#i could use this time to actually write my gendrya au but here we are writing rants

[pixiecactus]

i just saw someone say, well actually write, that "oh, lay my sweet lass down in the grass/my featherbed" actually forshadows a future sansa and gendry relationship (🤮) and that sansa and gendry are far better suited for each other than arya and gendry... did we read the same books? what's new this time is that this person was not a stansa, (who are notoriously known for trying to steal every plot point or relationships of arya stark ((and even dany)) to give to their fave) nope, this person actually had a hateboner for the baratheons, (fair actually, robert baratheon was a despicable man) but it's pretty ironic to hate gendry because of that, to that person: guess what character would probably piss on robert baratheon's tomb alongside you? yup, gendry, after his parentage gets revealed to him, i pretty much can see him breaking something in pure anger over this, also at this point in the books, gendry has no relation to the baratheons, he's just a no name bastard at worst and an outlaw knight at best, so why would someone put a baseborn outlaw bastard knight who hates nobility with a passion (with two known exceptions) with one of the most classist nobles to ever exist together in a romantic way? gendry was already class conscious with arya (one of the most progressive nobles to ever exist) and she never cared about people being born on the wrong side of the blanket as the text puts it, why would you do my boy gendry like that? it is because the books gave sansa as "love interests" joffrey, the hound and littlefinger, which are shitty choices and rotten men but i digress.

so lets take a song that pretty much describe a noble girl not wanting to conform to the traditional idea of noble marriage with everything it follows but still want to be together with her loved one and it's willing to defy societal norms with her lover by her side if he accepts to and lets give it to a noble girl known to thrive and excell at following all the norms of the traditional society has for girls and women in westeros... at least make it made sense

sorry to the people that follow this sideblog of mine to see my s!ms only, i had thoughts and i wanted to rant

[chasingforeverandaday]

Can I ask for #23 from the fluff writing prompts please? “I’d rather live in the woods with you than in a mansion with some (boy/girl/person) I barely know.” I mean, it’s just screaming gendrya at me! Thank you!

Well, how does some Regency era AU sound? This one ended up a full on one shot, because I fell down a rabbit hole real fast. Also I got to write Robb, which was super fun because I never write Robb. He may be a bit out of character, but I feel like if any of the Stark siblings would understand Arya’s conflict of love and duty, it would absolutely be Robb.

half agony, half hope

There are times that Gendry Waters thinks his life would be so much simpler if he’d ever actually learned how to say no to Miss Arya Stark, sister to the Lord of Winterfell. He can stall her in her impulsivities yes, or can sometimes talk her around to his point of view on a matter, but straight up denying her when she looks up at him with those big grey eyes and the pout he always wishes to kiss from her lips?

Stronger men than him would capitulate without question.

Stronger men have.

So when she barges into his smithy one June morning, he steels himself for whatever new (potentially scandalous) misadventure she has in mind for them. But the stricken look on her face as she quietly requests that he close up early and meet her in his personal quarters ignites a panic in his belly, and he hustles the other customers out as quickly as he can after she leaves.

Door locked and forge cooled for the day, he hurries through washing up and finds her in his rooms, pacing back and forth in front of the hearth. He can see the exact moment she notices his presence, as her head whips around to his and her face crumples. Terror seizes in his veins and he crosses the room in two strides to pull her into his arms.

She doesn’t fight him, just lets herself be held for a moment before wrapping her arms around his waist so tightly he thinks she’ll never let go. A shudder passes through her slim frame, then one hand reaches up to bend his neck downwards, her mouth seeking his.

Gods know he’d be happy to kiss her forever, but something must have shaken Arya badly for her to show up unannounced and ask him to abandon his work. Pulling away to lean his forehead against hers, he asks, “Love, what’s wrong?

A tiny voice he’s never associated with Arya Stark whispers, “How quickly can you be ready to leave?”

“What?” Utterly bewildered, he pushes her back farther so he can read her face, but she just burrows her face into his neck, clinging onto him like a limpet. Cautiously, he moves them to his narrow bed, sitting on the edge as she falls into his lap, all the while never letting him go.

She looks up at him then, eyes a little harder, a little more sure as she takes his hands in hers. “Run away with me. Gendry, please, we need to go, and it needs to be as soon as possible.”

“I don’t understand, I thought we had more time, that I had more time to…” Prove myself worthy of you, let myself learn to let you go, something, anything but be forced to watch you choose between me and your family.

“My mother’s invited suitors from houses Frey, Dayne, and Arryn to Winterfell, and I heard her tell Robb earlier that she won’t be letting me reject all of them.” Turning away as she speaks, Arya curls into him more, making herself look even smaller if that were even possible. “She intends to have me wedded and bedded by the end of the summer, seems to think it will curb my more unladylike tendencies.”

“Arya, you’re only twenty two for gods’ sake. She can hardly be that desperate to be putting you on the shelf already!” Almost as an afterthought, he mumbles into her hair, “And I like your unladylike tendencies.”

A sad smile on her face, Arya cups his cheek with her palm as she stays seated in his lap. “I know you do. I think she just wants me to be someone else’s problem now. Besides, all my siblings but Rickon have made good matches and are married. But what my mother said isn’t the important part.”

There’s a subtle shift in her voice as she draws herself fully upright, the pain replaced by something a little more hopeful. She’s finally looking at him again, her grey eyes searching his.

“Because Robb…” she took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders before looking him straight in the eye. “Robb told her he thought I should have more of a choice. He said that yes, I should marry, but that it didn’t have to be one of them. He told her that none of them would make me happy, and that I should marry a man who made me smile, not grimace every time I looked at him.”

Rubbing a hand up and down her back, Gendry cannot help but wonder, “That’s good, even I know that’s a good thing, but why…?”

“Because Robb walked out of his study and found me standing there, pale as a ghost I’m sure. He took me back to my room, and he told me that he thought I shouldn’t be forced to marry a man I didn’t love.” One of her hands comes to rest over his heart, fluttering rapidly at her touch. “Somehow, he knew about you and me, because then he told me he’d been thinking about commissioning you for some ironwork around the estate, and perhaps I could go to town to speak with you about it, since neither he nor Bran could do so today.”

The pieces fall together, and a little of Arya’s hope finds a home with Gendry. “So you think he’s giving us his blessing, and we’re running away.”

“I know he is, he just can’t come out and say it because of who he is.” Threading her fingers through his own, Arya holds their clasped hands together like a talisman, pressing a light kiss to the back of his before looking up with a smile. “We’re going to Gretna Green, and we’re going to get married like we’ve wanted to for three years, and then I’m going to actually learn how to keep a house and run your smithy, and we’re going to be happy, Gendry, so incredibly happy.”

“Aye, in our tiny little home with two rooms and no grand paintings or pianos or anything fancy like what you have up at Winterfell.” He knows that Arya says she has no care for those things, but he needs to remind her of the difference in their standing, just one last time before they make this choice that will alter their lives forever.

“Stupid boy,” she giggles, poking him in the nose with the first true grin he’s seen on her face this afternoon, “I’d rather live in the woods with you than in a manor with some person I barely know. I mean, ideally we live somewhere with a forge for you, but as long as you’re with me, I’m hardly going to be picky.”

Bending down, Gendry allows himself to brush a quick kiss to her lips, a promise made without words. “Give me a few days, so I can finish up my orders and get everything ready so I can leave. Just don’t say yes to any other proposals, and we’ll be saying our vows in a fortnight.”

-/-/-

A sennight later, as she prepares her horse for the journey as surreptitiously as she can, the stable door creaks open. Terrified that it will be that one stablehand who always tells her mother when she leaves the estate without asking permission, Arya hides in the shadows of Nymeria’s stall, peeking out into the center aisle into the hazy, pre-dawn light.

It’s Robb, carefully shutting the door behind him. He walks straight up to her hiding place and holds out his hand to her, a small smirk on his face. “Come out sister, we’ve not much time to waste.”

Slowly, she leads Nymeria out of the stall, fingers tightly gripping her reins. Her brother looks older than she’s ever seen him before. He looks like a lord in a way he never has before, one with the world weighing on his shoulders. But then her eyes meet his, and he smiles at her, and Robb is her big brother once more.

Dropping Nym’s reins, Arya throws herself into his arms, trusting that he will catch her implicitly. She’ll miss this, she thinks, having a brother she knows she can depend on.

When they finally pull away, Robb reaches up to wipe a tear she hadn’t even noticed from her eye. “There now, this won’t be the last time we see each other, little sister. Besides, one would think you’d be happier to be heading off on such a grand adventure with your blacksmith.”

Laughing wetly, she replied, “I am, trust me, I am anxious to start our lives together, I just…” here she shrugged, fidgeting her hands as she tried to gather the words to express herself. “This is the last time I’ll be in Winterfell as Arya Stark, or maybe ever if Mother reacts the way I think she will when she finds out. I’ll miss it here, even when Gendry and I have a new home. It’s all I’ve ever known.”

“You’ll always have a home here, for as long as I’m the lord. Probably after too, as you and I both know you’re Little Ned’s favorite auntie. But I think you’ll be far happier living wherever you and your husband end up than you would locked up in a London townhouse with whatever ponce our Mother has handpicked for you.” The disgusted face he made at his own words made her smile again, which she knew was exactly why he’d done so in the first place.

