Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/2605592.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire_-_George_R._R._Martin, Game_of_Thrones_(TV)
  Relationship:
      Arya_Stark/Gendry_Waters
  Character:
      Arya_Stark, Gendry_Waters, Jon_Snow, Hot_Pie_(ASoIaF), Catelyn_Tully
      Stark, Ned_Stark
  Additional Tags:
      Alternate_Universe_-_X-Men_Fusion, Everybody_Lives, Dream_Invading,
      Alternate_Universe_-_High_School, Masturbation, Accidental_Voyeurism
  Series:
      Part 5 of axgweek_2014
  Stats:
      Published: 2014-11-12 Updated: 2015-05-05 Chapters: 7/? Words: 11671
****** In Your Dreams ******
by lady_illiya
Summary
     She scrunched up her face, huffing out,
     "Didyoudreamaboutmelastnight?" He stared dumbly at her until she
     repeated, barely unclenching her jaw as she ground out, "Did you
     dream about me last night?"
     ------
     An X-Men fusion where Arya meets Gendry at Mutant Academy.
Notes
     So I wanted to thank Furious_Winter (furiousfanfiction on tumblr) for
     beta reading this for me, he's ridiculously awesome and really helped
     me get unstuck. Also thanks to a-bacon-of-hope over on Tumblr, who
     read this way back during axgweek when it was much shorter and still
     going to be a one shot. The rating will probably jump up to Explicit
     by the later chapters, but I'll change it when it happens so you all
     know.
     Enjoy!
***** Prologue *****
An interesting thing about the mutant gene is that it manifests at different
times for each individual. Some, especially those with physical attributes, are
in possession of their gift from birth. Others develop it during puberty, as if
that wasn't hard enough to get through, and some develop it during a
significant stressor, such as if a life or death situation occurs. There have
even been reports of abilities finally appearing in people over 70. Most
though, most manifest in childhood, typically at age seven or eight, and grow
in power as the person grows in age.
The Stark's were not most people, or at least it seemed. Bran was the only one
of them to follow any of the typical cases of manifestation. He was eight the
first time he slipped his skin and entered the mind of his dog, Summer. His
telepathic abilities developed quickly. After a year he could enter the mind of
a human and even control their actions. At this point he was sent off to the
school for the gifted to learn more about his powers and how to control them.
For awhile it was thought that no other Stark children would develop, since
Bran was the fifth born and no one else had any signs of mutant ability.
However, it was soon apparent that the Starks were just late bloomers. When Jon
was fifteen, only a couple of months after Bran was sent away, he got into a
fight after school. It was three against one and Jon walked away without a
scratch. He came back and eagerly told them about his gift, and had Robb hit
him so everyone could see the black armor like material that appeared at the
point of impact, raised slightly above the plain of his surrounding skin. Jon's
ability manifesting both excited Arya and made her sad, because sure enough, he
was headed off to school too, much to the delight of her mother. This was
around the time Arya had her first dream. The thing was, she didn't think it
was anything special, all she dreamed of was running around outside. It didn't
seem weird at the time that it was through Nymeria's eyes because it was, well,
a dream, and dreams are always weird, right? So, she didn't say anything.
A year later Sansa turned thirteen and found out she could compel people.
Apparently, she was being picked on by a snot nosed kid at school when she
cracked and just yelled, "Shut up! Shut up! Leave me alone!" And he did, for
three days before it faded. Once they finally realized the guy could literally
not talk to anyone or even go within 20 feet of her did Sansa tell her parents
what happened.
Once Sansa was shipped off it just left her, Robb, and baby Rickon at
Winterfell with her parents. Robb seemed to accept that he was going to be the
boring one in their family, as at sixteen he still showed no sign of a mutant
ability. The next two years seemed to prove Robb's point as nothing happened
for him during that time frame. For Arya though, well, she continued to dream.
At first it was just animal dreams, her dog, the neighbor's cat, even her fish
once, which was odd to say the least. When she was thirteen however, she
dreamed about her dad playing golf, specifically from her dad's perspective,
and all she got when she woke up was how amazing those specially made clubs
were. She told her mom that he wanted those clubs for his birthday and when he
asked how on earth she knew that's what he wanted she said she had a dream
about it, and shrugged her shoulders. This prompted her parents to ask about
her other dreams, and finally they called the school and had a specialist come
over to evaluate her. After he probed her head, which was very uncomfortable,
he determined her to be a dream-jumper, and the next week she was leaving
Winterfell with bags packed to start her first year at mutant academy, as she
liked to call it.
***** Chapter 2 *****
Upon arriving, Arya moved into a room that she shared with two other girls her
age. When they asked her what she could do they seemed rather disappointed.
Arya figured they were hoping for a flashy power they could see happen with
their own eyes. She was then led around on a tour of the campus, showing her
where the classrooms were, the activity centers and the dining hall. She was
also informed where and why some areas were off limits. For example, the lower
levels were only for graduates who served as part of the Watch. She also wasn't
allowed in the kitchen after hours or use any appliances besides the microwave
without supervision. This rule apparently only applied to those under the age
of fifteen. Curfews also existed based on grade level. Arya's level had to be
in their rooms by 9 pm and had lights out at 10 pm on school nights with an
extra hour on the weekends. This irritated Arya when she found out Jon, who was
18 and in his last year, didn't have to be in his room until midnight with no
lights out time and Sansa, at fifteen, had until 10 pm with lights out at 11. 
After the tour ended she was given her schedule and a map and told her classes
started tomorrow and that she would have her first one on one session with a
trainer on Wednesday evening. When she looked over her schedule she couldn't
help but be disappointed as it was just like regular school. This whole time
she was thinking Jon, Bran, and Sansa were taking all these exciting defensive,
offensive and power control classes and it was just regular old math and
science.
She spent the rest of the day catching up with Jon. He gave her the unofficial
tour and then they ate dinner with Bran. Even Sansa sat with them to welcome
Arya to the school, although she suspected it was due to parental pressure.
The first couple days of classes were interesting simply because she got to
meet everyone, her teachers were great, and her favorite, Syrio, who taught
physical education, was also her control coach. When she met him for the first
time on Wednesday, they spent most of the evening going over what her powers
meant and their likely development. He spoke in riddles sometimes but what she
got was that with control and practice she would be able to decide whose dream
world she was entering and even be able to mold it to her wishes. She was
doubtful given that she had no clue when they were her dreams or someone
else’s, but she was excited at the prospect.
He gave her a notebook and told her to write down all her dreams and any
unusual quality associated with them. She was a bit disappointed that this was
all she was doing, but she knew she had to start somewhere.
Over the course of the year she settled into her life at school, met some great
people in her classes, and hung out with Jon constantly. She continued to write
down her dreams and each week she would go over them with Syrio and they would
determine if they were her dreams or not. By the time Jon was graduating she
was still no closer to knowing instinctively when she was dream-walking, Syrio
reassured her that she was progressing fine and that she had improved since the
beginning of the year. Still, Arya was disappointed.
