they were the furthest apart in size. She liked it though, how the thick wool flopped at the toe and wrinkled at her ankles like leg-warmers. Bran's jumper was too long so she had rolled the sleeves several times and, seeing as she had lost in the battle for Bran's spare pair of jeans, was swimming in Rickon's spare pyjama bottoms. Sansa somehow made the boys' clothes look like a fashion choice – damp tent chic – but Arya knew she looked like a crazy child.
Whilst their brothers had sorted out dry clothes for the girls Theon had gone down to the shop by the entrance to the campsite and asked about a spare tent. Apparently, the only thing they stocked was soap and hot drinks. He came back with a flask and an apology.
"But he did say that if we ask his mate down the pub that he might be able to sort something out. So not a total disaster, eh?" He beamed at the huddled siblings in the tent.
"Oh yeah, an absolute dream of a situation." Arya grumbled.
Jon nudged her with his elbow, but she could see he was trying not to laugh.
"By which she means, 'thank you so much'." Robb's words were for his friend, but his reproving glare was solely for Arya.
"Sure." She nodded at Robb apologetically, but then as soon as his back was turned rolled her eyes and shared a look with Bran, who was sitting on his sleeping bag out of the way and was trying not to laugh.
The pub in the village was only a twenty minute walk away, but in borrowed pyjamas and wet wellington boots in late December it felt longer. Sansa had snagged a piggy-back off Robb after she had almost fallen for the third time in less than a minute, but none of the others would come near Arya.
"Stay on that side of the road, Arry, nobody wants to be smothered in mud."
"I'm not that muddy! I just brushed the floor."
"You face-planted it, Arya, we all saw you go down."
Rickon seemed to be taking a bit too much joy in his role as 'Arya watcher'. He laughed at her from across the road as she stuck her middle fingers up at him.
"Yeah, and none of you did anything to stop me."
"I thought about it." Bran shrugged at her, offering her a smile that didn't quite hide his laughter.
"Thanks Bran, your consideration makes my heart bleed."
Arya rolled her eyes and focused on stomping down the road. She hadn't been able to get her boots back on her feet, so had resorted to stuffing them in as far as they would go and dealing with the consequences. Of course, that had led her to fall straight over about thirty seconds from leaving the tent, and then being so covered in mud nobody wanted to ever hold her hand, let alone carry her down the street.
She looked over at Sansa perched on Robb's back, her muddy feet swinging slightly as she chatted with him and Theon. She at least looked ready and willing to forgive the boy.
Arya kept her frown.
The village was small enough that they found the pub within seconds. It sat at the cross roads opposite the town hall and the village shop. The sign squeaked as it blew in the wind, the angry looking bull casting its gaze across the whole street.
Arya was last through the door, attempting to shake some of the mud off her. She had managed to dislodge a clod of it from the bottom of her shoe when she just decided to give up and kicked them off in the porch.
The inner door swung open and she saw all eyes on her.
"Yes?" she glared round at them.
"Fell over, did you?"
The man behind the bar was tall with dark hair and an unsmiling mouth, and yet Arya was sure he was laughing at her. She shook her hair out of her face, not wanting to spread yet more mud around.
"No, actually, I just really wanted to take advantage of the rejuvenating properties of a full-body mud pack." She smiled sweetly at him before scoffing, "Fuck's sake, of course I fell over."
"Arya!" Both Robb and Sansa went instantly to scold her, but the bartender snorted.
With her older sibling's disapproving eyes on her Arya felt the need to apologise, but with the amused look on his face, the feeling didn't stick too strongly.
"Our tent leaked, my shoes got wet, and none of these gits would even help me up. The guy at the front desk said that you might be able to help with camping stuff." The time for jokes had gone, now Arya just wanted to not be covered in mud.
"Lem? Fuck, not again. He's meant to own a campsite, you'd think that would come with camping equipment." He shook his head, but moved from his spot behind the bar, "I'll go and check what I've got in the back. Take a seat, or-" he paused and turned back to look at Arya, "-actually, do you mind not sitting on anything? I've just had this place cleaned."
Jon snorted as he disappeared, and Arya spun to shout at him, but the whole lot of them were laughing and being indignant takes up so much effort, so she joined in.
In the end Theon offered up his coat for her to sit on. She settled it over a bar stool so as to minimise the damage to the furnishings.