Serious again, Robb placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze as he said, “I’ve grown to love Jeyne, I have, but I’ve never looked at her the way your Mr. Waters looks at you, or you look at him, and neither has Sansa’s husband. You’re incandescently happy whenever you’re near him, and I can always tell when you haven’t spoken to him in days because you’re so quiet, like you’re holding in all of your thoughts until you can share them with him.”

He sighed before continuing in a soft tone, “If you hadn’t found him, hadn’t fallen in love, then I would try to arrange a marriage for you that could lead to your overall happiness in life. But you did. You fell in love years ago, and I’m glad that at least one of us gets to experience that joy in this lifetime.”

Moving to hold her hand in his left, he reached with his right into the breast pocket of his coat and pulled out an envelope. “This is the information for the accounts I’ve had set up in your name in London.” He placed it in her hand and looked her square in the eyes. “You may not be marrying with a proper trousseau, but this way you won’t be entering this marriage without your dowry. You don’t need to worry about Mother’s reaction either, I’ll take care of it. Jon will meet you in Scotland, I’ve already sent him an express explaining everything.”

Shocked at all the things he had thought of and put in place for her, Arya could only manage to sob, “Robby, I…” before hugging him again.

Her brother pulled her close once more, placing a kiss on her brow before pulling away. “I love you, and I’m sorry I cannot do more. Be happy, Arya. Be happy and one day when we’re old and grey, you’ll tell me stories of all your adventures with the man I know you love and the adorable little children I’m sure you’ll have. Now go, the tasks I set for James cannot take much longer, and you have quite the ride ahead of you.”

With that, Robb helped her onto her horse and led her outside as the sun rose. After he let her go, Arya pushed Nymeria into a trot, determined to make her way to the closed smithy before the people of Wintertown fully awoke. She only let herself look back once, barely able to see the figure of her brother as he waved her off into her future.

[callioope]

Author Interview

tagged by @theputterer -- thank you :) 

Name: Liz

Fandoms: In terms of posted fics, mainly Rogue One and Star Wars (OT). I have at least one fic posted in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, Community, and Howl’s Moving Castle (book). But I also like The Clone Wars and Rebels. I’ve been reading mainly ATLA fic for the past couple weeks. 

Where you post: AO3 and sometimes here on tumblr. There are a few drabbles I’ve posted on tumblr that I really ought to crosspost on AO3 for posterity. 

Most popular one-shot: “In Which Sophie is Late, and Howl Noses Around in Her Business” (Howl’s Moving Castle) With 698 kudos. Uh. Wow. I was not expecting that! It’s literally my only HMC fic (although I do technically have other unfinished drafts) and it’s not even a year old, and surpassed my second most popular one-shot which was posted in 2015. Pregnancy trope is popular I guess. It is amusing to me that my most popular one-shot is not in my favorite OTP fandom (rebelcaptain). Howl’s Moving Castle ended up having a wider audience than I anticipated. 

Also as a disclaimer, but popularity is weird to gauge because do you go by hits or kudos or comments? I went with kudos because hits could count people who clicked on my story and then didn’t like it. But it’s hard because hits also include re-reads, so, idk. 

Most popular multi-chapter fic: “The Last Stark” (A Song of Ice and Fire) 815 kudos. This was finished in 2013 so it’s had plenty of time to accumulate the kudos. It’s a Gendrya Anastasia AU (“Aryastasia” was my working title for this one lol). So again, popular trope, in a popular fandom, in a popular ship. This fic is so old when I reread it, I usually find myself wanting to edit it, especially the ending. I was so ready to be done writing this that I think I rushed the ending. Oh well, writing plots is really difficult!

Fic you were nervous to post: Every fic? lol. I’m never not nervous to post a fic. But I’m definitely more nervous posting in a fandom for the first time. So posting “Whatever I Do (I Do It To Protect You)” (Rogue One, rebelcaptain) was pretty nervewracking, especially since it’d been awhile since I posted anything. [OOOH, fun fact, but WID celebrated it’s 4 year anniversary yesterday! Ha, that’s funny.] I was working on this fic for weeks before I posted it. 

I was also super nervous to post my Jeff/Annie Community soulmate AU, “Intro to Neurochemical Compatibility” because (a) first time posting in that fandom, (b) I decided to use script format which I know is not everyone’s jam, and (c) the premise is just so ridiculous! But I had fun with it. 

Also gift exchanges are always nerve-wracking because I worry the giftee won’t like it. My giftee never responded to my 2020 rebelcaptain secret santa fic so I’m actually constantly worrying that they didn’t like it and feeling bad that I failed them. :/ 

How you choose your titles: with so much agonizing. gosh it’s so hard and honestly i have so many titles that i hate. I’ve got a couple song lyric titles. a couple quotes. a couple “how to...” apparently that was a whole phase I went through. Either the titles come to me immediately, or I put off choosing a title until the absolutely moment I need to post it, and then spend hours agonizing over a quote/song lyric/phrase that fits and probably begging others for help.

Do you outline: YES. Possibly overly so. I’ve ran into issues in the past, when I was much younger, where I didn’t resolve problems proposed early in the story. So I need to know where the story is going in order to lay the proper groundwork. Also, if I do not write things down I forget them five minutes later. I also think outlining is a useful trick to jumpstart writing, so if the muse just isn’t present, I’ll try to lure her out by outlining. 

Complete: 19 fics. 

In progress: Oh boy this is so hard to count. As far as what’s posted? Technically only one: “How to Lose a Spy in 10 Days” (Rogue One, rebelcaptain). Despite the fact that I think the deadline was extended multiple time, I procrastinated and ended up rushing chapter one to meet the rebelcaptain rom-com challenge deadline. Didn’t really have a proper outline for this one, even though I knew vaguely what I wanted it to be about. I wrote chapter two but I hated what I wrote so I ... I kinda abandoned it. I mean technically, I never consider a work abandoned, I always intend to get back to it. Some day when I have the inspiration I will. But this idea ended up being a challenge I didn’t feel ready for at the time, and then my interest moved on to other ideas.

I also had a longer story planned for “you must become an island (the horizon is all we have)” but only posted one part of it to finish it on time. Ideally this fic would be part of a series, but again, motivation is needed so we’ll see

Technically I have 22 rebelcaptain ideas alone (including some listed in this post) at various states of completed, plus a handful of Community and HMC ideas. Of the ones I’m most interested in, there’s probably about 14 that I really hope to finish and post some day. 

ETA: omg i totally forgot that i was idly considering trying to finish my rebelcaptain soulmate AU in time for Valentine’s Day, but at this point I haven’t had any motivation to write so I don’t think that’s gonna happen. that fic has been sitting in my drafts since 2018 and in my drafts it will continue to sit.

Coming soon: “soon” is relative but these are currently the ones I’ve focused the most on recently:

Fencing AU (rebelcaptain)

You’ve Got Mail AU (rebelcaptain)

Post-War Fic with @allatariel (rebelcaptain, plus a LOT of other ships, includes Rebels characters, OT characters, and... maybe some others :) )

Palm Springs/time loop AU (Jeff/Annie)

Do you accept prompts: Wellllll here’s the thing. When I’ve asked for prompts, I haven’t been the best at fulfilling them in a timely manner. For that reason, I don’t encourage prompts but I’m not opposed to them. (I suppose technically exchange fics are prompts, and I wrote a bunch of fics in 2017 for rebelcaptainprompts, but I’m not gonna count those because I don’t think that’s what the question here is really going for)

“The Climb (A Lie, A Hero)” (Rogue One, rebelcaptain) was actually a prompt. 

I solicited prompts for my birthday in 2019, which I didn’t end up fulfilling until exactly one year later. 

Technically the You’ve Got Mail AU is a prompt, someone prompted me to write a fic for my favorite go-to comfort movie.

And, uh, the certain someone who tagged me for this meme prompted me in a comment back in October 2017 to do a Luke and Leia swap where Leia grows up on Tatooine, so that is sitting in my WIP list. 

Yeah, this is why I don’t solicit or encourage prompts. The return rate is just not fair for the prompter. 

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: this fluctuates on any given day. the fencing AU is so close to being done (well the first draft anyways) so i really really want to just finish it! But yeah it’d be anything on the coming soon list above.

tagging: @allatariel, @cats-and-metersticks, @lothcatlovesysalamiri, @veritascara, @brynnmclean and anyone who sees this and wants to do it! also ofc per usual no pressure if u don’t want to.