She spent the summer at home in Winterfell writing down her dreams and trying
to figure whose exactly they were. Jon joined the Watch after graduation and
was at training camp for the summer. The Watch was the group that trained in
the basement of the academy. They were mutants who were taught to defend, or
manage mutants when needed. They were often lent out to the military to go in
and gain control of mutant criminals or simply those who lost command over
their abilities. They were also used as protection for diplomats or other such
private security. In their downtime they stayed at the school, which Arya was
excited about, and sometimes came in as guest lecturers.
The next year flew by in much the same fashion, and Arya was pleased to
discover a common element to her dream walking. She found that when she woke
up, if she could remember the dreams with a distinct sharpness around the edges
she knew it was someone else’s dream. When they were her own, they were always
a bit blurry, hazy and she forgot them very quickly. Syrio was pleased with her
observation, and charged her next with trying to notice the sharpness during
the dream instead, because he was sure once she was able to tell she was
dreaming she would be able to control the dream.
When she turned fifteen she was in her sophomore year at the academy, and she
was placed in a room with just one other roommate and finally got access to the
kitchens and a later curfew. She was enjoying her newfound freedom and ability
to make popcorn whenever she wanted to. The one thing she was missing, however,
was Jon. He had left several months ago on a mission with his squad and she
hadn’t heard from him since a week into his assignment.
She had mentioned her worry to her father, who hadn’t heard anything either,
and even asked Bran if he could sense Jon anywhere, but Bran said Jon was out
of his reach of view. This ended up making Arya so anxious that she went to bed
each night wondering if he was okay. She had stopped dream jumping for the time
being and she could tell even Syrio was concerned with how much she was
dwelling on Jon. This was why when she crawled into bed that night she tried to
calm her thoughts and even though they returned to Jon in the end, she was more
relaxed then she’d been in awhile.
When she opened her eyes, however, she was no longer in her bed, but out in an
open field at the bottom of a hill. She began walking up the hill and while she
wasn’t exactly sure where she was going, her dog, Nymeria, was with her and her
heart was lifted in happiness. As she approached the crest of the hill she saw
a male figure and another dog sitting on a bench. When she reached the top, his
head lifted and a grin broke out on his face. Arya's lips stretched in a smile
to match, and took off in a dash towards the man, who she recognized as Jon.
Nymeria leapt ahead and rolled around with Ghost, as excited to be reunited
with her brother as Arya was.
Soon enough she was being lifted and swung around in the type of warm hug she
only got from Jon. Excitedly, he set her down and they sat next to each other
on the bench.
Arya could not stop smiling, she had missed him, “I’m so happy to see you, I
was getting so worried, I haven’t heard from you in forever.”
He patted her shoulder reassuringly, “I’m fine, you know how hard it is to hurt
me, I’ve got tough skin and all that.” He said with a laugh.
Arya pushed him gently, rolling her eyes at the mention of his gift, “I know,
but your missions don’t normally last this long.”
He sighed, “I know, this mutant is really hard to track down. We almost caught
up to him last month but he vanished without a trace again. We’ll get him soon
enough and I’ll be back after, no worries.”
He pulled her in and noogied her, and Arya tried pulling away, laughter
bubbling out of her.
She reached her hand up over her to grab his arm and instead smacked it against
the headboard, waking to a phantom hand still on her head and laughter still in
her lungs. She felt lighter than she had in weeks and reached immediately for
her notebook. She knew that was her dream, but it was different because it
didn’t feel like it was just Jon's dream either. It felt like they were
actually talking, like they were both conscious in the dream. She called her
dad and told him because she knew it meant that Jon was okay, just out of range
for regular communication, and she couldn’t wait to tell Syrio as this was the
first sign of progress she’d had all year.
When she walked into his office the following Wednesday night for their usual
appointment, she told him about the dream. Unfortunately, Jon was still out of
reach so she wasn’t able to verify that he had the same dream, but she was so
positive she almost didn’t feel the need to double check. Syrio was pleased
with her, and assigned her a new task, she was to think about the person whose
dream she wished to enter before sleep as her constant worry over Jon must have
prompted her to reach out to him.
She practiced this and before she knew it another year had passed and she was
back for her junior year. The method Syrio recommended her allowed her to dream
with Jon a couple more times, but it still seemed to be prompted by a more
extreme emotion, mainly worry in this case. Otherwise, she still couldn’t tell
that she was dreaming when it was happening. She was just happy she was
starting to learn how to steer herself, so to speak. Either way, she was
looking forward to what this year would bring.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
She was a month into her junior year when she had the most random dream.
Nowadays, she typically knew whose dream she was in the second she awoke. It
tended to be her friends’ or the girls in the rooms on either side of her,
people who were close physically if not emotionally. She had so many dreams of
making pies it was starting to get ridiculous. This was why what greeted her
when she fell asleep was rather surprising.
There was liquid fire all around, flowing and ebbing like a river. Her hands
moved and the river followed her fingers, she realized as it moved that it is
metal, heated to the point of liquid. As she moved the metal danced, twisting
and twirling as she contemplated what she wants the final shape to be. A noise
sounded behind her and in her shock the metal falls, hitting a table and
cooling immediately in a large ripple effect.
Arya turned around to investigate the noise and woke up.
Arya rubbed the sleep from her eyes, rolling over to hit the snooze button on
her phone. That dream was not hers. She also didn't think it was any of her
friends or family’s.
She diligently pulled out her dream notebook and jotted down the key points and
anything that would help her identify whose dream it was. All she could really
remember about the person was that he was a very large man, and that he seemed
to be able to move very hot liquid metal.
Lucky for her today was the annual showcase. This occurred every year and
allowed the seniors to show off their talents in a controlled environment. She
always looked forward to it because it was an exciting way to start the year,
and something usually ended up on fire.
She was hoping that whoever it was she dreamt about would be at the showcase,
she didn't know of anyone with the mutant power she saw last night, but she
also didn't know many seniors, so she would just have to wait and see.
After lunch Arya joined Hot Pie and the rest of the students and filed outside
to the practice field into the bleachers. All the new students were in the
front row and were murmuring excitedly amongst themselves. A lot of the time
when students first arrive here, they feel very negative about their mutant
ability, either it's weak or they can't control it. The showcase allows them to
see what they can accomplish after going to school and putting in the time and
effort during their sessions.
Once everyone was settled the headmaster came out and did his standard welcome
speech with a lot of variations of 'you can do anything if you put your mind to
it!' He finished up to some half hearted claps, before the real cheering
happened when Margaery Tyrell walked out. This was unsurprising as the show
usually started off with someone flashy.
