Summary: In which Arya and Gendry attempt to go bowling with Hot Pie.
"I'm so glad you're friends with Gendry again."
"We were always friends," Arya said, doing her best not to roll her eyes, "there was just that one day that I was angry with him."
"Still," Sansa said, as Arya pulled on a pair of red shorts that looked like they had taken quite the beating. "It's nice."
"Okay..." Arya said, changing into a tank top and then a cut-up t-shirt.
"You two are hanging out a lot lately," Sansa commented, and Arya couldn't help but feel that she was slightly suspicious. She would have liked to tell Sansa the true nature of her friendship with Gendry, but her older sister had made it very clear how 'inappropriate' such a relationship would be, so she kept her mouth firmly shut.
"Yeah," Arya said, looking at Sansa like she was stupid as she forced on some sneakers. "That's what we do over the summer. We hang out."
"You don't have the crush on him anymore, do you?" Sansa asked. Yes, she definitely was suspicious.
"I'm pretty sure that fiasco a month ago shot that horse in the face," Arya said, cringing just to think of it. "Like you said, we're friends."
Friends that tend to make-out in the back seat of my car... A lot.
"Good," Sansa said, flipping through a magazine. "Like I said, I'm glad you're friends."
"Are you done being weird now? He's coming to pick me up in a few minutes and I don't want to be late," Arya said, checking the time on her phone before looking in the mirror to see if she had brushed her hair that morning. She had.
"You're hanging out with him again? You just saw him yesterday!"
"Sansa," Arya said, getting annoyed. "There was a period where I practically lived at the Forge and you didn't care. Besides, we're going to be hanging out with Hot Pie. You know, bowling?
"Bowling?" Sansa repeated, looking dubious.
"Yeah! Bowling is fun," Arya said, frowning. "You know... It's cool."
"Whatever you say," Sansa said, shaking her head and returning to her magazine.
"You can come too, if you're so suspicious," Arya snapped. "I'll just call Gendry right now and say you're driving me, I know Hot Pie's been asking after you now that you're single-"
"Haha," Sansa cut across her drily. "Thanks but no thanks. Margaery and I are going shopping."
"And you make fun of me for bowling," Arya sighed under her breath, rolling her eyes.
"You should come too sometime," Sansa snapped, "maybe then you'll stop stealing my cloths."
"Naww, stealing from you is cheeper," Arya said as Gendry texted her, signaling that he was there, ready to pick her up. "See you later?"
"How much later?" Sansa asked, suspicious again.
"Oh, I dunno, however long it takes for Gendry and I to get a few good shags in," Arya said very sarcastically. "But then again, that could take all night."
Sansa rolled her eyes.
"Enjoy bowling," she scoffed, turning back to her magazine.
"Get out of my room," Arya commanded as she shoved a bit of money in her pocket before breezing out of her room and down the stairs, slamming the front door behind her. Honestly, Sansa was proving to be a bit of a problem. She just wouldn't let up.
Gendry was waiting, her helmet in his hand, his blue eyes smiling at her from his perch supporting his motorcycle. She grinned at him as well, taking it when she reached him, and then grinning even wider.
"You changed it!"
"Well, yeah. I mean, it's yours, and so I thought, you know, I'd make it special."
Her helmet, which had just been plain black, was now adorned with a sticker in the shape of a wolf head, in honor of her family. She smiled back up at him, not being able to stop herself from looking at the bull sticker on his helmet, one he had made for himself.
"Well? What do you think?"
Even with the helmet covering up his face, she could tell he was blushing.
"What do you think I think, stupid? It's awesome! I love it!" Arya said, punching him in the arm because she couldn't very well kiss him right in front of her house, where she could almost feel Sansa's eyes burning into the back of her skull.
"Shall we my lady?" he asked, patting the seat behind him. Smiling like a fool, she put on her helmet and he laughed.
"How do I look?"
"Like a proper wolf," he said. "Now get on, we're going to be late, and you know how Hot Pie gets when we're late."
"Yeah, and you look like a stupid, bull-headed boy," Arya shot back playfully, getting on the bike and wrapping her arms around him.
"Boy? You insult me," he scoffed, kicking off, and then they were flying again.
"I always insult you!" She shouted in his ear as they zoomed down the street, and his laughter flew back towards her, causing her to laugh too. Summer was here, all right, and with it came a loss of trepidation, causing Arya to forget her family's wise words. Winter is coming.
Oooooooooooooo
It only took them a matter of minutes to get to the bowling alley, but they were late all the same. As they turned the corner, Gendry felt himself sigh at the sight of Hot Pie, who was standing outside, looking less than amused. They were in for some serious whining.
"You gave Arya a ride?" Hot Pie sputtered as they pulled up.
"Yeah, so?" Gendry asked, raising his eyebrows as he pulled off his helmet.
"But... But she has a car! She could drive herself! Do I have a car? NO!" Hot Pie complained loudly. Gendry sighed.