[penchanteds]

gendrya fic recs

a non-comprehensive list of my favorite arya/gendry fics

required reading; or: arya and gendry fall in love today, tomorrow, and probably for the rest of eternity (modern au)

hope will put the colors in the sky by monroeslittle

the most iconic gendrya modern!au. reading this is an intitation into the gendrya fandom. so true to their characters and angsty and will probably hurt you but still so good. after this, you crave more fics where arya goes pub-hopping and gendry buys her cheap beer and they eat greasy pizza together on the floor of his apartment.

we can pretend that they don't know our name by scrubclub 

fulfills your wildest richgirl!arya x stableboy!gendry dreams. this fic is an absolute gift, a national literary treasure. please read it for the romance in the countryside aesthetic and the westerosi political intrigue. inspired by this timeless photoset.

re: weapons (and you) by scrubclub

these two are academic nerds who spend all their free time talking to each other about weapons and dating (and unfortunately not doing enough of the actual dating thing). the cutest fic told in a creative epistolary format. it has lots of archaelogical musings and sword euphemisms and absolutely delivers on the will-they-or-won’t-they; the correct answer is they definitely will.

the dating game by scrubclub

arya’s friends set her up on dates and have a terrible taste in men, but that’s okay because there’s good old gendry right around the corner if only both of them would open their eyes. there’s a group project involved and meddling friends and makes you wonder if it will really take an entire village to get these two together.

the waiting game by scrubclub

companion to “the dating game,” equally adorable, guaranteed to make you love gendry more if that was even possible. we love our somewhat clueless, unfairly attractive mechanic who doesn’t think he’s good enough for richgirl!arya.

pascal's triangle, revisited. by pentaghastly

in which arya thinks sansa and gendry are together behind her back, and gendry continues to be the clueless idiot with hearts in his eyes. fluffy and angsty and straight out of a teen romcom, just the way we like it.

insert here - a sentiment re: our golden years by pentaghastly

the fake!dating trope is a privilege and a right. 

five times in the bathroom by stutteringpeach

obviously arya and gendry can’t stay away from each other. in different bathrooms. at various family functions. repeatedly.

grrm wishes he wrote this (in-universe au)

arya of the thousand days of by drholland

[work in progress, ~200k words, but a masterpiece that is required reading!! cannot emphasize this enough] this fic is a triumph, a gendrya epic that honors the strength and heart of these two characters. set years post-series, reading this is a journey in and of itself. it is an intimate portrait of how gendry and arya are truly meant to be together, of how their love endures and conquers. brilliantly plotted and emotionally introspective, this is everything the game of thrones tv series wishes it were and grrm could only dream of writing the canon that these two deserve. 

all we know is falling by youcallitwinter

a beautiful take on gendry in the post-season two uncertainty.

you made a slow disaster out of me by i-revel-in-chaos

this fic will break you and make you want to curl up and wonder how two people so right for each other seem to have such horrible timing. arya returns from braavos and only gendry is there to hold her together. some days, he’s simply a bastard blacksmith in love with a rich highborn girl; other days, it’s not so simple and he let’s himself forget. 

i was looking for a breath of life by i-revel-in-chaos

in this one, arya dies and gendry is a mess in the aftermath. he is heartbroken and struggles to move on in her absence. this is grief told in multiple stages, before it seems to nearly consume gendry whole. it hurts to see a man so broken, but that’s his world without arya. 

when next to wild animals -- by arbitrarily

haunting, mesmerizing, dark and twisty; a third person, almost out-of-body narration of a girl and no one.

five times arya stark shared a bed with gendry by vixleonard

it is established canon that arya and gendry slept next to each other and that is of greatest importance; end of message.

gonna make this place your home by argyledpenguin

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) 

a series of five different au’s that range from arya and gendry growing up on the streets of king’s landing; a gendry stark character swap; and arya as a granddaughter of the lannisters.

a dark world aches (for a splash of the sun) by argyledpenguin

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

a four-part au about prince gendry, heir to the throne, and lady arya, his bethrothed, and the royalty!au we deserve because theirs is the fury (and fury burns).

another in-universe au by argyledpenguin

they are betrothed at an early age and slowly fall in love because of course they do, they always do. 

they belong together, again and again and again (other au)

dream until your dreams come true by crossingwinter 

softball and dreams and guess what they were soulmates. a soulmates fic where the soulmates don’t communicate and it gets angsty but it’s so obvious they love each other.

 misfits au by argyledpenguin

in which arya really is death and there’s superhuman powers and time travel and arya and gendry fall in love in this one too.

the dry season by arbitrarily

a stylistic masterpiece. the starks meets the grapes of wrath. arya finding justice when it bled her dry. gendry on a ranch, leaned against his worn pickup truck.

fixing the hole that season 8 left in us (s8 canon)

the fury by nymja

[work in progress, post-series] just read it. it will help you heal after the ending of season eight, mend some of the heartbreak that left with arya on the ship. the most renowned post-series fix-it fic, and a welcome antidote to the tragedy we were otherwise left with. 

sing more absurd by scintillio_coll

this fic has a lot of feelings. gendry learns how to lord and arya sails the seas, and eventually they find their way back to each other. in the years they’re apart, they become rebuilt as people and it’s so gratifying to read their reunion. gendry grows into his lordship in the way he knows best: forging nails to keep his world together. 

left for dead by nymja

award for best use of a “still rowing” punchline. bonus points for jon losing his mind over his little sister together with the random blacksmith he once met in a cave.

5 ways jon snow finds out about arya and gendry by vixleonard

another jon snow knows nothing fic because arya and gendry are the exact opposite of subtle.

1,500 miles by nymja

arya and the hound on the road to king’s landing and the comedy writes itself.

approval by nymja 

i will read any and all fic where the hound spectates his favorite idiot murder couple.

with the wild wolves around you by lady_lyannarose

post battle-fic that is so soft and tender and aches with beautiful prose: “he’ll love her anywhere she’ll let him.”

quiet birds in circled flight, soft stars that shine at night by Anonymous

arya reflects on surviving the long night and the life that comes after. 

originally posted 06/10/2019, last updated 06/30/2019

[softeddiek]

so @aryaofoldstones answered this ask awhile ago about gendrya’s favorite fast food place and, as a Sonic fan, i loved their answer (tags included) and ended up writing about some of it??

so modern gendrya first date au 

read on ao3 

i’ve got a hunger, twisting my stomach into knots 

Arya is standing in front of her full-length mirror tugging at the bottom of her shirt when, out of the corner of her eye, she sees Bran wheeling himself into her doorway.

“Sansa’s going to call and order us some pizza. Want your usual?” he grins, thinking she’ll request her own box of sausage and mushroom that nobody else will eat. But not tonight.

“No, I’m going out for dinner actually, but thanks,” she answers, turning her head back toward her reflection.

She can still feel his eyes on her and hears the confusion in his voice when he asks, “Out? Like, with someone else?”

“Just with Gendry.”

She’s turning toward her bedside table, reaching for her phone to see if he’s texted her to let her know he’s here, when she realizes she hasn’t heard the telltale sound of Bran’s wheelchair rolling away on the hardwood floors of the hallway.

“So, like on a date?”  

She whips her head around to see a shit-eating grin on Bran’s face. “You and Gendry are going on a date,” he states this time, pleased to have figured it out. Or to think he’s figured it out, because even if Bran would likely be cool about this sort of thing, no way in hell is she going to let him blabber on about her and Gendry and dates to their siblings.

And yeah so, maybe the past few weeks all she’s really had to go off of was the way things between her and Gendry had started to feel…different, but when she’d agreed to grab dinner with him tonight—something they did frequently—he had actually looked her in the eyes and said “Great, it’s a date then.” So really, it was a date. But again, Bran couldn’t know that.

“A date?” she scoffs, “Very funny Bran, I don’t know how you came up with that. Gendry and I go out for food all of the time.”

“Yeah but this is different. I can just tell.”

“Oh please,” she says, rolling her eyes, “don’t even start with that intuition shit again. We’re just going out for food. Like we always do.” If the raised eyebrow he gives her says anything, it’s that he sees right through her. “Sonic,” she blurts out. “We’re going to get Sonic. Now tell me that’s somewhere you go on a date.” That should do it.

“Arya,” he starts, a quizzical look forming on his face, “you guys love Sonic.”

She can feel the heat creeping up her cheeks and is preparing to defend herself by trashing her favorite drive-in when she hears the front door opening, accompanied by voices carrying up to her bedroom.

Deciding to use this as her out, she turns back around quickly to pocket her phone and slips into a pair of shoes lying at the foot of her bed.

“Bye Bran enjoy the pizza,” she says, edging around where he still sits in her doorway. She takes the stairs down two at a time, coming to an abrupt stop at the foot of them when she sees Gendry in her living room. Gendry in her living room having a conversation with Rickon.

Despite having been friends with Gendry for years, she can count the number of times he’d been inside of her house on one hand. At first, there hadn’t been a reason for them to hang out at her house. She’d met him and their other friends, Lommy and Hot Pie, in the park downtown a few blocks from her school. She’d asked to join them on the basketball court where they were messing around with a ball. Lommy and Hot Pie hadn’t been too thrilled to let a girl join them, but after some terse words from both herself and Gendry, they relented. After that, it had just become sort of a routine to meet up with them at the park after school each day.

Eventually though, Lommy moved away and Hot Pie had had to start helping out in his parents’ bakery after school, so it was usually just Gendry she’d meet up with when he wasn’t trying to pick up shifts at his new job. When she finally started attending the high school he went to along with Sansa and Jon, he’d been surprised to find out she was a Stark. (How it took that long to find out her last name, she didn’t know.)

He continued acting strange around her for a few weeks until one day when Jon was away visiting his sick uncle Aemon and Arya had no way of getting home after school. Sansa usually got a ride from her friend Margaery, but she wasn’t in the mood to ride with them, so she went to Gendry. He’d reluctantly agreed to drive her home in his beat-up old pickup. With plenty to tell him about her first few weeks of high school, things between them seemed to have gone back to normal as they talked on the ride there. Until they reached her house.