She did a little smile and wave at the crowd before sweeping her arms open in a
flourish. Vines shot out of the ground around her, growing strongly, sprouting
roses as they went. She reached out and grabbed a hold of one stem, stepping up
and moving with the plants as they expanded in both height and width. Soon
enough she swayed high above the students head, her tinkling laughter still
reaching their ears. With a final wave of her hand the vines around her
exploded, sending different colored roses falling towards the ground, reaching
most of the collected masses. Arya strained her eyes to see through the falling
flowers and saw glimpses of Margaery as she was lowered to the field, the vine
she stood on absorbing back into the grass. Once the cheering settled down,
Margaery took a bow and walked over to her seat with the rest of the
demonstrating students, the only evidence of her actions were the flowers left
behind.
Arya zoned out for a lot of the students in the middle, she remembered one
senior taking turns camouflaging against various props they brought out.
Another changed the color of her hair and grew and shrunk to the amusement of
the crowd. But Arya only really paid attention at the start of each person, and
when they didn't display any metal working mutations she lost interest. Her
ability was mental based, so as fun as these assemblies could be, they didn't
really help her much, specifically, since the only people who really performed
for these things were those with visible powers.
She was brought back to the moment when a bunch of the boys around her suddenly
nudged each other and Arya rolled her eyes knowing who must have just walked on
stage. Sure enough when she looked up, none other than Daenerys Targaryen was
striding out in front of the students. The senior was a gorgeous sleek blond
who had half the school following her around like puppies. Arya wasn't
surprised she was closing the show, as Dany went from only being flameproof as
a freshmen to being able to create and manipulate fire.
She stood still until all the muttering fell to an eerie silence. She looked up
briefly at smirked at the crowd, shooting her hand up in the air, a great pyre
extending from her fingertips. She then pulled her hand in and spun while she
lowered to a crouch. The blaze followed her, spreading outwards into a spiral
until she settled and it drifted off into smoke. She then sprung upwards out of
her crouch, flames engulfing her body, shooting down past her feet and
propelling her several feet into the air, her fiery form spun into a front flip
and she landing softly on her feet, flames flickering out, leaving her
perfectly unharmed.
Finally she lifted her hands and started waving them into a circle above her
head. Fire leapt from her fingers, twisting and following the motions of her
hand until a twisting inferno extended far above her head. Arya noticed many of
the students towards the front lean back, whether in fright or simply due to
the intensity of the heat she wasn't sure. As she focused her attention on the
pyre, eyes squinting against the strength of it, she saw the tornado of red,
orange and yellows twist into a shape, the gasps around her meant she wasn't
imagining it. Before their eyes Dany was manipulating the flames into the shape
of a giant dragon, and as she watched, it spread its wings and took flight,
soaring into the air high above them before leaving behind a trail of black
smoke as it dissipated.
When Dany was done, she glided off the field to join the students. The
headmaster came back out to give his closing speech and the students were
dismissed to return to the common areas. Arya walked next to Hot Pie as he
rambled on about what they saw, how exciting it was and how cool some of the
mutations were. Arya nodded and hummed along at the right moments, hiding her
disappointment, as exciting as the showcase was, there was no one who
controlled any type of metal. She was still no closer to finding out who it was
she dreamt about.
Chapter End Notes
     Happy Thanksgiving!
***** Chapter 4 *****
Chapter Notes
     Sorry it's a couple days late, I was up to my ears in papers to
     finish for school, but here's the next chapter, hope you like it!
Her dream mystery only lasted until the following week, before she even met
with Syrio to discuss it. The school was all abuzz over a new student; a
hulking young man who, even though he was 19, was starting as a senior, the
year above Arya’s. Apparently, he’d dropped out of public school two years ago
and once his powers developed and the academy caught wind of it, they convinced
him to come and finish school. She saw him in between classes slumping after
the tour guide as he was shown around the building. Their eyes met for a moment
and Arya had the sudden awareness that this was the person whose dream she saw,
or was it a memory, she wasn't sure. Either way, she was shocked and a little
confused. He hadn’t been at the school last week, so how and why on earth did
she jump into this guy’s dream of all people?
Syrio was not much help on the matter saying only, “If it was, it will be.”
Arya had no idea how to interpret that. When she talked to Bran about it, he
thought that because Arya usually dreamt of her friends, maybe Syrio meant that
this guy was going to become her friend and she’d just jumped in a little
early. Arya was used to taking Bran’s advice and decided to make friends with
this bull of a boy. To her pleasant surprise he was in her math class, as were
a couple of other seniors, but this gave her an excellent excuse to drag Hot
Pie over to his lunch table the next week and sit down.
When they sat down next to him, he looked at them with a little bit of
surprise. "I'm Arya, and this is Hot Pie," she stated, pointing to Hot Pie as
she said his name. "You're in my math class." She felt a bit silly saying that.
He seemed shocked she knew that, "Yeah, I know. I didn't think you did though."
His brows furrowed, and he seemed to remember his manners, "I'm Gendry."
"We know." Piped Hot Pie, "You're all the school's been talking about."
He glowered at that piece of news, and barked out rather hostilely, "So what?
You're here because you're friends wanted to find out more about the weird new
kid?" He made a motion to grab his tray and get up.
"Wait!" Arya practically yelled in her haste to stop him from leaving. He
paused and picked up his fork again, taking a bite of food, waiting for her to
finish speaking. "We just thought you'd want company." She finished lamely.
He looked dubious at her answer, but before she could say anything Hot Pie
chimed in, "She had a dream about you." He stated, like that would explain to
Gendry why they were there. When his eyes shifted to Hot Pie, he explained,
ignoring Arya's hissed 'Shut up!', "She only jumps into her friends dreams, so
Bran told her you were going to be friends. That’s why she wanted us to sit
with you."
Now Gendry just looked confused and Arya groaned, dropping her face into her
hands. "I hate you, Hot Pie." She lifted her head and looked at Gendry. "I
dream jump. That's my ability, to go into other people's dreams when I'm
sleeping. I entered your dream two weeks ago and my brother, who has visions
and can enter people's minds anytime he wants and, like, foresees shit, told me
it means that we're supposed to be friends or something." She blinked at him
expectantly before adding, "So here we are, ok?"
He still looked confused, but said, "Ok."
From then on Gendry seemed to accept that Arya and Hot Pie were going to be
hanging around him.  He didn't even seem that opposed, accepting their
friendship and appearing happy to see them despite acting annoyed sometimes.
She also learned more about his ability. He could control metal, but only after
heating it. If he focused, he could heat up pieces of metal until they
liquefied, and then he could bend them to his will. Unfortunately, she never
got to see it in person. Due to the potential danger to other students, he had
to practice in one of the fire-proof rooms in the basement. He had taken to
calling it the Forge because it had piles of scrap metal everywhere and a bunch
of workbenches.
About a month into knowing each other, Arya started to grow curious about what
he could do.
