I usually only post a chapter a day, but I just couldn't help myself and had to post this one as well. This is so hard for me, because I really can't tell you guys about Sansa or I'll just spoil later chapters. So, unfortunately, I'll just have to say: keep reading! Things will all play out as I planned them to.

Summary: In which Gendry prepares to embark on what will certainly prove to be an awkward bachelor party, and Hot Pie accidentally causes Arya to make a rash decision.

Gendry sighed, setting yet another t-shirt in his duffle bag, trying to remind himself why he had agreed to come to this damn thing anyway. Thinking about it, he was probably the last person who should be going to Joffrey's bachelor party.

"We asked him to invite his friends," Jon had said when he called Gendry up, begging him to go, "but it turns out that he doesn't have any. So we thought it'd be a good idea to invite you."

"That has got to be the worst idea I've ever heard of, no offense mate," Gendry had said, scoffing.

"Yeah, that's probably true," Jon sighed, "and we wouldn't have actually called you and asked, but it turns out your Dad sort of requested that you go."

"My Dad?" Gendry sputtered, sure it was some sort of joke.

"Yeah," Jon said, almost sounding apologetic," he seemed to feel really bad about what he said to you at the party."

"I doubt it," Gendry muttered under his breath.

"I don't know, mate," Jon said with a sigh, "but we would really appreciate it if you came. It'll just make it one person less awkward."

"Forget it," Gendry snapped. "Joffrey hates me. It'd only ruin it for everyone."

"Joffrey can suck my dick," Jon said darkly, and Gendry laughed, "you're going."

"Isn't this bachelor party supposed to be something, you know, he enjoys?" Gendry asked, still chuckling.

"I suppose, but does Joffrey ever really enjoy anything? Besides being a prick?" Jon asked.

"Well, thanks for the invite, but I'm going to sit this one out," Gendry said. There was a long, awkward pause.

"Look, I didn't want it to come to this, but I'm afraid you sort of don't have a choice," Jon said.

"What?" Gendry demanded. "Why?"

"Robert insists," Jon sighed. "I really do think this is his idea of making things right between you two."

"Then he's mental," Gendry growled.

"At least he's trying," Jon supplied lamely.

"What if I don't want to make things right?" Gendry demanded.

"He's already paid for your room, mate. You really want to go and piss him off? Who knows, maybe this could be a good thing. Maybe he'll start, you know, chipping in for stuff and remembering your birthday. He's not a bad man, Gendry, just... Flawed," Jon said reasonably. Gendry sighed.

"Fine," he snarled, "as long as Joffrey knows that this was not my idea."

"Trust me," Jon said, "he knows."

And now, as a result, Gendry found himself packing for what would no doubt prove a very painful weekend. When he had accepted, his father had been thrilled, or so Arya had told him. Arya, that was another thing to consider.

She was furious, when Sansa had accepted Joffrey's proposal, so much so that Ned had asked Gendry to escort her out of the party and drive her home, Arya ranting the entire way, absolutely flabbergasted.

"It's just so sudden!" She had cried that night, stabbing at the left over Chinese food with her fork, as though imagining it was Joffrey's eye.

"Is it?" Gendry asked through a mouthful of food. He had decided to take her back to his flat in the hope that she would cool off, or calm down, or something.

"Well... No," Arya grumbled. "I mean, Sansa has been acting weird for weeks, but I thought it was going to be because she was going to break up with him! Not marry him! This is ridiculous! I can't believe my Mum and Dad are actually letting this happen! She's far too young!"

"She just graduated," Gendry pointed out. "And she's nineteen. She's of age, so technically, she's not too young."

"No!" Arya shouted, waving her fork at him. "She doesn't know what she's doing! Is she mental? She's going to have to spend the rest of her life with that twat!"

"I know," Gendry said, sighing. "I really don't understand it either."

"I just can't believe it!" Arya cried, slamming down her food. "It makes me sick!"

"Speaking of your parents, what do they think?" Gendry asked.

"I don't know, do I?" Arya snapped. "You dragged me out of there before I could have a proper talk with them."

"Talk?" Gendry said, raising an eyebrow. "More like a shouting match, I think."

"Whatever," she snarled, leaping to her feet and going to get a soda out of the fridge, "but they can't be against it, or he would have never proposed."

"Maybe this is what Sansa wants," Gendry sighed.

"It can't be what she wants!" Arya bellowed. "It just can't!"

"I don't know," Gendry said thoughtfully, "she always seemed meant for that world, you know? She fits in so much better than you or I did."

"I don't care," Arya said, looking close to tears. "It's wrong! It's wrong and I'll make her see it, even if it kills me!"

But she didn't make her see it. Arya and Sansa had fights before, but never like this. It had absolutely destroyed their relationship to the point where Arya admitted just the sight of Sansa made her angry. Gendry tried to reason with Arya, for her own sake, but that was in vain as well.

"I'll never forgive her for this," she had vowed darkly. "I won't just sit idly by as she makes the worst decision of her life."