She’d invited him inside to play some video games, not picking up on the wary looks he was shooting her as she all but dragged him through the door. As he stood in their front living room, taking in the ostentatious furniture her mother had it decorated with at the time, his brow had begun to furrow, and a frown formed on his face.

“I gotta get going, actually. My mom’s expecting me home.” He turned quickly to rush out the door, ignoring Arya’s shouts behind him until she’d caught up just as he was reaching for the driver’s side door, grabbing onto his arm to turn him around.

“What’s going on, why are you leaving?” she’d asked.

“I already told you,” he’d said, eyes looking at everything but her, “I’m expected home soon.”

“No, you aren’t,” she chanced. “So why are you being a dick Gendry?”

He looked up at her with a scowl. “I’m not—”

“Yeah, you are, so just tell me why so we can move past it because you’ve been weird for weeks now.”

He looked at her for a minute, face betraying nothing, until finally, seeing she wouldn’t leave it alone, his resolve broke. Sighing, he’d said, “You’re rich, Arya. Like, really rich.”

“Technically, my parents are rich--.” She stopped at the look on Gendry’s face that seemed to say, ‘Are you serious?’ “Okay, my family is rich. So what?”

“So, you’re rich and practically live in a mansion. My mom and I live in a run-down, one-bedroom apartment. I just don’t get why we’d be friends is all.”

She’d tried not to let the hurt show on her face, but at his guilty look she’d known she hadn’t succeeded. “We’re friends because we like hanging out together,” she’d supplied. “I don’t care about that kind of thing; I never have, and you should know that seeing as we’ve been best friends for years.”

After a bit more cajoling on Arya’s part, he’d relented and gone back inside with her, but she noticed his discomfort the rest of the afternoon. She had thrown out the occasional casual invitation to come over the last few years, but she could only be shrugged off so many times before she stopped asking.

And it’s not like he has a phobia of her house or anything. Once Jon had graduated with his AA and transferred down to King’s Landing to finish his Bachelors, Gendry had taken to picking her up after school. They’d usually grab some food to take back to the shop while he worked the last couple hours of his shift, and then he’d drive her home. He rarely ever came inside though.

But now, here he was, perched on the edge of the couch having a conversation with Rickon. Or, listening to Rickon.

“And the Direwolves drafted Margaery’s brother, Loras, from Storm’s End two years ago because he led them to the Final Four, but he tore his ACL in his second game with us and sat out basically his whole rookie season and just hasn’t been the same since he came back. Arya thinks we should put him in some kind of trade package and send him to the Riverlands, but I think that’s just because she didn’t like him when Margaery introduced them.”

Gendry’s head is nodding as Rickon speaks, but she knows he has no clue what Rickon’s talking about. They may have met on a basketball court, but Gendry was too big and clumsy to seriously play, and he never had the time to watch professional games with her.

“I don’t like Loras because he thinks he’s the next Arthur Dayne,” she pipes up, moving from her spot at the bottom of the stairs to stand behind the couch they’re sitting on, “but he has none of the defensive skill and his handles are trash.” Gendry is grinning up at her now. “You’re right though, he did piss me off the first time we met,” she adds.

“Hey Arya. You ready to go?” Gendry asks, still smiling.

“Go? Where are you guys going, Sansa’s ordering pizza and Bran and I were going to play Smash,” Rickon interjects, a small frown on his lips.  

“They’re going to get Sonic instead,” Bran’s voice calls out across the room from the bottom of his wheelchair ramp.

Gendry glances over at Arya confused, while she and Bran hold each other’s stares.

“Oh, can you guys pick me up that new Red Bull slushie they have? I’ve been wanting to try it, but Mom won’t let me,” Rickon pleads.

Arya glances at Gendry out of the corner of her eye before fumbling for a response. “Umm, actually Rickon, I don’t think—”

“Hey Rick, I forgot to tell Sansa you want cheese bread, and she’s placing the order right now,” Bran interrupts, saving her from the mess he made.

“Oh shit,” her brother exclaims, jumping up off the couch and darting into the kitchen.

Bran starts following him, only looking back at Arya’s icy glare once to call out, “Have fun guys!”

Gendry, now off the couch and standing at her side, is rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, keys in the other. “I’m guessing Bran knows about our…us?”

He hadn’t used the word date and not quite wanting to ask for clarification—especially when her siblings are still in the other room and she knows, just knows, that if Sansa were to come and see them, she’d know exactly what was going on—she just nods her affirmation.

“Let’s get going,” she says, heading for the door.

His truck is sitting in their circular driveway, parked in the spot it usually is when he drops her off. She’s reaching for the door handle, but he beats her to it, his arm reaching out in front of her, chest lightly brushing her back. She lets him open it for her and slides into the cab of the truck. When she looks over as he’s shutting the door, she sees a blush spreading across his cheeks.

Okay, this is definitely a date. One hundred percent a date. As much as she had made fun of Sansa for combing over magazines for relationship advice over the years, she’d still listened to some of the things she went on about. And in this moment, she can hear her sister’s voice saying, “A gentlemen always opens doors for a lady, Arya. It’s just proper date etiquette.” She always thought that was dumb—because yeah, it’s nice and polite, but she doesn’t want anyone to open a door for her just because she’s a girl—and Gendry doesn’t just regularly open doors for her.

“Thanks,” she mumbles out.

He’s slid into his side of the cab and taken a deep breath when he looks over at her and says, “So. Sonic?” She can hear the confusion in his voice. They hadn’t really discussed it before, only agreed to get dinner, but if that’s how Bran’s going to spin it to her family, they might as well. And besides, Bran was right, they do frequently pick it up to take it back to the shop with them, they’ve just never actually pulled in to eat because that would be so, well, date-like.

“Yeah, I mean. That works. I could really go for a slushie right now.”

He cracks a smile at that. “Can’t you always?” She grins back at him as he starts his truck, slowly pulling out of the driveway.

Sonic is only about a fifteen-minute ride from her house, closer to Gendry’s side of town, but now, only a few minutes in, the silence is beginning to become oppressive. His fingers are tapping on the steering wheel, whether to an imaginary beat or out of nerves, she isn’t sure. She reaches forward to turn on the radio, messing with the dial until it lands on a station she enjoys, and he tolerates. She hums along to the radio under her breath for a little while and, from the corner of her eye, can see the tension slowly start to seep out of his shoulders.

Gendry’s never been much of a talker. His surly looks and generally shy personality tend to put people off, and that’s just how he likes it. Arya on the other hand loves talking to people, always has. Her parents’ friends had taken to calling her Arya Underfoot as a child because at their big fancy holiday parties she could always be found darting around the room, catching snippets of conversations, before taking off to see whatever else caught her fancy.

But just because Gendry didn’t love holding long, drawn-out conversations, that didn’t mean he’d been exempt from holding them with Arya. And, seemingly quickly, he became comfortable with that. So, this was just weird. Just because this could now be classified as a date and not just the two of them hanging out, didn’t mean there was a reason for either one of them to be this nervous, right? One of them needed to speak.

“How was Tobho’s today?” Good, that’s a safe question. Gendry loves talking about the auto shop he works at and she knows he had a heavy workload today, even going so far as to seeing if she could get Sansa, who was home from school for the weekend, to pick her up after classes.

He looks over at her then—for the first time since they pulled away from her house—and the relief she sees on his face is practically palpable.

“Great actually. You know how I said that old rich guy, Lannister, was being an ass about me working on his car, had all these stupid ‘rules’ and stuff?” She nods her head with a scowl, thinking about the family her Uncle Robert had married into. “Well apparently he actually thought I did a good job on his car and gave me a decent tip. I mean,” he scoffs, “not like it’s much to him. With a car like that, the man probably shits gold.”

He continues talking about his day and all of the technical aspects of what he worked on, with Arya only slightly struggling to keep up—she has spent most afternoons after school at the shop for a few years now, after all—and the rest of the ride flies by.

As they pull into Sonic, they’re busy laughing about that time Arya was sitting inside a car at the shop and accidentally blew on the horn, not knowing that his coworker, Lem, was working on it. She surprised him so badly that he jumped up and nearly broke his nose on the hood.

When her laughter dies down, she notices only a handful of the drive-in spots are taken and a few people are sitting at the tables outside. He pulls into an open space near the middle.

“Do you know what you want,” he asks, looking over at her.

“Umm…a large watermelon slushie with Nerds and some fries.”

Face scrunched up and laughing, Gendry says, “A slushie with Nerds? That’s so gross Arry.” She sticks her tongue out as him as he leans forward out of his window to press the button to order.

A vaguely familiar voice crackles out of the speaker, asking to take their order. “Yeah, can I get a large watermelon slushie, with Nerds,” he pauses, looking over at her for dramatic effect, “a large order of fries, a bacon double cheeseburger, a corndog, a large Coke, and umm, some onion rings, and an order of chili cheese tots?”

He’s fumbling for his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans and listening to the voice rattle the order off back to him, not noticing the incredulous look she’s shooting him.

“What?” he questions, when he finally looks over.

“I’m sorry, is Hot Pie in the bed of the tuck and you just forgot to tell me?”

“I missed lunch,” he grumbles out. “And besides, I told you I got a big tip today. Might as well spend it on something, right?”