"Come on, just show us a little. Here, take this fork. Change it to a spoon or
something." Arya needled at Gendry, waving a fork around in her hand.
He rolled his eyes, snatching the fork from her hand when she went to poke him
with it. "We're in the middle of the cafeteria, you really think no one would
notice? And besides, we have teachers who can literally read our minds. I'm not
getting in trouble just so you can have a spoon."
Arya pouted, "Then can you sneak me down to the Forge later and show me? It
sounds like you've gotten really good and I can barely remember that first
dream. I'm forgetting what it looks like."
"I don't know why you want to see so bad. It's not that exciting." he mumbled.
Gendry always got embarrassed when he talked about his ability.
She huffed, stealing his fork so she could continue eating dinner. "Because I
want you to make me something, stupid."
"What do you want out of metal, exactly?" he asked.
She shrugged, "I dunno, something cool."
He snorted, "That's specific."
"Shut up and eat your peas, stupid." But there was no heat in her words.
She crawled into bed that night and fell asleep almost instantly, but was woken
shortly after by a soft knock on her door. She was rubbing the sleep from her
eyes when Gendry popped his head in.
"Well, come on, do you want to see the Forge or not?" he asked with a grin. She
hopped out of bed and quickly pulled on her shoes, following him out of the
room. He led her down the hall to the stairs and they ran down until they
reached the lower levels. Gendry pulled out his access card and swiped it on
the reader, the light flashing to green and a slight click indicating the door
was now unlocked.
Grinning down at Arya he pushed the door open and grabbed her hand, he pulled
her quickly down the sparse hallway, taking the first left and stopping about
halfway down that corridor. This door had a keypad and Gendry punched in the
code, when it opened she followed him inside the room.
'What'll it be, m'lady?' Gendry asked, half bowing and waving his hand toward
the pile of metal on the workshop bench.
She laughed, lightly shoving his shoulder, "Don't call me that." she
admonished.
He mockingly grimaced at her shove, "You pain me so, m'lady. How about we start
and see where the metal takes us?"
At her nod he turned toward the pile of steel, his hand rose as a look of
concentration passed over his face. She could feel the air around the metal
growing warm, and soon enough the metal was turning a slight red. Slowly the
red turned brighter, shifting to an orangey color. As it heated it started to
soften, finally reaching the yellow color of which he was able to press and
move the metal itself. By the time he was satisfied by the color and therefore
texture of the steel his face was glistening and Arya couldn't help but follow
a drop of sweat as it made its way down his bicep to pool in the inside of his
elbow.
As she watched he let out a huff and drew his hands into fists, and the metal
crunched and came together in a smooth yellow orb. He beamed over at her as he
started to move. He pulled his left hand away from his right and the orb
shifted, moving to form a hammer with a long handle. Arya laughed, "This is for
me, not you, stupid."
He joined in her laughter for a breath or two and agreed, "Alright, alright. I
have just the thing." With a flick of his wrist half of the hammer fell back to
the counter, cooling midair and clunking against the surface. The remaining
molten piece stretched to about the length of her arm, more accumulating at the
bottom. As she watched, she noticed that Gendry was almost entranced by his
task. He was no longer shooting her glances as he more finely shaped the metal.
The long stick portion grew thinner at the edges as he drew globs of it off and
sent them to join the rest of the discard on the counter. The thick portion at
the end grew two points opposite one another, smoothing out and she watched in
amazement as a thin sword came into existence.
After he finished he snatched the sword out of the air and spun, dropping to
his knee in front of her, lifting his arms and presenting the sword now sitting
across his palms to her. "M'lady, I hope you accept this token."
She laughed gleefully and picked up the sword at its' hilt. When he stood, she
smiled up at him, "I think I could get used to using this type of needle." The
joyful smile she got in return sent her stomach fluttering. She wished he would
smile at her like that more often.
She was just about to say they should head back to their rooms when an annoying
buzzing sound interrupted her thought, and when she turned to investigate the
sound all she saw was her pillow.
Arya rubbed the sleep from her eyes, confused and annoyed that it hadn’t been
real. She turned to grab her notebook but paused, hand midair. The dream didn't
feel like anyone’s but her own, nevertheless Syrio liked her to double check
when her dreams included people she knew, just in case. She was also a part of
the dream, not just an observer, which had meant in the past that it was a
shared dream.
Unfortunately, that meant she had to ask Gendry if he’d dreamed about her last
night, which was not something she looked forward to. She just knew that stupid
bull would tease her about this.
Later that day at lunch she plopped down next to Gendry in the cafeteria and
glanced up at him as she poked at her food. His eyes met hers and his brows
rose in question, as he knew she was acting out of character. She ignored him
and pushed her peas into her mashed potatoes.
"Ok, what is it? You're acting weird." He finally asked.
She scrunched up her face, huffing out, "Didyoudreamaboutmelastnight?" He
stared dumbly at her until she repeated, barely unclenching her jaw as she
ground out, "Did you dream about me last night?"
He blinked in surprise, "No," he stated, but his face scrunched up, "I don't
think so. I don't remember, at least. Why?" After a moment it seemed to dawn on
him and his eyes lit up as he asked, "Did you? Dream about me, I mean?" When
she didn't answer immediately, he full out grinned, "You did, didn't you! What
was it about? Was it a good one?" He wiggled his brows and she frowned in
return. "Come on, tell me."
"It was just a stupid dream about a stupid boy!" she snapped, grapping her tray
and stomping over to dump the remains in the trash. Gendry's laughter followed
her until she left the hall.
***** Chapter 5 *****
Chapter Notes
     Wow guys I am so sorry it's been so long. I should be back to regular
     posting schedule though, now that my life has calmed a bit. This
     chapter also gets a bit err...sexy...so the rating was bumped up,
     just in case you missed that.
Two days later, however, found Gendry approaching her in the common rooms, hand
already posed on the back of his neck, rubbing nervously.
She paused her game and looked up, silently inquiring what he wanted. He thrust
his hand out and Arya raised hers in confusion, and he dropped a small piece of
metal in her palm. She lifted it and saw in amazement a little wolf dog, just
like Nymeria.
Lifting her gaze to Gendry, she remarked, "This is amazing, Gendry! Is it for
me?"
The tips of his ears had turned red, but he sat and joined her on the couch.
"Yeah, you said you wanted something, right?" She nodded. "Well, I wanted to
make you a little sword, but Mott said I couldn't make any weapons unless they
were for the watch." He looked uncertain, "So you like it? You said you had a
dog at home, right? You showed me some pictures."
She grinned widely at him and jumped to throw her arms around his broad
shoulders in a hug, "I love it! Thank you so much, it looks just like Nymeria."
When she pulled back the redness had spread to his cheeks, but Arya just
thought he wasn't used to getting compliments.