"It looks like I don't have anything spare, I leant it to my sister a month ago and haven't seen it since," The bartender was back, and despite his words his hands were full, "But I did find some waterproofs you can use while those are muddy, and you're welcome to my washing machine."
"Yes." Arya whispered in excitement to herself, but the others heard and started laugheing.
Sansa sighed, and looked round at the boys, "So can we crash with you guys tonight then? Since our tent is a write-off." She looked at Arya sadly who mimed a tear falling down her face.
"Wait, it's just you two?" the bartender looked between the two girls.
Sansa nodded, "Yeah, it's just our tent. But the boys have a perfectly good one, so don't feel like you have to trouble yourself further."
"No, it's just if it's just the two of you, you can stay here." He shrugged off Sansa's politeness and made Arya's day.
She turned to look at the boys, her mouth stretched into the smuggest smile she could manage. Bran and Rickon laughed, but the others were still looking at the bartender.
"Are you sure? We don't want to force them on you."
"Yeah, it's not trouble for me, I don't mind at all. It's not a hotel room or anything, it's literally just a room in my flat upstairs, but you're more than welcome to it."
They were silent for a second, an awkward silence where nobody wanted to bite his hand off and look rude, but where they were obviously going to say yes. Arya took advantage of the silence to spin round and look the barman in the eye.
"Can you confirm for definite that there is a shower attached and that it is not communal?"
He snorted with a straight face, but nodded.
"Sold. You're a dream of a person, sir. Actually, what's your name?" She had just realised that this stranger who had just offered her and her sister a room for the night was a nameless figure to them all.
His lips twitched and for a second Arya thought she might finally be rewarded with a smile.
"Gendry."
They decided that the boys would be the ones to go out in the cold to retrieve the girls' things. Well, Theon and Robb and Rickon were sent back to the campsite. Bran and Jon convinced them that they should go on a quick walk around to scout out the best things to do before evening. They slipped out before the others realised, and both Sansa and Arya resolutely refused to move an inch, so the three boys were left with no choice. When the door swung shut behind them, the girls looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.
"For goodness' sake." Sansa shook her head, "it was going to be us, wasn't it?"
"Fucking Theon. Who invited him anyway?" Arya rolled her eyes.
Sansa just laughed. Theon was always invited. Like Jon, he wasn't their biological brother, but he was the next best thing. Although he didn't live with them like Jon did, he was there for every major family event. He had stayed with them over the holidays, and it had been him that had suggested a New Year camping trip.
"Is he the one with the straggly beard?" Gendry was behind the bar still, flipping through some paperwork, and he didn't look up to speak, but both the girls burst out laughing immediately.
Arya let her cackles ring round the room, but Sansa pressed a hand to her mouth, a guilty look on her face.
"Yes, and you should absolutely tell him that you think it's awful." Arya beamed up at Gendry. "He's the worst person ever and needs to be taken a peg or too."
He paused in his paperwork and looked up at her, "Ever? Wow, so worse than Hitler even."
"I mean, he is in my eyes right now, yeah?" She turned to Sansa for confirmation. Her sister rolled her eyes and turned to share a look with Gendry.
"Not quite Hitler, but we're not best pleased."
He snorted and looked back down at the clipboard in his hand.
Arya saw her sister give a little shiver before standing up, "Are the toilets through here?" she pointed to the door at the side of the bar and Gendry nodded.
When her red hair bobbed out of view Arya turned back to the surly barman, and watched him for a second. She waited for him to finish the page he was on and before he reached for a new leaf she spoke.
"Say, friend, it's a little chilly in here."
He looked up at her. Arya appreciated for a moment having someone look up at her, even if it was from her sitting on a high stool and him leaning down onto the bar.
"I don't put the heating on this early in the morning. It takes about half an hour to warm up, and I would rather only bother with it for paying customers." He gave her a pointed look.
"Are we not paying you?" She leant forward in excitement, "Great, I'll have nine whiskeys please."
He chuckled, "Not for the room, but I'll charge you for anything down here." He nodded at the drinks behind him.
"Like heating?" She raised her eyebrows back at him, and then she smiled at him, "If I give you a tenner will you put it on for a bit?"
The smile did nothing. His face didn't change at all.
"No."
"Oh come on!"