“Gendry, I can pay for my half, you don’t have to—”

“Arya,” he cuts her off, giving her a familiar look, one that says, ‘Don’t argue’. They usually alternate paying for food that they pick up and she knows for a fact that he paid for their McDonald’s the other day. But she knows how self-conscious he gets about money. As much as she doesn’t want him to have to spend his hard-earned tip on their food, she knows that talking about it anymore will only make him crabby. Besides, this is a date, right? Dates are allowed to want to pay for each other’s food.

“Fine, but I’ll get it next time.”

“Sure,” he says around a smile, knowing she doesn’t just mean the next time they hang out at the shop. “Next time.”

They grin at each other for a minute, the air around them silent but for the sound of the radio outside playing some song that she can vaguely identify as being sung by Bruce Springsteen and the occasional sound of roller skates on the asphalt. As goofy as she knows her smile is and as much as she would normally call this moment a cliché, she can’t find it in herself to care, what with the feeling of Gendry’s blue eyes on her and knowing that she’s the reason for his wide grin.

“So,” he begins, “how was school today?”

“Pretty good actually,” she starts, thinking on it. “I found out I got an A on my Braavosi test. Mr. Terys said that when I go to college, I should take a Pentoshi class for my foreign language credit since they’re pretty similar. And then, in drama, Ms. Sand announced that we’re going to be doing Antigone for our spring show, which I personally think is way too much for us to handle but she loves her tragedies.”

“Is she the one that was dating the chemistry teacher a few years back?”

“Mr. Martell, yeah. I think they’re off-again right now,” she muses, “she’s been having us perform lots of sad monologues in class.”

“So, are you going to audition?”

“Oh yeah. There aren’t a lot of speaking roles or female roles, but Ms. Sand always gives preference to seniors for leads, so I think I have a pretty good shot.”

He’s opening his mouth to say something when they both spot someone on a pair of roller skates in the rearview mirror headed their way. When they pull to a stop by Gendry’s rolled down window, greeting them with their order and the total, Arya realizes why she recognized the voice on the speaker.

“…and one large Coke,” she finishes off, taking payment from Gendry. It’s when she looks up to begin handing them their order that she notices Arya in the passenger seat. “Arya, hi!” she says, complete with a friendly smile.

“Hey Brea. I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yeah, the waters are too cold right now for me to stay busy working with Dad, so I applied here for some extra cash.” Arya nods at this, vaguely remembering Brea’s dad being involved in deep sea fishing or something like that. “Who’s this?” she asks, giving Gendry an appreciative look.

“Gendry,” he grunts out, more focused on the food they have yet to be given than the sly glance she’s sending Arya.

“Oh, so you’re Gendry?” She lets out a giggle that gets his attention. Arya narrows her eyes at Brea, confused. She’s mentioned Gendry to Brea in passing, he’s her best friend, how could she not? But she hadn’t said anything that would warrant the giggle and the knowing look Brea now wears.

“Yeah,” he draws out suspiciously, looking between the two girls. “Think we can get our food now?”

“Of course!” She begins handing Gendry the outrageous amount of food—a bemused expression forming as she realizes that all of this seems to be for them—while he sets it down in some pseudo-picnic style on the stretch of seat in between them.

“See you around Arya,” she says after collecting the money, skating away with ease.

Gendry thrusts her slushie into her outstretched hand. Arya expects him to ask about Brea, but when she’s done poking her straw into her drink and looks at him, he’s already shoveling onion rings and a few of her fries into his mouth while one-handedly trying to pull his burger out of the slip of foil.

“You know,” she starts, “the meat’s already dead Gendry. I don’t think your burger is going to be running away anytime soon.”

He gives a dry laugh and sends a deadpan look her way, where she’s smirking around her straw. “Don’t know how you drink those things.” He nods toward her. “They sound toxic, pure sugar,” he says loftily, nose pointing in the air.

“Oh please, don’t act like you didn’t only stop ordering them because you always get a major brain freeze.”

He pouts at that for a minute before biting enthusiastically into his burger. After swallowing his bite and taking a large gulp of his Coke he says, “Do you know what night your play will open? I wanna make sure I let Tobho know in advance I’ll be needing to leave work early that day.” Gendry’s boss often has him stay later in the spring, when daylight is easier to come by. Opening night is bound to be on a Friday, and while Gendry always come to see her performances at some point during their run, she doesn’t want him missing out on work opportunities because of it.

“Oh no,” she says quickly, “you can just go on the weekend or something, I don’t want you missing work because of me. Besides, I might not even get a part.”

He chews thoughtfully on his corndog for a moment. “But if you don’t, you’ll still be doing tech, right?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Then I’ll be there opening night. Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Okay,” she says, ducking her head to hide her small smile, under the pretense of trying to drink her slushie.

Their conversation moves onto other topics—Gendry’s coworker, Harmon, who’d just been fired; a new scone recipe that Hot Pie had been using them as taste-testing guinea pigs for; the new single from that terrible alt-rock band, The Brotherhood, that Gendry likes. Before she knows it, Arya’s reaching for her slushie again, only to be met with the sound of her straw sucking up air. Eyebrows furrowing, she looks at the stretch of seat between them only to see that Gendry’s managed to finish all of his food.

He has a hand rubbing the back of his neck and is looking at the clock on the dash that says they’ve been parked for at least an hour and a half. “Guess we’ve been here a little while, huh?” It’s really not all that late for a Friday night, but she knows her parents will be getting home from their night out soon and she’s not ready to have a conversation about her and Gendry with her mother just yet. Or her father.

“Yeah, I probably need to get back soon,” she reluctantly replies.

“Yeah of course.” He gathers up the wrappers and trash littering the seat (and really, it’s an awful lot) along with Arya’s empty slushie cup and hops out to toss it all in the trash can.

Buckling up, she starts thinking about how the night had gone. Things had definitely been flirty, but that had been happening more and more lately. Really it hadn’t been any different than any other time they’d hung out. But did that just mean that they were comfortable around each other or had this not actually ended up being a date? Going to Sonic wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for them, so what if, by suggesting they go there, he thought that she didn’t think this was a date? By the time he’s made the short walk back to the truck, Arya’s head is swimming.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she chokes out, a strained smile on her face. He gives her a quizzical look and, sensing his confusion, she attempts to make it more genuine. It seems to work because his eyes only linger on her for a second longer before he starts to back out.

Luckily for her, Gendry’s chosen the drive home to vent about his mom’s newest boyfriend, which requires little response on her part.

“And he’s just so boring, you know? He’s always trying to talk to me about golf, as if I’ve ever golfed in my life. Oh, and don’t even getting me started on how often I’ve caught them making out on the couch—my couch! The one I slept on the whole time I lived there—”

Oh shit. All of a sudden it’s no longer Gendry’s diatribe she’s hearing, but her sister’s high pitched, fourteen year old voice as she reads, “And at the end of the date, a gentleman will walk a lady to her door and, should the date have gone well and she seem receptive, give her a chaste kiss on the lips.” While Arya is sure she said something snarky at the time about the magazine being shit, even she knows that people usually kiss at the end of dates. And while she’s certainly been thinking about kissing Gendry (a lot), thinking about it and actually being in a situation where she can, are two totally different things.

Wanting to steer clear of this train of thought, she decides to jump into Gendry’s rant before he gives himself an ulcer. “But she really likes him, right?”

He stops his sentence short. “Well, yeah, but she’s liked all of the other guys too, and you know how those all turned out.” While Arya wouldn’t categorize Ms. Waters as a serial dater, Gendry is right in saying that the past few men she’s dated haven’t had the winningest personalities.  

“Didn’t you say he had a steady job though? Something in an office with a salary?”

He hesitates. “Yeah. But he just seems…like he’s trying too hard.”

“Better to try too hard than to not try at all, right? Maybe you should give this one a chance. I’m not saying don’t be cautious, especially with how a lot of the last guys turned out. But she’s an adult and she’ll want you to trust her judgement. And it won’t do her any good if she thinks you already don’t like this guy right away.”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “I guess you’re right, I should at least try.” There’s a brief silence before he starts again. “And maybe,” he pauses, sending her a sly, sideways glance “you could teach me a little about golf?”

“Wait, what? I don’t know anything about golf.”

“Then Bran was lying when he said your mother sent you and him to some fancy golf summer camp when you were kids?” he asks.

Her face is heating up furiously. “How long have you known about that?”

He shrugs. “Awhile now. I’ve been waiting for the opportune time to bring it up.”

He’s laughing at the scowl on her face, managing to get her to crack a smile, when they pull into her driveway. When the truck is in park, they both sit in their seats, hesitating. She’s scrambling for something to say, but he saves her when he quickly jumps out and jogs around to her side of the truck, opening up the door.

Suddenly nervous again, all she can manage is a mumbled thanks as she trails alongside him to her front door. They stop on her stoop.

This is it. The moment of truth. Only he’s just standing there, staring at her, his face looking a bit washed out under the harsh porch light.

“Are you alright Gendry? You’re looking a bit queasy. Few too many onion rings?” She jokes. He lets out a small chuckle with her, tentative smile on his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted to say umm,” he clears his throat, “I had a good time tonight. With you. I mean, I always have a good time with you. Hanging out. But a date is a bit more than hanging out, isn’t it? I mean, it felt like hanging out though. Which is good. That is good, isn’t it? God, I’m shit at this.” He rushes this all out, shaking his head when he’s finished, and Arya honestly doesn’t think she’s ever heard him this tongue-tied and nervous before. She’s trying not to let a laugh slip out, what with how distressed he looks, when it hits her that he finally called this a date again. And that’s all she needed.

