"You're angry with me."

"Fuck off."

Sansa ignored her, walking into the room like it was her own and plopping down at the bed. Arya rolled her eyes and let out a furious huff, glaring at her sister over her biology textbook. It seemed like every force in the world was trying to get her to avoid her homework.

"I didn't mean to rat you out, you know," Sansa said, undeterred.

"I thought I told you to get out of my room," Arya snarled, turning away from her pretty sister. Sansa flicked her long, beautiful auburn hair over her shoulder and picked at her perfectly manicured nails.

"No, you told me to fuck off," Sansa corrected, giving her a simpering look. "And I ignored you.

"Ugh, you're the most annoying bitch I've ever met! Leave me alone!" Arya groaned, slamming her forehead into her biology textbook.

"I had no idea Dad would take it that way-"

"-You had no idea? Are you stupid?" Arya shouted, instantly regretting it as she saw the look of hurt flower across her sisters face.

"Anyone who spends two seconds with you knows Gendry doesn't see you like that," she protested feebly, picking at the flowers stitched onto her skirt. Arya felt her stomach sink lower, a feat she hadn't thought possible.

"Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?" Arya sighed softly into her knees. Sansa didn't say anything for a long time.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I guess... I guess I did do it on purpose."

Arya raised her head, mouth gaping open in shock. Sansa refused to look up, but instead seemed to be fascinated with the folds of her skirt.

"On purpose?" Arya demanded.

"It's not fair," Sansa said in a very small voice, "the way he treats you. He always lets you get away with everything. He loves you more than he does me. Everyone knows it."

Arya felt herself open and close her mouth, but no sound came out. There was just no way to attack Sansa for that.

"That's not true," she said after a long silence, but her hesitation spoke volumes. "You know Dad loves each of us equally."

Sansa gave a small smile, but didn't seem convinced.

"You should be pleased with yourself then," Arya said briskly, "he's punished me. I have to go to prom, and the awards banquet, and the end of the year banquet."

"Really?" Sansa asked, brightening considerably. "That's great!"

"Great for you, maybe," Arya muttered darkly. "I hate dressing up."

"But prom Arya! This is my last year before I'm off to university! You'll get to go with me!" Sansa said, clasping her hands, and though she was near squealing, it was obvious she was trying to hide her excitement. Arya felt a pang of guilt. When they were younger, Sansa was the one who was always pushing Arya down, and now, as they were older, it was obvious Sansa wanted to repair their scattered relationship. It was even more painfully obvious that Arya had no interest in doing so.

"And Jeoffry," Arya said in disgust, the mere mention of him tasting foul on her tongue as she wrinkled her nose with distaste.

Sansa sighed.

"He's my boyfriend, Arya," she said for what seemed to be the millionth time.

"That doesn't mean he deserves you," Arya snarled. "The only thing that little twat deserves is pig shit."

"ARYA!"

"Don't look so upset," Arya snapped, "I can't believe you're dating him. I can't believe that Dad approves of him and not Gendry!"

"Jeoffry is only a year older than me," Sansa said pointedly. "Gendry's what, five years older than you? And besides, he's not your boyfriend."

Arya seriously considered rolling her eyes. How many times was she going to be reminded that Gendry wasn't her boyfriend? Five million?

"Whatever," Arya shot back, "just because Jeoffry's your age doesn't mean he's a good person. Far from it. Do you remember what he called me on my sixteenth birthday?"

"You asked for it," Sansa protested. "You really shouldn't have dumped the entire bowl of punch on his head!"

"Gendry would have thought it was funny," Arya said softly, "and now I'm never going to get to hang out with him again, probably ever."

Sansa gave her a smile.

"What?"

"I might be able to help with that," she said.

"How?"

"I sort of took a bat to one of your headlights."

"What?" Arya shouted. "How is that helping anything?"

"Well, now you'll have to take it into the shop," Sansa said with a shrug, standing up and casually brushing herself off. Giving Arya a wink, she swished out of the room, looking immensely pleased with herself.

Effective, Arya thought, and clever too. A bit expensive, but effective non the less.

Whether she liked it or not, Arya was impressed.

oooooooooooooo

"You know what the secret is to a great cherry pie?"

"No, and I don't care either."

"You crush the cherries, to really get out the flavor and-"

"Hot Pie," Gendry said, pushing himself out from under the car he was working on so that he could look his friend in the face, "I don't care."