"Then get yourself a car," Arya said from behind him, hopping off the motorcycle and taking off her helmet, running a hand through her hair and shaking her head.
"Do I look like I'm made of money?" Hot Pie demanded. "Do you know how long it took me to get here?"
"Ten minutes?"
"AN HOUR! I had to WALK!"
"Oh boo hoo," Arya scoffed, rolling her eyes. "How you suffer. Should I write a song about it?"
"Shut up!"
"You shut up," Gendry said, starting to get annoyed. "You've been complaining for weeks how we never hang out with you anymore, and now we are, and you're still complaining!"
Hot Pie looked grumpy.
"Fine," he snapped. "But you're paying for my lunch."
"What? You want to bankrupt me as well?" Gendry sputtered and Arya laughed. Hot Pie didn't seem to think it was funny.
"Wankers," he muttered darkly under his breath as they trekked inside, the smell of dirty carpets and used shoes hanging in the air of the darkened bowling alley.
"This'll be fun," Arya said, slinking her arm with Gendry's. "I haven't been to one of these in ages!"
Hot Pie turned around and raised his eyebrows when he saw their linked arms. Arya and Gendry immediately dropped the embrace and stepped away from each other.
"Wankers," Hot Pie said again, rolling his eyes and looking forward again. Gendry shot Arya a pointed look. Rule number 1 of not getting caught in our secret relationship: no PDA.
They had set several rules when they had started their 'just friends' act, number one obviously being that they would share no public displays of affection, even when they weren't in the company of anyone they knew (as Arya had pointed out, they really couldn't be too careful). The other rule, which played off of the first one, was that they, for the most part, would go about business as usual, and so on and so forth.
So far, they had been successful. No one to Gendry's knowledge suspected a thing. Arya's brothers seemed to have forgiven him (Jon more reluctantly than the others), and more or less had seemed to forget the whole incident. But, of course, their success was probably due to the fact that they hadn't really spent much time together in the presence of Arya's family.
Still, Arya had pointed out that, to fulfill rule number two, it would be a good idea to hang out with Hot Pie once in a while. Gendry had to agree. It wasn't really fair, how quickly they had pushed him to the wayside, and he had noticed.
"What, are you two finally married now or something?" Hot Pie had grumbled one day at the Forge when he had swung by to pay Gendry a visit.
Joke or no joke, it was enough to get Arya to demand that they stop blowing him off. And while Gendry liked Hot Pie, he would have much rather spent his Saturday off doing other things.
"So... Teams?" Arya said when they got their shoes. "How about me and Gendry vs. You, Hot Pie?"
Hot Pie looked like someone had taken a shit in his birthday cake.
"Whatever," he muttered, leaning down to put on his shoes.
Gendry threw an angry look at Arya. Really, Hot Pie was pissed off enough as it was, did she really have to go and make him more annoyed? She just rolled her eyes and shrugged as if to say, let him be pissy, see if I care.
It at once became abundantly clear, however, that Hot Pie was a worthy opponent. Though he grumbled and whined, he was twice the player Gendry was (raw force, it turned out, did not matter if you had no aim at all and sent the ball to the gutter more often that not), and the teams were evenly matched.
"Oh come on Gendry," Arya sighed as yet another one of his balls went into the gutter. "Not again!"
"I'm trying," Gendry snapped, waiting for his ball to come up again. "It's easier for you, you've done this before!"
"Here," Arya said briskly, getting up and snatching his ball before he even got a chance to take it. "Let me show you."
She put her fingers in the holes, but as soon as she tried to show him how to throw it, her arm dropped to the floor with the weight of the ball, causing her to swear loudly.
Hot Pie laughed in the background.
"Here," she said, flipping Hot Pie off and then lifting up the ball to give to Gendry. "You do it, and I'll help you."
Gendry shrugged amiably and put his fingers in the holes, lifting the ball up to just under his chin, cradling it.
"All right," Arya said, "look at the pins. Focus on your objective."
"Right," Gendry said, nodding.
"Now pull your arm back," she said, and when he did, he felt her fingers on his arm, adjusting it slightly. "Good. Now, don't actually throw it, but show me how you would."
Gendry did as he was told.
"No!" Arya snapped at once. "You're twisting your wrist! Here, see?"
She reached out to his outstretched wrist and turned it so that it was directed towards the ceiling.
"You want the ball to roll off your fingers," she said, her own fingers trailing to his, leaving goosebumps as they ghosted over his flesh. When he looked at her, she had a perfectly passive expression on her face, but he could tell that she knew what she was doing.
"Oh do I?" he asked, straightening up and raising his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes.
"Just try it you twat, you'll see I'm right," she said, stepping to the side and crossing her arms over her chest, giving him an expectant look.
