Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/1734026. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: F/M Fandom: Game_of_Thrones_(TV) Relationship: Arya_Stark/Gendry_Waters Additional Tags: Smut, Fluff, Oral_Sex, Hand_Jobs, Cunnilingus, One_Shot, Alternate Universe_-_High_School, Alternate_Universe_-_Modern_Setting Series: Part 3 of Camping_Getaways Stats: Published: 2014-06-03 Words: 4971 ****** Butterflies and Lightning Bugs ****** by TheWanderingJade Summary Five times Arya spoke to Gendry, one time she kissed him, one time he kissed her; and what happens in their tent. Notes Gendry is two years older than Arya; however I would like to stress that he is in no way, shape, or form, forcing Arya to do anything against her will. Inspired by Butterfly by Jason Mraz. Part of the Camping Getaways Series See the end of the work for more notes The first time he met Arya Stark, he had been attempting to fix a metal piece meant to be part of a group project in the school’s shop class, and she had scared the living daylights out of him when he turned from dropping the hot metal into the waiting water bucket. He had thought he was alone in that part of the class, only a handful of students had permission to deal with the forge anyway, and he was the only junior who had permission at the time. She was a freshman and had come to ask if someone in shop class could fix something she broke that belonged to her brother’s friend, to avoid if she could, getting in trouble with said brother and friend; it was clear from the look of surprise that she had expected the shop teacher Tobho Mott, not him. She asked him who he was, and what he was doing and ignored any time he tried to get her out of that part of the shop until he answered her questions. Then she asked him to fix the sword, he had agreed, if only to get her out before he got in trouble for letting her stay there. The second time he spoke to her, she was sporting a black eye, and was sat on his workbench eating half of a sandwich; lying next to her on the workbench was a sword with a broken hilt. “What are you doing here?” Gendry absentmindedly wiped his sweaty brow, pulling off the welding helmet he had on, watching her confused. “Waiting on you, what’s it look like, stupid? You said you could fix Theon’s sword, so I brought it today.” She motioned to the sword next to her, speaking with a mouth full of food. He felt his brow furrow, he might not have known a lot, but he knew the Starks were one of the wealthiest families in the North, their kids all came to the same school (more or less) as it was in a central location, they either stayed with their family over by Riverrun, or headed home. Gendry was at the school on a scholarship, a vocational scholarship at that, since he was very good at working in a forge, but he was pretty sure Arya’s mother would not approve of her current choice of manners or company. “No need to be rude; how’d you manage to get a black eye anyway? Don’t tell me it happened when you broke your brother’s friend’s sword.” He pulled off his welding gloves and started unbuttoning the top of his overalls; moving closer to inspect what she wanted him to fix. “Stupid sophomore who thought it’d be funny to tell me I didn’t know how to hold a sword. So I punched him, but when he fell back he sort of took me with him and I got hit with his elbow. Can you fix the sword then?” She mumbled slightly as she answered and he couldn’t help but let out a snort though he covered it quickly with a cough. “You know, you shouldn’t insult people bigger than you. Yeah, I can fix it, probably get it done in two days, I have to finish a project first.” He shrugged and looked over the broken hilt carefully, ignoring the grumbling of his stomach. “If I did that, I’d never get to insult anybody. Alright, just fix it right, so I don’t have to get in trouble with Theon. Thanks.” She was incredulous and strangely assured of herself as she spoke, and he quirked a brow at her as she got off his bench. “Hey don’t leave food here, I’ll get in trouble.” He turned to give her an annoyed look but she was already at the door, and only gave him a cheeky smile and shrug. “So eat it, stupid. See you later, Waters.” She was gone and he found himself staring after her before he did as she suggested, mostly because he didn’t like throwing away food. The third time was in the hall between classes; he had gone out to grab his English book when he came across Arya Stark, climbing a precarious tower of…stuff to get something off of the top of the trophy case. “Well aren’t you just a filthy son of a—“ It was her voice that alerted him that she was actually on that leaning tower of terror in the first place as her shoe fell off and landed next to him on the floor. “What in the name of the Seven are you doing?” Gendry gaped up at her and dropped his books to try and steady the tower of dubiously thrown together classroom furniture. Where in the hells she had even gotten that furniture from was something he had never gotten around to ask her. “Climbing, what’s it look like, stupid? Don’t just stand there, give me a hand, I need to get that arrow before Mordane sees me up here.” Then she slipped, because socks and the tops of student desks don’t go well together; he had just enough time to catch her before she hit the ground. The clang of chairs however, caused them both to jump and Gendry lost