Chapter Text
The older girls liked to giggle to each other about who was the best looking boy in the village. Gendry, if not “the most handsome,” always made it onto each of their lists. And when he was at work without a shirt, by the Gods did they go insane. To Arya they were convulsing heaps of constricting fabric, bumbling around as they tried not to trip, oh-so-cleverly not gawking at the armorer’s apprentice. They waved at him sometimes, and if he noticed, he smiled sheepishly before giving a slight bow. It sent them scrambling for the hills, but just once Arya wanted one of them to fall, face first into a pile of mud.
When one finally did, she was cackling, clutching her torso as she tried to maintain balance on the low stone wall.
Gendry lifted an eyebrow as he watched her, shaking his head. “Somethin’ wrong m’lady?”
Arya was too busy trying to catch her breath to scold him. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, finally regaining the ability to talk. “They don’t even know do they? How stupid they look.”
Gendry resumed his task at the anvil, not even bothering to try responding to her. Arya wasn’t hard to figure out, but she was a girl, and girls always made things more complicated. They had been lucky to stumble upon this small village, seemingly untouched by anything to do with kingdom politics. Gendry helped the blacksmith, Hot Pie baked for the inn, and Arya, well- he honestly didn’t know what she did. “Don’t you have somethin’ to do?”
She turned back to him, more laughter wanting to escape her mouth. “Am I bothering you Gendry?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I can leave you know.”
He shook his head before delivering a final blow to the shovel he was making. He stuck it in the bucket of water, feeling her eyes still on him. “If you need work, I’m sure Hot Pie could find ya somethin’ at the inn.” He placed the finished tool back on the anvil, wiping sweat away from his brow with his forearm.
“If that’s what you’re concerned about,” she hopped off the wall, checking the back of her pants for dirt, “I got work.”
“Oh?” he cocked his head to the side as he took a step towards her. “Is it sittin’ on yer ass all day?”
“If it was I wouldn’t sit near you,” her lip was slightly curled upwards as she nodded towards the forge. “I’m helping one of the farmers who hurt his leg. He needs someone to care for his livestock.” She stretched her arms upwards.
“Best head that way then,” Gendry pointed towards the center of town with his hammer, a smirk playing across his lips.
Arya stuck her tongue out at him as she walked onto the main road. “See you at dinner.”
He watched her leave before returning to fumes and the pounding of metal.