"Fine," the fat young man said. "Fuck you. You've been in a bad mood for days now, ever since Ned Stark had a go at you."

"Could you just piss off?" Gendry asked, throughly irritated. "I have a job to do, you know."

Hot Pie stuffed the rest of his lemon tart in his mouth and then flipped Gendry off, getting up to leave.

"Fine with me," Hot Pie snapped, "I don't want to hang around with you anyway. You're acting like a fucking pansy."

Gendry rolled his eyes and pushed himself back under the car, glad for some peace and quiet at last. Well, maybe not quiet. Yoren had his favorite tunes on full blast.

It seemed like only a second had passed when suddenly Yoren was sticking his greasy face under the car, scaring Gendry half to death.

"Get up you sorry son of a whore," he barked. "You've got company."

"Company?" Gendry said, incredulous.

"Business," Yoren clarified. "Hurry up."

And with that he was gone, probably off to smoke a joint. Gendry let out a long sigh. Who could be asking for him? Not Ned Stark. He prayed it wasn't Ned Stark.

Nerves getting the better of him, Gendry pushed himself out from under the car and stood up, brushing himself off. Catching a glimpse of himself in the window, he swore softly. Covered in grease and sweat, he was the very embodiment of what Ned had accused him of being: a dirty, uneducated, lowlife.

But when he walked out into the sunlight of the parking lot in front of the Forge, his heart jumped in shock. Arya sat her in car, wearing a pair of her favorite shades, leaning out of the window and smiling at him.

"What?" He said stupidly, and though her eyes were covered, she knew she was rolling them. "I mean, what are you doing here? I though your Dad banned you."

"Awww, did the big bad wolf scare you?" Arya said, lowering her sunglasses and jutting out her lower lip. "Actually, if I remember correctly, my punishment was to go to a series of awful events, not stop being your friend. Besides, my tail light's out, so technically, I'm not here for you."

"Ahh," Gendry said, going round her car to inspect the damage. "Jesus! It isn't out, someone's smashed it in!"

"Yeah," Arya sighed, laying her head on her arms, "Sansa thought it might get me back in her good graces."

Gendry laughed.

"You have one twisted sister," he chuckled. "How the hell did she figure smashing in your light was going to get you to stop being mad at her?"

"She knew it'd be an excuse to come see you," Arya said, shrugging. Gendry didn't say anything. It was actually a smart idea.

"I know, right? I was impressed," Arya said. "Who knew Sansa was cunning?"

"Learn something new everyday," Gendry echoed with a snort of laughter. "Well, drive her in and we'll take a look."

Once they had Arya's car in the shop, Gendry cleaned up the tail light and put a new one in while Arya sat on the hood of the car, tapping her foot to the music.

"Do you want to hang around? Or do you have someplace to be?" Gendry asked when he finished.

Arya shrugged.

"Hang around, I guess," she said.

"All right, but I've got to finish this one car, do you mind?" He said, pointing over to the car he had been working on earlier. She shrugged again.

Looking at her out of the corner of his eye, he realized that she seemed a bit down. Arya was usually snappier than this, or at least more talkative. How many words had she said to him? Five? Was she angry with him?

As he pushed himself under the car again, he tried to rack his brain for anything he could have said to make her angry. He thought back to the argument with Ned Stark, there was a moment where she had looked upset, now what was it? Oh yeah! When he mentioned that he had a girlfriend!

"I don't have a girlfriend," Gendry said, pushing himself out again so he could look up at Arya, who was leaning against the car, "if that's what you're angry about."

"I'm not angry," she snapped, sliding down the car to sit down. "Why would I care if you have a girlfriend or not?"

"You wouldn't care?" Gendry said, feeling slightly put out.

"No," she said, giving him an indignant look.

"I'd care if you had a boyfriend and didn't tell me," Gendry said before he could stop himself. Cursing inwardly, he tried to pull it off as a nonchalant thing, shrugging.

"You would?" She was shocked.

"Well, yeah," Gendry said, running a hand through his black hair, shrugging again, "you're my best friend. It'd feel a bit weird if you didn't tell me about it."

"Oh, yeah, right," she said. Did she... Did she almost sound disappointed?

