This is going to be complete filler, and I really just debated jumping to the next string of events, but I'm afraid it'll just be too sudden and disjointed. So this will be short and sweet, and of debatable quality. But next chapter, shit happens so don't kill me.

Summary: In which Arya wakes up to find herself in an unexpected situation and Gendry can't stop thinking of what Sansa had said.

Arya sighed, feeling herself slowly pulling from sleep. Snuggling deeper under the covers, she burrowed her head into the soft body that was next to her, sleep still clouding her mind. Inhaling, she smelled the scent of skin and mens aftershave and car oil. She wrinkled her nose. It wasn't that it was a bad smell, it just didn't belong to her bed.

And then she blinked her eyes open, squinting in confusion. She was inches from Gendry's peaceful sleeping face, her hands curled against his chest and his arm wrapped around her, holding her close to him. She blinked again, thinking that perhaps she was dreaming, but when she opened her eyes again, he was there.

But how? She tried to think back to the night before, but could only remember watching that terrible movie and then watching equally terrible television. She must have fallen asleep while watching that. But then... Why wasn't it Sansa in Gendry's bed with her? Surely she would protest to having Gendry and Arya share a bed.

But she doesn't think of Gendry and I like that, Arya reminded herself. No one thinks of us as being anything other than friends. No one except me.

She sighed, closing her eyes and trying not to let the creeping feeling of let down expand in her chest like a great big hole. When she opened her eyes again, however, it would seem that that just wasn't going to happen. She just couldn't talk herself into going back to the way it was, to thinking about him like a brother. Maybe she never even thought of him as a brother. Maybe that was just another lie as well.

He looked happy while he slept, but also (and she bit back a smile when she thought this), a bit stupid. His face was coated with dark stubble, as he had gone unshaven for the past two days, and his black hair was messy and wild, sticking out all over the place.

As if sensing her watching him, Gendry sighed, and then his eyes cracked open, blinking at her. He smiled.

"Morning," he said, stretching, his arm effortlessly removing itself from her shoulders, and Arya felt its loss like a sigh. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, about that," she said, trying to sound casually annoyed, "what am I doing here exactly? Where's Sansa?"

"On the couch," Gendry said, but the smile for some reason had slipped from his face. "You're not upset are you? She wanted to sleep there, I offered her the bed."

Oh, so he hadn't wanted to sleep with her then. Arya sighed, fighting off her let down in earnest.

"No," she said softly. "I'm not upset. I'm glad. Sansa usually kicks in the night."

"Well then, she was doing you a favor," Gendry said, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "I sleep like a log."

"Me too," Arya echoed, staring up at his ceiling as he got up and padded to the bathroom, closing her eyes. Stop it Arya, stop it right now! He just sees you as a friend. Remember, you're just a friend to him. There's nothing wrong with that. Stop being so bloody dismal!

"You want to use it?" Gendry asked, opening the door after he had finished.

"What?" Arya said, having been lost in her own thoughts.

"The bathroom," he said, pointing to it as though she was slow.

"Oh, yeah I suppose," she sighed, getting up and stretching as well, walking into the bathroom past him and shutting the door.

After she took a piss, she went to wash her hands, looking up in the mirror. God! But she looked awful! Her make-up was all smudged and her eyes all red and sunken. And her hair looked like she had stuck her finger in an electric socket. No wonder Gendry was so eager to get his arm off her.

Arya sighed, really close to kicking herself. What did it matter what she looked like? She was sure that Gendry had seen her in worse conditions before. And besides, what did it matter? He was Gendry. He didn't care.

Running a hand through her hair, she let out the air in her lungs with one great huff and opened the bathroom door, nearly falling backwards when she did.

Really, this time it wasn't her fault. Gendry should have known better than to take his time changing, and at least he had his shorts on this time, though his shirt was noticeably absent.

When she gasped, he turned around, not embarrassed in the least.

"Oh, sorry!" He said, but there was something in his voice that made Arya suspicious. He didn't sound very surprised... But then again, she was probably imagining it. Or then again... Maybe she wasn't. There, she definitely saw a smirk pass across his face! Was he making fun of her?