If anyone were to ask her later, she would definitely deny that she ever had any doubts that this was a date. And how could she have? She and Gendry just worked, of course they would end up dating. She would, however, agree that she had broken the cardinal rule in Sansa’s teen magazines and initiated their first kiss. And it was anything but chaste.

Gendry’s hands have managed to wander to her hips, holding her flush against him, her left hand has found itself tangled in his hair while her right is pressed against his chest. As he slips his tongue in between her lips, brushing it against hers, all she can think of is how she was completely right that kissing Gendry and thinking about kissing Gendry are two totally different things—actually doing it is way better.

They break apart for air, both smiling breathlessly at each other, when they hear footsteps approaching the other side of the door. She takes a step back from Gendry while his hands drop from her waist immediately.

When the door opens, Rickon is standing in front of them, eyes narrowed in suspicion. After staring at them for a moment, “Did you guys get my slushie?”

“They were all out of uh, Red Bull,” Gendry lies.

He stares at them a moment longer, eyes shifting between them both as if ready to call them out on the lie, before his face relaxes.

“Alright. Well we ordered a lot of extra pizza incase you guys were both still hungry.” The idea of Gendry still being hungry almost makes her laugh. “You coming in Gendry?”

He glances over at Arya, as if silently communicating with her that he agrees that they’d be grilled by Sansa and have to deal with Bran sneaking little jokes about them into conversation, and says, “Thanks Rickon, but I ate a lot actually.” Then, turning towards Arya, looking significantly less apprehensive than before they kissed, “I’ll see you Monday?”

“Of course. I’ll text you.” She’ll have to remember to bring up the door opening thing.

He moves forward, as if to give her one last kiss goodbye, before realizing their audience. Playing it off with a quick squeeze to her arm, he gives her and Rickon a nod and a goodnight before walking back to his truck.

She watches him start his truck and pull out, feeling Rickon’s gaze on her neck. She sighs heavily, already knowing he’s figured it out, and turns around.

“So, you and Gendry huh?” He looks curious, less smug than she’d expected.  

“Yes,” she answers, no hesitation.

He nods thoughtfully for a second. “Tell you what. You get me my slushie next time you’re out, and I’ll tell Sansa and Mom that Gendry just dropped you off like usual if they ask. Deal?”

She cracks a smile. “Deal.”

[dylanobrienisbatman]

author tags

tagged by @thelittlefanpire​ and @the-most-beautiful-broom​, who i love dearly and am constantly inspired by <3 

Fandoms You Write for: the 100, Skam Italia, a couple Game of Thrones fics, and i’ve got plans to write for The Magician’s in the future if i can get a little inspiration going 

Where you post: AO3

Most popular one shot: I just need some company Modern AU Bellarke smut, in my brief foray in writing straight up E rated bellarke smut. I rather like it, tbh. 

Most popular Multi-Chapter: I wish I had known what we’d grow into Modern AU childhood friends to lovers fic? I honestly don’t even know where I was planning to take this story anymore, and it was SO far down on my stats page for hits. Multi chapter fics are not my thing at all. 

Favorite story you wrote: This question is kind of weird because I have a few? I am always ridiculously proud of my memori Bonnie and Clyde AU, To Few it’ll be grief, to the law relief, I think one of my best fics is my Becho Coffeeshop/Werewolf fic from round 1 of chopped last year, for who could ever learn to love a beast, but my Becho To All The Boys fic, I’d Stay For A Long Time ‘cause, I Like Me Better When, is the fic i think i’m the most proud of and i enjoy the most? its my longest fic, and when i started writing it it was the first becho fic i’d ever written and it just flowed out and was so fun to write. I also really love my Gendrya fic, The Loneliest Lord In Westeros, it was the first fic i wrote for GoT and it was so well received, and i’m so happy with it. Thats such a cop out answer but i don’t care. 

Story you were nervous to post: And she said use your hands in my spare time, my first ever full on smut fic, usually i would write around the smut, keeping my fics pg 13, but i really pushed myself to write a pretty lengthy smut fic and i was pretty pleased with it in the end, but when i was about to post i felt SO awkward and weird? just because i had no idea if it was any good

How do you choose your titles: Mostly song titles, but sometimes i’ll come up with them on my own, from a line in my fic or something. 

Do you outline: When i’m taking on a longer fic i try to, but usually not. 

Complete number of stories: SIXTY! 60! Ten 6′s! Six 10′s!!!! I honestly can’t believe that. 

In progress: Becho soulmate reincarnation AU, a sansa/meera fic that i love, a bellamy/gaia fic that i haven’t posted for yet but i really like, and there are four chopped rounds starting TOMORROW that i might be writing for, but we shall see! 

Do you accept prompts: I do, but i usually end up not finishing them, and i am not super good at filling prompts because it comes from inspiration outside of my own brain and i have a hard time getting into prompt fics. I do enjoy getting them because sometimes they spark something though

Upcoming Story you are most excited about: Whenever i get around to finishing that sansa/meera fic, and im hoping that i find a way to finish out the bellaia fic sometime soon because its actually really good. 

Linds posted the paragraph below and I just needed to keep it because i feel the same way. Thanks to everyone who reads my fics, comments, gives kudos, reblogs anything i write, and more. I honestly can’t believe people actually engage with my writing and enjoy it, and im so thankful <3 

I never would’ve thought I’d be here, with hundreds of people reading a word I wrote, much less stories. I know it can be hard in fandom to feel like you only have a set number of people that read your work, or that care, but I promise fic writing is a place where relativity is just stupid. Your work is good bc it’s good, independent of anyone else’s fic, your stats, or theirs. To all the people I’m tagging, thanks for reading mine, and letting me read yours ❤️

Tagging: @probably-voldemort @raven-reyes-of-sunshine @kindclaws @pawprinterfanfic and anyone else who wants to participate! i never know peoples tumblrs if i read your fics on AO3, but i love you all <3 

[katlyn1948]

Saved A Little Trouble for the Next Girl

You guys!! This is my first ever modern au fanfic based off of GOT. It wasn't originally going to be apart of the GOT universe, but that changed real quick. Now, I usually write Gendrya fics, but I wanted to take my hand in writing some Jonerys. Now, I don't know how happy some of you may be with this, but I based it off a song so...It doesn't have a happy ending for our OTP. Nonetheless, I do hope you enjoy! Happy reading!!

The Louisville Slugger felt good in her hands. The slick wood slid in between her finger with ease. And the eight of the bat felt right in her grasp. She lifted the glorified wooden stick and swung with all her might, smashing in the front taillights, shattering them the pieces. Every inch of her body was suddenly released from a tension she didn’t realize she was holding.

This was the finale piece of revenge she had planned and it couldn’t have turned out better.

She stepped back and marveled at the masterpiece in front of her. The four wheel drive looked unrecognizable after she had gotten her hands on it. The tires were slashed, the side keyed, and her favorite; her carved name right into the pristine leather of the driver’s side seat. Every amount of anger when into the damage she had given the $75,000 dollar truck.

It’s not like the son of a bitch didn’t deserve it; he was cheating on her with some red-headed tramp he met when he went up north. Jon had always been a handsome man, and he had a way of making any woman fall head over heels for him, but Dany had trusted him. She always trusted him whenever he went on business trips. Most of the time we would be too preoccupied with business endeavors to even look at woman. But not this time.

It was supposed to be a simple business trip that he was taking with his uncle, Benjin. They owned a brewing company called The Wall and were going up north to negotiate with a smaller brewing company, The Wildling Corp. Instead, it turned into a two month long romp with some chick he meet that worked for the competing brewing company.

Dany was oblivious to the whole ordeal and didn’t find out until nearly a year later.

She hadn’t been snooping, she was merely looking for her phone that she had misplaced around their bedroom. She decided to borrow Jon’s phone, which she never touches, to ring her phone. She was about to hit the dial button when a message from an ‘Ygritte’ popped up. The name wasn’t familiar to Dany and without thinking she opened the message. Her whole world shattered as she read the sultry message written to her husband from a woman she didn’t know. The worse part about the situation is that he had been messaging her back.

Sometimes Dany had wished she never opened the damned message. If she hadn’t then she would still be obliviously happy with a man that she loved. Instead, she was a miserable mess who wanted nothing more than to see the bastard burn.

It took three months to finally catch him in the act and another two months for Dany to muster the courage to enact her revenge. For five bloody months she had to pretend that everything was rainbows and butterflies in their marriage. She loved him and comforted him, she even laid with him in those months, all the while her insides were screaming to choke the life out of him.

It wasn’t easy to catch him, but thanks to his younger sister, who had always loved Dany even if her brother was the biggest idiot in the world, she was able to finally see for herself what Jon had been up to.

Arya had mentioned to Jon about her boyfriend Gendry’s new bar, Hot Pie’s. She suggested that he should check it out and maybe see if they could agree on a brewing contract so Gendry could sell Jon’s beer in the bar. Jon had easily agreed, and considering that bar was an hour outside of where they lived, it would be a perfect place to bring his lover for a late night date.

Dany was grateful for Arya, for her boyfriend was able to snag a few pics of Jon and his lover together at the bar. She had shown them to Dany and was there for her when she began to sob with realization.