He pushed himself back under the car, and to his surprise, she scooted under as well, wiggling on her back until she was next to him, their shoulders brushing. Gendry felt his heart starting to pound, but he brushed it off.

"It's quiet down here," she said softly after a while, and when he looked over at her, she had her eyes closed.

"Yeah, it's nice," he said. "Helps me think."

"Well, anything to help you think," she teased, elbowing him in the side.

"Thanks a lot," Gendry snapped, the words her father had said day before echoing in his mind. "I do take some classes at university, you know."

"Don't listen to what my Dad said," Arya murmured, and out of the corner of his eye he could see her looking at him, "he was just angry."

It was amazing, he thought, how easily she could read his mind, but then again, they'd been friends for nearly six years now, ever since the party at the Wall.

The Wall had always been a sketch place, but it seemed that every kid within fifty miles had been to it at one point or another. For some reason, it was the place to party. The place to party, that is, if you were a boy. No girls allowed.

So naturally, Arya had to crash it.

She was only nine at the time, and even in present time, Gendry had to admire her guts. All sorts of crazy shit happened at the Wall. Fights were inevitable, as well as illegal drug use and massive consumption of alcohol. When Gendry was a teenager, it was the perfect place to vent out his rage at his father. Beating the shit out of some twat always made him feel better than booze did.

The night they met, Arya had been in over her head. It wasn't surprising either. Actually, it was surprising that she hadn't got herself raped, but then again, the majority of the people at the Wall were idiots.

When he had first seen her, he had thought she was a boy, she had certainly disguised herself well, with the short bob and dirty t-shirt and scrawny build, but he wasn't drunk yet, and he wasn't stupid. There was just something about Arya that didn't fit.

And then he saw someone push her to the ground. A fat kid, and then another one, they were ganging up on her! Cowardly twats!

But to his surprise, she leapt up, a little knife appearing out of nowhere, pointed at the fat kids chin. And she was threatening him.

"... I bet you're a liar, but I'm not," she snarled, looking incredibly deadly for a nine-year-old. "I like killing fat boys."

And that's when the fat kid ran into Gendry.

He turned around, saw Gendry, who was already tall for his age, and, when he wanted to be, sufficiently menacing, and gulped, looking near to shitting his pants. Hot Pie had never looked stupider.

"Oh you like picking on the little ones, do you?" Gendry snarled, advancing on Hot Pie, who started to break out in a sweat.

"No-!"

"I'll tell you something, I've beaten guys twice your size bloody, had huge blokes screaming when I hit them. Are you going to scream when I hit you?"

"No," Hot Pie croaked, looking horrified.

"Oh piss off you twats," Gendry snapped, and no sooner had the words left his mouth, then they were gone. That left him alone with the little girl and her knife.

"That's good quality," Gendry said, examining the blade. "Where'd you get it?"

"It was a gift," she said, giving him a throughly distrustful look.

"What, was it from your boyfriend?" Gendry asked, enjoying the look of horror on her face.

"I don't have a boyfriend! I'm... I'm a boy!" She protested, but her eyes were wide and the lie was very unconvincing.

"No, you're not, do you think I'm as stupid as the rest of them?" Gendry asked, laughing. She glared at him.

"Stupider."

"You know, you really shouldn't insult people bigger than you are," he informed her, trying very hard not to laugh anymore.

"Then I wouldn't get to insult anyone," she said, frowning. He roared with laughter again.

"I'm Gendry," he said, extending his hand. "Gendry Waters."

She gave his hand a dubious look, as if not sure whether it would bite her or not, but then she looked at him, and something passed over her face, something must have told her that he was all right, because she nodded and shook his hand.

"Arya Stark."

"Gendry?" Her voice, in the present day, floated into his mind, breaking him from his reveries. "You're not thinking too much about what my Dad said, are you?"

"No," he said. "I mean, I was, but just now I was thinking of how we met. Do you remember?"

"How could I forget?" She laughed. "Hot Pie was such a twat then."

"He was," Gendry agreed, "but he turned out all right."

"Did he? Why do we even keep him around anyway?" Arya asked, snorting with laughter.

"The food," they both chorused, and then chuckled. And because, if it was just you and me, we'd be far too couple-y for me to pretend you're just my friend, Gendry thought to himself, allowing his eyes to linger on her face, turned upwards towards the underside of the car. And that would be disastrous