It wasn't until later that she remembered his comment about the sword and she
spent the whole night tossing and turning, wondering if he really did dream
with her. Perhaps he just didn't remember it consciously.
That night she slipped her new wolf pendent on a chain and hung it around her
neck, smiling to herself as she brought her hand up to roll it between her
fingers, getting used to the weight as she climbed into bed.
She woke up about an hour after she fell asleep, bladder screaming. She got up
and hurried down the hall to the bathroom to relieve herself. After she washed
her hands, she started to walk back to her room when she heard a faint noise
coming from the direction of the game room.
She walked the short distance out the girls’ hall into the common room where
she saw a faint glow coming from below the door leading into the game room. She
entered and there she found Gendry, slouched low on the couch, watching a
random late night cartoon show. She walked over, flopping down next to him,
drawing her legs up and tucking them underneath her so her knees ended up
resting on Gendry’s leg. His left arm lifted and settled on her thigh, his
thumb rubbing circles as she lowered her head to his shoulder, effectively
curling into his side.
She was warm and comfortable and soon enough started drifting off to sleep. She
was awakened by a gentle shake to her shoulder, and she opened her eyes to find
Gendry’s face inches from hers, hand having left her leg to try and tell her
they should both head back to their rooms to sleep. She found herself gazing at
his lips. Oh how she wanted him to kiss her, and almost as if her thoughts made
it so, he was leaning forward, pressing against her lips, his hand dropping to
curl around her waist. Her own hands rose to his chest, gripping his shirt,
pulling to try and get closer. Her eyes closed as she sought to focus her
attention on this moment, on not missing anything. This was perfect and just
what she always wanted. She never wanted it to end.
Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes they did not meet Gendry’s staring back
into hers, but instead the ceiling of her room. She groaned, rolling over and
smashing her face into her pillow in denial. "Was she getting worse?" she
thought to herself. It had felt like it was her dream, but it also had an edge
to it, the unusual sharpness, the awareness she got when she’d dream jump.
She started to reach for her dream diary but paused. This was not the type of
dream she wanted to share with Syrio and she decided to just leave it out for
now. If this kept happening, she would come up with something to tell him
about. Besides, the more awake she got the more it seemed like that was just
her dream. Why would Gendry dream about kissing her? He only liked her as a
friend, or maybe even a younger sister.
Still, it didn’t stop her from avoiding looking in his eye when they hung out
later that day. Thankfully, Hot Pie was around and Arya was suddenly interested
in learning more about cooking and baking.
She was a bit absorbed in her avoidance that it took until she was heading to
math class to realize that Gendry didn't make much of an attempt to talk to her
either. When she entered class she steeled her nerve and sat in her seat next
to him. She let out a quick 'hi' when she looked at him, he nodded quickly, she
thought his eyes settled on her lips before looking down, and she wondered if
she had something in her teeth.
She looked down at her own notebook and subconsciously brought a finger up to
run over her teeth just in case. People filed in around them and the noise and
chatter only made the silence between them more awkward.
She was startled by Gendry's deep voice, "You're wearing it." He stated.
She turned to find him looking at her, "What?" she questioned.
He nodded towards her hands, which she hadn't even noticed had reached up to
play with her necklace. She felt a blush spread across her cheeks, she bit her
lips, "Yeah, I don't want to take it off, it reminds me of home." She threw a
small smile over at him.
He returned it with a full out grin, and suddenly Arya was laughing, it was
ridiculous that she was avoiding Gendry, just over a little dream where they
kissed. She spent the next four minutes before the bell to tell him about the
time when Nymeria was a puppy and got into her mom's gardens and how it took
all her siblings to finally catch her, and only after she trekked dirt all
through the living room.
By the time they were done with classes for the day and hanging out in the
common rooms they seemed back to normal. They were playing a game of pool in
the rec room before getting started with their math homework. They were just
fooling around, just killing time until Hot Pie showed up to start studying,
but Arya was always a competitive person.
She let out a little growl of frustration as he made another shot. He was crazy
good at pool, and she didn't get it, "How are you making all these?" she
snapped at him and he went up for his next shot. He laughed, missing the shot,
but Arya suspected he didn't really try.
He stood leaning on his pool stick, grinning down at her, "Why? You want me to
help you?".
He took a step forward and she scowled, "I don't need your help." She lifted
her pool cue, almost as tall as she was and swung it up, smirking at his quick
dodge. She lined up behind the cue ball, pulled the stick back and slide it
forward, tapping the ball and setting it forwards towards the solid green she
was aiming for.
It hit way off mark, hitting the edge of the table instead of the pocket like
she wanted. Gendry huffed out a laugh, and moved towards where she still stood
leaning over the table. He lifted her pool cue and walked over her over to the
cue ball, her angry retort got stuck in her throat at his close vicinity to her
body. He pressed lightly down on her back so she would lean down to get a
better sight at the ball.
An invulnerable shiver passed over her when she felt his breath on her ear.
"Ok, try it again," he whispered, "First you need to adjust your hand," she
felt him reach around her and she let her arm be moved higher up, "You're
holding it way too far apart." She looked up from the ball, and holding her
breath found her face inches from his. She couldn't stop her gaze from settling
on his lips, flashing back to her dream.
She almost felt like he was about to lean in when Hot Pie's loud voice cut
across the room, "There you guys are! I've been looking for you, Jeyne said the
homework took her twice as long as last weeks, we better get started!"
Arya and Gendry jumped apart almost guiltily, she distantly heard the pool cue
clattering to the ground and they both stared at Hot Pie. Arya felt like her
face was on fire, and didn't want to risk a glance at Gendry for him to see how
unsettled she had been from him being so close.
Hot Pie paused in his shuffling and cocked his head at them, "Uhhh..you guys
okay?"
"Yeah.
"'Course."
They both stammered out at the same time, Arya turned to find him looking at
her too, they both let out a short, awkward laugh before moving forward. Gendry
mumbling out a, "Let's head to the study room." as he passed Hot Pie, who
looked confused but followed along.
A month passed with no repeat of incidences, and while Arya was both hoping and
dreading for Gendry to get close again, she was mostly just freaking out at not
wanting to ruin their friendship by making it awkward. Gendry was just trying
to help her improve her awful pool game, she was looking too much into it.
She had also had no more dreams of Gendry, but that, she doubted, would last.
Later that night, she walked down the corridor, quietly sneaking into the boys’
hall and made her way to Gendry's room. It was very quiet; only the occasional
murmuring or music drifted out of the closed doors. She paused outside his door
to steel her nerve. When she moved forward, placing her hand on the knob to
turn it, she pressed an ear to the door to listen. Instead of the quiet breaths
she expected to hear she blushed upon hearing the low moans coming from within.
She froze, hand posed on the door knob as she debated what to do. Was he in
there with a girl? Did she even want to know if he was? Was he dreaming, or was
he alone, was he thinking of her? When she thought of that her hand
involuntarily clenched, twisting the handle and she decided to go for broke,
gently pushing the door open about an inch.