his footing, landing hard on his back with Arya on top of him. “Gendry? Are you okay? Miss Stark?” Luckily for them, the footsteps they heard belonged to the janitor, Jacob. “Hey Jacob, do you think we could borrow a ladder, little miss I’m going to climb this leaning tower of bad choices lost an arrow on top of the trophy case.” He had only just recovered his breath when she elbowed him hard in the ribs for his reply, but Jacob chuckled and after helping them both up, went to get the ladder. Gendry tried to ignore Arya while he put the furniture back in the unused classroom where she got it from, but it was hard to ignore the hang dog expression she gave him as she mumbled an apology when they were alone. The fourth time, she was flanked by her brothers Robb and Jon, as well as Theon Greyjoy. He had finished the repairs on Theon’s sword the day before, but had left it with Tobho Mott since he had needed to catch the bus home and she had been late. He hadn’t heard them come in, busy hammering away at his final project, a bullheaded helmet that was worth more than half of his grade; and only realized someone was watching him when he caught movement out of the corner of his eyes. He finished the part he had been molding, and set it in the water bucket before setting his hammer down and grabbing a towel to wipe his face; he hastily pulled on the top of his overalls as well before he walked out to them. “Mott said you did this?” It was Jon who held out Theon’s sword in the sheath, pointing to the hilt. “Yeah? I had to get a little creative with the balance since I couldn’t just go ask you about it…” Gendry glanced worriedly at Arya, who looked a bit serious though relaxed, confused as to what was going on. There was a pause as the Starks and Theon exchanged glances that Gendry was uneasy about, he glanced again at Arya but found she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “The balance, it’s great…you might have balanced it out better than when I first got it, mate.” Theon finally cracked a smile and Gendry felt a little less tense, especially when he noticed that Robb returned it. “It was good of you to help out our sister, even if she shouldn’t have taken Theon’s sword in the first place.” Robb wrapped an arm around Arya, who pouted up at her brother. “You and Jon already gave me a long lecture about it…please don’t repeat it now. I told you I got Gendry to fix it…so we shouldn’t have to tell Father about it at all…” Arya looked up at her brother with an incredibly cute face that left Gendry rather astounded, but he said nothing, as Theon asked him about the helmet he had been working on. “It’s my final project. I’ve still got to finish the top parts…” Gendry shrugged at them and tried not to feel as awkward as he did, he wasn’t sure why they were still there; hadn’t they just wanted to find out of it was true that he had fixed Greyjoy’s sword? “How much do you want for it?” Theon motioned towards the anvil where Gendry had been working, a shrewd look on his face that Gendry hadn’t liked. “It’s not for sale.” Gendry shook his head and crossed his arms, ignoring the looks of surprise on their faces; no matter how much Theon offered, he turned him down, getting slightly annoyed towards the end of the conversation. Jon and Robb had intervened before Theon could truly insult Gendry, and they had started to head out when she placed a hand on his arm. She was shorter than him, well she was petite though he didn’t think she’d appreciate anyone describing her as such; when he turned his attention to her, and she had gifted him a bright smile and thanked him for helping her out. He wouldn’t see her again during summer, but his cheek tingled anytime he thought of her smiling that day, she had waited until she couldn’t hear her brothers or Theon before kissing his cheek and heading after them. She had stopped being just a freshman then. The fifth time, it had been half way through his senior year; they had seen each other in passing up until then. Though he did find himself fixing some more random things for the Starks, Robb had brought in his car to the shop class, and asked if Gendry could help him fix a valve. Jon had asked if he could help him fix an incredibly old helmet that belonged to their Grandfather as a gift to their Father when Lord Stark’s birthday had come about; he had even helped fix the fencing team’s foils where he met Arya’s older sister, Sansa. He had been walking down an empty hall, eating an apple when he heard music coming from what he had thought was just another empty classroom. The door was just slightly ajar and when he pushed it a bit more and glanced inside, he almost forgot to breathe. Inside practicing with a long narrow sword was Arya, the music was instrumental and seemed to be helping her go through the steps of an exhibition style of fighting he had never seen. She was in the same kind of clothes he had seen dancers practice in, her face was relaxed despite her determined and careful steps; she was graceful and agile in a way he hadn’t seen her before. Against his better judgment, he had leaned against the doorframe, and just watched her, oblivious to if anyone else saw him; he was entranced and though he didn’t understand it, he also didn’t question it. She caught him there, when she gave a turn and brought her sword in arc over her head to point in his direction; her eyebrows rose and