"It's fine," she shrugged, walking into the room and trying to force her eyes not to linger too long on him. "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

"Oh really?" Gendry asked, suddenly looking angry.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but when you fell in the shower, I sort of saw everything," Arya said, putting her hands on her hips and smirking at the look on his face. If he had been trying to embarrass her earlier, by having her catch him with his shirt off, he should have known better.

Gendry looked like someone had hit him in the face with a pan.

"E-Everything?" He sputtered.

Arya shrugged.

"Shall I go see if Sansa's up?" She asked innocently. "We really should get going."

And with that she left him, sputtering in his room, and she couldn't help but smile to herself. Just let him try to pull another one on her, she dared him.

Ooooooooo

"If you're going to throw up, don't do it on me," Arya said.

"How can I do it on you? You're in the front seat!" Sansa demanded, but all the same, she did look dangerously grey.

"I don't know, there was that one time at the carnival-"

"I THOUGHT WE AGREED NEVER TO SPEAK OF THAT AGAIN!"

"Fine, I was just saying."

"I hate you."

"Don't be a child."

"You're both acting like children," Gendry said, cutting across the two arguing sisters. "Now shut up, the both of you. Everything will be fine."

It was exhausting, being with both Arya and Sansa at the same time. They squabbled constantly, and though it wasn't malicious, it was tiring having to tell them to shut it all the time. From whether they should drink tea or coffee that morning for breakfast to this, it seemed like they were incapable of talking without arguing, and thus purposefully torturing him.

As they pulled into Winterfell, he saw that all the Starks and Jon were waiting outside, and Sansa gave a sharp intake of breath, clutching at Arya's seat.

"It's going to be fine," Arya said smoothly, and though Gendry had just been mentally complaining about how childish she acted with her sister, she also was being very grown-up too, comforting Sansa and calming her down. "At least the Baratheons aren't here."

"Small miracles," Sansa muttered as Arya pulled the car into park. At once, Catelyn rushed forward, and Sansa quickly opened her door, looking nervous as she got out.

"Sansa!" Catelyn cried, throwing her arms around her daughter and clutching her close. "Oh thank god! Thank god you're all right!"

"I'm sorry Mum," Sansa said, starting to cry again. "I never meant to scare you, or freak you out, or any of that. I'm so, so sorry!"

"It's all right," Catelyn said as Ned and the others came forward as well. "We're just so glad you're safe."

"Dad," Sansa said awkwardly as Ned put a hand on Catelyn's shoulder, his expression stoney.

There was a moment where Gendry was afraid that Ned might yell at her, but to his surprise, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

"I can't marry him, Dad," she said, "I'm sorry but I can't!"

"I know," Ned said gruffly, "Ssh I know."

"Sansa's so lucky," Arya said under her breath to Gendry as they watched the scene unfolding before them, "if I ever pulled something like that, I'd never hear the end of it. Dad would yell so loud, people on the sun could hear him."

"Oh I don't know," Gendry said, looking over at her, "I think that she'll get a proper talking too later. But she is older than you, you know. They can't really ground her when she's just going to be leaving for university, can they?"

"Yes, thank you for reminding me," Arya snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh stop it, you're happy she's all right. And you're happy she's dumping Joffrey. And you're happy she ran away and embarrassed him," Gendry said, shoving her playfully. Arya looked like she was trying very hard not to smile.

"Fine," she said. "You win."

"And don't think for a moment just because everyone else has forgotten about that little stunt you pulled this weekend, doesn't mean I haven't," Gendry said, suddenly serious. Arya, it seemed, was suddenly very intrigued by her shoes.

"Yippee," she said drily.

"Arya, you can't have thought I'd let that just slid by," Gendry said indignantly while Sansa, laughed (apparently Jon had said something very insulting about Joffrey). "What's going on, hmm? Why'd you feel the need to do something so reckless-"

"Look, can't we just forget it?" She snapped moodily. "As if I wasn't embarrassed about it enough already."