There was no sign from within that the door opening was noticed, so she pushed
it further, just enough to see his bed, about another inch or so. She halted
upon seeing the image:,there was Gendry, lying with the sheets bunched up at
his feet like he’d kicked them off impatiently, his comforter all but on the
floor. His boxers were at his ankles, one foot still partially through the
waistband as though he had pulled one out and hadn’t bothered taking them off
all the way.
She moved her gaze from his feet up along his powerful legs, his thighs rippled
as he clenched the strong muscles there. Arya felt the heat pool in her cheeks
as she stared unabashedly at his cock, jutting straight up as he moved his hand
up and down. His hand was large but not large enough to cover the glistening
tip. On each upward hand motion he would flick his thumb over the tip. As she
watched, he moved his other hand down to palm his sack and give it a quick
squeeze before he returned it to its clenched position in the sheets. Gendry
let out a moan, his hand started moving faster as his breathing increased, and
Arya had the sudden urge to see his face.
Her eyes trailed up his chest, seeing the sweat shining there from the small
reading light he had on his side table. She stared transfixed as it highlighted
the definition there, abs clenching and revealing a solid six pack. She managed
to tear her eyes away to find his face, and she was rewarded with it red and
glistening with sweat, eyes squeezed shut in pleasure. All of a sudden she
wasn't just looking at a flushed face, but startling blue eyes. Gendry moaned,
"Fuck, Arya." and came, eyes clamping shut once more as white cum shot out onto
his chest. Arya closed the door at that moment and all but ran to her room,
climbing into bed with a racing heart and wetness between her legs.
When Arya entered math class the next day she sat at her usual seat next to
Gendry. She could barely look at him after the dream she’d had the night
before, the dream of him jerking off. Unusually, Gendry didn't say anything to
her, which he always did when she sat down. She turned to look at him and
caught him looking at her, but before she could say anything he flushed red and
turned back to his backpack, rummaging through it and pulling out a pencil.
She felt her face grow warm as well, and also busied herself organizing her
desk to prepare for class. She definitely couldn't ask him if he dreamed about
her last night, this was way more embarrassing then him just making her a
little sword.
She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see him looking focused at his
blank page. She sighed, this was going to be harder to get over then the dream
with just the kiss.
***** Chapter 6 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Arya must have dozed off halfway through Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix. It was Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family and Arya always loved
watching it with her siblings. Unfortunately, they had ridiculously long
commercials and she must have fallen asleep sometime after Bran returned to his
room.
She looked around to see what had woken her and discovered it was Gendry,
leaning over the back of the couch and smirking down at her. She scowled back
in return, snapping, "That's creepy you know, spying on someone when they're
not aware." She pushed herself up and rubbed a crusty out of her eye.
She wasn't looking at him when he responded," Well, you're one to talk, peeking
through doorways." She immediately froze, eyes widening yet refusing to turn
and look at him.
"What-What are you talking about?" She stammered out. She felt heat spreading
across her face; she knew what he was talking about.
"Oh you know, the other night." He walked around the couch and sat next to her.
Belatedly, it made Arya look around and realize they were all alone. "When you
saw something you weren't supposed to in my room."
Her face was on fire now, and her eyes searched the room for a way out. "I
don't know what you're talking about." She reaffirmed.
He laughed, and her eyes snapped to his in irritation. Was he making fun of
her? "That blush on your face says you do." He scooted closer to her, hand
raising to brush a thumb across her likely pink cheeks. "For days I couldn't
figure out if I actually saw you or if I just imagined you as usual."
Her breath caught in her throat at the words, "As usual?" she repeated, brain
screeching to a halt at the implication.
He nodded, leaning further in so when he spoke she felt his breath on her skin,
smelling like mint toothpaste. "Yeah, I just can't seem to get you out of my
head."
She could see a flush on his face too at that admission and she wasn't sure who
moved first, but their lips were touching, crashing into each other as he
hulled her up into his lap. Her legs fell on either side of his as her hands
threaded into his short hair.
Their lips pressed heatedly together, Arya, emboldened by Gendry making the
first move, snuck her tough out to trace his lips until he opened to allow
their tongues to meet in a tangle. She felt his hands move from her hips back,
pressing deeply into her cheeks as he tried to pull her closer. She felt her
knees dig into the gap between where the back of the couch met the cushion.
Encouraged by their closeness, she ground her hips down, reveling in the gasp
it drew from Gendry's lips, right against hers.
They paused, looking at each other for a moment before Arya licked her lips,
still tasting the uniqueness of Gendry on them. His eyes zeroed in on her
mouth, his pupils blown wide as she drew her tongue over her bottom lip. She
felt a smirk coming on based on his reaction, but it was halted from forming by
Gendry diving back into a kiss.
It felt like they were only making out for a few seconds before they suddenly
sprung apart at the sound of footsteps, both swinging their heads to look at
the open doorway leading out to the hall. Arya quickly scrambled off Gendry's
lap on to the couch beside him, hands immediately reaching up to try and
flatten her hair.
When the teachers doing rounds passed the door, she peered in and looked a bit
skeptical at their forced relaxation on the couch. "You two should head to bed
soon, it's getting a bit late."
They both quickly nodded, not quite meeting her eyes, before she walked on.
When Arya was sure they were out of earshot she looked over to Gendry. When
their eyes met they both burst out into laughter, "You think she knew what we
were doing?" Arya managed to gasp out between giggles.
Gendry let out of snort at that, "I wouldn't be surprised, we should probably
head to our rooms though, I doubt she'll be as forgiving if we're still here
when she comes back around."
Arya nodded and Gendry got up and lead the way to her room, kissing her gently
before pulling away to whisper, "Goodnight Arya." against her lips.
She watched him walk away towards the boys hall, and felt a goofy smile spread
across her face when he looked back at her before turned into the other
hallway.
When she finally climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin to fall
asleep, she found herself opening her eyes to the morning sun coming through
the slits in the blinds.
"Fuck." She groaned, slowly peeling the comforter back to climb from the bed,
walking over to her closet to pull on the days clothes.
She still hadn't gotten over the awkwardness from the dream where she saw him
in his room. It had been several days since that dream, and she been trying to
avoid him without making it look like that was what she was doing.
Lucky for her, Gendry seemed equally sparse over the past couple of days, Hot
Pie told her he was busy down in the forge making stuff for the Guard. She was
just happy that he wasn't around because as oblivious as Hot Pie could be, she
thought even he would notice the weird tension that's developed between them.
This latest dream was just icing on the cake for her. She already couldn't stop
blushing whenever Gendry was around her, and now she could picture exactly what
it would be like to kiss him. It was bad enough thinking she knew how he looked
naked, but to still almost feel his lips on hers was just so much worse.