grey eyes met blue. He had the decency to blush and look sheepish, but she just stopped and stared at him curious as to why he had stayed. So he joined her instead, sat on a table top and listened while she told him about the Water Dance she had been learning, and Gendry watched as Arya’s face lit up, her eyes bright with excitement and instantly felt like a complete fool, but he didn’t walk away. Arya let him stay while she finished her practice, and he watched her quietly memorizing the way she looked then; he wasn’t entirely conscious of doing so, but it was a side of Arya Stark he had never seen before and it was endearing. When she was done, he clapped for her, and he found himself invited to come see her exhibition, she even had a ticket and invitation for it that night. What she failed to tell him was that the ticket would put him next to Jon and Robb, and while her older brothers were friendly, they were clearly surprised to see she had invited him that night. What she also failed to tell Gendry was that with the added everything else to the final performance he would probably have a very difficult time looking at her like just a kid that randomly showed up in shop class to annoy him. When it was all over, the exhibition dances and all, she joined her family, all of whom hugged and praised her though he noted Lady Catelyn gave him the same tight lipped smile when Arya introduced him as she had kept on her face the entire time the sword play was going on. The show also included a bit of a carnival after, with booths and since he had nothing better to do, he agreed to go with Arya and her family to see the booths. There were games and crafts to buy, as well as random snack foods, but quickly the older Starks had found one of those dart games, and quickly lined up to have a shot; the top prize was a crown of blue roses, or a bow. Robb came close to getting a perfect score but missed two shots in the end, going away with a stuffed duck. Jon had five clean shots but had hit the outer rim of the balloons giving him fewer points than what he needed, though he did win a plush wolf; Bran had almost taken out the attendant’s eye and was given a consolatory ticket to get funnel cake, and Rickon with help from his older brothers got himself a teddy bear. Arya came closer than Robb, only having missed one shot and for which she argued that it was the attendant’s fault for moving the board; she was offered a bunny plush but ended up giving it to Sansa while still glowering at the attendant. Gendry had watched them carefully, and when it was his turn, he very carefully and methodically followed the same path Arya had attempted with her darts, but where she had failed in the last dart; his being taller helped, because he simply aimed for the golden balloon at the top of the tier. The Starks were impressed, and the attendant annoyed, as he moved to get the bow from where it was displayed, Gendry knew better though and cleared his throat. “I’ll take the crown, thanks.” Eyebrows were raised but the attendant shrugged, retrieving the blue crown of roses and handing it over to Gendry, who before he could lose his resolve, plopped it on Arya’s head, much to her and the rest of her family’s surprise. “He cheated, you should have won earlier, but worse than that, that bow they’ve got on display has been cracked and welded together at the tips.” Gendry shrugged and shifted his weight from one foot to the other when they all turned their attention to him at once. Arya, prompted by Sansa who elbowed her gently mumbled a thank you for the crown, before they headed towards the snack booths, while Lord and Lady Stark had a word with the games’ coordinator about the bow. The tension had started to dissipate as they sat down at a table to have their funnel cakes that is, the tension around Gendry and every Stark not Arya; she hadn’t said anything else to him since he had placed the crown on her head, though she also hadn’t taken it off. It was a bit awkward, since for whatever reason Arya had ended up sitting next to him while they ate; they spoke but mostly around each other, joining in the same conversations without ever actually speaking to the other directly. When they were the only ones left at the table, Gendry figured he should apologize, since she really did seem cross with him and he hadn’t meant to make her angry.   “Look, I didn’t mean to make you upset…” He rubbed his hands on the napkin he had, trying to clean the powdered sugar from his fingers before glancing at her. “I’m not upset…stupid. I just didn’t think you’d give me this…” Arya narrowed her eyes at him and Gendry had just enough time to notice a few things; she was blushing as she spoke, and she had powdered sugar on her bottom lip. Without thinking he reached over and rubbed his calloused thumb along her bottom lip to clean the sugar off, her gaze met his and she licked her lips without thinking, licking his thumb in the process; before he had processed the desire to, he had leaned in and kissed her lips. It was chaste, and gentle, but that didn’t stop the fact that Arya Stark, was a sophomore and he was a senior, two years older than her, and they were out in public with her family. He never was sure who had pulled him off the bench by the scruff of his shirt, but he recalled vividly Jon’s fist connecting with his face. He also recalled, spitfire Arya getting between her