"Surprisingly, I don't feel the sudden urge to do as you demand." He had abandoned his paperwork now and was standing, watching her.
She held a hand to her chest and twisted her face into a look of despair, "I'm wouldn't dare demand, I'm simply asking nicely."
"No," he scoffed, "you're being cheeky and trying to bribe me."
Arya tried to disguise her laugh as outrage, but by the look on Gendry's face he saw through it, "Ha" I'm not cheeky, I'm just-" she paused and bit her lip to contain the laughter, "-forceful."
He laughed openly now, a smile finally crossing his face.
"See, you're laughing, you're charmed, you're going to do anything I ask. This has worked hasn't it? You're going to put the heating on, aren't you?" Arya grinned up at him.
He chuckle again, "I'm laughing and that's about it."
Arya bit her bottom lip, "Well I'm still cold, is there anything hot you can give me?"
Gendry's eyes met hers and she heard the sentence back in her head. She felt her cheeks warm slightly.
"Like food." She said quickly before his smirk could turn into more teasing.
"You'll have to wait for Hot-pie, he's the cook."
"And when does he get here?"
Gendry sighed, "More questions? I feel like I should be charging you for those at the least."
Arya rolled her eyes, "Well if you were more forthcoming with information, this wouldn't have to be so painful."
"Hot-Pie normally gets here for ten, and you'll have to wait till then, because for legal hygiene reasons, I'm not supposed to handle food." He raised his eyebrows at her, daring her to ask anything else.
Arya turned and look at the clock. It was still only half past nine in the morning. She turned back to Gendry. "But you're the owner, right? Can't you make the rules?"
Gendry nodded, "No, I'm the owner of a small pub in the Riverlands, not of the Food Standards Agency."
"But can't you make, like, toast without Hot-Pie being here?"
"No, it's a legal hygiene thing." He repeated, his lips twitching, but his gaze comfortably meeting Arya's under her furrowed brow.
"You're being so unreasonable!"
"And you're being so impatient."
"Well, that's just rude."
"Oh no, what a turn this conversation will take now that I've introduced rudeness."
Arya was about to respond to his sarcasm, but the door to the toilets opened. They both turned towards it. Sansa looked at them, taking in the scene; Arya leaning across the bar, her feet tucked into the stool which was standing on two legs, Gendry standing to his full height, his hands flat on the bar in front of him.
Sansa came and sat near them, settling on the soft seats next to the bar and pulling her coat on over her knees.
"What's been happening?" she asked, already mostly aware of the answer.
Arya huffed and turned to roll her eyes at her sister, "Gendry's being ridiculous."
"My condolences on your sister, it must be really rough living with her."
Arya span back to glare at him, "It's literally only half an hour, can't you just make some toast?"
"It's literally only half an hour, can't you just wait?" he leant forward and stuck his lip out to mimic her outrage.
"Is it too early to drink?" Sansa asked, looking wearily at the pair with a smile on her face, apparently now engaged in a staring contest.
"Yes. But I can do you a hot chocolate." Gendry didn't look away from Arya, but his face softened into a smile as he addressed her sister.
"What about a coffee?" Arya tilted her head, still refusing to blink.
"I thought it was a bad idea to give coffee to hyperactive children?"
"Fuck you! I'm 19." She leant back, finally looking away so she could throw an outraged look to Sansa, who just laughed at her.
"And feel the need to prove it, apparently." Gendry had moved now, further down the bar where he reached down for two mugs.
"Excuse me?"
He laughed and looked back at her briefly before turning to the espresso machine behind the bar, "You're just quite a lot like a Jack Russel having a go at an Alsatian."
She stuck her lip out and considered the statement. "No, I'm the Alsatian. I actually have an Alsatian, she's called Nymeria and she's beautiful."
Gendry had his back to her, but she thought he might be smiling from the change in his voice, "I always wanted an Alsatian, but ended up with the first mongrel I found."
"Oh you have a dog! What's he called?"
"Bull."
Sansa cooed, "Aw, like the pub. That's sweet." She declared.
Gendry grinned at her, "Yeah, well I'm not that good with naming stuff, so there you are." He shrugged and pushed a hot chocolate across the bar towards Sansa.
She clambered to her feet and cradled it in her hands, "Thanks."
"Is he here?" Arya hadn't taken any notice of the coffee on the counter and instead was looking around as though she had missed the dog somewhere.