The dreams continued, and Arya knew that she couldn't avoid talking to Syrio
about it forever, but she just really didn't want to have to explain to him
exactly what she was dreaming about doing with Syrio.
When she crawled into bed that night it was with a growing apprehension, and
sure enough, when she closed her eyes it was to open them to Gendry's. They
were in her room, lying next to each other on the bed. As she looked at him he
leaned forward, tugging her flush against him and finding her lips. They lay
like that for awhile, before the kiss deepened, and Gendry rolled her onto her
back, Arya instinctively spread her legs and he placed one of him in the gap
between. His large, muscle strained arms brackets her head as he tried to keep
his weight off of her to look down. She got the feeling he was asking if what
was happing was alright, so she nodded impatiently and tugged at his shirt so
he finally settled on top of her.
He returned to her lips with vigor, hands moving to slide over her side, his
right reached the hem of her shirt and started to slide upwards on her skin,
leaving an electrifying trail in their wake. Arya took more of a direct
approach, and pulled at his shirt until he got the picture and quickly sat up
to pull it off and toss it to the floor. She only had a second to revel in the
view provided before he was diving back down, hand quickly returning to her
stomach.
Arya's hands found his chest, and found herself tracing his muscles, starting
with his pecks and finding their way down to his abs, pausing to trace the
outlines. She could feel the muscles twitching at her touch and wondered if
Gendry felt as on fire as she did when he touched her. Her hand found itself
tracing lower until it grazed the top of his jeans, she paused, unsure if she
wanted to bring this to the next level. Her fingers started tracing the skin
above his pants, teasing but not quite touching.
 Gendry was panting above her, his lips having moved from her face to her neck,
alternating between kissing and gentle sucking. Both of his hands gripped her
waist below her shirt, and as she turned her head to give him more access, he
started to lift her shirt, she arched off the bed so he could get it further up
before lifting her arms so he could tug it off of her body, throwing it so it
joined his somewhere on the floor.
His eyes drew immediately to her chest, and she wished she had something sexier
on then just the tan bra she was wearing. Gendry didn't seem to mind though, as
he resumed his attack on her neck, slowly making his way down to her chest. She
could feel his fingers dig almost painfully into her hips.
When he reached the valley between her breasts his hands finally moved off her
hips, trailing upwards to cup softly at her bra. A gasp escaped her lips at the
touch, encouraged he squeezed harder, more confidently as he started to knead
the tissue.
Arya was moaning now, trying to keep them muffled but having difficulty at the
feeling of Gendry's mouth on her, he had pulled away the right side of her bra,
and his lips latched onto the nipple. She couldn't stop the loud gasp the
released at the feeling. Her toes curled up as heat spread through her body,
settling in her lower tummy. She tried to press her legs together to relieve
the feeling, but Gendry was already there, having moved his other leg to join
the one already between her legs when he moved to her breasts. He seemed to
understand what she wanted though, as he pressed down, rubbing his stomach
against her sex.
Her hips bucked up to meet, frustrated they weren't aligned, he moved his lips
off her nipple being replaced quickly by his hand and lifted himself over her,
and when she felt him press down again, it was with a hard length straining
against his pants. They rocked against one another for awhile, until Gendry's
hand left where it was kneading her breasts to trail down to her jeans.
Gendry's hand reached the hem of her pants, and he started playing with her
button when Arya pulled away, mouth opened, not sure how she wanted to say she
didn't want to do that yet.
Gendry immediately pulled his hand away from her jeans, saying softly, "It's
ok, we can stop." He seemed to understand that she wasn't comfortable going all
the way and she was relieved she didn't feel pressured at all to continue.
Even though she didn't want to go any further, she still whined when Gendry
pulled away, but he didn't go far, just flipping to her side and drawing her
close, pressing one more kiss on her lips before tugging the covers up over
them.
"Goodnight Arya." He whispered, pulling her flush against him so she was using
his shoulder as a pillow.
She smiled against his skin, "Night Gendry." She fell asleep within minutes.
Chapter End Notes
     Hey guys, just a head's up, I'm leaving on vacation today for over a
     week, so the next chapter might not be posted for another 2 weeks or
     so, but I hope you enjoyed the update!
***** Chapter 7 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Waking up from that dream was difficult, but she still groaned when she woke up
in her bed, alone. She really didn't want to deal with this, she just wanted to
fall back asleep where she could be with Gendry.
Thankfully Arya was soon distracted from her growing concern over her dreams
and how much she was fixating on Gendry, when she knew he didn't like her like
that. The only thing anyone could talk about by lunch time was the huge flight
between Daenerys Targaryen and Joffrey Baratheon. Arya was never a fan of that
slime ball. He was awful to Sansa when they dated, and then when he started
dating Margaery, everyone tried to make it into a huge thing as if they were
fighting to be queen bee or something, when in fact Margaery and Sansa were
always good friends.
The story today really depended on who was telling it. Some people claimed they
saw Dani set Joffrey on fire, others insisted it was Margaery who started it,
tying Joffrey up in vines and leaving him suspended. There was even a story
floating around that the two girls were fighting full out with powers and
Joffrey stepped in and got hit by both.
After hearing several stories, Arya started to put together what she thought
actually happened. Joffrey, with his ego, wanted to act like he had both Dani
and Margaery fighting over him. So he'd been telling everyone about how him and
Dani made out behind the bleachers and now she wouldn't leave him alone no
matter how many times he told her he loved Margaery.
Once this information found its' way to Dani, she was understandably livid, and
apparently confronted Joffrey with smoke literally coming out of her ears as
she gave him the most humiliating verbal smack down about how he treated women.
Then, before Joffrey could even attempt to defend himself, Margaery starts
going into him about how he was a piece of scum for basically bragging about
cheating on her and dumped his ass right there. Both girls were so livid that
Margaery used her vines to suspend him mid air and Dani lit the grass
underneath him. Last anyone had seen the two girls were spotted laughing
together on their way to class.
Unfortunately, Joffrey survived the incident with only his ego bruised, his
followers, not to be confused with friends, having quickly removed him from the
trap he walked right into.
By the time it was dinner, the new twist on the story was the secret
relationship apparently going on between the two woman, and they attacked
Joffrey because they were tired of hiding it. When Gendry slumped down in the
seat next to Hot Pie, Arya grabbed at this like a lifeline. She was still
embarrassed about dreaming about Gendry masturbating, let alone the dream from
last night, where he was so sweet to her.
Whatever funk Gendry had been in over the last two days seemed to be pushed to
the side as they discussed the potential scandal of the two women having a
secret affair. Hot Pie seemed especially into the idea, but he spent most of
the discussion with his eyes glazed over, staring into the distance, rather
then add any input of his own.