The next time Jon went to the bar, Dany had decided to follow him. She was going to carry out her revenge plot that night and no one, not even the old gods or new, would be able to stop her.

It wasn’t hard to keep up with him, considering the size and color of the pick up her drove. It was a bright white color and it wasn’t too hard to miss, especially in the dead on night. The Ghost Edition, was what it was called. Dany remembered when the truck company that Jon loved had announced the limited edition truck. It came with all the bells and whistles and Jon had wanted nothing more.

He wanted it so bad and with him and Dany being promoted in their respective fields of work, they could afford it. She had agreed to get if for him, so long she was able to get her Drogon Motorbike that she wanted for quite some time. She wasn’t surprised that he had agreed to that proposition and sometimes she believed that he loved that truck more than he loved her.

So the realization of him cheating on her should have surprised Dany as much as it did. She couldn’t ignore the fact that there were problems going on in their marriage. After four years, it seemed as if the fire that ignited them both had slowly gone out. They used to be in love with each other, but it seemed as if, over time, the love that was there was now lost. The first two years of their marriage had truly been a dream for Dany. They did everything together and couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. It wasn’t until they started trying for a baby that their relationship began to fracture. No matter how many times they tried, Dany just couldn’t get pregnant. There was a time that she did and just two months later they lost the babe. It was devastating for them both, but Dany had a harder time coping with her unborn child’s death.

After that whole ordeal, they agreed that it would be too dangerous and decided to stop trying all together. But Dany is stubborn and was raised not to quit, so unbeknownst to Jon, she went to every specialist she could to try to find out why she was unable to conceive. When she finally came across a doctor that was able to help her, she was elated. She couldn’t wait to tell Jon that there was a medication that she could take to help her conceive. They day she decided to tell him had been the day she found that message.

Aside from the one time after she found out about his infidelity, they hadn’t been intimate and she was beginning to feel an overwhelming feeling of emptiness sweep over her body. When she finally decided to take some revenge, she disclosed her plan to Arya and she quipped that Dany had gone mad. Perhaps she had, but Jon was the one who took her there.

When she arrived at the bar 30 minutes after Jon, she could see the white truck parked on the side of the building, away from any other cars. He intentionally parked it away so that no one had the opportunity to damage the precious exterior.

The location was perfect, but Dany feared that it was still too close to the building. She pulled out her set of keys and moved the truck by where the dumpsters were located, just across the parking lot. The seclusion and obscurity of the location wad perfect and she knew she wouldn’t have to worry about any prying eyes or ears.

It then that she began to take her revenge.

Every ounce of her feelings had gone into every blow, smash, and slash that she gave to his precious Ghost. She wanted him to feel the pain that he had caused her. She wanted him to feel his heart rip out of his chest, just like hers did. She went on for what seemed like hours; caught in a rage that she couldn’t escape.

After her rage had subsided, she inspected her work and gave a wicked smile. She took the slugger still in her hands and took one finale blow to the windshield, shattering it beyond repair. With a satisfied sigh, she began to walk towards the bar.

She hadn’t planned on actually entering the bar, but the thought of the look on Jon’s face when he saw her and his truck was too good to pass up. She sat herself on a stool and motioned for the bar tender to meet her.

“What can I get you?” he asked.

“Whiskey, dry.” She stated.

The bar tender nodded and filled a small glass with the copper substance.

She racked her eyes through the crowded bar until her gaze fell on her husband behind the red-headed woman with a pool stick, no doubt showing her how to shoot some sort of combo. She gave a crude laugh, remembering that he had used that same move on her when they first met.

He was completely oblivious to her; too preoccupied with the ginger in the leather dress to notice. Thirty minutes had passed and Dany sat there staring at the couple. She was enthralled at the way he interacted with her. His flirtatious manner and his easy go lucky laugh. Everything about him dripped ego and Dany couldn’t stand it much longer. She was about to go over that shove that damned pool stick up his ass, when a tall scraggy lad with long hair and a nametag spelling “Ed” walked in yelling, “Oi! Some poor bastard’s truck just got hammered. I think it’s a Ghost Edition, parked by the dumpsters.”  

Dany could see Jon’s eyes widen in fear. He ran out the bar completely unaware of Dany’s presence. She gulped the remaining whiskey and followed him out, not wanting to miss his reaction. Jon’s cries could be heard across the parking lot. It was a mixture of frustration, anger, and sadness. Dany couldn’t help but laugh that the stupidity.

“You like my artwork? I think I did a pretty good job, don’t you agree?” She said as she came up behind him.

Jon jumped in surprise and turned to face his wife, his grey eye meeting her intense violet ones.

“Dany? You did this? Why in the seven hells would you do this? What are even doing here?” He was stumbling over his words, the nerves ever present. He was trying to make the pieces of the very large complicated puzzle fit into a space that was not meant for it.

“Don’t play dumb, Jon. We both know what going on.” Dany spat.

Jon’s face went pale, “Dany I-I…please let me explain.”

He went towards her to grab her hands into his, but she swiftly moved away.

“Don’t touch me! Don’t ever touch me again!”

“Dany, I-” Jon tried to speak, but Dany was faster.

“No! Don’t try to talk yourself out of this one, Jon! You fucked up when you decided to enjoy the company of woman that was not your wife. You must think me dumb. Tell me, was her cunt better than mine? Is that why you cheated? Or maybe it was because I couldn’t give you what you want. A family!” The tears were now streaming down her face and she was powerless to stop it.

“Dany, I’m sorry. But even you have to admit that our relationship isn’t what it used to be. I should have talked to you about it instead of going behind your back. But I mean, Gods, Dany! You didn’t could have talked to me about it too! You didn’t have to ruin my truck! My truck Dany!” Jon’s voice cracked every time he mentioned the truck behind him.

Dany was furious. She was bearing her heart and emotions to him and the only thing he could think about was the piece of junk behind him. She could feel the heat of her anger rise in her. It was like a dragon readying itself to blow its flames. She was going to burst at any moment, that is, until a voice from behind her broke her rage.

“What is going on? Jon, who is this?”

Dany turned to face the red headed Ygritte.

“Who am I!? I am his fucking wife!” She yelled in her face. She didn’t mean to yell at the girl, but she could no longer control the dragon inside of her. She noticed Ygritte’s eyes widen. It was look of shock and confusion.

“Wife!? You have a wife!? You told me she died in car crash!” Ygritte was now yelling at Jon.

Dany was now the one with confusion written on her face. She truly believed that this woman knew about Dany, she never expected to Jon to lie to both of them.

“Grittes, I can explain.” Jon stuttered.

Ygritte stalked towards Jon and punched him square in the jaw.

“I don’t want your explanation, you crow!” She spat at him as he clutched his face. She turned towards Dany and gave her the most apologetic look she had ever seen.

“I’m sorry, I truly didn’t know.”

Dany’s face burst into a wide grin. She gave one last look at her cheating husband and shrugged, “It’s okay, I guess I saved you the trouble. Want to grab a drink?”

Ygritte smiled, “That would be great.”

The two women left the blubbering man groveling on the ground and made their way to the bar.

[jonerys-snowborn-scribe]

That Sounded Better in my Head

Gendrya D48, as requested by @wheres-gendry-at​ ! Modern AU. 

From my new blog! Still @blue-roses-in-a-wall-of-ice , but I got a sideblog for all of my fics and I’ll be posting from here from now on. 

The rec room rang with the sound of metal on metal, steel points coming together and then retreating just as quickly as Jon and Arya made the room theirs. The night before fencing tournaments they always claimed practice time.

“Your form is getting a lot better,” Jon said when they broke for water, listening to the pop music wafting out from under Sansa’s closed bedroom door (played extra loudly to cover up the sound of fencing). “You’ve got a good chance to win big-if you don’t win it all.”

“My coach says it’s bad to think about winning before it actually happens. You can jinx yourself.”

“Of course you need to think about winning. I don’t think you have room for another trophy.” Arya’s room was already littered with her fencing gear-her training swords, her (mostly) unwashed jerseys, and more ribbons, medals, and trophies than she knew what to do with-mixed in with her old karate belts. Although Catelyn despaired of it, Arya personally loved her room-she’d always believed that a bedroom should reflect the personality of the person who lived in it and the messy and cluttered room described her perfectly.

“I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

Jon stood up and jogged back to the training ring, facing an invisible opponent until Arya came back. “Gendry’s competing this weekend, isn’t he?”

She nodded. “He’s getting good, you know. For a newcomer.” He was the newest member of the fencing team-this was only his second year, but he trained just as hard as everyone else to make up for lost time. “He’ll be one to watch.”

“I’ll look forward to seeing if you two ever go head to head.”

She shrugged, not concerned in the least. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll beat him, easily.”

Jon grinned. “Don’t let him stick you with the pointy end, right?”

“Well...I’m not sure we’ll have much time for that but-”

He looked confused for a moment and then he laughed nervously. “I didn’t mean...it sounded a lot better in my head.”

“How do you and Dany ever talk about sex? How did you ever pass health class, for that matter?” She rolled her eyes.

It was also common knowledge that Gendry and Arya were unofficially a couple.

“We’re old enough. You’re not.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Like I’d even be interested. I’ll leave that to you and yours.”

