Chapter Text
Arya didn't really remember when she realised she had a crush on Gendry.
It had started a while ago, Gendry coming over to the Stark house watch movies with Arya and Jon and sometimes Robb. There had been jokes and sharing of pizza between all the friends as they all argued and teased each other relentlessly. Soon enough, Robb went away to uni so their group of four became a group of three.
Arya and Gendry had found themselves becoming closer and closer as time went by, sitting together on the couch whilst Jon sprawled on the floor in front of the TV. Conversations grew longer and more familiar on movie nights where Jon soon fell asleep and the movie Jon had chosen was too artsy and boring for even him to pay attention to. Months of talking until sunrise, learning more and more about each other with every movie they ignored. He learned everything about her, that she liked shitty horror movies, the feeling of grass beneath bare feet and that she was ridiculously ticklish on the back of her neck. She, in turn, learned that he had an unashamed love of puns, loved the feeling of the sun on his back as worked under the hood of a car and absentmindedly played with the ring in his nose when he thought that nobody was looking.
One night, with the DVD menu playing on a quiet loop in the background, Gendry asked her in a low voice if he could kiss her. She nodded and allowed him to place a light kiss on her mouth.
After that they had seen each other more and more, after school and at weekends. They walked Nymeria in the park together, hands joined together and envelope in the warmth of Gendry’s hoodie pocket.
Things were happy between them for months. Arya loved falling asleep on Gendry’s couch with his fingers idly stroking her hair. Arya loved supporting him at school rugby matches and loved seeing him do the same at her fencing tournaments. Arya loved him.
One thing she had noticed about Gendry was that he never asked her to do anything. She’d grown up being told by her mother that men only ever wanted one thing from her, but Gendry had attempted to initiate anything between them. At first this made Arya feel relaxed. She’d never wanted to have sex with anyone before so she didn’t know what she’d say if he’d ask her.
It worried her, though. Gendry was older than her and more experienced. Lately he had seem subdued and pensive. Maybe, she thought, just maybe he was bored of how things were. Maybe, she continued, that was why he had been so reserved.
The thought returned to her when she was in Gendry’s flat. Arya kissed him gently, feeling the strong weight of his hands on her waist. She could do this, she thought. It wouldn’t be difficult. This was comfortable enough for now, simple kisses.
Her hand wandered lower and lower from where it had rested on his chest. Gendry winced and drew away. Arya could see the panic in his eyes, like he hadn’t been expecting her to touch him. She felt terrible for being the one to put such a look of fear on her boyfriend. Her heart hammered in her chest. Gendry steadied his breathing and sat up onto his elbows.
“It’s not that I don’t like you, Arya. I do, I fucking love you. It’s just… I can’t do this,” he said.
“Did I do something wrong?” Arya asked in a small voice and bit her lip. She had never done anything even remotely sexual before and had fretted over the slightest touch she gave him.
“Fuck, no, Arya. It’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. His face contorted into a pained expression like he always did when he was thinking hard about something. “I think there’s something wrong with me.”
“With you? Jon said that-” she said in confusion. Her pale skin flushed red with embarrassment.
“Jon doesn’t really know anything. I mean, I’ve had sex with girls before, but I didn’t really like it but that’s what they wanted so I just kind of went with it. I lied to Jon about it afterwards to, I don’t know, seem more normal. I don’t want to pretend with you, Arya. I can’t lie to you about it. I totally get it if you want to break up with me - I mean I don’t think I can give you what you-”
“I don’t.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to break up with you,” Arya said firmly, squeezing his hand.
“You don’t?” Gendry up at looked at her with confusion.
“No, you idiot. It’s just, well. I don’t think I’d really like sex either.”
“What? Then why did you try to-?”
“Because I thought you wanted to. I thought you were upset that we hadn’t done anything.”
“So you were just gonna have sex with me just because you thought it was what I wanted?”
“Uh… Yeah.”
“You were gonna have sex with me even though you didn’t want to?” he repeated in disbelief.
“Yeah…”
“Fucking hell, Arya. You should never feel like you have to do anything. I am so sorry for making you feel that way.”
“Well, would you have gone through with it if you thought I wanted to?” Her embarrassment had faded now.
“Yes,” he grimaced and rubbed a hand over his face. “I would’ve given you anything you wanted. That was why I was so… withdrawn… I just kept thinking about how I didn’t think I’d be able to make you happy.”
“Well then. We both have something to learn from this,” Arya said. She crossed her arms across her chest.
“You really don’t wanna have sex with me?”
“No… and I don’t really think I’m sorry about it.”
“Me neither. It’s strange how relieving that is.”