Gendry winked at her, and he could almost hear her rolling her eyes again as he turned to look at his target, stepping backwards, the ball under his chin, all focus as he swung his arm backwards and then swept it forwards, just as she had instructed, letting the ball roll off his fingers.
"YES!" Arya shrieked as the ball crashed into the pins, scattering all of them. "STRIKE! What did I tell you?"
"Top marks," Gendry teased as she ran forward, looking like she was about to kiss him, and then, as if remembering herself, reached up her hand and gave him a half-five.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
Arya and Gendry whipped around to see Hot Pie staring at them, looking scandalized.
"Excuse me?" Arya demanded.
"You two are shagging, aren't you?" Hot Pie demanded, getting to his feet.
Gendry felt his heart drop, and he threw a frantic, panicked look at Arya, whose face had turned fully red in an impressively short amount of time.
"We're not shagging!" She said at once.
It wasn't a lie either. After their previous failed encounter, Arya and Gendry had mutually agreed to take things slow.
"It'll happen when it happens," Arya had said, shrugging. "Putting a date or a set amount of time on it seems stupid. It'll just make it this thing we have to do instead of something we want to do."
Now, Hot Pie looked furious.
"You're dating then, which is worse," Hot Pie snapped waving her off, not fooled in the least.
"Worse?" Gendry said before he could stop himself.
"I knew it!" Hot Pie said. "I knew this was going to happen!"
"Would you stop it? We're just friends!" Arya snarled.
"Yeah and I'm fucking my grandmum!"
"Oh wrong, mate!"
"You shut up! The both of you!" Hot Pie ordered, pointing a finger at them. "Is that why you invited me here? So that I could be your alibi?"
Arya and Gendry shifted guiltily. Hot Pie swore.
"You wankers," he snapped. "You can forget it. I am not about to be the third wheel."
"You're not the third wheel," Arya protested. Hot Pie raised his eyebrows. "Oh? Really?"
Again, they both shifted awkwardly.
"Yeah, sorry, but if you think I'm going to hang around when you're being all coupley and shit-"
"We're not being all coupley!" Arya protested at once.
"'Oh Gendry, you're so dark and handsome! Let me feel your muscles!'" Hot Pie said in a high-pitched voice.
"I do not sound like that!" Arya roared.
"Whatever," Hot Pie said, waving her off.
"Look, mate, we still want to be your friend," Gendry said, cutting in swiftly. Hot Pie gave him an indignant look.
"Well, obviously," he sputtered. "There's just no way in hell that I'm going to hang out with you guys at the same time."
"No one can know," Arya said pleadingly. Hot Pie shrugged.
"Fine," he said. "But you're paying for my lunch, Gendry, as well as my round in the arcade."
"Your round in the arcade?" Arya demanded. Hot Pie shrugged again.
"You were late, I was early," he said. Gendry sighed.
"Fine," he snapped. "Can we finish the game?"
"Yeah," Hot Pie said, "but I want a change in teams. Me and Arya vs. You."
"That's blackmail!" Gendry protested. Hot Pie looked shameless.
"He's harmless," Arya reassured Gendry, patting him on the arm.
"I wouldn't be too sure," Gendry snapped darkly, trading places with a very smug looking Hot Pie. "How long have you known about us?"
"About five minutes," Hot Pie said, taking his ball and rolling a turkey.
"Bullshit," Gendry said. "I don't believe that for a second."
"All right," Hot Pie said, sitting down so a reluctant Arya could play her turn. "I guessed for a long time, but I wasn't sure."
"How did you know?" Arya demanded, returning from only knocking down three pins in her distraction.
"Oh you mean besides the fact that you two were practically ripping off your cloths with your eyes?" Hot Pie said sarcastically.
"No we weren't!" Arya snapped defensively, causing Hot Pie to snort with laughter.
"Look," he said pointedly. "If you are trying to keep this secret, you're failing. It couldn't have been more obvious if you made it public."
"Fantastic," Gendry muttered darkly, getting up to go for his turn.
"Don't look so upset," Hot Pie said smugly. "It's probably only because I know you two so well."
"Twat," Arya snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hey, I'm doing you two a favor," Hot Pie said, finishing off the game with a spectacular set of strikes. "Someone had to warn you."
"I'd have preferred that warning come with a smaller blow to my wallet," Gendry said with a pout. "Exactly how much money did you spend in the arcade?"
"I dunno," Hot Pie said. "Twenty? Maybe thirty?"
"Brilliant," Gendry sighed as Arya gave him an apologetic look. "We are never taking you bowling again."
It's so fluffy...
I just have such problems writing fluff, it makes me feel like such a fan girl. But Arya's story in asoiaf is far from fluffy, so I guess it's nice to give her character a bit of fluff after GRRM makes her suffer so much.
Confession time... I don't know if I can keep up my chapter-a-day routine. Tomorrow I'm going to be really busy, so I don't know if I can write a chapter by then. I'm sorry! =( I'll try, but you've been warned