"Not at the minute, Hot-pie walks him before he comes in to work."
"Isn't it unhygienic to have a dog working here?"
Gendry rolled his eyes, "Ha, ha." He turned and swept the paperwork that was still sitting on the bar into a pile. "I'm just going to go and file this away."
As the door closed behind him Arya turned to her sister.
Sansa was making a face at her.
"What?"
Sansa sighed and shook her head, "You're just a lot for a person to handle, give him a break."
Arya gasped and feigned hurt, "Sansa! I am a dream. He has had the time of his life since I got here." She held out her hand towards the closed door as though it would speak in her favour.
Sansa snorted, "I'm sure that's true, but just let him be for a minute, okay?"
"Of course dear sister." Arya smiled at her over the rim of her coffee cup.
The view over the hills was beautiful. The lights twinkled out over the fields as dusk fell. Sansa had taken more photos than Arya thought her camera could hold. They had had what their mother would have called 'good quality time together', and Arya was grateful, she really was. The group selfies would bring back fond memories.
But as the minutes ticked by and the new year beckoned, she found herself drawn more and more to towards the path back down to the village. Not least because that was where her now clean and dry clothes were: Gendry had promised to leave them in the small attic room the girls would be sharing that night.
They had gone up to have a look when the boys returned, taking some of their bags with them up the rickety staircase, trying their hardest not to knock any of the pictures off the wall, or bump their heads on the low ceilings.
"How on earth does he live here? He's like nine foot tall!" Arya asked, turning to watch Sansa duck her way into their room.
"I presume he grew up here? It is lovely, if a bit pokey for a tall person." Sansa was smiling at the little window with a flowerbox outside.
"But he's a giant, giants usually live in huge caves or in castles in the sky. This flat, as adorable as it may be, must be inconvenient for him."
"It can be," Gendry's voice came from the door. Somehow he had managed to sneak up on them, "but my room is bigger than this, so I don't really mind. And I don't live here full time, just when I need to."
Arya flushed at being caught talking about him, but nodded and took the bag from his hands.
"So where do you live normally?"
"Oh I've got a nice cave down south."
Sansa rolled her eyes as Arya watched him turn and leave, her teeth nibbling at her bottom lip.
It didn't take them long to sort through their things, especially with the largest bags being left downstairs. When Gendry showed them to the utility room out the back Sansa suggested sorting through the bags, but Arya just tipped hers upside down and let the contents tumble out onto the floor.
"There. Sorted. One pile of things I want to wash."
Sansa sighed and held her tongue.
It was only half eleven by the time they set off, wearing clean waterproofs and with packed lunches in their rucksacks they felt a little like the Famous Five off on an adventure. But Jon and Bran had done good work and found them a long day's walk with good sights to see.
"Sansa! Come on, that's enough photos, surely?" Robb for some ungodly reason had decided it was bright enough out to pull his aviators out. He stood with his foot on a rock in front of him, and his hands stuffed in the pockets at hip-height, looking like he was trying far too hard.
"Looks a bit Byron, doesn't it?"
"Huh?"
Arya squinted up at Bran. She was used to him coming out with references to things she didn't understand.
"Robb on the rock. Gazing out onto the horizon. It's almost poetic." Bran's brow was furrowed in thought, but there was a peace to the set of his shoulders that told his sister that he liked it here.
"It's almost too easy to push him over, you mean. Do you reckon he'd bounce?"
Bran snorted, "Probably, and then he'd die and then you'd have an angry bride on your hands."
"Yeah, but it'd be a fucking spectacular way to go. If you ever fancy knocking me off, I want you to push me off a very high place and then see how much of me makes it to the ground."
"Think about your death much?"
"No, I just think it's likely that I'll be murdered, and it's normally someone you know isn't it?"
Bran shook his head. "Nah, that'll be too good for you. I think I would probably just use all the hair gel and blame you. Then Robb and Rickon would tear you apart for me."
Arya laughed and turned back to the path.
They reached the peak before dark, clambering up onto the final ledge just as the sun was setting beneath the horizon. Sansa snapped some pictures, and Theon opened his bag to hand round beers, purposefully throwing one to Jon directly over Rickon's head.
"Hey!" the younger boy threw his arms in the arm, scowling.