older brothers and Gendry, screaming at them to back off because she had wanted to kiss him. They were after that, unofficially dating, unofficially because Lady Catelyn disapproved greatly of their age difference, and was concerned that Gendry (being older than Arya) might not be as faithful as she thought her daughter deserved. However, they had made it through Gendry’s graduation, and when Robb and Jon called him to invite him along on the camping trip, no one really protested his being there. It was the second day of their trip, and Arya had spent the morning, teasing him from afar. At first, he thought it was just coincidence, until they had gone swimming in the river and she had suggested a game of chicken, against Sansa and Pod, where once she had won and slipped off his shoulders, managed to tug his swim trunks down when he went to splash her. When they had settled down after the swim, and dried off to start dinner, Gendry and Jon had been tasked with gathering kindling. Jon took off in one direction and Gendry in the other, and though his arms were full of kindling, Arya had found him, climbed up on a tree stump and managed to make him drop the wood as she jumped on him. He caught her of course, and she laughed as she kissed him deeply, not caring that the bundle of wood he had gathered lay around them haphazardly or that last time Jon saw them kissing, Gendry ended up with a black eye. He set her down, and she helped him pick up the kindling before she headed off with Nymeria back to camp; she was a whirlwind but it was only one of many things he liked about her. Dinner was content and quiet as they all relaxed around the fire, tired from playing in the water most of the day; they had gotten some fruit to roast over the fire and Arya had dragged him up to dance to a Jason Mraz song, along with Robb and Talisa when the first fat drops of rain started, followed by rolling thunder. Running for cover, he wasn’t nearly as surprised to find that Arya had made a dash for his tent and Sansa had dragged Pod to the other; he was surprised when Nymeria didn’t follow Arya but rather dashed into Jon’s tent after Ghost. He had to assume it was because Nymeria had been closer to Jon’s tent, and judging from the string of squeals and curse words, both dogs had made that tent a bit more crowded than necessary. Arya just laughed and proceeded to pull Gendry closer in the tent; kissing him with so much need he thought for a moment his body had been set aflame. She had that look on her face, the one that usually accompanied several long minutes of intense discussion about why her course of action was a bad idea, and all the reasons they shouldn’t do it while preparing to do what she had said; Arya often got what she wanted from him. Curl your upper lip up and let me look around Ride your tongue along your bottom lip and bite down And bend your back and ask those hips if I can touch Because they're the perfect jumping off point of getting closer to your Butterfly Well you float on by Oh kiss me with your eyelashes tonight Or Eskimo your nose real close to mine And let's mood the lights and finally make it right But you don't fold, you don't fade, you've got everything you need Especially me Sister you've got it all   “We should probably wait a bit, no?” He was always amazed how quickly she could get his pants off; actually he was always amazed how at five feet Arya could get Gendry, who was almost ten inches taller than her, flat on his back faster than he could form a coherent thought. “What for?” Arya arched a brow at him, quite content to straddle his hips and use him as a seat for the moment, before he could answer thunder rolled and the rain seemed to come down in sheets on the tent. It was a good thing they had sturdy tents and had picked a spot that was exceptionally unlikely to flood; summer in the North often brought mini snow storms, but when the air wasn’t dry enough, the snow would come down as icy rain. “To see if the rain let up and we could get out, but it seems the rains are in your favor.” Gendry couldn’t help but chuckle as she smirked at him and finished what she had been doing before he interrupted her; kicking his pants to a corner of the tent where they wouldn’t be in the way. He watched, occasionally reaching to steady her as she wiggled herself out of her shorts and threw them in the corner with his pants. She wore blue boy shorts, (as far as he knew she wore mostly boy shorts though she had admitted to having “girlier” panties that he had yet to see make an appearance) that he was not surprised seemed a little damp, and when she moved lower he let out a muffled groan of her name when he realized she intended to make that damp spot grow. She hummed slowly, one of the verses of the song they had been dancing to earlier, as she rolled her hips and rubbed herself through her panties against him; before he knew Arya, he hated getting hard while in his boxers…however the affectionately nicknamed She Wolf had given him a new and deep appreciation for dry humping. You make the call to make my day In your message say my name Your talk is all the talk sister you've got it all You've got it all, you've got it all, you've got it all  You've got it all, you've got it all, you've got it all  You've got it all, you've got it all   His hands rested on her hips, rubbing his calloused fingers against the soft skin above the top