Gendry couldn't help but agree, but what was there to do? When he had talked to Arya's brothers, they all seemed to agree that fighting it was futile. Robb had reasoned that if they couldn't talk her out of not dating him, not matter how hard they had tried, than there was no hope for talking her out of this.

"Besides," he had said in a very resigned voice, "knowing Sansa, it'll probably just strengthen her resolve if we do."

The only person who seemed pleased was Robert Baratheon. Arya often complained about how happy he was, how perfect he thought Joffrey and Sansa were together, and how wonderful it was that the family business would finally be a family business.

"Our families should have always been joined as one," Arya said, mimicking him and then scowling.

Ned and Catelyn Stark seemed to be very unsure about the whole thing, but, much to Arya's dismay, they seemed determined to support Sansa in her decision, and act accordingly. Gendry knew Arya had hoped that they would rally against the wedding, and her disappointment when they didn't had been acute.

As it was, he also felt that she was far from okay with him going to the bachelor party. Though he had explained it to her, and she had said she was fine, he couldn't help but notice the look of betrayal that had flowered across her face.

"I'll be miserable the entire time, I swear," he had promised her, but somehow, that just wasn't enough.

Gendry sighed, checking the time. Jon, Robb and Bran would be here any minute, along with Joffrey, to take him to wherever they were going. Jon and Robb had planned it out, promising that it would be a 'weekend none of them would forget,' which, Gendry had a nagging suspicion, probably meant that there was going to be a lot of alcohol and probably a strip club involved. A strip club with Joffrey. He could only imagine.

He zipped up the duffle bag and let out a long, slow sigh. What he wouldn't give to just spend the weekend in his flat. Playing video games with Arya, or maybe going out and kicking a ball around. She had always said she would teach him how to hold a bow and arrow and shoot, but with all the tensions going on with her parents, it had never happened. He made a mental note to ask her about that again.

As he carried his duffle bag out into the sitting area, he thought that he'd rather go to work than this. But Jon, Robb and Bran weren't so bad. Robb, who was expecting a baby any day with his wife Jeyne, was probably only likely to talk only about that, as was expected with couples who were anticipating their first child. Gendry didn't mind much, though, he rather liked Arya's brothers, and envied her for them. They were such a real family, and cared very much about her and each other, as his half siblings never would.

He was also infinitely grateful that when they discovered that he was friends with Arya, unlike Ned, her brothers had not threatened to decapitate them. Of course, when they had found out about their friendship, Arya had been ten, and had invited him to go for a game of soccer with them, whereas Ned had been told that she probably spent the night at his flat. And besides, he reminded himself, Ned Stark was warming to him. Slowly, but warming none the less.

There was a knock at his door, and, sighing again, Gendry went to open it.

Jon gave him an almost depressed smile.

"Ready for the bachelor party?" He asked, grimacing.

"It'll be a night to remember, I'm sure," Gendry said, mirroring him with the grimace and picking up his duffle bag, feeling as though he were not stepping over the threshold of his door, but unto a battlefield.

Oooooooooooooo

"This is boring."

"What? We haven't even started! You just cracked an egg! We haven't even measured the other ingredients!" Hot Pie protested as they stood in his kitchen, Arya sulking in the corner, glaring at the line of ingredients as though they had insulted her.

"Couldn't we go do something? Play video games, kick the ball around, or, hey listen to this! Or I could teach you how to do archery!" Arya whined, throwing away the eggshells in her hand. Hot Pie curled his nose, as though the very thought of exercise set him off.

"No," he said. "Besides, isn't that the sort of bullshit you do with Gendry?"

"And you wonder why I chose to hang out with him more than you," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest moodily.

"Come on Arry! This is baking! This is fun!" Hot Pie said, as though she was soft. "I thought girls liked to bake!"

"Do I look like most girls?" She demanded, looking insulted. "Girls are idiots. And what's fun about putting a bunch of eggs and flour together? Hmm?"

"You're moody," Hot Pie snapped. "What? Are you on your period or something?"

"Ugh, why am I even hanging out with you?" Arya spat, a disgusted look on her face. Hot Pie measured some milk into a measuring cup.

"Because Gendry's gone off with your brothers for Joffrey's bachelor party and I'm all you've got left," Hot Pie said bluntly, starting to mix the cake they were supposed to be baking together.

"ARGH!" Arya groaned in frustration. "That stupid wedding! Don't even get me started! I can't talk about it! It's not fair, that they get to go galavanting off and I get stuck here baking cakes!"

"I don't know why you're so upset about missing the bachelor party," Hot Pie said, not even insulted by her words. "It'll probably suck anyway."

"Yes I know," Arya pouted. "It's the principle of the whole damn thing."

"Trust me," Hot Pie said absentmindedly, "you're probably just be missing Gendry getting himself sussed and then having sex with some prostitute or something-HEY! Where are you going?"

"I'll call you later," Arya said, snatching up her things at light speed. "I've got to, uhh, go do something."

"You're not thinking of going, are you?" Hot Pie yelled in alarm, but she was already half way out the door. "ARRY! ARYA!"

But it was too late. She was already gone.

Oh Arya, what are you getting yourself into now? The next chapter will be up tomorrow =)