“You have to tell me, you know, if I do something that makes you uncomfortable. None of this pseudo-masculine bollocks about wanting to do what makes me happy, alright?”
“Agreed. And you have to tell me too. We need to talk about this,” he said. “If we don’t talk about it it will just get worse between us.”
Arya leant down slowly and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. His eyes closed.
“Is this okay?” she said.
“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “I like kissing you.”
“I do too.”
“I’m glad,” he said and lightly kissed the tip of her nose.
He pulled aside the blankets on his bed and climbed in. She followed him into the comfort and warmth and rested her head on his chest. Gendry pulled her close to him. Her feet were cold pressed against his bare legs, but he found he didn’t mind.
“How’s this?” he said in her ear.
“Perfect,” she said and relaxed in his arms.
Two weeks later they were in Gendry’s apartment. Arya had come into his apartment complaining about how she had been asked her age when buying the DVDs for their weekly movie night again. Gendry had been lazing in bed when she’d arrived and she’d instantly kicked off her shoes and climbed in with him.
“I’m tough. I can be terrifying,” she huffed. She pouted and flopped down onto the pillow beside him.
“Arya, you’re like 5 foot nothing. I can literally carry you one handed,” he said, choking back a laugh.
“Well I’m not terrifying to you. You clearly have impaired judgement which has ruined your common sense. I might be short, but I could still beat you in a fight,” she smirked. She leaned forwards to get a little closer.
“Is that how it is?”
“Yeah, that’s how it is.”
“Alright, Stark, bring it on,” he said, deciding to give her a challenge. He pinned her down with his weight, making sure he wasn’t actually hurting her.
“Beat me and you get to pick the first movie.”
Arya barged him playfully with her shoulder. Her speed took him by surprise but the blow did nothing. Despite her effort to displace him he remained unmoved.
“What the fuck, Waters?” she said. Gendry shrugged lightly, grinning. She raised a knee threateningly. Gendry remembered the time he had tickled her to the point where she had laughed and thrashed around. He also remembered how that had ended, with Gendry cursing as her knee slammed into his crotch.
“Well that wasn’t very ladylike, was it?” he said,
“This is the trouble,” Arya began. “I am obviously a badass, but nobody takes me seriously. You, however... it’s just not fair. There you are, said by many to be built like a brick shithouse and angry like a bull. I know the truth, though.”
“What’s that then?” Gendry smiled.
“You cried at the end of Lord of the Rings.”
Gendry stopped still from where he had been attempting to keep her from wriggling free. Arya took the distraction as an opportunity and hooked a foot around his calf to trip him. Gendry accepted defeat and fell into the pillows with a thud.
“How did you know about that?”
“I’ll never tell,” she announced. To solidify her victory she sat down on his chest to pin him down.
“You cheat,” he said.
“Don’t underestimate my skill, Waters,” she scoffed. “At least this time you didn’t rip my dress.”
“Oh, please, you make me sound like some bodice tearing monster. It was an accident,” he said defensively. “You hated that dress anyway, so really I did you a favour.”
Arya grimaced. The hideous dress had been a gift from an old family friend, embroidered with acorns. Arya had been forced to wear it to a party and by the time she’d been allowed to leave and make her way over to Gendry’s he’d already come home covered in sweat and motor oil.
“Whatever, shall we just pick the movie?” Arya said.
Gendry reached for the remote to his TV. Arya tsked and went to snatch the controller from his hands.
“I distinctly remember you saying I get to pick the movie.”
“Did I say that? I don’t recall.” Gendry said with feigned ignorance.
“I’m calling bullshit.”
“Moo.”
“You’re literally the worst.”
“But you love me anyway?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Yeah I do, you fucking loser.”
Halfway through the movie, Arya realised that her boyfriend was no longer paying attention. The vampire hunters had just made a crucifix out of shotguns and it was awesome and Gendry was missing it. His face looked pained, so she knew he was thinking about something far too much. She had been lying with her head in his lap to watch the movie and reached up to flick at the ring in his septum to grab his attention.
“Hey,” she whispered. Gendry blinked and looked down at her.
“What?”
“I can hear you thinking from here,” she said, placing a hand on his cheek.
“It’s just, can we really be the only couple in the world that would rather watch movies all night than have sex?” he said with a frown.
Arya sat up and thought about his question. “There must be other people.”
Five minutes worth of Googling later and they found it. Asexuality.
“Wow,” Arya said. “Asexuals. I like it.”
“Hmm, it’s nice, isn’t it?” Gendry said. “It’s nice to know we’re not the only ones. That we’re not alone.”
“I don’t think we ever have been,” Arya said, pulling him down for a kiss.