Despite the rumors she and Gendry both agreed it was unlikely, everyone knew
Dani was happy with her long time boyfriend, Drogo, and would never cheat on
him. That's not to say they, as a couple, wouldn't invite Margaery in, but Arya
thought it was silly everyone was getting so excited over it.
"God forbid two women have a close friendship. It's like people are trying to
either make it sexual or pit them against each." Arya said with a hint of a
bite in her words, "Besides," she continued, "the real story is whether or not
Joffrey pissed his preppy little pants when Dani lit that fire."
Gendry laughed at that, "I bet he couldn't even hold it that long, the second
Margaery's vines started up his leg he probably lost it."
Both Arya and Hot Pie laughed, and just like that the awkwardness was
forgotten. After dinner they went outside to grab some fresh air. Gendry tied
to get them to play some basketball but Arya and Hot Pie knew when they were
outmatched. Gendry was still needling at them when Hot Pie remembered he still
had homework due the next day, leaving them in a hurry.
With him gone it was harder to stop her competitive nature take over, so she
compromised, and challenge Gendry to a little one on one soccer. He was still
bigger then her, but at least she was faster, in basketball he wouldn't even
have to jump to block her attempts at shooting.
They wandered over to the ball cart, pulling a firmer soccer ball from the
depths before heading over to a blank patch of grass, Arya sat down to retie
her shoe in preparation for the running about to take place.
"So how are we doing this? A shoot off or will it be a game of footwork?" She
asked, looking up, blushing when she realized just how close her face was to
his crotch as this level. She hastily finished her knot and stood, brushing
nonexistent dirt from her pants.
"Oh, a game of footwork, m'lady." He smirked at her, then pointed out a handful
of trees, "Your goal," he stated, turning to point to another patch, "My goal."
He was off walking to the middle of the two before she realized, hurrying to
catch up.
He set the ball down and backed up a few steps, still smirking at her, she knew
he thought he had an advantage, but she was small and wiry, and he didn't know
how fast she was. Or that she was used to playing with her brothers. She
stepped back as well, so they were both about ten feet away from the ball. She
arched an eyebrow at him in challenge, "You ready?" she didn't wait for a
response before she said "Go!" and rushed forward.
She got to the ball seconds before him, and kicked it off to the side and
rushed after it, speeding around him before he could catch up. Every time he
almost stole it she would do a quick trick and keep the ball away from him. She
scored the first goal and cheered, turning to grin at his surprised face.
"Sorry, Gen, but I'm used to playing with my brothers, and they cheat. If I can
win against them, you're no match." She kicked the ball lightly up field, so
they could start the next match.
Gendry smiled good naturally at her, keeping pace, and right before she kicked
the ball again he said, "Then it looks like I'll have to play dirty." And took
off, taking the ball just after she had ticked it ahead of her, streaking off
towards the trees that marked her goalposts.
She ran after him, and managed to slow him down but not for long, he ended the
drive with a score. From then on the game got dirtier, between sneak attacks,
and fake ankle injuries, they both kept scoring, finally, Arya was up by one.
Breathless from the excursion of running but determined to win outright.
When they both went for the ball, Gendry got there first, but before he could
make much headway, Arya leaped onto his back, forcing him into a forced piggy
back ride before he lost balance, stepping forward to counteract Arya's weight
but slipping on the ball still in front of him. They went down, Gendry's arms
braced in front to catch the fall. He paused, on his hands and knees with Arya
still on his back, before he flipped over on the ground, turning and rolling
softly so Arya was stuck bearing his weight, her back against the grass with
him on top of her.
She let out a grunt and pushed at him, "Move, you big lug!" She stated, half
serious, half trying to hide her laughter.
He moved, but not all the way off her, he twisted enough so that he was facing
her, legs supporting his weight, arms bracketing her in. He stared down at her,
his face caught in a mix of triumph and laughter. Her breathe caught, this was
like the pool incident, Gendry was so close, but this time she was reminded
more of her dream, and she wondered if he would move to fit so perfectly
between her legs if she shifted just right.
As they lay there, his face shifted from good natured to somber, staring at
her, the silence stretched as neither said anything.
Finally Arya broke the tension, "Maybe we should..." she broke off, biting her
lip, maybe they should what? Move this inside, maybe where other students
weren't milling about, waiting to spread a new rumor around.
"Head inside, yeah." Gendry saved her from completing her sentence as her voice
seemed to startle Gendry into motion. "It's getting a bit dark." She hadn't
noticed, too busy looking at his face. He looked confused, but stood up,
pulling her quickly to her feet. The confusion seemed to flicker with
disappointment as he reached down to pick up the soccer ball. Arya pounced on
that expression like it was her job.
"Too bad Gendry," she said, with false bravado covering her would be nervous
voice. "Looks like I win."
He reached over and gently shoved he shoulder, as they walked back to return
the ball. "Sure, keep telling yourself that, I would've had no trouble if you
didn't cheat."
Arya scoffed, and said scandalized, "I have no idea what you're talking about.
I'm an honest person, just like my dear old dad." She looked at him and flashed
him her go to sweet girl grin she used to get out of getting grounded.
He snorted, apparently that didn't work on Gendry, she was glad of it.
After returning the ball they headed inside, they lingered for a moment,
awkwardness creeping in. Arya sought desperately for something to say,
something funny, or cute, or an excuse to prolong their evening together.
"I guess we should head to bed, then." Gendry said, breaking the silence. Arya
nodded, disappointed in herself for not coming up with something. It wasn't
even that early, they could've easily hung out more. She nodded in agreement,
and made her escape to her room.
That night she dreamed of Gendry again, but at least this time wasn't sexual;
Arya wasn't sure if that was necessarily a good thing, because she did enjoy
those dreams, but always just felt marginally guilty afterwards, and always so
awkward looking him in the eye the next day.
No, this dream was simple, instead of parting ways like they did after the
game, they snuck into the kitchen, where Gendry got out ingredients for
sandwiches. He pulled out peanut butter and slathered it onto two slices, then
reached for a bag of potato chips. As she watched he crinkled the chips up onto
the peanut butter, and pressed a plain piece of bread on top, leaving the other
slathered piece for Arya.
She went into the fridge and grabbed jelly to add to hers, watching
unbelievingly as Gendry devoured his sandwich dry.
She spoke as she applied the jelly to her sandwich, "That's a bit gross you
know, how can you eat that right now? Don't you need water or something."
Gendry shook his head, and spoke around his full mouth, "Hate 'elly."
She laughed, and ate her sandwich like a normal person, one bite at a time.
The dream ended with them getting chased out of the kitchen by a monitor, mad
about the mess they were making. They ran from the room holding hands, and when
Arya woke up, she could still feel the ghost of his hand in hers.
Chapter End Notes
     Oh man, I am sorry for making you guys wait so long. I started my
     full time job a couple of months ago and it's been a bit distracting.
     But no worries, I haven't given up on this story quite yet! Hope you
     enjoyed the update!
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