"You're seventeen, pal. No alcohol for you." Robb used his serious-older-brother voice, but he was grinning so Arya didn't feel bad about passing her bottle along to her younger brother once Robb's back was turned. Rickon beamed at her and flopped down on a dry rock just behind where Robb and Theon were watching the sun set. Bran settled next to him, but Sansa stepped forward to take a few more pictures.
"You okay, little one?" Jon looked down at her as Arya threaded her arm through his. His hands were tucked into his pockets, but there was always a space at his side for Arya to warm her hands.
"Yeah, I'm okay." She shrugged. "Happy New Year." She grinned up at him.
He smiled, "It's not New Year yet, we still have a good few hours left yet before everything changes."
She scowled. She was still mostly in denial about what the new year would bring, "Not everything's changing." She looked towards the ground, certain that Jon would be fixing her with that look of concerned affection.
"No, but some things are, Arya."
"I know, I know," she focused on the muddy patch beneath her toe as she spoke, digging her borrowed wellington boot into the ground a little, "You're leaving, Robb's getting married, Bran's going off to university. Some things are changing. "
"You're going off too." He squeezed her arm against with his elbow.
"Yeah, but this is my last year of going off, I'm almost finished with school."
"Just because you're almost finished with school doesn't mean you're finished with going off places. Do you know what you want to do next?"
"Eugh," Arya groaned, closing her eyes against the possibilities, "I don't know yet, and everyone else does. I just know I don't want to do what they're all doing. I want to- to travel, to have fun, to be just a little bit free before the chains of life are clapped on."
Jon didn't say anything, but she could feel him chuckling.
"You know it's not as bad as all that, right?"
"No?" She tilted her head up to meet his eyes, brown and soft and so familiar. "Then why are you running away?"
His smile dropped a little, but his gaze was still gentle, "I'm joining the army, I'm not running away."
"Same difference." She didn't bother frowning. He knew what she thought of the decision. They had come to the other side of arguing about it.
Jon sighed, "Arya, I'll be home as often as I can, I'll come and see you as much as I can. It's just a thing I'm doing with life at the minute, it's not me running away."
Arya didn't have anything to say to that. She knew he would come home, just as she knew that Robb would bring Jeyne back to the north eventually, and that as much as Sansa seemed to love the warmth in the south, she would find her way back to the snows. It was in their blood.
"I want to run away." It came out in a whisper, half hidden in the wind, but that didn't make it less true. If Jon was going away then the north could wait.
"All alone?"
Arya was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the smile growing on Jon's face. She smiled at the thought of running alone through the world. She could, she could look after herself. But she didn't have to.
"Maybe I'll find a companion, some beautiful boy who'll follow me to the ends of the earth." She smirked at the sunset, picturing the mischief she could get up to with a blue-eyed boy.
Jon squeezed her arm again, "Someone in mind?"
Arya turned to look at him. She saw the twinkle in his eye and the smile twitching at his cheeks.
"What are you getting at Jon Snow?"
"Well," he pulled a hand from a pocket and reached to tweak her nose, making her frown sulkily, "Sansa was saying how well you were getting on with that bartender."
Arya laughed, and then felt herself blush. "He's nice. It would be a bit intense to ask him to run away with me on the same day I meet him, though."
"How about just starting with his number?"
"Oh, I already have that. Just in case of emergencies."
Jon laughed and shook his head. "Oh Arya, only you."
It was surprising to see the pub full, to see tables pulled together and chairs being spread round, for music to fill the air not already taken up with laughter and excited chatter. It was a totally different place to the quiet room that Arya and Gendry had filled with laughter that morning.
Arya found she rather liked it. The press at the bar, the queue for the toilet, the whole mood of the place made her want to laugh again.
Once the group of them had snagged enough chairs and balanced themselves between a few tables Jon pushed Arya up to the bar - "You're more likely to get served first, get a round in!" – He had winked but Arya had laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. She had no problem standing in the crowd trying to catch his eye.
His eyes wrinkled when he saw her, standing on her tip-toes and leaning across the bar watching him work.
"What can I get you?" he grinned. His hair was far messier than when she had last seen him and was mostly flopped down over his sweaty brow. Arya brushed her own hair off her face again.
"Six beers and a lemonade. Whatever you've got on tap."