“Seriously.” Jon sat down again next to her, sword clattering to the side where it was quickly forgotten. “Do you like him? Are the two of you...a thing?”

“If we were in seventh grade maybe we’d be a thing. Seriously Jon, who even says that anymore?”

“Will you just answer the question? Please?”

She thought about it for a minute. “What does it feel like when you’re around Dany?” Sure, she and Gendry liked to partner up together-and sure, he could make her laugh no matter what (even when she’d failed a test or gotten grounded) and sometimes she wondered, clinically, what it would be like to kiss him...but there had to be more to love than that, wasn’t there?

Jon’s eyes got the happy glaze they always did whenever he talked about his girlfriend of nearly two years. “Everything just seems...better. It’s like she’s the sun, and everything she’s around gets brighter. Not just because she’s beautiful, but because she understands me completely and totally-and that’s not a common thing. When you find someone like that, it changes your life.” 

“Did you know you were in love, right away?”

“No-not for a while. But it hits you all at once and suddenly...you can’t believe it took you so long to figure out.” 

His smile made her smile in spite of herself. He tended to have that effect on her. 

As it turned out, she didn’t face Gendry in the match the next day. It was a pity; she’d been looking forward to it. But he was disarmed in the fourth round and she went on to win the tournament. 

She hadn’t doubted it for a second. It was just as well; she’d always been told that men had fragile egos and she wouldn’t want to break his. 

But Gendry was on the sidelines, rooting for her the whole time. 

When the match finished and the families swarmed the gym floor to congratulate the winners, Arya jogged over to him before she could be accosted by her family (and Dany, and Robb’s girlfriend Talisa, because they were part of the family by now). “What did you think?”

He grinned, pushing a fringe of hair out of his eyes. Her heart jumped...strangely, but she ignored it. “You were amazing, Arry.” 

He was the only one that was allowed to call her that without getting pummeled. Somehow, she didn’t mind it when it came from him. 

“Well, you weren’t too bad yourself. Your swing is a lot better than it used to be.”

“Maybe we can practice together sometime? If you’re interested, I mean.” 

She glanced towards Jon, even though he had his back turned to her. He and Dany were laughing with Robb and Talisa, hands intertwined loosely like it was something they no longer had to think about anymore. Maybe they didn’t. 

Maybe that was what love felt like. 

She turned back to the boy in front of her, the boy who made her heart beat a little faster when he walked her out to the front of school after practice with his hair matted to his forehead with sweat, who always had a smile and a joke, and always let her copy his algebra homework on the few occasions when she decided she just couldn’t deal with it. “Yeah. Okay. I mean, yeah, I’m interested.” They both laughed a little awkwardly. 

Oh dear. She would have to talk this over with Sansa; she’d seen enough girls go tongue tied around the boys she likes to know that she won’t let that happen to her. “Well...I might as well go back to my family. We always go get milkshakes.”

He nodded. “Yeah, mine too. We always get lunch.”

The silence between them grew awkward for a couple of seconds. “I’ll see you on Monday then?”

He nodded vigorously again. “Yeah. I’ll see you then, Arry.” 

She waved once before she jogged back to her family, still caked in sweat from her match and praying (even though she wasn’t at all religious) that her family didn’t catch that. Because if they did, they’d never ever leave her alone. 

She accepted their congratulatory hugs and flowers-only Jon looked at her a little strangely, shooting an eyebrow towards where Gendry was standing next to his mother and two younger brothers. 

She shook her head. Some secrets were just hers to hold onto, at least for now while she decided what to do with them.

The pointy end indeed. 

I put some Jonerys in there-I hope you don’t mind. I just can’t help myself, lol. Also a little more Jon and Arya centered, but I added more Gendrya at the end there than I was planning to. Thanks for the prompt! 

I write Jonerys fics! I have the prompts listed here or I can write whatever :) 

[callioope]

Hello, you have been identified as An Awesome Writer™! Congrats, you rock! So that all of your readers can shower you with some extra love today, please tell us your favourite five (or as many as you want) stories of yours and why you like them and then send this to another five fic authors you think deserve this title!

Thank you @thestarbirdfromtheashes & @thenewleeland for sending me this! I’m so flattered! I know I’ve taken forever to respond.

if i wait (will you stay?)

Excerpt: She’d made the decision then, when he’d leaned down towards her, so close she could see his eyelashes, and she leaned up towards him, so close to feeling like she belonged. She’d made the decision with the conviction she used to have, before Saw abandoned her in a bunker.

Summary: Just after Scarif, Jyn waits for Cassian to wake and debates whether she’ll stay.

Notes: This just came to me one night when I was falling asleep, and I was still thinking about it when I woke up the next morning. It flowed out really easily, and I’m really proud of the prose, style, etc. It’s probably one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. I’ve thought a lot about ‘when do Jyn and Cassian get together after Scarif,’ and this is the result of that. 

I’ll Find You in the Morning Sun

Excerpt: They stare at each other, at an impasse, neither of them willing to disrupt the balance, to take the first step towards a lighter world. Both of them know, at least in some hidden capacity, that something floats between them, something could lift them, could show them how to fly. But they are not dreamers, with their heads in the clouds, and the talk of war weighs heavy on their shoulders. And falling from such a great height hurts; they’ve borne such bruises since they were children.

Summary: A World War II AU for csectumsempra, for Rebelcaptain Secret Santa. Told in a series of meetings (or not meetings) each December, spanning 1939 to 1945.

Notes: Before I wrote this, I didn’t have a huge interest in WWII AUs, and I was even a little intimidated by the idea (there are already so many wonderful WWII AUs out there, and it’s such a complex time period to get right, I think). But this setting gave me an easy angle for the “mutual pining” prompt, and once I found a satisfactory role for Jyn (I wanted her on the front lines!) I took it and ran and had a blast. (I also learned a ton! And learning is fun.) I do think it’s a little rougher around the edges and would have liked some more time to polish it. Still really like how it turned out though.

Whatever I Do (I Do It To Protect You)

Summary: When Orson Krennic landed on Lah’mu, Lyra Erso made a choice. She chose her daughter. Now they move from planet to planet, identity to identity, rebel cell to rebel cell, until they wind up at the center of the rebellion.

Notes: My first rebelcaptain fic! I started writing this on January 15, 2017. Holy crap. It started as just an idle daydream and turned into this huge thing. It took me nine months to finish – much better than my ASoIaF Gendrya chapter fic, which took a year, exactly. (And WID has a higher word count, too.) So a great opportunity for me to practice writing more consistently. This was also an exercise in planning and outlining. Halfway through, I completely changed the ending and had to rework it (which is why it took as long as it did). 

(Also mothers die way too much in Star Wars and this needed to be rectified. One day I really want to see a fic with Padme, Lyra, and Mothma just running the rebellion because how awesome would that be?)

this is the way (we move)

Excerpt: This is the way they run: They push each other, drag each other, carry each other. Bodhi waits and they sprint to him. All they ever have to do is find Bodhi, and he will carry them the rest of the way. They sprint through jungles, fat green leaves smacking them, blocking them, whipping them. They dash across sand, burning through the soles of their feet, sucking them back each step as they stumble in the shifting dunes. They scurry across rocky cliffs, slip and slide across icy plateaus, squelch through swamps, and it doesn’t matter the terrain, they just muddle through it with only one goal in mind: Bodhi’s ship. Home.

Summary: Vignettes of the post-Scarif Rogue One team. For the Rebelcaptain Week Tumblr prompt “Family.”

Notes: My favorite out of my Rebelcaptain Appreciation Week fics. (Incidentally, also, the first one I wrote.) This plot bunny attacked me during the two-hour car ride home from my sister’s; I was of course listening to the Cassian Andor spotify playlist and “The Way We Move” by Langhorne Slim & The Law came on. What a fun and upbeat and positive song in what is mostly a mellow playlist! This song just implies so much movement, which is very fitting for the RO team and that’s what I wanted to evoke here. Really fun to write.

when did you last let your heart decide?

Summary: When Cassian runs into Jyn Erso in the marketplace on Jedha, the rebellion can’t resist the opportunity to convert the daughter of an Imperial weapons scientist into an asset. But after years of recruiting, of coaxing others to give in to their own impulses, Cassian hesitates. Can he bring himself to persuade the first person he’s loved in years to risk her life? (Canon divergent, Imperial!Jyn, Aladdin AU)

Notes: So here is a fun fact about me: for four straight years in a row, I was Princess Jasmine for Halloween (K - 3rd). Then in 4th grade, I was A New Hope!Princess Leia (incidentally, I met Mark Hamill almost 20 years later to the day and was dressed as Endor!Leia so that came beautifully full circle). When I realized this, it just seemed kind of obvious that I’d write a Star Wars/Disney princess crossover, lol. Lots of fun with: Cassian’s immediate heart-eyes for Jyn, exploration of Cassian’s commitment to the cause and subsequent self-sacrifice, and Imperial!Jyn. 

I had more ideas for this that didn’t make it in (K-2SO filling the role as Abu, in a ‘skeptical of Cassian’s crush on Jyn, but still totally has his back’ kind of way;  more montage scenes of Jyn and Cassian exploring the galaxy a la ‘A Whole New World’; and an actual confrontation with Krennic when Cassian and Jyn return to Coruscant). Also I got several comments regarding an expansion SO one day I just might write that. One day.