"No," Gendry said, frowning. And then he thought about what Sansa had said, about Arya having a crush on him, and instantly brushed it off. "Were you... Were you worried about me? Is that why you did it?"

Her face, to his surprise, turned bright red.

"No!" She said far too quickly. "Just drop it, okay? Or I won't take you to work like I said I would."

And with that, knowing that Arya was as good as her word, Gendry snapped his mouth shut on the subject. But he wasn't about to let it go. There was something Arya wasn't telling him, and he might pretend that he wasn't interested, but he was going to find out what it was, even if she killed him.

As it was, Gendry found himself (along with everyone else) preoccupied with Sansa's calling off of her wedding, waiting with baited breath to see how Joffrey and his family would react. Robb, Jon, Bran and Arya all swore that they'd fight to the death for Sansa if it came to it, but she had pointedly replied that she knew how to take care of herself, thank them very much.

"Still," Arya said under her breath to Gendry, "I think I'll start preparing Winterfell for a possible Lannister siege just in case."

Much to everyone's surprise, Robert Baratheon took Sansa's decision rather well. At least, he didn't throw a huge fit, fire Ned, and disgrace the Stark family forever. He was disappointed, and he wasn't happy, but he seemed to accept it.

His wife, Cersei, was far more annoyed. She had never liked the Starks, and for a few days, it looked like she was trying her very best to get Ned fired or at least shamed for the way his daughter had treated her son. But she was the only one.

Arya had been right about Joffrey. He had whined, he had ranted, maybe even pissed himself a little, and then he had gotten over it. Or so they heard. No one really cared how he felt about it. No one really cared about him period, for that matter. A life without Joffrey was a life lived with much more happiness and a lot less scowling.

The improvement in Sansa was astonishing. Gendry had never seen her look so bright and cheery, and saucy too. The way she sometimes talked about her ex-boyfriend put Arya to shame. She had stopped referring to him by his name and started calling him 'that little whining prick.'

"I've trained her so well," Arya sighed with teary eyes.

Arya.

Gendry, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't help but keep thinking about what Sansa had said. Every time he talked to Arya, it would pop up in his head, the fatal words, "she has a crush on you," haunting him and refusing to go away. He couldn't help but worry that it was affecting the way he was acting around Arya, and tried desperately to throw off the stupid hope that kept bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

He kept trying to test the theory too, to see if she'd give something away, but that had failed miserably. The little stunt he had pulled with her catching him without his shirt off, just to see how she'd react, had backfired right in his face. He sincerely hoped she was bluffing. Had she really seen... Everything?

It was ridiculous. What was he? In second grade? This was Arya, his best friend. What was he doing, going around like an idiot, wondering if she liked him or not? He needed to get a grip on himself, and Hot Pie wasn't really helping.

"Mental," he said when Gendry had told him what had happened. "She's mental. One second she was perfectly normal, and the next she was running out to crash the party."

"So what made her do it?" Gendry asked as he worked on a cars engine, the sound of 80's music still blasting through the Forge. Whoever breaks Yoren's stereo should get an award, he thought to himself.

"I dunno," Hot Pie shrugged, putting his hands up. "She's your best friend."

"Yeah but you were there," Gendry snapped. "You must have said something to set her off."

"Like what?"

"How should I fucking know? I wasn't there, was I?" Gendry growled, annoyed. Hot Pie thought for a moment.

"I have no idea," he said. "We were just talking about how the bachelor party was going to suck, and she was whining, of course, and then... Oh yeah! I made some crack at how you'd probably have a drunk hook-up with a prostitute and then she was off and running. Absolutely crazy."

Gendry tried not look as elated as he felt. Did... Did Arya feel threatened by the idea of him hooking up with someone else? Was she jealous? He tried not to dwell on it, not with Hot Pie around, but he couldn't help it, he was grinning.

Actually that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Next chapter up tomorrow as per usual. Random note: I think I'm more than half way through with this fic! Whoa! It went by way faster than I expected