Rickon cried in anguish at the sight of his lemonade, but Robb smiled smugly.
"See? Even Arya won't enable you in this. Just enjoy yourself Rick, you don't need alcohol." He took a sip from his drink and then paused, "What is this Arya?"
"I have no idea." She smiled at him, lifting her own glass off the tray.
"Well it's good." He nodded in approval.
Arya wasn't listening. The black-haired head behind the bar had disappeared. The door to the back room was swinging shut and Arya found herself getting to her feet.
"I'm going to see if our things are done in the dryer." She mumbled to Sansa beside her. Her sister nodded and made a noise of acknowledgement, but when Arya caught her eye as she stood she knew there would be questions later. She gave her a quick smile and then slipped into the crowd.
The door to the back office wasn't particularly thick but somehow it cut out all noise from the front of house. Arya made her way down the corridor, peaking through the open doors. There was nobody in sight, but there was noise coming from the utility room at the back, the same place Arya was allegedly heading. Perfect.
Gendry had his back turned when Arya pushed the door open, giving her a second to gather her nerves.
"Hey."
He jumped and span around.
"Hi there."
She took a step into the room, looking down at the dryer so she could say she at least looked at it when they asked. When she saw the drum still going she let herself meet his eyes.
"So, will you be busy at midnight, do you think?"
"On New Year's Eve?" His grin was crooked, but good-natured. "Probably. Why'd you ask?"
She let a grin spread on her own face, and made sure to brush her hair out of her face.
"Because I was hoping to ring the New Year in with a kiss from a handsome stranger."
She wasn't blushing - or at least she hoped not because he was still looking at her – but she felt warm from her head to her toe. Those blue eyes.
"Well, I'll be busy, sorry." He spoke casually, but his jaw had tensed.
"Right." She nodded, biting her lip. "Of course." She looked down towards her bag, thinking up an excuse to run back to the others.
"But I'm not busy now."
She turned back to him. He was still looking at her with that grin on his face, standing there not too far away. Standing there, looking like everything Arya wanted her New Year to look like, with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbow, his hair flopped over his sweaty forehead, and what she could only call an optimistic look in his eye. She took a step forward and then she just couldn't help herself.
His hair was as soft as it looked, gentle on her fingers as she pulled his head down to hers. His hands were not so gentle, his grip biting into her hip, but she really didn't care much for what his hands were doing, not right now when his lips were right there, tasting of orange juice and peanuts. She liked how his stubble rubbed against her cheek, and his hand creeping up her back.
He pulled away after what felt like an hour but was probably only a minute. She heard the noise of displeasure before realising it had come from her. He chuckled and pressed a swift kiss against her cheek.
"Happy New Year."
He was back behind the bar by the time she had composed herself. She was sure she was still flushed when she returned to the others, but she still tried to slip back into her seat as subtly as she could.
"Didn't get any?"
It took her a minute to realise she was being spoken to, and when she did a second more to pinpoint the source. She met her brother's blue eyes with a slightly startled expression.
"Huh?"
"Clean clothes? From dryer?" Robb clarified, nodding down at her muddy jacket that still hung from her shoulders, but Arya was still a bit bewildered. Her thoughts were not with clothes at the minute, even though she was finding herself rather fixated on Gendry's shirt and how whenever he bent down below the bar she could see a little bit of his chest.
"No, the machine was still going." She mumbled.
"Are you alright, little one?" Theon glanced at her as he reached for his drink. "Hey, Rickon have you had some of this? Come on, mate, you're underage! Lemonade only for you!"
They all laughed as Rickon groaned, "I'm seventeen! It's my birthday in three months, let me live, Theon!"
"Yeah Theon, let him live!" Arya snorted as Bran stuck his tongue out and mimicked Rickon. He suddenly turned to his younger brother and put a hand on his cheek, "Who knows where he'll be this time next year. Our baby brother might be gone! Oh, Rickon!" They all laughed at Bran, at Rickon's face, at Jon reaching over to ruffle his hair, and Arya took a moment to be thankful. That with everything changing, some things would be the same. That Theon's plan had failed like always. That she had a direct view of the bar. She caught Gendry's eye as he scanned the crowd and couldn't help but smile. He winked at her and turned back to his customers, still grinning.
Arya touched her own cheeks, still warm from his lips. It would be some time until she stopped smiling.