waistband of her underwear; he chuckled as he watched her skin flush from neck to hairline. Arya did not like being laughed at, and when she narrowed her eyes and smirked at him, he knew he shouldn’t have chuckled; moving one of the hands she had rested on his chest she tugged the hem of her tee up to her mouth and he had to bite back a groan. When she had discarded her bra, he had no idea, but that he found his hands trailing up her sides slowly to cup and tease her nipples and she had intended him to do just that was apparent in the smirk she gave him. He felt his thoughts go foggy, when she dropped the edge of her shirt from her lips and whimpered out his name softly; he would have given her anything she asked for right there, taking on a troll if she wanted him to, in just his boxers. But her request was much more pleasurable and simple, at least in comparison to the troll. “Gendry…please?” Her voice was hoarse and her hips bucked against him in pursuit of a satisfaction that was being held just out of her reach; he rarely denied her anything, and he sure as hell wouldn’t deny her now…though the logical part of his brain did beg that the rain didn’t let up now. “Your throne, m’lady…” He grinned cheekily and winked, only chuckling when she swatted at his arm for the joke. She crawled closer instead, until she was kneeling over his face; Gendry made sure he was steady in his position and his groan of appreciation when Arya’s fingers pulled back the soaked fabric of her boy shorts was drowned out by another rumble of thunder overhead. Doll I need to see you pull your knee socks up Let me feel you up side, down slide, in slide, out slide, over here Climb in my mouth now child Butterfly, well you landed on my mind Dammit you landed on my ear and then you crawled inside Now I see you perfectly behind closed eyes I wanna fly with you and I don't wanna lie to you Cause I, cause I can't recall a better days Sun coming to shine on the occasion   Arya had always been good at finding her balance, but Gendry was strong enough to offer her support when she needed it, and his tongue was very skilled at making her need it. As she lowered herself to his mouth, she kept one hand on his head, fingers tangling in his soft hair, the other sometimes grounded her by letting her lean either on Gendry’s hand, or allowed her to reach back to tease or steady herself on his chest. It was his turn to hum the song she had picked earlier, and his blue eyes seemed brilliant in reflecting their mirth and enjoyment of her movements. She writhed with every flick of his tongue, and every nip of his teeth caused her to buck; her pants were soft and easily drowned out by the rain around them. You're an open-minded lady You've got it all And I never forget a face If I'm making my own I have my days Let's face the fact here, it's you who's got it all You know that fortune favors the brave Well let me get paid while I make you breakfast The rest is up to you, you make the call Her hands met his, and she laced her fingers with his; eyes wide she met his gaze and bit back a howl of pleasure as he made her come undone with an expert swipe of his tongue. Her breathing was labored and her skin flushed from pleasure, Gendry helped her move back lower, bringing his knees up so she could rest against them while using his hips and lower stomach to rest on. As long as he could breathe he was fine, and Arya took a few moments to gather herself before switching her position and slipping off of him to snuggle into him embrace instead. Kissing him deeply, he was always relieved that she didn’t mind tasting herself on him and teasingly licking along his jawline slowly. “Seven hells…Arya…” His groan was muffled against her hair, as she had broken the kiss and had been rubbing her face to his chest when he felt her hand slip under the band of his boxers. He did admire how she had always attempted to be fair when it came to most things between them, and as he held her close and muffled his moans with her lips, against her neck and in her hair; he added how very good she was with making him come undone to the list of things he admired about Arya. He lay panting on his back, quirking a brow as his vision filled with Arya’s grinning face. She had fixed his boxers and retrieved her own shorts, his lay next to her as she rolled onto her stomach and leaned up on her elbows. “I wonder if the lightning bugs will come out after the rain stops…” She had cut her hair some months before, and it seemed to suit her this way, it was a bit longer than a pixie cut, but didn’t quite reach her shoulders yet. He ran a hand gently through her hair and cupped her cheek, running his thumb along her bottom lip slowly. “We should definitely catch some tonight if they do…We can set them free later.” His reply earned him a smile, and a gentle kiss from his She Wolf; she called the shots usually, and it suited him just fine more often than not. You make the call to make my day In your message say my name Your talk is all the talk, sister you've got it all Cause I can't recall a better day Sun comin' to shine on the occasion You're a sophisticated lady, oh you've got it all You've got it all, you've got it all, you've got it all  You've got it all, you've got it all Butterfly, baby, well you've got it all     End Notes I'm not even sorry, not really. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!